Finally, on April 15, 1832, Audubon and his party were able to board the revenue cutter _Marion_, commanded by Robert Day, and the opportunity thus afforded for exploring the dangerous east Florida coast amply repaid them for their long and vexatious delays. They visited the islands from St. Augustine to Key West, and examined every part of the shore which it was the duty of the _Marion_ to approach. At Indian Key the deputy collector, Mr. Thurston, gave Audubon the services of his pilot, a veteran sailor and hunter, who accompanied him on the _Marion_ for a number of weeks and led many boat journeys to lonely islands, where vast colonies of sea fowl then dwelt in undisputed possession. The leisurely movements of the vessel also enabled the naturalist to produce many finished drawings, and to obtain materials for fresh "Episodes."[17] At Key West Audubon was hospitably received by Major Classel,[18] and by Dr. Strobel, who was of great assistance both to him and to Bachman in procuring new birds from that little known point. The unexpected delays experienced in Florida, and the expense which the presence of his assistants necessarily entailed, in all probability, deterred the naturalist from the more hazardous and uncertain enterprise of attempting to reach the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Coast, which for years had been the great object of his ambition. At all events, after their work was finished at Key West, the party returned to St. Augustine, and on the fifth day of March again boarded the packet schooner _Agnes_, which was to bear them with their collections to Charleston. Audubon, however, left the vessel at Savannah, in order to deliver letters from the Rathbones of Liverpool to a number of their rich merchant friends in the former city. One of these, named William Gaston,[19] at first declined to subscribe to _The Birds of America_, on the ground of its great expense and the demands made upon his purse by charity, but his indifference was quickly overcome: not only did he write his name on Audubon's list, but he immediately went out and obtained three other subscribers; he even insisted on becoming Audubon's agent at Savannah, and saw to it that none of those subscriptions was ever allowed to lapse in after years. Savannah eventually gave him six subscribers, which was more than were credited to either Philadelphia or Baltimore. At Charleston the party disbanded. Lehman returned to Philadelphia, whither Audubon later followed him, but Henry Ward obtained a position with the Museum of Natural History, in which Bachman was interested, and he appears to have been of much assistance both to Bachman and to his friend in procuring for them specimens of new or desirable birds and mammals; at a later day, however, he seems to have fallen into disesteem on account of unpaid debts. CHAPTER XXVII EASTERN VISIT AND EXPLORATIONS IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC