Some sea-captains are excellent, kind-hearted men, and
make the unavoidably hard duties of their crew as easy as it is
possible; but others--and very many we fear--are terrible salt-water
tyrants. A captain is the absolute master of all on board--his
government, as we have said, is a despotism; and this ever-present
sense of his will being law while afloat, too often hardens and
brutalises an originally kind heart.
Landsmen! do you now envy and begrudge a living to the poor
blue-jackets, who risk limb and life to carry on your commerce with
the uttermost ends of the earth, and who man the wooden walls that
alone render Britain the invincible mistress of the world? Ladies!
dear, tender-hearted ladies! do _you_ feel indifferent to the hard lot
of the gallant fellows who sail the trackless ocean to supply you with
silks and diamonds, with sugar and tea, and every conceivable luxury
of dress and food? Be kind, we implore you, to Poor Jack, wherever you
meet him, for he would shed the last drop of blood in his veins to
defend you! Make every Christian allowance for his follies and his
sins when ashore.
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