He was just born with a desire for knowledge and an aptitude for obtaining it without apparent effort.
At the same time he was as keen as any other boy on games. In spite of his diminutive inches he was useful with the gloves; he could swim like a fish; he was a good all-round cricketer, and a very deadly left-hand bowler. He is still a splendid “oar,” a first-class rifle shot, and on a grouse moor he lets very few birds “get away.”
His great game, however, turned out to be racquets, and even to-day it would be difficult to find a man to equal him on the courts. At tennis he is almost equally good, and he can give points to the average amateur. It was during a game of tennis at home one day that Jellicoe showed his delightful sense of humour and love of fun, peculiar to sailor-men, proving the truth of the old saying that the greatest men can also be the greatest children.
Just as a “set” had been finished sounds of a fierce quarrel came from the other side of the shrubbery. Strange oaths rent the air. Obviously tramps fighting over their ill-gotten gains! Sir John immediately disappeared to reconnoitre with one or two friends. They were absent a long time, and just as Lady Jellicoe was beginning to feel anxious, her husband appeared, limping, supported by one of his guests, his head and face swathed in bandages.
The tramps had evidently shown fight, and a terrific encounter had taken place. Sir John was overwhelmed with sympathy for his wounds and congratulations for his victory. For quite a long time Jellicoe kept up the illusion that he had been “in action.”
As a matter of fact, the tramps had bolted without giving the Little Admiral even a sight of their heels.
Not so very long after this Jellicoe himself was fooling the “Blue,” or defending fleet during Naval manœuvres by disguising his ships as (sea-going) “tramps” and succeeded in eluding their vigilance and raiding an English port!
Probably Sir John learnt a few of his “tricks” during those early days on the Britannia.
The Britannia, with her sister ship the Hindustani, are no longer used as Training Ships for the Royal Navy, and though the fine modern College on the hill overlooking the River Dart is doubtless healthier and more suitable in many ways, there was a glamour about the famous old Boat that a College can never possess.