The Manning of a Ship
"We're sober men and true,
And quite devoid of fe-ar.
In all the Royal N.
There are none so smart as we are.
When the wind whistles free
O'er the bright blue sea
We stand to our guns all da-ay;
When at anchor we ride
By the starboard side,
We've plenty of time for play."
--_H.M.S. "Pinafore"._ W. S. Gilbert.
AT the beginning of our naval story we found our fleets composed of
rowing-vessels, fought and commanded by soldiers. Then came a time--the
viking period--when fighting-ships were manned and fought by warriors
who were emphatically "soldiers and sailors too". In battle their
dragons and long-serpents relied mainly on their oars, but the sail
began to take a much more important position than before, and the oars
were not pulled by slaves but by the crew proper, all of whom were
fighters. In the period that followed, the sail--in northern waters at
any rate--continued to grow in importance, till in the biggest ships it
entirely ousted the oars.
Then arose the professional sailor. Ships carried but a few sails, so
that comparatively few men were required to handle them, and the
fighting-men on board and the commanders of ships and squadrons were
once more soldiers. When the fully rigged ship arrived--in Tudor
times--the sailor element naturally was considerably increased, and, the
heavy gun making its appearance on shipboard at about the same time,
the "gunners" seem to have been taken from that class rather than from
the soldiers, who formed about half the ship's company. But in the royal
ships the supreme command was always in the hands of a military officer,
till the successes gained by the privately-equipped ships commanded by
men like Drake and Frobisher introduced a new type of distinctly naval
officer. But he did not supersede the military ship-commander much
before the time of William III. Up to that time ships seem to have had
sometimes a soldier, like Blake, in command and sometimes a sailor, like
Sir George Rooke and others.
The latter is a good example of what may be called the transition
period, because he, like Sir Cloudesley Shovel and many other
sea-commanders, had a commission in the Duke of York and Albany's
Maritime Regiment, instituted in 1664 and generally accepted as being
the ancestor of the present corps of Royal Marines. But it seems
possible that there must have been an idea underlying the institution of
this regiment of sea-soldiers that has never been explained. The key to
it may perhaps be found in the oft-repeated reference to marine
regiments at this period as "nurseries for the fleet". The idea did not
work, as the men trained as soldiers did not volunteer to become sailors
to an appreciable extent; but in my own opinion there was more in the
idea than this. It must be remembered that at this time there was a
great controversy as to the most suitable officers to command our
war-ships. The "gentleman captains", who were in many cases soldiers,
but often merely courtiers, clung tenaciously to their position, and the
Court influence at their back enabled them to stand their ground. But at
the same time the claims of the real sailors--the "tarpawlins", as they
were called--who were neither soldiers nor gentlemen, were being more
and more recognized by the public, and grew stronger and stronger. And
they certainly had a very strong case. They could themselves sail,
navigate, and fight their ships, while the other class had to have
"masters" to do everything but the fighting for them.
It seems possible that the intention of those responsible for the
raising of the "Maritime Regiment", the men of which were indifferently
referred to as "marines" or as "mariners", was not only to provide the
nucleus of a disciplined personnel, but to produce a corps of officers
who, while retaining a military status, would yet be professional
seamen. It was an experiment, but not on a sufficiently comprehensive
scale, to transform the ill-paid, ill-treated, and ill-fed seamen of the
day into a loyal, contented and disciplined body, or to supply a
sufficient number of "gentleman-tarpawlins" to command our ships and
fleets. A large number of these officers did do so, but quite as many
continued to serve as soldiers, some afloat in command of marines, and
many others in the army.
As time went on, things adjusted themselves, and before the eighteenth
century had progressed very far the sailor came into his own. The "days
of oak and hemp" were at their zenith. Our men-of-war were commanded by
officers who were thorough seamen, able to handle their ships under sail
themselves, though masters who were navigation experts still remained.
