NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.
PORTSMOUTH, DEC. 30.—On the 31st inst. all the semaphore or telegraph stations, from the Admiralty at Whitehall to this dockyard, will be closed and their occupants discharged, the masts of the telegraphs being housed in for the future. Such is the nature of an Admiralty order some time since issued and at present in force.
The case of the semaphore officer is a hard one. The semaphore has been the home of many a veteran lieutenant, the last berth to be given—the very last to be asked or accepted as long as a spark of hope remained of obtaining anything better, but now even this resource is no longer available. The following list shows the names, dates of commission as lieutenants, at what semaphore employed, and the date of appointment thereto of those thus engaged, by which it will be seen that there is reason and justice for this complaint :—
...
Lieutenant Henry Garrett, Petersfield station; date of commission Aug. 21, 1809; date of appointment Dec. 8, 1841
Lieutenant George Fraser, Petersfield (Compton Down) station; date of commission Nov. 1, 1821; date of appointment Nov. 30, 1839
(13 names listed)
Four of the above are Trafalgar men ; one was in Hotham's action of 1795 ; one was a mate in Sir Richard Strachan's actions in 1805 ; one was a Lieu- tenant of the Denmark in the Walcheren expedition ; one lost a leg at Navarino ; and all the others have distinguished themselves in their country's service.
We are all aware of the proneness to derangement of the electric mode of communication, and its services have not been available on some of the most important and interesting occasions. What, for instance, would be easier than for any evil disposed person to cut the wires of the electric telegraph in any obscure place on this line? The means of communication would be at once annihilated, and considerable space of time lost in repairing the damage. Such mischief as this could not be perpetrated upon the semaphore; there the Government had an exclusive and safe, as well as speedy means of communicating their commands or instructions always at their own disposal. It will now be dependent on the fallibility of the electric mode, for the officers and men of the semaphores once discharged, those heretofore valuable appliances to the sources of speedy intelligence cannot be worked again without a complete reorganization of the system of instruction, as it takes years to thoroughly comprehend the vocabulary of figures by means of which all the Government notifications are made. Many of the assistants to lieutenants in the semaphores have been upwards of a quarter of a century acquiring and practising their duties. It will therefore be no easy task to resuscitate a system such as this, if once allowed to lapse into desuetude. At all events, whatever may be the resolution of the Admiralty with regard to the disposal of the stations and the telegraphs, we trust those who have hitherto looked to them as their last resource will receive some "consideration" for the loss of their appointments, especially those who, from the shortness of their tenure or other ill luck, may more particularly have deserved compensation.