There was a rush for the shelter of the _Gannet_, and, realizing the danger, I crept along the foot-rope of the foreyard, gained the foreyard of the _Gannet_, and thence made for her foretop.  Once there I lost no time in descending to the deck, heartily thankful at treading the planks of a British man-o’-war once more, though my return in the confusion was unnoticed.