12. Arrange for boats to carry reserve ammunition, water (of which the supply must be abundant), provisions, medicines and stores, immediately the landing-place is secured. These duties are to be assigned to particular officers.

13. If necessary, arrange for future supply of provisions, stores, and ammunition from the ships, and for conveyance and reception of wounded

men.

14. A beach master, assisted if necessary by other officers, should be appointed to control the work on the beach. Under them, a party of seamen should be stationed where the horses and stores are to be landed, with such well-stretched rope, slings, purchase and leading-blocks and spars for light shears, as the case may require.

15. If the landing is to be on an open and ample beach, the boats may probably best approach it in columns in line ahead, the columns being more or less numerous according to the number of boats employed. The fewer boats there are in a column, the less effect will ricochet shot have upon them; but a single line abreast would have a front much too great for the troops when landed, and increase the difficulty of finding a beach adequate for the purpose.

The distance between adjacent columns in feet should be the number of boats in a column multipled by 20; so that when they are beached in line abreast, there may be about 10 feet between adjacent boats.

If the beach be insufficient for the whole force to land and form on at once, probably the disembarkation should be from columns in line abreast. This may enable the first line of troops to land and advance, and leave the beach clear for the second. Adjacent lines abreast for beaching should therefore be about a cable's length apart, as a battalion should disembark and form in two minutes in smooth water if the measures for disembarking have been well arranged, and the soldiers and sailors well instructed in the operation.

16. If the landing is to be from lines ahead, the skirmishers may be best placed in the first boat of each line; if from lines abreast, the extreme and centre boats; for being separated by equal intervals they may more readily cover the whole front of the troops.

The mode of landing, and the required disposition of the troops on shore, must be arranged by the military and naval officers in concert, that each department may work in accordance with the other.

The foregoing orders having been determined, the necessary orders may be prepared.

Outline of a Scheme of Instruction for the Disembarkation of a Force in the presence of an Enemy, to be issued by the Military and Naval Commanders in conjunction.

A copy of the instructions should be given to each officer commanding a corps, or detachment of a corps, and to the heads of military departments.

A copy to be given to each captain of a ship of war. He is to take care that the officers in charge of boats, or otherwise detached from the ship, have copies of the "tables,” and such other parts of the instructions as they are concerned with, and that they perfectly understand the duties entrusted to them.

The captain of each transport should have a copy.

The instructions should be issued, if possible, before assembling in the neighbourhood of the place of disembarkation.

Instructions for Disembarking, etc.--The ships of war are to prepare the boats named in the annexed "table of details," and the boats are to be employed in the manner noted against their names in the table, and according to the following instructions:

The ships from which troops are to be disembarked are to have accommodation ladders prepared for different boats to come alongside at the same time. The ladders are to be conspicuously numbered from the foremost on each side, as No. 1, to the aftermost as the highest number on the same side, so that the boats may readily find the ladders to which they are "told off." "A guess warp" is to be stretched alongside each ship's side for boats whilst loading, to ride by; and another rope is to be over the stern for loaded boats, waiting for others to proceed with them to the rendezvous. If horses or other weights have to be disembarked, the purchases in the transports should be rove, and everything prepared for expediting the work. (See pages 316, 317.)

Ships to indi

Each ship from which the troops first to be landed are to be cate whether taken, is to wear her ensign at the gaff or ensign staff until they are clear the last boat-load of such troops has left her, when she is of troops or not by use of the immediately to hoist her ensign at the mizen topgallant mastensigns or other head. Those transports which are entirely cleared of troops symbols. are to continue to wear the ensign at the mizen; but those

which have still troops to land, are to re-hoist their ensigns at the gaff when the flotilla has quitted the rendezvous for the beach. This must be attended to, to prevent boats returning in quest of remaining troops to empty vessels.

Preparation and fitting of boats.

