‘Yes, indeed,’ said Mrs. Woodward, sighing
gently, ’we shall no longer have a bed for you,
Harry; that is the worst of it.’
Harry of course assured her that if that was the worst
of it there was nothing very bad in it. He could
have a bed at the inn as well as Alaric and Charley.
The amount of that evil would only be half-a-crown
a night.
And thus the advent of Captain Cuttwater was discussed.
CAPTAIN CUTTWATER
Captain Cuttwater had not seen much service afloat;
that is, he had not been personally concerned in many
of those sea-engagements which in and about the time
of Nelson gave so great a halo of glory to the British
Lion; nor had it even been permitted to him to take
a prominent part in such minor affairs as have since
occurred; he had not the opportunity of distinguishing
himself either at the battle of Navarino or the bombarding
of Acre; and, unfortunately for his ambition, the
period of his retirement came before that great Baltic
campaign, in which, had he been there, he would doubtless
have distinguished himself as did so many others.
His earliest years were spent in cruising among the
West Indies; he then came home and spent some considerable
portion of his life in idleness—if that
time can be said to have been idly spent which he
devoted to torturing the Admiralty with applications,
remonstrances, and appeals. Then he was rated
as third lieutenant on the books of some worm-eaten
old man-of-war at Portsmouth, and gave up his time
to looking after the stowage of anchors, and counting
fathoms of rope. At last he was again sent afloat
as senior lieutenant in a ten-gun brig, and cruised
for some time off the coast of Africa, hunting for
slavers; and returning after a while from this enterprising
employment, he received a sort of amphibious appointment
at Devonport. What his duties were here, the
author, being in all points a landsman, is unable
to describe. Those who were inclined to ridicule
Captain Cuttwater declared that the most important
of them consisted in seeing that the midshipmen in
and about the dockyard washed their faces, and put
on clean linen not less often than three times a week.
According to his own account, he had many things of
a higher nature to attend to; and, indeed, hardly
a ship sank or swam in Hamoaze except by his special
permission, for a space of twenty years, if his own
view of his own career may be accepted as correct.
He had once declared to certain naval acquaintances,
over his third glass of grog, that he regarded it
as his birthright to be an Admiral; but at the age
of seventy-two he had not yet acquired his birthright,
and the probability of his ever attaining it was becoming
very small indeed. He was still bothering Lords
and Secretaries of the Admiralty for further promotion,
when he was astounded by being informed by the Port-Admiral
that he was to be made happy by half-pay and a pension.
