I must here relate a circumstance which took place on the evening of the day we made Deseada. We had a dog on board that in fact belonged to no one, but the ship’s company were very kind to the poor animal, who used to get well fed from the different messes, and was quite at home fore and aft. The evening was fine, with light winds, and the ship going about three knots, when some wicked fellow (supposed to be the son of a clergyman) threw the poor dog overboard when several sharks were round the ship. It was naturally supposed they had made a meal of him, but that was not the case, as they had more mercy than the ruffian who was guilty of such cruelty. On the arrival of the squadron at Port Royal one of our officers went on board (I think) the Captain, 74, when to his astonishment, who should come jumping round him but the lost dog. On his relating the circumstance to the officers, they told him that about ten o’clock of the evening in question they were upwards of two miles astern of us when they heard a strange noise under their bows. At first they thought it was a man overboard until they heard the dog bark, when one of the men went down by a rope and caught hold of the poor creature by the neck and got him safe on board. A blanket belonging to a sailor was towing overboard which he got hold of with his paws and held on and by that means was rescued from a watery grave. His new shipmates wished to keep him and with them he remained. Of the young man who threw him overboard, if I were to pronounce an eulogy on his character I should without flattery say:—
On Newgate steps Jack Chance was found,
And bred up in St. Giles’s pound;
He learned to curse, to swear, to fight,
Did everything but read and write;
And bawdy songs all day would sing,
And they all declared he was just the thing.
Our first lieutenant (Hungerford) was a very droll fellow but fractious from disappointment. He was in the Trusty, 50, when the late Admiral Walker commanded her at the time she put into Cadiz, where some of her officers were arrested and sent to prison by the Spanish Government for smuggling off money; for which Captain Walker was tried by a court martial and dismissed the service. He and Hungerford were upon very bad terms, and happening to meet in High Street, Portsmouth, Hungerford with a cane began to strike at him, when Captain Walker in his defence, caught hold of a hod belonging to a mason who was standing by, and made a blow at Hungerford, which, fortunately for him, missed the mark, and several officers coming up, a stop was put to any further proceedings. This business hurt Hungerford in the service and made him many enemies. Captain Walker was reinstated and died a rear-admiral.[[158]] He commanded the Monmouth, 64, in the Dutch action under Duncan and behaved with uncommon bravery. Hungerford was a very good officer and seaman and an indefatigable first lieutenant. In watching, quartering, stationing, and regulating the ship’s company in every respect he showed great ability. He was a great mimic, and very droll in other respects. I remember at Port Royal, when he was ill, his pretending to be dumb and mad, and carrying on the joke for a whole day on purpose to annoy the surgeon. He put on a white great coat belonging to Captain Rea of the marines, with his sash and sword, and a large cocked hat and feather, strutting about the wardroom and making a dead set at Fuller whenever he came in. However, about seven in the evening he found his tongue and said to me, ‘What a damned fool I made of Bottle Belly; how easily I humbugged him.’
The day we made the east end of Jamaica I had the forenoon watch, and was walking the deck with Captain Stephens, when Lieutenant Morgan of the marines called out from the gangway to the gunner’s mate to get a gun ready and fire into the ship abreast of us. On my asking him what he meant by such extraordinary conduct, ‘Sir,’ says he, ‘I am not accountable to you for my actions’; and going up to the captain he told him he was no longer captain of the Brunswick, but that he would take pity on him and suffer him to keep possession of his cabin for the present. The captain looked at me in amazement. ‘Sir,’ says I, ‘Mr. Morgan is certainly deranged.’ He was then sent below, and on going down the quarter deck ladder, he roared out to the man at the wheel, ‘Put the helm a starboard, you damned rascal.’ The captain dined with us that day, and, after the cloth was removed, Morgan came to the table, and on something being said to him he took up a glass of wine, part of which he hove in the captain’s face, and the glass at Jack Key’s head; and when we seized hold of him, he called me a damned conceited whelp, and that he always saw a little greatness about me that he never could put up with. This young man’s brain was turned by diving into things he did not understand, and it may be said in truth of him:—
A little learning is a dangerous thing,