each, in the final result, are
Mathematics, 1,200 Marks.
Military History, 600} 900 “
Military Geography, 300}
French, 300 “
German, 300 “
Hindustani, 300 “
Fortification, 600 “
Military Drawing, 300 “
Mineralogy and Geology, 300 “
Chemistry, Heat, Electricity, and Magnetism, 300 “
In mathematics 400 marks are allotted to arithmetic, the first four
books of Euclid, and Algebra, including questions producing simple
equations; and of this number, at least 250 must be obtained for
qualification.
Every candidate must take up either the French, German, or Hindustani
language for qualification; the qualifying minimum is, in French, 150
marks; in German or Hindustani, 100 marks.
The remaining subjects, as well as the higher portions of mathematics,
may be taken up or not at the option of the candidate, the marks gained
therein being reckoned in determining his position in the list of
competitors. No candidate, however, will be allowed to count marks in
any subject left optional unless he obtains at least one-sixth of the
number allotted to it.
COURSE OF STUDY.
The course of study occupies two years, and the yearly course is divided
into two terms, viz., from February 1 to June 15, and July 15 to
December 15. The subjects are
Mathematics.
French, German, and Hindustani.
Fortification and artillery.
Topographical drawing, military surveying and sketching.
Reconnaissance.
Military art, military history and geography.
Military administration, including the organization and equipment of
armies in the field.
Military legislation.
Elements of natural philosophy, chemistry, and geology, as applied to
the military sciences.
Exercises in composition will be afforded to the students during the
whole course of instruction, in writing memoirs or essays on the
subjects of the course.
Riding.
During the whole course, monthly reports of the application and progress
of each student are forwarded for the information of the Council of
Military Education. Examinations are held at the end of every half year;
the summer examination being conducted by the professors of the college,
and the winter examination by examiners independent of the
establishment, under the superintendence of the Council.
EXAMINATIONS.
The examination at the termination of the first year is probationary,
and any student who fails to obtain the minimum aggregate of marks
specified below, is required to withdraw.
The following five subjects will be taken up by every student at the
probationary examination, viz.:
Maximum. Minimum.
I. Fortification, 280 Marks 90 Marks.
II. Military drawing and surveying, 270 “ 90 “
III. Military history, 300 “ 100 “
IV. Military administration and legislation, 300 “ 100 “
V. French, German, or Hindustani, 400 “ 133 “
Every candidate is expected to obtain 800 marks on the above subjects.
All credits gained on the four military subjects are carried forward
to the final examination.
Of the following subjects the student may select any two, and in those
numbered from one to six, as well as in the language already selected as
“obligatory,” the student may, at his option, carry forward to the final
examination the marks he gains, provided they amount in each case to
three-fourths the allotted maximum, when he will be considered as
finally examined in that subject:
1. Mathematics, lower course, 400 Marks.
2. Mathematics, higher course, 500 “
3. French, 400 “
4. German, 400 “
5. Hindustani, 400 “
6. Any other modern language, 400 “
7. Natural sciences, lower course, 150 “
8. Experimental sciences, lower course, 150 “
In those numbered seven and eight, the marks gained are carried
forward to the final examination.
In addition to any two of the above subjects, the following may be
taken up at the probationary examination; and if 150 marks be gained in
it, they may, at the option of the student, be carried forward to the
final examination:
Spherical trigonometry and practical astronomy, 200 Marks.
The following are the marks attached to each subject at the final
examination, including, in the maximum, the marks appropriated to the
probationary examinations:
Subjects to be taken up by every student:
Maximum. Minimum.
Fortification and artillery, 600 Marks 300 Marks.
Military drawing and surveying, 350 } “ 350 “
Reconnaissance, 350 }
Military art, history, and geography, 600 “ 300 “
Military administration and legislation, 500 “ 300 “
French, German, or Hindustani, 400 “ 200 “
Every candidate will be required to obtain for qualification an
aggregate of 1,800 marks on the above five subjects.
Of the following subjects, the student may select any two, and the
credits gained will count for position in the order of merit:
Maximum. Minimum.
Mathematics, lower course, 400 Marks 240 Marks.
Mathematics, higher course, 500 “ 300 “
French, 400 “ 240 “
German, 400 “ 240 “
Hindustani, 400 “ 240 “
Any other modern language, 400 “ 240 “
Natural sciences. 400 “ 240 “
Experimental sciences, 400 “ 240 “
In addition to any two of the above-mentioned subjects, the following
may be taken up by any student who did not take it up at the first
year’s examination, or did not then obtain three-fourth marks in it:
Maximum. Minimum.
Spherical trigonometry and practical astronomy, 200 Marks 120 Marks.
In the examination in modern languages, great stress will be laid on
original composition.
* * * * *
All officers recommended for staff appointments, who have not proved
their fitness in the field, must pass examinations before a board of
officers and by the Council.
_a.--Aide-de-Camp._
_Regimental Duty._--The candidate must be prepared in all the subjects
required in the examination for promotion to a troop or company.
_Tactics and Field Movements._--He will be expected to show a
competent knowledge of the tactics and field movements of that branch of
the Service to which he is destined to be attached as a staff officer,
and a general knowledge of those of the other two arms; the examination
will include the movements of a brigade, and will be based on the
regulation books.
On being reported by the Adjutant-General to possess the necessary
professional qualifications, the candidate will be examined by the
Council in
_English Composition._--The candidate’s proficiency in this respect
will be tested by his answers to the examination papers.
_Foreign Languages._--He will be examined _vivâ voce_ by the examiner
appointed under the Council of Military Education in whatever language
he may select and he will also write a short letter on a given subject
in that language.
_Military Sketching._--He will be required to sketch at least two
square miles of ground selected by the Council. The sketch need not be
elaborately finished, but it must clearly and intelligibly represent the
features of ground, which must be determined by means of the pocket
sextant or prismatic compass.
_Field Fortification._--He must show a knowledge of the principles and
construction of field works, and must explain the objects to which they
are respectively applicable, as well as the modes of attacking and
defending them.
_b.--Brigade Major._
A certificate will be required from the commanding officer of the
regiment to which the candidate belongs, or has belonged, that he
possesses all the qualifications of a good adjutant. The examination for
brigade major will be especially directed to the points more immediately
connected with the duties attached to the appointment, as Military Law,
the “Queen’s Regulations and Orders of the Army,” the Royal Warrant for
Pay, Promotion,” etc., and, in tactics, all that relates to alignments,
points of formation, distances, etc. The subjects of examination are the
same as in that for the appointment of aide-de-camp, but the examination
will be, throughout, of a higher order.
_c.--Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General, Deputy Assistant
Quartermaster-General._
_Military Drawing and Sketching, Judgment of Ground, and its
Occupation by all Arms._--The candidate will be required to make a rapid
sketch on horseback, with report, of about six square miles of country;
and to select a position which might be occupied by a given force of the
three arms, for some stated object, and to show how he would dispose the
troops for that purpose. He will afterward be required to make a correct
and more finished plan of the position selected, with the disposition of
the troops shown upon it.
_Practical Geometry and Trigonometry._--The examination in these
subjects will be limited to determining heights and distances by ground
problems, and the ordinary trigonometrical calculations with the aid of
logarithms.
_Castrametation._--The candidate will be expected to know the mode of
encampment for each arm of the Service.
_Permanent Fortification._--The theory and construction of permanent
works, as exemplified in Vauban’s or any other system the candidate may
select, as well as the modes of attack and defence applicable to them.
_Military History and Geography._--The candidate will be expected to
give proof that he has carefully studied at least four of the most
memorable modern campaigns, of which the details are best known, such as
those of Marlborough, Frederick the Great, Napoleon, and Wellington, and
in these he must be able to explain the apparent objects of the various
movements and the reasons which he supposes led to their adoption, and,
further, to describe the military geography of the seat of war.
_Foreign Languages and Professional Subjects._--In languages before
the Council of Military Education, as well as in professional subjects
before the Board of Officers, the examination will be of a higher order
than those in (_a_) and (_b_).
The examination for Assistant Adjutant-General and Assistant
Quartermaster-General will, throughout, be of a higher order.
MUSKETRY, AND OTHER ARMY SCHOOLS.
SCHOOL OF MUSKETRY AT HYTHE.
The first School of Musketry was established in June, 1853, and was
composed of detachments from regiments in the neighborhood, viz.: a
sergeant, a corporal, and eight rank and file, from the first, second,
and third battalion of the Grenadier Guards, Coldstream Guards, Scots
Fusileer Guards, Rifle Brigade, etc., to the number of eleven sergeants,
eleven corporals, and eighty-eight rank and file. In 1855, a permanent
corps of instructors of musketry was organized, and in 1861 a second
school was instituted at Fleetwood, which was discontinued in 1867, as
one establishment was found sufficient for training an adequate number
of officers of the regular army, and a due proportion of officers and
sergeants of militia and the Rifle Volunteer Corps.
In connection with the establishment at Hythe, district inspectors are
appointed to superintend the general system of musketry instruction
throughout the army, viz., three in Great Britain, two in Ireland, five
in the colonies, and ten in India.
The instruction embraces not only the practical use of fire-arms, but
the details of construction, both of the weapon and ammunition, the
theory of projectiles, and the comparative value of different arms for
different services.
The staff of the School of Musketry at Hythe consists of 1 Commandant
and Inspector-General of Musketry Instruction; 1 Deputy Assistant
Adjutant-General; 1 Chief Instructor; 2 Captain Instructors; 1
Paymaster; 1 Quartermaster and Acting Adjutant; 1 Surgeon.
In addition to the preparatory and professional schools for officers of
the British Army, already described, there are other public institutions
of a military character and for the military service, which will be
briefly noticed.
ARMY SURGEONS.
In addition to the competitive examination of candidates for the post of
Assistant Surgeon, for which a medical degree is preliminary, the
successful candidates must spend four months at Netley, where the Army
Medical School is now located (since 1863), in connection with the Royal
Victoria Hospital (capable of receiving one thousand patients), where
large numbers of invalid patients of the army are treated. Here, with
every facility of study, observation, and practice, instruction is given
by four professors, each with an experienced assistant, in military
surgery, medicine, pathology, and hygiene, and all the specialities of
the military hospital and field practice, peculiarities of climate, etc.
After spending at least four months in the hospital, laboratory, museum,
and lecture-rooms, the candidate is then examined for his commission as
Assistant Surgeon.
VETERINARY SURGEON.
Although not exclusively for military service, all veterinary surgeons
in the army must hold the diploma of the Royal Veterinary College in St.
Pancras, London, or of the Veterinary School in Edinburgh.
ARMY SCHOOLS FOR SOLDIERS AND SOLDIERS’ CHILDREN.
