"'Old Saumarez asked me which was the narrowest part of the Channel, and
I told him. Then he asked how Silly [_sic_] bore, if I had 75 fathom,
red sand and gravel. I said, 'About N.W.,' and the old man said, 'Well,
yes,--rather West of N.W., is not it so, Sir Richard?' And Sir Richard
did not know what they were talking about, and they pulled out
Mackenzie's Survey," etc., etc., etc.,--more than any man would delve
through at this day, unless he were searching for Paul Jones or Denis
Duval, or some other hero. "What is the mark for going into Spithead?"
"What is the mark for clearing Royal Sovereign Shoals?"--let us hope
they were all well answered. Evidently, in Mr. Heddart's mind, they were
more important than any other detail of that day, but fortunately for
posterity then comes this passage:--
"After me they called up Brooke, and Calthorp, and Clements,--and then
old Wingate, Tom Wingate's father, who had examined them, seemed to get
tired, and turned to Pierson, and said, 'Sir Richard, you ought to take
your turn." And so Sir Richard began, and, as if by accident, called up
Den.
"'Mr. Duval,' said he, 'how do you find the variation of the compass by
the amplitudes or azimuths?'
"Of course any fool knew that. And of course he could not ask all such
questions. So, when he came on _practice_, he said,--
"'Mr. Duval, what is the mark for Stephenson's Shoal?'
"Oh, dear! what fun it was to hear Den answer,--Lyd Church and the ruins
of Lynn Monastery must come in one. The Shoal was about three miles from
Dungeness, and bore S.W. or somewhere from it. The Soundings were red
sand--or white sand or something,--very glib. Then--
"'How would you anchor under Dungeness, Mr. Duval?'
"And Duval was not too glib, but very certain. He would bring it to bear
S.W. by W., or, perhaps, W.S.W.; he would keep the Hope open of Dover,
and he would try to have twelve fathoms water.
"'Well, Mr. Duval, how does Dungeness bear from Beachy Head?'--and so
on, and so on.
"And Den was very good and modest, but quite correct all the same, and
as true to the point as Cocker and Gunter together. Oh, dear! I hope the
post-captains did not know that Sir Richard was Den's uncle, and that
Den had sailed in and out of Winchelsea harbour, in sight of Beachy Head
and Dungeness, ever since the day after he was born!
"But he made no secret of it when we passed-mids dined at the Anchor.
"A jolley time we had! I slept there."
With these words, Denis Duval vanishes from the Diary.
Of course, as soon as we had begged Ingham's pardon, we turned back to
find the battle with the Bon Homme Richard. Little enough was there. The
entry reads thus,--this time rather more in log-book shape.