"traps," and looked around us. The quays and wall of the dockyard, on the one hand-we could see little or nothing of the interior-with the silence that just then seemed to prevail there, and the desolate and lonely appearance of the Queenborough shore, on the other, contrasted in our minds with the beautiful city of Bath, which we had so lately left, and the stir and bustle of London, which we had quitted but a few hours before, and somewhat disappointed our expectations.

It was, as it were, a new world to us, in which we had everything to discover-the history of an island so wonderfully set down at the very mouths of the Thames and Medway, as a site formed by nature for the defence of these rivers; the construction of the dockyard on land reclaimed from the waters; the mysteries of naval architecture; the ways of life in a garrison town; and the organization and usages of H.M.'s Civil Service; to say nothing of the wonders of a famous geological preserve, and the pleasures and drawbacks of a life by the seaside, of which we had hitherto had no experience.

CHAPTER III.

SHEERNESS DOCKYARD AND ITS SURROUNDINGS.

WE

E passed on into the town of Sheerness, to engage a lodging-for we dreaded the expense of a hoteltill we could find a suitable residence. The aspect of Blue Town, as it was called-the part of Sheerness nearest the pier and which derived its name, as we afterwards learned, from the first houses erected there having been painted blue (to signify, as we suppose, their connection with the navy) did not greatly relieve us. The gigantic and blank dockyard wall occupying one side of the somewhat irregularly-built main street, which had a number of side streets, with narrow cross-streets behind them; and the wooden houses,* small shops, and numerous taverns (then empty) on the other, made but a dull thoroughfare; but we hoped for the best.

After engaging a lodging, I made my way into the dockyard, passing, as directed, round the top of Blue Town, meeting every few steps a soldier or sailor, and going by the outer terrace of the yard and the Dockyard Chapel (a noble edifice),† to the main entrance fronting the beach. This presented but a dreary aspect, new fortifications being in course of construction, and the road, almost bare of

* We afterwards learnt that, in addition to their wages, the men of the dockyard were formerly allowed "chips" for firing. These "chips" appear to have been sometimes of considerable size; and it seems that they grew, and grew, and continued to grow, so that, it is said, they at length became planks, with which a considerable part of Blue Town and the adjoining colony of Mile Town was erected.

† Erected about 1835, at a cost of £30,000.

"Between the Peace and 1840 matters were allowed to go very much to neglect at Sheerness. Soon after this the Prince de Joinville paid a

buildings, stretching away, as I learned, to Garrison Point, the official residence of the Port-Admiral (the Naval Commander-in-Chief) and the barracks of the soldiers. The dockyard gateway, opposite the parade-ground, was tall and imposing, and was guarded by police, who admitted me on my signing a book in their charge, and stating that I had come to join. Just within the entry, on a lofty mast, hung a great bell, by which it appeared the men of the yard were summoned to, and dismissed from, their work. Passing a military guard a little way on, I proceeded to the office of the Captain-Superintendent, reported my arrival, found that my name had preceded me from the Admiralty, presented my letter of appointment, and was entered on the official books as a Clerk on the Establishment. It was the 1st May, 1846.

I had never before seen a naval yard, and could not but be deeply impressed at first sight with the magnificence of this great national establishment, which, to my astonishment, I found was all built upon piles. The yard covered sixty acres, encompassed on each side, except towards the water, by the lofty and substantial wall to which I have already alluded, the Officers' Terrace forming its upper boundary, and the Medway, in which lay the Flag Ship and many other vessels, the lower. Among the first things I noticed was the perfect order that appeared everywhere to prevail; the cleanliness, neatness, and even beauty of the Yard; and the mansion-like character of the Principal Officers' houses.

The Royal Navy is the glory of our land; every Briton may be proud who is in any way associated with it, and the humblest artificer who helps to build it up may be glad and rejoice in his work; for the Navy represents the majesty of Great Britain as the Sovereign of the Seas, the Protector of Commerce, the Champion of Liberty.

