SAM NOBLE,A .H .

’

TWEEN DECKS IN TH E’

SEVENTIES

AN AUTOBIOGRAPHYWITH A FOREWORD BY

REAR-ADMIRAL A . P . DAVIDSON,D .S .O .

S ay ,B ill

,wot

’

s that there stuff you’re always a-wr itin ’

of ?

Nothin’

: only me life .

”

Your l ife ! Yourn ? Lo r lumme l

your kf c am’

t

Aint It ? That rema ins to be seen , ma te .

Old Deck Play

LONDONSAMPSON LOW , MARSTON 8c CO .

,LTD .

JEANIE

MY WEE PILOT

PAULTOR sou l szt . [ ROLAND

FOREWORD

IT gives me much pleasure to wr ite a foreword toMr . Sam Noble ’s engross ing book . In it the Authorski lfu l ly dep icts life in the Navy of that period in itsl ights and shadows

,though he in h is love and loyalty of

the Sea Serv ice is a healthy opt imist . Above all he

shows the great brotherhood of the Seaman and rank

and fi le ’tween decks wh ich can hardly be rival led by themodern comradeship of the Great War .

The greatest marit ime power of the world has not yetrealised how much it owes to the loyalty , cheerfu lnessand endurance of the rank and fi le of the lower deck , not

only in recent wars , including the Great War 1 9 14—1 8 ,but in times of p iping peac e .

Th ink of 1 s . 7d. a day for an able seaman , unti l19 1 9

—20 , and as Mr . Noble describes in hi s book , thefour long years of separation , s in ce reduced to two years

as a general ru le , the coarse fare , the weevi l ly b is cu it indefau lt of bread , and frequently the warfare aga inst w indand weather when sail power was constantly used , theseaman literal ly at times had to ho ld on with the agil ityof a monkey , as everybody who has experienced handlingsai ls on a sway ing yard in a rough sea knows to his cost ,

Forewordand the marvel of those old days was that so few men fel l

overboard to find a watery grave , however the ordealof the elements stiff ened the nerve and s inew of thesai lor in a remarkable way only comparable to theordeal of battle , in which he has fu l ly played his part , asthose who will study the naval side of History wil ladmit .Some reader of Mr . Noble ’s book may exclaim , No

doubt very fine seamen in his day , bu t why couldn ’t a

subsequent generation bring off a second Trafalgar

instead of an indecisive Batt le of Jut land , then we shouldhave had profound faith in the Navy , but now they are

second fiddle to the Royal Air Force .

” The Navy isnot surprised at this crit icism , however hurt . Briefly

,

the reply is as fo llows : “What is the acid test of anyvictory ? The victors remain on the fie ld . So did theBritish Fleet Admi tt ing greater actual losses innumbers on our side of men and sh ips , and though theGerman Fleet suff ered less severely , thanks to theirbetter protected ships , the moral victory of Jutlandwas overwhe lming , and the sp irit of the rank andfi le of the Navy fostered by the ir great leaders and

traditions of the Navy , which latter has been so clear ly

and ably explained by Mr . Noble at the beginn ing of hisbook— helped considerably towards the greatness of themoral victory of Jutland . Never aga in did the GermanFleet , the pride of the Ka iser and hope of the GermanNat ion , endeavour to engage the British Fleet , becausethe ir spirit and morale were broken

,whereas that of

our men was higher than ever .

ForewordThe Nation , only part ial ly understanding naval war

fare , and expect ing a spectacu lar victory , forgot or d idnot realize the dictum of Napoleon , one of the greatestmasters of War , who laid it down as a maxim that themoral is to the physical as 3 to I . We , therefore ,ach ieved a great moral victory at Jutland .

In conclusion , the optimism and bright outlook on

life in the Navy as dep icted by Mr . Noble sti l l holdsgood on the whole . I entered the same service ten yearsafter he d id , and after fo rty years in the Navy in peaceand war , I can say that the Nation is fortunate in hav ingsuch a splendid body of men ’tween decks , worthy

successors of types in Mr . Noble ’s book , and it is theduty of the Nat ion to con t inue to take interest in theirwe lfare and progress ; nothing but the h ighest e fficiency ,loyalty and sense of duty for those serv ing in the Navy wi l lbe good enough in the next ordeal by batt le . Neglector be apathetic to the Navy , which is the First Lineof Defence and respons ible for our Maritime Communicat ions , on which our existence as an Emp ire depends ,and our greatness must decline like the Roman Empiredid .

Mr . Noble ’s book wil l , I hope , be wide ly read as itdeserves to be , and I hope he may wri te another .

(S igned) A . P . DAVIDSON , D .S .O

Rear Admiral

(RETIRED) .

Royal Navy .

Virg instow ,

Devon .

CONTENTS

JO INING UPH .M .s. ST. VINCENT

WHAT HAPPENED To

THE FIGHT FOR THE PORKSCRAP NUMBER TwoH .M .s . VICTORYA BAD SHOT— AND THE RESULTABSORB ING NELSONH .M .s. SWALLOW

OUTWARD BOUNDAT SEAMAKING FOR MADEIRAPARADING TH E WEST COASTOLD MEMORIESTHE SKIPPERTH E BO ’SUNTHE DOCTORSTRANGE S IGHTS ABROADTHE SLAVE CHASE

ix

! ! VI .

! ! V I I .

Content s

LADY JOHNSON’S DREAM

ST . HELENAUPS AND DOWNS OFOUR ENTERTAINERS .

IN THE DOG-WATCHESTHE BO ’SUN ’S LOVE STORYH ow To CATCH MONKEYSHOMEWARD BOUND

SAM NOBLE,A .R.

’TWEEN DECKS IN THE ’SEVENTIES

CHAPTER I

JO IN ING UP

IN the year 1 875 , when trade was bad in Dundee , afew of the youths of our locality , all millworkers l ikemyself

,took it into their heads to go and join the Navy ,

and I went along with them . Personal ly I di dn ’tdream of j oining , being , as I thought , too smal l (thoughI loved the sea , and sea- stories were my pet reading) ,but just went for company . H .M .S . Uni corn was then ,as she is now , the Receiving Ship . The recru itingsergeant , a Royal Marine , put them through theCatechism , pounded them , weighed and measuredthem like so many bags of wheat

,and then for one

fault or another turned them al l down .

Seeing me , the sergeant asked if I wanted to join .

I said no , I thought I was too l itt le .

He said , Ah,you ’re short

,my son

,but you ’re stout .

Let me try you . How Old are you ? ”“ S ixteen past , I answered .

He then whipped the tape under my armp its , bundledme on to the weighing-mach ine , stuck me up aga inst

2 Sam Nob le,A .B .

the bulwarks under the measuring- rod , gave me a seriesof thumps on the back , chest and ribs , which sent thebreath out of me in li tt le gusts , and finally said

“You ’ ll do . An inch short , but half-an- inch overchest measurement . I ’ll make that all right— now lookhereHe then drew such a p icture of the sea : how I should

have nothing to do but si t and let the wind blow mealong ; live on plum-pudding and the roas t beef of OldEngland ; l ashings of grog and tobacco ; seeing the worldthe whi le and meeting and chatting with princesses andall the beautiful ladi es of other l ands— ah ! it was a gay

That did the tri ck ! From that moment nothing onearth would suit me better than to be a Jolly Jack Tar .My imagination was fired . My mind was made up .

My chums,too

,appeared envious of my good fortune .

And I had been the only one picked— that was atremendous feather in my cap ! Yes ; the sea for me !But i t was all so sudden . How would my mother takeit i— she would be demented . I spoke this timidly tothe sergean t .

“ Oh , that ’s all right , my lad , he said , spreadinghimself out— and he was a fine- looking man

,with his

red coat and blue sash and the ribbons at his ear“ you leave your mother to me . Gawd bless her , I

’l llet her see what her boy will be in a year or two . Neveryou fear ; I

’l l fix her ! ”

Then , in case I should cool Off , he hurried us a llout Of the ship and came right home with me .

On the way , i t suddenly struck me about my fingers .Some six months previously my right hand had got

JoinIng Up 3

caught in the Wheels of one of the machines I wastending , and the points of two fingers were torn Off .

I mentioned this to the sergeant .He pul led up short in the street , examined them and

looked blank .

“Ah,he said

,this is bad . Why , the nai l of your

middle finger is clean gone,and your forefinger is

short . Can you move the j oints P”“ Yes .DO they hurt ? ”

NO .

Now,why the mischief didn

’t I notice this beforehe mused

,somewhat disappointed , and a trifle Chagrined

I thought .We went on a litt le way farther and then he

brightened up and stopped again .

“ Look here,

” he said,

“ as I overlooked this,the

doctor may do the same . It’

s a Chance,but we ’l l

take it . What you must do is this : When you are askedto Show your hands

,you twirl the left in front of him

for al l you ’re worth , and keep the righ t in the background . DO you unders tand ?

“Yes,I answered smil ing .

Come on , then !My mother had the surprise of her life when I

returned home ushering in the big soldier . Bu t whenhe stated his errand there was a terrible scene . Noneed to dwell upon that . Anybody— any mother atleast— can understand what the losing of her only boywould be .

The sergeant had to exert all his powers— and myword they were great ! He told her Of the money I

4. Sam Nob le,A .H .

would be ab le to send ; the fine life I would lead ; thepromotion that a boy of my appearance and abilitieswas sure to win (the vi llain ! he hadn ’t known me morethan an how I would come back soon , blazingin gold lace and take her to l ive in a sweet little v i l la al lcovered With roses

,and look how proud She would be

then ! How— but Why go on ? You know the style .

The up - shot was that in twenty minutes or so fromthe t ime he entered the door , the papers were signed ,the Queen ’s shi l ling was in my mother ’s hand , and hehad left the house with the stru t of a general who haswon a battle .

NO use going into the days that followed , or themisery of part ing— I feel the dul l ache of that businesseven now as I write — Poe ts rave about youth being ahappy time . I t is . But it is also a selfish time— a time that few men win through wi thout hatchingsome canker that wil l eat into their sou ls in after- l ife .

Had I come across that Sergeant Of Marines,say ,

three months after I joined the Navy,I wou ld gladly

have stood by and seen him half murdered .

And yet , had I met him eight years thereafter , whenthe glorious play was over , and the cu rtain finally rungdown

,I would have fallen upon his neck and embraced

him— mi ght even have kissed him . We are arum lot !

PORTSMOUTH HARBOUR IN 1 875

Thus i t was that on a cold , raw morning in September ,I was dumped down on the railway station at Portsmouth en route for H .M .S . S t . Vinc ent .

Joi ning Up 5

The journey from Dundee had been wet and m iserable

,and my companion and I

,another boy from the

same town,had eaten nothing s ince we l eft home the

previous night . I remember we had just passed York ,and were both standing dej ected at the Window lookingat the grey Obj ects whirl ing past

,when Peter , my mate ,

who had been to sea before as cab in boy in an Anchorl iner , gave tongue to a thought that had been buzzingaround in the back of my head for the last half hour.Why not run away and buy some food somewhere ?We had both a l ittl e money , so that we were sure ofone meal at least .I can ’t say that I cared for the idea now that it was

put into words, for I had a strong desire to be a sailor ,

and there had been no l ittle trouble at home before I gotmy desire gratified ; and to run away now when I hadcome this length would look l ike showing the whitefeather at the last minute . B esides , I had my motherto think of, and I knew she would be almost drivencrazy when the authorities cal led upon her , which theywere sure to do if I failed to turn up . And thedisgrace !NO ; I was resolved to stick where I was and trust to

luck . But having broached the subj ect , Peter stuckto it . He told me gruesome tales of the il l-usage boysget at sea— how they were kicked and cuffed and madeto work beyond their strength

,and half starved . He

p ictured the grand times we should have roaming aboutthe country at our own sweet wil l , doing a job here andthere , with plenty to eat and nobody to bother us . AndI was so hungry that I really believe he would havegot me round to his way Of thinking if the train hadn ’t

6 Sam Nob le, A .B .

drawn up at Portsmouth , where a head was thrus t inat the carriage window and a gruff voice said :

“ Hullo,are you from Dundee ? ”

We answered yes , and were told to bundle out

then,and be quick about it .” We did so , and found

ourselves in the presence of the ship ’s corporal (a navalpoliceman) . He was a big , powerfully-bui lt man , blackbearded

,with heavy eyeb rows Of the same colour that

met in a bunch right between his eyes and gave his faceanything but a gentle look . But he wasn ’t a bad manat heart

, as we soon found out . He ordered us to“ come on ” very grufi

'

ly, but , noticing the wolfishl ooks we threw towards any baker ’s shop we passed , hestopped at one and went in and bought four tarts , twoof which he handed to each of us

,saying

“ Here, yafii e these ; you ’ l l have breakfast presently .

What “

yaffle meant we didn ’t stop to enquire , butfel l upon those tarts and polished them Off in a way thatmust have warmed that corporal ’s heart down to thebottom . I have never forgotten his kind act ion . Indeed ,to this hour I seldom see a tart without thinking of him .

When we reached the harbour and stood waitingthe boat

,the sun had come out , and the sight around

viewed from the pier set my pulses leaping and my heartthrobb ing with excitement . As a boy I was full ofromance . Here

,in reality , was the stuff upon which

Romance feeds ; the embodiment of al l in whi ch myimagination had been running riot for years past . Thestately ships

,with their white and black hul ls ; tall ,

tapering masts and snowy sails ; the bewildering arrayOf cordage and rigging ; the gi lded trucks at the mastheads gleaming like stars ; and the comm ission-pennants

Joming Up 7

streaming away from beneath them like long , whiteserpents . The guns glinting in the port-holes , and al lthe windows and brass-work gl ittering ; the boatsplying about , and the waves dancing in the light of themorning sun .

There they were , al l as large as l ife , and just as I hads een them in print a hundred times before , the onlydiff erence being that they looked a hundred times betterin real ity than on paper .All the O ld songs

,too , came back to my m ind The

Red,White and Blue ,

” “ Rule Britannia ,” “ Hearts of

Oak,

” “ Tom Bowling ,” “ Black-Eyed Susan .

” Mymother used to S ing every one of them— a nd I quiveredto think that here , before my eyes , was the source fromwhich they had sprung— that I was , indeed , to becomea part of it !About a quarter of a mi le to the left of Where we were

standing,a large three-decker lay moored fore and aft .

Her sails were loosed and hung in festoons from theyards

,which at that distance seemed swarming with

little moving Objects that kept skimming in and outand up and down like Wh ite mice .

The corporal nodded towards her and said : That ’syour domicile . What d ’ye think Of her ?But neither Of us Spoke . I don ’t know how Peter

felt , but I know that I could not have spoken then tosave my life . I was too much wonder- stricken

, too ful lof admiration to let anything of what I was feelingescape in sound , though I have no doubt my face saidplenty . I remember the corporal looked at me for aminute , and then I fancied his own softened and hesmiled to himself.

8 Sam Noble , A .B .

Directly in front , almost right in the middle of theharbour

,was another three- decker , the Duke of Welling

ton,While close beside her lay the O ld Vic tory , Nelson

’sfamous flagship— the chief and most glorious of Britain ’snaval treasures . I was well up in all the stories connec ted with thes e immortal names— as what Britishschoolboy is not ? SO you may imagine my feelingswhen I looked upon the Old war-worn craft for thefirst time .

On the left,or Gosport S ide , were ranged a long line

of three- deckers , line-Of -battle ships , frigates , andother trophies of the Spanish and French wars

,in some

places two and three deep , their high poops and fo ’c ’slealmost Shutting out the view of the shore . Those inmy time were mostly used as coaling hulks .

The right,or Portsmouth S ide , was taken up wi th

Government offi ces , building sheds , towering shears ,cranes

,and al l the paraphernali a of a large naval dock

yard ; while the piers and j etti es were lined with transports and Royal and Admi ralty yachts .

The wide expanse of water forming the fai rway wasteeming with life and bustle— penny steamers dartinghither and thither ; pinnaces , j olly- boats and cutters ,laden with the day ’s prov isions

,and pulled along by

brawny jack tars bare- footed , in short - sleeved , Opennecked jumpers

,showing Off their hai ry arms and

breasts brown with exposure under many suns,and

with their caps hanging at such an angle on theirheads that it was a wonder to me they didn ’t fall Off , whowent lumbering and tumb l ing back to their respectiveships , l ike plump jolly housewives returning from themarket .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

I O Sam Nob le,A .B .

world . Her figure-head , the Star Of India , seemed onfire

,and she lay as white and plum on the water as a

swan,and carried herself as graceful ly , and actually

seemed conscious Of the admiration she was evokingfrom all who witnessed her departure .

When abreast of Where we were standing,the strains

of “ The Girl I Left Behind Me ” came wafting acrossto us

,and I almost cried with the feel ings awakened by

the familiar O ld song . A las , I , too , had left a girlbehind me

,and my heart ached as I recal led the sweet

hours I had spent with her before parting . But Ithought of the long letters I should be able to writewhen I was properly settl ed down

,and the stirring

events that wou ld fi l l them,and there was consolat ion

in that .

CHAPTER I I

H .M .S . ST. VINCENT

I CANNOT recollect what boat took us to theS t . Vincent, whether it was a waterman ’s or one belonging to the ship . I think it must have been the former ,because the first impression Of the boys who were to bemy mates would almost certainly have remained withme . Anyway , I remember dist inctly that as we roundedthe stern

,which was ful l Of windows , and had three

galleries al l ornamented with gold and beautiful carving ,the name

5 T. VINCENT

printed in large shining letters under the counter,

caught my eye , and my blood t ingled as al l the stirringincidents connected with that famous combination of

letters came thronging into my mind . I had a cousinat sea at the time , and the name reminded me of himand of an O ld song he was fond of s inging

,especially

when he was about “ half- seas over .”

This is how it went :Oh,what would my Old eyes give for to seeThose glorious days again ,When Jarvis t rue the Span- i -ard slew

,

And rolled him in the main ,Bravo boys !

And rolled him in the main !

1 2 Sam Nob le,A .B .

I knew the name Jarv is and the one I was lookingat had something to do wi th each other , although Icouldn ’t strike the connection then . However , Imanaged to do it afterwards

,and was glad to find that

it was John Jerv is , the great Earl S t . V incent , one of myparticular heroes , the man who soused ” the Spaniardsso thoroughly at the Cape Of that name in 1 797 .

We pu l led up alongside the companion- ladder,and

the corporal said : “ Now , then .

”

Mounting this we crossed the gangway and foundourselves in that part of the ship termed “

Under thehalf- deck .

”

Al though at that t ime there were over a thousandboys on board , besides the Officers and ship ’s company

,

not a soul was to be seen“

save the ship ’s corporal of thewatch

,who was standing at a desk writing . Our guide

turned us over to him with the remark :“ Here ’s another pair of chickens for you , Jimmy .

You ’l l have to feed ’em , though ; they ’re famished ,and without more ado di sappeared through one Of thehatchways communicating wi th the deck below .

The corporal,without looking up

,cried :

Messenger boy !”

S ir l” answered a voice from the other side of the

deck , and a lad about my own age,dressed in blue ,

with a bright , Open face and curly hair , came runninground a cab in - l ike erection and stopped bes ide thedesk . He stood to Attention

,

” and saluted :“ Here I am

,sir . ”

Tak e these two boys down to the bread- room,and

ask the steward to give them a b it of bread and cheese ,or something . NOW

,look l ively ! ”

H .M .S . St . V incent 1 3

Ay, ay , sir .

He S igned to us to come along , and led the waythrough the hatchway used by our former guide . I twas a great

,yawninghole , with coamings about a foot

high . A brass rod ran along the one facing you tohold on by in case you happened to s lip going down .

This landed us on the lower deck . We then wentthrough another hatchway leading to the Orlop deck ;along an al leyway formed by bag- racks on the one handand a row of cabins on the other , ti l l we came to a doorwh ich the messenger pushed open , saying to us , Comein .

” This we did and found ourselves in the storewhere the provisions were kept . A counter faced thedoor , at the other s ide of which , in a littl e cloud ofdust , a boy was sorting out a number of flour bags . Helooked up as we entered

,and said :

’Allo , nosey , wot’s up ? ”

I almost burst out laughing at this unceremoniousgreeting , for I thought by the get-up of our escort thathe must have been a person of some distinction— an

under-officer at the very least . The organ al luded toeven helped out that impression . I t was of a high ,Roman type , and gave an aristocratic touch to his face .

However,he didn ’t appear to notice anything unusual ,

and merely answeredMorning

,Dusty

,

” and del ivered his message .Dusty ”

(as the bread- room boy is called) was aCockney

,born Within the sound of Bow Bells . He

rubbed the flour out of his eyes and regarded us aminute While be straightened hi s back . He then gavehis head a derogatory shake and said

“ I see ; Scotch , I presoom ? ”

I 4 Sam Nob le,A .B .

We said nothing . The smell of the place , suggestingunlimited food , set our mouths watering and floodedour tongues .

“ You don ’t ’appen to know C en ’ral M acClakaty ,

V .C . , of the R’yal ’Oss ’

Oosars , do you , my cl ears ?” he

continued , Spreading his arms along the counter andbowing to Peter and me wi th grea t politeness .

“ E ’sa celeb rated member

,

’

e is , and ’is mother takes in ourwashin ’

“ ’Ere,chuck it ! broke in the messenger , in an

admiring tone . No nonsense , now. Come on,

‘Jimmy the Fog ’s ’

wai tin’

“ I s he,my li ttl e peacock ? Very well , said Dusty ,

gathering himself up .

“ But don ’t ruff l e yer prettyfeathers . Wot ’s all the ’ur ry ? There ’s a long daybefore us .

Neve rtheless,he dived under the counter and fished

out a loaf and a basin with some treacle in it . Theformer he div ided into four

,and handed a quarter to

Peter and me,after gouging a hole in the centre , fi l l ing

i t with treacle and replac ing the plug .

’ We soonwolfed our port ion

, and stood looking hungrily aroundfor more . Bu t none was forthcoming . The messengerthen said

,

“ Now,if you ’re finished —and out we

bundled again . When we got back to the half-deck ,the corpora ! (“ J immy the Fog the boys ca l led him) ,a mi ld , pleas an t- spoken man

,en tered our names in a

b ig book , measured us again ,told us to sit down on a

form and wait,and then left us , going in to an adjacen t

cabin . The Ship ’s sides were snow white ; the messI Thi s

, I may say here ,was the usual supper ration served out to

us before go ing to bed , and ca l led 5005 and Basher .

”

H .M .S . St . V incent 1 5

tables,stools , traps , and everything sparkling , and the

whole place smelling as sweet as a dairy . The greatbig deck was deserted : nobody at al l on it but ourselves .But overhead there seemed to be p lenty of l ife . Wecould hear loud voices giving orders and hurrying feet ,and heavy bodies being moved about , causing a tremendons thumping . Twice a whole broadside ofguns went off — the first so suddenly that Peter and Iknocked our heads together . We were sti l l s ittingrubbing them when a sergeant of marines steppedbriskly up and blew a loud peal on the bugle . We thenheard four or five different voices shout “ Sti l l ! ”Another order in a lower key was given and a movementmade

,then Dismiss ! ” and down the

boys came troop ing through the hatchways l ike a fal l ofsnow .

I t was spelloe— what is known at school as

minutes .What a crowd ! and of all sorts and S izes— b ig boys ,

l ittl e boys , fat boys and thin boys ; the stream seemednever-ending . They were al l dressed in white duck .

Some went dancing into the messes and took down theirditty-boxes from shelves running paral lel with the edgesof the beams ; some ran past without taking any notice ofus ; some merely gave us a glance in the passing and divedinto the lower deck ; others , again ,

put their fingers totheir noses , made faces at us , and then disappeared ,grinning . A dozen or so gathered round the form ,

and after staring for a minute or two,as if we were

creatures from another world,began to j oke and sky

lark as boys do everywhere with newcomers . Oneasked Where we came from ; another ,

“ did our mothers

1 6 Sam Nob le,A .B .

know we were out ? ” a third , with his arms round thenecks of the two in front of him , and his head betweentheir shoulders

,squinted at us fearfully and squeaked ,

“POO

’ sings ! ” which set them al l laughing .

And so they went on . I see their mischievous facesnow .

A few more j oined the group , wi th hunks of breadin their hands

,which they were busily eating , and

pushed and jostled those behi nd to such an extent intheir eagerness to see what was going on,

that the onesin front were almos t driven on top of us .Coming up in the train Peter and I had been dis

cussing the probabili ty of the boys taking their funover us . I fel t sure they would . Peter , wi th hiswider experience of sea life in the Anchor l iner , wasequally certain , and prophesied a warm receptionawaiting us

,especial ly as we happened to be Scotch .

“Ay , he sa id ,

“ I ken thae Englishers fine . They ’lltortu r ’ the l ife oot o ’ ye if ye let them . I shouldna ’

advise ony o ’ them to meddle wi ’ me , though ; i f theydae they ’l l find they have the wrang 800 by the lug .

Looking at him,I thought it very likely . Peter was

one of those thin,wiry fel lows that c an stand any amount

of tuss ling . As for myself,I was small and not Of

much account . I would have suffered almost anythingrather than have quarrelled or fought with them justat the start . Bu t my mind was made up all the samenot to stand too much nonsense .

However , so far there was no thing to complain of.They shoved and pushed and wriggled about us ;some sat down on the form and squeezed us together ;some mimicked our northern accent and laughed— but

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

1 8 Sam Nob le , A .B .

Hullo,Joe

,

’ave ye come to git yer ’

orns clipped ? ”Ay , cud you dae

’

t i retorted Peter ; and before heknew where he was

,the fellow got one in the chops that

sent him spinning almost out through the entry-port .The row that followed brought the corporal out of

the cabin . He rushed forward and made a grab forthe cane

,at which the whole tribe disappeared as com

pletely as if a magician ’s wand had been waved overthem .

It would be tedious to detai l further my firs t appearance on the stage of naval l ife . Let me simply say ,

then,that short ly after this , Peter and I were taken

below and given our fi rs t meal at the Government ’sexpense

,and did ful l ju stice to it . Then we were

given a mess number,and a boy was told off to take us

round the ship and explain the diff erent parts,and

instruct us how to S l ing and unsl ing a hammock,and

also how to get into it— the crowning event of a mos teven tful day , and not accomplished ti l l I had a coup leof bumps on my head as large as eggs through fal lingout .

In a day or two my kit was served out,and mighty

proud , I tel l you , I fel t when I put on my new Jo l lyJack ’s uniform . I found , too ,

that the li fe was goingto suit me “ down to the ground

,as the saying is , and

wouldn ’t have gone back to the mi l l— no,not for the

price of al l the jumb le of stone and lime,machinery

,

jute and al l the rest of it in the whole town of Dundee .

CHAPTER I I I

WHAT HAPPENED TO NUTTY

ONE night a boy named Nutty Ford (nicknamedso from the size of his head) caused a diversion in theship

,which included everybody from the commanding

offi cer down . Had the captain been aboard he wouldhave shared in it , too . I heard afterwards that he saidhe was sorry he had missed i t . Nutty was only a fewdays joined

,and had not mastered the way of getting

into his hammock . He had got his blanket Spreadall right

,stripped

,and was struggling , in a V- shaped

position— arms and legs in the air— to get in,when

another boy,carrying a paper smeared all over with

treacle,came along and

,spying Nutty in such a tempting

attitude , promp tly clapped the paper on his stern andfled . Nutty dropped at once and ran across to thestarboard gangway , where Mr . Bennett , the ofli cer of

the watch , was waiting to go the rounds . Mr . Bennettwas the first l ieutenant , known in the training-ship as

the commanding officer . He was a perky littl e gentl eman

,with the air of a peacock

,and an aristocratic mole

over his right eye which he was for ever fondling .

Someth ing of a dandy too,he was , and used a lot of

scent . We could always tel l when he was about .

20 Sam Noble,A .B .

Nutty jumped right in front of him , and holding up hisnightshirt , criedOh

,please S ir, look at this !

The devi l ! ” exclaimed Mr . Bennett , giving it akick .

“ Hallo ! corporal , there ! Sound the Assembly ! ”In an instant the bugle rang out with a R—r—r—rip !

that would have wakened the dead ; and then came ascene that would take a better pen than mine to describein proper fashion . Talk about commotion ! The shipwas like a pot that has suddenly started to boil

,and boil

furiously . Boys leaped from their hammocks and flewon deck like the wind , with nothing on but their nightshirts .There was no time to think about dress

,for during

the day It was the custom at the first note of theAs sembly for the corporals to rush to the ladders withtheir canes and help the laggards up . What wouldthey do at thi s time of night having had their sleep orenjoymen t b roken into ?In less than one minute every boy was on the upper

deck in a sta te of wonder and semi -nudeness . Was itdril l ? or fire ? or some freak of the captain ? Nobodycould tel l .There were lights on the poop

, so aft went the stream .

I remember I got a place bes ide the main bitts , nicelyunder the lee of the mainmast

,a structu re as thick as

the bole of a big beech,and

,gathering my shirt around

me , sat there wait ing developments .

I t was a sharp winter ’s night,with the moon scurry ing

through drift ing clouds and glancing down only occasionally . Mr . Bennett and Gunner Syme

,a tal l

,heavy

man , With a red beard , whose watch on deck it was ,

What happened to Nutty 2 1

were on the poop close to the rai l with Nutty betweenthem . There were also three marines carrying ship ’slanterns

,and one or two corporals . Mr . Bennett

ordered the sti l l to be sounded , then murmuredsomething to Gunner Syme , who took hold of

Nutty,slued him round so that he faced aft

,and

said“Stoop , boy, stOOp up with that shirt . Here ! ”

to the marines,

“ Show a light .”

The moment Nutty stooped and the l ight fell on himthe cause of al l the hubbub was as clear as daylight .A big black smudge , not unlike the map of Europe ,great sluggish rivers oozing out of it , almost covered hisbreech and went s lowly down his legs . The wildshriek of boyish laughter that broke out told that notone of us but knew how it came there .

“ Silence ! ” roared the gunner , taking a piece of

rope ’s- end out of his pocket . “My word !You ’l l laugh the other side of your mouths presently .

Corporals ! keep your eyes lifting and grabthe first one that makes a sound . D ’ye seeth is ?”

“ This was the small p iece of rope al luded to,

humorously called a “ Corrector . I t was abouteighteen inches long , ending in a wall and crown— a

common knot at sea— and as supple as a serp ent . Mostof the warrant off icers carried one

,and laid about with

it much in the same way as the old schoolmaster usedto do with the tawse .

The gunner s lowly and impressively twirled hiscorrector round and round

,and I could see Nutty

expecting at every turn to feel it come down wallop

22 Sam Nob le , A .B .

on his bare buttocks , fol low its motions with a fascination that would have been laughab le , had laughingnot been so risky just then . But , luckily , the Gunnerhad boys of his own . Indeed , at that very minutethe carroty locks of one of them could be seen not sixfeet from where I was crouching , and who could saythat he was not the cause of the whole shindy ? Hewas as “ tricky ”

as anybody , and this the‘father knew ,

and Nutty accordingly got the benefit .So he merely twirled his corrector , bending forward

and peering into the gloom . When all was quietagain he went on .

“ Now boys,What we want to know is this : who put

that ’ere treacle on that boy ’sHere Mr . Bennett stru ck in suddenly“ Tch ! tch ! tch ! tch ! Mr . Syme l Don ’t call it

that ! ”

Call it,sir ! said the gunner , tu rning an astonished

face to the fi rs t l ieutenant , “ what shal l I cal l it ? ”

Oh,not that ; that ’s a hideous word l”

But why , sir ,” said Mr . Syme

,in a puzzled

tone of voice , staring at the Object in question , whileMr . Bennett himself looked plainly embarrassed“ that ’s the name

,ain ’t it ? ”

I know ! I know ! snapped Mr . Bennett , but it ’sbeastly horrible Call it— er— er— c all it

something else ! ”“Somethink else . Why

,what else , sir ?

Oh ! not that ! for goodness ’ sake not that !cried the lieutenant , rubbing his mo l e energetically .

“ Let ’s see ” considering “ Cal ! it— er

er— cal l it— er— Bottom ! he j erked out at las t .

What happened to Nutty 2 3

Oh ! ” the gunner coughed (but it wasmighty l ike a laugh !)

“ Oh ! BOTTOM ! ah ! very good , s ir .But that ’s not the name I ’

oe ever heard it cal led by .

However Now,boys

,

” he cried , Sharply turn ingto us— it seemed to me for relief— “

who put that ’eretreacl e on that boy ’s— bottom ? Come on now ; out

with it ! ”

I t was a great s ight the moon threw her silve ry eyeupon as she fitfully peeped from under the driftingclouds while the proper name for a boy ’s nether regionswas being debated . Over the bridge of years howclearly it al l comes back ! The great ship with itshuge spars and network Of rigging standing ghost lyin the gloom ; the group on the poop with the lightstwinkling

,and poor Nu tty among them wi th his shirt

tail flapping in the Wind,and the treacle slowly running

down his legs ; and al l of us boys fi l ling the big,dark

deck with our half- clad bodies,and the air with the

sound of our chattering teeth ; the gunner scratchinghis head and twirling the corrector ; the lieutenantrubbing his mole

,and the expressions on the diff erent

faces as a passing ray from the lanterns flashed themfor a moment in to v iew— al l this was as funny as ascene in a pantomime .

But you daren ’t laugh !Come on ,

” cried the gunner ; who did it ? Now,

then own up ! Mind you,I ’l l find out ! ”

There was a deep S i lence . Everybody thought abouthis neighbour

,but nobody spoke . Cold though I was

,

I felt a tingle go through me that kept me warm . Whatmust the boy have felt who did the deed ?

24. Sam Nob le,A .B .

Mr . Bennett muttered something again to Mr . Symeand the gunner held up his hand .

Now look here ,” he said , insinuatingly . The

commanding offi cer promises that if the boy owns up,

nothing wil l be said to him . Now,then

Come along ; don’t keep us here al l night . ”

No answer . The boy eviden tly thought that thoughnothing was to be sa id to him , something might quitepossib ly be done . So he held his peace . The shipwas as quiet as a dead -house ; even the teethchatte ring stopped .

“ D ’ye hear ? ” roared the gunner , now losing al lpat ience

,bu t wishfu l to make another appeal . “ D ’ye

understand Mr . Bennett ’s off er ? which,I think ,

is a ve ry fair one . If the boy owns up,not one

word will be said to him . I f he don ’t andI find him out he growled and slapped his leg .

Not a sound !I fel t that warm tingle go down my sp ine again . How

I envied that boy ! They most as suredly couldn ’tcatch him ; he had done his job too well .That seemed to be the offic ers

’ opinion also,for

after a short pause,during which they conferred to

gether , Mr . Syme said ve ry impressively“ I ’ve a good mind to keep you al l here an hour .But wait I ’l l catch him . pipe down !He then gave Nutty one st inging swipe with the

corrector , which sent him off with a bound . In ano therminute the decks were cleared and we were al l turnedin aga in , with the co rporals prowling under our hammocks hoping to find somebody talking . But theydidn ’t find me .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

CHAPTER IV

THE FIGHT FOR THE PORK

BEFORE I was a month in the ship I had my firstfight and

,luckily , got the best of it . I was in 34 Mess

on the lower deck . The caterer was a Cockney,named

White,a tal l

,lanky you th , wi th a complexion like a

tal low candle,and a conceit that sickened everybody .

He bullied me unmercifu l ly , and made me do lots ofthe dirty work of the mes s that I had no right to do

,

besides forcing me to wait upon him hand and foot .I f I made the leas t mistake in anything he wou ld giveme a cl ip on the side of the head , or a ki ck out of hisway, and cal l me a

“ Scotch pig ! ” I had to si t at thebo ttom of the table and see novices who had joinedlater pushed ahead of me , while if I said anything , hewou ld mimi c my words and hold me up to the ridiculeof the whole mess . As there were 22 in it

,and I the

only Scotch boy among them , it will easi ly be seen thatthere wasn ’t much sympathy for me . Although

,I wil l

say ,none of the o thers tormented me as he did .

How I hated the brute ! and how I chafed in secretat his treatment . But my salvation was to be workedout in a way neither he nor I expected .

We were al lowed a quarter-pound of pork every

26

The F ight for the Pork 27

morning for breakf ast ; but al l the time I had been inthe ship I had never managed to be down below soonenough to get my share . There was so much to doand White was such a cad that he would not let meoff anythi ng . SO I was generally late , and had tocontent myself with whatever leavings there was ofbread and a splash of cold cocoa in the bottom of themess-kettle . There were usually some outs ide paringsof pork left , but they looked so green and di rty withmuch handling that I could never stomach them . Iused to look with envious eyes at thehead of the tablewhere White sat with his chums faring sumptuouslyon the fine, l ean meat , and think what a se lfish beasthe was .

I t happened that a Scotch boy was caterer of 3 1 Mess ,on the starboard side of the deck . He had the reputation of being the second-best fighter in the ship . Abig , swarthy , pock-marked fellow he was . He accostedme on the night I j oined , and asked if it were true thatmy name was Noble , and that I came from Dundee ?I said it was .So do I ,” said he . And my name ’s Noble

,too .

J immy Noble— say , I ’m your cousin .

”

He then informed me of what he could do in thefighting l ine , and that he meant to look after me ; forwh ich , being a small chap , I was very grateful . Hefinished up by asking if I had any money ? I said Ihad— three and S ixpence .

