Whilst we have efficient military volunteers enough to form a grand army, our naval volunteers do not number more than the contingents for a couple of large vessels. There are scarcely more than a thousand of the latter, and only three stations. London, Liverpool, and Brighton divide the honour between them of possessing corps. The writer believes that he will be doing a service to many young men—who in their turn may do good service for their country—in briefly detailing the conditions and expenses of joining. In a very short period of time the members have become wonderfully efficient, and the sailor-like appearance of the men is well illustrated by the fact, that at a recent reception at the Mansion House a number of them were taken for men-of-war’s men, and so described in several daily journals. Their prowess is illustrated by the prizes distributed by Lady Ashley, at the inspection of the 1st London Corps, in the West India Docks, on February 9th last. Badges were won by the gunner making the best practice with the heavy gun at sea, and by the marksman making the greatest number of points with the rifle. The “Lord Ashley challenge prize,” for the best gun’s crew at sea, was won by fourteen men of No. 2 battery, who fired forty-two rounds at 1,300 yards in thirty-seven minutes, scoring 411 points out of a possible 504 points. The official report says:—“that further [pg 233]comment on the men or their instructor is superfluous.” The list included rifle, battery, and boating prizes.
The Royal Navy Artillery Volunteers are raised under an Act passed in 1873, and are directly subject to the authority of the Admiralty. They may be assembled for actual employment, their duties then consisting of coast or harbour service. They are not required to go aloft, or to attend to the engine fires, but in regard to berthing and messing must conform to the arrangements usual with seamen. The force is formed into brigades, each brigade consisting of four or more batteries, of from sixty to eighty men. Each brigade has a lieutenant-commander, and each battery a sub-lieutenant, chief petty officer, first and second-class petty officers, buglers, &c., while the staff includes a lieutenant-instructor, first-class petty officer instructor, surgeon, bugle-major, and armourer. Those desiring to join a corps should communicate with the Secretary of the Admiralty. The annual subscription to the 1st London Corps is one guinea, while each member has to provide himself with two white frocks, one blue serge frock, one pair of blue trousers, one blue cloth cap, &c., black handkerchief, flannel, knife, lanyard, and monkey-jacket, costing in the neighbourhood of six pounds. When on a cruise, in gunboat, the volunteer requires in addition serge trousers and jumpers, flannel shirt, towels, and brush and comb, [pg 234]canvas bags, &c. The officers’ uniforms are the same as those of the Royal Navy, with the exception of silver, for the most part, taking the place of gold. It is more expensive to join the naval than the military volunteers, and the class composing the corps are generally well-to-do young men, a large number of them employed in shipping offices, and mercantile pursuits connected with the sea.
The drills consist of practice with great guns, rifle, pistol, and cutlass exercises. “Efficient” volunteers are entitled to a badge, while men returned five times as efficient may wear one star, and those returned ten times two stars, above said badge. Every volunteer must attend at least two drills a month, until he has obtained the standard of an “efficient.” When on actual service, the Royal Naval Artillery Volunteers will receive the same pay, allowances, and victuals as those of relative rank in the navy, and when embarked on any of Her Majesty’s ships for more than forty-eight hours, in practice, will either be victualled or receive a money compensation. The cruises in gun-boats, &c., usually last ten days, and the vessel visits many of the Channel ports, &c., more especially off points where gun practice is practicable. A volunteer wounded, either on drill or in actual service, is entitled to the same compensation as any seaman in the navy would be under similar circumstances, and if killed his widow (if any) to the same gratuities out of the Greenwich Hospital Funds as would a Royal Navy seaman’s widow. Members who are able to take advantage of the cruise in gun-boats must have attended drill regularly for three months previously. It must be remembered that each man costs the Government from £8 to £10 for the first year, in the expenses incurred in great gun and other practice; and it is therefore made a point of honour to those joining that they will devote sufficient time to their drills to make themselves thoroughly efficient.
