wasted neither time nor words. He
possessed a natural gift of diplomacy, and wrote no letters. He had the
knack of conveying what he wanted to be at, and his quaint way of doing
it, though it might amuse, always inspired the person who was addressed
with the belief in his soundness, so that few men succeeded as he did
in getting what he wanted. On the occasion of which I am writing, the
merchants received him with obvious sympathy, and he was promised a
quick dispatch. That night he got the boy to write a few lines to his
wife at his dictation. They were very brief, very melancholy, very
reverential. Here is the letter:

"DEAR WIFE,--We arrived here yesterday after a very rough passage.
I hope you're well as it leaves me at present. The _R----_ arrived
this morning's tide, and reports that Jack was knocked off the
foretopsail yardarm, and they never see'd him again. He shouted
'Guidbye, I cannot hold on any longer.' I asked God to have his
body picked up and sent home, and while I was doing it, a queer
thought came over me that little Bobby was being washed overboard
from the _Savannah_. I hope it's not true, and that God won't take
him from us as well. No more at present, from

_HIS_
"JOHN X BOURNE."
_MARK_.

He seems to have had a rugged anxiety that the mother of his drowned
son should be given a prompt opportunity of sharing his sorrow. It was
not usual for these shellbacks to write letters while on a coasting
voyage. Indeed, they were very cautious about doing it at any time in
case even members of their own families should think them
tender-hearted. Moreover, those who could not write or read were very
sensitive about allowing others to do it for them.[1]

[1] It may be as well to explain here that the straddle-leg
patent, as it was called, often caused sailors to be both killed
and drowned. They used to give advice in a flippant way to each
other that if they were forced to let go their hands to be sure
to hold on by the skin of their teeth or their feet. This little
joke was rarely successful in saving them from being smashed to
pieces or drowned. The invention by Collin and Pinkney for
reefing and furling, and subsequently the double topsail yards
introduced by the Americans, did a great deal towards preventing
loss of life, and certainly saved many a spar from going over the
side. It