Book in published letters to the editor of The Times describing his visits
tot the navy bases in France in 1840. At that moments the relations between
France and Great-Britain were apparently somewhat troubled and in France
preparations were made to equip the fleet. See for more descriptions of the
dockyards at Cherbourg other notes on this weblog.(1) In his letter dated 15
September 1840 wrote Kirwan wrote
p. 30: “You are aware that the designation ports militaires is applicable only to five French ports - namely, Cherbourg, Brest, L’Orient, Rochefort, and Toulon; and that the words are equivalent to our arsenals and dockyards, as the towns may be taken to be the French counterparts of Portsmouth, Plymouth, Sheerness, and Woolwich. My first effort on arriving here was, of
p. 31: course, to see the docks and arsenal; but during the last eight days all strangers are prohibited from entering, unless a formal demand in writing is made by the consul of the nation to which the individual applicant belongs. Nor is this rigour extended alone to strangers. Native Frenchmen are not permitted to enter, unless they come provided with a recommendation signed by two inhabitants of the town. I will not trouble you with the difficulties I had in obtaining an entree; suffice it to say, I gained my object, in acceding to the condition that I should be accompanied by a gendarme - a condition, by the way, which several Englishmen have, more punctiliously than praiseworthily, rejected during the past week. You are aware that the works on a grand scale commenced at this port under the reign of Louis XVI., to whom, as I in a former letter remarked, the French navy are so much indebted, and which were continued under the Imperial Government, were in a great degree suspended during the Restoration. The Revolution of 1830, however, gave an impetus to the French navy, which the prudent and sagacious monarch who now “reigns and governs”, was not slow to second.(2) I had not been here since the year 1827, when the Henry IV (3), of 110 guns, was placed on the stocks, and the progress which has been made in the last ten or twelve years asto-
p. 32: nished me not a little. Cherbourg is now a town of first-rate importance as a place de guerre and port militaire. With an open channel at the embouchure of the Divelle, it incloses within the circle of its vast bay Cape Levi on the east, and Cape La Hogue on the west. The two ports, the one for the military, the other for the mercantile, marine, are entirely separated from each other. They are defended by an intrenched camp, composed of eight redoubts. The government dock and arsenal, opened in 1813, is situated to the north-west of the town, and is defended by a bastion and fosse, partially dry, dug out of a rock, called the Galet. Here, even at low water, vessels find twenty-five feet water, and thirty sail of the line may ride in safety. In 1833, several cales de construction, or slips or stocks for first-rate men-of-war, were finished, and in one of these now lies the Friedland (4), three-decker, of 120 guns; two others are occupied by two frigates, one the Calypso (5), of 84, and the other of 64 guns, while in the fourth lies a gabarre, or store-ship. All these vessels will be ready for sea, and in commission, by the 15th of October. It is therefore no marvel that the marine artillery has been augmented from 1367 to 2014 men, giving an increase of 647 men; or that the effective force of the marine is raised from 10,963 to 15,809,
p. 33: giving an increase of 4846 men. Nor is this all; for I believe a plan is now in contemplation, and may be possibly in execution before the end of the week, to extend what is called the “Inscription Maritime”, not only to the mariniers des rivieres, or watermen, but to the marins caboteurs, or those engaged in the coasting trade. By another ordinance of the 31st of August, fifty new companies are ordered to be formed for ships of war, which are to be thus distributed: - twelve at Cherbourg, nine at Brest, six at L’Orient, five at Rochefort, and eighteen at Toulon. In consequence of this augmentation, the number of permanent men-of-war’s companies, which was altogether 120, giving an effective of 12,360 men, will henceforth be 170, presenting an effective of 20,400 men. It is also quite true, as you have been, perhaps, by your Paris correspondent already informed, that the naval contingent of the class of 1839 are ordered to join their corps from this very 15th of September on which I write. When I tell you that the rigging of one of the frigates which I saw yesterday (the Calypso) is finished, and the rigging of the Friedland, of 120 guns, has actually commenced? you, as well as your readers, will judge whether these are mere demonstrations, “full of sound and fury, and signifying nothing”; or whether they are but the prelude to that most dreadful of all
p. 34: calamities, which we all deprecate, and which sane men will do their utmost to prevent. Meantime is it not right to inquire what the Elliot and Minto clique are doing about our navy? Is
“The flag that’s braved a thousand years
The battle and the breeze”
to he trailed in the dust by hungry Scotch adventurers ? It will not do to say the French fleet is a mere “pasteboard fleet”, as was truly but unwisely said of the Russian, for the ships which I have seen are as well built, and will be nearly, I will not say as well, manoeuvred as though they were manned by those “hearts of oak” formerly the pride and glory of England, now the stepchildren of Admiralty officials.”
