Entertainment for man or beast, all of a row, Lekher kost, as much as you please; Excellent beds, without any fleas.
Nos patriam fugimus! now we are here, Vivamus! let us live by selling beer.
On donne a boire et a manger ici; Come in and try it, whoever you be."
This house was decorated with evergreens, and over the door was a stuffed South African leopard springing on an antelope. A little further on, after discussing lunch at a half-way house, a goodly number of volunteer cavalry, in blue-and-white uniforms, appeared to escort the Sailor Prince into Cape Town. The road pa.s.ses through pleasant country; but the thick red dust which rose as the cavalcade proceeded was overwhelming. It was a South African version of the "Derby" on a hot summer"s day. At various places parties of school-children, arrayed along the road-side, sung the National Anthem in little piping voices, the singing being generally conducted by mild-looking men in black gloves and spectacles. At one place stood an old Malay, playing "G.o.d Save the Queen" on a cracked clarionet, who, quite absorbed as he was in his music, and apparently unconscious of all around him, looked exceedingly comic. There was everywhere a great scrambling crowd of Malays and black boys, running and tumbling over each other, shouting and laughing; women with children tied on their backs, old men, and girls dressed in every conceivable kind of ragged rig and picturesque colour, with head-gear of a wonderful nature, huge Malay hats, almost parasols in size, and resembling the thatch of an English corn-rick; crowns of old black hats; turbans of all proportions and colours, swelled the procession as it swept along. When the cavalry-trumpet sounded "trot," the cloud of dust increased tenfold.
Everybody, apparently, who could muster a horse was mounted, so that ahead and on every side the carriage in which we were following the Duke was hemmed in and surrounded, and everything became mixed up in one thick cloud of red dust, in which helmets, swords, hats, puggeries, turbans, and horses almost disappeared. The crowd hurraed louder than ever, pigs squealed, dogs howled, riders tumbled off; the excitement was irresistible. "Oh! this is fun; stand up-never mind dignity. Whoo-whoop!"
and we were rushed into the cloud of dust, to escape being utterly swamped and left astern of the Duke, standing up in the carriage, and holding on in front, to catch what glimpses we could of what was going on.... Some of the arches were very beautiful; they were all decorated with flowering shrubs, flowers (particularly the arum lily) and leaves of the silver-tree. In one the words WELCOME BACK(118) were formed with oranges.
One of the most curious had on its top a large steamship, with _Galatea_ inscribed upon it, and a funnel out of which real smoke was made to issue as the Duke pa.s.sed under. Six little boys dressed as sailors formed the crew, and stood up singing "Rule Britannia."" And so they arrived in Cape Town, to have _levees_, receptions, entertainments, and b.a.l.l.s by the dozen.
While at the Cape the Duke of Edinburgh laid the foundation of a grand graving-dock, an adjunct to the Table Bay Harbour Works, a most valuable and important addition to the resources of the Royal Navy, enabling the largest ironclad to be repaired at that distant point. The dock is four hundred feet long, and ninety feet wide. For more than forty years previously frequent but unsuccessful efforts had been made to provide a harbour of refuge in Table Bay; now, in addition to this splendid dock, it has a fine breakwater.
Officers of the Royal Navy may occasionally get the opportunity afforded the Prince, of attending an elephant hunt. From the neighbourhood of the Cape itself the biggest of beasts has long retired; but three hundred miles up the coast, at Featherbed Bay, where there is a settlement, it is still possible to enjoy some sport.
