The next morning at half-past seven the ship lifted. The heaviest part was the weighing and replacing guns. The launch lifted the guns and brought them alongside; the main-yard tackle, properly secured, had to weigh them, the fall was passed round the quarter-deck capstan. Boys manned the bars and ran round; but when the gun reached the surface it required men at the capstan to hoist it over the hammock netting. [Illustration: Mæander _on Shore_.] I mention this to show what every engineer knows, the extraordinary power and buoyancy of salt water. [Sidenote: July 19.] By breakfast-time we were steering, with all sail set, for Balambangan; and, if the rusty appearance of the muzzles of the guns had not told tales, no one who met us could have seen that anything had happened. [Sidenote: July 20.] Met in Kimanis Bay the H.E.T.C. steam-frigate _Semiramis_, Commander Daniell, with our pinnace in tow. They manned the rigging and gave us three hearty cheers. Comber told me that, after the tide fell, the ship had the appearance of lying on the top of a hill. [Sidenote: July 22.] Came to off Coal Point, Labuan. Coal had become so scarce at Singapore that the Commander-in-Chief had sent to borrow some from the Dutch Government at Batavia. All the surface coal had been picked off by the then contractors, before the Charter was granted to the Eastern Archipelago Company to supply our steamers, and that part of the seam at which they were now working was some 200 yards from the water’s edge. By working in the cool of the morning and evening, we put on board in a few days 150 tons, filling the after-hold. [Sidenote: Aug. 13.] We had just completed our dirty job, when the news reached us that the Sekarran and Serebas pirates had put to sea, and that the _Albatros_, Captain Farquhar, accompanied by Sir James Brooke and his native force, was out in search of them: by the time we got to the Bornean coast the fleet of pirates had been destroyed. Conceive my ill-luck! Lucky Farquhar! [Sidenote: Aug. 20.] Arrived at Singapore. Ran with our cargo into New Harbour by the western entrance. [Sidenote: Aug. 24.] _Hastings_, with flag flying, arrived in the roads in tow of _Fury_ from Trincomalee. Having reported to the Admiralty the natural advantages of the Inner Harbour of Singapore as a coaling-station over twelve months ago, and no notice having been taken of my letter, I now sent a similar statement, with survey, to the Secretary of the P. and O. Company. Found the _Australia_ schooner at Singapore, sent to us by the Admiral from Trincomalee, to man and take to Sydney for the Colonial Government. Sent Lieutenant Comber and eight men in charge of her. [Sidenote: Sept. 13.] _Hastings_ left for China in tow of _Fury_; a farewell salute for Sir Francis Collier. [To my sorrow we never met again. He died in China shortly after we left the station.] [Sidenote: Sept. 24.]