But I should be loath to detract from Dr. Browning, who, besides being a preacher of some power, was also a practical man with considerable talent for organisation. His ships must have been patterns of propriety and cleanliness. Yet he worked single-handed. The only officials under him were convicts chosen among the "people," according to character received with them, and "the impression," to use his own words, "formed on my own mind by the expression of their countenances, and general demeanour." At the doctor's right hand was the first captain, who was at the head of the whole establishment; next to him came a second captain; and below them the captains of divisions. Each had his duties prescribed according to a carefully prepared scale. There were also appointed cooks, barber, delegates, head of messes, a clerk, librarian, hospital steward, and, last, not least, schoolmasters and inspectors of schools. The routine of work for every day of the week was also laid down, and was punctually carried out. As a rule, after the necessary cleaning operations, it resolved itself almost entirely into school instruction, and constant exhortation from the surgeon himself. Dr. Browning was apparently much beloved even by the convicts; and his orders are said to have been readily and implicitly obeyed. In return his confidence in them was so great that when he was attacked with serious illness he had his hammock hung inside on the prison deck, and gave himself up to be nursed altogether by the convicts. In after years the example set by Dr. Browning was so far followed that every ship carried a religious instructor to teach, and perform the services--duties which every surgeon-superintendent could not be expected to perform, as did Dr. Browning. These instructors were selected from among the Scripture readers and schoolmasters at Millbank or Pentonville, and no doubt they were conscientious men, fairly anxious to do their best. But this best fell far short of that which an enthusiast of superior education like Dr. Browning could accomplish; and in most of the ships, in spite of all the efforts of the instructors, wickedness reigned supreme to the last. CHAPTER VII THE EXILES OF CRIME Notorious individuals exiled--Murderous assaults on the Queen--Bank frauds--Burgess and the Bank of England--Robbery of Rogers' Bank--Fraud and embezzlement--Walter Watts--Robert F. Pries--Joseph Windle Cole--Strahan, Paul and Bates--Aristocratic bankers--Robson--Redpath--Enormous stealings--Great gold robbery on the South-Eastern Railway--Agar, Pierce and Tester--Extensive forgeries--Saward or "Jim the Penman"--Vicissitudes of a convict's life--Journeys round the world.