They all of them long for the “Wide, wide sea!”
But however they dote, only set them afloat,
In any craft bigger at all than a boat,
Take them down to the Nore, and you’ll see that before
The “wessel” they “woyage” in has made half her way
Between Shellness Point and the pier at Herne Bay,
Let the wind meet the tide in the slightest degree,
They’ll be all of them heartily sick of the sea!”
So says “Ingoldsby,” and it is, no doubt, true of some London Jack Tars and Cheapside buccaneers, who, on leaving port, are much more nautically “got up” than any of the crew. These stage sailors become very limp when the sea-water takes the starch out of them. Barham tells us of one Anthony Blogg:—
“So I’ll merely observe, as the water grew rougher