Dock-Yards

Previously to the reign of Henry VIII. the kings of England had neither naval arsenals nor dock-yards, nor any regular establishment of civil or naval officers to provide ships of war, or to fight them. They had admirals, however, possessing a high jurisdiction and very great power. (See the article ADMIRAL.) And it would appear, from a very curious poem in Hackluyt's Collection, called The Policie of Keeping the Sea, that Henry V. had both ships, officers, and men exclusively appropriated to his service, and independently of those which the Cinque Ports were bound, and the other ports were occasionally called upon, to furnish, on any emergency. By this poem it also appears that Little Hampton, unfit as it now is, was the port at which Henry built

—his great Dromions
Which passed other great shippes of the commons.

But what these dromions were no one can now tell; nor is it easy to conceive how the building and repairing of the Great Harry, which in the reign of Henry VII. was launched at Portsmouth, and cost £15,000, was managed, considering the very rapid strides made at once from the small Cinque Port vessels, manned with 21 men and a boy, to this enormous floating castle. At that time it is well known that they had no docks, nor even substitutes for them.

The foundation of a regular navy, by the establishment of dock-yards, and the formation of a board, consisting of certain commissioners for the management of its affairs, was first laid by Henry VIII., and the first dock-yard erected under his reign was that of Woolwich. Those of Portsmouth, Deptford, Chatham, and Sheerness, followed in succession; and the last, excepting the new and unfinished yard of Pembroke, was Plymouth, which was founded by William III.

From the first establishment of the dock-yards to the present time, most of them have gradually been enlarged and improved by a succession of expedients and make-shifts, which answered the purposes of the moment; but the best of them possess not those conveniences and advantages which might be obtained from a dock-yard systematically laid out on a uniform and consistent plan, with its wharfs, basins, docks, slips, magazines, and workshops, arranged according to certain fixed principles, calculated to produce convenience, economy, and despatch.

Neither at the time when our dock-yards were first established, nor at any subsequent periods of their enlargement as the necessities of the service demanded, could it have been foreseen what incalculable advantages would one day be derived from the substitution of machinery for human labour; and without a reference to this vast improvement in all mechanical operations, it could not be expected that

any provision would be made for its future introduction; on the contrary, the docks and slips, the workshops and store-houses, were successively built at random, and placed wherever a vacant space would most conveniently admit them, and in such a manner as in most cases to render the subsequent introduction of machinery and iron railways, and those various contrivances found in the large manufacturing establishments of private individuals, quite impossible, even in the most commodious and roomy of her Majesty's dock-yards.

The want of a systematic arrangement in our dock-yards, proposed independently of machinery, and the enormous expenditure dock-yard of money laid out on expedients, were questions of frequent discussion among naval men connected with the various administrations of the navy, and it was thought by many that it would be more desirable to construct an entire new dock-yard in some eligible situation, on an extensive scale, than to continue the improvements in the old ones. For this purpose, so early as the year 1765, the attention of the naval administration appears to have been turned to the Isle of Grain in the river Medway, along the shore of which is a fine expansive sheet of deep water. A dock-yard thus placed, on a systematic plan, would supersede that of Chatham on one side, and Sheerness on the other; but it was discovered on boring that the substratum was so loose and sandy as not to admit of a solid foundation. General Bentham, however, revived the project in the year 1800, which he seems to claim as his own, and painted the situation in such glowing colours, and as affording so many advantages for a grand naval arsenal, that the Lords of the Admiralty were induced to order a fresh set of borings to be taken. These were carried to the depth of 60 feet, and were everywhere found to consist of sand and mud, and totally unfit for the construction of basins, docks, and such solid buildings as are required for naval purposes.

