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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Ned Myers, by James Fenimore Cooper
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Ned Myers
+
+Author: James Fenimore Cooper
+
+Posting Date: November 19, 2011 [EBook #9788]
+Release Date: January, 2006
+First Posted: October 16, 2003
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NED MYERS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+NED MYERS
+
+or, A Life Before the Mast
+
+By James Fenimore Cooper.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+    Thou unrelenting Past!
+  Strong are the barriers round thy dark domain,
+    And fetters sure and fast
+  Hold all that enter thy unbreathing reign.
+                                    BRYANT
+
+
+Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1843, by
+
+J. Fenimore Cooper,
+
+in the clerk's office of the District Court of the United States for the
+Northern district of New York.
+
+
+
+Preface
+
+
+
+It is an old remark, that the life of any man, could the incidents be
+faithfully told, would possess interest and instruction for the general
+reader. The conviction of the perfect truth of this saying, has induced
+the writer to commit to paper, the vicissitudes, escapes, and opinions of
+one of his old shipmates, as a sure means of giving the public some just
+notions of the career of a common sailor. In connection with the amusement
+that many will find in following a foremast Jack in his perils and
+voyages, however, it is hoped that the experience and moral change of
+Myers may have a salutary influence on the minds of some of those whose
+fortunes have been, or are likely to be, cast in a mould similar to that
+of this old salt.
+
+As the reader will feel a natural desire to understand how far the editor
+can vouch for the truth of that which he has here written, and to be
+informed on the subject of the circumstances that have brought him
+acquainted with the individual whose adventures form the subject of this
+little work, as much shall be told as may be necessary to a proper
+understanding of these two points.
+
+First, then, as to the writer's own knowledge of the career of the
+subject of his present work. In the year 1806, the editor, then a lad,
+fresh from Yale, and destined for the navy, made his first voyage in a
+merchantman, with a view to get some practical knowledge of his
+profession. This was the fashion of the day, though its utility, on the
+whole, may very well be questioned. The voyage was a long one, including
+some six or eight passages, and extending to near the close of the year
+1807. On board the ship was Myers, an apprentice to the captain. Ned, as
+Myers was uniformly called, was a lad, as well as the writer; and, as a
+matter of course, the intimacy of a ship existed between them. Ned,
+however, was the junior, and was not then compelled to face all the
+hardships and servitude that fell to the lot of the writer.
+
+Once, only, after the crew was broken up, did the writer and Ned actually
+see each other, and that only for a short time. This was in 1809. In 1833,
+they were, for half an hour, on board the same ship, without knowing the
+fact at the time. A few months since, Ned, rightly imagining that the
+author of the Pilot must be his old shipmate, wrote the former a letter to
+ascertain the truth. The correspondence produced a meeting, and the
+meeting a visit from Ned to the editor. It was in consequence of the
+revelations made in this visit that the writer determined to produce the
+following work.
+
+The writer has the utmost confidence in all the statements of Ned, so far
+as intention is concerned. Should he not be mistaken on some points, he is
+an exception to the great rule which governs the opinions and
+recollections of the rest of the human family. Still, nothing is related
+that the writer has any reasons for distrusting. In a few instances he has
+interposed his own greater knowledge of the world between Ned's more
+limited experience and the narrative; but, this has been done cautiously,
+and only in cases in which there can be little doubt that the narrator has
+been deceived by appearances, or misled by ignorance. The reader, however,
+is not to infer that Ned has no greater information than usually falls to
+the share of a foremast hand. This is far from being the case. When first
+known to the writer, his knowledge was materially above that of the
+ordinary class of lads in his situation; giving ample proof that he had
+held intercourse with persons of a condition in life, if not positively of
+the rank of gentlemen, of one that was not much below it. In a word, his
+intelligence on general subjects was such as might justly render him the
+subject of remark on board a ship. Although much of his after-life was
+thrown away, portions of it passed in improvement; leaving Ned, at this
+moment, a man of quick apprehension, considerable knowledge, and of
+singularly shrewd comments. If to this be added the sound and accurate
+moral principles that now appear to govern both his acts and his opinions,
+we find a man every way entitled to speak for himself; the want of the
+habit of communicating his thoughts to the public, alone excepted.
+
+In this book, the writer has endeavoured to adhere as closely to the very
+language of his subject, as circumstances will at all allow; and in many
+places he feels confident that no art of his own could, in any respect,
+improve it.
+
+It is probable that a good deal of distrust will exist on the subject of
+the individual whom Ned supposes to have been one of his god-fathers. On
+this head the writer can only say, that the account which Myers has given
+in this work, is substantially the same as that which he gave the editor
+nearly forty years ago, at an age and under circumstances that forbid the
+idea of any intentional deception. The account is confirmed by his sister,
+who is the oldest of the two children, and who retains a distinct
+recollection of the prince, as indeed does Ned himself. The writer
+supposes these deserted orphans to have been born out of wedlock--though
+he has no direct proof to this effect--and there is nothing singular in
+the circumstance of a man of the highest rank, that of a sovereign
+excepted, appearing at the font in behalf of the child of a dependant. A
+member of the royal family, indeed, might be expected to do this, to
+favour one widely separated from him by birth and station, sooner than to
+oblige a noble, who might possibly presume on the condescension.
+
+It remains only to renew the declaration, that every part of this
+narrative is supposed to be true. The memory of Ned may occasionally fail
+him; and, as for his opinions, they doubtless are sometimes erroneous; but
+the writer has the fullest conviction that it is the intention of the Old
+Salt to relate nothing that he does hot believe to have occurred, or to
+express an unjust sentiment. On the subject of his reformation, so far as
+"the tree is to be known by its fruits" it is entirely sincere; the
+language, deportment, habits, and consistency of this well-meaning tar,
+being those of a cheerful and confiding Christian, without the smallest
+disposition to cant or exaggeration. In this particular, he is a living
+proof of the efficacy of faith, and of the power of the Holy Spirit to
+enlighten the darkest understanding, and to quicken the most apathetic
+conscience.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Chapter I.
+
+
+
+In consenting to lay before the world the experience of a common seaman,
+and, I may add, of one who has been such a sinner as the calling is only
+too apt to produce, I trust that no feeling of vanity has had an undue
+influence. I love the seas; and it is a pleasure to me to converse about
+them, and of the scenes I have witnessed, and of the hardships I have
+undergone on their bosom, in various parts of the world. Meeting with an
+old shipmate who is disposed to put into proper form the facts which I can
+give him, and believing that my narrative may be useful to some of those
+who follow the same pursuit as that in which I have been so long engaged,
+I see no evil in the course I am now taking, while I humbly trust it may
+be the means of effecting some little good. God grant that the pictures I
+shall feel bound to draw of my own past degradation and failings,
+contrasted as they must be with my present contentment and hopes, may
+induce some one, at least, of my readers to abandon the excesses so common
+among seamen, and to turn their eyes in the direction of those great
+truths which are so powerful to reform, and so convincing when regarded
+with humility, and with a just understanding of our own weaknesses.
+
+I know nothing of my family, except through my own youthful recollections,
+and the accounts I have received from my sister. My father I slightly
+remember; but of my mother I retain no distinct impressions. The latter
+must have died while I was very young. The former, I was in the habit of
+often seeing, until I reached my fifth or sixth year. He was a soldier,
+and belonged to the twenty-third regimen of foot, in the service of the
+King of Great Britain.[1] The fourth son of this monarch, Prince Edward as
+he was then called, or the Duke of Kent as he was afterwards styled,
+commanded the corps, and accompanied it to the British American colonies,
+where it was stationed for many years.
+
+
+I was born in Quebec, between the years 1792 and 1794; probably in 1793.
+Of the rank of my father in the regiment, I am unable to speak, though I
+feel pretty confident he was a commissioned officer. He was much with the
+prince; and I remember that, on parade, where I have often seen him, he
+was in the habit of passing frequently from the prince to the ranks--a
+circumstance that induces my old shipmate to think he may have been the
+adjutant. My father, I have always understood, was a native of Hanover,
+and the son of a clergyman in that country. My mother, also, was said to
+be a German, though very little is now known of her by any of the family.
+She is described to me as living much alone, as being occupied in pursuits
+very different from those of my father, and as being greatly averse to the
+life of a soldier.
+
+I was baptized in the Church of England, and, from earliest boyhood, have
+always been given to understand that His Royal Highness, Prince Edward,
+the father of Queen Victoria, stood for me at the font; Major Walker, of
+the same regiment, being the other god-father, and Mrs. Walker, his wife,
+my god-mother. My real names are Edward Robert Meyers; those received in
+baptism having been given me by my two sponsors, after themselves. This
+christening, like my birth, occurred in Quebec. I have, however, called
+myself Edward, or Ned, Myers, ever since I took to the sea.
+
+Before I was old enough to receive impressions to be retained, the
+regiment removed to Halifax. My father accompanied it; and, of course, his
+two children, my sister Harriet and myself, were taken to Nova Scotia. Of
+the period of my life that was passed in Halifax, I retain tolerably
+distinct recollections; more especially of the later years. The prince and
+my father both remained with the regiment for a considerable time; though
+all quitted Halifax several years before I left it myself. I remember
+Prince Edward perfectly well. He sometimes resided at a house called The
+Lodge, a little out of town; and I was often taken out to see him. He
+also had a residence in town. He took a good deal of notice of me;
+raising me in his arms, and kissing me. When he passed our house, I would
+run to him; and he would lead me through the streets himself. On more than
+one occasion, he led me off, and sent for the regimental tailor; directing
+suits of clothes to be made for me, after his own taste. He was a large
+man; of commanding presence, and frequently wore a star on the breast of
+his coat. He was not then called the Duke of Kent, but Prince Edward, or
+_The_ Prince. A lady lived with him at the Lodge; but who she was, I
+do not know.
+
+At this time, my mother must have been dead; for of _her_ I retain no
+recollection whatever. I think, my father left Halifax some time before
+the prince. Major Walker, too, went to England; leaving Mrs. Walker in
+Nova Scotia, for some time. Whether my father went away with a part of the
+regiment to which he belonged, or not, I cannot say but I well remember a
+conversation between the prince, the major and Mrs. Walker, in which they
+spoke of the loss of a transport, and of Meyers's saving several men. This
+must have been at the time when my father quitted Nova Scotia; to which
+province, I think, he never could have returned. Neither my sister, nor
+myself, ever saw him afterwards. We have understood that he was killed in
+battle; though when, or where, we do not know. My old shipmate, the
+editor, however, thinks it must have been in Canada; as letters were
+received from a friend in Quebec, after I had quitted Nova Scotia,
+inquiring after us children, and stating that the effects of my father
+were in that town, and ought to belong to us. This letter gave my sister
+the first account of his death; though it was not addressed to her, but to
+those in whose care she had been left. This property was never recovered;
+and my shipmate, who writes this account, thinks there may have been legal
+difficulties in the way.
+
+Previously to quitting the province of Nova Scotia, my father placed
+Harriet and myself in the house of a Mr. Marchinton, to live. This
+gentleman was a clergyman, who had no regular parish, but who preached in
+a chapel of his own. He sent us both to school, and otherwise took charge
+of us. I am not aware of the precise time when the prince left Halifax,
+but it must have been when I was five or six years old--probably about the
+year 1798 or 1799.[2]
+
+From that time I continued at Mr. Marchinton's, attending school, and
+busied, as is usual with boys of that age, until the year 1805. I fear I
+was naturally disposed to idleness and self-indulgence, for I became
+restive and impatient under the restraints of the schoolmaster, and of the
+gentleman in whose family I had been left. I do not know that I had any
+just grounds of complaint against Mr. Marchinton; but his rigorous
+discipline disgusted me; principally, I am now inclined to believe,
+because it was not agreeable to me to be kept under any rigid moral
+restraint. I do not think I was very vicious; and, I know, I was far from
+being of a captious temperament; but I loved to be my own master; and I
+particularly disliked everything like religious government. Mr.
+Marchinton, moreover, kept me out of the streets; and it was my
+disposition to be an idler, and at play. It is possible he may have been a
+little too severe for one of my temperament; though, I fear, nature gave
+me a roving and changeful mind.
+
+At that time the English cruisers sent in many American vessels as prizes.
+Our house was near the water; and I was greatly in the habit of strolling
+along the wharves, whenever an opportunity occurred; Mr. Marchinton owning
+a good deal of property in that part of the town. The Cambrian frigate had
+a midshipman, a little older than myself, who had been a schoolmate of
+mine. This lad, whose name was Bowen, was sent in as the nominal
+prize-master of a brig loaded with coffee; and I no sooner learned the
+fact, than I began to pay him visits. Young Bowen encouraged me greatly,
+in a wish that now arose within me, to become a sailor. I listened eagerly
+to the history of his adventures, and felt the usual boyish emulation. Mr.
+Marchinton seemed averse to my following the profession, and these visits
+became frequent and stealthy; my wishes, most probably, increasing, in
+proportion as they seemed difficult of accomplishment.
+
+I soon began to climb the rigging of the brig, ascending to the
+mast-heads. One day Mr. Marchinton saw me quite at the main-truck; and,
+calling me down, I got a severe flogging for my dexterity and enterprise.
+It sometimes happens that punishment produces a result exactly opposite to
+that which was intended; and so it turned out in the present instance. My
+desire to be a sailor increased in consequence of this very flogging; and
+I now began seriously to think of running away, in order to get to sea, as
+well as to escape a confinement on shore, that, to me, seemed
+unreasonable. Another prize, called the Amsterdam Packet, a Philadelphia
+ship, had been sent in by, I believe, the Cleopatra, Sir Robert Laurie. On
+board this ship were two American lads, apprentices. With these boys I
+soon formed an intimacy; and their stories of the sea, and their accounts
+of the States, coupled with the restraints I fancied I endured, gave rise
+to a strong desire to see their country, as well as to become a sailor.
+They had little to do, and enjoyed great liberty, going and coming much as
+they pleased. This idleness seemed, to me, to form the summit of human
+happiness. I did not often dare to play truant; and the school became
+odious to me. According to my recollections, this desire for a change must
+have existed near, or quite a twelvemonth; being constantly fed by the
+arrival and departure of vessels directly before my eyes, ere I set about
+the concocting of a serious plan to escape.
+
+My project was put in execution in the summer of 1805, when I could not
+have been more than eleven years old, if, indeed, quite as old. I was in
+the market one day, and overheard some American seamen, who had been
+brought in, conversing of a schooner that was on the point of leaving
+Halifax, for New York. This vessel belonged to North Carolina, and had
+been captured by the Driver, some time before, but had been liberated by a
+decision of the Admiralty Court. The men I overheard talking about her,
+intended taking their passages back to their own country in the craft.
+This seemed to me a good opportunity to effect my purpose, and I went from
+the market, itself, down to the schooner. The mate was on board alone, and
+I took courage, and asked him if he did not want to ship a boy. My
+dress and appearance were both against me, as I had never done any work,
+and was in the ordinary attire of a better class lad on shore. The mate
+began to laugh at me, and to joke me on my desire to go to sea,
+questioning me about my knowledge. I was willing to do anything; but,
+perceiving that I made little impression, I resorted to bribery. Prince
+Edward had made me a present, before he left Halifax, of a beautiful
+little fowling-piece, which was in my own possession; and I mentioned to
+the mate that I was the owner of such an article, and would give it to him
+if he would consent to secrete me in the schooner, and carry me to New
+York. This bait took, and I was told to bring the fowling, piece on board,
+and let the mate see it. That night I carried the bribe, as agreed on, to
+this man, who was perfectly satisfied with its appearance, and we struck a
+bargain on the spot. I then returned to the house, and collected a few of
+my clothes. I knew that my sister, Harriet, was making some shirts for me,
+and I stole into her room, and brought away two of them, which were all I
+could find. My wardrobe was not large when I left the house, and I had
+taken the precaution of carrying the articles out one at a time, and of
+secreting them in an empty cask in the yard. When I thought I had got
+clothes enough, I made them into a bundle, and carried them down to the
+schooner. The mate then cleared out a locker in the cabin, in which there
+were some potatoes, and told me I must make up my mind to pass a few hours
+in that narrow berth. Too thoughtless to raise any objections, I
+cheerfully consented, and took my leave of him with the understanding that
+I was to be on board, again, early in the morning.
+
+Before going to bed, I desired a black servant of Mr. Marchinton's to call
+me about day-break, as I desired to go out and pick berries. This was
+done, and I was up and dressed before any other member of the family was
+stirring. I lost no time, but quitted the house, and walked deliberately
+down to the schooner. No one was up on board of her, and I was obliged to
+give the mate a call, myself. This man now seemed disposed to draw back
+from his bargain, and I had to use a good deal of persuasion before I
+could prevail on him to be as good as his word. He did not like to part
+with the fowling-piece, but seemed to think it would be fairly purchased,
+could he persuade me to run away. At length he yielded, and I got into the
+locker, where I was covered with potatoes.
+
+I was a good while in this uncomfortable situation, before there were any
+signs of the vessel's quitting the wharf. I began to grow heartily tired
+of the confinement, and the love of change revived within me in a new
+form. The potatoes were heavy for me to bear, and the confined air
+rendered my prison almost insupportable. I was on the point of coming out
+of prison, when the noise on deck gave me the comfortable assurance that
+the people had come on board, and that the schooner was about to sail. I
+could hear men conversing, and, after a period of time that seemed an age,
+I felt satisfied the schooner was fairly under way. I heard a hail from
+one of the forts as we passed down the harbour, and, not long after, the
+Driver, the very sloop of war that had sent the vessel in, met her, and
+quite naturally hailed her old prize, also. All this I heard in my prison,
+and it served to reconcile me to the confinement. As everything was right,
+the ship did not detain us, and we were permitted to proceed.
+
+It was noon before I was released. Going on deck, I found that the
+schooner was at sea. Nothing of Halifax was visible but a tower or two,
+that were very familiar objects to me. I confess I now began to regret the
+step I had taken, and, could I have been landed, it is probable my roving
+disposition would have received a salutary check. It was too late,
+however, and I was compelled to continue in the thorny and difficult path
+on which I had so thoughtlessly entered. I often look back to this moment,
+and try to imagine what might have been my fortunes, had I never taken
+this unlucky step. What the prince might have done for me, it is
+impossible to say; though I think it probable that, after the death of my
+father, I should have been forgotten, as seems to have been the case with
+my sister, who gradually fell from being considered and treated as one of
+the family in which she lived, into a sort of upper servant.
+
+I have learned, latterly, that Mr. Marchinton had a great search made for
+me. It was his impression I was drowned, and several places were dragged
+for my body. This opinion lasted until news of my being in New York
+reached the family.
+
+My appearance on deck gave rise to a great many jokes between the captain
+of the schooner, and his mate. I was a good deal laughed at, but not badly
+treated, on the whole. My office was to be that of cook--by no means a
+very difficult task in that craft, the camboose consisting of two pots set
+in bricks, and the dishes being very simple. In the cabin, sassafras was
+used for tea, and boiled pork and beef composed the dinner. The first day,
+I was excused from entering on the duties of my office, on account of
+sea-sickness; but, the next morning, I set about the work in good earnest.
+We had a long passage, and my situation was not very pleasant. The
+schooner was wet, and the seas she shipped would put out my fire. There
+was a deck load of shingles, and I soon discovered that these made
+excellent kindling wood; but it was against the rules of the craft to burn
+cargo, and my friend the mate had bestowed a few kicks on me before I
+learned to make the distinction. In other respects, I did tolerably well;
+and, at the end of about ten days, we entered Sandy Hook.
+
+Such was my first passage at sea, or, at least, the first I can remember,
+though I understand we were taken from Quebec to Halifax by water. I was
+not cured of the wish to roam by this experiment, though, at that age,
+impressions are easily received, and as readily lost. Some idea may be
+formed of my recklessness, and ignorance of such matters, at this time,
+from the circumstance that I do not remember ever to have known the name
+of the vessel in which I left Nova Scotia. Change and adventure were my
+motives, and it never occurred to me to inquire into a fact that was so
+immaterial to one of my temperament. To this hour, I am ignorant on
+the subject.
+
+The schooner came up, and hauled in abreast of Fly Market. She did not
+come close to the wharf, but made fast, temporarily, at its end, outside
+of two or three other vessels. This took place not long after breakfast. I
+set about the preparations for dinner, which was ready, as usual, at
+twelve o'clock. While the crew were eating this meal, I had nothing to do,
+and, seeing a number of boys on the wharf, I went ashore, landing for the
+first time in this, my adopted country. I was without hat, coat, or
+shoes; my feet having become sore from marching about among the shingles.
+The boys were licking molasses from some hogsheads, and I joined in the
+occupation with great industry. I might have been occupied in this manner,
+and in talking with the boys, an hour or more, when I bethought me of my
+duty on board. On looking for the schooner, she was gone! Her people, no
+doubt, thought I was below, and did not miss me, and she had been carried
+to some other berth; where, I did not know. I could not find her, nor did
+I ever see her again.
+
+Such, then, was my entrance on a new scene. Had I known enough to follow
+the wharves, doubtless I should have found the vessel; but, after a short
+search, I returned to the boys and the molasses.
+
+That I was concerned at finding myself in a strange place, without a
+farthing in my pockets--without hat, shoes or coat, is certain--but it is
+wonderful how little apprehension I felt. I knew nothing, and feared
+nothing. While licking the molasses, I told the boys my situation; and I
+met with a great deal of sympathy among them. The word passed from one to
+the other, that a "poor English boy had lost his vessel, and did not know
+where to go to pass the night." One promised me a supper; and, as for
+lodgings, the general opinion seemed to be, that I might find a berth
+under one of the butchers' stalls, in the adjacent market. I had different
+projects for myself, however.
+
+There was a family of the name of Clark, then residing in New York, that I
+had known in Halifax. I remembered to have heard my sister, Harriet,
+speaking of them, not long before I quitted home, and that she said they
+lived in, or near, Fly Market. I knew we were at Fly Market; and the name
+recalled these people. I inquired, accordingly, if any one knew such a
+family; but met with no success in discovering them. They were strangers;
+and no one knew them. It was now near sunset; and I determined to look for
+these people myself. On this errand, then, I set off; walking up the
+market until I reached Maiden Lane. While strolling along the street, I
+heard a female voice suddenly exclaim: "Lord! here is Edward Myers,
+without anything on him!" At the next instant, Susan Clark, one of the
+daughters, came running into the street; and presently I was in the
+house, surrounded by the whole family.
+
+Of course, I was closely questioned; and I told the whole truth. The
+Clarks were extremely kind to me, offering me clothes, and desiring to
+keep me with them; but I did not like the family, owing to old quarrels
+with the boys, and a certain sternness in the father, who had made
+complaints of my stealing his fruit, while in Halifax. I was innocent; and
+the whole proceeding had made me regard Mr. Clark as a sort of enemy. My
+principal motive, in inquiring for the family, was to learn where a
+certain Dr. Heizer[3] lived. This gentleman was a German, who had formerly
+been in the army; and I knew he was then in New York. In him I had more
+confidence; and I determined to throw myself on his kindness.
+
+After declining a great many offers, I got the address of Dr. Heizer, and
+proceeded in quest of his residence, just as I was. It was moonlight, and
+I went through the streets with boyish confidence. My route lay up
+Broadway, and my destination was one of its corners and Hester Street. In
+1805, this was nearly out of town, being near Canal street. I had been
+told to look for a bridge, which then stood in Broadway, and which
+answered for a landmark, in my new navigation. The bridge I found easily;
+and, making inquiries at a house, I was told the family I sought lived
+next door.
+
+The Heizers were greatly surprised at my appearance. I was questioned, of
+course; and told them the naked truth. I knew concealment would be
+useless; was naturally frank, notwithstanding what I had just done; and I
+began to feel the want of friends. I was fed; and that same evening, Dr.
+and Mrs. Heizer led me down Broadway, and equipped me in a neat suit of
+clothes. Within a week, I was sent regularly to school.
+
+I never knew what Dr. Heizer did, in relation to my arrival. I cannot but
+think that he communicated the circumstances to Mr. Marchinton, who was
+well known to him; though, Harriet tell me, the first intelligence they
+got of me was of a much later date, and came from another source. Let this
+be as it might, I was kindly treated; living, in all respects, as if I
+were one of the family. There was no son; and they all seemed to consider
+me as one.
+
+I remained in this family the autumn of 1805, and the winter and spring of
+1806. I soon tired of school, and began to play truant; generally
+wandering along the wharves, gazing at the ships. Dr. Heizer soon learned
+this; and, watching me, discovered the propensity I still retained for the
+sea. He and Mrs. Heizer now took me aside, and endeavoured to persuade me
+to return to Halifax; but I had become more and more averse to taking this
+backward step. To own the truth, I had fearful misgivings on the subject
+of floggings; and I dreaded a long course of severity and discipline. It
+is certain, that, while rigid rules of conduct are very necessary to some
+dispositions, there are others with which they do not succeed. Mine was of
+the latter class; for, I think, I am more easily led, than driven. At all
+events, I had a horror of going back; and refused to listen to the
+proposal. After a good deal of conversation, and many efforts at
+persuasion, Dr. Heizer consented to let me go to sea, from New York; or
+affected to consent; I never knew which.
+
+The Leander, Miranda's flag-ship, in his abortive attempt to create a
+revolution in Spanish-America, was then lying in the Hudson; and Dr.
+Heizer, who was acquainted with some one connected with her, placed me in
+this ship, with the understanding I was to go in her to Holland. I passed
+the day on board; going up to my new employer's house, for my meals, and
+to sleep. This course of life may have lasted a fortnight; when I became
+heartily tired of it. I found I had a mistress, now, as well as a master.
+The former set me to cleaning knives, boots, candlesticks, and other
+similar employments; converting me into a sort of scullion. My pride
+revolted at this. I have since thought it possible, all this was done to
+create disgust, and to induce me to return to Mr. Marchinton; but it had a
+very contrary effect.
+
+My desire was to be a sailor. One Sunday I had been on board the ship,
+and, after assisting the mate to show the bunting fore and aft, I went
+back to the house. Here my mistress met me with a double allowance of
+knives to clean. We had a quarrel on the subject; I protesting against all
+such work. But to clean the knives I was compelled. About half were thrown
+over the fence, into the adjoining yard; and, cleaning what remained, I
+took my hat, went to the doctor's, and saw no more of my mistress, or of
+the Leander.
+
+
+
+Chapter II.
+
+
+
+An explanation took place. Dr. and Mrs. Heizer remonstrated about my
+conduct, and endeavoured, once more, to persuade me to return to Mr.
+Marchinton's. A great deal was told me of the kind intentions of that
+gentleman, and concerning what I might expect from the protection and
+patronage of my god-father, the Duke of Kent. I cannot help thinking, now,
+that much of the favour which was extended towards me at that early period
+of life, was owing to the circumstance that the prince had consented to
+stand for me at my baptism. He was a great disciplinarian--so great,
+indeed, I remember to have heard, as to cause more than one mutiny--and my
+father being a German, and coming from a people that carried military
+subordination to extremes, it is highly probable I was indebted, for this
+compliment, to a similarity of tastes between the two. I cared little for
+all this, however, in 1805, and thought far less of being protected by a
+prince of the blood royal, than of going to sea, and especially of
+escaping from the moral discipline of Mr. Marchinton. Finding his
+arguments vain, Dr. Heizer sent me to school again, where I continued a
+few months longer.
+
+All this time, my taste for ships rather increased than diminished. At
+every opportunity I was on the wharves, studying the different craft, and
+endeavouring to understand their rig. One day I saw a British ensign, and,
+while looking at it, with a feeling of strong disgust, I heard myself
+called by name. A glance told me that I was seen by a Halifax man, and I
+ran away, under the apprehension that he might, by some means, seize me
+and carry me back. My feelings on this head were all alive, and that very
+day one of the young ladies said, in a melancholy way, "_Edouard_,"
+"Halifax." These girls spoke scarcely any English, having been born in
+Martinique; and they talked much together in French, looking at me
+occasionally, as if I were the subject of their discourse. It is probable
+conscience was at the bottom of this conceit of mine; but the latter now
+became so strong, as to induce me to determine to look out for a vessel
+for myself, and be off again. With this view, I quitted a negro who had
+been sent with me to market, under the pretence of going to school, but
+went along the wharves until I found a ship that took my fancy. She was
+called the Sterling, and there was a singularly good-looking mate on her
+deck, of the name of Irish, who was a native of Nantucket. The ship was
+commanded by Capt. John Johnston, of Wiscasset, in Maine, and belonged to
+his father and himself.
+
+I went on board the Sterling, and, after looking about for some time, I
+ventured to offer myself to Mr. Irish, as a boy who wished to ship. I was
+questioned, of course, but evaded any very close answers. After some
+conversation, Capt. Johnston came on board, and Mr. Irish told him what I
+wanted. My examination now became much closer, and I found myself driven
+to sheer fabrication in order to effect my purposes. During my intercourse
+with different sea-going lads of Halifax, I had learned the particulars of
+the capture of the Cleopatra 32, by the French frigate Ville de Milan 38,
+and her recapture by the Leander 50, which ship captured the Ville de
+Milan at the same time. I said my father had been a serjeant of marines,
+and was killed in the action--that I had run away when the ships got in,
+and that I wished to be bound to some American ship-master, in order to
+become a regularly-trained seaman. This story so far imposed on Capt.
+Johnston as to induce him to listen to my proposals, and in part to accept
+them. We parted with an understanding that I was to get my clothes, and
+come on board the vessel.
+
+It was twelve at noon when I got back to Dr. Heizer's. My first business
+was to get my clothes into the yard, a few at a time; after which I ate my
+dinner with the family. As soon as we rose from table, I stole away with
+my bundle, leaving these kind people to believe I had returned to school.
+I never saw one of them afterwards! On my return to New York, several
+years later, I learned they had all gone to Martinique to live. I should
+not have quitted this excellent family in so clandestine a manner, had I
+not been haunted with the notion that I was about to be sent back to
+Halifax, a place I now actually hated.
+
+Capt. Johnston received me good-naturedly, and that night I slept and
+supped at the Old Coffee House, Old Slip--his own lodgings. He seemed
+pleased with me, and I was delighted with him. The next day he took me to
+a slop-shop, and I was rigged like a sailor, and was put in the cabin,
+where I was to begin my service in the regular way. A boy named Daniel
+McCoy was in the ship, and had been out to Russia in her, as cabin-boy,
+the last voyage. He was now to be sent into the forecastle, and was
+ordered to instruct me in my duty.
+
+I was now comparatively happy, though anxious to be bound to Capt.
+Johnston, and still more so to be fairly at sea. The Sterling had a good,
+old-fashioned cabin, as cabins went in 1806; and I ran about her
+state-room, rummaged her lockers, and scampered up and down her
+companion-way, with as much satisfaction as if they had all belonged to a
+palace. Dan McCoy was every day on board, and we had the accommodations of
+the ship very much to ourselves. Two or three days later, Capt. Johnston
+took me to the proper place, and I was put under regular indentures, to
+serve until I was twenty-one. I now felt more confidence in my situation,
+knowing that Dr. Heizer had no legal authority over me. The work I did, in
+no manner offended my dignity, for it was on ship-board, and belonged
+properly to my duty as a cabin-boy.
+
+The Sterling soon began to take in her cargo. She was to receive a freight
+of flour, for Cowes and a market. Not only was the hold filled, but the
+state-room and cabin, leaving barely room to climb over the barrels to
+reach the berths. A place was left, just inside of the cabin door, for the
+table. Passengers were not common in that day, while commerce was pushed
+to the utmost. Our sails were bending when the consignee, followed by
+another merchant, came down to the ship, accompanied by a youth, who, it
+was understood, wished also to be received in the vessel. This youth was
+named Cooper, and was never called by any other appellation in the ship.
+He was accepted by Capt. Johnston, signed the articles, and the next day
+he joined us, in sailor's rig. He never came to the cabin, but was
+immediately employed forward, in such service as he was able to perform.
+It was afterwards understood that he was destined for the navy.
+
+The very day that Cooper joined us, was one of deep disgrace to me. The
+small stores came on board for the cabin, and Dan McCoy persuaded me to
+try the flavour of a bottle of cherry-bounce. I did not drink much, but
+the little I swallowed made me completely drunk. This was the first time I
+ever was in that miserable and disgraceful plight; would to God I could
+also say it was the last! The last it was, however, for several years;
+that is some comfort. I thank my Divine Master that I have lived to see
+the hour when intoxicating liquors have ceased to have any command over
+me, and when, indeed, they never pass my lips. Capt. Johnston did not flog
+me for this act of folly, merely pulling my ears a little, and sharply
+reprimanding me; both he and Mr. Irish seeming to understand that my
+condition had proceeded from the weakness of my head. Dan was the
+principal sufferer, as, to say the truth, he ought to have been. He was
+rope's-ended for his pains.
+
+Next day the stevedores took the ship in to the stream, and the crew came
+on board. The assembling of the crew of a merchantman, in that day, was a
+melancholy sight. The men came off, bearing about them the signs of the
+excesses of which they had been guilty while on shore; some listless and
+stupid, others still labouring under the effects of liquor, and some in
+that fearful condition which seamen themselves term having the "horrors."
+Our crew was neither better nor worse than that of other ships. It was
+also a sample of the mixed character of the crews of American vessels
+during the height of her neutral trade. The captain, chief-mate, cook, and
+four of those forward, were American born; while the second-mate was a
+Portuguese. The boys were, one Scotch, and one a Canadian; and there were
+a Spaniard, a Prussian, a Dane, and an Englishman, in the forecastle.
+There was also an Englishman who worked his passage, having been the
+cooper of a whaler that was wrecked. As Dan McCoy was sent forward, too,
+this put ten in the forecastle, besides the cook, and left five aft,
+including the master of another wrecked English vessel, whom we took out
+as a passenger.
+
+That afternoon we lifted our anchor, and dropped down abreast of
+Governor's Island, where we brought up. Next day all hands were called to
+get under way, and, as soon as the anchor was short, the mate told Cooper
+and myself to go up and loose the fore-top-sail. I went on one yard-arm and
+Cooper went on the other. In a few minutes the second mate came up,
+hallooing to us to "avast," and laughing. Cooper was hard at work at the
+"robins," and would soon have had his half of the sail down in the top,
+had he been let alone; while I was taking the gaskets from the yard, with
+the intention of bringing them carefully down on deck, where it struck me
+they would be quite safe. Luckily for us, the men were too busy heaving,
+and too stupid, to be very critical, and we escaped much ridicule. In a
+week we both knew better.
+
+The ship only got to the quarantine ground that day, but in the morning we
+went to sea. Our passage was long and stormy. The ship was on a bow-line
+most of the time, and we were something like forty days from land to land.
+Nothing extraordinary occurred, however, and we finally made the Bill of
+Portland. The weather came on thick, but we found a pilot, and ran into
+St. Helen's Roads and anchored. The captain got into his boat, and taking
+four men pulled ashore, to look for his orders at Cowes.
+
+That afternoon it cleared off, and we found a pilot lying a little outside
+of us. About sunset a man-of-war's cutter came alongside, and Mr. Irish
+was ordered to muster the crew. The English lieutenant, who was tolerably
+bowsed up, took his seat behind the cabin table, while the men came down,
+and stood in the companion-way passage, to be overhauled. Most of the
+foreigners had gone in the boat, but two of the Americans that remained
+were uncommonly fine-looking men, and were both prime seamen. One, whose
+name was Thomas Cook, was a six-footer, and had the air of a thorough
+sea-dog. He filled the lieutenant's eye mightily, and Cook was very coolly
+told to gather his dunnage, as he was wanted. Cook pointed to his
+protection, but the lieutenant answered--"Oh! these things are
+nothing--anybody can have one for two dollars, in New York. You are an
+Englishman, and the King has need of your services." Cook now took out of
+his pocket a certificate, that was signed by Sir John Beresford, stating
+that Thomas Cook had been discharged from His Maj. Ship Cambrian, after a
+pretty long service in her, because he had satisfactorily proved that he
+was a native-born American. The lieutenant could not very well dishonour
+this document, and he reluctantly let Cook go, keeping his protection,
+however. He next selected Isaac Gaines, a native New Yorker, a man whose
+father and friends were known to the captain. But Gaines had no discharge
+like that of Cook's, and the poor fellow was obliged to rowse up his chest
+and get into the cutter. This he did with tears in his eyes, and to the
+regret of all on board, he being one of the best men in the ship. We asked
+the boat's crew to what vessel they belonged, and they gave us the name of
+a sixty-four in the offing, but we observed, as they pulled away from us,
+that they took the direction of another ship. This was the last I ever
+saw, or heard, of Isaac Gaines. Cook went on with us, and one day, while
+in London, he went with Cooper to Somerset House to get an order for some
+prize-money, to which he was entitled for his service in the Cambrian, as
+was shown by his discharge. The clerk asked him to leave the certificate,
+and call a day or two later, when he would have searched out the amount.
+This was done, and Cook, being now without certificate or protection, was
+pressed on his way back to the ship. We never heard of him, either. Such
+was often the fate of sailors, in that day, who were with you one day, and
+lost for ever the next.
+
+Captain Johnston did not get back to the ship for four-and-twenty hours.
+He brought orders for us to go up to London; and, the wind being fair, and
+almost a gale, we got under way, and were off as soon as possible. The
+next morning we were in the straits of Dover; the wind light, but fair.
+This was at a moment when all England was in arms, in anticipation of an
+invasion from France. Forty odd sail of vessels of war were counted from
+our ship, as the day dawned, that had been cruising in the narrow waters,
+during the night, to prevent a surprise.
+
+We worked our way up to London, with the tides, and were carried into
+London dock; where we discharged. This was my first visit to the modern
+Babylon, of course; but I had little opportunity of seeing much. I had one
+or two cruises, of a Sunday, in tow of Cooper, who soon became a branch
+pilot, in those waters, about the parks and west end but I was too young
+to learn much, or to observe much. Most of us went to see the monument,
+St. Paul's, and the lions; and Cooper put himself in charge of a
+beef-eater, and took a look at the arsenals, jewels and armoury. He had a
+rum time of it, in his sailor rig, but hoisted in a wonderful deal of
+gibberish, according to his own account of his cruise.
+
+Captain Johnston now got a freight for the ship, and we hauled into the
+stream, abreast of the dock-gates, and took in shingle ballast. The
+Prussian, Dane, second mate, and the English cooper, all left us, in
+London. We got a Philadelphian, a chap from Maine, who had just been
+discharged from an English man-of-war, and an Irish lad, in their places.
+In January we sailed, making the best of our way for the straits of
+Gibraltar. The passage was stormy--the Bay of Biscay, in particular,
+giving us a touch of its qualities. It was marked by only two incidents,
+however, out of the usual way. While running down the coast of Portugal,
+with the land in sight, we made an armed felucca astern, and to windward.
+This vessel gave chase; and, the captain disliking her appearance, we
+carried hard, in order to avoid her. The weather was thick, and it blew
+fresh, occasionally, in squalls. Whenever it lulled, the felucca gained on
+us, we having, a very little, the advantage in the puffs. At length the
+felucca began to fire; and, finding that his shot were coming pretty near,
+Captain Johnston, knowing that he was in ballast, thought it wisest to
+heave-to. Ten minutes after our main-top-sail was aback, the felucca ranged
+up close under our lee; hailed, and ordered us to send a boat, with our
+papers, on board her. A more rascally-looking craft never gave such an
+order to an unarmed merchantman. As our ship rose on a sea, and he fell
+into the trough, we could look directly down upon his decks, and thus form
+some notion of what we were to expect, when he got possession of us. His
+people were in red caps and shirts, and appeared to be composed of the
+rakings of such places as Gibraltar, Cadiz and Lisbon. He had ten long
+guns; and pikes, pistols and muskets, were plenty with him. On the end of
+each latine-yard was a chap on the look-out, who occasionally turned his
+eyes towards us, as if to anticipate the gleanings. That we should be
+plundered, every one expected; and it was quite likely we might be
+ill-treated. As soon as we hove-to, Captain Johnston gave me the best
+spy-glass, with orders to hand it to Cooper, to hide. The latter buried it
+in the shingle ballast. We, in the cabin, concealed a bag of guineas so
+effectually, that, after all was over, we could not find it ourselves.
+
+The jolly-boat had been stowed in the launch, on account of the rough
+weather we had expected to meet, and tackles had to be got aloft before we
+could hoist it out. This consumed some time, during which there was a
+lull. The felucca, seeing us busy at this work, waited patiently until we
+had got the boat over the side, and into the water. Cooper, Dan McCoy, Big
+Dan, and Spanish Joe, then got into her; and the captain had actually
+passed his writing-desk into the boat, and had his leg on the rail, to go
+over the side himself, when a squall struck the ship. The men were called
+out of the boat to clew down the topsails, and a quarter of an hour passed
+in taking care of the vessel. By this time the squall had passed, and it
+lightened up a little. There lay the felucca, waiting for the boat; and
+the men were reluctantly going into the latter again, when the commander
+of the felucca waved his hand to us, his craft fell off and filled,
+wing-and-wing, skimming away towards the coast, like a duck. We stood
+gaping and staring at her, not knowing what to make of this manoeuvre,
+when "bang!" went a heavy gun, a little on our weather quarter. The shot
+passed our wake, for we had filled our topsail, and it went skipping from
+sea to sea, after the felucca. Turning our eyes in the direction of the
+report, we saw a frigate running down upon the felucca, carrying
+studding-sails on both sides, with the water foaming up to her
+hawse-holes. As she passed our stern, she showed an English ensign, but
+took no other notice of us, continuing on after the felucca, and
+occasionally measuring her distance with a shot. Both vessels soon
+disappeared in the mist, though we heard guns for some time. As for
+ourselves, we jogged along on our course, wishing good luck to the
+Englishman. The felucca showed no ensign, the whole day. Our guineas were
+found, some weeks later, in a bread-locker, after we had fairly eaten our
+way down to them.
+
+The other adventure occurred very soon after this escape; for, though the
+felucca may have had a commission, she was a pirate in appearance, and
+most probably in her practices. The thick westerly weather continued until
+we had passed the Straits. The night we were abreast of Cape Trafalgar,
+the captain came on deck in the middle watch, and, hailing the forecastle,
+ordered a sharp look-out kept, as we must be running through Lord
+Collingwood's fleet. The words were hardly out of his mouth, when Spanish
+Joe sung out, "sail ho!" There she was, sure enough, travelling right down
+upon us, in a line that threatened to take us between the fore and main
+masts. The captain ordered our helm hard up, and yelled for Cooper to
+bring up the cabin lantern. The youngster made one leap down the ladder,
+just scraping the steps with his heels, and was in the mizzen rigging with
+the light, in half a minute. That saved us. So near was the stranger, that
+we plainly heard the officer of the deck call out to his own
+quarter-master to "port, hard a-port--_hard_ a-port, and be d----d to
+you!" Hard a-port it was, and a two-decker came brushing along on our
+weather beam--so near, that, when she lifted on the seas, it seemed as if
+the muzzles of her guns would smash our rails. The Sterling did not behave
+well on this occasion, for, getting a yaw to windward, she seemed disposed
+to go right into the Englishman, before she would mind her helm. After the
+man-of-war hailed, and got our answer, her officer quaintly remarked that
+we were "close on board him." It blew too fresh for boats, and we were
+suffered to pass without being boarded.
+
+The ship proceeded up to Carthagena, and went in. Here we were put in
+quarantine for several days. The port was full of heavy ships of war,
+several of which were three-deckers; and an arrival direct from London
+made quite a sensation among them. We had divers visits from the officers,
+though I do not know what it all amounted to. From Carthagena we were
+sent down the coast to a little place called Aguilas, where we began to
+take in a cargo of barilla. At night we would discharge our shingle
+ballast into the water, contrary to law; and, in the day, we took in
+cargo. So clear was the water, that our night's work might easily be seen
+next morning, lying beneath the ship. As we lay in a roadstead, it
+mattered little, few vessels touching at the port. While at this place,
+there was an alarm of an attack from an English man-of-war that was seen
+in the offing, and priests enough turned out to defend an ordinary town.
+
+We got about half our freight at this little village, and then came down
+as low as Almeria, an old Moorish town, just below Cape de Gatte, for the
+remainder. Here we lay several weeks, finishing stowing our cargo. I went
+ashore almost every day to market, and had an opportunity of seeing
+something of the Spaniards. Our ship lay a good distance off, and we
+landed at a quarantine station, half a mile, at least, from the
+water-gate, to which we were compelled to walk along the beach.
+
+One of my journeys to the town produced a little adventure. The captain
+had ordered Cooper to boil some pitch at the galley. By some accident, the
+pot was capsized, and the ship came near being burned. A fresh pot was now
+provided, and Cooper and Dan McCoy were sent ashore, at the station, with
+orders to boil down pitch on the land. There was no wharf, and it was
+always necessary to get ashore through a surf. The bay is merely an elbow,
+half the winds blowing in from the open sea. Sometimes, therefore, landing
+is ticklish work and requires much skill. I went ashore with the pitch,
+and proceeded into the town on my errands, whilst the two lads lighted
+their fire and began to boil down. When all was ready, it was seen there
+was a good deal of swell, and that the breakers looked squally. The
+orders, however, were to go off, on such occasions, and not to wait, as
+delay generally made matters worse. We got into the boat, accordingly, and
+shoved off. For a minute, or more, things went well enough, when a breaker
+took the bows of the jolly-boat, lifted her nearly on end, and turned her
+keel uppermost. One scarcely knows how he gets out of such a scrape. We
+all came ashore, however, heels over head, people, pot, boat, and oars.
+The experiment was renewed, less the pitch and a pair of new shoes of
+mine, and it met with exactly the same result. On a third effort, the boat
+got through the surf and we succeeded in reaching the ship. These are the
+sorts of scenes that harden lads, and make them fond of risks. I could not
+swim a stroke, and certainly would have been drowned had not the
+Mediterranean cast me ashore, as if disdaining to take a life of so little
+value to anybody but myself.
+
+After lying several weeks at Almeria, the ship got under way for England
+again. We had fresh westerly gales, and beat to and fro, between Europe
+and Africa, for some time, when we got a Levanter that shoved us out into
+the Atlantic at a furious rate. In the Straits we passed a squadron of
+Portuguese frigates, that was cruising against the Algerines. It was the
+practice of these ships to lie at the Rock until it blew strong enough
+from the eastward to carry vessels through the Gut, when they weighed and
+kept in the offing until the wind shifted. This was blockading the
+Atlantic against their enemies, and the Mediterranean against their
+own ships.
+
+We had a long passage and were short of salt provisions. Falling in with
+an American in the Bay of Biscay, we got a barrel of beef which lasted us
+in. When near the chops of the channel, with a light southerly wind, we
+made a sail in our wake, that came up with us hand over hand. She went
+nearly two feet to our one, the barilla pressing the Sterling down into
+the water, and making her very dull, more especially in light airs. When
+the stranger got near enough, we saw that he was pumping, the water
+running out of his scuppers in a constant stream. He was several hours in
+sight, the whole time pumping. This ship passed within a cable's-length of
+us, without taking any more notice of us than if we had been a mile-stone.
+She was an English two-decker, and we could distinguish the features of
+her men, as they stood in the waist, apparently taking breath after their
+trial at the pumps. She dropped a hawse-bucket, and we picked it up, when
+she was about half a mile ahead of us. It had the broad-arrow on it, and a
+custom-house officer seeing it, some time after, was disposed to seize it
+as a prize.
+
+We never knew the name of this ship, but there was something proud and
+stately in her manner of passing us, in her distress, without so much as a
+hail. It is true, we could have done her no good, and her object,
+doubtless, was to get into dock as soon as possible. Some thought she had
+been in action, and was going home to repair damages that could not be
+remedied at sea.
+
+Soon after this vessel was seen, we had proof how difficult it is to judge
+of a ship's size at sea. A vessel was made ahead, standing directly for
+us. Mr. Irish soon pronounced her a sloop of war. Half an hour later she
+grew into a frigate, but when she came abeam she showed three tiers of
+ports, being a ninety. This ship also passed without deigning to take any
+notice of us.
+
+
+
+Chapter III.
+
+
+
+We made the Land's End in fine weather, and with a fair wind. Instead of
+keeping up channel, however, our ship hauled in for the land. Cooper was
+at the helm, and the captain asked him if he knew of any one on board who
+had ever been into Falmouth. He was told that Philadelphia Bill had been
+pointing out the different head-lands on the forecastle, and that, by his
+own account, he had sailed a long time out of the port. This Bill was a
+man of fifty, steady, trust-worthy, quiet, and respected by every man in
+the ship. He had taken a great liking to Cooper, whom he used to teach how
+to knot and splice, and other niceties of the calling, and Cooper often
+took him ashore with him, and amused him with historical anecdotes of the
+different places we visited. In short, the intimacy between them was as
+great as well could be, seeing the difference in their educations and
+ages. But, even to Cooper, Bill always called himself a Philadelphian. In
+appearance, indeed, he resembled one of those whom we call Yankees, in
+America, more than anything else.
+
+Bill was now sent for and questioned. He seemed uneasy, but admitted he
+could take the ship into Falmouth. There was nothing in the way, but a
+rock abreast Pendennis Castle, but it was easy to give that a berth. We
+now learned that the captain had made up his mind to go into this port and
+ride out the quarantine to which all Mediterranean vessels were subject.
+Bill took us in very quietly, and the ship was ordered up a few miles
+above the town, to a bay where vessels rode out their quarantine. The next
+day a doctor's boat came alongside, and we were ordered to show ourselves,
+and flourish our limbs, in order to make it evident we were alive and
+kicking. There were four men in the boat, and, as it turned out, every one
+of them recognised Bill, who was born within a few miles of the very spot
+where the ship lay, and had a wife then living a great deal nearer to him
+than he desired. It was this wife--there happening to be too much of
+her--that had driven the poor fellow to America, twenty years before, and
+which rendered him unwilling to live in his native country. By private
+means, Bill managed to have some communication with the men in the boat,
+and got their promises not to betray him. This was done by signs
+altogether, speaking being quite out of the question.
+
+We were near, or quite, a fortnight in quarantine; after which the ship
+dropped down abreast of the town. This was of a Saturday, and Sunday, a
+portion of the crew were permitted to go ashore. Bill was of the number,
+and when he returned he admitted that he had been so much excited at
+finding himself in the place, that he had been a little indiscreet. That
+night he was very uncomfortable, but nothing occurred to molest any of us.
+The next morning all seemed right, and Bill began to be himself again;
+often wishing, however, that the anchor was aweigh, and the ship turning
+out of the harbour. We soon got at work, and began to work down to the
+mouth of the haven, with a light breeze. The moment we were clear of the
+points, or head-lands, we could make a fair wind of it up channel. The ship
+was in stays, pretty well down, tinder Pendennis, and the order had been
+given to swing the head yards. Bill and Cooper were pulling together at
+the fore-top-sail brace, when the report of a musket was heard quite near
+the ship. Bill let go the brace, turned as white as a sheet, and
+exclaimed, "I'm gone!" At first, the men near him thought he was shot, but
+a gesture towards the boat which had fired, explained his meaning. The
+order was given to belay the head braces, and we waited the result
+in silence.
+
+The press-gang was soon on board us, and its officer asked to have the
+crew mustered. This humiliating order was obeyed, and all hands of us were
+called aft. The officer seemed easily satisfied, until he came to Bill.
+"What countryman are _you_?" he asked. "An American--a Philadelphian,"
+answered Bill. "You are an Englishman." "No, sir; I was born--" "Over
+here, across the bay," interrupted the officer, with a cool smile, "where
+your dear wife is at this moment. Your name is ______ ______, and you are
+well known in Falmouth. Get your clothes, and be ready to go in the boat."
+
+This settled the matter. Captain Johnston paid Bill his wages, his chest
+was lowered into the boat, and the poor fellow took an affectionate leave
+of his shipmates. He told those around him that his fate was sealed. He
+was too old to outlive a war that appeared to have no end, and they would
+never trust _him_ on shore. "My foot will never touch the land again," he
+said to Cooper, as he squeezed his young friend's hand, "and I am to live
+and die, with a ship for my prison."
+
+The loss of poor Bill made us all sad; but there was no remedy. We got
+into the offing, and squared away for the river again. When we reached
+London, the ship discharged down at Limehouse, where she lay in a tier of
+Americans for some time. We then took in a little ballast, and went up
+opposite to the dock gates once more. We next docked and cleaned the ship,
+on the Deptford side, and then hauled into the wet-dock in which we had
+discharged our flour.
+
+Here the ship lay part of May, all of June, and most of July, taking in
+freight for Philadelphia, as it offered. This gave our people a good deal
+of spare time, and we were allowed to go ashore whenever we were not
+wanted. Cooper now took me in tow, and many a drift I had with him and Dan
+McCoy up to St. Paul's, the parks, palaces, and the Abbey. A little
+accident that happened about this time, attached me to Cooper more than
+common, and made me more desirous than ever to cruise in his company.
+
+I was alone, on deck, one Sunday, when I saw a little dog running about on
+board a vessel that lay outside of us. Around the neck of this animal,
+some one has fastened a sixpence, by a bit of riband rove through a hole.
+I thought this sixpence might be made better use of, in purchasing some
+cherries, for which I had a strong longing, and I gave chase. In
+attempting to return to our own ship, with the dog, I fell into the water,
+between the two vessels. I could not swim a stroke; and I sang out,
+lustily, for help. As good luck would have it, Cooper came on board at
+that precise instant; and, hearing my outcry, he sprang down between the
+ships, and rescued me from drowning. I thought I was gone; and my
+condition made an impression on me that never will be lost. Had not Cooper
+accidentally appeared, just as he did, Ned Myers's yarn would have ended
+with this paragraph. I ought to add, that the sixpence got clear, the dog
+swimming away with it.
+
+I had another escape from drowning, while we lay in the docks, having
+fallen overboard from the jolly-boat, while making an attempt at sculling.
+I forget, now, how I was saved; but then I had the boat and the oar to
+hold on to. In the end, it will be seen by what a terrific lesson I
+finally learned to swim.
+
+One Sunday we were drifting up around the palace; and then it was that I
+told Cooper that the Duke of Kent was my god-father. He tried to persuade
+me to make a call; saying I could do no less than pay this respect to the
+prince. I had half a mind to try my hand at a visit; but felt too shy, and
+too much afraid. Had I done as Cooper so strongly urged me to do, one
+cannot say what might have been the consequences, or what change might
+have been brought about in my fortunes.[4]
+
+One day Mr. Irish was in high glee, having received a message from Captain
+Johnston, to inform him that the latter was pressed! The captain used to
+dress in a blue long-tog, drab-breeches and top-boots, when he went
+ashore. "He thought he could pass for a gentleman from the country," said
+Mr. Irish, laughing, "but them press-gang chaps smelt the tar in his very
+boots!" Cooper was sent to the rendezvous, with the captain's desk and
+papers, and the latter was liberated. We all liked the captain, who was
+kind and considerate in his treatment of all hands; but it was fine fun
+for us to have "the old fellow" pressed--"_old fellow_" of six or
+eight-and-twenty, as he was then.
+
+About the last of July, we left London, bound home. Our crew had again
+undergone some changes. We shipped a second mate, a New-England man. Jim
+Russel left us. We had lost Bill; and, another Bill, a dull Irish lad, who
+had gone to Spain, quitted us also. Our crew consisted of only Spanish
+Joe; Big Dan; Little Dan; Stephen, the Kennebunk man; Cooper; a Swede,
+shipped in London; a man whose name I have forgotten; and a young man who
+passed by the name of Davis, but who was, in truth,--------, a son of the
+pilot who had brought us in, and taken us out, each time we passed up or
+down the river. This Davis had sailed in a coaster belonging to his
+father, and had got pressed in Sir Home Popham's South-American squadron.
+They made him a midshipman; but, disliking the sea, he was determined to
+go to America. We had to smuggle him out of the country, on account of the
+press-gang; he making his appearance on board us, suddenly, one night, in
+the river.
+
+The Sterling was short-handed this passage, mustering but four hands in a
+watch. Notwithstanding, we often reefed in the watch, though Cooper and
+Little Dan were both scarcely more than boys. Our mates used to go aloft,
+and both were active, powerful men. The cook, too, was a famous fellow at
+a drag. In these delicate times, when two or three days of watch and watch
+knock up a set of young men, one looks back with pride to a passage like
+this, when fourteen men and boys--four of the latter--brought a good sized
+ship across the ocean, reefing in the watch, weathering many a gale, and
+thinking nothing of it. I presume half our people, on a pinch, could have
+brought the Sterling in. One of the boys I have mentioned was named John
+Pugh, a little fellow the captain had taken as an apprentice in London,
+and who was now at sea for the first time in his life.
+
+We had a long passage. Every inch of the way to the Downs was tide-work.
+Here we lay several days, waiting far a wind. It blew fresh from the
+southwest-half of that summer, and the captain was not willing to go out
+with a foul wind. We were surrounded with vessels of war, most of the
+Channel Fleet being at anchor around us. This made a gay scene, and we had
+plenty of music, and plenty of saluting. One day all hands turned-to
+together, and fired starboard and larboard, until we could see nothing but
+a few mast-heads. What it all meant I never heard, but it made a famous
+smoke, and a tremendous noise.
+
+A frigate came in, and anchored just ahead of us. She lowered a boat, and
+sent a reefer alongside to inform us that she was His Majesty's ship----;
+that she had lost all her anchors but the stream, and she might strike
+adrift, and he advised us to get out of her way. The captain held on that
+day, however, but next morning she came into us, sure enough. The ships
+did not get clear without some trouble, and we thought it wisest to shift
+our berth. Once aweigh, the captain thought it best to turn out of the
+Downs, which we did, working through the Straits, and anchoring under
+Dungeness, as soon as the flood made. Here we lay until near sunset, when
+we got under way to try our hand upon the ebb. I believe the skipper had
+made up his mind to tide it down to the Land's End, rather than remain
+idle any longer. There was a sloop of war lying in-shore of us, a mile or
+so, and just as we stretched out from under the land, she began to
+telegraph with a signal station ashore. Soon after, she weighed, and came
+out, also. In the middle watch we passed this ship, on opposite tacks, and
+learned that an embargo had been laid, and that we had only saved our
+distance by some ten or fifteen minutes! This embargo was to prevent the
+intelligence of the Copenhagen expedition from reaching the Danes. That
+very day, we passed a convoy of transports, carrying a brigade from
+Pendennis Castle to Yarmouth, in order to join the main fleet. A gun-brig
+brought us to, and came near pressing the Swede, under the pretence that
+being allies of his king, England had a right to his services. Had not the
+man been as obstinate as a bull, and positively refused to go, I do
+believe we should have lost him. He was ordered into the boat at least
+half-a-dozen times, but swore he would not budge. Cooper had a little row
+with this boarding officer, but was silenced by the captain.
+
+After the news received from the sloop of war, it may be supposed we did
+not venture to anchor anywhere on English ground. Keeping the channel, we
+passed the Isle of Wight several times, losing on the flood, the distance
+made on the ebb. At length we got a slant and fetched out into the
+Atlantic, heading well to the southward, however. Our passage was long,
+even after we got clear, the winds carrying us down as low as Corvo, which
+island we made, and then taking us well north again. We had one very heavy
+blow that forced us to scud, the Sterling being one of the wettest ships
+that ever floated, when heading up to the sea.
+
+When near the American coast, we spoke an English brig that gave us an
+account of the affair between the Leopard and the Chesapeake, though he
+made his own countrymen come out second-best. Bitter were the revilings of
+Mr. Irish when the pilot told us the real state of the case. As was usual
+with this ship's luck, we tided it up the bay and river, and got safe
+alongside of the wharf at Philadelphia, at last. Here our crew was broken
+up, of course, and, with the exception of Jack Pugh, my brother
+apprentice, and Cooper, I never saw a single soul of them afterwards. Most
+of them went on to New York, and were swallowed up in the great vortex of
+seamen. Mr. Irish, I heard, died the next voyage he made, chief mate of an
+Indiaman. He was a prime fellow, and fit to command a ship.
+
+Such was my first voyage at sea, for I count the passage round from
+Halifax as nothing. I had been kept in the cabin, it is true, but our work
+had been of the most active kind. The Sterling must have brought up, and
+been got under way, between fifty and a hundred times; and as for tacking,
+waring, chappelling round, and box-hauling, we had so much of it by the
+channel pilots, that the old barky scarce knew which end was going
+foremost. In that day, a ship did not get from the Forelands up to London
+without some trouble, and great was our envy of the large blocks and light
+cordage of the colliers, which made such easy work for their men. We
+singled much of our rigging, the second voyage up the river, ourselves,
+and it was a great relief to the people. A set of grass foresheets, too,
+that we bought in Spain, got to be great favourites, though, in the end,
+they cost the ship the life of a very valuable man.
+
+Captain Johnston now determined to send me to Wiscasset, that I might go
+to school. A Wiscasset schooner, called the Clarissa, had come into
+Philadelphia, with freight from the West Indies, and she was about to sail
+for home in ballast. I was put on board as a passenger, and we sailed
+about a week after the ship got in from London. Jack Pugh staid behind,
+the Sterling being about to load for Ireland. On board the Clarissa I made
+the acquaintance of a Philadelphian born, who was an apprentice to the
+master of the schooner, of the name of Jack Mallet. He was a little older
+than myself, and we soon became intimate, and, in time, were fated to see
+many strange things in company.
+
+The Clarissa went, by the Vineyard Sound and the Shoals, into Boston. Here
+she landed a few crates, and then sailed for Wiscasset, where we arrived
+after a pretty long passage. I was kindly received by the mother and
+family of Captain Johnston, and immediately sent to school. Shortly after,
+we heard of the embargo, and, the Clarissa being laid up, Jack Mallet
+became one of my school-mates. We soon learned that the Sterling had not
+been able to get out, and, ere long, Jack Pugh joined our party. A little
+later, Captain Johnston arrived, to go into the commercial quarantine with
+the rest of us.
+
+This was the long embargo, as sailors called it, and it did not terminate
+until Erskine's arrangement was made, in 1809. All this time I remained in
+Wiscasset, at school, well treated, and, if anything, too much indulged.
+Captain Johnston remained at home all this time, also, and, having nothing
+else to do, he set about looking out for a wife. We had, at school, Jack
+Pugh, Jack Mallet, and Bill Swett, the latter being a lad a little older
+than myself, and a nephew of the captain's. I was now sixteen, and had
+nearly gotten my growth.
+
+As soon as the embargo was removed, Captain Johnston, accompanied by
+Swett, started for Philadelphia, to bring the ship round to New York. From
+that place he intended to sail for Liverpool, where Jack Pugh and myself
+were to join him, sailing in a ship called the Columbia. This plan was
+changed, however, and we were sent round by sea to join the Sterling
+again, in the port where I had first found her.
+
+As this was near three years after I had quitted the Hel zer's so
+unceremoniously, I went to look for them. Their old neighbours told me
+they had been gone to Martinique, about a twelvemonth. This was the last
+intelligence I ever heard of them. Bill Swett was now put into the cabin,
+and Jack Pugh and myself were sent regularly to duty before the mast. We
+lived in the steerage, and had cabin fare; but, otherwise, had the
+fortunes of foremast Jacks. Our freight was wheat in the lower hold, flour
+betwixt decks, and cotton on deck. The ship was very deep. Our crew was
+good, but both our mates were foreigners.
+
+Nothing occurred until we got near soundings, when it came on to blow very
+heavy from the southward and westward. The ship was running under a
+close-reefed main-topsail and foresail, with a tremendous sea on. Just as
+night set in, one Harry, a Prussian, came on deck from his supper to
+relieve the wheel, and, fetching a lurch as he went aft, he brought up
+against the launch, and thence down against our grass fore-sheet, which
+had been so great a favourite in the London passages. This rope had been
+stretched above the deck load for a ridge rope, but, being rotten, it gave
+way when the poor Prussian struck it, and he went into the sea. We could
+do no more than throw him the sky-light, which was large; but the ship
+went foaming ahead, leaving the poor fellow to his fate, in the midst of
+the hissing waters. Some of our people thought they saw poor Harry on the
+sky-light, but this could not have made much difference in such a raging
+sea. It was impossible to round-to, and as for a boat's living, it was out
+of the question. This was the first man I saw lost at sea, and,
+notwithstanding the severity of the gale, and the danger of the ship
+herself, the fate of this excellent man made us all melancholy. The
+captain felt it bitterly, as was evident from his manner. Still, the thing
+was unavoidable.
+
+We had begun to shorten sail early in the afternoon, and Harry was lost in
+the first dog-watch. A little later the larboard fore-sheet went, and the
+sail was split. All hands were called, and the rags were rolled up, and
+the gaskets passed. The ship now laboured so awfully that she began to
+leak. The swell was so high that we did not dare to come by the wind, and
+the seas would come in, just about the main chains, meet in board and
+travel out over her bows in a way to threaten everything that could be
+moved. We lads were lashed at the pumps, and ordered to keep at work; and
+to make matters worse, the wheat began to work its way into the pump-well.
+While things were in this state, the main-top-sail split, leaving the ship
+without a rag of sail on her.
+
+The Sterling loved to be under water, even in moderate weather. Many a
+time have I seen her send the water aft, into the quarter-deck scuppers,
+and, as for diving, no loon was quicker than she. Now, that she was deep
+and was rolling her deck-load to the water, it was time to think of
+lightening her. The cotton was thrown overboard as fast as we could, and
+what the men could not start the seas did. After a while we eased the ship
+sensibly, and it was well we did; the wheat choking the pumps so often,
+that we had little opportunity for getting out the water.
+
+I do not now recollect at what hour of this fearful night, Captain
+Johnston shouted out to us all to "look out"--and "hold on." The ship was
+broaching-to. Fortunately she did this at a lucky moment, and, always
+lying-to well, though wet, we made much better weather on deck. The
+mizzen-staysail was now set to keep her from falling off into the troughs
+of the sea. Still the wind blew as hard as ever. First one sail, then
+another, got loose, and a hard time we had to keep the canvass to the
+yards. Then the fore-top-mast went, with a heavy lurch, and soon after the
+main, carrying with it the mizzen-top-gallant-mast. We owed this to the
+embargo, in my judgment, the ship's rigging having got damaged lying dry
+so long. We were all night clearing the wreck, and the men who used the
+hatchets, told us that the wind would cant their tools so violently that
+they sometimes struck on the eyes, instead of the edge. The gale fairly
+seemed like a hard substance.
+
+We passed a fearful night, working at the pumps, and endeavouring to take
+care of the ship. Next morning it moderated a little, and the vessel was
+got before the wind, which was perfectly fair. She could carry but little
+sail; though we got up top-gallant-masts for top-masts, as soon as the sea
+would permit. About four, I saw the land myself and pointed it out to the
+mate. It was Cape Clear, and we were heading for it as straight as we
+could go. We hauled up to clear it, and ran into the Irish channel. A
+large fleet of vessels had gathered in and near the chops of the channel,
+in readiness to run into Liverpool by a particular day that had been named
+in the law opening the trade, and great had been the destruction among
+them. I do not remember the number of the ships we saw, but there must
+have been more than a hundred. It was afterwards reported, that near fifty
+vessels were wrecked on the Irish coast. Almost every craft we fell in
+with was more or less dismasted, and one vessel, a ship called the
+Liberty, was reported to have gone down, with every soul on board her.
+
+The weather becoming moderate, all hands of us went into Liverpool, the
+best way we could. The Sterling had good luck in getting up, though we lay
+some time in the river before we were able to get into dock. When we got
+out the cargo, we found it much damaged, particularly the wheat. The last
+was so hot that we could not bear our feet among it. We got it all out in
+a few days, when we went into a dry dock, and repaired.
+
+This visit to Liverpool scattered our crew as if it had been so much dust
+in a squall. Most of our men were pressed, and those that were not, ran.
+But one man, us boys excepted, stuck by the ship. The chief mate--a
+foreigner, though of what country I never could discover--lived at a house
+kept by a handsome landlady. To oblige this lady, he ordered William Swett
+and myself to carry a bucket-full of salt, each, up to her house. The salt
+came out of the harness-cask, and we took it ashore openly, but we were
+stopped on the quay by a custom-house officer, who threatened to seize the
+ship. Such was the penalty for landing two buckets of Liverpool salt at
+Liverpool!
+
+Captain Johnston had the matter explained, and he discharged the mate.
+Next day, the discharged man and the second mate were pressed. We got the
+last, who was a Swede, clear; and the chief mate, in the end, made his
+escape, and found his way back to New York. Among those impressed, was
+Jack Pugh, who having been bound in London, we did not dare show his
+papers. The captain tried hard to get the boy clear, but without success.
+I never saw poor Jack after this; though I learn he ran from the
+market-boat of the guard-ship, made his way back to Wiscasset, where he
+stayed some time, then shipped, and was lost at sea.
+
+
+
+Chapter IV.
+
+
+
+At length we got a new crew, and sailed for home. We had several
+passengers on board, masters of American ships who could go back
+themselves, but not carry their vessels with them, on account of certain
+liberties the last had taken with the laws. These persons were called
+"embargo captains." One of them, a Captain B----, kept Captain Johnston's
+watch, and got so much into his confidence and favour, that he gave him
+the vessel in the end. The passage home was stormy and long, but offered
+nothing remarkable. A non-importation law had been passed during our
+absence, and our ship was seized in New York in consequence of having a
+cargo of English salt. We had taken the precaution, however, to have the
+salt cleared in Liverpool, and put afloat before the day named in the law,
+and got clear after a detention of two months. Salt rose so much in the
+interval, that the seizure turned out to be a good thing for the owners.
+
+While the ship was lying off the Battery, on her return from this voyage,
+and before she had hauled in, a boat came alongside with a young man in
+her in naval uniform. This was Cooper, who, in pulling across to go aboard
+his own vessel, had recognised our mast-heads, and now came to look at us.
+This was the last time I met him, until the year 1843; or, for
+thirty-four years.
+
+We now loaded with naval stores, and cleared again for Liverpool. Bill
+Swett did not make this voyage with us, the cook acting as steward. We had
+good passages out and home, experiencing no detention or accidents. In the
+spring of 1810, Captain Johnston gave the ship to Captain B----, who
+carried us to Liverpool for the third time. Nothing took place this
+voyage either, worthy of being mentioned, the ship getting back in good
+season. We now took in a cargo of staves for Limerick. Off the Hook we
+were brought-to by the Indian sloop-of-war, one of the Halifax cruisers, a
+squadron in company. Several vessels were coming out at the same time, and
+among them were several of the clippers in the French trade. The Amiable
+Matilda and the Colt went to windward of the Englishmen as if the last had
+been at anchor; but the Tameahmeah, when nearest to the English, got her
+yards locked in stays, and was captured. We saw all this, and felt, as was
+natural to men who beheld such things enacted at the mouth of their own
+port. Our passages both ways were pleasant, and nothing occurred out of
+the usual course. I fell in with a press-gang, however, in Limerick, which
+would have nabbed me, but for a party of Irishmen, who showed fight and
+frightened the fellows so much that I got clear. Once before, I had been
+in the hands of these vermin in Liverpool, but Captain Johnston had got me
+clear by means of my indentures. I was acting as second-mate this voyage.
+
+On our return home, the ship was ordered to Charleston to get a cargo of
+yellow pine, under a contract. Captain B---- was still in command, my old
+master, Captain Johnston, being then at home, occupied in building a new
+ship. I never saw this kind-hearted and indulgent seaman until the year
+1842, when I made a journey to Wiscasset expressly to see him. Captain
+B---- and myself were never very good friends, and I was getting to be
+impatient of his authority; but I still stuck by the ship.
+
+We had an ordinary run to Charleston, and began to prepare for the
+reception of our cargo. At this time, there were two French privateers on
+the southern coast, that did a great deal of damage to our trade. One went
+into Savannah, and got burned, for her pains; and the other came into
+Charleston, and narrowly escaped the same fate. A mob collected--made a
+fire-raft, and came alongside of our ship, demanding some tar. To own the
+truth, though then clothed with all the dignity of a "Dicky," [5] I liked
+the fun, and offered no resistance. Bill Swett had come in, in a ship
+called the United States; and he was on board the Sterling, at the time,
+on a visit to me. We two, off hatches, and whipped a barrel of tar on
+deck; which we turned over to the raftsmen, with our hearty good wishes
+for their success. All this was, legally, very wrong; but, I still think,
+it was not so very far from being morally just; at least, as regards the
+privateersmen. The attempt failed, however, and those implicated were
+blamed a great deal more than they would have been, had they burned up the
+Frenchmen's eye-bolts. It is bad to fail, in a legal undertaking; but
+success is indispensable for forgiveness, to one that is illegal.
+
+That night, Captain B---- and the chief mate, came down upon me, like a
+gust, for having parted with the tar. They concluded their lecture, by
+threatening to work me up. Bill Swett was by, and he got his share of the
+dose. When we were left to ourselves, we held a council of war, about
+future proceedings. Our crew had run, to a man, the cook excepted, as
+usually happens, in Charleston; and we brought in the cook, as a
+counsellor. This man told me, that he had overheard the captain and mate
+laying a plan to give me a threshing, as soon as I had turned in. Bill,
+now, frankly proposed that I should run, as well as himself; for he had
+already left his ship; and our plan was soon laid. Bill went ashore, and
+brought a boat down under the bows of the ship, and I passed my dunnage
+into her, by going through the forecastle; I then left the Sterling, for
+ever, never putting my foot on board of her again. I saw her, once or
+twice, afterwards, at a distance, and she always looked like a sort of
+home to me. She was subsequently lost, on the eastern coast, Captain
+Johnston still owning her, and being actually on board her, though only as
+a passenger. I had been out in her twelve times, from country to country,
+besides several short runs, from port to port. She always seemed natural
+to me; and I had got to know every timber and stick about her. I felt
+more, in quitting this ship, than I did in quitting Halifax. This
+desertion was the third great error of my life. The first was, quitting
+those with whom I had been left by my father; the second, abandoning my
+good friends, the Heizers; and the third, leaving the Sterling. Had
+Captain Johnston been in the ship, I never should have dreamed of running.
+He was always kind to me, and if he failed in justice, it was on the side
+of indulgence. Had I continued with him, I make no doubt, my career would
+have been very different from what it has since turned out to be; and, I
+fear, I must refer one of the very bad habits, that afterwards marred my
+fortunes, that of drinking too much, to this act. Still, it will be
+remembered, I was only nineteen, loved adventure, and detested
+Captain B----.
+
+After this exploit, Swett and I kept housed for a week. He then got into a
+ship called the President, and I into another called the Tontine, and both
+sailed for New York, where we arrived within a few days of each other. We
+now shipped together in a vessel called the Jane, bound to Limerick. This
+was near the close of the year 1811. Our passage out was tremendously bad,
+and we met with some serious accidents to our people. We were not far from
+the mouth of the Irish channel when the ship broached-to, in scudding
+under the foresail and main-top-sail, Bill Swett being at the helm. The
+watch below ran on deck and hauled up the foresail, without orders, to
+prevent the ship from going down stern foremost, the yards being square.
+As the ship came-to, she took a sea in on her starboard side, which drove
+poor Bill to leeward, under some water-casks and boards, beating in two of
+his ribs. Both mates were injured also, and were off duty in consequence
+for several weeks. The plank sheer was ripped off the vessel from aft to
+amidships, as neatly as if it had been done by the carpenters. We could
+look down among the timbers the same as if the vessel were on the stocks.
+
+The men braced up the after-yards, and then the ship was lying-to under a
+close-reefed main-top-sail. After this, she did well enough. We now passed
+the hurt below, and got tarred canvass over the timber-heads, and managed
+to keep out the water. Next day we made sail for our port. It blowing too
+fresh to get a pilot, we ran into a roadstead at the mouth of the Shannon,
+and anchored with both bowers. We rode out the gale, and then went up to
+Limerick. Here all hands got well, and returned to duty. In due time, we
+sailed for home in ballast. As we came into the Hook, we were hailed by a
+gun-boat, and heard of the "Little Embargo."
+
+The question now came up seriously between Bill and myself, what was best
+to be done. I was for going to Wiscasset, like two prodigals, own our
+fault, and endeavour to amend. Bill thought otherwise. Now we were cast
+ashore, without employment, he thought it more manly to try and shift for
+ourselves. He had an uncle who was a captain of artillery, and who was
+then stationed on Governor's Island, and we took him into our councils.
+This gentleman treated us kindly, and kept us with him on the island for
+two days. Finding his nephew bent on doing something for himself, he gave
+us a letter to Lt. Trenchard, of the navy, by whom we were both shipped
+for the service. Swett got a master's-mate's berth, and I was offered the
+same, but felt too much afraid of myself to accept it. I entered the navy,
+then, for the first time, as a common Jack.
+
+This was a very short time before war was declared, and a large flotilla
+of gun-boats was getting ready for the New York station. Bill was put on
+board of No. 112, and I was ordered to No. 107, Sailing-Master Costigan.
+Soon after, we were all employed in fitting the Essex for sea; and while
+thus occupied the Declaration of War actually arrived. On this occasion I
+got drunk, for the second time in my life. A quantity of whiskey was
+started into a tub, and all hands drank to the success of the conflict. A
+little upset me, then, nor would I have drunk anything, but for the
+persuasions of some of my Wiscasset acquaintances, of whom there were
+several in the ship. I advise all young men, who feel no desire to drink,
+to follow their own propensities, and not to yield themselves up, body and
+soul, to the thoughtless persuasions of others. There is no real
+good-fellowship in swilling rum and whiskey; but the taste, once acquired,
+is hard to cure. I never drank much, as to quantity, but a little filled
+me with the love of mischief, and that little served to press me down for
+all the more valuable years of my life; valuable, as to the advancement of
+my worldly interests, though I can scarcely say I began really to live, as
+a creature of God's should live, to honour his name and serve his ends,
+until the year 1839.
+
+After the Essex was fitted out, the flotilla cruised in the Sound, and was
+kept generally on the look-out, about the waters of New York. Towards the
+end of the season, our boat, with several others, was lying abreast of
+the Yard, when orders came off to meet the Yard Commander, Captain
+Chauncey, on the wharf. Here, this officer addressed us, and said he was
+about to proceed to Lake Ontario, to take command, and asking who would
+volunteer to go with him. This was agreeable news to us, for we hated the
+gun-boats, and would go anywhere to be quit of them. Every man and boy
+volunteered. We got twenty-four hours' liberty, with a few dollars in
+money, and when this scrape was over every man returned, and we embarked
+in a sloop for Albany. Our draft contained near 140 men, and was commanded
+by Mr. Mix, then a sailing-master, but who died a commander a few years
+since. Messrs. Osgood and Mallaby were also with us, and two midshipmen,
+viz: Messrs. Sands and Livingston. The former of these young gentlemen is
+now a commander, but I do not know what became of Mr. Livingston. We had
+also two master's-mates, Messrs. Bogardus and Emory.
+
+On reaching Albany, we paid a visit to the Governor, gave him three
+cheers, got some good cheer in return, and were all stowed in wagons, a
+mess in each, before his door. We now took to our land tacks, and a merry
+time we had of it. Our first day's run was to a place called Schenectady,
+and here the officers found an empty house, and berthed us all together,
+fastening the doors. This did not suit our notions of a land cruise, and
+we began to grumble. There was a regular hard horse of a boatswain's-mate
+with us, of the name of McNally. This man had been in the service a long
+time, and was a thorough man-of-war's man. Fie had collected twenty-four
+of us, whom he called his 'disciples,' and shamed am I to say, I was one.
+McNally called all hands on the upper deck, as he called it, that is to
+say, in the garret, and made us a speech. He said this was no way to treat
+volunteers, and proposed that we should "unship the awning." We rigged
+pries, and, first singing out, "stand from under," hove one half of the
+roof into the street, and the other into the garden. We then gave three
+cheers at our success. The officers now came down, and gave us a lecture.
+But we made out so good a case, that they let us run till morning, when
+every soul was back and mustered in the wagons. In this way we went
+through the country, cracking our jokes, laughing, and noting all
+oddities that crossed our course. I believe we were ten or twelve days
+working our way through the state, to Oswego. At Onondago Lake we got into
+boats, and did better than in the wagons. At a village on the lake shore,
+the people were very bitter against us, and we had some difficulty. The
+word went among us they were Scotch, from the Canadas, but of this I know
+nothing. We heard in the morning, however, that most of our officers were
+in limbo, and we crossed and marched up a hill, intending to burn, sink,
+and destroy, if they were not liberated. Mischief was prevented by the
+appearance of Mr. Mix, with the other gentlemen, and we pushed off without
+coming to blows.
+
+It came on to rain very hard, and we fetched up at a solitary house in the
+woods, and tried to get quarters. These were denied us, and we were told
+to shift for ourselves. This we did in a large barn, where we made good
+stowage until morning. In the night, we caught the owner coming about with
+a lantern to set fire to the barn, and we carried him down to a boat, and
+lashed him there until morning, letting the rain wash all the combustible
+matter out of him. That day we reached Oswego Falls, where a party of us
+were stationed some time, running boats over, and carrying stores across
+the portage.
+
+When everything reached Oswego, all hands turned to, to equip some lake
+craft that had been bought for the service. These were schooners, salt
+droggers, of about sixty or eighty tons. All we did at Oswego, however,
+was to load these vessels, some six or eight in all, and put to sea. I
+went off in one of the first, a vessel called the Fair American. Having no
+armaments, we sailed in the night, to avoid John Bull's cruisers, of which
+there were several out at the time. As we got in with some islands, at no
+great distance from Sackett's Harbour, we fell in with the Oneida's
+launch, which was always kept in the offing at night, rowing, or sailing,
+guard. Bill Swett was in her, and we then met for the first time on fresh
+water. I now learned that Jack Mallet was on the station, too, whom I had
+not fallen in with since we parted at Wiscasset, more than three years
+before. A fortnight later I found him, acting as boatswain of the Julia,
+Sailing-Master Trant, a craft I have every reason to remember as long as I
+shall live.
+
+The day after I reached the harbour, I was ordered on board the Scourge.
+This vessel was English-built, and had been captured before the war, and
+condemned, for violating the revenue laws, under the name of the Lord
+Nelson, by the Oneida 16, Lt. Com. Woolsey--the only cruiser we then had
+on the lake. This craft was unfit for her duty, but time pressed, and no
+better offered. Bulwarks had been raised on her, and she mounted eight
+sixes, in regular broadside. Her accommodations were bad enough, and she
+was so tender, that we could do little or nothing with her in a blow. It
+was often prognosticated that she would prove our coffin. Besides Mr.
+Osgood, who was put in command of this vessel, we had Mr. Bogardus, and
+Mr. Livingston, as officers. We must have had about forty-five souls on
+board, all told. We did not get this schooner out that season, however.
+
+The commodore arriving, and an expedition against Kingston being in the
+wind, a party of us volunteered from the Scourge, to go on board the
+Oneida. This was in November, rather a latish month for active service on
+those waters. The brig went out in company with the Conquest, Hamilton,
+Governor Tompkins, Port, Julia, and Growler, schooners. These last craft
+were all merchantmen, mostly without quarters, and scarcely fit for the
+duty on which they were employed. The Oneida was a warm little brig, of
+sixteen 24 lb. carronades, but as dull as a transport. She had been built
+to cross the bars of the American harbours, and would not travel
+to windward.
+
+We went off the False Ducks, where we made the Royal George, a ship the
+English had built expressly to overlay the Oneida, two or three years
+before, and which was big enough to eat us. Her officers, however, did not
+belong to the Royal Navy; and we made such a show of schooners, that,
+though she had herself a vessel or two in company, she did not choose to
+wait for us. We chased her into the Bay of Quinté, and there we lost her
+in the darkness. Next morning, however, we saw her at anchor in the
+channel that leads to Kingston. A general chase now commenced, and we ran
+down into the bay, and engaged the ship and batteries, as close as we
+could well get. The firing was sharp on both sides, and it lasted a great
+while. I was stationed at a gun, as her second captain, and was too busy
+to see much; but I know we kept our piece speaking as fast as we could,
+for a good bit. We drove the Royal George from a second anchorage, quite
+up to a berth abreast of the town; and it was said that her people
+actually deserted her, at one time. We gave her nothing but round-shot
+from our gun, and these we gave her with all our hearts. Whenever we
+noticed the shore, a stand of grape was added.
+
+I know nothing of the damage done the enemy. We had the best of it, so far
+as I could see; and I think, if the weather had not compelled us to haul
+off, something serious might have been done. As it was, we beat out with
+flying colours, and anchored a few miles from the light.
+
+These were the first shot I ever saw fired in anger. Our brig had one man
+killed and three wounded, and she was somewhat injured aloft. One shot
+came in not far from my gun, and scattered lots of cat-tails, breaking in
+the hammock-cloths. This was the nearest chance I ran, that day; and, on
+the whole, I think we escaped pretty well. On our return to the harbour,
+the ten Scourges who had volunteered for the cruise, returned to their own
+schooner. None of us were hurt, though all of us were half frozen, the
+water freezing as fast as it fell.
+
+Shortly after both sides went into winter quarters, and both sides
+commenced building. We launched a ship called the Madison, about this
+time, and we laid the keel of another, that was named the Pike. What John
+Bull was about is more than I can say, though the next season showed he
+had not been idle. The navigation did not absolutely close,
+notwithstanding, until December.
+
+Our vessels were moored about the harbour, and we were all frozen in, as a
+matter of course. Around each craft, however, a space was kept cut, to
+form a sort of ditch, in order to prevent being boarded. Parties were
+regularly stationed to defend the Madison, and, in the days, we worked at
+her rigging, and at that of the Pike, in gangs. Our larboard guns were
+landed, and placed in a block-house, while the starboard were kept
+mounted. My station was that of captain of one of the guns that remained.
+
+The winter lasted more than four months, and we made good times of it. We
+often went after wood, and occasionally we knocked over a deer. We had a
+target out on the lake, and this we practised on, making ourselves rather
+expert cannoneers. Now and then they rowsed us out on a false alarm, but I
+know of no serious attempt's being made by the enemy, to molest us.
+
+The lake was fit to navigate about the middle of April. Somewhere about
+the 20th[6] the soldiers began to embark, to the number of 1700 men. A
+company came on board the Scourge, and they filled us chock-a-block. It
+came on to blow, and we were obliged to keep these poor fellows, cramped
+as we were, most of the time on deck, exposed to rain and storm. On the
+25th we got out, rather a showy force altogether, though there was not
+much service in our small craft. We had a ship, a brig, and twelve
+schooners, fourteen sail in all. The next morning we were off Little York,
+having sailed with a fair wind. All hands anchored about a mile from the
+beach. I volunteered to go in a boat, to carry soldiers ashore. Each of us
+brought across the lake two of these boats in tow, but we had lost one of
+ours, dragging her after us in a staggering breeze. I got into the one
+that was left, and we put half our soldiers in her, and shoved off. We had
+little or no order in landing, each boat pulling as hard as she could. The
+English blazed away at us, concealed in a wood, and our men fired back
+again from the boat. I never was more disappointed in men, than I was in
+the soldiers. They were mostly tall, pale-looking Yankees, half dead with
+sickness and the bad weather--so mealy, indeed, that half of them could
+not take their grog, which, by this time, I had got to think a bad sign.
+As soon as they got near the enemy, however, they became wide awake,
+pointed out to each other where to aim, and many of them actually jumped
+into the water, in order to get the sooner ashore. No men could have
+behaved better, for I confess frankly I did not like the work at all. It
+is no fun to pull in under a sharp fire, with one's back to his enemy, and
+nothing but an oar to amuse himself with. The shot flew pretty thick, and
+two of our oars were split. This was all done with musketry, no heavy guns
+being used at this place. I landed twice in this way, but the danger was
+principally in the first affair. There was fighting up on the bank, but it
+gave us no trouble. Mr. Livingston commanded the boat.
+
+When we got back to the schooner, we found her lifting her anchors.
+Several of the smaller craft were now ordered up the bay, to open on the
+batteries nearer to the town. We were the third from the van, and we all
+anchored within canister range. We heard a magazine blow up, as we stood
+in, and this brought three cheers from us. We now had some sharp work with
+the batteries, keeping up a steady fire. The schooner ahead of us had to
+cut, and she shifted her berth outside of us. The leading schooner,
+however, held on. In the midst of it all, we heard cheers down the line,
+and presently we saw the commodore pulling in among us, in his gig. He
+came on board us, and we greeted him with three cheers. While he was on
+the quarter-deck, a hot shot struck the upper part of the after-port, cut
+all the boarding-pikes adrift from the main-boom, and wounded a man named
+Lemuel Bryant, who leaped from his quarters and fell at my feet. His
+clothes were all on fire when he fell, and, after putting them out, the
+commodore himself ordered me to pass him below. The old man spoke
+encouragingly to us, and a little thing took place that drew his attention
+to my crew. Two of the trucks of the gun we were fighting had been carried
+away, and I determined to shift over its opposite. My crew were five
+negroes, strapping fellows, and as strong as jackasses. The gun was called
+the Black Joke. Shoving the disabled gun out of the way, these chaps
+crossed the deck, unhooked the breechings and gun-tackles, raised the
+piece from the deck, and placed it in the vacant port. The commodore
+commended us, and called out, "that is quick work, my lads!" In less than
+three minutes, I am certain, we were playing on the enemy with the
+fresh gun.
+
+As for the old man, he pulled through the fire as coolly as if it were
+only a snow-balling scrape, though many a poor fellow lost the number of
+his mess in the boats that day. When he left us, we cheered him again. He
+had not left us long, before we heard an awful explosion on shore. Stones
+as big as my two fists fell on board of us, though nobody was hurt by
+them. We cheered, thinking some dire calamity had befallen the enemy. The
+firing ceased soon after this explosion, though one English gun held on,
+under the bank, for some little time.
+
+
+
+Chapter V.
+
+
+
+We did not know the cause of the last explosion, until after the firing
+ceased. I had seen an awful black cloud, and objects in the air that I
+took for men; but little did we imagine the explosion had cost us so dear.
+Our schooner lay at no great distance from the common landing, and no
+sooner were we certain of the success of the day, than Mr. Osgood ordered
+his boat's crew called away, and he landed. As I belonged to the boat, I
+had an early opportunity of entering the town.
+
+We found the place deserted. With the exception of our own men, I found
+but one living being in it. This was an old woman whom I discovered stowed
+away in a potatoe locker, in the government house. I saw tables set, and
+eggs in the cups, but no inhabitant. Our orders were of the most severe
+kind, not to plunder, and we did not touch a morsel of food even. The
+liquor, however, was too much for our poor natures, and a parcel of us had
+broke bulk in a better sort of grocery, when some officers came in and
+stove the casks. I made sail, and got out of the company. The army had
+gone in pursuit of the enemy, with the exception of a few riflemen, who,
+being now at liberty, found their way into the place.
+
+I ought to feel ashamed, and do feel ashamed of what occurred that night;
+but I must relate it, lest I feel more ashamed for concealing the truth.
+We had spliced the main-brace pretty freely throughout the day, and the
+pull I got in the grocery just made me ripe for mischief. When we got
+aboard the schooner again, we found a canoe that had drifted athwart-hawse
+and had been secured. My gun's crew, the Black Jokers, wished to have some
+fun in the town, and they proposed to me to take a cruise ashore. We had
+few officers on board, and the boatswain, a boat swain's mate in fact,
+consented to let us leave. We all went ashore in this canoe, then, and
+were soon alongside of a wharf. On landing, we were near a large store,
+and looking in at a window, we saw a man sitting asleep, with a gun in the
+hollow of his arm. His head was on the counter, and there was a lamp
+burning. One of the blacks pitched through the window, and was on him in a
+moment. The rest followed, and we made him a prisoner. The poor fellow
+said he had come to look after his property, and he was told no one would
+hurt him. My blacks now began to look about them, and to help themselves
+to such articles as they thought they wanted. I confess I helped myself to
+some tea and sugar, nor will I deny that I was in such a state as to think
+the whole good fun. We carried off one canoe load, and even returned for a
+second. Of course such an exploit could not have been effected without
+letting all in the secret share; and one boat-load of plunder was not
+enough. The negroes began to drink, however, and I was sober enough to see
+the consequences, if they were left ashore any longer. Some riflemen came
+in, too, and I succeeded in getting my jokers away.
+
+The recklessness of sailors may be seen in our conduct. All we received
+for our plunder was some eight or ten gallons of whiskey, when we got back
+to the harbour, and this at the risk of being flogged through the fleet!
+It seemed to us to be a scrape, and that was a sufficient excuse for
+disobeying orders, and for committing a crime. For myself, I was
+influenced more by the love of mischief, and a weak desire to have it said
+I was foremost in such an exploit, than from any mercenary motive.
+Notwithstanding the severity of the orders, and one or two pretty sharp
+examples of punishment inflicted by the commodore, the Black Jokers were
+not the only plunderers ashore that night. One master's-mate had the
+buttons taken off his coat, for stealing a feather bed, besides being
+obliged to carry it back again. Of course he was a shipped master's-mate.
+
+I was ashore every day while the squadron remained in the port. Our
+schooner never shifted her berth from the last one she occupied in the
+battle, and that was pretty well up the bay. I paid a visit to the gun
+that had troubled us all so much, and which we could not silence, for it
+was under a bank, near the landing-place. It was a long French eighteen,
+and did better service, that day, than any other piece of John Bull's. I
+think it hulled us several times.
+
+I walked over the ground where the explosion took place. It was a dreadful
+sight; the dead being so mutilated that it was scarcely possible to tell
+their colour. I saw gun-barrels bent nearly double. I think we saw Sir
+Roger Sheafe, the British General, galloping across the field, by himself,
+a few minutes before the explosion. At all events, we saw a mounted
+officer, and fired at him. He galloped up to the government-house,
+dismounted, went in, remained a short time, and then galloped out of town.
+All this I saw; and the old woman in the potato-locker told me the general
+had been in the house a short time before we landed. Her account agreed
+with the appearance of the officer I saw; though I will not pretend to be
+certain it was General Sheafe.
+
+I ought to mention the kindness of the commodore to the poor of York. As
+most of the inhabitants came back to their habitations the next day, the
+poor were suffering for food. Our men were ordered to roll barrels of salt
+meat and barrels of bread to their doors, from the government stores that
+fell into our hands. We captured an immense amount of these stores, a
+portion of which we carried away. We sunk many guns in the lake; and as
+for the powder, _that_ had taken care of itself. Among other things we
+took, was the body of an English officer, preserved in rum, which, they
+said, was General Brock's. I saw it hoisted out of the Duke of Gloucester,
+the man-of-war brig we captured, at Sackett's Harbour, and saw the body
+put in a fresh cask. I am ashamed to say, that some of our men were
+inclined to drink the old rum.
+
+We burned a large corvette, that was nearly ready for launching, and
+otherwise did the enemy a good deal of harm. The inhabitants that returned
+were very submissive, and thankful for what they received. As for the man
+of the red store, I never saw him after the night he was plundered, nor
+was anything ever said of the scrape.
+
+Our troops had lost near three hundred men in the attack, the wounded
+included; and as a great many of these green soldiers were now sick from
+exposure, the army was much reduced in force. We took the troops on board
+on the 1st of May, but could not sail, on account of a gale, until the
+8th, which made the matter worse. Then we got under way, and crossed the
+lake, landing the soldiers a few miles to the eastward of Fort Niagara.
+Our schooner now went to the Harbour, along with the commodore, though
+some of the craft remained near the head of the lake. Here we took in
+another lot of soldiers, placed two more large batteaux in tow, and sailed
+for the army again. We had good passages both ways, and this duty was done
+within a few days. While at the Harbour, I got a message to go and visit
+Bill Swett, but the poor fellow died without my being able to see him. I
+heard he was hurt at York, but never could come at the truth.
+
+On the 27th May, the army got into the batteaux, formed in two divisions,
+and commenced pulling towards the mouth of the Niagara. The morning was
+foggy, with a light wind, and the vessels getting under way, kept company
+with the boats, a little outside of them. The schooners were closest in,
+and some of them opened on Fort George, while others kept along the coast,
+scouring the shore with grape and canister as they moved ahead. The
+Scourge came to an anchor a short distance above the place selected for
+the landing, and sprung her broadside to the shore. We now kept up a
+steady fire with grape and canister, until the boats had got in-shore and
+were engaged with the enemy, when we threw round-shot, over the heads of
+our own men, upon the English. As soon as Colonel Scott was ashore, we
+sprung our broadside upon a two-gun battery that had been pretty busy, and
+we silenced that among us. This affair, for our craft, was nothing like
+that of York, though I was told the vessels nearer the river had warmer
+berths of it. We had no one hurt, though we were hulled once or twice. A
+little rigging was cut; but we set this down as light work compared to
+what the old Black Joke had seen that day month. There was a little sharp
+fighting ashore, but our men were too strong for the enemy, when they
+could fairly get their feet on solid ground.
+
+Just after we had anchored, Mr. Bogardus was sent aloft to ascertain if
+any enemy were to be seen. At first he found nobody; but, after a little
+while, he called out to have my gun fired at a little thicket of
+brushwood that lay on an inclined plain, near the water. Mr. Osgood came
+and elevated the gun, and I touched it off. We had been looking out for
+the blink of muskets, which was one certain guide to find a soldier; and
+the moment we sent this grist of grape and canister into those bushes, the
+place lighted up as if a thousand muskets were there. We then gave the
+chaps the remainder of our broadside. We peppered that wood well, and did
+a good deal of harm to the troops stationed at the place.
+
+The wind blew on shore, and began to increase; and the commodore now threw
+out a signal for the boats to land, to take care of the batteaux that were
+thumping on the beach, and then for their crews to assist in taking care
+of the wounded. Of course I went in my own boat, Mr. Bogardus having
+charge of her. We left the schooner, just as we quitted our guns, black
+with powder, in our shirts and trowsers, though we took the precaution to
+carry our boarding-belts, with a brace of pistols each, and a cutlass. On
+landing, we first hauled up the boats, taking some dead and wounded men
+out of them, and laying them on the beach.
+
+We were now ordered to divide ourselves into groups of three, and go over
+the ground, pick up the wounded, and carry them to a large house that had
+been selected as a hospital. My party consisted of Bill Southard, Simeon
+Grant, and myself, we being messmates. The first man we fell in with, was
+a young English soldier, who was seated on the bank, quite near the lake.
+He was badly hurt, and sat leaning his head on his hands. He begged for
+water, and I took his cap down to the lake and filled it, giving him a
+drink; then washing his face. This revived him, and he offered us his
+canteen, in which was some excellent Jamaica. To us chaps, who got nothing
+better than whiskey, this was a rare treat, and we emptied the remainder
+of his half pint, at a pull apiece. After tapping this rum, we carried
+the poor lad up to the house, and turned him over to the doctors. We found
+the rooms filled with wounded already, and the American and English
+doctors hard at work on them.
+
+As we left the hospital, we agreed to get a canteen apiece, and go round
+among the dead, and fill them with Jamaica. When our canteens were about a
+third full, we came upon a young American rifleman, who was lying under
+an appletree. He was hit in the head, and was in a very bad way. We were
+all three much struck with the appearance of this young man, and I now
+remember him as one of the handsomest youths I had ever seen. His wound
+did not bleed, though I thought the brains were oozing out, and I felt so
+much sympathy for him, that I washed his hurt with the rum. I fear I did
+him harm, but my motive was good. Bill Southard ran to find a surgeon, of
+whom several were operating out on the field. The young man kept saying
+"no use," and he mentioned "father and mother," "Vermont." He even gave me
+the names of his parents, but I was too much in the wind, from the use of
+rum, to remember them. We might have been half an hour with this young
+rifleman, busy on him most of the time, when he murmured a few words, gave
+me one of the sweetest smiles I ever saw on a man's face, and made no more
+signs of life. I kept at work, notwithstanding, until Bill got back with
+the doctor. The latter cast an eye on the rifleman, pronounced him dead,
+and coolly walked away.
+
+There was a bridge, in a sort of a swamp, that we had fired on for some
+time, and we now moved down to it, just to see what we had done. We found
+a good many dead, and several horses in the mire, but no wounded. We kept
+emptying canteens, as we went along, until our own would hold no more. On
+our return from the bridge, we went to a brook in order to mix some grog,
+and then we got a full view of the offing. Not a craft was to be seen!
+Everything had weighed and disappeared. This discovery knocked us all
+aback, and we were quite at a loss how to proceed. We agreed, however, to
+pass through a bit of woods, and get into the town, it being now quite
+late in the day. There we knew we should find the army, and might get
+tidings of the fleet. The battle-ground was now nearly deserted, and to
+own the truth we were, all three, at least two sheets in the wind. Still I
+remember everything, for my stomach would never allow me to get beastly
+drunk; it rejecting any very great quantity of liquor. As we went through
+the wood, open pine trees, we came across an officer lying dead, with one
+leg over his horse, which was dead also. I went up to the body, turned it
+over, and examined it for a canteen, but found none. We made a few idle
+remarks, and proceeded.
+
+In quitting the place, I led the party; and, as we went through a little
+thicket, I heard female voices. This startled me a little; and, on looking
+round, I saw a white female dress, belonging to a person who was evidently
+endeavouring to conceal herself from us. I was now alone, and walked up to
+the women, when I found two; one, a lady, in dress and manner, and the
+other a person that I have always supposed was her servant. The first was
+in white; the last in a dark calico. They were both under thirty, judging
+from their looks; and the lady was exceedingly well-looking They were much
+alarmed; and, as I came up, the lady asked me if I would hurt her. I told
+her no; and that no person should harm her, while she remained with us.
+This relieved her, and she was able to give an account of her errand on
+the field of battle. Our looks, half intoxicated, and begrimed with the
+smoke of a battle, as we were, certainly were enough to alarm her; but I
+do not think one of the three would have hesitated about fighting for a
+female, that they thus found weeping, in this manner, in the open field.
+The maid was crying also. Simeon Grant, and Southard, did make use of some
+improper language, at first; but I brought them up, and they said they
+were sorry, and would go all lengths, with me, to protect the women. The
+fact was, these men supposed we had fallen in with common camp followers;
+but I had seen too much of officers' wives, in my boyhood, not to know
+that this was one.
+
+The lady then told her story. She had just come from Kingston, to join her
+husband; having arrived but a few hours before. She did not see her
+husband, but she had heard he was left wounded on the field; and she had
+come out in the hope of finding him. She then described him, as an officer
+mounted, with a particular dress, and inquired if we had met with any such
+person, on the field. We told her of the horseman we had just left; and
+led her back to the spot. The moment the lady saw the body, she threw
+herself on it, and began to weep and mourn over it, in a very touching
+manner. The maid, too, was almost as bad as the mistress. We were all so
+much affected, in spite of the rum, that, I believe, all three of us shed
+tears. We said all we could, to console her, and swore we would stand by
+her until she was safe back among her friends.
+
+It was a good bit before we could persuade the lady to quit her husband's
+body. She took a miniature from his neck, and I drew his purse and watch
+from him and handed them to her. She wanted me to keep the purse, but this
+we all three refused, up and down. We had hauled our manly tacks aboard,
+and had no thoughts of plunder. Even the maid urged us to keep the money,
+but we would have nothing to do with it. I shall freely own my faults; I
+hope I shall be believed when I relate facts that show I am not altogether
+without proper feelings.
+
+The officer had been hit somewhere about the hip, and the horse must have
+been killed by another grape-shot, fired from the same gun. We laid the
+body of the first over in such a manner as to get a good look at him, but
+we did not draw the leg from under the horse.[7]
+
+When we succeeded in persuading the lady to quit her husband's body, we
+shaped our course for the light-house. Glad were we three tars to see the
+mast-heads of the shipping in the river, as we came near the banks of the
+Niagara. The house at the light was empty; but, on my hailing, a woman's
+voice answered from the cellar. It was an old woman who had taken shelter
+from shot down in the hold, the rest of the family having slipped and run.
+We now got some milk for the lady, who continued in tears most of the
+time. Sometimes she would knock off crying for a bit, when she seemed to
+have some distrust of us; but, on the whole, we made very good weather in
+company. After staying about half an hour at the light-house, we left it
+for the town, my advice to the lady being to put herself under the
+protection of some of our officers. I told her if the news of what had
+happened reached the commodore, she might depend on her husband's being
+buried with the honours of war, and said such other things to comfort her
+as came to the mind of a man who had been sailing so near the wind.
+
+I forgot to relate one part of the adventure. Before we had got fairly
+clear of the woods, we fell in with four of Forsyth's men, notoriously the
+wickedest corps in the army. These fellows began to crack their jokes at
+the expense of the two females, and we came near having a brush with them.
+When we spoke of our pistols, and of our determination to use them, before
+we would let our convoy come to harm, these chaps laughed at our pop-guns,
+and told us they had such things as 'rifles.' This was true enough, and
+had we come to broadsides, I make no doubt they would have knocked us over
+like so many snipes. I began to reason with them, on the impropriety of
+offending respectable females; and one of the fellows, who was a kind of
+corporal, or something of that sort, shook my hand, said I was right, and
+offered to be friends. So we spliced the main-brace, and parted. Glad
+enough was the lady to be rid of them so easily. In these squalls she
+would bring up in her tears, and then when all went smooth again, she
+would break out afresh.
+
+After quitting the light, we made the best of our way for the town. Just
+as we reached it, we fell in with a party of soldier-officers, and we
+turned the lady and her woman over to their care. These gentlemen said a
+good word in our favour, and here we parted company with our convoy, never
+hearing, or seeing, anything of either afterwards.
+
+By this time it was near dark, and Bill Southard and I began to look out
+for the Scourge. She was anchored in the river, with the rest of the
+fleet, and we went down upon a wharf to make a signal for a boat. On the
+way we saw a woman crying before a watch-maker's shop, and a party of
+Forsyth's close by. On enquiry, we learned these fellows had threatened to
+rob her shop. We had been such defenders of the sex, that we could not
+think of deserting this woman, and we swore we would stand by her, too. We
+should have had a skirmish here, I do believe, had not one or two rifle
+officers hove in sight, when the whole party made sail from us. We turned
+the woman over to these gentlemen, who said, "ay, there are some of our
+vagabonds, again." One of them said it would be better to call in their
+parties, and before we reached the water we heard the bugle sounding
+the recall.
+
+They had given us up on board the schooner. A report of some Indians being
+out had reached her, and we three were set down as scalped. Thank God,
+I've got all the hair on my head yet, and battered as my old hulk has got
+to be, and shattered as are my timbers, it is as black as a raven's wing
+at this moment. This, my old shipmate, who is logging this yarn, says he
+thinks is a proof my mother was a French Canadian, though such is not the
+fact, as it has been told to me.
+
+Those riflemen were regular scamps. Just before we went down to the wharf,
+we saw one walking sentinel before the door of a sort of barracks. On
+drawing near and asking what was going on inside, we were told we had
+nothing to do with their fun ashore, that we might look in at a window,
+however, but should not go in. We took him at his word; a merry scene it
+was inside. The English officers' dunnage had been broken into, and there
+was a party of the corps strutting about in uniform coats and feathers. We
+thought it best to give these dare-devils a berth, and so we left them.
+One was never safe with them on the field of battle, friend or enemy.
+
+We met a large party of marines on the wharf, marching up under Major
+Smith. They were going to protect the people of the town from further
+mischief. Mr. Osgood was glad enough to see us, and we got plenty of
+praise for what we had done with the women. As for the canteens, we had to
+empty them, after treating the crew of the boat that was sent to take us
+off. I did not enter the town after that night.
+
+We lay some time in the Niagara, the commodore going to the harbour to get
+the Pike ready. Captain Crane took the rest of us off Kingston, where we
+were joined by the commodore, and made sail again for the Niagara. Here
+Colonel Scott embarked with a body of troops, and we went to Burlington
+Bay to carry the heights. They were found to be too strong; and the men,
+after landing, returned to the vessels. We then went to York, again, and
+took possession of the place a second time. Here we destroyed several
+boats, and stores, set fire to the barracks, and did the enemy a good deal
+of damage otherwise; after which we left the place. Two or three days
+later we crossed the lake and landed the soldiers, again, at Fort Niagara.
+
+Early in August, while we were still in the river, Sir James Yeo hove in
+sight with two ships, two brigs, and two schooners. We had thirteen sail
+in all, such as they were, and immediately got under way, and manoeuvred
+for the weather-gauge. All the enemy's vessels had regular quarters, and
+the ships were stout craft. Our squadron sailed very unequally, some being
+pretty fast, and others as dull as droggers. Nor were we more than half
+fitted out. On board the Scourge the only square-sail we had, was made out
+of an English marquée we had laid our hands on at York, the first time we
+were there. I ought to say, too, that we got two small brass guns at York,
+four-pounders, I believe, which Mr. Osgood clapped into our two spare
+ports forward. This gave us ten guns in all, sixes and fours. I remember
+that Jack Mallet laughed at us heartily for the fuss we made with our
+pop-guns, as he called them, while we were working upon the English
+batteries, saying we might just as well have spared our powder, as for any
+good we did. He belonged to the Julia, which had a long thirty-two,
+forward, which they called the "Old Sow," and one smart eighteen aft. She
+had two sixes in her waist, also; but _they_ disdained to use _them_.
+
+While we were up at the harbour, the last time, Mr. Mix who had married a
+sister of Mr. Osgood, took a party of us in a boat, and we went up Black
+River, shooting. The two gentlemen landed, and as we were coming down the
+river, we saw something swimming, which proved to be a bear. We had no
+arms, but we pulled over the beast, and had a regular squaw-fight with
+him. We were an hour at work with this animal, the fellow coming very near
+mastering us. I struck at his nose with an iron tiller fifty times, but he
+warded the blow like a boxer. He broke our boat-hook, and once or twice,
+he came near boarding us. At length a wood-boat gave us an axe, and with
+this we killed him. Mr. Osgood had this bear skinned, and said he should
+send the skin to his family, If he did, it must have been one of the last
+memorials it ever got from him.
+
+
+
+Chapter VI.
+
+
+
+I left the two fleets manoeuvring for the wind, in the last chapter. About
+nine o'clock, the Pike got abeam of the Wolfe, Sir James Yeo's own ship,
+hoisted her ensign, and fired a few guns to try the range of her shot. The
+distance was too great to engage. At this time our sternmost vessels were
+two leagues off, and the commodore wore round, and hauled up on the other
+tack. The enemy did the same but, perceiving that our leading ships were
+likely to weather on him, he tacked, and hauled off to the northward. We
+stood on in pursuit, tacking too; but the wind soon fell, and about sunset
+it was quite calm.
+
+Throughout the day, the Scourge had as much as she could do to keep
+anywhere near her station. As for the old Oneida, she could not be kept
+within a long distance of her proper berth. We were sweeping, at odd
+times, for hours that day. Towards evening, all the light craft were doing
+the same, to close with the commodore. Our object was to get together,
+lest the enemy should cut off some of our small vessels during the night.
+
+Before dark the whole line was formed again, with the exception of the
+Oneida, which was still astern, towing. She ought to have been near the
+commodore, but could not get there. A little before sunset, Mr. Osgood
+ordered us to pull in our sweeps, and to take a spell. It was a lovely
+evening, not a cloud visible, and the lake being as smooth as a
+looking-glass. The English fleet was but a short distance to the northward
+of us; so near, indeed, that we could almost count their ports. They were
+becalmed, like ourselves, and a little scattered.
+
+We took in our sweeps as ordered, laying them athwart the deck, in
+readiness to be used when wanted. The vessels ahead and astern of us were,
+generally, within speaking distance. Just as the sun went below the
+horizon, George Turnblatt, a Swede, who was our gunner, came to me, and
+said he thought we ought to secure our guns; for we had been cleared for
+action all day, and the crew at quarters. We were still at quarters, in
+name; but the petty officers were allowed to move about, and as much
+license was given to the people as was wanted. I answered that I would
+gladly secure mine if he would get an order for it; but as we were still
+at quarters, and there lay John Bull, we might get a slap at him in the
+night. On this the gunner said he would go aft, and speak to Mr. Osgood on
+the subject. He did so, but met the captain (as we always called Mr.
+Osgood) at the break of the quarter-deck. When George had told his errand,
+the captain looked at the heavens, and remarked that the night was so
+calm, there could be no great use in securing the guns, and the English
+were so near we should certainly engage, if there came a breeze; that the
+men would sleep at their quarters, of course, and would be ready to take
+care of their guns; but that he might catch a turn with the
+side-tackle-falls around the pommelions of the guns, which would be
+sufficient. He then ordered the boatswain to call all hands aft, to the
+break of the quarter-deck.
+
+As soon as the people had collected, Mr. Osgood said--"You must be pretty
+well fagged out, men; I think we may have a hard night's work, yet, and I
+wish you to get your suppers, and then catch as much sleep as you can, at
+your guns." He then ordered the purser's steward to splice the main-brace.
+These were the last words I ever heard from Mr. Osgood. As soon as he
+gave the order, he went below leaving the deck in charge of Mr. Bogardus.
+All our old crew were on board but Mr. Livingston, who had left us, and
+Simeon Grant, one of my companions in the cruise over the battle-ground at
+Fort George. Grant had cut his hand off, in a saw-mill, while we were last
+at the Harbour, and had been left behind in the hospital. There was a
+pilot on board, who used to keep a look-out occasionally, and sometimes
+the boatswain had the watch.
+
+The schooner, at this time, was under her mainsail, jib, and
+fore-top-sail. The foresail was brailed, and the foot stopped, and the
+flying-jib was stowed. None of the halyards were racked, nor sheets
+stoppered. This was a precaution we always took, on account of the craft's
+being so tender.
+
+We first spliced the main-brace and then got our suppers, eating between
+the guns, where we generally messed, indeed. One of my messmates, Tom
+Goldsmith, was captain of the gun next to me, and as we sat there
+finishing our suppers, I says to him, "Tom, bring up that rug that you
+pinned at Little York, and that will do for both of us to stow ourselves
+away under." Tom went down and got the rug, which was an article for the
+camp that he had laid hands on, and it made us a capital bed-quilt. As all
+hands were pretty well tired, we lay down, with our heads on shot-boxes,
+and soon went to sleep.
+
+In speaking of the canvass that was set, I ought to have said something of
+the state of our decks. The guns had the side-tackles fastened as I have
+mentioned. There was a box of canister, and another of grape, at each gun,
+besides extra stands of both, under the shot-racks. There was also one
+grummet of round-shot at every gun, besides the racks being filled. Each
+gun's crew slept at the gun and its opposite, thus dividing the people
+pretty equally on both sides of the deck. Those who were stationed below,
+slept below. I think it probable that, as the night grew cool, as it
+always does on the fresh waters, some of the men stole below to get warmer
+berths. This was easily done in that craft, as we had but two regular
+officers on board, the acting boatswain and gunner being little more than
+two of ourselves.
+
+I was soon asleep, as sound as if lying in the bed of a king. How long my
+nap lasted, or what took place in the interval, I cannot say. I awoke,
+however, in consequence of large drops of rain falling on my face. Tom
+Goldsmith awoke at the same moment. When I opened my eyes, it was so dark
+I could not see the length of the deck. I arose and spoke to Tom, telling
+him it was about to rain, and that I meant to go down and get a nip, out
+of a little stuff we kept in our mess-chest, and that I would bring up the
+bottle if he wanted a taste. Tom answered, "this is nothing; we're neither
+pepper nor salt." One of the black men spoke, and asked me to bring up the
+bottle, and give him a nip, too. All this took half a minute, perhaps. I
+now remember to have heard a strange rushing noise to windward as I went
+towards the forward hatch, though it made no impression on me at the time.
+We had been lying between the starboard guns, which was the weather side
+of the vessel, if there were any weather side to it, there not being a
+breath of air, and no motion to the water, and I passed round to the
+larboard side, in order to find the ladder, which led up in that
+direction. The hatch was so small that two men could not pass at a time,
+and I felt my way to it, in no haste. One hand was on the bitts, and a
+foot was on the ladder, when a flash of lightning almost blinded me. The
+thunder came at the next instant, and with it a rushing of winds that
+fairly smothered the clap.
+
+The instant I was aware there was a squall, I sprang for the jib-sheet.
+Being captain of the forecastle, I knew where to find it, and throw it
+loose at a jerk. In doing this, I jumped on a man named Leonard Lewis, and
+called on him to lend me a hand. I next let fly the larboard, or lee
+top-sail-sheet, got hold of the clew-line, and, assisted by Lewis, got the
+clew half up. All this time I kept shouting to the man at the wheel to put
+his helm "hard down." The water was now up to my breast, and I knew the
+schooner must go over. Lewis had not said a word, but I called out to him
+to shift for himself, and belaying the clew-line, in hauling myself
+forward of the foremast, I received a blow from the jib-sheet that came
+near breaking my left arm. I did not feel the effect of this blow at the
+time, though the arm has since been operated on, to extract a tumour
+produced by this very injury.
+
+All this occupied less than a minute. The flashes of lightning were
+incessant, and nearly blinded me. Our decks seemed on fire, and yet I
+could see nothing. I heard no hail, no order, no call; but the schooner
+was filled with the shrieks and cries of the men to leeward, who were
+lying jammed under the guns, shot-boxes, shot, and other heavy things that
+had gone down as the vessel fell over. The starboard second gun, from
+forward, had capsized, and come down directly over the forward hatch, and
+I caught a glimpse of a man struggling to get past it. Apprehension of
+this gun had induced me to drag myself forward of the mast, where I
+received the blow mentioned.
+
+I succeeded in hauling myself up to windward, and in getting into the
+schooner's fore-channels. Here I met William Deer, the boatswain, and a
+black boy of the name of Philips, who was the powder-boy of our gun.
+"Deer, she's gone!" I said. The boatswain made no answer, but walked out
+on the fore-rigging, towards the mast-head. He probably had some vague
+notion that the schooner's masts would be out of water if she went down,
+and took this course as the safest. The boy was in the chains the last I
+saw of him.
+
+I now crawled aft, on the upper side of the bulwarks, amid a most awful
+and infernal din of thunder, and shrieks, and dazzling flashes of
+lightning; the wind blowing all the while like a tornado. When I reached
+the port of my own gun, I put a foot in, thinking to step on the muzzle of
+the piece; but it had gone to leeward with all the rest, and I fell
+through the port, until I brought up with my arms. I struggled up again,
+and continued working my way aft. As I got abreast of the main-mast, I saw
+some one had let run the halyards. I soon reached the beckets of the
+sweeps, and found four in them. I could not swim a stroke, and it crossed
+my mind to get one of the sweeps to keep me afloat. In striving to jerk
+the becket clear, it parted, and the forward ends of the four sweeps
+rolled down the schooner's side into the water. This caused the other ends
+to slide, and all the sweeps got away from me. I then crawled quite aft,
+as far as the fashion-piece. The water was pouring down the cabin
+companion-way like a sluice; and as I stood, for an instant, on the
+fashion-piece, I saw Mr. Osgood, with his head and part of his shoulders
+through one of the cabin windows, struggling to get out. He must have been
+within six feet of me. I saw him but a moment, by means of a flash of
+lightning, and I think he must have seen me. At the same time, there was a
+man visible on the end of the main-boom, holding on by the clew of the
+sail. I do not know who it was. This man probably saw me, and that I was
+about to spring; for he called out, "Don't jump overboard!--don't jump
+overboard! The schooner is righting."
+
+I was not in a state of mind to reflect much on anything. I do not think
+more than three or four minutes, if as many, had passed since the squall
+struck us, and there I was standing on the vessel's quarter, led by
+Providence more than by any discretion of my own. It now came across me
+that if the schooner should right she was filled, and must go down, and
+that she might carry me with her in the suction. I made a spring,
+therefore, and fell into the water several feet from the place where I had
+stood. It is my opinion the schooner sunk as I left her. I went down some
+distance myself, and when I came up to the surface, I began to swim
+vigorously for the first time in my life. I think I swam several yards,
+but of course will not pretend to be certain of such a thing, at such a
+moment, until I felt my hand hit something hard. I made another stroke,
+and felt my hand pass down the side of an object that I knew at once was a
+clincher-built boat. I belonged to this boat, and I now recollected that
+she had been towing astern. Until that instant I had not thought of her,
+but thus was I led in the dark to the best possible means of saving my
+life. I made a grab at the gunwale, and caught it in the stern-sheets. Had
+I swum another yard, I should have passed the boat, and missed her
+altogether! I got in without any difficulty, being all alive and
+much excited.
+
+My first look was for the schooner. She had disappeared, and I supposed
+she was just settling under water. It rained as if the flood-gates of
+heaven were opened, and it lightened awfully. It did not seem to me that
+there was a breath of air, and the water was unruffled, the effects of the
+rain excepted. All this I saw, as it might be, at a glance. But my chief
+concern was to preserve my own life. I was cockswain of this very boat,
+and had made it fast to this taffrail that same afternoon, with a round
+turn and two half-hitches, by its best painter. Of course I expected the
+vessel would drag the boat down with her, for I had no knife to cut the
+painter. There was a gang-board in the boat, however, which lay fore and
+aft, and I thought this might keep me afloat until some of the fleet
+should pick me up. To clear this gang-board, then, and get it into the
+water, was my first object. I ran forward to throw off the lazy-painter
+that was coiled on its end, and in doing this I caught the boat's painter
+in my hand, by accident. A pull satisfied me that it was all clear! Some
+one on board must have cast off this painter, and then lost his chance of
+getting into the boat by an accident. At all events, I was safe, and I now
+dared to look about me.
+
+My only chance of seeing, was during the flashes; and these left me almost
+blind. I had thrown the gang-board into the water, and I now called out to
+encourage the men, telling them I was in the boat. I could hear many
+around me, and, occasionally, I saw the heads of men, struggling in the
+lake. There being no proper place to scull in, I got an oar in the after
+rullock, and made out to scull a little, in that fashion. I now saw a man
+quite near the boat; and, hauling in the oar, made a spring amidships,
+catching this poor fellow by the collar. He was very near gone; and I had
+a great deal of difficulty in getting him in over the gunwale. Our joint
+weight brought the boat down, so low, that she shipped a good deal of
+water. This turned out to be Leonard Lewis, the young man who had helped
+me to clew up the fore-topsail. He could not stand, and spoke with
+difficulty. I asked him to crawl aft, out of the water; which he did,
+lying down in the stern-sheets.
+
+I now looked about me, and heard another; leaning over the gunwale, I got
+a glimpse of a man, struggling, quite near the boat. I caught him by the
+collar, too; and had to drag him in very much in the way I had done with
+Lewis. This proved to be Lemuel Bryant, the man who had been wounded by a
+hot shot, at York, as already mentioned while the commodore was on board
+us. His wound had not yet healed, but he was less exhausted than Lewis. He
+could not help me, however, lying down in the bottom of the boat, the
+instant he was able.
+
+For a few moments, I now heard no more in the water; and I began to scull
+again. By my calculation, I moved a few yards, and must have got over the
+spot where the schooner went down. Here, in the flashes, I saw many heads,
+the men swimming in confusion, and at random. By this time, little was
+said, the whole scene being one of fearful struggling and frightful
+silence. It still rained; but the flashes were less frequent, and less
+fierce. They told me, afterwards, in the squadron, that it thundered
+awfully; but I cannot say I heard a clap, after I struck the water. The
+next man caught the boat himself. It was a mulatto, from Martinique, who
+was Mr. Osgood's steward; and I helped him in. He was much exhausted,
+though an excellent swimmer; but alarm nearly deprived him of his
+strength. He kept saying, "Oh! Masser Ned--Oh! Masser Ned!" and lay down
+in the bottom of the boat, like the two others; I taking care to shove him
+over to the larboard side, so as to trim our small craft.
+
+I kept calling out, to encourage the swimmers, and presently I heard a
+voice, saying, "Ned, I'm here, close by you." This was Tom Goldsmith, a
+messmate, and the very man under whose rug I had been sleeping, at
+quarters. He did not want much help, getting in, pretty much, by himself.
