for years with one captain, and it was delightful to witness the treatment and mutual respect shown to each other.  The men were frequently far more jealous of their captain’s dignity than he was himself.  There were others whose dignity became a slavish occupation to sustain.  It sometimes happened if the master and mate differed on some minor matter that their relations became childishly strained, and each asserted his rights until the feeling softened.  The captain always claimed the starboard side of the quarter-deck as his special parading ground, the mate the port.  It often happened when these disagreements occurred the master, to show his authority more drastically, would ask the carpenter for a piece of chalk and draw a line down the centre of the deck.  When this was done the aggrieved commander would address his chief officer in a deep, hollow voice that was obviously artificial.  “Sir,” or “Mr.,” he would begin, “I wish to impart to you that your conduct has been such as to cause me to draw this line so that our intercourse may not be so close as it has been.  Please do not presume to attempt any familiarity with me again; stick to your own side!” This piece of grotesque quarterdeck-ism was made all the more comical by the serious way it was taken by the mate and enforced by the master!  It did not occur to them that there was something extremely humorous in it.  Another ludicrous custom was this:  if the master and mate were on deck together, though there was ample room for both to walk on the weather side, the mate was always supposed to give way to the captain, and walk on the lee side, no matter what tack the vessel was on.  If the officer in charge was smoking, and either standing or walking on the weather side, and the captain came on deck, immediately the short cutty pipe was taken out of his mouth, and, as a mark of respect, he passed to leeward!  It was considered the height of ill-manners for a mate or second mate to smoke a churchwarden or a cigar!

The food that was supplied to these north country “southspainers” was neither plentiful nor good.  It was not infrequently bought in the cheapest and nastiest markets—­in fact, it is not an exaggeration to say that large quantities of it were not fit for human beings to eat.

The owners were, as a rule, of humble birth.  Many of them inherited frugal habits from their parsimonious parents, and many of them became miserable misers independent of any hereditary tendency.  If their generous impulses ever did swell big enough to give the captains a few delicacies, they were overcome with fear lest extravagance should enter into their lives, and therefore they hastened to caution them with imploring emphasis to take special care not to allow too much to be used, as luxuries of that kind were very costly!  The captains were put to sore straits at times to carry out the wishes of their owners in doling out the food; and it often happened in the process of economising they became imbued with