A
HISTORICAL REVIEW
OF THE
ROYAL MARINE CORPS,
&c. &c.
FROM ITS ORIGINAL FORMATION TO 1803.
[CHAP. I.]
At a period when the commerce of this Country bore no proportion to its present state, the supplies of Seamen, under a system of impress, were extremely precarious, and often inadequate to the public emergencies. Experience had also shewn, that raw landsmen were most improper substitutes for this want, as the sudden change of life rendered them subject to immediate disease, and sea-sickness, at a time when their active services were required.