, by seeing those duties
properly executed which lie beyond that officer's reach. If these
multifarious and important obligations, out of the ship, be fully
complied with by the captain, he will seldom have more time left than
is barely necessary to go on board--- just to see what is doing--to
learn what has been done--and to give his orders, in a general way, to
the first lieutenant, for his further guidance.

As a captain has not always the choice of his first lieutenant, it may
sometimes happen that a person unfit to fulfil the duties of that
office will be appointed. Filling this station well implies not only
knowledge and talents, but a disposition to enter cordially into the
views of the captain, as well with regard to the general system of
discipline, as to all the details of managing the ship. When an unfit
person is appointed, it is much better for the lieutenant, as well as
the captain, that they should part; and certainly this is more
conducive to the discipline of the ship, and therefore to the good of
the service, than if they went on for ever like cat and dog. This,
indeed, is so well understood, that the Admiralty throw no obstacles
in the way of officers exchanging.

In case the unfitness of the first lieutenant arises from absolute
incompetence or negligence of his duties, it will soon appear in some
palpable instance, for which he must be accountable before a
court-martial, unless his captain permit him to quit the ship to avoid
that alternative. On the other hand, it will sometimes happen, that an
officer who is both competent and zealous, is rather too fond of
having his own way, and interpreting the rules and customs of the
service in his own particular fashion, in opposition to the views of
the captain. This pertinacity detracts from his efficiency as an
officer, and more particularly from his fitness for the arduous and
delicate situation of first lieutenant, by preventing the
establishment of a hearty co-operation with his superior. But if the
considerate line of conduct before suggested be acted upon by the
captain, unless the lieutenant be a very pig-headed person, who
mistakes opposition for zeal, he will readily see that the true way of
forwarding the service is to enter heartily, cheerfully, and
attentively, into the peculiar plans of his chief. If he does not do
this, he will only find his duties become more and more irksome to
himself, and all his zeal will often be thrown away in ineffe