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Cornell University 
 Library 
 
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 the Cornell University Library. 
 
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 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924030895860 
 
ROYAL NAVY HANDBOOKS 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 COMMANDER C. N. ROBINSON, R.N. 
 
 Crown %vo, ^s. each. 
 
 1. Naval Administration. By Admiral Sir 
 
 R. Vesey Hamilton, G.C.B. 
 
 2. The Mechanism of Men-of-War. By 
 
 Fleet-Engineer Reginald C. Oldknow, R.N. 
 
 3. Torpedoes and Torpedo -Vessels. By 
 
 Lieutenant G. E. Armstrong, late R.N. 
 
 The following volumes are in preparation. 
 
 4. Naval Ordnance and Small Arms. By 
 
 Captain H. Garbett, R.N. 
 
 5. The Entry and Training of Officers and 
 
 Men of the Royal Navy and the Royal Marines. 
 By Lieut. J. N. Allen, late R.N. 
 
 6. Naval Strategy and the Protection of 
 
 Commerce. By Professor J. K. Laughton, R.N. 
 
 7. The Internal Economy of a Man-of-War. 
 
 8. Naval Architecture. 
 
 9. Dockyards and Coaling Stations. 
 
 10. Naval Tactics. 
 
 11. Naval Hygiene. 
 
 12. The Laws of the Sea. 
 
 LONDON: GEORGE BELL AND SONS. 
 
ROYAL NAVY HANDBOOKS 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 COMMANDER CHARLES NAPIER ROBINSON, R.N. 
 
 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION 
 
GEORGE BELL & SONS 
 
 LONDON: YORK ST., COVENT GARDEN 
 NEW YORK : 66, FIFTH AVENUE, AND 
 BOMBAY ■- 53, ESPLANADE ROAD 
 CAMBRIDGE! DEIGHTON, BELL & CO. 
 
NAVAL ADMINISTRATION 
 
 THE CONSTITUTION, CHARACTER, AND FUNC- 
 TIONS OF THE BOARD OF ADMIRALTY, 
 AND OF THE CIVIL DEPART- 
 MENTS IT DIRECTS 
 
 BY 
 
 ADMIRAL SIR R. VESEY HAMILTON, G.C.B. 
 
 LATE FIRST SEA LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY 
 
 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 LONDON 
 
 GEORGE BELL AND SONS 
 
 1896 
 
CHISWICK PRESS :— CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO. 
 TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The purpose of this volume is to describe the organiza- 
 tion, system, and working of the Board of Admiralty, 
 and of the Civil Departments through which its opera- 
 tions are conducted, to explain and illustrate the 
 character and procedure of our Naval Administration. 
 The subject will, I beheve, be admitted to be one of 
 the highest importance, because with- the Admiralty 
 Board rests the constitution, maintenance and dis- 
 tribution of the Fleet, and, without efficiency on shore 
 4 in supplying its numerous and complicated needs, the 
 , requirements of the public service cannofc'be efficiently 
 carried out — a fact well illustrated in Burrows's " Life 
 of Lord Hawke," where we read that "the beer 
 brewed at Plymouth is so bad . . . Our daily employ- 
 ment is condemning of it." Yet the difficulties in pre- 
 paring the work have been great and manifold. 
 
 An accurate knowledge of the subject would seem 
 to be of much importance to the Naval Service, to 
 politicians, and to th* press ; but while our System of 
 Naval Administration has been the subject of attack, 
 and much that is known to the public concerning it 
 has been learned from its assailants, I was confronted 
 by the fact that no work explanatory of the systena 
 
vui PREFACE. 
 
 has ever been written. There have thus been encoun- 
 tered such difficulties as often beset the path of the 
 pioneer. 
 
 In the next place very great difficulties arose from 
 the inherent complexity of the subject. The character 
 and constitutional position of the Admiralty, its de- 
 velopment from earlier conditions, the growth of the 
 Civil branches to more than semi-independence, the 
 subjection of these to the true interests of the Service, 
 the reforms entered upon by Lord St. Vincent, and 
 brought to practical result by Sir James Graham 
 thirty years later, and finally the vast extent and 
 character of the work carried on by the Civil Depart- 
 ments — all these matters made the work of elucidation 
 no light task. If the volume that results, should con- 
 duce to a truer conception of the character and work- 
 ing of the Admiralty Board, and to an even better 
 understanding between the Department ashore and the 
 Service afloat, it will answer a good purpose. 
 
 The volume is not a defence of the Admiralty. On 
 the contrary, the reader will discover that I do not 
 consider as perfect all the generally well ordered 
 machinery by which the Admiralty carries on its work. 
 But I have been led to the conclusion that much of 
 the criticism of Admiralty methods which has been 
 offered concerns rather the administrative acts of 
 individuals, and that the system itself embodies high 
 advantages, such as are possessed by no other depart- 
 ment of the State. They are merits that have won the 
 admiration of the Royal Commission on Civil Estab- 
 lishments, and generally of the Hartington Commis- 
 
PREFACE. ix 
 
 sion, and of many statesmen. In tte earlier portion 
 of the book, and particularly in that upon the Ad- 
 miralty Patent, some matters that have led to wide 
 misapprehension of the character, constitution, and 
 forms of the Admiralty are elucidated. 
 
 And now I have the pleasing duty of offering my 
 most grateful thanks to all who have assisted me in this 
 volume, for help without which it would have indeed 
 been a far heavier labour than it proved. To Com- 
 mander Robinson's excellent work, " The British 
 Fleet," I am much indebted, as also to his literary 
 experience for most useful hints as to the best method 
 of procedure. 
 
 But it is to Mr. John Ley land that I am the most 
 deeply indebted. He has helped me throughout the 
 work, and has paid special attention to the historical 
 and constitutional aspects of Naval Administration. 
 There are some parts I could not have written without 
 his assistance, so cheerfully rendered. I am glad of 
 the opportunity of doing justice to his zeal and energy. 
 
 For myself, I have learnt more of the interior work- 
 ing of the Admiralty by the compilation of this volume 
 than I did in five years at the Admiralty, where the 
 work in one's own department is more than sufficient 
 for the day. 
 
 K Yeset Hamilton, 
 Admiral. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 THE SYSTEM. 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 I. How the System has grown 1 
 
 II. The Development of Administrative means ... 14 
 
 III. The Admiralty Patent and the Responsibility of the 
 
 First Lord ... .... 31 
 
 IV. The Existing Organization 45 
 
 PART II. 
 
 THE MACHINERY OP NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 I. The Department of the Permanent Secretary . . 59 
 II. The Controller's Department — The Director of Naval 
 
 Construction and the Engineer-in-Chief ... 65 
 
 III. The Controller's Department, continued — The Pro- 
 
 vision of Naval Armaments — The Director of Naval 
 Ordnance, and the Assistant-Director of Torpedoes . 78 
 
 IV. The Controller's Department, concluded — The Director 
 
 of Dockyards, the Director of Stores, and the In- 
 spector of Dockyard Expense Accounts ... 89 
 V. The Admiral Superintendent of Naval Reserves — The 
 Deputy Adjutant-General of Royal Marines — The 
 Medical Director-General — The Chaplain of the Fleet 101 
 
 VI. The Director of Victualling Ill 
 
 VII. The Acoountant-General of the Navy .... 123 
 
 VIII. The Director of Navy Contracts 133 
 
 IX. The Director of Naval Intelligence— The Hydrographer 
 of the Navy— The Director of Transports— The Direc- 
 tor of Architectural and Engineering Works- The 
 Director of Greenwich Hospital. . • 142 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PART III. 
 
 THE WORKING OF THE ADMIRALTY MACHINE. 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 I. General Considerations and Official Procedure . . 153 
 
 II. The Navy Estimates and the Shipbuilding Programme 163 
 
 III. The Spending of the Money .... .175 
 
 Appendix I. Admiralty Buildings . ... 185 
 
 II. The Orders in Council 189 
 
 III. The Navy Estimates . ... 196 
 
 IV. Bibliography 201 
 
 Index 209 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGK 
 
 The Board Room of the Admiralty, 1895. From a 
 Photograph . . . Frontispiece 
 
 Robert Blake. From an Engraving ... .7 
 
 The Admiralty Office at Whitehall, 1760 (before 
 THE Erection of the Screen). From an Engraving 
 by D. Cunego 17 
 
 Samuel Pepys (Clerk of the Acts and Secretary to the 
 Admiralty, 1660-1689). From the Painting by G. Kneller 
 in Magdalene College, Cambridge . . . . .30 
 
 Josiah Burchett (Joint Secretary and Secretary of the 
 Admiralty, 1695-1742). From an Engraving by Oeo. 
 Vertue . . 44 
 
 John Jervis, Earl St. Vincent, First Lord of the 
 
 Admiralty, 1801-1804. (Beechey) 58 
 
 The Navy Office, Ckutched Friars, 1750. (Cole). . 65 
 
 The Right Hon. Sir James Graham, Bart., First Lord 
 OF the Admiralty, 1830-1834, 1853-1855. (From a 
 Drawing by E. Desmaisons) 88 
 
 The Board Room at the Admiralty, 1808. (Pugin and 
 
 Bowlandson) 110 
 
 The Navy Pay Office in Old Broad Street, as it 
 Appeared in 1816. (From a Pencil Drawing by G. 
 Shepherd, Grace Collection, British Museum) . . . 122 
 
 James IL (Kneller) . . 152 
 
 The Admiralty Office at Whitehall. Circa 1790. 
 (From a Water-colour in the Pennant Collection, British 
 Museum) 162 
 
NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 Part I. 
 THE SYSTEM. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 HOW THE SYSTEM HAS GROWN. 
 
 It is unnecessary in this volume to dwell at any length 
 upon the importance of a well-ordered and efficient system 
 of naval administration. That administration exists for 
 the proper constitution, maintenance, and disposition of the 
 fleet in its material and personal elements. It is the 
 organizing force behind our Sea Power, shaping and 
 broadly directing that maritime arm which safeguards the 
 kingdom from invasion, protects its food supplies and its 
 commerce, and, as a defensive force, binds the Empire 
 itself together. It is that system and that machinery by 
 which the fleet is created and sustained, by which it is sup- 
 plied with trained officers and men, distributed through- 
 out the world, and constantly furnished with everything 
 necessary for the exercise of its functions in peace, and for 
 its readiness in case of war. So great a naval function, and 
 so vast and complex a business plainly demand a means of 
 
2 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 administration that shall be sound and sufficient in itself; 
 and Englishmen may certainly congratulate themselves 
 upon the finally successfal conduct of their maritime 
 affairs in the past, and upon the possession of an organiza- 
 tion which provides for the Empire a Navy that is cheaper 
 and more efficient than any other in the world. 
 
 I have spoken of our naval administration as a system 
 and a machinery. In this way I propose to regard it 
 in the present volume. I do not intend to discuss the 
 wisdom^ or unwisdom of those who have handled and 
 controlled the means of our naval defence, nor the recti- 
 tude or vigilance of those through whose hands have passed 
 the supplies by which that defence has been carried on. 
 Triumphant as have been our final successes, and surpass- 
 ingly beneficent as have been the results that have flowed 
 from them, our history teems with instances of the mis- 
 direction and ill-control of our naval affairs. There was a 
 time when the Dutch were allowed to force themselves 
 into the Medway : we lay powerless before the strangely 
 inert alliance of the French and the Spaniards in 1779 ; 
 we despatched small, inferior, and ill-designed ships 
 against the Americans in 1812. But these are examples 
 of want of administrative wisdom. They do not neces- 
 sarily imply the existence of a defective system, nor of 
 inadequate administrative machinery. Tet snch short- 
 comings and failures as these have often discredited our 
 naval administration, and have contributed to a misunder- 
 standing of the Admiralty Board. 
 
 Few subjects in the range of naval topics seem to me 
 so interesting and instructive as the constitution, cha- 
 racter, and working of that Board, and it is right that the 
 system and machinery of its operations should be ex- 
 plained and described. This is desirable, too, because of the 
 somewhat anomalous constitutional position of the Board 
 itself, working under Orders in Council at variance with 
 the Patent under which the Lords Commissioners exercise 
 
now THE SYSTEM HAS GROWN. 3 
 
 their powers. Want of public knowledge concerning the 
 methods of naval administration is no new thing. In the 
 beginning of the last century the author of " The (Economy 
 of His Majesty's Navy," remarked that there were then too 
 many, "and those not ignorant persons in other respects," 
 who could "scarce distinguish between the Admiralty and 
 Navy officers, because both had a relation to the maritime 
 power." There is reason to believe that like misunder- 
 standing prevails largely at the present day. 
 
 But neither the Admiralty nor its work can be under- 
 stood without reference to the conditions that have gone 
 before. Our system of naval administration has been 
 developed historically, and been moulded by circumstances. 
 It is no product of the organizing skill of one or a few 
 individuals, or of a single period. It is, if I may be per- 
 mitted the expression, an organic growth, having its roots 
 far back in mediasval history or earlier, developed under 
 constantly expanding conditions, but owing its special 
 character to the original circumstances out of which it 
 grew. The position of the Admiralty Board, in short, is 
 determined by the fact that it is a body representing, and 
 representing in a true sense, the Lord High Admiral, and 
 its powers and operation depend more upon long un- 
 interrupted usage than upon the instruments that actually 
 give it authority. I shall show presently that to this 
 very circumstance the Admiralty owes the efficiency of 
 its character, and of the means at its disposal. Its execu- 
 tive operations are conducted through the working of a 
 series of related Civil Departments, which, like itself, have 
 been created, expanded, and transformed under conditions 
 progressively changed. 
 
 The dominant character of the conduct of Admii-alty 
 administration is the flexibility of its working. The 
 members of the Board are not, in a rigid sen-^e, heads 
 of departments. Subject to the necessary (constitutional) 
 supremacy of the Cabinet Minister presiding, they are 
 
4 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 jointly co-equal " Commissioners for executing the office 
 of High Admiral of the United Kingdom and of the 
 territories thereunto belonging, and of High Admiral of 
 the Colonies and other domiaions." They are in direct 
 and constant communication with the First Lord and 
 with one another, as individually with the Civil Depart- 
 ments under their control. It will be seen in this volume 
 that, from this constitution and system of working, re- 
 sults, and always may result, a sound and efficient naval 
 administration. That administration, be it noted, is carried 
 on under the responsibility of the First Lord, whose 
 power, as related to his necessary responsibility, has 
 tended to increase. The Board of Admiralty, as Sir James 
 Graham said before a Select Committee of the House of 
 Commons, in 1861, could indeed never work unless the 
 First Lord were supreme, and did exercise constantly 
 supreme and controlling authority. If then, on one hand, 
 we regard the Lords of the Admiralty as executing the 
 official functions and powers of a single individual, and 
 as still possessing in a large measure the rapid decision 
 and means of action which are possible to an individual, it 
 must not be lost sight of, on the other, that the First Lord, 
 through the incidence of constitutional responsibility, occu- 
 pies a position closely analogous to that of the Lord High 
 Admiral himself, and that therefore the other Lords are, 
 as it were, from this point of view, the Lord High Admiral's 
 counsellors, without the restrictive limitations which were 
 imposed upon these. 
 
 Until the beginning of the fifteenth century, the naval 
 business of the country was conducted by the king's 
 council. The executive control of the fleet was vested in 
 " Keepers of the Sea," afterwards designated " Admirals " 
 — who also exercised judicial functions — and there were 
 " Keepers of the King's Ships," and " Keepers of the Sea 
 Ports," even in the days of John. The admirals were 
 appointed to localized fleets, and it is clear that Sir 
 
HOW THE SYSTEM HAS GROWN. 5 
 
 William de Leybourne, who was described at the assembly 
 at Bruges, March 8th, 1287, as " Admirallus Maris 
 AnglitB," never exeoated such functions as were afterwards 
 conferred upon the Lords High Admiral. John Beaufort, 
 Earl of Somerset, eldest legitimized son of Joha of Gaunt 
 by Katherine Swinford, was appointed " Admiral of Eng- 
 land," in 1406, with the view of removing the maladminis- 
 tration of the Navy which had so disastrously affected the 
 commerce of the country during the latter part of the four- 
 teenth century. Other admirals followed in the persons 
 of the Earl of Kent, Sir Thomas Beaufort, John, Duke 
 of Bedford, John Holland, Duke of Exeter, and his son, 
 William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, and Richard Neville, 
 Earl of Warwick, with increasing powers. The office 
 of Lord High Admiral thus created, confiding to its holder, 
 under the crown, the naval administration of the kingdom, 
 was retained by individuals until 1628, and has continued 
 existent, chiefly in commission, to the present time. It is 
 worthy of note that the functions now exercised, under 
 Patent, by the Board of Admiralty, are conferred by 
 reference to the Patents of the Lords High Admii-al, which 
 carry us back still earlier for authority to antecedent usage. 
 The first Patent, however, bearing special resemblance 
 to the present one, was that conferred upon the Earl of 
 Warwick by Henry VI. 
 
 The naval business of the country had so far increased 
 by the reign of Henry VIII., that the administrative 
 machinery called for expansion, and to that time we date 
 the reorganization or actual establishment of the Ad- 
 miralty and the Navy Board. There was now a large array 
 of civil establishments, including victualling, ordnance, 
 and subsidiary branches, with dockyards or storehouses at 
 Woolwich, Deptford, and Portsmouth. The existence of 
 the ordnance branch is noteworthy. In this matter the 
 navy was not yet dependent on the War Department. The 
 Navy Board was organized to take charge of the civil 
 
6 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 administration under the Admiralty, while the directive 
 and executive duties of the Lord High Admiral remained 
 •with the Admiralty OflBce. A Surveyor of Marine Causes, 
 a Treasurer, and a Comptroller of the Navy now appear, 
 and the Trinity House " at Deptford Strond " was in- 
 corporated. The organization which grew up under 
 Henry YIII. took definite shape during the reign of his 
 successor, when the constitution was revised, and the 
 civil administration vested by ordinances in a Board of 
 Principal GflBoers subordinate to the Lord High Admiral. 
 We can henceforth trace distinctly the work of civil ad- 
 ministration going forward under the Navy and Victual- 
 ling Boards, apart from, but subject to, the Admiralty 
 itself, up to 1832, when Sir James Graham succeeded in 
 putting an end to the then practically divided control. 
 
 A further step was taken in. the reign of James I. to 
 advance the work of the Admiralty by the appointment of 
 a council of officers and men of rank — forerunner of the 
 Admiralty Board — to assist Buckingham, who succeeded 
 Nottingham as Lord High Admiral in 1619. Buckingham 
 was stabbed to the heart at Portsmouth, in 1628, by John 
 Felton, a discontented officer who had served under him, 
 while fitting out a second expedition for the relief of 
 Eochelle, and the office of Lord High Admiral was then 
 for the first time placed in commission, the commissioners 
 being the great officers of state. During the Common- 
 wealth the affairs both of the Admiralty and Navy Boards 
 were conducted by committees of Parliament, and the 
 service gained much from the administrative ability of 
 Blake ; but, at the Restoration, James, Duke of York, was 
 appointed Lord High Admiral, and to him was due the 
 reconstitution of the Navy Board, and the appointment of 
 three commissioners to act with the Treasurer of the Navy, 
 the Comptroller, the Surveyor, and the Clerk of the Acts. 
 It may be noted here as significant that the Comptroller 
 of the Navy, as directed by his patent, was in confidential 
 
Robert Blake. 
 
HOTV THE SYSTEM HAS GROWN. 9 
 
 communication witli the First Lord of the Admiralty ; and 
 the general practice grew up that the naval estimates 
 of the year were first made by these two, without any 
 consultation with the rest of the members of either the 
 Admiralty or Navy Boards. 
 
 Upon the passing of the Test Act in 1673, the Duke of 
 York, unable to subscribe to it, resigned his office, and 
 Prince Rupert was placed at the head of a new Admiralty 
 Commission; but shortly afterwards Charles himself, 
 through his Privy Council, assumed the administration of 
 the navy, and exercised it until his death (1685). At this 
 time the civil business of theNavy, including victualling and 
 transport, was conducted by the Navy Board, but Victual- 
 ling Commissioners were appointed in 1683, and a Trans- 
 port Board was instituted in 1689. During the reign of 
 Charles II. great disputes had arisen between himself and 
 his brother as to the exercise of the large powers of the 
 Lord High Admiral, but, when the latter came to the 
 throne as James II., he exercised both the regal authority 
 and that of Lord High Admiral, which was vested in him 
 as sovereign, and personally administered the Navy through 
 Pepys and the Navy Board until 1688. James II. was 
 certainly one of the ablest of our naval administrators. 
 Both as Duko of York and as king every act shows his 
 high administrative capacity. The instructions and stand- 
 ing orders which he drew up for the guidance of the Prin- 
 cipal Officers and Commissioners of the Navy (printed in 
 1717) are the expansion of earlier regulations, and give a 
 clear view of the several duties of the Treasurer, Comp- 
 troller, Surveyor, and Clerk of the Acts, as well as of the 
 Storekeeper, Clerk of the Cheque, and other officials at the 
 yards. Signing himself " your affectionate Friend," James 
 charged the Principal Officers — Lord Berkeley, Sir William 
 Penn, Peter Pett, Sir George Carteret, Treasurer-Comp- 
 troller, Sir William Batten, Surveyor, and Samuel Pepys, 
 Clerk of the Acts — with the duty of seeing to it that there 
 
10 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 was honest dealing at the dockyards, and that the sick 
 and maimed were relieved from the Chatham " Chest," 
 and also of reporting upon the conduct of officials, and 
 suspending the prodigal. Upon the return of ships to 
 port, strict inquiry was to be made as to the behaviour 
 during the voyage of the " standing officers," and th'e unfit 
 were to be certified. The Principal Officers and Commis- 
 sioners, thus admonished, were to be in constant com- 
 munication among themselves, consulting and advising " by 
 common council and argument of most voices," living as 
 near together as they conveniently could, and meeting at 
 least twice a week at the Navy Office, and the times of 
 their meetings were to be made public' No instruction 
 could have been sounder. The naval transactions of this 
 period are admirably reflected in the famous diary of 
 Pepys, and in his " Memoirs of the Navy," printed in 
 1695. 
 
 After the Revolution, in 1690, a declaratory Act was 
 passed (2 William and Mary, sess. 2, c. 2), which is the 
 original authority for the present constitution of the Ad- 
 miralty Board. It pronounced that " all and singular 
 authorities, jurisdictions, and powers which, by Act of 
 Parliament or otherwise " — that is, by usage — had been 
 " lawfully vested " in the Lord High Admiral of England, 
 had always appertained, and did and should appertain to 
 the Commissioners for executing the office for the time 
 being, " to all intents and purposes as if the said Commis- 
 sioners were Lord High Admiral of England." Two years 
 later the House of Commons recommended the constitu- 
 tion of a new Commission of Admiralty, and that "for the 
 future all orders for the management of the fleet do pass 
 through the Admiralty that shall be so constituted." 
 
 In 1701 the Adoairalty Commission was dissolved, and 
 the high office was unwillingly accepted by Thomas, Earl 
 
 ^ " The CEconomy of His Majesty's Navy Office. " Ry an Officer 
 of the Navy. London, 1717. 
 
HOW THE SYSTEM HAS GROWN. 11 
 
 of Pembroke, who was succeeded in the following year by 
 Prince George of Denmark, husband of Queen Anne. The 
 prince's naval administration as Lord High Admiral was 
 not a great success, being discredited by the incapacity of 
 George Churchill, younger brother of the Duke of Marl- 
 borough, the leading spirit in his council, who had formerly 
 held a seat at the Admiralty, and now leapt at a bound to 
 the rank of Admiral of the Blue. " The prince," says 
 Burnet, "knowing little of naval affairs, was imposed 
 upon by men of evil designs, who sheltered themselves 
 under his name." At this time the traditions of the naval 
 administration were preserved by Josiah Burchett, the 
 naval chronicler, who had been Pepys's body-servant, and 
 afterwards secretary to Russell in the Mediterranean, and 
 who, as joint-secretary and secretary, was at the Admiralty 
 from 1695 to 1742. 
 
 Prom the death of Prince George in 1709 to the present 
 time — with the exception of a short period, from May 2nd, 
 1827, to September 19th, 1828, when the Duke of Clarence 
 was Lord High Admiral — the oflB.ce has remained in com- 
 mission. The eighteenth century was a great period in 
 our naval history. It witnessed the victories of Rooke and 
 Shovell, of Sir George Byng, of Anson and Rodney, of 
 Hawke, Howe, and many more. It saw our country raised 
 to the splendid position of undisputed mistress of the seas. 
 But it is not necessary, for the purpose of this book, to 
 deal with the special administrative acts of successive 
 Boards of Admiralty. Prominent in the roll of First Lords, 
 distinguished either as administrators or individuals, 
 stand the names of Edward Russell, Earl of Orford (1697, 
 1709, and 1714), the victor of La Hogue ; James, Earl of 
 Berkeley (1717) ; George Byng, Yiscount Torrington 
 (1727) ; John Russell, fourth Duke of Bedford (1744) ; 
 John Montagu, Earl of Sandwich — " Jemmy Twitcher," 
 — whose industry, says Walpole, was so remarkable that 
 the world mistook it for ability (1748, 1763, and 1771) 
 
12 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 Anson (1757); Hawke (1766) ; Keppel (1782); and Howe 
 (1783); the second Earl Spencer (1794) ; and the great 
 Earl St. Vincent (1801). During this long period, 
 which brings us up to the eve of Trafalgar, the naval 
 administration remained unchanged in its principles, the 
 successive Boards of Admiralty exercising the powers 
 conferred upon them by long usage and under Act of 
 Parliament. The several lords usually lived in close 
 relation among themselves, and the flexibility of the 
 system — to which I have drawn attention as its dominant 
 feature — rendered easy the processes of administration 
 within the Admiralty itself. 
 
 But, as I shall show in the next chapter, the relation 
 between the Civil Departments and the Admiralty Board had 
 become strained. With growing importance the Depart- 
 ments had escaped largelyfrom Admiralty control, and gross 
 abuses existed within themselves. St. Vincent, on board 
 the Ville de Paris, before Cadiz, August 27th, 1797, wrote 
 to Lord Spencer : " Tou may rest assured the Civil Branch 
 of the Navy is rotten to the very core." By Order in 
 Council of January 12th, 1792, the Admiralty had been 
 called upon to investigate the condition of every depart- 
 ment ; but the time was one of great stress throughout the 
 naval machine, and to attempt drastic reforms at such a 
 juncture was felt to be dangerous, if not impossible. The 
 Finance Committee pressed urgency upon the Admiralty 
 afresh in 1798, and it was with the purpose, in fitting 
 season, of waging war with the Civil Departments that 
 St. Vincent went to the Admii-alty in 1801. The Civil 
 Departments, many of which were thus to be assailed, had 
 increased in number with the growth of the Navy. In 
 1782, when Keppel was First Lord, there were thirteen 
 departments in all. The Navy Ofiice itself, located in 
 Seething Lane, was charged with shipbuilding, repairing, 
 and fitting, and the mustering of ships' companies. The 
 Victualling Office pursued its work on Tower Hill, with a 
 
HOW THE SYSTEM HAS GROWN. 13 
 
 subsidiary branch at Deptford, and the Ordnance Office, 
 in the Tower, had supervision of warlike stores. The 
 Pay Office, in Broad Street, dealing with wages, half-pay, 
 and pensions, was afterwards removed to Tower Hill, in 
 order to be near the guard, and within recent years it 
 remained, as a warehouse, on the east side of Trinity 
 Square, still retaining the benches upon which the seamen 
 sat. On Tower Hill, also, were the Sick and Hurt Office, 
 which dealt with the sick and maimed, and had officers 
 at the ports, and the Receiver's Office, charged with the 
 receipt of sixpence a mouth, deducted from seamen's 
 wages both in the Navy and the merchant service, for the 
 support of Greenwich Hospital. That institution received 
 superannuated seamen, and the " Chest," at Chatham, 
 issued gratuities to the sick and maimed. The Trinity 
 House, in Water Lane, examined the qualifications of navi- 
 gating officers, and the Marine Office, at the Admiralty, 
 administered the marine establishments. Finally, the 
 Court of Admiralty, at Doctors' Commons, was charged 
 with the trial of maritime offences, the Board of Longitude 
 with the discovery of the longitude, and the Royal Naval 
 Academy, at Portsmouth, with the education of youths 
 for the service. The Transport Board, which for some 
 time had offices at the Trinity House, abolished in 1724, 
 was called into existence again in 1794, and, later, 
 receiving charge of business connected with prisoners 
 of war in 1796, and of the work of the Sick and Hurt 
 Office in 1806, continued its operations until 1817, when 
 its functions were transferred to the Commissioners of the 
 Navy and of Victualling,^ 
 
 ' "The British Fleet.'' By Commander C. N. Robinson, R.N. 
 Pp. 124-126. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE DEVELOPMENT OF ADMINISTEATIVE MEANS. 
 
 The state of things which Lord St. Vincent enconntered 
 npon his acceptance of office under the Addington ministry 
 in 1801 had grown up through a long series of years. The 
 means at the disposal of the Navy Board had not de- 
 veloped with the vast business it was called upon to 
 undertake. Commissioners of Inquiry appointed in 1785 
 reported that its constitution had remained unchanged for 
 a century. The business allotted to the several Commis- 
 sioners was altogether beyond their power to deal with, 
 and most important affairs were unavoidably left to clerks 
 who, " however honest and diligent, were not the persons 
 who could properly be considered responsible to the public 
 for what was done," and accordingly, by an Order in Council 
 of June 8th, 1796, the Navy Board was in.structed to 
 carry on its work by committees. Some advantage re- 
 sulted from this ; but waste, extravagance, carelessness, 
 and malversation still went on, and in the case of The 
 King V, Owen and Mardle (July, 1801), the Attorney- 
 General stated that the depredations upon the naval stores 
 did not annually amount to less than £500,000. The 
 gross corruption, profligate expenditure, and supine negli- 
 gence that existed were familiar to Lord St. Vincent before 
 his acceptance of office. " Nothing but a radical sweep in 
 the dockyards," he wrote in January, 1801, " can cure the 
 enormous evils and corruptions in them, and this cannot 
 be attempted till we have peace." 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE MEANS. 15 
 
 The evil was trnly immense, and no man was ever 
 better fitted to deal with such conditions than Lord St. 
 Vincent. He had reformed the discipline of the Navy, 
 and had improved the organization of our ships and fleets, 
 and he brought with him to the Admiralty an inflexible 
 spirit that enabled him to deal with the mutinous spirit 
 of the dockyardsmen as he had before dealt with a 
 mutinous spirit afloat. Added to this, his stern integrity, 
 if it gave him a character of severity, and a manner that 
 was harsh at times, and peremptory, lifted him above the 
 level of many of his contemporaries, and rendered him 
 fearless in his conduct of afiairs. Already, by the Order 
 in Council of January 12th, 1792, an investigation of the 
 departments had been commanded, and, after long delay, 
 due to the urgency of the war, that investigation was at 
 length undertaken. Rarely have greater abuses been laid 
 bare. The Royal Commissioners appointed in 1803 to 
 inquire into "irregularities, frauds and abuses practised 
 in the Naval Departments and in the business of Prize 
 Agency," presented thirteen reports (1803-6), which ex- 
 posed a mass of iniquity and corruption almost incredible. 
 They discovered a lack of controlling power in the Navy 
 Board that laid open the way to vast peculation and fraud. 
 Accounts both of cash and stores remained uncleared for 
 years, and it was reported to Parliament that, at the end 
 of 1805, the outstanding imprests amounted to upwards 
 of eleven millions sterling.' 
 
 The sternness with which St. Vincent denounced the 
 prevailing abuses, and suppressed the perfunctory in- 
 spection of the dockyards set on foot by the Navy Board, 
 in order that he might himself from the Admiralty arraign 
 the fraudulent and incapable, the vigorous spirit in which 
 he exposed illegal gains, and attacked vested but dishonest 
 
 ^ Fourth Report of the Commissioners for Revising and Digesting 
 the Civil Affairs of His Majesty's Navy, July, 1806 (printed April, 
 1809). 
 
16 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 interests, with the swift manner in which he administered 
 punishment, exposed him to a storm of violent hate and 
 pitiless invective that would be hard to parallel. He 
 had essayed a task even too great for himself, and Pitt, 
 his political opponent, won over by the mortified spleen of 
 disappointed spoliators, and by the shameless beings who 
 resented St. Vincent's inflexible conduct of afiairs, vainly 
 attempted to fix upon him in the House of Commons, on 
 March 15th, 1804, the responsibility for the state of 
 things that then existed. His naval administration be- 
 came the subject of violent attack, and he left ofiice when 
 the Addington ministry collapsed, followed by a storm of 
 virulent and scurrilous abuse made public in an extra- 
 ordinary pamphlet literature. 
 
 The friends of Lord St. Vincent were not silent. An 
 illustration of their defensive methods may be seen in a 
 very singular tract entitled " Memoirs of the Administra- 
 tion of the Board of Admiralty under the Presidency 
 of the Earl of St. Vincent," of which a copy is in the 
 Grenville Library, British Museum.' This tract is a 
 vindication of St. Vincent, step by step, against "the 
 base conspiracy of foes and rivals, of trembling guilt 
 and aspiring ambition." " In happier times," says the 
 writer, " some great and kindred virtue, some Patriot 
 Minister, may catch his mantle, and, wifh ilie concur- 
 rence of all his colleagues, be able to carry the adze, or 
 the torch into the heart of that black forest, too well 
 guarded by the demons that inhabit it ; into which the 
 purity and virtue of modern times have only suffered the 
 light to fall, but averted the flame, as if appalled and 
 astounded by the fiends that yelled from its centre, and 
 the, monstrous forms that prowled in its recesses." " In 
 the Dockyards and the civil offices of the Navy,"' concludes 
 
 ' It is inscribed : ' ' The whole of the impression of this tract, as 
 I was assureil by IVh-. Justice Jervis (by whom it was given to me), 
 was cancelled, unth the e.rrcptioti ofthii .sincile copy." 
 
a 
 
 5 >s 
 
 < 
 
THE DEVELOPMEXT OF ADMINISTRATIA-E MEAXS. 19 
 
 the writer, " we have groped our way, as we were able, 
 by the casual coruscations and collusions of fraud with 
 neglect, and of guilt with security ; — and by the light of 
 putrescence — by the lanthorn in the tail of the wriggling 
 worm of peculation. Without a chart or a compass we 
 have navigated the unexplored seas and streights of official 
 plunder and contrivance, till we have arrived in the harbour 
 and at the headlands of intensie meridian ministerial 
 iniquity, from which we observe the star of collusion pass 
 through the line, the transit of corruption culminating in 
 the Treasury." 
 
 Lord St. Vincent's Commission of Naval Inquiry paved 
 the way for all the subsequent improvements in the Civil 
 Departments of the Navy, though it was denounced at the 
 time as a " drastic measure," and appears to have found 
 no favour even with Mr. Marsden, the able Secretary of 
 the Admiralty at the time of Trafalgar. His accomplished 
 successor. Sir John Barrow, says that the Commissioners 
 pursued their invidious task well and zealously. Their 
 labours were more fruitful than those of the Commissioners 
 for Revising and Digesting the Civil Affairs of the Navy, 
 who presented thirteen reports on the various departments 
 in 1806 and 1809. It was in this deplorable state of affairs 
 that Lord Melville was appointed First Lord of the 
 Admiralty. It was an office to which he brought both 
 talent and aptitude, and he lost no time in pushing forward 
 naval preparations, in such a way that we were able to fit 
 out the fleets which brought us the victory of 1805. But 
 Lord Melville had been too much associated with the civil 
 affairs of the Navy in their darkest period, having twice 
 been Treasurer, to escape suspicion in a time of keen 
 scrutiny ; and, upon the evidence adduced by the Commis- 
 sion of Naval Inquiry, he was impeached by Whitbread 
 and "the elect of all the Talents," before the House of 
 Lords (April, 1806). A trial lasting fifteen days led to 
 his acquittal, Lhough there can be little doubt that ho had 
 
20 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 been guilty of harmful negligence, and had acted contrary 
 to the Act of 1785 " for better regulating the office of 
 Treasurer of the Navy," which he himself had passed 
 through the House. 
 
 The investigations of the beginning of the century were 
 not to bear fruit until much later when Sir James Graham 
 gave to our naval administration the form it now bears. 
 Sir John Barrow and Sir John Briggs, Accountant- General 
 of the Navy, and Secretary of the Commission of Naval 
 Revision, 1806-9, lived to bear their part in the great 
 reform. The recommendations of that Commission were, 
 with some exceptions, carried into effect by Orders in 
 Council in 1809, and thus some improvements were 
 effected in the administrative machine. It was at this 
 time that the Record Office within the Admiralty was estab- 
 lished. It is unnecessary, however, to describe all the minor 
 changes introduced under successive Boards of Admiralty. 
 Many reductions were made with considerable economy, 
 and the administration was otherwise improved through 
 the visitation of the dockyards by the Admiralty, a prac- 
 tice reinstituted under the second Viscount Melville (First 
 Lord, 1812-27) after having been dropped — save under 
 St. Vincent — since the time of the Earl of Sandwich. To 
 Lord Melville succeeded, as Lord High Admiral (May 2nd, 
 1827 — September 18th, 1828) — an office never since re- 
 vived and not likely to be revived — the Duke of Clarence, 
 afterwards William IV., whose administration, with 
 Admiral Sir George Cockburn as first of his Council, and 
 Mr. John Wilson Croker as its secretary, maintained — not 
 certainly without attack — the better traditions that had 
 grown up in the conduct of our naval affairs. But the 
 Lord HighAdmiral's Council was not an efficient machinery. 
 " I am old enough to have seen the experiment of a Lord 
 High Admiral tried," said Sir James Graham before the 
 Select Committee on the Board of Admiralty in 18G1. 
 " I saw a naval officei", a prince of the blood, made Lord 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE MEANS. 21 
 
 High Admiral, with a Council, and I saw the working of 
 it. It worked so ill that in the course of about eighteen 
 months it came to a dead-lock, and the Duke of Wellington, 
 no bad judge, and no bad administrator, was forced to 
 abolish the office of Lord High Admiral and his Council, 
 and to revive the Board of Admiralty under its present 
 patent." 
 
 But the unwieldy character of the administrative 
 machinery under the Admiralty on one hand, and the 
 Navy Board and the Commissioners of Victualling on the 
 other, still remained. When, however. Lord Grey took 
 office in 1830, and Sir James Graham was appointed First 
 Lord, it was anticipated that the reforms advocated by 
 Earl St. Vincent would at length be carried into effect. 
 Various Boards of Admiralty had debated whether the 
 subsidiary Commissioners might not with advantage be 
 merged in the Navy Board. But this was not enough for 
 the new Cabinet. It was determined to do away with all 
 divided control, and, abolishing the Board of Principal 
 Officers and Commissioners of the Navy, and the Commis- 
 sioners for Victualling, and for the care of sick and 
 wounded seamen, to concentrate the whole of the civil 
 departments under the Admiralty itself, each branch 
 having an individual at its head. Sir James Graham did 
 not mature his measures without full and anxious inquiry 
 into the organization and working both of the civil 
 departments and of the dockyards under them, and he 
 had the great advantage of the counsel and assistance of 
 Sir John Barrow, whose long and ripe knowledge of our 
 naval administration, then for nearly thirty years — as 
 Second Secretary and Secretary of the Admiralty — pecu- 
 liarly fitted him to advise. The " Act to amend the Laws 
 relating to the Business of the Civil Departments of the 
 Navy, and to make other Regulations for more effec- 
 tually carrying on the Duties of the said Departments " 
 (2 Will. IV. c. 40) — vesting iq the Board of Admiralty 
 
22 NAVAL- ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 the powers of the CommisKioners of the civil departments — 
 provided, in place of the numerons comptrollers, deputy- 
 comptrollers, and commissioners of the Navy, of victnalling 
 and of transports — then located at Somerset House — for the 
 creation of five separate and independent responsible super- 
 intendents of departments, under the Board of Admiralty 
 collectively, and the Lords of the Admiralty individually. 
 These new officials were the Surveyor of the Navy, the 
 Accountant- General, the Storekeeper-General, the Comp- 
 troller of Victualling and Transports, and the Physician 
 of the Navy, whose title was altered in 1843 to that of 
 Director- General of the Medical Department of the Navy. 
 By the dispositions thus taken the Board of Admiralty 
 and the subsidiary departments acquired the united and 
 flexible character they have to-day, that character which they 
 possessed before the civil departments had attained their 
 magnitude and semi-independence, and were yet closely in 
 touch with the Admiralty, holding the means — when they 
 exercised them — of controlling and supervising the busi- 
 ness for which they were responsible. Once again that 
 close organization for discussion of the conduct of affairs, 
 which fall often under the care of several branches of the 
 administrative machinery, had been built up. Great as 
 was the advantage thus won, the reorganization brought 
 a further gain in the considerable economy that was effected 
 through the abolition of sinecures and redundant posts, 
 which the existence of a complex set of individual branches 
 had involved. Sir John Briggs, Accountant- General of 
 the Navy, prepared, in June, 1834, a statement of the 
 reductions that had been effected in the naval departments 
 since November, 1830, from which it appears that an 
 economy of £253,342 had been made. But the merit of 
 the reorganization effected by Sir Jatnes Graham is not to 
 be estimated by the pecuniary saving it made possible, but 
 by the fact that it struck at the root of abuses of long and 
 slow growth which endangered our naval efficiency. Sir 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE MEANS. 23 
 
 John Barrow, writing in 1847, said of the new system : 
 " On the whole, I can venture to say with great confidence, 
 and after the experience of fifteen years since the plan was 
 put in operation, nnder half-a-dozen Boards of Admiralty, 
 Whig and Tory, that it has been completely successful in 
 all its parts ; and the proof of it is, that no fault has been 
 found with it, nor has any alteration of the least import- 
 ance been required." ^ This is an opinion, confirmed 
 by many others drawn from long experience at the Admi- 
 ralty, that may be expressed with still greater confidence 
 to-day. 
 
