Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/304

Rh 292 NAVY The civil powers and duties of the lord high admiral, or lords commissioners of the Admiralty, are treated of in the article ADMIRAL. Their military powers are more extensive and important. By their orders all ships are built, repaired, fitted for sea, or laid up in reserve, broken up, or sold, put in commission or out of commission, armed, stored, and provisioned, and employed on the home or foreign stations, or on voyages of discovery. All promotion in the several ranks emanates from them ; all honours bestowed for brilliant services, and all pensions, gratuities, and superannuations for wounds, infirmities, and long services are granted by them or on their recom mendation. All returns from the fleet are sent to the Board of Admiralty, and everything that relates to the discipline and good order of every ship. All orders for the payment of naval moneys are issued to the accountant- general of the navy by the lords commissioners of the Admiralty; and the annual estimate of the expenses of the navy is prepared by them, and laid before parliament for its sanction. All new inventions and experiments are tried by their orders before being introduced into the service ; all designs of ships must be approved by them ; all repairs, alterations, and improvements in the dockyards, and all new buildings of every description, must be sub mitted for their decision before they are undertaken. All flag-officers, commanders-in-chief, are considered as responsible for the conduct of the fleet or squadron under their command. They are bound to keep them in perfect condition for service ; to exercise them frequently in form ing orders of sailing and lines of battle, and in performing all such evolutions as may occur in the presence of an enemy ; to direct the commanders of squadrons and divisions to inspect the state of each ship under their com mand ; to see that the established rules for good order, discipline, and cleanliness are observed ; and occasionally to inquire into these and other matters themselves. They are required to correspond with the secretary of the Admiralty, and report to him all their proceedings. Every flag-officer serving in a fleet, but not commanding it, is required to superintend all the ships of the squadron or division placed under his orders, to see that their crews are properly disciplined, that all orders are punctually attended to, that the stores, provisions, and water are kept as complete as circumstances will admit, that the seamen and marines are frequently exercised, and that every precaution is taken for preserving the health of their crews. When at sea, he is to take care that every ship in his division preserves her station, in whatever line or order of sailing the fleet may be formed ; and in battle he is to observe attentively the conduct of every ship near him, whether of the squadron or division under his immediate command or not ; and at the end of the battle he is to report it to the commander-in-chief, in order that commendation or censure may be passed, as the case may appear to merit ; and he is empowered to send an officer to supersede any captain who may misbehave in battle, or whose ship is evidently avoiding the engagement. If any flag-officer be killed in battle his flag is to be kept flying, and signals to be repeated, in the same manner as if he were still alive, until the battle shall be ended ; but the death of a flag-officer, or his being rendered incapable of attending to his duty, is to be conveyed as expeditiously as possible to the commander-in-chief. Captain The captain of the fleet is a temporary rank, where a of the commander-in-chief has ten or more ships of the line under his command ; it may be compared with that of adjutant- general in the army. He may either be a flag-officer or one of the senior captains ; in the former case, he takes his rank with the flag-officers of the fleet ; in the latter, he ranks next to the junior rear-admiral, and is entitled to fleet. the pay and allowance of a rear-admiral. All orders of the commander-in-chief are issued through him, all returns of the fleet are made through him to the commander-in- chief, and he keeps a journal of the proceedings of the fleet, which he transmits every three months to the Admiralty. He is appointed and can be removed from this situation only by the lords commissioners of the Admiralty. A commodore is a temporary rank, and of two kinds, Comma the one having a captain under him in the same ship, and dore. the other without a captain. The former has the rank, pay, and allowances of a rear-admiral, the latter the pay and allowances of a captain and special allowance as the lords of the Admiralty may direct. They both carry distinguishing pennants. When a captain is appointed to command a ship of war Captaix he commissions the ship by hoisting his pennant ; and if fresh out of the dock, and from the hands of the dockyard officers, he proceeds immediately to prepare her for sea, by demanding her stores, provisions, guns, and ammunition from the respective departments, according to her establish ment. He enters such petty officers, leading seamen, able seamen, ordinary seamen, artificers, stokers, firemen, and boys as may be sent to him from the flag or receiving ship. If he be appointed to succeed the captain of a ship already in commission, he passes a receipt to the said captain for the ship s books, papers, and stores, and becomes respon sible for the whole of the remaining stores and provisions;, and, to enable him to keep a proper check upon the ship s accounts, he is allowed a clerk or assistant-clerk. The duty of the captain of a ship, with regard to the several books and accounts, pay-books, entry, musters, dis charges, &c., is regulated by various Acts of Parliament ; but the state of the internal discipline, the order, regularity, cleanliness, and the health of the crews will depend mainly on himself and his officers. In all these respects the general printed orders for his guidance contained in the Queen s Regulations and Admiralty Instructions are particularly precise and minute. And, for the informa tion of the ship s company, he is directed to cause the articles of war, and abstracts of all Acts of Parliament for the encouragement of seamen, and all such orders and regulations for discipline as may be established, to be hung up in some public part of the ship, to which the men may at all times have access. He is also to direct that they be read to the ship s company, all the officers being present, once at least in every month. He is desired to be particularly careful that the chaplain have shown to him the attention and respect due to his sacred office by all the officers and men, and that divine service be performed every Sunday. He is not authorized to inflict summary punishment on any commissioned or warrant-officer, but he may place them under arrest, and suspend any officer who shall misbehave, until an opportunity shall offer of trying such officer by a court-martial. He is enjoined to- be very careful not to suffer the inferior officers or men to be treated with cruelty and oppression by their superiors. He is the authority who can order punishment to be in flicted, which he is never to do without sufficient cause, nor ever with greater severity than the offence may really deserve, nor until twenty-four hours after the crime has been committed, which must be specified in the warrant ordering the punishment. He may delegate this authority to a limited extent to certain officers. All the officers and the whole ship s company are to be present at every ! punishment, which must be inserted in the log-book, and an abstract sent to the Admiralty every quarter. The commander has the chief command in small vessels, com- such as sloops and gun-vessels. In larger vessels he is maudei chief of the staff to the captain, and assists him in main taining discipline, and in sailing and fighting the ship.