ir Hurricane Humbug, stood on the platform looking at
us (I was afterwards told), and was heard to exclaim, "Damn his eyes"
(meaning our captain), "there he goes at last! I was afraid that that
fellow would have grounded on his beef bones before we should have got
him out!"

"The more haste the less speed," is oftener true in naval affairs than
in any other situation of life. With us it had nearly proved fatal to
the ship. Had we met with an enemy, we must either have disgraced the
flag by running away, or been taken. No sooner clear of the Needles
than night came on, and with it a heavy gale of wind at
north-north-west. The officers and men were at work till four in the
morning, securing the boats, booms, and anchors, clearing the decks of
provisions, and setting up the lower rigging, which, by the labour of
the ship, had begun to stretch to an alarming degree; by great exertion
this was accomplished, and the guns secured before the gale had
increased to a hurricane.

About nine the next morning, a poor marine, a recruit from Portsmouth,
unfortunately fell overboard; and though many brave fellows instantly
jumped into one of the quarter-boats, and begged to be lowered down to
save him, the captain, who was a cool calculator, thought the chance of
losing seven men was greater than that of saving one, so the poor fellow
was left to his fate. The ship, it is true, was hove-to; but she
drifted to leeward much faster than the unfortunate man could swim,
though he was one of the best swimmers I ever beheld.

It was heart-breaking to see the manly but ineffectual exertions made by
this gallant youth to regain the ship; but all his powers only served to
prolong his misery. We saw him nearly a mile to windward, at one moment
riding on the top of the mountainous wave, at the next, sinking into the
deep valley between, till at last we saw him no more! His sad fate was
long deplored in the ship. I thought at the time that the captain was
cruel in not sending a boat for him; but I am now convinced, from
experience, that he submitted only to hard necessity, and chose the
lesser evil of the two.

The fate of this young man was a serious warning to me. I had become
from habit so extremely active, and so fond of displaying my
newly-acquired gymnastics, called by the sailors "sky-larking," that my
speedy exit was often prognosticated by the old quarter-masters, and
even by the officers. It was clearly understood that I wa