Lieutenant's examination

[PMarione]

To qualify for Lieutenant's promotion, young gentlemen had to pass an examination before a board of 3 captains at the Navy Office.

Probably due to HN report of his own examination, it's often said that that examination was a simple formality.

This is certainly not true: RN officials were no fools and wouldn't give the responsability of such an expensive machine as a ship to uncompetent people even if some passed through the seeve.

Here is an example of the questions they could be asked.
Taken from The New Practical Navigator (1814):
http://www.psych.su.oz.au/vbb/woronora/maritime/Questions.html

This is the part on seamanship. Another part was devoted to navigation.
About 1810 they had to go through 2 different examinations.

@+P