SHIPBUILDING, NAVAL STORES AND SEAMANSHIP 487
especially to induce them to serve in the Royal Navy. AD, 1080
A register was opened for the purpose of inscribing the ’
names of 30,000 sailors of different classes; they were to to im-
receive a retaining fee of £2 per annum on the understanding Ban
1 s seamen in
that they should always be ready for public service when the Nay
called upon'. They became entitled to larger shares of prize-
money than unregistered men, and to have better chances
of promotion to the rank of warrant officers. They, as
well as their widows and children, were to have the right
to be provided for in Greenwich Hospital, an institution
which was to be supported by a sort of compulsory insurance ;
6d. per month was to be deducted from the wages of all
seamen, whether m the mercantile or royal navy, for
its maintenance?. Considerable changes were made under
Queen Anne, when the registration of seamen ceased®; but
there was a succession of statutes for enforcing their pay-
ments to the support of the hospitals, The residue of
she money accruing from the confiscation of the Earl of
Derwentwater’s estates, was used for completing the build-
ing®. The distant prospect of a pension, or a home, must
have been a poor compensation for the inconveniences to
which seamen in the navy were forced to submit. An
attempt was made to remedy their grievances, in 1758, by
an Act for “ establishing a regular method for the punctual,
frequent and certain payment of their Wages; and for
enabling them more easily and readily to remit the same
for the support of their wives and families; and for pre-
venting frauds and abuses attending such payments®” But
Jespite these measures, the Government was frequently in
difficulty about manning the navy, and had recourse to the
high-handed practice of impressing men” to serve.
| On the difficulty of procuring seamen, compare Parl. Hist. vi. 518. Also on
the consequent interference with commerce in 1740 and 1750, Parl. Hist. XL
579 note, xv. 538.
V 7and 8 W. III. ¢. 21; 8 and 9 W. IIL ec. 23; cf. 31 Geo. IT. c. 10.
> 9 Anne, c. 21, § 64. 4 10 Anne, c. 17; 2 Geo. IL. ¢. 7; 18 Geo. IL. c. 81.
: 8 Geo. II. ¢. 29. On abuses in connection with Derwentwater property see
Pennant, Journey from London to the Isle of Wight, 1 18. For Greenwich
Hospital, see Parl. Hist. x1x. 991, 992. and the long account in xx. 475.
4 81 Geo. II. ¢. 10.
1 The impressing of fishermen, &c. to serve as mariners only, was permitted by
§ Eliz. c. 5, § 41. Charles I. obtained parliamentary powers in 1640 to impress
sarventers. surgeons ete.. for his fleet acainst the Algiers pirates 16 Charles I.
