Chapter XLII: Part VIII (8)

[* 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.

If the thirty schools are established, and after two or three years are evidently working well, it will be worth considering whether more schools of a simpler and less expensive character should not be established to educate a sufficient number of lads fully to supply the vacancies in the seamen class.

The alterations I have proposed in the mode of payment of the educational staff are those upon which I desire to lay the most stress; they have had but one object in view, the making it the personal pecuniary interest of each member of the staff to devote himself zealously to those duties, and to no other, which the Department wishes him to perform. In individual cases, we might appeal to higher motives than these, but in dealing with a body of men, however upright and conscientious, I am firmly convinced that there is no safer course than the appealing to the lower motive in aid of the higher.

The plan of payment of the teachers of navigation schools generally, presented by Capt. Ryder, was substantially adopted by the Department having charge of this, class of schools, in 1860, but was changed to the following Minute in April, 1863, on the recommendation of Capt. Donnelly, for the purpose of restricting the efforts of the teacher, and the industry of the scholars, to the subject of Mathematics, Navigation, Nautical Astronomy, and the Use of Instruments, leaving general elementary studies to be mastered in other schools.

AID TO NAVIGATION SCHOOLS AND CLASSES.

I. Payments will be made by the Department only on the results of
instruction in the following subjects:

1. Mathematics, including such portions of Algebra, Geometry,
Mensuration, Plane and Spherical Trigonometry, Logarithms, as far
as necessary for understanding Navigation and Nautical Astronomy.
2. General Navigation.
3. Nautical Astronomy.
4. Physical Geography.
5. Steam and the Steam Engine.

II. The payments will be made to those teachers only who have taken
certificates as qualified to teach the above studies.

III. Examination for teachers will be held annually in November, in South Kingston, Dublin and Edinburgh. The traveling expenses of candidates if successful will be paid.

IV. Examination for students will be held

(1.) The adults, seamen and others, at the seaport towns where local Marine Boards are formed and are prepared to undertake them from year to year.

(2.) The youths, in inland towns once a year, the examination forming part of the general May Science examination will be held simultaneously all over the kingdom where local committees are formed to conduct them, the examination papers being supplied by the Science and Art Department.

V. The successful candidate will be classed as passed with honorable mention, third, second, and first grade certificates. In the three last, a certificate will be given to that effect. The grades of success may be improved at any future examination.

VI. The teacher will receive one, two, three, four or five pounds, according to the class of success of his pupils, on the condition that the pupil, if a boy, shall have received forty lessons, at least, from the teacher, and then goes to sea, and if an adult at sea, then he shall have received twenty lessons, at least.

VII. Should the pupil have been previously examined and payment made on his account, the twenty or forty lessons, as the case may be, must have been given since that examination, and the payment to the teacher will be the difference between that sum previously paid and the amount found due on the grade then taken.

VIII. A local committee must in all cases be formed, and from them the
teacher will receive the necessary vouchers.

IX. The sum above fixed can only be considered experimental, and may
be altered from year to year.

COLLEGE OF NAVAL ARCHITECTURE AND ENGINEERING.

The course of instruction at the Royal College of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering at South Kensington was originally in subjects the same as at Portsmouth, but after careful observation of what could be accomplished in connection with practical instruction and observation in the dock-yards, the subjects have been redistributed, and the number of sessions increased.

The _first_ year embraces mathematics, practical ship-building (laying off work), chemistry and metals, machinery, steam and its management, physics, drawing, and French.

The _second_ year embraces the same subjects, with the addition of heat, and strength of materials.

The _third_ year includes the same subjects still further pursued.

A _fourth_ year was added to the course in 1868, and the whole scheme in its details has not yet been fully tested.

A portion of each year is spent in the dock-yards in practical work, under the superintendence of officers in charge of different departments of the local service.

At the close of each session of theoretical study, a rigid examination is instituted, and promotion from class to class, and final graduation with the diploma of Associate or Fellow is awarded on the results.

