DUCK SHOOTING. 249 



the river grew every moment more rough, and 

 the tall frame of McCullough, standing ap- 

 parently on the water, and actively plying boat- 

 hook, as he grappled for the anchors, reminded 

 one strangely enough, in the midst of the scene, 

 of the picture of Washington crossing a river 

 on a raft, on his mission to Fort Le Beuf in the 

 old colonial days. Working hard, it was some 

 time before we secured the decoys and shipped 

 the battery, when after taking a bumper of good 

 old Bourbon all round, we stood over towards 

 Port, beating, scow-fashion, broadside as often 

 as bow on. We afterwards heard that Baird 

 and several other shooters below, had drifted 

 completely across the swash in their batteries 

 that morning. No serious accident happened, 

 and so far as we are informed, no case of drown- 

 ing ever occurred in the batteries on the Chesa- 

 peake. The case to which Dr. Lewis refers in 

 his article on duck shooting, was occasioned by 

 the sinking of an old yawl, loaded down to the 

 water's edge with stones, as a substitute for a 

 battery. She was struck by a sudden flaw of 

 wind, and, of course, sunk, drowning her occu- 

 pant, who either from inability to swim, or from 

 some unexplained cause, went down with her 

 in eight or nine feet of water. 