In 1811, on the recommendation of the Duke of York, then
Commander-in-Chief, a royal warrant was issued, authorizing the
appointment of a sergeant-schoolmaster to each batallion for young
recruits and the children of soldiers, with provision for room, fuel,
and light in each regimental barrack, and allowance for necessary books
and stationery. In 1846, to give greater efficiency and uniformity to
the schools established under the warrant of 1811, a new warrant was
issued, requiring that the sergeant-schoolmaster should obtain a
certificate of fitness from the military training college at Chelsea,
and ordering the appointment of an inspector of army schools. In 1854,
the following classification of masters was introduced: _First Class_,
at 7_s._ a day and certain allowances; _Second Class_, at 5_s._ 6_d._
per day; _Third Class_, at 4_s._ per day; and _Assistants_ at 2_s._ The
first-class schoolmaster was a warrant officer, and ranked next to those
holding a commission; the second and third class ranked next to
sergeant-major, and the assistants ranked as sergeants. At this time the
privileges of the regimental schools were extended to the children of
discharged soldiers, pensioners, and various persons employed about the
barracks. A schoolmistress was also employed for the infant division of
pupils, and for teaching needle-work to the girls. In 1863, the office
of superintending schoolmaster, with a relative rank of ensign, was
created, and four (since increased to twelve) from among the most
experienced first-class masters, were appointed to inspect and examine
all army schools in their several military districts, and candidates for
pupil-teachers and schoolmistresses.
According to the report of the Council of Military Education, for March,
1870, there were two hundred and fifty-nine masters employed by the army
schools, and four hundred and eighty-five mistresses and assistants in
the children’s schools. In Great Britain there were three hundred and
eighteen schools, and thirty-five thousand three hundred and seven
non-commissioned officers and men on the books, nine thousand three
hundred and fifty-nine boys and girls, besides 11,414 children in the
infant schools.
ASYLUM FOR SOLDIERS’ ORPHANS.
Prior to the establishment of the Army Schools in 1811, two large
institutions for orphan children of soldiers who had fallen in battle or
serving at foreign stations, had been founded and maintained at the
public expense.
The Royal Hibernian Institution at Dublin, Ireland, was commenced on a
sum appropriated by the Irish Parliament in 1765, and chartered in 1769.
It has large buildings, with thirty-four acres of land, and provides for
four hundred and ten children on an annual parliamentary grant of twelve
thousand pounds for its maintenance, besides the income from a small
endowment.
The Royal Military Asylum in Chelsea was begun by the Duke of York in
1801, and can now accommodate five hundred children on a public grant of
twelve thousand pounds, besides a further grant of three thousand pounds
for furniture and clothing from the Board of Works and the general vote
of the army.
NORMAL SCHOOL FOR TEACHERS IN ARMY SCHOOLS.
In the Military Asylum at Chelsea, since 1846, there has existed a
Normal School, where teachers of army schools may review their studies,
or candidates for vacancies, or pupil teachers, may qualify themselves
by study, observation, and practice, for appointment as schoolmasters,
and when found qualified they receive certificates of the first, second,
and third class, and are paid accordingly.
MILITARY SCHOOL OF MUSIC AT KNELLER HALL.
In the British Army the cost of maintaining the regimental bands falls
upon the officers. In the infantry a sergeant, a corporal and nineteen
privates are taken from the effective strength of each regiment to form
a band. These receive their ordinary regimental pay,--the rest of the
pay, and the entire salary of the band-master, if a civilian, together
with the cost of the music and musical instruments, are provided out of
the Band Fund, which is raised by “stoppages” from the officers on first
appointment, and promotion, and by subscription. This fund is managed by
a committee of officers. Owing to difficulties in retaining the men, and
of finding band-masters with all the requisite qualifications, the
Commander-in-Chief (Duke of Cambridge) established a Military School of
Music in 1856, in concert with the Secretary of War, which was opened in
Kneller Hall for the reception of pupils in March, 1857. The institution
must be viewed (1) as a barrack, and (2) as a school of music. (1). As a
barrack it is under the direction of the Secretary of War, and is
managed as any other barrack. (2). As a school it is under the immediate
direction of a military officer (who is appointed by the
Commander-in-Chief), and a musical staff composed of nine permanent
professors, four occasional professors, and a varying number of special
assistants who are selected from the first-class students. There is also
a schoolmaster who gives instruction one hour a day in general knowledge
to each class, and a military chaplain. The instruments taught in
Soprano (8); Alto (3); Tenor (3); Bass (6). The students are divided
into four classes, each of which is divided into sections according to
the instruments to be learned. Seven hours a day are devoted to
obligatory study--but more are given, and a restriction prohibits all
practice after 6.45 in the evening.
This course of study occupies two years, and there is a higher which
comprises, beside practical instruction in playing and teaching the
instruments composing the band, some general acquirements under the
theory of harmony. There is also practical training in the duties of a
conductor. In addition to ordinary military music, classical concert
pieces, or chamber music, specially arranged for wind instruments, are
performed. Cheap admissions to the operas and principal concerts of the
metropolis are obtained (900 in one year), to such of the advanced
students as are recommended for diligence by the professors.
Pupils are selected from the various regiments, and often selected for
this special purpose. Boys specially trained for the bands are obtained
from the Royal Military Asylum, Chelsea, the Hibernian Military School,
Dublin, and the Metropolitan Poor-law School. Each candidate must be
examined by the surgeon of the regiment, and certified to as in good
health and with no tendencies to disease liable to be aggravated by
playing on a band instrument.
A military band-master is now sanctioned by the Government for any
regiment and battalion throughout the service, who receive regimental
pay of first-class staff sergeant, and 100_l._ from the Regimental Band
Fund.
The expenses of Kneller Hall as a barrack are borne by the government;
as a school of music, by the regimental officers--including an original
assessment of 5_l._ for supply of instruments, and the salaries to about
1,100_l._ annually.
The average number of students annually admitted is 74; the average
number in attendance, 148. The total number admitted since 1857 is 592,
of whom 163 were practiced musicians, 63 band-masters, 271 band-men.
III. NAVAL AND NAVIGATION SCHOOLS IN ENGLAND.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS.
Before describing a class of schools in England, which is now receiving
special attention and aid from the Science and Art Department of the
Committee of Council on Education, viz. NAVIGATION SCHOOLS, we will
glance at the condition of Nautical Education generally in this great
maritime and commercial country.
The old system of training officers for the Royal Navy, under which mere
children with the smallest possible amount of elementary knowledge, made
the ship their school, even after a Naval Academy was established, had
its peculiar advantages as well as its drawbacks. The captain, having
the nomination of an almost indefinite number of “youngsters,” stood
towards them in _loco parentis_. He was their governor, guardian, and
instructor, and did not “spare the rod” when he thought its application
necessary. The captain was then looked up to with a feeling bordering on
awe. Without assigning a reason he could disrate or discharge a
midshipman; and he could also do much towards pushing him on in the
service. The youngster felt that he was entirely in the power of his
captain, and, unless of a reckless cast, used his best endeavors to gain
his favor. The captain, on the other hand, talked of _his_ youngsters
with pride. He, (if he belonged to the better class of naval captains,)
took care that every facility should be afforded them for learning their
duty, often made them his companions on shore, and superintended their
education afloat, sometimes taking a leading part in their teaching. He
felt responsible for their bringing up, for some were sons of personal
friends or relatives whom he had promised to watch over the youthful
aspirants, and all were more or less objects of interest to him. But all
this was swept away in 1844, and the captain’s patronage limited to one
nomination on commissioning a ship, the Admiralty taking the rest of the
patronage into their own keeping. And what was the result? No sooner had
the Admiralty absorbed the naval patronage--for the captain was
frequently shorn of his one nomination before leaving Whitehall with his
commission--than old officers and private gentlemen in middling
circumstances found themselves unsuccessful applicants, while the
influential country gentleman totally unconnected with the service, but
able perhaps to turn the scale of an election, was not under the painful
necessity of asking twice for a naval cadetship for his son, or the son
of his friend. But what cared the captain for these Admiralty nominees?
Too many of them were incapable of profiting by their opportunities, and
others neglected to avail themselves of the instructions of the
professors of mathematics, and became the victims of dissipation.
I. NAVAL OFFICERS.
_Royal Naval Academy._
The first attempt to educate lads for the naval service of England was
in 1729, when the Royal Naval Academy was instituted in Portsmouth
Dockyard. The course of instruction included the elements of a general
education, as well as mathematics, navigation, drawing, fortification,
gunnery, and small arm exercises, together with the French language, the
principles of ship-building and practical seamanship in all its
branches, for which latter a small vessel was set apart. The number was
limited to forty cadets, the sons of the nobility and gentry, and
attendance was voluntary. Small as the corps was, it was never full,
probably because there was an easier way of gaining admission to the
service through official favoritism, by appointment direct to some ship,
on board of which during a six years’ midshipman’s berth, he acquired a
small stock of navigation and a larger knowledge of seamanship and
gunnery practice. In these ships where the captains were educated men,
and took a special interest in the midshipmen, and competent instructors
were provided and sustained in their authority and rank, this system of
ship instruction and training worked well, as under the same conditions
it did with us. In 1773 a new stimulus was given to the Academy by
extending a gratuitous education to fifteen boys out of the forty, who
were sons of commissioned officers. In 1806, under the increased demand
for well educated officers, the whole number of cadets was increased to
seventy, of whom forty were the sons of officers and were educated at
the expense of the government. From this date to 1837 the institution
was designated the Royal Naval College, but without any essential
extension of its studies. In 1816 a Central School of Mathematics and
Naval Architecture was added to the establishment, and in 1828 the free
list was discontinued, and the sons of military officers were allowed to
share the privileges of the school with the sons of naval officers, at a
reduced rate in proportion to their rank. To keep up the number of
students who would go through the four years course, it became necessary
to extend special privileges, such as made promotion certain and rapid
over those who entered the navy direct. This produced inconveniences and
jealousies, and in 1837 the Naval College was discontinued.
_Training Ship and Naval College._
In 1857 the Admiralty adopted the plan of a Training Ship for naval
cadets. The candidate was to be from thirteen to fifteen years of age,
and to pass an examination in Latin or French, Geography, Arithmetic,
including Proportion and Fractions, Algebra, to Simple Equations, the
First Book of Euclid, and the Elements of Plane Trigonometry. At the end
of twelve or six months, according to age, spent in study and practice
on the Training Ship, the cadet was examined in the studies before
enumerated with the addition of Involution and Evolution, Simple
Equations, the Elements of Geometry, and of Plane and Spherical
Trigonometry, the simple rules of Navigation, the use of Nautical
Instruments, Surveying, Constructing Charts, and the French language,
besides an elaborate course of Seamanship, and attendance on lectures on
Chemistry, Physics, Hydrostatics, &c. If this examination was
satisfactory, the cadet was appointed to a sea-going ship, and at the
expiration of fifteen months’ service he was eligible for the rating of
midshipman upon passing a further examination. The course in the
Training Ship (first the “Illustrious,” and subsequently changed to the
“Britannia,” first in Portsmouth harbor and more recently at Dartmouth,)
proved too extensive for mastery in one year; and in 1861 the conditions
for admission were lowered, the examinations in the school were made
quarterly, and competitive, and if passed creditably at the end of a
year, according to a fixed standard, (3,000 being the number of marks
attainable, and 2,100 giving a first class certificate,) the cadet is
rated at once as midshipman, and credited a year’s sea-time. If he
receives a second class certificate (1,500 marks,) he must serve six
months at sea, and pass another examination before he can be rated
midshipman. The cadet with a third-rate certificate (1,200 marks,) must
serve twelve months at sea, and pass another examination for his
midshipman’s rating. Prizes and badges are also given, and the stimulus
of competitive examination is applied as shown in the grading of
certificates.