To leave the port or town of Knysna-where, by-the-by, the Duke was entertained at a great feed of South African oysters-was found to be difficult and perilous. The entrance to the harbour is very fine; a high cliff comes down sheer to the sea on one side, while on the other there is an angular bluff, with a cave through it. As the _Petrel_ steamed out, a large group of the ladies of the district waved their handkerchiefs, and the elephant-hunters cheered. It was now evident, from the appearance of the bar, that the _Petrel_ had not come out a moment too soon. A heavy sea of rollers extended nearly the whole way across the mouth of the harbour, and broke into a long thundering crest of foam, leaving only one small s.p.a.ce on the western side clear of actual surf. For this opening the _Petrel_ steered; but even there the swell was so great that the vessel reared and pitched fearfully, and touched the bottom as she dipped astern into the deep trough of the sea. The slightest accident to the rudder, and nothing short of a miracle could have saved them from going on to the rocks, where a tremendous surf was breaking. Providentially, she got out safely, and soon the party was transferred to the _Rac.o.o.n_, which returned to Simon"s Bay.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE "GALATEA" Pa.s.sING KNYSNA HEADS.]
On his return from the elephant hunt, the Prince gave a parting ball. A capital ballroom, 135 feet long by 44 wide, was improvised out of an open boat-house by a party of blue-jackets, who, by means of ships" lanterns, flags, arms arranged as ornaments, and beautiful ferns and flowers, effected a transformation as wonderful as anything recorded in the "Arabian Nights," the crowning feature of the decorations being the head of one of the elephants from the Knysna, surmounting an arch of evergreens. Most of the visitors had to come all the way from Cape Town, and during the afternoon were to be seen flocking along the sands in vehicles of every description, many being conveyed to Simon"s Town a part of the distance in a navy steam-tender or the _Galatea"s_ steam-launch.
The ball was, of course, a grand success.
This not being a history of Cape Colony, but rather of what the sailor will find at or near its ports and harbours, the writer is relieved from any necessity of treating on past or present troubles with the Boers or the natives. Of course, everything was tinted _couleur de rose_ at the Prince"s visit, albeit at that very time the colony was in a bad way, with over speculation among the commercial cla.s.ses, a cattle plague, disease among sheep, and a grape-disease. Mr. Frederick Boyle, whose recent work on the Diamond-fields has been already quoted, and who had to leave a steamer short of coal at Saldanha Bay, seventy or eighty miles from Cape Town, and proceed by a rather expensive route, presents a picture far from gratifying of some of the districts through which he pa.s.sed. At Saldanha Bay agriculture gave such poor returns that it did not even pay to export produce to the Cape. The settlers _exist_, but can hardly be said to live.
They have plenty of cattle and sheep, sufficient maize and corn, but little money. Mr. Boyle describes the homestead of a Boer substantially as follows:-
Reaching the home of a farmer named Va.s.son, he found himself in the midst of a scene quite patriarchal. All the plain before the house was white with sheep and lambs, drinking at the "dam" or in long troughs. The dam is an indispensable inst.i.tution in a country where springs are scarce, and where a river is a prodigy. It is the new settler"s first work, even before erecting his house, to find a hollow s.p.a.ce, and dam it up, so as to make a reservoir. He then proceeds to make the best sun-dried bricks he can, and to erect his cottage, usually of two, and rarely more than three, rooms. Not unfrequently, there is a garden, hardly worthy of the name, where a few potatoes and onions are raised. The farmers, more especially the Dutch, are "the heaviest and largest in the world." At an early age their drowsy habits and copious feeding run them into flesh. "Three times a day the family gorges itself upon lumps of mutton, fried in the tallowy fat of the sheep"s tail, or else-their only change of diet-upon the tasteless _fricadel_-kneaded b.a.l.l.s of meat and onions, likewise swimming in grease. Very few vegetables they have, and those are rarely used. Brown bread they make, but scarcely touch it. Fancy existing from birth to death upon mutton sc.r.a.ps, half boiled, half fried, in tallow! So doth the Boer.
It is not eating, but devouring, with him. And fancy the existence! always alone with one"s father, mother, brothers, and sisters; of whom not one can do more than write his name, scarce one can read, not one has heard of any event in history, nor dreamed of such existing things as art or science, or poetry, or aught that pertains to civilisation." An unpleasant picture, truly, and one to which there are many exceptions. It was doubtful whether Mr. Va.s.son could read. His farm was several thousand acres. The ancient law of Cape Colony gave the settler 3,000 _morgen_-something more than 6,000 acres. He was not obliged to take so much, but, whatever the size of his farm might be, it must be _circular_ in shape; and as the circ.u.mference of a property could only touch the adjoining grants it follows that there were immense corners or tracts of land left waste between. Clever and ambitious farmers, in these later days, have been silently absorbing said corners into their estates, greatly increasing their size.
