beamy, shallow
vessel, behaved so well under the new conditions that we also could
spare the barque and brig our royal and still keep ahead of them.

The weather remained fine, and we made a very quick and pleasant passage
to Sierra Leone, where our arrival under such unusual conditions, and
the report of our doings and adventures, created quite a sensation.
Also we happened to arrive at a most opportune moment; for there were
three British men-o'-war in harbour at the time, and we were, therefore,
able to undergo at once, and on the spot, our trial by court-martial for
the loss of the _Psyche_, instead of being obliged to return to England
for the ordeal.

The trial took place on the fourth day after our arrival; and, as a
matter of course, those of us who had been away in the boats at the time
of the wreck were acquitted and exonerated from all blame. But poor
Purchase, who had been left in charge of the ship, was not so fortunate,
the Court finding that, in the first place, he had been negligent in
that he had not maintained a sufficiently careful look-out to preserve
the ship from being maliciously cut adrift; and that, in the second
place, he had let go the two stream anchors prematurely and before the
actual necessity for such a precaution arose, but for which act he would
have had the stream anchors available to let go when he discovered that
the ship was adrift, and might thus have checked her shoreward drift
long enough to permit of other measures being taken for the safety of
the ship, even if the streams had not brought her up altogether. For
these acts of negligence the prisoner was sentenced to be reprimanded,
to lose two years' seniority, and to be dismissed his ship! Fortunately
for Purchase, the sentence was not quite so severe as it sounded, for
the _Osprey_--one of the men-o'-war in harbour--happened to have a
vacancy for a lieutenant, and the Commodore, after hearing Purchase's
story of the disaster from his own lips, unhesitatingly gave him the
appointment.

The fact of the three ships being in port also suggested to me the
possibility of getting through my examination, forthwith; I therefore
ventured to speak to Captain Perry about it, who very kindly explained
my desire to the Commodore. The Commodore, in turn, caused a few
inquiries to be made, when it was ascertained that, among the three
ships, there were sufficient midshipmen desirous of passing to justify
the arrangement of an examinati