guns, and the
decks sanded lest they should grow slippery with blood. The magazine,
surrounded by a wetted woollen screen to prevent fire, was opened, and
grape and solid shot broken out and piled in the racks about the
hatchways near the guns, the heavy sea lashings of which were cast
loose by the different crews, after which they were loaded and run out
and temporarily secured, the slow matches having been carefully
examined and lighted. The oldest quartermasters took their places near
the helm, and others, assisted by a small body of men, manned the
relieving tackles below, to be used in case, as frequently happened,
the wheel should be shot away. The officers, many of whom put on
boarding caps of light steel with dropped cheek pieces, and covered
with fur, fastened on their arms, looked to the priming of their
pistols, and then hastened to their various stations.

Most of the watch officers, under the direction of the first lieutenant
or executive officer, were to take charge of the different gun
divisions in the batteries; though one of them remained aft near the
captain, to look after the spars and rigging, command the
sail-trimmers, and see that any order of the captain touching the
moving of the ship was promptly carried out. The surgeon and his mates
went below into the gloomy cockpit, spreading out the foreboding array
of ghastly instruments and appliances, ready for the many demands
certain to be made upon them. Some of the ubiquitous midshipmen
commanded little groups of expert riflemen in the tops, which were well
provided with hand grenades; others assisted the division lieutenants;
and several were detailed as aids to the commanding officer. The
little company of marines, under its own officers, was drawn up on the
quarter-deck to keep down the fire of the enemy's small-arm men, and be
ready to repel boarders, or head an attack, if the ships should come in
contact. In that case grapnels, strong iron hooks securely fastened to
the ends of stout ropes or slender iron chains, were provided at
convenient intervals along the bulwarks, ready for catching and lashing
the two ships together.

The men, their other duties performed, gradually settled down at the
guns, or about the masts, or in the tops, in their several stations,
many of them naked to the waist, and their deep voices could be heard
answering to their names as they were mustered by the officers. In an
incredibly short time the whole was do