We’re damnation sinners, says Bryan O’Lynn.
Bryan O’Lynn and his wife, and wife’s mother,
Resolved to lead a new life together;
And from that day to this have committed no sin—
In the calendar stands Saint Bryan O’Lynn.
I have left out four verses as being rather out of order. I have heard the old gunner sing this when the sea has been beating over the forecastle and the ship rolling gunwale under. We used to get a tarpaulin in the weather fore rigging as a screen, and many a pleasant hour have I passed under its lee, with a glass of grog and hearing long-winded stories. Alas! how dead are times now. Captain Wallis behaved very kindly to me. I used to dine with him two or three times a week. He had, as I have stated, strange whims and few men are without them, but his many good qualities threw them in the background, and I have, with grateful remembrance and respect for his memory, to be thankful for his kindness, and particularly for the certificate he gave me on leaving the ship.
Madame Trogoff, the French admiral’s widow,[[113]] came to England and was a passenger in his cabin. She was a very agreeable woman. We had several French officers (emigrants) who had left Toulon at the evacuation. They were in the greatest tribulation all the passage for fear of being taken. We had also many invalids from the fleet, of very little service had we met with an enemy; and our effective complement I think mustered under a hundred, so that we should have stood but a poor chance had we met with the squadron that I have already mentioned. The forty-seven French prisoners that we had with us were left at Gibraltar, which was a great relief to the emigrants we had on board, as they were in constant fear of their taking the ship from us. The following are the names of the officers:—
James Wallis, Esq., Captain.
Dead [1808]. He had strange ways, but was an able officer and seaman. [Commander, 1794; captain, 1797. He was therefore only acting in the Gordon.]
Thomas Edgar, 1st Lieutenant.