1 884-]
��Captain George Hamilton Perkins, U.S.N.
��205
��left, now well, and with taut lock-string in hand in readiness to pull the moment the object is on, and on the alert to jump clear of the recoil. The soldier handles his piece with greater delibera- tion, sights it leisurely on its immovable platform, and, if mounted en barbette^ retires behind a traverse before firing. Graduating in June, 1856, the now full-fledged Midshipman Perkins could look back upon his five years' proba- tionary experience with many pleasant recollections, though doubtless thanking his stars that his pupilage was over.
During his time there had been two superintendents at the academy. The first was Captain C. K. Stribling, a fine seaman of the old school, of rigid Presbyterian stock, stern, grim, and precise, with curt manners, sharp and incisive voice that seemed to know no softening, and whose methods of duty and conception of discipline smacked of the " true blue " ideal of the Cove- nanters of old in their enforcement of . obedience and conservation of morals. The second was Captain L. M. Golds- borough, a man of stalwart height and proportions and a presence that en- nobled command ; learned and accom- plished, yet gruff and overwhelming in speech and brusque and impatient in manner, but possessing, withal, a kindly nature, and a keen sense of humor that took in a joke eujoyably, however practical ; and a sympathetic discrimina- tion that often led him to condone moral offences at which some of the straight-laced professors stood aghast. His responses at church-service re- sounded like the growl of a bear, and when reprimanding the assembled mid- shipmen, drawn up in battalion, for some grave breach of discipHne, he would stride up and down the line with the tread of an elephant, and expound
��the Articles of War in stentorian tones that equaled the roar of a bull ! But if, perchance, in the awesome precincts of his office, he afterwards got hold of a piece of doggerel some witty mid- shipman had written descriptive of such a scene, none would enjoy it more than he !
After an enjoyment of a three months' leave of absence at home. Midshipman Perkins w^as ordered to join the sloop- of-war Cyane, Captain Robb. That ship was one of the home squadron, and in November, 1856, sailed for Aspinwall, to give protection to our citizens, mails, and freight, in the transit across the Isthmus of Panama to California, back and forth. At that period safe and rapid transit in that region of riots and revolution was much more important than now, — the Pacific Railroad existing only in the brains of a few sagacious men, — and the maintenance of the thoroughfare across the pestilential isthmus was a national necessity. For years our naval force on either side had had frequent occasion to land expeditions to protect the hfe and property of our citizens, and a frightful massacre of passengers had but lately occurred at the hands of a mongrel mob at Panama. The situa- tion was critical, and for a time it looked as though the United States would be obliged to seize and hold that part of Colombian territory. But time wore on without outbreak on the part of the fiery freemen of that so- called republic, the continued presence of ships, both at Panama and Aspinwall, doubtless convincing them of the folly of further attempts to molest the hated Yankees.
Meanwhile the notorious Walker had been making a filibustering raid in Central America, which ended in failure,
�� �
