STATE PAPERS. 



341 



I 



It is necessary here to state, 

 that several sloops are now lated 

 as post ships, and vice versd; and 

 as much inconvenience to the of- 

 ficer who may be in the command 

 of such ships, and mnch embar- 

 rassment to the pul)lic service, 

 would arise, if the present rates 

 of such vessels were to be imme- 

 diately changed, we submit to 

 your Royal Highness that with re- 

 gard to any such vessels at present 

 in commission, this new arrange- 

 mcHt shall not apply, until they 

 shall be paid olF, or until some 

 other favourable opportunity siiall 

 offer of placing them in their pro- 

 per rates. 



Your Royal Highness will ob- 

 serve that this scheme differs very 

 little from that which is grown 

 into use, and still less from the 

 last establishment (that of 1746), 

 which had the sanction of his Ma- 

 jesty in council, and which, strictly 

 speaking, may be saiil to be still 

 in force. 



We beg leave farther to repre- 

 sent to your Royal iJigliness that 

 the schemes for manning his Ma- 

 jesty's ships have, from the causes 

 already referred to with regard to 

 the guns, and from accidental and 

 temporary circumstances, become 

 80 very various, th;it though tiiese 

 six rates wete originally intended 

 to regulate, amongst othf r things, 

 the amount of the respective com- 

 plements, there exist at this mo- 

 ment not f'^wer than twenty-nine 

 different scales for manning the 

 ships of the six rates ; the third 

 rate alone including seven distinct 

 complements. 



It were to be desired that all 

 this variety and irregularity sliouhl 

 be abolislied; but we have seen 

 that, 80 early as the year 1746, 



there were sixteen schemes of man- 

 ning, and the variety of ships which 

 have been from time to time built 

 or captured (which though they 

 may fall under the same rate, are 

 yet of very different sizes) render 

 perfect uniformity in this point 

 impracticable : we are, howexer, 

 of opinion, on mature considera- 

 tion, that this variety may be very 

 nmch diminished, and that two, 

 and, in one or two rates, three 

 schemes of manning, in each rate, 

 will be found to answer all the 

 practical purposes of the service, 

 and will tend to simplify the sys- 

 tem, by thus reducing the twenty- 

 nine schemes before-mentioned to 

 thirteen or fourteen. 



We iherefoie submit for your 

 Royal Highness's gracious appio- 

 bation, that the following be tlie 

 only complements to be hereafter 

 allowed to the several rates of his 

 Majesty's siiips and vessels : 



1st rate. . 900, S.50, or 800 men. 



2(1 do 700. orCr.o . . 



Sd do 650, or 600 . . 



4th do 450, or 350 . . 



5th do 300, or 580 .. 



6th do. .. 175, 145, or l'-.i5 .. 

 Of sloops there are so many 

 varieties, that we cannot propose 

 to reduce tlie eight schemes nf 

 complement now existing, to less 

 than four, as follow : viz. slonjis, 

 135, l-JS, 95, and 75 men. 



I'lrigs (not sloops), cutters, 

 schooners, and bombs, we projiose 

 to reduce from ten schemes of 

 complement to two, namely, GO 

 or 50 men 



And we also propose that for 

 small craft, which may not re- 

 quire so large a complement as 

 50 men, we niay be autliorized to 

 assign such a complement as wo 

 may deem necessary, 



As 



