“Esse quam Videri.”
The American people, as a natural deduction from their keen love of liberty, have ever cherished an equally keen antipathy to a large standing army and navy. It is therefore unwise to hope for the stimulus of liberal budgets and a favorable public opinion on the one hand, and, on the other, that sense of personal devotion to a sovereign which has called forth, in other lands, such marvels of courage and self-denial. That the pure and lofty patriotism based upon a broad and deep realization of the duty owed to their country has incited our predecessors, and many yet with us, to equally glorious achievements and painful self-devotion cannot be denied. Nor is the Naval Officer disposed to yield to any fellow citizen one jot or little in love of country, in readiness to risk all for her, or in earnest desire for her material and moral prosperity.
The very problem set us to be solved to night derives its weight from the earnest wish, on the part of her Naval Officers, to determine, as far as possible, how the opportunities afforded can best be improved, that officers and men may be worthy representatives and useful servants at all times and, in the hour of need, staunch, able and vigorous defenders of their country.
In a few words, we are to ascertain what modifications, if any, are necessary to make our system of education result in a personnel of maximum elasticity and efficiency with the resources at our disposal.
Naval education, when viewed in this light, will be found to assume new dignity as the well advised means towards a noble and laudable end.
A vivid notion of this end and an honest appreciation of its importance will greatly aid us in clearing away the fogs of prejudice and tradition that hang over the debatable land across which our path must lead, and will, it is to be hoped, stimulate in us a kindly sentiment of mutual consideration, making us sink all personal feeling and bear with each other in the common cause.
To officers in the Navy are assigned duties so varied that their enumeration alone can barely be hinted at.
The Naval Officer builds ships of wood and of iron, the boilers and engines, the spars and sails that propel them, the guns that arm them. He commands them, cares for them, fights them, repairs them. He watches over the men under him in health, and attends them in sickness. He is entrusted with the most delicate international relations. He protects the merchant marine, quells its mutinies and lends it a helping hand in time of need. He succors the shipwrecked. He maps out the surface and the bottom of the ocean; surveys rivers, harbors, coasts at home and abroad; establishes astronomical positions; records and predicts tides, observes eclipses, transits, and occultations. To him, in time of peace, the people look for routes across tropical isthmuses and to the North Pole; for new continents discovered, fresh outlets for trade. In time of war, his name is the symbol of efficient defense and vigorous attack. To-day he is with his kindred, a modest retiring citizen; tomorrow he is the guest of crowned heads, yet ever proud of his profession and sensible that all honors are but paid through him to the country that gave him birth. Such are some of the tasks set before him, and he is the best servant of the nation who best performs these manifold duties.
Likening the officer to the mind which plans and directs, and the man to the hand that executes, the question takes definite shape: how shall we develop this mind and train this hand that the two may work in unison and to the best advantage in the country's service ?
To him who would answer this question three courses are open.
First, accepting the present organization of the Navy, to point out the way in which it can be made to attain its highest development.
Secondly, to sketch a plan of navy organization, and its consequent education, which should be as nearly as possible perfect in all its details.
Thirdly, to modify, add to, and combine existing propositions for reform in the Navy, molding them into a homogenous mass and then to construct a scheme of training by which the new plan may be made to yield the best results.
Upon deliberation the latter course has been chosen, for in it is found much now sanctioned by law or stamped with the approval of eminent authority, a practicable mean between what is and what might be. That any well digested plan of naval education should involve a consideration of naval organization is unfortunate, but the two subjects seem to be so mutually dependent that a satisfactory treatment of the one, without trenching upon the other, appears hopeless. Should attention be incidentally drawn to the kindred and equally serious topic, much benefit to both might accrue.
I. Officers.
The plan for the education of the officer which is offered for your consideration comprises three integral parts:
1st. General schooling of cadets at the Naval Academy;
2nd. A lengthened probation at sea to secure experience in the service and the habit of command;
3rd. The establishment of a Post Graduate Course for the encouraging, fostering, and developing of the specialties of the profession.
It is essential that the position to be assumed under the third of the foregoing heads should be made definite at the outset, for it involves nearly every innovation which will be suggested.
We are all deemed naval officers, no matter what be the corps or the specialty. I am strongly urged to believe that the difference of corps is merely a difference of specialty, that the one may be made to replace the other with benefit, and that the needs of the service, with the exception of surgeons, will be best supplied by officers of broad naval training and experience who have devoted themselves to particular lines of thought and labor from deliberate choice, based on a full knowledge of the wants of the navy and their own mental bias, and who have followed these lines with the earnest zeal and untiring vigor of early manhood.
To this belief, against my preconceived notions and to a certain degree against our traditions, I have found myself gradually but surely impelled. It appears a logical deduction from the premises, the conditions to be fulfilled.
The sea officer can no longer afford to remain in comparative ignorance of the modes of disbursing and accounting of government funds, or of the theory and practice of the motor upon which may depend the safety of his ship and the issue of battle—nor, on the other hand, can the government afford the luxury of paymasters restricted by capacity to the performance of their own narrow duties (I say it with all respect) and of engineers useless except while steaming.
