CHAPTER VI.

APPOINTMENT OF OFFICERS, &c.

I. Officers in General.
II. Military Branch.
III. Civil Branch.
IV. Ship's Company.

§ I. - OFFICERS IN GENERAL.

1.

Officers shall be promoted, or nominated in the first instance, to the under-mentioned ranks, by Commission:-

Military Branch. - (Commission Officers.)

Admiral of the Fleet,     Admiral, Vice-Admiral, Rear-Admiral, Captain of the Fleet,

Commodore, Captain, Commander, Master of the Fleet,

Lieutenant, Master, Sub-Lieutenant, Second Master.

Civil Branch. - (Commission Officers.)

Chaplain, Inspector-general of    Hospitals and Fleets,     Deputy Do. Secretary, Paymaster-in-chief,

Inspector of Machinery        afloat, Staff Surgeon, Surgeon, Paymaster, Chief Engineer,

Naval Instructor, Assistant Surgeon, Assistant Paymaster, Engineer, Assistant Engineer    1st class.

The following shall be promoted, or nominated in the first instance, by Warrant:-

Military Branch. - (Warrant Officers.)

Gunners	(1st Class
	(2nd
	(3rd
Boatswains	(1st Class
	(2nd
	(3rd
Carpenters	(1st Class
	(2nd
	(3rd

and the undermentioned by Order:-

Military Branch - (Subordinate Officers.)

Midshipman, Master's Assistant, Naval Cadet.

Civil Branch. - (Subordinate Officers.)

Assistant Engineer, 2nd Class. Clerk, Assistant-Clerk.

§ II. MILITARY BRANCH.

1.

Flag Officers shall be appointed by the Admiralty, in pursuance of Her Majesty's pleasure.

A Flag Officer shall hoist his Flag only in pursuance of orders from the Admiralty, except under the authority contained in Article 5, at page 30.

2.

Whenever an Admiral of the Fleet shall hoist his Flag, a Captain of the Fleet shall be appointed to assist him; and a Captain of the Fleet may also be appointed when a Fleet or Squadron under any other Flag Officer may be deemed by the Admiralty to be of sufficient extent and importance to require one.

3.

Commodores of the First Class shall be appointed by the Admiralty, or by a Commander-in-chief abroad, either on a vacancy, or when an exigency of the public service may render it absolutely necessary to constitute an Officer of that rank; or when an Officer may be authorized to assume the rank in consequence of the death or removal of a Flag Officer, or a Commodore of the First Class, as explained in Article 19, at page 32.

4.

Captains of the Fleet, and Masters of the Fleet, shall be appointed by the Admiralty, and vacancies occurring abroad shall be filled up, temporarily, by the Commander-in-chief, with whom such Officers are to serve, until the pleasure of the Admiralty be known.

5.

Commodores of the Second Class, Captains, Commanders, Lieutenants, Masters, Gunners, Boatswains, and Carpenters,

shall be appointed by the Admiralty; or in cases of vacancies abroad, occasioned by the death of Officers of any of the above ranks, by a Commander-in-chief, having authority from the Admiralty to make such appointments, as explained in Art. 9, at page 48.

6.

Sub-Lieutenants and Second Masters shall be appointed by the Admiralty; or, if abroad, by acting order from a Commander-in-chief, or senior Officer, or by the Officer commanding the Ship in which they are serving, as directed in Articles 3 and 4, page 38.

7.

Midshipmen and Masters' Assistants shall be received only by order of the Admiralty, or of Commanders-in-chief abroad; the Naval Cadets may be rated Midshipmen after passing the required Examinations by the Captains of the Ships in which they are serving.

8.

Naval Cadets shall be admitted into Her Majesty's Service by the Admiralty, under such regulations as may, from time to time, be established; they shall be appointed by the Admiralty, or, in case of vacancies abroad, by a Commander-in-chief.

9.

A Flag Officer, or a Commodore of the First Class, having a Commission as Commander-in-chief, on Foreign Service, is authorized, if an Officer or a Warrant Officer, borne as part of the complement of any Ship under his orders, shall die, (except he be of one of the undermentioned ranks,-

Flag Officer, Captain of the Fleet, Inspector-General of Hospitals and Fleets, Deputy Inspector-General of Hospitals and Fleets, Paymaster-in-chief, Master of the Fleet, Inspector of Machinery afloat, Chaplain, Naval Instructor, or an Officer of the Royal Marine Corps),

to promote a qualified person, by Commission or Warrant, to succeed him, but no Commander-in-chief on Home or Channel Service, nor any Flag Officer or Commodore on Foreign Service, not having a Commission as Commander-in-chief, shall promote an Officer by Commission or Warrant to any such vacancy.

