The Shogun's Daughter

My first cruise as a midshipman in the navy of the United States began a short month too late for me to share in the honors of the Mexican War In other words I came in at the foot of the service with all the grades above me fresh stocked with comparatively young and vigorous officers As a consequence the rate of promotion was so slow that the Summer of 1851 found me at the age of twenty four still a middie with my lieutenancy ever receding like a will o the wisp into the future Had I chosen a naval career through necessity I might have continued to endure But to the equal though younger heir of one of the largest plantations in South Carolina the pay of even a post captain would have been of small concern It is therefore hardly necessary to add that I had been lured into the service by the hope of winning fame and glory