The imperfection of the naval yards to the eastward, the extension of the boundaries of France towards that quarter, the occupation of the greater naval port of Antwerp, and North- the uninterrupted command of the Scheldt and the ports of Holland by that power, rendered an enlargement of the means of naval equipment in the eastern dock-yards of England, or a new naval arsenal, indispensable. For the latter purpose the banks of the Thames were considered, in every point of view, as preferable to those of the Medway, the entrance into the latter being narrow, and having a bar across it, on which, at low water of spring tides, there is only 14 or 15 feet of water; whereas the navigation of the Thames is at all times uninterrupted, excepting by the badness of the weather. It communicates directly with the great market-town of London, in which every description of stores, foreign and domestic, is accumulated; and the trade of the Thames is the great source from which the fleet is supplied with seamen. The marshy peninsula of Northfleet was considered by naval men, who had turned their attention to the subject, to possess every possible requisite for the establishment of a royal dock-yard on an extensive scale. It was sufficiently removed from the mouth of the river to be completely sheltered, yet near enough for ships to proceed to sea with one wind. In the river between Northfleet and the sea there is plenty of water for the largest three-deckers to proceed with all their guns, ammunition, stores, and provisions on board, and almost with any wind, if moderate. A copious stream of good fresh water runs across the peninsula. The soil afforded plenty of earth suitable for bricks; the foundation was excellent for docks, slips, wharfs, and buildings of all kinds. It was sufficiently near the metropolis for speedy communication with the naval departments, and to receive stores in barges and the river craft. It was capable of being defended both on the land and river side; and when the whole was raised to the height of 12 feet with a dry gravelly soil, from the excavations of the docks and basins,

there could be no doubt of the healthiness of the situation. By the direction, therefore, of the Lords of the Admiralty, a complete survey was made by Messrs Rennie and Whidbey, who furnished a plan and estimate of a naval arsenal on a magnificent scale, within which all kinds of machinery were proposed to be employed for the making of anchors, sawing of timber, rope-making, block-making, &c.; iron railways to be laid from the timber wharfs to the timber fields, from thence to the mills and pits, and from them to the docks, slips, and workshops. The estimate, it appears, was about six millions sterling, which Mr Rose, in his letter to the late Lord Melville, calculates, with the fortifications and unforeseen expenses, to amount actually to ten millions; an expense which the minister did not venture to propose, though there can be little doubt that, when the case was fairly stated to the public, and the necessity of increasing our naval establishments to the eastward had been made apparent, no violent opposition would have been made to a measure which tended to keep up our naval superiority, and which was the less objectionable, as none of the money would have been taken out of the country, but circulated within it, to the encouragement of the arts, trades, and manufactures of the kingdom.

The board of revision made a detailed report on the merits of the plan, which, however, as the execution of it was delayed, was not printed; but the real reason was supposed to be, the very gloomy view taken by the commissioners of the disadvantages and imperfections of the present dock-yards, which Mr Rose seems to think, and indeed it is generally thought, is by no means warranted, and that those disadvantages in that report are greatly exaggerated, perhaps to enhance the value of the Northfleet plan, of which they seem to have been much enamoured. Imperfect as the old dock-yards are, chiefly from their having risen, as before observed, to their present state, by a succession of expedients and make-shifts, they are nevertheless far superior to any similar establishments on the Continent of Europe, if we except the arsenal of Cherbourg, whose magnificent basins (see BREAKWATER) are certainly unequalled, and the space surrounding them capable of being turned to every possible advantage. M. Charles Dupin, a French officer, who examined all our dock-yards with a skilful eye, pronounces them as by far superior to any on the Continent. We have heard much of the magnificent basins and the covered docks of Carlsrorna, but the one has been greatly overrated, and the others are merely covered over with shed-like roofs; nor is there the least likelihood that the plan will ever be finished. We have been told likewise of the superior advantages of the naval arsenal of Copenhagen, where every ship has its appropriate storehouse. This plan has been adopted at Brest, and is reprobated there by every naval officer, and the officers of the yard, as most inconvenient, and a great waste of room, by having the most bulky and the most trifling articles stowed together in the same room. A better arrangement is that of having certain magazines appropriated to certain kinds of stores, and arranged according to the class or rate of ship for which they are intended, and, if appropriated or returned stores, the name of the ship to which they belong painted in front of the berth in which they are deposited. This is the system generally followed in our dock-yards.

The great point in which our naval arsenals were most defective was the want of wet docks or basins; which, however, was to a certain extent compensated at the two principal dock-yards of Portsmouth and Plymouth, by two magnificent harbours, in which the whole navy of England, when dismantled, may be moored and laid up in ordinary, in perfect security. The want of basins, however, in our dock-yards was most severely felt in time of war, when the expeditious fitting out of the fleet was so desirable. These wants are now happily remedied at all the great ports.

