Page:Twenty years before the mast - Charles Erskine, 1896.djvu/31

 Peacock, Captain William L. Hudson; the ship Relief, Captain A. K. Long; the brig Porpoise, Captain C.  Ringold; the schooner Sea Gull, Captain Reed; the  schooner Flying Fish, Captain Samuel R. Knox; together with a full corps of scientific men, consisting of  philologists, naturalists, mineralogists, conchologists,  botanists, horticulturists, taxidermists, draughtsmen,  etc., and a complement of six hundred and eighty-seven  men. The entire equipment of the squadron was gen-

DEPARTURE OF THE EXPEDITION.

erous and complete, and could not but reflect honor upon the nation whose public spirit could thus plan and  execute a noble project the value of which to the cause  of science could not easily be estimated.

Everything being ready, we dropped down to Hampton Roads. Commodore Wilkes inspected all the vessels and their crews. As he passed me at muster, "old Adam" came up, and I could not raise my eyes from  the deck, for it was Commodore Wilkes at whose command I had been flogged. The following day we were