APPENDIX E. III. Report Inspector on Schools. VI. No boy to be admitted free to either school; some one of the following rates payable in advance being required of all-day school, 7s. 6d., 5s., or 2s. 6d. per quarter; evening school, 5s., 38., or 2s. per quarter. The Head Master to receive three, and the Assistant Master two, fifths of the fees in each school. VII. The Head Master to receive a salary for both day and evening Nautical Schools of £100 a-year, together with threefifths of the pupils' fees; the Assistant Master to receive £60 a-year for both schools, with two-fifths of the pupils' fees. Should a day school only be kept, the Head Master to be paid £80, and the Assistant £45 a-year, with fees divided as before. The lowest Master, or that of the fifteenth rank, in Greenwich, has a salary of £140 a-year; the Master who teaches reading only has a salary commencing at £125 and rising to £200 a-year. VIII. Seven Nautical Schools of second class to be opened as soon as possible in the following places : 1. Waterford, at the District Model School about to be erected there. It ranks fourth among the Irish ports in the aggregate tonnage of sailing and steam vessels registered in the year 1850 ; and the Chamber of Commerce, the corporation and citizens generally, have specially solicited a nautical department for the intended Model School. 2. Limerick ranks next after Waterford in the aggregate 3. Wexford is the sixth port in aggregate tonnage, and 5. At Newry District Model School a room for instruction 6. Londonderry as in Wexford. 7. Sligo as Wexford.* See Appendix (F) containing classification of Irish ports; also statistics of Irish shipping for 1850, and past years. IX. Seven Nautical Schools of third class to be estab- APPENDIX E. lished at the following ports :— III. Report 1. New Ross, as a supplemental branch on an existing of Head National School. 2. Dundalk, as New Ross. 3. Tralee, as New Ross. Inspector on 4. Strangford, as New Ross. 5. Skibbereen, as New Ross. 6. Coleraine, in District Model School. 7. Westport, as New Ross. X. The number of pupils in the Nautical Schools of second class to range from twenty to thirty, and taught by a single Master; in schools of the third class, the Master of the ordinary National School to have charge of the Navigation Class also, but should the number of pupils in the entire school exceed fifty, and 15 of whom are qualified in the entrance course for the preparatory class in navigation, salary to be granted for an Assistant Teacher in the ordinary National School. The Nautical Master to receive £50 a year in a school of second class, together with the entire of the fees at the same scale as before mentioned; and should there be an average of fifteen pupils qualified as already stated, and desirous for instruction in the evening, a grant of £15 to be made to the Master for the evening school, which, together with the fees, would form his remuneration. In schools of the third class the Master to receive an addition of £10 to his ordinary salary, if his competency to instruct in an elementary course of navigation is certified, and if a class of at least five pupils are usually under instruction. XI. In addition to a suitable number of desks, the three classes of schools would require one, two, or three tables, upon which to draw, and one, two, or three good black boards in addition to a few drawing boards for each school. The following instruments, apparatus, and books, would be required. in the school : First Class School.-Two sextants, two artificial horizons, VOL. I. 3 G APPENDIX E. III. Report Inspector on works of scientific character for advanced boys, or for reference by the Teacher. It would also be desirable to have simple apparatus illustrating an elementary course of mechanics and natural philosophy, a tank to exhibit the principles of flotation, a good sized model ship for the school-room, a set of diagrams to exhibit the leading principles of naval architecture, and simple apparatus to illustrate the laws of magnetism and the influence of iron on the needle. Second Class School. Considering the smaller number of pupils, perhaps the second sextant and the chronometer, as also some of the apparatus, might be dispensed with, and of course the supply of drawing instruments and books diminished in proportion. Third Class School. To these it would suffice to supply globes, a set of drawing instruments, and a few treatises on navigation. If the number of pupils was considerable, the supply for a second class school might be added. I estimate the cost of the outfit of a first class school at £120, of a second at £60, and of a third at £20 ; and it is to be recollected that the subsequent expense would be comparatively trifling, and almost confined to the grants of salary to the Teachers. I beg leave to recommend that steps be at once taken to open as many of these schools of all classes as can conveniently be done, beginning with those of the first class. The chief difficulty, and that which deserves first consideration, is procuring a few thoroughly qualified Teachers; and through these preparing a number of the most suitable of our own Teachers for the charge of the Nautical Schools. This is a step which should be now taken, if it is meant to open any of the Nautical Schools within the next year. I beg to suggest that a communicatino be entered into with Rev. Mr. Fisher, the Chaplain of the Greenwich Royal