That ’s right ,” he said . You give it to me in caseyou lose it . I ’ll look after it for you .

”

I did so ; but he must have forgotten al l about it , forI never saw anything of it again .

2 8 Sam Noble , A .B .

Well, one morning , coming down later than usual ,

and finding nothi ng but a piece of green fat and theheel of a loaf for me , I took it over to let Jimmy see it .Jimmy himself was sitting at the t ime with a temptingdisplay before him . I was just at the crying po in t withvexation and hunger . He got me to sit down besideh im and gave me a p iece Off his plate and some warmcocoa

,tell ing me to “ tuck in ,” and he would let me

know what to do later on .

How I enjoyed that breakfast ! It was the firstdecent meal I ’d had since I c ame aboard .

After divisions,we wen t to a quiet corner

,where he

explained how I was to set about bettering things . Hesaid I must fight for it . All the boys had to— Scotchboys especially .

“ Look here , said he ,“ I ’l l tel l you what you ’l l do .

To-morrow , if you get stuff l ike you had to- day ,you go up the table and fl ing it in Whi te ’s face and takehis . Now

,mind you do it

,he added

,quickly

,

seeing the look of dismay that came into my face on

hearing this mind you do it,or you ’l l get a hiding

from me . The v icious nip he gave my arm told mehe would

,too .

I was now between two fires , and almost certainof a sco rching from one or other of them . Allthrough the forenoon I thought and thought , butsaw no way out of the di ffi culty and passed the daymiserab ly .

Next morning I came down and found the same massof green blubber awaiting me . Instinctively I lookedacross the deck to Jimmy . He was alert ! He threwover a half- threatening

,half-encouraging nod

,and I

The F ight for the Pork 29

saw his lips form the words , Go on !” There was

nothing else for it .W ith an inward prayer to heaven for strength and a

good aim,I s idled up the gangway between our mess

and the next , and before those at the top could recoverfrom their astonishmen t at a nov ice taking such aliberty

,I let fly

,and the greasy missile struck White fair

between the eyes,fi l l ing both of them . I then snatched

the pork from his p late— a fine,square , juicy , lean b it

and into my mou th it went .White let a yel l out of him and scraping the fat from

his face flung it into the boy S opposite . In a momentall was confusion . I had scarcely swallowed the porkwhen I found myself standing up to White , and hedancing round me like an india- rubber man .

H ow I got through the next ten minu tes goodness onlyknows . I was knocked down in the first round ; hadmy ear pee led in the second ; and in the third I gotsuch a drive in the stomach that the nugget I hadbolted jumped back into my gullet again and almostchoked me .

But I had drawn blood . White ’s nose was b leeding ,and when the shout went up

,First claret for Scottie l

I tel l you my heart sang ! And I remember thinkingWhat fine sports these English fel lows are ! ”

In the fourth round Providence very kindly p lacedWhite ’s legs against the coamings of a hatchway . Igave him a clean hit

,and down he went into the deck

below like a sack of potatoes . Two of his chumsbrought h im up again in no time

,but he had had

enough of it . He held out his hand and “ gave mebest ;”

Sam Nob le,A .B .

From that morning I had no trouble whatever . NO

more fagging,and breakfast always kept— a nice p iece

of fine lean pork on a plate , bread to correspond , andcocoa warm— al l waiting for me when I came down .

I had any amount of help and tips given me , too , so asto get my things done and be down in time to enjoythe meal . After all

,J immy ’s advice

,not to mention

the other l ittl e kindnesses he di d for me, was not dear

at three and s ix .

CHAPTER V

SCRAP No . 2

I WAS only about seven or eight weeks in 34 Messwhen I was shi fted to 24 ,

on the middle deck , amongthe Petty Officer boys . Th is mess was the Park Laneof the S t. Vincent : the P.O . boys being considered— or

considering themselves,which is the same thing— the

aristocracy of the ship . The reason for my earlypromotion was that I soon learnt to use the “ bo ’sun ’scal l ”— that is

,the whistl e for regulating dril l— and was

lucky enough to attract the attention of Mr . Phillips ,the chief boatswain

,who promised to speak to the cap

tain , and get me made a bo ’sun ’s mate-boy .

Accordingly, one day I was sent for by the mess

corporal , and told to get my bag and in fu ture to stowit in the rack belonging to 24 Mess on the middle deck .

Here another rumpus took p lace . As I have said ,24 was the Petty Offi cer boys

’ mess,the “ upper circle ”

of the S t. Vincent, and I was not a Petty Officer boywas merely a novice

,in fact . The caterer , a S l im

sl ip of a lad,named Browning

,belonging to Hounds

ditch , London , was a Greenwich school boy, and asful l of p ride as a young bantam .

Those Greenwich school boys,being trained in sea

mansh ip before j oin ing the Navy , eas ily outran their3 1

3 2 Sam Nob le,A .B .

mates and won distinction early . That made them abit cocky as a rule . There were two of them in 24 :

Browning,and another London boy

,Charl ie Calman

by name,a bright- faced , sweet-natured lad , who was

further distinguished by having an uncle who was aBeefeater in the Tower . Thi s latter boy

,Charlie

,and

I became Chums afterwards , and I spent two or threegorgeous week- ends with him at his home in theMinories

,and roaming wild among the gloomy

dungeons in that grim old fortress .Nice enough fellows they were , those Petty Offi cer

boys I mean you found them so after you had impressed your nicenes s on them in the old, O ldboy way

,by knocking it in to them . Not that I was

much of a fighter . Never was . But neither werethe boys I happened to be up against . And luckwas usually with me— a tremendous asset in a boxingbout .However , I did as I was told : pu t my bag and ditty

box alongside of the aristocrats , and went through theforenoon ’s dril l and lessons with a heart as light and ashigh as the pennant at the masthead .

At dinner- time , my first meal in the mess— (I remember it was Sea pie day and the deck was full ofdelicious flavourS )— I hung around rather diffidentlyti l l al l the others were l ined up

, not wishing to bethought Cheeky ; and then , seeing a vacant place aboutthe middle of the tab le , l ifted my leg over the stooland stood waiting for Grace ” to be said .

I t was amusing to hear “ Grace ” said at dinnertime— the only meal

,by the way, that was considered

worthy of such a distinction . This was quite a cere

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

34 Sam Nob le,A .B .

slaver running down our chins , stood squinting at ourplates . Then he would shout :

SAY GRACE !

and a thousand boys would immediately yellWhat we are about to receive may the Lord double

it ! In less than five m inutes every plate would beemptied ! Of course , the correct

“ Grace ”was :

“ For what we are about to receive may the Lordmake us tru ly thankful ,” but we hadn ’t time for al lthat .Thi s day , however , I wasn ’t interested in theGrace or the dinner ei ther . As I took my placethey al l looked at me , but nobody spoke . I saw thefel low at the top of the table next Browning give him anudge

,which he answered by a nod and a j erk of the

head in the direction of Mr . Bennett , who was startingon his round of inspection ,

and a meani ng glance passedbetween him and the fellow opposite .

I thought it was al l righ t ; that the caterer knew of mycoming and had the place kep t for me . But I wasmistaken . When Grace ”

was said , and I made tosit down , the fellows at the top and bottom of the s toolj erked i t back

,and down I went with a bang that almost

rattled my bones out through my skin , and nearlyknocked my brains out besides with the bump I gavemy head on the stool . In my descent I grabbed thetab le cover and brought half- a-dozen dinners alongwith m e

,broke the plates

,and scattered the grub al l

over the deck .

The mess was the first one forward,next to the sick

bay , and there was a wide gangway between it and the

Sc rap No . 2 3 5

bulkhead . Many a time we danced in it when the bandplayed ’tween decks during the offi cers ’ d inner hour .But it was a d iff erent dance this time .

I got up dazed , not knowing whether it was Christmasor Easter , and felt myself all over . Then , col lect ingmy wits , I made a dive at the fellow at the top of thetab le

,Ikey Bean , by name , who wasn

’t expect ing me,

and landed him right on the nose— a fine,soft

,ju icy

nose it was , too — and he had b lood for dinner that day ,I can tel l you . Down he went . Then I rushed for theone at the foot ; but he wouldn

’t stand— sprang rightout of my way he did

,and got m ixed up with the mess

gear— so I took the first that came and,with a l ightning

punch in h is empty stomach,he followed Ikey .

Then arrived Pandemonium !In the turmoi l I heard Browning ’s voice say : Leave

h im to me ,” and therewas I in a whirl ing circle of excitement sparring up to him like a windmill . He let fly ,and got me on the s ide of the neck— a blow that sentme careering up against the s ick bay with a force thatnearly put me into it . But I bounced off again

,and at

it we went , hammer and tongs , with the whole middledeck and part of the lower as spectators .Brown ing was about my own s ize and weight

,but

he had the advantage of me in his bouts with the Greenwich schoolboys ; and I believe would have handledme roughly had luck not come my way as it did in myfirst scrap .

In one of his plunges he stepped on a potato , and hisheel s lid about four feet throwing him off his balance .

H is arms went up and he came down with his headthrown back , l ike an acrobat doing a leg- stretching feat

36 Sam Nob le,A .B .

on the stage , and with all his guard open . Seizing thechance

,I flew at him and got one in under his chin that

sent him rolling into the corner like a ball .I looked wildly around to see who was coming next

,

but just then a cry of “Wa—a—re—o” behind

,l ike the

long quivering note of the loon , signalled the arrivalof the corporals With their canes , and the crowd vanished like smoke in a wind . Next minute i t seemed anoctopus had gripped me . It was Tubby Molgan

,the

mess corporal . Tubby was a littl e round barrel of aman

,with a greedy- eyed , hairy , rat face , and the strength

of a goril la . He was also punishment corporal . I t washe who lugged the defaulters up before the skipper

,and

if anybody had a dozen with the cane or the b irchladled out to him ,

it was Tubby who lai d them on . Henearly squeezed my life out . Then he j erked my headup so that he could see my face , and gave a great s tart .Hal lo ! he exclaimed ,

“why ,

you ’re the boy Isen t here this morning , aren ’t you ? ” I l et my headdrop as if it had the weight of a mountain .

“What ’sthe meaning of this ? ” he cried , facing round . Where ’sthe caterer of the mess ? ”

Browning,who had unrol led himself, and looked a

proper battl e- scarred veteran,came crawling over

,

with his head in his hands as if he were holding i t on,

and said,

“ Here,sir .

”

Oh,you ’re there ; are you ? said Tubby , his harsh ,

menacing voice like a dog ’s growl . And what ’s themeaning of this ’ere ? What have you done to thisboy ? I sent him here thi s morning by the expressorder of the Captain and Mr . Phil lips ; and now look

Scrap NO . 2 3 7

Browning mumbled that it was al l the result of ajoke . That it was merely intended I Should pay myfooting as a new member but H is vo icetrail ed away to a wheeze

,and he put up a weary hand

and l ifted his head a b it and looked at the corporal .Tubby was furious . A joke ! By heavens , a cap ital

joke Browning had no idea ! He wouldsee what sort of j oke it was before he (Tubby) was donewith h im ! That he would ! “ Here ’s a prettyp icture ! ” he fumed . ( I agreed with h im . I t was alovely p icture of a battlefield . Beef, duff , potatoes ,onions

,and al l the other savoury ingredients of sea p ie

trodden into the deck . Knives , forks , broken crockery ,and what not

,strewn all over . Ikey Bean ’s blood

,

which had flowed freely— rich,thick b lobs of bright

crimson— adding a lovely realistic touch suggestingcarnage. Calman told me afterwards that he enviedme my luck in b ringing it about .) Here ’s a finestate of things , cried Tubby , bend ing his heavybeetling brows upon Brown ing in a terrib le frown .

You are supposed to set an example to the other messesand look at this ! Whoever saw such a mix-up ?And you cal l it a j oke ! We ’l l see what the Captainhas got to say about it .He brought the whole mess out amidships , whipped

out his notebook and took every one of our names,

bull ied everybody , threatened Browning with disrating , ordered the mess to be scrubbed out , and daredone of us to so much as put a crumb in his mouth ti l lhe gave perm iss ion— kicked up a proper shindy , infact , and then went off in a blaze of fireworks .Such a how-de-do !

3 8 Sam Nob le,A .B .

The first th ing Browning did when Tubby was outof sight

'fwas to hold his hand out to me , whi ch provedhim a

i

thoroughbred , and made me love him . Igripped it heart ily

,and one of the fellows on the star

board side cried,

“ Bully for Browning ! ” which raiseda small cheer ; but this was soon doused by Jimmy- th eFog at ' the desk , who held up both his hands , cryingHush ! ”

Then we al l set to work to get th ings into ship -shapeorder again . It was “

off jumpers , up trouser- legs .”Some rushed to the galley for buckets of warm water

,

others for b rushes,squeegees and swabs . Calman ran

to his ditty-box and fished out a big hunk of soap,and

into the work we wen t l ike b rothers in a commoncause

,and al l enmi ty forgotten . By the time Tubby

came to inspect the mess you wouldn ’t have knownanything had happened , beyond the deck being wetand some of ou r faces a bit askew .

After the inspection we had another th riller .Browning stepped up to the corpora ! as he was go ingaway and asked perm ission to say a word . Tubbysaid : “What was it ? ” frowning like an angry chim

panzee . Browning said he was sorry for the row,also

for the troub l e it had caused,but he hoped the corporal

would be kind enough not to report his messmates, as

they had noth ing to do with it ; the blame was al l his ,and he was willing to bear the consequ ences .

Tubby glowered at him with his hang- dog face,gave

a sh rug to his shoulders,saying : That ’s for the captain

to settl e ”

; threw a scowl around ,which took us al l in

,

and departed , growling in his beard .

A proper curmudgeon .

Sc rap No . 2 3 9

But we al l thought it grand of Browning . I t showedhim a true sport . Down we sat to what was left of thedinner

,as cosy as peas in a pod , eating i t as happily as

though it had been the fines t fare in the world , instead ofcold

,tasteless hash— very l ittl e of it , too , and some

even trampled . I couldn ’t help smil ing over to him inan admiring sort of way as he sat at the head of the table ,and he smiled back

,tell ing me there was no i l l feel ing .

The whole crowd were as decent as could be , somegiving me b its off their plate though they hadn ’t muchfor themselves . Ikey sat opposite ; and though hisnose was a b it lumpy and high - coloured from the hashi t got , genial ity flowed from h is eye . Charl ie Calmanthrew me a grin which warmed my cockles

,and was the

start of a chumship which lasted al l the t ime we werein the S t . Vincent together , and afterwards , and wouldflame up as bright ly as ever in a moment should wehappen to meet one another again . My left eye wasbunged up

,my neck twisted

,and my tongue bitten

through ; but the day was mine , and I felt l ike anadmiral back from a tough

,total ly unexpected engage

ment “ with al l his blushing honours thick upon him,

”

and hugged myself to think I had got off so easi ly .

I don ’t know what happened— perhaps Mr . Phil lipsheard of the racket and put in a word— but nothingmore was said abou t it . After that , things wen t assmoothly as clockwork .

Browning , poor fellow ,sho rt ly afterwards was

drafted to the Eurydice, and went down in her on thatfateful day in March

,1 876 .

Altogether my days in the S t. Vincent slid along ashappy and ful l of events as even a boy could wish . I

D

4 0 Sam Nob le,A .B .

was eighteen months aboard of her , and passed outof my classes creditab ly . The days were employed ininstruction in everything that can make a man useful

,

the evenings in play or study,or writing home . I loved

the life,and was ever so glad now that I had left the

mil l . This was a life really worth liv ing . There wasa flavour and tang about it as sweet as the sea itself.I t was ful l of Interest . Ful l of Adventure . Full OfPossibil ity . Fu l l of Change . You never knew whereyou would be sent , or how soon .

Whereas the mil lComing back one day from the pier after landing

an offi cer ( I was in the gig ’s crew) Charli e Calman metme with the news that we were both drafted to theVic tory . That is an even t I remember well . At thetime , the clearest wish Of my l ife was to be sent there ,and I recollect that the sudden reali s at ion of it nearlydropped me . I thought Charl ie was j oking . But hewasn ’t . In twenty minutes from the time he told me ,we were in the boat rounding the ste rn of the Saint ,”and waving farewel ls to some fellows at dri l l on themizzen . And that is the las t recollection I have of her .We hadn ’t time to say “ Good - bye ” to anybody . But ,of course , they would al l know .

That ’s always the way in Andrew Millar .

No delay . Ready , aye ready !

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

4 2 Sam Nob le,A .B .

ropes,which had been c arried away , were sti l l nu

repaired,and ordered them to be seen to . Here

,

marked by another plate,the spot where

,nestl ing in the

lov ing arms of Cap tain Hardy , his friend , he di ed . Inever looked at this place in the cockpit —and I cameto it many a time

,and lay ful l l ength on the very planks

Nelson ’s body had covered— al l the boys did it— butanother scene

,i l lustrating my hero ’s staunch spirit to

the end,came back to me .

He had asked Cap tain Hardy to anchor after thebatt le

,and Hardy had answered that Admiral Colling

wood would take over the command of the fleet,when

Nelson,t rying to raise himself

,said : Not while I live ,

Hardy ! and fel l back again .

Here,in the cab in

,was the table on which he wrote

his ve ry last l etter— that one asking the country toprotect Lady Hamilton . Here , tri ced up and spreadout with the shot-hol es showing

,were the o ld Trafalgar

sai ls ; here , one of the shot -holes through the hul l,

plugged up,of course

,bu t kept clear of whitewash

for vis itors to see ; here this , here that— interest everywhere !I hau led Charlie Calman about with me

,and we

devoured it together with the relish of l ittl e dogsworrying l iver . We snipped a smal l p iece out of one

of the sails,and cut off one of the reef- po ints as trophies

to bring home . Mine I gave to a girl years afte rwards .

Had I known this l iterary stun t was to come,wou ldn ’t

I have kep t these and other reli cs I brought back fromsea with me !The Vic tory at this time was commanded by anoffi cer named Farrol l

,a ta l l , grave , dignified gentleman ,

H .M .S . V ictory 4 3

who wore one gold ring on his sleeve , l ike a sub- lieutenant ’s

,but without the curl . He had been a b lue

jacket at one time, so I heard , and was the only man in

the service permitted to wear that mark of rank . Weboys called h im Father ” Farroll, on account of hisgentle ways .He paced the quarter-deck

,or went through the ship

bent slightly forward,with his hands clasped behind

his back , seemingly always in thought , and nevernoticed any of us . But just you get taken up beforeh im Then he made you squirm ! Not that hewas harsh or loud-voiced , or his punishments severe

,

but his words had the knack of going straight to themark

,and working inside of you l ike a fizzy drink .

Who the other offi cers were I don ’t rememberwhile among the ship ’s company— which was smal lcompared with the S t . Vincent— the only outstandingfigure I recal l is a man named Moss

,a ship ’s corporal .

I remember him well .The reason I do so is because of an inciden t wh ich he

and I had the fortune to share together . I don ’t knowhow it aff ected him

,but I know it was the means of

stamping that man ’s individual ity upon my memoryin a way that put it beyond the poss ib il ity of ever beingrubbed out .

You ’l l hear al l about this , too , in a m inute . He wasone of the biggest men I ever saw— tal l

,large - boned ,

broad - shouldered,hai ry-breasted— I used to admire

h im as he washed himself of a morning— clean- shaven ,with the j owl of a prize fighter .But for al l he was big and gruff- l ooking , Moss was

a rare good Sort . He was a fine bass s inger , and usual ly

4 4 Sam Noble,A .B .

sang songs with good-going choruses , such as Pourout the Rhine W ine ,” “Nancy Lee ,” or While theFoaming Bil lows Roll , which everybody knew andloved to join in . He would go through the verse himself

,and then we youngs ters would chime in with the

chorus,and make the ship ring with our fresh

,shril l

voices . These are treats I often recal l and savouragain now when I ’m an old man : especial ly one nightwhile he was singing , when he looked across the deckand saw me almost burs ting myself in the chorus

,and

smiled over to me . I bel ieve that smile stood me ingood Stead when I got into hi s black books .

One of Corporal Moss ’s bes t was “ The BritishLion .

” I have never heard it sung since I left theService , but many a time i t has cheered me at my work ,or when skimming along a country road on my litt lemachine during the years that have gone .

I t went this way— of course , I quote from memory ‘

Oh,the B ritish Lion is a noble scion

,

And proud of his conscious might ,A terror to those he has made his foes

,

But he ever defends the right ;And so meek and mild that a tiny childMay approach him and never quail

,

And may pat him on the crown , and stroke himdown

,

But beware how you tread on his tail !The las t two l ines were repeated as chorus .

To see Corporal Moss while he sang this song was toget an idea of how the present greatness and glory ofBritain have come about . S tanding like a rock , hischest expanded , shoulders square , head thrown back ,

H .M .S . V ictory 4 5

his eye glowing with patriotic fervour , his deep voicepealing out , every note as clear and vibran t as if comingfrom a ’cello ; and every word l ike the stroke of a bel l ,and his whole manner and bearing expressing thetitl e of his song -by Jove ! I tel l you that was a sightworth going miles to see . He looked the very p ictureof Noble Defianc e— as if he could have stopped anarmy himself.One night I part icularly remember . We boys were

playing about the fore part of the ship and on thefo ’c ’s le , the P.O .

’

s and ship ’s company being fartheraft in the waist . It was a fine night with no wind

,and

that s trange hush which nature throws over thosespring nights and makes sound travel so far

,especial ly

on the water . Suddenly Moss ’s voice rang out l ikethe sound of a trumpet and stopped the p lay . Awaywent the notes

,reverberating along the deck

,mounting

into the rigging , gambolling and dancing among themasts and spars like elves in a wood

,thri ll ing every

body that heard them .

The Song was very popular at the time . Everybodyknew it . At the end of the eight l ines we took up thechorus , and the men of The Duke (which was anchoredclose by) who had been listening , they took it up also andYou may pat him on the crown and stroke him down

,

But beware how you tread on his tailwent rattling up Pompey harbour and into the townl ike a presage of sti l l greater glories to come .

When the chorus finished we boys looked at one

another , grinning and shaking our heads as much as tosay , What do you think of that ? Let them try it ! ”

4 6 Sam Nob le,A .B

I didn ’t make much headway at signals , and I hatedschool . The schoolmaster ’s name was Mr . Rabb its .I remember it because I got into a row the first day Iwas at school for cal ling him “ Mr . Hares ” one of theother boys told me that was his name .

What I particularly liked was showing visitors round .

Hundreds of them came— princes , peers , lords , ladies—al l sorts and conditions of people to pay their respectsto the litt le hero of Trafalgar— My Hero !When a party arrived , if it happened to be make-and

mend- clothes day,when we were al l free , one of the boys

would shout Keb ! ” (meaning cabby , or conductor)and there would be a rush to see if the crowd was al ikely one ; i .e .

,good for a t ip ; if not , i t was left severely

alone,and anyone cou ld take it that liked . Sometimes

this reasoning didn ’t turn out sound, for a most unlikely

lot often proved a good investment .One of the boys , who came from the Impregnable,

had a poem in MS . in his ditty- box,purpo rting to have

been written by a man who had se rved in the Vic toryat Trafalgar . He showed i t to me and I “ took it in ”

at once . At that time I cou ld memorise poetry thatinterested me at the fi rs t reading

,and reel it Off word

for word when wanted,l ike a gramophone .

This piece was pretty long , forty verses or thereabouts as near as I can remember , and the writer musthave been an even greater admirer of Nelson thanmyself

,for his hero ’s name occu rred at l east thi rty times

throughou t the poem— somet imes twice in one verse ;once , I give you my word , actually four times in asmany l ines .

Here is the verse— the others have mostly escaped my

V ictory 4 7

memory , the few I have retained have kept the gripreason of their very uniqueness

Beloved Nelson there you lie ,True-hearted Nelson England ’s pet ,

Ah , Nelson ’s name will never die ,Brave Nelson ’s sun will never set .

Poor stuff,no doubt ; but you have no idea how

eff ective when declaimed to the yokels and farmerswho came in shoals from up country . You should haveseen them lick their lip s and nudge each other over it .Once , a countryman with a rich , rol ling Devonshi reaccent , said to me :

“Who wrote that lovely poetry , master ?I couldn ’t tel l you his name

,nor where he belonged

to , I answered , supposed to be a seaman who wasin the ship with Nelson when he died .

”

Th is ’ere ship ? ”Yes .”

My ! he were a clever ’un

,master ! Don ’t ’

e thinkso ? It

’

s grand,bean ’t it ? ”

It is so !” I agreed hearti ly , and real ly thought so ,

think so still . I ’ve read worse from poets of muchhigher pretensions .I col lected over half a sovere ign from the crowd

that young fel low belonged to~bless em — and itcame in very handy . A n ice l ittle addition to myweekly S ixpence . I sen t two thirds of it to mymother in Dundee

, who always shared my joy— andthe spo i l .The piece described the battle

,Nelson ’s death and

the manner of it ; took you right through the ship ,

Sam Nob le,A .B .

touchi ng on every point of interest as you passed andended in rhapsody .

For instance , at the brass p late on the quarter deckthis verse occurred

On thi s fair spot whi ch now you see,

Fell one of Britain ’s heroes bo ld,

And if you wi ll but follow meThe thri lling storv will be told .

On the main deck , where the bel l hangs , thi s onewith a round , rolling rhyme suited to the theme :

This is the bellThat tolled so well

At the batt le of Traf algarWhere Nelson fell :He fell on dec k ,He died be low

Follow me and the plac e I ’ll Show .

When we came to the last scene of al l the poet,

I have always though t , excel led himse lf ; rose to a

really fine height . Many a handkerchi ef have I seenbrought into use when these pathetic lines were reci ted :

Here,in the Middi es ’ humble room

,

Our P rince of Sai lors last drew breath ;But Hope now smiles where once was G loom,

And Peace has triumphed over deathSmile on Sweet Hope Sol , rend the clouds ,Wind of the West your requiem sing.

Blow,breezes blow make taut our shrouds

As home our glorious Dead we b ring .

Then followed the verse I have quoted first .I wonder if that poem be still to the fore and in use ?

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

CHAPTER VII

A BAD SHOT— AND THE RESULT

ONE day , I think in the beginning of March,about

one bell (half- past twelve) on the afternoon watch , Icame up from below feeling particularly fine . Thedinner toad - in- the-hole ,” with baked potatoes , etc .

had been Splendid,and I had dined wisely and well .

My belly was fu l l,the sun was shini ng

,the day— one

of those sweet , unexpected days , for the season , peculiarto the English climate— was soft and balmy

,the air

laden with harbour scents , and not a ripple on thewater . The ship looked lovely , her mas ts and cordage shimmering like a little grove with the sunlighton it . Her pictu re in silhouette lay s tretched along theharbour with eve ry de tail showing as clear as ina looking -glass , and when I jumped up on the fo ’c ’sleand skipped abou t the rai l my figure appeared like al ittl e dancing toy on the glassy surface far below .

A letter,too

, from a ce rtain party in Dundee , hadarrived by the morning post ; as a matter of fact it wasa t that minute nestl ing under my flannel next my skin

,

for I hadn ’t a pocket about me,and the sweet words it

conta ined were still warming me within like a littlelove- stove .

A Bad Shot— and the Result 5 1

Altogether , my cherub was aloft and I was baskingin the radiance of its smil e .

I had come on deck with a piece of fat meat in myhand

,and was prowling around looking for somebody

to shy it at ; but there was nobody about . What Ibrought it for I don ’t remember , maybe to fling to thegulls

,lots of which circled round the ship at times .

But they were al l gone,too

,that day .

The fat was growing warm in my hand —a fine,soft

,

flabby b it it was— and somehow I couldn ’t fl ing itaway . What I wanted was a target or something tohit with it . But the deck , with the exception of thesentries , was deserted . I looked over the s ide to see ifthere were any heads sticking out of the ports , or if awaterman or bumboatman were passing . But no ,nothing . So I turned and went below again .

As I was passing the gal ley I saw the ship ’s cookwith al l his mates around him in earnest confab oversomething . The cook seemed to be giving them alecture on the day ’s dinner . They were al l dressedin white , with white confectioners ’ caps ; but whereasthe mates had stains here and there on their j ackets andaprons the cook himself was immaculate .

He was a pompous littl e man with a reddish,ful l

flowing beard , trimmed to perfection,and mustachios

to match . His presence reminded you of one of hisown coppers— round , shining , and capab le of holdinga lot .

He was laying it off to the four mates,with h is right

forefinger tapping the palm of his left hand,and they

were al l l istening attentively . They were standingsideways on to me and hadn ’t not iced my approach .

5 2 Sam Nob le,A .B .

One of the mates , a long-featured , tallow- colouredindividual

,with a terribly vacant expression

,and his

tongue hanging out,was leaning forward staring into

the cook ’s face drinking in every word . You neversaw anything so comical .I said to myself “ Here ’s the very thing ! Couldn ’t

be a better mark ! I took deliberate aim and then letfly . By the sheerest s troke of bad luck , just as themeat l eft my hand the cook made a sudden turn rightin my directi on

,the mate slued a l ittl e

,and whether

this influenced my aim or not I can ’t say,but it missed

the squint- eyed mate and wen t splash into the cook ’sbeard .

Then there was a hullabaloo ! I sprang back andmade for the ladder again

,but not before he saw me .

I knew I was nipped— knew i t as well as though I feltthe hand on my shou lder . And how these men ranaft to tel l the co rpora ! ! By George

,they didn ’t lose

time . Before I was right on deck into the Open air theAssemb ly sounded and up the boys came

,wiping their

lips and rubbing their fingers and all wondering whatwas the matter .We were l ined up in two rows

,one on each side of

the deck . Then the head bo ’sun,followed by the cook

,

his mates,some corporals and one or two P.O .

’

s— an

ominous procession for me— c ame slowly along lnspect ing eve ry boy as they passed .

There was a lot of whispering round about me , butI heard nothing ; i .e .

,didn ’t let on . Every facul ty I

posses sed was concentrated into one thril l ing thought :W il l they Spot me ? ”

Good gracious,what a long t ime they were in coming .

A Bad Shot— and the Resu lt 5 3They stopped once or twice before other boys

,and

this raised the hope that maybe the cook hadn ’t twiggedme after al l ; that I just imagined he had . I thought bygiving my face a sl ight twist I might manage to put h imoff that way , for he didn

’t know me very wel l , but aninstant ’s reflection on the fact that my own P.O . wasamong the crowd coming along warned me that hewould be bound to notice it and draw attention to me .

So I just set my teeth,looked straight forward and

trusted to luck .

H ow I wished they would hurry up and get donewith it . The excitement was terrific : I was qu iveringal l over .AS they drew nearer I saw with the tai l of my eye that

the bo ’sun ’s face was wrinkled with worry . He didn ’tseem to like his j ob . The cook was close beside him ,

with eyes gleaming like burning coals . The vacantface of the mate was just behi nd , and the slight gl impseI got of it had such an effect on my diaphragm that i tnearly brought on the hiccup . I braced myself andlooked straight in front .

“Here they are ! ”

The cook had the sardonic smile of a devi l on him ;h is beard bristling and sti l l shin ing with fat

,and his

hands working nervously at his s ides . The momenthe got my length , he stopped dead .

Tha t’

s him

The bo ’sun edged him a littl e to one Side .

Did you fl ing that at the cook ? ” he said,nodding

at him and frowning at me .

“Yes , sir .

”

Instantly h is face cleared,his arms went up and he

54 Sam Nob le,A .B .

gave them a littl e wave , crying : Oh , that’s all right !

That ’s al l right ! Pipe down ! Then in a lowertone : “ Bring him before Mr . Farroll.

The dismissed boys came rushing from the others ide ( I was in the starboard watch) and flocked aroundto see who was the cause of the hubbub ; but thecorporals soon cleared them Off. Charl ie Calman ,with his eyes wide open and his head pushed forward

,

mouthed “What ’s up ? ” but,of course

,I couldn ’t tel l

him anything . He hovered about— good old Charl ie !—in the hOpe that I might drop him a signal which hewould be able to interpret to my advantage

,but

,alas

,

nothing can be done in that way when you are in thegrip of a naval “ crusher ” (ship

’s corporal) . Aft Iwas bundled to go b efore the captain .

I t was some minutes before Father put in an appearance , which t ime the cook employed in glaring at meas i f he would have l iked to give me “ beardie .

” Hewas a venomous little toad

,and looked i t , so that the

bo ’sun trod hard upon his foot and brought him up .

The bo ’sun made bel ieve it was an accident,but I saw

he meant i t .At last Father came

,calm

,grave

,dignified as usual ,

walking as slowly towards us as if he had Eternity towork in . The minute he hove in sight cookie madea start as if to run and pour his sorrows into him on thespot

,but one Of the corporals held him back whispering :

“ S teady on ! S teady on ! ”Father Parroll approached , surveyed us al l with his

benevol en t countenance,straightened his back , worked

his lips in a manner he had and said :“Well

,what ’s al l this ?

A Bad Shot— and the Result 5 5

The words were no sooner out of his mouth than thecook

,who could be restrained no longer , let fly °

“ This damnable boy he began ; but thecorporal j erked him up , and Father , raising his hand ,si lenced him .

Ship ’s corporal , please , he said .

The crusher then detailed the tragedy ; dwelling on

the horrible off ence of throwing fat about the ship,

while the cook spread out h is beard , drew attentionto the stains on his white dri l l— which I was sorry tosee

,I ’l l say that— and shifted about l ike , as we Scotch

folk have it , l ike a hen on a het girdle ,” glowering atme all the time as much as to say : “

It’

s a good j ob foryou that I haven ’t the punishing of you . I ’d give youbeans ! ”

“When did this happen ? Father asked when thecorpora! stopped .

“ Just now, sir ; not ten minutes ago . I was standing

in the galley broke in the cook , when Fathers il enced him again .

“ Quite so,

” he said . And how , turningto the corporal

,

“ do you know this is the boy thatdid it ? ”Here the bo ’sun ch imed up , Oh , he confessed it

himself, sir.

“ Um,

” said Father , stroking h is chin and lookingsadly at me .

I was just tel ling the mates began the cookagain

,when Father turned sharply upon him :

“ Cook ! ” he said , with some asperity , be goodenough to speak when you are spoken to . Dider had you any trouble ,

” he resumed , addressing

5 6 Sam Nob le,A .B .

the bo ’sun in h is usual p lacid , precise way of talking“ I mean had you any bother with thi s boy before yougot him to make the confession ? ”No

, sir ,” the bo ’sun answered hearti ly . None

whatever . none in the least . He owned up right awaywhen the question was put to h im .

”

“ Um,

” murmured Father again , nodding his head ,Um ! ”

Then hi s eyes rested full upon me— and , oh dear !didn ’t I feel a pitiab le Obj ect under their scrutiny . Theywere soft

,brown eyes , calm as summer lakes— j ust l ike

the eyes of a dog I once had— they fel l upon you l ike abenediction . I felt I deserved hanging for bringingsuch a pained look into them .

He regarded me for about half a minute and thenset his head a- shaking Tch , tch , tch l he said . Boy ,boy ! what sort of conduct is this ? Are you awareof what deck you are standing upon ? Do younot know that the great Nelson , the saviour of hiscountry , trod these boards ? That this Ship , theVic tory

— is the most sacred piece of timber that floats ?Do you not realize that ? Are you aware

— a terrib l e sternness coming into h is tone that suchactions as you have been guilty of bring discredit uponan i llustrious name , tarnish a beautiful traditi on , andviolate the sanctity of this glorious fabric ” —taking inthe whole shi p with a wave of his hand .

“ Areyou not ashamed of yourself ? Look at the cook ”

— I was afraid to look at him for the venom in his eyesscorched me— “ Look at hi s fine

,whi te clothes

and his beard here the cook ’s l ips curled into asnarl— “ al l smeared and smudged with that oily stuff .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

5 8 Sam Nob le,A .B .

remember wagging his finger .that ’s al l , pipe down !

”

He clasped his hands behind his back again,and

walked away .

The cook looked murder but he daren ’t do anything .

Two hours first watch ! he growled ;“My God !

why, I would have given him ten years in Lewis ! ”(Lewis is the naval p rison) .The corporal said : ’Tion ! Five to seven at the half

deck . Right turn— dismiss !In one minute I was on the fo c sle

, with Charlieand a crowd of the other fel lows around me , tell ingthem al l about it . They laughed over the story andwarmly congratulated me

,saying that Father must

have been in a particularly good mood to let me off soeasily . I thought so myself

,bl ess ing my s tars . But I

thought , too ,that the chance I gave him of enlarging

upon hi s hero— who was mi ne also— I wonder if hesensed that — did more for me than anything .

CHAPTER VI I I

ABSORB ING NELSON

PROMPTLY on the stroke of the bel l I landed on thehalf-deck

,and there was the corporal waiting for me .

It was Big Moss , the singer . He frowned heavilyas he put me in front of the p icture , and then , stickingout his l ower j aw , saidNow , you stand there as if you was made 0 ’ marble ,

and no shinanigin . Just let me catch you with youreyes off Lord Nelson ’s face for one half- second of timeduring the next two hours , and -he nodded three orfour times with deep omen— “ you ’l l see what happens !

