almost thirty
years--"No man ever knew better how to manage seamen. He was very
attentive to their wants and habits. When he was a captain he
personally directed them, and when the duty was over, he was a great
promoter of dancing and other sports, such as running aloft, heaving the
lead, &c., in which he was himself a great proficient. He was steady in
his discipline, and knew well the proper time to tighten or relax. He
studied much the character of his men, and could soon ascertain whether
a man was likely to appreciate forgiveness, or whether he could not be
reclaimed without punishment. During the whole time he commanded
frigates, his men had leave in port, one-third at a time, and very
rarely a desertion took place."

His quick and correct judgment, which at once saw how an object could be
attained, was seconded in the hour of trial by a decision which secured
every advantage. Nothing like hesitation was seen in him. "His first
order," said an officer who long served with him, "was always his last;"
and he has often declared of himself that he never had a second thought
worth sixpence. This would be an absurd boast from a common character,
but it is an important declaration from one whose life was a career of
enterprise without a failure. Always equal to the occasion, his power
displayed itself the more, as danger and difficulty increased; when,
rising with the emergency, his calmness, the animation of his voice and
look, and the precision of his orders, would impart to the men that cool
and determined energy which disarms danger, and commands success.

Not less striking was his influence in those more appalling dangers
which try the firmness of a sailor more severely than the battle. The
wreck of the _Dutton_ is a memorable example. At a later period, during
his command in India, the ship twice caught fire, and was saved chiefly
by his conduct. On one of these occasions, the _Culloden_ was under easy
sail off the coast of Coromandel, and preparations had been made for
partially caulking the ship, when a pitch-kettle, which had been heated,
contrary to orders, on the fore part of the main deck, caught fire, and
the people, instead of damping it out, most imprudently attempted to
extinguish it with buckets of water. The steam blew the flaming pitch
all around; the oakum caught fire, and the ship was immediately in a
blaze. Many of the crew jumped overboard, and others were preparing to
hurry out of her, when the