I was walking the deck, in no very happy state of mind, reflecting seriously on parts of that Bible which for more than two years I had never looked into, when my thoughts were called to the summons which poor Quid had received, and the beauty of the funeral service which I had heard read over him—­“I am the resurrection and the life.”  The moon, which had been obscured, suddenly burst from a cloud, and a cry of horror proceeded from the look-out man on the starboard gangway.  I ran to inquire the cause, and found him in such a state of nervous agitation that he could only say,—­“Quid—­Quid!” and point with his finger into the water.

I looked over the side, and, to my amazement there was the body of Quid,

“All in dreary hammock shrouded,”

perfectly upright, and floating with the head and shoulders above water.  A slight undulation of the waves gave it the appearance of nodding its head; while the rays of the moon enabled us to trace the remainder of the body underneath the surface.  For a few moments, I felt a horror which I cannot describe, and contemplated the object in awful silence; while my blood ran cold, and I felt a sensation as if my hair was standing on end.  I was completely taken by surprise, and thought the body had risen up to warn me; but in a few seconds I regained my presence of mind, and I soon perceived the origin of this reappearance of the corpse.  I ordered the cutter to be manned, and, in the meantime, went down to inform the first lieutenant of what had occurred.  He laughed, and said, “I suppose the old boy finds salt water not quite so palatable as grog.  Tie some more shot to his feet, and bring the old fellow to his moorings again.  Tell him, the next time he trips his anchor, not to run on board of us.  He had his regular allowance of prayer:  I gave him the whole service, and I shall not give him any more.”  So saying, he went to sleep again.

This apparently singular circumstance is easily accounted for.  Bodies decomposing from putridity, generate a quantity of gas, which swells them up to an enormous size, and renders them buoyant.  The body of this man was thrown overboard just as decomposition was in progress:  the shot made fast to the feet were sufficient to sink it at the time; but in a few hours after were not competent to keep it at the bottom, and it came up to the surface in that perpendicular position which I have described.  The current in the bay being at the time either slack or irregular, it floated at the spot whence it had been launched into the water.

The cutter, being manned, was sent with more shot to attach to the body, and sink it.  When they attempted to hold it with the boat-hook, it eluded the touch, turning round and round, or bobbing under the water, and coming up again, as if in sport:  but accident saved them any further trouble; for the bowman, reproached by the boat’s crew for not hooking the body, got angry, and darting the spike of the boat-hook into the abdomen, the pent-up gas escaped with a loud whiz, and the corpse instantly sank like a stone.  Many jokes were passed on the occasion; but I was not in humour for joking on serious subjects:  and before the watch was out I had made up my mind to go home, and to quit the service, as I found I had no chance of obeying my mother’s dying injunctions if I remained where I was.