The Voyage Alone in the Yawl "Rob Roy" Part 19

For training young officers there is the 'Britannia' (with the 'Hindostan') at Dartmouth, and two sons of the Commodore of the Royal Canoe Club are among the pupils.

'AKBAR.'-(MERSEY.)

Established 1856.

The vessel is managed by "The Liverpool Juvenile Reformatory a.s.sociation," which has also a girls' reformatory and a farm school. The report for December 31, 1877, shews that during the year 79 boys were admitted between 11 and 17 years of age (all of them under sentence of a magistrate), and 59 were discharged (of whom 43 went to sea), leaving 198 in the s.h.i.+p and about 100 besides "under detention," or on license elsewhere. The total number admitted since 1856 was 1393, of whom 731 went to sea, 130 went to friends, 73 were transferred, and 59 died.

In January, 1878, the s.h.i.+p parted from her moorings in a gale, and this and repairs caused an expense of about 500. The ordinary expenditure of the year is about 3800; the average number on board is 190, and of these 134 could swim.

'ARETHUSA.'-(GREENHITHE, _Thames_.)

Opened August, 1874.

This vessel is the new sister s.h.i.+p of the 'Chichester,' and is described below with the other vessel.

'CHICHESTER.'-(GREENHITHE, _Thames_.)

Established 1866.

This vessel, together with the 'Arethusa' (already mentioned above), is managed by a committee in connection with the "National Refuges," an inst.i.tution which comprises a Refuge for homeless boys, a Refuge for homeless girls, a "Farm school and Shaftesbury school," at Bisley, Surrey, a "Working Boys' Home," and "Girls' Home" at Ealing and Sudbury.

In these six homes and two s.h.i.+ps are more than 1000 inmates, and the expense is defrayed by voluntary contributions. The Earl of Shaftesbury, K. G., is President of the Inst.i.tution, and Mr. W. Williams (9, Southampton Street, Bloomsbury Square), is the Secretary.

The 'Chichester' was fitted up in 1866, and opened in January, 1867, for training homeless boys between 13 and 16 years of age for sea life. By the munificent gift of the Baroness Burdett Coutts, the 'Arethusa' was presented to the committee fully fitted up as an additional Training s.h.i.+p, in 1874, and the two vessels are moored close together near the pleasant hills of Greenhithe, in Kent. The woodcut on the preceding page, representing some boys on the topsail-yard of the 'Chichester,'

appeared in the _Leisure Hour_ as one of the ill.u.s.trations of an article on 'Ragam.u.f.fins' by the present writer.

[Picture: Away aloft]

The number of boys sent to sea from the 'Chichester' in the year 1877 was 117, and the number on board 176. The total number of boys received on the 'Chichester,' up to the 31st of December, 1877, was 2165. Number discharged, 2092; sent to sea, 1797.

Besides the number sent on a first voyage, the following numbers were re-s.h.i.+pped, not counting those who after their first voyage got s.h.i.+ps without coming to the 'Chichester' s.h.i.+p-master. s.h.i.+pped for second voyage, 686; for third, 451; fourth, 291; fifth, 180; sixth, 108; seventh, 72; eighth voyage, 55.

The total number of boys received on board the 'Arethusa' from 1874 to end of 1877, was 659; discharged, 450; sent to sea, 386, of whom 102 were so sent in 1877. In July, 1878, there were 400 boys on the two s.h.i.+ps when the annual presentation of prizes took place. The total expenses for the two s.h.i.+ps for the year 1877 amounted to 10,494 10_s_. 8_d_.

I had again the privilege of presenting the sailor boys 'Rob Roy' prizes in the Guildhall, in the presence of the veteran philanthropist the Earl of Shaftesbury, in 1880.

'CLARENCE.'-(MERSEY.)

Established 1863.

This is a Reformatory School s.h.i.+p for Roman Catholic boys. The average number on board this vessel is 200, and the cost 20 per head per annum, paid chiefly by the Treasury. In the year 1877, 80 boys had been admitted, of whom 54 were from Liverpool, and the rest from 15 other towns; 47 of them had not been previously convicted, 58 were sent to sea "on license." In the preceding three years 192 had been discharged, of whom 150 were "doing well" at the beginning of 1878, while 5 were "doubtful," 8 reconvicted, 10 dead, and 19 "unknown."

