[Footnote 3: It may be said in passing that America at that period,
and for some years later, supplied Great Britain and other nations
with the finest and fastest ships afloat, large and small. The
Americans have always had a reputation of doing things on a large
scale. Unmistakably their vessels were bad to beat. Their crews were
well paid and well fed. They had the best cooks and stewards in the
world; but the inadequacy of their manning, and the cruel treatment of
the poor wretches who composed the crew, was a national disgrace. An
American vessel with a mediocre crew aboard was nothing short of a
hell afloat, and even with an average lot of men it was little better,
unless they had the courage and the capacity to straighten the
officers out, which was sometimes done with salutary effect.]