Chap. XIV.—B. P.] DOCTOR’S AND LIEUTENANT’S VIEWS. 237 
boat is called the gig, and has neither shafts nor a 
horse for its motive power, as a late First Lord of 
the Admiralty is reported to have thought), the falls 
or ropes by which it is hoisted np to the davits 
were carried away, first the foremost one, then the 
after one, when, to the extreme astonishment of every 
body, down she went, head foremost. A few of the 
oars and the mast were picked up, but nothing has 
been seen or heard of the boat from that day to this. 
None of the crew disappeared with her, or suffered any 
worse penalty than a good ducking. 
“ It is a long lane which has no turning,” and the 
catastrophe to the paymaster’s waistcoat drew atten¬ 
tion to the extreme misconduct of the 1 Gorgon,’ and 
the probable cause of such behaviour; this led to my 
sending orders on deck to hoist the boom-mainsail (a 
huge after-sail, she was brig rigged), which happily 
had the desired effect of keeping the ship head to 
wind and sea, thus allowing us to finish our dinner 
in comparative comfort. 
But to return to the first lieutenant. Another great 
cause of complaint on his part was the absence of the 
orthodox bright-looking sand, so essential to the pro¬ 
per cleansing of the decks,—the process so familiarly 
known as holy-stoning,—the sand, of which by the 
bye there was unfortunately too much, being, as I 
have mentioned before, more like dirt than any other 
substance to which I can compare it. In short, I 
could see at a glance that the impression left on the 
mind of my friend, the first lieutenant, was anything 
but flattering, looking to the resources of Greytown, 
