There may be men, individually craven, who, united, may display even temerity.

Yet it would be false to deny that, in some in-stances, the lowest privates have acquitted themselves with even more gallantry than their commodores.

True heroism is not in the hand, but in the heart and the head.
But are there incompetent officers in the gallant American navy?
For an American, the question is of no grateful cast.

White Jacket must again evade it, by referring to an historical fact in the history of a kindred marine, which, from its long standing and magnitude, furnishes many more examples of all kinds than our own.

And this is the only reason why it is ever referred to in this narrative.