Chapter 1
Section 2 of Harper's Young People, Volume 1, Issue 1, November 4, 1879. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recorded by Julie Ellen Arden. Harper's Young People, Volume 1, Issue 1, November 4, 1879
Section 2 I can swim, sir. During a terrible naval battle between the English and the Dutch, the English flagship, commanded by Admiral Narborough, was drawn into the thickest of the fight.
Two masts were soon shot away, and the main mast fell with a fearful crash upon the deck. Admiral Narborough saw that all was lost, unless he could bring up his ships from the right. Hastily scrawling an order, he called for volunteers to swim across the boiling water under the hail of shot and shell. A dozen sailors at once offered their services,
and among them a cabin boy. Why, said the Admiral, what can you do, my fearless lad? I can swim, sir, the boy replied. If I be shot, I can be easier spared than anyone else. Narborough hesitated. His men were few and his position desperate.
The boy plunged into the sea amid the cheers of the sailors and was soon lost to sight. The battle raged fiercer, and as the time went on, defeat seemed inevitable. But, just as hope was fading, a thundering cannonade was heard from the right, and the reserves were seen bearing down upon the enemy. By sunset, the Dutch fleet was scattered far and wide,
and the cabin boy, the hero of the hour, was called in to receive the honour due to him. His bearing so won the heart of the old admiral that he exclaimed, I shall live to see you have a flagship of your own. The prediction was fulfilled when the cabin boy, having become Admiral Cloudsley Shovel, was knighted by the king. End of section two.
