or into the sea-boots of the unwary; but it was only her sense of fun.
She took particular delight in playing it on a new member of the crew;
it made him feel at home.

She was not what you would call a really clean ship--as the Skipper
said, if you washed your hands one day they were just as bad again
the next--but anyone who makes a fuss over a trifle like that is no
true-born sailorman. We all loved her and were proud of her speed,
for she could make nine knots at a push. Even the Second Engineer, who
had been a fireman in the Wilson line, was moved to admit in a moment
of admiration that she didn't do so badly for a floating pig-trough,
which was no meagre praise from a man with such a past.

She was a touchy ship, quick to resent and avenge a slight on her
good name. We had a strange Lieutenant one trip who came from a depot
ship at Southampton and wore a monocle. He was rather sore at having
to exchange a responsible harbour billet for the command of a mere
sea-going trawler, and expressed the opinion that there might be more
disgustingly dirty ships afloat than ours, but if so they were not
allowed out during official daylight; We felt her quiver from stem to
stern with rage. She took her revenge that evening as the Lieutenant
was coming aft for tea. It was a floppy sea and he unwisely ventured
along the windward side of the casing, and she seized her opportunity.
The Mate picked him up out of the scuppers and we dried his clothes
over the boilers, but the monocle was never seen again. The crew were
not so sympathetic as they might have been; they felt that he had
asked for it.

But, though her personal beauty would not have been unrivalled at a
Cowes Regatta and her somewhat erratic motions were not calculated to