JP' went to show that the naval subordinates who had
to conduct the chief mechanical operations of the ship were not properly trained, and not properly organised for the work of conducting the operations of so highly delicate, complex, and elaborate a machine as one of our great ironclads, and how the evidence of still more recent catastrophes has again and again confirmed that impression. A curious and most startling confirma- tion of it has now come out. It seems that ventilating apertures' have been cut in the water-tight bulkheads of her Majesty's ships,—and of a great number of them,— without any reference to the Constructor of the Navy, and without any sanction or consideration by him, and that the chief engineer and his subordinates at Devonport have had to explain that "they had misunderstood the tracings sent for guidance in ventilating the coal-bunks of ships," and that they had applied this misconception not only to the unfortunate Vanguard,' but to no less than fifteen other ships of her Majesty. The whole story is one of the most fatal ignorance, and ignorance of the very kind which implies that the service is not a service which understands the new and elaborate machinery with which it has -to deal. The particular mistake will doubtless be remedied. But how is the inadequate education of the Naval Service which it implies, and which may result in scores of such blunders, to be provided against?
Previous page
