ABSTRACT

Among the changes which revolutionized the British Empire in the nineteenth century few were more drastic than those in the British Navy. Between 1832 and 1869 a new Admiralty and a new Navy emerged. The Whig Government of 1830, committed to reform and retrenchment, began the new order at the Admiralty. The office of Lord High Admiral had been entrusted to commissioners appointed by Letters Patent under the Great Seal since 1708. In the determination of major naval projects the Admiralty was dependent uponthe general will of the British Government. Economy was inherent in such reforms, as well as in the consolidation of the civil departments of the Admiralty. The Admiralty laid numerous reports and returns before both houses of Parliament. The Admiralty Board were alarmed at the naval strength attained by France. Wide a distribution of naval power, obviously following commercial and colonial expansion, necessitated an increase in the number of vice-admiralty courts abroad.