Page:Twenty years before the mast - Charles Erskine, 1896.djvu/272

 Before we left here, we had a circus on board. By invitation of the ward-room officer, a large number of  Spanish ladies visited the ship. The quarter-deck was decorated with the flags of almost all nations. There were many dances danced, among which were the Spanish fandango, the love, courtship, marriage, and bull-bait dances, all of which were most gracefully executed. Both ladies and gentlemen seemed to enjoy the dances; also the wine, which was flowing about pretty freely. The music from the guitars was so inspiring that we on the forecastle put in several fore-and-afters, all-fours,  break-downs, and sailors’ hornpipes. Late at night, both men and women retired to the shore, with a good freight  of wine on board.

All the surveying parties having returned, the observatory was taken down, and all the instruments carried on board ship, the boats were hoisted in, and everything  was stowed snugly away.

On the 1st of November signals were made to get under way, when we weighed anchor and stood out of  the harbor, with the two brigs and the schooner. At sundown, the wind dying away and a strong tide setting against us, and the weather becoming foggy, we  came to anchor in seven fathoms of water. Signal was made to the other vessels, which were a mile ahead of  us, to anchor. It was calm at the time, and the bay was as smooth as a mill-pond, while not a breath of air was  stirring. At four bells, ten o’clock, all hands turned in except the first part of the starboard watch. About eleven o’clock, the sea swell suddenly set in, and all  hands were called on deck. By midnight the swell had