If little was said, it was with no good grace we took such a station.
There were those who saw that seafaring could not thus arbitrarily be
divided. Other nations were stirring and striving to a naval strength
and power, drawing aid and personnel from their mercantile services.
Sea-strength and paramountcy might not wholly come to be measured in
terms of thickness of the armour-plating--in calibre of the great guns.
Auxiliary services would be required. The Navy could no more work
without us than the Army without a Service Corps.

The Royal Naval Reserve came as a link to our intercourse. Certain of
our shipmates left us for a period of naval training. They came back
changed in many particulars. They had acquired a social polish, were
perhaps less 'sailor-like' in their habits. As a rule they were
discontented with the way of things in their old ships; the quiet rounds
bored them after the crowded life in a warship. We were frequently
reminded of how well and differently things were done in _the_ Service.
Perhaps, in return, we took the wrong line. We made no effort to sift
their experiences, to find out how we might improve our ways. Often our
comrade's own particular shrewdness was cited as a reason for the better
ways of naval practice. We were rather irritated by the note of
superiority assumed, perhaps somewhat jealous. Had commissions been
granted on a competitive basis, we might have accepted such a tone, but
we had our own way of assessing sea-values, and saw no reason why we
should stand for these new airs. What was in it, what had wrought the
change, we were never at pains to investigate. It was enough for us to
note that, though his watch-keeping was certainly improved, our
re-entered shipmate did not seem to be as efficient as a navigator or
cargo supervisor as once we had thought him. All his talk of drills and
guns and station-keeping considered, he seemed to have quite forgotten
that groundnuts are thirteen hundredweights to the space ton and ought
not to be stowed near fine goods!

On the other hand, he might reasonably be expected to see his old
shipmates in a new light. Rude, perhaps. Of limited ideas. Tied to the
old round of petty bickerings and small intrigues. He would note the
want of trusty brotherhood. His sojourn among better-educated men may
have roused his ideas to an appreciation of values that deep-sea life
had obscured. The lack of the discipline to which he had become
accustomed would a