The Cape cannot be recommended to the notice of poor emigrants, but to capitalists it offers splendid inducements. Mr. Irons, in his work on the Cape and Natal settlements,(119) cites several actual cases, showing the profits on capital invested in sheep-farming. In one case 1,250 realised, in about three years, 2,860, which includes the sale of the wool. A second statement gives the profits on an outlay of 2,225, after seven years. It amounts to over 8,000. Rents in the towns are low; beef and mutton do not exceed fourpence per pound, while bread, made largely from imported flour, is a shilling and upwards per four-pound loaf.
So many sailors have made for the Diamond-fields, since their discovery, from the Cape, Port Elizabeth, or Natal, and so many more will do the same, as any new deposit is found, that it will not be out of place here to give the facts concerning them. In 1871, when Mr. Boyle visited them, the ride up cost from 12 to 16, with additional expenses for meals, &c.
Of course, a majority of the 50,000 men who have been congregated at times at the various fields could not and did not afford this; but it is a tramp of 750 miles from Cape Town, or 450 from Port Elizabeth or Natal. From the Cape, a railway, for about sixty miles, eases some of the distance. On the journey up, which reads very like Western experiences in America, two of three mules were twenty-six hours and a half in harness, and covered 110 miles! South Africa requires a society for the prevention of cruelty to animals, one would think. Mr. Boyle also saw another way by which the colonist may become rapidly wealthy-in ostrich-farming. Broods, purchased for 5 to 9, in three years gain their full plumages, and yield in feathers 4 to 6 per annum. They become quite tame, are not delicate to rear, and are easily managed. And they also met the down coaches from the fields, on one of which a young fellow-almost a boy-had no less than 235 carats with him. At last they reached Pniel ("a camp"), a place which once held 5,000 workers and delvers, and in November, 1872, was reduced to a few hundred, like the deserted diggings in California and Australia. It had, however, yielded largely for a time.
The words, "Here be diamonds," are to be found inscribed on an old mission-map of a part of the Colony, of the date of 1750, or thereabouts.
In 1867, a trader up country, near Hope Town, saw the children of a Boer playing with some pebbles, picked up along the banks of the Orange River.
An ostrich-hunter named O"Reilly was present, and the pair of them were struck with the appearance of one of the stones, and they tried it on gla.s.s, scratching the sash all over. A bargain was soon struck: O"Reilly was to take it to Cape Town; and there Sir P. E. Wodehouse soon gave him 500 for it. Then came an excitement, of course. In 1869, a Hottentot shepherd, named Swartzboy, brought to a country store a gem of 83 carats.
The shopman, in his master"s absence, did not like to risk the 200 worth of goods demanded. Swartzboy pa.s.sed on to the farm of one Niekirk, where he asked, and eventually got, 400. Niekirk sold it for 12,000 the same day! Now, of course, the excitement became a fevered frenzy.
Supreme among the camps around Pniel reigned Mr. President Parker, a sailor who, leaving the sea, had turned trader. Mr. Parker, with his counsellors, were absolute in power, and, all in all, administered justice very fairly. Ducking in the river was the mildest punishment; the naval "cat" came next; while dragging through the river was the third grade; last of all came the "spread eagle," in which the culprit was extended flat, hands and feet staked down, and so exposed to the angry sun.
In a short time, the yield from the various fields was not under 300,000 per month, and claims were sold at hundreds and thousands of pounds apiece. Then came a time of depression, when the dealers would not buy, or only at terribly low prices. Meantime, although meat was always cheap, everything else was very high. A cabbage, for example, often fetched 10s., a water-melon 15s., and onions and green figs a shilling apiece. Forage for horses was half-a-crown a bundle of four pounds. To-day they are little higher on the Fields than in other parts of the Colony.
