Identifier: sailorslifeunder01kepp (find matches)
Title: A sailor's life under four sovereigns
Year: 1899 (1890s)
Authors: Keppel, Henry, Sir, 1809-1904
Subjects: Great Britain. Royal Navy
Publisher: London : Macmillan and co., limited New York, The Macmillan company
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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oreleaving England. The captains were not hard onme ; the passing certificates were made out in tripli-cate to be sent to the Admiralty. The captainskindly signed an extra one, which I sent to myfather. From this day I ceased to be a midshipman,and became a mate in His Majestys Navy. There was a huge tortoise in the grounds ofGovernment House at Port Louis. It could movewith six men on its back, three a side, standing onedge of its shell, holding hands across. On inquiryfrom Mr. Robinson, a late resident and relative ofmine, I found there had been two of these animalsintroduced into the island by the French, and theywere on the list of Ordnance stores taken over bythe British on the evacuation. The entry was certi-fied by Commissary-General Jago in 1810. Theywere allowed to stroll about, but were seldom metor even seen together. This big one was generallyto be found in the R.A. mess compound. Iunderstand that in 1861 a young officer fired arevolver at it. The bullet made a dent on the
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chap, v Mauritius 81 shell, but did not penetrate. The mark was still 1828.visible in 1884. The tortoise often disappeared, atone time for a whole month, but returned of its ownaccord. It was easily driven by tapping on the backand hind-legs with a small rattan. In the garrison were the 29th Regiment, com-manded by a Waterloo hero, Lieutenant - ColonelSimpson ; the 99th, known amongst the Frenchpopulation as the Neuf Neuf, Lieutenant-ColonelHardinge ; and 82nd, Lieutenant-Colonel Balfour,besides Engineers and Artillery. Society was charming. In addition to our garri-son ladies, the French, then as now, joined in allfestivities. I had a chum, Phillpotts, in the 29th,the same height as myself, and the same lady kindlypatronised us both ; but hoping to cut my friendout, I thought to improve myself by taking lessons indancing. The next day, when I arrived at MonsieurLongvilles, the French artist, I found Phillpottsalready there ! Champion, 18, arrived from India in command of July 28.my m

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