Medical Life in the Navy Part 8

service on full pay, is not a great temptation certainly. To be sure the expenses of living are small, two s.h.i.+llings a day being all that is paid for messing; this of course not including the wine-bill, the size of which will depend on the "drouthiness" of the officer who contracts it. Government provides all mess-traps, except silver forks and spoons.

Then there is uniform to keep up, and sh.o.r.e-going clothes to be paid for, and occasionally a s.h.i.+lling or two for boat-hire. However, with a moderate wine-bill, the a.s.sistant-surgeon may save about four s.h.i.+llings or more a day.

Promotion to the rank of surgeon, unless to some fortunate individuals, comes but slowly; it may, however, be reckoned on after from eight to ten years. A few gentlemen out of each "batch" who "pa.s.s" into the service, and who have distinguished themselves at the examination, are promoted sooner.

It seems to be the policy of the present Director-General to deal as fairly as possible with every a.s.sistant-surgeon, after a certain routine. On first joining he is sent for a short spell--too short, indeed--to a hospital. He is then appointed to a sea-going s.h.i.+p for a commission--say three years--on a foreign station. On coming home he is granted a few months' leave on full pay, and is afterwards appointed to a harbour-s.h.i.+p for about six months. By the end of this time he is supposed to have fairly recruited from the fatigues of his commission abroad; he is accordingly sent out again to some other foreign station for three or four years. On again returning to his native land, he might be justified in hoping for a pet appointment, say to a hospital, the marines, a harbour-s.h.i.+p, or, failing these, to the Channel fleet.

On being promoted he is sent off abroad again, and so on; and thus he spends his useful life, and serves his Queen and country, and earns his pay, and generally spends that likewise.

Pensions are granted to the widows of a.s.sistant-surgeons--from forty to seventy pounds a year, according to circ.u.mstances; and if he leaves no widow, a dependent mother, or even sister, may obtain the pension. But I fear I must give, to a.s.sistant-surgeons about to many, Punch's advice, and say most emphatically, "Don't;" unless, indeed, the dear creature has money, and is able to purchase a practice for her darling doctor.

With a little increase of pay ungrudgingly given, shorter commissions abroad, and less of the "bite and buffet" about favours granted, the navy would be a very good service for the medical officer.

However, as it is, to a man who has neither wife nor riches, it is, I dare say, as good a way of spending life as any other; and I do think that there are but few old surgeons who, on looking back to the life they have led in the navy, would not say of that service,--"With all thy faults I love thee still."

The End.