he ordinary routine
is reversed, so that instead of the seamen pumping water, and
sweeping decks, and similar duties, the petty officers do it. Then, I
may say, nothing is overlooked in the way of choice victuals. Each
man, as Christmas approaches, contributes to the caterer of his mess,
so that no luxury may be lacking on Christmas day. Added to this, the
canteen allowed each man six shillings, and this of course meant
several pounds to each mess. Stint is a foreign word to most naval
men, and Christmas-tide is a demonstration of this fact.

Messes emulate each other as to decorations. Many crafty and
dexterous men are there in all our ships who take a delight in this
kind of work: they also vie with each other as to the quality of
their plum puddings. Time would fail to tell you the ingredients with
which they are made. This I know, that if one 'duff' should contain
an extra ingredient to any other, that same 'duff' is pronounced the
best. The number of ingredients, then, forms the standard of judgment
for naval plum puddings.

On this occasion a Dutch ship was lying near to the 'Emerald.' Most
of the crew paid a visit on board, and having an abundance of good
things, we welcomed them to enjoy them with us. To be sure no
objection was raised on their part. Having thoroughly enjoyed their
dinner, they exclaimed in broken English: "Good Engish Navy, we
should dike to be in you navy to have food dike dis--we git no good
dhings dike dese." Poor souls! evidently they understood we had at
all times a similar mid-day meal, but this belief would have been
contradicted by experience had they sat to dinner with us within
three days. The Dutch sailors grew fond of us, and we of them, and
this bond of social friendship was created on Christmas day, which I
think was rather unique, as it fulfilled the spirit of the words:--

"Peace on earth, goodwill to men."

On the fisheries the captain had met with an accident, and was
granted six weeks' leave at Bermuda. It being noised abroad that both
he and his lady were coming on board at Christmas to inspect the
decorations, special interest therefore was taken in the same, and
the decorators excelled themselves in their art, far beyond the limit
of the previous year's display. No pains were spared, no time
begrudged to make everything as beauteous as possible. I have a
secret notion that although the captain had not been on board for
several weeks, being an invalid ashore, that such