eight o'clock
Equally as certainly , however , I must allow that the teaching I gained , watch and watch about , in that big schoolroom astern on the lower deck turned out of considerable assistance to me , not only in my subsequent experience afloat in the navy , especially when serving abroad , but ashore too ; for I there learnt the art of learning things , which is the great secret of education to man or boy , though we youngsters do not realise this when we have the chance of getting hold of it . But it was the seamanship instruction that I went in for with the greatest zest ; and , from knotting and splicing up to compass , and helm , and signalling , I do n't think I fell far short of what Captain Mordaunt said when he persuaded father to let me go to sea and join the training - ship -- that I was a born sailor and a regular ` chip of the old block . ' In connection with this , I may state , that of all the practical lessons I learnt in sailoring on board the _ Saint Vincent _ , the going aloft for sail-drill used to please me best . Every morning at eight o'clock we used to go up the rigging and practise loosing and furling the sails , crossing the royal-yards , and making all things snug before coming down on deck to our usual divisional instruction . On Mondays the whole forenoon was devoted to these evolutions , the sails being set one after the other , topsails , topgallants , royals , and even stu ` nsails sometimes , besides the courses and headsails below ; until , often , the whole ship was piled with canvas as if she were fetching down Channel on a cruise , her spars quivering with the strain frequently , when we had the wind abeam from the southward and east ` ard , and every rope as taut as a bar of iron ! We used to work our way from the lower yards to the dignity of the upper by rotation more than through any special smartness and activity ; and I know I was as pleased as Punch when it came to my turn to be an ` upper - yard boy . ' I was never so happy as when aloft ; and many a time up there of a morning have I gazed out to seaward , looking over Southsea beach and the boats clustered in the fairway , that seemed but little dots from the height where I was , to the open stretch of water beyond Spithead and Saint Helens , that seemed to draw my heart to it like a magnet , making me long to leave my present stay at home surroundings and sail away and away on the boundless deep .