[6] See [Appendix III].
The necessity—real or imaginary—of reducing the number of entries presumably caused some difficulty, owing to the number of applications for nominations, so somebody hit on the happy idea of giving many more nominations than were needed, and making the examination a limited competition. Any influential person who had received a nomination for his son would then have the ground cut from under his feet in case his boy’s name never appeared on the Navy List: “You asked for a nomination for your son, and we gave you one. What more could you want?”
This, at any rate, appears to be the only possible reason for giving 148 nominations during the year, of which it was certain that only 74 could be effective, for it would be absurd to contend that any benefit could accrue to the Service from such a step.
The happy aspirant for the honour of serving his country in the Navy had, practically, two examinations to pass, for a preliminary test had to be successfully negotiated before he was permitted to engage in a competition in which he might, after hard grinding, come out thirty-eighth, and be compelled to seek some other vocation in life.
It is difficult to refrain from dwelling at some length on the anomaly of this method of obtaining suitable officers, which, as will be seen, was abolished a few years afterwards, only to be reintroduced later on. Suffice it to say, that it has always been condemned by a number of officers whose opinion should carry weight, as men who have devoted their lives to the study of the efficiency of the Service, and how best to ensure it; and if their opponents seek to convince them by pointing to results, it is certainly within their right to maintain that these might have been better without limited competition.
The maximum limit of age on entry was reduced, as will be noticed, from 14 to 13 years, leaving only one year’s margin between this and the minimum.
The whole scheme, in fact, tended to reduce the number of entries, while a show of maintaining a larger number was kept up by 50 per cent. of ineffective nominations.
In spite of the smaller numbers on board, and the prospective further decrease foreshadowed by the new circular, modern ideas as to accommodation, and a demand for more studies, etc., caused the Britannia to be condemned as too small for her office, and about July, 1869, the fifth Britannia made her appearance at Dartmouth. She was laid down as a sailing three-decker in 1848, but was subsequently lengthened while still on the stocks, and eventually launched as a screw-ship of 131 guns in 1860, under the name of the Prince of Wales, assuming, however, the title of her predecessor. She was a much larger vessel, and was fitted up in a manner suited to modern requirements: only one mast was supplied, so that she presents much more the aspect of a “sheer hulk” than the old ship, in spite of a very handsome hull.
The average number of cadets entered each year during the ’sixties was 153, though this does not include 1860 or 1861, of which there is no record available. The total for these eight years is 1,223, who are accounted for, approximately, as follows:—
Active List.
Admirals, 18; captains, 107; commanders, 20.
Retired List.
Admirals, 2; captains, 93; commanders, 168; lieutenants, 56; sub-lieutenants, 30.