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Post 8vo. /^/^/>4 xi^/'^^ ^A^tS*- 1^ NAVAL SKETCH-BOOK; OR, TMt ^etbirr 9ifloat an)i ^0lbote ; WITH CHARACTERISTIC REMINISCENCES, FRAGMENTS AND OPINIONS. BY AN OFFICER OF RANK. SECOND EDITION. •«. . , » •♦ • • • • • . « LONDON: HENRY COLBURN, NEW BURLINGTON ^Hi^P^T. 182G. LONDON: PBINTED BY CCX AND BAYLIS, GREAT QUEEN STREET. CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. Page Introoitction xi FIRST DAY AFLOAT.— By a Middy. Alarms — Anomalies— Origin of Horse Marines 1 A MEL^E. ComwaIlis*s Retreat— with the ' First of June* — a Galley Story 32 LEAVES FROM THE PRIVATE LOG OF A CAPTAIN. A Post 75 THE MAN-OF-WAR'S MAN 122 SUPERSTITION OF SEAMEN. Belief in Ghosts and.Goblins-^Abhorrence of Friday— " Mother Cary"— her Chickens 138 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. A Galley Story— The Ghost , , 145 TAX ON COMMISSIONS 155 NEWFOUNDLAND. Vagaries — Periodical Fires — Courts of Judicature — Judges-rBenbow on the Bench — Colonial Press — , , /I , f-^ C0MTBNT8. Vli Page Contributions of Naval Oflwiers—Recreations in RhjFme, by the Lieges of Sti John's ...*...t» t„ 160 NAVAL CLUB-HOUSE. Strenua not exercet inertia — Club-house Scenes and Sodety^DisMills tn Deeembeti 200 COAST BLOCKADE. Romance, founded on Fact £13 JACK'S ECCENTRICITIES. British Bull-Dogs — A Nondescript — A Sea-Bull — Dou- ble Dealing — No-way Nice, or Nautical Nuptials — Synonymous Terms — Swindling the Sharks — Jack a Leg — Lost and Found — Extraordinary Resolution in a Sailor — LitertB Scripif war, when the public is sometimes treated with the meagre notice of a naval victoiyin the Gazette) the mass, even of reading, inteU ligent Englishmen, is unacquainted with, or uninterested in the welfare or concerns of that force, on which our existence as a nation solely depends. In the absenqe of authentic information, the field is lefl open to conjecture, and fiction naturally steps in to aid the imagination. Even Difodin^ who unites often fine poetic feeling with a noble and devoted patriotism in his s sea- songs, repeatedly raises a blush for the nautical ignorance he betrays. ;'nie ab* surdities detailed in graver publications, as to the conduct and character of sailors, would be amusing, were it not for the false, and often unfavourable impressions they create of the service. vii ^to? l>;>iioi bS r ■ I I I ^.JIU. l wiUWi — > U i wm V XIV INTRODUCTION. Of such a character and tendency is the extract we subjoin, entitled " J ord Nelson's Humanity," which, unluckily for the profession, has gone the rounds, and been copied into almost every paper throughout the kingdom — a proof, at least, that professional subjects are still matter of general interest. " Lord Nelson was loth to inflict punish- ment, and when he was obliged, as he termed it, * to endure the torture of seeing men flogged,* he came out of his cabin with hurried steps, ran into the gangway, made his how to the marine-general, and reading the Article of War the culprit had infringed, said * Boatswain, do your duty.* The lash was instantly applied, and, conse- quently, the sufferer exclaimed, * Forgive me, Admiral, forgive me!* — he would look round mth mid anxiety, and, as all his « ♦.; \ 1 f^ INTRODUCTION. XV lis officers kept silence (when the Jelhtv reaUy merited his punishment), he would say, • What! none of you speak for him? — Avast! cast him off! Jack^ in the day qf battle remember me, and be a good feUofw in future !* — A poor devil was about to be flogged: he was a landsman, and few pitied him — his offence was drunkenness. As he was tying up, a lovely girl, contrary to all rules, rushed through the officers, and falling on her knees, clasped Nelson's hands, in which were the Articles of War : * Pray forgive him, your honour, and he shall never offend again.' — * Your face,* said he, ' is a security for his good be- haviour — ^let him go ; the Jellow cannot be bad who has such a lovely creature in his care.' The man rose to be a lieutenant; his name was William Pye." Absurdities here crowd so thickly upon b 4 I mtm \ I t 1 " XVI INTRODUCTION. US, that it is impossible to fix the attention on any one in particular. We have an Ad- miral inspecting punishment, and a GenC' ralqf marines doing a suhalterrCs duty. In point of fact, there never is a General of marines on board ; and in case bf punish- ment, the Admiral is never present — his captain does the duty. ' The ** hurried step" and ** wild anxiety" well become the cool deliberate hero who, at Copenhagen, when in imminent danger and in the heat of action, calmly and deliberately sealed with wax his summons to the Danes to surrender, observ- ing, " that a wafer might discover hurry or anxiety." And for whom is all this " anxie- ty?** For a " fellow who really merited punishment." The low vulgarity and gas- conade of phrase, "Jack, in the day of battle remember me,** is an insult to the memory of an accomplished gentleman and the > \ e ( INTRODUCTION. XVll brightest ornament of the profession. The narrative is equally false : — ^previous to pu- nishment, the " ship's corporal'* always orders the women below. Here a ** lovely girl" rescues " a poor devil of a landsman, whose offence was drunkenness, and whom few pitied," from the lash, because Nelson who, as we observed, could not be present, fancied her face, and argued like a fool. To complete the fable, and give a theatri- cal termination to the farce, the drunken landsman leaves the gangway L. ascend the quarter-deck, and becomes a lieute- nant! Thrice lucky Mr. Pye!!! The late Tom Sheridan has a similarly brilliant conception in the comic song called " Bilh/ Taylor" But Sheridan had imbibed more theatrical tact from his father; and by giving it an air of romance, completed the absurdity. — " Billy Taylor's" swc^t- r XVlll INTRODUCTION. ? heart is made lieutenant* of the " Thunder- Bomb." Sailors are thus unfortunate in more re- spects than one. Generally, when they sit for a portrait, the canvass is made to glow with all the characteristic traits of a bold, generous, reckless ruffian. This might be endured, because it is at once detected as a caricature ;t but the indignity we feel ^ " When her captain come to diskiver The glorious action what she'd done, Then he made her first leaftenant Of the gallant Thunder-^omhy \ To shew that instances of this species of nautical jargon and murder of common sense are not unfrequently palmed on the public as the genuine effusions of our tars, we quote from a daily paper another very recent and elaborate anec- dote, which, for confusion of ideas, absurdity, and ignorance, out-Herods all preceding specimens of rhodomontade : — '* An honest tar was heard to describe the dress of his wife thus — — ' On my return from the Cape, she was so bam- boozled in all her rigging, that I hardly knew her ttetn from her stern ; and as to her midships, that was lumbered up with a vengeance ! Even her studding-sails were all a-peakiX her clue-garnets a-foul of her reef-tackle : and \iex fore-sheet ^ What nonsense ! ' ( INTRODUCTION. XIX most disposed to resent, consists in mingling in the picture the maudlin mawkish attri- butes of the puling writer himself. The sailor becomes in such hands perfectly meta- morphosed, so that his intimates would not recognize in the sketch their blunt, honest, warm-hearted acquaintance; acting ever on false sentiment, and aping the flippant nonsense of a French novelist, he is repre- sented as a being at once averse to his duty, and wincing like a woman under punishment. Thus, in his feeling degraded, in his distress robbed of dignity, the British tar appears but a bully in war, and a men- dicant in peace. As a corrective for an evil so serious in its consequences, and to set Jack's charac- ter right in the opinion of his countrymen, so lubberly belaid to her cat-head^ that, on putting her about , I soon found she mitted stayt, and away she went, bomb ashore, on the rocks of ScillyP " %. H \^ XX INTRODUCTION. \ a few original ** Galley-stories," which we would fain presume are not destitute of the vraisemblance, are added, to sferve as an illustration of his opinions of duty, mo- tive, religion, men, and manners ashore and afloat. However the tales may be disguised in professional allusions, or the vernacular of the forecastle, they have each a clear, intelligible moral. ,v Possibly the chapters which will most require something to be said in their de- fence, will be imagined to be tliose relative to the " Naval Club-House." It is only doing justice to our motives, here to pre- mise, generally, that the characters sketched are imaginary ; and that nothing can be farther from our intention than to censure institutions of this nature. A club on liberal principles is, doubtless, advantageous, if not essential to the interests and well- INTRODUCTION. XX being of the profession ; more particularly in a period of peace. In the reminis- cences of the past, and the collision of enlightened opinion, young emulation gleans from the harvest of veteran ex- perience, and learns to glow with patriot ardour. From personal observation, corro- borated by the concurrent opinion of pro- fessional friends, we have, however, been led to infer, that there existed some rea- son to apprehend the .system was de- fective, and the means substituted for the end. Of the more serious papers, relative to tac- tiesy naval improvements, punishments, and discipline, it is only necessary to say here, that, though the result of long experience and constant employment, they are sub- mitted with great deference, and even dif- fidence, to tli6 service, in the present bright 1 '^•"•^^mmm xxu INTRODUCTION. J- ' and promising day-spring of professional attainment. For our review of the principal modern works from the pens of naval men, we, without anticipating what may be the opinion of the reader as to its justice on perusal, confidently calculate on its being favourably received by professional writers, who have hitherto had the hard fortune only to be criticized by " men of letters," or critics by profession, not one of whom ever took a helm in hand or saw a shot fired ; and, though it may appear an extraordinary waste of time, in the present day, when a critique on a quarto of 600 pages is pre- pared for publication in a shorter time than it would take to read one-tenth of it with attention, we can assure each writer noticed we have always read his work before pre- suming to pronounce any opinion. 1 f r\ INTRODUCTION. xxm An idea begins to gain ground amongst the veterans of the profession, that the materiel of the common sailor has of late years undergone a great alteration — that he is no longer the same gay, unsuspecting, artless being, whose minute garrulity, ram- bling episodes, and figurative phraseology, every cadence of which was marked by the oscillation of a long queue of hair reach- ing to his waist, never failed to detain a landsman's ear, and render him the hero of every group in which he mingled ; in a word, they presume very generally that the spirit of the tar is fled with the tail. To administer consolation to the sympa- thetic yearnings of these lovers of the fast- fading glories of the tar, we have picked out a few relics of the genuine antique^ y'clept Eccentricities. Having almost all come within the writer's knowledge and h XXIV INTRODUCTION. observation, they are presumed to be at least genuine specimens, which, like fossil organic remains, may serve to resuscitate to the fancy a race long since extinct. How far the Work may have redeemed these pledges must, however, be left to the reader to determine. » , '" .. Cheltenham, December 1825. ;'•/ \ i W THE .1 NAVAL SKETCH-BOOK. FIRST DAY AFLOAT; BY A MIDDY. 1 -Speak thou, boy; Perhaps thy childishness will move them more Than our reason. shakspeare.' Twelve years had scarcely slipped over my head, when, in the year 1800, I entered His Ma- jesty*s naval service, as mischievous as a whelp, and with as much of the devil in my disposition as any boy of equal age ; circumstances which, perhaps, more than any thing else, had induced my friends to consider me peculiarly calculated VOL. I. 8. -^wisuMlfivd I- WW*MB|-T1II FIRST DAY AFLOAT. \ (I t f 1- for the service, although neither the youngest nor most stupid of the sons of my father.* The ship to which I was destined was com- manued by Captain , who bore the character of a gentlemanly, good-natured fellow, which however was then deemed quite incompatible with the duties of a commander: an opinion, happily for both young and old placed under his control, not considered perfectly orthodox in the present day. On my arrival at Deal, I waited on him at his lodgings, and was agreeably surprised at the kindness of his reception. After looking merely at the signatures of a large assortment of introductory letters, and put- ting my patience to the proof, by repeating the customary lecture on such occasions, his bell summoned the steward, a brawny, well-looking, woolly-headed black, to receive the order for putting me on board with all possible despatch i * There is, no doubt, some allusion here to naval biography. The repartee alluded to is said to have been made by an officer ta the rough compliment of some naval Duke. V i§ <\ FIRST DAY AFLOAT. t the captain adding at parting to the steward, ** you'll tell the first-lieutenant to let one of the steadiest midshipmen shew the young gentleman the lions." — The mandate was received by my sable conductor with an indistinct mutter, through tusks that shone, by contrast with his skin, like pearls, — every feature of his face, and agitation of his body, denoting the most perfect submissive- ness and obedience. Agitation is always con- tagious, and I began to suspect, from the conduct of the black, that we were fast approaching the dread confines of the region of terror. My con- victions were strengthened by the silence which was subsequently preserved. Having repaired to the " Ho(^ and Griffin^** to ship my traps, we proceeded, accompanied by a porter, across the shingle to the beach, oiF which the barge was lying outside the surf at a grappling. The crew consisted of ten or eleven sun-burnt, rugged, long-tailed tars, under the charge of a young- ster, who, in every respect but the air of autho- rity he assumed, seemed * my other self.* His 6 2 , V V FIRST DAY AFLOAT. ft i j I i complexion, it was evident, had not been ex- posed to sun or wind, and he wore gloves, which, like his face, were of a dazzling whiteness. The grappling was soon weighed, I was bundled in by the bowman, and, to use his expression, the barge was * shoved alongside of the barky * in the twin- kling of a bed-post.' Although a mere boy, never shall 1 forget the overwhelming and indefinable impression made on my mind upon reaching this wonderful and stupendous floating structure. The immensity of the hull, height of the masts, and largeness of the sails, which had been loosened to dry, so far exceeded every anticipation I had formed, that I continued, unmindful of what was going on in the boat, to gaze on her in dumb amazement, until awakened from my stupor by the coxswain, who now gruffly exclaimed, — " Come, master ! come ! mount a* reevo, 'less you mean to be boat-keeper." The youngster, who had not opened his lips on the passage, now turned round to give vent to a * Jack^s fanry phrase for a favourite ship. ■^■» ^ FIRST DAY AFLOAT. repartee, which, from its homeliness, served ma- terially to humble him in my estimation. — " Give us none o' your jaw, Mr. Jones," said this young Triton, scampering up with the Black close at his heels. I now seized the side-rope, and was assisted in my awkward attempt by the coxswain, who followed in my wake, no doubt looking out for a " slippery -bend." Being safely landed* on the quarter-deck of the frigate, I literally shrunk back through a feeling of intense admiration, approaching to awe, at the scene which presented itself; where nau- tical neatness, accurate arrangement, intricate machinery, and moving masses of men, completed the illusion, and overwhelmed the mind with the gigantic grandeur of the whole. As I cautiously stepped on the deck, my eyes attracted by the alternate whiteness of the planks and polished ebony of the parallel caulking, my ears were assailed by sounds which seemed to threaten danger aloft, proceeding from the thun- '•"■ ' * " Landed on deck "—a nautical anomaly. B 3 .i^: 9 FIRST DAY AFLOAT. :> der-Iike claps of the shivering sails, as they hung in the brails, and flapped their huge wings in the wind. In this state of apprehension from undefined danger, and motionless as a statue, I felt myself pulled by the sleeve. The Black had been enjoy- ing my surprise, and now motioned me to make my obeisance to a vulgar-looking, squat, round- shouldered man, whose obliquity of vision exposed every being he looked at to a sort of cross fire, from eyes which appeared to have a roving com- mission. A * voice like a boatswain ' had been a phrase with my father, and the association was revived by the Stentor-like tones of this strange- looking person, who was dressed in a blue white- edged coat, which displayed here and there a few straggling anchor-buttons of different dies; to which was added a buff, soup-spotted vest, a pair of tarred nankeen trowsers, and an old bat- tered broad-brimmed leathern hat. This homely habit, with divers distinguishable daubings of pitch or white-wash on his back, naturally in- J i\ FIRST DAY AFLOAT. f tluced me to conclude he could be no other than the Boatswain. I was soon undeceived, on hear- ing the steward deliver to him the captain's message relative to myself, which at once decided me as to his rank. I am still at a loss to account for the appre- hensions with which he inspired me, but I already felt myself retreating from a form so unprepos- sessing; possibly from the consciousness that I was a scrape-grace, and that, as our fire-side cir- cle had long since assured me, my offences were all discernible in my face. Already had sable, Jack muttered in a half-terrified tone, aided by divers agitations and shiverings, resembling ague fits, the wishes of the captain relative to myself, when this modern Caliban, pulling up his trow-^* sers with one hand, whilst with the other he boused forward the peak of his tarnished shirt- collar, swaggeringly exclaimed, ** Well, young- ster, here you are, — just like a young bear, — all your troubles before you !" — Often when a child had 1 been dubbed a cub by my mother, and it B 4 -»Yr" 8 FIKS'l" PAY AFM>AT. now for the first time flashed across my imagi- nation, that I was fated in due course of time to become such a bear as that now before me. — " But never mind !" he continued, — " make a man o' you, my boy ! — born, of course, with a silver spoon in your mouth? — want to come in at the cabin windows, I suppose ? — ever heard of the hawse-holes?* — eh? — Got your traps in? — chest and bedding ! — Well, get your hammock slung — rope-grummets, laniards, lashuigs, and nettles whipped,! you know !" — " Nettles, whips, and lashings ;" thought I. The Black's late trem- bling was no longer a mystery — it was now all as plain as a pikestaff — nothing but terror and tor- ture ! — " 'Cause," continued he, " none o' your * midshipman's rolls,* you know !— we'll have no greyhounds or * nippers' in the nettings."^ * The holes in the bows of the ship through which the cables pass. f To bind twine round the ends of tlie geer appertaining to a hammock, so as to prevent them from fagging-out- \ Term applied to hammocks having a lean, or thin appearance, }\ FIRST DAY AFLOAT. 9 And then leaving me, equally astonished by his volubility, and at a loss for the meaning of this unintelligible jargon, he, without waiting a reply, thundered through a speaking*trumpet, with which he had been previously thumping the head of a marine — " Turn the hands up, furl sails." In an instant the frigate appeared a chaos afloat. Scarcely had he uttered the words before the command was repeated by the boatswain and his mates, who were piping and roaring down the hatchways* — ** Tumble up, tumble up from below." Seamen in swarms were now flying up the ladders, shaking the ship to her centre, and making the decks answer like spring-boards to the clattering of four or five hundred feet. The lower shrouds were instantly crowded after having been lashed-up for stowage in the nettings upon deck. * In well-regulated ships this practice is considered incon- sistent with discipline. One voice, and one pipe, is as good as fifty ; silence is the soul of subordination. - : 1 Ai 'Tw WWfer '^f- 10 FIRST DAV APLOA'I*. en nuuse, not a soul during to ascend until the word — " way-aloft" was given ; when, as if loosed by magic, they started, by hundreds together, up the rigging. However beautiful, in a seaman's eye, the pre- cision and rapidity of this manoeuvre ; in me it excited the most lively apprehension for the safety of the sailors. My nerves were on the rack as they ran out on che yards, on which they balanced their bodies, whilst their countless hands were busied with the most indescribable rapidity in gathering up the folds of the canvas. Every moment I expected they would " topple from the giddy heig^ii," and pitch headlong on deck as they " tossed up" the sails in their arms. The bustle and bellowing below and aloft in- creased with the exertions of the men. — Here an officer was heard cheering the seamen, whilst others resorted to curses, to expedite them in their duty. " Bear a- hand, boys, bear a-hand !" was heard in several quarters of the ship, and an occasional " blast you !" startled all my school- t> (I FIRST DAY AFLOAT. u taught notions of propriety; whilst the shrill tones of the " young gentlemen "* in the tops, pierced the ear with — " Lie-in, there — lie-in, you lubberly rascals ! lie-in." Amidst all this noise and bustle, I might have preserved something like self-possession, but for the continued recurrence of phrases, anomalous in their application, and often ominous and alarming in their signification. " See, sir," says an officer on the forecastle, " you might shove your head through that earing." — That must be a thumper, thought I — " What are those hands about," says another, " that they don't foot-ii down in the bunt?" — " Fore to* -sail yard, there !" cried a third — " Why don't you stop that * Fle- mish horse 'f up ?" — I had heard something of the " Horse Marines,"* and immediately con- * The midshipmen are always thus designated, by both supe- riors and inferiors. < t A rope under the yard, on which the man at the extreme end of it stands to support himself in reefing or furling the topsail. \ Horse Mnrinet, — A shrewd conjecture may be hazarded as to ■.*t I 12 FII18T DAY AFLOAT. il, I ■■■I I eluded one of the Flanders breed of their cattle had broke loose from the yard where they had been at livery. My mind wus already labouring under the most bewildering influence : but how was I horror- struck when I heard Bruno bellow out — ** D — n those fellows' bl^ls on the main-topsail-yard, — why don't they tuck-in those * dead-men** out the high antiquity and utility of a mounted force on board of our ships df war, by referring to the history of our navy, so for back as tli« time of Admiral Ulake, who, strange to say, was rather a horse-sailor than a horse-marine, having been appointed by Cromwell from a colonel of dragoons to the command of a fleet. The splendour of his subsequent career as an mlmiral, proved that his previous application to equestrian exercises on shore had not unfitted him for aquatic duties — — " quantum mutatus ab illo Hectore."— How has the corps been falling into contempt since that gallant admiral's time ! In Harry the Eighth's reign, the largest ship in his na^y was eri,rusted to the management of the " Master of Horse " to the tCing— Sir Thomas Knyvett. * Sailors designate by the term Dead-men the platted reef- points of the sails when carelessly hanging beneatli the yard, when the sail is furled. ■. ' \ n FIRNT DAY AFLOAT. IS of sight !" — What a monster ! thought I ; he has been the cause of some accident, which has escaped general notice, and his object clearly is to avoid, by concealment, a coroner's inquest. Now, indeed, I began to wish myself at home,t although not for worlds would I have confessed it. In about a quarter of an hour the bustle was at an end, and comparative order restored. But what I had already witnessed continued still to exert a stupifying influence over my faculties. Leaning on the wheel, I was beginning to indulge in moody contemplation (none of the " young gentlemen " as yet having si lewn me the lions, though it must be confessed such a surfeit had I of one bear, that little curiosity remained for an introduction to any more savage animal of this menagerie afloat,) when a familiar whack on the shoulder, and the authoritative phrase, " Young- ster ! no lounging !" apprized me I was once more * We could have wished our young liero had not descended to an obvious plagiary of Irish pathos :— " I left my home, and it was a happy home."-— Vide CounstUor O'Connei's Speech. rh--< ti u FIRST DAY AFLOAT. J' ' I : I i i n */ 1 1 i 1 ; • 1 \ ' ( honoured by the lieutenant's notice, who, point- ing below, briefly said, " You'll dine in the gun- room to-day ;" an invitation I would fain have declined, through a well-founded apprehension that he would be of the party. The tone, how- ever, was sufficiently imperative to convince me that Bruno's sovereign authority was not to be trifled with. 1 had no choice left — nor let the reader imagine, for a moment, that my compliance wes not to the full as hearty and gracious, as the invitation was attractive and polite. - Dinner being at last announced by beat of drum, down flew the officers, helter-skelter, to the gun-room, the start being decidedly in favour of the lieutenant of marines, a light-infantry-like figure of about fifteen-stone weight. The surgeon, however, who appeared to be the most civilized civilian* on board, struck with my forlorn situa- tion, returned, and looking up the hatchway, beckoned me good-naturedly to follow him below. * The surgeon, purser, and chaplain, are commonly detig« nated by the appellation of civilians. . . • • ■ V ,( * FIRST DAY AFLOAT. 15 Encouraged by this kindness, I descended cau- tiously both the quarter and main deck ladders leading to the steerage, abaft which, in the gun- room, dinner was served up. Thither my guide and I groped our way in the dark, breaking our shins against the midshipmen's chests, which I have been since led to believe, from an intimate acquaintance with the tricks of these * young gen- tlemen,' had been thus premeditatedly placed in the gangway for the annoyance of Bruno, or, as the law phrase has it, " to inflict on him some grievous bodily harm." Experience enabled my guide to tread, with comparative security, the dark Abyss, , And through the palpable obscure, find out His uncouth way." to a dismal dungeon-like looking place, flanked on each side by a row of miserably cramped cribs, called cabins. Overhead there was certainly what, by some poetic license, continued to be denominated a skylight; but, as to any light afforded, it might as well have been under foot, 1 I 1 M V, ! if V' v' I 16 FIRST DAY AFLOAT. most of the panes in its frame having been frac- tured, and unpainted patches of solid wood substi- tuted for what had once been transparent glass. The members of the mess were already seated : a smoky vapour arising from the steam of the dishes, which was unable to effect its escape, in consequence of the lowness of the decks, enveloped the busy group. At the head of the table sat a pale, calculating, anxious-looking, middle-aged man, whose sole pretension to any thing like uniform consisted in wearing a cross-anchor but- ton on a plain blue coat. A short bull-headed black boy attended behind the president's chair, whr>m the reader has already recognized as the purser. At the foot sat the oflScer of marines, whose easy contented air and portly person formed a lively contrast with the meagre figure at the head, who appeared conjointly with him to rule the roast at table. He was supported by a private of his party, one pace in the rear ; a bolt- upright, grim-looking jolly* whose head and the * Jolly — a marine. ^^ ■•«», V FIRST DAY AFLOAT. 17 beams above were perpetually in collision. His leathern false tail, as stiff and polished as a poker, oscillating to and fro, amidst clouds of pipeclay effecting its escape whenever he moved from all parts of his uniform, proved an irresistible source of mirth to most of the young urchins in attendance, but particularly Massa Pompey, des- pite of an occasional knock on his pate from the purser. Bruno, the second, and third lieutenants, both young men of an agreeable exterior, the master, a broad North-Shields-man ; one of the " young gentlemen," (a venerable Mid, about forty), the surgeon, and myself constituted the dinner party. Tlie first lieutenant sat nearest the door, to be, as he termed it, " ready for a bolt," and evinced great impatience for his dinner. Perceiving the officer of marines loosening his sash to pre- pare for ground-tier stowage, he gruffly exclaimed, ** d — n your belly-band soldier ! bear a-hand and, bale out the soup — think every one an ' idler' like yourself?" This appellation I soon VOL. 1. ©^ ,» ■ >niii«'ii -'H'a 19 FIRST DAY AFLOAT. 'M t{' Iv 'i t { t- ■« i perceived, from his alacrity in cutting and hewing down every thing edible within his reach, was altogether inapplicable to our good-humoured Vice. Soup had scarcely been served, before the midshipman of the watch came running into the gun-room, to inform the first lieutenant the signal from the admiral's office had been made to unmoor. " Pass the * messenger,' "* says Bruno, " and when * brought to,' let me know." The poor messenger (for I was not then aware that it was a rope) appeared to me to be brought up rather roughly, for upon the gentleman's ac- quainting the lieutenant, " there was an * elbow' in the hawse," he opened a volley of abuse on both the midshipman and the master, for allow- ing " the ship to go the wrong way."f — Wrong * A small kind of cable, which, being brought to the capstern, and the cable by which the ship rides made fast to it, purchases the anchor. f When a ship is moored in a tidesway, and swings on the eliange of the tide in a contraiy direction from that which she '-^ FIRST DAY AFLOAT. 19 way ! Heavens ! thought I, has any thing gone right? — " Here's the devil to pay, Mr. Sound- ings, and no pitch hot," said he to the master ; then addressing the midshipman, he added in a more temperate tone, ** Lash the cables and unsplice the lee-one — and when the bowlines are rove, turn the hands up clear hawse." In about ten minutes' time, agreeably to Bruno's direction, the hands were turned up. All but the * idlers* left the gun-room, who now began to push about the bottle : I, too, was preparing to rise ; when Bruno pulled me back in my chair, and ex- claimed, " D — n all volunteering, youngster! 'tis a good dog does what he's told." The hawse had been cleared, and the ship unmoored, before the arrival of the captain brought me upon deck. After having been received by all the officers, he gave directions to weigh; the capstern bars were immediately " shipped, swifted- in," and manned. A per- should, so as to keep her hawse clear, or cables from crossing, she is then said to have " gone the wrong way." c2 8.0 ni. T DAY AFLOAT. petual succession of figures, whirling in a circle to the ceaseless cry of the officers, " Heave round, heave round, my lads !" at first dazzled my eyes, and soon rendered me giddy. The anchor being " hove up," and sail made on the ship, she gracefully yielded to the pressure of her canvass, and soon entered a sea, highly agitated by the opposition of the wind and tide. As my giddiness increased, I clung to the railing of the lee gangway; my sight began to fail, yet to complain I knew was useless: sea- sickness, like the tooth-ache, excites little sym- pathy. One of the stay-sail sheets flapping about now swept my hat overboard; and, as I stooped to trace its descent, a violent retching and deadly sickness overpowered me. Just then I heard a loud laugh, accompanied by a sneering compliment from the lieutenant, upon the youngster's punctuality in " casting up his ac- counts" so soon : — this insult totally unnerved me; home — kindred — parents — flashed on my recollection; and, hanging helplessly my bare I V .1 rillST DAY AFLOAT. 81 head over the side, I abandoned myself to my grief, and wished I had never been born. The object of this memoir of the first few hours afloat can hardly be misunderstood. It cannot fail to assist youth in balancing the account as to the inducements and discourage- ments to embrace the profession. It must, how- ever, be a subject of congratulation to their parents, as well as of satisfaction to officers themselves, on the score of personal feeling, that, however just the picture here drawn, many desirable regulations have been introduced into the Navy since 1800, so as to soften down the asperities of command, and remove those stum- bling-blocks which are too often wantonly flung in the path of enterprizing young men, on en- tering a profession, whose duties are at all times sufficiently laborious, responsible and arduous. c3 A MELfiE. CORNWALLIS'S RETREAT; WITH THE FIRST OF JUNE : A GALLEY STORY. That sailors are a remarkably plain, down- right race, no man acquainted with their cha- racter will deny. Devoid of all guile, a seaman never seeks to disguise his object; though he may sometimes be found " veering and hauling" to get rid of some difficulty which he imagines lies in his way. His narrative resembles a ship's course in working to windward, which is fain to yield obliquely to the blast, in order to weather her object indirectly, and fetch her port If: (■■ A Ml^LEJi. 23 in the end: for though in a conversational cruize he may make twenty digressions, and fly off in chase of every strange sail heaving in sight,, no sooner has he ** run-'em down," than he will " close-haul his wind," and resume his original course — as in the following sketch of Cornwallis*s celebrated retreat. I • " Come, Jem, spin us a yarn," says one of the forecastlemen to another, one night as we were cruizing in company with the " Channel fleet" which were blockading Brest. — " Come, Jem, you've neither tipped us a stave, or spun us a twist this week." — " Well, as it's a fine moon- light night," says Jem, " and no signs of reefing, and moreover, as that 'ere * jib-and-staysail Jack'* * A nick-name given by men-of-war's-men to those officers, who, from either inexperience or an unnecessary display of the martinet, torment the men,,when a ship is attached to a fleet, by perpetually " making and shortening sail" to keep her in her station. c4 24 A M^LKK. U hasn't charge o' the deck, but a gemman, as can keep the ship in her station with ut worry- ing the watch — I doesn't care if I do. *' Well, I believe I was telling you t'other night, there was three or four o' us drafted from the Brunswick, seventy-four, into the Billyruffin^ — (the Ball-o'-rope-yarns, you know) — a ship as seed more sarvice nor any other what swam the seas. I did my duty in both ships alike — bow- man o* the barge, and second-captain o' the fore- top — and, though I says it that shouldn't, could toss a bow-oar and haul-out a weather earinir with any fellow in the fleet. Well, you see, the time I means, we belonged to a squadron of five sail o' the line, two frigates and a brig, under old Billy blue,t as brave a fellow as ever wore * Bellerophon. — It is a curious coincidence, that this ship, which will be found in naval history to have been more frequently engaged with the French than any other British man-of-war, should have been the ship on board of which Buonaparte took refuge after his flight from Waterloo. ■|- Admiral Comwallis. . r : % A M^LEK. 25 !l a flag ; and as we were running along the land one morn, close aboard the Penmarks, you see — to conitre, as they calls it, a French squadron as was skulking in Billile anchorage — down comes a galley-packet on the lower deck, to say as how the Fee-aton frigate had diskivered more nor thirty sail of the enemies* fleet standing-out on a wind, with every titch they cotld crack. Well, you know, before you could turn the quid in your mouth, there was a nitty fore and aft in the ship. " We'd three or four bullocks 'twixt the guns on the main deck, we'd got from a ship as either comed from Cawsand or Torbay ; and blow me if I don't think they nosed the French were in sight, for they tarned to a-bellowing like a bunch of boatswains. Well, just as we'd turned the hands-up make sail, one on 'em breaks from his birth (seeing as how it wasn't for the second- captain of the fore-top to be lagging astarn on the forecastle ladder) : he runs aboard o' me tail o'nend, takes me clean under the counter with 1 ■ » ■ ". ■ »! ■ ■ » ! ■ ■ij.'