state, and in danger of being swept into the river, it being secured only in a temporary manner, and requires to be immediately rebuilt in a direction that will preserve it from similar injury hereafter, and prevent, in a great degree, that accumulation of mud which has, in the course of the last ten years, occasioned an expense of upwards of £125,692, and would threaten in time to render the yard useless."
It was, in fact, found necessary to diminish the depth of the hold of the Nelson, in consequence of the Trinity Board having stated that no vessel drawing above nineteen feet of water could be navigated down to Erith Reach, and one even of that draught not without difficulty and danger.
The magazines or storehouses are not to be compared with those of Deptford. They are more confined, and, owing to the narrowness of the yard, and the progressive additions made according as necessity required, there is little or no methodical arrangement. As far, however, as regards the building and repairing of ships, its conveniences may be reckoned superior to those of Deptford. The new mast-houses and mast-slip, the new mast-ponds, and the houses for stowing yards, topmasts, &c. with the locks under them, are all excellent; and a new and spacious basin completes these great conveniences. The timber-births are well arranged, and the addition recently made to the western extremity of the yard will allow the stacking of several thousand loads of timber, and of classing it according to the purposes to which it may be applicable; and when the new smithery, and the line of wharf wall shall be completed, the dock-yard of Woolwich will become an important and valuable naval arsenal.
A considerable quantity of cables and cordage are manufactured at Woolwich; but the ropery is most inconveniently situated at a distance from the dock-yard, and great part of the town intervenes between them. Its length is 180 fathoms, but so narrow that the hemp storehouses, of three stories high, come close to the spinning house on either side. These storehouses are capable of containing about 2000 tons of hemp, and the cellars underneath them about 6000 barrels of pitch and tar. The hemp stores in the dock-yard are capable of containing about 2000 tons more.
In the present state and situation of the ropery, it would scarcely admit of the introduction of machinery, as has been done in most of the great private manufactories. The process of tarring, or passing the yarns through heated tar, and then drawing them through apertures in an iron plate, is performed at Woolwich by four horses. The laying of a cable of twenty-two or twenty-three inches is performed by the simultaneous exertion of 170 or 180 men, and requires upwards of an hour of the most severe exertion of strength, especially on the part of those who are stationed at the cranks, who not unusually break a blood-vessel by the severity of the labour. The simple and beautiful machine invented by the late Captain Huddart, performs with more accuracy the same process, and with the attendance of only three persons. For the reasons here stated, and the sufficiency of the other rope-yards, this at Woolwich has recently been disposed of.
Woolwich dock-yard seems to be complete in all the usual appendages of artificers, work-shops, store-cabinets, offices for the clerks, houses and gardens for the commissioner and the principal officers of the establishment. The number of men employed during the war amounted to about 1800, of whom nearly 1100 were shipwrights and artificers, and the rest labourers. The number of spinners, knitters, layers, labourers, &c. in the ropery, might be about 260. Upwards of twenty teams of horses were daily employed in this yard.
One of the four divisions (the 4th, consisting of thirteen companies) of royal marines are stationed at Woolwich, where barracks and all the necessary buildings have been erected for their accommodation on shore. See the article MARINES.
Chatham Dock-yard.—This dock-yard is situated on the right bank of the Medway, to which it presents a line of river wall at least 5500 feet in length; the width at the upper end being 400, in the middle 1000, and at the lower end about 800. The superficial contents may be estimated at about ninety acres. It has six building-slips on the front, from which ships are launched into the river; three of these are for ships of the line, and three for frigates and smaller vessels. In the same front are four dry docks communicating with the Medway.
The inconveniences arising from want of arrangement are less felt in Chatham than in any other of his majesty's dock-yards; and it could not perhaps be materially improved, if on the same site an entirely new dock-yard was to be planned. At the southern extremity of the yard is the ropery, hemp and yarn houses, rigging houses, a range of storehouses 1000 feet in length by about 50 in breadth, in front of which, along the wharf, are the anchor-racks, extending nearly 1000 feet. Next to these are the slips and docks, with the working-sheds and artificers' shops close in the rear, an excellent smithery, timber-births, seasoning-sheds, deal and iron yard, &c.; and beyond these, on the eastern extremity of the yard, the officers' houses and gardens. The commissioner's house and excellent garden are situated nearly in the centre of the yard. The lower or north-eastern part of the yard is occupied by mast-ponds, mast-houses and slips, store boat-houses and slips, ballast-wharf, timber-births, and saw-pits.
