The Blue Funnel Line. 151 



gunner ; ' that the steersman did not know the points of the 

 compass, and that the man on the look-out had been only 

 seven months at sea. Mr Holt, the chief owner of the Blue 

 Funnel Line, being a careful man, enacts the adoption of 

 special precautions from his skippers, such as giving other 

 vessels and dangerous land a wide berth, and not entering 

 harbours after dusk or before dawn. An old captain of this 

 line was once severely chaffed at a dinner party, for his 

 cautious style of navigation, by a young manager of a rival 

 line which had adopted close-shaving and go-a-head principles, 

 with somewhat disastrous results ; and was sneeringly asked 

 if he did not know every rock between Singapore and the 

 Taku Forts. * Long ago,' replied the old mariner, * I used to 

 think I did ; but of late, your ships have knocked them 

 about so much, that they have got mixed up a good deal, and 

 I am unable to recognise many of them.' The old ' shellback ' 

 was allowed to finish his dinner in peace. 



I like a safe line, and for that reason would prefer the 

 Blue Funnel to many others engaged in the Eastern trade. 

 Feeling secure on board Mr Holt's steamers, we readily 

 attack, with what appetite the sea allows us, the somewhat 

 primitive meals put on the table, and think of the traveller on 

 the Cunard boat who received, it is said, to every complaint 

 made, the invariable excuse : ' We have never lost a passenger.' 

 If he demanded a clean napkin, the steward would blandly 

 reply : ' Sorry we have got none, sir ; but we have never lost 

 a passenger.' If a remark was made on the rancidity of the 

 butter, the table attendant would complacently say : * It is 

 certainly not quite sweet ; but we have never lost a passenger.' 

 And so on. 



The only Eastern line, judging from the many journeys I 

 have made, that, to my mind, combines every requirement of 

 safety and comfort, is the Messageries Maritime*. The black 

 crews of the P. and O. steamers, largely recruited as they are 

 from boatmen who possess but little knowledge of, or experi- 

 ence in seamanship, do not inspire me with confidence. Even 



