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cannot do without it.' I altogether deny that. There are plenty of
British sailors to man British ships, but the good ones have been
tempted away to other countries, to America (on the lakes), and in
various places abroad, owing to the lack of attraction in our own
ships, and, furthermore, I may safely say, it was the incoming of this
very foreign element, as much as anything else, that drove our good
seamen away, as they would not sail with foreigners who were left to
make up the deficiency their departure had created with the unqualified
men of to-day.
"We must induce our good men back again by resorting to some measure which will make it worth their while to come back, and induce good men to stay in our ships to make the unqualified class good, and to attract British youths to take up the sea as a profession, which I am bold enough to think can only be done by resorting to some such scheme as this.
"In cases where there have been a few good seamen in a ship, but most of the deficient class, I have known good men to desert at the first port, and the useless ones stay behind. The fact was, the really good sailors left in disgust owing to their being shipmates with trouble- some, unqualified, discontented fellow-seamen. I say troublesome, for the trouble that happens in a merchant ship at sea is, in nine cases out of ten, owing to the useless, unqualified fellows on board. I could quote, from my unhappy experience, many painful instances of insubordination bordering on mutiny through the existence of this class of sailor, but I do not think it necessary, for the daily papers often contain accounts of insurrection on the high seas; and yet Lord Brassey and others inquire why so many of our fine ships are never heard of after leaving port.
"Many believe that the dwindling away of the old style British seaman is owing to the lack of sea-apprentices. Lord Charles Beresford stated as much in the presence of a large body of shipowners in Liverpool on July 20, 1896, and as I never heard of anyone contradicting his lordship, I may take it to be the general opinion.
"A prominent Liverpool shipowner rose in response to his lordship's speech, and urged the same view. But, in my opinion, the lack of good seamen is owing to the superabundance of the apprentice. The sea apprentice pays a premium in the majority of cases, and does not become an apprentice to learn to be a sailor (of the class rated as seamen) as much as to learn to be an officer, and it is with that expectation that he binds himself for four years, with nothing in the shape of pay but the premium returned by instalments; and those apprentices who do not pay a premium rarely get more than £20 for their four years. Poor boys of the class our seamen come from cannot afford to bind themselves apprentices and find their own clothes and 'rig-out' on this remuneration. No! They must start in the capacity of 'boy,' if they wish to go to sea. …… Now, as most sailing ships are generally full of apprentices, and very few carry less than six—the Tenasserim, of Liverpool, 1,400 tons register, used to carry eleven—and as their crew of A.B.'s during these hard times of