_Gunnery Instruction._
In 1832 a uniform and comprehensive system of gunnery instruction was
provided on the “Excellent,” under command of Captain (now Sir Thomas)
Hastings. To give such officers who were found deficient in the
scientific knowledge requisite for a full understanding of the theory of
gunnery, the Naval College was re-opened in 1839, under the general
superintendence of the Captain of the Excellent, with Professors of
Mathematics, Navigation and Nautical Astronomy, Steam Machinery,
Chemistry and Marine Artillery. Accommodations were provided for
twenty-five half-pay officers, (captains, commanders, and lieutenants,)
and a certain number of mates on full pay, for whom a special course of
study was instituted. The time allowed at the College was a clear year’s
study, exclusive of vacations, and those who have completed the course
rank among the most distinguished officers of the profession.
_Instruction in Steam and the Steam-Engine._
When steam vessels came into use in the Navy, to qualify officers for
special service in them they were encouraged to resort to Woolwich
Dockyard, and afterward to the Portsmouth yard, where an instructor was
appointed and facilities for observation, study, and experiments were
provided. Many officers repaired to private factories, and worked at the
lathe, in stoke-hole and the engine-room, and thus acquired a practical
knowledge of this department of their profession. When the Naval College
was established on its present footing, a small steamer, the “Bee,” was
built and attached under the charge of the instructor in
steam-machinery. And now the greater part of the captains and commanders
on the active list have obtained certificates of having passed the
course in Steam and the Steam-engine.
_Admiralty Order respecting Naval Cadets and Midshipmen, dated April
1, 1860._
CADETS.
“I. No person will be nominated to a Cadetship in the Royal Navy who
shall be under 12, or above 14 years of age, at the time of his first
examination.
“II. Every candidate, on obtaining a nomination, will be required to
pass an examination at the Royal Naval College at Portsmouth, within
three months of nomination.[3] In the special cases of nomination
granted to the sons of natives of the colonies a candidate will be
allowed to pass a preliminary examination on board the flag or senior
Officer’s ship on the Station. But such an examination must be passed in
strict accordance with these regulations, and should the candidate be
found qualified, it will still be necessary that he should be sent to
England, to be entered on board a training ship, where he will be
subject to the same regulations as other Cadets.
[Footnote 3: These examinations will take place on the first
Wednesdays in the months of March, June, September, and December.]
“III. The candidate must produce a certificate of birth, or a
declaration thereof made before a magistrate.
“IV. Must be in good health and fit for the Service--that is free from
impediment of speech, defect of speech, rupture, or other physical
inefficiency.
“Candidates will be required--1. To write English correctly from
dictation, and in a legible hand. 2. To read, translate, and parse an
easy passage from Latin, or from some foreign living language--the aid
of a dictionary will be allowed for these translations.
“And to have a satisfactory knowledge of--3. The leading facts of
Scripture and English history. 4. Modern geography, in so far as relates
to a knowledge of the principal countries, capitals, mountains and
rivers. To be able to point out the position of a place on a map, when
its latitude and longitude are given. 5. Arithmetic, including
proportion, and a fair knowledge of vulgar and decimal fractions.
6. A knowledge of the definitions and axioms of the First Book of
Euclid.
“As drawing will prove a most useful qualification for Naval Officers,
it is recommended that candidates for the Service should be instructed
therein.
“V. Candidates will be allowed a second trial at the next quarterly
examination. Should he not pass this second examination he will be
finally rejected.
“VI. If the candidate succeeds in passing the required examination he
will be at once appointed to a training ship, for the purpose of
instruction in the subjects contained in Sheet No. 1,[4] as well as in
the rigging of ships, seamanship, the use of nautical instruments, &c.
[Footnote 4: The examination on leaving the training ship will
embrace all the subjects of the former examination, except Latin,
and in addition to them it will include, in algebra, simple
equations; the elements of geometry, plane trigonometry, and the
solution, &c., as in the Circular No 288, dated Feb. 23rd, 1857;
and in addition the use of the globes with correct definitions of
latitude, longitude, azimuth, amplitude, and other circles of the
sphere, and drawing.]
“VII. Quarterly examinations will be held on board the training ship,
when any candidate may be examined in the subjects contained in Sheet
No. 1, and also, in the course of instruction, in the rigging of ships,
seamanship, &c.
“VIII. If a candidate be found at the quarterly examinations, not to
have made sufficient progress, or if, by indifferent conduct or idle
habits on board the training ship, he shall show his unfitness for the
Service; it will be the duty of the Captain to make a special report
thereof to the Admiralty, in order that the Cadet may be at once removed
from the Navy.
“IX. When the candidate shall have completed twelve months’
instruction, exclusive of vacations, in the harbor training ship, he
will be examined, and should he obtain a certificate of proficiency, he
will be discharged into the sea-going training ship. A first-class
certificate will entitle him to count twelve months’ sea time; a
second-class, will entitle him to count six months’ sea time; a
third-class, will entitle him to count six months’ sea time. But should
he not obtain a certificate, he will be discharged as unfit for the
Service.
“X. On leaving the harbor training ship, it is intended that the Cadet
shall pass three months in a sea-going training ship, for practical
instruction in seamanship and navigation, which period will count for
sea time, and at the end of this period, if his conduct has been
satisfactory, he will be appointed to a ship with the rating of a
Midshipman.
MIDSHIPMEN.
“To qualify a Midshipman for a Lieutenant’s Commission he must have
attained the full age of 19 years, and have completed 5½ years’ actual
service in Her Majesty’s Navy, including the time awarded to him on
leaving the training ship.
“XI. All Midshipmen, until they have passed their examinations for
Lieutenants, are to keep a book in which the ship’s reckoning is to be
worked out and noted; at sea, this book is to be sent in every day to
the Captain, instead of the slip of paper containing a day’s work. It is
also to be produced at their examinations; and during the last six
months of their service as Midshipmen, it must contain the working of
the observations.
“XII. A Midshipman when he shall have served two years and a half in
that rank will be required to pass the following examination:--1. In
practical navigation, showing that he understands the principle of
navigating a ship from one distant port to another, by dead reckoning
and by his own observations; and that he can explain the principles of
the same; and that he can also take and work a double altitude and
azimuth. 2. A sufficient knowledge of a chart to enable him to place
thereon the position of the ship by observation as well as by cross
bearings; and to lay off the true and compass courses. 3. Such knowledge
of nautical surveying as may enable him to measure a base line and
determine positions by angles, and the manner of ascertaining heights
and distances. 4. If he has served in a steam vessel, an acquaintance
with the different parts and working of the steam engine.
5. A proficiency in French to be attained if he has had an opportunity.
6. He must be a good practical observer, and his sextant must be
produced in good order. 7. He must produce log-books kept by himself
from the time of his entering into a sea-going ship, and certificates of
good conduct.
“8. He will likewise be examined as to his progress in the knowledge
of rigging masts, bowsprits, &c. He must also know the great gun and
small arm exercise, the use of tangent sights, the charges for the guns
of the ship, and be able to exercise the men at his quarters. A report
of the progress he has made in each of the above subjects is to be made
to the Secretary of the Admiralty in the half-yearly return.
“This examination is to be conducted by the Officer in command, not
below the rank of Commander, and the next senior Officer in the ship,
and the examinations in navigation in the presence of a Captain or
Commander, by two Naval Instructors, when it may be practicable, or by a
Naval Instructor and a Master, or, where there is no Naval Instructor,
by two Masters; that in gunnery, by a gunner, or other competent
Officer; and the candidate is to be made to take and work out his own
observations for latitude, longitude, variation, &c., as the case may
be. First or second class certificates are to be given according to the
merit of the candidate, in the form A, page 8, or he is to be rejected
if found incompetent.
“XIII. A Midshipman, having completed his term of service, and being
19 years of age, may be provisionally examined by the Captain or
Commander of such ship or vessel with the aid of other competent
Officers, Lieutenant, Master, or second Master, when no other ships are
present; and if they find him to be duly qualified they are to give him
a certificate to that effect, dated on the day of such examination, and
the Captain may forthwith give him an acting order as Mate; but he must
be re-examined, on the first opportunity that shall afterwards offer, by
three Captains or Commanders, and if he passes successfully he will
receive from the Commander-in-Chief, or senior Officer, an acting order
as Mate, to take rank according to the first certificate.
“The examining Officers are to be most strict in their investigation
of the qualifications of Officers, and they are to see that everything
required by these Regulations has been complied with by the candidates,
and that he produces certificates of good conduct from Captains he has
served under from the time of his discharge from the training ship.
“XIV. All Acting Mates and Midshipmen will be required to undergo the
following final examinations,--1. In Seamanship--On board the training
ship at Portsmouth. 2. In Gunnery--On board the _Excellent_. 3. In
Navigation and the Steam Engine--At the Royal Naval College.
“Acting Mates, who have already passed abroad, are to present
themselves for examination, on board the training ship at Portsmouth, at
the first examination day after their arrival in England, or after being
paid off, and having passed in gunnery they are then at liberty to
select either the first, second, or third examination day at the Royal
Naval College.
“XV. Any Officer rejected on his first examination at the College will
incur the forfeiture of three months’ seniority in his rank as Mate. He
may present himself on the next examination day, but a second rejection
will incur the forfeiture of three months’ more seniority; he may again
present himself on the next examination day, but a third rejection will
cause his name to be removed from the list of the Navy.
“XVI. Officers, when they have passed their final examination at the
Royal Naval College, as provided for in these Regulations, will be
confirmed from the date of their first certificate. The non-appearance
of an Officer for examination at the Royal Naval College at the times
required by these Regulations will be considered as an acknowledgment of
his not being qualified, and he will be dealt with in the same manner as
if he had been actually rejected, on each day on which he may have
omitted to appear, unless under certified ill-health, to be duly
reported at the time.
“XVII. Naval Instructors are to keep a school journal, or register,
which is to be produced when required by the Captain of the ship or the
examining Officers, and the Captain is to allow them reasonable access
to the charts and chronometers, for the purpose of instructing the
Officers in their use.
“XVIII. The Captains of Her Majesty’s ships are to take care that a
convenient place is set apart and proper hours are fixed for instruction
by the Naval Instructor; and all Acting Mates and Acting Second Masters,
as well as all executive Officers under that rank, are to attend; and
care is also to be taken that they are regularly instructed in practical
seamanship, rigging, and the steam-engine, and a monthly examination day
is to be established.
The subject of Education for Officers has been recently under discussion
in Parliament, and some modifications of the existing system is now
under the consideration of the Admiralty, looking to greater maturity of
age and preparation for admission, a more extended and thorough course
of scientific training in cadets, and continued opportunities of study
with accompanying examinations for officers up to the grade of
commanders.
