The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1868-05-08
BY THOMAS M'AvoY.

snip DOar0, nave O00H any
elegant authors in every living lam
guage of celebrity; and it may there
fore seem presumptious in me to at
tempt what they have performed IN
so copious and mastery a manner.
Modes of acting, and thinking, and
living. however, differ, as places and
their concomitants differ, and what
the authors alluded to saw, and felt,
and did. on the occasions which
Afforded them matter for their excel
lent lucubrations may never have
come under our observation or
accorded with our experience.
The circumstances of ones situa
ton materially affect his opinions and
sentiments: and it need occasion no
Surprise. therefore, should a discrep-
ency be perceived In the recorded OBJ
~servations Of different persons occupy
ing dissimilar relations to the same OBJ
ject ~narrating circumstances connected
with It. A large majority of the descrip-
tons of sea life that we possess, writ
ten by persons using the English Lam
guage, are either from the pens Of
ignorant writers Of yellow covered
cheap literature, or from the pens of
authors by profession who, to crafty
their curiosity, or to sUbserve their
interest, were compelled to encounter
and undergo the tribIlations of sea-
sickness, or the enNuj of mOnOto-
nous confinement during a hasty
transit IN steamer or clippership in
the character Of idler, or of pas
senger. The novels of Cooper or
Marryatt abound with descriptions
of naval incidents, scenery and char
acter; but they are more or less tint
ed with the prejudices of official edu-
cation and official standing. Herman,
Melville. Dana, Harry Rivers, and
the poet Falconer, are distinguished
exceptions, and they were foremost
men as well as good literary artists.
Their productions have a freshness.
animation anG originality about them
that we find entirely absent from the
hashy and elaborate performances of
merely hackneyed or accidental OBJ
servers of sea life and marine phe-
nomena.
Those who comprised the micro
cosm of the frigate Constitution, with
sundry exceptions, were persons who
went down to the sea IN ships"
to obtain a Observation-Disclosures
Jack tars, and consequently weaned
from the usual Affections so dolo-
Fously lamented by landsmen when
exposed to their Influence. We were.
at the inception Of our cruise, in the
best health and highest spirits, and
determined to renounce the acquaint-
ance, if possible, of carking Care,
while the cruise lasted. We were the
arbiters of our own happiness, and
prepared to use our best endeavors to
make that happiness as complete as
our circumstances would allow.
Seafaring men as a class are popu-
larly misapprehended as thoughtless
idiots, improvident and destitute of
ambition, though brave, frank ana
honorable; in a measure this appre-
citation is correct, but so far as their
intellectual endOwments aud literary
requirements are concerned. it is a
fallacious standard. Men are reso-
lutte, daring and enterprising in pro-
portion to their intelligence, and
therefore those who from choice,
adopt the adventurous profession of
the sea, will compare In mental capac-
ity favorably with landsmen, who
have no taste for the dangers. priva-
tons and haTdships of naval pursuits.
Before we left the harbor of New
York a contribution was set afoot for
the purchase of books to compose a
ships library. This was a success;
and a collection of books was accord
ingly procured. similar in variety and
extent to our Pigeon Township Lib
rary. Watch and watch, four hours
off and four hours on, vas our regu-
lar routine of duty and, consequently.
the men having the means, and, with
scarcely an exception, the inclination
to acquire information, they necessa-
rily had the time. Among the crew
were to be found men, who, in point
of mental culture, equaled any officer
We had on board, and there were very
few who could not read well and
write leglbly, fewer, in fact, than |
have since discovered among an aver
age number of men In the army Be-
fore we arrived at home there were
many who had read every volume In
that large and valuable collection of
books, besides numberless others
which they had borrowed from the
officers, many of whom had cabinet
libraries of their own.
The sailor character Of the novel
the song, or the play, is a quite diff
ferent person from what he is in re-
atty. That his supposed ignorance
of etiquette ashore may make mirth
his conduct is caricatured, and his
language is travestied. The sailor
characters In Roderick Random and
Perigerine Pickle, if-indeed they had
prototypes anywhere but in the mag
ination OF Tobias Smollet, are repre-
sented as sneaking a horrible iargon