REGULATIONS FOR THE CONFEDERATE STATES SCHOOL-SHIP PATRICK HENRY.

CHAPTER 8.

FINAL EXAMINATION OF MIDSHIPMEN.

1.            A board to consist of five Captains and Commanders, of whom at least three shall be Captains, will convene, annually, on the first day of December, (the second, if the first should fall on Sunday,) at such place as the Secretary of the Navy may direct, for the purpose of making the “final examination” of Midshipmen, to ascertain and decide upon their qualifications for promotion.

2.            Candidates must produce certificates from their respective commanding officers of their good conduct and attention to duty, together with journals of all their cruises; and, besides, watch, quarter and station bills of at least one of the vessels in which they have served, in their own hand writing.

3.             The examination by the Board will embrace Seamanship, Naval Tactics, Steam, the theory and practice of Naval Gunnery, Field Artillery, Infantry Tactics, Navigation, and French; but the relative standing of the candidates will be decided by their standing in Seamanship, Gunnery and Navigation, unless their relative standing in these branches shall be equal; in which case, superior proficiency in the other branches shall be entitled to precedence.

4.             In assigning numbers to candidates on their final examination, the number 402 is to be considered as expressing the maximum, and 134 as the minimum, to be allowed; and the Board will assign to such candidates as shall, in its opinion, be duly qualified for promotion, the number within those limits which, in the judgment of the Board, will fairly express their relative qualifications.

5.             In the case where the candidates have not graduated from the school-ship, the numbers so assigned will determine their standing as passed midshipmen; otherwise, the numbers thus assigned, when added to the numbers which have already been assigned to them respectively on the “graduating merit-roll” of the school-ship, will determine their standing as passed midshipmen; the highest number, in both cases, to take precedence.

6.        The Secretary of the Navy will cause the Board of Examiners to be furnished with the numbers which had been assigned by the Academic Board to each of the midshipmen, to enable the Board of Examiners to determine the relative standing of those whom they may examine, as required in the next preceding article.

7.        As many of the same graduating class as can be conveniently assembled, will be ordered before the same Board for their “final examination;” but should it be necessary to examine members of the same graduating class by different Boards, then a majority of the members of each of those Boards will, when practicable, be composed of the same officers.

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