a general name for the navy of a kingdom or state; as also the whole economy of naval affairs; or whatever respects the building, rigging, arming, equipping, navigating, and fighting ships. It comprehends also the government of naval armaments, and the state of all the persons employed therein, whether civil or military.
The history of the marine affairs of any one state is a very comprehensive subject, much more that of all nations. Those who would be informed of the maritime affairs of Great Britain, and the figure it has made at sea in all ages, may find abundance of curious matter in Selden's Mare Clausum; and from his time to ours, we may trace a series of facts in Lediard's and Burchet's Naval History; but above all in the Lives of the Admirals, by the accurate and judicious Dr Campbell.
MARINES, or MARINE Forces, a body of soldiers raised for the sea service, and trained to fight either in a naval engagement or in an action ashore.
The great service of this useful corps was manifested frequently in the course of the war before last, particularly at the siege of Belleisle, where they acquired a great character, although lately raised and hardly exercised in military discipline. At sea they are incorporated with the ship's crew, of which they make a part; and many of them learn in a short time to be excellent seamen, to which their officers are ordered by the admiralty to encourage them, although no sea officer is to order them to go aloft against their inclination. In a sea fight their small arms are of very great advantage in scouring the decks of the enemy; and when they have been long enough at sea to stand firm when the ship rocks, they must be infinitely preferable to seamen if the enemy attempts to board, by raising a battalion with their fixed bayonets to oppose him.
The sole direction of the corps of marines is vested in the lords commissioners of the admiralty; and in the admiralty is a distinct apartment for this purpose. The secretary to the admiralty is likewise secretary to the marines, for which he has a salary of 300l. a-year; and he has under him several clerks for the management of this department.
The marine forces of Great Britain in the time of peace are stationed in three divisions; one of which is quartered at Chatham, one at Portsmouth, and another at Plymouth. By a late regulation, they are ordered to do duty at the several dock-yards of those ports, to prevent embezzlement of the king's stores, for which a captain's guard mounts every day; which certainly requires great vigilance, as so many abuses of this kind have been committed, that many of the inhabitants, who have been long used to an infamous traffic of this kind, expect these conveyances at certain periods as their due, and of course resent this regulation in the highest degree as an infringement of their liberties as British subjects.
The marine corps are under the command of their own field officers, who discipline them, and regulate their different duties. His late majesty in 1760 formed a new establishment of marine officers, entitled, the general, lieutenant-general, and three colonels of marines (one for each division), to be taken from officers in the royal navy. The two first are always enjoyed by flag officers, the last by post captains only. This establishment was formed to reward such officers who distinguished themselves in the service of their country.
MARINE Discipline, is the training up soldiers for sea service, in such exercise as the various positions of the firelock and body, and teaching them every manoeuvre that can be performed on board ships of war at sea. See Exercise.