The day on which I arrived at Brest, to don there that first naval uniform, which I see still, I met Yves Kermadec by chance at the house of a patron of his, an old Commander who had known his father. Yves was then a boy of sixteen. I was told that he was about to become a probationer after two years as a ship-boy. He had just returned from his home, on the expiration of eight days' leave which had been given him; his heart seemed to be very full of the good-byes he had lately bidden his mother. This and our age, which was almost the same, were two points we had in common. A little later, having become a midshipman, I came across him again on my first ship. He was then grown into a man and serving as a topman. And I chose him for my hammock man. For a midshipman, the hammock man is the sailor allotted to hang each evening his little suspended bed and to take it down in the morning. Before removing the hammock, it is naturally necessary to awaken the sleeper within it and to ask him to get out. This is usually done by saying to him: "It is réveillé, captain." This phrase has to be repeated many times before it produces its effect. Afterwards, the hammock man carefully rolls up the little bed and takes it away. Yves performed this service very tactfully. I used also to meet him daily for the drill, aloft on the main top. There was a solidarity at that time between the midshipmen and the topmen; and, during the long voyages especially, such as those we were making, the relations between us became very cordial. On shore, in the strange places in which sometimes, at night, we came across our topmen, we were used to call them to our aid when there was danger or an adventure took an ugly look, and then, thus united, we could lay down the law. In such cases, Yves was our most valuable ally. His service records, however, were not excellent. "Exemplary on board; a most capable and sailor-like man; but his conduct on shore is impossible." Or: "Has shown admirable pluck and devotion," and then: "Undisciplined, uncontrollable." Elsewhere: "Zeal, honour, and fidelity," with "Incorrigible" in regard, etc. His nights in irons, his days in prison were beyond counting. Morally as well as physically, large, strong, and handsome, but with some irregularities in details. On board he was an indefatigable topman, always at work, always vigilant, always quick, always clean. On shore, if there was a sailor out of hand, riotous, drunk, it was always he; if a sailor was picked up in the morning in the gutter, half naked, stripped of his clothes as one might strip a corpse, by negroes sometimes, at other times by Indians or Chinese, again it was always he. The sailor absent without leave, who fought with the police, or used his knife against the alguazils, again and always it was he. ... All kinds of mad escapades were familiar to him.