_Illustrated from Photographs taken under his direction by A. and G.
Taylor, Photographers to the Queen._
Reader, have you been to Grays, the station next to historical
Purfleet, on the London and Tilbury line to Southend? If not, let me
tell you that it is not a large place, nor a nice place either. Still,
this struggling township on the Thames is worth visiting. Almost
within the shadow of its tiny red brick houses lies one of the finest
institutions in England for the making of sailors, and soldiers, and
citizens--for the making of men.
[Illustration: THE "EXMOUTH."]
Proceeding a short distance along the main street towards the river the
traveller will be brought face to face with this civilizing centre. He
will see a huge, bold, sturdy vessel riding proudly upon the ebbing and
flowing tide, moored about a hundred yards off the shore. This splendid
three-decker, of 3,106 tons displacement and with a measurement of
220ft. by 59ft., is London's training ship _Exmouth_.
The vessel's ninety-one portholes still proclaim its original
character--that of a man-of-war; even though her armament consists
now of but two truck and two field pieces, instead of the ninety-one
guns which should be mounted there. Its complement of 600 lads, its
Captain-Superintendent, and staff of officers still more eloquently
testify to its intimate connection with the defences of the
country--with the Navy and the Army, with the development of patriotism
and citizenship. For, from this training ship have gone forth about
5,700 youths, well equipped for the struggle of existence, and not
less well trained to battle with winds and waves and the treachery of
oceans deep. Indeed, of these 5,700 no fewer than 2,106 went to swell
the ranks of the Royal Navy; 446 shipped as ordinary seamen; 1,385 as
deck and cabin boys; 150 as apprentices, and 300 as assistant cooks
and stewards. And again, within the same period, 900 have joined the
Army as band boys; whilst hundreds, once more, embarked with average
fair success upon other occupations, taking to handicrafts, trades,
and industries for which they received their first moral and sound
practical training on board this veteran three-decker.
A large part of the striking prosperity which has attended
the _Exmouth_ is undoubtedly due to the most competent
Captain-Superintendent in Staff-Commander W. S. Bourchier. Entering the
Navy in 1840, as a navigating midshipman on board the _Impregnable_,
this officer had, previous to his appointment to the _Goliath_ in
1870, passed through a school of excellent training. After successive
services as navigating sub-lieutenant, first in the Mediterranean,
on board the _Polyphemus_; then on the south-east coast of America,
on the brigantine _Griffon_, he had (upon being promoted navigating
lieutenant) held the command of the _Myrtle_, steamer-tender to the
flagship, for close on twelve years. And this varied and instructive
career Captain Bourchier had been able to complete by a further service
as navigating lieutenant to the then Captain, now Admiral, Sir Anthony
Hoskins, on board the _Zebra_, engaged upon a lengthy cruise along the
coast of Africa. With so thoroughly trained and experienced an officer
in command the experiment could, therefore, hardly fail to prosper.
[Illustration: CAPTAIN BOURCHIER, HIS DAUGHTER, AND GRAND-DAUGHTER.]
So successful, indeed, has been the training and other educational work
carried on on board this splendid three-decker that the last report of
Admiral Bosanquet, than whom as Inspecting Captain-General of Naval
Training Ships there can hardly be a better authority, may be taken as
typical. In this report he says:--
The training ship _Exmouth_ for boys is in most excellent order.
The drills and instructions are exceedingly well taught, and the
comfort and well-being of the lads is sedulously attended to.
Captain Bourchier's arrangements are admirable and conscientiously
carried out by a very able staff of officers. It is a _model
training ship_.
[Illustration: THE FIRE DRILL.]
[Illustration: AT GYMNASTICS.]
And a model training ship the _Exmouth_ truly is; the brief history
of which, who knows? may be a not unimportant factor in the making of
British history. To appreciate this paradox, reader, you must see this
tiny, yet withal so manly, crew as it was a short time ago my good
fortune to see them when I visited the vessel, piloted by that genial
assistant clerk to the Metropolitan Asylums Board, Mr. John Mallett.
The notice informing the Captain-Superintendent of our intended visit,
I afterwards learned, had reached him but a few minutes previous to
our arrival. Yet the moment we appeared on the landing-stage, the
wind carried to us five notes of an assembly call. This was the only
distinct sign of life on board. But scarcely had it passed by when, as
if by magic, the cutters and whalers, the gigs and pinnaces, and the
launches of the _Exmouth_ were manned and afloat; when on the main and
upper decks, and on the bowsprit, and up the fore, main, and mizzen
masts swarmed Lilliputians to their posts, every tiny man ready to "do
his duty." Though, to be sure, it is not an easy duty these sailor boys
have to perform, for the routine and discipline on board the _Exmouth_
is as that on board a man-of-war, tempered only by a consideration of
the youth of the crew and by the maxim that "kindness leads farther
than harshness."
[Illustration: RIFLE DRILL.]
[Illustration: FENCING DRILL.]
[Illustration: FIELD-GUN DRILL.]
From the early morning, when the bugle calls for the speedy slinging
up of their hammocks on the orlop deck, till late in the evening,
when the general retreat is sounded and the hammock's are once more
unslung, the various boat-crews and classes are kept going. Yet not as
fancy's whim suggests; maxims evolved from sound experience inspire the
educational system on board. For instance, cleanliness is said to be
next to godliness. The two, again, are known to be most conducive to
discipline. At the same time, the strictest observance of these three
precepts is recognised to be absolutely essential to the well-being
of a large floating establishment. In conformity with these truisms,
thorough ablutions and thoughtful religious practices, such as morning
and evening prayers, at which both officers and crew attend, are,
therefore, as prominent features of the training on the _Exmouth_
as is the excellent discipline maintained on board the vessel. The
ablutions, however, are particularly worthy of mention; the process
is so original. There is a huge, broad tank-bath in the lavatory; not
much smaller than a usual-sized swimming bath. Thither the lads proceed
in marching order, though, of course, without any baggage, however
slight; and promptly start to give themselves a wholesome shampoo
with carbolic soap. Being thus lathered they plunge head foremost
into the tank. Diving straight through its full width, with wonderful
agility they then bound over its anything but low side, landing--at
attention--before the officer on watch, ready for inspection as to
their outward cleanliness.
