ke of Edinburgh, entered Malta
Harbour that year, and for some weeks the combined fleets lay moored
alongside each other. The Royal Admiral was a frequent visitor to our
ship. On one of these visits I had the experience of serving him with
luncheon. He was the guest of our skipper. During the luncheon I
handed him a note from his Flag Lieutenant. A dealer in mummies had
come aboard with some samples. They were spread out on the
quarter-deck. The note related the facts, but the Queen's son was not
impressed, and said so.

[Illustration: A Page from Mr. Irvine's Diary.
Kept while serving on H.M.S. _Alexandra_]

"Tell him," said he, "to go to ---- Oh, wait a moment"; then he
pencilled his reply on the back of a note and handed it to me. When
the Flag Lieutenant read it, he laughed, tore it up and handed the
pieces to me. The Duke's reply read--"He may go to the D---- with the
whole boiling. A."

Right off the coast of Sicily, we encountered a bit of rough water,
and Commander Campbell, a seaman of the old school, took advantage of
it for sail drill.

"Strike lower yards and top masts," was the order, "and clear the
decks for action!"

"Away aloft!" he roared, as the wind soughed through the rigging, and
a moment later I heard--"Bear out on the yard-arm!"

Something went wrong in the foretop that day, and its captain fell to
the hatchway grating below. I was standing a few feet from the spot,
and it took me the best part of the day to sponge his blood out of my
clothing. We stopped the evolution for a day, and the following day
another man was killed performing the same drill, and we buried them
both that afternoon in the old cemetery at the base of Mt. Etna. At
noon on the third day the ship was ordered to go through the same
evolution. Meantime a petty officer named Hicks had been promoted
captain of the foretop. He was one of the finest men in the ship. He
could dance a hornpipe, sing a good song, make a splendid showing with
the gloves or single-sticks; was something of a wag, and when he
laughed the deck trembled. His promotion was not wholly a thing of
joy, for the superstition of the sea gripped him tight. He was the
third man, and to most of us the number had an evil omen. Within an
hour after his promotion, the red flush had gone from his cheeks. He
was silent and managed to be alone most of the afternoon and evening
of that day. He had been a signal boy and was an expert in the
language of flags and in