p. 59

41

"BONNETS."-[[Mr. C. B. Low]] writes to us with
reference to our notice of [[Mr. Lindsay]]'s "History of
Merchant Shipping":-"In nautical phraseology the
'bonnet' is an additional part laced to the foot of
the jib, or other fore-and-aft sail, in small vessels in
moderate weather to gather more wind, the unbonnetted
sail being for stormy weather. The bonnets referred to in
[[Mr. Lindsay]]'s work were not the studding sails, which were
unknown in [[John]]'s reign, but the higher sails, such as top-
gallant sails or royals, and the requirement to 'strike or
veil' denoted that these sails were to be lowered or the
sheets 'clewed up.' Indeed, this custom of ships, no
matter from what country they hailed, of saluting a British
man-of-war on the high seas was not confined to merchant-
men alone, for it is an historical fact that our great naval
war with [[Holland]] in 1652, in which [[Van Tromp]] and [[De
Ruyter]] struggled for the mastery of the [[Channel]] with
[[Blake]] and [[Monk]], was caused by an English frigate firing
upon a Dutch man-of-war for neglecting to salute the
British flag by striking or hauling down her colours- a
compliment which our Navy had claimed since Con-
quest. On the conclusion of peace, after [[Monk]]'s decisive
defeat of [[Van Tromp]] on the 31st of May, 1653, one of the
articles of the treaty expressly recognized the obligation to
salute the British flag in the [[Channel]]. Even to the present
day this demand, though no longer enforced from foreign
nations, is conceded as an act of courtesy by all British
merchantmen when passing one of Her Majesty's ships on
the high seas. Sometimes the salute is rendered by
'dipping' the ensign, and, when especial deference is
sought to be shown, by 'letting fly' the top-gallant sheets,
or lowering the sail on the cap." [[Times]] Dec. 1st, 1874

Shortly after [[Cape Lagullus]] was reported in sight but to
me it had no other appearance but a bank of clouds, and
in the night we passed the [[Cape of Good Hope]] with a
fair wind direct for [[St. Helena]] and arrived at that
celebrated rock the 15th of March 1831, and anchored in
the Bay opposite the pretty little town of [[St. James]].

Next day I got to be one in a boat that was going ashore
and had time for a ramble round the town, and up the long
winding dusty road leading to [[Bonaparte]]'s tomb, having a
great wish to see it, I found only a plain marble slab
and contrary to what we see in [[England]] on drawings
of the burial place of [[Bonaparte]], not a name or letter
upon it. Iron palisades were round the tomb and the slab
was raised a few inches from the ground, a large space
was enclosed with wooden railings, upon which I sat and rested
myself and had a long talk with the sentry stationed there
who told me he came to the Island at the same time as the
inmate of that tomb, and his chief employment whilst
on guard at the tomb was to look after two or three
old weeping willow stumps that stood by the railings, for
every one that came wanted to carry off a piece from
them and they were already in a sadly dilapidated state,
very far removed from that luxuriance of growth and
beauty that they are represented with in pictures at