as a horrible, hard
case to eat biscuits filled with bargemen and purser's lice; that the
water was full of jenny jumps--all these miseries, concluded they, ought to
be made known to the admiral, and that if he did not order the squadron in
again he ought to be tried by a court of mids and reduced to the humble
rank of a cockpitsman and feed off bargemen for a month.

We had now been out for two months when we bore up for the Gulf of
Florida. In making the Havannah for a departure, we fell in with four
Spanish brigs laden with quicksilver, which we captured. When near Cape
Florida we experienced a white squall which carried away the
foretop-gallant mast and split the foresail. The ninety-eight gun-ship,
which led the squadron, heeled so much over before she could shorten sail
that she appeared to be turning the turtle. At last her foreyard went in
the slings, and her main-topsail in ribbons, and she righted.

When off New Providence the wind was light and the clouds heavy and low,
and in less than half an hour seven waterspouts had formed, two not far
from us on our weather beam, the largest of which was nearing us rather
fast. We got two of the main-deck guns ready, and waited until we could
see its suction. The cloud which drew up and contained the water was in
the shape of a reversed cone with a long point at the bottom of it: this
was something like a corkscrew. We now thought it high time to fire, when
down it came, discharging a sheet of water which must have contained many
tons. The shock it gave the water drove it in breakers to some distance,
and we partook of the motion, as we rolled for at least ten minutes before
the swell subsided. The other waterspout passed some distance astern. In
this gulf some years ago a dreadful catastrophe occurred to a West
Indiaman homeward bound, caused by one of the sucking clouds or
waterspouts. Several had formed very near her, one of them so near that
the master of her was afraid to fire as it might endanger the vessel. It
appeared to be passing when a flaw of wind came, and being heavily
surcharged with water, broke it. Fortunately the hatches were on, and only
the master, mate and four men on deck. The immense body of water it
contained fell with such violence that it carried away all her masts,
boats, spars and hen-coops, with all the live stock, as well as washing
the master and three of the men overboard. The mate and the other man were
saved by jumping into the caboose