No Commander-in-chief shall appoint an Officer to fill a death vacancy who is not actually serving in one of the Ships of his Squadron, or under his orders; and who shall not have served the regulated periods in Ships in Commission, at the time of such vacancy occurring, to qualify him for the appointment; but should there be no Officer so qualified on the Station, he is only to appoint an Officer to act in the vacancy until the pleasure of the Admiralty shall be made known.

Persons promoted by Commanders-in-chief to be Warrant Officers shall be nominated to the 3rd class only; and no Warrant Officer shall be advanced from one class to another, unless by acting order, except by the authority of the Admiralty.

10.

A Flag Officer, or a Commodore of the First Class, being appointed Commander-in-chief of a Station, and being senior in rank to the Officer he is to supersede, shall be entitled, from the period of his arriving within the limits of the station, and assuming the Command, to all the advantages of Commander-in-chief (unless the required declaration of liability be signed by him he can have no claim to Freight Money), except the Appointments of Officers and Warrant Officers to Death Vacancies, which his Predecessor shall have actually filled up before he shall have received official notification of his Successor's arrival within the limits of the Station; but all other Death Vacancies, as well as any occurring in a Ship whose Captain shall have received an order from the succeeding Commander-in-chief to consider himself under his command, shall belong to the Successor. The Predecessor shall enjoy the other advantages only of a junior Officer, from the time of his Successor's coming within the limits of the Station, and which advantages are to cease, as relates to the Station, when he (the junior Officer) finally parts company to quit the Station. (Except the Allowance for Table-money, which will be continued to him during the time his Flag or Broad Pendant shall be actually flying within the limits of his Station.) When the succeeding Flag Officer, or Commodore of the First Class, shall be a junior Officer, he shall be entitled to the advantages only of a junior Officer from the time of his arrival within the limits of the Station until the Command be transferred to him, and the senior Officer either finally parts company to quit the Station, or permits the junior Officer to part company from him, after which the advantages of the Commander-in-chief are to devolve to the succeeding Officer.

11.

If the Captain in command of any Ship, not being in a Port of the United Kingdom, shall die, and there be no senior Officer present, the Commander, where there is one borne in the complement, shall take command of such Ship as acting Captain, and may appoint the senior Lieutenant to act as Commander in his stead, and a Sub-Lieutenant to act as Lieutenant; but, if there be no Commander borne, the senior Lieutenant on board shall take command of the ship as acting Commander, and may order a Sub-Lieutenant to act as Lieutenant in his stead.

If the Commander in command of any Ship shall die, as aforesaid, the senior Lieutenant on board shall, if there be no senior Officer present, take command of such Ship as acting Commander, and may order a Sub-Lieutenant to act as Lieutenant in his stead; and if a Lieutenant, or Master, in command of a Ship, not being in a Port of the United Kingdom, shall die, the Officer next in rank on board, provided he be the senior Officer present, shall assume acting command of her, - if a Sub-Lieutenant as Lieutenant, and if a Second Master, as Master.

An Officer assuming a command under any of the circumstances mentioned in the foregoing paragraphs, is not to be thereby entitled to retain it in the event of any Officer senior to him belonging to the same Ship joining or rejoining her, but, in such case, the senior Officer of the Ship or Vessel, joining or rejoining as aforesaid, is to assume the temporary command of her, and supersede the temporary appointments made by his junior Officer on board, if he sees fit. And in all cases of an Officer assuming a command under his own order, as before stated, it is to be considered as a temporary measure only, pending the pleasure of the Admiralty or the Officer in command of the Station.

If the Captain, Commander, or other Officer in command of any Ship, not being in a Port of the United Kingdom, shall die, and there be a senior Officer in another Ship present, the said senior Officer is to order proper Officers to act in the vacancies thereby occasioned, until the pleasure of the Admiralty, or the Officer in command of the Station or Squadron shall be made known, and the acting appointments made by such senior Officer at the time when the vacancies occurred, are not to be interfered with by any other senior Officer, but they are to remain in full force and effect until cancelled or altered by the Admiralty, or the Officer in command of the Station to which the Ship is attached.

