rms, with two marine
sentinels, conducted them along the starboard gangway to the forecastle.
Here a stage was erected on either side, over the cathead, with steps
to ascend to it; a tail block was attached to the boom-iron, at the
outer extremity of each foreyard-arm, and through this a rope was rove,
one end of which came down to the stage; the other was led along the
yard into the catharpings, and thence down upon the main deck. A gun
was primed and ready to fire, on the fore part of the ship, directly
beneath the scaffold.

I attended poor Strange to the very last moment; he begged me to see
that the halter, which was a piece of line, like a clothes' line, was
properly made fast round his neck, for he had known men suffer
dreadfully from the want of this precaution. A white cap was placed on
the head of each man, and when both mounted the platform, the cap was
drawn over their eyes. They shook hands with me, with their mess-mates,
and with the chaplain, assuring him that they died happy, and confident
in the hopes of redemption. They then stood still while the yard-ropes
were fixed to the halter by a toggle in the running noose of the latter;
the other end of the yard-ropes were held by some twenty or thirty men
on each side of the main deck, where two lieutenants of the ship
attended.

All being ready, the captain waved a white handkerchief, the gun fired,
and in an instant the poor fellows were seen swinging at either
yard-arm. They had on blue jackets and white trousers, and were
remarkably fine-looking young men. They did not appear to suffer any
pain; and at the expiration of an hour, the bodies were lowered down,
placed in coffins, and sent on shore for interment.

On my arrival in England, nine months after, I acquitted myself of my
promise, and paid to the mother of William Strange upwards of fifty
pounds, for pay and prize-money. I told the poor woman that her son had
died a Christian, and had fallen for the good of his country; and having
said this, I took a hasty leave, for fear she should ask questions.

That the execution of a man on board of a ship of war does not always
produce a proper effect upon the minds of the younger boys, the
following fact may serve to prove. There were two little fellows on
board the ship; one was the son of the carpenter, the other of the
boatswain. They were both of them surprised and interested at the
sight, but not proportionably shocked. The next day I was