I ’m a-watching of you— don ’t you forget that ! ”

With which comforting assurance he went off , l eavingme to my vigil .As I have said , it had been a fine day

,and now night

began to fal l in heavenly beauty . At that moment alovely sunset was fil l ing the western sky

— the harbour,

the land behind , the town , the ships , the millionaire ’syacht in the creek— everything bathed in glorious l ight .When I l eft the deck the two forts at Sp ithead wereShining l ike j ewels . Even Gosport looked pretty ;while the grimy coal hulks— saucy old warships theywere in their day —took on some of their former

59

60 Sam Nob le,A .B .

grandeur and lay along the shore l ike a string of blackpearls right up to Whale Island , where the Vernon andAsia lay twinkling like twin stars .I was loath to leave it al l . The rest of the boys were

now enjoying the scene to their heart ’s content , whilehere was I compelled to stare at a faded old thing of ap icture and forgo a pleasure my soul loved .

I cursed that cook ; cursed my luck ; cursed everybody and everything ! Why didn ’t I take asurer aim ? Why did I let him see me ?What the mischief made that vacant- faced idiot movejust at the wrong moment ? And th e cook , too !

Why di dn’t I duck before he had time to spot

me ? I was a fool ! The shot went homeanyway But now ; look at this— this took thegi lt Off the gingerbread properly .

The little pock-puddin’

! He had seen me onceduring the afternoon and shaken his fist at me

,crying :

“ By God , don’t l et me get hold of you !

” Butach-him ! He couldn ’t run for nuts . Just waddledlike a duck . I could jump over his head . Justwait ! I would pay him out for this .

So ran my thoughts . That I had only myself tob lame ; that to smear a man with grease

,and that man

the one by whose ski l l I had been furnished with anexcellent dinner , was a very sil ly and rotten thing to do .

That,moreover

,I had got off pretty lightly and should

be j ol ly thankful— these and other considerations nevergave me the least bother . I was wild at being kept in ,”hearing my shipmates chi rping and skipping about ondeck like wild woodlarks and myself missing the fun .

Blast that cook There was a scrape as of a foot

Ab sorbing Nelson 6 1

somewhere near ; but I hadn ’t Spoken nor moved myhead

, so I was al l right .I looked at the face in the frame . The light was dim

and the features not very d istinct . But it was a sweetface

,wistful

,calm and benign . The look of it soothed

me . The expression was lamb - l ike— not bold andheroic as you would have expected such a redoubtablenaval leader ’s to be . And yet there was somethingabout the face that hinted of these qualities , too . Butits strong point was gentleness .I whispered— very

,very low to it You seem to

sympathise with me Good old Nelson !Were you ever in a corner like this ? Prettyrotten , isn

’t it ? as a wi ld yel l from on deck causedme to crunch my teeth .

But another stealthy movement near by told meto watch myself, so I stared at that p icture for al lI was worth

,

“ absorbing ” it , l etting it“ into me ,

permeate my whole being,

” as Father had commanded me to

,and thought about Nelson til l my

brain reeled .

This went on for half an hour or so , then it began tobe monotonous . Gazing fixedly at anything for a lengthof time does get a bit trying

,especial ly if the light is dim

and the obj ect you are looking at dimmer even thanthe light .Besides

,this p icture of Nelson , though an obj ect to be

revered and cherished,was hardly the thing for a boy to

find interest in , in the waning light of a March evening .

I t was faded , wrinkled , criss- crossed with a hundredl ines from top to bottom l ike the face of an old,

old man . Nevertheless I loved it , loved to look at it ,

6 2 Sam Nob le,A .R.

came often voluntari ly to look at it— in my spare time !But to be compelled— and here I thought that

Father had missed the mark as completely as I myselfhad done when I threw the meat at the cook ’s mateto be compelled to stand and stare at it now , on such alovely evening

,took away al l the reverence I had for my

hero and made me loathe him .

I couldn ’t see him— didn ’t want to see him ! What Iwanted was to be on deck enjoying the sunset andsharing the larks I groaned in Spirit .Sometimes when a louder shout than usual came down

telling of some extra joyous freak of play , I grit myteeth and felt I would l ike to take the picture down , jumpinto the water , swim ashore , and bury it in some marshyhole round about Gosport .But I daren ’t move— daren ’t look round , for if I did

Corporal Moss would have me as su re as fate .

By and by,when I had been staring about an hour

,

I began to get dizzy and the picture to take funny shapes .

Some times I thought the face lengthened and frownedat me ; then , while I looked ,

the upper lip would s lowlyand vis ibly get longer , the lower one drop and the mouthopen as if it were going to bite . Sometimes the facegrew round and grinned . Sometimes it seemed that thetongue shot out and the whole face j eered at me .

Sometimes the head seemed to stand out from thecanvas , so that I could see al l round it

,and become so

clear and distinct , the eye glowing , and such a nobleexpression on the features

,that I fancied i t was Nelson

in real life I was looking at . Then i t would becomesmaller and gradually fade away before my eyes ti l lit wen t out of sight altogether .

Absorbing Nelson 6 3

Sometimes I seemed to see right through it— throughthe bulk-head— through the ship— through everything

,

in fact— away beyond Whale Island .

It was terrifying !Once

,very

,very cautiously , I took a look around .

Not a soul was in sight ! I had the Whole b ig deck tomyself. The corporal was evidently sure of me ! Itook a wide

,luxurious survey— at the beams overhead ,

the ladders,the ship ’s furniture , through the entry

port at the country,gradual ly dimming in the twilight

,

and then back to Nelson again , feel ing refreshed .

I thought to myself : “ These fel lows ”— meani ngmy chattering shipmates on deck— couldn ’t I hearthem These fel lows think that this is a light punishment . I hope some of them may get it —they ’l lsee !

Then I began to think of what Father Farroll hadsaid about Nelson . I took another cautiouslook around Nobody about ! The corporal wasgone ! away ! He had got tired ! Iwished he would begin to sing ; then I would be sureof him ; but second thoughts told me he couldn ’t dothat , as he was on watch . Anyway

,he was gone

After all , I hadn’t much longer to do now

I swept the deck , glancing right and left , up anddown , feeling qu ite j oco now,

and then back to Nelsonagain .

“Ah , I Whispered , you were a nice boy av-e-r-y nice boy ! a b rave boy a fearlessboy ‘

a-a (mimicking Father) yes— a mischievousboy ! ’ but not a boy like me . Oh

,no !

You were a good boy ! I ’m a bad boy

64 Sam Nob le,A .B .

Yah-h-h Nelson ’s eyes seemed wide Open , standi ngin hi s head , as the saying is . I lifted my right hand , putthe thumb to my nose , spread out the fingers t i ll thelittl e one landed right on the tip of the immortal noseof Nelson , and was luxu riating in the glow that comesupon achievement to the Greatly Daring when

MY GOD !”

came in an awed whisper behind me .

I t was the corporal,and he had caught me !

Shall I ever forget the next five minutes ?Never in this world !The corporal rushed at me , cry ing“You dev i l ! You gallows hound ! He got me

by the shoulder , whi rled me round as if I had been apeerie ,

” shook me ti l l I actually felt the bones in myskul l rattle together

,pushed me towards the picture

,

and I had a wild thought that he was going to put myhead through i t

,bu t he changed his mind

,swep t me

over to the ship ’s side,and dashed me bodily against it .

Then down he plumped on to a littl e form near by ,j erked me across his knee and oh

,dear

,dear ! The

memory of thi s experi ence is almost as painful as thereali ty . At eve ry slap ,

b reathing hard the while likea man in a wrestling bout

,he mu ttered : You— li ttle

devi l ! You would do— that to the— Admiral . Thought— I wasn ’t— looking— eh ? Bu t I was— I caught youfine— didn ’t I ? What— the devil— d ’ye mean— byi t ?I was limp and listl ess . The breath was al l knocked

out of my body . I coul dn ’t speak— c ouldn ’t wriggleeven . Just lay like a log and let him do what he liked

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

66 Sam Nob le,A .B .

No ! never s ir ! NEVER ! I panted . Neveragain

, sir ; believe me !Down on your knees and beg Lord Nelson ’s

pardon !Down I flopped in front of the p ictu re and raising

my hands in the attitude of prayer , criedOh ! dear Lord Nelson , forgive me ! I beg your

pardon ! I ’m sorry . I ’m very sorry ! I am— I reallyam Corporal Moss ,

” I cried , turning swiftlyround and appeal ing to the petty o ffi cer , then backagain to the picture Forgive me

, sir ! I ’l l neverdo it again— never !I could have sworn when I tu rned so sharp ly that I

had seen a grin on the corporal ’s face,but when I

looked again at the end of my supplicati on it was asgrim as ever .Get up ,

” he commanded .

I put my hands on the deck and hoisted myself up asthough I were half dead ; but , in reality , not so verymuch the worse

,al l sai d and done .

Perhaps he knew I was shamming,for he took hold of

my serge and j erked me on to my feet . Then he shookhis big fist in my face and said

“Now, look here — his chin was out as far as itwould go

— “ you thank your lucky stars it wasn ’tanother man got you ,

for if it had been,he would have

peeled the ski n off you and reported you as wel l . Wi l lyou s top these monkey tricks ? ”

“Yes

,sir ; oh yes !

”

Then get out ! ” and with that he l ifted me withthe side of hi s boot a good six feet along the gangway ;and I was up the ladder and into the fresh air be

Absorbing Nelson 67

fore his foot got back to the deck again— I’

m verysure I was .I ran on to the fo c sle , jumped the rai l , and snuggledinto the knightheads just under the lee of the figurehead .

What fine places those dear old ships had for a boy tohide in . There I sat for an hour , rubbing myse lfgently and enjoying the beauty of the evening ti l l itwas time to turn in . During the remainder of mystay in the Vic tory ,

I need not say that I kept wel l outof sight of Father Farroll and Corporal Moss— ay , andthe cook , too

CHAPTER IX

H .M .S . SWALLOW

ABOUT a week after this , Charlie Calman got orders topack his bag for the B la ck Prince, and I to do the samefor the Duke of Wellington,

so we had to part brass rags,

poor Charlie and I , and say good -bye .

Thi s we did with some feeling , for we had been goodchums . I never saw him again , nor heard of or fromhim ; nor yet of Corporal Moss or Father Farroll orany of the others .That is always the way in the Navy . You meet a

man on this ship or that , get chummy with him ,spend

a litt le time together , bid him “so- long ” at the end of

it and— there you are . You never behold each otheragain .

However, it

’

s al l in the day ’s work and you get accustomed to it .The Duke at this time was the Guardship at Ports

mouth . I was only a few days aboard of her .One day when working on the poop I heard a signal

man cal l to his mate : “ Hey , Bil l ; look at that l ittl ecraft . Ai n ’t she a beauty ? ” I looked , too , and sawthe prett iest little sh ip my eyes had ever rested on .

She was painted black with a White s treak at her deck68

H .M .S . Swallow 69

line,and a row of twinkling scuttles fore and aft , barring

right amidships . Her copper shone like a band of gold ,and glittered in the water like a halo around her . Shewas barque rigged

,with her sai ls lying like a coating of

snow along her yards,and had just left the dockyard .

She reminded me of a l ittl e girl newly dressed for herfirst day at school . A prettier picture you never saw.

A sweet little funnel with a b lack top on it peep ing justabove the netting showed that she was also fitted withsteam .

Four boats swung from her davits , two abreast of

the funnel,and two abaft the mainmast . The black

muzzle of a new 7- inch gun frowned from the only

porthole whi ch broke the l ine of her bulwarks ; and hergangway ladder , whi ch was lipp ing the water , wascomposed of eight steps . I drank in all her detailsgreedily , saying to myself : You ’re a bonnie weething . I wish I were going to you .

”

Littl e did I think that I was destined to Spend four ofthe happ iest years of my l ife in her , and pay off from herwith a storehouse of memories that I wouldn ’t exchangeeven now for the worth of the British Islands But soit proved . I t was H .M .S . Swallow I was looking at .In three days I was aboard of her , and within a weekoutward bound for the West Coast of Africa .

CHAPTER !

OUTWARD BOUND

MY recol lections of the Swallow, however , begin withour first evening at sea . We had been played out of

Portsmouth Harbour by the band of the S t. Vincent,

got a fine send-Off in the shape of three rousing cheersfrom the Duke, and had steamed pas t the Blockhouseand forts in great spirits .

In the afternoon sai l had been set , and the l ittle vesselin her new

,milk-white canvas must have looked a pretty

picture to the smacks and schooners and other craft wepassed on the way . Inboard she looked just as pretty .

Her decks s tretched from fo ’c ’sle-head to taff rai l likeruled paper the colour of ivory . A sweet littl e capstan ,painted white , stood close abaft the fore companiona structure for al l the world l ike a prompter ’s box in atheatre

,and the two together formed the daintiest set

off to a ship ’s deck you could imagine . Her engineroom hatches were Open , and the glass of these , and thebinnacles

,and the wheel and the cabin windows on the

poop shot the sun back in flashes with every movementof her . Everything about her was new , trig and fresh .

The capstan had a drumhead of brass which waspolished to such a degree of brightness that it seemed

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

72 Sam Nob le,A .B .

on Saturdays , which was scrub and wash mess-deckday) , and we started to sing— then we made the raftersring . There were seventy odd common Jacks in thatchoir

,and every one did his little b it , or tried to.

Sometimes an argument would crop up , bringingtwenty or thirty into it al l trumpeting their opinions atthe same time . Talk about a shindy I t was like W . S .

Gilbert ’s politicians in the street , or Burns ’

s Scene in thepub . at the Holy Fair . Boys weren ’t al lowed to takepart in these debates . The tradition was that nobodycould argue or sit on the mess-table til l he could Showhair on his breast .Sometimes a quarrel took place , and then you would

hear a few pithy sentences , fairly wel l flavoured withsalt

,regarding one or other of the contestant ’s fathers

or mothers or grandmothers . (I sn ’t it queer how menalways drag the ancestors of an Opponent into the argument and sneer them out of al l shape and form ?) I twas amusing to listen to them . I f the dispute took abitter turn the other fellows usually sl ipped quietly on

deck,if the weather was fine , and left the two to worry

the bit out between them ; if it were foul , then theyrose in a body

,put the foot down and stopped it .

Sometimes there was a real fight : a regular downrightbout of fisticuffs . This was usual ly settled on thefo ’c ’sle

,and the captain winked at it , believing that the

men would be better friends when it was over . And hewas right . I don ’t remember any of these scrapsleav ing bad feeling behind them .

But this did not happen often . We were a happycrowd as a rule , and rather fond of one another . Really ,I don ’t recal l much unpleasantness on that l ittle ship,

Outward Bound 7 3

And after all , it is only the pleasant things in l ife thatought to b e remembered . There is enough dirt aboutwithout storing it “up . That ’s my phi losophy .

Looking back though , and wish ing to tel l the realtruth , I believe I myself was the cause of a good manyshindies that might have been avoided had circumstances been diff erent .You see, I was the only known Scotchman in the ship .

Certainly there were others , two , but they weren ’tmuch good to me

,and I didn ’t get hold of that fact til l

the ship had been over two years in commiss ion . Theywere old hands

,and

,knowing that they were very much

in the minority , had the sense to keep their mouths shutregarding nationality .

One was a PO . named M ilne , hailing from Musselburgh , the other a marine , Hughie McGhee , who diedonly last year at Kilwinn ing . He was keeper of a railway crossing there

,and was in my house a week or

two before The Boatman cal led . I had hopes thatHughie would live to see this book out

,for hewas keenly

interested in it , but- ah , well ISo these two didn ’t count . They moved in a dif

ferent orbit to mine , and though the Ship was smal l weseldom came in contact .There were also three Welshmen Old Taff , a

stoker (I don ’t know what hi s real name was . I question if he knew it himself

, for that was the only title hewas ever known by in the Service

,and he had been a

long time in it) , Muddy Jones was the second of theWelshies

, and Shortie Edwards , a rare dancer , the thi rd .

Then we had four sprigs from the green hi l ls of Erin— M ick Carne , a long , ungainly chap , who was always

74 Sam Nob le,A .B .

in trouble , and eventual ly deserted ; M ick Leonard ,who couldn ’t b e beaten at tel ling weird Banshee stories

,

or reading your fortune from your teacup Cussack , a

wild boy this when the drink was in him ; and littleTommy Logan

,as genial a wee chap as ever you met .

All the others were English . Nice fellows they were,

but some of them used to rag ” me terrib ly aboutScotland , saying that the people there were uncivi l ised

—bare- legged savages who lived on oats and couldn ’tdo anything but brew whisky— and so on. They alsocalled me Old Burgoo ,

” “ Oatmeal face , and otherpet names .I wasn ’t long from school then , and being fairly well

up in history , the things they said about Scotland putmy back up . I wou ld retaliate by saying that Englishmen should thank God that Scotland was so near them .

That without her help they wou ldn ’t have got out of

some of the nasty corners their own foolishness had ledthem into quite so easily as they did

,mentioning

Lucknow,Sir John Moore , Cochrane , Duncan of

Camperdown,and others .

“Who started the great Bank of England you al lbrag so much about ? ” I would shout at them .

Who gave you steam to send your ships along andmake sailors ’ work easier ? Who started yourNavy first of al l , if it comes to that ? ” “Not aburgoo-eatin’ Scotchman anyway ! ” they would Shoutback .

“Was it I would yell ,“ you just

look and see !”

S ometimes,jus t to rile them

,I would trot out Ban

nockburn,and then , of course , there was blood for

supper !

Outward Bound 75

So I needn ’t tel l you that I had a fight nearly everyday . First with Tom , then with Dick , then withHarry . But it was always me who figured in thesefrac as . Bil ly , the first l ieutenant , used to give it tome hot for coming before him so often .

The upshot of it al l was that I won for myself a namefor being quarrelsome

,andwas cal led a disturber of the

sh ip ’s peace right at the start of the commission . Manya lecture and weary punishment I had to snfler, whichmight easily have been missed had I shown a l ittle morecommonsense . But I learnt in time , I ’m glad to say !

CHAPTER XI

AT SEA

I BELONGED to the afterpart of the ship— a maintopman— but I wasn ’t al lowed to go aloft as yet ; aprovision for which I was devoutly thankful— for whileit was al l very well to caper about among the spars andrigging of the training Ships , which stood as firm aschurches , it was different here . Even the sl ight rol lmade Climbing into these airy heights a fearsomebusiness . So I blessed the Skipper when I heard himpass the order prohibiting the boys from mounting therigging ti l l they had found thei r sea legs .Chancing to glance forward

,I saw a sight that

warmed my heart to the core and sent my thoughtshomeward with a bound . I t was a large ob long stampon the fore- topsail :

No . !

At Sea 77

This was the name of the firm which had wroughtand supplied the canvas , and the look of it brought backa thousand memories I knew the mill . I knew thewhole district . Every stone in it was as familiar to meas the fingers on my hand . Indeed , my mother wasworking in that mi l l at that very moment . Poor weemother She would be lonely now . The tears startedto my eyes and blurred the topsai l . But I rubbed themaway with my cap , whispering Cheer up l we ’l l havethat rose- covered house yet , and then she

’ l l b e happy,

”

and went about my work hugging myself.By this time we were well out to sea . It was p leasant

to feel the heave of the vessel under your foot , and thesensation , now that the engines were stopped , of swishing over the water with no sound about you but the windaloft and the rush of the bow-wave .

We were heading for Queenstown , our first stoppingplace . I t was the twentieth of May , 1 877 . A lovelyday it had been , a fine fresh breeze b lowing , and thesky so clear , and the sea so gentle- looking and sweetthat I thought nothing on earth could compare with thelife of a sai lor .Among my messmates was a boy about my own age ,

nicknamed “ Spooney .

” This had been given him onaccount of h is having been seen s itting on SouthseaCommon along with a nice

,buxom little girl , and hold

ing her hand,some days previously .

During the afternoon,while we were at work re- stow

ing the fore,hold

,Spooney had been unmerciful ly bad

gered about this business , and there had been a row attea- time through a boy in number one mess p ip ing overto him in a shril l voice

78 Sam Nob le,A.B .

Spooney , dear ; is it nice to be kissed by a youngfema l e Spooney had set upon him and nearlyswallowed him whole . He hated the name but he wasgoing to change it soon

,although he didn ’t know that

then .

Now it was the first dog-watch , from four to six .

There were only a few cases of sugar to re- stow ,some

bags of biscuits and a cask or two , and these the watchon deck were to look after . The rest of us were s ittingor standing about looking at the land

,which lay al l

aboard on the s tarboard side but getting dimmer anddimmer every minute . In little groups , some standing on the coamings of the hatchways , some on the forebits

,some on the fo ’c ’sle

,the men were gathered in the

forepart of the ship , the ofli cers much the same wayaft

,gazing over the starboard S ide :

Upon the fast receding hills that dimand distant rise .

Not a word was Spoken . Everyone was busy withhis own thoughts , picturing , perhaps , the last scenewith a lov ing mother

,wife or sweetheart . I was S itting

on top of the capstan , and there was a cask of treaclewith the lid half off in front of me . I stuck in my fingerand took a lick before climbing up . Spooney wasperched on some boxes below me , his head just lowenough for me to see nicely over , and we had the caskbetween us

,its flavour rising to my nostrils and remind

ing me of the balmy days of the S t Vincent and thenightly dole of “ scoff and basher

,

Suddenly an ordinary seaman,cal led Lucks

, who wasa bit of a musician , struck a chord on his concertina

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

8O Sam Noble,A .H .

the lap - lap of the wavelets l icking the s ide of the shipas they flowed by , the flap of a restless sail , or creak of amast , and these seemed to form the ideal orchestranecessary to complete the accompaniment . Theywent through the song to the end , and oh , it was sweetsweet Not an offi cer or man lost a word or note of themusic . Surely never was anything so approp riate .

There,before us , lay the land , the Isle of Beauty ,

”

perhaps the very scene that inspired the poet to writehis song

,with al l i ts tender associat ions and memories .

The shades of evening were closing around,and would

soon hide it from our view . Perhaps we might see itagain

,perhaps never— who could tel l ?

For a minute or two after the song was ended a wistfulyearning sadness fel l upon the ship . The si lence becameeven deeper and the strain on the heart- strings tenser . Ami st rose up before my eyes that dimmed and blurredthem , but I dared not move to rub it away . Weseemed to be al l under a spell

,which nobody cared to b e

the first to b reak . How it would have been broken Ihave no idea if Providence had not taken a hand .

We were s trai ning to get as much of the old countryas possible before it would be blotted out

,when a

sound as of something being sucked into a vortex washeard . I t was close to me

,and I looked down and saw

a pair of boots staring up at me from the cask of treacle .

Instinctively I made a grab at them,and

,with a cry of

astonishment , fol lowed by a wild yel l of laughter , allthe men were round the Spot in a minute . The c ombined efforts of two or three so'on cleared the owner ofthe boots from his glutinous bath and revealed poorSpooney— but what a sight ! I fell off the capstan ,

At Sea 8 1

laughi ng , and almost broke my head against the coamings of the fore-hatch . The treacle was pretty th ickand stuck to him like glue , and he had to be hung overthe barrel for some time ti l l they got it partly squeegeedoff him .

I think I see h im yet trying to open hi s mouth to getbreath . He couldn ’t do it , and one of the men noticinghi s distress , clawed the stuff away and gave him freepassage . Then it opened like the maw of a cod-fish

and sucked in everything around it . When he washalf cleaned they carried him aft and played the hotwater hose on him , but it was some time before he gothis eyes properly open . What a laugh it was I don ’tthink I ever had one l ike it in al l my life . Coming asit did , too, it was a veritable godsend , although therevulsion of feel ing was so strong that I had a catch inmy throat for hours afterwards every time I drew a longbreath . Spooney told me that night when we weretu rning in that the song had had such an effect on him ,

that he fancied h imself s itting in the armchair at home ,and was l eaning back to enj oy it thoroughly when hecapsized into the treacle .

However , he was none the worse for his dip . Ratherbetter , for the nickname of Spooney

,which he

detested , was dropped , and Molasses substituted , andhe didn ’t care a rap for that . I t di d us al l good , too ,for it gave us something in common to talk about andlaugh over , and in that way drew us together .And that treacl e was rel ished , every drop of it , with

devi l a b it of its flavour impairedDuring the night a storm came on which nearly

blew us out of the water , and turned al l my ideas of a

82 Sam Nob le,A .B .

sai lor ’s l ife upside down . If you want to see qu ickand spiteful— changes of weather , try the EnglishChanne l . I thought the end of the world had come .

I was so sea- s ick that I wished myself dead a thousandtimes and remembered no more til l the ship was lyinganchored at Queenstown .

One of the men , old Neddy Pearce , bless h im — theo ldest man aboard , older even than the skipper , and yetonly an A .B . on account of his love for the grog- tubbrought me a basin of tea the flavour of which was so

delicious , and I so cold , that I gu lped it down rightaway . But it was made with salt water , and brought onsuch a fit of retching that I thought my boots wouldcome up . I t did me good , however , for after that Inever experienced sea-s ickness again .

And now I always adv ise anybody who is l ikely tosuff er the awful tortures of mal de mer to try that cure .

Make a cup of tea with sea water and you ’l l find itworks wonders . You are cured with a hair of the dogthat bi t you ,” as the saying is .

CHAPTER XI I

MAKING FOR MADEIRA

WHEN I came to at Queenstown , and Neddy’s tea

had done its good work , the world looked sweet againand I felt hungry enough to eat a Mohammedan .

By this time the ship was ful l of Irish people al l busytrying to sel l trinkets of one kind or another— beadedslippers

,dainty little hand-made handkerchiefs

,fancy

mats , and lots of other things .When I got to the mess I found an old woman s itting

on my locker contentedly eating my dinner , whichSpooney— or , rather , Molasses now— had kept for me

,

but some of the others must have given to her .I said to her , with my whole soul in my eyes and

vo ice , Mother ; that ’s my dinner you ’re eat ing ! ”“ Is it , now , me son ,

”she said , in a fine rich brogue ;

sure , thin ,an ’ its Splendid .

”

“Ah , but ,” said I , watching her put a big hunk of beef

into her mouth , “ I ’m hungry . I haven ’t had any grubfor the last two days .

”

She looked at me with her b ig,broad face ful l of

sympathy , and her mouth full of meat , munching thewhile with great relish , and waited til l She had got itswallowed . Then she said :

83

84 Sam Nob le,A .B .

Think 0’ that now , me poor bouchal.

Ah , well ; you’re sure of your dinner to-morrow ,

an ’ that ’s more than I can say ,” and in went another

p iece .

I hadn ’t the heart to quarre l with her , so I went ondeck again and under the fo ’c ’s le , where I had a

“ gu idgreet

” to myself, for I was terribly hungry . Morris ,

the captain ’s cook ’s -mate saw me and came over andasked what was the matter .I to ld him with many sobs and gulps .Is that al l ? ” he said . Cheer up ! He brought me

a huge plateful of scraps from the cab in and wardroombeef, po tatoes , pie - crust , chicken - legs , which I po lishedoff and then li cked the p late clean , thanking the old

woman for putting me in the way of such a feast .We stayed two days at Queenstown . I wrote home tomy mother and the gir l tel ling them all about it , anddescribing the lovely scene of the hi ll s lopes above thetown , which were di vided up into litt le squares , al l invarious stages of cultivat ion and , viewed from where wewere lying , looked like a draught- board . The hillsform a semi- circle round the bay

,with Cork and the

Great Is land on the right , Spike Is land , a big fort(prison , I think , in my time) , on the left , and the townbetween .

I never saw such green anywhere . It seemed to Shineand stand out by itse lf. The weather was delicious , andthe bay

,lying pure and clean as crystal with the hills and

the town mirrored in it , made a picture that I have neverforgotten .

We were now under we igh for Made ira . As westeamed down the Lough I fe lt as fit as a fidd le , and

Making for Madeira 8 5

when the Ship got into the open and began to tumbleabout , never a qualm had I . I had found my sea legs ,too ,

and could adapt myself to the motion as well asthough my mother had been a sai lor and I born on therolling bil low . And it was al l needed ; for here l ifewas diff erent altogether from what it had been in thetraining-ship . There , you were molly-coddledwrapped in cotton wool so to speak . Here , l ife wasbare and no humbug about it : you had your b it to doand were expected to do it and look p leasant . There ,it was mostly make -believe . Here , life was calling inearnest , and it was up to you to answer promptly andtoe the line like a man .

In the training-ship you had been grounded in allthe arts (and graces) that go to the make-up of thatwonderfu l sou l , The Handy Man (and he is a wonderfulsoul , mind you , a proper St ick-at-Nothing !) You weretai lor , laundry-maid

,kitchen-wench

,carpenter or cook ,

just as occas ion needed . Your mind was also dri l led .

You were taught reverence for good th ings , se lf- respect ,self- reliance , deference to those better than yourse lfeverything in fact but servi l ity . Nothing of that inthe Navy ! You were taught seamanship , gunnery ,boat-p ul ling , mast- climbing , gymnastics , and everything necessary for keeping the body fit and the mindclean . What you had to do now was turn these littleb its of instruction to good account and learn more .

The food , too, was different . Not nearly so plenti

ful or palatab le as in Mama , as the training- ship wascal led . Strict Navy allowance— pound and pint , andno more . Pound of biscuits (hard tack) , stowed inbags (for the b iscu it-tin wasn ’t invented then) , and

86 Sam Nob le,A .B .

usually ful l of weevils . These are small brown insects,

l ike bugs— smelling like them , too , by Jove -and verymuch al ive . I ’ve actually seen a man lay down a p ieceof biscuit to explain a point to a mate with whom hewas arguing , and when he turned to take up the b iscu itagain it had wandered to another part of the table ! Thenyou had your pound of beef (

“salt ’oss or pork , usuallywith pea soup that you could see through , or

“FannyAdams ”

(soup and bouill i) with preserved potatoes ,on alternate days . A litt le flour was occasionally servedout for making doughboys , and some raisins and currantsfor a plum duff on a Sunday . That , with a p int ofcocoa for breakfast , and one of tea in the afternoon ,with your drink of l ime -juice at six be lls in the afternoonwatch , was your daily rat ion . Of course , you couldalways buy from the canteen , but the pay didn ’t allowof going to any great length in that direct ion .

At eighteen you were rated Ordinary Seaman , andal lowed your glass of grog at dinner- time . This stuffI never could be bothe red with . But I “ took mine upto save trouble . There weren ’t many teetotalers aboutin those days and they lived in bad odour on the lowerdeck . It needed the influence of a Miss Agnes Westonand a few more of her stamp to bring common - senseinto the Navy .

There was a deal of drunkenness in my time , althoughthe habit was beginning to “ go out of fashion .

” Aman would return to the Ship after a four-days ’ leaveand hail his chum w ithSay

,Bill. Wot a ’

oliday !—drunk al l the time !

Never saw Ole Jamaicar (the sun) once !And his mate would reply , smacking his l ips

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

8 8 Sam Nob le,A .B .

survey map with the hil ls and ho llows al l marked .

When we fe ll in for inspection the captain , fol lowed bythe firs t l ieutenant— who is cal led Bil ly , or No . 1

passed s lowly down the line til l he came to Jos ie , whenhe gave a vio lent start wh ich nearly shook his cap off .

He glared at h im for about a minute , and then blurtedout

“Who is th is man ? ” turn ing to No . 1 .

B i l ly , who wore a monocle , screwed the glass into h iseye

,and peered at Josie .

‘Man , who are you he shouted . Don ’t you hearthe captain ? ”

“ Deaki n , sir .

Deakin ! ” snapped the skipper , staring at him .

Good heavens ! What have you done to your face ?Where ’s your whiskers ? Get them on at once ! ” anddown the line he went . The situation was too trying forhim . Josie , poor soul , had to toe the line , and got fourteen days I OA. for that caper . But it d idn ’t abate h isthirst all the same .

This is a litt le before my story , but let it stand .

CHAPTER XI I I

PARADING THE WEST COAST

WE were hard ly out of our own latitude when a galesprang up wh ich blew us into the Bay of B iscay andkept our hee ls dancing to the tune of “ In t ’ gallantsails l

” Hands reef topsai ls ! ” “ Hands set foreand-aft sails ! ” Hands here

,hands there , hands every

where and al l the time from morn ing to night , and al lthrough the n ight , too , wh ile it lasted ; the wind blowingthe breath out of your body or lift ing you off the footropes , and you clinging to whatever you were at withone hand Whi le working away with the other . Thatexperience (for I was now going aloft and doing my sharewith the others , and was a top -gallant yard man) taughtme the art of taking a grip and keeping it that has provedvery useful to me since , S ituated as I am and liab le tofal l at any moment . Then the weather cleared , the seafel l , the sun came out and dried our decks , and off wewent l ike b lithe schoolboys after a stiff exam . , glad tobe al ive and done with it .It was about th is time that a pretty little brig came

up and passed us in the morning watch . She was calledthe Lucy ,

of London . We never thought to see her aga inas she went dancing by , in al l her bright new rig-out

89

9 0 Sam Nob le,A .B .

and the early sunlight about her , like a litt le sea fairy .

But we did . And under the most tragic Circumstances ,too . I ’ l l te l l you al l about her when I come to our nextmeeting . In the afternoon of the same day we caughtour first shark . A beauty he was , fif teen feet long , orthereabouts . We got him with a hook like a boat ’sgrapnel

,baited with a four pound p iece of beef.

We had b rought a littl e pig from England with us,

and christened him “ Dennis . He became a greatfavourite . H e knew his name and would come whenany man called him . Well , we missed him during thestorm

,and when we Opened Mr . Shark , behold , there

was l ittl e Denni s “ dead as cold pork,

” as the saying is,

but never a toothmark on him . Johnny had bolted himwhole . This sounds a l ittle like Baron Munchausen

,

but it ’s an actual fact al l the same . We buried thelittl e thing reverently , I can tell you ,

wrapped incanvas

,with a two-pound shot beside him

,to make

sure he wouldn ’t fall into the jaws of another of thesep irates .Then we arrived at Madeira , fifteen days out from

Queenstown , and here I tasted my first banana (a greatrarity in those days) and saw the littl e b lack boys divingfor pennies . These kids can actually swim beforethey can walk . I t was a treat to watch them . Youwould see the penny swirling downn down— down

,and

the little fellow , as brown as the penny itself, after it.Presently he would clutch the coin

,into his mouth with

it,and back again waiting for another to be thrown .

Here,too,

I saw another sight that I ’ve never forgotten : a woman swim out to the ship towing her babyby her breast . I t hung over her shoulder and the

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

9 2 Sam Nob le,A .B .

that the brine would tickle him up a bit more , then takenashore and handed over to the authorities .We heard afterwards that they hanged the bru te .

Whether they did or not didn ’t matter to us , but I’l l

wager none in that cinder heap of an island ever wantedto interfere with a British b luej acket again .

Nobby gradual ly got better , and took a fair share ofthe Christmas dainties

,but it was a long time before

the shock of that aff air completely left him .

After leaving St . Vincent , we struck the mainlandand began the parade of our s tation . This went fromSierra Leone below the tenth parallel

,right through that

hot region,past Cape Palmas and the Ivory Coast ,

round Cape Three Points , and so along the Gold Coastto Cape Coast Castl e , which was our headquarters .

There we rolled and rolled and rol led for a month at astretch

,sc orched by its frizzling heat at one time , drenched

by its roaring torren ts of rain at another , and sometimes half kil led by sudden downpours of hailstones asbig as peanuts . When one of these showers came on ,weyoungsters would rush below

,put on our black hats

and come up and stand under it . I t was glorious funto hear the hail rattl e on your hat

,for al l the world l ike

a tune on the kettle- drum,and to see them go flashing off

your mate ’

s l ike crystal Sparks from the Aurora Borealis .The only rel ief to the tedium of this outlandish place

was the arrival of the natives in their b ig war canoes .This usually happened two or three times a day . Therewould be twenty or thi rty men in each

,sitting along the

gun’

les, and they would come bounding over the sea

we lay a long way out on account of the heavy surfbrandishing their paddles and chanting their wild

,

Parading the West Coast 9 3

weird litanies like people possessed . They always camesinging .

They brought various kinds of fruit— bananas , pineapples , pomegranates , mangoes (al l new to us then , butas common as apples nowadays) - yams , sweet potatoes ,and other vegetables . Sometimes they brought softbread

,which was made in smal l loaves , something

like our morning rol ls , each with a l ittle green leafadhering to it

,but whether baked on it or not I forget .

They also brought articles made of ivory and wood ,p laited reeds , and wonderful littl e trinkets in gold , suchas bracelets , bangles , brooches , rings , etc . I bought aring made from a p iece of gold wire in the form of atrue lover ’s knot , the joining of which was so wel l donethat the doctor couldn ’t find the splice even with hismicroscope . Filigree work

,too

,so dainty and l ight

that you could blow it about in your hand .

All these things they would barter for money orpieces of clothing ; and the jabbering and Shouting thatwent on during the bargaining was enough to awakenthe dead . As a rule the natives were honest and veryfriendly , but even as a boy I thought it p itiful to see

ful l grown men suc h as they were with no more intelligence than white chi ldren of eight or nine .From Cape Coast

,Castle our beat went on past the

Bights of Benin and Biafra,right through the Gulf of

Guinea , passing the Island of St . Thomas on theEquator , and so down to the Cape of Good Hope .I t would be tedious to detail al l the ports we touched

at , even if I could remember them , so I wil l only mention the ones that have stuck to my memory throughsomething of interest happening there .

