Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/311

NAVY 299 can be levied for the service of the fleet. Every sailor who is in scribed is called into active service on completing twenty years of age. During the month in which he accomplishes his twentieth year, or during the month which follows his return to France, he is bound to present himself before a commissary of the maritime inscription. He is then enrolled, sent to a port which is the chief town of an arrondissement, and incorporated in a division of sailors of the fleet. If he be considered fit for service, he can, from the age of eighteen years, forestall his call to active service. The young sailor who joins at eighteen years of age performs his service in two periods. During the first, which lasts for five years, he may, when in France, be given renewable furlough without pay, and can then devote himself to navigation of any description. After this first period he remains for two years longer in the same conditions, on renewable furlough. The time passed in this position of renewable furlough is counted as service to the state for every sailor who engages to navigate only in coasting voyages or in home fishing. After this latter period the sailor cannot again be called out except by decree in case of emergency. After serving for three years, the sailor who has not been sent on furlough is entitled to an increase of 2ct. to his daily pay. The levies of sailors for duty with the fleet are first made amongst those who have not hitherto rendered any service to the state, then, in case of insufficiency, amongst those who have the least service, or, in case of equal service, those are taken who have been longest on furlough. Inscribed sailors have alone the right of carrying on maritime navigation or coast fishing, and enjoy various other privileges and immunities. The minimum age for the engagement of naval apprentices is eighteen years, the privilege of making an engagement at sixteen years being reserved to young men leaving the school for ship boys, and to those specially selected by the minister. The maximum age for young men who have not rendered any service to the state is fixed at twenty-four years. This is increased to thirty for musicians, stokers, carpenters, sailmakers, and caulkers who can count at least five years previous service since the age of sixteen. For pupils and quartermaster mechanicians (quartiers-maUres mecaniciens) and working mechanicians (ouvriers mecaniciens) the minimum limit of age is eighteen and the maximum twenty-five, if they have not previously served the state, or thirty if they belong to either of the callings above mentioned and have rendered previous service to the state. 2. Voluntary engagements are only allowed according to the requirements of the service. They cannot be made in the colonies. The conditions are the same as for the army. The engagement is made for five years. Re-engagements can be made by sailors of the fleet for three, four, or five years. They are without conditions of age or service, provided only that their length would not retain warrant officers (officicrs mariniers) in the service beyond the age of fifty-five, and quartermasters and sailors beyond fifty, if they can unite with this age a service of twenty-five years. 3. For men of the navy who do not belong to the maritime inscription, the time of service is five years and in the reserve four years. They then pass immediately into the reserve of the terri torial army, in which they remain until they attain forty years of age. The contingent is furnished in proper proportion from each canton, and is composed of the young men comprised in the first part of the cantonal recruiting list, to whom the lowest numbers have fallen when drawing lots. The number of men obtained by the general recruiting was 6056 in 1873, 7040 in 1874, 6406 in 1875, and 4326 in 1876. The sailors on shore are divided into five divisions, of which two (those at Brest and Toulon) are of the first class and three are of the second class. In each division there is a council of administra tion, entrusted with clothing and pay duties, and, in fact, with all administrative questions. Each first class division consists of a staff and of depot companies, as follows: one company of seamen gunners (matelots canonnicrs), one company of seamen fusiliers (matdots fusiliers), one company of mechanicians and stokers, three companies of sailors of the maritime inscription, one com pany of sailors from the general recruiting. The divisions of the second class are each composed of a staff and depot companies as follows: one company of special branches, two companies of sailors of the maritime inscription and from the general recruiting. Each of these companies is divided into two sections. The division at Lorient comprises, in addition, an instruction battalion of fusilier apprentices. In each division there is an elementary school, a school for teaching bookkeeping to quartermaster-Serjeants, a gymnasium, a fencing school, and a swimming school. In the two first divisions there are also music schools. The first masters and second masters belonging to the different special branches and pro fessions form the cadre of the warrant officers of the fleet. When of equal grade, they are classed in the following order: navigation, gunnery, musketry, steering, mechanicians, carpenters, sailmakers, and caulkers. When not serving afloat or in the divisions, these masters are placed in disponibilite at their homes, with reduced pay, and are recalled to active service according to roster. The budget for 1878 shows that eighty-nine officiers de vaisscau are to be employed with the shore divisions of crews and with the establish ment for pupils. The number of men provided for is as below (bandmasters, officers, quartermasters, sailors, boys, and super numeraries): on shore, 8438; afloat, 25,063; reserve, 1607; total, 35,108. The marine infantry is not employed in service on board men-of- war in the same manner as the marines of the British navy. Its duties are to garrison the five military ports and the colonies, and to take part in maritime and other wars. When necessary, it fur nishes detachments on board ships belonging to the state. Germany. 