Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-12-18 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NORTHERN TIMES.

SIR,—" Ourselves, on the other side of the water," as
I recently heard a British Shipmaster designate the
Americans, are, by comparison, a standing proof that,
however necessary in England we may consider
examinations, when properly managed, an injudicious one
is a serious evil, and positively depreciates the standard
to which all would, like the Americans, aim, if left to
their own mere reputation ; for the self-respect to which
I alluded in my last letter, would have the effect of
encouraging self-teaching. It is said, that a man, who is
his own lawyer, has a fool for his client. Never can it b 3
said, that a man, who is his own tutor, has a dunce for his
pupil. J. self-taught man is a well-taught man, and
more especially in navigation. Compare the fallacy of
the present mere "certificate " with the satisfaction a
commander derives from the consciousness of a fair and
proper groundwork, and we at once divide the class of
Shipmasters into two parts, separated by a very wide gulf ;
the one part, at peace with themselves and well prepered
for emergency; the other, (although men of equ tl
respectability and natural talent) sunk into an abyss of
apathetic indifference, but wanting only the encouragement
which may accidentally have benefited their more
fortunate brethren. My object is to hold forth encour-
agement to every sailor. lam about to show him that
advance is much more easy than he imagines. I am
scarcely about to advise an increase in his work ; a
certain standard has been settled by lye, or rather i❑
justice, perhaps, to legislation, I should say that defects
which through years have been creeping into our system of
nautical teaching, were not touched upon, nor amended,
by the Mercantile Shipping Aet ; the sin (if any) of the
authorities is rather that of omission, than of commission,
although had they merely, from ignorance or indifference,
aseed on the supposition that existing ovils would, in active
practice, find counteractiag advantages, all might have
gradually wrought more smoothly, but it, unfortunately,
happens that, as regards the examination of Shipmasters,
positive defects have been allowed to supplant positive
qualifications. Experience and servitude are made
secondary in importance to bookwork, to mere superficial
" cramming," which too often produces a lasting nausea.
Bookwork, from being improperly handled by soma
examiners, is made to defeat its ow❑ ends. It should
be remembered that those who go up for examination are,
as a body, and as regards training, ignorant of all
principles which should nerve a man for a fair and open
testing of his mental powers. Hence, a proper forbear-
ance is wisdom. I have heard many a promising but
disappointed sailor-youth denouncing, not so much his
injudicious examiner, but head quarters—the Board of
trade itself—as the cause of all their sorrows, while a
not-to• be.mistaken and notorious pomposity of manner
(often amounting to insult), and an assumption of
excessive intelligence and vast superiority of acquirement,
and power of devisieg canning questions, bearing remotely
en a sailor's work, rather than any positive malignity,
caused the rejection of many a youth who might have
failed to bring out his results to the accuracy of a second or
two. I would tell these hair-splitting gentlemen, and
(I could contest the point with them by name if necessary)
that it is• a fearful thing to throw a wet blanket on the
shoulders of an ardont aspiring sailor, by needlessly
checking him in his early career—at his first step ! I can
appreciate accuracy as well as themselves, but surely it
is straining a gnat and swallowing "rum-puncheons" when
we reject principles altogether, and pursue an unfortunate
"second," (which is never of importance on shipboard,)
until we weary and disgust the unfortunate tyro. Barely
some better test of qualification, in an examiner himself, is
called for. I would suggest that due attention to temper
and manner be a part of his qualification ; and that, as
good men be selected for the outports as we have in
London, Liverpool, or Southampton.
As things are, a man is supposed to be competent to

command a ship if he can answer certain questions on
certain set subjects. Whether these answers result frees
an inwrought knowledge, or are the mere stripping of a few
" unattached " ideas from, the mind, which have been
pitchforked thither out of an " epitome " or a treatise on
navigation, for use on this specific occasion, the examiner
has no authority to enquire.
Now the real efficiency of a Shipmaster rests on two
principal supports, viz., mathematical acquirement and
seamanship; all other things yield to these in importance.
But, it will be convenient if we first dispose of the
question of " seamanship," and afterwards analyse
examinations in mathematics. I have formed opinions;
founded en no ordinary experience in my earlier days—in
the perils of the sea, in their worst features, and believe

let the indiscribable tact and decision, and presence of
mind, which accident only, and positive sense of present
danger call forth, cannot be tested by mere examination at
a desk in a quiet room on shore. And yet we must admit
that the advantages which result from experience are the
greatest qualifications a commander can possess.
Our legislators, however, seem to have overlooked
this circumstance ; for, at present, any one
who is a mere landsman in feeling, bat who may have
been borne on a ship's books for a certain time, could
easily "qualify" for a certificate, and what is more,
might attain the same standing, in the eyes of the law, as a
veteran of forty years' 'servitude. This would seem an
injustice, yet the 'Merchant Shipping Act positively (though
unintentionally) excludes from command some of the best
and most valuable (because most experienced) of our
Shipmasters, and for this reason, viz.,—the very self
respect which proceeds from conscious superiorty and
which increases the, importance and value of them to the
merchant service, will not allow them after, say twenty,
thirty, or forty years' creditable service, to sit " like
schoolboys " at the desk of an exernieer, who is too often
in himself his inferior in every species of nautical
knowledge ! Nor can we blame those veterans, when we
bear of their having been entrusted with troop ships and
emigrants, and even with the honour of the British flag,
as well as the credit of our merchant princes ; and what is
more, the competency, loyalty and fidelity of these men
have, in many instances, been acknowledged by their
employers and by Government itself ! I ask then should
the Mercantile Marine Act have pronounced these men,
in the face of all these considerations, to have become
suddexly incompetent?
If it be really necessary to test commanders by examin-
atioe (and as far as nautical astronomy is concerned this
cannot be doubted), let us do it effectually. But some
changes are called for. I have to propose a complete
system, as far as mathematics are concerned ; but 'now can
we test for seamanship ? To do this, an examiner
ought to take his candidate to sea, put him in command
in a gale—in a storm—a hurricane—or a cyclone ;"
watch his countenance while he splits his sails—or while
his ship springs a sudddeu leak ; or his ship
is thrown on her beam ends, carries away her
tiller chains, or while he sweeps, Sec., the deck
with an Atlantic wave ; to command him to went
ship under adverse circumstances—unship her rudder—cut
away her masts—tries him at riding on a menacing and
apparently inevitable lee-shore. Under these circumstance;
I say, let him watch for the cool steady eye—the
undaunted self-command—the happy expedient—the
unflinching se'f-devotion and courage—the firm and
manly and appropriate order, and then let him
pronounce confidently upon the fitness or unfitness for
command ! The above would be a test, but one that cannot
be exacted, nor in commanders of a certain standard can
it be necessary, for all who are accustomed to the sea will
know that the experience of every old commander
furnishes to his memory many scenes and situations to
which I have called attention, and few there are who have
never passed some of these ordeals. Surely then we might
be content to let these sturdy " hearts of oak " continue
to wear their leaves, and bear their "Accorns" (we may
need them) sheltered from the keen and cutting land
breezes of the lew, which are blighting, and destroying
those whom the storms and tempests of the sea, from the
excitement of healthy professional agitation, could only
the more deeply root and invigorate. Let experience then
assert its claims.—Yours,&c., S. hi.