From this day until the difficult task had been performed every man and boy was kept busy from early dawn until darkness rendered it difficult to see what we were about; and in this general furbishing our own ship was not neglected. The rigging of the _Essex_ was overhauled and tarred; strained spars were replaced by new ones, and the frigate was given a complete coat of paint. The _Georgiana_ was transformed by the taking down of her try-work, which had been used for getting oil from the blubber of whales, and all the small arms from the other prizes were sent on board. She was given her full complement of guns, those from the _Policy_ being transshipped, and on the 18th day of May Lieutenant Commandant Downes hoisted the American pennant on board the _Georgiana_, 16, firing a salute of seventeen guns, all of which were answered by the _Essex_, while the remaining prizes made as much noise as was possible. We had a great celebration that day when a new ship was added to the United States Navy, and the cooks did their share toward it by filling our duff so full of plums that one could almost believe he was eating a regular, home-made pudding. The manning of our prizes cost us so many of our crew that after all the ships were in sailing trim we had on board the _Essex_ only two hundred and sixty-four, including officers, a small number, as Master Hackett declared, to handle the frigate in case we found ourselves in action,--an event which seemed only too probable when it should be known in England what mischief we were working among the whalers. Our new man-of-war was given a fair trial to prove whether she was as good a sailer as had been believed, and we soon learned that the Britishers were decidedly at fault regarding her. She could not hold her own with the _Essex_ even under the most favorable circumstances; but yet she was by no means a tub, and might be of great service before falling in with an enemy sufficiently heavy to send her to the bottom. Four days after being put into commission the _Georgiana_ set off on an independent cruise, and we hung around Charles's Island until the 28th of May before sighting another sail. Then one hove in sight dead ahead, and, success having made us confident, we piled on the canvas, believing she was the same as ours already. Our three prizes, with good working crews, were close aboard us at the moment the stranger was sighted, and away we dashed in the finest style, ready to meet anything from a line-of-battle ship to a couple of frigates. The chase was begun late in the afternoon, and we held on all night, keeping her well in sight, and heaving in view another sail of which we took no notice, save to send a couple of boats after her, for the bird which we had almost in our hand was worth any two well down on the horizon.