on Naval Tactics. Itt' 



Though the professed men of science in this country have not 

 j)aid much attention to naval tactics, yet there have been some 

 gentlemen amateurs who have devoted their leisure to the study 

 of this subject ; but how far their labours are likely to benefit 

 the naval profession, is a question that perhaps may be doubted. 

 Their works, at least, ought to be properly examined, and their 

 merits or defects fairly pointed out. Of this class is the Essay 

 on Naval Tactics, by the late John Clerk, Esq. of Eldin, which 

 lately has been the cause of extensive discussion in relation to a 

 claim for the discovery of an important evolution that is affirmed 

 by him and his friends to be of such importance^ that, for half 

 a century, it has enabled the commanders of the fleets of Britain 

 to conquer almost uniformly those of France. Tnis is certainly 

 a high claim for an amateur writer on naval tactics. That claim 

 deserves to be well examined, and its merits thoroughly discuss- 

 ed, not by men partially or imperfectly acquainted with theore- 

 tical principles alone, but by those who, from their extensive 

 scientific knowledge and undoubted practical experience, are 

 fully competent to the task. It has been long asserted or insi- 

 nuated by Mr Clerk's friends, that he gave a tract on naval 

 tactics, or at least communicated the principles contained in it, 

 either to Lord Rodney or to Sir Charles Douglas, the captain of 

 the fleet, on which these two distinguished naval officers acted 

 when the British fleet, under the command of the former, gained 

 the great victory over the French fleet, commanded by Count 

 de Grasse, in the West Indies, on the 12th of April in the year 

 1782. 



This claim is thoroughly examined, and its merits, as a naval 

 evolution, completely discussed in a tract by Major-General Sir 

 Howard Douglas, a distinguished scientific and practical writer 

 on military and naval warfare, which is now under our consider- 

 ation. He is the son of the late Sir Charles Douglas, who was 

 captain of the fleet on that memorable day, and possesses, un- 

 doubtedly, every requisite to enter eff'ectually upon this just, 

 though delicate, task. 



It ought to be premised, that, in the British navy, it was the 

 established practice to attack the enemy's fleet from the wind- 

 ward, or to bear down upon it, as it is technically called. I'o 

 do this, it is necessary to gain the weather-gage, which is fre- 



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