II. THE ROYAL MARINE ARTILLERY.
In 1804 an artillery company was attached to each of the three divisions
of the Royal Marine Corps, to supply the service of the bomb-vessels,
and in time of peace, to drill the whole of the marines in gunnery. But
they were soon made available for other purposes, and on the outbreak of
the American war in 1812, a large body of the Marine Artillery, with a
field battery and rocket equipment, accompanied the battalions of
marines then formed for service in America. In 1817 this force was
augmented to eight companies, and Sir Howard Douglass, while advocating
the establishment of “Naval Depots of Instruction,” for the purpose of
converting officers and men of the Royal Navy into efficient gunners,
complimented the Marine Artillery as being “either a corps of good
infantry, of scientific bombardiers, or expert field artillery men, well
constituted, thoroughly instructed, and ably commanded.” It was not
until June, 1830, that an Admiralty order directed that a school of
gunnery should be established at Portsmouth, on board the “Excellent,”
and with the intention of making this school the one means of
instruction in this department, it was farther ordered, in December,
1831, that the Marine Artillery, as a distinct and separate corps,
should be broken up, retaining two companies as a nucleus of a larger
force, should such become necessary. And the necessity appeared; for the
experience of a few years proved that it would be impossible for the
school to effect, to any important extent, the results which were
desired. In 1841, therefore, a third company of the artillery was
ordered; in 1845, two more; and by subsequent additions, its strength
was raised in 1859, to sixteen companies, with a total of 3,000 officers
and men, who were formed into a separate division with its head quarters
at Fort Cumberland.
The officers of the Marine Artillery were at first appointed from the
marine corps, without any particular qualifications being required, but
afterwards their appointments were made probationary and conditional
upon the satisfactory completion of a prescribed mathematical course. In
1839 it was decided that a certain number of second lieutenants should
be allowed to prepare themselves for examination on board the Excellent,
and upon the re-opening of the Royal Naval College as an educational
establishment for mates, it was arranged that the students for the
artillery should be transferred to it, and that their success or
failure, after a years’ further study, should decide upon their
appointment to the artillery. Another and final modification took place
upon the introduction of preliminary examinations for the marines, and
the subsequent formation of a cadet establishment on board the
Excellent. In case of vacancies in the artillery, those who had passed
the best examinations upon first entering the corps, were selected for
the College, and no officers were allowed to become candidates on any
other terms, their final success depending as before, upon the progress
they might make as students at the College.
The cadets have their periods of study limited to two years; it may be
less, but can not be more. They have to acquire a competent knowledge in
Arithmetic, Algebra, Euclid, including the first four books and part of
the sixth, Plane Trigonometry, the use of the Sextant, Fortification,
English History, and French. To this may be added a practical course of
Naval Gunnery. Their studies are carried on under the direction of a
mathematical instructor, and an instructor of fortification. A French
master attends twice a week. If on obtaining his commission, the young
marine officer is selected to qualify for the artillery at College, he
must be prepared at the end of a year to pass an examination in
Analytical Trigonometry, Differential and Integral Calculus, Conic
Sections, Statics and Dynamics, Hydrostatics, and “Steam,” besides being
required to have an increased knowledge of Arithmetic, Algebra, and
Fortification. In a year little more than a superficial knowledge of
these studies can possibly be attained, yet insufficient as this period
clearly is, it has sometimes been the case that, when a large number of
subalterns were required for the artillery, young officers have been
appointed who have completed only half their term at College. Having
thus gained his appointment to the artillery, his remaining in it
depends upon there being a vacancy or not at the time when his seniority
on the general list of the corps advances him to each successive grade
of rank.
The men are volunteers from the light infantry divisions, possessing
certain specified qualifications as to age, height, intelligence and
character.
The course of training, which is with a few exceptions, common to both
officers and men, is very comprehensive; it includes--
1. The usual infantry drills and musketry instruction.
2. The exercise of field guns and rockets, with such field battery
movements as are of real practical importance.
3. The service of heavy ordnance, including guns, howitzers, and sea and
land service mortars.
4. The naval great gun exercise.
5. Mounting and dismounting ordnance, with or without machines.
6. The various methods of slinging and transporting ordnance.
7. Knotting, splicing, and fitting gun gear, use of pulleys, &c.
8. A laboratory course, including:--use and preparation of tubes,
rockets, and fuzes; making up cartridges; manufacture of port fires,
Valenciennes stars, signal rockets, blue lights, &c., with instruction
in the manufacture and effects of gunpowder and other explosive
compounds.
9. A course of practical gunnery, comprising--instruction in the nature
and uses of the various kinds of guns, howitzers, and mortars; in the
natures, employment, and effects of the various projectiles; disparting
and sighting ordnance; heating and firing red-hot shot; and such matters
connected with the theory of projectiles as may have a practical
application.
10. Practice from different natures of ordnance, with every description
of projectile.
The system of instruction is so arranged that every officer and
noncommissioned officer is qualified, as far as practicable, as an
instructor, a registry being kept of each man’s progress and
capabilities. A spirit of emulation has been created, attended with the
happiest results, and the whole course is now gone through in less than
twelve months, without the men being wearied or overworked.
III. SCHOOLS FOR WARRANT OFFICERS, SEAMEN, AND BOYS.
1. _Seamen’s Schoolmasters._
Schoolmasters for seamen are allowed on all ships having a complement of
not less than three hundred men, and an allowance of £5 per annum is
granted, in addition to the pay of any rating he may hold, to a
qualified person doing this duty of the captain’s orders, in ships not
having a seamen’s schoolmaster. An allowance is made for books, slates,
&c. to all ships having schools. The success of the school to the boys
and the men depends mainly on the interest shown in it by the captain
and second officer in command, and especially on the character of the
schoolmaster employed. The situation is too often filled by an old
quartermaster, or sergeant of marines, who obtains the berth as a kind
of retirement, or by some person who has a fancy for sea life, but who
is fit for nothing on shore, much less for teaching under the
difficulties of a ship at sea. It is found that when the schoolmaster is
qualified for this special service, and is entered for continuous
service, and being placed in regard to pay, pension, and good conduct
badges on an equality with other chief petty officers, and when a log or
register of attendance is kept, and frequent reports are made to
superior authority, the result is highly conducive to discipline, and to
the elevation of the seamen’s habits and character. One of the
Commissioners recently appointed to examine into the state of popular
education among every class of British subjects, speaking of the effect
of this class of schools upon the men on board the ships, says: “After
visiting the “Cambridge,” at Plymouth, as I walked with the captain
through the lower deck, I found many, both boys and men, reading books
with the greatest attention. In the evening of the same day, on the
lower deck of the “Agincourt,” I found the same scene, while others were
engaged in draughts, chess, or writing letters to their friends.” With
the present scale of punishment on board of men of war, the school is an
indispensable element of discipline. The Commissioners referred to, in
their report to the Queen, recommend that schoolmasters of higher
qualification be appointed, with an increase of pay, and promotion by
merit, when their schools are reported favorably upon by any authorized
inspectors, and with the same retiring pension as master-at-arms, and
that in addition to an elementary general education, a knowledge of
navigation, physical geography, and natural history be required of
candidates.
2. _Schools on board of Ships in Harbor._
A second class of naval schools consists of Harbor Ships, into which
boys entered for admission to the Navy, are received until they are
drafted into the various sea-going ships. Four of these ships, the
“Victory” and “Excellent,” at Portsmouth, the “Impregnable” and
“Cambridge,” at Plymouth, are specially devoted to instruction. Boys
remain in these ships for one year. The first part of this period is
generally spent on board the ship, the latter part in the practising
brig, in which during the summer months they are out at sea for five
days during the week. There is a school under a seamen’s schoolmaster on
board of each of these ships. The Commissioners report that the school
time is necessarily subject to great interruptions, but that much
valuable instruction might be given with better organization and
methods. They recommend that an educational test for admission to these
training ships be introduced, which would at once have a good effect
upon the general education of the people resident in the seaport towns,
and elevate the intelligence, morality and manners of the seamen.
3. _Royal Marine Schools._
There are four schools attached to the divisions of marines quartered in
barracks respectively at Woolwich, Chatham, Portsmouth and Plymouth, and
another to the division of marine artillery quartered at Portsmouth.
These five schools are attended by the marines and their children. The
attendance of the men is for the most part voluntary, with the exception
of the non-commissioned officers, who are obliged to attend the school
until they have passed a prescribed examination. In the marine artillery
every man is required to read and write, and if deficient in these
respects, he is obliged to attend the school until his requirements are
reported to be satisfactory. The Commissioners recommend that a better
class of schoolmasters be specially trained and employed, and that they
receive better rank and pay, and more efficient assistance in the
discharge of their duties, and that trained mistresses be employed as
assistants in the boys’ schools, and have the exclusive charge of the
girls’ schools, in all of which sewing should be taught and practised
daily.
4. _Dock-yard Schools._
There are seven dock-yard schools, held in the respective dock-yards of
Deptford, Woolwich, Chatham, Sheerness, Portsmouth, Devenport, and
Pembroke. They were founded in 1840, and are designed for the
instruction of the apprentices employed in these establishments. The
masters of them were originally foremen of the yard, men of good
attainments, who had for the most part received their education in the
School of Naval Architecture; but in 1847 a special class of
schoolmasters was established, ranking as foremen of the yard. The
object of these schools is to advance the education of the young men,
since none are admitted as apprentices to become shipwrights until they
have passed an examination.
Examinations for admission as apprentices to the dock-yards are held
half-yearly, and about one-half are given to the lads who pass the best
examinations, and the other half to nominees of the superintendent.
These latter, however, are required to come up to a prescribed
intellectual standard. The examinations are held under the Civil Service
Commissioners, in the following subjects:--1. Dictation exercises to
test Hand-writing and Orthography. 2. Reading. 3. Arithmetic.
4. Grammar. 5. English Composition. 6. Geography. 7. Mathematics,
(Euclid, first three books, Algebra including Quadratic Equations,
Arithmetical and Geometrical Progression.) The master shipwright and the
schoolmaster are of opinion that the boys entered by competition are the
best, and among the working shipwrights themselves the opinion is
unanimous that the system of entering at least one-half by competition
ought not to be done away. The effect in inducing parents to keep their
children at school in order to fit their sons for examination is very
manifest, and the justice of promotion by personal merit is felt and
acknowledged by all.
For the first three years all the apprentices are compelled to attend,
while those in the fourth year may volunteer to attend with others if
they show an aptitude for study, and a disposition to profit by the
opportunities afforded them. The fifth-year apprentices may attend after
the hours of labor. So long as admission to the Central School of
Mathematics and Naval Construction at Portsmouth, and an immediate
appointment and regular advancement to the higher offices in the yard,
after leaving the latter establishment, stimulated young men to the
acquisition of knowledge, the attendance for the fourth year was
numerous and regular. But the abolition of the School of Mathematics,
and with it the consequent promotion of its graduates, operated very
unfavorably both on attendance and habits of private study.