Given the vast fund of intelligence scattered broadcast over our land from which to draw recruits, the inducement of an honorable calling, a comfortable income and liberal retirement during life, with a pension for the family thereafter, it is not too much to assert that no matter how high we raise our standard of mental and physical ability we shall never lack a superabundant supply of properly qualified young men to fill the navy list with good sea officers able to direct and superintend any of the departments of ship board.
The duties of the paymaster and the marine officer can be performed without difficulty by line officers detailed for the purpose. I may remark parenthetically that, in the case of the former, this has already been done successfully in the Imperial Russian Navy.
That the engineer may be advantageously replaced by the sea officer, who has been trained in the manner to be shortly described, will, it is hoped, become evident.
As to the other points, there can be little difference of opinion; here however it is necessary to make haste slowly and to be clear beyond the possibility of misunderstanding.
The average line officer justly believes himself competent to take charge of the engines of a ship in the event of emergency, and a knowledge of the elements of steam engineering is essential in his various examinations.
Even if this be too strongly stated, that such ideas should be entertained at all and in their mildest form is significant. It shows, conclusively, that the times have changed, that more is demanded of the officer now than in by-gone days, and that he must needs be familiar with matters pertaining to his calling other than the bare routine of duties. It is also true that the engineer is no longer the engine driver and mechanic, but an officer, like his colleagues, of culture, science and reflection. The engine driving has passed into other hands. With the engineer still rest the responsibility and superintendence of running and repair. The cadet engineer and his training, the assistant and his duties, are a perfectly normal development. They indicate the kind of engineer considered most desirable for the navy by those commissioned to speak with authority on this subject.
A glance at the curriculum of the Naval Academy will however suffice to make evident how readily the studies pursued by the Cadet Midshipmen may be extended to cover, in addition, the special ground now passed over by the Cadet Engineers. This will be the more easily effected when the establishment of the Naval College shall permit the postponing, to a later time, and for those only who are desirous of its benefits, the study of certain higher branches which go to form what may, by analogy, be called the Naval Officer's "Superior Education."
The proposed abolition of the Pay, Engineer and Marine Corps could only be carried into execution in the course of time; the present arrangement of duties continuing until these corps had gradually disappeared—their similar grades in the line being correspondingly increased.
To substitute a homogeneous whole for the present needlessly diversified organization is no light task, but that it must be done appears both clear and peremptory.
To argue that cadets should be appointed to the Naval Academy only upon competitive examination is to waste breath in asserting what every one knows to be true, and what every one also knows political patronage will never permit. It is thought, however, not impossible to combine political patronage and competitive examination.
The Academy graduates at present more cadets than the Navy can provide with vacancies. Within so short a space of time as a year or two, there must result a terrible stagnation in the lower grades, a stagnation which can but grow rapidly worse and more distressing; yet, under the present regime, to reach a certain standard is to receive the coveted diploma and a consequent lien for life upon the government. The remedy to this defect may be made incidentally to subserve the purpose in view in these pages.
It is suggested that no change be made in the manner of appointing candidates for entrance—that they pass a competitive examination in the elementary branches, and that a number be admitted equal to twice the number of vacancies which occurred during the preceding year in the corps known as line, engineer, pay, and marine. For certain reasons, which will be given later, it is believed that the age of admission should be between 14 and 16 years. It may be remarked that the congressional district whose candidates always failed would in any given number of years have enjoyed the maximum of patronage.
At the end of the second year and practice cruise of these there would be retained a number equal to all the vacancies created during the previous twelvemonth in these same corps. This opportunity should be seized for selecting, not necessarily the cadets whose only merit lay in scholarship, but those who promised to be most valuable as officers exhibiting manliness, zeal, adaptability to the service, the habit of careful observation and the germ of the faculty of command. To this end a board of officers especially chosen for this delicate yet highly important duty should assign to each cadet a number or multiple based on his officer like qualities, the maximum not to exceed one-half the total maxima for scholarship. The standings being thus arranged to embrace a consideration of the practical as well as the theoretical part of the naval life, the surplus beyond the requisite number would be discharged and sent to their homes at government expense. The effect upon discipline and studies of thus holding out a near and definite prize to be striven for at the Academy can better be imagined than described.
As to the curriculum, there is little I feel competent to propose which would not naturally result from the new order of things. The two courses pursued would be united, the distinction between line and engineer, as now understood, no longer existing, and all the Cadets receive the present instruction in Steam Enginery, Mechanical Drawing, Practical Work in the Machine Shop &c., for engineers; and in
Gunnery, Seamanship and Navigation for the midshipmen. The study of Naval Construction, the Designing and Fabrication of Machinery, Higher Mathematics, the Strength and Resistance of Materials, and Law should be deferred to the Post Graduate course; the time thus saved at the Academy to be occupied, 1st, In such lectures as might be deemed requisite to convey the necessary general notions of these subjects, 2nd, To increased practice in Seamanship and Machine Shop Work, in the Chemical and Physical Laboratories, and in Sketching. Upon the value of this last art, I can not lay too much stress, for I have often and deeply regretted its lack, in my sea experience. Nor can I refrain from expressing the desire that the proper use of the voice, so weighty an assistant on shipboard, should be carefully taught by some competent elocutionist. The must able officer may be helpless in time of need through inability to make his orders distinctly heard, even while possessing the requisite lung power.
