ers consulted are less precise in their
figures, but agree in representing not only that the navy was reduced
to a pitiful number of ships, but that these were in bad condition and
the dock-yards destitute of materials. This neglect of the navy lasted
more or less throughout these wars, until 1760, when the sense of the
nation was aroused to the importance of restoring it; too late,
however, to prevent the most serious of the French losses. In England
as well as in France discipline and administration had been sapped by
the long peace; the inefficiency of the armaments sent out was
notorious, and recalls the scandals that marked the outbreak of the
Crimean War; while the very disappearance of the French ships led, by
the necessity of replacing them, to putting afloat vessels superior
singly, because more modern and scientific, to the older ships of the
same class in England. Care must be had, however, in accepting too
easily the complaints of individual writers; French authors will be
found asserting that English ships are faster, while at the same
period Englishmen complain that they are slower. It may be accepted as
generally true that the French ships built between 1740 and 1800 were
better designed and larger, class for class, than the English. The
latter had the undoubted superiority both in the number and quality
of the seamen and officers. Keeping some fleets always afloat, whether
better or worse, the officers could not quite lose touch of their
profession; whereas in France it is said that not one fifth of the
officers were, in 1744, employed. This superiority was kept and
increased by the practice, which henceforth obtained, of blockading
the French military ports with superior force; the enemy's squadrons
when they put to sea found themselves at once at a disadvantage in
point of practical skill. On the other hand, large as was the number
of English seamen, the demands of commerce were so great that war
found them scattered all over the world, and part of the fleet was
always paralyzed for lack of crews. This constant employment assured
good seamanship, but the absence of so many men had to be supplied by
an indiscriminate press, which dragged in a class of miserable and
sickly men, sadly diluting the quality of the whole. To realize the
condition of ships' companies of that day, it will be necessary only
to read the accounts of those sent to Anson starting for a cruise
round the world, or to Hawke when fittin