The Sun.
London, England, 1849-08-13 00:00:00

NAVY AND MARINES, &c.

The following return has been presented to the House
of Commons (moved for by Mr. Ewart), " showing
what examinations, or tests of qualification, are re-
quired on admission into, or on promotion of officers
in, the Navy and Marines."
No. 1.-QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED FOR APPOINT-

MENT AS NATAL CADETS.
A naval cadet must not be under twelve years of
age, and must be in good health and fit for service ;
that is, free from impediment of speech, defect of
vision, rupture, or any other physical inefficiency,
which must be certified by the surgeon of the flag-
ship at the port where the ship to which he is appointed
is fitting out; he must be able to write English from
dictation, and be acquainted with common arithmetic,
including the Rule of Three. The examination upon
these subjects is to be made by a naval instructor or
some other competent person, in the presence of the
captain or commander of the flag- ship at the port at
which the ship to which he may be aprintoa:
fitting out; and every cade!, whets
rteceivoe
the shipcommanding
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hiss app
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soexptarnt uo.cne to the
MENT AS MIDSHIPMAN.
NO. 2.—QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED FOR APPOINT..
When a naval cadet shall have served long enough
to entitle him to be rated as midshipman, and a
vacancy may offer for him, he is to be examined
by the captain and commander, when both are
borne in a ship, and in other ships by the
captain or commander, and the first lieutenant
of the ship to which he shall belong, assisted by the
naval instructor, if there be one on board; he must
produce to them logs for the period he has served as
cadet, and a certificate of his good conduct during
that period; he must also afford to them satisfactory
proof of his being fourteen years of age when he is
to be examined by them, to ascertain that he has a
due knowledge of arithmetic, geometry, and trigono-
metry, and a practical acquaintance with the use of the
quadrant, and the manner of making observations for
ascertaining the latitude and longitude therewith, and
that he can keep a ship's reckoning by the common
rules, usually called a day's work; also that he has
a due knowledge of steering and managing a boat
under oars and sails, and of knotting and splicing,-
&c. If his proficiency in the said points be such as
to prove satisfactory to the examining officers, they
are to give him a certificate to such effect, and the
cadet may be afterwards placed in any midshipman's
vacancy offering for him; but should there be no
vacancy, he may be rated and borne as extra mid-
shipman until a vacancy occurs for him in the com-
plement of midshipmen ; but his vacancy as cadet is
not to be filled up so long as he remains an extra
midshipman.
When he shall have served two years as midshipman,
he is to be examined by the same examining officers,
of the same rank, assisted by the master, as to his
progress in the knowledge of rigging masts, bow-
sprit, &c. ; in getting tops over and placing a lower
cap ; in setting up rigging, and especially as to
the precautions required in staying lower masts ;
in hoisting a quarter or stern boat up in a strong
breeze with a sea on; in making up a course and
topsail for bending at sea; in shifting topmasts,
yards, and sails at sea, and the effect of the sails
on the ship, both in tacking and wearing; and also
as to the progress he may have made in navigation ;
a certificate whereof is to be given to him by the ex-
amining officers, and a report thereof is to be made to
the Secretary of the Admiralty, in the quarterly re-
turns. He is also to be examined by a gunnery lieu-
tenant as to his proficiency in the gunnery, musket,
and cutlass exercises ; and at this examination the
midshipman is to show to the examining officers that
his quadrant or sextant is in good order.
No. 3.—EXAMINATION or CANDIDATES FOR LIEUTE•

NANTS' CuItIMISSIONS.

Whenever a candidate may be desirous of passing
the necessary examination to qualify him for promo-
tion, the commander• in•chief may give orders for his
being examined by the proper officers, according
to the following instructions ; enjoining the
examining officers to be very particular in this im-
portant duty, and to grant the required certificate to
the candidate without partiality or favour.
A candidate for a lieutenant's commission is to be
examined by three captains or commanders ; but as a
midshipman is allowed to take rank as mate from the
date of his passing his examination for lieutenant,
and as a ship to which a midshipman, having com.
pleted his time of service, shall belong, may be sepa-
rated for a considerable period from the commander-
irt-chief, the captain or commander of the said ship
or vessel in which such midshipman may be serving,
with the senior lieutenant or second otilcu., and the
master or second master (according to the class of ship
and the rank of officers on board her), assisted by

the naval instructor, if there be one on board,
may proceed to examine such midshipman as to his
qualifications to perform the duties of lieutenant of her
Majesty's navy ; and if they find him to be, in their
opinions, duly qualified, they are to give him a
certificate to that effect, dated on the day of such
examination ; and the captain may forthwith give him
an acting order as mate ; and if, on the first oppor-
tunity that shall afterwards offer for his being re-
examined, under the commander-in-chief's order, by
three captains or commanders, as before required, he
passes successfully, he will receive from the
commander-in-chief, or senior officer, an acting order
as mate, to take rank according to the date of the first
certificate ; and if he pass his examination successfully
at the Naval College, within two months after his
return to England, or shall prove to the satisfaction
of the Admiralty his having availed himself of the
first opportunity open to him for passing such exa-
mination, he will be confirmed from the date of his
first certificate, according to the Queen's regulations,
chap. 2, art. 4, page 13.
When a candidate for the appointment of lieutenant ,
is to be examined, the examining officers are to see'
that everything required by the Queen's regulations
has been complied with, as regards the candidate, and
that he produce certificates of good conduct from
captains he has served under, for six years, and log-
books kept by himself for the corresponding period ;
and they are to satisfy themselves of the ability of the
candidate to take charge of a watch at sea, to manage
a ship in all situations, to steer her, and to rig her, to
get tops and caps over head, to raise and secure sheers,
&c., and to keep a reckoning, to ascertain her position
by observation ; that be has a due knowledge of the
elements of mathematics, and of the theory of naviga-
tion, and of ascertaining the latitude and the longi-
tude, the variation of the compass, &c., by all the
modes in use ; and also a competent knowledge
of practical gunnery, and can generally execute
the various duties of a sea officer. In the exami-
nation, however, of a candidate while in England,
his knowledge of navigation, astronomy, and
gunnery need not be inquired into by the
examining officers, as he will have to undergo those
branches of his examination at the Naval College and
on board the Excellent.
No. 4 is the form for the passing certificate qualifi-
cation for a lieutenant.
No. S.—QUALIFICATIONS AND REGULATIONS RE-
SPECTING TILE ADMISSION or OFFICERS INTO THB
ROYAL MARINES.

