+=========================+===+=================+===+
YCaptains or Commodores Y 50YPassed MidshipmenY181Y
+-------------------------+---+-----------------+---+
YMasters Commandant Y 50YMidshipmen Y227Y
+-------------------------+---+-----------------+---+
YLieutenants Y279YSailing-Masters Y 27Y
+-------------------------+---+-----------------+---+
YSurgeons Y 50YSail-makers Y 25Y
+-------------------------+---+-----------------+---+
YPassed Assistant SurgeonsY 24YBoatswains Y 22Y
+-------------------------+---+-----------------+---+
YAssistant Surgeons Y 33YGunners Y 27Y
+-------------------------+---+-----------------+---+
YPursers Y 45YCarpenters Y 26Y
+-------------------------+---+-----------------+---+
YChaplains Y 9Y Y Y
+=========================+===+=================+===+
The pay of these officers is on the following scale. It must be
observed, that they do not use the term "half pay;" but when unemployed
the officers are either attached to the various dockyards or on leave.
I have reduced the sums paid into English money, that they may be better
understood by the reader:
+======================================================+===+
YSenior captain, on service Y960Y
+------------------------------------------------------+---+
YOn leave i.e. half-pay Y730Y
+------------------------------------------------------+---+
YCaptains, squadron service Y830Y
+------------------------------------------------------+---+
YNavy Yard and other duty, half pay Y730Y
+------------------------------------------------------+---+
YOff duty, ditto Y525Y
+------------------------------------------------------+---+
YCommanders on service Y525Y
+------------------------------------------------------+---+
YNavy-yard and other duty, half pay Y440Y
+------------------------------------------------------+---+
YOn leave, ditto Y380Y
+------------------------------------------------------+---+
YLieutenants commanding Y380Y
+------------------------------------------------------+---+
YNavy-yard and other duty, half pay Y315Y
+------------------------------------------------------+---+
YWaiting orders, ditto Y250Y
+------------------------------------------------------+---+
YSurgeons, according to their length of servitude, fromY210Y
+------------------------------------------------------+---+
YTo Y500Y
+------------------------------------------------------+---+
YAnd half pay in proportion Y Y
+------------------------------------------------------+---+
YAssistant Surgeons, from Y200Y
+------------------------------------------------------+---+
YTo Y250Y
+------------------------------------------------------+---+
YChaplains; sea service Y250Y
+------------------------------------------------------+---+
YOn leave, half pay Y170Y
+------------------------------------------------------+---+
YPassed midshipmen, duty Y156Y
+------------------------------------------------------+---+
YWaiting orders, half pay Y125Y
+------------------------------------------------------+---+
YMidshipmen; sea service Y 33Y
+------------------------------------------------------+---+
YNavy-yard and other duty, half pay! Y 72Y
+------------------------------------------------------+---+
YLeave, ditto! Y 63Y
+------------------------------------------------------+---+
YSailing-masters; ships of the line Y228Y
+------------------------------------------------------+---+
YOther duty, half pay Y200Y
+------------------------------------------------------+---+
YLeave, ditto Y156Y
+------------------------------------------------------+---+
YBoatswains, carpenters, sailmakers, and gunners Y Y
+------------------------------------------------------+---+
YShips of the line Y156Y
+------------------------------------------------------+---+
YFrigate Y125Y
+------------------------------------------------------+---+
YOther duty, half pay Y105Y
+------------------------------------------------------+---+
YOn leave, ditto Y 75Y
+======================================================+===+
The navy yard at Washington, in the district of Columbia, is situated on
the eastern branch of the Potomac, contains thirty-seven acres, and cost
4,000 dollars. In this yard are made all the anchors, cables, blocks,
and almost all things requisite for the use of the navy of the United
States.
The navy-yard at Portsmouth, near Norfolk in Virginia, is situated on
the south branch of Elizabeth river contains sixteen acres, and cost
13,000 dollars.
There is also a navy-yard at Pensacola in Florida, which is merely used
for repairing ships on the West India station.
