The navy had been greatly reduced in the year before, the men
voted having diminished from 100,000 to 56,000. What became of
the 44,000 men not required, of whom about 35,000 must have been
of the seaman class and have been discharged from the service?
There was a further reduction of 6000, to take effect in the
beginning of 1803. Sir Sydney Smith, at that time a Member of
Parliament, in the debate of the 2nd December 1802, 'expressed
considerable regret at the great reductions which were suddenly
made, both in the King's dockyards and in the navy in general.
A prodigious number of men,' he said, 'had been thus reduced
to the utmost poverty and distress.' He stated that he 'knew,
from his own experience, that what was called an ordinary seaman
could hardly find employment at present, either in the King's or
in the merchants' service.' The increase of the fleet in March
must have seemed a godsend to thousands of men-of-war's men. If
there was any holding back on their part, it was due, no doubt,
to an expectation--which the sequel showed to be well founded--that
a bounty would be given to men joining the navy.
The muster-book of a man-of-war is the official list of her crew.
It contains the name of every officer and man in the complement.
Primarily it was an account-book, as it contains entries of the
payments made to each person whose name appears in it. At the
beginning of the nineteenth century it was usual to make out
a fresh muster-book every two months, though that period was
not always exactly adhered to.
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