'CLIO.'-(MENAI STRAITS.)

Certified February, 1878.

This vessel is for 200 boys (from 11 to 15 years of age), sent under the Industrial Schools Act, or partly paid for otherwise, and the s.h.i.+p is managed by "The North Wales, City of Chester, and Border Counties Industrial School Training s.h.i.+p Society." The first boy was admitted in September, 1877, and on the 13th of July, 1878, there were 197 boys on board; of these, 8 are "voluntary." About 80 were from London, 50 from Manchester, 26 from Liverpool, and the rest from ten other places.

'CONWAY.'-(MERSEY.)

Established 1859.

A new vessel (late the 'Nile') was subst.i.tuted in 1877 for the old 'Conway,' but it was rechristened with the old name, and the cost of alterations was 6000.

It is managed by "The Mercantile Marine a.s.sociation," and is intended chiefly to supply officers for the merchant navy. Boys are received from 12 to 16 years of ago. The average number of boys on board was 138, of whom 54 joined the merchant service. The number of boys received since the commencement up to 1877, was 1290, of whom 40 entered the Royal Navy, and almost all the others went into the Merchant Service.

The report gives no balance-sheet, but says that the school fees (40 guineas per annum for each boy) "covered the expenses" (presumably the ordinary expenses), and left a balance of 283.

'CORNWALL.'-(PURFLEET, _Thames_.)

Established 1859.

This is a Reformatory s.h.i.+p, managed by "The School s.h.i.+p Society." The boys enter between 13 and 15 years of age, sentenced to 3 years'

detention under the Reformatory Schools Act. The average number of boys maintained on board in 1877 was 218. Comparative cost per head on ordinary maintenance and management 32. Industrial profits, 329. Of cases discharged in 1874, 1875, and 1876, there were doing well (December, 1877) 198, doubtful 5, convicted of crime 4, unknown 18, dead 12. In July, 1878, the Captain had heard of 114 boys at sea service, all doing well, and 26 boys visited in June, equally satisfactory, one of them in command of a large s.h.i.+p.

An epidemic in 187576 caused much trouble and expense.

'c.u.mBERLAND.'-(CLYDE.)

Established June, 1869.

This is an Industrial School s.h.i.+p. At the beginning of 1877 there were 385 boys on board, and during the year 133 were admitted, 105 were sent to sea, 11 to sh.o.r.e employment, 5 to their friends, 1 to a school, 6 absconded, and 1 died, leaving 389 on the roll for January 1, 1878. From the establishment up to that time, 1343 boys had been admitted, and 954 had left. Of 432 discharged in 1874, 1875, and 1876, 345 were known to be doing well, 10 indifferently, 3 convicted of crime, and 16 died of disease and casualties. The receipts for the year were 7280, including 500 on contingency account. The s.h.i.+p is managed by a committee, of which the President is Mr. John Burns, of Castle Wemyss, who is well known for his important position as chairman of The Cunard Company (Limited), and for his hearty liberal efforts on behalf of boys who need a friend.

'ENDEAVOUR.'-(FELTHAM, _Middles.e.x_.)

Established 1866.

This is a "land s.h.i.+p," with boats on the river, and the following description of it is from a paper by Captain Brookes, Royal Marines, the Superintendent of the "Middles.e.x Industrial Schools at Feltham," where about 800 boys sent by magistrates are trained for the Army, the Navy, and various other modes of life:-

"The 150 boys composing the Nautical Section are dressed as sailors, and their everyday life is a.s.similated as much as possible to what it would be in a stationary Training s.h.i.+p-they sleep in hammocks, live in messes, and are daily exercised in seamans.h.i.+p on board the full-sized model brig 'Endeavour,' built on play-ground. Boats are provided on the river at Staines for instruction in rowing, and the boys are taught to swim in a large swimming bath in the grounds.