ABSTRACT
The sea captain, pacing his bridge and sailing to the defence of the Pax Britannica, was, as has already been noted, one of the folk myths of Empire. On board ship the same rigid distinctions between officers, NCOs and other ranks as obtained in the army is to be observed, the same feeling of understatement and self-discipline. The Naval tradition one of the key folk myths of Empire was the sea captain gazing through his binoculars from the bridge of his ship. It is a recurrent image in the cinema of Empire. The naval tradition is of course, a historical one and the cinema has depicted it in action in the days of the sailing ship. Sir Francis Drake, sturdily played by Rod Taylor, is one of the central characters of Rudolph Mate's stylish swashbuckler Seven Seas to.
