tion of two distinct and important establishments, the Royal Naval Col. lege, and the gunnery-ship Excellent. Each of these institutions has many peculiar features, and each has a variety of objects aside from the training and examination of line or executive officers. It will, therefore, be well to leave at this point the consecutive description of a line officer's education, which has been followed hitherto, and describe the general plan and organization of the Greenwich College and of the Excellent, taking up in connection with each the course and examination of sub-lieutenants in general subjects and in gunnery.

CHAPTER VII.

THE ROYAL NAVAL COLLEGE AT GREENWICH.

The Royal Naval College was opened in February, 1873, and at the same time the college at Portsmouth was discontinued. The change, however, was more than a removal from one place to another; it was almost the foundation of a new institution. Its aim, as put forth in the circular of January 30, 1873, announcing the opening, was to provide for the education of naval officers of all ranks above that of midshipman in all branches of theoretical and scientific study bearing on their profession. With this view courses were established in great variety for several different branches of the service. The plan was conceived in the most liberal spirit, with an entire absence of the professional narrowness which is apt to characterize such an institution. It was distinctly stated that great advantages were expected to accrue from the connection established through the college between naval officers and distinguished students of the various branches of science. Still further; the college was not only to afford higher instruction, but was to become a nucleus of mathematical and mechanical science, especially devoted to those branches of scientific investigation which have most interest for the Navy; and all this was to be accomplished without interfering in any way with the practical training of officers in the active duties of their profession.

The college has been fortunate from the beginning in its officers. The successive presidents, Sir Astley Cooper Key, Admiral Fanshawe, and Sir Charles Shadwell are among the most eminent of the flag officers of the English Navy: a body of men distinguished throughout the world. for breadth of view, for maturity of judgment, and for mental vigor. The Director of Studies, Dr. Hirst, who carries on his shoulders the academic burdens of the college, is one of those rare instances of the harmonious union of a profound student and an efficient organizer, and has thus been enabled to fill, with extraordinary success, the difficult duties of his position. The professors, chiefly Cambridge men of high university standing, are eminently fitted to carry out the purposes of the college, and the professional department is supplied by able constructors and engineers, whom the Admiralty has always at command in sufficient numbers.

The seat of the college is the ancient and magnificent group of buildings formerly devoted to Greenwich Hospital. The buildings, four in number, are of Portland stone, and stand on a high terrace close to the southern bank of the Thames, forming three sides of a large quadrangle open to the river. With the exception of the northwestern hall, which was built by Charles II as a royal residence, they date from the reign. of William III, who founded Greenwich Hospital as an asylum for penS. Ex. 51-4

sioned seamen. For the next hundred and fifty years the establishment was kept up, having all the time from one to three thousand disabled pensioners within its walls.

At length, in 1865, it was found that the class whom it was intended to benefit would prefer to commute their allowances, and to live at their own homes, and an act of Parliament was passed giving them that option. The great majority of the pensioners accordingly left the hospital, and four years later it was closed as an asylum.

When the commission of 1870, on the higher education of officers, was engaged in its investigations, its attention was called to the vacant buildings of Greenwich Hospital as a possible substitute for the insufficient building at Portsmouth. The question as to the relative advantages of the two places was submitted to a large number of naval officers, and the answers of more than three-fourths, including some of the ablest of the older officers, were decidedly in favor of Portsmouth. It is curious that the reason generally given for this view was the fact that Portsmouth was a dockyard, and that, as one of the answers puts it baldly, "for self-evident reasons, the proper place for a naval college is a naval arsenal"; while in the United States it was satisfactorily shown forty years ago that a naval college could hardly reach its highest development as an adjunct of a navy-yard. The committee were equally divided; the civil members urging the claims of Greenwich as steadfastly as the officers did those of Portsmouth. The chief objection to Portsmouth, acknowledged by everybody, was the inadequate accom modation afforded by the ill-arranged and dilapidated building. It was necessary either to move or rebuild. The college also needed reorganization badly, but, if Portsmouth was really the right place for it, it could of course be reorganized as well there as elsewhere. It is difficult to see exactly the force of the arguments advanced by the advocates of Portsmouth. The reorganized college was to be mainly devoted to scientific and mathematical training, for which the dockyard could offer no facilities, and for which it seemed a positive disadvantage. It would be impossible to obtain the best men, as instructors, at Portsmouth; whereas a college at Greenwich, by its nearness to London, its independent organization, and its freedom from the trammels of professional conservatism and professional exclusiveness, could offer fair inducements to the highest order of scientific talent. For the students themselves, instead of the incessant din and turmoil of a great depot of naval equip ment and repair, there was the quiet seclusion of the old hospital, with the best libraries, museums, and lectures, within easy distance; instead of the unvaried association with officers engaged in the busy details of daily work, there was a possibility of obtaining breadth of view and freshness of thought by contact with the most vigorous thinkers, in other but still kindred lines of study. The only branches of study in which the dockyards would give advantages were engineering and ship construction; but it is doubtful whether any of the college students except engineers

