OF-WAR.

After running with a fine steady breeze up to the Line, it fell calm,
and there we lay, three days enchanted on the sea. We were a most
puissant man-of-war, no doubt, with our five hundred men, Commodore and
Captain, backed by our long batteries of thirty-two and twenty-four
pounders; yet, for all that, there we lay rocking, helpless as an
infant in the cradle. Had it only been a gale instead of a calm, gladly
would we have charged upon it with our gallant bowsprit, as with a
stout lance in rest; but, as with man-kind, this serene, passive
foe--unresisting and irresistible--lived it out, unconquered to the
last.

All these three days the heat was excessive; the sun drew the tar from
the seams of the ship; the awnings were spread fore and aft; the decks
were kept constantly sprinkled with water. It was during this period
that a sad event occurred, though not an unusual one on shipboard. But
in order to prepare for its narration, some account of a part of the
ship called the "_sick-bay_" must needs be presented.

The "_sick-bay_" is that part of a man-of-war where the invalid seamen
are placed; in many respects it answers to a public hospital ashore. As
with most frigates, the sick-bay of the Neversink was on the
berth-deck--the third deck from above. It was in the extreme forward
part of that deck, embracing the triangular area in the bows of the
ship. It was, therefore, a subterranean vault, into which scarce a ray
of heaven's glad light ever penetrated, even at noon.

In a sea-going frigate that has all her armament and stores on board,
the floor of the berth-deck is partly below the surface of the water.
But in a smooth harbour, some circulation of air is maintained by
opening large auger-holes in the upper portion of the sides, called
"air-ports," not much above the water level. Before going to sea,
however, these air-ports must be closed, caulked, and the seams
hermetically sealed with pitch. These places for ventilation being
shut, the sick-bay is entirely barred against the free, natural
admission of fresh air. In the Neversink a few lungsful were forced
down by artificial means. But as the ordinary _wind-sail_ was the only
method adopted, the quantity of fresh air sent down was regulated by
the force of the wind. In a calm there was none to be had, while in a
severe gale the wind-sail had to be hauled up, on account of the
violent draught flowing full upon the cots of the sick. An open-work
partit