Note 632 — Chapter XXXIX · THE ARMY AND NAVY.

The pay was not so bad, £4 a month;[632] but the service was unpopular—the officers were rough and foul-mouthed, whose creed was, 'I hate the French, love a handsome Woman and a Bowl of Punch'[633]—so the men deserted whenever they could. It was no use issuing proclamations offering a reward of twenty shillings for every such deserter delivered up on board ship; they kept their pay back, and tried to allure them from the joys of freedom and the shore by bidding them repair on board their ships to receive their pay due six months back, still keeping six months in hand. Jack was proof against such blandishments: so the authorities tried another plan—the magnanimous—and promised to forgive the deserters, if only they would come back; anything to get the dear fellows on board, all would be forgotten and forgiven, and joy and peace should reign henceforth. 'All such Seamen that are made run, for not repairing to their Duty, shall have their R's taken off, and be continued in Wages from the times they have been absent, provided they do forthwith repair on board.' As this is the only instance I can meet with of this bait being held out, one rather suspects Jack was not quite such a fool as they imagined him, and, once free, had no wish to get into the trap again.