A considerably longer period was allowed for this than for the somewhat similar course now in force on board the _Britannia_, the maximum time being three years; and as Broke did not get through under this, he was evidently not among the most brilliant scholars, for not a few finished in two and a half years, and some in considerably less. The master, certainly, says of Broke, in his last report, that he "has a good capacity, and is very diligent"; but the fact remains that his time in passing places him below the average, and his work book therefore speaks well for the Academy. [Illustration: FIRST AND SECOND CLASS VOLUNTEERS, EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY. _From an old print in the possession of J. Gieve & Sons._] Broke was sixteen when he went to sea; and twenty years afterwards, having worked his ship's company up to an admirable state of discipline and efficiency, he fought the famous duel with the _Chesapeake_, in connection with which his name is familiar to every schoolboy. There is every reason for supposing that the Naval Academy was a complete success, but it is remarkable that so few of our most famous admirals and captains went through it; and there is no means of ascertaining how the Academy boys compared eventually with those who were entered in the haphazard fashion above described--some of them from the nursery. It appears probable, however, from later evidence, that many captains maintained a prejudice against these lads, as being still Volunteers per Order; and we do not need, as will be seen, to go back as far as the eighteenth century to find many who held that a lad sent straight to sea from school was likely to become more speedily efficient than one who had been previously trained. This curious paradox was as tenacious of life as might be expected among so conservative a body of men as our old naval officers. Some time during the last decade of the eighteenth century the term "captain's servant" was replaced by that of "volunteer of the first class," under which all those who did not go through the College continued to enter. It is not quite clear, however, what is meant by the title of "volunteer of the second class." [Illustration: A PAGE FROM BROKE'S BOOK: FORTIFICATION PLAN, WITH BASTIONS, ETC.] CHAPTER II. THE ROYAL NAVAL COLLEGE.