+I asked him, if he were able to help me. "Yes, Ned," he answered, "I'll
+stand by you to the last; what shall I do?" I told him to take his
+tarpaulin, and to bail the boat, which, by this time, was a third full of
+water. This he did, while I sculled a little ahead. "Ned," says Tom,
+"she's gone down with her colours flying, for her pennant came near
+getting a round turn about my body, and carrying me down with her. Davy
+has made a good haul, and he gave us a close shave; but he didn't get you
+and me." In this manner did this thoughtless sailor express himself, as
+soon as rescued from the grasp of death! Seeing something on the water, I
+asked Tom to take my oar, while I sprang to the gunwale, and caught Mr.
+Bogardus, the master's mate, who was clinging to one of the sweeps. I
+hauled him in, and he told me, he thought, some one had hold of the other
+end of the sweep. It was so dark, however, we could not see even that
+distance. I hauled the sweep along, until I found Ebenezer Duffy, a
+mulatto, and the ship's cook. He could not swim a stroke; and was nearly
+gone. I got him in, alone, Tom bailing, lest the boat, which was quite
+small, should swamp with us.
+
+As the boat drifted along, she reached another man, whom I caught also by
+the collar. I was afraid to haul this person in amidships, the boat being
+now so deep, and so small, and so I dragged him ahead, and hauled him in
+over the bows. This was the pilot, whose name I never knew. He was a
+lake-man, and had been aboard us the whole summer. The poor fellow was
+almost gone, and like all the rest, with the exception of Tom, he lay down
+and said not a word.
+
+We had now as many in the boat as it would carry, and Tom and myself
+thought it would not do to take in any more. It is true, we saw no more,
+everything around us appearing still as death, the pattering of the rain
+excepted. Tom began to bail again, and I commenced hallooing. I sculled
+about several minutes, thinking of giving others a tow, or of even hauling
+in one or two more, after we got the water out of the boat; but we found
+no one else. I think it probable I sculled away from the spot, as there
+was nothing to guide me. I suppose, however, that by this time, all the
+Scourges had gone down, for no more were ever heard from.
+
+Tom Goldsmith and myself now put our heads together as to what was best to
+be done. We were both afraid of falling into the enemy's hands, for, they
+might have bore up in the squall, and run down near us. On the whole,
+however, we thought the distance between the two squadrons was too great
+for this; at all events, something must be done at once. So we began to
+row, in what direction even we did not know. It still rained as hard as it
+could pour, though there was not a breath of wind. The lightning came now
+at considerable intervals, and the gust was evidently passing away towards
+the broader parts of the lake. While we were rowing and talking about our
+chance of falling in with the enemy, Tom cried out to me to
+"avast-pulling." He had seen a vessel, by a flash, and he thought she was
+English, from her size. As he said she was a schooner, however, I thought
+it must be one of our own craft, and got her direction from him. At the
+next flash I saw her, and felt satisfied she belonged to us. Before we
+began to pull, however, we were hailed "boat ahoy!" I answered. "If you
+pull another stroke, I'll fire into you"--came back--"what boat's that?
+Lay on your oars, or I'll fire into you." It was clear we were mistaken
+ourselves for an enemy, and I called out to know what schooner it was. No
+answer was given, though the threat to fire was repeated, if we pulled
+another stroke. I now turned to Tom and said, "I know that voice--that is
+old Trant." Tom thought "we were in the wrong shop." I now sung out, "This
+is the Scourge's boat--our schooner has gone down, and we want to come
+alongside." A voice next called from the schooner--"Is that you, Ned?"
+This I knew was my old shipmate and school-fellow, Jack Mallet, who was
+acting as boatswain of the Julia, the schooner commanded by sailing-master
+James Trant, one of the oddities of the service, and a man with whom the
+blow often came as soon as the word. I had known Mr. Trant's voice, and
+felt more afraid he would fire into us, than I had done of anything which
+had occurred that fearful night. Mr. Trant, himself now called
+out--"Oh-ho; give way, boys, and come alongside." This we did, and a very
+few strokes took us up to the Julia, where we were received with the
+utmost kindness. The men were passed out of the boat, while I gave Mr.
+Trant an account of all that had happened. This took but a minute or two.
+
+Mr. Trant now inquired in what direction the Scourge had gone down, and,
+as soon as I had told him, in the best manner I could, he called out to
+Jack Mallet--"Oh-ho, Mallet--take four hands, and go in the boat and see
+what you can do--take a lantern, and I will show a light on the water's
+edge, so you may know me." Mallet did as ordered, and was off in less than
+three minutes after we got alongside. Mr. Trant, who was much humoured,
+had no officer in the Julia, unless Mallet could be called one. He was an
+Irishman by birth, but had been in the American navy ever since the
+revolution, dying a lieutenant, a few years after this war. Perhaps no man
+in the navy was more generally known, or excited more amusement by his
+oddities, or more respect for his courage. He had come on the lake with
+the commodore, with whom he was a great pet, and had been active in all
+the fights and affairs that had yet taken place. His religion was to hate
+an Englishman.
+
+Mr. Trant now called the Scourges aft, and asked more of the particulars.
+He then gave us a glass of grog all round, and made his own crew splice
+the main-brace. The Julias now offered us dry clothes. I got a change from
+Jack Reilly, who had been an old messmate, and with whom I had always been
+on good terms. It knocked off raining, but we shifted ourselves at the
+galley fire below. I then went on deck, and presently we heard the boat
+pulling back. It soon came alongside, bringing in it four more men that
+had been found floating about on sweeps and gratings. On inquiry, it
+turned out that these men belonged to the Hamilton, Lt. Winter--a schooner
+that had gone down in the same squall that carried us over. These men were
+very much exhausted, too, and we all went below, and were told to turn in.
+
+I had been so much excited during the scenes through which I had just
+passed, and had been so much stimulated by grog, that, as yet, I had not
+felt much of the depression natural to such events. I even slept soundly
+that night, nor did I turn out until six the next morning.
+
+When I got on deck, there was a fine breeze; it was a lovely day, and the
+lake was perfectly smooth. Our fleet was in a good line, in pretty close
+order, with the exception of the Governor Tompkins, Lieutenant Tom Brown,
+which was a little to leeward, but carrying a press of sail to close with
+the commodore. Mr. Trant perceiving that the Tompkins wished to speak us
+in passing, brailed his foresail and let her luff up close under our lee.
+"Two of the schooners, the Hamilton and the Scourge, have gone down in the
+night," called out Mr. Brown; "for I have picked up four of the
+Hamilton's." "Oh-ho!"--answered Mr. Trant--"That's no news at all! for I
+have picked up _twelve_; eight of the Scourge's, and four of the
+Hamilton's--aft fore-sheet."
+
+These were all that were ever saved from the two schooners, which must
+have had near a hundred souls on board them. The two commanders,
+Lieutenant Winter and Mr, Osgood were both lost, and with Mr. Winter went
+down I believe, one or two young gentlemen. The squadron could not have
+moved much between the time when the accidents happened and that when I
+came on deck, or we must have come round and gone over the same ground
+again, for we now passed many relics of the scene, floating about in the
+water. I saw spunges, gratings, sweeps, hats, &c., scattered about, and in
+passing ahead we saw one of the latter that we tried to catch; Mr. Trant
+ordering it done, as he said it must have been Lieutenant Winter's. We did
+not succeed, however; nor was any article taken on board. A good look-out
+was kept for men, from aloft, but none were seen from any of the vessels.
+The lake had swallowed up the rest of the two crews; and the Scourge, as
+had been often predicted, had literally become a coffin to a large portion
+of her people.
+
+There was a good deal of manoeuvring between the two fleets this day, and
+some efforts were made to engage; but, to own the truth, I felt so
+melancholy about the loss of so many shipmates, that I did not take much
+notice of what passed. All my Black Jokers were drowned, and nothing
+remained of the craft and people with which and whom I had been associated
+all summer. Bill Southard, too, was among the lost, as indeed were all my
+messmates but Tom Goldsmith and Lemuel Bryant. I had very serious and
+proper impressions for the moment; but my new shipmates, some of whom had
+been old shipmates in other crafts, managed to cheer me up with grog. The
+effect was not durable, and in a short time I ceased to think of what had
+happened. I have probably reflected more on the merciful manner in which
+my life was spared, amid a scene so terrific, within the last five years,
+than I did in the twenty-five that immediately followed the accidents.
+
+The fleet went in, off the Niagara, and anchored. Mr. Trant now mustered
+the remaining Scourges, and told us he wanted just our number of hands,
+and that he meant to get an order to keep us in the Julia. In the
+meantime, he should station and quarter us. I was stationed at the braces,
+and quartered at the long thirty-two as second loader. The Julia mounted a
+long thirty-two, and an eighteen on pivots, besides two sixes in the
+waist. The last were little used, as I have already mentioned. She was a
+small, but a fast schooner, and had about forty souls on board. She was
+altogether a better craft than the Scourge, though destitute of any
+quarters, but a low rail with wash-boards, and carrying fewer guns.
+
+
+
+Chapter VII.
+
+
+
+I never knew what became of the four Hamiltons that were picked up by the
+Julia's boat, though I suppose they were put in some other vessel along
+with their shipmates; nor did I ever learn the particulars of the loss of
+this schooner, beyond the fact that her topsail-sheets were stoppered, and
+her halyards racked. This much I learned from the men who were brought on
+board the Julia, who said that their craft was ready, in all respects, for
+action. Some seamen have thought this wrong, and some right; but, in my
+opinion, it made but little difference in such a gust as that which passed
+over us. What was remarkable, the Julia, which could not have been far
+from the Scourge when we went over, felt no great matter of wind, just
+luffing up, and shaking her sails, to be rid of it!
+
+We lay only one night off the mouth of the Niagara. The next morning the
+squadron weighed, and stood out in pursuit of the English. The weather was
+very variable, and we could not get within reach of Sir James all that
+day. This was the 9th of August. The Scourge had gone down on the night of
+the 7th, or the morning of the 8th, I never knew which. On the morning of
+the 10th, however, we were under the north shore, and to windward of John
+Bull. The Commodore now took the Asp, and the Madison the Fair American,
+in tow, and we all kept away, expecting certainly a general action. But
+the wind shifted, bringing the English to windward. The afternoon was
+calm; or had variable airs. Towards sunset, the enemy was becalmed under
+the American shore, and we got a breeze from the southward. We now closed,
+and at 6 formed our line for engaging. We continued to close until 7, when
+the wind came out fresh at S.W., putting John again to windward.
+
+I can hardly tell what followed, there was so much manoeuvring and
+shifting of berths. Both squadrons were standing across the lake, the
+enemy being to windward, and a little astern of us. We now passed within
+hail of the commodore, who gave us orders to form a new line of battle,
+which we did in the following manner. One line, composed of the smallest
+schooners, was formed to windward, while the ships, brig, and two heaviest
+schooners, formed another line to leeward. We had the weathermost line,
+having the Growler, Lieutenant Deacon, for the vessel next astern of us.
+This much I could see, though I did not understand the object. I now learn
+the plan was for the weather line to engage the enemy, and then, by edging
+away, draw them down upon the lee line, which line contained our principal
+force. According to the orders, we ought to have rather edged off, as soon
+as the English began to fire, in order to draw them down upon the
+commodore; but it will be seen that our schooner pursued a very
+different course.
+
+It must have been near midnight, when the enemy began to fire at the Fair
+American, the sternmost vessel of our weather line. We were a long bit
+ahead of her, and did not engage for some time. The firing became pretty
+smart astern, but we stood on, without engaging, the enemy not yet being
+far enough ahead for us. After a while, the four sternmost schooners of
+our line kept off, according to orders, but the Julia and Growler still
+stood on. I suppose the English kept off, too, at the same time, as the
+commodore had expected. At any rate, we found ourselves so well up with
+the enemy, that, instead of bearing up, Mr. Trant tacked in the Julia, and
+the Growler came round after us. We now began to fire on the headmost
+ships of the enemy, which were coming on towards us. We were able to lay
+past the enemy on this tack, and fairly got to windward of them. When we
+were a little on John Bull's weather bow, we brailed the foresail, and
+gave him several rounds, within a pretty fair distance. The enemy answered
+us, and, from that moment, he seemed to give up all thoughts of the
+vessels to leeward of him, turning his whole attention on the Julia
+and Growler.
+
+The English fleet stood on the same tack, until it had got between us and
+our own line, when it went about in chase of us. We now began to make
+short tacks to windward; the enemy separating so as to spread a wide clew,
+in order that they might prevent our getting past, by turning their line
+and running to leeward. As for keeping to windward, we had no
+difficulty--occasionally brailing our foresail, and even edging off, now
+and then, to be certain that our shot would tell. In moderate weather, the
+Julia was the fastest vessel in the American squadron, the Lady of the
+Lake excepted; and the Growler was far from being dull. Had there been
+room, I make no doubt we might have kept clear of John Bull, with the
+greatest ease; touching him up with our long, heavy guns, from time to
+time, as it suited us. I have often thought that Mr. Trant forgot we were
+between the enemy and the land, and that he fancied himself out at sea. It
+was a hazy, moonlight morning, and we did not see anything of the main,
+though it turned out to be nearer to us than we wished.
+
+All hands were now turning to windward; the two schooners still edging
+off, occasionally, and firing. The enemy's shot went far beyond us, and
+did us some mischief, though nothing that was not immediately repaired.
+The main throat-halyards, on board the Julia, were shot away, as was the
+clew of the mainsail. It is probable the enemy did not keep his luff,
+towards the last, on account of the land.
+
+Our two schooners kept quite near each other, sometimes one being to
+windward, sometimes the other. It happened that the Growler was a short
+distance to windward of us, when we first became aware of the nature of
+our critical situation. She up helm, and, running down within hail,
+Lieutenant Deacon informed Mr. Trant he had just sounded in two fathoms,
+and that he could see lights ashore. He thought there must be Indians, in
+great numbers, in this vicinity, and that we must, at all events, avoid
+the land. "What do you think we had best do?" asked Lieutenant Deacon.
+"Run the gauntlet," called out Mr. Trant. "Very well, sir: which shall
+lead?" "I'll lead the van," answered Mr. Trant, and then all was settled.
+
+We now up helm, and steered for a vacancy among the British vessels. The
+enemy seemed to expect us, for they formed in two lines, leaving us room
+to enter between them. When we bore up, even in these critical
+circumstances, it was under our mainsail, fore-top-sail, jib, flying-jib,
+and foresail. So insufficient were the equipments of these small craft,
+that we had neither square-sail nor studding-sails on board us. I never
+saw a studding-sail in any of the schooners, the Scourge excepted.
+
+The Julia and Growler now ran down, the former leading, half a
+cable's-length apart. When we entered between the two lines of the enemy,
+we were within short canister-range, and got it smartly on both tacks.
+The two English ships were to leeward, each leading a line; and we had a
+brig, and three large, regular man-of-war schooners, to get past, with the
+certainty of meeting the Wolfe and Royal George, should we succeed in
+clearing these four craft. Both of us kept up a heavy fire, swivelling our
+guns round, so as not to neglect any one. As we drew near the ships,
+however, we paid them the compliment of throwing all the heavy shot at
+them, as was due to their rank and size.
+
+For a few minutes we fared pretty well; but we were no sooner well entered
+between the lines, than we got it, hot and hard. Our rigging began to come
+down about our ears, and one shot passed a few feet above our heads,
+cutting both topsail-sheets, and scooping a bit of wood as big as a
+thirty-two pound shot, out of the foremast. I went up on one side, myself,
+to knot one of these sheets, and, while aloft, discovered the injury that
+had been done to the spar. Soon after, the tack of the mainsail caught
+fire, from a wad of one of the Englishmen; for, by this time, we were
+close at it. I think, indeed, that the nearness of the enemy alone
+prevented our decks from being entirely swept. The grape and canister were
+passing just above our heads like hail, and the foresail was literally in
+ribands. The halyards being gone, the mainsail came down by the run, and
+the jib settled as low as it could. The topsail-yard was on the cap, and
+the schooner now came up into the wind.
+
+All this time, we kept working the guns. The old man went from one gun to
+the other, pointing each himself, as it was ready. He was at the eighteen
+when things were getting near the worst, and, as he left her, he called
+out to her crew to "fill her--fill her to the muzzle!" He then came to our
+gun, which was already loaded with one round, a stand of grape, and a case
+of canister shot. This I know, for I put them all in with my own hands. At
+this time, the Melville, a brig of the enemy's, was close up with us,
+firing upon our decks from her fore-top. She was coming up on our larboard
+quarter, while a large schooner was nearing us fast on the starboard. Mr.
+Trant directed our gun to be elevated so as to sweep the brig's
+forecastle, and then he called out, "Now's the time, lads--fire at the
+b----s! fire away at 'em!" But no match was to be found! Some one had
+thrown both overboard. By this time the brig's jib-boom was over our
+quarter, and the English were actually coming on board of us. The enemy
+were now all round us. The Wolfe, herself, was within hail, and still
+firing. The last I saw of any of our people, was Mallet passing forward,
+and I sat down on the slide of the thirty-two, myself, sullen as a bear.
+Two or three of the English passed me, without saying anything. Even at
+this instant, a volley of bullets came out of the brig's fore-top, and
+struck all around me; some hitting the deck, and others the gun itself.
+Just then, an English officer came up, and said--"What are you doing here,
+you Yankee?" I felt exceedingly savage, and answered, "Looking at your
+fools firing upon their own men." "Take that for your sauce," he said,
+giving me a thrust with his sword, as he spoke. The point of the cutlass
+just passed my hip-bone, and gave me a smart flesh-wound. The hurt was not
+dangerous, though it bled freely, and was some weeks in healing. I now
+rose to go below, and heard a hail from one of the ships--the Wolfe, as I
+took her to be. "Have you struck?" demanded some one. The officer who had
+hurt me now called out, "Don't fire into us, sir, for I'm on board, and
+have got possession." The officer from the ship next asked, "Is there
+anybody alive on board her?" To which the prize-officer answered, "I don't
+know, sir, I've seen but one man, as yet."
+
+I now went down below. First, I got a bandage on my wound, to stop the
+bleeding, and then I had an opportunity to look about me. A party of
+English was below, and some of our men having joined them, the heads were
+knocked out of two barrels of whiskey. The kids and bread-bags were
+procured, and all hands, without distinction of country, sat down to enjoy
+themselves. Some even began to sing, and, as for good-fellowship, it was
+just as marked, as it would have been in a jollification ashore.
+
+In a few minutes the officer who had hurt me jumped down among us. The
+instant he saw what we were at, he sang out--"Halloo! here's high life
+below stairs!" Then he called to another officer to bear a hand down and
+see the fun. Some one sung out from among ourselves to "dowse the glim."
+The lights were put out, and then the two officers capsized the whiskey.
+While this was doing, most of the Englishmen ran up the forward hatch. We
+Julias all remained below.
+
+In less than an hour we were sent on board the enemy's vessels. I was
+carried to the Royal George, but Mr. Trant was taken on board the Wolfe.
+The Growler had lost her bowsprit, and was otherwise damaged, and had been
+forced to strike also. She had a man killed, and I believe one or two
+wounded.[8] On board of us, not a man, besides myself, had been touched!
+We seemed to have been preserved by a miracle, for every one of the enemy
+had a slap at us, and, for some time, we were within pistol-shot. Then we
+had no quarters at all, being perfectly exposed to grape and canister. The
+enemy must have fired too high, for nothing else could have saved us.
+
+In July, while I still belonged to the Scourge, I had been sent with a
+boat's crew, under Mr. Bogardus, on board an English flag of truce that
+had come into the Harbour. While in this vessel, our boat's crew were
+"hail-fellows-well-met" with the Englishmen, and we had agreed among us to
+take care of each other, should either side happen to be taken. I had been
+on board the Royal George but a short time, when two of these very men
+came up to me with some grog and some grub; and next morning they brought
+me my bitters. I saw no more of them, however, except when they came to
+shake hands with us at the gang-way, as we were leaving the ship.
+
+After breakfast, next morning, we were all called aft to the ward-room,
+one at a time. I was pumped as to the force of the Americans, the names of
+the vessels, the numbers of the crews, and the names of the commanders. I
+answered a little saucily, and was ordered out of the ward-room. As I was
+quitting the place, I was called back by one of the lieutenants, whose
+appearance I did not like from the first. Although it was now eight years
+since I left Halifax, and we had both so much altered, I took this
+gentleman for Mr. Bowen, the very midshipman of the Cleopatra, who had
+been my schoolmate, and whom I had known on board the prize-brig I have
+mentioned.
+
+This officer asked me where I was born. I told him New York. He said he
+knew better, and asked my name. I told him it was what he found it on the
+muster-roll, and that by which I had been called. He said I knew better,
+and that I should hear more of this, hereafter. If this were my old
+school-fellow, he knew that I was always called Edward Robert Meyers,
+whereas I had dropped the middle name, and now called myself Myers. He may
+not, however, have been the person I took him for, and might have mistaken
+me for some one else; for I never had an opportunity of ascertaining any
+more about him.
+
+We got into Little York, and were sent ashore that evening. I can say
+nothing of our squadron, having been kept below the whole time I was on
+board the Royal George. I could not find out whether we did the enemy any
+harm, or not, the night we were taken; though I remember that a
+sixty-eight pound carronade, that stood near the gang-way of the Royal
+George, was dismounted, the night I passed into her. It looked to me as if
+the trucks were gone. This I know, that the ship was more than usually
+screened off; though for what reason I will not pretend to say.
+
+At York, we were put in the gaol, where we were kept three weeks. Our
+treatment was every way bad, with the exception that we were not crowded.
+As to food, we were kept "six upon four" the whole time I was prisoner.[9]
+The bread was bad, and the pork little better. While in this gaol, a party
+of drunken Indians gave us a volley, in passing; but luckily it did us
+no harm.
+
+At the end of three weeks, we received a haversack apiece, and two days'
+allowance. Our clothes were taken from us, and the men were told they
+would get them below; a thing that happened to very few of us, I believe.
+As for myself, I was luckily without anything to lose; my effects having
+gone down in the Scourge. All I had on earth was a shirt and two
+handkerchiefs, and an old slouched hat, that I had got in exchange for a
+Scotch cap that had been given to me in the Julia. I was without shoes,
+and so continued until I reached Halifax. All this gave me little concern;
+my spirits being elastic, and my disposition gay. My great trouble was the
+apprehension of being known, through the recollections of the officer I
+have mentioned.
+
+We now commenced our march for Kingston, under the guard of a company of
+the Glengarians and a party of Indians. The last kept on our flanks, and
+it was understood they would shoot and scalp any man who left the ranks.
+We marched two and two, being something like eighty prisoners. It was hard
+work for the first day or two, the road being nothing but an Indian trail,
+and our lodging-places the open air. My feet became very sore, and, as for
+food, we had to eat our pork raw, there being nothing to cook in. The
+soldiers fared no better than ourselves, however, with the exception of
+being on full allowance. It seems that our provisions were sent by water,
+and left for us at particular places; for every eight-and-forty hours we
+touched the lake shore, and found them ready for us. They were left on the
+beach without any guard, or any one near them. In this way we picked up
+our supplies the whole distance.
+
+At the dépôt, Mr. Bogardus and the pilot found a boat, and managed to get
+into her, and put out into the lake. After being absent a day and night,
+they were driven in by rough weather, and fell into the hands of a party
+of dragoons who were escorting Sir George Prevost along the lake shore.
+We found them at a sort of tavern, where were the English Governor and his
+escort at the time. They were sent back among us, with two American army
+officers, who had fallen into the hands of the Indians, and had been most
+foully treated. One of these officers was wounded in the arm.
+
+The night of the day we fell in with Sir George Prevost, we passed through
+a hamlet, and slept just without it. As we entered the village the guard
+played Yankee Doodle, winding up with the Rogue's March. As we went
+through the place, I got leave to go to a house and ask for a drink of
+milk. The woman of this house said they had been expecting us for two
+days, and that they had been saving their milk expressly to give us. I got
+as much as I wanted, and a small loaf of bread in the bargain, as did
+several others with me. These people seemed to me to be all well affected
+to the Americans, and much disposed to treat us kindly. We slept on a barn
+floor that night.
+
+We were much provoked at the insult of playing the Rogue's March. Jack
+Reilly and I laid a plan to have our revenge, should it be repeated. Two
+or three days later we had the same tune, at another village, and I caught
+up a couple of large stones, ran ahead, and dashed them through both ends
+of the drum, before the boy, who was beating it, knew what I was about.
+Jack snatched the fife out of the other boy's hand, and it was passed from
+one to another among us, until it reached one who threw it over the
+railing of a bridge. After this, we had no more music, good or bad. Not a
+word was said to any of us about this affair, and I really think the
+officers were ashamed of themselves.
+
+After a march of several days we came to a hamlet, not a great distance
+from Kingston. I saw a good many geese about, and took a fancy to have one
+for supper. I told Mallet if he would cook a goose, I would tip one over.
+The matter was arranged between us, and picking up a club I made a dash at
+a flock, and knocked a bird over. I caught up the goose and ran, when my
+fellow-prisoners called out to me to dodge, which I did, behind a stump,
+not knowing from what quarter the danger might come. It was well I did,
+for two Indians fired at me, one hitting the stump, and the other ball
+passing just over my head. A militia officer now galloped up, and drove
+back the Indians who were running up to me, to look after the scalp, I
+suppose. This officer remonstrated with me, but spoke mildly and even
+kindly. I told him I was hungry, and that I wanted a warm mess. "But you
+are committing a robbery," he said. "If I am, I'm robbing an enemy." "You
+do not know but it may be a friend," was his significant answer. "Well, if
+I am, _he_'ll not grudge me the goose," says I. On hearing this, the
+officer laughed, and asked me how I meant to cook the goose. I told him
+that one of my messmates had promised to do this for me. He then bade me
+carry the goose into the ranks, and to come to him when we halted at
+night. I did this, and he gave us a pan, some potatoes, onions, &c., out
+of which we made the only good mess we got on our march. I may say this
+was the last hearty and really palatable meal I made until I reached
+Halifax, a period of several weeks.
+
+While Jack Mallet was cooking the goose, I went in behind a pile of
+boards, attended by a soldier to watch me, and, while there, I saw an
+ivory rule lying on the boards, with fifteen pence alongside of it. These
+I pinned, as a lawful prize, being in an enemy's country. The money served
+to buy us some bread. The rule was bartered for half a gallon of rum. This
+made us a merry night, taking all things together.
+
+We made no halt at Kingston, though the Indians left us. We now marched
+through a settled country, with some militia for our guards. Our treatment
+was much better than it had been, the people of the country treating us
+kindly. When we were abreast of the Thousand Islands, Mr. Bogardus and the
+pilot made another attempt to escape, and got fairly off. These were the
+only two who did succeed. How they effected it I cannot say, but I know
+they escaped. I never saw either afterwards.
+
+At the Long Sault, we were all put in boats, with a Canadian pilot in each
+end. The militia staid behind, and down we went; they say at the rate of
+nine miles in fifteen minutes. We found a new guard at the foot of the
+rapids. This was done, beyond a doubt, to save us and themselves, though
+we thought hard of it at the time, for it appeared to us, as if they
+thrust us into a danger they did not like to run themselves. I have since
+heard that even ladies travelling, used to go down these formidable rapids
+in the same way; and that, with skilful pilots, there is little or
+no danger.
+
+When we reached Montreal we were confined in a gaol where we remained
+three weeks. There was an American lady confined in this building, though
+she had more liberty than we, and from her we received much aid. She sent
+us soap, and she gave me bandages &c., for my hurt. Occasionally she gave
+us little things to eat. I never knew her name, but heard she had two sons
+in the American army, and that she had been detected in corresponding
+with them.
+
+We remained at Montreal two or three weeks, and then were sent down to
+Quebec, where we were put on board of prison-ships. I was sent to the Lord
+Cathcart, and most of the Julia's men with me. Our provisions were very
+bad, and the mortality among us was great. The bread was intolerably bad.
+Mr. Trant came to see us, privately, and he brought some salt with him,
+which was a great relief to us. Jack Mallet asked him whether some of us
+might not go to work on board a transport, that lay just astern of us, in
+order to get something; better to eat. Mr. Trant said yes, and eight of us
+went on board this craft, every day, getting provisions and grog for our
+pay. At sunset, we returned regularly to the Cathcart. I got a second
+shirt and a pair of trowsers in this way.
+
+About a fortnight after this arrangement, the Surprise, 32, and a
+sloop-of-war, came in, anchoring some distance below the town. These ships
+sent their boats up to the prison-ships to examine them for men. After
+going through those vessels, they came on board the transport, and finding
+us fresh, clean, fed and tolerably clad, they pronounced us all
+Englishmen, and carried us on board the frigate. We were not permitted
+even to go and take leave of our shipmates. Of the eight men thus taken,
+five were native Americans, one was from Mozambique, one I suppose to have
+been an English subject born, but long settled in America; and, as for me,
+the reader knows as much of my origin as I know myself.
+
+We were asked if we would go to duty on board the Surprise, and we all
+refused. We were then put in close con finement, on the berth-deck, under
+the charge of a sentry. In a day or two, the ship sailed; and off Cape
+Breton we met with a heavy gale, in which the people suffered severely
+with snow and cold. The ship was kept off the land, with great difficulty.
+After all, we prisoners saved the ship, though I think it likely the
+injury originally came from some of us. The breechings of two of the guns
+had been cut, and the guns broke adrift in the height of the gale. All the
+crew were on deck, and the sentinel permitting it, we went up and
+smothered the guns with hammocks. We were now allowed to go about deck,
+but this lasted a short time, the whole of us being sent below, again, as
+soon as the gale abated.
+
+On reaching Halifax, we were all put on board of the Regulus transport,
+bound to Bermuda. Here we eight were thrown into irons, under the
+accusation of being British subjects. At the end of twenty-four hours,
+however, the captain came to us, and offered to let us out of irons, and
+to give us ship's treatment, if we would help in working the vessel to
+Bermuda. I have since thought we were ironed merely to extort this
+arrangement from us. We consulted together; and, thinking a chance might
+offer to get possession of the Regulus, which had only a few Canadians in
+her, and was to be convoyed by the Pictou schooner, we consented. We were
+now turned up to duty, and I got the first pair of shoes that had been on
+my feet since the Scourge sunk from under me.
+
+The reader will imagine I had not been in the harbour of Halifax, without
+a strong desire to ascertain something about those I had left behind me,
+in that town. I was nervously afraid of being discovered, and yet had a
+feverish wish to go ashore. The manner in which I gratified this wish, and
+the consequences to which it led, will be seen in the sequel.
+
+
+
+Chapter VIII.
+
+
+
+Jack Mallet had long known my history. He was my confidant, and entered
+into all my feelings. The night we went to duty on board the transport, a
+boat was lying alongside of the ship, and the weather being thick, it
+afforded a good opportunity for gratifying my longing. Jack and myself got
+in, after putting our heads together, and stole off undetected. I pulled
+directly up to the wharf of Mr. Marchinton, and at once found myself at
+home. I will not pretend to describe my sensations, but they were a
+strange mixture of apprehension, disquiet, hope, and natural attachment. I
+wished much to see my sister, but was afraid to venture on that.
+
+There was a family, however, of the name of Fraser, that lived near the
+shore, with which I had been well acquainted, and in whose members I had
+great confidence. They were respectable in position, its head being called
+a judge, and they were all intimate with the Marchintons. To the Frasers,
+then, I went; Jack keeping me company. I was afraid, if I knocked, the
+servant would not let me in, appearing, as I did, in the dress of a common
+sailor; so I opened the street-door without any ceremony, and went
+directly to that of the parlour, which I entered before there was time to
+stop me. Jack brought up in the entry.
+
+Mrs. Fraser and her daughter were seated together, on a settee, and the
+judge was reading at a table. My sudden apparition astonished them, and
+all three gazed at me in silence. Mr. Fraser then said, "In the name of
+heaven, where did you come from, Edward!" I told him I had been in the
+American service, but that I now belonged to an English transport that was
+to sail in the morning, and that I had just come ashore to inquire how all
+hands did; particularly my sister. He told me that my sister was living, a
+married woman, in Halifax; that Mr. Marchinton was dead, and had grieved
+very much at my disappearance; that I was supposed to be dead. He then
+gave me much advice as to my future course, and reminded me how much I had
+lost by my early mistakes. He was particularly anxious I should quit my
+adopted country, and wished me to remain in Halifax. He offered to send a
+servant with me to find my sister, but I was afraid to let my presence be
+known to so many. I begged my visit might be kept a secret, as I felt
+ashamed of being seen in so humble circumstances. I was well treated, as
+was Jack Mallet, both of us receiving wine and cake, &c. Mr. Fraser also
+gave me a guinea, and as I went away, Mrs. Fraser slipped a pound note
+into my hand. The latter said to me, in a whisper--"I know what you are
+afraid of, but I shall tell Harriet of your visit; she will be secret."
+
+I staid about an hour, receiving every mark of kindness from these
+excellent and respectable people, leaving them to believe we were to sail
+in the morning. When we got back to the transport no one knew of our
+absence, and nothing was ever said of our taking the boat. The Regulus did
+not sail for twenty hours after this, but I had no more communication with
+the shore. We got to sea, at last, two transports, under the convoy of
+the Pictou.
+
+During the whole passage, we eight prisoners kept a sharp look-out for a
+chance to get possession of the ship. We were closely watched, there being
+a lieutenant and his boat's crew on board, besides the Canadians, the
+master, mate, &c. All the arms were secreted, and nothing was left at
+hand, that we could use in a rising.
+
+About mid passage, it blowing fresh, with the ship under double-reefed
+topsails, I was at the weather, with one of the Canadians at the lee,
+wheel. Mallet was at work in the larboard, or weather, mizen chains, ready
+to lend me a hand. At this moment the Pictou came up under our lee, to
+speak us in relation to carrying a light during the night. Her masts swung
+so she could not carry one herself, and her commander wished us to carry
+our top-light, he keeping near it, instead of our keeping near him. The
+schooner came very close to us, it blowing heavily, and Mallet called out,
+"Ned, now is your time. Up helm and into him. A couple of seas will send
+him down." This was said loud enough to be heard, though all on deck were
+attending to the schooner; and, as for the Canadian, he did not understand
+English. I managed to get the helm hard up, and Mallet jumped inboard. The
+ship fell off fast; but the lieutenant, who was on board as an agent, was
+standing in the companion-way with his wife, and, the instant he saw what
+I had done, he ran aft, struck me a sharp blow, and put the helm hard down
+with his own hands. This saved the Pictou, though there was a great outcry
+on board her. The lieutenant's wife screamed, and there was a pretty
+uproar for a minute, in every direction. As the Regulus luffed-to, her
+jib-boom-end just cleared the Pictou's forward rigging, and a man might
+almost have jumped from the ship to the schooner, as we got alongside of
+each other. Another minute, and we should have travelled over His
+Majesty's schooner, like a rail-road car going over a squash.
+
+The lieutenant now denounced us, and we prisoners were all put in irons. I
+am merely relating facts. How far we were right, I leave others to decide;
+but it must be remembered that Jack had, in that day, a mortal enmity to a
+British man-of-war, which was a little too apt to lay hands on all that
+she fell in with, on the high seas. Perhaps severe moralists might say
+that we had entered into a bargain with the captain of the Regulus, not to
+make war on him during the passage; in answer to which, we can reply that
+we were not attacking _him_, but the Pictou. Our intention, it must be
+confessed, however, was to seize the Regulus in the confusion. Had we been
+better treated as prisoners, our tempers might not have been so savage.
+But we got no good treatment, except for our own work; and, being hedged
+in in this manner, common sailors reason very much as they feel. We were
+not permitted to go at large again, in the Regulus, in which the English
+were very right, as Jack Mallet, in particular, was a man to put his
+shipmates up to almost any enterprise.
+
+The anchor was hardly down, at Bermuda, before a signal was made to the
+Goliah, razée, for a boat, and we were sent on board that ship. This was a
+cruising vessel, and she went to sea next morning. We were distributed
+about the ship, and ordered to go to work. The intention, evidently, was
+to swallow us all in the enormous maw of the British navy. We refused to
+do duty, however, to a man; most of our fellows being pretty bold, as
+native Americans. We were a fortnight in this situation, the greater part
+of the time playing green, with our tin pots slung round our necks. We
+did so much of this, that the people began to laugh at us, as real Johnny
+Raws, though the old salts knew better. The last even helped us along,
+some giving us clothes, extra grog, and otherwise being very kind to us.
+The officers treated us pretty well, too, all things considered. None of
+us got flogged, nor were we even threatened with the gang-way. At length
+the plan was changed. The boatswain was asked if he got anything out of
+us, and, making a bad report, we were sent down to the lower gun-deck,
+under a sentry's charge, and put at "six upon four," again. Here we
+remained until the ship went into Bermuda, after a six weeks' cruise. This
+vessel, an old seventy-four cut down, did not answer, for she was soon
+after sent to England. I overheard her officers, from our berth near the
+bulkhead, wishing to fall in with the President, Commodore Rodgers--a
+vessel they fancied they could easily handle. I cannot say they could not,
+but one day an elderly man among them spoke very rationally on the
+subject, saying, they _might_, or they might _not_ get the best of it in
+such a fight. For his part, he did not wish to see any such craft, with
+the miserable crew they had in the Goliah.
+
+We found the Ramilies, Sir Thomas Hardy, lying in Bermuda roads. This ship
+sent a boat, which took us on board the Ardent, 64, which was then used as
+a prison-ship. About a week before we reached this vessel an American
+midshipman got hold of a boat, and effected his escape, actually making
+the passage between Bermuda and Cape Henry all alone, by himself.[10] In
+consequence of this unusual occurrence, a bright look out was kept on all
+the boats, thus defeating one of our plans, which was to get off in the
+same way. When we reached the Ardent, we found but four Americans in her.
+After we had been on board her about a week, three men joined us, who had
+given themselves up on board English men-of-war, as native Americans. One
+of these men, whose name was Baily, had been fourteen years in the English
+service, into which he had been pressed, his protection having been torn
+up before his face. He was a Connecticut man, and had given himself up at
+the commencement of the war, getting three dozen for his pains. He was
+then sent on the Halifax station, where he gave himself up again. He
+received three dozen more, then had his shirt thrown over his back and was
+sent to us. I saw the back and the shirt, myself, and Baily said he would
+keep the last to be buried with him. Bradbury and Patrick were served very
+much in the same manner. I saw all their backs, and give the remainder of
+the story, as they gave it to me. Baily and Bradbury got off in season to
+join the Constitution, and to make the last cruise in her during this war.
+I afterwards fell in with Bradbury, who mentioned this circumstance to me.
+
+It is good to have these things known, for I do believe the English nation
+would be averse to men's receiving such treatment, could they fairly be
+made to understand it. It surely is bad enough to be compelled to fight
+the battles of a foreign country, without being flogged for not fighting
+them when they happen to be against one's own people. For myself, I was
+born, of German parents, in the English territory, it is true; but America
+was, and ever has been, the country of my choice, and, while yet a child,
+I may say, I decided for myself to sail under the American flag; and, if
+my father had a right to make an Englishman of me, by taking service under
+the English crown, I think I had a right to make myself what I pleased,
+when he had left me to get on as I could, without his counsel and advice.
+
+After being about three weeks in the Ardent, we eight prisoners were sent
+on board the Ramilies, to be tried as Englishmen who had been fighting
+against their king. The trial took place on board the Asia, 74, a
+flag-ship; but we lived in the Ramilies, during the time the investigation
+was going on. Sir Thomas Hardy held several conversations with me, on the
+quarter-deck, in which he manifested great kindness of feeling. He
+inquired whether I was really an American; but I evaded any direct answer.
+I told him, however, that I had been an apprentice, in New York, in the
+employment of Jacob Barker; which was true, in one sense, as Mr. Barker
+was the consignee of the Sterling, and knew of my indentures. I mentioned
+him, as a person more likely to be known than Captain Johnston. Sir Thomas
+said he had some knowledge of Mr. Barker; and, I think, I have heard that
+they were, in some way, connected. This was laying an anchor to-windward,
+as it turned out, in the end.
+
+We were all on board the Asia, for trial, or investigation, two days,
+before I was sent for into the cabin. I was very much frightened; and
+scarce knew what I said, or did. It is a cruel thing to leave sailors
+without counsel, on such occasions; though the officers behaved very
+kindly and considerately to me; and, I believe, to all of us. There were
+several officers seated round a table; and all were in swabs. They said,
+the gentleman who presided, was a Sir Borlase Warren, the admiral on the
+station.[11] This gentleman, whoever he was, probably saw that I was
+frightened. He slewed himself round, in his chair, and said to me; "My
+man, you need not be alarmed; we know _who_ you are, and _what_ you are;
+but your apprenticeship will be of great service to you." This was not
+said, however, until Sir Thomas Hardy had got out the story of my being an
+apprentice in Jacob Barker's employ, again, before them all, in the cabin.
+I was told to send for a copy of my indentures, by one of the white-washed
+Swedes, that sailed between Bermuda and New York. This I did, that very
+day. I was in the cabin of the Asia, half an hour, perhaps; and I felt
+greatly relieved, when I got out of it. It was decided, in my presence, to
+send me back among the prisoners, on board the Ardent. The same decision
+was made, as to the whole eight of us, that had come on in the Regulus.
+
+When we got back to the Ramilies, Sir Thomas Hardy had some more
+conversation with me. I have thought, ever since, that he knew something
+about my birth, and of my being the prince's godson. He wished me to join
+the British service, seemingly, very much, and encouraged me with the hope
+of being promoted. But, it is due to myself, to say, I held out against it
+all. I do not believe America had a truer heart, in her service, than
+mine; and I do not think an English commission would have bought me. I
+have nothing to hope, from saying this, for I am now old, and a cripple
+but, as I have sat down to relate the truth, let the truth be told,
+whether it tell for, or against me.
+
+We were now sent back to the Ardent; where we remained three weeks, or a
+month, longer. During this time we got our papers from New York; I
+receiving a copy of my indentures, together with the sum of ten dollars;
+which reached me through Sir Thomas Hardy, as I understood. Nothing more
+was ever said, to any of the eight, about their being Englishmen; the
+whole of us being treated as prisoners of war. Prisoners arrived fast,
+until we had four hundred in the Ardent. The old Ruby, a forty-four, on
+two decks, was obliged to receive some of them. Most of these prisoners
+were privateersmen; though there were a few soldiers, and some citizens
+that had been picked up in Chesapeake Bay. Before we left Bermuda, the
+crew of a French frigate was put into the Ardent, to the number of near
+four hundred men. In the whole, we must have had eight hundred souls, and
+all on one deck. This was close stowage, and I was heartily glad when I
+quitted the ship.
+
+Soon after the French arrived, four hundred of us Americans were put on
+board transports, and we sailed for Halifax, under the convoy of the
+Ramilies. A day or two after we got out, we fell in with an American
+privateer, which continued hovering around us for several days. As this
+was a bold fellow, frequently coming within gun-shot, and sporting his
+sticks and canvass in all sorts of ways, Sir Thomas Hardy felt afraid he
+would get one of the four transports, and he took all us prisoners into
+the Ramilies. We staid in the ship the rest of the passage, and when we
+went into Halifax it was all alone, the four transports having
+disappeared. Two of them subsequently got in; but I think the other two
+were actually taken by that saucy fellow.
+
+The prisoners, at first, had great liberty allowed them, on board the
+Ramilies. On all occasions, Sir Thomas Hardy treated the Americans well. A
+party of marines was stationed on the poop, and another on the forecastle,
+and the ship's people had arms; but this was all the precaution that was
+used. The opportunity tempted some of our men to plan a rising, with a
+view to seize the ship. Privateer officers were at the head of this
+scheme, which was communicated to me, among others, soon after the plot
+was laid. Most of the prisoners knew of the intention, and everybody
+seemed to enter into the affair with hearty good-will. Our design was to
+rise at the end of the second dog-watch, overcome the crew, and carry the
+ship upon our own coast. If unable to pass the blockading squadrons, we
+intended to run her ashore. The people of the Ramilies outnumbered us by
+near one-half, and they had arms, it is true; but we trusted to the effect
+of a surprise, and something to the disposition of most English sailors to
+get quit of their own service. Had the attempt been made, from what I saw
+of the crew, I think our main trouble would have been with the officers
+and the marines. We were prevented from trying the experiment, however, in
+consequence of having been betrayed by some one who was in the secret, the
+whole of us being suddenly sent into the cable tiers and amongst the water
+casks, under the vigilant care of sentinels posted in the wings. After
+that, we were allowed to come on deck singly, only, and then under a
+sentinel's charge. When Sir Thomas spoke to us concerning this change of
+treatment, he did not abuse us for our plan, but was mild and reasonable,
+while he reminded us of the necessity of what he was doing. I have no idea
+he would have been in the least injured, had we got possession of the
+ship; for, to the last, our people praised him, and the treatment they
+received, while under his orders.
+
+Before we were sent below, Sir Thomas spoke to me again, on the subject of
+my joining the English service. He was quite earnest about it, and
+reasoned with me like a father; but I was determined not to yield. I did
+not like England, and I did like America. My birth in Quebec was a thing I
+could not help; but having chosen to serve under the American flag, and
+having done so now for years, I did not choose to go over to the enemy.
+
+At Halifax, fifteen or twenty of us were sent on board the old Centurion,
+44, Lord Anson's ship, as retaliation-men. We eight were of the number. We
+found something like thirty more in the ship, all retaliation-men, like
+ourselves. Those we found in the Centurion did not appear to me to be
+foremast Jacks, but struck me as being citizens from ashore. We were well
+treated, however, suffering no other confinement than that of the ship. We
+were on "six upon four," it is true, like other prisoners, but our own
+country gave us small stores, and extra bread and beef. In the way of
+grub, we fared like sailor kings. At the end of three weeks, we eight
+lakesmen were sent to Melville Island, among the great herd of prisoners.
+I cannot explain the reason of all these changes; but I know that when the
+gate was shut on us, the turnkey said we had gone into a home that would
+last as long as the war lasted.
+
+Melville is an island of more than a mile in circumference, with low,
+rocky shores. It lies about three miles from the town of Halifax, but not
+in sight. It is connected with the main by a bridge that is thrown across
+a narrow passage of something like a quarter of a mile in width. In the
+centre of the island is an eminence, which was occupied by the garrison,
+and had some artillery. This eminence commanded the whole island. Another
+post on the main, also, commanded the prisoners' barracks. These barracks
+were ordinary wooden buildings, enclosed on the side of the island with a
+strong stone wall, and on the side of the post on the main, by high, open
+palisades. Of course, a sufficient guard was maintained.
+
+It was said there were about twelve hundred Americans on the island, when
+I passed the gate. Among them were a few French, some of whom were a part
+of the crew of the Ville de Milan, the ship that had been taken before I
+first left Halifax; or more than eight years previously to this time. This
+did, indeed, look like the place's being a home to a poor fellow, and I
+did not relish the circumstance at all. Among our people were soldiers,
+sailors, and 'long-shore-men'. There was no difference in the treatment,
+which, for a prison, was good. We got only "six upon four" from the
+English, of course; but our own country made up the difference here, as on
+board the Centurion. They had a prison dress, with one leg of the trowsers
+yellow and the other blue, &c.; but we would not stand that. Our agent
+managed the matter so that we got regular jackets and trowsers of the true
+old colour. The poor Frenchmen looked like peacocks in their dress, but we
+did not envy them their finery.
+
+I had been on the island about a fortnight, when I was told by Jack
+Mallet that a woman, whom he thought to be my sister, was at the gate.
+Jack knew my whole history, and came to his opinion from a resemblance
+that he saw between me and the person who had inquired for me. I refused
+to go to the gate, however, to see who it was, and Jack was sent back to
+tell the woman that I had been left behind at Bermuda. He was directed to
+throw in a few hints about the expediency of her not coming back to look
+for me, and that it would be better if she never named me. All this was
+done, I getting a berth from which I could see the female. I knew her in a
+moment, although she was married, and had a son with her, and my heart was
+very near giving way, especially when I saw her shedding tears. She went
+away from the gate, however, going up on the ramparts, from which she
+could look down into the prison-yard. There she remained an hour, as if
+she wished to satisfy her own eyes as to the truth of Jack's story; but I
+took good care to keep out of her sight.
+
+As I knew there was little hope of an exchange of prisoners, I now began
+to think of the means of making my escape. Jack Mallet dared not attempt
+to swim, on account of the rheumatism and cramps, having narrowly escaped
+drowning at Bermuda, and he could not join in our schemes. As for myself,
+I have been able to swim ever since danger taught me the important lesson,
+the night the Scourge went down. Money would be necessary to aid me in
+escaping, and Jack and I put our heads together, in order to raise some. I
+had still the ten dollars given me by Sir Thomas Hardy, and I commenced
+operations by purchasing shares in a dice-board, a _vingt et un_ table,
+and a quino table.[12] Jack Mallet and I, also, set up a shop, on a
+capital of three dollars. We sold smoked herring, pipes, tobacco, segars,
+spruce beer, and, as chances of smuggling it in offered, now and then a
+little Jamaica. All this time, the number of the prisoners increased,
+until, in the end, we got to have a full prison, when they began to send
+them to England. Only one of the Julias was sent away, however, all the
+rest remaining at Melville Island, from some cause I cannot explain.
+
+I cannot say we made money very fast. On every shilling won at dice, we
+received a penny; at _vingt et un_, the commission was the same; as it was
+also at the other games. New cards, however, brought a little higher rate.
+All this was wrong I _now_ know, but _then_ it gave me very little
+trouble. I hope I would not do the same thing over again, even to make my
+escape from Melville Island, but one never knows to what distress may
+drive him.
+
+Some person among the American prisoners--a soldier it was said--commenced
+counterfeiting Spanish dollars. I am afraid most of us helped to circulate
+them. We thought it no harm to cheat the people of the canteens, for we
+knew they were doing all they could to cheat us. This was prison morality,
+in war-time, and I say nothing in its favour; though, for myself, I will
+own I felt more of the consciousness of wrong-doing in holding the shares
+in the gambling establishments, than in giving bad dollars for poor rum.
+The counterfeiting business was destroyed by one of the dollars happening
+to break, as some of the officers were pitching them; when, on
+examination, it turned out that most of the money in the prison was bad.
+It was said the people of the canteens had about four hundred of the
+dollars, when they came to overhaul their lockers. A good many found their
+way into Halifax.
+
+My trade lasted all winter--(that of 1813--14,) and by March I had gained
+the sum of eighty French crowns. Dollars I was afraid to hold on account
+of the base money. The ice now began to give way, and a few of us, who had
+been discussing the matter all winter, set about forming serious plans to
+escape. My confederates were a man of the name of Johnson, who had been
+taken in the Snapdragon privateer, and an Irishman of the name of
+Littlefield. Barnet, the Mozambique man, joined us also, making four in
+all. It was quite early in the month, when we made the attempt. Our
+windows were long, and had perpendicular bars of wrought iron to secure
+them, but no cross-bars. There was no glass; but outside shutters, that we
+could open at our pleasure. Outside of the windows were sentinels, and
+there were two rows of pickets between us and the shore.
+
+I put my crowns in a belt around my waist. Another belt, or skin, was
+filled with rum, for the double purpose of buoying me in the water, and
+of comforting me when ashore. At that day, I found rum one of the great
+blessings of life; now I look upon it as one of the greatest evils. My
+companions made similar provisions of money and rum, though neither was as
+rich as myself. I left Mallet and Leonard Lewis my heirs at law if I
+escaped, and my trustees should I be caught. Lewis was a young man of
+better origin than most in the prison, and I have always thought some
+calamity drove him to the seas. He was in ill health, and did not appear
+to be destined to a long life. He would have joined us, heart and hand,
+but was not strong enough to endure the fatigue which we well knew we must
+undergo, before we could get clear.
+
+The night selected for the attempt was so cold, dark, and dismal, as to
+drive all the sentinels into their boxes. It rained hard, in the bargain.
+About eight, or as soon as the lights were out, we got the lanyards of our
+hammocks around two of the window bars, and using a bit of fire-wood for a
+heaver, we easily brought them together. This left room for our bodies to
+pass out, without any difficulty. Jack Mallet, and those we left behind,
+hove the bars straight again, so that the keepers were at a loss to know
+how we had got off. We met with no obstacle between the prison and the
+water. The pickets we removed, having cut them in the day-time. In a word,
+all four of us reached the shore of the Island in two or three minutes
+after we had taken leave of our messmates. The difficulty lay before us.
+We entered into the water, at once, and began to swim. When I was a few
+rods from the place of landing, which was quite near the guard-house, on
+the main, Johnson began to sing out that he was drowning. I told him to be
+quiet, but it was of no use. The guard on the main heard him, and
+commenced firing, and of course we swam all the harder. Three of us were
+soon ashore, and, knowing the roads well, I led them in a direction to
+avoid the soldiers. By running into the woods, we got clear, though poor
+Johnson fell again into the hands of the enemy. He deserved it for bawling
+as he did; it being the duty of a man in such circumstances to lie with a
+shut mouth.
+
+
+
+Chapter IX.
+
+
+
+The three who had escaped ran, for a quarter of a mile, in the woods, when
+we brought up, and took a drink. Hearing no more firing, or any further
+alarm, we now consulted as to our future course. There were some mills at
+the head of the bay, about four miles from the guard-house, and I led the
+party thither. We reached the place towards morning, and found a berth in
+them before any one was stirring. We hid ourselves in an old granary; but
+no person appeared near the place throughout the next day. We had put a
+little bread and a few herrings in our hats, and on these we subsisted.
+The rum cheered us up, and, if rum ever did good, I think it was to us on
+that occasion. We slept soundly, with one man on the look-out; a rule we
+observed the whole time we were out. It stopped raining in the course of
+the day, though the weather was bitter cold.
+
+Next night we got under way, and walked in a direction which led us within
+three miles of the town. In doing this, we passed the Prince's Lodge, a
+place where I had often been, and the sight of which reminded me of home,
+and of my childish days. There was no use in regrets, however, and we
+pushed ahead. The men saw my melancholy, and they questioned me; but I
+evaded the answer, pretending that nothing ailed me. There was a tavern
+about a league from the town, kept by a man of the name of Grant, and
+Littlefield ventured into it. He bought a small cheese and a loaf of
+bread; getting off clear, though not unsuspected. This helped us along
+famously, and we pushed on as fast as we could. Before morning we came
+near a bridge, on which there was a sentinel posted, with a guard-house
+near its end. To avoid this danger, we turned the guard-house, striking
+the river above the bridge. Here we met two Indians, and fell into
+discourse with them. Our rum now served us a better turn than ever, buying
+the Indians in a minute. We told these chaps we were deserters from the
+Bulwark, 74, and begged them to help us along. At first, they thought we
+were Yankees, whom they evidently disliked, and that right heartily; but
+the story of the desertion took, and made them disposed to serve us.
+
+These two Indians led us down to the bed of the river, and actually
+carried us beneath the bridge, on the side of the river next the guard,
+where we found a party of about thirty of these red-skins, men, women and
+children. Here we stayed no less than three days; faring extremely well,
+having fish, bread, butter, and other common food. The weather was very
+bad, and we did not like to turn out in it, besides, thinking the search
+for us might be less keen after a short delay. All this time, we were
+within a few rods of the guard, hearing the sentinels cry "all's well,"
+from half-hour to half-hour. We were free with our rum, and, as much as we
+dared to be, with our money. These people never betrayed us.
+
+The third night we left the bridge, guided by a young Indian. He led us
+about two miles up the river, passing through the Maroon town in the
+night, after which he left us. We wished him to keep on with us for some
+distance further, but he refused. He quitted us near morning, and we
+turned into a deserted log-house, on the banks of the river, where we
+passed the day. The country was thinly populated, and the houses we saw
+were poor and mean. We must now have been about five-and-twenty miles
+from Halifax.
+
+Our object was to cross the neck of land between the Atlantic and the Bay
+of Fundy, and to get to Annapolis Royal, where we expected to be able to
+procure a boat, by fair means if we could, by stealth if necessary, and
+cross over to the American shore. We had still a long road before us, and
+had some little difficulty to find the way. The Indians, however, gave us
+directions that greatly assisted us; and we travelled a long bit, and
+pretty fast all that night. In the morning, the country had more the
+appearance of being peopled and cultivated, and I suspected we were
+getting into the vicinity of Horton, a place through which it would be
+indispensable to pass. The weather became bad again, and it was necessary
+to make a halt. Coming near a log-house, we sent Littlefield ahead to make
+some inquiries of a woman who appeared to be in it alone. On his return,
+he reported well of the woman. He had told her we were deserters from the
+Bulwark, and had promised to pay her if she would let us stay about her
+premises that day, and get us something to eat. The woman had consented to
+our occupying an out-house, and had agreed to buy the provisions. We now
+took possession of the out-house, where the woman visited us, and getting
+some money, she left us in quest of food. We were uneasy during her
+absence, but she came back with some meat, eggs, bread, and butter, at the
+end of an hour, and all seemed right. We made two comfortable meals in
+this out-house, where we remained until near evening. I had the look-out
+about noon, and I saw a man hanging about the house, and took the alarm.
+The man did not stay long, however, and I got a nap as soon as he
+disappeared. About four we were all up, and one of us taking a look, saw
+this same man, and two others, go into the house. The woman had already
+told us that a party of soldiers had gone ahead, in pursuit of three
+Yankee runaways; that four had broken prison, but one had been retaken,
+and the rest were still out. This left little doubt that she knew who we
+were; and we thought it best to steal away, at once, lest the men in the
+house should be consulting with her, at that very moment, about selling us
+for the reward, which we know was always four pounds ahead. The out-house
+was near the river, and there was a good deal of brush growing along the
+banks, and we succeeded in getting away unseen.
+
+We went down to the margin, under the bank, and pursued our way along the
+stream. Before it was dark we came in sight of the bridge, for which we
+had been travelling ever since we left the other bridge, and were sorry to
+see a sentry-box on it. We now halted for a council, and came to a
+determination to wait until dark, and then advance. This we did, getting
+under this bridge, as we had done with the other. We had no Indians,
+however, to comfort and feed us.
+
+I had known a good deal of this part of the country when a boy, from the
+circumstance that Mr. Marchinton had a large farm, near a place called
+Cornwallis, on the Bay, where I had even spent whole summers with the
+family. This bridge I recollected well; and I remembered there was a ford
+a little on one side of it, when the tide was out. The tides are
+tremendous in this part of the world, and we did not dare to steal a boat
+here, lest we should be caught in one of the bores, as they are called,
+when the tide came in. It was now half ebb, and we resolved to wait, and
+try the? ford.
+
+It was quite dark when we left the bridge, and we had a delicate bit of
+work before us. The naked flats were very wide, and we sallied out, with
+the bridge as our guide. I was up to my middle in mud, at times, but the
+water was not very deep. We must have been near an hour in the mud, for we
+were not exactly on the proper ford, of course, and made bad navigation of
+it in the dark. But we were afraid to lose sight of the bridge, lest we
+should get all adrift.
+
+At length we reached the firm ground, covered with mud and chilled with
+cold. We found the road, and the village of Horton, and skirted the last,
+until all was clear. Then we took to the road, and carried sail hard all
+night. Whenever we saw any one, we hid ourselves, but we met few while
+travelling. Next morning we walked until we came to a deserted saw-mill,
+which I also remembered, and here we halted for the day. No one troubled
+us, nor did I see any one; but Littlefield said that a man drove a herd of
+cattle past, during his watch on deck.
+
+I told my companions that night, if they would be busy, we might reach
+Cornwallis, where I should be at home. We were pretty well fagged, and
+wanted rest, for Jack is no great traveller ashore; and I promised the
+lads a good snug berth at Mr. Marchinton's farm. We pushed ahead briskly,
+in consequence, and I led the party up to the farm, just as day was
+dawning. A Newfoundland dog, named Hunter, met us with some ferocity;
+but, on my calling him by name, he was pacified, and began to leap on me,
+and to caress me. I have always thought that dog knew me, after an absence
+of so many years. There was no time to waste with dogs, however, and we
+took the way to the barn. We had wit enough not to get on the hay, but to
+throw ourselves on a mow filled with straw, as the first was probably in
+use. Here we went to sleep, with one man on the look-out. This was the
+warmest and most comfortable rest we had got since quitting the island,
+from which we had now been absent or nine days.
+
+We remained one night and two days in the barn. The workmen entered it
+often, and even stayed some time on the barn-floor; but no one seemed to
+think of ascending our mow. The dog kept much about the place, and I was
+greatly afraid he would be the means of betraying us. Our provisions were
+getting low, and, the night we were at the farm I sallied out, accompanied
+by Barnet, and we made our way into the dairy. Here we found a pan of
+bread, milk, cheese, butter, eggs, and codfish. Of course, we took our
+fill of milk; but Barnet got hold of a vessel of sour cream, and came near
+hallooing out, when he had taken a good pull at it. As we returned to the
+barn, the geese set up an outcry, and glad enough was I to find myself
+safe on the mow again, without being discovered. Next day, however, we
+overheard the men in the barn speaking of the robbery, and complaining, in
+particular, of the uselessness of the dog. I did not know any of these
+persons, although a young man appeared among them, this day, who I fancied
+had been a playfellow of mine, when a boy. I could not trust him, or any
+one else there; and all the advantage we got from the farm, was through my
+knowledge of the localities, and of the habits of the place.
+
+I had never been further on the road between Halifax and Annapolis, than
+to Cornwallis. The rest of the distance was unknown to me, though I was
+familiar with the route which went out of Cornwallis, and which was called
+the Annapolis road. It was a fine star-light evening, and we made good
+headway. We all felt refreshed, and journeyed on full stomachs. We did not
+meet a soul, though we travelled through a well-settled country. The next
+morning we halted in a wood, the weather being warm and pleasant. Here we
+slept and rested as usual, and were off again at night. Littlefield
+pinned three fowls as we went along, declaring that he intended to have a
+warm mess next day, and he got off without discoverv. About four o'clock
+in the morning, we fell in with a river, and left the high-way, following
+the banks of the stream for a short distance. It now came on to blow and
+rain, with the wind on shore, and we saw it would not do to get a boat and
+go out in such a time. There was a rising ground, in a thick wood, near
+us, and we went up the hill to pass the day. We had seen two men pulling
+ashore in a good-looking boat, and it was our determination to get this
+boat, and shape our course down stream to the Bay, as soon as it
+moderated. From the hill, we could overlook the river, and the adjacent
+country. We saw the fishermen land, take their sail and oars out of the
+boat, haul the latter up, turn her over, and stow their sails and oars
+beneath her. They had a breaker of fresh water, too, and everything seemed
+fitted for our purposes. We liked the craft, and, what is more, we liked
+the cruise.
+
+We could not see the town of Annapolis, which turned out to be up-stream
+from us, though we afterwards ascertained that we were within a mile or
+two of it. The fishermen walked in the direction of the town, and
+disappeared. All we wanted now was tolerably good weather, with a fair
+wind, or, at least, with less wind. The blow had driven in the fishermen,
+and we thought it wise to be governed by their experience. Nothing
+occurred in the course of the day, the weather remaining the same, and we
+being exposed to the rain, with no other cover than trees without leaves.
+There were many pines, however, and they gave us a little shelter.
+
+At dusk, Littlefield lighted a fire, and began to cook his fowls. The
+supper was soon ready, and we eat it with a good relish. We then went to
+sleep, leaving Barnet on the look-out. I had just got into a good sleep,
+when I was awoke by the tramp of horses, and the shouting of men. On
+springing up, I found that a party of five horsemen were upon us. One
+called out--"Here they are--we've found them at last." This left no doubt
+of their errand, and we were all retaken. Our arms were tied, and we were
+made to mount behind the horsemen, when they rode off with us, taking the
+road by which we had come. We went but a few miles that night, when
+we halted.
+
+We were taken the whole distance to Halifax, in this manner, riding on
+great-coats, without stirrups, the horses on a smart walk. We did not go
+by Cornwallis, which, it seems, was not the nearest road; but we passed
+through Horton, and crossed the bridge, beneath which we had Waded through
+the mud. At Horton we passed a night. We were confined in a sort of a
+prison, that was covered with mud. We did not like our berths; and,
+finding that the logs, of which the building was made, were rotten, we
+actually worked our way through them, and got fairly out. Littlefield, who
+was as reckless an Irishman as ever lived, swore he would set fire to the
+place; which he did, by returning through the hole we had made, and
+getting up into a loft, that was dry and combustible. But for this silly
+act, we might have escaped; and, as it was, we did get off for the rest of
+the night, being caught, next morning, nearly down, again, by the bridge
+at Windsor.
+
+This time, our treatment was a good deal worse, than at first. A sharp
+look-out was kept, and they got us back to Halifax, without any more
+adventures. We were pretty well fagged; though we had to taper off with
+the black hole, and bread and water, for the next ten days; the regular
+punishment for such misdemeanors as ours. At the end of the ten days, we
+were let out, and came together again. Our return brought about a great
+deal of discussion; and, not a little criticism, as to the prudence of our
+course. To hear the chaps talk, one would think every man among them could
+have got off, had he been in our situation; though none of them did any
+better; several having got off the island, in our absence, and been
+retaken, within the first day or two. While I was in prison, however, I
+remember but one man who got entirely clear. This was a privateers-man,
+from Marblehead; who did get fairly off; though he was back again, in six
+weeks, having been taken once more, a few days out.
+
+We adventurers were pretty savage, about our failure; and, the moment we
+were out of the black hole, we began to lay our heads together for a new
+trial. My idea was, to steer a different course, in the new attempt;
+making the best of our way towards Liverpool, which lay to the southward,
+coastwise. This would leave us on the Atlantic, it was true; but our
+notion was, to ship in a small privateer, called the Liverpool, and then
+run our chance of getting off from her; as she was constantly crossing
+over to the American coast. As this craft was quite small, and often had
+but few hands in her, we did not know but we might get hold of the
+schooner itself. Then there was some probability of being put in a
+coaster; which we might run away with. At all events, any chance seemed
+better to us, than that of remaining in prison, until the end of war that
+might last years, or until we got to be grey-headed. I remembered, when
+the Ville de Milan was brought into Halifax; this was a year, or two,
+before I went to sea; and yet here were some of her people still, on
+Melville Island!
+
+I renewed my trade as soon as out of the Black Hole, but did not give up
+the idea of escaping. Leonard Lewis and Jack Mallet were the only men we
+let into the secret. They both declined joining us; Mallet on account of
+his dread of the water, and Lewis, because certain he could not outlive
+the fatigue; but they wished us good luck, and aided us all they could.
+With Johnson we would have no further concern.
+
+The keepers did not ascertain the means by which we had left the barracks,
+though they had seen the cut pickets of course. We did not attempt,
+therefore, to cut through again, but resolved to climb. The English had
+strengthened the pickets with cross-pieces, which were a great assistance
+to _us_, and I now desire to express my thanks for the same. We waited for
+a warm, but dark and rainy night in May, before we commenced our new
+movement. We had still plenty of money, I having brought back with me to
+prison forty crowns, and having driven a thriving trade in the interval.
+We got out through the bars, precisely as we had done before, and at the
+very same window. This was a small job. After climbing the pickets, either
+Littlefield or Barnet dropped on the outside, a little too carelessly, and
+was overheard. The sentinel immediately called for the corporal of the
+guard, but we were in the water, swimming quite near the bridge, and some
+little distance from the guard-house on the main. There was a stir on the
+island, while we were in the water, but we all got ashore, safe
+and unseen.
+
+We took to the same woods as before, but turned south instead of west. Our
+route brought us along by the waterside, and we travelled hard all that
+night. Littlefield pretended to be our guide, but we got lost, and
+remained two days and nights in the woods, without food, and completely at
+fault as to which way to steer. At length we ventured out into a high-way,
+by open day-light, and good luck threw an old Irish seaman, who then lived
+by fishing in [missing]. After a little conversation, we told this old
+man we were deserters from a vessel of war, and he seemed to like us all
+the better for it. He had served himself, and had a son impressed, and
+seemed to like the English navy little better than we did ourselves. He
+took us to a hut on the beach, and fed us with fish, potatoes, and bread,
+giving us a very comfortable and hearty meal. We remained in this hut
+until sunset, receiving a great deal of useful advice from the old man,
+and then we left him. We used some precaution in travelling, sleeping in
+the woods; but we kept moving by day as well as by night, and halting only
+when tired, and a good place offered. We were not very well off for food,
+though we brought a little from the fisherman's hut, and found quantities
+of winter-berries by the way-side.
+
+We entered Liverpool about eight at night, and went immediately to the
+rendezvous of the privateer, giving a little girl a shilling to be our
+guide. The keeper of the rendezvous received us gladly, and we shipped
+immediately. Of course we were lodged and fed, in waiting for the schooner
+to come in. Each of us got four pounds bounty, and both parties seemed
+delighted with the bargain. To own the truth, we now began to drink, and
+the next day was pretty much a blank with us all. The second day, after
+breakfast, the landlord rushed into our room with a newspaper in his hand,
+and broke out upon us, with a pretty string of names, denouncing us for
+having told him we were deserters, when we were only runaway Yankees! The
+twelve pounds troubled him, and he demanded it back. We laughed at him,
+and advised him to be quiet and put us aboard the privateer. He then told
+us the guard was after us, hot-foot, and that it was too late. This proved
+to be true enough, for, in less than an hour an officer and a platoon of
+men had us in custody. We had some fun in hearing the officer give it to
+the landlord, who still kept talking about his twelve pounds. The officer
+told him plainly that he was rightly served, for attempting to smuggle off
+deserters, and I suppose this was the reason no one endeavoured to get the
+money away from us, except by words. We kept the twelve pounds, right
+or wrong.
+
+We were now put in a coaster, and sent to Halifax by water. We were in
+irons, but otherwise were well enough treated. We were kept in the
+Navy-yard guard-house, at Halifax, several hours, and were visited by a
+great many officers. These gentlemen were curious to hear our story, and
+we let them have it, very frankly. They laughed, and said, generally, we
+were not to be blamed for trying to get off, if their own look-outs were
+so bad as to let us. We did not tell them, however, by what means we
+passed out of the prison-barracks. Among the officers who came and spoke
+to us, was an admiral, Sir Isaac Coffin. This gentleman was a native
+American, and was then in Halifax to assist the Nantucket men, whom he
+managed to get exchanged. His own nephew was said to be among them; but
+him he would not serve, as he had been captured in a privateer. Had he
+been captured in a man-of-war, or a merchantman, he would have done all
+he could for him; but, as it was, he let him go to Dartmoor--at least,
+this was the story in the prison. The old gentleman spoke very mildly to
+us, and said he could not blame us for attempting to escape. I do not
+think he had ever heard of the twelve pounds; though none of the navy
+officers were sorry that the privateer's-men should be punished. As for
+us, we considered them all enemies alike, on whom it was fair enough to
+live in a time of war.
+
+We were sent back to the island, and were quarantined again; though it was
+for twenty days, this time. When we got pratique, we learned that some one
+had told of the manner in which we got out of prison, and cross-bars had
+been placed in all the windows, making them so many "nine of diamonds."
+This was blocking the channel, and there was no more chance for getting
+off in that way.
+
+A grand conspiracy was now formed, which was worthy of the men in prison.
+The plan was to get possession of Halifax itself, and go off in triumph.
+We were eighteen hundred prisoners in all; though not very well off for
+officers. About fifty of us entered into the plan, at first; nor did we
+let in any recruits for something like six weeks. A Mr. Crowninshield, of
+Salem, was the head man among as, he having been an officer in a
+privateer. There were a good many privateer officers in the prison, but
+they were berthed over-head, and were intended to be separated from us at
+night. The floor was lifted between us, however, and we held our
+communications by these means. The officers came down at night, and lent
+us a hand with the work.
+
+The scheme was very simple, though I do not think it was at all difficult
+of execution. The black-hole cells were beneath the prison, and we broke
+through the floor, into one of them, from our bay. A large mess-chest
+concealed the process, in the day-time. We worked in gangs of six, digging
+and passing up the dirt into the night-tubs. These tubs we were
+permitted to empty, every morning, in a tide's way, and thus we got rid of
+the dirt. At the end of two months we had dug a passage, wide enough for
+two abreast, some twenty or thirty yards, and were nearly ready to come up
+to the surface. We now began to recruit, swearing in each man. On the
+whole, we had got about four hundred names, when the project was defeated,
+by that great enemy which destroys so many similar schemes, treachery. We
+were betrayed, as was supposed by one of our own number.
+
+Had we got out, the plan was to seize the heights of the island, and get
+possession of the guns. This effected, it would have been easy to subdue
+the guard. We then would have pushed for Citadel Hill, which commanded
+Halifax. Had we succeeded there, we should have given John Bull a great
+deal of trouble, though no one could say what would have been the result.
+Hundreds would probably have got off, in different craft, even had the
+great plan failed. We were not permitted to try the experiment, however,
+for one day we were all turned out, and a party of English officers, army
+and navy, entered the barracks, removed the mess-chest, and surveyed our
+mine at their leisure. A draft of six hundred was sent from the prison
+that day, and was shipped for Dartmoor; and, by the end of the week, our
+whole number was reduced to some three or four hundred souls. One of the
+Julias went in this draft, but all the rest of us were kept at Halifax.
+For some reason or other, the English seemed to keep their eyes on us.
+
+I never gave up the hope of escaping, and the excitement of the hope was
+beneficial to both body and mind. We were too well watched, however, and
+conversation at night was even forbidden. Most of the officers were gone
+and this threw me pretty much on my own resources. I have forgotten to say
+that Lemuel Bryant, the man who fell at the breech of my gun, at Little
+York, and whom I afterwards hauled into the Scourge's boat, got off, very
+early after our arrival at Halifax. He made two that got quite clear,
+instead of the one I have already mentioned. Bryant's escape was so
+clever, as to deserve notice.
+
+One day a party of some thirty soldiers was called out for exchange, under
+a capitulation. Among the names was that of Lemuel Bryant, but the man
+happened to be dead. Our Bryant had found this out, beforehand, and he
+rigged himself soldier-fashion, and answered to the name. It is probable
+he ascertained the fact, by means of some relationship, which brought him
+in contact with the soldier previously to his death. He met with no
+difficulty, and I have never seen him since. I have heard he is still
+living, and that he receives a pension for the hurt he received at York.
+Well does he deserve it, for no man ever had a narrower chance for
+his life.
+
+Nothing new, worthy of notice, occurred for several months, until one
+evening in March, 1815, we heard a great rejoicing in Halifax; and,
+presently, a turnkey appeared on the walls, and called out that England
+and America had made peace! We gave three cheers, and passed the night
+happy enough. We had a bit of a row with the turnkeys about locking us in
+again, for we were fierce for liberty; but we were forced to submit for
+another night.
+
+
+
+Chapter X.
+
+
+
+The following morning, eight of the names that stood first on the
+prison-roll were called off, to know if the men would consent to work a
+liberated Swedish brig to New York. I was one of the eight, as was Jack
+Mallet and Barnet. Wilcox, one of those who had gone with us to Bermuda,
+had died, and the rest were left on the island. I never fell in with
+Leonard Lewis, Littlefield, or any of the rest of those chaps, after I
+quitted the prison. Lewis, I think, could not have lived long; and as for
+Littlefield, I heard of him, afterwards, as belonging to the
+Washington 74.
+
+The Swede, whose name was the Venus, was lying at the end of Marchinton's
+wharf, a place that had been so familiar to me in boyhood. We all went on
+board, and I was not sorry to find that we were to haul into the stream
+immediately. I had an extraordinary aversion to Halifax, which my late
+confinement had not diminished, and had no wish to see a living soul in
+it. Jack Mallet, however, took on himself the office of paying my sister a
+visit, and of telling her where I was to be found. This he did contrary to
+my wishes, and without my knowledge; though I think he meant to do me a
+favour. The very day we hauled into the stream, a boat came alongside us,
+and I saw, at a glance, that Harriet was in it. I said a few words to her,
+requesting her not to come on board, but promising to visit her that
+evening, which I did.
+
+I stayed several hours with my sister, whom I found living with her
+husband. She did not mention my father's name to me, at all; and I learned
+nothing of my other friends, if I ever had any, or of my family. Her
+husband was a tailor, and they gave me a good outfit of clothes, and
+treated me with great kindness. It struck me that the unaccountable
+silence of my father about us children, had brought my sister down in the
+world a little, but it was no affair of mine; and, as for myself, I cared
+for no one. After passing the evening with the family, I went on board
+again, without turning to the right or left to see a single soul more.
+Even the Frasers were not visited, so strong was my dislike to have
+anything to do with Halifax.
+
+The Venus took on board several passengers, among whom were three or four
+officers of the navy. Lieutenant Rapp, and a midshipman Randolph were
+among them, and there were also several merchant-masters of the party. We
+sailed two days after I joined the brig, and had a ten or twelve days'
+passage. The moment the Venus was alongside the wharf, at New York, we all
+left, and found ourselves free men once more. I had been a prisoner
+nineteen months, and that was quite enough for me for the remainder of
+my life.
+
+We United States' men reported ourselves, the next day to Captain Evans,
+the commandment of the Brooklyn Yard, and, after giving in our names, we
+were advised to go on board the Epervier, which was then fitting out for
+the Mediterranean, under the command of Captain Downes. To this we
+objected, however, as we wanted a cruise ashore, before we took to the
+water again. This was a lucky decision of ours, though scarcely to be
+defended as to our views: the Epervier being lost, and all hands
+perishing, a few months later, on her return passage from the Straits.
+
+Captain Evans then directed us to report ourselves daily, which we did.
+But the press of business at Washington prevented our cases from being
+attended to; and being destitute of money, while wages were high, we
+determined, with Captain Evans' approbation, to make a voyage, each, in
+the merchant service, and to get our accounts settled on our return. Jack
+Mallet, Barnet and I, shipped, therefore, in another brig called the
+Venus, that was bound on a sealing voyage, as was thought, in some part of
+the world where seals were said to be plenty. We were ignorant of the
+work, or we might have discovered there was a deception intended, from the
+outfit of the vessel. She had no salt even, while she had plenty of
+cross-cut saws, iron dogs, chains, &c. The brig sailed, however, and stood
+across the Atlantic, as if in good earnest. When near the Cape de Verds,
+the captain called us aft, and told us he thought the season too far
+advanced for sealing, and that, if we would consent, he would run down to
+St. Domingo, and make an arrangement with some one there to cut mahogany
+on shares, with fustick and lignum-vitæ. The secret was now out; but what
+could we poor salts do? The work we were asked to do turned out to be
+extremely laborious; and I suppose we had been deceived on account of the
+difficulty of getting men, just at that time, for such a voyage. There we
+were, in the midst of the ocean, and we agreed to the proposal, pretty
+much as a matter of course.
+
+The brig now bore up, and stood for St. Domingo. She first went in to the
+city of St. Domingo, where the arrangements were made, and Spaniards were
+got to help to cut the wood, when we sailed for a bay, of which I have
+forgotten the name, and anchored near the shore. The trees were sawed
+down, about ten miles up a river, and floated to its bar, across which
+they had to be hauled by studding-sail halyards, through the surf; one man
+hauling two logs at a time, made into a sort of raft. Sharks abounded, and
+we had to keep a bright look-out, lest they got a leg while we were busy
+with the logs. I had a narrow escape from two while we lay at St. Domingo.
+A man fell overboard, and I went after him, succeeding in catching the
+poor fellow. A boat was dropped astern to pick us up, and, as we hauled
+the man in, two large sharks came up close alongside. This affair had set
+us drinking, and I got a good deal of punch aboard. The idea of remaining
+in the brig was unpleasant to me, and I had thought of quitting her for
+some days. A small schooner bound to America, and short of hands, lay near
+us; and I had told the captain I would come and join him that night. Jack
+Mallet and the rest tried to persuade me not to go, but I had too much
+punch and grog in me to listen to reason. When all hands aft were asleep,
+therefore, I let myself down into the water, and swam quite a
+cable's-length to the schooner. One of the men was looking out for me. He
+heard me in the water, and stood ready to receive me. As I drew near the
+schooner, this man threw me a rope, and helped me up the side, but, as
+soon as I was on the deck, he told me to look behind me. I did so, and
+there I saw an enormous shark swimming about, a fellow that was sixteen or
+eighteen feet long. This shark, I was told, had kept company with me as
+long as I had been in sight from the schooner. I cannot well describe the
+effect that was produced on me by this discovery. When I entered the
+water, I was under the influence of liquor, but this escape sobered me in
+a minute; so much so, indeed, that I insisted on being put in a boat, and
+sent back to the brig, which was done. I was a little influenced in this,
+however, by some reluctance that was manifested to keep me on board the
+schooner. I got on board the Venus without being discovered, and came to a
+resolution to stick by the craft until the voyage was up.
+
+We filled up with mahogany, and took in a heavy deck-load, in the course
+of four months, which was a most laborious process. When ready, the brig
+sailed for New York, We encountered a heavy gale, about a week out, which
+swept away our deck-load, bulwarks, &c. At this time, the master,
+supercargo, mate, cook, and three of the crew, were down with the fever;
+leaving Mallet, Barnet and myself, to take care of the brig. We three
+brought the vessel up as far as Barnegat, where we procured assistance,
+and she arrived safe at the quarantine ground.
+
+As soon as we got pratique, Mallet, Barnet and myself, went up to town to
+look after our affairs, leaving the brig below. The owners gave us thirty
+dollars each, to begin upon. We ascertained that our landlord had received
+our wages from government, and held it ready for us, sailor fashion. I
+also sold my share in the Venus' voyage for one hundred and twenty
+dollars. This gave me, in all, about five hundred dollars, which money
+lasted me between five and six weeks! How true is it, that "sailors make
+their money like horses, and spend it like asses!" I cannot say this
+prodigal waste of my means afforded me any substantial gratification. I
+have experienced more real pleasure from one day passed in a way of which
+my conscience could approve, than from all the loose and thoughtless
+follies, in which I was then in the habit of indulging when ashore, of a
+whole life. The manner in which this hard-earned gold was thrown away, may
+serve to warn some brother tar of the dangers that beset me; and let the
+reader understand the real wants of so large a body of his
+fellow-creatures.
+
+On turning out in the morning, I felt an approach to that which seamen
+call the "horrors," and continued in this state, until I had swallowed
+several glasses of rum. I had no appetite for breakfast, and life was
+sustained principally by drink. Half of the time I ate no dinner, and when
+I did, it was almost drowned in grog. Occasionally I drove out in a coach,
+or a gig, and generally had something extra to pay for damages. One of
+these cruises cost me forty dollars, and I shall always think I was given
+a horse that sailed crab-fashion, on purpose to do me out of the money. At
+night, I generally went to the play, and felt bound to treat the landlord
+and his family to tickets and refreshments. We always had a coach to go
+in, and it was a reasonable night that cost me only ten dollars. At first
+I was a sort of "king among beggars;" but as the money went, Ned's
+importance went with it, until, one day, the virtuous landlord intimated
+to me that it would be well, as I happened to be sober, to overhaul our
+accounts. He then began to read from his books, ten dollars for this,
+twenty dollars for that, and thirty for the other, until I was soon tired,
+and wanted to know how much was left. I had still fifty dollars, even
+according to his account of the matter; and as that might last a week,
+with good management, I wanted to hear no more about the items.
+
+All this time, I was separated from my old shipmates, being left
+comparatively among strangers. Jack Mallet had gone to join his friends in
+Philadelphia, and Barnet went south, whither I cannot say. I never fell in
+with either of them again, it being the fate of seamen to encounter the
+greatest risks and hardships in company, and then to cut adrift from each
+other, with little ceremony, never to meet again. I was still young, being
+scarcely two-and-twenty, and might, even then, have hauled in my oars, and
+come to be an officer and a man.
+
+As I knew I must go to sea, as soon as the accounts were balanced, I began
+to think a little seriously of my prospects. Dissipation had wearied me,
+and I wanted to go a voyage of a length that would prevent my falling soon
+into the same course of folly and vice. I had often bitter thoughts as to
+my conduct, nor was I entirely free from reflection on the subject of my
+peculiar situation. I might be said to be without a friend, or relative,
+in the world. "When my hat was on, my house was thatched." Of my father, I
+knew nothing; I have since ascertained he must then have been dead. My
+sister was little to me, and I never expected to see her again. The
+separation from all my old lakers, too, gave me some trouble, for I never
+met with one of them after parting from Barnet and Mallet, with the
+exception of Tom Goldsmith and Jack Reilly. Tom and I fell in with each
+other, on my return from St. Domingo, in the streets of New York, and had
+a yarn of two hours, about old times. This was all I ever saw of Tom. He
+had suffered a good deal with the English, who kept him in Kingston, Upper
+Canada, until the peace, when they let him go with the rest. As for
+Reilly, we have been in harbour together, in our old age, and I may speak
+of him again.
+
+Under the feelings I have mentioned, as soon as the looks of my landlord
+let me know that there were no more shot in the locker, I shipped in a
+South Sea whaler, named the Edward, that was expected to be absent
+between two and three years. She was a small vessel, and carried only
+three boats. I got a pretty good outfit from my landlord, though most of
+the articles were second-hand. We parted good friends, however, and I came
+back to him, and played the same silly game more than once. He was not a
+bad _landlord_, as landlords then went, and I make no doubt he took better
+care of my money than I should have done myself. On the whole, this class
+of men are not as bad as they seem, though there are precious rascals
+among them. The respectable sailor landlord is quite as good, in his way,
+as one could expect, all things considered.
+
+The voyage I made in the Edward was one of very little interest, the ship
+being exceedingly successful. The usage and living were good, and the
+whaling must have been good too, or we never should have been back again,
+as soon as we were. We went round the Horn, and took our first whale
+between the coast of South America and that of New Holland. I must have
+been present at the striking of thirty fish, but never met with any
+accident. I pulled a mid-ship oar, being a new hand at the business, and
+had little else to do, but keep clear of the line, and look out for my
+paddle. The voyage is now so common, and the mode of taking whales is so
+well known, that I shall say little about either. We went off the coast of
+Japan, as it is called, though a long bit from the land, and we made New
+Holland, though without touching. The return passage was by the Cape of
+Good Hope and St. Helena. We let go our anchor but once the whole voyage,
+and that was at Puna, at the mouth of the Guayaquil river, on the coast of
+Chili. We lay there a week, but, with this exception, the Edward was
+actually under her canvass the whole voyage, or eighteen months. We did
+intend to anchor at St. Helena, but were forbidden on account of
+Bonaparte, who was then a prisoner on the Island. As we stood in, we were
+met by a man-of-war brig, that kept close to us until we had sunk the
+heights, on our passage off again. We were not permitted even to send a
+boat in, for fresh grub.
+
+I sold my voyage in the Edward for two hundred and fifty dollars, and went
+back to my landlord, in Water street. Of course, everybody was glad to see
+me, a sailor's importance in such places being estimated by the length of
+his voyage. In Wall street they used to call a man "a hundred thousand
+dollar man," and in Water, "an eighteen months, or a two years' voyage
+man." As none but whalers, Indiamen, and Statesmen could hold out so long,
+we were all A. No. 1, for a fortnight or three weeks. The man-of-war's-man
+is generally most esteemed, his cruise lasting three years; the _lucky_
+whaler comes next, and the Canton-man third. The Edward had been a lucky
+ship, and, insomuch, I had been a lucky fellow. I behaved far better this
+time, however, than I had done on my return from St. Domingo. I kept sober
+more, did not spend my money as foolishly or as fast, and did not wait to
+be kicked out of doors, before I thought of getting some more. When I
+shipped anew, I actually left a hundred dollars behind me in my landlord's
+hands; a very extraordinary thing for Jack, and what is equally worthy of
+notice, I got it all again, on my next return from sea.
+
+My steadiness was owing, in a great measure, to the following
+circumstances. I fell in with two old acquaintances, who had been in
+prison with me, of the names of Tibbets and Wilson. This Tibbets was not
+the man who had been sent to Bermuda with me, but another of the same
+name. These men had belonged to the Gov. Tompkins privateer, and had
+received a considerable sum in prize-money, on returning home. They had
+used their money discreetly, having purchased an English prize-brig, at a
+low price, and fitted her out. On board the Tompkins, both had been
+foremost hands, and in prison they had messed in our bay, so that we had
+been hail-fellows-well-met; on Melville Island. After getting this brig
+ready, they had been to the West Indies in her, and were now about to sail
+for Ireland. They wished me to go with them, and gave me so much good
+advice, on the subject of taking care of my money, that it produced the
+effect I have just mentioned.
+
+The name of the prize-brig was the Susan, though I forget from what small
+eastern port she hailed. She was of about two hundred tons burthen, but
+must have-been old and rotten. Tibbets was master, and Wilson was
+chief-mate. I shipped as a sort of second-mate, keeping a watch, though I
+lived forward at my own request. We must have sailed about January, 1818,
+bound to Belfast. There were fourteen of us, altogether, on board, most of
+us down-easters. Our run off the coast was with a strong north-west gale,
+which compelled us to heave-to, the sea being too high for scudding.
+Finding that the vessel laboured very much, however, and leaked badly, we
+kept off again, and scudded for the rest of the blow. On the whole, we got
+out of this difficulty pretty well. We got but two observations the whole
+passage, but in the afternoon of the twenty-third day out, we made the
+coast of Ireland, close aboard, in thick weather; the wind directly on
+shore, blowing a gale. The brig was under close-reefed topsails, running
+free, at the time, and we found it necessary to haul up. We now discovered
+the defects of old canvass and old rigging, splitting the fore-topsail,
+foresail, and fore-topmast-staysail, besides carrying away sheets, &c. We
+succeeded in hauling up the foresail, however, and I went upon the yard
+and mended it, after a fashion. It was now nearly night, and it blew in a
+way "to need two men to hold one man's hair on his head." I cannot say I
+thought much of our situation, my principal concern being to get below,
+with some warm, dry clothes on. We saw nothing of the land after the first
+half-hour, but at midnight we wore ship, and came up on the larboard tack.
+The brig had hardly got round before the fore-tack went, and the foresail
+split into ribands. We let the sail blow from the yard. By this time,
+things began to look very serious, though, for some reason, I felt no
+great alarm. The case was different with Tibbets and Wilson, who were
+uneasy about Cape Clear. I had had a bit of a spat with them about waring,
+believing, myself, that we should have gone clear of the Cape, on the
+starboard tack. This prevented them saying much to me, and we had little
+communication with each other that night. To own the truth, I was sorry I
+had shipped in such a craft. Her owners were too poor to give a sea-going
+vessel a proper outfit, and they were too near my own level to
+create respect.
+
+The fore-topsail had been mended as well as the foresail, and was set
+anew. The sheets went, however, about two in the morning, and the sail
+flew from the reef-band like a bit of muslin torn by a shop-boy. The brig
+now had nothing set but a close-reefed main-topsail, and this I expected,
+every minute, would follow the other canvass. It rained, blew
+tremendously, and the sea was making constant breaches over us. Most of
+the men were fagged out, some going below, while others, who remained on
+deck, did, or _could_ do, nothing. At the same time, it was so dark that
+we could not see the length of the vessel.
+
+I now went aft to speak to Tibbets, telling him I thought it was all over
+with us. He had still some hope, as the bay was deep, and he thought light
+might return before we got to the bottom of it. I was of a different
+opinion, believing the brig then to be within the influence of the
+ground-swell, though not absolutely within the breakers. All this time the
+people were quiet, and there was no drinking. Indeed, I hardly saw any one
+moving about. It was an hour after the conversation with Tibbets, that I
+was standing, holding on by the weather-main-clew-garnet, when I got a
+glimpse of breakers directly under our lee. I sung out, "there's breakers,
+and everybody must shift for himself." At the next instant, the brig rose
+on a sea, settled in the trough, and struck. The blow threw me off my
+feet, though I held on to the clew-garnet. Then I heard the crash of the
+foremast as it went down to leeward. The brig rolled over on her
+beam-ends, but righted at the next sea, drove in some distance, and down
+she came again, with a force that threatened to break her up. I bethought
+me of the main-mast, and managed to get forward as far as the bitts, in
+order to be out of its way. It was well I did, as I felt a movement as if
+her upper works were parting from the bottom. I was near no one, and the
+last person I saw, or spoke to on board, was Tibbets, who was then
+standing in the companion-way. This was an hour before the brig struck.
+
+There might have been an interval of half a minute between the time I
+reached the windlass, and that in which I saw a tremendous white foaming
+sea rolling down upon the vessel. At this ominous sight, I instinctively
+seized the bitts for protection. I can remember the rushing of the water
+down upon me, and have some faint impressions of passing through a mass of
+rigging, but this is all. When I came to my senses, it was in an Irish
+mud-cabin, with an old woman and her daughter taking care of me. My head
+was bandaged, and most of the hair had been cut off in front I was stiff
+and sore all over me. Fortunately, none of my bones were broken.
+
+The account given me of what had passed, was this. I was found by the old
+man, who lived in the hut, a fisherman and the husband of my nurse, with
+some other persons, lying on my face, between two shelves of rock. There
+was nothing very near me, not even a bit of wood, or a rope. Two lads that
+belonged to the brig were found not far from me, both alive, though both
+badly hurt, one of them having had his thigh broken. Of the rest of the
+fourteen souls on board the Susan, there were no traces. I never heard
+that even their bodies were found. Tibbets and Wilson had gone with their
+old prize, and anything but a prize did she prove to me. I lost a good
+outfit, and, after belonging to her about three weeks, here was I left
+naked on the shores of Ireland, I am sorry to say, my feelings were those
+of repining, rather than of gratitude. Of religion I had hardly a notion,
+and I am afraid that all which had been driven into me in childhood, was
+already lost. In this state of mind, I naturally felt more of the
+hardships I had endured, than of the mercy that had been shown me. I look
+back with shame at the hardness of heart which rendered me insensible to
+the many mercies I had received, in escaping so often from the perils of
+my calling.
+
+It was three days after the wreck, before I left my bed. Nothing could
+have been kinder than the treatment I received from those poor Irish
+people. Certainly no reward was before them, but that which Heaven gives
+the merciful; and yet I could not have been more cared for, had I been
+their own son. They fed me, nursed me, and warmed me, without receiving
+any other return from me than my thanks. I staid with them three weeks,
+doing nothing on account of the bruises I had received. The Susan's had
+been a thorough wreck. Not enough of her could be found, of which to build
+a launch. Her cargo was as effectually destroyed as her hull, and, to say
+the truth, it took but little to break her up. As for the two lads, I
+could not get as far as the cabin in which they had been put. It was two
+or three miles along the coast, and, having no shoes, I could not walk
+that distance over the sharp stones. Several messages passed between us,
+but I never saw a single soul that belonged to the brig, after the last
+look I had of Tibbets in the companion-way.
+
+A coaster passing near the cabin, and it falling calm, the fisherman went
+off to her, told my story, and got a passage for me to Liverpool. I now
+took my leave of these honest people, giving them all I had--my sincere
+thanks--and went on board the sloop. Here I was well treated, nor did any
+one expect me to work. We reached Liverpool the second day, and I went and
+hunted up Molly Hutson, the landlady with whom the crew of the Sterling
+had lodged, when Captain B---- had her. The old woman helped me to some
+clothes, received me well, and seemed sorry for my misfortunes. As it
+would not do to remain idle, however, I shipped on board the Robert Burns,
+and sailed for New York within the week. I got no wages, but met with
+excellent treatment, and had a very short winter passage. In less than
+three months after I left him, I was back again with my old landlord, who
+gave me my hundred dollars without any difficulty. I had sailed with him
+in the Sterling, and he always seemed to think of me a little differently
+from what landlords generally think of Jack.
+
+A good deal was said among my associates, now, about the advantages of
+making a voyage to the coast of Ireland for the purpose of smuggling
+tobacco, and I determined to try my hand at one. Of the morality of
+smuggling I have nothing to say. I would not make such a voyage now, if I
+know myself; but poor sailors are not taught to make just distinctions in
+such things, and the merchants must take their share of the shame. I fear
+there are few merchants, and fewer seamen, man-of-war officers excepted,
+who will not smuggle.[13]
+
+I laid out most of my hundred dollars, in getting a new outfit, and then
+shipped in a small pilot-boat-built schooner, called the M'Donough, bound
+to Ireland, to supply such honest fellows as my old fisherman with good
+tobacco, cheap. Our cargo was in small bales, being the raw material,
+intended to be passed by hand. We had seventeen hands before the mast, but
+carried no armament, pistols, &c., excepted. The schooner sailed like a
+witch, carrying only two gaff-topsails. We made the land in fourteen days
+after we left the Hook, our port being Tory Island, off the north-west
+coast of Ireland. We arrived in the day-time, and showed a signal, which
+was answered in the course of the day, by a smoke on some rocks. A large
+boat then came off to us, and we filled her with tobacco the same evening.
+In the course of the night, we had despatched four or five more boats,
+loaded with the same cargo; but, as day approached, we hauled our wind,
+and stood off the land. Next night we went in, again, and met more boats,
+and the succeeding morning we hauled off, as before. When we saw a boat,
+we hailed and asked "if they were outward bound." If the answer was
+satisfactory, we brailed the foresail and permitted the boat to come
+alongside. In this manner we continued shoving cargo ashore, for quite a
+week, sometimes falling in with only one boat of a night, and, at others,
+with three or four; just as it might happen. We had got about two-thirds
+of the tobacco out, and a boat had just left us, on the morning of the
+sixth or seventh day, when we saw a man-of-war brig coming round Tory
+Island, in chase. At this sight, we hauled up close on a wind, it blowing
+very fresh. As the English never employed any but the fastest cruisers for
+this station, we had a scratching time of it. The brig sailed very fast,
+and out-carried us; but our little schooner held on well. For two days and
+one night we had it, tack and tack, with her. The brig certainly gained on
+us, our craft carrying a balanced reefed-mainsail, bonnet off the foresail
+and one reef in, and bonnet off the jib. The flying-jib was inboard. At
+sunset, on the second night, the brig was so near us, we could see her
+people, and it was blowing fresher than ever. This was just her play,
+while ours was in more moderate weather. Our skipper got uneasy, now, and
+determined to try a trick. It set in dark and rainy; and, as soon as we
+lost sight of the brig, we tacked, stood on a short distance, lowered
+everything, and extinguished all our lights. We lay in this situation
+three hours, when we stuck the craft down again for Tory Island, as
+straight as we could go. I never knew what became of the brig, which may
+be chasing us yet, for aught I know for I saw no more of her. Next day we
+had the signal flying again, and the smoke came up from the same rock, as
+before. It took us three days longer to get all the tobacco ashore, in
+consequence of some trouble on the island; but it all went in the end, and
+went clear, as I was told, one or two boat-loads excepted. The cargo was
+no sooner out, than we made sail for New York, where we arrived in another
+short passage. We were absent but little more than two months, and my
+wages and presents came to near one hundred dollars. I never tried the
+tobacco trade again.
+
+
+
+Chapter XI.
+
+
+
+I now stayed ashore two months. I had determined to study navigation, and
+to try to get off the forecastle, in which wise course I was encouraged by
+several discreet friends. I had fallen in with a young woman of
+respectable character and agreeable person, and, to own the truth, was
+completely in irons with her. I believe a mother is a good deal more on
+the look-out than a father, in such matters; for I was overhauled by the
+old woman, and questioned as to my intentions about Sarah, whereas the old
+man was somewhat more moderate. I confessed my wish to marry her daughter;
+but the old woman thought I was too wild, which was not Sarah's opinion, I
+believe. Had we been left to ourselves, we should have got married; though
+I was really desirous of going out once as an officer, before I took so
+important a step. I have sometimes suspected that Sarah's parents had a
+hand in getting me shipped, again, as they were intimate with the captain
+who now proposed to take me with him as his second-mate. I consented to
+go, with some reluctance; but, on the whole, thought it was the best thing
+I could do. My reluctance proceeded from desire to remain with Sarah,
+when the time came; though the berth was exactly the thing I wanted,
+whenever I reasoned coolly on the subject.
+
+I shipped, accordingly, in a vessel of the Costers', called the William
+and Jane, bound to Holland and Canton, as her second-mate. My leave-taking
+with Sarah was very tender; and I believe we both felt much grieved at the
+necessity of parting. Nothing occurred on the passage out worth
+mentioning. I got along with my duty well enough, for I had been broken-in
+on, board the Sterling, and one or two other vessels. We went to the
+Texel, but found some difficulty in procuring dollars, which caused us to
+return to New York, after getting only twenty thousand. We had no other
+return cargo, with the exception of a little gin. We were absent five
+months; and I found Sarah as pretty, and as true, as ever. I did not quit
+the vessel, however; but, finding my knowledge of the lunars too limited,
+I was obliged to go backward a little--becoming third-mate. We were a
+month in New York, and it was pretty hard work to keep from eloping with
+Sarah; but I clawed off the breakers as well as I could. I gave her a
+silver thimble, and told her to take it to a smith, and get our joint
+names cut on it, which she did. The consequences of this act will be seen
+in the end.
+
+We had a little breeze on board the ship before we could get off; the
+people refusing to sail with a new first-mate that had joined her. It
+ended by getting another mate, when we went to sea. I believe that no
+other vessel ever went out with such articles as our crew insisted on. The
+men stipulated for three quarts of water a day, and the forenoon's watch
+below. All this was put in black and white, and it gave us some trouble
+before we got to our destination.
+
+Our passage out was a very long one, lasting two hundred and ten days.
+When we got into the trades, we stripped one mast after the other, to a
+girt-line, overhauling everything, and actually getting new gangs of
+rigging up over the lower-mast-heads. We were a long time about it, but
+lost little or nothing in distance, as the ship was going before the wind
+the whole time, with everything packed on the masts that were rigged.
+Before overhauling the rigging, we fell in with an English ship, called
+the General Blucher, and kept company with her for quite a fortnight.
+While the two ships were together, we were chased by a strange brig, that
+kept in sight three or four days, evidently watching us, and both vessels
+suspected him of being a pirate. As we had six guns, and thirty-one souls,
+and the Blucher was, at least, as strong, the two captains thought, by
+standing by each other, they might beat the fellow off, should he attack
+us. The brig frequently came near enough to get a good look at us, and
+then dropped astern. He continued this game several days, until he
+suddenly hauled his wind, and left us. Our ship would have been a famous
+prize; having, it was said, no less than two hundred and fifty thousand
+Spanish dollars on board.
+
+We parted company with the Blucher, in a heavy gale; our ship bearing up
+for Rio. After getting rid of some of our ballast, however, and changing
+the cargo of pig-lead, our vessel was easier, and did not go in. Nothing
+further occurred, worth mentioning, until we got off Van Diemen's Land.
+Two days after seeing the land, a boy fell from the fore-top-gallant yard,
+while reeving the studding-sail halyards. I had just turned in, after
+eating my dinner, having the watch below, when I heard the cry of "a man
+overboard!" Running on deck, as I was, I jumped into a quarter-boat,
+followed by four men, and we were immediately lowered down. The ship was
+rounded-to, and I heard the poor fellow calling out to me by name, to save
+him. I saw him, astern, very plainly, while on the ship's quarter; but
+lost sight of him, as soon as the boat was in the water. The sky-light-hood
+had been thrown overboard, and was floating in the ship's wake. We steered
+for that; but could neither see nor hear anything more of the poor fellow.
+We got his hat, and we picked up the hood of the sky-light, but could not
+find the boy. He had, unquestionably, gone down before we reached the spot
+where he had been floating, as his hat must have pointed out the place. We
+got the hat first; and then, seeing nothing of the lad, we pulled back to
+take in the hood; which was quite large. While employed in taking it in, a
+squall passed over the boat; which nearly blew it away from us. Being very
+busy in securing the hood, no one had leisure to look about; but the duty
+was no sooner done, than one of the men called out, that he could not see
+the ship! Sure enough, the William and Jane had disappeared! and there we
+were, left in the middle of the ocean, in a six-oared pinnace, without a
+morsel of food, and I myself, without hat, shoes, jacket or trowsers. In a
+word, I had nothing on me but my drawers and a flannel shirt. Fortunately,
+the captain kept a breaker of fresh water in each boat, and we had a small
+supply of this great requisite;--enough, perhaps, to last five men two or
+three days.
+
+All our boats had sails; but those of the pinnace had been spread on the
+quarter-deck, to dry; and we had nothing but the ash to depend on. At
+first, we pulled to leeward; but the weather was so thick, we could not
+see a cable's-length; and our search for the vessel, in that direction,
+proved useless. At the end of an hour or two, we ceased rowing, and held a
+consultation. I proposed to pull in the direction of the land; which was
+pulling to windward. If the ship should search for us, it would certainly
+be in that quarter; and if we should miss her, altogether, our only chance
+was in reaching the shore. There, we might find something to eat; of which
+there was little hope, out on the ocean. The men did not relish the idea
+of quitting the spot; but, after some talk, they came into my plan.
+
+It remained thick weather all that afternoon, night, and succeeding day,
+until about noon. We were without a compass, and steered by the direction
+of the wind and sea. Occasionally it lightened up a little, so as to show
+us a star or two, or during the day to permit us to see a few miles around
+the boat; but we got no glimpse of the ship. It blew so heavily that we
+made no great progress, in my judgment doing very little more than keeping
+the boat head to sea. Could we have pulled four oars, this might not have
+been the case, but we took it watch and watch, two men pulling, while two
+tried to get a little rest, under the shelter of the hood. I steered as
+long as I could, but was compelled to row part of the time to keep myself
+warm. In this manner were passed about six-and-twenty of the most
+unpleasant hours of my life, when some of us thought they heard the report
+of a distant gun. I did not believe it; but, after listening attentively
+some ten or fifteen minutes, another report was heard, beyond all dispute,
+dead to leeward of us!
+
+This signal produced a wonderful effect on us all. The four oars were
+manned, and away we went before the wind and sea, as fast as we could
+pull, I steering for the reports as they came heavily up to windward at
+intervals of about a quarter of an hour. Three or four of these guns were
+heard, each report sounding nearer than the other, to our great joy, until
+I got a glimpse of the ship, about two miles distant from us. She was on
+the starboard tack, close hauled, a proof she was in search of us, with
+top-gallant-sails set over single-reefed topsails. She was drawing ahead
+of us fast, however, and had we not seen her as we did, we should have
+crossed her wake, and been lost without a hope, by running to leeward. We
+altered our course the instant she was seen; but what could a boat do in
+such a sea, pulling after a fast ship under such canvass? Perhaps we felt
+more keen anxiety, after we saw the ship, than we did before, since we
+beheld all the risk we ran. Never shall I forget the sensations with which
+I saw her start her main-tack and haul up the sail! The foresail and
+top-gallant-sail followed, and then the main-yard came round, and laid the
+topsail aback! Everything seemed to fly on board her, and we knew we were
+safe. In a few minutes we were alongside. The boat was at the davits, the
+helm was up, and the old barky squared away for China.
+
+We in the boat were all pretty well fagged out with hunger, toil, and
+exposure. I was the worst off, having so little clothing in cool weather,
+and I think another day would have destroyed us all, unless we had taken
+refuge in the well-known dreadful alternative of seamen. The captain was
+delighted to see us, as indeed were all hands. They had determined to turn
+to windward, on short tacks, until they made the land, the best thing that
+could have been done, and the course that actually saved us.
+
+When we got into the latitude of Port Jackson, the crew was put on two
+quarts of water a man, three quarts having been stipulated for in the
+articles. This produced a mutiny, the men refusing duty. This was awkward
+enough, in that distant sea. The captain took advantage of the men's going
+below, however, to secure the scuttle and keep them there. He then
+mustered us, who lived aft, six men and three boys, and laid the question
+before us, _whether we would take the ship into Canton_, or go into Port
+Jackson, and get some water. He admitted we were about seventy-five days
+run from Cauton, but he himself leaned to the plan of continuing on our
+course. We saw all the difficulties before us, and told him of them.
+
+There were twenty men below, and to carry them eight or ten thousand miles
+in that situation, would have been troublesome, to say the least, and
+might have caused the death of some among them. We were armed, and had no
+apprehensions of the people, but we did not like to work a ship of five
+hundred tons with so few hands, one-third of whom were boys, so great a
+distance. The crew, moreover, had a good deal of right on their side, the
+articles stipulating that they should have the water, and this water was
+to be had a short distance to windward.
+
+The captain yielded to our reasoning, and we beat up to Port Jackson,
+where we arrived in three or four days. The people were then sent to
+prison, as mutineers, and we watered the ship. We were in port a
+fortnight, thus occupied. All this time the men were in gaol. No men were
+to be had, and then arose the question about trusting the old crew. There
+was no choice, and, the ship being ready to sail, we received the people
+on board again, and turned them all to duty. We had no further trouble
+with them, however, the fellows behaving perfectly well, as men commonly
+will, who have been once put down. No mutiny is dangerous when the
+officers are apprized of its existence, and are fairly ready to meet it.
+The king's name is a tower of strength.
+
+We arrived at Canton in due time, and found our cargo ready for us. We
+took it in, and sailed again, for the Texel, in three weeks. Our passage
+to Europe was two hundred and eleven days, but we met with no accident. At
+the Texel I found two letters from New York, one being from Sarah, and the
+other from a female friend. Sarah was married to the very silversmith who
+had engraven our names on the thimble! This man saw her for the first
+time, when she carried that miserable thimble to him, fell in love with
+her, and, being in good circumstances, her friends prevailed on her to
+have him. Her letter to me admitted her error, and confessed her
+unhappiness; but there was no remedy. I did not like the idea of returning
+to New York, under the circumstances, and resolved to quit the ship. I
+got my discharge, therefore, from the William and Jane, and left her,
+never seeing the vessel afterwards.
+
+There was a small Baltimore ship, called the Wabash, at the Texel, getting
+ready for Canton, and I entered on board her, as a foremast Jack, again.
+My plan was to quit her in China, and to remain beyond the Capes for ever.
+The disappointment in my matrimonial plans had soured me, and I wanted to
+get as far from America as I could. This was the turning point of my life,
+and was to settle my position in my calling. I was now twenty-seven, and
+when a man gets stern-way on him, at that age, he must sail a good craft
+ever to work his way into his proper berth again.
+
+The Wabash had a good passage out, without any unusual occurrence. On her
+arrival at Canton, I told the captain my views, and he allowed me to go. I
+was now adrift in the Imperial Empire, with a couple of hundred dollars in
+my pocket, and a chest full of good clothes. So far all was well, and I
+began to look about me for a berth. We had found an English country ship
+lying at Whampao, smuggling opium, and I got on board of her, as
+third-mate, a few days after I quitted the Wabash. This was the first and
+only time I ever sailed under the English flag, for I do not call my other
+passages in English vessels, sailing _under_ the flag, though it was
+waving over my head. My new ship was the Hope, of Calcutta, commanded by
+Captain Kid, or Kyd, I forget which. The vessel was built of teak, and had
+been a frigate in the Portuguese service. She was so old no one knew
+exactly when she was built, but sailed like a witch. Her crew consisted
+principally of Lascars, with a few Europeans and negroes, as is usual in
+those craft. My wages did not amount to much in dollars, but everything
+was so cheap, they counted up in the long run. I had perquisites, too,
+which amounted to something handsome. They kept a very good table.
+
+The Hope had a good deal of opium, when I joined her, and it was all to be
+smuggled before we sailed. As this trade has made a great deal of noise,
+latterly, I will relate the manner in which we disposed of the drug. Of
+the morality of this species of commerce, I have no more to say in its
+defence, than I had of the tobacco voyage, unless it be to aver that were
+I compelled, now, to embark in one of the two, it should be to give the
+countrymen of my honest fisherman cheap tobacco, in preference to making
+the Chinese drunk on opium.
+
+Our opium was packed in wooden boxes of forty cylinders, weighing about
+ten pounds each cylinder. Of course each box weighed about four hundred
+pounds. The main cargo was cotton, and salt-petre, and ebony; but there
+were four hundred boxes of this opium.
+
+The sales of the article were made by the captain, up at the factory. They
+seldom exceeded six or eight boxes at a time, and were oftener two or
+three. The purchaser then brought, or sent, an order on board the ship,
+for the delivery of the opium. He also provided bags. The custom-house
+officers did not remain in the ship, as in other countries, but were on
+board a large armed boat, hanging astern. These crafts are called Hoppoo
+boats. This arrangement left us tolerably free to do as we pleased, on
+board. If an officer happened to come on board, however, we had early
+notice of it, of course. As third-mate, it was my duty to see the boxes
+taken out of the hold, and the opium delivered. The box was opened, and
+the cylinders counted off, and stowed in the bags, which were of sizes
+convenient to handle. All this was done on the gun-deck, the purchaser
+receiving possession of his opium, on board us. It was his loss, if
+anything failed afterwards.
+
+As soon as the buyer had his opium in the bags, he placed the latter near
+two or three open ports, amidships, and hung out a signal to the shore.
+This signal was soon answered, and then it was look out for the smuggling
+boats! These smuggling boats are long, swift, craft, that have
+double-banked paddles, frequently to the number of sixty men. They are
+armed, and are swift as arrows. When all is ready, they appear suddenly on
+the water, and dash alongside of the vessel for which they are bound, and
+find the labourers of the purchaser standing at the ports, with the bags
+of cylinders ready. These bags are thrown into the boat, the purchaser and
+his men tumble after them, and away she paddles, like a racer. The whole
+operation occupies but a minute or two.
+
+As soon as the Hoppoo boat sees what is going on, it begins to blow
+conches. This gives the alarm, and then follows a chase from an armed
+custom-house boat, of which there are many constantly plying about. It
+always appeared to me that the custom-house people were either afraid of
+the smugglers, or that they were paid for not doing their duty. I never
+saw any fight, or seizure, though I am told such sometimes happen. I
+suppose it is in China, as it is in other parts of the world; that men
+occasionally do their whole duty, but that they oftener do not. If the
+connivance of custom-house officers will justify smuggling in China, it
+will justify smuggling in London, and possibly in New York.
+
+We not only smuggled cargo out, but we smuggled cargo in. The favourite
+prohibited article was a species of metal, that came in plates, like tin,
+or copper, of which we took in large quantities. It was brought to us by
+the smuggling-boats, and thrown on board, very much as the opium was taken
+out, and we stowed it away in the hold. All this was done in the day-time,
+but I never heard of any one's following the article into the ship. Once
+there, it appeared to be considered safe. Then we got sycee silver, which
+was prohibited for exportation. All came on board in the same manner. For
+every box of opium sold, the mate got a china dollar as a perquisite. Of
+course my share on four hundred boxes came to one hundred and thirty-three
+of these dollars, or about one hundred and sixteen of our own. I am
+ashamed to say there was a great deal of cheating all round, each party
+evidently regarding the other as rogues, and, instead of "doing as they
+_would_ be done by," doing as they _thought_ they _were_ done by.
+
+The Hope sailed as soon as the opium was sold, about a month, and had a
+quick passage to Calcutta. I now began to pick up a little Bengalee, and,
+before I left the trade, could work a ship very well in the language. The
+Lascars were more like monkeys than men aloft, though they wanted
+strength. A topsail, that six of our common men would furl, would employ
+twenty of them. This was partly from habit, perhaps, though they actually
+want physical force. They eat little besides rice, and are small in frame.
+We had a curious mode of punishing them, when slack, aloft. Our standing
+rigging was of grass, and wiry enough to cut even hands that were used to
+it. The ratlines were not seized to the forward and after shrouds, by
+means of eyes, as is done in our vessels, but were made fast by a round
+turn, and stopping back the ends. We used to take down all the ratlines,
+and make the darkies go up without them. In doing this, they took the
+rigging between the great and second toe, and walked up, instead of
+shinning it, like Christians. This soon gave them sore toes, and they
+would beg hard to have the ratlines replaced. On the whole, they were
+easily managed, and were respectful and obedient. We had near a hundred of
+these fellows in the Hope, and kept them at work by means of a boatswain
+and four mates, all countrymen of their own. In addition, we had about
+thirty more souls, including the Europeans--Christians, as we were called!
+
+At Calcutta we loaded with cotton, and returned to Canton, having another
+short passage. We had no opium in the ship, this time, it being out of
+season; but we smuggled cargo in, as before. We lay at Whampao a few
+weeks, and returned to Calcutta. By this time the Hope was dying of old
+age, and Captain Kyd began to think, if he did not bury her, she might
+bury him. Her beams actually dropped, as we removed the cotton at Canton,
+though she still remained tight. But it would have been dangerous to
+encounter heavy weather in her.
+
+A new ship, called the Hopping Castle, had been built by Captain Kyd's
+father-in-law, expressly for him. She was a stout large vessel, and
+promised to sail well. The officers wore all transferred to her; but most
+of the old Lascars refused to ship, on account of a quarrel with the
+boatswain. This compelled us to ship a new set of these men, most of whom
+were strangers to us.
+
+By a law of Calcutta, if anything happens to a vessel before she gets to
+sea, the people retain the two months' advance it is customary to give
+them. This rule brought us into difficulty. The Hopping Castle cleared for
+Bombay, with a light cargo. We had dropped down the river, discharged the
+pilot, and made sail on our course, when a fire suddenly broke up out of
+the fore-hatch. A quantity of grass junk, and two or three cables of the
+same material, were in that part of the ship, and they all burnt like
+tinder. I went with the other officers and threw overboard the powder,
+but it was useless to attempt extinguishing the flames. Luckily, there
+were two pilot brigs still near us, and they came alongside and received
+all hands. The Hopping Castle burnt to the water's edge, and we saw her
+wreck go down. This was a short career for so fine a ship, and it gave us
+all great pain; all but the rascals of Lascars. I lost everything I had in
+the world in her, but a few clothes I saved in a small trunk. I had little
+or no money, Calcutta being no place for economy. In a country in which it
+is a distinction to be a white man, and _called_ a Christian, one must
+maintain his dignity by a little extravagance.
+
+Captain Kyd felt satisfied that the Lascars had set his ship on fire, and
+he had us all landed on Tiger Island. Here the serang, or boatswain, took
+the matter in hand, and attempted to find out the facts. I was present at
+the proceeding, and witnessed it all. It was so remarkable as to deserve
+being mentioned. The men were drawn up in rings, of twenty or thirty each,
+and the boatswain stood in the centre. He then put a little white powder
+into each man's hand, and ordered him to spit in it. The idea was that the
+innocent men would spit without any difficulty, while the mouths of the
+guilty would become too dry and husky to allow them to comply. At any
+rate, the serang picked out ten men as guilty, and they were sent to
+Calcutta to be tried. I was told, afterwards, that all these ten men
+admitted their guilt, criminated two more, and that the whole twelve were
+subsequently hanged in chains, near Castle William. Of the legal trial and
+execution I know nothing, unless by report; but the trial by spittle, I
+saw with my own eyes; and it was evident the Lascars looked upon it as a
+very serious matter. I never saw criminals in court betray more
+uneasiness, than these fellows, while the serang was busy with them.
+
+I was now out of employment. Captain Kyd wished me to go on an indigo
+plantation, offering me high wages. I never drank at sea, and had behaved
+in a way to gain his confidence, I believe, so that he urged me a good
+deal to accept his offers. I would not consent, however, being afraid of
+death. There was a Philadelphia ship, called the Benjamin Rush, at
+Calcutta, and I determined to join her. By this time, I felt less on the
+subject of my disappointment, and had a desire to see home, again. I
+shipped, accordingly, in the vessel mentioned, as a foremast hand. We
+sailed soon after, and had a pleasant passage to the Capes of the
+Delaware, which I now entered, again, for the first time since I had done
+so on my return from my original voyage on the Sterling.
+
+As soon as paid off, I proceeded to New York. I was short of cash; and, my
+old landlord being dead, I had to look about me for a new ship. This time,
+I went in a brig, called the Boxer, a clipper, belonging to John Jacob
+Astor, bound to Canton. This proved to be a pleasant and successful
+voyage, so far as the vessel was concerned, at least; the brig being back
+at New York, again, eight months after we sailed. I went in her before
+the mast.
+
+My money was soon gone; and I was obliged to ship again. I now went as
+second-mate, in the Trio; an old English prize-ship, belonging to David
+Dunham. We were bound to Batavia, and sailed in January. After being a
+short time at sea, we found all our water gone, with the exception of one
+cask. The remainder had been lost by the bursting of the hoops, in
+consequence of the water's having frozen. We went on a short allowance;
+and suffered a good deal by the privation. Our supercargo, a young
+gentleman of the name of Croes, came near dying. We went on, however,
+intending to go into one of the Cape de Verdes. We got up our casks, and
+repaired them, in the meanwhile. Off the Island of Fuego, we hove to, and
+found we could get no water. We got a few goats, and a little fruit; but
+were compelled to proceed. Luckily, it came on to rain very hard, and we
+stopped all the scuppers, filling every cask we had, in this easy manner.
+We began about eight at night, and were through before morning. Capital
+water it proved; and it lasted us to Batavia. There, indeed, it would even
+have brought a premium; being so much better than anything to be had in
+that port. It changed; but sweetened itself very soon.
+
+We first went into Batavia, and entered the ship; after which, we sailed
+for a roadstead, called Terragall, to take in rice. The vessel was in
+ballast, and had brought money to make her purchases with. We got our
+cargo off in boats, and sailed for Batavia, to clear; all within a few
+weeks. The second night out, the ship struck, in fair weather, and a
+moderate sea, on a mud-bank; and brought up all standing. We first
+endeavoured to force the vessel over the bank; but this did not succeed;
+and, the tide leaving her, the ship fell over on her bilge; bringing her
+gunwales under water. Luckily, she lay quiet; though a good deal strained.
+The captain now took a boat, and four men, and pulled ashore, to get
+prows, to lighten the vessel. We had but eight men before the mast, and
+six aft. This, of course, left only nine souls on board. That night
+nothing occurred; but, in the morning early, two piratical prows
+approached, and showed a disposition to board us. Mr. Croes was the person
+who saved the ship. He stuck up handspikes, and other objects, about deck;
+putting hats and caps on them, so as to make us appear very strong-handed.
+At the same time, we got a couple of sixes to bear on the prows; and
+succeeded in keeping them at a safe distance. They hovered about until
+sunset, when they left us; pulling ashore. Just as they were quitting us,
+twenty-seven boats hove in sight; and we made a signal to them, which was
+not answered. We set them down as enemies, too; but, as they came nearer,
+we perceived our own boat among them, and felt certain it was the captain.
+
+We discharged everything betwixt decks into the boats, that night, and got
+the ship afloat before morning. We now hove clear of the bank, restowed
+the cargo, and made sail for Batavia. The ship leaked badly, and kept us
+hard at the pumps. As there were no means for repairing the vessel where
+we were, it was resolved to take in extra hands, ship two box-pumps, and
+carry the vessel to the Isle of France, in order to repair her. I did not
+like the prospect of such a passage, and confess I played "old soldier" to
+get rid of it. I contrived to get, on a sick ticket, into the hospital,
+and the ship sailed without me. At the Isle of France, the Trio was
+condemned; her hulk being, in truth, much worse than my own, docked
+though I was.
+
+
+
+Chapter XII.
+
+
+
+As soon as the Trio was off, I got well. Little did I then think of the
+great risk I ran in going ashore; for it was almost certain death for an
+European to land, for any length of time, at that season. Still less did
+I, or _could_ I, anticipate what was to happen to myself, in this very
+hospital, a few years later; or how long I was to be one of its truly
+suffering, and, I hope, repentant inmates. The consul was frank enough to
+tell me that I had been shamming Abraham; and I so far imitated his
+sincerity as distinctly to state, it was quite true. I thought the old
+Trio ought to have been left on the bank, where Providence had placed her;
+but, it being the pleasure of her captain and the supercargo to take her
+bones to the Isle of France for burial, I did not choose to go so far,
+weeping through the pumps, to attend her funeral.
