THE SAILORS' INSTITUTE AT ODESSA. To the Editor of the "Nautical Magazine." H.B.M. Consulate-General, Odessa, Russia, June 15th. SIR,-For some time I have been wishing to write to you about a subject of great interest to me, but have put it off, hoping we might be able to raise the necessary sum without troubling you; but, alas! the subscriptions have fallen short of our needs, and I venture to make this appeal to you, having been told that if I am fortunate enough to enlist your sympathies, my cause will be most successfully pleaded. It is for the Sailors' Institute at Odessa. I forward you a plan of the building. It is just completed; but there are 3,000 roubles, equal to £400, still needed to pay the debt on it, also to furnish it for the use of the sailors. I know that it will be urged that buildings of this kind are not necessary here as they are in England, where ships' crews are paid off; that a man's ship is his home at a port like this, and that he ought not to be entrusted on shore. If he would remain on his ship the argument would be unanswerable; but they will come on shore, and it is to keep them from all the dangers and temptations that beset them on shore, to prevent their going to the low drinking shops and haunts of vice that infest the harbour, and from which they return to their ships too often drunk and incapable of working, even if it does not happen as it does sometimes, that they are lodged in the prison for fighting and stabbing, that this Institute has been built. It is for giving them some clean and home-like place where they can spend their time while they are on shore; for giving them rational amusements and occupations; for making them feel in this distant port that their well-being and comfort are thought of and cared for; and last and best for providing them with means of attending Divine service every Sunday while their ship is in this port. Newspapers and books will be supplied them, also chess, backgammon, &c., &c. Mr. Clarke, our clergyman here, will give a service every Sunday evening. In one respect the building will partake essentially of the character of a home, for there will be rooms for convalescent sailors, for sailors unavoidably detained here, and for shipwrecked sailors. It will be under the immediate superintendence of an agent and matron, acting under the general supervision of the committee of mangement. Although the Institute is not yet open for the general use of the sailors for want of means to furnish it, yet it was opened last Sunday evening for Divine Service, when the attend ance of sailors was very good. If you knew how much an institution of this kind was needed here-how much I have the subject at heartyou would not be surprised at my trying to obtain your valuable aid; and this must be my excuse for troubling you. My husband's bankers, Messrs. Cocks, Biddulph & Co., 48, Charing Cross, have kindly consented to take care of the funds that we may be fortunate enough to receive. Yours faithfully, SUSAN STANLEY. [We are glad to give publicity to the above letter, and heartily wish our lady correspondent may meet with some satisfactory response among our readers. The undertaking on behalf of which she pleads so eloquently most certainly deserves encouragement; and we think the best way to win supporters is to let the fair advocate speak for herself. We have often spoken of the value of a little healthy attraction for sailors at foreign ports to keep them away from the low haunts always to be found at seaport towns; but we venture to re-assert an opinion we have before expressed, that the promoters of this establishment must beware, lest they frighten away by too much religious service the very men they desire to entice. The softening and elevating influences of the Christian religion are too well known to need any words of ours, but at the same time it will be found that Mercantile Jack as a rule fights very shy of anything connected with churches and religious services, and therefore it is perhaps not advisable to make that element in the Sailors' Home too prominent." We commend the cause of the Odessa Home to the kind sympathy of those among our readers who can afford to assist the undertaking, for it certainly can be made most servicable to a large number of British seamen whose duty takes them to the port.-ED.] THE Committee of Officers appointed to consider the position of Engineers in the Navy have completed their report, and suggest tha Inspectors of Machinery shall rank with Captains, Chief Engineers with Commanders, and Engineers with Lieutenants. The pay of these Officers is proportionally increased. Chief Engineers, it is suggested, shall be appointed to ships under Commanders as well as those under Captains, thus largely increasing the number of Chief Engineers required for the Service. Engine-room artificers are also to have better pay. THE NAUTICAL MAGAZINE. VOLUME XLV.-No. VIII. AUGUST, 1876. OUR MARITIME DEFENCES CONSIDERED, COMBINED WITH THE MANNING OF OUR MERCHANT SHIPS. A LTHOUGH Great Britain, from her isolated position, is much more secure against foreign aggression than any other European nation, the possibility of invasion has ever been a source of the deepest anxiety to her people, and frequently of needless alarms. Indeed, from the time when Napoleon I. commenced that career of territorial conquest which ended in his exile to St. Helena we lived in the midst of alarms. Nor did these cease with his overthrow, or when all that was mortal of that restless conqueror lay entombed far away from the strife of nations. Since then we have had frequent rumours of invasion, and millions of money have been expended for our protection. I shall not stop to inquire into the cause of these alarms, although interested motives, apart from the safety of the nation, have had much to do with them: it is sufficient for my present purpose to remind my readers of their existence. Although events have proved that for more than half a century the vast sums of money expended on our Army and Navy might in a great measure have been saved, I cannot coincide with those writers who attempt to show that our preparations for war have on every occasion been a waste of our national resources. Far from it: our warlike attitude, while it no doubt induced other nations to increase their armaments, VOL. XLV. Y |