Since the late Middle Ages naval officers had been divided into two streams known as Commissioned and Warrant Officers. At the risk of over simplification it is fair to say that the Commissioned Officers were the 'fighters' and the Warrant Officers were the 'seamen'. By the 18th Century the Commissioned Officer had learnt most of the maritime skills of the Warrant Officer, and become the only route for a full career as a naval officer, leaving the Warrant Officer with a limited career in a number of specialist subjects.
When William joined the Navy in 1829 there were four types of Warrant Officers, Gunners, Boatswain, Carpenters and Masters. The duties of the first three are self evident, but those of the Master need further explanation as they put him in a class apart. The Master was the navigational expert and although his status was less than it had been in earlier centuries he still had complete authority over the Captain on navigational questions. The Captain might decide 'where to go', the Master decided 'how to get there'. He retained these powers until he became a commissioned officer in the 1850s. His special position was also reflected by the fact that since the 1780s he had lived in the Wardroom with the Commissioned officers.
Until the late 18th Century the entry of the majority of Commissioned officers was based on a rather cosy system where one generation of officers selected the next generation. A Captain would have a number of positions at his disposal and fill them with young members of his own family or of the family of someone to whom he wished to do a favour. Although it is unlikely that this system would meet with the approval of the modern 'human resources' expert, it actually worked rather well. Amongst others who were selected this way were Vernon, Anson, Hawke, Howe, Collingwood and Nelson. In fact Rodney seems to have been the only famous exception.
These young recruits, aged about 13, who today would be called Cadets, where entered under various names such as Captain's Servant, but in 1794 became known as Volunteers of the First Class. The next step up was to Midshipman, which took place after a number of years at sea. From there promotion was by selection to the commissioned rank of Lieutenant. This last step was by no means automatic and there were many sad cases of middle aged Midshipmen. William in his diaries indignantly describes one example. By the 1830s another half step had come into existence. Midshipmen who had passed their exams for Lieutenant were known as Midshipmen and Mates. The position was formalised with the name of Mate in the 1840s and changed 20 years later to Sub-Lieutenant.
In its early stages the career pattern of a Master was very similar to that of the Commissioned officer. At the age of thirteen William joined the Navy as a Volunteer of the 2nd Class under a scheme that had been introduced in 1824. After nearly 4 years at sea he became a Master's Assistant, equivalent to a Midshipman. He would then have become a Master, comparable with a Lieutenant, but there the similarities of their careers would have ended. The Lieutenant could go on to become a Captain and Admiral, the Master would have only had one more rank to progress to and that was only available to a very few.
From this description it will be seen that William had two hurdles to overcome if he wished to transfer from the Master's branch to that of Commissioned officer.
His first, and probably most difficult step, was to make the horizontal move from Master's Assistant to Midshipman. In the regulations establishing the rank of Volunteer of the 2nd Class, the last sentence reads as ollows 'but young gentlemen entering into these classes [i.e. Volunteer of the 2nd Class or Assistant Master] must observe that (although their pay be greater respectively than that of Volunteer of the First Class or Midshipman), their promotion will [except in extraordinary cases] be confined to the line of Masters.' We have evidence of how extraordinary a case had to be, for this transfer to take place. In a Succession Book of Master's Assistants and 2nd Class Volunteers covering between 1829-39 [ADM11/20] only 4 out of several hundred names made the transfer.
His second step was the vertical promotion from Midshipman to Lieutenant. As has been mentioned earlier, this step was not automatic and the chances of achieving it varied enormously depending on the period. In war, when the navy was expanding, it was fairly easy, while in peace when the Navy was either shrinking or static in size, it could become very difficult. Sea Saga quotes the advice given by an Admiral to a young officer in 1834 "You are great fool for going to sea; go home again. There are 4000 Lieutenants and 1200 Mates and Midshipman." The recipient of the advice was a 1st Class Volunteer, who later became an Admiral, and the giver was in command of the Bellerephon shortly after he had taken the surrender of Napoleon after Waterloo.
It had always been a slight mystery to the family as to how William managed to make this transfer. However recent research at the National Archives at Kew have brought to light a series of letters written by two First Secretaries to the Admiralty, a Commander-in-Chief Portsmouth, a Second-in-Command of the Mediterranean Fleet, three Commanding Officers and William himself, all trying to further or frustrate the ambitions of William to transfer from Master's Assistant to Midshipman. See [PAGE3031]