+
+As the consul held my wages, and refused to give me any money, I was
+compelled to get on board some vessel as soon as I could. Batavia was not
+a place for an American constitution, and I was glad to be off. I shipped,
+before the mast, in the Clyde, of Salem, a good little ship, with good
+living and good treatment. We sailed immediately, but not soon enough to
+escape the Batavia fever. Two of the crew died, about a week out, and were
+buried in the Straits of Banca. The day we lost sight of Java Head, it
+came on to blow fresh, and we had to take in the jib, and double-reef the
+topsails. A man of the name of Day went down on the bowsprit shrouds to
+clear the jib-sheets, when the ship made a heavy pitch, and washed him
+away. The second mate and myself got into the boat, and were lowered as
+soon as the ship was rounded-to. There was a very heavy sea on, but we
+succeeded in finding the poor fellow, who was swimming with great apparent
+strength. His face was towards the boat, and, as we came near, I rose, and
+threw the blade of my oar towards him, calling out to him to be of good
+cheer. At this instant, Day seemed to spring nearly his length out of
+water, and immediately sunk. What caused this extraordinary effort, and
+sudden failure, was never known. I have sometimes thought a shark must
+have struck him, though I saw neither blood nor fish. The man was
+hopelessly lost, and we returned to the ship, feeling as seamen always
+feel on such occasions.
+
+A few days later, another man died of the fever. This left but five of us
+in the forecastle, with the ship a long way to the eastward of the Cape of
+Good Hope. Before we got up with the Cape, another foremast hand went
+crazy, and, instead of helping us, became a cause of much trouble for the
+rest of the passage. In the end, he died, mad. We had now only three men
+in a watch, the officers included; and of course, it was trick and trick
+at the helm. Notwithstanding all this, we did very well, having a good
+run, until we got on the coast, which we reached in the month of January.
+A north-wester drove us off, and we had a pretty tough week of it, but
+brought the ship up to the Hook, at the end of that time, and anchored her
+safely in the East River. The Clyde must have been a ship of about three
+hundred tons, and, including every one on board, nine of us sailed her
+from the eastward of the Cape to her port, without any serious difficulty.
+
+I did not stay long ashore, for the money went like smoke, but shipped in
+a brig called the Margaret, bound to Belfast. This vessel struck in the
+Irish channel, but she was backed off with little difficulty, and got safe
+into her port. The return passage was pleasant, and without any accident.
+
+Such a voyage left little to spend, and I was soon on the look-out for a
+fresh berth. I shipped this time as mate, in a brig called the William
+Henry, bound on a smuggling voyage to the coast of Spain. We took in
+tobacco, segars, &c. &c., and the brig dropped down to Staten Island. Here
+I quarrelled with the captain about some cotton wick, and I threw up my
+situation. I knew there were more ships than parish churches, and felt no
+concern about finding a place in one, up at town. The balance of my
+advance was paid back, and I left the smuggling trade, like an honest man.
+I only wish this change of purpose had proceeded from a better motive.
+
+My next windfall was Jack's berth on board a beautiful little schooner
+called the Ida, that was to sail for Curaçoa, in the hope of being
+purchased by the governor of the island or a yacht. I expected to find my
+way to the Spanish main, after the craft was sold. We got out without any
+accident, going into port of a Sunday morning. The same morning, an
+English frigate and a sloop-of-war came in and anchored. That afternoon
+these vessels commenced giving liberty to their men. We were alongside of
+a wharf, and, in the afternoon, our crew took a drift in some public
+gardens in the suburbs of the town. Here an incident occurred that is
+sufficiently singular to be mentioned.
+
+I was by myself in the garden, ruminating on the past, and, I suppose,
+looking melancholy and in the market, when I perceived an English
+man-of-war's-man eyeing me pretty closely. After a while, he came up, and
+fell into discourse with me. Something that fell from him made me distrust
+him from the first, and I acted with great caution. After sounding me for
+some time, he inquired if I had any berth. I told him, no. He then went
+on, little by little, until he got such answers as gave him confidence,
+when he let me into the secret of his real object. He said he belonged to
+the frigate, and had liberty until next morning--that he and four of his
+shipmates who were ashore, had determined to get possession of the pretty
+little Yankee schooner that was lying alongside of the Telegraph, at the
+wharf, and carry her down to Laguayra. All this was to be done that night,
+and he wished me to join the party. By what fell from this man, I made no
+doubt his design was to turn pirate, after he had sold the flour then in
+the Ida. I encouraged him to so on, and we drank together, until he let me
+into his whole plan. The scheme was to come on board the schooner, after
+the crew had turned in, to fasten all hands below, set the foresail and
+jib, and run out with the land-breeze; a thing that was feasible enough,
+considering there is never any watch kept in merchant-vessels that lie
+at wharves.
+
+After a long talk, I consented to join the enterprise, and agreed to be,
+at nine o'clock, on board the Telegraph, a Philadelphia ship, outside of
+which our schooner lay. This vessel had a crew of blacks, and, as most of
+them were then ashore, it was supposed many would not return to her that
+night. My conspirator observed--"the Yankees that belong to the schooner
+are up yonder in the garden, and will be half drunk, so they will all be
+sound asleep, and can give us little trouble." I remember he professed to
+have no intention of hurting any of us, but merely to run away with us,
+and sell the craft from under us. We parted with a clear understanding of
+the manner in which everything was to be done.
+
+I know no other reason why this man chose to select me for his companion
+in such an adventure, than the circumstance that I happened to be alone,
+and perhaps I may have looked a little under the weather. He was no sooner
+gone, however, than I managed to get near my shipmates, and to call them
+out of the garden, one by one. As we went away, I told them all that had
+happened, and we laid our counter-plot. When we reached the Telegraph, it
+was near night, and finding only two of the blacks on board her, we let
+them into the secret, and they joined us, heart and hand. We got something
+to drink, as a matter of course, and tried to pass the time as well as we
+could, until the hour for springing the mine should arrive.
+
+Pretty punctually to the hour, we heard footsteps on the quay, and then a
+gang of men stopped alongside of the ship. We stowed ourselves under the
+bulwarks, and presently the gentlemen came on board, one by one. The
+negroes were too impatient, however, springing out upon their prey a
+little too soon. We secured three of the rascals, but two escaped us, by
+jumping down upon the quay and running. Considering we were all captains,
+this was doing pretty well.
+
+Our three chaps were Englishmen, and I make no doubt belonged to the
+frigate, as stated. As soon as they were fairly pinned, and they
+understood there was no officer among us, they began to beg. They said
+their lives would be forfeited if we gave them up, and they entreated us
+to let them go. We kept them about half an hour, and finally yielded to
+their solicitations, giving them their liberty again. They were very
+thankful for their escape, especially as I told them what had passed
+between myself and the man in the garden. This fellow was one of the two
+that escaped, and had the appearance of a man who might very well become a
+leader among pirates.
+
+The next day the two men-of-war went to sea, and I make no doubt carried
+off the intended pirates in them. As for us seamen, we never told our own
+officers anything about the affair, for I was not quite satisfied with
+myself, after letting the scoundrels go. One scarcely knows what to do in
+such a case, as one does not like to be the means of getting a
+fellow-creature hanged, or of letting a rogue escape. A pirate, of all
+scoundrels, deserves no mercy, and yet Jack does not relish the idea of
+being a sort of Jack Ketch, neither. If the thing were to be done over
+again, I think I should hold on to my prisoners.
+
+We discharged our cargo of flour, and failing in the attempt to sell the
+schooner, we took in dye-wood, and returned to New York. I now made a
+serious attempt to alter my mode of living, and to try to get up a few
+rounds of the great ladder of life. Hitherto, I had felt a singular
+indifference whether I went to sea as an officer, or as a foremast Jack,
+with the exception of the time I had a marriage with Sarah in view. But I
+was now drawing near to thirty, and if anything was to be done, it must be
+done at once. Looking about me, I found a brig called the Hippomenes,
+bound to Gibraltar, and back. I shipped before the mast, but kept a
+reckoning, and did all I could to qualify myself to become an officer. We
+had a winter passage out, but a pleasant one home. Nothing worthy of being
+recorded, however, occurred. I still continued to be tolerably correct,
+and after a short stay on shore, I shipped in the Belle Savage, commanded
+by one of the liberated Halifax prisoners, who had come home in the Swede,
+at the time of my own return. This person agreed to take me as chief mate,
+and I shipped accordingly. The Belle Savage was a regular Curacoa trader,
+and we sailed ten or twelve days after the Hippomenes got in. Our passages
+both ways were pleasant and safe, and I stuck by the craft, endeavouring
+to be less thoughtless and careless about myself. I cannot say, however, I
+had any very serious plans for making provision for old age, my maxim
+being to live as I went along.
+
+Our second passage out to Curacoa, in the Belle Savage, was pleasant, and
+brought about nothing worthy of being mentioned. At Curacoa we took in
+mahogany, and in so doing a particularly large log got away from us, and
+slid, end on, against the side of the vessel. We saw no consequences at
+the time, and went on to fill up, with different articles, principally
+dye-woods, coffee, cocoa, &c. We got some passengers, among whom was a Jew
+merchant, who had a considerable amount of money on board. When ready, we
+sailed, being thirty souls in all, crew and passengers included.
+
+The Belle Savage had cleared the islands, and was standing on her course,
+one day, with a fair wind and a five or six knot breeze, under a
+fore-top-mast studding-sail, everything looking bright and prosperous. The
+brig must have been about a day's run to the southward of Bermuda. It was
+my watch below, but having just breakfasted, I was on deck, and looking
+about me carelessly, I was struck with the appearance of the vessel's
+being deeper than common. I had a little conversation about it, with a man
+in the forechains, who thought the same thing. This man leaned over, in
+order to get a better look, when he called out that he could see that we
+had started a butt! I went over, immediately, and got a look at this
+serious injury. A butt had started, sure enough, just under the chains,
+but so low down as to be quite out of our reach. The plank had started
+quite an inch, and it was loosened as much as two feet, forward and aft.
+We sounded the pumps, as soon as possible, and found the brig was half
+full of water!
+
+All hands were now called to get both the boats afloat, and there was
+certainly no time to be lost. The water rose over the cabin-floor while we
+were doing it. We did not stand to get up tackles, but cut away the rail
+and launched the long-boat by hand. We got the passengers, men, women,
+children, and servants into her, as fast as possible, and followed
+ourselves. Fortunately, there had been a brig in company for some time,
+and she was now less than two leagues ahead of us, outsailing the Belle
+Savage a little. We had hoisted our ensign, union down, as a signal of
+distress, and well knew she must see that our craft had sunk, after it
+happened, if she did not observe our ensign. She perceived the signal,
+however, and could not fail to notice the manner in which the brig was all
+adrift, as soon as we deserted the helm. The strange brig had hauled up
+for us even before we got out the launch. This rendered any supply of food
+or water unnecessary, and we were soon ready to shove off. I was in the
+small boat, with three men. We pulled off a little distance, and lay
+looking at our sinking craft with saddened eyes. Even the gold, that
+precious dust which lures so many souls to eternal perdition, was
+abandoned in the hurry to save the remnants of lives to be passed on
+earth. The Belle Savage settled quite slowly into the ocean, one sail
+disappearing after another, her main-royal being the last thing that went
+out of sight, looking like the lug of a man-of-war's boat on the water. It
+is a solemn thing to see a craft thus swallowed up in the great vortex of
+the ocean.
+
+The brig in sight proved to be the Mary, of New York, from St. Thomas,
+bound home. She received us kindly, and six days later landed us all at no
+great distance from Fulton Market. When my foot touched the wharf, my
+whole estate was under my hat, and my pockets were as empty as a vessel
+with a swept hold. On the wharf, itself, I saw a man who had been
+second-mate of the Tontine, the little ship in which I had sailed when I
+first ran from the Sterling. He was now master of a brig called the
+Mechanic, that was loading near by, for Trinidad de Cuba. He heard my
+story, and shipped me on the spot, at nine dollars a month, as a forward
+hand. I began to think I was born to bad luck, and being almost naked, was
+in nowise particular what became of me. I had not the means of getting a
+mate's outfit, though I might possibly have got credit; but at no period
+of my life did I run in debt. Here, then, my craft got stern-way on her
+again, and I had a long bit of rough water to go over.
+
+The Mechanic sailed four or five days after the Mary arrived, and I
+travelled the old road over again. Nothing happened until we got to the
+southward of Cuba. But my bad luck had thrown me into the West India trade
+at the very moment when piracy was coming to its height in those seas,
+though I never thought on the subject at all. Off the Isle of Pines, one
+morning, we made a schooner and a sloop, in-shore of us, and both bore up
+in chase. We knew them to be pirates, and crowded sail dead before the
+wind to get clear. The captain determined, if necessary, to run down as
+far as Jamaica, where he expected to fall in with some of the English
+cruisers. The schooner sailed very fast, and was for coming up with us,
+but they made the mistake of setting a flying-topsail on board her, and
+from that moment we dropped her. It was thought in our brig, that the
+little craft buried too much, with such a pressure aloft. The chase lasted
+all day, a Sunday, and a part of the night; but the following morning
+nothing was to be seen of either of our pursuers. Our captain, whose name
+was Ray, thought he knew who commanded the schooner, a man who had been
+his enemy, and it was believed the pirates knew our brig, as she was a
+regular trader to Trinidad. This made our captain more ticklish, and was
+the reason he was off so soon.
+
+When we found the coast clear, we hauled up, again, and made our port
+without further molestation. The chase was so common a thing, that little
+was said about the affair. We discharged, took in a new cargo, and sailed
+for home in due time. Care was had in sailing at an early hour, and we
+sent a boat out to look if the coast were clear, before we put to sea. We
+met with no interruption, however, reaching New York in due time.
+
+Captain Ray was desirous I should stick by the brig; but, for some reason
+I cannot explain, I felt averse to returning to Trinidad. I liked the
+vessel well enough, was fond of the captain, and thought little of the
+pirates; and yet I felt an unaccountable reluctance to re-shipping in the
+craft. It was well I had this feeling, for, I have since heard, this very
+schooner got the brig the next passage out, murdered all hands, and burnt
+the vessel, in sight of the port! I set this escape down, as one of the
+many unmerited favours I have received from Providence.
+
+My next berth was that of second-mate on board a new ship, in the
+Charleston trade, called the Franklin. I made the voyage, and, for a
+novelty, did not run in the southern port, which was a rare circumstance
+in that place.
+
+I got but twelve dollars, as dickey, in the Franklin, and left her to get
+twenty, with the same berth, on board a ship called the Foster, commanded
+by the same master as had commanded the Jane, in my former voyage to
+Ireland. The Foster was bound to Belfast, which port we reached without
+any accident. We took in salt, and a few boxes of linens, for Norfolk;
+arrived safe, discharged, and went up the James river to City Point, after
+a cargo of tobacco. Thence we sailed for Rotterdam. The ship brought back
+a quantity of gin to New York, and this gin caused me some trouble. We had
+a tremendous passage home--one of the worst I ever experienced at sea. The
+ship's rudder got loose, and was secured with difficulty. We had to reef
+all three of our top-masts, also, to save the spars; after which we could
+only carry double-reefed topsails. It was in the dead of winter, and the
+winds hung to the westward for a long time. The cook, a surly negro, was
+slack in duty, and refused to make scous for us, though there were plenty
+of potatoes on board. All the people but five were off duty, and it came
+hard on those who kept watch. We determined, at length, to bring the black
+to his senses, and I had him seized to the windlass. Everybody but the
+captain took three clips at him; the fellow being regularly cobbed,
+according to sea usage. This was lawful punishment for a cook.
+
+We got our scous after this, but the negro logged the whole transaction,
+as one may suppose. He was particularly set against me, as I had been
+ringleader in the cobbing. The weather continued bad, the watches were
+much fagged, and the ship gave no grog. At length I could stand it no
+longer, or thought I could not; and I led down betwixt decks, tapped a
+cask of gin, introduced the stem of a clean pipe and took a nip at the
+bowl. All my watch smoked this pipe pretty regularly, first at one cask
+and then at another, until we got into port. The larboard watch did the
+same, and I do think the strong liquor helped us along that time. As bad
+luck would have it, the cook's wood was stowed among the casks, and, one
+morning, just as the last of us had knocked off smoking, we saw the wool
+of this gentleman heaving in sight, through the hatch by which we went
+down. Still, nothing was said until we came to be paid off, when the darky
+came out with his yarn. I owned it all, and insisted we never could have
+brought the ship in, unless we had got the gin. I do believe both captain
+and owner were sorry we had been complained of, but they could not
+overlook the matter. I was mulcted five-and-twenty dollars, and left the
+ship. I know I did wrong, and I know that the owners did what was right;
+but I cannot help thinking, bad as gin is on a long pull, that this did us
+good. I was not driven from the ship; on the contrary, both master and
+Owners wished me to remain; but I felt a little savage, and quitted their
+employment.
+
+That I did not carry a very bad character away with me, is to be proved by
+the fact that I shipped, the same day, on board the Washington, a vessel
+bound to London, and which lay directly alongside of the Foster. I had the
+same berth as that I had just left, with the advantage of getting better
+wages. This voyage carried me to London for the first time since I left it
+in the Sterling. Too many years had elapsed, in the interval, for me to
+find any old acquaintances; and I had grown from a boy to a man. Here I
+got a little insight into the business of carrying passengers, our ship
+bringing more or less, each passage. I stuck by the Washington a year,
+making no less than three voyages in her; the last, as her chief mate.
+Nothing occurred worth mentioning in the four first passages across the
+Atlantic; but the fifth produced a little more variety.
+
+The Washington had proved to be a leaky ship, every passage I made in her.
+We had docked her twice in London, and it had done her good. The first
+week out, on the fifth passage, the ship proved tight, but the weather was
+moderate. It came on to blow heavily, however, when we got to the eastward
+of the Banks; and the vessel, which was scudding under her close-reefed
+main-topsail and foresail, laboured so much, that I became uneasy. I knew
+she was overloaded, and was afraid of the effects of a gale. It was my
+practice to keep one pump ready for sounding the wells, and I never
+neglected this duty in my watch. When the gale was at the height, in my
+forenoon's watch below, I felt so uncomfortable, that I turned out and
+went on deck, in nothing but my trowsers, to sound, although I had sounded
+less than two hours before, and found the water at the sucking-height,
+only. To my surprise, it was now three feet!
+
+This change was so great and so sudden, all of us thought there must be
+some mistake. I carried the rod below, to dry it, and covered the lower
+part with ashes. I could not have been busy in drying the rod more than
+ten or fifteen minutes, when it was lowered again. The water had risen
+several inches in that short period!
+
+All this looked very serious; and I began to think a third raft was to
+founder under me. After a short consultation it was determined to lighten
+the ship. The foresail was hauled up, the men got into the rigging to keep
+clear of the seas, and the vessel was rounded-to. We then knocked away the
+wash-boards in the wake of the two hatches, and began to tumble the
+barrels of turpentine on deck. I never felt so strong in my life, nor did
+so much work in so short a time. During the labour I went below to splice
+the main-brace, and, after putting a second-mate's nip of brandy into my
+glass, filled it, as I supposed, with water, drinking it all down without
+stopping to breathe. It turned out that my water was high-proof gin; yet
+this draught had no more effect on me than if it had been so much cold
+water. In ordinary times, it would have made me roaring drunk.
+
+We tumbled up all the cargo from betwixt decks, landing it on deck, where
+it rolled into the sea of itself, and were about to begin upon the lower
+hold, when the captain called out avast, as the pumps gained fast. Half an
+hour later, they sucked. This was joyful news, indeed, for I had begun to
+think we should be driven to the boats. Among the cargo were some pickled
+calf-skins. In the height of the danger I caught the cook knocking the
+head out of a cask, and stowing some of the skins in a tub. Asking the
+reason why he did this, he told me he wanted to take some of those fine
+skins home with him! It was a pity they should be lost!
+
+As soon as the pumps sucked, the ship was kept away to her course, and she
+proved to be as tight as a bottle. Eight or ten days later, while running
+on our course under studding-sails, we made a large vessel ahead, going
+before the wind like ourselves, but carrying reefed topsails, with
+top-gallant-sails over them, and her ensign whipped. Of course we neared
+her fast, and as we came up with her, saw that she was full of men, and
+that her crew were pumping and bailing. We knew how to pity the poor
+fellows, and running alongside, demanded the news. We were answered first
+with three cheers, after which we heard their story.
+
+The vessel was an English bark, full of soldiers, bound to New Brunswick.
+She had sprung a leak, like ourselves, and was only kept afloat by
+constant pumping and bailing. She had put back for England on account of
+the wind and the distance. Our captain was asked to keep near the
+transport, and we shortened sail accordingly. For three days and nights
+the two vessels ran side by side, within hail; our passengers and officers
+drinking to theirs, and _vice versâ_, at dinner. On the fourth day, the
+weather being fine, the wind fair, and our reckoning making us near the
+channel, we told the Englishman we would run ahead, make the land, and
+heave-to. We stood in so far that the poor fellows owned afterwards they
+thought we had left them. This was not our intention, however, for we no
+sooner made the land than we hauled up, and brought them the joyful news
+of its vicinity. They cheered us again, as we closed with them, and both
+ships jogged on in company.
+
+Next morning, being well in with the land, and many vessels in sight, the
+Englishmen desired us to make sail, as they could carry their bark into
+Falmouth. We did so, and reached London, in due time. On our return to New
+York, the Washington was sold, and I lost my preferment in that
+employment, though I went with a character to another vessel, and got the
+same berth.
+
+
+
+Chapter XIII.
+
+
+
+My next craft was the Camillus, a ship that was bound to Greenock, via
+Charleston. We got to the latter port without accident, and took in a
+cargo of cotton. The ship was all ready for sailing of a Saturday, and the
+captain had gone ashore, telling me he would be on board early in the
+morning, when we could haul out and go to sea, should the wind be
+favourable. I gave the people their Saturday's night, and went into the
+cabin to freshen the nip, myself. I took a glass or two, and certainly had
+more in me than is good for a man, though I was far from being downright
+drunk. In a word, I had too much, though I could have carried a good deal
+more, on a pinch. The steward had gone ashore, and there being no
+second-mate, I was all alone.
+
+In this state of things, I heard a noise, and went on deck to inquire
+what was the matter. My old ship, the Franklin, was shifting her berth,
+and her jib-boom had come foul of our taffrail. After some hailing, I got
+on the taffrail to shove our neighbour off, when, by some carelessness of
+my own, I fell head-foremost, hitting the gunwale of the boat, which was
+hanging, about half way up to the davits, into the water. The tide set me
+away, and carried me between the wharf and the ship astern of us, which
+happened to be the William Thompson, Captain Thompson, owner Thompson,
+mate Thompson, and all Thompson, as Mathews used to have it. Captain
+Thompson was reading near the cabin windows, and he luckily heard me
+groan. Giving the alarm, a boat was got round, and I taken in. As the
+night was dark, and I lost all consciousness after the fall, I consider
+this escape as standing second only to that from the shark in the West
+Indies, and old Trant's gun, the night the Scourge went down. I did not
+recover my recollection for several hours. This was not the effect of
+liquor, but of the fall, as I remember everything distinctly that occurred
+before I went from the taffrail. Still I confess that liquor did all the
+mischief, as I had drunk just enough to make me careless.
+
+In the morning, I found myself disabled in the left arm, and I went to a
+doctor. This gentleman said he never told a fellow what ailed him until he
+got his whack. I gave him a dollar, and he then let me into the secret. My
+collar-bone was broken. "And, now," says he, "for another dollar I'll
+patch you up." I turned out the other Spaniard, when he was as good as his
+word. Going in the ship, however, was out of the question, and I was
+obliged to get a young man to go on board the Camillus in my place; thus
+losing the voyage and my berth.
+
+I was now ashore, with two or three months of drift before me. Since the
+time I joined the Washington, I had been going regularly ahead, and I do
+think had I been able to stick by the Camillus, I might have brought up a
+master. I had laid up money, and being employed while in port, I was
+gradually losing my taste for sailor amusements, and getting more respect
+for myself. That fall from the Jaffrail was a sad drawback for me, and I
+never recovered the lee-way it brought about.
+
+I was more than two months ashore, behaving myself rationally on account
+of my arm. At the end of that time, I went on board the Sally, a ship also
+bound to Greenock, as her second-mate. This vessel belonged to Charleston,
+and it was intended she should return to her own port. The voyage turned
+out well, and my arm got as strong as ever. On reaching Charleston, I left
+the craft, which was laid up, and shipped in a schooner of the same name,
+bound to St. Domingo, as her chief mate. This was no great craft,
+certainly, though she proved a tight, wholesome sea-boat. We went out
+without any accident, arriving in safety at Cape Henry. After discharging
+cargo, and smuggling on board a quantity of doubloons--four hundred and
+eighty, it was said--we got under way for the island of Cuba. We intended
+to go into Matanzas, and kept along the coast. After crossing the Windward
+Passage, we reached Cuba; and were standing on, with a light wind, under
+our square-sail, the morning of the third day out, when we saw a large
+boat, carrying two sails, standing out from the shore, evidently in chase
+of the schooner. We had on board eight souls, viz. the owner, a Frenchman,
+who had been a dragoon in the service of his own country, but who was now
+between seventy and eighty; the captain, myself, a boy, the cook, and four
+men forward. We could see that there were nine men in the boat. We had no
+arms in the schooner, not even a pistol, and the men in the boat had
+muskets. We did not ascertain this last fact, however, for some time. I
+thought the strangers pirates the moment I saw them come out from under
+the land, but the captain maintained that they were turtle-men. The boat
+was rowing, and came up with us, hand over hand. When near, they commenced
+firing muskets at us, to drive us below. All the crew forward, with the
+cook, ran down into the forecastle, leaving no one on deck but the
+captain, the old Frenchman, and myself. The boy got into the
+companion-way.
+
+What the others did on deck, as these gentry came alongside, amusing
+themselves with keeping up a smart fire of musketry, I do not know; but my
+own occupation was to dodge behind the foremast. It was not long, however,
+before they came tumbling in, and immediately got possession of the
+schooner. One or two came forward and secured the forecastle hatch, to
+keep the people down. Then they probably felt that they were masters. One
+chap drew a fearful-looking knife, long, slender, sharp and glittering,
+and he cut the halyards of the square-sail. All the men I saw in the
+schooner struck me as Americans, or English, affecting to be Spaniards.
+There is such a difference in the height, complexion, and general
+appearance of the people of Spain, and those of the two other countries,
+without reference to the manner of speaking, that I do not think I could
+be mistaken. I saw but one man among these pirates, whom I took for a real
+Spaniard. It is true their faces were all blacked to disguise them, but
+one could get enough glimpses of the skin to judge of the true colour.
+There was no negro among them.
+
+The chap who cut away the square-sail halyards, I felt certain was no
+Spaniard. The sail was no sooner down, than he ran his knife along the
+head, below the bolt-rope, as if to cut away the cloth with the least
+trouble to himself. I was standing near, and asked him why he destroyed
+the sail; if he wanted it, why he did not take it whole? At this, he
+turned short round upon me, raised his arm, and struck a heavy blow at me
+with his fearful-looking knife. The point of the deadly weapon struck
+square on my breast-bone! I fell, partly through the force of the blow,
+and partly from policy; for I thought it safest to be lying on my back. I
+got several hearty kicks, in addition to this fierce attack, together with
+sundry curses in broken Spanish. I spoke in English, of course; and that
+the man understood me was clear enough by the expression of his
+countenance, and his act. The wound was slight, though it bled a good
+deal, covering my shirt and trowsers with blood, as much as if I had been
+run through the heart. An inch or two, either way, in the direction of the
+knife, would certainly have killed me.
+
+I do not know what might haye been the end of this affair, had not one of
+the pirates come forward, at this critical instant, and checked my
+assailant by shaking a finger at him. This man, I feel very certain, I
+knew. I will not mention his name, as there is a doubt; but I cannot think
+I was mistaken. If I am right, he was a young man from Connecticut, who
+sailed one voyage to Liverpool with me in The Sterling. With that young
+man I had been very intimate, and was oftener with him ashore than with
+any other of the crew. His face was blackened, like those of all his
+companions, but this did not conceal his air, manner, size, eyes and
+voice. When he spoke, it was in a jargon of broken English and broken
+Spanish, such as no man accustomed to either language from infancy would
+have used. The same was true as to all the rest I heard speak, with the
+exception of an old fellow in the boat, whom I shall presently have
+occasion to mention, again.
+
+The man I took to be my old shipmate, also seemed to know me. I was but a
+lad when I quitted the Sterling, it is true; but they tell me I have not
+altered a great deal in general appearance. My hair is still black; and
+then, when I was in the very prime of life, it must have been easy to
+recognize me. So strongly was I impressed, at the time, that I saw an old
+acquaintance, I was about to call him by name, when, luckily, it crossed
+my mind this might be dangerous. The pirates wished clearly to be unknown,
+and it was wisest to let them think they were so. My supposed shipmate,
+however, proved my friend, and I received no more personal ill treatment
+after he had spoken to his companion. I sometimes think he was the means,
+indeed, of saving all our lives. He asked me if there was any money, and,
+on my denying it, he told me they knew better: the schooner was in
+ballast, and must have got something for her outward cargo. I refused to
+tell, and he ordered me into their boat, whither the captain had been sent
+before me. In doing all this, his manner wore an appearance, to me, of
+assumed severity.
+
+The poor old Frenchman fared worse. They seemed to know he was owner, and
+probably thought he could give the best account of the money. At any rate,
+he was unmercifully flogged, though he held out to the last, refusing to
+betray his doubloons. The boy was next attacked-with threats of throwing
+him overboard. This extracted the secret, and the doubloons were soon
+discovered.
+
+The captain and myself had been stowed under a half-deck, in the boat, but
+as soon as the money was found, the old Spaniard, who stood sentinel over
+us, was told to let us out, that we might see the fun. There were the
+eight scoundrels, paraded around the trunk of the schooner, dividing the
+doubloons. As soon as this was done, we were told to come alongside with
+our boat, which had been used to carry us to the piratical craft. The
+captain got on board the Sally and I was ordered to scull the rogues, in
+one gang, back to their own craft. The scamps were in high spirits,
+seeming much pleased with their haul. They cracked a good many jokes at
+our expense, but were so well satisfied with their gold, that they left
+the square-sail behind them. They had robbed the cabin, however, carrying
+off, for me, a quadrant, a watch, and a large portion of my clothes. The
+forecastle had not been entered, though the men had four hundred dollars
+lying under a pile of dirt and old junk, to keep them out of sight.
+
+My supposed shipmate bore me in mind to the last. When we reached his
+craft, he poured out a glass of brandy and offered it to me. I was afraid
+to drink, thinking it might be poisoned. He seemed to understand me, and
+swallowed it himself, in a significant manner. This gave me courage, and I
+took the next nip without hesitation. He then told me to shove off, which
+I did without waiting for a second order. The pirates pulled away at the
+same time.
+
+We were a melancholy party, as soon as we found ourselves left to
+ourselves. The old Frenchman was sad enough, and all of us pitied him. He
+made no complaint of the boy, notwithstanding, and little was said among
+us about the robbery. My wound proved trifling, though the old man was so
+bruised and beaten that he could scarcely walk.
+
+As soon as a breeze came, we went into Charleston, having no means to buy
+the cargo we had intended to get at Matanzas. This was the first time I
+was ever actually boarded by a pirate, although I had had several narrow
+escapes before. The first was in the Sterling, off the coast of Portugal;
+the next was in the William and Jane, outward bound to Canton; the third
+was on the bank, in the Trio, off the coast of Java; and the fourth, in
+the Mechanic, on the other side of Cuba. It was not the last of my affairs
+with them, however, as will be seen in the sequel.
+
+I went out in the Sally again, making a voyage to Matanzas and back,
+without any accident, or incident, worth mentioning. I still intended to
+remain in this schooner, the captain and I agreeing perfectly well, had I
+not been driven out of her by one of those unlucky accidents, of which so
+many have laid me athwart-hawse.
+
+We were discharging sugar at Charleston, in very heavy casks. The tide
+being in, the vessel's rail was higher than the wharf, and we landed the
+casks on the rail, from which they were rolled down some planks to the
+shore. Two negroes were stationed on the wharf to receive the casks, and
+to ease them down. One of these fellows was in the practice of running up
+the planks, instead of standing at their side and holding on to the end of
+the hogsheads. I remonstrated with him several times about the danger he
+ran, but he paid no attention to what I said. At length my words came
+true; a cask got away from the men, and rolled directly over this negro,
+flattening him like a bit of dough.
+
+This was clearly an accident, and no one thought of accusing me of any
+connection with it. But the owner of the black looked upon him as one
+would look upon a hack-horse that had been lamed, or killed; and he came
+down to the schooner, on hearing that his man was done for, swearing I
+should pay for him! As for paying the price of an athletic "nigger," it
+was even more impossible for me, than it would seem it is for the great
+State of Pennsylvania to pay the interest on its debt; and, disliking a
+lawsuit, I carried my dunnage on board another vessel that same afternoon,
+and agreed to work my passage to New York, as her second-mate.
+
+The vessel I now went on board of was the Commodore Rodgers, a regular
+liner between the two ports. We sailed next morning, and I paid for the
+poor "nigger" with the fore-topsail. The ship's husband was on board as we
+hauled out, a man who was much in the habit of abusing the mates. On this
+occasion he was particularly abusive to our chief mate; so much so,
+indeed, that I remonstrated with the latter on his forbearance. Nothing
+came of it, however, though I could not forget the character of the man
+who had used such language. When we reached New York, our chief mate left
+us, and I was offered the berth. It was a little hazardous to go back to
+Charleston, but wages were low, and business dull, the yellow fever being
+in New York, and I thought, by a little management, I might give my
+"nigger owner" a sufficient berth. I accordingly agreed to go.
+
+When we got back to Charleston, our ship lay at her own wharf, and I saw
+nothing of my chap. He worked up town, and we lay low down, But another
+misfortune befel me, that led even to worse consequences. The ship's
+husband, who was so foul-mouthed, was as busy as ever, blackguarding right
+and left, and finding fault with everything. Our cargo was nearly out, and
+this man and I had a row about some kegs of white lead. In the course of
+the dialogue, he called me "a saucy son of a b--h." This was too much for
+my temper, and I seized him and sent him down the hatchway. The fall was
+not great, and some hemp lay in the wake of the hatch; but the chap's
+collar-bone went. He sung out like a singing-master, but I did not stop to
+chime in. Throwing my slate on deck in a high passion, I left the ship and
+went ashore. I fell in with the captain on the wharf, told him my story,
+got a promise from him to send me my clothes, and vanished. In an hour or
+two, half the constables in Charleston were in chase of me. I kept so
+close they could not find me, lying snug for a couple of days.
+
+This state of things could not last for ever. The constables were not half
+so ferocious as they seemed; for one of them managed to get me off, on
+board a coaster, called the Gov. Russel; where I engaged, I may say, as
+chief mate and all hands. The Gov. Russel was a Buford trader, making
+trips about fifteen or twenty leagues long. This was the smallest
+navigation, and the smallest craft, a gun-boat excepted, with which I ever
+had anything to do. The crew consisted of two negroes, both slaves to the
+owner, while the captain and myself were aft. Whether she would have held
+so many, or not, I never knew, as the captain did not join, while I
+belonged to her. The schooner lay three miles below the town; and, in so
+much, was a good craft for me; as no one would think of following an old
+Canton trader into such a 'long-shore-looking thing. We busied ourselves
+in painting her, and in overhauling her rigging, while the ship's husband,
+and his myrmidons, amused themselves in searching for me up in town.
+
+I had been on board the Gov. Russel three days, when it came on to blow
+from the southward and westward, in true southern style. The gale came on
+butt-end foremost; and was thought to be as severe, as anything seen in
+the port for many a year. Most of the shipping broke adrift from the
+wharves; and everything that was anchored, a man-of-war and a
+revenue-cutter excepted, struck adrift, or dragged. As for ourselves, we
+were lying at single anchor; and soon began to walk down towards the bar.
+I let go the spare anchor; but she snapped her cables, as if they had been
+pack-thread; and away she went to leeward. Making sail was out of the
+question, had any been bent, as ours were not; and I had to let her travel
+her own road.
+
+All this happened at night; when it was so dark, one could not see,
+between the spray, the storm and the hour, the length of the craft. I knew
+we were going towards the ocean; and my great cause of apprehension was
+the bar. Looking for the channel, was out of the question; I did not know
+it, in the first place; and, had I been a branch-pilot, I could not find
+it in the dark. I never was more completely adrift, in my life, ashore or
+afloat. We passed a most anxious hour, or two; the schooner driving,
+broadside-to, I knew not whither, or to what fate. The two blacks were
+frightened out of their wits; and were of no assistance to me.
+
+At length, I felt the keel come down upon the sands; and then I knew we
+were on the bar. This happened amid a whirlwind of spray; with nothing
+visible but the white foam of the waters, and the breakers around us. The
+first blow threw both masts out of the steps; ripping up the decks to a
+considerable extent. The next minute we were on our beam-ends; the sea
+making a clear breach over us. All we could do, was to hold on; and this
+we did with difficulty. I and the two blacks got on the weather-quarter of
+the schooner, where we lashed ourselves with the main-sheet. As this was a
+stout rope, something must part, before we could be washed away. The craft
+made but two raps on the bar, when she drifted clear.
+
+I now knew we were at sea, and were drifting directly off the coast. As we
+got into deep water, the sea did not make such terrible surges over us;
+though they continued to break over our quarter. The masts were thumping
+away; but for this I cared little, the hold being full of water already.
+Sink we could not, having a wept hold, and being built, in a great
+measure, of pine. The schooner floated with about five feet of her
+quarter-deck above water. Her bows had settled the most; and this gave us
+rather a better chance aft.
+
+Fortunately, we got the worst of this blow at the first go off. The wind
+began to lessen in strength soon after we passed the bar, and by day-light
+it only blew a stiff breeze. No land was in sight, though I knew, by the
+colour of the water, that we could not be a very great distance from the
+coast. We had come out on an ebb-tide, and this had set us off the land,
+but all that southern coast is so low, that it was not to be seen from the
+surface of the ocean at any great distance.
+
+The day that succeeded was sad and dreary enough. The weather was fine,
+the sun coming out even hot upon us, but the wind continued to blow fresh
+off the land, and we were drifting further out, every instant, upon the
+bosom of the ocean. Our only hope was in falling in with some coaster, and
+I began to dread drifting outside of their track. We were without food or
+water, and were partly seated on the rail, and partly supported by the
+main-sheet. Neither of us attempted to change his berth that day. Little
+was said between us, though I occasionally encouraged the negroes to hold
+on, as something would yet pick us up. I had a feeling of security on this
+head that was unreasonable, perhaps; but a sanguine temperament has ever
+made me a little too indifferent to consequences.
+
+Night brought no change, unless it was to diminish the force of the wind.
+A short time before the sun set, one of the negroes said to me, "Masser
+Ned, John gone." I was forward of the two blacks, and was not looking at
+them at the time; I suppose I may have been dozing; but, on looking up, I
+found that one of the negroes had, indeed, disappeared. How this happened
+I cannot say, as he appeared to be well lashed; but I suppose he worked
+himself free, and being exhausted, he fell into the water, and sunk before
+I could get a glimpse of him. There was nothing to be done, however, and
+the loss of this man had a tendency to make me think our situation worse
+than it had before seemed to be. Some persons, all good Christians I
+should suppose, will feel some curiosity to know whether a man in my
+situations had no disposition to take a religious view of his case, and
+whether his conscience did not apprise him of the chances of perdition
+that seemed to stare him in the face. In answer to this, I am compelled to
+say that no such thoughts came over me. In all my risks and emergencies, I
+am not sensible of having given a thought to my Maker. I had a sense of
+fear, an apprehension of death, and an instinctive desire to save my life,
+but no consciousness of the necessity of calling on any being to save my
+soul. Notwithstanding all the lessons I had received in childhood, I was
+pretty nearly in the situation of one who had never heard the name of the
+Saviour mentioned. The extent of my reflections on such subjects, was the
+self-delusion of believing that I was to save myself--I had done no great
+harm, according to the notions of sailors; had not robbed; had not
+murdered; and had observed the mariner's code of morals, so far as I
+understood them; and this gave me a sort of _claim_ on the mercy of God.
+In a word, the future condition of my soul gave me no trouble whatever.
+
+I dare say my two companions on this little wreck had the same
+indifference on this subject, as I felt myself. I heard no prayer, no
+appeal to God for mercy, nothing indeed from any of us, to show that we
+thought at all on the subject. Hunger gave me a little trouble, and during
+the second night I would fall into a doze, and wake myself up by dreaming
+of eating meals that were peculiarly grateful to me. I have had the same
+thing happen on other occasions, when on short allowance of food. Neither
+of the blacks said anything on the subject of animal suffering, and the
+one that was lost, went out, as it might be, like a candle.
+
+The sun rose on the morning of the second day bright and clear. The wind
+shifted about this time, to a gentle breeze from the southward and
+eastward. This was a little encouraging, as it was setting the schooner
+in-shore again, but I could discover nothing in sight. There was still a
+good deal of sea going, and we were so low in the water, that our range of
+sight was very limited.
+
+It was late in the forenoon, when the negro called out, suddenly, "Massa
+Ned, dere a vessel!" Almost at the same instant, I heard voices calling
+out; and, looking round I saw a small coasting schooner, almost upon us.
+She was coming down before the wind, had evidently seen us some time
+before we saw her, and now ranged up under our lee, and hove-to. The
+schooner down boat, and took us on board without any delay. We moved with
+difficulty, and I found my limbs so stiff as to be scarcely manageable.
+The black was in a much worse state than I was myself, and I think twelve
+hours longer would have destroyed both of us.
+
+The schooner that picked us up was manned entirely with blacks, and was
+bound into Charleston. At the time she fell in with us, we must have been
+twenty miles from the bar, it taking us all the afternoon, with a fair
+wind, to reach it. We went below, and as soon as I got in the cabin, I
+discovered a kettle of boiled rice, on which I pounced like a hawk. The
+negroes wished to get it away from me, thinking I should injure myself;
+but I would not part with it. The sweetest meal I ever had in my life, was
+this rice, a fair portion of which, however, I gave to my companion. We
+had not fasted long enough materially to weaken our stomachs, and no ill
+consequences followed from the indulgence. After eating heartily, we both
+lay down on the cabin floor, and went to sleep. We reached the wharf about
+eight in the evening. Just within the bar, the schooner was spoken by a
+craft that was going out in search of the Gov. Russel. The blacks told her
+people where the wreck was to be found, and the craft stood out to sea.
+
+I was strong enough to walk up to my boarding-house, where I went again
+into quarantine. The Gov. Russel was found, towed into port, was repaired,
+and went about her business, as usual, in the Buford trade. I never saw
+her or her captain again, however. I parted with the negro that was saved
+with me, on the wharf, and never heard anything about him afterwards,
+either. Such is the life of a sailor!
+
+I was still afraid of the constables. So much damage had been done to more
+important shipping, and so many lives lost, however, that little was said
+of the escape of the Gov. Russel. Then I was not known in this schooner by
+my surname. When I threw the ship's husband down the hold, I was Mr.
+Myers; when wrecked in the coaster, only Ned.
+
+
+
+Chapter XIV.
+
+
+
+Notwithstanding my comparative insignificance, there was no real security
+in remaining long in Charleston, and it was my strong desire to quit the
+place. As "beggars cannot be choosers," I was glad to get on board the
+schooner Carpenter, bound to St. Mary's and Philadelphia, for, and with,
+ship-timber, as a foremast hand. I got on board undetected, and we sailed
+the same day. Nothing occurred until after we left St. Mary's, when we met
+with a singular accident. A few days out, it blowing heavy at the time,
+our deck-load pressed so hard upon the beams as to loosen them, and the
+schooner filled as far as her cargo--yellow pine--would allow. This
+calamity proceeded from the fact, that the negroes who stowed the craft
+neglected to wedge up the beams; a precaution that should never be
+forgotten, with a heavy weight on deck. No very serious consequences
+followed, however, as we managed to drive the craft ahead, and finally got
+her into Philadelphia, with all her cargo on board. We did not lose a
+stick, which showed that our captain was game, and did not like to let go
+when he had once got hold. This person was a down-easter, and was well
+acquainted with the Johnstons and Wiscasset. He tried hard to persuade me
+to continue in the schooner as mate, with a view to carrying me back to my
+old friends; but I turned a deaf ear to his advice. To own the truth, I
+was afraid to go back to Wiscassett. My own desertion could not well be
+excused, and then I was apprehensive the family might attribute to me the
+desertion and death of young Swett. He had been my senior, it is true, and
+was as able to influence me as I was to influence him; but conscience is a
+thing so sensitive, that, when we do wrong, it is apt to throw the whole
+error into our faces.
+
+Quitting the Carpenter in Philadelphia, therefore, I went to live in a
+respectable boarding-house, and engaged to go out in a brig called the
+Margaret, working on board as a rigger and stevedore, until she should be
+ready to sail. My berth was to be that of mate. The owner of this brig was
+as notorious, in his way, as the ship's husband in Charleston I had heard
+his character, and was determined, if he attempted to ride me, as he was
+said to do many of his mates, and even captains, he should find himself
+mounted on a hard-going animal. One day, things came to a crisis. The
+owner was on the wharf, with me, and such a string of abuse as he launched
+out upon me, I never before listened to. A crowd collected, and my blood
+got up. I seized the man, and dropped him off the wharf into the water,
+alongside of some hoop-poles, that I knew must prevent any accident. In
+this last respect, I was sufficiently careful, though the ducking was very
+thorough. The crowd gave three cheers, which I considered as a proof I was
+not so very wrong. Nothing was said of any suit on this occasion; but I
+walked off, and went directly on board a ship called the Coromandel, on
+which I had had an eye, as a lee, for several days. In this vessel I
+shipped as second-mate; carrying with me all the better character for the
+ducking given to the notorious--------.
+
+The Coromandel was bound to Cadiz, and thence round the Horn. The outward
+bound cargo was flour, but to which ports we were going in South America,
+I was ignorant. Our crew were all blacks, the officers excepted. We had a
+good passage, until we got off Cape Trafalgar, when it came on to blow
+heavily, directly on end. We lay-to off the Cape two days, and then ran
+into Gibraltar, and anchored. Here we lay about a fortnight, when there
+came on a gale from the south-west, which sent a tremendous sea in from
+the Atlantic. This gale commenced in the afternoon, and blew very heavily
+all that night. The force of the wind increased, little by little, until
+it began to tell seriously among the shipping, of which a great number
+were lying in front of the Rock. The second day of the gale, our ship was
+pitching bows under, sending the water aft to the taffrail, while many
+other craft struck adrift, or foundered at their anchors. The Coromandel
+had one chain cable, and this was out. It was the only cable we used for
+the first twenty-four hours. As the gale increased, however, it was
+thought necessary to let go the sheet-anchor, which had a hempen cable
+bent to it. Our chain, indeed, was said to be the first that was ever used
+out of Philadelphia, though it had then been in the ship for some time,
+and had proved itself a faithful servant the voyage before. Unfortunately,
+most of the chain was out before we let go the sheet-anchor, and there was
+no possibility of getting out a scope of the hempen cable. Dragging on
+shore, where we lay, was pretty much out of the question, as the bottom
+shelved inward, and the anchor, to come home, must have gone up hill.[14]
+
+In this manner the Coromandel rode for two nights and two days, the sea
+getting worse and worse, and the wind, it anything, rather increasing. We
+took the weight of the last in squalls, some of which were terrific. By
+this time the bay was well cleared of craft, nearly everything having
+sunk, or gone ashore. An English packet lay directly ahead of us, rather
+more than a cable's length distant, and she held on like ourselves. The
+Governor Brooks, of Boston, lay over nearer to Algesiras, where the sea
+and wind were a little broken, and, of course, she made better weather
+than ourselves.
+
+About eight o'clock, the third night, I was in the cabin, when the men on
+deck sung out that the chain had gone. At this time the ship had been
+pitching her spritsail-yard under water, and it blew a little hurricane.
+We were on deck in a moment, all hands paying out sheet. We brought the
+ship up with this cable, but not until she got it nearly to the better
+end. Unfortunately, we had got into shoal water, or what became shoal
+water by the depth of the troughs. It was said, afterwards, we were in
+five fathoms water at this time, but for this I will not vouch. It seems
+too much water for what happened. Our anchor, however, did actually lie in
+sixteen fathoms.
+
+We had hardly paid out the cable, before the ship came down upon the
+bottom, on an even keel, apparently, with a force that almost threw those
+on deck off their feet. These blows were repeated, from time to time, at
+intervals of several minutes, some of the thumps being much heavier than
+others. The English packet must have struck adrift at the same time with
+ourselves, for she came down upon us, letting go an anchor in a way to
+overlay our cable. I suppose the rocks and this sawing together, parted
+our hempen cable, and away we went towards the shore, broadside-to. As the
+ship drifted in, she continued to thump; but, luckily for us, the sea made
+no breaches over her. The old Coromandel was a very strong ship, and she
+continued working her way in-shore, until she lay in a good substantial
+berth, without any motion. We manned the pumps, and kept the ship
+tolerably free of water, though she lay over considerably. The English
+packet followed us in, going ashore more towards the Spanish lines. This
+vessel bilged, and lost some of her crew. As for ourselves, we had a
+comfortable berth, considering the manner in which we had got into it. No
+apprehension was felt for our personal safety, and perfect order was
+observed on board. The men worked as usual, nor was there any extra
+liquor drunk.
+
+That night the gale broke, and before morning it had materially moderated.
+Lighters were brought alongside, and we began to discharge our flour into
+them. The cargo was all discharged, and all in good order, so far as the
+water was concerned; though several of the keelson bolts were driven into
+the ground tier of barrels. I am almost afraid to tell this story, but I
+know it to be true, as I released the barrels with my own hands. As soon
+as clear, the ship was hove off into deep water, on the top of a high
+tide, and was found to leak so much as to need a shore-gang at the pumps
+to keep her afloat. She was accordingly sold for the benefit of the
+underwriters. She was subsequently docked and sent to sea.
+
+Of course, this broke up our voyage. The captain advised me to take a
+second-mate's berth in the Governor Brooks, the only American that escaped
+the gale, and I did so. This vessel was a brig, bound round the Horn,
+also, and a large, new craft. I know of no other vessel, that lay in front
+of the Rock that rode out this gale; and she did it with two hempen cables
+out, partly protected, however, by a good berth. There was a Swede that
+came back next day to her anchorage, which was said to have got
+back-strapped, behind the Rock, by some legerdemain, and so escaped also.
+I do not know how many lives were lost on this occasion; but the
+destruction of property must have been very great.
+
+Three weeks after the gale, the Governor Brooks sailed. We had a hard time
+in doubling the Cape, being a fortnight knocking about between Falkland
+and the Main. We were one hundred and forty-four days out, touching
+nowhere, until we anchored at Callao. We found flour, of which our cargo
+was composed, at seven dollars a barrel, with seven dollars duty. The
+Franklin 74, was lying here, with the Aurora English frigate, the castle
+being at war with the people inland. Our flour was landed, and what became
+of it is more than I can tell.
+
+We now took in ballast, and ran down to Guayaquil. Here an affair occurred
+that might very well have given me the most serious cause of regret, all
+the days of my life. Our steward was a Portuguese negro, of the most
+vicious and surly temper. Most of the people and officers were really
+afraid of him. One evening, the captain and chief mate being both ashore,
+I was sitting on deck, idle, and I took a fancy to a glass of grog. I
+ordered the steward, accordingly, to pour me out one, and bring it up. The
+man pretended that the captain had carried off the keys, and no rum was to
+be had. I thought this a little extraordinary; and, as one would be very
+apt to be, felt much hurt at the circumstance. I had never been drunk in
+the craft, and was not a drunkard in one sense of the term, at all; seldom
+drinking so as to affect me, except when on a frolic, ashore.
+
+As I sat brooding over this fancied insult, however, I smelt rum; and
+looking down the sky-light, saw this same steward passing forward with a
+pot filled with the liquor. I was fairly blinded with passion. Running
+down, I met the fellow, just as he was coming out of the cabin, and
+brought him up all standing. The man carried a knife along his leg, a
+weapon that had caused a good deal of uneasiness in the brig, and he now
+reached down to get it. Seeing there was no time to parley, I raised him
+from the floor, and threw him down with great force, his head coming
+under. There he lay like a log, and all my efforts with vinegar and water
+had no visible effect.
+
+I now thought the man dead. He gave no sign of life that I could detect,
+and fear of the consequences came over me. The devil put it into my head
+to throw the body overboard, as the most effectual means of concealing
+what I had done. The steward had threatened to run, by swimming, more than
+once, and I believe had been detected in making such an attempt; and I
+fancied if I could get the body through one of the cabin-windows, it would
+seem as if he had been drowned in carrying his project into execution. I
+tried all I could first to restore the steward to life; but failing of
+this, I actually began to drag him aft, in order to force his body out of
+a cabin-window. The transom was high, and the man very heavy; so I was a
+good while in dragging the load up to the necessary height. Just as I got
+it there, the fellow gave a groan, and I felt a relief that I had never
+before experienced. It seemed to me like a reprieve from the gallows.
+
+I now took the steward down, upon one of the lower transoms, where he sat
+rubbing his head a few minutes, I watching him closely the whole time. At
+length he got up, and staggered out of the cabin. He went and turned in,
+and I saw no more of him until next day. As it turned out, good, instead
+of harm, resulted from this affair; the black being ever afterwards
+greatly afraid of me. If I did not break his neck, I broke his temper; and
+the captain used to threaten to set me at him, whenever he behaved amiss.
+I owned the whole affair to the captain and mate, both of whom laughed
+heartily at what had happened, though I rejoiced, in my inmost heart, that
+it was no worse.
+
+The brig loaded with cocao, in bulk, at Guayaquil, and sailed for Cadiz.
+The passage was a fine one, as we doubled the Horn at midsummer. On this
+occasion we beat round the cape, under top-gallant-sails. The weather was
+so fine, we stood close in to get the benefit of the currents, after
+tacking, as it seemed to me, within a league of the land. Our passage to
+Cadiz lasted one hundred and forty-one, or two, days, being nearly the
+same length as that out though much smoother.
+
+The French had just got possession of Cadiz, as we got in, and we found
+the white flag flying. We lay here a month, and then went round to the
+Rock. After passing a week at Gibraltar, to take in some dollars, we
+sailed for New Orleans, in ballast. As I had been on twenty-two dollars a
+month, there was a pretty good whack coming to me, as soon as we reached
+an American port, and I felt a desire to spend it, before I went to sea
+again. They wished me to stick by the brig, which was going the very same
+voyage over; but I could not make up my mind to travel so long a road,
+with a pocket full of money. I had passed so many years at sea, that a
+short land cruise was getting to be grateful, as a novelty.
+
+The only craft I could get on board of, to come round into my own
+latitude, in order to enjoy myself in the old way, was an eastern
+schooner, called the James. On board this vessel I shipped as mate, bound
+to Philadelphia. She was the most meagre craft, in the way of outfit, I
+ever put to sea in. Her boat would not swim, and she had not a spare spar
+on board her. In this style, we went jogging along north, until we were
+met by a north-west gale, between Bermuda and Cape Hatteras, which forced
+us to heave-to. During this gale, I had a proof of the truth that "where
+the treasure is, there will the heart be also."
+
+I was standing leaning on the rail, and looking over the schooner's
+quarter, when I saw what I supposed to be a plank come up alongside! The
+idea of sailing in a craft of which the bottom was literally dropping out,
+was not very pleasant, and I thought all was lost. I cannot explain the
+folly of my conduct, except by supposing that my many escapes at sea, had
+brought me to imagine I was to be saved, myself, let what would happen to
+all the rest on board. Without stopping to reflect, I ran below and
+secured my dollars. Tearing up a blanket, I made a belt, and lashed about
+twenty-five pounds weight of silver to my body, with the prospect before
+me of swimming two or three hundred miles with it, before I could get
+ashore. As for boat, or spars, the former would not float, and of the last
+there was not one. I now look back on my acts of this day with wonder, for
+I had forgotten all my habitual knowledge of vessels, in the desire to
+save the paltry dollars. For the first and only time in my life I felt
+avaricious, and lost sight of everything in money!
+
+It was my duty to sound the pumps, but this I did not deem necessary. No
+sooner were the dollars secure, or, rather, ready to anchor me in the
+bottom of the ocean, than I remembered the captain. He was asleep, and
+waking him up, I told him what had happened. The old man, a dry, drawling,
+cool, down-easter, laughed in my face for my pains, telling me I had seen
+one of the sheeting-boards, with which he had had the bottom of the
+schooner covered, to protect it from the worms, at Campeachy, and that I
+need be under no concern about the schooner's bottom. This was the simple
+truth, and I cast off the dollars, again, with a sneaking consciousness of
+not having done my duty. I suppose all men have moments when they are not
+exactly themselves, in which they act very differently from what it has
+been their practice to act. On this occasion, I was not alarmed for
+myself, but I thought the course I took was necessary to save that dross
+which lures so many to perdition. Avarice blinded me to the secrets of my
+own trade.
+
+I had come all the way from New Orleans to Philadelphia, to spend my four
+hundred dollars to my satisfaction. For two months I lived respectably,
+and actually began to go to church. I did not live in a boarding-house,
+but in a private family. My landlady was a pious woman, and a member of
+the Dutch Reformed Church, but her husband was a Universalist. I must say,
+I liked the doctrine of the last the best, as it made smooth water for the
+whole cruise. I usually went with the man to church of a morning, which
+was falling among shoals, as a poor fellow was striving to get into port.
+I received a great deal of good advice from my landlady, however, and it
+made so much impression on me as to influence my conduct; though I cannot
+say it really touched my heart. I became more considerate, and better
+mannered, if I were not truly repentant for my sins. These two months were
+passed more rationally than any time of mine on shore, since the hour when
+I ran from the Sterling.
+
+The James was still lying in Philadelphia, undergoing repairs, and waiting
+for freight; but being now ready for sea, I shipped in her again, on a
+voyage to St. Thomas, with a cargo of flour. When we sailed, I left near a
+hundred dollars behind me, besides carrying some money to sea; the good
+effects of good company. At St. Thomas we discharged, and took in ballast
+for Turk's Island, where we got a cargo of salt, returning with it to
+Philadelphia. My conduct had been such on board this schooner, that her
+commander, who was her owner, and very old, having determined to knock off
+going to sea, tried to persuade me to stick by the craft, promising to
+make me her captain as soon as he could carry her down east, where she
+belonged. I now think I made a great mistake in not accepting this offer,
+though I was honestly diffident about my knowledge of navigation. I never
+had a clear understanding of the lunars, though I worked hard to master
+them. It is true, chronometers were coming into general use, in large
+vessels, and I could work the time; but a chronometer was a thing never
+heard of on board the James. Attachment to the larger towns, and a dislike
+for little voyages, had as much influence on me as anything else. I
+declined the offer; the only direct one ever made me to command any sort
+of craft, and remained what I am. I had a little contempt, too, for
+vessels of such a rig and outfit, which probably had its influence. I
+liked rich owners.
+
+On my return to Philadelphia, I found the family in which I had last lived
+much deranged by illness. I got my money, but was obliged to look for new
+lodgings. The respectable people with whom I had been before, did not keep
+lodgers, I being their only boarder; but I now went to a regular sailor's
+boarding-house. There was a little aristocracy, it is true, in my new
+lodgings, to which none but mates, dickies, and thorough salts came; but
+this was getting into the hurricane latitudes as to morals. I returned to
+all my old habits, throwing the dollars right and left, and forgetting all
+about even a Universalist church.
+
+A month cleaned me out, in such company. I spent every cent I had, with
+the exception of about fifteen dollars, that I had laid by as nest-eggs. I
+then shipped as second-mate, in the Rebecca Simms, a ship bound to St.
+Jago de Cuba, with flour. The voyage lasted four months; producing nothing
+of moment, but a little affair that was personal to myself, and which cost
+me nearly all my wages. The steward was a saucy black; and, on one
+occasion, in bad weather, he neglected to give me anything warm for
+breakfast. I took an opportunity to give him a taste of the end of the
+main-clew-garnet, as an admonisher; and there the matter ended, so long
+as I remained in the ship. It seemed quite right, to all on board, but the
+steward. He bore the matter in mind, and set a whole pack of quakers on
+me, as soon as we got in. The suit was tried; and it cost me sixty
+dollars, in damages, beside legal charges. I dare say it was all right,
+according to law and evidence; but I feel certain, just such a rubbing
+down, once a week, would have been very useful to that same steward.
+Well-meaning men often do quite as much harm, in this world, as the
+evil-disposed. Philanthropists of this school should not forget, that, if
+colour is no sufficient reason why a man should be always wrong, it is no
+sufficient reason why he should be always right.
+
+The lawsuit drove me to sea, again, in a very short time. Finding no
+better berth, and feeling very savage at the blindness of justice, I
+shipped before the mast, in the Superior, an Indiaman, of quite eight
+hundred tons, bound to Canton. This was the pleasantest voyage I ever made
+to sea, in a merchantman, so far as the weather, and, I may say, usage,
+were concerned. We lost our top-gallant-masts, homeward bound; but this
+was the only accident that occurred. The ship was gone nine months; the
+passage from Whampao to the capes having been made in ninety-four days.
+When we got in, the owners had failed, and there was no money forthcoming,
+at the moment. To remain, and libel the ship, was dull business; so,
+leaving a power of attorney behind me, I went on board a schooner, called
+the Sophia, bound to Vera Cruz, as foremast Jack.
+
+The Sophia was a clipper; and made the run out in a few days. We went into
+Vera Cruz; but found it nearly deserted. Our cargo went ashore a little
+irregularly; sometimes by day, and sometimes by night; being assorted, and
+suited to all classes of customers. As soon as ready, we sailed for
+Philadelphia, again; where we arrived, after an absence of only
+two months.
+
+I now got my wages for the Canton voyage; but they lasted me only a
+fortnight! It was necessary to go to sea, again; and I went on board the
+Caledonia; once more bound to Canton. This voyage lasted eleven months;
+but, like most China voyages, produced no event of importance. We lost our
+top-gallant-masts, this time, too; but that is nothing unusual, off Good
+Hope. I can say but little, in favour of the ship, or the treatment.
+
+On getting back to Philadelphia, the money went in the old way. I
+occasionally walked round to see my good religious friends, with whom I
+had once lived, but they ceased to have any great influence over my
+conduct. As soon as necessary, I shipped in the Delaware, a vessel bound
+to Savannah and Liverpool. Southern fashion, I ran from this vessel in
+Savannah, owing her nothing, however, but was obliged to leave my
+protection behind, as it was in the captain's hands. I cannot give any
+reason but caprice for quitting this ship. The usage was excellent, and
+the wages high; yet run I did. As long as the Delaware remained in port, I
+kept stowed away; but, as soon as she sailed, I came out into the world,
+and walked about the wharves as big as an owner.
+
+I now went on board a ship called the Tobacco Plant, bound to Liverpool
+and Philadelphia, for two dollars a month less wages, worse treatment, and
+no grog. So much for following the fashion. The voyage produced nothing to
+be mentioned.
+
+On my return to Philadelphia, I resolved to shift my ground, and try a new
+tack. I was now thirty-four, and began to give up all thoughts of getting
+a lift in my profession. I had got so many stern-boards on me, every time
+I was going ahead, and was so completely alone in the world, that I had
+become indifferent, and had made up my mind to take things as they
+offered. As for money, my rule had come to be, to spend it as I got it,
+and go to sea for more. "If I tumbled overboard," I said to myself, "there
+is none to cry over me;" therefore let things jog on their own course. All
+the disposition to morality that had been aroused within me, at
+Philadelphia, was completely gone, and I thought as little of church and
+of religion, as ever. It is true I had bought a Bible on board the
+Superior, and I was in the practice of reading in it, from time to time,
+though it was only the narratives, such as those of Sampson and Goliah,
+that formed any interest for me. The history of Jonah and the whale, I
+read at least twenty times. I cannot remember that the morality, or
+thought, or devotion of a single passage ever struck me on these
+occasions. In word, I read this sacred book for amusement, and not
+for light.
+
+I now wanted change, and began to think of going back to the navy, by way
+of novelty. I had been round the world once, had been to Canton five
+times, doubling the Cape, round the Horn twice, to Batavia once, the
+West-Indies, on the Spanish main, and had crossed the Atlantic so often,
+that I thought I knew all the mile-stones. I had seen but little of the
+Mediterranean, and fancied a man-of-war's cruise would show me those seas.
+Most of the Tobacco Plants had shipped in Philadelphia, and I determined
+to go with them, to go in the navy. There is a fashion in all things, and
+just then it was the fashion to enter in the service.
+
+I was shipped by Lieutenant M'Kean, now Commander M'Kean, a grandson of
+the old Governor of Pennsylvania, as they tell me. All hands of us were
+sent on board the Cyane, an English prize twenty-gun ship, where we
+remained about six weeks. A draft was then made, and more than a hundred
+of us were sent round to Norfolk, in a sloop, to join the Delaware, 80,
+then fitting out for the Mediterranean. We found the ship lying alongside
+the Navy-yard wharf, and after passing one night in the receiving-ship,
+were sent on board the two-decker. The Delaware soon hauled out, and was
+turned over to Captain Downes, the very officer who had almost persuaded
+me to go in that ill-fated brig, the Epervier.
+
+I was stationed on the Delaware's forecastle, and was soon ordered to do
+second captain's duty. We had for lieutenants on board, Mr. Ramage, first,
+Messrs. Williamson, Ten Eick, Shubrick, Byrne, Chauncey, Harris, and
+several whose names I have forgotten. Mr. Ramage has since been cashiered,
+I understand; and Messrs. Ten Eick, Shubrick, Chauncey, Harris, and Byrne,
+are now all commanders.
+
+The ship sailed in the winter of 1828, in the month of January I think,
+having on board the Prince of Musignano, and his family, who were going to
+Italy. This gentleman was Charles Bonaparte, eldest son of Lucien, Prince
+of Canino, they tell me, and is now Prince of Canino himself. He had been
+living some time in America, and got a passage in our ship, on account of
+the difficulty of travelling in Europe, for one of his name and family.
+He was the first, and only Prince I ever had for a shipmate.
+
+
+
+Chapter XV.
+
+
+
+Our passage out in the Delaware was very rough, the ship rolling heavily.
+It was the first time she had been at sea, and it required some little
+time to get her trim and sailing. She turned out, however, to be a good
+vessel; sailing fairly, steering well, and proving an excellent sea-boat.
+We went into Algesiras, where we lay only twenty-four hours. We then
+sailed for Mahon, but were met by orders off the port, to proceed to
+Leghorn and land our passengers. I have been told this was done on account
+of the Princess of Musignano's being a daughter of the ex-King of Spain,
+and it was not thought delicate to bring her within the territory of the
+reigning king. I have even heard that the commodore was offered an order
+of knighthood for the delicacy he manifested on this occasion, which offer
+he declined accepting, as a matter of course.
+
+The ship had a good run from off Mahon to Leghorn where we anchored in the
+outer roads. We landed the passengers the afternoon of the day we arrived.
+That very night it came on to blow heavily from the northward and
+eastward, or a little off shore, according to the best of my recollection.
+This was the first time I ever saw preparations made to send down lower
+yards, and to house top-masts--merchantmen not being strong-handed enough
+to cut such capers with their sticks. We had three anchors ahead, if not
+four, the ship labouring a good deal. We lost one man from the starboard
+forechains, by his getting caught in the buoy-rope, as we let go a
+sheet-anchor. The poor fellow could not be picked up, on account of the
+sea and the darkness of the night, though an attempt was made to save him.
+
+The next day the weather moderated a little, and we got under way for
+Mahon. Our passage down was pleasant, and this time we went in. Captain
+Downes now left us, and Commodore Crane hoisted his broad-pennant on
+board us. The ship now lay a long time in port. The commodore went aloft
+in one of the sloops, and was absent several months. I was told he was
+employed in making a treaty with the Turks, but us poor Jacks knew little
+of such matters. On his return, there was a regular blow-up with the
+first-lieutenant, who left the ship, to nobody's regret, so far as I know.
+Mr. Mix, who had led our party to the lakes in 1812, and was with us in
+all my lake service, and who was Mr. Osgood's brother-in-law, now joined
+us as first-lieutenant. I had got to be first-captain of the forecastle, a
+berth I held to the end of the cruise.
+
+The treatment on board this ship was excellent. The happiest time I ever
+spent at sea, was in the Delaware. After Mr. Mix took Mr. Ramage's place,
+everybody seemed contented, and I never knew a better satisfied ship's
+company. The third year out, we had a long cruise off Cape de Gatte,
+keeping the ship under her canvass quite three months. We took in supplies
+at sea, the object being to keep us from getting rusty. On the fourth of
+July we had a regular holiday. At four in the morning, the ship was close
+in under the north shore, and we wore off the land. Sail was then
+shortened. After this, we had music, and more saluting and grog. The day
+was passed merrily, and I do not remember a fight, or a black eye, in
+the ship.
+
+I volunteered to go one cruise in the Warren, under Mr. Byrne. The present
+Commodore Kearny commanded this ship, and he took us down to the Rock. The
+reason of our volunteering was this. The men-of-war of the Dutch and the
+French, rendezvoused at Mahon, as well as ourselves. The French and our
+people had several rows ashore. Which was right and which wrong, I cannot
+say, as it was the Java's men, and not the Delaware's, that were engaged
+in them, on our side. One of the Javas was run through the body, and a
+French officer got killed. It was said the French suspected us of a design
+of sending away the man who killed their officer, and meant to stop the
+Warren, which was bound to the Rock on duty. All I know is, that two
+French brigs anchored at the mouth of the harbour, and some of us were
+called on to volunteer. Forty-five of us did so, and went on board
+the sloop.
+
+After the Warren got under way, we went to quarters, manning both
+batteries. In this manner we stood down between the two French brigs, with
+top-gallant-sails furled and the courses in the brails. We passed directly
+between the two brigs, keeping a broadside trained upon each; but nothing
+was said, or done, to us. We anchored first at the Rock, but next day
+crossed over to the Spanish coast. In a short time we returned to Mahon,
+and we volunteers went back to the Delaware. The two brigs had gone, but
+there was still a considerable French force in port. Nothing came of the
+difficulty, however, so far as I could see or hear.
+
+In the season of 1830, the Constellation, Commodore Biddle, came out, and
+our ship and Commodore were relieved. We had a run up as far as Sicily,
+however, before this took place, and went off Tripoli. There I saw a
+wreck, lying across the bay, that they told me was the bones of the
+Philadelphia frigate. We were also at Leghorn, several weeks, the
+commodore going to some baths in the neighbourhood, for his health.
+
+Among other ports, the Delaware visited Carthagena, Malta, and Syracuse.
+At the latter place, the ship lay six weeks, I should think. This was the
+season of our arrival out. Here we underwent a course of severe exercise,
+that brought the crew up to a high state of discipline. At four in the
+morning, we would turn out, and commence our work. All the manoeuvres of
+unmooring, making sail, reefing, furling, and packing on her again, were
+gone through, until the people got so much accustomed to work together,
+the great secret of the efficiency of a man-of-war, that the officer of
+the deck was forced to sing out "belay!" before the yards were up by a
+foot, lest the men should spring the spars. When we got through this
+drill, the commodore told us we would do, and that he was not ashamed to
+show us alongside of anything that floated. I do not pretend to give our
+movements in the order in which they occurred, however, nor am I quite
+certain what year it was the commodore went up to Smyrna. On reflection,
+it may have been later than I have stated.
+
+Our cruise off Cape de Gatte was one of the last things we did; and when
+we came back to Mahon, we took in supplies for America. We made the
+southern passage home and anchored in Hampton Roads, in the winter of
+1831. I believe the whole crew of the Delaware was sorry when the cruise
+was up. There are always a certain number of long-shore chaps in a
+man-of-war, who are never satisfied with discipline, and the wholesome
+restraints of a ship; but as for us old salts, I never heard one give the
+Delaware a bad name. We had heard an awful report of the commodore, who
+was called a "burster," and expected sharp times under him; and his manner
+of taking possession was of a nature to alarm us. All hands had been
+called to receive him, and the first words he said were "Call all hands to
+witness punishment." A pin might have been heard falling among us, for
+this sounded ominous. It was to clear the brig, only, Captain Downes
+having left three men in it, whom he would not release on quitting the
+vessel. The offences were serious, and could not be overlooked. These
+three chaps got it; but there was only one other man brought regularly to
+the gang-way while I was in the ship, and he was under the sentence of a
+court, and belonged to the Warren. As soon as the brig was cleared, the
+commodore told us we should be treated as we treated others, and then
+turned away among the officers. The next day we found we were to live
+under a just rule, and that satisfied us. One of the great causes of the
+contentment that reigned in the ship, was the method, and the regularity
+of the hours observed. The men knew on what they could calculate, in
+ordinary times, and this left them their own masters within certain hours.
+I repeat, she was the happiest ship I ever served in, though I have always
+found good treatment in the navy.
+
+I can say conscientiously, that were my life to be passed over again,
+without the hope of commanding a vessel, it should be passed in the navy.
+The food is better, the service is lighter, the treatment is better, if a
+man behave himself at all well, he is better cared for, has a port under
+his lee in case of accidents, and gets good, steady, wages, with the
+certainty of being paid. If his ship is lost, his wages are safe; and if
+he gets hurt, he is pensioned. Then he is pretty certain of having
+gentlemen over him, and that is a great deal for any man. He has good
+quarters below; and if he serve in a ship as large as a frigate, he has a
+cover over his head, half the time, at least, in bad weather. This is the
+honest opinion of one who has served in all sorts of crafts, liners,
+Indiamen, coasters, smugglers, whalers, and transient ships. I have been
+in a ship of the line, two frigates, three sloops of war, and several
+smaller craft; and such is the result of all my experience in Uncle Sam's
+navy. No man can go to sea and always meet with fair-weather, but he will
+get as little of foul in one of our vessels of war, as in any craft that
+floats, if a man only behave himself. I think the American merchantmen
+give better wages than are to be found in other services; and I think the
+American men-of-war, as a rule, give better treatment than the American
+merchantman. God bless the flag, I say, and this, too, without the fear of
+being hanged!
+
+The Delaware lay two or three weeks in the Roads before she went up to the
+Yard. At the latter place we began to strip the ship. While thus employed,
+we were told that seventy-five of us, whose times were not quite out, were
+to be drafted for the Brandywine 44, then fitting out at New York, for a
+short cruise in the Gulf. This was bad news, for Jack likes a swing ashore
+after a long service abroad. Go we must, and did, however. We were sent
+round to New York in a schooner, and found the frigate still lying at the
+Yard. We were hulked on board the Hudson until she was ready to receive
+us, when we were sent to our new vessel. Captain Ballard commanded the
+Brandywine, and among her lieutenants, Mr. M'Kenny was the first. This is
+a fine ship, and she got her name from the battle in which La Fayette was
+wounded in this country, having been first fitted out to carry him to
+France, after his last visit to America. She is a first-class frigate,
+mounting thirty long thirty-two's on her gun-deck; and I conceive it to be
+some honour to a sailor to have it in his power to say he has been captain
+of the forecastle in such a ship, for I was rated in this frigate the same
+as I had been rated in the Delaware; with this difference, that, for my
+service in the Brandywine, I received my regular eighteen dollars a month
+as a petty officer; whereas, though actually captain of the Delaware's
+forecastle for quite two years, and second-captain nearly all the rest of
+the time I was in the ship, I never got more than seaman's wages, or
+twelve dollars a month. I do not know how this happened, though I supposed
+it to have arisen from some mistake connected with the circumstance that
+I was paid off for my services in the Delaware, by the purser of the
+frigate. This was in consequence of the transfer.
+
+The Brandywine sailed in March for the Gulf. Our cruise lasted about five
+months, during which time we went to Vera Cruz, Pensacola, and the Havana.
+We appeared to me to be a single ship, as we were never in squadron, and
+saw no broad-pennant. No accident happened, the cruise being altogether
+pleasant. The ship returned to Norfolk, and twenty-five of us, principally
+old Delawares, were discharged, our times being out. We all of us intended
+to return to the frigate, after a cruise ashore, and we chartered a
+schooner to carry us to Philadelphia in a body, determining not to
+part company.
+
+The morning the schooner sailed, I was leading the whole party along one
+of the streets of Norfolk, when I saw something white lying in the middle
+of the carriage-way. It turned out to be an old messmate, Jack Dove, who
+had been discharged three days before, and had left us to go to
+Philadelphia, but had been brought up by King Grog. While we were
+overhauling the poor fellow, who could not speak, his landlady came out to
+us, and told us that he had eat nothing for three days, and did nothing
+but drink. She begged us to take care of him, as he disregarded all she
+said. This honest woman gave us Jack's wages to a cent, for I knew what
+they had come to; and we made a collection of ten dollars for her,
+calculating that Jack must have swallowed that much in three days. Jack we
+took with us, bag and hammock; but he would eat nothing on the passage,
+calling out constantly for drink. We gave him liquor, thinking it would do
+him good; but he grew worse, and, when we reached Philadelphia, he was
+sent to the hospital. Here, in the course of a few days, he died.
+
+Never, in all my folly and excesses, did I give myself so much up to
+drink, as when I reached Philadelphia this time. I was not quite as bad as
+Jack Dove, but I soon lost my appetite, living principally on liquor. When
+we heard of Jack's death, we proposed among ourselves to give him a
+sailor's funeral. We turned out, accordingly, to the number if a hundred,
+or more, in blue jackets and white trowsers, and marched up to the
+hospital in a body. I was one of the leaders in this arrangement, and felt
+much interest in it, as Jack had been my messmate; but, the instant I saw
+his coffin, a fit of the "horrors" came over me, and I actually left the
+place, running down street towards the river, as if pursued by devils.
+Luckily, I stopped to rest on the stoop of a druggist. The worthy man took
+me in, gave me some soda water, and some good advice. When a little
+strengthened, I made my way home, but gave up at the door. Then followed a
+severe indisposition, which kept me in bed for a fortnight, during which I
+suffered the torments of the damned.
+
+I have had two or three visits from the "horrors," in the course of my
+life, but nothing to equal this attack. I came near following Jack Dove to
+the grave; but God, in His mercy, spared me from such an end. It is not
+possible for one who has never experienced the effects of his excesses, in
+this particular form, to get any correct notions of the sufferings I
+endured. Among other conceits, I thought the colour which the tar usually
+leaves on seamen's nails, was the sign that I had the yellow fever. This
+idea haunted me for days, and gave me great uneasiness. In short, I was
+like a man suspended over a yawning chasm, expecting, every instant, to
+fall and be dashed to pieces, and yet, who could not die.
+
+For some time after my recovery, I could not bear the smell of liquor; but
+evil companions lured me back to my old habits. I was soon in a bad way
+again, and it was only owing to the necessity of going to sea, that I had
+not a return of the dreadful malady. When I shipped in the Delaware, I had
+left my watch, quadrant, and good clothes, to the value of near two
+hundred dollars, with my present landlord, and he now restored them all to
+me, safe and sound. I made considerable additions to the stock of clothes,
+and when I again went to sea, left the whole, and more, with the
+same landlord.
+
+Our plan of going back to the Brandywine was altered by circumstances; and
+a party of us shipped in the Monongahela, a Liverpool liner, out of
+Philadelphia. The cabin of this vessel was taken by two gentlemen, going
+to visit Europe, viz.: Mr. Hare Powell and Mr. Edward Burd; and getting
+these passengers, with their families, on board, the ship sailed. By this
+time, I had pretty much given up the hope of preferment, and did not
+trouble myself whether I lived forward or aft. I joined the Monongahela as
+a forward hand, therefore, quite as well satisfied as if her chief mate.
+
+We left the Delaware in the month of August, and, a short time out,
+encountered one of the heaviest gales of wind I ever witnessed at sea. It
+came on from the eastward, and would have driven us ashore, had not the
+wind suddenly shifted to south-west. The ship was lying-to, under bare
+poles, pressed down upon the water in such a way that she lay almost as
+steady as if in a river; nor did the force of the wind allow the sea to
+get up. A part of the time, our lee lower yard-arms were nearly in the
+water. We had everything aloft, but sending them down was quite out of the
+question. It was not possible, at one time, for a man to go aloft at all.
+I tried it myself, and could with difficulty keep my feet on the ratlins.
+I make no doubt I should have been blown out of the top, could I have
+reached it, did I let go my hold to do any work.
+
+We had sailed in company with the Kensington, a corvette belonging to the
+Emperor of Russia, and saw a ship, during the gale, that was said to be
+she. The Kensington was dismasted, and had to return to refit, but we did
+not part a rope-yarn. When the wind shifted, we were on soundings; and, it
+still continuing to blow a gale, we set the main-topsail close-reefed, and
+the foresail, and shoved the vessel off the land at the rate of a
+steam-boat. After this, the wind favoured us, and our passage out was very
+short. We stayed but a few days in Liverpool; took in passengers, and got
+back to Philadelphia, after an absence of a little more than two months.
+The Kensington's report of the gale, and of our situation, had caused much
+uneasiness in Philadelphia, but our two passages were so short, that we
+brought the news of our safety.
+
+I now inquired for the Brandywine, but found she had sailed for the
+Mediterranean. It was my intention to have gone on board her, but missing
+this ship, and a set of officers that I knew, I looked out for a
+merchantman. I found a brig called the Amelia, bound to Bordeaux, and
+shipped in her before the mast.
+
+The Amelia had a bad passage out. It was in the autumn, and the brig
+leaked badly. This kept us a great deal at the pumps, an occupation that
+a sailor does anything but delight in. I am of opinion that pumping a
+leaky ship is the most detestable work in the world. Nothing but the dread
+of drowning ought to make a man do it, although some men will pump to save
+their property. As for myself, I am not certain I would take twenty-four
+hours of hard pumping to save any sum I shall probably ever own, or
+ever did own.
+
+After a long passage, we made the Cordovan, but, the wind blowing heavy
+off the land, we could not get in for near a fortnight. Not a pilot would
+come out, and if they had, it would have done us no good. After a while,
+the wind shifted, and we got into the river, and up to the town. We took
+in a return cargo of brandy, and sailed for Philadelphia. Our
+homeward-bound passage was long and stormy, but we made the capes, at
+last. Here we were boarded by a pilot, who told us we were too late; the
+Delaware had frozen up, and we had to keep away, with a South-east wind,
+for New York. We had a bad time of it, as soon as night came on. The gale
+increased, blowing directly into the bight, and we had to haul up under
+close-reefed topsails and reefed foresail, to claw off the land. The
+weather was very thick, and the night dark, and all we could do was to get
+round, when the land gave us a hint it was time. This we generally did in
+five fathoms water. We had to ware, for the brig would not tack under such
+short canvass, and, of course, lost much ground in so doing. About three
+in the morning we knew that it was nearly up with us. The soundings gave
+warning of this, and we got round, on what I supposed would be the
+Amelia's last leg. But Providence took care of us, when we could not help
+ourselves. The wind came out at north-west, as it might be by word of
+command; the mist cleared up, and we saw the lights, for the first time,
+close aboard us. The brig was taken aback, but we got her round, shortened
+sail, and hove her to, under a closed-reefed main-topsail. We now got it
+from the north-west, making very bad weather. The gale must have set us a
+long way to leeward, as we did not get in for a fortnight. We shipped a
+heavy sea, that stove our boat, and almost swept the decks. We were out of
+pork and beef, and our fire-wood was nearly gone. The binnacle was also
+gone. As good luck would have it, we killed a porpoise, soon after the
+wind shifted, and on this we lived, in a great measure, for more than a
+week, sometimes cooking it, but oftener eating it raw. At length the wind
+shifted, and we got in.
+
+I was no sooner out of this difficulty, than a hasty temper got me into
+another. While still in the stream, an Irish boatman called me a "Yankee
+son of a-----," and I lent him a clip. The fellow sued me, and, contriving
+to catch me before I left the vessel, I was sent to jail, for the first
+and only time in my life. This turned out to be a new and very revolting
+school for me. I was sent among as precious a set of rascals as New York
+could furnish. Their conversation was very edifying. One would tell how he
+cut the hoses of the engines at fires, with razor-blades fastened to his
+shoes; another, how many pocket-books he and his associates had taken at
+this or that fire; and a third, the mariner of breaking open stores, and
+the best mode of disposing of stolen goods. The cool, open, impudent
+manner in which these fellows spoke of such transactions, fairly astounded
+me. They must have thought I was in jail for some crime similar to their
+own, or they would not have talked so freely before a stranger. These
+chaps seemed to value a man by the enormity and number of his crimes.
+
+At length the captain and my landlord found out where I had been sent, and
+I was immediately bailed. Glad enough was I to get out of prison, and
+still more so to get out of the company I found in it. Such association is
+enough to undermine the morals of a saint, in a week or two. And yet these
+fellows were well dressed, and well enough looking, and might very well
+pass for a sort of gentlemen, with those who had seen but little of men of
+the true quality.
+
+I had got enough of law, and wished to push the matter no farther. The
+Irishman was sent for, and I compromised with him on the spot. The whole
+affair cost me my entire wages, and I was bound over to keep the peace,
+for, I do not know how long. This scrape compelled me to weigh my anchor
+at a short notice, as there is no living in New York without money. I went
+on board the Sully, therefore--a Havre liner--a day or two after getting
+out of the atmosphere of the City Hall. They may talk of Batavia, if they
+please; but in my judgement, it is the healthiest place of the two,
+
+Our passages, out and home, produced nothing worth mentioning, and I left
+the ship in New York. My wages went in the old way, and then I shipped in
+a schooner called the Susan and Mary, that was about to sail for Buenos
+Ayres, in the expectation that she would be sold there. The craft was a
+good one, though our passage out was very long. On reaching our port, I
+took my discharge, under the impression the vessel would be sold. A notion
+now came over me, that I would join the Buenos Ayrean navy, in order to
+see what sort of a service it was. I knew it was a mixed American and
+English affair, and, by this time, I had become very reckless as to my own
+fate. I wished to do nothing very wrong, but was incapable of doing
+anything that was very right.
+
+My windfall carried me on board a schooner, of eight or ten guns, called
+the Suradaha. I did not ship, making an arrangement by which I was to be
+left to decide for myself, whether I would remain in her, or not. Although
+a pretty good craft, I soon got enough of this service. In one week I was
+thoroughly disgusted, and left the schooner. It is well I did, as there
+was a "_revolution_" on board of her, a few days later, and she was
+carried up the river, and, as I was told, was there sunk. With her, sunk
+all my laurels in that service.
+
+The Susan and Mary was not sold, but took in hides for New York. I
+returned to her, therefore, and we sailed for home in due time. The
+passage proved long, but mild, and we were compelled to run in, off Point
+Petre, Gaudaloupe, where we took in some provisions. After this, nothing
+occurred until we reached New York.
+
+I now shifted the name of my craft, end for end, joining a half-rigged
+brig, called the Mary and Susan. I gained little by the change, this
+vessel being just the worst-looking hooker I did ever sail in. Still she
+was tight, strong enough, and not a very bad sailing vessel. But, for some
+reason or other, externals were not regarded, and we made anything but a
+holiday appearance on the water. I had seen the time when I would disdain
+to go chief-mate of such a looking craft; but I now shipped in her as a
+common hand.
+
+We sailed for Para, in Brazil, a port nearly under the line, having
+gunpowder, dry-goods, &c. Our passage, until we came near the coast of
+South America, was good, and nothing occurred to mention. When under the
+line, however, we made a rakish-looking schooner, carrying two topsails,
+one forenoon. We made no effort to escape, knowing it to be useless. The
+schooner set a Spanish ensign, and brought us to. We were ordered to lower
+our boat and to go on board the schooner, which were done. I happened to
+be at the helm, and remained in the Mary and Susan. The strangers ordered
+our people out of the boat, and sent an armed party in her, on board us.
+These men rummaged about for a short time, and then were hailed from their
+vessel to know if we promised well. Our looks deceived the head man of the
+boarders, who answered that we were _very_ poor. On receiving this
+information, the captain of the schooner ordered his boarding party to
+quit us. Our boat came back, but was ordered to return and bring another
+gang of the strangers. This time we were questioned about canvass, but got
+off by concealing the truth. We had thirty bolts on board, but produced
+only one. The bolt shown did not happen to suit, and the strangers again
+left us. We were told not to make sail until we received notice by signal,
+and the schooner hauled her wind. After standing on some time, however,
+these gentry seemed indisposed to quit us, for they came down again, and
+rounded to on our weather-beam. We were now questioned about our
+longitude, and whether we had a chronometer. We gave the former, but had
+nothing like the latter on board. Telling us once more not to make sail
+without the signal, the schooner left us, standing on until fairly out of
+sight. We waited until she sunk her topsails, and then went on our course.
+
+None of us doubted that this fellow was a pirate. The men on board us were
+an ill-looking set of rascals, of all countries. They spoke Spanish, but
+we gave them credit for being a mixture. Our escape was probably owing to
+our appearance, which promised anything but a rich booty. Our dry-goods
+and powder were concealed in casks under he ballast, and I suppose the
+papers were not particularly minute. At any rate, when we get into Para,
+most of the cargo went out of our schooner privately, being landed from
+lighters. We had a passenger, who passed for some revolutionary man, who
+also landed secretly. This gentleman was in a good deal of concern about
+the pirates, keeping himself hid while they were near us.
+
+
+
+Chapter XVI.
+
+
+
+Our passage from Para was good until the brig reached the latitude of
+Bermuda. Here, one morning, for the first time in this craft, Sundays
+excepted, we got a forenoon watch below. I was profiting by the
+opportunity to do a little work for myself, when the mate, an
+inexperienced young man, who was connected with the owners, came and
+ordered us up to help jibe ship. It was easy enough to do this in the
+watch, but he thought differently. As an old seaman, I do not hesitate to
+say that the order was both inconsiderate and unnecessary; though I do not
+wish to appear even to justify my own conduct, on the occasion. A hasty
+temper is one of my besetting weaknesses, and, at that time, I was in no
+degree influenced by any considerations of a moral nature, as connected
+with language. Exceedingly exasperated at this interference with our
+comfort, I did not hesitate to tell the mate my opinion of his order.
+Warming with my own complaints, I soon became fearfully profane and
+denunciatory. I called down curses on the brig, and all that belonged to
+her, not hesitating about wishing that she might founder at sea, and carry
+all hands of us to the bottom of the ocean. In a word, I indulged in all
+that looseness and profanity of the tongue, which is common enough with
+those who feel no restraints on the subject, and who are highly
+exasperated.
+
+I do think the extent to which I carried my curses and wishes, on this
+occasion, frightened the officers. They said nothing, but let me curse
+myself out, to my heart's content. A man soon wearies of so bootless a
+task, and the storm passed off, like one in the heavens, with a low
+rumbling. I gave myself no concern about the matter afterwards, but things
+took their course until noon. While the people were at dinner, the mate
+came forward again, however, and called all hands to shorten sail. Going
+on deck, I saw a very menacing black cloud astern, and went to work, with
+a will, to discharge a duty that everybody could see was necessary.
+
+We gathered in the canvass as fast as we could; but, before we could get
+through, and while I was lending a hand to furl the foresail, the squall
+struck the brig. I call it a squall, but it was more like the tail of a
+hurricane. Most of our canvass blew from the gaskets, the cloth going in
+ribands. The foresail and fore-topsail we managed to save, but all our
+light canvass went. I was still aloft when the brig broached-to. As she
+came up to the wind, the fore-topmast went over to leeward, being carried
+away at the cap. All the hamper came down, and began to thresh against the
+larboard side of the lower rigging. Just at this instant, a sea seemed to
+strike the brig under her bilge, and fairly throw her on her beam-ends.
+
+All this appeared to me to be the work of only a minute. I had scrambled
+to windward, to get out of the way of the wreck, and stood with one foot
+on the upper side of the bitts, holding on, to steady myself, by some of
+the running rigging. This was being in a very different attitude, but on
+the precise spot, where, two or three hours before, I had called on the
+Almighty to pour out his vials of wrath upon the vessel, myself, and all
+she contained! At that fearful instant, conscience pricked me, and I felt
+both shame and dread, at my recent language. It seemed to me as if I had
+been heard, and that my impious prayers were about to be granted. In the
+bitterness of my heart, I vowed, should my life be spared, never to be
+guilty of such gross profanity, again.
+
+These feelings, however, occupied me but a moment. I was too much of a
+real sea-dog to be standing idle at a time like that. There was but one
+man before the mast on whom I could call for anything in such a strait,
+and that was a New Yorker, of the name of Jack Neal. This man was near me,
+and I suggested to him the plan of getting the fore-topmast staysail
+loose, notwithstanding the mast was gone, in the hope it might blow open,
+and help the brig's bows round. Jack was a fellow to act, and he succeeded
+in loosening the sail, which did blow out in a way greatly to help us, as
+I think. I then proposed we should clamber aft, and try to get the helm
+up. This we did, also; though I question if the rudder could have had much
+power, in the position in which the brig lay.
+
+Either owing to the fore-top-mast staysail, or to some providential sea,
+the vessel did fall off, however, and presently she righted, coming up
+with great force, with a heavy roll to windward. The staysail helped us, I
+feel persuaded, as the stay had got taut in the wreck, and the wind had
+blown out the hanks. The brig's helm being hard up, as soon as she got
+way, the craft flew round like a top, coming up on the other tack, in
+spite of us, and throwing her nearly over again. She did not come fairly
+down, however, though I thought she was gone, for an instant.
+
+Finding it possible to move, I now ran forward, and succeeded in stopping
+the wreck into the rigging and bitts. At this time the brig minded her
+helm, and fell off, coming under command. To help us, the head of the
+spencer got loose, from the throat-brail up, and, blowing out against the
+wreck, the whole formed, together, a body of hamper, that acted as a sort
+of sail, which helped the brig to keep clear of the seas. By close
+attention to the helm, we were enabled to prevent the vessel from
+broaching-to again, and, of course, managed to sail her on her bottom.
+About sunset, it moderated, and, next morning, the weather was fine. We
+then went to work, and rigged jury-masts; reaching New York a few
+days later.
+
+Had this accident occurred to our vessel in the night, as did that to the
+Scourge, our fate would probably have been decided in a few minutes. As it
+was, half an hour, in the sort of sea that was going, would have finished
+her. As for my repentance, if I can use the term on such an occasion, and
+for such a feeling, it was more lasting than thorough. I have never been
+so fearfully profane since; and often, when I have felt the disposition to
+give way to passion in this revolting form, my feelings, as I stood by
+those bitts, have recurred to my mind--my vow has been remembered, and I
+hope, together, they did some good, until I was made to see the general
+errors of my life, and the necessity of throwing all my sins on the
+merciful interposition of my Saviour.
+
+I was not as reckless and extravagant, this time, in port, as I had
+usually been, of late years. I shipped, before my money was all gone, on
+board the Henry Kneeland, for Liverpool, viâ New Orleans. On reaching the
+latter port, all hands of us were beset by the land-sharks, in the shape
+of landlords, who told us how much better we should be off by running,
+than by sticking by the ship. We listened to these tales, and went in a
+body. What made the matter worse, and our conduct the less excusable, was
+the fact, that we got good wages and good treatment in the Henry Kneeland.
+The landlords came with two boats, in the night; we passed our dunnage
+down to them, and away we went, leaving only one man on board. The very
+next day we all shipped on board the Marian, United States' Revenue
+Cutter, where I was rated a quarter-mate, at fifteen dollars a month;
+leaving seventeen to obtain this preferment!
+
+We got a good craft for our money, however. She was a large comfortable
+schooner, that mounted a few light guns, and our duty was far from heavy.
+The treatment turned out to be good, also, as some relief to our folly.
+One of our Henry Kneelands died of the "horrors" before we got to sea, and
+we buried him at the watering-place, near the lower bar. I must have been
+about four months in the Marion, during which time we visited the
+different keys, and went into Key West. At this place, our crew became
+sickly, and I was landed among others, and sent to a boarding-house. It
+was near a month before we could get the crew together again, when we
+sailed for Norfolk. At Norfolk, six of us had relapses, and were sent to
+the hospital; the cutter sailing without us. I never saw the craft
+afterwards.
+
+I was but a fortnight in the hospital, the disease being only the fever
+and ague. Just as I came out, the Alert, the New York cutter, came in, and
+I was sent on board her. This separated me from all the Henry Kneelands
+but one old man. The Alert was bound south, on duty connected with the
+nullification troubles; and, soon after I joined her, she sailed for
+Charleston, South Carolina. Here a little fleet of cutters soon
+collected; no less than seven of us being at anchor in the waters of South
+Carolina, to prevent any breach of the tariff laws. When I had been on
+board the Alert about a month, a new cutter called the Jackson, came in
+from New York, and being the finest craft on the station, our officers and
+crew were transferred to her in a body; our captain being the senior of
+all the revenue captains present.
+
+I must have been at least six months in the waters of South Carolina, thus
+employed. We never went to sea, but occasionally dropped down as far as
+Rebellion Roads. We were not allowed to go ashore, except on rare
+occasions, and towards the last, matters got to be so serious, that we
+almost looked upon ourselves as in an enemy's country. Commodore Elliott
+joined the station in the Natchez sloop-of-war, and the Experiment,
+man-of-war schooner, also arrived and remained. After the arrival of the
+Natchez, the Commodore took command of all hands of us afloat, and we were
+kept in a state of high preparation for service. We were occasionally at
+quarters, nights, though I never exactly knew the reasons. It was said
+attacks on us were anticipated. General Scott was in the fort, and matters
+looked very warlike, for several weeks.
+
+At length we got the joyful news that nullification had been thrown
+overboard, and that no more was to be apprehended. It seems that the crews
+of the different cutters had been increased for this particular service;
+but, now it was over, there were more men employed than Government had
+needed. We were told, in consequence, that those among us who wished our
+discharges, might have them on application.
+
+I had been long enough in this 'long-shore service, and applied to be
+discharged, under this provision. My time was so near out, however, that I
+should have got away soon, in regular course.
+
+I now went ashore at Charleston, and had my swig, as long as the money
+lasted. I gave myself no trouble about the ship's husband, whose
+collar-bone I had broken; nor do I now know whether he was then living, or
+dead. In a word, I thought only of the present time; the past and the
+future being equally indifferent to me. My old landlord was dead; and I
+fell altogether into the hands of a new set. I never took the precaution
+to change my name, at any period of my life, with the exception, that I
+dropped the Robert, in signing shipping-articles. I also wrote my name
+Myers, instead of Meyers, as, I have been informed by my sister, was the
+true spelling. But this proceeded from ignorance, and not from intention.
+In all times, and seasons, and weathers, and services, I have sailed as
+Ned Myers; and as nothing else.
+
+It soon became necessary to ship again; and I went on board the Harriet
+and Jesse, which was bound to Havre de Grace. This proved to be a
+pleasant, easy voyage; the ship coming back to New York filled with
+passengers, who were called Swiss; but most of whom, as I understand, came
+from Wurtemberg, Alsace, and the countries on the Rhine. On reaching New
+York, I went on to Philadelphia, to obtain the effects I had left there,
+when I went out in the Amelia. But my landlord was dead; his family was
+scattered; and my property had disappeared. I never knew who got it; but a
+quadrant, watch, and some entirely new clothes, went in the wreck. I
+suppose I lost, at least, two hundred dollars, in this way. What odds did
+it make to me? it would have gone in grog, if it had not gone in
+this manner.
+
+I staid but a short time in Philadelphia, joining a brig, called the
+Topaz, bound to Havana. We arrived out, after a short passage; and here I
+was exposed to as strong a temptation to commit crime, as a poor fellow
+need encounter. A beautiful American-built brig, was lying in port, bound
+to Africa, for slaves. She was the loveliest craft I ever laid eyes on;
+and the very sight of her gave me a longing to go in her. She offered
+forty dollars a month, with the privilege of a slave and a half. I went so
+far as to try to get on board her; but met with some difficulty, in having
+my things seized. The captain found it out; and, by pointing out to me the
+danger I ran, succeeded in changing my mind.
+
+I will not deny, that I knew the trade was immoral; but so is smuggling;
+and I viewed them pretty much as the same thing, in this sense. I am now
+told, that the law of this country pronounces the American citizen, who
+goes in a slaver, a pirate; and treats him as such; which, to me, seems
+very extraordinary. I do not understand, how a Spaniard can do that, and
+be no pirate, which makes an American a pirate, if he be guilty of it. I
+feel certain, that very few sailors know in what light the law views
+slaving. Now, piracy is robbing, on the high seas, and has always been
+contrary to law; but slaving was encouraged by all nations, a short time
+since; and we poor tars look upon the change, as nothing but a change in
+policy. As for myself, I should have gone in that brig, in utter ignorance
+of the risks I ran, and believing myself to be about as guilty, in a moral
+sense, as I was when I smuggled tobacco, on the coast of Ireland, or opium
+in Canton. [15]
+
+As the Topaz was coming out of the port of Havana, homeward bound, and
+just as she was abreast of the Moro, the brig carried away her bobstay. I
+was busy in helping to unreeve the stay, when I was seized with sudden and
+violent cramps. This attack proved to be the cholera, which came near
+carrying me off. The captain had me taken aft, where I was attended with
+the greatest care. God be praised for his mercy! I got well, though
+scarcely able to do any more duty before we got in.
+
+A short voyage gives short commons; and I was soon obliged to look out for
+another craft. This time I shipped in the Erie, Captain Funk, a Havre
+liner, and sailed soon after. This was a noble ship, with the best of
+usage. Both our passages were pleasant, and give me nothing to relate.
+While I was at work in the hold, at Havre, a poor female passenger, who
+came to look at the ship, fell through the hatch, and was so much injured
+as to be left behind. I mention the circumstance merely to show how near I
+was to a meeting with my old shipmate, who is writing these pages, and yet
+missed him. On comparing notes, I find he was on deck when this accident
+happened, having come to see after some effects he was then shipping to
+New York. These very effects I handled, and supposed them to belong to a
+passenger who was to come home in the ship; but, as they were addressed to
+another name, I could not recognise them. Mr. Cooper did not come home in
+the Erie, but passed over to England, and embarked at London, and so I
+failed to see him.
+
+In these liners, the captains wish to keep the good men of their crews as
+long as they can. We liked the Erie and her captain so much, that eight or
+ten of us stuck by the ship, and went out in her again. This time our luck
+was not so good. The passage out was well enough, but homeward-bound we
+had a hard time of it. While in Havre, too, we had a narrow escape.
+Christmas night, a fire broke out in the cabin, and came near smothering
+us all, forward, before we knew anything about it. Our chief mate, whose
+name was Everdy,[16] saved the vessel by his caution and exertions; the
+captain not getting on board until the fire had come to a head. We kept
+everything closed until an engine was ready, then cut away the deck, and
+sent down the hose This expedient, with a free use of water, saved the
+ship. It is not known how the fire originated. A good deal of damage was
+done, and some property was lost.
+
+Notwithstanding this accident, we had the ship ready for sea early in
+January, 1834. For the first week out, we met with head winds and heavy
+weather; so heavy, indeed, as to render it difficult to get rid of the
+pilot. The ship beat down channel with him on board, as low as the
+Eddystone. Here we saw the Sully, outward bound, running up channel before
+the wind. Signals were exchanged, and our ship, which was then well off
+the land, ran in and spoke the Sully. We put our pilot on board this ship,
+which was doing a good turn all round. The afternoon proving fair, and the
+wind moderating, Captain Funk filled and stood in near to the coast, as
+his best tack. Towards night, however, the gale freshened, and blew into
+the bay, between the Start Point and the Lizard, in a heavy,
+steady manner.
+
+The first thing was to ware off shore; after which, we were compelled to
+take in nearly all our canvass. The gale continued to increase, and the
+night set in dark. There were plenty of ports to leeward, but it was
+ticklish work to lose a foot of ground, unless one knew exactly where he
+was going. We had no pilot, and the captain decided to hold on. I have
+seldom known it to blow harder than it did that night; and, for hours,
+everything depended on our main-top-sail's standing, which sail we had set,
+close-reefed. I did not see anything to guide us, but the compass, until
+about ten o'clock, when I caught a view of a light close on our lee bow.
+This was the Eddystone, which stands pretty nearly in a line between the
+Start and the Lizard, and rather more than three leagues from the land.
+As we headed, we might lay past, should everything stand; but, if our
+topsail went, we should have been pretty certain of fetching up on those
+famous rocks, where a three-decker would have gone to pieces in an hour's
+time in such a gale.
+
+I suppose we passed the Eddystone at a safe distance, or the captain would
+not have attempted going to windward of it; but, to me, it appeared that
+we were fearfully near. The sea was breaking over the light tremendously,
+and could be plainly seen, as it flashed up near the lantern. We went by,
+however, surging slowly ahead, though our drift must have been
+very material.
+
+The Start, and the point to the westward of it, were still to be cleared.
+They were a good way off, and but a little to leeward, as the ship headed.
+In smooth water, and with a whole-sail breeze, it would have been easy
+enough to lay past the Start, when at the Eddystone, with a south-west
+wind; but, in a gale, it is a serious matter, especially on a flood-tide.
+I know all hands of us, forward and aft, looked upon our situation as very
+grave. We passed several uneasy hours, after we lost sight of the
+Eddystone, before we got a view of the land near the Start. When I saw it,
+the heights appeared like a dark cloud hanging over us, and I certainly
+thought the ship was gone. At this time, the captain and mate consulted
+together, and the latter came to us, in a very calm, steady manner, and
+said--"Come, boys; we may as well go ashore without masts as with them,
+and our only hope is in getting more canvass to stand. We must turn-to,
+and make sail on the ship."
+
+Everybody was in motion on this hint, and the first thing we did was to
+board fore-tack. The clews of that sail came down as if so many giants had
+hold of the tack and sheet. We set it, double-reefed, which made it but a
+rag of a sail, and yet the ship felt it directly. We next tried the
+fore-topsail, close-reefed, and this stood. It was well we did, for I feel
+certain the ship was now in the ground-swell. That black hill seemed
+ready to fall on our heads. We tried the mizen-topsail, but we found it
+would not do, and we furled it again, not without great difficulty. Things
+still looked serious, the land drawing nearer and nearer; and we tried to
+get the mainsail, double-reefed, on the ship. Everybody mustered at the
+tack and sheet, and we dragged down that bit of cloth as if it had been
+muslin. The good ship now quivered like a horse that is over-ridden, but
+in those liners everything is strong, and everything stood. I never saw
+spray thrown from a ship's bows, as it was thrown from the Erie's that
+night. We had a breathless quarter of an hour after the mainsail was set,
+everybody looking to see what would go first. Every rope and bolt in the
+craft was tried to the utmost, but all stood! At the most critical moment,
+we caught a glimpse of a light in a house that was known to stand near the
+Start; and the mate came among us, pointed it out, and said, if we
+weathered _that_, we should go clear. After hearing this, my eyes were
+never off that light, and glad was I to see it slowly drawing more astern,
+and more under our lee. At last we got it on our quarter, and knew that we
+had gone clear! The gloomy-looking land disappeared to leeward, in a deep,
+broad bay, giving us plenty of sea-room.
+
+We now took in canvass, to ease the ship. The mainsail and fore-topsail
+were furled, leaving her to jog along under the main-topsail, foresail,
+and fore-topmast staysail. I look upon this as one of my narrowest escapes
+from shipwreck; and I consider the escape, under the mercy of God, to have
+been owing to the steadiness of our officers, and the goodness of the ship
+and her outfit. It was like pushing a horse to the trial of every nerve
+and sinew, and only winning the race under whip and spur. Wood, and iron,
+and cordage, and canvass, can do no more than they did that night.
+
+Next morning, at breakfast, the crew talked the matter over. We had a hard
+set in this ship, the men being prime seamen, but of reckless habits and
+characters. Some of the most thoughtless among them admitted that they had
+prayed secretly for succour, and, for myself, I am most thankful that _I_
+did. These confessions were made half-jestingly, but I believe them to
+have been true, judging from my own case. It may sound bravely in the ears
+of the thoughtless and foolish, to boast of indifference on such
+occasions; but, few men can face death under circumstances like those in
+which we were placed, without admitting to themselves, however
+reluctantly, that there is a Power above, on which they must lean for
+personal safety, as well as for spiritual support. More than usual care
+was had for the future welfare of sailors among the Havre liners, there
+being a mariners' church at Havre, at which our captain always attended,
+as well as his mates; and efforts were made to make us go also. The effect
+was good, the men being better behaved, and more sober, in consequence.
+
+The wind shifted a day or two after this escape, giving us a slant that
+carried us past Scilly, fairly out into the Atlantic. A fortnight or so
+after our interview with the Eddystone we carried away the pintals of the
+rudder, which was saved only by the modern invention that prevents the
+head from dropping, by means of the deck. To prevent the strain, and to
+get some service from the rudder, however, we found it necessary to sling
+the latter, and to breast it into the stern-post by means of purchases. A
+spar was laid athwart the coach-house, directly over the rudder, and we
+rove a chain through the tiller-hole, and passed it over this spar. For
+this purpose the smallest chain-cable was used, the rudder being raised
+from the deck by means of sheers. We then got a set of chain-topsail
+sheets, parcelled them well, and took a clove hitch with them around the
+rudder, about half-way up. One end was brought into each main-chain, and
+set up by tackles. In this manner the wheel did tolerably well, though we
+had to let the ship lie-to in heavy weather.
+
+The chain sheets held on near a month, and then gave way. On examination,
+it was found that the parcelling had gone under the ship's counter, and
+that the copper had nearly destroyed the iron. After this, we mustered all
+the chains of the ship, of proper size, parcelled them very thoroughly,
+got another clove hitch around the rudder as before, and brought the ends
+to the hawse-holes, letting the bights fall, one on each side of the
+ship's keel. The ends were next brought to the windlass and hove taut.
+This answered pretty well, and stood until we got the ship into New York.
+Our whole passage was stormy, and lasted seventy days, as near as I can
+recollect. The ship was almost given up when we got in, and great was the
+joy at our arrival.
+
+As the Erie lost her turn, in consequence of wanting repairs, most of us
+went on board the Henry IVth, in the same line. This voyage was
+comfortable, and successful, a fine ship and good usage. On our return to
+New York most of us went back to the Erie, liking both vessel and captain,
+as well as her other officers. I went twice more to Havre and back in this
+ship, making four voyages in her in all. At the end of the fourth voyage
+our old mate left us, to do business ashore, and we took a dislike to his
+successor, though it was without trying him. The mate we lost had been a
+great favourite, and we seemed to think if he went we must go too. At any
+rate, nearly all hands went to the Silvie de Grasse, where we got another
+good ship, good officers, and good treatment. In fact, all these Havre
+liners were very much alike in these respects, the Silvie de Grasse being
+the fourth in which I had then sailed, and to me they all seemed as if
+they belonged to the same family. I went twice to Havre in this ship also,
+when I left her for the Normandy, in the same line. I made this change in
+consequence of an affair about some segars in Havre, in which I had no
+other concern than to father another man's fault. The captain treated me
+very handsomely, but my temperament is such that I am apt to fly off in a
+tangent when anything goes up stream. It was caprice that took me from the
+Silvie de Grasse, and put me in her sister-liner.
+
+I liked the Normandy as well as the rest of these liners, except that the
+vessel steered badly. I made only one voyage in her, however, as will be
+seen in the next chapter.
+
+
+
+Chapter XVII.
+
+
+
+I had now been no less than eight voyages in the Havre trade, without
+intermission. So regular had my occupation become, that I began to think I
+was a part of a liner myself. I liked the treatment, the food, the ships,
+and the officers. Whenever we got home, I worked in the ship, at day's
+work, until paid off; after which, no more was seen of Ned until it was
+time to go on board to sail. When I got in, in the Normandy, it happened
+as usual, though I took a short swing only. Mr. Everdy, our old mate in
+the Erie, was working gangs of stevedores, riggers, &c., ashore; and when
+I went and reported myself to him, as ready for work in the Normandy
+again, he observed that her gang was full, but that, by going up-town next
+morning, to the screw-dock, I should find an excellent job on board a
+brig. The following day, accordingly, I took my dinner in a pail, and
+started off for the dock, as directed. On my way, I fell in with an old
+shipmate in the navy, a boatswain's-mate, of the name of Benson. This man
+asked me where I was bound with my pail, and I told him. "What's the use,"
+says he, "of dragging your soul out in these liners, when you have a
+man-of-war under your lee!" Then he told me he meant to ship, and advised
+me to do the same. I drank with him two or three times, and felt half
+persuaded to enter; but, recollecting the brig, I left him, and pushed on
+to the dock. When I got there, it was so late that the vessel had got off
+the dock, and was already under way in the stream.
+
+My day's work was now up, and I determined to make a full holiday of it.
+As I went back, I fell in with Captain Mix, the officer with whom I had
+first gone on the lakes, and my old first-lieutenant in the Delaware, and
+had a bit of navy talk with him; after which I drifted along as far as the
+rendezvous. The officer in charge was Mr. M'Kenny, my old first-lieutenant
+in the Brandywine, and, before I quitted the house, my name was down,
+again, for one of Uncle Sam's sailor-men. In this accidental manner have I
+floated about the world, most of my life--not dreaming in the morning,
+what would fetch me up before night.
+
+When it was time to go off, I was ready, and was sent on board the Hudson,
+which vessel Captain Mix then commanded. I have the consolation of knowing
+that I never ran, or thought of running, from either of the eleven
+men-of-war on board of which I have served, counting big and little,
+service of days and service of years. I had so long a pull in the
+receiving-ship, as to get heartily tired of her; and, when an opportunity
+offered, I put my name down for the Constellation 38, which was then
+fitting out for the West India station, in Norfolk. A draft of us was sent
+round to that ship accordingly, and we found she had hauled off from the
+yard, and was lying between the forts. When I got on board, I ascertained
+that something like fifty of my old liners were in this very ship, some
+common motive inducing them to take service in the navy, all at the same
+time. As for myself, it happened just as I have related, though I always
+liked the navy, and was ever ready to join a ship of war, for a
+pleasant cruise.
+
+Commodore Dallas's pennant was flying in the Constellation when I joined
+her. A short time afterwards, the ship sailed for the West Indies. As
+there was nothing material occurred in the cruise, it is unnecessary to
+relate things in the order in which they took place. The ship went to
+Havana, Trinidad, Curaçoa, Laguayra, Santa Cruz, Vera Cruz, Campeachy,
+Tampico, Key West, &c. We lay more or less time at all these ports, and in
+Santa Cruz we had a great ball on board. After passing several months in
+this manner, we went to Pensacola. The St. Louis was with us most of this
+time, though she did not sail from America in company. The next season the
+whole squadron went to Vera Cruz in company, seven or eight sail of us in
+all, giving the Mexicans some alarm, I believe.
+
+But the Florida war gave us the most occupation. I was out in all sorts of
+ways, on expeditions, and can say I never saw an Indian, except those who
+came to give themselves up. I was in steamboats, cutters, launches, and on
+shore, marching like a soldier, with a gun on my shoulder, and precious
+duty it was for a sailor.
+
+The St. Louis being short of hands, I was also drafted for a cruise in
+her; going the rounds much as we had done in the frigate. This was a fine
+ship, and was then commanded by Captain Rousseau, an officer much
+respected and liked, by us all. Mr. Byrne, my old shipmate in the
+Delaware, went out with us as first-lieutenant of the Constellation, but
+he did not remain out the whole cruise.
+
+Altogether I was out on the West India station three years, but got into
+the hospital, for several months of the time, in consequence of a broken
+bone. While in the hospital, the frigate made a cruise, leaving me ashore.
+On her return, I was invalided home, in the Levant, Captain Paulding,
+another solid, excellent officer. In a word, I was lucky in my officers,
+generally; the treatment on board the frigate being just and good. The
+duty in the Constellation was very hard, being a sort of soldier duty,
+which may be very well for those that are trained to it, but makes bad
+weather for us blue-jackets. Captain Mix, the officer with whom I went to
+the lakes, was out on the station in command of the Concord, sloop of war,
+and, for some time, was in charge of our ship, during the absence of
+Commodore Dallas, in his own vessel. In this manner are old shipmates
+often thrown together, after years of separation.
+
+In the hospital I was rated as porter, Captain Bolton and Captain Latirner
+being my commanding officers; the first being in charge of the yard, and
+the second his next in rank. From these two gentlemen I received so many
+favours, that it would be ungrateful in me not to mention them. Dr.
+Terrill, the surgeon of the hospital, too, was also exceedingly kind to
+me, during the time I was under his care.
+
+As I had much leisure time in the hospital, I took charge of a garden, and
+got to be somewhat of a gardener. It was said I had the best garden about
+Pensacola, which is quite likely true, as I never saw but one other.
+
+The most important thing, however, that occurred to me while in the
+hospital, was a disposition that suddenly arose in my mind, to reflect on
+my future state, and to look at religious things with serious eyes. Dr.
+Terrill had some blacks in his service, who were in the habit of holding
+little Methodist meetings, where they sang hymns, and conversed together
+seriously. I never joined these people, being too white for that, down at
+Pensacola, but I could overhear them from my own little room. A Roman
+Catholic in the hospital had a prayer-book in English, which he lent to
+me, and I got into the habit of reading a prayer in it, daily, as a sort
+of worshipping of the Almighty. This was the first act of mine, that
+approached private worship, since the day I left Mr. Marchinton's; if I
+except the few hasty mental petitions put up in moments of danger.
+
+After a time, I began to think it would never do for me, a Protestant born
+and baptised, to be studying a Romish prayer-book; and I hunted up one
+that was Protestant, and which had been written expressly for seamen. This
+I took to my room, and used in place of the Romish book. Dr. Terrill had a
+number of bibles under his charge, and I obtained one of these, also, and
+I actually got into the practice of reading a chapter every night, as
+well as of reading a prayer, also knocked off from drink, and ceased to
+swear. My reading in the bible, now, was not for the stories, but
+seriously to improve my mind and morals.
+
+I must have been several months getting to be more and more in earnest on
+the subject of morality, if not of vital religion, when I formed an
+acquaintance with a new steward, who had just joined the hospital. This
+man was ready enough to converse with me about the bible, but he turned
+out to be a Deist, Notwithstanding my own disposition to think more
+seriously of my true situation, I had many misgivings on the subject of
+the Saviour's being the Son of God. It seemed improbable to me, and I was
+falling into the danger which is so apt to beset the new beginner--that of
+self-sufficiency, and the substituting of human wisdom for faith. The
+steward was not slow in discovering this; and he produced some of Tom
+Paine's works, by way of strengthening me in the unbelief. I now read Tom
+Paine, instead of the bible, and soon had practical evidence of the bad
+effects of his miserable system. I soon got stern-way on me in morals;
+began to drink, as before, though seldom intoxicated, and grew indifferent
+to my bible and prayer-book, as well as careless of the future. I began to
+think that the things of this world were to be enjoyed, and he was the
+wisest who made the most of his time.
+
+I must confess, also, that the bad examples which I saw set by men
+professing to be Christians, had a strong tendency to disgust me with
+religion. The great mistake I made was, in supposing I had undergone any
+real change of heart. Circumstances disposed me to reflect, and reflection
+brought me to be serious, on subjects that I had hitherto treated with
+levity; but the grace of God was still, in a great degree, withheld from
+me, leaving me a prey to such arguments as those of the steward, and his
+great prophet and master, Mr. Paine.
+
+In the hospital, and that, too, at a place like Pensacola there was little
+opportunity for me to break out into my old excesses; though I found
+liquor, on one or two occasions, even there, and got myself into some
+disgrace in consequence. On the whole, however, the discipline, my
+situation, and my own resolution, kept me tolerably correct. It is the
+restraint of a ship that alone prevents sailors from dying much sooner
+than they do; for it is certain no man could hold out long who passed
+three or four months every year in the sort of indulgencies into which I
+myself have often run, after returning from long voyages. This is one
+advantage of the navy; two or three days of riotous living being all a
+fellow _can_ very well get in a three years' cruise. Any man who has ever
+been in a vessel of war, particularly in old times, can see the effect
+produced by the system, and regular living of a ship. When the crew first
+came on board, the men were listless, almost lifeless, with recent
+dissipation; some suffering with the "horrors," perhaps; but a few weeks
+of regular living would bring them all round; and, by the end of the
+cruise, most of the people would come into port, and be paid off, with
+renovated constitutions. It is a little different, now, to be sure, as the
+men ship for general service, and commonly serve a short apprenticeship in
+a receiving vessel, before they are turned over to the sea-going craft.
+This brings them on board the last in a little better condition than used
+to be the case; but, even now, six months in a man-of-war is a new lease
+for a seaman's life.
+
+I say I got myself into disgrace in the hospital of Pensacola, in
+consequence of my habit of drinking. The facts were as follows, for I have
+no desire to conceal, or to parade before the world, my own delinquencies;
+but, I confess them with the hope that the pictures they present, may have
+some salutary influence on the conduct of others. The doctor, who was
+steadily my friend, and often gave me excellent advice, went north, in
+order to bring his wife to Pensacola. I was considered entitled to a
+pension for the hurt which had brought me into the hospital, and the
+doctor had promised to see something about it, while at Washington. This
+was not done, in consequence of his not passing through Washington, as had
+been expected. Now, nature has so formed me, that any disgust, or
+disappointment, makes me reckless, and awakens a desire to revenge myself,
+on myself, as I may say. It was this feeling which first carried me from
+Halifax; it was this feeling that made me run from the Sterling; and which
+has often changed and sometimes marred my prospects, as I have passed
+through life. As soon as I learned that nothing had been said about my
+pension, this same feeling came over me, and I became reckless. I had not
+drawn my grog for months, and, indeed, had left off drinking entirely; but
+I now determined to have my fill, at the first good opportunity. I meant
+to make the officers sorry, by doing something that was very wrong, and
+for which I should be sorry myself.
+
+I kept the keys of the liquor of the hospital. The first thing was to find
+a confederate, which I did in the person of a Baltimore chap, who entered
+into my plan from pure love of liquor. I then got a stock of the wine, and
+we went to work on it, in my room. The liquor was sherry, and it took nine
+bottles of it to lay us both up. Even this did not make me beastly drunk,
+but it made me desperate and impudent. I abused the doctor, and came very
+near putting my foot into it, with Captain Latimer, who is an officer that
+it will not do, always, to trifle with. Still, these gentlemen, with
+Captain Bolton, had more consideration for me, than I had for myself, and
+I escaped with only a good reprimand. It was owing to this frolic,
+however, that I was invalided home--as they call it out there, no one
+seeming to consider Pensacola as being in the United States.
+
+When landed from the Levant, I was sent to the Navy Yard Hospital,
+Brooklyn. After staying two or three days here, I determined to go to the
+seat of government, and take a look at the great guns stationed there,
+Uncle Sam and all. I was paid off from the Levant, accordingly, and
+leaving the balance with the purser of the yard, I set off on my journey,
+with fifty dollars in my pockets, which they tell me is about a member of
+Congress' mileage, for the distance I had to go. Of course this was
+enough, as a member of Congress would naturally take care and give himself
+as much as he wanted.
+
+When I got on board the South-Amboy boat, I found a party of Indians
+there, going to head-quarters, like myself. The sight of these chaps set
+up all my rigging, and I felt ripe for fun. I treated them to a breakfast
+each, and gave them as much to drink as they could swallow. We all got
+merry, and had our own coarse fun, in the usual thought less manner of
+seamen. This was a bad beginning, and by the time we reached a tavern, I
+was ready to anchor. Where this was, is more than I know; for I was not in
+a state to keep a ship's reckoning. Whether any of my money was stolen or
+not, I cannot say, but I know that some of my clothes were. Next day I got
+to Philadelphia, where I had another frolic. After this, I went on to
+Washington, keeping it up, the whole distance. I fell in with a soldier
+chap, who was out of cash, and who was going to Washington to get a
+pension, too; and so we lived in common. When we reached Washington, my
+cash was diminished to three dollars and a half, and all was the
+consequences of brandy and folly. I had actually spent forty-six dollars
+and a half, in a journey that might have been made with ten, respectably!
