Part 34 (1/2)

And not only should he learn swimming without delay, but also study the means he ought to take for saving a drowning man and for reviving him when he has got him ash.o.r.e. No Scout is too young for this.

I saw a case in the paper recently which is a fine example to other boys, where Frederick Delvin, eleven years of age, rescued another boy from drowning in the Surrey Ca.n.a.l, near the Old Kent Road bridge.

A small boy named George Spear was fis.h.i.+ng in the ca.n.a.l when he fell into the water, and was on the point of drowning when Delvin, who had learned to swim last summer, jumped into the water and brought him safely ash.o.r.e, and thus saved his life.

Well, now, any Scout could do that, if he knew how and had the pluck, and I should hope that every Scout has that at least.

JACK TARS' PRESENCE OF MIND.

A serious disaster was narrowly averted at Dover in connection with a treat given to six hundred schoolgirls on the battles.h.i.+p _Albion_.

The children were being taken out to the battles.h.i.+p in boats in a rather heavy sea. A steam pinnace, towing two whaleboats, each containing about eighty girls, was rounding the Prince of Wales Pier, when the Government tug _Adder_ unexpectedly came round from the opposite side of the pier, bearing right down on them.

There was great excitement, as a disaster seemed certain; but the Naval men in charge quickly cut the second boat adrift, and the tug pa.s.sed between the two crowded boatloads. The boat drifted towards the Admiralty Pier until it was picked up and got safely in tow again.

That is the kind of ”presence of mind” which every Scout should have.

HOW VAN TROMP'S BROOM WAS RAISED--AND LOWERED.

In ”sea scouting,” it will, of course, be necessary to know a lot of small as well as big things about our s.h.i.+ps which the ordinary fellow does not know. Here is one. A man-of-war on duty always flies a pennant at her masthead--that is, a very long, very thin flag, which makes the mast look like a whip with a lash on the end of it. Here is the story of it.

In the old days, 250 years ago, Britain and Holland were both powerful nations at sea and rivals in commerce, but as we had command of the British Channel we made all foreign s.h.i.+ps salute our men-of-war when pa.s.sing them.

One day, May 19th, 1652, a Dutch fleet of forty-five s.h.i.+ps; under their great admiral Van Tromp, came sailing up the Channel, and pa.s.sed a British Fleet of twenty-three s.h.i.+ps under Admiral Blake. Seeing how strong he was, the Dutch admiral declined to salute us. So our flags.h.i.+p fired a shot across his bows, as a signal to remind him of his duty; but Van Tromp promptly replied with a broadside into the stern of Admiral Blake's s.h.i.+p.

”That's very rude of him to break my windows,” remarked Blake, and promptly ordered his small Fleet to attack the Dutch, although it was twice as strong.

The battle began at four o'clock in the afternoon, and went on hammer and tongs till after dark. The firing then lulled, and the British Fleet, having been badly mauled, spent the whole night repairing damages.

By dawn, although tired, they were all ready for a further go at the enemy, but as daylight came on they found there was no enemy to go for; he had cleared away in the night to less dangerous quarters. But only for a time, in order to get more s.h.i.+ps, and a few days later he reappeared with something like eighty vessels.

This and a contrary wind proved too much for Blake's small Fleet, and though he made an obstinate fight of it, he was at last compelled to take refuge in the Thames, pursued by the Dutchmen.

Then it was that Van Tromp hoisted a broom at his masthead, as a sign that he had swept the British from off the seas. But he was a little bit ”previous,” as they say in America. The people in Britain rose to the occasion, and, instead of being down-hearted, they at once started to build a stronger Fleet, and trained men and boys--like sea scouts--to man it.

So soon as the s.h.i.+ps were fitted out Blake put to sea with a Fleet of sixty, and went to look for the Dutchmen, and he soon found them.

Van Tromp, with seventy men-of-war, was coming up the Channel, guarding a large fleet of richly-laden merchant s.h.i.+ps making for Holland.

The British, of course, went for this convoy, and it was a pretty tough fight, the Dutch merchantmen crowding on all sail to escape to Holland, while their men-of-war kept behind them, fighting stubbornly to hold off the pursuing British. It was a running fight, which was kept up for three days and nights, and at the end the British came home triumphant, having captured or sunk seventeen of the enemy's men-of-war and thirty of his merchant s.h.i.+ps.

Van Tromp had to take down his broom.

HOW THE WHIP WAS HOISTED.