With all the advantages of interior arrangement, Chatham dock-yard still labours under that great defect to which most of the dock-yards are liable, from the injudicious manner in which the wharf walls have been constructed, without any regard being paid to the ebbing and flowing of the tide, or the currents of rivers, projecting in one part and retiring in others; the consequence of which is, that eddies are formed, and a constant accumulation of mud takes place along the line of the wall, and particularly in the openings of the dry docks, the slips, and the jetties. Of late years, however, since the attention of engineers has been called to this important subject, every opportunity is taken, in the repair of the wharf walls of the dock-yards, to correct the injurious effects arising from their improper direction; and as the river wall of Chatham is rebuilding, there is no doubt that due attention will be had to the line in which it is to be carried, so as to obviate the evil so universally complained of.
There is no wet dock or basin in Chatham-yard; but the Medway, flowing along it in a fine sheet of water, in some degree answers the purpose of one. The whole river might indeed be converted into a magnificent basin, by pursuing the same plan as that adopted in forming the new docks at Bristol. This would be effected by cutting a new channel for the river through the chalk cliff below Frindsbury Church, opening out a little above Upnor Castle, and continuing the new channel across the marsh near St Mary's Creek, so as to open out into Gillingham Reach close to the fort. Here a basin might be constructed wherein ships might be equipped in all respects ready for sea, whenever the wind and tide should be favourable. At present, owing to the shallowness of the water and the crooked navigation from Chatham round Upnor Point, they are obliged to take in their water and ballast at one place, their stores and provisions at another, their guns, powder, and ammunition at a third; in consequence of which, a ship is usually longer in getting out to sea from
Chatham than even from Deptford. If this new channel was made for the river, the whole space from the first reach below Rochester Bridge to St Mary's Creek, at the lower extremity of the dock-yard, might be converted into one magnificent basin.
Chatham being a building, a repairing, and refitting yard, the establishment of men was much greater in war than at Woolwich or Deptford; the number of shipwrights and other artificers, and labourers, being probably upwards of 2000, besides those of the rope-yard, which might amount to about 250.
A considerable piece of new ground (about 2000 feet in length by 200 in breadth) has recently been added to the upper part of Chatham dock-yard, on which is erected one of the completest saw-mills in the united kingdom, under the direction of Mr Brunell. The mill is situated on high ground, and close to the margin of a deep circular basin or reservoir of water, dug down to the level of the Medway, with which it communicates by a tunnel or subterranean canal, passing through the mast-pond. From the side of the reservoir opposite to the mill proceeds a long iron railway, supported on a double row of iron pillars; and alongside of and parallel to this railway, on the side next to the dock-yard, are a continued series of stages for the reception of timber after it has been sawn into planks. A steam-engine of the power of thirty-six horses sets in motion all the operations of this mill, which may thus be briefly enumerated: 1st, It drags up the large balks of timber through the canal into the reservoir as they are wanted. 2d, It lifts up these large logs to the margin of the basin, carries them into the mill, and places them on the frame under the saws. 3d, It saws them with the greatest nicety into planks of any required thickness. 4th, It takes the pieces away thus sawn, and places them on carriages of iron. 5th, It drives these carriages along the iron railway to any required distance. And 6th, It deposits the sawn timber on the stages, ready to be used in any part of the dock-yard where it may be required. From these stages it is conveniently conveyed to the docks or slips by single horse carts or trucks, with great expedition, down an easy descent, and without the least interference with any of the works carrying on in the yard. The whole of these operations are conducted by about ten, or at most twelve men.
This mill is supposed to be equal to the power of fifty saw-pits and nearly one hundred sawyers, and is capable of supplying the dock-yards of Chatham and Sheerness with all the straight-sawn timber that they can require. But the great advantage of the plan is in its application of the steam-engine to the management and arrangement of timber, by which the labour and expense of a great number of horses are saved, and, what is of still greater importance, the obstruction and impediments to the general services of the yard are avoided, which the dragging about of large balks to and from the saw-pits, with teams of four horses each, occasions in all the other yards. It allows, besides, the large space of ground which these saw-pits would occupy, to be appropriated to other purposes.
The first division of royal marines, consisting of twenty-one companies, is stationed at Chatham, in excellent barracks, situated near to one of the extremities of the dock-yard. (See article MARINES.)
There is a small victualling depot, situated partly in the parish of Chatham and partly in that of Rochester, from which the ships at Chatham and at Sheerness and the Nore receive a supply of provisions and water; but no articles of ship's stores are manufactured. The storehouses are sufficiently capacious for containing all the stores that can be required for the ships fitted out at the two ports on the Medway. The establishment consists of
an agent, clerk of the check, storekeeper, and their respective clerks, which, with the messengers, porters, labourers, &c. may amount to about ninety persons.
