Page:Autobiography of Rear Admiral Charles Wilkes.djvu/65

39 Those who knew Jack Palmer will readily bring him to their mind and his peculiar manner. Jack was of short stature, small and very ugly, with an expressive face but exceedingly marked with smallpox, his features small and his complexion red and in after life was rubicund, but he had the gift of gab and ready at speech and with a large share of drollery, bordering on a low wit. His address of welcome to Blake was truly characteristic of him, assuming great pomposity and a high tone of the advantages that would attend his association with Mess No. 1, its luxurious living and good fellowship, and that he was directed by his messmates to extend to him the warmest welcome in joining the Navy & particularly in his being invited to the hospitality and good cheer of the mess. Blake was the first to be served with a tin cup of whiskey, poured from the Jug by Palmer, and invited to partake of one of the necessaries of life, "elixir," I think he termed it, and then his health was drunk by these topers in raw Rye, just from the Spirit Room. It was a hilarious scene for a stranger and was truly the type of similar scenes I had seen described in Roderick Random.

The mess I joined as I said before, was composed of the best of the young officers, and everything was provided and decorum reigned throughout. They were all very kind and civil to me and from our first associations friendships grew and which remained for many years, until they left the service, either from death or resignation.

The character of the steerage officers in the Service has so much changed since that it is almost impossible to realize their great improvement. There are no longer any Midshipmen of those days. Many of them were war midshipmen of very dissipated habits and of low morale and the collisions with those who had recently entered were constant. Duels were the order of the day and few days elapsed when a meeting did not take place. Indeed there was little or no restraint on the Mids, and confined as they were to the Ship and the quarters of the Mids in the orlop deck, living in candlelight, did not tend to improve the temper or preserve the peace. The Steerage of a Man of War was then considered as exclusively appertaining to the Mids. 1st Lieutenants troubled themselves little with the noise and amusements of these quarters and they felt jealous of any infringements on their rights. On the upper deck strict discipline and great respect was demanded and observed, and punishment often inflicted by quarantining, and double watch or extra duty, liberty of going ashore was much restricted, once in 10 days or a fortnight.

The school was kept in the Comdre's Cabin by Chaplain Cheever [Felch], who made his daily reports to the Comdre in writing and sent to his office on Long Wharf. The Comdre resided at Jamaica, some 8 miles from Boston, & usually made his appearance at the office about 9 or 10 o'clock and probably once a week his visit to inspect the ship. Comdre Bainbridge was of full height and good figure and always kept