COL. ANSTRUTHER THOMSON 175 



and their names, and the stewards keep them as 

 checks to be settled when the mess bills are paid. 

 Burn got a pot of jam, to show the process. At nine 

 o'clock visitors left the ship. We only had a few 

 minutes to shake hands and say good-bye, and then 

 had to go on shore. Just then Prince Edward of 

 Saxe-Weimar (he commands the district), Lord 

 Raglan, General Higginson, Mrs. Cornwallis West, 

 arrived. Prince Edward gave Lord Raglan leave 

 to go on board to see his boy. They began to 

 loose the ropes and the ship moved. Some one 

 said, ' They will take Lord Raglan away '. I was 

 standing next the Prince. General Higginson had 

 introduced me to him. He said, ' He is going to 

 Spithead in the ship, and will return in the tender'. 

 Then he said to me, ' Should you like to go ? ' I said, 

 'No, sir, the fewer good-byes the better'. By this 

 time the gangway was up, and the ship floated gently 

 away. All the men were crowded on the side of the 

 ship. Prince Edward said to me, ' There are so few 

 people here we shall not be able to make a cheer '. 

 They had not allowed any one to come in except 

 those belonging to the ship, and they were gliding 

 away silently. I said, ' We ought to have a cheer 

 just to start them, sir, will you begin?' 'No, no,' 

 he said. ' Shall I do it, sir ? ' ' Go on.' So I held 

 up my hat and shouted my best, and we made as 

 much row as we could. I hope Bill saw my hat up. 

 I think he did, but I could not then distinguish him. 

 "All the men in the ship gave three real good 

 ones, and the band played ' Rule Britannia ' and then 



