r second mate, as I had
changed my mind about going to sea. He laughed, and bade me good-bye.

Jennie and I were both very happy then. The future was not thought
about. In a couple of weeks it became very apparent that I must earn a
living for my pretty wife. The fact of having no trade and being
without influence to obtain suitable employment naturally made me
discouraged. The English navy was giving four pounds sterling as a
bounty for seamen. I shipped as an able seaman, on condition that I
should be put on a man-of-war belonging to Portsmouth Harbour. My
clothing and sea chest I sold. The proceeds and the bounty I gave to
Jennie. I was assigned to the line-of-battle ship St. Vincent, one
hundred and twenty guns. My term of service was for five years. Several
other men and myself were taken across the Bristol Channel, thence by
rail to Portsmouth. The St. Vincent was a very large ship, having five
decks, three tiers of broadside guns, and a crew of twelve hundred men.
I received some clothing and a hammock and found myself a full-fledged
English man-of-war's-man for the second time in my life.

My attention was called to the bulletin offering inducements for
volunteers to the Gunnery Schoolship Excellent. Men of good education,
first-class seamen and physically perfect, were eligible. A man named
McMinn and I made applications for the required examination. Both of us
were taken on board the Excellent and most thoroughly examined.
Everything being satisfactory, we were transferred and made "seamen
gunners" and "submarine divers" in Her Majesty's service. The term of
service was altered to twenty-one years. Extra pay was allowed for the
grade of gunners. Two-pence--four cents--extra was allowed a day as
submarine diver and one shilling an hour while diving, and one penny a
day for each good-conduct stripe, three being the limit. A service
pension was to be granted for seventeen years' service, at eight pence a
day, that being additional to our regular pay. The Excellent was an old
frigate anchored close to the navy yard. She had no masts or rigging,
the crew having nothing more to do with the seamanship. We were divided
into four divisions, each division changing exercises daily. From nine
in the morning until three in the afternoon we were constantly drilling.
Breech- and muzzle-loading guns, broadside guns, howitzers and muskets
and rifles and pikes and cutlasses, all came in rotation, and target
practice daily with