"Come, you have given us a very full description Captain; but you have not told us what grape-shot is. They use grape-shot, do they not, on board ship?"

They do, boys. Shot is a general name given to all kinds of balls used for artillery and fire-arms, from the pistol to the cannon; but the shot principally now used in the British navy is of three kinds, round-shot, grape-shot, and canister-shot."

"What is round-shot?"

"The most simple of all shot. It is made of cast iron, and just big enough to suit the bore of the gun it is meant for.'

"And now, what is grape-shot, Captain?"

"Instead of being one shot, it consists of many small shots put into a canvass bag, and corded up strongly, so that the whole bundle just fits the bore of the cannon."

"Canister-shot comes next, and then we shall know about them all."

"Canister-shot is merely a quantity of small shot put into a case, or canister. Formerly there were many other kinds of shot used. Chain-shot was made by linking together two shots with a chain, to destroy the masts and rigging of ships: double-headed, or bar-shot was formed by cutting a shot into two halves, and then joining them with an iron bar and langrel-shot was a particular kind of shot made of bolts, bars, nails, and odd pieces of iron, tied altogether; this was very destructive in tearing the sails and rigging of a ship, rendering her unable to pursue or escape an enemy.

This last shot has been mostly used by merchantmen and privateers. But you have now had a long spell of the old sea Captain."

"We have. Thank you, Captain, for all you have told us."

"This is the first time I have told you about a battle, and I trust it will be the last. Peace, boys, is a jewel that should be carried in every one's bosom. My pocket compass here, which you know is my Bible, says,Follow after the things which make for peace,' Rom. xiv. 19. 'Seek peace, and ensue it,' 1 Pet. iii. 11. 'Live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you,' 2 Cor. xiii. 11. Now, mind how you get out of the harbour. Cat the anchor! Set your sails! Stand to the nor❜-west. The wind is on the quarter, you will have six points large. Now, my hearties, let me see you spanking along on your course. "Farewell, Captain!"

The joke of the old sea Captain-Blocks-The Governor Fenner and the Nottingham steamer-A hundred and twentytwo persons perish-Mid-ships-Spinning yarns-Rogue's yarn-The fierce cratur-Articles of war-Sentence of death -Yards-Court-martial.

"OH! oh! here are the boys from Cape Academy with their happy faces. The old sea Captain must try to give them a little amusement. Hoa! the ship ahoay! What cheer, messmates? Have you nothing to spare to splice the main-brace of poor Jack, on a

voyage from Hull to London? Mayhap, you may have heard of the wreck of the Macaroni, Captain Forecastle !"

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'Oh, yes! we have heard all about it, and we won't be taken in again by a land pirate; so you may cruise in another latitude."

What, messmates ! Are you among the land lubbers that won't help out a shipwrecked seaman, that has got no shot in his locker? Won't you help poor Ben?"

"That won't do, so you may as well sail on another tack. We know a land pirate now from a true-hearted sailor. Was it in the chops of the channel that you were wrecked?"

"And is it come to this! Is honest Ben Bowliné to founder, with his timbers shivered, and to be left to run adrift on the rocks? Well, my hearties, mayhap you will take a bit of 'bacco with me, afore we part company!"

"Ah! ah! ah! Captain! You keep up the joke against us capitally, but we never mean to let a land shark get the better of us again. We shall ask the first man in a blue jacket, who begins to shiver his timbers, and talk of having no shot in the locker—we shall ask him what the main sheet is, and what they sweep the anchor with on board a ship. A sham sailor is not likely to cheat us again."

"Very well, boys! If you sail on that tack, he will be rather shy of coming alongside you."

"Please to tell us what a D.-block means, for we cannot make it out, though we have seen it mentioned in a book."

“A D.-block, boys, is a block or pulley in the form of the letter D. There are, on board ship, a matter of two hundred different kinds of blocks."

"Two hundred! Why how can sailors remember them all?"

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Every one to his trade, boys. A sailor has too much to do with blocks on board ship to forget their names."

"Please to tell us the names of some of them."

"I should tire you, I have a notion; however, you shall have some of them. There are the single, double, treble, fourfold, bee, and bull's-eye blocks; the cut, cheek, clew-garnet, D, dead-eye, and deep sea-line blocks; and the fish, girt-line, heart, iron-strapped, and jear blocks."

"What odd names! Do you remember any more, Captain?"

"Oh, yes, plenty. There are the jewel, long-tackle, main-sheet, monkey, and ninepin blocks; the rack, shoe, shoulder, sister, and snatch blocks; and the spring, strap-bound, thick-and-thin, top, and voil blocks; and now, messmates, I think you have had served out a fair allowance of blocks, for any craft that you are likely to build."

"You did not like the man-of-war that we brought you; perhaps we may try our hands at a steam-boat