Allan,
This only impacts Fowey peripherally. Where the physical remains conflict with the design, this might inform about the reason.
With the Navy Act on the statute books, Anson and Sandwich turned their attention
to the six royal dockyards, the largest employer in the mid-eighteenth-century British
economy, with a labour force of about 7,000 men in 1749. They recognised that there was a
longstanding need to increase the efficiency of the dockyards, whose failings had become
increasingly apparent during the last war. The navy was also faced with the need to make
peacetime economies as the Government sought to reduce the national debt by cutting
expenditure across the board. Although the Navy Board had reduced the dockyard labour
force at the end of the war, numbers were still high compared to earlier periods and the
Admiralty believed there was scope for further reductions. It increasingly questioned the
effectiveness of the Navy Board’s management of the dockyards because it was reluctant to
make further cuts to the labour force or to address concerns about excessive costs and delays
in completing ship repairs. It was also unwilling to deal with a conservative workforce that
was resistant to change. By 1749, the death of Jacob Acworth and the retirement of the
elderly Comptroller Richard Haddock raised hopes that at least one barrier to innovation
had been removed and that Admiralty intervention in the dockyards might produce much-
needed changes.
On 9 June, the Admiralty Board decided on its next steps. With the Navy Board reluctant
to answer its repeated requests for information, Sandwich, Anson and other members of the
Board decided that they would visit every yard themselves.” A visit would be unprecedented
but was essential if the Admiralty were to make an independent assessment of the yards’
performance, which would then place it in a much stronger position in future dealings with
the Navy Board. It is not clear who first proposed the idea of an Admiralty visitation, but
there is no evidence that Anson had any particular interest in dockyard management or
reform and during his eleven-year tenure as First Lord, he never made another inspection
of the yards. Sandwich, on the other hand, introduced annual dockyard inspections when
he returned to the Admiralty as First Lord in 1771.
The Admiralty visitations in the summer of 1749 were intended:
To examine into & become acquainted with the abilities and conduct of the officers,
the sufficiency of the workmen, the condition of the ships and magazines, together
with what works were carrying on, that such reformations might be made as should
be found needful to prevent any unnecessary expense.”*
Inspections were expected to lead to greater productivity as they hoped to ensure:
That the officers paid due obedience to their instructions, that the several rules
& orders for the government of the yards were punctually carried into execution,
that the ships of the Royal Navy were kept in condition for service, and the money
granted [by Parliament] was frugally expended.”
Anson was present at the visits to all six yards, which began with an inspection of the
Woolwich yard towards the end of June.** Although examples of good practice and a trial of
piece work (‘task work’) - payment according to the work produced as a means of increasing
productivity - were found, the visiting party soon uncovered numerous problems and
abuses: standing orders were largely ignored, buildings had been neglected, the men were
poorly supervised and accounts were often in arrears. The was evidence of over-manning,
while the ships in Ordinary (out of service for repairs or maintenance) were not being prop-
erly maintained. There were too many old and underperforming workmen who could not
be removed and for whom there was no pension provision. The dockyard workers’ right to
take ‘chips’ - timber offcuts which they could use to heat their homes - was widely abused
and large quantities of valuable wood were routinely stolen and resold. Another common
abuse was the payment of overtime for hours that had not been worked so that dockyard
managers could match the significantly higher wages paid to shipwrights in private yards,
particularly in wartime.
The inspections were completed by mid-August and a list of 14 recommendations was
agreed upon and sent to the Navy Board in November. The Admiralty believed that the
management of the yards would be strengthened if standing orders were complied with, the
men mustered frequently, and accounts submitted on time. There was scope for reducing
the number of artificers and their servants. Ships should be inspected four times a year and
ships in Ordinary should be better maintained, but vessels that were beyond useful service
were not to have money spent on them. A programme to repair the fleet should be under-
taken. Finally, the Admiralty supported the introduction of piecework in order to increase
productivity.
When the inspection tour was completed, Anson hoped that the ‘public will reap some
benefit’ from the Admiralty’s efforts, but in this he was to be disappointed.*” The Navy Board
did not write to yard officers about the outcome of the visitation until March 1750.
Ref. Anson Royal Navy Commander and Statesman, 1607-1762
Anthony Bruce
Helion & Company Warwick, England 2023
