1810	British and French Fleets	214

As the last amoral abstract was remarkable for containing the greatest number of ships that ever did, or that probably ever will, belong to the British navy ; so is the present, * for being the first that exhibits a declension in all its principal totals. In referring, as usual, to the prize and casualty lists of the year, � we have again to notice the heavy amount of loss sustained by the British navy. Yet care must be taken, that this is not absolutely, but relatively considered. A comparison of the three abstracts (Nos. 16, 17, and 18) containing the highest amount of loss, during the present war, with the three of the preceding war (Nos. 5, 9, and 10) similarly circumstanced, shows, that the aggregate loss in the former bore to the aggregate of its commissioned cruisers one tenth only more than was the case in the latter ; an overplus of loss scarcely commensurate with the increased numbers and activity of the French marine during the years 1807, 1808, and 1809 ; particularly along the coasts, where far the greater proportion of the lost ships ended their days.

The number of commissioned officers and masters, belonging to the British navy at the commencement of the year 1810, was:

* See Appendix, Annual Abstract No. 18.

� See Appendix, Nos. 11, and 12.

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