It will be perceived by the above list how very much better all classes
in the American service are paid in comparison with those in our
service. But let it not be supposed that this liberality is a matter of
choice on the part of the American government; on the contrary, it is
one of necessity. There never was, nor never will be, anything like
liberality under a democratic form of government. The navy is a
favourite service, it is true, but the officers of the American navy
have not one cent more than they are entitled to, or than they
absolutely require. In a country like America, where any one may by
industry, in a few years, become an independent, if not a wealthy man,
it would be impossible for the government to procure officers if they
were not tolerably paid; no parents would permit their children to enter
the service unless they were enabled by their allowances to keep up a
respectable appearance; and in America everything, to the annuitant or
person not making money, but living upon his income, is much dearer than
with us. The government, therefore, are obliged to pay them, or young
men would not embark in the profession; for it is not in America as it
is with us, where every department is filled up, and no room is left for
those who would crowd in; so that in the eagerness to obtain respectable
employment, emolument becomes a secondary consideration. It may,
however, be worth while to put in juxtaposition the half-pay paid to
officers of corresponding ranks in the two navies of England and
America:
+=====================================================+=======+=======+
YOfficers YAmericaYEnglandY
+-----------------------------------------------------+-------+-------+
YHalf-pay post-captains, senior, on leave Y Y Y
+-----------------------------------------------------+-------+-------+
Ycorresponding to commodore or rear-admiral in EnglandY 730Y 456Y
+-----------------------------------------------------+-------+-------+
YPost captains off duty - that is duty on shore Y 730Y Y
+-----------------------------------------------------+-------+-------+
YOn leave Y 525Y 191Y
+-----------------------------------------------------+-------+-------+
Ycommanders off sea duty Y 440Y Y
+-----------------------------------------------------+-------+-------+
YIn yards and on leave Y 380Y 155Y
+-----------------------------------------------------+-------+-------+
YLieutenants, shore duty Y 315Y Y
+-----------------------------------------------------+-------+-------+
YWaiting orders or on leave Y 250Y 90Y
+-----------------------------------------------------+-------+-------+
YPassed midshipmen, full pay Y 156Y 25Y
+-----------------------------------------------------+-------+-------+
YHalf-pay Y 125Y 0Y
+-----------------------------------------------------+-------+-------+
YMidshipmen, full pay Y 83Y 25Y
+-----------------------------------------------------+-------+-------+
YHalf-pay Y 63Y 0Y
+=====================================================+=======+=======+
My object in making the comparison between the two services is not to
gratify an invidious feeling. More expensive as living in America
certainly is, still the disproportion is such as must create surprise;
and if it requires such a sum for an American officer to support himself
in a creditable and gentlemanlike manner, what can be expected from the
English officer with his miserable pittance, which is totally inadequate
to his rank and station! Notwithstanding which, our officers do keep up
their appearance as gentlemen, and those who have no half pay are
obliged to support themselves. And I point this out, that when Mr Hume
and other gentlemen clamour against the expense of our naval force, they
may not be ignorant of one fact, which is, that not only on half-pay,
but when on active service, a moiety at least of the expenses
necessarily incurred by our officers to support themselves according to
their rank, to entertain, and to keep their ships in proper order, is,
three times out of four, paid out of their own pockets, or those of
their relatives; and that is always done without complaint, as long as
they are not checked in their legitimate claims to promotion.
In the course of this employment in the Mediterranean, one of our
captains was at Palermo. The American commodore was there at the time,
and the latter gave most sumptuous balls and entertainments. Being very
intimate with each other, our English captain said to him one day, "I
cannot imagine how you can afford to give such parties; I only know that
I cannot; my year's pay would be all exhausted in a fortnight." "My
dear fellow," replied the American commodore, "do you suppose, that I am
so foolish as to go to such an expense, or to spend my pay in this
manner; I have nothing to do with them except to give them. My purser
provides everything, and keeps a regular account, which I sign as
correct, and send home to government, which defrays the whole expenses,
under the head of _conciliation_ money." I do not mean to say that this
is requisite in our service: but still it is not fair to refuse to
provide us with paint and other articles, such as leather, etcetera,
necessary to fit out our ships; thus, either compelling us to pay for
them out of our own pockets, or allowing the vessels under our command
to look like anything but men-of-war, and to be styled, very truly, a
disgrace to the service. Yet such is the well-known fact. And I am
informed that the reason why our admiralty will not permit these
necessary stores to be supplied is that, as one of the lords of the
admiralty was known to say, "if we _do not_ provide them, the captains
_most assuredly will_, therefore let us save the government the
expense."
