CRUISE WITH THE EXPERIMENTAL SQUADRON. 353 



rem at all; and had been brought hi by the tide and the land 

 breeze' ! ! ! The tide and laud breeze had helped to bring us up 

 with the squadron ; but for five hours we beat them all, as I said, 

 like sacks into our anchorage. The whole officers joined with my 

 antagonist in argument, and it has been settled among them that 

 the ' Campeadora' did not sail with the squadron, and that she beat 

 nobody ! Such, even at sea, is the littleness of men's souls ; it is 

 worse even than on Windermere at a regatta. This is Friday (the 

 31st), and I slept last night in the ' Campeadora.' I shall keep this 

 letter open till I hear something of our intended motions, which I 

 hope to do on boarding the 'Admiral.' The 'Vernon' is said to be 

 wet, because when it blows hard, and she sails upon a wind, the 

 spray spins over her main top-gallant mast. This it seems is reck- 

 oned a great merit. As to the noise on board — for it consists of 

 everlasting groaning, howling, yelling, cursing, and swearing, which 

 is the language in which all orders are given and executed — never 

 less than 200 men are prancing on her decks, and occasionally 500 ; 

 windlasses are ever at work, and iron cables are letting out and 

 taking in, which rumble like thunder. Gun-carriages (two ton and 

 a half heavy) are perpetually rolled about to alter her trim, and ever 

 and anon cannon fired close to your ears (32-pounders) which might 

 waken the dead. Drums, too, are rolling frequently, and there are 

 at all times the noise of heavy bodies falling, of winds whistling, 

 and waves beating up to any degree. But all these noises are 

 nothing compared to holy-stoning! This is the name given to 

 scrubbing decks. A hundred men all fall at once upon their knees, 

 and begin scrubbing the decks with large rough stones called holy- 

 stones ; this continues every morning from four o'clock to five, and 

 is a noise that beggars all description. I sleep in the cock-pit, a 

 place below both decks, in a swinging cot, which is very comforta- 

 ble. But as soon as the decks are done, down come a dozen Jacks, 

 and holy-stone the floor of the cock-pit, without taking any notice 

 of me, who am swinging over their heads. That being over, all 

 the midshipmen whose chests are in the cock-pit, come in to wash, 

 and shave, and dress. You had better not imagine the scene that 

 then ensues. As soon as the majority of them are gone I get up, 

 and, at half-past seven, Captain Coryton of the Marines gives me 

 his cabin to wash and dress in. I do so every morning, and the 

 luxury of washing too became known to me for the first time ; for 

 15 