+
+I got my travelling companion to recommend a boarding-house, which he did.
+I felt miserable from my excesses, and went to bed. In the morning, the
+three dollars and a half were gone. I felt too ill to go to the Department
+that day, but kept on drinking--eating nothing. Next day, my landlord took
+the trouble to inquire into the state of my pocket, and I told him the
+truth. This brought about a pretty free explanation between us, in which I
+was given to understand that my time was up in that place. I afterwards
+found out I had got into a regular soldier-house, and it was no wonder
+they did not know how to treat an old salt.
+
+Captain Mix had given me a letter to Commodore Chauncey, who was then
+living, and one of the Commissioners. I felt pretty certain the old
+gentleman would not let one of the Scourges founder at head-quarters, and
+so I crawled up to the Department, and got admission to him. The commodore
+seemed glad to see me; questioned me a good deal about the loss of the
+schooner, and finally gave me directions how to proceed. I then discovered
+that my pension ticket had actually reached Washington, but had been sent
+back to Pensacola, to get some informality corrected. This would compel me
+to remain some time at Washington. I felt unwell, and got back to my
+boarding-house with these tidings. The gentleman who kept the house was
+far from being satisfied with this, and he gave me a hint that at once put
+the door between us. This was the first time I ever had a door shut upon
+me, and I am thankful it happened at a soldier rendezvous. I gave the man
+all my spare clothes in pawn, and walked away from his house.
+
+I had undoubtedly brought on myself a fit of the "horrors," by my recent
+excesses. As I went along the streets, I thought every one was sneering at
+me; and, though burning with thirst, I felt ashamed to enter any house to
+ask even for water. A black gave me the direction of the Navy Yard, and I
+shaped my course for it, feeling more like lying down to die, than
+anything else. When about half-way across the bit of vacant land between
+the Capitol and the Yard, I sat down under a high picket-fence, and the
+devil put it into my head, that it would be well to terminate sufferings
+that seemed too hard to be borne, by hanging myself on that very fence. I
+took the handkerchief from my neck, made a running bow-line, and got so
+far as to be at work at a standing bow-line, to hitch over the top of one
+of the poles of the fence.
+
+I now stood up, and began to look for a proper picket to make fast to,
+when, in gazing about, I caught sight of the mast-heads of the shipping at
+the yard, and of the ensign under which I had so long served! These came
+over me, as a light-house comes over a mariner in distress at sea, and I
+thought there must be friends for me in that quarter. The sight gave me
+courage and strength, and I determined no old shipmate should hear of a
+blue-jacket's hanging himself on a picket, in a fit of the horrors.
+Casting off the bowlines, I replaced the handkerchief on my neck, and made
+the best of my way towards those blessed mast-heads, which, under God's
+mercy, were the means of preventing me from committing suicide.
+
+As I came up to the gate of the yard, the marine on post sung out to me,
+"Halloo, Myers, where are you come from? You look as if you had been
+dragged through h--, and beaten with a soot-bag!" This man, the first I
+met at the Navy Yard, had been with me three years in the Delaware, and
+knew me in spite of my miserable appearance. He advised me to go on board
+the Fulton, then lying at the Yard, where he said I should find several
+more old Delawares, who would take good care of me. I did as he directed,
+and, on getting on board, I fell in with lots of acquaintances. Some
+brought me tea, and some brought me grog. I told my yarn, and the chaps
+around me laid a plan to get ashore on liberty that night, and razée the
+house from which I had been turned away. But I persuaded them out of the
+notion, and the landlord went clear.
+
+Alter a while, I got a direction to a boarding-house near the Yard, and
+went to it, with a message from my old shipmates that they would be
+responsible for the pay. But to this the man would not listen; he took me
+in on my own account, saying that no blue-jacket should be turned from
+_his_ door, in distress. Here I staid and got a comfortable night's rest.
+Next day I was a new man, holy-stoned the decks, and went a second time to
+the Department.
+
+All the gentlemen in the office showed a desire to serve and advise me.
+The Pension Clerk gave me a letter to Mr. Boyle, the Chief Clerk, who gave
+me another letter to Commodore Patterson, the commandant of the Navy-Yard.
+It seems that government provides a boarding-house for us pensioners to
+stay in, while at Washington, looking after our rights. This letter of Mr.
+Boyle's got me a berth in that house, where I was supplied with
+everything, even to washing and mending, for six weeks. Through the
+purser, I drew a stock of money from the purser at New York, and now
+began, again, to live soberly and respectably, considering all things.
+
+The house in which I lived was a sort of half-hospital, and may have had
+six or eight of us in it, altogether. Several of us were cripples from
+wounds and hurts, and, among others, was one Reuben James, a thorough old
+man-of-war's man, who had been in the service ever since he was a youth.
+This man had the credit of saving Decatur's life before Tripoli; but he
+owned to me that he was not the person who did it. He was in the fight,
+and boarded with Decatur, but did not save his commander's life. He had
+been often wounded, and had just had a leg amputated for an old wound,
+received in the war of 1812, I believe. Liquor brought him to that.
+
+The reader will remember that the night the Scourge went down I received a
+severe blow from her jib-sheet blocks. A lump soon formed on the spot
+where the injury had been inflicted, and it had continued to increase
+until it was now as large as my fist, or even larger. I showed this lump
+to James, one day, and he mentioned it to Dr. Foltz, the surgeon who
+attended the house. The doctor took a look at my arm, and recommended an
+operation, as the lump would continue to increase, and was already so
+large as to be inconvenient. I cannot say that it hurt me any, though it
+was an awkward sort of swab to be carrying on a fellow's shoulder. I had
+no great relish for being carved, and think I should have refused to
+submit to the operation, were it not for James, who told me he would not
+be carrying Bunker Hill about on _his_ arm, and would show me his own
+stump by way of encouragement. This man seemed to think an old sailor
+ought to have a wooden leg, or something of the sort, after he had reached
+a certain time of life. At all events, he persuaded me to let the doctor
+go to work, and I am now glad I did, as everything turned out well. Doctor
+Foltz operated, after I had been about a week under medicine, doing the
+job as neatly as man could wish. He told me the lump he removed weighed a
+pound and three quarters, and of course I was so much the lighter. I was
+about a month, after this, under his care, when he pronounced me to be
+sea-worthy again.
+
+I now got things straight as regards my pension, for the hurt received on
+board the Constellation. It was no great matter, only three dollars a
+month, being one of the small pensions; and the clerks, when they came to
+hear about the hurt, for which Dr. Foltz had operated, advised me to get
+evidence and procure a pension for _that_. I saw the Secretary, Mr.
+Paulding, on this subject, and the gentlemen were so kind as to overhaul
+their papers, in order to ascertain who could be found as a witness. They
+wrote to Captain Deacon, the officer who commanded the Growler; but he
+knew nothing of me, as I never was on board his schooner. This gentleman,
+however, wrote me a letter, himself, inviting me to come and see him,
+which I had it not in my power to do. I understand he is now dead. Mr.
+Trant had been dead many years, and, as for Mr. Bogardus, I never knew
+what became of him. He was not in the line of promotion, and probably left
+the navy at the peace. In overhauling the books, however, the
+pension-clerk came across the name of Lemuel Bryant. This man received a
+pension for the wound he got at Little York, and was one of those I had
+hauled into the boat when the Scourge went down. He was then living at
+Portland, in Maine, his native State. Mr. Paulding advised me to get his
+certificate, for all hands in the Department seemed anxious I should not
+go away without something better than the three dollars a month. I
+promised to go on, and see Lemuel Bryant, and obtain his testimony.
+
+Quitting Washington, I went to Alexandria and got on board a brig, called
+the Isabella, bound to New York, at which port we arrived in due time.
+Here I obtained the rest of my money, and kept myself pretty steady, more
+on account of my wounds, I fear, than anything else. Still I drank too
+much; and by way of putting a check on myself, I went to the Sailor's
+Retreat, Staten Island, and of course got out of the reach of liquor. Here
+I staid eight or ten days, until my wounds healed. While at the Retreat,
+the last day I remained there indeed, which was a Sunday, the physician
+came in, and told me that a clergyman of the Dutch Reformed Church, of the
+name of Miller, was about to have service down stairs, and that I had
+better go down and be present. To this request, not only civilly but
+kindly made, I answered that I had seen enough of the acts of religious
+men to satisfy me, and that I believed a story I was then reading in a
+Magazine, would do me as much good as a sermon. The physician said a
+little in the way of reproof and admonition, and left me. As soon as his
+back was turned, some of my companions began to applaud the spirit I had
+shown, and the answer I had given the doctor. But I was not satisfied with
+myself. I had more secret respect for such things than I was willing to
+own, and conscience upbraided me for the manner in which I had slighted so
+well-meaning a request. Suddenly telling those around me that my mind was
+changed, and that I _would_ go below and hear what was said, I put this
+new resolution in effect immediately.
+
+I had no recollection of the text from which Mr. Miller preached; it is
+possible I did not attend to it, at the moment it was given out; but,
+during the whole discourse, I fancied the clergyman was addressing himself
+particularly to me, and that his eyes were never off me. That he touched
+my conscience I know, for the effect produced by this sermon, though not
+uninterruptedly lasting, is remembered to the present hour. I made many
+excellent resolutions, and secretly resolved to reform, and to lead a
+better life. My thoughts were occupied the whole night with what I had
+heard, and my conscience was keenly active.
+
+The next morning I quitted the Retreat, and saw no more of Mr. Miller, at
+that time; but I carried away with me many resolutions that would have
+been very admirable, had they only been adhered to. How short-lived they
+were, and how completely I was the slave of a vicious habit, will be seen,
+when I confess that I landed in New York a good deal the worse for having
+treated some militia-men who were in the steamer, to nearly a dozen
+glasses of hot-stuff, in crossing the bay. I had plenty of money, and a
+sailor's disposition to get rid of it, carelessly, and what I thought
+generously. It was Evacuation-Day, and severely cold, and the hot-stuff
+pleased everybody, on such an occasion. Nor was this all. In passing
+Whitehall slip, I saw the Ohio's first-cutter lying there, and it happened
+that I not only knew the officer of the boat, who had been one of the
+midshipmen of the Constellation, but that I knew most of its crew. I was
+hailed, of course, and then I asked leave to treat the men. The permission
+was obtained, and this second act of liberality reduced me to the
+necessity of going into port, under a pilot's charge. Still I had not
+absolutely forgotten the sermon, nor all my good resolutions.
+
+At the boarding-house I found a Prussian, named Godfrey, a steady, sedate
+man, and I agreed with him to go to Savannah, to engage in the
+shad-fishery, for the winter, and to come north together in the spring. My
+landlord was not only ill and poor, but he had many children to support,
+and it is some proof that all my good resolutions were not forgotten, that
+I was ready to go south before my money was gone, and willing it should do
+some good, in the interval of my absence. A check for fifty dollars still
+remained untouched, and I gave it to this man, with the understanding he
+was to draw the money, use it for his own wants, and return it to me, if
+he could, when I got back. The money was drawn, but the man died, and I
+saw no more of it.
+
+Godfrey and I were shipped in a vessel called the William Taylor, a
+regular Savannah packet. It was our intention to quit her as soon as she
+got in--by running, if necessary. We had a bad passage, and barely missed
+shipwreck on Hatteras, saving the brig by getting a sudden view of the
+light, in heavy, thick weather. We got round, under close-reefed topsails,
+and that was all we did. After this, we had a quick run to Savannah.
+Godfrey had been taken with the small-pox before we arrived, and was sent
+to a hospital as soon as possible. In order to prevent running, I feigned
+illness, too, and went to another. Here the captain paid me several
+visits, but my conscience was too much hardened by the practices of
+seamen, to let me hesitate about continuing to be ill. The brig was
+obliged to sail without me, and the same day I got well, as suddenly as I
+had fallen ill.
+
+I was not long in making a bargain with a fisherman to aid in catching
+shad. All this time, I lived at a sailor boarding-house, and was
+surrounded by men who, like myself, had quitted the vessels in which they
+had arrived. One night the captain of a ship, called the Hope, came to the
+house to look for a crew. He was bound to Rotterdam, and his ship lay down
+at the second bar, all ready for sea. After some talk, one man signed the
+articles; then another, and another, and another, until his crew was
+complete to one man. I was now called on to ship, and was ridiculed for
+wishing to turn shad-man. My pride was touched, and I agreed to go,
+leaving my fisherman in the lurch.
+
+The Hope turned out to be a regular down-east craft, and I had been in so
+many flyers and crack ships as to be saucy enough to laugh at the
+economical outfit, and staid ways of the vessel. I went on board half
+drunk, and made myself conspicuous for such sort of strictures from the
+first hour. The captain treated me mildly, even kindly; but I stuck to my
+remarks during most of the passage. I was a seaman, and did my duty; but
+this satisfied me. I had taken a disgust to the ship; and though I had
+never blasphemed since the hour of the accident in the way I did the day
+the Susan and Mary was thrown on her beam-ends, I may be said to have
+crossed the Atlantic in the Hope, grumbling and swearing at the ship.
+Still, our living and our treatment were both good.
+
+At Rotterdam, we got a little money, with liberty. When he last was up, I
+asked for more, and the captain refused it. This brought on an explosion,
+and I swore I would quit the ship. After a time, the captain consented, as
+well as he could, leaving my wages on the cabin-table, where I found them,
+and telling me I should repent of what I was then doing. Little did I then
+think he would prove so true a prophet.
+
+
+
+Chapter XVIII.
+
+
+
+I had left the Hope in a fit of the sulks. The vessel never pleased me,
+and yet I can now look back, and acknowledge that both her master and her
+mate were respectable, considerate men, who had my own good in view more
+than I had myself. There was an American ship, called the Plato, in port,
+and I had half a mind to try my luck in her. The master of this vessel was
+said to be a tartar, however, and a set of us had doubts about the
+expediency of trusting ourselves with such a commander. When we came to
+sound around him, we discovered he would have nothing to do with us, as he
+intended to get a crew of regular Dutchmen. This ship had just arrived
+from Batavia, and was bound to New York. How he did this legally, or
+whether he did it at all, is more than I know, for I only tell what I was
+told myself, on this subject.
+
+There was a heavy Dutch Indiaman, then fitting out for Java, lying at
+Rotterdam. The name of this vessel was the Stadtdeel--so pronounced; how
+spelt, I have no idea--and I began to think I would try a voyage in her.
+As is common with those who have great reason to find fault with
+themselves, I was angry with the whole world. I began to think myself a
+sort of outcast, forgetting that I had deserted my natural relatives, run
+from my master, and thrown off many friends who were disposed to serve me
+in everything in which I could be served. I have a cheerful temperament by
+nature, and I make no doubt that the sombre view I now began to take of
+things, was the effects of drink. It was necessary for me to get to sea,
+for there I was shut out from all excesses, by discipline and necessity.
+
+After looking around us, and debating the matter among ourselves, a party
+of five of us shipped in the Stadtdeel. What the others contemplated I do
+not know, but it was my intention to double Good Hope, and never to
+return. Chances enough would offer on the other side, to make a man
+comfortable, and I was no stranger to the ways of that quarter of the
+world. I could find enough to do between Bombay and Canton; and, if I
+could not, there were the islands and all of the Pacific before me. I
+could do a seaman's whole duty, was now in tolerable health and strength,
+and knew that such men were always wanted. Wherever a ship goes, Jack must
+go with her, and ships, dollars and hogs, are now to be met with all over
+the globe.
+
+The Stadtdeel lay at Dort, and we went to that place to join her. She was
+not ready for sea, and as things moved Dutchman fashion, slow and sure, we
+were about six weeks at Dort before she sailed. This ship was a vessel of
+the size of a frigate, and carried twelve guns. She had a crew of about
+forty souls, which was being very short-handed. The ship's company was a
+strange mixture of seamen, though most of them came from the north of
+Europe. Among us were Russians, Danes, Swedes, Prussians, English,
+Americans, and but a very few Dutch. One of the mates, and two of the
+petty officers, could speak a little English. This made us eight who could
+converse in that language. We had to learn Dutch as well as we could, and
+made out tolerably well. Before the ship sailed, I could understand the
+common orders, without much difficulty. Indeed, the language is nothing
+but English a little flattened down.
+
+So long as we remained at Dort, the treatment on board this vessel was
+well enough. We were never well fed, though we got enough food, such as it
+was. The work was hard, and the weather cold; but these did not frighten
+me. The wages were eight dollars a month;--I had abandoned eighteen, and
+an American ship, for this preferment! A wayward temper had done me
+this service.
+
+The Stadtdeel no sooner got into the stream, than there was a great
+change in the treatment. We were put on an allowance of food and water,
+in sight of our place of departure; and the rope's-end began to fly round
+among the crew we five excepted. For some reason, that I cannot explain
+neither of us was ever struck. We got plenty of curses, in Low Dutch, as
+we supposed; and we gave them back, with interest, in high English. The
+expression of our faces let the parties into the secret of what was
+going on.
+
+It is scarcely necessary to add, that we English and Americans soon
+repented of the step we had taken. I heartily wished myself on board the
+Hope, again, and the master's prophecy became true, much sooner, perhaps,
+than he had himself anticipated. This time, I conceive that my disgust was
+fully justified; though I deserved the punishment I was receiving, for
+entering so blindly into a service every way so inferior to that to which
+I properly belonged. The bread in this ship was wholesome, I do suppose,
+but it was nearly black, and such as I was altogether unused to. Inferior
+as it was, we got but five pounds, each, per week. In our navy, a man
+gets, per week, seven pounds of such bread as might be put on a
+gentleman's table. The meat was little better than the bread in quality,
+and quite as scant in quantity. We got one good dish in the Stadtdeel, and
+that we got every morning. It was a dish of boiled barley, of which I
+became very fond, and which, indeed, supplied me with the strength
+necessary for my duty. It was one of the best dishes I ever fell in with
+at sea; and I think it might be introduced, to advantage, in our service.
+Good food produces good work.
+
+As all our movements were of the slow and easy order, the ship lay three
+weeks at the Helvoetsluys, waiting for passengers. During this time, our
+party, three English and two Americans, came to a determination to abandon
+the ship. Our plan was to seize a boat, as we passed down channel, and get
+ashore in England. We were willing to run all the risks of such a step, in
+preference of going so long a voyage under such treatment and food. By
+this time, our discontent amounted to disgust.
+
+At length we got all our passengers on board. These consisted of a family,
+of which the head was said to be, or to have been, an admiral in the Dutch
+navy. This gentleman was going to Java to remain; and he took with him
+his wife, several children, servants, and a lady, who seemed to be a
+companion to his wife. As soon as this party was on board, the wind coming
+fair, we sailed. The Plato went to sea in company with us, and little did
+I then think, while wishing myself on board her, how soon I should be
+thrown into this very ship--the last craft in which I ever was at sea. I
+was heaving the lead as we passed her; our ship, Dutchman or not, having a
+fleet pair of heels. The Stadtdeel, whatever might be her usage, or her
+food, sailed and worked well, and was capitally found in everything that
+related to the safety of the vessel. This was her first voyage, and she
+was said to be the largest ship out of Rotterdam.
+
+The Stadtdeel must have sailed from Helvoetsluys in May, 1839, or about
+thirty-three years after I sailed from New York, on my first voyage, in
+the Sterling. During all this time I had been toiling at sea, like a dog,
+risking my health and life, in a variety of ways; and this ship, with my
+station on board her, was nearly all I had to show for it! God be praised!
+This voyage, which promised so little, in its commencement, proved, in the
+end, the most fortunate of any in which I embarked.
+
+There was no opportunity for us to put our plans in execution, in going
+down channel. The wind was fair, and it blew so fresh, it would not have
+been easy to get a boat into the water; and we passed the Straits of
+Dover, by day-light, the very day we sailed. The wind held in the same
+quarter, until we reached the north-east trades, giving us a quick run as
+low down as the calm latitudes. All this time, the treatment was as bad as
+ever, or, if anything, worse; and our discontent increased daily. There
+were but one or two native Hollanders in the forecastle, boys excepted;
+but among them was a man who had shipped as an ordinary seaman. He had
+been a soldier, I believe; at all events, he had a medal, received in
+consequence of having been in one of the late affairs between his country
+and Belgium. It is probable this man may not have been very expert in a
+seaman's duty, and it is possible he may have been drinking, though to me
+he appeared sober, at the time the thing occurred which I am about to
+relate. One day the captain fell foul of him, and beat him with a rope
+severely. The ladies interfered, and got the poor fellow out of the
+scrape; the captain letting him go, and telling him to go forward. As the
+man complied, he fell in with the chief mate, who attacked him afresh, and
+beat him very severely. The man now went below, and was about to turn in,
+as the captain had ordered,--which renders it probable he had been
+drinking,--when the second mate, possibly ignorant of what had occurred,
+missing him from his duty, went below, and beat him up on deck again.
+These different assaults seem to have made the poor fellow desperate. He
+ran and jumped into the sea, just forward of the starboard
+lower-studdingsail-boom. The ship was then in the north-east trades, and
+had eight or nine knots way on her; notwithstanding, she was rounded to,
+and a boat was lowered--but the man was never found. There is something
+appalling in seeing a fellow-creature driven to such acts of madness; and
+the effect produced on all of us, by what we witnessed, was profound
+and sombre.
+
+I shall not pretend to say that this man did not deserve chastisement, or
+that the two mates were not ignorant of what had happened; but brutal
+treatment was so much in use on board this ship, that the occurrence made
+us five nearly desperate. I make no doubt a crew of Americans, who were
+thus treated, would have secured the officers, and brought the ship in. It
+is true, that flogging seems necessary to some natures, and I will not say
+that such a crew as ours could very well get along without it. But we
+might sometimes be treated as men, and no harm follow.
+
+As I have said, the loss of this man produced a great impression in the
+ship, generally. The passengers appeared much affected by it, and I
+thought the captain, in particular, regretted it greatly. He might not
+have been in the least to blame, for the chastisement he inflicted was
+such as masters of ships often bestow on their men, but the crew felt very
+indignant against the mates; one of whom was particularly obnoxious to us
+all. As for my party, we now began to plot, again, in order to get quit of
+the ship. After a great deal of discussion, we came to the following
+resolution:
+
+About a dozen of us entered into the conspiracy. We contemplated no
+piracy, no act of violence, that should not be rendered necessary in
+self-defence, nor any robbery beyond what we conceived indispensable to
+our object. As the ship passed the Straits of Sunda, we intended to lower
+as many boats as should be necessary, arm ourselves, place provisions and
+water in the boats, and abandon the ship. We felt confident that if most
+of the men did not go with us, they would not oppose us. I can now see
+that this was a desperate and unjustifiable scheme; but, for myself, I was
+getting desperate on board the ship, and preferred risking my life to
+remaining. I will not deny that I was a ringleader in this affair, though
+I know I had no other motive than escape. This was a clear case of mutiny,
+and the only one in which I was ever implicated. I have a thousand times
+seen reason to rejoice that the attempt was never made, since, so deep was
+the hostility of the crew to the officers,--the mates, in
+particular,--that I feel persuaded a horrible scene of bloodshed must have
+followed. I did not think of this at the time, making sure of getting off
+unresisted; but, if we had, what would have been the fate of a parcel of
+seamen who came into an English port in ship's boats? Tried for piracy,
+probably, and the execution of some, if not all of us.
+
+The ship had passed the island of St. Pauls, and we were impatiently
+waiting for her entrance into the Straits of Sunda, when an accident
+occurred that put a stop to the contemplated mutiny, and changed the whole
+current, as I devoutly hope, of all my subsequent life. At the calling of
+the middle watch, one stormy night, the ship being under close-reefed
+topsails at the time, with the mainsail furled, I went on deck as usual,
+to my duty. In stepping across the deck, between the launch and the
+galley, I had to cross some spars that were lashed there. While on the
+pile of spars, the ship lurched suddenly, and I lost my balance, falling
+my whole length on deck, upon my left side. Nothing broke the fall, my
+arms being raised to seize a hold above my head, and I came down upon deck
+with my entire weight, the hip taking the principal force of the fall. The
+anguish I suffered was acute, and it was some time before I would allow my
+shipmates even to touch me.
+
+After a time, I was carried down into the steerage, where it was found
+necessary to sling me on a grating, instead of a hammock. We had a doctor
+on board, but he could do nothing for me. My clothes could not be taken
+off, and there I lay wet, and suffering to a degree that I should find
+difficult to describe, hours and hours.
+
+I was now really on the stool of repentance. In body, I was perfectly
+helpless, though my mind seemed more active than it had ever been before.
+I overhauled my whole life, beginning with the hour when I first got
+drunk, as a boy, on board the Sterling, and underrunning every scrape I
+have mentioned in this sketch of my life, with many of which I have not
+spoken; and all with a fidelity and truth that satisfy me that man can
+keep no log-book that is as accurate as his own conscience. I saw that I
+had been my own worst enemy, and how many excellent opportunities of
+getting ahead in the world, I had wantonly disregarded. Liquor lay at the
+root of all my calamities and misconduct, enticing me into bad company,
+undermining my health and strength, and blasting my hopes. I tried to
+pray, but did not know how; and, it appeared to me, as if I were lost,
+body and soul, without a hope of mercy.
+
+My shipmates visited me by stealth, and I pointed out to them, as clearly
+as in my power, the folly, as well as the wickedness, of our contemplated
+mutiny. I told them we had come on board the ship voluntarily, and we had
+no right to be judges in our own case; that we should have done a cruel
+thing in deserting a ship at sea, with women and children on board; that
+the Malays would probably have cut our throats, and the vessel herself
+would have been very apt to be wrecked. Of all this mischief, we should
+have been the fathers, and we had every reason to be grateful that our
+project was defeated. The men listened attentively, and promised to
+abandon every thought of executing the revolt. They were as good as their
+words, and I heard no more of the matter.
+
+As for my hurt, it was not easy to say what it was. The doctor was kind to
+me, but he could do no more than give me food and little indulgencies. As
+for the captain, I think he was influenced by the mate, who appeared to
+believe I was feigning an injury much greater than I had actually
+received. On board the ship, there was a boy, of good parentage, who had
+been sent out to commence his career at sea. He lived aft, and was a sort
+of genteel cabin-boy He could not have been more than ten or eleven years
+old but he proved to be a ministering angel to me. He brought me
+delicacies, sympathised with me, and many a time did we shed tears in
+company. The ladies and the admiral's children sometimes came to see me,
+too, manifesting much sorrow for my situation; and then it was that my
+conscience pricked the deepest, for the injury, or risks, I had
+contemplated exposing them to. Altogether, the scenes I saw daily, and my
+own situation, softened my heart, and I began to get views of my moral
+deformity that were of a healthful and safe character.
+
+I lay on that grating two months, and bitter months they were to me. The
+ship had arrived at Batavia, and the captain and mate came to see what was
+to be done with me. I asked to be sent to the hospital, but the mate
+insisted nothing was the matter with me, and asked to have me kept in the
+ship. This was done, and I went round to Terragall in her, where we landed
+our passengers. These last all came and took leave of me, the admiral
+making me a present of a good jacket, that he had worn himself at sea,
+with a quantity of tobacco. I have got that jacket at this moment. The
+ladies spoke kindly to me, and all this gave my heart fresh pangs.
+
+From Terragall we went to Sourabaya, where I prevailed on the captain to
+send me to the hospital, the mate still insisting I was merely shamming
+inability to work. The surgeons at Sourabaya, one of whom was a Scotchman,
+thought with the mate; and at the end of twenty days, I was again taken on
+board the ship, which sailed for Samarang. While at Sourabaya there were
+five English sailors in the hospital. These men were as forlorn and
+miserable as my self, death grinning in our faces at every turn. The men
+who were brought into the hospital one day, were often dead the next, and
+none of us knew whose turn would come next. We often talked together, on
+religious subjects, after our own uninstructed manner, and greatly did we
+long to find an English bible, a thing not to be had there. Then it was I
+thought, again, of the sermon I had heard at the Sailors' Retreat, of the
+forfeited promises I had made to reform; and, more than once did it cross
+my mind, should God permit me to return home, that I would seek out that
+minister, and ask his prayers and spiritual advice.
+
+On our arrival at Samarang, the mate got a doctor from a Dutch frigate,
+to look at me, who declared nothing ailed me. By these means nearly all
+hands in the ship were set against me, but my four companions, and the
+little boy fancying that I was a skulk, and throwing labour on them. I was
+ordered on deck, and set to work graffing ring-bolts for the guns. Walk I
+could not, being obliged, literally, to crawl along the deck on my hands
+and knees. I suffered great pain, but got no credit for it. The work was
+easy enough for me, when once seated at it, but it caused me infinite
+suffering to move. I was not alone in being thought a skulk, however. The
+doctor himself was taken ill, and the mate accused him, too, very much as
+he did me, of shirking duty. Unfortunately, the poor man gave him the
+lie, by dying.
+
+I was kept at the sort of duty I have mentioned until the ship reached
+Batavia again. Here a doctor came on board from another ship, on a visit,
+and my case was mentioned. The mate ordered me aft, and I crawled upon the
+quarter-deck to be examined. They got me into the cabin, where the strange
+doctor looked at me. This man said I must be operated on by a burning
+process, all of which was said to frighten me to duty. After this I got
+down into the forecastle, and positively refused to do anything more.
+There I lay, abused and neglected by all but my four friends. I told the
+mate I suffered too much to work, and that I must be put ashore. Suffering
+had made me desperate, and I cared not for the consequences.
+
+Fortunately for me, there were two cases of fever and ague in the ship.
+Our own doctor being dead, that of the admiral's ship was sent for to
+visit the sick. The mate seemed anxious to set evidence against me, and he
+asked the admiral's surgeon to come down and see me. The moment this
+gentleman laid eyes on me, he raised both arms, and exclaimed that they
+were killing me. He saw, at once, that I was no impostor, and stated as
+much in pretty plain language, so far as I could understand what he said.
+The mate appeared to be struck with shame and contrition; and I do believe
+that every one on board was sorry for the treatment I had received. I took
+occasion to remonstrate with the mate, and to tell him of the necessity of
+my being sent immediately to the hospital. The man promised to represent
+my case to the captain, and the next day I was landed.
+
+My two great desires were to get to the hospital and to procure a bible. I
+did not expect to live; one of my legs being shrivelled to half its former
+size, and was apparently growing worse; and could I find repose for my
+body and relief for my soul, I felt that I could be happy. I had heard my
+American shipmate, who was a New Yorker, a Hudson river man, say he had a
+bible; but I had never seen it. It lay untouched in the bottom of his
+chest, sailor-fashion. I offered this man a shirt for his bible; but he
+declined taking any pay, cheerfully giving me the book. I forced the shirt
+on him, however, as a sort of memorial of me. Now I was provided with the
+book, I could not read for want of spectacles. I had reached a time of
+life when the sight begins to fail, and I think my eyes were injured in
+Florida. In Sourayaba hospital I had raised a few rupees by the sale of a
+black silk handkerchief, and wanted now to procure a pair of spectacles. I
+sold a pair of boots, and adding the little sum thus raised to that which
+I had already, I felt myself rich and happy, in the prospect of being able
+to study the word of God. On quitting the ship, everybody, forward and
+aft, shook hands with me, the opinion of the man-of-war surgeon suddenly
+changing all their opinions of me and my conduct.
+
+The captain appeared to regret the course things had taken, and was
+willing to do all he could to make me comfortable. My wages were left in a
+merchant's hands, and I was to receive them could I quit this island, or
+get out of the hospital. I was to be sent to Holland, in the latter case,
+and everything was to be done according to law and right. The reader is
+not to imagine I considered myself a suffering saint all this time. On the
+contrary, while I was thought an impostor, I remembered that I had shammed
+sickness in this very island, and, as I entered the hospital, I could not
+forget the circumstances under which I had been its tenant fifteen or
+twenty years before. Then I was in the pride of my youth and strength;
+and, now, as if in punishment for the deception, I was berthed, a
+miserable cripple, within half-a-dozen beds of that on which I was berthed
+when feigning an illness I did not really suffer. Under such
+circumstances, conscience is pretty certain to remind a sinner of
+his misdeeds.
+
+The physician of the hospital put me on very low diet and gave me an
+ointment to "smear" myself with, as he called it; and I was ordered to
+remain in my berth. By means of one of the coolies of the hospital, I got
+a pair of spectacles from the town, and such a pair, as to size and form,
+that people in America regard what is left of them as a curiosity. They
+served my purpose, however, and enabled me to read the precious book I had
+obtained from my north-river shipmate. This book was a copy from the
+American Bible Society's printing-office, and if no other of their works
+did good, this must be taken for an exception. It has since been placed in
+the Society's Library, in memory of the good it has done.
+
+My sole occupation was reading and reflecting. There I lay, in a distant
+island, surrounded by disease, death daily, nay hourly making his
+appearance, among men whose language was mostly unknown to me. It was
+several weeks before I was allowed even to quit my bunk. I had begun to
+pray before I left the ship, and this practice I continued, almost hourly,
+until I was permitted to rise. A converted Lascar was in the hospital, and
+seeing my occupation, he came and conversed with me, in his broken
+English. This man gave me a hymn-book, and one of the first hymns I read
+in it afforded me great consolation. It was written by a man who had been
+a sailor like myself, and one who had been almost as wicked as myself, but
+who has since done a vast deal of good, by means of precept and example.
+This hymn-book I now read in common with my bible. But I cannot express
+the delight I felt at a copy of Pilgrim's Progress which this same Lascar
+gave me. That book I consider as second only to the bible. It enabled me
+to understand and to apply a vast deal that I found in the word of God,
+and set before my eyes so many motives for hope, that I began to feel
+Christ had died for me, as well as for the rest of the species. I thought
+if the thief on the cross could be saved, even one as wicked as I had been
+had only to repent and believe, to share in the Redeemer's mercy. All this
+time I fairly pined for religious instruction, and my thoughts would
+constantly recur to the sermon I had heard at the Sailor's Retreat, and
+to the clergyman who had preached it.
+
+There was an American carpenter in the Fever Hospital, who, hearing of my
+state, gave me some tracts that he had brought from home with him. This
+man was not pious, but circumstances had made him serious; and, being
+about to quit the place, he was willing to administer to my wants He told
+me there were several Englishmen and one American in his hospital, who
+wanted religious consolation greatly, and he advised me to crawl over and
+see them; which I did, as soon as it was in my power.
+
+At first, I thought myself too wicked to offer to pray and converse with
+these men, but my conscience would not let me rest until I did so. It
+appeared to me as if the bible had been placed in my way, as much for
+their use as my own, and I could not rest until I had offered them all the
+consolation it was in my power to bestow. I read with these men for two or
+three weeks; Chapman, the American, being the man who considered his own
+moral condition the most hopeless. When unable to go myself, I would send
+my books, and we had the bible and Pilgrim's Progress, watch and watch,
+between us.
+
+All this time we were living, as it might be, on a bloody battle-field.
+Men died in scores around us, and at the shortest notice. Batavia, at that
+season, was the most sickly; and, although the town was by no means as
+dangerous then as it had been in my former visit, it was still a sort of
+Golgotha, or place of skulls. More than half who entered the Fever
+Hospital, left it only as corpses.
+
+Among my English associates, as I call them, was a young Scotchman, of
+about five-and-twenty. This man had been present at most of our readings
+and conversations, though he did not appear to me as much impressed with
+the importance of caring for his soul, as some of the others. One day he
+came to take leave of me. He was to quit the hospital the following
+morning. I spoke to him concerning his future life, and endeavoured to
+awaken in him some feelings that might be permanent, he listened with
+proper respect, but his answers were painfully inconsiderate, though I do
+believe he reasoned as nine in ten of mankind reason, when they think at
+all on such subjects. "What's the use of my giving up so soon," he said;
+"I am young, and strong, and in good health, and have plenty of sea-room
+to leeward of me, and can fetch up when there is occasion for it. If a
+fellow don't live while he can, he'll never live." I read to him the
+parable of the wise and foolish virgins, but he left me holding the same
+opinion, to the last.
+
+Directly in front of my ward was the dead-house. Thither all the bodies of
+those who died in the hospital were regularly carried for dissection.
+Scarcely one escaped being subjected to the knife. This dead-house stood
+some eighty, or a hundred, yards from the hospital, and between them was
+an area, containing a few large trees. I was in the habit, after I got
+well enough to go out, to hobble to one of these trees, where I would sit
+for hours, reading and meditating. It was a good place to make a man
+reflect on the insignificance of worldly things, disease and death being
+all around him. I frequently saw six or eight bodies carried across this
+area, while sitting in it, and many were taken to the dead-house, at
+night. Hundreds, if not thousands, were in the hospital, and a large
+proportion died.
+
+The morning of the day but one, after I had taken leave of the young
+Scotchman, I was sitting under a tree, as usual, when I saw some coolies
+carrying a dead body across the area. They passed quite near me, and one
+of the coolies gave me to understand it was that of this very youth! He
+had been seized with the fever, a short time after he left me, and here
+was a sudden termination to all his plans of enjoyment and his hopes of
+life; his schemes of future repentance.
+
+Such things are of frequent occurrence in that island, but this event made
+a very deep impression on me. It helped to strengthen me in my own
+resolutions, and I used it, I hope, with effect, with my companions whose
+lives were still spared.
+
+All the Englishmen got well, and were discharged. Chapman, the American,
+however, remained, being exceedingly feeble with the disease of the
+country. With this poor young man, I prayed, as well as I knew how, and
+read, daily, to his great comfort and consolation, I believe. The reader
+may imagine how one dying in a strange land, surrounded by idolaters,
+would lean on a single countryman who was disposed to aid him. In this
+manner did Chap man lean on me, and all my efforts were to induce him to
+lean on the Saviour. He thought he had been too great a sinner to be
+entitled to any hope, and my great task was to overcome in him some of
+those stings of conscience which it had taken the grace of God to allay in
+myself. One day, the last time I was with him, I read the narrative of the
+thief on the cross. He listened to it eagerly, and when I had ended, for
+the first time, he displayed some signs of hope and joy. As I left him, he
+took leave of me, saying we should never meet again. He asked my prayers,
+and I promised them. I went to my own ward, and, while actually engaged in
+redeeming my promise, one came to tell me he had gone. He sent me a
+message, to say he died a happy man. The poor fellow--happy fellow, would
+be a better term--sent back all the books he had borrowed; and it will
+serve to give some idea of the condition we were in, in a temporal sense,
+if I add, that he also sent me a few coppers, in order that they might
+contribute to the comfort of his countrymen.
+
+
+
+Chapter XIX.
+
+
+
+About three months after the death of Chapman, I was well enough to quit
+the hospital. I could walk, with the aid of crutches, but had no hope of
+ever being a sound man again. Of course, I had an anxious desire to get
+home; for all my resolutions, misanthropical feelings, and resentments,
+had vanished in the moral change I had undergone. My health, as a whole,
+was now good. Temperance, abstinence, and a happy frame of mind, had
+proved excellent doctors; and, although I had not, and never shall,
+altogether, recover from the effects of my fall, I had quite done with the
+"horrors." The last fit of them I suffered was in the deep conviction I
+felt concerning my sinful state. I knew nothing of Temperance
+Societies--had never heard that such things existed, or, if I had, forgot
+it as soon as heard; and yet, unknown to myself, had joined the most
+effective and most permanent of all these bodies. Since my fall, I have
+not tasted spirituous liquors, except as medicine, and in very small
+quantities, nor do I now feel the least desire to drink. By the grace of
+God, the great curse of my life has been removed, and I have lived a
+perfectly sober man for the last five years. I look upon liquor as one of
+the great agents of the devil in destroying souls, and turn from it,
+almost as sensitively as I could wish to turn from sin.
+
+I wrote to the merchant who held my wages, on the subject of quitting the
+hospital, but got no answer. I then resolved to go to Batavia myself, and
+took my discharge from the hospital, accordingly. I can truly say, I left
+that place, into which I had entered a miserable, heart-broken cripple, a
+happy man. Still, I had nothing; not even the means of seeking a
+livelihood. But I was lightened of the heaviest of all my burthens, and
+felt I could go through the world rejoicing, though, literally, moving
+on crutches.
+
+The hospital is seven miles from the town, and I went this distance in a
+canal-boat, Dutch fashion. Many of these canals exist in Java, and they
+have had the effect to make the island much more healthy, by draining the
+marshes. They told me, the canal I was on ran fifty miles into the
+interior. The work was done by the natives, but under the direction of
+their masters, the Dutch.
+
+On reaching the town, I hobbled up to the merchant, who gave me a very
+indifferent reception. He said I had cost too much already, but that I
+must return to the hospital, until an opportunity offered for sending me
+to Holland. This I declined doing. Return to the hospital I would not, as
+I knew it could do no good, and my wish was to get back to America. I then
+went to the American consul, who treated me kindly. I was told, however,
+he could do nothing for me, as I had come out in a Dutch ship, unless I
+relinquished all claims to my wages, and all claims on the Dutch laws. My
+wages were a trifle, and I had no difficulty in relinquishing them, and as
+for claims, I wished to present none on the laws of Holland.
+
+The consul then saw the Dutch merchant, and the matter was arranged
+between them. The Plato, the very ship that left Helvoetsluys in company
+with us, was then at Batavia, taking in cargo for Bremenhaven. She had a
+new cap tain, and he consented to receive me as a consul's man. This
+matter was all settled the day I reached the town, and I was to go on
+board the ship in the morning.
+
+I said nothing to the consul about money, but left his office with the
+expectation of getting some from the Dutch merchant. I had tasted no food
+that day, and, on reaching the merchant's, I found him on the point of
+going into the country; no one sleeping in the town at that season, who
+could help it. He took no notice of me, and I got no assistance; perhaps I
+was legally entitled to none. I now sat down on some boxes, and thought I
+would remain at that spot until morning. Sleeping in the open air, on an
+empty stomach, in that town, and at that season, would probably have
+proved my death, had I been so fortunate as to escape being murdered by
+the Malays for the clothes I had on. Providence took care of me. One of
+the clerks, a Portuguese, took pity on me, and led me to a house occupied
+by a negro, who had been converted to Christianity. We met with a good
+deal of difficulty in finding admission. The black said the English and
+Americans were so wicked he was afraid of them; but, finding by my
+discourse that I was not one of the Christian heathen, he altered his
+tone, and nothing was then too good for me. I was fed, and he sent for my
+chest, receiving with it a bed and three blankets, as a present from the
+charitable clerk. Thus were my prospects for that night suddenly changed
+for the better! I could only thank God, in my inmost heart, for all
+his mercies.
+
+The old black, who was a man of some means, was also about to quit the
+town; but, before he went, he inquired if I had a bible. I told him yes;
+still, he would not rest until he had pressed upon me a large bible, in
+English, which language he spoke very well. This book had prayers for
+seamen bound up with it. It was, in fact, a sort of English prayer-book,
+as well as bible. This I accepted, and have now with me. As soon as the
+old man went away, leaving his son behind him for the moment, I began to
+read in my Pilgrim's Progress. The young man expressed a desire to examine
+the book, understanding English perfectly. After reading in it for a short
+time, he earnestly begged the book, telling me he had two sisters, who
+would be infinitely pleased to possess it. I could not refuse him, and he
+promised to send another book in its place, which I should find equally
+good. He thus left me, taking the Pilgrim's Progress with him. Half an
+hour later a servant brought me the promised book, which proved to be
+Doddridge's Rise and Progress. On looking through the pages, I found a
+Mexican dollar wafered between two of the leaves. All this I regarded as
+providential, and as a proof that the Lord would not desert me. My
+gratitude, I hope, was in proportion. This whole household appeared to be
+religious, for I passed half the night in conversing with the Malay
+servants, on the subject of Christianity; concerning which they had
+already received many just ideas. I knew that my teaching was like the
+blind instructing the blind; but it had the merit of coming from God,
+though in a degree suited to my humble claims on his grace.
+
+In the morning, these Malays gave me breakfast, and then carried my chest
+and other articles to the Plato's boat. I was happy enough to find myself,
+once more, under the stars and stripes, where I was well received, and
+humanely treated. The ship sailed for Bremen about twenty days after I got
+on board her.
+
+Of course, I could do but little on the passage. Whenever I moved along
+the deck, it was by crawling, though I could work with the needle and
+palm. A fortnight out, the carpenter, a New York man, died. I tried to
+read and pray with him, but cannot say that he showed any consciousness of
+his true situation. We touched at St. Helena for water, and, Napoleon
+being then dead, had no difficulty in getting ashore. After watering we
+sailed again, and reached our port in due time.
+
+I was now in Europe, a part of the world that I had little hopes of seeing
+ten months before. Still it was my desire to get to America, and I was
+permitted to remain in the ship. I was treated in the kindest manner by
+captain Bunting, and Mr. Bowden, the mate, who gave me everything I
+needed. At the end of a few weeks we sailed again, for New York, where we
+arrived in the month of August, 1840,
+
+I left the Plato at the quarantine ground, going to the Sailor's Retreat.
+Here the physician told me I never could recover the use of my limb as I
+had possessed it before, but that the leg would gradually grow stronger,
+and that I might get along without crutches in the end. All this has
+turned out to be true. The pain had long before left me, weakness being
+now the great difficulty. The hip-joint is injured, and this in a way that
+still compels me to rely greatly on a stick in walking.
+
+At the Sailor's Retreat, I again met Mr. Miller. I now, for the first
+time, received regular spiritual advice, and it proved to be of great
+benefit to me. After remaining a month at the Retreat, I determined to
+make an application for admission to the Sailor's Snug Harbour, a richly
+endowed asylum for seamen, on the same island. In order to be admitted, it
+was necessary to have sailed under the flag five years, and to get a
+character. I had sailed, with two short exceptions, thirty-four years
+under the flag, and I do believe in all that time, the nineteen months of
+imprisonment excluded, I had not been two years unattached to a ship. I
+think I must have passed at least a quarter of a century out of sight of
+land.[17]
+
+I now went up to New York, and hunted up captain Pell, with whom I had
+sailed in the Sully and in the Normandy. This gentleman gave me a
+certificate, and, as I left him, handed me a dollar. This was every cent I
+had on earth. Next, I found captain Witheroudt, of the Silvie de Grasse
+who treated me in precisely the same way. I told him I had _one_ dollar
+already, but he insisted it should be _two_. With these two dollars in my
+pocket, I was passing up Wall street, when, in looking about me, I saw the
+pension office. The reader will remember that I left Washington with the
+intention of finding Lemuel Bryant, in order to obtain his certificate,
+that I might get a pension for the injury received on board the Scourge.
+With this project, I had connected a plan of returning to Boston, and of
+getting some employment in the Navy Yard. My pension-ticket had, in
+consequence, been made payable at Boston. My arrival at New York, and the
+shadding expedition, had upset all this plan; and before I went to
+Savannah, I had carried my pension-ticket to the agent in this Wall street
+office, and requested him to get another, made payable in New York. This
+was the last I had seen of my ticket, and almost the last I had thought of
+my pension. But, I now crossed the street, went into the office, and was
+recognised immediately. Everything was in rule, and I came out of the
+office with fifty-six dollars in my pockets! I had no thought of this
+pension, at all, in coming up to town. It was so much money showered down
+upon me, unexpectedly.
+
+For a man of my habits, who kept clear of drink, I was now rich. Instead
+of remaining in town, however, I went immediately down to the Harbour, and
+presented myself to its respectable superintendant, the venerable Captain
+Whetten.[18] I was received into the institution without any difficulty,
+and have belonged to it ever since. My entrance at Sailors' Snug Harbour
+took place Sept. 17, 1840; just one month after I landed at Sailors'
+Retreat. The last of these places is a seamen's hospital, where men are
+taken in only to be cured; while the first is an asylum for worn-out
+mariners, for life. The last is supported by a bequest made, many years
+ago, by an old ship-master, whose remains lie in front of the building.
+
+Knowing myself now to be berthed for the rest of my days, should I be so
+inclined, and should I remain worthy to receive the benefits of so
+excellent an institution, I began to look about me, like a man who had
+settled down in the world. One of my first cares, was to acquit myself of
+the duty of publicly joining some church of Christ, and thus acknowledge
+my dependence on his redemption and mercy. Mr. Miller, he whose sermons
+had made so deep an impression on my mind, was living within a mile and a
+half of the Harbour, and to him I turned in my need. I was an
+Episcopalian by infant baptism, and I am still as much attached to that
+form of worship, as to any other; but sects have little weight with me,
+the heart being the main-stay, under God's grace. Two of us, then, joined
+Mr. Miller's church; and I have ever since continued one of his
+communicants. I have not altogether deserted the communion in which I was
+baptized; occasionally communing in the church of Mr. Moore. To me, there
+is no difference; though I suppose more learned Christians may find
+materials for a quarrel, in the distinctions which exist between these two
+churches. I hope never to quarrel with either.
+
+To my surprise, sometime after I was received into the Harbour, I
+ascertained that my sister had removed to New York, and was then living in
+the place. I felt it, now, to be a duty to hunt her up, and see her. This
+I did; and we met, again, after a separation of five-and-twenty years. She
+could tell me very little of my family; but I now learned, for the first
+time, that my father had been killed in battle. Who, or what he was, I
+have not been able to ascertain, beyond the facts already stated in the
+opening of the memoir.
+
+I had ever retained a kind recollection of the treatment of Captain
+Johnston, and accident threw into my way some information concerning him.
+The superintendant had put me in charge of the library of the institution;
+and, one day, I overheard some visiters talking of Wiscasset. Upon this, I
+ventured to inquire after my old master, and was glad to learn that he was
+not only living, but in good health and circumstances. To my surprise I
+was told that a nephew of his was actually living within a mile of me. In
+September, 1842, I went to Wiscasset, to visit Captain Johnston, and found
+myself received like the repentant prodigal. The old gentleman, and his
+sisters, seemed glad to see me; and, I found that the former had left the
+seas, though he still remained a ship-owner; having a stout vessel of five
+hundred tons, which is, at this moment, named after our old craft,
+the Sterling.
+
+I remained at Wiscasset several weeks. During this time, Captain Johnston
+and myself talked over old times, as a matter of course, and I told him I
+thought one of our old shipmates was still living. On his asking whom, I
+inquired if he remembered the youngster, of the name of Cooper, who had
+been in the Sterling. He answered, perfectly well, and that he supposed
+him to be the Captain Cooper who was then in the navy. I had thought so,
+too, for a long time; but happened to be on board the Hudson, at New York,
+when a Captain Cooper visited her. Hearing his name, I went on deck
+expressly to see him, and was soon satisfied it was not my old shipmate.
+There are two Captains Cooper in the navy,--father and son,--but neither
+had been in the Sterling. Now, the author of many naval tales, and of the
+Naval History, was from Cooperstown, New York; and I had taken it into my
+head this was the very person who had been with us in the Sterling.
+Captain Johnston thought not; but I determined to ascertain the fact,
+immediately on my return to New York.
+
+Quitting Wiscasset, I came back to the Harbour, in the month of November,
+1842. I ought to say, that the men at this institution, who maintain good
+characters, can always get leave to go where they please, returning
+whenever they please. There is no more restraint than is necessary to
+comfort and good order; the object being to make old tars comfortable.
+Soon after my return to the Harbour, I wrote a letter to Mr. Fenimore
+Cooper, and sent it to his residence, at Cooperstown, making the inquiries
+necessary to know if he were the person of the same family who had been in
+the Sterling. I got an answer, beginning in these words--"I am your old
+shipmate, Ned." Mr. Cooper informed me when he would be in town, and
+where he lodged.
+
+In the spring, I got a message from Mr. Blancard, the keeper of the Globe
+Hotel, and the keeper, also, of Brighton, near the Harbour, to say that
+Mr. Cooper was in town, and wished to see me. Next day, I went up,
+accordingly; but did not find him in. After paying one or two visits, I
+was hobbling up Broadway, to go to the Globe again, when my old commander
+at Pensacola, Commodore Bolton, passed down street, arm-in-arm with a
+stranger. I saluted the commodore, who nodded his head to me, and this
+induced the stranger to look round. Presently I heard "Ned!" in a voice
+that I knew immediately, though I had not heard it in thirty-seven years.
+It was my old shipmate--the gentleman who has written out this account of
+my career, from my verbal narrative of the facts.
+
+Mr. Cooper asked me to go up to his place, in the country, and pass a few
+weeks there. I cheerfully consented, and we reached Cooperstown early in
+June. Here I found a neat village, a beautiful lake, nine miles long, and,
+altogether, a beautiful country. I had never been as far from the sea
+before, the time when I served on Lake Ontario excepted. Cooperstown lies
+in a valley, but Mr. Cooper tells me it is at an elevation of twelve
+hundred feet above tide-water. To me, the clouds appeared so low, I
+thought I could almost shake hands with them; and, altogether, the air and
+country were different from any I had ever seen, or breathed, before.
+
+My old shipmate took me often on the Lake, which I will say is a slippery
+place to navigate. I thought I had seen all sorts of winds before I saw
+the Otsego, but, on this lake it sometimes blew two or three different
+ways at the same time. While knocking about this piece of water, in a good
+stout boat, I related to my old shipmate many of the incidents of my
+wandering life, until, one day, he suggested it might prove interesting to
+publish them. I was willing, could the work be made useful to my brother
+sailors, and those who might be thrown into the way of temptations like
+those which came so near wrecking all my hopes, both for this world, and
+that which is to come. We accordingly went to work between us, and the
+result is now laid before the world. I wish it understood, that this is
+literally my own story, logged by my old shipmate.
+
+It is now time to clew up. When a man has told all he has to say, the
+sooner he is silent the better. Every word that has been related, I
+believe to be true; when I am wrong, it proceeds from ignorance, or want
+of memory. I may possibly have made some trifling mistakes about dates,
+and periods, but I think they would turn out to be few, on inquiry. In
+many instances I have given my impressions, which, like those of other
+men, may be right, or may be wrong. As for the main facts, however, I know
+them to be true, nor do I think myself much out of the way, in any of
+the details.
+
+This is the happiest period of my life, and has been so since I left the
+hospital at Batavia. I do not know that I have ever passed a happier
+summer than the present has been. I should be perfectly satisfied with
+everything, did not my time hang so idle on my hands at the Harbour. I
+want something to occupy my leisure moments, and do not despair of yet
+being able to find a mode of life more suitable to the activity of my
+early days. I have friends enough--more than I deserve--and, yet, a man
+needs occupation, who has the strength and disposition to be employed.
+That which is to happen is in the hands of Providence, and I humbly trust
+I shall be cared for, to the end, as I have been cared for, through so
+many scenes of danger and trial.
+
+My great wish is that this picture of a sailor's risks and hardships, may
+have some effect in causing this large and useful class of men to think on
+the subject of their habits. I entertain no doubt that the money I have
+disposed of far worse than if I had thrown it into the sea, which went to
+reduce me to that mental hell, the 'horrors,' and which, on one occasion,
+at least, drove me to the verge of suicide, would have formed a sum, had
+it been properly laid by, on which I might now have been enjoying an old
+age of comfort and respectability. It is seldom that a seaman cannot lay
+by a hundred dollars in a twelvemonth--oftentimes I have earned double
+that amount, beyond my useful outlays--and a hundred dollars a year, at
+the end of thirty years, would give such a man an independence for the
+rest of his days. This is far from all, however; the possession of means
+would awaken the desire of advancement in the calling, and thousands, who
+now remain before the mast, would long since have been officers, could
+they have commanded the self-respect that property is apt to create.
+
+On the subject of liquor, I can say nothing that has not often been said
+by others, in language far better than I can use. I do not think I was as
+bad, in this respect, as perhaps a majority of my associates; yet, this
+narrative will show how often the habit of drinking to excess impeded my
+advance. It was fast converting me into a being inferior to a man, and,
+but for God's mercy, might have rendered me the perpetrator of crimes that
+it would shock me to think of, in my sober and sane moments.
+
+The past, I have related as faithfully as I have been able so to do. The
+future is with God; to whom belongeth power, and glory, for ever and ever!
+
+
+
+The End.
+
+
+
+
+
+Footnotes
+
+
+
+[1]: The writer left a blank for this regiment, and now inserts it from
+memory. It is probable he is wrong.
+
+[2]: Edward, Duke of Kent, was born November 2, 1767, and made a peer April
+23, 1799; when he was a little turned of one-and-thirty. It is probable
+that this creation took place on his return to England; after passing some
+six or eight years in America and the West Indies. He served in the West
+Indies with great personal distinction, during his stay in this
+hemisphere.--Editor.
+
+[3]: This is Ned's pronunciation; though it is probable the name is not
+spelt correctly. The names of Ned are taken a good deal at random; and,
+doubtless, are often misspelled.--Editor.
+
+[4]: I well remember using these arguments to Ned; though less with any
+expectations of being admitted, than the boy seemed to believe. There was
+more roguery, than anything else, in my persuasion; though it was mixed
+with a latent wish to see the interior of the palace.--Editor.
+
+[5]: Second-mate.
+
+[6]: 22d--Editor.
+
+[7]: When Myers related this circumstance, I remembered that a
+Lieutenant-Colonel Meyers had been killed in the affair at Fort George,
+something in the way here mentioned. On consulting the American official
+account, I found that my recollection was just, so far as this--a
+Lieutenant-Colonel Meyers was reported as wounded and taken prisoner. I
+then recollected to have been present at a conversation between
+Major-General Lewis and Major Baker, his adjutant-general, shortly after
+the battle, in which the question arose whether the same shot had killed
+Colonel Meyers that killed his horse. General Lewis thought not; Major
+Baker thought it had. On my referring to the official account as reporting
+this gentleman to have been only _wounded_, I was told it was a
+mistake, he having been _killed_. Now for the probabilities. Both Ned
+and his sister understand that their father was slain in battle, about
+this time. Ned thought this occurred at Waterloo, but the sister thinks
+not. Neither knew anything of the object of my inquiry. The sister says
+letters were received from _Quebec_ in relation to the father's
+personal effects. It would be a strange thing, if Ned had actually found
+his own father's body on the field, in this extraordinary manner! I
+pretend not to say it is so; but it must be allowed it looks very much
+like it. The lady may have been a wife, married between the years 1796 and
+1813, when Mr. Meyers had got higher rank. This occurrence was related by
+Ned without the slightest notion of the inference that I have here
+drawn.--Editor.
+
+[8]: It is supposed that Capt. Deacon died, a few years since, in
+consequence of an injury he received on board the Growler, this night. A
+shot struck her main-boom, within a short distance of one of his ears, and
+he ever after complained of its effects. At his death this side of his
+head was much swollen and affected.--Editor.
+
+[9]: By this, Ned means six men had to subsist on the usual allowance of
+four men; a distinction that was made between men on duty and men off.
+Prisoners, too, are commonly allowed to help themselves in a variety of
+ways.--Editor.
+
+[10]: The name of this young officer was King. He is now dead, having been
+lost in the Lynx, Lt. Madison.--Editor.
+
+[11]: If this be true, this could hardly have been a court, but must have
+been a mere investigation; as Sir John Borlase Warren was
+commander-in-chief, and would scarcely sit in a court of his own
+ordering.--Editor.
+
+[12]: Ned means Loto, probably.--Editor.
+
+[13]: Ned might have added "few duchesses." The ambassadors' bags in
+Europe, might ten many a tale of _foulards_, &c., sent from one court
+to another. The writer believes that the higher class of American
+gentlemen and ladies smuggle less than those of any other country. It
+should be remembered, too, that no seaman goes in a smuggler, thut is not
+sent by traders ashore.--Editor.
+
+[14]: A friend, who was then American Consul at Gibraltar, and an old navy
+officer, tells me Ned is mistaken as to the nature of the anchorage. The
+ship was a little too far out for the best holding ground. The same friend
+adds that the character of this gale is not at all overcharged, the
+vessels actually lost, including small craft of every description,
+amounting to the every way extraordinary number of just three hundred and
+sixty-five.--Editor.
+
+[15]: This is the reasoning of Ned. I have always looked upon the American
+law as erroneous in principle, and too severe in its penalties. Erroneous
+in principle, as piracy is a crime against the law of nations, and it is
+not legal for any one community to widen, or narrow, the action of
+international law. It is peculiarly the policy of this country, rigidly to
+observe this principle, since she has so many interests dependent on its
+existence. The punishment of death is too severe, when we consider that
+nabobs are among us, who laid the foundations of their wealth, as slaving
+_merchants_, when slaving _was_ legal. Sudden mutations in morals,
+are not to be made by a dash of the pen; and even public sentiment can
+hardly be made to consider slaving much of a crime, in a slave-holding
+community. But, even the punishment of death might be inflicted, without
+arrogating to Congress a power to say what is, and what is not, piracy.
+
+It will probably be said, the error is merely one of language; the
+jurisdiction being clearly legal. Is this true? Can Congress, legally or
+constitutionally, legislate for American citizens, when undeniably within
+the jurisdiction of foreign states? Admit this as a principle, and what is
+to prevent Congress from punishing acts, that it may be the policy of
+foreign countries to exact from even casual residents. If Congress can
+punish me, as a pirate, for slaving under a foreign flag, and in foreign
+countries, it can punish me for carrying arms against all American allies;
+and yet military service may be exacted of even an American citizen,
+resident in a foreign state, under particular circumstances. The same
+difficulty, in principle, may be extended to the whole catalogue of legal
+crime.
+
+Congress exists only for specified purposes. It can _punish_ piracy,
+but it cannot declare what shall, or shall not, be piracy; as this would
+be invading the authority of international law. Under the general power to
+pass laws, that are necessary to carry out the system, it can derive no
+authority; since there can be no legal necessity for any such double
+legislation, under the comity of nations. Suppose, for instance, England
+should legalize slaving, again. Could the United States claim the American
+citizen, who had engaged in slaving, under the English flag, and from a
+British port, under the renowned Ashburton treaty? Would England give such
+a man up? No more than she will now give up the slaves that run from the
+American vessel, which is driven in by stress of weather. One of the vices
+of philanthropy is to overreach its own policy, by losing sight of all
+collateral principles and interests.--Editor.
+
+[16]: Ned's pronunciation.
+
+[17]: I find, in looking over his papers and accounts, that Ned,
+exclusively of all the prison-ships, transports, and vessels in which he
+made passages, has belonged regularly to seventy-two different crafts! In
+some of these vessels he made many voyages, In the Sterling, he made
+several passages with the writer; besides four European voyages, at a
+later day. He made four voyages to Havre in the Erie, which counts as only
+one vessel, in the above list. He was three voyages to London, in the
+Washington, &c. &c. &c.; and often made two voyages in the same ship. I am
+of opinion that Ned's calculation of his having been twenty-five years out
+of sight of land is very probably true. He must have _sailed, in all
+ways_, in near a hundred different craft.--Editor.
+
+[18]: Pronounced, Wheaton--Editor.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Ned Myers, by James Fenimore Cooper
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+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
+    <title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Ned Myers, by James Fenimore Cooper</title>
+<style type="text/css">
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Ned Myers, by James Fenimore Cooper
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Ned Myers
+
+Author: James Fenimore Cooper
+
+Posting Date: November 19, 2011 [EBook #9788]
+Release Date: January, 2006
+First Posted: October 16, 2003
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NED MYERS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<hr />
+<h1>Ned Myers;</h1>
+<h2 style="margin-top: 0em">or, A Life Before the Mast</h2>
+
+<h3>By James Fenimore Cooper.</h3>
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<p style="margin-left: 25%">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Thou unrelenting Past!<br />
+  Strong are the barriers round thy dark domain,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;    And fetters sure and fast<br />
+  Hold all that enter thy unbreathing reign.<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;                <i>BRYANT</i>.</p>
+
+
+<p align="center" style="margin-top: 3em">Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1843, by</p>
+
+<p align="center" class="smallcaps">J. Fenimore Cooper,</p>
+
+<p align="center">in the clerk's office of the District Court of the United States for the
+Northern district of New York.</p>
+<br />
+<br />
+
+
+<h2>Preface</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>It is an old remark, that the life of any man, could the incidents be
+faithfully told, would possess interest and instruction for the general
+reader. The conviction of the perfect truth of this saying, has induced
+the writer to commit to paper, the vicissitudes, escapes, and opinions of
+one of his old shipmates, as a sure means of giving the public some just
+notions of the career of a common sailor. In connection with the amusement
+that many will find in following a foremast Jack in his perils and
+voyages, however, it is hoped that the experience and moral change of
+Myers may have a salutary influence on the minds of some of those whose
+fortunes have been, or are likely to be, cast in a mould similar to that
+of this old salt.</p>
+
+<p>As the reader will feel a natural desire to understand how far the editor
+can vouch for the truth of that which he has here written, and to be
+informed on the subject of the circumstances that have brought him
+acquainted with the individual whose adventures form the subject of this
+little work, as much shall be told as may be necessary to a proper
+understanding of these two points.</p>
+
+<p>First, then, as to the writer's own knowledge of the career of the
+subject of his present work. In the year 1806, the editor, then a lad,
+fresh from Yale, and destined for the navy, made his first voyage in a
+merchantman, with a view to get some practical knowledge of his
+profession. This was the fashion of the day, though its utility, on the
+whole, may very well be questioned. The voyage was a long one, including
+some six or eight passages, and extending to near the close of the year
+1807. On board the ship was Myers, an apprentice to the captain. Ned, as
+Myers was uniformly called, was a lad, as well as the writer; and, as a
+matter of course, the intimacy of a ship existed between them. Ned,
+however, was the junior, and was not then compelled to face all the
+hardships and servitude that fell to the lot of the writer.</p>
+
+<p>Once, only, after the crew was broken up, did the writer and Ned actually
+see each other, and that only for a short time. This was in 1809. In 1833,
+they were, for half an hour, on board the same ship, without knowing the
+fact at the time. A few months since, Ned, rightly imagining that the
+author of the Pilot must be his old shipmate, wrote the former a letter to
+ascertain the truth. The correspondence produced a meeting, and the
+meeting a visit from Ned to the editor. It was in consequence of the
+revelations made in this visit that the writer determined to produce the
+following work.</p>
+
+<p>The writer has the utmost confidence in all the statements of Ned, so far
+as intention is concerned. Should he not be mistaken on some points, he is
+an exception to the great rule which governs the opinions and
+recollections of the rest of the human family. Still, nothing is related
+that the writer has any reasons for distrusting. In a few instances he has
+interposed his own greater knowledge of the world between Ned's more
+limited experience and the narrative; but, this has been done cautiously,
+and only in cases in which there can be little doubt that the narrator has
+been deceived by appearances, or misled by ignorance. The reader, however,
+is not to infer that Ned has no greater information than usually falls to
+the share of a foremast hand. This is far from being the case. When first
+known to the writer, his knowledge was materially above that of the
+ordinary class of lads in his situation; giving ample proof that he had
+held intercourse with persons of a condition in life, if not positively of
+the rank of gentlemen, of one that was not much below it. In a word, his
+intelligence on general subjects was such as might justly render him the
+subject of remark on board a ship. Although much of his after-life was
+thrown away, portions of it passed in improvement; leaving Ned, at this
+moment, a man of quick apprehension, considerable knowledge, and of
+singularly shrewd comments. If to this be added the sound and accurate
+moral principles that now appear to govern both his acts and his opinions,
+we find a man every way entitled to speak for himself; the want of the
+habit of communicating his thoughts to the public, alone excepted.</p>
+
+<p>In this book, the writer has endeavoured to adhere as closely to the very
+language of his subject, as circumstances will at all allow; and in many
+places he feels confident that no art of his own could, in any respect,
+improve it.</p>
+
+<p>It is probable that a good deal of distrust will exist on the subject of
+the individual whom Ned supposes to have been one of his god-fathers. On
+this head the writer can only say, that the account which Myers has given
+in this work, is substantially the same as that which he gave the editor
+nearly forty years ago, at an age and under circumstances that forbid the
+idea of any intentional deception. The account is confirmed by his sister,
+who is the oldest of the two children, and who retains a distinct
+recollection of the prince, as indeed does Ned himself. The writer
+supposes these deserted orphans to have been born out of wedlock--though
+he has no direct proof to this effect--and there is nothing singular in
+the circumstance of a man of the highest rank, that of a sovereign
+excepted, appearing at the font in behalf of the child of a dependant. A
+member of the royal family, indeed, might be expected to do this, to
+favour one widely separated from him by birth and station, sooner than to
+oblige a noble, who might possibly presume on the condescension.</p>
+
+<p>It remains only to renew the declaration, that every part of this
+narrative is supposed to be true. The memory of Ned may occasionally fail
+him; and, as for his opinions, they doubtless are sometimes erroneous; but
+the writer has the fullest conviction that it is the intention of the Old
+Salt to relate nothing that he does hot believe to have occurred, or to
+express an unjust sentiment. On the subject of his reformation, so far as
+"the tree is to be known by its fruits" it is entirely sincere; the
+language, deportment, habits, and consistency of this well-meaning tar,
+being those of a cheerful and confiding Christian, without the smallest
+disposition to cant or exaggeration. In this particular, he is a living
+proof of the efficacy of faith, and of the power of the Holy Spirit to
+enlighten the darkest understanding, and to quicken the most apathetic
+conscience.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h1>Ned Myers.</h1>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter I.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>In consenting to lay before the world the experience of a common seaman,
+and, I may add, of one who has been such a sinner as the calling is only
+too apt to produce, I trust that no feeling of vanity has had an undue
+influence. I love the seas; and it is a pleasure to me to converse about
+them, and of the scenes I have witnessed, and of the hardships I have
+undergone on their bosom, in various parts of the world. Meeting with an
+old shipmate who is disposed to put into proper form the facts which I can
+give him, and believing that my narrative may be useful to some of those
+who follow the same pursuit as that in which I have been so long engaged,
+I see no evil in the course I am now taking, while I humbly trust it may
+be the means of effecting some little good. God grant that the pictures I
+shall feel bound to draw of my own past degradation and failings,
+contrasted as they must be with my present contentment and hopes, may
+induce some one, at least, of my readers to abandon the excesses so common
+among seamen, and to turn their eyes in the direction of those great
+truths which are so powerful to reform, and so convincing when regarded
+with humility, and with a just understanding of our own weaknesses.</p>
+
+<p>I know nothing of my family, except through my own youthful recollections,
+and the accounts I have received from my sister. My father I slightly
+remember; but of my mother I retain no distinct impressions. The latter
+must have died while I was very young. The former, I was in the habit of
+often seeing, until I reached my fifth or sixth year. He was a soldier,
+and belonged to the twenty-third regimen of foot, in the service of the
+King of Great Britain.[1] The fourth son of this monarch, Prince Edward as
+he was then called, or the Duke of Kent as he was afterwards styled,
+commanded the corps, and accompanied it to the British American colonies,
+where it was stationed for many years.</p>
+
+<p>
+I was born in Quebec, between the years 1792 and 1794; probably in 1793.
+Of the rank of my father in the regiment, I am unable to speak, though I
+feel pretty confident he was a commissioned officer. He was much with the
+prince; and I remember that, on parade, where I have often seen him, he
+was in the habit of passing frequently from the prince to the ranks--a
+circumstance that induces my old shipmate to think he may have been the
+adjutant. My father, I have always understood, was a native of Hanover,
+and the son of a clergyman in that country. My mother, also, was said to
+be a German, though very little is now known of her by any of the family.
+She is described to me as living much alone, as being occupied in pursuits
+very different from those of my father, and as being greatly averse to the
+life of a soldier.</p>
+
+<p>I was baptized in the Church of England, and, from earliest boyhood, have
+always been given to understand that His Royal Highness, Prince Edward,
+the father of Queen Victoria, stood for me at the font; Major Walker, of
+the same regiment, being the other god-father, and Mrs. Walker, his wife,
+my god-mother. My real names are Edward Robert Meyers; those received in
+baptism having been given me by my two sponsors, after themselves. This
+christening, like my birth, occurred in Quebec. I have, however, called
+myself Edward, or Ned, Myers, ever since I took to the sea.</p>
+
+<p>Before I was old enough to receive impressions to be retained, the
+regiment removed to Halifax. My father accompanied it; and, of course, his
+two children, my sister Harriet and myself, were taken to Nova Scotia. Of
+the period of my life that was passed in Halifax, I retain tolerably
+distinct recollections; more especially of the later years. The prince and
+my father both remained with the regiment for a considerable time; though
+all quitted Halifax several years before I left it myself. I remember
+Prince Edward perfectly well. He sometimes resided at a house called The
+Lodge, a little out of town; and I was often taken out to see him. He
+also had a residence in town. He took a good deal of notice of me;
+raising me in his arms, and kissing me. When he passed our house, I would
+run to him; and he would lead me through the streets himself. On more than
+one occasion, he led me off, and sent for the regimental tailor; directing
+suits of clothes to be made for me, after his own taste. He was a large
+man; of commanding presence, and frequently wore a star on the breast of
+his coat. He was not then called the Duke of Kent, but Prince Edward, or
+<i>The </i> Prince. A lady lived with him at the Lodge; but who she was, I
+do not know.</p>
+
+<p>At this time, my mother must have been dead; for of <i>her</i> I retain no
+recollection whatever. I think, my father left Halifax some time before
+the prince. Major Walker, too, went to England; leaving Mrs. Walker in
+Nova Scotia, for some time. Whether my father went away with a part of the
+regiment to which he belonged, or not, I cannot say but I well remember a
+conversation between the prince, the major and Mrs. Walker, in which they
+spoke of the loss of a transport, and of Meyers's saving several men. This
+must have been at the time when my father quitted Nova Scotia; to which
+province, I think, he never could have returned. Neither my sister, nor
+myself, ever saw him afterwards. We have understood that he was killed in
+battle; though when, or where, we do not know. My old shipmate, the
+editor, however, thinks it must have been in Canada; as letters were
+received from a friend in Quebec, after I had quitted Nova Scotia,
+inquiring after us children, and stating that the effects of my father
+were in that town, and ought to belong to us. This letter gave my sister
+the first account of his death; though it was not addressed to her, but to
+those in whose care she had been left. This property was never recovered;
+and my shipmate, who writes this account, thinks there may have been legal
+difficulties in the way.</p>
+
+<p>Previously to quitting the province of Nova Scotia, my father placed
+Harriet and myself in the house of a Mr. Marchinton, to live. This
+gentleman was a clergyman, who had no regular parish, but who preached in
+a chapel of his own. He sent us both to school, and otherwise took charge
+of us. I am not aware of the precise time when the prince left Halifax,
+but it must have been when I was five or six years old--probably about the
+year 1798 or 1799.[2]</p>
+
+<p>From that time I continued at Mr. Marchinton's, attending school, and
+busied, as is usual with boys of that age, until the year 1805. I fear I
+was naturally disposed to idleness and self-indulgence, for I became
+restive and impatient under the restraints of the schoolmaster, and of the
+gentleman in whose family I had been left. I do not know that I had any
+just grounds of complaint against Mr. Marchinton; but his rigorous
+discipline disgusted me; principally, I am now inclined to believe,
+because it was not agreeable to me to be kept under any rigid moral
+restraint. I do not think I was very vicious; and, I know, I was far from
+being of a captious temperament; but I loved to be my own master; and I
+particularly disliked everything like religious government. Mr.
+Marchinton, moreover, kept me out of the streets; and it was my
+disposition to be an idler, and at play. It is possible he may have been a
+little too severe for one of my temperament; though, I fear, nature gave
+me a roving and changeful mind.</p>
+
+<p>At that time the English cruisers sent in many American vessels as prizes.
+Our house was near the water; and I was greatly in the habit of strolling
+along the wharves, whenever an opportunity occurred; Mr. Marchinton owning
+a good deal of property in that part of the town. The Cambrian frigate had
+a midshipman, a little older than myself, who had been a schoolmate of
+mine. This lad, whose name was Bowen, was sent in as the nominal
+prize-master of a brig loaded with coffee; and I no sooner learned the
+fact, than I began to pay him visits. Young Bowen encouraged me greatly,
+in a wish that now arose within me, to become a sailor. I listened eagerly
+to the history of his adventures, and felt the usual boyish emulation. Mr.
+Marchinton seemed averse to my following the profession, and these visits
+became frequent and stealthy; my wishes, most probably, increasing, in
+proportion as they seemed difficult of accomplishment.</p>
+
+<p>I soon began to climb the rigging of the brig, ascending to the
+mast-heads. One day Mr. Marchinton saw me quite at the main-truck; and,
+calling me down, I got a severe flogging for my dexterity and enterprise.
+It sometimes happens that punishment produces a result exactly opposite to
+that which was intended; and so it turned out in the present instance. My
+desire to be a sailor increased in consequence of this very flogging; and
+I now began seriously to think of running away, in order to get to sea, as
+well as to escape a confinement on shore, that, to me, seemed
+unreasonable. Another prize, called the Amsterdam Packet, a Philadelphia
+ship, had been sent in by, I believe, the Cleopatra, Sir Robert Laurie. On
+board this ship were two American lads, apprentices. With these boys I
+soon formed an intimacy; and their stories of the sea, and their accounts
+of the States, coupled with the restraints I fancied I endured, gave rise
+to a strong desire to see their country, as well as to become a sailor.
+They had little to do, and enjoyed great liberty, going and coming much as
+they pleased. This idleness seemed, to me, to form the summit of human
+happiness. I did not often dare to play truant; and the school became
+odious to me. According to my recollections, this desire for a change must
+have existed near, or quite a twelvemonth; being constantly fed by the
+arrival and departure of vessels directly before my eyes, ere I set about
+the concocting of a serious plan to escape.</p>
+
+<p>My project was put in execution in the summer of 1805, when I could not
+have been more than eleven years old, if, indeed, quite as old. I was in
+the market one day, and overheard some American seamen, who had been
+brought in, conversing of a schooner that was on the point of leaving
+Halifax, for New York. This vessel belonged to North Carolina, and had
+been captured by the Driver, some time before, but had been liberated by a
+decision of the Admiralty Court. The men I overheard talking about her,
+intended taking their passages back to their own country in the craft.
+This seemed to me a good opportunity to effect my purpose, and I went from
+the market, itself, down to the schooner. The mate was on board alone, and
+I took courage, and asked him if he did not want to ship a boy. My
+dress and appearance were both against me, as I had never done any work,
+and was in the ordinary attire of a better class lad on shore. The mate
+began to laugh at me, and to joke me on my desire to go to sea,
+questioning me about my knowledge. I was willing to do anything; but,
+perceiving that I made little impression, I resorted to bribery. Prince
+Edward had made me a present, before he left Halifax, of a beautiful
+little fowling-piece, which was in my own possession; and I mentioned to
+the mate that I was the owner of such an article, and would give it to him
+if he would consent to secrete me in the schooner, and carry me to New
+York. This bait took, and I was told to bring the fowling, piece on board,
+and let the mate see it. That night I carried the bribe, as agreed on, to
+this man, who was perfectly satisfied with its appearance, and we struck a
+bargain on the spot. I then returned to the house, and collected a few of
+my clothes. I knew that my sister, Harriet, was making some shirts for me,
+and I stole into her room, and brought away two of them, which were all I
+could find. My wardrobe was not large when I left the house, and I had
+taken the precaution of carrying the articles out one at a time, and of
+secreting them in an empty cask in the yard. When I thought I had got
+clothes enough, I made them into a bundle, and carried them down to the
+schooner. The mate then cleared out a locker in the cabin, in which there
+were some potatoes, and told me I must make up my mind to pass a few hours
+in that narrow berth. Too thoughtless to raise any objections, I
+cheerfully consented, and took my leave of him with the understanding that
+I was to be on board, again, early in the morning.</p>
+
+<p>Before going to bed, I desired a black servant of Mr. Marchinton's to call
+me about day-break, as I desired to go out and pick berries. This was
+done, and I was up and dressed before any other member of the family was
+stirring. I lost no time, but quitted the house, and walked deliberately
+down to the schooner. No one was up on board of her, and I was obliged to
+give the mate a call, myself. This man now seemed disposed to draw back
+from his bargain, and I had to use a good deal of persuasion before I
+could prevail on him to be as good as his word. He did not like to part
+with the fowling-piece, but seemed to think it would be fairly purchased,
+could he persuade me to run away. At length he yielded, and I got into the
+locker, where I was covered with potatoes.</p>
+
+<p>I was a good while in this uncomfortable situation, before there were any
+signs of the vessel's quitting the wharf. I began to grow heartily tired
+of the confinement, and the love of change revived within me in a new
+form. The potatoes were heavy for me to bear, and the confined air
+rendered my prison almost insupportable. I was on the point of coming out
+of prison, when the noise on deck gave me the comfortable assurance that
+the people had come on board, and that the schooner was about to sail. I
+could hear men conversing, and, after a period of time that seemed an age,
+I felt satisfied the schooner was fairly under way. I heard a hail from
+one of the forts as we passed down the harbour, and, not long after, the
+Driver, the very sloop of war that had sent the vessel in, met her, and
+quite naturally hailed her old prize, also. All this I heard in my prison,
+and it served to reconcile me to the confinement. As everything was right,
+the ship did not detain us, and we were permitted to proceed.</p>
+
+<p>It was noon before I was released. Going on deck, I found that the
+schooner was at sea. Nothing of Halifax was visible but a tower or two,
+that were very familiar objects to me. I confess I now began to regret the
+step I had taken, and, could I have been landed, it is probable my roving
+disposition would have received a salutary check. It was too late,
+however, and I was compelled to continue in the thorny and difficult path
+on which I had so thoughtlessly entered. I often look back to this moment,
+and try to imagine what might have been my fortunes, had I never taken
+this unlucky step. What the prince might have done for me, it is
+impossible to say; though I think it probable that, after the death of my
+father, I should have been forgotten, as seems to have been the case with
+my sister, who gradually fell from being considered and treated as one of
+the family in which she lived, into a sort of upper servant.</p>
+
+<p>I have learned, latterly, that Mr. Marchinton had a great search made for
+me. It was his impression I was drowned, and several places were dragged
+for my body. This opinion lasted until news of my being in New York
+reached the family.</p>
+
+<p>My appearance on deck gave rise to a great many jokes between the captain
+of the schooner, and his mate. I was a good deal laughed at, but not badly
+treated, on the whole. My office was to be that of cook--by no means a
+very difficult task in that craft, the camboose consisting of two pots set
+in bricks, and the dishes being very simple. In the cabin, sassafras was
+used for tea, and boiled pork and beef composed the dinner. The first day,
+I was excused from entering on the duties of my office, on account of
+sea-sickness; but, the next morning, I set about the work in good earnest.
+We had a long passage, and my situation was not very pleasant. The
+schooner was wet, and the seas she shipped would put out my fire. There
+was a deck load of shingles, and I soon discovered that these made
+excellent kindling wood; but it was against the rules of the craft to burn
+cargo, and my friend the mate had bestowed a few kicks on me before I
+learned to make the distinction. In other respects, I did tolerably well;
+and, at the end of about ten days, we entered Sandy Hook.</p>
+
+<p>Such was my first passage at sea, or, at least, the first I can remember,
+though I understand we were taken from Quebec to Halifax by water. I was
+not cured of the wish to roam by this experiment, though, at that age,
+impressions are easily received, and as readily lost. Some idea may be
+formed of my recklessness, and ignorance of such matters, at this time,
+from the circumstance that I do not remember ever to have known the name
+of the vessel in which I left Nova Scotia. Change and adventure were my
+motives, and it never occurred to me to inquire into a fact that was so
+immaterial to one of my temperament. To this hour, I am ignorant on
+the subject.</p>
+
+<p>The schooner came up, and hauled in abreast of Fly Market. She did not
+come close to the wharf, but made fast, temporarily, at its end, outside
+of two or three other vessels. This took place not long after breakfast. I
+set about the preparations for dinner, which was ready, as usual, at
+twelve o'clock. While the crew were eating this meal, I had nothing to do,
+and, seeing a number of boys on the wharf, I went ashore, landing for the
+first time in this, my adopted country. I was without hat, coat, or
+shoes; my feet having become sore from marching about among the shingles.
+The boys were licking molasses from some hogsheads, and I joined in the
+occupation with great industry. I might have been occupied in this manner,
+and in talking with the boys, an hour or more, when I bethought me of my
+duty on board. On looking for the schooner, she was gone! Her people, no
+doubt, thought I was below, and did not miss me, and she had been carried
+to some other berth; where, I did not know. I could not find her, nor did
+I ever see her again.</p>
+
+<p>Such, then, was my entrance on a new scene. Had I known enough to follow
+the wharves, doubtless I should have found the vessel; but, after a short
+search, I returned to the boys and the molasses.</p>
+
+<p>That I was concerned at finding myself in a strange place, without a
+farthing in my pockets--without hat, shoes or coat, is certain--but it is
+wonderful how little apprehension I felt. I knew nothing, and feared
+nothing. While licking the molasses, I told the boys my situation; and I
+met with a great deal of sympathy among them. The word passed from one to
+the other, that a "poor English boy had lost his vessel, and did not know
+where to go to pass the night." One promised me a supper; and, as for
+lodgings, the general opinion seemed to be, that I might find a berth
+under one of the butchers' stalls, in the adjacent market. I had different
+projects for myself, however.</p>
+
+<p>There was a family of the name of Clark, then residing in New York, that I
+had known in Halifax. I remembered to have heard my sister, Harriet,
+speaking of them, not long before I quitted home, and that she said they
+lived in, or near, Fly Market. I knew we were at Fly Market; and the name
+recalled these people. I inquired, accordingly, if any one knew such a
+family; but met with no success in discovering them. They were strangers;
+and no one knew them. It was now near sunset; and I determined to look for
+these people myself. On this errand, then, I set off; walking up the
+market until I reached Maiden Lane. While strolling along the street, I
+heard a female voice suddenly exclaim: "Lord! here is Edward Myers,
+without anything on him!" At the next instant, Susan Clark, one of the
+daughters, came running into the street; and presently I was in the
+house, surrounded by the whole family.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, I was closely questioned; and I told the whole truth. The
+Clarks were extremely kind to me, offering me clothes, and desiring to
+keep me with them; but I did not like the family, owing to old quarrels
+with the boys, and a certain sternness in the father, who had made
+complaints of my stealing his fruit, while in Halifax. I was innocent; and
+the whole proceeding had made me regard Mr. Clark as a sort of enemy. My
+principal motive, in inquiring for the family, was to learn where a
+certain Dr. Heizer[3] lived. This gentleman was a German, who had formerly
+been in the army; and I knew he was then in New York. In him I had more
+confidence; and I determined to throw myself on his kindness.</p>
+
+<p>After declining a great many offers, I got the address of Dr. Heizer, and
+proceeded in quest of his residence, just as I was. It was moonlight, and
+I went through the streets with boyish confidence. My route lay up
+Broadway, and my destination was one of its corners and Hester Street. In
+1805, this was nearly out of town, being near Canal street. I had been
+told to look for a bridge, which then stood in Broadway, and which
+answered for a landmark, in my new navigation. The bridge I found easily;
+and, making inquiries at a house, I was told the family I sought lived
+next door.</p>
+
+<p>The Heizers were greatly surprised at my appearance. I was questioned, of
+course; and told them the naked truth. I knew concealment would be
+useless; was naturally frank, notwithstanding what I had just done; and I
+began to feel the want of friends. I was fed; and that same evening, Dr.
+and Mrs. Heizer led me down Broadway, and equipped me in a neat suit of
+clothes. Within a week, I was sent regularly to school.</p>
+
+<p>I never knew what Dr. Heizer did, in relation to my arrival. I cannot but
+think that he communicated the circumstances to Mr. Marchinton, who was
+well known to him; though, Harriet tell me, the first intelligence they
+got of me was of a much later date, and came from another source. Let this
+be as it might, I was kindly treated; living, in all respects, as if I
+were one of the family. There was no son; and they all seemed to consider
+me as one.</p>
+
+<p>I remained in this family the autumn of 1805, and the winter and spring of
+1806. I soon tired of school, and began to play truant; generally
+wandering along the wharves, gazing at the ships. Dr. Heizer soon learned
+this; and, watching me, discovered the propensity I still retained for the
+sea. He and Mrs. Heizer now took me aside, and endeavoured to persuade me
+to return to Halifax; but I had become more and more averse to taking this
+backward step. To own the truth, I had fearful misgivings on the subject
+of floggings; and I dreaded a long course of severity and discipline. It
+is certain, that, while rigid rules of conduct are very necessary to some
+dispositions, there are others with which they do not succeed. Mine was of
+the latter class; for, I think, I am more easily led, than driven. At all
+events, I had a horror of going back; and refused to listen to the
+proposal. After a good deal of conversation, and many efforts at
+persuasion, Dr. Heizer consented to let me go to sea, from New York; or
+affected to consent; I never knew which.</p>
+
+<p>The Leander, Miranda's flag-ship, in his abortive attempt to create a
+revolution in Spanish-America, was then lying in the Hudson; and Dr.
+Heizer, who was acquainted with some one connected with her, placed me in
+this ship, with the understanding I was to go in her to Holland. I passed
+the day on board; going up to my new employer's house, for my meals, and
+to sleep. This course of life may have lasted a fortnight; when I became
+heartily tired of it. I found I had a mistress, now, as well as a master.
+The former set me to cleaning knives, boots, candlesticks, and other
+similar employments; converting me into a sort of scullion. My pride
+revolted at this. I have since thought it possible, all this was done to
+create disgust, and to induce me to return to Mr. Marchinton; but it had a
+very contrary effect.</p>
+
+<p>My desire was to be a sailor. One Sunday I had been on board the ship,
+and, after assisting the mate to show the bunting fore and aft, I went
+back to the house. Here my mistress met me with a double allowance of
+knives to clean. We had a quarrel on the subject; I protesting against all
+such work. But to clean the knives I was compelled. About half were thrown
+over the fence, into the adjoining yard; and, cleaning what remained, I
+took my hat, went to the doctor's, and saw no more of my mistress, or of
+the Leander.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter II.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>An explanation took place. Dr. and Mrs. Heizer remonstrated about my
+conduct, and endeavoured, once more, to persuade me to return to Mr.
+Marchinton's. A great deal was told me of the kind intentions of that
+gentleman, and concerning what I might expect from the protection and
+patronage of my god-father, the Duke of Kent. I cannot help thinking, now,
+that much of the favour which was extended towards me at that early period
+of life, was owing to the circumstance that the prince had consented to
+stand for me at my baptism. He was a great disciplinarian--so great,
+indeed, I remember to have heard, as to cause more than one mutiny--and my
+father being a German, and coming from a people that carried military
+subordination to extremes, it is highly probable I was indebted, for this
+compliment, to a similarity of tastes between the two. I cared little for
+all this, however, in 1805, and thought far less of being protected by a
+prince of the blood royal, than of going to sea, and especially of
+escaping from the moral discipline of Mr. Marchinton. Finding his
+arguments vain, Dr. Heizer sent me to school again, where I continued a
+few months longer.</p>
+
+<p>All this time, my taste for ships rather increased than diminished. At
+every opportunity I was on the wharves, studying the different craft, and
+endeavouring to understand their rig. One day I saw a British ensign, and,
+while looking at it, with a feeling of strong disgust, I heard myself
+called by name. A glance told me that I was seen by a Halifax man, and I
+ran away, under the apprehension that he might, by some means, seize me
+and carry me back. My feelings on this head were all alive, and that very
+day one of the young ladies said, in a melancholy way, "<i>Edouard,</i>"
+"Halifax." These girls spoke scarcely any English, having been born in
+Martinique; and they talked much together in French, looking at me
+occasionally, as if I were the subject of their discourse. It is probable
+conscience was at the bottom of this conceit of mine; but the latter now
+became so strong, as to induce me to determine to look out for a vessel
+for myself, and be off again. With this view, I quitted a negro who had
+been sent with me to market, under the pretence of going to school, but
+went along the wharves until I found a ship that took my fancy. She was
+called the Sterling, and there was a singularly good-looking mate on her
+deck, of the name of Irish, who was a native of Nantucket. The ship was
+commanded by Capt. John Johnston, of Wiscasset, in Maine, and belonged to
+his father and himself.</p>
+
+<p>I went on board the Sterling, and, after looking about for some time, I
+ventured to offer myself to Mr. Irish, as a boy who wished to ship. I was
+questioned, of course, but evaded any very close answers. After some
+conversation, Capt. Johnston came on board, and Mr. Irish told him what I
+wanted. My examination now became much closer, and I found myself driven
+to sheer fabrication in order to effect my purposes. During my intercourse
+with different sea-going lads of Halifax, I had learned the particulars of
+the capture of the Cleopatra 32, by the French frigate Ville de Milan 38,
+and her recapture by the Leander 50, which ship captured the Ville de
+Milan at the same time. I said my father had been a serjeant of marines,
+and was killed in the action--that I had run away when the ships got in,
+and that I wished to be bound to some American ship-master, in order to
+become a regularly-trained seaman. This story so far imposed on Capt.
+Johnston as to induce him to listen to my proposals, and in part to accept
+them. We parted with an understanding that I was to get my clothes, and
+come on board the vessel.</p>
+
+<p>It was twelve at noon when I got back to Dr. Heizer's. My first business
+was to get my clothes into the yard, a few at a time; after which I ate my
+dinner with the family. As soon as we rose from table, I stole away with
+my bundle, leaving these kind people to believe I had returned to school.
+I never saw one of them afterwards! On my return to New York, several
+years later, I learned they had all gone to Martinique to live. I should
+not have quitted this excellent family in so clandestine a manner, had I
+not been haunted with the notion that I was about to be sent back to
+Halifax, a place I now actually hated.</p>
+
+<p>Capt. Johnston received me good-naturedly, and that night I slept and
+supped at the Old Coffee House, Old Slip--his own lodgings. He seemed
+pleased with me, and I was delighted with him. The next day he took me to
+a slop-shop, and I was rigged like a sailor, and was put in the cabin,
+where I was to begin my service in the regular way. A boy named Daniel
+McCoy was in the ship, and had been out to Russia in her, as cabin-boy,
+the last voyage. He was now to be sent into the forecastle, and was
+ordered to instruct me in my duty.</p>
+
+<p>I was now comparatively happy, though anxious to be bound to Capt.
+Johnston, and still more so to be fairly at sea. The Sterling had a good,
+old-fashioned cabin, as cabins went in 1806; and I ran about her
+state-room, rummaged her lockers, and scampered up and down her
+companion-way, with as much satisfaction as if they had all belonged to a
+palace. Dan McCoy was every day on board, and we had the accommodations of
+the ship very much to ourselves. Two or three days later, Capt. Johnston
+took me to the proper place, and I was put under regular indentures, to
+serve until I was twenty-one. I now felt more confidence in my situation,
+knowing that Dr. Heizer had no legal authority over me. The work I did, in
+no manner offended my dignity, for it was on ship-board, and belonged
+properly to my duty as a cabin-boy.</p>
+
+<p>The Sterling soon began to take in her cargo. She was to receive a freight
+of flour, for Cowes and a market. Not only was the hold filled, but the
+state-room and cabin, leaving barely room to climb over the barrels to
+reach the berths. A place was left, just inside of the cabin door, for the
+table. Passengers were not common in that day, while commerce was pushed
+to the utmost. Our sails were bending when the consignee, followed by
+another merchant, came down to the ship, accompanied by a youth, who, it
+was understood, wished also to be received in the vessel. This youth was
+named Cooper, and was never called by any other appellation in the ship.
+He was accepted by Capt. Johnston, signed the articles, and the next day
+he joined us, in sailor's rig. He never came to the cabin, but was
+immediately employed forward, in such service as he was able to perform.
+It was afterwards understood that he was destined for the navy.</p>
+
+<p>The very day that Cooper joined us, was one of deep disgrace to me. The
+small stores came on board for the cabin, and Dan McCoy persuaded me to
+try the flavour of a bottle of cherry-bounce. I did not drink much, but
+the little I swallowed made me completely drunk. This was the first time I
+ever was in that miserable and disgraceful plight; would to God I could
+also say it was the last! The last it was, however, for several years;
+that is some comfort. I thank my Divine Master that I have lived to see
+the hour when intoxicating liquors have ceased to have any command over
+me, and when, indeed, they never pass my lips. Capt. Johnston did not flog
+me for this act of folly, merely pulling my ears a little, and sharply
+reprimanding me; both he and Mr. Irish seeming to understand that my
+condition had proceeded from the weakness of my head. Dan was the
+principal sufferer, as, to say the truth, he ought to have been. He was
+rope's-ended for his pains.</p>
+
+<p>Next day the stevedores took the ship in to the stream, and the crew came
+on board. The assembling of the crew of a merchantman, in that day, was a
+melancholy sight. The men came off, bearing about them the signs of the
+excesses of which they had been guilty while on shore; some listless and
+stupid, others still labouring under the effects of liquor, and some in
+that fearful condition which seamen themselves term having the "horrors."
+Our crew was neither better nor worse than that of other ships. It was
+also a sample of the mixed character of the crews of American vessels
+during the height of her neutral trade. The captain, chief-mate, cook, and
+four of those forward, were American born; while the second-mate was a
+Portuguese. The boys were, one Scotch, and one a Canadian; and there were
+a Spaniard, a Prussian, a Dane, and an Englishman, in the forecastle.
+There was also an Englishman who worked his passage, having been the
+cooper of a whaler that was wrecked. As Dan McCoy was sent forward, too,
+this put ten in the forecastle, besides the cook, and left five aft,
+including the master of another wrecked English vessel, whom we took out
+as a passenger.</p>
+
+<p>That afternoon we lifted our anchor, and dropped down abreast of
+Governor's Island, where we brought up. Next day all hands were called to
+get under way, and, as soon as the anchor was short, the mate told Cooper
+and myself to go up and loose the fore-top-sail. I went on one yard-arm and
+Cooper went on the other. In a few minutes the second mate came up,
+hallooing to us to "avast," and laughing. Cooper was hard at work at the
+"robins," and would soon have had his half of the sail down in the top,
+had he been let alone; while I was taking the gaskets from the yard, with
+the intention of bringing them carefully down on deck, where it struck me
+they would be quite safe. Luckily for us, the men were too busy heaving,
+and too stupid, to be very critical, and we escaped much ridicule. In a
+week we both knew better.</p>
+
+<p>The ship only got to the quarantine ground that day, but in the morning we
+went to sea. Our passage was long and stormy. The ship was on a bow-line
+most of the time, and we were something like forty days from land to land.
+Nothing extraordinary occurred, however, and we finally made the Bill of
+Portland. The weather came on thick, but we found a pilot, and ran into
+St. Helen's Roads and anchored. The captain got into his boat, and taking
+four men pulled ashore, to look for his orders at Cowes.</p>
+
+<p>That afternoon it cleared off, and we found a pilot lying a little outside
+of us. About sunset a man-of-war's cutter came alongside, and Mr. Irish
+was ordered to muster the crew. The English lieutenant, who was tolerably
+bowsed up, took his seat behind the cabin table, while the men came down,
+and stood in the companion-way passage, to be overhauled. Most of the
+foreigners had gone in the boat, but two of the Americans that remained
+were uncommonly fine-looking men, and were both prime seamen. One, whose
+name was Thomas Cook, was a six-footer, and had the air of a thorough
+sea-dog. He filled the lieutenant's eye mightily, and Cook was very coolly
+told to gather his dunnage, as he was wanted. Cook pointed to his
+protection, but the lieutenant answered--"Oh! these things are
+nothing--anybody can have one for two dollars, in New York. You are an
+Englishman, and the King has need of your services." Cook now took out of
+his pocket a certificate, that was signed by Sir John Beresford, stating
+that Thomas Cook had been discharged from His Maj. Ship Cambrian, after a
+pretty long service in her, because he had satisfactorily proved that he
+was a native-born American. The lieutenant could not very well dishonour
+this document, and he reluctantly let Cook go, keeping his protection,
+however. He next selected Isaac Gaines, a native New Yorker, a man whose
+father and friends were known to the captain. But Gaines had no discharge
+like that of Cook's, and the poor fellow was obliged to rowse up his chest
+and get into the cutter. This he did with tears in his eyes, and to the
+regret of all on board, he being one of the best men in the ship. We asked
+the boat's crew to what vessel they belonged, and they gave us the name of
+a sixty-four in the offing, but we observed, as they pulled away from us,
+that they took the direction of another ship. This was the last I ever
+saw, or heard, of Isaac Gaines. Cook went on with us, and one day, while
+in London, he went with Cooper to Somerset House to get an order for some
+prize-money, to which he was entitled for his service in the Cambrian, as
+was shown by his discharge. The clerk asked him to leave the certificate,
+and call a day or two later, when he would have searched out the amount.
+This was done, and Cook, being now without certificate or protection, was
+pressed on his way back to the ship. We never heard of him, either. Such
+was often the fate of sailors, in that day, who were with you one day, and
+lost for ever the next.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Johnston did not get back to the ship for four-and-twenty hours.
+He brought orders for us to go up to London; and, the wind being fair, and
+almost a gale, we got under way, and were off as soon as possible. The
+next morning we were in the straits of Dover; the wind light, but fair.
+This was at a moment when all England was in arms, in anticipation of an
+invasion from France. Forty odd sail of vessels of war were counted from
+our ship, as the day dawned, that had been cruising in the narrow waters,
+during the night, to prevent a surprise.</p>
+
+<p>We worked our way up to London, with the tides, and were carried into
+London dock; where we discharged. This was my first visit to the modern
+Babylon, of course; but I had little opportunity of seeing much. I had one
+or two cruises, of a Sunday, in tow of Cooper, who soon became a branch
+pilot, in those waters, about the parks and west end but I was too young
+to learn much, or to observe much. Most of us went to see the monument,
+St. Paul's, and the lions; and Cooper put himself in charge of a
+beef-eater, and took a look at the arsenals, jewels and armoury. He had a
+rum time of it, in his sailor rig, but hoisted in a wonderful deal of
+gibberish, according to his own account of his cruise.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Johnston now got a freight for the ship, and we hauled into the
+stream, abreast of the dock-gates, and took in shingle ballast. The
+Prussian, Dane, second mate, and the English cooper, all left us, in
+London. We got a Philadelphian, a chap from Maine, who had just been
+discharged from an English man-of-war, and an Irish lad, in their places.
+In January we sailed, making the best of our way for the straits of
+Gibraltar. The passage was stormy--the Bay of Biscay, in particular,
+giving us a touch of its qualities. It was marked by only two incidents,
+however, out of the usual way. While running down the coast of Portugal,
+with the land in sight, we made an armed felucca astern, and to windward.
+This vessel gave chase; and, the captain disliking her appearance, we
+carried hard, in order to avoid her. The weather was thick, and it blew
+fresh, occasionally, in squalls. Whenever it lulled, the felucca gained on
+us, we having, a very little, the advantage in the puffs. At length the
+felucca began to fire; and, finding that his shot were coming pretty near,
+Captain Johnston, knowing that he was in ballast, thought it wisest to
+heave-to. Ten minutes after our main-top-sail was aback, the felucca ranged
+up close under our lee; hailed, and ordered us to send a boat, with our
+papers, on board her. A more rascally-looking craft never gave such an
+order to an unarmed merchantman. As our ship rose on a sea, and he fell
+into the trough, we could look directly down upon his decks, and thus form
+some notion of what we were to expect, when he got possession of us. His
+people were in red caps and shirts, and appeared to be composed of the
+rakings of such places as Gibraltar, Cadiz and Lisbon. He had ten long
+guns; and pikes, pistols and muskets, were plenty with him. On the end of
+each latine-yard was a chap on the look-out, who occasionally turned his
+eyes towards us, as if to anticipate the gleanings. That we should be
+plundered, every one expected; and it was quite likely we might be
+ill-treated. As soon as we hove-to, Captain Johnston gave me the best
+spy-glass, with orders to hand it to Cooper, to hide. The latter buried it
+in the shingle ballast. We, in the cabin, concealed a bag of guineas so
+effectually, that, after all was over, we could not find it ourselves.</p>
+
+<p>The jolly-boat had been stowed in the launch, on account of the rough
+weather we had expected to meet, and tackles had to be got aloft before we
+could hoist it out. This consumed some time, during which there was a
+lull. The felucca, seeing us busy at this work, waited patiently until we
+had got the boat over the side, and into the water. Cooper, Dan McCoy, Big
+Dan, and Spanish Joe, then got into her; and the captain had actually
+passed his writing-desk into the boat, and had his leg on the rail, to go
+over the side himself, when a squall struck the ship. The men were called
+out of the boat to clew down the topsails, and a quarter of an hour passed
+in taking care of the vessel. By this time the squall had passed, and it
+lightened up a little. There lay the felucca, waiting for the boat; and
+the men were reluctantly going into the latter again, when the commander
+of the felucca waved his hand to us, his craft fell off and filled,
+wing-and-wing, skimming away towards the coast, like a duck. We stood
+gaping and staring at her, not knowing what to make of this manoeuvre,
+when "bang!" went a heavy gun, a little on our weather quarter. The shot
+passed our wake, for we had filled our topsail, and it went skipping from
+sea to sea, after the felucca. Turning our eyes in the direction of the
+report, we saw a frigate running down upon the felucca, carrying
+studding-sails on both sides, with the water foaming up to her
+hawse-holes. As she passed our stern, she showed an English ensign, but
+took no other notice of us, continuing on after the felucca, and
+occasionally measuring her distance with a shot. Both vessels soon
+disappeared in the mist, though we heard guns for some time. As for
+ourselves, we jogged along on our course, wishing good luck to the
+Englishman. The felucca showed no ensign, the whole day. Our guineas were
+found, some weeks later, in a bread-locker, after we had fairly eaten our
+way down to them.</p>
+
+<p>The other adventure occurred very soon after this escape; for, though the
+felucca may have had a commission, she was a pirate in appearance, and
+most probably in her practices. The thick westerly weather continued until
+we had passed the Straits. The night we were abreast of Cape Trafalgar,
+the captain came on deck in the middle watch, and, hailing the forecastle,
+ordered a sharp look-out kept, as we must be running through Lord
+Collingwood's fleet. The words were hardly out of his mouth, when Spanish
+Joe sung out, "sail ho!" There she was, sure enough, travelling right down
+upon us, in a line that threatened to take us between the fore and main
+masts. The captain ordered our helm hard up, and yelled for Cooper to
+bring up the cabin lantern. The youngster made one leap down the ladder,
+just scraping the steps with his heels, and was in the mizzen rigging with
+the light, in half a minute. That saved us. So near was the stranger, that
+we plainly heard the officer of the deck call out to his own
+quarter-master to "port, hard a-port--<i>hard</i> a-port, and be d----d to
+you!" Hard a-port it was, and a two-decker came brushing along on our
+weather beam--so near, that, when she lifted on the seas, it seemed as if
+the muzzles of her guns would smash our rails. The Sterling did not behave
+well on this occasion, for, getting a yaw to windward, she seemed disposed
+to go right into the Englishman, before she would mind her helm. After the
+man-of-war hailed, and got our answer, her officer quaintly remarked that
+we were "close on board him." It blew too fresh for boats, and we were
+suffered to pass without being boarded.</p>
+
+<p>The ship proceeded up to Carthagena, and went in. Here we were put in
+quarantine for several days. The port was full of heavy ships of war,
+several of which were three-deckers; and an arrival direct from London
+made quite a sensation among them. We had divers visits from the officers,
+though I do not know what it all amounted to. From Carthagena we were
+sent down the coast to a little place called Aguilas, where we began to
+take in a cargo of barilla. At night we would discharge our shingle
+ballast into the water, contrary to law; and, in the day, we took in
+cargo. So clear was the water, that our night's work might easily be seen
+next morning, lying beneath the ship. As we lay in a roadstead, it
+mattered little, few vessels touching at the port. While at this place,
+there was an alarm of an attack from an English man-of-war that was seen
+in the offing, and priests enough turned out to defend an ordinary town.</p>
+
+<p>We got about half our freight at this little village, and then came down
+as low as Almeria, an old Moorish town, just below Cape de Gatte, for the
+remainder. Here we lay several weeks, finishing stowing our cargo. I went
+ashore almost every day to market, and had an opportunity of seeing
+something of the Spaniards. Our ship lay a good distance off, and we
+landed at a quarantine station, half a mile, at least, from the
+water-gate, to which we were compelled to walk along the beach.</p>
+
+<p>One of my journeys to the town produced a little adventure. The captain
+had ordered Cooper to boil some pitch at the galley. By some accident, the
+pot was capsized, and the ship came near being burned. A fresh pot was now
+provided, and Cooper and Dan McCoy were sent ashore, at the station, with
+orders to boil down pitch on the land. There was no wharf, and it was
+always necessary to get ashore through a surf. The bay is merely an elbow,
+half the winds blowing in from the open sea. Sometimes, therefore, landing
+is ticklish work and requires much skill. I went ashore with the pitch,
+and proceeded into the town on my errands, whilst the two lads lighted
+their fire and began to boil down. When all was ready, it was seen there
+was a good deal of swell, and that the breakers looked squally. The
+orders, however, were to go off, on such occasions, and not to wait, as
+delay generally made matters worse. We got into the boat, accordingly, and
+shoved off. For a minute, or more, things went well enough, when a breaker
+took the bows of the jolly-boat, lifted her nearly on end, and turned her
+keel uppermost. One scarcely knows how he gets out of such a scrape. We
+all came ashore, however, heels over head, people, pot, boat, and oars.
+The experiment was renewed, less the pitch and a pair of new shoes of
+mine, and it met with exactly the same result. On a third effort, the boat
+got through the surf and we succeeded in reaching the ship. These are the
+sorts of scenes that harden lads, and make them fond of risks. I could not
+swim a stroke, and certainly would have been drowned had not the
+Mediterranean cast me ashore, as if disdaining to take a life of so little
+value to anybody but myself.</p>
+
+<p>After lying several weeks at Almeria, the ship got under way for England
+again. We had fresh westerly gales, and beat to and fro, between Europe
+and Africa, for some time, when we got a Levanter that shoved us out into
+the Atlantic at a furious rate. In the Straits we passed a squadron of
+Portuguese frigates, that was cruising against the Algerines. It was the
+practice of these ships to lie at the Rock until it blew strong enough
+from the eastward to carry vessels through the Gut, when they weighed and
+kept in the offing until the wind shifted. This was blockading the
+Atlantic against their enemies, and the Mediterranean against their
+own ships.</p>
+
+<p>We had a long passage and were short of salt provisions. Falling in with
+an American in the Bay of Biscay, we got a barrel of beef which lasted us
+in. When near the chops of the channel, with a light southerly wind, we
+made a sail in our wake, that came up with us hand over hand. She went
+nearly two feet to our one, the barilla pressing the Sterling down into
+the water, and making her very dull, more especially in light airs. When
+the stranger got near enough, we saw that he was pumping, the water
+running out of his scuppers in a constant stream. He was several hours in
+sight, the whole time pumping. This ship passed within a cable's-length of
+us, without taking any more notice of us than if we had been a mile-stone.
+She was an English two-decker, and we could distinguish the features of
+her men, as they stood in the waist, apparently taking breath after their
+trial at the pumps. She dropped a hawse-bucket, and we picked it up, when
+she was about half a mile ahead of us. It had the broad-arrow on it, and a
+custom-house officer seeing it, some time after, was disposed to seize it
+as a prize.</p>
+
+<p>We never knew the name of this ship, but there was something proud and
+stately in her manner of passing us, in her distress, without so much as a
+hail. It is true, we could have done her no good, and her object,
+doubtless, was to get into dock as soon as possible. Some thought she had
+been in action, and was going home to repair damages that could not be
+remedied at sea.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after this vessel was seen, we had proof how difficult it is to judge
+of a ship's size at sea. A vessel was made ahead, standing directly for
+us. Mr. Irish soon pronounced her a sloop of war. Half an hour later she
+grew into a frigate, but when she came abeam she showed three tiers of
+ports, being a ninety. This ship also passed without deigning to take any
+notice of us.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter III.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>We made the Land's End in fine weather, and with a fair wind. Instead of
+keeping up channel, however, our ship hauled in for the land. Cooper was
+at the helm, and the captain asked him if he knew of any one on board who
+had ever been into Falmouth. He was told that Philadelphia Bill had been
+pointing out the different head-lands on the forecastle, and that, by his
+own account, he had sailed a long time out of the port. This Bill was a
+man of fifty, steady, trust-worthy, quiet, and respected by every man in
+the ship. He had taken a great liking to Cooper, whom he used to teach how
+to knot and splice, and other niceties of the calling, and Cooper often
+took him ashore with him, and amused him with historical anecdotes of the
+different places we visited. In short, the intimacy between them was as
+great as well could be, seeing the difference in their educations and
+ages. But, even to Cooper, Bill always called himself a Philadelphian. In
+appearance, indeed, he resembled one of those whom we call Yankees, in
+America, more than anything else.</p>
+
+<p>Bill was now sent for and questioned. He seemed uneasy, but admitted he
+could take the ship into Falmouth. There was nothing in the way, but a
+rock abreast Pendennis Castle, but it was easy to give that a berth. We
+now learned that the captain had made up his mind to go into this port and
+ride out the quarantine to which all Mediterranean vessels were subject.
+Bill took us in very quietly, and the ship was ordered up a few miles
+above the town, to a bay where vessels rode out their quarantine. The next
+day a doctor's boat came alongside, and we were ordered to show ourselves,
+and flourish our limbs, in order to make it evident we were alive and
+kicking. There were four men in the boat, and, as it turned out, every one
+of them recognised Bill, who was born within a few miles of the very spot
+where the ship lay, and had a wife then living a great deal nearer to him
+than he desired. It was this wife--there happening to be too much of
+her--that had driven the poor fellow to America, twenty years before, and
+which rendered him unwilling to live in his native country. By private
+means, Bill managed to have some communication with the men in the boat,
+and got their promises not to betray him. This was done by signs
+altogether, speaking being quite out of the question.</p>
+
+<p>We were near, or quite, a fortnight in quarantine; after which the ship
+dropped down abreast of the town. This was of a Saturday, and Sunday, a
+portion of the crew were permitted to go ashore. Bill was of the number,
+and when he returned he admitted that he had been so much excited at
+finding himself in the place, that he had been a little indiscreet. That
+night he was very uncomfortable, but nothing occurred to molest any of us.
+The next morning all seemed right, and Bill began to be himself again;
+often wishing, however, that the anchor was aweigh, and the ship turning
+out of the harbour. We soon got at work, and began to work down to the
+mouth of the haven, with a light breeze. The moment we were clear of the
+points, or head-lands, we could make a fair wind of it up channel. The ship
+was in stays, pretty well down, tinder Pendennis, and the order had been
+given to swing the head yards. Bill and Cooper were pulling together at
+the fore-top-sail brace, when the report of a musket was heard quite near
+the ship. Bill let go the brace, turned as white as a sheet, and
+exclaimed, "I'm gone!" At first, the men near him thought he was shot, but
+a gesture towards the boat which had fired, explained his meaning. The
+order was given to belay the head braces, and we waited the result
+in silence.</p>
+
+<p>The press-gang was soon on board us, and its officer asked to have the
+crew mustered. This humiliating order was obeyed, and all hands of us were
+called aft. The officer seemed easily satisfied, until he came to Bill.
+"What countryman are <i>you?</i>" he asked. "An American--a Philadelphian,"
+answered Bill. "You are an Englishman." "No, sir; I was born--" "Over
+here, across the bay," interrupted the officer, with a cool smile, "where
+your dear wife is at this moment. Your name is ______ ______, and you are
+well known in Falmouth. Get your clothes, and be ready to go in the boat."</p>
+
+<p>This settled the matter. Captain Johnston paid Bill his wages, his chest
+was lowered into the boat, and the poor fellow took an affectionate leave
+of his shipmates. He told those around him that his fate was sealed. He
+was too old to outlive a war that appeared to have no end, and they would
+never trust <i>him</i> on shore. "My foot will never touch the land again," he
+said to Cooper, as he squeezed his young friend's hand, "and I am to live
+and die, with a ship for my prison."</p>
+
+<p>The loss of poor Bill made us all sad; but there was no remedy. We got
+into the offing, and squared away for the river again. When we reached
+London, the ship discharged down at Limehouse, where she lay in a tier of
+Americans for some time. We then took in a little ballast, and went up
+opposite to the dock gates once more. We next docked and cleaned the ship,
+on the Deptford side, and then hauled into the wet-dock in which we had
+discharged our flour.</p>
+
+<p>Here the ship lay part of May, all of June, and most of July, taking in
+freight for Philadelphia, as it offered. This gave our people a good deal
+of spare time, and we were allowed to go ashore whenever we were not
+wanted. Cooper now took me in tow, and many a drift I had with him and Dan
+McCoy up to St. Paul's, the parks, palaces, and the Abbey. A little
+accident that happened about this time, attached me to Cooper more than
+common, and made me more desirous than ever to cruise in his company.</p>
+
+<p>I was alone, on deck, one Sunday, when I saw a little dog running about on
+board a vessel that lay outside of us. Around the neck of this animal,
+some one has fastened a sixpence, by a bit of riband rove through a hole.
+I thought this sixpence might be made better use of, in purchasing some
+cherries, for which I had a strong longing, and I gave chase. In
+attempting to return to our own ship, with the dog, I fell into the water,
+between the two vessels. I could not swim a stroke; and I sang out,
+lustily, for help. As good luck would have it, Cooper came on board at
+that precise instant; and, hearing my outcry, he sprang down between the
+ships, and rescued me from drowning. I thought I was gone; and my
+condition made an impression on me that never will be lost. Had not Cooper
+accidentally appeared, just as he did, Ned Myers's yarn would have ended
+with this paragraph. I ought to add, that the sixpence got clear, the dog
+swimming away with it.</p>
+
+<p>I had another escape from drowning, while we lay in the docks, having
+fallen overboard from the jolly-boat, while making an attempt at sculling.
+I forget, now, how I was saved; but then I had the boat and the oar to
+hold on to. In the end, it will be seen by what a terrific lesson I
+finally learned to swim.</p>
+
+<p>One Sunday we were drifting up around the palace; and then it was that I
+told Cooper that the Duke of Kent was my god-father. He tried to persuade
+me to make a call; saying I could do no less than pay this respect to the
+prince. I had half a mind to try my hand at a visit; but felt too shy, and
+too much afraid. Had I done as Cooper so strongly urged me to do, one
+cannot say what might have been the consequences, or what change might
+have been brought about in my fortunes.[4]</p>
+
+<p>One day Mr. Irish was in high glee, having received a message from Captain
+Johnston, to inform him that the latter was pressed! The captain used to
+dress in a blue long-tog, drab-breeches and top-boots, when he went
+ashore. "He thought he could pass for a gentleman from the country," said
+Mr. Irish, laughing, "but them press-gang chaps smelt the tar in his very
+boots!" Cooper was sent to the rendezvous, with the captain's desk and
+papers, and the latter was liberated. We all liked the captain, who was
+kind and considerate in his treatment of all hands; but it was fine fun
+for us to have "the old fellow" pressed--"<i>old fellow"</i> of six or
+eight-and-twenty, as he was then.</p>
+
+<p>About the last of July, we left London, bound home. Our crew had again
+undergone some changes. We shipped a second mate, a New-England man. Jim
+Russel left us. We had lost Bill; and, another Bill, a dull Irish lad, who
+had gone to Spain, quitted us also. Our crew consisted of only Spanish
+Joe; Big Dan; Little Dan; Stephen, the Kennebunk man; Cooper; a Swede,
+shipped in London; a man whose name I have forgotten; and a young man who
+passed by the name of Davis, but who was, in truth,--------, a son of the
+pilot who had brought us in, and taken us out, each time we passed up or
+down the river. This Davis had sailed in a coaster belonging to his
+father, and had got pressed in Sir Home Popham's South-American squadron.
+They made him a midshipman; but, disliking the sea, he was determined to
+go to America. We had to smuggle him out of the country, on account of the
+press-gang; he making his appearance on board us, suddenly, one night, in
+the river.</p>
+
+<p>The Sterling was short-handed this passage, mustering but four hands in a
+watch. Notwithstanding, we often reefed in the watch, though Cooper and
+Little Dan were both scarcely more than boys. Our mates used to go aloft,
+and both were active, powerful men. The cook, too, was a famous fellow at
+a drag. In these delicate times, when two or three days of watch and watch
+knock up a set of young men, one looks back with pride to a passage like
+this, when fourteen men and boys--four of the latter--brought a good sized
+ship across the ocean, reefing in the watch, weathering many a gale, and
+thinking nothing of it. I presume half our people, on a pinch, could have
+brought the Sterling in. One of the boys I have mentioned was named John
+Pugh, a little fellow the captain had taken as an apprentice in London,
+and who was now at sea for the first time in his life.</p>
+
+<p>We had a long passage. Every inch of the way to the Downs was tide-work.
+Here we lay several days, waiting far a wind. It blew fresh from the
+southwest-half of that summer, and the captain was not willing to go out
+with a foul wind. We were surrounded with vessels of war, most of the
+Channel Fleet being at anchor around us. This made a gay scene, and we had
+plenty of music, and plenty of saluting. One day all hands turned-to
+together, and fired starboard and larboard, until we could see nothing but
+a few mast-heads. What it all meant I never heard, but it made a famous
+smoke, and a tremendous noise.</p>
+
+<p>A frigate came in, and anchored just ahead of us. She lowered a boat, and
+sent a reefer alongside to inform us that she was His Majesty's ship----;
+that she had lost all her anchors but the stream, and she might strike
+adrift, and he advised us to get out of her way. The captain held on that
+day, however, but next morning she came into us, sure enough. The ships
+did not get clear without some trouble, and we thought it wisest to shift
+our berth. Once aweigh, the captain thought it best to turn out of the
+Downs, which we did, working through the Straits, and anchoring under
+Dungeness, as soon as the flood made. Here we lay until near sunset, when
+we got under way to try our hand upon the ebb. I believe the skipper had
+made up his mind to tide it down to the Land's End, rather than remain
+idle any longer. There was a sloop of war lying in-shore of us, a mile or
+so, and just as we stretched out from under the land, she began to
+telegraph with a signal station ashore. Soon after, she weighed, and came
+out, also. In the middle watch we passed this ship, on opposite tacks, and
+learned that an embargo had been laid, and that we had only saved our
+distance by some ten or fifteen minutes! This embargo was to prevent the
+intelligence of the Copenhagen expedition from reaching the Danes. That
+very day, we passed a convoy of transports, carrying a brigade from
+Pendennis Castle to Yarmouth, in order to join the main fleet. A gun-brig
+brought us to, and came near pressing the Swede, under the pretence that
+being allies of his king, England had a right to his services. Had not the
+man been as obstinate as a bull, and positively refused to go, I do
+believe we should have lost him. He was ordered into the boat at least
+half-a-dozen times, but swore he would not budge. Cooper had a little row
+with this boarding officer, but was silenced by the captain.</p>
+
+<p>After the news received from the sloop of war, it may be supposed we did
+not venture to anchor anywhere on English ground. Keeping the channel, we
+passed the Isle of Wight several times, losing on the flood, the distance
+made on the ebb. At length we got a slant and fetched out into the
+Atlantic, heading well to the southward, however. Our passage was long,
+even after we got clear, the winds carrying us down as low as Corvo, which
+island we made, and then taking us well north again. We had one very heavy
+blow that forced us to scud, the Sterling being one of the wettest ships
+that ever floated, when heading up to the sea.</p>
+
+<p>When near the American coast, we spoke an English brig that gave us an
+account of the affair between the Leopard and the Chesapeake, though he
+made his own countrymen come out second-best. Bitter were the revilings of
+Mr. Irish when the pilot told us the real state of the case. As was usual
+with this ship's luck, we tided it up the bay and river, and got safe
+alongside of the wharf at Philadelphia, at last. Here our crew was broken
+up, of course, and, with the exception of Jack Pugh, my brother
+apprentice, and Cooper, I never saw a single soul of them afterwards. Most
+of them went on to New York, and were swallowed up in the great vortex of
+seamen. Mr. Irish, I heard, died the next voyage he made, chief mate of an
+Indiaman. He was a prime fellow, and fit to command a ship.</p>
+
+<p>Such was my first voyage at sea, for I count the passage round from
+Halifax as nothing. I had been kept in the cabin, it is true, but our work
+had been of the most active kind. The Sterling must have brought up, and
+been got under way, between fifty and a hundred times; and as for tacking,
+waring, chappelling round, and box-hauling, we had so much of it by the
+channel pilots, that the old barky scarce knew which end was going
+foremost. In that day, a ship did not get from the Forelands up to London
+without some trouble, and great was our envy of the large blocks and light
+cordage of the colliers, which made such easy work for their men. We
+singled much of our rigging, the second voyage up the river, ourselves,
+and it was a great relief to the people. A set of grass foresheets, too,
+that we bought in Spain, got to be great favourites, though, in the end,
+they cost the ship the life of a very valuable man.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Johnston now determined to send me to Wiscasset, that I might go
+to school. A Wiscasset schooner, called the Clarissa, had come into
+Philadelphia, with freight from the West Indies, and she was about to sail
+for home in ballast. I was put on board as a passenger, and we sailed
+about a week after the ship got in from London. Jack Pugh staid behind,
+the Sterling being about to load for Ireland. On board the Clarissa I made
+the acquaintance of a Philadelphian born, who was an apprentice to the
+master of the schooner, of the name of Jack Mallet. He was a little older
+than myself, and we soon became intimate, and, in time, were fated to see
+many strange things in company.</p>
+
+<p>The Clarissa went, by the Vineyard Sound and the Shoals, into Boston. Here
+she landed a few crates, and then sailed for Wiscasset, where we arrived
+after a pretty long passage. I was kindly received by the mother and
+family of Captain Johnston, and immediately sent to school. Shortly after,
+we heard of the embargo, and, the Clarissa being laid up, Jack Mallet
+became one of my school-mates. We soon learned that the Sterling had not
+been able to get out, and, ere long, Jack Pugh joined our party. A little
+later, Captain Johnston arrived, to go into the commercial quarantine with
+the rest of us.</p>
+
+<p>This was the long embargo, as sailors called it, and it did not terminate
+until Erskine's arrangement was made, in 1809. All this time I remained in
+Wiscasset, at school, well treated, and, if anything, too much indulged.
