2 sail of the line and some small vessels destroyed. For the materials of construction and equipment of the fleet, except iron, copper, and masts, and pitch and tar, which Norway affords, Denmark is dependant on foreigners. The oak timber is procured from Pomerania, the hemp from Russia, and the sail-cloth from Russia and Holland. In 1782 the expense of building and rigging a ship of seventy guns, was 186,000 rix-dollars; a sixty gun ship, 159,000; and a thirty-six gun frigate 76,000. Until the reign of Frederick IV. the seamen for the Denmark. Denmark. the fleet were procured by voluntary enrolment, both in the Danish dominions and in the free maritime cities of the north. That prince introduced the system of register. The coasts are divided into maritime districts, and all their inhabitants who follow the fisheries, or other sea faring lines, are registered in two classes, ordinary and extraordinary. When men are required for the fleet, they are taken from the ordinary class, in such a manner that the first selection falls on those who have no families or infirm parents to support. Registered seamen alone can be employed on board the national merchant vessels, and in this case they are obliged to give notice to the proper officer of the district; those inhabiting towns may even serve on board foreign vessels, on entering into an engagement to return in two years, or forfeit twenty rix-dollars, which they deposit. Every commander of a Danish trading vessel is obliged to deliver a list of his crew to the custom-house previous to his sailing, and another on his return, and to account for any difference. A registered seaman remaining in a foreign country, with an intention to settle there, is considered a deserter. After the age of fifty the registered seamen pass from the ordinary to the extraordinary class. The registered seamen enjoy several privileges and immunities, even when not employed. Their pay commences from the moment of their being put in requisition, and increases with the activity of service. Their sea-pay varies from two rixdollars to five per month, and they have a share of prizes. prizes. The total number registered is 30,000; of which 2,000 are kept in constant employment, in peace or war, for the port service. They are lodged in barracks at Copenhagen, receive an annual pay of twenty rix-dollars, their provisions, and a suit of clothes every two years. There is besides another permanent corps of 1,100 or 1,200 artificers, who are on the same footing as the permanent seamen; but when they are actually employed they receive a daily pay of from eight to twenty schellings in summer, and from six to fourteen in winter. The provisions supplied to the two permanent corps are meat, fish, butter, and flour. The military duties of the fleet are performed by a corps of 1,100 marines. The seamen who cannot afford to pay are admitted into the naval hospital gratis, the others pay a trifle; and from the artificers one schelling in the rix-dollar of their active pay is stopped for this institution, into which their wives and chil dren are received. Attached to the hospital is a work-house, where 200 persons may earn their subsistence by spinning hemp. The wives and children of seamen, and seamen themselves superannuated, are received into this establishment in preference. In 1813, January 1, the number and pay of the officers of the navy were as follow: Rix-dollars. Denmark. Marine. In 1660 a college of admiralty and of commissariat (answering to our admiralty and navy boards) were established. Since 1784 these two establishments have been united. Besides the military and civil administration of the navy, this college has the inspection of the coasting pilots, the royal seaports, the naval hospitals, and the jurisdiction of the persons employed in the fleet and dock-yards. This college is the supreme tribunal for the fleet; but it cannot direct the execution of a sentence of death, until it has been referred to the auditorgeneral, whose conclusions are submitted to the king. Frederick V. regulated by two excellent codes whatever concerns the police and service of the fleet, and there is no country where seamen are more appreciated, and their services better rewarded, both by pecuniary emolument and marks of honour, than Denmark. 1790 .. Rix-Dollars. The expense of the fleet in 1782 was 916,600 1,200,000 The Danish maritime code is founded upon the antient Consulado del Mar and the Statutes of Oleron. By this code, no agreement between owners Marine. owners and masters, or between masters and crews, Denmark. are valid, except they are in writing. The master cannot inflict punishment, without taking the advice of his principal officers, but he may turn on shore any person guilty of seditious conduct. A pilot losing a vessel by ignorance or negligence is held responsible for the damage, and if he cannot make it good he is punishable with death. If two vessels fall aboard of each other, and neither is in fault, the damage is to be supported equally, by the owners and freighters of the two vessels, in proportion to the value of their property in them. The damages resulting from the necessity of the ship's safety are to be borne by the entire cargo and the hull. In case of want of provisions, the captain may dispose of a part of the cargo to purchase them. In the times of barbarism originated the right of epave, by which vessels wrecked and their cargoes became the prize of the lords of the soil on which they were stranded. Christian II., who employed every means to curtail the power of the nobles, and particularly by diminishing their resources, attempted to abolish this violation of the rights of nature and of property, and published an edict, regulating with equity the manner in which the inhabitants of the coasts were bound to conduct themselves towards persons shipwrecked, and the measures to be adopted with respect to the wrecks or goods drifted on shore. This law, however, met with violent opposition from the nobles, and was not put into execution. In the |