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general convenience, that a candidate wishing to proceed to sea, and missing the day at his own port, may proceed to any port where an examination is coming forward. The days for commencing the examinations at the various ports are as follow :—

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*Aberdeen...First and third Friday and Saturday in each Month. Additional Examinations when required.

Belfast ...First and third Tuesday in each Month. *Bristol ...First and third Tuesday in each Month Cork ......Second and fourth Monday in each Month. Dublin ... First and third Tuesday in each Month. *Dundee .Saturday in each Week.

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*Glasgow... *Greenock...

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Thursdays and Fridays, held alternately at each place.

*Hull ......Second and fourth Tuesday in each Month. *Leith......Second and fourth Tuesday in each Month.

*Liverpool ..Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday in each Week.

*London ... Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, in Navigation, commencing at 10 a.m.; and the Examinations in Seamanship as soon as the Candidates have finished their Navigation. Applications for Examination must be made on Friday, from 10 till 4, and on Saturday from 10 till 2.

The Examination of Masters and Mates in Steam, will be held on Friday in each Week; and any application can be received before that day.

*Newcastle ..First day in each Month not being Sunday. *Plymouth ..First and third Wednesday in each Month. *Shields.....Eleventh and Twenty-sixth of each Month not being Sunday, from October to May; Eleventh only in June, July, August and September.

* At these places Extra Examinations are held.

*Sunderland...Sixth and Twenty-first day of each Month, not

being Sunday, from October to May; in June,

July, August and September, on the Twentyfirst day only.

5. Applicants for examination must give their names to the Shipping Master, or to the Local Marine Board at the place where they intend to be examined, on or before the day of examination, and must conform to any regulations in this respect which may be laid down by the Local Marine Board; and if this be not done, delay may be occasioned.

6. [s. 134.] Testimonials of character, and of sobriety, experience, ability, and good conduct on board ship, will be required of all applicants, and without producing them no person will be examined. As such testimonials may have to be forwarded to the office of the Registrar-General of Seamen in London for verification, before any certificates can be granted, it is desirable that candidates should lodge them as early as possible. Upon application to the Shipping Master, candidates will be supplied with a form, which they will be required to fill up and lodge with their testimonials in the hands of the Examiners.

7. The examinations will commence early in the forenoon on the days before mentioned, and be continued from day to day until all the candidates whose names appear upon the Shipping Master's list on the day of examination are examined.

8. [s. 131.] The qualifications required for the several ranks under mentioned, are as follow;

Qualifications for Certificates of Competency for a Foreigngoing Ship.

(a.) A SECOND MATE must be seventeen years of age, and must have been four years at sea.

In Navigation.-He must write a legible hand, and understand the four first rules of arithmetic, and the use of logarithms. He must be able to correct the courses steered for variation and

leeway, and find the difference of latitude and longitude therefrom; be able to correct the sun's declination for longitude, and find his latitude by meridian altitude of the sun; and work such other easy problems of a like nature as may be put to him. He must understand the use of the sextant, and be able to observe with it, and read off the arc.

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In Seamanship. He must give satisfactory answers as to the rigging and unrigging of ships, stowing of holds, &c.: must understand the measurement of the log line, glass, and leadline; be conversant with the rule of the road, as regards both steamers and sailing vessels, and the lights carried by them.

(b.) An ONLY MATE must be nineteen years of age, and have been five years at sea.*

In Navigation. In addition to the qualifications required for a Second Mate, an only Mate must be able to work a day's work complete, including the bearing and distance of the port he is bound to, by Mercator's method. He must be able to observe, and calculate the amplitude of the sun, and deduce the variation of the compass therefrom. He must also be able to find the longitude by chronometer by the usual methods, from an observation of the sun. He must know how to lay off the place of the ship on the chart, both by bearings of known objects, and by latitude and longitude. He must be able to use a sextant and determine its error, and adjust it, and find the time of high water from the known time at full and change.

In Seamanship. In addition to what is required by a Second Mate, he must know how to moor and unmoor, and to keep a clear anchor; to carry out an anchor; to stow a hold; and to make the requisite entries in the ship's log.

(c.) A FIRST MATE must be nineteen years of age, and have served five years at sea, of which one year must have been as either Second or Only Mate, or as both.*

In Navigation.-In addition to the qualifications required

* See Page 11.

for an Only Mate, he must be able to observe azimuths and compute the variation; to compare chronometers and keep their rates, and find the longitude by them from an observation of the sun; to find the latitude by single altitude of the sun, off the meridian; and be able to use and adjust the sextant by the sun.

In Seamanship.-In addition to the qualifications required for an Only Mate, a more extensive knowledge of seamanship will be required, as to shifting large spars and sails, managing a ship in stormy weather, taking in and making sail, shifting yards and masts, &c., and getting cargo in and out; and especially heavy spars and weights, anchors, &c.; casting ship on a lee shore and securing the mast in the event of accident to the bowsprit.

(d.) A MASTER must be twenty-one years of age, and have been six years at sea, of which one year must have been as First or Only Mate, and one year as Second Mate, or two years as First and Only Mate.

In addition to the qualifications for a First Mate, he must be able to find the latitude by a star, &c. He will be asked questions as to the nature of the attraction of the ship's iron upon the compass, and as to the method of determining it. He will be examined in so much of the law of the tides as is necessary to enable him to shape a course and to compare his soundings with the depth marked on the chart. He must possess a sufficient knowledge of what he is required to do by law, as to entry and discharge, and the management of his crew, as to penalties and entries to be made in the official log. He will be questioned as to his knowledge of invoices, charterparty, Lloyd's agent, and as to the nature of bottomry, and he must be acquainted with the leading lights of the channel he has been accustomed to navigate, or which he is going to use.†

Service in a superior capacity is in all cases to be equivalent to service in an inferior capacity.

† See Page 11.

In cases where an applicant for a certificate as master ordinary has only served in a fore and aft rigged vessel, and is ignorant of the management of a square rigged vessel, he may obtain a certificate on which the words "fore and aft rigged vessel," will be written. This is not however, to apply to mates, who being younger men, are expected for the future to learn their business completely.

(e.) An EXTRA MASTER'S EXAMINATION is intended for such persons as wish to prove their superior qualifications. Before being examined for an Extra Master's Certificate, an applicant must have served one year either as a Master with an ordinary Certificate of Competency, or as a Master having a First Class Certificate, granted by one of the former Boards of Examiners.

In Navigation.—As the vessels which such Masters will command frequently make long voyages, to the East Indies, Pacific, &c. the candidate will be required to work a lunar observation by both sun and star, to determine the latitude by the moon and star, by Polar star off the meridian, and also by double altitude of the sun, and to verify the result by Sumner's method. He must be able to calculate the altitudes of the sun, moon or star when they cannot be observed, for the purpose of lunars, to find the error of a watch by the method of equal altitudes, and to correct the altitudes observed with an artificial horizon.

He must understand how to observe and apply the deviation of the compass, and to deduce the set and rate of the current from the D. R. and observation. He will be required to explain the nature of great circle sailing, and know how to apply practically that knowledge; but he will not be required to go into the calculations. He must be acquainted with the law of storms, so far as to know how he may probably best escape those tempests common to the East and West Indies, and known as hurricanes or circular storms.

In Seamanship.-The extra examination will consist of an

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