REGULATIONS FOR THE CONFEDERATE STATES SCHOOL-SHIP PATRICK HENRY.

 

CHAPTER 3.

 

RULES OF ADMISSION.

 

1.             Application for admission to the school-ship, addressed to the Secretary of the Navy, can be made at any time, by the candidate himself, or by his parent, guardian, or any of his friends, and his name will be at once placed on the list of applicants; but the registry of a name does not give any assurance of an appointment.   No preference will be given on account of priority of application.   No application for an appointment as an acting midshipman will be considered where the candidate is under or over the prescribed age; where the precise age and actual fixed residence are not stated, or where the applicant is not a resident of the congressional district of the State from which he applies.

 

2.             The law limits the number of midshipmen, and requires that they shall be divided among the several States and Territories with reference and in proportion, as near as may be, to their number of representatives and delegates to Congress; that appointments shall be made from those States and Territories which have not their relative proportion on the navy list; that appointments from each State shall be apportioned, as nearly as practicable, equally among the several congressional districts therein; and that the person so appointed shall be an actual resident of the congressional district of the State from which appointed, and be recommended by the member of Congress representing the district in which he resides.

 

3.             The selection of candidates is made semi-annually, and candidates who receive permission will present themselves to the commandant of the school in January and July, when they will be examined by a board of medical officers, and by the Academic Board of the school, as to their qualifications for admission.

 

4.             No candidate will be admitted on board the school-ship unless he is found, in the opinion of a medical board, to be composed of the surgeon of the school-ship, and two other medical officers to be designated by the Secretary of the Navy, qualified to discharge the arduous duties of an officer of the navy, both at the time of his examination, and probably, during the rest of his life, until age shall disable him; and shall have passed a satisfactory examination before the Academic Board.

 

5.             Any one of the following conditions will be sufficient to reject a candidate, viz:

• First.   Feeble constitution and muscular tenuity; unsound health, from whatever cause; indications of former disease; glandular swellings, or symptoms of scrofula.
• Second.   Chronic cutaneous affections, especially of the scalp, or any disorder of an infectious or immoral character.
• Third.   Severe injuries of the bones of the head; convulsions.
• Fourth.   Impaired vision, from whatever cause; inflammatory affection of the eye-lids; immobility, or irregularity of the iris, or fistula lachrymalis.
• Fifth.   Deafness; copious discharge from the ears.
• Sixth.   Loss of many teeth, or teeth generally unsound.
• Seventh.   Impediment of speech.
• Eighth.   Want of due capacity of the chest, or any other indication of a liability to a pulmonic disease.
• Ninth.   Impaired or inadequate efficiency of one or both of the superior extremities on account of fractures, especially of the clavicle, contractions of a joint, extinuation, or deformity.
• Tenth.   An unnatural excurvature or incurvature of the spine.
• Eleventh.   Hernia.
• Twelfth.   A varicose state of the veins, of the scrotum, and spomatic cord (when large) sarcocele, hydrocele, hemorrhoids, fistulas.
• Thirteenth.   Impaired or inadequate efficiency of one or both of the inferior extremities on account of varicose veins, fractures, malformation, flat feet, lameness, contraction, unequal length, bunions, overlying or supernumerary toes.
• Fourteenth.   Ulcers, or unsound cicatrices of ulcers likely to break out afresh.

6.             Candidates must be over fourteen and under eighteen years of age at the time of examination for admission; must be of good moral character; able to read and write well – write from dictation and spell with correctness; and to perform the following elementary operations of arithmetic, viz: numeration, and the addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of whole numbers; all of which must be established to the satisfaction of the Academic Board.

 

7.             A candidate who has passed the required examinations will receive the appointment of an acting midshipman, become an inmate of the ship, and be allowed his traveling expenses from his residence to Richmond.   If, on the contrary, he shall not pass both examinations, he will receive neither an acting midshipman’s appointment nor his traveling expenses.

 

8.             A candidate who has once presented himself for examination, under the authority of the Navy Department, and been rejected, cannot be allowed to present himself for examination a second time.

 

9.             No one who may be admitted on board the school ship under these regulations shall receive a warrant as a midshipman in the navy, unless he graduate thereat.

 

10.         When candidates shall have passed the required examinations, and have been admitted as members of the school, they must, if not already supplied, immediately furnish themselves, and at all times keep themselves supplied with the following articles, viz:

One complete suit of steel gray uniform.

Two pairs white pantaloons.

Six white shirts.

Six pairs of socks.

Four pairs of drawers.

Six pocket handkerchiefs.

One black silk handkerchief or stock.

One mattress.

One pillow.

One pair of blankets.

One bed cover or spread.

Two pairs of sheets.

Two pillow cases.

Six towels.

Two pairs of boots or shoes.

One hair brush.

One tooth brush.

One coarse comb for the hair.

One fine comb for the hair, and

One thread and needle case.

Messmates will jointly procure for their common use and will keep their room at all times supplied with one looking-glass, one wash-basin, one water-pail and one slop-bucket.

 

11.         On admission, each acting midshipman will be credited with his actual and necessary traveling expenses, and if they do not amount to the sum of fifty dollars, he will be expected to make up the deficiency by a deposit of money current in Richmond.   This sum will be expended, under the direction of the commandant, for his further equipment.

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