Thirdly.—­The blockading service has had much to do in training our seamen for passive heroism and enduring fortitude.  During the long war with France, it was a service wherein all those qualities were called into action, which are of most value in sudden emergencies.  Vigilance, promptitude, patience, and endurance, were tried to the utmost in the course of those wintry months, and tempestuous seasons, when single ships, squadrons, and fleets were cruising off the enemy’s coast, and every man on board was perpetually exposed to something that put his temper or his nerves to the test.  Then was the time to learn when to keep a sharp look-out, to be on the alert in handling the gear of a vessel, to respond to the word of command at the instant, to do things at the right point of time, to hold life at a moment’s purchase, and to stare death in the face without flinching.  It was a hard and rigorous school; but if proficiency in readiness and fortitude was to be attained anywhere, it was in the blockading service, and there the heart of oak was tried, and the seaman was trained for the exercise of that discipline, of which this Record of Naval Shipwrecks presents so complete a picture.

But we will hope that the principal cause, to which we may ascribe the good conduct of our sailors in the trying hour, when there seems to be a span only between life and death, is the religious feeling which they bring with them to their ship from their homes, whether from the cabin on the sea-shore, or the cottage on the hill-side.  The scene described in page 115, and the anecdote of the poor boy, in whose hand was found an open Bible when his corpse was cast on shore, show the power of religious feeling in the soul of the sailor.  It may be a very imperfect feeling, but the sailor has it; and even in its imperfection it has a strong hold on his mind.  From the first outbreak of the Revolution; the French sailor entered the service of his country as a volunteer or a conscript, embued with infidel notions:  or to say the least, with the religious indifference which had become so common in France.  Not so the English sailor.  He was not one of the fools to say in his heart.  ‘There is no God!’ It is not easy to define the nature of that awe which fills the mind of a religions mariner; but most certainly those ’who see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep,’ face danger more steadily, under the solemn belief that there is a ruling power to control the waters, and to say to the winds, ‘Peace! be still.’  They are predisposed to ’cry unto the Lord in their trouble,’ and to implore Him to ’make the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof may be still:’  and this fear of God, which is before their eyes, has its influence in making them willing to adopt every expedient proposed to them by their officers for their common safety.  Under this higher impulse, the spirit of obedience works in them more confidingly; and humbled before the Supreme Power, they are prepared to yield submission to every intellect superior to their own.  Now if there be a feeling of this kind already at work for good in the minds of our seamen, it is of the utmost importance to strengthen it,[2] to give it a sure direction, and to make it run in a deeper and a broader channel, by all the appliances of instruction and education.