The hours of attendance are from 9 to 12 a.m., 2 to 4 p.m., and 6 to 9 p.m. on the first five days of the working week, and from 9 to 12 a.m. on Saturdays.
The fees are six shillings per week for masters and mates, sixpence for seamen, and apprentices are admitted free.
The instruction of both sections is conducted by teachers who have been educated and trained in the Greenwich Hospital Schools, and who hold certificates of competency for teaching Navigation and Nautical Astronomy, from Mr. Riddle, the Head Master of the Nautical School.
As regards the students who at present attend the school, it is manifest that the masters and mates taught in the senior section come for the express purpose of learning to solve certain problems in Navigation and Nautical Astronomy, required for passing the examination of the Local Marine Board, and they are unwilling to devote any portion of their time to the other subjects that enter into the course of instruction. These, though essential to the education of every master mariner, are unfortunately not at present required of a candidate to pass an examination which proclaims him competent to take command of a vessel.
The lower section is composed of seamen and apprentices, who are for the most part employed during the day at their ships in the docks, and have acquired the rudiments of an English education before entering the school. They attend during their short stay in port from 6 to 9 in the evenings, and their chief object seems to be to acquire a knowledge of the sailings and the methods of keeping the books of a ship.
Both sections are taught the use of nautical instruments, and for this important purpose the Board of Trade has granted a liberal supply of requisites to carry out an efficient system of instruction, as will be seen by the list appended to this Report.
Those students who are sufficiently educated are accustomed to work out their own observations. None of them have been allowed to leave the school without receiving as great an amount as was possible of general information, in addition to the special instruction in the subjects for which they attended. Lectures have been delivered in the evenings upon the Steam Engine, Electricity, and Magnetism, with other branches of Natural Philosophy; and the Physical Geography of the Ocean has received particular attention.
The following statistics are given in the Report of Capt. Ryder, of the Royal Navy, in 1858.
The officers of the committee of management are:—
Chairman, Admiral Sir H. Hope.