midday
For although , upon our arrival home , all hands had been turned over to the guardship and placed upon her books while our own ship was in the hands of the dockyard people , the admiral had drawn upon them pretty freely , in order to enable other ships to complete their complement and go to sea ; so that when the time came for the _ Europa _ to receive back her crew , it was found that she was nearly fifty men short of her full number . This was all the more unfortunate , in that we had very little time left us in which to make up the deficiency ; for we were to sail in three days ' time for Plymouth , there to form part of the escort of a large fleet of merchantmen and transports bound to the West Indies under convoy . But now it was that our new second and third lieutenants showed their mettle , for on the very night of my arrival on board they organised two formidable pressgangs , which they led ashore , one party landing at Portsmouth and the other at Gosport ; and between them they managed to make a clean sweep of pretty nearly all the crimps ' houses within a radius of four miles of the harbour , returning to the ship shortly before daylight the next morning considerably battered and the worse for wear -- for they had been engaged in a series of desperate hand-to-hand fights -- but bringing with them sixty-three fine , able-bodied merchant seamen , who had been in close hiding while awaiting a berth . A few of these men had already served on board a man-o ' - war , and they did not need very much persuasion to induce them to enter again ; when the ball having once been set rolling , as it were , the rest followed suit in little batches of twos and threes until by midday the whole of them had `` volunteered , '' and we had completed our complement . At daylight , on the third morning after my arrival on board , Blue Peter was hoisted , the fore-topsail was loosed , and a gun was fired as a signal that we were about to proceed to sea ; and from that moment until the anchor was lifted all was bustle and confusion -- hoisting in and securing the boats , stowing away stock of all descriptions , and clearing the ship of women -- wives and sweethearts of the crew -- and traders who were anxious to obtain a settlement of accounts . The Captain 's gig had been sent ashore immediately after breakfast ; and about ten o'clock she returned , bringing off Captain Vavassour ; the boatswains piped `` All hands up anchor ! '' and half-an-hour later we were bowling away down the Solent before a fine easterly breeze .