PREVENTER BACKSTAYS

LITERAL, METAPHORICAL, AND BENEVOLENT.

THE sailor's vocabulary is the richest of all, and it contrasts very forcibly with the scanty stock of words of other professions. "Lock, stock, and barrel" is a phrase which has passed into a proverb, and it is generally accepted as meaning "all." But if one would wish to see how rich a balance is in the sailor's favour, he could not do better than make the acquaintance of the ample pages of the "Sailors' Word-book," by Admiral W. H. Smyth, K.S.F., D.C.L., & goodly volume of 744 pages, published by Blackie and Co.

We have turned over its pages with pangs of regret, for many a sparkling, well-compacted and condensed phrase or sentence is, we fear, destined to "let slip the tow-rope," and to live only in history. Some are already buried, and others are forming into line and swelling the ranks of the silent procession as it moves towards the inevitable. Make haste, then, ye nautical scribes, if ye would rescue from oblivion some of our most expressive and suggestive phrases, The old navy is fast disappearing, and with it the most magnificent Vocabulary ever possessed by a profession. The words at the head of this paper bring back scenes of wakeful and anxious progress. The word preventer "applies to ropes used as additional securities to aid other ropes in supporting spars, &c. during a strong gale." Backstays, our non-nautical readers may be informed, are "long ropes extending from all mast-heads to both sides of the ship, or chain-wales.”

Busy, inventive, alert, and daring, were the old commanders on quarterdecks. Said an old captain to his trusty first lieutenant on one occasion: "We manage to keep the prize in view, but 'a stern chase is a long chase;' the sky is lowering, the gale is rising: rig preventer tacks and sheets, preventer-braces and preventer backstays, and make all secure." There are other prizes, however, and storms of another kind which call forth the energies and tax the patience and power of endurance in many a brave heart.

Lonely and silent spirits have not been strangers to the exercise suggested by the title of our paper, and in putting forth new power they have not only added to the strength of their position, but have gained a larger manhood, a loftier altitude, and a wider horizon.

Brave Robinson Crusoe makes good our saying in more than one instance on his island home. "I consulted," he says, after having fairly landed, "several things in my situation: first, health and fresh water; secondly, shelter from the heat of the sun; thirdly, security from ravenous creatures, whether man or beasts; fourthly, a view to the sea, that if God sent any ship in sight I might not lose any advantage for my deliverance. In search of a

place proper for this I found a little plain on the side of a rising hill, whose

front towards this little plain was steep as a house-side, so that nothing could come down upon me from the top. On the side of the rock there was a hollow place, worn a little way in, like the entrance or door of a cave; but there was not really any cave, or way into the rock at all. On the flat of the green, just before this hollow place, I resolved to pitch my tent. This plain was not above a hundred yards broad, and about twice as long, and lay like a green before my door; and, at the end of it, descended irregularly every way down into the low ground by the seaside. It was on the N.N.W. side of the hill; so that it was sheltered from the heat every day, till it came to a W. and by S. sun, or thereabouts, which in those countries is near the setting.

"Before I set up my tent I drew a half-circle before the hollow place, which took in about ten yards in its semi-diameter, from the rocks, and twenty yards in its diameter from its beginning and ending. In this half-circle I pitched two rows of strong stakes, driving them into the ground till they stood very firm, like piles, the biggest end being out of the ground above five feet and a half, and sharpened on the top. The two rows did not stand above six inches from one another.

"Then I took the pieces of cable which I had cut in the ship, and laid them in rows, one upon another, within the circle, between those two rows of stakes, up to the top, placing other stakes in the inside, leaning against them, about two feet and a half high, like a spur to a post; and this fence was so strong that neither man nor beast could get into it or over it. This cost me a great deal of time and labour, especially to cut the piles in the woods, bring them to the place, and drive them into the earth.