During my sojourn in the United States I became acquainted with a large
portion of the senior officers of the American navy, and I found them
gifted, gentleman-like, and liberal. With them I could converse freely
upon all points relative to the last war, and always found them ready to
admit all that could be expected. The American naval officers certainly
form a strong contrast to the majority of their countrymen, and prove,
by their enlightened and liberal ideas, how much the Americans, in
general, would be improved if they enjoyed the same means of comparison
with other countries which the naval officers, by their profession, have
obtained. Their partial successes during the late war were often the
theme of discourse, which was conducted with candour and frankness on
both sides. No unpleasant feeling was ever excited by any argument with
them on the subject, whilst the question, raised amongst their "free and
enlightened" brother citizens, who knew nothing of the matter, was
certain to bring down upon me such a torrent of bombast, falsehood, and
ignorance, as required all my philosophy to submit to with apparent
indifference. But I must now take my leave of the American navy, and
notice their merchant marine.
Before I went to the United States I was aware that a large proportion
of our seamen were in their employ. I knew that the whole line of
packets, which is very extensive, was manned by British seamen; but it
was not until I arrived in the states that I discovered the real state
of the case.
During my occasional residence at New York, I was surprised to find
myself so constantly called upon by English seamen, who had served under
me in the different ships I had commanded since the peace. Every day
seven or eight would come, touch their hats, and remind me in what
ships, and in what capacity, they had done their duty. I had frequent
conversations with them, and soon discovered that their own expression,
"We are all here, sir," was strictly true. To the why and the
wherefore, the answer was invariably the same. "Eighteen dollars
a-month, sir." Some of them, I recollect, told me that they were going
down to New Orleans, because the sickly season was coming on; and that
during the time the yellow fever raged they always had a great advance
of wages, receiving sometimes as much as thirty dollars per month. I
did not attempt to dissuade them from their purpose; they were just as
right to risk their lives from contagion at thirty dollars a-month, as
to stand and be fired at a shilling a day. The circumstance of so many
of my own men being in American ships, and their assertion that there
were no other sailors than English at New York, induced me to enter very
minutely into my investigation, of which the following are the
results:--
The United States, correctly speaking, have no common seamen, or seamen
bred up as apprentices before the mast. Indeed a little reflection will
show how unlikely it is that they ever should have; for who would submit
to such a dog's life (as at the best it is), or what parent would
consent that his children should wear out an existence of hardship and
dependence at sea, when he could so easily render them independent on
shore? The same period of time requisite for a man to learn his duty ay
an able seaman, and be qualified for the pittance of eighteen dollars
per month, would be sufficient to establish a young man as an
independent, or even wealthy, land-owner, factor, or merchant. That
there are classes in America who do go to sea is certain, and who and
what these are I shall hereafter point out; but it may be positively
asserted that, unless by escaping from their parents at an early age,
and before their education is complete, they become, as it were, lost,
there is in the United States of America hardly an instance of a white
boy being sent to sea, to be brought up as a foremast man.
It may be here observed that there is a wide difference in the
appearance of an English seaman and a portion of those styling
themselves American seamen, who are to be seen at Liverpool and other
seaports; tall, weedy, narrow-shouldered, slovenly, yet still athletic
men, with their knives worn in a sheath outside of their clothes, and
not with a lanyard round them, as is the usual custom of English seamen.