That a number of diggers have made snug little piles, ranging from two or three to eight, ten, or more thousand pounds, is undeniable, but they were very exceptional cases, after all. The dealers in diamonds, though, often turned over immense sums very rapidly.
And now, before taking our leave of the African station, let us pay a flying visit to Natal, which colony has been steadily rising of late years, and which offers many advantages to the visitor and settler. The climate, in spite of the hot sirocco which sometimes blows over it, and the severe thunderstorms, is, all in all, superior to most of the African climates, inasmuch as the rainfall is as nearly as possible that of London, and it falls at the period when most wanted-at the time of greatest warmth and most active vegetation. The productions of Natal are even more varied than those of the Cape, while arrowroot, sugar, cotton, and Indian corn are staple articles. _The_ great industries are cattle and sheep-rearing, and, as in all parts of South Africa, meat is excessively cheap, retailing at threepence or fourpence a pound.
Natal was discovered by Vasco da Gama, and received from him the name of Terra Natalis-"Land of the Nativity"-because of his arriving on Christmas Day. Until 1823 it was little known or visited. A settlement was then formed by a party of Englishmen, who were joined by a number of dissatisfied Dutchmen from the Cape. In 1838 the British Government took possession. There was a squabble, the colonists being somewhat defiant for a while, and some little fighting ensued. It was proposed by the settlers to proclaim the Republic of Natalia, but on the appearance of a strong British force, they subsided quietly, and Natal was placed under the control of the Governor of the Cape. In 1856, it was erected into a separate colony.
To moderate capitalists it offers many advantages. Land is granted on the easiest terms, usually four shillings per acre; and free grants are given, in proportion to a settler"s capital: 500 capital receives a land order for 200 acres. An arrowroot plantation and factory can be started for 500 or 600, and a coffee plantation for something over 1,000.
Sugar-planting, &c., is much more expensive, and would require for plant, &c., 5,000, or more.
And now, on the way home from the African station, the good ship will pa.s.s close to, if indeed it does not touch at, the Island of St. Helena, a common place of refreshment for vessels sailing to the northward. Vessels coming southward rarely do so; sailing ships can hardly make the island.
It lies some 1,200 miles from the African coasts, in mid-ocean. St. Helena has much the appearance, seen from a distance, of the summit of some great submarine mountain, its rugged and perpendicular cliffs rising from the sh.o.r.e to alt.i.tudes from 300 to 1,500 feet. In a few scattered places there are deep, precipitous ravines, opening to the sea, whose embouchures form difficult but still possible landing-places for the fishermen. In one of the largest of these, towards the north-west, the capital and port of the island, James Town, is situated. It is the residence of the authorities.
The anchorage is good and sufficiently deep, and the port is well protected from the winds. The town is entered by an arched gateway, within which is a s.p.a.cious parade, lined with official residences, and faced by a handsome church. The town is in no way remarkable, but has well-supplied shops. The leading inhabitants prefer to live outside it on the higher and cooler plateaux of the island, where many of them have very fine country houses, foremost of which is a villa named Plantation House, belonging to the governor, surrounded by pleasant grounds, handsome trees and shrubs.
In the garden grounds tropical and ordinary fruits and vegetables flourish; the mango, banana, tamarind, and sugar-cane; the orange, citron, grape, fig, and olive, equally with the common fruits of England. The yam and all the European vegetables abound; three crops of potatoes have been often raised from the same ground in one year. The hills are covered with the cabbage tree, and the log-wood and gum-wood trees. Cattle and sheep are scarce, but goats browse in immense herds on the hills. No beasts of prey are to be met, but there are plenty of unpleasant and poisonous insects. Game and fish are abundant, and turtles are often found. All in all, it is not a bad place for Jack after a long voyage, although not considered healthy. It has a military governor, and there are barracks.
