Officers and men were at nearly all parts of the ship, and cordially invited the excursionists to go on board, an offer which the steamer declined, out of regard to the safety of the passengers. Small pleasure boats from the beach, however, were running to the fleet in large numbers, cutting and plunging through the sea that might have made some persons timid. The steamers disembarked their freight at the Britannia Pier (which found Sunday the most prosperous day of its existence) and continued throughout the day to run to and from that Pier without intermission. Indeed, in the afternoon the Britannia Pier, which was crowded almost from end to end, presented a remarkable spectacle. The beef, potatoes, and greens for the fleet were brought to the pier-head in carts, and were stacked for conveyance to the ships in the ships’ boats. The sailors, amongst whom was the usual per centage of black fellows, tossed the beef and cabbages into the boats in a manner not at all ceremonious, and one quarter to a certainty, though some say three or four, was pitched into Davey Jones’s locker. This scene of conveying away the carcases of about 60 bullocks (so the number was stated, though we think over the mark), of a few sheep, and goodness only knows how many cabbages and loaves, was very interesting to the public, and kept the pier crowded with spectators till six or seven o’clock. There was in the afternoon and evening the largest assemblage of people on the parade and beach that the oldest inhabitant remembers to have seen in the town, and it was not till a late hour that the last disappeared. The effect of so many strangers being in the town was to effect an entire demolition of most of the eatable stores in the hands of the innkeepers; and it is sufficient to say that a great thirst prevailed. The Jacks and officers who were ashore in some force in the afternoon preferred wandering into the town and outskirts; and the former, who as a rule were shoeless, seemed to pick up a good deal of fun. Besides the usual mode of conveyance of pouring in visitors, we observed several original vehicles from the country arrive in the afternoon, laden to excess and to the evident inconvenience of the passengers. The day passed off so well that the majority of the inhabitants retired, hoping, we have no doubt, that the Channel Fleet might remain a week. Sinister rumours, however, were at work, and some fears were secretly entertained. Great bags of letters had been taken from and sent to the Post Office, and report was that despatches had been received ordering the fleet off to Spithead at once.