94 Sam Nob le,A .B .

For instance , the first time we touched Sierra Leone— then only a small cluster of huts , though a big p lacenow , I believe— a big buck nigger came down to greetthe boat , clad in a tattered pair of lady

’s stays,one old

white gent ’s cuff,and a ti le hat that would have dis

graced a London cabby . But wasn ’t he proudAt Freetown

,Sierra Leone

,we Shipped our kroomen.

These were negroes ( liberated slaves) , who wereemployed by the Navy for work in the sun. We hadover a dozen . They l ived under the fo ’c ’sle and someof them were choicely named . We had in our lot JackSunday , John Bull , Tom Pepper , Alfonso de Costa ,Percy Montmorency

,and— actually— Alfred Tennyson .

Such is fame Some of the mi ssionaries could accountfor that

,I daresay .

Jack Sunday was the patriarch of the tribe and usedto conduct the rel igious serv ices . He had a head of

hair as curly as a mop and as white as the driven snow .

He looked old,but was as nimble as a cat and did his

work wel l . He had the manner of a judge and was asWise as Solomon . You could easily see Jack in thedark by reason of his white head

,gleaming eyes and

teeth .

John Bu l l was a huge fellow who wel l bore out hisname . Tom Pepper was a Clever -artist and wood carver ,and De Costa was the neatest at turning a turtl e you eversaw. Indeed they were al l clever and genial shipmates . One littl e fel low

,Tom Walker

,took a proper

fancy to me and taught me a good bit of Kroo language .

They were al l fine,natu ral singers , too . I never hear

the hymns of Sankey,especial ly “ Tell me the old, old

Story ,” but back comes the fo ’c ’sle of the Swallow and

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

9 6 Sam Noble,A .B .

then,the lower deck messes could hardly see each othe r

for smoke , and the booby hatches used to belch likeburning mountains .The crossing of the Line (equator) for the first time

was another event to remember . The day was givenover absolutely to fun . An ext ra ration was servedout in the morning and we had plum-duff for dinner atsix bells (eleven O ’clock) . Twelve was the usual dinnerhour

,but on this day the Great Event took p lace at

noon .

As eight bell s struck , just when the sun was directlyoverhead , and you threw no shadow on the deck

,Father

Neptune,the Old King of Ocean , came aboard in high

state attended by hi s court . The company consistedof H is Maj esty himself, h is Secretary , Razor Bearer ,Sword Bearer , Soap - boy , and a couple of mermaids .The king wore his crown and carried a huge

,gl ittering

trident . He was dressed in a flowing robe of seaweedand fish- scales , and wi th his long oakum beard , andface covered with barnacles

,looked the funniest old Sea

Monarch you could imagine . The attendants weredressed to correspond .

All we young sai lors— three parts of the ship ’scompany— clad in nothing but a pair of duck trousers ,were brought before the king

,duly presented by name ,

and given the freedom Of the Seas thenceforth and fo rever according to ancient custom . We were wel llathered with soap and slush

,shaved , walloped over the

head with the sword , and then capsized into a mightybath which was rigged up in the space between themainmast and the funnel- casing . Here the mermaidsgave us a thorough sousing and then let us go— fully

Parading the West Coast 9 7

qual ified seamen,initiated into al l the Mysteries of the

Deep .

A great ceremony ! The maddest , merriest day I canrecal l !In the evening the main brace was spliced— that is an

extra tot of grog served out— and we finished up with aconcert and some grand rol ling choruses .

TH E B IRTH OF A TURTLE

The islands of Ascension and St . Helena were alsoincluded in our beat and we visited them a number oftimes . Ascension lies in the m iddle of the Atlantic andis supposed to have taken its name from the suddennessof its arrival on this planet . I t was said to have shotup in a night . I t was used as a Naval depot , and herewe came for stores .A peculiar thing about this island was that the peop le

didn ’t refer to the seasons as Spring , Summer , Autumnand Winter as we do

,but as the Egg

,the Turtle , the

Fish and the Vegetable seasons . Great flights of Wideawakes

,a bird about the s ize of a seagul l

,came to lay

their eggs in such droves that sometimes they actual lyhid the sun

,while the air was raucous with their cries .

They dropped their eggs on a wide p lain cal led Wideawake Fair , which in the season looked like a field ofsnow . The eggs lay in myriads

,in some places over a

foot deep . We used to take the jol ly-boat ashore andbring off loads of them . I t was great , keeping the b irdsoff whi lst collecting the eggs .I remember a farm servant in the Perth district of

Scotland telling me that he once lost a good fee through

9 8 Sam Nob le,A .B .

obj ecting to take salmon at every meal . The sameobj ection must have been common at Ascensionregarding turtle . Here these huge marine tortoisescame in swarms to lay their eggs .Mother turtle would waddle up the beach

,her faithful

mate following,scrape a hole in the sand

,deposit her

treasures,cover them up in a l ittl e mound

,and then make

for the water again . But just here the cunning islanderintervened with a lasso

,and the pair were given a trip

inland to a large pond provided for them,and in this

way the peop le had turtle al l the year round .

The beach would be lined with these egg-mounds , andit was fascinating to watch the l ittle turt le appear whenthe sun had hatched him . If you had the time and thepatience to wait

,or better s ti l l

,the good fortune to be

on the spot at the right momen t to witness that sightthen you considered yourself lucky ! The moundwould seem to enlarge

,the sand slip

,and the first layer

of eggs come to l ight .Suddenly out would pop a smal l black head from a

shel l,a wee neck would crane , and you would see the

head S lowly rotate , taking a first,long , wondering view

of its new surroundings . A short pause wou ld ensue .

Then you would see a convu lsive heave , a wriggle ,and out from the egg would flOp master turtle , sit uponthe sand for a minute

,as if taking the air

,and then

make a bee- l ine for the water . As you saw the littl ecreature breast the first wavelet l icking the shore , yousaid to yourself, in the words of the psalmist , “ Howwonderful are Thy works

, 0 Lord !In the fish season the water round the island simply

teemed with fish— not that there was any great scarcity

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

1 0 0 Sam Nob le,A .B .

as necessary in those gunnery— at Ascens ion .

We would take long sp ins out into the ofling, go throughany amount of evolutions

,and back to our anchorage

at night . Also we had the very best of gunnery practicehere .

CHAPTER ! IV

OLD MEMORIES

WHEN we started the commission , nearly every manon the lower deck began to keep a diary , but very fewcarried on the practice for any length of time . Beforethe ship was a year out , the craze had dropped ti l l onlyone man

, so far as I can remember , made anything like asystematic business of diary-keeping . This was JackDurran , in No . 1 Mess . Jack fi l led five or six volumes— big , thick tomes they were , l ike grocers ’ day-books ,with red and blue mottled edges and glossy coverswhich would make particularly interesting reading now,

I ’l l b e bound,could they be got hold of .

Often and often I ’ve regretted that I didn ’t continuethe practice myself, but I was more taken up withSkylarking and rhyme-making at that time than withsuch a useful pursuit as keep ing a diary . I believe Ihad the gift , in a small way . But it wasn ’t ti l l long yearsafter that I woke to the fact of how useful such a pursu itas diary-keeping would have been to me had I started todevelop it then .

But , ochonerie ! As the Scotch song says , We ’reaye wise ah int the haun .

I was blessed with a good memory,and was imagina

tive and enthusiastic , but not industrious . I was

1 0 2 Sam Nob le,A .B .

curious and questioning— I don ’t mean inquisitivebut I wanted to know things ; was fairly intell igentgleg o ’ the uptak ,

”as the saying is— and keen to know

about and around and into the heart of everything thatcame under my not ice . I remember I had one gift thatwas found very useful for a rainy hour under the fo ’c ’sleor down below : the gift of story- tel ling . For instance

,

I could retel l a familiar incident,perhaps long after

the event,and inves t the yarn with a colour and interest

that made it entertaining and agreeable,while holding

fairly wel l to fact . This gift won for me the approbation of my mates , and , along with another littl e talentfor reading aloud— very handy when the monthlyparcel of books and periodicals which a few of us hadsubscribed for came out from England— and theab i l ity to take part in any programme that was beingmade up

,were about the only useful accomplishments

I can lay Cl aim to .

I could not sit down and write things,patiently day

by day,as Jack Durran did . I rather stored them up

and recal led them . Gloated over them . I do thatyet .What I took most del ight in was rhyming . Poetry

engrossed me . I read and mused over every scrap Ilaid hands on ; and to tu rn out a bit ” myself seemedto me the very height of human achievement .When an idea came into my head I would s it for

hours pondering over the words,

“ the world forgetting ”

but not by the world forgot,

”as a wet swab or a scrub

bing brush would frequently tes tify . There ’s no scopefor dreaming in the navy , goodness knows , and you rmates aren ’t s low to keep you in m ind of that fact ;

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

1 04 Sam Nobl e,A .B .

Foreyard, there ! What the devi l are yougaping astern in that booby fashion for ? LookaheadOne day— how wel l I remember this — Mr . Daniel ls

,

the firs t l ieutenant,came on deck and found a ship in

full v iew that hadn ’t been reported . Of course I wason the lookout

,and away in ba-ba dreaming about the

gay times with all the pretty girls that were comingwhen the commission would be over , crooning to myselfthe words of “ All ’s Well

And While his thoughts doth homeward vee r ,Some well-known voice salutes his ear

when a wel l- known voice from below saluted my earwith a j erk that near ly jumped me off the yard

“ Lookout,there ! Good God Ah

,it ’s

you , Noble ; at i t again Come down here, sir !

”

Then I caught it !Seven days I OA (Admiral ty punishment) . Eat your

grub under the 7 - inch gun (and woe betide you if youleft a mark on the deck Grog stopped

,l eave stopped

,

holystoning,b lacking-down

,and al l sorts of di rty

work to do in the dog-watches and al l your spare time .And ,

“ unkindes t cut of all ,” a black mark on your

defaulter ’s sheet to be used against you at pensiontime .

I have often thought that there is a terrible lack of

imagination,not to say humanity , in the Rulers of the

King ’s Navee,

” and that this black mark business is apoor commenta ry on their sense of justice . A man isbarred from promotion

,kept down in the pay list ,

branded as a criminal , sometimes for the pettiest of

O ld Memories 1 O 5

crimes - things which wouldn ’t b e bothered aboutashore . He not only does h is punishment at thetime

,but

,long years afterwards , when the sil linesses

of youth are far behind , and he has done hi s dutyfaithfully and perhaps risen to distinction , up comesthat black mark again and he finds his pens ion dockedand the comfort of his decl ining yea rs seriously interfered with .

Of course,the discip l ine of the Navy must be main

tained,and nobody grumbles about being punished for

offences commi tted ; but there is something vindictiveabout this ; something out of tune with the Serviceitself

,whose main p rincip les are camaraderie

, esprit de

corps and good- fel lowship . There seems a meannessabout this sort of treatment that recal ls the days of

Charles I I,and makes a man feel that the country he has

served faithfully and well , in spite of a few youthfulerrors

,is not worth it .

What cured me of this bad habit of dreaming,how

ever,was a skit which I wrote on Bil ly (the first lieuten

ant) . It was Macaulay ’s “Virginia , one of the “ Lays

of Ancient Rome,

” that gave me the idea . I t turnedout a rare fo ’c ’sle ditty , and caused quite a furore inthe ship . I t dealt with an incident— but I believe thesong itself wi l l as readi ly exp lain the S ituation as arecital of the facts would , so I

’ l l give you it .Of course you must remember these were the days of

the “ long song .

” Some of them like Windy Weather”

had twenty or thirty verses , and , if they were extra good ,as this old favourite was , would be sung and re- sung overand over again . We never seemed to tire of them .

M ine had eleven , and a rol ling , one- line Chorus .

1 06 Sam Noble,A .B .

Th is is how it went

OH BILLY BOYYe toilers on the briney , With loyal hearts and true ,Come give me your attention and a tale I ’

ll tell to you ;’Tis of the good ship Swa llow, who merrily doth sail ,And before the fiercest hurricane can wag her pretty tail .

Chorus Oh ! Billy ! Billy , Billy bo- o—oy !

It is no paltry fiction I would to you unfold ,Of rain-drops turning into pearls , or fountains running gold ,But here

,upon this vessel ’s deck

,beneath the setting sun

,

And right before our very eyes the crafty deed was done .

Chorus Oh ! Billy ! Billy , Billy bo—o—oy !

’Twas on a lovely evening,all in the days of yore ,

Our gig ’s crew rowed an offi cer all safe from Afric ’s shore,Where long they waited for him ,

in expectation keen,

Of getting each a pint of beer,drawn from our own canteen .

Chorus : Oh ! Billy ! Billy , Billy bO—O—oy !

But when they reached the vessel , the beer had been servedout

,

And none being left for them , of course they had to gowi thout ,

So to reward those gal lant hearts , and pacify their mind ,He promised each a glass of grog— and really it was kind !

Chorus : Oh ! Billy l Billy , Billy bo—o—oy l

When Billy reached hi s cabin he found his rum all gone ,But did he own it l ike a man ? Oh no

,not Number One !

But back he stump’

d to where the four were standing,all

agog ,A-waiting the command to go and drink his health In grog .

Chorus Oh ! Billy ! Billy, Billy bO—o—oy !

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

1 0 8 Sam Nob le,A .B .

But think upon the moral : that promises are vain ,And never trust an officer who wears a window-pane !

Chorus Oh ! Billy ! Billy, Billy bo—o—oy !

The tune was a great favourite in ships ’ fo ’c ’s les in mytime . It was sung to “ The Sunny fields of Spain ,“The female cab in-boy ,” and one or two others . Mywords clinked to every note of it , and the song tookon

” immense ly . I think I see the fe l lows beat ing timeand waiting for the last word of each verse and thencoming in : Oh ! Billy ,

” etc .

The last verse was the favourite . It was tro l led out

with special gusto . But the whole song was hugelyenjoyed on the lower deck and highly applauded , forBilly was not very well l iked . I came in for a gooddeal of praise and back- clapping ,

And lived the hero of my little hour,

but , oh dear me , the glory was trans ientFred Booth , one of our signalmen— a very clever

shipmate— actor , s inger , artist— I have two of hispictures in my house to this day— and general “ JackOf - al l- trades —a proper handyman was Buntin— got mepersuaded into lending h im the litt le book in which al lmy precious “ poems were inscribed . He promisedfaithfully to keep it to himse lf and let nobody see it .But , alas ! Buntin

’

s word was as britt le as Billy ’sperhaps the temptation was too strong to res ist— I don ’tb lame him . What I should have done was to have livedup to my own teaching by being chary of promises .Anyway

,Fred took the book aft and showed it to Mr .

Baynham,the navigating li eutenant , and the Master

O ld Memories 1 0 9

was so tickled that he read the enti re contents aloud inthe wardroom ,

“ to the great glee of the rest of theoffi cers ,

” as I heard afterwards .When I found this out I was so disgusted that I

flung the book over the s ide and vowed to rhyme nomore .

But it was too late . B i l ly got hold of the name ofthe author of the song , and from that n ight ti l l the endof the commi ss ion his kn ife was in me .

Wh i le I was writing my doggerel , I had no idea ofwhat I was doing— that I was committing the mosthe inous crime in the Naval decalogue— the unpardonab lesin of holding an officer up to ridicule , and he thecommanding ofli cer of the sh ip in which I was servingas a humble O .D . That aspect of the affair never struckme . What I thought was : “ This is go ing to be a fineold Come all ye ,

’ with a roaring chorus that wil l p leasethe boys .” And I really couldn ’t help myse lf . Thewords just came and I wrote them downand the tune fitted and —there you are !But I was made to th ink plenty about the other s ide

later on. It is a serious thing to incur the i l l-wi l lof your superior officer , mind you ! B i l ly , althoughnot actively hosti le , and while pretending to treat thematter lightly , never let a chance s lip to get me all thesame . And he got me often . Many a time was mynose rubbed in the mire through that glorious blunder .Once when we were alone on the fo ’c ’s le together

,he

said , in a vo ice that sheared into me like the stroke ofa cutlass :

“ You devi l ! It ’s not now I ’l l punish you ; its lateron. Years after th is you ’l l think about me all right ! ”

1 1 0 Sam Nob le,A .B .

And he was as true as his word ! Though I wasanxious to get on , and d id get on fa irly well for the timeI was in the Serv ice , and left it at last , I ’m proud to say,with“ Exemplary —the high-water mark of good character— on my discharge cert ificate ; and while I managedto put a good few black marks on that sheet before referred to by my own thought less stup idity , Billy un

doubtedly helped me to a good many more which Imight eas ily have escaped .

And now , they tel l me he has gone over to the GreatMajority , whi le here I am still Years after ,

”as he said ,

left to th ink about him . I wonder if the thoughtshe has caused me to think are any comfort to him now .

Poor Billy !Ah , well ,

The evil that men do lives after them ,

The good is oft interred with their bones .

However , In spite of al l my troubles , I was glad ,as the song says . I liked the l ife , I li ked my shipmates ,and I l iked my ship . I l iked the Navy as we ll for theromance surrounding it as for the l ife itse lf— the openair , the variety , the Charm of change , of seeing new facesand new places

,l iving with companions who thought

as I did , spoke as I did , and had the same outlook onl ife as I had myself. It was glorious .

Mr . Routh , the second lieutenant , who was also theOffi cer Of my di vis ion , was a splend id young fel low ,

one of the kind you hear men say they“would go to hel l

with— or for .” Open , frank , good natured , and freehanded with his money . A true sailor . Many a half

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

1 1 2 Sam Noble,A .B .

Ah , wouldn’t I just , sir !

Very well , light up . If I hear the captain stir I ’l lgive a tap on the deck .

This wasn ’t favour itism . Other fe llows had the sameexperience as myse lf.Ah ! Routh was a rare one . If success came by good

wishes he would be a Lord High Admi ral by now , fornot a sou l in the sh ip but wished him well . As for memy eyes fi ll to this day when I think about him .

CHAPTER ! V

TH E SKIPPER

TH E Captain , John Borlase Warren , was one of thefinest men that ever breathed . Strict on duty , but anhonest

,fair-minded gentleman for al l that . He never

punished a man on the day he was taken up before him ,

but always delayed sentence til l the day following, so

that he could think the “ crime ” over and give the manfair-play . If there was any doubt , the man got ful lbenefit of it .And he hated toadying— simply loathed it . He dis

missed a whole batch of defaulters one day— I was oneof them ,

and mighty glad I was about it— because thebo ’sun ’s mate , who had a man up for some breach ofdiscip line

,adopted a wheedling tone and used too many

yes , sirs” and “ no , s irs ” and “ d ’ye see

,s irs ? ”

The ski pper looked at the P0 . with his lip curling .

Then he snatched his cap from his head,dashed it on

the deck— a habit he had when irritated— and burst out :“ Silence , sir ! H ow dare you Speak to me in that

fashion — Go away ! D ismiss everything ! I ’l l havenothing of that kind in this ship — and off he stumpedto his cab in , the ship ’s corporal running after him withhis cap .

1 1 4 Sam Nob le,A .B .

He was sharp as a needle at an evolution or at dri ll,

and saw everythi ng . He had only one eye ; the otherhad been lost in some scrap in the Bal tic , I heard , butwe used to say he had four : two in front , one at theback

,and one at the top of his head . He was quick

to notice a flaw in a man,and to point it out to him

in a sensible way , and just as quick to see a good pointand praise him for it .Talk about fai thfulness to duty ! I have known him

keep the bridge during a storm that ran its miserablelength in to weeks ; when the galley fire was washed outand life was Desolation itself . Hardly ever going below

,

but just having a bite brought to him by the steward .

At such a time , if you were inclined to grumble orthink yourself i l l -used

,a glance at the poop would

steady your nerves and set you right in a twinkling .

I f you happened to be at the wheel,or in the chains ,

or on the look- out , you would sense him going therounds

,unseen and speaking to nobody . But you

knew he was there , watchful and vigi lant , and felt thatthe safety of the ship was in capab l e hands ; that Godwas in his Heaven , and al l was right with the world .

And the thought bucked you up tremendously and madeyou s ti ck to your guns for all you were worth .

We al l liked him . Here is one of the l ittle touchesthat went a long way towards winn ing that regard .

I t shows the real kind of s tuff the skipper wasmade of.We used to have salt beef salt ’

oss we called it)twice a week at sea for dinner . Some of this stu ff wasso old that nobody could tel l its age . On one occas iona cask of beef was actually discovered in our hold

,whose

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

1 1 6 Sam Nob le,A .B .

The skipper took a sniff and then b lew his breathout .

“ Phew ! Steward ! ” he cal led . Just bring mydinner out here , will you ? Bring tab le and al l , justas it is .

”

M i llet did as directed , and laid the table , on whichwas a plate with a l ittle round cover , another with afew pieces of ordinary sh ip ’s- tack (b iscuits) , a glass ofwater and a table -napkin , down almost close to Ginger ’sbare feet .You would have thought some conjuring trick was

about to be performed .

“ Now ,

” said the skipper to Ginger , lift the cover,

wi l l you ?Ginger handed his dish to Sharkie Redford , who was

standing nearest to him , and d id as he was told .

“ Smel l it ,” said the captain .

“ Take the plate inyour hand and smel l it .Ginger did so ,

and crinkled h is nose afresh . Thenhe replaced the cover , saluted , snatched h is dish fromSharkie

’

s hands , wheeled round , and without a wordtramped back to the lower deck , fol lowed by the crowd .

The skipper ’s dinner was exactly the same as our own .

That was Captain Warren al l through .

Another anecdote, Characterist ic of the captain . We

were lying anchored off a Dutch Settlement up one ofthe African rivers— the Congo or the Niger , I forgetwhich . Neither do I reca l l the name of the place . Itis so long ago , and the names of these Af rican townsare so out landish , that it is diflficult for British lips tospeak them

,let alone keep them in memory .

Anyway , the place swarmed with crocodiles . Wecould see them basking on the sand -banks , or lying

The Skipper I 1 7

s ide by side with the huge logs of mahogany that werecol lected on the river bank in front of the v i l lage . Great ,hideous brutes they were , with long , pointed heads ,and mouths like yawn ing gateways , furnished with adouble portcul lis of greedy , yel low teeth .

There they would l ie , as l ike a log as you could imagineand as motionless

,waiting for a chance chi ld to come and

play among the wood , as children do al l the World over .Then there would be a snap , a b lood - curdling yel l

,a

commotion among the logs , and down the pair of themwould go . Once we actual ly saw a ch i ld rescued fromthe very jaws of one of these monsters . A crocodi lehad got hold of h im , but the father , who happened tobe near , plunged into the water and forced the bruteto drop its prey . H ow he d id it , I don ’t know ; but hedid, and the youngster was saved .

One af ternoon , Tom Carter , belonging to the s ideparty ,

”was s lung over the bows in a bo ’sun ’s - cha ir ,

giving the ship a touch up , when he lost his balanceand fe l l into the water . Three or four of us wereworking in the waist , washing down . I had just flungover the bucket for another cl ip (a breach of the sideparty ’s rules that Carter himself would not have been S lowto make a noise about , but a providence for h im then l) ,when the skipper , who was walking the poop , cried :

“Waist there ! Look after that man .

”

We all sprang to the S ide , and there was Tom ’s headbobbing in the fast-moving current . Dolly Brown ,who had hold of the line , pulled up the bucket , jerkedit empty and swung it forward to meet Tom , thengradual ly drew in the s lack , saying to us : Stand by toho ist h im up .

”

1 1 8 Sam Nob le,A .B .

All of a sudden the skipper cried excitedly : Pull,

men ! Up with him ! For God ’s sake , qu ick !Automatical ly we fe l l back on the l ine and up came

Tom ’s head over the entry port , like a Jack- in- the -box,

fol lowed by a splutter in the water a longside . Webundled him in and looked over . There we saw abeauty of a croc . pawing the water , in the attitude of adog

“ begging ,” with a mouth like a jai l door , his jaws

working for al l the world like a pair of gigant ic scissors .Dolly cried Damn your eyes ! ” and flung the bucket

right down his throat , and the brute made off with it ,carrying away the lanyard . Then the skipper criedfrom the brake of the poop

“ Carter ! Down on your knees , sir , and thank Godfor your deliverance . Down with you ! ”Never , sure ly , ascended to heaven from a ship ’s deck

a more fe rvent expression of grat itude than when poorCarter , in a voice tremb l ing with emot ion , ejacu latedThank God ! Oh ! Thank God ! ”

The capta in came down and congratu lated him onhis escape— which you wil l admit was a narrow one

patted his shoulder , and then he told him to go belowand shift , and after that to go to his (the capta in ’s)steward , and a glass of grog would be wait ing him , andaltogether carried through this rather exciting bus inessin a manner that endeared him to the whole ship ’scompany .

He inst ituted a Sav ings Bank (an uncommon thingin those days) , started a (weekly) Penny Readings night ,and contribu ted himse lf ; giv ing us such pieces as “ TheDemon Shi p ,

”and

“ The Sai lor ’s Apology for his bowlegs ,

” from Hood , who seemed to be his favourite

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

CHAPTER ! VI

THE Bo’

suN

TH E o fficer of the lower deck was the Bo ’sun,Mr.

Freedie .

“ Tommy ”we cal led him , or

“ Pipes .

” Heis another I carry a fine memory of.He was a big man, muscular and hairy , with a hand

l ike a deck-bucket and a vo ice l ike the ArchangelGabrie l . Nobody could say they didn ’t hear him . If hewanted anything , and shouted for you , and he were onthe fo ’c ’sle and you in the hold , you heard him al l right .And swear ! We used to say he made the ship ’s candlesburn blue . But it was done in such a cheery , heartyfashion , and came out so round and in such volume

,

and with such hones t good-will , that we rather admi redthis special gift of hi s than took off ence at it . We knewhe meant no harm . He hadn ’t a wide vocabulary

,to

be sure , but oh ! it was pithy , and flowed like a stream .

The best of it was he didn ’t know he was swearing .

He really didn ’t . I remember one day the foreyardmen were doing somethi ng aloft , and Tommy was conducting operations and in great form . All of a sudden ,Billy

,who was standing by , cried out : Oh , Mr .

Freedie , Mr . Freedie ! Don ’t use such abominablelanguage !

The Bo ’ sun 1 2 1

Tommy pul led up as if he had been shot .“ Beg pardon , sir . Language , what language , sir ?

”

Why the language you are us ing , it ’

s enough tos ink the ship ! ”Tommy grinned

,wh i le the men looked down , enjoy

ing the interlude .

Why,bless ye

, sir , he said— his hairy face glowingwith good humour , and looking aloft with a “ the -Lordloveth-whom-he- chasteneth sort of expression—

“ why ,bless ye

,they don ’t mind . That ’s al l right . They

knows al l about that , sir . It a in ’t nothing .

”

“ Ah , but you must not use such language . I wil lnot have it . It ’s most disgusting ,

” the first lieutenantreplied emphatically

,and walked aft .

I think I see the look of p ity the bo ’sun flung afterhim as he touched his cap and answered : “

Ay, ay , sir .

Very good .

”

He wa ited a minute or so to let the o ffi cer as far outof hearing as possib le , then turned to the crowd above .

“ Now , then , you Saltash fishwives !” he roared , nearly

choking with the restraint he had put upon himself,“ D ’ye hear that ? you d-d-darlz

'

ngs You know —Youd-d-dear ones —

you know what I mean ! Come on ,

you d-d-doddering dockyard mateys ! You , you— I ’ l l

teach you ! I ’l l teach you , you b-b-beauties— youknow — to get me into a row. Come on ; up with thatbunt . D ’ye hear— you , you — s quinting aft and shakinghis fist —“ Just wait a bitI t was a treat to listen to him .

Nobody knows what torture it was to ho ld himselfin whi le the first lieutenant was

’

about . But when hehad the deck to h imse lf

1 22 Sam Nob le,A .B .

For al l that , Tommy Freedie was as fine an o ff iceras a man could wish to sai l with . A true , honest sai lorman . Bluff and loud of speech , rough and forb idding inappearance , but under the skin a proper heart of corn .

We “ youngsters ”— there were six or seven of us

went in mortal fear of him , for his boot was as ready ashis hand— such a hand — and he always carried a rope ’send in his pocket .But after a mon th or two ,

we took him in the day ’swork and just shied Clear of him . At working ship or

sai l- dril l his stat ion was forward , and as I was a main-t ’

gal lan t-man I didn ’t come under h is scope . Bil ly wasmy O ff icer . But , with al l Tommy ’s rough ways , I wouldblithely have exchanged Number One for him anyday .

My chum during the whole four years of the com

mission was a boy named Jack Belton . William washis real Christian name , but somebody had christenedhim “ Jack ,” and “ Jack ” he stayed to the end .

How I loved that boy ! And what grand chums wewere ! We shared everything together ; and as we werein Opposite watches we were ab le to do many a litt leserv ice for one another . We argued and brawled perpetually ,

for in some ways our habits of mind were asdi ff erent as the po les . It was qu ite common to hearone of the older men shout “Now, then , you two ! ” or“ Oh , go and bury yourse lves ! ” and a wet dishcloutwould come flopping around our ears . Somet imeswe got kicked out of the mess altogether for makinga row .

But for all our wrangling we loved each other likeDavid and Jonathan . What was Jack

’s was mine,and

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

1 24 Sam Nob le,A .B .

We used to watch them often ; and the dolphinlaunching his graceful

,brightly- co loured length , l ike

a gleaming torpedo,after the flying fish ; and the flying

fish themselves ris ing with a sp lutter out of the sea andwhirring along for a couple of hundred yards or so andthen falling in again ; and the albatross planing overhead with never a motion of his wing— these and countless other s ights , al l strange and beautiful , we used towatch and admire for hours together .This evening , having the deck to ourselves , I

broached a subject that had been in my mind fora day or two .

Jack ,” I said , al l of a sudden , what do you say togoing in for ab le seaman ? ”

Jack s tarted “ What ’s that,Jock ? (Scotsmen , I

may mention,are cal led e ither “ Jock ,

” “ Sandy ,”

or

“Mac ,” in the Navy

,never by their real names .)

I repeated the quest ion .

Jack looked round at me,with his face wrinkled into

a grin .

“ Fine able seamen we should make , shouldn’t

we ?”

“We ll , I returned , I don ’t know,we haven ’t tried

G way ! Why , we were only rated O .D .

’

s the other

We l l,I said ; we managed that al l right , didn ’t

we ? What ’s to hinder us taking a step higherJack looked straight at me .

“ Are you joking ?“No I said

,with my brows down ; “ what ’s there

to joke about ?Because if you ’re serious

,you ’re s i lly . Why , man

alive , we ’re too young .

”

The Bo ’ sun 1 2 5

Oh , says I , that’s eas i ly got over : We ’l l be older

to-morrow .

“ So we will,he answered , and laughed . But ,

here , how about the other fe llows ? There’s any amount

of ordinary seamen in the ship already before us .

”

“ Oh , wel l , Jack ,” I said ,

“ as to that , if they like tostick O .D .

’

s al l their lives that ’s no reason why weshould .

”

Jack shook his head . I wasn ’t sure about it myselffor , as he said , there were a good few of our shipmateswho had been much longer in the Service and were sti l lordinary seamen .

It was a bold thought,anyway . No harm could come

of letting it soak in , and mighty re lieved I was in gettingit off my Ches t .We took a stump up and down the deck for a while ,

and were back again at the rai l looking at the flyingfigures ahead , when Jack gripped my arm hard , andsaid in an awed whisper

,

“ Here,Jock ! How about

Tommy ? ”

This brought my heart into my mouth,and caused

us both to sit down on the hen-coop and look at oneanother in dismay . D ’ye know , I felt the hair rise onmy skull . This was an act in the play that I h ad nevereven given a thought to . To face our mates was ab ig thing , without a doubt . But to face Tommyoh , Lord ! A cold tingling crept down myspine !I sat for a minute or two on the hen-coop looking

blankly at my chum , feel ing that the bottom had beencomplete ly knocked out of my scheme by h is remark .

There was a twinkle in Jack ’s eye which suggested that

1 26 Sam Nob le,A .B .

the humorous s ide of the s ituation appealed to h im .

But there Was no fun in it for me .

It was all very wel l for Jack , whose people were fairlywell off , to lie back and let the wind blow him along .

But it was different with me . I had been looking thematter over from a financial po int of view and saw

clearly what the step meant for me if I could win it .Here was the position .

In my time , when a boy in the Navy reached theage of eighteen he was rated Ordinary Seamanright off , and his pay was one shil l ing a day . Thatcame to him automatically , on account of his age .

But if he managed to pass an examination in seamanship , not a very hard one , he was

“ made ” FirstClass Ordinary Seaman , and his pay raised to one andthreepence .

An Able Seaman drew one and sevenpence ,and if he were also Trained Man ” —a distinctiongained by passing a preliminary examination in gunnery— that brought in ano ther penny a day , making it oneand eight .Jack and I had jumped from the boy- rating to FirstClass O .D . some t ime previously ; consequently our

daily screw was one and three . Reaching the A.B .

Trained Man rate meant another fivepence . Fivepence a day meant something near two pounds extraa quarter

,and that sum ( to me) Opened up great

possibilities,not to mention the glory of hav ing A.H .

”

on your letters from home .

Besides,how I knew the dear l ittl e woman in Scot

land would dance for j oy to hear of my promotion !And how her share of the proceeds , l ittle though it was

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

1 2 8 Sam Nob le,A .B .

And fancy popp ing in among my old chums inDundee , with maybe a °couple of gold badges and thecross anchors and crown blazing on my left arm . Theywould stil l be “mull-fuds

,

” poor fel lows ! and had seennothing . Wouldn ’t I warm their ears with the ta l esI would tel l ’em .

Lord ! Lord ! those pictures !When I looked up from my day-dreams I found Jack

sti l l regarding me with the same old humorous twinkle,

now broadened into a grin . I gave h im one in the ribswhich tumbled him off the hen- coop , and there wouldhave been a fight

— sure , had not the bo ’sun ’s mate atthat minute piped “Watch , trim sai ls ! ” I t beingJack ’s watch on deck he had to look S lippy ; which hedid , saying as he went , “You wait ! ”

However,there was no further chance of discussion

that night . The next day a spel l of bad weather setin , and we had no time for anything but drying wetclothes and attending to our vari ous duties .Then one day In the dinner hour Jack got hold of me

,

and said quietly , “ Jock,I ’m with you .

”

Good for you ,old chummy ! ” I said joyfully .

Now we ’l l manage ! H ow will we set about it ? ”

Oh , wel l ; we’l l have to see Tommy first , of course .

But he can ’t eat us , can he ?”

“Not he , I answered (but I said to myself, He ’l ltake a good bite

,anyway l

”

)Here

,

” I went on,and slipped my arm through his .

D ’ye know,I ’ve been thinking this business ins ide

out — Jack nodded .

“ So have I “ and I have thefeeling that if we get him in a good humourSavvy ?

The Bo s ’un I 29

Savvy it is ; that’s exactly what I think , said Jack ,

squeezing my arm,as keen now as I was myself.

“What do you say to looking him up this evening afterdril l ? ”

“ The very thing ! Then we ’l l get it over .The sooner the better .That was settled .

PASS ING FOR A.H .

Thus it was that in the dog-watch two tremblingsai lor-boys crept down the lower deck towards wherethe bo ’sun ’s cabin was situated , and after shuffl ing aboutfor a little knocked at the door .

“ Come in ! ” roared a bull voice .

Jack nudged me on to the door-knob , but I hasti lydrew back

,rattling it as I went

,and pulled him forward ,

and the ship giving a roll,he fumbled up against the

door and shook it .“ Come in ! ” roared the voice again . Who thedevil ’s that ? Can ’t you open the door and come in ? ”

Now for it !Jack and I knitted our teeth and looked grimly at

one another . Then I made a hesitating movement tocatch hold of the handle

,but Jack shoved me on one

side,grabbed it

,and opened the door a l itt l e . But

another roll'

coming, I had just time to glimpse thebo ’sun sitt ing below the scuttl e with his sleeves up anda book in his hand

,when it shut to again with a bang .

We hung in the wind a m inute , undecided whether torun or stand . Jack ’s face queried in consternation ,“D id he see you ? ” I nodded energetical ly .

1 3 0 Sam Nob le,A .B .

Heavens above ! ” yelled Tommy . Who theblazes is that monkeying at my cabin door ? Will youcome in

, or sh’

ll I come and pul l your liver out ? ”

I t was l ike the roar of a l ion . I fel t my legs shakeunder me and would have given worlds for the deckto open and drop me in among the rats in the hold .

Jack told me afterwards that his feelings were the sameas mine . But we had no time to compare notes then .

I t was Hobson ’s Choice for the pair of us . He pulledthe door open again , I took a blind step forward , andforgetting to lift my foot clear of the coaming

,plunged

headlong into the cabin .

Tommy had been Spending a luxurious hour in reading

,and his feet were spread out when I went sprawling

in beside them . He j erked them back like lightning . Ihad a horrible fear that he meant to kick out , andbounded to my own again with the spring of an antelope

,and stood panting against the bu lkhead . Jack ,

profiting from my mishap,entered more sedately

,and

when I looked round, was standing gaping just inside

the door in the attitude of somebody who is waiting forsomething dreadful to happen .

