THE EARLY LIFE OF E. J. PECK 19 



tion of loan literature, namely, the presence of 

 Messrs. Cheshire, Partridge, Shaw and Haughton, 

 that they might have seen how the sailors appre- 

 ciated their kindness and generosity. That case 

 of books proved an untold blessing to the ship's 

 messes. 



Interesting as are the scenes on this side of naval 

 life, and tempting as they are to linger over, the 

 narrative must hasten on to that which was in parti- 

 cular one issue of them. We glance at Mr. Peck's 

 notes, and he takes up the story which links the 

 Eskimos and their spiritual destinies with a British 

 man-of-war : 



" About this time Tom Yeadle, the seaman gunner, 

 informed me that he had heard from a clergyman, 

 the Rev. T. Romaine Govett, Vicar of Newmarket, 

 asking him to leave the Service and go, if possible, 

 to Newmarket, as Scripture Reader. Tom Yeadle, 

 for certain family and personal reasons, finding it 

 impossible to comply with his friend's request, 

 referred the clergyman to me (E. J. Peck), saying 

 that he thought I might be able to go. After prayer- 

 ful consideration and some correspondence with 

 Mr. Govett, I was able through the permission of 

 the naval authorities, of course to purchase my 

 discharge, and I finally left the Navy on May 7, 

 1875, and went to Mr. Govett a few days after. 



" The Rev. T. Romaine Govett was, in many 

 respects, a remarkable man of God, and I could 



