Seamen have been wont to be regarded as a people apart and writers, like Clarendon, have believed them to be definitely jealous of and hostile to landsmen, while it was reputed to be their endeavour to preserve their knowledge as "an art and mystery." There is certainly a good deal of truth in the impression that sea men as a class lack ability to put their knowledge into words and the British navy itself has long been termed "the Silent Service." This, while it is a very proper tribute to a disinclination on the part of naval personnel to obtrude themselves and their work un duly or advertise their merits, is also attributable to the fact that, until lately, naval training did little to encourage powers of self expression. It has now been recognised that this is a definite de fect, certainly in the higher ranks, and under modern conditions the seaman must, if he is to play his part in the world, take his place with and be understood by the rest of the community. The importance of this principle particularly applies to the people of the British Empire, whose interests, and indeed existence, is so closely interwoven with maritime matters. While it is not possible for the great mass of men and women who live on shore to acquire a seaman's knowledge, facilities are increasing rapidly to enable them to gain an insight into his life and to understand what the work he is doing means to the community on land. Ocean travel,
water transport generally, the press and the cinema all assist to bring a knowledge of ships and their ways to the general public. In fact the seaman is no longer one of a race apart, even if he is still and must always remain something of a specialist.
Two examples may be given of fine seamanship ; one in the days of masts and sails and the other not long after the introduction of steam. On Dec. 16, 1814, a British 74 gun ship, the "Mag nificent," was in danger of being driven on shore by a violent storm when in the Basque Roads on the French coast. She was saved by the skill and resource of her captain, John Hayes, who "club-hauled" his ship, thereby getting her round on to a safe tack when within her own breadth of a reef and escaping from the enemy. He was known as "Magnificent Hayes" to the day of his death. On March 16, 1888, the cruiser "Calliope" was lying in Apia, Samoa, when a storm came on and rapidly increased to hurricane violence. Captain Kane put to sea, and thanks to the good order of the engines and the fine work of her engineers, she got out in the teeth of the storm and rode it out safely at sea, whereas the shipping in harbour was blown from its moorings and wrecked. Machinery has now become the handmaid of the seaman and the engineer his indispensable colleague. (E. A.)