The perfection of a dock-yard, then, independently of the advantages of machinery, which are but contingent, may be considered to depend upon one or more extensive basins, surrounded by spacious wharfs or quays. By means of these a prodigious saving of time, labour, and expense may be saved, in every stage of the progress of fitting out a ship for sea, from the moment she is launched from the slip, or taken out of a dock, as well as in dismantling a ship on returning to port to be paid off and repaired, or laid up in ordinary. For this purpose the docks and slips should occupy one of the sides of the basin, with working sheds for carpenters and joiners, smiths' shops, saw-pits, and seasoning-sheds between them. The ship, when completed on the slip and launched into the basin, may then be taken immediately into the adjoining dock to be coppered. From this she proceeds to the second side of the basin, in the corner of which is the ballast-wharf: the remainder of the side will probably be occupied by the victualling department, with appropriate stores in the rear for various kinds of provisions, and behind these the bakery, brewery, and slaughter-houses; on the wharf the iron tanks for holding water, now universally used for the ground tier, in lieu of wooden casks. These are taken on board next after the ballast, and, together with the superincumbent casks, would be filled in the ship's hold by means of flexible pipes to convey the water into them. The provisions would at the same time be taken on board at the same wharf, in front of the victualling stores. The third side might be appropriated to the ordnance department, with the gun-wharf extending along the whole side, and the gun-carriage storehouses, magazines, &c., in the rear. The fourth side would be occupied as the anchor wharf, with the cable storehouses, the sail lofts and stores, rigging loft, and magazines for various stores, in the rear. Behind these, again, on the first side, containing the dry docks and building slips, the ground would be appropriated to the reception, berthing, and converting of timber, from whence iron railways would lead to the saw-mills, saw-pits, and workshops, all of which would be placed on that side. On the second side a pond or basin for the victualling lighters and craft, with wharfs communicating with the manufactories and storehouses; the same on the ordnance or third side; and on the fourth side might be placed the ropery, hemp storehouses, tar-houses, with a basin for hemp-vessels, lighters, and the like. Communicating with the great basin on the building side, and also with the river or harbour on the shore of which the dockyard is to be formed, should be a mast-pond, with a lock for the storing of spars; in front the mast-houses, top-houses, capstan-houses, and a slip to launch the masts into the pond. Here also might be placed the boat-houses and boat-pond.

A peninsular situation like that of Northfleet, having at least three-fourths of its shore surrounded with deep water, is peculiarly favourable for some such arrangement as is here mentioned; as any number of locks and canals might be made to communicate with the river, so that ships coming into the basin might not interfere with those going out, nor the lighters and other craft bringing their several species of stores, with either or with one another. By such an arrangement a ship would be equipped for sea at half the present expense, and within half the usual time. A ship fitting out for an anchorage distant from the dock-yard, as at the Nore and Spithead, is liable to every inconvenience and delay, as all her guns, stores, provisions, and water, must be carried to her in dock-yard lighters and other craft, into which and out of which they must be hoisted and rehoisted; liable to delay from bad weather and contrary winds; to be stowed alongside the ship, to the total loss or damaging of their cargoes; added to which is the loss of time in going backwards and forwards, especially to the artificers; the desertion of the men; the accidents from the upsetting of boats; and many other evils of a magnitude not easily to

be calculated, and exceeded only by the disappointment and vexation that unavoidably occur when ships are preparing for some particular and pressing service; all of which, when ships are fitted out in a basin for sea, are avoided. Here no delay, no embezzlement, no desertion, can take place. A ship in returning from sea may be docked and undocked into the basin with all her stores on board; and if to be paid off, instead of keeping the crew on board for weeks, till all the stores have been delivered into the dock-yard, the ship, by the proposed plan of basins, would remain securely in the basin, to be stripped at leisure by the riggers and labourers of the yard, and the crew become immediately available for other ships. Of the many superior advantages of wet docks for laying up ships to discharge, over the practice of exposing them in rivers or harbours, the shipping interest of the ports of London, Liverpool, Bristol, and Hull, can best testify, more especially that of London, which has taken the precaution to surround the docks with high inclosing walls, by means of which all access is debarred, and all possibility of embezzlement prevented.