+Captain Johnston remained at home all this time, also, and, having nothing
+else to do, he set about looking out for a wife. We had, at school, Jack
+Pugh, Jack Mallet, and Bill Swett, the latter being a lad a little older
+than myself, and a nephew of the captain's. I was now sixteen, and had
+nearly gotten my growth.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the embargo was removed, Captain Johnston, accompanied by
+Swett, started for Philadelphia, to bring the ship round to New York. From
+that place he intended to sail for Liverpool, where Jack Pugh and myself
+were to join him, sailing in a ship called the Columbia. This plan was
+changed, however, and we were sent round by sea to join the Sterling
+again, in the port where I had first found her.</p>
+
+<p>As this was near three years after I had quitted the Hel zer's so
+unceremoniously, I went to look for them. Their old neighbours told me
+they had been gone to Martinique, about a twelvemonth. This was the last
+intelligence I ever heard of them. Bill Swett was now put into the cabin,
+and Jack Pugh and myself were sent regularly to duty before the mast. We
+lived in the steerage, and had cabin fare; but, otherwise, had the
+fortunes of foremast Jacks. Our freight was wheat in the lower hold, flour
+betwixt decks, and cotton on deck. The ship was very deep. Our crew was
+good, but both our mates were foreigners.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing occurred until we got near soundings, when it came on to blow very
+heavy from the southward and westward. The ship was running under a
+close-reefed main-topsail and foresail, with a tremendous sea on. Just as
+night set in, one Harry, a Prussian, came on deck from his supper to
+relieve the wheel, and, fetching a lurch as he went aft, he brought up
+against the launch, and thence down against our grass fore-sheet, which
+had been so great a favourite in the London passages. This rope had been
+stretched above the deck load for a ridge rope, but, being rotten, it gave
+way when the poor Prussian struck it, and he went into the sea. We could
+do no more than throw him the sky-light, which was large; but the ship
+went foaming ahead, leaving the poor fellow to his fate, in the midst of
+the hissing waters. Some of our people thought they saw poor Harry on the
+sky-light, but this could not have made much difference in such a raging
+sea. It was impossible to round-to, and as for a boat's living, it was out
+of the question. This was the first man I saw lost at sea, and,
+notwithstanding the severity of the gale, and the danger of the ship
+herself, the fate of this excellent man made us all melancholy. The
+captain felt it bitterly, as was evident from his manner. Still, the thing
+was unavoidable.</p>
+
+<p>We had begun to shorten sail early in the afternoon, and Harry was lost in
+the first dog-watch. A little later the larboard fore-sheet went, and the
+sail was split. All hands were called, and the rags were rolled up, and
+the gaskets passed. The ship now laboured so awfully that she began to
+leak. The swell was so high that we did not dare to come by the wind, and
+the seas would come in, just about the main chains, meet in board and
+travel out over her bows in a way to threaten everything that could be
+moved. We lads were lashed at the pumps, and ordered to keep at work; and
+to make matters worse, the wheat began to work its way into the pump-well.
+While things were in this state, the main-top-sail split, leaving the ship
+without a rag of sail on her.</p>
+
+<p>The Sterling loved to be under water, even in moderate weather. Many a
+time have I seen her send the water aft, into the quarter-deck scuppers,
+and, as for diving, no loon was quicker than she. Now, that she was deep
+and was rolling her deck-load to the water, it was time to think of
+lightening her. The cotton was thrown overboard as fast as we could, and
+what the men could not start the seas did. After a while we eased the ship
+sensibly, and it was well we did; the wheat choking the pumps so often,
+that we had little opportunity for getting out the water.</p>
+
+<p>I do not now recollect at what hour of this fearful night, Captain
+Johnston shouted out to us all to "look out"--and "hold on." The ship was
+broaching-to. Fortunately she did this at a lucky moment, and, always
+lying-to well, though wet, we made much better weather on deck. The
+mizzen-staysail was now set to keep her from falling off into the troughs
+of the sea. Still the wind blew as hard as ever. First one sail, then
+another, got loose, and a hard time we had to keep the canvass to the
+yards. Then the fore-top-mast went, with a heavy lurch, and soon after the
+main, carrying with it the mizzen-top-gallant-mast. We owed this to the
+embargo, in my judgment, the ship's rigging having got damaged lying dry
+so long. We were all night clearing the wreck, and the men who used the
+hatchets, told us that the wind would cant their tools so violently that
+they sometimes struck on the eyes, instead of the edge. The gale fairly
+seemed like a hard substance.</p>
+
+<p>We passed a fearful night, working at the pumps, and endeavouring to take
+care of the ship. Next morning it moderated a little, and the vessel was
+got before the wind, which was perfectly fair. She could carry but little
+sail; though we got up top-gallant-masts for top-masts, as soon as the sea
+would permit. About four, I saw the land myself and pointed it out to the
+mate. It was Cape Clear, and we were heading for it as straight as we
+could go. We hauled up to clear it, and ran into the Irish channel. A
+large fleet of vessels had gathered in and near the chops of the channel,
+in readiness to run into Liverpool by a particular day that had been named
+in the law opening the trade, and great had been the destruction among
+them. I do not remember the number of the ships we saw, but there must
+have been more than a hundred. It was afterwards reported, that near fifty
+vessels were wrecked on the Irish coast. Almost every craft we fell in
+with was more or less dismasted, and one vessel, a ship called the
+Liberty, was reported to have gone down, with every soul on board her.</p>
+
+<p>The weather becoming moderate, all hands of us went into Liverpool, the
+best way we could. The Sterling had good luck in getting up, though we lay
+some time in the river before we were able to get into dock. When we got
+out the cargo, we found it much damaged, particularly the wheat. The last
+was so hot that we could not bear our feet among it. We got it all out in
+a few days, when we went into a dry dock, and repaired.</p>
+
+<p>This visit to Liverpool scattered our crew as if it had been so much dust
+in a squall. Most of our men were pressed, and those that were not, ran.
+But one man, us boys excepted, stuck by the ship. The chief mate--a
+foreigner, though of what country I never could discover--lived at a house
+kept by a handsome landlady. To oblige this lady, he ordered William Swett
+and myself to carry a bucket-full of salt, each, up to her house. The salt
+came out of the harness-cask, and we took it ashore openly, but we were
+stopped on the quay by a custom-house officer, who threatened to seize the
+ship. Such was the penalty for landing two buckets of Liverpool salt at
+Liverpool!</p>
+
+<p>Captain Johnston had the matter explained, and he discharged the mate.
+Next day, the discharged man and the second mate were pressed. We got the
+last, who was a Swede, clear; and the chief mate, in the end, made his
+escape, and found his way back to New York. Among those impressed, was
+Jack Pugh, who having been bound in London, we did not dare show his
+papers. The captain tried hard to get the boy clear, but without success.
+I never saw poor Jack after this; though I learn he ran from the
+market-boat of the guard-ship, made his way back to Wiscasset, where he
+stayed some time, then shipped, and was lost at sea.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter IV.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>At length we got a new crew, and sailed for home. We had several
+passengers on board, masters of American ships who could go back
+themselves, but not carry their vessels with them, on account of certain
+liberties the last had taken with the laws. These persons were called
+"embargo captains." One of them, a Captain B----, kept Captain Johnston's
+watch, and got so much into his confidence and favour, that he gave him
+the vessel in the end. The passage home was stormy and long, but offered
+nothing remarkable. A non-importation law had been passed during our
+absence, and our ship was seized in New York in consequence of having a
+cargo of English salt. We had taken the precaution, however, to have the
+salt cleared in Liverpool, and put afloat before the day named in the law,
+and got clear after a detention of two months. Salt rose so much in the
+interval, that the seizure turned out to be a good thing for the owners.</p>
+
+<p>While the ship was lying off the Battery, on her return from this voyage,
+and before she had hauled in, a boat came alongside with a young man in
+her in naval uniform. This was Cooper, who, in pulling across to go aboard
+his own vessel, had recognised our mast-heads, and now came to look at us.
+This was the last time I met him, until the year 1843; or, for
+thirty-four years.</p>
+
+<p>We now loaded with naval stores, and cleared again for Liverpool. Bill
+Swett did not make this voyage with us, the cook acting as steward. We had
+good passages out and home, experiencing no detention or accidents. In the
+spring of 1810, Captain Johnston gave the ship to Captain B----, who
+carried us to Liverpool for the third time. Nothing took place this
+voyage either, worthy of being mentioned, the ship getting back in good
+season. We now took in a cargo of staves for Limerick. Off the Hook we
+were brought-to by the Indian sloop-of-war, one of the Halifax cruisers, a
+squadron in company. Several vessels were coming out at the same time, and
+among them were several of the clippers in the French trade. The Amiable
+Matilda and the Colt went to windward of the Englishmen as if the last had
+been at anchor; but the Tameahmeah, when nearest to the English, got her
+yards locked in stays, and was captured. We saw all this, and felt, as was
+natural to men who beheld such things enacted at the mouth of their own
+port. Our passages both ways were pleasant, and nothing occurred out of
+the usual course. I fell in with a press-gang, however, in Limerick, which
+would have nabbed me, but for a party of Irishmen, who showed fight and
+frightened the fellows so much that I got clear. Once before, I had been
+in the hands of these vermin in Liverpool, but Captain Johnston had got me
+clear by means of my indentures. I was acting as second-mate this voyage.</p>
+
+<p>On our return home, the ship was ordered to Charleston to get a cargo of
+yellow pine, under a contract. Captain B---- was still in command, my old
+master, Captain Johnston, being then at home, occupied in building a new
+ship. I never saw this kind-hearted and indulgent seaman until the year
+1842, when I made a journey to Wiscasset expressly to see him. Captain
+B---- and myself were never very good friends, and I was getting to be
+impatient of his authority; but I still stuck by the ship.</p>
+
+<p>We had an ordinary run to Charleston, and began to prepare for the
+reception of our cargo. At this time, there were two French privateers on
+the southern coast, that did a great deal of damage to our trade. One went
+into Savannah, and got burned, for her pains; and the other came into
+Charleston, and narrowly escaped the same fate. A mob collected--made a
+fire-raft, and came alongside of our ship, demanding some tar. To own the
+truth, though then clothed with all the dignity of a "Dicky," [5] I liked
+the fun, and offered no resistance. Bill Swett had come in, in a ship
+called the United States; and he was on board the Sterling, at the time,
+on a visit to me. We two, off hatches, and whipped a barrel of tar on
+deck; which we turned over to the raftsmen, with our hearty good wishes
+for their success. All this was, legally, very wrong; but, I still think,
+it was not so very far from being morally just; at least, as regards the
+privateersmen. The attempt failed, however, and those implicated were
+blamed a great deal more than they would have been, had they burned up the
+Frenchmen's eye-bolts. It is bad to fail, in a legal undertaking; but
+success is indispensable for forgiveness, to one that is illegal.</p>
+
+<p>That night, Captain B---- and the chief mate, came down upon me, like a
+gust, for having parted with the tar. They concluded their lecture, by
+threatening to work me up. Bill Swett was by, and he got his share of the
+dose. When we were left to ourselves, we held a council of war, about
+future proceedings. Our crew had run, to a man, the cook excepted, as
+usually happens, in Charleston; and we brought in the cook, as a
+counsellor. This man told me, that he had overheard the captain and mate
+laying a plan to give me a threshing, as soon as I had turned in. Bill,
+now, frankly proposed that I should run, as well as himself; for he had
+already left his ship; and our plan was soon laid. Bill went ashore, and
+brought a boat down under the bows of the ship, and I passed my dunnage
+into her, by going through the forecastle; I then left the Sterling, for
+ever, never putting my foot on board of her again. I saw her, once or
+twice, afterwards, at a distance, and she always looked like a sort of
+home to me. She was subsequently lost, on the eastern coast, Captain
+Johnston still owning her, and being actually on board her, though only as
+a passenger. I had been out in her twelve times, from country to country,
+besides several short runs, from port to port. She always seemed natural
+to me; and I had got to know every timber and stick about her. I felt
+more, in quitting this ship, than I did in quitting Halifax. This
+desertion was the third great error of my life. The first was, quitting
+those with whom I had been left by my father; the second, abandoning my
+good friends, the Heizers; and the third, leaving the Sterling. Had
+Captain Johnston been in the ship, I never should have dreamed of running.
+He was always kind to me, and if he failed in justice, it was on the side
+of indulgence. Had I continued with him, I make no doubt, my career would
+have been very different from what it has since turned out to be; and, I
+fear, I must refer one of the very bad habits, that afterwards marred my
+fortunes, that of drinking too much, to this act. Still, it will be
+remembered, I was only nineteen, loved adventure, and detested
+Captain B----.</p>
+
+<p>After this exploit, Swett and I kept housed for a week. He then got into a
+ship called the President, and I into another called the Tontine, and both
+sailed for New York, where we arrived within a few days of each other. We
+now shipped together in a vessel called the Jane, bound to Limerick. This
+was near the close of the year 1811. Our passage out was tremendously bad,
+and we met with some serious accidents to our people. We were not far from
+the mouth of the Irish channel when the ship broached-to, in scudding
+under the foresail and main-top-sail, Bill Swett being at the helm. The
+watch below ran on deck and hauled up the foresail, without orders, to
+prevent the ship from going down stern foremost, the yards being square.
+As the ship came-to, she took a sea in on her starboard side, which drove
+poor Bill to leeward, under some water-casks and boards, beating in two of
+his ribs. Both mates were injured also, and were off duty in consequence
+for several weeks. The plank sheer was ripped off the vessel from aft to
+amidships, as neatly as if it had been done by the carpenters. We could
+look down among the timbers the same as if the vessel were on the stocks.</p>
+
+<p>The men braced up the after-yards, and then the ship was lying-to under a
+close-reefed main-top-sail. After this, she did well enough. We now passed
+the hurt below, and got tarred canvass over the timber-heads, and managed
+to keep out the water. Next day we made sail for our port. It blowing too
+fresh to get a pilot, we ran into a roadstead at the mouth of the Shannon,
+and anchored with both bowers. We rode out the gale, and then went up to
+Limerick. Here all hands got well, and returned to duty. In due time, we
+sailed for home in ballast. As we came into the Hook, we were hailed by a
+gun-boat, and heard of the "Little Embargo."</p>
+
+<p>The question now came up seriously between Bill and myself, what was best
+to be done. I was for going to Wiscasset, like two prodigals, own our
+fault, and endeavour to amend. Bill thought otherwise. Now we were cast
+ashore, without employment, he thought it more manly to try and shift for
+ourselves. He had an uncle who was a captain of artillery, and who was
+then stationed on Governor's Island, and we took him into our councils.
+This gentleman treated us kindly, and kept us with him on the island for
+two days. Finding his nephew bent on doing something for himself, he gave
+us a letter to Lt. Trenchard, of the navy, by whom we were both shipped
+for the service. Swett got a master's-mate's berth, and I was offered the
+same, but felt too much afraid of myself to accept it. I entered the navy,
+then, for the first time, as a common Jack.</p>
+
+<p>This was a very short time before war was declared, and a large flotilla
+of gun-boats was getting ready for the New York station. Bill was put on
+board of No. 112, and I was ordered to No. 107, Sailing-Master Costigan.
+Soon after, we were all employed in fitting the Essex for sea; and while
+thus occupied the Declaration of War actually arrived. On this occasion I
+got drunk, for the second time in my life. A quantity of whiskey was
+started into a tub, and all hands drank to the success of the conflict. A
+little upset me, then, nor would I have drunk anything, but for the
+persuasions of some of my Wiscasset acquaintances, of whom there were
+several in the ship. I advise all young men, who feel no desire to drink,
+to follow their own propensities, and not to yield themselves up, body and
+soul, to the thoughtless persuasions of others. There is no real
+good-fellowship in swilling rum and whiskey; but the taste, once acquired,
+is hard to cure. I never drank much, as to quantity, but a little filled
+me with the love of mischief, and that little served to press me down for
+all the more valuable years of my life; valuable, as to the advancement of
+my worldly interests, though I can scarcely say I began really to live, as
+a creature of God's should live, to honour his name and serve his ends,
+until the year 1839.</p>
+
+<p>After the Essex was fitted out, the flotilla cruised in the Sound, and was
+kept generally on the look-out, about the waters of New York. Towards the
+end of the season, our boat, with several others, was lying abreast of
+the Yard, when orders came off to meet the Yard Commander, Captain
+Chauncey, on the wharf. Here, this officer addressed us, and said he was
+about to proceed to Lake Ontario, to take command, and asking who would
+volunteer to go with him. This was agreeable news to us, for we hated the
+gun-boats, and would go anywhere to be quit of them. Every man and boy
+volunteered. We got twenty-four hours' liberty, with a few dollars in
+money, and when this scrape was over every man returned, and we embarked
+in a sloop for Albany. Our draft contained near 140 men, and was commanded
+by Mr. Mix, then a sailing-master, but who died a commander a few years
+since. Messrs. Osgood and Mallaby were also with us, and two midshipmen,
+viz: Messrs. Sands and Livingston. The former of these young gentlemen is
+now a commander, but I do not know what became of Mr. Livingston. We had
+also two master's-mates, Messrs. Bogardus and Emory.</p>
+
+<p>On reaching Albany, we paid a visit to the Governor, gave him three
+cheers, got some good cheer in return, and were all stowed in wagons, a
+mess in each, before his door. We now took to our land tacks, and a merry
+time we had of it. Our first day's run was to a place called Schenectady,
+and here the officers found an empty house, and berthed us all together,
+fastening the doors. This did not suit our notions of a land cruise, and
+we began to grumble. There was a regular hard horse of a boatswain's-mate
+with us, of the name of McNally. This man had been in the service a long
+time, and was a thorough man-of-war's man. Fie had collected twenty-four
+of us, whom he called his 'disciples,' and shamed am I to say, I was one.
+McNally called all hands on the upper deck, as he called it, that is to
+say, in the garret, and made us a speech. He said this was no way to treat
+volunteers, and proposed that we should "unship the awning." We rigged
+pries, and, first singing out, "stand from under," hove one half of the
+roof into the street, and the other into the garden. We then gave three
+cheers at our success. The officers now came down, and gave us a lecture.
+But we made out so good a case, that they let us run till morning, when
+every soul was back and mustered in the wagons. In this way we went
+through the country, cracking our jokes, laughing, and noting all
+oddities that crossed our course. I believe we were ten or twelve days
+working our way through the state, to Oswego. At Onondago Lake we got into
+boats, and did better than in the wagons. At a village on the lake shore,
+the people were very bitter against us, and we had some difficulty. The
+word went among us they were Scotch, from the Canadas, but of this I know
+nothing. We heard in the morning, however, that most of our officers were
+in limbo, and we crossed and marched up a hill, intending to burn, sink,
+and destroy, if they were not liberated. Mischief was prevented by the
+appearance of Mr. Mix, with the other gentlemen, and we pushed off without
+coming to blows.</p>
+
+<p>It came on to rain very hard, and we fetched up at a solitary house in the
+woods, and tried to get quarters. These were denied us, and we were told
+to shift for ourselves. This we did in a large barn, where we made good
+stowage until morning. In the night, we caught the owner coming about with
+a lantern to set fire to the barn, and we carried him down to a boat, and
+lashed him there until morning, letting the rain wash all the combustible
+matter out of him. That day we reached Oswego Falls, where a party of us
+were stationed some time, running boats over, and carrying stores across
+the portage.</p>
+
+<p>When everything reached Oswego, all hands turned to, to equip some lake
+craft that had been bought for the service. These were schooners, salt
+droggers, of about sixty or eighty tons. All we did at Oswego, however,
+was to load these vessels, some six or eight in all, and put to sea. I
+went off in one of the first, a vessel called the Fair American. Having no
+armaments, we sailed in the night, to avoid John Bull's cruisers, of which
+there were several out at the time. As we got in with some islands, at no
+great distance from Sackett's Harbour, we fell in with the Oneida's
+launch, which was always kept in the offing at night, rowing, or sailing,
+guard. Bill Swett was in her, and we then met for the first time on fresh
+water. I now learned that Jack Mallet was on the station, too, whom I had
+not fallen in with since we parted at Wiscasset, more than three years
+before. A fortnight later I found him, acting as boatswain of the Julia,
+Sailing-Master Trant, a craft I have every reason to remember as long as I
+shall live.</p>
+
+<p>The day after I reached the harbour, I was ordered on board the Scourge.
+This vessel was English-built, and had been captured before the war, and
+condemned, for violating the revenue laws, under the name of the Lord
+Nelson, by the Oneida 16, Lt. Com. Woolsey--the only cruiser we then had
+on the lake. This craft was unfit for her duty, but time pressed, and no
+better offered. Bulwarks had been raised on her, and she mounted eight
+sixes, in regular broadside. Her accommodations were bad enough, and she
+was so tender, that we could do little or nothing with her in a blow. It
+was often prognosticated that she would prove our coffin. Besides Mr.
+Osgood, who was put in command of this vessel, we had Mr. Bogardus, and
+Mr. Livingston, as officers. We must have had about forty-five souls on
+board, all told. We did not get this schooner out that season, however.</p>
+
+<p>The commodore arriving, and an expedition against Kingston being in the
+wind, a party of us volunteered from the Scourge, to go on board the
+Oneida. This was in November, rather a latish month for active service on
+those waters. The brig went out in company with the Conquest, Hamilton,
+Governor Tompkins, Port, Julia, and Growler, schooners. These last craft
+were all merchantmen, mostly without quarters, and scarcely fit for the
+duty on which they were employed. The Oneida was a warm little brig, of
+sixteen 24 lb. carronades, but as dull as a transport. She had been built
+to cross the bars of the American harbours, and would not travel
+to windward.</p>
+
+<p>We went off the False Ducks, where we made the Royal George, a ship the
+English had built expressly to overlay the Oneida, two or three years
+before, and which was big enough to eat us. Her officers, however, did not
+belong to the Royal Navy; and we made such a show of schooners, that,
+though she had herself a vessel or two in company, she did not choose to
+wait for us. We chased her into the Bay of Quint&eacute;, and there we lost her
+in the darkness. Next morning, however, we saw her at anchor in the
+channel that leads to Kingston. A general chase now commenced, and we ran
+down into the bay, and engaged the ship and batteries, as close as we
+could well get. The firing was sharp on both sides, and it lasted a great
+while. I was stationed at a gun, as her second captain, and was too busy
+to see much; but I know we kept our piece speaking as fast as we could,
+for a good bit. We drove the Royal George from a second anchorage, quite
+up to a berth abreast of the town; and it was said that her people
+actually deserted her, at one time. We gave her nothing but round-shot
+from our gun, and these we gave her with all our hearts. Whenever we
+noticed the shore, a stand of grape was added.</p>
+
+<p>I know nothing of the damage done the enemy. We had the best of it, so far
+as I could see; and I think, if the weather had not compelled us to haul
+off, something serious might have been done. As it was, we beat out with
+flying colours, and anchored a few miles from the light.</p>
+
+<p>These were the first shot I ever saw fired in anger. Our brig had one man
+killed and three wounded, and she was somewhat injured aloft. One shot
+came in not far from my gun, and scattered lots of cat-tails, breaking in
+the hammock-cloths. This was the nearest chance I ran, that day; and, on
+the whole, I think we escaped pretty well. On our return to the harbour,
+the ten Scourges who had volunteered for the cruise, returned to their own
+schooner. None of us were hurt, though all of us were half frozen, the
+water freezing as fast as it fell.</p>
+
+<p>Shortly after both sides went into winter quarters, and both sides
+commenced building. We launched a ship called the Madison, about this
+time, and we laid the keel of another, that was named the Pike. What John
+Bull was about is more than I can say, though the next season showed he
+had not been idle. The navigation did not absolutely close,
+notwithstanding, until December.</p>
+
+<p>Our vessels were moored about the harbour, and we were all frozen in, as a
+matter of course. Around each craft, however, a space was kept cut, to
+form a sort of ditch, in order to prevent being boarded. Parties were
+regularly stationed to defend the Madison, and, in the days, we worked at
+her rigging, and at that of the Pike, in gangs. Our larboard guns were
+landed, and placed in a block-house, while the starboard were kept
+mounted. My station was that of captain of one of the guns that remained.</p>
+
+<p>The winter lasted more than four months, and we made good times of it. We
+often went after wood, and occasionally we knocked over a deer. We had a
+target out on the lake, and this we practised on, making ourselves rather
+expert cannoneers. Now and then they rowsed us out on a false alarm, but I
+know of no serious attempt's being made by the enemy, to molest us.</p>
+
+<p>The lake was fit to navigate about the middle of April. Somewhere about
+the 20th[6] the soldiers began to embark, to the number of 1700 men. A
+company came on board the Scourge, and they filled us chock-a-block. It
+came on to blow, and we were obliged to keep these poor fellows, cramped
+as we were, most of the time on deck, exposed to rain and storm. On the
+25th we got out, rather a showy force altogether, though there was not
+much service in our small craft. We had a ship, a brig, and twelve
+schooners, fourteen sail in all. The next morning we were off Little York,
+having sailed with a fair wind. All hands anchored about a mile from the
+beach. I volunteered to go in a boat, to carry soldiers ashore. Each of us
+brought across the lake two of these boats in tow, but we had lost one of
+ours, dragging her after us in a staggering breeze. I got into the one
+that was left, and we put half our soldiers in her, and shoved off. We had
+little or no order in landing, each boat pulling as hard as she could. The
+English blazed away at us, concealed in a wood, and our men fired back
+again from the boat. I never was more disappointed in men, than I was in
+the soldiers. They were mostly tall, pale-looking Yankees, half dead with
+sickness and the bad weather--so mealy, indeed, that half of them could
+not take their grog, which, by this time, I had got to think a bad sign.
+As soon as they got near the enemy, however, they became wide awake,
+pointed out to each other where to aim, and many of them actually jumped
+into the water, in order to get the sooner ashore. No men could have
+behaved better, for I confess frankly I did not like the work at all. It
+is no fun to pull in under a sharp fire, with one's back to his enemy, and
+nothing but an oar to amuse himself with. The shot flew pretty thick, and
+two of our oars were split. This was all done with musketry, no heavy guns
+being used at this place. I landed twice in this way, but the danger was
+principally in the first affair. There was fighting up on the bank, but it
+gave us no trouble. Mr. Livingston commanded the boat.</p>
+
+<p>When we got back to the schooner, we found her lifting her anchors.
+Several of the smaller craft were now ordered up the bay, to open on the
+batteries nearer to the town. We were the third from the van, and we all
+anchored within canister range. We heard a magazine blow up, as we stood
+in, and this brought three cheers from us. We now had some sharp work with
+the batteries, keeping up a steady fire. The schooner ahead of us had to
+cut, and she shifted her berth outside of us. The leading schooner,
+however, held on. In the midst of it all, we heard cheers down the line,
+and presently we saw the commodore pulling in among us, in his gig. He
+came on board us, and we greeted him with three cheers. While he was on
+the quarter-deck, a hot shot struck the upper part of the after-port, cut
+all the boarding-pikes adrift from the main-boom, and wounded a man named
+Lemuel Bryant, who leaped from his quarters and fell at my feet. His
+clothes were all on fire when he fell, and, after putting them out, the
+commodore himself ordered me to pass him below. The old man spoke
+encouragingly to us, and a little thing took place that drew his attention
+to my crew. Two of the trucks of the gun we were fighting had been carried
+away, and I determined to shift over its opposite. My crew were five
+negroes, strapping fellows, and as strong as jackasses. The gun was called
+the Black Joke. Shoving the disabled gun out of the way, these chaps
+crossed the deck, unhooked the breechings and gun-tackles, raised the
+piece from the deck, and placed it in the vacant port. The commodore
+commended us, and called out, "that is quick work, my lads!" In less than
+three minutes, I am certain, we were playing on the enemy with the
+fresh gun.</p>
+
+<p>As for the old man, he pulled through the fire as coolly as if it were
+only a snow-balling scrape, though many a poor fellow lost the number of
+his mess in the boats that day. When he left us, we cheered him again. He
+had not left us long, before we heard an awful explosion on shore. Stones
+as big as my two fists fell on board of us, though nobody was hurt by
+them. We cheered, thinking some dire calamity had befallen the enemy. The
+firing ceased soon after this explosion, though one English gun held on,
+under the bank, for some little time.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter V.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>We did not know the cause of the last explosion, until after the firing
+ceased. I had seen an awful black cloud, and objects in the air that I
+took for men; but little did we imagine the explosion had cost us so dear.
+Our schooner lay at no great distance from the common landing, and no
+sooner were we certain of the success of the day, than Mr. Osgood ordered
+his boat's crew called away, and he landed. As I belonged to the boat, I
+had an early opportunity of entering the town.</p>
+
+<p>We found the place deserted. With the exception of our own men, I found
+but one living being in it. This was an old woman whom I discovered stowed
+away in a potatoe locker, in the government house. I saw tables set, and
+eggs in the cups, but no inhabitant. Our orders were of the most severe
+kind, not to plunder, and we did not touch a morsel of food even. The
+liquor, however, was too much for our poor natures, and a parcel of us had
+broke bulk in a better sort of grocery, when some officers came in and
+stove the casks. I made sail, and got out of the company. The army had
+gone in pursuit of the enemy, with the exception of a few riflemen, who,
+being now at liberty, found their way into the place.</p>
+
+<p>I ought to feel ashamed, and do feel ashamed of what occurred that night;
+but I must relate it, lest I feel more ashamed for concealing the truth.
+We had spliced the main-brace pretty freely throughout the day, and the
+pull I got in the grocery just made me ripe for mischief. When we got
+aboard the schooner again, we found a canoe that had drifted athwart-hawse
+and had been secured. My gun's crew, the Black Jokers, wished to have some
+fun in the town, and they proposed to me to take a cruise ashore. We had
+few officers on board, and the boatswain, a boat swain's mate in fact,
+consented to let us leave. We all went ashore in this canoe, then, and
+were soon alongside of a wharf. On landing, we were near a large store,
+and looking in at a window, we saw a man sitting asleep, with a gun in the
+hollow of his arm. His head was on the counter, and there was a lamp
+burning. One of the blacks pitched through the window, and was on him in a
+moment. The rest followed, and we made him a prisoner. The poor fellow
+said he had come to look after his property, and he was told no one would
+hurt him. My blacks now began to look about them, and to help themselves
+to such articles as they thought they wanted. I confess I helped myself to
+some tea and sugar, nor will I deny that I was in such a state as to think
+the whole good fun. We carried off one canoe load, and even returned for a
+second. Of course such an exploit could not have been effected without
+letting all in the secret share; and one boat-load of plunder was not
+enough. The negroes began to drink, however, and I was sober enough to see
+the consequences, if they were left ashore any longer. Some riflemen came
+in, too, and I succeeded in getting my jokers away.</p>
+
+<p>The recklessness of sailors may be seen in our conduct. All we received
+for our plunder was some eight or ten gallons of whiskey, when we got back
+to the harbour, and this at the risk of being flogged through the fleet!
+It seemed to us to be a scrape, and that was a sufficient excuse for
+disobeying orders, and for committing a crime. For myself, I was
+influenced more by the love of mischief, and a weak desire to have it said
+I was foremost in such an exploit, than from any mercenary motive.
+Notwithstanding the severity of the orders, and one or two pretty sharp
+examples of punishment inflicted by the commodore, the Black Jokers were
+not the only plunderers ashore that night. One master's-mate had the
+buttons taken off his coat, for stealing a feather bed, besides being
+obliged to carry it back again. Of course he was a shipped master's-mate.</p>
+
+<p>I was ashore every day while the squadron remained in the port. Our
+schooner never shifted her berth from the last one she occupied in the
+battle, and that was pretty well up the bay. I paid a visit to the gun
+that had troubled us all so much, and which we could not silence, for it
+was under a bank, near the landing-place. It was a long French eighteen,
+and did better service, that day, than any other piece of John Bull's. I
+think it hulled us several times.</p>
+
+<p>I walked over the ground where the explosion took place. It was a dreadful
+sight; the dead being so mutilated that it was scarcely possible to tell
+their colour. I saw gun-barrels bent nearly double. I think we saw Sir
+Roger Sheafe, the British General, galloping across the field, by himself,
+a few minutes before the explosion. At all events, we saw a mounted
+officer, and fired at him. He galloped up to the government-house,
+dismounted, went in, remained a short time, and then galloped out of town.
+All this I saw; and the old woman in the potato-locker told me the general
+had been in the house a short time before we landed. Her account agreed
+with the appearance of the officer I saw; though I will not pretend to be
+certain it was General Sheafe.</p>
+
+<p>I ought to mention the kindness of the commodore to the poor of York. As
+most of the inhabitants came back to their habitations the next day, the
+poor were suffering for food. Our men were ordered to roll barrels of salt
+meat and barrels of bread to their doors, from the government stores that
+fell into our hands. We captured an immense amount of these stores, a
+portion of which we carried away. We sunk many guns in the lake; and as
+for the powder, <i>that</i> had taken care of itself. Among other things we
+took, was the body of an English officer, preserved in rum, which, they
+said, was General Brock's. I saw it hoisted out of the Duke of Gloucester,
+the man-of-war brig we captured, at Sackett's Harbour, and saw the body
+put in a fresh cask. I am ashamed to say, that some of our men were
+inclined to drink the old rum.</p>
+
+<p>We burned a large corvette, that was nearly ready for launching, and
+otherwise did the enemy a good deal of harm. The inhabitants that returned
+were very submissive, and thankful for what they received. As for the man
+of the red store, I never saw him after the night he was plundered, nor
+was anything ever said of the scrape.</p>
+
+<p>Our troops had lost near three hundred men in the attack, the wounded
+included; and as a great many of these green soldiers were now sick from
+exposure, the army was much reduced in force. We took the troops on board
+on the 1st of May, but could not sail, on account of a gale, until the
+8th, which made the matter worse. Then we got under way, and crossed the
+lake, landing the soldiers a few miles to the eastward of Fort Niagara.
+Our schooner now went to the Harbour, along with the commodore, though
+some of the craft remained near the head of the lake. Here we took in
+another lot of soldiers, placed two more large batteaux in tow, and sailed
+for the army again. We had good passages both ways, and this duty was done
+within a few days. While at the Harbour, I got a message to go and visit
+Bill Swett, but the poor fellow died without my being able to see him. I
+heard he was hurt at York, but never could come at the truth.</p>
+
+<p>On the 27th May, the army got into the batteaux, formed in two divisions,
+and commenced pulling towards the mouth of the Niagara. The morning was
+foggy, with a light wind, and the vessels getting under way, kept company
+with the boats, a little outside of them. The schooners were closest in,
+and some of them opened on Fort George, while others kept along the coast,
+scouring the shore with grape and canister as they moved ahead. The
+Scourge came to an anchor a short distance above the place selected for
+the landing, and sprung her broadside to the shore. We now kept up a
+steady fire with grape and canister, until the boats had got in-shore and
+were engaged with the enemy, when we threw round-shot, over the heads of
+our own men, upon the English. As soon as Colonel Scott was ashore, we
+sprung our broadside upon a two-gun battery that had been pretty busy, and
+we silenced that among us. This affair, for our craft, was nothing like
+that of York, though I was told the vessels nearer the river had warmer
+berths of it. We had no one hurt, though we were hulled once or twice. A
+little rigging was cut; but we set this down as light work compared to
+what the old Black Joke had seen that day month. There was a little sharp
+fighting ashore, but our men were too strong for the enemy, when they
+could fairly get their feet on solid ground.</p>
+
+<p>Just after we had anchored, Mr. Bogardus was sent aloft to ascertain if
+any enemy were to be seen. At first he found nobody; but, after a little
+while, he called out to have my gun fired at a little thicket of
+brushwood that lay on an inclined plain, near the water. Mr. Osgood came
+and elevated the gun, and I touched it off. We had been looking out for
+the blink of muskets, which was one certain guide to find a soldier; and
+the moment we sent this grist of grape and canister into those bushes, the
+place lighted up as if a thousand muskets were there. We then gave the
+chaps the remainder of our broadside. We peppered that wood well, and did
+a good deal of harm to the troops stationed at the place.</p>
+
+<p>The wind blew on shore, and began to increase; and the commodore now threw
+out a signal for the boats to land, to take care of the batteaux that were
+thumping on the beach, and then for their crews to assist in taking care
+of the wounded. Of course I went in my own boat, Mr. Bogardus having
+charge of her. We left the schooner, just as we quitted our guns, black
+with powder, in our shirts and trowsers, though we took the precaution to
+carry our boarding-belts, with a brace of pistols each, and a cutlass. On
+landing, we first hauled up the boats, taking some dead and wounded men
+out of them, and laying them on the beach.</p>
+
+<p>We were now ordered to divide ourselves into groups of three, and go over
+the ground, pick up the wounded, and carry them to a large house that had
+been selected as a hospital. My party consisted of Bill Southard, Simeon
+Grant, and myself, we being messmates. The first man we fell in with, was
+a young English soldier, who was seated on the bank, quite near the lake.
+He was badly hurt, and sat leaning his head on his hands. He begged for
+water, and I took his cap down to the lake and filled it, giving him a
+drink; then washing his face. This revived him, and he offered us his
+canteen, in which was some excellent Jamaica. To us chaps, who got nothing
+better than whiskey, this was a rare treat, and we emptied the remainder
+of his half pint, at a pull apiece. After tapping this rum, we carried
+the poor lad up to the house, and turned him over to the doctors. We found
+the rooms filled with wounded already, and the American and English
+doctors hard at work on them.</p>
+
+<p>As we left the hospital, we agreed to get a canteen apiece, and go round
+among the dead, and fill them with Jamaica. When our canteens were about a
+third full, we came upon a young American rifleman, who was lying under
+an appletree. He was hit in the head, and was in a very bad way. We were
+all three much struck with the appearance of this young man, and I now
+remember him as one of the handsomest youths I had ever seen. His wound
+did not bleed, though I thought the brains were oozing out, and I felt so
+much sympathy for him, that I washed his hurt with the rum. I fear I did
+him harm, but my motive was good. Bill Southard ran to find a surgeon, of
+whom several were operating out on the field. The young man kept saying
+"no use," and he mentioned "father and mother," "Vermont." He even gave me
+the names of his parents, but I was too much in the wind, from the use of
+rum, to remember them. We might have been half an hour with this young
+rifleman, busy on him most of the time, when he murmured a few words, gave
+me one of the sweetest smiles I ever saw on a man's face, and made no more
+signs of life. I kept at work, notwithstanding, until Bill got back with
+the doctor. The latter cast an eye on the rifleman, pronounced him dead,
+and coolly walked away.</p>
+
+<p>There was a bridge, in a sort of a swamp, that we had fired on for some
+time, and we now moved down to it, just to see what we had done. We found
+a good many dead, and several horses in the mire, but no wounded. We kept
+emptying canteens, as we went along, until our own would hold no more. On
+our return from the bridge, we went to a brook in order to mix some grog,
+and then we got a full view of the offing. Not a craft was to be seen!
+Everything had weighed and disappeared. This discovery knocked us all
+aback, and we were quite at a loss how to proceed. We agreed, however, to
+pass through a bit of woods, and get into the town, it being now quite
+late in the day. There we knew we should find the army, and might get
+tidings of the fleet. The battle-ground was now nearly deserted, and to
+own the truth we were, all three, at least two sheets in the wind. Still I
+remember everything, for my stomach would never allow me to get beastly
+drunk; it rejecting any very great quantity of liquor. As we went through
+the wood, open pine trees, we came across an officer lying dead, with one
+leg over his horse, which was dead also. I went up to the body, turned it
+over, and examined it for a canteen, but found none. We made a few idle
+remarks, and proceeded.</p>
+
+<p>In quitting the place, I led the party; and, as we went through a little
+thicket, I heard female voices. This startled me a little; and, on looking
+round, I saw a white female dress, belonging to a person who was evidently
+endeavouring to conceal herself from us. I was now alone, and walked up to
+the women, when I found two; one, a lady, in dress and manner, and the
+other a person that I have always supposed was her servant. The first was
+in white; the last in a dark calico. They were both under thirty, judging
+from their looks; and the lady was exceedingly well-looking They were much
+alarmed; and, as I came up, the lady asked me if I would hurt her. I told
+her no; and that no person should harm her, while she remained with us.
+This relieved her, and she was able to give an account of her errand on
+the field of battle. Our looks, half intoxicated, and begrimed with the
+smoke of a battle, as we were, certainly were enough to alarm her; but I
+do not think one of the three would have hesitated about fighting for a
+female, that they thus found weeping, in this manner, in the open field.
+The maid was crying also. Simeon Grant, and Southard, did make use of some
+improper language, at first; but I brought them up, and they said they
+were sorry, and would go all lengths, with me, to protect the women. The
+fact was, these men supposed we had fallen in with common camp followers;
+but I had seen too much of officers' wives, in my boyhood, not to know
+that this was one.</p>
+
+<p>The lady then told her story. She had just come from Kingston, to join her
+husband; having arrived but a few hours before. She did not see her
+husband, but she had heard he was left wounded on the field; and she had
+come out in the hope of finding him. She then described him, as an officer
+mounted, with a particular dress, and inquired if we had met with any such
+person, on the field. We told her of the horseman we had just left; and
+led her back to the spot. The moment the lady saw the body, she threw
+herself on it, and began to weep and mourn over it, in a very touching
+manner. The maid, too, was almost as bad as the mistress. We were all so
+much affected, in spite of the rum, that, I believe, all three of us shed
+tears. We said all we could, to console her, and swore we would stand by
+her until she was safe back among her friends.</p>
+
+<p>It was a good bit before we could persuade the lady to quit her husband's
+body. She took a miniature from his neck, and I drew his purse and watch
+from him and handed them to her. She wanted me to keep the purse, but this
+we all three refused, up and down. We had hauled our manly tacks aboard,
+and had no thoughts of plunder. Even the maid urged us to keep the money,
+but we would have nothing to do with it. I shall freely own my faults; I
+hope I shall be believed when I relate facts that show I am not altogether
+without proper feelings.</p>
+
+<p>The officer had been hit somewhere about the hip, and the horse must have
+been killed by another grape-shot, fired from the same gun. We laid the
+body of the first over in such a manner as to get a good look at him, but
+we did not draw the leg from under the horse.[7]</p>
+
+<p>When we succeeded in persuading the lady to quit her husband's body, we
+shaped our course for the light-house. Glad were we three tars to see the
+mast-heads of the shipping in the river, as we came near the banks of the
+Niagara. The house at the light was empty; but, on my hailing, a woman's
+voice answered from the cellar. It was an old woman who had taken shelter
+from shot down in the hold, the rest of the family having slipped and run.
+We now got some milk for the lady, who continued in tears most of the
+time. Sometimes she would knock off crying for a bit, when she seemed to
+have some distrust of us; but, on the whole, we made very good weather in
+company. After staying about half an hour at the light-house, we left it
+for the town, my advice to the lady being to put herself under the
+protection of some of our officers. I told her if the news of what had
+happened reached the commodore, she might depend on her husband's being
+buried with the honours of war, and said such other things to comfort her
+as came to the mind of a man who had been sailing so near the wind.</p>
+
+<p>I forgot to relate one part of the adventure. Before we had got fairly
+clear of the woods, we fell in with four of Forsyth's men, notoriously the
+wickedest corps in the army. These fellows began to crack their jokes at
+the expense of the two females, and we came near having a brush with them.
+When we spoke of our pistols, and of our determination to use them, before
+we would let our convoy come to harm, these chaps laughed at our pop-guns,
+and told us they had such things as 'rifles.' This was true enough, and
+had we come to broadsides, I make no doubt they would have knocked us over
+like so many snipes. I began to reason with them, on the impropriety of
+offending respectable females; and one of the fellows, who was a kind of
+corporal, or something of that sort, shook my hand, said I was right, and
+offered to be friends. So we spliced the main-brace, and parted. Glad
+enough was the lady to be rid of them so easily. In these squalls she
+would bring up in her tears, and then when all went smooth again, she
+would break out afresh.</p>
+
+<p>After quitting the light, we made the best of our way for the town. Just
+as we reached it, we fell in with a party of soldier-officers, and we
+turned the lady and her woman over to their care. These gentlemen said a
+good word in our favour, and here we parted company with our convoy, never
+hearing, or seeing, anything of either afterwards.</p>
+
+<p>By this time it was near dark, and Bill Southard and I began to look out
+for the Scourge. She was anchored in the river, with the rest of the
+fleet, and we went down upon a wharf to make a signal for a boat. On the
+way we saw a woman crying before a watch-maker's shop, and a party of
+Forsyth's close by. On enquiry, we learned these fellows had threatened to
+rob her shop. We had been such defenders of the sex, that we could not
+think of deserting this woman, and we swore we would stand by her, too. We
+should have had a skirmish here, I do believe, had not one or two rifle
+officers hove in sight, when the whole party made sail from us. We turned
+the woman over to these gentlemen, who said, "ay, there are some of our
+vagabonds, again." One of them said it would be better to call in their
+parties, and before we reached the water we heard the bugle sounding
+the recall.</p>
+
+<p>They had given us up on board the schooner. A report of some Indians being
+out had reached her, and we three were set down as scalped. Thank God,
+I've got all the hair on my head yet, and battered as my old hulk has got
+to be, and shattered as are my timbers, it is as black as a raven's wing
+at this moment. This, my old shipmate, who is logging this yarn, says he
+thinks is a proof my mother was a French Canadian, though such is not the
+fact, as it has been told to me.</p>
+
+<p>Those riflemen were regular scamps. Just before we went down to the wharf,
+we saw one walking sentinel before the door of a sort of barracks. On
+drawing near and asking what was going on inside, we were told we had
+nothing to do with their fun ashore, that we might look in at a window,
+however, but should not go in. We took him at his word; a merry scene it
+was inside. The English officers' dunnage had been broken into, and there
+was a party of the corps strutting about in uniform coats and feathers. We
+thought it best to give these dare-devils a berth, and so we left them.
+One was never safe with them on the field of battle, friend or enemy.</p>
+
+<p>We met a large party of marines on the wharf, marching up under Major
+Smith. They were going to protect the people of the town from further
+mischief. Mr. Osgood was glad enough to see us, and we got plenty of
+praise for what we had done with the women. As for the canteens, we had to
+empty them, after treating the crew of the boat that was sent to take us
+off. I did not enter the town after that night.</p>
+
+<p>We lay some time in the Niagara, the commodore going to the harbour to get
+the Pike ready. Captain Crane took the rest of us off Kingston, where we
+were joined by the commodore, and made sail again for the Niagara. Here
+Colonel Scott embarked with a body of troops, and we went to Burlington
+Bay to carry the heights. They were found to be too strong; and the men,
+after landing, returned to the vessels. We then went to York, again, and
+took possession of the place a second time. Here we destroyed several
+boats, and stores, set fire to the barracks, and did the enemy a good deal
+of damage otherwise; after which we left the place. Two or three days
+later we crossed the lake and landed the soldiers, again, at Fort Niagara.</p>
+
+<p>Early in August, while we were still in the river, Sir James Yeo hove in
+sight with two ships, two brigs, and two schooners. We had thirteen sail
+in all, such as they were, and immediately got under way, and manoeuvred
+for the weather-gauge. All the enemy's vessels had regular quarters, and
+the ships were stout craft. Our squadron sailed very unequally, some being
+pretty fast, and others as dull as droggers. Nor were we more than half
+fitted out. On board the Scourge the only square-sail we had, was made out
+of an English marqu&eacute;e we had laid our hands on at York, the first time we
+were there. I ought to say, too, that we got two small brass guns at York,
+four-pounders, I believe, which Mr. Osgood clapped into our two spare
+ports forward. This gave us ten guns in all, sixes and fours. I remember
+that Jack Mallet laughed at us heartily for the fuss we made with our
+pop-guns, as he called them, while we were working upon the English
+batteries, saying we might just as well have spared our powder, as for any
+good we did. He belonged to the Julia, which had a long thirty-two,
+forward, which they called the "Old Sow," and one smart eighteen aft. She
+had two sixes in her waist, also; but <i>they</i> disdained to use <i>them.</i></p>
+
+<p>While we were up at the harbour, the last time, Mr. Mix who had married a
+sister of Mr. Osgood, took a party of us in a boat, and we went up Black
+River, shooting. The two gentlemen landed, and as we were coming down the
+river, we saw something swimming, which proved to be a bear. We had no
+arms, but we pulled over the beast, and had a regular squaw-fight with
+him. We were an hour at work with this animal, the fellow coming very near
+mastering us. I struck at his nose with an iron tiller fifty times, but he
+warded the blow like a boxer. He broke our boat-hook, and once or twice,
+he came near boarding us. At length a wood-boat gave us an axe, and with
+this we killed him. Mr. Osgood had this bear skinned, and said he should
+send the skin to his family, If he did, it must have been one of the last
+memorials it ever got from him.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter VI.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>I left the two fleets manoeuvring for the wind, in the last chapter. About
+nine o'clock, the Pike got abeam of the Wolfe, Sir James Yeo's own ship,
+hoisted her ensign, and fired a few guns to try the range of her shot. The
+distance was too great to engage. At this time our sternmost vessels were
+two leagues off, and the commodore wore round, and hauled up on the other
+tack. The enemy did the same but, perceiving that our leading ships were
+likely to weather on him, he tacked, and hauled off to the northward. We
+stood on in pursuit, tacking too; but the wind soon fell, and about sunset
+it was quite calm.</p>
+
+<p>Throughout the day, the Scourge had as much as she could do to keep
+anywhere near her station. As for the old Oneida, she could not be kept
+within a long distance of her proper berth. We were sweeping, at odd
+times, for hours that day. Towards evening, all the light craft were doing
+the same, to close with the commodore. Our object was to get together,
+lest the enemy should cut off some of our small vessels during the night.</p>
+
+<p>Before dark the whole line was formed again, with the exception of the
+Oneida, which was still astern, towing. She ought to have been near the
+commodore, but could not get there. A little before sunset, Mr. Osgood
+ordered us to pull in our sweeps, and to take a spell. It was a lovely
+evening, not a cloud visible, and the lake being as smooth as a
+looking-glass. The English fleet was but a short distance to the northward
+of us; so near, indeed, that we could almost count their ports. They were
+becalmed, like ourselves, and a little scattered.</p>
+
+<p>We took in our sweeps as ordered, laying them athwart the deck, in
+readiness to be used when wanted. The vessels ahead and astern of us were,
+generally, within speaking distance. Just as the sun went below the
+horizon, George Turnblatt, a Swede, who was our gunner, came to me, and
+said he thought we ought to secure our guns; for we had been cleared for
+action all day, and the crew at quarters. We were still at quarters, in
+name; but the petty officers were allowed to move about, and as much
+license was given to the people as was wanted. I answered that I would
+gladly secure mine if he would get an order for it; but as we were still
+at quarters, and there lay John Bull, we might get a slap at him in the
+night. On this the gunner said he would go aft, and speak to Mr. Osgood on
+the subject. He did so, but met the captain (as we always called Mr.
+Osgood) at the break of the quarter-deck. When George had told his errand,
+the captain looked at the heavens, and remarked that the night was so
+calm, there could be no great use in securing the guns, and the English
+were so near we should certainly engage, if there came a breeze; that the
+men would sleep at their quarters, of course, and would be ready to take
+care of their guns; but that he might catch a turn with the
+side-tackle-falls around the pommelions of the guns, which would be
+sufficient. He then ordered the boatswain to call all hands aft, to the
+break of the quarter-deck.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the people had collected, Mr. Osgood said--"You must be pretty
+well fagged out, men; I think we may have a hard night's work, yet, and I
+wish you to get your suppers, and then catch as much sleep as you can, at
+your guns." He then ordered the purser's steward to splice the main-brace.
+These were the last words I ever heard from Mr. Osgood. As soon as he
+gave the order, he went below leaving the deck in charge of Mr. Bogardus.
+All our old crew were on board but Mr. Livingston, who had left us, and
+Simeon Grant, one of my companions in the cruise over the battle-ground at
+Fort George. Grant had cut his hand off, in a saw-mill, while we were last
+at the Harbour, and had been left behind in the hospital. There was a
+pilot on board, who used to keep a look-out occasionally, and sometimes
+the boatswain had the watch.</p>
+
+<p>The schooner, at this time, was under her mainsail, jib, and
+fore-top-sail. The foresail was brailed, and the foot stopped, and the
+flying-jib was stowed. None of the halyards were racked, nor sheets
+stoppered. This was a precaution we always took, on account of the craft's
+being so tender.</p>
+
+<p>We first spliced the main-brace and then got our suppers, eating between
+the guns, where we generally messed, indeed. One of my messmates, Tom
+Goldsmith, was captain of the gun next to me, and as we sat there
+finishing our suppers, I says to him, "Tom, bring up that rug that you
+pinned at Little York, and that will do for both of us to stow ourselves
+away under." Tom went down and got the rug, which was an article for the
+camp that he had laid hands on, and it made us a capital bed-quilt. As all
+hands were pretty well tired, we lay down, with our heads on shot-boxes,
+and soon went to sleep.</p>
+
+<p>In speaking of the canvass that was set, I ought to have said something of
+the state of our decks. The guns had the side-tackles fastened as I have
+mentioned. There was a box of canister, and another of grape, at each gun,
+besides extra stands of both, under the shot-racks. There was also one
+grummet of round-shot at every gun, besides the racks being filled. Each
+gun's crew slept at the gun and its opposite, thus dividing the people
+pretty equally on both sides of the deck. Those who were stationed below,
+slept below. I think it probable that, as the night grew cool, as it
+always does on the fresh waters, some of the men stole below to get warmer
+berths. This was easily done in that craft, as we had but two regular
+officers on board, the acting boatswain and gunner being little more than
+two of ourselves.</p>
+
+<p>I was soon asleep, as sound as if lying in the bed of a king. How long my
+nap lasted, or what took place in the interval, I cannot say. I awoke,
+however, in consequence of large drops of rain falling on my face. Tom
+Goldsmith awoke at the same moment. When I opened my eyes, it was so dark
+I could not see the length of the deck. I arose and spoke to Tom, telling
+him it was about to rain, and that I meant to go down and get a nip, out
+of a little stuff we kept in our mess-chest, and that I would bring up the
+bottle if he wanted a taste. Tom answered, "this is nothing; we're neither
+pepper nor salt." One of the black men spoke, and asked me to bring up the
+bottle, and give him a nip, too. All this took half a minute, perhaps. I
+now remember to have heard a strange rushing noise to windward as I went
+towards the forward hatch, though it made no impression on me at the time.
+We had been lying between the starboard guns, which was the weather side
+of the vessel, if there were any weather side to it, there not being a
+breath of air, and no motion to the water, and I passed round to the
+larboard side, in order to find the ladder, which led up in that
+direction. The hatch was so small that two men could not pass at a time,
+and I felt my way to it, in no haste. One hand was on the bitts, and a
+foot was on the ladder, when a flash of lightning almost blinded me. The
+thunder came at the next instant, and with it a rushing of winds that
+fairly smothered the clap.</p>
+
+<p>The instant I was aware there was a squall, I sprang for the jib-sheet.
+Being captain of the forecastle, I knew where to find it, and throw it
+loose at a jerk. In doing this, I jumped on a man named Leonard Lewis, and
+called on him to lend me a hand. I next let fly the larboard, or lee
+top-sail-sheet, got hold of the clew-line, and, assisted by Lewis, got the
+clew half up. All this time I kept shouting to the man at the wheel to put
+his helm "hard down." The water was now up to my breast, and I knew the
+schooner must go over. Lewis had not said a word, but I called out to him
+to shift for himself, and belaying the clew-line, in hauling myself
+forward of the foremast, I received a blow from the jib-sheet that came
+near breaking my left arm. I did not feel the effect of this blow at the
+time, though the arm has since been operated on, to extract a tumour
+produced by this very injury.</p>
+
+<p>All this occupied less than a minute. The flashes of lightning were
+incessant, and nearly blinded me. Our decks seemed on fire, and yet I
+could see nothing. I heard no hail, no order, no call; but the schooner
+was filled with the shrieks and cries of the men to leeward, who were
+lying jammed under the guns, shot-boxes, shot, and other heavy things that
+had gone down as the vessel fell over. The starboard second gun, from
+forward, had capsized, and come down directly over the forward hatch, and
+I caught a glimpse of a man struggling to get past it. Apprehension of
+this gun had induced me to drag myself forward of the mast, where I
+received the blow mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>I succeeded in hauling myself up to windward, and in getting into the
+schooner's fore-channels. Here I met William Deer, the boatswain, and a
+black boy of the name of Philips, who was the powder-boy of our gun.
+"Deer, she's gone!" I said. The boatswain made no answer, but walked out
+on the fore-rigging, towards the mast-head. He probably had some vague
+notion that the schooner's masts would be out of water if she went down,
+and took this course as the safest. The boy was in the chains the last I
+saw of him.</p>
+
+<p>I now crawled aft, on the upper side of the bulwarks, amid a most awful
+and infernal din of thunder, and shrieks, and dazzling flashes of
+lightning; the wind blowing all the while like a tornado. When I reached
+the port of my own gun, I put a foot in, thinking to step on the muzzle of
+the piece; but it had gone to leeward with all the rest, and I fell
+through the port, until I brought up with my arms. I struggled up again,
+and continued working my way aft. As I got abreast of the main-mast, I saw
+some one had let run the halyards. I soon reached the beckets of the
+sweeps, and found four in them. I could not swim a stroke, and it crossed
+my mind to get one of the sweeps to keep me afloat. In striving to jerk
+the becket clear, it parted, and the forward ends of the four sweeps
+rolled down the schooner's side into the water. This caused the other ends
+to slide, and all the sweeps got away from me. I then crawled quite aft,
+as far as the fashion-piece. The water was pouring down the cabin
+companion-way like a sluice; and as I stood, for an instant, on the
+fashion-piece, I saw Mr. Osgood, with his head and part of his shoulders
+through one of the cabin windows, struggling to get out. He must have been
+within six feet of me. I saw him but a moment, by means of a flash of
+lightning, and I think he must have seen me. At the same time, there was a
+man visible on the end of the main-boom, holding on by the clew of the
+sail. I do not know who it was. This man probably saw me, and that I was
+about to spring; for he called out, "Don't jump overboard!--don't jump
+overboard! The schooner is righting."</p>
+
+<p>I was not in a state of mind to reflect much on anything. I do not think
+more than three or four minutes, if as many, had passed since the squall
+struck us, and there I was standing on the vessel's quarter, led by
+Providence more than by any discretion of my own. It now came across me
+that if the schooner should right she was filled, and must go down, and
+that she might carry me with her in the suction. I made a spring,
+therefore, and fell into the water several feet from the place where I had
+stood. It is my opinion the schooner sunk as I left her. I went down some
+distance myself, and when I came up to the surface, I began to swim
+vigorously for the first time in my life. I think I swam several yards,
+but of course will not pretend to be certain of such a thing, at such a
+moment, until I felt my hand hit something hard. I made another stroke,
+and felt my hand pass down the side of an object that I knew at once was a
+clincher-built boat. I belonged to this boat, and I now recollected that
+she had been towing astern. Until that instant I had not thought of her,
+but thus was I led in the dark to the best possible means of saving my
+life. I made a grab at the gunwale, and caught it in the stern-sheets. Had
+I swum another yard, I should have passed the boat, and missed her
+altogether! I got in without any difficulty, being all alive and
+much excited.</p>
+
+<p>My first look was for the schooner. She had disappeared, and I supposed
+she was just settling under water. It rained as if the flood-gates of
+heaven were opened, and it lightened awfully. It did not seem to me that
+there was a breath of air, and the water was unruffled, the effects of the
+rain excepted. All this I saw, as it might be, at a glance. But my chief
+concern was to preserve my own life. I was cockswain of this very boat,
+and had made it fast to this taffrail that same afternoon, with a round
+turn and two half-hitches, by its best painter. Of course I expected the
+vessel would drag the boat down with her, for I had no knife to cut the
+painter. There was a gang-board in the boat, however, which lay fore and
+aft, and I thought this might keep me afloat until some of the fleet
+should pick me up. To clear this gang-board, then, and get it into the
+water, was my first object. I ran forward to throw off the lazy-painter
+that was coiled on its end, and in doing this I caught the boat's painter
+in my hand, by accident. A pull satisfied me that it was all clear! Some
+one on board must have cast off this painter, and then lost his chance of
+getting into the boat by an accident. At all events, I was safe, and I now
+dared to look about me.</p>
+
+<p>My only chance of seeing, was during the flashes; and these left me almost
+blind. I had thrown the gang-board into the water, and I now called out to
+encourage the men, telling them I was in the boat. I could hear many
+around me, and, occasionally, I saw the heads of men, struggling in the
+lake. There being no proper place to scull in, I got an oar in the after
+rullock, and made out to scull a little, in that fashion. I now saw a man
+quite near the boat; and, hauling in the oar, made a spring amidships,
+catching this poor fellow by the collar. He was very near gone; and I had
+a great deal of difficulty in getting him in over the gunwale. Our joint
+weight brought the boat down, so low, that she shipped a good deal of
+water. This turned out to be Leonard Lewis, the young man who had helped
+me to clew up the fore-topsail. He could not stand, and spoke with
+difficulty. I asked him to crawl aft, out of the water; which he did,
+lying down in the stern-sheets.</p>
+
+<p>I now looked about me, and heard another; leaning over the gunwale, I got
+a glimpse of a man, struggling, quite near the boat. I caught him by the
+collar, too; and had to drag him in very much in the way I had done with
+Lewis. This proved to be Lemuel Bryant, the man who had been wounded by a
+hot shot, at York, as already mentioned while the commodore was on board
+us. His wound had not yet healed, but he was less exhausted than Lewis. He
+could not help me, however, lying down in the bottom of the boat, the
+instant he was able.</p>
+
+<p>For a few moments, I now heard no more in the water; and I began to scull
+again. By my calculation, I moved a few yards, and must have got over the
+spot where the schooner went down. Here, in the flashes, I saw many heads,
+the men swimming in confusion, and at random. By this time, little was
+said, the whole scene being one of fearful struggling and frightful
+silence. It still rained; but the flashes were less frequent, and less
+fierce. They told me, afterwards, in the squadron, that it thundered
+awfully; but I cannot say I heard a clap, after I struck the water. The
+next man caught the boat himself. It was a mulatto, from Martinique, who
+was Mr. Osgood's steward; and I helped him in. He was much exhausted,
+though an excellent swimmer; but alarm nearly deprived him of his
+strength. He kept saying, "Oh! Masser Ned--Oh! Masser Ned!" and lay down
+in the bottom of the boat, like the two others; I taking care to shove him
+over to the larboard side, so as to trim our small craft.</p>
+
+<p>I kept calling out, to encourage the swimmers, and presently I heard a
+voice, saying, "Ned, I'm here, close by you." This was Tom Goldsmith, a
+messmate, and the very man under whose rug I had been sleeping, at
+quarters. He did not want much help, getting in, pretty much, by himself.
+I asked him, if he were able to help me. "Yes, Ned," he answered, "I'll
+stand by you to the last; what shall I do?" I told him to take his
+tarpaulin, and to bail the boat, which, by this time, was a third full of
+water. This he did, while I sculled a little ahead. "Ned," says Tom,
+"she's gone down with her colours flying, for her pennant came near
+getting a round turn about my body, and carrying me down with her. Davy
+has made a good haul, and he gave us a close shave; but he didn't get you
+and me." In this manner did this thoughtless sailor express himself, as
+soon as rescued from the grasp of death! Seeing something on the water, I
+asked Tom to take my oar, while I sprang to the gunwale, and caught Mr.
+Bogardus, the master's mate, who was clinging to one of the sweeps. I
+hauled him in, and he told me, he thought, some one had hold of the other
+end of the sweep. It was so dark, however, we could not see even that
+distance. I hauled the sweep along, until I found Ebenezer Duffy, a
+mulatto, and the ship's cook. He could not swim a stroke; and was nearly
+gone. I got him in, alone, Tom bailing, lest the boat, which was quite
+small, should swamp with us.</p>
+
+<p>As the boat drifted along, she reached another man, whom I caught also by
+the collar. I was afraid to haul this person in amidships, the boat being
+now so deep, and so small, and so I dragged him ahead, and hauled him in
+over the bows. This was the pilot, whose name I never knew. He was a
+lake-man, and had been aboard us the whole summer. The poor fellow was
+almost gone, and like all the rest, with the exception of Tom, he lay down
+and said not a word.</p>
+
+<p>We had now as many in the boat as it would carry, and Tom and myself
+thought it would not do to take in any more. It is true, we saw no more,
+everything around us appearing still as death, the pattering of the rain
+excepted. Tom began to bail again, and I commenced hallooing. I sculled
+about several minutes, thinking of giving others a tow, or of even hauling
+in one or two more, after we got the water out of the boat; but we found
+no one else. I think it probable I sculled away from the spot, as there
+was nothing to guide me. I suppose, however, that by this time, all the
+Scourges had gone down, for no more were ever heard from.</p>
+
+<p>Tom Goldsmith and myself now put our heads together as to what was best to
+be done. We were both afraid of falling into the enemy's hands, for, they
+might have bore up in the squall, and run down near us. On the whole,
+however, we thought the distance between the two squadrons was too great
+for this; at all events, something must be done at once. So we began to
+row, in what direction even we did not know. It still rained as hard as it
+could pour, though there was not a breath of wind. The lightning came now
+at considerable intervals, and the gust was evidently passing away towards
+the broader parts of the lake. While we were rowing and talking about our
+chance of falling in with the enemy, Tom cried out to me to
+"avast-pulling." He had seen a vessel, by a flash, and he thought she was
+English, from her size. As he said she was a schooner, however, I thought
+it must be one of our own craft, and got her direction from him. At the
+next flash I saw her, and felt satisfied she belonged to us. Before we
+began to pull, however, we were hailed "boat ahoy!" I answered. "If you
+pull another stroke, I'll fire into you"--came back--"what boat's that?
+Lay on your oars, or I'll fire into you." It was clear we were mistaken
+ourselves for an enemy, and I called out to know what schooner it was. No
+answer was given, though the threat to fire was repeated, if we pulled
+another stroke. I now turned to Tom and said, "I know that voice--that is
+old Trant." Tom thought "we were in the wrong shop." I now sung out, "This
+is the Scourge's boat--our schooner has gone down, and we want to come
+alongside." A voice next called from the schooner--"Is that you, Ned?"
+This I knew was my old shipmate and school-fellow, Jack Mallet, who was
+acting as boatswain of the Julia, the schooner commanded by sailing-master
+James Trant, one of the oddities of the service, and a man with whom the
+blow often came as soon as the word. I had known Mr. Trant's voice, and
+felt more afraid he would fire into us, than I had done of anything which
+had occurred that fearful night. Mr. Trant, himself now called
+out--"Oh-ho; give way, boys, and come alongside." This we did, and a very
+few strokes took us up to the Julia, where we were received with the
+utmost kindness. The men were passed out of the boat, while I gave Mr.
+Trant an account of all that had happened. This took but a minute or two.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Trant now inquired in what direction the Scourge had gone down, and,
+as soon as I had told him, in the best manner I could, he called out to
+Jack Mallet--"Oh-ho, Mallet--take four hands, and go in the boat and see
+what you can do--take a lantern, and I will show a light on the water's
+edge, so you may know me." Mallet did as ordered, and was off in less than
+three minutes after we got alongside. Mr. Trant, who was much humoured,
+had no officer in the Julia, unless Mallet could be called one. He was an
+Irishman by birth, but had been in the American navy ever since the
+revolution, dying a lieutenant, a few years after this war. Perhaps no man
+in the navy was more generally known, or excited more amusement by his
+oddities, or more respect for his courage. He had come on the lake with
+the commodore, with whom he was a great pet, and had been active in all
+the fights and affairs that had yet taken place. His religion was to hate
+an Englishman.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Trant now called the Scourges aft, and asked more of the particulars.
+He then gave us a glass of grog all round, and made his own crew splice
+the main-brace. The Julias now offered us dry clothes. I got a change from
+Jack Reilly, who had been an old messmate, and with whom I had always been
+on good terms. It knocked off raining, but we shifted ourselves at the
+galley fire below. I then went on deck, and presently we heard the boat
+pulling back. It soon came alongside, bringing in it four more men that
+had been found floating about on sweeps and gratings. On inquiry, it
+turned out that these men belonged to the Hamilton, Lt. Winter--a schooner
+that had gone down in the same squall that carried us over. These men were
+very much exhausted, too, and we all went below, and were told to turn in.</p>
+
+<p>I had been so much excited during the scenes through which I had just
+passed, and had been so much stimulated by grog, that, as yet, I had not
+felt much of the depression natural to such events. I even slept soundly
+that night, nor did I turn out until six the next morning.</p>
+
+<p>When I got on deck, there was a fine breeze; it was a lovely day, and the
+lake was perfectly smooth. Our fleet was in a good line, in pretty close
+order, with the exception of the Governor Tompkins, Lieutenant Tom Brown,
+which was a little to leeward, but carrying a press of sail to close with
+the commodore. Mr. Trant perceiving that the Tompkins wished to speak us
+in passing, brailed his foresail and let her luff up close under our lee.
+"Two of the schooners, the Hamilton and the Scourge, have gone down in the
+night," called out Mr. Brown; "for I have picked up four of the
+Hamilton's." "Oh-ho!"--answered Mr. Trant--"That's no news at all! for I
+have picked up <i>twelve</i>; eight of the Scourge's, and four of the
+Hamilton's--aft fore-sheet."</p>
+
+<p>These were all that were ever saved from the two schooners, which must
+have had near a hundred souls on board them. The two commanders,
+Lieutenant Winter and Mr, Osgood were both lost, and with Mr. Winter went
+down I believe, one or two young gentlemen. The squadron could not have
+moved much between the time when the accidents happened and that when I
+came on deck, or we must have come round and gone over the same ground
+again, for we now passed many relics of the scene, floating about in the
+water. I saw spunges, gratings, sweeps, hats, &amp;c., scattered about, and in
+passing ahead we saw one of the latter that we tried to catch; Mr. Trant
+ordering it done, as he said it must have been Lieutenant Winter's. We did
+not succeed, however; nor was any article taken on board. A good look-out
+was kept for men, from aloft, but none were seen from any of the vessels.
+The lake had swallowed up the rest of the two crews; and the Scourge, as
+had been often predicted, had literally become a coffin to a large portion
+of her people.</p>
+
+<p>There was a good deal of manoeuvring between the two fleets this day, and
+some efforts were made to engage; but, to own the truth, I felt so
+melancholy about the loss of so many shipmates, that I did not take much
+notice of what passed. All my Black Jokers were drowned, and nothing
+remained of the craft and people with which and whom I had been associated
+all summer. Bill Southard, too, was among the lost, as indeed were all my
+messmates but Tom Goldsmith and Lemuel Bryant. I had very serious and
+proper impressions for the moment; but my new shipmates, some of whom had
+been old shipmates in other crafts, managed to cheer me up with grog. The
+effect was not durable, and in a short time I ceased to think of what had
+happened. I have probably reflected more on the merciful manner in which
+my life was spared, amid a scene so terrific, within the last five years,
+than I did in the twenty-five that immediately followed the accidents.</p>
+
+<p>The fleet went in, off the Niagara, and anchored. Mr. Trant now mustered
+the remaining Scourges, and told us he wanted just our number of hands,
+and that he meant to get an order to keep us in the Julia. In the
+meantime, he should station and quarter us. I was stationed at the braces,
+and quartered at the long thirty-two as second loader. The Julia mounted a
+long thirty-two, and an eighteen on pivots, besides two sixes in the
+waist. The last were little used, as I have already mentioned. She was a
+small, but a fast schooner, and had about forty souls on board. She was
+altogether a better craft than the Scourge, though destitute of any
+quarters, but a low rail with wash-boards, and carrying fewer guns.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter VII.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>I never knew what became of the four Hamiltons that were picked up by the
+Julia's boat, though I suppose they were put in some other vessel along
+with their shipmates; nor did I ever learn the particulars of the loss of
+this schooner, beyond the fact that her topsail-sheets were stoppered, and
+her halyards racked. This much I learned from the men who were brought on
+board the Julia, who said that their craft was ready, in all respects, for
+action. Some seamen have thought this wrong, and some right; but, in my
+opinion, it made but little difference in such a gust as that which passed
+over us. What was remarkable, the Julia, which could not have been far
+from the Scourge when we went over, felt no great matter of wind, just
+luffing up, and shaking her sails, to be rid of it!</p>
+
+<p>We lay only one night off the mouth of the Niagara. The next morning the
+squadron weighed, and stood out in pursuit of the English. The weather was
+very variable, and we could not get within reach of Sir James all that
+day. This was the 9th of August. The Scourge had gone down on the night of
+the 7th, or the morning of the 8th, I never knew which. On the morning of
+the 10th, however, we were under the north shore, and to windward of John
+Bull. The Commodore now took the Asp, and the Madison the Fair American,
+in tow, and we all kept away, expecting certainly a general action. But
+the wind shifted, bringing the English to windward. The afternoon was
+calm; or had variable airs. Towards sunset, the enemy was becalmed under
+the American shore, and we got a breeze from the southward. We now closed,
+and at 6 formed our line for engaging. We continued to close until 7, when
+the wind came out fresh at S.W., putting John again to windward.</p>
+
+<p>I can hardly tell what followed, there was so much manoeuvring and
+shifting of berths. Both squadrons were standing across the lake, the
+enemy being to windward, and a little astern of us. We now passed within
+hail of the commodore, who gave us orders to form a new line of battle,
+which we did in the following manner. One line, composed of the smallest
+schooners, was formed to windward, while the ships, brig, and two heaviest
+schooners, formed another line to leeward. We had the weathermost line,
+having the Growler, Lieutenant Deacon, for the vessel next astern of us.
+This much I could see, though I did not understand the object. I now learn
+the plan was for the weather line to engage the enemy, and then, by edging
+away, draw them down upon the lee line, which line contained our principal
+force. According to the orders, we ought to have rather edged off, as soon
+as the English began to fire, in order to draw them down upon the
+commodore; but it will be seen that our schooner pursued a very
+different course.</p>
+
+<p>It must have been near midnight, when the enemy began to fire at the Fair
+American, the sternmost vessel of our weather line. We were a long bit
+ahead of her, and did not engage for some time. The firing became pretty
+smart astern, but we stood on, without engaging, the enemy not yet being
+far enough ahead for us. After a while, the four sternmost schooners of
+our line kept off, according to orders, but the Julia and Growler still
+stood on. I suppose the English kept off, too, at the same time, as the
+commodore had expected. At any rate, we found ourselves so well up with
+the enemy, that, instead of bearing up, Mr. Trant tacked in the Julia, and
+the Growler came round after us. We now began to fire on the headmost
+ships of the enemy, which were coming on towards us. We were able to lay
+past the enemy on this tack, and fairly got to windward of them. When we
+were a little on John Bull's weather bow, we brailed the foresail, and
+gave him several rounds, within a pretty fair distance. The enemy answered
+us, and, from that moment, he seemed to give up all thoughts of the
+vessels to leeward of him, turning his whole attention on the Julia
+and Growler.</p>
+
+<p>The English fleet stood on the same tack, until it had got between us and
+our own line, when it went about in chase of us. We now began to make
+short tacks to windward; the enemy separating so as to spread a wide clew,
+in order that they might prevent our getting past, by turning their line
+and running to leeward. As for keeping to windward, we had no
+difficulty--occasionally brailing our foresail, and even edging off, now
+and then, to be certain that our shot would tell. In moderate weather, the
+Julia was the fastest vessel in the American squadron, the Lady of the
+Lake excepted; and the Growler was far from being dull. Had there been
+room, I make no doubt we might have kept clear of John Bull, with the
+greatest ease; touching him up with our long, heavy guns, from time to
+time, as it suited us. I have often thought that Mr. Trant forgot we were
+between the enemy and the land, and that he fancied himself out at sea. It
+was a hazy, moonlight morning, and we did not see anything of the main,
+though it turned out to be nearer to us than we wished.</p>
+
+<p>All hands were now turning to windward; the two schooners still edging
+off, occasionally, and firing. The enemy's shot went far beyond us, and
+did us some mischief, though nothing that was not immediately repaired.
+The main throat-halyards, on board the Julia, were shot away, as was the
+clew of the mainsail. It is probable the enemy did not keep his luff,
+towards the last, on account of the land.</p>
+
+<p>Our two schooners kept quite near each other, sometimes one being to
+windward, sometimes the other. It happened that the Growler was a short
+distance to windward of us, when we first became aware of the nature of
+our critical situation. She up helm, and, running down within hail,
+Lieutenant Deacon informed Mr. Trant he had just sounded in two fathoms,
+and that he could see lights ashore. He thought there must be Indians, in
+great numbers, in this vicinity, and that we must, at all events, avoid
+the land. "What do you think we had best do?" asked Lieutenant Deacon.
+"Run the gauntlet," called out Mr. Trant. "Very well, sir: which shall
+lead?" "I'll lead the van," answered Mr. Trant, and then all was settled.</p>
+
+<p>We now up helm, and steered for a vacancy among the British vessels. The
+enemy seemed to expect us, for they formed in two lines, leaving us room
+to enter between them. When we bore up, even in these critical
+circumstances, it was under our mainsail, fore-top-sail, jib, flying-jib,
+and foresail. So insufficient were the equipments of these small craft,
+that we had neither square-sail nor studding-sails on board us. I never
+saw a studding-sail in any of the schooners, the Scourge excepted.</p>
+
+<p>The Julia and Growler now ran down, the former leading, half a
+cable's-length apart. When we entered between the two lines of the enemy,
+we were within short canister-range, and got it smartly on both tacks.
+The two English ships were to leeward, each leading a line; and we had a
+brig, and three large, regular man-of-war schooners, to get past, with the
+certainty of meeting the Wolfe and Royal George, should we succeed in
+clearing these four craft. Both of us kept up a heavy fire, swivelling our
+guns round, so as not to neglect any one. As we drew near the ships,
+however, we paid them the compliment of throwing all the heavy shot at
+them, as was due to their rank and size.</p>
+
+<p>For a few minutes we fared pretty well; but we were no sooner well entered
+between the lines, than we got it, hot and hard. Our rigging began to come
+down about our ears, and one shot passed a few feet above our heads,
+cutting both topsail-sheets, and scooping a bit of wood as big as a
+thirty-two pound shot, out of the foremast. I went up on one side, myself,
+to knot one of these sheets, and, while aloft, discovered the injury that
+had been done to the spar. Soon after, the tack of the mainsail caught
+fire, from a wad of one of the Englishmen; for, by this time, we were
+close at it. I think, indeed, that the nearness of the enemy alone
+prevented our decks from being entirely swept. The grape and canister were
+passing just above our heads like hail, and the foresail was literally in
+ribands. The halyards being gone, the mainsail came down by the run, and
+the jib settled as low as it could. The topsail-yard was on the cap, and
+the schooner now came up into the wind.</p>
+
+<p>All this time, we kept working the guns. The old man went from one gun to
+the other, pointing each himself, as it was ready. He was at the eighteen
+when things were getting near the worst, and, as he left her, he called
+out to her crew to "fill her--fill her to the muzzle!" He then came to our
+gun, which was already loaded with one round, a stand of grape, and a case
+of canister shot. This I know, for I put them all in with my own hands. At
+this time, the Melville, a brig of the enemy's, was close up with us,
+firing upon our decks from her fore-top. She was coming up on our larboard
+quarter, while a large schooner was nearing us fast on the starboard. Mr.
+Trant directed our gun to be elevated so as to sweep the brig's
+forecastle, and then he called out, "Now's the time, lads--fire at the
+b----s! fire away at 'em!" But no match was to be found! Some one had
+thrown both overboard. By this time the brig's jib-boom was over our
+quarter, and the English were actually coming on board of us. The enemy
+were now all round us. The Wolfe, herself, was within hail, and still
+firing. The last I saw of any of our people, was Mallet passing forward,
+and I sat down on the slide of the thirty-two, myself, sullen as a bear.
+Two or three of the English passed me, without saying anything. Even at
+this instant, a volley of bullets came out of the brig's fore-top, and
+struck all around me; some hitting the deck, and others the gun itself.
+Just then, an English officer came up, and said--"What are you doing here,
+you Yankee?" I felt exceedingly savage, and answered, "Looking at your
+fools firing upon their own men." "Take that for your sauce," he said,
+giving me a thrust with his sword, as he spoke. The point of the cutlass
+just passed my hip-bone, and gave me a smart flesh-wound. The hurt was not
+dangerous, though it bled freely, and was some weeks in healing. I now
+rose to go below, and heard a hail from one of the ships--the Wolfe, as I
+took her to be. "Have you struck?" demanded some one. The officer who had
+hurt me now called out, "Don't fire into us, sir, for I'm on board, and
+have got possession." The officer from the ship next asked, "Is there
+anybody alive on board her?" To which the prize-officer answered, "I don't
+know, sir, I've seen but one man, as yet."</p>
+
+<p>I now went down below. First, I got a bandage on my wound, to stop the
+bleeding, and then I had an opportunity to look about me. A party of
+English was below, and some of our men having joined them, the heads were
+knocked out of two barrels of whiskey. The kids and bread-bags were
+procured, and all hands, without distinction of country, sat down to enjoy
+themselves. Some even began to sing, and, as for good-fellowship, it was
+just as marked, as it would have been in a jollification ashore.</p>
+
+<p>In a few minutes the officer who had hurt me jumped down among us. The
+instant he saw what we were at, he sang out--"Halloo! here's high life
+below stairs!" Then he called to another officer to bear a hand down and
+see the fun. Some one sung out from among ourselves to "dowse the glim."
+The lights were put out, and then the two officers capsized the whiskey.
+While this was doing, most of the Englishmen ran up the forward hatch. We
+Julias all remained below.</p>
+
+<p>In less than an hour we were sent on board the enemy's vessels. I was
+carried to the Royal George, but Mr. Trant was taken on board the Wolfe.
+The Growler had lost her bowsprit, and was otherwise damaged, and had been
+forced to strike also. She had a man killed, and I believe one or two
+wounded.[8] On board of us, not a man, besides myself, had been touched!
+We seemed to have been preserved by a miracle, for every one of the enemy
+had a slap at us, and, for some time, we were within pistol-shot. Then we
+had no quarters at all, being perfectly exposed to grape and canister. The
+enemy must have fired too high, for nothing else could have saved us.</p>
+
+<p>In July, while I still belonged to the Scourge, I had been sent with a
+boat's crew, under Mr. Bogardus, on board an English flag of truce that
+had come into the Harbour. While in this vessel, our boat's crew were
+"hail-fellows-well-met" with the Englishmen, and we had agreed among us to
+take care of each other, should either side happen to be taken. I had been
+on board the Royal George but a short time, when two of these very men
+came up to me with some grog and some grub; and next morning they brought
+me my bitters. I saw no more of them, however, except when they came to
+shake hands with us at the gang-way, as we were leaving the ship.</p>
+
+<p>After breakfast, next morning, we were all called aft to the ward-room,
+one at a time. I was pumped as to the force of the Americans, the names of
+the vessels, the numbers of the crews, and the names of the commanders. I
+answered a little saucily, and was ordered out of the ward-room. As I was
+quitting the place, I was called back by one of the lieutenants, whose
+appearance I did not like from the first. Although it was now eight years
+since I left Halifax, and we had both so much altered, I took this
+gentleman for Mr. Bowen, the very midshipman of the Cleopatra, who had
+been my schoolmate, and whom I had known on board the prize-brig I have
+mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>This officer asked me where I was born. I told him New York. He said he
+knew better, and asked my name. I told him it was what he found it on the
+muster-roll, and that by which I had been called. He said I knew better,
+and that I should hear more of this, hereafter. If this were my old
+school-fellow, he knew that I was always called Edward Robert Meyers,
+whereas I had dropped the middle name, and now called myself Myers. He may
+not, however, have been the person I took him for, and might have mistaken
+me for some one else; for I never had an opportunity of ascertaining any
+more about him.</p>
+
+<p>We got into Little York, and were sent ashore that evening. I can say
+nothing of our squadron, having been kept below the whole time I was on
+board the Royal George. I could not find out whether we did the enemy any
+harm, or not, the night we were taken; though I remember that a
+sixty-eight pound carronade, that stood near the gang-way of the Royal
+George, was dismounted, the night I passed into her. It looked to me as if
+the trucks were gone. This I know, that the ship was more than usually
+screened off; though for what reason I will not pretend to say.</p>
+
+<p>At York, we were put in the gaol, where we were kept three weeks. Our
+treatment was every way bad, with the exception that we were not crowded.
+As to food, we were kept "six upon four" the whole time I was prisoner.[9]
+The bread was bad, and the pork little better. While in this gaol, a party
+of drunken Indians gave us a volley, in passing; but luckily it did us
+no harm.</p>
+
+<p>At the end of three weeks, we received a haversack apiece, and two days'
+allowance. Our clothes were taken from us, and the men were told they
+would get them below; a thing that happened to very few of us, I believe.
+As for myself, I was luckily without anything to lose; my effects having
+gone down in the Scourge. All I had on earth was a shirt and two
+handkerchiefs, and an old slouched hat, that I had got in exchange for a
+Scotch cap that had been given to me in the Julia. I was without shoes,
+and so continued until I reached Halifax. All this gave me little concern;
+my spirits being elastic, and my disposition gay. My great trouble was the
+apprehension of being known, through the recollections of the officer I
+have mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>We now commenced our march for Kingston, under the guard of a company of
+the Glengarians and a party of Indians. The last kept on our flanks, and
+it was understood they would shoot and scalp any man who left the ranks.
+We marched two and two, being something like eighty prisoners. It was hard
+work for the first day or two, the road being nothing but an Indian trail,
+and our lodging-places the open air. My feet became very sore, and, as for
+food, we had to eat our pork raw, there being nothing to cook in. The
+soldiers fared no better than ourselves, however, with the exception of
+being on full allowance. It seems that our provisions were sent by water,
+and left for us at particular places; for every eight-and-forty hours we
+touched the lake shore, and found them ready for us. They were left on the
+beach without any guard, or any one near them. In this way we picked up
+our supplies the whole distance.</p>
+
+<p>At the d&eacute;p&ocirc;t, Mr. Bogardus and the pilot found a boat, and managed to get
+into her, and put out into the lake. After being absent a day and night,
+they were driven in by rough weather, and fell into the hands of a party
+of dragoons who were escorting Sir George Prevost along the lake shore.
+We found them at a sort of tavern, where were the English Governor and his
+escort at the time. They were sent back among us, with two American army
+officers, who had fallen into the hands of the Indians, and had been most
+foully treated. One of these officers was wounded in the arm.</p>
+
+<p>The night of the day we fell in with Sir George Prevost, we passed through
+a hamlet, and slept just without it. As we entered the village the guard
+played Yankee Doodle, winding up with the Rogue's March. As we went
+through the place, I got leave to go to a house and ask for a drink of
+milk. The woman of this house said they had been expecting us for two
+days, and that they had been saving their milk expressly to give us. I got
+as much as I wanted, and a small loaf of bread in the bargain, as did
+several others with me. These people seemed to me to be all well affected
+to the Americans, and much disposed to treat us kindly. We slept on a barn
+floor that night.</p>
+
+<p>We were much provoked at the insult of playing the Rogue's March. Jack
+Reilly and I laid a plan to have our revenge, should it be repeated. Two
+or three days later we had the same tune, at another village, and I caught
+up a couple of large stones, ran ahead, and dashed them through both ends
+of the drum, before the boy, who was beating it, knew what I was about.
+Jack snatched the fife out of the other boy's hand, and it was passed from
+one to another among us, until it reached one who threw it over the
+railing of a bridge. After this, we had no more music, good or bad. Not a
+word was said to any of us about this affair, and I really think the
+officers were ashamed of themselves.</p>
+
+<p>After a march of several days we came to a hamlet, not a great distance
+from Kingston. I saw a good many geese about, and took a fancy to have one
+for supper. I told Mallet if he would cook a goose, I would tip one over.
+The matter was arranged between us, and picking up a club I made a dash at
+a flock, and knocked a bird over. I caught up the goose and ran, when my
+fellow-prisoners called out to me to dodge, which I did, behind a stump,
+not knowing from what quarter the danger might come. It was well I did,
+for two Indians fired at me, one hitting the stump, and the other ball
+passing just over my head. A militia officer now galloped up, and drove
+back the Indians who were running up to me, to look after the scalp, I
+suppose. This officer remonstrated with me, but spoke mildly and even
+kindly. I told him I was hungry, and that I wanted a warm mess. "But you
+are committing a robbery," he said. "If I am, I'm robbing an enemy." "You
+do not know but it may be a friend," was his significant answer. "Well, if
+I am, <i>he</i>'ll not grudge me the goose," says I. On hearing this, the
+officer laughed, and asked me how I meant to cook the goose. I told him
+that one of my messmates had promised to do this for me. He then bade me
+carry the goose into the ranks, and to come to him when we halted at
+night. I did this, and he gave us a pan, some potatoes, onions, &amp;c., out
+of which we made the only good mess we got on our march. I may say this
+was the last hearty and really palatable meal I made until I reached
+Halifax, a period of several weeks.</p>
+
+<p>While Jack Mallet was cooking the goose, I went in behind a pile of
+boards, attended by a soldier to watch me, and, while there, I saw an
+ivory rule lying on the boards, with fifteen pence alongside of it. These
+I pinned, as a lawful prize, being in an enemy's country. The money served
+to buy us some bread. The rule was bartered for half a gallon of rum. This
+made us a merry night, taking all things together.</p>
+
+<p>We made no halt at Kingston, though the Indians left us. We now marched
+through a settled country, with some militia for our guards. Our treatment
+was much better than it had been, the people of the country treating us
+kindly. When we were abreast of the Thousand Islands, Mr. Bogardus and the
+pilot made another attempt to escape, and got fairly off. These were the
+only two who did succeed. How they effected it I cannot say, but I know
+they escaped. I never saw either afterwards.</p>
+
+<p>At the Long Sault, we were all put in boats, with a Canadian pilot in each
+end. The militia staid behind, and down we went; they say at the rate of
+nine miles in fifteen minutes. We found a new guard at the foot of the
+rapids. This was done, beyond a doubt, to save us and themselves, though
+we thought hard of it at the time, for it appeared to us, as if they
+thrust us into a danger they did not like to run themselves. I have since
+heard that even ladies travelling, used to go down these formidable rapids
+in the same way; and that, with skilful pilots, there is little or
+no danger.</p>
+
+<p>When we reached Montreal we were confined in a gaol where we remained
+three weeks. There was an American lady confined in this building, though
+she had more liberty than we, and from her we received much aid. She sent
+us soap, and she gave me bandages &amp;c., for my hurt. Occasionally she gave
+us little things to eat. I never knew her name, but heard she had two sons
+in the American army, and that she had been detected in corresponding
+with them.</p>
+
+<p>We remained at Montreal two or three weeks, and then were sent down to
+Quebec, where we were put on board of prison-ships. I was sent to the Lord
+Cathcart, and most of the Julia's men with me. Our provisions were very
+bad, and the mortality among us was great. The bread was intolerably bad.
+Mr. Trant came to see us, privately, and he brought some salt with him,
+which was a great relief to us. Jack Mallet asked him whether some of us
+might not go to work on board a transport, that lay just astern of us, in
+order to get something; better to eat. Mr. Trant said yes, and eight of us
+went on board this craft, every day, getting provisions and grog for our
+pay. At sunset, we returned regularly to the Cathcart. I got a second
+shirt and a pair of trowsers in this way.</p>
+
+<p>About a fortnight after this arrangement, the Surprise, 32, and a
+sloop-of-war, came in, anchoring some distance below the town. These ships
+sent their boats up to the prison-ships to examine them for men. After
+going through those vessels, they came on board the transport, and finding
+us fresh, clean, fed and tolerably clad, they pronounced us all
+Englishmen, and carried us on board the frigate. We were not permitted
+even to go and take leave of our shipmates. Of the eight men thus taken,
+five were native Americans, one was from Mozambique, one I suppose to have
+been an English subject born, but long settled in America; and, as for me,
+the reader knows as much of my origin as I know myself.</p>
+
+<p>We were asked if we would go to duty on board the Surprise, and we all
+refused. We were then put in close con finement, on the berth-deck, under
+the charge of a sentry. In a day or two, the ship sailed; and off Cape
+Breton we met with a heavy gale, in which the people suffered severely
+with snow and cold. The ship was kept off the land, with great difficulty.
+After all, we prisoners saved the ship, though I think it likely the
+injury originally came from some of us. The breechings of two of the guns
+had been cut, and the guns broke adrift in the height of the gale. All the
+crew were on deck, and the sentinel permitting it, we went up and
+smothered the guns with hammocks. We were now allowed to go about deck,
+but this lasted a short time, the whole of us being sent below, again, as
+soon as the gale abated.</p>
+
+<p>On reaching Halifax, we were all put on board of the Regulus transport,
+bound to Bermuda. Here we eight were thrown into irons, under the
+accusation of being British subjects. At the end of twenty-four hours,
+however, the captain came to us, and offered to let us out of irons, and
+to give us ship's treatment, if we would help in working the vessel to
+Bermuda. I have since thought we were ironed merely to extort this
+arrangement from us. We consulted together; and, thinking a chance might
+offer to get possession of the Regulus, which had only a few Canadians in
+her, and was to be convoyed by the Pictou schooner, we consented. We were
+now turned up to duty, and I got the first pair of shoes that had been on
+my feet since the Scourge sunk from under me.</p>
+
+<p>The reader will imagine I had not been in the harbour of Halifax, without
+a strong desire to ascertain something about those I had left behind me,
+in that town. I was nervously afraid of being discovered, and yet had a
+feverish wish to go ashore. The manner in which I gratified this wish, and
+the consequences to which it led, will be seen in the sequel.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter VIII.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>Jack Mallet had long known my history. He was my confidant, and entered
+into all my feelings. The night we went to duty on board the transport, a
+boat was lying alongside of the ship, and the weather being thick, it
+afforded a good opportunity for gratifying my longing. Jack and myself got
+in, after putting our heads together, and stole off undetected. I pulled
+directly up to the wharf of Mr. Marchinton, and at once found myself at
+home. I will not pretend to describe my sensations, but they were a
+strange mixture of apprehension, disquiet, hope, and natural attachment. I
+wished much to see my sister, but was afraid to venture on that.</p>
+
+<p>There was a family, however, of the name of Fraser, that lived near the
+shore, with which I had been well acquainted, and in whose members I had
+great confidence. They were respectable in position, its head being called
+a judge, and they were all intimate with the Marchintons. To the Frasers,
+then, I went; Jack keeping me company. I was afraid, if I knocked, the
+servant would not let me in, appearing, as I did, in the dress of a common
+sailor; so I opened the street-door without any ceremony, and went
+directly to that of the parlour, which I entered before there was time to
+stop me. Jack brought up in the entry.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Fraser and her daughter were seated together, on a settee, and the
+judge was reading at a table. My sudden apparition astonished them, and
+all three gazed at me in silence. Mr. Fraser then said, "In the name of
+heaven, where did you come from, Edward!" I told him I had been in the
+American service, but that I now belonged to an English transport that was
+to sail in the morning, and that I had just come ashore to inquire how all
+hands did; particularly my sister. He told me that my sister was living, a
+married woman, in Halifax; that Mr. Marchinton was dead, and had grieved
+very much at my disappearance; that I was supposed to be dead. He then
+gave me much advice as to my future course, and reminded me how much I had
+lost by my early mistakes. He was particularly anxious I should quit my
+adopted country, and wished me to remain in Halifax. He offered to send a
+servant with me to find my sister, but I was afraid to let my presence be
+known to so many. I begged my visit might be kept a secret, as I felt
+ashamed of being seen in so humble circumstances. I was well treated, as
+was Jack Mallet, both of us receiving wine and cake, &amp;c. Mr. Fraser also
+gave me a guinea, and as I went away, Mrs. Fraser slipped a pound note
+into my hand. The latter said to me, in a whisper--"I know what you are
+afraid of, but I shall tell Harriet of your visit; she will be secret."</p>
+
+<p>I staid about an hour, receiving every mark of kindness from these
+excellent and respectable people, leaving them to believe we were to sail
+in the morning. When we got back to the transport no one knew of our
+absence, and nothing was ever said of our taking the boat. The Regulus did
+not sail for twenty hours after this, but I had no more communication with
+the shore. We got to sea, at last, two transports, under the convoy of
+the Pictou.</p>
+
+<p>During the whole passage, we eight prisoners kept a sharp look-out for a
+chance to get possession of the ship. We were closely watched, there being
+a lieutenant and his boat's crew on board, besides the Canadians, the
+master, mate, &amp;c. All the arms were secreted, and nothing was left at
+hand, that we could use in a rising.</p>
+
+<p>About mid passage, it blowing fresh, with the ship under double-reefed
+topsails, I was at the weather, with one of the Canadians at the lee,
+wheel. Mallet was at work in the larboard, or weather, mizen chains, ready
+to lend me a hand. At this moment the Pictou came up under our lee, to
+speak us in relation to carrying a light during the night. Her masts swung
+so she could not carry one herself, and her commander wished us to carry
+our top-light, he keeping near it, instead of our keeping near him. The
+schooner came very close to us, it blowing heavily, and Mallet called out,
+"Ned, now is your time. Up helm and into him. A couple of seas will send
+him down." This was said loud enough to be heard, though all on deck were
+attending to the schooner; and, as for the Canadian, he did not understand
+English. I managed to get the helm hard up, and Mallet jumped inboard. The
+ship fell off fast; but the lieutenant, who was on board as an agent, was
+standing in the companion-way with his wife, and, the instant he saw what
+I had done, he ran aft, struck me a sharp blow, and put the helm hard down
+with his own hands. This saved the Pictou, though there was a great outcry
+on board her. The lieutenant's wife screamed, and there was a pretty
+uproar for a minute, in every direction. As the Regulus luffed-to, her
+jib-boom-end just cleared the Pictou's forward rigging, and a man might
+almost have jumped from the ship to the schooner, as we got alongside of
+each other. Another minute, and we should have travelled over His
+Majesty's schooner, like a rail-road car going over a squash.</p>
+
+<p>The lieutenant now denounced us, and we prisoners were all put in irons. I
+am merely relating facts. How far we were right, I leave others to decide;
+but it must be remembered that Jack had, in that day, a mortal enmity to a
+British man-of-war, which was a little too apt to lay hands on all that
+she fell in with, on the high seas. Perhaps severe moralists might say
+that we had entered into a bargain with the captain of the Regulus, not to
+make war on him during the passage; in answer to which, we can reply that
+we were not attacking <i>him</i>, but the Pictou. Our intention, it must be
+confessed, however, was to seize the Regulus in the confusion. Had we been
+better treated as prisoners, our tempers might not have been so savage.
+But we got no good treatment, except for our own work; and, being hedged
+in in this manner, common sailors reason very much as they feel. We were
+not permitted to go at large again, in the Regulus, in which the English
+were very right, as Jack Mallet, in particular, was a man to put his
+shipmates up to almost any enterprise.</p>
+
+<p>The anchor was hardly down, at Bermuda, before a signal was made to the
+Goliah, raz&eacute;e, for a boat, and we were sent on board that ship. This was a
+cruising vessel, and she went to sea next morning. We were distributed
+about the ship, and ordered to go to work. The intention, evidently, was
+to swallow us all in the enormous maw of the British navy. We refused to
+do duty, however, to a man; most of our fellows being pretty bold, as
+native Americans. We were a fortnight in this situation, the greater part
+of the time playing green, with our tin pots slung round our necks. We
+did so much of this, that the people began to laugh at us, as real Johnny
+Raws, though the old salts knew better. The last even helped us along,
+some giving us clothes, extra grog, and otherwise being very kind to us.
+The officers treated us pretty well, too, all things considered. None of
+us got flogged, nor were we even threatened with the gang-way. At length
+the plan was changed. The boatswain was asked if he got anything out of
+us, and, making a bad report, we were sent down to the lower gun-deck,
+under a sentry's charge, and put at "six upon four," again. Here we
+remained until the ship went into Bermuda, after a six weeks' cruise. This
+vessel, an old seventy-four cut down, did not answer, for she was soon
+after sent to England. I overheard her officers, from our berth near the
+bulkhead, wishing to fall in with the President, Commodore Rodgers--a
+vessel they fancied they could easily handle. I cannot say they could not,
+but one day an elderly man among them spoke very rationally on the
+subject, saying, they <i>might</i>, or they might <i>not</i> get the best of it in
+such a fight. For his part, he did not wish to see any such craft, with
+the miserable crew they had in the Goliah.</p>
+
+<p>We found the Ramilies, Sir Thomas Hardy, lying in Bermuda roads. This ship
+sent a boat, which took us on board the Ardent, 64, which was then used as
+a prison-ship. About a week before we reached this vessel an American
+midshipman got hold of a boat, and effected his escape, actually making
+the passage between Bermuda and Cape Henry all alone, by himself.[10] In
+consequence of this unusual occurrence, a bright look out was kept on all
+the boats, thus defeating one of our plans, which was to get off in the
+same way. When we reached the Ardent, we found but four Americans in her.
+After we had been on board her about a week, three men joined us, who had
+given themselves up on board English men-of-war, as native Americans. One
+of these men, whose name was Baily, had been fourteen years in the English
+service, into which he had been pressed, his protection having been torn
+up before his face. He was a Connecticut man, and had given himself up at
+the commencement of the war, getting three dozen for his pains. He was
+then sent on the Halifax station, where he gave himself up again. He
+received three dozen more, then had his shirt thrown over his back and was
+sent to us. I saw the back and the shirt, myself, and Baily said he would
+keep the last to be buried with him. Bradbury and Patrick were served very
+much in the same manner. I saw all their backs, and give the remainder of
+the story, as they gave it to me. Baily and Bradbury got off in season to
+join the Constitution, and to make the last cruise in her during this war.
+I afterwards fell in with Bradbury, who mentioned this circumstance to me.</p>
+
+<p>It is good to have these things known, for I do believe the English nation
+would be averse to men's receiving such treatment, could they fairly be
+made to understand it. It surely is bad enough to be compelled to fight
+the battles of a foreign country, without being flogged for not fighting
+them when they happen to be against one's own people. For myself, I was
+born, of German parents, in the English territory, it is true; but America
+was, and ever has been, the country of my choice, and, while yet a child,
+I may say, I decided for myself to sail under the American flag; and, if
+my father had a right to make an Englishman of me, by taking service under
+the English crown, I think I had a right to make myself what I pleased,
+when he had left me to get on as I could, without his counsel and advice.</p>
+
+<p>After being about three weeks in the Ardent, we eight prisoners were sent
+on board the Ramilies, to be tried as Englishmen who had been fighting
+against their king. The trial took place on board the Asia, 74, a
+flag-ship; but we lived in the Ramilies, during the time the investigation
+was going on. Sir Thomas Hardy held several conversations with me, on the
+quarter-deck, in which he manifested great kindness of feeling. He
+inquired whether I was really an American; but I evaded any direct answer.
+I told him, however, that I had been an apprentice, in New York, in the
+employment of Jacob Barker; which was true, in one sense, as Mr. Barker
+was the consignee of the Sterling, and knew of my indentures. I mentioned
+him, as a person more likely to be known than Captain Johnston. Sir Thomas
+said he had some knowledge of Mr. Barker; and, I think, I have heard that
+they were, in some way, connected. This was laying an anchor to-windward,
+as it turned out, in the end.</p>
+
+<p>We were all on board the Asia, for trial, or investigation, two days,
+before I was sent for into the cabin. I was very much frightened; and
+scarce knew what I said, or did. It is a cruel thing to leave sailors
+without counsel, on such occasions; though the officers behaved very
+kindly and considerately to me; and, I believe, to all of us. There were
+several officers seated round a table; and all were in swabs. They said,
+the gentleman who presided, was a Sir Borlase Warren, the admiral on the
+station.[11] This gentleman, whoever he was, probably saw that I was
+frightened. He slewed himself round, in his chair, and said to me; "My
+man, you need not be alarmed; we know <i>who</i> you are, and <i>what</i> you are;
+but your apprenticeship will be of great service to you." This was not
+said, however, until Sir Thomas Hardy had got out the story of my being an
+apprentice in Jacob Barker's employ, again, before them all, in the cabin.
+I was told to send for a copy of my indentures, by one of the white-washed
+Swedes, that sailed between Bermuda and New York. This I did, that very
+day. I was in the cabin of the Asia, half an hour, perhaps; and I felt
+greatly relieved, when I got out of it. It was decided, in my presence, to
+send me back among the prisoners, on board the Ardent. The same decision
+was made, as to the whole eight of us, that had come on in the Regulus.</p>
+
+<p>When we got back to the Ramilies, Sir Thomas Hardy had some more
+conversation with me. I have thought, ever since, that he knew something
+about my birth, and of my being the prince's godson. He wished me to join
+the British service, seemingly, very much, and encouraged me with the hope
+of being promoted. But, it is due to myself, to say, I held out against it
+all. I do not believe America had a truer heart, in her service, than
+mine; and I do not think an English commission would have bought me. I
+have nothing to hope, from saying this, for I am now old, and a cripple
+but, as I have sat down to relate the truth, let the truth be told,
+whether it tell for, or against me.</p>
+
+<p>We were now sent back to the Ardent; where we remained three weeks, or a
+month, longer. During this time we got our papers from New York; I
+receiving a copy of my indentures, together with the sum of ten dollars;
+which reached me through Sir Thomas Hardy, as I understood. Nothing more
+was ever said, to any of the eight, about their being Englishmen; the
+whole of us being treated as prisoners of war. Prisoners arrived fast,
+until we had four hundred in the Ardent. The old Ruby, a forty-four, on
+two decks, was obliged to receive some of them. Most of these prisoners
+were privateersmen; though there were a few soldiers, and some citizens
+that had been picked up in Chesapeake Bay. Before we left Bermuda, the
+crew of a French frigate was put into the Ardent, to the number of near
+four hundred men. In the whole, we must have had eight hundred souls, and
+all on one deck. This was close stowage, and I was heartily glad when I
+quitted the ship.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after the French arrived, four hundred of us Americans were put on
+board transports, and we sailed for Halifax, under the convoy of the
+Ramilies. A day or two after we got out, we fell in with an American
+privateer, which continued hovering around us for several days. As this
+was a bold fellow, frequently coming within gun-shot, and sporting his
+sticks and canvass in all sorts of ways, Sir Thomas Hardy felt afraid he
+would get one of the four transports, and he took all us prisoners into
+the Ramilies. We staid in the ship the rest of the passage, and when we
+went into Halifax it was all alone, the four transports having
+disappeared. Two of them subsequently got in; but I think the other two
+were actually taken by that saucy fellow.</p>
+
+<p>The prisoners, at first, had great liberty allowed them, on board the
+Ramilies. On all occasions, Sir Thomas Hardy treated the Americans well. A
+party of marines was stationed on the poop, and another on the forecastle,
+and the ship's people had arms; but this was all the precaution that was
+used. The opportunity tempted some of our men to plan a rising, with a
+view to seize the ship. Privateer officers were at the head of this
+scheme, which was communicated to me, among others, soon after the plot
+was laid. Most of the prisoners knew of the intention, and everybody
+seemed to enter into the affair with hearty good-will. Our design was to
+rise at the end of the second dog-watch, overcome the crew, and carry the
+ship upon our own coast. If unable to pass the blockading squadrons, we
+intended to run her ashore. The people of the Ramilies outnumbered us by
+near one-half, and they had arms, it is true; but we trusted to the effect
+of a surprise, and something to the disposition of most English sailors to
+get quit of their own service. Had the attempt been made, from what I saw
+of the crew, I think our main trouble would have been with the officers
+and the marines. We were prevented from trying the experiment, however, in
+consequence of having been betrayed by some one who was in the secret, the
+whole of us being suddenly sent into the cable tiers and amongst the water
+casks, under the vigilant care of sentinels posted in the wings. After
+that, we were allowed to come on deck singly, only, and then under a
+sentinel's charge. When Sir Thomas spoke to us concerning this change of
+treatment, he did not abuse us for our plan, but was mild and reasonable,
+while he reminded us of the necessity of what he was doing. I have no idea
+he would have been in the least injured, had we got possession of the
+ship; for, to the last, our people praised him, and the treatment they
+received, while under his orders.</p>
+
+<p>Before we were sent below, Sir Thomas spoke to me again, on the subject of
+my joining the English service. He was quite earnest about it, and
+reasoned with me like a father; but I was determined not to yield. I did
+not like England, and I did like America. My birth in Quebec was a thing I
+could not help; but having chosen to serve under the American flag, and
+having done so now for years, I did not choose to go over to the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>At Halifax, fifteen or twenty of us were sent on board the old Centurion,
+44, Lord Anson's ship, as retaliation-men. We eight were of the number. We
+found something like thirty more in the ship, all retaliation-men, like
+ourselves. Those we found in the Centurion did not appear to me to be
+foremast Jacks, but struck me as being citizens from ashore. We were well
+treated, however, suffering no other confinement than that of the ship. We
+were on "six upon four," it is true, like other prisoners, but our own
+country gave us small stores, and extra bread and beef. In the way of
+grub, we fared like sailor kings. At the end of three weeks, we eight
+lakesmen were sent to Melville Island, among the great herd of prisoners.
+I cannot explain the reason of all these changes; but I know that when the
+gate was shut on us, the turnkey said we had gone into a home that would
+last as long as the war lasted.</p>
+
+<p>Melville is an island of more than a mile in circumference, with low,
+rocky shores. It lies about three miles from the town of Halifax, but not
+in sight. It is connected with the main by a bridge that is thrown across
+a narrow passage of something like a quarter of a mile in width. In the
+centre of the island is an eminence, which was occupied by the garrison,
+and had some artillery. This eminence commanded the whole island. Another
+post on the main, also, commanded the prisoners' barracks. These barracks
+were ordinary wooden buildings, enclosed on the side of the island with a
+strong stone wall, and on the side of the post on the main, by high, open
+palisades. Of course, a sufficient guard was maintained.</p>
+
+<p>It was said there were about twelve hundred Americans on the island, when
+I passed the gate. Among them were a few French, some of whom were a part
+of the crew of the Ville de Milan, the ship that had been taken before I
+first left Halifax; or more than eight years previously to this time. This
+did, indeed, look like the place's being a home to a poor fellow, and I
+did not relish the circumstance at all. Among our people were soldiers,
+sailors, and 'long-shore-men'. There was no difference in the treatment,
+which, for a prison, was good. We got only "six upon four" from the
+English, of course; but our own country made up the difference here, as on
+board the Centurion. They had a prison dress, with one leg of the trowsers
+yellow and the other blue, &amp;c.; but we would not stand that. Our agent
+managed the matter so that we got regular jackets and trowsers of the true
+old colour. The poor Frenchmen looked like peacocks in their dress, but we
+did not envy them their finery.</p>
+
+<p>I had been on the island about a fortnight, when I was told by Jack
+Mallet that a woman, whom he thought to be my sister, was at the gate.
+Jack knew my whole history, and came to his opinion from a resemblance
+that he saw between me and the person who had inquired for me. I refused
+to go to the gate, however, to see who it was, and Jack was sent back to
+tell the woman that I had been left behind at Bermuda. He was directed to
+throw in a few hints about the expediency of her not coming back to look
+for me, and that it would be better if she never named me. All this was
+done, I getting a berth from which I could see the female. I knew her in a
+moment, although she was married, and had a son with her, and my heart was
+very near giving way, especially when I saw her shedding tears. She went
+away from the gate, however, going up on the ramparts, from which she
+could look down into the prison-yard. There she remained an hour, as if
+she wished to satisfy her own eyes as to the truth of Jack's story; but I
+took good care to keep out of her sight.</p>
+
+<p>As I knew there was little hope of an exchange of prisoners, I now began
+to think of the means of making my escape. Jack Mallet dared not attempt
+to swim, on account of the rheumatism and cramps, having narrowly escaped
+drowning at Bermuda, and he could not join in our schemes. As for myself,
+I have been able to swim ever since danger taught me the important lesson,
+the night the Scourge went down. Money would be necessary to aid me in
+escaping, and Jack and I put our heads together, in order to raise some. I
+had still the ten dollars given me by Sir Thomas Hardy, and I commenced
+operations by purchasing shares in a dice-board, a <i>vingt et un</i> table,
+and a quino table.[12] Jack Mallet and I, also, set up a shop, on a
+capital of three dollars. We sold smoked herring, pipes, tobacco, segars,
+spruce beer, and, as chances of smuggling it in offered, now and then a
+little Jamaica. All this time, the number of the prisoners increased,
+until, in the end, we got to have a full prison, when they began to send
+them to England. Only one of the Julias was sent away, however, all the
+rest remaining at Melville Island, from some cause I cannot explain.</p>
+
+<p>I cannot say we made money very fast. On every shilling won at dice, we
+received a penny; at <i>vingt et un</i>, the commission was the same; as it was
+also at the other games. New cards, however, brought a little higher rate.
+All this was wrong I <i>now</i> know, but <i>then</i> it gave me very little
+trouble. I hope I would not do the same thing over again, even to make my
+escape from Melville Island, but one never knows to what distress may
+drive him.</p>
+
+<p>Some person among the American prisoners--a soldier it was said--commenced
+counterfeiting Spanish dollars. I am afraid most of us helped to circulate
+them. We thought it no harm to cheat the people of the canteens, for we
+knew they were doing all they could to cheat us. This was prison morality,
+in war-time, and I say nothing in its favour; though, for myself, I will
+own I felt more of the consciousness of wrong-doing in holding the shares
+in the gambling establishments, than in giving bad dollars for poor rum.
+The counterfeiting business was destroyed by one of the dollars happening
+to break, as some of the officers were pitching them; when, on
+examination, it turned out that most of the money in the prison was bad.
+It was said the people of the canteens had about four hundred of the
+dollars, when they came to overhaul their lockers. A good many found their
+way into Halifax.</p>
+
+<p>My trade lasted all winter--(that of 1813--14,) and by March I had gained
+the sum of eighty French crowns. Dollars I was afraid to hold on account
+of the base money. The ice now began to give way, and a few of us, who had
+been discussing the matter all winter, set about forming serious plans to
+escape. My confederates were a man of the name of Johnson, who had been
+taken in the Snapdragon privateer, and an Irishman of the name of
+Littlefield. Barnet, the Mozambique man, joined us also, making four in
+all. It was quite early in the month, when we made the attempt. Our
+windows were long, and had perpendicular bars of wrought iron to secure
+them, but no cross-bars. There was no glass; but outside shutters, that we
+could open at our pleasure. Outside of the windows were sentinels, and
+there were two rows of pickets between us and the shore.</p>
+
+<p>I put my crowns in a belt around my waist. Another belt, or skin, was
+filled with rum, for the double purpose of buoying me in the water, and
+of comforting me when ashore. At that day, I found rum one of the great
+blessings of life; now I look upon it as one of the greatest evils. My
+companions made similar provisions of money and rum, though neither was as
+rich as myself. I left Mallet and Leonard Lewis my heirs at law if I
+escaped, and my trustees should I be caught. Lewis was a young man of
+better origin than most in the prison, and I have always thought some
+calamity drove him to the seas. He was in ill health, and did not appear
+to be destined to a long life. He would have joined us, heart and hand,
+but was not strong enough to endure the fatigue which we well knew we must
+undergo, before we could get clear.</p>
+
+<p>The night selected for the attempt was so cold, dark, and dismal, as to
+drive all the sentinels into their boxes. It rained hard, in the bargain.
+About eight, or as soon as the lights were out, we got the lanyards of our
+hammocks around two of the window bars, and using a bit of fire-wood for a
+heaver, we easily brought them together. This left room for our bodies to
+pass out, without any difficulty. Jack Mallet, and those we left behind,
+hove the bars straight again, so that the keepers were at a loss to know
+how we had got off. We met with no obstacle between the prison and the
+water. The pickets we removed, having cut them in the day-time. In a word,
+all four of us reached the shore of the Island in two or three minutes
+after we had taken leave of our messmates. The difficulty lay before us.
+We entered into the water, at once, and began to swim. When I was a few
+rods from the place of landing, which was quite near the guard-house, on
+the main, Johnson began to sing out that he was drowning. I told him to be
+quiet, but it was of no use. The guard on the main heard him, and
+commenced firing, and of course we swam all the harder. Three of us were
+soon ashore, and, knowing the roads well, I led them in a direction to
+avoid the soldiers. By running into the woods, we got clear, though poor
+Johnson fell again into the hands of the enemy. He deserved it for bawling
+as he did; it being the duty of a man in such circumstances to lie with a
+shut mouth.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter IX.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>The three who had escaped ran, for a quarter of a mile, in the woods, when
+we brought up, and took a drink. Hearing no more firing, or any further
+alarm, we now consulted as to our future course. There were some mills at
+the head of the bay, about four miles from the guard-house, and I led the
+party thither. We reached the place towards morning, and found a berth in
+them before any one was stirring. We hid ourselves in an old granary; but
+no person appeared near the place throughout the next day. We had put a
+little bread and a few herrings in our hats, and on these we subsisted.
+The rum cheered us up, and, if rum ever did good, I think it was to us on
+that occasion. We slept soundly, with one man on the look-out; a rule we
+observed the whole time we were out. It stopped raining in the course of
+the day, though the weather was bitter cold.</p>
+
+<p>Next night we got under way, and walked in a direction which led us within
+three miles of the town. In doing this, we passed the Prince's Lodge, a
+place where I had often been, and the sight of which reminded me of home,
+and of my childish days. There was no use in regrets, however, and we
+pushed ahead. The men saw my melancholy, and they questioned me; but I
+evaded the answer, pretending that nothing ailed me. There was a tavern
+about a league from the town, kept by a man of the name of Grant, and
+Littlefield ventured into it. He bought a small cheese and a loaf of
+bread; getting off clear, though not unsuspected. This helped us along
+famously, and we pushed on as fast as we could. Before morning we came
+near a bridge, on which there was a sentinel posted, with a guard-house
+near its end. To avoid this danger, we turned the guard-house, striking
+the river above the bridge. Here we met two Indians, and fell into
+discourse with them. Our rum now served us a better turn than ever, buying
+the Indians in a minute. We told these chaps we were deserters from the
+Bulwark, 74, and begged them to help us along. At first, they thought we
+were Yankees, whom they evidently disliked, and that right heartily; but
+the story of the desertion took, and made them disposed to serve us.</p>
+
+<p>These two Indians led us down to the bed of the river, and actually
+carried us beneath the bridge, on the side of the river next the guard,
+where we found a party of about thirty of these red-skins, men, women and
+children. Here we stayed no less than three days; faring extremely well,
+having fish, bread, butter, and other common food. The weather was very
+bad, and we did not like to turn out in it, besides, thinking the search
+for us might be less keen after a short delay. All this time, we were
+within a few rods of the guard, hearing the sentinels cry "all's well,"
+from half-hour to half-hour. We were free with our rum, and, as much as we
+dared to be, with our money. These people never betrayed us.</p>
+
+<p>The third night we left the bridge, guided by a young Indian. He led us
+about two miles up the river, passing through the Maroon town in the
+night, after which he left us. We wished him to keep on with us for some
+distance further, but he refused. He quitted us near morning, and we
+turned into a deserted log-house, on the banks of the river, where we
+passed the day. The country was thinly populated, and the houses we saw
+were poor and mean. We must now have been about five-and-twenty miles
+from Halifax.</p>
+
+<p>Our object was to cross the neck of land between the Atlantic and the Bay
+of Fundy, and to get to Annapolis Royal, where we expected to be able to
+procure a boat, by fair means if we could, by stealth if necessary, and
+cross over to the American shore. We had still a long road before us, and
+had some little difficulty to find the way. The Indians, however, gave us
+directions that greatly assisted us; and we travelled a long bit, and
+pretty fast all that night. In the morning, the country had more the
+appearance of being peopled and cultivated, and I suspected we were
+getting into the vicinity of Horton, a place through which it would be
+indispensable to pass. The weather became bad again, and it was necessary
+to make a halt. Coming near a log-house, we sent Littlefield ahead to make
+some inquiries of a woman who appeared to be in it alone. On his return,
+he reported well of the woman. He had told her we were deserters from the
+Bulwark, and had promised to pay her if she would let us stay about her
+premises that day, and get us something to eat. The woman had consented to
+our occupying an out-house, and had agreed to buy the provisions. We now
+took possession of the out-house, where the woman visited us, and getting
+some money, she left us in quest of food. We were uneasy during her
+absence, but she came back with some meat, eggs, bread, and butter, at the
+end of an hour, and all seemed right. We made two comfortable meals in
+this out-house, where we remained until near evening. I had the look-out
+about noon, and I saw a man hanging about the house, and took the alarm.