Their crews were composed of two distinct classes--seamen and
marines.[74] The former were, as before, still recruited for the
commission only, while the latter were enlisted for a fixed period of
service.[75] The best seamen, nevertheless, made a regular profession of
the navy, going from one ship to another as they were paid off and
commissioned. If they made an occasional trip to sea in a merchantman or
privateer between whiles, that by no means impaired their professional
ability, and the "prime seamen" of those days were the finest sailors in
history. Unfortunately their number, for various reasons, was somewhat
limited, and a ship's company, especially if she or her commander bore a
bad name afloat, had to be completed by all kinds of people. Even the
marines, regularly enlisted men as they were, were by no means always of
the same calibre.
According to our apparently interminable national practice, we always
began our wars shorthanded in this as well as in every other militant
service, and recruits had on these occasions to be sent on board in the
rawest stages of their training. Yet, in spite of all these drawbacks,
look at the victories our navy won in those glorious days! Good, bad, or
indifferent, sailor or marine, the men were all true Britons when the
time came to "strike home" for King and Country, just as their gallant
descendants have proved themselves in the Great European War. As the
nineteenth century progressed, and our navy had no big wars on hand, the
seaman element by no means deteriorated. The professional sailor was
forthcoming in sufficient numbers to man our navy in peace-time or in
minor operations, and there was no necessity to send untrained marines
afloat. Steam had made its appearance, but it was far from superseding
sail-power. The executive were still sailors, heart and soul, and had no
hankering after soldiering and drill ashore. All the same, the
sailing-masters were still retained, and seemed to be indispensable.
Admiral John Moresby, in his interesting work entitled _Two Admirals_,
which relates his own and his father's naval experiences from 1786 to
1877, gives the following account of the naval officers of 1847:--
"The officers, with few exceptions, were content to be practical seamen
only. They had nothing whatever to do with the navigation of the ship or
the rating of the chronometers. That was entirely in the hands of the
master, and no other had any real experience or responsibility in the
matter. I may instance the case of a captain whose ship was at Spithead.
He was ordered by signal to go to the assistance of a ship on shore at
the back of the Isle of Wight. In reply he hoisted the signal of
'Inability: the master is on shore.' 'Are the other officers on board?'
he was asked. He answered 'Yes,' and to the repeated order, 'Proceed
immediately,' he again hoisted 'Inability', and remained entrenched in
his determination until a pilot was sent to his assistance."
If a "practical seaman" was so dependent on his master as this he would
not appear to have been much of an improvement on the soldier-captains
of earlier times. It seems a most extraordinary position, and it is
almost as extraordinary that now, when sailoring proper is a thing of
the past, we may be quite certain that no captain in His Majesty's
service would hesitate to get under way on receipt of an order to go to
the assistance of a ship in distress, whether the navigating officer was
on board or not. But, probably on account of the long period of peace
which had followed after Waterloo, neither our navy nor army was in such
a high state of efficiency as it had been earlier in the century or is
at the present minute. The Crimean War broke like a thunder-clap on our
peace-organized forces. We know what terrible times our gallant soldiers
went through before Sebastopol on account of deficiency of commissariat,
equipment, and every other aid to efficiency which ought to have been in
readiness, but which, in fact, had no existence. We commissioned a fine
fleet for the Baltic, but it practically effected nothing, and we had
the greatest difficulty in manning it.
"Public opinion", writes Admiral Moresby, "resented the revival of the
press-gang; therefore the only alternative was the offer of a large
bounty, and by this means the ships were filled with counter-jumpers and
riff-raff of all sorts, and rarely a sailor amongst them. What this
meant only those who had to do the necessary slave-driving can tell....
In the _Driver_ ... we may have had twenty seamen as a nucleus. The rest
were long-shore fellows, and when Admiral Berkley came on board and told
us that the Russians were at sea, and probably in a few days we should
be in action, there was a strong dash of anxiety in our satisfaction."
