page_title: Midshipman
section_title: Duties and promotion
hierarchical_section_title: Midshipman / History / Apprentice officers / Royal Navy (1662–1836) / Duties and promotion
caption_attribution_description: From bottom to top, in 1810, a boy would enter the Navy either at the Royal Naval Academy, or directly as a Volunteer 1st class and serve at least 3 years prior to promotion to midshipman. A potential officer would have to serve as a midshipman, or a master's mate for 3 years prior to taking the examination for lieutenant. A midshipman who passed the examination was not automatically promoted to lieutenant, but would either stay as a midshipman, titled passed midshipman, or take an appointment as a master's mate, styled passed master's mate, while awaiting promotion to lieutenant. Some midshipmen who failed the examination took appointments as master's mates. After 1861, candidates who passed the examination were promoted to sub-lieutenant.
context_page_description: A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada, Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Kenya.
  In the 17th century, a midshipman was a rating for an experienced seaman, and the word derives from the area aboard a ship, amidships, either where the original rating worked on the ship, or where he was berthed. Beginning in the 18th century, a commissioned officer candidate was rated as a midshipman, and the seaman rating began to slowly die out. By the Napoleonic era, a midshipman was an apprentice officer who had previously served at least three years as a volunteer, officer's servant or able seaman, and was roughly equivalent to a present-day petty officer in rank and responsibilities. After serving at least three years as a midshipman or master's mate, he was eligible to take the examination for lieutenant. Promotion to lieutenant was not automatic, and many midshipmen took positions as master's mates for an increase in pay and responsibility aboard ship.
context_section_description: Midshipmen were expected to work on the ship, but were also expected to learn navigation and seamanship. They were expected to have learned already, as able seamen and volunteers, to rig sails, other duties included keeping watch, relaying messages between decks, supervising gun batteries, commanding small boats, and taking command of a sub-division of the ship's company under the supervision of one of the lieutenants. On smaller ships, midshipmen were instructed by a senior master's mate, often a passed midshipman, who taught them mathematics, navigation, and sailing lore. Larger ships would carry a schoolmaster, who was rated as a midshipman but usually was a civilian like the chaplain. Midshipmen were expected to keep detailed navigational logs, which were shown to the captain to assess their progress.
  
  Prior to promotion to lieutenant, a commissioned officer candidate in the Royal Navy had to pass a formal examination. Officially, a prospective lieutenant was at least 19, and was expected to produce proof of his service, which would include certificates from his commanders and journals kept while a midshipman.  However, most midshipmen aspired to take the lieutenant examination at age 17 or 18, and the typical age of a midshipman was between 15 and 22.  The candidate was summoned before a board of three captains and questioned about seamanship, navigation, and discipline. The board would ask questions such as: 
  
  An enemy is observed; give orders for clearing your ship, and make all the necessary preparations for engaging.
  Like the board, which might be an ad hoc affair, the actual exam questions were not standardized and their content depended mostly on individual captains. In seamanship, the candidate was expected to be able to splice ropes, reef a sail, work a ship in sailing and shift his tides. In navigation, he was expected to be able to keep a reckoning of the ship's way by plane sailing, to use Mercator projection maps and observation of the sun and stars to determine the course and position of the ship, and to understand the variation of the compass. He was also expected to be qualified to do the duty of an able seaman and midshipman.
  Failure usually meant six more months of sea service before the examination could again be attempted. Some men never passed it. Successful completion made the midshipman a 'passed midshipman'. From the 18th century until the second half of the 19th century, a midshipman in the Royal Navy who passed the lieutenant's examination did not automatically receive a commission. Midshipmen with political connections were promoted first, while others would wait their turn on a roster. During wartime, when large numbers of ships and men might be lost in battle, most passed midshipman would be promoted in a year or two, but during peacetime the wait might be so long that the midshipman would eventually be considered too old and lose his chance for a commission.
  Passed midshipmen awaiting promotion often elected to become master's mates, a high-ranking petty officer who assisted the master with his duties, served on watch as deputy to the lieutenants, and commanded small boats. A midshipman who became master's mate earned an increase in pay from £2 5s to £3 16s per month but initially reduced his chances at a commission because master's mates, along with masters, were assumed to have a working-class background.  Over time, however, appointment to master's mate became considered a normal part of the path to a commission; the situation caused some confusion during the last part of the 18th century, when two parallel roles – master's mates trying to become masters, and former midshipmen working toward a commission – held the same title and responsibilities aboard ship.
  By the first years of the 19th century, the term 'mate', without the prefix master's, was used for passed midshipmen, to distinguish them from master's mates who had not served as midshipmen. In 1824, the rating of master's assistant replaced master's mate, and mate continued to be used unofficially by passed midshipmen.  These c
caption: Route to a commission in the Royal Navy, c. 1810[24]
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