Examination of Second Class Boys on Entering the Navy.

Index
 
The Navy List July 1885

Examination of Second Class Boys on Entering the Navy.
Regulations for the entry of Apprentices to Shipwrights and Fitters in Her Majesty�s Dockyards.
Artificers - Recruiting.

Second Class Boys are only to be finally entered in the United Kingdom and by the following Officers, viz. :-

  • Commanding Officers of Training Ships.
  • Captains of all District Ships.
  • Commanders of Drill Ships.
  • Captains of the Flag Ships at Sheerness and Queenstown.
  • Commanding Officer of the "Nankin " at Pembroke Dock.

Boys may be provisionally entered by Officers of the Coast Guard the Recruiting Officers of Marines at Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Derby, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Hull, * Liverpool, London, Salisbury, Sunderland, Taunton, and any other Officers specially authorised by their Lordships, sending them to the nearest District or Training Ship to be there finally entered.

Every Boy previous to being entered must satisfy the Examining Officers:-

  1. That he is of robust frame, intelligent, of perfectly sound and healthy constitution, free from any :physical defects or malformation, and not subject to fits.
  2. That he is able to read and write. The lowest test by which a Boy should be entered is to be able to read a passage of two ordinary lines of one syllable, and sign his name legibly.
  3. That he is between the ages of 15 and 16� years.
  4. That his height and measure are sufficient, the rules being as follows:

  5.   Height (without shoes). Measurement round the Chest.
    Boys between 15 and 15� 5 ft. 0 in. 30 ins.
    Boys between 15� and 16 5 ft. 1 In. 30� ins.
    Boys between 16 and 16� 5 ft. 3� ins 32� ins.

    Boys, however, who do not quite reach the standard of height and measurement may, if in all other respects desirable, be entered, with the special permission of their Lordships.

  6. Every Boy must bring with him a Certificate of Birth or a Declaration made by his Parents or Guardians before a Magistrate to show that he is of the proper age; and also the consent in writing of his Parents or Guardians, or nearest relatives, if he be an Orphan, to his entering the Navy and engaging to serve until he shall have completed 10 Years Continuous Service from the age of 18.

Boys are not to be received from Reformatories or Prisons.

The Examining Officers on board a District Ship will be the Captain or Commander, a Lieutenant or Navigating Lieutenant, and a Medical Officer, on board a training Ship, the Commander (or in his absence an Officer of that rank to be appointed by the Commander-in-Chief) a Lieutenant or Navigating Lieutenant, and a Medical Officer. The Medical Examination is, in all cases, to be conducted as laid down in the Regulations.

Particulars can be obtained on application, by letter or otherwise, to the Captains of District or Training Ships or other Officers empowered to raise boys.

* Boys of the London district are examined on presenting themselves at the Recruiting Department in Hemming's Row, St. Martin's Lane.

� This standard is liable to alteration.


Admiralty, 15th October, 1878.

Regulations for the entry of Apprentices to Shipwrights and Fitters in Her Majesty�s Dockyards.

  1. Vacancies for appointments as Apprentices to Shipwrights and Fitters in Her Majesty's Dockyards at Chatham, Sheerness, Portsmouth, Devonport, and Pembroke are open to public competition.
  2. The lists of Candidates for these situations are kept at the Admiralty in London, and by the Superintendents of the Dockyards named in paragraph 1, to whom all applications must be sent in before the 1st of March in each year.
  3. The Candidates must not be less than Fourteen nor more than Fifteen years of age on the first day of the Examination. Proof of age will be required by the production of a Certificate of Birth. A Declaration before a Magistrate, accompanied by a certificate of Baptism, wilt be accepted in those cases only in which it is impossible to procure a Certificate of Birth. A Certificate of Baptism cannot be accepted under any other circumstances. The Superintendent of the Dockyard is to take particular care that no boy's name is forwarded to the Admiralty for examination unless his age is within the prescribe limits.
  4. Candidates will be first required to satisfy the Superintendents of the Dockyards as regards their age, respectability, good character and physical fitness before they can be considered eligible for entry into the Dockyard. Candidates in or near London and who elect to e examined in London, will be required to satisfy the Admiralty on the points named above. If these conditions are satisfactory, they will then be examined by the Civil Service Commissioners in Educational subjects. All candidates must be children of British subjects.
  5. Candidates will not be admitted for examination at the Dockyards until they have been pronounced fit for Her Majesty's Service by the Medical Officers of the yard. Candidates in or near London may be examined by the Medical Director-General of the Navy at the Admiralty. The Medical examination will be conducted in all respects in strict accordance with the Instructions for Examination of persons for admission into the Naval Service. Candidates should possess the following physical qualifications at the minimum age:

  6. Height 4 ft. 8 ins.
    Weight 90 lbs.
    Girth of Chest 26 ins.

    but a deficiency in these requisites will not exclude candidates who may be pronounced by the Medical Officers to be generally calculated to make efficient workmen. All such cases, however, are to be specially noted in the lists sent to the Admiralty, and the grounds upon which such Candidates have been admitted are to be fully stated. All candidates must produce certificates to the satisfaction of the examining Medical Officers that they have been revaccinated, or they must be revaccinated, before they can be considered eligible for entry into the Dockyard.

