{"id":"01KG8AMFZ315RYTWVBP9X9CXWT","cid":"bafkreibycgwfjf5nlivmgzqnuoshilvqbfnjfhzg4qsxlbffxkaevhfq6y","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":8886,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.274Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":8833,"text":"CHAPTER LV.\r\nMIDSHIPMEN ENTERING THE NAVY EARLY.\r\n\r\n\r\nThe allusion in the preceding chapter to the early age at which some of\r\nthe midshipmen enter the Navy, suggests some thoughts relative to more\r\nimportant considerations.\r\n\r\nA very general modern impression seems to be, that, in order to learn\r\nthe profession of a sea-officer, a boy can hardly be sent to sea too\r\nearly. To a certain extent, this may be a mistake. Other professions,\r\ninvolving a knowledge of technicalities and things restricted to one\r\nparticular field of action, are frequently mastered by men who begin\r\nafter the age of twenty-one, or even at a later period of life. It was\r\nonly about the middle of the seventeenth century that the British\r\nmilitary and naval services were kept distinct. Previous to that epoch\r\nthe king’s officers commanded indifferently either by sea or by land.\r\n\r\nRobert Blake, perhaps one of the most accomplished, and certainly one\r\nof the most successful Admirals that ever hoisted a flag, was more than\r\nhalf a century old (fifty-one years) before he entered the naval\r\nservice, or had aught to do, professionally, with a ship. He was of a\r\nstudious turn, and, after leaving Oxford, resided quietly on his\r\nestate, a country gentleman, till his forty-second year, soon after\r\nwhich he became connected with the Parliamentary army.\r\n\r\nThe historian Clarendon says of him, “He was the first man that made it\r\nmanifest that the science (seamanship) might be attained in less time\r\nthan was imagined.” And doubtless it was to his shore sympathies that\r\nthe well-known humanity and kindness which Blake evinced in his\r\nintercourse with the sailors is in a large degree to be imputed.\r\n\r\nMidshipmen sent into the Navy at a very early age are exposed to the\r\npassive reception of all the prejudices of the quarter-deck in favour\r\nof ancient usages, however useless or pernicious; those prejudices grow\r\nup with them, and solidify with their very bones. As they rise in rank,\r\nthey naturally carry them up, whence the inveterate repugnance of many\r\nCommodores and Captains to the slightest innovations in the service,\r\nhowever salutary they may appear to landsmen.\r\n\r\nIt is hardly to be doubted that, in matters connected with the general\r\nwelfare of the Navy, government has paid rather too much deference to\r\nthe opinions of the officers of the Navy, considering them as men\r\nalmost born to the service, and therefore far better qualified to judge\r\nconcerning any and all questions touching it than people on shore. But\r\nin a nation under a liberal Constitution, it must ever be unwise to\r\nmake too distinct and peculiar the profession of either branch of its\r\nmilitary men. True, in a country like ours, nothing is at present to be\r\napprehended of their gaining political rule; but not a little is to be\r\napprehended concerning their perpetuating or creating abuses among\r\ntheir subordinates, unless civilians have full cognisance of their\r\nadministrative affairs, and account themselves competent to the\r\ncomplete overlooking and ordering them.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJSTQWPBBBGPYGXWSXKAQ","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMFZ3AX34W4GF6W27NJRB","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:38.883Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:50.055Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}