It is now well known to every person connected with the navy, that our seamen excel all other nations in gunnery practice as much as they have hitherto excelled them in seamanship. The perfection that has been thus attained is owing to the system pursued on board H. M. S. Excellent, at Portsmouth, where both officers and seamen are daily instructed in the practice as well as the theory of naval gunnery.

When these seamen and officers are sufficiently skilled in this art, they are drafted on board the newly-commissioned ships as gunnery officers and seamen gunners, where they become the instructors of their shipmates ; and hence the crew of a British man-of-war can fire a broadside or a single gun with greater precision than any foreigner. The accuracy in firing on board the Excellent has been so frequently and satisfactorily tested, that no one who has ever witnessed it can be otherwise than surprised and gratified at its remarkable precision. The utility of this establishment has been so perfectly established that the Lords of the Admiralty are holding out inducements to both seamen and officers to join it in order that the navy may be supplied with experienced gunners skilled in the theoretical as well as the practical knowledge of naval gunnery.- London Paper.

SG & SGTL ; Vol 4 ; Page 111.

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