. ' ajii ^1^ A m£;lek. one of his horns, and heaves me from the waist half way up the weather fore rigging, over the heads of ail the other topmen." — " Why, Jem, a send like that was enough to have started your starn-post," said one of the group which had assembled between the sick-bay and starboard side of the galley-grate. ** It's as true as I am here," said Jem, ^* and I took such a liking to the beast for it, that a'ter he was killed, cut-up in the coppers, and his hide hung-out on the spritsail-yard-arm, I gives a half-pint o' grog to the butcher to make a marlingspike out o' the very dientical horn what gave me the heave. ** Well, howsomever, we clapped on the can- vass, and badgered along * on a bowline' : all night, as we stood at our quarters, we were trim- ming, tacking, manuvring, and taking every 'wan- tage o' the wind, what was weering and bawling just like the pull of a backstay-fall; but it oftner favoured the French — for at day-light, you see, they weathered our wake, coming up with us, * hand over fist,' in three different divisions. A M^I.^'K. " Well, there was the Brunswick and we in the Ruffin* lagging together aslarn — (for it wasn't in the natur of neither to run from an enemy's fleet) — and, as they never larnt it from no one afore, no, not a leg would they willingly budge. Both on us started our water — cut our bower- anchors away — bundled o'er-board the boats from the booms — and did every thing mortal could think on to shove 'em along. " * Well,' says Sam Smith (as was one o' the Brunswickers afore, and quartered with me in the top at the time) — * Jem,' says he, fixing his eye like a firret, and fetching a heave from his heart, as he looked at the ship as his brother was killed in — * Jem,' says Sam, * I've just been a-thinking the Barky f was born'd to be bang'd. — I'll bet you,* says he, * aye, six months' pay to your plush'l (for it happened that day I was * cook * An «bbreviati(M for Bellerophon. f Barh/— sailors' slang for a favourite ship. I On board a man-of-war, the cooks of the messes have a perquisite of the overphis grog that may remain in the * kid ' or can, after the cup has gone round. i] ] 1' 28 A MELEK. o' the mess') — ' she's sarved-out as she was the First 0* June* " Aye, that was the day — and had more on *em stuck to their birds like the Brunswick, there had been less breezes and bloody-noses at Sally-port- stairs.* — I shall never forget it as long as I live — we'd been trying for three days afore to bring Crappo to box,f but t'was only our weathermost ships (the Jluffin among 'em) what skrimaged at all on the first day ; and as for the second day's work — why, the less we says of it the better. Then, you know, on the third and fourth, both flyers and fighters was humbugged with fogs — though the 31st, to be sure, we might have brought 'em to a general scratch afore dark; but the Admiral wisely refar it for day-light — for * It is a well-known fa' ••, that many hard-fought battles took place here, between the boats'-crews of Lord Howe's fleet, after the action of the first of June. When Jack cannot have fight in one way he will have it in another. f The reader will here perceive that Jack, in his usual circum- locutory way, lias lost sight for awhile of Cornwallis's retreat, to describe the part the Brunswick took in the battle of the /V/i/ of June 179t. TV A M^LEK. 29 Black Dicky* you see, was summet deep in dis- carnment. ** Howsomever, the first o' the month was fixed for the fray. About five in the morning, just as the fog clears up, there was the Ruffin (first as usual), with the signal flying for the enemies* fleet in sight, nor'-west. There they was sure enough, about three or four points on the bow to leeward, — formed in a long line-o*-battle a-head upon the larboard tack — and over their heads there hangs a cloud as black as a hearse ; as if, like the morn- ing rainbow,f it comed from aloft to warn the poor devils of their doom. Well, we cracks on, like 'smoak and oakum,* till we brings *em a-beam ; when just as the bell strikes six, up goes the signal to * bear-up-together a-breast' — then for the * van to attack the enemies* van' — then for the * centre the centre* — the * rear the rear' — and for * every ship to break the line,* and bang her bird. * Nick-name given to Lord Howe in those days, f " A rainbow in the morning Is a sailor's warning." V. 90 A M^LEK. ' Four signals was made one a*ter t'other, when one might have served; but the Admiral, you see, was determined tJiey shou'dn't mistake him again. — I knows all about it, you see, for in the B. I was quartered on the poop at the signals. — Well, down we runs, three or four miles; when the Admiral, both ways bent for a belly-full, makes the general signal for breakfast — and many's the brave fellow that never bolted another. Well, you know, *twas no time to be nice for stowing away ground-tier grub — so you may suppose every man was at his gun in a crack; and ntvc; mind, in closing with Crappo, if we didn't buy . with his raking broadsides. Howsomever, we was bent on the same ourselves, for just as we was passing the starn of our reg'lar anniversary in the line, and giving her a job for the glaziers abaft — her second astarn, thinking to cross our hawse and bang it tight into our bows, puts her helm a-port, just at the very moment we claps ours a starboard to luff under the lee of the Shields* — * L'Achille. ! / \ I A M^L^K. n so slap alongside of each other we comes, as loving as a pair of pet devils. There was both of us rubbing together our bends, like a couple of lighters ; and so close we clung to our bird what we clawed like a cat, 'twas mortally unpossible to haul-up one-half of our lower deck ports — so, to shorten the matter, we blows *em clean out with the bull-dogs, and sets to a-barking and biting like Britons. Well, the ship what we grappled was called — (let's see, was't the lee — or the la, — though it must be the lee to be sure, 'kase she was to leeward of we all the while) — aye, I'm par- fectly right, it was the lee — the lee-Wengure was her name — which signifies Wengeance in Eng- lish — and, with a wengeance, she fought to the last. ** 'Twas exactly four bells* when we opened our fire in the Brtmswickt — and at seven or so when the Captain (God bless him !) received his death-wound. If bravery is rewarded aloft, and the sarvices of a seaman is not overlooked, he's * Ten o'clock in the forenoon. Z' 32 A mAlek. * A nautical pbrasei signifyuig ships which run without convoy. '( e \\ V CAPTAIN » PRIVATE LOO. 41 \i i Stupidity at high-water mark— tide turns at top of table — champagne operates. — Flag forgetting the furmals ;— opens his fire to port— suddenly silenced by look from female flag — ^grey mare — Mem, ** Too much familiarity breeds contempt." — Cloth removed — happy release.— Random shots from galleoner levelled at ^adies— regular rakers — ^hard hits- -cut up consequence — wound pride — **pomp and vanity anu-matrimonial properties." — " Proud giHs like rusty guns, iirver go off "— " Remain on hands" — " O) \ maids" — " Shoved on theshelf" — "Lap-dofijsat h'st." — "Tuffs — visible effects of anger — al ern te Yoric and Lancaster — wine declined. — Absence of Admiral, conseijaunt embargo on decanters in port — ^port in decanters. — Nuts cracking — rev jokes. — Dessert despatched — toast — silence resumed.— ^Somniferous symp- toms apparent: gaping 'long the larboard line, ditto starboard. — Admiral's top-lights begin- ning to i'rjik — secretaries sealed; — roused by itinerant fidlers in the street striking-up " We're a' Ni»dding ;" and " Home, sweet Home." — Mem, V * a LEAVES FROM A ») Thought home more sweet than ever. — " Music hath charms." — Bottle on the filtrt. — Female flag prepares to weigh.— Reeves running, and top- gallant-studding-sail geer.— Motions observed by daughters — followed by ditto-*-fumble fingers of gloves — " heave short" — " cast to port" — ^fill- make all possible sail — part co. — Mem. Satisfac- tory faces mutual. — ** Squadron close round Ad- miral"— ditto released from conjugal restrictions. — Affected facetiousness — captains conversable-^ reserve resumed by flag. — Interesting interroga- tories — novelties; — " Sail well?" — " Weatherly ship ?"— « Good sea-boat?"— « Well mann'd?"— ** Many mids ?"— Dignified duty performed.*— Deplorable solemnity. — Silence again broken. — Commissioner starting subject of yacht-sailing — severe remarks upon proprietors aping men- of-war*s-men— folly of observing complimentary forms — farcical parade of " piping f ,e, " * and peers 'i * ii * It is a well-known fact the proprietors of some of the private yachts now-a-d(>ys 'nsist on having the same honours paid then) as captains of men-of-war are accustomed to receive on board \\ CAI»TA1N S PRIVATE LOG. 43 wearing pendants — unanimous determination to douse them. — Mem. " So much for Buckingham," Shakspeare. Discussion dropped — ^wine on the wane — *' stoppers over all" — " glass of Madeira ?" — Mem. Signal for sailing — prepare to weigh — weigh — follow flag in succession to drawing-room — rouse ladies from loungers — Query, Asleep. — Hoist in coffee — stow away tea — Mem. Scald de- spatched — signal squad " have permission to part company*' — ditto prepares to trip and salute — dexterous finesse of female flag— detains gal- leoner— obvious preparations for pleasantry* — Squad salute and part co. for Crown — mystery unravelled upon arriving without — shouts of laughter within — musi^ and amusements com- mence. — Mem. Pleasures of a Port Admiral's Dinner, a Problem, Q £ D. their respective ships : and there are, we regret to say, cases of oliicers, who, having accepted the command of these vessels, still submit, extraordinary to relate, to the degradation of being ex- cluded from the chief cabin, when there are dinners given on board, though compelled on such occasions to take their meal apart with the steward.— This is insult with a vengeance ! t I / V, NAVAL INVENTIONS. \ An observation has often been made, and it is to be regretted with too much truth, that in pro- portion to the period of years which have elapsed since England and America became, respectively, great maritime powers, fewer mechanical im- provements have been made and adopted in our navy than in that of the comparatively infant state. To acquire a knowledge of the cause to which this may be attributed, it would be necessary, perhaps, to take into consideration the striking disparity between the Navies of England and America, and contrast the relative maritime re- sources of the two countries. NAVAL INVENTIONS. 4^ It must be obvious, that the capability of America, and the maritime resources she pos- sesses for the maintenance of her existing navy, are much greater than those possessed by Eng- land to maintain the enormous force she feels it necessary to keep afloat. In this estimate must be included the excessive incidental expense of constant repairs of all vessels in commission, or in " ordinary," with the weighty charge of dock- yards and naval stations, all mostly kept up, whether during peace or war, in diflerent parts of Great Britain and our foreign possessions. Our naval force may be calculated at present, as between 120 and 130 sail of vessels of war in commission, which are to be provided with sta- tions, repairs and equipments, even in time of peace ; whilst the American force consists of one or two line-of-battle ships, and perhaps half-a- dozen frigates, which, though comparatively few, are sufficient for her wants. There is, besides, a stricter attention to economy throughout the civil service of the navy (though certainly no V 46 NAVAL INVENTIONS. III I; f y V. II parsimony is ever observable on board in tlreir armaments, equipments, or munitions of war). The American navy, therefore, acting seldom together, but detached, though maintained at less expense, not unfrequently startles by its unex->> pected appearance on stations, where it is matter of surprise to most, that with so small a force, she can spare from the protection of her trade vessels of war on detached services at so great a distance from her own shores. The whole mys- tery, however, may be explained in a word : it is more easy to equip with celerity and effect a squadron, than a fleet, and a single ship, than either* These, however, are not the only advan- tages which have proved so conducive to the improvement of her navy. A commander of an American man-of-war is not so confined to re- stricted regulations or antiquated systems, that any improvement he may suggest, as the result of either practical experience or scientific research, will not be attentively considered and fairly put to the test. Instead of difficulties being thrown in his way by '1 »'. I J i\ NAVAJ. INVENTIONS, jealous artisans, or prelecting underlings in dock- yards, if his plan or suggestion is approved by disinterested and competent judges, it is imme- diately adopted in his ship. Hitherto it has not been the case in th« navy of England ; although ingenuity has in some instances met its reward, it has not till very lately received from official sources considerable encouragement. _ Formerly^ the difficulty under which a projector laboured was two-^fold :— the prejudices in favour of old institutions, and of the. existing state and' coni^ dition of every thing afloat, were to be combated and dispelled before it was safe to attempt to demonstrate the value of a proposed improve- ment.* The old school of seamen, consisted, and still consists, of the most prejudiced beings iii * It has been said, that eleven years elapsed before any of the public Boards could be prevailed on to even look at the ingenioiu and scientific plan of Captain Schanks (r. n.) for constructing vessels, with "sliding keels,"— .Hy perseverance he, however, suc« ceeded in obtaining so favourable a report from the Navy Boani^ that two vessels were ordered to be built at Deptford, of thirteen tons each> exactly similar in all respects in regard to dimensions $ ;i 4S NAVAL INVENTIONS. ? i-1 i existence ; nothing novel, in their opinion, was or is either safe or available. They revered, with a species of idolatry, every thing on the old plan, however tardy the process, or cumbrous the machinery; whilst they recoiled like a rusty carronade at the very name of a novel invention, which affected either to lessen manual labour or promote despatch. The most obvious im- provements were ungraciously acknowledged, and rarely, if ever, adopted by the Navy Board, who imagined they had already obtained the acme of perfection in nautical knowledge ; and that im- iii El' ~«ne being formed on the old construction, and the other flat- bottomed, with sliding keels. " In 1790, a comparative trial took place, in presence of the Commissioners of the Navy, on the river Thames, each having the same quantity of sail; and although the vessel formed on the old model had leeboards, a greater quantity of ballast, and two river pilots on board, yet Capt. Schanks, with three sliding keels, beat the other, to the complete satisfiEiction of all present, one-half of the whole distance sailed."—- There is, doubtless, a little exaggeration here as to the universality of the satisfection evinced. The honourable commissioners, who re- sisted the improvement so long, could scarcely have participated in it. ^i\ NAVAL INVENTIONS. 49 provement in seamanship, or in naval architec- ture, was impossible, subsequent to a certain fixed period, yclep'd " the days of Howe," and " the days of Duncan ;" which was as constantly in their mouths as their tobacco (for in those days the honourable commissioners did not turn up their nose, as they do now, at the ruminating luxuries of a quid, as beneath any thing but a topman or a waister). In the early part of the French revolutionary war, Mr, Maurice itOJinson, in the House of Commons, went at length into the subject " of the inferiority of our ships to those of the French in point of sailing, and detailed the fatal results which in consequence followed to our trade." On that occasion. Admiral Gardener (one of the Lords of the Admiralty at the time) replied : " that the complaint against the Lords of the Admiralty, with respect to the construction of vessels, was not well-founded : it being not their business to attend to it, but the ' Surveyors of the Navy.' He however candidly admitted that VOL. I. E • . ill u U 'i 50 NAVAL INVENTIONS. mi )}l the French ships in general outsailed us, or were on a better construction : and ours would be equally so, could some mode be adopted of procuring models upon a better plan. In France, premiums were held out to those who produced the best models for ships of the line ; these were referred to the Academy of Sciences for their approbation and selection ; and he was convinced, if also premiums were offered in this country, our naval architecture would essentially improve." The celebrated Mr. Henry Dundas (the late Lord Melville) next contended that " the reason of our remaining content with the imperfect con- struction of our vessels of war, was partly attri- butable to our confidence in the superior bravery of our officers and > seamen, who, it was well known, cared little for the build*^ of their vessels. 1 f * In tbi& particular, Mr. D. was completely "out in his reckon- ing "—for it is well known, captains of men-of-war have ever evinced the greatest anxiety about the " sailing " of their sliips^ and some have more strictly attended to their *Urim " than even to their "fighting-order." ... NAVAL INVENTIONS. M or con- attri- ravery well vessels, \ '^l provided they Imil but room to figlit ; and partly to the culpable neglect shewn to the prqjecta of scientific men, which were too frequently derided and contemned,^ Of the enemies of Sijience and improvement, it is to be regretted too many formerly, and a few in later times, have even had the command of vessels in his Majesty's service, or held respon- sible situations on shore ; and, as a natural con- sequence, the interests, and sometimes the honour of the service, have been sacrificed to a fatal prejudice, or that natural inertness of ill-inform- ed minds, which is more than a match for the energy of improvement and vigour of invention, from the circumstance of its concealing its hos- tility under the covered way of a blunt honest dread of all innovation. How often during the war have naval officers, (expressly for the purpose of guarding against evils which they considered almost pregnant with national disgrace) proposed improvements which have invariably met with official rejection, with- E 2 I 1; V rni If 52 NAVAL INVENTIONS. out any otiier reason assigned tlmn the mere • cool formal objection, " that their adoption wouUI be contrary to the eMabliahed regulations of the service ;" that is to say, contrary to the anti- quated notions entertained by the old firm of Messrs. Benbow and Company. It may be argued, that some definite line ought to be drawn as to the encouragement of suggestions for improving the equipment of extensive establishments, were it only to act as a check on the capricious and experimental : — granted : — such an argument is not without its weight in the scale. But when the error of any established system is calmly ex- posed, or an appropriate and manifest improve- ment suggested and demonstrated; and wlien it is proved that its adoption must lead to the attainment of important and desirable results, would it not be more conducive to the interests of the service that the Navy Board ^ sanctioned • It would be injustice not to admit that, nt present, a more liberal spirit prevails at the Navy Board, wliioli, however, may not ' be unattributable to the example set by the Hoard of Admiralty f' ' NAVAL INVENTIONS. 53 such suggestions, tit least so fur as to give them a trial, or refer them to practical and on several recent occasions. The experiments lately tried, as to the qualities and superior requisites in the sailing of ships built by the rival architects, Professor Inman, Sir Robert Seppings, and Captain Hayes, redound much to tlic credit of botli Boards, and cannot fail to throw most important lightx on the art of ship- building. As one of the results of the encouragement afforded to im- provement recently suggested, we liave to congratulate the ser- vice on the late appointment by the Lords Commissioners of a committee, consisting of that highly distinguished officer Sir Wm. Hoste, and others, to report upon an ingenious and very desirable improvement in the management of carronades in action. The result of the experiment, which originated with Lieutenant Hai- lahan, who served many years under that entorprizing officer Captain Usher, was as follows : Two eighteen-pound carronades were placed in separate launches, and fitted in the usual way for service. One of the carronades was fitted with Licutenuiit Hallalian's spring. Each boat was supplied with twenty-five rounds of powder and shot : the carronade of Lieutenant Halla- Iian's invention, on the new construction, was worked by only three men, whilst that on the old principle was worked by eight men. Both carronades commenced firing at the same time, at a signal given by Sir Win. Hoste. The gun on the new principle e3 NAVAL INVENTIONS*. 1/ i' W i i impartial men for their decision, rather than shelter themselves from the odium of a personal refusal by a tenacious adherence to formal regu- lations and unworthy prejudices, which have only tended to retard improvement and discourage in- genuity? Yet, notwithstanding the many diffi- culties with which naval officers had formerly to contend, previous to the introduction of their plans into the service, it has invariably hap- pened that the most important improvements that have been made in the navy have not only been introduced by naval officers, but fre- quently have been adopted on their own re- sponsibility. What avails any of those inventions which was fired thirteen rounds in the space of six minutes and twenty- six seconds : the gun on the old plan fired only eight rounds in the same time.— Could it have been so managed, it would have been desmtble that the rest of the maritime world should not have been thus imprudently acquainted with a secret, which may here- after militate materially against its inventoris. — It can hardly be doubted tliat the invention will be generally adopted in our service. • 1 i\ ..'^'.tiyf&j-.' NAVAL JNVKNTION8. 56 • \ liitliLM'to have emanated from the Navy Board* in point of imjjortunce, or practical utility, com- * The principal arc iron knees, round stems, and diagonal decks, with others of minor consequence. The two latter ori- ginated with Sir Robert Seppings. If, however, the important improvements in naval architecture be traced to thci;' inventors, it will be discovered that the profession owes much more to the i ingenuity of navul officers, than to our shipwrights. In confir- mation of this observation, it will be only necessary to add to the names already enumerated those lights of naval science, Captains (since Admirals) Schank, and Middleton (subsequently Lord Bar- ham), and Patton. The last, though certainly not the least in point of authority, most pertinently observes, in a letter to Sir Charles Middleton several years ago, that " Nothing has more tended to impede the extension of the knowledge of the theory or scientific part of naval architecture, among those professional men in this country who rise to fill the highest offices in that de- partment, than the very contracted mode of their education in tlie King's yards, where they certainly learn to become excellent practical ship-builders, but have, in general, a very limited know- ledge of the theory on which it is founded. As it is no part of their duty to form draughts to build from^ it becomes a small part of their study. The consequence is, when they come to fill that department, where it is their duty, a want of skill to make improvements obliges them to copy, the errors of their predeces- sors." With a view to remedy this evil. Captain Patton not only pointed out a system to " assist young persons in the attainment £ 4 ;| 'I ! 66 NAVAL INVENTIONS. pared with those of Captains Pakenham, Phillips, Brown,* Burton, Truscott, and others! Pre- vious to the introduction of Captain Truscott's " Force-Pump," for obtaining fresh water from the hold without disturbing its stowage, the decks of a man-of-war, in consequence of the practice then resorted to of getting at her daily supply, bore a greater resemblance (pending the opera- tion) to a wholesale cooperage than a battery, from the quantity of empty cases with which they were unavoidably lumbered. This frequently created the greatest confusion, by constantly impeding the performance of important evolu- tions ; such as " making sail in chase," or clear- ing suddenly for action. How embarrassingly might a ship in those days have been situated, ij^ in this lumbered condition, she had been surprised by an enemy in a fog, and brought to close action before she could possibly have cleared for the of this most useful art," but, we believe, was the original pro- moter of the present institution, established expressly for this purpose at Portsmouth dock-yard. * Inventor of the chain cable. V \ I NAVAL INVENTIONS. 37 encounter ! Here, obviously, no one would have been to blame if the ship had struck to the enemy, and her loss would have been attributable solely to ignorance of this important improvement, which could hardly have originated with any other than an intelligent officer, who had practically experienced the inconvenience of the existing system. None but an ingenious seaman would have thought of constructing a temporary rudder out of a top-mast and its cap ;* and it was reserved * By the following extract of a letter addressed to the " So- ciety of Arts and Sciences," from the late Admiral Cornwallis, it will be seen how highly this invention of Sir Thomas Fakenham was appreciated by that gallant and excellent seaman :— " I do therefore certify that, on our getting on shore in his Majesty's ship the Crown, under my command, our rudder was unshipped and rendered totally useless, by having all the pintles broke short off; and, on our anival in the Downs, we got the rudder up alongside the ship, and having the plan of Captain Pakenham's substitute for a rudder on board, I ordered the spare-cart to be fitted exactly similar to the plan ; wliich, when done, we hung it, witii great ease, and hove it close to the stern- post by the top-chains and hawsers, fixed to the eye-bolts of the cap, and brought it forward. We found it answer extremely well . >-,' * 1 ii NAVAL INVENTIONS. ft 1 B. '. for an officer* of experienced seamtuiship to appreciate the value, and of superior mechanical ability to originate, mature, and complete the invention for applying, as occasion might require, an increase of power to the cajjstern,' as ah in- valuable and highly convenient substitute for manual labour. It would be superfluous to dwell longer upon the numerous inventions introduced bv naval officers, or the numbers which, though matured and completed, have been lost for a time to the service for want of patronage and proper en- couragement, though they frequently find their way into the world subsequently with a new it had a very fair trial ; for we were two days beating to windward, under close-reefed top-sails, and sometimes aheavysfca; and I have not the least doubt, had we lost our rudder,, and had been obliged to have made use of Captain Pakenhana's, it would have answered in every respect ; and it is not only my opinion, but likewise the opinion of all my ofhcers, that it a Juid conduct a ship to any part of tlic world." " Wm. Cohnwallis.'-' ^- '' JL M. S/iij> Crown, Feb. dt/h nS9." • Captain Phillips, H. N. ' ill I \ NAVAL INVENTIONS. 50 name, under the fostering genius of some naval mechanist at the dock-yard, to whom the inven- tion had, in evil hour, been referred, to ascer- tain the value or eligibility of the unpatronized original. , ii •'«. 'i* » •♦! i'- , .>......v9 NAVAl, ANOMALIEH. .,! I i i inattention of others in neglecting to make up their respective accounts, which thus forms an insuperable barrier to passing those of their superior. When this is signified officially from the Board, they uniformly accompany the intimation of his pay being stopped by subscribing themselves the unhappy man's " affectionate friends." This instance of kindly profession and unkind practice will, perhaps, remind the reader of an autograph now in the records of one of the kings of England, which, after designating a noble de- faulter in allegiance by all his titles of honour, orders his immediate execution by cutting off the head of his " trusty and well-beloved cousin." " MORE YES THAN NO." nl It has hee« a custom in the service ever since we had a rrgnlar navy, for the sentinel on the » > NAVAL ANOMALIES. 63 gangways to challenge all boats approaching the ship at night. This is done first with a view to prevent surprise and ensure the vigilance of the watch, and next to ascertain the rank of the officer who may be coming alongside. This latter object is effected in so strange a manner, and in language which to the uninitiated may appear to partake so closely of the nature of a secret cypher (if such a phrase be admissible), that its notice may with strict propriety be introduced under the present head of Naval Anomalies. In the first instance the challenge thus comes from the sentinel, " Boat ahoy !" — ^if it be a captain, the answer will be " Griper,** " Growlery'' or the name of the ship he commands : by this techni- cality his rank is immediately recognized, and preparation for his reception is made accordingly. If it be a lieutenant, the answer to the hail " ^Qdt- ahoy," will be " Holloa !" — The sentinel then says, " Coming here ?" — the reply from the boat will be *' Aye ! aye !" — This at once denotes his rank. But, strange to say, in the case of a midshipman. r V (i ^■!i i ; i NAVAL ANOMALIES. his reply to the first challenge, " Boat-ahoy," is uniformly, though most inexplicably, given in the negative, " No, no ! " All doubts, are, however, cleared by the answer to the second interrogatory, " Coming here?'' — which is in the affirmative, " Yes" It would be difficult to account for the necessity of this cir- cumlocution, unless it be, that, in compliance with the regulations for securing to young gentlemen the benefit of vernacular instruction on board men-of-war, this mode of reply is enjoined as a practical exposition of that rule of English gram- mar, that two negatives are equivalent to an affir- mative; otherwise, it would appear that a Mid is the only officer who is privileged, possibly virUtte Juventutis, on these occasions to hang-oiit at first false colours, and after\\-irds to change his mind. . > d pealing to a swior's feelings, as young Lieutenant Echo, contem- plating his success with the &ir, exclaims to Brilliant—" Oh! searand skies ! I am so happy ! I am made Pott / / / " NAVAL ANOMALIES. 78 ' It is not unfair to infer that this step may be retraced, from recollecting the fate of a somewhat similar regulation in the army with respect to the uniform of subalterns. On the appointment of Sir Henry Dundas, as commander-in-chief of the forces, as if to render himself unpopular, ahnost the first regulation he adopted, with respect to the dress of this class of officers, was to deprive them of the bullion epaulette, and substitute instead a contemptible thing of fringe. It was soon dis- covered that these officers were no longer saluted, as they were wont to be, by foreign troops. His Royal Highness, with his characteristic good sense, on resuming the command of the army, restored them to the enjoyment of those honours which had been forfeited by this silly regulation. Innovations and changes, with respect to the symbols of value or rank, are productive, either in the service or our commercial relations, of inconveniencies never contemplated. Before the late coinage (a measure which, in all instances but one, merits public gratitude), the old Eng- u NAVAL ANOMALIES. Hsb guinea had attained a preference and facility in circulation beyond that of any coin of any other realm : its value had been ascertained by the standard of every other coin, and its face familiarized as an old acquaintance in every country. The armorial bearings of our kings disappeared; and an usurper, who founded his title on fable, rode into the field of gold, and robbed legitimacy of its ancient honours. A new sovereign assumed a sway over commerce, which was only tardily acquiesced in by strangers, from doubts as to its want of weight, and the trouble of ascertaining its relative value. The old Eng- lish guinea had been, throughout the world, admitted to speak all languages — the sovereign spoke none. k NAVAL AUTHORS. He travels and expatiates — as the bee From flower to flower, so be from land to land : The manners, customs, policy, of all Pay contribution to the store he gleans. He sucks intelligence in every clime. And spreads the honey of his deep research At his return — a rich repast for me. He travels, and I too. I tread his deck, Ascend his topmast, through his peering eyes Discover countries— with a kindred heart Suffer his woes, and share in his escape ; While fancy, like the finger of a clock. Runs the great circuit, and is still at home. COWPEIU ( It must be a subject of congratulation with the profession at least, if not participated by the public, that in this age of increased and utcreas- ing thirst after knowledge, there are some splen- did examples amongst our naval officers to prove they are not uninfluenced by the prevailing senti- 76 NAVAL AUTHOltS. \) ment of improvement ; nor incompetent coadju- tors in the arduous task of developing truth, and ■-—what, perhaps, is more valuable-r^ndeavouring to dispel error. The value of their co-operation is enhanced by comparisons with that of the officers of other maritime countries, whose writings savour so lArongly, particularly French authors, of any thing but grave, patient, and deliberate examination of appearances and facts. Many of the latter have a character of exaggeration, and an affectation of the marvellous in the materiel and style, which, however desirable in a work of fiction or romance, must ever prove an insuperable bar to obtaining precise and definite ideas on subjects of science, or drawing fair logical inferences from natural appearances. It would be unfair, whilst on the subject of ex- cellent composition generally, to pass unnoticed (though it be a naval despatch) a specimen which has bedn considered above all praise. To the scholar or seaman it is almost unnecessary to rvi' NAVAL AUTHORS. 