Tommy clashed down the book on a little chest ofdrawers at his elbow

,and gripped the sides of his chair

as if he were going to spring at us . But seeing who wewere , and the little box of a place being full , he justrose , stretched out his b ig hand

,swung Jack alongside

of me,and thundered : “ Holy milkman !

This was a favourite prelude of his when somethingspecial in the way of sea- rhetoric was coming— “ Holymilkman ! What the hel l d ’ye mean by this ?

You young devi ls ! Are you out sky

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

1 3 2 Sam Nob le,A .B .

The bo ’sun l ifted hi s eyebrows but said nothi ng .

I then told him that we had been thinking about it forsome time ; that we were eager to get on in the Service ,keen to try for the rate

,but we didn ’t know very well

where to begin . That we had no books beyond our

Manual which , though good enough in its way , didn’t

go far enough . We felt there were others that mightbe of even greater service to us

,and we came to him

thinki ng that he might advise us as to what books to getand where to get them .

Above al l , sir, I said , for I was now warm ,and I

could see he was interested ,“we thought if we could

manage to win your sympathy and a hint now andagain , perhaps the loan of a book

,while we ’re working

our way through we feel about certain we ’l lsucceed .

”

Where the words came from I don ’t know,but they

came all right , pat , and without any bother . Duringthe recital I felt Jack ’s arm press into my side , so Iknew I was doing well .When I had finished

,I thought the bo ’sun would

kick us out of the cab in for our cheek . Instead of that ,he never moved or spoke

,but lay back and seemed to be

surveying us both : sort of taking our measure , for abouta minute . Then he drew up his legs again and said“Well , I ’m damned Well , I

’m tee- tee- totallydamned ! Aren ’t you the two youngsters that Ipassed for Ordinary Seamen not long ago ? ”

“ Yes,sir . ”

And now you want to be Ab le Seamen , eh ? hesaid

,rubbing his chin with the back of his hand .

He appeared to be thinking aloud .

The Bo sun 1 3 3

What mess are you in ?We told him .

“Do the others know about this ? ”No , sir.

”

I saw him cast a look at our shoulders where thewatch-stripes were disp layed , and knew he was notingthat we were in opposite watches .He asked a few more questions , such as— when we

j oined the Service , and where ; which training ship wec ame from ,

and so forth . Some technical ones he putto us also : how this , that and the other was done . Butthough his manner had lost a lot of its gruffness , wecouldn ’t tel l from his face what he thought of theanswers .All at once he stood up , laid a hand on a shoulder of

each of us , and said , Now , d’ye know what I think ? ”

( I thought to myself, Here it comes Did you everhear what the devi l said to his nos- trils -drawing theword out when he blew the candle out with ’em ? ”

“No , sir ,” we answered , wondering what on earth

was coming now .

“Well,

” he said , you ’re a b iddy good pair — that ’swhat he said . And that ’s what I think . I think you ’rea pair of right p lucky kids and I like your spirit . Ididn ’t give the lower deck the credit for having so muchgrit— damn me if I d id Now

,look here .

”

He told us what we were to do . We were to startright off at once ; say nothing to anybody ; he wouldprovide what books we should need ; be our guide ,philosopher and fri end

,and help us in every way he

could think of . Whatever troub le we got into we wereto bring it to him and he would smooth it away— al l this

1 34 Sam Noble,A .B .

he said in his deep rumbling vo ice, with some good

advice thrown in,patting us kindly on the shoulders

the while,l ike a rough

,bluff , gruff old uncle organizing

a treat in which we were to be the principal sharers,not

at al l the b ig- toothed curmudgeon we expected he wouldbe . I tel l you we felt fine ! I t would have been a joyto have taken his hairy old face— not so very old inyears either— ln our arms and kissed it . I felt myheart glow wi thin me . Often and often have I experienc ed the same feeling since

,and blessed the name of

Tommy Freedie , so great a thing is it for a boy tomeet a kindred sou l in one of his elders p laced inau thori ty above him .

“ But ,” he concluded , bear in mind you ’ l l have towork- work like blazes . God Almighty help youif you don

’t ! Now clear out and let me get onwith my yarn .

He shepherded us out of the cab in and closed thedoor . Jack and I stood outs ide it a minute and s ilentlyembraced each other in ecs tasy . Then we flew up theladder and on deck like streaks of greased lightning ,leap -frogged along the waist as far as the tub-house ,and raced back to the fo ’c ’s le again as if in theSeventh Heaven .

The bo ’sun manful ly kept h is word . And a morepatient

,easy- to -get-on-with teacher no boy ever had

— although, of course , he didn

’t forget to minglea cuff with his coaching now and then . And hewould admit , I ’m sure , if he ever gave the incidenta thought

,that no teacher ever had a pair of pup ils

more enthusiastic or wi l ling to learn than my dearold chum

Aand

’

i I .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

CHAPTER XVI I

TH E DOCTOR

I REMEMBER the doctor with pleasure . He was a tal l,

dignified gent leman— young , not thirty , with a graciouspresence and an extra sweet smile— it lit up his wholeface . The very look of him brought comfort to uswhen we were il l . He was writ ing a book , so I heard . Ihope he made something by it . Many a book he lentme . That , however , by the way .

Very litt le serious i l lness came to the Swallow. Wewere always b lessed with good health , and this I attributeto the care and skil l of D r . Strickland and the wise precau tions he took to prevent i l lness . For instance

,he

had no sooner stepped aboard at S t . Vincent than upwen t a not ice on the lower deck b lackboard

,warning

the ship ’s company against the fish that swam alongside .

Indeed , for the whole four years , we had only one casethat ended in death . This was the captain ’s steward ,a Japanese , who took coast fever ; but even him thedoctor would have pulled through had the man reportedsick earlie r than he did .

Th is man ’s death affected us greatly . There was anawe about it

,a suddenness that struck the entire ship ’s

company and settled on the lower deck like a cloud for1 36

The Doctor 1 3 7

a time . He was the first to be taken . We knew himintimately

,and liked h im— a qu iet , earnest- look ing ,

soft-footed l ittle chap .

Yesterday we had been talking to h im ; to-day he wasdead . And h is l ife had gone out in agony— so Bunthorne

,the s ick-bay steward , told us .

Personally,the incident made a tremendous impres

s ion upon me . It was my fir st experience of death ,and it was also my first funeral at sea . I rememberthe solemn scene at the gangway : The captain readingthe service for the dead ; the figure on the grating , sewnup in h is hammock , with the two round shot at his feet ,and covered by the Un ion Jack h is sorrowful shipmates al l gathered around , and everybody dressed inwh ite ; the tropical sun b lazing overhead and bringingsparks from a ring on the captain ’s l ittle finger ; the shipunder ful l sai l S l iding through the blue water with s carcelya sound

,and the air of reverent attention on every face .

I particularly remember the rumble and the appallingsplash when , at the words

“We therefore commit hisbody to the deep , the grat ing was t i lted and our poorsh ipmate took the final p lunge . It sent a thril l throughme that I fee l the t ingle of even now as I write . AndI also remember thinking to myself “ How glad I amthat I left the mil l and came to sea ! When would that'squalid existence have provided an incident cal ling upsuch thoughts as are now lifting my soul to heaven !It was a great and wonderful experience for a lad .

A peculiar case happened at Elephant Bay,a love ly

spot somewhere around the mouth of the river Niger ,where we had gone to have the ship fumigated afterthe death of the captain ’s steward .

1 3 8 Sam Nob le,A .B .

Here an ordinary seaman , named Jacks , belongingto a seining party , got a “ j igger ” into his right foot .This is a small sand- t ick , or flea , whose work is as swiftas , and far more deadly than , the mosquito

’s . When anigger gets a “ j igger into his foot he immediately cutsout the stung part with his kn ife . I ’ve seen them do itoften .

Jacks didn ’t know what had got him at the time . Hethought it was just the prong of a crab or something ,and bo thered no more about it . But during the nighthe woke us al l up with his howls . Poor Jacks was ingreat agony

,and his foot was swollen terribly .

Bunthorne , the sick-bay steward , brought the doctor ,who applied fomentat ions and poultices , and lanced thefoot ; but it was no good : the thing festered and torturedthe poor soul for months , the doctor tending and nursinghim al l the t ime l ike a mother .One afternoon we took him ashore for a breath of land

air ,“ chaired him ” up the beach a bit , and sat him on a

stone with our jumpers under him .

While we were sitt ing , along came the funn iestlooking specimen of a native we had ever seen . He hadnothing on but a loin Cloth . A b roken clay pipe wasstuck through one of his ears

,the other held a long

porcupine quil l . A bone ring hung from his nose , andabove it was suspended a pair Of spectacles , with one ofthe glasses broken

,that must have been made when

these usefu l contrivances were first invented . Hiswoolly head was also stuck ful l of feathers from diff erentbirds . I ’ve seen a better- looking face on an ape manya t ime . And yet harmlessness and good fe l lowshipbeamed from it .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

1 4 0 Sam Noble,A .B .

Back he came running , just as a dog does when out on aramble , stopped , smiled all over his drol l face , said “

A’

right , sah . Me fo ’

get . Me hurry— cure heempoint ing to the beach Oh , yass !

” and started on

again in front , pushi ng the stuff aside to he lp methrough .

Soon we got out of th is and in among trees , some withhuge trunks and massive branches , some long , taperingerect ions with a bunch of leaves at the top like a housewife ’s switch ; others like immense ferns , their longfronds gracefully waving in the light air , wh ich tasteddelicious here , and little flowering bushes such as wehave at home , like the hawthorn and the currant , onlymuch more gorgeously dressed .

Here Johnny began to snifl , rais ing his head andturning it in al l directions . Then he stopped , barkedout No

,no , no I and went on a bit further ; I stepp ing

gingerly among the grass , fearing snakes . But Johnnynever seemed to bother about anything .

This went on for some li tt le time , then suddenly hestopped dead , sniff ed violen tly .

“ Yash ! ” he cried ,and ran over to a tree - bole which was standing by itselfin a smal l clearing . I t looked to me to have been fe lledyears ago either by lightn ing or wind , for it was coveredwith moss and lichen , and the top was l ike a dome .

This was evidently what Johnny was on the lookoutfor

,and proved to be a deserted beehive . He asked

for my knife,which I gave him , and he set to work and

in two minutes had the whole dome down in his hands .He laid it tenderly on the grass , bottom up , and while Istood admiring the gl istening sweet- smel ling stuff ,already beginning to ooze from its s ides , l ike syrup

The Doctor 1 4 I

tast ing l ike it , too ; and , by J ingo , wasn ’t it richJohnny himself went and brOIIght a leaf almost as bigas a lady ’s umbrella , and into this he scraped whathoney and comb was left in the trunk— pretty nearlyas much as what appeared to be in the hive .

The leaf he gave me , taking the hive h imself, andcarrying it l ike a baby , grunting and chuckl ing to himself al l the way back to the beach like a happy oldscientist who has made a find .

”

We hadn ’t been gone half an hour altogether,but

Jacks had wearied s itting , and was back in the boat aga inwaiting for us . The c ox

’

n (coxswain) , an A.B . cal ledDarby Kelly , first thought of taking the honey andleaving the native beh ind : but the poor soul looked so

crestfal len at this , and seemed so interested in Jacks ’

s

foot , and so confident of curing it , that Darby at lastdecided to take him with us and hear what the doctorsaid . So Johnny and I tumbled in , the umbrella wasopened , and al l of us had a good lick of the honey ; thenative , with the h ive on his knees , holding up h is handscaution ing us to be careful .Lord ! these doctors are al l the same . Savage or

civilized , al l the world over . Forever keep ing youaway from what you like best .Just as we reached the shi p , B i l ly , who was walkingin the waist , chanced to look through the gun-port ,and started when he saw who was in the boat . Butbefore he could speak , even before we had got hooked onproperly , Johnny was over the s ide , hive and all , li ke amonkey , screeching to h im as he had to us ashore ,“Me ! Medicine man . Tribe docta . Ohyass . Cure heem— yass— quec k !

1 4 2 Sam Nob le,A .B .

This set us all a-grin , except Darby , who was res

ponsible for the boat . Bil ly was a queer fish to handle ,and there was no saying what he might do if he tookJohnny ’s vis it as a breach of discip line . So Darbyfrowned heavi ly , growling : “My God , I

’m afraid I ’min for a row over this trip . You fellows

’

ll have to standby me .

”

By the time , however , we had got Jacks aboard andthe boat hoisted

,our own doctor was on deck , and he

and Johnny were holding a “ consultation , while Billyleaned against the bulwarks looking on .

The doctor was s itt ing on the wardroom hatch , withhis legs spread out , and an amused , interested express ion on his face , ca lmly regard ing the native , whobounced about in front of him pointing , now to thehive and the big leaf, which lay alongside him , now tohis own foot and the doctor ’s alternate ly

,making

mot ions of applying a poult ice and bandage , screechingal l the time :

“ Me ! Oh yass ! Cure heem !Tribe docta . Oh yass !

The doctor,dressed in his snowy white dril l , with

his fine,inte llectual face and manly figure , looking the

very picture of civ i lized dignity and neatness , andJohnny , with his pipe stuck in his ear and al l h is otheraccoutremen ts

,dancing in front of him like a living

scarecrow , made a contrast that fi l led your heart withpity— at leas t it did mine . I often think that somehorrible calamity will overtake the whole white raceye t for the way they have murdered , robbed and takenadvan tage of the black , who are just as good as they are .

However,there was no fear of Johnny meet ing any

thing but good aboard the Swallow. In a little whi le , the

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

I 4 4 Sam Nob le,A .B .

booby-hatch— and any number of other usefu l oddsand ends . Altogether Johnny was pretty wel l set up .

But , to crown all , he took away a thing that gave himspecial delight . This was a mouth organ— the ‘

pet ,particu lar enjoyment of Sharkie Bradford . Johnnytook a terrib le notion of it , and Sharkie , l ike a man ,handed it over . The litt le man ’s eyes fairly glowedwhen he got it , and the look on his face when he put itto his mouth and blew into it , nearly drove us al l intofits laughing .

Before he left the fo c sle he stole over and had a lookat Jacks , who lay as calm as a baby , s leeping as he hadn

’tdone for months , poor chap . Oh , yass !

” he whispered

,looking funnier than ever in his new fit-out

like a pantomime p irate— “ Oh , yass ! He good !A ’ right ! ”

His fame had reached the cab in , and when thefe llows came aft to see him over the s ide , there was thecaptain and al l the Officers waiting under the break of

the poop . The doctor introduced him al l round , thenpresented him with a purse and money which had beensubscribed among them . Then the skipper and thedoctor shook hands with him again , and into the boathe tumbled , surely the happiest l ittle man in the widecontinent of Africa , a lthough the tears were runningdown his face like rain . And we were al l as pleased ashimself, I

’m sure .

But he was l ike a child , who is elated or cast down bywhat the moment brings . He happened to put his handin his pocket and felt the mouth organ . Out it cameand he played and chattered to us al l the way to theland ing-place .

The Doctor 1 4 5

We he lped h im ashore with his bundle , saw himshoulder it , heard his parting scream as he broke intothe jungle , and that was the last of him .

It seemed that we had entertained an angel unawares ,for in two or three weeks Jacks

’

s foot was as sound andwell as any in the ship , and Bunthorne told me afterwards that the doctor held a high opinion of Johnny ’sski l l as a medicine man , and thought Providence musthave sent him .

What became of the h ive I real ly don ’t remember . Ithink it was emptied , cleaned out , sealed up again andsent home as a curio

,but I ’m not sure .

Anyway it was a fine afternoon ’s adventure , and as

such I always look back on it .

CHAPTER XVI I I

STRANGE S IGHTS ABROAD

PARAD ING up and down the coast we met manyadventures and saw many strange sights .

Once we attended the crowning of a native queenand a native wedd ing bo th on the same day . The coronation took place in the afternoon , and here we hadthe luck to see an in teres ting ceremony , fo llowed by akind of sports— s pear- throwing , wrestl ing , juggling ,and so forth— finishing up with a feas t , where thenatives ate so much that they lay about like dead men ,with their stomachs swol len like bal loons .

The wedding was in the evening , just after sunset ,and here we saw a sight which , could it be seen inLondon , say , would drive the population crazy— thegirls anyway . This was a procession of bridesmaids .The girls were covered with firefl ies . The litt le

glittering bee tles , s trung like beads , were twined roundthe ir arms , the ir legs , their heads and their bodiesthousands of them , fal ling about them ,

whir ling aroundthem as they walked , like cascades of fire ; draping them ,

as it were , like Indian bead screens . You never saw apre ttier sight , nor a more dainty touch given to awedding . I thought to myself : “ By Jove ! Even thebiggest of your mi l lionaires couldn ’t beat that ! ”

146

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

1 4 8 Sam Nob le,A .B .

Apes and monkeys galore were there . Once we gota fine sight of a gori l la— a big , mass ive fellow he was ,with limbs like tree-branches and a proper savagelooking head .

He didn ’t see us , God be thanked .

Once a large herd of zebras came down . Daintycreatures they were : their striped bodies— white , yellow ,

brown and black— looking beaut ifu l against the greenbackground . They are extraordinarily quick of hearing . One of our fe llows , hundreds of feet above them ,

started to whistle and— hanged if the whole tribe didn ’tdisappear li ke a puff of smoke .

But the inciden t that has riveted Elephant Bay on mymind , apart from Johnny the medicine man , was onethat happened in connection with a great crowd of

elephan ts which came one evening to drink and washtheir piccaninn ies .

There must have been nearly a hundred of them .

They came in a long procession through a ravine- likeopening in the hil l abou t a quarter of a mile from wherewe were s itting direct ly above the pool

, so that we had agrand view of them .

Great cow and bu l l e lephants,with long , waving

trunks , and immense tusks , some straight , some bent ,some almost curled . The little ones— there would betwenty of them— mot much bigger than donkeys ,trotted beside their mothers , or skipped about utteringlittle barks of pleasure , flapping their ears and friskingaround and under the bodies of their e lders in themanner of young things everywhere .

Sometimes a b ig bull would take a playful turn , seizea youngster round the middle with his trunk , hold him

Strange Sight s Abroad 1 4 9

high aloft , and go capering about , the youngster screaming with delight and the old man chuckling just as humanfathers do with their bab ies .They al l made for the pool : but into it the kiddies

had to be driven— by force . They didn ’t want to bewashed . When they were al l in , a scene began that“ beggars description ,” as these b ig writing fe l lowssay. Such a splashing and commotion ! The pool ,a moment before like a s ilver mirror , with everythingaround reflected in it , now frothing like a huge cauldronof beer , and exactly the same co lour . Great b lacktrunks waving in the m ist and squ irt ing like firemen

’

s

hoses . B ig bod ies , little bodies , al l b lack and shin ing ,appearing for an instant above the water

,then s inking

under it . You would see a big trunk suddenly emergegrasp ing a little kicking body from which the water wasstreaming in showers , whirl in the a ir , and then comedown , and a m ighty splash would fol low that “made thewelkin ring .

” When a little one would Show signs ofbolting , Pa or Ma would grab the runaway , j erk h imback , and in he would flounder again . Never did Isee anything more interesting or exciting through thewhole commiss ion , and yet one of the fel lows had to goand spo i l it .He was an ordinary seaman cal led Smifkin ,

with amind almost as stup id as his name . He had beensitting beside a huge boulder that was slack in the earth .

He kept working at it with his knife ,missing al l the

fine show , ti l l he got it loosed altogether . Then he sentit hurl ing down the hillside . I t bounded from thehil l and fel l with a tremendous splash a short distancefrom where the elephants were disporting themselves

,

1 5 0 Sam Nob le,A .B .

sending a column of water about twenty feet high intothe air .The effect of this was l ike an earthquake . There

was a general stampede . The elephants seized theiryoung

,took to their heels , and through that pool into

the forest they went,trumpeting and roaring and

smashing everything in their way ,as if Old Nick were

after them . When cal led to account for this brainwave of his

,Sm ifkin said he had done it for a joke !

Bumpkin is what they should have cal led him .

OUR PETS : JACKO

ST. PAUL DE LOANDA was another port at which weOften dropped anchor and spent a good deal of time .

Here we shipped Jacko,a chimpanzee

,who became

famous al l over the station as The Swallow’

s monkey .

”

He was successor to another we had earl ier , calledJenny

,a little toy monkey . A terrib l e fate overtook

her . She got wet one nigh t in the first watch,and

somebody put her into the gal ley-oven to dry,the fire

being out . But somebody else came along who didn ’tknow she was there , and shut the oven door . In themorn ing Jenny was found baked to a cinder .Jacko was “

a’

body’

s body,

” as we say in Scotland ,meaning a universal favourite . He slept with a differentman every night ; and never a word was said when he wasfound coiled up in a hammock . The owner knew itwas his turn

,and just pushed him over a bit and

turned in .

But , by and by we had to object , on account of hisfleas . We were almost eaten alive ! So we made him

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

Strange,Sights Abroad 1 5 I

a snug little hammock of his own , swung it betweenthe ventilators before the gal ley , provided him with anightc ap

'

and a suit of p yjamas , and there he lay like aprince .

He very soon came to be regarded as one of theship ’s company . He was allowed his tot of grog . Thearmourer made him a litt le measure like a thimble

,

with a tiny lug to hold it by . With this he wouldgravely present himself at the grog tub every day whenthe bugle sounded

,and nod to the steward when he got

it . Then he would spring on to the fore-hatch— neverspil ling a drop — toss off his llowanc e

“ l ike a man,

”

skip back to the fo ’c ’sle and rep lace his mug on thel ittle shelf above his hammock

,feel ing that the great

ceremony of the day was over .Umbray ,

the ship ’s cook,and he became great friends .

If anybody wanted the monkey Umbray was the manto tel l where to find him . The two were inseparable .

Another great friend of Jacko’

s was Nelly , the captain ’sdog

,a small brown spaniel . Jacko would wait pat ien tly

on the poop - ladder for her coming out of the cabin of amorning

,jump on her back whenever she appeared

,take

her by the ears , and away the pair would go , makingthe deck into a racecourse .

Jacko had the run of the Ship . Fore and aft , aloft orbelow

,engine- room or stokehole— he was welcome

everywhere . He was such an affectionate l ittle soul ,and would l ie in your arms and grin up in your facemurmuring so lovingly in his monkey lingo that you hadto respond and cuddle him .

To tel l al l the tricks that pet of ours was up to wouldtake a whole book to itse lf. One evening , while the

1 5 2 Sam Nob le,A .B .

offi cers were at dinner , he sprang through the wardroomhatchway

,swung himself on a brass bar which crossed

the centre of it,and dropped right into the soup tureen .

I was at the wheel at the time and the hatch was justbehind me . I heard the row, and when I turned andsaw Jacko flash up through the hatch again coveredwith pea- soup

,I nearly dropped the wheel laughing .

He hid himself for two days after that .Another happened after leaving Fernando Po . Wecame here to take in coal bricks . The negroes

,standing

in a long l ine s tretching from the depot right down toour coal bunkers , passed the bricks along one by one ina continuous s tream t i ll the ship was fu l l , which wasdone in no time and withou t the least dust or bother .Wel l

,one night after leaving this p lace

,Jacko abstracted

a bottle of Squaro (Hol lands Gin) from Sam Winter ’slocker

,took out the cork

,which was under a capsule

how he did it nobody cou ld understand— and drankabout a nip of the raw spirit .Sam had the first watch that night . When he came

below at eight bel ls and went to his locker,behold ! the

bottle was gone . Sam , naturally , was in a toweringpassion ; but he had to be carefu l and not complaintoo loud as the liquor had been smuggled aboard .

I heard him curse deeply,saying He was no man

that took it,anyway

,the low down etc .

In the middle watch , after we had gone round thecapstan

,we were al l gathered about the gal ley smoking

and discussing Sam ’s loss,when the groans of some

body retching,as if sick

,were heard .

“ I ’l l bet that explains it ! ” said old Neddy sharply,

taking the cook ’s lantern ; come on ! We followed

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

1 54 Sam Nob le,A .B .

They dropped from the beams flop into your basinor plate while you sat at meals , and this happened sooften that you came to think nothing about it— justfished them out and left them wriggl ing on the table .

If they made to run away, you just brought your spoon

down whack upon them and went on with your dinner .I am sure we mus t have eaten hundreds of them in

the dark . It was nothing unusual for a man to springup and howl— “ Oh , Lord ; I

’ve swallowed a cockroach ! ” and somebody else to cry : “ Give the poorthing a drink ! ”

They got so plen tiful that we used to count ourcatches at every meal . A man would have six or

seven ranged along the rim of his plate and would say“ There ’s my l ittl e bag for this adventure .

” I don ’tremember them as doing much harm

,but they were a

terrible pest . I t was awfu l to feel one crawl over yourface while you lay tucked in you r hammock . You

couldn ’t be bothered taking your arms out,so you just

j erked him off , squashed him against your hammockcloth

,and wen t to sleep .

Skippo ,however

,altered al l this . Prov idence had

implanted in him a fine taste for cockroaches and aglorious appetite . Before he was a month aboard he hadthe ship comfortab le again . You heard his joyful“ cl ick ” everywhere . If you smelt the vermin in yourlocker— for they left a heavy odour behind themyou cal led Skip

,Skip ! ” and in the litt l e fellow would

glide,burrow among your clothes , and in ten minutes

there wasn ’t a brown- back to be seen .

He also cleared the bilges of rats,and Tanky

,the

captain of the hold , loved him for his serv ices , and made

Strange Sight s Abroad 1 5 5

a particular chum of him , just as Umbray did of themonkey . I t was the same with our hammocks . WhenSkippo passed the night with you , Mr . Cockroach wasreduced to nil in the morning . Skippo was with u sa long time

,but one bitter night at the Falklands he

died . The cold was too much for him .

We had a good number of pets ; chameleons , l izards ,cardinal- birds , parrots and what not . But the sweetestof al l was a young gaze l le which BobWilson bought froma b lack trapper in Loanda Bay .

You never saw a daintier l ittle creature . She had aslight

,l ithesome , fawn- coloured body , and long tapering

legs . Her horns , just beginning to sprout , looked likelitt le mounds on the top of her pretty head . Her large ,soft brown eyes were

As liquid as stars in a poo l,

as Tom Hood says , and as gentle as a young maid ’s .

We had her about six months , but (l ike her famouss ister) just when she came to know everybody she tookdistemper , through the lack of greenstuff, and thoughthe doctor did al l a man could for her

,she died .

I cou ldn ’t te l l you how grieved we a l l were over theloss of this l ittle pet . Even the Kroomen were sad aboutit . I remember the incident of the gaze l le ’s death particularly on account of an adventure we met with on thevery day we buried poor Fanny— that was her name .

CHAPTER XIX

TH E SLAVE CHASE

WE were heading for St . Paul de Loanda at the t ime ,and Mr . Hopkins , the British Consu l , was aboard . Inthe afternoon we sighted a brig which looked so suspi

cions that the captain determined to watch her . Shewas making for the land .

The news went through the ship that she was a s laver,

and certainly when she came nearer she had al l theappearance of one . A long , s inister- looking craft , withta ll

,tapering masts

,raked aft , and covered with canvas .

The telescope revealed crowds of b lack people aboard her .We got steam up , took in sail , altered our rig by

housing topmasts,shortening j ibboom and such like

manoeuvres , and passed her flying the American colours .

She was a Portuguese brig,named the Pensamento.

Her deck was fu ll of black , woolly heads , which bobbedover the rail from every part of her .We went by , taking no not ice beyond the usual dip ofthe flag , then slipped in to a litt le cove where the landwas a trifle lower than our mastheads , rigged up a crow ’snest on the main - royal mast , and there we lay , with aman on the lookou t day and night , watching her . Twonights she kept us there in a fever of impatience ; then

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

1 5 8 Sam Nob le,A .B .

eas i ly went one and a half knots to our one . Shebounded o ver the si lver wavelets l ike a thing of l ife ,clothing herself in glittering sparks from her forefoot ,l ike the girls in the African village with their fireflies ,leaving a wake behind her l ike the steam of a railwaytrain ; and seeming to laugh at our efforts to '

c atch upwith her .

We admired that li tt le brig . Admired , too , the finesai lorly way she was handled , but we meant to haveher al l the same , ay , if we sailed to hel l after herto do it .Steam was up , so the push of the screws was added

to the sai ls , and now the li tt le Swallow’

s heart beganto beat in earnest . We looked over the side to see theeffect , but there wasn ’t much diff erence ; she seemedto be almost doing her utmost under the pressure ofcanvas . But she dipped her beak in the wave , bentover to the race

,fl icking the Spray as high as the fore

yard , and sending her wake boil ing away astern likethe wash of a river over rocks , and behav ing as lively asher nimb le namesake .

But it was no use . The brig gradual ly edged away .

A shot from the 7- inch gun was sent after her . Herski pper answered this bv sett ing his stun ’sails . Another ,a l itt le nearer this time . A loud shout of laughter ,which wen t from the fo ’c ’s le to the poop , where theo ffi cers were al l gathered watching the brig with theirglasses , fol lowed this second messenger .

We could stil l make out objects on the brig , anddist inctly saw her skipper jump on to the taff rail , hisfigure twinkling under the glowing moon like a mann ikin ,smack his breech energetica lly and twiddle his fingers

The Slave Chas e 1 5 9

at us in contempt , twisting himself s ide-on to let ussee him do it .

“ By God , he’

s a plucky one ! ” somebody bawled .

But we ’ll have you yet , you ruddy old pirate ! ”Another laugh greeted this prophecy , with a note of

de rision in it,however

,for on the face of i t i t looked

s il ly to hope for anything of the kind . And yet itworked out al l right as events turned , proving thetruth of Scott ’s remark about the shaft at random sent .Meantime , the addit ional thrust of her stun ’sai ls

put more life into the brig than ever , and she began toleave us hand over fist— melt away , in fact , before oureyes— til l by and by all we could make out was aglittering p in-point on the horizon .

We thought we had lost her , and were curs ing our

rotten luck and cal l ing the ship bad names , whensuddenly the wind lul led and hope revived . Feverishlywe took in the stun ’sai ls

,trimmed the yards to catch

every breath— for it had changed a little— and after herwe flew , saying our prayers again like true sailors .

The way we l ifted the brig now showed that she hadhardly any wind at al l . We overhauled her as anexpress does a goods train . Soon she began to show up ;then to take shape ; then we could distinguish herindividual sails ; then out popped her black hull ,and she lay broad to view just as we had seen herat first .Ou r fe llows went dancing mad about the t ’

-gallantfo ’c ’s le , shaking hands and tel ling each other about theprize-money that would l ine our handkerchiefs by andby , crying Good l itt le girlie ! ” “ Pretty little swallowtai l ! ” “ Catch her , pussy ; there

’s the mouse ahead ,

1 60 Sam Nob le,A .B .

dear ! ” and Bun tin , whose watch below it was , began tocarol

When the swallows homeward fly.

Oh , we were the happy crowd !Aft on the poop the officers were just as excited as

ourse lves , although , of course , they wouldn ’t Show it .They never do , these people . Their dignity won ’ta llow them . They stand as glum as undertakers , evenon the most whir ling occasions , and yet they must havetheir happy moments like the rest of us .

Our boys aft tried to make believe they took thisbusiness al l in the day ’s work . But their mannersbetrayed them . The way they fu ssed with their glasses ,clapt them to their eyes

,took them away again , and

fidgeted about the deck , showed that the blood wasrunning as warm aft as it was forward . Routh , I ’msu re , would be boiling . He was a rare sport . Thecaptain

,with his cap “

on three hairs ,” as they say atsea , meaning stuck right on the back of his head (asure sign that he was pleased) , was standing beside Mr .Hopkins , sending his glances eve rywhere at onceat the sky , the sails , the brig ahead , the smoke pouringfrom the funnel— eve rywhere at the same time , and al lthe t ime as dignified as a b ishop . Mr . Hopkins himse lf,a terribly grave gent leman on duty

,though an irresistib le

comic when Off , stood on the poop as straight as a pole ,with his hands behind his back , and his fingers twitchingas if he would give the world to have them at somebody ’sth roat . And the gleam of the chase in their eyes theycouldn ’t hide

, not they ! Westwater , who was signalman on duty at the time , told me afterwards that he

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

1 6 2 Sam Nob le,A .B .

about four , when it dropped altogether and went deadcalm .

Then the hallelujahs started again !“ Hands furl sail ! ” D own ! gal lant yards ! ” Loosefore and main trysails ! ” etc .

In half an hour we were lying withi n a couple of

c ablelengths of her , on a sea like a lady’s mirror , just

dimmed occasional ly by the clouds crossing the moon ,as her breathing does when she brings the glass tooClose . In five minutes more the boat was in the water ,and , with the three officers in the stern , was makingtowards her in fine style .

( I have a picture hanging in front of me while I writewhich shows this part of the proceedings and recal lsthe incident v ividly . I t was drawn by Buntin andreproduced in the i llustrated papers of that year .)We smelt the brig as we came nearer . By the timethe bowman got hooked on alongside we fel t almostsuffocated . What a stench ! The paymas ter , who wasa del icate - looking young gentleman

,had his hand

kerchief to his nose as he crossed the gangway , andwhenever the three left the boat we dropped as tern ab it to get away from it . One of the fel lows remarked :I t ’l l take a lot of prize-money beer to wash this down ,

heart ies ! ” I never came across a smel l like yon in all

The Portuguese captain,a swarthy

,beetle- browed

rufli an,with two other y ellow- faced beauties— his

mates,I daresay— was waiting for us , and there were a

good few more lowering heads sprink led along the portbulwarks . As our offi cers stepped aboard we heardthe skipper say in a gruff voice : “

Vel l , vat you want ?

The Slave Chase 1 63

Vat you mean by intervereing mit mee ? Firing shotts atmee— on de high seeass ! By Gott , you catch it fordis ! ”

Then we d ropped out of earshot . There seemed to beany quantity of blacks aboard , judging from the woollyheads that kept popping up and disappearing fromevery quarter . Big heads , l ittle heads , some of thembelonging to girls by the look of them

,some to mere

children , al l b lack as soot and staring at us with big ,wistful eyes .The officers were gone only about a quarter of an

hour when back came Billy and beckoned us alongsideagain . As they got into the boat we saw by thegrinning faces of the Portugee and his mates that al lour hopes of prize -money had gone by the board .

Mr . Richmond , the paymaster , with his handkerchief stil l at his nose

,implored us to put our backs into

the oars ; to get away from that floating cesspool asquick as ever we could . But he needn ’t have minded ;we were just as eager to get away as he was . The threeofficers conversed together while we rowed back

,but

al l I heard (for I was pulling second bow) , was partof a remark by Mr . Hopkins abou t caution beingvery necessary in affairs of that kind .

”

However , when we got the boat hoisted , and droppedaboard again , the ship

’s head was tu rned towardsSt . Paul de Loanda

,and the brig left a good couple of

miles astern .

Then we heard the result . I t seemed that althoughthere were over 700 negroes— men women and children— on board that brig

,we couldn t touch her skipper

because he had papers certifying every one of them

1 64 Sam Noble,A .B .

to be labourers going to South America to be employedin the rice and cotton fields . Not a manacle nor aniron was aboard of her— I believe they got rid of thesethings during the last lap of the chase . She was as laver al l right

,only the bru tes that commanded her

were too cute to let themselves be caught .Anyway

,they got clear . I t was a terrib le disappoint

ment to us ; and i t took the splicing of the main braceand a sing- song under the glorious moon to cheer theway back to port

,and make up for it .

Then,after S t . Paul

,Ascension was our next stop

and,after that

,S t . Helena

,and a long kick of the heels

ashore,so there was balm ahead !

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

1 66 Sam Nob le,A .B .

He , Jack Belton and I , the three boys of the messal l rated men ”

now,of course— were good chums .

Johnson was dinghy boy,

” bu t not the one whob rought me from the Duke to the Swallow.

When I said that we had only one death aboard duringthe commission

,I meant

,of course

,by sickness . This

was a differen t th ing altogether ; and the circumstancesleading up to the final act of the tragedy , for tragedyi t was

,were so strange

,that I shouldn ’t wonder if you

doub t my word when I tell you about them . If you do ,well , I must j ust refer you to that oft- repeated obser

vation addressed by Hamlet to Horatio,and go on with

my story .

Well,the curtain was rung up one Thursday afternoon

when we were leaving Ascension Island to catch themail- boat from England

,previous to making our call

at S t . Helena .

We were under steam,and Thursday being make

and-mend - clothes day,the deck was pretty lively .

Some of the fellows were sewing,others netting window

curtains,making daisy mats , or pictures worked in wool

upon s tretched canvas— D arby Kelly had one finishedof a ship in fu ll sail which you could hardly have toldat a distance from an oil painting— some writing lettershome

,and al l chatting away meanwhile .

A few , among whom was Lucks with his concertina ,were under the fo ’c ’sle . One was singing a version of“ Ben Block ’s Cap

,

” and the chorus :In the Med- it- ter-a- a-nee-an !In the Med- it- ter-a-a -nee-an !I ’m go ing home , for I ’ve lost my lo -o-ove ,In the Med- it- ter- a-a-nee - sml

”

Lady Johnson’ s Dream 1 6 7

came down to us and was taken up with great gustoand sent roll ing on deck again .

