About ten o’clock, A. M., we saw two more of these privateers, crowded with men, but mounting only one long gun. Mistaking us for a Spanish brig, with money on board, they fired most lustily for us to heave to. We mounted short carronades, excepting two long nines at the bows, so we bore down, all hands being at their quarters, to bring our short guns to bear upon them. Meanwhile we kept one of the long nines in full blast. I was stationed at this gun; and it being my duty to sponge and load, I had to exert every muscle and strain every nerve, as, firing only one gun, it was necessary to discharge it as often as possible. Before, however, we came near enough to injure them, they discovered what we were, fired a leeward gun in token of friendship, and hauled off. If they had not, our men very elegantly observed, they would have found they had taken the wrong pig by the ear.
We soon came in sight of the beautiful revolving light, which throws its friendly beams on the port of Vera Cruz, where, as in the former places, we lay a short time, and then, after visiting some other ports, we returned to our former station at Ship Island. Here, however, we remained for only a brief period, before we were under weigh for New Orleans, from which place we sailed to Havana. Such is the constant change kept up by men of war on a cruise.
On this passage, I was placed in a position which exposed me to the punishment of the lash, though by a mere accident I escaped. There was a habit indulged in among us, which is common among all sailors at sea; I mean that of stealing a nap during our watch at night. Seated on the carriage of a gun, or on a shot-locker, with folded arms, we indulged in many a minute of sweet sleep, notwithstanding it was contrary to the rules of the ship. To prevent this as much as possible, the officer of the watch used to give the first man he caught napping, a handspike, with which he was compelled to walk the deck until he found another sleeper, to whom he was allowed to transfer his burden. One night I was caught dozing, and had to perform the consequent march with the handspike. After walking about, without success, in search of a sleeper, for some time, I thought it might be well to try my fortune in the tops. Scarcely had I set foot on the top, before the officer below cried, “Fore-top, there!”
“Sir?”
“Aloft, and take in the fore-top-gallant sail!”
This order caused every man to spring to his station. Supposing no one would pass before the mast, I stood my handspike upright against it. But there happened to be a man, by the name of Knight, dozing there; and when he was aroused by the command of the officer, he passed before the mast to get on to the starboard side. As sailors usually grasp something when aloft, he missed his hold of what he intended to catch, and seized my handspike, which of course fell. To my consternation, he fell with it. Tumbling out of the fore-top, he fortunately struck the foot-rope of the fore-yard, which broke the force of his fall. When he reached the deck, he came bouncing on a tall, stout Irishman, named Tom Smith, who, not imagining the cause of so rough and sudden an assault, roared out, as they both fell together on the deck, “Och! indeed you have killed me!” Here, however, he was mistaken; he was more frightened than hurt; and the innocent cause of his fright was able to resume his duties, after two or three days’ respite. Very fortunately for my back, the unlucky handspike was not suspected; and my share in this serio-comic accident remained a secret within my own breast.
It has often been a subject of surprise to my mind, that men so seldom fall from the tops, in the long night-watches they keep there. Often have I stood two hours, and, sometimes, when my shipmates have forgotten to relieve me, four long, tedious hours, on the royal yard, or the top-gallant yard, without a man to converse with. Here, overcome with fatigue and want of sleep, I have fallen into a dreamy, dozy state, from which I was roused by a lee lurch of the ship. Starting up, my hair has stood on end with amazement at the danger I had so narrowly escaped. But, notwithstanding this sudden fright, a few minutes had scarcely elapsed before I would be nodding again. How wonderful that more are not swallowed in the hungry deep!
When the weather was rough, we were indulged with permission to stand on the fore-top-sail yard, or on the top-gallant cross-trees; and, if the ship rolled heavily, we lashed ourselves to the mast, for greater safety. I can assure my readers, there is nothing desirable in this part of a sailor’s duty. In whatever the pleasure of a life at sea consists, it is not in keeping a look-out from the mast-head at night.