1802 - Review of annual abstracts


 
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Naval History of Great Britain - Vol III
1802 State of the British Navy 164

and the number of seamen and marines voted for the service of the year, was, 130,000 for the first five lunar months, 88,000 for one lunar month, and 70,000 for the remaining seven lunar months

Although, in reference to the abstract immediately preceding it, the abstract for 1802 offers nothing worthy of remark, yet, as coming the next in succession after the close of a war, it contains a variety of matter for consideration. The first circumstance that strikes a reader conversant with the subject is, the important variation between the numerical grand-totals, both line and general, of Abstract No. 10, and of the " Statement and Distribution of the Naval British Force," as given in Steel's list for February, 1802. The Abstract's line-total, with the addition of the two ships remarked upon in the asterisk note belonging to it, is 191, Steel's 198 ; the Abstract's general total, with the addition just noticed, 783, Steel's 803. Of Steel's line-of-battle number, nine will be found in class q, and one in class u ; thus reducing it to 188. But Steel has anticipated the breaking up of the Warspite, 74, Captivity and Eagle 64's, and Panther, 60 ; which again augments his number to 192. If from the latter be deducted the Prince-Edward, a ship he classes as a 60 instead of a 50, we have 191, which, with the correction in the note already referred to, is the precise number in the Abstract. Having thus explained the difference that exists between the line-total in the Abstract, and that in Steel's February list, we shall have very little difficulty in approximate the two under-line totals ; one of which is 592, the other 603. If we deduct from the latter, four fire-vessels, four river-barges, and four or five transport-tenders and other small-craft, which, for reasons already given, are excluded from the former, � the numbers will be equal.

A test yet remains, more authoritative than Steel, the official list or register of the British navy for the 1st of January, 1802. There the line-total is 180, the under-line total 665, and the grand-total 845. It seldom happens that the official register takes any notice of the armées en flúte, or reduced ships: consequently, they remain, list after list, among their full-armed class-mates. If, then, we deduct, as was done in the comparison with Steel, the nine ships at q, and the one at u, we bring the official line-total to 170. Four line-of-battle ships appear among the official " ship-rigged sloops ; � two among the " prison-ships ; " � one among the " hospital-ships ; " || seven among the " receiving-ships ; " � and there were seven others which, al-

* See Appendix, No. 17.

� See note e* to Abstract No. 3 at vol. i. p. 402.

Sandwich, San-Ysidro, Royal-Oak, and Prudent; all of which had been prison-ships.

Sultan and Captivity.

|| Union, afterwards Sussex.

Royal-William, Cambridge, Grafton, Chichester, Yarmouth, Medway, and Rippon.

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