The British Navy Book

by Cyril Field

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.