about three months, when the frigate captured a French privateer, and
found them on board as part of her crew. For the Englishman, of course,
there was no defence; he merited the punishment of death, to which he
was immediately sentenced. There may be some excuse for desertion, when
we consider that the seamen are taken into the service by force, but
there could be none for fighting against his country. But the case of
the Frenchman was different. He was born and bred in France, had been
one of the crew of the French gun-boats, at Cadiz, where he had been
made a prisoner by the Spaniards, and expecting his throat to be cut
every day, had contrived to escape on board of the frigate lying in the
harbour, and entered into our service, I really believe to save his
life. He was nearly two years in the frigate before he could find an
opportunity of deserting from her, and returning to France, when he
joined the French privateer. During the time that he was in the
frigate, he bore an excellent character. The greatest point against him
was, that on his arrival at Gibraltar, he had been offered and had
received the bounty. When the Englishman was asked what he had to say
in his defence, he replied that he had been pressed out of an American
ship, that he was American born, and that he had never taken the bounty.
But this was not true. Both the men were condemned to death, and the
day after the morrow was fixed for their execution.

I was ordered to attend the punishment on the day appointed. The sun
shone so brightly, and the sky was so clear, and the wind so gentle and
mild, that it appeared hardly possible that it was to be a day of such
awe and misery to the two poor men, or of such melancholy to the fleet
in general. I pulled up my boat with the others belonging to the ships
of the fleet, in obedience to the orders of the officer superintending,
close to the fore-chains of the ship. In about half-an-hour afterwards
the prisoners made their appearance on the scaffold, the caps were
pulled over their eyes, and the gun fired underneath them. When the
smoke rolled away, the Englishman was swinging at the yard-arm, but the
Frenchman was not; he had made a spring when the gun fired, hoping to
break his neck at once, and put an end to his misery; but he fell on the
edge of the scaffold, where he lay. We thought that his rope had given
way, and it appeared that he did the same, for he made an inquiry, but
they returned