In 1869 there were 30 students (15 engineers and 15 shipwrights) sent by the Admiralty, and receiving their instruction free; and 10 outside or ordinary students (6 engineers and 8 in naval construction), a total of 40 students.

SCHOOLS AND PRACTICAL TRAINING FOR NAVAL ENGINEERS.

In addition to the higher theoretical instruction in Naval Construction, Steam, and Marine Engineering, and kindred branches, at South Kensington, and to the candidates for assistant engineers, furnished by the numerous marine engine factories, and ocean steamers, to which young men resort to acquire a practical knowledge of their duties, the Admiralty have established in the dockyard schools at Portsmouth, Devonport, and Sheerness, courses of study and practical training, and a system of test examinations, for the express purpose of securing a body of educated and skillful engineers, to meet the demands of this department of the service.

Boys between the ages of 15 and 16, can enter their names as applicants with the Superintendent of the dockyards, and if they can pass the medical examination and give evidence of good character, they are examined twice a year by the Civil Service Commissioners in Arithmetic, including fractions, square and cube roots; Algebra, including quadratic equations; Euclid (six books), spelling, writing, and correct oral use of the English language, translations from the French or Spanish language, and geography. A certain number, according to the vacancies, who stand highest in the competitive examination, are received for six years.

A portion of time is spent, by the boys, on their admission, in the factories and drawing office, the foundries, the smitheries, and other shops to acquire a general knowledge of the work done in them. They are instructed in the parts, construction and working of marine engines and boilers, and the practical use of the various instruments in the engine room, including the indicator. They attend regularly for a portion of the day the dockyard schools, and are examined twice a year by the Director of Naval Education; and in the final examination they must gain 2,000 marks out of the 2,650 (the aggregate of the marks assigned to each study), of which more than three-fourths must be in the properties of steam, mechanics, hydrostatics, plain trigonometry, and good conduct and industry, to obtain a first-class certificate of qualification. If his knowledge of steam-machinery, and his good conduct and skill as a workman, is certified to by the Chief Engineer, a first-class candidate is fully qualified for the appointment of assistant engineer. The most intelligent of this class are eligible for a four years’ additional course in the Royal School in South Kensington, where they study seven months in the year, the other five being spent in practical application of principles in the drawing rooms and workshops of the dockyards. Thirty-two students entered this school from the Dockyard Schools in 1870-71.

The Royal School of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering issue two grades of diplomas. To gain the lowest, that of _Associate_, the candidate must obtain a certain minimum of marks in the aggregate of all the subjects, in practical engineering; the proportions and arrangements of engines, boilers, and propellers; strength of material; heat and steam, as well as in arithmetic and mensuration, algebra, plane trigonometry, elementary mechanics and hydrostatics, and engine drawing. To obtain the second (the diploma of a _Fellow_) the candidate must produce designs and estimates for building simple and compound engines; calculate the power of engines and performance of vessels; strength of material and principles of ship-construction, &c., as well as pass a satisfactory examination in higher mathematics, physics, and natural philosophy.

TRAINING SHIPS FOR SEAMEN IN THE ROYAL NAVY.

The entrance to the Royal Navy is now limited to boys between the ages of 15 and 17, who present themselves at certain recruiting stations on board of Receiving ships stationed in the principal ports of Great Britain, and who are found on examination to be in sound health, not below a certain standard of height, weight, and circumference of chest, of good character, and with a rudimentary knowledge of reading, writing, and arithmetic. After passing satisfactorily the required examination, with the written consent of their parents and guardians they are entered and bound to Her Majesty as sailors until they arrive at the age of twenty-eight, and then sent to one of the five Training Ships at Devonport (_Impregnable and Implacable_), Portsmouth (_St. Vincent_), Falmouth (_Ganges_), and Portland (_Boscawen_).

In each Training Ship the boys are divided into two classes--the First and Second. The First class is the upper division, into which those pass who have been twelve months on board. Here they receive 7_d._ per day (instead of 6_d._ in the Second), and if they have passed a satisfactory examination in seamanship, gunnery, and school work, they wear a badge, and are called Badge Boys, and enjoy the privileges of a Petty Officer,--extra liberty on shore and exemption from dirty work, as well as increased pay.

