until the following springs, unless dismantled and cleared of all her stores in less than 48 hours.
No time was to be lost; Captain Evans therefore assembled his people on the quarter deck, proposed to them to work watch and watch by night, and all hands by day, as the only means of bringing their labours to a speedy termination, and had the satisfaction of being answered with three hearty cheers: lighters were immediately sent for, one of which was swamped, with a number of guns in her, when proceeding to the shore; but notwithstanding the unfavorable state of the weather, the work was completed without a murmur, and the ship safely docked within the time appointed, the crew thereby saving themselves from the task of constant pumping for at least another fortnight.
Never did any ship enter the dock in a worse state than the Orpheus – every one wondered how she could have been kept afloat so long: the first and second futtocks might have been dug out with shovels; – when the planks of the main-deck were taken up, the bolts across the ends of the beams were visible; – every part of her was quite rotten, and consequently every thing had to be replaced.
Having seen the Orpheus rebuilt with teak, prepared new rigging, and made every arrangement for speedily rendering her again effective, Captain Evans once more had the mortification to be superseded by an officer sent from England; but, although thus deprived of the command of a frigate, he was immediately appointed by Vice-Admiral Rainier to the Hobart sloop, then employed in the Eastern Seas. His commission as a commander, however, was not confirmed until April 29, 1802.
On joining the Hobart at Amboyna, Captain Evans found that that ship was also in a very rotten state, and making two feet water an hour whilst lying at anchor. From thence he sailed for Ternate, and after beating for some time between Batyang and the rocks and shoals to the westward, without being able to find any anchorage, he was at length drifted in an irresistible manner towards a passage, or rather a waterfall, between two small islands near Gillolo, so narrow, that