In 1859 the Admiralty adopted a supplementary course of study for such
apprentices as have been diligent in their work, exemplary in conduct,
and made satisfactory progress in acquiring a knowledge of their trade.
This course, extending over two years for three hours a day, embraces
Descriptive Geometry, Elementary Mechanics, and Hydrostatics,
Logarithms, Calculations of displacement, Stability of ships, &c., Plane
Trigonometry, Differential Calculus, with Analytical Geometry, Advanced
Mechanics, Hydrostatics, and Dynamics. This class of apprentices perform
the duty ordinarily devolved on mould loft apprentices, under the
superintendence of the draughtsmen in the mould loft. Scholarships of
twenty pounds per annum are granted to such members of the class as show
superior ability, attainments, and good conduct.
In the year 1859 there were 1,060 pupils in the five Dock-yard Schools,
viz.: 461 apprentices, and 599 factory boys, the latter attending mainly
in the evening.
The Commissioners pronounce these schools valuable institutions, both to
the state and to the individuals, and they have demonstrated, according
to the testimony of one of the master shipwrights, that the educated boy
makes the superior workman, and the most moral and temperate man. They
recommend that a better class of teachers be employed, and that their
pay should be increased by half the amount of the scholarship accorded
to the most proficient pupils of the advanced class, and that the
intellectual part of the examinations for promotion should be conducted
by the Civil Service Commissioners. To make this class of schools what
they should be, much must be done to improve the education of the
laboring classes, outside of the dock-yards.
5. _Greenwich Hospital Schools._
The Greenwich Hospital School for 200 pupils, the orphans and sons of
disabled seamen, and known as the Upper School, was founded in 1715. In
1805 the Royal Naval Asylum (founded in 1798,) consisting of 600 boys
and 200 girls, was removed to Greenwich, and in 1821, was united to the
former, and was designated the Lower School, making in that year (1821)
a total of 1,000 children. In 1828, the number of boys in the Lower
School was reduced to 400, and the Upper to 600, one-third of the latter
being the sons of commissioned and ward-room officers. In 1841, the
girls’ school was abolished, leaving 400 in the Upper, and 400 in the
Lower School.
The schools are supported partly by the income of a special endowment
(£136,000,) and partly by the general funds of the Hospital. The total
expenditure for the two schools in 1859 was £20,234, for an average
attendance of 774 boys.
Boys are admitted to the Lower School solely upon the claims of their
fathers’ services. Until quite recently admissions to the Upper School
were by patronage, but by recent regulations all exclusive privileges of
nomination have been discontinued, and all claims for admission into the
school (the distinction of Upper and Lower School having been done
away,) are decided by a Committee of Selection, according to a scale
laid down. The 110 boys found to be best in the last examination of
1860, were constituted the Nautical School, admission to which is now
gained by competitive examination among the other boys of the school.
The instruction of this school (for a Nautical School had always
existed, composed of the two first classes of the Upper School,) is
confined to Mathematics and Navigation, and qualifies its recipients to
rise in their profession as masters’ assistants in the Royal Navy, and
as midshipmen and apprentices in the merchant service. A system of pupil
teachers, selected on account of aptitude for teaching, and a
willingness to adopt the profession of schoolmaster as their career in
life, has been recently introduced.
The Commissioners referred to, recommend that a Normal School for the
Navy be established at Greenwich, similar to that for the Army at
Chelsea, that the present pupil-teachers who are above the age of
eighteen form the nucleus of this school, and that others to the number
of ten at first, be admitted after examination; that the course of their
education be adapted to their future calling, and that at the close of
their career they be examined, and receive a certificate of
qualification. These teachers thus educated and trained, would be fitted
to take charge of the Navigation Schools, under the Board of Trade;
would enter the Dock-yard Schools, as assistants at first, and they
would be appointed to masterships on board the Training Ships, both in
the royal and commercial ports.
They also recommend that boys from the second class in the Ship Schools
be selected to serve as pupil-teachers under the schoolmasters, and that
a small allowance be made them, in addition to their pay, if they pass a
satisfactory examination at the end of the year, and their conduct is
reported to be satisfactory, and at the end of three years they be
admitted, if found competent, to the Normal School at Greenwich, or that
they be entered for continuous service as assistant schoolmasters, with
rank and pay and pension of first class petty officers. At the end of
two years this last class of assistants, if found competent, will be
admitted to the practising school at Greenwich, for six months at the
least, during which residence they will devote their time to the art of
teaching, and to the study of Navigation, Physical Geography, and
Natural History. On the completion of their training they will go out as
Royal Navy Schoolmasters, and will be divided into three classes, viz.:
3d class, who shall have the rank and pay of chief petty officers,
(continuous service,) and shall be entitled to the same pension. 2d
class, who shall rank above master-at-arms, and shall receive the same
pay and pension. 1st class, shall rank with third class warrant
officers, with same pay and pension, and after long and approved
service, masters of this class shall be eligible for further promotion
to rank and pay of second and first class warrant officers.
Schoolmasters in each of these classes shall be entitled to £10 per
annum in addition to their pay, if they are recommended by the captain
and chaplain, and their schools are certified to be in an efficient
state when examined.
NAVIGATION SCHOOLS.
In 1853 the English Government constituted the Department of Science and
Art, to extend a system of encouragement to local institutions of
Practical Science, similar to that commenced a few years before in the
Department of Practical Art, the two Departments being united in the
course of the same year, and the united Department being administered at
first by the Board of Trade, and in 1856, by the Education Department.
To this Department of Science and Art, was assigned in 1853 the general
management of a class of schools which had been instituted or aided by
the Mercantile Marine Department of the Board of Trade, for the benefit
of the navigation interests of the country. Instruction in navigation
was given in the seaports by private teachers, without system, and to a
very small number of those who should be well grounded in the principles
of the art before being entrusted with the responsibilities of command,
involving the lives and property of others. To introduce system, to give
permanent employment to a larger number of well-qualified teachers of
navigation, to elevate and improve the attainments and character of
British masters, mates and seamen, and indirectly but largely increase
the supply for the Royal Navy in time of war, the Government had
determined to encourage local effort in establishing Nautical Schools.
With this view the Marine Department of the Board of Trade had
established two schools prior to 1853, one in London, and the other in
Liverpool; and an arrangement had been made with the Admiralty, by which
it was believed five or six pupil-teachers, who had completed their term
of instruction at the Royal Naval School at Greenwich, would be able to
attend the scientific courses in the Metropolitan Schools of Science and
Art, and be instructed in those sciences which would better fit them to
become masters of schools of navigation in the seaport towns. In 1854,
the Trinity House[5] of Hull reorganized its old school of navigation,
after the plan of the Royal Naval School at Greenwich, with two
divisions, the lower for a class of boys who need elementary
instruction, and the upper, for boys in the technical studies of a
seafaring life. With the latter was opened an evening school for adult
seamen. Similar schools, with a junior or lower division to revise and
complete the general and preparatory studies, and a senior or upper
school for special scientific and practical instruction in navigation
and seamanship, were established at Yarmouth, Leith, Glasgow, Aberdeen,
Belfast, Dublin, Waterford, and other ports, fifteen in all up to 1862,
giving instruction to over 3,000 persons, and all of them enlisting
local co-operation and individual payment with governmental aid. As an
example of this class of schools we cite a brief description of one of
the earliest established, from a Report of the Inspector, Edward Hughes,
one of the masters of the Greenwich Hospital Schools.
[Footnote 5: The Trinity Board of Hull was established in 1537, in
imitation of Trinity House, London, incorporated by Henry VIII in
1515, (but existing long before,) for the promotion of commerce
and navigation, licensing pilots, erecting beacons and
lighthouses, &c. Both were probably in imitation of Charles V who
established at Seville, in Spain, at the _Casa de Contratacion_,
lectures on navigation, and an examination of persons to act as
pilots and mariners.]
_London Navigation School._
_The London Navigation School_ is held on the upper floor of the
Sailors’ Home Institution, situated in Well Street, London Dock, and
consists of two separate apartments, occupied by the Upper and Lower
sections.
The upper section is for the instruction of masters and mates of the
merchant service in the following subjects, viz.:
Sextant Observing. Chart Drawing. Geometry. Algebra. Trigonometry. The
Sailings. Use of the Nautical Almanac and Mathematical Tables. Principle
and Construction of Chronometers. Methods of determining the Latitude
and Longitude. Nautical Surveying. Compasses and Magnetism of Ships.
Theory of Winds, Tides, and Currents. Methods of taking and recording
Meteorological Observations. Principle and Construction of the Steam
Engine as applied to the Paddle Wheel and Screw Propeller.
The Lower section is for the education of seamen and apprentices. The
course embraces the following subjects:--
Reading. Writing. Dictation and Letter Writing. Arithmetic. Geography.
The Sailings. Sextant Observing. Method of Keeping Ships’ Books.
The hours of attendance are from 9 to 12 a.m., 2 to 4 p.m., and 6 to 9
p.m. on the first five days of the working week, and from 9 to 12 a.m.
on Saturdays.
The fees are six shillings per week for masters and mates, sixpence
for seamen, and apprentices are admitted free.
The instruction of both sections is conducted by teachers who have
been educated and trained in the Greenwich Hospital Schools, and who
hold certificates of competency for teaching Navigation and Nautical
Astronomy, from Mr. Riddle, the Head Master of the Nautical School.
As regards the students who at present attend the school, it is
manifest that the masters and mates taught in the senior section come
for the express purpose of learning to solve certain problems in
Navigation and Nautical Astronomy, required for passing the examination
of the Local Marine Board, and they are unwilling to devote any portion
of their time to the other subjects that enter into the course of
instruction. These, though essential to the education of every master
mariner, are unfortunately not at present required of a candidate to
pass an examination which proclaims him competent to take command of a
vessel.
The lower section is composed of seamen and apprentices, who are for
the most part employed during the day at their ships in the docks, and
have acquired the rudiments of an English education before entering the
school. They attend during their short stay in port from 6 to 9 in the
evenings, and their chief object seems to be to acquire a knowledge of
the sailings and the methods of keeping the books of a ship.
Both sections are taught the use of nautical instruments, and for this
important purpose the Board of Trade has granted a liberal supply of
requisites to carry out an efficient system of instruction, as will be
seen by the list appended to this Report.
Those students who are sufficiently educated are accustomed to work
out their own observations. None of them have been allowed to leave the
school without receiving as great an amount as was possible of general
information, in addition to the special instruction in the subjects for
which they attended. Lectures have been delivered in the evenings upon
the Steam Engine, Electricity, and Magnetism, with other branches of
Natural Philosophy; and the Physical Geography of the Ocean has received
particular attention.
The following statistics are given in the Report of Capt. Ryder, of the
Royal Navy, in 1858.
The officers of the committee of management are:--
Chairman, Admiral Sir H. Hope.
Secretary, Captain George Pierce, R.N.
Head-Master, John Bowing, 1 certificate.
