d on board and distributed with great success to the
sick, who were gradually recovering.

Immediately that the admiral had anchored, he made the signal for the
commodore to repair on board, and taxed him with disobedience of orders
in having left the fleet. The commodore did not deny that he had so
done, but excused himself upon the plea of necessity, offering to lay
the whole matter before the Court of Directors so soon as they returned;
but the admiral was vested with most extensive powers, not only of the
trial, but the _condemnation_ and punishment of any person guilty of
mutiny and insubordination in his fleet. In reply, he told the
commodore that he was a prisoner, and to prove it, he confined him in
irons under the half-deck.

A signal was then made for all the captains: they went on board, and of
course Philip was of the number. On their arrival, the admiral held a
summary court-martial, proving to them by his instructions that he was
so warranted to do. The result of the court-martial could be but one--
condemnation for a breach of discipline, to which Philip was obliged
reluctantly to sign his name. The admiral then gave Philip the
appointment of second in command, and the commodore's pendant, much to
the annoyance of the captains commanding the other vessels; but in this
the admiral proved his judgment, as there was no one of them so fit for
the task as Philip. Having so done, he dismissed them. Philip would
have spoken to the late commodore, but the sentry opposed it, as against
his orders; and with a friendly nod, Philip was obliged to leave him
without the desired communication.

The fleet remained three weeks at the Falkland Islands, to recruit the
ships' companies. Although there was no fresh beef, there was plenty of
scurvy-grass and penguins. These birds were in myriads on some parts of
the island, which, from the propinquity of their nests, built of mud,
went by the name of _towns_. There they sat close together (the whole
area which they covered being bare of grass) hatching their eggs and
rearing their young. The men had but to select as many eggs and birds
as they pleased and so numerous were they, that when they had supplied
themselves, there was no apparent diminution of the numbers. This food,
although in a short time not very palatable to the seamen, had the
effect of restoring them to health, and before the fleet sailed, there
was not a man who was afflicted with the scurvy. In