From a brief description of the royal dock-yards as they now stand, a general idea may be formed of their several capacities, advantages, and defects. Taking them in succession, according to their vicinity to the capital, the first is

Deptford.—The front or wharf wall of this dock-yard, facing the Thames, is about 1700 feet in length, and the mean breadth of the yard 650 feet; the superficial content about thirty acres. It has three slips for ships of the line on the face next the river; and two for smaller vessels, which launch into a basin or wet dock, 260 by 220 feet. There are also three dry docks; one of them a double dock, communicating with the Thames, and the other a smaller one, opening into the basin. With these restricted means, even with an adequate number of workmen, its capacity for building ships, or for large repairs, must be very limited; but in the occasional repair of fourth-rates and frigates, and in the fitting out of sloops and smaller vessels, a great deal of work was performed at Deptford in the course of the war. The proximity of Deptford dock-yard to the capital is, however, of great importance, in the convenience it affords of receiving from this great mart all the home manufactures and products which may be purchased by contract for the use of the navy. It is, in fact, the general magazine of stores and necessaries for the fleet, from whence they are shipped off, as occasion requires, to the home yards, the out-ports, and the foreign stations, in store-ships, transports, coasting sloops, lighters, and launches, according to the distance to which they must be sent, to the amount, in time of war, of more than 30,000 tons a-year.

The principal stores deposited in Deptford dock-yard are small cordage, canvas, and ships' sails, to an immense amount; beds, hair for beds, hammocks, slops, and marine clothing; anchors under the weight of about seventy-five hundred, which are generally made by contract, all above that size being manufactured in the Queen's dock-yards.

The great magazines for the reception of these stores consist of a large quadrangular building, with a square in the middle, of three stories in height, with cellars underneath, in which are contained pitch, tar, rosin, and turpentine. The length of each side of these storehouses is nearly the same, differing from a square only by some 18 feet: this length is about 210 feet, but they vary in width from 46 to 24 feet.

Parallel to the west front of this quadrangle is the rigging-house and sail-loft, 240 feet, and nearly 50 feet wide, in which all the rigging is fitted for ships and stowed away, the sails cut out, made, and placed in proper berths for their reception, as well as for various other stores of a smaller kind.

On the eastern extremity of the yard is a long range of building, called the pavilion, in which the beds, hammocks, and slop-clothing are kept, and in which also are the house-

carpenters', the joiners', and wheelwrights' shops. This building is about 580 feet long by 26 feet wide.

The remaining buildings usually appropriated to the different services of a dock-yard are all to be found at Deptford; a good blacksmith's shop, a plumber, glazier, painter shops, seasoning-sheds, store-cabins, saw-pits, mast-house, and pond, boat-houses, mould-loft, timber-berths, besides good houses and gardens for the principal officers, with several coach-houses and stables, so that the whole space is completely filled up in every part.

The number of men employed in this yard, in time of war, may have been about 1500, of whom about one-half were shipwrights and other artificers, and the other half labourers. There were, besides, in constant employ, 18 or 20 teams of 4 each, of horses, to drag timber and heavy stores.

Adjoining to the dock-yard is the victualling yard, the completest establishment of the kind, perhaps, in this or any other kingdom, though still capable of much improvement in the arrangement. Its frontage to the Thames is about 1060 feet, and mean depth 1000 feet, containing about 19 acres. This space is laid out in a more convenient manner than any of the dock-yards, for answering all the purposes which were intended. The general store-houses in front of the wharf wall, the cooperage, the brewery, the butchery, and the bakery, are all separate and complete in themselves; and a mill of such capacity as to grind corn to be made into biscuit sufficient for supplying the whole navy. Besides all the requisite offices for keeping the accounts, there are houses and gardens for eight of the principal officers of the yard.

The cooperage is spacious and well laid out. The staves are all sawed by hand, and this operation employed about 100 sawyers in time of war. Mr Brown of Fulham succeeded in making casks by machinery, by which 17 men in nine hours were able to complete 300 casks, whereas, by the ordinary method, the same number could only complete about 80. The brewery is well arranged, so is the bakery; and the butchery, consisting of a yard for keeping the cattle, with pens for sheep and hogs, two spacious slaughtering-houses, cutting and salting houses, by the abundant supply of water and constant washing, are kept in the cleanest order, and free from any disagreeable smell.

In the salting season 260 carcasses have been slaughtered in each of the two days in the week appropriated to killing, and the hog hanging-house is capable of containing 650 carcasses.

The total number of coopers, sawyers, bakers, and labourers employed during war, in the victualling-yard at Deptford, amounted probably to 1200 or 1300.

