When we were passing through the straits of Malacca a sailor of the _Alexander_ disappeared, with his hammock. They thought he wanted to desert the ship, and had thrown himself overboard, taking with him his hammock, which was covered with cork and floats. When the _Bezuprechny_ received her injury a servant thought she was sinking, and waking all the officers, he put a life-belt into their hands. There is a goat in that torpedo-boat. They brought her from Nosi Be. During the thirty days' passage she fed only on paper, did not eat hay, and even now refuses it. They nurse her like a baby. All the visiting-cards have been eaten by her. To-day she has been taken for a run on shore. A boatswain and a sailor were buried to-day. They were killed by a derrick in the _Irtish_. In almost every port there are victims of accidents in the fleet. I saw some natives--Annamese. They are of the Malay type, yellow and rather repulsive. They approached the _Kamchatka_ and _Bezuprechny_, offering to sell various rubbish. The tobacco was quickly bought up, and they paid very dearly for it. Will the _Orel_ bring me an answer to my telegram? How delighted I should be if I received it! We are coaling in the _Suvaroff_. Everywhere there is dirt and nastiness; they are heaping up coal in the wardroom and in the officers' cabins. 1 a.m.--Received your telegram. Many thanks. _April 3rd._--_Transport Kamchatka, Kamranh Bay._ At last I can write. I have not been in the _Suvaroff_ since yesterday. All the time I was either in the _Bezuprechny_ or on board the _Kamchatka_, where I am now writing to you. I obtained paper, went into the deck-house, and am scribbling. Horrible! Whole flocks of cockroaches are running about. The German steamer _Dagmar_ weighed anchor yesterday to go to Saigon. She was stopped and given a mail from the staff. I took advantage of this, and gave my letters to be sent to her. I am not satisfied with the work in the _Bezuprechny_. I counted on finishing it to-day, and have not succeeded. The sea and the swell hindered it. Her rudder is repaired, and they are now repairing the breach. Yesterday a French cruiser came to Kamranh with an admiral. Salutes were exchanged. The admirals paid each other visits. To-day the cruiser left. 11 p.m.--Battleship _Kniaz Suvaroff_. I had scarcely succeeded in writing the last page when a letter from the _Suvaroff_ came for me. I found the ship horribly dirty. Everywhere there was coal-dust as thick as your finger. It hangs in the air like a fog. I do not know where or how to sleep. It is hot and dusty in the cabin. Last night I dozed, sitting on the _Kamchatka's_ deck in a chair (a canvas one like those used in datchas[15]). I woke up at six o'clock in the morning.