+The man did not stay long, however, and I got a nap as soon as he
+disappeared. About four we were all up, and one of us taking a look, saw
+this same man, and two others, go into the house. The woman had already
+told us that a party of soldiers had gone ahead, in pursuit of three
+Yankee runaways; that four had broken prison, but one had been retaken,
+and the rest were still out. This left little doubt that she knew who we
+were; and we thought it best to steal away, at once, lest the men in the
+house should be consulting with her, at that very moment, about selling us
+for the reward, which we know was always four pounds ahead. The out-house
+was near the river, and there was a good deal of brush growing along the
+banks, and we succeeded in getting away unseen.</p>
+
+<p>We went down to the margin, under the bank, and pursued our way along the
+stream. Before it was dark we came in sight of the bridge, for which we
+had been travelling ever since we left the other bridge, and were sorry to
+see a sentry-box on it. We now halted for a council, and came to a
+determination to wait until dark, and then advance. This we did, getting
+under this bridge, as we had done with the other. We had no Indians,
+however, to comfort and feed us.</p>
+
+<p>I had known a good deal of this part of the country when a boy, from the
+circumstance that Mr. Marchinton had a large farm, near a place called
+Cornwallis, on the Bay, where I had even spent whole summers with the
+family. This bridge I recollected well; and I remembered there was a ford
+a little on one side of it, when the tide was out. The tides are
+tremendous in this part of the world, and we did not dare to steal a boat
+here, lest we should be caught in one of the bores, as they are called,
+when the tide came in. It was now half ebb, and we resolved to wait, and
+try the? ford.</p>
+
+<p>It was quite dark when we left the bridge, and we had a delicate bit of
+work before us. The naked flats were very wide, and we sallied out, with
+the bridge as our guide. I was up to my middle in mud, at times, but the
+water was not very deep. We must have been near an hour in the mud, for we
+were not exactly on the proper ford, of course, and made bad navigation of
+it in the dark. But we were afraid to lose sight of the bridge, lest we
+should get all adrift.</p>
+
+<p>At length we reached the firm ground, covered with mud and chilled with
+cold. We found the road, and the village of Horton, and skirted the last,
+until all was clear. Then we took to the road, and carried sail hard all
+night. Whenever we saw any one, we hid ourselves, but we met few while
+travelling. Next morning we walked until we came to a deserted saw-mill,
+which I also remembered, and here we halted for the day. No one troubled
+us, nor did I see any one; but Littlefield said that a man drove a herd of
+cattle past, during his watch on deck.</p>
+
+<p>I told my companions that night, if they would be busy, we might reach
+Cornwallis, where I should be at home. We were pretty well fagged, and
+wanted rest, for Jack is no great traveller ashore; and I promised the
+lads a good snug berth at Mr. Marchinton's farm. We pushed ahead briskly,
+in consequence, and I led the party up to the farm, just as day was
+dawning. A Newfoundland dog, named Hunter, met us with some ferocity;
+but, on my calling him by name, he was pacified, and began to leap on me,
+and to caress me. I have always thought that dog knew me, after an absence
+of so many years. There was no time to waste with dogs, however, and we
+took the way to the barn. We had wit enough not to get on the hay, but to
+throw ourselves on a mow filled with straw, as the first was probably in
+use. Here we went to sleep, with one man on the look-out. This was the
+warmest and most comfortable rest we had got since quitting the island,
+from which we had now been absent or nine days.</p>
+
+<p>We remained one night and two days in the barn. The workmen entered it
+often, and even stayed some time on the barn-floor; but no one seemed to
+think of ascending our mow. The dog kept much about the place, and I was
+greatly afraid he would be the means of betraying us. Our provisions were
+getting low, and, the night we were at the farm I sallied out, accompanied
+by Barnet, and we made our way into the dairy. Here we found a pan of
+bread, milk, cheese, butter, eggs, and codfish. Of course, we took our
+fill of milk; but Barnet got hold of a vessel of sour cream, and came near
+hallooing out, when he had taken a good pull at it. As we returned to the
+barn, the geese set up an outcry, and glad enough was I to find myself
+safe on the mow again, without being discovered. Next day, however, we
+overheard the men in the barn speaking of the robbery, and complaining, in
+particular, of the uselessness of the dog. I did not know any of these
+persons, although a young man appeared among them, this day, who I fancied
+had been a playfellow of mine, when a boy. I could not trust him, or any
+one else there; and all the advantage we got from the farm, was through my
+knowledge of the localities, and of the habits of the place.</p>
+
+<p>I had never been further on the road between Halifax and Annapolis, than
+to Cornwallis. The rest of the distance was unknown to me, though I was
+familiar with the route which went out of Cornwallis, and which was called
+the Annapolis road. It was a fine star-light evening, and we made good
+headway. We all felt refreshed, and journeyed on full stomachs. We did not
+meet a soul, though we travelled through a well-settled country. The next
+morning we halted in a wood, the weather being warm and pleasant. Here we
+slept and rested as usual, and were off again at night. Littlefield
+pinned three fowls as we went along, declaring that he intended to have a
+warm mess next day, and he got off without discoverv. About four o'clock
+in the morning, we fell in with a river, and left the high-way, following
+the banks of the stream for a short distance. It now came on to blow and
+rain, with the wind on shore, and we saw it would not do to get a boat and
+go out in such a time. There was a rising ground, in a thick wood, near
+us, and we went up the hill to pass the day. We had seen two men pulling
+ashore in a good-looking boat, and it was our determination to get this
+boat, and shape our course down stream to the Bay, as soon as it
+moderated. From the hill, we could overlook the river, and the adjacent
+country. We saw the fishermen land, take their sail and oars out of the
+boat, haul the latter up, turn her over, and stow their sails and oars
+beneath her. They had a breaker of fresh water, too, and everything seemed
+fitted for our purposes. We liked the craft, and, what is more, we liked
+the cruise.</p>
+
+<p>We could not see the town of Annapolis, which turned out to be up-stream
+from us, though we afterwards ascertained that we were within a mile or
+two of it. The fishermen walked in the direction of the town, and
+disappeared. All we wanted now was tolerably good weather, with a fair
+wind, or, at least, with less wind. The blow had driven in the fishermen,
+and we thought it wise to be governed by their experience. Nothing
+occurred in the course of the day, the weather remaining the same, and we
+being exposed to the rain, with no other cover than trees without leaves.
+There were many pines, however, and they gave us a little shelter.</p>
+
+<p>At dusk, Littlefield lighted a fire, and began to cook his fowls. The
+supper was soon ready, and we eat it with a good relish. We then went to
+sleep, leaving Barnet on the look-out. I had just got into a good sleep,
+when I was awoke by the tramp of horses, and the shouting of men. On
+springing up, I found that a party of five horsemen were upon us. One
+called out--"Here they are--we've found them at last." This left no doubt
+of their errand, and we were all retaken. Our arms were tied, and we were
+made to mount behind the horsemen, when they rode off with us, taking the
+road by which we had come. We went but a few miles that night, when
+we halted.</p>
+
+<p>We were taken the whole distance to Halifax, in this manner, riding on
+great-coats, without stirrups, the horses on a smart walk. We did not go
+by Cornwallis, which, it seems, was not the nearest road; but we passed
+through Horton, and crossed the bridge, beneath which we had Waded through
+the mud. At Horton we passed a night. We were confined in a sort of a
+prison, that was covered with mud. We did not like our berths; and,
+finding that the logs, of which the building was made, were rotten, we
+actually worked our way through them, and got fairly out. Littlefield, who
+was as reckless an Irishman as ever lived, swore he would set fire to the
+place; which he did, by returning through the hole we had made, and
+getting up into a loft, that was dry and combustible. But for this silly
+act, we might have escaped; and, as it was, we did get off for the rest of
+the night, being caught, next morning, nearly down, again, by the bridge
+at Windsor.</p>
+
+<p>This time, our treatment was a good deal worse, than at first. A sharp
+look-out was kept, and they got us back to Halifax, without any more
+adventures. We were pretty well fagged; though we had to taper off with
+the black hole, and bread and water, for the next ten days; the regular
+punishment for such misdemeanors as ours. At the end of the ten days, we
+were let out, and came together again. Our return brought about a great
+deal of discussion; and, not a little criticism, as to the prudence of our
+course. To hear the chaps talk, one would think every man among them could
+have got off, had he been in our situation; though none of them did any
+better; several having got off the island, in our absence, and been
+retaken, within the first day or two. While I was in prison, however, I
+remember but one man who got entirely clear. This was a privateers-man,
+from Marblehead; who did get fairly off; though he was back again, in six
+weeks, having been taken once more, a few days out.</p>
+
+<p>We adventurers were pretty savage, about our failure; and, the moment we
+were out of the black hole, we began to lay our heads together for a new
+trial. My idea was, to steer a different course, in the new attempt;
+making the best of our way towards Liverpool, which lay to the southward,
+coastwise. This would leave us on the Atlantic, it was true; but our
+notion was, to ship in a small privateer, called the Liverpool, and then
+run our chance of getting off from her; as she was constantly crossing
+over to the American coast. As this craft was quite small, and often had
+but few hands in her, we did not know but we might get hold of the
+schooner itself. Then there was some probability of being put in a
+coaster; which we might run away with. At all events, any chance seemed
+better to us, than that of remaining in prison, until the end of war that
+might last years, or until we got to be grey-headed. I remembered, when
+the Ville de Milan was brought into Halifax; this was a year, or two,
+before I went to sea; and yet here were some of her people still, on
+Melville Island!</p>
+
+<p>I renewed my trade as soon as out of the Black Hole, but did not give up
+the idea of escaping. Leonard Lewis and Jack Mallet were the only men we
+let into the secret. They both declined joining us; Mallet on account of
+his dread of the water, and Lewis, because certain he could not outlive
+the fatigue; but they wished us good luck, and aided us all they could.
+With Johnson we would have no further concern.</p>
+
+<p>The keepers did not ascertain the means by which we had left the barracks,
+though they had seen the cut pickets of course. We did not attempt,
+therefore, to cut through again, but resolved to climb. The English had
+strengthened the pickets with cross-pieces, which were a great assistance
+to <i>us</i>, and I now desire to express my thanks for the same. We waited for
+a warm, but dark and rainy night in May, before we commenced our new
+movement. We had still plenty of money, I having brought back with me to
+prison forty crowns, and having driven a thriving trade in the interval.
+We got out through the bars, precisely as we had done before, and at the
+very same window. This was a small job. After climbing the pickets, either
+Littlefield or Barnet dropped on the outside, a little too carelessly, and
+was overheard. The sentinel immediately called for the corporal of the
+guard, but we were in the water, swimming quite near the bridge, and some
+little distance from the guard-house on the main. There was a stir on the
+island, while we were in the water, but we all got ashore, safe
+and unseen.</p>
+
+<p>We took to the same woods as before, but turned south instead of west. Our
+route brought us along by the waterside, and we travelled hard all that
+night. Littlefield pretended to be our guide, but we got lost, and
+remained two days and nights in the woods, without food, and completely at
+fault as to which way to steer. At length we ventured out into a high-way,
+by open day-light, and good luck threw an old Irish seaman, who then lived
+by fishing in [missing]. After a little conversation, we told this old
+man we were deserters from a vessel of war, and he seemed to like us all
+the better for it. He had served himself, and had a son impressed, and
+seemed to like the English navy little better than we did ourselves. He
+took us to a hut on the beach, and fed us with fish, potatoes, and bread,
+giving us a very comfortable and hearty meal. We remained in this hut
+until sunset, receiving a great deal of useful advice from the old man,
+and then we left him. We used some precaution in travelling, sleeping in
+the woods; but we kept moving by day as well as by night, and halting only
+when tired, and a good place offered. We were not very well off for food,
+though we brought a little from the fisherman's hut, and found quantities
+of winter-berries by the way-side.</p>
+
+<p>We entered Liverpool about eight at night, and went immediately to the
+rendezvous of the privateer, giving a little girl a shilling to be our
+guide. The keeper of the rendezvous received us gladly, and we shipped
+immediately. Of course we were lodged and fed, in waiting for the schooner
+to come in. Each of us got four pounds bounty, and both parties seemed
+delighted with the bargain. To own the truth, we now began to drink, and
+the next day was pretty much a blank with us all. The second day, after
+breakfast, the landlord rushed into our room with a newspaper in his hand,
+and broke out upon us, with a pretty string of names, denouncing us for
+having told him we were deserters, when we were only runaway Yankees! The
+twelve pounds troubled him, and he demanded it back. We laughed at him,
+and advised him to be quiet and put us aboard the privateer. He then told
+us the guard was after us, hot-foot, and that it was too late. This proved
+to be true enough, for, in less than an hour an officer and a platoon of
+men had us in custody. We had some fun in hearing the officer give it to
+the landlord, who still kept talking about his twelve pounds. The officer
+told him plainly that he was rightly served, for attempting to smuggle off
+deserters, and I suppose this was the reason no one endeavoured to get the
+money away from us, except by words. We kept the twelve pounds, right
+or wrong.</p>
+
+<p>We were now put in a coaster, and sent to Halifax by water. We were in
+irons, but otherwise were well enough treated. We were kept in the
+Navy-yard guard-house, at Halifax, several hours, and were visited by a
+great many officers. These gentlemen were curious to hear our story, and
+we let them have it, very frankly. They laughed, and said, generally, we
+were not to be blamed for trying to get off, if their own look-outs were
+so bad as to let us. We did not tell them, however, by what means we
+passed out of the prison-barracks. Among the officers who came and spoke
+to us, was an admiral, Sir Isaac Coffin. This gentleman was a native
+American, and was then in Halifax to assist the Nantucket men, whom he
+managed to get exchanged. His own nephew was said to be among them; but
+him he would not serve, as he had been captured in a privateer. Had he
+been captured in a man-of-war, or a merchantman, he would have done all
+he could for him; but, as it was, he let him go to Dartmoor--at least,
+this was the story in the prison. The old gentleman spoke very mildly to
+us, and said he could not blame us for attempting to escape. I do not
+think he had ever heard of the twelve pounds; though none of the navy
+officers were sorry that the privateer's-men should be punished. As for
+us, we considered them all enemies alike, on whom it was fair enough to
+live in a time of war.</p>
+
+<p>We were sent back to the island, and were quarantined again; though it was
+for twenty days, this time. When we got pratique, we learned that some one
+had told of the manner in which we got out of prison, and cross-bars had
+been placed in all the windows, making them so many "nine of diamonds."
+This was blocking the channel, and there was no more chance for getting
+off in that way.</p>
+
+<p>A grand conspiracy was now formed, which was worthy of the men in prison.
+The plan was to get possession of Halifax itself, and go off in triumph.
+We were eighteen hundred prisoners in all; though not very well off for
+officers. About fifty of us entered into the plan, at first; nor did we
+let in any recruits for something like six weeks. A Mr. Crowninshield, of
+Salem, was the head man among as, he having been an officer in a
+privateer. There were a good many privateer officers in the prison, but
+they were berthed over-head, and were intended to be separated from us at
+night. The floor was lifted between us, however, and we held our
+communications by these means. The officers came down at night, and lent
+us a hand with the work.</p>
+
+<p>The scheme was very simple, though I do not think it was at all difficult
+of execution. The black-hole cells were beneath the prison, and we broke
+through the floor, into one of them, from our bay. A large mess-chest
+concealed the process, in the day-time. We worked in gangs of six, digging
+and passing up the dirt into the night-tubs. These tubs we were
+permitted to empty, every morning, in a tide's way, and thus we got rid of
+the dirt. At the end of two months we had dug a passage, wide enough for
+two abreast, some twenty or thirty yards, and were nearly ready to come up
+to the surface. We now began to recruit, swearing in each man. On the
+whole, we had got about four hundred names, when the project was defeated,
+by that great enemy which destroys so many similar schemes, treachery. We
+were betrayed, as was supposed by one of our own number.</p>
+
+<p>Had we got out, the plan was to seize the heights of the island, and get
+possession of the guns. This effected, it would have been easy to subdue
+the guard. We then would have pushed for Citadel Hill, which commanded
+Halifax. Had we succeeded there, we should have given John Bull a great
+deal of trouble, though no one could say what would have been the result.
+Hundreds would probably have got off, in different craft, even had the
+great plan failed. We were not permitted to try the experiment, however,
+for one day we were all turned out, and a party of English officers, army
+and navy, entered the barracks, removed the mess-chest, and surveyed our
+mine at their leisure. A draft of six hundred was sent from the prison
+that day, and was shipped for Dartmoor; and, by the end of the week, our
+whole number was reduced to some three or four hundred souls. One of the
+Julias went in this draft, but all the rest of us were kept at Halifax.
+For some reason or other, the English seemed to keep their eyes on us.</p>
+
+<p>I never gave up the hope of escaping, and the excitement of the hope was
+beneficial to both body and mind. We were too well watched, however, and
+conversation at night was even forbidden. Most of the officers were gone
+and this threw me pretty much on my own resources. I have forgotten to say
+that Lemuel Bryant, the man who fell at the breech of my gun, at Little
+York, and whom I afterwards hauled into the Scourge's boat, got off, very
+early after our arrival at Halifax. He made two that got quite clear,
+instead of the one I have already mentioned. Bryant's escape was so
+clever, as to deserve notice.</p>
+
+<p>One day a party of some thirty soldiers was called out for exchange, under
+a capitulation. Among the names was that of Lemuel Bryant, but the man
+happened to be dead. Our Bryant had found this out, beforehand, and he
+rigged himself soldier-fashion, and answered to the name. It is probable
+he ascertained the fact, by means of some relationship, which brought him
+in contact with the soldier previously to his death. He met with no
+difficulty, and I have never seen him since. I have heard he is still
+living, and that he receives a pension for the hurt he received at York.
+Well does he deserve it, for no man ever had a narrower chance for
+his life.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing new, worthy of notice, occurred for several months, until one
+evening in March, 1815, we heard a great rejoicing in Halifax; and,
+presently, a turnkey appeared on the walls, and called out that England
+and America had made peace! We gave three cheers, and passed the night
+happy enough. We had a bit of a row with the turnkeys about locking us in
+again, for we were fierce for liberty; but we were forced to submit for
+another night.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter X.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>The following morning, eight of the names that stood first on the
+prison-roll were called off, to know if the men would consent to work a
+liberated Swedish brig to New York. I was one of the eight, as was Jack
+Mallet and Barnet. Wilcox, one of those who had gone with us to Bermuda,
+had died, and the rest were left on the island. I never fell in with
+Leonard Lewis, Littlefield, or any of the rest of those chaps, after I
+quitted the prison. Lewis, I think, could not have lived long; and as for
+Littlefield, I heard of him, afterwards, as belonging to the
+Washington 74.</p>
+
+<p>The Swede, whose name was the Venus, was lying at the end of Marchinton's
+wharf, a place that had been so familiar to me in boyhood. We all went on
+board, and I was not sorry to find that we were to haul into the stream
+immediately. I had an extraordinary aversion to Halifax, which my late
+confinement had not diminished, and had no wish to see a living soul in
+it. Jack Mallet, however, took on himself the office of paying my sister a
+visit, and of telling her where I was to be found. This he did contrary to
+my wishes, and without my knowledge; though I think he meant to do me a
+favour. The very day we hauled into the stream, a boat came alongside us,
+and I saw, at a glance, that Harriet was in it. I said a few words to her,
+requesting her not to come on board, but promising to visit her that
+evening, which I did.</p>
+
+<p>I stayed several hours with my sister, whom I found living with her
+husband. She did not mention my father's name to me, at all; and I learned
+nothing of my other friends, if I ever had any, or of my family. Her
+husband was a tailor, and they gave me a good outfit of clothes, and
+treated me with great kindness. It struck me that the unaccountable
+silence of my father about us children, had brought my sister down in the
+world a little, but it was no affair of mine; and, as for myself, I cared
+for no one. After passing the evening with the family, I went on board
+again, without turning to the right or left to see a single soul more.
+Even the Frasers were not visited, so strong was my dislike to have
+anything to do with Halifax.</p>
+
+<p>The Venus took on board several passengers, among whom were three or four
+officers of the navy. Lieutenant Rapp, and a midshipman Randolph were
+among them, and there were also several merchant-masters of the party. We
+sailed two days after I joined the brig, and had a ten or twelve days'
+passage. The moment the Venus was alongside the wharf, at New York, we all
+left, and found ourselves free men once more. I had been a prisoner
+nineteen months, and that was quite enough for me for the remainder of
+my life.</p>
+
+<p>We United States' men reported ourselves, the next day to Captain Evans,
+the commandment of the Brooklyn Yard, and, after giving in our names, we
+were advised to go on board the Epervier, which was then fitting out for
+the Mediterranean, under the command of Captain Downes. To this we
+objected, however, as we wanted a cruise ashore, before we took to the
+water again. This was a lucky decision of ours, though scarcely to be
+defended as to our views: the Epervier being lost, and all hands
+perishing, a few months later, on her return passage from the Straits.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Evans then directed us to report ourselves daily, which we did.
+But the press of business at Washington prevented our cases from being
+attended to; and being destitute of money, while wages were high, we
+determined, with Captain Evans' approbation, to make a voyage, each, in
+the merchant service, and to get our accounts settled on our return. Jack
+Mallet, Barnet and I, shipped, therefore, in another brig called the
+Venus, that was bound on a sealing voyage, as was thought, in some part of
+the world where seals were said to be plenty. We were ignorant of the
+work, or we might have discovered there was a deception intended, from the
+outfit of the vessel. She had no salt even, while she had plenty of
+cross-cut saws, iron dogs, chains, &amp;c. The brig sailed, however, and stood
+across the Atlantic, as if in good earnest. When near the Cape de Verds,
+the captain called us aft, and told us he thought the season too far
+advanced for sealing, and that, if we would consent, he would run down to
+St. Domingo, and make an arrangement with some one there to cut mahogany
+on shares, with fustick and lignum-vit&aelig;. The secret was now out; but what
+could we poor salts do? The work we were asked to do turned out to be
+extremely laborious; and I suppose we had been deceived on account of the
+difficulty of getting men, just at that time, for such a voyage. There we
+were, in the midst of the ocean, and we agreed to the proposal, pretty
+much as a matter of course.</p>
+
+<p>The brig now bore up, and stood for St. Domingo. She first went in to the
+city of St. Domingo, where the arrangements were made, and Spaniards were
+got to help to cut the wood, when we sailed for a bay, of which I have
+forgotten the name, and anchored near the shore. The trees were sawed
+down, about ten miles up a river, and floated to its bar, across which
+they had to be hauled by studding-sail halyards, through the surf; one man
+hauling two logs at a time, made into a sort of raft. Sharks abounded, and
+we had to keep a bright look-out, lest they got a leg while we were busy
+with the logs. I had a narrow escape from two while we lay at St. Domingo.
+A man fell overboard, and I went after him, succeeding in catching the
+poor fellow. A boat was dropped astern to pick us up, and, as we hauled
+the man in, two large sharks came up close alongside. This affair had set
+us drinking, and I got a good deal of punch aboard. The idea of remaining
+in the brig was unpleasant to me, and I had thought of quitting her for
+some days. A small schooner bound to America, and short of hands, lay near
+us; and I had told the captain I would come and join him that night. Jack
+Mallet and the rest tried to persuade me not to go, but I had too much
+punch and grog in me to listen to reason. When all hands aft were asleep,
+therefore, I let myself down into the water, and swam quite a
+cable's-length to the schooner. One of the men was looking out for me. He
+heard me in the water, and stood ready to receive me. As I drew near the
+schooner, this man threw me a rope, and helped me up the side, but, as
+soon as I was on the deck, he told me to look behind me. I did so, and
+there I saw an enormous shark swimming about, a fellow that was sixteen or
+eighteen feet long. This shark, I was told, had kept company with me as
+long as I had been in sight from the schooner. I cannot well describe the
+effect that was produced on me by this discovery. When I entered the
+water, I was under the influence of liquor, but this escape sobered me in
+a minute; so much so, indeed, that I insisted on being put in a boat, and
+sent back to the brig, which was done. I was a little influenced in this,
+however, by some reluctance that was manifested to keep me on board the
+schooner. I got on board the Venus without being discovered, and came to a
+resolution to stick by the craft until the voyage was up.</p>
+
+<p>We filled up with mahogany, and took in a heavy deck-load, in the course
+of four months, which was a most laborious process. When ready, the brig
+sailed for New York, We encountered a heavy gale, about a week out, which
+swept away our deck-load, bulwarks, &amp;c. At this time, the master,
+supercargo, mate, cook, and three of the crew, were down with the fever;
+leaving Mallet, Barnet and myself, to take care of the brig. We three
+brought the vessel up as far as Barnegat, where we procured assistance,
+and she arrived safe at the quarantine ground.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as we got pratique, Mallet, Barnet and myself, went up to town to
+look after our affairs, leaving the brig below. The owners gave us thirty
+dollars each, to begin upon. We ascertained that our landlord had received
+our wages from government, and held it ready for us, sailor fashion. I
+also sold my share in the Venus' voyage for one hundred and twenty
+dollars. This gave me, in all, about five hundred dollars, which money
+lasted me between five and six weeks! How true is it, that "sailors make
+their money like horses, and spend it like asses!" I cannot say this
+prodigal waste of my means afforded me any substantial gratification. I
+have experienced more real pleasure from one day passed in a way of which
+my conscience could approve, than from all the loose and thoughtless
+follies, in which I was then in the habit of indulging when ashore, of a
+whole life. The manner in which this hard-earned gold was thrown away, may
+serve to warn some brother tar of the dangers that beset me; and let the
+reader understand the real wants of so large a body of his
+fellow-creatures.</p>
+
+<p>On turning out in the morning, I felt an approach to that which seamen
+call the "horrors," and continued in this state, until I had swallowed
+several glasses of rum. I had no appetite for breakfast, and life was
+sustained principally by drink. Half of the time I ate no dinner, and when
+I did, it was almost drowned in grog. Occasionally I drove out in a coach,
+or a gig, and generally had something extra to pay for damages. One of
+these cruises cost me forty dollars, and I shall always think I was given
+a horse that sailed crab-fashion, on purpose to do me out of the money. At
+night, I generally went to the play, and felt bound to treat the landlord
+and his family to tickets and refreshments. We always had a coach to go
+in, and it was a reasonable night that cost me only ten dollars. At first
+I was a sort of "king among beggars;" but as the money went, Ned's
+importance went with it, until, one day, the virtuous landlord intimated
+to me that it would be well, as I happened to be sober, to overhaul our
+accounts. He then began to read from his books, ten dollars for this,
+twenty dollars for that, and thirty for the other, until I was soon tired,
+and wanted to know how much was left. I had still fifty dollars, even
+according to his account of the matter; and as that might last a week,
+with good management, I wanted to hear no more about the items.</p>
+
+<p>All this time, I was separated from my old shipmates, being left
+comparatively among strangers. Jack Mallet had gone to join his friends in
+Philadelphia, and Barnet went south, whither I cannot say. I never fell in
+with either of them again, it being the fate of seamen to encounter the
+greatest risks and hardships in company, and then to cut adrift from each
+other, with little ceremony, never to meet again. I was still young, being
+scarcely two-and-twenty, and might, even then, have hauled in my oars, and
+come to be an officer and a man.</p>
+
+<p>As I knew I must go to sea, as soon as the accounts were balanced, I began
+to think a little seriously of my prospects. Dissipation had wearied me,
+and I wanted to go a voyage of a length that would prevent my falling soon
+into the same course of folly and vice. I had often bitter thoughts as to
+my conduct, nor was I entirely free from reflection on the subject of my
+peculiar situation. I might be said to be without a friend, or relative,
+in the world. "When my hat was on, my house was thatched." Of my father, I
+knew nothing; I have since ascertained he must then have been dead. My
+sister was little to me, and I never expected to see her again. The
+separation from all my old lakers, too, gave me some trouble, for I never
+met with one of them after parting from Barnet and Mallet, with the
+exception of Tom Goldsmith and Jack Reilly. Tom and I fell in with each
+other, on my return from St. Domingo, in the streets of New York, and had
+a yarn of two hours, about old times. This was all I ever saw of Tom. He
+had suffered a good deal with the English, who kept him in Kingston, Upper
+Canada, until the peace, when they let him go with the rest. As for
+Reilly, we have been in harbour together, in our old age, and I may speak
+of him again.</p>
+
+<p>Under the feelings I have mentioned, as soon as the looks of my landlord
+let me know that there were no more shot in the locker, I shipped in a
+South Sea whaler, named the Edward, that was expected to be absent
+between two and three years. She was a small vessel, and carried only
+three boats. I got a pretty good outfit from my landlord, though most of
+the articles were second-hand. We parted good friends, however, and I came
+back to him, and played the same silly game more than once. He was not a
+bad <i>landlord</i>, as landlords then went, and I make no doubt he took better
+care of my money than I should have done myself. On the whole, this class
+of men are not as bad as they seem, though there are precious rascals
+among them. The respectable sailor landlord is quite as good, in his way,
+as one could expect, all things considered.</p>
+
+<p>The voyage I made in the Edward was one of very little interest, the ship
+being exceedingly successful. The usage and living were good, and the
+whaling must have been good too, or we never should have been back again,
+as soon as we were. We went round the Horn, and took our first whale
+between the coast of South America and that of New Holland. I must have
+been present at the striking of thirty fish, but never met with any
+accident. I pulled a mid-ship oar, being a new hand at the business, and
+had little else to do, but keep clear of the line, and look out for my
+paddle. The voyage is now so common, and the mode of taking whales is so
+well known, that I shall say little about either. We went off the coast of
+Japan, as it is called, though a long bit from the land, and we made New
+Holland, though without touching. The return passage was by the Cape of
+Good Hope and St. Helena. We let go our anchor but once the whole voyage,
+and that was at Puna, at the mouth of the Guayaquil river, on the coast of
+Chili. We lay there a week, but, with this exception, the Edward was
+actually under her canvass the whole voyage, or eighteen months. We did
+intend to anchor at St. Helena, but were forbidden on account of
+Bonaparte, who was then a prisoner on the Island. As we stood in, we were
+met by a man-of-war brig, that kept close to us until we had sunk the
+heights, on our passage off again. We were not permitted even to send a
+boat in, for fresh grub.</p>
+
+<p>I sold my voyage in the Edward for two hundred and fifty dollars, and went
+back to my landlord, in Water street. Of course, everybody was glad to see
+me, a sailor's importance in such places being estimated by the length of
+his voyage. In Wall street they used to call a man "a hundred thousand
+dollar man," and in Water, "an eighteen months, or a two years' voyage
+man." As none but whalers, Indiamen, and Statesmen could hold out so long,
+we were all A. No. 1, for a fortnight or three weeks. The man-of-war's-man
+is generally most esteemed, his cruise lasting three years; the <i>lucky</i>
+whaler comes next, and the Canton-man third. The Edward had been a lucky
+ship, and, insomuch, I had been a lucky fellow. I behaved far better this
+time, however, than I had done on my return from St. Domingo. I kept sober
+more, did not spend my money as foolishly or as fast, and did not wait to
+be kicked out of doors, before I thought of getting some more. When I
+shipped anew, I actually left a hundred dollars behind me in my landlord's
+hands; a very extraordinary thing for Jack, and what is equally worthy of
+notice, I got it all again, on my next return from sea.</p>
+
+<p>My steadiness was owing, in a great measure, to the following
+circumstances. I fell in with two old acquaintances, who had been in
+prison with me, of the names of Tibbets and Wilson. This Tibbets was not
+the man who had been sent to Bermuda with me, but another of the same
+name. These men had belonged to the Gov. Tompkins privateer, and had
+received a considerable sum in prize-money, on returning home. They had
+used their money discreetly, having purchased an English prize-brig, at a
+low price, and fitted her out. On board the Tompkins, both had been
+foremost hands, and in prison they had messed in our bay, so that we had
+been hail-fellows-well-met; on Melville Island. After getting this brig
+ready, they had been to the West Indies in her, and were now about to sail
+for Ireland. They wished me to go with them, and gave me so much good
+advice, on the subject of taking care of my money, that it produced the
+effect I have just mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>The name of the prize-brig was the Susan, though I forget from what small
+eastern port she hailed. She was of about two hundred tons burthen, but
+must have-been old and rotten. Tibbets was master, and Wilson was
+chief-mate. I shipped as a sort of second-mate, keeping a watch, though I
+lived forward at my own request. We must have sailed about January, 1818,
+bound to Belfast. There were fourteen of us, altogether, on board, most of
+us down-easters. Our run off the coast was with a strong north-west gale,
+which compelled us to heave-to, the sea being too high for scudding.
+Finding that the vessel laboured very much, however, and leaked badly, we
+kept off again, and scudded for the rest of the blow. On the whole, we got
+out of this difficulty pretty well. We got but two observations the whole
+passage, but in the afternoon of the twenty-third day out, we made the
+coast of Ireland, close aboard, in thick weather; the wind directly on
+shore, blowing a gale. The brig was under close-reefed topsails, running
+free, at the time, and we found it necessary to haul up. We now discovered
+the defects of old canvass and old rigging, splitting the fore-topsail,
+foresail, and fore-topmast-staysail, besides carrying away sheets, &amp;c. We
+succeeded in hauling up the foresail, however, and I went upon the yard
+and mended it, after a fashion. It was now nearly night, and it blew in a
+way "to need two men to hold one man's hair on his head." I cannot say I
+thought much of our situation, my principal concern being to get below,
+with some warm, dry clothes on. We saw nothing of the land after the first
+half-hour, but at midnight we wore ship, and came up on the larboard tack.
+The brig had hardly got round before the fore-tack went, and the foresail
+split into ribands. We let the sail blow from the yard. By this time,
+things began to look very serious, though, for some reason, I felt no
+great alarm. The case was different with Tibbets and Wilson, who were
+uneasy about Cape Clear. I had had a bit of a spat with them about waring,
+believing, myself, that we should have gone clear of the Cape, on the
+starboard tack. This prevented them saying much to me, and we had little
+communication with each other that night. To own the truth, I was sorry I
+had shipped in such a craft. Her owners were too poor to give a sea-going
+vessel a proper outfit, and they were too near my own level to
+create respect.</p>
+
+<p>The fore-topsail had been mended as well as the foresail, and was set
+anew. The sheets went, however, about two in the morning, and the sail
+flew from the reef-band like a bit of muslin torn by a shop-boy. The brig
+now had nothing set but a close-reefed main-topsail, and this I expected,
+every minute, would follow the other canvass. It rained, blew
+tremendously, and the sea was making constant breaches over us. Most of
+the men were fagged out, some going below, while others, who remained on
+deck, did, or <i>could</i> do, nothing. At the same time, it was so dark that
+we could not see the length of the vessel.</p>
+
+<p>I now went aft to speak to Tibbets, telling him I thought it was all over
+with us. He had still some hope, as the bay was deep, and he thought light
+might return before we got to the bottom of it. I was of a different
+opinion, believing the brig then to be within the influence of the
+ground-swell, though not absolutely within the breakers. All this time the
+people were quiet, and there was no drinking. Indeed, I hardly saw any one
+moving about. It was an hour after the conversation with Tibbets, that I
+was standing, holding on by the weather-main-clew-garnet, when I got a
+glimpse of breakers directly under our lee. I sung out, "there's breakers,
+and everybody must shift for himself." At the next instant, the brig rose
+on a sea, settled in the trough, and struck. The blow threw me off my
+feet, though I held on to the clew-garnet. Then I heard the crash of the
+foremast as it went down to leeward. The brig rolled over on her
+beam-ends, but righted at the next sea, drove in some distance, and down
+she came again, with a force that threatened to break her up. I bethought
+me of the main-mast, and managed to get forward as far as the bitts, in
+order to be out of its way. It was well I did, as I felt a movement as if
+her upper works were parting from the bottom. I was near no one, and the
+last person I saw, or spoke to on board, was Tibbets, who was then
+standing in the companion-way. This was an hour before the brig struck.</p>
+
+<p>There might have been an interval of half a minute between the time I
+reached the windlass, and that in which I saw a tremendous white foaming
+sea rolling down upon the vessel. At this ominous sight, I instinctively
+seized the bitts for protection. I can remember the rushing of the water
+down upon me, and have some faint impressions of passing through a mass of
+rigging, but this is all. When I came to my senses, it was in an Irish
+mud-cabin, with an old woman and her daughter taking care of me. My head
+was bandaged, and most of the hair had been cut off in front I was stiff
+and sore all over me. Fortunately, none of my bones were broken.</p>
+
+<p>The account given me of what had passed, was this. I was found by the old
+man, who lived in the hut, a fisherman and the husband of my nurse, with
+some other persons, lying on my face, between two shelves of rock. There
+was nothing very near me, not even a bit of wood, or a rope. Two lads that
+belonged to the brig were found not far from me, both alive, though both
+badly hurt, one of them having had his thigh broken. Of the rest of the
+fourteen souls on board the Susan, there were no traces. I never heard
+that even their bodies were found. Tibbets and Wilson had gone with their
+old prize, and anything but a prize did she prove to me. I lost a good
+outfit, and, after belonging to her about three weeks, here was I left
+naked on the shores of Ireland, I am sorry to say, my feelings were those
+of repining, rather than of gratitude. Of religion I had hardly a notion,
+and I am afraid that all which had been driven into me in childhood, was
+already lost. In this state of mind, I naturally felt more of the
+hardships I had endured, than of the mercy that had been shown me. I look
+back with shame at the hardness of heart which rendered me insensible to
+the many mercies I had received, in escaping so often from the perils of
+my calling.</p>
+
+<p>It was three days after the wreck, before I left my bed. Nothing could
+have been kinder than the treatment I received from those poor Irish
+people. Certainly no reward was before them, but that which Heaven gives
+the merciful; and yet I could not have been more cared for, had I been
+their own son. They fed me, nursed me, and warmed me, without receiving
+any other return from me than my thanks. I staid with them three weeks,
+doing nothing on account of the bruises I had received. The Susan's had
+been a thorough wreck. Not enough of her could be found, of which to build
+a launch. Her cargo was as effectually destroyed as her hull, and, to say
+the truth, it took but little to break her up. As for the two lads, I
+could not get as far as the cabin in which they had been put. It was two
+or three miles along the coast, and, having no shoes, I could not walk
+that distance over the sharp stones. Several messages passed between us,
+but I never saw a single soul that belonged to the brig, after the last
+look I had of Tibbets in the companion-way.</p>
+
+<p>A coaster passing near the cabin, and it falling calm, the fisherman went
+off to her, told my story, and got a passage for me to Liverpool. I now
+took my leave of these honest people, giving them all I had--my sincere
+thanks--and went on board the sloop. Here I was well treated, nor did any
+one expect me to work. We reached Liverpool the second day, and I went and
+hunted up Molly Hutson, the landlady with whom the crew of the Sterling
+had lodged, when Captain B---- had her. The old woman helped me to some
+clothes, received me well, and seemed sorry for my misfortunes. As it
+would not do to remain idle, however, I shipped on board the Robert Burns,
+and sailed for New York within the week. I got no wages, but met with
+excellent treatment, and had a very short winter passage. In less than
+three months after I left him, I was back again with my old landlord, who
+gave me my hundred dollars without any difficulty. I had sailed with him
+in the Sterling, and he always seemed to think of me a little differently
+from what landlords generally think of Jack.</p>
+
+<p>A good deal was said among my associates, now, about the advantages of
+making a voyage to the coast of Ireland for the purpose of smuggling
+tobacco, and I determined to try my hand at one. Of the morality of
+smuggling I have nothing to say. I would not make such a voyage now, if I
+know myself; but poor sailors are not taught to make just distinctions in
+such things, and the merchants must take their share of the shame. I fear
+there are few merchants, and fewer seamen, man-of-war officers excepted,
+who will not smuggle.[13]</p>
+
+<p>I laid out most of my hundred dollars, in getting a new outfit, and then
+shipped in a small pilot-boat-built schooner, called the M'Donough, bound
+to Ireland, to supply such honest fellows as my old fisherman with good
+tobacco, cheap. Our cargo was in small bales, being the raw material,
+intended to be passed by hand. We had seventeen hands before the mast, but
+carried no armament, pistols, &amp;c., excepted. The schooner sailed like a
+witch, carrying only two gaff-topsails. We made the land in fourteen days
+after we left the Hook, our port being Tory Island, off the north-west
+coast of Ireland. We arrived in the day-time, and showed a signal, which
+was answered in the course of the day, by a smoke on some rocks. A large
+boat then came off to us, and we filled her with tobacco the same evening.
+In the course of the night, we had despatched four or five more boats,
+loaded with the same cargo; but, as day approached, we hauled our wind,
+and stood off the land. Next night we went in, again, and met more boats,
+and the succeeding morning we hauled off, as before. When we saw a boat,
+we hailed and asked "if they were outward bound." If the answer was
+satisfactory, we brailed the foresail and permitted the boat to come
+alongside. In this manner we continued shoving cargo ashore, for quite a
+week, sometimes falling in with only one boat of a night, and, at others,
+with three or four; just as it might happen. We had got about two-thirds
+of the tobacco out, and a boat had just left us, on the morning of the
+sixth or seventh day, when we saw a man-of-war brig coming round Tory
+Island, in chase. At this sight, we hauled up close on a wind, it blowing
+very fresh. As the English never employed any but the fastest cruisers for
+this station, we had a scratching time of it. The brig sailed very fast,
+and out-carried us; but our little schooner held on well. For two days and
+one night we had it, tack and tack, with her. The brig certainly gained on
+us, our craft carrying a balanced reefed-mainsail, bonnet off the foresail
+and one reef in, and bonnet off the jib. The flying-jib was inboard. At
+sunset, on the second night, the brig was so near us, we could see her
+people, and it was blowing fresher than ever. This was just her play,
+while ours was in more moderate weather. Our skipper got uneasy, now, and
+determined to try a trick. It set in dark and rainy; and, as soon as we
+lost sight of the brig, we tacked, stood on a short distance, lowered
+everything, and extinguished all our lights. We lay in this situation
+three hours, when we stuck the craft down again for Tory Island, as
+straight as we could go. I never knew what became of the brig, which may
+be chasing us yet, for aught I know for I saw no more of her. Next day we
+had the signal flying again, and the smoke came up from the same rock, as
+before. It took us three days longer to get all the tobacco ashore, in
+consequence of some trouble on the island; but it all went in the end, and
+went clear, as I was told, one or two boat-loads excepted. The cargo was
+no sooner out, than we made sail for New York, where we arrived in another
+short passage. We were absent but little more than two months, and my
+wages and presents came to near one hundred dollars. I never tried the
+tobacco trade again.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter XI.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>I now stayed ashore two months. I had determined to study navigation, and
+to try to get off the forecastle, in which wise course I was encouraged by
+several discreet friends. I had fallen in with a young woman of
+respectable character and agreeable person, and, to own the truth, was
+completely in irons with her. I believe a mother is a good deal more on
+the look-out than a father, in such matters; for I was overhauled by the
+old woman, and questioned as to my intentions about Sarah, whereas the old
+man was somewhat more moderate. I confessed my wish to marry her daughter;
+but the old woman thought I was too wild, which was not Sarah's opinion, I
+believe. Had we been left to ourselves, we should have got married; though
+I was really desirous of going out once as an officer, before I took so
+important a step. I have sometimes suspected that Sarah's parents had a
+hand in getting me shipped, again, as they were intimate with the captain
+who now proposed to take me with him as his second-mate. I consented to
+go, with some reluctance; but, on the whole, thought it was the best thing
+I could do. My reluctance proceeded from desire to remain with Sarah,
+when the time came; though the berth was exactly the thing I wanted,
+whenever I reasoned coolly on the subject.</p>
+
+<p>I shipped, accordingly, in a vessel of the Costers', called the William
+and Jane, bound to Holland and Canton, as her second-mate. My leave-taking
+with Sarah was very tender; and I believe we both felt much grieved at the
+necessity of parting. Nothing occurred on the passage out worth
+mentioning. I got along with my duty well enough, for I had been broken-in
+on, board the Sterling, and one or two other vessels. We went to the
+Texel, but found some difficulty in procuring dollars, which caused us to
+return to New York, after getting only twenty thousand. We had no other
+return cargo, with the exception of a little gin. We were absent five
+months; and I found Sarah as pretty, and as true, as ever. I did not quit
+the vessel, however; but, finding my knowledge of the lunars too limited,
+I was obliged to go backward a little--becoming third-mate. We were a
+month in New York, and it was pretty hard work to keep from eloping with
+Sarah; but I clawed off the breakers as well as I could. I gave her a
+silver thimble, and told her to take it to a smith, and get our joint
+names cut on it, which she did. The consequences of this act will be seen
+in the end.</p>
+
+<p>We had a little breeze on board the ship before we could get off; the
+people refusing to sail with a new first-mate that had joined her. It
+ended by getting another mate, when we went to sea. I believe that no
+other vessel ever went out with such articles as our crew insisted on. The
+men stipulated for three quarts of water a day, and the forenoon's watch
+below. All this was put in black and white, and it gave us some trouble
+before we got to our destination.</p>
+
+<p>Our passage out was a very long one, lasting two hundred and ten days.
+When we got into the trades, we stripped one mast after the other, to a
+girt-line, overhauling everything, and actually getting new gangs of
+rigging up over the lower-mast-heads. We were a long time about it, but
+lost little or nothing in distance, as the ship was going before the wind
+the whole time, with everything packed on the masts that were rigged.
+Before overhauling the rigging, we fell in with an English ship, called
+the General Blucher, and kept company with her for quite a fortnight.
+While the two ships were together, we were chased by a strange brig, that
+kept in sight three or four days, evidently watching us, and both vessels
+suspected him of being a pirate. As we had six guns, and thirty-one souls,
+and the Blucher was, at least, as strong, the two captains thought, by
+standing by each other, they might beat the fellow off, should he attack
+us. The brig frequently came near enough to get a good look at us, and
+then dropped astern. He continued this game several days, until he
+suddenly hauled his wind, and left us. Our ship would have been a famous
+prize; having, it was said, no less than two hundred and fifty thousand
+Spanish dollars on board.</p>
+
+<p>We parted company with the Blucher, in a heavy gale; our ship bearing up
+for Rio. After getting rid of some of our ballast, however, and changing
+the cargo of pig-lead, our vessel was easier, and did not go in. Nothing
+further occurred, worth mentioning, until we got off Van Diemen's Land.
+Two days after seeing the land, a boy fell from the fore-top-gallant yard,
+while reeving the studding-sail halyards. I had just turned in, after
+eating my dinner, having the watch below, when I heard the cry of "a man
+overboard!" Running on deck, as I was, I jumped into a quarter-boat,
+followed by four men, and we were immediately lowered down. The ship was
+rounded-to, and I heard the poor fellow calling out to me by name, to save
+him. I saw him, astern, very plainly, while on the ship's quarter; but
+lost sight of him, as soon as the boat was in the water. The sky-light-hood
+had been thrown overboard, and was floating in the ship's wake. We steered
+for that; but could neither see nor hear anything more of the poor fellow.
+We got his hat, and we picked up the hood of the sky-light, but could not
+find the boy. He had, unquestionably, gone down before we reached the spot
+where he had been floating, as his hat must have pointed out the place. We
+got the hat first; and then, seeing nothing of the lad, we pulled back to
+take in the hood; which was quite large. While employed in taking it in, a
+squall passed over the boat; which nearly blew it away from us. Being very
+busy in securing the hood, no one had leisure to look about; but the duty
+was no sooner done, than one of the men called out, that he could not see
+the ship! Sure enough, the William and Jane had disappeared! and there we
+were, left in the middle of the ocean, in a six-oared pinnace, without a
+morsel of food, and I myself, without hat, shoes, jacket or trowsers. In a
+word, I had nothing on me but my drawers and a flannel shirt. Fortunately,
+the captain kept a breaker of fresh water in each boat, and we had a small
+supply of this great requisite;--enough, perhaps, to last five men two or
+three days.</p>
+
+<p>All our boats had sails; but those of the pinnace had been spread on the
+quarter-deck, to dry; and we had nothing but the ash to depend on. At
+first, we pulled to leeward; but the weather was so thick, we could not
+see a cable's-length; and our search for the vessel, in that direction,
+proved useless. At the end of an hour or two, we ceased rowing, and held a
+consultation. I proposed to pull in the direction of the land; which was
+pulling to windward. If the ship should search for us, it would certainly
+be in that quarter; and if we should miss her, altogether, our only chance
+was in reaching the shore. There, we might find something to eat; of which
+there was little hope, out on the ocean. The men did not relish the idea
+of quitting the spot; but, after some talk, they came into my plan.</p>
+
+<p>It remained thick weather all that afternoon, night, and succeeding day,
+until about noon. We were without a compass, and steered by the direction
+of the wind and sea. Occasionally it lightened up a little, so as to show
+us a star or two, or during the day to permit us to see a few miles around
+the boat; but we got no glimpse of the ship. It blew so heavily that we
+made no great progress, in my judgment doing very little more than keeping
+the boat head to sea. Could we have pulled four oars, this might not have
+been the case, but we took it watch and watch, two men pulling, while two
+tried to get a little rest, under the shelter of the hood. I steered as
+long as I could, but was compelled to row part of the time to keep myself
+warm. In this manner were passed about six-and-twenty of the most
+unpleasant hours of my life, when some of us thought they heard the report
+of a distant gun. I did not believe it; but, after listening attentively
+some ten or fifteen minutes, another report was heard, beyond all dispute,
+dead to leeward of us!</p>
+
+<p>This signal produced a wonderful effect on us all. The four oars were
+manned, and away we went before the wind and sea, as fast as we could
+pull, I steering for the reports as they came heavily up to windward at
+intervals of about a quarter of an hour. Three or four of these guns were
+heard, each report sounding nearer than the other, to our great joy, until
+I got a glimpse of the ship, about two miles distant from us. She was on
+the starboard tack, close hauled, a proof she was in search of us, with
+top-gallant-sails set over single-reefed topsails. She was drawing ahead
+of us fast, however, and had we not seen her as we did, we should have
+crossed her wake, and been lost without a hope, by running to leeward. We
+altered our course the instant she was seen; but what could a boat do in
+such a sea, pulling after a fast ship under such canvass? Perhaps we felt
+more keen anxiety, after we saw the ship, than we did before, since we
+beheld all the risk we ran. Never shall I forget the sensations with which
+I saw her start her main-tack and haul up the sail! The foresail and
+top-gallant-sail followed, and then the main-yard came round, and laid the
+topsail aback! Everything seemed to fly on board her, and we knew we were
+safe. In a few minutes we were alongside. The boat was at the davits, the
+helm was up, and the old barky squared away for China.</p>
+
+<p>We in the boat were all pretty well fagged out with hunger, toil, and
+exposure. I was the worst off, having so little clothing in cool weather,
+and I think another day would have destroyed us all, unless we had taken
+refuge in the well-known dreadful alternative of seamen. The captain was
+delighted to see us, as indeed were all hands. They had determined to turn
+to windward, on short tacks, until they made the land, the best thing that
+could have been done, and the course that actually saved us.</p>
+
+<p>When we got into the latitude of Port Jackson, the crew was put on two
+quarts of water a man, three quarts having been stipulated for in the
+articles. This produced a mutiny, the men refusing duty. This was awkward
+enough, in that distant sea. The captain took advantage of the men's going
+below, however, to secure the scuttle and keep them there. He then
+mustered us, who lived aft, six men and three boys, and laid the question
+before us, <i>whether we would take the ship into Canton</i>, or go into Port
+Jackson, and get some water. He admitted we were about seventy-five days
+run from Cauton, but he himself leaned to the plan of continuing on our
+course. We saw all the difficulties before us, and told him of them.</p>
+
+<p>There were twenty men below, and to carry them eight or ten thousand miles
+in that situation, would have been troublesome, to say the least, and
+might have caused the death of some among them. We were armed, and had no
+apprehensions of the people, but we did not like to work a ship of five
+hundred tons with so few hands, one-third of whom were boys, so great a
+distance. The crew, moreover, had a good deal of right on their side, the
+articles stipulating that they should have the water, and this water was
+to be had a short distance to windward.</p>
+
+<p>The captain yielded to our reasoning, and we beat up to Port Jackson,
+where we arrived in three or four days. The people were then sent to
+prison, as mutineers, and we watered the ship. We were in port a
+fortnight, thus occupied. All this time the men were in gaol. No men were
+to be had, and then arose the question about trusting the old crew. There
+was no choice, and, the ship being ready to sail, we received the people
+on board again, and turned them all to duty. We had no further trouble
+with them, however, the fellows behaving perfectly well, as men commonly
+will, who have been once put down. No mutiny is dangerous when the
+officers are apprized of its existence, and are fairly ready to meet it.
+The king's name is a tower of strength.</p>
+
+<p>We arrived at Canton in due time, and found our cargo ready for us. We
+took it in, and sailed again, for the Texel, in three weeks. Our passage
+to Europe was two hundred and eleven days, but we met with no accident. At
+the Texel I found two letters from New York, one being from Sarah, and the
+other from a female friend. Sarah was married to the very silversmith who
+had engraven our names on the thimble! This man saw her for the first
+time, when she carried that miserable thimble to him, fell in love with
+her, and, being in good circumstances, her friends prevailed on her to
+have him. Her letter to me admitted her error, and confessed her
+unhappiness; but there was no remedy. I did not like the idea of returning
+to New York, under the circumstances, and resolved to quit the ship. I
+got my discharge, therefore, from the William and Jane, and left her,
+never seeing the vessel afterwards.</p>
+
+<p>There was a small Baltimore ship, called the Wabash, at the Texel, getting
+ready for Canton, and I entered on board her, as a foremast Jack, again.
+My plan was to quit her in China, and to remain beyond the Capes for ever.
+The disappointment in my matrimonial plans had soured me, and I wanted to
+get as far from America as I could. This was the turning point of my life,
+and was to settle my position in my calling. I was now twenty-seven, and
+when a man gets stern-way on him, at that age, he must sail a good craft
+ever to work his way into his proper berth again.</p>
+
+<p>The Wabash had a good passage out, without any unusual occurrence. On her
+arrival at Canton, I told the captain my views, and he allowed me to go. I
+was now adrift in the Imperial Empire, with a couple of hundred dollars in
+my pocket, and a chest full of good clothes. So far all was well, and I
+began to look about me for a berth. We had found an English country ship
+lying at Whampao, smuggling opium, and I got on board of her, as
+third-mate, a few days after I quitted the Wabash. This was the first and
+only time I ever sailed under the English flag, for I do not call my other
+passages in English vessels, sailing <i>under</i> the flag, though it was
+waving over my head. My new ship was the Hope, of Calcutta, commanded by
+Captain Kid, or Kyd, I forget which. The vessel was built of teak, and had
+been a frigate in the Portuguese service. She was so old no one knew
+exactly when she was built, but sailed like a witch. Her crew consisted
+principally of Lascars, with a few Europeans and negroes, as is usual in
+those craft. My wages did not amount to much in dollars, but everything
+was so cheap, they counted up in the long run. I had perquisites, too,
+which amounted to something handsome. They kept a very good table.</p>
+
+<p>The Hope had a good deal of opium, when I joined her, and it was all to be
+smuggled before we sailed. As this trade has made a great deal of noise,
+latterly, I will relate the manner in which we disposed of the drug. Of
+the morality of this species of commerce, I have no more to say in its
+defence, than I had of the tobacco voyage, unless it be to aver that were
+I compelled, now, to embark in one of the two, it should be to give the
+countrymen of my honest fisherman cheap tobacco, in preference to making
+the Chinese drunk on opium.</p>
+
+<p>Our opium was packed in wooden boxes of forty cylinders, weighing about
+ten pounds each cylinder. Of course each box weighed about four hundred
+pounds. The main cargo was cotton, and salt-petre, and ebony; but there
+were four hundred boxes of this opium.</p>
+
+<p>The sales of the article were made by the captain, up at the factory. They
+seldom exceeded six or eight boxes at a time, and were oftener two or
+three. The purchaser then brought, or sent, an order on board the ship,
+for the delivery of the opium. He also provided bags. The custom-house
+officers did not remain in the ship, as in other countries, but were on
+board a large armed boat, hanging astern. These crafts are called Hoppoo
+boats. This arrangement left us tolerably free to do as we pleased, on
+board. If an officer happened to come on board, however, we had early
+notice of it, of course. As third-mate, it was my duty to see the boxes
+taken out of the hold, and the opium delivered. The box was opened, and
+the cylinders counted off, and stowed in the bags, which were of sizes
+convenient to handle. All this was done on the gun-deck, the purchaser
+receiving possession of his opium, on board us. It was his loss, if
+anything failed afterwards.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the buyer had his opium in the bags, he placed the latter near
+two or three open ports, amidships, and hung out a signal to the shore.
+This signal was soon answered, and then it was look out for the smuggling
+boats! These smuggling boats are long, swift, craft, that have
+double-banked paddles, frequently to the number of sixty men. They are
+armed, and are swift as arrows. When all is ready, they appear suddenly on
+the water, and dash alongside of the vessel for which they are bound, and
+find the labourers of the purchaser standing at the ports, with the bags
+of cylinders ready. These bags are thrown into the boat, the purchaser and
+his men tumble after them, and away she paddles, like a racer. The whole
+operation occupies but a minute or two.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the Hoppoo boat sees what is going on, it begins to blow
+conches. This gives the alarm, and then follows a chase from an armed
+custom-house boat, of which there are many constantly plying about. It
+always appeared to me that the custom-house people were either afraid of
+the smugglers, or that they were paid for not doing their duty. I never
+saw any fight, or seizure, though I am told such sometimes happen. I
+suppose it is in China, as it is in other parts of the world; that men
+occasionally do their whole duty, but that they oftener do not. If the
+connivance of custom-house officers will justify smuggling in China, it
+will justify smuggling in London, and possibly in New York.</p>
+
+<p>We not only smuggled cargo out, but we smuggled cargo in. The favourite
+prohibited article was a species of metal, that came in plates, like tin,
+or copper, of which we took in large quantities. It was brought to us by
+the smuggling-boats, and thrown on board, very much as the opium was taken
+out, and we stowed it away in the hold. All this was done in the day-time,
+but I never heard of any one's following the article into the ship. Once
+there, it appeared to be considered safe. Then we got sycee silver, which
+was prohibited for exportation. All came on board in the same manner. For
+every box of opium sold, the mate got a china dollar as a perquisite. Of
+course my share on four hundred boxes came to one hundred and thirty-three
+of these dollars, or about one hundred and sixteen of our own. I am
+ashamed to say there was a great deal of cheating all round, each party
+evidently regarding the other as rogues, and, instead of "doing as they
+<i>would</i> be done by," doing as they <i>thought</i> they <i>were</i> done by.</p>
+
+<p>The Hope sailed as soon as the opium was sold, about a month, and had a
+quick passage to Calcutta. I now began to pick up a little Bengalee, and,
+before I left the trade, could work a ship very well in the language. The
+Lascars were more like monkeys than men aloft, though they wanted
+strength. A topsail, that six of our common men would furl, would employ
+twenty of them. This was partly from habit, perhaps, though they actually
+want physical force. They eat little besides rice, and are small in frame.
+We had a curious mode of punishing them, when slack, aloft. Our standing
+rigging was of grass, and wiry enough to cut even hands that were used to
+it. The ratlines were not seized to the forward and after shrouds, by
+means of eyes, as is done in our vessels, but were made fast by a round
+turn, and stopping back the ends. We used to take down all the ratlines,
+and make the darkies go up without them. In doing this, they took the
+rigging between the great and second toe, and walked up, instead of
+shinning it, like Christians. This soon gave them sore toes, and they
+would beg hard to have the ratlines replaced. On the whole, they were
+easily managed, and were respectful and obedient. We had near a hundred of
+these fellows in the Hope, and kept them at work by means of a boatswain
+and four mates, all countrymen of their own. In addition, we had about
+thirty more souls, including the Europeans--Christians, as we were called!</p>
+
+<p>At Calcutta we loaded with cotton, and returned to Canton, having another
+short passage. We had no opium in the ship, this time, it being out of
+season; but we smuggled cargo in, as before. We lay at Whampao a few
+weeks, and returned to Calcutta. By this time the Hope was dying of old
+age, and Captain Kyd began to think, if he did not bury her, she might
+bury him. Her beams actually dropped, as we removed the cotton at Canton,
+though she still remained tight. But it would have been dangerous to
+encounter heavy weather in her.</p>
+
+<p>A new ship, called the Hopping Castle, had been built by Captain Kyd's
+father-in-law, expressly for him. She was a stout large vessel, and
+promised to sail well. The officers wore all transferred to her; but most
+of the old Lascars refused to ship, on account of a quarrel with the
+boatswain. This compelled us to ship a new set of these men, most of whom
+were strangers to us.</p>
+
+<p>By a law of Calcutta, if anything happens to a vessel before she gets to
+sea, the people retain the two months' advance it is customary to give
+them. This rule brought us into difficulty. The Hopping Castle cleared for
+Bombay, with a light cargo. We had dropped down the river, discharged the
+pilot, and made sail on our course, when a fire suddenly broke up out of
+the fore-hatch. A quantity of grass junk, and two or three cables of the
+same material, were in that part of the ship, and they all burnt like
+tinder. I went with the other officers and threw overboard the powder,
+but it was useless to attempt extinguishing the flames. Luckily, there
+were two pilot brigs still near us, and they came alongside and received
+all hands. The Hopping Castle burnt to the water's edge, and we saw her
+wreck go down. This was a short career for so fine a ship, and it gave us
+all great pain; all but the rascals of Lascars. I lost everything I had in
+the world in her, but a few clothes I saved in a small trunk. I had little
+or no money, Calcutta being no place for economy. In a country in which it
+is a distinction to be a white man, and <i>called</i> a Christian, one must
+maintain his dignity by a little extravagance.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Kyd felt satisfied that the Lascars had set his ship on fire, and
+he had us all landed on Tiger Island. Here the serang, or boatswain, took
+the matter in hand, and attempted to find out the facts. I was present at
+the proceeding, and witnessed it all. It was so remarkable as to deserve
+being mentioned. The men were drawn up in rings, of twenty or thirty each,
+and the boatswain stood in the centre. He then put a little white powder
+into each man's hand, and ordered him to spit in it. The idea was that the
+innocent men would spit without any difficulty, while the mouths of the
+guilty would become too dry and husky to allow them to comply. At any
+rate, the serang picked out ten men as guilty, and they were sent to
+Calcutta to be tried. I was told, afterwards, that all these ten men
+admitted their guilt, criminated two more, and that the whole twelve were
+subsequently hanged in chains, near Castle William. Of the legal trial and
+execution I know nothing, unless by report; but the trial by spittle, I
+saw with my own eyes; and it was evident the Lascars looked upon it as a
+very serious matter. I never saw criminals in court betray more
+uneasiness, than these fellows, while the serang was busy with them.</p>
+
+<p>I was now out of employment. Captain Kyd wished me to go on an indigo
+plantation, offering me high wages. I never drank at sea, and had behaved
+in a way to gain his confidence, I believe, so that he urged me a good
+deal to accept his offers. I would not consent, however, being afraid of
+death. There was a Philadelphia ship, called the Benjamin Rush, at
+Calcutta, and I determined to join her. By this time, I felt less on the
+subject of my disappointment, and had a desire to see home, again. I
+shipped, accordingly, in the vessel mentioned, as a foremast hand. We
+sailed soon after, and had a pleasant passage to the Capes of the
+Delaware, which I now entered, again, for the first time since I had done
+so on my return from my original voyage on the Sterling.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as paid off, I proceeded to New York. I was short of cash; and, my
+old landlord being dead, I had to look about me for a new ship. This time,
+I went in a brig, called the Boxer, a clipper, belonging to John Jacob
+Astor, bound to Canton. This proved to be a pleasant and successful
+voyage, so far as the vessel was concerned, at least; the brig being back
+at New York, again, eight months after we sailed. I went in her before
+the mast.</p>
+
+<p>My money was soon gone; and I was obliged to ship again. I now went as
+second-mate, in the Trio; an old English prize-ship, belonging to David
+Dunham. We were bound to Batavia, and sailed in January. After being a
+short time at sea, we found all our water gone, with the exception of one
+cask. The remainder had been lost by the bursting of the hoops, in
+consequence of the water's having frozen. We went on a short allowance;
+and suffered a good deal by the privation. Our supercargo, a young
+gentleman of the name of Croes, came near dying. We went on, however,
+intending to go into one of the Cape de Verdes. We got up our casks, and
+repaired them, in the meanwhile. Off the Island of Fuego, we hove to, and
+found we could get no water. We got a few goats, and a little fruit; but
+were compelled to proceed. Luckily, it came on to rain very hard, and we
+stopped all the scuppers, filling every cask we had, in this easy manner.
+We began about eight at night, and were through before morning. Capital
+water it proved; and it lasted us to Batavia. There, indeed, it would even
+have brought a premium; being so much better than anything to be had in
+that port. It changed; but sweetened itself very soon.</p>
+
+<p>We first went into Batavia, and entered the ship; after which, we sailed
+for a roadstead, called Terragall, to take in rice. The vessel was in
+ballast, and had brought money to make her purchases with. We got our
+cargo off in boats, and sailed for Batavia, to clear; all within a few
+weeks. The second night out, the ship struck, in fair weather, and a
+moderate sea, on a mud-bank; and brought up all standing. We first
+endeavoured to force the vessel over the bank; but this did not succeed;
+and, the tide leaving her, the ship fell over on her bilge; bringing her
+gunwales under water. Luckily, she lay quiet; though a good deal strained.
+The captain now took a boat, and four men, and pulled ashore, to get
+prows, to lighten the vessel. We had but eight men before the mast, and
+six aft. This, of course, left only nine souls on board. That night
+nothing occurred; but, in the morning early, two piratical prows
+approached, and showed a disposition to board us. Mr. Croes was the person
+who saved the ship. He stuck up handspikes, and other objects, about deck;
+putting hats and caps on them, so as to make us appear very strong-handed.
+At the same time, we got a couple of sixes to bear on the prows; and
+succeeded in keeping them at a safe distance. They hovered about until
+sunset, when they left us; pulling ashore. Just as they were quitting us,
+twenty-seven boats hove in sight; and we made a signal to them, which was
+not answered. We set them down as enemies, too; but, as they came nearer,
+we perceived our own boat among them, and felt certain it was the captain.</p>
+
+<p>We discharged everything betwixt decks into the boats, that night, and got
+the ship afloat before morning. We now hove clear of the bank, restowed
+the cargo, and made sail for Batavia. The ship leaked badly, and kept us
+hard at the pumps. As there were no means for repairing the vessel where
+we were, it was resolved to take in extra hands, ship two box-pumps, and
+carry the vessel to the Isle of France, in order to repair her. I did not
+like the prospect of such a passage, and confess I played "old soldier" to
+get rid of it. I contrived to get, on a sick ticket, into the hospital,
+and the ship sailed without me. At the Isle of France, the Trio was
+condemned; her hulk being, in truth, much worse than my own, docked
+though I was.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter XII.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>As soon as the Trio was off, I got well. Little did I then think of the
+great risk I ran in going ashore; for it was almost certain death for an
+European to land, for any length of time, at that season. Still less did
+I, or <i>could</i> I, anticipate what was to happen to myself, in this very
+hospital, a few years later; or how long I was to be one of its truly
+suffering, and, I hope, repentant inmates. The consul was frank enough to
+tell me that I had been shamming Abraham; and I so far imitated his
+sincerity as distinctly to state, it was quite true. I thought the old
+Trio ought to have been left on the bank, where Providence had placed her;
+but, it being the pleasure of her captain and the supercargo to take her
+bones to the Isle of France for burial, I did not choose to go so far,
+weeping through the pumps, to attend her funeral.</p>
+
+<p>As the consul held my wages, and refused to give me any money, I was
+compelled to get on board some vessel as soon as I could. Batavia was not
+a place for an American constitution, and I was glad to be off. I shipped,
+before the mast, in the Clyde, of Salem, a good little ship, with good
+living and good treatment. We sailed immediately, but not soon enough to
+escape the Batavia fever. Two of the crew died, about a week out, and were
+buried in the Straits of Banca. The day we lost sight of Java Head, it
+came on to blow fresh, and we had to take in the jib, and double-reef the
+topsails. A man of the name of Day went down on the bowsprit shrouds to
+clear the jib-sheets, when the ship made a heavy pitch, and washed him
+away. The second mate and myself got into the boat, and were lowered as
+soon as the ship was rounded-to. There was a very heavy sea on, but we
+succeeded in finding the poor fellow, who was swimming with great apparent
+strength. His face was towards the boat, and, as we came near, I rose, and
+threw the blade of my oar towards him, calling out to him to be of good
+cheer. At this instant, Day seemed to spring nearly his length out of
+water, and immediately sunk. What caused this extraordinary effort, and
+sudden failure, was never known. I have sometimes thought a shark must
+have struck him, though I saw neither blood nor fish. The man was
+hopelessly lost, and we returned to the ship, feeling as seamen always
+feel on such occasions.</p>
+
+<p>A few days later, another man died of the fever. This left but five of us
+in the forecastle, with the ship a long way to the eastward of the Cape of
+Good Hope. Before we got up with the Cape, another foremast hand went
+crazy, and, instead of helping us, became a cause of much trouble for the
+rest of the passage. In the end, he died, mad. We had now only three men
+in a watch, the officers included; and of course, it was trick and trick
+at the helm. Notwithstanding all this, we did very well, having a good
+run, until we got on the coast, which we reached in the month of January.
+A north-wester drove us off, and we had a pretty tough week of it, but
+brought the ship up to the Hook, at the end of that time, and anchored her
+safely in the East River. The Clyde must have been a ship of about three
+hundred tons, and, including every one on board, nine of us sailed her
+from the eastward of the Cape to her port, without any serious difficulty.</p>
+
+<p>I did not stay long ashore, for the money went like smoke, but shipped in
+a brig called the Margaret, bound to Belfast. This vessel struck in the
+Irish channel, but she was backed off with little difficulty, and got safe
+into her port. The return passage was pleasant, and without any accident.</p>
+
+<p>Such a voyage left little to spend, and I was soon on the look-out for a
+fresh berth. I shipped this time as mate, in a brig called the William
+Henry, bound on a smuggling voyage to the coast of Spain. We took in
+tobacco, segars, &amp;c. &amp;c., and the brig dropped down to Staten Island. Here
+I quarrelled with the captain about some cotton wick, and I threw up my
+situation. I knew there were more ships than parish churches, and felt no
+concern about finding a place in one, up at town. The balance of my
+advance was paid back, and I left the smuggling trade, like an honest man.
+I only wish this change of purpose had proceeded from a better motive.</p>
+
+<p>My next windfall was Jack's berth on board a beautiful little schooner
+called the Ida, that was to sail for Cura&ccedil;oa, in the hope of being
+purchased by the governor of the island or a yacht. I expected to find my
+way to the Spanish main, after the craft was sold. We got out without any
+accident, going into port of a Sunday morning. The same morning, an
+English frigate and a sloop-of-war came in and anchored. That afternoon
+these vessels commenced giving liberty to their men. We were alongside of
+a wharf, and, in the afternoon, our crew took a drift in some public
+gardens in the suburbs of the town. Here an incident occurred that is
+sufficiently singular to be mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>I was by myself in the garden, ruminating on the past, and, I suppose,
+looking melancholy and in the market, when I perceived an English
+man-of-war's-man eyeing me pretty closely. After a while, he came up, and
+fell into discourse with me. Something that fell from him made me distrust
+him from the first, and I acted with great caution. After sounding me for
+some time, he inquired if I had any berth. I told him, no. He then went
+on, little by little, until he got such answers as gave him confidence,
+when he let me into the secret of his real object. He said he belonged to
+the frigate, and had liberty until next morning--that he and four of his
+shipmates who were ashore, had determined to get possession of the pretty
+little Yankee schooner that was lying alongside of the Telegraph, at the
+wharf, and carry her down to Laguayra. All this was to be done that night,
+and he wished me to join the party. By what fell from this man, I made no
+doubt his design was to turn pirate, after he had sold the flour then in
+the Ida. I encouraged him to so on, and we drank together, until he let me
+into his whole plan. The scheme was to come on board the schooner, after
+the crew had turned in, to fasten all hands below, set the foresail and
+jib, and run out with the land-breeze; a thing that was feasible enough,
+considering there is never any watch kept in merchant-vessels that lie
+at wharves.</p>
+
+<p>After a long talk, I consented to join the enterprise, and agreed to be,
+at nine o'clock, on board the Telegraph, a Philadelphia ship, outside of
+which our schooner lay. This vessel had a crew of blacks, and, as most of
+them were then ashore, it was supposed many would not return to her that
+night. My conspirator observed--"the Yankees that belong to the schooner
+are up yonder in the garden, and will be half drunk, so they will all be
+sound asleep, and can give us little trouble." I remember he professed to
+have no intention of hurting any of us, but merely to run away with us,
+and sell the craft from under us. We parted with a clear understanding of
+the manner in which everything was to be done.</p>
+
+<p>I know no other reason why this man chose to select me for his companion
+in such an adventure, than the circumstance that I happened to be alone,
+and perhaps I may have looked a little under the weather. He was no sooner
+gone, however, than I managed to get near my shipmates, and to call them
+out of the garden, one by one. As we went away, I told them all that had
+happened, and we laid our counter-plot. When we reached the Telegraph, it
+was near night, and finding only two of the blacks on board her, we let
+them into the secret, and they joined us, heart and hand. We got something
+to drink, as a matter of course, and tried to pass the time as well as we
+could, until the hour for springing the mine should arrive.</p>
+
+<p>Pretty punctually to the hour, we heard footsteps on the quay, and then a
+gang of men stopped alongside of the ship. We stowed ourselves under the
+bulwarks, and presently the gentlemen came on board, one by one. The
+negroes were too impatient, however, springing out upon their prey a
+little too soon. We secured three of the rascals, but two escaped us, by
+jumping down upon the quay and running. Considering we were all captains,
+this was doing pretty well.</p>
+
+<p>Our three chaps were Englishmen, and I make no doubt belonged to the
+frigate, as stated. As soon as they were fairly pinned, and they
+understood there was no officer among us, they began to beg. They said
+their lives would be forfeited if we gave them up, and they entreated us
+to let them go. We kept them about half an hour, and finally yielded to
+their solicitations, giving them their liberty again. They were very
+thankful for their escape, especially as I told them what had passed
+between myself and the man in the garden. This fellow was one of the two
+that escaped, and had the appearance of a man who might very well become a
+leader among pirates.</p>
+
+<p>The next day the two men-of-war went to sea, and I make no doubt carried
+off the intended pirates in them. As for us seamen, we never told our own
+officers anything about the affair, for I was not quite satisfied with
+myself, after letting the scoundrels go. One scarcely knows what to do in
+such a case, as one does not like to be the means of getting a
+fellow-creature hanged, or of letting a rogue escape. A pirate, of all
+scoundrels, deserves no mercy, and yet Jack does not relish the idea of
+being a sort of Jack Ketch, neither. If the thing were to be done over
+again, I think I should hold on to my prisoners.</p>
+
+<p>We discharged our cargo of flour, and failing in the attempt to sell the
+schooner, we took in dye-wood, and returned to New York. I now made a
+serious attempt to alter my mode of living, and to try to get up a few
+rounds of the great ladder of life. Hitherto, I had felt a singular
+indifference whether I went to sea as an officer, or as a foremast Jack,
+with the exception of the time I had a marriage with Sarah in view. But I
+was now drawing near to thirty, and if anything was to be done, it must be
+done at once. Looking about me, I found a brig called the Hippomenes,
+bound to Gibraltar, and back. I shipped before the mast, but kept a
+reckoning, and did all I could to qualify myself to become an officer. We
+had a winter passage out, but a pleasant one home. Nothing worthy of being
+recorded, however, occurred. I still continued to be tolerably correct,
+and after a short stay on shore, I shipped in the Belle Savage, commanded
+by one of the liberated Halifax prisoners, who had come home in the Swede,
+at the time of my own return. This person agreed to take me as chief mate,
+and I shipped accordingly. The Belle Savage was a regular Curacoa trader,
+and we sailed ten or twelve days after the Hippomenes got in. Our passages
+both ways were pleasant and safe, and I stuck by the craft, endeavouring
+to be less thoughtless and careless about myself. I cannot say, however, I
+had any very serious plans for making provision for old age, my maxim
+being to live as I went along.</p>
+
+<p>Our second passage out to Curacoa, in the Belle Savage, was pleasant, and
+brought about nothing worthy of being mentioned. At Curacoa we took in
+mahogany, and in so doing a particularly large log got away from us, and
+slid, end on, against the side of the vessel. We saw no consequences at
+the time, and went on to fill up, with different articles, principally
+dye-woods, coffee, cocoa, &amp;c. We got some passengers, among whom was a Jew
+merchant, who had a considerable amount of money on board. When ready, we
+sailed, being thirty souls in all, crew and passengers included.</p>
+
+<p>The Belle Savage had cleared the islands, and was standing on her course,
+one day, with a fair wind and a five or six knot breeze, under a
+fore-top-mast studding-sail, everything looking bright and prosperous. The
+brig must have been about a day's run to the southward of Bermuda. It was
+my watch below, but having just breakfasted, I was on deck, and looking
+about me carelessly, I was struck with the appearance of the vessel's
+being deeper than common. I had a little conversation about it, with a man
+in the forechains, who thought the same thing. This man leaned over, in
+order to get a better look, when he called out that he could see that we
+had started a butt! I went over, immediately, and got a look at this
+serious injury. A butt had started, sure enough, just under the chains,
+but so low down as to be quite out of our reach. The plank had started
+quite an inch, and it was loosened as much as two feet, forward and aft.
+We sounded the pumps, as soon as possible, and found the brig was half
+full of water!</p>
+
+<p>All hands were now called to get both the boats afloat, and there was
+certainly no time to be lost. The water rose over the cabin-floor while we
+were doing it. We did not stand to get up tackles, but cut away the rail
+and launched the long-boat by hand. We got the passengers, men, women,
+children, and servants into her, as fast as possible, and followed
+ourselves. Fortunately, there had been a brig in company for some time,
+and she was now less than two leagues ahead of us, outsailing the Belle
+Savage a little. We had hoisted our ensign, union down, as a signal of
+distress, and well knew she must see that our craft had sunk, after it
+happened, if she did not observe our ensign. She perceived the signal,
+however, and could not fail to notice the manner in which the brig was all
+adrift, as soon as we deserted the helm. The strange brig had hauled up
+for us even before we got out the launch. This rendered any supply of food
+or water unnecessary, and we were soon ready to shove off. I was in the
+small boat, with three men. We pulled off a little distance, and lay
+looking at our sinking craft with saddened eyes. Even the gold, that
+precious dust which lures so many souls to eternal perdition, was
+abandoned in the hurry to save the remnants of lives to be passed on
+earth. The Belle Savage settled quite slowly into the ocean, one sail
+disappearing after another, her main-royal being the last thing that went
+out of sight, looking like the lug of a man-of-war's boat on the water. It
+is a solemn thing to see a craft thus swallowed up in the great vortex of
+the ocean.</p>
+
+<p>The brig in sight proved to be the Mary, of New York, from St. Thomas,
+bound home. She received us kindly, and six days later landed us all at no
+great distance from Fulton Market. When my foot touched the wharf, my
+whole estate was under my hat, and my pockets were as empty as a vessel
+with a swept hold. On the wharf, itself, I saw a man who had been
+second-mate of the Tontine, the little ship in which I had sailed when I
+first ran from the Sterling. He was now master of a brig called the
+Mechanic, that was loading near by, for Trinidad de Cuba. He heard my
+story, and shipped me on the spot, at nine dollars a month, as a forward
+hand. I began to think I was born to bad luck, and being almost naked, was
+in nowise particular what became of me. I had not the means of getting a
+mate's outfit, though I might possibly have got credit; but at no period
+of my life did I run in debt. Here, then, my craft got stern-way on her
+again, and I had a long bit of rough water to go over.</p>
+
+<p>The Mechanic sailed four or five days after the Mary arrived, and I
+travelled the old road over again. Nothing happened until we got to the
+southward of Cuba. But my bad luck had thrown me into the West India trade
+at the very moment when piracy was coming to its height in those seas,
+though I never thought on the subject at all. Off the Isle of Pines, one
+morning, we made a schooner and a sloop, in-shore of us, and both bore up
+in chase. We knew them to be pirates, and crowded sail dead before the
+wind to get clear. The captain determined, if necessary, to run down as
+far as Jamaica, where he expected to fall in with some of the English
+cruisers. The schooner sailed very fast, and was for coming up with us,
+but they made the mistake of setting a flying-topsail on board her, and
+from that moment we dropped her. It was thought in our brig, that the
+little craft buried too much, with such a pressure aloft. The chase lasted
+all day, a Sunday, and a part of the night; but the following morning
+nothing was to be seen of either of our pursuers. Our captain, whose name
+was Ray, thought he knew who commanded the schooner, a man who had been
+his enemy, and it was believed the pirates knew our brig, as she was a
+regular trader to Trinidad. This made our captain more ticklish, and was
+the reason he was off so soon.</p>
+
+<p>When we found the coast clear, we hauled up, again, and made our port
+without further molestation. The chase was so common a thing, that little
+was said about the affair. We discharged, took in a new cargo, and sailed
+for home in due time. Care was had in sailing at an early hour, and we
+sent a boat out to look if the coast were clear, before we put to sea. We
+met with no interruption, however, reaching New York in due time.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Ray was desirous I should stick by the brig; but, for some reason
+I cannot explain, I felt averse to returning to Trinidad. I liked the
+vessel well enough, was fond of the captain, and thought little of the
+pirates; and yet I felt an unaccountable reluctance to re-shipping in the
+craft. It was well I had this feeling, for, I have since heard, this very
+schooner got the brig the next passage out, murdered all hands, and burnt
+the vessel, in sight of the port! I set this escape down, as one of the
+many unmerited favours I have received from Providence.</p>
+
+<p>My next berth was that of second-mate on board a new ship, in the
+Charleston trade, called the Franklin. I made the voyage, and, for a
+novelty, did not run in the southern port, which was a rare circumstance
+in that place.</p>
+
+<p>I got but twelve dollars, as dickey, in the Franklin, and left her to get
+twenty, with the same berth, on board a ship called the Foster, commanded
+by the same master as had commanded the Jane, in my former voyage to
+Ireland. The Foster was bound to Belfast, which port we reached without
+any accident. We took in salt, and a few boxes of linens, for Norfolk;
+arrived safe, discharged, and went up the James river to City Point, after
+a cargo of tobacco. Thence we sailed for Rotterdam. The ship brought back
+a quantity of gin to New York, and this gin caused me some trouble. We had
+a tremendous passage home--one of the worst I ever experienced at sea. The
+ship's rudder got loose, and was secured with difficulty. We had to reef
+all three of our top-masts, also, to save the spars; after which we could
+only carry double-reefed topsails. It was in the dead of winter, and the
+winds hung to the westward for a long time. The cook, a surly negro, was
+slack in duty, and refused to make scous for us, though there were plenty
+of potatoes on board. All the people but five were off duty, and it came
+hard on those who kept watch. We determined, at length, to bring the black
+to his senses, and I had him seized to the windlass. Everybody but the
+captain took three clips at him; the fellow being regularly cobbed,
+according to sea usage. This was lawful punishment for a cook.</p>
+
+<p>We got our scous after this, but the negro logged the whole transaction,
+as one may suppose. He was particularly set against me, as I had been
+ringleader in the cobbing. The weather continued bad, the watches were
+much fagged, and the ship gave no grog. At length I could stand it no
+longer, or thought I could not; and I led down betwixt decks, tapped a
+cask of gin, introduced the stem of a clean pipe and took a nip at the
+bowl. All my watch smoked this pipe pretty regularly, first at one cask
+and then at another, until we got into port. The larboard watch did the
+same, and I do think the strong liquor helped us along that time. As bad
+luck would have it, the cook's wood was stowed among the casks, and, one
+morning, just as the last of us had knocked off smoking, we saw the wool
+of this gentleman heaving in sight, through the hatch by which we went
+down. Still, nothing was said until we came to be paid off, when the darky
+came out with his yarn. I owned it all, and insisted we never could have
+brought the ship in, unless we had got the gin. I do believe both captain
+and owner were sorry we had been complained of, but they could not
+overlook the matter. I was mulcted five-and-twenty dollars, and left the
+ship. I know I did wrong, and I know that the owners did what was right;
+but I cannot help thinking, bad as gin is on a long pull, that this did us
+good. I was not driven from the ship; on the contrary, both master and
+Owners wished me to remain; but I felt a little savage, and quitted their
+employment.</p>
+
+<p>That I did not carry a very bad character away with me, is to be proved by
+the fact that I shipped, the same day, on board the Washington, a vessel
+bound to London, and which lay directly alongside of the Foster. I had the
+same berth as that I had just left, with the advantage of getting better
+wages. This voyage carried me to London for the first time since I left it
+in the Sterling. Too many years had elapsed, in the interval, for me to
+find any old acquaintances; and I had grown from a boy to a man. Here I
+got a little insight into the business of carrying passengers, our ship
+bringing more or less, each passage. I stuck by the Washington a year,
+making no less than three voyages in her; the last, as her chief mate.
+Nothing occurred worth mentioning in the four first passages across the
+Atlantic; but the fifth produced a little more variety.</p>
+
+<p>The Washington had proved to be a leaky ship, every passage I made in her.
+We had docked her twice in London, and it had done her good. The first
+week out, on the fifth passage, the ship proved tight, but the weather was
+moderate. It came on to blow heavily, however, when we got to the eastward
+of the Banks; and the vessel, which was scudding under her close-reefed
+main-topsail and foresail, laboured so much, that I became uneasy. I knew
+she was overloaded, and was afraid of the effects of a gale. It was my
+practice to keep one pump ready for sounding the wells, and I never
+neglected this duty in my watch. When the gale was at the height, in my
+forenoon's watch below, I felt so uncomfortable, that I turned out and
+went on deck, in nothing but my trowsers, to sound, although I had sounded
+less than two hours before, and found the water at the sucking-height,
+only. To my surprise, it was now three feet!</p>
+
+<p>This change was so great and so sudden, all of us thought there must be
+some mistake. I carried the rod below, to dry it, and covered the lower
+part with ashes. I could not have been busy in drying the rod more than
+ten or fifteen minutes, when it was lowered again. The water had risen
+several inches in that short period!</p>
+
+<p>All this looked very serious; and I began to think a third raft was to
+founder under me. After a short consultation it was determined to lighten
+the ship. The foresail was hauled up, the men got into the rigging to keep
+clear of the seas, and the vessel was rounded-to. We then knocked away the
+wash-boards in the wake of the two hatches, and began to tumble the
+barrels of turpentine on deck. I never felt so strong in my life, nor did
+so much work in so short a time. During the labour I went below to splice
+the main-brace, and, after putting a second-mate's nip of brandy into my
+glass, filled it, as I supposed, with water, drinking it all down without
+stopping to breathe. It turned out that my water was high-proof gin; yet
+this draught had no more effect on me than if it had been so much cold
+water. In ordinary times, it would have made me roaring drunk.</p>
+
+<p>We tumbled up all the cargo from betwixt decks, landing it on deck, where
+it rolled into the sea of itself, and were about to begin upon the lower
+hold, when the captain called out avast, as the pumps gained fast. Half an
+hour later, they sucked. This was joyful news, indeed, for I had begun to
+think we should be driven to the boats. Among the cargo were some pickled
+calf-skins. In the height of the danger I caught the cook knocking the
+head out of a cask, and stowing some of the skins in a tub. Asking the
+reason why he did this, he told me he wanted to take some of those fine
+skins home with him! It was a pity they should be lost!</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the pumps sucked, the ship was kept away to her course, and she
+proved to be as tight as a bottle. Eight or ten days later, while running
+on our course under studding-sails, we made a large vessel ahead, going
+before the wind like ourselves, but carrying reefed topsails, with
+top-gallant-sails over them, and her ensign whipped. Of course we neared
+her fast, and as we came up with her, saw that she was full of men, and
+that her crew were pumping and bailing. We knew how to pity the poor
+fellows, and running alongside, demanded the news. We were answered first
+with three cheers, after which we heard their story.</p>
+
+<p>The vessel was an English bark, full of soldiers, bound to New Brunswick.
+She had sprung a leak, like ourselves, and was only kept afloat by
+constant pumping and bailing. She had put back for England on account of
+the wind and the distance. Our captain was asked to keep near the
+transport, and we shortened sail accordingly. For three days and nights
+the two vessels ran side by side, within hail; our passengers and officers
+drinking to theirs, and <i>vice vers&acirc;,</i> at dinner. On the fourth day, the
+weather being fine, the wind fair, and our reckoning making us near the
+channel, we told the Englishman we would run ahead, make the land, and
+heave-to. We stood in so far that the poor fellows owned afterwards they
+thought we had left them. This was not our intention, however, for we no
+sooner made the land than we hauled up, and brought them the joyful news
+of its vicinity. They cheered us again, as we closed with them, and both
+ships jogged on in company.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning, being well in with the land, and many vessels in sight, the
+Englishmen desired us to make sail, as they could carry their bark into
+Falmouth. We did so, and reached London, in due time. On our return to New
+York, the Washington was sold, and I lost my preferment in that
+employment, though I went with a character to another vessel, and got the
+same berth.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter XIII.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>My next craft was the Camillus, a ship that was bound to Greenock, via
+Charleston. We got to the latter port without accident, and took in a
+cargo of cotton. The ship was all ready for sailing of a Saturday, and the
+captain had gone ashore, telling me he would be on board early in the
+morning, when we could haul out and go to sea, should the wind be
+favourable. I gave the people their Saturday's night, and went into the
+cabin to freshen the nip, myself. I took a glass or two, and certainly had
+more in me than is good for a man, though I was far from being downright
+drunk. In a word, I had too much, though I could have carried a good deal
+more, on a pinch. The steward had gone ashore, and there being no
+second-mate, I was all alone.</p>
+
+<p>In this state of things, I heard a noise, and went on deck to inquire
+what was the matter. My old ship, the Franklin, was shifting her berth,
+and her jib-boom had come foul of our taffrail. After some hailing, I got
+on the taffrail to shove our neighbour off, when, by some carelessness of
+my own, I fell head-foremost, hitting the gunwale of the boat, which was
+hanging, about half way up to the davits, into the water. The tide set me
+away, and carried me between the wharf and the ship astern of us, which
+happened to be the William Thompson, Captain Thompson, owner Thompson,
+mate Thompson, and all Thompson, as Mathews used to have it. Captain
+Thompson was reading near the cabin windows, and he luckily heard me
+groan. Giving the alarm, a boat was got round, and I taken in. As the
+night was dark, and I lost all consciousness after the fall, I consider
+this escape as standing second only to that from the shark in the West
+Indies, and old Trant's gun, the night the Scourge went down. I did not
+recover my recollection for several hours. This was not the effect of
+liquor, but of the fall, as I remember everything distinctly that occurred
+before I went from the taffrail. Still I confess that liquor did all the
+mischief, as I had drunk just enough to make me careless.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning, I found myself disabled in the left arm, and I went to a
+doctor. This gentleman said he never told a fellow what ailed him until he
+got his whack. I gave him a dollar, and he then let me into the secret. My
+collar-bone was broken. "And, now," says he, "for another dollar I'll
+patch you up." I turned out the other Spaniard, when he was as good as his
+word. Going in the ship, however, was out of the question, and I was
+obliged to get a young man to go on board the Camillus in my place; thus
+losing the voyage and my berth.</p>
+
+<p>I was now ashore, with two or three months of drift before me. Since the
+time I joined the Washington, I had been going regularly ahead, and I do
+think had I been able to stick by the Camillus, I might have brought up a
+master. I had laid up money, and being employed while in port, I was
+gradually losing my taste for sailor amusements, and getting more respect
+for myself. That fall from the Jaffrail was a sad drawback for me, and I
+never recovered the lee-way it brought about.</p>
+
+<p>I was more than two months ashore, behaving myself rationally on account
+of my arm. At the end of that time, I went on board the Sally, a ship also
+bound to Greenock, as her second-mate. This vessel belonged to Charleston,
+and it was intended she should return to her own port. The voyage turned
+out well, and my arm got as strong as ever. On reaching Charleston, I left
+the craft, which was laid up, and shipped in a schooner of the same name,
+bound to St. Domingo, as her chief mate. This was no great craft,
+certainly, though she proved a tight, wholesome sea-boat. We went out
+without any accident, arriving in safety at Cape Henry. After discharging
+cargo, and smuggling on board a quantity of doubloons--four hundred and
+eighty, it was said--we got under way for the island of Cuba. We intended
+to go into Matanzas, and kept along the coast. After crossing the Windward
+Passage, we reached Cuba; and were standing on, with a light wind, under
+our square-sail, the morning of the third day out, when we saw a large
+boat, carrying two sails, standing out from the shore, evidently in chase
+of the schooner. We had on board eight souls, viz. the owner, a Frenchman,
+who had been a dragoon in the service of his own country, but who was now
+between seventy and eighty; the captain, myself, a boy, the cook, and four
+men forward. We could see that there were nine men in the boat. We had no
+arms in the schooner, not even a pistol, and the men in the boat had
+muskets. We did not ascertain this last fact, however, for some time. I
+thought the strangers pirates the moment I saw them come out from under
+the land, but the captain maintained that they were turtle-men. The boat
+was rowing, and came up with us, hand over hand. When near, they commenced
+firing muskets at us, to drive us below. All the crew forward, with the
+cook, ran down into the forecastle, leaving no one on deck but the
+captain, the old Frenchman, and myself. The boy got into the
+companion-way.</p>
+
+<p>What the others did on deck, as these gentry came alongside, amusing
+themselves with keeping up a smart fire of musketry, I do not know; but my
+own occupation was to dodge behind the foremast. It was not long, however,
+before they came tumbling in, and immediately got possession of the
+schooner. One or two came forward and secured the forecastle hatch, to
+keep the people down. Then they probably felt that they were masters. One
+chap drew a fearful-looking knife, long, slender, sharp and glittering,
+and he cut the halyards of the square-sail. All the men I saw in the
+schooner struck me as Americans, or English, affecting to be Spaniards.
+There is such a difference in the height, complexion, and general
+appearance of the people of Spain, and those of the two other countries,
+without reference to the manner of speaking, that I do not think I could
+be mistaken. I saw but one man among these pirates, whom I took for a real
+Spaniard. It is true their faces were all blacked to disguise them, but
+one could get enough glimpses of the skin to judge of the true colour.
+There was no negro among them.</p>
+
+<p>The chap who cut away the square-sail halyards, I felt certain was no
+Spaniard. The sail was no sooner down, than he ran his knife along the
+head, below the bolt-rope, as if to cut away the cloth with the least
+trouble to himself. I was standing near, and asked him why he destroyed
+the sail; if he wanted it, why he did not take it whole? At this, he
+turned short round upon me, raised his arm, and struck a heavy blow at me
+with his fearful-looking knife. The point of the deadly weapon struck
+square on my breast-bone! I fell, partly through the force of the blow,
+and partly from policy; for I thought it safest to be lying on my back. I
+got several hearty kicks, in addition to this fierce attack, together with
+sundry curses in broken Spanish. I spoke in English, of course; and that
+the man understood me was clear enough by the expression of his
+countenance, and his act. The wound was slight, though it bled a good
+deal, covering my shirt and trowsers with blood, as much as if I had been
+run through the heart. An inch or two, either way, in the direction of the
+knife, would certainly have killed me.</p>
+
+<p>I do not know what might haye been the end of this affair, had not one of
+the pirates come forward, at this critical instant, and checked my
+assailant by shaking a finger at him. This man, I feel very certain, I
+knew. I will not mention his name, as there is a doubt; but I cannot think
+I was mistaken. If I am right, he was a young man from Connecticut, who
+sailed one voyage to Liverpool with me in The Sterling. With that young
+man I had been very intimate, and was oftener with him ashore than with
+any other of the crew. His face was blackened, like those of all his
+companions, but this did not conceal his air, manner, size, eyes and
+voice. When he spoke, it was in a jargon of broken English and broken
+Spanish, such as no man accustomed to either language from infancy would
+have used. The same was true as to all the rest I heard speak, with the
+exception of an old fellow in the boat, whom I shall presently have
+occasion to mention, again.</p>
+
+<p>The man I took to be my old shipmate, also seemed to know me. I was but a
+lad when I quitted the Sterling, it is true; but they tell me I have not
+altered a great deal in general appearance. My hair is still black; and
+then, when I was in the very prime of life, it must have been easy to
+recognize me. So strongly was I impressed, at the time, that I saw an old
+acquaintance, I was about to call him by name, when, luckily, it crossed
+my mind this might be dangerous. The pirates wished clearly to be unknown,
+and it was wisest to let them think they were so. My supposed shipmate,
+however, proved my friend, and I received no more personal ill treatment
+after he had spoken to his companion. I sometimes think he was the means,
+indeed, of saving all our lives. He asked me if there was any money, and,
+on my denying it, he told me they knew better: the schooner was in
+ballast, and must have got something for her outward cargo. I refused to
+tell, and he ordered me into their boat, whither the captain had been sent
+before me. In doing all this, his manner wore an appearance, to me, of
+assumed severity.</p>
+
+<p>The poor old Frenchman fared worse. They seemed to know he was owner, and
+probably thought he could give the best account of the money. At any rate,
+he was unmercifully flogged, though he held out to the last, refusing to
+betray his doubloons. The boy was next attacked-with threats of throwing
+him overboard. This extracted the secret, and the doubloons were soon
+discovered.</p>
+
+<p>The captain and myself had been stowed under a half-deck, in the boat, but
+as soon as the money was found, the old Spaniard, who stood sentinel over
+us, was told to let us out, that we might see the fun. There were the
+eight scoundrels, paraded around the trunk of the schooner, dividing the
+doubloons. As soon as this was done, we were told to come alongside with
+our boat, which had been used to carry us to the piratical craft. The
+captain got on board the Sally and I was ordered to scull the rogues, in
+one gang, back to their own craft. The scamps were in high spirits,
+seeming much pleased with their haul. They cracked a good many jokes at
+our expense, but were so well satisfied with their gold, that they left
+the square-sail behind them. They had robbed the cabin, however, carrying
+off, for me, a quadrant, a watch, and a large portion of my clothes. The
+forecastle had not been entered, though the men had four hundred dollars
+lying under a pile of dirt and old junk, to keep them out of sight.</p>
+
+<p>My supposed shipmate bore me in mind to the last. When we reached his
+craft, he poured out a glass of brandy and offered it to me. I was afraid
+to drink, thinking it might be poisoned. He seemed to understand me, and
+swallowed it himself, in a significant manner. This gave me courage, and I
+took the next nip without hesitation. He then told me to shove off, which
+I did without waiting for a second order. The pirates pulled away at the
+same time.</p>
+
+<p>We were a melancholy party, as soon as we found ourselves left to
+ourselves. The old Frenchman was sad enough, and all of us pitied him. He
+made no complaint of the boy, notwithstanding, and little was said among
+us about the robbery. My wound proved trifling, though the old man was so
+bruised and beaten that he could scarcely walk.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as a breeze came, we went into Charleston, having no means to buy
+the cargo we had intended to get at Matanzas. This was the first time I
+was ever actually boarded by a pirate, although I had had several narrow
+escapes before. The first was in the Sterling, off the coast of Portugal;
+the next was in the William and Jane, outward bound to Canton; the third
+was on the bank, in the Trio, off the coast of Java; and the fourth, in
+the Mechanic, on the other side of Cuba. It was not the last of my affairs
+with them, however, as will be seen in the sequel.</p>
+
+<p>I went out in the Sally again, making a voyage to Matanzas and back,
+without any accident, or incident, worth mentioning. I still intended to
+remain in this schooner, the captain and I agreeing perfectly well, had I
+not been driven out of her by one of those unlucky accidents, of which so
+many have laid me athwart-hawse.</p>
+
+<p>We were discharging sugar at Charleston, in very heavy casks. The tide
+being in, the vessel's rail was higher than the wharf, and we landed the
+casks on the rail, from which they were rolled down some planks to the
+shore. Two negroes were stationed on the wharf to receive the casks, and
+to ease them down. One of these fellows was in the practice of running up
+the planks, instead of standing at their side and holding on to the end of
+the hogsheads. I remonstrated with him several times about the danger he
+ran, but he paid no attention to what I said. At length my words came
+true; a cask got away from the men, and rolled directly over this negro,
+flattening him like a bit of dough.</p>
+
+<p>This was clearly an accident, and no one thought of accusing me of any
+connection with it. But the owner of the black looked upon him as one
+would look upon a hack-horse that had been lamed, or killed; and he came
+down to the schooner, on hearing that his man was done for, swearing I
+should pay for him! As for paying the price of an athletic "nigger," it
+was even more impossible for me, than it would seem it is for the great
+State of Pennsylvania to pay the interest on its debt; and, disliking a
+lawsuit, I carried my dunnage on board another vessel that same afternoon,
+and agreed to work my passage to New York, as her second-mate.</p>
+
+<p>The vessel I now went on board of was the Commodore Rodgers, a regular
+liner between the two ports. We sailed next morning, and I paid for the
+poor "nigger" with the fore-topsail. The ship's husband was on board as we
+hauled out, a man who was much in the habit of abusing the mates. On this
+occasion he was particularly abusive to our chief mate; so much so,
+indeed, that I remonstrated with the latter on his forbearance. Nothing
+came of it, however, though I could not forget the character of the man
+who had used such language. When we reached New York, our chief mate left
+us, and I was offered the berth. It was a little hazardous to go back to
+Charleston, but wages were low, and business dull, the yellow fever being
+in New York, and I thought, by a little management, I might give my
+"nigger owner" a sufficient berth. I accordingly agreed to go.</p>
+
+<p>When we got back to Charleston, our ship lay at her own wharf, and I saw
+nothing of my chap. He worked up town, and we lay low down, But another
+misfortune befel me, that led even to worse consequences. The ship's
+husband, who was so foul-mouthed, was as busy as ever, blackguarding right
+and left, and finding fault with everything. Our cargo was nearly out, and
+this man and I had a row about some kegs of white lead. In the course of
+the dialogue, he called me "a saucy son of a b--h." This was too much for
+my temper, and I seized him and sent him down the hatchway. The fall was
+not great, and some hemp lay in the wake of the hatch; but the chap's
+collar-bone went. He sung out like a singing-master, but I did not stop to
+chime in. Throwing my slate on deck in a high passion, I left the ship and
+went ashore. I fell in with the captain on the wharf, told him my story,
+got a promise from him to send me my clothes, and vanished. In an hour or
+two, half the constables in Charleston were in chase of me. I kept so
+close they could not find me, lying snug for a couple of days.</p>
+
+<p>This state of things could not last for ever. The constables were not half
+so ferocious as they seemed; for one of them managed to get me off, on
+board a coaster, called the Gov. Russel; where I engaged, I may say, as
+chief mate and all hands. The Gov. Russel was a Buford trader, making
+trips about fifteen or twenty leagues long. This was the smallest
+navigation, and the smallest craft, a gun-boat excepted, with which I ever
+had anything to do. The crew consisted of two negroes, both slaves to the
+owner, while the captain and myself were aft. Whether she would have held
+so many, or not, I never knew, as the captain did not join, while I
+belonged to her. The schooner lay three miles below the town; and, in so
+much, was a good craft for me; as no one would think of following an old
+Canton trader into such a 'long-shore-looking thing. We busied ourselves
+in painting her, and in overhauling her rigging, while the ship's husband,
+and his myrmidons, amused themselves in searching for me up in town.</p>
+
+<p>I had been on board the Gov. Russel three days, when it came on to blow
+from the southward and westward, in true southern style. The gale came on
+butt-end foremost; and was thought to be as severe, as anything seen in
+the port for many a year. Most of the shipping broke adrift from the
+wharves; and everything that was anchored, a man-of-war and a
+revenue-cutter excepted, struck adrift, or dragged. As for ourselves, we
+were lying at single anchor; and soon began to walk down towards the bar.
+I let go the spare anchor; but she snapped her cables, as if they had been
+pack-thread; and away she went to leeward. Making sail was out of the
+question, had any been bent, as ours were not; and I had to let her travel
+her own road.</p>
+
+<p>All this happened at night; when it was so dark, one could not see,
+between the spray, the storm and the hour, the length of the craft. I knew
+we were going towards the ocean; and my great cause of apprehension was
+the bar. Looking for the channel, was out of the question; I did not know
+it, in the first place; and, had I been a branch-pilot, I could not find
+it in the dark. I never was more completely adrift, in my life, ashore or
+afloat. We passed a most anxious hour, or two; the schooner driving,
+broadside-to, I knew not whither, or to what fate. The two blacks were
+frightened out of their wits; and were of no assistance to me.</p>
+
+<p>At length, I felt the keel come down upon the sands; and then I knew we
+were on the bar. This happened amid a whirlwind of spray; with nothing
+visible but the white foam of the waters, and the breakers around us. The
+first blow threw both masts out of the steps; ripping up the decks to a
+considerable extent. The next minute we were on our beam-ends; the sea
+making a clear breach over us. All we could do, was to hold on; and this
+we did with difficulty. I and the two blacks got on the weather-quarter of
+the schooner, where we lashed ourselves with the main-sheet. As this was a
+stout rope, something must part, before we could be washed away. The craft
+made but two raps on the bar, when she drifted clear.</p>
+
+<p>I now knew we were at sea, and were drifting directly off the coast. As we
+got into deep water, the sea did not make such terrible surges over us;
+though they continued to break over our quarter. The masts were thumping
+away; but for this I cared little, the hold being full of water already.
+Sink we could not, having a wept hold, and being built, in a great
+measure, of pine. The schooner floated with about five feet of her
+quarter-deck above water. Her bows had settled the most; and this gave us
+rather a better chance aft.</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately, we got the worst of this blow at the first go off. The wind
+began to lessen in strength soon after we passed the bar, and by day-light
+it only blew a stiff breeze. No land was in sight, though I knew, by the
+colour of the water, that we could not be a very great distance from the
+coast. We had come out on an ebb-tide, and this had set us off the land,
+but all that southern coast is so low, that it was not to be seen from the
+surface of the ocean at any great distance.</p>
+
+<p>The day that succeeded was sad and dreary enough. The weather was fine,
+the sun coming out even hot upon us, but the wind continued to blow fresh
+off the land, and we were drifting further out, every instant, upon the
+bosom of the ocean. Our only hope was in falling in with some coaster, and
+I began to dread drifting outside of their track. We were without food or
+water, and were partly seated on the rail, and partly supported by the
+main-sheet. Neither of us attempted to change his berth that day. Little
+was said between us, though I occasionally encouraged the negroes to hold
+on, as something would yet pick us up. I had a feeling of security on this
+head that was unreasonable, perhaps; but a sanguine temperament has ever
+made me a little too indifferent to consequences.</p>
+
+<p>Night brought no change, unless it was to diminish the force of the wind.
+A short time before the sun set, one of the negroes said to me, "Masser
+Ned, John gone." I was forward of the two blacks, and was not looking at
+them at the time; I suppose I may have been dozing; but, on looking up, I
+found that one of the negroes had, indeed, disappeared. How this happened
+I cannot say, as he appeared to be well lashed; but I suppose he worked
+himself free, and being exhausted, he fell into the water, and sunk before
+I could get a glimpse of him. There was nothing to be done, however, and
+the loss of this man had a tendency to make me think our situation worse
+than it had before seemed to be. Some persons, all good Christians I
+should suppose, will feel some curiosity to know whether a man in my
+situations had no disposition to take a religious view of his case, and
+whether his conscience did not apprise him of the chances of perdition
+that seemed to stare him in the face. In answer to this, I am compelled to
+say that no such thoughts came over me. In all my risks and emergencies, I
+am not sensible of having given a thought to my Maker. I had a sense of
+fear, an apprehension of death, and an instinctive desire to save my life,
+but no consciousness of the necessity of calling on any being to save my
+soul. Notwithstanding all the lessons I had received in childhood, I was
+pretty nearly in the situation of one who had never heard the name of the
+Saviour mentioned. The extent of my reflections on such subjects, was the
+self-delusion of believing that I was to save myself--I had done no great
+harm, according to the notions of sailors; had not robbed; had not
+murdered; and had observed the mariner's code of morals, so far as I
+understood them; and this gave me a sort of <i>claim</i> on the mercy of God.
+In a word, the future condition of my soul gave me no trouble whatever.</p>
+
+<p>I dare say my two companions on this little wreck had the same
+indifference on this subject, as I felt myself. I heard no prayer, no
+appeal to God for mercy, nothing indeed from any of us, to show that we
+thought at all on the subject. Hunger gave me a little trouble, and during
+the second night I would fall into a doze, and wake myself up by dreaming
+of eating meals that were peculiarly grateful to me. I have had the same
+thing happen on other occasions, when on short allowance of food. Neither
+of the blacks said anything on the subject of animal suffering, and the
+one that was lost, went out, as it might be, like a candle.</p>
+
+<p>The sun rose on the morning of the second day bright and clear. The wind
+shifted about this time, to a gentle breeze from the southward and
+eastward. This was a little encouraging, as it was setting the schooner
+in-shore again, but I could discover nothing in sight. There was still a
+good deal of sea going, and we were so low in the water, that our range of
+sight was very limited.</p>
+
+<p>It was late in the forenoon, when the negro called out, suddenly, "Massa
+Ned, dere a vessel!" Almost at the same instant, I heard voices calling
+out; and, looking round I saw a small coasting schooner, almost upon us.
+She was coming down before the wind, had evidently seen us some time
+before we saw her, and now ranged up under our lee, and hove-to. The
+schooner down boat, and took us on board without any delay. We moved with
+difficulty, and I found my limbs so stiff as to be scarcely manageable.
+The black was in a much worse state than I was myself, and I think twelve
+hours longer would have destroyed both of us.</p>
+
+<p>The schooner that picked us up was manned entirely with blacks, and was
+bound into Charleston. At the time she fell in with us, we must have been
+twenty miles from the bar, it taking us all the afternoon, with a fair
+wind, to reach it. We went below, and as soon as I got in the cabin, I
+discovered a kettle of boiled rice, on which I pounced like a hawk. The
+negroes wished to get it away from me, thinking I should injure myself;
+but I would not part with it. The sweetest meal I ever had in my life, was
+this rice, a fair portion of which, however, I gave to my companion. We
+had not fasted long enough materially to weaken our stomachs, and no ill
+consequences followed from the indulgence. After eating heartily, we both
+lay down on the cabin floor, and went to sleep. We reached the wharf about
+eight in the evening. Just within the bar, the schooner was spoken by a
+craft that was going out in search of the Gov. Russel. The blacks told her
+people where the wreck was to be found, and the craft stood out to sea.</p>
+
+<p>I was strong enough to walk up to my boarding-house, where I went again
+into quarantine. The Gov. Russel was found, towed into port, was repaired,
+and went about her business, as usual, in the Buford trade. I never saw
+her or her captain again, however. I parted with the negro that was saved
+with me, on the wharf, and never heard anything about him afterwards,
+either. Such is the life of a sailor!</p>
+
+<p>I was still afraid of the constables. So much damage had been done to more
+important shipping, and so many lives lost, however, that little was said
+of the escape of the Gov. Russel. Then I was not known in this schooner by
+my surname. When I threw the ship's husband down the hold, I was Mr.
+Myers; when wrecked in the coaster, only Ned.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter XIV.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>Notwithstanding my comparative insignificance, there was no real security
+in remaining long in Charleston, and it was my strong desire to quit the
+place. As "beggars cannot be choosers," I was glad to get on board the
+schooner Carpenter, bound to St. Mary's and Philadelphia, for, and with,
+ship-timber, as a foremast hand. I got on board undetected, and we sailed
+the same day. Nothing occurred until after we left St. Mary's, when we met
+with a singular accident. A few days out, it blowing heavy at the time,
+our deck-load pressed so hard upon the beams as to loosen them, and the
+schooner filled as far as her cargo--yellow pine--would allow. This
+calamity proceeded from the fact, that the negroes who stowed the craft
+neglected to wedge up the beams; a precaution that should never be
+forgotten, with a heavy weight on deck. No very serious consequences
+followed, however, as we managed to drive the craft ahead, and finally got
+her into Philadelphia, with all her cargo on board. We did not lose a
+stick, which showed that our captain was game, and did not like to let go
+when he had once got hold. This person was a down-easter, and was well
+acquainted with the Johnstons and Wiscasset. He tried hard to persuade me
+to continue in the schooner as mate, with a view to carrying me back to my
+old friends; but I turned a deaf ear to his advice. To own the truth, I
+was afraid to go back to Wiscassett. My own desertion could not well be
+excused, and then I was apprehensive the family might attribute to me the
+desertion and death of young Swett. He had been my senior, it is true, and
+was as able to influence me as I was to influence him; but conscience is a
+thing so sensitive, that, when we do wrong, it is apt to throw the whole
+error into our faces.</p>
+
+<p>Quitting the Carpenter in Philadelphia, therefore, I went to live in a
+respectable boarding-house, and engaged to go out in a brig called the
+Margaret, working on board as a rigger and stevedore, until she should be
+ready to sail. My berth was to be that of mate. The owner of this brig was
+as notorious, in his way, as the ship's husband in Charleston I had heard
+his character, and was determined, if he attempted to ride me, as he was
+said to do many of his mates, and even captains, he should find himself
+mounted on a hard-going animal. One day, things came to a crisis. The
+owner was on the wharf, with me, and such a string of abuse as he launched
+out upon me, I never before listened to. A crowd collected, and my blood
+got up. I seized the man, and dropped him off the wharf into the water,
+alongside of some hoop-poles, that I knew must prevent any accident. In
+this last respect, I was sufficiently careful, though the ducking was very
+thorough. The crowd gave three cheers, which I considered as a proof I was
+not so very wrong. Nothing was said of any suit on this occasion; but I
+walked off, and went directly on board a ship called the Coromandel, on
+which I had had an eye, as a lee, for several days. In this vessel I
+shipped as second-mate; carrying with me all the better character for the
+ducking given to the notorious--------.</p>
+
+<p>The Coromandel was bound to Cadiz, and thence round the Horn. The outward
+bound cargo was flour, but to which ports we were going in South America,
+I was ignorant. Our crew were all blacks, the officers excepted. We had a
+good passage, until we got off Cape Trafalgar, when it came on to blow
+heavily, directly on end. We lay-to off the Cape two days, and then ran
+into Gibraltar, and anchored. Here we lay about a fortnight, when there
+came on a gale from the south-west, which sent a tremendous sea in from
+the Atlantic. This gale commenced in the afternoon, and blew very heavily
+all that night. The force of the wind increased, little by little, until
+it began to tell seriously among the shipping, of which a great number
+were lying in front of the Rock. The second day of the gale, our ship was
+pitching bows under, sending the water aft to the taffrail, while many
+other craft struck adrift, or foundered at their anchors. The Coromandel
+had one chain cable, and this was out. It was the only cable we used for
+the first twenty-four hours. As the gale increased, however, it was
+thought necessary to let go the sheet-anchor, which had a hempen cable
+bent to it. Our chain, indeed, was said to be the first that was ever used
+out of Philadelphia, though it had then been in the ship for some time,
+and had proved itself a faithful servant the voyage before. Unfortunately,
+most of the chain was out before we let go the sheet-anchor, and there was
+no possibility of getting out a scope of the hempen cable. Dragging on
+shore, where we lay, was pretty much out of the question, as the bottom
+shelved inward, and the anchor, to come home, must have gone up hill.[14]</p>
+
+<p>In this manner the Coromandel rode for two nights and two days, the sea
+getting worse and worse, and the wind, it anything, rather increasing. We
+took the weight of the last in squalls, some of which were terrific. By
+this time the bay was well cleared of craft, nearly everything having
+sunk, or gone ashore. An English packet lay directly ahead of us, rather
+more than a cable's length distant, and she held on like ourselves. The
+Governor Brooks, of Boston, lay over nearer to Algesiras, where the sea
+and wind were a little broken, and, of course, she made better weather
+than ourselves.</p>
+
+<p>About eight o'clock, the third night, I was in the cabin, when the men on
+deck sung out that the chain had gone. At this time the ship had been
+pitching her spritsail-yard under water, and it blew a little hurricane.
+We were on deck in a moment, all hands paying out sheet. We brought the
+ship up with this cable, but not until she got it nearly to the better
+end. Unfortunately, we had got into shoal water, or what became shoal
+water by the depth of the troughs. It was said, afterwards, we were in
+five fathoms water at this time, but for this I will not vouch. It seems
+too much water for what happened. Our anchor, however, did actually lie in
+sixteen fathoms.</p>
+
+<p>We had hardly paid out the cable, before the ship came down upon the
+bottom, on an even keel, apparently, with a force that almost threw those
+on deck off their feet. These blows were repeated, from time to time, at
+intervals of several minutes, some of the thumps being much heavier than
+others. The English packet must have struck adrift at the same time with
+ourselves, for she came down upon us, letting go an anchor in a way to
+overlay our cable. I suppose the rocks and this sawing together, parted
+our hempen cable, and away we went towards the shore, broadside-to. As the
+ship drifted in, she continued to thump; but, luckily for us, the sea made
+no breaches over her. The old Coromandel was a very strong ship, and she
+continued working her way in-shore, until she lay in a good substantial
+berth, without any motion. We manned the pumps, and kept the ship
+tolerably free of water, though she lay over considerably. The English
+packet followed us in, going ashore more towards the Spanish lines. This
+vessel bilged, and lost some of her crew. As for ourselves, we had a
+comfortable berth, considering the manner in which we had got into it. No
+apprehension was felt for our personal safety, and perfect order was
+observed on board. The men worked as usual, nor was there any extra
+liquor drunk.</p>
+
+<p>That night the gale broke, and before morning it had materially moderated.
+Lighters were brought alongside, and we began to discharge our flour into
+them. The cargo was all discharged, and all in good order, so far as the
+water was concerned; though several of the keelson bolts were driven into
+the ground tier of barrels. I am almost afraid to tell this story, but I
+know it to be true, as I released the barrels with my own hands. As soon
+as clear, the ship was hove off into deep water, on the top of a high
+tide, and was found to leak so much as to need a shore-gang at the pumps
+to keep her afloat. She was accordingly sold for the benefit of the
+underwriters. She was subsequently docked and sent to sea.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, this broke up our voyage. The captain advised me to take a
+second-mate's berth in the Governor Brooks, the only American that escaped
+the gale, and I did so. This vessel was a brig, bound round the Horn,
+also, and a large, new craft. I know of no other vessel, that lay in front
+of the Rock that rode out this gale; and she did it with two hempen cables
+out, partly protected, however, by a good berth. There was a Swede that
+came back next day to her anchorage, which was said to have got
+back-strapped, behind the Rock, by some legerdemain, and so escaped also.
+I do not know how many lives were lost on this occasion; but the
+destruction of property must have been very great.</p>
+
+<p>Three weeks after the gale, the Governor Brooks sailed. We had a hard time
+in doubling the Cape, being a fortnight knocking about between Falkland
+and the Main. We were one hundred and forty-four days out, touching
+nowhere, until we anchored at Callao. We found flour, of which our cargo
+was composed, at seven dollars a barrel, with seven dollars duty. The
+Franklin 74, was lying here, with the Aurora English frigate, the castle
+being at war with the people inland. Our flour was landed, and what became
+of it is more than I can tell.</p>
+
+<p>We now took in ballast, and ran down to Guayaquil. Here an affair occurred
+that might very well have given me the most serious cause of regret, all
+the days of my life. Our steward was a Portuguese negro, of the most
+vicious and surly temper. Most of the people and officers were really
+afraid of him. One evening, the captain and chief mate being both ashore,
+I was sitting on deck, idle, and I took a fancy to a glass of grog. I
+ordered the steward, accordingly, to pour me out one, and bring it up. The
+man pretended that the captain had carried off the keys, and no rum was to
+be had. I thought this a little extraordinary; and, as one would be very
+apt to be, felt much hurt at the circumstance. I had never been drunk in
+the craft, and was not a drunkard in one sense of the term, at all; seldom
+drinking so as to affect me, except when on a frolic, ashore.</p>
+
+<p>As I sat brooding over this fancied insult, however, I smelt rum; and
+looking down the sky-light, saw this same steward passing forward with a
+pot filled with the liquor. I was fairly blinded with passion. Running
+down, I met the fellow, just as he was coming out of the cabin, and
+brought him up all standing. The man carried a knife along his leg, a
+weapon that had caused a good deal of uneasiness in the brig, and he now
+reached down to get it. Seeing there was no time to parley, I raised him
+from the floor, and threw him down with great force, his head coming
+under. There he lay like a log, and all my efforts with vinegar and water
+had no visible effect.</p>
+
+<p>I now thought the man dead. He gave no sign of life that I could detect,
+and fear of the consequences came over me. The devil put it into my head
+to throw the body overboard, as the most effectual means of concealing
+what I had done. The steward had threatened to run, by swimming, more than
+once, and I believe had been detected in making such an attempt; and I
+fancied if I could get the body through one of the cabin-windows, it would
+seem as if he had been drowned in carrying his project into execution. I
+tried all I could first to restore the steward to life; but failing of
+this, I actually began to drag him aft, in order to force his body out of
+a cabin-window. The transom was high, and the man very heavy; so I was a
+good while in dragging the load up to the necessary height. Just as I got
+it there, the fellow gave a groan, and I felt a relief that I had never
+before experienced. It seemed to me like a reprieve from the gallows.</p>
+
+<p>I now took the steward down, upon one of the lower transoms, where he sat
+rubbing his head a few minutes, I watching him closely the whole time. At
+length he got up, and staggered out of the cabin. He went and turned in,
+and I saw no more of him until next day. As it turned out, good, instead
+of harm, resulted from this affair; the black being ever afterwards
+greatly afraid of me. If I did not break his neck, I broke his temper; and
+the captain used to threaten to set me at him, whenever he behaved amiss.
+I owned the whole affair to the captain and mate, both of whom laughed
+heartily at what had happened, though I rejoiced, in my inmost heart, that
+it was no worse.</p>
+
+<p>The brig loaded with cocao, in bulk, at Guayaquil, and sailed for Cadiz.
+The passage was a fine one, as we doubled the Horn at midsummer. On this
+occasion we beat round the cape, under top-gallant-sails. The weather was
+so fine, we stood close in to get the benefit of the currents, after
+tacking, as it seemed to me, within a league of the land. Our passage to
+Cadiz lasted one hundred and forty-one, or two, days, being nearly the
+same length as that out though much smoother.</p>
+
+<p>The French had just got possession of Cadiz, as we got in, and we found
+the white flag flying. We lay here a month, and then went round to the
+Rock. After passing a week at Gibraltar, to take in some dollars, we
+sailed for New Orleans, in ballast. As I had been on twenty-two dollars a
+month, there was a pretty good whack coming to me, as soon as we reached
+an American port, and I felt a desire to spend it, before I went to sea
+again. They wished me to stick by the brig, which was going the very same
+voyage over; but I could not make up my mind to travel so long a road,
+with a pocket full of money. I had passed so many years at sea, that a
+short land cruise was getting to be grateful, as a novelty.</p>
+
+<p>The only craft I could get on board of, to come round into my own
+latitude, in order to enjoy myself in the old way, was an eastern
+schooner, called the James. On board this vessel I shipped as mate, bound
+to Philadelphia. She was the most meagre craft, in the way of outfit, I
+ever put to sea in. Her boat would not swim, and she had not a spare spar
+on board her. In this style, we went jogging along north, until we were
+met by a north-west gale, between Bermuda and Cape Hatteras, which forced
+us to heave-to. During this gale, I had a proof of the truth that "where
+the treasure is, there will the heart be also."</p>
+
+<p>I was standing leaning on the rail, and looking over the schooner's
+quarter, when I saw what I supposed to be a plank come up alongside! The
+idea of sailing in a craft of which the bottom was literally dropping out,
+was not very pleasant, and I thought all was lost. I cannot explain the
+folly of my conduct, except by supposing that my many escapes at sea, had
+brought me to imagine I was to be saved, myself, let what would happen to
+all the rest on board. Without stopping to reflect, I ran below and
+secured my dollars. Tearing up a blanket, I made a belt, and lashed about
+twenty-five pounds weight of silver to my body, with the prospect before
+me of swimming two or three hundred miles with it, before I could get
+ashore. As for boat, or spars, the former would not float, and of the last
+there was not one. I now look back on my acts of this day with wonder, for
+I had forgotten all my habitual knowledge of vessels, in the desire to
+save the paltry dollars. For the first and only time in my life I felt
+avaricious, and lost sight of everything in money!</p>
+
+<p>It was my duty to sound the pumps, but this I did not deem necessary. No
+sooner were the dollars secure, or, rather, ready to anchor me in the
+bottom of the ocean, than I remembered the captain. He was asleep, and
+waking him up, I told him what had happened. The old man, a dry, drawling,
+cool, down-easter, laughed in my face for my pains, telling me I had seen
+one of the sheeting-boards, with which he had had the bottom of the
+schooner covered, to protect it from the worms, at Campeachy, and that I
+need be under no concern about the schooner's bottom. This was the simple
+truth, and I cast off the dollars, again, with a sneaking consciousness of
+not having done my duty. I suppose all men have moments when they are not
+exactly themselves, in which they act very differently from what it has
+been their practice to act. On this occasion, I was not alarmed for
+myself, but I thought the course I took was necessary to save that dross
+which lures so many to perdition. Avarice blinded me to the secrets of my
+own trade.</p>
+
+<p>I had come all the way from New Orleans to Philadelphia, to spend my four
+hundred dollars to my satisfaction. For two months I lived respectably,
+and actually began to go to church. I did not live in a boarding-house,
+but in a private family. My landlady was a pious woman, and a member of
+the Dutch Reformed Church, but her husband was a Universalist. I must say,
+I liked the doctrine of the last the best, as it made smooth water for the
+whole cruise. I usually went with the man to church of a morning, which
+was falling among shoals, as a poor fellow was striving to get into port.
