Keppel, I believe, chose all his officers himself; a better lot never set foot on board ship; and there was every prospect of a long and happy commission. _Mais l’homme propose, et Dieu dispose._ We were ready for sea about the middle of October 1856, and sailed out of Portsmouth Harbour with studding-sails set. Tugs were handy; but Keppel disdained the use of them, much to the Port Admiral’s discomfort. We, most of us, had a goodly number of relations on board: in fact, the ship was crowded with sight-seers, some of whom even went up into the tops. I do not know for certain, but it is said that the _Raleigh_ was the last sailing frigate that left the harbour under canvas. We left Spithead on the 26th of October 1856, and, after a dead beat down Channel, called in at Plymouth for final orders. Here we dispatched our last letters home. Mine was my last from English shores to my mother. From Plymouth we shaped course to Madeira, and took ten days on the passage, meeting with strong contrary winds the latter part of the time. How strange is the difference of being in ship and making a passage from port to port with the use of sail power alone--no steam to fall back on in case of emergency! And how much more interesting, and even exciting, it was on entering and leaving a port, particularly if your ship was well manœuvred, while you were threading your way into some difficult harbour full of shipping to pick up a snug berth among the crowd! At sea one is constantly on the look-out for the weather (change of wind and so forth), taking advantage of every opportunity to get on by crowding a press of sail on the ship when opportunity offers. Sailing in and out of harbour required a deal of judgment and prompt decision: any one having two minds at a critical juncture would be bound to come to grief. In the Mediterranean in later years I had command of a wooden sloop. We had engines and boilers. They were seldom used save in some duty requiring despatch; but I enjoyed running into (or even beating in and out of) the small harbour of the Piræus, and it was wonderful how the ship’s company worked on such occasions, all knowing perfectly well the absolute necessity of flying to their ropes as occasion required.