"The entrance into this place I made to be, not by a door, but by a short ladder to go over the top, which ladder, when I was in, I lifted over after me; and so I was completely fenced in and fortified, as I thought, from all the world, and consequently slept secure in the night, which otherwise I could not have done; though, as it appeared afterwards, there was no need of all this caution from the enemies that I apprehended danger from. Into this fence, or fortress, with infinite labour, I carried all my riches, all my provisions, ammunition and stores."

Truth is often stranger than fiction, and the faces of real life are frequently more startling and interesting than the word-pictures of the novelist. Not long ago, in conversation with a naval officer, he said: "My father lost his ship for want of a match to relight the binnacle-lamp, which had been blown out. In the confusion of this local darkness the ship wandered from her course, and struck on a rock and was lost." This reminded us of another fact in nautical life. Captain Brown was deemed a somewhat singular man, but he had faced more than one storm in his lifetime, and had rigged up more than one preventer-backstay. Will our readers be surprised to learn that one of these was a tinder-box! The discovery was made on this wise. The era was the era of

lucifer-matches, the occasion, a damp and squally time at sea, after many ineffectual attempts to light the binnacle-lamp by matches which would not ignite.

"A pretty thing to trust to in time of extremity; here's the stock of lucifers all damp, perhaps Jack's stock at the other end of the ship is no better. What a fix to be in if I had not had a 'preventer' coiled away ready for a stand-by' when duty calls;" and with this, not without a show of importance, Captain Brown brought out from his state-room a little horn of tinder, which his good wife had burnt for him just before starting-a choice little flint and steel, and a few old-fashioned pure brimstone matches. Captain Brown was soon to the rescue, and the simple but important duty of lighting the binnacle-lamp was easily performed. During tea-time in the last dog watch we congratulated Captain Brown on his foresight, and we then learned from him that he always took this little companion to sea with him in case of an accident—an example, we respectfully submit, worthy of imitation even now,

There are storms on shore as well as at sea, and the one that most frequently blows is the adverse wind of poverty. How to stagger along, and how to "use additional securities," has caused many anxious ponderings.

It was so with John Lawrence, a Lincolnshire man, who was left an orphan at five months old, and at the age of eight worked in a child's gang at four pence a day at field work. Kindly time dealt kindly with John, and he managed to obtain a little learning. Years after we find him married, with two children and an officer in Her Majesty's service-a rural postman at 12s. per week. Need I tell my readers that the course steered by John was, as sailors say, "full and by," and scarcely that; in other words, our rural postmen rigged a preventer-backstay in the shape of a barber's pole, and found this to bring a comfortable supplement to his income.

In his early days he had frequently earned sixpence on a Saturday in a barber's shop by lathering for the master. Here he learned habits of attention and civility-two important elements of success-and this was all his training ; but "he who can shave himself can shave another," and so our friend set up, and, to the joy of husband and wife, a comfortable addition was found to the family income. A pension in old age was promised after long service, but Lawrence, like many others, did not stay long enough in Her Majesty's service to enjoy this distinction. He migrated to a market town, and made his pole the main spoke in the wheel. Another breeze, another cogitation, another backstay. Behold John Lawrence on a bicycle! Having made the acquaintance of the postmaster, he found occasional employment by taking telegrams into the country on his two-wheeled horse, which wanted no provender, and frequently he earned at this work as much as 4s. per day.

The illustrations we have given may be designated deliberative-need we remark that we have a great liking for the prompt. A fine instance of prompt

action was well displayed by Lieut. Hoskins, R.N.," when a middy. His ship was chasing a prize, and was slowly coming up with her, when the weather leech of the fore-topsail was shot away. Immediately Hoskins was aloft, lay out on the topsail-yard, came down the reef-tackle fall, unbent the reef-earing as he descended, and in a few minutes he had rigged a preventer-bolt-rope! This saved the sail from splitting, and this prompt action of a true British tar, enabled the ship to secure the prize.

And may we give a more illustrious example in the way of taking prompt security for the safety of passengers and crew? When Paul was holding on with four anchors and wishing for the day, he discovered that the shipmen were intent on deserting the ship, but with a full appreciation of the critical condition of all hands, he appealed to the centurion and to the soldiers, "Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved."

