James and Hugh Wylie were both quiet, unassuming men who understood their business thoroughly. The former rose to be the commodore of the fleet. On retiring from the command of the _Parisian_, the citizens of Montreal honoured him with a banquet and an address, congratulating him on his remarkably successful career. Hugh retired from the command of the _Polynesian_ shortly after a serious accident that befell his ship on the river, through the carelessness of his pilot. James was noted for his caution, of which a somewhat humorous illustration was given one dark night when the _Parisian_ was speeding down the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Some of us were still pacing the deck, though it was near midnight, when suddenly the engine stopped. To the uninitiated there is nothing more alarming than that; but at this hour most of the passengers were fast asleep. There followed a few minutes of profound silence. The sea, until now as black as ink, had all at once become white and glistering. Had we run into a field of ice? To the captain, who was at his post on the bridge, and to the double lookout on the forecastle it must have had that appearance; but it proved to be only schools of herring or mackerel disporting themselves on the surface of the water, causing a brilliant phosphorescent illumination of the sea. It spread over a large surface and had all the appearance of field ice, precisely where such danger is to be apprehended. The ship sailed on: but none of us dared to ask then, nor next morning, why she had stopped. Frederick Archer, Lieut. R.N.R., successively in command of the _St. Andrew_, the _Manitoban_, and the _Moravian_, was made of sterner stuff than the average sea-captain. It required more than one voyage to become acquainted with him, but once in his good graces the passenger was all right. He was the strictest disciplinarian of the whole staff. Regularly as on a man-of-war, his sailors marched into the saloon on Sunday mornings in their best rigs to attend divine service. In the absence of a clergyman none could use the Book of Prayer more effectively than Capt. Archer. He died at sea in the prime of life.