148 
OUTPOSTS FOR COAST DEFENCE. 
Practically, wliat is wanted is a system of outposts for Coast Defence 
Artillery, and, to use an old-fashioned term, both inlying and outlying 
pickets are necessary. Inlying pickets represented by a system of 
watch or look-out at the forts themselves, and outlying pickets repre¬ 
sented by a number of observation posts along the coast. I think it 
is the case in most coast fortresses that the allotted garrison is only 
strong enough to furnish one relief for the manning detail, and, I 
presume, it may be taken for granted that the whole strength cannot 
be kept constantly ready for action by day and night throughout a 
war, which may last for months. It follows from this, that security 
against surprise can only be obtained by dividing the detail into reliefs 
or watches, a watch being always on duty and relieved at regular 
intervals. Certain guns should be told off for emergency use, and 
these should, in most cases, be kept loaded and run up and be fought 
by the relief on duty until the reliefs or watches off duty had assembled 
and reinforced them. 
As this would take place within a short time of the alarm being 
given, and as, in the meantime, the ammunition could be taken from 
the recesses on the gun floor, it would not be necessary for the relief 
to find any ammunition detail, nor even full detachments, so that if an 
ordinary manning detail found three watches, all the more important 
guns could be fought, till the full manning detail had assembled and 
the fort was fully manned. The arrangement of the reliefs would 
require some little care so as to cause as little confusion as possible 
when the relief on duty was reinforced by those off duty, and the 
manning changed, from the manning by relief, to full manning. 
Each relief should contain a proportion of specialists, and if possible 
^rd (with three reliefs) of the detachment of each gun manned by the 
relief should be included in each relief and form part of the detachment 
found by the relief for that gun. The relief or watch on duty would 
be on the same footing as a guard or picket, and would only have to 
keep a small number of men actually on the alert who might be relieved 
every one or two hours. The number of these “ sentries” would vary, 
of course, in each fort, but should generally include: an officer and 
signal man on look-out, a range taker, telephone operator, one or more 
orderlies and, perhaps, one man per gun or group manned ; at night, 
probably a lamp trimmer would be required. 
A regular log should be kept by the officer on look-out, assisted by 
his signal man, in which should be entered the description, and if 
possible, name, of every vessel sighted, and all warnings received. 
A warning should be sent to all interior forts— i.e ., forts higher up 
the anchorage, channel or estuary—of all vessels inward bound passing 
an outer fort and going in the direction of such forts. A note should 
be made against the entries of warnings received, when the vessels con¬ 
cerned were identified. As it is almost as important not to mistake a 
friend as to recognise a foe, these warnings should be sent for both 
friendly and hostile vessels. It would not be necessary to send 
warnings about outward bound vessels, but the passage of all men-of- 
war going out, should be recorded, so as to have a record of what 