In the successful voyages of wise beneficence how many preventer-backstays have been set up? We make no apology here for referring to our own labours. If any of our readers desire a new and interesting tour, may we suggest a visit to the Orkney and Shetland Isles ?—a trip we once enjoyed, and in no place did we discover the benefits resulting from our efforts more than amongst these simple islanders. We found that the annual grants made to widows by the Shipwrecked Mariners' Society just met, in not a few cases the annual charge of rent for the humble homestead, so that fish from the sea, in wondrous plenty, potatoes from the land, and the small earnings from knitting, rendered a poor woman comfortable for life. The permanent help we afford to the aged widow is perhaps the most cheerful item in our books. And in performing this delightful duty we recognize the dignity and authority of the Divine command, "Strengthen ye the weak hands." The desire of our many friends is that we go forward," and our efforts will ever be to help the most needy and the largest possible number.

Care for the shipwrecked stranger, the fatherless, and widow, is an everenlarging duty, and we are often oppressed by the inadequacy of our means and the insufficiency of our plans to meet, as we should wish to do, the wants of ALL sufferers from the sea.

More than once we have had a keen and solemn sympathy with that largehearted master mariner who, several years ago, descried, as he was crossing the Atlantic, a mighty volume of flame rising out of the ocean. Bearing down upon it he discovered a ship on fire, and her half-burnt crew making frantic signals of distress. The boat was lowered, the burnt and blistered crew were with tender hands and agonizing hearts, par-buckled on board somehow. Then came a moment of solemn survey, and then an energetic appeal to his first

*We give this from an article in the Daily Telegraph published a few weeks ago. + During the past year it amounted to nearly £4,500, and is yearly increasing. -

officer, who had charge of the boat, to make one more desperate effort to rescue, if possible, the medicine-chest of the burning ship. He felt the insufficiency of his own stock of medical stores to meet the wants of this needy crew, and he has many companions in this regard.

We have heard old sailors declare that in their day a piece of iron was not used for any purpose above the rail. Now we have iron masts, iron yards, and, wire rigging, and so great is the strength of these appliances that our oldfashioned preventers' may not be known on the decks of our modern fleets; but in the way of doing good we are confident that we shall see an everincreasing display of benevolent ingenuity and more adequate and timely support extended to him who hath no helper.

MISSIONARY WORK IN SOUTH AMERICA.

THE South American Missionary Magazine for November, 1871, contains an Admiralty Notice to Mariners. It is headed: "Tierra del Fuego Establishment of a Mission Station in the Beagle Channel," and commences with the following striking paragraph :

“Information has been communicated by Vice-Admiral Sir B. J. Sulivan, K.C.B., that a Mission Station has been established on the north shore of the Beagle Channel, Tierra del Fuego, in the cove of a small peninsula, N. by E. from the Murray Narrows, or northern. entrance to Ponsonby Sound, and which may be used as a place of refuge and relief to mariners shipwrecked in the vicinity of Cape Horn."

'I

On reading the above, those minds familiar by books or personal adventure with the locality referred to, must instinctively revert to the many dismal tales which have been related year by year of shipwrecked crews escaping from amid the perils of waters, and safely surmounting, perhaps, the scarcely less formidable dangers of the rocky coasts of Fireland, to encounter the horrors of starvation, or to perish, and, according to some accounts, be devoured, by the most cruel and degraded savages in the world.

That the native ferocity of these miserable savages has been, to some extent, exaggerated there can be very little doubt, or that their fierce vengeance has been too often provoked by the wanton cruelty of shipmasters and their crews; of this latter fact the accounts are only too well authenticated. But the numberless instances of vessels lost or abandoned there, and their crews never again heard of, afford too much reason to fear that of the sufferings of shipwrecked mariners on those inhospitable shores the half has not been told.

Such having been for so many years the fearful reputation of these most unattractive coasts, so frequently passed, and yet so little known, it may well