4. Examiners and professors of hydrography. Examiners, with relative rank of captain Professors, first class, with relative rank of commander The professors of this corps are employed in the schools of hydrography, of which the examiners have the general direction, in matters relating to instruction. The latter have also charge of the examination of persons in the merchant service who are seeking a license as sea-captain (capitaine au long cours) or master of coasting vessel (maître au cabotage). Professors of the third class are appointed by the President, after a competitive examination, from naval officers and sea-captains who apply, who are at least thirty years of age, and have seen two years' sea service. Promotions in the corps are made by the Minister of Marine, on recommendation of the hydrographic examiners. The examiners themselves are promoted by selection from professors of the first class. 5. Professors at the Naval School. Professors of the first class Professors of the second class Professors of the third class.. Professors of the fourth class 622 2 Professors at the Naval School are selected by the Minister from university graduates, and they have the same relative rank as professors of hydrography. 6. Pay corps (officiers du commissariat). The administrative duties of this corps are of an exceedingly complex and extensive character, embracing not only matters relating to pay, provisions, clothing, purchases, and stores, but also to equipment, recruiting (inscription maritime), administration of hospitals and prisons, wrecks, sale of prizes, and other miscellaneous subjects. The corps is composed of the following officers: Commissaries-general, taking rank after rear-admirals.. Commissaries, with captains Commissaries' adjoints, with captain of corvette Sub-commissaries, with lieutenants Assistant commissaries (aides commissaires), with ensigns.. 9 26 50 180 150 30 Commissary pupils are appointed by the Minister of Marine. Candidates must have taken the degree of licentiate in law, or that of bachelier-ès-lettres. In the latter case, they must pass a competitive examination. Those who receive appointments are sent to one of the naval ports to pursue a course in naval administration under the direction of a superior officer of the corps. The extreme thoroughness of these courses may be seen in the able lectures of M. Fournier, on the laws of maritime police, delivered at the commissary school at Brest, and re cently published. They are characterized, in the highest degree, by that systematic arrangement and lucidity of exposition which distinguish French administrative papers. The courses are two years for licentiates and three years for the others. At their close, the commissary pupils pass an examination for promotion. Eight vacancies for the grade of aide commissaire are reserved annually: two for ensigns, selected by the Minister, on their own application; two for graduates of the Polytechnic School; and four for commissary's clerks, between twenty-five and thirty-five years of age, bachelors of arts or of science, who pass successfully a competitive examination. 7. Commissariat clerks (commis du commissariat). These are recruited from warrant and petty officers, seamen, and marines, and from non-commissioned officers of the Army who have completed their term of service. 8. Civil engineers of the Ministry of Public Works (ingénieurs des ponts et chaussées). The Ministry of Marine obtains from the Ministry of Public Works a number of engineers to take charge of hydraulic works in the forts, and to superintend the construction and repair of public buildings belonging to naval arsenals and dockyards. They continue to form part of the corps of engineers of roads and bridges, but they are under the authority of the Navy Department, and they have relative rank with naval constructing engineers. 9. Inspectors of administrative service. This corps is composed of thirty officers of high relative rank, the highest taking rank between rear-admirals and captains, and the lowest with lieutenant-commanders. Their duties consist in the supervision of the administration service at the principal naval stations. They are selected by competition among lieutenants, captains of Marine Artillery, assistant constructing engineers, and assistant commissaries. 10. Accounting officers and storekeepers (agents comptables des matières). 11. Victualing clerks (commis aux vivres). 12. Keepers of ships' stores (magasiniers entretenus de la flotte). 13. Overseers of public works (personnel administratif des directions des travaux). 14. Overseers of subsistence (service des manutentions). 15. Overseers of hydraulic works (conducteurs des travaux hydrauliques). 16. Chaplains. 17. Hospital attendants. IV. MARINE AND COLONIAL TROOPS. 1. Dockyard gendarmerie. 2. Colonial gendarmerie. 3. Marine Artillery (Artillerie de la Marine et des Colonies). S. Ex. 51-7 To this corps belong the very important duties of the supervision of the manufacture of naval ordnance, the armanent and defense of seacoast fortifications, the direction of ordnance work in the dockyards, and the colonial artillery service. 