CAPTAIN BOWDEN-SMITH.
(Now Admiral Sir N. Bowden-Smith, K.C.B.)
No one who has thus far perused these pages will be surprised to learn that the ’eighties did not pass without a committee being specially appointed to consider the vexed question of naval education. There has always existed, as we have seen, a sort of chronic dissatisfaction with the existing condition of affairs; and this again reached a climax in 1885.
On March 26th in that year the Admiralty appointed a committee, constituted as follows:—
Vice-Admiral W. G. Luard; Commander the Right Hon. the Earl of Dalhousie; W. D. Niven, Esq., Director of Studies at the Royal Naval College; Rev. J. M. Wilson, Head Master of Clifton College; Rev. W. Rogers, Rector of St. Botolph; and Captain Charles Johnstone.
(a) Limits of age and subjects of examination for the entry of cadets.
(b) Course of study and instructional arrangements on board the Britannia.
(c, d and e concern later examinations not connected with the Britannia.)
(f) To consider and offer opinions or suggestions for the improvement of the education of naval executive officers.
In their report the committee point out what they consider to be defects in the present system:—
(1) The failure to get the best material in the country. The material is good, but it is not the best that could be had; and we feel convinced that the special preparation of boys before coming to the Britannia does not tend to improve that material.
(2) The attempt to teach in the Britannia what cannot be properly learnt at the age of the cadets on board; the result being that the knowledge is mechanical, and that the principles are unintelligently acquired and soon forgotten.
They also fall foul of the seamanship instruction, and consider the Wave of very little use, as she is not well adapted for drills, and cannot conveniently go out for more than a day at a time.
They recommend that a ship-rigged corvette should be substituted, to be moored abreast the present ships, with a bridge across, so that her upper deck would be available as a playground during short intervals when the cadets cannot land.
Under the head of Suggestions, they are bold enough to advocate the abolition of nominations, which they think place artificial difficulties in the way of getting into the Navy; and they suggest that the first test should be the lower certificate of the Oxford and Cambridge Local boards, at about the age of 15, with a further examination at 16 by the Civil Service Commissioners, after which the cadet should have one year’s training in practical navigation and seamanship, in a stationary ship or a college. And they consider the Solent a more suitable place for a training-ship than Dartmouth, as the harbour at the latter place would be inconvenient, if not dangerous, for sailing brigs, which they consider necessary.