p. 37: “To return, however, to the description of the Port Militaire. The dockyard is surrounded, as in our country, with magazines, storehouses, and buildings, all dedicated to the service of the state. The basin, as I before stated, is capable of containing thirty sail of the line, and vessels can come in and go out either at ebb or flow, there being sufficient water to keep them perpetually afloat. Nor is the commercial port, frequented by coasting vessels, less admirable, for it offers almost in every respect similar advantages. The roadstead affords capital anchorage in the offing. It is protected by three forts - the Fort Royal, that of the Island of Pelée, and Fort Artois, and is enclosed by a dike of 1933 toises in length, and at 2000 toises from the mouth of the harbour. On this part of the subject I shall have to enter more at length in subsequent letters; but to-day the imperious necessity of making you acquainted with the cales de construction, or stocks, and the ateliers ces forges, des machines fonderie et corderie, or forges, machine workshops, founderies, and ropewalks, compels me to abandon all other
p. 38: subjects. The cales are four in number, and each of 117 metres in length; their height 26 metres. The building of each cost 520,000f. In addition to the vessels preparing for commission, of which I made mention in a former part of this letter, there are the Diomed (6), of 90 guns; the Ajax (7), of 100; and the Henry IV, on which the carpenters for the moment have ceased to work, in order to prepare with greater promptitude the Friedland, the Calypso, and the smaller frigate, already rigged. There is also a stock for repairing, careening, and thorough careening, which in nautical terms means heaving the ship's keel out, as parliament heeling or boot-topping means half careening. The equivalent French term for this Attic of the ocean is cale de redoub et de carenage. This latter doek is of the form of a ship, and vessels come into it at full tide. It is then shut by a bateau porte, or water-wicket, and pumped dry by a steam pumping-machine, when the redoub, or in Jack-Tar phrase the repair, and speaking of the ship's timbers and planks, commences. This dock is 74 metres long, 28 in breadth, and is 8 metres deep. It was commenced in 1811, and finished in 1813, and cost 571,100 francs. The forges and founderies of Cherbourg are the children of the July revolution. They were
p. 39: commenced in 1831, and finished in 1832 and 1833; and here it was, as well as in the ropewalk, that I traced, certainly with surprise though without dread, the astonishing progress which this persevering, ingenious, industrious, excitable, and most valiant people, have made since 1830. If the English nation needed any stimulus to exertion, here it lies in the fiery bosom of these forges. If they are to maintain, as they ever have maintained, and as I pray to God they ever may maintain, the dominion of the seas - if they are to “ride on the whirlwind” and to “direct the storm” of the ocean - if they are to protect the weak and to chastise the strong—if they are to guard their own firesides, their “lares el penates”, as they have hitherto guarded them, against foreign foes - if they are to maintain, as they ought, the “right of search”, for which they fought and bled bravely and profusely - if they are to sustain, as they ought and must, the mare clausum of the great and learned John Selden, they will take heed in time, and not "sleep the slumber of the sluggard." Above all things, they will cast away from them those men who sacrifice the “wooden walls of old England” to miserable savings of cheese-parings and candle-ends; for this is a time and season when the French marine strides on rapidly - ay, a pas de geant - and if we
p. 40: stand still, most assuredly we are undone. Here in these ateliers are 12 double fires, and what is called “un grand feu avec martinet”, which signifies an immense hammer and anvil, moved by steam machinery, as perfect and as regular as any thing one could see in the manufactories of Leeds, Birmingham, or Manchester. Here I must break off for the present; but permit me in conclusion to say, that the ropewalk for the manufactory of cables exceeds in length and in the number of workmen any thing I have seen in England. I should say, at a rough guess there were at this moment close upon 500 men and boys employed in this, the greater part at from 40 sous to 3 francs per day.”