  7. The examination will commence on the first Tuesday in May in each year and will be held by the Civil Service Commissioners In London as well as at the several Dockyards.
  8. The following will be the subjects of examination, and the maximum number of Marks for each subject -

  9. Arithmetic 350
    Orthography 100
    Handwriting 100
    Grammar 100
    English Composition 100
    Geography 100
    Euclid, First Three Books 150
    Algebra (up to and including Quadratic Equations) 150
    Total 1150
  10. Candidates who fail to pass in the first three subjects will be disqualified, and their other papers will not be examined The candidates who display a competent knowledge of all the subjects named in paragraph 7 will be eligible for appointment in the various Trades, according to their position on the Examination Lists at the several Dockyards, and to the number of appointments which it may be decided to make that year.
  11. Apprentices will be bound by Indentures to serve for seven years, and no candidate will be entered unless some relative or friend is able and willing to undertake the duty of the second party to the Indenture as to the support, &c. of the Apprentice during his apprenticeship. Board wages will only be allowed in the case of boys whose fathers have died or been killed in Service under the Admiralty and when it can be proved the family are in distressed circumstances, or in other very special cases.
  12. On the expiration of their period of service Apprentices will receive a certificate of their character and conduct, the progress they have made in their trade and in the knowledge of the subjects prescribed for Dockyard Apprentices.
  13. The Pay of Apprentices serving in the Dockyards is as follows:

  14.   s. d.  
    First year 3 0 a week.
    Second year 5 0 "
    Third year 7 0 "
    Fourth year 9 0 "
    Fifth year 11 0 "
    Sixth year 13 0 "
    Seventh year 15 0 "
  15. A limited number of Apprentices who have passed five years at the Dockyard will be selected annually by competitive examination for study at the Royal Naval College at Greenwich. They will remain there three sessions, passing the vacation each year between the 30th June and the 1st October at one of the Dockyards.
  16. Those selected for study at Greenwich must join with their parents or guardians in a bond for the sum of �250. to serve under the Admiralty for seven years if required after the completion of their Apprenticeship.
  17. While at Greenwich, Dockyard Apprentices will be lodged, and will receive 1s. 6d. a day towards the mess. They will mess with the Acting 2nd Class Assistant Engineers.
    They will receive pay as follows:-

  18.   s. d.  
    Those in their first year at Greenwich 21 0 a week.
    Second and third years 22 6

    When at their own Dockyards during the vacation, they will receive their pay as above, but not the messing allowance. When at other Dockyards, the messing allowance will be granted.

  19. If found well qualified at the completion of their course at Greenwich, they may be sent to sea in one of Her Majesty's Ships for one year if the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty think it desirable, and will then be appointed Supernumerary Draughtsmen, and employed temporarily as Assistants to the Foremen of the Dockyards or in any other post for which they may be considered fit. In cases where their Lordships do not consider it desirable to send them to sea, they will be at once appointed to situations as above at the several Dockyards.

N.B. The above Regulations will be generally followed, but my Lords will modify them from time to time as may be considered desirable.
By Command of their Lordships,
Robert Hall.


Artificers - Recruiting

Able-bodied young Men of good character, who are Good Workmen, will be received by the Recruiting Officers of Royal Marines, and by the Captains of the District Coast Guard Ships, or Receiving Ships, for entry at Sheerness, Portsmouth, and Devonport, after examination as to their qualifications.

Age, from 18 to 25 ; height, not less than 5 ft. 4 ins. ; girth of chest, 32 ins.

The Classes required are:-

Shipwrights, Caulkers,
Carpenters' Mates and Carpenters' Crews, Armourers,
Blacksmiths, Tinsmiths,
Coopers, Plumbers.

Candidates should apply to the Marine Recruiting Officer of the District., or to the Captains of the Receiving or District Coast Guard Ships. If rejected at the Port of Examination, they will have a Free Pass back to their homes.

All particulars can be obtained on application, by letter or otherwise, to :

The Captains of H.M Ships.-

Indus at Devonport.
Asia at Portsmouth.
Ganges at Falmouth.
Duncan at Sheerness.
Pembroke at Chatham.
Nankin at Pembroke.

The Captains of:-

Coastguard District Ships at:-

Bantry.
Greenock.
Harwich.
Holyhead.
Hull.
Kingstown.
Portland.
Queensferry.
Southampton.

Flag Ship at Queenstown.

Drill ships.
Castor at N. Shields.
Clyde at Aberdeen.
Daedalus at Bristol.
Durham at Sunderland.
Eagle at Liverpool.
President West India Docks, London.
Trincomalee at Southampton.
Unicorn at Dundee.

And the Officers at all Coast Guard Stations.

Also to the Royal Marine Recruiting Officers stationed in the following Towns:

Birmingham. Hull,
Bristol. Liverpool.
Cambridge. London
Derby. Salisbury.
Edinburgh. Sunderland
Exeter. Taunton.
Glasgow.  

Candidates of the London District are examined on presenting themselves at the Recruiting Department in Hemming's Row, St. Martin's Lane, Charring Cross.

Admiralty, September 1880.

^ back to top ^