The work on board of a Training Ship, consists of (1.) School duties, and (2.) Instruction and training in the practical work of a sea-going vessel.

(1.) The school work is conducted by the Head-master and his assistants, under the general control of the Chaplain and Naval Instructor. The boys are put into four divisions, irrespective of the classification of First and Second, which has reference to the time they have been on board. Having a knowledge of reading and writing when they enter, they are taught arithmetic and geography, and become quite expert in elementary studies. Each division is subjected to a searching examination four times a year, by the Captain, and twice a year by the Inspector of Navy Schools, who reports direct to the Admiralty.

(2.) The Training work, includes all branches of the service required of a sailor, and a familiarity with every part of the vessel and her rigging; the names and uses of the masts and yards; knotting and splicing; the use of the helm and needle; the compass; all the various niceties of rigging; the way to reef and furl; to make, shorten, and shift sails; and the meaning of the various words of command. To go through with quickness and precision all these various subjects, the boys are divided into sections, each under a regular teacher. The lessons are short, but frequent, and the repetition is continued till the right way becomes a habit. A portion of the boys are taught flags, and the various systems of signaling. All are taught swimming, and how to rescue a man overboard, before they go to sea. To perfect the boys in rowing, sailing, and managing boats, a number of different descriptions is attached to each Training Ship. A Brig is also provided which is placed under the command of a lieutenant, to cruise daily with a party of boys, who perform all the work, under an experienced sailor. Those who have been at school for six months are sent off for two or three weeks at a time to get accustomed to real sea work. After an experience of two months in a Brig, the boys return to the Training Ship for further drill as a preparation for sea service on board of naval vessels.

Boys who show an aptitude for the use of tools are formed into a special class to be trained for ship-carpentering. And to give the practical knowledge, a small ship (the _Circe_) is fitted up as a workshop, and is attached to the _Impregnable_, at Devonport.

The training of the British sailor is not limited to seamanship, but each boy is now conducted with great attention through a complete course of gunnery instruction. This course is divided into four sections.

1. The Handspike drill, and manning boats’ sides.
2. Pointing, sponging and loading. Rifle drill.
3. Pointing, dismounting and mounting. Sword Exercise.
4. Independent firing; quick and broadside firing; shifting,
breechings, trucks, and trigger lines, bow and quarter firing;
and securing a lower deck gun.

On leaving a Training Ship about half the boys go through a course of Practical Gunnery, to enable them to aim and accustom them to firing shot and shell, on board of a ship specially fitted up for their use.

In few schools of any grade is the occupation of the pupils more incessant, but the routine is so diversified, that the lads are in high health and spirits during their entire training.

SCHOOL SHIPS FOR DESTITUTE CHILDREN IN SEAPORTS

In 1856 the frigate _Akbar_ was handed over by the Admiralty to a Board of Managers in Liverpool, and in 1858, the frigate _Venus_, to the Marine Society in London, to be fitted up and occupied by a class of boys, who were found hanging about the docks, and were fit candidates for police and reformatory treatment. In these ships successive classes of lads--in the former an average of 70, and in the latter, of 140, each year have received the ordinary elementary school instruction, and in addition, have been trained to the ordinary routine of a seaman’s life. In due time a majority of them, rescued from bad influences, and lifted on to a higher plane of intelligence, have been put on board of merchant vessels, to work their way up into positions of good pay and responsibility.

In 1870 the Admiralty turned over to a Board of Management (charged by the Poor Law with providing schooling for destitute and pauper children) in the Forest Gate District, composed of three of the eastern parishes of London, a fine wooden man-of-war, the _Goliath_, of 84 guns, rendered powerless for the service, by the progress of modern naval construction. The ship was fitted up as a nautical and industrial school, at a cost trifling compared with that of a new building, site, and equipment for the same number, and, with its complement of 400 lads born to poverty and almost predestined to vice and crime, anchored off Gravesend. Fortunate in its superintendent, Captain Bourchier, of the Royal Navy, and his staff of industrial and book instruction, these lads (increased during the year to 450) have been subjected to a daily nautical drill and school course, which give great satisfaction.

