1830.] Naval Administration of Great Britain. 629 



to the unwise and impolitic conduct of our naval administration during 

 the preceding peace,, and to the inferior description of ships which we 

 had persisted in building/' the Admiral goes on to say,, 



ft The war with the United States had but too clearly developed the system of 

 naval policy on which our new rival for maritime superiority was successfully 

 acting. Their three principal classes of ships, although nominally of the same 

 force as our own, were really nearly one-third superior in size, calibre of guns, 

 and number of men ; and various unsuccessful actions had but too clearly proved 

 that neither professional skill nor the most brilliant personal courage and exer- 

 tions could compensate for this great disproportion of force. 



" I had therefore felt perfectly confident that, when we began to turn our 

 thoughts seriously towards rebuilding our navy, a measure which at the termina- 

 tion of the war had become one of inevitable necessity, the greater part of our 

 ships, and especially the smaller classes, being in a very decaying state, the con- 

 siderations to which I have referred would have their due weight ; and that in 

 determining the dimensions and force of our new ships, we should, instead of 

 adhering servilely to old models and classes, be very careful to build such only 

 as might be fully capable of opposing at least an equal force to that which we 

 were to encounter: and this was the more necessary, because it very soon became 

 universally known that the success of the American navy had produced a deep 

 impression throughout Europe, and that France especially, as well as several mi- 

 nor maritime powers, were following the example of that system which had been 

 attended with such beneficial results. 



" I saw with much pleasure that, with respect to our ships of the line, we were 

 very judiciously abandoning our old-fashioned and heavy-sailing second-rates, 

 and determining to build in future no three-deckers smaller than the Caledonia ; 

 and that our new two-deckers were to be powerful eighty-four-gun ships, carry- 

 ing twenty-four-pounders on the main deck, and therefore, in my opinion, not 

 materially inferior even to the Americans. But here, alas ! my satisfaction ended ; 

 and what was my disappointment when I saw between forty and fifty new 

 frigates laid down in our different dock-yards, all, except eight, built on old French 

 models, carrying eighteen-pounders only on the main deck ; all, in short, of the 

 force of the unfortunate Java and Guerriere, possessing all the dejects of these 

 ships, their want of room and stowage / and that we were consequently replacing" 

 our frigates on the same footing of comparative inferiority which I had hoped 

 it would have been our first study to avoid ! I should have thought that instead 

 of incurring such an immense expense* in building frigates of an inferior descrip- 

 tion, it would have been better economy and wiser policy to have contented our- 

 selves with a smaller number, but of a superior class, following rather the model 

 of the Pomone and the twenty-four-pound frigates built after that beautiful ship, 

 one of which, the Endymion,f proved in her action with the President, the 

 largest of the American frigates, that those of this class are very little, if at all, 

 inferior to any single-decked ship. 



ff It will hardly, therefore, appear credible, that while we have been building 

 at such an expense so large a number of small frigates, we have not since the 

 peace laid down a single one on the model of the Pomone or Endymion ; a class 

 which excel the former as much in good qualities of sailing and stowage, as in 

 the more important point of superior force. ' 



The capture of the Java calls forth reflections which we can with dif- 

 ficulty suppress. We only regret that we dare not safely quote the last 

 words of her dying commander, the heroic Captain Lambert. 



* Probably nearly two millions, taking the old calculation of 1000. per gun. 

 f The President was captured by a squadron, but engaged by the Endymion only. The 

 loss in killed and wounded stood thus : 



K. w. Total. 



President 35 70 105 



Endymion 11 14 25 