Sources
Hans Busk. The Navies of the world. London, 1859. Digitized by Google.
Andrew Valentine Kirwan. The ports, arsenal and dockyards of France. London, 1841.
Jacques Vichot. Répertoire des navires de guerre français. Paris, 1967.
Notes
1. “The French naval base Cherbourg” and the “The French dockyard of Cherbourg as described in the Army and Navy Chronicle of 13 September 1838” on this web log.
2. “The age of the French sailing ships of the line still on stocks in 1846” on this web log.
3. l’Henri IV, laid down at Cherbourg, France 1829, launched 1848, wrecked 14 November 1854 off Eupatoria.
4. Le Friedland, on stocks at Cherbourg,France 1 May 1812, launched 4 April 1840, ex-l’Inflexible renamed 1821, ex-le Duc de Bordeaux renamed 1830, renamed as pontoon le Colosse 1865, last mentioned 1879. Homeport Toulon. Finished out as screw steamship of the line 1st class, wood-built, armed with 114 guns, 600 hp with engines built at Marseilles, France.
5. La Calypso, frigate, on stocks at Toulon, France 1820, launched 1823, ex-la Cérès renamed 1823, ex-la Marie-Thérèse renamed 1830, last mentioned 1885.
6. The Le Diomède, laid down at Cherbourg, France 2 March 1832, launched 30 March 1854, renamed le Tilsitt 1839, last mentioned 1887. Finished as s screw steamship of the line 3rd class, wood-built, armed with 80 guns, 500 hp with engines made at Brest, fitted out March 1859.
7. The l’Ajax, laid down at Cherbourg, France 17 August1832, launched September1852, renamed l’Austerlitz 1839, 1876 training ship for boys, last mentioned 1895. Finished as screw steamship of the line 2nd class, wood-built, armed with 90 guns, 500 hp with engines from Indret.
p. 30: “You are aware that the designation ports militaires is applicable only to five French ports - namely, Cherbourg, Brest, L’Orient, Rochefort, and Toulon; and that the words are equivalent to our arsenals and dockyards, as the towns may be taken to be the French counterparts of Portsmouth, Plymouth, Sheerness, and Woolwich. My first effort on arriving here was, of
p. 31: course, to see the docks and arsenal; but during the last eight days all strangers are prohibited from entering, unless a formal demand in writing is made by the consul of the nation to which the individual applicant belongs. Nor is this rigour extended alone to strangers. Native Frenchmen are not permitted to enter, unless they come provided with a recommendation signed by two inhabitants of the town. I will not trouble you with the difficulties I had in obtaining an entree; suffice it to say, I gained my object, in acceding to the condition that I should be accompanied by a gendarme - a condition, by the way, which several Englishmen have, more punctiliously than praiseworthily, rejected during the past week. You are aware that the works on a grand scale commenced at this port under the reign of Louis XVI., to whom, as I in a former letter remarked, the French navy are so much indebted, and which were continued under the Imperial Government, were in a great degree suspended during the Restoration. The Revolution of 1830, however, gave an impetus to the French navy, which the prudent and sagacious monarch who now “reigns and governs”, was not slow to second.(2) I had not been here since the year 1827, when the Henry IV (3), of 110 guns, was placed on the stocks, and the progress which has been made in the last ten or twelve years asto-
p. 32: nished me not a little. Cherbourg is now a town of first-rate importance as a place de guerre and port militaire. With an open channel at the embouchure of the Divelle, it incloses within the circle of its vast bay Cape Levi on the east, and Cape La Hogue on the west. The two ports, the one for the military, the other for the mercantile, marine, are entirely separated from each other. They are defended by an intrenched camp, composed of eight redoubts. The government dock and arsenal, opened in 1813, is situated to the north-west of the town, and is defended by a bastion and fosse, partially dry, dug out of a rock, called the Galet. Here, even at low water, vessels find twenty-five feet water, and thirty sail of the line may ride in safety. In 1833, several cales de construction, or slips or stocks for first-rate men-of-war, were finished, and in one of these now lies the Friedland (4), three-decker, of 120 guns; two others are occupied by two frigates, one the Calypso (5), of 84, and the other of 64 guns, while in the fourth lies a gabarre, or store-ship. All these vessels will be ready for sea, and in commission, by the 15th of October. It is therefore no marvel that the marine artillery has been augmented from 1367 to 2014 men, giving an increase of 647 men; or that the effective force of the marine is raised from 10,963 to 15,809,