I t was wet on deck and what l ittle air there was , wassultry and heavy . The scutt les were Open , and I wasstanding on my locker looking at the land , which layon our port beam and loomed in the dim light l ike ahuge cinder

,and watch ing the sea squirting up through

the blow-holes like spouts from a whale- school,when

a sudden hush behind caused me to turn round .

Johnson was leaning against a ventilator and al l handshad stopped what they were at and were looking at him .

Mick Leonard, our prize Banshee s tory- tel ler , was lying

on the gunner ’s -chest amidships with his hands supporting his chin

,and on him Johnson had his eyes earnestly

fixed as if expecting him to say something .

Mick was a rough- looking chap,whose two upper

incisors s tuck the l ip out and gave his face a ferociousturn . But he had no more harm in him than an Irishterrier . H is was the pure Hibernian cast of counten

ance : snub nose,long upper l ip

,and the expression of

humour and cordial ity so characterist ic of Erin ’s sons .He had also a rich

,round brogue . As a sailor-man

Mick was nowhere , but at a good I rish ditty , or thetel l ing of a b lood -curdling yarn

,few could equal

him .

Presen tly he said (you can think you hear the brogue ;I know I couldn ’t reproduce it

, so I won ’t try) .“Well ,

Lady , that ’s the queerest drame entire ly . Let ’s hearit again .

”

I could easily see that something extra special hadbeen going on which I had lost . I s lipped down andsat on the locker .

1 6 8 Sam Nob le,A .B .

What ’s up ? ” I asked , looking around . Lady ;what ’s it al l about ? ”

“ Oh , nothing ,” Johnson answered ; Just a dream Ihad last night that I was tel l ing M ick .

An ’ a funny drame,too ,” said Mick .

Well,what ’s it about —Did you hear ?

” I askedDolly Brown

,who was s itting next me sewing a new

seat into his serge trousers .

Bits,

” Dolly replied . But I can ’t make head or tailof it— Spin it over again , Lady . Mick ’s a good readerof dreams a regular Joseph he is , he ’l l put you right .Come on .

“ Oh , do Lady ! ” I cried , my curios ity bubbling up ,and scent ing a good thing from the way Mick waslooking at my chum .

“ Come on , butty ; le t ’s hearit . ” (Had I known what was coming , I ’m very sureI shouldn ’t have been so eager !)The others chimed in “ That ’s right .

away Lady .

” We ’re al l aJohnson shifted his posit ion , and his fine eyes

wandered over the crowd “ Oh ,” he said “ it ’s hardly

worth while . It’

s only a dream and there 3 nothing init However

,as you will have it , it was this way :

I thought we were lying at St . Helena , and thedinghy was cal led away to fetch somebody from theshore . It was evening . There was no wind , but achoppy sea was on ; and I remember I wondered at that .When I was about a hundred yards from the landingplace I heard the rol lers bashing against the rocksand knew it would be a b it rough gettinga in . I tooka glance round to make sure of my direction , and justthen “ caught a crab ” with the port oar wh ich upset

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

1 70 Sam Nob le,A .B .

countryman , and ready for a grow! wi th anybody on theshortest not ice , Coal dust is all you know about . ”

“ Order , please , in the galley ! ” sang out NeddyPearce , from the other s ide of the deck .

“ Hol ’ on ,

my heart ies , and let ’s hear what the oracle has to say .

There ’s something mighty pecu liar about that theredream to my way of thinkin

’

, eh , Mick ?”

“Ay ,

” said Mick , who had never altered his position ,

but lay staring at Johnson with his brows puckered likea bellows .

“ Ah ; there’s something mighty queer about

it Is your father and mother alive , Lady ? ”

NO,they ’re both dead .

Have ye any relat ions ?Yes

,

” said Johnson , his face light ing up , seeminglyat the thought of them ,

“ I ’ve two sisters .

”

“Is them al l the friends ye have ? ”

Yes,

” said Johnson , fascinated by Mick ’s eye,

All I have in the wo r ld .

Ah , thi n ,

” said the I r ishman,in a voice that sounded

like the croak of a raven,and sent a creepy sensation

down my spine ,“ poor , poor Lady ; you ’l l never see

your sisters more !A shudder ran through the deck , and somebody

shouted,Cover him up ! ”

“ Not see my S isters more , cried Johnson , his eyesfi lling

,what do you mean ? ”

Before Mick could reply,however

,a squirt of tobacco

juice took him fair on the bridge of the nose,and his

fi l led,though from diff erent emotions . He rolled off

the chest,and lay writhing on the deck , while a yel l of

laughter went up from al l hands . The pain mus t havebeen dreadfu l , for when he got up his eyes were like a

Lady Johnson’ s .Dream . 1 -

7 1

pair of over-ripe tomatoes , and gave such a ludicrousexpress ion to his face that another yel l broke out .He glowered savagely at the grinning faces around

him,and said : “ Yes ; laugh away , ye durty omadons !

But if I knew who did that , it’

s a diff erent key he wouldcackle in

,the scurvy pOck-puddin

’ that he is l— Wait ;ye may laugh as ye like , but see if my words don

’t cometrue .

”

After this there was a general rush on deck for asmoke ; and other things coming about , Lady ’s dreamand Mick ’s interpretation were entire ly forgotten .

Some days later we made the point we were steeringfor ; met the mail-boat , and soon had the letters aboard .

Immediate ly afterwards we started for St . Helena .

The arrival of the mail was a lways a momentousevent in life at sea in my day . For the time being , workwas practical ly suspended , and the men had amplele isure to discuss the news from home .

On this occas ion the mai l happened to be a doubleone , and as nearly al l hands had participated , the shipwas pretty happy . I remember I had two letters myself— one from my dear O ld mother , and one from— somebody else . These kept my mind busy with visions ofone kind and another ti l l tea- time .

During this meal , as usual after a mail , the variousitems of news were freely circu lated and commentedupon . While th is was going on , somebody said :“Where ’s Lady ? ” and then it was noticed that Johnsonhadn ’t been seen s ince the letters came aboard . Beltonand I at once went on the hunt . We natural ly went ondeck first , searched the fo

’c ’s le , the waist , around thefunnel and the 7- inch gun , then back to the fo ’c ’s le ,

1 72 Sam Nob le,A .B .

again , asked the Kroomen , and looked everywhere ,but no trace of him could we find . Then we went downbelow right into the fore -peak , and there we found himh idden away and crying like to break his heart .We got h im out , the other fe llows gathered round ,

and everybody did the best he could to soothe him .

The common sailor is supposed to be a rough , rowdyanimal , but he can be very tender at times , as poorJohnson no doubt felt .And real ly it was heartrending to look at him . H is

whole body shook with the violence of his sobs , andwhen asked to tel l what had happened , he hiccuppedso much that the words couldn ’t come out .

He threw down two letters on the mess table whichGinger opened and read . Both were deeply edged withblack . One was from his younger sister tel ling of thesickness and death of the elder , the other was from afriend int imating the death of the younger .After these letters were read , especial ly the first ,

which was worded in the most tender , aff ect ionatelanguage , I

’m safe to say there wasn’t a dry eye on the

lower deck .

Poor fe llow . H ow we sympathised with him !Most of us had someone to think of, or who would be

thinking of us , at home . But here was poor Johnsonleft utterly alone in the world . The sad news cast adamper on the whole ship ’s company

,who had al l been

so happy bu t a few minutes before .

Presently Mick Leonard , who belonged to No . 3 Messon the starboard side , spoke— and again his voicesounded in my ears l ike the croaking of some devilbird : “

Bhoys ; didn ’t I te l l ye so !

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

1 74 Sam Nob le,A .B .

geraniums far out at sea,and at al l seasons a most hearty

welcome . The people used to throng the landing-placewhen we arrived

,the garrison turned out to a man

even the very flowers,we used to think , pu t on their

best look to welcome us in . We loved to visit it .However

,for a fortnight on this

,our last sojourn

,al l

went well . Then one evening the dinghy was cal ledaway to bring an officer aboard . Johnson jumped inas usual . The weather was calm , the sea , with theexception of a slight swell

,as smooth as a bowling green .

There was also plenty of l ight for the trip , there andback . The idea of an accident happening never entereda single head . Certainly not Johnson ’s . H e had takenthe journey scores of times and

,naturally , never gave it

a though t .At certain times boats , especial ly smal l boats like the

dinghy,are not al lowed ashore , on account of what they

cal l “ the rol lers being on . These rol lers are immensewaves which strike the bluff face of the island with thefull force of the Atlantic

,and make landing extremely

difli cult . This evening , however , the weather was so

mi ld that they were overlooked .

H ow it happened no one knew ,but just as the landing

place was reached , the boat capsized and Johnson wastossed out , flung with a merci less crash against the rocks ,and immediately disappeared .

The dinghy was picked up shortly after , staved in , andwith both oars gone . Nor was a s ight or S ign of themever seen or heard of.When the news was brought aboard , you can imagine

the state of the lower deck . Consternation would justabout describe it . Poor Lady ’s dream was discussed

Lady Johnson’ s Dream 1 75

in whispers , and Mick ’s interpretation of it withbated breath . Both had come true to the very lette r ,as the saying is . A most uneasy , wretchedly uncomfortable feel ing pervaded the ship . Sai lors , as a rule , aren

’tthe most profound philosophers , and Mick , poor soul ,although he had nothing to do with it , was held in someway accountab le for Johnson ’s death

,and looked upon

as a sort of Jonah who ought to be pitched overboard .

I , myself, I well remember , used to look at him withawesome dread , and had he come upon me in the darkand touched me I ’m sure I should have jumped intothe sea . He was taken aft and questioned , but , of course ,sent back again at once with nothing against him . Allthe same , I wouldn

’t have been in Mick ’s p lace- no,

not for the whole year ’s pay of an admiral .Nine days after

,an event occurred that somewhat

relieved the tension : Lady ’s body was recovered,

battered and bruised almost beyond recognition ; butit was Johnson al l right . I t was real ! He hadn ’tvanished out of our ken like one of Mick Leonard ’sspooks . We had him with us ; had him to feel , to lookat— sad though the look was— and finally to tuck awayin a manner becoming to a sailor who had friendsleft behind him . This thought brought immensecomfort .Al l the last sad ofli ces to the dead— the laying of him

out ; sewing him up in his hammock ; the making of

his coffin— a labour of love to old“ Chips ” al l the

preparations for a naval funeral with full honours , weregone into with a melancholy satisfaction impossib le todescribe . The superstitious dread was l ifted from thelower deck and everybody breathed freely again . Lucks

1 76 Sam Nob le,A .B .

even brought out his concertina that night , and CurlyMillet sang “All ’s Well .”On the day of the funeral the sun shone as it can shine

only in those latitudes . And certainly a more impressively solemn or imposing spectacle than the burial ofour young comrade never was witnessed in St . Helenas ince the day i t was discovered ; not even the burialof Napoleon himself, so an old man told us .The sad and strange circumstances connected with

Johnson ’s death,and the fact of his being wel l known ,

and as wel l l iked in the town,drew old and young , rich

and poor to pay their last tribute of respect to hisremains .As the procession slowly wended its way to the

cemetery,it seemed as if every man , woman and child

who could possibly come was there .

When a gen tl e eminence a l ittle above the town wasreached

,the ship

,which had been his home , and wherein

he had spent many a happy hour,hove into view . The

peak was lowered , and the flag at half-mast swayedslowly to and fro as if waving a las t farewel l . As theprocession passed

,a funeral salute was fired , and the

deep solemn boom of the guns reverberating over thesparkling surface of the sea struck each heart with apeculiar pathos .At the grave

,surrounded by bare-headed men and

weeping women,the good old Bishop read the Serv ice

for the Dead . The beautiful words,bringing consola

tion and comfort to every l istener,spoken in a voice that

trembled with feeling— for the Bishop knew our shipmate well— were heard with the pures t reverence andfound an echo in every bosom .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

1 78 Sam Nob le,A .B .

For one thing , although the Swa llow was wel l on fortwo years in commission after the events here recorded

,

not a man of us would dare say he ’d had a dream if M ickLeonard were present .In time

,however

,the superstitious fear of the I rish

man gradual ly died down , and it was only when Lady ’sname was mentioned , or when Mick spun us one of hisBanshee hair- raisers

,that the feel ing retu rned . As a

shipmate he wasn ’t a bad sort at al l— genial , obligingand good at a song or a yarn . Besides , as he h imselfsaid— what harm had he done ?How he managed to piece things together and foretel lthe future we cou ld never find out . When asked , hesaid his mother could read dreams

,and that he could ,

too,now and again . That was al l we could get out of

him .

Doubtless some of my readers better versed in theoccul t than I am will be able to throw some light on thesubj ect . This sort of thing is taking hold nowadays .Perhaps the solution of the mystery lies in Campbell ’swell-known line :

Coming events cast their shadows before .

Which shadows , Mick , with his gift of second s ight , waspossibly able to pierce and see beyond .

CHAPTER XXI

ST. HELENA

SHORTLY after we buried Lady , two French men -ofwar

,a corvette and a big frigate

,came to the island and

anchored not far from where we lay . Their o ff icerscame aboard to pay the ir respects to ours , and greatcourtesies were exchanged between them . We commonJacks found the Frenchmen splendid fe llows , ready tohob—nob with us to our hearts ’ content .Being better up to the Lions than they , we showed

them around . I forget a good many of the po ints of St .Helena , but a few stil l Cl ing to memory . One inparticu lar was a hole in a lone ly rock cal led “ TheEmperor ’s Eye .

” This was a huge mass of stone witha tunnel dri l led right through as if done by a “ bit ” inthe hand of a mighty giant . Here Napoleon wassaid to come often . Standing beh ind the hole , theeffect was l ike look ing through a telescope . Of course ,you saw nothing but sky and water— limitless waterbut the sea seemed bluer , and the sky- tints richer andmore d istant than when gazed at from the open .

It seemed , too , to make you feel your own insignificance as noth ing else could— at least it did me . You

felt a poor , poor atom indeed looking out on that umfathomable globe of sea and sky with nothing living

1 80 Sam Noble,A .B .

breaking its serene immens ity , not even a b ird . Iused to wonder to myself what was it brought thatgreat spirit here so often . He who at one t ime heldthe dest inies of the world in his hands . What musthe have thought !Another place of interest was the Geranium Valley

,

the walk to which formed one of our favourite rambles .

The road , winding away from the town , rose to a peakwhich overhung a sort of rav ine where the flowers of thegeranium bloomed in such profusion that the eye wasalmos t dazzled looking at them , while their perfumescented the island like a summer-house .

We used to say the Garden of Eden couldn ’t possib lyhave looked prett ier than thi s . Billowing over theOpposite hill

,the flowers broke and fe l l in plumes and

tufts and feathers of colour cloud . Here , trai lingdown the hills ide in cascades of vermillion and orange ;there , topping the crest of some immense boulder , overhanging and draping it in festoons of living emeraldand pink

,the grey tones and hues of the stone beneath

gleaming pale ly through . Here , suspended from somej utting rock

,and fal ling like golden stalact ites in a

cave , and the colour darting everywhere from theirgli ttering facets as the light air moved them , l ikerays from prisms . Here a s lab of soft -hued motherof pearl ; there a massed battalion of red -coated soldiers ;over there

,look

,a patch of shining snow . All the

colours of the rainbow blended in exquisite harmony— a

glorious poem in tone . Such loveliness you couldn ’timagine . The whole scene , in fact , struck upon yoursight with such impel ling bril l iance that your eye wasmomen tarily b linded . I loved to come here !

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

1 82 Sam Nob le,A .B .

Here is an instance I remember vividly . We hadtaken them to see the exi le ’s grave . This is a squarepatch of grass with a rai ling round it

,not far from

Longwood . Of course we didn ’t attach much importance to it

,having seen it so often

,but the Frenchmen

stood bowed and bareheaded , as people do in church ,the picture of si lent reverence , never moving a joint .One of our fellows , Tom Carter— a smart seaman

,

bowman of the gal ley he was— rather a saucy billetaboard a warship— Tom

,without thinking

,squirted

some tobacco -ju ice on to the railings and the swardbeyond . A Frenchman seeing this

,ran at him with a

shocked , pained look , crying Oh , Johnny , Johnny ,Johnny !Carter , who was a natty sai lor , and took great pride

in his appearance,immediately whipped out his hand

kerchief,wiped the railing

,then off with his cap and

polished it with that,spoiling his clean white cap - cover ;

whereupon the Frenchman flew at him,took h im round

the neck and kissed his face al l over .If you ’d seen Carter du ring this ordeal you would

have laughed !

L’

ENTENTE CORDIALE

Those fel lows treated us wel l . They got up a concertand bal l in our honour . The yards were canted and thetwo ships moored together . The frigate was turned intoa ball room

,the corvette into a supper and concert

room . The Governor and other notabilities ashore ,with their ladies

,were invi ted

,the weather was s imply

superb,and didn ’t we have a grand night ! If ever

there was an entente cordiale that was it !

St . Helena 1 8 3

Of course we hadn ’t room to return the compliment,

but we made a rendezvous with them at S imon ’s Town,

and there we engaged a large barn- l ike structure belonging to the Cosmopolitan Hotel , fitted it up , decorated itso that the people didn ’t know their own place

,and

had another glorious n ight . I t was a case ofWillie brewed a peek O

’ maut,

and the sun was well up before the festivities terminated .

If there were more of those “ j ink s ” there would beless danger of war , I

’m thi nking .

A feature of these entertainments that I particularlyremember was the fun caused by the inability of theFrenchmen and ourselves to understand each other ’slanguage . We had two interp reters on our s ide . Onewas Maggar, an ab le seaman belonging to the ChannelIslands . But he had only a smattering of French

,an

odd phrase or two , and , bes ides , he got so wel l sprungearly in the evening at S imon ’s Town that he fancied heknew more than he actual ly did

,and nearly made a mess

of things . We had to pu t him to bed .

The other was “ Gentleman George , a splendidshipmate

,who afterwards turned out to be the runaway

scion of a b ig house at home . He could speak Frenchl ike a native ; but as he could only be in one place atonce

,much of what was said was lost to the others .

But the Frenchies were even worse off than we . Notone of their crowd could talk our lingo .

However,we got on al l right . We just signed and

kissed and cuddled each other al l night .When a French toast was given— it was toasting

al l the time,after supper ; we toasted everything

1 84 Sam Nob le,A .B .

conceivab le on land and water,the ladies

,of course

,

coming top— a Frenchman would rise,glass in hand

,

strike an attitude,smile upon the company— taking

us al l in his arms,as it were —j abber out his message

,

George shouting the English of it after him . Thenwe would rise in a body , cl ink our glasses together

,

and yel l at the highes t pitch of our voices

To arms ! To arms , ye braves !Avenging swords unsheath

finish ing the verse as we knew how .

When it was our turn , George would get up , wave hisglass aloft , return the smi le , nod from side to sideGeorge could do it l ike a courtier l— and say : Gentlemen

,the toast which it is my pleasant duty to propose

is (so and and up we would al l jump,clink

again,and roar

R- r-rule B ritannia ! Britannia r- r- ru les the wavesBr-r-ritons never-r-r

,never-r-r never-r-r

,

”— e tc .

this be ing the only British song known to our chumsand couldn ’t they rol l the r ’

s !

These are two of the happiest nights I remember .We had another with the men of the Forester , a

s ister ship on the station , and one or two with theDwa rf , our relief shi p , and any amount of

“ shipvis iting ” and other part ies . Indeed , those junketswere frequent with us , bu t the best remembered are thetwo the Frenchmen shared .

At Simon ’s Town we had another glimpse of Africanroyalty , when Cetewayo , the ! ulu king and his party

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

1 86 Sam Nob le,A .B .

and a bunch of bright red flowers p inned to her breast .I have only to shut my eyes to see her as plainly now as

I d id then . She looked the very living embodimentof our flag . She would be about seventeen I shouldthink , and extraordinari ly pretty she appeared to usmen who had seen nothing but blacks and yamstocks ,thick lips and flat faces , for months and months .We were pass ing quite close , under sai l , s liding along

and making not the least noise . Everybody fore andaft was feasting his eyes on that dainty figure when

,

happening to raise hers , she saw us . Bang went thebook , round she wheeled , and off to the house she

went like a butterfly fluttering home . We cal led afterher : Oh ! don ’t run away , missie ! Don

’t run away !”

She never turned nor looked back , but reached thehouse and vanished inside .

One of the fe l lows said : “ Damnation ! and thatexpressed the feelings of us all.The whole trip to Cape Town was rotten that year .

We hadn ’t long rounded Green Po int , the place I havementioned , and come within s ight of Table Mountain ,when we saw it had on its “ night - cap , and beforewe reached the anchorage , one of the terrific squal lscommon to that region , came on , which nearly caps izedus , blew us out to sea nearly as far as Tristan D ’

Acunha ,

and cost us a whole su it of sails .

Then , when we did get ashore two of our fel lows gotrobbed and put into the lock-up . We had a horriblefight with some Dagoes in a public house , where I got awr ist sprained and a knock on the head with one ofthose old - fashioned g inger-beer bott les , l ike a torpedo .

Altogether,it was a rough time , and we were glad

St . Helena 1 8 7

to get away— blaming that l ittle gipsy at Green Pointfor the whole show , of course !From then on it was nothing but gales , tornadoes and

rain for nearly a month . Once , at 1 1 o ’clock in thefirst watch (six bells) the p ipe went— “ Clear lowerdeck ! ” and up we bundled to find the ship almostamongst breakers . The weather was l ike a soldier ’sblanket and as thick as soup , the breakers , li ke maddevi ls , howling on our lee— cou ldn ’t we hear them !and a sou ’

-westerly hurricane doing its damnedest todrive us on top of them .

However , by good luck— not to mention good sea

mansh ip— and , m ind you , it takes some brains , andsome nerve , too , to get out of a s ituation like that— a

night like a pocket , a roaring , tumbling sea , breakersahead , and , a wind full of s leet and spite behind youbut , glory be ! they were both on the Swallow’

s poopthat n ight . We managed to steer clear with never ascratch .

Then we anchored at a place cal led Rock Fort , a l itt lebe low Cape Frio , and there we had a Sway the main ,

”

that is , a royal entertainment . We performed two plays ,one called “ An Apri l Foo l

,the other “ Two in the

Morning ; sp liced the main brace , had some singingand dancing , and finished up with that good old farce“ Ici on Parle Francais ,” That ’s how the British Jackovercomes “ the dangers of the sea and the violence ofthe enemy .

From there we went to Walfish Bay to meet our

relief— the Dwarf , and bid farewell to the West Coastof Africa . We were about two years and a half in commission by th is time , and not a b it sorry to go .

1 8 8 Sam Nob le,A .B .

But before leaving The Coast altogether I musttel l you about a li ttle incident that I ’ve often taken aquiet laugh over to myself . It o ccurred while coalingat one of these out landish ports . They weren ’t al l likeFernando Po , where the coal came aboard in lumpspassed from hand to hand . At some places we lay along way out and the stuff came in lighters , sometimesloose , sometimes in bags . It had al l to be whippedaboard and the empty lighter sent back .

There were often long waits between the lighters ,sometimes short ones . When a lighter arrived it wasfrequen t ly the deuce ’s own job getting the coal out , onaccount of the ship rolling like an empty tub and threatening ei ther to fall on top of you or suck you under atevery heave . If the weatherwaswet— that put the finish

ing touch to it and the tale of miserywas complete . Also ,what should have been one ordinary day ’s cheerfu l workwas turned into a long , dreary darg last ing about a week .

One afternoon the lighters were terrib ly erratic ; theship rol l— ro ll— rol led horribly ; a pers istent drizzle keptus wet and cold and unspeakably miserable . With so

much dus t about we were al l as grimy as Hood ’s coalheavers “ off the Wash .

” The worst of it was we tookthe muck below and made the lower deck as bad as theupper .You would empty a lighter and Pipe down would

go . Then you were no sooner down below in the messthan Hands coal ship ! ” would sound aga in , and upyou had to trudge .

D iscomfort and irritation had the t ime of the ir lives .Everybody had the wind up and was ready to jump oneverybody else .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

CHAPTER XXI I

UPS AND DOWNS OF SEA L IFE

WE left the West Coast in a gale which blew us fromCape Town right away above the latitude of Campos ,Rio de Janeiro— if you look at the map you ’l l see thedistance— and here

,after the storm died down , an

incident took place which , in order to tel l the storyproperly

,and give you the fu l l import of its pathos , and

of its tragedy,I must go back to the second or third

week of the commission .

I t was one lovely morn ing just after sunrise , when wewere jogging along under easy sail

, on the way toMadeira . A fine

,sweet breeze was pushing

,and at the

same time bringing over to us the scen ts of old and newCastile

,where the grape and the orange and all the other

delicious fruits of that sunny old Clime would be inbloom , and they touched our l ips wi th a flavour l ikechampagne , and set our teeth watering for a taste of

them in reali ty .

The middle watch— from 1 2 to 4 a .m .

— had just beenrelieved , bu t the beauty of the morning kept al l handson deck . The sun rushed up over the eastern horizonlike a revolving funnel

, its outer rim quivering in a hazeof brill iance , and its core so dazzling that the eye was

Ups and Downs of Sea Life 1 9 1

blinded looking at it . The sky was a deep azure ,flocked with long trailing feathers and tufts of gossamercloud al l del icately tinted in pink

,green

,mauve , salmon ,

orange,silky-white

,and other lovely shades

,which

floated overhead like fairy sprites , had their photographs taken in the shining water below , and thenchanged colour and faded altogether while you lookedat them . The ocean stretched away like a vast sheetof wavy glass with nothing ahead breaking its pol ishedsurface

,while above the western rim hung piles and

masses of thin , fi lmy mist , l ike thistledown , whichbroke up

,as if b lown upon from behind , and went

floating out of sight like puff s of smoke from a pipe .

About an hour before the watch was cal led a sai lhad been sighted astern

,and now a little brig began to

come up with us hand over fist . From her trucks ,which twinkled like brass buttons at her mastheads , toher bulwarks

, she was dressed in snowy canvas . Everysail was ful l , and every additional stitch that could beuseful— stun ’sails

,skysails

,and what not— set , and

helping to push, so that she came dancing over the blue

water l ike a l ittle girl skipping home from school . I twas pretty to watch her bounding along , rising andfal ling with the gentle swell . She seemed to be newand was clipper-built . Her copper flashed like goldevery time she lifted and the water at her stem frothedup like bil lows of wool

,and then fel l away from either

bow in a ravishing little curl l ike the “ kiss-me-quick ”

at a young lady ’s ear , and ran along her sides l ikefestoons of glittering j ewel lery .

The sight of her took our breath away— she came sosuddenly upon us , and looked so buoyant and free .

1 9 2 Sam Nob le,A .B .

She seemed the very sp irit of morning— light , airy ,graceful , young and happy . She passed us with the

swish of a racing yacht , not more than a cable’s length

distant . There wasn ’t a soul on her deck , but whenshe showed her stern we saw a man at the wheel

,and

behind him a lady in a blue b louse and with a lightcoloured handk erchief round her neck

,holding a baby

in her arms . Seeing us al l intently watching her , thelady (she would be the capta in

’s wife,I daresay) held

the baby towards us and dandled it up and down ,whereat we gave them both a full- throated cheer . Thenwe caught the brig ’s name sh ining in gilt Roman lettersjust under the taffrai l :

LUCY : LONDON

and shouted after her , Good luck to you,Lucy !

which the lady answered wi th another toss of the baby ,and away they went as if borne on a summer cloud .

We watched the little fabric grow less and less ti l lshe was a mere speck , never thinking to see her again ;then the watch went abou t their work

,the others turned

in,and we forgot the incident .Well

,that is the story ; here is the sequel , two and a

half years afterwards . I have told you howwe had beendriven over a thousand miles out of our course , but Icouldn ’t describe the storm that drove us there .

The wind blew as if al l the furies had been let loose .

The seas ran in mad moun ta ins,with the spume whir ling

around their tops like pine smoke . Sometimes we wereperched on what appeared to be a boil ing pit of blacklava ; at other times down we plunged into a deep

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

1 94 Sam Nob le,A .B .

wildly beckoning for help , while his crazy , half-stifledvoice lent its pitiful appeal .She was abandoned .

She must have started a leak , which was too big forher peop le to cope with— we saw that by the fore andafter pumps

,which were both rigged— and they had

left her . But when ? There was no sign of them anywhere around

,though the offi cers searched the whole

horizon with their glasses . Certain sure they were al ldrowned . Perhaps we had floundered over the spotwhere they were now lying .

She was sinking before our eyes . We stood by and

saw the water rise t il l her bulwarks were awash , everyspar and t imber about her crying like doomed children .

Suddenly she gave a big sigh and a heave,and up came

her ste rn . There,in faded gold letters , were the words

LUCY : LONDON

The sight of them sent a thri ll through the ship .

The uppermost thought in each of our minds was“What abou t the woman and the baby ? Were theysaved , or what became of them ? ” I tell you we had alot to conj ecture and talk about that day . Of course ,i t was so long since we had first met the brig

,and she

might have taken twenty trips to di ff erent parts in thattime , and changed hands as often . But you never know .

That is sea l ife al l the world over : here to- day andaway to-morrow . You never know what will happen ,and you ’ve got to take things just as they come . Nowonder that Jack is a careless

,happy-gO- lucky sort of

soul . If he were to stop and th ink of the dangers that

Ups and Downs of Sea Life 1 9 5

beset h im he would never be ab le to l ive his life at al l,

and there would be few fur coats and feather hats inthis littl e island of ours

,So he merely laughs at them

and hopes for the best .We stood by , l ike men at a graves ide , and watched

her disappear , watched also the eddies caused by hersinking die out , leaving the sea unruffled as if nothinghad happened , then turned , sad enough you mayimagine

,and steered for La Platte .

We thought as we went that , cruel as the sea is , thereis yet a solemnity and dign ity about her mode of

burial that the most imposing ceremony in the richestcemetery ashore cannot equal . I t is also the mostappropriate and fitting end to a ship ’s or a sai lor ’slife .

TH E DOLDRUMS

Soon after our parting with the Lucy ,the weather

,

satisfied , you would have thought , with the tol l it hadtaken , seemed to make up its mind to be good ,” and wehad a fine spe ll of blue ski es , sparkl ing breezes , anddancing water around us .Then we ran into the Doldrums , and there we lay

for another fortnight or so ,

As idle as a painted shipUpon a painted ocean .

”

sp inning round and round on our kee l , the masts boringa hole in the sky . If you threw a bottle over the starboard s ide at night you got it on the port- s ide in themorning . The sea was lovely to look at— rich deep

Sam Nob le,A .B .

blue , and as flat and clear as a looking-glass . If youbent over the S ide you saw the ship , with every detail tothe pennant at the mast-head standing out clear like aphotograph beneath you , and al l sorts of s trangelooking fish swimming in and out among the rigging .

The sky , when you looked at it , which was not often ,for the awnings were spread , and you preferred keep ingunder them ,

was like a huge metal basin turned upsidedown , Of a purple colour , with a fiery ball b lazing in themiddle . We could hear the raucous cry of the albatross ,and often saw that lordly bird p laning , with never ashake of his wing , like a gigantic snowflake in the hazyether above .

Sometimes the frigate -bird , or the bo ’sun , would comeproudly sweeping along , and you would see him take asudden dive into the sea and come up with a big fish

wriggling in his beak .

Another would chase h im for it , and then you wouldsee the two circl ing and whirl ing , feathers flying , thefish being dropped a dozen times and picked up asoften before it reached the water— a regular batt leroyal in fact . It was rare sport to watch the flying fishpursued by the dolphins , and the albatross hoveringabove to catch either of them when they came out ofthe wate r . Many a good breakfast we had of the flyingfish which flopped aboard for shelter . Poor beggars !It was out of the water into the frying-pan for them ,

sure . We used to lure them aboard at night with thecook ’s lantern

,and then there would be a feast around

the fo ’c ’s le gun when the middle watch was cal led .

Sometimes whole fleets of Portugee men -o’-war

would pop into view . These are tiny sea- creatures

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

1 9 8 Sam Nob le,A .B .

below him , and before you could wink there would be afloundering in the water , and over the brute would go ,bel ly up

,and his flappers whirling in the air . Then we

whipped the stern painter round him , towed him backand hoisted him aboard , Jack meanwhi le s itting on thegun ’ l beside the cox’

n , with his teeth al l showing in anear- to-ear grin . After that we fed like aldermen forthe next few days . But the heat was crue l , and wecouldn ’t s leep at night for want of air , so that we wereal l glad when at last we got edged out of the bel t ofcalms and off again on our course .

CHAPTER XXI I I

OUR ENTERTAINERS

ONE of the pleasantest features of the cruise that Ilove to recal l now , when s itting by the fireside of anevening

,is the entertainments that came off during our

long trips at sea— very often in harbour , too , especial lyat Monte Video , where we had b ig audiences of lad iesand gentlemen to hold forth before . The captain , asI have said , was a good reader ; h is name often figuredon our programmes .B i l ly

,the first l ieutenant , cou ld s ing , but was too

affected : wouldn ’t let h imself go . One night he gaveus

“ Nancy Lee ,” and the rous ing chorus that fol lowed

each verse ought to have drawn him out , and warmedhim up besides ; but it didn ’t . Next day one of thefel lows p iped

See,there she stands upon her handsAnd waves the key !

wh ich B i l ly , unlucki ly , heard , and would s ing no more .

He thought they were making game of him forward .

Mr . Baynham , the Navigating Master , had a humorousturn . Two of his songs I remember wel l —perhapsbecause of both the tunes being Scotch . He used to

I 99

zoo Sam Nob le,A .B .

rig up in a gown , by way of surplice , and deliver themas the parson does in church . Thi s way , with a nasalintonation

“ Brethren ; we will now s ing the one thousand onehundredth and onety onth ps

-a-a- lm— beginning at thebeginning :

Tune S cotch.

”

(“YE BANKS AND BRAES o ’ BONNIE DOON .

There were three crows sat on a tree,

And they were black as black could be !(S ing !)

Those crows , desirous to be fed ,The one unto the other said

(S ing !)

There is a horse on yonder plainWho some time lately hath been slain .

(S ins !)

We ’l l perch ou rselves on hi s breast boneAnd pick his eyes out one by one .

(S ing !)

Old hoss,Old hoss , you ’ve carried many passengers !

But now you ’ll be made into polony sassengers !AMEN !

other was somethi ng after the sameTune Auld Lang Syne .

There was a man ; he had two sonsAnd these two sons were brothers ;

Tobias was the name of one ,Sophias was the other ’s

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

20 2 Sam Nob le,A .B .

It went on to relate how we took the young lady intoan oyster shop where they consumed “ seven score ormore ” between them , also some

“ p ies and pawtaw .

”

Then he turned s ick and went to s leep . When he wokeup he found his watch and chain and all his valuablesgone . Moral : Have no truck with casual youngladies .Another of the paymaster ’s songs was Ten thousand

mi les away ,” a convict d itty . Lord ! who hears thesethings nowadays

,I wonder— though the stuff we get

in present-day mus ic hal ls is just as trashy , every bit ,if not more so .

Mr . Richmond made a rare job of th is song . Ofcourse , it was the choru s that endeared it to us . Anything with a good chorus commends its elf to a ship .

This is how it went— the tune , another fine polka

S ing ho,for a gay and a gallant barque ,

A brisk and lively breeze ,A captain

,too ,

and a bul ly crewTo ca r ry me o ’e r the seas

,

To carry me o ’er the seas , my boys ,To my own true love , so gay ,She ’s taken a trip in a government ship ,Ten thousand miles away .

ChorusThen

,blow ye winds , i -oh !

A roving I will go,

I ’ll stay no more on England ’s shore ,So let the music play .

I ’ll start by the morning train ,I ’ll cross the raging main ,For I ’m on a voyage to my own trueTen thousand miles away !

Our Ent ertainers 2O3

There were four or five more verses , but these are al lI ’ve room for . The chorus was one of our very best sead itties

,and we used to roar it out ti l l we nearly had the

yards down about our ears .

We had some good talent on the lower deck . Strangeto say , Satu rday is the day on which I am now writingthis

,and memory , taking a leap to the Saturdays in the

Swallow,over a bridge of forty- six years , brings the

scene back as clearly as though I had never left it . I seethe bustle and activity

,and hear the voices of my ship

mates raised in hearty concert . Saturday was scruband wash lower- deck day .

” When al l hands werebelow and the b rushes going , somebody would start asong , say , The Farmer

’s Boy ,” then the rest would take

it up and the deck would ring .

When the crowd of us got started it was a scene toremember . Sixty men or so , most of them with nothingon but a pair of old trousers , and these tucked up til lthey resembled pants , working with scrubbing-brush ,holystone

,squeegee , drying- Cloth and swab , the ir

bodies gl istening with sweat from their vigorous exertionsand their voices roaring out some fine old melody —sea

or shore,it was al l the same to us provided the chorus

was good— I tel l you it was grand !TO -day

,I hear in fancy— sitting with the pen in my

hand , the clock ticking an accompaniment— as Clearlyas I did then in real ity , the joyful shout of triumphthat rose with the last verse

In course of time he grew a man,And the good o ld farmer died .

He left to the lad the farm that he had,And his daughter for his bride .

204 Sam Nob le,A .B .

SO the boy who was , now a farmer is ,And he Oftimes thinks with joyOf the happy

,happy day , when he came that way,

To be a farmer ’s boy .

