When lying at anchor with a few guns on her maindeck and her boat-booms swung out and boats in the water, she might be taken for a frigate, even by a seafaring man, but for the house flag at her main. She had painted ports, square yards and enormous whole topsails. In such a ship no officer or man dared address a superior on duty without saluting. It was because of this excellent discipline and semi-naval character that these well-found ships created such a fine pride of service among its personnel. We shall speak presently of the other development in shipping which was to proceed collaterally with the Blackwallers, but it may be mentioned here that the latter frequently used to race in the ’sixties against the clippers met on the high seas. Downie mentions that these frigates often were able to hold the clipper ships, especially in hard winds, for though the Blackwallers had high bulwarks and heavy sterns, which made them in comparison look clumsy, yet underwater they had fine lines. Every known device was resorted to in the effort to squeeze out an extra half-knot, and the third mate of the Blackwaller would be sent down with a gang of men to roust the lee cable out of the chain locker and range it along the weather side of the deck. The fourth mate would take another gang to pump fresh water out of the lee tanks into those of the weather tanks that were empty. In light winds the hose would be taken aloft to wet the sails—the old dodge of making the canvas hold the wind better. Nor did they hesitate to race even against such flyers as the crack clippers _Taeping_ and _Fiery Cross_, and in one instance they competed with another sailing ship and beat her home by twenty-four hours; and this after racing for 16,000 miles! Yes, they were sail-carriers in those days. The Mercantile Marine was full of expert seamen. This _Trafalgar_, for instance, carried, besides her commander, five mates, several midshipmen, a full crew, a bo’sun and his two mates, carpenter, sail-maker, fiddler and cooper. The last two would seem strange to a modern apprentice, but the former used to sit on the capstan and fiddle while the hands were heaving up the anchor with an endless “messenger,” and would provide the music for hornpipes danced in the second dog-watch. The cooper was a necessary rating, for casks and barrels were used a good deal, and when not wanted were taken to pieces and reconstructed as required. The midshipmen received their occasional invitations to dine with the captain, as to-day in the naval service. Sundays and Thursdays were the occasions when there was champagne at the captain’s table, and a midshipman thought himself lucky if his turn to be invited occurred on one of these days.