The total number receiving instruction in navigation in or through the
agency of the school during 1858 has been 149, showing a total increase
of 25 since last year. The total fees have been 46_l._ 15_s._ 6_d._
The entire number of adults and boys who have at any time paid fees
during the year are, masters, 3; chief mates, 17; only mates, 2; second
mates, 37; seamen, 62; apprentices, 28; total number of students, 149.
The following is the rate of fees paid by adults and boys per
week:--In the day classes--Masters studying for extra certificates,
6_s._; chief mates studying for master, 6_s._; only mates studying for
chief mates, 6_s._; second mates studying for chief mates, 6_s._; seamen
studying for only mates, 6_s._; for second mates, 6_s._; apprentices
studying navigation, 6_s._; those not studying navigation, 1_s._; seamen
not studying navigation, 1_s._; boys learning navigation, 6_d._; boys
not learning navigation, 6_d._ In the evening classes--Adults learning
navigation, 3_s._; not learning navigation, 1_s._; boys learning
navigation, 3_s._; not learning navigation, 6_d._
The average attendance at the classes has been:--
Day classes, morning, 7; afternoon, 6.
Evening classes, 6.
Grand total of fees, 46_l._ 15_s._ 6_d._
The amount of aid afforded to the school by the Department has been
43_l._ 16_s._ 4_d._, which sum includes the payments for the master’s
certificate and other allowances, the payments to pupil-teacher, the
cost of medals, &c.
_School Ships._
There is another class of nautical schools for destitute and endangered
boys, which are aided by the government through the Ragged School
Society, and are kept on board of ships, the practical seamanship of
which might advantageously be incorporated into the navigation schools.
The expense of these ships per day is thus given by Capt. Ryder, in his
Report on Navigation Schools in 1858.
I have collected some statistics showing the expense of school ships.
The Akbar, a frigate at Liverpool, is a reformatory, and has about a 100
boys. The Venus, also a frigate, is in charge of the Marine Society, and
anchored near Woolwich; she is a school ship for destitute lads, and has
about 140 boys. In the Akbar, supported, partly by local contributions
and partly by the Government grant of one shilling a day for each boy,
the expense of the establishment is probably reduced to as low a scale
as possible. The Marine Society is a corporation which can afford to be
more liberal in its arrangements. The Akbar was fitted out at an expense
of 1,800_l._ but about 1,000_l._ is considered to be sufficient for a
fit out, if the hull is in good repair. The Marine Society’s ships are
always fitted out by the Admiralty without charge. The Akbar costs about
250_l._ a year for repairs, &c.
Estimate of Annual Expense per Boy, deduced from Report.
Akbar. Venus.
------ ------
£ _s._ £ _s._
Food, £10 0 £13 10
Clothes, 4 0 6 0
Management, &c. 10 0 10 10
------- --------
24 0 30 0
_Outline of Aims and Management of Navigation Schools._
In 1858, Captain Alfred P. Ryder, of the Royal Navy, was appointed to
inspect the Navigation Schools connected with the Department of Science
and Art, and report on their condition and future management. The
statements and suggestions of this report harmonize so fully with the
conclusions which we have reached respecting the need and mode of
establishing and managing this class of schools in our own country, that
we can not better express our own views than by making liberal extracts.
The Government is very anxious to raise the tone of the Commercial
Marine for the following reasons:--
(_a._) Because the Commercial Marine supplies even in time of peace a
considerable number of men to the Royal Navy, and because in time of war
we should have to rely upon it almost entirely to enable us to man our
ships when our reserves were exhausted, which would soon be the case in
a naval war.
(_b._) Because on the efficiency of our commercial marine depends to a
great extent our position as a commercial country, and on our position
as the greatest commercial country rests our supremacy among European
nations.
(_c._) Because to the commercial marine is entrusted every year an
immense amount of valuable property. Want of skill, intelligence, and
readiness of resource largely increases the yearly loss of this
property.
(_d._) Because to the commercial marine every year are entrusted the
lives of a large and increasing number of Her Majesty’s subjects. Want
of skill, intelligence, and readiness of resource largely increase the
yearly loss of life at sea.
(_e._) Because the commercial marine consists of more than 200,000
persons, and is, therefore, an important portion of the nation,
considering it numerically.
(_f._) Because the commercial marine represents England, its religion,
laws, customs, and habits, in every foreign country, and it is desirable
that our representatives should cease to exhibit (as is now frequently
the case,) the worst side of the national character. Large numbers of
the sailors in our commercial marine are at present neither good men nor
good sailors, but are disorderly, addicted to drink, inefficient at sea
and all but useless in harbor. Many of them who reach the rank of mate
and master compare disadvantageously in general knowledge with the mates
and masters of foreign vessels. There are of course numerous brilliant
exceptions. They are to be found chiefly in the service of the large
ship-owners. In knowledge of seamanship English masters and mates need
not fear a comparison with those of any other nation.
The Government, anxious to raise the tone of the Commercial Marine,
has endeavored to purify the stream at its source, by the creation or
support of Navigation Schools, in order that as soon as possible, by the
introduction of well educated lads, its character may be elevated and
improved. The Navigation Schools referred to are supported by fees, by
local subscriptions, and by aid from the Department of Science and Art.
Their object is to offer instruction in the scientific branches of an
Education specially adapted to the Nautical Profession.
In commencing an investigation into the present position and prospects
of the Navigation schools, it is evidently advisable to ascertain the
number of vacancies that occur annually in the commercial marine; these
vacancies are occasioned by death, desertion, and change of profession.
It is much to be desired that these vacancies should all be filled by
well educated English, Scotch, and Irish lads, for in time of war we
could only recruit from the Commercial Marine those sailors who are
British subjects.[6]
[Footnote 6: According to the Registrar General’s Report for 1858,
there were 13,200 Foreigners serving in the Mercantile Marine in
1854, natives of the following countries:--Americans, (U.S.,)
3,888; Austrians, 532; Belgians, 198, Danes, 423; Germans, 319;
Greeks, 76; Hollanders, 1,(3); Italians, 110; Norwegians, 570;
Portuguese, 564; Russians, 44; Prussians, 563; Spaniards, 388;
Swedes, 1,512; French, 479; Various, viz., South Americans,
Chinese. &c., &c.. 2,499; total, 13,200.]
Capt. Ryder estimates the number of lads required to supply the annual
vacancies by death in the British Commercial Marine at over 5,000, and
by desertion and change of profession, by at least 1,000 more, or a
total of over 6,000; and that schools for seamen and officers should be
sufficient to give an annual supply of at least that number, and so
accommodate 18,000 students. According to the Report of the Registrar
General of Seamen, there were bound and registered at the several ports
of the United Kingdom, in the year 1856, 7,410 apprentices. The 176,387
men (not including masters,) employed in the Home and Foreign Trade,
were classified as follows: 21,204 mates, 13,232 petty officers, 83,682
seamen, 23,974 apprentices and boys, 12,640 other persons, 1,612
engineers, 4,896 firemen. Of this number 14,375 were foreigners, and
7,712 lascars. During the year 1856, examinations were passed for extra
masters, 22; for ordinary masters, 1,223; for first mates, 689; for only
mates, 12,223; for second mates, 940--a total of 4,097. Capt. Ryder
calculates that the total number required every year to fill up the
vacancies and meet the demands of an expanding commerce as follows:
Of those who leave the service, 6,690
Of those who are drowned, 1,300
Of those who die of disease, 2,660
The average annual increase by expansion of commerce, 3,365
Total supply required, 14,015
Capt. Ryder remarks that the system of nautical education should be
broad enough and attractive enough to bring in all the boys of all
classes who wish to go to sea, or may be required to meet the demands of
the national and commercial marine. The education given should make
athletic, intelligent, handy seamen, and impart such an amount of
scientific knowledge of navigation and seamanship as will qualify a due
proportion for a lower grade of officers.
The first point to be aimed at would apparently be the establishment
of an adequate number of schools, so as to offer scientific instruction
on the lowest terms to a sufficient number of boys, to supply the demand
for educated young men to fill the vacancies in the ranks of masters and
mates. Their knowledge of seamanship must of course be gained before the
mast.
A commercial navy, fed by a supply of lads that had for three years
attended the classes at a Navigation school would challenge comparison
for general knowledge and information with any profession in England,
and would soon cease to be the last resort of those idle, troublesome
fellows, expelled from the agricultural class and the various trades,
who are too old, too ignorant, or too profligate ever to make even
indifferent sailors.
Having stated what appears to me to be the ground that may be
beneficially covered by a network of navigation schools, I will proceed
to state what, in my opinion, are the means by which a Navigation School
may be rendered most attractive and efficient.
I. _A Navigation School assisted by the Government should offer sound
Instruction especially adapted to the Nautical Profession._
Although at first sight the number of subjects named hereafter may
appear large, and the education of too high an order, these objections
will vanish when it is remembered that lads are not acceptable on board
merchant ships until they are 15-16, because they are of little use, and
give trouble; and yet, as has been already stated, if not attracted to
the Navigation schools at the age of 12-13, and induced to remain in
attendance on the classes until they are 15-16, they will be drawn into
some other profession.
The course of instruction which is adopted must necessarily therefore
be sufficiently comprehensive to extend over _three_ years, and at the
same time continue to the last to be specialty adapted to conduce
towards the boy’s success in his profession.
The subjects which appear to be suitable for boys destined for the
nautical profession and retained under instruction from 12-13 to 15-16
are as follows:--
* (1.) Reading and writing from dictation.
* (2.) First four rules of arithmetic.
* (3.) Grammar.
(4.) A complete course of arithmetic.
(5.) Algebra to quadratics, with application.
(6.) Geometry, Books of Euclid, I. II. III., and
a few propositions in Book IV.
(7.) Trigonometry, plane and spherical.
(8.) Navigation.
(9.) Nautical astronomy, including lunar double alt.
and Sumner’s method.
(10.) Practical use of the instruments used at sea.
(11.) Geography, descriptive, }
(12.) Geography, physical, }
{ especially as regards products, climates, &c.}
(13.) Chart drawing; surveying.
(14.) Free-hand drawing.
* (15.) History, particularly Scripture History and English History.
* (16.) Letter writing; book-keeping.
(17.) Mechanics and steam-engine.
(18.) Magnetism and electricity in relation to ships.
(19.) Laws of storms and tides.
(20.) Knowledge of the code of signals.
(21.) Mercantile laws and usages, as far as is necessary for
the master of a merchant ship.
(22.) Gymnastics.
[* The boys are expected to be proficient in these subjects before
entry, and they need only be taken up in the way of review.]
The above subjects are taught in the Navigation School at Hull.
II. _A Navigation School should provide a good supply of apparatus,
viz., instruments, books, maps, slates, &c. without any charge to the
pupils._
In Ireland, where a class of Navigation Schools has been established as
part of the system of National Education, a very liberal supply of
sextants, books, maps, &c., is given to each school by the Board of
Education.
III. _A Navigation School aided by Government should offer valuable
prizes in the shape of exhibitions, instruments, books, &c._
The great difficulty we have to contend with is the reluctance on the
part of some parents, the inability on the part of others, to maintain
their children during the three years’ course.