So short were we of men that I have been told by an officer who served
in that fleet that had it not been for the coast-guardsmen and marines
it would never have been ready for sea. "On board the _St. Jean
d'Acre_," said this officer, "we had a splendid crew, thanks to the
popularity of Harry Keppel: the work of fitting out from a mere hulk was
done by the Royal Marines with a small number of seamen-gunners from the
_Excellent_ and some boys. The officers at Portsmouth and other places
raised men _who would not join until the hard work was over_." But good
arose out of this evil, which was so patent that it could not be
overlooked by anyone. The usefulness of the seamen-gunners and Royal
Marines pointed the way to a remedy. The marines were a permanent force;
the seamen-gunners were on the spot and under naval discipline. It was
determined to institute an equally permanent establishment of
bluejackets. The creation of this force was the most momentous and
beneficial step ever taken by the Admiralty, and to it we owe the
magnificent body of trained seamen who have done such yeoman service to
the country during the war. Where should we have been without it?
Imagine the disasters which would have befallen us if, as at the
outbreak of the Crimean War, we had had to hunt up crews for our fleet
after the 4th of August, 1914! As it was, everything went "on wheels",
as the saying is. The Grand Fleet was ready and other ships were put
into commission without the least delay or hitch in the smooth running
of our mobilization for war. Reserves were so plentiful that a residuum
of both bluejackets and marines was available as the nucleus of the
Royal Naval Division, which was soon recruited up to a high figure.
It is not too much to say that the end of the Crimean War saw the
beginning of our modern naval forces, with the exception of the Royal
Marines, who had been in existence as a naval force under the Admiralty
ever since 1755, and the later instituted Royal Naval Reserve, Royal
Fleet Reserve, and Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. It may be noted, in
passing, that the first-mentioned reserve consists of men in the
merchant service, who, seamen by profession, receive a training in
gunnery and other matters connected with naval warfare, and are paid an
annual retaining-fee, which renders them liable to be called up for
service when required.
The Royal Fleet Reserve consists of both bluejackets and marines, who,
having served for twelve years on the active list, are permitted to
transfer to this force. They receive a small daily rate of pay, and have
to undergo a short revision of their drills annually. The last-mentioned
reserve has been in existence on and off under one name or other for a
considerable number of years. In 1861 Captain Vernon of the 4th Cinque
Ports Artillery Volunteers at Hastings instituted a so-called "marine
company" in his regiment, which wore a semi-naval uniform and was
drilled at naval guns. From this small beginning grew in time the Royal
Naval Artillery Volunteers, first formed in 1873, which assumed
considerable proportions and had branches at every important seaport.
This corps was eventually abolished because the naval authorities did
not quite see how men who in very many cases had at most but "a bowing
acquaintance" with Father Neptune could well be utilized afloat. This
decision was a great blow to its members, who were very proud of their
voluntary duties, and after a time the Admiralty was strongly pressed by
those interested in the movement to resuscitate it. Hence the Royal
Naval Volunteer Reserve was created.[76]
The bluejacket of the present day is better termed a seaman than a
sailor, since sails are non-existent in the navy except in boats.[77]
Besides, his official rating is seaman--ordinary seaman, able seaman,
&c. Some writers in journals dealing with naval matters have coined the,
to me, objectionable-sounding name of "fleetman". This may answer for a
comprehensive term, including seamen, marines, and stokers, writers and
other auxiliary branches of the service, but they might all be equally
well classed together as seamen or mariners, since there is little if
any difference nowadays between the time each branch spends afloat.
There are big naval barracks now at our ports as well as marine
barracks, and bluejackets often spend there as much time as, or more
time than the marine does in his barracks.
The outstanding difference between the ship's company of to-day and of
past centuries is that it is composed entirely of trained men. There are
no "landsmen" and odds and ends of humanity pitchforked on board to
complete the number of the company. Seamen, marines, and stokers all are
specially instructed in their own line of business before they appear on
board a ship in commission. The same holds good in the case of their
officers. No more boys of nineteen are appointed captains on account of
family connections; no more are officers of marines appointed from line
regiments or even from the cavalry, as they were in days gone by. It is
only fair to say that we must go back a long way to find cases of this
sort, for as regards its officers the navy has been a permanent
profession for centuries, though its seamanhood was not in the same
position before the middle of the last century.