In the event of the command of any of Her Majesty's Ships devolving on a Master, he shall assume the same in that capacity, - a Sub-Lieutenant as acting Lieutenant, a Second Master as acting Master, - and if on a person of inferior rank to Second Master, such person is not thereby to be considered eligible for the assumption of any superior rank to that which he held at the time when the vacancy occurred which led to his being temporarily in command.

12.

If a vacancy for an Officer, or a Warrant Officer, shall occur under other circumstances than those before mentioned, and the Service shall require that it be filled up immediately, the senior Officer present, as explained in the preceding Article, shall order a proper person to act in it, until the pleasure of his Commander-in-chief (if he be under the orders of one) or of the Admiralty, shall be known.

13.

Whenever there shall be a necessity for ordering an Officer to act in the room of another, an officer of the same rank, or of the rank next below that of the Officer removed (if there be one serving on the Station) shall be placed in the vacancy.

14.

An Officer on Half-Pay shall not be appointed to a Ship, nor shall he have any Commission, or Order, or employment whatsoever, given him by a Commander-in-chief, or any other Officer, without express authority from the Admiralty; but Officers of the Military Branch under the rank of Commander, and all Officers of the Civil Branch, whose Ships may be captured or lost, if acquitted by Court-Martial abroad, may be appointed to vacancies, without such authority.

15.

Commanders-in-chief, and all other Flag Officers or Commodores, in command of Stations or Squadrons, shall, by every available opportunity, transmit to the Secretary of the Admiralty a Return of all Officers and Warrant Officers promoted and appointed by them, or directed to act in vacancies, on board any of Her Majesty's Ships.

§ III. - CIVIL BRANCH.

1.

Inspectors-General, and Deputy Inspectors-General, of Hospitals and Fleets, shall be appointed by the Admiralty to Hospitals, Fleets, or Squadrons, when the Admiralty may deem them to be of sufficient extent and importance to require these Officers; or, in case of vacancies abroad, by acting order from Commanders-in-chief.

2.

Secretaries to Flag Officers, and to Commodores, shall be nominated by the Flag Officers or Commodores with whom they are to serve, and be appointed by the Admiralty; but, if abroad, by the Commander-in-chief of the Station.

Secretaries to Commodores of the Second Class are not to be entitled to any of the advantages or emoluments granted to Secretaries of Flag Officers and Commodores of the First Class.

3.

Paymasters-in-chief shall be appointed by the Admiralty.

4.

Inspectors of Machinery afloat shall be appointed by the Admiralty; or, in case of vacancies abroad, by acting order from a Commander-in-chief.

5.

Chaplains and Naval Instructors shall be admitted into Her Majesty's Service by the Admiralty, under such regulations as may, from time to time, be established; they shall be appointed by the Admiralty, or, in case of vacancies abroad, by acting order from a Commander-in-chief.

6.

Staff-Surgeons, Surgeons, Paymasters, and Chief Engineers, shall be appointed by the Admiralty; or, in case of vacancies abroad, by a Commander-in-chief, as explained in Article 9, page 48.

7.

Assistant-Surgeons, Engineers, Assistant-Engineers, and Assistant Clerks, shall be admitted into Her Majesty's Service by the Admiralty, under such regulations as may, from time to time, be established; they shall be appointed by the Admiralty, or, in case of vacancies abroad, by a Commander-in-chief.

8.

A certain number of Engineers who may be considered fit and deserving, may, at their own request be selected from time to time, by the Admiralty, as "Engineers for special charge." They will be entitled to the higher rates of pay established for Engineers, as stated in the Appendix; and, as a general rule, they will not be appointed to Ships bearing a Chief Engineer; but they are not, after being so selected, to be considered eligible for promotion to the rank of Chief Engineer.

9.

Assistant Paymasters and Clerks shall be appointed by the Admiralty; or, in case of vacancies abroad, by a Commander-in chief.

An Assistant Paymaster in a small vessel, where he may have charge of the Victualling Stores, &c., is to be appointed as "Assistant Paymaster in Charge."

§ IV. - SHIP'S COMPANY.

1.

The Petty Officers, and others constituting a Ship's Company shall be rated by the Captains or Officers commanding Her Majesty's Ships in which they are to be borne, under such regulations as the Admiralty may, from time to time, establish.