This being an undoubted fact--at least in those days--it scarcely seems a wise policy to impress the young aspirant, hard at work with his crammer, with the idea that he must "mug up" his Latin, but may take geography instead of French, which "does not matter"! However, there were the orders, signed by the permanent secretary, "by command of their Lordships," and one can only marvel who it is that engineers some of these curious circulars, which, while usually inaugurating some beneficial innovations, almost invariably contain others which any one who has any accurate knowledge of the necessities of the case must inevitably condemn. The recommendation of a college on shore, although no notice was taken of it, apparently, at the time, bore fruit later on. A committee was appointed in 1876, composed of the following gentlemen: Admiral George G. Wellesley, Captain Charles T. Curme, Captain W. E. Gordon, Inspector-General of Hospitals and Fleets Jas. Dornet, and Jno. Sutherland, Esq., M.D., to ascertain the best site for a college. In their report, dated November 30th, 1876, they state that they have inspected possible sites at Milford Haven, Hayling Island, Westward Ho, the Isle of Wight, Dartmouth, Southampton Water, and Poole. At the last-named place a choice of three sites was very generously offered by Sir Ivor Guest, the one selected to be a free gift to the nation; but the committee did not find that they were able to recommend the situation. Finally, they selected Dartmouth as the most suitable in every respect, and Southampton Water _proxime accessit_. Probably a very fine site might have been found there, and it is a more bracing situation than Dartmouth; but the long association of the _Britannia_ with the latter perhaps turned the scale in its favour. The _Britannia_ attracted a good deal of attention in Parliament during the 'seventies. There is a Parliamentary Paper called for in 1877, which gives a correspondence between Mr. Penry Lloyd, whose son was in the _Britannia_ in 1876, the Admiralty, and the captain of the _Britannia_. From this it appears that, on December 16th, 1876, Captain Graham wrote to Mr. Lloyd, informing him that the chief naval instructor reported that his son, Cadet J. E. Lloyd, was idle and troublesome, had very little ability, was worthless, and unfit to be an officer; and he requested Mr. Lloyd therefore to remove his son from the ship. This communication called forth an unexpected reply, Mr. Lloyd declaring that he wished to withdraw his son, but that he first demanded an inquiry into sundry charges preferred by the latter against certain cadets, who, it was alleged, had cruelly bullied him, and so hindered him thereby in his studies that he was unable to pursue them to advantage.