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Narratives of Shipwrecks of the Royal Navy; between 1793 and 1849 by William O. S. Gilly
page 7 of 399 (01%)
The intrepidity and mental resources of a brave man are more
discernible in the hour of patient suffering, than in that of daring
action: and the contents of this volume form a record of heroic doings
and endurances, which exhibits the British seaman as a true specimen
of the national character. Duty is his watchword, and the leading
principle by which he is governed. Nelson knew the spirits he had to
deal with, when he hoisted the memorable signal, 'England expects
every man to do his duty.' He was well aware that the men who could
patiently and calmly face the toil and danger of a blockading fleet,
day and night, on the stormy waves of the Bay of Biscay, or on the lee
shores of the Mediterranean, such as his fleet had had to encounter,
wanted no other stimulus, in the presence of the enemy, than that
which he so confidently applied. Napoleon found to his cost, on the
field of Waterloo, that the word _Glory_ had no longer any power to
launch his battalions successfully against troops, who had learnt in
the British school of duty and obedience to confront death, not only
in the impetuous battle-charge, but in the more trying season of long
endurance in the Lines of Torres Vedras. Men who can wait, and bear
and forbear, and remain steadily at their post under every provocation
to leave it, are invincible opponents. The cool determination which
resisted the onset, and withstood the furious rush of the French
Guards, was part and parcel of the same character which made heroes of
the comrades of Nelson. To obey implicitly, and to feel that no
quality is superior to that of obedience,--to wait for your
commander's word,--to keep order,--to preserve presence of mind,--to
consider yourself one of many, who are to follow the same rule, and to
act in unison with each other,--to regulate your movements according
to the demands of the common safety,--to consider your honour to be as
much at stake in submitting to a command to remain stationary and not
to stir, as to dash forward,--these are the peculiarities, which
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