Hospital Schools, for the services of two of the senior Pupil-Teachers of that establishment, whom he may deem best fitted for the situation of naval instructors; and should their services be obtained, that a Committee of the Board's Officers be appointed to make final arrangements for forming a Nautical Class of Teachers, and according as they are qualified, open the schools in the several sea-ports. When it is considered that the Masters of the Greenwich Nautical School have salaries varying from £160 to £430 a year, (see Appendix B), together with apartments, it is quite manifest that the salaries must be somewhat in accordance with this scale, which will induce persons of ability and qualification to enter a similar service under the Com- APPENDIX E. missioners. Maritime III. Report In the year 1850, there were registered in Irish Ports, of Head 2,249 vessels, including 114 steamers, with an aggregate Inspector on tonnage of 261,432 tons, and manned by 14,103 men, or Schools. about one-fourteenth of the registered Mercantile Navy of Great Britain and Ireland; and in this fleet the portion of Irish hands employed is immeasurably below what it would be had any attention been heretofore bestowed on nautical instruction. The operation of the Mercantile Marine Act of 1850, which dispensed with the former obligation of vessels to retain a certain proportion of apprentices, renders the prospect of employment of our humble seafaring population still more cheerless, as the sons of fishermen and others in the lower grades of maritime life, whose mechanical skill in ship-craft made them heretofore sought after by captains of vessels, and secured them apprenticeship, can now get a place only on condition of paying a fee of from £20 to £30, and this demand is equivalent to total exclusion from employment in the merchant service. The only persons likely to get into the navy are the Workhouse boys, as in the last session of Parliament an Act was passed extending certain provisions. of the General Merchant Seaman's Act, to enable the Guardians of the Poor in Ireland to place out some of the boys as apprentices in the naval service; from their low bodily, and still lower intellectual condition, they will, I fear, form a sad specimen of the aptitude of the Irish character for seafaring pursuits. The evils here set forth are felt by every person who has given the slightest attention to the subject, and all are unanimous in the common-sense remedy-educate the sailor, and fitting him in head and hands for his profession, you not only secure him employment and probable promotion, but you elevate him as a moral being and as a citizen. A vast amount of our property, the lives of hundreds of thousands, and the defence of our liberties are intrusted to them, and it is a sad reflection that far the largest portion of the wrecks are attributable solely to ignorance. I remain, Gentlemen, your very obedient Servant, To the Secretaries, J. W. KAVANAGH, Head Inspector, National Schools. Education Office, Dulbin. APPENDIX E. III. Report Inspector on APPENDIX A. ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS for the NAUTICAL and UPPER 1. The only Geometry in the Schools to be that of Euclid, except as it regards the Doctrine of Ratios. 2. The only Treatise on Trigonometry used to be that of Professor Hall, published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. 3. The time spent in the Upper School having been increased by a year, the following subjects are to be gone through there: viz.-The Problems of Euclid in Mr. Fisher's selection; Mr. Fisher's Algebra; the three first chapters of Hall's Trigonometry. 4. All Astronomical Elements, such as Declinations, &c., which are used in the course of instruction given in the Schools, and are contained in the Nautical Almanac, are to be taken from that book, and on no account from a Book of Navigation, as the latter mode is not only more troublesome and inaccurate, but inconsistent with sound instruction. 5. The use of Special Tables in the computation of Nautical Problems, is to be avoided, and no other Tables (when possible) to be used but those in general use. The Tables are to be as few and simple as can be consistent with accuracy; and no Table to be used whenever a formula and simple calculation can be conveniently substituted for it,-as Parallax in Zenith Distance, &c. &c. 6. Of the methods taught the Boys for "clearing the observed distance of the Moon from the Sun, Stars, or Planets," &c., one method is to be that of Borda, requiring the use of Logarithmic Sines, Cosines, &c. only. 7. A sufficient number of Nautical Almanacs to be provided, not only for the purpose of instruction, but also for the Annual and Quarterly Examinations. A certain number of these Almanacs to be retained and placed on shelves in the Schools, for the purpose of computing Observations actually and recently made by Naval Officers. A collection of such Observations to be formed for that purpose. S. For the purpose of Examinations, a sufficient number of books are to be provided, to contain only the necessary Tables, and separate from any general Treatise on Navigation. 9. No Boy is to leave the Nautical School without having attained quickness and accuracy in taking bearings of objects with the common steering Compass and Azimuth Compass; and also in protracting upon a chart the position of a ship therefrom, so that such may be made immediately available when |