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Maps, plates, charts, etc.. may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many framfts as required. The following diagrams illustrate ihe method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc.. peuvent dtre filmte d des taux de reduction diffirents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul ciichA. il est filmA A partir de I'angle supArieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images nAcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 -OS^ SUGGESTIONS FOH THE SIVKKHY AM) SKClHi: {'ONVKVANCK ur ori! REINFORCEMENTS ro C A K A D A BY CAPT. BOWLES, H.N, i'jiiN TKi) ion TIfi; Al TllOlt, ws II. I'l'.vi'i: \\!; -'is. row I'.i;- II [[, i^ ^^ o LONDON, •r,th December, 1837. i- It will be seen that the following letter was written to the then First Lord of the Admiralty immediately after the emljarkation of the army for Lisbon, in the winter of 182G. The weather fortunately proved favourable, and the squadron made a very short passage to the Tagus, but if it had been delayed in the Bay of Biscay by the S. W. gales, so frequent at that season of the year, the troops must hi ve suffered severely, as they were much crowded in the men of war, the Wellesley of seventy-four guns, having 1,300 men on board, and the other ships being almost equally full. As this is the only occurrence of the sort since the peace, the attention of the Admiralty does not appear to have been since drawn to this subject, and with the exception of two ships of war (the Jupiter and Athol) fitted for this purpose, the practice of conveying troops to foreign stations in hired merchant vessels, has been persevered in. At this moment, however, when, according to all present appearances, a great effort must be made early in the spring, to send out a large reinforcement to our army in Canada, and when every practicable precau- tion should be taken to provide for their speedy and secure conveyance, and for their disembarking in a perfect state of discipline and efficiency, I hope I may be permitted, without presumption, to urge the con- sideration of this most important subject on our naval administration, and I have thought I might do so with more propriety in now publishing a letter, written some years on a nearly similar occasion ; because if the A 2 \ 2i .'ir^niiiCMts I llicn urgvtl should not he thought worthy of attention, I havo very little to otFer in addition to them. Those who are acquainted with the coast of North America, and more particulnrly with the entrance of the St. Laurence, "when the navigation first heconies ])ructica})h!, will, I nni sure, agree witli nie in tliinking that too many pi-ecautions cfinnot he taken to secure our troops against the various risks they nnist encounter from fogs, floating ice, inclement weather, &:c. kc. and that their security, health, and discipline, can oidy he satisfactorily provided for ))y emha-king them in ships of war, carefully fitted and arranged for theii- conveyance. I cannot conclude these observations, without very earnestly soliciting the ev>tion of the Ordnance Depai'tment, to the sug ^ons I have ottered with respect to the conveyance of stores belonging to that Department ; and as it is by no means impossible that piratical privateers may be found cruizing at the mouth of the St. Laurence next summer, I cannot avoid i-e- calling to their recollection, that at one of the most important periods of the war with the United States, and when the ai'mament of our squadron on the Lakes was of such vital consequence to our operations, an Ordnance transport, full of guns and artillery stores, bound to Quebec, having lost its convoy in a fog on the banks of Newfoundland, was captured by an American privateer, and having been carried safely into Boston, enabled the enemy to fit out their squadron •nt intended foi' our own. quij) '.J|j^ •i f t VV. BOWLES. i £»* TO rriK VISCOUNT mijaillk, &c. i,yc. cVc 4. 