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- 1814
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- 2026-01-30T20:48:36.270Z
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- 1751
- text
- CHAPTER XII.
THE GOOD OR BAD TEMPER OF MEN-OF-WAR’S MEN, IN A GREAT DEGREE,
ATTRIBUTABLE TO THEIR PARTICULAR STATIONS AND DUTIES ABOARD SHIP.
Quoin, the quarter-gunner, was the representative of a class on board
the Neversink, altogether too remarkable to be left astern, without
further notice, in the rapid wake of these chapters.
As has been seen, Quoin was full of unaccountable whimsies; he was,
withal, a very cross, bitter, ill-natured, inflammable old man. So,
too, were all the members of the gunner’s gang; including the two
gunner’s mates, and all the quarter-gunners. Every one of them had the
same dark brown complexion; all their faces looked like smoked hams.
They were continually grumbling and growling about the batteries;
running in and out among the guns; driving the sailors away from them;
and cursing and swearing as if all their conscience had been
powder-singed, and made callous, by their calling. Indeed they were a
most unpleasant set of men; especially Priming, the nasal-voiced
gunner’s mate, with the hare-lip; and Cylinder, his stuttering
coadjutor, with the clubbed foot. But you will always observe, that the
gunner’s gang of every man-of-war are invariably ill-tempered, ugly
featured, and quarrelsome. Once when I visited an English
line-of-battle ship, the gunner’s gang were fore and aft, polishing up
the batteries, which, according to the Admiral’s fancy, had been
painted white as snow. Fidgeting round the great thirty-two-pounders,
and making stinging remarks at the sailors and each other, they
reminded one of a swarm of black wasps, buzzing about rows of white
headstones in a church-yard.
Now, there can be little doubt, that their being so much among the guns
is the very thing that makes a gunner’s gang so cross and quarrelsome.
Indeed, this was once proved to the satisfaction of our whole company
of main-top-men. A fine top-mate of ours, a most merry and
companionable fellow, chanced to be promoted to a quarter-gunner’s
berth. A few days afterward, some of us main-top-men, his old comrades,
went to pay him a visit, while he was going his regular rounds through
the division of guns allotted to his care. But instead of greeting us
with his usual heartiness, and cracking his pleasant jokes, to our
amazement, he did little else but scowl; and at last, when we rallied
him upon his ill-temper, he seized a long black rammer from overhead,
and drove us on deck; threatening to report us, if we ever dared to be
familiar with him again.
My top-mates thought that this remarkable metamorphose was the effect
produced upon a weak, vain character suddenly elevated from the level
of a mere seaman to the dignified position of a _petty officer_. But
though, in similar cases, I had seen such effects produced upon some of
the crew; yet, in the present instance, I knew better than that;—it was
solely brought about by his consorting with with those villainous,
irritable, ill-tempered cannon; more especially from his being subject
to the orders of those deformed blunderbusses, Priming and Cylinder.
The truth seems to be, indeed, that all people should be very careful
in selecting their callings and vocations; very careful in seeing to
it, that they surround themselves by good-humoured, pleasant-looking
objects; and agreeable, temper-soothing sounds. Many an angelic
disposition has had its even edge turned, and hacked like a saw; and
many a sweet draught of piety has soured on the heart from people’s
choosing ill-natured employments, and omitting to gather round them
good-natured landscapes. Gardeners are almost always pleasant, affable
people to converse with; but beware of quarter-gunners, keepers of
arsenals, and lonely light-house men.
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