Exhibitions and prize-schemes should therefore be established on the
most liberal footing.
Prizes had been awarded by the Department in only two or three
instances before my tour of visits.
(_a._) I beg to suggest that _prizes_ be awarded, when deserved, at
all the schools every half year.
The prizes to consist of sextants, watches, instruments, books, &c.
The future prizes to be placed at the commencement of the half-year
under the charge of the local committee, to be exposed in the schoolroom
in a case with a glass lid or cover. (The half-yearly value of the
prizes to be about 15_l._); the prizes to be fairly and openly competed
for.
A very limited number of sextants should be given away, not more than
one each half-year among all the schools. The prizes not to be awarded
except on the most satisfactory proof of the lad’s sufficient
proficiency.
(_b._) I beg to suggest that _exhibitions_ be established on the
following scale, viz., at the rate of twelve for a school giving
instruction to 100 boys, or one to every eight boys, and be awarded at
all the schools every half-year.
The boys after the examination to be divided in the following
manner:--
The First Division to consist of all the boys who had attended the
Classes for a period under 6 months.
The Second Division to consist of all the boys who had attended the
Classes for 6, and under 12 months.
The Third Division to consist of all the boys who had attended the
Classes for 12, and under 18 months.
The Fourth Division to consist of all the boys who had attended the
Classes for 18, and under 24 months.
The Fifth Division to consist of all the boys who had attended the
Classes for 24, and under 30 months.
The Sixth Division to consist of all the boys who had attended the
Classes for 30, and under 36 months.
Exhibitions at the rate of one in eight boys to be given to the most
successful boys in each group.
The exhibitions for the 1st and 2nd Divisions to consist of remission
of fee and a donation of 6_d._ a week for ensuing half-year.
The exhibitions for the 3rd and 4th Divisions to consist of remission
of fee, and a donation of 1_s._ a week for ensuing half-year.
The exhibitions for the 5th and 6th Divisions to consist of remission
of fee, and a donation of 2_s._ a week for ensuing half-year.
This part of my proposal is elastic, the value of the exhibitions can
be increased if the principle is approved of, and the number may be
extended even to offering an exhibition to every boy attaining a certain
degree of proficiency in the studies of the school.
The chief merits of this plan are (1.) that as all the exhibitions are
thrown open for competition every half-year, the spirit of emulation is
constantly kept alive; it is notorious that the attainment of an
exhibition or scholarship which will be held throughout a student’s
career is often the prelude to idleness. (2.) That exhibitions are
placed within the reach of the youngest boys.
The examination to decide on the exhibitions and prizes should take
place at the end of the half-year. The questions to be sent from the
Department, and the answers to be sealed up in the presence of the boys,
and sent to the Department on the evening of the examination day. The
prizes and exhibitions should be awarded at the commencement of the next
half-year. As the examination should not, if possible, extend over more
than one day, the Department might make a selection from among the
subjects taught. As the inspector can not be present, one or more of the
local committee should remain in the school during each examination.
The result of each examination should be allowed to be published in
the local papers; competition will then be created among the various
schools at the seaport, who will view with great interest the position
of their boys on the examination list.
Capt. Ryder suggests (1.) that each boy who holds an exhibition or gains
prizes, have the fact engrossed on a _vellum certificate_, and receive a
_medal_ or _badge_. (2.) That all graduates of the school who bring a
good character from their captain or shipowner, for one year after
leaving the school, receive one pound from the funds of the school. (3.)
That shipowners and the Admiralty be induced to look first to the
Navigation schools for their apprentices, and that they open to
competition among the prize boys of the schools, any choice places in
their gift. (4.) That officers and masters of ships, and public men
interested in nautical matters be invited to visit the schools.
IV. _A Navigation School should provide an ample Educational Staff,
whose income should be sufficient, and a certain portion of it fixed,
and whose energies should be mainly directed to the Education of the
Boys._
The educational staff, as a general rule, is very insufficient, owing
to a school for adults having been generally established in connexion
with the school for boys.[7] This course was adopted chiefly for
economical reasons, it being intended that the large fees from the adult
class should pay the greater proportion of the expense of the school;
but it has resulted in the boys’ school being most seriously injured, as
follows, without any compensating advantages.
[Footnote 7: The school at Hull is the only navigation school at
which _no_ adults are received.]
The boys who pay fees, from 6_d._ to 1_s._ a week, are constantly and
unavoidably neglected by the head master, whose interest it is to attend
to the adults who pay from 5_s._ to 7_s._ a week; and even if superior
to that motive, the head master can not leave the adults for more than a
few minutes at a time, because, and not unnaturally, they insist on his
remaining with them.
A peculiarity in the mode of paying masters of Navigation Schools is in
increasing his compensation from all other sources by the payment by the
Department of an amount represented by the certificate he may hold of
his success in passing examination in certain group of subjects. The
scheme is as follows:
Group I. Mathematics necessary to the study of navigation, £5
Group II. General navigation and nautical astronomy, 15
Group III. Adjustment and skillful handling of instruments, 5
Group IV. Physical geography, 10
Group V. Physics, mechanics, marine steam engine, 10
Group VI. Chemistry, 5
Group VII. Natural history, 5
Group VIII. Chart, freehand, and mechanical drawing, 5
-----
£50
This group payment is a well devised scheme to induce masters to improve
themselves, and is applicable to teachers of every grade, and if rightly
applied, will operate as a constant stimulus to professional
improvement. But in the case of this class of schools, where there are
pupils on a varying scale of direct payment to the teacher, the teacher
will be tempted to give his particular attention to the pupils who pay
best. This can be counteracted by making the masters’ payment depend on
the proficiency of the scholars.
To obtain and keep the services of the zealous, intelligent, and very
superior men who alone are fit to take charge of navigation schools,
I believe a superannuation allowance would be at the same time the
greatest and most economical inducement.
I beg to suggest that at 60 years of age a navigation master be
allowed to
retire with his group money as an allowance. This would be a great
inducement to remain in connection with the Department, and to pass in
as many groups as possible.
The direct inducement which I propose to give to the educational staff
to bring their schools up to the highest state of efficiency is a
payment in money, and I have been induced to propose this from the sense
of the paramount advantage derived in any undertaking from making it the
direct pecuniary interest of agents to act up to their instructions.
I propose that every head master, every assistant master and every
pupil-teacher employed in teaching the boys shall receive a sum of money
in addition to his fixed salary and his group money to depend on and
vary with the success of the school at the half-yearly examinations. The
mode by which I propose to estimate the amount of this payment will be
detailed further on, when I speak of inspections.
It consists of a sliding scale of payment, so contrived that it is the
direct pecuniary interest of the head master to bring all his boys up to
the highest state of proficiency, and also the direct pecuniary interest
of all the educational staff to refrain from forcing on the clever boys,
if by so doing they neglect the duller boys, and also to refrain from
drawing the boys into the upper and more showy subjects to the neglect
of the lower, more elementary, but more important subjects, errors
commonly and but too justly ascribed to schoolmasters in their endeavors
to give to their schools the appearance of high efficiency.
I am aware that the sliding scale of payment which I propose has the
demerit of novelty.
The Committee of Council, fully alive to the advantage of a sliding
scale, have provided that, in the primary schools, the master’s pay
shall depend on and vary with the school pence and the capitation grant
(a grant which is made to depend upon the attendance of the children,)
in the art schools it is made to depend on and vary with the number of
prizes won by the students.
The disadvantage of the former plan is that the sliding scale, being
made to depend upon mere numerical attendance, both particular
proficiency and general proficiency are ignored.
The disadvantage of the latter is that it is made the master’s direct
pecuniary interest to force on the clever boys to the neglect of the
dull boys, while general proficiency and numerical attendance are
ignored.
There are doubtless good reasons why these very different plans should
have been adopted in primary and art schools.
In the scheme of varying payment which I propose for navigation
schools, both the general proficiency of the school and the numerical
attendance of the scholars are made the measures of the masters’
emoluments, while the proficiency of individual boys is fostered by
prizes and exhibitions.
V. _The Masters of Navigation Schools should display great
intelligence and aptitude for teaching, should be intimately acquainted
with the best methods of instruction, and be zealous in the performance
of their duties._
As a general rule I have found the masters intelligent and apt to
teach. The majority of them have enjoyed the privilege of an education
at Greenwich under Mr. Riddle.
It is important that the masters should be drawn from some normal
school; Greenwich school appears admirably adapted for such purpose. To
draw a large supply of masters from that school, and retain their
services, the position of the masters in a pecuniary point of view must
in my opinion be improved. But if this is done an engagement should be
entered into to remain as a navigation schoolmaster for a certain time,
and after that, not to leave without at least two months’ warning.
The position of assistants should be open to all persons whose
credentials previously received, as to good character, proficiency in
all the subjects taught in this class of schools, and required for the
place, are satisfactory. The examination should be public, and the
results published. The vacancies among the head masters should be open
to competition among the assistant masters.
VII. _The Navigation Schools should be judiciously situated, have
large airy rooms, a good playground, gymnastic poles, and a lending
library._
Exercise at gymnastics is most beneficial to the boys’ health, and
confirms them in their choice of the naval profession. The lads when
they go to sea are much more useful aloft if they have acquired the
agility and daring which can alone be gained by gymnastic exercises.
One of the causes of the rapid deterioration in the physique of our
sailors is the diminution of work aloft consequent on the introduction
of steam.
VIII. _The Fees in a Navigation School should be carefully adjusted._
A carefully adjusted scheme of fees from 1_d._ to 1_s._ per week will
not exclude by their amount any poor boys whom we might wish to admit,
or to repel by their insignificance those parents who would attach no
value to that which cost them little.
The larger portion of the fees, after deducting a certain fixed sum,
or a certain definite proportion of them for local expenses, will stand
in the school accounts to the credit of the local committee, and will be
expended from time to time, with the consent of the Department, in
paying the masters’ salaries, the boys’ exhibition money, &c.
In some seaports, where there is a pertinacious disinclination on the
part of the parents of the boys to their going to sea, I have suggested
to the committee the undertaking to return all or a portion of the
school fees of any boy who has passed above a certain mark, on proof
being received that the boy has sailed. This would in many cases act
both on parent and child as a great inducement to the boy to go to sea.
IX. _Navigation Schools should be periodically inspected and reported
on._
Inspection to be really valuable should be thorough. Now the subjects
in which it is proposed that the boys shall be taught at the Navigation
School are very numerous, and none of them should, if possible, be
allowed to escape the notice of the inspector and the test of
examination.
I propose that there shall be two examinations every half-year, (1)
the general examination, to measure the progress and proficiency of the
navigation classes, and the payment to be made to the educational staff;
(2) the special competitive examination for prizes and exhibitions. The
first will be held in the course of the half-year, in the presence of
the inspector and master, the answers, however, to be looked over and
valued in London. The second will be held at the close of the half-year,
in the presence of the master and of one or more of the local committee.
