THE EMBRYO SAILOR. 43 



nations passing to and fro, or who, maybe, dwells in some naval or commercial port, 

 and sees constantly great vessels arriving and departing, and hears the tales of sailors 

 bold, concerning new lands and curious things, is very apt to become imbued with the 

 spirit of adventure. How charmingly has Charles Kingsley written on the latter point ! * 

 How young Amyas Leigh, gentle born, and a mere stripling schoolboy, edged his way 

 under the elbows of the sailor men on Bideford Quay to listen to Captain John Oxenham 

 tell his stories of heaps "seventy foot long, ten foot broad, and twelve foot high" 

 of silver bars, and Spanish treasure, and far-off lands and peoples, and easy victories 

 over the coward Dons ! How Oxenham, on a recruiting bent, sang out, with good broad 

 Devon accent, " Who 'lists ? who 'lists ? who'll make his fortune ? 



'"Oh, who will join, jolly mariners all? 

 And who will join, says he, ! 

 To fill his pockets with the good red goold, 

 By sailing on the sea, O ! ' " 



And how young Leigh, fired with enthusiasm, made answer, boldly, te 1 want tc go to 

 sea; I want to see the Indies. I want to fight the Spaniards. Though I'm a gentleman's 

 son, I'd a deal liever be a cabin-boy on board your ship." And how, although he did not 

 go with swaggering John, he lived to first round the world with great Sir Francis 

 Drake, and after fight against the " Invincible " Armada. The story had long before, 

 and has many a time since, been enacted in various forms among all conditions of men. 

 To some, however, the sea has been a last refuge, and many such have been converted 

 into brave and hardy men, perforce themselves; while many others, in the good old days 

 of press-gangs, appeared, as Marryat tells us, " to fight as hard not to be forced into 

 the service as they did for the honour of the country after they were fairly embarked 

 in it." It may not generally be known that the law which concerns impressing has 

 never been abolished, although there is no fear that it will ever again be resorted to in 

 these days of naval reserves, training-ships, and naval volunteers. 



The altered circumstances of the age, arising from the introduction of steam, and 

 the greatly increased inter-commercial relations of the whole world, have made the 

 Jack Tar pure and simple comparatively rare in these days; not, we believe, so much 

 from his disappearance off the scene as by the numbers of differently employed men on 

 board by whom he is surrounded, and in a sense hidden. A few A.B.'s and ordinary 

 seamen are required on any steamship; but the whole tribe of mechanicians, from the 

 important rank of chief engineer downwards, from assistants to stokers and coal-passers, 

 need not know one rope from another. On the other hand, the rapid increase of 

 commerce has apparently outrun the natural increase of qualified seamen, and many a 

 good ship nowadays, we are sorry to say, goes to sea with a very motley crew of 

 "green" hands, landlubbers, and foreigners of all nationalities, including Lascars, Malays, 

 and Kanakas, from the Sandwich Islands. A ei confusion of tongues," not very desirable 

 on board a vessel, reigns supreme, and renders the position of the officers by no means 

 enviable. To obviate these difficulties, and furnish a supply of good material bofh to 



* " Westward Ho ! " 