What our naval officers and men are to-day in their work and duties is
best demonstrated by a glance at the crew of a modern man-of-war in
commission. First and foremost, of course, is the captain, not
infrequently referred to by those under his command as the "skipper",
"the Old Man", or sometimes as the "Owner". His rule may be termed a
benevolent despotism. He can no longer be the tyrant that he
occasionally was "in the days of wood and hemp", and has no desire to be
anything of the kind. He is far too much of a gentleman and a good
fellow. But there can be little limitation to his monarchy or the
machine would not work. He lives somewhat apart from his subjects,
having his meals in lonely state, and only occasionally comes into the
ward-room, in which most of the ship's commissioned officers live and
move and have their being. The sub-lieutenant's, midshipmen's, junior
engineer officers', assistant paymasters', and clerks' mess is known as
the gun-room. In the old days what is now the ward-room was called the
gun-room, and what is now the gun-room, the midshipmen's berth. It is
probable that this enforced seclusion is one of the worst trials of the
captain's greatness, since he has spent the whole of his previous
service afloat in the _camaraderie_ and good-fellowship of the ward-room
and gun-room. At sea he passes a great portion of his time on the
bridge, and in most ships has a special sea-cabin in its close
proximity. He is the supreme court of justice on board, and as he can
dispense punishment up to ninety days' imprisonment with hard labour
"off his own bat", it must be a pretty bad case, or one in which an
officer is concerned, that he has to send before a court martial.
This should be remembered when, as is sometimes the case, comparisons
are drawn in the Press between the numbers of courts martial in the
naval and military services, or between those held on the men of the
navy and on those of the marines. A naval court martial is a very big
affair, only resorted to on rare occasions, while in the army, besides
the general court martial, which may be ranked with the naval court,
there are district and even regimental courts martial, the latter very
small affairs, composed of three junior officers, which deal with
offences which in the navy would probably be settled off-hand, if not
by the commander, at any rate by the captain. When marines are serving
ashore in their barracks they come under army rules, so that the
proportion of courts martial held on a given number of marines must
always be expected to be greater than in the case of a similar number of
bluejackets or stokers. No comparison as to good conduct or otherwise
can therefore be instituted along these lines.
The captain of a ship, being in supreme command, exercises a general
supervision over his ship and all that it contains, and is, of course,
directly responsible to the admiral under whom he is serving and to the
Admiralty for its condition both as to material and personnel. But the
second in command--the "commander"--addressed by the courtesy title of
"captain" also--may be regarded as the managing man. He lives, or rather
has his meals, in the ward-room. As to where he actually _lives_, it may
be said to be everywhere on board except in his own cabin. He is perhaps
the hardest-worked man in the ship. Up at daylight, he is engaged in
running the whole show till he goes the rounds at 9 p.m. to see that
everything and everybody is properly settled down for the night. He
draws up a regular daily and weekly routine, which he personally sees is
regularly carried out. He "tells off" the "hands" for this, that, and
the other duties, and sees that everyone is at his proper station at
"general quarters" for action, fire quarters, collision stations, and
many another "evolution". He holds a daily court of justice, and either
deals with the defaulters who have been "shoved in the rattle", i.e. put
in his report, himself, or in more serious cases passes them on to the
higher court--the captain. In most ships there is yet a minor court,
held by the senior officer of marines on his own men. His powers are yet
more limited, and if after investigation he finds that they will not
admit a sufficient punishment for an offence, he takes the offender
before the commander. In some ships he is empowered by the captain to
bring such cases directly to him.
In spite of the commander's hard work, he has little to grumble at, nor,
I believe, does he ever do so, except in the ordinary conversational way
we all do at times, when we "let off steam". For he knows that, unless
he is very unfortunate in his "skipper", he has his promotion in his own
hands. He is showing what he is made of, and once he succeeds in
negotiating the big jump to captain's rank he is assured of going right
on to admiral, even if he is not fortunate enough to "hoist his flag" in
command of a squadron or fleet. He has the relative rank of a
lieutenant-colonel in the army, and is almost invariably a much younger
man, probably from thirty to thirty-five years of age, and can take and
bear the strain of his position.