Sheerness Dock-Yard.—This dock-yard is situated on a low point of land on the island of Sheppey, whose soil is composed of sand and mud brought from the sea on the one side and down the Medway on the other, and has so much contracted the mouth of this river as completely to command the entrance of it. The situation, in a military point of view, is a most important one, particularly from its vicinity to the North Sea and to the anchorage at the Nore; by which anchorage, and the works of Sheerness, the mouths of the Thames and the Medway are completely defended.
As a situation for a dock, the objections to which it was liable are now in a fair way of being removed. On account of the low swampy ground on which it stood, fevers and agues were at one time so prevalent, that shipwrights and other artificers were literally impressed and compelled to work at Sheerness. In process of time, however, a town sprung up close to the dock-yard, and with it some little improvement by drainage, embankments, and other measures. Still it continued, till a very short time ago, an unhealthy and disagreeable place. As a dock-yard it was totally destitute of all convenience or arrangement; and the whole premises, mixed among wharfs and buildings belonging to the ordnance department, did not exceed fifteen acres of ground. The storehouses were dispersed in various parts of this space, and in so ruinous a state, that a ship hauled up in the mud was by far the best in the whole yard. It had two small inconvenient docks for frigates or smaller vessels. It was in fact a mere point of refitment, and might be considered as an appendage to Chatham.
From the very limited capacity of Sheerness, and the mighty preparations in the Scheldt, originated the magnificent project of the naval arsenal at Northfleet, which, from a change of political circumstances, and from the important improvements now carrying on at Sheerness, is not likely ever again to be revived. The Finance Committee (Eighth Report) say they have learnt "that the re-establishment and extension of the yards at Sheerness and Chatham may be considered as superseding, under any circumstance that can now be likely to occur, the plan contemplated for a naval establishment at Northfleet, on so extensive a scale as to require the expenditure of several millions."
These improvements appear indeed to be of sufficient magnitude to render any establishment at Northfleet wholly unnecessary, by making Sheerness, when finished, as complete a dock-yard, and perhaps more so, than any other in his majesty's dominions. Previously to carrying into execution this important undertaking, a committee of engineers and others was appointed, among whom were Watt, Huddart, and Jessop, whose plan was afterwards minutely examined, and some slight improvements suggested therein by Mr Rennie. The first stone was laid on the 19th August 1814, and the whole was completed at an expense not far short of one million sterling.
The advantages arising from the adoption of this plan are, 1st, The addition of nineteen acres of ground to the dock-yard, by taking in the whole of the muddy western shore of the Medway, beyond the low-water mark of neap tides, and getting rid of the offensive and unwholesome smell which it perpetually occasioned. 2dly, The construction of a wet dock or basin 520 feet in length by 300 in width, equal in surface to three and one half acres, and capable of containing a fleet of ten sail of the line, in which they can take on board all their stores, ammunition, and provisions, and be equipped in all respects ready to proceed to sea. The entrance into this basin is from
the Medway, through a lock that is closed by a floating dam-gate. 3dly, The construction of three dry docks on the eastern side of the basin, and opening into it, each capable of holding a first-rate ship of the line. 4thly, Ample space for constructing storehouses, mast-houses, mast-ponds, and slip, smithery, and artificers' workshops of every description. 5thly, A further extension of the dock-yard, by the addition of ten or twelve acres of a low marshy tract of land called Major's Marsh, which at present is below the level of the sea, and the water kept out, as in Holland, by embankments, but which will be raised several feet by the excavation of the basin, the dry docks, and the mast-ponds, so as to allow of drains to carry off the water to the shore, affording space for timber-births, houses and gardens for all the officers of the dock-yard, as well as for the admiral commanding in chief at Sheerness and the Nore. These additions, together with some part of the premises held by the board of ordnance, will make the whole area of the new dock-yard of Sheerness amount to upwards of fifty acres. The wharf wall on the south side of the basin in front of the intended mast-houses is a hundred feet, and that on the river front sixty feet in width, lined on both sides with as complete a specimen of good and beautiful masonry of granite as any in the kingdom.
The usual officers, with their clerks, amounted during the war to about fifty; and the shipwrights, artificers, and labourers, to about eight hundred; the shipwrights being the most numerous, as the principal part of the work was confined to the repairing of small vessels in the yard, but mostly to repairs of the fleet afloat at the Nore or in the Medway.
