After looking at one another for some time the following ludicrous scene took place, which I was an eye-witness to:—
The captain shook his head, took snuff, and went upon deck.
Old Edgar, first lieutenant, followed, and said ‘God bass ‘e all.’
Billy Chantrell gave a grin, and damn’d his eyes.
The parson exclaimed ‘In the midst of life we are in death.’
The carpenter said ‘Damn and b—— the peas.’
Old Jerry Hacker, the purser, swore he was ruined, as no allowance would be made him; and cursed the field the peas grew in; and the French emigrant captain (Dubosc) said ‘it was as vel for him to stay at de Toulon and be guillotined, as to come to dis place and be drowned in de vater.’
I never shall forget this scene as long as I live. I dined with Captain Wallis the next day, and he asked me, in a very knowing manner, if he should help me to some peas soup.
Our gunner was one of the drollest fellows I ever met with—it was his delight to come on the forecastle in the first watch and sing comic songs to amuse the midshipmen assembled there. ‘Arthur O’Bradley’ was one that he used to sing with a great deal of humour. I believe it contained forty verses. ‘Bryan O’Lynn’ was another which I shall relate, leaving out the lines that may not be liked by those endued with fine feelings.
Bryan O’Lynn and his wife, and wife’s mother,