From Sail To Steam

When I Was A Boy, Some Years Before I Obtained My Appointment In The Navy, I Spent Many Of Those Happy Hours That Only Childhood Knows Poring Over The Back Numbers Of A British Service Periodical, Which Began Its Career In 1828, With The Title Colburns United Service Magazine; Under Which Name, Save And Except The Colburn, It Still Survives. Besides Weightier Matters, Its Early Issues Abounded In Reminiscences By Naval Officers, Then Yet In The Prime Of Life, Who Had Served Through The Great Napoleonic Wars. More Delightful Still, It Had Numerous Nautical Stories, Based Probably On Facts, Serials Under Such Entrancing Titles As Leaves From My Log Book, By Flexible Grommet, Passed Midshipman; A Pen-name, The Nautical Felicity Of Which Will Be Best Appreciated By One Who Has Had The Misfortune To Handle A Grommet Which Was Not Flexible.