and constructors were inclined to profit by them, and these would be given ample dockyard experience wherever the college might be placed. In spite of the generally expressed opinion of the older officers, the Admiralty decided to move the college to Greenwich. Perhaps sentimental considerations had an influence with some of the advocates of the change; and, now that the change is made, the force of such co siderations is still more apparent. Apart from the fact that only slight alterations were needed to convert the deserted hospital into a wellappointed professional college, there were professional associations about it which seemed to fit it peculiarly for a training place of naval officers—the painted hall, with its noble gallery of naval pictures, the relics of Nelson, and the naval monuments and trophies. At all events, whatever may have been the reasons, the change was made, and the 1st of February, 1873, saw the opening of the new Naval College.

The changes in the buildings as they stood that have been found necessary are not very considerable, and relate only to interior arrangements. The northwestern, or King Charles's, building is the most important part of the establishment, containing the offices of the President and the Director of Studies, and the studies-i. e. class-rooms-of the main body of students. The opposite building on the river front, known as Queen Anne's building, is fitted up as a naval museum, and contains besides the relics a full collection of models of great historical as well as professional interest. The South Kensington collection of models has been placed here, comprising a series of ships of the line from the Great Harry, of Henry VII's time, to the armor-plated ship of the present day. In the east wing are models of docks and dockyard works, of spars and boats, and of engines. There are also collections illustrating the equipment of ships and the various kinds of projectiles. Probably these collections will be much improved by additions made from time to time, which can readily be supplied by the dockyards.

The southeast building, known as Queen Mary's, and containing the chapel, is used by the engineer officers and students, and by the construction students, and is arranged in dormitories and a mess-hall for these classes of officers, who have a separate mess.

In the southwest building-King William's-is the painted hall, and, in the room beneath, the spacious officers' mess, with smoking and bilhard rooms. The lecture-rooms, laboratories, studies, and sleepingrooms are in these two western buildings-King William's and King Charles's. The laboratories are especially well-appointed, having been furnished with everything required for the advanced study of physics and chemistry, with the greatest care and at very considerable expense. There is also an observatory, where the use of fixed instruments is tanght, which formerly belonged to Greenwich Hospital School, and which has recently been refitted and attached to the college. Instruction in the use of fixed instruments is to be given in the course in nauti

cal astronomy. For marine surveying, the Arrow, a double-screw iron gunboat, is attached to the college.

The staff of the college consists of a flag officer as president, assisted by a captain in matters of discipline and in the internal arrangements of the college unconnected with study. The whole system of instruction is, under the president, organized and superintended by the director of studies. The latter is not a naval officer, and has nothing to do with discipline, nor does he give instruction personally. Besides the president, the captain, and the director of studies, the staff consists of the following:

Two professors of mathematics; one for engineers and constructors, one for voluntary students and gunnery students.

Professor of applied mechanics.

Professor of physics.

Professor of chemistry.

Professor of fortification (captain in the Royal Marine Artillery).

Assistant professor of fortification (lieutenant in the Royal Marine Artillery).

Mathematical and naval instructor, and lecturer in meteorology and naval history (naval instructor).

Four instructors in navigation (naval instructors).

Three instructors in mathematics.

Two instructors in French.

Instructor in German.

Instructor in Spanish.

Instructor in nautical surveying (staff commander).

Instructor in steam (engineer officer).

Instructor in applied mechanics (engineer officer).

Assistant professor of physics (engineer officer).

Demonstrator in physics.

Demonstrator in chemistry.

Instructor in naval architecture.

Assistant instructor in naval architecture.

Instructor in marine engineering.

Instructor in marine engine drawing.

Instructor in freehand drawing.

Naval instructor for examining duties.

This gives a total of 34 officers of instruction and government. There are also two officers in the gunboat Arrow, a medical officer, a storekeeper, and five clerks; in all 43 persons. In addition to the above, lecturers to the number of perhaps half a dozen are appointed from year to year.

The courses of study proposed at the beginning, which have mostly been carried out, are as follows:

1. Pure mathematics, including co-ordinate and higher pure geometry, differential and integral calculus, finite differences, and the calculus of variations.

2. Applied mathematics, including kinematics, mechanics, optics, and the theories of sound, light, heat, electricity, and magnetism.

3. Applied mechanics, including the theory of structures, the principles of mechanism, and the theory of machines.

4. Nautical astronomy, surveying, hydrography, meteorology, and chart drawing.