THE ROYAL INDIAN MARINE. [To vas Ramos OF TEE "Sracrwroa."1
SIR, —As a guest on board one of H.M.'s battleships last Saturday, one vessel, differing from any other there, arrested
my attention as I saw her steaming through the Fleet with her native seamen standing to attention as she saluted each flagship in turn on passing them previous to taking up her allotted position. This was the Royal Indian Marine ship
• Dufferin,' a troopship of the latest type, fitted with shell rooms and magazines, and fitted for eight 4.7 and eight 3 pr. Q.F. guns. I saw one reference only to this fine vessel in any of the accounts of the Naval Review yet published, and the ignorance exhibited by the Times correspondent, in referring to her under the heading of merchant-service ships, impels me to draw attention to this error and to rectify it.
Shore-going people are singularly ignorant as to the difference between a transport and a trooper. The former is a merchant vessel chartered for the purpose of conveying troops from one port to another ; the latter is a vessel belong- ing to a particular Government and officered and manned by members of an established service wearing the King's uniform, and is on a totally different footing from a [It certainly is rather hard that a service with a history so
illustrious and traditions so sound as the Royal Indian Marine should be treated with the indifference and neglect noted by our correspondent. As a matter of fact, the presence of the ' Dufferin ' with her native crew was not only a very picturesque incident, but may well be an omen of great moment. India ought to take her place in the scheme of Imperial defence as the ' Dufferin' took her place in the Naval Review.—ED. Spectator.]
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