CHAPTER VIII.
THE QUEEN'S YACHT.
I returned from the Cape to England.

On arriving there I was appointed to the Queen's yacht, as a reward for what their lordships at the Admiralty were good enough to designate my active and zealous services while employed in suppression of the slave trade.
To be appointed to Her Majesty's yacht was in those days considered a very great distinction.

Even now the Queen invariably chooses officers who have seen what is called 'service.' Such an appointment, apart from the honour of being so near Her Majesty, always tends to rapid promotion.
The Queen at the time I write of was very fond of cruising in her yacht, paying visits to foreign potentates, &c.

Her Majesty had been then five years married, with a young family springing up around her, and her beloved husband the Prince Consort always with her, participating in all her pleasures; so we, the officers of the Royal yacht, had a rare time of it, were made a lot of wherever we went, and thought ourselves very great men indeed.

Amongst other trips, we conveyed the Royal family up the Rhine, where Her Majesty visited the King of Prussia at Stolzenfels.
Afterwards we went to the Chateau d'Eu, where Her Majesty was received by King Louis Philippe and the Reine Amelie.
I shall never forget the condescending kindness of Her Majesty and Prince Albert to all on board the Royal yacht.