t purposes, the
favoritism and venality which he allowed in the administration of the
Admiralty, and the neglect with which he viewed the representations of
Pepys and others as to the condition of his fleets, had reduced the
navy of England, which had won such immortal glory under Blake, to the
very lowest depth it ever reached. The ships were in bad repair and
commanded by landsmen who shirked going to sea; they were ill-found, the
wages of the seamen not paid--in short, they presented pictures of
demoralization as painful as they were unusual.

Kempthorne, having been a tried and a successful naval commander in his
younger days, had striven, with some success so far as his own ship was
concerned, to stem the prevailing tide of ruin, and the _Mary Rose_ was
perhaps one of the best frigates in the service, which, however, was not
saying a great deal. He could not, of course, better the character of
the crew which had been provided for him, nor could he entirely
re-supply the ship, or make good her faulty and deficient equipment, but
he did the best he could. Under ordinary circumstances he could have
given a good account of himself if engaged with even the perfectly
appointed ships of the Dutch Republic, or of the Grand Monarch himself.
Indeed, in spite of the horrible degeneracy, the prestige of victory was
still, as it has ever been, with England. King James, a successful, even
brilliant naval commander in his youth, had decided to rehabilitate the
navy with a view to putting it on its old footing, and with that object
in view he had sent one of his best admirals across the sea to the
important island of Jamaica, then the headquarters of the West India
Squadron.

Kempthorne had welcomed the duty, and had determined that so far as the
station at Port Royal was concerned he would make it the model one of
the colonies, of the kingdom itself for that matter, provided he were
sustained by the King as had been promised. Lord Carlingford, with the
zeal of a new appointee, had promised his cooperation.

The admiral was seated in the cabin of the frigate that night cogitating
upon his plans, when his thoughts were interrupted by the rattle of
oars, indicating the arrival of a boat. The sound of the approaching
boat came faintly through the open stern windows of the cabin under the
high poop-deck.

The ship was more or less deserted. The sick men had been put ashore;
most of the crew, and the officers as well, had followed