153 



greatly to improve her sailing. The command of this ves- 

 5^el, now completely equipped for \Var, I gave to lieutenant 

 Downes, with a crew consisting of thirty-six of our own men, 

 and five of the men who had entered from prizes, making her 

 number altogether forty-one men. The remainder I kept 

 on board the Essex, whose crew now amounted to two hun- 

 dred and sixty-four men, including officers, and those on 

 board the Barclay. I appointed midshipman Haddaway as 

 acting lieutenant on board the Georgiana, and sent Mr. Mil- 

 ler (my former gunner) there to do duty, as well as Kings- 

 bury as boatswain, and two quarter-masters. The equip- 

 ping and manning of this vessel also enabled me to make some 

 promotions on board my own ship from some of the most 

 deserving of my crew^, to fill up the vacancies occasioned by 

 the petty officers sent on board her. W e now considered 

 the sloop of war Georgiana, as she was styled, no triffing 

 augmentation of our own force. But, taken in another 

 view, she was of the utmost importance to our safety ; for, 

 in the event of any accident happening to the Essex, a cir- 

 cumstance to which she was every moment liable, while 

 cruising in a sea with which we were little acquainted, we 

 could calculate on relief from the Georgiana. Added to 

 this, she doubled the chance of annoying the enemy, and 

 might serve as an excellent decoy, as we were particularly 

 careful not to change in the slightest degree her appear- 

 ance as a whaler. On the 8th she hoisted the American 

 ensign and pendant, and saluted the Essex with seventeen 

 guns, which was returned by our crew w^ith three cheers. 



The light baffling winds and strong westerly currents pre- 

 vented me now from laying any plans for my future opera- 

 tions ; my whole attention was turned to getting up to the 

 islands again, as I had intelligence of several other British 

 vessels being in the neighbourhood and expected there ; 

 among others the Perseverance, the Rose, and the New 

 Zealand, three fine Vessels, with nearly full cargoes. I felt 

 anxious to get into port to recruit my stock of water and 

 wood, the only articles we now stood in want of, as was the 

 case with my prizes, which were all short of water. But I 

 WdiS desirous of looking once more into Banks' Bay, where 

 I confidently expected, on a change of current, to make as 

 snany prizes as I could conveniently man. 



The weather being remarkably pleasant, I took advan- 



VOL. I. 20 



