SS Britannia

“ The French and Turks, who formed one line, naturally led; the Britannia followed, close to the Charlemagne, the rearmost of the French line. An inshore squadron had been formed, consisting of the Agamemnon, Sanspareil, and London, which was afterwards joined by the Albion and other ships. The Britannia, the most southern of the British ships, took up her position opposite Fort Constantine; next to her in succession were the Trafalgar, Vengeance, Rodney, and Queen. ”

“ English men-of-war were ere long, however, to teach them to sing a different note. A fleet of ninety-nine sail, including the Dutch ships, was got ready by May, 1692. The English fleet was divided into two squadrons, the Red and the Blue. Among the ships we find the names of many which have become famous in naval history. There were six ships of 100 guns each. In the Red Squadron there was the Britannia, carrying the flag of Admiral Russell; the Royal Sovereign, that of Vice-Admiral Sir Ralph Delaval; the London, that of the rear-admiral, Sir Cloudesly Shovel ”

“ On March 17th, 1897, while both the captain and the wardroom officers were entertaining guests at dinner, a sensational incident occurred. The Britannia, it will be recollected, has a solitary mast; not a large one for a vessel of her size, but sufficiently lofty to be a target for lightning, and provided with the usual copper strip for conductor. While dinner was in progress there was a shock, plainly felt throughout the ship, and a blinding glare, while a tremendous peal of thunder simultaneously resounded overhead ”

“ It is now time to take leave of the Britannia. Her story has been followed pretty closely for 46 years, from the day on which Captain Harris received his first batch of cadets on board the Illustrious; and it is hoped that the life on board and the various vicissitudes of the ship under successive administrations have been described with sufficient accuracy to give a true picture of this institution—an institution which has had a bearing and influence upon the efficiency of the [Pg 241] Navy during all these years, the importance of which can scarcely be overrated. ”

“ The cadets began to come up in twos and threes, their hands stuffed well into the pockets of their monkey jackets; soon, however, they were summoned to “bring ship to an anchor,” as the Britannia, with the Trafalgar still in close attendance, rounded the breakwater and approached her moorings, already laid down. Not even Captain Harris, however, would venture on the experiment of picking up moorings of this class under sail, in a three-decker, jury rigged, with her topsails on the cap ”

“ Wales, 25; the Isle of Man, 6; the Channel Islands, 5; and the Scilly Isles, Shetland, and Skye, 1 each. The full total of all ranks and ratings on board the Britannia at Trafalgar, as mustered on the 20th of October, numbered 31 officers, 599 seamen ratings (petty officers, able seamen, ordinary seamen, and landmen) , 28 boys, 126 marines, 5 supernumeraries, and 8 “widows’ men,” making 797 in all. The ship’s official complement as a first rate was 837, so that the Britannia was really 40 men short in the action. ”

“ If the initials of the writer are genuine, his time in the training-ship goes back a long way, somewhere in the ’sixties. He appears to hold a poor opinion of the cadets of those days, and says the captains were as bad as the rest.
On October 14th Admiral Sir Nowell Salmon and [Pg 146] “Through the Mill” come to the rescue, and stoutly defend the Britannia, pointing out that, judging from the officers eventually turned out, the ship cannot be a sink of iniquity such as is represented, and that bullying will always go on to a certain extent among a number of boys. ”

“ The only excuse for holding the Beaconfield in fault is that her pilot was bound to know the existence of the eddy which gave the Britannia's bow a swing to port before she answered her wheel to swing to starboard. Considering, however, the proximity of the two vessels at this time, and the failure of the Britannia to promptly respond to the Beaconsfield's whistle, I do not think the pilot of the latter was bound to know the precise moment when the Britannia would begin to answer her helm, and swing her bow to starboard. ”

“ It was then that the mate and his crew, enraged at the death of the captain, and finding that the ship was likely to be pounded to pieces, determined to get under weigh and come to close quarters with the enemy, for the Britannia was a wonderfully fast ship, and carried a crew of fifty-seven men. ”

“ From the early part of the century, British men-of-war have been employed on the African coast blockade, but for a long time, as only a few 10-gun brigs, and they inefficient vessels, were sent out, and as there were scarcely ever more than six cruisers at a time on the coast, during twenty years, from 1819 to 1839, only 333 slave-vessels were captured; whereas after that period a superior class of 16 and 18-gun brigs and sloops of war, and latterly fast screw-steamers, fitted for sailing as well as for steaming, were employed ”

“ A careful watch was kept on the movements of the Britannia, and it was observed not only that she did not swing to starboard, but also that she was showing a little more of her starboard side to the Beaconsfield; thereupon those upon the Beaconsfield, while still about four lengths from the Britannia, blew another single whistle, and, hearing no answer, put their wheel hard a-port, and stopped, and reversed full speed. Her engines were kept reversed until her headway was stopped. ”

“ As both the district court and the circuit court, though for somewhat different reasons, found the Britannia to be in fault, and as we agree with them in that conclusion, it is not necessary for us to go at length into that part of the controversy. It is sufficient to say that it appears that the Britannia came so close to Governor's island that she grazed the bottom, and rendered it necessary for her pilot to direct her engines to be put at full speed till she cleared the ground. After that the speed of the vessel was slowed, and her wheel was put hard a-port to round into East river. ”

“ While one British fleet was attacking the Russians on the southern shores of their empire, another of still greater power was sent up the Baltic to prove to them that no part of their coasts was safe. Great results were naturally expected from it, and, indeed, England had never before sent so really powerful a fleet to sea—not on account of the number of the ships, but from their means of inflicting injury, most of them possessing steam power, while their guns were more effective than any which had before been used. ”