The interior is a plateau, divided by low mountains, the former averaging 1,500 feet above the sea. The island is undoubtedly of volcanic origin. It was discovered on the 22nd May (St. Helena"s Day), by Juan de Nova, a Portuguese. The Dutch first held it, and it was wrested from them first by England in 1673, Charles II. soon afterwards granting it to the East India Company, who, with the exception of the period of Napoleon"s imprisonment, held the proprietorship to 1834, when it became an appanage of the Crown.
The fame of the little island rests on its having been the prison of the great disturber of Europe. Every reader knows the circ.u.mstances which preceded that event. He had gone to Rochefort with the object of embarking for America, but finding the whole coast so blockaded as to render that scheme impracticable, surrendered himself to Captain Maitland, commander of the English man-of-war _Bellerophon_, who immediately set sail for Torbay. No notice whatever was taken of his letter-an uncourteous proceeding, to say the least of it, towards a fallen foe-and on the 7th of August he was removed to the _Northumberland_, the flag-ship of Sir George c.o.c.kburn, which immediately set sail for St. Helena.
On arrival the imperial captive was at first lodged in a sort of inn. The following day the ex-emperor and suite rode out to visit Longwood, the seat selected for his residence, and when returning noted a small villa with a pavilion attached to it, about two miles from the town, the residence of Mr. Balcombe, an inhabitant of the island. The spot attracted the emperor"s notice, and the admiral, who had accompanied him, thought it would be better for him to remain there than to go back to the town, where the sentinels at the doors and the gaping crowds in a manner confined him to his chamber. The place pleased the emperor, for the position was quiet, and commanded a fine view. The pavilion was a kind of summer-house on a pointed eminence, about fifty paces from the house, where the family were accustomed to resort in fine weather, and this was the retreat hired for the temporary abode of the emperor. It contained only one room on the ground-floor, without curtains or shutters, and scarcely possessed a seat; and when Napoleon retired to rest, one of the windows had to be barricaded, so draughty was it, in order to exclude the night air, to which he had become particularly sensitive. What a contrast to the gay palaces of France!
[Ill.u.s.tration: ST. HELENA.]
In December the emperor removed to Longwood, riding thither on a small Cape horse, and in his uniform of a cha.s.seur of the guards. The road was lined with spectators, and he was received at the entrance to Longwood by a guard under arms, who rendered the prescribed honour to their ill.u.s.trious captive. The place, which had been a farm of the East India Company, is situated on one of the highest parts of the island, and the difference between its temperature and that of the valley below is very great. It is surrounded by a level height of some extent, and is near the eastern coast. It is stated that continual and frequently violent winds blow regularly from the same quarter. The sun was rarely seen, and there were heavy rainfalls. The water, conveyed to Longwood in pipes, was found to be so unwholesome as to require boiling before it was fit for use. The surroundings were barren rocks, gloomy deep valleys, and desolate gullies, the only redeeming feature being a glimpse of the ocean on one hand. All this after La Belle France!
Longwood as a residence had not much to boast of. The building was rambling and inconveniently arranged; it had been built up by degrees, as the wants of its former inmates had increased. One or two of the suite slept in lofts, reached by ladders and trap-doors. The windows and beds were curtainless, and the furniture mean and scanty. Inhospitable and in bad taste, ye in power at the time! In front of the place, and separated by a tolerably deep ravine, the 53rd Regiment was encamped in detached bodies on the neighbouring heights. Here the caged lion spent the last five weary years of his life till called away by the G.o.d of Battles.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE SERVICE.-OFFICERS" LIFE ON BOARD.