 Under the system that existed from the introduction of 
 these reforms until the year 1869, the Board met some- 
 times daily, but at all times frequently during the week for 
 the discussion and consideration of business. It consisted 
 of the First Lord, with authority paramount and supreme, 
 superintending and generally directing the work of the 
 departments, with responsibility inseparable from such 
 a position, and of four Naval Lords, of whom the first was 
 the professional adviser of the First Lord, and a Civil Lord. 
 The five subsidiary Lords specially directed and super- 
 vised the work of the five Civil Departments, which 
 were under as many permanent " Principal Officers " — the 
 Controller or Surveyor of the Navy, the Accountant- 
 General, the Storekeeper-General, the Controller of 
 Yictualling, and the Director- General of the Medical 
 Department, There were also two secretaries of the 
 Admiralty Board — the First or Parliamentary Secretary, 
 who attended the meetings and noted on every paper read 
 the decision arrived at, and the Second or Permanent 
 Secretary, who had general superintendence of the office. 
 By the machinery thus created provision was made for the 
 transaction of vast and complex business demanding sub- 
 division of labour, and yet so interwoven in its common 
 
 ^ "Autobiographical Memoir,'' p. 424. 
 
24 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 object and practical execution, that it called for ample 
 means of discussion among the chiefs of departments, and 
 for unity of general direction and control. 
 
 For nearly forty years the method of conducting 
 Admiralty business was unchanged, but under Mr. Childers 
 a new system was introduced, with the practical effect that 
 the reforms of 1832 were partially and temporarily set 
 aside. The fresh changes were laid down in a memorandum 
 of December 22nd, 1868, given effect to by an Order 
 in Council of January 14th, 1869. It was felt that the 
 position of the Controller was anomalous and unsatisfac- 
 tory, because, acting under the First Naval Lord, who was 
 specially concerned with the efficiency and strength of the 
 fleet, he was directed by the person most interested in in- 
 creased expenditure, and yet who was the only member of 
 the Board in a position to enforce economy. Accordingly 
 the Board was reconstructed, and afterwards consisted of the 
 First Lord, whose position was for the first time defined, 
 responsible for the business of the Admiralty, and (as his 
 assistants) the First Naval Lord, the Third Lord and Con- 
 troller, the Junior Naval Lord, and the Civil Lord, with 
 the Parliamentary and Permanent Secretaries. The First 
 Naval Lord was responsible to the First Lord for business 
 relating to the personnel and for the movement and con- 
 dition of the fleet, and the Junior Naval Lord was his 
 assistant. In the same way the Third Lord, in whom were 
 now vested the duties of the Controller, was responsible to 
 the First Lord for the material side of the Navy, and the 
 Parliamentary Secretary, assisted by the Civil Lord, for 
 the finance of the department. 
 
 By this disposition of affairs the flexible character of the 
 administrative machinery was impaired. Literally con- 
 strued, the Order in Council fixed the distribution of busi- 
 ness, restricted each Lord to that assigned to him, and 
 practically rendered the meetings of the Board valueless. 
 As a matter of fact, the Board meetings, which had been 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF ADMINISTBATIVE MEANS. 25 
 
 249 in 1866, fell to 33 in 1870, and of these none lasted 
 more than half an hour — many of them much less. Thus 
 the constitution and usage of the Board were entirely 
 changed, and affairs soon became greatly embarrassed. 
 In the absence of meetings for discussion, decisions were 
 arrived at seriously affecting the Controller's business in 
 his absence, and without the hearing of his objections. In 
 the next chapter I shall take occasion to refer to Mr. 
 Childers' minute on the loss of the Oaptain, But the most 
 serious effect of the reconstitution of the Board was to re- 
 duce the naval element within it, and Mr. Childers himself, 
 recognizing the want, said to Sir Sydney Dacres on the day 
 when the Russian note arrived, " EeooUect that the first 
 thing which must be done is to put another Naval Lord 
 into the Admiralty." At this time a temporary ofSce of 
 " Chief of the Staff " was created, the Contract and Pur- 
 chase Department was formed, taking the duties connected 
 with the purchase and sale of stores, executed by the 
 late Storekeeper-General and the Controller of Victualling, 
 and the Store Department was transferred to the Admiralty 
 at Whitehall and placed under the Controller. I may here 
 say that the location of the Civil Departments at Somerset 
 House was a serious disadvantage, and that their transfer- 
 ence to the Admiralty and Spring Gardens by Mr. Childers 
 proved greatly beneficial. 
 
 The changes introduced at this time into the working of 
 theAdmiralty were condemned by many witnesses before the 
 Select Committee of the House of Lords deputed to inquire 
 into the working of them in 1871, andMr.Goschen, appointed 
 First Lord on Mr. Childers' resignation, found it necessary 
 to modify the system. All the Lords were made directly 
 responsible to the First Lord, but none were designated as 
 his assistants, and a Second Naval Lord was appointed. 
 The Controller lost his seat, though "retaining his right 
 to attend the Board, and to explain his views whenever 
 the First Lord shall submit to the Board, for their opinion 
 
26 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 designs for ships or any other matter emanating from the 
 Controller's Department," and remaining responsible to the 
 First Lord for the matei-ial, with a permanent Deputy 
 Controller. At the game time a Naval Secretary was 
 added to the Board. The Board now resumed its consul- 
 tative function, and the work was divided into three prin- 
 cipal sections, the three Naval Lords taking charge of the 
 personnel and the movements of the fleet, the Controller, as 
 has been said, of the material, and the Parliamentary 
 Secretary of the finance ; while the Civil Lord and the two 
 other secretaries assumed any duties assigned to them. 
 These changes were embodied in the Order in Council 
 of March 19th, 1872. In the same year steps were taken 
 to bring the First Naval Lord and the Controller into 
 closer relations, and the position of the Parliamentary and 
 Financial Secretary was sti-engthened by his being em- 
 powered to sign, in lieu of one of the Lords, all orders for 
 payment of money. In November, 1877, the office of 
 Permanent Secretary was abolished, the duties being 
 merged with those of the Naval Secretary, but, by an 
 Order in Council of March ]Oth, 1882, this arrangement 
 was reversed, a revived Permanent Secretary displacing 
 the Naval Secretary. 
 
 A further reorganization of the Board took place by 
 virtue of the last-named Order, the Controller resuming 
 his seat, with an additional non-parliamentary Civil Lord, 
 "possessed of special mechanical and engineering know- 
 ledge, as well as experience in the superintendence of 
 large private establishments," as his assistant. In 1885 
 this new appointment was abolished, and, in the same year, 
 the Aecountant-General of the Navy was appointed to act 
 as deputy and assistant of the Parliamentary and Finan- 
 cial Secretary. He was charged with the preparation of 
 the Navy Estimates, with the financial review of expendi- 
 ture under the estimates, with advising and deciding as to 
 any redistribution of votes or transfers, with satisfying 
 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE MEANS. 27 
 
 himself that expenditure was properly allowed and brought 
 to account, and with advising on all questions of naval ex- 
 penditure, and was to be regarded " as the officer to be 
 consulted on all matters involving an expenditure of naval 
 funds." 
 
 This somewhat tedious survey of the recent changes in 
 our naval administration has been necessary to an under- 
 standing of the constitution of the Admiralty Board and of 
 the methods of its working, which will be described in this 
 volume. The dominant characteristic of our administra- 
 tive machinery, as I have said, is the flexibility with which 
 it operates, and the rapidity with which it can act. The 
 Admiralty Board draws this great advantage from the fact 
 that it has developed historically as the representative of 
 a single individual, without the evils that would beset 
 such an administration. The advantage was jeopardized 
 or temporarily lost when the civil departments grew so 
 great that they escaped control, and again when Mr. 
 Childers essayed to regulate the work by what Sir Spencer 
 Robinson described as "cast-iron rules." The system of the 
 Board is probably not without some disadvantages, but, as 
 Lord George Hamilton said before the Royal Commission on 
 Civil Establishments, 1887, " it has this advantage, that 
 you have all departments represented round a table, and 
 that if it is necessary to take quick action, you can do in 
 a few minutes that which it would take hours under 
 another system to do." " The constitution of the Board 
 of Admiralty," said the report of that Commission, 
 "appears to us well designed, and to be placed, under 
 present regulations, on a satisfactory footing." The per- 
 sonal communication it provides for "tends to a proper 
 understanding between the headland his subordinates, 
 it fosters personal responsibility, and it leads to the simpli- 
 fication of work and reduction of unnecessary correspon- 
 dence." It secures, moreover, a proper relation between 
 the executive and civil functions, and, in this respect, as 
 
28 NAVAL ADMINISTRATIOX. 
 
 Mr. Campbell Bannerman said, in his addendum to the 
 Further Eeport of the Hartington Commission, 1890, the 
 Admiralty Board is " a model to be copied." ' 
 
 ' Some account of the places and buildings in which the work of 
 the Admiralty and Navy Boards has been carried on will be found 
 in Appendix I. 
 
(lUerk of the Acts aiul tioi'iotary to the Admiralty, 1660-1689). 
 From the F(Untiiig by 0. Ki<clUrin Magduhiic College, Cambridge, 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE ADMIEALTT PATENT AND THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE 
 FIRST LORD. 
 
 The reader of the foregoing chapters will not have failed 
 to remark that there are peculiarities in the constitutional 
 pofsition of the Admiralty, and a little investigation will 
 show us that the legal origin of the powers exercised by 
 the First Lord, and by the Board itself, present an in- 
 teresting and instructive study. It was remarked in that 
 part of the Preliminary Report of the Hartington Commis- 
 sion, 1889, which deals with the internal administration of 
 the Admiralty — and I have already adverted to the fact — 
 that the Admiralty is not administered in accordance with 
 the Patent which gives it warranty to act. Under the 
 Patent full power and authority are conferred upon " any 
 two or more " of the Commissioners " to do everything 
 which belongs to the office of Oar High Admiral," but, in 
 practice, under the Order in Council of March 19th, 1872, 
 the First Lord is made " responsible to Your Majesty and 
 to Parliament for all the business of the Admiralty," and 
 the Naval Lords are made severally responsible to the 
 First Lord for the administration of the business assigned 
 to them. It was in the Order in Council of January 14th, 
 1869, that this sole responsibility of the First Lord was 
 first officially laid down, but the evidence given by the 
 Naval and Civil Lords before the Select Committee of the 
 House of Commons in 1861 clearly shows that this was but 
 a formal sanction to a practice that had existed long befoi-e. 
 
32 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 Here, then, is an anomaly which, our historical inquiry 
 should enable us better to understand. Dr. Stubbs has 
 confessed that the history of Admiralty jurisdiction is 
 obscure. I shall not find occasion in this volume to deal 
 with the civil jurisdiction of the Admiralty Court (from 
 which the criminal jurisdiction was taken away in 1844), 
 but I may remark that this obscurity clouds that juris- 
 diction not more than the executive authority of the 
 Admiralty itself.' Sir James Graham, who made it his 
 business to inquire into the character and legal origin of 
 the powers vested severally in the First Lord and the 
 Board, came to significant conclusions illustrative of that 
 historical development of the Admiralty which gives it its 
 dominant merits. " The more I have investigated the 
 matter," he said before the Select Committee of the House 
 of Commons, 1861, " the more I am satisfied that, like 
 the common law in aid of the statute law, the power 
 exercised by the Board of Admiralty and the different 
 members of it, rests more upon usage than upon the 
 Patents, uninterrupted usage, from a very early period." 
 Ten years later, before the Select Committee of the House 
 of Lords, Mr. Bristow, solicitor to the Admiralty, de- 
 scribed this judgment as " excessively good sense." It 
 is, indeed, clear that not a tithe of the power exercised 
 by the Board is conferred upon it, in express terms, by 
 the Patent, aiid the Patent itself is remarkable as con- 
 veying powers by reference to antecedent usage. Further, 
 it is clear that the powers of the Lord High Admiral 
 
 ' For the civil and criminal jurisdiction of the Admiralty Courts 
 see : " The Maritime DiciEologie," 1664; Twiss, " The Black Book 
 of the Admiralty ; " Nicolas, "History of the Navy ; " Shortland, 
 " Laws which Govern the Navy ; " Thring, " Criminal Law of the 
 Navy;" Robinson, "The British Fleet,"part ii., chap, v.; Marsden, 
 "Select Pleas in the Court of Admiralty " (Selden Society, 1895), 
 dealing with the Court of the Admiralty of the AVest, 1390-1404, 
 and the High Court of Admiralty, I,")27-4,'). 
 
THE ADMIRALTY PATENT. 33 
 
 himself, and of the local admirals who preceded him, were 
 exercised by virtue of usage and of the power exercised 
 by the crown in maritime affairs. 
 
 We may therefore conclude that there existed ante- 
 cedent to the Admiralty Patents, and now concurrently 
 with them exists, an elastic and undefined power, based 
 upon usage, which makes it possible for the First Lord — 
 as I shall presently illustrate — to undertake any duties the 
 public safety may require. He is possessed of the utmost 
 authority a single minister can exercise, with the advan- 
 tage, as Sir James Graham pointed out, of ubiquity in 
 cases where it is required that general instructions should 
 be given to act, whereby a power of expansion is ex- 
 emplified capable of meeting exigencies that no single 
 minister could possibly exercise. The usage which covers 
 these powers is expressed in the declaratory Act of the 
 2nd of William and Mary, sess. 2, c. 2, which affirms that 
 " all and singular authorities, jurisdictions and powers 
 which by any Act of Parliament, or otherwise, have been 
 and are carefully vested, settled and placed in the Lord 
 High Admiral of England for the time being, have always 
 appertained to, and of right might have been, and may 
 and shall "be had, employed and exercised, and executed 
 by the Commissioners for executing the office of High 
 Admiral of England for the time being according to these 
 Commissions, to all intents and purposes as if the said 
 Commissioners were Lord High Admiral of England." 
 
 The Patents of the Admiralty Board, as I have said, 
 falling back upon the Patents of the Lords High Admiral, 
 find their early type in that which Henry VI. granted to 
 the Earl of Warwick. They have been granted, with 
 little actual change, to a long series of successive Boards, 
 and the Patent of Queen Anne, save for certain small altera- 
 tions, omissions and additions, is textually that of Queen 
 Victoria. One change, however, deserves to be noticed. 
 In the Patent of Queen Anne the grant is to " any three 
 
34 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 or more of you ; " it is now, and for a long time has been, 
 to "any two or more of you.'' The authority for the 
 substitution of two Lords for the three formerly required 
 to legalize any action of the Board is contained in the 
 Act 2 William IV. cap. 40. This was an extension of 
 powers conferred by an Act of 3 George IV., authorizing 
 two Lords to sign so long as the Board consisted of less 
 than six members. The reduction in number was, there- 
 fore, evidently due to a purpose of saving time and labour 
 in signing, and to avoid any difficulty in finding three 
 Lords at all times. In those days so very many things 
 had to be signed by their Lordships, that it is easily con- 
 ceivable there must, on occasions, have been much difficulty 
 in keeping the necessary n amber of Lords in waiting. But, 
 generally speaking, the Patent continued, save for names 
 and descriptions, a document verbatim et literatim the same, 
 and contained obsolete references to vanished Droits of the 
 Admiralty, and to portions of Her Majesty's dominions 
 which no longer existed, and were not easily identified on 
 the map. These obsolete features, with certain excep- 
 tions, were removed in 1872, and the Patent has been 
 simplified, but it is interesting to note, as an illustration 
 of their little changing character, that the early Patents of 
 Her Majesty conferred the powers of " Our High Admiral 
 of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and 
 of the Dominions, Islands and Territories thereunto belong- 
 ing, and of our High Admiral of Jamaica, Barbadoes, Saint 
 Christopher, Nevis, Montserrat, Bermudas, and Antegoa 
 in America, and of Guiney Binny in Africa, and of the 
 Islands and Dominions thereof, and also of all and sin- 
 gular Our Foreign Plantations, Dominions, Islands, and 
 Territories whatsoever and places wheresoever thereunto 
 belonging." 
 
 The grants of the Patent now fall into eight main parts. 
 The first gives power to execute the office of High Admiral. 
 By virtue of the second the Commissionei-s are to issue 
 
THE ADMIRALTY PATENT. 35 
 
 orders for the building, repairing, and fitting of ships, 
 and to establish wages for the men employed. The third 
 commands the officers of the Navy and naval departments 
 to be obedient to the Commissioners. The fourth charges 
 the Commissioners to propound orders and instructions for 
 the better regulation of the service. The fifth relates to 
 the Droits of the Admiralty. By virtue of the sixth the 
 Commissioners are empowered to appoint the now extinct 
 Vice-Admirals, who were formerly local representatives of 
 the Lords High Admiral, and the seventh gives them 
 warrant to appoint officers to conduct tlie Civil Depart- 
 ments. The eighth part confers the authority to make 
 contracts, and the Patent now concludes by vesting in the 
 Admiralty Commissioners the powers of the extinct Prin- 
 cipal Officers and Commissioners of the Navy and of the 
 Victualling Commissioners. The text of the Patent is as 
 follows : — 
 
 " ViCTOHiA by the Grace of Grod of the United Kingdom of 
 Great Britain and Ireland, Queen, Defender of the Faith, 
 Empress of India. To Our right trusty and well beloyed 
 Councillor, A.B., Our trusty and well beloved CD., E.F., G.H., 
 and I.K., greeting. Whereas we did by Our Letters Patent 
 under the Great Seal of Our United Kingdom bearing date at 
 
 the day of 
 
 in the year of Our reign, constitute and appoint the 
 
 persons therein named to be Our Commissioners for executing 
 the office of Our High Admiral as therein mentioned during 
 Our pleasure. Now know ye that we do by these presents 
 revoke the said Letters Patent. And further know ye that we 
 trusting in your wisdom and fidelity of Our especial grace do 
 by these presents constitute and appoint you to be Our Commis- 
 sioners for executing the office of Our High Admiral of Our 
 United Kingdom, and of the Territories thereunto belonging, 
 anil of Our High Admiral of Our Colonies and other dominions, 
 whatsoever, during Our pleasure. Granting unto you or any 
 two or more of you, full power and authority to do everything 
 which belongs to the office of Our High Admiral, as well in and 
 
36 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 touching those things which concern Our Navy and Shipping as 
 in and touching those which concern the rights and jurisdictions 
 appertaining to the office of Our High Admiral. And We do 
 grant unto you, or any two or more of you, full power and 
 authority to make orders for building, repairing, preserving, 
 fitting, furnishing, arming, victualling, and setting forth such 
 Ships, Vessels, and Fleets, with all things belonging to them 
 as to you, or any two or more of you, according to your best 
 discretion shall seem fit : and also to establish and direct such 
 entertainments, wages, and rewards for and unto all such per- 
 sons as are employed in any of Our services under you or in any- 
 thing appertaining thereunto, and to give such discharges for 
 those services, or any of them as to you or any two or more of 
 more of you, with the consent of the Commissioners of Our 
 Treasury in all cases where such consent has heretofore been 
 required, shall seem fit. And We do command all Our Officers 
 of Our Navy and all others in any Department of Our Naval 
 Service that they be from time to time attendant to you, and do 
 observe and execute all such orders as you or any two or more 
 of you give touching Our Naval Service. And Our will and 
 pleasure is that you, or any two or more of you, do from time 
 to time propound unto Us such ways and means for the estab- 
 lishing such orders and instructions for regulating Our Navy as 
 shall be found agreeable to Our Service, and as may increase 
 Our power and forces by sea, and remove such defects and 
 abuses as may prejudice the same, and especially may keep the 
 Mariners in good order and obedience, to the end that thereupon 
 we may take speedy and effectual course for the supplying of all 
 defects and reforming of all abuses. And whereas all wrecks 
 of the sea, goods, and ships taken from pirates, and divei-s rights, 
 duties, and privileges have been by express words or otherwise 
 heretofore granted to Our High Admirals for their own benefit 
 as duties appertaining to .the office of Our High Admiral. It is 
 Our will and pleasiu-e that all casual duties and profits be taken 
 and received in all places where they shall happen by the officers 
 of the Admiralty or other jiroper officers appointed as by law 
 required in that behalf, in such sort as they formerly were or 
 oupht to have been taken and received when there was a High 
 
THE ADMIRALTY PATENT. 37 
 
 Admiral, or as they now are or ouglit to be taken and received ; 
 and the officers so taking or receiving the same shall account for 
 the same and every part thereof to the proper officers appointed 
 in that behalf, and the same shall be applied in such manner as 
 the law directs. And whereas all offices, places, and employ- 
 ments belonging to the Xavy or Admiralty, are properly in the 
 trust and disposal of Our High Admiral, and our High Admirals 
 have conslitnted Vice-Admirals under them. ICow Our will and 
 pleasure is that all such officers, places, and employments, as 
 shall become or be made void during the vacancy of the office 
 of Our High Admiral .shall be given and disposed of by you or 
 any two or more of yon. And you or any two or more of you 
 may constitute Vice-Admirals for such places where Vice- 
 Admirals have been usually appointed by Our High Admiral for 
 the time being, or where you may in your discretion from time 
 to time think fit. And know ye further that we do grant unto 
 you fiiU power and authority from time to time by warrants under 
 the hands of any two or more of you, and the seal of the office 
 of Admii-alty, to appoint such officers for conducting the business 
 of the CSril Departments of our Naval Service, and for super- 
 intending our Xaval Arsenals, Dockyards, Victualling Establish- 
 ments, and Naval Hospitals within Our United Kingdom or 
 elsewhere, as to you shall seem necessary, and from time to time, 
 as you shall see fitting, to revoke the appointments of any such 
 officers, and appoint others in their stead, strictly enjoining all 
 such officers, and all others whom it may concern, to be obedient 
 to you in all things as becometh. And, moreover, we grant unto 
 you, or any two or more of yon, full power and authority to make 
 or cause to be made on Our behalf, all requisite contracts for 
 the hire of vessels and for the supply of Naval, Medical, and 
 Chirurgical Stores, and of victuals, provisions, and other neces- 
 saries for Our Fleets and Naval Service, and for the performance 
 of works in relation thereto, and for any other services as in your 
 discretion shall be from time to time found necessary for the 
 better carrying on of Onr Naval Service ; and generally to execute 
 and do every power and thing which formerly did in any respect 
 appertain to the office or duties of Principal Officers and Com- 
 missioners of the Navy and of Commissioners for Victualling the 
 
38 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 Navy, and for the care of sick and wounded seamen in the Service, 
 or which they or any of them collectively or individually, as such 
 officers and Commissioners, could have lawfully executed or done. 
 In witness whereof we have caused these Our Letters to be made 
 Patent. Witness Ourself at Westminster, the day 
 
 in the year of Our reign. 
 
 " By warrant under the Queen's Sign Manual." 
 
 The instruments by which the Patent is, in terms, over- 
 ruled upon the question of responsibility are the Orders in 
 Council of January 14th, 1869, and March 19th, 1872, but 
 these, as I have said, merely give formal sanction to long 
 pre-existent practice. The First Lord is made responsible 
 to the Queen and Parliament for all the business of the 
 Admiralty, and the other Lords and the Parliamentary 
 Secretary are made responsible to the First Lord for the 
 business with wbich they are charged, each in his own 
 department, though his responsibility is not easy to define. 
 It is almost impossible to define the responsibility of the 
 Permanent Secretary, 
 
 The question has often been mooted whether it would 
 not be well to bring the Patent into harmony with the 
 usage expressed in the Orders in Council, but against this 
 there is a very decided consensus of the best opinion. Sir 
 James Graham, who fully recognized that, whatever the 
 Patent might be, the Board of Admiralty could never work 
 unless the First Lord were supreme, was nevertheless of 
 opinion that there would be great danger in attempting to 
 touch the Patent, and this is the opinion of our best con- 
 stitutional lawyers. Admitting the highly beneficial elastic 
 power possessed by the Admiralty Board under the Patent, 
 and the prompt and flexible character of the business 
 methods that results, the reasons for leaving the sanction- 
 ing instrument intact are obvious. Expressio unius exdusio 
 alterius. Sir James Graham, who held a very exalted 
 view concerning the sole and supreme authority of the 
 First Lord, said, before the Select Committee of the House 
 
THE ADMIRALTY PATENT. 39 
 
 of Commons, 1861 : " If you pass a new Patent, everything 
 wWcli you omit will be lield to be superseded, everything 
 which you do not include in terms will be held not to be 
 granted, which is exactly the inverse of the present state 
 of aifairs ; the Patent of the Board of Admiralty, in 
 direct terms, gives very little to the Board." It would, 
 in short, be impossible to convey and define by Patent the 
 authority, powers, and character of the Board, for the 
 reason that these themselves are, in fact, incapable of 
 precise definition. 
 
 Quite apart from the circumstance that the far greater 
 part of the Admiralty business is conducted outside the 
 Board — in a manner to be explained when I come, at the 
 close of the volume, to describe the working of the Ad- 
 miralty machine — there appears to be, in certain excep- 
 tional acts regarding the work of the Navy, a direct 
 government without a Board. Thus, when Lord Grambier 
 was sent to Copenhagen in 1807, he was instructed to 
 obey all orders from the King, through the Principal Secre- 
 tary of State for War, and in this way he received orders 
 to attack Copenhagen, which were unknown to all but the 
 First Lord. In a similar way the Secretary was despatched 
 to Paris in 1816, with instructions to issue orders as if 
 from the Admiralty, when directed to do so by the Foreign 
 Secretary, who accompanied him ; and these orders re- 
 sulted in Napoleon's capture. These instances were cited 
 by Sir James Graham before the Select Committee of the 
 House of Commons, 1861, in order to illustrate the elastic 
 power under the Patent which enables the First Lord to 
 undertake any duties the public safety may require. The 
 promptitude with which Lord Barham acted on receipt of 
 the news brought by the Ourieux from Lord Nelson, when 
 following Villeneuve home, is another illustration of this 
 elastic power. An abundance of other examples might 
 be cited to prove that procedure dictated by high policy 
 has often been given effect through the supreme authority 
 
40 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 vested in the First Lord, without the intervention of his 
 colleagues, though almost invariably with their knowledge. 
 
 It is not surprising that this feature of Admiralty 
 methods, combined with the fact that much business is 
 conducted by individual Lords under the First Lord's 
 direction, should have led many to question the value of 
 the Admiralty as a Board. This was a view somewhat 
 accentuated after the definition of the First Lord's sole 
 responsibility in 1869. Thus Mr. Vernon Lushington, 
 Permanent Secretary to the Admiralty, expressed the 
 opinion before the Select Committee of the House of 
 Lords in 1871, that the Board answered no good purpose. 
 He did not like a Board that existed for merely formal 
 ratifying purposes, considering it absolutely detrimental 
 to the public service that a Board which did nothing, and 
 toot no responsibility, should be the authority under 
 which orders were finally issued. Mr. Baxter, too, the 
 Parliamentary Secretary, regarded the Board as "a 
 fiction " not worth keeping up, and would have abolished 
 it altogether. 
 
 The Order in Council of 1869, by describing the Lords 
 of the Admiralty as the " assistants " of the First Lord, 
 and by specifically defining their duties, had, in fact, par- 
 tially disabled the Board. 
 
 An illustration of this — throwing some light upon the 
 difBculties that attend the definition and distribution of 
 responsibility — was the action taken by Mr. Childers, 
 First Lord, in relation to the loss of the Captain in 1870. 
 The court-martial had expressed the " conviction " that 
 the ship had been built " in deference to public opinion 
 expressed in Parliament," and through other channels, 
 and in opposition to the views and opinions of the Con- 
 troller and his department, and that the evidence all 
 tended to show " that they generally disapproved of 
 her construction." Mr. Childers thereupon, on November 
 80th, 1870, issued a minute with the authority of the 
 
THE ADMIRALTY PATENT. 41 
 
 Board, but which had never been brought before the 
 Board, wherein the professional reputation of Sir Spencer 
 Robinson, a Lord of the Admiralty, and Controller of the 
 Navy, was considered to be impugned. In short, and in the 
 words of the draft report of the House of Lords' Com- 
 mittee in 1871, "Mr. Childers, being himself nominally 
 responsible for sending this vessel to sea, constituted 
 himself a judge of the case, and, exempting himself from 
 all blame, distributed censure among a number of persons, 
 while he placed the chief weight on the Controller, who 
 had been by a former Board specially released from this 
 responsibility." 
 
 This unique case contributed largely to reinstate the 
 Board in its former position, and to bring about the sub- 
 sequent reorganization of the Admiralty. The legal view 
 as to the inutility of the Board had never found favour 
 with the Lords of the Admiralty nor with naval oflBcers, 
 and is probably now altogether abandoned. Those who 
 know the inner working of our naval administration best, 
 recognize the high value of the consultative functions of 
 the Board, which brings together the highest pi'ofessional 
 opinion for the guidance of the First Lord, and, enabling 
 its members to discuss every question among themselves, 
 greatly benefits the service by the free interchange of 
 those ideas which build up our naval policy, and lead to the 
 means for carrying it into effect. 
 
 As I have said, the question of final responsibility is 
 not in all respects clear. It has been discussed before 
 several Parliamentary Committees. Sir Charles Wood, a 
 former First Lord, said, in 1861, that he had never read 
 the Patent nor heard of anyone having read it. He had 
 been guided by the " prescriptive usage, which is a sort 
 of tradition in every office," and he considered the respon- 
 sibility of the First Lord to the Crown and to Parliament 
 to be direct and absolute, and that the First Lord was 
 singly and personally responsible for the sufficiency of the 
 
42 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 fleet wbicli involved the safety of the country. This had 
 been the view of Sir James Graham. It was not, how- 
 ever, shared by Sir Arthur Hood, First Naval Lord, who 
 expressed the view, before the House of Commons Com- 
 mittee in 1888, that in the matter of the sufficiency of the 
 fleet the Board collectively are responsible. Sir Anthony 
 Hoskins regarded the First Lord as " absolutely respon- 
 sible for everything," but somewhat modified this view by 
 saying that the Board collectively, some Lords more, some 
 less, are responsible for the designs of ships. It is un- 
 necessary to pursue the question of responsibility further. 
 What is clear is that the First Lord being responsible, the 
 other Lords are responsible to him for the advice they give ; 
 and Sir Evan MacGregor, Permanent Secretary, has ex- 
 pressed the view that their responsibility ends when they 
 have given their opinion at the Board to the First Lord.' 
 
 ' The particular Orders in Council which, with the Patent given 
 in this chapter, are the instruments under which the Admiralty is 
 administered, will he found in Appendix II. 
 
t^-*-L^ 
 
 'I'llilllllI'l'llll'lllll'illWlUlilllllllh - 7- ^ , t ^u 
 
 >>/ 
 
 Jrr/c/,//7/ of ///,■ C/<-)/////\r//// ,;/ ' 
 (f/rcU /i/ UuuL (Uid. J/c /li/ii) 
 
 
 .lOsrAH lU'nCLIETT 
 
 (.loiiit Secretary ami Secretary of tlie Admiralty, I(39j-174"2). 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE EXISTING ORGANIZATION. 
 
 The existing constitution of the Board of Admiralty i8 
 regulated by tlie Order in Council of March 19th, 1872, 
 modified by that of March 10th, 1882, which involved the 
 re-inclusion of the Controller as a member of the Board, 
 and the suppression of the Naval Secretaryship, as well as 
 the addition of a Civil Lord with special mechanical and 
 engineering knowledge, whose office has not been filled up 
 since the resignation of Mr. G. W. Rendel in 1885. The 
 Board of Admiralty is thus comprised of: 
 
 The First Lord 
 
 The First Sea Lord 
 
 The Second Sea Lord 
 
 The Third Lord and Controller 
 
 The Junior Sea Lord 
 
 The Civil Lord 
 
 The Parliamentary and Financial Secretary. 
 The Permanent Secretary. 
 
 The First Lord is responsible to the Crown and to 
 Parliament for all the business of the Admiralty, and 
 commits carefully defined duties to the other Lords and the 
 Secretaries. The First Sea Lord, the Second Sea Lord, 
 and the Junior Sea Lord are responsible to the First Lord 
 for so much of the business relating to the personnel of the 
 Navy and the movements and condition of the fleet as is 
 
 Commissioners 
 for executing the 
 office of Lord High 
 Admiral. 
 
46 NATAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 donfided to them ; the Controller is responsible in the same 
 ■yraj for the material of the Navy ; and the Parliamentary 
 Secretary for the finance and other business with which he 
 may be charged ; while the Civil Lord and Permanent 
 Secretary have each special duties assigned to them by the 
 First Lord. Within the lines laid down by the Order in 
 Council the distribution of business among the Lords 
 is an internal disposition of the Admiralty, in the dis- 
 cretion of the First Lord, who commonly, upon taking 
 office, discusses the question at the Board and passes the 
 distribution arranged, which varies little, as a Board 
 minute. 
 
 The First Lord of the Admiralty. — The responsible head 
 of the naval administration is the Cabinet Minister known 
 as the First Lord of the Admiralty, who, as a member of 
 the Government, is the channel through which the Navy 
 receives its political direction, and, through successive 
 First Lords, is shaped in character and strength in accord- 
 ance with imperial policy. The constitutional position of 
 the First Lord was dealt with in the last chapter. Being 
 responsible for all tbe business of the Admiralty, he 
 possesses the power both of initiative and veto. By his 
 supreme direction our maritime affairs are conducted. He 
 is the representative of the Navy in Parliament. To him 
 the country looks for its readiness and sufficiency. In 
 practice, as a civilian, the First Lord depends very largely 
 upon the other Lords. In the view of Lord George 
 Hamilton, indeed (First Lord, 1885-1892), his respon- 
 sibility to Parliament consists largely in seeing that com- 
 petent and efficient men have certain duties assigned to 
 them under him. He is responsible for the Admii-alty as 
 the Premier is for the Cabinet, or as the admiral com- 
 manding a fleet is responsible for that fleet. No respon- 
 sibility would attach to that admiral for a collision between 
 ships which did not result from his orders or from the want 
 of them. If the naval advisers of the First Lord upon 
 
THE EXISTING ORGANIZATION. 47 
 
 the Board do not approve his policy, it is their responsi- 
 bility to advise him, and, if their advice be not accepted, 
 they have the remedy of protest or resignation. Bat, 
 inasmnch as the First Lord has selected or accepted 
 his advisers as the most able of professional men, he is 
 very largely guided by their views. Sir Arthur Hood 
 (Lord Hood of Avalon), First Naval Lord, who had had a 
 long esperience of the Admiralty, was, indeed, able to tell 
 the Select Committee on the Navy Estimates, 1888, that 
 he could not recall a single instance in which a First Lord 
 had vetoed any important question which had been placed 
 before him, contrary to the views of the Naval Lord who 
 had been charged with those administrative duties. 
 
 Within recent years something has been done by First 
 Lords towards affixing responsibility npon the individual 
 members of the Board, by more clearly defining their 
 duties, still as an internal regulation of the Admiralty 
 subject to change, and alterations have been made to 
 secure that end. Lord George Hamilton laid down a rule 
 that no member of the Board was to write a paper outside 
 his own department, and circulate it, nntil it had first come 
 to him as First Lord for decision as to whether or not that 
 ■ paper should be sent to other members of the Board. But 
 the right of the Lords to see the First Lord whenever they 
 wished it remained, and remains, and this disposition 
 does not derogate from the authority and influence they 
 exercise. 
 
 In addition to the general direction and supervision of 
 all business relating to the Navy, and of the political 
 questions that concern it, the First Lord, as will be seen, 
 deals with all Board matters, and the internal regulation of 
 the Admiralty. He has special charge of promotions and 
 of removals of naval and marine officers from the service, 
 and of all questions relating to honours and reward.^. 
 With him also remain the appointments of flag officers, 
 captains, officers commanding ships, cnmmnrdor^ to the 
 
48 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 coastguard, and tbe superior officers of the medical service, 
 staff appointments to the Royal Marines, and civil appoint- 
 ments and promotions, except such as ai-e provided for 
 under the Controller and the Civil Lord, v^ith the nomina- 
 tion to naval cadetships and to assistant clerkships of the 
 Navy. Upon these or other points he is free to obtain the 
 opinion of one or all of his adviser.<!. 
 
 The First Sea Lord. — Sir James Graham, v^hile holding 
 the First Lord to be responsible for every act, and that he 
 could not shelter himself under any advice, spoke of the 
 Senior Waval Lord as his " first naval adviser," and 
 Mr. Childers and Lord George Hamilton regarded this 
 Lord as exercising " functions almost similar to those of 
 the Commander-in-Chief of the Army." The former view, 
 in my opinion, is correct. Although in theory the First Sea 
 Lord is responsible for the personnel of the fleet, as distin- 
 guished from the material, in practice this is not so ; for he 
 is concerned with the material as soon as it is put in com- 
 mission, and with the actual commissioning of it. In 
 short, his work is chiefly in relation to the employment 
 of the fleet, though he exercises great weight in regard to 
 the character and sufficiency of it ; and his advice is always 
 sought, with that of the other Naval Lords, upon questions 
 of ship-building policy, in relation to which he may 
 initiate suggestions. Sir Arthur Hood regarded the con- 
 sultation between the First Sea Lord and the Controller 
 upon plans of ships furnished by the Chief Constructor in 
 accordance with the orders of the Board, as the " first vital 
 step" in the ship-building procedure, one Lord bringing 
 to the discussion knowledge of the fighting requirements 
 of ships, the other technical competence, through his 
 , advisers, in matters of naval construction. It will thus 
 be seen, as a broad definition of the First Sea Lord's duties 
 and authority, that they cover the fighting efficiency and 
 actual employment of the fleet. Upon him, and upon the 
 Controller, the naval business is very largely centred, and 
 
THE EXISTING ORGANIZATION. 49 
 
 his inflnenee upon the naval councils of the country is of 
 the highest importance. 
 
 The special duties assigned to the First Sea Lord have 
 to do largely with ships in commission and their move- 
 ments, and with the distribution (or war disposition) and 
 organization of the fleet. It is his particular province to 
 advise upon questions of maritime defence and naval 
 strategy as influencing policy. He has general supervision 
 of the mobilization of the fleet, both personnel and material, 
 and of the Intelligence Department. He appoints com- 
 manders (second in command) and takes charge of matters 
 concerning gunnery and torpedoes, as relating to per- 
 sonnel and ships in commission. Another very important 
 part of his duty is to supervise the discipline of the fleet ; 
 and Sir Frederick Grey, in 1871, said that this work 
 occupied a large part of his time. The duty involves 
 charge of courts-martial and courts of inquiry, with punish- 
 ment returns ; and the minutes of courts-martial pass 
 upward to him with the remarks of the Junior and Second 
 Sea Lords, and are considered, before being submitted to 
 the First Lord. Another important matter within the 
 special province of the First Sea Lord is the protection of 
 trade and of fisheries. The Hydrographical Department 
 and pilotage are under his supervision, and he deals with 
 signals, collisions, the slave trade, prize questions, and 
 leave to oflicers and men, with the movements of, and 
 orders to, naval attacMs. It is a great and complex 
 business, demanding the closest personal attention, but 
 knowledge of it by the First Sea Lord, as chief naval 
 adviser, is necessary ; and, aided by the constant personal 
 contact of members of the Board, successive holders of 
 the office have found it possible to devote adequate atten- 
 tion to the duties. 
 
 The Second Sea Lord. — Like the other Lords of the 
 Admiralty, the Second Sea Lord is subordinate only to the 
 First Lord, though his work, in certain matters, is closely 
 
 E 
 
50 Naval administration. 
 
 related in a secondary degree to that of the First Sea 
 Lord. Many very important matters are in his charge, but 
 none more so than the manning of the fleet, and the educa- 
 tion and training of the personnel, with the affairs of the 
 Royal Marine Light Infantry and Royal Marine Artillery. 
 Within his department fall the training establishments, 
 including those for engineer students, the naval colleges, 
 and the education of officers, and of men and boys for the 
 Navy, as well as the Royal Marine Schools, except in regard 
 to civil appointments. He appoints navigating officers 
 and lieutenants, except to commands, and sub-lieutenants, 
 midshipmen, cadets, engineer officers, gunners, and boat- 
 swains, and supervises the officers and men of the Steam 
 Reserve. The mobilization of the personnel of the fleet, 
 the pensioners, and the reserve men, and therefore the 
 affairs of the Coastguard (except in regard to buildings), 
 and the Royal Naval Reserve are in his province. He 
 deals further with engine-room artificers and with in- 
 terpreters, as well as with the award of medals. Another 
 important duty is in regard to deserters and the removal 
 of men who have run. The duties assigned to the Second 
 Sea Lord make him the constant colleague of the 
 First Sea Lord, in whose temporary absence he should be 
 able to conduct the administrative affairs of the latter. 
 A happy illustration of the facility of business which dis- 
 tinguishes the work of the Lords of the Admiralty from 
 that of the heads of departments is to be found in the 
 relations which existed between Sir Frederick Grey and 
 Vice-Admiral Eden, when they were First and Second 
 Sea Lords respectively. Called to constant personal com- 
 munication upon such matters as the complements of ships 
 and the manning of the fleet, of which they were severally 
 superintending Lords, and meeting for frequent discussion 
 at the Board, each knew intimately the other's work (as 
 they explained to the House of Lords Committee in 1871) 
 and upon occasions could take charge of it with perfect 
 
THE EXISTING ORGANIZATION. 61 
 
 confidence. Such freedom of personal communication 
 between the Lords is essential to the Admiralty system. 
 
 The Third Naval Lord and GontroUer of the Navy. — The 
 Controller of the Navy, at one time known as the Sur- 
 veyor, though an officer of long standing, representing the 
 Comptroller of Henry VIII. 's days, is a comparatively 
 recent addition to the Admiralty Board. He first took 
 his seat — being made a Lord owing to the anomaly of his 
 position in regard to control of expenditure — under the 
 Patent of December 18th, 1869, with charge of the depart- 
 ments of Construction, Stores, and Ordnance, but lost it 
 again in 1872, and resumed his place at the Board upon 
 the reconstitution of 1882. His duties are of very great 
 importance in relation to the material of the fleet, com- 
 parable to those of the First Sea Lord in regard to the 
 personnel, and he is the directing Lord of a number of 
 most important civil branches of which I shall have to 
 speak when I deal with the "machinery" of naval ad- 
 ministration. Under the Controller are ranged the whole 
 of the means by which the material elements of the fleet 
 are created and maintained in a state of efliciency ; but, in- 
 asmuch as this volume does not deal with the detailed and 
 practical work of the dockyards and other local establish- 
 ments, the ultimate reach of the Controller's superin- 
 tendence extends beyond its scope. The work of his depart- 
 ment may be explained best under five heads, of which the 
 first is the design and construction of ships and machinery ; 
 the second, naval armaments ; the third, dockyard adminis- 
 tration and work ; the fourth, naval stores ; and the fifth, 
 dockyard expense accounts. 
 