77 say we allude to the celebrated memoir of the battle of Trafalgar ; * a production which, though composed in a moment of considerable anxiety, and under the pressure of the most serious re- sponsibility, stands unrivalled for the modesty and moderation of its tone, whilst announcing the most signal victory, the homage of a brave spirit to vanquished valour in the foe, and the most affecting tribute of manly grief for his own and his country's loss, in the death of the im- mortal Nelson. With reference to the subject of despatches, it is to be regretted that an action, the result of which occasioned buch heartfelt satisfaction and triumph in patriotic spirits, should have been * The annals of no country, ancient or modem, afford any pro- duction, in the nature of a military despatch, worthy of beuig placed in competition with the letter of Lord ColUngwood, and Lord Hutchinson's admirable soul-stirring description of the Battle of Alexandria. To the credit of one of our universities, both productions have been accorded classsic honours, and will be preserved amongst its literary treasures as hek-looms for the benefit of posterity. NAVAL AUTHORS. recorded (owing to Captain Sir Philip Broke being severely wounded) by any other pen than his own. There are few officers, probably, whose known literary attainments better qualified him to give in the language of a despatch, effect and interest to an action * so gallantly fought, and a .'1 * A remarkable resemblance may be traced, between almost every material circumstance of this gallant action, and one fought between a Dutch and English frigate, in the reign of Charles the Second ; the detirils of which, extmcted f^om Campbell's Naval History, are subjoined. It will be seen, that in the circum- stances of the engagement, being the consequence of a challenge, as to the scene of action, which, in both cases, was in sight of a crowd of spectators ashore, and more paiticularly as to the result of British valour, there is the most surprising comeidence. lliat author having premised that the date of this engagement was at a period pending a well-known negociation for peace, between England and Holland, proceeds thust-— " The Dutch Admiral Evertz being in those seas " (the Meditemuieanj " with his squadron, it liappened that Captain De Witte, in a man-of-war called the Sdiaerlaes, which carried thirty-six pieces of cannon, and one hundred and forty men, met with Captain Harman, in tlie Tyger, a small English frigate, which had been careening at lYingier, and came with^him into the harbour of Cadiz, wheie the Dutchmen also careened. The Spaniards, jesting with Captaia I \ NAVAL AUTMOHS. 7f triumph bo heroically completed. However such a circumstance, together with its cause, may be defdored, an imperishable memorial to his fame exists in the gratitude of his country. His is the " Monumentum are ptrenniut." Long may he need no other I De Witte, and telling him that he durst not fight the English ■captain, and that this made them so good friends ; Admiral Evertz hom-d it^ and thereupon told De Witte, that he must, for the honour of his nation, challenge Captain Harman. lie did so ; and his admiral lent him, tliat he might come off with glory, sixty mariners and seventy soldiers. Captain Harman had but 0M hundred and eighty-four men in all : however, at a day's notice, he stood to sea, and fairly engaged the Dutch frigate in sight of the town. Their ships were within pistol-shot before eitlier of them fired: and then Captain Harman's broadside brought the Dutchman's main-mast by the board, and killed and wounded him fourscore men. The English captain followed his advantage, entered tlie enemy's vessel with his resolute crew, and became master of the ship in an hour's time ; but she was quite disabled, and had one liundred and forty men in her killed and wounded. The English had only nine killed, and fifteen wounded, amongst whom was their brave captain, by a musket- shot, which went in at his left eye, and out between the ear and jaw-bone, of which wound he was well cured, and lived several years after." V, 80 NAVAL AUTHORS. .1 It would be difficult to say, whether the jour- nals of Captain Parry have succeeded more in exciting curiosity and interest in the public mind, or in adding important acquisitions to the stock of nautical and geographical information, seconded as he has been by the graphic abilities of Captain Lyon, as well as by this officer's interesting vo- lume, which might be aptly termed the " Say- ings and Doings" of the Esquimaux. The de- tails of the expedition are interesting, ample, and important : but, even in this fruit of knowledge, there is a canker ; let it be attributed, however, to an inherent vice in the art and mystery of publishing, rather than to a deliberate intention in the captain of locking up these stores of information from the generality of readers. The fact, however, is, that no officer, not a man of fortune, can afford to purchase books, indispensable for his professional information and improvement, at their present enormous cost. The worst is, the exorbitant price of £4. 14*. 6d. is justified on the grounds of the expense, labour, ;/ NAVAL AUTHORS. '81 and pains bestowed on the drawings and surveys embodied in the work, when it is well kno vn, that the surveys were contributed to it gratis, by officers sent out from the Admiralty for this express service ; and that the drawings were executed by Captain Lyon, who most hand- somely (though about to publish -a book himself) made them a present to Captain Parry.* ^ Whilst on the subject of surveys, it is unfortu- nately necessary to add, that the same objection as to price may be made to the late publication of Captain Smith, on Sicilian Hydrography, a work not destitute of interest or valuable infor- mation, and which has been the fruit of seven or eight years' labour. His surveys certainly reflect great credit on the skill he has displayed, and trouble expended in applying, on so large * This remonstrance, we regret to learn from our friends, lias been misunderstood as conveying a censure on Captain Parrjr and other authors, whose works are undoubtedly overpriced. Though no Book-makers by profession, we well know that the price of any publication rests entirely with the publisher. VOL. I. <; «»• V 82 NAVAL AUTHORS. ^.M '/- a scale, the improved principle of nautical sur- veying. The engravings of marine scenery, which accompany these charts, are remarkable for pictorial beauty, accuracy, and fidelity. There can be but one opinion of the utility of this work, notwithstanding this surveyor appears to have travelled so far out of his way to attack the veracity of Homer, hitherto considered the most authentic early hydrographer, as well as geographer of antiquity. He has taken, perhaps, more pains than were necessary, after the infor- mation already possessed on the subject, to rob Scylla of its now merely poetical terrors. The extent of this officer's scepticism is such, that it is a matter of surprise, from the sweeping manner in which he assails, as apocryphal, all remote testimony, he did not altogether contest the fact of Colas* being drowned in Charybdis. His readers, however, will be convinced, from the obvious scrupulosity of his research, that, before he could~ have acquiesced even in the truth of this historic fact, he would not have con - n ?ftt'if^i^-iia 1.7-^w .i.\ NAVAL AUTHORS. 88 tented himself, despite of the ages since then elapsed, without at least " dragging" for the body. Nor ought the journal of Captain Franklin be omitted when speaking of works whose style and observation beget in the reader a respect for the author and the profession to which he belongs. This work* is throughout extremely interesting, * There is a passage in this Narrative, page 7, which would lead the reader to the inference, that the Greenlanders " had fair co.iiplexions, rather handsome features, and a lively manner." Captain Franklin was not aware, from his ignorance of their language, that the two individuals from whose appearance this inference is attempted to be drawn, as it was subsequently dis- covered (not by Captain Franklin, but by other intelligent offi- cers), were in foct the children of an European Moravian mission- ary. The subsequent details in this paragraph, would convey an impression rather unjust to the zeal and labour of the missionaries, who have for many years been successfully employed in the dis- semination of the Gospel on these inhospitable shores. Captain Franklin states, as a piece of interesting information, " The Com- mander of the vessel (the Harmony) gave me a translation, of the Gospel of Saint John in the Esquimaux language, printed by the Moravian Society in London." What would have been his surprise, if he had been made acquainted with the circumstance, that all the Gospels — in fact, the whole of the New Testament, G 2 •4P^^ . • ,.... ..JV \' V if I 84 NAVAL AUTilOIlS. although it bears obvious marks of its being a compilation by several hands. But who would not be interested by such a tale of woe ? The contributions and exertions of Dr. Richard- son and Mr. Back reflect great credit on their zeal and intrepidity; but, without allowing the judgment to be prejudiced in the least by his sufferings and tragical end, it is impossible not to infer, from the details of this ill-fated expedition, that Mr. Hood was, of all the intelligent young seamen of the day, most calculated, from the early promise he gave of habits of close investiga- tion and uncommon vigour of mind, to excel in with the exception of eighteen chapters of the Revelation of St. John — bad been published in the Esquimaux language, previously at least to tlie year 1821, and that the version has since been completed ? His book was published in the middle of the year 1823. Taking into consideration the little acquaintance we have with this almost-unknown tongue, this not " lex, scdf lingua non scripta,'" it is rather a remarkable circumstance, that, publishing in 1833, he should not have done more justice to the research and intelligence which characterized efforts, whose difficulties might have appalled any other than Christian missionaries. - \ k\ NATAL AUTHORfl. 85 conducing to the interests of ?.ience. That part of the Narrative furnished by him, although it Viust have been written on the spot, without opportunities of revisal or correction, by a man in the last stage of disease and famine, in a climate thirty or forty degrees below zero, is so justly deserving of praise, that there can be no doubt, had he lived, he would have realized the expectations of his most sanguine friends : "■ Mul- tis ille bonis flebilis occidif" After all, the intense interest which this work excites is attributable io a feeling any thing but creditable to, though inseparable from our nature: which derives a reflective pleasure from the posi- tive pangs of others, and gloats itself in descrip- tions of hitherto unimagined and almost un- imaginable horror and misery. An aiUo-da-fs in Spain, and a massacre of gladiators by savage beasts in antient Rome, became popular ex- hibitions merely by the force of this prin- ciple; and we may safely infer, that Captain Franklin's Narrative would have excited com- G 3 •s. 86 NAVAL AUTHORS. paratively little interest, had not so many of his companions perished in this disastrous ex- pedition. A large pamphlet has been published, under the fictitious signature of " Scrutator" on the "Impracticabilitp of effecting a North- WestPassage for Ships." The able reasoning which this work displays, and the clear and luminous review which the author has taken of every antecedent narrative or commentator on the subject, places this brochure high above the level of ordinary scientific productions. The general inference which he draws, and which is founded on scien- tific data now universally admitted, aided by his own practical observations, is suchas we imagine has been frequently suspected by scientific men, but never before avowed, much less enforced and supported by arguments so able: — namely, that a North- West Passage he is convinced there is, " for water and Jish, but not for ships,* The assumed signature of " Scrutator" could hardly be expected to baffle curiosity as to the real f\ NAVAL AUTHORS. 87 author of a pamphlet of so much merit. It is now generally attributed to Captain Peter Hey- wood, a highly scientific and experienced officer, who served as a midshipman with Captain Bligh in the BoufUy, ^ The last work which has appeared on the subject of the " North-West Passage," is that of Captain Lyon's account of " An unsuccessful Attempt to reach Repulse Bay in His Majesty's ship Griper" , From the previous specimen this officer had given of his literary attainments, the profession was prepared to expect more from his pen than these pages have realized. Both the expedition and its Narrative are failures. The latter assumes rather the character of an apology for his return without having accomplished any of the objects with which he set out, than a plain statement of those facts to which he would attribute his want of success. Indeed, it appears altogether extraordinary, that an officer who had so many opportunities of g4 BR u» KAVAL AUTHORS., acquainting himself with the qualities of a vessel* so ill-calculated to perform a service so important, should not have seen the propriety of pointing out to the proper quarter, defects so apparent to the nautical eye, previously to undertaking the expedition, rather than publicly making, upon his return home, these defects the main grounds of apology for its failure. Had he applied to the Admiralty for another vessel, in all probability, either a survey would have been held on the Griper, or a vessel more adapted for a polar sea would have been immediately fitted for the ser- vice. It is not improbable that, as a young officer. Captain Lyon might have been appre- hensive that any thing like reluctance would have operated with their Lordships to appoint another in his stead. * Some idea may be formed of the fltiiess of this vessel for an " ley sea," when Captain Lyon assures up, "that on many oc- casions, in strong gales, it took a quarter of an hour to get ' the ship before the wind,' after ' the helm was put up,' for the pur- pose of wearing. ".^ Fid*? JS'rtrra^iw, page 98. -f-:v NAVAL AUTHORS. Of the execution of the work, it must be con- fessed, its details are often feeble, and little interesting to men accustomed to professional danger. — I*s, and My*s — good order, and bad luck — are recurring incessantly. The spirit of the story of the Orkney farm evaporates in a , " wee bottle of whisky," and, as might be antici- pated, ends in a bottle of smoke. Our attention, however, is drawn by our author to graver de- tails. — " The oflScers," says he, " sat about wher- ever they could find shelter from the sea; and the men lay down conversing with each other with the most perfect calmness; each was at peace with his neighbour and all the world." Alas ! where were their neighbours ? where was that world ? All hopes of earthly friendship or feelings of enmity were fast fading from their view: the term "world" was one of unmixed endearment; and to have discovered a friendly sail, or to have been boarded by an enemy, would have produced an agony of delight amongst all; But he continues : " And I am perfectly per- \ s 'I f' 90 NAVAL AUTHORS. suaded} that the resignation which was then shewn to the will of the Almighty, was the means of obtaining his mercy. At about six p.m. the rudder, which had already received some very heavy blows, rose, and broke up the after-lockers; and this was the last severe shock which the ship received. We found by the well that she made no water, and by dark she struck no more. God was merciful to us, and the tide, almost mtracu' lauslp, fell no lower." — Now, if at any previous period during the twenty-four hours, whilst in this perilous plight, the tide had fallen no lower (which we are entitled to presume, because no mention is made of it) than at this moment, where was the miracle in their preservation 7 The whole is too much d la HohevUotie ; and the tendency to indulge in preternatural and miracu- lous interposition, may be more effectually re- pressed, by referring them to the subjoined lines of Pope, than by any less orthodox reproof from humbler moralists :— NAVAL AUTHORS. »l V *' Think we, like aome weak Prince, the Eternul CauM Prone for his fav'rites to reverse his laws ? Shall burning iEtna, if a sage requires, Forget to thunder, and recall her flres ? On nit or sea, new motions be imprest. Oh, blameless Bethel ! to relieve thy breast ? When the loose mountain trembles from on high, Shall gravitation cease if you go by? * Or some old temple, nodding to its fall, ' ' For Chartres' head reserve the hanging wall?" Essay on Man, Amongst the candidates for literary fame in the navy, a conspicuous niche must be reserved for Captain Cochrane,* who, tor personal zeal, and intrepid defiance of peril, fatigue and priva- tions, appalling to a man of ordinary nerve, may defy all rivalry. His journal possesses a lively interest which " chains inquisitive attention." He appears the hero of his own romance, though not without occasionally weakening our enthu- siasm by minuteness of detail, or by an overween- * Since this paper went to press, accounts have been received from South America, announcing the deatli of this enterprizing officer. ■ - ■ '• \ U ^ V u ■ ;; t •V NAVAL AUTHORS. ing egotism, venial perhaps only in a traveller so peculiarly circumstanced. Taking into consideration the dangers which would have attended his pedestrian tour amongst the wretched and half-savage people of Asia, his plan was the only one which would have secured him — defenceless, on foot and alone — from insult, robbery, perhaps murder. Had he carried about him even the most frugal funds, he might be said to have borne his own death-warrant. Away, then, with the imputation of meanness, which less inquisitive and enterprising minds would throw on this lonely and gratuitous explorer of coun- tries, whose mere names'*^ are bugbears to snug effeminacy and exquisite refinement. .^ His reflections are often just, though some- times common-place. With a candour which, if we should give credit to public opinion, is little choracteristic of his countrvmen, he fear- lessly expresses his opinion on most subjects. I i Siberia, Kamitfhatka, &c. . »^ iJWft*.- NAVAL AUTIIURy. «J whether in reprobation of the errors or plans of others, or in advocating fhe tliflen^nt speculative projects reconimeit(l^;d in liin work to British enterprize or mercantile capital. His sanguine spirit of speculation may be considered a natural bias — the vice of his race ; yet to precisely this spirit, when felicitously directed, by accident or design, the world is indebted for some of the most splendid improvements and miraculous inventions. Amongst other scientific works on professional subjects (besides the innumerable pamphlets*' * Although the subject of this note cannot with propriety be classed under any of these heads, it is, on more accounts than one, unfit that the pamphlet, entitled " ^n Address to the Officers of His Majesli/*s Navy, by an Old Naval Surgeon," should be per- mitted to pass without observation. Its object is to abolish altogether the promiscuous admission of females on board our ships-of-war in port. He certainly has taken strong ground, with respect to the moral objections he makes to this practice, from which, under other circumstances, we should feel no inclination to dislodge him ; and describes with some truth, though often witli obvious exaggeration, the demoralization and contagion imparted to crews under the present system. «• y ' — ■"t -r . JJT 1\ 94 NATAL AUTHOnS. which have appeared sinje the peace), Sir Henry Heathcote has recently published a treatise upon the cutting and setting of ** staysails," putting his theory to the test of mathematical proof. How- ever elaborate the diagrams, practical proofs must always be preferred on professional points ; and, though the baronet is backed by Euclid, and •\\ He has not, however, though sacrificing to the cant, adopted the quackery, so frequent in the present day with professional and moral reformers ; nor has he ran the risk of committing himself by proposing at once a specific for an evil, which all admit,— «11 deplore,— and for which wiser heads than his, have long since most anxiously sought a remedy in vain. Taking into consideration the discipline observed on board a British man-of-war— the restricted opportunities of gratification which present themselves— the season of life at which sailors er ter, so ill-suited to those long privations which might even dis- turb the frigid self-possession of an anchorite, we must say, that, until some man is found bold enough to propound, undisguisedly and ingenuously, a less exceptionable plan for gratifying natural propensities, with which experience teaches us it is vain to preach or parly, it would be wise, in a case like this, where the alterna- tive would too possibly involve a more serious breach of morality, to recollect the homely but strictly applicable proverb—" Of two evils, choose the least." — Sajnenti verlmm sot. - - - - - - , • --- \ fV NAVAL AUTHORS. 95 assures his readers he is supported in his theory by the opinions of experienced officers, it is not too much here to assert, that the majority of both the new and old school will dispute the utility of staysails, in any shape, set *' upon a wind ;' and few, it is presumed, will approve of the cut of Sir Henry's jib. Lieutenant " Marshall's Biography," must be considered a work of considerable utility and great research, when it is recollected he pur- sues the history of each officer even to the parent stock. Many of his characters are authentic and well drawn : doubtless, he has derived consider- able assistance from the contributions of others. We confess it appears singular there should be so obvious and close a resemblance in the style, and even language of Lieutenant M., in his bio- graphical sketches, to that excellent periodical published many years ago, entitled " Public Characters.* Only that it is said there have Vide also Naval Characters, drawn in " Naval Chronicle." '■- t WWH I iWl^ M I J i n ny ■ )■■ > I . ' iilMiii i w x in II 90 NAVAL AUTHORS. \ < i i, i V been instances of two authors striking on the same idea, and expressing themselves alike, even in words, ' we should be almost disinclined to attribute to Lieutenant M. all the merit of bio- graphical portraits, which, in all that is just and spirited, bear so striking a resemblance to a production published long prior to his, and whicli, therefore, might be uncharitably inferred to have been their original. It is remarkable that, in his enumerations of claimants for honours, he has described more than one officer as having been knighted for his services, whose only claim to that distinction was their having stood proxy for a parent or relative, on the occasion of their being made " Knights of the Bath." Possibly this writer may have read the acrimonious definition given by Voltaire of Biography, and, through an ex- cessive anxiety t » avoid one error, fallen into another : " A new poison," says Voltaire, " has within these few years been invented in low literature — the art of outraging both the living w ' ^1 NAVAL AUTHOnS. 97 n the even led to )f bio- ist and • J to a which, to have Dions of d more for his tinction ent or made writer m given an ex- en into e, "has in low ic living \ and the dead, in alphabetical order." A work like this must be popular, for it is liberal of praise in the extreme — ** Lavdantem Athenienses, Athenis lattdari ••" — besides, " 'Tis pleasant sure to see one's name in print : A book's a book, although there's nothing in't." Hence the Naval Biography will ensure itself, from this circumstance alone, a respectable sale and extensive list of subscribers. In alluding to a work, published under the high-sounding title of " The Naval History of Great Britain,"* an apology is certainly due to * Another work, of a description " quidem decet esse sororem," has just made its appearance — '" A Naval History of Great Britain from the earliest Period, by Captain William Goldsmith, R.N." The first number only had been published when we saw it, and promised an arduous and extensive field of research.— -Query, lias this gentleman's promotion been very recent? Can this be the lieutenant of that name, who lately rendered himself so im> popular with the people of Cornwall, by the demolition of that Druidical monument of antiquity, the far-famed Rocking-ston« in that county ? If so, possibly he may expect to appease th« indignation of the antiquary, by tracing in his works the tri> VOL. I. M i LJa". i ni, t t,,!-T» ' 1 M ■ )PBW«— P''P>*F 98 NAVAL AUTHORS. the gentlemen of the profession for introducing the author's name amongst those of officers of literary pretensions. A distinction to which, in either sense, he can have no possible title. The work is of that book-making description which is the bane of literature — the cureless evil of a wide-spread thirst of information on every r umphs of the British flag, achieved by " a Brute" (vide first number), at a period twelve centuries before the existence of the Christian sera. In every arduous attempt we cannot help feeling our interest strongly excited, or withhold our approbation ; but, with all possible respect, we must still think that he would have expiated his offence in the eyes of that " irritabile genus" anli- quariorum more effectually, if, instead of replacing this monument of our giant ancestors on its old site, as he has since done, he had applied himself to a task, perhaps, to a man of bis reach of mind, and knowledge of remote history, less difficult; and, venturing only a little further in his researches than he intimates his intention to do in his unpresuming title-page, pursued our naval superiority, through both profane and sacred history, up to the time of Noah. Could he but have proved, to the satisfaction of the antiquaries, the ark was one of our early " first-rates," and her commander a British commodore, he might, without the dread of imputed sacrilege, have even constructed himself a chateau out of the venerated ruins of Tintern Abbey. V NAVAL AUTHORS. 99 cing •s of ti, in ption is evil every ide first B of the > feeling m ; but, uld have iw" anli- onument lone, he tis reach lit; and, intimates sued our ry, up to tisfaction t-rates," thout the imself a subject. He who looks into it for authentic de- tails of many actions, in which the profession and the public are interested, will often find himself disappointed, or tantalized by a reference, in the true tact of a professed book-getter-up, to ano- ther work published by the same author — *' Naval Occurrences." His description of single actions are often correct, though encumbered with spiritless de- tails of number of men, and weight of metal.* He, as may be supposed from being a lands- man, is indebted entirely for his matter to log- books and despatches, though he affects to despise both. Whenever he ventures without pilotage, he flounders in errors and misconceptions, some • From the affectation of hypercritical precision with wliich this gentleman handles pounds and poimders, after the avoir- dupois standard, it is singular that retribution should have fol- lowed so hard on the heels of his own offences, in instances where he has laid himself open to correction, relative to his false return of contrasted weights of metal ; and that he should have incurred the censure of not having adjusted the critical balances vvitli strict and " even-handed justice." . :. * H 2 , ■ ' • • . . * • ■ • • • •. • • • . • » » » • s ■ I t > a . ' •» I ■ » •r»- " '^' - > V"" '« raar> 100 NAVAL AUTHORS. * of which have already brought down on him the vengeance of those whose character he has ignorantly, we cannot suppose wantonly, assailed. His criticisms on the conduct of officers in action are presumptuous, and in bad taste, as coming from a man who has neither seen service or been brought up in the profession. In his hands a general engagement loses all its interest. The logs of the ships engaged are spliced together, or taken separately, so as to present a series of single actions between those at close quarters. The general results are overlouked, and the de- tail is meagre, spiritless, and unimposing. Let any one consult the account of the battle of the glorious " First of June," * 1794, and he will see that we have not, in this instance, " set down aught in malice." To decide the palm of good writing amongst men, whose styles as well as subjects of obser^ vation are so different, would be a task not un- * See Mr. James's account of this action, page 102. <» • * • • • 1« - ' ,1. • ■ «■• »■» t . • .i> , t » V NAVAL AUTHORS. 101 I worthy the exercise of a sounder and more prac- tised criticism. All have pleased those who have the interest of the navy at heart, because it is desirable that the profession should not abstain from entering the lists of authorship, where, in the present day, the successful and gigantic stride of talent of every description excites to honour- able competition. Some have interested by the novelty of their detail, or the history of their privations and sufferings; but if the masterly manner in which important subjects have been handled, the value of the materials of the work in a mercantile and political light, the depth of observation, the justness of views, with, very few exceptions, throughout his journal, and the easy but nervous style in which he has clothed his thoughts, are genuine tests of talent — then we cannot hesitate to award to Captain Hall the wreath of good writing in this class, at the present day. H 3 '. J_ ."J ^. W L^.'MI-aim^iUi-^ii i lo:a NAVAL AIJTHOJIS. In describing the part individually taken by the Brunswick in this action, Mr. James says, volume the first, page 233, that *' about a quarter past two, p. m , the Brvnswick^s main-mast was shot away by the Vengeur's unremitting fire;" when, at page 334 and 235, in narrating a subse-^ quent period of the severely contested encounter between this ship and her opponent, he, singular as it may appear, asserts that " both the fore and main-masts of the former (the Brunswick) had been shot through in several places : so had the bowsprit ; and the former (meaning the fore and main-masts) were momentarily expected to fall;** although the reader, in the preceding pages, had already been informed that the main-mast of the Brunswick ^^fell at about a quarter before two." Now the fact is, it was the mizen-mast of this ship that was then shot away. Such is the account of a naval historian, who loses no op- portunity to call in question the authenticity of contemporary or antecedent naval chroniclers. Another instance will suffice to shew, that Mr. I.. NAVAL AUTHORS. 103 n James is not only in the habit of contradicting himself, as well as other recorded authorities; but that his total ignorance of the most common- place nautical phrases frequently betrays him into committing the most egregious blunders, as well as making the grossest and most obvious mis-state- ments. Thus, in his account of Sir Robert Calder's well-known action, volume third, page 242, when describing the situation of the hostile fleets on the noon of the 23d and morning of the 24th of July 1805 (the two successive days after the engagement), he says, ** at a few minutes past twelve, the combined , fleet, formed in order of battle, bore up towards the British fleet, then about four leagues off in the east-south-east. Owing to the distance and extreme lightness of the breeze, it was not until ten minutes past three that the latter noticed the advance of the former. Immediately the British ships hoisted their colours, and hauled closer to the wind, awaiting the expected attack. At four, how- ever, the. ships of the combined fleet, with H 4 104 NAVAL AUTHO/IH. f I } { colours also hoisted, and being distant about three leagues from their opponents, hauled to the wind on the same tack as the latter, evi- dently declining, for the present" (inferring their intention subsequently to offer battle) ** a renewal of the engagement. The British admiral then resumed his course to the north- east, until driven from it by a change of wind ; which, commencing about midnight at north, be- came, about five on the morning of the 24th, north-north-east, and occasionally north-east. This change of wind," continues Mr. James, " reversed" (excellent Mr. James !) " the situa- tions of the two fleets : the British were rum to windward" (bravo, sir !), " and might in >\]) pro- bability have renewed the action with the com- bined fleet. No attempt was made. Sir Robert, for reasons that will appear presently" (good again ! they will indeed presently appear !), '* continued with his prizes, under easy sail, work- ing towards a British port, steering about south- cast by east. The combined fleet steered the NAVAL AUTUOHS. 