th him, in charge of the boat, taking with me a
letter which I had found time to write to my father, acquainting him
with the good fortune that had befallen us. I walked up from the
Sallyport to the admiral's office with the skipper, carrying his
dispatch-box for him, and leaving the boat in charge of the coxswain;
for although, under ordinary circumstances, such a proceeding would
probably have resulted in the loss of the whole boat's crew, the amount
of prize-money which we had made within the last two days completely
banished all thought of desertion in the minds of the men.

Of course the fame of our brilliant double exploit soon spread all over
the towns of Portsmouth and Gosport, and although men were at that
moment very hard to get, several of the ships in harbour being so
short-handed as to be unable to go to sea, it was no sooner made known
that we required a few more hands to complete our complement than we had
more offers than we had room for. We remained at Spithead only three
days, during which we replenished our stock of water, provisions, and
ammunition, and then we were once more dispatched by the admiral to our
former cruising-ground.

But during that brief interval one or two interesting changes had
occurred. In the first place the _Belle Marie_, having been surveyed,
was reported to be a practically new ship, perfectly sound, and in every
respect admirably adapted for service in the navy; she was therefore
purchased by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, and ordered at
once into harbour to undergo such alterations as were deemed necessary,
and to refit. Next, Captain Vavassour had spoken so highly in his
dispatches of the admirable tact and ability displayed by Mr Adair in
his conduct of the expedition against the French batteries, and
afterward in the cutting-out of the Indiaman, that our first luff had at
once received his promotion and been appointed to the command of the
prize--renamed the _Sparta_. This of course created a vacancy on board
the _Europa_, which was filled by Mr Howard, who became our new first
luff, while Mr Galway also stepped up a ratline and became second. The
vacancy created by the promotion of Mr Galway was not filled, but we
had no doubt that it would ultimately fall to O'Brien, our senior mid,
who was within a month of having served his full time, and to whom an
acting order was given. These several changes were in the highest
degree satisfactory to all hands o