proud of being a Scotsman, and being an Irishman myself, we had many arguments--as boys will have--as to which nation possessed the most interesting personalities. We agreed cordially on every other point, but never once on this. The nation has lost one of its best in poor Andy Wauchope.' There are doubtless others of his _Britannia_ shipmates surviving who could give similar testimony. [Sidenote: Enters the Navy] On the 5th October 1860, Wauchope received his discharge from the _Britannia_, and was entered as a midshipman on board H.M.S. _St. George_, and he mentions himself with what pride and satisfaction he found himself on that autumn day walking down the main street of Portsmouth in his new uniform to join the _St. George_. 'It was one of the happiest days of my life,' he says; 'a day in which I felt myself identified as an officer in Her Majesty's service, more particularly as on the way down to the harbour I was met and saluted by one of the marines.' The _St. George_ was manned by eight hundred men, and in 1860 was considered a well-equipped vessel, and as compared with the days of Nelson and Collingwood showed a great advance in naval strength and efficiency. At Trafalgar the biggest gun in the whole British fleet was only a fifty-six pounder, but the _St. George_ had in addition to a number of that calibre several sixty-eight pounders, while her speed of ten knots an hour was considered highly satisfactory. Though these equipments would not bear comparison with present-day standards, the young midshipman was proud of his ship and proud of the service, and in after years could with no little exultation {32} honestly say that, 'though armaments had changed, the hearts of oak remained as of yore; while the old red rag, which had withstood the battle and the breeze for a thousand years, was still able to claim the allegiance of its people.' [Sidenote: H.R.H. Prince Alfred] Wauchope's commanding officer on board the _St. George_ was Captain the Hon. Francis Egerton--whose son, Commander Egerton, was killed at Ladysmith in November 1899--and among his brother officers were H.R.H. Prince Alfred, afterwards the Duke of Edinburgh, and latterly known as the Duke of Saxe-Coburg Gotha, and Admiral Sir Robert Harris, now Commander-in-Chief of the Cape of Good Hope station.