Standing in for her, I found that she was the cutter-yacht _Akbar_[B], which had sailed from Watson's Bay about three days ahead of the _Spray_, and that she had run at once into trouble.

No wonder she did so.

It was a case of babes in the wood or butterflies at sea.

Her owner, on his maiden voyage, was all duck trousers; the captain, distinguished for the enormous yachtsman's cap he wore, was a Murrumbidgee[C] whaler before he took command of the _Akbar_; and the navigating officer, poor fellow, was almost as deaf as a post, and nearly as stiff and immovable as a post in the ground.

These three jolly tars comprised the crew.