(1) Her officers, bluejackets , and Scientifics were finally at sea, yet from the perspective of geology they had not yet even left the continents.(2) The only question is if it will be a hard charging khaki, or if we'll have to wait for one of our bluejackets to grow into the role.(3) The bluejackets , though, had their own name for it - ‘animal fluid’ - reflecting their cynicism at the newfound love affair that the middle classes were enjoying with the new Victorian religion, science.(4) And that, too, was a symptom of a continuing source of tension: The officers were eating as if they were still in harbor while the bluejackets were dining only on salt meat and biscuit.(5) Lunch for the bluejackets was a basic affair, salt pork and pea soup.(6) Fresh news, especially when fuelled by unregulated shore-based alcohol, was apt to re-ignite fistfights among bluejackets with differing opinions.(7) Indeed all around them was evidence of the new South African diamond rush and more than one of the bluejackets , including the expedition's photographer, deserted, tempted by the lure of an easy fortune.(8) Below decks, however, the bluejackets agreed that they preferred the more earthy charms of Melbourne.(9) And although the bluejackets might complain at the extra work involved in the daily swabbing of the decks, they, too, recognized its importance and so they did it well.
