The name of this man is Captain Robert Harris; and without some account of his personality and services the story of the Britannia would indeed be incomplete.
He was the son of James Harris, an independent gentleman, of Wittersham Hall, Kent, and was born on July 9th, 1809. He entered the Navy, in 1822, as a “First Class Volunteer,” and went to sea on board the Euryalus, in which vessel he served as a midshipman during the little war with Algiers in 1824; and was at Navarino, also as a midshipman, in the Cambrian, October 20th, 1827, and when she was wrecked, in January, 1828. He returned to England early in 1829, and was borne on the books of the Royal George yacht for some time, during which, however, he was in reality serving in one of her tenders, the Onyx or Pantaloon, on the coast of South America, the West Indies, the coast of Spain, and the Channel. He was promoted to lieutenant May 21st, 1833, and in December of the same year was appointed to the Excellent, recently established as a school of gunnery, at Portsmouth, commanded by Captain (afterwards Admiral Sir Thomas) Hastings, who was always his staunch friend.
CAPTAIN HARRIS.
In 1836 Harris was appointed gunnery lieutenant of the Melville, serving in her under Captains Douglas and Dundas.
He was specially promoted to commander, June 8th, 1841, for his services at the capture of the Bogue Forts, in China, February 26th, 1841. After studying for a time on half-pay at the Royal Naval College, he commanded the Flying Fish in the experimental Brig Squadron, and afterwards on the West Coast of Africa, from 1844 to 1846, subsequently serving in the Ganges, from which he was promoted to captain, October 19th, 1849. He was appointed flag captain to Sir W. F. Martin, in the Prince Regent, in 1851, and left her in 1852.
Two years later Captain Harris received the appointment which he was destined to hold for the long period of eight years—for it was practically continuous, though in two different vessels—and in which he performed the valuable services in connection with which his name is best known in the service.
In 1854, during the Crimean War, Sir James Graham, then First Lord of the Admiralty, conceived the plan of establishing at Portsmouth a training ship for young seamen, in order to provide a better class of men to fill the vacancies in the Fleet. They were shipped under the name of “novices,” and were popularly known as “Jemmy Graham’s novices,” the scheme being probably regarded with some disapprobation, not untinged with ridicule, by many of the old “shellbacks” in the Service—the usual fate of innovations, however well conceived and beneficial. The Illustrious, a two-decker, was appropriated for this purpose, and Captain Harris was placed in command.
He had already, beyond doubt, an excellent reputation at headquarters as a most zealous and capable officer, whose heart was in his work; and he speedily proved that his selection for this special duty was a peculiarly happy one. He possessed in a marked degree the somewhat rare gift of being able to combine with unflinching strictness the power of winning the goodwill of his subordinates; and so zealously and effectually did he perform his office that “Jemmy Graham’s novices” were soon better known as Captain Harris’s seamen, eagerly sought for, when vacancies were to be filled in the Mediterranean, as well-conducted, well-trained lads, requiring but little experience in a sea-going ship to make them efficient able seamen.