Portsmouth Dock-Yard.—Portsmouth dock-yard will always be considered as the grand naval arsenal of England, and the head-quarters or general rendezvous of the British fleet. The dock-yard accordingly is by far the most capacious; and the safe and extensive harbour, the noble anchorage at Spithead, the central situation with respect to the English Channel and the opposite coast of France, and particularly with regard to the naval arsenal at Cherbourg, render Portsmouth of the very first importance as a naval station; and in this view of it, every possible attention appears to have been paid to the extension and improvement of its dock-yard. The sea wharf-wall of this yard, extending in the direction of north and south along the western shore of the harbour, is about 3500 feet in length, and the mean depth may be 2000 feet; and it incloses an area of more than one hundred acres.
In the centre of the wharf-wall, facing the harbour, is the entrance into the great basin, whose dimensions are 380 by 260 feet, and its area 24 acres. Into this basin open four excellent dry docks, and on each of its sides is a dry dock opening into the harbour; and all of these six docks are capable of receiving ships of the largest class. Besides these is a double dock for frigates, the stern dock communicating through a lock with the harbour, and the head dock with another basin about 250 feet square. There is also a camber, with a wharf-wall on each side, 660 feet in length, and of sufficient width to admit of transports and merchant ships bringing stores to the dock-yard. In the same face of the yard are three building slips capable of receiving the largest ships, and a small one for sloops, besides two building slips for frigates on the northern face of the yard, and a smaller slip for sloops. The range of storehouses on the north-east side, and the rigging-house and sail-loft on the south-west side of the camber, are magnificent buildings, the former occupying nearly 600 feet in length, exclusive of the two intermediate spaces, and nearly sixty feet in width, and the two latter 400 feet. The two hemp-houses and the two sea-store houses occupy
a line of building which, with the three narrow openings between them of twenty-five feet each, extend 800 feet. The rope-house, tarring-house, and other appendages of the ropery, are on the same scale. The two sets of quadrangular storehouses, and the two corresponding buildings, with the intervening timber-births and saw-pits, at the head of the dry docks, issuing from the great basin, are all excellent, and conveniently placed. The smithery is on a large scale, and contiguous to it is an iron-mill, a copper-mill, and a copper refinery, at which is remelted and rolled all the old copper which is taken from ships' bottoms; and here, also, are cast bolts, gudgeons, and various articles of copper used in the navy. The number of sheets manufactured in one year of the war amounted to about 300,000, weighing above 12,000 tons; on which it has been calculated that a saving of at least L.20,000 was effected for the public, besides obtaining a good pure article. Most of these were constructed under the direction of General Bentham. (Bentham's SerVICES.) At the head of the north dock are the wood mills, at which every article of turnery, rabitting, &c. is performed for the use of the navy, from boring the chamber of a pump to the turning of a button for a chest of drawers. But the principal part of these mills is the machinery for making blocks, contrived by that ingenious artist Mr Brunell (see BLOCK-MACHINERY), which cannot be regarded without exciting the highest respect for the talents and skill of the author.
The northern extremity of the dock-yard is chiefly occupied with seasoning-sheds, saw-pits, and timber-births, the working boat-house, and boat-storehouse. On the eastern extremity are situated the houses and gardens of the commissioner and principal officers of the yard; the chapel, the royal naval college, and the school of naval architecture. The former institution has recently been remodelled, and the latter is a new establishment formed by the recommendation of the commissioners for revising the civil affairs of the navy, for the education of a certain number of naval architects, known by the name of the "Superior Class of Shipwright Apprentices." These two establishments were combined by order in council of the 30th January 1816, under the following regulations:
Naval College.—The number of students not to exceed, in time of war, one hundred; in peace seventy; of whom thirty are to consist of the sons of commissioned officers of the navy, and to receive their board, clothing, lodging, and education, free of all expense; the remainder to consist of sons of noblemen, gentlemen, civil and military officers, on payment of L.72 a year. The age of admission from twelve and a half to fourteen years. A bond is to be signed by their friends, in the penalty of L.200 for the first class, and L.100 for the second class, in the event of any young gentleman being withdrawn from the navy before he has served the proper time to qualify for the commission of lieutenant. (See article NAVY.) No student to remain at college longer than three years; at the end of which, or sooner if he shall have completed the plan of education, he is discharged into one of his majesty's ships, the college time being reckoned two years of the six required to be served to qualify for such commission.
Naval Architectural School.—The number of students not to exceed twenty-four. Candidates for admission examined at stated periods, the degree of merit alone giving preference of admission; the age of entrance from fifteen to seventeen, and the duration of their apprenticeship seven years. The students are lodged, boarded, and educated, free of all expense, and have the following yearly allowances: 1st year L.25, 2d L.30, 3d L.35, 4th L.40, 5th L.45, 6th L.50, 7th L.60. And at the expiration of their apprenticeship they are eligible to all the situations
in the ship-building department of his majesty's dock-yards, to be there employed as supernumeraries until regular vacancies may occur; provided the apprentice shall have completed the plan of education, and be certified by the professor to be properly qualified.
