nd were going out with all
they possessed, amounting to 3,000_l_. Sir Edward restored to her the
whole of it, and paid from his own purse the proportion which was the
prize of his crew.

Early in the following year the Admiralty determined to limit the period
of command in frigates. In obedience to this regulation, on the 1st of
March, Sir Edward, with much regret, left the ship and crew he had so
long commanded, and exchanged the activity of a cruising frigate for a
service which offered little prospect of distinction. He was
complimented with the _Impetueux_, formerly _L'Amerique_, one of the
prizes taken by Lord Howe on the 1st of June, a most beautiful ship, and
so much superior to the largest 74, that she was made a class by
herself, and rated as a 78. He was allowed to select twenty men to
follow him from the _Indefatigable_.

Going on board the _Impetueux_ for the first time, he was accosted at
the gangway by the boatswain: "I am very glad, sir, that you are come to
us, for you are just the captain we want. You have the finest ship in
the navy, and a crew of smart sailors, but a set of the greatest
scoundrels that ever went to sea." He checked him on the spot, and
afterwards, sending for him to the cabin, demanded what he meant by
addressing him in that manner. The boatswain, who had served with him in
the _Carleton_ on Lake Champlain, pleaded former recollections in
excuse; and after submitting to the reproof with which Sir Edward
thought it necessary to mark his breach of discipline, informed him that
the crew were all but in a state of mutiny, and that for months past he
had slept with pistols under his head.

Mutinies were the natural fruit of the system which had prevailed in the
navy, and it is only wonderful that obedience had been preserved so
long. All the stores were supplied by contract, and the check upon the
contractor being generally inadequate, gross abuses prevailed. Officers
who recollect the state of the navy during the first American war can
furnish a history which may now appear incredible. The provisions were
sometimes unfit for human food. Casks of meat, after having been long on
board, would be found actually offensive. The biscuit, from inferior
quality and a bad system of stowage, was devoured by insects,[9] until
it would fall to pieces at the slightest blow; and the provisions of a
more perishable nature, the cheese, butter, raisins, &c., would be in a
still worse condition. Among cr