CHAPTER II. First, in point of age at least, is the society under whose charge is the Warspite. This society, founded by Jonas Hanway, was incorporated in 1772; since that time 58,600 boys have been sent into the royal and mercantile navies by this one institution. The boys admitted to the ship must be between thirteen and sixteen years of age, and from the following classes: 1st. Boys who are destitute and without friends. 2d. Boys who are in abject distress who are recommended by officers of the society. 3d. Boys who have been apprentices, charged with petty offenses, and who are found unfit for apprenticeship. 4th. Boys desirous of going to sea and whose parents are unable to support them. Boys under fourteen must be 4 feet 9 inches in height; those over fourteen must 4 feet 10 inches. The society is made up of most influential men, and holds a high rank amongst the beneficiary societies of England; it is entirely supported by voluntary contributions. The list of annual subscribers is very large, being nearly 500 in number. The subscriptions of last year amounted altogether to £12,421 sterling; of this there was expended in the year £9,737. These expenses were divided as follows, the number of boys on board being about 300: Clothing and bedding for boys and officers, including outfit for 153 boys sent to sea during the year Victualing officers and boys on board Repairs and stores for ship and boats, wood, iron, painting, blacksmith, and plumber Cordage and canvas............... Oil, candles, lamps, soap, &c., at ship.... Various small stores and expenses at ship, school fittings and books, fares of officers and boys, &c... Coals at ship....... Salaries to superintendent, chaplain, surgeon, and officer at Rent and repairs at establishment on shore at Charlton, swim 58 17 9 1,274 3 0 63 26 ming-bath, water for ship, erecting drying-closet, &c..... Insurance of ship..................... Total expenditure for ship................... Completion of fitting up Warspite, remooring, &c... 350 18 7 17 1 9 7,900 15 1 409 2 4 Books, printing, stationery, and postage, special appeals, &c. Advertisements Incidental expenses 9 13 0 130 13 11 74 1 6 27 18 4 1,337 1 2 Making a total of £9,736, 18s. 7d., or an averge of £32 per boy. The following list of clothing is supplied to each boy on admission, and a sea outfit is given him when he leaves the ship for sea service: The boys are kept for no definite time, but usually they stay on board for two years. During this time they receive an elementary English schooling, and are taught seamanship as far as it can be taught. under the conditions in which they are placed. The ship is an old line-of-battle ship, with plenty of accomodations for the number on board. She is moored near the shore, immediately above the Woolwich dock-yard, and communication is kept up with the shore by the ship's boats, manned by boys. Last year there were sent afloat 153 boys. Some few of these boys are able to reach the naval standard, and enter the naval trainingships; but nearly all have positions found for them in the merchant service, the society having an agent who looks after this. The training and discipline on board the Warspite appear to be good; the few boys received into the naval training-ships are always well spoken of by the officers. The clothing and food are good and plentiful, and the physique on board is above that shown in most of the other trainingships. The Arethusa and Chichester, two large frigates, receive the waifs of the London streets, taking boys of extreme youth, who are cared for as in a reformatory. These ships are but a branch of the great society of which the Earl of Shaftesbury is the head, and under the care of which are many hundreds of children of both sexes. At the time of my visit there were about 200 boys in each vessel. Both ships are moored in the Thames, off Greenhithe, about 20 miles below London. The routine on board is divided between school instruction, of an elementary kind, and seamanship exercises. The Formidable, off Portishead, near Bristol, may be taken as an example of the ships under the industrial schools act, under which large grants are made by the government for the support of such schools. In this especial case there are also yearly grants made by the various towns which are allowed to send boys to the ship. REGULATIONS FOR ADMISSION TO FORMIDABLE. REGULATIONS FOR THE ADMISSION OF BOYS. Boys between the ages of eleven and fourteen will be received on board the Formidable, if sent by magistrates with a medical certificate of fitness for a sailor's life, and approved by the committee under the following sections of the industrial schools act: CLAUSE 14. Any person may bring before two justices or a magistrate any child, apparently under the age of fourteen years, that comes within any of the following descriptions, namely: That is found begging or receiving alms (whether actually or under the pretext of selling or offering for sale any thing), or being in any street or public place, for the purpose of so begging or receiving alms. That is found wandering and not having any home or settled place of abode, or proper guardianship, or visible means of subsistence. That is found destitute, either being an orphan or having a surviving parent who is undergoing penal servitude or imprisonment. That frequents the company of reputed thieves. The justices or magistrates before whom a child is brought as coming within one of those descriptions, if satisfied on inquiry of that fact, and