The French naval service is supplied by a system of conscription analogous to that for the army. All persons, who reside on the coast, whose labor is on the sea, or on navigable rivers reached by the tide, are enrolled on arriving at the age of eighteen, and are liable to be summoned to the naval service until they are fifty, for an aggregate period of seven years.
[SCHOOLS OF MARINE ARTILLERY.]
There is at Brest, Toulon, and L’Orient, schools of marine artillery, besides floating schools at Brest and Toulon, for practice at firing at a mark at sea.
The Board of Hydrographers is located at Paris. Pupils who have completed the polytechnic course enter the corps with the rank of élève hydrographe, with the same rank and advantages as naval architects. They are sent to the coast to make surveys, and after two years service in the field, and in office work under special instruction, become assistant hydrographers without further examination.
[NAVY AND NAVAL EDUCATION IN FRANCE.]
I. MILITARY AND COMMERCIAL MARINE.
The progress of the French Navy is represented in the following statistics taken from the Statesman’s Year Book for 1871: In 1780 the war fleet consisted of 60 first-class ships, 24 second class, and 182 smaller vessels,—total 266 ships, with 13,300 guns, and 78,000 sailors. In 1805, the number was reduced by casualties and neglect to 18 men-of-war, with 1,352 guns. In 1844 the whole force amounted to 226 sailing vessels, and 47 steamers, with 8,639 guns and 24,513 sailors. In 1855 the navy was reorganized, by the introduction of every new appliance of naval architecture, construction, and ordnance, with the following results, in 1869-70: