1848 SCIENCE AT SEA 71 



at if the same spirit runs through its subordinate 

 officers. 



Not that there is any active opposition quite the 

 reverse. But it is a curious fact, that if you want a boat 

 for dredging, ten chances to one they are always actually 

 or potentially otherwise disposed of ; if you leave your 

 towing-net trailing astern in search of new creatures, in 

 some promising patch of discoloured water, it is, in all 

 probability, found to have a wonderful effect in stopping 

 the ship's way, and is hauled in as soon as your back is 

 turned ; or a careful dissection waiting to be drawn may 

 find its way overboard as a "mess." 



The singular disrespect with which the majority of 

 naval officers regard everything that lies beyond the 

 sphere of routine, tends to produce a tone of feeling very 

 unfavourable to scientific exertions. How can it be other- 

 wise, in fact, with men who, from the age of thirteen, 

 meet with no influence but that which teaches them that 

 the " Queen's regulations and instructions " are the law 

 and the prophets, and something more ? 



It may be said, without fear of contradiction, that in 

 time of peace the only vessels which are engaged in 

 services involving any real hardship or danger are those 

 employed upon the various surveys ; and yet the men of 

 easy routine harbour heroes the officers of regular 

 men-of-war, as they delight to be called, pretend to think 

 surveying a kind of shirking in sea-phrase, "sloping." 

 It is to be regretted that the officers of the surveying 

 vessels themselves are too often imbued with the same 

 spirit ; and though, for shame's sake, they can but stand 

 up for hydrography, they are too apt to think an alliance 

 with other branches of science as beneath the dignity of 

 their divinity the "Service." 



P. 112: 



Any adventures ashore were mere oases, separated by 

 whole deserts of the most wearisome ennui. FOB weeks, 



