10. Practice from different natures of ordnance, with every description of projectile.
The system of instruction is so arranged that every officer and noncommissioned officer is qualified, as far as practicable, as an instructor, a registry being kept of each man’s progress and capabilities. A spirit of emulation has been created, attended with the happiest results, and the whole course is now gone through in less than twelve months, without the men being wearied or overworked.
[III. Schools for Warrant Officers, Seamen, and Boys.]
Schoolmasters for seamen are allowed on all ships having a complement of not less than three hundred men, and an allowance of £5 per annum is granted, in addition to the pay of any rating he may hold, to a qualified person doing this duty of the captain’s orders, in ships not having a seamen’s schoolmaster. An allowance is made for books, slates, &c. to all ships having schools. The success of the school to the boys and the men depends mainly on the interest shown in it by the captain and second officer in command, and especially on the character of the schoolmaster employed. The situation is too often filled by an old quartermaster, or sergeant of marines, who obtains the berth as a kind of retirement, or by some person who has a fancy for sea life, but who is fit for nothing on shore, much less for teaching under the difficulties of a ship at sea. It is found that when the schoolmaster is qualified for this special service, and is entered for continuous service, and being placed in regard to pay, pension, and good conduct badges on an equality with other chief petty officers, and when a log or register of attendance is kept, and frequent reports are made to superior authority, the result is highly conducive to discipline, and to the elevation of the seamen’s habits and character. One of the Commissioners recently appointed to examine into the state of popular education among every class of British subjects, speaking of the effect of this class of schools upon the men on board the ships, says: “After visiting the “Cambridge,” at Plymouth, as I walked with the captain through the lower deck, I found many, both boys and men, reading books with the greatest attention. In the evening of the same day, on the lower deck of the “Agincourt,” I found the same scene, while others were engaged in draughts, chess, or writing letters to their friends.” With the present scale of punishment on board of men of war, the school is an indispensable element of discipline. The Commissioners referred to, in their report to the Queen, recommend that schoolmasters of higher qualification be appointed, with an increase of pay, and promotion by merit, when their schools are reported favorably upon by any authorized inspectors, and with the same retiring pension as master-at-arms, and that in addition to an elementary general education, a knowledge of navigation, physical geography, and natural history be required of candidates.
[2. Schools on board of Ships in Harbor.]
A second class of naval schools consists of Harbor Ships, into which boys entered for admission to the Navy, are received until they are drafted into the various sea-going ships. Four of these ships, the “Victory” and “Excellent,” at Portsmouth, the “Impregnable” and “Cambridge,” at Plymouth, are specially devoted to instruction. Boys remain in these ships for one year. The first part of this period is generally spent on board the ship, the latter part in the practising brig, in which during the summer months they are out at sea for five days during the week. There is a school under a seamen’s schoolmaster on board of each of these ships. The Commissioners report that the school time is necessarily subject to great interruptions, but that much valuable instruction might be given with better organization and methods. They recommend that an educational test for admission to these training ships be introduced, which would at once have a good effect upon the general education of the people resident in the seaport towns, and elevate the intelligence, morality and manners of the seamen.
There are four schools attached to the divisions of marines quartered in barracks respectively at Woolwich, Chatham, Portsmouth and Plymouth, and another to the division of marine artillery quartered at Portsmouth. These five schools are attended by the marines and their children. The attendance of the men is for the most part voluntary, with the exception of the non-commissioned officers, who are obliged to attend the school until they have passed a prescribed examination. In the marine artillery every man is required to read and write, and if deficient in these respects, he is obliged to attend the school until his requirements are reported to be satisfactory. The Commissioners recommend that a better class of schoolmasters be specially trained and employed, and that they receive better rank and pay, and more efficient assistance in the discharge of their duties, and that trained mistresses be employed as assistants in the boys’ schools, and have the exclusive charge of the girls’ schools, in all of which sewing should be taught and practised daily.