assed from one mess to another.

It was customary when the fleet was thus assembled to hold
battalion-days--that is to say, that all the various crews would land
with their rifles and cutlasses, and a field gun from each ship.
Headed by the flag-ship's band, we would be marched to a plain, and
there engage in infantry drill as a battalion. Meantime the guns'
crews were competing with each other as to their qualifications for
smartness. The guns would be taken to pieces, unlimbered, and
scattered on the ground, and the wheels of the gun-carriage wheeled
away a considerable distance. On the order being given to "Limber up,
and fire!" the crew which mounted its gun and fired the first shot
earned the laurels. On one occasion the gun's crew of the
'Bellerophon' gained the honour, but unfortunately, through the
neglect of one to serve the vent, the poor fellow lost his right arm,
which was blown into atoms. I am pleased to add that every man and
officer in the fleet freely gave him a day's payment, which in its
totality amounted to nearly a thousand pounds.

It was during this stay at Bermuda that I was nearly shot dead. With
others, I had landed to do my annual firing, which is required of
every man in the navy. We had to fire ten shots from each firing
point, which were separated a hundred yards apart from each other.
There were six firing points, and therefore the limit for firing at
the target was six hundred yards. I had fired my ten shots from the
first point, and now had receded to the two hundred yards range. We
fired in couples. I had made eight bull's eyes on the target, which
delighted me, and after discharging my tenth shot my shipmate had
still to fire his. He held the rifle in the firing position, and was
in the act of pulling the trigger, when I passed within two inches of
his muzzle. I just cleared it when the bullet was fired. It would
have been my fault wholly and solely had an accident happened, as I
ought to have dropped to the rear, instead of passing to the front.
How can I doubt Providence in the light of this incident? It was God
who made the trigger hard to pull that day, and I am positive that
had it been an easy pull-off, the bullet would have passed through my
head, as my mate fired from the kneeling position.

At Halifax all men who had no tunic were ordered to get one. A tailor
came on board and took the measurement of such men, taking on shore
the cloth to make the tunics. Twenty-six shillin