When Clapperton left the Renommée frigate, and his generous captain, Sir Thomas Livingstone, to whom he was indebted for his first step of promotion in the Royal Navy, he is said to have joined his Majesty’s ship Venerable, (or, as others say, the San Domingo,) which then lay in the Downs under the command of Captain King. But as this was a situation too monotonous and inactive for his enterprising spirit, he volunteered to go with Captain Briggs, to the East Indies, in the Clorinde frigate. Though, however, his services were accepted, he could not obtain his discharge in time to make his voyage to India in the Clorinde; and so he was deprived of the pleasure of getting acquainted, in the course of it, with those with whom he was ultimately to be associated as his messmates. But as tranships and convoys were frequently sailing from England to the east, he was ordered by the Admiral to have a passage on board one of them, and to join Captain Briggs on his arrival in India. In the course of this outward voyage, he was ordered, during the raging of a tremendous storm, to go, in an open barge, to the relief of a vessel in distress. The barge was accordingly manned, but the mighty rolling of the billows chaffed and vexed with the furious raging of the tempest, was such, that Clapperton and many others on board the ship in which he sailed, were of opinion, that it was next to impossible an open boat could live during the blowing of so heavy a gale. In this emergency, Clapperton said, that it was not for him to dispute the orders of his superior officer, but that he was thoroughly convinced that in doing his duty he must sacrifice his life. Then, in serious mood and sailor-like fashion, he made his will, bequeathing any little property he had among his messmates—his kit to one, his quadrant to another, and his glass and watch to a third—adding, that in all probability they should never meet again, and requesting them to keep these articles, trifling as they were, in token of his affection for them. Then he jumped into the barge, which, in spite of all that the most skillful seamanship could accomplish, had scarcely left the side of the ship, when she was upset, and the greater part of her crew engulfed in the awfully agitated waters. Clapperton, however, and a few other individuals, still clung to the sides of the floating wreck; and though their perilous situation was distinctly seen from the ship, no assistance could be afforded to them, so long as the tempest continued to rage with so much violence. In the mean time, Clapperton, while he was careful to preserve his own life, did his utmost, and more than perhaps any other man would have ventured to do in like circumstances, to save the lives of his companions in distress. As they, one by one, lost their hold of the barge, and dropped off into the sea, he swam after them, picked them up, and replaced them in their former situation. He was especially anxious to save the life of a warrant