Conditions of Life on Ship-board-A Model Ward-room-An Admiral"s Cabin-Captains and Captains-The Sailor and his Superior Officers-A Contrast-A Commander of the Old School-Jack Larmour-Lord Cochrane"s Experiences-His Chest Curtailed-The Stinking Ship-The First Command-Shaving under Difficulties-The _Speedy_ and her Prizes-The Doctor-On Board a Gun-boat-Cabin and Dispensary-c.o.c.kroaches and Centipedes-Other horrors-The Naval Chaplain-His Duties-Stories of an Amateur-The Engineer-His Increasing Importance-Popularity of the Navy-Nelson always a Model Commander-The Idol of his Colleagues, Officers, and Men-Taking the Men into his Confidence-The Action between the _Bellona_ and _Courageux_-Captain Falknor"s Speech to the Crew-An Obsolete Custom-Crossing the Line-Neptune"s Visit to the Quarter-deck-The Navy of To-day-Its Backbone-Progressive Increase in the Size of Vessels-Naval Volunteers-A n.o.ble Movement-Excellent Results-The Naval Reserve.
In the previous pages we have given some account of the various stations visited by the Royal Navy of Great Britain. Let us next take a glance at the ships themselves-the quarter-deck, the captain"s cabin, and the ward-room. In a word, let us see how the officers of a ship live, move, and have their being on board.
Their condition depends very much on their ship, their captain, and themselves. The first point may be dismissed briefly, as the general improvement in all descriptions of vessels, including their interior arrangements, is too marked to need mentioning. The ward-room of a modern man-of-war is often as well furnished as any other dining-room-handsomely carpeted, the sides adorned with pictures, with comfortable chairs and lounges, and excellent appointments at table. In the ward-room of a Russian corvette visited by the writer, he found a saloon large enough for a ball, with piano, and gorgeous side-board, set out as in the houses of most of the northern nations of Europe, with sundry bottles and incitives to emptying them, in the shape of salt anchovies and salmon, caviare and cheese. In a British flag-ship he found the admiral"s cabin, while in port at least, a perfect little bijou of a drawing-room, with harmonium and piano, vases of flowers, portfolios of drawings, an elaborate stove, and all else that could conduce to comfort and luxury. Outside of this was a more plainly-furnished cabin, used as a dining-room. Of course much of this disappears at sea. The china and gla.s.s are securely packed, and all of the smaller loose articles stowed away; the piano covered up in canvas and securely "tied up" to the side; likely enough the carpet removed, and a rough canvas subst.i.tuted. Still, all is ship-shape and neat as a new pin. The few "old tubs" of vessels still in the service are rarely employed beyond trifling harbour duties, or are kept for emergencies on foreign stations. They will soon disappear, to be replaced by smart and handy little gun-boats or other craft, where, if the accommodations are limited, at least the very most is made of the room at command. How different all this is to many of the vessels of the last century and commencement of this, described by our nautical novelists as little better than colliers, pest ships, and tubs, smelling of pitch, paint, bilge-water, tar, and rum! Readers will remember Marryat"s captain, who, with his wife, was so inordinately fond of pork that he turned his ship into a floating pig-sty. At his dinner there appeared mock-turtle soup (of pig"s head); boiled pork and pease pudding; roast spare rib; sausages and pett.i.toes; and, last of all, sucking-pig. He will doubtless remember how he was eventually frightened off the ship, then about to proceed to the West Indies, by the doctor telling him that with his habit of living he would not give much for his life on that station. But although Marryat"s characters were true to the life of his time, you would go far to find a similar example to-day. Captains still have their idiosyncrasies, but not of such a marked nature. There may be indolent captains, like he who was nicknamed "The Sloth;" or, less likely, prying captains, like he in "Peter Simple," who made himself so unpopular that he lost all the good sailors on board, and had to put up with a "scratch crew;" or (a comparatively harmless variety) captains who amuse their officers with the most outrageous yarns, but who are in all else the souls of honour. Who can help laughing over that Captain Kearney, who tells the tale of the Atta of Roses ship? He relates how she had a puncheon of the precious essence on board; it could be smelt three miles off at sea, and the odour was so strong on board that the men fainted when they ventured near the hold. The timbers of the ship became so impregnated with the smell that they could never make any use of her afterwards, till they broke her up and sold her to the shopkeepers of Brighton and Tunbridge-wells, who turned her into scented boxes and fancy articles, and then into money. The absolutely vulgar captain is a thing of the past, for the possibilities of entering "by the hawse-hole," the technical expression applied to the man who was occasionally in the old times promoted from the fo"castle to the quarter-deck, are very rare indeed nowadays. Still, there are gentlemen-and there are gentlemen. The perfect example is a _rara avis_ everywhere.
