He will, I doubt not, be found as willing as he is brave; and I trust that you will put him in the way of learning his business as a sailor.

It is his first voyage.

He comes on board a green hand, but I doubt not that, ere the voyage be finished, he will have become a smart young sailor." "I will put him through," John Holyoake, sailing master of the ship, replied; for in those days the sailing master was the navigator of the ship, and the captain was as often as not a soldier, who knew nothing whatever about seamanship.

The one sailed the ship, the other fought it; and the admirals were, in those days, more frequently known as generals, and held that position on shore.
As Ned looked round the deck, he thought that he had never seen a finer set of sailors.

All were picked men, hardy and experienced, and for the most part young.