153 



pointed to fo good a Chip ; and, hearing that 

 troops were to be thickly flowed on board the 

 different veflels of the expedition, anticipated 

 much of comfort upon the paffage, by obferving 

 that the Grenada was free from the crowd I had 

 expe&ed to meet. But my felf-gratulations 

 proved to be fomewhat premature, Upwards 

 of three hundred troops arrived quickly after, 

 and a fcene of crowd and confufion was in- 

 troduced furpaffing all that even fancy had 

 created. Many of the men were intoxicated 

 * — mo ft of them were up to their knees in wa- 

 ter, in the boat, and fome as wet from head to 

 foot as if they had been dragged through the 

 fea. In the hurry of fcrambling up the 

 fliip, two of them fell overboard, and narrow- 

 ly efcaped being drowned. The decks foon 

 became fo crowded, as to render it impoffible 

 to pafs, and amidft the throng of living flow- 

 age a further inconvenience was produced from 

 the hatch-ways being obliged to be opened for 

 the reception of cannon, ammunition, baggage, 

 paid other ftores, which the fhip's company 

 were hoifting in on all fides, 



Negroes, failors, foldiers, and officers all 

 singled together, in one hurried and anxious 



