PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2490, 4 December 1901, Page 73

PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

HURRAH FOR THE LIFE OF A SAILOR !

This, with the 'üb-title of "Fifty years m the Roy<il Xavy," is an autobiography just i^-ucd by Admhal Sir William Kennedy, K.C.B. The ti/.e of his life is told without the slightest aii'ectation, and with no attempt at 'literary style. It is simply a narration, in a matter-of-fact w<iy, of a life full of vaiiety ; of adventure, of sport, and of inteiest, the latter especialiy in connection with the evolution of the modern navy. As a sportsman he has shot game in China- — lame ducks v. he a he couldn't get anything else, ior he evidently didn't stick at trifles.— tigers ?.nd "mailer game in India, and I don't know what net in Ceylon and Persia, and on the Tigris and Euphrates. The .Seychelles, Madagascar, MPAiritius, and other islands of the Indian Ocean have supplied him with sport, and so has most of the coast of Africa. Newfoundland, Canada, the West Indies, ;>ll the Coast of South America his reverberated with the reports of his firearms ; and to wind up, in the evening of his days hs is now, as far as I know, fishing either in Norway or in Scotland. Well, to-day I thought I could do no wor,»e than string together a few bits from Sir William's reminiscences. The European cables are not spec : ally interesting just now, and local topics, earthquakes and ,'o on, will get better treatment from others ; but the Admiral's autobiography ■will be read by few, and that is another reason for introducing you to some of his yarn?. Admiral Kennedy joined the navy at a time when steam, as applied to ship 3. was a thing of the future ; and he telh \is of one captain he sailed with who was so prejudiced against stea/m when it was introduced that he would barely tolerate a fire in the furnace, and ion clown two ships simply because he trusted to swl and would not allow the engines to be worked. When Kennedy joined the navy in 1851, the examination requiiements weie very small ; indeed, be tells us that the admirals and captains could not pass present day tests, the requirements h?,ving been so largely increased.

The Admira) commences his life with the following : — "In my day, an old service yarn was told that a kind-hearted captain, addressing a youngster who had just joined the navy, said by way of encouragement : '• Well, my boy, I suppose it's the old story — ' The fool of the family sent to sea.'" "Oh, no, sir," replied the lad, " things have changed sine/ your time. ' That was one for the captain. But things have changed since then, and much for the better — officers, men, ships and gun«.

Kennedy was entered on the books of j the Victory, but was almost immediately i transferred to the Rodney, a fine 90-gnn J sailing line-of-battle ship, and if his ex- • periences were anything common, many j must have had a pretty tough time of it in her Majesty's navy. It took nearly six months to gather together a crew. Men were picked up anyhow — long-shore loafers, jail-birds, and such like, with a sprinkling of seamen among them. In the gun-room there were 30. some of whom were drunken sots who used to bully the unfortunate cadets, and an account of their amusements will hardly be credited. Listen to how the evening was spent : — "'We (the nine cadets) were sent down to put on our tail-coats and swords, and then, after being paraded, were made to sit across chairs and attack one another. At the order of 'draw swords,' at it we went, cutting and slashing, four on each side, the odd one being- kept in reserve, and being pitched bodily into the melee when the combat was mo^t lively." This was followed by a fox hunt, when the poor beggars, ornamented with a biush for a tail, had to run the gauntlet. The proceedings weie generally wound up with prayer ! Being divested of coat and shots the cadets were made lo kneel on the lockers lound the stein-port*, p.nd at a given signal — a blow on the back with a hammer— had to pray lustily that the'r bullying tormentors might pass their exam*. They were plucked, however, for which the poor cadets got a flogging all round. The bullies, however, disappeared one by one, discharged for drunkenness. The last one remaining was paid out with interact. He was voted the ugliest man in the service, and he knew it, for he was seen one day , admiring himself in the glass and soliloquising: "Well, you are an ugly brute!" The cadets informed him that they were going to give him an unfriendly call. They provided themslves with ropes to bind him and ropes knotted to flog him, and bided their time. The opportunity , came, and befoie he knew where he was they had him spread-eagled to bolts ia

