eration, and a rather brilliant harangue was brought to a
close by the officer stating that he would go and see the blooming
Consul, and say some straight things to him. With a final flourish he
called out at the top of his voice, disdainfully--

"Who the h---- is he?"

The next morning at ten o'clock the captain gave orders to row him
ashore. The mate wore a humbler appearance than on the previous day:
meditation had mellowed him. He stepped into the boat beside his
commander, but was told with icy dignity that the boy would take him
ashore in the cook's lurky. No greater insult could have been offered
to an officer. The Consul at that time was Walter Maynard, a charming
man whom I knew well years afterwards. Although I only heard odds and
ends of what transpired, I feel sure the advice given was in the
mate's interests, and made him see his objection from another point of
view. He did not take kindly to bringing the labourers off, but he
sullenly commenced from that day to do it.

Coal cargoes were at that time jumped out of the hold with four ropes
bent on to one called a runner, which was rove through a coal gin
fastened on to the end of a derrick composed of two studdingsail booms
lashed together, and steps were rigged with studdingsail yards and
oars. The arrangement had the appearance of a gate, and was fixed at
an angle. Four men gave one sharp pull with the whip ropes, and then
jumped from the step on to the deck. The men in the hold changed
places with the whips every two hours. It was really an exciting thing
to witness the whipping out of coal cargoes. It may be seen even now
in some ports of the United Kingdom, but the winch has largely taken
the place of this athletic process. Most captains supplied rum or
vodka liberally, with a view to expediting dispatch, and did not
scruple to log and fine those seamen who acquired a craving for
alcohol, and misconducted themselves in consequence when they got
liberty to go ashore. Nobody was more severe on the men who committed
a breach of discipline than those who, for their own profit, had
taught them to drink.

The poor, wretched Russians who were employed aboard English and other
vessels were treated with a cruelty that was hideous. Before the
emancipation of the serfs by the Emperor Alexander II. in 1861, it was
not an uncommon occurrence for captains and officers and seamen to
maltreat them, knock them on the head, and then pass their bodies over
the side o