10ft Lit to Ig e) sh h- d; >e- :h, St. es, la- to •o- n- rt, od !), •A- h- le same course as the British till eight o'clock, then BORE-UP, and steered south-east by south" (mark i in a direction only two points more southerly), *' obliquely crossing the latter's wake" Now if, according to Mr. James's account, the combined fleet, by a change of wind, became to leeward of the British, by what mode, short of Lapland witchery in the wind, could they (the enemy) possibly bear-up (as the naval historian asserts), to cross, in a lateral direction, the wake of their opponents? Any one, in the least ac- quainted with nautical phraseology, must be aware, that no vessel can bear-up in the wind's eye; or, to be more explicit, pursue objects to windward of her, by any other practical mode than that of " beating." Indeed, upon the latter point, it might be presumed experience had taught Mr. James the corrective effect of this manoeuvre. However, as far as it relates to the important particular of the reversed position of the hostile fleets, Mr. James, as usual, is totally in error. The situations of the two fleets were » J 106 NAVAL AUTHORS. not, at the period he stated, " reversed ;" nor did the wind materially change, even to suit his convenience, till many hours qfler the combined fleet had ultimately bore-up, with the intention of parting amicably with the British. Mr. James asserts that the enemy " bore-up ;" — if this phrase is not misapplied, it must necessarily follow that, in order to have accomplished this nautical evo- lution, the combined fleets must have been to windward instead of to leeward of the British, as Mr. James so erroneously affirms. Without tediously detaining the reader with noticing further the redundant absurdities of this historian, it will be more elucidative of his pretensions and consistency to refer at once to his unpresuming preface, in which he apolo- gizes for having prudently acquiesced in the maxim " that truth is not always to be spoken." Any such apology from him vi^as totally unne- cessary. The more closely his work is scru- tinized, the more thoroughly will the reader be convinced that, in mercy to his aberrations from , f NAVAL AUTHOnK. 107 fact, and iiiicuiulid intereiices, Mr. James .stiould have rejected this Jesuitical maxim as the motto of an history, disfigured by disingenuous mis- representations, and calculated to tarnish laurels won by valour, iand rewarded by national gra- titude. From the difficulty experienced in obtaining copies of some works now out of print, we have been obliged to omit in the first edition, our observations on several naval authors; amongst others, Captain Beaver on " Africa ;" and Cap- tain Beaufort on " Caramania ;" as well as Cap- tain Brenton, whose naval history we did not presume to touch upon, through a sincere desire to redeem, with respect to this very voluminous work, the pledge we then gave in our preface, that we had never presumed to give any opinion, until we had first attentively read the book reviewed. 108 NAVAL AUTHORS. I af .It if. ' i. 1 • This compiler of the " Naval Annals of Great Britain" has, in the preface, added his suffrage to those of most other historians who have recorded contemporaneous history, and acknowledged, in terms of regret, the " difficulty of writing on living characters and recent events." The re- ception his book has experienced proves the existence of another difficulty, which we fear he has yet to acknowledge — that of pleasing those whom he had intended to praise; and to that difficulty may be attributed the well-known un- popularity of his work. With, we believe, a sincere desire to be impartial throughout, the generally-laudatory strain he adopts, in speaking of most officers* services, cannot but offend many, and has probably checked the appetite for praise so cheap. Whilst assuring his readers that, " in speak- ing of his superiors, he has been as studious to avoid flattery as presumption," he appears pecu- liarly unhappy in the selection of characters he has attacked, as well as in the choice of those 1 NAVAL AUTHORS. 109 whom he has undertaken to defend. The latter, perhaps, may be attributed to personal friend- ship, or exuberant good feeling ; but the former has betrayed him into what the service generally consider, an unwarrantable reflection on the con- duct and character of one of the bravest and best men in the profession. We say unwarrantable, and feel justified in applying the term in its fullest extent, as the author has since found it necessary to publish, in the preface to his third volume, a formal retractation. Having perused it with attention, all we can collect from it is, that this officer appears desirous, by availing himself of a little sophistry, to represent that tlie pas- sages which appeared in the first volume, con- veying, certainly in one of them, an insinuation of censure, are capable of a different and ex- culpatory meaning. Perhaps this will prove a lesson for ever, to men who have the hardihood to wield the pen, never to temporize. The de- tails of the situations of the British fleet and squadron, and that of the French admiral, is a •/' . V f :i >«.^(n 110 NAVAL AUTHORS. J, i clear, intelligible painting, and must be read by every officer and seaman with interest. We have a narration of events* of which the author was ftn eye-witness, and a summary of opinions, consequently formed on no slight grounds. He should, therefore, have either made his retractation with good faith, and not unbound the wound which he felt he could not heal ; or, beipg con- vinced of the truth of his statements, he should have resolutely refused, whether out of consi- deration of personal respect to a popular officer, or even deference to the prevalent opinion of ' the profession, to compromise his integrity as an historian. The best historians may be liable to error; and though the inaccuracies of Captain Brenton are not so numerous as those of his contempo- rary, yet, coming with the weight of authority naturally attached to the production of an officer, * A refutation of this statement subsequently appeared in a pamphlet published by the officer whose conduct the historian had attempted to arraign. NAVAL AUTHORS. Ill a seaman, and a man of superior pretensioT^s, they are more pregnant with mischief, and, con- sequently, the more unpardonable. This writer appears to imagine that a history, like a novel, is nothing without a hero ; and, in accordance with the proverb, that " one volun- teer is worth two pressed men," Lord St. Vin- cent's offer to " enter for the bounty" was irre- sistible; particularly as his Lordship supplied him with a well-stocked porte-feuilk of matter — ** no matter what " — and contributed two por- traits of himself; to which, as if the pencil's efforts had failed, the historian has added a third from his own more flattering pen. To use a nautical figure, he has split on St. Vincent's rock — St. Vincent is the theme of his perpetual panegyric. Although indisposed to detract from the merits of a departed hero, or in any way curtail his praise of its " fair propor- tions," we cannot acquiesce in the exclusive commendation which the author has bestowed on that distinguished admiral; as though he 113 NAVAL AUTHORS. r: I alone were the " principium et Jons " of the pre- sent effectiveness and discipline of the ser- vice. The changes are so eternally rung, not only on his valorous deeds, but political views, and his virtues antithetically opposed to the vices of Napoleon, that the reader, doubtless, must suppose he is dipping into ** Marshal's Biogra- phy," instead of wading through " Brenton*s Naval History," In speaking of that late prominent actor on the theatre of Europe, he has ill-sustained the dignity of the historian, and descended to un- worthy insults and opprobrious epithets, which not even Sir Sidney Smith, the only naval officer who ever personally encountered Buonaparte, and whose hostility was whetted by circum- stances of aggravation peculiar to himself, would have used in the intoxication of victory, or the unguarded hurry of a despatch. The premedi- tated application to the deceased ruler of France of the terms — ** the Perfidious Corsican" — ** the Insolent Napoleon " — " the Tyrant !" and similar NAVAL AUTHORS. US terms, we thought had been reserved for the worst Cittte0 of newspaper virulence. But, per- haps, as the author has been shrewdly suspected of Whiggism, he has made his amendie by de^ scending to the personal abuse of the idol of thiit party, in hopes of being mistaken for a T6iy-^a task so much the less worth his pains, as the general rule, that an historian, above all men^ should be uninfluenced by party-spirit, seems fb be unnecessarily violated in the present singula!^ period of our political history; when it is almoiifi^ impossible to say how a man's inter<^t may be affected by his private sentiotents, or to deter- mine whether the Government itself be Whig oi* Tory. ■• • • .«^wqi»- A^-''^^^ The details of single actions which terminate successfully, are intelligibly told, and do credit to the powers of the writer. This is exbmplified in the narration of the celebrated iictioh between La Blanche and La Pique, In many of his practical suggestions, however, we cannot '^oli^ cur ; but particularly in those which relate to the VOL. I. 4 lU NAVAL AUTHORS. capture of the Laurel by the Canwowwicrc,* in the East-Indies. Speaking of that action, and the honourable acquittal of Captain Woolcombe, he observes : " In his mode of fighting, he (Captain W.) appears to have adhered to the old English maxim of firing at the tier of guns. In a case of thait sort (he continues), where the opponent was of so much greater force, perhaps it would have been better to have directed the whole fire at the main-mast head; — that fallen, the ship might have become an easy prey to the LaureV* It would have been certainly a desideratum to have dismasted the enemy; but as to the calcu- lation upon the probability of its gaining or losing Captain W. a laurel, his object was more likely to be accomplished, certainly, by directing his fire at the fore-mast. — Any seaman will see the reason for this suggestion. In describing general actions, the writer ap- pears to have fallen into a too prevalent opinion, which has, perhaps more than any thing else, • French frigate of far superior force. V NAVAL AUTHORS. 115 disfigured, and rendered ofien unintelligible to any but nautical men, the detail of a general battle. Nothing can be less satisfactory than extracts from logs, or the isolated statements of individuals too actively engaged on circumscribed duty, to be capable of taking any thing like a general view or observation of a grand sea-fight. What is thus gained in authenticity, is lost in clearness. Circumstantiality and minute detail often circumscribes, without presenting a true or lively picture of the soul-stirring scene ; and any person who has read the description of the battle of the Nile, drawn up by the Chaplain of the Swifture, will derive more satisfaction from that clear, connected narrative, than from more en- cumbered details ; proving, that in this and other instances, the sacrifice of minute authenticity may be amply compensated by vigour and inte- rest. Surely the author, who has on other occasions displayed powers of description of which we have rarely met a parallel, ought not to have declined i2 116 NAVAL AUTHORS. '^ the task of giving a clear, connected, and correct description of Howe's memorable engagement, or wrapped himself up in the naked details of logs, accompanying them, en passantf with critical strictures and suggestions as to what ought to be done, rather than connectedly detailing what was done on that day. Many, however, of these remarks are valuable a,nd judicious. From a work so voluminous as this, our read- ers cannot expect extracts in support of our observations. A perusal of tlie volumes will amply repay them in amusement and informa- tion, although the classification of events, under the heads of stations, has been censured as tend- ing to chronological confusion. . ^ With all his defects, Captain Brenton is un- doubtedly a writer of a superior order : had his jutlgment kept pace with his literary taste, it might have been said, that the field he occupies offered no encouragement to rivalry. His ob- servations on the judiciousness of a more general distribution of medals in meritorious cases, and ' NAVAL AUTHORS. 117 particularly in that of the battle of Trafalgar, are full of proper feeling, and in unison with the wishes of those most devoted to the 'service, though we cannot acquiesce, to the full extent,'^ in the inferences he has drawn. His descriptive powers, as we have before said, are exemplified with great effect in many passages; but he has exceeded himself in that of the distressing ac> count of the loss of the ^^Aenterane. Notwithstanding the tone with which he closes his preface, we in candour must admit, that his history of the period he embraces is decidedly the best extant, although he modestly confesses that^"^ not without dread of the " storms of censure and the attacks of malevolence," " he commitsf his book to the mercy of his brother sailors and the public." We have just* had forwarded to us a copy of a little pamphlet entitled, " Popv^rity of the Bcytd Naval Service" by a Naval Officer. Its chief ob- ject is, to defend admirals and captains in the * Upon sending this sheet to press* 1 3 118 NAVAL AUTHORS. navy from aspersions thrown on them by the Edinburgh Reviewer, Mr. Hume, and Sir Fran- cis Burdett. Though this be a much narrower ground than we have taken up, embracing, as we have, the service generally, it is well suited to the size of the pamphlet, and the style betrays the sensible and practised writer. As we are so far members engaged in an Holy Alliance, we cannot but recommend these pages to the perusal of per- sons seeking information on subjects generally ill understood, and often malignantly misrepre- sented by canting philanthropists. We must regret that to a very agreeable style, the writer has not (possibly through inattention in his early days to an essential, though unfashionable part of education) added that logical acumen, which would have enabled him to seize many points, that have escaped even his zeal for the character and popu- larity of the service. The title of his book is certainly unhappy, as the" arrangement in the title-page evinces, which con- sists of almost every topic usually commented on. NAVAL AUTHORS. IIU as proofs of the unpopularity of the services, viz. " Discipline," " Cruelty and Oppression," " Flogging," " Summary Conviction," " Delay of Punishments," " Ward-room Courts-Martial," &c. ; and taking into consideration the title of the pamphlet and the cause advocated, we must con- fess that most of what we find in page 59 is can- did to a fault. Perhaps it was hardly possible, that the similarity of our objects should not lead this officer into an adoption of similar topics ; but we confess his arguments are often so precisely, and his language sometimes so closely, our own, that we suspect he had read the first edition of the *' Naval Sketch Book" with as much interest and attention as any of our brother officers, who have kindly acknowledged by letter our anony- mous labours. The passage in page 17 will strike every one as remarkable, and the observations and even quotations follow nearly in the order they appear in our defence of the " Service." — " Yet," (says the writer) *^ at that disastrous period, when, it is acknowledged on all sides, naval ^ ■ - I 4 mm* 190 NAVAL AUTHOIIS. discipline was less lenient than at present,* amidst all the excitements of the mutiny, including the death of two of the delegates shot by order of Admiral Colpoys, not a word in the public docu- ments, not a single complaint, was made against this very system of discipline, now denounced as so shocking and oppressive ; and it is on record, that when all the delegates met in council to state the whole of the grievances of the fleet, no such thought as that of accusing their officers of op- pression was admitte4 among them." — The same may be said of the following extracts. *< But where is the proof of the shockingly disgusting nature of this punishment in the eyes of the sea- man, and the degradation presumed to ensue? Is it to be found in the fact of their having adopted the same punishment among themselves in the great mutiny, or in their not having ol^ected to it in their list of grievances I" — Again, pp. 34 and 35 :•"-'* And what, we may here ask, when they" (the Reformists) ** talk of abolishing flogging as .;*' rule N. S. B., vol. ii, page 7. I '^ i NAVAL AUTHORN. 121 a punishment at 'sea, have all the talents and phi- lanthropy of so many ages discovered as a substi- tute for severe bodily pain on the land ? — Bread and water diet, solitary confinement, and the tread-mill !" — " Solitary confinement, with bread and water diet, may be productive of striking effects, but it is to be doubted whether many of the seamen would be thankful for such a commu- tation of punishment; and ltwould.be absolutely impossible to procure in a ship tha^ kind of deso' late silence,* which is the most powerful engine of penitence on shore." — But the slighest perusal of the pamphlet will suffice to shew that it is not amour propre alone which has dictated these obser- vations. — The article " Naval Discipline" abounds with just remarks; and the observations both pre- ceding and following the passage in page 10, ** Tenderness for individuals is not infrequently cruelty to society on an extensive scale," are a staggering broadside. * Vide N. S. B., vol. ii, piiges 12 hiiiI 13. t i j THE MAN-OF-WAR'S-MAN. " List, ye landsmen, unto ine." As the object of these pages has never for a moment been disguised, we feel ourselves impera- tively called on to rescue the profession, and the character of the service, from the lubberly and libellous attack of a writer in a popular magazine, who, in order, as it were, to give point to his ignorant assumption, and effect to a malignant hatred of the navy (to which it is evident he could have never belonged), has announced himself, most imposingly, under the dread title of a ** ManMif-war' s-manr — Possibly the poison may not have been unaccompanied, in the minds of many of his readers, by its antidote, from re- collecting how frequently they have been tor- THE MAN-0P-WAR*S-MAN. 123 1 )iiented, either in the purlieus of St. Giles's, or amongst the more credulous simpletons who throng our villages on market-days, by an impu* dent mendicant race, who plunder the public under the assumed garb and ill-initiated phrase of the seaman, without possessing a single genuine claim to the sympathy of his countrymen afloat, or the gratitude of those on shoret It^ however, frequently happens, that when any of these impostors come in contact with a sea- man, he immediately becomes, as the saying is, ** mute as a mackerel ;" because the very phrase- ology which he assumes to excite the commise- ration of the stranger, and which too often passes current with the novice as the vernacular of the thorough-bred tar, instantly becomes the means of betraying him, and detecting the entire im- position. It would be almost unfair to draw the parallel further, out of respect to the individual, who can, perhaps, plead pinching cold, or the dread of starvation, in extenuation of his offence. In- 124 THE MAN-OF-WAR S-MAN. another respect he has also the advantage, be- cause he only degrades himself, whilst the literary pretender libels his protector, and would fain calumniate his superiors. To review and analyze at length the tnateriel of this writer, who has, for above /bur years, edified the public by his recondite labours, would be a task little likely to recommend these pages to the reader, — each chapter being merely a tissue of dull dialogue, inconsistent narrative, nautical misnomers, and gross absurdities. A few ob- servations on his phraseology, seamanship, and notions of discipline, will suffice to prove this is not mere assertion. The writer takes every opportunity to inform his readers, that Captain Stmtchem, of the Tottum- fog^ as his name would infer, was a strict and severe disciplinarian ; and therefore, as if by way of preserving consistency in the delineation of his character, he allows him, during the chase of an enemy, to commence a dialogue more free- and-easy and familiar than ever was adopted on THE MAN-OF-WAR S-MAN. 125 the deck of a privateer. An instance or two will suffice. To catch the landsman's eye, the ab- surdities are marked in italics : — Captain Switchem (after looking at the chase through his glass)— " A trim boat, beyond a doubt (mere cockney patter in Chelsea Reach). — But, come, let us bustle — Ettercap, d*ye hear, Iwy : jump and tell Master Marlin I want him." Boatswain. — " Here I am, sir," cried the Boat- swain, coming aft. Captain S. — " O, Master Marlin, pipe up the idlers directly, and get the engine filled without d°^ - I'm going to wet the courses.*' -wvf, what officer would designate a blustering Boatswain by the familiar appellation of Master ? Ludicrous ! — Indeed, a novice might naturally suppose the boatswain was suddenly promoted, and stepped into the shoes of Mr. Soundings.* — The Boatswain, too, in preference to the senior Lieutenant, or officer of the watch, is the first * A familiar epithet for the Master. I? i iii n ii i l H i mimii i i i i l WHi ii n L «« inW/t *i . i#» i| '' f i u_ ii<«i«»| L. i w' ii ' i UM|^ w'i 126 THE MAN-OF-WAR's-MAN. person to be consulted about " wetting the courses" — Why not first made to wet his whistle ? — An improbable, silly dialogue ensues between " Master Marlin," his mate, and the " Idlers," upon the propriety, forsooth, of obeying the or- der of the Captain ; when, after many d — ns and difficulties on the part of the boatswain*s-mate — (would a disciplinarian tolerate all this ?) we ai\: informed that " the engine was at length filled, and set a-going;" Bird (the boatswain's mate) " directing the pipe in person."—" It was worked, however," (he continues) " so ineffectually, and with so many interruptions, caused by a scanttf supply of water." — (Strange, too ! none along- side ? — " All the seas gang dry," as the old Scotch song says) — " as not only to make him lose all patience, but to stormy and bawl^ and swear like a madman, to the infinite amusement of the few officers who were onrlookers.^'' — Glorious disci- pline, truly, not to say any thing of the absolute impossibility of such a scene of infinite amusement having ever occurred on board of any of his THE MAN-OF-WAR S-MAN. 127 Majesty's ships, always excepting the Tottumfog. Indeed, a total fog of absurdities may be said to be here thickening in every line. We have a boatswain 's-mate adopting all the embellished blackguardism of a Billingsgate fish-fag whilst in the execution of his duty on board a British man-of-war, commanded, too, by a "strict and severe disciplinarian" permitted to ** storm and bawl, like a madman, to the infinite ammement of his officers." Those who have seen service, can only be amused with such palpable nonsense on paper. When informed by the signal-man " that the vessel on his quarter had hoisted the private sig- nal," this strict disciplinarian replies, " Has she indeed, Jerrp ? Let me see : hand me the glass. Aye, so she has, my fine fellow." Again, he says to the Boatswain, " Pipe ; m^ke sail directly, Mas- ter Marl in, there's a good fellow — there's a good fellow.^* These endearing appellations remind one rather of the " Tom and Jerry'* trash at the Adelphi, than the tone of a tyrant. ■ ua 128 THE MAN-Or-WAll's-MAN. ( 1/ i^i So much for his discipline. Now for his sea- manship; and here, from the hardihood which he has displayed in entering into the minutiae of the service, possibly, the' general reader may imagine that he courts, if ' not defies criticism. One glance of the practised eye detects all this meretricious daubing. To wit — " Tacking" the Tattvmfog. The word of command as given by her first lieutenant, we literally transcribe- - " Helm's alee," says he, when, ♦* the boatswain's pipe gave its usual thrill, which was instantly followed by " Sqiuire the main topsail-yard — Fore- castle there, shift over the jib-sheet — man the fore and Tnain braces — Hau!rof-aU!* — " These or- ders," we are told, ** were alj executed in far less time than they can possibly be enumeraJbtd^'*— Doubtless the Tottumfog worked like a top; but as we cannot stop to adrtire her celerity in " staying^''' which of course was increased by squaring^ instead of swinging the wiam-yard, and *^ haiding-of-all" B.hex the novel mode of man- * Tackinji^ or coming about. tHE MAN-OF-WAR's-MAN. 120 but in by land lan- ,* 1 hing the " maiM-braces." We shall merely cite one more example (particularly as seamanship is said to be on the wane) for the benefit of the " service" and sailors in general. After Captain Switchem makeb every prepara tion for a heavy gale of wind, and that the Tot- t,umfog is driven to the painful necessity of taking in her tattered main- topsail; the writer informs us that " rolling-tackles, and preventer sheets and braces, were next clapped on the yards— the storm-trysail, main-staysail, and storm-jib got up and set. The yards were lowered to the cap — top-gallant masts sent down — topmasts struck^ and jib-boom hauled-in,* &c. Passing over the folly of clapping on preventer - sheets after the sail was furled, a seaman would ask this mock " man-of-war's*man " where he could have picked up the phrase " storm jib," as applied to the jib of a square-rigged vessel. The probability is, that he had heard something about a storm-jib while on his way to London in a " Leith smack," and of course concluded that VOL. I. K y B u \S M|«-^*MiqpMpg m.on the mast-ropes," for swaying-on. the mast-ropes— " rearing-up a grating," for seazing-up a grating — "get a trial of soundings," for a cast of the lead — "steady," when steering by the wind ; besides a variety of misnomers, too numerous to collect in a note. . ■",''' ff f I ! THE MAN-OF-WAn S-MAN. 131 nothing of common-sense) of nil consistency. A man of war is supposed to be in chase of an enemy, and at the same moment falls in with a criiizer : when, instead of both carrying all pos- sible sail in pursuit of the foe, the senior officer, regardless of dut^ , which might eventually sub- ject him to the possible imputation of cowardice, " heaves to" solely for the purpose of communing in person with his junior on tL«» prt^mety of attacking the chase ; as if he had r.o.^ a signal- book or a ** Jerry" on board to telegraph bis orders ! This incident will suffice to shew that the « " man-of-war*s-man ** has reason to be proud of his talents at "getting-up" a farce; but he ap- pears ambitious of higer praise, and tries his hand at a tragedy and a procession. An unfortunate black boy is killed by a fall from aloft, whilst practising with others " at furl- ing the fore-top-gallant-sail ;" and we just make an extract from the ninth chapter, which most fortunately and appropriately has for its motto K 2 H 182 THE MAN-0F-WAH*8-MAN. ) I i) 4 (and the reader will think, it's moral too) the clas- sical quotation, " Say, shall I Ring of u war-ship's humbugging 9" "Next morning," however, we are informed that, " immediately after divisions had been ap' pointed for the funercU (which proved to be a matter of infinite brevity and great simplicity), Captain Switchem appeared on deck in a mourn' ingscarf and sword, followed by his officers and Mr. Fudgeforit, who carried a ^lendidly-hoyMyA prayer-book under his arm ; and, all hands being summoned to the lee gangway, he immediately commenced operations by prefacing the service of the dead with a few pithy, and rather sarcastic observations on the heedlessness, stupidity, and other bright qualities of the living ; he doffed his hat, followed by all hands, opened the prayer- book, and began the church-service in a tone of voice at once grave and dignified, concluding the ceremony with committing the body to the deep ; and the service finishing with infinite decorum. n THE MAN-OF-\VAR's»-MAN. 188 Captain 8. shutting the prayer-book, and hand- ing it to the bowing secretary." — Let no man after this call in question the amazing powers and capabilities — the operative mechanics would say, of the steam-engine — no, we mean, of " hu- man invention ;" for, since Adam, there never was a few descriptive lines put together, so totally the offspring of imagination, or so com- pletely at variance with fact. *^ Divisions ap- pointed for the funeral!" Absurd ! The " Cap' tain in a mourning-scarf and sword !" — a mere chimera of the heated imagination ! What next ? Why, a sermon ! — one is as likely as the other. We have but one more instance on record of a captain in the navy ever performing the duty of an undertaker, who appears to have confined his zeal to merely preparing, as a present, a coffin somewhat prematurely for a wounded Hero. This, to be sure, was a startling compliment to the living; but we question whether being decked out in the sable insignia of an hired undertaker k3 I 17 iv- m^ THE MAN-OF-WAK«-MAN. was intended by Captain Switcheni tib a compli- ment to the Dead. Bat the full exercise of his descriptive powers was reserved, and worthily, for a scene which was to hold up the servico (if the pen of a recreant could have done the unworthy office) to reproba- tion and contempt. The whole passage is worthy of being transcribed at length : but even our zeal for the service is appalled by the dread of being tedious. " A poor ship's-barber is detected in being drunk, under suspicion, not altogether realized, that he had purloined the liquor from the officer of the watch. The unhappy creature, hpwever, is seazed up to a grating to receive his punishment, and the captain is exhibited as *' displaying his teeth with a prominence that could only be exceeded by an angry cur ; he smiled, or rather exuUingly grinnedt oyer this unfortunate lover of alcohol, with what appeared to our hero to be the firocity of a Jiemi'rr* Poatswuiji's-mate,* he C. )f^ \\ i . '{ '■ .' CWV> THE MAN-OF-WAH K-MAN. 135 exclaimed, ' where's Bird ? Aye I here, Bird, lake your slation, sir, and stand by to bang that rascal soundly. Hand me the articles of war- quick, quick !* — * Off" hats !' bawled the first lieu- tenant. The captain proceeds to read the article affecting the culprit, and exclaims, *Dy'e hear that, you drunken, thieving blaci guard? Ser- geant, attend to your glasSf and mind me you 'iee it sti^y run out ; and you. Bird, mind wht . I say, I'll have no feints nor shuffling — do your duty, and do it well, or God pity you !* "— What a text for Mr. Hume, Mr. Grey Bennett i'l my other enemy of the service ! But what follows out-herod's Herod. " Tom Bird is of the same feather as his captain — A succession of shrieks follows his first lash. — * One,*, sung the sergeant of marines, and turned his quarter-mimtte glass.* Bird then threads the tails of the cat * Quarter- miniUc fi,lass/ The probac-^'' is, that, during the composition of this gross and infamous tabrication, the writer had swallowed so many " niiff' glasses " Mmself, that he confounded the K 4 I, 136 THE MAN-OF-WAR S-M AN. through his fingers, makes them spin round his head, and, to give effect to the lash, wheels round on his heel whilst he inflicts a second, which is echoed by the fearful yells of the barber. — - * Two !' cried the sergeant, as cool as a cucum-i- ber, again turning his glass. " But enough of this (continues the * Man-off v»cr's-man); for true it is, that though we are anxious to be impartial historians, we confess we shrink with horror from this Thurtell-like guzzling in blood** — We fearlessly pronounce the whole picture a disgraceful, degrading Falsehood, and libel upon the profession. During twenty-six years of service, in constant employment, we nevif»> saw an officer " grin his teeth" on such an occasion, which is always con- sidered a most painful and distressing duty ; or ^ver heard of, much less sawj a " glass" produce^J to prolong a delinquent's suffering, oh jam satis f iu 1 »• ; the word Jlog with log, forgetting that it was wher^ " /leaving the log" and durbg that process alone, that the " quarie or hiUf namxte-glass" was ever mtule use of at sea, i\ Tt r i' y * V *'--» " r - <>i W tir^- *Hl^ti'^ i— W|ii'«^ ipi i mm i\, THE MAN-OF-WAR's-MAN. 137 Such a description could only have proceeded from a man who is a secret enemy to the service he affects to eulogize. We agree with him, that had it any existence but in his own inven- tion, it would be a ** cool cowardly, contemptible waste of human blood ;" though we are fain to believe that no man in the service could ever have glutted himself, even in imagination, with ♦* the /east of blood" he describes, except this«ot« discmt " Man-of-War*s-Man," » i"' *^- !| s* \ . SUPERSTITION OF SEAMEN. Whether it arises from a consciousness of the danger to which sailors know their lives are constantly exposed, or the frequent oppor- tunities they have for calm and serious reflec- tion in the lonely mid-watch, surrounded by the most elevating and spirit-stirring scenes in nature, they have, in general, a due sense of the importance of religion, and the existence of a future state. It is no less true, that this sentiment is too often found to be strongly tinc- tured with its not unfrequent concomitant, super- stition. Thrv implicity believe in omens, mer- maids, the flying Dutchman, evil spirits, the a]>- t-, k.im.-<^guir" '»>.. 'I SUPERSTITION OF SEAMliN. 139 s pearance of the gbodts of the departed, and the pranks of malicious spirits and goblins. They fa- miliarly talk of frightful sounds and preternatural noises coming up from the deep, all having an import of fearful warning, and occasionally por- tending accidents, or the death of a messmate. The simple and uneducated mind of the sailor seizes on the supposition of some preternatural occurrence in all such cases, as the easiest way of accounting for these appearances, which a better-informed mind would endeavour to unravel by the application of philosophical principles, or a close examination of the facts — comparing them with the usual operations of nature in such situations. But these are efforts to which a tar is unequal : his creed, therefore, is easily made up, and hence certain shores, islands, and even latitudes^ known to the naturalist as abounding in marine animals, which produce strange sounds when approached or surprised on the surface of the water or basking ashore, are I "i 140 SUPERSTITION OF SEAMEN. accounted by sailors ominous, and fearful of ap- proach.* V ^ 4 ,11 * The instinctive power of marine animals, in anticipating the approach of bad weather, iias been well authenticated. Tlie following relation, taken from a work entitled " Voyages to the East-Indies, by John Splinter Stavorinus, Rear- Admiral in tlie service of the States'- General," &c., will serve as an example :— . , , " On passing the island of St. Paul's, in the North Indian Ocean, and about sbc o'clock in the evening, there arose a sound, just like the groaning of a man, out of the sea near the ship's side. When I first heard it, ! thought that some one of the crew had been hurt between the decks, and I sent the officer of the watc}^ down to see what was the matter. Tlie men, Iiow- evcr, who vvere on deck, told me that they had heard this noise, arising, as it were, from out of the water, several times before ; and I then perceived it to be as they said : for, going on the out- side of the ' main chains,' I plainly heard it ten or twelve times repeated. It seemed to recede proportionably as the ship ad- vanced, and, lessening by degrees, died away at the stern. About seven o'clock, the gunner, who came to make a report of some matters relating to his department, informed me, that on one of his India voyages he had met with the same occurrence, and that a dreadful storm had succeeded, which forced them to hand all their sails, and drive at the mercy of the winds and waves ■ \' it I V SUPERSTITION OF SEAMEN. 