p. 33: giving an increase of 4846 men. Nor is this all; for I believe a plan is now in contemplation, and may be possibly in execution before the end of the week, to extend what is called the “Inscription Maritime”, not only to the mariniers des rivieres, or watermen, but to the marins caboteurs, or those engaged in the coasting trade. By another ordinance of the 31st of August, fifty new companies are ordered to be formed for ships of war, which are to be thus distributed: - twelve at Cherbourg, nine at Brest, six at L’Orient, five at Rochefort, and eighteen at Toulon. In consequence of this augmentation, the number of permanent men-of-war’s companies, which was altogether 120, giving an effective of 12,360 men, will henceforth be 170, presenting an effective of 20,400 men. It is also quite true, as you have been, perhaps, by your Paris correspondent already informed, that the naval contingent of the class of 1839 are ordered to join their corps from this very 15th of September on which I write. When I tell you that the rigging of one of the frigates which I saw yesterday (the Calypso) is finished, and the rigging of the Friedland, of 120 guns, has actually commenced? you, as well as your readers, will judge whether these are mere demonstrations, “full of sound and fury, and signifying nothing”; or whether they are but the prelude to that most dreadful of all
p. 34: calamities, which we all deprecate, and which sane men will do their utmost to prevent. Meantime is it not right to inquire what the Elliot and Minto clique are doing about our navy? Is
“The flag that’s braved a thousand years
The battle and the breeze”
to he trailed in the dust by hungry Scotch adventurers ? It will not do to say the French fleet is a mere “pasteboard fleet”, as was truly but unwisely said of the Russian, for the ships which I have seen are as well built, and will be nearly, I will not say as well, manoeuvred as though they were manned by those “hearts of oak” formerly the pride and glory of England, now the stepchildren of Admiralty officials.”
p. 37: “To return, however, to the description of the Port Militaire. The dockyard is surrounded, as in our country, with magazines, storehouses, and buildings, all dedicated to the service of the state. The basin, as I before stated, is capable of containing thirty sail of the line, and vessels can come in and go out either at ebb or flow, there being sufficient water to keep them perpetually afloat. Nor is the commercial port, frequented by coasting vessels, less admirable, for it offers almost in every respect similar advantages. The roadstead affords capital anchorage in the offing. It is protected by three forts - the Fort Royal, that of the Island of Pelée, and Fort Artois, and is enclosed by a dike of 1933 toises in length, and at 2000 toises from the mouth of the harbour. On this part of the subject I shall have to enter more at length in subsequent letters; but to-day the imperious necessity of making you acquainted with the cales de construction, or stocks, and the ateliers ces forges, des machines fonderie et corderie, or forges, machine workshops, founderies, and ropewalks, compels me to abandon all other
p. 38: subjects. The cales are four in number, and each of 117 metres in length; their height 26 metres. The building of each cost 520,000f. In addition to the vessels preparing for commission, of which I made mention in a former part of this letter, there are the Diomed (6), of 90 guns; the Ajax (7), of 100; and the Henry IV, on which the carpenters for the moment have ceased to work, in order to prepare with greater promptitude the Friedland, the Calypso, and the smaller frigate, already rigged. There is also a stock for repairing, careening, and thorough careening, which in nautical terms means heaving the ship's keel out, as parliament heeling or boot-topping means half careening. The equivalent French term for this Attic of the ocean is cale de redoub et de carenage. This latter doek is of the form of a ship, and vessels come into it at full tide. It is then shut by a bateau porte, or water-wicket, and pumped dry by a steam pumping-machine, when the redoub, or in Jack-Tar phrase the repair, and speaking of the ship's timbers and planks, commences. This dock is 74 metres long, 28 in breadth, and is 8 metres deep. It was commenced in 1811, and finished in 1813, and cost 571,100 francs. The forges and founderies of Cherbourg are the children of the July revolution. They were