The matter of the practice cruise, however, is not to be lightly passed over, I find myself obliged to think that the present plan, involving as it does, in spite of the earnest endeavors of vigilant officers, the crowding together of sailors picked up at random and a lot of boys, fresh from home, at their most impressionable age, must be fraught with danger to their morals, and to the tone of the service of which they will one day be the exponents.
During the term, a small light draft brig or barque for trips into the bay once a week on any day when the wind serves, and a small screw steamer for engine-room practice and as a tow boat in posse would give ample opportunity for practically enforcing the teachings of the class room. The permanent crews of these vessels should be men of that type not infrequent in the Navy—honest and capable—not less respected by their officers than their messmates—men to whom we all would willingly entrust our own sons.
For two summers, a practice cruise divided between the steamer and the sailing ships should be made in Chesapeake Bay with possibly, a stretch northwards.
The last six weeks between the terms should be given to the cadets that they may run home for relaxation. With how much more zest would they return to their books and drills and discipline than now from their dreary summer in Gardner's Bay.
The objection often urged against youngsters fresh from the Academy is that they come on board a ship with only the vaguest possible notions of their own place and duties. A simple remedy suggests itself: During their last summer at the Academy let them serve as midshipmen and engineers on board of some vessel or vessels in the home squadron, where, in the school of actual experience, they will speedily acquire, at a time when its lack can occasion no embarrassment, that peculiar technical knowledge of routine and the assignment of work and duty on ship-board so puzzling to the landsman, so necessary and invaluable to the seaman.
Our cadet now leaves the school with much theoretical and a fair share of practical training and able to take a watch on deck or in the engine room without mauvaise honte. He should be sent to a large, full rigged, full-powered ship and forced to perfect himself in the practice of the profession.
He should be made to describe with sufficient minuteness everything of importance and interest to which his cruise gives him access—to sketch fortifications, engines, boilers, dock-yards, machinery, ships, new or strange rigs and people, and to make accurate plans of the boilers and engines of his own vessel. He should be made to keep, in lieu of that detestable fossil, his copy of the ship's log, a scrap book in which to preserve the current history of his calling as embodied in the technical magazines and journals and the leading newspapers. To his familiarity with the latest improvements in ships, guns and armor I would give great weight at his examination for promotion. I cannot but deprecate a style of examination which assumes nothing for granted, which exacts of the would be commissioned officer little more than a reviewal of his Academic knowledge and, in ignoring the rapid strides of naval science in all its branches fails to demand that every aspirant should keep himself abreast of his profession in its very latest phases.
I have purposely taken my youngster from home at a comparatively early age, for I wished above all to subject him to the traditions and experience of our service at a time when his nature is susceptible; I have tried to return him, more frequently than is now the case, to the atmosphere and influence of his home that its hold upon him should be assured; and I have tried to fill his restless years with the assimilation of sound professional food. But his training is far from ended.
As a junior officer, he increases his responsibilities and experience on shipboard, serving by turns on deck and in charge of the engines, noting all the while the possibilities of the service and encouraged to weigh well the advantages of each special career it opens to him.
When, at about the age of twenty five, in the new order of things, he reaches the grade of lieutenant, the early manhood of the navy, his notions have become clearly defined, his bent decided, and his professional taste established. He is competent as a Watch and Division Officer and competent as an Assistant Engineer. He knows exactly what he is and what the Navy is; he can choose advisedly whether to remain a line officer pure and simple, or, in addition, to qualify himself by labor and study for the efficient performance of duty in one of the allied branches; lastly, he is old enough to appreciate, and young enough to improve, the opportunity for training in the special career selected. This opportunity would be found at the Naval College.
This institution should consist of such theoretical and practical courses as would supply the demand for technically trained talent in the navy. Every officer above the grade of master should be eligible for admission subject to certain conditions. 1st. He should, within twelve months, have completed a full cruise of at least two consecutive years, with a reservation in favor of exceptional cases to be decided by the Secretary of the Navy. 2nd. He must have performed at least five years' sea service in all. 3rd. He must indicate the studies and exercises (at least two in number) he wishes to pursue, or the specialty to adopt. 4th. He must pass satisfactorily an examination so rigid as to prove that his application for entry is in good faith and has been preceded by honest study and careful observation. The college must not be for the recalling of forgotten learning.
The following courses suggest themselves at once; others would doubtless be found necessary or desirable.
1st. Higher Mathematics.
2nd. Mechanics, Pure and Applied; Strength of Materials.
3d. Physics.
4th. Chemistry and its applications to shipboard.
5th. Law, Constitutional, International, Maritime, Naval.
6th. Astronomy and Surveying, Land and Marine.
7th. Practical working in Metals.
8th. Steam Engineering Theoretical and Practical, Engine Construction.
9th. Theory and Construction of Ordnance.
10th. Naval Architecture, Ship building in Iron and Wood.
These courses may be grouped so as to emphasize their bearing. Thus a lieutenant studying to qualify himself as an ordnance officer would take up Mathematics, Mechanics, Physics, Chemistry, Metal Working and Gun Construction; as an Engineer, the same, substituting Steam Engineering, &c., for Gun Construction; as a Surveyor, or Astronomer, the first two, substituting Astronomy, &c.
