urning to the ship shortly
before daylight the next morning considerably battered and the worse for
wear--for they had been engaged in a series of desperate hand-to-hand
fights--but bringing with them sixty-three fine, able-bodied merchant
seamen, who had been in close hiding while awaiting a berth. A few of
these men had already served on board a man-o'-war, and they did not
need very much persuasion to induce them to enter again; when the ball
having once been set rolling, as it were, the rest followed suit in
little batches of twos and threes until by midday the whole of them had
"volunteered," and we had completed our complement.

At daylight, on the third morning after my arrival on board, Blue Peter
was hoisted, the fore-topsail was loosed, and a gun was fired as a
signal that we were about to proceed to sea; and from that moment until
the anchor was lifted all was bustle and confusion--hoisting in and
securing the boats, stowing away stock of all descriptions, and clearing
the ship of women--wives and sweethearts of the crew--and traders who
were anxious to obtain a settlement of accounts. The Captain's gig had
been sent ashore immediately after breakfast; and about ten o'clock she
returned, bringing off Captain Vavassour; the boatswains piped "All
hands up anchor!" and half-an-hour later we were bowling away down the
Solent before a fine easterly breeze.

We arrived in Plymouth Sound the next morning, and found assembled there
about one hundred and twenty sail of merchantmen bound to various ports
on the other side of the Atlantic, in the safe convoy of which to their
destination we were to take part. We also found my old ship _Colossus_,
the frigate _Astarte_, of thirty-six guns, and two 14-gun-brigs--the
_Hebe_ and the _Naiad_--at anchor outside the merchant fleet, being the
remaining ships of the squadron detailed for convoy duty.

On the day following our arrival at Plymouth the wind shifted and blew
hard from the south-west, with almost continuous rain. As these weather
conditions prevailed for eight consecutive days, we remained at anchor,
awaiting a change of wind, since it was useless to take to sea a fleet
of merchantmen, the greater number of which were so deeply laden and
such poor sailers that it would have been impossible for them to make
any progress against a wind that was blowing dead in their teeth.
During this period of inaction some thirty additional sail arrived at
the rendezvous, anxio