NAVAL FORCE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 161 



less than I had anticipated seeing, and most of these were 

 hulks, or advance ships, (with guns and water-tanks on board.) 

 Those we went on board of, (one of them ready for sea,) 

 seemed to me, compared with ours of the same class, inferior 

 in all respects, except it might be in some novelties in their 

 rigging, of the efficiency of which I could not judge. The 

 extent to which wire-rigging was employed in some of them 

 surprised me. We saw four gun-boats, (large barges with a 

 swivel-gun in the bow,) manned by the workmen of the yard, 

 whose awkward evolutions were very amusing. The lands 

 men working in the yard are divided into two squads, one of 

 which, alternately with the other, is drilled in the Jefferson 

 plan of harbour defence two evenings in each week. They 

 are dressed in a simple uniform, and armed as boarders. 



There were more steamers in the harbour than in all our 

 navy. 



The present naval force of Great Britain, by official 

 returns, consists of 671 ships of war, either in ordinary or in 

 commission, varying from 2 to 120 guns each j of this number 

 187 are armed steamers. This fleet, the largest of any 

 maritime power on the globe, employs in time of peace, 

 35,000 to 40,000 able-bodied seamen, 2000 strong lads, and 

 13,000 royal marines, consisting of 102 companies, divided 

 into four divisions. 



The American navy consists of 70 vessels, large and small, 

 of which 8 are sea-steamers. 



The army of Great Britain, exclusive of the East India 

 Company s troops, and several native colonial regiments, 

 numbers 135,000 men ; about 80,000 of these are considered 

 available for home-service, the remainder being required for 

 the defence of the colonies. 



The regular army of the United States consists of 10,300 

 men. The militia force is returned as over 2,000,000. 



