"Captain Gordon was put in command of the ship, and Commodore Barron was selected to hoist a broad pennant in her as commander of the squadron. As soon as the orders had been issued they began enlisting a crew, and I was one of the men who enlisted. They had a good set of officers all around, and no doubt the crew was a good one, but it was very green when we dropped down the Potomac about the 4th of June and anchored in Hampton Roads. When we left the navy-yard at Washington we had only twelve guns on board and a part of our stores, and we stayed in Hampton Roads about three weeks completing our armament, and taking on provisions, water, ammunition, and other necessary things." "You seem to have taken things very leisurely," I remarked, as Haines paused for a moment. "Yes, that's so," was the reply; "but then in time of peace you don't do things in a hurry on a man-of-war. Although the ship was put in commission on the 22d of February, it wasn't until the 22d of June that we got underway from Hampton Roads, bound to the Mediterranean. "I must go back a little and say that, while we were enlisting the crew, the British minister complained to the navy department that we had taken in three deserters from his Majesty's ship, Melampus. The Melampus had been lying in Hampton Roads, and they claimed that three of her men got away from her and enlisted on the Chesapeake." "Didn't our government do anything about it?" I asked. "Yes," Haines replied; "they told Commodore Barron what the British minister had said, and the commodore told Captain Gordon to look into the matter and report." "Did he find that they really had three British deserters enlisted for the Chesapeake?" "Well, yes, they did," said Haines; "the three men were actually deserters from the Melampus, but they all claimed to be impressed Americans who were serving unwillingly on the British ship, and had taken the first opportunity that offered to escape from their unjust and illegal detention. "One of the men was said to be a native of the eastern shore of Maryland, a part of the country that Captain Gordon came from. He made a careful investigation, the captain did, and was satisfied with the truth of the man's story. Another of the alleged deserters was a colored man, and there was hardly any chance to doubt the truth of his assertion, that he was a native born American, and a victim of the British system of impressment. "The story of the third sailor was not entirely clear, but it was pretty well established, and Captain Gordon made his report accordingly. It went through the customary channels, and was afterwards sent to the British minister, who appears to have been satisfied, as nothing more was said on the subject. The story had circulated around on the ship, but had been pretty well forgotten when we sailed for the Mediterranean.