y a swing." In this situation it was common to see a person upon
each side of the ship for a length of time, waiting to quit his hold.

On leaving the rock to-day a trial of seamanship was proposed amongst
the rowers, for by this time the artificers had become tolerably expert
in this exercise. By inadvertency some of the oars provided had been
made of fir instead of ash, and although a considerable stock had been
laid in, the workmen, being at first awkward in the art, were constantly
breaking their oars; indeed it was no uncommon thing to see the broken
blades of a pair of oars floating astern, in the course of a passage
from the rock to the vessel. The men, upon the whole, had but little
work to perform in the course of a day; for though they exerted
themselves extremely hard while on the rock, yet, in the early state of
the operations, this could not be continued for more than three or four
hours at a time, and as their rations were large--consisting of one
pound and a half of beef, one pound of ship biscuit, eight ounces
oatmeal, two ounces barley, two ounces butter, three quarts of small
beer, with vegetables and salt--they got into excellent spirits when
free of sea-sickness. The rowing of the boats against each other became
a favourite amusement, which was rather a fortunate circumstance, as it
must have been attended with much inconvenience had it been found
necessary to employ a sufficient number of sailors for this purpose. The
writer, therefore, encouraged this spirit of emulation, and the speed of
their respective boats became a favourite topic. Premiums for boat-races
were instituted, which were contended for with great eagerness, and the
respective crews kept their stations in the boats with as much precision
as they kept their beds on board of the ship. With these and other
pastimes, when the weather was favourable, the time passed away among
the inmates of the forecastle and waist of the ship. The writer looks
back with interest upon the hours of solitude which he spent in this
lonely ship with his small library.

This being the first Saturday that the artificers were afloat, all hands
were served with a glass of rum and water at night, to drink the
sailors' favourite toast of "Wives and Sweethearts." It was customary,
upon these occasions, for the seamen and artificers to collect in the
galley, when the musical instruments were put in requisition: for,
according to invariable practice, every man must p