34 THE SEA. 



soon go to piece? ; but one of elm, which was christened off Cape de Verde, survived many 

 weeks of hard usage, and was more precious to the club than the most expensive of Cobbett's 

 productions. It was fully intended by a member of the Marylebone Club to obtain for this 

 tough little piece of elm a final resting-place in the Pavilion at Lord's, but unfortunately 

 the 'leviathan hitter/ in attempting a huge drive, let it slip out of his hands, and it is 

 lost to us for ever." The boatswain furnished spun-yarn balls at sixpence each, but these 

 seldom had a long life, four or five being frequently hit overboard in the course of an 

 afternoon's play ; nearly 300 were exhausted on the voyage. " The wicket/' continues the 

 narrator, " is pitched just in front of the weather poop-ladder, the bowling-crease being 

 thirteen yards further forward, by the side of the deck-house. Behind the bowler stands 

 an out-field, while mid-on or mid-off, according to which tack the ship is on, has his 

 back to the midshipmen's berth, and has also occasionally to climb over the boom-board 

 above it, and search for a lost ball among a chaos of boats and spare spars. . . . 

 Run-getting on board ship is a matter of difficulty, the ball having the supremacy over 

 the bat, which is exactly reversed on shore. A cricketer who thinks but little of the side- 

 hill at Lord's would find himself thoroughly non-plussed by the incline of a ship's deck 

 in a stiff breeze. A good eye and hard straight driving effected much, but a steady 

 defence and the scientific c placing ' of the ball under the winch often succeeded equally 

 well, especially on a wet wicket. The highest score of the season was eighteen, which 

 included two hits on to the forecastle, feats of very rare occurrence." The games were 

 highly popular, and were watched by appreciative assemblages of the passengers. On the 

 same vessel a glee club was organised, and an evening in Christmas week was devoted to 

 theatricals, by the " Shooting Stars of the Southern Seas." Dancing is common enough 

 on board, and, of course, is often pursued under difficulties; a sudden lurch of the ship 

 may throw a number of couples off their feet or tumble them in a chaotic heap. 



Another traveller * gives us some amusing notes on the private theatricals per- 

 formed on board the famous old steamship Great Britain. He was stage manager, and says : 

 " I had a great deal to do, as I was responsible for dresses, and had to see that every- 

 body was ready. I had among other things to procure a chignon. I was in a dilemma, 

 as I did not like to ask a lady for the loan of one, even where no doubt existed as to 

 her wearing false hair ; so at last I procured some oakum from the carpenter, and made 

 three large sausages, and it was pronounced a success. The stage is erected in the saloon, 

 and we had footlights, with a gorgeous screen of flags, &c." Special prologues were 

 written for these entertainments, one of which, on the occasion of performing the " Taming 

 of a Tiger " and the " Area Belle," ran as follows : 



" Far from Australia or from British home, 

 Across wide ocean's trackless breast we roam ; 

 And though our ship both swift and steady speeds, 

 Yet dreary week to dreary week succeeds. 

 Our joys restricted, and our pleasures few, 

 "We all must own the prospect's rather blue. 



* E. K. Laird : " The Eambles of a Globe Trotter in Australia, Japan, China, Java, India, and Cashmere." 



