He had studied the "Art of Gunnery," a part of which he understood, but the remainder was above his comprehension: he continued, however, to read it as before, thinking that by constant reading he should understand it at last.

He had gone through the work from the title-page to the finis at least forty times, and had just commenced it over again.

He never came on deck without the gunner's vade mecum in his pocket, with his hand always upon it to refer to it in a moment.
But Mr Tallboys had, as we observed before, a great idea of the importance of a gunner, and, among other qualifications, he considered it absolutely necessary that he should be a navigator.

He had at least ten instances to bring forward of bloody actions, in which the captain and all the commissioned officers had been killed or wounded and the command of the ship had devolved upon the gunner.
"Now, sir," would he say, "if the gunner is no navigator, he is not fit to take charge of his Majesty's ships.

The boatswain and carpenter are merely practical men; but the gunner, sir, is, or ought to be, scientific.