Tales of the Sea

Tales of the Sea, by W.H.G.
Kingston

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Title: Tales of the Sea And of our Jack Tars
Author: W.H.G. Kingston
Illustrator: Stephen Miller; Engraver: T. Robertson
Release Date: November 6, 2007 [EBook #23378]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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THE SEA ***

Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England

Tales of the Sea, by W.H.G. Kingston.

STORY ONE, CHAPTER 1.
HAPPY JACK.
Have any of you made a passage on board a steamer between London
and Leith? If you have, you will have seen no small number of brigs
and brigantines, with sails of all tints, from doubtful white to decided
black--some deeply=laden, making their way to the southward, others
with their sides high out of the water, heeling over to the slightest
breeze, steering north.
On board one of those delectable craft, a brig called the Naiad, I found
myself when about fourteen summers had passed over my head. She
must have been named after a negress naiad, for black was the
prevailing colour on board, from the dark, dingy forecastle to the
captain's state cabin, which was but a degree less dirty than the portion
of the vessel in which I was destined to live. The bulwarks,
companion-hatch, and other parts had, to be sure, once upon a time
been painted green, but the dust from the coal, which formed her usual
cargo, had reduced every portion to one sombre hue, which even the
salt seas not unfrequently breaking over her deck had failed to wash
clean.
Captain Grimes, her commander, notwithstanding this, was proud of
the old craft; and he especially delighted to tell how she had once
carried a pennant when conveying troops to Corunna, or some other
port in Spain.
I pitied the poor fellows confined to the narrow limits of her dark hold,
redolent of bilge-water and other foul odours. We, however, had not to
complain on that score, for the fresh water which came in through her
old sides by many a leak, and had to be pumped out every watch, kept
her hold sweet.
How I came to be on board the Naiad I'll tell you--
I had made up my mind to go to sea--why, it's hard to say, except that I
thought I should like to knock about the world and see strange

countries. I was happy enough at home, though I did not always make
others happy. Nothing came amiss to me; I was always either laughing
or singing, and do not recollect having an hour's illness in my life. Now
and then, by the elders of the family, and by Aunt Martha especially, I
was voted a nuisance; and it was with no small satisfaction, at the end
of the holidays, that they packed me off again to school. I was fond of
my brothers and sisters, and they were fond of me, though I showed my
affection for them in a somewhat rough fashion. I thought my sisters
somewhat demure, and I was always teasing them and playing them
tricks. Somehow or other I got the name among them and my brothers
of "Happy Jack," and certainly I was the merriest of the family. If I
happened, which was not unfrequently the case, to get into a scrape, I
generally managed to scramble out of it with flying colours; and if I did
not, I laughed at the punishment to which I was doomed. I was a
broad-shouldered, strongly-built boy, and could beat my elder brothers
at running, leaping, or any other athletic exercise, while, without
boasting, I was not behind any of them in the school-room. My father
was somewhat proud of me, and had set his mind on my becoming a
member of one of the learned professions, and rising to the top of the
tree. Why should I not? I had a great-uncle a judge, and another relative
a bishop, and there had been admirals and generals by the score among
our ancestors. My father was a leading solicitor in a large town, and
having somewhat ambitious aspirations for his children, his intention
was to send all his sons to the university, in the hopes that they would
make a good figure in life. He was therefore the more vexed when I
declared that my firm determination was to go to sea. "Very well,
Jack," he said, "if such is your resolve, go you shall; but as I