It is urged that, when their natures permit, these branches be taught practically—that, for instance, the student in chemistry may learn how to conduct a water analysis both roughly to pass judgment upon its portability and quantitatively to ascertain the nature and amount of its impurities; or, again, to determine the percentage of carbon in a sample of steel submitted for gun making, and in metal working how to use a lathe or planer, to forge and temper tools, to shape, tap and finish.
It may become advisable to send the students from time to time to places where interesting and instructive work in their specialties is in progress. Thus at the New York Navy Yard, the laying down or building of a ship or a marine engine might warrant transferring there, for a season, all the students in Steam Enginery and Naval Construction; or the would be Ordnance Officer might spend a few weeks temporarily attached to the Washington Navy Yard during the fabrication of some typical piece of Ordnance. The Naval College, be it understood, is always subordinate to its instruction.
Rigid examinations should be held when each particular part of a course is completed, and only those students whose proficiency is "great" should be passed. Failure to reach this standard should be followed by detachment from the College. In each branch, the examiners, the Faculty of the college, should be authorized to grade the proficiency either as "great" or "very great." At the end of the whole elective course, the graduate would be given a diploma showing, on its face, all the branches studied, the proficiency in each, and, when sought, the specialty in which he has qualified.
This diploma will warrant placing after his name, in the Navy Register, initials indicative of the specialty, with an additional distinctive mark when his proficiency has been "very great " in every branch. When employed, in consequence of this diploma, on special duty, he should receive an increase of pay, say ten per centum.
The demand for skilled surveyors, ordnance officers and engineers by the navy in general, and for exceptionally capable men as instructors at the Naval Academy is very large. The establishment of the Naval College, with its supply of this much needed personnel, will be hailed with joy by every one who has the interest of the service at heart.
The location of this college presents many difficulties. There are required, a library of reference, working laboratories, an observatory and a machine shop close at hand; with gun shops and dockyards not far distant; competent instructors, suitable lecture rooms and either government quarters or ample boarding accommodations. Undoubtedly Annapolis with the Naval Academy facilities, the proximity of the Experimental Battery and the almost vacant Naval Hospital (which could be utilized as quarters) offers a maximum of material advantages. The disadvantages both moral and material, are obvious and grave, but I fear that, in the beginning, at least, they must be accepted. Until the practical working of the scheme be ascertained it would be folly to spend money in duplicating buildings and apparatus. If the Naval College should realize the anticipations of its advocates and satisfactorily supply a pressing want, its settlement elsewhere, in a more favorable spot, might eventually be effected.
And here let me say, that a far greater percentage of officers than is suspected have long wished for an authorized post-graduate course of study in the higher branches of their profession. Many, who would not care to undertake the labor of gaining a specialty, would gladly follow two or three branches in the intervals of sea service, either from love of study or professional pride; and not a few would find, in the maturer pursuit of learning, a salve for the bitterly repented neglect of early days. It is, I think, not indiscreet to say that a large number of officers have, at various times, accepted duty at the Naval Academy solely as affording an opportunity to refresh and extend their technical or scientific knowledge. From among these, as well as the more ambitious, the applicants for admission to the Naval College will be drawn. That the Navy may no longer be upbraided for misuse of its unparalled opportunities of exploration and research in distant lands, I urge that the Department, at its discretion, permit a limited number of officers, say ten in all, and under the conditions prescribed for admission to the Naval College, to attend certain of our leading universities for instruction in Natural Science, the diploma or degree received to be indicated in the Navy Register.
Should the suggested simplification of naval organization prove "a barren ideality," the need of a naval college would none the less exist. It is as urgently called for to-day as was the Naval Academy in years gone by. In spite of what may be said to the contrary, the Naval Academy does not fulfill every requirement of schooling. It can not. Its course is a matter of necessity, not of option, and its graduates rejoice, with reason, when it is completed. There must gradually unfold itself in the mind of every young officer a preference for some particular line of duty over the others. This preference can but increase—it is the germ of his greatest usefulness—the expression of his truest force. The navy is suffering, at the present moment, because this bent has been, I had almost said, systematically discouraged. We know, ourselves, the shortcomings of our education and we plead for the chance of bettering it.
The "Applications of Chemistry to Ship board" include among a host of other interesting and weighty matters, with which the materiel is chiefly concerned, the philosophy of protecting sailors against damp and foul air, the detection of these foes to health, the safeguards to adopt in malarial districts etc., in short, the Elements of Nautical Hygiene: also, the testing of water for drinking, the rationale of food preparation and cooking, with practical instruction in the simpler methods available on ship board. The devil certainly sends the navy its cooks. I can only wonder that their long and unchecked career has been attended with such comparatively little mortality, for they make Jack's grub as indigestible as possible. The ration issued is good in quality, liberal in quantity and of sufficient variety. In the hands of only moderately trained persons it might be made to yield excellent results. I certainly think that Jack may, with justice, look to his officers for relief in this respect.
This branch is of great importance from a naval point of view, involving, as it does, the maintenance of a minimum of morbidity and a maximum efficiency of the ship, for a sickly ship is but half a man-of-war. Every lieutenant should undergo instruction in it, at some convenient time before promotion.
