he pronouncement the Chamber of Shipping
gave in its favour at the last annual meeting, Mr. Cuthbert
Laws, who succeeded his gifted father, has with commendable
energy and marked ability undertaken the task of reviving
the old system of every vessel carrying so many apprentices.
He is penetrating every part of Great Britain with the
information that the Federated Shipowners are prepared to
give suitable respectable lads of the poor and middle class
a chance to enter the merchant service on terms of which
even the poorest boy can avail himself, without pecuniary
disability; and I wish the able young manager of the most
powerful trade combination in the world all the success he
deserves in his effort, not only to keep up the supply of
seamen, but to raise the standard of the mercantile marine.

In the early years of the last century, right up to the
seventies, north-country owners placed three to four
apprentices on each vessel, and never less than three. Many
of them came from Scotland, Shetland, Norfolk, Denmark and
Sweden. There were few desertions, and they always settled
down in the port that they served their time from. If any
attempt was made at engaging what was known as a
"half-marrow"[2] there was rebellion at once; and I have
known instances where lads positively refused to sail in a
vessel where one of these had been shipped instead of an
apprentice. Impertinent intrusion was never permitted in
those days. As soon as they were out of their time the
majority of the lads joined the local union. One of the
conditions of membership was that each applicant should pass
an examination in seamanship before a committee of the
finest sailors in the world. They had to know how to put a
clew into a square and fore-and-aft sail, to turn up a
shroud, to make every conceivable knot and splice, to graft
a bucket-rope, and to fit a mast cover. The
examination was no sham. I remember one poor fellow, who
had served five years, was refused membership because he had
failed to comply with some of the rules. He had to serve two
years more before he was admitted. I have often regretted
that Mr. Havelock Wilson did not adopt similar methods for
his union, though perhaps it is scarcely fair to put the
responsibility of not doing so on him. The conditions under
which he formed his union were vastly different from what
they were in those days. He had to deal with a huge
disorganised, moving mass, composed of many nationalities.
A