MEMORANDUM.

Admiralty, December 10, 1839.
The following qualifications are required in
candidates for commissions in the corps of Royal
Marines:—
Every candidate will be required to possess a com-
petent knowledge of-
1. Common and decimal arithmetic.
2. First six books of Euclid.
3. Algebra, as far as simple equations.
4. A portion of plane trigonometry, and the use
of logarithms.
And to write English correctly from dictation.
By command of their Lordships,
JOHN BARROW.
QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED FOR PASSING CANDIDATES.
ROYAL MARINES.
Age not less than 16, not exceeding 21 years.
Height not less than 5 feet 4 inches.
Constitution approved by the director-general of
the Navy.

AIEMORANDUM.

Admiralty, 223 April, 1841.
The under-mentioned sums are to be paid by each
marine cadet to the accountant-general of the navy :
Cadets under ordinary circumstances, 301. per
annum.

Sons of officers dying upon full-pay, or of officers
upon half-pay with large families and inadequate
means, 151. per annum.

Sons of officers killed in the service, or of officers
dying on full-pay, whose families are left in great
distress, gratis.

MEMORANDUM.
Admiralty, March 23, 1843.
MARINE CADETS.

1. No candidate will be nominated a cadet who is
under 15 or above 19 years of age; and he must be
prepared to pass such examination as the Lords
Commissioners of the Admiralty may deem fit to
_ _ .

kach candidate will be expected to give se-
curity for the payment of such a sum to the
accountant. general of the navy as may be fixed
upon, and to bring with him, when he appears
for examination, a certificate of bis age, a certi-
ficate of good conduct from the masters of the
schools at which ho studied the last three years,
or (in the event of his having been privately edu-
cated) from the clergyman of his parish, or some
person competent to judge of and to certify to his
general good conduct. A solemn declaration by his
nearest of kin that, to the best of his or her belief, he
does not sutler from, nor has been subject to, any
disease or infirmity of mind or body which may
incapacitate him from the perfect performance of his
duty as an officer in the Royal Marine corps, and a
certificate from one of the medical officers of the
Naval Hospital at Haslar of sound bodily health, and
that he does not stammer, and has no other physical
defect. _ _

-------
2. No cadet will receive a commission unless he
is able to go through, at least, the examination now
required, together with, the short course of theoretical
and practical gunnery now established in the Excel-
lent, with a knowledge of the great gun exercise,
the use of the sextant; nor unless he has acquired a
competent knowledge of field fortification and me-
chanical drawing.
3. Cadets will not be permitted to remain more than
two years on board the Excellent, or at the college,
unless they have passed their final examination ; but
they will, during the second year of their cadetship,
provided they can pass the requisite examination,
be eligible for such commissions as may become
vacant during that year. If appointments, are made
before the examination at the end of the second year,
the half-yearly examination immediately previous to
the occurrence of the vacancy shall be the test of
ability ; but in all oases the candidate must have
reached the points fixed in paragraph numbered 2 to
entitle him to an appointment, and will be placed on
the list of officers according to the ability shown at
such examination.

No cadet will be allowed to proceed to the college
until he has passed through the whole plan of intro-
duction laid down for marine cadets in the Excellent,
and he will not be received at the college unless he
produces a certificate of good conduct from the cap-
tain of the Excellent.

All the examinations proposed are to be carried on
by the professor at the Royal Naval College, under
the direction of the captain of the Excellent.
4. Cadets during the first year of their appoint-
ment will not be eligible for a commission if there are
any cadets, in their second year who can pass the
requisite examinations.
5 Cadets are to be subject to naval discipline, to
receive the same pay as mates, and to be considered in
all respects as quarter-deck petty officers.
G. Cadets are to wear the dress-coat of the corps of
Royal Marines, without lace, ornament, or epaulette,
in lieu of which they are to wear shoulder straps of
plain gold cord, trousers accordirg to regulations, and
dress caps (in undress they are to wear the blue cloth
shell jacket, with red cuffs and collar, by order 27th
August, 1842), with shoulder-straps, gray cloth
trousers, or white drill trousers, according to re-
gulation.
Forage cap with cover.
N.B.—Each cadet, on presenting himself for ex-
amination on board her Majesty's ship Excellent,
should be prepared with a sum not less than 401. for
outfit, and 101. for mess, washing, and other expenses
(September 20, 1843)