they all-far from it-British subjects. No doubt we have always had a large number of foreign seamen in our Merchant Service, some of them very good men; but the best of these men now remain with their own ships, or in their own country, and a large proportion of those we now obtain are the worst description of foreigners.

The sad mutinies on board of the Lennie and the Caswell reveal, with terrible conspicuousness, the state of too many of the crews of our merchantmen, and the kind of men we are too frequently obliged to engage. To their improvement we must look before we can hope to obtain any increase in our Reserves for the Royal Navy. The crews of the Lennie and Caswell were, no doubt, and it is sincerely to be hoped they were, great exceptions to the general rule; but British sailors, while they have decreased in number in proportion to our ships, and deteriorated in seamanship, have not improved either morally or socially to the same extent as other classes of the community, or to what might have been anticipated, considering the progress of knowledge and the means which have been placed at their disposal. Nor have they, I fear, improved in their habits of economy and sobriety, arising in a great measure from the fact that while legislation, on the one hand, has of late years made extraordinary efforts to provide for their comfort and safety at sea and their well-being and protection on shore, it has, on the other, by maintaining, contrary to the usage in all other branches of trade, the pernicious system of advance notes, encouraged extravagance as well as immorality and vice, and above all promoted the one great proverbial failing of British seamen, drunkenness, and that, too, at the very time (on leaving port) when sobriety is most essential for the safety of the property under their charge and the preservation of life. Considering their increased pay, and greatly superior provisions and accommodation, it was only natural to expect that there would have been

corresponding improvements in themselves. But besides maintaining, to the injury of all parties, the pernicious system of advance notes, we have neglected their education and their training, and to these causes may be attributed most of the difficulties which now exist, both as regards their inefficiency in the Merchant Service and the scarcity of supplies to constitute what the Commission considered ample War Reserves for the Royal Navy.

Within the last few years labour has been so scarce that this no doubt, combined with the demand for shipping which existed a year or two ago, has increased the scarcity of seamen, who found more remunerative employment on shore, either as riggers and stevedores, or as labourers in mines, at home and abroad. These causes are, however, only temporary. The true cause of the scarcity, when it exists, may be attributed chiefly to the fact that we are not training, in an efficient manner, a sufficient number of boys for service at sea; even in the present very depressed state of shipping, there is not anything like a full supply of really good seamen who know their duty, and are ready to perform it.

The natural avidity of our youths for seafaring pursuits is as great now as it ever was; but we have abolished all means of encouraging, or even of securing, the necessary training. We now engage boys for the voyage instead of, as formerly, for a term of years, and though neither the employer nor employed may think so, the custom we now pursue is alike detrimental to the interests of both, while it has swept away what ought to be, in a country like this, the chief reliable means of national defence. Now these, by some means or other, must be restored, if we hope to maintain our high maritime position. How that is to be done is a question very difficult of solution, but it is one of no ordinary importance to us-far more so than to any other nation.

To this question the recent Royal Commission on

REPORT COMMISSION ON UNSEAWORTHY SHIPS.

45

Unseaworthy Ships, directed its attention as a part of the subject into which its members had to inquire-viz., the supply of well-trained lads for the Merchant Service, and the development and maintainance of the Naval Reserve. They tacitly admitted that the system of compulsory apprenticeship, abolished in 1849, and which many shipowners desired to restore, although opposed by others interested in steamships, had been the means of securing for the Merchant Service a supply of trained seamen, and they add that "the increased employment of steamers has diminished the opportunities for training sailors," and that "although steam vessels engaged in the coasting trade, and in short voyages, attract many of the best men, they train up few for the service."

They remark that different schemes had been suggested to supply this acknowledged evil: firstly, compulsory apprenticeship; secondly, training-ships; thirdly, a combination of both schemes. "This last plan," they state, may be understood from the following outline," which I give at length

66

"It is proposed that every vessel above 100 tons register, whether propelled by sail or steam, should be required to carry apprentices in proportion to her tonnage (the number to be fixed hereafter), or to pay a small contribution annually (such as 6d. per ton register); this sum to be applied towards the maintenance of training-ships in all the principal ports of the United Kingdom. The apprentices should, it is said, be indentured at or about the age of fourteen to the master of the training-ship for five years, and after serving in this ship for one or two years, the indenture should be transferred to any shipowner who would be willing to take the apprentice, and with whom the apprentice might be willing to serve until the completion of his term. In order that these trainingships might fit boys for service at sea, a small vessel should, it is suggested, be attached to each ship, so that,

with other instruction, the habit of a sea-life might be acquired. These school-ships should be inspected, and receive grants from the State according to their efficiency.

"In the Report of the Commission on Manning the Navy, in the year 1859, training-ships were proposed to be maintained at the public expense.

"The cost of every boy so trained was estimated at £25 a-year. This sum would be increased by the additional cost of sailing tenders, and without this preparation for a sea-life shipowners would not so readily take the boys.

"The system of apprenticeship undoubtedly affords the best means of training boys for a service in which fitness can only be acquired during early life, and if shipowners were willing to contribute, as suggested above, it would, in our opinion, be a wise policy for the Government to aid these industrial schools of the Mercantile Marine.

"Some of the most respectable shipowners take apprentices, and from among these apprentices they frequently choose officers, so that this system must have worked well. It is said, however, to be a drawback to the system that there is a practical difficulty in getting quit of a disorderly and worthless apprentice. As it is desirable to encourage the system of apprenticeship, this inconvenience should be remedied.

"As this scheme for schools and apprentices must depend upon the support which it may receive from the shipowners, we have not entered further into the details of the plan. The number of lives entrusted to British ships, and the annual value of property afloat, impress us with the importance of securing, so far as possible, not only that the ships shall be seaworthy, but that seamen shall also be well trained and disciplined for the Merchant Service.

"The system of training boys for the Royal Navy has been successful, and if a somewhat similar plan could be

adopted for the Mercantile Marine the sailors and shipowners would be benefited, while many sources of danger to the Merchant Service would be diminished or removed.” I have now brought under the notice of my readers, in as brief a form as is consistent with perspicuity, all the plans which have been adopted, or submitted for consideration, by Commissioners and other official persons appointed to inquire into the question of manning during the last two centuries. From these a good deal of useful information may be obtained, such, indeed, as may enable persons interested in this important national question (and who is not?) to render their aid in supplying what is still required.

66

Hereafter I shall examine the recent proposals of the Commissioners on Unseaworthy Ships, which have not yet been adopted; nor, so far as I am aware, have they been fully considered by Government. In dealing with the great social question of what is to be done with our street arabs," or with other destitute boys, who, if not dealt with and educated, must become a pest to society, I shall endeavour to show (though I am aware that many of my readers entertain an entirely contrary opinion) that, without disturbing, to any material extent, the existing institutions, public or private, or increasing our present expenditure, those boys might be made valuable auxiliaries to our Merchant Service, and the number of trained seamen retained in this country thus increased to an extent that would provide at all times, and under any circumstances, ample Reserves for the Royal Navy when their services were there required.