He replied, ' I will give you some clothes; come with me.' So I followed him to a common sailor's clothing store; he ordered a suit of sailor's clothes, which he paid fur and left me. I threw them into the street, the shopman picked them up again, and persuaded me to put them on, which I consented to, and these are the clothes I now have." I had no opportunity of conversing with this unfortunate man after this, though frequently saw him among the crowd, sometimes drunk, and sometimes sober. One cold, drizzly morning, I heard the boatswain's whistle, and the call "all hands on the quarter-deck to master! I soon ascertained that a draft was to be made from this receiving ship of seventy-five men for Lake Ontario as it was expected that Com.
Chauncy would soon fight the decisive battle. When the men were all up, the purser sung out, " All you, whose names are called, pass over to the starboard side." And among those selected, I saw poor Harris. He was a fine looking man, very much resembling Daniel Webster. Very stem these men were ordered to the boat along side, to be conveyed to the Albany packet. Harris had no pea-jacket, and was wet through before the boat left the ship's side. I saw no more of him, and think it probable that he died very soon after arriving at Sackets Harbor, as the dysentery was very prevalent, particularly among the intemperate, and but a few survived. The old Alert was now so crowded with fresh recruits, that it became necessary to ship some of us on board the Corvette John Adams.
I was among the draft selected for her; we went on board early in the morning. The purser's steward had not arranged for our rations, so we had nothing to eat that day, until just at night, when we got some fresh beef, which I ate raw. The John Adams, soon after we joined her, was ordered to be fitted as a cartel for Bermuda, to bring home the crew of the U. S. frigate President, which had been captured by a British squadron off New York, and carried into that place. We were now divided round among the gunboats; myself and twelve others were put on board a gunboat which had been used as a tender for^the frigate President, while she lay in the harbor of New York. ^ This gunboat had been hauled up in a cove, and was full of rats and old rigging.
A negro was given us for a cook, and we were to live on board this craft, until the vessels composing the Flying Squadron were ready to receive their crews. Wo who were on board the Tender, were among those selected for the Firefly, and of course we belonged to the commodore. I had two companions, with whom I was more intimate than any of the others; although when drunk, they were furious, and would as soon kill me as they would a rat. Still they were excellent seamen, and men of good information, when sober; and as I did not use any kind of intoxicating drink, I frequently became the butt of their ridicule and sometimes of abuse.
Their names were Jack Wilson and Jack Anderson; the latter was a Scotchman, and belonged to Aberdeen, and a man of excellent information; he had a wife in Brooklyn, near the Navy Yard, although not allowed to leave the yard, I have many a time assisted him in getting out at night, that he might visit his family, and frequently supplyin o- him with money. His wife at one time was very sick, and notwithstanding my kindness towards him, he got drunk one night, and abused me shamefully. Next day, however, he felt quite ashamed, and asked my forgiveness. Wilson was in the battle of Lake Champlain, was wounded in the head, and a little grog would make him crazy.
As we had been pent up in the Navy Yard nearly ten months, we devised a scheme to get out and have a cruise; not a drunken one, however, but merely a look around, as we termed it, and in order to effect this without being stopped by a sentinel, we remained on board the Firefly, where we had been at work all day, until after sundown; it was bitter cold, but we were determined to have a cruise, at any rate. When all was still, we got out on the jib-boom, and dropped on to a fence, and then to the ground, and by climbing over two or three other fences, found ourselves in the street. We went along until we came to a church, lighted up for a lecture; went in and took seats near the organ.