sual, I bade them and those of my brothers and
sisters who remained at home farewell, and, with a chest rather more
amply supplied with necessaries than when I first went to sea, I set off
for my ship then lying at Hamoze, and joined her on the 15th of October,
1775. I was, as I fully expected, successful in getting Tommy Rockets
rated as a landsman on board, and though, poor fellow, he at first
looked very much like a fish out of water, and a very odd fish too, I
saw that it would not be long before he would be perfectly at home on
his new element.

As soon as he had been entered and had become one of the ship's company,
I told him to go aloft, to give him some experience before we got to
sea. "What, to the top of them big sticks that grow out of the ship?
They be plaguey high, Master Hurricane!" said he, looking up doubtingly,
at the same time preparing to swarm up by the foremast itself. When he
found that he might go up by the shrouds he seemed to think it a very
easy matter, and before many days were over he could go aloft as quickly
as any lad in the ship. I got an old seaman, Nol Grampus, who had
sailed with me in two ships before, to look after him and to put him up
to his duty, which, to do him justice, he was very anxious to learn. A
little help of this sort to a lad when he first goes to sea is of great
service to him in many ways; it gives him encouragement, it saves him
from many a cuff and harsh word, and makes a seaman of him much sooner
than he would otherwise become. On the 16th of the month we went into
the Sound, where the remainder of the officers joined. By frequently
sending press-gangs on shore we got together our ship's company, but we
had yet to learn the stuff they were made of. I was truly glad to find
two or three old shipmates on board. One of them was Gerrard Delisle,
my greatest friend. We had gone afloat at the same time and were
exactly the same age and standing, though, I must confess, he was vastly
my superior in education and ability. He had all the gallantry and
impetuosity of an Irishman, with a warm heart full of generous feelings,
and at the same time the polish of a man of the world, not always to be
obtained in a cock-pit. Another friend of mine was Noel Kennedy, also a
master's mate. He was a Scotchman of good family, of which he was not a
little proud. His pride in this respect was an amiable failing, if
failing it was, for his great anxiety was to shed honour on