LITTLE 

 JOURNEYS 



Captain Fitz-Roy of the British Navy was but twenty- 

 three years old. He was a draftsman, a geographer, a 

 mathematician and a navigator. He had sailed 'round 

 the world as a plain tar, and taken his kicks and cuffs 

 with good grace. At the Portsmouth Naval School he 

 had w^on a gold medal for proficiency in study, and an- 

 other medal had been given him for heroism in leaping 

 from a sailing ship into the sea to save a drowning 

 sailor J> ^ 



Let us be fair — the tight little island has produced the 

 men. To evolve a few good men she may have pro- 

 duced many millions of the spawn of earth — but let the 

 fact stand : England has produced men. 

 Here was a beardless youth, slight in form, silent by 

 habit, but so well thought of by his Government that 

 he was given a ship, five officers, two surgeons and 

 forty-one picked men to go around the world and make 

 measurements of certain coral reefs and map the dan- 

 gerous coasts of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. 

 The ship was provisioned for two years, but the orders 

 were, *' Do the w^ork, no matter how long it may take, 

 and your drafts on the Government will be honored." 

 €[ Captain Fitz-Roy was a man of decision — he knew 

 just where he wanted to go, and what there was to do. 

 He was to measure and map dreary w^astes of tossing 

 tide, and do the task so accurately that it would never 

 have to be done again — his maps were to remain for- 

 ever a solace, a safety and a security to the men who 

 go down to the sea in ships. 



England has certainly produced themen — and Fitz-Roy 

 168 



