*Aberdeen ....On the first and third Friday and Saturday in each month; and additional Examinations when circumstances require. First and third Tuesday in each month. .Second and fourth Monday in each month. Belfast *Bristol ... First and third Tuesday in each month. Cork Dublin *Dundee *Glasgow *Greenock. *Hull *Leith Saturday in each week. Thursday and Friday in each week, held alternately at each place. .Second and fourth Tuesday in each month. .Second and fourth Tuesday in each month. *Liverpool .... Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday in each week. Examinations in Navigation commence every Monday *London at 10 A.M., and the Examinations in Seamanship as soon after as the Candidates may have finished their Navigation. All applications for Examination must be made on Friday from 10 till 4, and on Saturday from 10 till 2. The Examination of Master or Mate 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 day only in June, July, August, and September. *Sunderland ..Sixth and twenty-first of each month not being Sunday, from October to May. In June, July, August, and September, on the twenty-first day only. GENERAL RULES AS TO THE EXAMINATIONS. Applicants for Examination must give their names to the Shipping Master, or to the Local Marine Board at the place where they intend to * At these places Extra Examinations are held. 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. Testimonials as to Character, 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. Testimonials of servitude on board Foreign Vessels, before being received by the Examiners, are to be confirmed either by the endorsement of the Consul of the Country to which the Ship belongs, or by some other recognized Official Authority of that Country, or by the Testimony of some credible person on the spot having personal knowledge of the facts required to be established. 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. The examinations will commence early in the forenoon on the days specified for each place, and will 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. The Candidates will be allowed to work out the various problems in Navigation according to the Method and the Tables they have been accustomed to use, and will be allowed five hours to perform the work, at the expiration of which, if they have not finished, they will be declared to have failed, unless the Local Marine Board see fit to extend the time. FEES TO BE PAID BY APPLICANTS FOR EXAMINATION. The Fee for Examination must be paid to the Shipping Master. If a Candidate fail in his examination, half the fee he has paid will be returned to him by the Shipping Master, on his producing a document which will be given him by the Examiner. The fees are as follow: Any one who has been one year in possession of a Master's Firstclass Certificate, granted by one of the former Boards of Examiners, or of an Ordinary Master's Certificate of Competency, granted under the present Examiners, may pass an Extra Examination, and receive an Extra Certificate in exchange for his former one, without payment of any fee; but if he fails in his first Examination, he must pay half a Master's fee on his coming a second time; and the same sum for every subsequent attempt. If an applicant passes, he will receive a document from the Examiner, which will entitle him to receive his Certificate of Competency from the Shipping Master at the port to which he has directed it to be forwarded. If his testimonials have been sent to the Registrar to be verified, they will be returned with his Certificate. If an applicant is Examined for a higher rank, and fails, but passes an Examination of a lower grade, he may receive a Certificate accordingly; but no part of the fee will be returned. In all cases of complete failure, the Candidate must be Examined de novo; and in case of failure in Seamanship, a Candidate will not be reexamined until after a lapse of six months, to give him time to gain experience. As the Examinations of Masters and Mates are made compulsory, the qualifications have been kept as low as possible; but it must be distinctly understood, that it is the intention of the Board of Trade to raise the standard from time to time, whenever, as will no doubt be the case, the general attainments of Officers in the Merchant Service shall render it possible to do so without inconvenience; and Officers are strongly urged to employ their leisure hours, when in port, in the acquirement of the knowledge necessary to enable them to pass their Examinations; and Masters will do well to permit Apprentices and junior Officers to attend Schools of Instruction, and to afford them as much time for this purpose as possible. QUALIFICATIONS FOR CERTIFICATES OF COMPETENCY FOR A FOREIGN-GOING SHIP. 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 first four rules of Arithmetic, and the use of Logarithms. He must be able to work a Day's Work complete, viz.,-to correct the Courses steered, for Variation and Leeway; to find the Course and Distance made good, and the Latitude in and Longitude in by the Dead Reckoning; also to find the difference of Longitude by Parallel Sailing. He must 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. 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 lead line; be conversant with the rule of the road, as regards both steamers and sailing vessels, and the lights carried by them. 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 find 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: and 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 mcor 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. 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 for an Only Mate, a First Mate must be able to observe Azimuths and compute the Variation; to compare Chronometers and keep their Rates; 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; getting heavy spars and weights, anchors, &c., in and out; casting ship on a lee shore: and securing the mast in the event of accident to the bowsprit. 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 the Meridian Altitude of a Star, &c. He will be examined in so much of the Laws of the Tides as is necessary to enable him to shape a course and to compare his soundings with the depth marked on the Charts. He will be inquired of as to the nature of the Attraction of the ship's iron upon the compass, and as to the method of determining it. 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; and as to penalties and entries to be made in the Official Log. He will be questioned as to his knowledge of invoices, charter-party, 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. |