It not being our intention to make any stay here, without there was sufficient freight for home to make it an inducement for us so to do, we did not anchor, but stood off and on shore on alternate tacks. The captain lowered away, taking with him the men who came aboard without an agreement at Port Louis, for the purpose of shipping them before the American consul. His principal object, however, was to get letters, which we had directed to be sent here in numberless missives written many miles to the westward, and on this account St. Helena has been, for months, the wished-for port. Everybody expecting consecutive letters filling up the void of the last eighteen months, since which time none of us have received news of our families and friends, and, from the many dolorous accounts we have heard of the financial affairs of the country, everyone is interested to know what bearing such a crisis had had upon his connections; hence our anxiety. After many injunctions to send the boat off that night, the captain departed. We patiently waited until sundown, when, no boat approaching, we began to be uneasy. An hour later, we were chafing, almost the whole crew were walking decks in an excited, uneasy manner; and, although they did not curse the old man, they invoked anything but blessings upon his head, innocent though he was. Next morning, when the boat arrived, we found that from some misconception of orders, we should have stood in, when we stood off, shore; and, consequently, the third mate was kept chasing us in his boat from nightfall until three o’clock in the morning, when, giving up the pursuit as hopeless, he went aboard the Messenger, and, with his wearied crew, turned in.