The day we sailed, such was the severity of the gale andsnowstorm, that we had to put back and anchor at St. Helensin the Isle of Wight. The next night we were at sea. Ithappened to be my middle watch. I had to turn out of myhammock at twelve to walk the deck till four in the morning .
Walk! I could not stand. Blinded with snow, drenched by theseas, frozen with cold, home sick and sea sick beyonddescription, my opinion of the Royal Navy - as a profession -was, in the course of these four hours, seriously subverted.
Long before the watch ended. I was reeling about more asleepthan awake; every now and then brought to my senses bybreaking my shins against the carronade slides; or, if I satdown upon one of them to rest, by a playful whack with arope's end from one of the crusty old mates aforesaid, whoperhaps anticipated in my poor little personality thearrogance of a possible commanding officer. Oh! those cruelnight watches! But the hard training must have been a usefultonic too. One got accustomed to it by degrees; and hence, to bad food, to kicks and cuffs, tocalls of duty, to subordination, and to all that constitutesdiscipline.
Luckily for me, the midshipman of my watch, Jack Johnson, wasa trump, and a smart officer to boot. He was six years olderthan I, and, though thoroughly good-natured, was formidableenough from his strength and determination to have his willrespected. He became my patron and protector. Rightly, orwrongly I am afraid, he always took my part, made excuses forme to the officer of our watch if I were caught napping underthe half-deck, or otherwise neglecting my duty. Sometimes hewould even take the blame for this upon himself, and give mea 'wigging' in private, which was my severest punishment. Hetaught me the ropes, and explained the elements ofseamanship. If it was very cold at night he would make mewear his own comforter, and, in short, took care of me inevery possible way. Poor Jack! I never had a better friend;and I loved him then, God knows. He was one of those whoseadvancement depended on himself. I doubt whether he wouldever have been promoted but for an accident which I shallspeak of presently
When we got into warm latitudes we were taught not only toknot and splice, but to take in and set the mizzen royal.
There were four of us boys, and in all weathers at last wewere practised aloft until we were as active and as smart asany of the ship's lads, even in dirty weather or in suddensqualls.
We had a capital naval instructor for lessons in navigation,and the quartermaster of the watch taught us how to handlethe wheel and con.
These quartermasters - there was one to each of the threewatches - were picked men who had been captains of tops orboatswains' mates. They were much older than any of thecrew. Our three in the 'Blonde' had all seen service in theFrench and Spanish wars. One, a tall, handsome old fellow,had been a smuggler; and many a fight with, or narrow escapefrom, the coast-guard he had to tell of. The other two hadbeen badly wounded. Old Jimmy Bartlett of my watch had ahole in his chest half an inch deep from a boarding pike. Hehad also lost a finger, and a bullet had passed through hischeek. One of his fights was in the 'Amethyst' frigate when,under Sir Michael Seymour, she captured the 'Niemen' in 1809 .
