_; and in July was confirmed in his
rank, though he had been but two years at sea. In the _Africa_ he coasted
up and down, between Canada and Florida, looking out for ships of the
enemy, but in the following January he rejoined the _Thetis_, whose first
lieutenant had just been promoted. He then passed as lieutenant, and was
afterwards appointed to the _Speedy_.

"The difficulty of his not having served the regulation time had been got
over by his uncle in a way which was not uncommon then, and may be still
practised for aught I know. His uncle thought that he might one day wish
to join the navy, and had therefore entered his name in the books of the
various ships he commanded, so that nominally he had formed part of the
ship's complement in the _Vesuvius_, _Carolina_, _La Sophie_, and _Hind_,
and had therefore belonged to the service for the regulation period. It is
a bad practice, lad, but in the case of Cochrane was the means of
providing the king's navy with as gallant an officer as ever trod
quarter-deck. I went down with him from Gibraltar to Port Mahon with
another midshipman who, like myself, had just passed, and was to join the
_Speedy_. We were hoping to gain an opportunity for distinguishing
ourselves, and getting a step.

"Our first sight of the craft was a grievous disappointment. She was a
brig of 158 tons, and as she carried eighty-four men and six officers, you
may imagine how we were crowded on board. Her armament consisted of
fourteen four-pounders, ridiculous little weapons that were no more good
than as many blunderbusses. I remember Cochrane putting fourteen balls
into his pockets, and walking up and down the quarter-deck, saying that he
was probably the only commander who had ever carried a whole ship's
broadsides in his pockets.

"He was awfully disgusted, as you may imagine, with his craft, and he
applied for two twelve-pounders, to be used for stern-chasers. When he got
them on board he found that there was not room for them to be worked. He
had them fired off a few times, but the brig was so weakly built that the
timbers would not stand the concussion. He was therefore obliged to send
them on shore again. There was only a height of five feet even in the
captain's cabin, and I remember that Cochrane used to open the skylight
and put his head up through it in order to shave himself, placing the
soap-dish in front of him on the quarter-deck. However, we were a pleasant
party on board. Cochrane w