If "In Eastern Seas" shall have in the slightest degree contributed one pleasure to you or your friends, or shall be the humble instrument of calling to your mind some pleasant memories of the commission, I shall indeed feel amply rewarded for any little trouble I may have been put to in helping you to such pleasure or to such memories.
We have seen many lands together, many and strange peoples, much that is delightful beyond description in this, our beautiful world; but, after all, one feels his soul filled with enthusiasm at the thought that he is an Englishman, though he may be but a sailor. Persons at home scarcely realise what an inheritance that is.
In conclusion, may we all find happy homes; happy mothers, wives, sisters, and sweethearts, all the more willing to treasure us because we have been loyal to them for such a long, long time. I don't drink—as you know—but I don't mind cracking a bottle of lemonade to the future success in life, and happiness of all my late, much-respected, shipmates. God bless them all.
APPENDIX A.
Deaths During the Commission.
| NAMES. | Rank or Rating. | Date of Death. | Place of Death. | Cause of Death. | |
| 1878. | |||||
| John Bayley | Pte. R.M. | Sept. | 13th | Red Sea | Heat Apoplexy |
| Mr. Easton | Gunner | " | 14th | " | " |
| Mr. Scoble | Engineer | " | 17th | " | " |
| E. Dewdney | Boy | Oct. | 18th | Singapore | " |
| 1879. | |||||
| Richd. Darcy | Ord. | March | 10th | Hong Kong | Fall from Aloft |
| Hy. Harper | Bandsman | May | 10th | Shanghai | Decline |
| Fredk. Smyth | Stoker | July | 3rd | Yokohama | Drowning |
| Ch. Allen | Ord. | Dec. | 11th | Amoy | " |
| 1880. | |||||
| John Irish | A.B. | Oct. | 26th | At Sea | " |
| 1881. | |||||
| Wm. Edwards | 2d. C.M.T. | April | 15th | Hong Kong | General Debility |
| Wm. Edwards | Boy | June | 24th | Chefoo | Fall from Aloft |
| Wm. McGill | Ord. | Aug. | 12th | Vladivostock | " |
| John Higgins | Pte. R.M. | Novr. | 6th | Wosung | Choleraic Diarrhoea |
| Wm. Young | A.B. | " | 8th | " | " |
| Wm. Drew[A] | A.B. | ? | Hong Kong | Ruptured Blood-vessel | |
Note A:Discharged to hospital, and died during our cruise to the north. Date of death not procurable in ship's office.