108 THE "SEA-HORSE" 



post-mark, addressed to my wife, wherein the writer 

 spoke of the danger her husband had witnessed. It also 

 stated tliat he had found, upon inquiry, that the animal 

 I had j)nrchased was a most vicious and ungovernable 

 brute ; and she begged my wife to induce me to part 

 with so dangerous a nag as soon as possible ; this I did 

 not hesitate to do. 



Another movement in our domestic circle Avas the 

 departure of one of my younger brothers. He, like me, 

 had been sent to sea, and in one of our crack frigates ^ 

 had sailed up the Mediterranean, where his ship had 

 joined the expedition up the Dardanelles, under Sir John 

 T. Duckworth. It was on returning from thence he met 

 with an accident that caused him to be sent home. Stand- 

 ing on the quarter-deck, the studding-sail haulyard-block 

 fell from the maintop -gallant yardarm, and, striking him 

 on the face, gave his jib-boom a twist that never righted ; 

 and the scar, also inflicted by the blow, he carried with 

 him to an early grave. 



In consequence of this he left the service for a time ; 

 and, being still very young, was sent to a celebrated naval 

 academy at Gosport ; but an offer being made by his old 

 captain,^ who was son and brother to a peer, for him to 

 sail in a small frigate, commanded by a young officer 

 just posted, then htting out at Portsmouth, I had to see 

 him on board. Though we had already experienced the 

 hardships and privations of a midshipman's berth, he was 

 very loth to leave the comfort and comparative luxuries 

 of our happy home in exchange. Consequently, I had 



' The Sea Horse. 



2 The Hon. Courtenay Boyle. 



