To show how these matters are managed on board a man-of-war, I give the report of the affair: "At 7h. 30m., J. D. (O. S.) fell overboard; hove to; lowered a boat; wore ship, and picked him up. At 8, wore, and stood upon our course." If a man had slipped upon the pavement, and you had assisted him to rise by extending your hand, the fact could hardly have been explained in fewer words. But it is this indifference to danger, and the casualties of his calling, that makes up the efficiency of the sailor.
On the twenty-third day of April we were obliged to lay to in lat. 38° 26' south, and longitude 45° 34' 47'' east, by chronometer, and on parts of the first, third, and fourth days of May had to undergo the same operation. This was by no means pleasant, as, owing to the weight of our battery, we rolled very much; and as we could not close the ports entirely, for fear of carrying them away, had a constant flow of water across the deck, sometimes very difficult to bear up against.
On the tenth of May, at about 5 P. M., all hands were called to reef topsails, and a forecastle man, who was hurrying aloft to assist his companions on the foreyard, fell from only a few rattlings above the sheerpole upon the deck, and injured himself so severely as to cause his death early the next morning. Poor fellow!
"Nor wife, nor children, more shall he behold,
Nor friends, nor sacred home."
His remains were committed to the deep, at meridian of the same day; and many a manly fellow among his messmates and the crew added a briny drop to the wave
——which bore him away,
And wept in compassion for him.
The ship, as if loth to leave the spot, lingered there; for it fell calm, and by the next meridian we had logged but seven miles.