mariners,
Souls that have toiled and wrought and thought with me,
That ever with a frolic welcome took
The thunder and the sunshine.'

It is always in stormy weather that the good qualities of the British
seaman are displayed to the greatest advantage. The difficulty is to
keep up his interest and energies in long intervals of fine weather,
when nothing occurs to rouse him to an effort, and the faculties of
the seaman before the mast, no less than those of his officer, are
benumbed by the monotony and isolation from mankind, which are the
gravest drawbacks of a sailor's life. It is in these dull moments that
men are tempted to drink and quarrel, that officers become tyrannical,
and their crews insubordinate, or even mutinous. Lest it should be
thought that my impressions of the average sailor are derived from an
exceptional crew or picked men, I have only to add that the manning of
the 'Sunbeam' was a family job. The sailing master was related by
blood or marriage to the majority of his subordinates--fishermen from
the coast of Essex, who had received their early training among the
banks and shoals at the mouth of the Thames.

In this connection I tender my sincere tribute of praise to the
officers of the Navy for their success in maintaining the efficiency
and spirit of their crews through long commissions on foreign
stations, much time being necessarily spent in harbour, in many cases
in the most enervating climates. The discipline of the service seems
to be admirable, and the seamen are reconciled to it by tradition, by
early training, and perhaps by an instinctive perception of its
necessity.

I am equally bound to commend the efficiency of our consular service
in the remotest outposts of civilisation which we have visited; and
evidences of good colonial administration are abundantly manifest in
Hongkong, Singapore, Penang, Ceylon, and Aden, in the prosperity and
contentment of the people.

It is scarcely necessary to observe, in conclusion, that experiences
may be gathered in a voyage of circumnavigation which are not to be
gleaned from Blue-books or from shorter cruises in European waters. A
more vivid impression is formed of the sailor's daily life, of his
privations at sea, and his temptations on shore. The services required
of the Navy are more clearly appreciated after a visit to distant
foreign stations.

Such a voyage is, indeed, a serious effort. It demands many laborious
days and anxio