In like manner, the course in Law should be followed by every lieutenant commander to prepare him for decision and action in the many cases of international and maritime law which his service will embrace. This chair at the Naval College would demand a lawyer pre-eminently distinguished for his talents and experience. Its emoluments should be commensurate with its dignity and importance. It may be remarked that its holder, through the proximity (in any event) of the College to Washington, would be enabled to retain his practice in the Supreme Court of the United States.
The lieutenants, who have properly qualified at the College, will be sent on board ship to occupy the place held by the Chief Engineers of the present-day, and, in addition to drill, exercise and care for the men in the Engine Division. Should these officers be more numerous than is necessary, (a most desirable state of affairs, as affording an ever ready reserve,) they will, of course perform their regular duty as lieutenants. In neither case do they lose seniority, and they will be subject, at all times, to any duty of which they are capable. It is believed that they will be at least as competent as the engineers now entering the navy. They will, however, be more valuable to the service at large through their wider sphere and capacities, and their ability, at any instant, in time of need, to stand a watch, fight a gun or command an expedition. It is from this class of officers that I propose recruiting the Corps of Naval Constructors.
Our navy is too small to permit mistakes. Our appropriations are so scanty that we cannot afford costly experiments. Every dollar must be made to bring its full value to the country, and the adjustment of energy to result must be free from blunder. Every frame erected, every bolt driven, every plate riveted, every detail of arrangement must follow as a natural sequence from the care and thought expended upon the plans. No excuse can be found for faulty construction of hull or engines, for a misplaced gun-port, lack of suitable ventilating scuttles, poor lines, bad sea-going qualities, indifferent speed. The nation has a right to expect nothing but success where new schemes are not definitely warranted. Yet, I am credibly informed that the Trenton costs as much as the Sultan, that the Tennessee cost more than the Alexandra. It is said that a naval constructor of high standing once needlessly raised the outboard delivery of one of our largest frigates some two feet, to the water line, because "the pumps could not work against the outside pressure." Many of us have experienced the horrible effects of ventilators emptying the foul gases of the bilge into our rooms and under our very noses. Instances of like criminal ignorance of the barest elements of mechanics arise ad nauseam in the mind of every officer who has made even one cruise at sea. When it is remembered that, practically, the only qualifications for this corps, beyond the necessary political influence, are that the age must be between twenty-four and thirty and the applicant a shipwright, the only wonder is that we should have been fortunate enough to secure the honorable few who have been everything good which the corps has contained and who have given us ships of which we may still speak with some degree of pride. But, I submit that these able men should not have been singular; that the money at stake, and the paramount importance of their duty combine to exact, in all, the brightest talent, the deepest study, and the widest experience possible. Instead of being mere shipwrights who have never even necessarily seen blue water, these officers should possess the keenest intellect in the whole navy, should be familiar with ship life and its needs, the behavior of a vessel in a sea-way, under every condition, the strains and stresses to which she is subjected, with the designing, constructing and actual working of spars and sails, engines and boilers, with Naval Architecture and Ship Building in all their phases: in a word, he ought to know everything about a ship both theoretically and practically. Such men are hard to find, naturally; but it is hoped that our Naval College will produce them. The inducement I would hold out to officers to strive for admission to this corps, at once Naval Constructors and Designing Engineers (for it is folly to divide responsibility here) would be the greatest the service affords, high rank, good pay and ordinarily exemption from duty afloat. I am fully persuaded that we should buy their services cheaply at this, or indeed, at almost any price.
Upon reaching the grade of lieutenant-commander, those who had qualified and had served as Engineers would return to the Naval College for the course in Naval Architecture, Ship Building, &c. The instruction in this course should be in the hands of the ablest expert obtainable and no pains or expense should be spared to perfect it. Upon its completion the existing vacancies in the Corps of Naval Constructors would be filled by competitive examination—the successful applicant receiving immediately the rank and pay of Commander. These officers should not be sent into service on board ship, except at their own request or in case of emergency, but they would continue to be naval officers.
I may be allowed to express the belief that their esprit de corps would prove a strong defense against the peculiar temptations to which they would be subjected. Their duty would be the designing and building of ships and engines in all their details, spars, boats, equipments, &c. I venture to predict for them a measure of success beyond our most sanguine expectations.
The foregoing system of naval education, coupled with the changes suggested in the organization of the navy, would result in,
1st. Supplying our men-of-war with but two classes of officers, combatant and medical.
2d. Putting an end to the present needless and costly differentiation of duty.
3d. The developing, by a species of Natural Selection, of trained specialists in every branch.
4th, A Corps of Naval Constructors and Designing Engineers of wide experience and pre-eminent ability.
5th. Incidentally holding out to the ambitious a distinction and a reward for marked professional zeal and attainments.
With an unchanged naval organization, the advantages claimed for this scheme are,
1st. A higher grade of mental capacity on the part of students at the Naval Academy.
2d. The stimulus of a definite position to be secured to the cadet only through attention, study and officer-like qualities.
3d. More frequent leaves with their unquestionable benefits.
4th. Better practical instruction in that prime essential of the service—seamanship.
5th. Sounder training in that other factor, steam engineering.
6th. The postponement of the higher or more abstruse branches to a later date, when their value will be better appreciated.
