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Untitled Article
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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
y ard * about , and it hutidral othe * p ^ tty manoeuvres f <* irHttttifctl , ( oftentimes to the detriment of the shlp > profrrtiMJ and aawto * , ?) which engendered a contempt for the officer * lubberiine ** ettd
lack of skill ; . though lack of nautical skill there was iicrt , but lack of mental philosophy was plentiful . This it was which excited contempt and a heart-gnawing suppression of bitter aversion to the officer ' s tyrannical , trouble-giving propensity ; but he could not forego this opportunity of letting them feel they were at his mercy , — 'the glory , and honour , and sweetness of his station were
comprised in the privilege and ability to knock two or three hundred men about just as 4 tjpleased him . I do not deny that it was necessary to train the crew to an uniformity and rapid simuLtaneousness of action , by which the whole duty and labour of thfe
ship is lightened , and that her working and navigation may be effected with regularity and exactness , and , indeed , beauty of order ; but I am sure these results would be more quickly and completely attained by a process entirely free from irritation artd caprice . Whenever Captain M . manoeuvred the ship , either On
emergencies or on ordinary occasions , the whole of the vaafc machine moved like clockwork , without jar or impediment . With him she was a feather in a cup of oil , floating and bending so easily and smoothly . Why was this ? True , ne was one of the most skilful and cool-headed seamen that ever commanded ft . shipj as the thousands who knew him will allow . Others oh board the A might perhaps have vied with him in
mech&niconautical skill , but they had not considering minds with that skill . Was it because the eye of the great man was on them that the seamen unanimously exhibited more alertness ? that they stood or moved in the assurance that fault , or neglect , or carelessness was then more open to detection and punishment ? Not too , cither : they knew from experience that faults committed tinder his eye were less likely to meet with castigation than when Mich
or similar faults went through the regular formula of an officer ' s report to him . They were willing , because they found he wished to be , would be , just ; they put forth their strength , skill , and cheerful alacrity because he was merciful and considerate in his discipline : he never tasked them with impossibilities ; lie never irritated them by capr ice ; there was no vexatious niggling iti anything he ordered to be done . Half the ships in the fleet during lust war contained crews that required only a spark to fttart
them into open mutiny ; the combustion was daily accumulating under thia toil from the caprice of officers and their vexatious niggling disci pline . But come , it is time to leave Gibraltar . I did so most gladl y- ^* - and on the gallant A — ¦ > , in all her newness of finery , r iggfifrg , sails , painted aides , and purified decks , bowled away to 1 etattft Bay , where I saw nothing that waa not bem * tif \ il and picture *( ttto , though the blue and brown * hills and shingly beach toy rOttstm ;
Untitled Article
AHtotooermhit of P& . V&htitoi 4 * 3
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1835, page 423, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2646/page/59/
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