The Lieutenant and Commander | Page 2

XVIII.
Excursion to Candelay lake in Ceylon--Starting of the expedition--Pearl-divers--A strange tunnel--Hindoo bathing--An amusing exhibition--A tropical forest--A night scene--An alarm--A supper--A midnight burial--Cingalese game--Lake Candelay and its embankment
CHAPTER XIX.
Griffins in India--Sinbad's valley of diamonds--A mosquito-hunt--Deep anchorage--Local names--Valley of diamonds--Ceylon gems
CHAPTER XX.
Ceylonese canoes--Peruvian balsas--The floating windlass of the Coromandel fishermen--American pilot-boats--Balsas of Peru--Man-of-war boats--Ceylonese canoes--Canoe mast and sails--Local contrivances--Construction of the balsa--Management of the sail--Indian method of weighing anchor--A floating windlass--Failure of the attempt--The Admiral's remarks--An interesting feat of mechanical ingenuity
CHAPTER XXI.
The surf at Madras--Sound of the waves--Masullah boats--Construction of the boats--Crossing the surf--Steering the boat--How a capsize in the surf occurs--Catamarans of the surf--Perseverance of the messenger
CHAPTER XXII.
Visit to the Sultan of Pontiana, in Borneo--Sir Samuel Hood--Borneo--A floating grove--Pontiana--Chinese in Borneo--The sultan and his audience room--Interior of the palace--The autograph--Anecdote of Sir S. Hood--Getting out of the trap--Sir S. Hood at the Nile--The Zealous and Goliath--Captain Walcott's disinterestedness--Sir S. Hood's kindness
CHAPTER XXIII.
Commissioning a ship--Receiving-hulk--Marines and gunners--Choice of sailors--The ship's company--Choice of officers--Stowing the ballast--Importance of obedience--Complement of men in ships of war--Shipping the crews--A Christmas feast afloat--A Christmas feast in Canton River--Self-devotion
CHAPTER XXIV.
Fitting out--Progress of rigging--The figure-head--Progressive rigging--The boats--Fitting out--Stowage of ships' stores--System requisite--Painting the ship--Policy of a good chief--Anecdote of Lord Nelson--Scrubbing the hulk--Leaving the harbour--Sailing
CHAPTER I.
TAKING A LINE IN THE SERVICE.
That there is a tide in the affairs of men, has very naturally become a figure of frequent and almost hackneyed use in the cockpits, gun-rooms, and even the captains' cabins of our ships and vessels of war. Like its numerous brethren of common-places, it will be found, perhaps, but of small application to the real business of life; though it answers capitally to wind up a regular grumble at the unexpected success of some junior messmate possessed of higher interest or abilities, and helps to contrast the growler's own hard fate with the good luck of those about him. Still, the metaphor may have its grateful use; for certainly in the Navy, and I suppose elsewhere, there is a period in the early stages of every man's professional life at which it is necessary that he should, more or less decidedly, "take his line," in order best to profit by the tide when the flood begins to make. It is difficult to say exactly at what stage of a young officer's career the determination to adopt any one of the numerous lines before him should be taken: but there can be little doubt as to the utility of that determination being made early in life. In most cases, it is clearly beyond the reach of artificial systems of discipline, to place, on a pair of young shoulders, the reflecting head-piece of age and experience; neither, perhaps, would such an incongruity be desirable. But it seems quite within the compass of a conscientious and diligent commanding officer's power by every means to cultivate the taste, and strengthen the principles and the understanding of the persons committed to his charge. His endeavour should be, to train their thoughts in such a manner that, when the time for independent reflection and action arrives, their judgment and feelings may be ready to carry them forward in the right path; to teach them the habit, for instance, of discovering that, in practice, there is a positive, and generally a speedy pleasure and reward attendant on almost every exercise of self-denial. When that point is once firmly established in the minds of young men, it becomes less difficult to persuade them to relinquish whatever is merely agreeable at the moment, if it stand in the way of the sterner claims of duty.
Although the period must vary a good deal, I should be disposed to say, that, in general, a year or two after an officer is promoted to the rank of lieutenant, may be about the time when he ought fairly and finally to brace himself up to follow a particular line, and resolve, ever afterwards, manfully to persevere in it. His abilities being concentrated on some definite set of objects; his friends, both on shore and afloat, will be furnished with some tangible means of judging of his capacity. Without such knowledge, their patronage is likely to do themselves no credit, and their _prot��g��_ very little, if any, real service.
Some young fellows set out in their professional life by making themselves thorough-bred sailors; their hands are familiar with the tar-bucket; their fingers are cut across with the marks of the ropes they have been pulling and hauling; and their whole soul is wrapped up in the intricate science of cutting out sails, and of rigging masts and yards. Their dreams are of cringles and reef-tackles, of knots, splices, grummets, and dead-eyes. They can tell the length, to a fathom, of every rope in the boatswain's warrant, from the flying jib down-haul to the