4f ^ ' LONDON, lG//i Drcembcr, 18'26. My Lord, The permission wliicli your Lordshij) lias occasionally been kind enough to give me, to lay before you suggestions on various subjects connected with the public service, encourages me to take the liberty of offering some observa- tions which, at the present moment, your Lordshi p may not deem unworthy of consideration , and which, indeed, I have been principally induced to submit in consequence of the recent preparations for the embarkation of troops, which happened to fall under my own observation a few days since at Portsmouth. It has often been a subject of remark amongst professional men, that complete as our naval preparations are in every other branch of service, and thoroughly provided as we are with every other class of ship which would be required at the commencement of hostilities, yet, that by some oversight, we have been always unprepared with the means of rapidly embarking and transporting to any distant point, such a body of troops, as at the breaking out of a war must (i ill ways be ur<;»'ntly r('(jiiii'(j(l, (Mtlicr tor ofl'd'HxiNi* or tk'lriisivc |)ii)'j)()S('s, williout rosurtiiig to one of two ('xjx'diciits, both of wliicli arc lial)lc to sti'oiig objections — namely, th.' employing our line-ot-battle sliips on this service, or hiring a largo number of merclnmt ships tor transports. Against the first, may be urged the great liazard we mi<»ht incur in the face of an active and enterprizing enemy, by disarming and dis- uiganizing a most iniijortaiit part of our naval force, at the very moment when every effort should be made to increase and perfect its efficiency. None but professional men can have an idea of the total subversion of all previous order and arrangement which inevitably follows the end)arking a large niunber of troops on board a regular ship of the line — the crew are driven from the deck they usually occupy, to damp and exposed berths on the main deck, where they have no sufficient accommodation either for messing or sleeping ; the officers are turned out of their cabins, and the troops them- selves being obliged either to sleep in hammocks which they in general do not understand, or to lie on the deck, usually prefer the latter, and if the voyage is long and stormy, or the weather cold and wet, much sickness will be the inevitable; c(mse(pience botli amongst the seamen and soldiers, much relaxation of order and discipline '4» ^ ^ 4 t i i ,^ will follow, ;ni(l sonic months iiiav vcvv |)rol);il)ly clapsi' het'orc the t'ornicr cHicioncy of the ship is thoi'oiiohly ri'stoi'cd. 'riie second niodcol' conveying- Troops in hired nierchant ships is CMpially ohjectionahh' — the |)ul)- licity whieli is unavoidable wlien tlu! ships are contracted for, defeats all hope of secrecy as to the force or destination of the expedition, and the innu- merable evils which have resulted from the io-no- ranee and misconduct of the masters, the bad sailing and imperfect equipment of the ships, added to their total want of force to resist even a common privateer, all combine to render this the most unsafe mann(>r of conveying' ti'oops which can be devised. A great maritime nation should always be prepared with the means of embarking a consi- derable force rapidly and secretly, and this can only be done by previous system and arrange- ment, and by providing such a number of ships of w^ar adapted to this particular purpose as may ensure its accomplishment with the least possible delay. I believe that the experience of the last war fully proved that either the smaller class of ships of the line, or frigates fitted as troop ships were the most economical, as well as the most efficient classes of ships which could be employed for this service. They will carry with ease from 400 to 600 men, to the greatest distance for 8 wliicli fliL'v ciiu be r(M|iiiir(l, and ni coiiisc more For slKtrtcr vovaucs. Tlicy an- respcctivc^ly navi^'atcd by an ostal)- lislinicnt of orticcrs und tncii littlr oxcccdint;- in nnnibt'i' tbat of a friji^atc or a sloop of war. They are fast sailcryi, vcrv siifHcicntlv armed, and their appearance is so warlike, as to deter an enemy, not very snperior in force, from approach iney fall in witli. I have been \M by a strong feeling of the importance of the snbject to dwell longer than 1 had intended on these })reliminary observations, and 1 will now l)riefly state the pro})osition which I take the liberty of submitting for yonr Lord- ship's consideration. It is that a certain propor- tion of troop ships should in future be considered as an indispensable part of the establishment of His Majesty's Navy, — that the whole of these should be perfectly complete, as far as respects their internal fitting, and readiness for service, and that such a proportion of them as would carry five or six thousand men, (about twelve or four- teen) should be kept in commission, with a commander, and a small establishment of officers "k -K ^k > oil boiml, so fliat in tlic rvciit of any suddcti ft c'lMiM'i^ciicy i('(jnirinji' sccvct'y and (lisp;«^cli, troops liiil^'ht be silently moved to the ceasi, and em- barked at the sliortest notiee on board sliips in all respects j)erfertly J^repared for their accom- modation, and ready to proceed instantly, and Avithontc()nvov, to their destination. — from fifteen