7th. A grading of the standing of cadets more in harmony with the actualities of the service.
8th. Better fitting of cadets for the performance of their duty on
board ship.
9th. Systematic cultivation of the observation, and careful schooling in the practice of the profession.
10th. A rewarding of the zealous, upon obtaining their commissions for familiarity with the latest advancements in Naval Science and Art.
11th. Official encouragement of the study of Natural Science at some of our Universities, during the intervals of sea service.
12th. An incentive and an opportunity to study, under competent instructors, any specialty of the profession before assuming it definitely as a life's task.
13th. Supplying each of the various departments of the navy with trained men for its technical and scientific work.
II. MEN.
The necessity is urgent that every man on board ship, with few if any exceptions, should possess a knowledge of the rudiments of his general calling; that, first of all, he should be a sailor, able to lend intelligent assistance in time of need in saving a spar or a ship, to handle an oar in a boat lowered to rescue a drowning comrade, to load a rifle rapidly and fire it with accuracy, to serve a gun whose crew is crippled, at a time when one more efficient piece may turn defeat into victory. It is not however meant, that all should be seamen in the full sense of the word; for a true seaman is expected to be able to knot a parted shroud, to pass a weather ear-ring, to mend a sail, patch a boat, handle tools, in short do anything and everything on board ship. But the requirements on the part of the other members of the ship's company are not onerous (any apprentice at the end of his term can fulfill them) nor is their subject any the less capable in his special occupation.
A long continued and unsuccessful attempt to secure the proper elements of a crew in the open market of the world's sailors has shown, conclusively that, to get what the service needs, the service must take American boys at an early age and train them after its own pattern.
The faults which have shipwrecked former apprentice systems are, 1st, an almost inevitable tendency to coddle the boys and thereby practically unfit them for the rude life they have chosen; 2d, an equally almost inevitable tendency to give the boys more book learning than is necessary, and, in general, to substitute theory for practice; 3d, holding out inducements of rank and position which but few could possibly attain; 4th, lack of the constant drilling with spars, sails, &c., for which chiefly, the school ships were instituted; and 5th, a not infrequent buncombe administration where the essentials were sacrificed to display.
The present training system is in wiser hands and promises to avoid the errors of the past. It seems odd, to say the least, that there should be no single head nor indeed any one authorized plan in detail for the governance of all our school ships. What may not be positively harmful, at this writing, might, by a change of officers, result in hopeless confusion. It is suggested that the various branches of this highly important service should be united under one well considered administration. The officer best fitted to direct this administration is too well known to need mention.
The raison d’être of the apprentice ships is the teaching of boys to be man-of-war's men—nothing more and nothing less—they are not schools in English Literature or Universal History, nor, indeed, are they schools at all, strictly speaking, but they are training ships in the fullest sense of the word, to recruit the navy with American lads of good physique and morale, brought up in the ways of the service and accustomed to look to it for a home and an occupation all their lives. From this point of view, whatever tends to raise them above their calling, to make them dissatisfied with it or to impair their usefulness, is bad. The system has but one end—there are and can be no side issues.
The conditions of ship life are so strange to the novice as to demand a fairly large proportion of his training. The habit of cleanliness in dress and person is of first importance. I am told, by those experienced in the matter, that this point gives infinite trouble, necessitating constant vigilance and inspection. The average apprentice appears to be wedded to his pristine dirtiness. The making and mending of his own clothes is a next step. This art is, or should be, acquired before the apprentice is drafted into a seagoing ship. Many boys learn the use of the needle within three or four months so as to supply their bags and keep them in excellent order.
Time is too short to waste in a discussion of the book learning the apprentice ought to receive. Every one is agreed upon the three Rs. My own convictions, however, are strong against any instruction whatever beyond the barest elements. I do not say that the apprentice will not be a better man for the possession of greater knowledge but I do say that the navy will, in nine cases out of ten, lose his services. The life before him is clearly and honestly explained before his enlistment, and all false notions and expectations dispelled from his mind. After this to overeducate him into disgust for its routine and discontentment with its rewards is neither right nor politic. It is sacrificing the interest of the navy to a sentiment; or, what is worse, to a lazy device for keeping the boy out of mischief In any event, we may be sure that this, the least important part of his schooling, will, generally speaking, gain the most attention.
The practical part of his training comprises Routine and Duties, Drills and Exercises, Marlinspike Seamanship, Sail Making, Use of Tools.
Under the first head comes all those means for teaching how things are done on board ship and who does them. The acquisition of this knowledge is mainly a matter of time and experience. It may be hastened by making the youngsters serve by turns in each "part of the ship" and as messengers. Adherence to the usages and traditions of the Navy is evidently of immeasurable importance onboard the school ships. In the matter of routine they cannot afford to be experimental.
The second head deals with the efficiency of the ship as a cruiser. Here I plead for conservatism and the old forms in what pertains to spars and sails, and for greater pains and uniformity in the pulling of boats and their handling under canvas. What is prettier than a seamanlike maneuver in a ship's gig or cutter with a well-trained crew? What is more discouraging to Jack and discreditable to his officers than his having to labor at the oar while a handsome working breeze is blowing profitless? Frequent opportunities should be sought and practice had in landing through surf. Any one who has had to perform this dangerous duty with an ordinary, and therefore unpracticed, crew is in a position to appreciate the value of this suggestion. More knowledge on this score will be gained in one actual experience than in years of theoretical study.
