complete their stores
and sail without delay for the Gulf of Mexico. Two days afterwards we
stood out to sea. The squadron consisted of a ship of ninety-eight guns,
four seventy-fours, and a frigate. The commander-in-chief had his flag on
board the former. After touching at the Grand Caymans for turtle, we
reached the Bay of Mexico, where, and off the Havannah, we cruised for
some weeks without taking anything. One night, having the middle watch and
looking over the lee gangway, I observed some black spots on the water.
The moon, which was in her third quarter, was sometimes hidden by the dark
scud, for it was blowing fresh, and when she shone in full splendour the
spots appeared stationary. I lost no time in pointing this out to the
lieutenant of the watch, who agreed with me that they must be the negro
heads of some coral reef. We were with the squadron running directly on
them. We immediately fired a gun and hauled our wind, and then fired a
second to warn the ships astern of us of the danger. When we hauled off we
could not clear them, and it was more than an hour before we got an
offing. They were the "Double-headed shot" keys. Our signal was made for
the captain and master to repair on board the admiral. The latter, we
understood, was well hauled over the coals, and he came on board looking
like a boy who had been whipped. He thought it was "moral impossible" (for
that was always his favourite way of speaking when he thought he had
anything of importance to relate) that the admiral should find fault with
him as a navigator; he could not account for counter currents and
undertows, and he knew how to navigate a ship as well as any man in the
fleet.

The inhabitants of the cockpit, as usual, held a court of inquiry on his
conduct, when they declared on summing up what they had remarked of his
character, that he was too conceited to be clever, that he was a very
indifferent navigator, and they wondered who the devil gave him his
warrant as master, for they would not trust him to navigate a barge in the
New River. After cruising till the mids declared they were _ennuied_ of
seeing the Havannah, the dry Tortugas, Cape Antonio, and the low land near
Mississippi so often, and that they had worn their chemises twice over and
had only soiled sheets for table-cloths; that they were obliged to get one
of the marines to pipe-clay their stockings and the collar of their shirts
when they were asked to dine in the cabin; that it w