After the commander the lieutenants. Of these in a battleship three or
four are lieutenant-commanders, and five or six lieutenants. The senior
of these is known as the first lieutenant, or, less officially, as "No.
1". In smaller ships they are, of course, fewer. One of these will be
the gunnery lieutenant, another navigating lieutenant, and a third
torpedo lieutenant. The remainder are classed as watch-keepers, in which
duty they are now assisted when in harbour by the officers of marines
belonging to the ship. As everyone knows, the day and night on board
ship are divided into periods of four hours, known as "watches", except
for the "dog watches" of two hours apiece. They run as follows:--
NAME. TIME. BELLS.
Middle watch ... Midnight to 4 a.m. ... 8 to 8
Morning watch ... 4 a.m. to 8 a.m. ... 8 to 8
Forenoon watch ... 8 a.m. to noon ... 8 to 8
Afternoon watch ... noon to 4 p.m. ... 8 to 8
1st Dog watch ... 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. ... 8 to 4
2nd Dog watch ... 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. ... 4 to 8
First watch ... 8 p.m. to midnight ... 8 to 8
The bell is struck, generally by the marine sentry posted nearest to it,
or the corporal of the gangway, every half-hour, after reporting the
time to the officer of the watch, and being instructed to "make it so".
Thus at 8.30 in the morning he strikes it once, at 9 twice--two strokes
quickly following each other; at 9.30 three times--two quick strokes, an
interval, and a single stroke--and so on up to eight bells struck in a
succession of double strokes. There is also "little one bell", a gentle
stroke five minutes after midnight for the watch to "fall in". The dog
watches have stood from time immemorial, in order to change the men of
the night watches every twenty-four hours. Otherwise the same men would
always be keeping the same watches. Some men would always be on at night
and others in the daytime. By dividing the 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. watches into
two halves--the "first" and "second" dog watches--the rotation is
changed, so that men come on watch at fresh periods. There is said to be
a tradition that the origin of the word "dog" is "dodge", and that they
were originally known as "dodge watches", the reason being obvious. But
I should be sorry to vouch for the accuracy of this statement.
The officer of the watch is practically in command of the ship for the
time being. He has to deal with any sudden emergency himself; there may
very probably be no time to refer to the captain, even if it is
advisable to do so. He keeps his watch on the fore-bridge, and sees that
the quartermaster at the wheel keeps the ship upon her proper course. He
takes observations from time to time, and is entirely responsible--under
the captain--for the safety of the ship and all on board. All sorts of
reports have to be made to him from time to time, and he makes or sends
any necessary reports to the captain.
The lieutenants have charge of their "divisions", which may be said to
correspond to the companies of a regiment; have to inspect them at
morning and evening parades, known respectively as "divisions" and
"evening quarters", and are responsible for their men's clothing being
uniform and kept up to the regulation quantities. They have many other
incidental duties, such as boarding ships coming into harbour as
"officer of the guard", going ashore in charge of men for drill,
musketry, and other miscellaneous work of which space precludes the
merest mention.
The gunnery lieutenant is, of course, responsible for the guns and
gunnery of the ship, which includes the musketry and infantry drill of
the seamen and stokers. The torpedo lieutenant, as his name implies, has
charge of the torpedoes and their tubes and the mining gear, and it is
his business to see that they are all kept in proper working order and
in instant readiness for action. In addition, he has entire charge of
the electric lighting and wireless telegraphy.
The navigating lieutenant has taken the place of the old "master", but
is not, as he was, outside the executive line. His duty is to lay off
the course for the ship, take her position at various times during the
day by "shooting the sun" with his sextant, keep the chronometers wound
up, and take general charge of the navigation of the ship. Following the
order taken in the Navy List of the officers of a ship, we come to that
very important personage the engineer commander. In some sort he
occupies a similar position to the old sailing-masters in the days when
ships were commanded by soldiers. The ship couldn't get along without
the special engineering knowledge of this officer and his understudies
any more than William the Conqueror could have got across Channel
without Stephen FitzErard, his sailing-master.