the deck, and gave iiim such a thrashing that he was on the sick-list for a fortnight. And no wonder. They gave him 13 dozan with ropes and scabbard, and then only cast him off because he had fainted ; but even that didn't make him cease bullying. A second dose wos necessary. But commanders were as tyrannical as the men, and mo;e than one had, &t some time or other, the whole ship's company flogged. But sometimes the men got an opportunity to retaliate in some v/ty. One notorious capta'n, r.ot content with flogging the men and using foul language to them, abused two olftceis in language anything but parliamentary. One day the second lleutenont went up to him, and touching h:s cap most deferentially, called the captain all the names he could think of. The C3.pta;n, exasperated beyond measure, shouted to several officers on deck to come round, and called upon the officer to repeat the language, when he altered his tune, and began some long rigmarole on matters of quite a different character. As there were no witnesses the captain could do nothing! The same skipper was served a neat trick by his clerk, who had long suffered from his abuse. One day he went

into the captain's cabin, knocked him down and gave knn a good hiding. The skipper yelled for help, and the sentry rushed in : but' the clerk threw himseli on the deck, diagged the captain on the top of him and shouted for assistance too. The only evidence was the sentry's, and all he could say was that he saw the captain on the top of the clerk and apparently striking him. Another captain was clown with the yellow fever, and being likely to die, the first lieutenant used to drill the marines in the burial service right over the captain's cabin. The captain, below, byway of comfort, had the pleasure of hearing the command in loud tones : — *'The corpse is now a-eomiug up the "archway — leverfe harms!" The skipper recovered, though. It is just possible that Kennedy himself was a pretty lively youngster, judging by glimpses got now and then. He admits that he was well flogged twice — once foi a most innocent remark. When his master's wife presented her husband with a son, he asked if it had a stiff leg like the father! The other time he got it for throwing a puil of vater over the master's daughter in her bed. Yet he was not quite to blame. He had meant the douche foi

her brother, and they had changed beds. I But they were not all brutes. There was i one fine old salt on the Rodney who was quite a favourite. He did all he could tc make newcomers at home on board, anc this is how he once set about it : ''Well, mj boy. did your father cry when you lefl 'ome?' 1 "No."' " 'Aid-'arted old scoundrel Did ycur mother cry?" "Xes." "Pore soft-'arted old gal! JJid your sisters cry?" [ "Ye*." "Pore, tender-'arled little fools.' ; The same boatswain gave a tea-party in his j cabin in the forecockpit, and thf cabin boj was giving the last touches to the decora tiens when the boVn, by way of showing off his eloquence, thus expressed himself: i "Here, boy, we'll hexpense with your ser I vices, you disgusrable young blackguard." I As you will have gathered," total abstin ! ence wasn't frequent in the navy, and a pro [ lubhionist- would have had a warm tirn<

jof it. Some amusing instances are givei [of the effects of drink. Just after the Cri j mean war Kennedy was at Malta, when ar ! absurd incident happened. Two Jack Tar: were in the gallery of a theatre in Malta and one fell over the railing into the pi' below. His chum, under the impressioi that his male had fallen overboard, tool off h's coat and jumped after him. Won derful to relate, one escaped unhurt, an< the other with a broken lesj. How many times the author wa? wrecked nearly wrecked, or escaped a wreel through transfers, am' how man^ times he ran aground here, there or somewhere else, I cannot say — perhap: a hundred. Once his ship ran agiound nea: Simon's Bay, the naval station for Soutl Africa. The doctor, in hi« cabin below war scared out of his wits, and kept crying piteously : "Oh, shc"s going tc the bottom She's going to the bottom." Kennedy tol( the master to calm the doctor, so he wen to the Latchway and yelled down, "Why you old fool, she's on the bottom!" I have given you a few yarns — true ones eveiy one of them, the Admiral says — be cause at this time you don't want any thing sober, though you may be abstainers but I should like also to give you some o the interesting details connected with hi work in the Black Sea, when the Crime

v» ill was ill progress, uuu in v^iiiiiese vv uici during our wars with China. His cruise up tLe West Coast of South America an his experiences of earthquakes and revolu tions are worthy of a column ; but I mus stop. NiMito and Blaih's stocks of Aitificit Manures for root crops, grass lands, gian potatoes, etc., are very extensive, and ha\m erected expensive machinery for treating then solendid resxilts may be expected.