The consolidated establishment of the two departments consists of a governor, who is the first lord of the admiralty for the time being; a lieutenant-governor, who is a post-captain in the navy, with a salary of £800 a year and apartments; two lieutenants of the navy, with £200 a year each, apartments, and an allowance for board; a professor, who is a graduate of the university of Cambridge, with a salary of £700 a year, and apartments; a master of classics, history, and geography, with £350 a year and apartments; three assistant-masters, well skilled in mathematics, the first with £250, the two others £200 a year each, with an allowance for house-rent; besides masters for teaching drawing, dancing, fencing, and the French language, and two sergeants of marine artillery. In addition to these, there is a superintendent of the school for naval architecture, a professional ship-builder, brought up in one of his majesty's dock-yards, to instruct the apprentices in the practical parts of ship-building. The school for naval architecture has recently been abolished.
The professor has the charge and keeps the rate of all the chronometers which may not be in use belonging to the navy; and all midshipmen in the navy are now required to pass their examination in the theory of navigation, at the naval college, by the professor, in presence of the admiral commanding in chief, and the lieutenant governor. (See NAVY.)
The strength of Portsmouth dock-yard, during the war, was considerably above 4000 working men, of whom about 1500 were shipwrights and caulkers; the joiners and housecarpenters were nearly 500; the smiths 200 nearly; the sawyers 250; the riggers and their labourers nearly 200; the scavelmen and labourers of various kinds nearly 700; and the rope-yard employed about 350 persons.
There are two victualling establishments at this port; the one in Portsmouth town, the other across the harbour, at a place called Weevil; both of them inconveniently situated for supplying the ships with water and provisions, more especially such as may have to take them in at Spit-head. The former consists chiefly of provision-stores and magazines, with a tide-mill and a bakery; at the latter there is a cooperage and a brewery. The total number of persons employed, including the officers, at the two establishments, during the war, amounted to about 500. The victualling establishments are now consolidated at Weevil.
The noble building for the reception of sick and wounded seamen is situated on the Gosport side of Portsmouth harbour. Being appropriated to the military branch of the navy, it will be described under the head of NAVY.
The second division of royal marines, consisting of eighteen companies, is stationed at Portsmouth, in barracks, which are inconveniently situated in the town; and eight companies of the royal marine artillery have their head-quarters at Fort Monckton, not far from Haslar Hospital. (See the article MARINES.)
Plymouth Dock-Yard.—The naval station of Plymouth is inferior only to that of Portsmouth; and, in point of its more westerly situation, as considered with reference to the grand naval arsenal of Brest, it is superior even to Portsmouth. It possesses one of the finest harbours in the world, capable of containing, in perfect security at their moorings, not less than a hundred sail of the line; and by means of the breakwater it may boast of an excellent roadstead for eighteen or twenty sail of the line. The dock-yard, however, has only one small basin, without gates, whose dimensions are 250 by 180 feet, and con-
tents little more than an acre; but the excellent harbour of Hamoaze, on the western bank of which the wharf-wall extends, almost compensates for the want of one, especially as the depth of water allows the largest ships to range along the jetties, and receive their stores on board immediately from the wharf.
Plymouth dock-yard extends in a circular sweep along the shores of Hamoaze 3500 feet, its width about the middle, where it is greatest, being 1600, and at each extremity 1000 feet, making its superficial contents about ninety-six acres. In the line facing the harbour are two dry-docks for ships of the first rate, a double dock for seventy-four gun ships, communicating with Hamoaze, and another dock for ships of the line, opening into the basin. There is, besides, a graving-dock without gates, and a canal or camber similar to that in Portsmouth yard, for the admission of vessels bringing stores into the yard; which, communicating with the boat-pond, cuts the dock-yard nearly into two parts. There are five jetties projecting from the entrances of the dry-docks into Hamoaze, along side of which ships are conveniently brought when undocked. All these are situated between the centre and the northern extremity of the harbour line. On the southern part are three building slips for the largest class of ships, and two for smaller vessels; the outer mast-pond and mast-houses, timber-births, saw-pits, and smithery. Higher up, on this end of the yard, is an extensive mast-pond and mast-locks, with plank-houses over them; and, above these, three hemp magazines, contiguous to which is the finest ropery in the kingdom, consisting of two ranges of buildings, one the laying-house, the other the spinning-house, each being 1200 feet in length, and three stories in height. In the construction of the new rope-house no wood has been used excepting the shingles of the roof, to which the slates are fastened. All the rest is of iron. The ribs and girders of the floors are of cast iron, covered over with Yorkshire paving stone, and the doors, window frames, and staircases, are all of cast iron, so that the whole building may be considered as proof against fire.