141 ' \ A seaman, too, as devoutly as any methodist, believes in the efficacy of a call;* with this difference, that the latter imagines it will prove the means of preserving him from perishing finally in fire ; the sailor, that, if the legend of his mother and grand-dam be true, it will avert a similar fate by water. Of witches such is his dread, that a horse-shoe, always toe-up, is nailed to the fore part of the fore-mast, as a specific against those unhallowed hags. Is the superstition of a Laplander more silly ? Valuable as a fair wind is to a sailor, he would sooner lose it, and run the chance of its chopping about, and detaining him for weeks waves for four-and-twenty hours. When he told me this, there was not the least appearance of any storm ; yet, before four o^clock next morning, we were scudding under bare poles, in a violent tempest, and the sea running mountains high." * We are afraid sense has been here sacrificed to soimd, if the " Morning Post " is authority on so delicate a subject. In the advertisements which so frequently appear in that paper, offering these charmed articles for sale at extravagant prices, they are spelt cawfe.— Printer's Devil. V. 143 SUPERSTITION OF SEAMEN. M 1 % I i in harbour, than voluntarily sail on a Friday. Should he be compelled, from circumstances, to sail on that ill-starred day to school-boys and sailors, he will not fail to attribute to that circumstance every the minutest failure, or most serious accident, which subsequently occurs throughout the voyage. For some animals they entertain a singular predilection; whilst for whole classes of their fellow creatures, even those whom they permit to plunder them with impunity as a matter of business, they entertain in this respect a com- parative horror. No sailor would hesitate to throw a Jew rather than a cat overboard, per- haps without being aware of the high authority which sanctions such a line of distinction. He may think, with his holiness of Rome and ge- neral councils, that, in promoting the cause of the extirpation of heretics, he " is doing God service ;" whilst he dreads that the offence against the brute creation will be visited by the con- sequent and inevitable penalties of sickness. t \ V. SUPERSTITION OF SEAMEN. 143 scurvy, hard weather, masts struck by lightning, or vessels miraculously escaping during chase. Their suspicions are not confined to beasts, as allies of the great enemy of man ; even the birds which soar aloft come in for their share, possibly from his considering them as liege subjects of the " prince of the power of the air" (as a great authority calls Satan), and therefore bound to vlo his dark behests on the viewless winds. Their appearance at sea is almost al- ways thought a sinister occurrence. Some are considered the harbingers of a tempest and storm ; others, like " Mother Carey's chickens^* the active agents of the foul fiend, already bent on their destruction. With reference to these calumniated little creatures, they often gravely tell at night-fall a story, which fails not to make the circle round the galley-fire smaller by degrees as it proceeds — but whether through intense attention or apprehension, it luckily is unnecessary to determine : — as " how the Tiger £ast-India-man, outerbound, had one continued /' 144 SUPERSTITION OF SEAMEN. I ,< gale without intermission, till they got to the * Cape,' by which time they were almost a wreck : that off the * Cape of Good Hope,* in particular, they were nearly foundered : that in the height of this gale were seen a number of ominous birds screaming about in the light- ning's blaze, and some of them of monstrous shape and size : that among the passengers was a woman called * Mother Carey,* who always seemed to smile when she looked up to these foul-weather birds, upon which they concluded she was a witch : that she had conjured them up from the * Red Sea,* and that they never would have a prosperous voyage while she re- mained on board : and, finally, that as they were just debating about it, she sprang overboard and went down in a flame ; when the birds (ever after called * Mother Carey's chickens*) vanished in a moment, and left the Tiger to pursue her voyage in peace!" ; i .; . 1 1 If If ' % U M A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. A GALLEY STORY. " I said it was a story of a ghost — What then?" * • » * "All nations have believed that from the dead A visitant at interval appears." LORD BYRON. to " What say you, boys, a caulk or a yarn ?" says one of the * quarter-gunners/ addressing indiscriminately the watch one night, as soon as they were mustered. " Oh, let's have a yarn, as weVe eight hours in,'* replied one of the topmen. " Bob Bowers will spin us a twist ;" and away to the galley a group of eight or ten instantly repaired. VOL. J. L 146 A VOICE FROM THK DKKP. i 't. (( Well, boys !" says Bowers, " let's see, wlmt'll you have ? — one of the Lee Virginney*Si or the saucy Gce'« ?* — Come, I'll give you a saucy Gee, " Well, you see, when I sarved in the Go-along Gee — Captain D***, he as was killed at Traffly- gar, aboard the MarSf seventy-four, — aye, and as fine a fellow as ever shipped a swab,f or fell on a deck. — There warn't a better man aboard from stem lo starn. He knew a seaman's duty, and more he never ax'd ; and not like half your caper- ing skippers, what expect unpossibilities. It went against his grain to seize a grating-up, and he never flogged a man he didn't wince as if he felt the lash himself! — and as for starting, — blow me if he didn't break the boatswain by a court-mar- tial for rope's-ending Tom Cox, the captain o* the fore-top in Plymouth-Sound. — And yet he wasn't a man what courted cocularity;J for once ♦ Jack's fancy-names for favourite ships : the Gee— the Glcnmore. t Epaulette. \ This is no far-fetched Malapropism ; the man wlio made use of this expression was subsequently killed, as boatswain of a linc- of-battle ship. I A voiti: nioM THi: ueei'. 147 • N I-- ilesnrve it, you were sure to buy it ; but do your duty like a man, and, d— n it, he'd sink or swim with you ! " He never could abide to hear a man abused : — let's see, was't to the first or second leeftenniit he says — no, 'twas the second — and blow nie, too, if I doesn't think 'twas the third — it was the thiixl, kase I remember, now, he'd never a civil word for no one. Well, howsomever, you see, says the skipper, mocking the leeftenant, in a sneering manner, one morn, who'd just siuig- out, * You sir !' you know, to one o' the topmen, — * You s'r, I mean,' says the skipper, looking straight in the leeftenant's face, — * pravi sir,' says he, ' how do you like to be you sir^d your- self?' " Well, the leeftenant shams deafness, you know ; but I'm blowed but he hard every word on't — for never a dolphin a-dying tarned more colours nor he did at the time ! But avast there a bit — I'm yawing about in my course. How- somever you know, 'tis but due to the dead, and l2 » \i U8 A VOICE FUUM Tll£ DLEl*. J no more nor his memory desarves : so here's try again — small helm bo — steady — ey-a. — Well, you know, the Go-alomj- Gee was one o* your flash Irish cruisers — the first o' your fir-built frigates — and a hell of a clipper she was ! Give her a foot o' the sheet, and she'd go like a witch — but some- how o' nother, she'd bag on a bowline to lee- ward.* Well, there was a crack set o' ships at the time on the station. Let's see, there was the Lee Revoluskoticer (the flyer, you know) — then there was the fighting Feeby — the dashing Dri^df and one or two more o' your flash-uns ; but the Gee took the shine on 'em all in reefing and furling. " Well, there was always a cruiser or two from the station, as went with the West-Ingee convoy, as far as Madery or so— to protect *em, you know, from the French privateers, and to * A judicious remark, though couched in a homely phrase ; for it is now proved that fir-built ships, from the difference of their specific gravity, by no means " hold so good a ivind" as our oak "men-of-war." I is A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 140 % 4- bring bnck n pipe of the stuff for the ndmiral : — aye, and I take it the old boy must have bouscd- up his jib stay pretty often, for many's the pipe we shipped in the Gee for him. " Howsomever, you see, we was ordered to sail with one of these thund'ring convoys, the largest as ever was gothered together in cove — nigh-hand a hundred and eighty or ninety sail. Let's see, there was the Po//y-iw/a»M)i«,*sixty-four, was our commodore you know ; and *sides we in the Gee, there was a ship CravattCff and an * eighteen-gun-brig.* Well, wc sailed with the convoy from cove on St. Patrick's day, with a stagg'ring breeze at east-north-east. JVe was stationed astarn, to jog-up the dull-uns, and to * touch 'em up in the bunt' with the buntin. " Well, a'ter we runs out of one o' your reg'lar easterly gales, what has more lives nor a cat, and going for ever like a blacksmith's bellows, till it blows itself out, we meets with the tail of a westerly hurricane (one o' your sneezers, you - •- * Polephcmus. f Corvette. -'■ L :3 n •- - V ^ , J t ^ :i 150 A VOICE FROM JHE DEEP. know). Four or five of our headmost unci lee- • wardmost ships, what tasted the thick on it fi,rst, was taken al>ack ; two was dismasted clean by the board : but the Go'almig-Gee was as snug as a duck in a ditch, never straining as much as a rope-yarn aloft, and as tight as a bottle below, ' " Well, hi>wsomever, we weathers out like a Mudian. We lost nothing nor the Corporal of marines, as was washed overboard out o' the lee- mizen-chains. Well, a'ter the wind and sea gets down, the Commodore closes the convoy, and sends shipwrights aboard of such ships as needed 'em most. Well, at last we gets into your regular tmdes, with wind just enough for a gentleman*s yacht, or to ruffle the frill of a lady's flounce : and on one o' those nights as the convoy, you know, was cracking-on every thing low-and-aloft, looking just like a forest afloat — we keeping our station astarn on 'em all — top sails low'r'd on the cap — the sea as smooth as Poll Patterson's tongue, and the moon as bright as her eye — shoals of benelies playing under the bows; what should 'V, - \ f* wf%m<'im A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. 151 r-r I hear but a voice as was liailing the ship ! Well, I never says nothing till I looks v.'ell around (for you see Vd the starboard cat head* at the time); so I waits till I hears it again — when sky-larking Dick, who'd the larboard look-out, sneaks over and says, * Bob, I say, Bob-bo, did you never hear nothing just now?* Well, he scarcely axes the question, when we hears hailing again — * Aboard the G—e, ahoy — a—.' There was no- thing, you know, in sight within hail (for the starnmost ships of the convoy were more nor two miles a-head) — so I'm d — d if Dick and my- self wasn't puzzled a bit, for we war'nt just then in old Badgerbag'sf track. Well, we looks broad on the bows, and under the bows, and over the bows, and every where round we could look ; when the voice now, nearing us fast, and hailing again, we sees something as white as a sheet on the water! Well, I looks at Dick, * Look-out, forvviud. f A iwme given by Jat/( to Neptime, when yluynig tricks on travellers upon first crossing the Lhie. L 4 ; I I 152 A VOICE FROM THE DEEP. and Dick looks at me — neither of us never saying nothing, you know, at the time — when looking again, by the light of the moon, * I'm d— eriod abore alluded to. " ff ■'*»-^ ■#mft .- - -..j; 1 TAX ON COMMISSIONS. He paid too ileur for Iiis whistle."* DR. FRANKLIN. At a time when every exertion is making to take off the fetters which the improvidence and ignorance of former rulers and parliaments had imposed on industry and enterprize, it seems * A whistle was formeriy part of an officer's aecontrcmcnts in HCtion. Ill order to render this motto at all illustrative or in- telligible, it will be necessary to go back in our naval history as far as the time of Henry the Eighth, at least ; by reference to which it will be found, that tlie whistle was neither the phiything^ of children, nor the humble official distinction of the hoarse boat- swaiirand his mates. In the desperate action fought by Thomas and Edward Howard, sons of the Earl of Surrey (wliich hist was afterwards Lord \dmiral of England), with the telebi-atcd -'V-' J**— ♦» ;i.i i ....inm. ^ jnu « ,.x.:t " V / 156 TAX ON COMMISSIONS. A I) ii] i^ rather extraordinary that the attention of the Admiralty has not been drawn to the subject of a tax payable on officers' commissions. This tax, whilst its amount to the public is, if not con- temptible, certainly inconsiderable, proves a great hardship upon officers, more especially when Scotch captain of a letter-of-marque, Andrew Breton— granted to him against the ships of Portugal in consequence of the murder of his father, and detention of his ships, by the Portuguese ; Rapine relates, " that Breton, though grievously wounded, cheered his men on with his whistle even to his last breath." Though falsely described by King Henry as a pirate, in his in- structions to the Howards, that prince dismissed the prisoners. The King of Scotland demanded reparation for the outrage in vaiii, and it became a cause of quarrel between the two nations. It is about this period that we hear, for the first time, of a ivhUlle being used in the navy ; but it appears to have been then sus- pended at the breast of the Lord High Admiral : for, in addition to his other insignia, the gallant Sir Edward Howard actually wore a golden one when he engaged the French gal' ys near Brest. Since that period, silver has been substituted for the more pre- cious metal : i.id this shrill ancient instrumtnt of authority lias fallen in rank in proportion to its (U'preciation in value, and has descended froi i 'he neck of u ('ouui!auder-in-chiof to that of the Boatswain. ^ ."T"" ,»!*'^*'— I '. TAX ON COMMISSIONS. 157 appointed to a ship from half-pay. On every commission issued, or appointment made out by the Adiuiralty, there is a separate duty or tax payable by the officer so appointed. Fortunately, it is not required from midshipmen on their being "turned over" from one ship of war to another, or it might often prove the means of confining a spirited yonth to a guard-ship for life. As it affects commissioned officers, how- ever, it is sufficiently injurious and inconvenient in its consequences. Even a midshipman, on being appointed lieutenant, is compelled to part with his money as the price of a commission, alrea(^7, perhaps, dearly purchased with his blood. In this way a gallant young Mid may feel himself necessitated, according to the rules of the service, to pay a fee for having the awkwardness to come in contact with a *' two- and-thirty-pounder," and lose a leg or an arm. The payment in this case is a guinea : in some instances the appointment may be made out to a '*ship in ordinary," merely to give him rank; . I A^:m^ ••■■ ' ff' 158 TAX ON COMMISSIONS. h I 'A i in due course he is appointed to a vessel on service; his former payment of the tax avails him nothing, and he is obliged once more to pay a guinea. It sometimes happens, that, through accident, unfitness, the dry-rot, or other cause, the officer may, in a couple of months, be shifted into four or five other ships; and he is of course obliged, on each occasion, to pay half the tax, as it were to make him feel, more sensibly, the inconvenience of being shifted about from ship to ship. This tax, too, falls most heavily on those whose emoluments are less considerable; namely. Lieutenants, who are always shifting about, whilst the Commander or Captain remains stationary, and seldom incurs the duty. If the change happens to be made from half to full pay, the difficulty is not so great ; as the agents, even if they be of the tribe of Levi, feel less reluctance to open their purses and defray the charge, in expectation of increased commission and agency. ' An attempt is made to render the superior officers' commissions equally prolific as a subject Ir TAX ON COMMISSIONS. 159 of taxation : a commander paying two guineas, a captain more, and so on up to an admiral. These fees may, perhaps, not be considered quite so onerous or objectionable. It is, however, ob- vious that, taking into consideration the low rate of pay, and their more frequent liability to be removed from one ship to another, a very con- siderable portion of the tax falls upon the Lieu- tenants. From the attention which has been paid to the improvement of the regulations of the service, it appears reasonable to imagine that the subject may have hitherto escaped the attention of the Admiralty ; and that the mere suggestion may induce their Lordships to recom- mend the discontinuance of a tax, so unequally pressing on the younger branches of the profes- sion. • ^ . /I I' y l! I NEWFOUNDLAND. <* Oh, flesh ! flcsli ! how art thou fishified !" . . /• SHAKSPEABK. There is, perhaps, no part of our colonies — especially taking into consideration that it is the nearest home — so little known, both as respects its internal state or its commercial importance, as the island of Newfoundland. Though extending three hundred miles in length, and nearly the same in breadth, coverei^ with wood, abounding in noble harbours, intersected by navigable streams, and possessing a soil (con- trasting it with its present state) capable of a much higher degree of cultivation in the interior 'W NKU'FOLNDl.AND. I((l kUI'.. colonies at it is >oth as ercial ndland. length, c1 with rsected il (con- >le of a interior V oi tlw> couiilry, whicli is every wliere diversifietl witli picturesque scenery — this island may as yet be pronounced lo be, for the most part, unin- habited ;* a fact which is altogether unaccount- able, and almost incredible in an age like this, when the tide of emigration may be said (to use n nautical expression) to have sttinso strongly, for many years past, to the westward. This dis- position, it must be regretted, has become almost uncontrollable of late in British subjects; nor can it be repressed, ( ther by the warnings re- corded in the public prints, or the p»ivate jour- nals of intelligent travellers, detailing the dis- tresses and misery of hordes of our countrymen, upon their first landing in the United States, in consequence of want of employment ; nor by the tragic narratives of the melancholy dupery and aggravated sufferings, thupugh pestilence and famine, of crowds of deluded and innocent ad- * The whole interior of this island, which is larger than all Ireland, is almost unknown ro the colonists. Its extremely soanty population consists of the red or native Indian^. VOL. I. M ^. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I LilZS |25 |5o ^^ R^B ■^ 1^ |2.2 11.25 III 1.4 1.6 $h /, ^% Hiotographic Sciences Corporation )3 WIST MAIN STIHT WIBSTII.N.Y. MSM (716)173-4503 r '^ I !■- Ill 168 NEWFOUNDLAND. venturers, swept, with their little families, into untimely graves on the naked and unhospitable Mosquito shore, to feed the rapicity of un- blushingly-avowed and newspaper-puffing Poyais- loan-per-cen^e agents, and the still more cruel cupidity of a calculating coward, at once the' fell scourge of his credulous countrymen, and foul stain on the military character. Without affecting to submit a syllable, in the way of advice, to those whose official duty it is to take such important questions into con- sideration, we must still be of opinion that there is in this colony, from advantages already enu- merated, a fairer field to deploy with success chat portion of our population which we are, Aow-a-days, so much in the habit of alleging t6 be redundant at home, than in others which kttVe been selected by the colonists themselves, or l)y those who catered for thdr immediate comforts or probable future prosperity. It has been objected, by some persons not altogeth^ unacquainted with this island, that it is over- NEWFOUNDLAND. 163 stocked already, for its means of maintaining a population. Nothing is more fallacious : hitherto the fishery has been the only mode resorted to for the purpose of obtaining a livelihood; agriculture, mining, and other avocations, are never thought of. FIRES AT SAINT JOHN'S. Direiso interea miscentur msenia luctu ; * * « » Sigea igni freta lata relucent, Exoritur clamorque virikm, clangorque tuberum." VIBGIL. For some years past the governor* and a small squadron have uniformly wintered at Saint * By a recent regulation this colony is placed under a civil governor, although the present is also an officer of the navy. We perceive by the official Gazettes he has lately appointed some of the merchants and medical practitioners of St. John's to m2 ■E9 164 NEWFOUNm.AND. John's, contrary to former practice. During the first three years which succeeded this new ar- rangement, this capital was at different times discovered to be on fire. Upon two of these occasions, one-third of its opposite extremes was literally burnt to the ground: indeed, for three years suTPSsively, upon the close of the fishery for the season, or rather upon the return of the Paddies* into port, an annual fire was as regularly looked for as the coming of the frost ; nor is it unworthy of remark, that, whilst every provision was made, on the part of the inhabitants, to guard against the severity of the to hold important situations in ** the household," and that the aidep4e-camp in waiting are to rank with Colonels of militia. We cannot help thinking this anxiety to decide the rank of per- sons of their profession and occupation altogether superfluous ; for although they may be at present in very good odour at court, former Governors were observed to turn up their noses at their pretensions, as if they could found no title to " rank," but in a sense peculiar to themselves. * An endearing appellation by which the fishermen in this coimtry are designated, the majority of whom are Irish. NEWFOUNDLAND. 165 one, few took the slightest precaution to prevent a recurrence of the other,* notwithstanding the direful calamities with which they had been so frequently visited. If the governor suggested any precautionary expedient for the preveation of fire, or, in the event of its occurring, issued orders calculated, as he thought, to avert the inevitable destruction of property that must in such cases be expected to ensue, he was sure to be attacked through the medium of the radical press and anonymous pamphlets ; if not opposed by the " grand jury," or even a grand deputa- tion from the commercial community, on the subject of this presumed encroachment on civil rights.f '* From localities pecMiaf to this place, built as tbe town is, entirely of wood, the vast quantities of oil, either in store or ex- posed in open air, rendering in vats in every direction, perhaps there is no set of people so liable (to use their own phraseology) to be "frost-lnn-nt" as the Fishmonger's Company of St. John's. t At the moment this work goes to press, we have learned that, at the close of the sessions before last, in consequence of charges made M 3 *«K?iT^ '; I 166 NEWFOUNDLAND. The first fire which occurred during this period at Saint John's, happened at the least dangerous season of the year. About the end of the month of August, at midnight, a fiame was first dis- covered by the vigilance of the look-out from the made in presenting a petition from Saint John's, by a gentleman who plumes himself rather upon the honours he derives from the corporate body of Aberdeen, than the kindness of his friends in the little burgh of Montrose, who first fostered his senatorial fortunes and arithmetical talents, he was called on to retract cer- tain unworthy and dishonourable insinuations relative to the late governor of Newfoimdland. To the first application, through the medium of a polite aote, no answer was received ; but a per- sonal application having been made, the dignity of the criminal— or, more properly speaking, criminatory judge— felt it convenient to relax, rather than brave the honest resentment of an injured officer., " confessed the cape," backed out and apologized. But here, as in most cases of privileged slander, the calumny had been disseminated widely : it had reached the seat of his government, and the mischief was consummated ; whilst the apology, through the unpresuming spirit and honourable forbearance of the gallant admiral, was accepted without any stipulation that it should be , made public. With truth says Falstaff, that wiseacre In proverbs, " the better part of valour is discretion." The gallant admiral is accounted one of tlie first shots in the service. NEWFOUNDLAND. 16T flag-ship. The alarm-gun was instantly fired, the report of which echoing among the surround- ing hills at so silent an hour of the night, was truly appalling, more particularly a$i its cause could not be misunderstood. The affrighted inhabitants, suddenly roused from deep sleep, issued forth in dismay from their dwellings at the well-known clang of the fire-bell. Women with children in their arms, and many with helpless infants at the breast, were seen flying in every direction, en chemise, for refuge to their more for- tunate friends, situated at a distance from the fire — ^which rapidly spread amongst streets con- sisting entirely of wooden houses — or to the church, the constant asylum on each of those calamitous occasions. Every aid that could pos- sibly be spared, consistent with the safety of the squadron, was instantly sent to the scene of de- vastation. Parties were despatched provided with buckets, hatchets, hawsers, and every auxiliary implement that the experienced could devise for subduing the fire, with the exception of engines, M 4 IfiS NEWFOUNDLAND. as, from the proximity of the men-of-war, which lay to leeward of the flames, it became necessary to employ them in playing upon the rigging, until the ships were in readiness to slip from their moorings, and haul out of reach of the fast-falling flakes, which shqjvered constantly round them. Being amongst the first of those officers who proceeded on shore, with a view to tranquillize the tumult of the people, we were surprised to witness, amid this scene of horror and destruc- tion, such a manifestation of opposite feeling. They who were insured,* were philosophically passive, and submitted to their fate without a murmur; whilst, on the contrary, those uninsured, were either too irresolute or too furious in their conduct to be practically useful. The rich, awaiting the inevitable destruction of their pro- perty, were almost frantic with despair ; whilst * It is whispered amongst the better-intbrmed of this island, that some of the mercantile community have most opportunely ewMped bankruptcy, by what might almost be termed a providen- tial conflagration. NEWFOUNDLAND. 169 the poor (particularly the Paddies) were delight- ed beyond measure at the prospect of plunder which presented itself, and the favourable oppor- tunity now afforded them to retaliate past favours upon their employers. The Military were not less quick in their move- ments than the Navy, and were admirably ar- ranged in line to facilitate the necessary supply of water. Indeed, both services displayed, at every risk, the greatest possible coolness and courage in their exertions to extinguish the flame ; although (unaccountable to relate) the authority for this prompt and active interference was not only questioned, by those whose property our meii were actually endeavouring to preserve, but was even vociferously disputed by one or two demo- cratical demagogues, who literally exhausted the Billingsgate vocabulary of abuse, in exciting the lower orders to riot with the troops. — But even in more civilized countries, similar calamitous occur- rences aftbrd ample opportunities for the deve- lopment of vicious and virtuous principles. As --^•as*w«i>»**-_ ■^ff^ 170 NEWFOUNDLAND. the fire commenced in the north-east, in which point was also the wind now increasing in vio~ lence with the flames, it communicated rapidly from building to building, and store to store. Wet blankets and carpets were extended along the tops and sides of the houses, to render the wooden material of which they were constructed less liable to take fire ; but as every effort was found to be ineffectual to subdue the flame, an expedient was suggested by a captain in tlie navy— (who, it is to be remarked, by way of parenthesis, evinced the temper of a saint under showers of abuse, which rained thick and threefold upou both him and bis abhorred expedient). There was no time for idle parley or consultation : the necessity for making a breach in the street, by levelling one or two of the houses contiguous to the Are, so as to cut off the communication, was sufficiently apparent ; but how to put into exe- cution so prompt a mode of accomplishing this desirable object, was a question of considerable solicitude. It was proposed by a military officer NEWFOUNDLAND. 171 to blow up, with a few barrrels of powder, some of the intervening houses, as the most effectual ex- pedient; but this was rejected, notwithstanding the celerity of the process, as appearing to sayour too strongly of the belligerent principle. The axe and the saw were now resorted to. Theprincipal upright beams which supported these buildings were sawn through at the base : but these firm fabrics were found to be too strongly constructed to be felled by ordinary means. At this perilous period, with the presence of mind so truly characteristic of the tar, a seaman taking the end of a hawser in his hand, ascended by a ladder the top of the dwelling about to be, as he termed it, " dowsed," and succeeded in securing it sufficiently firm round the house. An hundred hands now hastily grappled the rope : the haw- ser, however, it was now thought, was likely to give- way before the house, and it became neces- sary to attach a second. This was soon accom- plished : but the " miracle" of making a breach in this modern Jericho was reserved, as of old, for \' 179 NEWFOUNDLAND. the clergy; fur just then the well-known shrill voice of the priest was heard vociferating from the crowd, " Follow me, boys — follow father Fitzgerald I" when a phalanx of fishermen flocked round their pastor : their numbers and exertions increasing, until (to use the humorous expres- sion of the priest) " every mother's son of them" clapt on both hawsers, and with a hearty hurrah hurled the building to the ground. The praiseworthy exertions of the priest thus produced effects doubtless considered miraculous by his flock ;* useful they were, certainly, not * The power of the priests here is fully as great over the lower orders of the people, who are principally papists, as it is in other countries ; but tliere is a more pacific disposition, and less persecuting feeling, on their part, towards those who entertain a different creed. Indeed, the persons most prone in this colony to religious differences are of that sect so appropriately denominated " Dissenters." En jmssant, it would be unpardonable here to pass unnoticed the singular difference in the state of society in this island and that of Ireland, to which it bears, in a religious point of view, a strong resemblance. Though the vast majority of its population arc Roman Catholics, no rivalry nor discontent pre- vails. - hu4 ' ^ y»' -■ NF.WForNDI.ANI). 173 only a? tlic means of preventing the further de- struction of property, but, in all probability, of saving more souls in this world than ever he was likely to do in the next. The fire, in consequence of the breach being effected, was subdued by degrees, or spent itself, owing to this precaution, for want of fuel. No lives were lost ; but much valuable property, in> sured and uninsured, perished by the flames, or was plundered by the Paddies.''* vhUs, although the government and all official situations are Ailed by Protestants. The Roman Catholic Bishop entertains and is entertained by the governor and official persons, not excepting the officers of both army and navy ; and, unlike the policy pursued at public dinners in Ireland, no controverted topics of religion nrc ever discussed, or political toasts Introduced, which could he construed into the slightest attempt to foment disunion or em- broil religious professors. * On other occasions, it was notorious that a considerable part of the property plundered was secreted and carried away in boats, called "jack-asses," to the outports ; in consequence of which, the then governor (l^r Charles Hamilton) ordered, that in all eases of fire a guard should be rowed by the boats of the men-of- war 174 NEWFOUNDLAND. COURTS OF JUDICATURE. " *Tis an ill wind,"says the proverb, "that blows nobody good ;" so it has ever been a bad fire at Saint John's that did not bring abundance of business to the gentlemen of the bar. As surely as ever sharks followed ships whose crews have been afflicted with contagion, so surely, in all cases of conflagration, followed a train of actions for assaults, batteries, trespasses, indictments for misdemeanors, and other offences, though rarely for robberies ; possibly, because the confusion M'hich prevailed on such occasions, and the ex- tent to which depredations of the latter nature were carried, rendered individual detection ex- tremely difficult ; and, even when detected, justice was often defrauded of its victim, in consequence of the too general impunity with which offences war in the harbour: a, judicious precaution, which, however un- palatable to those active marauders, was productive of beneficial results in protecting property so circumstanced. NEWFOUNDLAND. 17i» of every kind are committed in this singular state of society.* ,-■ - . . « The judicature of this country is vested in the chief justice; who, whilst personally presiding over the " supreme court" in the capital, is assisted in ihe administration of justice in the distant districts by the naval officersf employed on the statioiv, who periodically visit the out- ports in his Majesty's ships for that purpose : * It is ludicrous to observe how, in the opinion of the colonists- here, the mother country already begins to retrograde in civiliza- tion. Ik is not unusual with the supreme judges to condemn the " Paddus," in heinous cases, to a re-transportation to their native shore.