Eric was fortunate in having the right angle to life on entering the Academy, so that he did not have any difficulty in understanding the character of the discipline. A number of his classmates, conscious that they were training for commissions, considered themselves as junior officers. They were quickly set right on this mistaken idea, but the process of disabusing some of them was a sharp one. One member of the class, in particular, had the notion that the Academy was a matter of books, smart uniforms, and a preparation for epaulets. When he found that he had to drill as a private, toil as a member of a gun crew, handle heavy work, use his delicate fingers in knotting and splicing and so forth, he entered a mild protest. He was set right by a homely rebuke from one of the instructors, an old sea-dog who knew everything about seamanship from the log of Noah's Ark to the rigging of a modern sea-plane.
Courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard.
Breeches-Buoy Drill.
Firing Lyle gun in corner; shot seen carrying line to mast to right of flagpole; rest of crew preparing to erect tripod.
Courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard.
Breeches-Buoy Drill. Rescuing Survivors.