Instructions for the Surveyor of the Navy
These Instructions for the Surveyor of the Navy date from around 1844.[1] In 1860 the office of Surveyor was renamed Controller of the Navy.
Instructions
1.—You are to prepare, for their Lordships' consideration, drawings of such ships and vessels as may be ordered to be built by you: to examine such reports and proposals from the Shipwright Officers of the several dock-yards, or other persons relative to the building, repairing and improving ships of war, as their Lordships may direct to be referred to you, and to suggest the proper dimensions of the masts and yards of each class of ships.
2.—You are to offer such remarks and explanations, either on your own drafts or others that may be submitted to you, as may assist the Board in judging of the propriety of adopting or rejecting them.
3—You are to submit, for the consideration of the Board, any remarks you may deem advisable on the nature and dimensions of timber for ship-building, and of spars for masts and yards, &c.
4.—You are to make yourself thoroughly acquainted with the state of the several works connected with the building or repairing of ships that are carrying on in the yards, and to suggest for the consideration of the Board, to which of them it may be most advisable and most consistent with the good of the service to give a preference.
5.—You are to visit the dock-yards occasionally, with the sanction of the Board, and to inform yourself on all points connected with the duties of the several shipwright officers, and in what manner they are executed; also as to the distribution of the workmen, and their divisions into gangs.
6.—Having been put in possession of the number and classes of ships to be employed in the course of the year, and having made yourself acquainted with the state of the fleet in ordinary, which you are to do by a strict examination once in the course of the year, you are to submit , for their Lordships' consideration, any alteration that may appear to you advisable of the number of artificers and workmen in the several dock-yards.
You are to observe, in your visitations, whether there are any artificers or workmen, who, from age or infirmity, are incapable of performing a proper day's work, and you are to direct a list of them, with their ages and times of servitude, to be transmitted to us.
You are also to examine and report to the Board what ships are worn out, and what ship-building stores are so deteriorated, as to- make it advisable to put both up to public sale, or to take the ships to pieces.
7.—The reports of all surveys of Her Majesty's ships by the officers of the yards will be laid before you, and from them and any other information you may be able to collect, you are to consider and submit your opinion of the propriety of either repairing, selling, or taking them to pieces, as from the circumstances regarding their condition, the expense of repairing, &c, may appear to you most expedient.
The ordinary defects of Her Majesty's ships, on their arrival at any of the ports, will be laid before you, and from the statement of these defects, and the reports from the dock-yard officers thereon, you are to make such statement to the Board as may enable their Lordships to decide on the degree of repair to be ordered for such ships respectively.
You are to take care that a correct account of the forwardness of all Her Majesty's ships under repair, of the state of those building and re-building, with the names and conditions of all those lying up in ordinary, be at all times kept in your office, and also of the state of the docks; and the progress of the works in the yard is to be sent monthly to the Admiralty, and a corrected list of the navy, at the end of each quarter of the year.
8.—When projects for building ships, for alterations in their masts and yards, and, in short, all proposals that have relation to any of Her Majesty's ships or vessels, are submitted to you, for your opinion, you are to communicate the same, in writing, with your reasons for approving or objecting to such proposals.
9.—In all professional details of matters connected with your duties, in requiring information, or explanations, on professional points, you will be at liberty to correspond directly with the respective officers of the yards, but you are not to issue any orders of a general nature, or to enter upon any part of the general correspondence with the Superintendents of the yards, it being intended that such correspondence shall alone be conducted by the Board of Admiralty, through their secretaries.
10.—But any communications of a general nature, or any directions you may wish to be given to the officers of the yards, or any general instructions which you may deem expedient to be adopted, you are to make known in writing to the Superintending Lord, to be by him submitted to the Board at large, who will act upon them as, on due consideration, they may deem to be most expedient.
11.—When vacancies occur in the dock-yards, whether of the superior or inferior class of officers, if they be such as require to be filled up, you are, after consultation with the Superintendents of the yards, to offer such information to the Board, relative to the merits of candidates to succeed to such vacancies, as such Superintendents and yourself may concur in deeming advisable and just.
12.—Lastly, in all matters connected with the duties of your situation, you will advise with, and consult the Lord of the Admiralty who shall be appointed to superintend the duties with which you are charged.[2]
See Also
Footnotes
Bibliography
- Report of the Commissioners Appointed to Inquire into the Control and Management of Her Majesty's Naval Yards; Together with the Minutes of Evidence and Appendix. London: For Her Majesty's Stationary Office. 1861.