Woolwich Dock-yard.—This first and most ancient of the dock-yards presents a frontage to the river of 3680 feet, to which may be added 160 feet timber grove; the breadth now is very irregular, being from 250 to 900 feet. It has two docks with entrance from the river, and one dock with entrance from a large basin. This large basin has likewise an entrance into an inner basin, which is also of considerable size. There are besides three building slips for line-of-battle ships—one for steamers, one for corvettes, one for frigates; besides two smaller slips. There is also a boat pond. With all its imperfections, Woolwich yard, with a complete establishment of artificers, has been of great service both in the building and repairing of ships of all classes. Some of the largest and finest ships in the navy have been launched from Woolwich yard, among which may be mentioned the Nelson and the Ocean in former days, and latterly, the Trafalgar, Agamemnon, and Royal Albert. In fact, it is chiefly as a building yard that Woolwich ought to be considered as of much importance. It is stated in the Eighth Report of the Select Committee on Finance (1818), that "the wharf wall at Woolwich, owing to the action of the tide on

Dock-Yards. the foundation, is in a falling 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." The tides which sweep round the river wall keep a clear way along shore; but the deposits in the basin are considerable each time the caissons are taken out, and the quantity of mud which is periodically removed in barges is a work of labour and great cost to the government.

It was 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 19 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 in some respects 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 are now very far superior to those of Deptford. The new mast-houses and mast-slips, the new mast-ponds, and the houses for stowing yards, topmasts, &c., with the locks under them, are all excellent; and two new and spacious basins complete these great conveniences. The timber-berths are well arranged, and the addition recently made to the western extremity of the yard allow the stacking of several thousand loads of timber, and of classing it according to the purposes to which it may be applicable; the new smithery, and the line of wharf wall has made the dock-yard of Woolwich an important and valuable naval arsenal.

Few of her Majesty's dock-yards have undergone greater improvement in late years than that at Woolwich. It has now got its steam factory, its steam kiln, steam saw-mills, foundry boiler shop, engineers' stores, smithery, &c., which render it very convenient for the repair of steam vessels and for the manufacture of engines.

Woolwich dock-yard seems to be complete in all the usual appendages of artificers, workshops, store-cabinets, offices for the clerks, houses and gardens for the superintendent and 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 20 teams of horses were daily employed in this yard.

One of the four divisions (the 4th, consisting of twenty-five 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 5000 feet in length; the width at the upper end being 400, in the middle 1200, and at the lower end about 800. The superficial contents may be estimated at about ninety-two acres. It has seven building-slips on the front, from which ships are launched into the river, all equal to the building of ships of the line, and three others 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 her 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, which is 1248 feet in length and 47½ feet in width, in which are employed about 250 persons. It is equal to the manufacture of every description of cordage required for the naval service, including the largest size cable, which is equal to 24½ inches. The hemp houses, 306 feet long by 36 feet wide, are equal to the stowage of 1600 tons of hemp and 3000 hauls of yarn. Next to these are the slips and docks, with the working-sheds and artificers' shops close in the rear, an excellent smithery, timber-berths, seasoning-sheds, deal and iron yard, &c.; and beyond these, on the eastern extremity of the yard, the officers' houses and gardens. The superintendent'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-berths, 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.

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 Frindbury 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) was 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 away the pieces 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-five companies, is stationed at Chatham, in excellent barracks, situated near to one of the extremities of the dock-yard. (See article MARINES.)

There was formerly 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 received a supply of provisions and water. The premises are still in existence. The establishment consisted of an agent, clerk of the check, storekeeper, and their respective clerks, which, with the messengers, porters, labourers, &c., amounted to about ninety persons. Ships now obtain their supplies from Deptford or Sheerness, except fresh meat and vegetables, which are obtained on local contracts on demand.

Sheerness Dock-Yard.—The 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 great measure 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, for a considerable time, 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 carried out at Sheerness, is not likely ever again to be revived. The Finance Committee (Eighth Report) say they have learned "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 are of sufficient magnitude to render any establishment at Northfleet wholly unnecessary, by making Sheerness as complete a dock-yard, and perhaps more so, than any other in her Majesty's dominions. Previously to carrying into execution this important undertaking, a committee of engineers and others was appointed, among whom were Watt, Huudart, 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 was below the level of the sea, and the water kept out, as in Holland, by embankments, but is now 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-berths, 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, make the whole area of the dock-yard of Sheerness amount to upwards of fifty acres. The wharf wall on the south side of the basin in front of the 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 con-

Dock-Yards. fined 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 headquarters 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 noble steam basin, which was opened by the Queen in May 1848 with great ceremony, is one of the most important of the recent improvements. The sea wharf-wall of this yard, extending in the direction of north and south along the western shore of the harbour, is about 3900 feet in length, and the mean depth may be 2000 feet; and it incloses an area of more than 100 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 2½ 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-berths 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 £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, rabetting, &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 Brunnell (see BLOCK-MACHINERY), which cannot be regarded without exciting the highest respect for the talents and skill of the inventor.