The northern half of the yard, besides the docks and basin, with all the appropriate working sheds and artificers' shops, contains a cluster of very elegant stone buildings, ranged round a quadrangle, the longest sides being about 450 feet, and the shortest 300 feet. Within the quadrangle are also two new ranges of buildings, in which iron has been used in the place of wood. These buildings consist of magazines for different kinds of stores, rigging-houses, and sail-lofts. The northern and upper part of the yard is occupied by a range of handsome houses, with good gardens behind them, for the commissioner and the principal officers of the yard, the chapel, the guard-house, and pay-office, stables for the officers, and the teams, and a fine reservoir of fresh water for the supply of the yard.
Plymouth is not only a good building and repairing yard, on account of its excellent docks and slips, and the great length of line along the Hamoaze, but also a good refitting yard, and was fully occupied during the war with the refitting of the western squadron, employed in the constant blockade of Brest. The number of men borne on the establishment of this yard might have been about 3000, of which about 800 were shipwrights.
Plymouth Victualling Establishments.—The victualling establishments are here, as well as at Portsmouth, unconnected, and, in fact, dispersed in three different places; the cooperage and the brewery being at South Down, near Millbrook, on the farther side of Hamoaze; the bake-house and principal stores at the entrance of Sutton Pool, in the Catwater; and the slaughter-house on the Devil's Point, at the head of the Sound. The total establishment of the victualling department at this port, officers includ-
ed, amounted to about 400 persons. As at Portsmouth, the victualling establishments have been consolidated at Cremill, which consists of every possible convenience for victualling and watering the navy.
Plymouth Hospital is a handsome building of stone, or rather a series of separate buildings, regularly arranged, in which respect, as admitting a freer circulation of air, it is perhaps superior to that of Haslar. (See NAVY.)
The third division of royal marines, consisting of twenty companies, are stationed at Plymouth. The barracks are conveniently situated at Stonehouse, very airy, and sufficiently spacious. (See MARINES.)
Pembroke Dock-Yard.—This dock-yard has been established but a few years, and is intended merely as a building-yard. It is situated on the southern shore of Milford Haven, not two miles from the town of Pembroke. It includes an area of about sixty acres, its surface descending in a gradual slope to the water's edge, along the shore of which is ample space for a couple of dry docks, and at least twelve building slips, over which it is intended to erect a connected series of roofs, which will not only be attended with much convenience to the workmen, but also with a great saving of expense. The slips, being built of wood, on a limestone foundation, are erected at a very trifling cost; and the only works of any considerable expense in the yard will be those of the dry docks, each of which will amount to the sum of £60,000 nearly. For a new building yard a small storehouse will be quite sufficient, and an old ship hauled up serves all the purposes of one at present. There is no commissioner, nor is the usual establishment of officers completed. The total number of persons of all descriptions employed in the yard is under 500.
Ordinary of the Dock-Yards.—At each of the ports where there is a dock-yard, Pembroke excepted, a certain number of ships when put out of commission, or new ships not commissioned, are laid up in what is called a state of ordinary; and such ships, until recently, used to be placed under the immediate charge of the commissioner, the masters attendant, and other officers of the dock-yard. But a new system has lately been adopted, both with regard to the fitting of the ships for their better preservation, while thus unemployed (See DAY ROT), and also as to the care and management of them by naval commissioned officers living constantly on board. (See NAVY.)
Capacity of a Dock-Yard.—The capacity of a dock-yard for building, repairing, and refitting ships of war, depends upon so many circumstances that it scarcely admits of calculation; chiefly, however, on the facilities afforded by a suitable arrangement of dry docks, building slips, and basins, and on the number of shipwrights and other artificers borne on the strength of the yard. In building new ships, where the materials are at hand, and no interruptions occur, the capacity may be ascertained to a tolerable degree of accuracy. To complete the building of a seventy-four gun ship, it is calculated that the labour of one man would be required for 18,000 days, or of eighteen men for 1000 days, or about fifty-four men to finish her in the space of one year. A dock-yard, therefore, with 500 good shipwrights, might be expected to launch from eight to ten sail of the line every year, if the conveniences of the yard admitted them all to be employed on building. But with regard to repairs, they are so various and so uncertain, that it would be next to impossible to form any calculation that should at all approach to the truth. A writer well versed in naval matters, in attempting to prove the sufficiency of our dock-yards, without having recourse to private merchant yards during war, has stated, that by a uniform system of management, "the annual regener-
ation of ships of the line may be safely reckoned at twelve sail, and that of frigates at eight sail; and that, besides, there "might be docked for casual repairs, in the course of one year, two hundred and sixty-seven sail of ships and vessels of war." (Letter to Lord Melville on the General State of the Navy, 1810.)
