But Jack, he was better than a hundred common mortals; Jack was a whole phalanx, an entire army; Jack was a thousand strong; Jack would have done honour to the Queen of England's drawing-room; Jack must have been a by-blow of some British Admiral of the Blue.

A finer specimen of the island race of Englishmen could not have been picked out of Westminster Abbey of a coronation day.
His whole demeanor was in strong contrast to that of one of the Captains of the fore-top.

This man, though a good seaman, furnished an example of those insufferable Britons, who, while preferring other countries to their own as places of residence; still, overflow with all the pompousness of national and individual vanity combined.

"When I was on board the Audacious"-- for a long time, was almost the invariable exordium to the fore-top Captain's most cursory remarks.

It is often the custom of men-of-war's-men, when they deem anything to be going on wrong aboard ship to refer to _last cruise_ when of course everything was done _ship-shape and Bristol fashion_.