To Henry VIII. belongs the honour, not only of having founded Deptford and Woolwich dockyards, but also of having first founded in this country an organized and permanent Navy as a distinct national service, and of visit to Sheerness in a French line-of-battle ship, and there was but one gun to return the salute. A pamphlet written by the Prince about that time, pointing out the ease with which an invasion of England might be accomplished, created a panic in the country, and very soon after the existing fortifications were erected."-Sheerness Guide (1870).

defining the pay of officers and men, as well as of appointing a Board of Commissioners to rule the fleet. The fleet was in some succeeding reigns less cared for; yet Elizabeth was the restorer of England's maritime glory, and her sealions Drake, Howard, Hawkins, Raleigh, Frobisherwhose names will ever live in the annals of the nation, made the fame of her navy ring throughout the world. And though afterwards, at times, too much forgotten, Boscawen, Rodney, Howe, Jervis, Duncan, Sydney Smith, NELSON and Cochrane, made the name of the British fleet terrible to our enemies. In the war with France our navy won immortal glories. With, or about the commencement of, the present reign, other nations began to augment their navies, and with the extension of our Colonial Empire and our commerce, the necessity for our maintenance of a great navy became obvious-a navy equal to the combined forces of any two other maritime nations. Increased attention has consequently been given to this subject, and now our flag is on every sea, and the thunders of our cannon are heard on every shore. Great Britain has won a naval supremacy which she must ever maintain-a supremacy which the peace of the world as well as the honour of England requires.

"Britannia's glory first from ships arose ;

To shipping still her power and wealth she owes." And we are here especially concerned in our naval archi

tecture.

The Commander-in-Chief at the Nore-who has the supreme authority over all naval officers at both Sheerness and Chatham-was at the time of our joining Vice-Admiral Sir E. D. King, K.C.B.

I was introduced next morning to Captain Arthur, the Superintendent of the dockyard; made and subscribed a certain declaration before him; and executed a bond, to the amount of three times my salary, for the faithful discharge of my duties. I was then assigned to the Storekeeper's department, and immediately posted to a desk in his principal office.

In the evening I had to seek apartments where we might find a temporary home until we could engage a suitable

residence. We found that Sheerness consisted of no less than three towns: Blue Town,-which once represented, as it would seem, the whole settlement-Mile Town, and Marine Town. The first, except its back streets, we had already seen. Divided from Blue Town by a moat and drawbridge was Mile Town, better built and more modern, (dating, as it would seem, from about 1809), and with fewer taverns and better shops, but still having numerous wooden houses, relics of an older time, indicating great liability to fire; then came Edward Street, two short rows of tolerably well built houses, facing each other and leading to the sea; originally founded by Sir Edward Banks* as a first instalment of a ville to be called Bankstown; the Church, the Royal Hotel, erected by Sir Edward Banks for his private residence; and, finally, on the beach, Marine Town, a rising little settlement of more recent birth. The whole population of the three towns was perhaps 10,000, nearly all of whom were Government employés, their families, and their dependents.

Sheerness stands in a very flat locality, being, as we afterwards found, much below the level of the sea at high-water mark, and only prevented from being flooded and uninhabitable by a strongly-built sea wall, which defends it on the east, north and south. The flats behind Mile Town and Blue Town form an area of about 1,700 acres, and were then, as they seemed always to have been, the receptacle of the town sullage. They were intersected by watercourses, which carried with them a great proportion of the town sewage, emitting health-destroying malaria on every hand, saturating the earth, and polluting the air. In fact, Sheerness was nearly surrounded, except seaward, by stagnant and stinking ditches, the principal of which were primarily formed for the purpose of draining the town and the marshes themselves; but for the want of a proper and efficient outlet had become reservoirs and hotbeds for the generation of poisonous matter, producing disease and death. It was a very unpleasant discovery. The lookout was a dreary one,

* A self-made man-originally a working man-who became the contractor for the new London and Waterloo Bridges, as well as for most of the Government works constructed in his day at Sheerness.