MEETS KING TOM 15 



One of these is before me as I write, and gives a 

 strange notion of the arts in our old English Navy. 

 Yet it was again as an artist that the lad was 

 taken for a run to Rio, and apparently for a second 

 outing in a ten-gun brig. These, and a cruise of 

 six weeks to windward of the island undertaken by 

 the Conqtceror herself in quest of health, were the 

 only breaks in three years of murderous inaction ; 

 and at the end of that period Jenkin was invalided 

 home, having ' lost his health entirely.' 



As he left the deck of the guard-ship the historic Meets 

 part of his career came to an end. For forty-two ^"^ °™' 

 years he continued to serve his country obscurely 

 on the seas, sometimes thanked for inconspicuous 

 and honourable services, but denied any oppor- 

 tunity of serious distinction. He was first two 

 years in the Larne, Captain Tait, hunting pirates 

 and keeping a watch on the Turkish and Greek 

 squadrons in the Archipelago. Captain Tait was 

 a favourite with Sir Thomas Maitland, High Com- 

 missioner of the Ionian Islands — Eang Tom as he 

 was called — ^who frequently took passage in the 

 Lame. King Tom knew every inch of the Mediter- 

 ranean, and was a terror to the officers of the 

 watch. He would come on deck at night ; and 

 with his broad Scotch accent, ' Well, sir,' he would 

 say, ' what depth of water have ye ? Well now, 

 sound ; and ye '11 just find so or so many fathoms,' 

 as the case might be ; and the obnoxious passenger 



