Hearts of Oak

I. Poor Uncle Bob II. The Wreck on the Gorton Sands III. "I see it all," He said; "I see it all" IV. Uncle Bob tells Tom's story V. A Mountain Wave comes swelling o'er the Sands...

I. Tom's Baptism of Blood II. How Tom Bure joined the Service III. In the Gunroom Mess--The Great War Game IV. Were there really Tears in Nelson's Eyes? V. The glorious old "Aga...

I. A Gipsy's Warning II. The Fight on Blackmuir Marsh III. "Volunteers" for the Navy--The Burning of the "Highflyer" IV. The Search for the French Fleet--At Last V. The Battle o...

"I wonder what makes Tom so late?" said Uncle Bob to himself, as he opened his eyes and looked around him. "Why," he added, "it is precious nearly three bells in the second dog-...

"Her skipper's mad," cried Bob; "as mad as a March hare. Why it's coming on to blow big guns from the south-east, or soon will be, and if he doesn't trip it and be off, there wo...

"Be good, be honest, serve a friend, Are maxims well enough; Who swabs his brows at other's woe That tar's for me your sort; His vessel right ahead shall go To find a joyful por...

"And you stopped in the tub, as we used to call her, and I went out to join the _Billy Ruffian_ at Jamaica. Now, mate--for mate I will call you, though you're a bold lieutenant...

"When I heard," said Dan Brundell, "that there was a brig ashore on the tail of the Gorton Sands, I had no more notion that it was Bob's _Polly Ann_ than I have o' what the weat...

Our little hero, Tom, was early astir next morning. In fact he was up with the lark. High up, too; for his first act, after sluicing his sleepy face in a bucket of water, and dr...

The men saved from the wreck of the brig on the Gorton sands were dealt with in a very summary way indeed. They were Englishmen all, and were told by Merryweather that if they c...

It is just one hundred years to-day--June 25th, 1892--since Tom started off with his friend Merryweather in the saucy sloop he commanded, on a visit to the home of the man who i...

The broad or lake on the banks of which Dan Brundell's property stood in days of old has diminished considerably in size since then; but even at that time it was not very big, w...

"Avast! nor don't think me a milksop so soft To be taken, for trifles, aback; For they say there's a providence sits up aloft, To look after the life of poor Jack."--DIBDIN.

"D'ye mind me, a sailor should be every inch All as one as a piece of the ship, And with her brave the world without offering to flinch, From the moment the anchor's atrip. Even...

It was a sad day for my hero, young Tom Bure, when Mr. Merryweather resigned command of the sloop, and went on half-pay. When he came to bid good-bye to Dan and his old shipmate...

"Luff, lad, luff," said the skipper to Tom Bure, who was at the wheel. "We'll give them a race for it anyhow. They'll think none the less of us for that."

"Let cannons roar loud, burst their sides let the bombs, Let the winds a dread hurricane rattle; The rough and the pleasant, Jack takes as it comes, And laughs at the storm and...

"Though careless and headstrong if danger should press, And rank'd 'mongst the free list of rovers, Jack melts into tears at a tale of distress, And proves the most constant of...

Paoli, the insurgent leader, a very brave soldier by the way, desired the assistance of the British, and it suited the British to grant his request, for now that Toulon was take...

"Our barque is on the waters deep, our bright blades in our hand, Our birthright is the ocean vast, we scorn the girdled land; And the hollow wind is our music brave, and none c...

This story of mine, lads, is not altogether fiction. Indeed there is very little fiction about it, and none at all in those portions that speak of the brave deeds of our Hearts...

In my last chapter I stated that Nelson, with his broad pennant flying on board the _Minerve_, met with and fought the _Santa Sabina_. I also mentioned that the _Blanche_ was co...

"The flag of Britannia, the flag of the brave, Triumphant it floateth o'er land and o'er wave, All proudly it braveth the battle and blast, And when tattered with shot it is nai...

"I am here," he wrote to a friend, "looking for the Viceroy of Mexico, with three sail of the line, and hope to meet him. Two first-rates and a 74 are with him; but the bigger t...

If Nelson had had but men to contend against, it would have been very different, but in their undertaking it was the forces of Nature he had to struggle against. There is no dou...

Four long years! yes, they did seem very long to Tom Bure, as he shipped on board a trading schooner that was to bear him over the sunlight sea, in bright September weather, to...

She was not at the Hall when Tom first came to Daddy Dan's cottage, but in two week's time both she and her mother arrived. Tom had permitted one long day and night to elapse be...

The sun was setting by the time the carriage reached Blackmuir; going down in a sky of great rolling snow-laden clouds, with here and there a rift of blue between; going down wi...

The "gentleman" who wished to see Commander Merryweather, just as he and his two friends had finished dinner at the "Fountain" next evening, was not a person one would have take...

In an early chapter of this story I mentioned that the great man had once gone to Paris, and had there met an officer who was somewhat of a dandy, and whose name was Ball.

Tom Bure and Raventree, after the burning of their ship, and their wonderful deliverance from what seemed the certainty of death, would, upon their arrival on board the flagship...

From seven till eight o'clock the scene of conflict must have been appalling in the extreme. No wonder that Arabs gathered on the beach, and stood in groups looking on, awestruc...

"Your glorious standard launch again To match another foe, And sweep through the deep, While the stormy winds do blow, While the battle rages loud and long, And the stormy winds...

The fight began about ten o'clock, the thunder of war increasing till twelve, at which time it probably roared its loudest. By one o'clock four of the Danish vessels--block ship...

"I beheld the pomp thick gathered round Through armed ranks--a nation gazing on. Bright glowed the sun, and not a cloud distained Heaven's arch of gold; but all was gloom beneath.

of that night, and the hero is leaving Merton--a home of his in the country. But see, ere he leaves the house, he goes on tiptoe, fearful lest he should wake her, to the bedroom...

the autumn day began to dawn, yet all around the George Inn, Portsmouth, dense crowds have gathered to catch but a glimpse of the naval hero before his embarkation. He had their...

express desire no guns are fired, no colours shown, that the enemy may be kept in ignorance of the arrival of a reinforcement, the loving-kindness and joy shown at his arrival c...

busy thoughts those of home come crowding uppermost, and down he must sit all alone in his cabin to write to his little Horatia. Only a little letter, but how full of love and a...

dreadful to contemplate. But I can see our noble fleet advancing in two columns to crash through the enemy's battle line. And now the flashing guns, and the white wreathing smok...

the dreadful engagement. And, see, Nelson sinks rather than falls, and his faithful Hardy springs to his side. On that very spot his secretary, Scott, was killed some time befor...

heat, and against the bulkheads the wounded, the dying, and the dead. The surgeons half naked, with blood-sprinked faces, arms, and garments; the "idlers"--all too busy here. Mo...

The character of Captain Max Colmore is not one of those which commands any very great amount of respect, and I should willingly have left it out of my story. But then if we hav...