The recollection of some survivors of the first batch of cadets is entirely favourable to the ship; very great pains were taken with their education, there was little or no bullying, and the food was good and plentiful. Lieutenant George S. Nares,[3] when he joined in January, 1858, was placed specially in charge of the cadets, and remained there for about five years (in _Illustrious_ and _Britannia_), as Captain Harris's senior executive and right-hand man. Before he joined the cadets were in charge of a gunner; of course the actual instructors in practical seamanship were seamen petty officers, the lieutenants superintending, and conducting the examinations in this branch. [3] Now Vice-Admiral Sir George S. Nares, K.C.B., etc. Probably Lieutenant Nares was as good a man as could have been obtained for the post of senior executive. Like his captain, he could combine the _fortiter in re_ with the _suaviter in modo_, and was always liked by the youngsters, in spite of being compelled to come down on them pretty sharply at times. He was a thoroughly practical seaman, and his seamanship book was always considered the most complete and useful work of the kind in existence. He also patented a life-saving kite, for rescuing people from a wreck on a lee shore, which was ingenious, and perhaps deserved more attention than it received. Ideas have altered considerably in regard to discipline since those days; and the arrangement at the time was that the cadets should be placed in charge of ships' corporals for disciplinary purposes. These men were, of course, taken from the ordinary ships' police, and great care was no doubt exercised in their selection; but there are obvious pitfalls in such a system, both for the corporals and the cadets, into which both not infrequently tumbled. A corporal who was apt to be too familiar would suffer from the enmity of some, while with others he would be on terms of undue intimacy; a man who was in the least degree retiring, or afraid to assert his authority when necessary, would speedily find himself fitted with an appropriate nickname, which would be shouted after him from hammocks in some obscure corner of the cockpit. Whether the corporals were open to bribery or not is doubtful; some probably were, and in any case it could not be expected that men of this class would exercise their authority with the strictly judicial mind of an officer of education and experience, especially when dealing with young gentlemen who were their superiors by birth, and would in a few months become so in discipline. However, good or bad, there they were, and there they remained, as an institution, for years, taking a lion's share in the discipline of the establishment, while at the same time some at least were permitted to keep a little store of "tuck" and odds and ends, which they sold to the youngsters at a heavy profit.