But improvement was not confined to the strength of the ships. It had long been an imputation upon the British, that their ships of war were, generally speaking, very indifferent sailers. As one means of obviating this, it was determined to give to the ships greater length, in proportion to their breadth, than had hitherto been customary in the English dock-yards. The raising of the lower batteries of the two and three decked ships, with a due regard to their proper stability, was also an improvement, and no slight one, in the higher rates that were constructing.

Towards the end of November, 1794, a new scale was drawn up, by order of the board of admiralty, for arming the navy with carronades ; and this establishment, unlike that of 1779, was made compulsory on the part of the ships coming forward to be fitted. But still, as a captain might generally, on a special application, have the whole or any less number of his long guns exchanged for an equal number of additional carronades ; and, as many ships, from continuing at sea, underwent no change in their armament until long subsequent to the date of the order, little use can be made of it in the way of a general guide. A whole, although a small class of vessels had been armed throughout, except for chase-guns, with 18-pounder carronades ; a great accession of force, undoubtedly, as vessels of the size in question could only have borne an equal number of 3, or at most of 4 pounders. Two instances occur in the year 1794, where carronades of the highest caliber were employed : the 74-gun ship Albion, and 64 Nonsuch, on being fitted as floating batteries, were armed, the one with twenty-eight, the other with twenty 68-pounders. †

During the year 1794, an alteration took place in the established complements of British ships of war. The order in council directing it bears date on the 16th of April ; but as the alteration could scarcely take effect throughout the navy before the end of the year, we have deferred any notice of it till now. The order purports to direct a reduction in the complement of every ship in the British navy : complements, as we have elsewhere observed, already much lower than those allowed in any other naval establishment. But the reduction, in truth, was merely nominal ; as few if any of the "servants," forming so large a proportion of the old complements, were ever on board the ship to which they were attached. They were nearly as much men of straw, as the widows' men that, even now, are absurdly reckoned as part of the complement of a British ship of war. These servants were to be replaced by about three-fourths as many boys, who were to be actually on board. A fifth of these boys was to consist of young gentlemen volunteers, intended for officers, and who were not to be under 11 years of age. The second class was to consist

* See p. 34.

† See notes f* and n*, Annual Abstract No. 3.

^ back to top ^