From March, 1876, to December, 1877, 689 boys were admitted, seventy-nine
were discharged to sea service, twenty-one to the Army as musicians,
forty-three to their respective Unions, and one absconded.

"Every boy in the ship soaps and washes himself _all over_ every morning
with carbolic soap, and then goes through a plunge bath under inspection,
having a clean towel every time he washes." The lads are remarkably
healthy--there was not one death in the year. The charge for maintenance
and clothing has been at the rate of 1_s._ per head per day. The
swimming bath is sixty feet long by thirty feet broad, and the boys are
classed by the number of "bath-lengths" they can swim at a stretch. At
the beginning of the swimming season, 340 could not swim at all, but
there were only 56 in this predicament at the end of the season. Music
is taught carefully, and a band of about 60 boys plays twice a week for
the other boys to dance. Of 242 boys absent from one to seven days to
see their friends, only one broke his leave, and he absconded altogether.

'FAME.'--(GREENWICH ROYAL HOSPITAL SCHOOL.)

Established 1872.

This land ship is part of the splendid establishment at Greenwich for
training sons of seamen and marines of the Royal Navy. Candidates must
be between 10.5; and 13 years of age, physically fit, able to read an
easy sentence, and with some knowledge of arithmetic.

The origin of the school was in 1692, when, after the victory of "La
Hogue," an asylum was established for seamen's widows and orphans at the
suggestion of Queen Mary, who died before it was accomplished.

In 1712 ten boys were instructed (in the buildings of the present Naval
College, part of which had been erected in 1618), and in 1783 there were
60 boys. In 1805, there were 200 boys, and the institution was no longer
a charity, but admitted officers' sons.

Another school, "The British Endeavour," started in 1798 as a private
venture in London, was transferred to public management in Greenwich.

The "Royal Naval Asylum," for 680 boys and 200 girls, aided by
Parliamentary grant, was amalgamated in 1821 with the other (the Royal
Hospital School), forming a "Lower School" and "Upper School" for 1000
boys, in the quadrangle now occupied opposite the Royal Naval College.
In 1841 the girls' school ceased. In 1860 the distinction between
"Upper" and "Lower" School was given up.

In 1870 industrial work was introduced in addition to the other