We may note, in passing, that to this day the executive ranks of the
navy always call themselves the "military branch". They are, of course,
the "militant" branch, though in one sense no one on board a ship in
action can help being a militant too.
The engineering branch, at any rate, stands as good a chance of
casualties as even the executive or marine portions of the ship's
complement, and it is perhaps partly for this reason that its officers
have recently been allowed to wear the much-prized executive "curl" of
gold lace on their sleeves. The engineer commander has charge of all the
engines on board, the number of which runs to several dozen, for besides
the big main engines for propelling the ship there are smaller engines
for almost every conceivable purpose. There are engines to work the
steering-gear, the winches and hoists, the dynamos to produce electric
light, for the magazine refrigerating machinery, and many others, to say
nothing of those in the steamboats belonging to the ship. He and the
carpenter are also responsible for the hull of the ship, the expenditure
and replenishment of coal and oil, and goodness knows how many other
things! To assist him in all this mass of work and responsibility he has
two or three engineer lieutenants and a number of artificer engineers,
engine-room artificers, mechanicians, chief stokers, and, in a big ship,
hundreds of stokers.
[Illustration: UNIFORMS OF THE ROYAL MARINES
Gunner, R.M.A. Colour-Sergeant, R.M.L.I. Major, R.M.A.]
The duty of senior engineer lieutenant is no sinecure either, since he
occupies much the same position in regard to his chief as the commander
does to the captain of the ship. The remaining engineer lieutenants keep
watch down in the engine-room in the same way as the other lieutenants
do on deck.
Still following the order of the Navy List, we come to the officers of
marines. In the old days there were, perhaps, five or six of these in a
line-of-battleship, but the biggest "Dreadnought" of to-day never
carries more than two, unless, perhaps, there is another one attached to
the admiral's staff--supposing it to be a flagship--for special duties
in connection with the Intelligence Department, &c. Generally in a
flagship there is a major and a subaltern. Of the two, one, probably,
will be a marine artilleryman. Other big ships will have a captain and a
subaltern, and in smaller ones a captain or subaltern alone. Their
duties are considerably more onerous than they used to be, since they
are wisely made of much more use in the general work of the ship,
instead of being relegated to the unsatisfactory rôle of being "lookers
on at life".
The major is, of course, responsible for the conduct, drill, and
military efficiency of his detachment, which may number about 100 men,
but he has, in addition, to inspect those of other ships in the squadron
or fleet from time to time, and to command and drill the marines of the
fleet when landed together for drill or tactical instruction. He or the
captain of marines in another ship has charge also of the gunnery of his
men, who are told off to man some of the guns in the ship, and may very
possibly be himself stationed in one of the control-positions in time of
action. He also commands the detachment when drawn up as a guard of
honour to receive the admiral or any distinguished visitor who is
entitled to this mark of distinction. His subaltern assists him
generally with the detachment, visits the sentries from time to time
during the night and day, keeps his turn of watch in harbour and of
officer of the guard, drills and looks after the marine guns, and not
infrequently acts as assistant gunnery or torpedo officer. All this is
very different from the old days, when the captain or major of marines
was popularly supposed to spend his time on the stern lockers practising
the flute, and when on arrival in harbour it was considered to be a near
thing as to whether he or the "killick"[78] touched the ground first.
The Church takes the next place, in the shape of the chaplain, generally
a great acquisition to the mess. The "padre" or "sky pilot" requires to
be a man of considerable tact, and generally speaking he is. He has to
be on more or less friendly terms with everyone fore and aft, or he
would find it difficult to carry out his spiritual duties effectively.