— Alas ! poor Ireland ! t ,For several years these officers had not only to perform judicial, but divine duties : nor was it uncommon for a captain ta marry a couple in the morning— pronounce judgment upon a legftl question in the afternoons-christen a child in the evening-^ and |>ut to sea at midnight. Thii latter practice, tliough bold, is, in c&S the moon is up, proved by experience to be safe and judicious on this coast, from the general prevalence of fogs in the day-time, tfbich are remarked to be less dense and frequent In moon'- light nights. M ■V, 176 NEWFOUNDLAND. If a duty wliich excites no less apprehension from the dangers incident to so intricate a navigation, despite of ail weathers at fixed and stated in- tervals, than from the difficulties and serious responsibilities attached to the due performance of a task equally onerous and novel to mere naval commanders. For if, on the one hand, it requires consider- able nautical ability to navigate a ship on this coast, from the uncertainty of the currents, fre- quency of the fogs, and the little dependence which can be placed on the lead; it, on the other, demands the exercise of a naturally sound judg- ment, and a more than ordinarily discriminative faculty in a naval officer, to be able to wend his way through the devious intricacies of fraud, and avoid those rocks and quicksands, too often interposed between the judge and the attainment of an equitable adjudication, by the partiality of official pilots (frequently in cases in which they themselves are concerned), or the craft or perjury of interested witnesses. . - \ NEWFOUNDLAND. 177 1 1 The derobed gentlemen of the " long-robe"* (who, by-the-bye, practise only in the supreme court) constantly dabble, like Caleb Quotem, in various avocations — notary, attorney,f advo- cate, and even auctioneer : and more than one jack-a-napes| has been known to be committed for flagrant breaches of decorum and disrespect to the bench. The cases and decisions cited by those gentle- men " learned in the law," from reports of pro- ceedings in the King's-Bench, and other courts at home, are not often more relevant than those classical quotations with which their pleadings * These gentlemen as yet have not assumed the digmty of the gown. f According to a French witty authority, an " attorney is a cat that settles differences between mice." Had he seen this colony, he would probably .i f <«.rB»aft...-rt«>wa»^ ni*- !l I. 182 NEWFOUNDLAND. individual in court could possibly make a per- tinent reference. Upon one of those occasions, an unfortunate fisherman endeavoured to recover an overcharge made by a medical magistrate for. the accouche- ment of the poor man's wife. There appeared to be much difficulty in sifting the case to the bottom ; the judge, for perspicuity sake, putting his questions through the medium of nautical phraseology ; sometimes in very undignified Eng- lish, and frequently through an interpretation into Irish. The witness appearing resolutely determined to be dull of comprehension, the judge forgot all his assumed official dignity, and with great warmth exclaimed, " I tell you what it is, . young fellow, I'll bring you up with a round turn directly" — (not of course, that he meant to hang him) — " Answer me directly, sir," adding in an under tone, " D — n the fellow ! he claps a stopper over all our proceedings." The witness still continuing to prevaricate, the judge rose in a menacing attitude, and said, ** 1 have , \ mer^- NEWFOUNDLAND. 188 lake a per- unfortunate 1 overcharge e accouche- 'e appeared case to the »ke, putting of nautical piified Eng- terpretation ; resolutely ension, the iignity, and 1 you what up with a e, that he rectly, sir," fellow ! he ngs." The the judge ^, " I have had enough, of your traverse sailing, and if yoti don't answer that plain question, by G— d, I'll give you three dozen directly !" — All neces- sity for an interpreter now vanished ; the witness answered explicitly — truth was elicited, and jus- tice administered- 4« m 'fj.\ ■>J14U<'":V' >( '*•,'-: COLONIAL PRESS. J. " Scribimm indocti doatique," HORACE. , . 1 i. That the appetite for news, which is so cha- racteristic of Englishmen at home, has lost none of its keenness from their migration across the Atlantic, may be fairly inferred from the well- known fact, that there were at one time no less than four newspapers established in the small town of Saint John's (Newfoundland), the re- sident population of which does not exceed eight N 4 ^ ..-J\ 1 \ 1 1 1 i ' \ 184 NEWFOUNDLAND. \ thousand persons ; a fact which seems difficult to he accounted for, as, through above five if not six months of the year, the editorial tribe must draw entirely from their own necessarily circumscribed and stinted wells of information, being frequently altogether excluded from inter- course with Europe from November to April. As, in the case of animal aliment, the smaller the supply of food for the mind, the greater the eagerness of the people of Saint John's to procure it, the higher the value set on it, and the greater the gratification with which it appears to be devoured; all is grist that comes to mill pend- ing this period of estrangement from the mother country, during which the severity of the climate enforces the observance of a species of mental ** non-intercourse act." The contributors to these ephemeral produc- tions are as liberal as they are multifarious. The disquisitions on philosophical and physical subjects daily fill whole columns, and are fur- nished in gross by the disciples of Galen and r> NEWFOUNDLAND. 185 Paracelsus. Jlowever large the bolus, the pisca- tory public gulp it down with a zest : the editors gladly open their columns to matter so generally interesting; and nothing, save prescriptions, is proscribed: a merciful regulation for the pro- fession itself, lest the probability of a fee should become problematical ! It is a fact, that a controversy continued for six months, discussing the existence or non-ex- istence of a disease which had already swept away the fairest part of the rising generation ; some denominating it scarlet fever, others scar* latina. " Strange that such difference should be 'Twixt tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee !" The subtle enemy of the future hope of propa- gation, however, finally defeated every effort of these polemic controvertists to detect either its appropriate name or distinctive essence. The disease died a natural death, by the anticipated decease or miraculous recovery of all the suffering innocents, without elucidating any new light on li I 1^ si -«h> 186 NEWFOUNDLAND. h this anxiously-mooted question ; and the contro- versy was swept away by the first thaw, in all probability to be revived with renovated ardour at the setting in of the next frost. All subjects connected with the naval or mili- tary professions were carefully abstained from by gentlemen in either service, although con- stant contributors on almost every other topic ; a moderation originating, perhaps, in the dread entertained of opening afresh the flood-gates of abuse and personality, which the radical press (for even here are radicals!) always felt itself privileged to direct against every officer who had the spirit to maintain opinions, which might be construed as militating against the majesty of the mob. The affectation which pervaded the contributidns of these modern military literati displayed how very independently they had formed their style of the admired principles of composition, which have given so great a gusto to the works of those writing, fighting characters of antiquity, Xenophon and Caesar. The mate- i ji. NEWFOUNDLAND. 187 rials of these compositions are, for (h« most party such as might be expected ; but it would puzzle a conjuror to tell what could have determined the several contributors in their extraordinary selection of literary aliases, or nommes de guerre. The most ordinary were, " Mercator, Piscator, Viator, Benbow, Bobstay," and even ** Boreas," which were indifferently affixed to eprigrams, elegies, political squibs, tales of love, and satirical poetry. These important persons have long since become so well acquainted with their value, as correspondents in a place so destitute of news, that they completely lord it over the unhappy editor ; frequently sacrificing, to their amuse- ment or pique, the interest of his establishment, in right of their gratuitous contributions. For never yet, we believe, has the daily press in this country stooped to the disgrace of buying or remunerating the labours of any individual (the editor albeit always excepted). All the evils which are held by some to follow I I 188 NEWFOUNDLAND. V ;V in Great Britain from the influence and exertion of an unpaid magistracy,* are in reality felt at Newfoundland, from the want of that respon- sibility attached to stipendiaries, in the republic of newspaper literature. Notwithstanding that newspapers in this colony are saleable without being subject to any duty, it would appear that the profits, arising from that of even the most extensive circulation, are no more than competent to the maintenance of a family. In the instance alluded to, the various departments of exertion left no individual, young or old, male or female, unoccupied. The father took the literary lead, and wrote the leading article ; the son-in-law (an half-pay purser in the navy) sometimes sported a quiet quill on a little quackery in political economy; the mo- ther, not having much pretensions to letters ex- : * The writer wishes it to be understood, that it is not intended here to attempt to arbitrate between the advocates and opposers of a system which has set at variance so many wise heads in both lioiises of Parliament. w •> , >. ■ . •• - .j;- f \ NEWFOUNDLAND. 189 ! and exertion reality felt at that respon- i the republic s in this colony t to any duty, , arising from culation, are no lintenance of a to, the various dividual, young id. The father •te the leading pay purser in iet quill on a >my; the mo- [s to letters ex- tat it is not intended jcates and opposers wise heads in both cept in type (for she could assist as compositor at a pinch), collected and arranged little receipts for preserves, pickling, and pretty progeny; whilst the daughters, who were spinsters, pro- fessing total ignorance of the mystery of the latter composition, confined their talents to aid- ing in the composition of type, and correcting the press, which usually went on during the hour of tea, when every avowed contributor con- sidered himself a privileged guest. Humble as it was, this might be considered the only thing resembling the literary soiree of a well- known retired actress,* and active proprietress; at which, now-a-days, the company are treated with a sight of the lions on a Sunday evening, previous to their public production in the ensuing week. Maugre all the bustle of the scene, the blunders to be corrected, and the brogue of the ladies (for all residents speak almost equally discordant in either an Irish or Devonshire accent), the scene was interesting enough to collect many of their * Of London. 190 NEWFOUNDLAND. r i 1 1 ! contributors, to dissipate the ennm particular to a place so circumscribed as to society, by correct- ing the errors of the press in their own con- tributions; of which, we shall close this article by subjoining extracts, grave and gay, leaving the reader to pronounce on their comparative merits. Though the specimens are possibly none of the best that might have been selected, they are not altogether destitute of point ; and some of them, of the gravest character, may, notwith- standing, be said to contain ample matter for mirth and laughter H ' r ; ■#Mwtilri i particular to ty, by correct* leir own con- tse this ai'ticle NEWFOUNDLAND. 191 RECREATIONS IN RHYME, BY THE LIEGES OF SAINT JOHN'S. " For the New/oundland Royal Gazette,* "Mr. Editor: " Sir, — If you think the following reflections, caused by the late destructive fire, worthy a place in your interesting paper, you will oblige by your insertion. " Augustus. »» -" And mom came on, by softest silence led The moonf was ris'n — she left the noon-day sun * A misnomer— read Radical Gazette. f This contributor was strongly suspected of lunacy. 1, ill r;r I H 192 NEWFOUNDLAND. To Other climes ; while here each twinkling star Roll'd in its orb, in midnight beauty blush'd. The hour was sacred — silence all around ! But, lo ! the hour of rest and quiet fled ! The heavens alone had peace, and dying men Once more were rous'd from sleep by cannons' roar, With cries of fire ! and by the toll of bells. The awful grandeur burst, and to the winds Gave thickest clouds of heated, rolling smoke : The flames flew wildly up, as if Despair Had urged them, and on revenge were bent ; Like that which chainless maniacs display. Or fiery justice from th* eternal throne. T- ^ Will this remind us of a future hour. As morning stars of the coming day. Or evening suns of the approaching night ? Whose pomp shall burst, and whose loud trump shall sound, While nature sleepis in dust ; and few shall be To tell when sprang the fire the world involves. Then none shall quench thejlaming skies and tvorldf But yield submission to the angel call, 1^ i'^ NEWFOUNDLAND. 183 And fly to judgment, where all works must stand The god-like untried test of spirit, ^re. « Newfoundland, 1819,' ** Augustus." "VERBUM STULTIS. " Ye manglers of rhyme. And ye murd'rers of prose, If you had your deserts You'd get pull'd by the nose. « Do you think that the public Have nothing to dc But to read the d d stuff That is written by you ? '( I wish that the devil, Who, I'm sure, is your patron, ■ Had the friend and Sir Knight, With the doctors and matron." VOL. I. o ! \ W¥ 1 %■ 194 NEWFOUNDLAND. INVOCATION. Extracted from a Poem entitled " Newfoundland." " The land I sing, where fish and oil abound, And od'rous flakes the public streets surround \* Where five long months the driving snows assail, And ice keeps off the packet and the mail ; Where perfume rises with the rising sun ; Where half-starv'd pigs and puppies run In quest of fish ; and when its on the fork. Ye ivkangers /f judge how savory is the pork !" And then, in allusion to the marriages made by. naval and military officers amongst the fair colonists — " Hook'd like a cod-fish, as a beaver caught, They curse the snares their lovely partners wrought. Retreat is vain, their fate for ever seal'd. And vanquish'd man to woman yields the field : Bows to a yoke his better sense despises ; Sinks into nothing, and a whanger rises." • This writer might have concisely described the aspect of this coast in two words, as — in winter, it is covered with flakes of snow— in summer, with flakes of flsh. I Slang of the colony for fish-curers. i\ NKWrOUNDLAND. 195 the aspect of this led with flakes of "ADVICE TO A FI.IRT. " No longer this flirting, dear Fan, This * vvorKing a traverse' won't do ; Plain sailing's a far better plan, For a girl so anxious to woo. " Away, then, with ' humming and hawing ;* Steer steady and straight after me ; They never gain ground who are * yawing,' But often are ' brought by the Lee.'* << Then hark unco honest advice, And veer not about with the wind ; Just tell me, I'm not fit to *■ splice,' Or decidedly not to your mind. *< So settle my fate — for I feel I'm sure to be ' taken aback ;' If so, I'll ' come round on my heel/ And < stand on the opposite tack.' " Ben Bobstay." * Nautical phmne ; also the fair lady's name. o 2 i f 196 NEWFOUNDLAND. The two following are curious specimens of the " grave and gay " — we suspect the writer of the first to have been more of a ship-builder than qualified to ** build the lofty rhyme." « THE SHIPWRECKED SAILOR'S GRAVE. « No recording stone discloses Where the shipwreck'd tar reposes- -- No grass grows o'er a sailor's grave, Whose pale corse, cover'd by the wave, In sea-weed shrouded lies ! " No weeping kindred o'er his bier Shed affliction's grieving tear ; Yet weep they when they hear the tale. That, in December's boist'rous gale, The lov'd one's lost at sea ! " Do friends his death-bed then surround ? Ah ! no — he hears not, save the sound Of sea-bird's scream — or voice of woe, As each poor shipmate sinks below The ocean's briny billow ! ,• ,1 NEWFOUNDLAND. 197 '* It heeds not where death meets the hrave, Whether on land or stormy wave : His bosom shrinks it at the blast ; He gives one sigh to joys long past — And sinks, resigned, to rest !" ♦« St. Johns, 25th January, 1819." A rare and happy specimen of quaint verse ! " FOR THE ROYAL GAZETTE. '* The magi of the present day, Try some to womid, others slay. Stop, vain, foolish, scribbling man. That 'temptest more than do ye can. Scurr lous ! as unavailing. Seems the whole of your writing. As Christians conduct yourselves. Not like tartarian elves. Oh, shame ! thus a a ladyjair to lash. In plumage deck'd, cuts no common dash. Have mercy, Literati ! Ou this our community, o3 198 NEWFOUNDLAND. Else * fVhangers' will have at ye, Maid, Matron, anon you'll see Ye censure undeservedly ; Yet mercy still sheweth thee. 'T appears in you a disease, For you cut-up whom i/e please, Careless of your ranc'rous prong Is saucy * Old Go-Along.' " '« St. John's, 25th January, 1819." " A RAKING BROADSIDE AT PARTING. " Farewell to this cod-fishing coast. Its prevalent fogs and its frost ! Adieu to a people who boast Of a breed unaccountably crost. " Farewell to each marrying maid, Each marital match-making mother : Adieu to the plott^ ye have laid To trick mc by threats from a brother. » Ti. . >JK\VF()UNI)LANI>. 19P " Farewell to each mountain and moor, Each desolate barren and bog ; Adieu to the dogs, who endure The devil's-own * life of a dog.' " Farewell to the stench of each stage,* The odours of oil in the ' vat ;' Adieu to the radical rage. And the system of plundering Pal. ** Farewell to eternal misnomers, And things by young misses misnam'd ; Adieu to tlie priests of St. Oraer's^ May their flocks, and their fields, be reclaim'd ! " Farewell to the < 49th Act :' f The Sessions, and ' Surrogate Court :' Adieu to the judges — in fact, God help the poor Paddies in port ! "II.M. S #**#**. "D.I.O." " St. John Sy 'Zlst December 1819." * Fisli stage. f The 49th Act of Parliament — " An Act for establishing Courts of Judicature in the Island of Newfoundland. " ■ , O 4 NAVAL CLUB-HOUSE. ^' " STHENl'A NOS EXERCUi' INERTIA." A WET DAY. " The politicians, in a nook apHi-t, Discussed the world, and settled all tlie spheres ; The wits watciied every loophole for their art, To introduce a bun-mot head and ears.*' LOaO BYRON. A FLOCK of wild geese, in their migratory flight, is not more indicative of bad weather than a crowded assemblage at the club. The daily avo- cations and destinies of its members appear en- tirely to be governed by the state of the atmos • phere : for whether Flag-officer, Post-captain, Com- mander, or " Physician of the fleet," they all seem to be under the same barometical influence. When the weather is fair, the club is deserted for the street; and when foul, the street, but f\ A WET DAY — CLUB. 201 RD BYRON. more particularly the residence of each iiulividiuil, is deserted for the club, "ha more dreary the day, the more thronged the assemblage of the dismal within, to dissipate, if possible, the gloom without. Stimulated by so powerful a motive, neither the dampness nor the severity of the wea- ther deter from their enforced attendance at this Hotel de la Marine, the old, the bilious, and even the hypochondriacal ; which latter, by-the- bye, have increased in a proportionate ratio to the prolongation of a peace so generally deplored, not more in the maritime than it would appear in the mercantile world* at the present day. It was on such a day that I visited the club, to ascertain the existence of the many advantages promised me from brother officers by becoming a member. Just as I had entered the hall, I was * This belligerent anxiety on tlie part of our merchants appears to be fast abating, in proportion as they begin to feel the beneficial effects of the repeal of restrictive duties, and the adoption by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Mr. Huskisson of more liberal regulations as to our commercial intercourcie with other nations. 202 WET DAY — CLUB. familiarly accosted by an old shipmate, who, after congratulating me on my " luck, for having under my lee such an anchorage," kindly offered his ser- vices to shew me the conveniences of the esta- blishment, and " point out to me its comforts." — " Here you are," says he, bringing me over to the window and looking at the curtains, — " See ! brail-up as close as you like," — and then, taking hold of the tassel of the window-blind, which, (suiting the action to the word) he quickly pulled down with evident satisfaction, exclaimed, — " Shut the sun out like shot" — " down fore-sail in a crack" — " every comfort, you see" — " cheap chop in a jiffy" — "best pint o* wine" — "'port it ourselves" — "pay no waiters" — " besides, my boy," he continued, " you've a chap in livery be- hind your chair during dinner." — A^en, having nearly run out his reckoning, he looked round in- quisitively ; a chronometer clock catchin^j his eye, he pointed to it with exultation (possibly arising from a fellow-feeling with so many of the club, who repaired there solely to kill old Time), and r\ WET DAY CLUB. 203 exclaimed, " Aye ! and dam'me ! you can make it twelve o'clock when you like!" — Happily illus- trative, thought I, of the enviable delights of this establishment ! Ascending with him up stairs, at one of the tables, we observed a pair of old Post-captains, who, from their sickly aspect, were evidently much nearer their grave than their Flag, poring over the last number of the Navy-list, and betraying a peculiar satisfaction in their looks as the elder struck his pen through the names of their seniors, who had died since its publication. " Well !" said the veteran, as he concluded the agreeable task of blotting so many brother officers out from the list of the living, " thank God ! there are five more within these three months hare resigned their flags in our favour !" We quickiy brushed by a group whose attention "Was directed to an amicable dispute between two juvenile Commanders, who, like ** prophets of the past," were fighting afresh battlv^s formerly fought shy : the youngest of whom was cutting up the conduct of Calder with the greatest severity. — f: i\ X -^ . ^^_' ■ ■ . " * .v. ■<' # ' 2(H WET DAY — CLUB. j' u J i ! 4 H :i^i " D — n it," said he, " I was not there myself," but I know it's the opinion of many he ought to have been Bing'd." — " But you kno v," replied the other, " he fought in a fog, and could not see how others conducted themselves: besides, there was , a political ruse practised by the Admiralty, in withholding from the public a part of his des- patch." — " Despatch !" cried the other, " despatch him to the devil ;" — and turning on his heel, abruptly quitted the room. The report of heavy artillery on the lower- deck induced several to make a simultaneous movement down stairs, where an M.P. distinguishable for his tact in thinking with the Tories and still voting with the ffhigs^ was blazing away in a . loud invective against ♦^he newspaper reporters for giving his lasL-night's speech so incorrectly, or, as some perhaps thought, (if we may judge by the interchange of significant winks), lending him ** a grace beyond the reach of art" — («. e. his own). — " D — n the blundering blockheads ! I said a devilish good thing last night, and there is n. V, h WKT DAY CLUB. 205 myself," Slight to plied the see how « lere was ralty, in his des- despatch his heel, ►wer-deck novement hable for and still ay in a reporters correctly, judge by lending («'. e. his Iheads ! I d there is \ not a word of it Jiere." — " A'weei, what was*t. Sir Jacob ? — let's ken ?" said a prying, peak-nosed, interrogative Caledonian. — " Why ! what you never heard t'other side Tweed, I'll answer for it. You're aware what was the subject of debate ? — Seppings' plan, you know — deserves no credit for it — Danes had it before us — d — d good for those fond o* turning tail, to be sure." — " Weel, but Sir Jacob, your weet — ^your weet?" — " Why, I told them the discussion on round sterns* was only fit for the Parliament of the Round-heads." Ha, ha, ha ! — he, he, he ! — " Vera weel. Sir Jacob : can you spare us a frank the day ?" The request was no sooner complied with, but the wily Scot, perceiving the Baronet was in the vein, plied him with an application to allow him to set his name down as a subscriber to "that admirable national institution" Saint Andrew's Charity School. The result proved Sandy had not mistaken his man, who, however^ qualified the concession as he departed, by ob- ' * See remarks at page 210. V 'I 2{Hi WET DAY — CLUB. r A iil m serving, " I should never have contributed six- pence, if I did not think too well of your countrj'- men to suppose they suffered the saints to put in their oar." The honourable Baronet had no sooner hastily left the apartment, to support in his place at St Stephen's the interests of the ffshermen of the Thames and Medway, in a disputed right of fishery in the inland sea near Havant, from which they were attempted to be excluded, than reserve almost immediately closed every mouth, which but a moment before had been so communicative. Several prepared to cut their cables, and avoided the dreaded com- pany of ennui, which now was observed making all sail on the squadron, but were deterred by the continuance of the rain : whilst a sickly- loooking K.C.B., evidently labouring under the influence of hypochondriacal affection, through disease of the liver, kept pacing the room, precisely to the extent of twelve paces, occa- sionally pressing his hand on his right side, or stopping short to apply his finger to ascertains t;i WET DAY — VLVU. 207 ited six- country- to put in had no . support sts of the /ay, in a sea near )ted to be Lely closed ,efore had •epared to aded corn- ed making deterred it a sickly- under the |n, through the room, (aces, occa- [ht side, or :o ascertain the state of his pulse. Alternately examining his tongue before the mirror, or inspecting the quicksilver in the barometer, he despondingly addressed a gentleman, who had stood long " fast bound in chains of silence," intent on the pattering rain without, which bid fair to pre- vent him keeping an engagement to dinner. — "A disagreeable afternoon, sir — a bile-making day; — cursed indigestible weather — glass falls — gall rises ; — can't understand it at all. — Hale a' fellow, as any, afloat — never sick in the war — nothing but pain since the peace.* — 1 see how 'twill be — nothing for it but to * bear-up ' for Blue-pill at last." A lively young sprig of fashion at this moment entered the door (the "Cowner" in hand). * Whether in the present day, or the {era of Domitian, moi-al- ists appear to think precisely alike of the enervating influence and political danger resulting from a long peace. The hypochon- driacal captain seems to have compared notes with that severe satirist, Juvenal, who roundly denounces it as the scourge of human nature: — " Nunc patimur loiigae i)acis mala : Saevior armis Luxuria incubuit, victumquo ulciscitur orbem." Sot. vi. ?9'2. I 111 208 WET DAY — CLUB. it ,\ Well, just as I thought ! — here's the whole account!" — "What! what is it?" cried several voices together. " Why, only one o' your Polar lights regularly dows'd." — " Really !" — " Aye, and I'm curs'd if we sha'n't have the whole star-gazirw crew wheeled up, papers and all, by a barrow together, to the Admiralty." The " Courier*" was now eagerly grasped ai by hands enough to threaten its being torn to pieces before the curiosity of any one could be gratified, whilst the voluble officer con- tinued : — " What the deuce is the use of the thing after all ? — What have they ever done, but christen capes and headlands after heads of departments, and islands after lay-lords ? — shouldn't wonder if they name them after lying- in ladies next !" To a grave gentleman, who was bold enough to take up the defence of the expedition," a pragmatical eldeily quiz by the fire addressed the oft-quoted and trium- phant query, " cm bono ?" — " Bones, oh ! I'll bet," said our lively friend, " a hundred to t\ WET DAY — CLUB. 209 the whole ried several le o' your Really'."—, n't have the >, papers and 5 Admiralty." rrasped at hy >eing torn to ^ny one could ; officer con- the use of the ^ey ever done, ds after heads er lay-lords?— lem after lying- rentleman, who the defence of eldeily quiz by ted and trium- _,ones, oh 1 rU .4 a hundred to " fifty, they'll leave them there yet." — "But," rejoined the grave gentleman, " you will con- fess they have contributed essentially to the progress of science by their valuable discoveries." — " Aye ; but who can read it ? Don't all their mineralogy and geology end in an apology for the price of their books ?" (a laugh.) " I tell you it*s all a job, sir." The tides of wit and argument appearing to run nearly as strongly against the expedition, as those which it had experienced off Repulse Bay and the Frozen Straits, the grave apologist of our enterprizing navigator resigned the unequal contest, sarcastically observing at parting, " Well, gentlemen, it gives me plea- sure to perceive you can be unanimous on any subject ;" a sneer which a young wag of a com- mander, more remarkable for his good-humour than the choice of his metaphors, followed up by exclaiming, " Haul off, Harry ! your fire can never hurt 'em— every one knows you were late at Solomon's Levee." The laugh which ac- companied this sally, convinced its author this VOL. £. w t^ lyimmii *■«> S. 210 WET DAY — CLUB. > *f was the moment to retire with eclcU IVom '* thn sharp encounter of keen wits." He quickly dis- appeared, leaving his antagonist to unravel, as fast as his limited capacity would permit, the humorous connexion, thus traced, between him" self and the first sage of antiquity. I -A In an appendix containing the principles and practice of constructing ships as invented and introduced by Sir Robert Seppings, surveyor of his Majesty's Navy, by John Knowles, f.r.s., &c. &c. 8:c., the author, after enumerating the many advantages attending circular sterns, says, that by this construction, " the danger arising from being /M>o/>crf is considerably diminished, if not wholly 'prevented." In the teeth of this assertion, which implies, that ships with circular sterns are considered to be the safest for scudding^ we ask, how does it happen that the attention of our naval architects, who patronize this plan, has never been directed to flush-built vessels, a class .1 WET DAY — CLUD. 211 tVom '*tbn quickly cVis- unravel, a» permit, the t)etween bim- principles ani^ . invented and ,gs, surveyor of ^nowles, F.U.S., numerating the liar sterns, says, danger arising ly diminished, if ,e teeth of this hips with circular ,fest for scudding, [t the attention of uze this plan, has ,iU vessels, a class wliich are, more than any other, liable to acci- dents from being pooped? Yet, these are the only vessels in his Majesty's service on which this experiment has not been tried. There can be no question, as far as strength goes, the square stern must yield to the circular ; but there are other points equally as important to be taken into consideration, more particularly as to the policy of their introduction. Subsequently to committing these observations to paper, the following note appeared in the supplementary part of Admiral Ekins' elaborate work on " Naval Banks:' In allusion to a letter from Sir Robert Sep* pings to Lord Viscount Melville, on the advan- tages of circular sterns, the Admiral quaintly observes, that " Sir Robert has quoted the opinion of an eminent French engineer. Monsieur Charles Dupin, who is in great admiration of them. It may, therefore, be fair to quote (adds the Admiral) another Frenchman upon the same. " A captain in the French naval service, greatly distinguished . p2 /( -V V "■» " • 212 WET DAY— CLUB. for skill and gallantry in defending his frigate in a single action early in the revolutionary war, very lately, at Paris, on meeting with a British officer of rank and distinction, expressed his astonishment that we who had hitherto beat them, and chased and drove them over the seas in every direction, should be the^r^^ to teach them, by these new circular sterns, the best mode of arming their ships for defence in future." — (December 1823.) We are aware that, among some of the first officers in the service, a difference of opinion exists on the propriety of circular sterns being introduced in our navy; and that many who formerly derided them, have lately become con- verts in favour of their adoption. It is, however, to be hoped, that those shipwrights who have hitherto only turned tlieir attention to increasing the strengdi of our ships', sterns, both in point of architecture and artillery, will now provide means to make their bows, as a battery, equally as formidable. • COAST BLOCKADE. " Smuggling, though a real offence, is owing to the laws them- selves ; for the higher the duties, the greater is the advantage, and, consequently, the temptation ; which temptation is increased by the facility of perpetration^ when the circumference that is guarded is of great extent, and the merchandize prohibited small hi bulk."— >£eccana. , In the present state of our excise laws and prohibitory duties, there is perhaps no part of our naval service which more demands the atten- tion of the Government of the country, or is more an object of its interest, than the " Coast Block- ade" for the prevention of smuggling, or that improved system of naval guard originating in the preventive service. p 3 ; V. 211 COAST nLocKAni:. The system liiis been matured by degrees, and though acquiring instruction by repeated defeat, and strengthening the rigours of its discipline so ns to meet every possible case of meditated fraud by fresh caution, increased watchfulness, andun- abating exertion, it has been, and continues to be, we regret to say, too successfully opposed by the sagacity, skill, resolution, and daring intrepidity of the smugglers ; more particularly on our south- ern and eastern coast, where the difficulties are such as might induce less desperate men to con- clude the chance of landing contraband goods was altogether hopeless. The regulations of this service combine a sys- '■ tern of both reward and punishment. A propor- '- tion of the goods taken being divided amongst • the men, with the certainty of a better rating in - cases of exemplary conduct and personal alacrity, proves a strong stimulus to the performance of their arduous duty. Superadded to the ordinary ." inducements to enter in this service, by one of its regulations, seamen in the enjoyment of pen- COAST nLOCKADE. 215 sions are entitled to retain those pensions after entering the ** Coast Bloei'f» — S18 COAST BLOCKADE. perity, are hourly sweeping like sand from beneath our feet. This is an age of revolutions ; but they are happily effected by the winning influence of I'eason, and the bloodless effort of mind. The darling doctrines of monopolies in commerce, export bounties, and restrictive duties on im- portation, formerly the mounds of our maritime policy, are remorselessly levelled by an enlight- ened Legislature; and the President of the "Board of Trade," at the moment we write, pro- poses a change in our navigation laws, which erst, even to have hinted at, would have produced his impeachment ; and, from the prevailing liberality of commercial men, there is no doubt the gene- rous experiment will be fairly tried. The same authority has prophesied the inevitable downfal of contraband trade, by the intended removal of excessive import-duties on those articles which produce the greatest profit to the smuggler. Predictions emanating from such men not un- frequently surprise the public by the unexpected rapidity of their fulfilment, ; -M ;wn;>,'W- n COAST BLOCKADE. 