The enlisted personnel, in respect of intelligence, ambition, and education, excelled the average of the Regular Navy. This was bound to be true of a Reserve Force recruited as this was. Many of them were anxious to win promotion and to attain commissioned rank. It was realized that the swift expansion of the Navy, with a strength of fifteen hundred ships and four hundred thousand men already in sight, had made the shortage of officers acute. There was no prejudice against the Naval Reserve, and from its ranks were chosen most of the ensigns and lieutenants for the new fleets of destroyers and submarine chasers, for the transports and the armed guard of the merchant marine. The word had passed through the _Corsair_ that examinations could be held and commissions granted on board ship or at the base, and also that applicants whose records merited it might be chosen by the commander to go to Annapolis for the three months’ intensive course which would turn them out as temporary ensigns in the Regular Navy. Some of the aspirants preferred to study while in the ship and try to pass the tests, a little afraid that if detached for Annapolis they might not be sent back to the war zone. It was inspiring to find the ship’s officers anxious to assist these ambitions. The _Corsair_ became more or less of a nautical school. Earnest young men were to be found frowning over problems and text-books instead of playing cards at the mess tables or reading old magazines. Those who had been in college had a certain advantage in that they had been compelled to make some sort of an acquaintance with mathematics and were presumed to have acquired the habit of study. It was the popular thing to be a grind. Lieutenant McGuire and Chief Quartermaster Shelton Fair showed keen interest in teaching navigation and were very helpful to the pupils who wrestled with the knotty points of the subject. The novelty wore off, of course, and the laggards fell by the wayside, for the requirements were stiff, and dogged persistence and many a headache were required to master the technique of the naval ensign’s job. The reward was waiting, however, for those who deserved it, and there was no taint of caste or favoritism. The service was essentially democratic, barring only the differences in station which discipline demanded. Through the autumn and winter, the _Corsair_ was schooling a fine group of ensigns for duty in other ships. It may be of interest to explain what this course included, as defined by the Bureau of Navigation in a formidable document “Relative to Examinations of Enlisted Men of Regular Navy for Appointment as Ensigns for Temporary Service, also of Certain Reservists and National Naval Volunteers to Ensigns, Naval Reserve Force.” In a general way the would-be ensign of the line was expected to pass examinations, written and oral, in such departments of knowledge as these: GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS