Engineers in the Royal Navy - 1840 - Conditions of Service

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Engineers in the Royal Navy - 1837 and 1840

Conditions of Service


Admiralty 24 July 1837

Appointments, Rank, Pay-Allowance, and Superannuation of Engineers, and the Pay of Engineers; Boys in the Navy

Appointment.

Engineers to be appointed by warrant from the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, or by Commanders-in-Chief on foreign stations in vacancies occasioned by death, in the same manner as other warrant officers of the navy are now appointed.

No person to be deemed eligible for an appointment as engineer of any class until he shall have passed such examination as the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty may from time to time think proper to require for such class, before the chief engineer and inspector of steam machinery, or such other officer as they may appoint for that purpose.

Rank

Engineers to be distributed into three classes, and to rank next below carpenters, and with each other according is their standing en the official list.

Pay and Allowances

to engineers when serving on board one of Her Majesty's steam-vessels in commission ; or in any of Her Majesty's dockyards, whenever their services may be required there; or is repairing their own or any other vessel in the home dockyards, Holyhead, the river Thames, Portsmouth or Plymouth harbour, or when the vessel to which they belong is paid off, and they are still retained on board :

  • First Class.- �12 per lunar month, and 6d. a day for each engineer's boy whom they instruct
  • Second Class.- �8 per lunar month
  • Third Clans- �5. 6s. per lunar month.

When serving on board one of Her Majesty's steam-vessels within the tropics, while the steam is up, one-half the amount of the pay of the respective classes, in addition.

Engineers of vessels in commission, when employed in repairing defects of other vessels than those in which they are serving (except in the home dockyards, Holyhead, the river Thames, Portsmouth or Plymouth harbour), to be allowed extra pay, as warrant officers, in addition, according to the scale established by Her Majesty's regulations.

When borne on the books of the guardships of the ordinary, and not actually employed in the charge or repair of steam machinery

  • 1st class, per month, �7. 17s. 0d.
  • 2d class, per month, �4. 18s. 0d. ;
  • 3d class, per month, �3. 8s. 0d.

Superannuation

To be upon the scale established for warrant officers of the Royal Nary by Order in Council of the 4th of April, 1838.

Pay of Engineers Boys

(Per lunar month.)

First class� �1 14s.
Second class �1 6s.
Third class �1 3s.
Fourth class - 14s. 6d.

Admiralty, September 14, 1837.

Memorandum.

With reference to the memorandum of the 24th July last, which directs that the first class engineers shall receive an addition of sixpence a day to their pay for each apprentice or engine-boy that may be placed under their instruction, the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty hereby give notice, that this allowance is to be granted only on the production of a certificate from the commanding officer, under whose orders the engineers may be actually serving, that the boys have been duly instructed in conformity with the regulations established by their lordships' order of the 14th August, 1837. And their lordships are further pleased to direct that such certificate be never granted, unless the superintendent of the dock-yard, or the officer in command of the vessel be thoroughly satisfied, from personal observation, that their lordships' intentions have been strictly carried into effect.

The new scale of pay for engineers and apprentices is to take place from the 19th July, 1837, the date of the order in council, and all engineers must produce a certificate from the commander of the vessel in which they are serving, that their store accounts are clear, before they can be paid, in the same manner as gunners, boatswains, and carpenters.

By Command of Their Lordships
C. Wood.


Regulations of the Admiralty respecting the rank, pay, and superannuation of Engineers of her Majesty's steam-vessels.

Admiralty, August, 1837.

Engineers employed in her Majesty's steam-vessels are to be appointed by warrant from the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, or on death vacancies on foreign stations by the Commander-in-Chief.

Rank.- To be distributed in three classes, and to rank next below carpenters, and with each other according to standing on the official list.

Pay and Allowances:-

  • First class, �9 12s. a month, and 6d. a day for each apprentice or engineer boy placed under him for instruction ;
  • Second class �6 16s. a month ;
  • Third class, �4 18s. a month,

when serving within the tropics to be allowed half the amount of the pay of their respective classes in addition, during the time the steam is up, or while employed on repairs. They will also be entitled to extra pay as warrant officers, according to the scale established in the regulations for her Majesty's service at sea, when employed to repair the defects of other steam vessels than those in which they are serving. When employed by order of their Lordships in steam vessels or in Dockyards, the foregoing is to be considered as their full pay ; but when borne on the books of the guard ship of the ordinary of the different ports, for harbour service and not so employed, engineers to be paid as follows:

  • 1st Class �6. 6s. a month ;
  • 2nd, �4 4s. do. ;
  • 3rd, �3 3s do.

Superannuation. On the scale for warrant officers of the Royal Navy as by order in council of the 25th of Nov 1816. No one to be eligible for the appointment of engineer until he shall have passed such examination as the Admiralty may from time to time think proper to require, before the Chief Engineer and Inspector of Steam Machinery, or such other officer its their Lordships may appoint for that purpose.

