tenant also, will generally find it worth their while to
look in occasionally, perhaps periodically, at the rendezvous,
ostensibly to speak on some business, but chiefly to show themselves,
and by a word or two of encouragement, to decide the waverers. It is
of great consequence, on these occasions, to keep clear of anything
which, by possibility, can be construed into false pretences; for the
moral impropriety of such enticements, their impolicy very soon
betrays itself, and when the men detect the fallacy, the result shows
itself in the paucity of volunteers. The truth is, Jack, with all his
vagaries, possesses a quick discernment in such matters, and is very
seldom deceived by chaff. It will seldom, if ever, retard the proper
manning of a ship to be very fastidious in choosing amongst the
volunteers who offer. The best men will not enter for a ship where
sailors are received indiscriminately; and the lower order of mere
working hands are easily picked up to complete the crew.

The men are always carefully examined by the surgeon before being
received; but it would not be a bad rule that no volunteer should be
finally entered until he has been seen and approved of by both captain
and first lieutenant. It is, indeed, of great consequence to the
eventual comfort of the ship, which always turns upon her good and
consistent discipline, that the first lieutenant and captain should be
cordially agreed on so material a point as the choice of the
individual seamen forming the crew.

During the short visits which the captain pays to his ship at this
time, he will seldom find it useful to supplant his first lieutenant,
by taking upon himself the conduct of the ship's detailed operations.
The peculiar duties of the captain, when his ship is fitting out,
necessarily require him to be absent from her every day during a
considerable portion of the working hours. He has to wait on the
admiral to receive fresh instructions; he has to carry on a
correspondence with the Admiralty on the various equipments of the
ship; he has representations and applications to make to the
port-admiral, respecting officers and men, and to the
admiral-superintendent of the dockyard, respecting stores. In short,
whether at the rendezvous, at the dockyard, at the admiral's office,
or at his own lodgings, the captain will generally find ample
employment on shore for most of the best hours of his day, in really
co-operating with his first lieutenant afloat