219 Before the service, as well as the objections to it, become mere matter of history, we may be pardoned for attempting to describe the dangers incident to this service when on duty afloat, by what, we regret to say, is too authentic in most of its particulars to be denominated A TALE. It was late in ^be afternoon of a gloomy day in the latter par ' November, when, in con- sequence of a signcJ made that a suspicious sail was seen oiF the coast, as if waiting for the flow- ing of the tide in the dark. Lieutenant had given orders to man his favourite galley, and pro- ceed in quest of the stranger. The crew had been carefully, though to appearance hastily, selected from those inured to service, and bearing a character for intrepidity, some of whom had been the partners of an enterprize which was ever uppermost in his mind, when, amongst the first to board the American frigate Chesapeake, 220 COAST BLOCKADE. as a young midshipman, he was stretched on the deck by the stroke of a cutlass on the head. The strokesman of the boat, whose brawny arms had borne him on that memorable day to the cock- pit of the Shannon^ as soon as the Americans had deserted their deck, and fled for safety below, as he now shipped the rudder, looked wistfully in the wind*s eye. The glance was not unobserved ; but the lieutenant, apprehensive that it might be accompanied by some remonstrance (a liberty Avhich Jack considered himself exclusively privi- leged to take), quietly motioned him to go for- ward, in order to hoist the main-sail. The boat being shoved off the beach, after pitching twice in the surf, rose triumphantly over the third sea, which had now exhausted itself. In a moment the sail was hoisted ; she instantly gathered way, and stood-ofF in a lateral direction from the shore. The men seated themselves regularly on the thwarts, and the strokesman, after reeving the main-sheet through the fair-leader abaft, sat with it in his hand in such a position on the after- . i n i COAST BLOCKADE. 221 on the ! head. y arms le cock- ans had below, fully in iserved ; light be liberty y privi- go for- he boat g twice ird sea, moment ed way, le shore, on the ing the sat with e after- thwart, that, though his face was turned to wind- ward, his eye would occasionally meet that of his commander. As the light-boat lay down to the wind, and became steady in her course towards the chase, the crew had time to look around them. The strokesman's eye was alternately turned from that part of the heavens, where he had vainly sought for any encouraging appear- ances amidst the portentous indications of a wild wintry sky, to the beach; where, in a lonely romantic gorge, skirted with verdure and leafless underwood, between two grey beetling cliffs, was discovered the compact white-wooden station house of the party, with its signal-post and mi- niature glacis descending almost to high-water- mark. His look betrayed unusual emotion, in one of his years ahd service, possibly occasioned by the intrusive ofBciousness of the remembrance, that there were garnered up the source of his best affections — his wife and innocent little prat- tlers, whom, through some unaccountable pre- sentiment, he foreboded he should never see more. 4,1 r^ 222 COAST BLOCKADE. ^1. ■J . A tear might have glazed the veteran's eye at the moment ; for, as if unwilling to be longer a witness of the struggle between tenderness and duty, the lieutenant addressed him in a tone of evidently assumed ease, and inquired if the arm- chest had been kept dry ? Receiving an answer in the affirmative, and having ascertained that each man had his cutlass beside him, he pro-^ ceeded to examine the priming of his pistols, which he finally placed in his waistbelt, and wrapped himself in a cloak which had been spread for him in the stern-sheets abaft. Taking advantage of the first heav;' swell, he rose m the boat to catch a glimpse of the strange sail in the offing, which was discovered broad on the lee- bow. Having directed the attention of the bow- man to her position, both resumed their seats, and the lieutenant shaped his course so as to board her on the quarter. Not a word, as yet, had escaped the lips of any of his men, who sat cowering in a bending attitude, with elevated shoulders and arms crossed, fearful of changing V If COAST BLOCKADE. 223 the position of a limb, lest it should occa- sion any alteration in the boat's trim. Thus aided by every effort of art, and impelled by a light breeze, the galley soon gained rapidly on the chase ; which, perceiving that the boat from the shore was evidently about to pursue her, bore round-up, making all the sail she could carry before the wind. The bowman, just then looking under the foot of the lug pronounced her to be a large lugger, which he had before seen on the station, under similp»'ly suspicious circumstances. The lieutenant, putting up the helm, instantly edged into her wake, and fol- lowed precisely her track. A short period, however, sufficed to shew that the chase, from the quantity of sail she was enabled to carry^ had decidedly the advantage ; and the wind con- tinuing to freshen as the tide set in, she rapidly distanced hei pursuer. In half-an-hour she was hull down ; the haze of evening growing every moment thicker, she became almost impercep- tible to the view. The men now involuntarily \%^ !\ f3::i:*^-'-\. }\: ' h J V 2:^4 COAST BLOCKADE. turned their eyes, which had hitherto been strained on the chase, to the stern of the galley ; the appeal was unnecessary — the lieutenant was already occupied in council with the coxswain; his trusty favourite hesitated not to dissuade him, in terms respectful, yet decisive, from continuing so unequal a chase ; more particularly as there was no chance^ in the dark, of communicating by signal, either with the shore or any cruizer which might be then off the station. A heavy swell had now set in from the same point in which the wind had continued all day. The sun had set with every indication of stormy weather ; a pale yellow streak of light over the land, partly reflected on the east, formed the only contrast to the general murky gloom of the horizon; across which the gull, and other sea-fowl, hastily fled the approach of the gale, already indicated by the swift drifting of the scud, which overtook them in their flight, and suddenly enveloped all in darkness, without the intervention of twilight. They had got so far to leeward, that to return \^ |\ COAST BLOC"ADE. 225 4\ 4\ litherto been of the galley ; lieutenant was the coxswain; dissuade hini» om continuing ilarly as there imunicating by r cruizer which A heavy swell ]^ point in which The sun had my weather; a he land, partly J only contrast I the horizon; ea-fowl, hastily ready indicated which overtook y enveloped all tion of twilight. , that to return with the lug was impossible. The sail had al- ready been lowered, the mast struck, and the boat brought head to wind ; when the crew, shipping their oars, bent their broad shoulders to pull her through the heavy sea, which flung itself in sheets of spray over the bows, and drenched every man on board. It was soon found that oars were unavailing to contend against tl^e force of a sea like this, in which it was scarcely possible so small and delicate a bark should live much longer. The waves were rolling from the main with aggravated violence, and the united strength of the men could barely keep her head to wind; who, perceiving there was no longer the slightest prospect of making any progress, or the wind moderating, sullenly contented themselves with hanging on their oars. Appre- hension soon put an end to all subordination. Remonstrances on the impossibility of success- fully persevering in their present course, were now muttered by every seaman, except the cox- swain, whose features betrayed, notwithstanding, VOL. I. '- Q n. nm 826 COAST BLOCKADE. \ no less anxiety than the rest. A heavy sea, which now struck the larboard bow, making, in consequence of its being impossible for the crew to keep the boat's head on, a rapid accu- mulation of water every minute, soon decided the reluctant lieutenant to run (though at the obvious hazard of her destruction) the boat ashore in the first situation which might offer a chance of saving the lives of his brave com- panions. " Lay. in your oars, my lads," cried he ; ** step the short mast— close-reef the storm- lug: we must run all hazards, and beach the galley under canvas." Whilst executing this order, the bowman sung out, *^a sail close aboard, sir; if she don't keep her luff, she'll run us right down." — " Luff, luff!" exclaimed aloud every man in the boat. The lugger's course, however, re- maining unaltered, there could be now no doubt that she had seen them first, and perceiving her to be a king's boat, her object was to run clean over the galley, by taking her right abeom. Destruction appeared inevitable in their helpless M COAST BLOCKADE. S27 condition. A shriek of despair, mingled with execrations, succeeded as she neared the galley, when the lieutenant rose in the boat, levelled his pistol at the steersman, and fired: the hand which grasped the tiller relaxed its hold, and the miscreant his life. The lugger in- stantly broached-to, passing to the windward of the boat, — " Out oars, my lads," said the lieu- tenant, " we'll board the villains." — " Aye, aye, sir," exclaimed several voices, with an alacrity which might be taken for the surest earnest of meditated revenge. The oars were again manned, the boat in the mean time pitching bows under, and shipping green seas fore-and-aft. Before she had got way on her, two of the weather oars snapt short in the rowelocks^ and her intention to board being suspected by the smuggler, she had no sooner paid-ofF, so as to get the wind again abaft the beam, than shaping a course edging in for the land, she quickly dropped the galley astern. Having run so far to leeward in the former chase, no one was now able to decide on S2 228 COAST BLOCKADE. Mrhat part of the shore an attempt to land might be practicable : al^ was darkness around ; and although, from two or three flashes, discernible at an elevation considerably above the sea, and which appeared to be signals made from the heights to assist the desperate outlaws they had just encountered, there was no doubt they could be at no great distance from the land, still to follow her was to brave unseen dangers. The men were clamorous to hoist the lug and give chase; a sentiment in which the unpresuming coxswai . concurred, as he observed, ** that cap- ture or no capture, they were more likely to find a smooth by following the lugger, which clearly was herself making for the beach." A heavy lurch, which nearly swamped the boat, soon created unanimity. The lug was hoisted at all hazards, and the lieutenant putting the helm-up, she flew with inconceivable velocity in the lug- ger's wake, though not without imminent danger of being pooped by every successive sea. The roaring of the surf was now distinctly heard : and ■^"•^li rv 1 COAST BLOCKADE. 229 soon tlie whole scene was lighted-up by its lumi- nous appearance. The bowman, alarmed, now vociferated, ** Breakers a-head ! — hard-down, sir, hard-down I" Before the word was repeated she had entered the frightfully agitated element. — " Down with the sail, or we're lost!" exclaimed the crew, — "Hold-on! hold-on every thing!" cried the veteran, " 'tis our only chance to beach her." The surf now reared itself in boiling masses higher than the mast, and as it fell, thun- dering on the shore, the wild din burst on the affrighted ears of the seamen like successive salvos of heavy artillery. An enormous sea, striking her on the quarter, swept her broadside to the surf, washing out the lieutenant, with one of the crew : and the next, bursting with wilder fury, turned her bottom-upwards, burying be- neath her the seven unhappy seamen in one common grave. Q3 JACK'S ECCENTRICITIES. BRITISH BULL-DOGS. To prove the sort of stuff our tars are made of has been well compared to the toughest of all materials — " heart of oak," — it is only necessary to mention a well-attested anecdote of the con- duct of the Barfleufs ship's-company, on the oc- casion of Sir Robert Calder's declining to renew his engagement with Villeneuve. As soon as it was discernible that such was the intention of the Admiral, from the circumstance of the course of the British fleet continuing unchanged under easy sail, whilst Villeneuve " bore-up" in a con- JACK S ECCENTRICITIES. 231 trary direction, an unusual bustle was observable on the forecastle of the Barfleur, Tlie risible muscles of her gallant commander (Sir George Martin) were destined to be put to the proof by the following address from the " chief-boatswain's-mate," who now stood be- fore him as spokesman of the crew, assembled aft in a body : " Please, sir, axes your pardon, but the * ship's-company' bid me say, they wished as how you'd command o' the fleet, sir; 'lease, sir, it looks (hope no offence, sir,) as if the Ad- miral was inclined to tarn tail on the enemy — mean no harm, sir — but we're all on us old TVi- umphs* — never did the like afore, and it's very hard for old hands to take to a new trade." The smile, which had been excited by the comic manner in which this veteran deputation *^ad opened its mission, had, before the conclu- sion of this honest appeal, yielded to an expres- in a con- *Most of the Barfleur' s ship's-company were composed of the crew of the Triumph, which had distinguished herself in Duncan's gallant action, and Cornwallis's no less celebrated retreat. q4 ■HP V 232 jack's eccentricities. sion more of " sorrow than of anger.*' The captain was, as in duty bound, obliged, however, to suppress his feelings, and dismiss them with a slight rebuke. i\ I * THE NONDESCRIPT— A SEA BULL. An Irishman, who served on board a man-of- war in the capacity of a waister,* was selected by one of the officers to haul in a towline, of considerable length, that was towing over the tafFerail.f — After rowsing-in forty or fifty fathoms, which had put his patience severely to proof, as well as every muscle of his arms, he muttered to himself, " By my soul, it's as long as to-day and to- morrow !" — " it's a good week's work for any five in the ship !" — " bad luck to the arm or leg, it'll lave me at last!" — "what! more of it yet! — och, murder I the sa's mighty de^p, to be sure !" * Landsman. f Pronounced taffel. ^^^^^^I^g^ ,l*^- jack's eccentricities. 233 When, after continuing in a similar strain, and conceiving there was little probability of the com- pletion of his labour, he stopped suddenly short, and addressing the officer of the watch, exclaimed, " Bad manners to me, sir, if I don't think some- body's cut off the other end of it!" DOUBLE-DEALING. The tenets of Methodism were introduced, for the first time, about the middle of the French revolutionary war, on board of a ninety-eight gun-ship, to the family of Neptime. The principal preacher was an officer of dis- tinguished merit in the service, and certainly on the ^^ first of June" proved himself, if possible, more of a seaman than a saint. He, however, conceived that, as a corollary to wm ^ >tW ' . ' i l» V 234 tack's ECCKNTIIICITIES. m his own conversion, it became his duty, as long as he had any control over people in this world, to prepare them for the next, and therefore not only established on board religious " preparatory schools," but also distributed to the ship's com- pany a variety of tracts and pious " experiences." Several, from interested motives, affected to be converted; sang psalms* and spiritual songs with vociferous piety; sported the language of Canaan as their vernacular; were enrolled as class-brothers and band -brothers, anti acted so * Possibly the officer here aUuded to might have formed his practice upon a precedent as old as the period of Cromwell and good Queen Bess. An elegant and ingenious writer says, " Psalms were practised by the Puritans in the reign of Eliza- beth; for Shakspeare notices the Puritan of his day singing psalms to hornpipes, and more particularly during the Protec- torate of Cromwell, on the same plan of accommodating them to popular tunes and jigs, which one of them said ' were too good for the devil.' Psalms were now sung at Lord Mayors' dinners and city feasts ; soldiers sang them on their march and at parade ; and few houses, which had windows fronting the streets, but had their evening psalms ; for a story has come down to us, to record that the hypocritical brotherhood did not always care to sing, unless they were heard !" fi t ^ t J ACK S ECCENTRICITIES. 235 admirably the part of " Cantwell,*^ as to have pro- cured from the -spiritual patron many promises and engagements — which were never kept, owing, perhaps, to the difficulties which the Admiral (notwithstanding the high opinion entertained of the solvency of the bank of faith) would have had to encounter, in discharging claims at once so pressing and multifarious. This system, however, of unblushing cant and hypocrisy continued for a considerable period, until the Admiral's flag was struck, when all doubts were set aside as to the deception being mutual. Scarcely had he shoved off from the ship in his barge, before the principal creditor of the afore- said bank, and loudest songster in this floating Zion, whose zeal had been so often applauded, and piety pointed out as a pattern to less presum- ing converts by his patron, jumped down on the lower-deck, exclaiming aloud, " D — n the psalm- singing old son of a b — ! there he goes, — bl — t him ! I did think to've sung him out of a * gun- ner's warrant,' but it wou'dn't gee !" hit i' 236 jack's eccentricities. NO-WAY NICE J OR, NAUTICAL NUPTIALS. i I ifi " Thfere swims no goose so gray, but, soon or late, " She finds some honest gander for her mate." POPE. Sailors are generally supposed to be the most straight-forward people in the world ; though, perhaps, in either shaping a petition or soliciting a personal favour, there are no set of men who resort to such round-about means to accomplish their purpose. A seaman, whose ship was on the point of sail- ing from Spithead, was extremely solicitous to obtain permission to go on shore, for the purpose of leading to the altar one of the chaste syrens of Sallyport. Jacki during the time the ship's company were at dinner, was seen dodging about the decks, *' backing and filling," for a favourable opportu- nity to make his simple appeal to the sterner feel- V JACK S ECCENTRICITIES. 237 lALS. ate, POPE. the most though, joliciting men who complish t of sail- itous to purpose lyrens of any were le decks, opportu- •ner feel- ings of the first lieutenant. He at length, how- ever, appeared to have " sere wed-up his courage to the sticking place," and made an effort to go aft, with a countenance strongly indicating a convic- tion of the hopelessness of such an application, on the point of sailing; or, which is the more pro- bable, from a latent qualm of conscience, as to the real propriety of his indulging further the plan he had so eagerly and innocently projected, to insure his happiness for life. In his approach to the lieutenant, he bore more the appearance of a criminal leading out to exe- cution, than of an anxious bridegroom on the eve of the consummation of all his eager wishes. But he felt it was now too late to retract, so he pro- ceeded to open the business, with an awkward in- flection of the body, and a twist of his shoulders, as a token of profound respect. As yet a word had not escaped him, and it ap- peared still problematical whether, without en- couragement, his timidity would not compel him to carry his secret with him to the grave- ) ' V 238 JACK S ECCENTRICITIES. •I. \ \ » m { a 1 MV His head hung down, and, except that now and then he stole an anxious furtive glance at the lieutenant, to help him out at guessing how the " wind lay," his eyes were intently fixed on the buckle of his hat-band, which he alternately twiddled with the fore-finger and thumb of both hands, whilst, in a suppliant tone, he hesitatingly began, " Please, sir, I've a bit of a favour to ax." — r" Well, my man, what is it ?" replied the lieu- tenant. — " I know," rejoined Jack, " it's more al- most nor a man can expect : — ship under orders for sea — single anchor — and the likes of that 'ere, sir : though, to be sure, it's only once in a way — perhaps never have to ax the sim'lar again. Just — grant permission, i' you please, sir," — alternately shifting his legs as he jerked out his words; when the lieutenant, betraying a little impatience, pet- tishly exclaimed, " Well, why the d — 1 don't you say what you want?" — " Once give the word, sir," says Jack — "soon clinch the concarn!" — " Concern !" ejaculated the lieutenant, " why, what concerns you now ?" — " Axes your pardon. '■■A V jack's EtTENTUIClTIKS. 239 at now iance at ing how fixed on ternately , of both sitatingly ur to ax." 1 the Ueu- s more al- ier orders [f that 'ere, in a way— lin. Just — alternately jrds; when tience, pet- d— 1 don't ;re the word, oncarnl" — lant, *' why, lour pardon, sir — nothing more nor to settle a small matter 'twixt Sal and myself — give you my word, sir — won't break my liberty — be off to my time, sir — 'sides the-e-e girl, you see, sir — " — "The girl be d — d !" exclaimed the lieutenant ; ** you don't mean to say, you want to be spliced to that bare-faced hussey that was aboard ?" — " Yes, i* you please, sir; the strands are unlaid." — "Un- laid !" said the lieutenant; "you deserve to have the cat laid on your back for being such an infernal fool. Can you offer," continued he, in a somewhat more pacified tone, " the least plausi- ble reason for even thinking of marrying so com- mon a strumpet ?" — " Yes, sir," said Jack, reply- ing more promptly than hitherto, and with an air of self-satisfaction, indicating hopes of carrying conviction as well as his point, " yes, sir ; 'kase whenever the ship comes into port, and she's aboard of another, I can always shove alongside and claim her as my own /*' ,;!' ""s '■ 240 jack's eccentricitien. if] SYNONYMOUS TERMS. By way of inducing our tars to volunteer for the late Alfj^rine expedition, Government granted them a liberal bounty, equivalent to two months* pay, which was officially termed by the Admiralty " gratuitous money." The application of this phrase, however, unintentionally by Jack, was razeed into one perhaps equally as apt, for when- ever the pay clerks visited the ships at Sheerness, for the purpose of distributing this boon, the ge- neral cry among their crews was, " Way aft there, boys, for your gratitude money." Every officer imagined there was more vraisemblance in the term applied by Jack than by his master. SWINDLING THE SHARKS; or, JACK A LEG. The habits of a sailor are so totally at variance with these of a landsman, that in most instances JACK'S KCCENTRICITIES. 241 / 1 JACK A LEG. he not only imagines he must pay more dearly for his enjoyments, than others, but thinks himself lucky if, in the first joval night's cruize ashore, he happens to baffle the Philistines and Amazons, and even reserves for himself a single shot in the locker. An unsuspecting tar of this complexion was observed a short time since, at two p. m., reeling out of one of the unhallowed purlieus of Drury Lane. He had no sooner brought up in smooth water, than, choosing a snug birth, as he sup- posed out of observation, between two buttres- ses of the piazza, he began overhauling his traps, first turning out the pockets of his trowsers; both were alike empty, which induced him to turn his quid, and ruminate for a moment. His 'bacco-box, jacket, and waistcoat pockets under- went a similarly fruitless survey ; the very lining of his hat was rummaged — still no effects ! Here one might have read in his rueful countenance the full conviction that he was hard-up on a lee- shore, and breakers a-head. As a last hope, he fl « VOL. I. 243 JACK H ECCENTRICITIES. \ . proceeded doubtingly to unknot the black Barce- lona from around his neck, which he shook care- lessly between finger and thumb, until he dis- covered a flimsy ^iift fall on the kirb-stone. Poor Jeffry, the sailor, when left by his captain to starve on a desolate island, never felt more lively joy at perceiving a vessel bear-up to his rescue, than did our hardy tar at discovering those well-known white figures on a black ground, which announced it to be a genuine Henri/ Hase for FIVE POUNDS, Delight brightened every fea- ture, and his past despondency appeared to be suc- ceeded by comparative content, notwithstanding that it was but a few hours since he had ten times the sum ; so, thrusting it in his *bacco-box, from which he took a refresher, he slapped his thigh exultingly, and muttered to himself, with a good- humoured laugh, " D — n the lubberly pirates ! I've done 'em for once." jack's FXCENTRiriTIEH. 243 LOST AND FOUND.* Whilst the Active was employed in the last war up the Mediterranean, an officer was sent on board a merchantman upon the disagreeable duty of impressment. The seaman selected) dexterously enough, pleaded his incapacity to serve in a man- of-war. Resorting to raillery in the first instance, he endeavoured, as sailors say, to come " cripple- gate" over the lieutenant, and thus opened his fire: — " I suppose you'll get me a * cook's-warrant' if I enter ? What else is a fellow, without the use of both arms, fit for ? — Soon glad to get rid o'me, I guess." The lieutenant, as^alive to his motives as himself, disdained all parley, and ordered at once his bed and baggage into the boat. Jack now solemnly declaring he was a " cripple from his cradle, and that both captain and mate could sartify the same, being unable to lift his hand to ,. , ' - *• '.J' ..■,'■•• * This anecdote has, in part, previously appeared in print. Being then furnished by the author, lie feels justified in intro- ducing it here as original. . r2 ^ if V 244 jack's eccentricities. his }iead, much more go aloft; moreover, he was an American born." In the lieutenant's mind, his logic was less sound than his arm — so shipped he was. Upon examination by the surgeon, the lieutenant's opinion was corroborated: still the arm pro- nounced to be sound hung motionless by his side, though the captain (the present Sir James Gordon) often, in a tone of jocularity so pecu- liarly his own, and so winning in a superior, reminded him of his good luck in falling-in with a ship whose surgeon was so particularly skilful in fishing sprung spars. No amendment was however observable. The Active continued two years on the Medi- terranean station, and though subjected to a se- cret and strict watch, both night and day, J — 's faithful arm never betrayed the slightest muscu- lar motion. Being suspected to be an excellent seaman, he was plied with every inducement and argument to desist from ar unprofitable and uncivailing imposture. He still appealed to his L jack's eccentricities. 245 'I I helplessness as a full title to his discharge, and though appointed to the most degrading duties, as sweeper and scavenger, his infirmity continued inflexible to the last. u ' - In an engagement with an enemy's squadron, his Captain had stationed him on the quarter-deck so as to be under his own eye. During the heat of the action he never lost sight of his darling object, preserving the most perfect presence of mind, recollecting that if he had " one hand for the king, the other was for himself;" for though fight- ing like a lion, it was observed that one arm only was employed at the gun-tackle-fall. His gallant Commander, now falling, severely wounded; that important secret, which neither artifice, encou- ragement, threats, disgrace, nor even the din of battle could induce him to reveal, the generous feeling of humane concern for his esteemed com- mander's misfortune, betrayed in a moment. The honest tar, completely off his guard, was the first to pick up his mangled officer in both his arms The grand discovery was first made by Sir James, r3 -%t ■«5Pi***', r V u m 1 mM^it^ < 246 jack's eccentricities. whO) though deprived of a limb, with admirable coolness, observed, — " Well, my boy, if I've lost a leg, I'm glad to see you've found an arm." As the reader will anticipate, he soon proved one of the best seaman of a " crack-crew," and was ultimately promoted for his exemplary conduct. LITERiE SCRIPTiE; or, " FORCED-MEAT BALLS." " That neither the eccentricities nor spirit of the profession is confined to the Jacks, but is sometimes partaken in an eminent degree by their officers, may be strikingly elucidated by an anecdote, which, in its detail, furnishes alternately food for mirth and admiration. A noble .officer, who had rendered himself, by his peevish and oppressive spirit, deservedly un- popular in the Navy, experienced, upon one occasion, the mortification of receiving from his lieutenant a refusal to be present at the usual jack's eccentricities. 24t !AT BALLS.' routine dinner given to officers by their noble captain. His lordship being highly incensed, called upon the lieutenant for an explanation of the answer to the steward's invitation ; who, as is usual, had presented the captain's compliments, stating his lordship would be glad of his company to dinner: to which the lieutenant had replied — " My compliments to the captain, I shall be glad of no such thing." To a personal intimation from his lordship, that he should consider it a contempt, the lieu- tenant bluntly replied, — '' Does your lordship, intend to make it a point of service ?" — " I do, sir." — " Well, then, before I comply, I must have a written order." — " That you shall, sir !" said his lordship ; and descending into his cabin, and sending for his clerk, the order, after mature deliberation as to its official form and tenor, was at length concocted by their joint labours. The lieutenant of course appeared in his place at dinner time; and contrary to the ex- 11 4 ■"■"1- V 248 jack's eccentricities. pectation of all, not only concealed his mor- tification, but assumed a more than ordinary proportion of complaisance and cordiality to his inferiors ; studiously avoiding, as far as in him lay, all greeting or communication with his com- mander, who now began to experience the pains of the fiend in Eden, in witnessing a scene oi' hilarity, which was not only v.nwonted at his table,. but from which, it was obvious, he was in- tended to be excluded. The evening, however, stole apace ; the customary pint had been swal- lowed, despite of the captain's dissatisfaction, who, notwithstanding the decanters were empty, gave no intimation to the attendant to replenish them. This never-failing signal for parting com- pany (though perfectly understood) was not re- peated, as was expected, by the lieutenant ; who, according to custom, should have intimated it was time to retire. A short interval sufficed with this spirited officer to form his determination. He rose — rang the bell — the steward appeared, and looked to the captain for his commands ; the V jack's eccentricities. 249 I I his n:or- ordinary lityto his fts in him h his com- ! the pains a scene o4' ited at his , he was in- 5, however, been swal- jsatisfactionj, vere empty, ;o replenish arting corn- was not re- nant; who, ntimated it ufficed with .ermination. 1 appeared, mands ; the lieutenant interposed, reiterating, " More wine ! more wine !" Such an assumption of authority in his own cabin was not to be borne. The in- dignant captain rose to put an end at once to this state of anarchy, and unequivocally signified it was his will and pleasure to be alone. The lieutenant, without rising from his seat, addressed him with perfect sang-froid — " My lord, I am here on this service in consequence of a written order, and am resolved (though I came here against the grain) not to leave it without another." This request was also acceded to ; but will any one imagine the invitation was ever again re- peated? GLORY; on, GLAUBER SALTS. In the early part of the French revolutionary war, the captain of the Arfcrisy then on the Chan- nel station, being indisposed, had applied for advice to his surgeon ; who, as in almost all cases I ii s 250 jack's eccentricities. h/Ul- of temporary ailment on board, where repletion and a full habit is more to be dreaded than ex- haustion of the system, had ordered him to take a dose of that homely medicine, which, in those days, supplied the place of the unexplored che- mical ingredients of our fashionable Seidlitz — nam( ly, *• Glauber Salts." The draught had been swailov/ecl by day-light, and Sir Edmund N tnrned • uo his cot to enjoy a short slumber, lill he *>•• '. 1. - -. 5* » I W r"^*^- m V. 252 JACK S ECCENTRICITIES. quarter, that unless a ship is given him, he will be under the necessity of getting a wife. Both may have read McUthus; yet, how diffenmtly do they argue from the same premises. The one gets married as if to equip himself for a life of hardship and enterprize : the other assigns his despair of being again called into active service, as the motive of laying up in matrimonial ordinary the rest of his days. It may be truly said, that like the quarters of the globe these intelligent travellers have lately visited, their incentives to matrimony are as opposite as east to west. 'f V. 11, be will ife. BotVi fercntly do The one ,r a life of assigns bis ;ive service, lial ordinary ly said, tbat ie intelligent incentives to I west. NAVAL GUNNERY. The Admiralty has, with a laudable zeal for the interest of the navy, recommended to our officers, ever since the last American war awakened us to the expediency of the suggestion, a close attention to the exercise of the seamen at the great guns* and small arms. The exercise, too, has been, in some respects, improved; still there is a vast field open as respects theordnance department, if it were * Even this practice is not sufficiently adhered to, and is but too often neglected on one pretext or another. The anecdote subjoined may serve as a specimen of the zeal which actuates some of our modem Commanders, or peace nutured warriors, in incul- cating the important principles of gunnery on the minds of those mechanics and grass-combers who, in this day, occupy the places of our once long-tailed and far-famed tars : — A certain commander on the Mediterranean station in the year 1823, was at length persuaded, by sheer dint of perseverance on the mm I 1 ;i 254 NAVAL ODNNEnV. only to correct the errors of the " okleii time." It is not always a good answer to projects of itn- provement, that Rodney, Howe, and Nelson fought on the old system. As far as humanity is con- cerned, we have to regret that, in the general im- provement of art, that of war certainly keeps pace, if not outstrips the rest; and whilst inven- tion is so fertile, it must be of importance that we should at least improve the means we possess in common with the marine of other countries. In the first instance, then, it is necessary, in order to give effect to the recommendation of the Ad- miralty to the full extent, that the men should not only he exercised at the giuis in the ordinary way, the part of his fust Hcutonunt, a zealous and oxjiurienccd officer, to exercise the ship's company ut the guns. After witnessing, for some time, with impatience, the many mistakes committed by the majority of his crew, the captain, flying in a passion, without being able to discover that their ignorance was alone the result of his own unpardonable lieglect, suddenly exclaimed, " Secure the guns !"