ship Unanimity an unfortunate pistol shot was
fired in the morning. A captain of the life-guards, Count von der Lippe,
offended one of his subordinates, Lieutenant Kleinschmidt, because he,
though accidentally, had caused his dog to give a cry of pain, and with
coarse words demanded an immediate pistol duel without witnesses. The
lieutenant gave his opponent a mortal wound. The one was descended from
a sovereign house, the other of humble civil origin, yet according to
the ancient chivalrous views, which at all times prevail in the military
profession, they were equals. The court-martial, also in consequence
thereof, acquitted the lieutenant. This is the proceeding followed in
accordance with all proper army regulations: the highest officer next to
the count takes the lieutenant's sword, places a sentinel over him, made
a request, by means of a speaking-trumpet, of the commodore, whose ship
fortunately was quite near, for a clever English surgeon (as the Hessian
Army generally had but few well qualified army surgeons) and then takes
a boat to the ship Elizabeth to make a report to the Lieutenant-General.
Immediately a court-martial is ordered, Lieutenant Kleinschmidt, under
arrest, is taken to the ship of the staff of the regiment, and the
staff-surgeon-major and the chief staff-chaplain were sent to the count.
The former could do nothing except to leave the dying man to the
services of the latter. In prayer with the chaplain, during which time a
religious service was being held on deck, the count departed this life.
Thereupon the adjutants of the general took an inventory of the effects
of the deceased, an autopsy was held to determine the cause of death,
then, dressed in his military suit, placed into a hammock weighted down
with stone, and sewed in white canvas, without any further formality,
his body was consigned to the sea.

Dense fogs had fallen; in order to keep the ships together frequent
shots were fired from the commodore's ship; the danger of knocking
against one another was unavoidable. The ships, Happy Jeanette and
Henrietta, because of the carelessness on the part of the former, ran
against each other at a time when the winds were strong and the sails
were set full, so that the latter very nearly capsized, and,
hard-pressed by the former, could not again right itself. On all faces
there was the picture of death; and panic arose. The soldiers of the
regiment von Ditfurth, driven to despair, endeavored to le