In nothing is the tremendous size of the British navy shown more impressively than the figures of her enlisted men. Of these, exclusive of marines, she has ninety-five thousand two hundred and sixty-three, but there are only 49.93 men to each one thousand tons, while the United States with thirty-seven thousand men has 52.70, Germany with thirty-five thousand one hundred and thirteen has 59.71, and France with fifty-two thousand one hundred and fifty-three has 65.10.
Great Britain and the United States are the only powers that maintain aboard ship enlisted men other than bluejackets, and it is the intention of Great Britain to replace all her marine officers gradually by naval officers. No navy has a grade corresponding exactly to the British and American warrant officer, the nearest approximation of it being the chief petty officers of the other navies.
The United States has no engineer corps, and Great Britain is amalgamating her engineer corps with the line. The other nations all maintain the distinction which existed in our navy until the adoption of the Roosevelt personnel law.
Neither Japan nor Italy maintains chaplains, and many British chaplains are naval instructors.
NIX’S MATE LIGHT IN BOSTON HARBOR.
The Story of an Island Which Disappeared and the Curious Old Legend of the Spot Now Marked by This Interesting Beacon.
As a person enters Boston Harbor by the main ship channel, having threaded his way between Lovell’s Island and Gallup’s Island, and just before passing between Long Island and Deer Island, he sees at his left a unique monument marking a dangerous ledge and shoal. So peculiar is its appearance that every stranger is sure to ask, “What is that?” To this some local wiseacre promptly responds, “Nix’s Mate”; but usually he cannot explain its meaning or even spell the name correctly.
The “Mate” is a massive piece of copper-riveted masonry, forty feet square and twelve feet high (with stairs on one side), upon whose top rises a black wooden pyramid, twenty feet high. Two hundred years ago, where this weird pyramid now stands, there was a fertile island of twelve acres, furnishing excellent grazing, and called, in consequence, Green Island. So much is history. A curious old book, long out of print,[[4]] has woven the legend of the name into a pleasing romance, which in brief is as follows:
[4]. Nix’s Mate: an Historical Romance of America, by the author of “Athenia of Damascus,” etc. In two volumes. Published by Samuel Colman, No. VIII Astor House, Broadway, 1839.
When Sir William Phips made his celebrated expedition to the Spanish Main in 1687, under the auspices of the Duke of Albemarle, in which he recovered some millions of sunken gold and enriched himself for life, he was accompanied by one Captain Nix and his first mate, Edward Fitzvassal. As the first expedition was so wonderfully successful, Captain Nix went out on another search and raised another precious cargo from the bottom of the deep. But on his return the crew of his vessel, the Dolphin, mutinied, under the leadership of the mate, and turned pirates.