that it is expedient to deal with him under this act, may order him to be sent to a certified industrial school. CLAUSE 15. Where a child, apparently under the age of twelve years, is charged before two justices or a magistrate with an offense punishable by imprisonment or a less punishment, but has not been in England convicted of felony, or in Scotland of theft, and the child ought, in the opinion of the justices or magistrate (regard being had to his age and to the circumstances of the case), to be dealt with under this act, the justices or magistrate may order him to be sent to a certified industrial school. In the case of boys who do not come under one of these clauses, and therefore cannot be sent by a magistrate's order, they will be received into the school, provided those persons who are interested in them are willing to contribute £18 per annum for each boy; and provided also that the boy be physically fitted for a sailor's life, and is willing to be bound to remain at the school a certain period and go to sea when a ship is selected for him. He must also be apparently between eleven and fourteen years of age, and must be approved by the committee and the medical officer. The total amount expended last year, there being on board an aver. age of 300 boys, was £7,637. During the year, 118 were passed through the ship, only 52 of whom, however, went to sea. I append the dietary and routine of this ship, as she is considered a very good one of her class. BREAKFAST AND SUPPER. ‡ oz. cocoa and † oz, sugar each time; bread, 7 oz. for breakfast, and 10 oz. for supper. DINNERS. Sunday.-Beef-steak pie; 5 oz. fresh meat; 6 oz. flour; 8 oz. potatoes; oz. suet; 4 oz. bread. Monday.-Boiled beef or pork, with pea soup and pudding; 6 oz. salt meat; 6 oz. split peas; 7 oz. bread. Tuesday.-Preserved-meat stew; 2 oz. preserved meat; 12 oz. potatoes; 4 oz. vegetables; 14 oz. rice; 4 oz. bread. Wednesday and Friday.-Fresh-meat stew; 4 oz. fresh meat; 4 oz. vegetables; 14 oz. rice: 6 oz. bread. Thursday.—Cold meat, with plumb pudding; 4 oz. preserved meat; 6 oz. flour; t oz. suet; 1 oz. currants; 4 oz. bread. Saturday.-Preserved-meat stew. with plumb pudding; 2 oz. preserved meat; 4 oz. vegetables; 4 oz. flour; oz. suet; 1 oz. raisins; 4 oz. bread. Petty officers and monitors get butter daily. Sunday "tea allowance" of bread, 10 oz. each boy, contains currants, carraway seeds, and sugar. } } A. M. Saturday.... P. M. Saturday.... ...... narily. Life-boat practice....... 1st Saturday in mo....... Swimming exercise, during summer, as tide and weather day, Thursday, and Friday, in bath, when practicable. Band practice, under master ...... ................. WINTER. P. M. 1st Tues. in 2d mo. P. M. Wed, and A. M. Sat. A. M. Wednesday. A. M. Saturday. P. M. Saturday. 1st Saturday in mo. Daily. The daily routine includes school from 9 to 11.55 a. m., and from 1 to 4 p. m., night school for backward boys on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. and CHAPTER III. THE EXMOUTH. The Exmouth is a school for poor boys, the charge of which is borne by the metropolitan parishes and unions. This ship has taken the place of the Goliath, which was burned December 22, 1875, at which time there was such an evidence of heroism and discipline on the part of the boys on board as to excite general remark and praise throughout England. Of all the ships of the kind I visited, this appeared to me to be by far the most satisfactory and successful. The ship is a three-decker, moored in the Thames, off Gray's, some forty miles below London. She lies immediately off some grounds containing about seven acres, which are rented by the committee of management and which form a useful adjunct in maintaining the health and comfort of the boys. A large dwelling-house, used partly as a hospital, partly as a receptacle for newly-entered boys, where they remain a week before transfer to the ship; fine trees, a large kitchen-garden, and a lawn, in which gymnastic apparatus is erected, are amongst the advantages of this place: it is a great factor in making the ship so successful. A causeway leads from these grounds towards the ship, making the distance to pull from shore a very short one. DESCRIPTION OF THE INTERIOR ARRANGEMENTS. The ship is one of the finest of the old liners and is in excellent condition. She retains all her spars, has a large number of boats, and is fitted inside with respect to convenience and comfort only, no effort being made to retain much of the interior appearance of a man-of-war. The forecastle has been roofed over as a washroom; forward, on the main deck, are rooms for the tailors and shoemakers; below are arranged drying rooms heated by steam for the boy's clothing, and the space formerly occupied by the machinery is now used as a practice room for the band, and as a reading and lecture room. The arrangements of the washroom are especially excellent. Here all the boys are required to have a thorough scrubbing all over daily, with water and carbolic soap. For this purpose there are numerous small troughs, which are large enough for a boy to sit down in; after this scrubbing, each boy is required to take a plunge in a large tank of water (15 feet square and 4 feet deep), ropes being stretched on either side, which require him to dive the width of the tank. For the morning's wash each boy is supplied with a clean towel daily, a most wise regulation, as the transmission of infectious skin diseases so common amongst boys of this class is thereby almost com |