[Ill.u.s.tration: ON DECK OF A MAN-OF-WAR, EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.]
The true reason why a captain may make his officers and men const.i.tute an agreeable happy family, or a perfect pandemonium of discontent and misery, consists in the abuse of his absolute power. That power is necessarily bestowed on him; there must be a head; without good discipline, no vessel can be properly handled, or the emergencies of seamanship and warfare met.
But as he can in minor matters have it all his own way, and even in many more important ones can determine absolutely, without the fear of anything or anybody short of a court-martial, he may, and often does, become a martinet, if not a very tyrant.
The subordinate officer"s life may be rendered a burden by a cantankerous and exacting captain. Every trifling omission may be magnified into a grave offence. Some captains seem to go on the principle of the Irishman who asked, "Who"ll tread on my coat tails?" or of the other, "Did you blow your nose at me, sir?" And again, that which in the captain is no offence is a very serious one on the part of the officer or seaman. He may exhaust the vocabulary of abuse and bad language, but not a retort may be made. In the Royal Navy of to-day, though by no means in the merchant service, this is, however, nearly obsolete. However tyrannically disposed, the language of commanders and officers is nearly sure to be free from disgraceful epithets, blasphemies, and scurrilous abuse, cursing and swearing.
Officers should be, and generally are, gentlemen.
A commanding lieutenant of the old school-a type of officer not to be found in the Royal Navy nowadays-is well described by Admiral Cochrane.(120) "My kind uncle," writes he, "the Hon. John Cochrane, accompanied me on board the _Iliad_ for the purpose of introducing me to my future superior officer, Lieutenant Larmour, or, as he was more familiarly known in the service, Jack Larmour-a specimen of the old British seaman, little calculated to inspire exalted ideas of the gentility of the naval profession, though presenting at a glance a personification of its efficiency. Jack was, in fact, one of a not very numerous cla.s.s, whom, for their superior seamanship, the Admiralty was glad to promote from the forecastle to the quarter-deck, in order that they might mould into ship-shape the questionable materials supplied by parliamentary influence, even then paramount in the navy to a degree which might otherwise have led to disaster. Lucky was the commander who could secure such an officer for his quarter-deck.
"On my introduction, Jack was dressed in the garb of a seaman, with marlinspike slung round his neck, and a lump of grease in his hand, and was busily employed in setting up the rigging. His reception of me was anything but gracious. Indeed, a tall fellow, over six feet high, the nephew of his captain, and a lord to boot, were not very promising recommendations for a midshipman. It is not impossible he might have learned from my uncle something about a military commission of several years" standing; and this, coupled with my age and stature, might easily have impressed him with the idea that he had caught a scapegrace with whom the family did not know what to do, and that he was hence to be saddled with a "hard bargain."
"After a little constrained civility on the part of the first lieutenant, who was evidently not very well pleased with the interruption to his avocation, he ordered me to "get my traps below." Scarcely was the order complied with, and myself introduced to the midshipman"s berth, than I overheard Jack grumbling at the magnitude of my equipments. "This Lord Cochrane"s chest? Does Lord Cochrane think he is going to bring a cabin aboard? Get it up on the main-deck!"
[Ill.u.s.tration: BETWEEN DECKS OF A MAN-OF-WAR, EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.]
"This order being promptly obeyed, amidst a running fire of similar objurgations, the key of the chest was sent for, and shortly afterwards the sound of sawing became audible. It was now high time to follow my property, which, to my astonishment, had been turned out on the deck-Jack superintending the sawing off one end of the chest just beyond the keyhole, and accompanying the operation by sundry uncomplimentary observations on midshipmen in general, and on myself in particular.