146 SEA-FISH. 
there would have been for me to have brought the 
two of us out alive. The spill never came, as it 
happencd ; but it was a tight squeeze, and made 
me vow at the time never again to go out with 
a non-swimmer—an undertaking I have since for- 
gotten. 
I have already mentioned the objectionable 
Presence Practice of standing up suddenly in a small 
ofmind boat. It is highly desirable to acquire, if 
it be not inborn, that presence of mind which 
shall never fail in an emergency, such as the 
sudden appearance in a fog of a steamer coming 
hull on—an experience that befell me in the 
present summer about a mile south of Bourne- 
mouth pier. These pleasure-steamers have now and 
again odd ideas about the propriety of answering 
the helm, and when we first sighted each other 
there was certainly not much more than 200 yards 
distance between us. My small mouth-syren was 
soon going vigorously. It is always advisable to 
have one of these aboard—they can be purchased 
at several shops near Charing Cross—for sudden 
fogs, though, as I afterwards learnt, it did not 
matter in this case, as the captain saw me at once. 
There was no question of reversing his engines, 
for a boat of that size and build would have passed 
over me long before she stopped; so that all he 
could do was to get his wheel over sharp, and the 
result was that he passed on my right by Icss than 
twenty yards, his wash swamping everything. 
Now, had there been a lady on board, she would 
inevitably have stood up and screamed. Next, 
both she and myself would have been in the 
water; and even had nothing worse happencd, 
we should have looked ridiculous in the eyes of 