 The Controller submits proposals in regard to the 
 designs of new ships, upon which decision of the Board 
 is necessary, and superintends the preparation of plans. 
 He is responsible for the carrying into effect of the de- 
 cisions of the Board regarding ships built and building, 
 including masticg, torpedo, electrical, and all nautical 
 
52 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 apparatus. He surveys ships in progress at the dock- 
 yards, and in private yards, in order to see that they 
 are according to design and the decisions of the Board, 
 and to his own satisfaction. No alteration can be made 
 in a dhip built, or building, without his authority, and the 
 sanction of the Board. He also surveys merchant vessels 
 for acceptance as auxiliary cruisers, and submits annual 
 estimates for ships and machinery to be built or obtained 
 by contract, for use in preparing the Navy Estimates ; 
 and he is responsible for the design and manufacture by 
 contract of steam machinery for ships and boats. Here the 
 Director of Naval Construction and the Engineer-in-Chief 
 are his lieutenants. 
 
 In the same way, in regard to armaments, it is his 
 duty to see that the decisions of the Board touching 
 the gunnery and torpedo armament of ships are carried 
 out, and to him are submitted all important questions 
 relating to ordnance and torpedo material which con- 
 cern the design and construction, repairing and fitting 
 of ships, their guns, and gun and torpedo mountings 
 and fittings, magazines, shell-rooms, and electrical ap- 
 paratus. In this department the Director of Naval 
 Ordnance is the Controller's assistant. The Director of 
 Dockyards, acting under the Controller's responsibility, 
 assists him in regard to the management, work, and 
 machinery of the dockyards at home and the naval yards 
 abroad, in the building of ships and boats in the dock- 
 yards, and the maintenance of ships and machinery in a 
 state of efficiency. The Controller is also responsible for 
 purchasing the plant and machinery of the Victualling 
 Yards, and supervises the Director of Dockyards in his 
 work of preparing the programme of work to be done in 
 the dockyards, and regulating the number, appropriation, 
 and pay of men, and the appropriation of materials in 
 accordance with approved programmes. To the Controller, 
 also, falls the care of estimates for plant and machinery 
 
THE EXISTING ORGANIZATION. 53 
 
 for the dockyards and other establishments, and he submits 
 proposals for the extension and repair of buildings and 
 other works carried out in the yards by the Director of 
 Woj-ks. The Director of Stores, under the Controller's 
 authority and responsibility, maintains the supply of naval 
 stores and of shipbuilding materials for the dockyards and 
 depots at home and abroad, prepares estimates for stores 
 for the purposes of the Navy Estimates, and examines the 
 store account of ships, the last being a duty transferred 
 from the Accountant-General. Through the Inspector of 
 Dockyard Expense Accounts the Controller is responsible 
 for the keeping of accounts of dockyard expenditure, and 
 for seeing that outlay is charged as directed ; also for the 
 preparation of shipbuilding and manufacturing expense 
 accounts of the yards for submission to Parliament. In 
 regard to the Estimates, the Controller, through his sub- 
 ordinates, is responsible for the preparation and adminis- 
 tration of Vote 8 (save some sub-headings) and Vote 9, 
 and thus, in 1894-95, for the outlaying of about £8,000,000. 
 The Junior Sea Lord. — This member of the Admiralty 
 Board is the supervising Lord of the Transport-., Medical 
 and Victualling Services, with the regulation of hospitals 
 and hospital ships. He is also responsible for every detail 
 of the arrangements for coaling the fleet, and thus has a 
 most important work in regard to the efficient employment 
 of the Navy. His duties necessarily bring him into con- 
 stant personal communication with the First Sea Lord. 
 He has to do with the appointment of chaplains and naval 
 instructors, medical officers (except as otherwise provided), 
 and of paymasters, assistant paymasters, clerks, assistant 
 clerks, and ships' carpenters. The Junior Naval Lord is 
 also in charge of a vast array of work in regard to writers 
 and ships' stewards, assistants, boys, and nursing staff; 
 full and half pay, table moneys, and compensations and 
 allowances to the fleet ; uniforms ; the debts of officers and 
 men ; ships' libraries, prize money and bounties ; deserters' 
 
54 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 effects, salvage, naval savings banks, and the freight on 
 conveyance of treasure ; and also pensions to seamen and 
 marines and widows of naval and marine officers. 
 
 The Civil Lord. — In the department of the Civil Lord, 
 who is the supervising Lord of the Works Department, 
 and under special charge of the Director of Works, lies 
 all that concerns Admiralty buildings and works, their 
 construction and repair, including contracts and purchases 
 of building stores and land, and the buildings, sites, and 
 leases of the coastguard stations. The Civil Lord is 
 responsible for the civil staff of the naval establishments, 
 including classification, appointment, promotion, pay, 
 allowances, and pension, except promotions and appoint- 
 ments in London, and of professional officers of the Con- 
 troller's Department at the Dockyards. The same Lord 
 deals with Greenwich Hospital business, compassionate 
 allowances, the charitable fund, allowances to ministers of 
 religion, Dockyard and Marine Schools, and special ques- 
 tions relating to the retirement, pay, and allowances of 
 naval and marine officers and men. 
 
 The Parliamentary and Financial Secretary. — The great 
 and growing magnitude of naval finance, and the necessity 
 for efficient financial control, have added largely to the 
 importance of the Parliamentary and Financial Secretary, 
 who is responsible for the finance of the Department, for 
 the Navy Estimates, and for matters of expenditure 
 generally, and is consulted in regard to all questions in- 
 volving reference to the Treasury financially. Upon the 
 report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons, 
 1885, an inter-departmental committee was appointed to 
 inquire into the financial administration of the Admiralty, 
 and reported that the controlling powers of the Parlia- 
 mentary and Financial Secretary were complete, but that 
 it was desirable " that permanent assistance should be 
 afforded him in the direction of financial criticism and 
 control, by placing the Accountant- General in closer 
 
THE EXISTING ORGANIZATION. 55 
 
 relationship with, him." The Accountant- General, there- 
 fore, as assistant to the Financial Secretary, was placed in 
 a position to offer financial criticism of proposed expendi- 
 ture ; but the principle of a financial officer commenting 
 upon outlay which Her Majesty's professional advisers 
 considered essential for the good of the country, was not 
 readily accepted at the Admiralty, and much discussion 
 occurred upon the condition of things that then ensued. 
 It is not, however, necessary here to enter further into 
 the administrative power of the Accountant- General, with 
 whose work I shall deal when I come to describe his 
 special department of work. His position in regard to 
 estimates and expenditure, and as adviser of the Financial 
 Secretary, is of much importance. In addition to its 
 general work in the matter of estimates and expenditure, 
 the department of the Financial Secretary is charged to 
 examine proposals for new and unusual expenditure, and 
 superintends the purchase and sale of ships and of general 
 stores, and the payment of hire of ships accepted as armed 
 cruisers, etc., besides much other financial business. To 
 the Financial Secretary also fall questions connected with 
 the Exchequer and Audit Department. 
 
 The L'ermanent Secretary. — The department of the Per- 
 manent Secretary, subdivided into the military, naval, and 
 legal branches, each under a principal clerk, with the 
 civil branch under the Assistant- Secretary, and the record 
 office and the registry and copying branch, has been 
 described as the "nerve centre" of the Admiralty, and, 
 since it embraces the channel through which papers for 
 the Lords of the Admiralty pass, for the intercommunica- 
 tion of departments, and for Board correspondence, that 
 description is not inappropriate. But the work of registry 
 and transmission is the smallest function of the Secretariat. 
 Each branch has highly important duties confided to it, as 
 the next chapter of this volume will show, and the depart- 
 ment initiates and conducts a great deal of work inde- 
 
56 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 pendently. Generally speaking the work of the branches 
 may be said to embrace matters relating to the commis- 
 sioning of ships and the distribution of the fleet, the 
 manning and discipline of the Navy, and the appointment, 
 promotion, and pensioning of all persons employed under 
 the Admiralty, both naval and civil. In the work of 
 transmission, too, papers are sent on, as much as possible, 
 with the detail of what is to be done upon them, or reported 
 upon np to a certain point, and are accompanied, where 
 necessary, by references to illustrative precedents. The 
 Permanent Secretary is responsible for the discipline and 
 proper working of the Admiralty departments, and with 
 him rest recommendations for appointments in the office. 
 It is his duty to attend the meetings of the Admiralty 
 Board, and, in a real sense, it may be said of this highly 
 important officer that he is the repository of Admiralty 
 traditions, and of a vast body of information accessible to 
 no other single individual, and that through him and the 
 Assistant-Secretary the central work of the Board is almost 
 wholly carried on. His personal duty is to obtain a prac- 
 tical insight into Admiralty work and administration, to 
 prevent the various Departments from acting indepen- 
 dently, and to keep the thread of administration unbroken 
 on the constitution of a new Board. 
 

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 Director of Contracts (who is also 
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 All departments, as regards financial 
 questions. 
 
 Director of Works. 
 
 Accountant-General, in regard to special 
 questions affecting pay and allow- 
 ances of the fleet. 
 
 Director of Greenwich Hospital. 
 
 Director of Naval Construction. 
 
 Director of Dockyards. 
 
 Engineer-in-Chief, as regards material. 
 
 Director of Naval Ordnance, as regards 
 material. 
 
 Director of Stores, except as regards 
 coals for the fleet. 
 
 Expense Accounts Branch. 
 ' Director of Transports. 
 
 Director- General of the Medical De- 
 partment. 
 
 Director of Victualling. 
 
 Director of Stores, as regards coals for 
 the fleet. 
 
 Accountant-General, in regard to cer- 
 tain allowances, table money, etc. 
 
 Chaplain of the Fleet, as regards chap- 
 lains and naval instructors. 
 
 Intelligence Department, as regards 
 mobilization matters affecting the 
 above duties. 
 ■ Admiral Superintendent of Naval Re- 
 serves, as regards personnel. 
 
 Engineer-in-Chief, as regards personnel. 
 
 Chaplain of the Fleet, as regards naval 
 schools. 
 
 Manning the Navy. 
 
 Intelligence Department, as regards 
 mobilization of the fleet. 
 
 Deputy Adjt. -General Koyal Marines. 
 
 Admiral Superintendent of Naval Re- 
 serves, as regards ships. 
 
 Hydrographer. 
 
 Director of Naval Ordnance, as regards 
 gunnery and torpedo training estab- 
 lishments. 
 
 Naval Intelligence Department. 
 
 Discipline. 
 
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Part II. 
 
 THE MACHINERY OF NAVAL 
 ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE DEPARTMENT OF THE PERMANENT SECRETART. 
 
 The reader has now been informed concerning the cha- 
 racter and features of the Admiralty system in general. 
 I have shown the organic growth of the Board of Admi- 
 ralty, how it has developed under changing conditions 
 to meet new and expanding needs, and yet how, working 
 upon lines laid down through ancient precedent, and 
 sanctioned more by immemorial custom than by explicit 
 instruments, it still, in its operations, exhibits something 
 of the rapid dealing and elastic methods of procedure 
 which would be possible in the business affairs of a single 
 untrammelled individual — of the Lord High Admiral, who 
 once, as representative of the Crown, had direct control 
 over all naval concerns. I have explained how the happy con- 
 stitution of the Admiralty Board has enabled it to handle 
 a mass of business now grown to vast complexity, without 
 splitting up into over-specialized departments, presided 
 over by independent chiefs with duties and offices sharply 
 and precisely defined. The existing organization and 
 administrative system were then explained, and it has been 
 
60 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 seen in what relation the several Lords of the Admiralty 
 stand to the Civil Departments of the Navy which are 
 nnder their direction, and under the control of the 
 Admiralty Board. 
 
 These Civil Departments now claim attention. They 
 are the machinery of naval administration, the organized 
 and executive branches through which the work is carried 
 on. I take first the highly-important Department of the 
 Permanent Secretary, formerly known as the Naval De- 
 partment, because it is the immediate organ of the Board. 
 Other Civil Departments have duties more readily defined, 
 but none more important. Thus the Director of Naval Con- 
 struction, the Engineer-in -Chief, the Directors of Naval 
 Ordnance, of Dockyards, and of Stores, and the Inspector of 
 Dockyard Expense Accounts, all tributary to the Controller, 
 are concerned with the material side of the Navy: The 
 Admiral Superintendent of Naval Reserves, the Adjutant- 
 General of Royal Marines, the Director of Victualling, 
 the Medical Director General, and the heads of some sub- 
 sidiary branches, are occupied with special sections of the 
 personnel, and with particular duties towards the personnel 
 generally. The Accountant- General is devoted wholly to 
 finance, and the Contract and Purchase Department, whose 
 duties are indicated by its title, is closely connected with 
 him. In the same way the Directors of Naval Intelligence, 
 Hydrography, Transports, and Works, have particular 
 duties confided to them by the Board. But the duties of 
 the Permanent Secretary cannot be so clearly defined, and 
 for this reason, that he is the mouthpiece of the Board, 
 and his Department the machinery by which a great deal 
 of its varied work is carried on. 
 
 Up till 1869, roughly speaking, the Secretariat, besides 
 carrying out special executive duties which wore not dealt 
 with in any other Department, was also the channel by 
 which submissions from the other Departments reached 
 their Lordships, whose decision was conveyed to those 
 
DEPARTMENT OF PERMANENT SECRETARY. 61 
 
 Departments by means of letters written in the Secretariat 
 and signed by the Secretary. Under this arrangement no 
 important decision could be arrived at without the special 
 cognizance of the Secretary and his Department ; and the 
 orders of the Board passed through one channel, which 
 thus became the central depository of official knowledge. 
 This, notwithstanding some alterations which have been 
 introduced, the Department of the Permanent Secretary 
 still continues to be. 
 
 Changes, however, were introduced in 1869 to modify 
 the system then existing, which, by its nature, caused 
 some duplication of work and consequent delay, and certain 
 of the Departments were authorized to communicate 
 directly with, and all of them to execute directly the orders 
 of the Board or of their Superintending Lords, without the 
 intervention of the Secretariat. 
 
 These changes were still farther carried into effect in 
 ] 879-80, when the "Naval Department" was reconstructed 
 as the " Secretary's Department," on the basis of the 
 report of a committee presided over by Sir Massey Lopes, 
 the intention being to restrict the functions of the Secre- 
 tariat, so far as the other Departments were concerned, to 
 dealing with the political, disciplinary, personal, and 
 executive aspects of any question which these Departments 
 brought before the Board. 
 
 The work of the Department proper may be said gener- 
 ally to embrace matters relating to the commissioning 
 of ships and the distribution of the fleet ; to the manning 
 and discipline of the Navy ; and to the appointment, promo- 
 tion, and pensioning of all persons employed under the 
 Admiralty, both naval and civil. This work is conducted 
 under the direct personal orders of the Board, in the 
 Military (or Secret and Political), the Naval, the Legal, 
 and the Civil Branches, each presided over by a Principal 
 Clerk, except the Civil Branch, which is in charge of the 
 Assistant Secretary, 
 
62 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 Looking a little more closely into the duties of the 
 branches of the Secretariat, we find that the Military 
 Branch — having its most important duty in time of peace 
 in regard to the commissioniDg, distribution, and paying 
 oflF of ships, their complements and questions of leave — 
 takes charge also of political correspondence, the sup- 
 pression of piracy, and the protection of trade and 
 fisheries, matters of quarantine, scientific exploration, 
 signals and signal books, salutes, and much other like 
 business. This branch is the secret and political office of 
 the Admiralty, and is intrusted with the conduct of con- 
 fidential affairs, and, in war time, would be generally the 
 directing channel of operations, charged with questions 
 relating to home and colonial defence, blockades, em- 
 bargoes, prizes, and other matters incidental to hostile 
 operations. 
 
 The Naval Branch is largely occupied with the great 
 work of officering and manning the fleet, and is therefore 
 the main channel of the Second Sea Lord's operations. 
 Here all general arrangements and regulations are made 
 for the entry of men and boys, and the work of training 
 ships, and the badges, promotion, and discharge of men. 
 Again, the branch is concerned with all that relates to the 
 education of officers, and to appointments, promotions, 
 leave, retirements, removals, restorations, services, and 
 claims of officers, good service and other pensions, and 
 generally of honours, distinctions, decorations, medals, 
 etc. The establishment and internal economy of the 
 Corps of Royal Marines, and the general arrangements 
 and regulations of the Coastguard and Reserves, are 
 also within the scope of this branch, with other work 
 relating to the personnel. 
 
 The duties of the Civil Branch are analogous on the 
 civil side of the Navy. Thus it deals with the appoint- 
 ments, promotions, retirements, pay, allowances, and leave 
 of all salaried persons (including naval officers at the 
 
DEPARTMENT OF PERMANENT SECRETARY. 63 
 
 Admiralty) in Admiralty establishments, and of all persons 
 on day pay, as well as with Civil Service examinations for 
 these classes. The branch is further occupied in matters 
 relating to civil appointments and fees at Greenwich 
 Hospital, and civil superannuations and gratuities. Again, 
 it deals with compensation to officers for wounds and 
 injuries, with naval and Greenwich Hospital pensions, etc., 
 to seamen and marines, with medals for long service, con- 
 spicuous gallantry, and meritorious service, with widows' 
 pensions, compassionate allowances to children of naval 
 and marine officers, and much else. 
 
 The Legal Branch deals with questions of discipline, 
 courts-martial, courts of inquiry and naval courts, deser- 
 tions, discharges with disgrace, prisons and prisoners, 
 punishment returns, etc. It also supervises the inspection 
 returns of ships, and deals with matters concerning the 
 slave trade, flags, colours, ensigns, and uniforms ; and 
 questions relating to the Queen's Regulations, and the 
 legal aspect of blockades, prizes, etc., fall within its range. 
 The Record Office, in which papers are stored upon an 
 admirable system, is also attached to the Secretariat, in 
 addition to the Registry and Copying Branches. 
 
 This brief and imperfect survey of the work conducted 
 in the Department of the Permanent Secretary will show how 
 highly important it is, not only in regard to the conduct of 
 general business, but especially in relation to the personnel 
 of the Navy, and the regulation and employment of the 
 fleet. The " Naval Department " was reorganized, as I 
 have said, in accordance with the recommendation of Sir 
 Massey Lopes' committee in 1879, and a higher rate of 
 pay was sanctioned, " not simply because the Secretary's 
 Department has confidential work to perform, for this 
 might be said, though in different degrees, of almost every 
 public office, but because we also contemplate its per- 
 forming serious and difficult administrative duty." In 
 addition to work of this character^ which may be de- 
 
64 NAVAL AT)MINTSTRATION. 
 
 scribed as deliberative and consultative, it has been seen 
 that the Secretariat, including a Registry, has duties of a 
 mechanical kind ; but the registration of papers is the 
 smallest and least considerable part of the Department's 
 work. It is, however, the channel of intercommunication 
 between Departments, and vast numbers of papers pass in 
 the course of the year through the Secretary's hands, 
 being marked by bim for the Lord or the Department to 
 which they should go. Moreover, in submitting papers 
 to the several Lords, the branches indicate the detail of 
 what is to be done npon them, or report upon them with 
 reference to precedents where needful ; and the Record 
 Office of the Department has an excellent system for 
 reference to all necessary papers. 
 
 The branches of the Department are directly adminis- 
 tered by the Permanent Secretary, whose personal duty 
 also consists in obtaining a practical insight into all 
 Admiralty work, to whatever Department belonging ; in 
 having a general hold of the Admiralty administration ; 
 in signing all letters in the name of the Board, from what- 
 ever Department emanating ; in seeing that the various 
 Departments do not act independently of each other ; and 
 in keeping the thread of administration unbroken on the 
 constitution of a new Board. 
 
 The Permanent Secretary is therefore the repository of 
 a vast mass of information accessible to no other single 
 individual, and by him, in a real sense, the traditions of 
 the Admiralty are preserved unbroken through unceasing 
 change. 
 
The Navy (Office, Ceutched Feiaijs, 1750. 
 (Cole.) 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE CONTROLLER S DEPARTMENT. THE DIRECTOR OF NAVAL 
 
 CONSTRUCTION AND THE ENGINEER-IN-CHIEF. 
 
 I ENDEAVOURED, in the first part of this volume, to indicate 
 in a general manner the nature of the duties of the Con- 
 troller of the Navy as a supervising Naval Lord. These 
 duties, in relation to the machinery by which they are 
 executed, now claim closer attention. The business of 
 building up and maintaining in efficiency, abreast of the 
 latest scientific developments and of the greatest triumphs 
 of mechanical skill, the material side of the Navy, is vast, 
 complex, and surpassingly important. It is a business 
 that has increased by leaps and bounds with the expan- 
 sion of the fleet, the progress of shipbuilding, and the in- 
 crease of Admiralty establishments ; and it has brought into 
 new prominence the array of Departments and branches 
 over which the Third Naval Lord and Controller presides. 
 
 r 
 
66 NAVAL ADMlNISrRATION. 
 
 As I have explained, the Controller became only within 
 recent years a member of the Admiralty Board. He took 
 his seat in 1882, under the Order in Council of March 10th 
 of that year, when his duties were merged with those of 
 the Third Naval Lord, but he had previously, from 1869 
 to 1872, been temporarily a member of the Board, and, 
 in the interim, had possessed the right of attending the 
 Board, and explaining his views, whenever the First Lord 
 submitted for opinion designs for ships or any other 
 matters emanating from the Controller's Department. The 
 anomaly, already described, which led to the inclusion of 
 the Controller in the Admiralty Board lay in the fact that 
 — as one of the five Principal Officers who transacted the 
 business which, before Sir James Gr;\ham's reforms, had 
 fallen to the Navy and Victualling Boards — he was super- 
 vised by the First Naval Lord, the officer responsible for the 
 efficiency of the fleet, and therefore interested in increased 
 expenditure, and yet, at the same time, the only officer in 
 a position to enforce economy. The business of the Con- 
 troller, moreover, had vastly grown. Representing the old 
 Surveyor of the Navy rather than the Comptroller of the 
 Duke of York's instructions,' he had received the title of 
 "Controller" in lieu of "Surveyor," under Order in 
 Council of January 23rd, 1860, when enlarged powers in 
 regard to the management of the dockyards were added 
 to his office ; and this great increase in his duties made 
 his inclusion in the Board highly advantageous for the 
 public service. 
 
 It is unnecessary at this point to repeat what I said in 
 describing generally the Controller's duties. ° By the 
 Order in Council of March 19th, 1872, he was made re- 
 sponsible to the First Lord for so much of the business of 
 the Admiralty as related to the material of the Navy. 
 Let me say here, however, incidentally, that, in dealing 
 
 ' " The CEoonomy of His Majesty's Navy OlKce," 1717. 
 " Part I., cliap. iv. 
 
THE controller's DEPARTMENT. 67 
 
 with the administration of naval business, hard and fast 
 rules are difficult or impossible to draw, and can rarely be 
 drawn with advantage. The affairs transacted by the 
 Controller of the Navy, or under his responsibility, might 
 be described under many heads, but they fall reasonably 
 under five principal ones. His first duty, naturally, is 
 in regard to the design and construction of ships and 
 machinery, upon which he advises the Board, the practical 
 work resting with the Director of Naval Construction and 
 the Bngineer-in-Chief. This is the branch of the Con- 
 troller's Department which I propose to describe in the 
 present chapter. His second duty is in regard to the 
 armament of ships of war, and here he is assisted by the 
 Director of Naval Ordnance. Further, the Controller is 
 charged, not only to initiate proposals in regard to work, 
 bat also to see to the practical execution of it, and to carry 
 out the orders of the Board that concern his Department ; 
 and hence the third branch of his duty is that of dockyard 
 administration, with responsibility for the work done at the 
 dockyards. Here he is assisted by the Director of Dock- 
 yards, whose office, replacing that of the Surveyor of Dock- 
 yards, was created, with larger powers, in January, 1886. 
 The work of shipbuilding, and the local administration of 
 the yards and other establishments, form, however, a sub- 
 ject that lies beyond the scope of this volume. The fourth 
 branch of the Controller's work — as I classify the branches 
 for convenience — is the superintendence of the Stores 
 Department, which has at its head the Director of Stores ; 
 and, lastly, he has the supervision of the Dockyard Ex- 
 pense Accounts, which are under the Inspector of those 
 accounts. It will, of course, be understood, in regard to each 
 of these branches of work, that the Controller is supreme, 
 and can overrule officers under him. From this brief general 
 survey of the machinery at the disposal of the Controller for 
 the administration of his Department, it will be seen that 
 his energies, and those of hia departmental officers, like the 
 
68 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 labour of the huge army of artisans in our dockyards and 
 other naval establishments, are all bent to the building and 
 mainterance of the material elements of the fleet. 
 
 It being well understood that the place of the Controller 
 in the Admiralty, as a working administrative machine, 
 will be dealt with in the last part of the present volume, 
 and the ground being cleared somewhat by an enumeration 
 of the branches of the Controller's Department, I feel free 
 now to turn to a consideration in some detail of the manner 
 in which the work of warship designing and warship con- 
 struction are carried on under his supervision — to the duties 
 of the Director of Naval Construction and of the Bngineer- 
 in-Chief. 
 
 The Direcfor nf Naval Construction — upon whom de- 
 volve the constructive duties formerly executed under the 
 old system by the Surveyor (or Controller) of the Navy 
 as one of the principal officers — is also Assistant-Controller, 
 having received that title in December, 1885 ; and, as 
 Assistant-Controller, he acts in the absence of his chief in 
 relation to all matters save ordnance and torpedo material. 
 His opinion is expressed through the Controller upon the 
 shipbuilding programme in regard to constructive possi- 
 bilities. He is also, as Director of Naval Construction, 
 .chief of the Royal Corps of Naval Constructors, of which 
 I shall have something to say presently. His duties have 
 been officially laid down as involving responsibility to the 
 Controller for all matters touching the design and con- 
 struction of the hulls of ships and boats, including mast- 
 ing, torpedo and electric light apparatus, and all nautical 
 apparatus, whether building in the dockyards or by con- 
 tract. The Director of Naval Ordnance consults with him 
 upon matters connected with gun and torpedo mountings 
 before they are sent to the Controller, and drawings and 
 specifications in this regard are signed by both officers. 
 The Director of Construction is further responsible for 
 the surveying of merchant ships, as to their suitability for 
 
THii: controller's department. 69 
 
 engagement as armed cruisers, and for keeping a list 
 thereof. He is also directed to visit and survey the various 
 ships ia progress at the dockyards, and contract-built 
 ships in private yards, as may be necessary, in order to 
 see that the desigus are being carried out in all their 
 details to his satisfaction. 
 
 This outliue of duties can give but aa imperfect idea of 
 the mass of complex business that passes through the 
 hands of the Director of Naval Construction in his work 
 of ship designing. In the last part of the present volume 
 I propose to deal with the framing of shipbuilding pro- 
 grammes, and with the selection of types and classes of 
 vessels, these being matters which rest with the Ad- 
 miralty Board. They are questions necessarily left largely 
 to the decision of the naval members of the Board, and it 
 is only when a conclusion as to naval requirements of 
 armament, desirable speed, coal endurance, protection, 
 complement, and so forth, has been arrived at, that in- 
 structions regarding designs for ships come through the 
 Controller to the Director of Naval Construction, I shall 
 not dwell upon the supremely important character of the 
 work of warship building, a work demanding in the de- 
 signer the most complete knowledge of naval architecture, 
 and of the scientific means and practical resources within 
 the reach of engineering skill. This importance is suf- 
 ficiently obvious. It is the duty of the Director of Con- 
 struction to take advantage of every new light that is 
 thrown upon the stability and fighting efficiency of war- 
 ships. All reports received from ships in commission are 
 studied from the designer's point of view, to gain ex- 
 perience and knowledge for the improvement of future 
 designs ; and the character of foreign ships, and all 
 advances in naval architecture and engineering made 
 abroad, are diligently investigated and recorded with the 
 same purpose, and independently of the work of the Naval 
 Intelligence Department. Moreover, a new and practical 
 
70 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 character has been given to the work of the Director of 
 Naval Construction. Thirty years ago there were clever 
 men at the Admiralty who hnd been designing ships for 
 half a lifetime, and who yet had never had to do with 
 the building of ships ; and there were practical shipbuilders 
 at the yards who knew nothing of designing. Now all 
 this is changed. The operations of design and construction 
 are carried on hand in hand, and the Admiralty designers 
 are in close touch with the work going forward in the 
 dockyards. 
 
 This change has been brought about largely through 
 the creation of the Royal Corps of Naval Constructors, 
 which has the Director of Naval Construction at. its head. 
 The corps was instituted in 1883, chiefly through the 
 advocacy of Admiral Sir Houston Stewart, who hnd 
 been for ten years Controller, and possessed a vast know- 
 ledge of dockyard work. At that time young men could 
 only enter the Admiralty service on the shipbuilding side 
 as workmen, and there was little inducement for those of 
 superior or scientific education to join. It was desired 
 also to open a career to the students trained by the Ad- 
 miralty at the School of Naval Architecture, and thus to 
 retain them for the public service, which some of them 
 paid a fine of £250 to forsake. At the same time no bar 
 was placed to the advancement of the workman class, from 
 which many able constructors come. A student of naval 
 construction under the new system begins his training by 
 spending five years in the dockyards, learning the practical 
 work of shipbuilding and engineering by going through all 
 the shops, after which he passes to the Naval College at 
 Greenwich for three years, where he is trained for nine 
 months of the year as a navnl constrnctor, spending the 
 rest of the time tit the dockyard. He is then, upon 
 examination, admitted an assistant-constructor of the 
 lowest grade, and a member of the establishment of the 
 Corps, and is subsequently promoted by selection. I have 
 
THE CONTROI-LEK'S DEPARTMENT. 71 
 
 dealt so ftir witli tlie training of naval constructors, which 
 involves interchangeability of designing at the Admiralty 
 with technical experience at the dockyards, in order to 
 show the character of the personnel in the constructive 
 branch of the Controller's Department. 
 
 The Director of Naval Construction is responsible, not 
 only for the design of ships, but for their construction. 
 He is responsible for bringing together in one ship, so far 
 as is possible, all the qualities intended by the Board, sub- 
 ject to data given to bim by the Bngineer-in-Chief and the 
 Director of Naval Ordnance, and upon him chiefly devolve 
 the guarantees of speed, coal endurance, draught, stability, 
 structural strength, sea-going qualities, accommodation, and 
 equipment. He is responsible for construction in this 
 sense, that he approves a vast number of working draw- 
 ings of structural parts prepared at the dockyards. In 
 laying down plans for a warship, the Director of Naval 
 Construction works in conference with the Director of 
 Naval Ordnance, the Assistant-Director of Torpedoes, and 
 the Bngineer-in-Chief. A sketch design embodying the re- 
 quirements is first made, which the Controller submits to 
 the Board ; and this, upon approval, is worked out in 
 detail, or modified with a view to ultimate adoption. The 
 Controller next sends the design, with a full and complete 
 description of the expected qualities and capabilities of the 
 ship, to the Secretary, who circulates it among the several 
 members of the Board, prior to its consideration at a 
 Board meeting. After a design has once been approved 
 and received the Board stamp, no alteration or addition 
 either in hull, machinery, armament, complement, boats, 
 stores, or other details is permitted, without the concur- 
 rence of the Board. 
 
 The drawings, when prepared, with specifications and a 
 bill of quantities, are sent to the dockyard, and, the ship 
 having been "laid off" to her full size, upon a kind of 
 huge drawing-board known as the " mould-loft," the 
 
72 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 making of working drawings begins. These drawings, 
 where they concern the armameut or fighting quality of 
 the ship, before being sent up to the Admiralty are 
 examined, for approval or comment, by the gunnery and 
 reserve officers of the port, and at the Admiralty are con- 
 sidered, amended and approved by the Director of Naval 
 Ordnance, the Controller, and, it may be, the First N<ival 
 Lord. Meanwhile, the question of an estimate of cost has 
 been considered, a provisional estimate presented by the 
 Director of Naval Construction in conjunction with the 
 Engineer-in- Chief being replaced by a detailed estimate 
 prepared by the officers of the yard, whose work in this 
 matter is facilitated by the improved system which has 
 been introduced in regard to the Dockyard Expense 
 Accounts. At the same time, at the Admiralty, steps 
 have been taken to arrange contracts for all the materials 
 of the ship, a work which is undertaken by the Director 
 of Navy Contracts. 
 
 It thus appears that the Director of Naval Construction 
 is at the head of a very powerful organization for work, 
 and that he is in constant communication with all the 
 other beads of branches in the Controller's Department. 
 At the dockyards the actual work and organization are, as 
 I shall subsequently show, under the Director of Dock- 
 yards, but the practical progress is constantly watched by the 
 Director of Construction or his assistants, and the frequent 
 presence of officers knowing the designs intimately is found 
 to facilitate the economical and efficient arrangement of 
 work in a high degree. 
 
 The system in regard to ships built by contract, the 
 conditions of which will suggest themselves to the reader, 
 is similar, but presents points of diflference. The Director 
 of Naval Construction is responsible to the Controller for 
 the whole of the contract work, and expresses his opinion 
 as to the firms who should be invited to tender, for which 
 purpose his officers inspect the works and plant of manu- 
 
THE controller's DEPARTMENT. 7S 
 
 facturers, as well as upon the tenders when sent in. The 
 designs prepared at the Admiralty and sanctioned by the 
 Board aresenttothecontractor,as plans are to thedockyards, 
 but no bill of quantities accompanies them, and the Director 
 of Construction supervises the working drawings as in the 
 case of dockyard-built ships. But the main difference in 
 regard to ships built in private yards, so far as the 
 Admiralty is concerned, lies in the fact that before the 
 work is begun there is a clear understanding with the con- 
 tractors as to the cost of the vessel. Resident overseers, 
 who are officers of the Director of Naval Construction, 
 supervise the workmanship and building operations, and 
 see to the fulfilment of the intentions of the designer; 
 and there are resident overseers also at the works in which 
 armour is made, where steel is manufactured, and where 
 chain cables are produced. Stringent supervision of this 
 kind is not necessary at the dockyards, where the officers 
 are familiar with Admiralty practice, and supervise the 
 workmanship through the foremen of the ships being built. 
 It is sometimes found advantageous to send as many as 
 three or four overseers to private yards to assist the con- 
 structors in getting out working drawings in accordance 
 with Admiralty practice, a duty additional to that of in- 
 specting works and materials. 
 
 When a ship built by contract is received, it is the daty 
 of the Director of Naval Construction to see, through the 
 dockyard officers, that the conditions of the contract have 
 been fulfilled. The vessel will be docked for outside 
 inspection of her hull, and perhaps for coppering. There 
 are steam trials to undergo, guns to hoist in, and some- 
 times confidential details of torpedo or other armament to 
 add, with various adjustments. The stores also are to be put 
 on board, and this always involves work upon the ship. 
 When all is done, both in the case of dockyard and con- 
 tract-built vessels, the Director of Naval Construction 
 advises the Controller as to the completion of them accord- 
 
74 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 ing to design, and their seaworthiness ; and before any new 
 ship goes to sea a "statement of stability " is inserted in a 
 book which is placed in her captain's hands. He thus 
 leaves port well informed as to the sea-keeping qualities of 
 his vessel, and with any special recommendations that her 
 constructors deem it well to give in regard to the handling 
 of her. The present eminent Director of Naval Construc- 
 tion has stated that the captains of Her Majesty's ships do, 
 in fact, go to sea with a wealth of information concerning 
 the qualities of their ships which is not paralleled any- 
 where. 
 
 In regard to alterations in ships during service, 
 or refits, it is an order of the Board that none shall be in- 
 troduced without the snnction of the Director of Naval 
 Construction, which practically involves the submission to 
 that officer of every estimate for a refit of any importance. 
 But, apart from the question of repairs, which are in the 
 nature of up-lceep, additions and alterations are often made 
 upon the .'suggestion of officers in command, or owing to 
 progress in construction or in service matters, such as 
 better armament, mngazino construction, improved protec- 
 tion, the ventilation of coal bunkers, modern engines and 
 boilers, and the introduction of electricity for lighting or 
 other purposes ; and here again there is a wide field for 
 the work of the Director of Naval Construction. Upon 
 this matter, and upon the question of ultimate responsi- 
 bility for seaworthiness after repairs and alterations havo 
 been made upon economical considerations, much might be 
 written. It has happened at least once that the captain of 
 a ship refitted and altered has differed from the officers of 
 the Constructive Branch ns to the seaworthiness of his 
 vessel. In the particular case referred t-o, the Controller 
 and First Naval Lord, taking the statement of stability and 
 other circumstances into consideration, dismissed his plea, 
 and ordered the vessel to sea. 
 
 It remains to be said that the Director of Naval Con- 
 
THE controller's DEPARTMENT. 75 
 
 struction has to do with salaries and wages as bead of the 
 constructive corps, that, in conjunction with the Director 
 of Stores and the Director of Dockyards, he advises the 
 Controller in regard to materials for shipbuilding and re- 
 pairing, that he is responsible, with the Bnginecr-in-Ohief, 
 for the survey and valuation of any vessels purchased for 
 the Navy, and, with the Director of Naval Ordnance, in 
 the matter of gun mounting, etc., and, lastly, that he 
 surveys vessels secured as reserve merchant cruisers, 
 assesses their qualities, and supervises the arrangements 
 made for the installation of armament. 
 
 From this survey of the very important duties of 
 the Director of Naval Construction, it appears that the 
 relationship of that officer to the Enrjineer -in- Chief is 
 close and constant. This, from the universal employment 
 of steam machinery in modern men-of-war, is necessarily 
 so. The Bngincer-in-Chief, however, is not a subordinate 
 of the Director of Naval Construction. He is an inde- 
 pendent officer, responsible directly to the Controller for 
 all matters concerning the design and construction of steam 
 machinery in ships and boats, and is jointly responsible 
 with the Director of Naval Construction and Assistant 
 Controller and with the Director of Naval Ordnance for the 
 design and manufacture of gun mountings, and for the 
 mechanical arrangements connected with the supply and 
 fitting of torpedo apparatus, and the electric lighting of 
 ships and boats. By his instructions he is to give such 
 professional assistance as may be requested by the Director 
 of Dockyards relating to the extension, improvement, and 
 maintenance of the machinery in dockyards and factories, 
 as well as to the repairing and alteration of machinery 
 in ships and boats. He also submits to the Second Naval 
 Lord questions relating to the engineer training establish- 
 ments, and advises on matters concerning the engineers of 
 the Royal Navy, submitting to the same Lord the appoint- 
 ment of all engineer officers. 
 
76 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 Tho manner in which the Bngineer-in-Chief is called 
 upon to collaborate with the Director of Naval Construc- 
 tion in the preparation of plans for warships has already 
 been explained. His procedure in regard to engines re- 
 sembles that taken in the matter of contract-built ships. 
 The general design is prepared by him at the Admiralty, 
 with complete specifications ; and tenders from selected firms 
 are sought, the lowest being usually accepted, save when 
 the plans submitted are deemed unsatisfactory. A tender 
 being accepted, detailed designs are prepared by the 
 builders, which are examined in the office of the Engineer- 
 in-Chief on behalf of the Admiralty ; and, during the pro- 
 gress of construction, the machinery is inspected from 
 time to time, and, in some instances, resident engineers are 
 sent to works. It usually happens, in the case of ships 
 built by contract, that the engines are supplied by the 
 builders. The trials of all new machinery fall under the 
 Engineer- in-Chief, and he follows that machinery through 
 its existence so long as the ship remains in commission, 
 in the sense that engineers of the Navy are under him, and 
 he advises upon the appointment of engineers to the fleet. 
 Theoretically, however, I believe he has no concern with 
 machinery fitted on board, though he would be responsible 
 for a breakdown due to want of strength. When machinery 
 calls for repair, it passes beyond his purview, the work 
 being carried out under the Director of Dockyards, who, 
 for this purpose, has a distinct engineering personnel, by 
 whom the machinery is afterwards inspected. I may here 
 observe that this is an arrangement which has met with 
 adverse criticism. If a ship in commission should require 
 new machinery, the Director of Dockyards and the 
 Bngiueer-iu-Chic'f would jointly report upon the facts, but 
 these would come before the latter upon a question of 
 managemjent, to ascertain if defects had arisen through 
 mishandling. At the same time, the Director of Dock- 
 yards is empowered to call upon the Engineer-in-Cliief 
 
THE controller's DEPARTMENT. Tl 
 
 for professional assistance and advice, and periodical 
 reports upon machinery from the engineers of ships are 
 passed from the former to the latter. As I said above, 
 outside the Controller's department, the Engineer-in-Chief 
 has a responsibility to the Second Naval Lord for advice 
 concerning the engineer training establishments and the 
 appointment of engineer officers to the fleet. I may add 
 that the training of engineer students is carried on at the 
 Royal Naval Engineers' College, Keyham, where they 
 spend five years, having practical work in the yard at 
 Devonport, and at the Eoyal Navnl College, Greenwich, 
 followed by further dockyard experience. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE CONTEOLLEE'S DEPAETMENT, CONIINUED. — THE PEOVISION 
 
 OF NAVAL AEMAMENTS. THE DIEECTOE OF NAVAL OKC- 
 
 KANCE, AND THE ASSISTANT-DIEECTOE OF TOEPEUOES. 
 
 Tbe Director of Naval Ordnance, advised and assisted on 
 all torpedo matters by tlie Assistant-Director of Torpedoes, 
 » stands to the Controller in the same light as the Director 
 of Naval Construction and the Engineer-in-Chief ; that is 
 to saj^, ho is the head of an independent branch, and is 
 directly responsible to his chief. Tet in all departments 
 of Admiralty work, as the reader will have seen, the 
 duties of branches are so closely inter-related, that no real 
 separation exists, and this is especially true in regard 
 to the Ordnance. A ship being a fighting engine, her 
 guns and torpedoes are a primary consideration with her 
 constructors, and hence in all matters of the design and 
 construction of warships, the Director of Naval Ordnance 
 acts in close consultation with the Director of Naval Con- 
 struction. So intimate and sustained is the relation of the 
 Ordnance Department to the fleet, th:it scarcely a case 
 can ari.-e of any considerable repairs to ships in which the 
 Director of that Department is not concerned, either in 
 regard to guns, gun-mouutings, magazines, torpedo appa- 
 ratus, electrical fittings, or other fighting gear. Not only, 
 therefore, in regard to new ships, but to those which call for 
 repair, it is his duty to advise as to their being brought up 
 to a proper standard of gunnery efficiency, and hence 
 
THE controller's departmen r. 79 
 
 estimates for large repairs and the refitting of vessels are 
 invariably sent to him for the expression of his opinion. 
 