The northern extremity of the dock-yard is chiefly occupied with seasoning-sheds, saw-pits, and timber-berths,

the working boat-house, and boat store-house. On the eastern extremity are situated the houses and gardens of the superintendent and principal officers of the yard, the chapel, and the royal naval college.

Naval College.—The establishment of a college at Portsmouth for the education of young gentlemen for the navy was first formed in 1729 under the title of the Naval Academy. It contained 40 scholars, the sons of the nobility and gentry. In 1806 it was reorganized under the name of the Royal Naval College, and the number of scholars was raised from 40 to 70; of whom 40 were 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 £72 a-year. The age of admission from twelve and a half to fourteen years. A bond was required to be signed by their friends, in the penalty of £200 for the first class, and £100 for the second class, in the event of any young gentleman being withdrawn from the navy before he had 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 was to be discharged into one of her Majesty's ships, the college time being reckoned two years of the six required to be served to qualify for such a commission. In 1837 the Royal Naval College for the education of young gentlemen for the navy was abolished, and by an order in council of 1838 it was reopened as an establishment for the scientific education of a certain number of officers and mates of the naval service, the latter to have passed both their examinations in seamanship and in navigation, and to remain one year in the college. At the end of six months an examination takes place, and a lieutenant's commission is awarded to the mate who attains the greatest proficiency. A limited number of commissioned officers of any rank are also permitted to study at the college, but no expense is incurred on their account; neither for the mates beyond their sea pay, and a customary allowance in lieu of provisions. The establishment at present consists of a governor (the first lord of the admiralty), a captain superintendent; a professor, mathematical master, instructor of fortification and mathematical drawing, and assistant in the observatory.

Naval Architectural School.—The number of students formerly did not exceed 24. Candidates for admission were 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 were lodged, boarded, and educated, free of all expense, and had the following yearly allowances: First year £25, second £30, third £35, fourth £40, fifth £45, sixth £50, seventh £60. And at the expiration of their apprenticeship they were eligible to all the situations in the shipbuilding department of her Majesty's dock-yards, to be there employed as supernumeraries until regular vacancies might occur; provided the apprentice had completed the plan of education, and was certified by the professor to be properly qualified.

The consolidated establishment of the two foregoing departments consisted of a governor, who was the first lord of the admiralty for the time being; a lieutenant-governor, who was 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 was 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 draw-

ing, dancing, fencing, and the French language, and two sergeants of marine artillery. In addition to these, there was a superintendent of the school for naval architecture, a professional shipbuilder, brought up in one of her Majesty's dock-yards, to instruct the apprentices in the practical parts of shipbuilding. The school for naval architecture has also been abolished; but there is a central mathematical school for apprentices, with a principal at its head.

The professor of the naval college 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. 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.

Victualling Yard.—There were formerly 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 Spithead. The former consisted chiefly of provision-stores and magazines, with a tide-mill and a bakery; at the latter there were 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 Gosport, and the Royal Clarence Victualling Yard is a very fine establishment.

The noble building for the reception of sick and wounded seamen (Haslar Hospital) 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 twenty-seven companies, is stationed at Portsmouth, in barracks, which are inconveniently situated in the town; and eight companies of the royal marine artillery have their headquarters at Fort Monckton, not far from Haslar Hospital. See 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 basin, without gates, whose dimensions are 300 by 290 feet; but the excellent harbour of Hamoaze, on the western bank of which the wharf-wall extends, almost compensates for the want of others, 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. The land front is about 2850 feet. 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 com-

municating 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, alongside 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-berths, 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 ropey 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 refitment 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.

A large addition has been made to Plymouth yard by the fine establishment of Keyham steam factory which adjoins it, with a water frontage of about 1300 feet, and with a steam basin 630 feet by 560 feet, and another in progress 700 feet by 400 feet.

Plymouth Victualling Establishment.—The Royal William Victualling Yard stands on the eastern entrance to Hamoaze, on about eleven acres of ground; adjoining four acres on its south side, on which stand two small forts, and a reservoir containing about 8000 tons of water, which supplies the fleet—the water being brought from Dartmoor.