p. 39: commenced in 1831, and finished in 1832 and 1833; and here it was, as well as in the ropewalk, that I traced, certainly with surprise though without dread, the astonishing progress which this persevering, ingenious, industrious, excitable, and most valiant people, have made since 1830. If the English nation needed any stimulus to exertion, here it lies in the fiery bosom of these forges. If they are to maintain, as they ever have maintained, and as I pray to God they ever may maintain, the dominion of the seas - if they are to “ride on the whirlwind” and to “direct the storm” of the ocean - if they are to protect the weak and to chastise the strong—if they are to guard their own firesides, their “lares el penates”, as they have hitherto guarded them, against foreign foes - if they are to maintain, as they ought, the “right of search”, for which they fought and bled bravely and profusely - if they are to sustain, as they ought and must, the mare clausum of the great and learned John Selden, they will take heed in time, and not "sleep the slumber of the sluggard." Above all things, they will cast away from them those men who sacrifice the “wooden walls of old England” to miserable savings of cheese-parings and candle-ends; for this is a time and season when the French marine strides on rapidly - ay, a pas de geant - and if we
p. 40: stand still, most assuredly we are undone. Here in these ateliers are 12 double fires, and what is called “un grand feu avec martinet”, which signifies an immense hammer and anvil, moved by steam machinery, as perfect and as regular as any thing one could see in the manufactories of Leeds, Birmingham, or Manchester. Here I must break off for the present; but permit me in conclusion to say, that the ropewalk for the manufactory of cables exceeds in length and in the number of workmen any thing I have seen in England. I should say, at a rough guess there were at this moment close upon 500 men and boys employed in this, the greater part at from 40 sous to 3 francs per day.”
Sources
Hans Busk. The Navies of the world. London, 1859. Digitized by Google.
Andrew Valentine Kirwan. The ports, arsenal and dockyards of France. London, 1841.
Jacques Vichot. Répertoire des navires de guerre français. Paris, 1967.
Notes
1. “The French naval base Cherbourg” and the “The French dockyard of Cherbourg as described in the Army and Navy Chronicle of 13 September 1838” on this web log.
2. “The age of the French sailing ships of the line still on stocks in 1846” on this web log.
3. l’Henri IV, laid down at Cherbourg, France 1829, launched 1848, wrecked 14 November 1854 off Eupatoria.
4. Le Friedland, on stocks at Cherbourg,France 1 May 1812, launched 4 April 1840, ex-l’Inflexible renamed 1821, ex-le Duc de Bordeaux renamed 1830, renamed as pontoon le Colosse 1865, last mentioned 1879. Homeport Toulon. Finished out as screw steamship of the line 1st class, wood-built, armed with 114 guns, 600 hp with engines built at Marseilles, France.
5. La Calypso, frigate, on stocks at Toulon, France 1820, launched 1823, ex-la Cérès renamed 1823, ex-la Marie-Thérèse renamed 1830, last mentioned 1885.
6. The Le Diomède, laid down at Cherbourg, France 2 March 1832, launched 30 March 1854, renamed le Tilsitt 1839, last mentioned 1887. Finished as s screw steamship of the line 3rd class, wood-built, armed with 80 guns, 500 hp with engines made at Brest, fitted out March 1859.
7. The l’Ajax, laid down at Cherbourg, France 17 August1832, launched September1852, renamed l’Austerlitz 1839, 1876 training ship for boys, last mentioned 1895. Finished as screw steamship of the line 2nd class, wood-built, armed with 90 guns, 500 hp with engines from Indret.
