a 
: 
2 
d 
1828.] 
of the service and of his friends. He thought so 
favourably of it, that, having suggested one or 
two alterations, which I effected to his satisfac- 
tion, he directed me to deliver it to the President 
of a Committee of Officers then engaged on sig- 
nals; bat it was returned tome ina few days with- 
out its haying been even taken into consideration | 
a circumstance I have since had occasion to recaj 
to the recollection of Lord Melville. 
~ In 1822, another distinguished flag officer kindly 
offered to recommend it to Lord Melville, as an 
acquisition to the service; but here I was again 
disappointed, on receiving it some months after 
wards from Vice-Admiral Sir George Cockburn, 
who informed me that the Board had no inten- 
tion of changing the signals then in use, 
In 1825, I obtained permission to see the sig- 
nals then in use, which had been adopted in ]815> 
‘and after having carefully examined them, I 
again transmitted my system to the Board of Ad- 
miralty, and pvinted out the numerous adyan- 
tages it possessed oyer those signals; and farther 
Tepresented, that as my code required less than 
half the number of flags and pendants, an impor- 
tant economy would result from the adoption 
of it. 
On that occasion their lordships honoured me 
with a letter of thanks, and my code, together 
with two others, composed also by admirals, was 
submitted to a committee of flag officers, one of 
whom, after having had our signals under his 
examination for about a month, resigned his seat, 
and gave in a code of his own.* 
As soon as the deliberations of the Committee 
were terminated, I addressed a letterto the Board 
of Admiralty, requesting to be informed whether 
or not my code had been adopted ; I received for 
answer, that no one code had been adopted, but 
that the Committee were directed to select from 
’ the several propositions such as might form the 
best general system of signals, In a subsequent 
etter, Iwas informed that no part of my code had 
been selected for adoption; and that the only 
point of coincidence between my code and the one 
mecommended for adoption was in a single signal ; 
_yiz. the use of the ball to direct the distant signals 
to be employed ; and that the use of this ball had 
suggested itself to their lordships, and, they be- 
lieved, to some members of the Committee, without 
reference to my proposition. 
This use of the ball is explained in the gencral 
yiew, facing page 1; it has always formed a 
striking peculiarity of my system; it had already 
been submitted to the same Members of the Board 
of Admiralty in J822; and in testimony of its 
utility I must add, that an eminent flag officer on 
seeing it, for the first time, in my code, declared 
to me thatit was an improvement which had been 
always much wished for by Lord Nelson. 
_ As soon as I was informed that it was adopted 
for the service, I urged my pretensions to the 
merit of the discovery ; and on subsequently re- 
questing to be informed of their lordships’ deci- 
sion on my claim, I received for answer, that they 
did not consider that point of such importance to 
His Majesty’s service as to require them to enter 
into any investigation asto whom the priority of 
inyention belonged, or of any particular mode of 
its application. 
. © ‘ Myself in counsel his competitor.” —Shaks- 
peare. DITOR, 
Domestic and Foreign. 
645 
Such unworthy treatment, savouring as 
little of personal justice as of true patriot- 
ism, or public duty, arouses the indignation 
of the worthy officer, and compels him, in 
his own defence, to take out a patent, “in 
order to ensure to himself the merit of an 
invention, which had been the result of many 
years’ assiduous application.” 
The improvements in our nayy have 
been few, and those very slowly adopted. 
The causes are numerous. Some are known, 
and others remain veiled in the mysteries 
of a public office. Among the causes is 
this glaring error. Every mechanical im- 
provement, adapted to the navy, is sub- 
mitted to a trio, or a board, of superannuated 
old military engineer officers: We beg to 
inform our readers that, however efficient 
that splendid corps is, in performing all the 
arduous duties of military engineering, that 
it by no means follows that the officers are 
really engineers, or have a profound know- 
ledge of those philosophical mechanics which 
such a board should have. Another cause 
is the general ignorance of natural philo- 
sophy, on which every improvement must 
be founded, among officers of every deno- 
mination ; so that when an improvement, 
built on the truest philosophical principles, 
is proposed, it is a mere chance if it is un- 
derstood, and a yet greater odds if it be 
adopted. The Barbaric method of mea- 
suring tonnage, pursued with blunder- 
headed perseverance, has been one cause of - 
the injuries which the proprietors of our 
mercantile navy haye suffered, and are suf- 
fering. Until the scientific method, intro- 
duced by Chapman into Sweden, is fol- 
lowed by us, our mercantile navy must be 
inferior in construction to’ those countries 
who take science for their guide. The 
gunnery of the navy.is yet in a very back- 
ward condition, and the carriages of the 
guns as rude as in the days of Elizabeth. 
All those ships’ companies, which have been 
distinguished for the accuracy and rapidit 
of their firing, were indebted to the ski 
and knowledge of their respective captains, 
and not to the Admiralty, for either asystem of 
scientific rules, or for powder to practice the 
men. If our limits would permit us, we 
could greatly extend our observations on 
this subject, so deeply interesting to the 
country ; if an opportunity offers, we shall 
consider ourselves in readiness to enter very 
fully into the matter. 
Now to the work under our observation. 
Admiral Raper, in common with every 
other naval man, is aware of the great im- 
portance of ships communicating with each 
other; and, being acquainted with the im- 
perfect method now pursued in our navy, 
has. offered a more. easy, comprehensive, 
and perfect method than has yet been made 
known. The chief improvement, a very 
great one, though very simple, is in super- 
adding forms to colowrs. In the present 
imperfect system, colour only is used—so 
that when the distance is too great, or 
_ 