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-five companies, are stationed at Plymouth. The barracks are conveniently situated at Stonehouse, very airy, and sufficiently spacious. See article MARINES.

Pembroke Dock-Yard.—This dock-yard has been established but a few years comparatively, 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 there is a frontage of about 2350 feet. It has a dock, and 14 building slips, 6 of which are for first-rates. The

Dock-Yards. largest ship of the royal navy, the Duke of Wellington, 131 guns, was launched from this yard.

Other Yards.—In addition to the foregoing, there are several small naval yards—at Deal, Harwich, Leith, and Cove of Cork, as well as at Gibraltar, Malta, Antigua, Jamaica, Halifax, Bermuda, Kingston (Canada), Cape of Good Hope, and Trincomalee.

Dock-Yard Officers.—The management of the dock-yards is intrusted to a superintendent, either a rear-admiral or captain; a master attendant and his assistant; master shipwright and assistant; a store-keeper, store-receiver, and director of police—a force which has only of late years been introduced for the protection of the yards.

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 were formerly placed under the immediate charge of the commissioner, the masters attendant, and other officers of the dock-yard. But a new system has been adopted, both with regard to the fitting of the ships for their better preservation, while thus unemployed (see Dry Rot), and also as to the care and management of them by warrant 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 74-gun ships every year, if the conveniences of the yard admitted them all to be employed on building; but this kind of ship is now supplanted by ships of 120 and 130 guns, requiring a relative increase of hands. 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 regeneration 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.)

Management of the dock-yards, &c.

When Henry VIII. first established a regular king's dock-yard at Woolwich, he appointed a board, consisting of certain commissioners, for the management of all naval 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.)

Commissioners of the navy. The commissioners of the navy then consisted of the vice-admiral of England, the master of the ordnance, the surveyor 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 1618, 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 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

intrusted 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 Dommett, 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 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.

From these reports were established, for the first time, in all 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 expensive, and has given way to other more judicious management.

The management of the dock-yards, and of all the civil affairs of the navy, was formerly intrusted 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 di-

rection 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 L.1000 a-year, that of the comptroller L.2000. The salary of the foreign commissioners L.1200 a-year, except that of the Cape of Good Hope, which was L.1800, and Trincomalee L.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 L.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 director general of the medical department. There is also a director of engineers and architectural works, who superintends all the great works carried on in the dock and victualling yards.

To each of the dock-yards at Deptford, Portsmouth, and Victual-Plymouth, are victualling establishments for supplying the fleet with provisions and water; and also at Cork, Cape of Good Hope, Gibraltar, Malta, Jamaica, Halifax, Trincomalee, and Rio de Janeiro. The victualling board at Somerset House consisted formerly of a chairman and deputy chairman, the former with a salary of L.1200, the latter of L.1000 a-year, and five other commissioners with salaries of L.800 a-year each; a secretary to the board, and a secretary to the committee of accounts; a registrar of securities, and 136 clerks, with salaries varying from L.800 to L.80 a-year, according to their class and length of service. These have all been abolished, and, as before stated, consolidated with the admiralty.

The transport board having been dissolved at the end of the war, its twofold duties were divided between the navy and victualling boards; those which concerned the hiring of transports devolved on the commissioners of the navy, and those which related to the sick and hurt department on the commissioners of the victualling board, on whom also devolves the direction and superintendence of all the naval hospitals at home and abroad. These have also merged in the admiralty.

The principal officers of an established dock-yard, prior to 1833, were, 1. the commissioner; 2. the master attendant; 3. the master shipwright; 4. the clerk of the check; 5. the storekeeper; 6. the clerk of the survey; to which have recently been added the subordinate officers of timber-master, and the master measurer. By the new regulations, the commissioner has been superseded by a superintendent, the clerk of the check and clerk of the survey abolished, as well as the master measurer, and a store-receiver substituted for the timber-master. Many subordinate officers have also been abolished, and the whole system of working the men, keeping the accounts, &c., simplified and amended; and some idea may be collected of the diminution of the expense by the simple fact, that, in the ordinary estimate of the navy for 1817 the establishment of officers in Portsmouth yard was L.50,065, whereas in 1833 it was only L.19,803; and in 1853, L.20,121. To this, however, must now be added the salaries of officers employed in the steam factory, which amount to L.2555.