CONTENTS PAGE Naval Improvements of the Nineteenth Century. Nos. III., IV. Dry-Rot Letters from Dusseldorf and Bonn, during the late Prussian Re- views (Concluded). By a Military Amateur Sale of Naval Commissions.-Naval Officers Pensions for Wounds The Sea-Captain to his Craft. Stanzas. By the Old Sailor Commander-in-Chief.-Regimental Staff By Joseph Allen, Esq., Author of "The Greenwich Pensioners." No. XXIII. The Serapis No. XXIV. The Royal Sovereign (No. I.) Means of Secret Communication in Ancient Armies. By H. Curling, Military History of Jamaica: with a Glance at St. Domingo. By Lieut.-Col. Wilkie :-St. Domingo Curiosities of Naval Literature, Historical and Biographical. 344, 488 579 Reminiscences of a Light Dragoon. Nos. XVIII., XIX. Wreck of the Abercrombie Robinson and Waterloo. By Mrs. Ward The French at Fishguard in 1797 Personal Adventures and Excursions in Georgia, Circassia, and Journal of the Last Three Months' Operations in Afghanistan. A Historical Sketch of Military Punishments, in as far as regards 395121 PAGE 392, 554 496 521 The Royal Military College of Sandhurst.-By an Old Cadet Considerations on Incorporating and Organizing British Naval and My Old Messmates. No. III. By Jonathan Oldjunk, Esq., R.N. "The Glorious First of June." From the Log of an Officer of the Reminiscences of War; Passage of the Beresina Sir Edward Belcher, R.N., C.B., his Circumnavigation in the Sulphur surveying-ship, including Details of Naval Operations THE UNITED SERVICE MAGAZINE. NAVAL IMPROVEMENTS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. THIRD NOTICE. STEAM NAVIGATION. Soon shall thy arm, unconquered STEAM, afar WHEN Darwin hazarded these bold predictions, it was little foreseen that ere half a century had elapsed, not only barges and cars would be running by "simmering cauldrons," but that mighty ships would be wafted over the ocean; and even the latter problem, the "flying. chariots," has been pronounced feasible by the investigations of Sir George Cayley; and it is actually now under an ardent schemer's consideration. Indeed, having already witnessed the amelioration of the habits and intelligence of men, by the free intercourse with the agents of commercial and social improvement which Steam Navigation has supplied, we ourselves marvel at nothing, but to each intellectual exertion emphatically cry, PERGE! We have so fully and so often expatiated on steam, and its wide application, in the pages of this Magazine, that for the general details of its rise and progress, we have only to recommend our readers to try back, while we give a resumé of its actual state and prospects at the opening of the year of our Lord, 1843. We have shown that this naval prime-mover rows and pumps, weaves and spins, lifts and carries, mines and prints-in a word, in all that stimulates commerce, enlarges production, and improves manufactures, that it is, terrestrially speaking, omnipotent. At present the use of this power adds incredibly to our population; in one department alone, as a worthy naturalized foreigner assured us, it is doing the work of more than millions of spinsters, (spinners.) The paddles and railways have already made an abridgment of space and time, which must have a large effect on the whole habits of our social being; and the alliance of steam with the press, the factory, the ship, and the road, is a wonderful triumph of science. But grand as this progress has been, by a parity of reasoning it is still capable of great extension and improvement; for no art was ever carried to its ne plus ultra of perfection in the beginning. As a proof of the power of machinery in Great Britain, Mr. W. Pare, at a U. S. MAG., No. 170, JAN., 1843. B public meeting lately held at Birmingham, stated, in proof of the increase of the powers of production, by the improvement of machinery, that in 1792, the machinery in existence was equal to the labour of 10,000,000 of labourers; in 1827, to 200,000,000; and in 1833, to 400,000,000. In the cotton trade, spindles that used to revolve 50 times in a minute, now revolve in some cases 8000 times in a minute. *At one mill at Manchester, there are 136,000 spindles at work, spinning 1,200,000 miles of cotton thread per week. Mr. Owen, at New Lanark, with 2500 people, daily produces as much cotton yarn as will go round the earth twice and a half. Early in the present century, strenuous efforts were made by spirited individuals, to introduce steam into general navigation, and the effect upon shipping was so rapid, that in the following tabulated view, we can hardly believe we are only looking at decennial periods: 1814. 1824. 1834. Place. Vessels. Tonnage. Vessels. Tonnage. Vessels. Tonnage. The adoption of steam-vessels in every direction upon the ocean, as well as on the rivers and lakes of every civilized country, has produced, and is daily producing, results to the great human family, which it is impossible yet to estimate. England and the United States of America, i.e., Parent and Offspring, have kept far ahead of all other countries, in the energy with which they have availed themselves of this advantage, and thrown new and wonderful facilities into international commerce and intercourse. "From the earliest times," says a modern writer, “mankind have been baffled by the uncertain elements of the winds and waves: by these a barrier was raised to the progress of navigation, which the boasted improvements of modern times were never able to overcome; and the proverbial uncertainty of a sea-voyage, continued accordingly to be ranked among the irremediable evils of life. Hence it was, that when a voyage of a few miles might be protracted to several days, those great rivers and inlets of the sea, which penetrate far into the land, instead of being of unrivalled utility to commerce, formed rather a drawback, in many cases, to our internal communications, for with respect to rivers, no attempt could be made, with the least advantage, to navigate them against the stream. We possessed no power that could accomplish this object. The use of a river, as an instrument of internal intercourse, was, in consequence, much limited." Now, however, navigation need no longer be impeded by the uncertain action of the wind, or the opposing effort of the tide; since the new power is perfectly manageable, and acts in both directions, almost with equal efficacy. By means of this ubiquitous locomotive, all our means |