xviii INTRODUCTION 



each time at 2j ft., we arrive, by simple calculation, at 

 the fact that Lord Walsingham raised a weight of about 

 2\ tons a height of 2\ ft. during that day's shooting. 

 But if we consider the amount of shock and energy of 

 recoil that a shooter's body is called upon to absorb or 

 check in the course of a day's shooting such as this, the 

 figures will prove still more startling. If, therefore, the 

 energy of the recoil of each one of the 1 500 cartridges 

 is placed at 30 ft. lb., which it might well be, seeing 

 that a heavy charge of black powder was used by the 

 gunner on the day named, we have the astounding total 

 of 45,000 ft. lb., which implies that an energy equivalent 

 to the lifting of 20 tons to a height of I foot has to be 

 taken up or checked by the gunner's body in the course 

 of a day's shooting such as that recorded. Altogether a 

 most wonderful performance a performance in which 

 bodily strength and endurance are worthy to rank with 

 the remarkable degree of marksmanship displayed. 

 There are two things deeply engrafted upon the hearts 

 of Englishmen, a love of sport and of salt water. The 

 liking for the latter is indissolubly bound up in, is in 

 fact part and parcel of, our inborn love of freedom, for 

 where is such freedom to be found as upon the open 

 sea ? To cruise about in one's own craft, whether it be 

 a 1 5 -foot open boat or a handsome 3O-ton yacht, is to 

 reach the acme of untrammelled freedom in this country. 

 On the open water there are no notice-boards conveying 

 the intimation to " Keep off the grass," " Trespassers 

 will be prosecuted," nor even that dread threat " All 

 dogs will be shot." Thus the man in the boat throws 

 dull care to the four winds of heaven or, at least, that 

 one blowing at the moment and feels that as a true 

 British subject and taxpayer he is practically monarch 