“ They both, in compliance with the rule of navigation applicable to such a case, endeavored to pass under the stern of the other vessel by porting the helm, and they both, when it was seen that the vessel was not swinging as rapidly to the starboard as was expected, stopped and reversed engines. The reason why, if the Rhondda was justly exonerated, the Britannia is not entitled to a like judgment, is found in the different circumstances in which the vessels were placed. ”

“ Moreover, the art of seamanship—i.e. of handling a ship on all occasions to the best advantage—can never become obsolete so long as there are ships afloat; it may change its nature, and the consequent requirements of a good seaman, who is still, however, par excellence, the man who can efficiently manage the ship or boat committed to his charge.
There are some who should know better than “Veritas”—as, for instance, Captain (now Admiral) Fitzgerald—who at this very time complained that seamanship was too much sacrificed in the Britannia to a multiplicity of other subjects. ”

“ Within a few months of his arrival, the Britannia, eighteen guns, built at Carwar, the Fame, sixteen guns, built at Surat, and the Revenge, sixteen guns, built at Bombay, were flying the Company's flag. It was easier to build ships than to get sailors to man them, in view of the miserable pay given by the Company, and the attractions of service under native chiefs. Many of the crews were foreigners, who were ready enough to take service with Angria, if the inclination took them, and the bulk of the crews were Indian lascars. ”

“ The visit must not be delayed too long, however; the last days of the Britannia are approaching, and in a year or two the familiar twin hulls, with the connecting bridge, and the flotilla of steam and sailing boats clustered about them, will have disappeared. The last batch of cadets under the old regulations will be entered in November, 1905; and it is probable that, if space permit, they will be housed in the College now rising on the hill, while the ship may be kept on for a time as an overflow, or as a store for marine appliances, etc.
The old gives place to the new ”

“ We are apt to forget when we see an elaborate machine, the immense quantity of mental and physical exertion it represents, the efforts of the united minds perhaps of many successive generations, and the labour of thousands of workmen. I propose briefly to trace the progress which the British Navy has made from age to age, as well as its customs, and the habits of its seamen, with their more notable exploits since the days when this tight little island of ours first became known to the rest of the world. ”

“ As a proof of the disinterestedness of the British, it should be known that of all the slaves liberated few, if any, were English. The Dutch admiral and his officers behaved with the greatest gallantry, each ship taking up her position as close to the enemy’s batteries as she could get. It was the first time that wooden ships were fairly matched against stone walls; the result proved that, provided the ships can get close enough, the advantage will be on their side, unless the stone batteries are of far greater thickness than any that had hitherto been erected. ”

“ At the period of Elizabeth’s accession, owing to the treachery as much as to the supineness of her predecessor, of the Royal Navy which had been created by Henry the Eighth, only twenty-three vessels of war, few of them of more than 600 tons burden, remained. There was one only of 800, one of 700, a few being above 200, while the remainder were sloops or other small craft. The Government had therefore to depend chiefly on private ships in the war with France, and the expected struggle of far greater magnitude with Spain. ”

“ The failure of the captain of the Britannia, or whoever was responsible, to produce the medals at the proper moment would, of course, be immediately followed by the mandate, “Off with his head!” or at the least, “To the Tower with the knave!”
However, a saviour was found in the person of Lieutenant Woollcombe, who was mounted in some official capacity, and who, on learning of the impending disaster, stuck his spurs in his horse and tore at full gallop through the town to the pontoon, where the Dolphin was found lying ”

“ Three exploded one after another, doing very little harm; but a heavily armed launch, which had chased one of the boats towing a catamaran, ran foul of it, when the launch and every one on board was blown into the air.
Numerous other engagements took place, and frequently the portions of the flotilla moving from the different ports towards Boulogne were severely handled by the British cruisers. Occasionally, small English vessels, venturing too close inshore for the purpose of attacking them, were captured by the French. ”

“ She was carried by her captor into Lisbon to be refitted, and was added to the British Navy under the same name. Proverbially thoughtless as are British seamen, they have ever shown themselves equally kind and generous to those in distress. On this occasion the French crew being found destitute of means for their support when at Lisbon, a subscription was raised on board the Bellona and Brilliant, as well as among the merchants on shore, to enable them to return to France. ”

“ For the deck it was their field of fame,
And ocean was their grave;
Where Blake and mighty Nelson fell,
Your manly hearts shall glow,
As ye sweep through the deep
While the stormy winds do blow;
While the battle rages loud and long,
And the stormy winds do blow.
Britannia needs no bulwarks,
No towers along the steep;
Her march is o'er the mountain-waves,
Her home is on the deep.
With thunders from her native oak,
She quells the floods below,
As they roar on the shore,
When the stormy winds do blow.
While the battle rages loud and long,
And the stormy winds do blow. ”

“ When Britain first at Heaven's command,
⁠Arose from out the azure main,
Arose, arose, arose from out the azure main
⁠This was the charter, the charter of the land,
And guardian angels sang this strain,
⁠Rule Britannia! ”

“ Thus we clearly see how enormously the dimensions of steamers have increased; for instance, the Britannia (1840) was 1,154 tons, and 207 feet long, and had accommodation for 115 cabin passengers, no “steerage” being carried. But the Cedric is nearly 31⁄2 times longer, and carries 3,000 people across the Atlantic, besides her crew of 350 hands. In the same ratio of progression, ships (they will not be called steamers, but electrofers) 2,500 feet long, with comfortable quarters for 75,000 human beings, will be the order of the day! ”

“ While the Americans were capturing over seven hundred British vessels during the first two years of the war, as many as nine hundred American ships were taken or sunk by the enemy, a rate of destruction which fairly swept the Stars and Stripes from the tracks of ocean commerce. As prizes these vessels were sold at Liverpool and London for an average amount of two thousand pounds each and the loss to the American owners was, of course, ever so much larger. ”