hands, and stout hearts of those who have managed and worked her ships. The British boy who sings "Rule Britannia! Britannia rule the waves," does not believe that any earthly power can "Thus far shalt thou come, say to the sea, and no further, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed." He knows that such power belongs to God alone. When he sings "Rule, Britannia," he simply means, "My country! May no nation be greater than thou on the ocean! May the flag that has 'Braved a thousand years, The battle and the breeze,' be ever the emblem of freedom!" Our ships of war have long been called our "wooden walls." Built of British oak, and manned by "hearts of oak;" they have been as a wall of defence to our island. THE SEA. UTURE generations may sing the praises of steam-ships and ironclads, but as long as history is written, or history is read, the "wooden walls of England" will be the theme of History's most exciting and most interesting pages. A man-of-war, or line-of-battle ship, in full sail, is one of the most beautiful sights of all the works of man. A first rate manof-war has three decks, or storeys, which extend the whole length of the vessel. Hence it is called a three-decker. But it has six decks or storeys, three of which do not extend from one end of the ship to the other. It is about two hundred feet long, about sixty feet wide, and the height of the main-mast is about two hundred feet. It is calculated that as much wood is used in the building of a man-of-war, as would suffice for the wood-work of about seven hundred small houses. Two thousand oak trees, each one about a hundred years old, are required for each ship, and the cost of the ship and its fittings is about £100,000! To fully man such a ship, about one thousand persons are needed, so that a first-rate ship-of-the-line is in reality a floating town. When it sails, it has provision and water enough to last for six months, and enough sails, rigging, clothing, and other things likely to be wanted during three years. So that the weight of a fully equipped man-of-war, is enormous. Yet when in full sail on "her native element," the "first-rate" is as graceful as a swan on a lake. When a ship is stopped, she is said to come to an anchor," or to "cast anchor." The largest anchor of a first-rate man-ofwar, is called the "best bower;" it weighs about five tons, and is worth about £350. A ship at anchor has her sails furled or tied up. In a storm the sails are reefed, or made smaller, so that they may not catch so much wind. There are always line-of-battle ships lying at anchor off the coasts of Great Britain. Their crews "guard our native seas;" no foreign ships of war could approach our shores with impunity. The bravery of the British sailor is proverbial. The roar of the ocean is music to him, "Peaceful, slumbering on the ocean, Seamen fear no danger nigh, The wind, and waves in constant motion, Seamen dislike a calm, for they know that a calm too often precedes a storm. A stiff breeze is their delight. Barry Cornwall finely describes a sea man's sentiments,- "The sea! the sea! the open sea; It runneth the earth's wide regions round; I'm on the sea, I'm on the sea; I'am where I would ever be, With the blue above, and the blue below, If a storm should come and wake the deep, What matter-what matter-I'll ride and sleep. |