From an official statement published in the London Times (Oct. 11, 1871), it appears that out of 449 boys received on board since the _Goliath_ took up her station, 16 have gone into the Royal Navy, and in a few weeks 40 others will be in readiness; 13 have gone to sea in merchant ships, and more berths are promised shortly; 25 have found desirable situations on shore or been discharged to their friends. Besides the regular elementary school studies in which all engage for four hours, and seamanship which is taught to all, 115 are under instruction in the bands, of which there are four on board, in addition to a drum and fife band. There are 160 treble and second singers; and concerts, vocal and instrumental, are given by the young performers. For young musicians there is a demand in the army, and a list of 30 adepts have been sent to the Horse Guards. There is a swimming bath attached, and 185 have been taught to swim. Out of a fund raised by subscription, prizes are given, the first distribution of which is thus described:

The prizes, of which about 100 were given away--and Captain Bourchier said he wished heartily that he had a prize for every boy, for “there was not one black sheep among them”--were awarded according to a system calculated to stimulate the better feelings as well as the intelligence of the boys. Thus, while there were prizes for seamanship, for smartness aloft, for the best sail-makers, best coxswains of boats, best tailors, shoemakers, carpenters, painters, buglers, &c., there were also prizes for the best swimmers, the best captain of messes, for the boys who kept their clothes or band instruments in the best order, one for the boy who had attended most carefully to the sick, and two for the most popular boys in the ship. The latter prizes had been awarded according to a species of informal and unconscious _plébiscite_ on the part of the boys themselves. There were five “popular boys” nominated; for one of these--a small, dark, round-faced urchin--every boy in the ship voted; the next on the list had a little over 50 per cent. of the crew in his favor; and if names be any guide to nationality both these boys ought to hail from the sister island. To five of the boys silver medals were given for special good conduct, and these enjoyed the distinction of standing in the front row and having their honors fastened on by Miss Bourchier, daughter of the Captain Superintendent, the general distribution of books being made by Mr. Brushfield, chairman of the Board of Managers. As the little fellows came up to the table it was impossible not to remark what a difference existed between recent arrivals in the school and those who had been a few months or even a few weeks on board the _Goliath_. The school records show that, though commonly feeble and stunted in growth when they embark, numbers of them have since grown two and three inches in height, and as much as two inches round the chest. At Gravesend mariners know that the salt water mingles with the fresh; the process is silent, but not the less real. And in the _Goliath_, as in the tide itself, a change may be traced, working quietly but just as surely, in the _physique_ and characters of the boys on board. The constraint, depression, and helplessness lurking in all pauper boys lifts and melts away by little and little. In its place come the frankness, courage, and love of adventure natural to English boys who live near the sea. Every thing on board encourages a cheerful, self-reliant tone: the music, good food, good air, alternate hours of work and play, care, and strict discipline--these are the elements in the midst of which they live. The boys make every thing for themselves. Even the neat Hussar uniform in which band No. 1 plays on the quarter-deck has been cut out and made on board. The form of punishment held in most awe is to be forbidden to row in the boats. Moreover, they one and all feel that they have a future. Taking into account the advantages, physical and educational, which the boys receive, it would not be placing too high a value upon the training in the _Goliath_ to estimate it in the case of each boy at 50_l._ a year. Yet the actual charge made to other unions is 6s. 6d. a week.

The editorial notice of this enterprise concludes as follows:

Thus, beside the regular supply of trained sailor boys who may be expected to take to the navy--we are told the punishment most dreaded on board the _Goliath_ is being forbidden to row in the boats--there will be a considerable residue brought up to steady work on shore, to skilled labor and occupations which ought to secure them in after life a decent subsistence, and a position far above the slough of hopeless and helpless poverty in which they were born.

SPECIAL SCHOOLS, AND INSTRUCTION

FOR THE MERCANTILE AND MILITARY MARINE.