The remaining heads comprise the handicrafts with which every sailor should be somewhat familiar. I would have the apprentices divided into three gangs, to work with the Boatswain, Sail Maker and Carpenter respectively, at least four afternoons every week, for three months at a time in each gang.
The Boatswain's gang would learn Marlinspike Seamanship, including, to a certain extent, the fitting of rigging, both hemp and wire. It is suggested that, when feasible, the light rigging of one ship at a time, or various typical parts of her rigging be always fitted on board the school ships. Work upon this rigging would soon be regarded as an honor if permitted only to the most expert members of the gang.
In like manner, the Sail maker’s gang would learn the use of the palm and needle. Suitable work might be supplied to this gang from the nearest navy yards, in the shape of hammocks, light sails, awnings, etc., already cut.
A similar method with the Carpenter's gang is rendered less practicable by the evident impossibility of providing so many boys with the necessary work and tools. In this case, only a few could be trained at once, but the gang would simply be divided into sections taking turn about.
What is sought is merely that handiness which is generally and rightly assumed to be the sailor's leading characteristic—not the turning out of efficient journeymen. It is believed that better results will be reached by keeping to one trade for some time continuously than by passing constantly from one to the other. Moreover, the interest would not be lost, as the piece of work would be seen to progress from day to day.
When the ship is so placed as to permit, the odd afternoon of the carpenter's gang should be employed in practice in signaling, heaving the lead, and making and repairing flags.
The art of blowing the bugle, or playing on the fife and drum can be so readily imparted to boys that it should be taught at this period. We are all familiar, by experience, with the difficulty of obtaining even indifferent musicians. The few apprentices absolutely incapable of this much music could be profitably employed in other ways, say in learning cobbling.
The singing of the old songs of the navy, now a part of the instruction on board of the Minnesota, bears its own commendation.
In the British Navy, lively youngsters are occasionally given a whistle and detailed as "call boys." This plan for training boatswain mates in one portion of their duty appears worthy of consideration and trial, both on board the school ships and in the service at large.
Play is as essential to a boy's well being as his daily bread, and good results cannot be expected from any system in which it does not find both place and opportunity. While tied up to the dock, in winter, all hands should be turned out to grass (or its substitute,) several times a day, in good weather. All open-air games should be encouraged and the necessary apparatus purchased by the boys and the slush fund jointly, when it is not practicable to make them. In view of the universal rule of human nature, that things lightly gotten gain light esteem, I would help in this matter, but not take the burden entirely from their shoulders. It may be remarked that the manufacture of balls, bats, etc, would furnish a slight but rather interesting quota of work to the gangs already mentioned. In bad weather, many excellent games can be played between decks.
While cruising during the summer, a proper playground should be secured in every port, and the boys sent to it daily if possible. For them, this relaxation would be far preferable to a sailor man's liberty with its suggestion of rum shops and debauch. The usual Saturday and Sunday liberty would, of course, not be abridged.
That every apprentice should know how to swim is self evident, notwithstanding the marvelously large proportion of sailors to whom the art is as a sealed book.
It goes without saying that creditable proficiency in schooling and training, a well stocked kit, freedom from debt, and a good conduct record should be required prior to the drafting of the apprentice into a cruising vessel.
Until the expiration of his term, the apprentice should be regarded by his officers as their especial charge, and his acquirements maintained at the original standard. With the excellent start received on board the school ship, it will be largely their fault if the twig fail to grow into a symmetrical tree, the apprentice to develop into a smart, handy seaman.
The demand for artificers in the navy is large and varied. Each ship must have its carpenters, sail makers, armorers, machinists, etc., to maintain its efficiency as an engine of warfare. Heretofore, we have been compelled to accept a supply of men more or less indifferently competent, and the competency has, not infrequently, been in direct proportion to the mans' bad habits. It is proposed to seek another and a more satisfactory solution of this difficulty by training such of the apprentices as may desire it, in the handicrafts exercised on ship board, utilizing, for this purpose, facilities already at hand. In this manner, we shall secure homogeneous ship's companies of sailors already familiar with man-of-war life and its many phases, and accustomed to look to the navy alone for their reward for long and faithful service.
Indeed, why should we lack good sail makers when every navy yard has its sail loft which, in addition to its regular functions might be so readily made to assume those of a school, to the profit of the navy generally and, possibly, the lessening of the appropriations? Must we continue to pick up the refuse of dismantled merchant steamers, and the weedings of factory employees, while our work shops are closed to youngsters in the navy who would gladly fit themselves, if permitted, as boiler-makers, copper smiths and machinists? The same query might with equal force, be put in the cases of the other trades practiced on board of our vessels. It is hard that the most lucrative and responsible rates should be practically closed to apprentices who, alone, purpose giving their entire lives to the navy.
The following is an outline of the plan suggested.
