ermitted to enjoy the
refined and cultured society of our generous friends, and it is to be
hoped we came out the purer for the contact.

June 24th--The sweetest pleasure has its after-pang; the most beautiful
rose its latent thorn. So, too, I see, is it with those who undertake to
narrate facts. This day marks the loss of another shipmate, from one of
those suddenly awful deaths to which the sailor is, above all other men,
perhaps, ever liable. One of our boys, William Edwards, whilst at work
on the main crosstrees, fell to the deck, sustaining such fearful
injuries that he died a few moments afterwards. We buried him in the
little cemetery on shore, where an unpretending gothic cross now records
the simple fact that a sailor has died.

After all, our ship is not entirely useless; so thinks the admiral, for
he left orders that we were to repair to Wosung to fill up with
provisions for the squadron, and from thence to proceed to Nagasaki to
await their arrival; a feat we performed, I believe, to his entire
satisfaction.

Another of our old officers left us here to take command of the
"Lapwing," her captain having shot himself in consequence of the
decision of the court against him in the affair of the late collision.
Much regret was felt at losing Mr. Haygarth--about the last of the
executive officers who commissioned us.

Sometime after the sailing of the squadron, we left, with the "Zephyr"
in company, to rejoin the admiral in Posiette Bay, Siberia. But the
little ship being minus several sheets of copper, we put in at the
island of Tsu-sima to allow her effective repairs.

August 7th.--And now we may be said to form a component part of the
squadron; henceforth, the ships are to follow our lead, for the St.
George's cross once more flutters from our fore-royal mast head.

Posiette is certainly a magnificent anchorage, capable of accommodating
many fleets. All around richly clothed hills, admirably suited for
grazing and agricultural purposes, shelter the great sheet of water from
all winds. Nature, however, seems to hold undivided sway on those still,
solemn hills, or those broad glassy plains; for not an animal nor house
to betray the presence of the universal devastator can be seen, though I
hear that only a short distance over the hills several thousands of
Russian soldiers are under canvas, pending the conclusion of
negociations with China, relative to Kashgar.

August 11th.--At noon the squadron, comprisi