There is, I grant, a great difference in their appearance, and it
arises from the circumstance of those men having been continually in the
trade to New Orleans and the South, where they have picked up the
buccaneer airs and customs which are still in existence there; but the
fact is, that, though altered also by climate, the majority of them were
Englishmen born, who served their first apprenticeship in the coasting
trade, but left it at an early age for America. They may be considered
as a portion of the emigrants to America, having become in feeling, as
well as in other respects, _bona fide_ Americans.
The whole amount of tonnage of the American mercantile manner may be
taken, in round numbers, at 2,000,000 tons, which may be subdivided as
follows:
+===============+==========+
Y YRegisteredY
+---------------+----------+
Y YTons Y
+---------------+----------+
YForeign trade Y 700,000Y
+---------------+----------+
YWhale fishery Y 130,000Y
+---------------+----------+
YEnrolled Y Y
+---------------+----------+
YCoasting trade Y 920,000Y
+---------------+----------+
YSteam Y 150,000Y
+---------------+----------+
YCoast FisheriesY 100,000Y
+---------------+----------+
YTotal Y 2,000,000Y
+===============+==========+
The American merchant vessels are generally sailed with fewer men than
the British calculate five men to one hundred tons, which I believe to
be about the just proportion. Mr Carey, in his work, estimates the
proportion of seamen in American vessels to be 44 to every one hundred
tons, and I shall assume his calculation as correct. The number of men
employed in the American mercantile navy will be as follows:--
+===============+======+
Y YMen Y
+---------------+------+
YForeign trade Y30,333Y
+---------------+------+
YWhale fishery Y 5,000Y
+---------------+------+
YCoasting trade Y39,000Y
+---------------+------+
YSteam Y 6,500Y
+---------------+------+
YCoast fisheriesY 4,333Y
+---------------+------+
YTotal Y85,790Y
+===============+======+
And now I will submit, from the examinations I have made, the
proportions of American and British seamen which are contained in this
aggregate of 85,799 men.
In the foreign trade we have to deduct the masters of the ships, the
mates, and the boys who are apprenticed to learn their duty, and rise to
mates and masters (not to serve before the mast). These I estimate
at:--
+==============================================+=====+
YMasters Y1,500Y
+----------------------------------------------+-----+
YMates Y3,000Y
+----------------------------------------------+-----+
YApprentices Y1,500Y
+----------------------------------------------+-----+
YDitto, co'ld men, as cooks, stewards, etceteraY2,000Y
+----------------------------------------------+-----+
YTotal Y8,000Y
+==============================================+=====+
which, deducted from 30,333, will leave 22,333 seamen in the foreign
trade; who, with a slight intermixture of Swedes, Danes, and, more
rarely, Americans, may be asserted to be all British seamen.
The next item is that of the men employed in the whale fishery; and, as
near as I can ascertain the fact, the proportions are two-thirds
Americans to one-third British. The total is 5,633; out of which 3,756
art Americans, and 1,877 British seamen.
The coasting trade employs 39,000 men; but only a small proportion of
them can be considered as seamen, as _it_ embraces all the internal
river navigation.
The steam navigation employs 6,500 men, of whom of course not one in ten
is a seaman.
The fisheries for cod and herring employ about 4,333 men; they are a
mixture of Americans, Nova Scotians, and British, but the proportions
cannot be ascertained; it is supposed that about one-half are British
subjects, i.e. 2,166.
When, therefore, I estimate that the Americans employ at least _thirty
thousand of our seamen_ in their service, I do not think, as my
subsequent remarks will prove, that I am at all overrating the case.
The questions which are now to be considered are, the nature of the
various branches in which the seamen employed in the American marine are
engaged, and how far they will be available to America in case of a war.
The coasting trade is chiefly composed of sloops, manned by two or three
men and boys. The captain is invariably part, if not whole, owner of
the vessel, and those employed are generally his sons, who work for
their father, or some emigrant Irishmen, who, after a few months
practice, are fully equal to this sort of fresh-water sailing. From the
coasting trade, therefore, America would gain no assistance. Indeed,
the majority of the coasting trade is so confined to the interior, that
it would not receive much check from a war with a foreign country.
