Several of the officers were under arrest, and notwithstanding the
heat of their cabins in that warm climate, were kept constantly
confined to them with a sentinel at the door. In consequence of
this cruel treatment, one of the officers became deranged. We made
Barbadoes, and running round Needham's Point into Carlisle Bay, we saw
to our mortification, that neither the admiral nor any ship of war was
there, consequently our captain was commanding officer in the port.
Upon this, he became remarkably amiable, supposing if the evil day was
put off, it would be dispensed with altogether; he treated me with
particular attention, hoped we should have some fun ashore; as the
admiral was not come in, we should wait for him; tired of kicking
about at sea, he should take all his _duds_, with him, and bring
himself to an anchor on shore, and not come afloat again till we
saluted his flag.
Neither the first lieutenant nor myself believed one word of this;
indeed, we always acted upon the exact reverse of what he said; and it
was well we did so in this instance. After we had anchored, he went
ashore, and in about an hour returned, and stated that the admiral was
not expected till next month; that he should, therefore, go and take
up his quarters at Jemmy Cavan's, and not trouble the ship any more
until the admiral arrived; he then left us, taking his trunk and all
his dirty linen, dirty enough it was.
Some of the officers unfortunately believed that we were to remain,
and followed the captain's example by sending their linen on shore to
be washed.
Pages:
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333