It was founded by Thomas Eastman, a retired naval instructor, in 1851, and in 1854 had moved into a purpose-built building on South Parade, Southsea, England.
[4] The school was advertising itself in The Lancet in 1870, saying that it took boys from the age of nine, offered supervised bathing and boating, and had both a gymnasium and a fives court.
[5] There was a distinct nautical bent to the curriculum which, aside from teaching subjects such as Latin, Greek and English literature, included instruction in the tying of knots, carpentry and the rudiments of navigation.
This coincided with a change of name to Northwood Park Naval College, which later became Eastman and Salter Private School before he closed it in 1913.
According to Owen E.R.N.A., Southsea, never had quite the fame of Dr Burney's Royal Academy which flourished in Gosport from 1791 to 1904, nor of Stubbington House School near Fareham which was run by the Foster family from 1840 to 1962.