formal floggings. His attitude was not that of the commander who
declared:

"I will see the man's backbone, by God!"

He wished to secure discipline without cruelty. His greatest difficulty,
at the start, was in making lieutenants. That he overcame by appointing
senior midshipmen before the Ariadne was out of the Channel. He offered
a lieutenancy to Ferens, who had the courage to decline it.

"Make me purser," remarked Ferens. "Make me purser, and I'll do the job
justly."

As the purser of the Ariadne had been sent to the sick-bay and was likely
to die (and did die subsequently), Ferens was put into his uniform-three-
cornered cocked hat, white knee-breeches, and white stockings. The
purser of a man-of-war was generally a friend of the captain, going with
him from ship to ship.

Of the common sailors, on the whole, Dyck had little doubt. He had
informed them that, whatever happened, they should not be in danger; that
the ship should not join the West Indian fleet unless every man except
himself received amnesty. If the amnesty was not granted, then one of
two things should happen--the ship must make for a South American port,
or she must fight. Fighting would not frighten these men.

It was rather among the midshipmen that Dyck looked for trouble.
Sometimes, with only two years' training at Gosport, a youngster became a
midshipman on first going to sea, and he could begin as early as eleven
years of age. A second-rate ship like the Ariadne carried eighteen