Thus it befel that Charles Jenkin, coming too late for the epic of
the French wars, played a small part in the dreary and disgraceful
afterpiece of St. Helena. Life on the guard-ship was onerous and
irksome. The anchor was never lifted, sail never made, the great
guns were silent; none was allowed on shore except on duty; all day
the movements of the imperial captive were signalled to and fro;
all night the boats rowed guard around the accessible portions of
the coast. This prolonged stagnation and petty watchfulness in
what Napoleon himself called that 'unchristian' climate, told
cruelly on the health of the ship's company. In eighteen months,
according to O'Meara, the CONQUEROR had lost one hundred and ten
men and invalided home one hundred and seven, being more than a
third of her complement. It does not seem that our young
midshipman so much as once set eyes on Bonaparte; and yet in other
ways Jenkin was more fortunate than some of his comrades. He drew
in water-colour; not so badly as his father, yet ill enough; and
this art was so rare aboard the CONQUEROR that even his humble
proficiency marked him out and procured him some alleviations.
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