ened to prevail on board her. She
was, as we have already seen, a large ship, as ships went at that time,
being of 870 tons register, and capable of carrying close upon 1200 tons
dead-weight. She had saloon accommodation for forty passengers, and
carried an armament of twelve 9-pounders upon her main-deck, the
intention of her owners being that she should fight her own way, if
necessary, to and fro across the ocean, and so be independent of convoy.

But on her present voyage this plan had to be abandoned, the activity of
the press-gangs, and the consequent scarcity of seamen being such that
she cleared out of the port of London with only thirty men in her
forecastle; a crew wholly inadequate to successfully defend a ship of
her size in the extremely likely event of her encountering an adversary.
She was therefore compelled, like many others, to avail herself of the
protection of convoy.

Upon her arrival at Plymouth, she, like the _Aurora_, received a visit
from a man-o'-war's boat, which carried off four of her best men,
reducing her number of seamen to twenty-six. It will thus be seen that,
when she finally sailed out of English waters, she was very
short-handed.

Now, as Jack is to this day, so he ever has been--an inveterate
grumbler; he _will_ find _something_ to growl about. It is not to be
wondered at, therefore, that, with such good cause, there should be
constant dissatisfaction in the _Princess Royal's_ forecastle.

But though Jack _is_, and always has been, such a grumbler, and though
probably nothing on earth will ever cure him of this habit--for habit
only it is--yet, even where there is good and sufficient cause for
discontent, a little judicious management, forbearance, and sympathy
will prevent the mischief from going any further.

Unfortunately, however, for the _Princess Royal_ and all connected with
her, the measures adopted by those in authority on board her for the
suppression of this quickly-discovered spirit of discontent were the
extreme opposite of judicious. The master--as is sometimes the case
with masters of very fine ships--was haughty and overbearing, possessed
of a highly-exaggerated opinion of his own importance, turning a deaf
ear to all the complaints of his crew, and treating them with an
impatience and superciliousness of manner which made him heartily
detested. The chief mate, an arrant sycophant, taking his cue from his
superior officer imitated him to the utmost extent o