Men with whom the loyal discharge of duty is not the first aim, want only temptation and opportunity in order to disgrace themselves in the very presence of the enemy. The charge of cowardice was frequently made at this time. It was indeed one of the regular taunts brought against bad commanders. We may believe that in a sense it was often unjust. Brutal men are not seldom endowed with animal courage, and do not always fail from mere fear. Indeed that weakness would hardly be common among those who, by their own choice, followed a dangerous profession. What, however, we might expect to discover among officers, who agreed with Wilmot in the resolution to look after their own business, and to make themselves easy for life, was a want of the sense of honour which feels a stain like a wound. They would easily be guilty of avoiding battle when no profit was to be expected, not out of pusillanimous tenderness for their personal safety, but because to their base minds there was no advantage to be secured by running risks. If by any chance the cupidity which restrained them from obeying honour and duty was stirred to active malignity by hatred of a comrade or of a superior, if, moreover, they were far away from home and might hope, even foolishly, to escape punishment, such persons would be capable of sinking to well-nigh any excess of baseness. By keeping these conditions in mind, we can understand that most shameful passage in the history of the Royal Navy, the betrayal of Benbow by his captains in August 1702.