Four classes of apprentice or engineer boys are also to be established in the service of Her Majesty's steam-vessels at the following rates of pay:

  • 1st class �1 14s, o month ;
  • 2nd, �1. 6s. do. ;
  • 3rd, �1 3s. do. ;
  • 4th, 14s. 6d. do.
By order of their Lordships.
C. Wood.
To all Flag Officers, Captains, &c.
Admiralty, 14 Aug 1837

Regulations as to the Qualifications and Examination of Engineers in HM Service

First Engineer. No person will be considered qualified to hold the warrant of a first class engineer who is not able to keep accounts, and to make notes in the log of every particular of the working of engines and boilers.

He must be thoroughly acquainted with the principles on which the machine works in all its parts, and capable of setting right any defects which may arise in the engine or boilers ; and also to adjust the length of the various rods and motions, slide valves and eccentrics.

He must have been at sea as an engineer, and be capable of working, starting and stopping the engines, &c., and to make rough sketches, correct in proportions, of any part of the machinery, and willing to take charge of, and teach, the apprentices.

Second Engineers-Must not be inferior in education to the first engineers, and but little behind in mechanical acquirements with the exception of the nice points of adjustment of slides, parallels, motions, &c.

Third Engineers. Should be equal in education to the second and first engineers, and will be selected either from the senior class of apprentices, or appointed direct from a factory. They must be accustomed to engine-work, and acquainted with the principles of the engine, with the names of all its parts, their uses, and effect in producing motion.

Examination.-No person will be deemed eligible for an appointment as engineer, or for promotion to the second or first classes, until he has passed an examination on the points above stated, or on such further points as the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty may from time to time think proper to require before the chief engineer and inspector of steam-machinery, or such other officers as they may appoint for that purpose.

Regulations as to the Instruction and Qualification of Engineer's Apprentices

Fourth Class.-Boys an on entering the service as fourth class apprentices must not be less than 14 years of age. They must be of good moral character and sound bodily constitution, able to write, and to work a question in the rule of three.

They will be kept one year in the dockyard at Woolwich, where they will receive the necessary instruction, and their capabilities will be ascertained.

(We believe the factory at Woolwich is not yet is a sufficiently forward state to carry this regulation into effect; the boys use, therefore, appointed to ships on their first entry.)

Third Class -At the expiration of their third year of service the boys will be considered eligible for removal to the third class, if on examination they appear to have made themselves acquainted with the names and uses of every part of the engine, gauges, barometers, &c., and the reasons for blowing off the boilers.

Second Class. -If boys on the fourth year of their entrance into the service, being then 18 years of, age, be acquainted, through the instruction of the chief engineer, with the whole principle of the engine and boilers, with the use of all the various tools, and with the mode of effecting repairs, as far as they are performed on board ; if they be able to take off and replace any of the working parts, pack the slide valves, pistons, piston-rods, and stuffing boxes ; if they understand the action and condensation of steam, the return of the water into the boilers, the construction of all the pumps, and of the feeding and blowing-off apparatus, safety valves, &c., and can chalk out roughly the outlines of the engines and wheels, and have became generally useful, they will be considered fit for removal to the second class.

Boys of the second class, having attained the fifth and last year of their apprenticeship, will be again transferred to the dockyard check, there to be solely under the direction of the resident engineer of the establishment, where a more extended practical knowledge, &c., can be acquired. A portion of their time is to be passed at the forge, the brazier's shop, the lathe, and the foundry, under proper instruction, a general acquaintance with each being necessary for an engineer. They are also to improve themselves in arithmetic.

First Class -At the expiration of the fifth year, having then reached the age of 19, if, on a strict examination, the apprentices be found qualified for the appointment of third class engineers, they will be removed to the list of the first class, and be considered candidates for promotion, and will take precedence according to conduct and abilities.

The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty have given strict orders that the practice hitherto pursued of employing the engineers' apprentices in Her Majesty's steam-vessels as servants to the engineers shall be immediately discontinued and that the boys shall for the future be employed exclusively in acquiring a knowledge of the duties of their profession, in order that the object of their Lordships is appointing them, viz, that they may become useful and expert engineers, may, be bona fide carried into effect.

This is a most judicious order upon the part of their Lordships, it being a well-known fact, that the tuition of many of these apprentices has been very much slighted while afloat, in consequence of their being employed to wait upon the engineers, although the first engineer of every steam-vessel in the service is allowed, in addition to his pay, 6d. per day for each apprentice belonging to the vessal in which a first class engineer may be serving.


1840

The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty are pleased to direct that the following scales be adopted for regulating the allotments and monthly allowance of engineers while actively employed, and while employed in guardships :-

Allotment

  s.
While actively employed
First engineer, per calendar month 6 10
Second engineer, per calendar month 4 6
Third engineer. car calendar month 2 17
While in guardships
First engineer, per calendar month 4 5
Second engineer, per calendar month 2 13
Third engineer, per calendar month 1 16
Monthly Allowance
While actively employed.
First engineer, per calendar month 3 10
Second engineer, per calendar month 2 5
Third engineer, per calendar month 1 10
While in guardships
First engineer, per calendar month 2 10
Second engineer, per calendar mouth 1 10
Third engineer, per calendar month 1 0

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