t deservedly obtained his
promotion and been given a command, while Mr Galway now reigned in his
stead aboard the _Europa_. As second and third lieutenants we had two
new men, namely, Mr William Gadsby and Mr Edward Sutcliffe, both of
whom seemed to have made a fairly favourable impression, on the whole,
although--as was, perhaps, only natural--the occupants of the
midshipmen's berth seemed just a little inclined to regard them askance
as newcomers of whom but little was thus far known. But when, an hour
or so later, I again went up on deck and, through Mr Galway, made the
acquaintance of the new men, I speedily came to the conclusion that
though our new second luff might possibly turn out to be rather a "taut
hand," and perhaps a little inclined to be intolerant of the practical
joking to which midshipmen are so prone, yet, on the whole, we should
not have much cause to regret the arrival of either himself or Mr
Sutcliffe among us, for both of them impressed me as being exceedingly
well-bred men. Whether or not they would turn out to be capable seamen,
however, was a matter which only time and more intimate association
would prove.

As I have already intimated, the frigate had been reported as ready for
sea when I received orders to join her; and so she was, save in one most
important particular, namely, that she was short-handed. For although,
upon our arrival home, all hands had been turned over to the guardship
and placed upon her books while our own ship was in the hands of the
dockyard people, the admiral had drawn upon them pretty freely, in order
to enable other ships to complete their complement and go to sea; so
that when the time came for the _Europa_ to receive back her crew, it
was found that she was nearly fifty men short of her full number. This
was all the more unfortunate, in that we had very little time left us in
which to make up the deficiency; for we were to sail in three days' time
for Plymouth, there to form part of the escort of a large fleet of
merchantmen and transports bound to the West Indies under convoy. But
now it was that our new second and third lieutenants showed their
mettle, for on the very night of my arrival on board they organised two
formidable pressgangs, which they led ashore, one party landing at
Portsmouth and the other at Gosport; and between them they managed to
make a clean sweep of pretty nearly all the crimps' houses within a
radius of four miles of the harbour, ret