Samuel Blatchford

“ It is denied by the United States that the entry of a pupil into the academy is his entry into the naval service, and that the period of his pupilage is actual service, within the meaning of the act of 1883; and it is argued that he does not enter into actual service until he is appointed either in the line of the navy, the marine corps, or the engineer corps; that, as a student, he does not serve, but is preparing to serve; that he does not render service to the government, but is receiving favors from it ”

“ We see nothing in the act of 1870 to exclude the claimant from the position which he occupied prior to the passage of that act, as a member of a grade in the active list of line officers of the navy, so far as respected his service at the naval academy after the date of the passage of that act, whether he was thereafter to be styled a cadet midshipman or to continue to be styled a midshipman. ”