 Tet it is curious to reflect — though the Master of the 
 Ordnance was an oflScer of high consideration in former 
 times, an Ordnance Department having been in full opera- 
 tion as far back as the days of Henry VIII , and the 
 Board of Ordnance a department commcn both to the sea 
 and land services, but instituted for the Navy — that the 
 Navy afterwards fell, in this matter, into dependence upon 
 the military, through the work connected with naval gun- 
 nery devolving in the last century upon the Master- 
 General of the Ordnance, and the duties of the Board of 
 Ordnance being vested, in 1855, in the Secretary of Sl;ate 
 for War. Upon this subject a great deal has been said 
 in Parliament and the press. The evil system remained 
 in force until recent times, but has been progressively 
 modified by the appointment, as a responsible ofiicerof the 
 Controller's Department at the Admiralty, of the Director 
 of Naval Ordnance in lieu of the naval officer who formerly 
 advised the Director of Artillery at the War Office ; by the 
 gunnery charges being transferred from the Army to the 
 Navy Estimates ; and by the institution of the Naval 
 Ordnance Store Department, over which the Director 
 of Naval Ordnance presides, directing a Storekeeper- 
 General, with civil assistants, and ordnance officers at the 
 ports and other establishments. 
 
 The question of transferring the responsibility for 
 naval armaments from the War Office to the Admiralty, 
 long debated, rose to new prominence in 1868, in relation to 
 the guns for the Hercules, in the provision of which there 
 had been much delay. At that time naval gunnery re- 
 quirements were provided for in the Army Votes, and in 
 November of each year it was the custom for the Admiralty 
 to furnish to the War Department a list of ships intended to 
 be commissioned in the ensuing financial year (and in three 
 subsequent months) with the detail of their armaments and 
 
80 
 
 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 complements, as well as particulars of the guns which 
 should bo completed, or partly completed, to meet the wants 
 of ships, and of the necessary reserve of guns to replace 
 those which became unserviceable. The result was un- 
 satisfactory. In addition to the practice, scarcely sanc- 
 tioned by the constitution, of charging naval outlay upon 
 army estimates, and yet leaving the administrative direc- 
 tion of the vote in Admiralty hands, the Admiralty itself 
 found grave practical disadvantages, and even danger, in the 
 system. The following tabular statement of naval gun- 
 nery votes between 1881-82 and 1886-87, compared with 
 the amounts asked for by the Admiralty, will show how 
 disastrously the arrangement affected the public service 
 upon the ground of naval efficiency. Nothing, said the 
 Director of Artillery in 1884, could be more unsatisfactory 
 than the mannner in which the naval gun estimates were 
 put forward year after year to be criticised, manipulated, 
 and reduced by the War Office. 
 
 
 Asked for. 
 
 1881-82 
 
 £647,759 
 
 1882-83 
 
 877,001 
 
 1883-84 
 
 707,002 
 
 1884-85 
 
 899,602 
 
 1885-86 
 
 1,145,000 
 
 1886-87 
 
 1,516,887 
 
 Granted. 
 
 £360,000 
 616,083 
 500,491 
 500,000 
 850,000 
 
 1,000,000 
 
 At the same time the Admiralty was left in ignorance as 
 to the number of rounds in store for the various types of 
 guns in the service, except of those in reserve at the foreign 
 depots, and the same was the case in regard to fuses, tubes, 
 etc. Neither was there .iny means of discovering whether 
 the stock of naval material increased or diminished from 
 year to year. Again, no account was given to the Ad- 
 
The controller's tudpartment. 8l 
 
 miralty of the amount actually expended yearly by the 
 War Office on naval guns or other material, nor was there 
 any exact account of the yearly production. No distinc- 
 tion between naval expenditure and army expenditure was 
 made, and the classification presented was admitted on 
 assumption. Although the general system found some 
 defenders among military officers, it was condemned by the 
 naval service, and most of the high officials at the War 
 Office utterly disapproved of it. Lord Cardwell, Sir 
 Henry Storks, Sir G. Balfour, Sir H. Gordon, Sir H. 
 Lefroy, Sir John Adye, Sir P. Campbell, and many more 
 advocated a change, and their views were shared by 
 several Secretaries of State, notably by Mr. Childers, Lord 
 Hartington, and Mr. W. H, Smith. 
 
 The question of the transfer had been considered by the 
 Royal Commission of 1837 and the Select Committee 
 of 1849, and after 1868 a long correspondence took place 
 between the Admiralty, the War Office, and the Treasury, 
 which it would be tedious to recapitulate.^ On one hand it 
 was urged that both economy and efficiency would result 
 from the change, that divided responsibility must lead 
 to delay, confusion, and danger, that the War Office could 
 not check Admiralty demands, and that the Admiralty, not 
 being directly responsible to Parliament, had no sufficient 
 motive for economy. On the other hand it was argued 
 that a really divided control did not exist, that the relation 
 between the Departments was the same which subsisted be- 
 tween the Admiralty and the Board of Ordnance from early 
 times, that the increase of officials and stores would lead 
 to unnecessary outlay, and that the Admiralty would be 
 looked upon as responsible without having power to con- 
 trol the manufacturing departments which it would be 
 obliged to employ. In order to bring the matter to a 
 
 ' In the report of these inquiries, and in the Appendix to the 
 Fifth Report of the Select Committee on Army and Navy Esti- 
 mates, 1887, much information upon the subject will be found. 
 
 
 
82 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION 
 
 settlement, an Inter-Departmental Committee was pro- 
 posed, and on June 22nd, 1886, representatives of the 
 Admiralty and the War Office met to discuss what the 
 scope of the Committee's inquiry should be. It was 
 afterwards reported to the Treasury that both Departments 
 were strongly of opinion that the divided responsibility 
 should end, that, upon the Navy Estimates, the Ad- 
 miralty should be alone responsible for procuring the 
 armaments, as well as the other warlike stores required for 
 the use of the Navy, and, further, that the question of the 
 making of naval guns at Woolwich should be settled each 
 year by the two Departments as the necessities of the 
 service might require, and as was already done in regard 
 to gun-m6untings, but that neither Department had any 
 intention of creating a second Woolwich purely for naval 
 use. The matter was further considered by the Royal 
 Commission on Warlike Stores, 1887, and the Committee 
 on the Organization of the Army Manufacturing Depart- 
 ments, 1887. 
 
 The somewhat divergent recommendations of these 
 Committees were not adopted in the form in which they 
 were made. The Ordnance factories were placed under a 
 single head, the Director-General responsible to the 
 military Financial Secretary, instead of being given over 
 to an independent Ordnance Department, and Vote 12 
 (Ordnance and Warlike Stores) of the Army Estimates 
 was so changed that afterwards the whole cost of naval 
 ordnance and warlike stores was borne upon the Navy 
 Estimates. At the same time the military authorities 
 retained the inspection of warlike stores supplied to the 
 Navy either from the manufacturing departments of the 
 Government or from contractors, and the contracts for such 
 stores were entered into as formerly by the Director of 
 Contracts at the War Office. Save, therefore, for guns 
 obtained by contract, the Director-General of Ordnance 
 Factories is responsible, in regard to the practical work of 
 
THE controller's DEPARTMENT. 83 
 
 supply from the Government factories, for both naval and 
 military guns, while the Director of Artillery at the War 
 Office is instructed to " control the Ordnance Committee," a 
 body composed of naval and military officers and civilians, 
 which is held directly responsible, save in special cases, for 
 the design of all guns for Her Majesty's services. This last 
 arrangement presents some peculiarities, and its tendency 
 seems to be to render real responsibility in the matter in- 
 definite. " The Admiralty," said Sir Frederick Richards, 
 in his memorandum attached to the Further Report of the 
 Hartington Commission on the Internal Administration of 
 the War Office, " object to their officers, who are members 
 of the Committee, being responsible for designs, so that the 
 question as to the responsibility for designs of ordnance is 
 decidedly complicated." 
 
 The result of the dispositions thus taken was to make 
 the business of the provision of naval guns in the nature of 
 purchase and supply as between the naval and military 
 departments. Full satisfaction has not resulted from the 
 changes. Thus Sir Frederick Richards, in the memo- 
 randum referred to, said that a careful study of the 
 evidence before the Commission, oral and documentary, had 
 convinced him that the system of the Ordnance Department 
 was already condemned, being altogether unsuited to the 
 magnitude, variety, and vast importance of the duties to 
 be administered. He advocated a step which had been 
 forcibly urged by the Admiralty upon the Treasury in 
 May, 1887. "Enough, and more than enough, is to be 
 found to show, not only that the Ordnance Department is 
 in its constitution defective, but that it is altogether too 
 big a business to be worked as a weak division of the War 
 Office administration, and that there is no remedy applicable 
 to the case short of the re-establishment of the Ordnance as 
 an independent Department of State on a scale commen- 
 surate with its importance, and under a separate roof." 
 Since these words were spoken the Naval Ordnance De- 
 
84 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 partment has been established (1891) at the Admiralty, 
 charged with the business and custody of ordnance stores 
 and the duty of maintaining munitions of war for the Navy 
 at all naval stations. 
 
 Such is the recent history of the supply of guns to the 
 Navy. It will be seen that, in the discretion of the 
 Admiralty, they are procured either from the Govern- 
 ment factories, which ai-e directed by an ofiBcial of the 
 Wair Office, or by contract from private firms. In prac- 
 tice, large numbers of guns are obtained from both 
 sources. The Controller of the Navy is responsible that 
 her Majesty's ships shall be well constructed as fighting 
 engines, duly supplied with guns, carriages, slides, 
 gunnery stores, small arms, accoutrements, etc., and fitted 
 with proper magazines, shell-rooms, turrets, mountings, 
 and other gear, as well as with torpedoes, torpedo stores, 
 and fi-ttings. Further, in the gunnery branch, he has 
 supervision of gunnery and torpedo drill and practice, 
 submarine defences, the gunnery work of coast batteries, 
 etc. I have shown how, as the Controller's responsible 
 officer, the Director of Naval Ordnance collaborates with 
 the Director of Naval Construction and the Engineer-in- 
 Chief, in the design of warships. It is his principal duty 
 to advise the Controller on all questions concerning the 
 ordnance and torpedo material of the Navy, relating either 
 directly or indirectly to the design, construction, repairing, 
 or fitting of ships, their guns, gun-mounts, torpedoes, and 
 carriages, and the electric fittings connected with arma- 
 ment, as well as concerning magazines and shell-rooms, 
 and every arrangement necessary for the proper and 
 efficient working and maintenance of the armament. As 
 advances are made in gun-construction, or otherwise, it is 
 his duty to advise the Controller as to such changes in the 
 armament of ships as he deems advisable. Upon all ques- 
 tions concerned with the mounting of guns and torpedoes 
 he consults with the Director of Naval Construction, and 
 
THE controller's DEPARTMENT. 85 
 
 drawings and specifications of these are signed by both 
 officers. In relation to the practical work of gun-con- 
 struction, and of warlike material supplied by the War 
 Department, the Director of Naval Ordnance is in per- 
 sonal communication with the Director of Artillery at the 
 War Office, and he communicates directly with the cap- 
 tains of the gunnery ships and torpedo schools on ordnance 
 and torpedo subjects. Another duty is to prepare and 
 submit for approval the estimates for the material of his 
 Department during the ensuing financial year. 
 
 I have made allusion above to the Assistant-Director of 
 Torpedoes. This officer is the assistant of the Director of 
 Naval Ordnance, to advise upon all torpedo matters. The 
 appointment is a comparatively recent one, made necessary 
 by the introduction of a new arm into the fleet. What- 
 ever concerns torpedo armament falls within the purview 
 of the Assistant-Director, and it is his especial care to 
 watch diligently the developments of torpedo warfare, and 
 to keep himself informed of all inventions that concern his 
 work, into the merits of which he must diligently inquire. 
 Practically, he sees that all ships are provided with 
 torpedoes, torpedo carriages, fittings, search-light apparatus, 
 and the necessary torpedo stores approved, as well as to 
 the provision and readiness for service of the proper reserve 
 stores at torpedo depots, so that there may be no deple- 
 tion ; and he advises the Director of Naval Ordnance as 
 to experimental and instructional work in the torpedo 
 school ships. He watches the progress of expenditure in 
 his branch of armament, superintends the carrying out of 
 work, and visits torpedo depots and factories, so as to gain 
 personal acquaintance with it, or to witness trials and ex- 
 periments with torpedo material. He is thus in a position, 
 according to his instructions, to advise in regard to the 
 design of ships and boats touching torpedo armament and 
 electrical fittings, and the equipping of torpedo boats and 
 destroyers with all requirements for their special services. 
 
86 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 In addition to these and other associated duties, the Assis- 
 tant-Director is prepared when called upon to submit plans 
 for torpedo-boat exercises and manoeuvres, suggesting the 
 special points that need to be worked out, as well also as 
 for submarine mining practice ; and he is the channel 
 through which much information concerning torpedo ques- 
 tions reaches the Intelligence Department. The Assistant- 
 Director of Torpedoes is instructed in general to consult 
 personally with the Directors of branches of the Con- 
 troller's Department, but the Director of Naval Ordnance 
 remains primarily responsible for the whole work of 
 the gunnery branch. 
 
 In concluding this account of the Ordnance work under 
 the Controller, it remains to be said that the Director of 
 Naval Ordnance is responsible also to the First Sea 
 Lord to advise upon all questions concerning the gunnery 
 and torpedo training establishments of the Navy. 
 
I'lii: Iticiir lIciN. Sii: .Iaiif.s linAiiA:^, Hakt., FinsT 
 
 LoKi) OF iiii; All■MlKAl.r^ , 1830-34, lS33-ri,"). 
 
 {From (I DniiriiHj In/ K. Ik'itmnisotin.) 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE controller's DEPAETMEXr, CONCLUDED THE DIEECTOE 
 
 OP DOCKTAEDS, THE DIEECTOE OP STOEBS, AND THE 
 INSPECTOE OP DOCKTAED EXPENSE ACCOUNTS. 
 
 The work which is prepared for find supervised in the 
 manner 1 have described, is practically carried out in the 
 dockyards and establishments under the superintendence 
 of the Director of Boclcyards, an officer who, like his col- 
 leagues in the Department, has been made directly respon- 
 sible to the Controller. The Director of Dockyards is 
 that officer upon whom devolves the Controller's responsi- 
 bility for the general management of the dockyards at home 
 and the naval yards abroad, and for the economical per- 
 formance of work therein ; that is, for the building of ships 
 and boats of all classes, the proper maintenance and re- 
 pairing of ships and their machinery, and the keeping of 
 vessels up to the approved standard. He is charged 
 also with the duty of introducing and using machinery 
 and appliances in the yards and factories, as well as in 
 the victualling yards. Another important duty of the 
 Director of this Department is to prepare for approval 
 the annual programmes of work in the dockyards at 
 home and the naval yards abroad, for use in framing 
 Vote 8, Section 1, of the Navy Estimates, and to de- 
 termine the work to be done in the dockyards, as well as 
 to regulate the number, appropriation, and pay of the 
 men, and the supply of necessary materials through the 
 Director of Stores, in accordance with the shipbuilding 
 
90 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 programme approved. Further, he assists the Controller 
 in the preparation of the estimates for plant and machinery 
 required for the naval establishments (included in Vote 8, 
 Sections 2 and 3), and submits proposals relative to neces- 
 sary works to be carried out in the yards by the Depart- 
 ment of the Director of Works. But his responsibility does 
 not end here. The Director is instructed, as work goes for- 
 ward, to exercise control over expenditure at the dock- 
 yards of the money voted, for which an excellent system 
 of expense accounts exists, as well as at the foreign yards 
 — Gibraltar, Malta, Bermuda, Hong Kong," the Gape of 
 Good Hope, Jamaica, Halifax, Trincomalee, Bsqnimalt, 
 Sydney, and elsewhere. 
 
 The creation of the office of Director of Dockyards was 
 sanctioned in December, 1885, in lieu of that of Surveyor 
 of Dockyards, and at about the same time the Inspector 
 of Dockyard Expense Accounts was appointed. The whole 
 system of dockyard management had been inquired into 
 earlier in that year, and the Committee had come to the 
 conclusion that the then existing control was insufficient 
 and gave rise to abuses. First appointed in 1872, the 
 Surveyor of Dockyards had been understood to be an officer 
 vested with due means of control, as well as a channel 
 of personal inter-communication between the Admiralty, 
 through the Controller, and the superintendents and yard 
 officers at the out-ports ; but he had become so much en- 
 grossed in occupations at the Admiralty, that the dockyards 
 were almost deprived of his services, and much mismanage- 
 ment resulted, owing, largely, to want of continuous and 
 formal inspection. Accordingly, the new Director was 
 instructed to visit the dockyards frequently, " for the pur- 
 pose of conferring personally with the superintendents and 
 officers in regard to the ships and works in progress." 
 The Surveyor of Dockyards had been subordinate to the 
 Director of Naval Construction, who was responsible 
 for both design and construction, but had also been 
 
THE controller's DEPARTMENT. 91 
 
 officially vested with such discretion and freedom of action 
 as to give him personal responsibility for dockyard work. 
 In instituting the new office, an attempt was made to 
 maintain the same distribution of direction and respon- 
 sibility. The appointment was of " a Director or Inspector 
 of Dockyards, who, subject to the Director of Naval Con- 
 struction, will exercise a general supervision over the 
 work at the yards," with its due, timely, and economical 
 execution. The indeterminate nature of the responsibility 
 thus devolving upon the Director of Dockyards led to a 
 minute being prepared on March 8th, 1886, during Lord 
 Ripon's tenure of office, which remained in abeyance until 
 the following May, wherein it was laid down that " if such 
 a system as this is to be effectually established, it will be 
 necessary to separate distinctly the functions and duties 
 of the designing and building branches." " They should 
 be co-ordinate branches acting as a check upon one another 
 under the supreme control of the Controller." The in- 
 structions issued on May 28th, 1886, gave effect to this 
 view, the Director of Dockyards, no longer subordinate to 
 the Director of Naval Construction, being made responsible 
 to the Controller of the Navy for the building of ships, 
 boats, etc., in dockyards, and for the maintenance and 
 repair of ships and boats, and of all steam machinery 
 in ships, boats, dockyards, and factories. His personal 
 responsibility was thus defined, as that of the Surveyor's 
 had been. " He will be left such discretion and freedom 
 as will make him personally responsible if the work at the 
 dockyards be not properly and economically executed " 
 In the last chapter but one I endeavoured to show how 
 the responsibility of the Director of Naval Construction 
 for his constructive work is construed. It will be seen 
 that the operations of the Director of Dockyards and 
 his staff upon the constructive side of naval administration, 
 involving, as they do, the employment and supervision of 
 an army of artisans and labourers, are of the greatest im- 
 
92 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 portance. The whole subject of dockyard admiuistration, 
 and of the functions of the Admiral-Superintendents and 
 civil and other officers, calls, however, for special treatment, 
 and lies, besides, outside the scope of this volume, which 
 is devoted to the central work and machinery of naval 
 administration. 
 
 I shall, therefore, going no further into the question of 
 shipbuilding, proceed to deal with the Store Department, 
 without which — to cite but one of its functions — ship- 
 building, repairing, and fitting would be impossible, and 
 with the duties and work of the Director of Stores. When 
 Sir James Graham suppressed the Navy Board in 1832, 
 the Storekeeper- General was one of the five Principal 
 Officers who took up its duties. He was charged, under 
 the supervision of a member of the Board, with the main- 
 tenance of stock at the naval depots, acting, in regard to 
 shipbuilding materials, in conjunction with the Surveyor 
 of the Navy, and it was his duty to arrange for the purchase 
 of goods to replenish stock, and for the examination of 
 store accounts. With the reorganization of 1868-69, the 
 Storekeeper-General was abolished, and his purchasing 
 powei's, with those of the Comptroller of Victualling, were 
 transferred to the then newly-created Contract and Pur- 
 chase Department, while the storekeeping duties were 
 given in charge to the Controller of the Navy, under 
 whom they were administered by the Superintendent of 
 Stores. A Committee, appointed a few years later by the 
 Board of Admiralty to inquire into the system under 
 which the duties of the Store Department of the Navy 
 were conducted, expressed the opinion, in its Report pre- 
 sented to Parliament in 1877, that the Department was 
 best subordinated, as under the new system, to the Con- 
 troller, but that the position of its Superintendent should 
 be strengthened in proportion to the magnitude of his 
 duties. Accordingly, in pursuance of the recommenda- 
 tion of the Committee, the title of the Superintendent of 
 
THE controller's DEPARTMENT. 93 
 
 Stores was changed to that of Director, his salary was 
 raised from £800 to £1,000, and he was recognized as 
 holding a position like that of the Director of Naval Con- 
 struction and the Director of Naval Ordnance. The 
 report of the Committee brought about a complete and 
 important change in the storekeeping arrangements, both 
 at the Admiralty and the dockyards — but the details con- 
 cerning these last lie outside my scope — and the business 
 and personnel under charge of the Director of Stores are 
 now organized precisely on the lines then laid down. 
 
 Turning now to the question of finance, the effect of 
 the changes of 1868-69 had been to vest the examination 
 of Naval Store Accounts in the Accountant- General. The 
 arrangement was in many ways unsatisfactory, but I 
 shall defer a statement of the objections to it until a later 
 chapter. The whole subject has been inquired into by 
 several commissions and committees, and it will suflSce 
 here to say that, in 1886, the Admiralty transferred the 
 examination of these accounts to the departmental officers, 
 one of whom is the Director of Stores, leaving to the 
 Acoountant-General a power of "review," and that this 
 power was subsequently abolished when the audit was 
 confided to the Comptroller and Auditor-General. Sub- 
 sequent to the report of 1887 by the Royal Commission 
 on Civil Establishments, and in view of the recommen- 
 dations of the Committee upon the Navy Estimates, a 
 Committee was appointed by the Treasury to investigate 
 anew and report upon matters relating to the preparation 
 and review of the Navy Store and Expense Accounts. 
 The Select Committee's report, of May 27th, 1889, which, 
 with the Treasury Minute of July 2nd, 1889, approving 
 its recommendations, was printed as an appendix to the 
 Public Accounts Committee's fourth report for that year,' 
 was favourable to the changes which had been made in 
 
 1 Parliamentary Paper, No. 259, of July 17th, 18.89. 
 
94 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 transferring the Naval, "Victualling, and other Store Ac- 
 counts from the Accountant- General, and the following 
 general conclusion was arrived at in paragraph 39 of the 
 report : 
 
 " The liability of the otBcers respectively I'esponsible for the 
 Store and Expense Accounts to the absolutely independent 
 review of the Comptroller and Auditor-General for the informa- 
 tion of Pai'liament, of the transactions represented therein, and 
 their further liability to answer before the Public Accounts 
 Committee for any defects or irregularities which come under 
 his notice, will afford a guarantee, which nothing else could 
 make fully effective, that the higher departmental officers who 
 are answerable for the supervision of the machinery by which 
 the regulations are meant to be enforced shall keep that machinery 
 in constantly efficient working order. It will also no doubt 
 incidentally contribute to strengthen very much the control of 
 the Admiralty itself in its administration of the Service." 
 
 The check of the Comptroller and Auditor- General has 
 recently been further extended, in that he has been em- 
 powered to take stock in any case where, from any sus- 
 picion or apprehension of error, or other cause, he may deem 
 such a measure desirable or necessary. He now has power 
 to require that stock shall be taken in the presence of 
 himself or his officer. The hands of the Comptroller and 
 Auditor-General are thus strengthened without any undue 
 responsibility being cast upon him, and without the re- 
 sponsibility of the departmental officers being impaired.' 
 
 The Naval Store Department has a very important 
 function. In the first place, the Department embraces 
 the custody, maintenance, and issue of naval, as dis- 
 tinguished from victualling and ordnance, stores, for use 
 in the home and foreign yards and depots, that is, for the 
 building, fitting, and repairing of warships, but not such 
 stores as belong to the Department of Works. In the 
 
 ^ Vide Fourth Report of the Committee of Public Accounts, 
 1894, p. X. 
 
THE controller's DEPARTMENT. 95 
 
 same way the Naval Store Department receives and issues 
 stores for ships and vessels in commission and reserve" a 
 great array of objects and necessaries, such as coal, 
 boats, lubricant oils, rope, canvas, tools, locks, files, hinges, 
 paint, varnish, etc. The Department has also charge of 
 naval stores for the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, the 
 College at Portsmouth, the Britannia at Devonport, the 
 Engineering College at Keyham, and for mercantile 
 training ships, seamens' barracks, coastguard stations and 
 watch vessels, mercantile cruisers. Royal Naval Reserve 
 batteries, naval prisons, etc., as well as of stationery, 
 periodicals, etc., used afloat and ashore, save in the case 
 of religious and associated books and periodicals, which 
 are issued to ships by the Victualling Department. In 
 regard to all these matters the Director of Stores is 
 accountable under the Controller for the maintenance 
 of authorized stocks at home and abroad; and he is also 
 responsible for the custody and accounting for the receipt 
 and issue of launches, pinnaces, cutters, and machinery, 
 as well as of gun mountings, purchased under Vote 8, 
 Section 3, for the stock of which the Director of Naval 
 Construction, the Director of Dockyards, and the Director 
 of Naval Ordnance are severally responsible. Any de- 
 ficiency of stores is at once reported to the Controller, 
 and the Director keeps such books as enable him readily 
 to estimate the quantity and value of the vai-ious articles 
 in the naval establishments. 
 
 To the Director of Stores falls also the important 
 duty of framing the annual estimates (Vote 8, Section 2) 
 of requirements in his department. The stores, as 
 I have indicated, fall roughly into two classes, the first 
 consisting mainly of goods and objects exclusively for 
 constructive purposes, such as plates, armour, forgings, 
 castings, etc., and the second of such stores as are used 
 indiscriminately for shipbuilding work, and for ships in 
 commission or reserve, of which paint, varnish, and oil are 
 
96 XAVAI, ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 examples. In dealing with the estimate for the first class, 
 the Director of Stores obtains information from the yards 
 as to the probable requirements nnder the shipbuilding 
 programme, ship by ship, so as to avoid procuring any 
 excess of materials or stores. In regard to the second 
 category of articles, of which there is a large consumption, 
 the stocks, the demands, and the estimates are alike based 
 upon knowledge of the average expenditure of past years, 
 modified by consideration of any special circumstances. 
 For such articles each of the home yards sends up an 
 annual demand before the estimates are prepared, showing 
 the existing stock, the expenditure, and the probable 
 requirements. Taking this and other information into 
 account, the Director of Stores is enabled, according to 
 his instructions, to prepare statements of the amount of 
 stores in hand, and of the quantities and kinds he pro- 
 poses to be purchased, and he arranges for the proper 
 apportionment of stores among the several yards, consult- 
 ing beforehand the Director of Naval Construction and 
 the Director of Dockyards as to the quantities of ship- 
 building materials likely to be required, so that no delay 
 may occur in constructive work, and yet that no excessive 
 stocks may accumulate. 
 
 When the necessary stores are provided for in the 
 Navy Estimates, the Director of Stores forwards requisi- 
 tions for the purchase of them, as may seem best, to the 
 Director of Navy Contracts, an ofiicer whose work I have 
 yet to describe, acting under the Financial Secretary, 
 but at the same time under the saperintending Lords of 
 the Departments for which his purchases are made. The 
 Director of Stores must keep himself informed of the 
 expenditure of money voted for the purchase of naval 
 stores, as well as of the increment arising from the sale of 
 stores, etc., so as to be in a position to guard against any 
 deficit in the vote, and in case of such probable deficit, or of 
 surplus, to give the Board timely warning. Once a month 
 
THE controller's DEPARTMENT. 97 
 
 he furnishes the Controller and the Accountant- General 
 with a report on this head. In short, the regulation of 
 liabilities and expenditure forms a large part of his occupa- 
 tion. To him also return is made of the local purchases 
 and sales of stores, which he checks in regard to the 
 necessity or otherwise of the operations, reporting irregu- 
 larities, the financial consideration resting with the 
 Director of Navy Contracts. 
 
 Outside these important duties the Director of Stores 
 has the supervision, with foresight, of the methodical and 
 rapid working of his department. Thus he sees to the 
 timely shipment of stores, and, for this purpose, directs 
 the movements of storeships and yard craft, being " careful 
 to provide for Her Majesty's ships on foreign stations, and 
 for the necessary supplies to foreign yards." It is his duty 
 to note the results of trials or experiments with new de- 
 scriptions of stores, and he justifies his responsibility for 
 the due supply of stores by frequently visiting the dock- 
 yards and dep6ts, or despatching his assistants for that 
 purpose ; and he examines the storehouses to see that they 
 are well kept, properly arranged and ventilated, with their 
 contents sheltered from deteriorating influences, that the 
 storehouse men understand and perform their duties, and 
 that proper accounts are kept. At the same time stock- 
 taking is continuously carried on in order to guard 
 against irregularities, and the sale of useless stores is 
 supervised. The Director of Stores has much other 
 accounting work to do. A very important business that 
 falls to him — re-transferred from the Accountant- General's 
 Department a few years ago — is the examination and pass- 
 ing of the naval store accounts of ships, and also those of 
 dockyard and naval prison officials at home and abroad, and 
 he is held responsible for furnishing the Comptroller and 
 Auditor-General, and the Public Accounts Committee with 
 explanatory information connected therewith. Again, he 
 is to be ready upon all occasions to furnish such periodical 
 
 H 
 
98 NATAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 or other refcnriis to the Controller and the Financial Secre- 
 tary as may be called for. 
 
 In addition to the responsibilities described above, which, 
 save in some particulars, are to the Controller, the Director 
 of Stores is supervised, in regard to the supply of coal to 
 the Fleet, by the Junior Naval Lord, who is charged with 
 that very important work. Accordingly, the Director of 
 Stores is instructed to keep himself acquainted with the 
 movements of warships, and with the quantities of coal 
 issued from and remaining in the depots from time to 
 time, and to make a monthly return to the Board thereon, 
 accompanied by such proposals for alterations in quantities 
 intended to be shipped as the movements of ships may 
 render necessary. Remembering the great extent of our 
 fleet, the manner in which our ships are distributed on 
 distant stations throughout the world, the contingencies 
 that have to be provided for, and the absolute dependence 
 of warships upon coal supply, it will be seen that the 
 Director of Stores has here a task of great magnitude, and 
 of supreme importance for the practical efBciency of the 
 Navy. 
 
 The last principal officer of the Controller's Department 
 with whom I have to deal is the Inspector of Dockyard 
 Expense Accounts, whose duties, briefly pat, are to keep a 
 careful record of the expenditure at the Dockyards, to 
 supervise the expense accounts, and see that they are 
 clear, trustworthy, and promptly prepared, so that the 
 progress of expenditure, in comparison with estimates, on 
 authorized ouilay may be closely watched by the Con- 
 troller ; and the Inspector is further generally to review 
 and report upon the expenditure for which the Coutroller 
 is responsible, especially such as cannot be debited to the 
 cost of ships and manufactures. The office of Inspector of 
 Dockyard Expense Accounts dates from 1886, in which 
 year the report of Vice- Admiral Graham's Committee on 
 Dockyard Management was presented to Parliament. That 
 
THE controller's DEPARTMENT. 99 
 
 Committee, in addition to pointing out the inadequate 
 supervision of dockyard labour, the waste both of labour 
 and material, the idleness, defective management, dupli- 
 cation of accounts, over-employment of clerks, and useless 
 operations that were foundatthedockyards — astateof things 
 which the appointm ent of Director of Dockyards was designed 
 to remedy — reported that the yard accounts were unaudited, 
 that the accountant was at the mercy of the professional 
 officers, and that there was no independent guarantee that 
 the accounts represented actual facts. Accordingly, the 
 Inspector of Yard Accounts was appointed in January, 
 1886, as representative at the yards of the Accountant- 
 General of the Navy, in that officer's capacity as deputy 
 and assistant to the Parliamentary and Financial Secretary, 
 in order to make effective criticism of dockyard expenditure 
 possible. The accounts prepared by this officer were found 
 exceedingly valuable, for, based upon wage sheets and returns 
 of the issue of stores, they enabled the details of expenditure 
 to be followed without difficulty. But in January, 1887, 
 the Controller of the Navy recommended that the In- 
 spector of Expense Accounts should be regarded as repre- 
 senting both himself (the Controller) and the Accountant- 
 General of the Navy. Various reports followed, with the 
 ultimate result that the Inspector was transferred alto- 
 gether from the Accountant- General's Department, and 
 came to represent the Controller only. The practical 
 gain was considerable ; and I have shown above, in rela- 
 tion to the Director of Stores, what is the nature of the 
 financial check. The detailed character of the accounts now 
 enables the Controller to exercise careful supervision over 
 expenditure and the attribution of funds to special purposes. 
 The key of the system is that each week a return is presented 
 showing the whole of the expenditure for labour and 
 materials in each department of the dockyard, distributed 
 over the various ships and services of the yard. The 
 accounts are kept closely up to date, and, by their definite 
 
100 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 and detailed character, enable tlie cost to the nation of any 
 particular ship, completed or in hand, to be arrived af 
 quickly and without difficulty. The inspection is rather a 
 professional than a purely financial one, being necessary to 
 the Controller to enable him to bring about a right alloca- 
 tion of the funds voted for his department upon the Navy 
 Estimates. The system of financial control, with the review 
 of naval expenditure generally, will find its place in a 
 later chapter. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE ADMIRAL SUPERINTENDENT OP NAVAL RESERVES. — THE 
 
 DEPUTY ADJUTANT-GENERAL OE ROYAL MARINES. THE 
 
 MEDICAL DIRECTOR-GENERAL. THE CHAPLAIN OP THE FLEET. 
 
 As I liave explained, the supply of officers and the manning 
 of the jS'avy are within the province of the Second Sea 
 Lord, and I showed that the Secretary's Department forms 
 a main channel for his operations. Two very important 
 officers of the Admiralty are also under the same Lord's 
 supervision for carrying on this vitally important work, 
 viz., the Admiral Superintendent of Naval Reserves, and 
 the Deputy Adjutant-General of Royal Marines, the former 
 charged with the important duty of organizing, inspecting, 
 and mobilizing for service the secondary personal resources 
 of the Navy, and the latter with the staff duties ashore of 
 that admirable force which is so closely associated with 
 the good work of our seamen afloat. 
 
 The Admiral Superintendent of Naval Reserves is placed 
 in command of the Coastguard, and charged with the 
 duty of generally supervising and controlling the Coast- 
 guard service afloat and ashore, as well as the E.oyal 
 Naval Reserve. He is also instructed to co-operate 
 with the Customs and the Board of Trade in seeing that 
 the Coastguard is vigilant in the protection of revenue, 
 and the repression of smuggling; in saving and guard- 
 ing life and property ; and in its duties in relation to the 
 protection of home fisheries. The Coastguard, in short, 
 is a reserve of the Navy — that to which resort is first had 
 
102 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 upon mobilization — consisting chiefly of former seamen- 
 gunners, and other trained men, commanded by executive 
 officers of the Navy who have elected to serve with the 
 force. It is a body of about 4,000 men, appointed for 
 preventive service upon the coasts, and the headquarters of 
 its Divisions are at Harwich, Hull, Queensferry, Greenock, 
 Kingstown, Tarbert, Holyhead, Portland, and Southamp- 
 ton. Upon mobilization the Coastguardsmen would be 
 drafted to complete the complements of the ships that were 
 but partially manned, and their staffs transferred to 
 barracks and drill-ships, to embody and fit for service 
 the naval pensioners and the men of the Royal Naval 
 Reserve. 
 
 The appointment of the Admiral Superintendent of 
 Naval Reserves dates from 1874, Before the year 1857 
 the Coastguard was attached to the Customs Service for 
 revenue duties, and was under the Controller-General of 
 the Coastguard. The difficulty of getting good men at 
 the time of the Russian War made the defects of this 
 system apparent. The condition of the force was, indeed, far 
 from satisfactory, but, after the transfer to the Admiralty, 
 the Coastguardsmen becoming a reserve of seamen of the 
 Navy, their quality was gradually improved. Admiral 
 Eden told the Select Committee of the House of Lords on 
 the Board of Admiralty, 1871, that, as Controller of the 
 Coastguard, it had been his practice each year to go 
 round the whole coast of England, Ireland, and Scotland, 
 see every man of the force, and inspect every Coastguard 
 cruiser. One of the changes introduced under Mr. Childers' 
 administration was the abolition of the office of Controller 
 of the Coastguard, and, with it, that of Deputy Controller, 
 and the work of inspection and control was then carried 
 on under the authority of the First Naval Lord. In 
 January, 1869, Captain Willes was called to the Admiralty 
 to assist the First Naval Lord in conducting the duties of 
 the Coastguard and the Royal Naval Reserve, as well as 
 
ADMIRAL SUPERINTENDENT OF NAVAL RESERVES. 103 
 
 to give general assistance in other matters, and, in 
 October, 1870, was confirmed in office with the title of 
 Chief of the Staff. His duties were to superintend the 
 Coastguard, as well as first reserve ships, tenders, and 
 drill-ships of the Royal Naval Reserve, and to take charge 
 of the management and supervision of the Royal Naval 
 Reserve, the Royal Naval Volunteers, and the Seamen 
 and Marine Pensioners' Reserve. The Chief of the Staff 
 had also a large share in the business of manning the 
 fleet. It will be remembered that, at this time, the office 
 of Second Naval Lord was in abeyance. The Chief of the 
 Staff was generally occupied at the Admiralty, but com- 
 manded the Reserve fleet on its annual cruise. The 
 inspection of the Coastguard was intrasted to the Com- 
 manders-in-chief afloat as the men were embarked. At the 
 same time the improvement of the force was continued, 
 and the remainder of the civilians in it removed, while 
 the Royal Naval Reserve, which had been instituted as 
 a great experiment, was weeded and strengthened. 
 
 The office of Chief of the Staff was continued but for a 
 brief term, and, by Order in Council of December l'2th, 
 1874, an Admiral Superintendent of Naval Reserves was 
 appointed to take charge of the Naval Reserve afloat, 
 including the district ships, formerly called Coastguard 
 ships, but since 1861 known as First Reserve ships, which 
 then gave a force of nine ironclads ready at short notice for 
 active service. He was also given charge of Coastguard 
 stations ashore, the Royal Naval Reserve, the Royal Naval 
 Artillery Volunteers, and the Seamen Pensioners' Reserve. 
 A later instruction of the Board directed him to co-operate 
 with theCommissionersofCustoms and theBoard of Trade in 
 all measures necessary for the protection of revenue, saving 
 and guarding life and property from wrecks, and the pro- 
 tection of fisheries. He was instructed to visit from time 
 to time the district ships and coast stations of the Coast- 
 guard, and the drill-ships and batteries of the Naval 
 
104 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 Reserve. He was to siibniit to the Board promotious to 
 the rank of Chief Officer, and the removals from station to 
 station of the Inspecting Officers of Divisions, but promo- 
 tions below the rank of Chief Officer were to be made on 
 his own responsibility. The Admiral Superintendent was 
 also instrocted to visit mercantile training ships to take 
 account of the training given, it being a wish of the 
 Admiralty to admit suitable boys both to the Navy and 
 the Naval Eeserve. A final instruction was to keep the 
 district ships ready and efficient for mobilization, with 
 complete arrangements for making up their sea-going 
 complements. 
 
 This outline of the Admiral Superintendent's instructions 
 will show that — while exercising, in peace time, a high func- 
 tion of the Navy in keeping the peace and preserving the 
 safety of the seas, in ministering to the welfare of the 
 fisheries and the mercantile marine, and in protecting the 
 Customs revenue of the country — he pursues thegreat work 
 of preserving efficient the Naval Reserves in readiness for 
 the war needs of the State. His operations are thus of far- 
 reaching significance, and it will be seen that he must play 
 a notable part in any mobilization of the fleet. 
 
 Important as are the duties of the Deputy Adjutant- 
 General of the Jtioyal Marine Forces, it will not be necessary 
 for me to dwell upon them at any length. That admir- 
 able body of men, the Royal Marine Light Infantry, with 
 its training depot at Walmer, and its divisions located 
 at Chatham, Portsmouth, and Plymouth, and the Royal 
 Marine Artillery, with its headquarters at Eastney 
 Barracks, near Portsmouth, is a very valuable part of our 
 naval personnel. Alternating their service between the 
 shore and the fleet, the Marines are trained as soldiers, 
 and to a considerable extent as seamen. Through the 
 devotion of their officers and the thorough training of the 
 men, they render most substantial service on board our 
 ships. To deal with the entire economy and detailed 
 
DEPUTY ADJUTANT-GENERAL, ROYAL MARINES. 105 
 
 Bervice of the Marines, however, is beyond the scope of 
 the present volume, and it must suffice to say that, with 
 an establishment of 15,600, including 2,679 artillerymen, 
 the force is maintained in a style of admirable efficiency. 
 
 When serving afloat, the Royal Marines are governed 
 by the Naval Discipline Act, and are under their own 
 officers, but subject to the captains of the ships in which 
 they serve. Ashore, they are under the Army Act, and, 
 so far as the exigencies of the training under Admiralty 
 orders will admit, they take part under the general officer 
 commanding the military district, in military manoeuvres 
 and garrison duty in common with the other iroops under 
 his command. But, in regard to pay, interior economy, 
 inspection and discipline, the Royal Marines are inde- 
 pendent of that officer, and are under Admiralty regula- 
 tions, enforced by the Deputy Adjutant-General, Royal 
 Marines, who is supervised, as I have said, by the Second 
 Sea Lord. A general commanding, for example, is not 
 empowered to inspect Marine barracks, nor even to enter 
 them without consent. Neither can he order a single man 
 of the Marines on any duty without the authority of the 
 Admiralty. If it were otherwise, the Marine forces would 
 not be truly at the disposal of tho Naval service upon 
 emergency. The work of the Deputy Adjutant-General is 
 accordingly to execute the orders of the Admiralty Board in 
 relation to the forces under his command, to take charge of 
 the Marine Recruiting Service, and to maintain these forces 
 in the state of high efficiency to which they have been 
 brought, and in readiness for immediate service if required. 
 His Department at the Admiralty is noteworthy in this 
 respect, that it numbers no civilian officials. 
 
 With the Departments of the Admiral Superintendent 
 of Naval Reserves and of the Deputy Adjutant- General, 
 Royal Mai'ines, I conclude my survey of those parts of 
 the Admiralty " machinery " which are devoted to the 
 work of constituting the personnel of the Navy afloat. 
 
