in the British merchant service to
volunteer in any part of the world for Her Majesty's service. That was
the reason why I got my discharge from the Grenfalls. I remained at
Portuguese Joe's for two weeks, my money being spent in sight-seeing.
Then I went on board Her Majesty's frigate Madagascar and shipped for
five years as an ordinary seaman. My pay was one pound sixteen
shillings--about nine dollars--a month.

I had to retain the name of Mike Murray on account of the discharge from
the last ship. Cloth was furnished to me--flannel and other
articles--for clothing, everything being charged to me excepting hammock
and bag. With the assistance of the other sailors, I soon had clothing
made and became a full-fledged man-of-war's-man. The Madagascar was a
very large frigate with two tiers of guns, and had been stationed at Rio
for a number of years without leaving the harbour. The admiral of the
South Atlantic station made her the flagship of the fleet. Only about
one third of the full complement of men was on board, and, consequently,
we had no drilling at the big guns or making and furling sails. But we
had "holystoning" decks enough to make up for it. At four o'clock every
morning we were routed out of hammocks to wash decks. Sand and a little
water would be sprinkled on the deck, each man would have a piece of
flat sandstone, and then, on our knees, we would do some mighty hard
scouring, hence the name of "holystoning." Afterwards, with the use of
plenty of water, the sand and dirt would be washed off. Then, with
swabs, the deck would be dried and afterwards swept with brooms. By that
time it would be seven o'clock, and then we had breakfast.

Jimmy came on board and shipped a few days after myself. We both
belonged to the same mess. He had a picnic, as I gave him my share of
grog to drink. Each mess was composed of fourteen men, each man in turn
being cook of the mess for one day. His work was to set the table, draw
rations, and bring the food from the galley. At twelve-thirty he would
take a bucket and get the grog. The grog was one half gill of Jamaica
rum and three half gills of water, mixed, making one half pint. Each
mess had a measure holding a little less than that quantity. The cook
would give each man his allowance, and the difference in the measures
after fourteen men had been served would be considerable; that would be
the cook's perquisite. Orders had been given to refit the Madagascar
with entirely new