d
two hundred and fifty-six tons, which had a short time before been
purchased, with several other ships, from the East India Company by the
British Government. She was commanded, I found, by Captain Henry
Trollope, and carried fifty-six guns, twenty-eight long
eighteen-pounders on the upper deck, and twenty-eight carronades,
sixty-eight pounders, on the lower deck. Her crew consisted in all of
three hundred and twenty men and boys, our arrival almost making up the
complement. The ship's company was superior to that of most ships in
those days, although somewhat scanty considering the heavy guns we had
to work.

We were welcomed on board, and I heard the lieutenant remark that he had
made a good haul of prime hands. It was a wonder, men taken as we had
been, could submit to the severe discipline of a man-of-war, but all
knew that they had do help for it. They had to run the risk of being
flogged or perhaps hung as mutineers if they took any steps to show
their discontent, or to grin and bear it.

Most of them, as I did myself, preferred the latter alternative. I had
never before seen such enormous guns as were our sixty-eight pounder
carronades, larger than any yet used in the service,--indeed, their
muzzles were almost of equal diameter with the ports, so that they could
only be pointed right abeam. We had neither bow nor stern-chasers,
which was also a great drawback. Some of the men, when looking at the
guns, declared that they should never be able to fight them; however, in
that they were mistaken. Practice makes perfect, and we were kept
exercising them for several hours every day.

The ship was nearly ready for sea, and soon after I was taken on board
we sailed from Sheerness, for the purpose of reinforcing the North Sea
Fleet under Admiral Duncan. In four or five days, during which we were
kept continually exercising the guns, we arrived in Yarmouth Roads.
Scarcely had we dropped anchor than we were ordered off again to join a
squadron of two sail of the line and some frigates, commanded by Captain
Savage of the _Albion_, sixty-four, supposed to be cruising off
Helvoetsluis.

Next morning, long before daylight,--it had gone about two bells in the
middle watch,--we made the coast of Flanders, and through the gloom
discovered four large ships under the land. The wind, which had
hitherto been fresh, now fell, and we lay becalmed for some hours in
sight of Goree steeple, which bore south by east. We