— " iriiat'g the use ofUr'—" D— n the lellows, they don't even know liow to Jtrf/" The order was instantly obeyed, and the guns once more put on tlie " peace estubiishmcnt." NAVAL Gl NNERY. 355 olden unie." ojocts of im- Selson fou^lit lanity is con- le general im- srtainly keeps \ whilst inven- ,rtance that we is we poaaess in countries. In \ ary, in order to >n of the Ad- men should not |e ordhiary way, It experienced ofl&ccr, After witnessing. istakcB committed by L a passion, without las alone the result of Limed, " Secure the lie icllows, they don't Instantly obeyed, and jlisluncnt." but also by firing at a mark. For this service the ordnance has not made an adequate provision, in allowing the requisite expenditure of powder and shot to insure a proficiency on the part of the sailors in this essential. Another source of com- plaint is, that the Board has constantly refused to adopt ( t' permit any experimental improvements to be tried, even when recommended by expe- rienced officers. To applications made durin£^ the last war with America, except in the case of two or three favourites at the Board, fir " sights" to the guns, the only reply vouchsafed was, that " it was not according to the regulation of the service, and could not be complied with." This inuendo, which, to an officer of no private for- tune, was equivalent to a prohibition, luckily, for the lu iiour of both the service and the British flag, had my (effect on that spirited commander. Sir PhiJip Broke, all of whose guns on board the Shannon were sighted on his own responsibility. This officer, who is perhaps the best practical naval gunner in the service, not content with this ^v'^^.. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) /. ^/ ^ A. y fe % <►» ^ K % 5^r 1.0 1.1 1:^124 |2.5 ta 1^ 12.2 Sf ISA "— 2.0 IL25 III 1.4 I lllllii 1.6 V] o^ 71 / 1. J^ ^^ ^ '/ /A Phol Sdaices Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 •sj \ (v N> ^q) \ ^ ■am H I 250 NAVAL GUNNERY. advantage, had arranged the whole ship's battery by such an admirable adjustment, that he had only to call out the number on what (by his sys- tem) is termed the " quadrant" of the gun, to ensure every shot on the same deck being thrown on the same level ; though, from the sheer of the ship, this never could have been accomplished, had he not previously elevated or cut down the carriage of his guns by means of a ** spirit- level."* * There is still a field open for considerable improvement in this important particular, though in some ships it would be at- tended with almost insuperable difficulty. An instance will suf- fice : in that beautiful firigate the Madagascar, so great was her sheer that it was impossible, standing at the cabin-door on the mun-deck, to see more than the trucks of the bow-gun. With- out skiU and caution on the part of the men stationed at this gun, the shot from it would go over the forecastle of an enemy's frigate (possessing less sheer), whilst the guns amidships would naturally throw their shot many feet lower. Some of our ships have obtained, since the peace, " Congreve's sights" to half their guns. An entire set of sights on the imper- fect hinge principle were, we believe, first allowed to the Liff^, the Honourable Captain Duncan. |\ IL NAVAL GUNNEUY. 257 ,'s battery at he had by his sys- le gun, to ing thrown heer of the somphshedj It down the a «« spirit- improvement in it would be at- istance will sufr JO great was her [bin-door on the jw-gun. With- lonedat this gun, n enemy's frigate 's would naturally Lee, *♦ Congreve'8 Its on the imper- led to the Liffy, Sti'ange, however, as it may appear, the Ord- nance at that day failed to introduce this improve- ment, and neglected to secure the advantages pro- mulgated in a concise but able little pamphlet, published about this time by that scientific offi- cer, Captain Peechell, of his majesty's ship St. Domingo. In closing these remarks it is only neces- sary to add one suggestion, namely, that it is highly expedient for the interest of the service that the men should, in addition to being prac- tised in the manual of the guns, be induced to at- tain excellence in firing at a mark, by holding out rewards to the most expert, consisting of a pre- mium,* in each lieutenant's quarters, to the best marksman during each six months* practice : an expense which could not exceed, at the rate of five pounds in each division, forty pounds annu- ally to a whole frigate. If this premium were also made payable, by the production of the captain's * It is said, Captain Broke actually awarded premiums out of Ills own private purse to the best marksmen in the Shannon. VOL. I. i . t68 NAVAL GUNNERY. certificate to the "clerk of the cheque," on com- ing into port, it would not fail to render the practice at a mark a more than holiday re- creation, and prove a strong stimulus to the attainment of excellence in this important par- ticular. // »:\ on com- tnUer the liday re- IS to the , •tant par- CHEERING IN ACTION. A DIFFERENCE of opinion has existed, amongst intelligent officers of the navy, upon the subject of the propriety of this practice ; and, though it may not be difficult to determine on which side the balance of authority preponderates, still the dissentients are so respectable, individually, and many of them so competent to form an opinion on this, or any other professional subject, that their objections are well deserving of an answer. It has been objected, that the practice produces confusion and want of steadiness on board, and may often prevent the word of command from being distinctly heard. Any, or all of these are, however, more than compensated in the excite- ment and animation produced on the men's minds l>y the cheering shout of tlieir companions in s 2 260 CHEEKING IN ACTION. arms. It operates as an incentive to valour and enterprize ; it being always understood, that the parties thus cheering are at that moment doing their utmost, or preparing to shew others a daring example. Hence it may be argued, that it would be a hazardous experiment to attempt to repress a practice, which, on a variety of occa- sions, has been found more efficacious than any harangue, however eloquent, on the part of a commander. . The practice, it should be recol- lected, is of a long standing in the service ; and, in matters not essential, a violation of even that which well-informed men would term a prejudice, may prove any thing but a safe experiment. The war with revolutionary France was opened by a severe action between Captain Pellew (Lord Exmouth), in JLa Nymphe, with La Cleopatre, in which our sailors gave three cheers* on coming alongside, which was answered in the same way • In the very heat of the battle of Trafalgar, the crews of the Neptuiie and Conqueror were cheering each other from the fore- castle and poop of both ships. ^ >\ CHEEKING IN ACTION. 26* by the French : this mutual defiance to the foe, and encouragement to their respective crews, pro- bably tended to render the action so severe, which, however was won by dexterous manceu- vring. A curious circumstance is related of the Colossus, at the battle of Trafalgar, in which she suffered so severely. In the heat of the action, one of the hen-coops being shot away on the poop, a cock flew on the shoulder of Captain Morris, then severely wounded ; and, as if his pugnacious spirit had been roused by the furious conflict he witnessed, flapped his wings and crowed lustily in that situation, to the no small encouragement of the seamen : who, determining not to be outdone by the gallant little biped, swore he was true game, and giving him three cheers, continued the engagement with redoubled alacrity. But the most decided proof of its utility may be deduced from the case of the Phce- nix, Captain Baker, and the Didon— decidedly the severest single action ever fought. The French captain assured Captain Baker, when taken on s 3 ) ■ 962 CHEERING IN ACTION. )) i board the PkoettiXf that the cheers of the British sailors (which, by-the-bye, frequently took place when the Phanix was in situations the ' most critical) did him more prejudice, and contri- buted more to his defeat, than the effect of their destructive fire. But the habit is not confined to cases of engagement. In situations of danger, or when extraordinary exertions are required, recourse is always had to cheering, or rather rallying the men ; even on common occasions, such as ** rousing-up cables,'* " furling sails," and particularly " heaving at the capstern," the cus- torn has prevailed ; though in better disciplined vessels it is endeavoured to be discountenanced in these latter instances, as occasions unworthy of so strong a demonstration of anxiety or excite- ment. In the case of the Meander, when in distress, making seven feet water an hour, the captain ordered minute guns to be fired, more from the effect each report of the guns had on the crew, in promoting an instantaneous cheer from the men at the pumps, than probability of A i::^ CHEERINO IN ACTION. sot their being able to attract notice or assistance— it blowing so hard a gale of wind. In this critical situation, the chaplain of the ship, seeing the effect cheering had upon the crew, stripped, and frequently in turn took a spell at the pumps : less actuated by an expectation of being able co render any important service in the preservation of the ship, than from perceiving the encouraging effect it produced on the men. Whenever he laid into the winches, he was greeted by a cheer and a hearty ** hurrah, lads, now let's sweat the parson." A fastidious simpleton might have been alarmed for his dignity, and, by retreating from the profanation, forgot that his first duty and highest honour was that of a saver of souls. There certainly are occasiolis in whirili a sound discretion may be exercised in this re: viect. It appears to be a generally-admitted principle, that cheering before going into action is far from de* sirable. Sir George Martin, when the crew of the Barjkur, in Sir Robert Calder*s action, would have cheered the Hero on the latter passing the former s 4 S6i CHEERING IN ACl'ION. to lead the line of battle a-head, dissuaded them, saying, " No, my lads, no cheering yet ; let's wait till it's over:" — a caution prompted, doubtlessly, by the unaccountable delay observable in bringing the enemy to action"* on that occasion. A splendid exception to the rule attempted to be established here, occurs in the glorious instance of the Shan- non and Chesapeake, in which not a sound pre- ceded the discharge of the SlumnovCs guns, which * An unnecessary delay was not only observable in the conduct of the British admiral, but his mode of approaching the enemy was very unlike that of a naval tactician. The enemy's fleets were first discovered broad on the lee-bow, on the opposite tack ; and, instead of the admiral carrying on a press of sail by the wind, to either cut through their line or gain the weather-gage, the fleet >vas kept two points free, each ship with her main-sail up, and top- gallant-sails " lowered on the cap," solely for the purpose of allow- ing the Dragon (which ship had the look-out on the lee-quarter, and was the fastest sailer in the fleet) to join with greater facility. By this delay, in thus waiting for one ship, the British admiral not only gave the enemy the advantage of gaining the wind of him, but of commencing the action late in the evenitig, whicli, under cover of an occasional fog, was the most desirable occur- rence that could have possibly taken place for the enemy. 'I • I CHEERING IN ACTION. 265 were fired in succession into the American's ports as he ranged up alongside of his opponent, after ** rounding too" within pistol range upon the weather quarter of the latter. In this fight it was deemed, perhaps, expedient by Sir P. Broke, that profound silence should prevail, so as to ensure a strict compliance with his directions, as he depended as much on his superior tactics as on the bravery of his crew. This action was any thing but an obstinate engagement, and the vic-^ tory may be attributed to the superior gunnery, and the admirable state of preparation in which that officer kept his ship. It forms, therefore, no exception to the general inference, that in all cases of danger or difficulty, especially when the effects of temporary depression of spirit or ardour are to be apprehended, the practice is invigorating and salutary. ROYAL MARINES. rer mare et terrain. The corps of Royal Marines have always con- stituted an important arm of our naval force. Their value, however, was never fully appreciated until the last war, when it became necessary, in consequence of the shyness of the enemy's ves- sels, as well as from the frequency of combined operations by sea and land, to invade their har- bours, and attack not only the shipping under the protection of their forts, but to storm the batteries themselves.^ In these services they deported * Even so far back as the year 1705, the, till then deemed im- pregnable, fortress of Gibraltar was taken almost by a coup de main, by Sir George Rooke and the Prince of Hesse, with a small force, consisting of some seamen and marines of the fleet : an acquisition whicli was then considered undeserving the thanks oi VAvWaxneni- It' mpora mutanlur! ROYAL MARINIM. 267 themselves with so much zeal and steady valour, that a generous rivalry between them and the sailors jointly employed on such expeditions, awakened the latter to a just sense of their merits, and extinguished happily tlirt feeling of discon- tent, almost approaching to contempt, with which they had previously, no doubt from the compa- rative inactivity of that service, been regarded by men whdse cheerful and undaunted intrepidity had justly rendered them the idol of their coun- try, and the object of reluctant admiration to other nations. The coast of Spain, during the peninsular war ; that of North America, where they acted in batta- lion ; and, above all, though precedently in point of time, the gallant defence of Anholt,^ have en- titled this branch of the service to grateful recol- lection. Their obvious utility for operations, either by land orvsea, has at length overcome the scruples * By Lieutenant-Colonel Torrens, of the Marines, under Cap- tain Maurice, R.N* ^ f' V 268 ROYAL MARINES. \ of those patriots, in and out of Parliament, whose jealousy never fails to rouse itself into invective at the mention of a red-coat ; and they are, despite of their cloth, now considered a portion of that which is emphatically denominated the constitu- tional force of the country. The late' improve- ments made in the corps have extended even to their uniform; and for soldier-like appearance they are not inferior to any troops in the service. Sin- gular as it may appear, taking their confined si- tuation into consideration, they now rank amongst the best drilled corps. The practice of the broad- sword exercise* has been introduced on board • A singular document is in the possession of the author. In consequence of drilling the crew of one of his IMajesty's ships to the broad-sword exercise, the edges of the cutlasses had Ijcen jagged, as might naturally bo expected. On the cutlasses being returned into store, the then Board of Ordnance considered the subject as one which deserved their interference ; and with- out entering into the merits of the case, despatched the captain a letter, officially reprimanding him for his negligence in permitting these weapons to be thus abused- Had they required any expla- nation beyond that which common experience would have sug- gested, tlie officer might have acquainted the Board, that, being . f «*,>**. .^»-— ROYAL MARINES. 2G«J many ships, most of the Serjeants being expert in .: the use of that weapon. Nor should it be unnoticed . > that a decided preference, as to general availa- - bility, may safely be given to a military body . comprizing exclusively with these advantages - another, which must often be of the last impor- tance — regular instruction and acquaintance with the management of great guns. , .^ ; Though few instances of the kind, perhaps, . have occurred on board large vessels since the - peace, yet the marines have, not unfrequently, volunteered on board our smaller ships of war to " furl the courses," and constantly go aloft, though contrary to regulation. And yet we are told by a writer jn the eighty-first num- ber of the " Edinburgh Review,'^ page 174, then on the coast of America, with whose government this coun- try was at war, and well knowing nothing gave sailors so much confidence in boarding as the knowledge of the use of the broad- sword, he had caused his crew to be regularly exercised by the Serjeant of marines, being in hourly expectation of an engagement with an enemy's cruizer. This is not the only remonstrance of the kind ; several captains have been similarly favoured. /"- V, 270 ROYAL MARINER. that " when on board ship, they" (the ma- rines) " have no other exclusive duty to per- form than to keep impressed men in obedience." Doubtless the marines, particularly the privates, would be too happy to find this a fact. " Sailors," continues the writer, *^ can easily be trained to all the duties of soldiers; but scldiers, sent on board ship for the purpose of keeping the sailors in obe- dience, cannot mix with them, and therefore never learn the duty of sailors." The ignorance this writer betrays on this subject is really deplo- rable. In the first place, the >'ery reverse of this reviewer's statement happens to be the fact; for, instead of " sailors being easily trained to do all the duty of soldiers," they invariably so detest And despise the manual of a musket, that they ;actuaUy consider excellence in a soldier's drill derogatory to the character of a sailor ; whilst, on the contrary, a marine is prouder of excelling in the duties of a seaman than of a soldier. It is true, that tjie brigades of seamen embodied to net with our troops in America, as well as in the V. \ ROYAL MARINES. 271 ii the ma- f to per- )edience." 3 privates, « Sailors," Aned to all t on board ors in obe- , therefore ignorance sally deplo- erse of this le fact; for, d to do all r so detest that they idler's drill ; whilst, on lexcelling in soldier. It Imbodied to 11 as in the north coast of Spain, contrived to << ship a bag' net* on a pinch, and to " toe" (for that was the phrase) " a tolerable line ;*' but, had the re- viewer reviewed our tars in the field instead of ow paper, he would have discovered, that the various evolutions of " forming four deep," ** changing the front," or advancing in (as they tenned it) ** shave along" (eschelon), were particularly per- plexing to sailors, though quite aufait to mount guns in a battery, or serve them with eifect. as at Walcheren, and under Sir Sidney Smith at Acre. Perhaps, to render a service so useful and eli- gible, as nearly as possible perfect, it would only be necessary to admit them, when abroad, within the improved regulation, suggested under the head of " Discipline," relative to their pay. During war, too, it might, with little incon- venience, certainly with great advantage to the service, be contrived that marines should not be suffered to continue on board, without relief, for two or three years together : a practice which, in a corps calculated alike for land and sea service, 1 1 272 ROYAL MARINES. deprives them often of opportunities of keeping pace with their comrades on shore in the daily improving system of drill and military tactics. If there were yet a doubt remaining as to the ^^^ policy of always keeping up the marines on a li- beral establishment, it might be sufficient to urge that, from its being necessary they should be inured to the sea, they are a force which cannot be suddenly created so as to be effective ; that in har- bour, when there are no other hands, they pre- pare every ship, on being commissioned, for the reception of a crew ; and, what is still of greater importance, both as regards the discipline and safety of vessels of war, in every instance of in- subordination or mutiny in our crews, the firmest reliance has been most properly placed on the well-known fidelity of this brave, though compa- ratively inconsiderable part of the ship's company. In such a crisis, every officer must be keenly sen- sible of the vital importance and inestimable value of a few loyal and courageous hearts. Though severely tried, their courage and loyalty has re- ! ; II i I ) i /■•■-;■ ' ROYAL M..EINES. 273 eeping s daily tics, to the on a li- to urge ould be mnot be it in har- hey pre- , for the f greater line and ce of in- le firmest 1 on the compa- iqmpany. |enly sen- ible value Though ;y has re- mained proof against temptation and peril ; and, *ike the high-minded chevalier, they may, with- out ostentation, assume the motto, " Sans peur et sans reproche."* * It is rather remarkable thati amongst the aspirants of this im- proving and enlightened period, the Press is rarely, though soaie- times, indebted to a corps so peculiarly favoured with leisure and opportunity for literary avocations. One exception exists in the case of an intelligent officer already alluded to, whose worlds {u:e not professional.— We had nearly omitted to mention the name of Lieutenant Alexander Gillespie, who has written a very in- teresting History of the Marines up to the Peace of Amiens. i^ '.:.:i i'-.t'r . ' i : ..• -J '. ' i VOL. I. tl rl V l< i > DISCIPLINE. i « In addressing the officers of his Majesty's Navy on 8 subject of such delicacy as that of the dis- cipline indispensable on board a ship of war, it might have been expedient to have anticipated the possible imputation of presumption on the part of the writer, by some attempt at exculpa- tion, had he been a younger officer or less con- stantly engaged in active service. Counsel loses much of its offensive quality, when it is discovered to be the slow growth of years, or patient appli- cation. So far the writer feels he has a just claim to indulgence, since he can assure the profession, with the strictest truth, that the subjoined obser- vations are founded on long experience in the service, and the result of unremitting attention to the peculiar disposition and marked charac* teristics of British seamen. ,. V, DISCIPLINE. S75 i r j*s Navy the dis- war, it ticipated n on the exculpa- ess con- nsel loses iscovered nt appli- ust claim •ofession, jed obser- :e in the attention charac- V\ The printed instructions issued by the Admiralty form an admirable code of marine law per sc, and have very properly defined and circumscribed the duty of a naval officer on almost all important oc- casions; but still, as there is a wide field left open to the discretion of the officer in command, it were deeply to be regretted, if, in some cases, either irritability, or possibly a want of thorough acquaintance with the true character of our sailors, should induce commanders to exercise this discre- tion in a manner never contemplated by the Board, or prejudicial to the interests of the " Ser- vice." Happily for the condition of seamen, offi- cers who rise by service and merit, pass, most commonly, so many years in anxious expectation of command, that the mere procrastination has, at least, one beneficial effect — that of checking any inclination to abuse their authority; and the pe- nalty of a long probation is more than repaid by advantages derived from a more intimate ac- quaintance with the genuine character and real worth (there may be, and are, individual excep- T 2 276 UISCIPLINK. M tiohs) of our honest unpresuming countrymen afloat. There can be but one opinion as to the first re- quisite in an officer for maintaining a high state of discipline on board — indisputably, firmness of character and conduct occupies that rank: as nothing can supply its place, so it never can be injurious, while tempered by moderation and re- gulated by discretion. The next in order, and almost equal in value, is self-possession, under which, in the comprehensiveness of the term, may be presumed to be included that inestimable qua- lity temper :* without this it is vain to expect either dignified deportment or consistency of conduct in * To exemplify the value of temper in a commander, we refer with pleasure to the conduct of Sir James A. Gordon, the hero of the Potomack, who, in the intricate ascent of that river, in the face of an active, intelligent foe, encountered and surmounted the greatest difficulties in warping up his squadron some hundred miles ; during vdiich he was constantly obliged to take out his guns, whilst several ships grounded beneath the enemy's bat- teries. The capitulation of Alexandria followed, by which it was agreed that the very merchant-ships which had been sunk to pre- Vh »• DISCIPLINE. 277 men 5t re- state ess of k: as an be id re- r, and under n, may e qua- either uct in > we refer 18 hero , in the mounted hundred out his y's bat- :h it was to pre- a Commander, or respect for his character in the seaman. For this reason, even reprehension should be conveyed in language at once firm and becoming, and, except in cases of heinous enor- mity, no punishment should ensue immediately on the commission of an offence or the omission of duty, lest the offender should attribute it to a vindictive feeling rather than a desire of correct- ing offences against the discipline of the service. An indulgence, therefore, in passion, under cir- cumstances of disappointment, mistake, or mis- hap, should be rigidly repressed, which, whilst the paroxysm lasts, tends to the debasement of those who are its objects, and robs its subject of either reflection or the free exercise of the native faculties of the mind. . t , • , .-.-.- _ . .•;.-" 1 . .V; ■ ... . . ■■ •'■■' vent capture, were, to the astonishment of the enemy, raised by him, reladen with their cargoes, and surrendered by capitulation as " prizes of war." The whole of this important service, though imputed by this amiable and modest officer to the zeal and gallan- try of those under his orders, is known to be with more justice attributable to the crlm steadiness and patient example of their commander. » t3 278 DISCIPLINE. ■\ That officers themselves are not exempted from the disagreeable consequences of their superiors indulging in fits of anger, may be strongly in- stanced in the case of a captain deceased,'* who presumed to tell his lieutenant, whilst on duty, that he would put him in irons — a threat which, he must have known, as well as every sailor who heard him, he durst not put into execution. Doubtless a most essential requisite to the preservation of discipline, is a strict adherence to any engagement entered into with the seamen: a commander must religiously keep his word with his men, if he means to be respected. This rule is more particularly applicable with respect to threats of future punishment, whether con- ditional or absolute. The threat should, in the latter case, be always put into execution at its proper season; and in the former, it should be a rule that, in all cases where the condition is vio- lated, the threatened punishment should be , inflicted. • Bounty, Bligh, when in command of the Wamor, seventy- foiir. » X DISCIPLINE. 279 In every case of a inuii's being brought up for punishment, the slightest indication of passion should be avoided, and the offender thus impress- ed with the wholesome conviction that his suffer- ing is a necessary consequence of his offence, abstracted from all private animosity or preju- dice. The moment the painful duty is ended, no inclination should be shewn to keep the recol- lection of it alive by any ill-timed comment, or intimation (which, unfortunately, is too much the habit with many, in other respects, very judi- cious officers), that in addition to his punishment the delinquent is set down in the captain's private list. The tendency of such an intimation is to make men reckless of the future, and regardlesg of character, which they, with a good deal of reason, imagine is irrecoverably lost the moment their name is enrolled in writing on that hateful memorial, emphatically denominated by sailors the " Black lAsV No unprofitable task in the way of black-list duty should ever be imposed. It is in the recollection of many, that captains S80 DISC I PL INK. have compelled seamen on this list to brighten the " breeches of the guns," the " belaying- pins," the ring-bolts in the deck, and even a two-and-thirty-pound shot, tasks which the sai- lor must himself perceive were useless and absurd.* r Instead of such a misapplication of time and labour, which happily is on the decline, but without any established substitute, why are they not apportioned extra exercises at their guns, or in various evolutions aloft— occupations which would be sufficient to punish or restrain minor offenders, whilst they tended directly to improve their state of discipline. With respect to indulgencies to seamen, we are aware that a difference of opinion prevails amongst commanders in our Navy: we shall for the present content ourselves with merely ob- * These, and similarly vexatious practices, as they begin to lie discontinued in our Navy, have been taken up and adopted by commanders of American vessels of war, more particularly in the " crack ships" on the Mediterranean station. * ■ niHCIPLINI. 28) righten laying- even a ;he stti- ss and tne and ne, but ire they ^uns, or 5 which n minor improve nen, we jrevails lall for •ely ob- jegin to l»e dopted by icularly in serving thnt ihey appear to be capable of being rendered emimtitly conducive to the interest of the service, by promoting, in genei'DUs and active spirits, a higher motive to an exemplary performance of duty, than the dread of punish- ment. Generally speaking, un anxiety to consult the comforts of the seamen*^ should form a prominent • In the variety of opinions which prevail with respect to the payment of our seamen on foreign stations, it is worthy of ob- servation, the American navy consider the practice neither in- jurious nor impolitic, " Fas est et ab hoste doceri." If a ship con- tinue abroad three, seven, or even twelve years, as in the case of the Centurion, in India, the crew is not paid till her return. The consequence is, that those married men, wlio have not the fore- thought to provide by " allotments" for the maintenance of their families at home, waste their pay in taking up slops; which, though costly in price as contrasted with their value, are noto- riously unserviceable, aad not at all calculated to add to the re- spectability of a sailor's appearance. The only part of his slops which he pays for without repining, is his tobacco. So much does Jack abhor a purser's shirt and jacket, that for any one to be seen in them but a " waistcr," was, all last war, considered a fair subject of banter and reproach. It is true, that within these few years the quality of slops has been somewhat improved ; but V 282 DISCIPLINE. h m ! t ^1 feature in the character of every officer who hopes to attain a high state of discipline in his crew: care should be taken to time things well: and it should be a rule, that the men ought never to be unnecessarily disturbed at their meals,* than which nothing is more annoying to a seaman. . Finally, to dismiss this very interesting subject with that which, though last in order, is not least' as to its importance, it should be a standing regu- lation on board ships of war, that irons should seldom, if ever, be used, except for cases of serious crime. During the war, it was almost universally the case, that men were " clapped into irons" for the most trifling offences; and even in cases where the commander must have been aware, from the character of the offence, that severer punishment would be necessary, the offender, might it not be an advantageous regulation to have, besides the ordinary quality, a better sort? so that, to parody a common expression. Jack might cut his cloth according to his purse. * Meals.— This is always strictly attended to in well-regulated ships. . i\ i DISCIPLINE. 283 er who i in his gs well : ht never meals,* Iff to a g subject not least ing regu- is should of serious iversally [irons'* for in cases n aware, lat severer offender. besides the a common Ipurse. ell regulated though at sea, where escape was impossible, has been constantly put in irons.* Nothing can be more injudicious than such treatment ; first, be- cause the disgrace of being flogged before the ship's company is no trifling aggravation of the corporal punishment itself, whenever such punish- ment takes place ; and next, where no such pu- nishment ensues, the ship is deprived of the man's services pending a confinement, for which an apportionment of extra duty might be substituted, with the best effect both on the sailor and the service. A man of any spirit will naturally brood over and repine at the unnecessary disgrace thus inflicted for trifling offences. The injurious con- sequences of resorting to irons in the latter case may be most aptly exemplified by referring to numerous well-known instances, where a string of men, whose offences having been trifling, have been exhibited, each bolted by the leg on the half-deck, or other most exposed part of the ship, • Such a practice might be justified in harbour, as necessary to prevent the chance of the offender's escape. ••••.. • ' • ! . 1 ■ - . ' . ' ' • • • • ' • ! I • • ; •■:*•! . ' ' " • '1 9 * i % • •••It • • •♦•'» I • • » « > •] 284 DISCIPLINE. i whilst visitors from the shore have been conducted round the vessel by their own officers. A sailor must be made of stone not to feel most keenly such ill-timed degradation. The sentiment is not confined to the prisoner: an inference is drawn by the visitant (without at all being ap- prized of the cause of this severity) most dis- creditable to the character of the seamen and respectability of the service. Thus the injury is two-fold; at once inflicting on the sailor unneces- sary degradation and pain, whilst it serves the malignant purposes of malcontents on shore, to calumniate the character of that constitutional force, which has hitherto been, and will ever continue, the natural bulwark of these sea-girt isles. END OF VOL. I. LONDON: PHINTEO BY COX AND BAYLIS, GREAT QU£EN STBEEJ. • «.•.(. conducted A sailor lost keenly itiment is ference is being ap- most dis- amen and » injury is r unneces- serves the shore* to stitutional will ever 56 sea-girt STBEET>