[Illustration: DISMOUNTING FIELD-GUNS.]
[Illustration: LOCATING THE TRUCK-GUNS.]
[Illustration: FIRING THE TRUCK-GUN]
This agility, this precision in the action and decision in the conduct
of the boy-sailors and marines, is noticeable at whatever occupation
they may be. Such perfection is to a great extent due to the lads'
instruction in gymnastics and athletics. As the several illustrations
show, in these they pass through a most comprehensive and systematic
course. They are trained in whatever may tend towards the development
of their muscles. So efficiently are the boys taught, that those whom
I have seen at my visit go through most difficult exercises on the
horizontal and parallel bars and on the spring-board, I would safely
have compete with the best model sections or Masterriegen of Germany's
leading gymnastic societies. Yet the Fatherland is the home and, as it
were, the academy of systematic physical culture! Highly satisfactory,
too, if not truly astonishing, is the perfect manner in which the
Lilliputians on board the _Exmouth_ take to their musketry, bayonet,
and cutlass drill. Reader, you need but look at the illustrating
snap-shots to feel that, when grown up or even before, these lads
will prove men and warriors bold and true should occasion arise.
Indeed, as it is, when witnessing the earnestness and skill with which
each command of the drill-masters is executed, you soon fancy to be
face to face with a company of marines--veterans in the exercise of
arms--although, in fact, they are a company of mere boys, rescued from
the streets and recruited from the workhouses. And as veterans in arms
they behave at gun drill. At mounting or dismounting field-pieces,
at charging or discharging the truck-guns, they are equally smart.
How well the crews are trained, both in the use of rifle, cutlass,
and cannon, and in their more extensive and complicated application
to military tactics, is demonstrated by the photos, illustrating a
sham-fight between a party of sailors and an imaginary enemy. It can be
seen at a glance that the proceedings are looked upon by the boys as
something more than an amusing intermezzo in their daily routine; with
them it is a serious lesson to be learned seriously.
[Illustration: SHAM-FIGHT]
[Illustration: AMBULANCE DRILL.]
However, the champions of disarmament and the advocates of peace must
not assume that the training ship's youthful crew is reared up only in
the spirit of militarism, and instructed only in the manifold defensive
and offensive uses of the weapons of war. The picture showing the boy
sailors and marines engaged upon Samaritan work, carried out with a
promptitude and circumspection of which a master in surgery need not be
ashamed, would already disprove their assumption. Yet, they may feel
further assured that these principles of assisting the suffering are
not confined in their educational operation to the mere bandaging and
nursing of the wounded. These are inculcated into the mind and heart
of the lads by many other methods, and applicable to many and far
different situations.
For, hand in hand with their military training, the wards of the
Metropolitan Asylums Board receive the benefit of moral training and a
sound elementary education under the able direction of Mr. W. Hollamby,
the head schoolmaster on board the vessel. This education, in spite
of a rather small staff, considering the hundreds of pupils, is not
only equal to that provided at any Metropolitan Board School, but it
aspires, justifiably, because successfully--even beyond--at a higher,
more comprehensive, more thorough-going instruction, excellent though
teaching in London's Board Schools frequently is.
[Illustration: BRIGANTINE "STEADFAST."]
Nor is the industrial side forgotten in the system of training on the
_Exmouth_. Tailoring, carpentering, painting, sail and net-making,
and so on, are part of the trades the boys have to learn and to prove
efficient at. Indeed, most of the extensive and often difficult repairs
constantly necessary to the three-decker, to her many boats, and to the
boys' own outfits, are done by the latter, and done by these youngsters
remarkably well, as, reader, you will see for yourself, if your
good fortunes ever ship you to the _Exmouth_. I say advisedly "good
fortunes," because there is a healthiness, a breeziness about the ship,
about its captain, officers, and numerous crew which truly smacks of
the free, wholesome, bracing sea, and which cannot fail to act upon the
visitor from the town as an excellent nerve-tonic.
[Illustration: MUSICAL DRILL.]
This healthiness, this breeziness, as it were, this sea-atmosphere is,
however, easily accounted for by the very nature, by the very purpose
of the vessel. Is not the aim of the education, of the training, on
board the _Exmouth_ above all to produce sailors of the type of those
who have made England what she is to-day--the Queen and the beneficent
Ruler Of the Oceans and the foremost colonizing and civilizing Power
on earth? Naturally, to achieve this aim the tasks which devolve alike
upon instructors and instructed are manifold and heavy. How many
thousand and one details have to be taught--and learned? How many
thousand and one minute elements are necessary to the making of genuine
seamen of these boys? As kindly paymaster, Mr. A. Thompson, puts it in
his "_Exmouth_ Song":--
They are to be bothered with splice and knot,
With heads and hitches and I don't know what;
So many, they can't tell t'other from which;
Nor a double Matthew Walker from a plain clove hitch.
[Illustration: AT MESS.]
But it quickly comes all right; the instructors and the lads' hearts
are in their work. Thus:--
They very soon pass a torn-i-key (tourniquet)
As well as any Captain in the Queen's Navee.
Sometimes, to be sure; a more practical lesson, which brings the matter
truly home, is wanted. As for instance when:--
They go for a pull, and whilst afloat,
Catch a crab that knocks them down in the boat.