Shortly after this event, there were some changes in the British navy. Captain Snipes was supplanted in command of the _Macedonian_ by Captain Carden. Fernando, Terrence and the negro were shortly after transferred to the war-sloop _Sea Shell_, Captain Bones, while poor Sukey was still left aboard the _Macedonian_. Shortly after these changes Captain Snipes and Mr. Hugh St. Mark, the silent gunner, were transferred to the man-of-war _Xenophon_. Thus we see, by those interminable and inexplicable changes constantly going on in the royal navy the friends were separated. There may be some reason for those constant changes in the navy; but they are not apparent to the sagest landsman living. Captain Conkerall had made himself so ridiculous in Baltimore, that he had been forced to quit the service in order to escape he ridicule of his fellow officers. This left Lieutenant Matson in command of the _Xenophon_ until Captain Snipes was assigned to that duty. Fernando Stevens felt some regrets in leaving the _Macedonian_. One's very sufferings may endear them to a place. But Fernando's chief regret was in leaving the friend of his childhood. Sukey and he shed manly tears as each saw the face of his friend fade from view. Terrence soon ingratiated himself into the favor of Captain Bones, who had a weakness for punch and whist. Terrence knew how to brew the punch to the taste of the captain, and could play whist so artistically, that the captain could, by the hardest sort of playing, just win. Terrence boasted of excellent family connection, and gave as his reason for his not having a mid-shipman's commission, that his father objected to the sea, and he had been impressed instead of entering the navy of his own accord. Bones was not as punctilious as most captains, especially when Terrence could brew such excellent punch, and Terrence soon became a favorite and came and went at pleasure in the captain's cabin. When the captain imbibed quite freely, he often hinted at a promotion for Terrence. Fernando paid little attention to the course of the vessel. He had been in nearly all the parts of the world, and seldom asked which continent they were on, or in what waters they sailed. He was sober, silent and melancholy. One bright August day in 1811, they were off some coast, he knew not what. All day the weather had been glorious. Toward sunset, the clouds began to gather in heavy masses to the southeast, and a little later a heavy breeze sprang up from that direction. As darkness came on, the wind increased, blowing a strong gale, and it blew all night. As morning dawned a dense fog settled down over the vessel and completely obscured everything. Soundings were taken; but the captain, who had yielded to the seductive punch of Terrence Malone, could not determine where they were. When daylight came the sea had changed color, which proved that they were in shallow water. On heaving the lead it was ascertained that they were only in twelve fathoms water.