mber of ships, detached for any special purpose. He has no permanent
rank, recognised by Government, above his captaincy; though once
employed as a Commodore, usage and courtesy unite in continuing the
title.

Our Commodore was a gallant old man, who had seen service in his time.
When a lieutenant, he served in the late war with England; and in the
gun-boat actions on the Lakes near New Orleans, just previous to the
grand land engagements, received a musket-ball in his shoulder; which,
with the two balls in his eyes, he carries about with him to this day.

Often, when I looked at the venerable old warrior, doubled up from the
effect of his wound, I thought what a curious, as well as painful
sensation, it must be, to have one's shoulder a lead-mine; though,
sooth to say, so many of us civilised mortals convert our mouths into
Golcondas.

On account of this wound in his shoulder, our Commodore had a
body-servant's pay allowed him, in addition to his regular salary. I
cannot say a great deal, personally, of the Commodore; he never sought
my company at all, never extended any gentlemanly courtesies.

But though I cannot say much of him personally, I can mention something
of him in his general character, as a flag-officer. In the first place,
then, I have serious doubts, whether for the most part, he was not
dumb; for in my hearing, he seldom or never uttered a word. And not
only did he seem dumb himself, but his presence possessed the strange
power of making other people dumb for the time. His appearance on the
Quarter-deck seemed to give every officer the lock-jaw.

Another phenomenon about him was the strange manner in which everyone
shunned him. At the first sign of those epaulets of his on the weather
side of the poop, the officers there congregated invariably shrunk over
to leeward, and left him alone. Perhaps he had an evil eye; may be he
was the Wandering Jew afloat. The real reason probably was, that like
all high functionaries, he deemed it indispensable religiously to
sustain his dignity; one of the most troublesome things in the world,
and one calling for the greatest self-denial. And the constant watch,
and many-sided guardedness, which this sustaining of a Commodore's
dignity requires, plainly enough shows that, apart from the common
dignity of manhood, Commodores, in general possess no real dignity at
all. True, it is expedient for crowned heads, generalissimos,
Lord-high-admirals, and Commodores, to carr