ANOTHER BREAKDOWN. 
115 
Icngtli become so unbearable that permission had been 
asked and received to break out the cargo of stores and 
try to remedy the evil. The attempt was madCj and 
resulted in the discovery that the ship was rotten, — 
totally unseaworthy. She was subsequently condemned 
and turned over to the East India squadron as an armed 
vessel, to be moored oft* the city of Canton for the pro- 
tection of American citizens during the frequent out- 
breaks of rebel violence. 
The Porpoise also had been discovered to be in a very 
rotten condition, and Avas undergoing extensive repairs 
Avlien we arrived. Her captain had been deprived of his 
command, — very unjustly, it Avas thought, — and had left 
for the United States; Lieutenant Henry Rolando, of the 
Vincennes, succeeded him. 
In the mean time Commodoi'e Perry arrived from his 
famous Amyage to Japan, and felt himself called upon to 
take some action in the affairs of the “North Pacific 
Expedition.” Our squadron Avas totally separate and 
distinct from his ; but then he Avas the senior officer pre- 
sent, and, from all that he heard in regard to the health 
of Commander Ringgold, he felt himself called upon to 
interfere. A board of surgeons having reported it as 
“ veiy delicate and in need of quiet and retirement,” — or 
words to that effect, — he ordered him home, and the coni- 
mand naturally devolved upon Commander John Rodgers, 
the officer next in rank. And now commenced a total 
reorganization of our expedition. Captain Collins, Lieu- 
tenant Carter, and Dr. Hamilton, of the Kennedy, Caf>- 
tain Rolando, of the Porpoise, and several officers from 
the other vessels, left us and joined one or more of the 