hnndred to two thousand seamen are all which wonltl l)e required to compi^'te these ships, sup- posing them to bo totally unmanned when the order was o-iven, while our regular naval force need be in no way interfered with or disorganized, l)ut might proceed in its erpiipment with all possible celerity. I would only beg leave to add one further suggestion. During the late war, ships of war fitted for the purpose were very freipiently employed for the conveyance of infantry, bnt cavalry and artillery continued to be transported as formerly, In hired merchant ships, and the delays and misfortunes which resulted were fi'cciuent, and highly injurious to our operations. There can be no difficnlty wdiatever in fitting a proper number of our smaller and half-worn out frigates for these purposes, and then any expe- dition which sails will be a complete army, fully equipped for immediate service, and divested of every incundjrance which might impede or retard it. \ 10 Tliosc ofiicers who remember the dehays and disasters of Admiral Cliristian's ill-fated expe- ditions will, I am sure, a<>^rec with me in asserting, th;it the misfortunes which befel it could not have oeeurrcd to an army embarked on board ships of the description I propose, and J confi- dently appeal to those who were present at the landing in Egypt to decide whether that brilliant and ivmarkable operation was not most mate- rially facilitatc^l by the number of ships of war fitted for the conveyance of troops, wliich accompanied the fleet on that occasion. If at some future period we commence hosti- lities, without any previous preparation of this sort, ir is easy to foresee the confusion, disappoint- ment, and enormous increase of expense which would immediately ensue. The reduced state of all our establishments leaves our foreign garrisons on the lowest possible scale, and immediate reinforcements to all our colonies would become matter of the most urgent necessity. Contracts for transports of every description must then be hastily entered into, on such terms as the owners miglit think fit to impose, and with but little time to examine iuto the condition and equipment of the vessels so engaged. At such a moment, every advan- ta<4'e would l)e taken by those interested, of the necessities of (u)vernment, and the imperfections n X <* :ind inefficiency of many of the vessels would only be discovered when it was too late to remedy them. Two other most serious objections present themselves immediately to the mind of any one who will seriously consider this subject. The first is the competition for seamen which would inevitably be excited betw^een the transport service and the royal navy, (the former giving much higher w^ages and offering many superior inducements,) at a moment when every exertion would necessarily be making to prepare a large fleet for sea. The second, that a very great proportion oi' the vessels hired would be fitted out in tlie Thames or in the eastern ports to w^hicli they belonged, and that in addition to the delays inseparable from their preparations for this new service, they must be convoyed separately round to the western ports, from which the embarkation of troops would in all probability take place. It would defy all calculation to predict w^hen a large number of merchant vessels under these circumstances could be assembled at Plymoutli or Cork, especially during the winter half-year, while with our regular troop ships no delay whatever need take place, each might proceed separately (and secretly if it was wished) to the appointed destination ; and it is, perhaps, not too 12 imicli to s.iv, that tlio shins coiincn iiio- rtiii- forcomciils in tliis maniior to tho West Iniliop, MeditciTaiieaii, or Nortli America, might Jiavc performed the; service they were dispatched on and returned to England, before an unwieldy convoy of hired transports, fit*^ed out under the circumstances I have describi'd, would have cleared the channel. To bring this system to perfection, it will only be necessary instead of too rapidly breaking up or selling ships whicli may from age become une(]ual to the weight of their heavy masts and guns, to give them such a re])air as may render them equal to this lighter species of service, and completing all their internal fittings, preserve them in equal readiness w^ith the rest of our navy for immediate service, employing such as it may be deemed advisable to keep in commission on those various services for which a very consider- able expense in tlie hire of transports is now continually incurred. I have the honor to be, Mr Lord, Your Lordship's Most obedient Servant, W. BOWLES.