106 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 Other officers of the Admiralty are ocoupied in duties to 
 the personnel so raised. Thus, the Director of Victual- 
 ling conducts operations of such magnitude as to demand 
 a special chapter for an account of his department. 
 The Medical Diredor- General of the Navy, of whom I 
 propose now to speak, is an officer also of great im- 
 portance. The health and hygiene of the fleet, and the 
 surgical attendance upon the personnel, both in peace and 
 war, are wholly in his hands. The Physician-General of 
 the Navy was one of the five Principal Officers to whom, 
 under the Order in Council of June 27th, 1832, the work 
 of the Navy and Victualling Boards was transferred. His 
 title was changed to that cf Director-General of the 
 Medical Department in 1843, and he had charge of all 
 medical stores, medicines, and instruments, and super- 
 intended all professional duties connected with the various 
 medical establishments. 
 
 The Medical Service of the Navy, over which this 
 officer presides, is constituted of officers qualified under 
 the Medical Acts, and admitted to the Navy after a severe 
 physical examination, and further examination in medi- 
 cine, surgery, anatomy, physiology, chemistry, and materia 
 medica, conducted by a board of medical officers under 
 Admiralty regulaHons. Formerly, medical officers so 
 accepted were put through a course of training at Netley, 
 to the Support of which medical school the Admiralty 
 paid a contribution of £2,500 annually, but the system 
 had disadvantages, and did not form a good introduction 
 to naval life. There was need also for special training in 
 the hygiene of modern ships, and the examination of naval 
 Victualling Stores. Accordingly, the Haslar Hospital was 
 made a teaching centre, through which naval medical 
 officers now pass preparatory to going afloat, and where 
 the sick-berth staff is trained. Surgeons are appointed to 
 ships of war in numbers proportionate to their com- 
 plements, and, upon return from commissions abroad, 
 
MEDICAL BIRECTOR-GENERAL OF THE NAVY. 107 
 
 they are passed through Haslar and other naval hospitals 
 for varying periods of service. Changes in the Depart- 
 ment have made the medical branch of the Navy popular. 
 The position of surgeons was much improved about 1859 
 under Sir John Packington's administration, and again in 
 1866 and 1875. In 1881 a new Warrant, giving satisfac- 
 tion to the service, was issued upon the report of an 
 Admiralty Committee, presided over by Sir Anthony 
 Hoskins, which decided anew the pay and position of 
 medical officers. 
 
 The Medical Director- General is supervised by the 
 Junior Sea Lord, and is responsible under the Board for 
 the administration of the Naval Medical Service both 
 afloat and ashore, and is the appointed adviser of the 
 Board on all questions connected with the appointment 
 and promotion of medical officers, and of the nursing 
 sisters and sick-berth staff. He is charged with the 
 superintendence of all professional and administrative 
 details in regard to the medical establishments ; and is 
 responsible for maintaining the necessary stores of articles 
 required for the service. He has to prepare the estimates 
 (Vote 3), and to watch the expenditure for the Medical 
 Service so far as wages and stores are concerned, and is 
 responsible for the examination of the Medical Store 
 Accounts, which, as is the case with Naval and Victual- 
 ling Stores, have been transferred from the Accountant- 
 G-eneral's Department. For this work an audit branch 
 was added to the Medical Department. He has, also, to 
 prepare for publication the Medical Statistics of the health 
 of the Navy, a work of much importance, to which great 
 attention is paid. 
 
 The Director-General of the Medical Department is not 
 a purchasing officer. All contracts are entered into by 
 the Director of Contracts, whose department I have yet to 
 deal with, and the conditions of supply generally resemble 
 those which prevail in the Naval Store and Victualling 
 
108 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 Departments. Before the Select Committee on the Navy 
 Estimates, 1888, the Medical Director- General stated, in 
 illustration of the methods of supplying the fleet, that 
 medical stores were always ready packed at Haslar Hos- 
 pital for 6,000 men, at Plymouth for 9,000, at Malta for 
 15,000, at Chatham for 4,000, at Deptford for 5,000, at 
 Hong Kong for 3,000, and so on at other stations, stores 
 liable to deterioration being regularly removed and re- 
 placed by others. The medical establishments of the 
 Navy are the Royal Hospitals at Haslar, Plymouth, Yar- 
 mouth, Hanlbowline, and Chatham, the Royal Marine 
 Artillery Infirmary at Portsmouth, the Royal Marine 
 Infirmaries at Portsmouth and Walmer, the Royal Marine 
 Barrack Dispensary at Plymouth, the Royal Naval Bar- 
 racks at Sheerness, the sick quarters at Portland, and at 
 Dartmouth for the Britannia, and the establishments at 
 Malta, Gibraltar, Bermuda, Halifax, Jamaica, Ascension, 
 the Cape of Good Hope, Hong Kong, Yokohama (sick 
 quarters), Bsquimalt, Coquimbo, Trincomalee, and Sydney. 
 It remains now, in this chapter, to allude to the 
 Ghaplain-General of the Fleet, who, in addition to his 
 duties in regard to the chaplains in the service, carries on 
 an important work in supervising naval instructors and 
 naval schools, in relation to which duties he bears the 
 further title of Inspector of Naval Schools. Between the 
 Chaplain-General and a portion of the stafi' of the Royal 
 Naval College, the duties formerly exercised (1S64-74) by 
 the Director of Education are now divided. In regard to 
 naval schools, the Chaplain-General is supervised by the 
 Second Sea Lord, and in regard to chaplains and naval 
 instructors, by the Junior Sea Lord. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE DIEICTOE OF VICIUALLING. 
 
 The subject of the victualling of tbe fleet forms one of 
 the most curious chapters in naval history. All the old 
 chronicles and pamphlets are filled with the story of 
 pestilence bred by the consumption of noisome provisions, 
 rancid bacon, stock-fish fouled by bilge-water, maggoty 
 bread, and sour beer not seldom stored in old oil or fish- 
 casks. Many a time, too, even such food as this was not 
 available, and " refuse and old stuff," or, still worse, 
 empty bellies, goaded men, who, sometimes, as in the 
 days of Charles I., had " neither shoes, stockings, nor 
 rags to cover their nakedness," to " voice the king's ser- 
 vice worse than galley slavery." How intimately mutiny 
 and disaffection in former times have been associated with 
 the character, or the dearth, of provisions in the fleet, is 
 well known to readers of naval history. The picturesque 
 conditions that arise out of " banyan days," and the eating 
 of salt junk, weevily biscuit, and other like food, have 
 been seized upon by the naval novelist, and, through this 
 channel, a record of the old discomforts of the fleet is 
 embodied in our literature.' It is pleasant, therefore, to 
 note the astounding change which has passed over naval 
 
 ' " Banyan days : " days (Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays) 
 on which no meat was issued — an enforced abstinence done away 
 with in 1824. Some of the other discomforts alluded to yet existed 
 when I first went to sea. 
 
112 NAVAIj ADMINISTRATIOff. 
 
 victualling, an abundance of good, wholesome, fresh food, 
 well cooked, and decently served, now contributing vastly 
 to the health and contentment of the men. 
 
 Before the introduction of the reforms of 1832 the busi- 
 ness of victualling the fleet fell to the Navy Board and the 
 Commissioners of Victualling. In Elizabeth's days it 
 had been managed by contract under the Surveyor-General 
 of the Victuals, and the system of contract was long con- 
 tinued, though from time to time the Commissioners of 
 the Navy took the charge of victnalling into their own 
 hands. When the duties devolving upon the Navy and 
 Victualling Boards were brought, by the reforms of Sir 
 James Graham, under the direct control of the Admiralty, 
 one of the five Principal OflBeers appointed under the Board 
 was the Comptroller of Victualling and Transport Ser- 
 vices, who was charged to superintend the providing, 
 issue, and duly accounting for all the provisions, victual- 
 ling stores, clothing, marine necessaries, etc., required for 
 the use of the fleet, the marines, and the convict service, 
 and also for troops in foreign garrisons. The transport 
 duties were detached from his oifice, and placed under a 
 Director of Transports in 1862. When the changes of 
 1869 were brought into force, the office of Comptroller of 
 Victualling, with that of Storekeeper- General, was 
 abolished, and the purchasing powers hitherto belonging 
 to it were transferred to the newly-created Contract and 
 Purchase Department, and the examination of accounts to 
 the Accountant-General, while the store-keeping functions 
 were vested in the Superintendent of Victualling, whose 
 title v/as subsequently changed to that of Director. Some 
 other changes have subsequently been made. The exami- 
 nation of the various store accounts, which was con- 
 centrated in 1870 in the hands of the Accountant-General, 
 whose position, in regard to financial criticism, was 
 strengthened by the Order in Council of November 18th, 
 1886, did not, under that system, work well for the 
 
THK DIRECTOR OF VICTUALLING. 113 
 
 -efficient handling of the vast mass of stores either under 
 the control of the Director of Victualling or the Director of 
 Stores. In March, 1886, three months after the Accountant- 
 General had been formally invested with his supervising 
 function, the Admiralty accordingly transferred the exa- 
 mination of store accounts to the departmental officers ; 
 and, through subsequent changes, the power of " review," 
 which remained with the Accountant-General, ceased to 
 operate. The reasons for this alteration will appear sub- 
 sequently in this chapter. The financial aspect of the 
 question has already been dealt with in the chapter upon 
 the Director of Stores, and will be further explained when 
 I come to deal with the business of financial control. 
 
 Briefly stated, the Director of Victualling is responsible 
 under the Board, and under the supervision of the Junior 
 Naval Lord, for regulating the proper supply, c:ire, and 
 preservation of all victualling and clothing stores for the 
 Navy, including the mess-traps and seamen's utensils, the 
 interior lighting of ships, and the ships' libraries. He is 
 also charged with the management of the victualling 
 yards and dep6ts, the examination and passing of all 
 accounts of the expenditure of victualling stores whether 
 at home or abroad, and the appointment and arrangement 
 of the staffs in the establishments. Further, the Director 
 prepares the whole of the estimates for victualling and 
 
 . clothing, being responsible for the Victualling and Clothing 
 Vote (Vote 2), save certain minor sub-heads (salaries and 
 allowances, wages of police, rents, water, and contin- 
 gencies, etc;, and Marine clothing, appointments, allowances 
 
 -in lieu, and barrack stores), which are under the Ac- 
 countant-General and the Deputy Adjutant-General of 
 Royal Marines. 
 
 The preparation of the estimate for the wants of the 
 year is one of the most important duties of the Director 
 of Victualling. The chief victualling yard at home is 
 that at . Deptford. The other principal yards are at 
 
 I 
 
114 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 Portsmouth and Plymouth, with a small dep6t at Haul- 
 bowline (Queenstowa), and there are depdts abroad at 
 Gibraltar, Malta, Halifax, Bermuda, Jamaica, the Cape of 
 Good H-Opfii Trincomalee, Hong Kong, Esquimalt, Bombay, 
 Ascension, Ooquimbo, and Sydney. The extent of the 
 reserve stocks to be kept in hand at the dep6ts is in the 
 discretion of the Admiralty Board, and is varied from 
 time to time, dependent upon the number of ships and the 
 minimum stock on the stations, or upon other causes, and 
 calculated on the average issues. The maintenance of 
 these reserves, as aflfected by the amount to be consumed, 
 which, of course, is calculated upon the vote for men, is 
 the basis of the estimate prepared by the Director of 
 Victualling. If at any depot the stores should be depleted, 
 his estimate will provide for making good the deficiency ; 
 if there should be a surplus, the vote will be propor- 
 tionately reduced. The reserve stores and the quantities to 
 be eaten are thus inseparably bound together, but, for the 
 efficient supply of the service, they must be regarded 
 independently. The first consideration is of the quantity 
 likely to be consumed, and this is arrived at by experience 
 of previous years, and by accounts furnished regularly by 
 the dep6ts at home and abroad. Many disturbing circum- 
 stances have to be weighed in forming the estimate, as, 
 for example, the amount of local purchases abroad, the 
 number of men paid allowances in lieu of being victualled, 
 the amount paid to the men as "savings," — ^that is, money 
 allowance paid for any article of ration not consumed— 
 the condemnation of stores in all parts of the world, and 
 waste and loss of stores on board ship and during trans- 
 port. Having taken into consideration the number of 
 men, and disturbing elements such as I have indicated, the 
 Director of Victualling — having before him estimate stock 
 valuations taken towards the end of the year, in anticipation 
 of the annual stock valuation made on April 1st — is able to 
 frame his estimate for the Victualling Vote. The general 
 
THE DIRECTOR OF VICTUALLING. 115 
 
 arrangement made for supply is in view of time of peace, 
 but the Admiralty has, necessarily, in consideration the 
 contingency of war. The Director of Victualling is in 
 communication with the Director of Naval Intelligence and 
 the Director of Transports upon matters relating to this 
 contingency, and the commanders-in-chief on foreign 
 stations have instructions in this regard. As a matter of 
 fact, there are stations where a much larger supply of 
 stores is maintained than is called for by the ordinary 
 victualling of the fleet. Malta is an example, where large 
 stocks are kept up by arrangement between the Admiralty, 
 the War OfiBce, and the Colonial Office. 
 
 The preparation of the estimate is the first step in the 
 victualling of the fleet, but the Director of Victualling is 
 not a purchasing officer. The work of purchasing is under- 
 taken by the Director of Navy Contracts, upon whom the 
 Director of Victualling indents for necessary supplies, pro- 
 viding a specification setting forth exactly what is re- 
 quired. In this way the clothing and other stores are 
 bought by contract, but the system varies a little in 
 regard to some perishable articles, such as fresh provisions, 
 meat, and vegetables, both at home and abroad. But here, 
 again, the work is carried on largely by running contracts 
 through the Director of Navy Contracts. There are, of 
 course, some classes of stores in regard to which it is neces- 
 sary to look well ahead in order to buy them advantageously. 
 Certain victualling stores — biscuit, chocolate, mustard, 
 pepper, cooperage articles, and oatmeal— rare manufactured 
 by old custom in the victualling yards ; biscuit and 
 cooperage articles at Deptford, Gosport, and Plymouth, 
 oatmeal at Deptford and Plymouth, and chocolate, mustard, 
 and pepper at Deptford. The Navy biscuit is famous for its 
 quality, it having appeared, for example, upon the Trans- 
 port inquiry after the Egyptian campaign, that the biscuit 
 was of much better value than could be bought elsewhere. 
 Mustard and other stores continue to be manufactured as 
 
116 NAVAL ADMINISTKATION. 
 
 in former times, the mustard, at least, having originally 
 been introduced as an anti-scorbutic. 
 
 An interesting justification of these manufactures will 
 be found in John Stuart Mill, who quotes Mr. Babbage's 
 maxim that Government can purchase any article at a 
 cheaper rate than that at which it can manufacture such 
 article itself; but points out, nevertheless, that it has 
 been considered more economical to build extensive flour- 
 mills (such as those at Deptford), and to grind corn, 
 rather than to verify each sack of purchased flour, and to 
 employ persons in devising methods of detecting new 
 modes of adulteration which might be continually re- 
 sorted to.^ 
 
 The principal victualling yard, as I have said, is at 
 Deptford, and there, as at the other receiving yards, all 
 stores sent in are inspected by the proper ofiBcers, and are 
 thus either passed or condemned, the Director of Victualling, 
 through his officers, being responsible that no defective 
 stores are accepted for the fleet. The vast bulk of the 
 victualling stores — all the clothing material, for example — 
 is passed through the Deptford yard. It may be interesting 
 in this connection to note that the total loss through con- 
 demnation of stores, principally of those returned from 
 ships, is about one per cent, on the gross amount, not 
 allowing for money received for such rejected stores as are 
 sold out of the service. 
 
 The stores being, as I h,ave described, estimated for, 
 purchaeed, and received at the yards, the work of issuing 
 them begins. The Director of Mctualling is responsible 
 for the filling up of the foreign depots, as of the dep6ts at 
 home. Monthly accounts of the stores from abroad apprise 
 
 ' The whole tiuotation, a very interesting oue, will be found in 
 the "Principles of Political Economy," vol. i. p. 137. There is 
 a biscuit now at the Admiralty wliich was baked at the Royal 
 Clarence Yard iu 1852, and was in the possession of a naval otficer 
 until 1894. It is still perfectly fit for consumption. 
 
THE DIRECTOR OF VICTUALLING. 117 
 
 him of the stocks in hand, and, without requisition being 
 made, he issues the supplies in accordance with the neces- 
 sities to the various dep6ts. Demands for victualling stores 
 are then sent to these dep&fcs from ships in all parts of the 
 world, and, provided they are such stores as are allowed, 
 they are delivered into the charge of the ships' paymasters. 
 The victualling officers at the depots have no discretion in 
 regard to the quantities issued, and it would be a mistake 
 to give them any. Commanding officers of ships, or 
 commanders-in-chief on stations, being responsible for the 
 efficiency and readiness of their ships, can alone be 
 responsible in this matter. Some years ago there was a 
 condemnation of 50,000 lb. weight of biscuit rendered 
 unserviceable in the Hecla and Neptune in the Mediter- 
 ranean, which biscuit had been taken on board in accord- 
 ance with the requisition of the commander-in-chief. lb 
 is impossible to take such power away from the com- 
 mander-in-chief. It is his responsibility to have his ships 
 in a proper state to carry out the orders of the Admiralty, 
 and he must therefore be prepared for contingencies. As 
 Mr. Torke, the present Director of Yictualling, said before 
 the Select Committee on the Navy Estimates, 1888, in 
 relation to this case, it was no mistake to have an excess 
 stock in view of possible contingencies, " because yoa 
 might as well say that a man was foolish for having insured 
 his life because he had not died," The condemnation of 
 stores afloat is made upon the survey of officers appointed 
 by the commander-in-chief on the station where the com- 
 plaint arises. If they are destroyed, the responsibility 
 rests with him ; but if, otherwise, they are returned to 
 the victualling yard, they are re-surveyed by the officers 
 of the yard under the responsibility of the Director of 
 Victualling. 
 
 I have alluded above to the question of "savings," a 
 matter which largely afiiects the issue of victualling stores. 
 It is open to a man, in regard to most classes of food, to 
 
118 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 take a money payment in lien of a certain proportion of 
 his ration, and officers and men who live on shore, and 
 are borne upon ships' books, also receive an allowance in 
 lieu. Another interesting point that deserves to be 
 noticed here is that, while a marine afloat is victualled in 
 the same n^anner as a bluejacket, his treatment ashore is 
 that of a soldier, his ration then being of bread and meat, 
 for which 4|£?. per diem, whatever may be the value of 
 the rations, is deducted from his pay, and he also has an 
 allowance of Id. a day for beer. 
 
 Though the Director of Yictualling has no practical 
 discretion, through his officers, in regard to the issue of 
 stores to ships, provided those stores are in accordance 
 with the Queen's Regulations, he checks the consumption 
 very carefully. This is done by making a critical scrutiny 
 of the periodical accounts of ships' paymasters, and of other 
 officers throughout the world who have victualling stores 
 in their possession. By careful examination of these indi- 
 vidual statements of paymasters and storekeepers, ship by 
 ship and day by day — which accounts are of the expendi- 
 ture of stores, and are not pecuniary accounts — and by 
 investigating the condemnations made, economy becomes 
 possible. It is the duty of the Director of Victualling to 
 carefully watch and check condemnations, and to see that 
 stores are not irregularly dealt with ; and the quarterly 
 accounts which reach him are the means of his doing 
 so. The system is a good one, forming an excellent 
 barrier against peculation and fraud. 
 
 Up to 1869 the store accounts, as I have said, were wholly 
 in the hands of the Comptroller of Victualling, but from 
 that time to 1885, they were dealt with by the Acconntant- 
 General. The arrangement presented anomalies, for it 
 left, practically, to the Accountant-General the considera- 
 tion as to what points should be referred to the Director 
 of Victualling. There were many matters which could 
 only be treated satisfactorily by the officer in charge of 
 
THE DIRECTOR OF VICTUALLING. 119 
 
 the Department, and when the examination of accounts 
 was re- transferred to the Director of Victualling in 1886, 
 some irregularities, as is not surprising, were discovered. 
 The arrangement then made was that the accounts, having 
 been examined by the Victualling Department, should go 
 for final review or audit to the Accountant-General of the 
 Navy, but this system was considered unsatisfactory on 
 the ground that the Accountant-General, as an Admiralty 
 officer, could not fitly review Admiralty accounts. Accord- 
 ingly the executive heads of the Victualling and other De- 
 partments presented a memorandum upon the subject in 
 November, 1886 ; but, before further action could be taken, 
 the Treasury directed that thenceforth the accounts should 
 be passed before theParliamentary Comptroller and Auditor- 
 General for a test audit. The intermediate "review" of the 
 Accountant-General would then have become a cause of 
 friction and delay, as forming a double and yet inconclusive 
 examination of the accounts within the Admiralty itself ; 
 and the Board therefore dispensed with this "review," and 
 the Accountant-General of the Navy ceased to have any 
 control over the expenditure of victualling and other stores. 
 It consequently became a duty of the Director of Vic- 
 tualling to furnish the Comptroller and Auditor- General 
 and the Public Accounts Committee with any explanatory 
 information called for in connection with victualling store 
 accounts.^ 
 
 In addition to the examination of store accounts which 
 has been described, the Director of Victualling prepares 
 at the end of every month a statement explaining how the 
 Admiralty stands in regard to the Victualling Vote, taking 
 into consideration outstanding liabilities, in order to show 
 how the money voted is running off. He is further 
 
 ' In Part II. chap. iv. will be found the judgment of the 
 Treasury Committee of 1889 upon the audit of store and expense 
 accounts, 
 
120 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 responsible for the supply of " mess-traps," or crockery, 
 and so forth, to the -ward-room, gun-room, and warrant 
 officers' messes of Her Majesty's ships, for the interior 
 lighting of ships, or for allowances in lien, for the pro- 
 vision of soap and tobacco, for ships' libraries, and for 
 many other items under the sub-heads of the vote, such, 
 for example, as the stock, plant, and farming operations 
 at Ascension. His duties, it will be seen, involve a wide 
 survey of the necessities of the fleet, and an adequate 
 system of supply. His department is subdivided for its 
 efficient operations into two branches, the first, or execu- 
 tive branch, dealing with main executive questions, and 
 with estimates and expenditure, and the second, or ac- 
 counts branch — added after the transfer of the accounts 
 from the Accountant- General of the Navy in 1886 — with 
 the office regulations and the depot and ship accounts. 
 As will be seen, the Department of Victualling is one of 
 the first importance, in relation with subsidiary establish- 
 ments all over the world, and is admirably organized for 
 the rapid carrying on of its complex work. 
 

 
 
 / ' ■' ■ 
 
 7-, Z 
 
 r. :. 
 
 
 
CHAPTER YII. 
 
 THE ACCOUNTANT-GENEEAL OF THE NAVT. 
 
 The Royal Commission on Civil Establishments, 1887, 
 remarked with truth in its Report that the subject of the 
 financial control of the great spending departments of the 
 State is one of great diflBculty and of high importance ; and 
 it proceeded to deal with the recent financial changes at 
 the Admiralty as serving to elucidate the whole problem. 
 I cannot do better than follow a similar course in order to 
 illustrate the development of naval financial control. 
 When I dealt in an earlier chapter with the constitution 
 of the Board of Admiralty, I showed that the Parliamentary 
 and Financial Secretary is responsible for the Finance of 
 the Department, for the estimates, and for expenditure 
 generally, the accounts, and the purchase and sale of 
 stores, as well as for questions involving reference to the 
 Treasury financially, and connected with the Exchequer 
 and Audit Department, with other kindred matters. Poi' 
 the practical work of his Department he has under him 
 the Accountant- General, who acts as his assistant, and 
 the Director of Navy Contracts, who is also under the 
 several Lords for whose departments purchases are made. 
 The duties of the latter officer will be explained in the 
 next chapter. 
 
 The position of the Accountant-General of the Navy, 
 and the powers he exercises, have undergone successive 
 changes, and have been the subject of much discussion 
 and of inquiry before several committees, Some have 
 
124 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 regarded him as an officer who should exercise financial 
 control over the estimates, in the sense of criticising policy 
 or holding economical authority and responsibility. Others 
 have maintained that, as the head of an Admiralty De- 
 partment, he could not exercise efficient control over 
 Admiralty expenditure, and that he necessarily does not 
 posses.s sufficient technical knowledge to criticise profes- 
 sionally the various causes of expenditure. From this 
 manner of regarding the position of the Aceountant- 
 General arose the view that he should be a bookkeeper, 
 and his Department one of clerical work. Mr. Cbilders, 
 on the other hand, held that the Accountant-General 
 should be in a position to advise the First Lord, through 
 the Financial Secretary, on all financial questions, and that 
 his advice and control are almost essential parts of good 
 administration. Lord Northbrook, too, was of opinion 
 that the Accountant-General should be quite free to ofier 
 any criticism or opinion that he was pleased to give upon 
 Admiralty finance, broadly speaking, both relating to 
 estimates and expenditure. 
 
 When the Civil Departments were reorganized in 1832, 
 the Accountant-General of the Navy was one of the five 
 Principal Officers then placed under the authority of the 
 Board, and his duties were defined as consisting in keep- 
 ing all books and accounts connected with the receipt and 
 expenditure of the Navy, including those relating to the 
 victualling and marine services, in seeing that .nil accounts 
 were examined and supported by proper vouchers, that 
 all stores supplied were in conformity with the terms of 
 contract, and in preparing bills for the payment of claims 
 by the Paymaster-General. In other words, the Ac- 
 countant-General was yet a bookkeeper. His duties were 
 limited to the examination of accounts, the payment of 
 bills, and the recording of expenditure. He had no 
 authority to keep a watch upon the expenditure or esti- 
 mates of other Departments. The duties of the office 
 
THE ACCOUNTANT-GENERAL OF THE NAVY. 125 
 
 were, however, enlarged by the Order in Council of 
 January 14tli, 1869 — that which made the Parliamentary 
 Secretary, with the Civil Lord as his assistant, responsible 
 for the finance of the department. As a consequence of 
 this Order, as I have already explained, the store accounts, 
 both naval and victualling, which before had been in the 
 hands of the Storekeeper-General and the Controller of 
 Victualling, were concentrated in the Department of the 
 Accountant-General, who was vested with the power of 
 criticising these accounts financially. But, although a 
 further enlargement of that ofilcer's duties in relation to 
 records of liabilities and expenditure was made in 1876, 
 he was as yet placed in no better position in regard to 
 effective financial control. It was not the intention, said 
 the memorandum of instructions, by the new arrange- 
 ments of 1876, " that any check should be placed upon 
 the individual action of the several departments in bring- 
 ing under their Lordships' notice for decision any questions 
 arising in the course of the preparation of those votes 
 which are under their control." 
 
 The first definite step towards placing financial control 
 in the hands of the Accountant-General was taken in 
 1879, when a memorandum, dated December 31st, laid 
 it down that " the Accountant-General is to be consulted 
 .before any expenditure is incurred which is not provided 
 for in the estimates, or before any money provided for in 
 the estimates is applied to any purpose other than that 
 for which it was so provided," and further that he was to be 
 consulted on all proposals for altering pay or allowances, 
 as regarded " the financial effect " of those proposals. 
 From the conditions thus set up, considerable friction not 
 unnaturally ensued, as was, indeed, shown in the report of 
 a Departmental Committee, dated February 20th, 1884. 
 Without creating friction, the Accountant-General, under 
 these orders, could, in fact, scarcely have carried out 
 his instructions ; and the financial arrangements of the 
 
126 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 Admiralty remained unsatisfactory. When Lord North- 
 brook left office in 1885 he left a memorandum, indeed, to 
 the effect that under the then existing conditions he had 
 felt the need of " permanent financial assistance," which 
 frequent changes of Financial Secretaries had not given 
 him. It had been his purpose, therefore, to make the 
 Accountant-General assistant to the Financial Secretary, 
 thus raising him from the position of an officer of account 
 to that of a permanent officer of finance. 
 
 Some change seemed to be called for, since, no record of 
 liabilities being kept, or furnished to the Accountant- 
 General, it was a matter of exceeding difficulty to find out 
 what Admiralty liabilities were. A Select Committee of 
 the House of Commons appointed to report on this subject 
 stated that " both the late and present occupant of the 
 office concur that the Accountant-General has no financial 
 control over the other departments," and that " the evi- 
 dence before them proves the necessity of a much severer 
 financial control, even when operations have to be con- 
 ducted directly by the First Lord," and further, that 
 "the position of the Accountant-General does not enable 
 him to exercise any sniEcient general supervision over expen- 
 diture, while there is no permanent high official especially 
 charged with finance." The outcome of this criticism was 
 the appointment of a Departmental Committee, which re- 
 ported on September 23rd, 1885, that it was desirable 
 that permanent assistance should be given the Parlia- 
 mentary and Financial Secretary, in the direction of 
 financial criticism and control, by placing the Accountant- 
 General in closer relationship with him. The recommen- 
 dations of the Committee were embodied in an important 
 Order in Council, dated November 18th, 1885. The efi"ect 
 of the new disposition thus made, which took its effect 
 from January, 1886, was to add largely to the Accountant- 
 General's powers. Under the Financial Secretary, he 
 was formally entrusted with a direct share in the prepara- 
 
THE ACCOUNTANT-GENERAL OF THE NAVY. 127 
 
 tion of tlie estimates, his written concarreuce being neces- 
 sary before the final approval of the individual votes, and 
 each vote was to be referred to him in sufficient time, with 
 explanations, for his concurrence or observations. He was 
 to exercise a financial review of expenditure, and was to 
 be consulted upon expenditure not provided for in the 
 estimates, and before money voted could be applied to any 
 purpose other than that for which it was provided. He 
 was to see that expenditure was properly brought to 
 account, and was to be regarded as " the officer to be con- 
 sulted on all matters involving, an expenditure of naval 
 funds," In the office memorandum which accompanied 
 the order, the Board remarked that, " in recognizing the 
 Accountant-General themselves, and in calling upon the 
 spending departments to recognize him to the fullest pos- 
 sible extent, as the financial officer who shall be referred 
 to in regard to all proposals involving expenditure, a 
 security will be given for the economical administration of 
 naval funds which does not now exist." 
 
 Not all the advantages sought for by the Order in 
 Council of November 18th, 1885, were attained. The 
 opinion grew that good results could not be secured by 
 subjecting the professional officers to the supervision of a 
 permanent financial officer, implying the submission of 
 their proposals to inexpert criticism, which would weaken 
 their sense of responsibility. Mr. Main, Assistant Ac- 
 countant-General, told the Royal Commission on Civil 
 Establishments, 1887, that the effect of the Order in 
 Council had been to give rise to friction, and that the 
 result was far from satisfactory. " The tendency to with- 
 hold information, or to give partial information, coupled 
 with the tendency to friction when questions affecting 
 expenditure are raised accompanied by protests, even in 
 cases where these questions are manifestly of a legiti- 
 mate character, has been most discouraging, and has 
 done much, in my opinion, to weaken financial control 
 
128 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 of the really effective character contemplated by the 
 Order." 
 
 Meanwhile, other causes had been operating to affect 
 the new position and increased authority of the Ac- 
 countant- General. Since 1870, as appears above, the 
 examination of the naval and victualling store accounts 
 had been entrusted to him ; but, in March, 1886, three 
 months after he had assumed his new powers, the 
 Admiralty Board re-transferred the examination of the store- 
 keeping accounts to the departmental officers, leaving 
 merely a power of " review " with the Acconntant-General. 
 In the same way the newly instituted Dockyard Expense 
 Accounts, as I remarked in a previous chapter, were ulti- 
 mately transferred to the Controller of the Navy. At 
 about the same time (November, 1886) the Treasury 
 issued a minute that an independent audit of store 
 accounts should be conducted by the Parliamentary 
 Comptroller and Auditor- General ; and this minute-— -I 
 quote the Report of the Royal Commission on Civil 
 Establishments — " was regarded by the Board of Ad- 
 miralty as enabling them to dispense altogether with the 
 Accountant-General's ' review,' and that officer ceased to 
 have any further knowledge of, or power over, the 
 stores." ' Sir Gerald FitzGerald, however, the Ac- 
 countant- General, who had concurred in the re-transfer of 
 the stores accounts to the Director of Stores, the Director 
 of Victualling, the Director- General of the Medical De- 
 partment, and others, told the Royal Commissiqs that iie 
 considered the change a very good one. " The work of 
 my office is not store work, and it is much better that it 
 
 ' In Chapter IV. of this Part I showed that a Treasury committee 
 in 1889 approved the new arrangement made, and in the last chapter 
 I gave the objections put forward by the several Departments to 
 the principle of a " review " of store accounts by the Accountant- 
 General intermediate between the departmental accounts and the 
 audit of the Comptroller and Auditor-General. 
 
THE ACCOUNTANT-GENERAL OF THE NAVY. 129 
 
 should be restricted to finance." He farther stated that 
 the Order in Council of November 18th, 1885, had given 
 him the control he would have thought desirable for his 
 Department. The Royal Commission reported that in its 
 opinion the Accountant- General of the Navy should be 
 "the permanent assistant and adviser, on all matters in- 
 volving the outlay of public money, to the Financial 
 Secretary," and that the view of his duties embodied in 
 the Order in Council was substantially just and wise ; and 
 further, that it could see no good reason for the abandon- 
 ment of the intermediate " review " of store and expense 
 accounts by the Accountant- General. Much evidence was 
 also taken by the Select Committee on the Navy Estimates, 
 1888, before which the Accountant- General maintained that 
 the audit of the Comptroller and Auditor- General weakened 
 his financial control, and that the Order in Council of 
 November, 1885, had for eighteen months been " practically 
 a dead letter," while, on the other hand, the Parliamentary 
 Secretary maintained that the provisions of the Order in 
 Council were properly and duly observed, and that the 
 Accountant-General was as well able to carry out his 
 authorized duties as before the audit was undertaken by 
 the Comptroller and Auditor- General. In the final dis- 
 position of afiairs the stores accounts were left, as I have 
 shown in previous chapters, with the departmental officers, 
 and the Accountant-General ceased to exercise any check. 
 
 The instructions under which the Department of the 
 Accountant-General of the Navy is conducted are con- 
 tained in the Order in Council of November 18th, 1885, 
 and an office memorandum of December 10th in the 
 same year. By the first of these the Accountant-General 
 is authorized to act as deputy and assistant of the Parlia- 
 mentary and Financial Secretary. 
 
 "With this object he should be charged under the Parlia- 
 meutary and Financial Secretary with the preparation of the 
 Navy "^Estimates ; with financially reviewing the expenditure 
 
 K 
 
130 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 under those estimates ; with advising or deciding as to any 
 redistribution of votes or transfers which may from time to time 
 be found necessary ; with satisfying himself that such expendi- 
 ture is properly allowed and brought to account ; with advising 
 on all questions affecting Naval expenditure ; and that he should 
 not only be made acquainted with expenditure after it has been 
 incurjed, but be regarded as the Officer to be consulted on all 
 matters involving an expenditure of Naval funds." 
 
 The office memorandum which followed the Order in 
 Council precisely defined the Accountant-General's duties 
 as : (1) To criticise the annual estimates as to their suffi- 
 ciency before they are passed, and to advise the Parliamen- 
 tary and Financial Secretary as to their satisfying the ordi- 
 nary conditions of economy ; (2) to financially review the 
 progress of liabilities and expenditure under the estimates ; 
 (3) to consider, in regard to dockyard expenditure, the 
 proposed programme of construction, etc., that is, in 
 regard to labour, material, and machinery ; (4) to review 
 the current expenditure or employment of labour and 
 material, as distinguished from cash payments, at the 
 yards ; and (5) to review proposals to spend money on 
 new work, or repairs of any kind, for which estimates are 
 currently proposed, .^t the same time a Finance Com- 
 mittee was created within the Admiralty to assist the 
 Financial Secretary, himself being president, and the 
 Accountant-General vice-president. It was to bring into 
 harmony the general financial policy of the Admiralty 
 Department with the particular policy which might be 
 adopted by the Board of Admiralty for the time being, 
 and to secure to the Financial Secretary the possession, 
 continuously, of the fullest information as to the pro- 
 gress and character of the financial operations of the 
 department.' 
 
 The Accountant-General's Department is one of the 
 
 ' A statement of the course pui-sued in the preparation of the 
 several votes of the Navy Estimates will be found in Appendix III. 
 
THE ACCOUNTANT-GENKRAL OF THE NAVY. 131 
 
 most considerable under the Admiralty. For its complex 
 and detailed work it embraces three principal divisions — 
 the Estimates Division, the Navy Pay Division, and the 
 Invoice and Claims Division, occupied chiefly with clerical 
 work. The Ledger Branch of the Estimates Division is 
 charged with the great work of bringing all expenditure 
 to book under the several votes and sub-heads of votes, 
 and with preparing the all-important Navy Appropriation 
 Account. In the Estimates and Liabilities Branch the Navy 
 Estimatesgenerallyare prepared, after havingbeen compiled 
 and worked out under the immediate responsibility of the 
 heads of the Executive Departments, who are responsible 
 also for the administration of the several votes. The Ships' 
 Establishments Branch keeps and furnishes records of 
 establishments for estimate and other purposes, and pre- 
 pares certain of the estimates ; and the work of the 
 Salaries Branch is sufficiently indicated by its title. The 
 Navy Pay Division includes several branches. Its 
 Pull and Half Pay Branch, with a Registry Section, is 
 charged with all matters relating to the pay of oiScers, 
 and has its share in the preparation of estimates and 
 returns. The Seamen's Pay, etc., Branch, exercises a 
 "Wages Audit on ships' ledgers of wages, and deals with 
 the whole business of seamen's wages. There are also a 
 Victualling Audit of payments or allowances in lieu of 
 victualling, subsistence allowances while travelling, and 
 field allowances ; an examination of ships' ledgers, with 
 related business; a Central Registry, which records the 
 services, characters, ages, etc., of petty officers and sea- 
 men, and conducts other like business ; and an Inquiry 
 Office. The other branches of the Navy Pay Division 
 are the Allotment Branch and the Naval Pension Branch. 
 The Invoice and Claims Division conducts in several 
 branches tlie examination and passing for payment or 
 allowance of claims for material supplied and work done, 
 travelling, and subsistence expenses, aud other like 
 
132 NATAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 matters, with the audit of naval accountants in that 
 regard. Finally, it deals with the wills of seamen and 
 marines, the management of Naval Savings Banks, and 
 questions relating to prizes and bounties. 
 
 It will be seen that the office of the Accountant-General 
 of the Navy as permanent financial adviser to the Parlia- 
 mentary Secretary, and the large share which he has in 
 the final shaping of the Navy Estimates, give him a position 
 of high importance in the conduct of Admiralty business, 
 and that the influence which he is able to exercise in the 
 direction of wise economy must be salutary, and of direct 
 benefit both to the service and the country. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE DIRECTOR OP NAVY CONTRACTS. 
 
 The reader will have seen in the foregoing chapters that, 
 save in regard to the hulls and machinery of ships, and, I 
 may add, the chief requirements of the Director of Works, 
 the heads of the Civil Departments of the Admiralty are 
 not purchasing officers. The work of contract and pur- 
 chase, except as specified, rests with the Director of Navy 
 Contracts, who is under the Financial Secretary generally, 
 and is also supervised to a limited extent by the Lords for 
 whose Departments purchases are made. The new system 
 dates from the re-organization of 1868-69, when the 
 purchasing powers of the executive officers at the Admiralty 
 were transferred to a newly-created Contract and Purchase 
 Department, which was also charged with the sale of old 
 and obsolete stores. Before that time the Storekeeper- 
 General had bought for the dockyards, the Controller of 
 Victualling for the fleet, the Medical Director-General for 
 the Medical Department, and the Controller of the Coast- 
 guard for the Coastguard Service ; but, at the time I speak 
 of, the whole of these duties were concentrated in the new 
 Purchase Department, supervised as above indicated, the 
 executive head of the Department being the Superintendent 
 of Contracts, whose title was afterwards changed to that of 
 Director. The new system was found generally to work 
 well. When a vei'y large amount of stores was required 
 for the re-victualling of Paris, 2,500 tons of food were 
 despatched from Deptford and the two other yards jn 
 
134 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 three days, without the slightest detriment to the naval 
 service, the stocks being made up with the greatest 
 facility through the working of the new Department ; 
 and an officer of the Department was borrowed by the 
 Lord Mayor, and despatched to Paris to supervise arrange- 
 ments. 
 
 It is not necessary to enter here into many arguments 
 that have been raised as to the system of contract and 
 purchase. The practice is that the head of any Depart- 
 ment requiring stores, naval, victualling, medical, or 
 other, makes a demand for them to the Director of 
 Contracts, who determines in what manner the same 
 shall be obtained. On July 30th, 1883, the Board of 
 Admiralty laid down a " general scheme for the purchase 
 and sale of stores " for the guidance of the Director 
 of the Contract Department and his officers, and the 
 course then indicated is followed at the present time. 
 The broad principle was that supplies should be obtained 
 by public tender called for by advertisement ; but, recog- 
 nizing that this was not always a practicable procedure, 
 the Admiralty indicated four courses as open. Advertised 
 public tender was to be resorted to in regard to stores of 
 a general character largely produced as ordinary articles 
 of trade. Where articles were dealt in by a few well- 
 known firms, or it was necessary to place the quality 
 beyond dispute, or where quantities and value were small, 
 tenders were to be sought by limited competition among 
 selected firms. Patented articles or stores of small value 
 might be purchased direct from first-class firms. Articles 
 bought in the market, generally by public auction, were to 
 be obtained through brokers. Contracts were to be made 
 for the specific quantities required for each financial year, 
 except for certain classes of articles, in regard to which 
 running agreements, generally for a period of three years, 
 were found advantngeous. 
 
