g done to the _Wasp_, or in
hunting up a crew for her. And as I attached very considerable
importance to the quality of my crew, and was quite determined to have
the very best I could obtain, a large proportion of my time was spent in
hunting for good men. Here it was that I found the services of
Henderson, late quartermaster of the _Europa_, of especial value, for
not only did he enter for the schooner, as he had promised he would when
I ran up against him as I was on my way to pay my first visit to the
_Wasp_, but, being equally as anxious as myself to have the little
vessel well manned, he had persuaded four good men--like himself
formerly of the _Europa_, wounded in our fight with the brigantine and
now convalescent--to join, thus forming at a stroke the nucleus of a
first-rate crew. But he had done a good deal more than this; for in
addition to the four men above referred to there were aboard the
guardship about a dozen others recently discharged from the hospital and
only requiring a few days of pure ocean air to set them on their pins
again, and he had persuaded these also to enter. Even this, however,
did not complete my obligations to the guardship, for there were aboard
her three midshipmen, an assistant surgeon, and a captain's clerk, all
of whom had been separated from their ships from some chance cause, and
I secured them all; the eldest of the midshipmen--named Willoughby--as
master, while the other two, very quiet, respectable lads, named
respectively Dundas and Hinton, I took more for their health's sake than
for any other reason. The assistant surgeon was named Saunders--him I
shipped as surgeon--while Millar, the captain's clerk, came with me as
purser; I obtained a gunner's warrant for Henderson, to his great
delight; and my remaining officers consisted of a fine, smart
boatswain's mate, named Pearce, who came as boatswain, and a carpenter's
mate named Mills, who came as carpenter. In addition to these, I had a
cabin steward, a cook, and a crew of forty-four men and four boys; I
therefore regarded myself as excellently equipped, so far as my crew
were concerned. Unfortunately, the schooner was too small to carry an
armament to which such a fine crew could do full justice, the utmost
that she would carry, with anything like safety, being six long
expounders; and even with the weight of these on her deck she seemed to
be just a trifle more tender than I altogether liked. It was, however,
the best