A preceptor, under any circumstances, but most particularly on board ship, in order to have the power of doing any permanent good, should not only respect himself, but ought to be supported in such a way as to command, at all times, the respect, not alone of his pupils, but likewise of the people about them. Unfortunately, few things can be more inefficient, or, generally speaking, more ridiculous, than the present situation of a schoolmaster afloat; and until his position there be materially improved, it is almost hopeless to look for any good results.
“The average pay of schoolmasters,” observes a well-informed writer, “is about £50 and their provisions. They rank with the ship’s cook, mess with the midshipmen, and have no cabin. With so small a pittance, and with such rank and accommodations, it would be unreasonable to suppose that a very highly-educated class of persons could be obtained; and consequently we find, that many ships are totally unprovided. Where they are found, they are often persons who make it convenient to serve for a time; but it rarely happens that they continue in the business. No prospect of advancement is held out to them, nor are they in any way recompensed or provided for when their term of service is complete. The naval instructions ordain that ‘the schoolmaster is not only to instruct his pupils in mathematics, but to watch over their general conduct, and to attend to their morals; and if he shall observe any disposition to immorality or debauchery, or any conduct unbecoming an officer or a gentleman, he is to represent it to the captain.’ This appears very plausible in the printed instructions; but its execution, under the circumstances just detailed, must be pronounced chimerical. It may readily be supposed, how totally inconsistent with this dignified surveillance, living in the same hole with their pupils must be, particularly when the democratical form of government, or club-law, which is generally to be found there, is remembered. The habits and awkwardness of a landsman are of themselves a constant theme of irresistible ridicule with their joyous associates; and when it is considered that the highest authority often finds it difficult to restrain their happy thoughtlessness and practical jokes, what, it may be asked, must be expected to be the fate of an unhappy equal?”[2]
This is by no means an exaggerated picture of the situation of a schoolmaster on board a man-of-war; and whatever the remedy be, I believe there can hardly exist a difference of opinion amongst professional men as to the great improvement of which this department of the service is susceptible.
In the able paper above quoted, the well-known advantages of uniting the two situations of chaplain and schoolmaster, are stated with considerable force; the practical good results, indeed, which have attended many of the experiments which have been made of that union, are so generally recognised, that in a short time we may expect to see it established in every ship. But the pay of either of these situations is too trifling to render it a sufficient motive for a man of abilities and classical knowledge to go on board ship. The consequence is, either that most of our ships are left without such instructors; or that these stations are not very well filled; or, finally, if occupied by qualified persons, they are held by men who accept them only for a time, till something better shall offer.
In the Leander, on the Halifax station, we had an excellent schoolmaster for about a year, when the situation of professor of one of the colonial colleges happening to fall vacant, we lost his services immediately; and although ours was the flag-ship, on board of which the inducements were considerably beyond the common run, we could never afterwards procure a proper person to fill the office. The youngsters, therefore, who, as usual, flocked on board the Admiral’s ship, were ever after left completely adrift.
What would become of the arrangements of a man-of-war, I should like to ask, if any one of the other officers—the first lieutenant, for instance, the purser, or the boatswain—were at liberty, without warning, to quit the ship the instant he saw an opportunity of bettering himself? And yet, if there existed no prospective benefit in these officers remaining, on what principle could we expect to maintain any permanent hold over them? How then can we wonder that chaplains and schoolmasters, whom as yet we have taken no pains to form into a distinct, respectable, and well-paid class of officers, should scruple so little about abandoning a service in which no proper means have yet been adopted to give them, as in the case of every other officer, a determinate life interest?
The obvious remedy, as has been urged a hundred times, seems to lie in this plan of uniting the situations of chaplain and schoolmaster, and joining the pay of the two. In all probability, the truest economy will be found in still further augmenting this pay, so as to make it really worth the while of properly-educated men to look to it, not merely for a season, but as a fixed provision. The discomforts, however, of a midshipman’s birth—to all but the mids themselves, who are hastening to get out of it—are so intolerable, that hardly any amount of pay will ever be thought a full recompense for the sacrifices which a person grown up to man’s estate, and properly qualified in other respects, would be called upon to make, were he required to mess in the cock-pit. In the event, therefore, of such union of offices, the gentleman in whom they are joined ought to bear a regular commission, mess with the commissioned officers, and walk the weather side of the deck; perhaps also he might advantageously wear a suitable uniform. At all events, he ought to possess a distinct rank, and be considered as essentially a part of the ship’s complement as the surgeon, purser, or any other officer in the civil department of the fleet.
People unacquainted with the nature of naval discipline may smile, perhaps, at some of the privileges glanced at above, as essential to the right exercise of power. But long experience has shewn that the distinctions in question are the recognised symbols or indexes of due subordination and general good order. They unquestionably contribute, indirectly, to the maintenance of that prompt and effective obedience, and respect to constituted authority, which, combined with self-respect, go so far to form the sinews of naval strength. If, therefore, it be of real utility to have the schoolmaster’s work as well executed as that of the other officers, it surely follows that he ought to be placed in a situation to command, not merely the dogged attention of the midshipmen, but in one which will insure the official reverence of the boys, together with a proportionate degree of consideration from those whom they command. If these minute particulars in balancing the scales of discipline be not duly attended to, the respect of the pupils will dwindle into familiarity, and the schoolmaster, if he be not a strong-minded person, may end by losing his own self-confidence. All lessons then become a farce, and the teacher either relapses into a useless appendage to the ship, or, if forcibly sustained by the stern authority of the captain, he is apt to degenerate into a mere pedagogue.
It may safely be laid down as a pretty general principle, that to render any man of much use, he must be placed permanently in a station, which of itself, and by the ordinary workings of the established order of things, will insure attention both from superiors and inferiors. Without this adjustment, there can be no good service performed any where—on land or at sea.
It is sometimes not sufficiently recollected, that schooling on board ship differs materially from what it is on shore; for it not only treats of very different matters, but has other objects in view, both immediate and remote. Before a young person actually engages in a profession, the great purpose of a school appears to consist in mere training—that is to say, in carrying his faculties through a course of preparatory discipline, without any more specific object than mental exercise. But when the youth is once fairly embarked in the pursuit which is to furnish employment for his life, an immediate modification takes place. The system which it is necessary to follow at sea is then placed in distinct contrast to that previously observed.