I visited, in company with Captain Ryk, the Ganges, a ship of the line of eighty-four guns, built a few years since by Indian workmen, entirely of Teak-wood. This hard and heavy timber is not only very lasting, but has also the great excellence of not cracking in a warm climate. We were received on board the ship with great attention, in the absence of Captain Campbell, by Lieutenant Wright, who did the honours in a very friendly manner. I cannot sufficiently admire the neatness observed in this ship. They have an excellent mode of taking care of the rings, bolts, weapons, and other iron, brass, and copper utensils, on board of English ships of war. The forepart of the gun-deck is an extraordinary apartment, the iron implements are varnished, and the others polished and arranged along the whitewashed sides, so as to form figures and inscriptions. When strangers visit the ship a sort of chandelier is lighted, which produces a very beautiful effect. When we left the ship, Lieutenant Wright had the politeness to take us in his barge to the inner harbour, where the ships are laid up in ordinary. As we left the Ganges, she saluted us with nineteen guns. Ships in commission are painted black and white; when they go into ordinary this paint is scraped off, and they are then painted brownish yellow; if not again to be employed in active service they are painted entirely black. We went on board of the _Nelson_, of one hundred and twenty guns, in the harbour. She is a new ship, but lay in ordinary, having been already affected with the destructive _dry-rot_. The injured planks had been removed, and at present she is entirely sound. The Nelson, Ganges, and all the recently built ships of the line have round sterns. All of them have the wood work necessary for their equipment, as for gun-carriages, &c. on board. In order to preserve this and the deck from the influence of the weather, a large roof is built over them. From the Nelson we went on board the royal yacht, the _Royal George_, which I had already seen, but which I willingly examined once more, on account of her elegant construction and great luxury. The magnificence of the royal apartments, and those for the suite, are very strongly contrasted with the birth-deck for the crew, which is both dark and confined. We remarked here a patent iron camboose, which cooked all the food by means of steam.