 In September, 1886, an Admiralty Committee was 
 
THE DIRECTOR OF NAVY CONTRACTS. 135 
 
 appointed, under the presidency of Mr. A. B. Forwood, to 
 inquire into the whole system of Admiralty contracts, 
 including the procedure in regard to hulls and machinery, 
 as well as into the organization and functions of the 
 Department; and its relation to the executive departments 
 of the Admiralty, the dockyards, victualling yards, and 
 medical establishments at home and abroad, and with the 
 users of stores and supplies. The Report of the Committee, 
 with the evidence taken, was presented to Parliament in 
 the following year. Generally, no objection was taken to 
 the scheme, of which I have indicated the main features 
 above, "but the Committee were of opinion that it should 
 not be regarded as a hard and fast regulation, but as one 
 requiring constant revision to meet the varying conditions 
 of trade. In their view the plan of intrusting the par- 
 chasing of the greater proportion of the Admiralty 
 supplies to one officer was of advantage to the public 
 service ; but they found grave defects in the administra- 
 tion, owing to the want of co-operation between the Director 
 of Contracts and the authorities requiring supplies, those 
 who receive and examine them, and the users of the various 
 articles. Their recommendations were largely directed to 
 the removal of this evil, to improving the system of select- 
 ing firms to be invited to tender for stores required, mainly 
 by giving the heads of departments a greater voice in the 
 matter, to the devising of a better procedure in regard to 
 the stores delivered, and generally to amending the busi- 
 ness methods and establishing a stronger chain of respon- 
 sibility for the correctness of particulars supplied to the 
 Director of Contracts, the examinations of stores, and other 
 matters. 
 
 In addition to these recommendations, the Committee 
 advised that the operations of the Contract and Purchase 
 Department should be so extended as to include, as far as 
 possible, contracts for the hulls and propelling machinery 
 of ships, and the requirements of the Works Department, 
 
136 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 excluding only the hire of transports. In view of the 
 great importance of the work of building warships and 
 their engines, the Oominittee recommended that tenders, 
 under this head, should be submitted to the full Board, 
 after having been submitted to the members individually ; 
 but they had no hesitation in declaring that, subject to 
 certain modifications of practice, the conclusion of all 
 contracts, and the efiFecting of all purchases, should rest 
 with the Director of Contracts, under the Financial Secre- 
 tary, and the Supervising Lords. From this recommenda- 
 tion of the Committee, however, one of its members. 
 Captain (now Vice- Admiral Sir Charles) Hotham, recorded 
 his entire dissent, on the ground that the Director of Navy 
 Contracts could have no knowledge whatever of the matters 
 involved, and could not be expected to understand the 
 specifications on which such contracts are based. From 
 the change proposed, Captain Hotham expected that delay, 
 friction, and inefficiency would arise. 
 
 The special recommendation in regard to ships, propel- 
 ling machinery, and the requirements of the Department 
 of Works was not, however, adopted ; and, indeed, the 
 report of the Committee did not lead to any material 
 alteration in the system pursued. New instrnctions, which 
 were drawn up in March, 1888, and presented to Parlia- 
 ment, were chiefly directed to clearing up certain special 
 points and regulating some details of practice. The re- 
 sponsibility of the Directors of Navy Contracts was defined 
 as " for the purchase of all stores, supplies, and machinery 
 required for the use of Her Majesty's naval and marine 
 forces and establishments, and for the conclusion of all 
 contracts in connection therewith, excluding only contracts 
 for ships and propelling machinery, and the following 
 requirements of the Director of Works, viz. : purchases 
 not exceeding £100 in value, and cement, materials, and 
 machinery of a nature not used in the Dockyard Depart- 
 ment." These latter exceptions, with the contracts for new 
 
• THE DIRECTOR OF NAVY CONTRACTS. 137 
 
 shore works and repairs, remained, and still remain, with 
 the Director of Works. 
 
 It is under the instructions of 1883 and 1888 that the 
 Director of Contracts carries on his operations. Requisi- 
 tions for the purchase of stores are accompanied by all 
 necessary particulars of pattern, make, description, and 
 quality, and where articles are of a new design or cha- 
 racter, specifications and drawings, or patterns, are fur- 
 nished. Tenders are obtained and purchases made by 
 one of the four procedures indicated above. Mr. Gollett, 
 Director of Contracts, told the Select Committee on the 
 Navy Estimates, 1888, that tenders from selected firms 
 represented fully half, or perhaps more, of the gross value 
 of purchases, because they comprised articles like armour- 
 plates, steel-plating, castings, and other articles involving 
 the expenditure of very large sums. Tenders called for by 
 public advertisement, he said, might probably represent 
 two-thirds of the balance, while purchase by direct nego- 
 tiation, chiefly for patented articles, would be but a small 
 amount, and the same was the case in regard to purchase 
 through a broker, save in the case of victualling stores, 
 such as cocoa, runn, and sugar, which are bought on the 
 market. In so far as victualling stores are concerned, 
 arrangements exist, upon emergency, for securing vast 
 supplies within a very few days, including great quantities 
 of biscuit outside the, ordinary naval resources. 
 
 In view of the very high importance of preserving good 
 relations with contracfors, so that many firms may be 
 familiar with Admiralty requirements and the needs 
 of the Navy, and be encouraged to furnish themselves 
 with the necessary plant for producing naval material and 
 stores, great interest attaches to the system of selecting the 
 firms which are invited to tender. In this matter, rigid 
 integrity, and whole-hearted devotion to the interests 
 of the service, combined with a clear knowledge of the 
 best ways in which those interests may be fostered, are 
 
138 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 essential. Generally speaking, firms are placed npon the 
 Admiralty list upon their own application. The Director 
 of Contracts will assure himself as to their financial 
 position, the Director of Naval Construction will send 
 down an officer to inspect their establishments and to 
 report upon their facilities for undertaking and satis- 
 factorily completing Admiralty work, and, the reports 
 being considered, a submission will be made to the Finan- 
 cial Secretary, with whom rests the decision as to whether 
 they shall, or shall not, be added to the Admiralty list. 
 The instruction is that, among limited tenders — and the 
 practice is to be " encouraged in preference to general 
 invitation by advertisement " — the principle of accepting 
 the lowest offer, other things being equal, shall prevail. 
 In practice, among firms on the Admiralty list, the lowest 
 tender has not always been accepted. The selection of 
 firms is naturally an invidious work, and it has sometimes 
 happened that the lowest tenders have not come from firms 
 judged by the responsible officers best fitted to execute the 
 work. It is obvious that, in regard to some of the most 
 important classes of Admiralty work, there are but few 
 firms available. Particular instructions are issued to the 
 Director of Contracts concerning the purchase of goods 
 by public tender, direct negotiation, and the employ- 
 ment of brokers ; and careful directions have been given as 
 to the practice to be observed in opening tenders, this being 
 a matter to which the Admiralty Board attaches great 
 importance. 
 
 In the case of tenders for special articles, or for such 
 as he desires information or advice upon, or in relation to 
 which the head of a Department has expressed a wish to 
 be consulted, the Director of Contracts is instructed to 
 obtain the opinion of the head of the Department, before 
 submitting the tender, with his recommendations, to the 
 Superintending Lord concerned, and to the Financial Sec- 
 retary, with whom the decision as to acceptance or non- 
 
THE DIRECTOR OF NAVY CONTRACTS. 139 
 
 acceptance rests. In case of extreme urgency, the Director 
 of Contracts is authorized, on his own responsibility, to 
 accept the lowest tender, and to decide upon any ofiFers 
 respecting which he considers immediate action to be 
 required ; and he may order goods of the same description 
 at the rates of a previous purchase made during the same 
 financial year. Arrangements exist to secure full collabo- 
 ration between the Director of Navy Contracts and the 
 heads of departments in the matter of contract business. 
 The examination of stores, as I have shown in previous 
 chapters, rests with these latter, who communicate directly 
 with the contractors in relation to supply ; but, in the final 
 resort, in the case of harmful delay after repeated applica- 
 tions, and of complaints as to the quality of stores delivered 
 or in use, the business passes, after protest or examination, 
 through the hands of the Director of Navy Contracts. 
 
 The varied nature of the business conducted by this 
 ofiicer renders it necessary for him to make himself acquainted 
 with the changing conditions of commerce, and with im- 
 provements and alterations in regard to the designs and 
 qualities of stores, and he is directed to visit establishments 
 and sources of supply as often as possible, and to be in 
 frequent communication with the users of stores. The 
 heads of departments report to him their satisfaction or 
 otherwise as to the manner in which contracts are being 
 executed, so as to furnish ground for decision as to whether 
 firms shall be maintained on or be removed from the Ad- 
 miralty list. 
 
 It is not necessary to enter into a multitude of details 
 touching the special methods of conducting contract and 
 purchase business for the Navy, such as the practice of 
 arbitration attaching to contracts for manufactured articles 
 or stores, the buying of stores locally abroad at a cheaper 
 rate or greater advantage than by shipment from home, the 
 course taken to avoid the accumulation of excessive stocks, 
 ^nd othpr suph matters, 
 
140 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 In addition to being a purchasing officer, the Director 
 of Navy Contracts is instructed to sell old ships and 
 naval stores of all kinds. His business is to obtain the 
 best price, and to sell under the best conditions, and he 
 furnishes particulars of his operations in this matter to the 
 departments concerned, the account of sale itself going to 
 the Accountant- General upon the question of finance. 
 Generally speaking, in this work, as in that of purchase, 
 the procedure is based upon the principle adopted under 
 the reforms of 1869-70, many improvements in business 
 methods having been introduced from time to time. 
 
 Mr. Porwood's Committee' of 1886-87 entered at great 
 length into the question of contracts for ships and pro- 
 pelling machinery, which, as I have said, is a matter lying 
 outside the Contract and Purchase Department. I shall 
 not, therefore, enter at any length into the question in this 
 place, reserving some remarks upon the relations existing 
 between the Admiralty and contractors until the conclud- 
 ing part of the volume. The chief reason why the Com- 
 mittee proposed to transfer the contract business concerning 
 ships and propelling machinery to the Director of Navy 
 Contracts, was that it was considered " desirable in the 
 public interest that those who design and have to see the work 
 carried out, should be distinct from those wlw negotiate and 
 conclude the contract." It had been given in evidence 
 before them that in many instances of contracts concluded 
 prior to 1886, the lowest tenders, among selected firms, 
 were not accepted, and that designs were adopted quite at 
 variance with the specifications sent out. Tenders, for 
 example, had been asked for ordinary compound engines, 
 and contracts had been made for those of triple expansion. 
 They alluded as " illustrative of the unsatisfactory effect of 
 the system " to the contracts for the Benoion and Sans Pareil, 
 and for the engines of the Nile and Trafalgar. They 
 referred also to the discrepancy that existed in some cases 
 between the terms arranged with contractors for engines 
 
THE DIRKCTOR OF NAVY CONTRACTS. 141 
 
 and the conditions eventually embodied in the contracts in 
 regard to penalties and to payments for extra indicated 
 horse-power. The matter, however, is one more of ad- 
 ministrative wisdom than of administrative machinery, 
 though I may observe that the methods of contract and 
 purchase are not under the most rigid system of control. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE DIEECTOE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE. THE HYDEOGRAPHEE 
 
 OF THE NAVY THE DIEECTOE OF TEANSPOETS. — THE 
 
 DIEECTOE OF AECHITECTUnAL AND ENGINEEEIN6 WOEKS. 
 — THE DIEECTOE OF GEEENWICH HOSPITAL. 
 
 Mr survey of the Admiralty "machinery" now brings 
 me to certain Departments largely concerned with the 
 practical work of the Navy — to Departments which are of 
 ranch importance in themselves, but which, nevertheless, 
 do not call for treatment at great length in this volume. 
 The first of these Departments is that of Naval Intelli- 
 gence, a recent addition to our naval machinery, which 
 yet has come to be recognized as of such surpassing utility 
 that it seems, at first, diflBcult to understand how we pros- 
 pered so long without it. But the truth is, that the 
 appointment of the Director of Naval Intelligence was 
 enforced by a quickened consciousness of the vast increase 
 in the scope and of the far larger incidence of naval 
 aflFairs. The Director is an advisory and not an adminis- 
 trative officer. It is his work to amass the information 
 which is necessary to enable the Lords of the Admiralty 
 to form their judgment as to the sufficiency and employ- 
 ment of the fleet. The work of naval intelligence h&s, 
 therefore, necessarily always gone on virithin the Admiralty, 
 but the institution of a special Intelligence Department 
 in 1887 has been found, under the new administrative 
 conditions, of signal value. Some writers, indeed, re- 
 garding the Department as a new factor in Admiralty 
 
THE DIRECTOR OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE. 143 
 
 procedure, have gone so far as to describe it as a potential 
 " Brain of the Navy," capable of assuming a high 
 directive function ; but the truth is that the First Sea 
 Lord, who is the Superintending Lord of the Department, 
 even if relieved of some of his many duties — and some 
 slight relief was afforded subsequent to the report of the 
 Hartingtou Commission — must always, assisted by his 
 colleagues, bear the grave weight of his supremely im- 
 portant advisory duties. An insuperable difficulty has, 
 indeed, been found in removing from his shoulders even 
 any part of the administrative work which gives him the 
 full grasp of conditions and affairs essential for his con- 
 sultative function in regard to the more important part of 
 the naval business of the country. It was the opinion of 
 the naval officers who gave evidence before the Harting- 
 ton Commission that the consultative function of the 
 First Sea Lord could scarcely be divorced from any of his 
 administrative duties. 
 
 The Naval Intelligence Department includes two 
 branches, one of Foreign Intelligence, and the other of 
 Mobilization, the latter charged more especially with the 
 grave duty of preparing plans for the organization of our 
 vast and varied resources in view of hostile operations, 
 and also, upon receiving instructions from the Board, for 
 the carrying on of war with different Powers. The Depart- 
 ment, as I have said, is purely consultative, and in no 
 sense administrative. The essence of its work is officially 
 described as " preparation for war," that is to say that 
 every information necessary for the carrying on of war is 
 to be collected by it, and, through its operations, is to be 
 made rapidly accessible both to the Board and the fleet. 
 The Director of Naval Intelligence is accordingly charged 
 to furnish to each Naval Lord all necessary information 
 concerning that Lord's work or duties which the opera- 
 tions of the Intelligence Department make available. 
 
 The chief objects to be kept in view by the Director of 
 
144 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 Naval Intelligence are the gaining of an accurate know- 
 ledge of the naval' resources of foreign nations, their pre- 
 paredness for war, and their ability to carry on maritime 
 war ; the collecting of all information in a complete and 
 readily accessible form ; and the keeping commanders-in- 
 chief and other officers in command supplied with such 
 important information as the Board may consider neces- 
 sary. To this end the Director of Naval Intelligence has 
 particular instructions. He is to collect, sift, and lay 
 before the Board all information on maritime matters 
 likely to be of use in war ; he is to keep ready a complete 
 plan for mobilizing the naval forces of the Empire, and, 
 when directed, is to prepare plans for naval operations for 
 the consideration of the Board ; and he is to bring to the 
 notice of the Board all points touching " preparation for 
 war." There is, however, an express injunction that the 
 Intelligence Department is not to indicate to the Board 
 any policy unless called upon to do so. Information is 
 always to be immediately available concerning the dis- 
 tribution and condition of foreign warships in commission 
 and reserve, the distribution of fast merchant vessels, both 
 British and foreign, the resources in regard to reserve 
 personnel of foreign Powers, and the state of their coast 
 defences, the condition of our coaling stations, the state of 
 our ships of war in regard to readiness for mobilization, 
 and the number of officers and men available. 
 
 In short, the Department of Naval Intelligence is the 
 repository of all information necessary for the condact of 
 naval operations, and of knowledge indispensable as a basis 
 for adequate " preparation for war." Hence, in regard to 
 naval policy and the framing of shipbuilding programmes, 
 the Director of the Department is an officer often consulted ; 
 and he prepares alternative schemes for the manoeuvres. 
 Periodically he lays before the naval members of the Board 
 reports upon the work he is conducting and proposes to con- 
 duct, and he draws attention to deficiencies iu personnel and 
 
HYDROGRAPHER OF THE NAVY. 145 
 
 material which may affect promptness of mobilization. 
 His Department, therefore, deals with matters vitally im- 
 portant in regard to the effective value and employment 
 of the fleet. 
 
 Another important officer of the Admiralty, super- 
 vised by the First Sea Lord, is the Hydwgraplier of the 
 Na/vy, whose office dates from the year 1796. The King's 
 Hydrographer, however, was an officer of importance in 
 the days of the Stuarts, and at the present time the 
 Hydrographer at the Admiralty carries on work of the 
 very highest value to the naval service. He is the 
 scientiSo adviser of the Board on surveying matters, 
 and has charge of the scientific work which the Board 
 delegates to him. He submits such surveys as he con- 
 siders necessary to be made, and is responsible for the 
 accurate execution of them. He watches the progress of 
 foreign nations in hydrographic matters, and is the 
 adviser of the Board on all questions connected with 
 practical navigation, pilotage, and other subjects of a like 
 professional or technical character. It is his work to 
 obtain and publish information respecting navigation, and 
 to prepare for publication charts and nautical directions, 
 as well as tide tables and light lists for all parts of the 
 world ; and he supplies charts, chronometers, compasses, 
 and scientific instruments to ships. Again, he advises 
 the Board in relation to the conservancy of the royal 
 harbours, and pilotage, and the appointment of surveying 
 officers, and controls the s'cientific vote of the Navy esti- 
 mates in regard to the contingencies of observatories, and 
 the cost of preparing surveys, charts, chronometers, etc. 
 He has charge, also, of questions connected with the Royal 
 Observatories at Greenwich and the Cape of Good Hope, 
 as well as with the Nautical Almanac. The operations he 
 conducts are of the greatest utility to the merchant service. 
 
 The Director of Transports carries on the work of the 
 Transport Board, which was instituted in 1689, during 
 
 I. 
 
146 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 the struggle in Ireland, and re-constituted in the follow- 
 ing year. The Transport Commissioners were reduced in 
 1717, and abolished in 1724, but many abuses afterwards 
 prevailed, and the Commission was revived in 1794. The 
 Transport Board afterwards took up the work of the 
 Commissioners of Sick and Wounded, and, in 1806, the 
 business of the Sick and Hurt Office was transferred to it; 
 but this arrangement was done away with in 1817, when 
 the Commission was abolished, and its powers transferred 
 to the Commissioners of the Navy and of Victualling. 
 The Comptroller of Yictualling and Transport Services 
 was one of the officers who, under the reforms introduced 
 by Sir James Graham, carried on the work of the dis- 
 solved Navy and Victualling Boards. In the year 1862 
 the Victualling duties were separated from the office, and 
 the Transport duties were placed under the Director of 
 Transports. 
 
 Generally speaking, the Director of this Department is 
 responsible, under the Board, for providing conveyance for 
 troops and seamen. Navy and Army stores, and all persons 
 of the Navy and Army departments proceeding on Govern- 
 ment service, and he prepares the estimates for this service, 
 and examines all claims before payment. He is charged 
 with the control of the executive and financial duties con- 
 nected with the conveyance of troops to and from India on 
 behalf of the Secretary of State for India, and he keeps and 
 renders accounts of all receipts and expenditure connected 
 therewith. The charges on this head do not appear in the 
 Navy Estimates, although the expense of the establishment 
 for carrying out the duties does, being included in the 
 transport establishment. An important change was made 
 in the year 1869, when all the account work, which 
 formerly the Director of Transports transacted for his own 
 Department, was transferred to the Accountant-General 
 of the Navy, whereby the office of Director of Transports 
 became practically an executive office only. I have already 
 
THE DIRECTOR OF TRANSPORTS. ]47 
 
 gone, at considerable length, in preceding chapters, into 
 the question of store accounts, and therefore need not 
 enter into the matter here. In 1886, as was the case with 
 all the Store Departments, the account work was given 
 back to the Director of Transports, and it was certainly 
 very ranch better that those who knew something about 
 Transport stores should carry on 'the duties. An 
 Assistant Director of Transports was appointed in 1880, 
 when the Indian troop service was formed into a separate 
 branch. 
 
 It will be well understood that in war time the work of 
 the Transport Department must become of the very highest 
 importance, and there can be no doubt that, as at present 
 constituted, that Department would be put under very 
 considerable strain. At the commencement of the Egyp- 
 tian War the officers of the Department were working until 
 twelve o'clock at night, temporary copyists were brought 
 in, and people borrowed to help in the work. Mr. Baughan, 
 Assistant Director of Transports, told the Royal Commis- 
 sioners on Civil Establishments, in 1887, that, in the case 
 of a great war, such pressure could not be borne for any 
 length of time. I refer to this matter in order to indicate 
 the very weighty business in the duty of preparation for 
 war which rests in the hands of the Admiralty Board. The 
 Director of Transports is supervised by the Junior Sea 
 Lord. 
 
 The last of the greater Civil Departments of the 
 Admiralty of which I have to treat is that of the Director 
 of Arohitechiral and Engineering Woi-hs. It is a Depart- 
 ment of very high importance, charged with the outlay of 
 vast sums of money, when it is deemed necessary to con- 
 struct docks, fortifications, or other works on shore ; and 
 operations of repair and reconstruction are, of course, 
 always going on. The Director of Works has charge of 
 the architectural and engineering works of the service 
 ashore, and of Admiralty property and establishments, in. 
 
148 NATAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 eluding Coastguard buildings, both at home and abroad, 
 except in London. He advises the Board concerning 
 all new works, and the alteration and repair of existing 
 buildings, and is responsible for the proper design and 
 execution of any works decided upon, and for the purchase 
 of the necessary materials. In this respect, his department 
 is excepted from the rule which brings the duty of pur- 
 chase into the hands of the Director of Navy Contracts. 
 As in the case of contract-built ships, it is thought well 
 that the Director of Works should be the purchaser of his 
 own materials, and, considering that he is the officer who 
 understands the work in hand, and is responsible for the 
 proper execution of it, this disposition seems wise. In 
 addition to the purchase of stores, the Director of Works is 
 the adviser of the Board on all questions relating to the 
 purchase and disposal of property. He prepares the 
 estimates and rules the expenditure for the work to be 
 carried out by his Department (Vote 10), except as 
 regards the salaries and allowances of the officers superin- 
 tending -works in progress, which are furnished by the 
 Accountant- General ; and the vote as a whole is referred 
 for the concurrence of the Controller of the Navy. 
 
 The duties that devolve upon the Director of Works are 
 very varied in character. It may fall to him to take 
 charge of the repairs to a Coastguard station on the coast 
 of Ireland, the extension of a mole, or the formation of 
 a dock, at Malta or Gibraltar, the erection of a store-house 
 at Bermuda, or the building of a breakwater at Jamaica or 
 Singapore. If a dock is to be constructed, the Controller 
 of the Navy, being responsible for the ships built and 
 proposed, is asked to say what is the largest vessel that 
 the dock should be fitted to receive. This information 
 being supplied, the Director of Works makes a sketch of 
 the dock, designed to accommodate the ship indicated, 
 with the further assumption that the ship has been struck 
 or waterlogged, and has an added draught of water. The 
 
THE DIRECTOR OF WORKS. 149 
 
 Controller will probably make suggestions in regard to the 
 design; and, the general character of the dock being agreed 
 upon, and every officer whose opinion upon the matter is 
 desirable having been consulted, the rough plans are 
 finished. These are sent out to the station abroad where 
 the dock is to be constructed, and the officers there who 
 are to use it, examine the details of them, as for instance 
 of the timber-slides and steps ; and, when the report they 
 make reaches the Admiralty, it is again submitted to 
 the Controller, and the finished designs are completed. 
 
 All work of importance is conducted by means of con- 
 tract, the contractors being taken from a selected list, 
 and being generally invited privately, and not by public 
 advertisement. Very great importance is attached to the 
 matter of tenders, and to the manner in which these are 
 dealt with, and many precautions have been instituted to 
 prevent abuse. In regard to minor repairs, as, for 
 example, at Coastguard stations, tenders are procured 
 from builders in the neighbourhood, and the lowest tender 
 is generally accepted, unless evidence of collusion should 
 have been discovered. In regard to new Coastguard 
 stations, however, public advertisement is resorted to. 
 
 Mr. Forwood's committee, in 1887, recommended that 
 so far as was possible, the purchases and contracts in 
 the Department of the Director of Works, like those for 
 the hulls and machinery of ships, should be placed under 
 the Director of Navy Contracts, to be carried out on the 
 general basis of the purchase scheme approved in July, 
 1883. This, however, was not done, and it is now gene- 
 rally admitted, that it is best the purchase of stores of the 
 reqaired nature should rest, under proper check, with 
 the officer who is best acquainted with them, and under 
 whose authority they are used. 
 
 It remains now, of the smaller Civil Departments of the 
 Admiralty, to refer only to the Director of Greenwich 
 Hospital, Much that is very interesting might be written 
 
150 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 about the history of this establishment, and I would gladly 
 have entered at length into an account of it, but its work 
 can occupy but a small space in a volume upon naval 
 administration. It is, nevertheless, a very important duty 
 that is carried on. The Director deals with all matters 
 relating to the administration of the Hospital estates, 
 revenues, and school, submitting such questions to the 
 Civil Lord or Council as may be necessary. He reports 
 and advises as to the property in the North, in Greenwich, 
 and in the Isle of Dogs, which he visits when necessary. 
 With him, too, rests the inspection of the collections of 
 works of art, relics, plate, etc., in the Painted Hall and 
 elsewhere at Greenwich Hospital, and he reports to the 
 Board upon any matter that may seem to him to need 
 attention. Lastly, he deals with the applications of 
 widows of seamen and marines, and others, slain, or 
 drowned in the service of the Crown, for pensions out of 
 Greenwich Hospital funds, as well as with, the question of 
 allowances for their children, and with claims for gra- 
 tuities to parents and other relatives of seamen and 
 marines, consulting with the Civil Branch of the Secretary's 
 Department when necessary in relation to this matter. 
 
 The building at Greenwich consists of four blocks, from 
 designs by Sir Christopher Wren, named respectively after 
 Charles II., Anne, William III., and Mary. It was the 
 last-named queen who conceived the idea of converting 
 Greenwich into a refuge for aged and disabled seamen, 
 but the real origin goes back to the institution of the Chat- 
 ham "Chest" by Drake and Hawkins. In 1716 the for- 
 feited estates of Lord Derwentwater were added to the 
 foundation. Greenwich was abolished as a hospital in 
 1869, and became an educational establishment for the 
 Navy, with beneficial results, in 1872. 
 
Jamks II., Loiui Rw.n Ah.mik.m. 
 
 AFTKU 0. KNELLER. 
 
Missing Page 
 
Missing Page 
 
Part III. 
 
 THE WORKING OF THE ADMIRALTY 
 MACHINE. 
 
 CHAPTER T. 
 
 GENERAL CONSIDBEATIONS AND OFFICIAL PEOCBDDEB. 
 
 I HAVE now reached wliat is in some respects the most 
 difficult part of my task. It is to show, as far as is pos- 
 sible, the working of the Admiralty " machine " which I 
 have described, I have not entered into questions of 
 administrative wisdom, nor the sound or ill policy of suc- 
 cessive Admiralty administrations. There has been laid 
 before the reader an account of Departments carefully 
 organized to conduct a business of great complexity and 
 of far-reaching importance to the country. In the work 
 of these Departments errors have undoubtedly from time 
 to time been made, but, on the whole, it must be admitted 
 that they have acquitted themselves well, and have enabled 
 the Admiralty Board to provide us with the greatest, and, 
 as I believe, the cheapest Navy in the world. Our ships 
 are the patterns which many foreign nations have copied ; 
 they are admirable both in character of design and in 
 excellence of work, and they are constructed with a rapidity 
 that is the wonder and envy of our rivals. In the opera- 
 tions of the Admiralty system, in the working of its 
 "machinery," much must necessarily depend upon in- 
 
156 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 As I explained, there is no real separation of the duties of 
 the Lords of the Admiralty. They ar& not heads of de- 
 partments rigidly defined, and the operations they super- 
 intend are closely inter-related. Those who have written 
 in disparagement of the Admiralty Board seem to me to 
 have failed to understand what are its distinguishing 
 merits. Yet the Royal Commission on Civil Establish- 
 ments in 1887 reported that the constitution of the Board 
 of Admiralty appeared to be well designed, and to be 
 placed on a satisfactory footing. The advantage of the 
 frequent personal contact of the First Lord with his chief 
 advisers was pointed out, and it was urged by the Com- 
 missioners that such personal communication should be 
 encouraged as far as possible throughout all departments, 
 the advantages of it having boen demonstrated. " It 
 tends," says the report, " to a proper understanding 
 between the head and its subordinates. It fosters personal 
 responsibility, and it leads to the simplification of work, 
 and the reduction of unnecessary correspondence." The 
 Hartington Commission took generally a similar view. 
 
 This remark of the Royal Commissioners of 1887 points 
 to a large advantage which is possessed by the Board of 
 Admiralty. Matters which come before it are discussed 
 between the members of the Board, and although the 
 several Lords no longer reside, as in former times, at or 
 near the Admiralty itself — a condition which might again 
 become necessary in war time — the principle of personal 
 intercommunication is consistently maintained. I shall 
 not be wrong if I say at this point, that this very feature 
 of the Admiralty Board, combined with the anomaly which 
 exists in the disparity between the Patent and the Orders 
 in Council under which it is administered, is at the root of 
 a great deal of the criticism which has been directed at 
 the Admiralty. 
 
 I believe that another great advantage arising from the 
 Admiralty system is often overlooked. Though far from 
 
GENERAL CONSIBERATIONS AND PROCEDURE. 157 
 
 saying that the Board is always so closely in touch with 
 feeling in the service as is desirable, I maintain that the 
 happy blending of administrative and consultative duties 
 tends greatly to foster the necessary inter-relation. In 
 connection with this matter Mr. (now Sir Henry) Campbell- 
 Bannerman, in his addendum to the " Further Report " of 
 the Hartington Commission on the internal administration 
 of the War Office, spoke words pregnant with truth. " At 
 the Board of Admiralty," he said, " which I regard as 
 being, in this respect, a model to be copied, the First 
 Naval Lord is not divorced from executive duty. On the 
 contrary, his duties keep him in constant contact with all 
 branches of the naval service, and if he enjoys a certain 
 primacy among naval members of the Board, it is quite 
 as much on account of the importance of his executive 
 responsibility as because of any particular function he 
 fulfils as special adviser of the First Lord." 
 
 I have adverted, in a previous chapter, to the extreme 
 elasticity which is possible under the Admiralty system, 
 and before I go any further, it may be well to recount an 
 incident which I very vividly remember. I was dining 
 with the Lords of the Admiralty on board the Admiralty 
 yacht at one of our ports, when, during dinner, an unusual 
 incident occurred, of considerable importance, which seemed 
 to call for immediate action. The First Sea Lord, recog- 
 nizing the situation, after consultation with the First Lord, 
 called upon the Secretary, and the three, retiring to an 
 inner cabin, formed a Board on the spot; and, coming to 
 au immediate decision, directed the Secretary to address 
 an instruction upon the matter. The very fact that weighty 
 business may be conducted upon such a flexible system 
 renders that system all the more difficult to describe. 
 Before the changes introduced by Mr. Childers, unim- 
 portant business was dismissed by the several Lords 
 through the Secretary. All important business, however, 
 was brought before the Board itself; the documents relating 
 
158 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 to it were read, the opinions of the members were taken 
 down, and a decision being arrived at, the Board stamp 
 was afBxed, and thereafter a letter went ont in the name 
 of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, signed by 
 the Secretary. The Board, in short, was then a deciding 
 and determining body. I have already shown that with 
 the changes of Mr. Childers the importance of the Board 
 meeting declined, and some went even so far as to think 
 that it had lost its value. The system which then came 
 into force was that papers were brought before the several 
 Lords whose departments were specially concerned. The 
 Lords then made their separate minutes and communicated 
 with one another and with the First Lord, and, when a 
 decision had been practically arrived at, it was, in the vast 
 majority of cases, acted upon at once, and was afterwards 
 ratified with the Board stamp. 
 
 Since that time the meetings of the Board have assumed 
 greater importance. A large proportion of the business of 
 the Admiralty is, it is true, conducted outside the Board, 
 but the periodical meetings for discussion and the expres- 
 sion of opinion have a high value, and a very necessary 
 function. The work conducted is both administrative and 
 consultative. In regard to the administrative duties, each 
 Lord, as we have seen, has a certain portion allotted to him, 
 and for the eflScient performance of those duties he is held 
 responsible, so long as his views are not vetoed by the First 
 Lord. His responsibility, however, would necessarily end, 
 if — as has happened — decisions were come to on subjects 
 affecting his Department without pains being taken to 
 inform him thereof. Li consultative duties, all questions 
 brought before the Board are thoroughly considered and 
 threshed out, but the First Lord has necessarily the final 
 decision, his responsibility being that of a Cabinet Jlinister. 
 The Board meetings are usually held once a week, and the 
 most important matters brought up for consideration and 
 decision are the Navy Estimates, designs for new ships, or 
 
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS AND PROCEDURE. 159 
 
 any alterations in those which have already been designed, 
 changes in general regulations, dismissals or discharges of 
 Naval officers, and other matters connected wilh discipline, 
 the Orders in Council, all general orders, circulars, and other 
 principal orders of a legislative character, with any other 
 consultative business that may be brought forward by the 
 direction of the First Lord. 'No paper is laid before the 
 Board except with the First Lord's approval, and a schedule 
 is prepared beforehand of the matters to be brought up at 
 the Board for the information of the members. Ship- 
 building boards are specially called together by the First 
 Lord ; and the Assistant-Controller and Director of Naval 
 Construction, the Director of Naval Ordnance, and the 
 Engineer-in- Chief attend as required. Decisions arrived 
 at by the Board, with the more important minutes of the 
 several Lords, are printed daily in a compact form, which 
 is sent to the members and the heads of Departments, and 
 the papers themselves are marked, after the execution of 
 the minutes, to any other Department which may be 
 affected by the decision given. 
 
 Correspondence received at the Admiralty, after being 
 registered, is marked for the Lords or Departments to which 
 it is properly referred. As a general rule the papers are 
 marked to the members of the Board in order of seniority, 
 beginning with the junior. They are passed through 
 all necessary channels, sent up with such illustrative pre- 
 cedents or references as are necessary, and, being minuted 
 by the several Lords through whose hands they pass, and 
 a decision being arrived at, either by the responsible Lord 
 or by the Board itself, they are placed, after action has 
 been taken upon them, in the Record OflBce of the Admi- 
 ralty. No better system of record and reference could 
 exist than that which prevails at the Admiralty. The 
 papers are arranged in the most convenient form, docketed 
 with cross references, and are made accessible, either as 
 single papers, or as whole series referring to a particular 
 
160 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 subject, by voluminous minute books, kept upon a most 
 admirable system. Through the machinery of the Record 
 Office, any information lying in the huge bulk of the 
 Admiralty papers is almost immediately accessible ; and 
 how great is that bulk will be seen when I say that docu- 
 ments covering a period of forty years, which were recently 
 transferred to the Public Record Office, weighed something 
 like one hundred and fifty tons. 
 
-V -Si 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE NAVY ESTIMATES AND THE SHIPBUILDING PEOGEAMME. 
 
 The foregoing general explanation of the methods of 
 Admiralty business — of Board meetings, the personal in- 
 tercommunication between the several Lords, the trans- 
 mission of papers, and the record of affairs transacted, with 
 other like matters, will, I hope, be useful and interesting. 
 There is, however, much else of importance which I have 
 set before myself to explain. I propose now to show, as 
 far as is possible, within the space at my disposal, how the 
 Admiralty Board conducts that great business which is 
 committed to its charge. I cannot do better than say 
 here what I said in the first chapter of this volume, that 
 our naval administration exists for the constitution, main- 
 tenance, and disposition of the fleet in its material and 
 personal elements, that ib is the organizing force which, 
 under the Cabinet, shapes and directs our maritime policy 
 for safeguarding the interests of the Empire. I may here 
 allude incidentally to a fact of which I think few are 
 aware. It is that, of all the great departments of State 
 with which the Admiralty is brought into communication, 
 it usually — save in the event of combined naval and mili- 
 tary operations — has least concern with the War Office. 
 Outside the sphere of purely naval occupations I estimate 
 the proportion of work done by the Navy for other Depart- 
 ments as follows: the Foreign Office, one half, and the 
 Colonial Office, one quarter ; the remaining quarter being 
 divided in the proportion of one-tenth each to the India 
 
164 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 Office and the Board of Trade, one-twentieth only of the 
 whole falling to the "War Office. 
 
 I have dealt so extensively with the question of respon- 
 sibility that I shall advert to it only incidentally here. 
 The First Lord is, and must be, responsible for the Admi- 
 ralty business and the conduct of our naval affairs, as a 
 Cabinet Minister at the head of the nava.1 administration. 
 It was stated in the report of the Hartington Commission 
 that the constitution of the Department possesses more the 
 character of a Council with its supreme and responsible 
 head than of an Administrative Board. " The Minister is 
 the sole person who should be held responsible by Parlia- 
 ment and the public, and the responsibility of the members 
 of his Council, both for administration and advice, should 
 be directed to him. On the First Lord alone should rest 
 the responsibility of deciding on the provision to be made 
 for the naval requirements of the Empire, and the exist- 
 ence of a Council should be held in no degree to diminish 
 that responsibility." 
 
 The consideration of these naval requirements is, in 
 fact, the corner-stone of the whole matter. Upon it the 
 Navy Estimates are based ; without it those Estimates 
 would be meaningless. But this consideration involves 
 another. Our fleet is not a new creation inspired by the 
 needs of a single year. It has expanded under expand- 
 ing conditions. Hence the Navy Estimates must be largely 
 based upon those of previous years. They are, in fact, 
 those Estimates modified by the new conditions which have 
 arisen. 
 
 But there is another modifying circumstance, in a cer- 
 tain sense of larger significance. It is not necessary to 
 disguise the fact that the first step that is taken in 
 preparing the Navy Estimates is to place them upon a 
 financial basis. This, said the Commission of 1888, is the 
 first step which governs the whole proceeding, namely, 
 the amount of money to be spent. Under a constitutional 
 
NAVY ESTIMATES AND SHIPBUILDING PROGRAMME. 165 
 
 system of government snch as our own, this condition 
 cannot but exist. The ultimate responsibility rests with 
 the Cabinet. The policy of the Government, its relations 
 with other countries, the character of its interests, and 
 any new duties or responsibilities it may assume, together 
 with the ability of the taxpayers to furnish sufficiently 
 large supplies, are all matters that enter largely into pre- 
 liminary discussion upon the Navy Estimates. It is for the 
 Government, having heard the counsel of its naval adviserg, 
 to bear the responsibility for the sufficiency of national 
 defence. " The estimates and the strength of the Navy," 
 said Rear- Admiral Hotham before the Select Committee, 
 " are matters for the Cabinet to determine." " Expense," 
 said Sir Anthony Hoskins, ■'' governs everything." This 
 last was, of course, an axiom of practical expediency. 
 
 Now, apart from the expansion of empire, which should 
 necessarily impress upon the Cabinet the need of larger 
 defensive means, the chief condition modifying the Navy 
 Estimates is the naval progress of foreign countries. It 
 has been tacitly accepted as a basis — I need not here stop 
 to inquire whether a fully sufficient one — ^for the increase 
 of our fleet, that it shall be equal in strength to that of 
 the two Powers next strongest. As Sir Anthony Hoskins 
 said, before the Select Committee on the Navy Estimates, 
 1888, so many considerations enter into the calculation of 
 our naval sufficiency with reference to the nations with 
 which we may be at war, the means they may develop, 
 and the form our warfare may take, that it is not possible 
 to lay down any very definite rule. But whether this 
 ratio, or any other, be accepted, it must always rule onv 
 shipbuilding programme, and with it nearly every vote in 
 the Estimates. It is here that the Naval Intelligence 
 Department comes into play, the accurate information it 
 has amassed being at the disposal of the First Lord and the 
 Board as a needful factor in the estimation of our naval 
 requirements. 
 
166 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 It is certainly within tlie province of the First Sea 
 Lord to initiate suggestions to the First Lord as to the 
 shipbuilding programme of the coming year. Sir Arthur 
 Hood (Lord Hood of Avalon) has stated that when he 
 was First Sea Lord, he considered it his duty to consult 
 with the Controller on the subject of the shipbuilding 
 programme, and that it was their work in conjunction to 
 put forward proposals which would meet the reqairements 
 of the coming twelvemonths. That scheme, he said, 
 would go before the Board, and would be thoroughly con- 
 sidered, and the Board would either approve or disap- 
 prove, as it judged best. But Admiral Hood did not dis- 
 guise the fact that financial considerations must weigh 
 largely. " We know from years past what sums can be 
 allowed, and it is no use our recommending to baild a 
 large number of vessels which we know cannot be allotted 
 by the Government and by Parliament, and we take the 
 whole question into consideration on this basis." If 
 any of the naval members of the Board should be 
 discontented with the extent of the shipbuilding pro- 
 gramme which they are allowed to put in hand, there 
 remains to them the remedy of protest or resignation. 
 The resignation of the naval members of the Admiralty 
 Board would be a serious blow to any government, and the 
 possibility of such an occurrence has sometimes operated 
 favourably for the naval interests of the country. But, in 
 practice, an individual member of the Board may not always 
 feel justified in resignation. He may think it better for 
 the interests of the country to carry on his work unbroken, 
 than to emphasize his protest by a resignation which 
 would not in any degree advance his views. In a general 
 way, therefore, I may say, in the language of Admiral 
 Hood, that the First Sea Lord and his colleagues endea- 
 vour to meet the requirements of the Service in the 
 best way with the money which they know will be allowed 
 by the Government. The Board, in short, works for the 
 
NAVY ESTIMATES AND SHIPBUILDING PROGRAMME. 167 
 
 interests of the country, and it must necessarily work 
 with, the tools which are placed in its hands ; but it is, of 
 course, known, from the spasmodic manner in which our 
 shipbuilding progress has been made, that the financial 
 policy of the government has not always permitted steady 
 advance in naval affairs. At the same time, it was in 
 evidence before the Select Committee of 1888, that no 
 complete scheme, showing what were the naval require- 
 ments of the country, had been laid before the Board, 
 apart from the financial limits laid down by the Cabinet, at 
 any time within the knowledge of those most conversant 
 with Admiralty afiairs. 
 
