ABSTRACT
One night the ship was searched for me through a simple circumstance. I was for watch at 12 at night, and not thinking it worth while going to my berth till that time, I stowed myself behind one of the ship’s company on a hencoop. When the watch was called at 12 I did not awake, and the corporal of the new watch going to my berth and I not being there, the word was passed both on deck and between decks for Corporal Calladine, but he was not to be found. The noise made between decks woke an old woman, who immediately missed her daughter, who ought to have been in the berth with her. She said she made no doubt but we were stowed away together, as she knew we were a little intimate, which made the corporal and serjeant of the new watch the more anxious to find me, as they might have the fun of the thing; they searched all the places they could think of, even the round tops, but all in vain. However, by-and-bye something was to be done with the sails, when the sailor jumped up and me along with him, but I could not persuade them where I had been, and they persisted I had been with the young woman. I certainly was innocent for this time. The next morning I got a pretty salute from the mother, but it was all in vain for me to protest my innocence. The old woman knew the daughter was somewhere where she should not be, and for that she received a drubbing the next morning. I found that she was with the ship’s steward, as I got several handfuls of plums and currants from her. These were two of the women of the 73rd Regiment who were sent home for bad behaviour.