On the other hand, I may fairly say that it is his own fault if, in this
respect, he is not met more than half-way both by his messmates in the
ward-room and by the "lower deck".[79] He reads prayers at divisions or
morning parade, visits the sick-bay and cells, superintends the
instruction given by the ship's schoolmaster, and, of course, carries
out divine service on Sundays. Sometimes he occupies the post of naval
instructor in addition to his strictly clerical duties, and in that
capacity instructs the midshipmen in various more or less scientific
subjects, such as applied mathematics and navigation, &c., and generally
musters his pupils on deck with their sextants at noon to take their
observations and work out the exact position of the ship. He and the
paymaster often look after the men's savings-bank, and make themselves
useful in other small matters connected with the interior domestic
economy of the ship and her ward-room mess.
[Illustration: _Photo. Cribb, Southsea_
THE 13.5-INCH GUN: SOME IDEA OF ITS LENGTH
Thirteen midshipmen seated upon this monster naval gun seem to emphasize
its length. Sixteen of our super-Dreadnoughts each carry eight or ten
13.5-inch guns. They settled the fate of the _Blücher_ in the Dogger
Bank fight, and sent the other German ships back to port shattered and
on fire.]
The fleet surgeon, with one or two surgeons, has entire charge of the
health of both officers and men. His special domain is the "sick-bay",
generally situated forward, so that the sick get the freshest air, and
he is assisted in his duties by a staff of sick-berth stewards and
sick-berth attendants. He is an autocrat in his way, as not even the
captain can traverse his decisions as to health or disease. He makes a
daily report of the officers and men on the sick-list to the captain,
and arranges that one of his surgeons is always at hand in case of
accidents. In action he and his staff and what extra assistants can be
spared arrange a place down below the armoured deck where they can do
what is possible for the wounded that are passed down to them. But in
these days, when guns are closed up in separate turrets and casemates,
it is not too easy a business to arrange for the transport of these poor
fellows.
The fleet paymaster is another non-combatant--so far as it is possible
for anyone to be so classed on a ship-of-war--and has the responsible
duty of looking after the pay, accountant, and clerical work of the
ship, stores of all kinds, and many other matters of a like nature,
including "slops" or clothes for the ship's company. The paymaster line
has no curl on the sleeve and wears white cloth between the gold stripes
of rank. The surgeons also have plain stripes, but with scarlet cloth
between them. The engineers wear purple between their stripes, and the
naval instructors sky-blue, but this is rarely seen, since most naval
instructors are also chaplains and wear the ordinary clerical rig.
Personally I have never set eyes on the sky-blue.
This about finishes the list of ward-room officers, but those in the
gun-room are at least as numerous. The autocrat of the gun-room is the
senior sub-lieutenant, who is supposed to rule his subjects with a rod
of iron, or, to be more exact, a leather dirk scabbard, which at times
forms a useful and effective instrument of justice. In the gun-room live
the midshipmen, clerks, and assistant-engineer officers, and their
duties have, generally speaking, been already indicated in describing
those of the senior officers of the various branches to whom they are
assistants and understudies. But a word or two about the midshipmen--the
"young gentlemen" as they are generally called--will not be out of
place. They have plenty to do. They have to keep watch like their
seniors, and one important, though unofficial, part of a watch-keeping
midshipman's duties used to be to brew and bring up a cup of cocoa to
the officer on the bridge in the middle watch. But this is probably now
an exploded custom. A midshipman generally has charge of one of the
boats, and takes great pride in keeping it and its crew well up to the
mark. The "young gentlemen" drill under the gunnery lieutenant before
breakfast, work with the chaplain or naval instructor during the
forenoon, and at any moment must be ready to go away in charge of their
boats. Every midshipman is expected to keep a daily "log", which is
periodically inspected by the captain. Some of them take the greatest
pains not only to make their logs models of neatness, but to decorate
them with sketches, drawings, and plans, often of considerable merit and
interest. This is but a very partial and fragmentary account of the
duties of the boys from whom our future admirals and commanders-in-chief
will be recruited, but it is time this chapter was drawing to a close,
and we cannot leave our ship without at least mentioning a few other
people who, though not commissioned officers, are yet of very great
importance in her interior economy.