 Here, of course, in regard to responsibility, a very large 
 question might be opened up. The Board may be guided 
 by what it believes to be the naval needs of the Empire, 
 or it may be guided by considerations that are purely 
 financial. There is an antithesis between the two condi- 
 tions, and it must rest within the discretion of the several 
 members of the Board how far they will be guided by two 
 things that are in their essentials totally different. Nor 
 is it easy to see what responsibility could rest upon the 
 Board if disaster occurred through the want of ships 
 which had been denied to the Admiralty by the financial 
 policy of the Government. But I must say again that the 
 final responsibility rests largely with the First Lord. 
 Like the members of the Board, he too, as a member of 
 the Cabinet, has the remedy of resignation if overruled by 
 his colleagues in what he believes the vital interest of the 
 country ; but, like them again, he may consider it wiser 
 to do the best that is permitted to him, than to endanger 
 the Cabinet of which ho is a member. Lord George 
 Hamilton, First Lord in 1888, told the Select Committee 
 on the Navy Estimates that, if it were represented to him 
 by his colleagues that a certain expenditure was indispen- 
 sable for the efficiency of the Service, he would recognize 
 that all financial considerations should be pat on one side. 
 
168 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 " This," said the Oommissioners, "is, in fact, the common- 
 sense view of the matter, and it is difficult to see on what 
 other footing the control of the Navy expenditure, consis- 
 tently with responsibility to Parliament, could be placed. 
 But your Committee are of opinion that the responsibility 
 of the Board of Admiralty and the Government respec- 
 tively would be more clearly defined and accentuated if 
 the wants of the country were carefully considered, and a 
 programme drawn up and submitted by the First Lord on 
 behalf of the Board to the Cabinet, before any decision is 
 taken as to the amount of money to be spent during the 
 year." 
 
 I cannot do better than cite, as a general illustration of 
 the methods of procedure in regard to the Navy Estimates, 
 the account given by Lord George Hamilton of the course 
 taken in regard to the Estimates and shipbuilding pro- 
 gramme of 1888. I do so because it is an excellent illus- 
 tration of the manner in which the Navy Estimates are 
 prepared, and because it was given by a First Lord who 
 took a very large part in the constitution of the fleet 
 which we now possess. He said that in June, 1887, the 
 Director of Dockyards made a report to the Controller, 
 showing the amount of labour which would be required 
 during the forthcoming year to complete the work in 
 hand, relating to ships ordered to be built, or under 
 repair. The expenditure of the previous year was the 
 basis of h's consideration, and the calculation of the 
 amount of labour which would be absorbed by existing 
 work, enabled the Director of Dockyards to estimate the 
 margin that would be available for new shipbuilding opera- 
 tions. Another report to the Controller was furnished by 
 the Director of Naval Construction, dealing both with the 
 expenditure in the dockyards and upon contract-built 
 ships ; and that report was also made upon a financial 
 basis. We read that the Director of Naval Construction 
 presented on this occasion a list of the ships he proposed 
 
NAVY ESTIMATES AND SHIPBUILDING PROGRAMME.. 169 
 
 to lay down, witli a further list of the constructions he 
 projected for the next four years. The First Lord, having 
 weighed these reports, discussed them with the Controller 
 and the First Sea Lord, and asked them to draw out a 
 programme which, in their judgment, was best adapted 
 to the wants of the Navy, for he was not certain that 
 either would acquiesce in the recommendations of the 
 Director of Naval Construction. Sir Arthur Hood has said 
 that the discussion between the First Sea Lord and the 
 Controller is the most important step in the whole 
 matter. 
 
 These officers considered the question put to them, and 
 proposed an alternative programme, which was laid before 
 the Board, accompanied by illustrative documents. All 
 the papers relating to the proposals of the Director of 
 Naval Construction were circulated among the individual 
 members of the Board, and the alternative proposals put 
 forward also went before the Board, so that every member 
 had the best opportunity of being acquainted with the 
 whole question in all its aspects, even before the Board 
 met to discuss it, and several meetings took place before a 
 final decision was arrived at. " It is absolutely necessary," 
 said the First Lord, " to fix the shipbuilding programme 
 on a financial basis, if proper arrangements are to be 
 made for the employment and distribution of the labour 
 in the dockyards, and the purchase of stores in time. By 
 no other process could the officers who have to purchase 
 these stores receive information in time, so as to enable 
 them to get the full value of competition in the open 
 market." At the same time. Lord George Hamilton told 
 the Committee that the decision of the Government as to 
 the amount of money to be provided in the Estimates had 
 been taken before the shipbuilding programme was pre- 
 pared, though he did not regard that decision as irre- 
 vocable. The meaning of placing the Estimates upon a 
 financial basis is that the officers are directed to prepare 
 
170 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 them on the expenditure of the preceding year. The 
 Select Committee, which heard this and mnch other evidence 
 on the question, was content with the procedure in this 
 matter. It expressed the opinion that the decision upon 
 this most important question, according to the financial 
 basis originally laid down, had been arrived at with the 
 fullest knowledge, with great care and deliberation, and 
 in such a way as to bring to bear upon it the experience 
 and capacity of all the members of the Board who were 
 concerned. The formulation of shipbuilding programmes, 
 in relation alike to the replacing of ships that become 
 obsolete, and to the provision of continuous work in the 
 dockyards, does not, of course, depend upon the necessities 
 merely of the forthcoming year. It looks further into the 
 future, and takes account of years yet to come. The 
 Naval Defence Act of 1889 did much to conduce to a 
 continuous naval policy, and the programme afterwards 
 adopted by Lord Spencer, though its full details were 
 not announced, had reference to an extended period. 
 
 I have now made clear the methods of Admiralty 
 administration in regard to the formulation of the Navy 
 Estimates and the shipbuilding programme. We may 
 see how the Naval Lords, co-operating with the Civil 
 Departments under their superintendence- — -the Director 
 of Naval Construction, the Bngineer-in-Chief, the Director 
 of Naval Ordnance, the Directors of Dockyards, Vic- 
 tualling, and Stores, and, I may add, the Director of 
 Naval Intelligence — deal with the larger aspects of the 
 colossal business in their charge. 
 
 Another very important and related matter which comes 
 before the Board is the selection of types and classes of 
 vessels. Generally speaking, the idea of the ship to be 
 constructed will be thrown out by the naval members of 
 the Board, and the Controller will direct the Chief Con- 
 structor to prepare the designs. When these have been 
 prepared, the Controller and the First Sea Lord will 
 
NAVY ESTIMATES AND SHIPBUILDING PROGRAMME. 171 
 
 express their views upon them, as to whether they fulfil 
 the requirements of protection, armament, ooal-endnrance, 
 and general fighting efficiency. The design, so far, is in 
 the nature of a sketch, and as such, with the remarks of 
 the two Lords indicated, it goes before the Board, accom- 
 panied by a full consideration and explanation of the 
 details. The Board will then generally criticise the de- 
 sign upon various points, and, if it should be approved 
 in its general character, it will be dealt with by the 
 Director of Naval Construction, and will again go before 
 the naval members of the Board, all the facts being circu- 
 lated among the members, and not until the whole Board 
 approve of the design can that ship be built or ordered. 
 And again, when the ship has been put in hand, no 
 changes can be introduced into her, either by the de- 
 signer or the constructors, without the express sanction of 
 the Board. I have so thoroughly dealt in the last part 
 of this book with the duties of the Director of Naval 
 Construction, and of his associated officers of the Con- 
 troller's Department, in relation to the work of ship- 
 building and ship-designing, that I need not here enter 
 into it further. Suffice it to say that the system is of a 
 closely-jointed character, and that the chain of respon- 
 sibility is maintained in regard to the character of all 
 new ships. 
 
 Just as the Admiralty Board considers the shipbuilding 
 programme and the types of vessels — and I may add, 
 other vital matters in its charge, such as shore works, 
 docks, fortifications, and the preparation of offensive and 
 defensive plans of warfare in view of possible operations — 
 so does it consider the wants of the Service in regard to 
 the personnel. For ships building officers and men must 
 be provided, and ships in commission must have companies, 
 so that Vote A of the Navy Estimates, which is concerned 
 with "Numbets," is very closely related to the ship- 
 building programme, and to the distribution of the fleet 
 
172 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 decided upon by the First Sea Lord. As I have ex- 
 plained, the work of manning is committed to the Second 
 Sea Lord. 
 
 It is easy to see that Vote A will largely rule the pre- 
 paration of other votes. Vote 1, for wages of officers, 
 seamen, and boys. Coastguard and Royal Marines, is, in 
 fact, based upon it. The Victualling and Clothing vote, 
 too, depends very largely upon it. In preparing his 
 estimate, the Director of Victualling takes into considera- 
 tion the maintenance of the reserve stocks at the various 
 victualling yards, calculated upon the vote for men, which 
 is necessarily at the foundation of his estimate. He has to 
 take into account the reserve stores, and the quantities 
 that will be consumed. This matter I dealt with at some 
 length in the chapter upon his Department. The sections 
 of Vote 8, too, for shipbuilding, repairs, maintenance, etc., 
 depend almost wholly upon the shipbuilding programme, 
 and the refitting and reconstructive work going forward. 
 The Director of Stores, for example, prepares his estimate 
 on the information received from each yard as to the 
 quantities in stock, the average expenditure in issues of 
 past years, and the probable expenditure in the ensuing 
 year, not only of principal articles, but of every individual 
 article of all the numerous varieties in use. The pro- 
 fessional officers of the Dockyards estimate the quantities 
 necessary to meet requirements — having before them a 
 preliminary outline of the work to be done daring the 
 ensuing year in repairs and in advancing or completing 
 ships — and the number of men to be employed, having 
 regard also to the average consumption in the previous 
 year, I will not go any further into the details of this 
 matter. The executive heads of the Civil Departments, 
 having before them the general lines of the policy adopted 
 by the Board, frame the several estimates of the votes 
 which are committed to them, after a minute and careful 
 consideration of all the conditions likely to affect the needs 
 
NAVY ESTIMATES AND SHIPBUILDING PROGRAMME. 173 
 
 of the year. In the appendix will be found a statement 
 of the votes, and of the officers by whom they are pre- 
 pared, which will make the matter sufficiently clear. 
 
 The Estimates having been prepared in the manner I 
 have suggested, and in relation to the instructions of the 
 Board, are discussed at Board meetings before being 
 finally approved. Every member of the Board is furnished 
 with the Estimates in due time, so that he may consider 
 and confer in relation to them before the Board meets for 
 discussion. The heads of Departments are then called 
 upon to explain the votes with which they are con- 
 cerned. The Accountant-General, who holds a consider- 
 able office in regard to the final shaping of the Estimates, 
 as regards the financial basis of them, is instructed to be 
 present at the Board meeting at which the votes receive 
 final approval. It is provided that this arrangement 
 shall not in any way interfere with the heads of Depart- 
 ments bringing before the Board any question that may 
 arise in the preparation of the votes which the Depart- 
 ments control ; but the Board requires the concurrence of 
 the Accountant-General to each vote before it is approved. 
 Necessarily, as a financial officer, the Accountant-General 
 is concerned with the financial character of the Estimates, 
 which, as we have seen, has an important relation. It 
 does not, however, call for weighty deliberation on his 
 part, his function being to give final shape to the votes 
 which have been prepared. While I am referring to the 
 Accountant-General, I will touch incidentally upon a 
 special matter concerning the money voted. It is pro- 
 vided that, before any such money can be applied to any 
 purpose other than that for which it was voted, that 
 officer's consent is necessary. This does not seem to me 
 a sufficient guarantee. It has happened before now, for 
 example, that money voted for ammunition has been other- 
 wise spent, and that ships considered desirable to be 
 commissioned have been found destitute of special kinds 
 
174 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 of ammvinition. Here a danger suggests itself, but if the 
 re-allooations of money voted were a Board matter there 
 would be a stronger guarantee against its recurrence. 
 
 I have now explained, in a general manner, how the work 
 of the Board is conducted, year by year, in view of the 
 provision of money. The first step in the work of the 
 Board is to procure from Parliament the " sinews of war," 
 and, having obtained the necessary supplies, to see that 
 they are expended well. It remains for me, therefore, in 
 the next chapter, to show, in a general manner, how the 
 money provided is laid out. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE SPENDING OP THE MOKET. 
 
 The Civil, or executive and spending, Departments of the^ 
 Admiralty are held responsible for the administration of 
 the votes they compile. It is their duty to see that the 
 money is well expended, and that the expenditure is in 
 relation to the estimate that has been made. In the work 
 of closely watching the outlay of money, the spending 
 Departments are therefore largely occupied, and the work 
 of reporting is continually going on. The Director of 
 Stores, for example — and the remark applies to all store- 
 keeping departments- — is directed to keep himself ac- 
 quainted with the expenditure of the money voted for the 
 purchase of naval stores, in order to guard against any 
 deficit on the vote, and to secure that, if the expenditure 
 is likely to fall short of, or to exceed, the amount allowed, 
 the Board shall have timely notice thereof; and the Ac- 
 countant- General is to be kept informed of the matter. 
 The Board has laid down express regulations to secure 
 financial order and control as regards liabilities and 
 expenditure. 
 
 In regard to this matter the Accountant-General is 
 largely concerned. He is directed to assist the spending 
 Departments in their duty of watching closely the progress 
 of their liabilities and disbursements. To this end he 
 famishes them with all information that is necessary for 
 securing an efficient control over the expenditure under 
 their votes, and frequent reports at stated periods are made 
 to them for this purpose. 
 
176 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 It is not necessary for me to deal with the administra- 
 tion of certain of the naval votes. The whole of the vast 
 business connected with the expending of money on the 
 personnel of the Navy and the non-eflFective services, 
 transacted in the Accountant-General's Department, calls 
 for little comment. A special section of the Department, 
 the Navy Pay Branch, is devoted to the work, and con- 
 ducts the details of the business relating to the pay, 
 wages, and salaries of the fleet and the establishments 
 ashore. It is a duty of equal complexity and magnitude, 
 but is conducted with the utmost ease, and with mechanical 
 regularity and smoothness. 
 
 It is by the shipbuilding votes that the larger machinery 
 of the Admiralty is set in motion. The executive Depart- 
 ments, as I have said, do not, save in regard to the hulls 
 and machinery of ships built by contract, and the special 
 requirements of the Director of Works, enter upon the pur- 
 chase of stores. With the exceptions indicated, the whole 
 of this work is carried out by the Director of Navy 
 Contracts. 
 
 "Within the Controller's Department are centred many 
 of the more important spending branches. I showed, in 
 an earlier chapter, how proposals for ships to be built, 
 initiated in that Department or directed by the Board, are 
 given efiiect to through the machinery at the Controller's 
 disposal. I explained how the Director of Naval Construc- 
 tion, working in conference with the Engineer-in-Chief, 
 and the Director of Naval Ordnance, as well as with the 
 advice of the Assistant Director of Torpedoes, proceeds to 
 his work. The reader has seen how sketch designs are 
 prepared, embodying the requirements of the Board, 
 how they are discussed, worked upon at the ports, and 
 finally completed in preparation for the practical work 
 involved. 
 
 But, while the work of designing has been going for- 
 ward, the Director of Stores, the Director of Dockyards, 
 
THE SPENDING OF THE MONEY. 177 
 
 and other oiScials who are concerned in the building 
 of ships, have made full preparation for the work. I 
 have at present only dockyard-built ships in view. Vast 
 quantities of stores of almost every imaginable kind 
 are built up into ships. Steel, iron, timber, hemp, manu- 
 factured articles, castings, forgings, armour-plate, ma- 
 chinery, guns — all these are brought together for the con- 
 struction of a single vessel. The reader has been informed 
 what course is taken in regard to the provision of naval 
 ordnance. The propelling machinery of dockyard-bailt 
 ships is excepted from the work of the Director of Contracts, 
 but for all else the Director of Stores is responsible. In 
 regard to the materials and stores necessary for the con- 
 struction and outfit of new vessels, as well as for repairs, 
 of which the annual supply is regulated by prospective 
 demands, the Director of this Department takes steps 
 to obtain most accurate information as to the requirements 
 under the shipbuilding programme, ship by ship, so 
 as to avoid an accumulation of excess stocks for ship- 
 building purposes. 
 
 But the Director of Stores, is not, as we have seen, 
 a purchasing officer. He forwards to the Director of 
 Navy Contracts requisitions for the purchase of all naval 
 stores necessary for the Service. The Director of Navy 
 Contracts is supplied at the same time with full par- 
 ticulars and specifications ; and by one of the methods 
 which I indicated in the chapter devoted to his Depart- 
 ment, he proceeds to his work of purchase. In many 
 matters he makes his purchases from the selected firms. 
 In regard to some special requirements he may buy direct 
 from firms of established repute ; for others, and perhaps 
 more specially for the requirements of the Victualling 
 Department, he may purchase in the open market. The 
 procedure is different when propelling machinery is 
 bought, as I shall show below. For ships built in the 
 dockyards the machinery is usually procured by contract, 
 
178 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 but in some oases it has been constructed with advantage 
 in the public establishments. 
 
 It may be instructive if I illustrate how far-spreading 
 is the mesh of shipbuilding work under the Admiralty 
 over the industries of the country. In the case of the 
 Benown, built at Pembroke, the contract for the pro- 
 pelling and auxiliary machinery was placed in the hands 
 of an eminent firm of contractors, Messrs. Maadslay, Sons, 
 and Field. The propelling machinery, boilers, and some 
 other parts were manufactured by this firm, but the steer- 
 ing engines, the electric light dynamos, the evaporators 
 and distilling condensers, the hydraulic machinery, the 
 boat hoists, and the indicators were provided by sub-con- 
 tractors in various parts of the country. The same was 
 the case with the crank-shafts, the intermediate and stern 
 shafts, the piston and connecting-rods, the crossheads, 
 the cast-steel crank-bearing frames, the cast-steel pistons, 
 the cylinder covers, the steel springs, the brass condenser 
 tabes, the copper steam-pipes, the boiler-plates and fur- 
 naces, and a considerable number of other parts of the 
 machinery. In this way we see that the spending of 
 naval funds gives employment to a great number of in- 
 dustrial establishments.^ 
 
 The procedure as regards ships built by contract is 
 difierent, though much of what I have said, mutatis 
 mutandis, will apply to it. Here, again, the Director of 
 Navy Contracts plays no part. As is the case also with 
 propelling machinery built by contract, the professional 
 part of the business is conducted through the Controller 
 of the Navy, who is advised thereon by the Director of 
 Naval Construction and the Engineer-in-Chief. The list 
 
 ' For these facta I am indebted to an article by Commander 
 C. N. Robinson, R.N., entitled "Naval Reinforcements in War 
 Time — the Supply of Warship Material and Machinery," in the 
 " Naval Annual " of 1895. 
 
THE SPENDING OF THE MONEY. 179 
 
 of firms to be asked to tender is decided by the First 
 Lord, the Controller, and the Parliamentary and Financial 
 Secretary, who also decide the allocation of the contracts. 
 The relation of the Controller and Financial Secretary to 
 this business is governed by the general relations of the 
 members of the Board to the First Lord. It is the practice 
 of the Admiralty to make one firm responsible for the con- 
 tract both for the hull and machinery, although a sub- 
 contractor may be recognized for the latter. Ship-builders 
 and engineers are associated, and the responsibility is gener- 
 ally placed upon the former. Moreover, it often happens 
 that the productions of specified firms are directed to be 
 employed, where this is seen to be to the advantage of the 
 public service, and capstan-gear, as was the case with the 
 Benown, and other portions of the vessel's equipment, are 
 sometimes supplied by the dockyards. The armour is nearly 
 always bought by the Admiralty, and supplied to the con- 
 tractor, and, for obvious reasons, the armament is kept 
 wholly distinct from the contract for the hull. The firms 
 selected to be placed on the Admiralty list are judged, as I 
 showed in an earlier chapter, to have sufficient experience 
 in the building of ships and the construction of engines, 
 and no name is placed upon the list until after careful 
 examination has been made. For the hulls of vessels com- 
 plete specifications and designs are prepared by the Direc- 
 tor of Naval Construction, and a like procedure by the 
 Bngineer-in-Chief is taken in regard to machinery. Under 
 these conditions, vast sums of money are expended annually 
 in private shipbuilding yards, in which the work is carried 
 on under the close supervision of the Admiralty. 
 
 It is highly important, as I have said, for the country 
 that happy relations should be preserved with contractors. 
 Upon this depends the ability to increase upon emergency 
 our constructive means. Shipbuilders must be encour- 
 aged by work that assumes the character of continuity to 
 provide themselves with the proper plant for the con- 
 
180 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 struction of warships, and to familiarize themselves with 
 Admiralty methods. This applies, as I have shown, in 
 smaller degree, to a great number of contractors who are 
 not brought into direct relations with the Admiralty itself. 
 Unhappily, the best relations have not always been pre- 
 served with contracting firms, especially in former times. 
 The Committee appointed in 1886 to inquire into the 
 System of Purchase and Contract in the Navy, reported 
 that invitations to tender had been accompanied with the 
 intimation that alternative designs might be furnished. 
 The absence of a fixed basis of value resulted, making 
 the tenders to some extent a matter of opinion, and placed 
 the Board in the hands of the professional oflScers, who 
 alone could be in a position to form a judgment upon 
 offers made upon varying designs. In the case of the 
 Benown and Sans Pareil, tenders were invited for the 
 hulls and machinery of the vessels jointly, with an indica- 
 tion as to the natural and forced draught to be developed, 
 and a request for alternative designs. Messrs. Palmer 
 offered to construct one vessel for £587,854, and Messrs. 
 Elder to build two for £590,000 each, with engines of 
 8,500 i.h.p. as specified. The offers accepted were one 
 from the Thames Iron Works for £601,000, and the 
 other from Messrs. Armstrong for the price of £604,000, 
 the engines providing for 10,000 horse-power. It con- 
 sequently became a matter of opinion as to what was the 
 value of the additional 1,500 horse-power. A valuation 
 was made by the professional officers at the time, but the 
 Committee of 1886-7 was of opinion that this valuation 
 was perfectly arbitrary, and quite at variance, according 
 to the evidence given before it, with the intrinsic cost of 
 the attainment of the additional horse-power, viewed by 
 the addition it required to the engines and boilers. Even 
 in regard to the ships of the Naval Defence Act, some 
 difference arose. The Thames Iron Works and Messrs. 
 Earle's Shipbuilding Company made claims for loss sus- 
 
THE SPENDING OF THE MONEY. 181 
 
 tained in building the first-class cruisers intrusted to them. 
 Disputes, too, have since arisen with other contractors. 
 
 There is, however, no reason to feel surprise that dif- 
 ferences of opinion should exist where work is complex 
 and progress continually suggests further developments, 
 nor that some friction should arise. I cite this matter, 
 not to the disparagement of the Admiralty system, but to 
 illustrate the fact that the Admiralty system must depend 
 very largely upon the wisdom of individuals, and it is 
 unnecessary to disguise that wisdom, as in former times, 
 has in some instances been denied to us. 
 
 What I said just now concerning the Director of Naval 
 Stores, will apply equally well to the other Store Depart- 
 ments, which proceed to their work in a closely similar 
 manner. Thus, the Director of Victualling, having made 
 his estimate, spends the money voted by indenting upon 
 the Director of Navy Contracts. There is, however, a 
 certain flexibility in the methods pursued, and necessarily 
 so, for victualling stores are largely of a perishable nature, 
 and are bought under special conditions, often through 
 running contracts. The procedure is closely analogous in 
 the matter of medical stores. 
 
 The reader has seen in previous chapters how the 
 stores purchased by all Departments are received, sur- 
 veyed, and accounted for, and I have sketched the manner 
 in which, with them, ships are built in accordance with 
 designs, provisioned, and fitted, and how thus the great 
 work of building warships and preparing them for com- 
 mission is achieved. It is a work which goes on at the 
 dockyards under close supervision. The abuses which 
 existed before the Dockyard Committee exposed them 
 have been uprooted. The dockyard administration has 
 been placed upon a new footing, the Expense Accounts 
 have been established, and a most efiicient machinery has 
 been created for the supervision, survey, and estimating 
 of work as it proceeds. The operations of the Accountant- 
 
182 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 General of the Navy are throughout highly important; 
 he is the financial adviser and assistant of the Depart- 
 ments, constantly working at the recording of expenditure, 
 and, as I have explained, furnishing regular returns to 
 assist the executive Departments in their work. In the 
 Ledger Branch of the Accountant-General's Department, 
 all expenditure is brought to book under the several votes 
 and sub-heads of votes, and in this branch the all- 
 important Navy Appropriation Account is prepared. 
 
 That account is the public explanation of the progress 
 of naval expenditure, and of the manner in which the 
 money voted is utilized. It enables the closest investiga- 
 tion of facts to be conducted in the soundest way for the 
 public service. The " financial control " of the Accountant- 
 General, as a departmental ofiicer, could never have been 
 efficient. Since his power of " review " was abolished, the 
 work of audit has fallen to the Comptroller and Auditor- 
 General, and the careful investigation of the Public 
 Accounts Committee, before which the heads of the spend- 
 ing Departments explain and defend their administration 
 of the votes, is the soundest guarantee that the public 
 funds are expended well. 
 
 The spending well of the public funds voted for the 
 naval service of the country is the crown and completion 
 of the Admiralty's work. That our Navy is the admira- 
 tion of the world, both for the characters which it 
 possesses and the economy and rapidity with which ships 
 are built, is sufficient evidence that the money is well 
 expended. With the mention' of the Navy Appropriation 
 Account, which is the public exposition of Admiralty 
 finance, I bring my book to a close. We have surveyed 
 the whole of the Admiralty organization. From an 
 historical introduction, showing how ancient precedent 
 rules the Admiralty procedure, I went on to describe how 
 the Admiralty Board conducts its operations, and I have 
 completed my work by an attempt, imperfect I know, to de- 
 
THE SPENDING OF THE MONET. 183 
 
 scribe the Admiralty machine at work. The task has been 
 a difficult one, for upon this subject no one has ever written 
 at length before, but it has been pleasant to describe that 
 organizing force which shapes and directs our naval policy 
 and provides for the maintenance of our sea power. When 
 we read of naval operations, of battles and single-ship 
 actions, of cutting-out expeditions, and of prizes taken 
 from the enemy, we are sometimes apt to forget that 
 behind all this rests the directive hand of the Admiralty 
 Board. It is right, however, that this Board should be 
 recognized as holding its due position in the work of our 
 naval defence. If I have contributed, in some degree, 
 to awaken the public to a knowledge of what our 
 Admiralty administration really is, and of giving a right 
 understanding of the manner in which the Admiralty 
 works, this book will not have been written in vain. 
 
APPENDIX I. 
 
 Admiualtt Buildings. 
 
 The Admiralty Office in the days of the Lords High Admiral was 
 merely the personal office used by the holder of the appointment, 
 and thus was liable to change of locality. The Duke of Bucking- 
 ham convened his new " Council of the Sea " at Wallingford 
 House, near Whitehall, in 1626, and, after his assassination, the 
 Admiralty Commissioners then appointed continued to meet there 
 until the execution of Charles I. Afterwards the Earl of North- 
 umberland dated his official correspondence from his house in 
 Queen Street, Covent Garden, and the Earl of Warwick from 
 Warwick House, Holborn. In 1660 the Admiralty business was 
 conducted in the old Palace of Whitehall, and, after being trans- 
 acted at Derby House, Canon Row, Westminster — which Pepys 
 bought from the Duke of Ormond — it was brought back to the 
 Palace of Whitehall in 1684. When Pepys resumed office as 
 Secretary of the Admiralty in 1688, he carried on the business 
 of the Navy in York Buildings, the site of which is marked by 
 the water gate at the foot of Buckingham Street, and, after being 
 transferred in the following year to a house at the south end of 
 Duke Street, Westminster, which had been built for the notorious 
 Judge Jeffreys, the Admiralty was finally restored to its old 
 quarters at Wallingford House in 1695. 
 
 Buckingham's building had, however^ been pulled down before 
 September, 1694, for in that month and year an agreement was 
 entered into between the Principal Officers of the Navy and John 
 Evans, stipulating that the latter should erect a new house on the 
 site, which was done, and, in 1719, certain sheds which stood 
 before the building being removed, the courtyard was enlarged, 
 ftnd raUs and gates were erected. But this new Admiralty 
 
186 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 building appears to have been erected in haste, for, in 1722, it 
 had so far fallen into decay, that the now existing building was 
 put in hand, the business of the office being meanwhile conducted 
 at a house in St. James's Square. Thomas Ridley, at whom 
 Pope jeers bitterly in the "Dunciad" (iii. 1, 327), was the 
 architect of the new structure, and the cost appears to have been 
 more than £22,000. The building was commodious at the time 
 of its erection, and included official residences for the Lords of 
 the Admiralty and the Secretary, who were accustomed to live in 
 close communication among themselves ; but the business of the 
 Admiralty has now long outgrown it. The edifice has two deep 
 wings, and is entered through a lofty — far too lofty — portico, 
 supported by elongated Ionic columns. The Mermaid sloop of war 
 brought 600 planks of mahogany from Jamaica in 1724 for the 
 doors and woodwork of the building, and the Board Room was 
 adorned by the chisel of Grinling Gibbons. The Lords Com- 
 missioners moved into the new building in September, 1725. 
 The existing screen, which incloses the courtyard of the Admiralty 
 on the street side, was erected, mainly to conceal the unpre- 
 possessing character of the building, in 1760, the architect being 
 Robert Adams, one of the two brothers who designed the 
 Adelphi. 
 
 Unworthy and inadequate as the building in many ways is, it 
 is filled with historic interest, for it was the central office of our 
 naval administration through the long struggle with France, and 
 beneath its portico all the greatest seamen of England have 
 passed. There, with the words, " Sir, we have gained a great 
 victory, but we have lost Lord Nelson," Gollingwood's Trafalgar 
 despatch was brought to Mr. Marsden, the Secretary, at about 
 one o'clock on the morning of November 6th, 1805. The chamber 
 still exists in which Lord Barham, the venerable First Lord, was 
 sleeping when he was aroused to receive the tidings of the great 
 victory, and they show still the " Captain's Room " — the first on 
 the left of the passage, as you enter from the hall to the principal 
 staircase — in which Nelson's body rested on the night preceding 
 the state funeral at St. Paul's. The art treasures of the building 
 include two sea-pieces by \ai\ der Velde, and sundry pictures by 
 Francesco Guardi, W. Hodges, R.A., J. Webber, R.A., W. 
 Westall, A.R.A., and others, besides portraits of Nelson, by 
 
APPENDIX I. 187 
 
 Gruzzardi, and of William IV., by Sir William Beechey. But 
 the utter inadequacy of the Admiralty building at Whitehall has 
 rendered extension necessary, and the Office of Her Majesty's 
 Works has added a new wing on the side of St. James's Park — 
 part of a larger structure — to which some of the Admu-alty 
 offices have lately been transferred. A view of the Admiralty 
 before the erection of Adam's screen, was engraved for Strype's 
 edition of Stow's "London," 1754, and another exists from the 
 graver of D. Cunego, 1760, reproduced on p. 17 of the present 
 volume. An architectural plan and elevation of the screen were 
 published in the same year, when it was erected, and since that 
 time many views of the Admiralty have been issued. A plate of 
 the interior of the Board Room, by Pugin, with figures by Eow- 
 landson, is very interesting (see p. 110). 
 
 The work of the civil departments of the Navy, and especially 
 of victualling, was conducted by the Navy Board in Queen 
 Elizabeth's reign at an office on the east side of the Tower, 
 known as the " Queen's Consultation Room," where a large store- 
 house and ovens were built. The Victualling Office was long 
 situated here, while the Navy Office itself was located on the 
 west side of Mark Lane, surrounding three sides of a courtyard, 
 and entered through a passage. This building is represented as 
 the " Old Navy Office " in the map accompanying Strype's edition 
 of Stow's "London" (1720), when the office itself had been 
 removed to the angle formed by Seething Lane and Crutched 
 Friars, with an entrance from both. The house in Seething Lane, 
 where Pepys was besieged by bailiffs, and whence he escaped 
 only by the window, was a structure consisting of a central 
 block, with a portico, surmounted by a pediment, and having two 
 wings, and plain buildings surrounding a court at the rear. A 
 view of it was engraved in 1714 by Thomas Taylor, inscribed, 
 " The Navy Office, London," and dedicated to " The Right 
 Honourable the Pi-incipal Officers and Commissioners of Her 
 Majesty's Navy." There is an engraving also by B. Cole, 1750, 
 which appears to be copied from Taylor's view, and is described 
 erroneously as of the " Navy Office in Broad Street " (see 
 p. 66). Actually it was the Navy Pay Office that was located 
 there, standing on the west side of Old Broad Street, near 
 London Wall. A pencil drawing of it, by G. Shepherd, March 
 
188 NATAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 21st, 1816, is in the Grace Coll., Brit. Mus., xxv. 39, and is repro- 
 duced on p. 122 of this volume. Afterwards the Pay Office was 
 removed to Tower Hill, within reach of the guard. During the 
 Plague of 1665 the business of both the Admiralty and Navy 
 Boards was temporarily removed to the Manor House at Green- 
 wich, and the Navy Office narrowly escaped the Great Fire of 
 1666. For a long time subsequently the work of the civil depart- 
 ment was carried on at Seething Lane, but, about 1780, the 
 office was transferred to Somerset House, where the Victualling, 
 Navy Pay, and Transport branches were located on the west 
 side, while the official residences of the Treasurer and Surveyor 
 of the Navy, of the three Commissioners of the Navy Board, 
 and of the Principal Officers of the Victualling Department 
 were on the west terrace. The Royal Academy of Arts was 
 located in the same buildings. The civil departments of the 
 Navy were successively removed thence to Whitehall and Spring 
 Gardens, the Surveyor's Department in 1855 and the rest by 1870, 
 whereby the conduct of business was greatly facilitated. 
 
 For many of the particulars here given concerning Admiralty 
 buildings I am indebted to a valuable pamphlet prepared some 
 years ago for official purposes by Mr. Frank Miller, Superin- 
 tendent of the Victoria Victualling Yard at Deptford. This 
 gentleman has kindly placed his information at my disposal. 
 I have also to acknowledge my obligations to Mr. W. D. Barber, 
 of the Hydrographic Department at the Admiralty, for the 
 charming view of the interior of the Admiralty Board Room, 
 forming the frontispiece to this volume, which that gentleman 
 has allowed the publishers to reproduce from a photograph by 
 himself. 
 
APPENDIX II. 189 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 The Oedees in Council. 
 
 In Part I., Chapter III., the text of the Admiralty Patent 
 is given. The following are the several Orders in Council 
 modifying the constitution of the Board, or under which, 
 conjointly with the Patent, the Admiralty is now adminis- 
 tered. 
 
 A. — Obdee in Council, 14th January, 1869. 
 
 The Constitution of the Admiralty Board and the Position of 
 the Controller. 
 
 Whereas we have had under our consideration the present 
 recognised constitution of the Board of Admiralty, the position 
 occupied by the Controller of the Navy in regard to the Board, 
 and the general transaction of business at the Admiralty offices. 
 
 The Board of Admiralty, as hitherto, consisted of— 
 
 The First Lord, receiving four thousand five hundred a 
 year (£4,500) ; 
 
 Four Naval Lords, at a salary of one thousand (£1,000) 
 a year each, with allowances and a house, or twelve hun- 
 dred a year without a house ; and 
 
 The Civil Lord, who receives one thousand (£1,000) a 
 year only ; 
 
 The First or Parliamentary Secretary receives two thou- 
 sand (£2,000) a year, with allowances and a house. 
 
 The Second or Permanent Secretary receives fifteen 
 hundred (£1,500) a year, with allowances and a house. 
 
 The Secretaries have jointly charge of the Secretariat, 
 and the First Secretary has important duties in Parliament 
 in connection with the Department. 
 
 "We most humbly beg leave to propose to your Majesty that, 
 with a view of simplifying and facilitating the transaction of the 
 
190 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 business of the Department, and more effectually controlling 
 naval expenditure, the office of Controller of your Majesty's Navy 
 should be merged into that of the Third Lord, the office of 
 Fourth Naval Lord being dispensed with. 
 
 The Board will then be constituted as follows : — 
 
 The First Lord of the Admiralty, 
 The First Naval Lord, 
 The Third Lord and Controller, 
 The Junior Naval Lord, and 
 The Civil Lord, 
 
 with the Parliamentary Secretary and the Permanent Secretary. 
 The First Lord being responsible to your Majesty and to 
 Parliament for all the business of the Admiralty, the other mem- 
 bers of the Board should act as his assistants in the transaction 
 of the duties, which we propose should be divided into three 
 principal branches : — 
 
 (a.) The First Naval Lord to be responsible to the First 
 Lord of the Admiralty for the administration of so much of 
 the business as relates to the " Personnel " of the Navy, and 
 for the movement and condition of your Majesty's Fleet. 
 
 The Junior Naval Lord to assist the First Naval 
 Lord in this division of the business. 
 
 (b.) The Controller of the Navy being, as we have pro- 
 posed, the Third Lord, to be responsible to the First Lord 
 of the Admii-alty for the administration of so much of the 
 business as relates to the " Materiel " of your Majesty's 
 Navy, i.e., to the building and repairing of ships, to guns, 
 and to naval stores. 
 
 (c.) The Parliamentary Secretai-y to be responsible to 
 the First Lord of the Admiralty for the " Finance " of the 
 Department, and the Civil Lord to act as an Assistant to the 
 Secretary. 
 
 The Permanent Secretary should have the exclusive charge of 
 the Secretariat, under the directions of the First Lord of the 
 Admiralty. 
 
 The merging of the ControUership of the Navy in the office of 
 
APPENDIX II. 191 
 
 the Third Lord, and the reduction of one of the Naval Lords, will 
 effect a saving of two thousand five hundred pounds (^£2,500) a 
 year ; but to mark the special responsibilities of the First Naval 
 Lord and the Third Lord, we humbly propose that their salaries 
 should be increased by five hundred (£500) a year each, with 
 official residences, the other allowances to the members of the 
 Board ceasing. 
 
 We are further of opinion that the Parliamentary Secretary 
 should have the salary as hitherto apportioned to that appoint- 
 ment, but without a house or allowances. 
 
 And we beg leave most humbly to acquaint your Majesty that 
 the Lords of the Treasury have signified their concurrence in the 
 financial part of these arrangements. 
 
 B. — Orbek in Council, 19th March, 1872. 
 
 The Comptroller of the Nany re-established, and a Naval 
 Secretary appointed. 
 
 Whereas by your Majesty's Order in Council of the 14th day 
 of January 1869, certain changes were efiected in the constitution 
 of the Board of Admiralty, the position occupied by the Comp- 
 troller of the Navy in regard to the Board, and the general 
 transaction of business at the Admiralty Offices ; and whereas it 
 has become desirable to effect certain changes in the said order, 
 we most humbly beg leave to propose to your Majesty that the 
 said Order should be rescinded, and that — ■ 
 
 L The Board should, in future, be constituted as follows: — 
 
 The First Lord of the Admiralty, 
 The First Naval Lord, 
 The Second Naval Lord, 
 The Junior Naval Lord, 
 The Civil Lord. 
 
 II. That there should be three Secretaries, to be called 
 
 The Parliamentary Secretary, 
 The Permanent Secretary, 
 The Naval Secretary. 
 
192 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 III. That the office of Comptroller of the Navy be re-estab- 
 lished, as an office to be held for a fixed period by an officer not 
 a member of the Board, and that the Comptroller be assisted by 
 a permanent officer, to be called Deputy Comptroller and Director 
 of Dockyards, whose duties shall be mainly concentrated on the 
 management of the dockyards. 
 
 IV. The First Lord to be responsible to your Majesty and to 
 Parliament for all the business of the Admiralty, the business to 
 be transacted in three principal divisions : — 
 
 (a.) The First Naval Lord, the Second Naval Lord, and 
 the Junior Naval Lord to be responsible to the First Lord 
 of the Admiralty for the Administration of so much of the 
 business relating to the " Personnel " of the Navy, and to 
 the movement and condition of your Majesty's Fleet, as shall 
 be assigned to them or each of them, from time to time, by 
 the First Lord. 
 
 (6.) The Comptroller to be responsible to the First Lord 
 for the administration of so much of the business as relates 
 to the " Materiel " of your Majesty's Navy, the Comptroller 
 to have the right to attend the Board, and to explain his 
 views whenever the First Lord shall submit to the Board, 
 for their opinion, designs for ships, or any other matters 
 emanating from the Comptroller's Department. 
 
 (c.) The Parliamentary Secretary to be responsible to the 
 First Lord for the Finance of the Department, and for so 
 much of the other business of the Admiralty as may be 
 assigned to him. 
 
 (d.) The Civil Lord, the Permanent Secretary, and the 
 Naval Secretary to have such duties as shall be assigned to 
 them by the First Lord. 
 
 We humbly propose that the Second Naval Lord shall have a 
 salary of £1,200 a year, and that the Naval Secretai-y shall have 
 a salary of £1,500 a year and a house, or an allowance of £200 
 in lieu of a house ; and We beg leave most humbly to acquaint your 
 Majesty that the Lords Commissioners of your Majesty's Treasury 
 have signified their concurrence in the financial part of these 
 arrangements, and We further recommend that these arrange- 
 ments shall begin to take effect on the 19th day of April, 1872. 
 
APPENDIX II. 193 
 
 C. — Order in Council, 9fch August, 1872. 
 
 Orders to the Accountant- General for the Payment of Money. 
 The Parliamentary Secretary to Sign. 
 
 Wheeeas by your Majesty's Order in Council of the 19th day 
 of March, 1872, certain changes were effected in the constitution 
 of the Board of Admiralty, and in the number and functions of 
 the officers of the Board, and it was thereby (among other things) 
 provided, that there should be three Secretaries to the Board, 
 one to be called the Parliamentary Secretary, who was to be re- 
 sponsible to the First Lord of the Admiralty for the Finance 
 of the Department ; and whereas it is the long established 
 practice of the Admiralty that all orders for payment of money, 
 directed to the Acconntant-General of your Majesty's Navy, 
 should be signed by two of the Lords Commissioners of the Ad- 
 miralty ; and whereas, regard being had to your Majesty's said 
 Order in Council, it seems to us expedient that an alteration 
 should now be made in that practice ; we, therefore, most humbly 
 beg leave to propose to your Majesty that, for the future, the 
 Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty may sign, in lieu of 
 one of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, any order for 
 payment of money directed to the Accountant-General of your 
 Majesty's Navy. 
 
 We beg leave to represent to your Majesty that the Lords 
 Commissioners of your Majesty's Treasury have signified their 
 concurrence in this proposal. 
 
 D. — Okder in CounciIj, 10th March, 1882. 
 
 Re-constitution of the Board of Admiralty. 
 
