f]0 PORTER'S JOURNAL^ 



already had hold of him, when a young officer, who had 

 the misfortune of being very near-sighted, (and who had- 

 reserved his fire, not having seen the drove,) ran forward, 

 and s^eeing, in the dark, the group of sailors about the ani- 

 mal, supposed it to be the horses, and fired. Unhappily, 

 the ball passed through the breast of James SpaiFord, the 

 gunner's mate, one of the best and most trusty men in toy 

 ship. It is impossible for me to express what were my feel- 

 ings, when, with the utmost composure, the poor fellow, 

 with a firm voice, said, " Sir, you have shot me ! I am a dy- 

 ing man ; take me to the boat.'' The distress of the offi- 

 cer on the occasion was beyond description. Doctor Hoff- 

 man was on shore, and gave us but little hopes of his life^ 

 as the ball had entered his right breast, and came out below 

 his right shoulder, near the back-bone. A boat was imme- 

 diately sent off to the ship with him, accompanied by doc- 

 tor Hoffman and the officer who had so unfortunately been 

 the cause of the disaster ; and on my arrival, which was 

 speedily after him, I found him still alive ; but the chief sur- 

 geon, doctor Miller, could give me no reason to believe 

 that he would recover. Had it not been for this dreadful 

 accident, we should have been much delighted with our 

 excursion on shore, as it had not only afforded us a plea- 

 sant recreation after our excessive fatigues at sea, but had 

 enabled us to extend the benefits of it to the whole ship's 

 company, as we had been so succesful as to procure a fresh 

 mess for all hands. The horse-meat, however, was gene- 

 rally preferred to the hogs, it being much fatter, and more 

 tender ; the hogs proved tough, and had, besides, (to me,) 

 an unpleasant flavour, though I heard no complaints among 

 the sailors on that subject, as their stomachs v/ere perhaps 

 less delicate. 



It was much to be regretted, that I had been so impru- 

 dently indulgent, as to permit so many to take muskets on 

 shore, on many accounts ; but more particularly on account 

 '^f the accident which happened to poor Spafford. The 

 constant firing, by bad marksmen, in every direction, not 

 only greatly alarmed the horses and hogs, but made them 

 very shy. This prevented the more skilful from having an 

 opportunity of killing them ; but many of the poor animals 

 were wounded in different parts of the body, and made their 

 escape With the blood streaming from their wounds , where- 



