at every man
should tie a rope round his waist, by which he might afterwards attach
himself to the rafts, should he be suddenly forced to take to the water.
While the people were busily occupied in adopting this recommendation, I
was surprised, I had almost said amused, by the singular delicacy of one
of the Irish recruits, who, in searching for a rope in one of the
cabins, called out to me that he could find none except the cordage
belonging to an officer's cot, and wished to know whether there would be
any harm in his appropriating it to his own use.

The gradual removal of the officers was at the same time commenced, and
was marked by a discipline the most rigid, and an intrepidity the most
exemplary; none appearing to be influenced by a vain and ostentatious
bravery, which, in cases of extreme peril, affords rather a presumptive
proof of secret timidity than of fortitude; nor any betraying an unmanly
or unsoldierlike impatience to quit the ship; but, with the becoming
deportment of men neither paralyzed by, nor profanely insensible to, the
accumulating dangers that encompassed them, they progressively departed
in the different boats with their soldiers; those who happened to
proceed first leaving behind them an example of coolness that could not
be unprofitable to those who followed.

But the finest illustration of their conduct was displayed in that of
their chief, whose ability and presence of mind, under the complicated
responsibility and anxiety of a commander, husband, and father, were
eminently calculated, throughout this dismal day, to inspire all others
with composure and fortitude. Never for one moment did Colonel Fearon
seem to forget the authority with which his sovereign had invested him,
nor did any of his officers--as far as my observation went--cease to
remember the relative situations in which they were severally placed.
Even in the gloomiest moments of that dark season, when the dissolution
of every earthly distinction seemed near at hand, the decision and
confidence with which orders were issued on the one hand, and the
promptitude and respect with which they were obeyed on the other,
offered the best proofs of the stability of the well-connected system of
discipline established in the 31st regiment, and the most unquestionable
ground for the high and flattering commendation which his Royal
Highness, the Commander-in-chief, has been pleased to bestow upon it.

I should, however, be guilty of inju