The coast fisheries might afford a few seamen, but very few; certainly
not the number of men required to man her ships of war. As in the
coasting trade, they are mostly owners or partners. In the whale
fishery much the same system prevails; it is a common speculation; and
the men embarking stipulate for such a proportion of the fish caught as
their share of the profits. They are generally well to do, are
connected together, and are the least likely of all men to volunteer on
board of the American navy. They would speculate in privateers, if they
did anything.
From steam navigation, of course, no seamen could be obtained.
Now, as all service is voluntary, it is evident that the only chance
America has of manning her navy is from the thirty thousand British
seamen in her employ, the other branches of navigation either not
producing seamen, or those employed in them being too independent in
situation to serve as foremast men. When I was at the different
seaports, I made repeated inquiries as to the fact, if ever a lad was
sent to sea as foremast-man, and I never could ascertain that it ever
was the case. Those who are sent as apprentices, are learning their
duty to receive the rating of mates, and ultimately fulfil the office of
captains; and it may here be remarked, that many Americans, after
serving as captains for a few years, return on shore and become opulent
merchants; the knowledge which they have gained during their maritime
career proving of the greatest advantage to them. There are a number of
free black and coloured lads who are sent to sea, and who, eventually,
serve as stewards and cooks; but it must be observed, that the masters
and mates are not people who will enter before the mast and submit to
the rigorous discipline of a government vessel, and the cooks and
stewards are not seamen; so that the whale dependence of the American
navy, in case of war, is upon the British seamen who are in her foreign
trade and whale fisheries, and in her men-of-war in commission during
the peace.
If America brings up none of her people to a seafaring life before the
mast, now that her population is upwards of 13,000,000, still less
likely was she to have done it when her population was less, and the
openings to wealth by other channels were greater: from whence it may be
fairly inferred, that, during our continued struggle with France, when
America had the carrying trade in her hands, her vessels were chiefly
manned by british seamen; and that when the war broke out between the
two countries, the same British seamen who were in her employ manned her
ships of war and privateers. It may be surmised that British seamen
would refuse to be employed against their country. Some might; but
there is no character so devoid of principle as the British sailor and
soldier. In Dibdin's songs, we certainly have another version, "True to
his country and king," etcetera, but I am afraid they do not deserve it:
soldiers and sailors are mercenaries; they risk their lives for money;
if is their trade to do so; and if they can get higher wages they never
consider the justice of the cause, or whom they fight for. Now, America
is a country peculiarly favourable for those who have little conscience
or reflection; the same language is spoken there; the wages are much
higher, spirits are much cheaper, and the fear of dejection or
punishment is trifling: nay, there is none; for in five minutes a
British seaman may be made a _bona fide_ American citizen, and of course
an American seaman. It is not surprising, therefore, that after sailing
for years out of the American ports, in American vessels, the men, in
case of war, should take the oath and serve. It is necessary for any
one wanting to become an American citizen, that he should give notice of
his intention; this notice gives him, as soon as he has signed his
declaration, all the rights of an American citizen, excepting that of
voting at elections, which requires a longer time, as specified in each
state. The declaration is as follows:--
"That it is his _bona fide_ intention to become a citizen of the United
States, and to renounce forever all allegiance and fidelity to any
foreign power, potentate, state, or sovereignty whatever, and
particularly to Victoria, the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, to whom he is now a subject." Having signed this
document, and it being publicly registered, he becomes a citizen, and
may be sworn to as such by any captain of merchant vessel or man-of-war,
if it be required that he should do so.
During the last war with America, the Americans hit upon a very good
plan as regarded the English seamen whom they had captured in our
vessels. In the daytime the prison doors were shot and the prisoners
were harshly treated; but at night, the doors were left open: the
consequence was, that the prisoners whom they had taken added to their
strength, for the men walked out, and entered on board their men-of-war
and privateers.
This fact alone proves that I have not been too severe in my remarks
upon the character of the English seamen; and since our seamen prove to
be such "Dugald Dalgettys," it is to be hoped that, should we be so
unfortunate as again to come in collision with America, the same plan
may be adopted in this country.