assistance from the stores of old
Ocean, the requisites for a grand clam-bake or a mammoth chowder.
The spot usually selected for this entertainment was the shores of
Cape Cod. On the third day the party usually returned from their
voyage, and their entry into Cambridge was generally accompanied
with no little noise and disorder. The Admiral then appointed
privately his successor, and the Navy was disbanded for the year.

The exercises of the association varied from year to year. Many of
the old customs gradually went out of fashion, until finally but
little of the original Navy remained. The officers were, as usual,
appointed yearly, but the power of appointing them was transferred
to the class, and a public parade was substituted for the forms
and ceremonies once peculiar to the society. The excursion down
the harbor was omitted for the first time the present year,[57]
and the last procession made its appearance in the year 1846.

At present the Navy Club is organized after the parts for the last
Senior Exhibition have been assigned. It is composed of three
classes of persons; namely, the true NAVY, which consists of those
who have _never_ had parts; the MARINES, those who have had a
_major_ or _second_ part in the Senior year, but no _minor_ or
_first_ part in the Junior; and the HORSE-MARINES, those who have
had a _minor_ or _first_ part in the Junior year, but have
subsequently fallen off, so as not to get a _major_ or _second_
part in the Senior. Of the Navy officers, the Lord High Admiral is
usually he who has been sent from College the greatest number of
times; the Vice-Admiral is the poorest scholar in the class; the
Rear-Admiral the laziest fellow in the class; the Commodore, one
addicted to boating; the Captain, a jolly blade; the Lieutenant
and Midshipman, fellows of the same description; the Chaplain, the
most profane; the Surgeon, a dabbler in surgery, or in medicine,
or anything else; the Ensign, the tallest member of the class; the
Boatswain, one most inclined to obscenity; the Drum Major, the
most aristocratic, and his assistants, fellows of the same
character. These constitute the Band. Such are the general rules
of choice, but they are not always followed. The remainder of the
class who have had no parts and are not officers of the Navy Club
are members, under the name of Privates. On the morning when the
parts for Commencement are assigned, the members who receive
appointments resign the stations