lying nearly in the centre of the fleet,
were the only ships which saved an inch of canvas, owing chiefly to
our having so many more hands on board, but partly to our having
caught sight of the ruin brought on the vessels near us, just in time
to let fly the sheets and haulyards and get the yards down. But even
then, with the utmost exertion of every man and boy on board, we
barely succeeded in clewing all up.

When this hurricane of a moment had passed, and we had time to look
round, not a rag was to be seen in the whole fleet; while the Wexford,
a ship near us, had lost her three top-gallant masts and jib-boom,
and, what was a much more serious misfortune, her fore-topmast was
dangling over the bows. Part of the fore-topsail was wrapped like a
shawl round the lee cat-head, while the rest hung down in festoons
from the collar of the fore-stay to the spritsail yard-arm. A stout
party of seamen from each of the men-of-war were sent to assist in
clearing the wreck, and getting up fresh spars; and a light fair wind
having succeeded to the calm in which we had been lolling about for
many days, we took our wounded bird in tow, and made all sail towards
the equator. By this time, also, the China ships had bent a new set of
sails, and were resuming their old stations in the appointed order of
bearing, which it was our policy to keep up strictly, together with as
many other of the formalities of a fleet in line of battle and on a
cruise as we could possibly maintain.

While we were thus stealing along pleasantly enough under the genial
influence of this newly-found air, which as yet was confined to the
upper sails, and every one was looking open-mouthed to the eastward to
catch a gulp of cool air, or was congratulating his neighbour on
getting rid of the tiresome calm in which we had been so long
half-roasted, half-suffocated, about a dozen flying-fish rose out of
the water, just under the fore-chains, and skimmed away to windward at
the height of ten or twelve feet above the surface. But sometimes the
flying-fish merely skims the surface, so as to touch the tops of the
successive waves, without rising and falling to follow the undulations
of the sea; that they also rise as high as twenty feet out of the
water is certain, being sometimes found in the channels of a
line-of-battle ship; and they frequently fly into a 74 gun-ship's
main-deck ports. On a frigate's forecastle and gangways, also
elevations which may be taken at eig