out by the
ship's tailor, just like the bluejackets, except for the skirts--white
jerseys, navy blue serge uniforms, with blue jean collars and white
trimmings, straw hats with H.M.S. _Boadicea_ on the ribbon in gold,
knife and lanyard, all complete.

To beat this admiral in turning his hand to anything at a moment's
notice we must take the bluejacket whom Captain Wonham saw escaping
from a horde of savages on the West Coast of Africa during the Ashanti
War of 1874. This man knew the natives well, as he had been the
Governor's servant there for several years before the niggers swarmed
out of the bush to kill off the whites. Every one seemed to be safe in
the boats, when Captain Wonham suddenly spied Jack running for his life
on top of a long spit of high rocks that jutted out like a wharf. The
natives, brandishing their spears and climbing the rocks, were just
going to cut Jack off when he, knowing their craze for the white man's
clothes, threw his cap at them. Immediately there was a scramble which
held up their advance. As they came on again he threw them his serge,
and so on, taking a spurt after each throw. At last he took off his
trousers, which set all the niggers fighting like mad round two big
chiefs, each of whom was hanging on to one leg. Then he took a neat
header and swam off to the boats, which had meanwhile pulled in to his
rescue.

When the battleship _Majestic_ was sunk in the Dardanelles a bluejacket
ran along her upper side as she rolled over, then along her keel as she
turned bottom upwards. Finally, seeing that she was sinking by the
stern, and knowing both her own length and the depth of the water, he
climbed right up on the tip-top end of her stem, from which he was
taken off as dry as a bone. Meanwhile a very different kind of rescue
was being made by Captain Talbot, who, having gone down with the ship,
rose to the surface and was rescued by a launch. He had barely
recovered his breath when he saw two of his bluejackets struggling for
their lives. He at once dived in and rescued both at the very great
risk of his own.

From East to West, from the Tropics to the Poles, the Navy has gone
everywhere and done nearly everything that mortal man can do. Think of
the Admiralty "rating" Newfoundland, a country bigger than Scotland and
Wales put together, as one of His Majesty's Ships and putting a captain
in command! Yet that was done in the early days; and it worked very
well. Think of