noon
He said that he would take you as an apprentice without fees , and that at any time , should anything better turn up , or you see your way to getting into a firm with a larger fleet and better chance of advancement , he would cancel your indentures . No kinder offer could be made , and if you are willing I will write this evening to accept the offer , and tell him that I will go up with you in the hoy directly I hear from him that you are wanted . '' `` Thank you very much , father ; I am awfully glad that it can be managed without expense , though I should be quite willing to go before the mast and work my way up . '' `` I know you would , Steve , but it is much better to start fair , for ship-owners prefer to take a young mate who has regularly served as an apprentice than a man who has only been trained before the mast ; for although the latter may have picked up enough to scrape through his examination , he is rarely a good navigator , and works out his reckoning by rule of thumb , which is all very well as long as the weather is fine and he can get his observation at noon , but breaks down directly it comes to having to depend upon a glimpse of the moon through the clouds , or the chance of getting a star . '' Lieutenant Embleton had been a dashing and gallant officer , but his career in the service had been ruined by the fact that he had served under Lord Cochrane , both in the _ Pallas _ , the _ Impérieuse _ , and the _ Speedy _ . The latter was a little sloop mounting fourteen four-pounder guns , in which not only did Lord Cochrane capture many gun-boats and merchantmen , but on the 6th of May , 1801 , he took the _ Gamo _ , a Spanish frigate , carrying six times as many men as the _ Speedy _ and seven times her weight of shot , an exploit that so aroused the jealousy of Earl St. Vincent that for a long time Lord Cochrane could not obtain employment . Three years later , when Lord Melville succeeded St. Vincent as first lord of the admiralty , Lord Cochrane was appointed to the _ Pallas _ , in which he again did excellent service ; and distinguished himself still more when , in the _ Impérieuse _ , he attacked the whole French fleet in the Basque Roads , driving three or four of their battle-ships ashore , capturing three others , and compelling the rest to take to flight .