+I received a great deal of good advice from my landlady, however, and it
+made so much impression on me as to influence my conduct; though I cannot
+say it really touched my heart. I became more considerate, and better
+mannered, if I were not truly repentant for my sins. These two months were
+passed more rationally than any time of mine on shore, since the hour when
+I ran from the Sterling.</p>
+
+<p>The James was still lying in Philadelphia, undergoing repairs, and waiting
+for freight; but being now ready for sea, I shipped in her again, on a
+voyage to St. Thomas, with a cargo of flour. When we sailed, I left near a
+hundred dollars behind me, besides carrying some money to sea; the good
+effects of good company. At St. Thomas we discharged, and took in ballast
+for Turk's Island, where we got a cargo of salt, returning with it to
+Philadelphia. My conduct had been such on board this schooner, that her
+commander, who was her owner, and very old, having determined to knock off
+going to sea, tried to persuade me to stick by the craft, promising to
+make me her captain as soon as he could carry her down east, where she
+belonged. I now think I made a great mistake in not accepting this offer,
+though I was honestly diffident about my knowledge of navigation. I never
+had a clear understanding of the lunars, though I worked hard to master
+them. It is true, chronometers were coming into general use, in large
+vessels, and I could work the time; but a chronometer was a thing never
+heard of on board the James. Attachment to the larger towns, and a dislike
+for little voyages, had as much influence on me as anything else. I
+declined the offer; the only direct one ever made me to command any sort
+of craft, and remained what I am. I had a little contempt, too, for
+vessels of such a rig and outfit, which probably had its influence. I
+liked rich owners.</p>
+
+<p>On my return to Philadelphia, I found the family in which I had last lived
+much deranged by illness. I got my money, but was obliged to look for new
+lodgings. The respectable people with whom I had been before, did not keep
+lodgers, I being their only boarder; but I now went to a regular sailor's
+boarding-house. There was a little aristocracy, it is true, in my new
+lodgings, to which none but mates, dickies, and thorough salts came; but
+this was getting into the hurricane latitudes as to morals. I returned to
+all my old habits, throwing the dollars right and left, and forgetting all
+about even a Universalist church.</p>
+
+<p>A month cleaned me out, in such company. I spent every cent I had, with
+the exception of about fifteen dollars, that I had laid by as nest-eggs. I
+then shipped as second-mate, in the Rebecca Simms, a ship bound to St.
+Jago de Cuba, with flour. The voyage lasted four months; producing nothing
+of moment, but a little affair that was personal to myself, and which cost
+me nearly all my wages. The steward was a saucy black; and, on one
+occasion, in bad weather, he neglected to give me anything warm for
+breakfast. I took an opportunity to give him a taste of the end of the
+main-clew-garnet, as an admonisher; and there the matter ended, so long
+as I remained in the ship. It seemed quite right, to all on board, but the
+steward. He bore the matter in mind, and set a whole pack of quakers on
+me, as soon as we got in. The suit was tried; and it cost me sixty
+dollars, in damages, beside legal charges. I dare say it was all right,
+according to law and evidence; but I feel certain, just such a rubbing
+down, once a week, would have been very useful to that same steward.
+Well-meaning men often do quite as much harm, in this world, as the
+evil-disposed. Philanthropists of this school should not forget, that, if
+colour is no sufficient reason why a man should be always wrong, it is no
+sufficient reason why he should be always right.</p>
+
+<p>The lawsuit drove me to sea, again, in a very short time. Finding no
+better berth, and feeling very savage at the blindness of justice, I
+shipped before the mast, in the Superior, an Indiaman, of quite eight
+hundred tons, bound to Canton. This was the pleasantest voyage I ever made
+to sea, in a merchantman, so far as the weather, and, I may say, usage,
+were concerned. We lost our top-gallant-masts, homeward bound; but this
+was the only accident that occurred. The ship was gone nine months; the
+passage from Whampao to the capes having been made in ninety-four days.
+When we got in, the owners had failed, and there was no money forthcoming,
+at the moment. To remain, and libel the ship, was dull business; so,
+leaving a power of attorney behind me, I went on board a schooner, called
+the Sophia, bound to Vera Cruz, as foremast Jack.</p>
+
+<p>The Sophia was a clipper; and made the run out in a few days. We went into
+Vera Cruz; but found it nearly deserted. Our cargo went ashore a little
+irregularly; sometimes by day, and sometimes by night; being assorted, and
+suited to all classes of customers. As soon as ready, we sailed for
+Philadelphia, again; where we arrived, after an absence of only
+two months.</p>
+
+<p>I now got my wages for the Canton voyage; but they lasted me only a
+fortnight! It was necessary to go to sea, again; and I went on board the
+Caledonia; once more bound to Canton. This voyage lasted eleven months;
+but, like most China voyages, produced no event of importance. We lost our
+top-gallant-masts, this time, too; but that is nothing unusual, off Good
+Hope. I can say but little, in favour of the ship, or the treatment.</p>
+
+<p>On getting back to Philadelphia, the money went in the old way. I
+occasionally walked round to see my good religious friends, with whom I
+had once lived, but they ceased to have any great influence over my
+conduct. As soon as necessary, I shipped in the Delaware, a vessel bound
+to Savannah and Liverpool. Southern fashion, I ran from this vessel in
+Savannah, owing her nothing, however, but was obliged to leave my
+protection behind, as it was in the captain's hands. I cannot give any
+reason but caprice for quitting this ship. The usage was excellent, and
+the wages high; yet run I did. As long as the Delaware remained in port, I
+kept stowed away; but, as soon as she sailed, I came out into the world,
+and walked about the wharves as big as an owner.</p>
+
+<p>I now went on board a ship called the Tobacco Plant, bound to Liverpool
+and Philadelphia, for two dollars a month less wages, worse treatment, and
+no grog. So much for following the fashion. The voyage produced nothing to
+be mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>On my return to Philadelphia, I resolved to shift my ground, and try a new
+tack. I was now thirty-four, and began to give up all thoughts of getting
+a lift in my profession. I had got so many stern-boards on me, every time
+I was going ahead, and was so completely alone in the world, that I had
+become indifferent, and had made up my mind to take things as they
+offered. As for money, my rule had come to be, to spend it as I got it,
+and go to sea for more. "If I tumbled overboard," I said to myself, "there
+is none to cry over me;" therefore let things jog on their own course. All
+the disposition to morality that had been aroused within me, at
+Philadelphia, was completely gone, and I thought as little of church and
+of religion, as ever. It is true I had bought a Bible on board the
+Superior, and I was in the practice of reading in it, from time to time,
+though it was only the narratives, such as those of Sampson and Goliah,
+that formed any interest for me. The history of Jonah and the whale, I
+read at least twenty times. I cannot remember that the morality, or
+thought, or devotion of a single passage ever struck me on these
+occasions. In word, I read this sacred book for amusement, and not
+for light.</p>
+
+<p>I now wanted change, and began to think of going back to the navy, by way
+of novelty. I had been round the world once, had been to Canton five
+times, doubling the Cape, round the Horn twice, to Batavia once, the
+West-Indies, on the Spanish main, and had crossed the Atlantic so often,
+that I thought I knew all the mile-stones. I had seen but little of the
+Mediterranean, and fancied a man-of-war's cruise would show me those seas.
+Most of the Tobacco Plants had shipped in Philadelphia, and I determined
+to go with them, to go in the navy. There is a fashion in all things, and
+just then it was the fashion to enter in the service.</p>
+
+<p>I was shipped by Lieutenant M'Kean, now Commander M'Kean, a grandson of
+the old Governor of Pennsylvania, as they tell me. All hands of us were
+sent on board the Cyane, an English prize twenty-gun ship, where we
+remained about six weeks. A draft was then made, and more than a hundred
+of us were sent round to Norfolk, in a sloop, to join the Delaware, 80,
+then fitting out for the Mediterranean. We found the ship lying alongside
+the Navy-yard wharf, and after passing one night in the receiving-ship,
+were sent on board the two-decker. The Delaware soon hauled out, and was
+turned over to Captain Downes, the very officer who had almost persuaded
+me to go in that ill-fated brig, the Epervier.</p>
+
+<p>I was stationed on the Delaware's forecastle, and was soon ordered to do
+second captain's duty. We had for lieutenants on board, Mr. Ramage, first,
+Messrs. Williamson, Ten Eick, Shubrick, Byrne, Chauncey, Harris, and
+several whose names I have forgotten. Mr. Ramage has since been cashiered,
+I understand; and Messrs. Ten Eick, Shubrick, Chauncey, Harris, and Byrne,
+are now all commanders.</p>
+
+<p>The ship sailed in the winter of 1828, in the month of January I think,
+having on board the Prince of Musignano, and his family, who were going to
+Italy. This gentleman was Charles Bonaparte, eldest son of Lucien, Prince
+of Canino, they tell me, and is now Prince of Canino himself. He had been
+living some time in America, and got a passage in our ship, on account of
+the difficulty of travelling in Europe, for one of his name and family.
+He was the first, and only Prince I ever had for a shipmate.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter XV.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>Our passage out in the Delaware was very rough, the ship rolling heavily.
+It was the first time she had been at sea, and it required some little
+time to get her trim and sailing. She turned out, however, to be a good
+vessel; sailing fairly, steering well, and proving an excellent sea-boat.
+We went into Algesiras, where we lay only twenty-four hours. We then
+sailed for Mahon, but were met by orders off the port, to proceed to
+Leghorn and land our passengers. I have been told this was done on account
+of the Princess of Musignano's being a daughter of the ex-King of Spain,
+and it was not thought delicate to bring her within the territory of the
+reigning king. I have even heard that the commodore was offered an order
+of knighthood for the delicacy he manifested on this occasion, which offer
+he declined accepting, as a matter of course.</p>
+
+<p>The ship had a good run from off Mahon to Leghorn where we anchored in the
+outer roads. We landed the passengers the afternoon of the day we arrived.
+That very night it came on to blow heavily from the northward and
+eastward, or a little off shore, according to the best of my recollection.
+This was the first time I ever saw preparations made to send down lower
+yards, and to house top-masts--merchantmen not being strong-handed enough
+to cut such capers with their sticks. We had three anchors ahead, if not
+four, the ship labouring a good deal. We lost one man from the starboard
+forechains, by his getting caught in the buoy-rope, as we let go a
+sheet-anchor. The poor fellow could not be picked up, on account of the
+sea and the darkness of the night, though an attempt was made to save him.</p>
+
+<p>The next day the weather moderated a little, and we got under way for
+Mahon. Our passage down was pleasant, and this time we went in. Captain
+Downes now left us, and Commodore Crane hoisted his broad-pennant on
+board us. The ship now lay a long time in port. The commodore went aloft
+in one of the sloops, and was absent several months. I was told he was
+employed in making a treaty with the Turks, but us poor Jacks knew little
+of such matters. On his return, there was a regular blow-up with the
+first-lieutenant, who left the ship, to nobody's regret, so far as I know.
+Mr. Mix, who had led our party to the lakes in 1812, and was with us in
+all my lake service, and who was Mr. Osgood's brother-in-law, now joined
+us as first-lieutenant. I had got to be first-captain of the forecastle, a
+berth I held to the end of the cruise.</p>
+
+<p>The treatment on board this ship was excellent. The happiest time I ever
+spent at sea, was in the Delaware. After Mr. Mix took Mr. Ramage's place,
+everybody seemed contented, and I never knew a better satisfied ship's
+company. The third year out, we had a long cruise off Cape de Gatte,
+keeping the ship under her canvass quite three months. We took in supplies
+at sea, the object being to keep us from getting rusty. On the fourth of
+July we had a regular holiday. At four in the morning, the ship was close
+in under the north shore, and we wore off the land. Sail was then
+shortened. After this, we had music, and more saluting and grog. The day
+was passed merrily, and I do not remember a fight, or a black eye, in
+the ship.</p>
+
+<p>I volunteered to go one cruise in the Warren, under Mr. Byrne. The present
+Commodore Kearny commanded this ship, and he took us down to the Rock. The
+reason of our volunteering was this. The men-of-war of the Dutch and the
+French, rendezvoused at Mahon, as well as ourselves. The French and our
+people had several rows ashore. Which was right and which wrong, I cannot
+say, as it was the Java's men, and not the Delaware's, that were engaged
+in them, on our side. One of the Javas was run through the body, and a
+French officer got killed. It was said the French suspected us of a design
+of sending away the man who killed their officer, and meant to stop the
+Warren, which was bound to the Rock on duty. All I know is, that two
+French brigs anchored at the mouth of the harbour, and some of us were
+called on to volunteer. Forty-five of us did so, and went on board
+the sloop.</p>
+
+<p>After the Warren got under way, we went to quarters, manning both
+batteries. In this manner we stood down between the two French brigs, with
+top-gallant-sails furled and the courses in the brails. We passed directly
+between the two brigs, keeping a broadside trained upon each; but nothing
+was said, or done, to us. We anchored first at the Rock, but next day
+crossed over to the Spanish coast. In a short time we returned to Mahon,
+and we volunteers went back to the Delaware. The two brigs had gone, but
+there was still a considerable French force in port. Nothing came of the
+difficulty, however, so far as I could see or hear.</p>
+
+<p>In the season of 1830, the Constellation, Commodore Biddle, came out, and
+our ship and Commodore were relieved. We had a run up as far as Sicily,
+however, before this took place, and went off Tripoli. There I saw a
+wreck, lying across the bay, that they told me was the bones of the
+Philadelphia frigate. We were also at Leghorn, several weeks, the
+commodore going to some baths in the neighbourhood, for his health.</p>
+
+<p>Among other ports, the Delaware visited Carthagena, Malta, and Syracuse.
+At the latter place, the ship lay six weeks, I should think. This was the
+season of our arrival out. Here we underwent a course of severe exercise,
+that brought the crew up to a high state of discipline. At four in the
+morning, we would turn out, and commence our work. All the manoeuvres of
+unmooring, making sail, reefing, furling, and packing on her again, were
+gone through, until the people got so much accustomed to work together,
+the great secret of the efficiency of a man-of-war, that the officer of
+the deck was forced to sing out "belay!" before the yards were up by a
+foot, lest the men should spring the spars. When we got through this
+drill, the commodore told us we would do, and that he was not ashamed to
+show us alongside of anything that floated. I do not pretend to give our
+movements in the order in which they occurred, however, nor am I quite
+certain what year it was the commodore went up to Smyrna. On reflection,
+it may have been later than I have stated.</p>
+
+<p>Our cruise off Cape de Gatte was one of the last things we did; and when
+we came back to Mahon, we took in supplies for America. We made the
+southern passage home and anchored in Hampton Roads, in the winter of
+1831. I believe the whole crew of the Delaware was sorry when the cruise
+was up. There are always a certain number of long-shore chaps in a
+man-of-war, who are never satisfied with discipline, and the wholesome
+restraints of a ship; but as for us old salts, I never heard one give the
+Delaware a bad name. We had heard an awful report of the commodore, who
+was called a "burster," and expected sharp times under him; and his manner
+of taking possession was of a nature to alarm us. All hands had been
+called to receive him, and the first words he said were "Call all hands to
+witness punishment." A pin might have been heard falling among us, for
+this sounded ominous. It was to clear the brig, only, Captain Downes
+having left three men in it, whom he would not release on quitting the
+vessel. The offences were serious, and could not be overlooked. These
+three chaps got it; but there was only one other man brought regularly to
+the gang-way while I was in the ship, and he was under the sentence of a
+court, and belonged to the Warren. As soon as the brig was cleared, the
+commodore told us we should be treated as we treated others, and then
+turned away among the officers. The next day we found we were to live
+under a just rule, and that satisfied us. One of the great causes of the
+contentment that reigned in the ship, was the method, and the regularity
+of the hours observed. The men knew on what they could calculate, in
+ordinary times, and this left them their own masters within certain hours.
+I repeat, she was the happiest ship I ever served in, though I have always
+found good treatment in the navy.</p>
+
+<p>I can say conscientiously, that were my life to be passed over again,
+without the hope of commanding a vessel, it should be passed in the navy.
+The food is better, the service is lighter, the treatment is better, if a
+man behave himself at all well, he is better cared for, has a port under
+his lee in case of accidents, and gets good, steady, wages, with the
+certainty of being paid. If his ship is lost, his wages are safe; and if
+he gets hurt, he is pensioned. Then he is pretty certain of having
+gentlemen over him, and that is a great deal for any man. He has good
+quarters below; and if he serve in a ship as large as a frigate, he has a
+cover over his head, half the time, at least, in bad weather. This is the
+honest opinion of one who has served in all sorts of crafts, liners,
+Indiamen, coasters, smugglers, whalers, and transient ships. I have been
+in a ship of the line, two frigates, three sloops of war, and several
+smaller craft; and such is the result of all my experience in Uncle Sam's
+navy. No man can go to sea and always meet with fair-weather, but he will
+get as little of foul in one of our vessels of war, as in any craft that
+floats, if a man only behave himself. I think the American merchantmen
+give better wages than are to be found in other services; and I think the
+American men-of-war, as a rule, give better treatment than the American
+merchantman. God bless the flag, I say, and this, too, without the fear of
+being hanged!</p>
+
+<p>The Delaware lay two or three weeks in the Roads before she went up to the
+Yard. At the latter place we began to strip the ship. While thus employed,
+we were told that seventy-five of us, whose times were not quite out, were
+to be drafted for the Brandywine 44, then fitting out at New York, for a
+short cruise in the Gulf. This was bad news, for Jack likes a swing ashore
+after a long service abroad. Go we must, and did, however. We were sent
+round to New York in a schooner, and found the frigate still lying at the
+Yard. We were hulked on board the Hudson until she was ready to receive
+us, when we were sent to our new vessel. Captain Ballard commanded the
+Brandywine, and among her lieutenants, Mr. M'Kenny was the first. This is
+a fine ship, and she got her name from the battle in which La Fayette was
+wounded in this country, having been first fitted out to carry him to
+France, after his last visit to America. She is a first-class frigate,
+mounting thirty long thirty-two's on her gun-deck; and I conceive it to be
+some honour to a sailor to have it in his power to say he has been captain
+of the forecastle in such a ship, for I was rated in this frigate the same
+as I had been rated in the Delaware; with this difference, that, for my
+service in the Brandywine, I received my regular eighteen dollars a month
+as a petty officer; whereas, though actually captain of the Delaware's
+forecastle for quite two years, and second-captain nearly all the rest of
+the time I was in the ship, I never got more than seaman's wages, or
+twelve dollars a month. I do not know how this happened, though I supposed
+it to have arisen from some mistake connected with the circumstance that
+I was paid off for my services in the Delaware, by the purser of the
+frigate. This was in consequence of the transfer.</p>
+
+<p>The Brandywine sailed in March for the Gulf. Our cruise lasted about five
+months, during which time we went to Vera Cruz, Pensacola, and the Havana.
+We appeared to me to be a single ship, as we were never in squadron, and
+saw no broad-pennant. No accident happened, the cruise being altogether
+pleasant. The ship returned to Norfolk, and twenty-five of us, principally
+old Delawares, were discharged, our times being out. We all of us intended
+to return to the frigate, after a cruise ashore, and we chartered a
+schooner to carry us to Philadelphia in a body, determining not to
+part company.</p>
+
+<p>The morning the schooner sailed, I was leading the whole party along one
+of the streets of Norfolk, when I saw something white lying in the middle
+of the carriage-way. It turned out to be an old messmate, Jack Dove, who
+had been discharged three days before, and had left us to go to
+Philadelphia, but had been brought up by King Grog. While we were
+overhauling the poor fellow, who could not speak, his landlady came out to
+us, and told us that he had eat nothing for three days, and did nothing
+but drink. She begged us to take care of him, as he disregarded all she
+said. This honest woman gave us Jack's wages to a cent, for I knew what
+they had come to; and we made a collection of ten dollars for her,
+calculating that Jack must have swallowed that much in three days. Jack we
+took with us, bag and hammock; but he would eat nothing on the passage,
+calling out constantly for drink. We gave him liquor, thinking it would do
+him good; but he grew worse, and, when we reached Philadelphia, he was
+sent to the hospital. Here, in the course of a few days, he died.</p>
+
+<p>Never, in all my folly and excesses, did I give myself so much up to
+drink, as when I reached Philadelphia this time. I was not quite as bad as
+Jack Dove, but I soon lost my appetite, living principally on liquor. When
+we heard of Jack's death, we proposed among ourselves to give him a
+sailor's funeral. We turned out, accordingly, to the number if a hundred,
+or more, in blue jackets and white trowsers, and marched up to the
+hospital in a body. I was one of the leaders in this arrangement, and felt
+much interest in it, as Jack had been my messmate; but, the instant I saw
+his coffin, a fit of the "horrors" came over me, and I actually left the
+place, running down street towards the river, as if pursued by devils.
+Luckily, I stopped to rest on the stoop of a druggist. The worthy man took
+me in, gave me some soda water, and some good advice. When a little
+strengthened, I made my way home, but gave up at the door. Then followed a
+severe indisposition, which kept me in bed for a fortnight, during which I
+suffered the torments of the damned.</p>
+
+<p>I have had two or three visits from the "horrors," in the course of my
+life, but nothing to equal this attack. I came near following Jack Dove to
+the grave; but God, in His mercy, spared me from such an end. It is not
+possible for one who has never experienced the effects of his excesses, in
+this particular form, to get any correct notions of the sufferings I
+endured. Among other conceits, I thought the colour which the tar usually
+leaves on seamen's nails, was the sign that I had the yellow fever. This
+idea haunted me for days, and gave me great uneasiness. In short, I was
+like a man suspended over a yawning chasm, expecting, every instant, to
+fall and be dashed to pieces, and yet, who could not die.</p>
+
+<p>For some time after my recovery, I could not bear the smell of liquor; but
+evil companions lured me back to my old habits. I was soon in a bad way
+again, and it was only owing to the necessity of going to sea, that I had
+not a return of the dreadful malady. When I shipped in the Delaware, I had
+left my watch, quadrant, and good clothes, to the value of near two
+hundred dollars, with my present landlord, and he now restored them all to
+me, safe and sound. I made considerable additions to the stock of clothes,
+and when I again went to sea, left the whole, and more, with the
+same landlord.</p>
+
+<p>Our plan of going back to the Brandywine was altered by circumstances; and
+a party of us shipped in the Monongahela, a Liverpool liner, out of
+Philadelphia. The cabin of this vessel was taken by two gentlemen, going
+to visit Europe, viz.: Mr. Hare Powell and Mr. Edward Burd; and getting
+these passengers, with their families, on board, the ship sailed. By this
+time, I had pretty much given up the hope of preferment, and did not
+trouble myself whether I lived forward or aft. I joined the Monongahela as
+a forward hand, therefore, quite as well satisfied as if her chief mate.</p>
+
+<p>We left the Delaware in the month of August, and, a short time out,
+encountered one of the heaviest gales of wind I ever witnessed at sea. It
+came on from the eastward, and would have driven us ashore, had not the
+wind suddenly shifted to south-west. The ship was lying-to, under bare
+poles, pressed down upon the water in such a way that she lay almost as
+steady as if in a river; nor did the force of the wind allow the sea to
+get up. A part of the time, our lee lower yard-arms were nearly in the
+water. We had everything aloft, but sending them down was quite out of the
+question. It was not possible, at one time, for a man to go aloft at all.
+I tried it myself, and could with difficulty keep my feet on the ratlins.
+I make no doubt I should have been blown out of the top, could I have
+reached it, did I let go my hold to do any work.</p>
+
+<p>We had sailed in company with the Kensington, a corvette belonging to the
+Emperor of Russia, and saw a ship, during the gale, that was said to be
+she. The Kensington was dismasted, and had to return to refit, but we did
+not part a rope-yarn. When the wind shifted, we were on soundings; and, it
+still continuing to blow a gale, we set the main-topsail close-reefed, and
+the foresail, and shoved the vessel off the land at the rate of a
+steam-boat. After this, the wind favoured us, and our passage out was very
+short. We stayed but a few days in Liverpool; took in passengers, and got
+back to Philadelphia, after an absence of a little more than two months.
+The Kensington's report of the gale, and of our situation, had caused much
+uneasiness in Philadelphia, but our two passages were so short, that we
+brought the news of our safety.</p>
+
+<p>I now inquired for the Brandywine, but found she had sailed for the
+Mediterranean. It was my intention to have gone on board her, but missing
+this ship, and a set of officers that I knew, I looked out for a
+merchantman. I found a brig called the Amelia, bound to Bordeaux, and
+shipped in her before the mast.</p>
+
+<p>The Amelia had a bad passage out. It was in the autumn, and the brig
+leaked badly. This kept us a great deal at the pumps, an occupation that
+a sailor does anything but delight in. I am of opinion that pumping a
+leaky ship is the most detestable work in the world. Nothing but the dread
+of drowning ought to make a man do it, although some men will pump to save
+their property. As for myself, I am not certain I would take twenty-four
+hours of hard pumping to save any sum I shall probably ever own, or
+ever did own.</p>
+
+<p>After a long passage, we made the Cordovan, but, the wind blowing heavy
+off the land, we could not get in for near a fortnight. Not a pilot would
+come out, and if they had, it would have done us no good. After a while,
+the wind shifted, and we got into the river, and up to the town. We took
+in a return cargo of brandy, and sailed for Philadelphia. Our
+homeward-bound passage was long and stormy, but we made the capes, at
+last. Here we were boarded by a pilot, who told us we were too late; the
+Delaware had frozen up, and we had to keep away, with a South-east wind,
+for New York. We had a bad time of it, as soon as night came on. The gale
+increased, blowing directly into the bight, and we had to haul up under
+close-reefed topsails and reefed foresail, to claw off the land. The
+weather was very thick, and the night dark, and all we could do was to get
+round, when the land gave us a hint it was time. This we generally did in
+five fathoms water. We had to ware, for the brig would not tack under such
+short canvass, and, of course, lost much ground in so doing. About three
+in the morning we knew that it was nearly up with us. The soundings gave
+warning of this, and we got round, on what I supposed would be the
+Amelia's last leg. But Providence took care of us, when we could not help
+ourselves. The wind came out at north-west, as it might be by word of
+command; the mist cleared up, and we saw the lights, for the first time,
+close aboard us. The brig was taken aback, but we got her round, shortened
+sail, and hove her to, under a closed-reefed main-topsail. We now got it
+from the north-west, making very bad weather. The gale must have set us a
+long way to leeward, as we did not get in for a fortnight. We shipped a
+heavy sea, that stove our boat, and almost swept the decks. We were out of
+pork and beef, and our fire-wood was nearly gone. The binnacle was also
+gone. As good luck would have it, we killed a porpoise, soon after the
+wind shifted, and on this we lived, in a great measure, for more than a
+week, sometimes cooking it, but oftener eating it raw. At length the wind
+shifted, and we got in.</p>
+
+<p>I was no sooner out of this difficulty, than a hasty temper got me into
+another. While still in the stream, an Irish boatman called me a "Yankee
+son of a-----," and I lent him a clip. The fellow sued me, and, contriving
+to catch me before I left the vessel, I was sent to jail, for the first
+and only time in my life. This turned out to be a new and very revolting
+school for me. I was sent among as precious a set of rascals as New York
+could furnish. Their conversation was very edifying. One would tell how he
+cut the hoses of the engines at fires, with razor-blades fastened to his
+shoes; another, how many pocket-books he and his associates had taken at
+this or that fire; and a third, the mariner of breaking open stores, and
+the best mode of disposing of stolen goods. The cool, open, impudent
+manner in which these fellows spoke of such transactions, fairly astounded
+me. They must have thought I was in jail for some crime similar to their
+own, or they would not have talked so freely before a stranger. These
+chaps seemed to value a man by the enormity and number of his crimes.</p>
+
+<p>At length the captain and my landlord found out where I had been sent, and
+I was immediately bailed. Glad enough was I to get out of prison, and
+still more so to get out of the company I found in it. Such association is
+enough to undermine the morals of a saint, in a week or two. And yet these
+fellows were well dressed, and well enough looking, and might very well
+pass for a sort of gentlemen, with those who had seen but little of men of
+the true quality.</p>
+
+<p>I had got enough of law, and wished to push the matter no farther. The
+Irishman was sent for, and I compromised with him on the spot. The whole
+affair cost me my entire wages, and I was bound over to keep the peace,
+for, I do not know how long. This scrape compelled me to weigh my anchor
+at a short notice, as there is no living in New York without money. I went
+on board the Sully, therefore--a Havre liner--a day or two after getting
+out of the atmosphere of the City Hall. They may talk of Batavia, if they
+please; but in my judgement, it is the healthiest place of the two,</p>
+
+<p>Our passages, out and home, produced nothing worth mentioning, and I left
+the ship in New York. My wages went in the old way, and then I shipped in
+a schooner called the Susan and Mary, that was about to sail for Buenos
+Ayres, in the expectation that she would be sold there. The craft was a
+good one, though our passage out was very long. On reaching our port, I
+took my discharge, under the impression the vessel would be sold. A notion
+now came over me, that I would join the Buenos Ayrean navy, in order to
+see what sort of a service it was. I knew it was a mixed American and
+English affair, and, by this time, I had become very reckless as to my own
+fate. I wished to do nothing very wrong, but was incapable of doing
+anything that was very right.</p>
+
+<p>My windfall carried me on board a schooner, of eight or ten guns, called
+the Suradaha. I did not ship, making an arrangement by which I was to be
+left to decide for myself, whether I would remain in her, or not. Although
+a pretty good craft, I soon got enough of this service. In one week I was
+thoroughly disgusted, and left the schooner. It is well I did, as there
+was a "<i>revolution</i>" on board of her, a few days later, and she was
+carried up the river, and, as I was told, was there sunk. With her, sunk
+all my laurels in that service.</p>
+
+<p>The Susan and Mary was not sold, but took in hides for New York. I
+returned to her, therefore, and we sailed for home in due time. The
+passage proved long, but mild, and we were compelled to run in, off Point
+Petre, Gaudaloupe, where we took in some provisions. After this, nothing
+occurred until we reached New York.</p>
+
+<p>I now shifted the name of my craft, end for end, joining a half-rigged
+brig, called the Mary and Susan. I gained little by the change, this
+vessel being just the worst-looking hooker I did ever sail in. Still she
+was tight, strong enough, and not a very bad sailing vessel. But, for some
+reason or other, externals were not regarded, and we made anything but a
+holiday appearance on the water. I had seen the time when I would disdain
+to go chief-mate of such a looking craft; but I now shipped in her as a
+common hand.</p>
+
+<p>We sailed for Para, in Brazil, a port nearly under the line, having
+gunpowder, dry-goods, &amp;c. Our passage, until we came near the coast of
+South America, was good, and nothing occurred to mention. When under the
+line, however, we made a rakish-looking schooner, carrying two topsails,
+one forenoon. We made no effort to escape, knowing it to be useless. The
+schooner set a Spanish ensign, and brought us to. We were ordered to lower
+our boat and to go on board the schooner, which were done. I happened to
+be at the helm, and remained in the Mary and Susan. The strangers ordered
+our people out of the boat, and sent an armed party in her, on board us.
+These men rummaged about for a short time, and then were hailed from their
+vessel to know if we promised well. Our looks deceived the head man of the
+boarders, who answered that we were <i>very</i> poor. On receiving this
+information, the captain of the schooner ordered his boarding party to
+quit us. Our boat came back, but was ordered to return and bring another
+gang of the strangers. This time we were questioned about canvass, but got
+off by concealing the truth. We had thirty bolts on board, but produced
+only one. The bolt shown did not happen to suit, and the strangers again
+left us. We were told not to make sail until we received notice by signal,
+and the schooner hauled her wind. After standing on some time, however,
+these gentry seemed indisposed to quit us, for they came down again, and
+rounded to on our weather-beam. We were now questioned about our
+longitude, and whether we had a chronometer. We gave the former, but had
+nothing like the latter on board. Telling us once more not to make sail
+without the signal, the schooner left us, standing on until fairly out of
+sight. We waited until she sunk her topsails, and then went on our course.</p>
+
+<p>None of us doubted that this fellow was a pirate. The men on board us were
+an ill-looking set of rascals, of all countries. They spoke Spanish, but
+we gave them credit for being a mixture. Our escape was probably owing to
+our appearance, which promised anything but a rich booty. Our dry-goods
+and powder were concealed in casks under he ballast, and I suppose the
+papers were not particularly minute. At any rate, when we get into Para,
+most of the cargo went out of our schooner privately, being landed from
+lighters. We had a passenger, who passed for some revolutionary man, who
+also landed secretly. This gentleman was in a good deal of concern about
+the pirates, keeping himself hid while they were near us.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter XVI.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>Our passage from Para was good until the brig reached the latitude of
+Bermuda. Here, one morning, for the first time in this craft, Sundays
+excepted, we got a forenoon watch below. I was profiting by the
+opportunity to do a little work for myself, when the mate, an
+inexperienced young man, who was connected with the owners, came and
+ordered us up to help jibe ship. It was easy enough to do this in the
+watch, but he thought differently. As an old seaman, I do not hesitate to
+say that the order was both inconsiderate and unnecessary; though I do not
+wish to appear even to justify my own conduct, on the occasion. A hasty
+temper is one of my besetting weaknesses, and, at that time, I was in no
+degree influenced by any considerations of a moral nature, as connected
+with language. Exceedingly exasperated at this interference with our
+comfort, I did not hesitate to tell the mate my opinion of his order.
+Warming with my own complaints, I soon became fearfully profane and
+denunciatory. I called down curses on the brig, and all that belonged to
+her, not hesitating about wishing that she might founder at sea, and carry
+all hands of us to the bottom of the ocean. In a word, I indulged in all
+that looseness and profanity of the tongue, which is common enough with
+those who feel no restraints on the subject, and who are highly
+exasperated.</p>
+
+<p>I do think the extent to which I carried my curses and wishes, on this
+occasion, frightened the officers. They said nothing, but let me curse
+myself out, to my heart's content. A man soon wearies of so bootless a
+task, and the storm passed off, like one in the heavens, with a low
+rumbling. I gave myself no concern about the matter afterwards, but things
+took their course until noon. While the people were at dinner, the mate
+came forward again, however, and called all hands to shorten sail. Going
+on deck, I saw a very menacing black cloud astern, and went to work, with
+a will, to discharge a duty that everybody could see was necessary.</p>
+
+<p>We gathered in the canvass as fast as we could; but, before we could get
+through, and while I was lending a hand to furl the foresail, the squall
+struck the brig. I call it a squall, but it was more like the tail of a
+hurricane. Most of our canvass blew from the gaskets, the cloth going in
+ribands. The foresail and fore-topsail we managed to save, but all our
+light canvass went. I was still aloft when the brig broached-to. As she
+came up to the wind, the fore-topmast went over to leeward, being carried
+away at the cap. All the hamper came down, and began to thresh against the
+larboard side of the lower rigging. Just at this instant, a sea seemed to
+strike the brig under her bilge, and fairly throw her on her beam-ends.</p>
+
+<p>All this appeared to me to be the work of only a minute. I had scrambled
+to windward, to get out of the way of the wreck, and stood with one foot
+on the upper side of the bitts, holding on, to steady myself, by some of
+the running rigging. This was being in a very different attitude, but on
+the precise spot, where, two or three hours before, I had called on the
+Almighty to pour out his vials of wrath upon the vessel, myself, and all
+she contained! At that fearful instant, conscience pricked me, and I felt
+both shame and dread, at my recent language. It seemed to me as if I had
+been heard, and that my impious prayers were about to be granted. In the
+bitterness of my heart, I vowed, should my life be spared, never to be
+guilty of such gross profanity, again.</p>
+
+<p>These feelings, however, occupied me but a moment. I was too much of a
+real sea-dog to be standing idle at a time like that. There was but one
+man before the mast on whom I could call for anything in such a strait,
+and that was a New Yorker, of the name of Jack Neal. This man was near me,
+and I suggested to him the plan of getting the fore-topmast staysail
+loose, notwithstanding the mast was gone, in the hope it might blow open,
+and help the brig's bows round. Jack was a fellow to act, and he succeeded
+in loosening the sail, which did blow out in a way greatly to help us, as
+I think. I then proposed we should clamber aft, and try to get the helm
+up. This we did, also; though I question if the rudder could have had much
+power, in the position in which the brig lay.</p>
+
+<p>Either owing to the fore-top-mast staysail, or to some providential sea,
+the vessel did fall off, however, and presently she righted, coming up
+with great force, with a heavy roll to windward. The staysail helped us, I
+feel persuaded, as the stay had got taut in the wreck, and the wind had
+blown out the hanks. The brig's helm being hard up, as soon as she got
+way, the craft flew round like a top, coming up on the other tack, in
+spite of us, and throwing her nearly over again. She did not come fairly
+down, however, though I thought she was gone, for an instant.</p>
+
+<p>Finding it possible to move, I now ran forward, and succeeded in stopping
+the wreck into the rigging and bitts. At this time the brig minded her
+helm, and fell off, coming under command. To help us, the head of the
+spencer got loose, from the throat-brail up, and, blowing out against the
+wreck, the whole formed, together, a body of hamper, that acted as a sort
+of sail, which helped the brig to keep clear of the seas. By close
+attention to the helm, we were enabled to prevent the vessel from
+broaching-to again, and, of course, managed to sail her on her bottom.
+About sunset, it moderated, and, next morning, the weather was fine. We
+then went to work, and rigged jury-masts; reaching New York a few
+days later.</p>
+
+<p>Had this accident occurred to our vessel in the night, as did that to the
+Scourge, our fate would probably have been decided in a few minutes. As it
+was, half an hour, in the sort of sea that was going, would have finished
+her. As for my repentance, if I can use the term on such an occasion, and
+for such a feeling, it was more lasting than thorough. I have never been
+so fearfully profane since; and often, when I have felt the disposition to
+give way to passion in this revolting form, my feelings, as I stood by
+those bitts, have recurred to my mind--my vow has been remembered, and I
+hope, together, they did some good, until I was made to see the general
+errors of my life, and the necessity of throwing all my sins on the
+merciful interposition of my Saviour.</p>
+
+<p>I was not as reckless and extravagant, this time, in port, as I had
+usually been, of late years. I shipped, before my money was all gone, on
+board the Henry Kneeland, for Liverpool, vi&acirc; New Orleans. On reaching the
+latter port, all hands of us were beset by the land-sharks, in the shape
+of landlords, who told us how much better we should be off by running,
+than by sticking by the ship. We listened to these tales, and went in a
+body. What made the matter worse, and our conduct the less excusable, was
+the fact, that we got good wages and good treatment in the Henry Kneeland.
+The landlords came with two boats, in the night; we passed our dunnage
+down to them, and away we went, leaving only one man on board. The very
+next day we all shipped on board the Marian, United States' Revenue
+Cutter, where I was rated a quarter-mate, at fifteen dollars a month;
+leaving seventeen to obtain this preferment!</p>
+
+<p>We got a good craft for our money, however. She was a large comfortable
+schooner, that mounted a few light guns, and our duty was far from heavy.
+The treatment turned out to be good, also, as some relief to our folly.
+One of our Henry Kneelands died of the "horrors" before we got to sea, and
+we buried him at the watering-place, near the lower bar. I must have been
+about four months in the Marion, during which time we visited the
+different keys, and went into Key West. At this place, our crew became
+sickly, and I was landed among others, and sent to a boarding-house. It
+was near a month before we could get the crew together again, when we
+sailed for Norfolk. At Norfolk, six of us had relapses, and were sent to
+the hospital; the cutter sailing without us. I never saw the craft
+afterwards.</p>
+
+<p>I was but a fortnight in the hospital, the disease being only the fever
+and ague. Just as I came out, the Alert, the New York cutter, came in, and
+I was sent on board her. This separated me from all the Henry Kneelands
+but one old man. The Alert was bound south, on duty connected with the
+nullification troubles; and, soon after I joined her, she sailed for
+Charleston, South Carolina. Here a little fleet of cutters soon
+collected; no less than seven of us being at anchor in the waters of South
+Carolina, to prevent any breach of the tariff laws. When I had been on
+board the Alert about a month, a new cutter called the Jackson, came in
+from New York, and being the finest craft on the station, our officers and
+crew were transferred to her in a body; our captain being the senior of
+all the revenue captains present.</p>
+
+<p>I must have been at least six months in the waters of South Carolina, thus
+employed. We never went to sea, but occasionally dropped down as far as
+Rebellion Roads. We were not allowed to go ashore, except on rare
+occasions, and towards the last, matters got to be so serious, that we
+almost looked upon ourselves as in an enemy's country. Commodore Elliott
+joined the station in the Natchez sloop-of-war, and the Experiment,
+man-of-war schooner, also arrived and remained. After the arrival of the
+Natchez, the Commodore took command of all hands of us afloat, and we were
+kept in a state of high preparation for service. We were occasionally at
+quarters, nights, though I never exactly knew the reasons. It was said
+attacks on us were anticipated. General Scott was in the fort, and matters
+looked very warlike, for several weeks.</p>
+
+<p>At length we got the joyful news that nullification had been thrown
+overboard, and that no more was to be apprehended. It seems that the crews
+of the different cutters had been increased for this particular service;
+but, now it was over, there were more men employed than Government had
+needed. We were told, in consequence, that those among us who wished our
+discharges, might have them on application.</p>
+
+<p>I had been long enough in this 'long-shore service, and applied to be
+discharged, under this provision. My time was so near out, however, that I
+should have got away soon, in regular course.</p>
+
+<p>I now went ashore at Charleston, and had my swig, as long as the money
+lasted. I gave myself no trouble about the ship's husband, whose
+collar-bone I had broken; nor do I now know whether he was then living, or
+dead. In a word, I thought only of the present time; the past and the
+future being equally indifferent to me. My old landlord was dead; and I
+fell altogether into the hands of a new set. I never took the precaution
+to change my name, at any period of my life, with the exception, that I
+dropped the Robert, in signing shipping-articles. I also wrote my name
+Myers, instead of Meyers, as, I have been informed by my sister, was the
+true spelling. But this proceeded from ignorance, and not from intention.
+In all times, and seasons, and weathers, and services, I have sailed as
+Ned Myers; and as nothing else.</p>
+
+<p>It soon became necessary to ship again; and I went on board the Harriet
+and Jesse, which was bound to Havre de Grace. This proved to be a
+pleasant, easy voyage; the ship coming back to New York filled with
+passengers, who were called Swiss; but most of whom, as I understand, came
+from Wurtemberg, Alsace, and the countries on the Rhine. On reaching New
+York, I went on to Philadelphia, to obtain the effects I had left there,
+when I went out in the Amelia. But my landlord was dead; his family was
+scattered; and my property had disappeared. I never knew who got it; but a
+quadrant, watch, and some entirely new clothes, went in the wreck. I
+suppose I lost, at least, two hundred dollars, in this way. What odds did
+it make to me? it would have gone in grog, if it had not gone in
+this manner.</p>
+
+<p>I staid but a short time in Philadelphia, joining a brig, called the
+Topaz, bound to Havana. We arrived out, after a short passage; and here I
+was exposed to as strong a temptation to commit crime, as a poor fellow
+need encounter. A beautiful American-built brig, was lying in port, bound
+to Africa, for slaves. She was the loveliest craft I ever laid eyes on;
+and the very sight of her gave me a longing to go in her. She offered
+forty dollars a month, with the privilege of a slave and a half. I went so
+far as to try to get on board her; but met with some difficulty, in having
+my things seized. The captain found it out; and, by pointing out to me the
+danger I ran, succeeded in changing my mind.</p>
+
+<p>I will not deny, that I knew the trade was immoral; but so is smuggling;
+and I viewed them pretty much as the same thing, in this sense. I am now
+told, that the law of this country pronounces the American citizen, who
+goes in a slaver, a pirate; and treats him as such; which, to me, seems
+very extraordinary. I do not understand, how a Spaniard can do that, and
+be no pirate, which makes an American a pirate, if he be guilty of it. I
+feel certain, that very few sailors know in what light the law views
+slaving. Now, piracy is robbing, on the high seas, and has always been
+contrary to law; but slaving was encouraged by all nations, a short time
+since; and we poor tars look upon the change, as nothing but a change in
+policy. As for myself, I should have gone in that brig, in utter ignorance
+of the risks I ran, and believing myself to be about as guilty, in a moral
+sense, as I was when I smuggled tobacco, on the coast of Ireland, or opium
+in Canton. [15]</p>
+
+<p>As the Topaz was coming out of the port of Havana, homeward bound, and
+just as she was abreast of the Moro, the brig carried away her bobstay. I
+was busy in helping to unreeve the stay, when I was seized with sudden and
+violent cramps. This attack proved to be the cholera, which came near
+carrying me off. The captain had me taken aft, where I was attended with
+the greatest care. God be praised for his mercy! I got well, though
+scarcely able to do any more duty before we got in.</p>
+
+<p>A short voyage gives short commons; and I was soon obliged to look out for
+another craft. This time I shipped in the Erie, Captain Funk, a Havre
+liner, and sailed soon after. This was a noble ship, with the best of
+usage. Both our passages were pleasant, and give me nothing to relate.
+While I was at work in the hold, at Havre, a poor female passenger, who
+came to look at the ship, fell through the hatch, and was so much injured
+as to be left behind. I mention the circumstance merely to show how near I
+was to a meeting with my old shipmate, who is writing these pages, and yet
+missed him. On comparing notes, I find he was on deck when this accident
+happened, having come to see after some effects he was then shipping to
+New York. These very effects I handled, and supposed them to belong to a
+passenger who was to come home in the ship; but, as they were addressed to
+another name, I could not recognise them. Mr. Cooper did not come home in
+the Erie, but passed over to England, and embarked at London, and so I
+failed to see him.</p>
+
+<p>In these liners, the captains wish to keep the good men of their crews as
+long as they can. We liked the Erie and her captain so much, that eight or
+ten of us stuck by the ship, and went out in her again. This time our luck
+was not so good. The passage out was well enough, but homeward-bound we
+had a hard time of it. While in Havre, too, we had a narrow escape.
+Christmas night, a fire broke out in the cabin, and came near smothering
+us all, forward, before we knew anything about it. Our chief mate, whose
+name was Everdy,[16] saved the vessel by his caution and exertions; the
+captain not getting on board until the fire had come to a head. We kept
+everything closed until an engine was ready, then cut away the deck, and
+sent down the hose This expedient, with a free use of water, saved the
+ship. It is not known how the fire originated. A good deal of damage was
+done, and some property was lost.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding this accident, we had the ship ready for sea early in
+January, 1834. For the first week out, we met with head winds and heavy
+weather; so heavy, indeed, as to render it difficult to get rid of the
+pilot. The ship beat down channel with him on board, as low as the
+Eddystone. Here we saw the Sully, outward bound, running up channel before
+the wind. Signals were exchanged, and our ship, which was then well off
+the land, ran in and spoke the Sully. We put our pilot on board this ship,
+which was doing a good turn all round. The afternoon proving fair, and the
+wind moderating, Captain Funk filled and stood in near to the coast, as
+his best tack. Towards night, however, the gale freshened, and blew into
+the bay, between the Start Point and the Lizard, in a heavy,
+steady manner.</p>
+
+<p>The first thing was to ware off shore; after which, we were compelled to
+take in nearly all our canvass. The gale continued to increase, and the
+night set in dark. There were plenty of ports to leeward, but it was
+ticklish work to lose a foot of ground, unless one knew exactly where he
+was going. We had no pilot, and the captain decided to hold on. I have
+seldom known it to blow harder than it did that night; and, for hours,
+everything depended on our main-top-sail's standing, which sail we had set,
+close-reefed. I did not see anything to guide us, but the compass, until
+about ten o'clock, when I caught a view of a light close on our lee bow.
+This was the Eddystone, which stands pretty nearly in a line between the
+Start and the Lizard, and rather more than three leagues from the land.
+As we headed, we might lay past, should everything stand; but, if our
+topsail went, we should have been pretty certain of fetching up on those
+famous rocks, where a three-decker would have gone to pieces in an hour's
+time in such a gale.</p>
+
+<p>I suppose we passed the Eddystone at a safe distance, or the captain would
+not have attempted going to windward of it; but, to me, it appeared that
+we were fearfully near. The sea was breaking over the light tremendously,
+and could be plainly seen, as it flashed up near the lantern. We went by,
+however, surging slowly ahead, though our drift must have been
+very material.</p>
+
+<p>The Start, and the point to the westward of it, were still to be cleared.
+They were a good way off, and but a little to leeward, as the ship headed.
+In smooth water, and with a whole-sail breeze, it would have been easy
+enough to lay past the Start, when at the Eddystone, with a south-west
+wind; but, in a gale, it is a serious matter, especially on a flood-tide.
+I know all hands of us, forward and aft, looked upon our situation as very
+grave. We passed several uneasy hours, after we lost sight of the
+Eddystone, before we got a view of the land near the Start. When I saw it,
+the heights appeared like a dark cloud hanging over us, and I certainly
+thought the ship was gone. At this time, the captain and mate consulted
+together, and the latter came to us, in a very calm, steady manner, and
+said--"Come, boys; we may as well go ashore without masts as with them,
+and our only hope is in getting more canvass to stand. We must turn-to,
+and make sail on the ship."</p>
+
+<p>Everybody was in motion on this hint, and the first thing we did was to
+board fore-tack. The clews of that sail came down as if so many giants had
+hold of the tack and sheet. We set it, double-reefed, which made it but a
+rag of a sail, and yet the ship felt it directly. We next tried the
+fore-topsail, close-reefed, and this stood. It was well we did, for I feel
+certain the ship was now in the ground-swell. That black hill seemed
+ready to fall on our heads. We tried the mizen-topsail, but we found it
+would not do, and we furled it again, not without great difficulty. Things
+still looked serious, the land drawing nearer and nearer; and we tried to
+get the mainsail, double-reefed, on the ship. Everybody mustered at the
+tack and sheet, and we dragged down that bit of cloth as if it had been
+muslin. The good ship now quivered like a horse that is over-ridden, but
+in those liners everything is strong, and everything stood. I never saw
+spray thrown from a ship's bows, as it was thrown from the Erie's that
+night. We had a breathless quarter of an hour after the mainsail was set,
+everybody looking to see what would go first. Every rope and bolt in the
+craft was tried to the utmost, but all stood! At the most critical moment,
+we caught a glimpse of a light in a house that was known to stand near the
+Start; and the mate came among us, pointed it out, and said, if we
+weathered <i>that</i>, we should go clear. After hearing this, my eyes were
+never off that light, and glad was I to see it slowly drawing more astern,
+and more under our lee. At last we got it on our quarter, and knew that we
+had gone clear! The gloomy-looking land disappeared to leeward, in a deep,
+broad bay, giving us plenty of sea-room.</p>
+
+<p>We now took in canvass, to ease the ship. The mainsail and fore-topsail
+were furled, leaving her to jog along under the main-topsail, foresail,
+and fore-topmast staysail. I look upon this as one of my narrowest escapes
+from shipwreck; and I consider the escape, under the mercy of God, to have
+been owing to the steadiness of our officers, and the goodness of the ship
+and her outfit. It was like pushing a horse to the trial of every nerve
+and sinew, and only winning the race under whip and spur. Wood, and iron,
+and cordage, and canvass, can do no more than they did that night.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning, at breakfast, the crew talked the matter over. We had a hard
+set in this ship, the men being prime seamen, but of reckless habits and
+characters. Some of the most thoughtless among them admitted that they had
+prayed secretly for succour, and, for myself, I am most thankful that <i>I</i>
+did. These confessions were made half-jestingly, but I believe them to
+have been true, judging from my own case. It may sound bravely in the ears
+of the thoughtless and foolish, to boast of indifference on such
+occasions; but, few men can face death under circumstances like those in
+which we were placed, without admitting to themselves, however
+reluctantly, that there is a Power above, on which they must lean for
+personal safety, as well as for spiritual support. More than usual care
+was had for the future welfare of sailors among the Havre liners, there
+being a mariners' church at Havre, at which our captain always attended,
+as well as his mates; and efforts were made to make us go also. The effect
+was good, the men being better behaved, and more sober, in consequence.</p>
+
+<p>The wind shifted a day or two after this escape, giving us a slant that
+carried us past Scilly, fairly out into the Atlantic. A fortnight or so
+after our interview with the Eddystone we carried away the pintals of the
+rudder, which was saved only by the modern invention that prevents the
+head from dropping, by means of the deck. To prevent the strain, and to
+get some service from the rudder, however, we found it necessary to sling
+the latter, and to breast it into the stern-post by means of purchases. A
+spar was laid athwart the coach-house, directly over the rudder, and we
+rove a chain through the tiller-hole, and passed it over this spar. For
+this purpose the smallest chain-cable was used, the rudder being raised
+from the deck by means of sheers. We then got a set of chain-topsail
+sheets, parcelled them well, and took a clove hitch with them around the
+rudder, about half-way up. One end was brought into each main-chain, and
+set up by tackles. In this manner the wheel did tolerably well, though we
+had to let the ship lie-to in heavy weather.</p>
+
+<p>The chain sheets held on near a month, and then gave way. On examination,
+it was found that the parcelling had gone under the ship's counter, and
+that the copper had nearly destroyed the iron. After this, we mustered all
+the chains of the ship, of proper size, parcelled them very thoroughly,
+got another clove hitch around the rudder as before, and brought the ends
+to the hawse-holes, letting the bights fall, one on each side of the
+ship's keel. The ends were next brought to the windlass and hove taut.
+This answered pretty well, and stood until we got the ship into New York.
+Our whole passage was stormy, and lasted seventy days, as near as I can
+recollect. The ship was almost given up when we got in, and great was the
+joy at our arrival.</p>
+
+<p>As the Erie lost her turn, in consequence of wanting repairs, most of us
+went on board the Henry IVth, in the same line. This voyage was
+comfortable, and successful, a fine ship and good usage. On our return to
+New York most of us went back to the Erie, liking both vessel and captain,
+as well as her other officers. I went twice more to Havre and back in this
+ship, making four voyages in her in all. At the end of the fourth voyage
+our old mate left us, to do business ashore, and we took a dislike to his
+successor, though it was without trying him. The mate we lost had been a
+great favourite, and we seemed to think if he went we must go too. At any
+rate, nearly all hands went to the Silvie de Grasse, where we got another
+good ship, good officers, and good treatment. In fact, all these Havre
+liners were very much alike in these respects, the Silvie de Grasse being
+the fourth in which I had then sailed, and to me they all seemed as if
+they belonged to the same family. I went twice to Havre in this ship also,
+when I left her for the Normandy, in the same line. I made this change in
+consequence of an affair about some segars in Havre, in which I had no
+other concern than to father another man's fault. The captain treated me
+very handsomely, but my temperament is such that I am apt to fly off in a
+tangent when anything goes up stream. It was caprice that took me from the
+Silvie de Grasse, and put me in her sister-liner.</p>
+
+<p>I liked the Normandy as well as the rest of these liners, except that the
+vessel steered badly. I made only one voyage in her, however, as will be
+seen in the next chapter.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter XVII.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>I had now been no less than eight voyages in the Havre trade, without
+intermission. So regular had my occupation become, that I began to think I
+was a part of a liner myself. I liked the treatment, the food, the ships,
+and the officers. Whenever we got home, I worked in the ship, at day's
+work, until paid off; after which, no more was seen of Ned until it was
+time to go on board to sail. When I got in, in the Normandy, it happened
+as usual, though I took a short swing only. Mr. Everdy, our old mate in
+the Erie, was working gangs of stevedores, riggers, &amp;c., ashore; and when
+I went and reported myself to him, as ready for work in the Normandy
+again, he observed that her gang was full, but that, by going up-town next
+morning, to the screw-dock, I should find an excellent job on board a
+brig. The following day, accordingly, I took my dinner in a pail, and
+started off for the dock, as directed. On my way, I fell in with an old
+shipmate in the navy, a boatswain's-mate, of the name of Benson. This man
+asked me where I was bound with my pail, and I told him. "What's the use,"
+says he, "of dragging your soul out in these liners, when you have a
+man-of-war under your lee!" Then he told me he meant to ship, and advised
+me to do the same. I drank with him two or three times, and felt half
+persuaded to enter; but, recollecting the brig, I left him, and pushed on
+to the dock. When I got there, it was so late that the vessel had got off
+the dock, and was already under way in the stream.</p>
+
+<p>My day's work was now up, and I determined to make a full holiday of it.
+As I went back, I fell in with Captain Mix, the officer with whom I had
+first gone on the lakes, and my old first-lieutenant in the Delaware, and
+had a bit of navy talk with him; after which I drifted along as far as the
+rendezvous. The officer in charge was Mr. M'Kenny, my old first-lieutenant
+in the Brandywine, and, before I quitted the house, my name was down,
+again, for one of Uncle Sam's sailor-men. In this accidental manner have I
+floated about the world, most of my life--not dreaming in the morning,
+what would fetch me up before night.</p>
+
+<p>When it was time to go off, I was ready, and was sent on board the Hudson,
+which vessel Captain Mix then commanded. I have the consolation of knowing
+that I never ran, or thought of running, from either of the eleven
+men-of-war on board of which I have served, counting big and little,
+service of days and service of years. I had so long a pull in the
+receiving-ship, as to get heartily tired of her; and, when an opportunity
+offered, I put my name down for the Constellation 38, which was then
+fitting out for the West India station, in Norfolk. A draft of us was sent
+round to that ship accordingly, and we found she had hauled off from the
+yard, and was lying between the forts. When I got on board, I ascertained
+that something like fifty of my old liners were in this very ship, some
+common motive inducing them to take service in the navy, all at the same
+time. As for myself, it happened just as I have related, though I always
+liked the navy, and was ever ready to join a ship of war, for a
+pleasant cruise.</p>
+
+<p>Commodore Dallas's pennant was flying in the Constellation when I joined
+her. A short time afterwards, the ship sailed for the West Indies. As
+there was nothing material occurred in the cruise, it is unnecessary to
+relate things in the order in which they took place. The ship went to
+Havana, Trinidad, Cura&ccedil;oa, Laguayra, Santa Cruz, Vera Cruz, Campeachy,
+Tampico, Key West, &amp;c. We lay more or less time at all these ports, and in
+Santa Cruz we had a great ball on board. After passing several months in
+this manner, we went to Pensacola. The St. Louis was with us most of this
+time, though she did not sail from America in company. The next season the
+whole squadron went to Vera Cruz in company, seven or eight sail of us in
+all, giving the Mexicans some alarm, I believe.</p>
+
+<p>But the Florida war gave us the most occupation. I was out in all sorts of
+ways, on expeditions, and can say I never saw an Indian, except those who
+came to give themselves up. I was in steamboats, cutters, launches, and on
+shore, marching like a soldier, with a gun on my shoulder, and precious
+duty it was for a sailor.</p>
+
+<p>The St. Louis being short of hands, I was also drafted for a cruise in
+her; going the rounds much as we had done in the frigate. This was a fine
+ship, and was then commanded by Captain Rousseau, an officer much
+respected and liked, by us all. Mr. Byrne, my old shipmate in the
+Delaware, went out with us as first-lieutenant of the Constellation, but
+he did not remain out the whole cruise.</p>
+
+<p>Altogether I was out on the West India station three years, but got into
+the hospital, for several months of the time, in consequence of a broken
+bone. While in the hospital, the frigate made a cruise, leaving me ashore.
+On her return, I was invalided home, in the Levant, Captain Paulding,
+another solid, excellent officer. In a word, I was lucky in my officers,
+generally; the treatment on board the frigate being just and good. The
+duty in the Constellation was very hard, being a sort of soldier duty,
+which may be very well for those that are trained to it, but makes bad
+weather for us blue-jackets. Captain Mix, the officer with whom I went to
+the lakes, was out on the station in command of the Concord, sloop of war,
+and, for some time, was in charge of our ship, during the absence of
+Commodore Dallas, in his own vessel. In this manner are old shipmates
+often thrown together, after years of separation.</p>
+
+<p>In the hospital I was rated as porter, Captain Bolton and Captain Latirner
+being my commanding officers; the first being in charge of the yard, and
+the second his next in rank. From these two gentlemen I received so many
+favours, that it would be ungrateful in me not to mention them. Dr.
+Terrill, the surgeon of the hospital, too, was also exceedingly kind to
+me, during the time I was under his care.</p>
+
+<p>As I had much leisure time in the hospital, I took charge of a garden, and
+got to be somewhat of a gardener. It was said I had the best garden about
+Pensacola, which is quite likely true, as I never saw but one other.</p>
+
+<p>The most important thing, however, that occurred to me while in the
+hospital, was a disposition that suddenly arose in my mind, to reflect on
+my future state, and to look at religious things with serious eyes. Dr.
+Terrill had some blacks in his service, who were in the habit of holding
+little Methodist meetings, where they sang hymns, and conversed together
+seriously. I never joined these people, being too white for that, down at
+Pensacola, but I could overhear them from my own little room. A Roman
+Catholic in the hospital had a prayer-book in English, which he lent to
+me, and I got into the habit of reading a prayer in it, daily, as a sort
+of worshipping of the Almighty. This was the first act of mine, that
+approached private worship, since the day I left Mr. Marchinton's; if I
+except the few hasty mental petitions put up in moments of danger.</p>
+
+<p>After a time, I began to think it would never do for me, a Protestant born
+and baptised, to be studying a Romish prayer-book; and I hunted up one
+that was Protestant, and which had been written expressly for seamen. This
+I took to my room, and used in place of the Romish book. Dr. Terrill had a
+number of bibles under his charge, and I obtained one of these, also, and
+I actually got into the practice of reading a chapter every night, as
+well as of reading a prayer, also knocked off from drink, and ceased to
+swear. My reading in the bible, now, was not for the stories, but
+seriously to improve my mind and morals.</p>
+
+<p>I must have been several months getting to be more and more in earnest on
+the subject of morality, if not of vital religion, when I formed an
+acquaintance with a new steward, who had just joined the hospital. This
+man was ready enough to converse with me about the bible, but he turned
+out to be a Deist, Notwithstanding my own disposition to think more
+seriously of my true situation, I had many misgivings on the subject of
+the Saviour's being the Son of God. It seemed improbable to me, and I was
+falling into the danger which is so apt to beset the new beginner--that of
+self-sufficiency, and the substituting of human wisdom for faith. The
+steward was not slow in discovering this; and he produced some of Tom
+Paine's works, by way of strengthening me in the unbelief. I now read Tom
+Paine, instead of the bible, and soon had practical evidence of the bad
+effects of his miserable system. I soon got stern-way on me in morals;
+began to drink, as before, though seldom intoxicated, and grew indifferent
+to my bible and prayer-book, as well as careless of the future. I began to
+think that the things of this world were to be enjoyed, and he was the
+wisest who made the most of his time.</p>
+
+<p>I must confess, also, that the bad examples which I saw set by men
+professing to be Christians, had a strong tendency to disgust me with
+religion. The great mistake I made was, in supposing I had undergone any
+real change of heart. Circumstances disposed me to reflect, and reflection
+brought me to be serious, on subjects that I had hitherto treated with
+levity; but the grace of God was still, in a great degree, withheld from
+me, leaving me a prey to such arguments as those of the steward, and his
+great prophet and master, Mr. Paine.</p>
+
+<p>In the hospital, and that, too, at a place like Pensacola there was little
+opportunity for me to break out into my old excesses; though I found
+liquor, on one or two occasions, even there, and got myself into some
+disgrace in consequence. On the whole, however, the discipline, my
+situation, and my own resolution, kept me tolerably correct. It is the
+restraint of a ship that alone prevents sailors from dying much sooner
+than they do; for it is certain no man could hold out long who passed
+three or four months every year in the sort of indulgencies into which I
+myself have often run, after returning from long voyages. This is one
+advantage of the navy; two or three days of riotous living being all a
+fellow <i>can</i> very well get in a three years' cruise. Any man who has ever
+been in a vessel of war, particularly in old times, can see the effect
+produced by the system, and regular living of a ship. When the crew first
+came on board, the men were listless, almost lifeless, with recent
+dissipation; some suffering with the "horrors," perhaps; but a few weeks
+of regular living would bring them all round; and, by the end of the
+cruise, most of the people would come into port, and be paid off, with
+renovated constitutions. It is a little different, now, to be sure, as the
+men ship for general service, and commonly serve a short apprenticeship in
+a receiving vessel, before they are turned over to the sea-going craft.
+This brings them on board the last in a little better condition than used
+to be the case; but, even now, six months in a man-of-war is a new lease
+for a seaman's life.</p>
+
+<p>I say I got myself into disgrace in the hospital of Pensacola, in
+consequence of my habit of drinking. The facts were as follows, for I have
+no desire to conceal, or to parade before the world, my own delinquencies;
+but, I confess them with the hope that the pictures they present, may have
+some salutary influence on the conduct of others. The doctor, who was
+steadily my friend, and often gave me excellent advice, went north, in
+order to bring his wife to Pensacola. I was considered entitled to a
+pension for the hurt which had brought me into the hospital, and the
+doctor had promised to see something about it, while at Washington. This
+was not done, in consequence of his not passing through Washington, as had
+been expected. Now, nature has so formed me, that any disgust, or
+disappointment, makes me reckless, and awakens a desire to revenge myself,
+on myself, as I may say. It was this feeling which first carried me from
+Halifax; it was this feeling that made me run from the Sterling; and which
+has often changed and sometimes marred my prospects, as I have passed
+through life. As soon as I learned that nothing had been said about my
+pension, this same feeling came over me, and I became reckless. I had not
+drawn my grog for months, and, indeed, had left off drinking entirely; but
+I now determined to have my fill, at the first good opportunity. I meant
+to make the officers sorry, by doing something that was very wrong, and
+for which I should be sorry myself.</p>
+
+<p>I kept the keys of the liquor of the hospital. The first thing was to find
+a confederate, which I did in the person of a Baltimore chap, who entered
+into my plan from pure love of liquor. I then got a stock of the wine, and
+we went to work on it, in my room. The liquor was sherry, and it took nine
+bottles of it to lay us both up. Even this did not make me beastly drunk,
+but it made me desperate and impudent. I abused the doctor, and came very
+near putting my foot into it, with Captain Latimer, who is an officer that
+it will not do, always, to trifle with. Still, these gentlemen, with
+Captain Bolton, had more consideration for me, than I had for myself, and
+I escaped with only a good reprimand. It was owing to this frolic,
+however, that I was invalided home--as they call it out there, no one
+seeming to consider Pensacola as being in the United States.</p>
+
+<p>When landed from the Levant, I was sent to the Navy Yard Hospital,
+Brooklyn. After staying two or three days here, I determined to go to the
+seat of government, and take a look at the great guns stationed there,
+Uncle Sam and all. I was paid off from the Levant, accordingly, and
+leaving the balance with the purser of the yard, I set off on my journey,
+with fifty dollars in my pockets, which they tell me is about a member of
+Congress' mileage, for the distance I had to go. Of course this was
+enough, as a member of Congress would naturally take care and give himself
+as much as he wanted.</p>
+
+<p>When I got on board the South-Amboy boat, I found a party of Indians
+there, going to head-quarters, like myself. The sight of these chaps set
+up all my rigging, and I felt ripe for fun. I treated them to a breakfast
+each, and gave them as much to drink as they could swallow. We all got
+merry, and had our own coarse fun, in the usual thought less manner of
+seamen. This was a bad beginning, and by the time we reached a tavern, I
+was ready to anchor. Where this was, is more than I know; for I was not in
+a state to keep a ship's reckoning. Whether any of my money was stolen or
+not, I cannot say, but I know that some of my clothes were. Next day I got
+to Philadelphia, where I had another frolic. After this, I went on to
+Washington, keeping it up, the whole distance. I fell in with a soldier
+chap, who was out of cash, and who was going to Washington to get a
+pension, too; and so we lived in common. When we reached Washington, my
+cash was diminished to three dollars and a half, and all was the
+consequences of brandy and folly. I had actually spent forty-six dollars
+and a half, in a journey that might have been made with ten, respectably!</p>
+
+<p>I got my travelling companion to recommend a boarding-house, which he did.
+I felt miserable from my excesses, and went to bed. In the morning, the
+three dollars and a half were gone. I felt too ill to go to the Department
+that day, but kept on drinking--eating nothing. Next day, my landlord took
+the trouble to inquire into the state of my pocket, and I told him the
+truth. This brought about a pretty free explanation between us, in which I
+was given to understand that my time was up in that place. I afterwards
+found out I had got into a regular soldier-house, and it was no wonder
+they did not know how to treat an old salt.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Mix had given me a letter to Commodore Chauncey, who was then
+living, and one of the Commissioners. I felt pretty certain the old
+gentleman would not let one of the Scourges founder at head-quarters, and
+so I crawled up to the Department, and got admission to him. The commodore
+seemed glad to see me; questioned me a good deal about the loss of the
+schooner, and finally gave me directions how to proceed. I then discovered
+that my pension ticket had actually reached Washington, but had been sent
+back to Pensacola, to get some informality corrected. This would compel me
+to remain some time at Washington. I felt unwell, and got back to my
+boarding-house with these tidings. The gentleman who kept the house was
+far from being satisfied with this, and he gave me a hint that at once put
+the door between us. This was the first time I ever had a door shut upon
+me, and I am thankful it happened at a soldier rendezvous. I gave the man
+all my spare clothes in pawn, and walked away from his house.</p>
+
+<p>I had undoubtedly brought on myself a fit of the "horrors," by my recent
+excesses. As I went along the streets, I thought every one was sneering at
+me; and, though burning with thirst, I felt ashamed to enter any house to
+ask even for water. A black gave me the direction of the Navy Yard, and I
+shaped my course for it, feeling more like lying down to die, than
+anything else. When about half-way across the bit of vacant land between
+the Capitol and the Yard, I sat down under a high picket-fence, and the
+devil put it into my head, that it would be well to terminate sufferings
+that seemed too hard to be borne, by hanging myself on that very fence. I
+took the handkerchief from my neck, made a running bow-line, and got so
+far as to be at work at a standing bow-line, to hitch over the top of one
+of the poles of the fence.</p>
+
+<p>I now stood up, and began to look for a proper picket to make fast to,
+when, in gazing about, I caught sight of the mast-heads of the shipping at
+the yard, and of the ensign under which I had so long served! These came
+over me, as a light-house comes over a mariner in distress at sea, and I
+thought there must be friends for me in that quarter. The sight gave me
+courage and strength, and I determined no old shipmate should hear of a
+blue-jacket's hanging himself on a picket, in a fit of the horrors.
+Casting off the bowlines, I replaced the handkerchief on my neck, and made
+the best of my way towards those blessed mast-heads, which, under God's
+mercy, were the means of preventing me from committing suicide.</p>
+
+<p>As I came up to the gate of the yard, the marine on post sung out to me,
+"Halloo, Myers, where are you come from? You look as if you had been
+dragged through h--, and beaten with a soot-bag!" This man, the first I
+met at the Navy Yard, had been with me three years in the Delaware, and
+knew me in spite of my miserable appearance. He advised me to go on board
+the Fulton, then lying at the Yard, where he said I should find several
+more old Delawares, who would take good care of me. I did as he directed,
+and, on getting on board, I fell in with lots of acquaintances. Some
+brought me tea, and some brought me grog. I told my yarn, and the chaps
+around me laid a plan to get ashore on liberty that night, and raz&eacute;e the
+house from which I had been turned away. But I persuaded them out of the
+notion, and the landlord went clear.</p>
+
+<p>Alter a while, I got a direction to a boarding-house near the Yard, and
+went to it, with a message from my old shipmates that they would be
+responsible for the pay. But to this the man would not listen; he took me
+in on my own account, saying that no blue-jacket should be turned from
+<i>his</i> door, in distress. Here I staid and got a comfortable night's rest.
+Next day I was a new man, holy-stoned the decks, and went a second time to
+the Department.</p>
+
+<p>All the gentlemen in the office showed a desire to serve and advise me.
+The Pension Clerk gave me a letter to Mr. Boyle, the Chief Clerk, who gave
+me another letter to Commodore Patterson, the commandant of the Navy-Yard.
+It seems that government provides a boarding-house for us pensioners to
+stay in, while at Washington, looking after our rights. This letter of Mr.
+Boyle's got me a berth in that house, where I was supplied with
+everything, even to washing and mending, for six weeks. Through the
+purser, I drew a stock of money from the purser at New York, and now
+began, again, to live soberly and respectably, considering all things.</p>
+
+<p>The house in which I lived was a sort of half-hospital, and may have had
+six or eight of us in it, altogether. Several of us were cripples from
+wounds and hurts, and, among others, was one Reuben James, a thorough old
+man-of-war's man, who had been in the service ever since he was a youth.
+This man had the credit of saving Decatur's life before Tripoli; but he
+owned to me that he was not the person who did it. He was in the fight,
+and boarded with Decatur, but did not save his commander's life. He had
+been often wounded, and had just had a leg amputated for an old wound,
+received in the war of 1812, I believe. Liquor brought him to that.</p>
+
+<p>The reader will remember that the night the Scourge went down I received a
+severe blow from her jib-sheet blocks. A lump soon formed on the spot
+where the injury had been inflicted, and it had continued to increase
+until it was now as large as my fist, or even larger. I showed this lump
+to James, one day, and he mentioned it to Dr. Foltz, the surgeon who
+attended the house. The doctor took a look at my arm, and recommended an
+operation, as the lump would continue to increase, and was already so
+large as to be inconvenient. I cannot say that it hurt me any, though it
+was an awkward sort of swab to be carrying on a fellow's shoulder. I had
+no great relish for being carved, and think I should have refused to
+submit to the operation, were it not for James, who told me he would not
+be carrying Bunker Hill about on <i>his</i> arm, and would show me his own
+stump by way of encouragement. This man seemed to think an old sailor
+ought to have a wooden leg, or something of the sort, after he had reached
+a certain time of life. At all events, he persuaded me to let the doctor
+go to work, and I am now glad I did, as everything turned out well. Doctor
+Foltz operated, after I had been about a week under medicine, doing the
+job as neatly as man could wish. He told me the lump he removed weighed a
+pound and three quarters, and of course I was so much the lighter. I was
+about a month, after this, under his care, when he pronounced me to be
+sea-worthy again.</p>
+
+<p>I now got things straight as regards my pension, for the hurt received on
+board the Constellation. It was no great matter, only three dollars a
+month, being one of the small pensions; and the clerks, when they came to
+hear about the hurt, for which Dr. Foltz had operated, advised me to get
+evidence and procure a pension for <i>that</i>. I saw the Secretary, Mr.
+Paulding, on this subject, and the gentlemen were so kind as to overhaul
+their papers, in order to ascertain who could be found as a witness. They
+wrote to Captain Deacon, the officer who commanded the Growler; but he
+knew nothing of me, as I never was on board his schooner. This gentleman,
+however, wrote me a letter, himself, inviting me to come and see him,
+which I had it not in my power to do. I understand he is now dead. Mr.
+Trant had been dead many years, and, as for Mr. Bogardus, I never knew
+what became of him. He was not in the line of promotion, and probably left
+the navy at the peace. In overhauling the books, however, the
+pension-clerk came across the name of Lemuel Bryant. This man received a
+pension for the wound he got at Little York, and was one of those I had
+hauled into the boat when the Scourge went down. He was then living at
+Portland, in Maine, his native State. Mr. Paulding advised me to get his
+certificate, for all hands in the Department seemed anxious I should not
+go away without something better than the three dollars a month. I
+promised to go on, and see Lemuel Bryant, and obtain his testimony.</p>
+
+<p>Quitting Washington, I went to Alexandria and got on board a brig, called
+the Isabella, bound to New York, at which port we arrived in due time.
+Here I obtained the rest of my money, and kept myself pretty steady, more
+on account of my wounds, I fear, than anything else. Still I drank too
+much; and by way of putting a check on myself, I went to the Sailor's
+Retreat, Staten Island, and of course got out of the reach of liquor. Here
+I staid eight or ten days, until my wounds healed. While at the Retreat,
+the last day I remained there indeed, which was a Sunday, the physician
+came in, and told me that a clergyman of the Dutch Reformed Church, of the
+name of Miller, was about to have service down stairs, and that I had
+better go down and be present. To this request, not only civilly but
+kindly made, I answered that I had seen enough of the acts of religious
+men to satisfy me, and that I believed a story I was then reading in a
+Magazine, would do me as much good as a sermon. The physician said a
+little in the way of reproof and admonition, and left me. As soon as his
+back was turned, some of my companions began to applaud the spirit I had
+shown, and the answer I had given the doctor. But I was not satisfied with
+myself. I had more secret respect for such things than I was willing to
+own, and conscience upbraided me for the manner in which I had slighted so
+well-meaning a request. Suddenly telling those around me that my mind was
+changed, and that I <i>would</i> go below and hear what was said, I put this
+new resolution in effect immediately.</p>
+
+<p>I had no recollection of the text from which Mr. Miller preached; it is
+possible I did not attend to it, at the moment it was given out; but,
+during the whole discourse, I fancied the clergyman was addressing himself
+particularly to me, and that his eyes were never off me. That he touched
+my conscience I know, for the effect produced by this sermon, though not
+uninterruptedly lasting, is remembered to the present hour. I made many
+excellent resolutions, and secretly resolved to reform, and to lead a
+better life. My thoughts were occupied the whole night with what I had
+heard, and my conscience was keenly active.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning I quitted the Retreat, and saw no more of Mr. Miller, at
+that time; but I carried away with me many resolutions that would have
+been very admirable, had they only been adhered to. How short-lived they
+were, and how completely I was the slave of a vicious habit, will be seen,
+when I confess that I landed in New York a good deal the worse for having
+treated some militia-men who were in the steamer, to nearly a dozen
+glasses of hot-stuff, in crossing the bay. I had plenty of money, and a
+sailor's disposition to get rid of it, carelessly, and what I thought
+generously. It was Evacuation-Day, and severely cold, and the hot-stuff
+pleased everybody, on such an occasion. Nor was this all. In passing
+Whitehall slip, I saw the Ohio's first-cutter lying there, and it happened
+that I not only knew the officer of the boat, who had been one of the
+midshipmen of the Constellation, but that I knew most of its crew. I was
+hailed, of course, and then I asked leave to treat the men. The permission
+was obtained, and this second act of liberality reduced me to the
+necessity of going into port, under a pilot's charge. Still I had not
+absolutely forgotten the sermon, nor all my good resolutions.</p>
+
+<p>At the boarding-house I found a Prussian, named Godfrey, a steady, sedate
+man, and I agreed with him to go to Savannah, to engage in the
+shad-fishery, for the winter, and to come north together in the spring. My
+landlord was not only ill and poor, but he had many children to support,
+and it is some proof that all my good resolutions were not forgotten, that
+I was ready to go south before my money was gone, and willing it should do
+some good, in the interval of my absence. A check for fifty dollars still
+remained untouched, and I gave it to this man, with the understanding he
+was to draw the money, use it for his own wants, and return it to me, if
+he could, when I got back. The money was drawn, but the man died, and I
+saw no more of it.</p>
+
+<p>Godfrey and I were shipped in a vessel called the William Taylor, a
+regular Savannah packet. It was our intention to quit her as soon as she
+got in--by running, if necessary. We had a bad passage, and barely missed
+shipwreck on Hatteras, saving the brig by getting a sudden view of the
+light, in heavy, thick weather. We got round, under close-reefed topsails,
+and that was all we did. After this, we had a quick run to Savannah.
+Godfrey had been taken with the small-pox before we arrived, and was sent
+to a hospital as soon as possible. In order to prevent running, I feigned
+illness, too, and went to another. Here the captain paid me several
+visits, but my conscience was too much hardened by the practices of
+seamen, to let me hesitate about continuing to be ill. The brig was
+obliged to sail without me, and the same day I got well, as suddenly as I
+had fallen ill.</p>
+
+<p>I was not long in making a bargain with a fisherman to aid in catching
+shad. All this time, I lived at a sailor boarding-house, and was
+surrounded by men who, like myself, had quitted the vessels in which they
+had arrived. One night the captain of a ship, called the Hope, came to the
+house to look for a crew. He was bound to Rotterdam, and his ship lay down
+at the second bar, all ready for sea. After some talk, one man signed the
+articles; then another, and another, and another, until his crew was
+complete to one man. I was now called on to ship, and was ridiculed for
+wishing to turn shad-man. My pride was touched, and I agreed to go,
+leaving my fisherman in the lurch.</p>
+
+<p>The Hope turned out to be a regular down-east craft, and I had been in so
+many flyers and crack ships as to be saucy enough to laugh at the
+economical outfit, and staid ways of the vessel. I went on board half
+drunk, and made myself conspicuous for such sort of strictures from the
+first hour. The captain treated me mildly, even kindly; but I stuck to my
+remarks during most of the passage. I was a seaman, and did my duty; but
+this satisfied me. I had taken a disgust to the ship; and though I had
+never blasphemed since the hour of the accident in the way I did the day
+the Susan and Mary was thrown on her beam-ends, I may be said to have
+crossed the Atlantic in the Hope, grumbling and swearing at the ship.
+Still, our living and our treatment were both good.</p>
+
+<p>At Rotterdam, we got a little money, with liberty. When he last was up, I
+asked for more, and the captain refused it. This brought on an explosion,
+and I swore I would quit the ship. After a time, the captain consented, as
+well as he could, leaving my wages on the cabin-table, where I found them,
+and telling me I should repent of what I was then doing. Little did I then
+think he would prove so true a prophet.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter XVIII.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>I had left the Hope in a fit of the sulks. The vessel never pleased me,
+and yet I can now look back, and acknowledge that both her master and her
+mate were respectable, considerate men, who had my own good in view more
+than I had myself. There was an American ship, called the Plato, in port,
+and I had half a mind to try my luck in her. The master of this vessel was
+said to be a tartar, however, and a set of us had doubts about the
+expediency of trusting ourselves with such a commander. When we came to
+sound around him, we discovered he would have nothing to do with us, as he
+intended to get a crew of regular Dutchmen. This ship had just arrived
+from Batavia, and was bound to New York. How he did this legally, or
+whether he did it at all, is more than I know, for I only tell what I was
+told myself, on this subject.</p>
+
+<p>There was a heavy Dutch Indiaman, then fitting out for Java, lying at
+Rotterdam. The name of this vessel was the Stadtdeel--so pronounced; how
+spelt, I have no idea--and I began to think I would try a voyage in her.
+As is common with those who have great reason to find fault with
+themselves, I was angry with the whole world. I began to think myself a
+sort of outcast, forgetting that I had deserted my natural relatives, run
+from my master, and thrown off many friends who were disposed to serve me
+in everything in which I could be served. I have a cheerful temperament by
+nature, and I make no doubt that the sombre view I now began to take of
+things, was the effects of drink. It was necessary for me to get to sea,
+for there I was shut out from all excesses, by discipline and necessity.</p>
+
+<p>After looking around us, and debating the matter among ourselves, a party
+of five of us shipped in the Stadtdeel. What the others contemplated I do
+not know, but it was my intention to double Good Hope, and never to
+return. Chances enough would offer on the other side, to make a man
+comfortable, and I was no stranger to the ways of that quarter of the
+world. I could find enough to do between Bombay and Canton; and, if I
+could not, there were the islands and all of the Pacific before me. I
+could do a seaman's whole duty, was now in tolerable health and strength,
+and knew that such men were always wanted. Wherever a ship goes, Jack must
+go with her, and ships, dollars and hogs, are now to be met with all over
+the globe.</p>
+
+<p>The Stadtdeel lay at Dort, and we went to that place to join her. She was
+not ready for sea, and as things moved Dutchman fashion, slow and sure, we
+were about six weeks at Dort before she sailed. This ship was a vessel of
+the size of a frigate, and carried twelve guns. She had a crew of about
+forty souls, which was being very short-handed. The ship's company was a
+strange mixture of seamen, though most of them came from the north of
+Europe. Among us were Russians, Danes, Swedes, Prussians, English,
+Americans, and but a very few Dutch. One of the mates, and two of the
+petty officers, could speak a little English. This made us eight who could
+converse in that language. We had to learn Dutch as well as we could, and
+made out tolerably well. Before the ship sailed, I could understand the
+common orders, without much difficulty. Indeed, the language is nothing
+but English a little flattened down.</p>
+
+<p>So long as we remained at Dort, the treatment on board this vessel was
+well enough. We were never well fed, though we got enough food, such as it
+was. The work was hard, and the weather cold; but these did not frighten
+me. The wages were eight dollars a month;--I had abandoned eighteen, and
+an American ship, for this preferment! A wayward temper had done me
+this service.</p>
+
+<p>The Stadtdeel no sooner got into the stream, than there was a great
+change in the treatment. We were put on an allowance of food and water,
+in sight of our place of departure; and the rope's-end began to fly round
+among the crew we five excepted. For some reason, that I cannot explain
+neither of us was ever struck. We got plenty of curses, in Low Dutch, as
+we supposed; and we gave them back, with interest, in high English. The
+expression of our faces let the parties into the secret of what was
+going on.</p>
+
+<p>It is scarcely necessary to add, that we English and Americans soon
+repented of the step we had taken. I heartily wished myself on board the
+Hope, again, and the master's prophecy became true, much sooner, perhaps,
+than he had himself anticipated. This time, I conceive that my disgust was
+fully justified; though I deserved the punishment I was receiving, for
+entering so blindly into a service every way so inferior to that to which
+I properly belonged. The bread in this ship was wholesome, I do suppose,
+but it was nearly black, and such as I was altogether unused to. Inferior
+as it was, we got but five pounds, each, per week. In our navy, a man
+gets, per week, seven pounds of such bread as might be put on a
+gentleman's table. The meat was little better than the bread in quality,
+and quite as scant in quantity. We got one good dish in the Stadtdeel, and
+that we got every morning. It was a dish of boiled barley, of which I
+became very fond, and which, indeed, supplied me with the strength
+necessary for my duty. It was one of the best dishes I ever fell in with
+at sea; and I think it might be introduced, to advantage, in our service.
+Good food produces good work.</p>
+
+<p>As all our movements were of the slow and easy order, the ship lay three
+weeks at the Helvoetsluys, waiting for passengers. During this time, our
+party, three English and two Americans, came to a determination to abandon
+the ship. Our plan was to seize a boat, as we passed down channel, and get
+ashore in England. We were willing to run all the risks of such a step, in
+preference of going so long a voyage under such treatment and food. By
+this time, our discontent amounted to disgust.</p>
+
+<p>At length we got all our passengers on board. These consisted of a family,
+of which the head was said to be, or to have been, an admiral in the Dutch
+navy. This gentleman was going to Java to remain; and he took with him
+his wife, several children, servants, and a lady, who seemed to be a
+companion to his wife. As soon as this party was on board, the wind coming
+fair, we sailed. The Plato went to sea in company with us, and little did
+I then think, while wishing myself on board her, how soon I should be
+thrown into this very ship--the last craft in which I ever was at sea. I
+was heaving the lead as we passed her; our ship, Dutchman or not, having a
+fleet pair of heels. The Stadtdeel, whatever might be her usage, or her
+food, sailed and worked well, and was capitally found in everything that
+related to the safety of the vessel. This was her first voyage, and she
+was said to be the largest ship out of Rotterdam.</p>
+
+<p>The Stadtdeel must have sailed from Helvoetsluys in May, 1839, or about
+thirty-three years after I sailed from New York, on my first voyage, in
+the Sterling. During all this time I had been toiling at sea, like a dog,
+risking my health and life, in a variety of ways; and this ship, with my
+station on board her, was nearly all I had to show for it! God be praised!
+This voyage, which promised so little, in its commencement, proved, in the
+end, the most fortunate of any in which I embarked.</p>
+
+<p>There was no opportunity for us to put our plans in execution, in going
+down channel. The wind was fair, and it blew so fresh, it would not have
+been easy to get a boat into the water; and we passed the Straits of
+Dover, by day-light, the very day we sailed. The wind held in the same
+quarter, until we reached the north-east trades, giving us a quick run as
+low down as the calm latitudes. All this time, the treatment was as bad as
+ever, or, if anything, worse; and our discontent increased daily. There
+were but one or two native Hollanders in the forecastle, boys excepted;
+but among them was a man who had shipped as an ordinary seaman. He had
+been a soldier, I believe; at all events, he had a medal, received in
+consequence of having been in one of the late affairs between his country
+and Belgium. It is probable this man may not have been very expert in a
+seaman's duty, and it is possible he may have been drinking, though to me
+he appeared sober, at the time the thing occurred which I am about to
+relate. One day the captain fell foul of him, and beat him with a rope
+severely. The ladies interfered, and got the poor fellow out of the
+scrape; the captain letting him go, and telling him to go forward. As the
+man complied, he fell in with the chief mate, who attacked him afresh, and
+beat him very severely. The man now went below, and was about to turn in,
+as the captain had ordered,--which renders it probable he had been
+drinking,--when the second mate, possibly ignorant of what had occurred,
+missing him from his duty, went below, and beat him up on deck again.
+These different assaults seem to have made the poor fellow desperate. He
+ran and jumped into the sea, just forward of the starboard
+lower-studdingsail-boom. The ship was then in the north-east trades, and
+had eight or nine knots way on her; notwithstanding, she was rounded to,
+and a boat was lowered--but the man was never found. There is something
+appalling in seeing a fellow-creature driven to such acts of madness; and
+the effect produced on all of us, by what we witnessed, was profound
+and sombre.</p>
+
+<p>I shall not pretend to say that this man did not deserve chastisement, or
+that the two mates were not ignorant of what had happened; but brutal
+treatment was so much in use on board this ship, that the occurrence made
+us five nearly desperate. I make no doubt a crew of Americans, who were
+thus treated, would have secured the officers, and brought the ship in. It
+is true, that flogging seems necessary to some natures, and I will not say
+that such a crew as ours could very well get along without it. But we
+might sometimes be treated as men, and no harm follow.</p>
+
+<p>As I have said, the loss of this man produced a great impression in the
+ship, generally. The passengers appeared much affected by it, and I
+thought the captain, in particular, regretted it greatly. He might not
+have been in the least to blame, for the chastisement he inflicted was
+such as masters of ships often bestow on their men, but the crew felt very
+indignant against the mates; one of whom was particularly obnoxious to us
+all. As for my party, we now began to plot, again, in order to get quit of
+the ship. After a great deal of discussion, we came to the following
+resolution:</p>
+
+<p>About a dozen of us entered into the conspiracy. We contemplated no
+piracy, no act of violence, that should not be rendered necessary in
+self-defence, nor any robbery beyond what we conceived indispensable to
+our object. As the ship passed the Straits of Sunda, we intended to lower
+as many boats as should be necessary, arm ourselves, place provisions and
+water in the boats, and abandon the ship. We felt confident that if most
+of the men did not go with us, they would not oppose us. I can now see
+that this was a desperate and unjustifiable scheme; but, for myself, I was
+getting desperate on board the ship, and preferred risking my life to
+remaining. I will not deny that I was a ringleader in this affair, though
+I know I had no other motive than escape. This was a clear case of mutiny,
+and the only one in which I was ever implicated. I have a thousand times
+seen reason to rejoice that the attempt was never made, since, so deep was
+the hostility of the crew to the officers,--the mates, in
+particular,--that I feel persuaded a horrible scene of bloodshed must have
+followed. I did not think of this at the time, making sure of getting off
+unresisted; but, if we had, what would have been the fate of a parcel of
+seamen who came into an English port in ship's boats? Tried for piracy,
+probably, and the execution of some, if not all of us.</p>
+
+<p>The ship had passed the island of St. Pauls, and we were impatiently
+waiting for her entrance into the Straits of Sunda, when an accident
+occurred that put a stop to the contemplated mutiny, and changed the whole
+current, as I devoutly hope, of all my subsequent life. At the calling of
+the middle watch, one stormy night, the ship being under close-reefed
+topsails at the time, with the mainsail furled, I went on deck as usual,
+to my duty. In stepping across the deck, between the launch and the
+galley, I had to cross some spars that were lashed there. While on the
+pile of spars, the ship lurched suddenly, and I lost my balance, falling
+my whole length on deck, upon my left side. Nothing broke the fall, my
+arms being raised to seize a hold above my head, and I came down upon deck
+with my entire weight, the hip taking the principal force of the fall. The
+anguish I suffered was acute, and it was some time before I would allow my
+shipmates even to touch me.</p>
+
+<p>After a time, I was carried down into the steerage, where it was found
+necessary to sling me on a grating, instead of a hammock. We had a doctor
+on board, but he could do nothing for me. My clothes could not be taken
+off, and there I lay wet, and suffering to a degree that I should find
+difficult to describe, hours and hours.</p>
+
+<p>I was now really on the stool of repentance. In body, I was perfectly
+helpless, though my mind seemed more active than it had ever been before.
+I overhauled my whole life, beginning with the hour when I first got
+drunk, as a boy, on board the Sterling, and underrunning every scrape I
+have mentioned in this sketch of my life, with many of which I have not
+spoken; and all with a fidelity and truth that satisfy me that man can
+keep no log-book that is as accurate as his own conscience. I saw that I
+had been my own worst enemy, and how many excellent opportunities of
+getting ahead in the world, I had wantonly disregarded. Liquor lay at the
+root of all my calamities and misconduct, enticing me into bad company,
+undermining my health and strength, and blasting my hopes. I tried to
+pray, but did not know how; and, it appeared to me, as if I were lost,
+body and soul, without a hope of mercy.</p>
+
+<p>My shipmates visited me by stealth, and I pointed out to them, as clearly
+as in my power, the folly, as well as the wickedness, of our contemplated
+mutiny. I told them we had come on board the ship voluntarily, and we had
+no right to be judges in our own case; that we should have done a cruel
+thing in deserting a ship at sea, with women and children on board; that
+the Malays would probably have cut our throats, and the vessel herself
+would have been very apt to be wrecked. Of all this mischief, we should
+have been the fathers, and we had every reason to be grateful that our
+project was defeated. The men listened attentively, and promised to
+abandon every thought of executing the revolt. They were as good as their
+words, and I heard no more of the matter.</p>
+
+<p>As for my hurt, it was not easy to say what it was. The doctor was kind to
+me, but he could do no more than give me food and little indulgencies. As
+for the captain, I think he was influenced by the mate, who appeared to
+believe I was feigning an injury much greater than I had actually
+received. On board the ship, there was a boy, of good parentage, who had
+been sent out to commence his career at sea. He lived aft, and was a sort
+of genteel cabin-boy He could not have been more than ten or eleven years
+old but he proved to be a ministering angel to me. He brought me
+delicacies, sympathised with me, and many a time did we shed tears in
+company. The ladies and the admiral's children sometimes came to see me,
+too, manifesting much sorrow for my situation; and then it was that my
+conscience pricked the deepest, for the injury, or risks, I had
+contemplated exposing them to. Altogether, the scenes I saw daily, and my
+own situation, softened my heart, and I began to get views of my moral
+deformity that were of a healthful and safe character.</p>
+
+<p>I lay on that grating two months, and bitter months they were to me. The
+ship had arrived at Batavia, and the captain and mate came to see what was
+to be done with me. I asked to be sent to the hospital, but the mate
+insisted nothing was the matter with me, and asked to have me kept in the
+ship. This was done, and I went round to Terragall in her, where we landed
+our passengers. These last all came and took leave of me, the admiral
+making me a present of a good jacket, that he had worn himself at sea,
+with a quantity of tobacco. I have got that jacket at this moment. The
+ladies spoke kindly to me, and all this gave my heart fresh pangs.</p>
+
+<p>From Terragall we went to Sourabaya, where I prevailed on the captain to
+send me to the hospital, the mate still insisting I was merely shamming
+inability to work. The surgeons at Sourabaya, one of whom was a Scotchman,
+thought with the mate; and at the end of twenty days, I was again taken on
+board the ship, which sailed for Samarang. While at Sourabaya there were
+five English sailors in the hospital. These men were as forlorn and
+miserable as my self, death grinning in our faces at every turn. The men
+who were brought into the hospital one day, were often dead the next, and
+none of us knew whose turn would come next. We often talked together, on
+religious subjects, after our own uninstructed manner, and greatly did we
+long to find an English bible, a thing not to be had there. Then it was I
+thought, again, of the sermon I had heard at the Sailors' Retreat, of the
+forfeited promises I had made to reform; and, more than once did it cross
+my mind, should God permit me to return home, that I would seek out that
+minister, and ask his prayers and spiritual advice.</p>
+
+<p>On our arrival at Samarang, the mate got a doctor from a Dutch frigate,
+to look at me, who declared nothing ailed me. By these means nearly all
+hands in the ship were set against me, but my four companions, and the
+little boy fancying that I was a skulk, and throwing labour on them. I was
+ordered on deck, and set to work graffing ring-bolts for the guns. Walk I
+could not, being obliged, literally, to crawl along the deck on my hands
+and knees. I suffered great pain, but got no credit for it. The work was
+easy enough for me, when once seated at it, but it caused me infinite
+suffering to move. I was not alone in being thought a skulk, however. The
+doctor himself was taken ill, and the mate accused him, too, very much as
+he did me, of shirking duty. Unfortunately, the poor man gave him the
+lie, by dying.</p>
+
+<p>I was kept at the sort of duty I have mentioned until the ship reached
+Batavia again. Here a doctor came on board from another ship, on a visit,
+and my case was mentioned. The mate ordered me aft, and I crawled upon the
+quarter-deck to be examined. They got me into the cabin, where the strange
+doctor looked at me. This man said I must be operated on by a burning
+process, all of which was said to frighten me to duty. After this I got
+down into the forecastle, and positively refused to do anything more.
+There I lay, abused and neglected by all but my four friends. I told the
+mate I suffered too much to work, and that I must be put ashore. Suffering
+had made me desperate, and I cared not for the consequences.</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately for me, there were two cases of fever and ague in the ship.
+Our own doctor being dead, that of the admiral's ship was sent for to
+visit the sick. The mate seemed anxious to set evidence against me, and he
+asked the admiral's surgeon to come down and see me. The moment this
+gentleman laid eyes on me, he raised both arms, and exclaimed that they
+were killing me. He saw, at once, that I was no impostor, and stated as
+much in pretty plain language, so far as I could understand what he said.
+The mate appeared to be struck with shame and contrition; and I do believe
+that every one on board was sorry for the treatment I had received. I took
+occasion to remonstrate with the mate, and to tell him of the necessity of
+my being sent immediately to the hospital. The man promised to represent
+my case to the captain, and the next day I was landed.</p>
+
+<p>My two great desires were to get to the hospital and to procure a bible. I
+did not expect to live; one of my legs being shrivelled to half its former
+size, and was apparently growing worse; and could I find repose for my
+body and relief for my soul, I felt that I could be happy. I had heard my
+American shipmate, who was a New Yorker, a Hudson river man, say he had a
+bible; but I had never seen it. It lay untouched in the bottom of his
+chest, sailor-fashion. I offered this man a shirt for his bible; but he
+declined taking any pay, cheerfully giving me the book. I forced the shirt
+on him, however, as a sort of memorial of me. Now I was provided with the
+book, I could not read for want of spectacles. I had reached a time of
+life when the sight begins to fail, and I think my eyes were injured in
+Florida. In Sourayaba hospital I had raised a few rupees by the sale of a
+black silk handkerchief, and wanted now to procure a pair of spectacles. I
+sold a pair of boots, and adding the little sum thus raised to that which
+I had already, I felt myself rich and happy, in the prospect of being able
+to study the word of God. On quitting the ship, everybody, forward and
+aft, shook hands with me, the opinion of the man-of-war surgeon suddenly
+changing all their opinions of me and my conduct.</p>
+
+<p>The captain appeared to regret the course things had taken, and was
+willing to do all he could to make me comfortable. My wages were left in a
+merchant's hands, and I was to receive them could I quit this island, or
+get out of the hospital. I was to be sent to Holland, in the latter case,
+and everything was to be done according to law and right. The reader is
+not to imagine I considered myself a suffering saint all this time. On the
+contrary, while I was thought an impostor, I remembered that I had shammed
+sickness in this very island, and, as I entered the hospital, I could not
+forget the circumstances under which I had been its tenant fifteen or
+twenty years before. Then I was in the pride of my youth and strength;
+and, now, as if in punishment for the deception, I was berthed, a
+miserable cripple, within half-a-dozen beds of that on which I was berthed
+when feigning an illness I did not really suffer. Under such
+circumstances, conscience is pretty certain to remind a sinner of
+his misdeeds.</p>
+
+<p>The physician of the hospital put me on very low diet and gave me an
+ointment to "smear" myself with, as he called it; and I was ordered to
+remain in my berth. By means of one of the coolies of the hospital, I got
+a pair of spectacles from the town, and such a pair, as to size and form,
+that people in America regard what is left of them as a curiosity. They
+served my purpose, however, and enabled me to read the precious book I had
+obtained from my north-river shipmate. This book was a copy from the
+American Bible Society's printing-office, and if no other of their works
+did good, this must be taken for an exception. It has since been placed in
+the Society's Library, in memory of the good it has done.</p>
+
+<p>My sole occupation was reading and reflecting. There I lay, in a distant
+island, surrounded by disease, death daily, nay hourly making his
+appearance, among men whose language was mostly unknown to me. It was
+several weeks before I was allowed even to quit my bunk. I had begun to
+pray before I left the ship, and this practice I continued, almost hourly,
+until I was permitted to rise. A converted Lascar was in the hospital, and
+seeing my occupation, he came and conversed with me, in his broken
+English. This man gave me a hymn-book, and one of the first hymns I read
+in it afforded me great consolation. It was written by a man who had been
+a sailor like myself, and one who had been almost as wicked as myself, but
+who has since done a vast deal of good, by means of precept and example.
+This hymn-book I now read in common with my bible. But I cannot express
+the delight I felt at a copy of Pilgrim's Progress which this same Lascar
+gave me. That book I consider as second only to the bible. It enabled me
+to understand and to apply a vast deal that I found in the word of God,
+and set before my eyes so many motives for hope, that I began to feel
+Christ had died for me, as well as for the rest of the species. I thought
+if the thief on the cross could be saved, even one as wicked as I had been
+had only to repent and believe, to share in the Redeemer's mercy. All this
+time I fairly pined for religious instruction, and my thoughts would
+constantly recur to the sermon I had heard at the Sailor's Retreat, and
+to the clergyman who had preached it.</p>
+
+<p>There was an American carpenter in the Fever Hospital, who, hearing of my
+state, gave me some tracts that he had brought from home with him. This
+man was not pious, but circumstances had made him serious; and, being
+about to quit the place, he was willing to administer to my wants He told
+me there were several Englishmen and one American in his hospital, who
+wanted religious consolation greatly, and he advised me to crawl over and
+see them; which I did, as soon as it was in my power.</p>
+
+<p>At first, I thought myself too wicked to offer to pray and converse with
+these men, but my conscience would not let me rest until I did so. It
+appeared to me as if the bible had been placed in my way, as much for
+their use as my own, and I could not rest until I had offered them all the
+consolation it was in my power to bestow. I read with these men for two or
+three weeks; Chapman, the American, being the man who considered his own
+moral condition the most hopeless. When unable to go myself, I would send
+my books, and we had the bible and Pilgrim's Progress, watch and watch,
+between us.</p>
+
+<p>All this time we were living, as it might be, on a bloody battle-field.
+Men died in scores around us, and at the shortest notice. Batavia, at that
+season, was the most sickly; and, although the town was by no means as
+dangerous then as it had been in my former visit, it was still a sort of
+Golgotha, or place of skulls. More than half who entered the Fever
+Hospital, left it only as corpses.</p>
+
+<p>Among my English associates, as I call them, was a young Scotchman, of
+about five-and-twenty. This man had been present at most of our readings
+and conversations, though he did not appear to me as much impressed with
+the importance of caring for his soul, as some of the others. One day he
+came to take leave of me. He was to quit the hospital the following
+morning. I spoke to him concerning his future life, and endeavoured to
+awaken in him some feelings that might be permanent, he listened with
+proper respect, but his answers were painfully inconsiderate, though I do
+believe he reasoned as nine in ten of mankind reason, when they think at
+all on such subjects. "What's the use of my giving up so soon," he said;
+"I am young, and strong, and in good health, and have plenty of sea-room
+to leeward of me, and can fetch up when there is occasion for it. If a
+fellow don't live while he can, he'll never live." I read to him the
+parable of the wise and foolish virgins, but he left me holding the same
+opinion, to the last.</p>
+
+<p>Directly in front of my ward was the dead-house. Thither all the bodies of
+those who died in the hospital were regularly carried for dissection.
+Scarcely one escaped being subjected to the knife. This dead-house stood
+some eighty, or a hundred, yards from the hospital, and between them was
+an area, containing a few large trees. I was in the habit, after I got
+well enough to go out, to hobble to one of these trees, where I would sit
+for hours, reading and meditating. It was a good place to make a man
+reflect on the insignificance of worldly things, disease and death being
+all around him. I frequently saw six or eight bodies carried across this
+area, while sitting in it, and many were taken to the dead-house, at
+night. Hundreds, if not thousands, were in the hospital, and a large
+proportion died.</p>
+
+<p>The morning of the day but one, after I had taken leave of the young
+Scotchman, I was sitting under a tree, as usual, when I saw some coolies
+carrying a dead body across the area. They passed quite near me, and one
+of the coolies gave me to understand it was that of this very youth! He
+had been seized with the fever, a short time after he left me, and here
+was a sudden termination to all his plans of enjoyment and his hopes of
+life; his schemes of future repentance.</p>
+
+<p>Such things are of frequent occurrence in that island, but this event made
+a very deep impression on me. It helped to strengthen me in my own
+resolutions, and I used it, I hope, with effect, with my companions whose
+lives were still spared.</p>
+
+<p>All the Englishmen got well, and were discharged. Chapman, the American,
+however, remained, being exceedingly feeble with the disease of the
+country. With this poor young man, I prayed, as well as I knew how, and
+read, daily, to his great comfort and consolation, I believe. The reader
+may imagine how one dying in a strange land, surrounded by idolaters,
+would lean on a single countryman who was disposed to aid him. In this
+manner did Chap man lean on me, and all my efforts were to induce him to
+lean on the Saviour. He thought he had been too great a sinner to be
+entitled to any hope, and my great task was to overcome in him some of
+those stings of conscience which it had taken the grace of God to allay in
+myself. One day, the last time I was with him, I read the narrative of the
+thief on the cross. He listened to it eagerly, and when I had ended, for
+the first time, he displayed some signs of hope and joy. As I left him, he
+took leave of me, saying we should never meet again. He asked my prayers,
+and I promised them. I went to my own ward, and, while actually engaged in
+redeeming my promise, one came to tell me he had gone. He sent me a
+message, to say he died a happy man. The poor fellow--happy fellow, would
+be a better term--sent back all the books he had borrowed; and it will
+serve to give some idea of the condition we were in, in a temporal sense,
+if I add, that he also sent me a few coppers, in order that they might
+contribute to the comfort of his countrymen.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter XIX.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>About three months after the death of Chapman, I was well enough to quit
+the hospital. I could walk, with the aid of crutches, but had no hope of
+ever being a sound man again. Of course, I had an anxious desire to get
+home; for all my resolutions, misanthropical feelings, and resentments,
+had vanished in the moral change I had undergone. My health, as a whole,
+was now good. Temperance, abstinence, and a happy frame of mind, had
+proved excellent doctors; and, although I had not, and never shall,
+altogether, recover from the effects of my fall, I had quite done with the
+"horrors." The last fit of them I suffered was in the deep conviction I
+felt concerning my sinful state. I knew nothing of Temperance
+Societies--had never heard that such things existed, or, if I had, forgot
+it as soon as heard; and yet, unknown to myself, had joined the most
+effective and most permanent of all these bodies. Since my fall, I have
+not tasted spirituous liquors, except as medicine, and in very small
+quantities, nor do I now feel the least desire to drink. By the grace of
+God, the great curse of my life has been removed, and I have lived a
+perfectly sober man for the last five years. I look upon liquor as one of
+the great agents of the devil in destroying souls, and turn from it,
+almost as sensitively as I could wish to turn from sin.</p>
+
+<p>I wrote to the merchant who held my wages, on the subject of quitting the
+hospital, but got no answer. I then resolved to go to Batavia myself, and
+took my discharge from the hospital, accordingly. I can truly say, I left
+that place, into which I had entered a miserable, heart-broken cripple, a
+happy man. Still, I had nothing; not even the means of seeking a
+livelihood. But I was lightened of the heaviest of all my burthens, and
+felt I could go through the world rejoicing, though, literally, moving
+on crutches.</p>
+
+<p>The hospital is seven miles from the town, and I went this distance in a
+canal-boat, Dutch fashion. Many of these canals exist in Java, and they
+have had the effect to make the island much more healthy, by draining the
+marshes. They told me, the canal I was on ran fifty miles into the
+interior. The work was done by the natives, but under the direction of
+their masters, the Dutch.</p>
+
+<p>On reaching the town, I hobbled up to the merchant, who gave me a very
+indifferent reception. He said I had cost too much already, but that I
+must return to the hospital, until an opportunity offered for sending me
+to Holland. This I declined doing. Return to the hospital I would not, as
+I knew it could do no good, and my wish was to get back to America. I then
+went to the American consul, who treated me kindly. I was told, however,
+he could do nothing for me, as I had come out in a Dutch ship, unless I
+relinquished all claims to my wages, and all claims on the Dutch laws. My
+wages were a trifle, and I had no difficulty in relinquishing them, and as
+for claims, I wished to present none on the laws of Holland.</p>
+
+<p>The consul then saw the Dutch merchant, and the matter was arranged
+between them. The Plato, the very ship that left Helvoetsluys in company
+with us, was then at Batavia, taking in cargo for Bremenhaven. She had a
+new cap tain, and he consented to receive me as a consul's man. This
+matter was all settled the day I reached the town, and I was to go on
+board the ship in the morning.</p>
+
+<p>I said nothing to the consul about money, but left his office with the
+expectation of getting some from the Dutch merchant. I had tasted no food
+that day, and, on reaching the merchant's, I found him on the point of
+going into the country; no one sleeping in the town at that season, who
+could help it. He took no notice of me, and I got no assistance; perhaps I
+was legally entitled to none. I now sat down on some boxes, and thought I
+would remain at that spot until morning. Sleeping in the open air, on an
+empty stomach, in that town, and at that season, would probably have
+proved my death, had I been so fortunate as to escape being murdered by
+the Malays for the clothes I had on. Providence took care of me. One of
+the clerks, a Portuguese, took pity on me, and led me to a house occupied
+by a negro, who had been converted to Christianity. We met with a good
+deal of difficulty in finding admission. The black said the English and
+Americans were so wicked he was afraid of them; but, finding by my
+discourse that I was not one of the Christian heathen, he altered his
+tone, and nothing was then too good for me. I was fed, and he sent for my
+chest, receiving with it a bed and three blankets, as a present from the
+charitable clerk. Thus were my prospects for that night suddenly changed
+for the better! I could only thank God, in my inmost heart, for all
+his mercies.</p>
+
+<p>The old black, who was a man of some means, was also about to quit the
+town; but, before he went, he inquired if I had a bible. I told him yes;
+still, he would not rest until he had pressed upon me a large bible, in
+English, which language he spoke very well. This book had prayers for
+seamen bound up with it. It was, in fact, a sort of English prayer-book,
+as well as bible. This I accepted, and have now with me. As soon as the
+old man went away, leaving his son behind him for the moment, I began to
+read in my Pilgrim's Progress. The young man expressed a desire to examine
+the book, understanding English perfectly. After reading in it for a short
+time, he earnestly begged the book, telling me he had two sisters, who
+would be infinitely pleased to possess it. I could not refuse him, and he
+promised to send another book in its place, which I should find equally
+good. He thus left me, taking the Pilgrim's Progress with him. Half an
+hour later a servant brought me the promised book, which proved to be
+Doddridge's Rise and Progress. On looking through the pages, I found a
+Mexican dollar wafered between two of the leaves. All this I regarded as
+providential, and as a proof that the Lord would not desert me. My
+gratitude, I hope, was in proportion. This whole household appeared to be
+religious, for I passed half the night in conversing with the Malay
+servants, on the subject of Christianity; concerning which they had
+already received many just ideas. I knew that my teaching was like the
+blind instructing the blind; but it had the merit of coming from God,
+though in a degree suited to my humble claims on his grace.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning, these Malays gave me breakfast, and then carried my chest
+and other articles to the Plato's boat. I was happy enough to find myself,
+once more, under the stars and stripes, where I was well received, and
+humanely treated. The ship sailed for Bremen about twenty days after I got
+on board her.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, I could do but little on the passage. Whenever I moved along
+the deck, it was by crawling, though I could work with the needle and
+palm. A fortnight out, the carpenter, a New York man, died. I tried to
+read and pray with him, but cannot say that he showed any consciousness of
+his true situation. We touched at St. Helena for water, and, Napoleon
+being then dead, had no difficulty in getting ashore. After watering we
+sailed again, and reached our port in due time.</p>
+
+<p>I was now in Europe, a part of the world that I had little hopes of seeing
+ten months before. Still it was my desire to get to America, and I was
+permitted to remain in the ship. I was treated in the kindest manner by
+captain Bunting, and Mr. Bowden, the mate, who gave me everything I
+needed. At the end of a few weeks we sailed again, for New York, where we
+arrived in the month of August, 1840,</p>
+
+<p>I left the Plato at the quarantine ground, going to the Sailor's Retreat.
+Here the physician told me I never could recover the use of my limb as I
+had possessed it before, but that the leg would gradually grow stronger,
+and that I might get along without crutches in the end. All this has
+turned out to be true. The pain had long before left me, weakness being
+now the great difficulty. The hip-joint is injured, and this in a way that
+still compels me to rely greatly on a stick in walking.</p>
+
+<p>At the Sailor's Retreat, I again met Mr. Miller. I now, for the first
+time, received regular spiritual advice, and it proved to be of great
+benefit to me. After remaining a month at the Retreat, I determined to
+make an application for admission to the Sailor's Snug Harbour, a richly
+endowed asylum for seamen, on the same island. In order to be admitted, it
+was necessary to have sailed under the flag five years, and to get a
+character. I had sailed, with two short exceptions, thirty-four years
+under the flag, and I do believe in all that time, the nineteen months of
+imprisonment excluded, I had not been two years unattached to a ship. I
+think I must have passed at least a quarter of a century out of sight of
+land.[17]</p>
+
+<p>I now went up to New York, and hunted up captain Pell, with whom I had
+sailed in the Sully and in the Normandy. This gentleman gave me a
+certificate, and, as I left him, handed me a dollar. This was every cent I
+had on earth. Next, I found captain Witheroudt, of the Silvie de Grasse
+who treated me in precisely the same way. I told him I had <i>one</i> dollar
+already, but he insisted it should be <i>two.</i> With these two dollars in my
+pocket, I was passing up Wall street, when, in looking about me, I saw the
+pension office. The reader will remember that I left Washington with the
+intention of finding Lemuel Bryant, in order to obtain his certificate,
+that I might get a pension for the injury received on board the Scourge.
+With this project, I had connected a plan of returning to Boston, and of
+getting some employment in the Navy Yard. My pension-ticket had, in
+consequence, been made payable at Boston. My arrival at New York, and the
+shadding expedition, had upset all this plan; and before I went to
+Savannah, I had carried my pension-ticket to the agent in this Wall street
+office, and requested him to get another, made payable in New York. This
+was the last I had seen of my ticket, and almost the last I had thought of
+my pension. But, I now crossed the street, went into the office, and was
+recognised immediately. Everything was in rule, and I came out of the
+office with fifty-six dollars in my pockets! I had no thought of this
+pension, at all, in coming up to town. It was so much money showered down
+upon me, unexpectedly.</p>
+
+<p>For a man of my habits, who kept clear of drink, I was now rich. Instead
+of remaining in town, however, I went immediately down to the Harbour, and
+presented myself to its respectable superintendant, the venerable Captain
+Whetten.[18] I was received into the institution without any difficulty,
+and have belonged to it ever since. My entrance at Sailors' Snug Harbour
+took place Sept. 17, 1840; just one month after I landed at Sailors'
+Retreat. The last of these places is a seamen's hospital, where men are
+taken in only to be cured; while the first is an asylum for worn-out
+mariners, for life. The last is supported by a bequest made, many years
+ago, by an old ship-master, whose remains lie in front of the building.</p>
+
+<p>Knowing myself now to be berthed for the rest of my days, should I be so
+inclined, and should I remain worthy to receive the benefits of so
+excellent an institution, I began to look about me, like a man who had
+settled down in the world. One of my first cares, was to acquit myself of
+the duty of publicly joining some church of Christ, and thus acknowledge
+my dependence on his redemption and mercy. Mr. Miller, he whose sermons
+had made so deep an impression on my mind, was living within a mile and a
+half of the Harbour, and to him I turned in my need. I was an
+Episcopalian by infant baptism, and I am still as much attached to that
+form of worship, as to any other; but sects have little weight with me,
+the heart being the main-stay, under God's grace. Two of us, then, joined
+Mr. Miller's church; and I have ever since continued one of his
+communicants. I have not altogether deserted the communion in which I was
+baptized; occasionally communing in the church of Mr. Moore. To me, there
+is no difference; though I suppose more learned Christians may find
+materials for a quarrel, in the distinctions which exist between these two
+churches. I hope never to quarrel with either.</p>
+
+<p>To my surprise, sometime after I was received into the Harbour, I
+ascertained that my sister had removed to New York, and was then living in
+the place. I felt it, now, to be a duty to hunt her up, and see her. This
+I did; and we met, again, after a separation of five-and-twenty years. She
+could tell me very little of my family; but I now learned, for the first
+time, that my father had been killed in battle. Who, or what he was, I
+have not been able to ascertain, beyond the facts already stated in the
+opening of the memoir.</p>
+
+<p>I had ever retained a kind recollection of the treatment of Captain
+Johnston, and accident threw into my way some information concerning him.
+The superintendant had put me in charge of the library of the institution;
+and, one day, I overheard some visiters talking of Wiscasset. Upon this, I
+ventured to inquire after my old master, and was glad to learn that he was
+not only living, but in good health and circumstances. To my surprise I
+was told that a nephew of his was actually living within a mile of me. In
+September, 1842, I went to Wiscasset, to visit Captain Johnston, and found
+myself received like the repentant prodigal. The old gentleman, and his
+sisters, seemed glad to see me; and, I found that the former had left the
+seas, though he still remained a ship-owner; having a stout vessel of five
+hundred tons, which is, at this moment, named after our old craft,
+the Sterling.</p>
+
+<p>I remained at Wiscasset several weeks. During this time, Captain Johnston
+and myself talked over old times, as a matter of course, and I told him I
+thought one of our old shipmates was still living. On his asking whom, I
+inquired if he remembered the youngster, of the name of Cooper, who had
+been in the Sterling. He answered, perfectly well, and that he supposed
+him to be the Captain Cooper who was then in the navy. I had thought so,
+too, for a long time; but happened to be on board the Hudson, at New York,
+when a Captain Cooper visited her. Hearing his name, I went on deck
+expressly to see him, and was soon satisfied it was not my old shipmate.
+There are two Captains Cooper in the navy,--father and son,--but neither
+had been in the Sterling. Now, the author of many naval tales, and of the
+Naval History, was from Cooperstown, New York; and I had taken it into my
+head this was the very person who had been with us in the Sterling.
+Captain Johnston thought not; but I determined to ascertain the fact,
+immediately on my return to New York.</p>
+
+<p>Quitting Wiscasset, I came back to the Harbour, in the month of November,
+1842. I ought to say, that the men at this institution, who maintain good
+characters, can always get leave to go where they please, returning
+whenever they please. There is no more restraint than is necessary to
+comfort and good order; the object being to make old tars comfortable.
+Soon after my return to the Harbour, I wrote a letter to Mr. Fenimore
+Cooper, and sent it to his residence, at Cooperstown, making the inquiries
+necessary to know if he were the person of the same family who had been in
+the Sterling. I got an answer, beginning in these words--"I am your old
+shipmate, Ned." Mr. Cooper informed me when he would be in town, and
+where he lodged.</p>
+
+<p>In the spring, I got a message from Mr. Blancard, the keeper of the Globe
+Hotel, and the keeper, also, of Brighton, near the Harbour, to say that
+Mr. Cooper was in town, and wished to see me. Next day, I went up,
+accordingly; but did not find him in. After paying one or two visits, I
+was hobbling up Broadway, to go to the Globe again, when my old commander
+at Pensacola, Commodore Bolton, passed down street, arm-in-arm with a
+stranger. I saluted the commodore, who nodded his head to me, and this
+induced the stranger to look round. Presently I heard "Ned!" in a voice
+that I knew immediately, though I had not heard it in thirty-seven years.
+It was my old shipmate--the gentleman who has written out this account of
+my career, from my verbal narrative of the facts.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Cooper asked me to go up to his place, in the country, and pass a few
+weeks there. I cheerfully consented, and we reached Cooperstown early in
+June. Here I found a neat village, a beautiful lake, nine miles long, and,
+altogether, a beautiful country. I had never been as far from the sea
+before, the time when I served on Lake Ontario excepted. Cooperstown lies
+in a valley, but Mr. Cooper tells me it is at an elevation of twelve
+hundred feet above tide-water. To me, the clouds appeared so low, I
+thought I could almost shake hands with them; and, altogether, the air and
+country were different from any I had ever seen, or breathed, before.</p>
+
+<p>My old shipmate took me often on the Lake, which I will say is a slippery
+place to navigate. I thought I had seen all sorts of winds before I saw
+the Otsego, but, on this lake it sometimes blew two or three different
+ways at the same time. While knocking about this piece of water, in a good
+stout boat, I related to my old shipmate many of the incidents of my
+wandering life, until, one day, he suggested it might prove interesting to
+publish them. I was willing, could the work be made useful to my brother
+sailors, and those who might be thrown into the way of temptations like
+those which came so near wrecking all my hopes, both for this world, and
+that which is to come. We accordingly went to work between us, and the
+result is now laid before the world. I wish it understood, that this is
+literally my own story, logged by my old shipmate.</p>
+
+<p>It is now time to clew up. When a man has told all he has to say, the
+sooner he is silent the better. Every word that has been related, I
+believe to be true; when I am wrong, it proceeds from ignorance, or want
+of memory. I may possibly have made some trifling mistakes about dates,
+and periods, but I think they would turn out to be few, on inquiry. In
+many instances I have given my impressions, which, like those of other
+men, may be right, or may be wrong. As for the main facts, however, I know
+them to be true, nor do I think myself much out of the way, in any of
+the details.</p>
+
+<p>This is the happiest period of my life, and has been so since I left the
+hospital at Batavia. I do not know that I have ever passed a happier
+summer than the present has been. I should be perfectly satisfied with
+everything, did not my time hang so idle on my hands at the Harbour. I
+want something to occupy my leisure moments, and do not despair of yet
+being able to find a mode of life more suitable to the activity of my
+early days. I have friends enough--more than I deserve--and, yet, a man
+needs occupation, who has the strength and disposition to be employed.