Chorus : (like the burst of a brass band) .For to plough

,and to sow,

and to reap and to mow,

And to be a farmer ’s boy .

For to plough , and to sow,and to reap and to mow,

And to be a farmer ’s boy,

To be a farmer ’s boy !

Where are the owners of those hearty vo ices now , Iwonder . Some s leeping peacefully in li ttle vi llagechurchyards . Some , with the

“Wild mob ’s million feettrampling around them

,but powerless to disturb their

slumber , hid away in the large cemeteries of towns .Some

,three to my ce rtain knowledge

,lashed up in

their hammocks,wi th the round shot tied to their

ankles,await the Last Trump in the natural sepulchre

of the sailor . Some may be hearty sti l l . Some , l ikethe writer

,scarce ab le to pipe a note , but making a

good try . The old ship herself is broken up , hertimbers scattered to the four winds of heaven . Nothi ngbut memories remain .

Ah,well ! These are sweet , anyway . And if man

or thing leave sweet memories behind— that is all thatmatters !We could al l do our l ittl e b it at s inging— ln a way , ofcourse— but Curly Millet led the choir . A sweet , tenorvoice Curly had . He went in for fine stuff too : “ Sallyin our Alley ,

” “Mary , call the cattle home ,” etc .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

206 Saml

Noble,A .B .

I tr- ied ! —oh , how I tr- i -e-dMy feel-c c -ings to sm-other-r !Oh ! thou hast been the c a-a-useOf this anguish— my mother-r-r !

Another of Bayly ’s songs that was a favourite aboard ,a lso sung by Westwater

,was The Pilot .”

Marchand,the ship ’s corporal , was our star turn .

He had a large selection,both English and Irish , to

choose from,the latter being his favourites . It was

Marchie , bless him ! who first introduced me to TimFinnigan ’s Wake

,

” “ Rory O’

More ,” “ The Rocky

Road to Dub lin ,” “ Paddy Haggerty ’s leather breeches ,

“Widow Machree , and hosts of Moore’s melodies that

to forget now would bring more sorrow to me than theloss of my pension . He had also some fine , ro ll icking ,descript ive ditt ies which he laid off in great style . Onewas

“ Mr . Bob Tubbs , dealing with the troubles of anewly-married couple who got separa ted just whenstarting on the honeymoon . Another was “ SaireyAnn ,

” tel ling about a cook in Grosvenor Square who

pined and pined awayFor ten long years and a half

,sir

,

Sorrowing,sighing , day by day,And never once did laugh , sir,

For one,Billy Kent , who , alas !

Is working under Government ,Engaged for fourteen years .

However , Bill gets out of prison on a ticket-of - leave , andOne fine day what does she seeBefore the airy standing ?In ecstasy she cries " Tis he ! ’

And rushed up to the landing .

Our Entertainers 2o7

B il l is taken below to the ki tchen , entertained royal ly ,and then , to show hi s gratitude , walks off with thefami ly s i lver and Sairey ’

s poor little Geneva . But thepoliceman on the beat , who is a r ival of Bil l ’s , and onthe watch , pounces on him , catches him redhanded , andSairey , losing one lover , gains another , and al l endshappily .

The corporal had a rich baritone voice,and a bland ,

graciously urbane manner— for s inging ! On duty— a

different man altogether . Then, he was the policemanNavy all the time ! But get him up in the dog watchfor a song and then he took you in h is arms .

The most popular of h is batch in the fo c sle wasRatc liff H ighway ,” to the tune called “ The AshGrove . I think I see him standing on the fore - hatch ,arms outspread as if embracing everybody , face liftedto the sky, body bent forward , eyes half shut , and apositive sob in his voice :

I love her dear mother,

I ’m fond of her brother,

On sister and father I spend half my pay,

But oh ! give me Nancy,

The girl of my fancy,

To go for a ramble down Ratcliff Highway !

The chorus was the last three lines repeated , and didn ’twe rol l them out !

But the one I l iked best of al l , which usual ly cameas an encore to “ Ratcliff Highway ,” was “ Peggy ofSweet Coleraine . You should have heard h im singingthis song , and al l of us chiming in , with Westwater inthe high alto . When Marchand was “ up , the Off icers

20 8 Sam Noble,A .B .

were irres istibly drawn forward as if by magnet , so thateverybody in the ship shared , and was happy . I don ’tknow the name of the tune , but it is a very popularmelody— Welsh , I think . I ’ve heard it sung to twodiff erent sets of verses Donnachy

’

s Wake ,” an d The

charming young widow , but neither of these is asgood as Marchand ’s . This was our pet verse :

Oh , well I remember the night that we parted ,The moon shone serenely and calm was the air ;I told her my love

,and we both were light-hearted ,

And Peggy she promised my fortune to share .

’Neath the old cabin thatch,whi ch shelters the starling ,

I kissed her and kissed her again and againOh

,sad is my heart when I think of my darling

,

My tender young Peggy of sweet Co leraine !

Bil l Grimshaw was our pet elocution ist . Bil l wasleading stoker a ta l l man , s tanding over six feet highand as thin as one of his own cinder- rakes . He had alarge repertoire— mostly sea-pieces “ Jack Oakum ,

”

Sunday at Sea,

” “Two Hearty Tars ,

” “ Jack and theJew

,

” etc . The Sai lor ’s Apology ”was also on his

l is t,bu t that piece

,being the cap tain ’s , was taboo before

the mainmast . We rigidly adhered to that princip lewhoever sang a song

,or did anything else , first , that

item belonged to him right through the commission .

But Bill had plenty without it . He had had anaccident to his left eye at one time— through a boilerexplos ion— which wrinkled that side of his face , givingit a sort of surprised expression . This added thefinishing touch to the drollery of his reciting . Amongall his p ieces “ Jac k Oakum ”

was my favourite .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

2 1 0 Sam Nob le,A .B .

Jack went to sea, and fought the French ,Came back with pockets lined ,And jumped ashore , rej o iced to meetThe old friends left behind .

He took a trip to London town,

Where eve rything is gay ,And strolled to D rury ’s lofty wallsTHE TEMPEST was the play !

Ha ! here ’s the stuff for me,says Jack ,

Determined to be jo lly,

But this time he went to the pi t,Remembering former folly .

And when the well-known scene arrived ,And lightning rent the skies ,Jack slued around , and turned his quid ,And upward cast his eyes

Hold hard aloft,you jolly dogs !

You howl ing,jovial part ies !

Mind what you ’re at,you shillin’ swabs

,

For— down you come,my hearties !

Umbray , the ship ’s cook,had a song cal led The

H i lls of Chi l e ,” a fine “up

- anchor ” ditty this was : madethe capstan sp ir . I t deta i led the love affair of a Spanishyoung lady , who was being courted by an AmericanNaval Officer , to whom her mother s trongly obj ected .

I ’ve tried eve rywhere to find this song —hunted libraryafter library

,bored into al l sorts of collections , com

pilations and compendiums of old sea chari ti es , buthave never caught a glimpse of it . I ’m sorry for this ,

Our Ent ertainers 2 1 1

for it is a fine specimen of the fo 0 sle ditty of my day .

I remember only this one verse of it :Oh

,mother

,dearest mother ,

H ow can you run them down ?For these American men are gentlemen ,And men of high renown .

Those American men are gentlemen ,And their hearts are bold and free ,And I ’ll cross the Hills of Chile with them ,

And fight for libert ie.

With me fal-th-dal lal-th-dal ay,With me fal-th-dal lal-th-dal a-a-a-a-ay .

The last ay had five beats al l to itself. Umbrayused to stand outs ide the swifter pull ing and S inging foral l he was worth , wh il e we in the race bent to the barsand made the capstan whirl . Perhaps some of the oldSwallows” may see th is— perhaps Umbray himse lfmay be al ive— if so, it wil l recal l old times and setthem humm ing .

Another fine old song was Away down Rio (pronounced

“Ry I ’ve met this one often enough ,

but never the way we sang it . I t wasn ’t used by usmerely as a chorus , but was tacked on to a pure Navyditty , cal led “Around Cape Horn . Th is way

Our Ship had been inspectedBy the Adm ’

ral all around ,While lyin ’ in Portsmouth HarbourThat large and beautiful town .

We were waitin’ there for orders,

For to sail away from home,

Our orders were for R- i -o,

And then around Cape Horn .

2 1 2 Sam Nob le,A .B .

Then away down Rio ,Away down Rio ,Then

,fare you well

,my bonnie young girl

,

We ’re bound for Rio Grande .

When we arrived at RioWe tarried there a while ;We set up all our riggin ’

,

And bent all our new sailFrom shi p to shi p they cheeredAs we did sail along

,

And wished us pleasant weatherA-rounding of Cape Horn .

Chorus Then away , etc .

At las t we rounded the Horn,my boys ,

Five nights and five days,

And the next place we dropped anchorWas Valiparaiso Bay,Where the pretty little girls they do comeWith their dark and curly hairThey are the loveliest of girls ,I vow and do declare !

Chorus : Then away , etc .

They love a jolly sailor,

When he is on the spree ,He cal ls for li quor merrily

,

And spends hi s money free .And when that money is al l gone,They will not you imposeThey are unlike some girls we know,

Who go and sell your clo ’es !

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

2 1 4 Sam Noble,A .B .

This one : We ’ l l soon sight the Isle of Wight,my

Boys,

”one of the very best of our homeward-bounders

,

I have heard a whole fleet sing at the same time . Oneship started it , another took it up , and away it wentright round the lot , covering miles of sea-water

,the

sound rising , billow upon billow , wave upon wave , l ikesome mighty organ pealing to heaven .

This happened out in the roads off Monte V ideo ,one night when our present King , George V . and hisbrother

,Clarence , were on their tour round the world ,

and the B ac chante and her crowd met us there . Therewould be at least twenty ships round about— someAmerican men-o’

-war , too , if I ’m not mistaken— theShenandoah and the Massachusetts— and they also j oinedin . I f the prince happened to be aboard , I ’m sure theKing wil l remember it . That night the very starsseemed to sing !I can ’t recal l the whole song , but here is the last

verse and the Chorus(You are to suppose yourself in , say , the Swallow,

whilethe man who has started the song is in the Garnet , orone of the other ships . You wait ti l l the first four l inesare sung , and then j oin in when the chorus comes round .)

And now we ’re paid Off,

And happy are we,

With a glass in each hand,

And a lass on each knee !Chorus

We ’ll soon sight the Isle O’ Wight

,my boys

,We ’ ll soon Sight the Isle O’ Wight , my boys ,

If the breezes don ’t fail !If the breezes don ’t fail !

Our Ent ertainers 2 1 5

In the Swallow,this song belonged to Harry Watson ,

our next best singer to Curley Millet , and a bOInmusician . He couldn ’t read a note of music

,but knew

how a song ought to be sung al l right . Harry was abit of a wag . It was he who used to say he liked havingthe toothache because he felt so wel l after it left . Harryhad a fine voice and some good songs

,the best I l iked

being The Four Jolly Smiths,

” wh ich he sang withgreat Vim .

He usual ly acted as conductor in the choruses , wie lding a belaying-pin for a baton , while going through themotions and keeping us in time like a regular LandonRonald . The great diff erence between Harry and thatprince of conductors being that , when things wentwrong , he never tore his own hair— it was always thehair of the party who caused the trouble . As thebelaying- pin was made of lignum-vitw, and weighed acouple of pounds or so , you hadn

’t to be near h im ifyou made a bad note or , by gum, you remembered it .I see him now : a little , stout , merry- faced fe llow

from Lancash ire— a“ Red Roser ,

” as he used to saywho sang like a nightingale . The last verse (which Iquote from memory) was h is especial favourite— as itwas with all of us . As he sang it , you wou ld havethought he was cuddling the words , if you take mymeaning , whi le at the end of the chorus , the way hekept us hanging on to the high note of the “ ro l l ing

,

”

before he gave the Signal to drop and fin ish,was fine

The four jolly smiths,when their hair turns grey

,Will gladly sit down and rest,

And merrily each one of them will say“We ’ve done our very

,very best ! ”

2 1 6 Sam Nob le,A .B .

And the thought so dear will each bosom cheerLet the young smiths still strike on

,

And feed well the fires of their resting sires,

As the four j olly smiths have done !

With the bang,and the clang ,

And the ring,ding

,dong ,

The work goes merrily rolling along .

With the bang,and the clang

,

And the ring,ding

,dong

,

The work goes merrily rol ling— along !

Harry somet imes got the nickname of Old Po lish ,whi ch came to him through a passage he had with thefirst lieutenant . One day , at gun inspection , Bil lyspo tted a dull compressor on the 7- inch gun .

“Whose part of the gun is thi s ? ” said “ The Bloke ,tapping the steel p la te wi th h is telescope .

Watson ,who was S tanding at his e lbow , saluted .

Is thi s your compressor ?Yes , s ir .

”

Look at it .Harry looked Beg y ’ pardon , s ir ; what ’s the matter

with it ?“Why , it isn ’t clean . Can ’t you see it ? ”Not Clean , sir ! Why , I Cleaned it not five minutes

ago .

Billy jerked in his monocle,Don ’t repeat my words ,

sir l” he barked .

“ I say it isn ’t clean . Dull asa doormat

“ Oh , dull , sir , may be , beg y’ pardon .

quite clean not polished .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

CHAPTER XXIV

IN THE DOG-WATCHES

ANOTHER glorious , heart -filling song of HarryWatson ’s was Drink to me only with thine eyes . Hetaught us a humming accompaniment to this one .

When Curly Millet was off duty , he usually took themelody

,Harry and others fol lowing , with Westwater

in the alto soaring above everybody . When all theparts were going , and the song rolling in lovelycadences

,the ear was s imply ravished with it . That

chap Westwater used to send his hi gh notes whirlingabout among the royal trucks in a way that wassplendid to hear . If you happened to be aloft do inga job , you couldn

’t get on with your work for l isteningand waiting for them .

And we had some grand concerts . Nothing h ighclass

,but just the s imple , hearty kind that fi l led the

hearts of us common sai lor-men with great happiness,

making life ve ry pleasant for us . And , besides , theyhave left an impression on me that wil l never be rubbedout ti l l the cold hand of death wipes the s late clean of

everything .

Speaking about these concerts brings back memoriesof al l the old songs we used to s ing— songs you never

2 1 8

In the Dog-watc hes 2 1 9

hear nowadays , but which were very popular in my time ,and must have been in vogue hundreds of years beforethen .

For instance , there was The dark-eyed sai lor , withits ro ll ing chorus :

For the dark-eyed sailor,For the dark-eyed sailor,That sailed away from home .

Then The Lowlands Low was another fine one.

The note of sadness— tragedy rather— running throughit gave it a special appeal :

Oh,the boy beat his breast

,And away he did swim,He swam till he came to

That gallant ship again,

Crying “Master , master pick me up ,Or else I Shall be drowned

,

For I ’m sinking in the Low— landsLow— lands

,

For I ’m sinking in the Lowlands low !

You seem to hear voices long s i lenced in the graverol ling out the pathetic words .Take My love William .

” Th is was a special favourite with us , though , strange to say , without a chorus . Itseems to be a version of Gay ’s All in the Downs , or

“ Black-eyed Susan ”— or was Gay ’s bal lad a vers ionof it — Nobody can tel l . These old sea songs seem tohave been handed down from the time men first wentto sea : passed from lip to lip for generations long beforeprint ing was thought of . Every time you meet them

220 Sam Noble,A .B .

they ’re differently dressed . Look at Away down Rio .

I ’ve come across this song twenty times , each timed iff erent . But the theme and the tune as a rule arethe same .

So too with My love William . Any old sailoryou ’l l find with the song on his lips , but the wordsd iff erent .Here is the way we sang it

Oh , father , father , build me a boat ,That on the ocean I may float

,Hail every vessel that I pass by ,Saying “ Have you heard of my sailor boy ?She hadn ’t been long upon the deep

,When a man-O’-war she chanced to meet

“ Stop , stop that ship , you joyfu l crew ,

For I fear my Wi lliam ’s on board of you !What co lour of clothes did your William wear ?What co lour of hair was your William ’s hair ? ”

“ A light blue jacket and trousers white,

And the colour of his hair was my heart ’s delight .Oh

,no

,fair lady he is not here ,

I fear he lies drowned at yonder pier,At yonder pier as I passed by

It was there I left your poor sailor boy .

She wrung her hands and she tore her hair,Just l ike a lady in despair

,And she threw herself upon the deep,

Crying ,“My love Wi lliam , are you asleep?

Another fine old rouser that nobody knows the ageof is “Windy Weather .” This must have cheered our

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

222 Sam Nob le,A .B .

And so on , and on ,and on ! I ’ve known us to go on

warbl ing this ditty throughout the best part of a dogwatch , and then not be t ired of it .That ’s how we drove dull care away til l Monte Video

hove in sight and we dropped anchor in the harbour ,glad to have a steady deck under our feet again , anda chance of a leg-stretcher ashore

,hav ing been tumbled

about on salt water for forty-four days . There wasalways plenty of work , plenty of dri l l— Lord knowsthere was any amount of that , night and day— and asing - song in the evening if the weather was fine . Ifnot , then out with your sewing or “

guivory (fancy)work : never an idle moment .Sometimes a man read a book aloud , or a story from

one of the magazines,another man taking his sewing ,

knitting or whatever he was at , while he read . Thisreading aloud was usually my job . In this way wegot through a lot of nove ls of one kind and another ;M iss Braddon

,I remember

,being our favourite author .

One night , wet on deck , we were al l in the mess ,quietly reading or go ing on with the job in hand . Sharkie

Bradford , who was a great reader of penny novelettes ,was sitting beside me

,with a candle in front of h im ,

devouring one of his pet yarns . Nobody was speaking .

A l l of a sudden Sharkie jumped up , banged the tablewith his fist , shouted “ I knew it — I knew it ! andinstantly became absorbed in the story aga in , leavingus al l near ly start led out of our wits . He had beenworking out the plot in his own mi nd , and it had shapedjust as he thought it would .

Another night I was reading one of Dickens ’s storiesaloud , where a horrible murder is commi tted , and the

In the Dog—watches 22 3

feelings of the murderer delineated with great forceand power . It was Martin Chuzzlewit. We were al ldeep in the story when Sharkie interrupted , sayingin a hollow voice ,

“ The bloke wot wrote that thereyarn was a murderer himself

,boys

,to my way of

thinking .

”

“ How do you make that out ? ” he was asked .

Why , look how he can tel l about it . H ow could hepicture the thing so wel l if he hadn ’t done a b loodymurder h imself ? ”Th is set us al l thinking for a minute . Presently I

lifted my eyes from the book and said,If that ’s the

case , Sharkie , you must be a murderer , too .

”

“Me ! How ? ”

Because , how can you know he’

s describing amurder properly unless you ’ve done one yourself ? ”

“Aha ! ” cried the other fel lows,

“ that ’s one for you ,Sharkie l— Go on , Jock .

”

Another favourite was Wilkie Collins,but some of

his yarns were so gruesome that we were afraid to goon deck after hearing them read . What we liked bestwere love yarns- not too spooney— something with asailor-man as the hero ; the heroine a nice l ittl e girl ina cottage on a cl iff , waiting for him to come home andbe married . But she had to be True B lue . I f shewere shifty or fl ighty or feather-headed— take heraway ! Whi le if there were too much “ slush ” in thestory somebody flung a wet swab at the reader andknocked h is candle out .

Some of the men were good yarn-sp inners themselves . Our sailmaker

,

“ Sai ls ” we cal led h im , I don ’tremember his ‘

real name, was the best we had . Some

224 Sam Nob le,A .B .

of hi s yarns , however , were so highly spiced that wewould hardly allow them to pass muster , althoughSai ls swore them to be gospel truth . He usuallyintroduced them by saying , “When I was in the lastship

,which was a right Nelson touch of his , as , we

being all shi pmates for the first t ime,he knew that

nobody cou ld trip him up . Sails was getting on in theServ ice . He wore spec tacles to read or sew with ,a lthough , as he used to say ,

he could see a fly at themas t-head . When a Doub ting Thomas brought himup in a yarn he would look at him over the rim of hisglasses and say ,

“ Didn ’t I men tion that this ’ere tookplace when I was in the l ast ship

“ Course you di d .

Wuz you there ?NO , an

’ b iddy wel l you know it .Well , what the ’

ell are you pokin ’ yer nose in for ?All you ’ve got to do is listen . D ’ye think a man ’s

a liar ?“ Oh , no , Thomas would answer . I don ’t think .

I know ! ”

Bu t he met hi s match one day in the town (MonteVideo) , and I was glad to be present and see himbowled over . ( I shouldn ’t wonder if you ’ve heard thisstory before , for it was written out and sent home toone of the newspapers .)There was a snug litt le caf! in the Calle de 25

de Mayo where the Swallows ” used to meet Often .

I t was run by an I ta lian called Rodrigo,a p leasant ,

obliging fellow . We got a nice dinner there , finish

ing up with an omelet and a bottle of wine for halfa do llar .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

226 Sam Nob le,A .B .

far and away the best we found in all our rambles .Here we l ived like fighting

-cocks ! Eggs were 3d . adozen— or was it 2d . ? —mutton I Qd . a lb . , beef a 1 d. ;

other provisions in proportion . Admiral ty rationsbeing much cl earer , we left them behind , and took upthe money instead . We were thus enab led to stockthe messes with substant ials

,and go in for dainties

besides— butter , chees e , a bottle of vinegar or sauce ,j ams and all sorts Of sweet- tooth things . You couldeven get your rasher of bacon for breakfast at l ittleextra cost .There was a general groce ry store close by the p ier

where al l the provisions were got . This was kept bya l ittle man ca lled “ Dirty Dick

,a swarthy

,dark

skinned Maltee,who was for ever smi l ing .

First when we came to the p lace we used to go toDirty

’

s for a di nner or a snack . But one day GingerWhite go t a bit of the last man ’s egg on his p late— notmuch , but just enough to sicken him— and showed itto the other fe l lows . Sailors , as a ru le , are not particu laras to what goes in to their stomachs , but even the minutest rema ins of some o ther person ’s breakfast on thep late you are eat ing your d inner off would , I shouldthink , “ scunner ” anybody . So that finished us withD irty . We went to Rodrigo ’s afterwards

,where every

thing was served spot less .

I liked Monte Video . There were fine walks roundthe town , and strange flowers grew at the sides of theroads . A band used to play in the Grand Plaza everyevening ; and I l iked to roam about inside the Cathedral— whose domes towered high above the flat roofs of thetown— where there were fine p ictures , statuary , sta ined

In the Dog - watches 22 7

glass , altars , and so forth . One never tired of lookingat them , and noting the diff erent forms of worshiptaking place at the various Shrines .I fel l in with a girl here who very nearly had me . Adark-eyed beauty she was— dark , flashing eyes thatp ierced you like a knife one minute and warmed youlike a sunbeam the next— with a wealth of jet blackhair that fel l about her l ike an inky wave . Amel inawas her name . Her father was organist of the Cathedral , a Scot , hai l ing from Paisley ; her mother , a Casti lian— or had been , for she was dead .

Ame lina was the ir only chi ld . She took a great fancyto me , as d id her father , who wanted to buy me off. ButI was “

ow’

r young to marry yet,and bes ides , had a

girl of my own, not to mention a preference for “ a cat

0’ my ain kind .

” Her father ,who was a burly , dignifiedlooking gentleman , with soft , dreamy grey eyes , and amassive head covered with grey hair

,seemed to be

pretty we ll off , as he l ived in his own house on the outskirts of the town , where I got a hearty welcome everytime I cal led . Sometimes he wou ld take Amelina andme down to the Cathedral and play the organ to us .

Sometimes she and I went by ourse lves . I liked tohear him , and used to wheedle him ,

both at home and inthe Cathedral , into playing the old Scotch songs andpsalms . To th is day I never hear Oh

,wert thou in

the cau ld b last ,” but the Cathedral of Monte Video ,

with Amel ina and me standing by the organ,her father ,

who is playing , wagging h is bushy head from side toside in ecstasy ; the forms kneeling around the altars ,and that lovely p iece of music swelling through thearches comes dancing into my mind . With that

Sam Nob le,A .B .

memory comes another— how deliciously it soundedthere . You never realize how sweet the songs of

your own country can be till you hear them far awayfrom home . There they speak to you with a diff erentmean ing altogether .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

230 Sam Nob le,A.B .

might have been yesterday , I remember it so well .Indeed

,it took such a grip of me that I have only to shut

my eyes and lie back in my chair to live it al l over again .

A STARRY N IGHT OFF PATAGONIAIt was a beaut iful night in the middle watch . I

had the fir st wheel , from 1 2 to 2 . The sky was alightwith stars . From zenith to horizon

Al l the heavens seemed to twinkleWith a crystall ine delight .

making it clear above , but inky black below , therebeing no moon . The weather was very cold , for wewere in the latitude where Craddock , poor chap , lostthe number of his mess (and where , too , he was soworthily avenged , thank heaven !)We were under al l plain sail , and steering full and

by ”on the starboard tack . The wind was true , that is ,

blowing with a constant force,and we were skimming

over the unseen water , about eight knots to the hour ,as steady as a church , with just a litt le heel to port .The Swallow was a fine sailer

,and easily steered by a

single he lmsman ; i t was only when she had a heavywind abaft the beam driving her that she needed two .

This was one of the nights that make you glad to bealive— fresh , crisp and full of ozone . You felt theb lood t ingl ing within you , and were fit to eat the Spokesof the wheel . In fact that was my only objection tothose nights ; they made me so fearful ly hungry , andthere was so l itt le to meet the demand !When I took over the wheel , my instructions were to

keep the t ’

gallant sai l ful l , and to steer by a star that

The Bo ’ sun ’ s Love Story 2 3 1

glimmered outs ide the weather leech . If I came up toonear and blotted the star out altogether the sai l l ifted ,and that was my warning to keep off .

My favourite trick was the wheel , and steering undersuch conditions what I l iked best of al l . To me it waslike p laying bo-peep with somebody in another world . Iused to wonder if there real ly were l ive peop le up thereas they say there are , and if they can see our hab itationas we see theirs . All sorts of strange and high fancieswould come into my head at such times , and I wouldfeel as if I were at church with the organ pealing andall the peop le s inging .

It ’s a glorious place to be on, the sea , on a clear darknight such as you get down around those parts . Theloneliness is immense . You never fee l such an atom ,

such a poor , insignificant , helpless morsel of creationanywhere as you do down with nothing but the starsaround you , and such hosts of them .

And the mystery of it ! The fee ling that myr iads andmyriads of other atoms , under you and above you , al l aswonderful ly formed and perfectly adapted to the ir placesas you are yourse lf, are l iving their lives , working outthe ir destiny and serving the ir purpose equally as wel las you , and in the same darkness being guided andprotected by Something , and al l as important seem ingly ,and of as much value in the sight of that Something asyou are , b ig though you th ink yourself.Sometimes I fe lt that my head would crack with the

thoughts that came into it .And then the majesty of such a night at sea ! The

overpowering— solemnity of it , the sublime grandeur !It fi l ls a man ’s mind with awe , and compe ls h im to

23 2 Sam Nob le,A .B .

think high . He must forget the petty matters he is inthe habit of thinking about during the day . At such atime he floats in regions far above earth ly influenceand is , I am convinced , nearer to God than ever he wil lbe til l he goes to Him altogether . Indeed , there

’snothing I know of will more readi ly lift the sou l of a manin adoration to hi s Maker than standing on a lone ly deckon such a night , with only the cordage of a ship between him and heaven . The smoke of a steamer spoi lsthe charm completely . A sai ling- ship ’s the thing if youwant to th ink properly .

Another quali ty I have always liked about the sea isthis : i t makes a man young and keeps h im so . It is oftenremarked that sai lors are s imple and , as a ru le , Godfearing . That , I ’m sure , is the e ff ect of such nights asthe one I am speaking about . You cannot see out

wardly , but you can inwardly , and you are made tothink . This night was so dark that I couldn ’t see thedeck I was s tanding on .

STEERING BY A STAR

I was enjoying my trick , fee ling e levated ,glorified . Much as the shepherds in that Wonderfu lOld Story mus t have felt while they were be ing led toEverlasting Peace . Watching the star edging into anddraw ing away from the leech of the sail , I was hummingto myse lf a l itt le song my mother was fond of s inging

The stars are bright this beautiful night ,But when the moon appears

,

They ’ll fade as soon as lamps at noonThe glory that she bears !

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

2 34 Sam Nob le,A .B .

Fancy having a question like that fired at you,and

you only a li ttle over nineteen years old— and hadn ’teven seen a white girl for at least two of them . I was al labroad !

“ S teady , oh ! sai d Tommy , reaching his hand overand pushing the wheel up a coup le of spokes , “ steady ,my lad .

”

He stepped back for a minute and looked ahead til lmy littl e friend twinkled in to V iew again . Then back hecame .

“ I t ’s al l right , Jock , he said , and his vo ice trembled ;I t ’s all right . I beg your pardon . I t was si l ly of me .

But I forgot for the moment . You ’re too young ; ofcourse

,of course . Ah -h !

Th is was a big s igh .

He stumped to and fro from the wheel to the ship ’sside

,sending his glance ah ead and astern and all over

the ship , as I felt ra ther than saw, then stopped besideme once more .

“ Jock,

” he resumed , what made me ask you thatquestion , d

’ye thi nk ? ”

“ I couldn ’t say , sir , I answered ; thinking to myself,he ’s a bit confidential ton i ght ,” and winking to thestar with my off eye .

“Well , it was because I got married myself just beforeI left England .

”

“Is that so , sir ?

” I said , with sudden interest , butkeeping my eye on that weather leech ; the star bobbingaround at every swing of the mast as if saying “

Keck !

I ’m lis ten ing“Yes ; just a couple of weeks . My boy

,it

’

s agreat thing to be married ! ”

The Bo ’sun ’s Love Story 23 5

I t must be,s ir

,I assented , smi l ing up at the star ,

who nodded “Keck ! Keek l

” and seemed to smile backin return .

“ I t is . But , Lord ! Fancy being torn awayjust at the very start . It

’

s s ickening , I cal lit devilish ! Such a n ice l ittle girl , too ;sweet

,charming

,pretty , and oh ! high above me

miles ! a p roper l ittle lady she istch ! tch ! ”

His vo ice qu ivered with emotion , and came out with agrowl l ike a wounded mastiff. I could see his shape ,but not his face , it was so dark : but I had an idea whatit would b e l ike— tenderness

,longing

,woebegoneness ,

and al l sorts of trouble working in it at the same time .

Had one of My Lords of the Admiralty,whom he

looked upon as the cause of his misery,chanced to get

his nose between the bo ’sun ’s second and third fingerat that moment p ity him !He leaned over with the heave and impatiently spat

in the scuppers,then went on .

That sweet little thing you ’re steering by reminds meof her— just the right sort of light for guiding a manshe is Ah-h-h !

”

Another s igh,bigger than the last

“Keck ! Keck ! said the star . Poor Tommy ! ”

See how she dances round the leech of that sai l ,he continued . That ’s exactly how my littl e wifedoes with me : always skipp ing around with her l itt lecaressing ways

,and singing

,and fi l ling the house with

her laughter .“ Oh

,Jock ! ” he burst out , shuffling with his feet ,

you don’t know anything about it ! I hope this

2 3 6 Sam Nob le,A .B .

biddy commission wil l soon be over and let me get backto her . I feel her li ttle hands tugging at my heartstrings— ’struth I do : you ’ve no idea what a pull itis , Jock !I murmured some thing in sympathy , and the star

twink led and danced ahead as if in an ecstasy Keek i

Kc ek l” i t seemed to say Come on ; follow me— I ’ll

bring you there ! ”The bo ’sun strode over to the scuppers

,expectorated

again— I plainly heard hi s disgust expressed in the

operation and came back : She made me these .

WHAT LOVE CAN Do

These were a pai r of beautifu l knitted gloves,

which he thrust into the ligh t of the binnacle so that Icould see them . They looked to me to be two pairsin one ; the inside being soft white flc c cy wool , the out

side dark grey , and felt thick , warm and cosy . The workwas finely executed , and the materials of the very best ;and the suggestion that they had been a labour of loveto the knitter forced itself into my mind and gave me abetter picture of Tommy ’s wife than all hi s words haddone. I felt my heart warm to her— to both of them ,

in fact— and a dimn ess came into my eyes whi ch I hadto wink away in order to see clearly .

The boys for’

ard used to remark on the neatness andquality of Tommy ’s ki t . For a bo ’sun , he was part ienlarly well - found . His under-Clothing especiallyshirts , pants , socks , ties , etc .

, were al l superfine anddain ti ly made . Although an ofli c er, he , like the rest ofus

,did h is own washing , mending , ironing , darning , and

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

2 3 8 Sam Noble,A .B .

TH E PENGU INS

Now I must make a li ttle digress ion here : you willsee the reason for it presently .

As I told you,we were on our way from the Falkland

I slands back to Monte V ideo,where we expected soon

to get our orders for home . At the l ast port of cal l,

I forget the name of the p lace , the firs t lieutenant hadhad half a dozen pengu ins brought aboard for him .

Great b irds they were , as solemn as church-deacons andas round-paunched as bishops

,with gli ttering eyes and

long , hooked b i l ls . A pair of bony- l ooking flippershung from their sides

,and they had splay , web feet ,

and walked wi th the motion of old women going tomarket .These brutes were al lowed to waddle about the deck

at their own swee t wil l ; and a downright nuisance theywere , being in everybody ’s way . And couldn ’t theybite— and give you a wallop with their flippers !My word ! I tel l you ,

you had to stand clear of them .

If you made to push them gently ou t of the road withyour foot- you daren ’t use your hand l— the beggarswould grab at your leg and almost take the bit out ifthey caught you . I f you happened to be lying undera sai l taking a snooze during your watch on deck , andyour feet worked loose

,along would wobble one of

these pirates and withou t the least warning clip a coupleof your toes off if you weren ’t quick . I t was nothingunusual to hear a yel l in the dark , and have a manplunge in under the fo ’c ’sle lamp wi th his feet bleeding .

We complained over and over again about them ,but

The Bo ’ sun ’ s Love Story 2 3 9

it was of no use . They belonged to Billy . That wasenough .

No doubt they were fine b irds to look at— lovely,

soft-headed , black and grey p lumage , downy breastsand a white patch on the head— one had a tuft on himlike a hussar ’s bush . I t was a treat to watch themashore . You would see them standing in l ine— hundreds of them dressed and eyes front l ikesoldiers , with the king pengu in at their head . Then

,

you would think at a given S ignal , the whole squadwould step out at once , waddle down the beach , diveinto the sea and come up perhaps half a mile out al lin line sti l l .I once saw a fight between two penguins for a fish .

The one who had caught the fish was much smaller thanthe other

,and the big one tumbled the l ittle one over a

great many times,first this way then that

,for al l the

world l ike an Aunt Sal ly,but the wee one stuck to his

guns and eventual ly carried off the prize . They ’re harmless enough in their own element and

,I believe , kept by

themselves in the ship,might have been interesting

shipmates,l ike the turtles and the parrots and o ther

pets the ship was ful l of. But not roaming wild ,oh , no !Anyway , this night , after Tommy regained his com

posure and began talking again , I fancied I saw , withthe tai l of my eye

,a somethi ng move in the b lack shadow

thrown by the bulwarks— a sort of blacker smudge .

But the bo ’sun did not see it , and I was much toointerested in what he was saying , and in the steering ofthe ship

,and in the romance of the hour to take particular

notice . Under that glittering canopy , with no sound

24 0 Sam Noble,A .B .

striking the c ar but the swish of the water rush ing pastthe bows , or the creak of mast and spar , or perhaps theharsh croak of some passing albatross ; and no motionbut the lif t and fall of the sails , and the kc ek of the starround the l eech , al l this was of far too much interest forme to bother about other things .Tommy was tel ling me his love story !

A SAILOR ’S WIFE

In glowing words , and a low voice , musical as a ’cello,

he pictured hi s wi fe as only a sai lor , forcibly separatedand condemned to a long exile from the girl of his heart

,

can pictu re her .He told me how he had met her at a Naval bal l in

Dover and fal len instantly in love with her , and shewi th him . I t was a case of love at fi rst sight . Hecouldn ’t account for i t

,could never have conceived such

luck would come his way . A well -educated girlwas a teacher in one of the high- schools there .

And such a sweet l itt le thing l— eyes blue,sunny golden

hair,and such a smile ! The sun in the tropics nothing

to i t dazzl ing ! When he s tood up ands tretched out his arm she could stand comfortably underit

,and lay her head in his a rm - pit . He could feel

i t now ! He could lift her and set her on h isshoulder as eas ily as a baby . And laugh !She was always laughing always laughing andsinging “

the b li thest,sweetes t

,dainties t l itt l e

lark ever fo rmed by Creati on These were his verywords . God damn the unfeeling dev i ls at the Admiraltyfor tearing him away from her !

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

24 2 Sam Noble,A .B .

Hell and damnation ! ” he cried , breaking off

suddenly,and kicking out with both feet . What

the devi l ’s that ! Something has bit me !

D ’ye see anything ? Mind your course !Holy sailor

,what can it be ?

