The somewhat lax and unpractical provisions of paragraphs VI. and VII. in the former circular were amended. Quarterly examinations were to be held, but merely for the purpose of ascertaining progress; and after twelve months a cadet who was found proficient was to be discharged for three months to a sea-going training-ship. At this examination a first-class certificate conferred twelve months’ sea time, a second-class six months, and a third-class no time: the three months in the sea-going training-ship was to count as sea time, and the cadet was then to join his ship as midshipman.
THE FOURTH “BRITANNIA,” BUILT IN 1820.
Sailing into Plymouth Sound.
It appears extremely doubtful whether this was ever [!-- original location of full page illustration --] carried out, at least in the fashion implied in the circular. The brig Sealark continued to be tender to the Britannia up to the end of 1861, and no doubt the “passing out numbers” were taken out in her occasionally; but there is no evidence that they were discharged regularly to a sea-going training-ship; and, as a matter of fact, the paragraph referring to this is quietly dropped out of the circular as printed in the Navy list for March, 1862. This in itself is significant, for a close examination of the Navy lists at that period reveals the fact that there was a great reluctance on the part of the compositor to interfere with the type; so the withdrawal of the order probably came about a good deal earlier. Certainly, from the beginning of 1862 a cadet remained in the ship for fifteen months as a matter of course, and was then appointed to a sea-going ship, no such thing as a sea-going training ship being heard of at all; moreover, the cadets who joined in December, 1860, remained on board, without doubt, until March, 1862.
In establishing a training-ship for young lads, the sons of gentlefolk in a good position, the question of locality would appear to be of considerable importance. It was taken for granted, presumably, at first, that the ship should be stationed at Portsmouth, as the start was there made in the Illustrious; and possibly some advantage may have been imagined to exist in the naval surroundings, the Dockyard, etc.
The disadvantages were, however, pretty obvious. The ship was moored in close proximity to somewhat unsavoury mud at low water; there was no country, worth the name, within reach; while the moral atmosphere of a town like Portsmouth was not calculated to have a very beneficial effect on the youngsters.
Whether any particular cause brought the question of moving the ship under consideration, it is not easy to say; but towards the end of the year 1861 the authorities decided to take her away from Portsmouth; and the spot selected as her future station was—of all possible and impossible places—Portland Roads.
Those who are acquainted with the locality—among whom every naval officer may be included—are aware that, but for the breakwater, there would be practically no harbour at all, nor even a moderately sheltered roadstead in which any master would anchor his vessel, save with a westerly wind. The breakwater, though it certainly forms a shelter against the sweep of the swell in the Channel, cannot in any degree break the force of an easterly gale; and even the Chesil Bank does not modify to any great extent the fury of winter gales from the south-west, though it ensures more or less smooth water; while northerly gales sweep across from Weymouth Bay with unrestrained violence.
If plenty of open air and a generous supply of ozone were particularly in request, Portland is a very good place to go to; but other considerations will naturally crop up in selecting an anchorage for a training-ship.