Note: First published as 'Picking up Waifs at Sea', Chapter 4 of 'Tom Tiddler's Ground', the Extra Christmas number of All the Year Round for December 1861.

Synopsis: "Humorous tale of two babies born simultaneously on a crowded ship bound for Australia. One is the eighth child of a poor family, the Heavysides, the other the first-born of a well-to-do couple, the Smallchilds. Their identities become confused when they are placed in the same makeshift cradle and the captain, after trying several unsuccessful methods, finally allocates them by weight, giving the heavier baby to the heavier woman. The narrator claims his life has been blighted by the captain's mistaken choice."—Wilkie Collins Information Pages