Naval Occasions, and Some Traits of the Sailor-man

ty Ste

Greece, the

forgot at

! At se

EWART

thed funnel of burnished brass and vermilion paint inside her cowls-was standing un

nly a skimpy painted affair. Decidedly it was the fatal beauty of his boat that had influenced the Commander's decision. Still..." He yawned drearily, and opening the deck log, ran his finger down the barometer readings. "Glass low-beastly low-and steady. Wind 4-5, o.c.q.r. H'm'm." The cryptic quotations did not appear to add joy to the outlook. Ten o'clock had struck, and forward in the waist the boatswa

that the light caught his eyes when he was in his hammock, locked his chest, and, choosing a spot where two mess-mates (who were scuffling for the possession of a hammock-stretcher) would not fall over his feet, he unconcernedly knelt down and said his prayers. The corporal of the watch passed on his rounds: the sentry clicked to attention an instant, and resumed his beat: above his he

ou're D.S.B.

ted in reply and pulled the blanket close und

ou glad you sold your lit

snuggled his face against the pi

passing by at this moment, have found food for meditation. For the vibration of the dynamo a deck below presently caused the cap to fall from the police-l

*

the Picket

e muffled in oilskins at his side. Many people would have smiled in something between amusement and compassion at the earnest ton

ruisin' independently. Go an' round 'em up before they drift down on the Flee

gusts along the battery caught the flaps of his oilskins and buffeted the sleep out of him. Overside the lights of the Fleet blinked in an indeterminate confusion through the rain, and for an instant a feeling of utter schoolboy woe, of longin

his boat. The circular funnel-mouth ringed a smoky glow, and in the green glare of a side-light one of the bowmen was reaching for the ladder that hung from the boom. Very cautiously he felt his way out along it steadied by a man-rope, breast high. Looking downward, he saw the steamboat fretting like a dog in lea

d him. The boat's bows were plunging just

to the triangular space in the bows. As he landed, the Jacob's ladde

officer moved aside as he came aft. This was his Coxswain, a morose man about the age of his fathe

ant the boat plunged as if in uncertainty, then swung round on the slope of a slate-grey wave and slid off on her q

n in the tiny engine-room, and the Leading Stoker, scenting adventures, threw up the hatch and thrust a head and hairy chest into the cold air. His interest in the proceedi

hen loaded, carried fifty tons of coal. They had been moored alongside one another to t

wever, one by one, the three truants were captured and secured, and then, with the grey dawn of a winter morning breaking overhead, the picket boat swung round on her return journey.

g of the day," was ladling sugar over his porridge with the abandon of one who

Boat's calle

s even to the communism of a gunroom) and reached for his cap and dir