re, and it speaks volumes for the devotion, skill,
and bravery of the gallant officers of the fleet that they so
magnificently upheld the glory and honour of the flag in every quarter
of the globe in spite of the shortcomings of the Admiralty Board.

As an instance of this general mismanagement of naval affairs, Marryat,
who had been sent to join the _Imperieuse_ frigate as a young middy,
thus writes in his private log--

"The _Imperieuse_ sailed; the admiral of the port was one who _would_ be
obeyed, but _would not_ listen always to reason or common-sense. The
signal for sailing was enforced by gun after gun; the anchor was hove
up, and, with all her stores on deck, her guns not even mounted, in a
state of confusion unparalleled from her being obliged to hoist in
faster than it was possible she could stow away, she was driven out of
harbour to encounter a heavy gale. A few hours more would have enabled
her to proceed to sea with security, but they were denied; the
consequences were appalling, and might have been fatal.

"In the general confusion, some iron too near the binnacles had
attracted the needle of the compasses; the ship was steered out of her
course. At midnight, in a heavy gale at the close of the month of
November, so dark that you could not distinguish any object, however
close, the _Imperieuse_ dashed upon the rocks between Ushant and the
Main. The cry of terror which ran through the lower deck; the grating of
the keel as she was forced in; the violence of the shocks which
convulsed the frame of the vessel; the hurrying up of the ship's company
without their clothes; and then the enormous waves which again bore her
up and carried her clean over the reef, will never be effaced from my
memory.

"Our escape was miraculous. With the exception of her false keel having
been torn off, the ship had suffered little injury; but she had beat
over a reef, and was riding by her anchors, surrounded by rocks, some of
them as high out of water as her lower-yards, and close to her. How
nearly were the lives of a fine ship's company, and of Lord Cochrane and
his officers, sacrificed in this instance to the despotism of an admiral
who _would_ be obeyed!

"The cruises of the _Imperieuse_ were periods of continual excitement,
from the hour in which she hove up her anchor till she dropped it again
in port; the day that passed without a shot being fired in anger was
with us a blank day; the boats were hardly secured on the