The London Naval Artillery Volunteers have a fine vessel, the President, now in the West India Docks, on which to exercise, while to accustom them to living on board ship, the old Rainbow, off Temple Pier, is open to them, under certain conditions, as a place of residence. A number avail themselves of this: sleep on board in hammocks, and contribute their quota of the mess expenses. The writer is the last to decry other manly exercises, such as cricket, foot-ball, racing, or pedestrianism, but naval volunteering has the advantage of not merely comprising a series of manly exercises, but in being directly practical and specially health-giving.
And to prevent the need of impressment, the Government did well in establishing the Royal Naval Reserve. The latest estimates provided £140,000 for the year; the number, which at present is about 20,000 men, is not to exceed 30,000. The service is divided into two classes: the first class consisting of seamen of the merchant service, and the second, fishermen on the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland. Both divisions are practical sailors, and the value of their services in a time of war would be inestimable. They are required to drill twenty-eight days in each year, for which they receive about £6 per annum, and sundry allowances for travelling, &c. The former class can be drilled at our stations abroad, so that a merchant seaman is not necessarily tied to England, or to mere coasting trade.
CHAPTER XIV.
The Reverse of the Picture—Mutiny.
Bligh’s Bread-fruit Expedition—Voyage of the Bounty—Otaheite—The Happy Islanders—First Appearance of a Mutinous Spirit—The Cutter Stolen and Recovered—The Bounty sails with 1,000 Trees—The Mutiny—Bligh Overpowered and Bound—Abandoned with Eighteen Others—Their Resources—Attacked by Natives—A Boat Voyage of 3,618 miles—Violent Gales—Miserable Condition of the Boat’s Crew—Bread by the Ounce—Rum by the Tea-spoonful—Noddies and Boobies—“Who shall have this?”—Off the Barrier Reef—A Haven of Rest—Oyster and Palm-top Stews—Another Thousand Miles of Ocean—Arrival at Coupang—Hospitality of the Residents—Ghastly Looks of the Party—Death of Five of the Number—The Pandora Dispatched to Catch the Mutineers—Fourteen in Irons—Pandora’sBox—The Wreck—Great Loss of Life—Sentences of the Court Martial—The Last of the Mutineers—Pitcairn Island—A Model Settlement—Another Example: The greatest Mutiny of History—40,000 Disaffected Men at one point—Causes—Legitimate Action of the Men at First—Apathy of Government—Serious Organisation—The Spithead Fleet Ordered to Sea—Refusal of the Crews—Concessions Made, and the First Mutiny Quelled—Second Outbreak—Lord Howe’s Tact—The Great Mutiny of the Nore—Richard Parker—A Vile Character but Man of Talent—Wins the Men to his Side—Officers Flogged and Ducked—Gallant Duncan’s Address—Accessions to the Mutineers—Parker practically Lord High Admiral—His Extravagant Behaviour—Alarm in London—The Movement Dies out by Degrees—Parker’s Cause Lost—His Execution—Mutinies at Other Stations—Prompt Action of Lords St. Vincent and Macartney.
The Royal Navy has ever been the glory of our country, but there are spots even on the bright sun. The service has been presented hitherto almost entirely under its best aspects. Example after example of heroic bravery, unmurmuring endurance, and splendid discipline, have been cited. Nor can we err in painting it couleur de rose, for its gallant exploits have won it undying fame. But in the service at one time—thank God those times are hardly possible now—mutiny and desertion on a large scale were eventualities to be considered and dreaded; they were at least remote possibilities. In a few instances they became terrible facts. In the merchant service we still hear of painful examples: every reader will remember the case of the Lennie mutineers, who murdered the captain and mates in the Bay of Biscay, with the object of selling the ship in Greece, and were defeated by the brave steward, who steered for the coast of France, and was eventually successful in communicating with the French authorities. The example about to be related is a matter of historical fact, from which the naval service in particular may still draw most important lessons.