Thanks, Les. Happy to be corrected on "the horrible old Leopard" as she was, indeed, a two-decked 50-gun vessel during the Desolation Island episode. Much later in the series she appears again as a stripped down transport. Maybe, we could work up a naval ballad the equivalent to "The Cat Came Back" given the persistent of this ship.

DRIFT ALERT! I once ran a thread on the Patrick O'Brian site trying to find out what people knew about the re-curring expression in the series of "kicking up Bobs-a-dying"; most folks agreed that it meant the sailors were ashore raising hell again, and that there may be a dance tune called "Bob's A-Dying" although nobody's been able to dig it up (so to speak). I do use that expression in the chorus of a song I use to introduce members of our sea songs group Roll&Go, if anyone is interested.