THE COMMANDER OF THE EXPEDITION. 41 



and men to argue each order before carrying it into 

 execution, there would be an end to discipUne. I never 

 ask a man to do anything that I would not do myself, 

 and on one occasion I led them aloft when they hesi- 

 tated to obey an order on the score of danger. With 

 firmness I can yet be kind, and I always had my men 

 contented and comfortable. I have no hesitation in 

 saying that I believe any men who have sailed with me 

 would go willingly again." • 



One of his associates on the St. Mary's, recalling that 

 earlier experience, has written : — 



"• A few days after the appearance of the newspaper notice 

 of Lieutenant De Long's orders to the New York Nautical 

 School Ship St. Mary's, one of the inquisitive marine aspirants re- 

 marked to one of his chums, ' I wonder what sort of a chap 

 that fellow De Long is who is coming here ? ' 



" He soon learned that ' that fellow De Long' was a perfect 

 master of the situation, always equal to the various and often 

 trying emergencies at sea and in port. His courtesy to all and 

 interest in the boys took away the hardness of his rigid dis- 

 cipline. 



" When questioned by a reporter, ' Are the officers kind to 

 you ? ' a lad of fifteen replied, ' They are as kind as they can 

 be, and when we were at sea they treated us better than when 

 we were near land. We liked them for that. There 's Cap- 

 tain Phythian, and Wadleigh, and De Long, and all of them ; 

 they are as nice as they make them.' 



" From that estimate to the high tribute which the gradu- 

 ates and members of the Nautical School have recently paid to 

 the memory of De Long, no moment is wanting when he has 

 not been looked up to and honored as a man not only of rare 

 heroism but of eminent fitness for the works he has been se- 

 lected to perform." 



