ever be allowed to enter. These persons, selected for
their activity, strength, and coolness, should belong to the
after-guard, main and mizen-top, and gunner's crew, men whose duties
lie chiefly abaft or about the mainmast. Midshipmen in each watch
should also be named to the different boats; and their orders ought to
be positive never to allow more than the proper crew to enter, nor on
any account to permit the boat to be lowered till fully and properly
manned. I grant that it requires no small nerve to sanction the delays
which an attention to these minute particulars demands; but the
adequate degree of faith in their utility will bring with it the
requisite share of decision, to possess which, under all
circumstances, is, perhaps, one of the most characteristic
distinctions of a good commanding officer.

There ought, in every ship, to be selected a certain number of the
sharpest-sighted persons, who should be instructed, the instant the
alarm is given, to repair to stations appointed for them aloft.
Several of these ought to plant themselves in the lower rigging, some
in the topmast shrouds, and one, if not two, might advantageously be
perched on each of the cross-trees. Those persons, whose exclusive
duty is to discover the man who is overboard, should be directed to
look out, some in the ship's wake, some on either side of it, and to
be particularly careful to mark the spot near which the ship must have
been when he fell, in order that when she comes about, and drifts near
the place, they may know where to direct their attention, and also to
take care that the ship does not forge directly upon the object they
are seeking for. The chief advantage of having look-out-men stationed
aloft in this manner consists in their commanding a far better
position compared to that of persons on deck, and still better when
compared to the people in the boat; besides which, having this object
alone to attend to, they are less likely to be unsuccessful.
Moreover, from their being in considerable numbers, and scattered at
different elevations, their chances are, of course, much increased of
discovering so small an object as a man on the surface.

The people in the boat possess no such advantages, for they are
occupied with their oars, and lose between the seas all sight of the
surrounding objects near them, while they can always see the ship's
masts; and as soon as they detect that any one of the look-out-men
sees the person who i