There are lights in the sailor’s chequered life. Seamen are, Shakespeare tells us, “but men”—and, if we are to believe Dibdin, grog is a decided element in their happier hours. “Grog” is now a generic term; but it was not always. One Admiral Vernon—who persisted in wearing a grogram(41) tunic so much that he was known among his subordinates as “Old Grog”—earned immortality of a disagreeable nature by watering the rum-ration of the navy to its present standard. At 11.30 a.m., on all ships of the Royal Navy nowadays, half a gill of watered rum—two parts of water to one of the stronger drink—is served out to each of the crew, unless they have forfeited it by some act of insubordination. The officers, including the petty officers, draw half a gill of pure rum; the former put it into the general mess, and many never taste it. “Six-water” grog is a mild form of punishment. “Splicing the main-brace” infers extra grog served out for extraordinary service. Formerly, and, indeed, as late as forty odd years ago, the daily ration was a full gill; but, as sailors traded and bartered their drinks among themselves, it would happen once in awhile that one would get too much “on board.” It has happened occasionally in consequence that a seaman has tumbled overboard, or fallen from the yards or rigging, and has met an inglorious death. Boys are not allowed grog in the Royal Navy, and there is no absolute rule among merchant-vessels. In the American navy there is a coin allowance in lieu of rum, and every nation has its own peculiarities in this matter. In the French navy, wine, very _ordinaire_, and a little brandy is issued. There are shadows, too, in the sailor’s life—as a rule, he brings them on himself, but by no means always. If sailors are “but men,” officers rank in the same category, and occasionally act like brutes. So much has been written on the subject of the naval “cat”—a punishment once dealt out for most trifling offences, and not abolished yet, that the writer has some diffidence in approaching the subject. A volume might be written on the theme; let the testimony of Dr. Stables,(42) a surgeon of the Royal Navy, suffice. It shall be told in his own words:—