The written discharge of all apprentices, upon the expiration of their terms, in addition to the conduct showing, should carry, if he deem it warranted by capacity, the recommendation of his Commanding officer that the bearer be allowed to become a Naval Trade Apprentice. [This title is put forward only for lack of one more suitable]. Upon the re-enlistment of the former apprentice on a Continuous Service Certificate, and in such rate as he may be able to hold, he would apply for permission to qualify in some specific trade plied on board ship. The granting of this application, by the proper authority, would be followed by his admittance for instruction to the particular designated shop in some navy yard. His name would be borne on the books of the Receiving Ship where he would live, subject to the same discipline as others in her crew, but, during working hours, he would be in the shop ashore, learning his trade under the officer in charge of that department, and more particularly, under the foreman of the gang.
The number of these trade apprentices in each shop, would be fixed by the Chief of the Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting, and should, of course, bear some definite relation to the number of holders of the corresponding rates in the service. At the outset it might be necessary to have the proportion of totals so high as one third. It is believed that one fifth or one sixth would be ample ordinarily.
It is not wise to disguise the fact that the introduction of this new element on board the Receiving Ship, demanding, for instance an, earlier breakfast than their shipmates, and unable to take a constant share in the care of the ship, will be attended with certain difficulties; but the value of this or some kindred plan is believed to be so great as to make its practical execution a paramount duty. To this end, it is suggested that, when needed, they spend their Saturday forenoons on board in lending a hand in the general cleaning, that this point, as well as the necessity of proper and decent appearance, their amenability to discipline and inspection etc., be clearly set forth and understood in the beginning. The privilege of liberty would naturally depend upon satisfactory performance in the shop as well as good behavior on board the receiving ship.
In practice, the would be carpenter's mate, or carpenter and caulker, might qualify specifically as a shipwright, joiner, block maker, spar maker, caulker, boat-builder etc., and a carpenter's gang on board ship, when large enough, should include one man of each class.
In similar schools, the navy would rear its sail makers, coopers, painters etc., and even its musicians.
No apprentice should be rated seaman who had not qualified as a rigger in some navy-yard loft. For this rate, under the new conditions, I urge more consideration and more pay. Seaman should be a term of honor and a distinction to be accompanied by corresponding emoluments.
The Ordnance Departments of the New York and Washington Navy Yards naturally suggest themselves as proper places for the qualifying of zealous and capable youngsters for the duties of quarter gunner and armorer. Here they would be familiarized with the modes of putting up ammunition, the care, preservation and repair of ordnance and small arms.
The recruiting of the Engine Department, in particular, would be effected in much the same general way. The apprentices desirous of such service would, on re-enlisting on Continuous Service Certificate, be subjected to a special and rigorous examination by the Surgeon, to reject all but those peculiarly adapted in physique for duty in the fire room. They would serve one cruise as coal heavers, being instructed at the same time as firemen by the Engineers of the ship. Their proficiency in this respect would be stated on their Continuous Service Certificate. During the second re-enlistment, they would perform the duty of firemen, thus acquiring practical acquaintance with their calling in its lower developments. Upon the third re-enlistment, the authorized number, selected according to capacity and conduct, would be permitted to enter the dock yard work shops to qualify as 1st, boiler maker or coppersmith, 2d, machinist—one half of the enlistment being passed in each shop. After this they would habitually ship as coppersmiths or boiler makers and be rated higher as occasion demanded. With the proposed system well under way a machinist or engineer's yeoman would only be appointed from the rates of boiler maker or coppersmith.
It is suggested that, at the New York Navy Yard, a school be established under competent experts for ship's cooks and bakers. The former might be taught the various methods of utilizing the navy ration, both of salt and fresh provisions, and the latter how to make sweet, wholesome bread. Admittance to this school should be open to all Continuous Service Certificate men upon the recommendations of their previous commanding officer. It is hard to exaggerate the need of this institution. The daily waste of food effected by the present generation of cooks would almost maintain a second ship's company; and what is saved from the general wreck is often tasteless and valueless. In the last quarter of the nineteenth century it is idle to say that the old methods are alone available.
Such portion of the three year's enlistment as might be found sufficient, would be passed in the work-shop. At the end of this time, the Trade Apprentice should be pronounced qualified or not qualified; the statement, if in the affirmative, to go upon his continuous service certificates over the signature of the officer under whose charge he had been instructed. The remainder of his term should be served out in the home squadron.
Nurses should be trained at the various naval hospitals, and Apothecaries at the Naval Laboratory.
The stamp of proficiency borne on the continuous service certificate is not to be understood as entitling its holder to a rate. The law trusts such matters to the Commander, but his choice might well be guided and confined to the authorized eligible, except in special cases, for good reasons.
The foregoing is suggested merely as an outline. The innovations involved are so great and the ground to pass over so new, that the details can only be dimly foreseen. It is thought that this, or some similar scheme having the same end in view, would yield good fruit. But of one thing we are all certain, that the country can no longer afford adherence to the old disintegrating system which has filled our navy with all sorts and conditions of men, and made an American man-of-war a veritable floating Babel. Our mercantile marine, now, let us hope, at its lowest ebb, with the rising tide just making, can not absorb its proper share of boys. For the moment they naturally look to the Navy for refuge and honorable employment. But even in the present state of affairs, the Navy will never secure their better class and be true to itself until they shall know that, short of a commission, upon themselves alone will depend their final reward in position, honor and emolument.