The pauses were fi l led up with hops and curses .Never in all my l ife was I so startled . For the momentI almost lost the power of my limbs . Luckily , theinstinct of a sailor enabled me to keep the ship straightand prevent an accident . When I got the star intoposition again I looked around and saw a dark Objectwaddling away towards the main mast . Meanwhile

,

Tommy had hOppcd ,cursing al l the way

,round the

wardroom hatch and unshipped the port binnacle l ight .It ’s one of those penguins , sir ,” I said .

Oh , is it !” he growled Is that what it

is ? Blas t me if he hasn ’t gone through mytrousers , sea -boot and al l , right through to my leg ,damn him ! Look at that !He held the light to his leg and I looked . I t was

right enough . A rip about half an inch long was tornin the fine leather .What the bo ’sun said when he saw that ho le I leavethe reader to imagine . It would be a shame to ask anydecent comp . to set it up . But I peered over to whereMr . Penguin was mov ing about and said to myse lf :My boy , there ’s a funny five minutes in store for youvery shortly ! ”I looked at my li ttle guide to see how she was taking

the turn of events . She was twinkling away as happyas a sand - girl , and enjoy ing the situation prime , seemingly . She would see re lief in store for us !

The Bo ’ sun ’ s Love Story 24 3

Tommy shipped the l ight again , after rubb ing hisleg , and was turn ing down his trousers , when I hi ssed :Here , he

’

s coming out again , sir l”Oh , is he ? All right . You hol ’ on a b it .I ’l l fix him in a m inute .

Between the two b innacles was the standard compass ,a co lumn- l ike erec tion standing about seven feet high .

Here Mr . Baynham took his sights and made e ightbe lls every day at noon . The compass was reached by acouple of little ladders , and there was a hinged flapwhich , when turned up , formed a p latform . Thi sflap hung down when not in use , and the openingbetween the standing part of the p latform and the flapwas fi l led with a stout p iece of elm carved to resemblea rope .

Tommy unshipped this weapon and I , admiring hisresource as he passed between me and the b innacle ,whispered ° There he is , sir : d ’ye see h im ? Justby the engine - room hatch . H e

’

s coming for anothertaste .

”

“ By Jehu he ’l l get one ! ” muttered the bo ’sun ,

seemingly from beh ind clenched teeth . I see the

devi l . Wa it ti l l he comes a b it closer .He edged off a l ittle to give himself more elbow- room ,

and the shape ,” barely d iscernible on the dark deck ,

hobbled nearer and nearer .Then Tommy took a spring . There was a dul l thud ,

as if a bag of flour had been struck in the middle ;a hoarse quack a splutter in the mizzen rigging ;then another gurgling qu

-a-a- a- c -e-k l”; the fal l

of a heavy body , and al l was sti l l ,” as the poet says .

Got him all right , eh said Tommy , in a tone of

24 4 Sam Nob le,A .B .

triumph . Gave him a lift in the world for once inhi s life , the bow-wow pirate ! H e won ’t trouble usany more , I

’ l l be bound .

He then replaced the p iece of wood , and sayinghe would take a look round , went Off , leaving me togrin up to my star and thi nk over the events of thenight .But the bo ’sun was wrong . Our troubles were not

al l over yet . He had not been gone more than fiveminutes , and I was whistling soft ly to myself :

A sai lor ’s wife a sailor ’s star shall be ,Yo , ho , we go across the sea !

when another hullabaloo broke out , this t ime in the

cabin , and the captain came rushing out in h is pyjamas ,shouting for the o ffi cer of the watch .

TH E HUBBUB APT

It turned out that the skipper , being fond of air ,had given orders for the cab in skylight to be left open ,and the penguin had tumbled right through it , and insome way got to the capta in ’s bed and given him a nipand woke him up .

Wasn ’t there a row !Tommy seized the b ird , and with one swing sent it

wh irling over the side about twenty yards before itstruck water .The skipper ’s arm was scratched

,and there was a

terrible to -do about it . Fancy bit ing the sacred fleshof the capta in ! The thing was without precedent .Nearly al l hands were roused by the commotion .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

24 6 Sam Nob le,A .B .

Plymouth Brother , one of the most tolerant , broadminded of the sect I ever met) , his deep bass vo icecoming thump ! thump ! l ike the pedal-notes of theorgan , and his face a study in devotional rapture , youwould have thought him a saint .And I would sooner have Tommy for a mate than

some of the o i ly , holy people I have been shipmateswith , both at sea and ashore . These gentry alwaysremind you of a gem with too much polish . Tommywas eighteen carat al l through— a proper roughdiamond .

Whether he went home and surprised h is wife as hesaid he would I never knew . Anyhow , I hope he is stil lalive , with a crowd of bairn ’s bairns” romping roundhis knee , and

“ cuddling his auld grey hairs .”If he is gone— peace to his ashes !

CHAPTER XXVI

TH E SWALLOW

H ow To CATCH MONKEYS

DO you know how to catch monkeys ? No ? Thencome along

,and I ’l l Show you how it

’

s done in theforests of South Brazi l .After we came back from the Falklands , we lay at

Monte Video for a fortnight or so refitt ing and paintingship

,and then took a trip up the coast of Uruguay .

We had called in at one of those desolate , outlandishplaces we were for ever touching at in our “ shoppingexpeditions ,” as we cal led them ; where we droppedanchor , sent a boat ashore , did something , and thenup anchor and away again .

I don ’t remember . the exact local ity . SomewhereN . of Uruguay , between Rio de Janeiro and the RioGrande . But it real ly doesn ’t matter . Indeed , thesecalls were so little thought of that scores of them arenot even marked on the chart .A more dreary , God- forsaken place you couldn

’timagine . Where we lay , you seemed to be S itting inthe p it of the theatre looking on to a dark forest scene .

A big b ite seemed to have been taken out of the land byR 247

24 8 Sam Nob le,A .B .

one of those long , spoon - like mouths that only dentistsare fami liar with , leaving an expanse of dark , mysteriouswater , deeper than a bay but not deep enough to becalled a gulf , down to the very verge of which came thetrees in great serried rows , l ike an immense army .

On this sheet of water sat the Swallow, like a littlehomer-pigeon resting on her way home . To the rightof us trees , trees , trees for miles and mi les ; to the leftthe same . In front

, or rather in line with the portcathead ,

was a little piece of gleaming white pebblybeach , and a few ramshackle huts —showing that theplace wasn ’t man- forsaken anyhow . I wondered to

myse lf how men could possibly live in such a place ,but never thought I should go ashore and see how

pleasant ly li fe can be made to pass even in a forlorn ,

ou t-of - thc -way corner l ike that .We arrived there one morning shortly after breakfast .

About seven bel ls in the forenoon watch (half-pasteleven ) , two men came aboard in a li tt le c anoe , askingfor some sugar bags . They had the flat-headed lookof the Indian

,bu t spoke English wel l enough to be

unde rstood,and seemed intel ligent fel lows . They

said they were will ing to pay for whatever bags mightbe given them , and spoke so deferential ly to the fi rstl ieutenan t

,who was standing beside the gangway when

they came aboard,and looked so good-natured

,that he

cal led the s teward , and told him to see them supplied .

Tall , sinewy men they were , with copper- colouredfaces ; dressed in a sort of blouse with no sleeves (justa piec e of cloth , l ike thi n blue flannel , with a hole forthe head to go through

,and held together with a leather

thong) , and light skin leggings and moccas ins .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

2 5 0 Sam Nob le,A .B .

ashore . I looked along the starboard side . Nobodythere but Spotty

,the marine

,on sentry at the cab in

door . Spotty , however , seeing me , inclined his headslight ly to port , as much as to say H e

’

s over there .

So I crossed the deck and , to my joy , there was Mr .Routh taking his midday smoke in the waist .I had no fear of him , so up I goes , and , saluting , saidBeg pardon , sir ; but are we going to lie here long ? ”

I couldn ’t say , Noble : about a week , at leas t ,” herep lied . The doctor and Baynham and I are goingfor a day ’s shooting when we can get it arranged

,and

we ’l l need some of you fellows with us .I grinned . Those outings with Routh were greatthings , and al l hands were ready to jump whenever heheld up his finger . Half a dozen of us had once beenon a rhinoceros hun t with him up the Niger

,and the

memory of that glorious day began to work in me .

I remember i t s ti ll,and see him now l eaning agains t

the gangway pufli ng leisurely at his pipe . I had halfa mind to try and book a seat in advance , as the sayingis

,but held back , reflecting that that wou ld not be fair

to the other fel lows,and for fear he might think I was

currying favour . So I just grinned and told him aboutthe trappers we had below

,and what they were going to

do ; finishing up by asking if he thought there would beany chance of getting ashore with them to see the sport .He didn ’t think there wou ld be any obj ection to that .Only the captain ’s permission would be needed . Inthe mean time he would speak to Billy . Said he :You go below

,find out how many want to go ashore ,

then one of you come aft and make your request toMr . Daniel ls . He ’l l pu t you al l right .

How to c atch’

Monkeys 2 5 1

Thank you, sir , very much !

” said I,and ran acro

'

ssthe deck so that I could get kicking my heels together

,

and cutting a caper or two without his seeing me .

But Spotty saw, and h is eyebrows went up to the topof his head wondering what was in the wind . Spottywas a solemn sort of shipmate and I daresay thought Iwas cracked

,especially as I executed a Whirligig with

both legs for his own particu lar benefit , before divingbelow .

Here,the Indians had finished dinner and were

s itting on the gunner ’s ches t with a bundle of breadbags between them . One was l eaning against theventilator , playing a l ively air upon a pipe made of

bamboo— a double-j ointed instrument,something of a

cross between a c larionette and a chanter— which hetook to pieces and carried in his b louse— the other ,bent forward , was performing a regular brudder

bones accompaniment on the chest .I couldn ’t understand how this chap produced such

a rattle ti l l I looked at his fingers and saw they weresheathed in little thimble - l ike contrivances made of

hard hide or bone . The music was thin and reedy , butvery pleasant . A basin with some grog in it stood infront of them , and the pair , smiling like seraphs , werepl aying away for al l they were worth

,while our fe llows

were gathered round in a s tate of enchantment .I waited til l the tune was fin ished , and then made

known my interview with Mr . Routh . At this therewas a kick-up , for of course everybody wanted to gowith him . But the question was— who wanted to gowith the Indians ? A good many would have l iked thistoo , but when it was pointed out that whoever wen t

2 5 2 Sam Nob le,A .B .

monkeying would very l ikely lose the Chance of go ingwith Routh , the crowd dwindled down to four— Jack ,my chum , Shortie Edwards , Josie Deaki n and myself .Thi s sett led , I was chosen to state the case to Billy ,

and went aft . There was no trouble whatever . Routhhad paved the way, b less him ! In five minutes I wasback with the skipper ’s permission . In five more thefour of us were in the cutter

,and withi n twenty , from

the t ime the suggest ion was first made (our Indianshav ing asked us to wait while they got their th ingstogether) , I was s tand ing on the beach looking at theprettiest picture my eyes de lighted to rest on— theSwa llow, with the sunshine al l about her , sitting likea litt le jewelled toy on an oblong mi rror under a crystaldome .

From here the scene was even more impress ive thanwhen viewed from the ship . To right and left the greattrees ris ing tier on t ier like mighty gian ts , making menlook such puny

,puny objects beside them . The thick

undergrowth . The strange creepers twining aroundevery other tree , some as thick as a man ’s wrist , somelike whi pcord and about as tough . The wonderfulglossy greenness of the leaves

,which were of al l shapes

and forms , and of al l shades and t ints— some long andnarrow , some broad , some almost round , hanging froma stem like a thread . The vast shee t of water gl itter ingnow with the sun upon it ; the land , with every objectit contained

,mirrored se emingly thousands of feet

beneath its motionless surface . Not a bird was in sight .Not a S ign of l ife anywhere , except the light plume ofsmoke rising from the ship ’s funnel . The ship herself,the only relieving object in al l that wide expanse , and

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

2 54 Sam Nob le,A .B .

erections , if you like . Just branches of trees laid one ontop of the other ; not nailed , but tied together wi thcreepers , and covered with leaves .

Some brown - Skinned children , as naked as Naturehad turned them out , were playing around ; and two

women , naked also to the waist , were busy over twodiff erent fires cooking something in jar- l ike vesse ls whichhung from tripods made of bent saplings and t ied at thetop with creepers . These creepers seemed to be a veryusefu l adjunct to the camp , for I saw the family washingsuspended between two huts and it was a creeper thatwas doing duty as a clothes- line .

The whole plac e reminded one of nothing so much asa gipsy encampmen t . Somebody was thrumming agui tar or banjo behind the hut facing us

,the sound

rising clear in the air l ike a bel l . We heard also thesqueal of a pipe l ike the one our friend had been playingaboard

,and were edging nearer

,to get a view of the

performers,when the man himself popped round the

corner and beckoned to us to come over .

Behind this hut was a piece of sward bare of trees,

save for one in the cen tre , which had a trunk as round asour capstan

,and a top like an umbrella

,the branches

covering the who l e camp . Here a few more kiddieswere romping about . A number of men and women

,

b rown - skinned,and naked

,except for loin cloths

,sat

or stood on the grass,while two men with their backs

against the tree discoursed music : one from a pipe suchas I ’ve al ready descri bed

,the other from a three

stringed instrument made out of half a dried gourd .

In front of the musicians two l ittl e girls were beingtaught to dance by a very fat woman who ,

with gleaming

How to catch Monkeys 2 5 5

eyes and teeth , squatted tailor-fashion a l ittle to the “leftclapp ing her hands and shouting directions to them .

The people around were al l seemingly as interested inthe performance as the youngsters themselves

,who

skipped and twist ed about as if they were on wires .

This woman didn ’t c lap her hands in the prim way wedo

,but made her whole body go— elbows

,shoulders

,

head,every muscle of her mass ive bulk heaving in time

to the beat . One glance was enough to tel l how keenlyshe was interested . Her heavy breasts hung in front ofher l ike bladders

,and her whole body glistened with

sweat from the exertions she was making . But if evera human face spoke of a glad heart , that woman

’s did .

It simply beamed . In fact , everybody around the treelooked happy . I thought it a gay scene . But wehadn ’t time to look at it . The moment we hove insight the chi ldren ran screaming to the huts , the womenafter them ; the musicians jumped to their feet andskipped behind the tree

,the whole scene dissolving

like a cloud in a midsummer sky . Even now I cansee the instructress rol l on to her hands and feet andgo bounding over the grass as if Old N ick himselfwere after her .You couldn ’t have helped laughing to save your

life . All four of us were sorry to see the break-up of

such a nice l ittle scene,and tried to get them started

again . But itwas no good . So our friends the trappers ,j oined by three of their mates carrying the bags andother parcels

, one with a long weapon like a bi l l hook ,which was used for cutting a way through the undergrowth

,told us to come along

,and off we struck into the

forest .

2 5 6 Sam Nob le,A .B .

After a march of about three-quarters of an hour , wecame to a wide clearing

,so suddenly that it was as if you

had Opened the door in a house and stepped into thestreet . One minute you were in the semi-darkness ofthe forest , the next in broad daylight . H ere there werenothing but stumps of trees

,around the roots and

mounds of which grew the strangest- looking flowers Iever saw . Some gorgeously co loured , some delicatelytinted , some so queerly shaped that , to me, they lookedlike huge

,wonderfully- formed insects stuck on wires for

exhib ition , like you Often see in the museums or in mi!l iners ’ shop -windows .

All around were trees,mighty erections towering

over a hundred feet high,with others , as big as the ones

we have in Scotland,growing beneath them . Some of

these trees mus t have been over a thousand years old .

G reat gnarled monsters standing twelve or fourteen feetthick and as firm as castles

,their leaves as fresh and

glossy and healthy as the hair on a young girl ’s head . Iremember thinking to myself as I stood looking at them ,

“ Lord ! who was on the earth when you first tookroot ? And yet you look as if you had anotherthousand years of life in you ,

and even then wouldn ’tbe used up

— green and hearty still l” Dear,dear !

Man is cal led the “ Lord of Creation,but what a poor ,

insignificant,transitory thing he is when put alongside

other works of the Divine Architect ! These thingsmake you think big ! I don ’t wonder at travellers ,tramps and sailors

,being men of large mind .

Right round the clearing you could hear the monkeyschatte ring as if you had come into a city ful l of them .

They were qui te near , we could see them skipping about

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

2 5 8 Sam Nob le,A .B .

whole camp . Everything likely to interest us theypointed out ; the birds , the flowers , the trees , namingthem

,and tel ling us about them and about the nature

and habits of the wild animals which were lurkingaround

,hidden

,but watching us all the same . They

seemed as familiar with the forest as we were with theship .

One of the men , who carried a bow and arrows ,brought down a large bird , l ike a pheasant , and hung iton the hole of a mighty beech , wi th the remark that wewou ld get it on our way back . But we didn ’t . Whenwe returned we got the skeleton of that bird p icked as

clean as though there had never been flesh on it at al l .Some hawk or vulture had got him . But we took thefeathers aboard as a trophy . I kept one for years as abookmark

,ti l l it wore away al together .

Once,when we came to a slight opening on the top

of a hill,which gave us a V i ew of tree - tops , stretching

seemingly t o the world ’s end , they showed u s the trackof a fire which had cut a swath through the forest asWide as the Thames at the Nore Light . At anothert ime

,they po in ted out the trai l of a large animal , called

a tapir,and showed us where he had s topped to scratch

himself against a tree,and left some of his ha ir .

That walk through the wood I remember as well asthough it happened the day before yesterday .

However,this was the end of it . Without more ado

,

the trapper who had sat beside me in the mess,and who

seemed to be the mas ter of ceremonies,threw down his

bundle of bags,crying

,Ah ! dis heem ! Now

de fon begc en . Look ! See heem jomp !He led us into the centre of the clearing (the bow

How to catch Monkeys 2 5 9

and arrows , and the bil l-hook being first of al l careful lyhidden out of sight) , the monkeys meanwhile ski ppingand chattering around us l ike a crowd of excitedchi ldren at a fair . Here we al l sat doWn on the grassin a circle like a p icni c- party , and the parcels wereopened . One man brought out a calabash , made froma flattened gourd

,and covered with plaited straw

( I saw a hot-water bottle just l ike it the other day) .A little tumbler of the same material , only without thestraw covering

, was fitted over the cork . This calabashwas fi l led with a native spirit— Chakaca they cal ledit— brewed from sugar- cane , and pretty nearly as strongas our whisky .

Another produced some slabs of dried meat and akind of b iscuit , not unl ike a soda scone ,

” both inshape and texture

,but tasteless , it being baked without

salt . Another , some tobacco . Another— this beingone of the men who had sat with his back to the treehis instrument

,wh ich

,on a nearer View , I now saw to

be a neat little contrivance l ike a mandoline , only crudeand unpolished

,with strings made of gut , or some such

substance,instead of wire . There were also two p ipers

,

and our friend with his bone thimbles .

When everything was ready , the M .C ., as I may cal l

him , sat down in the centre of the circle , telling us notto look around

,but just watch the monkeys in front

of us , as the least thing would frighten them all away .

He then,with a great show and flourish

,uncorked the

calabash,poured some of the liquor into the tumbler

,

and handed it to one of his mates , who tossed it off,smacked his lips

,rubbed his stomach

,and then handed

the tumbler back with the same disp lay . This ceremony

260 Sam Nob le,A .B .

was repeated over and over again , ti l l we had al l had aglass each ; then the M .C . took one h imself and rubbedhis stomach .

There was no hurry . We jus t sat talking and laughing

,whi le the Indians told us li ttl e stories of former

forays . We seemed a harmless party of humans restingin the woods , and thinking of nothing but our own

enj oymen t . This was real ly the trap set for Mr .

Monkey , and wonderfu lly wel l it worked .

While al l this was going on, the monkeys , th inking

themselves unobserved , had s topped chattering , andcome ou t to the ex treme end of the branches to get acloser view of the proceedings . I t was almost impossib le to keep from laughing at the antics and grimacesof them . They were of al l ages and sizes

,from the

hoarv old patriarch , with a bald head and a beard likea goat ’s to the t iny l ittl e Jenny no b igger than a kitten .

I don ’t know what species they belonged to— thc Capuchin , I thi nk— but I can tel l you they were absolutelyeaten up with curiosi ty ; especially the younger ones .

One litt le fel low , with a grey body , and a face l ike agargoyle

,almost fascinated me ; he looked so hideous .

Hanging by his tail , he swung out as far as he could , andseemed to devour us with his li ttle sharp eyes .

Then the bread and meat was broken up and div idedwith the same elaborate parade , and another glass of

Chakaca handed round . Then we got out our pipes ,l it them , and the musicians tuned up . After this therewere a few more rounds

,and then

,when the excitement

in the trees seemed rai sed to fever-heat (although weappeared to be unaware of a monkey being within ahundred mi l es of us) , our M .C . brought out a smaller

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

26 2 Sam Noble,A .B .

moment you could see nothing but whi r ling arms,l egs

,

and waving tails ; at another , out would shoot the long ,l ean body of the central figure , with the calabash in hishand , and the Chakaca squirting from it . And thenoise ! You never in all your life heard such arow . I t was the most laughab le sight I ever saw . Oftenand often I have thought what a rare touch a scene likethis would make in a picture-film . We couldn ’t keepour eyes from it . But the Indians , who took it in theday ’s work

,now set about ge tting out the bags

, and

laying them ready to hand . Then the M .C . came overto us and said What you tink : Heem Good eh ?Fonny ? Ah ! But ,

” li ft ing his hands,

oh,

no ! Not near fonny enough ! You wait Bymbyheem good ; heep , heep good ! Look how he

jomp ! 01’ right . We have jomp , too . Coom on !

”

He then took out his pipe , set himself against a tree ,s truck up a soft , dreamy native wal tz , gave a nod to hismates , who each came and took one of us for a partner ,and away we went glid ing over the short gras s , as ifl ife was a bal lroom and we had nothing to do but dance .

The row in the Open was like Bedlam let loose . Allthe monkeys in the world seemed to be there

,and al l

yelling at once ; while the parro ts , thousands of whomwere in the trees , and who love nothing better than adin

,took up the chorus ti l l the welkin rang with dis

cordan t cries . But the Indians never heeded . I f youhappened to catch the piper ’s eye

,he just nodded at

them and winked,as much as to say

,

“ Heem Good l”

Then we had a “ co ti lli on —a square dance , likea quadri l le— the Indians go ing through the measurefirst to show us the figure , s inging as they went . I t

How to catch Monkeys 26 3

often amuses me to hear people say that Indians haveno music in them . They can ’t mean Brazi lian Indians .These peop le have the mus ic of Old Castile , Italy ,S ici ly— al l the tribes of Europe in the ir veins

,and

express it in every note of their vo ices ; every twirl ortwang of the ir instruments , every movement of theiragile bodies . In Scotland we don ’t know how to s ing .

We are afraid to open our mouths in case somebodyis looking . That ’s not the way abroad . There theyare natural and spontaneous , and s ing l ike b irds andas loud as the ir lungs wi l l let them .

The mus ic for the Coti ll ion I speak of is a light , a iry ,tripping measure . I brought it home with me , andduring the last forty years have sung it to myself atleast ten thousand times

,making as many moments ,

which might otherwise have been dull,bright and

happy . Only last year , no further gone , I gave it to afriend of mine (Mr . Knox Williamson) , one of Ayr ’smost gifted mus icians , to use in an operetta he wasproducing , where it made a decided “ hit Of course

,

I cannot give you the words the Ind ians sang to it,no t

knowing their language ; but here is the last verse of asetting I made for myself, wh ich has at least caught thesp irit , and wi l l give you an idea of the rhythm

Oh , life is always sing- timeTo those who know the tune

,And youth is happy spring- timeAnd fresh as flowers in June .

The heart that ’s b lithe and merryKeeps sweet the live- long day

,And never thinks to worryThen , let us all be gay !

264 Sam Nob le,A .B .

S ing high,sing low— a fig for woe !

Be happy while you may !

Chorus

Happy and merry,tra- la

,la- la- la

,

Happy and merry , tra- la , la- la- la ,Birds of the air are no freer than we are ,

So happy and merry are we , ha ! ha !

All this time (twenty minutes or so— half hourat the most) , it was Babe l in the c lear ing , if not abso lutepandemonium . The monkeys had started a free fight ,and skin and hair were flying in handfuls ! Our M .C .

therefore stopped the music , unscrewed h is pipe , putit away , saying Now , I tink heem good .

Wait ! Now you see fon ! He thennodded to the bowman , who picked up his bow and acouple of arrows . Then he divided the bags amongstus , two to each man , and we a ll crept to the edge of theclearing . Here a pause was made , and the M .C .

whispered ,“When I say ‘

Now !’ al l ron queek ! He

then nodded again to the bowman , who s tepped backa li tt le , fitted a sha ft and sent it flying into the writhingmass . Now !

” shouted the M .C . , and into the openwe bounded , whirl ing our bags and yel l ing like demons !Then took place a scene that would baflle the pen

of a Dickens to describe . The monkeys stoppedthe ir uproar on the ins tant ; looked , for the moment ,“too astounded for words ,” as the saying is , then wentleaping , tumbling , somersault ing to the trees oppositelike an army in panic , leaving about a dozen staggeringon the grass like “ d runks ”

on a Saturday night .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

266 Sam Nob le,A .B .

were barred . The party brought back a fine bagthe jolly-boat pretty nearly ful l of both fur and featherthe principal item being a big deer- like animal

,cal led

a guanaco,i f I remember rightly— and said to be one

of the unclean beasts that Noah took into the Ark withhim . But

,clean or uncl ean

,its bones were well p icked

on board our shi p , I tel l you ! And the offi cers wereloud in praise of the Indians

,who had made themselves

very u seful .A great day

,by al l accounts . But I di dn ’t grumble .

You can ’t have eve rything in this world .

CHAPTER XXVI I

HOMEWARD BOUND

One day,some weeks after coming back to Monte

Video , I was standing at the fo ’c ’s le rai l watching thegig

,which was making for the steps in front of the

Governmen t Buildings,with the first l ieutenan t seated

in the stern . There was a meeting of the big-wigsashore

,or a bal l or function of some kind , which he

was on his way to attend . I t was a lovely day . Thesun

,shining as i t can shine in the Argentine , l it up the

dark brown waters of the La Platt,turning them into

billows of molten copper . The town lay swelteringin the heat

,with a soft haze hanging over it

,l ike the

gauzy clouds that overhang a scene in a theatre,

while the windows in the house for which the boat wasmaking seemed to have a sun of its own blazing behindthe glass .

Bil ly was in ful l war paint— cocked hat,epaule ts

white gloves,sword

,gold lace

,cord and tassels galore ,

al l of which the light struck in bril l iant flashes,making

a fine show . I thought,I f Billy could see himself

to day as we see him from the ship,my word

,wou ldn ’t

he be a proud man !” The boat was painted white ,267

26 8 Sam Nob le,A .B .

with a gold band runn ing along the gun’le beading , and

this the sun also played wi th in merry twinkles as shewent dancing over the water .The crew were in white frocks and white straw hats .I knew them all . In fact , the whole boatload were thevery men I had celebrated in song , as the saying isChatty Kinsell be ing especial ly chummy with me onaccount of hi s hav ing got two verses to himself. And ,although I was very well accustomed to pictures of thatkind

,I must say I felt my heart warm to this one . The

graceful bodies bending to their work ; the oars , l iftingwith the regulari ty of clock-beats

,hanging feathered

for a momen t , then flashing forward again,with the

water sparkling from the blades like crescents of gl ittering dewdrops the bow-wave rising at every send of theboat l ike a l ittl e aubu rn curl on the forehead of a beautifu l girl— wasn ’t that a picture to warm the heart of anysailo r ? I thought it was

,and mine warmed accordingly .

It glows now at the mere memory !A litt l e ahead , and to port of us , another gunboat lay

moored,the flag of Spain floating from her spanker gaff

l ike a gold leaf edged with crimson . One of her boats ,s imilar to our own

,with two glittering figures in her

stern - sheets , was also mak ing for the Governmen t Housesteps , and I was wondering which of the two wouldland first when a slap on the back nearly knocked mycap overboard . I tu rned round angrily

,and there was

Jack Belton,my chum

,squaring off

” and dancing infront of me like a jumping-j ack .

“ Jock , old son ! he cried,What do you think ?

The orders for home are aboard,and our relief is ex

c oted to heave in sight any minute .

”

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

2 70 Sam Noble,A .B .

on every s ide . As I look around , see ing the flutteringhandkerchiefs and hearing the huzzas, I feel the thri l lthat comes when friends part , certain never to meetagain . I had had some fine t imes in that old Uruguayancity , and was sorry to leave it . Yet , not sorry e ither ;after al l there ’s no place like home .

”

Then comes a blank , t i l l one morning I was on thelookout , after being some weeks at sea . I t was darkwhen I came on the fo ’c ’s le , but fine , calm weather ,and the sky full of s tars . We were under s team . Thetime was just before dawn . I tramped from catheadto cathead

,busy with thought , pleasantly looking for

ward to the end of the commission , which we expectedwithi n the next month , if al l wen t wel l .I had saved a few pounds , not many , God wot ! for my

pay wasn ’t great , and I had left halfpay” to my mo ther

,

but I had managed to scrape together about £ 1 2 , andthat seemed a b ig sum to me then— not a bad one yet !— and the thought of sharing it with her

,and of al l the

lovely t imes ahead— e ight whole weeks of them !filled my mind with hopes li ke merrie dancers , andsen t the first half hour of my trick flying as if it hadwings .

“ Aha,mi therie ! Not long now !

” I cried, as her

sweet old face rose from the water , smiled up at me andthen faded away again .

To and fro I s tumped— fore and aft the starboard s ide ,across the deck , fore and aft the port , then athwartshipsagain

,back and fore , up and down ; sometimes jumping

on the hencoops to get a higher view , all the whilehumming a litt le song of my own ,

set to a tune thatpleased me

,entit led Little Mother ”

— I had sen t it

Homeward Bound 2 7 1

to her some time before , and she had written tel lingme she had had it FRAMED — and the thought of that ,and al l the love behind it working in me , made my hearthappy .

And then the gir l ! When I thought of that sweetlittle damsel and of al l the joys ahead along with her ,I te l l you I fe lt fine ! I kicked up my heels and took awaltz around the fo 0 s le hugging myse lf and s ingingthat dear litt le thing of Marchand ’s , who at that momentwas lying snoring below l ike a porpo iseNeath the o ld cabin thatch

,which shelters the starl ing,

I kissed her and kissed her again and again ,

and so on , only I made itMy tender wee Peggy 0 ’ Bonnie Dundee ! ”

Ah ! it is pleasant to be coming home after four long ,weary years of absence .

DAWN ON THE SEA

There ’s no time for thinking and anticipating ,especial ly after a four years ’ separation , like an hour onthe look-out on a dark night . This was an ideal n ight— or rather morning— and I was enjoying i t .The stars were blazing overhead like ho les in a blackcurtain with a strong light behind it . There wasn ’ta breath of wind save what the ship was making .

Nothing in s ight but an occas ional glimmer on the watertel ling of some fish e ither hunting or be ing hunted .

Not a sound but the pulsing of the engines , and themusical purl of the bow-wave under my feet , wh ich

2 72 Sam Nob le,A .B .

s truck my ear li ke the tinkling murmur of a waterfallin a hi ghland glen .

Presently I stopped dead before the fish davit andlooked intently towards the east . Someth inghappening there— a soften ing of the darkness in thatquarter . A flimsy , gassy- like vapour seemed to beris ing from the sea . Thi s spread , wi dened , mounted ,turned a d is tinct grey , then gradual ly brightened .

I knew wha t it was now— “ Daybreak , sir !” I cried ,

without tu rning my head .

“Ay , ay l

” answered Mr . Freedie , who was officerof the watch .

The hush that was on everyth ing before seemed nowto deepen

,the s tars to glow withou t a twinkle , the bow

wave to drop i ts chatter , the very engines to ceasetheir clamour for the time being . It was as if the wholeuniverse was wai ting with bated breath for somethingwonderful abou t to happen . Then a soft strain ofmusic

,unearthly in its swee tness , began to steal over

the surface of the sea , and swell and mount til l the wholeworld

, you would have thought , was full of it , and thata myriad unseen voices were chanting the birth of

morning ; while up crep t the rad iance to starboard ,slowly— slowly— s lowly blotting out the s tars on theeastern horizon . Then a line of silver appeared on theedge of the circle , and wen t j erking— j erking— j erking ,farther and farther out , as i f a hand were drawing it ,bu t had to stop and change its posit ion on accoun t of thewideness of the sweeps , the centre broadening as theline extended . Then a ripple of golden fire ran along

,

taking the place of the si lver line,then another and

another , gli ttering and giving off the loveli es t colours

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

2 74. Sam Nob le,A .B .

landsmen revel in,but whi ch sai lors in my time could

l ick their l ips over only in imagination for months ata stretch . Sti ll , God was good , and our time wascoming !

CLOUD PHOTOGRAPHY : A CAMERA EFFECT

This breeze brought us right up to Fayal,where we

put in for letters . Here a littl e incident occurred whichhas stuck to my memory like a limpet .A few of us had gone ashore for a leg- stretcher and

c limbed one of the mountai n peaks . When we got tothe top and looked around

,a ring of soft

,b i l lowy cloud

had encircled the hi l l a l i ttl e way down and blotted out

the bay . We could see over it right out to the horizon ,

but the water below and the town were completelyhidden . The cloud was snow-white and as dense as

wool . As we looked ,i t began to rise and come nearer

to us,and then gradually to get thinner , and fade and

fade away ti l l i t had no more subs tance than a lady ’sveil . Then out popped the ship , bottom up ! Thenthe town

,with its queer- looking houses , the trees

around,the b lue

,sparkling water— the whole scene

,in

fact,spread i tse lf out on that cloud and we had the

sweetes t l ittle miniature picture before us you couldimagine . I t seemed a hundred miles away . I t wasl ike looking through the b ig end of a tel escope : everyobj ect far away

,but clear and distinct . The only

di ff erence was that eve ry thing appeared upside downexactly as a picture looks when you see it through acamera . I t was no Opt ical i l lus ion of mine . Every oneof us saw it and stood spellbound ti l l it vanished and

Homeward Bound 2 7 5

things took their natural shape . I t caused no end oftalk . I spoke to Mr . Routh about it , and he said itwas just an atmospheric effect l ike a mirage , but howit was b rough t about he knew no more than I did .

HOME !

From Fayal to the neighbourhood of Cape Ushant itwas sunny seas and laughing breezes al l the way . Thelittle Swallow under al l possib le sail , every rope taut ,and straining every pinion , bounded over the wavecrests l ike a b ird to its nest . You would have thoughtshe knew she was going home . Sometimes she d id hertwelve knots

,sometimes more , and kept it up for hours

at a time . Then we would frisk about the fo ’c ’s le , s lapthe rai l

,jump under the bowsprit , pat her pretty head

and cal l her al l the endearing names we could think of“ Bonnie l itt le b ird ! ” Good old girl ! “ DarlingSwallow— show ’em how you do it ! ” just to l iven herup and keep her go ing . And she responded like a l ivething .

It was love ly to see her . Dressed in gleaming whitecanvas , her gracefu l body ris ing and falling with theheave and swell , the waves dancing about her , and thelong wake broadening out astern

,she must have looked

the prettiest litt le p icture float ing on the sea . On moonlight n ights , as she swam along with her shadow thrownon the water , I Used to stare at it for hours , thinking thatno sight in the world could compare with th is . Thatwas one of the finest trips we had . I remember it well .Soon we s ighted Land ’s End

,made our number , and

ran into more muck— “ proper Channel weather,

”as it

2 76 Sam Noble,A .B .

is ca l led . A regular gale was howling around the Corn ishCoast . Here we came upon signals of distress from asloop wh ich was driven ashore , and landed our lifeboatjust in time to snatch a baby about six weeks old fromthe very jaws of death . I t was wrapped in shawls andan oilskin , and tight ly pressed in i ts mother ’s arms .

She , poor thing , was beaten to pulp on the rocks ; butthe baby was alive . They hadn ’t been long in thewater . The s loop was knocked to pieces . Nobodycould te l l who she was or where she had come from .

Eve ryone on board of her was drowned except the baby .

She, the people ashore took charge of , and if she be alivenow wil l be a woman well on in years .

Two days afterwards we dropped anchor at Sp ithead ,

and were inspected by Captain Seymour . Then it wasout powder and sho t ; into dock ; dismantle , and— heyfor Bonnie Scot land !All about coming into Pompey Harbour , under steam ,

and with the long- commission pennant with a gildedba lloon at the end of it streaming far behi nd us ; theS t . Vincent

’

s band playing us in ; the making fast to thebuoy— the same buoy we had left from four years agoexact ly to the day— the fortnight in the dockyard ; theyarns around the gal ley fire ; the high j inks in the townduring that fortnight— for your Homeward - bounder infrom a long commiss ion is always sure of a warmwelcome - the journey to Dundee— these are memoriesthat will never fade , but would almost need a book forthemse lves .

I brought home a parrot ( in a gorgeous cage whichI had bought in London) , a Spanish ca rdinal , twolove -b irds , a piece of the True Cross (purchased from

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

2 78 Sam Nob le,A .B .

and I wou ld have been hard to find, you may take myword for that !And so ended half a dozen of the most helpfu l and

happy years a young man could live , and practical lyfini shed my career in the Navy , forthan ano ther I hurt and— but that ’s as tory .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join