4. Marine Infantry. 5. Naval armorers. 6. Senegal sharpshooters. 7. Senegal Spahis. 8. Corps of Cipahis. 9. Corps of discipline (penal corps). 10. Corps of discipline (colonial penal corps). 11. Wardens of colonial prisons. 12. Colonial militia.* V.—WARRANT OFFICERS, PETTY OFFICERS, AND SEAMEN. MASTERS.—The word master (maître) is a generic term, used to designate those persons of different grades who exercise direct authority, under the commissioned officers, over the crew at sea, and over workmen at shore stations. At sea, masters form a military corps called the maistrance de la flotte. In the dockyards and at shore stations, masters are charged with the direct supervision of public work of all kinds. The latter are quite distinct from the sea-going masters, and are known collectively as the maistrance des arsenaux. The maistrance des arsenaux is composed of 262 persons, of the following grades: 1. Principal masters (maîtres principaux), first and second classes. 2. Maîtres entretenus, first, second, and third classes. The lowest grade is recruited from the contre-maîtres and from the sea-going masters. Below the masters come the men employed in the dock-yard works, composing a body of artificers (ouvriers).. These are also arranged in grades, and measures are taken to keep them permanently in the service. The grades are Chief contre-maîtres. Contre-maîtres. Chief artificers. Artificers. Apprentices. Chief day-laborers. Day-laborers, of four classes. Promotion takes place in these grades, at least from that of apprentices, who may be appointed between fourteen and seventeen years of age. At seventeen or eighteen they may pass for artificers upon giving * Fuller information in regard to the corps of officers in the French Navy may be obtained from a series of articles entitled "La Marine Militaire de la France," by M. J. Delarbre, auditor-general of the French Navy, in the Revue Maritime et Coloniale, vol. 52. proof of sufficient aptitude. Pay is partly fixed for each grade, and partly graduated according to the merits of the workmen. At fifty years of age, and after twenty-five years of service, artificers are entitled to a pension. The maistrance de la flotte, or sea-going masters, (also known as officiers mariniers) is composed of three grades, viz: First masters. Second masters. These are the warrant-officers of the Navy. They are divided into eight classes, according to the special branch of a seaman's occupation that they profess. The three grades run through all these classes. The classes or specialties are as follows: Seamanship (manœuvre). Gunnery. Small-arms. Helmsmen. Machinists. Carpenters. Sailmakers. Calkers. Below the three grades mentioned, which form the maistrance,* come the persons composing the crews of ships, known under the general name of équipages de la flotte. They are graded as follows: Quartermasters (of the various specialties). These are the pettyofficers. Seamen, first, second, and third classes. Seamen apprentices. Novices. Boys (mousses). To these should be added, to complete the list, the special ratings of topmen (gabiers) and small-arm men (marins fusiliers). It will be noticed that one of the eight specialties named above is that of machinists, whose principal duty, as might be supposed from the name, is that of directing the engines at sea. This branch includes, like the others, the grades of first master, master, second master, and quartermaster. Ranking with the quartermaster machinist are the machinist pupils (élèves mécaniciens), chosen from the lower grades of their corps, from graduates of technical schools (écoles d'arts et métiers), and also from artisans (smiths, boilermakers, &c.) in civil life. Below them are firemen (ouvriers chauffeurs) of three classes corresponding to the three classes of seamen. All the above belong to the équipages de la flotte, the class including all sea-going persons in the Navy who do not hold a commission. *The maistrance also includes sergeant-majors, quartermaster-sergeants, and cap. tains and sergeants of arms. The corps of commissioned officers in charge of fleet engine service has been already alluded to. To distinguish them from the warrantofficers of the same branch they are designated in this report as mechanicians, while the others are spoken of as machinists, although the same word mécanicien is used in the French Navy to apply to both classes. They must, however, be considered in connection, as the mechanicians are appointed directly from the highest grade of machinists. The whole number of grades of commissioned officers, warrant officers, petty officers, and men, attached to this branch of the naval service, is as follows: Commissioned officers: Mechanicians in chief. Principal mechanicians, first class. Principal mechanicians, second class. Warrant-officers (officiers mariniers, maistrance): First master machinists. Master machinists. Second master machinists. Petty-officers and men: Quartermaster-machinists. Firemen artificers (ouvriers chauffeurs), first, second, and third class. Firemen (chauffeurs) and agents inférieurs, assimilated to the third or lowest class of ordinary seamen. |