Our best bower anchor, with its great twenty-inch hempen cable, was carried out towards the centre of the harbour, the tail of the cable remaining on board.  All the guns were run over to the larboard side, so that the _Gannet’s_ lower-deck ports were within a few inches of the surface of the water, her draught being thereby lessened.  Two additional cables were carried from the quarters to opposite sides of the creek, where gangs of negroes were directed to pull their hardest.