r chuckled out to the
people near him, "Does the good gentleman suppose I'll take a glass of
grog for saving a boy's life?"

It is surely very odd that there should ever be such a thing as a
sailor who cannot swim. And it is still more marvellous that there
should be found people who actually maintain that a sailor who cannot
swim has a better chance than one who can.

This strange doctrine, as may well be supposed, derives but slender
support from any well-established facts. It is merely asserted that,
on some occasions of shipwreck, the boldest swimmers have been lost in
trying to reach the shore, when they might have been saved had they
stayed by the ship. This may be true enough in particular cases, and
yet the general position grounded upon it utterly absurd. The most
skilful horsemen sometimes break their necks, but this is hardly
adduced as an argument against learning to ride. I suppose there is
not an officer in the service, certainly not one who has reached the
rank of captain, who has not seen many men drowned solely from not
being able to swim; that is, because they had not learned a very
simple art, of which, under his official injunctions, and aided by due
encouragement, they might readily have acquired a sufficient
knowledge. My own conscience is not quite clear on this score,
whatever that of my brother officers may be; and certainly, should I
again take the command of a ship, I shall use every exertion, and
take advantage of every opportunity, to encourage the men and officers
to acquire this invaluable accomplishment. Would it be unreasonable to
refuse the rating of A.B. (able seaman) on the ship's books to any man
who could not swim? If it be our duty to ascertain that a sailor can
"hand, reef, and steer," before we place against his name these
mystical letters, might we not well superadd, as a qualification, that
he should also be able to keep his head above water, in the event of
falling overboard, or that he should have it in his power to save
another's life, if required to leap into the sea for that purpose by
the orders of his superior? At present, in such an emergency, an
officer has to ask amongst a dozen persons, "Which of you can swim?"
instead of saying to the one nearest him, "Jump overboard after that
man who is sinking!"

This, then, seems the first material step in the establishment of an
improved system in that branch of seamanship which relates to picking
up men who fall overboard.