 Whereas by your Majesty's Order in Council of the 19th day 
 of March 1872, certain changes were effected in the constitution 
 of the Board of Admiralty, among which changes it was provided 
 that the office of Comptroller of your Majesty's Navy was to be 
 held for a fixed period by an officer not a member of the Board 
 of Admiralty ; and whereas it was also provided that there should 
 be a Naval Seci'etary as well as a Permanent Secretary to the 
 
 
 
194 NATAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 Board of Admiralty ; and whereas it has become desirable that 
 the officer filling the post of Comptroller of your Majesty's Navy 
 should, during such period as may from time to time be sanctioned 
 by your Majesty's Letters Patent, notwithstanding the said Order 
 in Council, be appointed to be an additional Naval Lord of the 
 Admiralty, and that during such time an additional Civil Lord 
 of the Admiralty may be appointed who shall possess special 
 mechanical and engineering knowledge as well as administrative 
 experience to assist the Comptroller in the administration of the 
 materiel of your Majesty's Navy ; and whereas it is not necessary 
 in our opinion that there should be more than one Secretary to 
 the Board of Admiralty in addition to the Parliamentary Secretary, 
 we most humbly beg leave to propose to your Majesty : 
 
 1. That the officer filling the post of Comptroller of your 
 Majesty's Navy may, notwithstanding the said Order in Council, 
 be appointed an additional Naval Lord of the Admiralty. 
 
 2. That during the time that the officer holding the post of 
 Comptroller of your Majesty's Navy is appointed to be an addi- 
 tional Naval Lord of the Admiralty, an additional Civil Lord 
 of the Admiralty may be appointed. Such additional Civil Lord 
 shall possess special mechanical and engineering knowledge, as 
 well as experience in the superintendence of large private estab- 
 lishments ; he shall assist the Comptroller in the business relating 
 to the materiel of your Majesty's Navy, and perform so much of 
 the said business as shall from time to time be assigned to him by 
 the First Lord of the Admiralty. 
 
 3i That neither the appointment of additional Naval Lord of 
 the Admiralty nor that of additional Civil Lord of the Admiralty 
 shall be held by a member of either House of Parliament. 
 
 4. That there shall, upon a vacancy occurring in the office of 
 Naval Secretary, be, besides the Parliamentary Secretary, only 
 one other Secretary to the Board of Admiralty, who shall be 
 called the Permanent Secretary. 
 
 5. We humbly propose that the additional Civil Lord shall 
 have a salary of £2,000 a year, and the Permanent Secretary a 
 salary of £1,800 a year and a house, or an allowance of £200 a 
 year in lieu of a house. In the event of the office of Permanent 
 Secretary being held by a nnval officer, such officer shall not be 
 allowed half or retired pay or other naval allowances. 
 
APPENDIX II. 195 
 
 6. We beg leave most humbly to acquaint youi- Majesty that 
 the Lords Commissioners of your Majesty's Treasury have sig- 
 nified their concurrence in the financial part of these arrange- 
 ments. 
 
 E. — Obdeb in Council, 18th Novembek, 1885. 
 
 The Accountant-General to act as Deputy and Assistant of the 
 Financial Secretary. 
 
 Whereas by an Order in Council of the 13th day of 
 October, 1832, the functions of the Accountant-General of 
 the Navy were defined, and whereas by your Majesty's sub- 
 sequent Orders in Council of the 14th day of January, 1869, 
 and 19th day of March, 1872, certain alterations were ap- 
 proved by your Majesty in the constitution of the Board of 
 Admiralty, afiecting its financial arrangements, by the ap- 
 pointment of the Parliamentary and Financial Secretary to 
 be responsible to the First Lord of the Finance of the Depart- 
 ment ; and whereas it is, in our opinion, desirable to afford him 
 assistance in the discharge of these important duties, we 
 would humbly recommend to your Majesty the appointment 
 of the Accountant-General of the Navy to act as an assistant 
 to the Financial Secretary. 
 
 We are most humbly of opinion that while the Executive 
 Departments of the Admiralty should continue to be held 
 primarily responsible for keeping a careful watch upon the 
 expenditure they recomihend or incur, the Accountant- 
 General should be authorized to act under the Parliamentary 
 and Financial Secretary as his Deputy and Assistant. 
 
 With this object he should be charged under the Par- 
 liamentary and Financial Secretary with the preparation of 
 the Naval Estimates ; with financially reviewing the expen- 
 diture under those estimates ; with advising or deciding as 
 to any redistribution of votes or transfers which may from 
 time to time be found necessary ; with satisfying himself that 
 such expenditure is properly allowed and brought to account; 
 with advising on all questions affecting naval expenditure ; 
 and that he should not only be made acquainted with ex- 
 
196 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 penditure after it has been incurred, but be regarded as the 
 officer to be consulted on all matters involving an expediture 
 of Naval Funds. 
 
 We therefore mcst humbly submit that your Majesty will 
 be graciously pleased to sanction this arrangement. 
 
 APPENDIX III. 
 
 The Navy Estimates. 
 
 Thb following statement indicates the course pursued in 
 regard to the Navy Estimates. The preparation of several 
 of the votes by the Accountant-General follows upon the 
 compiling and working out of these by the Executive 
 Departments responsible for the administration of them. 
 
 I. NUMBERS. 
 Vote A. 
 
 Total number of Officers, Seamen, Boys, Coast Guard, and 
 Royal Marines. 
 
 Prepared by Accountant-General from numbers decided by 
 their Lordships, .ind sanctioned by Order in Council, as regards 
 Officers, Seamen, Boys, and Coast Guard. 
 
 The Deputy Adjutant-General is consulted with respect to 
 the Koyal Marines, for whom there is an establishment of 12,900, 
 fixed by Order in Council of 26th June, 1886. Any variation 
 from the foregoing requires similar sanction. 
 
APPENDIX III. 197 
 
 II. EFFECTIVE SERVICES. 
 
 Vote 1. 
 Wages of Officers, Seamen, etc. 
 
 This vote is prepared by the Secretariat and the Navy Pay 
 Division of the Accountant-General's Department from the num- 
 bers shown in Vote A. at authorized scales of Pay and Allow- 
 ances, some of the items, e.g.. Contingencies, Coast Guard, Re- 
 cruiting Expenses, etc., being based on past expenditure. 
 
 Salaries, etc.. Royal Marine Divisions. — According to fixed 
 rates of Salaries and AUowanes. 
 
 Half-Pay. — Based on authorized rates and probable numbers. 
 
 Vote 2. 
 Victualling and Clothing for the Navy. 
 
 The Accountant-General prepares the items relating to 
 Salaries, Police, Wages of Naval Men, Extra Pay, Rents, and 
 Contingencies. Gas and Water by Director of Works. 
 
 The chief items of the Victualling Vote are worked out by the 
 Director of Victualling, viz.. Wages of Artificers, Crews of Yard 
 Hoys, Provisions, Mess-traps, etc., and are referred to the 
 Accountant-General. 
 
 The Director of Victualling concurs in the Vote as a whole. 
 
 Vote 3. 
 Medical Establishments and Services. 
 
 Prepared by Accountant-General as regards Salaries and 
 Allowances, Wages of Naval Sick Berth Staff, Police (at Home), 
 Extra Pay, Rents, and Contingencies, etc. 
 
 The Director-General estimates for Civilian Wages, Hospital 
 Provisions, Miscellaneous Disbursements, etc., and refers the 
 items to the Accountant-General for concurrence. He also 
 concurs in the Vote as a whole. 
 
198 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 Vote 4. 
 
 Martial Law. 
 
 Prepared by the Accountant-General. The estimates for the 
 Prison Establishments are based upon authorized Scales of 
 Salary, and upon the average expenditure in past years as regards 
 other items. 
 
 Vote 5. 
 
 Educational Services. 
 
 Prepared by the Accountant-General from infonnation supplied 
 by some of the Educational Establishments and partly Irom 
 authorized Scales of Salary and Allowances. 
 
 Vote 6. 
 
 Scientific Services. 
 
 Prepared by the Accountant-General. The estimate is based 
 upon the authorized Numbers and Scales of Pay, etc. Informa- 
 tion is furnished by the Hydrographer. 
 
 Vote 7. 
 Royal Naval Reserves. 
 
 Prepared by Accountant-General. The Admiral Superinten- 
 dent of Naval Reserves furnishes the numbers of the various 
 Ranks and Ratings to be provided for. 
 
 The Admiral Superintendent of Naval Reserves concurs in 
 the Vote, as a whole. 
 
 Vote 8. 
 
 Shipbuilding, Repairs, Maintenance, etc. 
 
 Section I. — Personnel. 
 
 Prepared by the Accountant-General as regards Salaries and 
 Allowances, and Contingencies, etc. 
 
APPENDIX III. 199' 
 
 The Director of Dockyards under the Controller furnishes the 
 amounts for Labour, etc., at the Yards. 
 
 Section II. — Material. 
 
 The Director of Stores estimates the requirements of Stores, 
 both under the head of Shipbuilding and Maintenance. 
 Other items are estimated by the A.ccounta,nt-General. 
 
 Section HI. — Contract Work. 
 
 Estimate is prepared by the Director of Naval Construction 
 under the Controller. 
 
 Estimates for Labour and Stores, etc., are furnished by the 
 Controller's Department, and referred to the Accountant-Genei-al. 
 
 Vote 9. 
 
 Naval Armaments. 
 
 Estimate prepared by Director of Naval Ordnance under the 
 Controller, and referred to the Accountant-General. 
 
 Vote 10. 
 Works, Buildings, and Repairs at Home and Abroad. 
 
 Estimate prepared by the Director of Works, except as regards 
 the Salaries and Allowances of the Officers superintending Works 
 in progress, which are furnished by the Accountant-General. 
 
 The items for Works are referred for the concurrence of the 
 Controller and the Accountant-General. 
 
 Vote 11. 
 
 Miscellaneous Effective Services. 
 
 The Estimate is prepared by the Accountant-General, prin- 
 cipally upon the average expenditure in previous years, any 
 new items or doubtful points being considered separately. 
 
200 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 Vote 12. 
 
 Admiralty Office. 
 
 Pi'epared by the Accountant-General. The Estimate is based 
 on the authorized members for each rank, any variations in 
 numbers or Scales of Salary receiving separate consideration and 
 Treasury authority. 
 
 III. NON-EFFECTIVE SERVICES. 
 
 Vote 13. 
 Half-Pay, Reserved and Retired Pay. 
 
 Vote 14. 
 
 Naval and Marine Pensions, Gratuities and Compassionate 
 Allowances. 
 
 Vote 15. 
 
 Civil Pensions and Gratuities. 
 
 The foregoing Votes (Nos. 13 to 15) for Non-Effective Services 
 are prepared by the Accountant-General, and are based upon the 
 numbers actually in receipt of Retired Pay or Pensions, plus the 
 anticipated requirements of the ensuing financial year. 
 
APPENDIX IV. 201 
 
 APPENDIX IV. 
 
 BiBLIOGEAPHT. 
 
 Parliamentary Reports, Papers, etc. 
 
 Reports of the Commissioners appointed by an Act of 43 Geo. 
 III. for Inquiring into Irregularities, Frauds, and Abuses practised 
 in the Naval Departments, and in the Business of Prize Agency : 
 First Report: Naval Storekeepers at Jamaica. 1802-3(78). 
 Second Report : Chest at Chatham. 1802-3 (97). 
 Third Report : Block and Coopers' Contracts. 1802-3 (109). 
 Fourth Report : Prize Agency. 1802-3(160). 
 Fifth Report: Sixpenny OflSce. 1802-3 (174). 
 Sixth Report: Plymouth and Woolwich Yards. 1803-4(83). 
 Seventh Report : Naval Hospital at East Stonehouse — Le 
 
 Caton hospital ship. 1803-4 (172). 
 Eighth Report : Victualling Yard at Plymouth. — ^Em- 
 bezzling Casks. 1803-4(179). 
 Ninth Report : Plymouth Yard. 1805 (1). 
 Tenth Report : Treasurer of the Navy. 1805 (21). 
 Eleventh Report : Issue of Navy bills for the purpose of 
 raising money. Loss arising from the mode of 
 paying interest on Navy and Transport bUls. 
 Money imprested by the Navy Board for secret 
 naval services. 1805 (47). 
 Twelfth Report : Purchases of hemp, masts, and fir 
 timber. Transfer of contracts. Observations by 
 ■way of supplement to Fir.st Report. 1806 (1). 
 Thirteenth Report : Contracts for victualling sick prisoners 
 
 of war. 1806(161). 
 Fourteenth Report : Greenwich Hospital. 1806(256). 
 Report of the Select Committee upon the Tenth Naval Inquiry 
 Report of the Commissioners. 1805 (140). Eleventh Report. 
 1805 (184). 
 
 Report from the Committee of Secrecy on the Eleventh 
 Report. 1805 (198). 
 
202 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 Letter of Lord Viscount Melville to the Commissioners of 
 Inquiry ; and Answer. 1805 (72). 
 
 Precepts issued by the Commissioners of Naval Inquiry to the 
 Treasurer of the Navy. 1805 (93). 
 
 Letter from the Comptroller of the Navy to the Lords" Com- 
 missioners of the Admiralty on the Eleventh Keport of the Com- 
 missioners of Naval Inquiry. 1805 (94). 
 
 Letter from the Principal Officers and Commissioners of the 
 Navy to the Secretary of the Admiralty, inclosing a Memorial in 
 Answer to the First Report of the Commissioners of Naval 
 Inquiry. 1805 (100). 
 
 Letter and Minute of Censure from the Lords of the Admiralty 
 to the Navy Board. 1805 (203). 
 
 Reports from the Select Committee appointed to draw up 
 Articles of Impeachment against Henry Lord Viscount Melville. 
 1805 (206); 1806 (23); 1806 (26). 
 
 Reports from the Select Committee appointed to inspect the 
 Journals of the House of Lords in relation to the proceedings 
 upon the impeachment. 1806 (241) ; 1806 (69). 
 
 Reports of the Commissioners for Revising and Digesting the 
 Civil Affairs of His Majesty's Navy : 
 
 First Report : Dockyards. 1806(8). 
 
 Second Report : Dockyai-ds. 1806(92). 
 
 Third Report: Dockyards. 1806(312). 
 
 Fourth Report : Navy Office. 1809(120). 
 
 Fifth Report: Foreign Yards. 1809(121). 
 
 Sixth Report : Dockyards at Outports. 1809 (122). 
 
 Seventh Report : Naval Hospitals. 1809(123). 
 
 Eighth Report : (not printed). 
 
 Nmth Report: Transport Office. 1809(124). 
 
 Tenth Report: Victualling Office. 1809 (125). 
 
 Eleventh Report : Victualling Yards at Outports. 1809 
 
 (126). 
 Twelfth Report : Victualling Department Abroad. 1809 
 
 (127). 
 Thirteenth Report : Transport Board. 1809(128). 
 Account of expenses incurred by the Commissioners for 
 revising the Civil Affairs of the Navy. 1806 (67) (68). 
 
 Reports of the Commissioners appointed by Act 25 Geo. III., c. 
 
APPENDIX IV. 203 
 
 19, to inquire into the fees, perquisites and emoluments which are 
 or have been lately received in the several public offices. Dated 
 in 1786-8. 1806 (309). 
 
 Third Report, Admiralty (p. 93) ; Fourth Report, Treasurer 
 of the Navy (p. 131) ; Fifth Report, Commissioners 
 of the Navy (p. 165) ; Sixth Report, Dockyards 
 (p. 277) ; Seventh Report, Sick and Hurt Office 
 (p. 507) ; Eighth Report : Victualling Office (p. 
 549) ; Ninth Report, Naval and Victualling Yards 
 Abroad (p. 723). 
 
 Accounts respecting Navy and Victualling Accounts from 
 1790 to 1823. 1823 (417). 
 
 Report from a Select Committee appointed to inquire into the 
 circumstances relating to the formation of the Victualling estab- 
 lishment at Cremill Point, and the proceedings of the Admiralty 
 and Victualling Boards thereon. 1831-2 (272). 
 
 Instructions from the Board of Admiralty to the Board of 
 Naval Constructors appointed to inquire into the State of Naval 
 Architecture, May 9, 1846. 1847 (289). 
 
 Report from the Select Committee appointed to inquire into 
 the circumstances under which a circular sent to the Super- 
 intendent of Her Majesty's dockyards was cancelled without 
 order or minute of the Board ; also under which a letter from 
 Sir Baldwin Walker, tendering his resignation as Surveyor of the 
 Navy, was withheld from the Board, etc. 1852-3 (511). 
 
 Report of the Committee on Dockyard Economy, appointed by 
 the Admiralty. 1859 (139, Sess. 2). 
 
 Minutes of Evidence taken before the same. 1859 (139 — I. 
 Sess. 2). 
 
 Observations of the Superintendent and officers of the dock- 
 yards, and of the Accountant-General and Storekeeper-General 
 of the Navy on the same ; also Memorandum of the First Lord, 
 with Board Minute thereon. 1860 (79). 
 
 Report from the Select Committee of the House of Commons 
 appointed to inquire into the constitution of the Board of 
 Admiralty, and the various duties devolving thereon ; also as to 
 the general effect of such system on the Navy ; together with the 
 Proceedings of the Committee, Minutes of Evidence, Appendix 
 and Index. 1861 (438). 
 
204 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 Report of tlie Commissioners appointed to inquire into the 
 control and management of Her Majesty's Kaval Yards, together 
 with the Minutes of Evidence and Appendix. 1861 (2790). 
 
 The Distribution of Business among the Lords of the Admiralty 
 under the old and new arrangements for conducting the business 
 of the Department. 1868-9 (84). 
 
 Correspondence and other papers relative to alterations in the 
 organization and business of the Admiralty. 1868-9 (402). 
 
 Report from the Select Committee of the House of Lords 
 appointed to inquire into the present state of the Board of 
 Admiralty, with reference to recent changes in the constitution 
 of the Board, and the practical working of the Department, with 
 proceedings, evidence, etc. 1871 (30). 
 
 Orders in Council relating to the construction of the Board of 
 Admiralty and the professional staff of the Controller's Depart- 
 ment. 1872 (408). 
 
 Comparison of the Civil Establishments of the Admiralty, 
 1868-69 to 1872-73. 1872 (256). 
 
 Report of the Committee appointed by the Admiralty to 
 inquire into the amount, etc., of Naval Accounts. 1873 (70). 
 
 Treasury Minute as to extending the powers of the Controller 
 and Auditor-General in auditing the naval and military accounts. 
 1871 (483). 
 
 Minute by the First Lord of the Admiralty with reference to 
 H.M.S. Captain, with the minutes of the proceedings of the 
 court-martial, and the Board Minute thereon. 1871 (c. 254). 
 
 Copy of the Reply made by Sir Spencer Robinson to Minute 
 by the First Lord of the Admiralty. 1871 (37). 
 
 Letter addressed by the Admiralty to Admiral Sir James 
 Hope, in reply to his letter to the Admiralty commenting on the 
 proceedings of the court-martial held to inquire into the loss of 
 H.M.S. Captain. 1871 (38). 
 
 Letter from the Admiralty to Captain Cowper P. Coles, 
 directing him to report on the first and second cruises of H.M. 
 ship Captain; reports and letters. 1871 (163). 
 
 Reports of the Admiral in command of the Channel Squadi-on 
 as to the trials of the ships Monarch and Captain ; with reports 
 from the captains of the respective ships. 1870 (402). 
 
 Report of the Committee appointed by the Admiralty to 
 
APPENDIX IV. 205 
 
 inquire into the system under whicli the duties of the Store 
 Department of the Navy are conducted, with minutes of evidence. 
 1877 (c. 1646). 
 
 Keport of the Select Committee of the House of Commons on 
 Admiralty Liabilities. 1885. 
 
 Report of a Committee appointed by the Admiralty to inquire 
 into rules and alterations necessary to secure effective control 
 over the expenditure of the various Departments. 1885. 
 
 Reports of the Select Committee on the Army and Navy 
 Estimates. 1887. 
 
 Report of the Committee appointed by the Admiralty to 
 inquire into the system of Purchase and Contract in the Kavy ; 
 minute of Lord George Hamilton, evidence and appendix. 1887 
 (c, 4987). 
 
 Report of a Committee appointed to inquire into Dockyard 
 Administration, Expenditure, etc. 1887 (c. 4978). 
 
 Reports of the Royal Commission appointed to inquire into 
 the Civil Establishments of the different offices of State at home 
 and abroad ; evidence, appendices, etc. 1887. 
 
 Reports from the Select Committee of the House of Commons 
 on Navy Estimates ; proceedings, evidence, etc. 1888. 
 
 Reports of the Royal Commission on Warlike Stores. 1888. 
 
 Preliminary and further Reports of the Royal Commissioners 
 appointed to inquire into the Civil and Professional administration 
 of the Naval and Military Departments, and the relation of these 
 Departments to each other and to the Treasury. ("Hartington 
 Commission.") 1890. 
 
 General Literature touching Admiralty Administration. 
 
 The (Economy of His Majesty's Navy Office, containing the 
 several duties of the Commissioners and Principal Officers thereof 
 Being the first rules established for them by the Duke of York 
 under Charles II., and continued in force to this day. By an 
 Officer of the Navy. 1717. 
 
 A Collection of Statutes and Parts of Statutes relating to the 
 Admiralty, etc., down to the fourteenth year of George H. 
 1755. 
 
206 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 A Collection of the Statutes relating to the Admiralty, Navy, 
 Ships of War, etc., to the eighth year of George III. 1768. 
 
 An Answer to Mr. Pitt's attack upon Earl St. Vincent and the 
 Admiralty on 15tk March, 1804. 1804. 
 
 Audi Alteram Partem, or the Real Situation of the Navy of 
 Great Britain at the Period of Lord St. Vincent's resignation, 
 being a reply to misstatements by an Officer of His Majesty's 
 Navy. 1804. (A reply to the last.) 
 
 Memoirs of the Administration of the Board of Admiralty 
 under the Presidency of the Earl of St. Vincent, n. d. (1805.) 
 (A defence of St. Vincent by his friends.) 
 
 Naval Anecdotes for the years during which the Earl of St. 
 Vincent presided at the Board of Admiralty. By a Recorder of 
 Facts. 1805. (Violently abusive.) 
 
 A Key to the Papers which have been presented to the House 
 of Commons upon the subject of the charges preferred against 
 the Earl of St. Vincent by Mr. Jeffry. 1806. (A defence of 
 St. Vincent's conduct and policy, probably by Ben. Tucker.) 
 
 Naval Anecdotes, or a new Key to the Proceedings of a late 
 Naval Administration. 1807. (A scurrilous reply to the last.) 
 
 A Collection of Statutes relating to the Admiralty, etc., down 
 to the fiftieth year of George III. 1810. 
 
 Remarks on the Conduct of the Naval Administration of Great 
 Britain since 1815. By a Flag Officer. (Sir Charles Vinicombe 
 Penrose.) 2 editions. 1830. 
 
 Observations on the Preparation and Discipline of the British 
 Navy, with suggestions for a better system. 1837. 
 
 A Brief Memoir of the life and writings of the late William 
 Marsden, F.R.S. 1838. 
 
 Memoirs of Admiral the Earl of St. Vincent. By Jedediah 
 Stephens Tucker. 2 vols. 1844. 
 
 Remarks on the Naval Administration of Great Britain since 
 1815. With a Preface by Admiral Bowles. 3rd edition. 1847. 
 
 An Autobiographical Memoir of Sir John Barrow, including 
 reflections, observations, and reminiscences at home and abroad 
 from Early Life to Advanced Age. 1847. 
 
 Naval Financial Reform. A letter addi-essed to the First 
 Lord of the Admiralty, on Portions of the Naval Report of the 
 Finance Committee. By Jedediah Stephens Tucker, 1849. 
 
APPENDIX IV. 207 
 
 Napier, Sir Charles. The Navy : its Past and Present State. 
 In a series of Letters, edited by Sir William Napier. 1851. 
 
 Administration of the Admiralty. Opinions of the late Right 
 Hon. Sir George Cookbum, Bart., on the necessity of remodelling 
 the Admiralty Board. 1855. 
 
 The Orders in Council and some of the Acts of Parliament 
 for the Regulation of the Naval Service. 5 vols. 1 856-58. 
 
 Admiralty Administration : its faults and its defaults. Second 
 edition, revised. 1861. 
 
 Our Nautical School, Wh 11 (i.e., the Admiralty), giving 
 
 a Description of its Proceedings from the First Reformed Parlia- 
 ment in 1832. With a brief allusion to the loss of the Captain, 
 and the resignation of Mr. Chil . . . s {i.e., Right Hon. W. H. 
 Childers). 1871. 
 
 Recent Naval Administration. By Lord Brassey. Second 
 edition. 1872. 
 
 Admiralty Reform : the necessity of undertaking it and the 
 Direction that should be given to it. By Admiral Sir Spencer 
 Robinson. 1886 (pp. 30). 
 
 Papers and Addresses by Lord Brassey, K.C.B., D.C.L. 
 Naval and Maritime; 1872 to 1893. Arranged and edited by 
 Captain S. Eardley-Wilmot, R.N. 1894. 
 
 The British Fleet. By Commander Charles N. Robinson, R.N. 
 1894. Second edition. 1895. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Accountant-General of the Navy, 
 22 ; directed to act as assistant 
 of Parliamentary Secretary, 26 ; 
 123, 126, 129; his duties, 26, 
 27, 55 ; his relation to Store and 
 Expense Accounts, 93, 94, 97, 
 99, 112, 118, 119, 125, 128, 
 146 ; his Department and 
 work described, 123-132 ; suc- 
 cessive changes in his position, 
 123-129 ; function in regard to 
 the Navy Estimates, 127, 129- 
 131, 173; branches of his De- 
 partment, 131, 132 ; Navy Pay 
 Branch, 176 ; Ledger Branch, 
 182. 
 
 Admiral, Lord High, the existing 
 system as representing his 
 powers, 3, 4, 33, 59 ; his prede- 
 cessors, " Keepers of the Sea," 
 etc., 4 ; holders of the office, 5, 
 6, 10, 11, 20, 2L 
 
 Admiralty, Board of, historical 
 growth of the system, 3-27 ; its 
 characteristics, 3, 4, 27 ; 155, 
 156 ; first establishment, 5, 6 ; 
 powers defined, 10 ; dissolved, 
 1701, 10; revived, 1709, 11; in 
 abeyance (May, 1827-Septem- 
 ber, 1828), 20; Civil Depart- 
 
 ments brought under its di- 
 rect control, 22 ; Board meet- 
 ings, 23-25, 158, 159 ; constitu- 
 tion up to 1869, 23 ; recon- 
 structed by Mr. Childers, 24 ; 
 its flexible character impaired, 
 24, 25 ; its naval element re- 
 duced, 25 ; changes introduced 
 under Mr. Goschen, 25, 26; 
 Patent of the Board and Orders 
 in Council, discrepancy between 
 these, and the responsibility of 
 the First Lord and the Board, 
 31-42 ; instances of direct gov- 
 ernment without a Board, 39 ; 
 existing organization and duties 
 of the several Lords, 45-57 ; 
 work of the Board, 158, et seq. 
 See Admiralty System, Navy 
 Estimates, Shipbuilding Pro- 
 grammes, etc. 
 
 Admiralty system, its advantages 
 and defects, 153-155 ; its cha- 
 racteristics, 155, 156 ; personal 
 intercommunication,flexibility, 
 and elasticity, 156, 157 ; prac- 
 tical working, 158. 
 
 Admiralty Office at Whitehall, 
 history and description of the 
 buildings, 185-187, 
 
210 
 
 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 Admiralty Courts, 13, 32, note. 
 
 Architectural and Engineering 
 Works, Director of, 53 ; his 
 Department and duties, 147- 
 149 ; a purchasing officer, 148. 
 
 Barrow, Sir John, Secretary to 
 the Admiralty, 19-21, 23. 
 
 Bibliography of official and other 
 volumes touching naval ad- 
 ministration, 201-207. 
 
 Briggs, Sir John, Accountant- 
 General, 20, 22. 
 
 Buckingham, Duke of. Lord High 
 Admiral, 6 ; his " Council of 
 the Sea" at "Whitehall, 185. 
 
 Burohett, Josiah, Secretary to the 
 Admiralty, 11. 
 
 Captain, H.M.S., case of, 25, 40, 
 41. 
 
 Chaplain-General of the Fleet, 
 108. 
 
 " Chest " at Chatham, 13. 
 
 Chief of the Staff appointed under 
 Mr. Childers, 25, 103. 
 
 Childers, Right Hon. W. H., 
 First Lord ; his changes at the 
 Admiralty, reconstitution of 
 the Board, 24 ; smaller number 
 of meetings and reduction of 
 the naval element in the Board, 
 25 ; effect of the changes, 25, 
 26, 158. 
 
 Civil Departments, their relation 
 to the Admiralty Board, 4 ; 
 brought under the Navy Board, 
 5 ; strained relations with the 
 Admiralty, 12 ; corrupt state, 
 1797, 12 ; enumerated, 13 ; con- 
 
 trol transferred from the Navy 
 Board to the Admiralty, 1830, 
 21, 22. See Navy Board. 
 
 Civil Lord of the Admiralty, 24, 
 26, 46 ; his duties explained, 
 54, 57 ; officers supervised, 147, 
 150. 
 
 Civil Lord of the Admiralty, 
 Additional non-Parliamentary, 
 appointed (temporarily), 1882, 
 26. 
 
 Clarence, Duke of (William IV.), 
 Lord High Admiral, 11, 20. 
 
 Clerk of the Acts, 6. 
 
 Coastguard, 101, 102. 
 
 Cockburn, Admiral Sir George, 20. 
 
 Commissioners of Naval Inquiiy, 
 1803, 15, 19. 
 
 Commissioners for Revising and 
 Digesting the Civil Affairs of 
 the Navy, 1806, 19. 
 
 Commonwealth, naval adminis- 
 tration under, 6. 
 
 Comptroller and Auditor-General, 
 93, 97, 182. 
 
 Contract and Purchase Depart- 
 ment formed, 25, 92, 133. See 
 Navy Contracts, Director of. 
 
 Contracts for hulls and machinery 
 of ships, etc., 135, 136, 140, 178- 
 180. 
 
 Controller (Comptroller) of the 
 Navy, 6 ; given a seat at the 
 Board, 24 ; loses it, 25 ; regains 
 it, 26. 
 
 Controller of the Navy and Third 
 Lord, 24; Store Department 
 placed under him, 25; his re- 
 sponsibility, 46 ; his duties ex- 
 plained, 51-53, 57 ; the work of 
 
INDEX. 
 
 211 
 
 his Departments described, 65- 
 100 ; the changes in his position, 
 66 ; his relation to the ship- 
 building programme, and the 
 design of ships, 166-171. 
 Croker, Mr. John Wilson, Secre- 
 tary, 20. 
 
 Dockyards, 14, 20, 90, 99, 181. 
 
 Dockyards," Director of, 52, 67 ; 
 his Department and duties de- 
 scribed, 89-92 ; change in his 
 official position, 91 ; his relation 
 to shipbuilding in the dock- 
 yards, 91, 168, 176, 177. 
 
 Dockyard Expense Accounts, In- 
 spector of, 53, 67 ; appointed 
 1886, 98 ; his duties explained, 
 98-100 ; advantages of the sys- 
 tem, 99. 
 
 Engineer-in-Chief of the Navy, 
 52, 67 ; his work and duties 
 described, 75, 76 ; his responsi- 
 bility to the Controller and the 
 Second Sea Lord, 77. 
 
 Finance Committee at the Ad- 
 miralty, 130. 
 
 Financial Control. See Parlia- 
 mentary and Financial Secre- 
 tary, Apcotmtant-General, Store 
 Accounts, Comptroller and Au- 
 ditor-General, etc. 
 
 First Lord of the Admiralty, his 
 powers and responsibilities, 4, 
 31-33, 38-42, 45, 164; holders 
 of the office^ 11, 12, 14, 19, 24, 
 25, 46 ; position, authority, and 
 duties explained, 46-48 ; rela- 
 
 tion to shipbuilding programme 
 and estimates, 167-169. 
 First Sea Lord of the Admiralty, 
 24 ; his responsibilities and 
 duties explained, 48, 49, 57 ; 
 officers supervised, 86, 143, 145 ; 
 his relation to the estimates 
 and shipbuilding programme, 
 166, 169. 
 
 George of Denmark, Prince, Lord 
 High Admiral, 11. 
 
 Goschen, Right Hon. G. J., First 
 Lord, his changes at the Admi- 
 ralty, 25. 
 
 Graham, Sir James, First Lord, 
 his opinions upon the Admiralty 
 system, 4, 20, 21, 32, 33, 38, 39, 
 48 ; his reforms, 6, 21-23, 112. 
 
 Greenwich Hospital; Receiver's 
 (or sixpenny) Office on Tower 
 Hill, 13 ; Director of, his office 
 and duties, 149, 150; Hospital 
 estates ; Greenwich, as an edu- 
 cational establishment, 150. 
 
 Hydrographer of the Navy, his 
 duties, 145. 
 
 James, Duke of York (James IL), 
 his work as a naval adminis- 
 trator, 6, 9, 10. 
 
 Junior Sea Lord, his responsi- 
 bility, 45 ; his duties explained, 
 53, 54, 57; officers supervised, 
 98, 107, 147. 
 
 Longitude, Board of, 13. 
 
 Marine Office in 1782, 13. See 
 Boyal Ma/rines. 
 
212 
 
 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 Medical Department, Director- 
 General of the, 22; his duties 
 described, 106-108. 
 
 Medical Service of the Navy, 106. 
 
 Melville, Viscount, First Lord, 
 his impeachment, 19. 
 
 Naval Academy, Portsmouth, 13. 
 
 Naval Construction, Director of, 
 and Assistant-Controller, 52, 
 67; his duties described, 68-75; 
 his work of ship-designing, 69, 
 70; Royal Corps of Naval Con- 
 structors, 70 ; his responsibility 
 for design and construction, 71 ; 
 shipbuilding at the dockyards, 
 71-73; by contract,73, 74; altera- 
 tions in ships, 74; in relation 
 to the shipbuilding programme, 
 168-169. 
 
 Naval Defence Act, 1889, 170. 
 
 Naval Intelligence, Director of, 
 his Department and its duties 
 described, 142-145 ; 165. 
 
 Naval Lords of the Admiralty, 
 23. See under First, Second-, 
 Third (Controller), and Junior 
 Sea Lords. 
 
 Naval Ordnance, Director of, 52, 
 67 ; account of his Department, 
 78-84 ; his duties, 84, 85. 
 
 Naval Reserves, Admiral Super- 
 intendent of, his duties ex- 
 plained, 101-104. 
 
 Naval Schools, Inspeotorof (Chap- 
 lain-General), 108. 
 
 Naval Secretary, temporary office, 
 appointed, 26. 
 
 NavyAppropriation Account, 182. 
 
 Navy Contracts, Director of, 96, 
 
 107 ; his Department and its 
 vi'ork described, 133-141 ; insti- 
 tuted, 1869, 133; the system 
 of contract and purchase, 134 ; 
 Mr. Forwood's Committee, 135; 
 its recommendations as to hulls 
 and machinery of ships, 135, 
 136, 140 ; system of selected 
 firms, 137, 138; sale of old 
 ships and stores, 140 ; his opera- 
 tions, 177. 
 
 Navy Board, established, 5; re- 
 constituted, 6 ; instructions of 
 James II. to the commissioners, 
 9, 10; St. Vincent and the 
 Navy Board, 14-19 ; abolished, 
 and the duties transferred to 
 principal officers under the Ad- 
 miralty, 1830, 21, 22. See 
 Civil Departments. 
 
 Navy Estimates, early, 9 ; votes, 
 53, 85, 90, 95, 107, 113, 148, 
 172 ; the Accountant-General 
 and the Estimates, 127, 129, 
 130 ; how prepared, 164, etseq. ; 
 Cabinet policy, 165 ; shipbuild- 
 ing programmes, 166; responsi- 
 bility for sufficiency, 167 ; 
 estimates of 1888, 168-170 ; pre- 
 paration of votes, 171, 172 ; 
 consideration by the Board, 
 173 ; allocation of money, 174 ; 
 detail of preparation of votes, 
 196-200. 
 
 Navy Office, Crutched Friars, 
 etc., the building, 187. 
 
 Navy Pay Office, Broad Street 
 and on Tower Hill, 13, 187. 
 
 Orders in Council, 14, 15, 20, 24, 
 
INDEX. 
 
 213 
 
 26 ; at variance with Admiralty 
 Patent, 31, 32, 38 ; referred to, 
 40, 45, 126, 127, 129 ; Text of 
 important Orders, 189-196. 
 Ordnance, naval, 5; Ordnance 
 Office in the Tower, 13 ; his- 
 torical sketch of naval ord- 
 nance, 79; responsihility for 
 naval guns transferred from the 
 War Office to the Admiralty, 
 and reasons for the change, 79- 
 82 ; existing system, 82, 84, 85 ; 
 opinions thereon, 83. See 
 Naval Ordnance, Director 
 of. 
 
 ParUamentary and Financial 
 Secretary of the Admiralty, 
 23, 25, 26 ; his responsibility, 
 46 ; his duties explained, 54, 
 55, 57 ; the Accountant-Gene- 
 ral, his Assistant, 123, 126, 129; 
 supervises the Director of Con- 
 tracts, 133. 
 
 Parliament, Acts of, 10, 21, 33, 
 34. 
 
 Patent of the Admiralty, at vari- 
 ance with the Orders in Council, 
 31-34, 38-39; Text of Patent, 35- 
 38; opinionof Sir James Graham 
 upon, 39. 
 
 Pembroke, Earl of. Lord High 
 Admiral, 10. 
 
 Pepys, Samuel, Clerk of the Acts 
 and Secretary, 9, 10. 
 
 Permanent Secretary of the Ad- 
 miralty, 23, 25, 26, 46 ; duties 
 of his Department, 55, 56, 57 ; 
 its work described at length, 
 60-64 ; Military (or Secret and 
 
 Political), Naval, Civil, and 
 Legal Branches, 62, 63. 
 
 Physician of the Na\^, 22. See 
 Medical Department, Direc- 
 tor-General of. 
 
 Public Accounts Committee, 93, 
 94, 97, 182. 
 
 Record Office at the Admiralty 
 instituted 1809, 20, 64; de- 
 scribed, 159, 160. 
 
 Reserves, how organized. See 
 Naval Reserves, Admiral 
 Superintendent of. 
 
 Responsibility of the First Lord 
 and the Board, 31, 38, 40-42, 
 46, 47. 
 
 Royal Corps of Naval Construc- 
 tors, 70. 
 
 Royal Marines, Deputy Adjutant- 
 General of, his duties described, 
 104, 105. 
 
 St. Vincent, Earl, First Lord, his 
 work as a naval reformer, 12, 
 14-19. 
 
 Sea Lords of the Admiralty. See 
 under First, Second, etc.. Sea 
 Lords. 
 
 Second Sea Lord, reappointed 
 1872, 25 ; responsibility, 45 ; 
 duties explained, 49-51, 57 ; 
 officers supervised, 75, 77, 101 ; 
 manning the Navy, 172. 
 
 Shipbuilding and designing, how 
 carried out under the officers of 
 the Controller's Department, 
 69-75; programmes, howframed, 
 165-170 ; responsibility for their 
 sufficiency, 167; selection of 
 
214 
 
 NAVAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 types of ships, 170, 171 ; 
 machinery bought by contract, 
 178 ; contract-built ships, and 
 the relation of the Admiralty to 
 contractors, 178-181. 
 
 Sick and Hurt Commissioners, 
 and Office, 13, 21. 
 
 Somerset House, Naval Depart- 
 ments at, 23, 188 ; transferred 
 to Whitehall, 25, 188. 
 
 Storekeeper-General of the Navy, 
 22 ; his purchasing duties taken 
 over by tiie Contract and Pur- 
 chase Department, 25. 
 
 Stores, Director of, 53, 67 ; his 
 duties and responsibility ex- 
 plained, 92-98; his store ac- 
 counts, 93, 94; the working of 
 hisdepartment, 94-97; to control 
 outlay, 175 ; his functions in 
 relation to shipbuilding, etc., 
 177. 
 
 Store Accounts (Naval, Victual- 
 ling, Medical, etc.) as com- 
 mitted to the Departmental 
 Officers, the Accountant- 
 General's power of "review" 
 done away with, and the audit 
 transferred to the Comptroller 
 and Auditor-General, 93, 94,97, 
 107, 112, 118, 119, 128, 129, 146, 
 147. 
 
 Surveyor of Marine Causes, 
 former, 6. 
 
 Surveyor of the Navy, 6, 22, 23. 
 See Controller. 
 
 Third Sea Lord of the Admiralty 
 and Controller. See Controller. 
 
 Torpedoes, Assistant Director of, 
 his duties and lesponsibilities 
 as Assistant of the Director of 
 Naval Ordnance, 85. 
 
 Treasurer of the Navy, 6. 
 
 Trinity House, 6, 13. 
 
 Transport Board instituted, 9; 
 abolished 1724, 13 ; revived 
 1794, 13; functions tranferred 
 to Commissioners of the Navy 
 and of Victualling, 1817, 13 ; 
 sketch of its history, 145, 146. 
 
 Transports, Director of, 112; his 
 duties, 145-147. 
 
 Victualling Board, 67, 112; com- 
 missioners appointed, 1683, 9 ; 
 Office on Tower Hill and 
 branches, 12, 13; commissioners 
 abolished, 1830, 21. 
 
 Victualling (and Transports), 
 Comptroller of, 1830, 23; his 
 purchasing duties taken over 
 by the Contract and Purchase 
 Department, 25, 112. 
 
 Victualling, Director of, his De- 
 partment and duties described, 
 113-120; estimates, 115; manu- 
 factures in the yards, 115, 116 ; 
 reception of stores, 116; filling 
 up of dep6ts, 117; "savings," 
 ships' accounts, 118; store ac- 
 counts, 118, 119; victualling 
 operations, 181. 
 
 CHlSWIClt PRESS :- CHARLES WHITTINQHAM AND CO. 
 TOOBS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON. 
 
Dedicated by Permission to H.R.H. the Duke of York. 
 
 Secofid Edition. Crown Svo, price los. 6d. 
 
 THE BRITISH FLEET. 
 
 THE GROWTH, ACHIEVEMENTS AND 
 
 DUTIES OF THE NAVY OF 
 
 THE EMPIRE. 
 
 BY 
 
 Commander CHARLES NAPIER ROBINSON, R.N. 
 
 WITH ABOUT ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY REPRODUCTIONS OF 
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