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Nautical Essays.

No. I.

THE NEW LAUNCHED SHIP.

"HAPPY IS HE THAT HATH THE GOD OF JACOB FOR HIS

HELP, WHOSE HOPE IS IN THE LORD HIS GOD; WHO
MADE HEAVEN AND EARTH, THE SEA, AND ALL THAT
THEREIN IS."-Psalm cxlvi. 5, 6.

WHEN WE are called to behold a vessel launched, for the first time, into the water, there are many interesting subjects for reflection, which naturally arise out of the circumstances and things that surround us. There are then subjects to gratify the eye, the ear, and the reflecting mind of every by-stander. While flags of various colours are playing wantonly in the air, and sounds of liveliest music are exhilarating the spectators, the vessel's last shore is knocked away, and she rushes forward with majestic state into the briny flood. Meanwhile the loud cheers of the multitude almost rend the air; every countenance bespeaks joyous exultation,

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and every tongue is lavish in admiration and praise. But if the multitude at large are extravagant in their commendations, and their high expectations of the new-launched vessel; much more so are the builders and the owner, and be who is to conduct and command her at sea. While she is sliding down the slips into her new element, a bottle of choice wine is thrown at the gay figure-head, and a name is given, which, on many occasions, is at once expressive of these interested men's folly and expectations. If it be a merchant vessel it is called The Abundance, The Diamond, The Croesus, The Fortunate, The Plutus, or some such name, as indicative of the wealth and treasures which it is expected to pour into its owner's lap. If it be a ship of war, it obtains the title of Invincible, Impregnable, Dreadnought, Defence, Defiance, Victory, or Conqueror;* and while these names

* The writer is no advocate for the superstitious and often blasphemous conduct of the Spaniards and other Roman Catholic countries, in naming ships of war after a tribe of monks and friars, much less in calling them “The Saviours of the World," &c. &c. In this respect we are a little reformed. But surely it does not say much either for the piety or good sense of those with whom it remains to designate our vessels, to hunt through the fooleries of the heathen mythology for Pandora, Polyphemus, &c. &c. when we have so many

are given to the inanimate and passive materials of planks, and cordage, and sails, and cannon; too many of those who gaze on them, and of those who take them to sea, look to the compact arrangement of their materials, and to their own management of them, with such confidence, as often to lead them into the persuasion, that these vessels, so built and conducted, must conquer, that they must and will be impregnable and invincible. But He, "who made the heavens and earth, the sea, and all that therein is," has often shewn us how ill placed such names and such confidence are, in permitting the seas, the flames, or the folly of men, to bring these gallant vessels, with their pompous appellations, into swift and utter destruction.* We may learn from such lessons that his Providence alone can render our ships of war invincible; and his bles

worthy names on record of those who have lived for the benefit of their fellow-men. Let those who have deserved well of their country be had in honourable remembrance. Let our national ships be called by their names; and then, when the young sea-boy or midshipman enquires who the distinguished individual was, he may have to learn he was one who lived for others rather than for himself.

* Without going back into the distant annals of our maritime losses, it may here be observed, that it is but a little while ago since the three following ships

sing alone can make the merchant vessel an instrument of prosperity and wealth to its owner.

When we behold the vessel first cleaving the yielding waters, and listen to the voice of joy and gladness which sounds and echoes from deck to deck, we may, indeed, allow our fancies and our interest to figure to ourselves a strange train of visionary splendour and success as the career marked out for the object of our admiration. But, in reality, we know not what its future history may be. As reasonable and disinterested reflecting men, we know that it will have to beat about at sea, to contend with storms and calms, to be endangered by currents and rocks, and sands; to be in frequent peril from the breaking waves, the forked lightning, and the ill-management of the crew.

But how long it may float amidst these dan

were lost in the North Sea, and almost all their crews perished in them; namely,

The Invincible, 74 guns, and 400 of her crew;
The Impregnable, 98 guns, and above 600 of her

crew;

The Defence, 74 guns, and above 500 of her crew; with many, very many, others that might be named. Nor can we forget the humiliating result of some of our late encounters with the American ships of war, in which we have been taught that our vessels are neither invincible nor impregnable,

gers and vicissitudes of evil we know not; neither are we acquainted by what event, or in what part of the world, it may be brought to its end. It may founder soon after it leaves port; or it may be set on fire, and consumed in the midst of the waters; it may be torn, as it were, plank from plank, by its labouring and plunging in a troubled ocean and continued hurricane; it may be destroyed or captured by a superior. enemy's force; or it may be suddenly dashed to pieces on some sunken rock even while the sky is clear, and a fair wind is supplying its every sail; or it may escape all these perils, and, after weathering many a storm, conquering many an enemy, and visiting many a distant part of the world, it may return in peace, and in its own port end its days, full of honour, and followed with many a long and kind remembrance by those who had once sailed on board.

So when the children of men are born into this world, and launched on the unsettled ocean of life, what extravagant, what ideal hopes and expectations are often formed of them by their fond parents, and partial, infatuated friends! Disregarding the sober voice of experience, and the instructions of Scripture, they figure to themselves nothing but a long train of happiness resulting from the life and pursuits of the infant.. The avaricious parent calculates on the wealth:

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