1 The whole of the maritime population, inclusive of the technical personnel, are absolved from land duties, but are liable to serve in the fleet. The distribution of the annual levy is dependent upon the seafaring population, the quota contributed by each state being deducted from its whole liability for the land and sea forces. It used to be the practice to draw exclusively from the seafaring population of the provinces of Prussia, Pomerania, Hanover, Schleswig-Holstein, and other federal states, but it has been found necessary to draw upon the land population of the above provinces in order to make up the required quota. The personnel of the navy includes the following officers, non commissioned officers, and men : 1 chief of the admiralty, 4 rear- admirals, 17 (23) captains, 36 (63) captains of corvette, 65 (165) captain lieutenants, 104 (118) lieutenants, 86 (140) sub-lieutenants, and 100 (229) naval cadets, 83 (147) deck officers, 580 (1546) non commissioned officers of seamen, 4290 (10,267) seamen, 330 (499) non-commissioned officers. Besides these there are 12 engineers, 90 (304) deck officers (engineers and masters), 110 (189) engineers mates, 28 engineers apprentices, 580 (2131) firemen, 154 (570) masters mates, 450 (698) mechanics, 84 (154) staff sergeants for police purposes. Every German (except in a. few well-defined case,?) is liable to service in the army or navy, and is not allowed to provide a sub stitute nor to purchase exemption. Liability to service commences with the completion of the seventeenth year, and lasts until the close of the forty-second year of age. Of this time, twelve years must be passed in the standing army and landwehr in the case of a soldier, in the fleet and seewehr in the case of a seaman. All men liable to service, who may not be called into the standing army, fleet, landwehr, or seewehr, are liable to be called out in the landsturm in time of war. The estimated seafaring population of North Germany is about 80,000, including fishermen and dock labourers. Italy. 2 The annual classification of all individuals fitted for sea service takes place according to fixed instructions. The men who are passed as fit and suited for the navy are divided into two categories by lot. Those of the first category are drawn into the service, and have to serve four years either on board or on shore (they pass the remaining six years on unlimited furlough). The men of the second category, however, are allowed to go at once on unlimited furlough, and are only called up in case of war or similar emergency. They are also liable for service for ten years. Volunteers and boys trained at the various naval training establish ments are obliged to serve eight years continuously. The number of men per annum who reach the age rendering them liable for ser vice is about 5050 on an average, of whom 2600 are fit or suited for the service. Of these, from 1500 to 1800 are placed in the first category (200 volunteers). Naval officers are chiefly obtained from the naval schools. Under-officers seldom obtain the rank of officer, and only then after a searching examination. The law on pro motion of the year 1871 fixes the rules of promotion for all ranks. The "corpo reale equipaggi " is divided into three divisions, each of which is under the command of a post-captain, and belongs to a "dipartimento. " 3 The total establishment was as follows in 1875 : 741 able seamen, 5526 (including 200 boys) seamen and gunners, 704 artificers, 360 employed in "administration," 1187 engineers and stokers, 168 "guardiani," 29 invalids; total 8715 men. A body of men has been lately formed for torpedo defence. The estimated seafaring population of Italy is 225,000, chiefly fishermen. Russia. 4 The entire male population, without distinction of class, is liable to military service. The number of men required to com plete the strength of the army and navy is fixed by the legislature every year on the recommendation of the minister of war, and promulgated to the senate by an imperial ukase. Admission to the service is determined by lot drawing, in which one class only of the population is annually called upon to take part, namely, that which includes all the males who have reached the age of twenty years on the 1st January of the year in question. Persons who have fulfilled certain educational conditions may relieve them- 1 Sec The Armed Strength of the German Empire (1876), published under the tupevintcndcncc of II. M. Stationery Office. 2 See The Armed Strtngth of Italy, published (1875) undtrthe authority of II. II. Stationery Office. 3 The coast-line of Italy is divided into three regions called Jipartimenti marittimi. 4 See The Armed Strength of Russia, published (1882) under the authority of IT.M. Stationery Office.