When Henry VIII. first established a regular king's Man-of-war dock-yard at Woolwich, he appointed a board, consisting of certain commissioners, for the management of all naval dock-yard matters; and it is curious enough, as appears from the Pepysian Collection of Manuscripts in the university of Cambridge, that the regulations which he made for the civil government of the navy, and which were, in the reign of Edward VI., revised, arranged, and turned into ordinances, form the broad basis of all the subsequent instructions given to the several officers to whom the management of the civil affairs of the navy has been committed. (First Rep. Nav. Rev.)
The commissioners of the navy then consisted of the Commander-in-Chief, the vice-admiral of England, the master of the ordnance, the treasurer of the marine causes, the treasurer, comptroller, general surveyor of the victualling, clerk of the ships, and clerk of the stores. They had each their particular duties; and once a week they were ordered to meet at their office on Tower Hill, and once a month to report their proceedings to the lord high admiral.
In 1609 the principal officers for conducting the civil affairs of the navy were suspended in consequence of many abuses being complained of; and other commissioners were appointed, with powers to manage, settle, and put the affairs of the navy into a proper train, and to prevent, by such measures as might appear to be necessary, the continuance of the many great frauds and abuses which had prevailed. A similar commission was renewed in 1616, which in a full and minute report detailed and explained those frauds and abuses.
That commission, which ended on the death of James I., was renewed by his successor, and remained in force till 1628, when it was dissolved, and the management of the navy was restored to the board of principal officers, as established by Edward VI.
In the disturbed reign of Charles I. the navy was suffered to go to decay; but by the extraordinary exertions of Cromwell, it was raised to a height which it had never before reached, but again declined under the short and feeble administration of his son.
On the restoration of Charles II. the Duke of York was appointed lord high admiral; and by his advice a York committee was appointed to consider a plan he had drawn out for the future regulation of the affairs of the navy, at which he himself presided. "In all naval affairs," say the commissioners of revision, "he appears to have acted with the advice and assistance of Mr Samuel Pepys, who first held the office of clerk of the acts, and was afterwards secretary of the admiralty; a man of extraordinary knowledge in all that related to the business of that department, of great talents, and the most indefatigable industry."
The entire management of the navy was now in the hands of the duke, as lord high admiral, by whom three new commissioners were appointed to act conjointly with the treasurer of the navy, the comptroller, the surveyor, and clerk of the acts, as principal officers and commissioners of the navy. A book of instructions, drawn out by Mr Pepys, was sent to the navy board for its guidance. A rapid progress was made in the repair and augmentation of the fleet; but being called away, in consequence of the Dutch war in 1664, the example of zeal and industry set by Mr Pepys was not sufficient, in the duke's absence, to prevent
neglect and mismanagement in every department except his own.
From 1673 to 1679, the office of lord high admiral being put in commission, at the head of which Prince Rupert was placed, the king, through Mr Pepys, arranged all naval affairs; but in the latter year, when the duke was sent abroad, and Mr Pepys to the Tower, a new set of men were made commissioners of the navy, who, without experience, ability, or industry, suffered the navy to go to decay. "All the wise regulations," say the commissioners of revision, "formed during the administration of the Duke of York, were neglected; and such supineness and waste appear to have prevailed as, at the end of not more than five years, when he was recalled to the office of lord high admiral, only twenty-two ships, none larger than a fourth rate, with two fire-ships, were at sea; those in the harbour were quite unfit for service; even the thirty new ships which he had left building had been suffered to fall into a state of great decay, and hardly any stores were found to remain in the dock-yards." He re-appointed Mr Pepys as secretary of the admiralty; he set about an inquiry into the characters and abilities of the first ship-builders in England; and by the advice of Mr Pepys, he joined Sir Anthony Dean, eminent in that profession, with three others, to the former principal officers in a new commission. The old commissioners were directed entirely to confine their attention to the business of a committee of accounts. To each of the new ones was entrusted a distinct branch of the proposed reform; and it appears that, highly to their credit, "they performed what they had undertaken in less time than was allowed for it, and at less expense," having completed their business to the general satisfaction of the public two months before the Revolution.