[Illustration: _Photo. Cribb, Southsea_
6-INCH GUN DRILL: THE BREECH OPEN]
First and foremost there are the warrant officers, pre-eminent among
whom are the boatswain, gunner, and carpenter, three time-honoured
titles. The first-named may be regarded as the commander's right-hand
man, and has multifarious duties and responsibilities. The duties of the
other two are sufficiently indicated by their titles. Then there are
engineer warrant officers, and of late years marine warrant officers
known as "Royal Marine gunners". The "sergeant-major" of marines, which
is the courtesy title borne by the senior non-commissioned officer of
the corps on board, is also a man of considerable importance on a
man-of-war. Then there are the chief petty officers, and petty officers
such as the yeoman of signals, the chief quartermaster, chief
boatswain's mate, and many others, together with sailmaker, blacksmiths,
armourers, electricians, coopers, cooks, bandsmen, plumbers, and all
kinds of ratings whose presence on board His Majesty's ships and vessels
of war is little suspected by the man in the street. Then there is the
ship's police, headed by the master-at-arms or "jaundy".[80] These men
are recruited from all branches of the navy, and perform much the same
duties as the "bobby" on shore, look after the prisoners in cells, and
are supposed to detect all irregularities that may take place on board
and to bring the delinquents to justice.
If a ship is a flagship there is naturally a more important personage on
board than any of the officers whose ranks and duties have been
detailed--the admiral in command of the fleet or squadron. He may be
a full admiral--the highest rank employed afloat--a vice-admiral, or a
rear-admiral, the difference in rank being indicated by the number of
stripes on the cuff of his coat, placed above the lower very wide stripe
of gold lace. Thus a rear-admiral has one narrow stripe above it, with
the executive curl, a vice-admiral two additional narrow ones, and an
admiral three. The admiral lives in a regular suite of cabins, generally
right aft, consisting of a dining-room or fore-cabin, a sitting-room or
after-cabin, and two or three sleeping cabins. The captain of a flagship
is known as the flag-captain, and he, with the flag-lieutenant,
secretary, and sometimes an officer of marines, form the admiral's
staff. All these officers are distinguished from the rest of the
officers in the squadron by wearing aiguillettes. The captain, of
course, has to command his ship like other captains, but the secretary,
who is a staff-paymaster or paymaster told off for this special duty, is
the admiral's right-hand man as regards the tremendous amount of paper
work connected with the command of a fleet or squadron. The
flag-lieutenant is the admiral's personal aide-de-camp and so is
specially to the fore, both in the big man's inspections of ships and
naval establishments and in social duties and functions. He is also an
authority in connection with signalling in its various branches, and
necessarily and generally a smart young man all round. He and the
secretary mess at the admiral's table and not in the ward-room. A
man-of-war, it will be realized, even from this necessarily very brief
attempt to describe those who make their "home on the rolling deep" on
board her, is a little world in herself.
FOOTNOTES:
[74] Except between 1713 and 1739, when there were no marines.
[75] "Fixed" is, perhaps, not the right word to use. Up to and including
part of the nineteenth century, marines and soldiers seem to have been
enlisted for an indefinite period--for as long or short a time as the
Government chose to keep them.
[76] The Royal Naval Artillery Volunteers were disbanded in 1892 on the
report of a Committee of which the late Admiral Sir George Tryon was
president. The report said: "The corps of Royal Naval Artillery
Volunteers is composed of men who have not, as a rule, practical
acquaintance with the sea, but are attracted by sympathy and aspiration.
The Committee suggest that there are grounds for maintaining that a
Volunteer Force affiliated to the Royal Marine Artillery--from the
system of training and discipline that would be established--would be a
far more permanently valuable force than any so-termed naval force in
which are enrolled men not inured to sea-life and who have no sufficient
practical experience at sea, which experience cannot be given by
Government under any volunteer system we can devise."
[77] The bluejacket of to-day, by the way, often refers to himself as a
"Matlow" or a "Flat-foot", while the marines are often termed
"Leather-necks".
[78] i.e. the anchor
[79] i.e. the ship's company.
[80] Said to be a corruption of _gendarme_.