It will be entirely a written examination, the questions to be sent from
the Department. To prevent any suspicion of unfair treatment, the
examination books should, after each examination, be sealed up at the
close of the day, in the presence of the boys, and sent to London. The
prizes and prize studentships will be awarded when the school meets
again, at the commencement of the next half-year. The answers will be
valued in London, by a person appointed for that special purpose. The
practice I have adopted is to give full numbers for an accurate answer,
half numbers for an answer which, though inaccurate, shows intelligence.
The inspector who conducts the general examination should have with
him various papers of questions of equal value on each subject, so as to
diminish the possibility of information as to the questions set at the
examination being communicated from one school to the other. The masters
have a direct pecuniary interest in preventing any information being
sent to the other schools.
I suggest that the general examination, to ascertain the amount of
examination money, be conducted in the following manner:
The school to be arranged previous to the arrival of the inspector, in
five classes, each class separated from the other as far as the
arrangements of the school will admit, and the five classes to be so
composed as to be about equal, both in average and collective
intelligence. No difficulty is experienced by the masters in doing this.
The number won by the boys in a class in a particular subject will be
added together and divided by the number of boys in the class; the
result will be the mean number for that subject for that class, and the
classes being equal, that number will be a measure of the proficiency of
the school in that subject. The number of boys in the school multiplied
by the sum of the mean numbers will be the number which will determine
the sum of money to be apportioned to that school, and divided among the
educational staff.
I propose that a sum of money, at the discretion of the Department, be
divided[8] once a year among the schools, in the ratio of the numbers
obtained as above, and that notice be given to them to that effect at
the commencement of each year, naming the total sum. I propose that the
sum won by the school should be divided among the educational staff in
the following proportions:--
Head Master 5 shares, but total not to exceed £30
Assistant Masters, each 2 shares, but total not to exceed 12
Pupil-Teachers, each 1 share, but total not to exceed 6
[Footnote 8: I prefer this to any other plan, because the stimulus
to exertion will be greater.]
As every progressive step made by the dullest boy who attends the
classes tells on the gross number, and through it on the pecuniary gain
of the whole staff, the staff will have no temptation to neglect, but on
the contrary, every inducement to push on the dull boys, and as
proficiency in the lower subjects counts as much as proficiency in the
highest the common fault of neglecting the low subjects would evidently
diminish very much the profits of the staff, and will therefore be
prevented.
I consider this sliding scale would be preferable to paying the master
a certain sum for every prize won in the school, which is a direct
temptation and inducement to him to select from time to time the most
promising boys, and put them under pressure to make prize boys of them,
neglecting the dull boys of the same standing who can not on that system
of reward be productive of any benefit. The collateral advantages of
this system.
(1.) It becomes the direct personal interest of the staff to retain
the boys as long as possible, in order that at each examination, there
shall be as many boys as possible well advanced in all the subjects.
(2.) That it becomes their direct personal interest, to select from
among the boys presenting them selves for entry, those that are most
advanced in the elementary subjects, so that their backwardness may
diminish the mean numbers as little as possible.
(3.) That it becomes their direct personal interest to work the school
with as few masters as possible, as thereby their individual gains are
larger.
(4.) Competition is created among the Navigation schools and their
educational staffs. The result of each examination should be allowed to
be published in the local papers, and the results of the examinations at
all the Navigation schools should be made known at each school.
(5.) The inspector and the Department can see at a glance whether any
Navigation school has neglected any subject. The masters could not evade
the rigor of this test by any artifice.
(6.) The boys will be induced generally to enter into the spirit of
the competition, which will have the best effect. A few only can win the
prizes and exhibitions, but all can contribute by their exertions to the
comparative success of their school.
(7.) The local committee and the neighborhood would enter into the
spirit of the struggle.
X. _A distinctive Dress or Badge is calculated to have a very good
effect on the Navigation Schools._
The Trinity Board at Hull gives to 80 boys in the Navigation school a
neat uniform (blue jacket, blue and white trousers, and blue cap.) This
has a capital effect on the boys, gives them an esprit d’ecole, and acts
as a restraint on their conduct outside the schools.
XI. _In Navigation Schools great pains should be taken to ensure
punctual attendance on the part of the boys._
I beg to suggest that the best form of registers be provided, and that
it be made imperative that the register be strictly kept in all the
schools, and that the following practice be universal instead of
partial, viz., that any boy arriving late is expected to produce a
written authority from the master of his school or his parents for his
absence. Prizes for good attendance have been found very useful in
primary schools. I beg to suggest one prize of 10_s._, three of 5_s._,
and five of 1_s._ every half-year, or 3_l._ a year in a school of 100
boys.
Capt. Ryder recommends that the daily record of attendance, proficiency,
and conduct, be posted up on the walls of the school every week, month,
half-year, and year, as well as the names of all prize boys.
Capt. Ryder goes into detail of the estimates of receipts and payments,
and makes the education of each boy cost the Department about £2 10_s._
per boy per annum. The whole expense of teaching and clothing at the
Hull School averages a little more than £6 per boy per annum.
_Obstacles to the success of Navigation Schools._
The principal obstacles in the way of success, in addition to the
inefficiency of the schools, the absence of prizes, &c., are three in
number.
It is my firm belief that if the Department assist liberally the
establishment of navigation schools, placing them on a proper footing,
and stating that they are schools established for the sole purpose of
giving special instruction in scientific subjects to boys intended for
the Royal Navy and the Commercial Marine, these three obstacles will
gradually vanish. They are,--
(I.) _A disinclination on the part of shipowners to enter boys._
In reply to my inquiries the owners of steamers stated, “We don’t want
boys, who eat as much as men, are of very little use, and give a great
deal of trouble; we want men.”
Steam having superseded the use of sails to a great extent, boys, who
in sailing vessels are invaluable for light work aloft, are not valued
in steamers.
Many of the sailors, so-called, that we find in steamers differ very
little from landsmen, except that they are not sea-sick, they can take
the wheel and pull an oar. To all the valuable qualities of a true
sailor, which were developed by and almost entirely due to his work
aloft, viz., agility, readiness of resource, indifference to all danger
that may be escaped by bodily activity, as distinct from that solid
courage which all Englishmen possess, the steam sailor can lay slight
claim.
In the Royal Navy we want the superior class of sailors, and if
possible those alone. The partial substitution of steam for sails, while
it has injured our own sailors has, in the same way and for the same
reason, injured those in the commercial marine, on whose aid and support
we may at any time be thrown for a supply of seamen.
It is most important, therefore, that every impulse should be given to
keep up in the commercial navy both the quantity and quality of the
seamen; it is much to be regretted, therefore, that the same
disinclination to take boys, although fortunately in a less degree,
exists among the shipowners of sailing vessels.
Lads enter on board merchant ships, some as apprentices, some as boys.
In the employment of the larger shipowners apprenticeships are highly
valued.[9] The proportion of apprentices to tonnage at present is about
1 to 200 tons. Before the repeal of the navigation laws, it was by Act
of Parliament 1 to every 100 tons.
[Footnote 9: The value attached to an apprenticeship varies
largely with the employs, the port, &c. Mr. Green charges 180_l_
for a four-years’ apprenticeship as a midshipman. Large shipowners
at Glasgow and elsewhere pay 35_l_ for a similar term to a common
apprentice]
The disinclination to enter boys will, I believe, gradually vanish
when the attention of the shipowners, as a body, is attracted to the
valuable class of boys who will attend the Navigation schools, for they
will be induced to reflect, that although at first sight it may appear
to be more economical to enter no boys or apprentices, or a very few
only, and those at very low wages,[10] yet that by so doing they are
contributing indirectly, but yet surely and certainly, to the
deterioration of the whole class of seamen, and to the ultimate injury
of the ship-owning interest.
[Footnote 10: Owing to the low rate of wages referred to, large
numbers of apprentices run away every year, after they have served
a portion of their time.]
(II.) _A disinclination on the part of parents to send their boys to
sea._
While sailors are, what they frequently are at present, not the most
moral or respectable members of society, it is probable and natural that
many parents would regret their sons’ choice of the sea as a profession.
But as sailors and masters improve by the aid of navigation schools,
where they will be instructed in their youth, and are received in
sailors’ homes at every port where their vessels touch, this class of
objections will gradually become obsolete; and the profession of the
sailor will take its proper place by that of the high skilled mechanic
as one of the noblest professions a working man’s son can adopt, being
also one of the highest paid; 3_l._ and 4_l._ a month besides victuals
and medical attendance being the not uncommon emoluments of a merchant
seaman. Moreover, the profession of a sailor, if he is a steady man, may
be rendered both healthy, improving, and entertaining, and acts most
beneficially on the character and temper. Steam and science are rapidly
diminishing the longest voyages, and long periods of absence, one of the
not unnatural objections of a parent, are becoming the exception instead
of the rule.
The wish to go to sea is implanted by Providence, doubtless for the
wisest purposes, in large numbers of the boys of these islands,
frequently in those who have never seen the sea. Those parents,
ministers, or schoolmasters who take upon themselves to thwart this
natural and laudable wish, going the length, as they frequently do, of
treating the boy’s desire, as an evidence of a vagabond and depraved
taste, may be fairly charged with the responsibility of the boy’s
immoral and depraved life, if such unfortunately is the result of his
going to sea, for his naval career is probably commenced by running away
from home, and he thus severs all those domestic ties which conduce so
much to the preservation of purity of life and manners.
This conduct on the part of parents should be deprecated by every one
who has the best interests of his country at heart.
Every respectable and well conducted boy who desires to go to sea
should be aided and assisted to do so, and this course should be
systematically adopted throughout the country. The Government, by the
support of navigation schools, show their opinion on this subject. It
only remains for the schools to be put on a proper and liberal footing,
worthy of the Government and of the object which they are intended to
serve. When this is done, the profession of the sailor will be rescued
in the minds of the lower classes from all the odium which at present
surrounds it.
(III.) _A disinclination on the part of boys to go to sea._
This disinclination exists in some ports and not in others; it will
decrease wherever it exists when Navigation schools, established on a
liberal footing, offering the inducements I have suggested, are placed
near the docks in every seaport town of any size or importance. It is
advisable that the schools should be so placed that the boys can when
out of the school play about among the shipping, witness and long to
imitate the evolutions of the sailors aloft, &c.
An attractive evening class will have to be established for the
instruction of boys who have to work for their livelihood during the
day, and for apprentices. I have proposed that half the fees be given to
the educational staff, to insure their taking a direct pecuniary
interest in the evening class.
In concluding this report, I wish to state, that I am fully impressed
with the great benefit that the establishment of good Navigation schools
would confer directly on the Royal Navy, the Commercial Marine, and the
country; and that I see every reason for believing, that if the schools
are placed on a proper footing, the classes will be largely attended,
and the schools will answer every purpose for which they are
established. The limited number of thirty Navigation schools, which I
have suggested, should be forthwith established, although only
professing to assist in providing a sufficient supply of educated young
men to fill up the vacancies among the masters and mates, yet can not
fail to tell with the best effect on the commercial marine generally.
For these well-educated lads, who, after leaving the Navigation schools,
have to struggle through that large body, the seamen of the commercial
marine, before they can win the prizes of their profession, must raise
the tone of the class through which they pass.