good beating, so that he was obliged to go
below. Now I knew well enough that when
the captain came on board he would take the
mate's part, and I should have to go on shore
to go to prison, which I did not like at all.

Knowing the "Ranger " frigate wanted
hands, I hailed the "Ranger's" boat, and she
came alongside, and I told the officer of the
boat what had happened, and that I intended
to enter for his Majesty's service; upon which
he told me to get into the boat; and so I got
once more on board of a man-of-war. My
old captain tried all that he could do to get
me back again; but I found that a man-of-
war was quite different from what it was
when I was in them in war time; for there
was no starting or fears of any flogging; and
if a man was only attentive, and clean, and
did what he was told, he never needed to be
afraid of getting himself into trouble. So
after I got settled on board of the "Ranger,"
the captain was kind enough to give me the
rate of gunner's mate; and, thanks be to God,
I did very well. And we sailed from Rio de
Janeiro the latter part of May; and we went
to Monte Video, and there we laid for about
six months; and nothing particular occurring,
we went from Monte Video to Rio de Janeiro,
where we arrived on the 15th of December.
We had been lying at Rio for about two
months, when Lord Ponsonby arrived from
England, to go round to Lima, to settle
some business; and as he intended to travel
across the Cordilleras, we were ordered to go
and take him and his things to Buenos Ayres;
and from there we were ordered to go round
Cape Horn to attend upon his lordship; and
after delivering his lordship's things at Buenos
Ayres, we came down to Monte Video, and
sailed from there the 2nd of April, 1827, and
were bound to Callao, on the coast of Peru.
We had a long and tedious passage round
the Cape, but arrived safe at Valparaiso on
the 19th of June, after a passage of seventy-
seven days. We stayed on the coast of Peru
till the beginning of 1828; and on the 5th
of February a sad accident happened to me
—for I was both shot and drowned on that day!

To explain this, I must go to some particulars
that occurred when we were lying at a place
called Coquimbo, the last place we were going
to touch at before we went round the Horn.
And the Governor of the place and his suite,
being on board to take their farewell of
our captain and officers, and our ship being
hove short, and all ready for starting
and our captain intended to salute the governor
when he left the ship; and in getting the
ship underweigh, I was sent to look out for
the buoy. And I being in the larboard fore-
chains, when the anchor was up to the bows,
and after the anchor was settled and fixed, I
went forward upon the anchor, to try to get
the buoy rope clear of the anchor-stock; and
whilst in the act of going forward, they fired
the forecastle gun, which was a long nine-
pounder; and the whole charge reached me,
and hove me away from the ship, and knocked
the senses out of me, so that I laid upon the
water like one dead; but I soon began to go
down. But there was an English brig lying
there, called the "Mediæval" of London, and
her boat had been on board of our ship, to
put some letters on board, for us to take
home; and she shoving off from the ship
when the accident happened, they saw my
hat, and they picked it up, and then they saw
the wake I made in going down, and they
hooked me with a boat-hook, for I was going
down as fast as I could; and they hauled me
into the boat, and brought me on board of
my ship. But I was senseless to the whole of
it; so I did not come to myself again, not till
next day, about dinner time. And I was told
that our doctor said that I was dead, and that
they were going to heave me overboard; but
a young gentleman, a doctor's mate, a passenger,
said that I was not dead; and he, with
God's help, saved my life. If anybody should
doubt my tale, about being shot and drowned,
I could bring plenty of witnesses that saw it,
both officers and men.

The next day, when I came to my senses, I
felt very weak; but, thanks be to God, I soon
got better, and I was able to go to my duty
in about a fortnight's time. And we had a
very good passage round Cape Horn; and we
arrived in Rio de Janeiro in the beginning of
April; and after we completed our water, we
sailed for England; and we arrived at Spithead
on the tenth of June, 1828. We were
ordered to go round to Chatham, to be paid off;
and I was paid off from the " Ranger " on the
7th day of July; and I joined the "Crocodile,"
of twenty-eight guns, and she was bound to
the East Indies.

I got five weeks' liberty to go and see my
friends, and I went down to Kirkwall in the
Orkneys, to see if I could find anybody alive
that knew me; but I could find no one that
knew anything about me. And so, when my
liberty was up, I returned to my ship, and
from Chatham we went to Spithead; and
from Spithead we sailed on the 21st of September,
and we arrived safe at the Cape of
Good Hope on the 18th day of December.

When I came back after the voyage, being
on my own hands again once more, and after
receiving my pay, at Somerset House, I resolved
to go down to Boston, in Lincolnshire,
to see if I could see anybody that would know
me; and I had the good luck to fall in with
an old shipmate of mine, whose name was
Thomas Blyth, and he was master of a brig,
called the "Ocean;" and he was bound for Rio
de Janeiro. * * *

When I came back, I went on board of the
"Castor " frigate, and I was shipped as able
seaman, for she had no vacancy for a petty
officer, but I was promised the first vacancy
that occurred. We went to join the experimental
squadron in the North Sea, under the
command of Sir Pulteney Malcoin, and there
we cruised till the beginning of August; and