The business of the navy, thus methodized and settled, remained undisturbed by that event. The commissioners of revision justly observed, that "the great work of re-establishing the fleet, and restoring order, industry, and discipline, in the dock-yards, accomplished in so short a time by the commissioners then chosen, with so much care, proves, in the most convincing manner, how much depends on having the civil affairs of the navy placed under the management of men of real ability, professional knowledge, and uninterrupted industry."
It will readily be supposed that the vast increase of our naval force since that time has necessarily required many additional orders and regulations, some of which, from circumstances, were not compatible with each other; some were given to one dock-yard and not to another; others in one yard became obsolete, while they continued to be acted upon in another; so that there was no longer that uniformity in the management which it is so desirable, indeed so essentially necessary, to preserve. From the year 1764 to 1804, when his majesty appointed a commission "for revising and digesting the civil affairs of his navy," the attention of the lords of the admiralty and the navy board had frequently been directed to this important subject; but owing to various causes nothing was done to forward so desirable an arrangement, except that Sir Charles Middleton (afterwards Lord Barham), when comptroller of the navy, classed and digested under distinct heads, in a book for that purpose, all orders and regulations prior to the year 1786. The commissioners of naval inquiry, appointed in 1803, state the necessity of revising the instructions, and digesting the immense mass of orders issued to the dock-yard officers, and regret that a work of such utility should not have been completed. The late Lord Melville, to whom the navy is perhaps more indebted than to any single individual, and who, from the active part he had long taken in its concerns, was well aware of the irregularities
and disorder which prevailed in the dock-yards, on his appointment to the administration of naval affairs, determined to carry into execution a complete system of reform and of uniform management in all the several departments. The commission consisted of Admiral Lord Barham, John Fordyce, Esq. Admiral Sir Roger Curtis, Bart. Vice Admiral Donett, and Ambrose Serle, Esq. They made fifteen distinct reports, the date of the first being 13th June 1805, of the last the 6th March 1808; all of which, except two, have been printed, by order of the House of Commons, and mostly carried into effect by his majesty's orders in council. One of the two not printed is an inquiry into the state of the navy at different periods, and of naval timber; the other relates to the formation of a new dock-yard at Northfleet, which, however advisable and even necessary the design of it might have been considered at the time when Bonaparte was energetically carrying on his mighty plans for the creation of a naval force to contest the power of the ocean with Great Britain, will, as has already been observed, no longer be thought so under present circumstances.
From these reports have been established, for the first Uniform time, in all his majesty's dock-yards, one uniform system of management, by which it was hoped incalculable advantages would have been derived to the public, in the preventing of frauds, in the saving of labour and materials, and consequently time and expense; and in securing better workmanship in the construction of ships, which is perhaps of all other considerations the most important; but the system was cumbrous and very expensive.
The management of the dock-yards, and of all the civil affairs of the navy, was, until recently, entrusted to certain commissioners appointed by patent, of whom the comptroller of the navy and three surveyors, and seven other commissioners, formed a board at Somerset House, for the general direction and superintendence of the civil concerns of the navy, subject to the control of the lords commissioners of the admiralty. At most of the home yards and of the foreign yards was a commissioner of the navy, who was always a naval officer of the rank of captain. The foreign yards over which a commissioner presided were, Bermuda, Cape of Good Hope, Gibraltar, Halifax, Jamaica, Malta, Quebec, Kingston, including the lake establishments and Trincomalee, which, with the five belonging to the home yards, Woolwich (including Deptford), Chatham, Sheerness, Portsmouth, and Plymouth, made the whole number of commissioners of the navy amount to twenty-four. The salary of each of the home commissioners was £1000 a year, that of the comptroller £2000. The salary of the foreign commissioners was £1200 a year, except that of the Cape of Good Hope, which was £1800, and Trincomalee £3000 a year. They were also entitled to liberal superannuations when unfit for further service; and, at their death, their widows received a pension for life of £300 a year. All these have been swept away, and the two great departments, the navy and the victualling offices, have been consolidated with the admiralty, and the details of the business placed under five principal officers, each having a separate department. These are, 1. the surveyor of the navy; 2. the accountant general; 3. the storekeeper general; 4. the comptroller of the victualling and transports; 5. the physician.
The treasurer of the navy is a high and responsible officer appointed by the crown, and removable at pleasure. His salary was £4000 a year, but it has recently been reduced to £3000. The establishment of the navy pay-office at Somerset House consists of a paymaster and deputy; three cashiers, one for the navy, one for the victualling, and one for the allotment branch; an accountant;