an say. All I know is, that great carelessness prevailed in all
departments of the navy in those days, and it's only a wonder that more
accidents did not occur.

Numbers of persons were killed by the explosion, others were dreadfully
mutilated, and scarcely a scrap of the old woman herself could be
discovered. I felt grateful to Heaven that my dear wife and uncle had
escaped. Had they come on with me, we should have been close to the
spot and among the sufferers. I could not go back, though Jerry wanted
to do so, as I had to be on board by noon, and there were but a few
minutes to get alongside the ship.

I reported myself to the first lieutenant as having come on board.

"Very well," he said, and just then it struck eight bells. I had not
been long on board when I heard it reported that the _Nymph_ was to go
into dock, and that the crew would be turned over to other ships wanting
hands. It was but too true, and I found that Dick Hagger, I, and others
were to be transferred to the _Culloden_, 74, forming one of the Channel
fleet, under Earl Howe, and then commanded by Captain Schomberg. She
was soon ready for sea, and we went out to Spithead, where the ships
were rapidly collecting. I had never seen so many men-of-war together,
for there were thirty-four sail of the line, eight frigates, and smaller
vessels.

No leave was granted, so I could not get on shore, for we were to be
ready to start at a moment's notice, directly intelligence should arrive
from the numerous cruisers off the French coast that the Brest fleet had
put to sea.

We had a mixed crew, and a bad lot many of them were--jailbirds,
smugglers, who were good, however, as far as seamanship was concerned,
longshore men, and Lord Mayor's men, picked up from the London streets,
the only difference between the two last being that the latter had tails
to their coats,--one slip of the tailor made them both akin,--and we
dubbed them K.H.B., or king's hard bargains. Then we had a lot of
ordinary seamen, and very ordinary they were. We A.B.'s were in the
minority by a long chalk. Lastly came the marines; they were mostly
steady men, and, as they had been at sea before, were better sailors
than the ordinary seamen, besides which they knew their duty and did it.
Without them I am very sure the crew could never have been kept under.

Flogging was the order of the day; scarcely a morning passed but we had
two or three triced up, and the boatswain's mates