TOUGH YARNS; A SERIES OF NAVAL TALES AND SKETCHES TO PLEASE ALL HANDS, From the Swabs on the Shoulders down to the Swabs in the Head. _BY THE OLD SAILOR_, AUTHOR OF “GREENWICH HOSPITAL,” ETC. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. _PHILADELPHIA_: E. L. CAREY & A. HART. _BALTIMORE_: CAREY, HART & Co. _BOSTON_: WILLIAM D. TICKNOR. 1835. E. G. DORSEY, PRINTER, _12 Library Street_. TO CAPTAIN MARRYATT, R. N. AUTHOR OF ‘_The King’s Own_,’ ‘_Newton Foster_,’ ‘_Peter Simple_,’ _etc._, _etc._ THESE PAGES ARE DEDICATED BY _THE OLD SAILOR_. CONTENTS OF VOL. I. PAGE _Greenwich Hospital_, 9 _Tom Brookes_, 145 _Daddy Davy, the Negro_, 159 PREFACE. Once more I present myself before the Public in a Book; and whatever all hands may think of it, I can assure them it is no joke to keep one’s brains like a winch, continually spinning yarns. However, as my “GREENWICH HOSPITAL” met with a favourable reception, I have been induced to try another launch--and--here I am at the service of my readers. _THE OLD SAILOR._ TOUGH YARNS. GREENWICH HOSPITAL, The grand depository of human fragments,--the snug harbour for _docked_ remnants,--Greenwich Hospital! Who is there that has stood upon that fine terrace, when the calm of evening has shed its influence on the spirit, and nature’s pencil intermingling light and shade has graced the landscape with its various tints, without feeling delighted at the spectacle? No sound is heard to break the stillness of the hour, save when the sea-boy trills his plaintive ditty, studious to grace the turnings of his song, for it was his mother taught it him, and her he strives to imitate. To him the tide rolls on unheeded; he sees not the tall mast, the drooping sail; ah, no! his heart is in the cottage where he knew his first affection, when with a smile of infantile delight he drew his nourishment from that fond bosom lately bedewed with tears at parting.