Perhaps also the necessarily solitary position of a commander of a man-of-war, his long, lonely hours, the utter change from the jovial life he led previous to being afloat, to say nothing of his liver getting occasionally out of order, may all tend to make him irritable and despotic.
I have seen a captain order his steward to be flogged, almost to death, because his pea-soup was not hot.

I have seen an officer from twenty to twenty-five years of age made to stand between two guns with a sentry over him for hours, because he had neglected to see and salute the tyrant who had come on deck in the dark.

And as a proof, though it seems scarcely credible, of what such men can do when unchecked by fear of consequences, I will cite the following:-- On one occasion the captain of whom I have been writing invited a friend to breakfast with him, and there being, I suppose, a slight monotony in the conversation, he asked his guest whether he would like, by way of diversion, to see a man flogged.

The amusement was accepted, and a man _was_ flogged.
It was about the time I write of that the tyranny practised on board Her Majesty's ships was slowly but surely dawning upon the public, and a general outcry against injustice began.
This was shown in a very significant manner by the following fact:-- A post-captain of high rank and powerful connections dared, in contradiction to naval law, to flog a midshipman.

This young officer's father, happening to be a somewhat influential man, made a stir about the affair.