Each boat is to have the means of stopping shot holes; several buckets for baling; two barécas of water, and drinking utensils for the use of people in the boats, and a small cask of water to be landed for the immediate use of the troops and horses; her anchor and cable, masts and sails, and two spare oars; but she is to be free from all unnecessary lumber. The sails are to be used to reduce labour only when the boats are not loaded with troops. A stout broad gangboard is to be fitted for each side of the bow, to hang about two feet below the gunwale, when fixed for landing. Whilst proceeding to the shore, the gangboards are to be hung along the outer sides of the boat, under the oars, with a line led from the after ends, also under the oars and inboard over the bows. When the boat is beached, the stops which hang the gangboards alongside are to be let go; the bowmen jumping on shore place their ends, and the foremost men in the boat pull the after ends forward and up by the line, and hang them by slings previously well adjusted.

As the gangboards may fail, or not give so free an exit to the men as is necessary, a grating or stage of plank about two feet wide is to be slung on each bow between the foremost rowlock and the stem, and to be level with the water when the boat has her complement of troops in her. Whilst going to the beach, these stages may be turned back close to the bows, and just before touching the beach, be thrown forward to hang horizontally in the slings. It would be impossible for troops (armed) to jump from a launch's gunwale, a height of nearly seven feet from the ground; but with that height divided by the stage, they can easily get over the bows. This is a most important fitting, for it may be of vital consequence that the men who have to seize the beach should not be detained under a fire they cannot return. The boats' crews should be exercised in placing these gangboards and stages, and if possible the troops in embarking and disembarking. This may be done with the boats on the ships' decks.

If the landing is to be on deep mud or deep sand, the boats which carry the field guns should be provided with plank or mess tables to run the field guns to the hard ground."

Each boat to land troops is to have her number, as shown in the numerical succession for the order of assembly, in white figures eight inches long, on a black ground, on both quarters and both bows; and the boats with guns are to have their distinguishing letter so placed.

Each boat is to have a boat's signal book, and an answering Boat's signals. pendant, and a man conversant with the flags specially to look out for signals and to receive orders given by hailing. The boat of the officer commanding the flotilla, and of each officer commanding a division, is to have a set of boat's signal flags, a staff long enough to display four of the flags upon, and a light pole to spread the flags if it should be calm.

crews'

Boats
meals, and the

relief of boats'

crews.

Boats to be kept

If there is a probability of the boats being absent long after meal hours, the crews are to take a day's provisions cooked, and their spirits; and proper measures are to be taken to have the boats' crews relieved, for the boats may be required night and day. The officers in charge of boats and their crews should be made aware of the importance of not allowing their boats to be in repair. unnecessarily damaged, since injury to the boats may frustrate the intended service, or at any rate increase the difficulty of conducting it. done to boats is to be repaired at the earliest possible opportunity. The flotilla will be managed by the evolutions in the signal book, with which officers are presumed to be familiar, and by the signals appended to these instructions. The strictest attention must be paid to signals, and to keeping station.

Any injury

Flotilla to be managed by signal book and by signals appended.

Time at which boats are to be

at the respective transports

and proceed to

The boats are to be alongside the transports, and at the ladders to which they are assigned in the table of details at ......o'clock, or when the signal is made. If more than one boat is assigned to the same ladder, they are to go alongside according to their numerical succession in the order of assembly. rendezvous. Having embarked the troops, the boats of the same ship of war coming from the same transports are proceeded to the rendezvous, where they are to form in (here state in what order of assembly) in accordance with the subjoined numerical succession and divisional arrangement, of which an example is shown in the following diagram.

Captain............will command the flotilla. (He is to have

three despatch boats in attendance.) Commander............will Officers of the lead the......division; Commander............will lead the...... flotilla. division; (and so on).

A lieutenant is to be in the leading boat of the boats of each ship, even when that boat would have in her the officer commanding the division.

All officers appointed to boats of the flotilla are to be ready to go to the captain commanding it, to receive his instructions when the signal is made to do so.