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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
and sided soraping * ho , ftor < tfo process through fckW which * U indispensable in arriving at oleaniiftesa oft a raan-d £ * r * rV refitting , binVhasten froth Gibraltar withal 1 the speed I may , pausing * only to renftiiid hkfeef the Oriental look , Saracenic and Jewish * in ? spite of an English gfcrb , which the beautiful women possessed
and exhibited to us on the Sundays , when curiosity led them towards the A > ¦¦ ¦ - ; to me they were charming : there was a dreaminess in the reality which was strongly tinctured of romance : and also to acquaint him that on such days parties of the crew were per- * mitted to go on shore on ' liberty / which 'liberty' was to hasten to the first tavern and drink themselves into a state of helpless infirmity ; which not to do would be symptomatic of cowardly
ktbberaBes * * or worse : and no further harm comes of the' liberty * than a head-ache occasionally , or a fit of fever and death . For though drunkenness at sea is obnoxious to severe punishment ; £ a harbour it is not a failing considered , nor even a sign of progress to degradation v—that degradation , however , is nothing ;• it is net even a note of coining inattention to duty . Another matter which occurred here was somewhat serious . The boatswain , after a whole
day ' s sitting in solitary indulgence of the grog bottle , still retaining a mechanical impetus to go on board at night , reeled over the plat- form at the top of the ragged-staff steps , and fell to the bottom He was quite dead when the men from the waiting boat picked him up within half-a-minute from his fall . He was considered , JL .
and justly so , one of the smartest boatswains in the navyv It was ' with no reluctant and unwilling ear' that 1 heard the Order given for casting off the moorings from the mole and hauling out when the ship was accomplished in all her dock-yard fittings * The prospect of moving about at sea had in it a charm and reno * vatio-n of hope , far the reader will easily consent to my declaration of drowsiness when I tell him that for four weeks I had endured
the pain of gazing on those exciting scenes and wonders which nre visible from every part of Gibraltar , with restriction as entire as if there had been chains round my body and limbs , and I longed to be away , no matter where . With men-of-war crews in general , the p rospect is not so inviting , except to the few stanch and steady ; for though the toil is greater and more constant in refitting ,
victualling , &c . in harbour , the usual severity of discipline is relaxed ; the eye of authority cannot be fixed on every individual of the scattered labourers , and opportunities for getting drunk are as surely seized as they are found . At sea the work is easier * but the eye of discipline is severely watchful , and each man , except
the few whose higher elements are not utterl y extinguished , moves , lives , and breathes in apprehension of punishment . It wakes hini to keep the midnight watch , and he lies down in thoughts which may flash it to him in his dreams . His freedom from it elicits a fitful levity *—his very cheerfulness is a kind of delirium engendered hy reckless apathy . I was otte of the very few who weu * pleaded
Untitled Article
A * &th 4 ( &apkfreftSW * J ? erj * ddt . 41 A
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1835, page 419, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2646/page/55/
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