Читать книгу The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism (Vol. 1-4). The History of Sea Voyages, Discovery, Piracy and Maritime Warfare онлайн

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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.