596 MEMOIR OF SIR THOMAS MAKDOUGALL BRISBANE. 
well as we could, after the dinner had been removed, upon a fashionable and 
limited allowance of Bourdeaux wine, before coffee was as usual announced, a 
master’s mate walked into the cabin, followed by a seaman carrying the deep- 
sea lead. ‘Soundings, Sir, at fathoms,’ the seaman holding up at the 
same time the greased end in order to show some sand or gravel adhering to it. 
‘Have the goodness, sir, to desire Mr —— to heave the ship to, and sound again 
at 8 o'clock.’ ‘What think you of this, General?’ said the captain, address- 
ing Sir Tuomas; ‘I believe you told us that we would not have soundings before 
to-morrow at the soonest.’ ‘I only lament,’ replied Sir Toomas, ‘ that a country 
like Great Britain should not furnish her ships-of-war with better charts; for, 
according to that—pointing to a large Admiralty one—we ought only, if the ship 
maintains her present rate of sailing and course, to be in soundings on the edge 
of the bank at 8 o’clock to-morrow morning, but Iam aware that some of your 
officers have the ship already high and dry in Newfoundland.’ The captain 
who, like the rest, only laughed at the idea of a soldier-officer making obser- 
vations, finding that his intended good joke had not taken, upon some pre- 
tence or other left the cabin for a few minutes, but having returned to it, he 
resumed his seat as if nothing had occurred: in walked once more the master’s 
mate. ‘I beg pardon, Sir, but I find there has been a mistake; for in some way 
or other the arming of the lead has been allowed to touch the deck, and a little 
sand having stuck to it, we were led to conclude that we had struck soundings ; 
the ship was, however, hove to at 8 P.m., midnight, and 4 a.m., but still no 
soundings. Eight a.m. approached, and we were all on deck.’ ‘Well, Sir 
THOMAS, what say you now, how many fathoms?’ Sir THomas, who, in spite of 
the prevailing fogs, had, in the course of the night, been able to get a squint, as 
he usually called it, at some of the heavenly bodies, whilst I noted the time for 
him by his chronometer, without the least hesitation he mentioned even the 
number of fathoms, which, to their surprise, were struck accordingly. It may 
be supposed that no remarks were made, nor any more jokes attempted, but 
the ship remained hove to, and many a fine cod fish soon thumped the decks 
with their broad tails, as if to prove that there was no mistake on the part of 
the soldier-offcer. 
‘A ship-of-war was sometime after made out to the westward. She as usual 
showed her number; it was the sloop-of-war cruising off the coast of New- 
foundland; her captain not long after came on board ; he had only left the land 
the night before, and being asked whereabouts we were, he replied that we were 
then off French Mistaken Point; but Sir Tuomas Brispane, without hesitation, 
affirmed that we were off English Mistaken Point; and, at the same time ob- 
served, that if the captain would only stand on a little further, and, as the fog 
usually disperses as the land is approached, the point could be easily ascertained. 
This was accordingly done, and Sir THomas, after crossing the Atlantic, was 