+That which is to happen is in the hands of Providence, and I humbly trust
+I shall be cared for, to the end, as I have been cared for, through so
+many scenes of danger and trial.</p>
+
+<p>My great wish is that this picture of a sailor's risks and hardships, may
+have some effect in causing this large and useful class of men to think on
+the subject of their habits. I entertain no doubt that the money I have
+disposed of far worse than if I had thrown it into the sea, which went to
+reduce me to that mental hell, the 'horrors,' and which, on one occasion,
+at least, drove me to the verge of suicide, would have formed a sum, had
+it been properly laid by, on which I might now have been enjoying an old
+age of comfort and respectability. It is seldom that a seaman cannot lay
+by a hundred dollars in a twelvemonth--oftentimes I have earned double
+that amount, beyond my useful outlays--and a hundred dollars a year, at
+the end of thirty years, would give such a man an independence for the
+rest of his days. This is far from all, however; the possession of means
+would awaken the desire of advancement in the calling, and thousands, who
+now remain before the mast, would long since have been officers, could
+they have commanded the self-respect that property is apt to create.</p>
+
+<p>On the subject of liquor, I can say nothing that has not often been said
+by others, in language far better than I can use. I do not think I was as
+bad, in this respect, as perhaps a majority of my associates; yet, this
+narrative will show how often the habit of drinking to excess impeded my
+advance. It was fast converting me into a being inferior to a man, and,
+but for God's mercy, might have rendered me the perpetrator of crimes that
+it would shock me to think of, in my sober and sane moments.</p>
+
+<p>The past, I have related as faithfully as I have been able so to do. The
+future is with God; to whom belongeth power, and glory, for ever and ever!</p>
+
+
+
+<p align="center" class="smallcaps">The End.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Footnotes</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>[1]: The writer left a blank for this regiment, and now inserts it from
+memory. It is probable he is wrong.</p>
+
+<p>[2]: Edward, Duke of Kent, was born November 2, 1767, and made a peer April
+23, 1799; when he was a little turned of one-and-thirty. It is probable
+that this creation took place on his return to England; after passing some
+six or eight years in America and the West Indies. He served in the West
+Indies with great personal distinction, during his stay in this
+hemisphere.--Editor.</p>
+
+<p>[3]: This is Ned's pronunciation; though it is probable the name is not
+spelt correctly. The names of Ned are taken a good deal at random; and,
+doubtless, are often misspelled.--Editor.</p>
+
+<p>[4]: I well remember using these arguments to Ned; though less with any
+expectations of being admitted, than the boy seemed to believe. There was
+more roguery, than anything else, in my persuasion; though it was mixed
+with a latent wish to see the interior of the palace.--Editor.</p>
+
+<p>[5]: Second-mate.</p>
+
+<p>[6]: 22d--Editor.</p>
+
+<p>[7]: When Myers related this circumstance, I remembered that a
+Lieutenant-Colonel Meyers had been killed in the affair at Fort George,
+something in the way here mentioned. On consulting the American official
+account, I found that my recollection was just, so far as this--a
+Lieutenant-Colonel Meyers was reported as wounded and taken prisoner. I
+then recollected to have been present at a conversation between
+Major-General Lewis and Major Baker, his adjutant-general, shortly after
+the battle, in which the question arose whether the same shot had killed
+Colonel Meyers that killed his horse. General Lewis thought not; Major
+Baker thought it had. On my referring to the official account as reporting
+this gentleman to have been only <i>wounded</i>, I was told it was a
+mistake, he having been <i>killed</i>. Now for the probabilities. Both Ned
+and his sister understand that their father was slain in battle, about
+this time. Ned thought this occurred at Waterloo, but the sister thinks
+not. Neither knew anything of the object of my inquiry. The sister says
+letters were received from <i>Quebec</i> in relation to the father's
+personal effects. It would be a strange thing, if Ned had actually found
+his own father's body on the field, in this extraordinary manner! I
+pretend not to say it is so; but it must be allowed it looks very much
+like it. The lady may have been a wife, married between the years 1796 and
+1813, when Mr. Meyers had got higher rank. This occurrence was related by
+Ned without the slightest notion of the inference that I have here
+drawn.--Editor.</p>
+
+<p>[8]: It is supposed that Capt. Deacon died, a few years since, in
+consequence of an injury he received on board the Growler, this night. A
+shot struck her main-boom, within a short distance of one of his ears, and
+he ever after complained of its effects. At his death this side of his
+head was much swollen and affected.--Editor.</p>
+
+<p>[9]: By this, Ned means six men had to subsist on the usual allowance of
+four men; a distinction that was made between men on duty and men off.
+Prisoners, too, are commonly allowed to help themselves in a variety of
+ways.--Editor.</p>
+
+<p>[10]: The name of this young officer was King. He is now dead, having been
+lost in the Lynx, Lt. Madison.--Editor.
+
+[11]: If this be true, this could hardly have been a court, but must have
+been a mere investigation; as Sir John Borlase Warren was
+commander-in-chief, and would scarcely sit in a court of his own
+ordering.--Editor.</p>
+
+<p>[12]: Ned means Loto, probably.--Editor.</p>
+
+<p>[13]: Ned might have added "few duchesses." The ambassadors' bags in
+Europe, might ten many a tale of <i>foulards</i>, &amp;c., sent from one court
+to another. The writer believes that the higher class of American
+gentlemen and ladies smuggle less than those of any other country. It
+should be remembered, too, that no seaman goes in a smuggler, thut is not
+sent by traders ashore.--Editor.</p>
+
+<p>[14]: A friend, who was then American Consul at Gibraltar, and an old navy
+officer, tells me Ned is mistaken as to the nature of the anchorage. The
+ship was a little too far out for the best holding ground. The same friend
+adds that the character of this gale is not at all overcharged, the
+vessels actually lost, including small craft of every description,
+amounting to the every way extraordinary number of just three hundred and
+sixty-five.--Editor.</p>
+
+<p>[15]: This is the reasoning of Ned. I have always looked upon the American
+law as erroneous in principle, and too severe in its penalties. Erroneous
+in principle, as piracy is a crime against the law of nations, and it is
+not legal for any one community to widen, or narrow, the action of
+international law. It is peculiarly the policy of this country, rigidly to
+observe this principle, since she has so many interests dependent on its
+existence. The punishment of death is too severe, when we consider that
+nabobs are among us, who laid the foundations of their wealth, as slaving
+<i>merchants</i>, when slaving <i>was</i> legal. Sudden mutations in morals,
+are not to be made by a dash of the pen; and even public sentiment can
+hardly be made to consider slaving much of a crime, in a slave-holding
+community. But, even the punishment of death might be inflicted, without
+arrogating to Congress a power to say what is, and what is not, piracy.</p>
+
+<p>It will probably be said, the error is merely one of language; the
+jurisdiction being clearly legal. Is this true? Can Congress, legally or
+constitutionally, legislate for American citizens, when undeniably within
+the jurisdiction of foreign states? Admit this as a principle, and what is
+to prevent Congress from punishing acts, that it may be the policy of
+foreign countries to exact from even casual residents. If Congress can
+punish me, as a pirate, for slaving under a foreign flag, and in foreign
+countries, it can punish me for carrying arms against all American allies;
+and yet military service may be exacted of even an American citizen,
+resident in a foreign state, under particular circumstances. The same
+difficulty, in principle, may be extended to the whole catalogue of legal
+crime.</p>
+
+<p>Congress exists only for specified purposes. It can <i>punish</i> piracy,
+but it cannot declare what shall, or shall not, be piracy; as this would
+be invading the authority of international law. Under the general power to
+pass laws, that are necessary to carry out the system, it can derive no
+authority; since there can be no legal necessity for any such double
+legislation, under the comity of nations. Suppose, for instance, England
+should legalize slaving, again. Could the United States claim the American
+citizen, who had engaged in slaving, under the English flag, and from a
+British port, under the renowned Ashburton treaty? Would England give such
+a man up? No more than she will now give up the slaves that run from the
+American vessel, which is driven in by stress of weather. One of the vices
+of philanthropy is to overreach its own policy, by losing sight of all
+collateral principles and interests.--Editor.</p>
+
+<p>[16]: Ned's pronunciation.</p>
+
+<p>[17]: I find, in looking over his papers and accounts, that Ned,
+exclusively of all the prison-ships, transports, and vessels in which he
+made passages, has belonged regularly to seventy-two different crafts! In
+some of these vessels he made many voyages, In the Sterling, he made
+several passages with the writer; besides four European voyages, at a
+later day. He made four voyages to Havre in the Erie, which counts as only
+one vessel, in the above list. He was three voyages to London, in the
+Washington, &amp;c. &amp;c. &amp;c.; and often made two voyages in the same ship. I am
+of opinion that Ned's calculation of his having been twenty-five years out
+of sight of land is very probably true. He must have <i>sailed, in all
+ways</i>, in near a hundred different craft.--Editor.</p>
+
+<p>[18]: Pronounced, Wheaton--Editor.</p>
+
+<br />
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Ned Myers, by James Fenimore Cooper
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Ned Myers, by James Fenimore Cooper
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Ned Myers
+
+Author: James Fenimore Cooper
+
+Posting Date: November 19, 2011 [EBook #9788]
+Release Date: January, 2006
+First Posted: October 16, 2003
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NED MYERS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+NED MYERS
+
+or, A Life Before the Mast
+
+By James Fenimore Cooper.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+    Thou unrelenting Past!
+  Strong are the barriers round thy dark domain,
+    And fetters sure and fast
+  Hold all that enter thy unbreathing reign.
+                                    BRYANT
+
+
+Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1843, by
+
+J. Fenimore Cooper,
+
+in the clerk's office of the District Court of the United States for the
+Northern district of New York.
+
+
+
+Preface
+
+
+
+It is an old remark, that the life of any man, could the incidents be
+faithfully told, would possess interest and instruction for the general
+reader. The conviction of the perfect truth of this saying, has induced
+the writer to commit to paper, the vicissitudes, escapes, and opinions of
+one of his old shipmates, as a sure means of giving the public some just
+notions of the career of a common sailor. In connection with the amusement
+that many will find in following a foremast Jack in his perils and
+voyages, however, it is hoped that the experience and moral change of
+Myers may have a salutary influence on the minds of some of those whose
+fortunes have been, or are likely to be, cast in a mould similar to that
+of this old salt.
+
+As the reader will feel a natural desire to understand how far the editor
+can vouch for the truth of that which he has here written, and to be
+informed on the subject of the circumstances that have brought him
+acquainted with the individual whose adventures form the subject of this
+little work, as much shall be told as may be necessary to a proper
+understanding of these two points.
+
+First, then, as to the writer's own knowledge of the career of the
+subject of his present work. In the year 1806, the editor, then a lad,
+fresh from Yale, and destined for the navy, made his first voyage in a
+merchantman, with a view to get some practical knowledge of his
+profession. This was the fashion of the day, though its utility, on the
+whole, may very well be questioned. The voyage was a long one, including
+some six or eight passages, and extending to near the close of the year
+1807. On board the ship was Myers, an apprentice to the captain. Ned, as
+Myers was uniformly called, was a lad, as well as the writer; and, as a
+matter of course, the intimacy of a ship existed between them. Ned,
+however, was the junior, and was not then compelled to face all the
+hardships and servitude that fell to the lot of the writer.
+
+Once, only, after the crew was broken up, did the writer and Ned actually
+see each other, and that only for a short time. This was in 1809. In 1833,
+they were, for half an hour, on board the same ship, without knowing the
+fact at the time. A few months since, Ned, rightly imagining that the
+author of the Pilot must be his old shipmate, wrote the former a letter to
+ascertain the truth. The correspondence produced a meeting, and the
+meeting a visit from Ned to the editor. It was in consequence of the
+revelations made in this visit that the writer determined to produce the
+following work.
+
+The writer has the utmost confidence in all the statements of Ned, so far
+as intention is concerned. Should he not be mistaken on some points, he is
+an exception to the great rule which governs the opinions and
+recollections of the rest of the human family. Still, nothing is related
+that the writer has any reasons for distrusting. In a few instances he has
+interposed his own greater knowledge of the world between Ned's more
+limited experience and the narrative; but, this has been done cautiously,
+and only in cases in which there can be little doubt that the narrator has
+been deceived by appearances, or misled by ignorance. The reader, however,
+is not to infer that Ned has no greater information than usually falls to
+the share of a foremast hand. This is far from being the case. When first
+known to the writer, his knowledge was materially above that of the
+ordinary class of lads in his situation; giving ample proof that he had
+held intercourse with persons of a condition in life, if not positively of
+the rank of gentlemen, of one that was not much below it. In a word, his
+intelligence on general subjects was such as might justly render him the
+subject of remark on board a ship. Although much of his after-life was
+thrown away, portions of it passed in improvement; leaving Ned, at this
+moment, a man of quick apprehension, considerable knowledge, and of
+singularly shrewd comments. If to this be added the sound and accurate
+moral principles that now appear to govern both his acts and his opinions,
+we find a man every way entitled to speak for himself; the want of the
+habit of communicating his thoughts to the public, alone excepted.
+
+In this book, the writer has endeavoured to adhere as closely to the very
+language of his subject, as circumstances will at all allow; and in many
+places he feels confident that no art of his own could, in any respect,
+improve it.
+
+It is probable that a good deal of distrust will exist on the subject of
+the individual whom Ned supposes to have been one of his god-fathers. On
+this head the writer can only say, that the account which Myers has given
+in this work, is substantially the same as that which he gave the editor
+nearly forty years ago, at an age and under circumstances that forbid the
+idea of any intentional deception. The account is confirmed by his sister,
+who is the oldest of the two children, and who retains a distinct
+recollection of the prince, as indeed does Ned himself. The writer
+supposes these deserted orphans to have been born out of wedlock--though
+he has no direct proof to this effect--and there is nothing singular in
+the circumstance of a man of the highest rank, that of a sovereign
+excepted, appearing at the font in behalf of the child of a dependant. A
+member of the royal family, indeed, might be expected to do this, to
+favour one widely separated from him by birth and station, sooner than to
+oblige a noble, who might possibly presume on the condescension.
+
+It remains only to renew the declaration, that every part of this
+narrative is supposed to be true. The memory of Ned may occasionally fail
+him; and, as for his opinions, they doubtless are sometimes erroneous; but
+the writer has the fullest conviction that it is the intention of the Old
+Salt to relate nothing that he does hot believe to have occurred, or to
+express an unjust sentiment. On the subject of his reformation, so far as
+"the tree is to be known by its fruits" it is entirely sincere; the
+language, deportment, habits, and consistency of this well-meaning tar,
+being those of a cheerful and confiding Christian, without the smallest
+disposition to cant or exaggeration. In this particular, he is a living
+proof of the efficacy of faith, and of the power of the Holy Spirit to
+enlighten the darkest understanding, and to quicken the most apathetic
+conscience.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Chapter I.
+
+
+
+In consenting to lay before the world the experience of a common seaman,
+and, I may add, of one who has been such a sinner as the calling is only
+too apt to produce, I trust that no feeling of vanity has had an undue
+influence. I love the seas; and it is a pleasure to me to converse about
+them, and of the scenes I have witnessed, and of the hardships I have
+undergone on their bosom, in various parts of the world. Meeting with an
+old shipmate who is disposed to put into proper form the facts which I can
+give him, and believing that my narrative may be useful to some of those
+who follow the same pursuit as that in which I have been so long engaged,
+I see no evil in the course I am now taking, while I humbly trust it may
+be the means of effecting some little good. God grant that the pictures I
+shall feel bound to draw of my own past degradation and failings,
+contrasted as they must be with my present contentment and hopes, may
+induce some one, at least, of my readers to abandon the excesses so common
+among seamen, and to turn their eyes in the direction of those great
+truths which are so powerful to reform, and so convincing when regarded
+with humility, and with a just understanding of our own weaknesses.
+
+I know nothing of my family, except through my own youthful recollections,
+and the accounts I have received from my sister. My father I slightly
+remember; but of my mother I retain no distinct impressions. The latter
+must have died while I was very young. The former, I was in the habit of
+often seeing, until I reached my fifth or sixth year. He was a soldier,
+and belonged to the twenty-third regimen of foot, in the service of the
+King of Great Britain.[1] The fourth son of this monarch, Prince Edward as
+he was then called, or the Duke of Kent as he was afterwards styled,
+commanded the corps, and accompanied it to the British American colonies,
+where it was stationed for many years.
+
+
+I was born in Quebec, between the years 1792 and 1794; probably in 1793.
+Of the rank of my father in the regiment, I am unable to speak, though I
+feel pretty confident he was a commissioned officer. He was much with the
+prince; and I remember that, on parade, where I have often seen him, he
+was in the habit of passing frequently from the prince to the ranks--a
+circumstance that induces my old shipmate to think he may have been the
+adjutant. My father, I have always understood, was a native of Hanover,
+and the son of a clergyman in that country. My mother, also, was said to
+be a German, though very little is now known of her by any of the family.
+She is described to me as living much alone, as being occupied in pursuits
+very different from those of my father, and as being greatly averse to the
+life of a soldier.
+
+I was baptized in the Church of England, and, from earliest boyhood, have
+always been given to understand that His Royal Highness, Prince Edward,
+the father of Queen Victoria, stood for me at the font; Major Walker, of
+the same regiment, being the other god-father, and Mrs. Walker, his wife,
+my god-mother. My real names are Edward Robert Meyers; those received in
+baptism having been given me by my two sponsors, after themselves. This
+christening, like my birth, occurred in Quebec. I have, however, called
+myself Edward, or Ned, Myers, ever since I took to the sea.
+
+Before I was old enough to receive impressions to be retained, the
+regiment removed to Halifax. My father accompanied it; and, of course, his
+two children, my sister Harriet and myself, were taken to Nova Scotia. Of
+the period of my life that was passed in Halifax, I retain tolerably
+distinct recollections; more especially of the later years. The prince and
+my father both remained with the regiment for a considerable time; though
+all quitted Halifax several years before I left it myself. I remember
+Prince Edward perfectly well. He sometimes resided at a house called The
+Lodge, a little out of town; and I was often taken out to see him. He
+also had a residence in town. He took a good deal of notice of me;
+raising me in his arms, and kissing me. When he passed our house, I would
+run to him; and he would lead me through the streets himself. On more than
+one occasion, he led me off, and sent for the regimental tailor; directing
+suits of clothes to be made for me, after his own taste. He was a large
+man; of commanding presence, and frequently wore a star on the breast of
+his coat. He was not then called the Duke of Kent, but Prince Edward, or
+_The_ Prince. A lady lived with him at the Lodge; but who she was, I
+do not know.
+
+At this time, my mother must have been dead; for of _her_ I retain no
+recollection whatever. I think, my father left Halifax some time before
+the prince. Major Walker, too, went to England; leaving Mrs. Walker in
+Nova Scotia, for some time. Whether my father went away with a part of the
+regiment to which he belonged, or not, I cannot say but I well remember a
+conversation between the prince, the major and Mrs. Walker, in which they
+spoke of the loss of a transport, and of Meyers's saving several men. This
+must have been at the time when my father quitted Nova Scotia; to which
+province, I think, he never could have returned. Neither my sister, nor
+myself, ever saw him afterwards. We have understood that he was killed in
+battle; though when, or where, we do not know. My old shipmate, the
+editor, however, thinks it must have been in Canada; as letters were
+received from a friend in Quebec, after I had quitted Nova Scotia,
+inquiring after us children, and stating that the effects of my father
+were in that town, and ought to belong to us. This letter gave my sister
+the first account of his death; though it was not addressed to her, but to
+those in whose care she had been left. This property was never recovered;
+and my shipmate, who writes this account, thinks there may have been legal
+difficulties in the way.
+
+Previously to quitting the province of Nova Scotia, my father placed
+Harriet and myself in the house of a Mr. Marchinton, to live. This
+gentleman was a clergyman, who had no regular parish, but who preached in
+a chapel of his own. He sent us both to school, and otherwise took charge
+of us. I am not aware of the precise time when the prince left Halifax,
+but it must have been when I was five or six years old--probably about the
+year 1798 or 1799.[2]
+
+From that time I continued at Mr. Marchinton's, attending school, and
+busied, as is usual with boys of that age, until the year 1805. I fear I
+was naturally disposed to idleness and self-indulgence, for I became
+restive and impatient under the restraints of the schoolmaster, and of the
+gentleman in whose family I had been left. I do not know that I had any
+just grounds of complaint against Mr. Marchinton; but his rigorous
+discipline disgusted me; principally, I am now inclined to believe,
+because it was not agreeable to me to be kept under any rigid moral
+restraint. I do not think I was very vicious; and, I know, I was far from
+being of a captious temperament; but I loved to be my own master; and I
+particularly disliked everything like religious government. Mr.
+Marchinton, moreover, kept me out of the streets; and it was my
+disposition to be an idler, and at play. It is possible he may have been a
+little too severe for one of my temperament; though, I fear, nature gave
+me a roving and changeful mind.
+
+At that time the English cruisers sent in many American vessels as prizes.
+Our house was near the water; and I was greatly in the habit of strolling
+along the wharves, whenever an opportunity occurred; Mr. Marchinton owning
+a good deal of property in that part of the town. The Cambrian frigate had
+a midshipman, a little older than myself, who had been a schoolmate of
+mine. This lad, whose name was Bowen, was sent in as the nominal
+prize-master of a brig loaded with coffee; and I no sooner learned the
+fact, than I began to pay him visits. Young Bowen encouraged me greatly,
+in a wish that now arose within me, to become a sailor. I listened eagerly
+to the history of his adventures, and felt the usual boyish emulation. Mr.
+Marchinton seemed averse to my following the profession, and these visits
+became frequent and stealthy; my wishes, most probably, increasing, in
+proportion as they seemed difficult of accomplishment.
+
+I soon began to climb the rigging of the brig, ascending to the
+mast-heads. One day Mr. Marchinton saw me quite at the main-truck; and,
+calling me down, I got a severe flogging for my dexterity and enterprise.
+It sometimes happens that punishment produces a result exactly opposite to
+that which was intended; and so it turned out in the present instance. My
+desire to be a sailor increased in consequence of this very flogging; and
+I now began seriously to think of running away, in order to get to sea, as
+well as to escape a confinement on shore, that, to me, seemed
+unreasonable. Another prize, called the Amsterdam Packet, a Philadelphia
+ship, had been sent in by, I believe, the Cleopatra, Sir Robert Laurie. On
+board this ship were two American lads, apprentices. With these boys I
+soon formed an intimacy; and their stories of the sea, and their accounts
+of the States, coupled with the restraints I fancied I endured, gave rise
+to a strong desire to see their country, as well as to become a sailor.
+They had little to do, and enjoyed great liberty, going and coming much as
+they pleased. This idleness seemed, to me, to form the summit of human
+happiness. I did not often dare to play truant; and the school became
+odious to me. According to my recollections, this desire for a change must
+have existed near, or quite a twelvemonth; being constantly fed by the
+arrival and departure of vessels directly before my eyes, ere I set about
+the concocting of a serious plan to escape.
+
+My project was put in execution in the summer of 1805, when I could not
+have been more than eleven years old, if, indeed, quite as old. I was in
+the market one day, and overheard some American seamen, who had been
+brought in, conversing of a schooner that was on the point of leaving
+Halifax, for New York. This vessel belonged to North Carolina, and had
+been captured by the Driver, some time before, but had been liberated by a
+decision of the Admiralty Court. The men I overheard talking about her,
+intended taking their passages back to their own country in the craft.
+This seemed to me a good opportunity to effect my purpose, and I went from
+the market, itself, down to the schooner. The mate was on board alone, and
+I took courage, and asked him if he did not want to ship a boy. My
+dress and appearance were both against me, as I had never done any work,
+and was in the ordinary attire of a better class lad on shore. The mate
+began to laugh at me, and to joke me on my desire to go to sea,
+questioning me about my knowledge. I was willing to do anything; but,
+perceiving that I made little impression, I resorted to bribery. Prince
+Edward had made me a present, before he left Halifax, of a beautiful
+little fowling-piece, which was in my own possession; and I mentioned to
+the mate that I was the owner of such an article, and would give it to him
+if he would consent to secrete me in the schooner, and carry me to New
+York. This bait took, and I was told to bring the fowling, piece on board,
+and let the mate see it. That night I carried the bribe, as agreed on, to
+this man, who was perfectly satisfied with its appearance, and we struck a
+bargain on the spot. I then returned to the house, and collected a few of
+my clothes. I knew that my sister, Harriet, was making some shirts for me,
+and I stole into her room, and brought away two of them, which were all I
+could find. My wardrobe was not large when I left the house, and I had
+taken the precaution of carrying the articles out one at a time, and of
+secreting them in an empty cask in the yard. When I thought I had got
+clothes enough, I made them into a bundle, and carried them down to the
+schooner. The mate then cleared out a locker in the cabin, in which there
+were some potatoes, and told me I must make up my mind to pass a few hours
+in that narrow berth. Too thoughtless to raise any objections, I
+cheerfully consented, and took my leave of him with the understanding that
+I was to be on board, again, early in the morning.
+
+Before going to bed, I desired a black servant of Mr. Marchinton's to call
+me about day-break, as I desired to go out and pick berries. This was
+done, and I was up and dressed before any other member of the family was
+stirring. I lost no time, but quitted the house, and walked deliberately
+down to the schooner. No one was up on board of her, and I was obliged to
+give the mate a call, myself. This man now seemed disposed to draw back
+from his bargain, and I had to use a good deal of persuasion before I
+could prevail on him to be as good as his word. He did not like to part
+with the fowling-piece, but seemed to think it would be fairly purchased,
+could he persuade me to run away. At length he yielded, and I got into the
+locker, where I was covered with potatoes.
+
+I was a good while in this uncomfortable situation, before there were any
+signs of the vessel's quitting the wharf. I began to grow heartily tired
+of the confinement, and the love of change revived within me in a new
+form. The potatoes were heavy for me to bear, and the confined air
+rendered my prison almost insupportable. I was on the point of coming out
+of prison, when the noise on deck gave me the comfortable assurance that
+the people had come on board, and that the schooner was about to sail. I
+could hear men conversing, and, after a period of time that seemed an age,
+I felt satisfied the schooner was fairly under way. I heard a hail from
+one of the forts as we passed down the harbour, and, not long after, the
+Driver, the very sloop of war that had sent the vessel in, met her, and
+quite naturally hailed her old prize, also. All this I heard in my prison,
+and it served to reconcile me to the confinement. As everything was right,
+the ship did not detain us, and we were permitted to proceed.
+
+It was noon before I was released. Going on deck, I found that the
+schooner was at sea. Nothing of Halifax was visible but a tower or two,
+that were very familiar objects to me. I confess I now began to regret the
+step I had taken, and, could I have been landed, it is probable my roving
+disposition would have received a salutary check. It was too late,
+however, and I was compelled to continue in the thorny and difficult path
+on which I had so thoughtlessly entered. I often look back to this moment,
+and try to imagine what might have been my fortunes, had I never taken
+this unlucky step. What the prince might have done for me, it is
+impossible to say; though I think it probable that, after the death of my
+father, I should have been forgotten, as seems to have been the case with
+my sister, who gradually fell from being considered and treated as one of
+the family in which she lived, into a sort of upper servant.
+
+I have learned, latterly, that Mr. Marchinton had a great search made for
+me. It was his impression I was drowned, and several places were dragged
+for my body. This opinion lasted until news of my being in New York
+reached the family.
+
+My appearance on deck gave rise to a great many jokes between the captain
+of the schooner, and his mate. I was a good deal laughed at, but not badly
+treated, on the whole. My office was to be that of cook--by no means a
+very difficult task in that craft, the camboose consisting of two pots set
+in bricks, and the dishes being very simple. In the cabin, sassafras was
+used for tea, and boiled pork and beef composed the dinner. The first day,
+I was excused from entering on the duties of my office, on account of
+sea-sickness; but, the next morning, I set about the work in good earnest.
+We had a long passage, and my situation was not very pleasant. The
+schooner was wet, and the seas she shipped would put out my fire. There
+was a deck load of shingles, and I soon discovered that these made
+excellent kindling wood; but it was against the rules of the craft to burn
+cargo, and my friend the mate had bestowed a few kicks on me before I
+learned to make the distinction. In other respects, I did tolerably well;
+and, at the end of about ten days, we entered Sandy Hook.
+
+Such was my first passage at sea, or, at least, the first I can remember,
+though I understand we were taken from Quebec to Halifax by water. I was
+not cured of the wish to roam by this experiment, though, at that age,
+impressions are easily received, and as readily lost. Some idea may be
+formed of my recklessness, and ignorance of such matters, at this time,
+from the circumstance that I do not remember ever to have known the name
+of the vessel in which I left Nova Scotia. Change and adventure were my
+motives, and it never occurred to me to inquire into a fact that was so
+immaterial to one of my temperament. To this hour, I am ignorant on
+the subject.
+
+The schooner came up, and hauled in abreast of Fly Market. She did not
+come close to the wharf, but made fast, temporarily, at its end, outside
+of two or three other vessels. This took place not long after breakfast. I
+set about the preparations for dinner, which was ready, as usual, at
+twelve o'clock. While the crew were eating this meal, I had nothing to do,
+and, seeing a number of boys on the wharf, I went ashore, landing for the
+first time in this, my adopted country. I was without hat, coat, or
+shoes; my feet having become sore from marching about among the shingles.
+The boys were licking molasses from some hogsheads, and I joined in the
+occupation with great industry. I might have been occupied in this manner,
+and in talking with the boys, an hour or more, when I bethought me of my
+duty on board. On looking for the schooner, she was gone! Her people, no
+doubt, thought I was below, and did not miss me, and she had been carried
+to some other berth; where, I did not know. I could not find her, nor did
+I ever see her again.
+
+Such, then, was my entrance on a new scene. Had I known enough to follow
+the wharves, doubtless I should have found the vessel; but, after a short
+search, I returned to the boys and the molasses.
+
+That I was concerned at finding myself in a strange place, without a
+farthing in my pockets--without hat, shoes or coat, is certain--but it is
+wonderful how little apprehension I felt. I knew nothing, and feared
+nothing. While licking the molasses, I told the boys my situation; and I
+met with a great deal of sympathy among them. The word passed from one to
+the other, that a "poor English boy had lost his vessel, and did not know
+where to go to pass the night." One promised me a supper; and, as for
+lodgings, the general opinion seemed to be, that I might find a berth
+under one of the butchers' stalls, in the adjacent market. I had different
+projects for myself, however.
+
+There was a family of the name of Clark, then residing in New York, that I
+had known in Halifax. I remembered to have heard my sister, Harriet,
+speaking of them, not long before I quitted home, and that she said they
+lived in, or near, Fly Market. I knew we were at Fly Market; and the name
+recalled these people. I inquired, accordingly, if any one knew such a
+family; but met with no success in discovering them. They were strangers;
+and no one knew them. It was now near sunset; and I determined to look for
+these people myself. On this errand, then, I set off; walking up the
+market until I reached Maiden Lane. While strolling along the street, I
+heard a female voice suddenly exclaim: "Lord! here is Edward Myers,
+without anything on him!" At the next instant, Susan Clark, one of the
+daughters, came running into the street; and presently I was in the
+house, surrounded by the whole family.
+
+Of course, I was closely questioned; and I told the whole truth. The
+Clarks were extremely kind to me, offering me clothes, and desiring to
+keep me with them; but I did not like the family, owing to old quarrels
+with the boys, and a certain sternness in the father, who had made
+complaints of my stealing his fruit, while in Halifax. I was innocent; and
+the whole proceeding had made me regard Mr. Clark as a sort of enemy. My
+principal motive, in inquiring for the family, was to learn where a
+certain Dr. Heizer[3] lived. This gentleman was a German, who had formerly
+been in the army; and I knew he was then in New York. In him I had more
+confidence; and I determined to throw myself on his kindness.
+
+After declining a great many offers, I got the address of Dr. Heizer, and
+proceeded in quest of his residence, just as I was. It was moonlight, and
+I went through the streets with boyish confidence. My route lay up
+Broadway, and my destination was one of its corners and Hester Street. In
+1805, this was nearly out of town, being near Canal street. I had been
+told to look for a bridge, which then stood in Broadway, and which
+answered for a landmark, in my new navigation. The bridge I found easily;
+and, making inquiries at a house, I was told the family I sought lived
+next door.
+
+The Heizers were greatly surprised at my appearance. I was questioned, of
+course; and told them the naked truth. I knew concealment would be
+useless; was naturally frank, notwithstanding what I had just done; and I
+began to feel the want of friends. I was fed; and that same evening, Dr.
+and Mrs. Heizer led me down Broadway, and equipped me in a neat suit of
+clothes. Within a week, I was sent regularly to school.
+
+I never knew what Dr. Heizer did, in relation to my arrival. I cannot but
+think that he communicated the circumstances to Mr. Marchinton, who was
+well known to him; though, Harriet tell me, the first intelligence they
+got of me was of a much later date, and came from another source. Let this
+be as it might, I was kindly treated; living, in all respects, as if I
+were one of the family. There was no son; and they all seemed to consider
+me as one.
+
+I remained in this family the autumn of 1805, and the winter and spring of
+1806. I soon tired of school, and began to play truant; generally
+wandering along the wharves, gazing at the ships. Dr. Heizer soon learned
+this; and, watching me, discovered the propensity I still retained for the
+sea. He and Mrs. Heizer now took me aside, and endeavoured to persuade me
+to return to Halifax; but I had become more and more averse to taking this
+backward step. To own the truth, I had fearful misgivings on the subject
+of floggings; and I dreaded a long course of severity and discipline. It
+is certain, that, while rigid rules of conduct are very necessary to some
+dispositions, there are others with which they do not succeed. Mine was of
+the latter class; for, I think, I am more easily led, than driven. At all
+events, I had a horror of going back; and refused to listen to the
+proposal. After a good deal of conversation, and many efforts at
+persuasion, Dr. Heizer consented to let me go to sea, from New York; or
+affected to consent; I never knew which.
+
+The Leander, Miranda's flag-ship, in his abortive attempt to create a
+revolution in Spanish-America, was then lying in the Hudson; and Dr.
+Heizer, who was acquainted with some one connected with her, placed me in
+this ship, with the understanding I was to go in her to Holland. I passed
+the day on board; going up to my new employer's house, for my meals, and
+to sleep. This course of life may have lasted a fortnight; when I became
+heartily tired of it. I found I had a mistress, now, as well as a master.
+The former set me to cleaning knives, boots, candlesticks, and other
+similar employments; converting me into a sort of scullion. My pride
+revolted at this. I have since thought it possible, all this was done to
+create disgust, and to induce me to return to Mr. Marchinton; but it had a
+very contrary effect.
+
+My desire was to be a sailor. One Sunday I had been on board the ship,
+and, after assisting the mate to show the bunting fore and aft, I went
+back to the house. Here my mistress met me with a double allowance of
+knives to clean. We had a quarrel on the subject; I protesting against all
+such work. But to clean the knives I was compelled. About half were thrown
+over the fence, into the adjoining yard; and, cleaning what remained, I
+took my hat, went to the doctor's, and saw no more of my mistress, or of
+the Leander.
+
+
+
+Chapter II.
+
+
+
+An explanation took place. Dr. and Mrs. Heizer remonstrated about my
+conduct, and endeavoured, once more, to persuade me to return to Mr.
+Marchinton's. A great deal was told me of the kind intentions of that
+gentleman, and concerning what I might expect from the protection and
+patronage of my god-father, the Duke of Kent. I cannot help thinking, now,
+that much of the favour which was extended towards me at that early period
+of life, was owing to the circumstance that the prince had consented to
+stand for me at my baptism. He was a great disciplinarian--so great,
+indeed, I remember to have heard, as to cause more than one mutiny--and my
+father being a German, and coming from a people that carried military
+subordination to extremes, it is highly probable I was indebted, for this
+compliment, to a similarity of tastes between the two. I cared little for
+all this, however, in 1805, and thought far less of being protected by a
+prince of the blood royal, than of going to sea, and especially of
+escaping from the moral discipline of Mr. Marchinton. Finding his
+arguments vain, Dr. Heizer sent me to school again, where I continued a
+few months longer.
+
+All this time, my taste for ships rather increased than diminished. At
+every opportunity I was on the wharves, studying the different craft, and
+endeavouring to understand their rig. One day I saw a British ensign, and,
+while looking at it, with a feeling of strong disgust, I heard myself
+called by name. A glance told me that I was seen by a Halifax man, and I
+ran away, under the apprehension that he might, by some means, seize me
+and carry me back. My feelings on this head were all alive, and that very
+day one of the young ladies said, in a melancholy way, "_Edouard_,"
+"Halifax." These girls spoke scarcely any English, having been born in
+Martinique; and they talked much together in French, looking at me
+occasionally, as if I were the subject of their discourse. It is probable
+conscience was at the bottom of this conceit of mine; but the latter now
+became so strong, as to induce me to determine to look out for a vessel
+for myself, and be off again. With this view, I quitted a negro who had
+been sent with me to market, under the pretence of going to school, but
+went along the wharves until I found a ship that took my fancy. She was
+called the Sterling, and there was a singularly good-looking mate on her
+deck, of the name of Irish, who was a native of Nantucket. The ship was
+commanded by Capt. John Johnston, of Wiscasset, in Maine, and belonged to
+his father and himself.
+
+I went on board the Sterling, and, after looking about for some time, I
+ventured to offer myself to Mr. Irish, as a boy who wished to ship. I was
+questioned, of course, but evaded any very close answers. After some
+conversation, Capt. Johnston came on board, and Mr. Irish told him what I
+wanted. My examination now became much closer, and I found myself driven
+to sheer fabrication in order to effect my purposes. During my intercourse
+with different sea-going lads of Halifax, I had learned the particulars of
+the capture of the Cleopatra 32, by the French frigate Ville de Milan 38,
+and her recapture by the Leander 50, which ship captured the Ville de
+Milan at the same time. I said my father had been a serjeant of marines,
+and was killed in the action--that I had run away when the ships got in,
+and that I wished to be bound to some American ship-master, in order to
+become a regularly-trained seaman. This story so far imposed on Capt.
+Johnston as to induce him to listen to my proposals, and in part to accept
+them. We parted with an understanding that I was to get my clothes, and
+come on board the vessel.
+
+It was twelve at noon when I got back to Dr. Heizer's. My first business
+was to get my clothes into the yard, a few at a time; after which I ate my
+dinner with the family. As soon as we rose from table, I stole away with
+my bundle, leaving these kind people to believe I had returned to school.
+I never saw one of them afterwards! On my return to New York, several
+years later, I learned they had all gone to Martinique to live. I should
+not have quitted this excellent family in so clandestine a manner, had I
+not been haunted with the notion that I was about to be sent back to
+Halifax, a place I now actually hated.
+
+Capt. Johnston received me good-naturedly, and that night I slept and
+supped at the Old Coffee House, Old Slip--his own lodgings. He seemed
+pleased with me, and I was delighted with him. The next day he took me to
+a slop-shop, and I was rigged like a sailor, and was put in the cabin,
+where I was to begin my service in the regular way. A boy named Daniel
+McCoy was in the ship, and had been out to Russia in her, as cabin-boy,
+the last voyage. He was now to be sent into the forecastle, and was
+ordered to instruct me in my duty.
+
+I was now comparatively happy, though anxious to be bound to Capt.
+Johnston, and still more so to be fairly at sea. The Sterling had a good,
+old-fashioned cabin, as cabins went in 1806; and I ran about her
+state-room, rummaged her lockers, and scampered up and down her
+companion-way, with as much satisfaction as if they had all belonged to a
+palace. Dan McCoy was every day on board, and we had the accommodations of
+the ship very much to ourselves. Two or three days later, Capt. Johnston
+took me to the proper place, and I was put under regular indentures, to
+serve until I was twenty-one. I now felt more confidence in my situation,
+knowing that Dr. Heizer had no legal authority over me. The work I did, in
+no manner offended my dignity, for it was on ship-board, and belonged
+properly to my duty as a cabin-boy.
+
+The Sterling soon began to take in her cargo. She was to receive a freight
+of flour, for Cowes and a market. Not only was the hold filled, but the
+state-room and cabin, leaving barely room to climb over the barrels to
+reach the berths. A place was left, just inside of the cabin door, for the
+table. Passengers were not common in that day, while commerce was pushed
+to the utmost. Our sails were bending when the consignee, followed by
+another merchant, came down to the ship, accompanied by a youth, who, it
+was understood, wished also to be received in the vessel. This youth was
+named Cooper, and was never called by any other appellation in the ship.
+He was accepted by Capt. Johnston, signed the articles, and the next day
+he joined us, in sailor's rig. He never came to the cabin, but was
+immediately employed forward, in such service as he was able to perform.
+It was afterwards understood that he was destined for the navy.
+
+The very day that Cooper joined us, was one of deep disgrace to me. The
+small stores came on board for the cabin, and Dan McCoy persuaded me to
+try the flavour of a bottle of cherry-bounce. I did not drink much, but
+the little I swallowed made me completely drunk. This was the first time I
+ever was in that miserable and disgraceful plight; would to God I could
+also say it was the last! The last it was, however, for several years;
+that is some comfort. I thank my Divine Master that I have lived to see
+the hour when intoxicating liquors have ceased to have any command over
+me, and when, indeed, they never pass my lips. Capt. Johnston did not flog
+me for this act of folly, merely pulling my ears a little, and sharply
+reprimanding me; both he and Mr. Irish seeming to understand that my
+condition had proceeded from the weakness of my head. Dan was the
+principal sufferer, as, to say the truth, he ought to have been. He was
+rope's-ended for his pains.
+
+Next day the stevedores took the ship in to the stream, and the crew came
+on board. The assembling of the crew of a merchantman, in that day, was a
+melancholy sight. The men came off, bearing about them the signs of the
+excesses of which they had been guilty while on shore; some listless and
+stupid, others still labouring under the effects of liquor, and some in
+that fearful condition which seamen themselves term having the "horrors."
+Our crew was neither better nor worse than that of other ships. It was
+also a sample of the mixed character of the crews of American vessels
+during the height of her neutral trade. The captain, chief-mate, cook, and
+four of those forward, were American born; while the second-mate was a
+Portuguese. The boys were, one Scotch, and one a Canadian; and there were
+a Spaniard, a Prussian, a Dane, and an Englishman, in the forecastle.
+There was also an Englishman who worked his passage, having been the
+cooper of a whaler that was wrecked. As Dan McCoy was sent forward, too,
+this put ten in the forecastle, besides the cook, and left five aft,
+including the master of another wrecked English vessel, whom we took out
+as a passenger.
+
+That afternoon we lifted our anchor, and dropped down abreast of
+Governor's Island, where we brought up. Next day all hands were called to
+get under way, and, as soon as the anchor was short, the mate told Cooper
+and myself to go up and loose the fore-top-sail. I went on one yard-arm and
+Cooper went on the other. In a few minutes the second mate came up,
+hallooing to us to "avast," and laughing. Cooper was hard at work at the
+"robins," and would soon have had his half of the sail down in the top,
+had he been let alone; while I was taking the gaskets from the yard, with
+the intention of bringing them carefully down on deck, where it struck me
+they would be quite safe. Luckily for us, the men were too busy heaving,
+and too stupid, to be very critical, and we escaped much ridicule. In a
+week we both knew better.
+
+The ship only got to the quarantine ground that day, but in the morning we
+went to sea. Our passage was long and stormy. The ship was on a bow-line
+most of the time, and we were something like forty days from land to land.
+Nothing extraordinary occurred, however, and we finally made the Bill of
+Portland. The weather came on thick, but we found a pilot, and ran into
+St. Helen's Roads and anchored. The captain got into his boat, and taking
+four men pulled ashore, to look for his orders at Cowes.
+
+That afternoon it cleared off, and we found a pilot lying a little outside
+of us. About sunset a man-of-war's cutter came alongside, and Mr. Irish
+was ordered to muster the crew. The English lieutenant, who was tolerably
+bowsed up, took his seat behind the cabin table, while the men came down,
+and stood in the companion-way passage, to be overhauled. Most of the
+foreigners had gone in the boat, but two of the Americans that remained
+were uncommonly fine-looking men, and were both prime seamen. One, whose
+name was Thomas Cook, was a six-footer, and had the air of a thorough
+sea-dog. He filled the lieutenant's eye mightily, and Cook was very coolly
+told to gather his dunnage, as he was wanted. Cook pointed to his
+protection, but the lieutenant answered--"Oh! these things are
+nothing--anybody can have one for two dollars, in New York. You are an
+Englishman, and the King has need of your services." Cook now took out of
+his pocket a certificate, that was signed by Sir John Beresford, stating
+that Thomas Cook had been discharged from His Maj. Ship Cambrian, after a
+pretty long service in her, because he had satisfactorily proved that he
+was a native-born American. The lieutenant could not very well dishonour
+this document, and he reluctantly let Cook go, keeping his protection,
+however. He next selected Isaac Gaines, a native New Yorker, a man whose
+father and friends were known to the captain. But Gaines had no discharge
+like that of Cook's, and the poor fellow was obliged to rowse up his chest
+and get into the cutter. This he did with tears in his eyes, and to the
+regret of all on board, he being one of the best men in the ship. We asked
+the boat's crew to what vessel they belonged, and they gave us the name of
+a sixty-four in the offing, but we observed, as they pulled away from us,
+that they took the direction of another ship. This was the last I ever
+saw, or heard, of Isaac Gaines. Cook went on with us, and one day, while
+in London, he went with Cooper to Somerset House to get an order for some
+prize-money, to which he was entitled for his service in the Cambrian, as
+was shown by his discharge. The clerk asked him to leave the certificate,
+and call a day or two later, when he would have searched out the amount.
+This was done, and Cook, being now without certificate or protection, was
+pressed on his way back to the ship. We never heard of him, either. Such
+was often the fate of sailors, in that day, who were with you one day, and
+lost for ever the next.
+
+Captain Johnston did not get back to the ship for four-and-twenty hours.
+He brought orders for us to go up to London; and, the wind being fair, and
+almost a gale, we got under way, and were off as soon as possible. The
+next morning we were in the straits of Dover; the wind light, but fair.
+This was at a moment when all England was in arms, in anticipation of an
+invasion from France. Forty odd sail of vessels of war were counted from
+our ship, as the day dawned, that had been cruising in the narrow waters,
+during the night, to prevent a surprise.
+
+We worked our way up to London, with the tides, and were carried into
+London dock; where we discharged. This was my first visit to the modern
+Babylon, of course; but I had little opportunity of seeing much. I had one
+or two cruises, of a Sunday, in tow of Cooper, who soon became a branch
+pilot, in those waters, about the parks and west end but I was too young
+to learn much, or to observe much. Most of us went to see the monument,
+St. Paul's, and the lions; and Cooper put himself in charge of a
+beef-eater, and took a look at the arsenals, jewels and armoury. He had a
+rum time of it, in his sailor rig, but hoisted in a wonderful deal of
+gibberish, according to his own account of his cruise.
+
+Captain Johnston now got a freight for the ship, and we hauled into the
+stream, abreast of the dock-gates, and took in shingle ballast. The
+Prussian, Dane, second mate, and the English cooper, all left us, in
+London. We got a Philadelphian, a chap from Maine, who had just been
+discharged from an English man-of-war, and an Irish lad, in their places.
+In January we sailed, making the best of our way for the straits of
+Gibraltar. The passage was stormy--the Bay of Biscay, in particular,
+giving us a touch of its qualities. It was marked by only two incidents,
+however, out of the usual way. While running down the coast of Portugal,
+with the land in sight, we made an armed felucca astern, and to windward.
+This vessel gave chase; and, the captain disliking her appearance, we
+carried hard, in order to avoid her. The weather was thick, and it blew
+fresh, occasionally, in squalls. Whenever it lulled, the felucca gained on
+us, we having, a very little, the advantage in the puffs. At length the
+felucca began to fire; and, finding that his shot were coming pretty near,
+Captain Johnston, knowing that he was in ballast, thought it wisest to
+heave-to. Ten minutes after our main-top-sail was aback, the felucca ranged
+up close under our lee; hailed, and ordered us to send a boat, with our
+papers, on board her. A more rascally-looking craft never gave such an
+order to an unarmed merchantman. As our ship rose on a sea, and he fell
+into the trough, we could look directly down upon his decks, and thus form
+some notion of what we were to expect, when he got possession of us. His
+people were in red caps and shirts, and appeared to be composed of the
+rakings of such places as Gibraltar, Cadiz and Lisbon. He had ten long
+guns; and pikes, pistols and muskets, were plenty with him. On the end of
+each latine-yard was a chap on the look-out, who occasionally turned his
+eyes towards us, as if to anticipate the gleanings. That we should be
+plundered, every one expected; and it was quite likely we might be
+ill-treated. As soon as we hove-to, Captain Johnston gave me the best
+spy-glass, with orders to hand it to Cooper, to hide. The latter buried it
+in the shingle ballast. We, in the cabin, concealed a bag of guineas so
+effectually, that, after all was over, we could not find it ourselves.
+
+The jolly-boat had been stowed in the launch, on account of the rough
+weather we had expected to meet, and tackles had to be got aloft before we
+could hoist it out. This consumed some time, during which there was a
+lull. The felucca, seeing us busy at this work, waited patiently until we
+had got the boat over the side, and into the water. Cooper, Dan McCoy, Big
+Dan, and Spanish Joe, then got into her; and the captain had actually
+passed his writing-desk into the boat, and had his leg on the rail, to go
+over the side himself, when a squall struck the ship. The men were called
+out of the boat to clew down the topsails, and a quarter of an hour passed
+in taking care of the vessel. By this time the squall had passed, and it
+lightened up a little. There lay the felucca, waiting for the boat; and
+the men were reluctantly going into the latter again, when the commander
+of the felucca waved his hand to us, his craft fell off and filled,
+wing-and-wing, skimming away towards the coast, like a duck. We stood
+gaping and staring at her, not knowing what to make of this manoeuvre,
+when "bang!" went a heavy gun, a little on our weather quarter. The shot
+passed our wake, for we had filled our topsail, and it went skipping from
+sea to sea, after the felucca. Turning our eyes in the direction of the
+report, we saw a frigate running down upon the felucca, carrying
+studding-sails on both sides, with the water foaming up to her
+hawse-holes. As she passed our stern, she showed an English ensign, but
+took no other notice of us, continuing on after the felucca, and
+occasionally measuring her distance with a shot. Both vessels soon
+disappeared in the mist, though we heard guns for some time. As for
+ourselves, we jogged along on our course, wishing good luck to the
+Englishman. The felucca showed no ensign, the whole day. Our guineas were
+found, some weeks later, in a bread-locker, after we had fairly eaten our
+way down to them.
+
+The other adventure occurred very soon after this escape; for, though the
+felucca may have had a commission, she was a pirate in appearance, and
+most probably in her practices. The thick westerly weather continued until
+we had passed the Straits. The night we were abreast of Cape Trafalgar,
+the captain came on deck in the middle watch, and, hailing the forecastle,
+ordered a sharp look-out kept, as we must be running through Lord
+Collingwood's fleet. The words were hardly out of his mouth, when Spanish
+Joe sung out, "sail ho!" There she was, sure enough, travelling right down
+upon us, in a line that threatened to take us between the fore and main
+masts. The captain ordered our helm hard up, and yelled for Cooper to
+bring up the cabin lantern. The youngster made one leap down the ladder,
+just scraping the steps with his heels, and was in the mizzen rigging with
+the light, in half a minute. That saved us. So near was the stranger, that
+we plainly heard the officer of the deck call out to his own
+quarter-master to "port, hard a-port--_hard_ a-port, and be d----d to
+you!" Hard a-port it was, and a two-decker came brushing along on our
+weather beam--so near, that, when she lifted on the seas, it seemed as if
+the muzzles of her guns would smash our rails. The Sterling did not behave
+well on this occasion, for, getting a yaw to windward, she seemed disposed
+to go right into the Englishman, before she would mind her helm. After the
+man-of-war hailed, and got our answer, her officer quaintly remarked that
+we were "close on board him." It blew too fresh for boats, and we were
+suffered to pass without being boarded.
+
+The ship proceeded up to Carthagena, and went in. Here we were put in
+quarantine for several days. The port was full of heavy ships of war,
+several of which were three-deckers; and an arrival direct from London
+made quite a sensation among them. We had divers visits from the officers,
+though I do not know what it all amounted to. From Carthagena we were
+sent down the coast to a little place called Aguilas, where we began to
+take in a cargo of barilla. At night we would discharge our shingle
+ballast into the water, contrary to law; and, in the day, we took in
+cargo. So clear was the water, that our night's work might easily be seen
+next morning, lying beneath the ship. As we lay in a roadstead, it
+mattered little, few vessels touching at the port. While at this place,
+there was an alarm of an attack from an English man-of-war that was seen
+in the offing, and priests enough turned out to defend an ordinary town.
+
+We got about half our freight at this little village, and then came down
+as low as Almeria, an old Moorish town, just below Cape de Gatte, for the
+remainder. Here we lay several weeks, finishing stowing our cargo. I went
+ashore almost every day to market, and had an opportunity of seeing
+something of the Spaniards. Our ship lay a good distance off, and we
+landed at a quarantine station, half a mile, at least, from the
+water-gate, to which we were compelled to walk along the beach.
+
+One of my journeys to the town produced a little adventure. The captain
+had ordered Cooper to boil some pitch at the galley. By some accident, the
+pot was capsized, and the ship came near being burned. A fresh pot was now
+provided, and Cooper and Dan McCoy were sent ashore, at the station, with
+orders to boil down pitch on the land. There was no wharf, and it was
+always necessary to get ashore through a surf. The bay is merely an elbow,
+half the winds blowing in from the open sea. Sometimes, therefore, landing
+is ticklish work and requires much skill. I went ashore with the pitch,
+and proceeded into the town on my errands, whilst the two lads lighted
+their fire and began to boil down. When all was ready, it was seen there
+was a good deal of swell, and that the breakers looked squally. The
+orders, however, were to go off, on such occasions, and not to wait, as
+delay generally made matters worse. We got into the boat, accordingly, and
+shoved off. For a minute, or more, things went well enough, when a breaker
+took the bows of the jolly-boat, lifted her nearly on end, and turned her
+keel uppermost. One scarcely knows how he gets out of such a scrape. We
+all came ashore, however, heels over head, people, pot, boat, and oars.
+The experiment was renewed, less the pitch and a pair of new shoes of
+mine, and it met with exactly the same result. On a third effort, the boat
+got through the surf and we succeeded in reaching the ship. These are the
+sorts of scenes that harden lads, and make them fond of risks. I could not
+swim a stroke, and certainly would have been drowned had not the
+Mediterranean cast me ashore, as if disdaining to take a life of so little
+value to anybody but myself.
+
+After lying several weeks at Almeria, the ship got under way for England
+again. We had fresh westerly gales, and beat to and fro, between Europe
+and Africa, for some time, when we got a Levanter that shoved us out into
+the Atlantic at a furious rate. In the Straits we passed a squadron of
+Portuguese frigates, that was cruising against the Algerines. It was the
+practice of these ships to lie at the Rock until it blew strong enough
+from the eastward to carry vessels through the Gut, when they weighed and
+kept in the offing until the wind shifted. This was blockading the
+Atlantic against their enemies, and the Mediterranean against their
+own ships.
+
+We had a long passage and were short of salt provisions. Falling in with
+an American in the Bay of Biscay, we got a barrel of beef which lasted us
+in. When near the chops of the channel, with a light southerly wind, we
+made a sail in our wake, that came up with us hand over hand. She went
+nearly two feet to our one, the barilla pressing the Sterling down into
+the water, and making her very dull, more especially in light airs. When
+the stranger got near enough, we saw that he was pumping, the water
+running out of his scuppers in a constant stream. He was several hours in
+sight, the whole time pumping. This ship passed within a cable's-length of
+us, without taking any more notice of us than if we had been a mile-stone.
+She was an English two-decker, and we could distinguish the features of
+her men, as they stood in the waist, apparently taking breath after their
+trial at the pumps. She dropped a hawse-bucket, and we picked it up, when
+she was about half a mile ahead of us. It had the broad-arrow on it, and a
+custom-house officer seeing it, some time after, was disposed to seize it
+as a prize.
+
+We never knew the name of this ship, but there was something proud and
+stately in her manner of passing us, in her distress, without so much as a
+hail. It is true, we could have done her no good, and her object,
+doubtless, was to get into dock as soon as possible. Some thought she had
+been in action, and was going home to repair damages that could not be
+remedied at sea.
+
+Soon after this vessel was seen, we had proof how difficult it is to judge
+of a ship's size at sea. A vessel was made ahead, standing directly for
+us. Mr. Irish soon pronounced her a sloop of war. Half an hour later she
+grew into a frigate, but when she came abeam she showed three tiers of
+ports, being a ninety. This ship also passed without deigning to take any
+notice of us.
+
+
+
+Chapter III.
+
+
+
+We made the Land's End in fine weather, and with a fair wind. Instead of
+keeping up channel, however, our ship hauled in for the land. Cooper was
+at the helm, and the captain asked him if he knew of any one on board who
+had ever been into Falmouth. He was told that Philadelphia Bill had been
+pointing out the different head-lands on the forecastle, and that, by his
+own account, he had sailed a long time out of the port. This Bill was a
+man of fifty, steady, trust-worthy, quiet, and respected by every man in
+the ship. He had taken a great liking to Cooper, whom he used to teach how
+to knot and splice, and other niceties of the calling, and Cooper often
+took him ashore with him, and amused him with historical anecdotes of the
+different places we visited. In short, the intimacy between them was as
+great as well could be, seeing the difference in their educations and
+ages. But, even to Cooper, Bill always called himself a Philadelphian. In
+appearance, indeed, he resembled one of those whom we call Yankees, in
+America, more than anything else.
+
+Bill was now sent for and questioned. He seemed uneasy, but admitted he
+could take the ship into Falmouth. There was nothing in the way, but a
+rock abreast Pendennis Castle, but it was easy to give that a berth. We
+now learned that the captain had made up his mind to go into this port and
+ride out the quarantine to which all Mediterranean vessels were subject.
+Bill took us in very quietly, and the ship was ordered up a few miles
+above the town, to a bay where vessels rode out their quarantine. The next
+day a doctor's boat came alongside, and we were ordered to show ourselves,
+and flourish our limbs, in order to make it evident we were alive and
+kicking. There were four men in the boat, and, as it turned out, every one
+of them recognised Bill, who was born within a few miles of the very spot
+where the ship lay, and had a wife then living a great deal nearer to him
+than he desired. It was this wife--there happening to be too much of
+her--that had driven the poor fellow to America, twenty years before, and
+which rendered him unwilling to live in his native country. By private
+means, Bill managed to have some communication with the men in the boat,
+and got their promises not to betray him. This was done by signs
+altogether, speaking being quite out of the question.
+
+We were near, or quite, a fortnight in quarantine; after which the ship
+dropped down abreast of the town. This was of a Saturday, and Sunday, a
+portion of the crew were permitted to go ashore. Bill was of the number,
+and when he returned he admitted that he had been so much excited at
+finding himself in the place, that he had been a little indiscreet. That
+night he was very uncomfortable, but nothing occurred to molest any of us.
+The next morning all seemed right, and Bill began to be himself again;
+often wishing, however, that the anchor was aweigh, and the ship turning
+out of the harbour. We soon got at work, and began to work down to the
+mouth of the haven, with a light breeze. The moment we were clear of the
+points, or head-lands, we could make a fair wind of it up channel. The ship
+was in stays, pretty well down, tinder Pendennis, and the order had been
+given to swing the head yards. Bill and Cooper were pulling together at
+the fore-top-sail brace, when the report of a musket was heard quite near
+the ship. Bill let go the brace, turned as white as a sheet, and
+exclaimed, "I'm gone!" At first, the men near him thought he was shot, but
+a gesture towards the boat which had fired, explained his meaning. The
+order was given to belay the head braces, and we waited the result
+in silence.
+
+The press-gang was soon on board us, and its officer asked to have the
+crew mustered. This humiliating order was obeyed, and all hands of us were
+called aft. The officer seemed easily satisfied, until he came to Bill.
+"What countryman are _you_?" he asked. "An American--a Philadelphian,"
+answered Bill. "You are an Englishman." "No, sir; I was born--" "Over
+here, across the bay," interrupted the officer, with a cool smile, "where
+your dear wife is at this moment. Your name is ______ ______, and you are
+well known in Falmouth. Get your clothes, and be ready to go in the boat."
+
+This settled the matter. Captain Johnston paid Bill his wages, his chest
+was lowered into the boat, and the poor fellow took an affectionate leave
+of his shipmates. He told those around him that his fate was sealed. He
+was too old to outlive a war that appeared to have no end, and they would
+never trust _him_ on shore. "My foot will never touch the land again," he
+said to Cooper, as he squeezed his young friend's hand, "and I am to live
+and die, with a ship for my prison."
+
+The loss of poor Bill made us all sad; but there was no remedy. We got
+into the offing, and squared away for the river again. When we reached
+London, the ship discharged down at Limehouse, where she lay in a tier of
+Americans for some time. We then took in a little ballast, and went up
+opposite to the dock gates once more. We next docked and cleaned the ship,
+on the Deptford side, and then hauled into the wet-dock in which we had
+discharged our flour.
+
+Here the ship lay part of May, all of June, and most of July, taking in
+freight for Philadelphia, as it offered. This gave our people a good deal
+of spare time, and we were allowed to go ashore whenever we were not
+wanted. Cooper now took me in tow, and many a drift I had with him and Dan
+McCoy up to St. Paul's, the parks, palaces, and the Abbey. A little
+accident that happened about this time, attached me to Cooper more than
+common, and made me more desirous than ever to cruise in his company.
+
+I was alone, on deck, one Sunday, when I saw a little dog running about on
+board a vessel that lay outside of us. Around the neck of this animal,
+some one has fastened a sixpence, by a bit of riband rove through a hole.
+I thought this sixpence might be made better use of, in purchasing some
+cherries, for which I had a strong longing, and I gave chase. In
+attempting to return to our own ship, with the dog, I fell into the water,
+between the two vessels. I could not swim a stroke; and I sang out,
+lustily, for help. As good luck would have it, Cooper came on board at
+that precise instant; and, hearing my outcry, he sprang down between the
+ships, and rescued me from drowning. I thought I was gone; and my
+condition made an impression on me that never will be lost. Had not Cooper
+accidentally appeared, just as he did, Ned Myers's yarn would have ended
+with this paragraph. I ought to add, that the sixpence got clear, the dog
+swimming away with it.
+
+I had another escape from drowning, while we lay in the docks, having
+fallen overboard from the jolly-boat, while making an attempt at sculling.
+I forget, now, how I was saved; but then I had the boat and the oar to
+hold on to. In the end, it will be seen by what a terrific lesson I
+finally learned to swim.
+
+One Sunday we were drifting up around the palace; and then it was that I
+told Cooper that the Duke of Kent was my god-father. He tried to persuade
+me to make a call; saying I could do no less than pay this respect to the
+prince. I had half a mind to try my hand at a visit; but felt too shy, and
+too much afraid. Had I done as Cooper so strongly urged me to do, one
+cannot say what might have been the consequences, or what change might
+have been brought about in my fortunes.[4]
+
+One day Mr. Irish was in high glee, having received a message from Captain
+Johnston, to inform him that the latter was pressed! The captain used to
+dress in a blue long-tog, drab-breeches and top-boots, when he went
+ashore. "He thought he could pass for a gentleman from the country," said
+Mr. Irish, laughing, "but them press-gang chaps smelt the tar in his very
+boots!" Cooper was sent to the rendezvous, with the captain's desk and
+papers, and the latter was liberated. We all liked the captain, who was
+kind and considerate in his treatment of all hands; but it was fine fun
+for us to have "the old fellow" pressed--"_old fellow_" of six or
+eight-and-twenty, as he was then.
+
+About the last of July, we left London, bound home. Our crew had again
+undergone some changes. We shipped a second mate, a New-England man. Jim
+Russel left us. We had lost Bill; and, another Bill, a dull Irish lad, who
+had gone to Spain, quitted us also. Our crew consisted of only Spanish
+Joe; Big Dan; Little Dan; Stephen, the Kennebunk man; Cooper; a Swede,
+shipped in London; a man whose name I have forgotten; and a young man who
+passed by the name of Davis, but who was, in truth,--------, a son of the
+pilot who had brought us in, and taken us out, each time we passed up or
+down the river. This Davis had sailed in a coaster belonging to his
+father, and had got pressed in Sir Home Popham's South-American squadron.
+They made him a midshipman; but, disliking the sea, he was determined to
+go to America. We had to smuggle him out of the country, on account of the
+press-gang; he making his appearance on board us, suddenly, one night, in
+the river.
+
+The Sterling was short-handed this passage, mustering but four hands in a
+watch. Notwithstanding, we often reefed in the watch, though Cooper and
+Little Dan were both scarcely more than boys. Our mates used to go aloft,
+and both were active, powerful men. The cook, too, was a famous fellow at
+a drag. In these delicate times, when two or three days of watch and watch
+knock up a set of young men, one looks back with pride to a passage like
+this, when fourteen men and boys--four of the latter--brought a good sized
+ship across the ocean, reefing in the watch, weathering many a gale, and
+thinking nothing of it. I presume half our people, on a pinch, could have
+brought the Sterling in. One of the boys I have mentioned was named John
+Pugh, a little fellow the captain had taken as an apprentice in London,
+and who was now at sea for the first time in his life.
+
+We had a long passage. Every inch of the way to the Downs was tide-work.
+Here we lay several days, waiting far a wind. It blew fresh from the
+southwest-half of that summer, and the captain was not willing to go out
+with a foul wind. We were surrounded with vessels of war, most of the
+Channel Fleet being at anchor around us. This made a gay scene, and we had
+plenty of music, and plenty of saluting. One day all hands turned-to
+together, and fired starboard and larboard, until we could see nothing but
+a few mast-heads. What it all meant I never heard, but it made a famous
+smoke, and a tremendous noise.
+
+A frigate came in, and anchored just ahead of us. She lowered a boat, and
+sent a reefer alongside to inform us that she was His Majesty's ship----;
+that she had lost all her anchors but the stream, and she might strike
+adrift, and he advised us to get out of her way. The captain held on that
+day, however, but next morning she came into us, sure enough. The ships
+did not get clear without some trouble, and we thought it wisest to shift
+our berth. Once aweigh, the captain thought it best to turn out of the
+Downs, which we did, working through the Straits, and anchoring under
+Dungeness, as soon as the flood made. Here we lay until near sunset, when
+we got under way to try our hand upon the ebb. I believe the skipper had
+made up his mind to tide it down to the Land's End, rather than remain
+idle any longer. There was a sloop of war lying in-shore of us, a mile or
+so, and just as we stretched out from under the land, she began to
+telegraph with a signal station ashore. Soon after, she weighed, and came
+out, also. In the middle watch we passed this ship, on opposite tacks, and
+learned that an embargo had been laid, and that we had only saved our
+distance by some ten or fifteen minutes! This embargo was to prevent the
+intelligence of the Copenhagen expedition from reaching the Danes. That
+very day, we passed a convoy of transports, carrying a brigade from
+Pendennis Castle to Yarmouth, in order to join the main fleet. A gun-brig
+brought us to, and came near pressing the Swede, under the pretence that
+being allies of his king, England had a right to his services. Had not the
+man been as obstinate as a bull, and positively refused to go, I do
+believe we should have lost him. He was ordered into the boat at least
+half-a-dozen times, but swore he would not budge. Cooper had a little row
+with this boarding officer, but was silenced by the captain.
+
+After the news received from the sloop of war, it may be supposed we did
+not venture to anchor anywhere on English ground. Keeping the channel, we
+passed the Isle of Wight several times, losing on the flood, the distance
+made on the ebb. At length we got a slant and fetched out into the
+Atlantic, heading well to the southward, however. Our passage was long,
+even after we got clear, the winds carrying us down as low as Corvo, which
+island we made, and then taking us well north again. We had one very heavy
+blow that forced us to scud, the Sterling being one of the wettest ships
+that ever floated, when heading up to the sea.
+
+When near the American coast, we spoke an English brig that gave us an
+account of the affair between the Leopard and the Chesapeake, though he
+made his own countrymen come out second-best. Bitter were the revilings of
+Mr. Irish when the pilot told us the real state of the case. As was usual
+with this ship's luck, we tided it up the bay and river, and got safe
+alongside of the wharf at Philadelphia, at last. Here our crew was broken
+up, of course, and, with the exception of Jack Pugh, my brother
+apprentice, and Cooper, I never saw a single soul of them afterwards. Most
+of them went on to New York, and were swallowed up in the great vortex of
+seamen. Mr. Irish, I heard, died the next voyage he made, chief mate of an
+Indiaman. He was a prime fellow, and fit to command a ship.
+
+Such was my first voyage at sea, for I count the passage round from
+Halifax as nothing. I had been kept in the cabin, it is true, but our work
+had been of the most active kind. The Sterling must have brought up, and
+been got under way, between fifty and a hundred times; and as for tacking,
+waring, chappelling round, and box-hauling, we had so much of it by the
+channel pilots, that the old barky scarce knew which end was going
+foremost. In that day, a ship did not get from the Forelands up to London
+without some trouble, and great was our envy of the large blocks and light
+cordage of the colliers, which made such easy work for their men. We
+singled much of our rigging, the second voyage up the river, ourselves,
+and it was a great relief to the people. A set of grass foresheets, too,
+that we bought in Spain, got to be great favourites, though, in the end,
+they cost the ship the life of a very valuable man.
+
+Captain Johnston now determined to send me to Wiscasset, that I might go
+to school. A Wiscasset schooner, called the Clarissa, had come into
+Philadelphia, with freight from the West Indies, and she was about to sail
+for home in ballast. I was put on board as a passenger, and we sailed
+about a week after the ship got in from London. Jack Pugh staid behind,
+the Sterling being about to load for Ireland. On board the Clarissa I made
+the acquaintance of a Philadelphian born, who was an apprentice to the
+master of the schooner, of the name of Jack Mallet. He was a little older
+than myself, and we soon became intimate, and, in time, were fated to see
+many strange things in company.
+
+The Clarissa went, by the Vineyard Sound and the Shoals, into Boston. Here
+she landed a few crates, and then sailed for Wiscasset, where we arrived
+after a pretty long passage. I was kindly received by the mother and
+family of Captain Johnston, and immediately sent to school. Shortly after,
+we heard of the embargo, and, the Clarissa being laid up, Jack Mallet
+became one of my school-mates. We soon learned that the Sterling had not
+been able to get out, and, ere long, Jack Pugh joined our party. A little
+later, Captain Johnston arrived, to go into the commercial quarantine with
+the rest of us.
+
+This was the long embargo, as sailors called it, and it did not terminate
+until Erskine's arrangement was made, in 1809. All this time I remained in
+Wiscasset, at school, well treated, and, if anything, too much indulged.
+Captain Johnston remained at home all this time, also, and, having nothing
+else to do, he set about looking out for a wife. We had, at school, Jack
+Pugh, Jack Mallet, and Bill Swett, the latter being a lad a little older
+than myself, and a nephew of the captain's. I was now sixteen, and had
+nearly gotten my growth.
+
+As soon as the embargo was removed, Captain Johnston, accompanied by
+Swett, started for Philadelphia, to bring the ship round to New York. From
+that place he intended to sail for Liverpool, where Jack Pugh and myself
+were to join him, sailing in a ship called the Columbia. This plan was
+changed, however, and we were sent round by sea to join the Sterling
+again, in the port where I had first found her.
+
+As this was near three years after I had quitted the Hel zer's so
+unceremoniously, I went to look for them. Their old neighbours told me
+they had been gone to Martinique, about a twelvemonth. This was the last
+intelligence I ever heard of them. Bill Swett was now put into the cabin,
+and Jack Pugh and myself were sent regularly to duty before the mast. We
+lived in the steerage, and had cabin fare; but, otherwise, had the
+fortunes of foremast Jacks. Our freight was wheat in the lower hold, flour
+betwixt decks, and cotton on deck. The ship was very deep. Our crew was
+good, but both our mates were foreigners.
+
+Nothing occurred until we got near soundings, when it came on to blow very
+heavy from the southward and westward. The ship was running under a
+close-reefed main-topsail and foresail, with a tremendous sea on. Just as
+night set in, one Harry, a Prussian, came on deck from his supper to
+relieve the wheel, and, fetching a lurch as he went aft, he brought up
+against the launch, and thence down against our grass fore-sheet, which
+had been so great a favourite in the London passages. This rope had been
+stretched above the deck load for a ridge rope, but, being rotten, it gave
+way when the poor Prussian struck it, and he went into the sea. We could
+do no more than throw him the sky-light, which was large; but the ship
+went foaming ahead, leaving the poor fellow to his fate, in the midst of
+the hissing waters. Some of our people thought they saw poor Harry on the
+sky-light, but this could not have made much difference in such a raging
+sea. It was impossible to round-to, and as for a boat's living, it was out
+of the question. This was the first man I saw lost at sea, and,
+notwithstanding the severity of the gale, and the danger of the ship
+herself, the fate of this excellent man made us all melancholy. The
+captain felt it bitterly, as was evident from his manner. Still, the thing
+was unavoidable.
+
+We had begun to shorten sail early in the afternoon, and Harry was lost in
+the first dog-watch. A little later the larboard fore-sheet went, and the
+sail was split. All hands were called, and the rags were rolled up, and
+the gaskets passed. The ship now laboured so awfully that she began to
+leak. The swell was so high that we did not dare to come by the wind, and
+the seas would come in, just about the main chains, meet in board and
+travel out over her bows in a way to threaten everything that could be
+moved. We lads were lashed at the pumps, and ordered to keep at work; and
+to make matters worse, the wheat began to work its way into the pump-well.
+While things were in this state, the main-top-sail split, leaving the ship
+without a rag of sail on her.
+
+The Sterling loved to be under water, even in moderate weather. Many a
+time have I seen her send the water aft, into the quarter-deck scuppers,
+and, as for diving, no loon was quicker than she. Now, that she was deep
+and was rolling her deck-load to the water, it was time to think of
+lightening her. The cotton was thrown overboard as fast as we could, and
+what the men could not start the seas did. After a while we eased the ship
+sensibly, and it was well we did; the wheat choking the pumps so often,
+that we had little opportunity for getting out the water.
+
+I do not now recollect at what hour of this fearful night, Captain
+Johnston shouted out to us all to "look out"--and "hold on." The ship was
+broaching-to. Fortunately she did this at a lucky moment, and, always
+lying-to well, though wet, we made much better weather on deck. The
+mizzen-staysail was now set to keep her from falling off into the troughs
+of the sea. Still the wind blew as hard as ever. First one sail, then
+another, got loose, and a hard time we had to keep the canvass to the
+yards. Then the fore-top-mast went, with a heavy lurch, and soon after the
+main, carrying with it the mizzen-top-gallant-mast. We owed this to the
+embargo, in my judgment, the ship's rigging having got damaged lying dry
+so long. We were all night clearing the wreck, and the men who used the
+hatchets, told us that the wind would cant their tools so violently that
+they sometimes struck on the eyes, instead of the edge. The gale fairly
+seemed like a hard substance.
+
+We passed a fearful night, working at the pumps, and endeavouring to take
+care of the ship. Next morning it moderated a little, and the vessel was
+got before the wind, which was perfectly fair. She could carry but little
+sail; though we got up top-gallant-masts for top-masts, as soon as the sea
+would permit. About four, I saw the land myself and pointed it out to the
+mate. It was Cape Clear, and we were heading for it as straight as we
+could go. We hauled up to clear it, and ran into the Irish channel. A
+large fleet of vessels had gathered in and near the chops of the channel,
+in readiness to run into Liverpool by a particular day that had been named
+in the law opening the trade, and great had been the destruction among
+them. I do not remember the number of the ships we saw, but there must
+have been more than a hundred. It was afterwards reported, that near fifty
+vessels were wrecked on the Irish coast. Almost every craft we fell in
+with was more or less dismasted, and one vessel, a ship called the
+Liberty, was reported to have gone down, with every soul on board her.
+
+The weather becoming moderate, all hands of us went into Liverpool, the
+best way we could. The Sterling had good luck in getting up, though we lay
+some time in the river before we were able to get into dock. When we got
+out the cargo, we found it much damaged, particularly the wheat. The last
+was so hot that we could not bear our feet among it. We got it all out in
+a few days, when we went into a dry dock, and repaired.
+
+This visit to Liverpool scattered our crew as if it had been so much dust
+in a squall. Most of our men were pressed, and those that were not, ran.
+But one man, us boys excepted, stuck by the ship. The chief mate--a
+foreigner, though of what country I never could discover--lived at a house
+kept by a handsome landlady. To oblige this lady, he ordered William Swett
+and myself to carry a bucket-full of salt, each, up to her house. The salt
+came out of the harness-cask, and we took it ashore openly, but we were
+stopped on the quay by a custom-house officer, who threatened to seize the
+ship. Such was the penalty for landing two buckets of Liverpool salt at
+Liverpool!
+
+Captain Johnston had the matter explained, and he discharged the mate.
+Next day, the discharged man and the second mate were pressed. We got the
+last, who was a Swede, clear; and the chief mate, in the end, made his
+escape, and found his way back to New York. Among those impressed, was
+Jack Pugh, who having been bound in London, we did not dare show his
+papers. The captain tried hard to get the boy clear, but without success.
+I never saw poor Jack after this; though I learn he ran from the
+market-boat of the guard-ship, made his way back to Wiscasset, where he
+stayed some time, then shipped, and was lost at sea.
+
+
+
+Chapter IV.
+
+
+
+At length we got a new crew, and sailed for home. We had several
+passengers on board, masters of American ships who could go back
+themselves, but not carry their vessels with them, on account of certain
+liberties the last had taken with the laws. These persons were called
+"embargo captains." One of them, a Captain B----, kept Captain Johnston's
+watch, and got so much into his confidence and favour, that he gave him
+the vessel in the end. The passage home was stormy and long, but offered
+nothing remarkable. A non-importation law had been passed during our
+absence, and our ship was seized in New York in consequence of having a
+cargo of English salt. We had taken the precaution, however, to have the
+salt cleared in Liverpool, and put afloat before the day named in the law,
+and got clear after a detention of two months. Salt rose so much in the
+interval, that the seizure turned out to be a good thing for the owners.
+
+While the ship was lying off the Battery, on her return from this voyage,
+and before she had hauled in, a boat came alongside with a young man in
+her in naval uniform. This was Cooper, who, in pulling across to go aboard
+his own vessel, had recognised our mast-heads, and now came to look at us.
+This was the last time I met him, until the year 1843; or, for
+thirty-four years.
+
+We now loaded with naval stores, and cleared again for Liverpool. Bill
+Swett did not make this voyage with us, the cook acting as steward. We had
+good passages out and home, experiencing no detention or accidents. In the
+spring of 1810, Captain Johnston gave the ship to Captain B----, who
+carried us to Liverpool for the third time. Nothing took place this
+voyage either, worthy of being mentioned, the ship getting back in good
+season. We now took in a cargo of staves for Limerick. Off the Hook we
+were brought-to by the Indian sloop-of-war, one of the Halifax cruisers, a
+squadron in company. Several vessels were coming out at the same time, and
+among them were several of the clippers in the French trade. The Amiable
+Matilda and the Colt went to windward of the Englishmen as if the last had
+been at anchor; but the Tameahmeah, when nearest to the English, got her
+yards locked in stays, and was captured. We saw all this, and felt, as was
+natural to men who beheld such things enacted at the mouth of their own
+port. Our passages both ways were pleasant, and nothing occurred out of
+the usual course. I fell in with a press-gang, however, in Limerick, which
+would have nabbed me, but for a party of Irishmen, who showed fight and
+frightened the fellows so much that I got clear. Once before, I had been
+in the hands of these vermin in Liverpool, but Captain Johnston had got me
+clear by means of my indentures. I was acting as second-mate this voyage.
+
+On our return home, the ship was ordered to Charleston to get a cargo of
+yellow pine, under a contract. Captain B---- was still in command, my old
+master, Captain Johnston, being then at home, occupied in building a new
+ship. I never saw this kind-hearted and indulgent seaman until the year
+1842, when I made a journey to Wiscasset expressly to see him. Captain
+B---- and myself were never very good friends, and I was getting to be
+impatient of his authority; but I still stuck by the ship.
+
+We had an ordinary run to Charleston, and began to prepare for the
+reception of our cargo. At this time, there were two French privateers on
+the southern coast, that did a great deal of damage to our trade. One went
+into Savannah, and got burned, for her pains; and the other came into
+Charleston, and narrowly escaped the same fate. A mob collected--made a
+fire-raft, and came alongside of our ship, demanding some tar. To own the
+truth, though then clothed with all the dignity of a "Dicky," [5] I liked
+the fun, and offered no resistance. Bill Swett had come in, in a ship
+called the United States; and he was on board the Sterling, at the time,
+on a visit to me. We two, off hatches, and whipped a barrel of tar on
+deck; which we turned over to the raftsmen, with our hearty good wishes
+for their success. All this was, legally, very wrong; but, I still think,
+it was not so very far from being morally just; at least, as regards the
+privateersmen. The attempt failed, however, and those implicated were
+blamed a great deal more than they would have been, had they burned up the
+Frenchmen's eye-bolts. It is bad to fail, in a legal undertaking; but
+success is indispensable for forgiveness, to one that is illegal.
+
+That night, Captain B---- and the chief mate, came down upon me, like a
+gust, for having parted with the tar. They concluded their lecture, by
+threatening to work me up. Bill Swett was by, and he got his share of the
+dose. When we were left to ourselves, we held a council of war, about
+future proceedings. Our crew had run, to a man, the cook excepted, as
+usually happens, in Charleston; and we brought in the cook, as a
+counsellor. This man told me, that he had overheard the captain and mate
+laying a plan to give me a threshing, as soon as I had turned in. Bill,
+now, frankly proposed that I should run, as well as himself; for he had
+already left his ship; and our plan was soon laid. Bill went ashore, and
+brought a boat down under the bows of the ship, and I passed my dunnage
+into her, by going through the forecastle; I then left the Sterling, for
+ever, never putting my foot on board of her again. I saw her, once or
+twice, afterwards, at a distance, and she always looked like a sort of
+home to me. She was subsequently lost, on the eastern coast, Captain
+Johnston still owning her, and being actually on board her, though only as
+a passenger. I had been out in her twelve times, from country to country,
+besides several short runs, from port to port. She always seemed natural
+to me; and I had got to know every timber and stick about her. I felt
+more, in quitting this ship, than I did in quitting Halifax. This
+desertion was the third great error of my life. The first was, quitting
+those with whom I had been left by my father; the second, abandoning my
+good friends, the Heizers; and the third, leaving the Sterling. Had
+Captain Johnston been in the ship, I never should have dreamed of running.
+He was always kind to me, and if he failed in justice, it was on the side
+of indulgence. Had I continued with him, I make no doubt, my career would
+have been very different from what it has since turned out to be; and, I
+fear, I must refer one of the very bad habits, that afterwards marred my
+fortunes, that of drinking too much, to this act. Still, it will be
+remembered, I was only nineteen, loved adventure, and detested
+Captain B----.
+
+After this exploit, Swett and I kept housed for a week. He then got into a
+ship called the President, and I into another called the Tontine, and both
+sailed for New York, where we arrived within a few days of each other. We
+now shipped together in a vessel called the Jane, bound to Limerick. This
+was near the close of the year 1811. Our passage out was tremendously bad,
+and we met with some serious accidents to our people. We were not far from
+the mouth of the Irish channel when the ship broached-to, in scudding
+under the foresail and main-top-sail, Bill Swett being at the helm. The
+watch below ran on deck and hauled up the foresail, without orders, to
+prevent the ship from going down stern foremost, the yards being square.
+As the ship came-to, she took a sea in on her starboard side, which drove
+poor Bill to leeward, under some water-casks and boards, beating in two of
+his ribs. Both mates were injured also, and were off duty in consequence
+for several weeks. The plank sheer was ripped off the vessel from aft to
+amidships, as neatly as if it had been done by the carpenters. We could
+look down among the timbers the same as if the vessel were on the stocks.
+
+The men braced up the after-yards, and then the ship was lying-to under a
+close-reefed main-top-sail. After this, she did well enough. We now passed
+the hurt below, and got tarred canvass over the timber-heads, and managed
+to keep out the water. Next day we made sail for our port. It blowing too
+fresh to get a pilot, we ran into a roadstead at the mouth of the Shannon,
+and anchored with both bowers. We rode out the gale, and then went up to
+Limerick. Here all hands got well, and returned to duty. In due time, we
+sailed for home in ballast. As we came into the Hook, we were hailed by a
+gun-boat, and heard of the "Little Embargo."
+
+The question now came up seriously between Bill and myself, what was best
+to be done. I was for going to Wiscasset, like two prodigals, own our
+fault, and endeavour to amend. Bill thought otherwise. Now we were cast
+ashore, without employment, he thought it more manly to try and shift for
+ourselves. He had an uncle who was a captain of artillery, and who was
+then stationed on Governor's Island, and we took him into our councils.
+This gentleman treated us kindly, and kept us with him on the island for
+two days. Finding his nephew bent on doing something for himself, he gave
+us a letter to Lt. Trenchard, of the navy, by whom we were both shipped
+for the service. Swett got a master's-mate's berth, and I was offered the
+same, but felt too much afraid of myself to accept it. I entered the navy,
+then, for the first time, as a common Jack.
+
+This was a very short time before war was declared, and a large flotilla
+of gun-boats was getting ready for the New York station. Bill was put on
+board of No. 112, and I was ordered to No. 107, Sailing-Master Costigan.
+Soon after, we were all employed in fitting the Essex for sea; and while
+thus occupied the Declaration of War actually arrived. On this occasion I
+got drunk, for the second time in my life. A quantity of whiskey was
+started into a tub, and all hands drank to the success of the conflict. A
+little upset me, then, nor would I have drunk anything, but for the
+persuasions of some of my Wiscasset acquaintances, of whom there were
+several in the ship. I advise all young men, who feel no desire to drink,
+to follow their own propensities, and not to yield themselves up, body and
+soul, to the thoughtless persuasions of others. There is no real
+good-fellowship in swilling rum and whiskey; but the taste, once acquired,
+is hard to cure. I never drank much, as to quantity, but a little filled
+me with the love of mischief, and that little served to press me down for
+all the more valuable years of my life; valuable, as to the advancement of
+my worldly interests, though I can scarcely say I began really to live, as
+a creature of God's should live, to honour his name and serve his ends,
+until the year 1839.
+
+After the Essex was fitted out, the flotilla cruised in the Sound, and was
+kept generally on the look-out, about the waters of New York. Towards the
+end of the season, our boat, with several others, was lying abreast of
+the Yard, when orders came off to meet the Yard Commander, Captain
+Chauncey, on the wharf. Here, this officer addressed us, and said he was
+about to proceed to Lake Ontario, to take command, and asking who would
+volunteer to go with him. This was agreeable news to us, for we hated the
+gun-boats, and would go anywhere to be quit of them. Every man and boy
+volunteered. We got twenty-four hours' liberty, with a few dollars in
+money, and when this scrape was over every man returned, and we embarked
+in a sloop for Albany. Our draft contained near 140 men, and was commanded
+by Mr. Mix, then a sailing-master, but who died a commander a few years
+since. Messrs. Osgood and Mallaby were also with us, and two midshipmen,
+viz: Messrs. Sands and Livingston. The former of these young gentlemen is
+now a commander, but I do not know what became of Mr. Livingston. We had
+also two master's-mates, Messrs. Bogardus and Emory.
+
+On reaching Albany, we paid a visit to the Governor, gave him three
+cheers, got some good cheer in return, and were all stowed in wagons, a
+mess in each, before his door. We now took to our land tacks, and a merry
+time we had of it. Our first day's run was to a place called Schenectady,
+and here the officers found an empty house, and berthed us all together,
+fastening the doors. This did not suit our notions of a land cruise, and
+we began to grumble. There was a regular hard horse of a boatswain's-mate
+with us, of the name of McNally. This man had been in the service a long
+time, and was a thorough man-of-war's man. Fie had collected twenty-four
+of us, whom he called his 'disciples,' and shamed am I to say, I was one.
+McNally called all hands on the upper deck, as he called it, that is to
+say, in the garret, and made us a speech. He said this was no way to treat
+volunteers, and proposed that we should "unship the awning." We rigged
+pries, and, first singing out, "stand from under," hove one half of the
+roof into the street, and the other into the garden. We then gave three
+cheers at our success. The officers now came down, and gave us a lecture.
+But we made out so good a case, that they let us run till morning, when
+every soul was back and mustered in the wagons. In this way we went
+through the country, cracking our jokes, laughing, and noting all
+oddities that crossed our course. I believe we were ten or twelve days
+working our way through the state, to Oswego. At Onondago Lake we got into
+boats, and did better than in the wagons. At a village on the lake shore,
+the people were very bitter against us, and we had some difficulty. The
+word went among us they were Scotch, from the Canadas, but of this I know
+nothing. We heard in the morning, however, that most of our officers were
+in limbo, and we crossed and marched up a hill, intending to burn, sink,
+and destroy, if they were not liberated. Mischief was prevented by the
+appearance of Mr. Mix, with the other gentlemen, and we pushed off without
+coming to blows.
+
+It came on to rain very hard, and we fetched up at a solitary house in the
+woods, and tried to get quarters. These were denied us, and we were told
+to shift for ourselves. This we did in a large barn, where we made good
+stowage until morning. In the night, we caught the owner coming about with
+a lantern to set fire to the barn, and we carried him down to a boat, and
+lashed him there until morning, letting the rain wash all the combustible
+matter out of him. That day we reached Oswego Falls, where a party of us
+were stationed some time, running boats over, and carrying stores across
+the portage.
+
+When everything reached Oswego, all hands turned to, to equip some lake
+craft that had been bought for the service. These were schooners, salt
+droggers, of about sixty or eighty tons. All we did at Oswego, however,
+was to load these vessels, some six or eight in all, and put to sea. I
+went off in one of the first, a vessel called the Fair American. Having no
+armaments, we sailed in the night, to avoid John Bull's cruisers, of which
+there were several out at the time. As we got in with some islands, at no
+great distance from Sackett's Harbour, we fell in with the Oneida's
+launch, which was always kept in the offing at night, rowing, or sailing,
+guard. Bill Swett was in her, and we then met for the first time on fresh
+water. I now learned that Jack Mallet was on the station, too, whom I had
+not fallen in with since we parted at Wiscasset, more than three years
+before. A fortnight later I found him, acting as boatswain of the Julia,
+Sailing-Master Trant, a craft I have every reason to remember as long as I
+shall live.
+
+The day after I reached the harbour, I was ordered on board the Scourge.
+This vessel was English-built, and had been captured before the war, and
+condemned, for violating the revenue laws, under the name of the Lord
+Nelson, by the Oneida 16, Lt. Com. Woolsey--the only cruiser we then had
+on the lake. This craft was unfit for her duty, but time pressed, and no
+better offered. Bulwarks had been raised on her, and she mounted eight
+sixes, in regular broadside. Her accommodations were bad enough, and she
+was so tender, that we could do little or nothing with her in a blow. It
+was often prognosticated that she would prove our coffin. Besides Mr.
+Osgood, who was put in command of this vessel, we had Mr. Bogardus, and
+Mr. Livingston, as officers. We must have had about forty-five souls on
+board, all told. We did not get this schooner out that season, however.
+
+The commodore arriving, and an expedition against Kingston being in the
+wind, a party of us volunteered from the Scourge, to go on board the
+Oneida. This was in November, rather a latish month for active service on
+those waters. The brig went out in company with the Conquest, Hamilton,
+Governor Tompkins, Port, Julia, and Growler, schooners. These last craft
+were all merchantmen, mostly without quarters, and scarcely fit for the
+duty on which they were employed. The Oneida was a warm little brig, of
+sixteen 24 lb. carronades, but as dull as a transport. She had been built
+to cross the bars of the American harbours, and would not travel
+to windward.
+
+We went off the False Ducks, where we made the Royal George, a ship the
+English had built expressly to overlay the Oneida, two or three years
+before, and which was big enough to eat us. Her officers, however, did not
+belong to the Royal Navy; and we made such a show of schooners, that,
+though she had herself a vessel or two in company, she did not choose to
+wait for us. We chased her into the Bay of Quinte, and there we lost her
+in the darkness. Next morning, however, we saw her at anchor in the
+channel that leads to Kingston. A general chase now commenced, and we ran
+down into the bay, and engaged the ship and batteries, as close as we
+could well get. The firing was sharp on both sides, and it lasted a great
+while. I was stationed at a gun, as her second captain, and was too busy
+to see much; but I know we kept our piece speaking as fast as we could,
+for a good bit. We drove the Royal George from a second anchorage, quite
+up to a berth abreast of the town; and it was said that her people
+actually deserted her, at one time. We gave her nothing but round-shot
+from our gun, and these we gave her with all our hearts. Whenever we
+noticed the shore, a stand of grape was added.
+
+I know nothing of the damage done the enemy. We had the best of it, so far
+as I could see; and I think, if the weather had not compelled us to haul
+off, something serious might have been done. As it was, we beat out with
+flying colours, and anchored a few miles from the light.
+
+These were the first shot I ever saw fired in anger. Our brig had one man
+killed and three wounded, and she was somewhat injured aloft. One shot
+came in not far from my gun, and scattered lots of cat-tails, breaking in
+the hammock-cloths. This was the nearest chance I ran, that day; and, on
+the whole, I think we escaped pretty well. On our return to the harbour,
+the ten Scourges who had volunteered for the cruise, returned to their own
+schooner. None of us were hurt, though all of us were half frozen, the
+water freezing as fast as it fell.
+
+Shortly after both sides went into winter quarters, and both sides
+commenced building. We launched a ship called the Madison, about this
+time, and we laid the keel of another, that was named the Pike. What John
+Bull was about is more than I can say, though the next season showed he
+had not been idle. The navigation did not absolutely close,
+notwithstanding, until December.
+
+Our vessels were moored about the harbour, and we were all frozen in, as a
+matter of course. Around each craft, however, a space was kept cut, to
+form a sort of ditch, in order to prevent being boarded. Parties were
+regularly stationed to defend the Madison, and, in the days, we worked at
+her rigging, and at that of the Pike, in gangs. Our larboard guns were
+landed, and placed in a block-house, while the starboard were kept
+mounted. My station was that of captain of one of the guns that remained.
+
+The winter lasted more than four months, and we made good times of it. We
+often went after wood, and occasionally we knocked over a deer. We had a
+target out on the lake, and this we practised on, making ourselves rather
+expert cannoneers. Now and then they rowsed us out on a false alarm, but I
+know of no serious attempt's being made by the enemy, to molest us.
+
+The lake was fit to navigate about the middle of April. Somewhere about
+the 20th[6] the soldiers began to embark, to the number of 1700 men. A
+company came on board the Scourge, and they filled us chock-a-block. It
+came on to blow, and we were obliged to keep these poor fellows, cramped
+as we were, most of the time on deck, exposed to rain and storm. On the
+25th we got out, rather a showy force altogether, though there was not
+much service in our small craft. We had a ship, a brig, and twelve
+schooners, fourteen sail in all. The next morning we were off Little York,
+having sailed with a fair wind. All hands anchored about a mile from the
+beach. I volunteered to go in a boat, to carry soldiers ashore. Each of us
+brought across the lake two of these boats in tow, but we had lost one of
+ours, dragging her after us in a staggering breeze. I got into the one
+that was left, and we put half our soldiers in her, and shoved off. We had
+little or no order in landing, each boat pulling as hard as she could. The
+English blazed away at us, concealed in a wood, and our men fired back
+again from the boat. I never was more disappointed in men, than I was in
+the soldiers. They were mostly tall, pale-looking Yankees, half dead with
+sickness and the bad weather--so mealy, indeed, that half of them could
+not take their grog, which, by this time, I had got to think a bad sign.
+As soon as they got near the enemy, however, they became wide awake,
+pointed out to each other where to aim, and many of them actually jumped
+into the water, in order to get the sooner ashore. No men could have
+behaved better, for I confess frankly I did not like the work at all. It
+is no fun to pull in under a sharp fire, with one's back to his enemy, and
+nothing but an oar to amuse himself with. The shot flew pretty thick, and
+two of our oars were split. This was all done with musketry, no heavy guns
+being used at this place. I landed twice in this way, but the danger was
+principally in the first affair. There was fighting up on the bank, but it
+gave us no trouble. Mr. Livingston commanded the boat.
+
+When we got back to the schooner, we found her lifting her anchors.
+Several of the smaller craft were now ordered up the bay, to open on the
+batteries nearer to the town. We were the third from the van, and we all
+anchored within canister range. We heard a magazine blow up, as we stood
+in, and this brought three cheers from us. We now had some sharp work with
+the batteries, keeping up a steady fire. The schooner ahead of us had to
+cut, and she shifted her berth outside of us. The leading schooner,
+however, held on. In the midst of it all, we heard cheers down the line,
+and presently we saw the commodore pulling in among us, in his gig. He
+came on board us, and we greeted him with three cheers. While he was on
+the quarter-deck, a hot shot struck the upper part of the after-port, cut
+all the boarding-pikes adrift from the main-boom, and wounded a man named
+Lemuel Bryant, who leaped from his quarters and fell at my feet. His
+clothes were all on fire when he fell, and, after putting them out, the
+commodore himself ordered me to pass him below. The old man spoke
+encouragingly to us, and a little thing took place that drew his attention
+to my crew. Two of the trucks of the gun we were fighting had been carried
+away, and I determined to shift over its opposite. My crew were five
+negroes, strapping fellows, and as strong as jackasses. The gun was called
+the Black Joke. Shoving the disabled gun out of the way, these chaps
+crossed the deck, unhooked the breechings and gun-tackles, raised the
+piece from the deck, and placed it in the vacant port. The commodore
+commended us, and called out, "that is quick work, my lads!" In less than
+three minutes, I am certain, we were playing on the enemy with the
+fresh gun.
+
+As for the old man, he pulled through the fire as coolly as if it were
+only a snow-balling scrape, though many a poor fellow lost the number of
+his mess in the boats that day. When he left us, we cheered him again. He
+had not left us long, before we heard an awful explosion on shore. Stones
+as big as my two fists fell on board of us, though nobody was hurt by
+them. We cheered, thinking some dire calamity had befallen the enemy. The
+firing ceased soon after this explosion, though one English gun held on,
+under the bank, for some little time.
+
+
+
+Chapter V.
+
+
+
+We did not know the cause of the last explosion, until after the firing
+ceased. I had seen an awful black cloud, and objects in the air that I
+took for men; but little did we imagine the explosion had cost us so dear.
+Our schooner lay at no great distance from the common landing, and no
+sooner were we certain of the success of the day, than Mr. Osgood ordered
+his boat's crew called away, and he landed. As I belonged to the boat, I
+had an early opportunity of entering the town.
+
+We found the place deserted. With the exception of our own men, I found
+but one living being in it. This was an old woman whom I discovered stowed
+away in a potatoe locker, in the government house. I saw tables set, and
+eggs in the cups, but no inhabitant. Our orders were of the most severe
+kind, not to plunder, and we did not touch a morsel of food even. The
+liquor, however, was too much for our poor natures, and a parcel of us had
+broke bulk in a better sort of grocery, when some officers came in and
+stove the casks. I made sail, and got out of the company. The army had
+gone in pursuit of the enemy, with the exception of a few riflemen, who,
+being now at liberty, found their way into the place.
+
+I ought to feel ashamed, and do feel ashamed of what occurred that night;
+but I must relate it, lest I feel more ashamed for concealing the truth.
+We had spliced the main-brace pretty freely throughout the day, and the
+pull I got in the grocery just made me ripe for mischief. When we got
+aboard the schooner again, we found a canoe that had drifted athwart-hawse
+and had been secured. My gun's crew, the Black Jokers, wished to have some
+fun in the town, and they proposed to me to take a cruise ashore. We had
+few officers on board, and the boatswain, a boat swain's mate in fact,
+consented to let us leave. We all went ashore in this canoe, then, and
+were soon alongside of a wharf. On landing, we were near a large store,
+and looking in at a window, we saw a man sitting asleep, with a gun in the
+hollow of his arm. His head was on the counter, and there was a lamp
+burning. One of the blacks pitched through the window, and was on him in a
+moment. The rest followed, and we made him a prisoner. The poor fellow
+said he had come to look after his property, and he was told no one would
+hurt him. My blacks now began to look about them, and to help themselves
+to such articles as they thought they wanted. I confess I helped myself to
+some tea and sugar, nor will I deny that I was in such a state as to think
+the whole good fun. We carried off one canoe load, and even returned for a
+second. Of course such an exploit could not have been effected without
+letting all in the secret share; and one boat-load of plunder was not
+enough. The negroes began to drink, however, and I was sober enough to see
+the consequences, if they were left ashore any longer. Some riflemen came
+in, too, and I succeeded in getting my jokers away.
+
+The recklessness of sailors may be seen in our conduct. All we received
+for our plunder was some eight or ten gallons of whiskey, when we got back
+to the harbour, and this at the risk of being flogged through the fleet!
+It seemed to us to be a scrape, and that was a sufficient excuse for
+disobeying orders, and for committing a crime. For myself, I was
+influenced more by the love of mischief, and a weak desire to have it said
+I was foremost in such an exploit, than from any mercenary motive.
+Notwithstanding the severity of the orders, and one or two pretty sharp
+examples of punishment inflicted by the commodore, the Black Jokers were
+not the only plunderers ashore that night. One master's-mate had the
+buttons taken off his coat, for stealing a feather bed, besides being
+obliged to carry it back again. Of course he was a shipped master's-mate.
+
+I was ashore every day while the squadron remained in the port. Our
+schooner never shifted her berth from the last one she occupied in the
+battle, and that was pretty well up the bay. I paid a visit to the gun
+that had troubled us all so much, and which we could not silence, for it
+was under a bank, near the landing-place. It was a long French eighteen,
+and did better service, that day, than any other piece of John Bull's. I
+think it hulled us several times.
+
+I walked over the ground where the explosion took place. It was a dreadful
+sight; the dead being so mutilated that it was scarcely possible to tell
+their colour. I saw gun-barrels bent nearly double. I think we saw Sir
+Roger Sheafe, the British General, galloping across the field, by himself,
+a few minutes before the explosion. At all events, we saw a mounted
+officer, and fired at him. He galloped up to the government-house,
+dismounted, went in, remained a short time, and then galloped out of town.
+All this I saw; and the old woman in the potato-locker told me the general
+had been in the house a short time before we landed. Her account agreed
+with the appearance of the officer I saw; though I will not pretend to be
+certain it was General Sheafe.
+
+I ought to mention the kindness of the commodore to the poor of York. As
+most of the inhabitants came back to their habitations the next day, the
+poor were suffering for food. Our men were ordered to roll barrels of salt
+meat and barrels of bread to their doors, from the government stores that
+fell into our hands. We captured an immense amount of these stores, a
+portion of which we carried away. We sunk many guns in the lake; and as
+for the powder, _that_ had taken care of itself. Among other things we
+took, was the body of an English officer, preserved in rum, which, they
+said, was General Brock's. I saw it hoisted out of the Duke of Gloucester,
+the man-of-war brig we captured, at Sackett's Harbour, and saw the body
+put in a fresh cask. I am ashamed to say, that some of our men were
+inclined to drink the old rum.
+
+We burned a large corvette, that was nearly ready for launching, and
+otherwise did the enemy a good deal of harm. The inhabitants that returned
+were very submissive, and thankful for what they received. As for the man
+of the red store, I never saw him after the night he was plundered, nor
+was anything ever said of the scrape.
+
+Our troops had lost near three hundred men in the attack, the wounded
+included; and as a great many of these green soldiers were now sick from
+exposure, the army was much reduced in force. We took the troops on board
+on the 1st of May, but could not sail, on account of a gale, until the
+8th, which made the matter worse. Then we got under way, and crossed the
+lake, landing the soldiers a few miles to the eastward of Fort Niagara.
+Our schooner now went to the Harbour, along with the commodore, though
+some of the craft remained near the head of the lake. Here we took in
+another lot of soldiers, placed two more large batteaux in tow, and sailed
+for the army again. We had good passages both ways, and this duty was done
+within a few days. While at the Harbour, I got a message to go and visit
+Bill Swett, but the poor fellow died without my being able to see him. I
+heard he was hurt at York, but never could come at the truth.
+
+On the 27th May, the army got into the batteaux, formed in two divisions,
+and commenced pulling towards the mouth of the Niagara. The morning was
+foggy, with a light wind, and the vessels getting under way, kept company
+with the boats, a little outside of them. The schooners were closest in,
+and some of them opened on Fort George, while others kept along the coast,
+scouring the shore with grape and canister as they moved ahead. The
+Scourge came to an anchor a short distance above the place selected for
+the landing, and sprung her broadside to the shore. We now kept up a
+steady fire with grape and canister, until the boats had got in-shore and
+were engaged with the enemy, when we threw round-shot, over the heads of
+our own men, upon the English. As soon as Colonel Scott was ashore, we
+sprung our broadside upon a two-gun battery that had been pretty busy, and
+we silenced that among us. This affair, for our craft, was nothing like
+that of York, though I was told the vessels nearer the river had warmer
+berths of it. We had no one hurt, though we were hulled once or twice. A
+little rigging was cut; but we set this down as light work compared to
+what the old Black Joke had seen that day month. There was a little sharp
+fighting ashore, but our men were too strong for the enemy, when they
+could fairly get their feet on solid ground.
+
+Just after we had anchored, Mr. Bogardus was sent aloft to ascertain if
+any enemy were to be seen. At first he found nobody; but, after a little
+while, he called out to have my gun fired at a little thicket of
+brushwood that lay on an inclined plain, near the water. Mr. Osgood came
+and elevated the gun, and I touched it off. We had been looking out for
+the blink of muskets, which was one certain guide to find a soldier; and
+the moment we sent this grist of grape and canister into those bushes, the
+place lighted up as if a thousand muskets were there. We then gave the
+chaps the remainder of our broadside. We peppered that wood well, and did
+a good deal of harm to the troops stationed at the place.
+
+The wind blew on shore, and began to increase; and the commodore now threw
+out a signal for the boats to land, to take care of the batteaux that were
+thumping on the beach, and then for their crews to assist in taking care
+of the wounded. Of course I went in my own boat, Mr. Bogardus having
+charge of her. We left the schooner, just as we quitted our guns, black
+with powder, in our shirts and trowsers, though we took the precaution to
+carry our boarding-belts, with a brace of pistols each, and a cutlass. On
+landing, we first hauled up the boats, taking some dead and wounded men
+out of them, and laying them on the beach.
+
+We were now ordered to divide ourselves into groups of three, and go over
+the ground, pick up the wounded, and carry them to a large house that had
+been selected as a hospital. My party consisted of Bill Southard, Simeon
+Grant, and myself, we being messmates. The first man we fell in with, was
+a young English soldier, who was seated on the bank, quite near the lake.
+He was badly hurt, and sat leaning his head on his hands. He begged for
+water, and I took his cap down to the lake and filled it, giving him a
+drink; then washing his face. This revived him, and he offered us his
+canteen, in which was some excellent Jamaica. To us chaps, who got nothing
+better than whiskey, this was a rare treat, and we emptied the remainder
+of his half pint, at a pull apiece. After tapping this rum, we carried
+the poor lad up to the house, and turned him over to the doctors. We found
+the rooms filled with wounded already, and the American and English
+doctors hard at work on them.
+
+As we left the hospital, we agreed to get a canteen apiece, and go round
+among the dead, and fill them with Jamaica. When our canteens were about a
+third full, we came upon a young American rifleman, who was lying under
+an appletree. He was hit in the head, and was in a very bad way. We were
+all three much struck with the appearance of this young man, and I now
+remember him as one of the handsomest youths I had ever seen. His wound
+did not bleed, though I thought the brains were oozing out, and I felt so
+much sympathy for him, that I washed his hurt with the rum. I fear I did
+him harm, but my motive was good. Bill Southard ran to find a surgeon, of
+whom several were operating out on the field. The young man kept saying
+"no use," and he mentioned "father and mother," "Vermont." He even gave me
+the names of his parents, but I was too much in the wind, from the use of
+rum, to remember them. We might have been half an hour with this young
+rifleman, busy on him most of the time, when he murmured a few words, gave
+me one of the sweetest smiles I ever saw on a man's face, and made no more
+signs of life. I kept at work, notwithstanding, until Bill got back with
+the doctor. The latter cast an eye on the rifleman, pronounced him dead,
+and coolly walked away.
+
+There was a bridge, in a sort of a swamp, that we had fired on for some
+time, and we now moved down to it, just to see what we had done. We found
+a good many dead, and several horses in the mire, but no wounded. We kept
+emptying canteens, as we went along, until our own would hold no more. On
+our return from the bridge, we went to a brook in order to mix some grog,
+and then we got a full view of the offing. Not a craft was to be seen!
+Everything had weighed and disappeared. This discovery knocked us all
+aback, and we were quite at a loss how to proceed. We agreed, however, to
+pass through a bit of woods, and get into the town, it being now quite
+late in the day. There we knew we should find the army, and might get
+tidings of the fleet. The battle-ground was now nearly deserted, and to
+own the truth we were, all three, at least two sheets in the wind. Still I
+remember everything, for my stomach would never allow me to get beastly
+drunk; it rejecting any very great quantity of liquor. As we went through
+the wood, open pine trees, we came across an officer lying dead, with one
+leg over his horse, which was dead also. I went up to the body, turned it
+over, and examined it for a canteen, but found none. We made a few idle
+remarks, and proceeded.
+
+In quitting the place, I led the party; and, as we went through a little
+thicket, I heard female voices. This startled me a little; and, on looking
+round, I saw a white female dress, belonging to a person who was evidently
+endeavouring to conceal herself from us. I was now alone, and walked up to
+the women, when I found two; one, a lady, in dress and manner, and the
+other a person that I have always supposed was her servant. The first was
+in white; the last in a dark calico. They were both under thirty, judging
+from their looks; and the lady was exceedingly well-looking They were much
+alarmed; and, as I came up, the lady asked me if I would hurt her. I told
+her no; and that no person should harm her, while she remained with us.
+This relieved her, and she was able to give an account of her errand on
+the field of battle. Our looks, half intoxicated, and begrimed with the
+smoke of a battle, as we were, certainly were enough to alarm her; but I
+do not think one of the three would have hesitated about fighting for a
+female, that they thus found weeping, in this manner, in the open field.
+The maid was crying also. Simeon Grant, and Southard, did make use of some
+improper language, at first; but I brought them up, and they said they
+were sorry, and would go all lengths, with me, to protect the women. The
+fact was, these men supposed we had fallen in with common camp followers;
+but I had seen too much of officers' wives, in my boyhood, not to know
+that this was one.
+
+The lady then told her story. She had just come from Kingston, to join her
+husband; having arrived but a few hours before. She did not see her
+husband, but she had heard he was left wounded on the field; and she had
+come out in the hope of finding him. She then described him, as an officer
+mounted, with a particular dress, and inquired if we had met with any such
+person, on the field. We told her of the horseman we had just left; and
+led her back to the spot. The moment the lady saw the body, she threw
+herself on it, and began to weep and mourn over it, in a very touching
+manner. The maid, too, was almost as bad as the mistress. We were all so
+much affected, in spite of the rum, that, I believe, all three of us shed
+tears. We said all we could, to console her, and swore we would stand by
+her until she was safe back among her friends.
+
+It was a good bit before we could persuade the lady to quit her husband's
+body. She took a miniature from his neck, and I drew his purse and watch
+from him and handed them to her. She wanted me to keep the purse, but this
+we all three refused, up and down. We had hauled our manly tacks aboard,
+and had no thoughts of plunder. Even the maid urged us to keep the money,
+but we would have nothing to do with it. I shall freely own my faults; I
+hope I shall be believed when I relate facts that show I am not altogether
+without proper feelings.
+
+The officer had been hit somewhere about the hip, and the horse must have
+been killed by another grape-shot, fired from the same gun. We laid the
+body of the first over in such a manner as to get a good look at him, but
+we did not draw the leg from under the horse.[7]
+
+When we succeeded in persuading the lady to quit her husband's body, we
+shaped our course for the light-house. Glad were we three tars to see the
+mast-heads of the shipping in the river, as we came near the banks of the
+Niagara. The house at the light was empty; but, on my hailing, a woman's
+voice answered from the cellar. It was an old woman who had taken shelter
+from shot down in the hold, the rest of the family having slipped and run.
+We now got some milk for the lady, who continued in tears most of the
+time. Sometimes she would knock off crying for a bit, when she seemed to
+have some distrust of us; but, on the whole, we made very good weather in
+company. After staying about half an hour at the light-house, we left it
+for the town, my advice to the lady being to put herself under the
+protection of some of our officers. I told her if the news of what had
+happened reached the commodore, she might depend on her husband's being
+buried with the honours of war, and said such other things to comfort her
+as came to the mind of a man who had been sailing so near the wind.
+
+I forgot to relate one part of the adventure. Before we had got fairly
+clear of the woods, we fell in with four of Forsyth's men, notoriously the
+wickedest corps in the army. These fellows began to crack their jokes at
+the expense of the two females, and we came near having a brush with them.
+When we spoke of our pistols, and of our determination to use them, before
+we would let our convoy come to harm, these chaps laughed at our pop-guns,
+and told us they had such things as 'rifles.' This was true enough, and
+had we come to broadsides, I make no doubt they would have knocked us over
+like so many snipes. I began to reason with them, on the impropriety of
+offending respectable females; and one of the fellows, who was a kind of
+corporal, or something of that sort, shook my hand, said I was right, and
+offered to be friends. So we spliced the main-brace, and parted. Glad
+enough was the lady to be rid of them so easily. In these squalls she
+would bring up in her tears, and then when all went smooth again, she
+would break out afresh.
+
+After quitting the light, we made the best of our way for the town. Just
+as we reached it, we fell in with a party of soldier-officers, and we
+turned the lady and her woman over to their care. These gentlemen said a
+good word in our favour, and here we parted company with our convoy, never
+hearing, or seeing, anything of either afterwards.
+
+By this time it was near dark, and Bill Southard and I began to look out
+for the Scourge. She was anchored in the river, with the rest of the
+fleet, and we went down upon a wharf to make a signal for a boat. On the
+way we saw a woman crying before a watch-maker's shop, and a party of
+Forsyth's close by. On enquiry, we learned these fellows had threatened to
+rob her shop. We had been such defenders of the sex, that we could not
+think of deserting this woman, and we swore we would stand by her, too. We
+should have had a skirmish here, I do believe, had not one or two rifle
+officers hove in sight, when the whole party made sail from us. We turned
+the woman over to these gentlemen, who said, "ay, there are some of our
+vagabonds, again." One of them said it would be better to call in their
+parties, and before we reached the water we heard the bugle sounding
+the recall.
+
+They had given us up on board the schooner. A report of some Indians being
+out had reached her, and we three were set down as scalped. Thank God,
+I've got all the hair on my head yet, and battered as my old hulk has got
+to be, and shattered as are my timbers, it is as black as a raven's wing
+at this moment. This, my old shipmate, who is logging this yarn, says he
+thinks is a proof my mother was a French Canadian, though such is not the
+fact, as it has been told to me.
+
+Those riflemen were regular scamps. Just before we went down to the wharf,
+we saw one walking sentinel before the door of a sort of barracks. On
+drawing near and asking what was going on inside, we were told we had
+nothing to do with their fun ashore, that we might look in at a window,
+however, but should not go in. We took him at his word; a merry scene it
+was inside. The English officers' dunnage had been broken into, and there
+was a party of the corps strutting about in uniform coats and feathers. We
+thought it best to give these dare-devils a berth, and so we left them.
+One was never safe with them on the field of battle, friend or enemy.
+
+We met a large party of marines on the wharf, marching up under Major
+Smith. They were going to protect the people of the town from further
+mischief. Mr. Osgood was glad enough to see us, and we got plenty of
+praise for what we had done with the women. As for the canteens, we had to
+empty them, after treating the crew of the boat that was sent to take us
+off. I did not enter the town after that night.
+
+We lay some time in the Niagara, the commodore going to the harbour to get
+the Pike ready. Captain Crane took the rest of us off Kingston, where we
+were joined by the commodore, and made sail again for the Niagara. Here
+Colonel Scott embarked with a body of troops, and we went to Burlington
+Bay to carry the heights. They were found to be too strong; and the men,
+after landing, returned to the vessels. We then went to York, again, and
+took possession of the place a second time. Here we destroyed several
+boats, and stores, set fire to the barracks, and did the enemy a good deal
+of damage otherwise; after which we left the place. Two or three days
+later we crossed the lake and landed the soldiers, again, at Fort Niagara.
+
+Early in August, while we were still in the river, Sir James Yeo hove in
+sight with two ships, two brigs, and two schooners. We had thirteen sail
+in all, such as they were, and immediately got under way, and manoeuvred
+for the weather-gauge. All the enemy's vessels had regular quarters, and
+the ships were stout craft. Our squadron sailed very unequally, some being
+pretty fast, and others as dull as droggers. Nor were we more than half
+fitted out. On board the Scourge the only square-sail we had, was made out
+of an English marquee we had laid our hands on at York, the first time we
+were there. I ought to say, too, that we got two small brass guns at York,
+four-pounders, I believe, which Mr. Osgood clapped into our two spare
+ports forward. This gave us ten guns in all, sixes and fours. I remember
+that Jack Mallet laughed at us heartily for the fuss we made with our
+pop-guns, as he called them, while we were working upon the English
+batteries, saying we might just as well have spared our powder, as for any
+good we did. He belonged to the Julia, which had a long thirty-two,
+forward, which they called the "Old Sow," and one smart eighteen aft. She
+had two sixes in her waist, also; but _they_ disdained to use _them_.
+
+While we were up at the harbour, the last time, Mr. Mix who had married a
+sister of Mr. Osgood, took a party of us in a boat, and we went up Black
+River, shooting. The two gentlemen landed, and as we were coming down the
+river, we saw something swimming, which proved to be a bear. We had no
+arms, but we pulled over the beast, and had a regular squaw-fight with
+him. We were an hour at work with this animal, the fellow coming very near
+mastering us. I struck at his nose with an iron tiller fifty times, but he
+warded the blow like a boxer. He broke our boat-hook, and once or twice,
+he came near boarding us. At length a wood-boat gave us an axe, and with
+this we killed him. Mr. Osgood had this bear skinned, and said he should
+send the skin to his family, If he did, it must have been one of the last
+memorials it ever got from him.
+
+
+
+Chapter VI.
+
+
+
+I left the two fleets manoeuvring for the wind, in the last chapter. About
+nine o'clock, the Pike got abeam of the Wolfe, Sir James Yeo's own ship,
+hoisted her ensign, and fired a few guns to try the range of her shot. The
+distance was too great to engage. At this time our sternmost vessels were
+two leagues off, and the commodore wore round, and hauled up on the other
+tack. The enemy did the same but, perceiving that our leading ships were
+likely to weather on him, he tacked, and hauled off to the northward. We
+stood on in pursuit, tacking too; but the wind soon fell, and about sunset
+it was quite calm.
+
+Throughout the day, the Scourge had as much as she could do to keep
+anywhere near her station. As for the old Oneida, she could not be kept
+within a long distance of her proper berth. We were sweeping, at odd
+times, for hours that day. Towards evening, all the light craft were doing
+the same, to close with the commodore. Our object was to get together,
+lest the enemy should cut off some of our small vessels during the night.
+
+Before dark the whole line was formed again, with the exception of the
+Oneida, which was still astern, towing. She ought to have been near the
+commodore, but could not get there. A little before sunset, Mr. Osgood
+ordered us to pull in our sweeps, and to take a spell. It was a lovely
+evening, not a cloud visible, and the lake being as smooth as a
+looking-glass. The English fleet was but a short distance to the northward
+of us; so near, indeed, that we could almost count their ports. They were
+becalmed, like ourselves, and a little scattered.
+
+We took in our sweeps as ordered, laying them athwart the deck, in
+readiness to be used when wanted. The vessels ahead and astern of us were,
+generally, within speaking distance. Just as the sun went below the
+horizon, George Turnblatt, a Swede, who was our gunner, came to me, and
+said he thought we ought to secure our guns; for we had been cleared for
+action all day, and the crew at quarters. We were still at quarters, in
+name; but the petty officers were allowed to move about, and as much
+license was given to the people as was wanted. I answered that I would
+gladly secure mine if he would get an order for it; but as we were still
+at quarters, and there lay John Bull, we might get a slap at him in the
+night. On this the gunner said he would go aft, and speak to Mr. Osgood on
+the subject. He did so, but met the captain (as we always called Mr.
+Osgood) at the break of the quarter-deck. When George had told his errand,
+the captain looked at the heavens, and remarked that the night was so
+calm, there could be no great use in securing the guns, and the English
+were so near we should certainly engage, if there came a breeze; that the
+men would sleep at their quarters, of course, and would be ready to take
+care of their guns; but that he might catch a turn with the
+side-tackle-falls around the pommelions of the guns, which would be
+sufficient. He then ordered the boatswain to call all hands aft, to the
+break of the quarter-deck.
+
+As soon as the people had collected, Mr. Osgood said--"You must be pretty
+well fagged out, men; I think we may have a hard night's work, yet, and I
+wish you to get your suppers, and then catch as much sleep as you can, at
+your guns." He then ordered the purser's steward to splice the main-brace.
+These were the last words I ever heard from Mr. Osgood. As soon as he
+gave the order, he went below leaving the deck in charge of Mr. Bogardus.
+All our old crew were on board but Mr. Livingston, who had left us, and
+Simeon Grant, one of my companions in the cruise over the battle-ground at
+Fort George. Grant had cut his hand off, in a saw-mill, while we were last
+at the Harbour, and had been left behind in the hospital. There was a
+pilot on board, who used to keep a look-out occasionally, and sometimes
+the boatswain had the watch.
+
+The schooner, at this time, was under her mainsail, jib, and
+fore-top-sail. The foresail was brailed, and the foot stopped, and the
+flying-jib was stowed. None of the halyards were racked, nor sheets
+stoppered. This was a precaution we always took, on account of the craft's
+being so tender.
+
+We first spliced the main-brace and then got our suppers, eating between
+the guns, where we generally messed, indeed. One of my messmates, Tom
+Goldsmith, was captain of the gun next to me, and as we sat there
+finishing our suppers, I says to him, "Tom, bring up that rug that you
+pinned at Little York, and that will do for both of us to stow ourselves
+away under." Tom went down and got the rug, which was an article for the
+camp that he had laid hands on, and it made us a capital bed-quilt. As all
+hands were pretty well tired, we lay down, with our heads on shot-boxes,
+and soon went to sleep.
+
+In speaking of the canvass that was set, I ought to have said something of
+the state of our decks. The guns had the side-tackles fastened as I have
+mentioned. There was a box of canister, and another of grape, at each gun,
+besides extra stands of both, under the shot-racks. There was also one
+grummet of round-shot at every gun, besides the racks being filled. Each
+gun's crew slept at the gun and its opposite, thus dividing the people
+pretty equally on both sides of the deck. Those who were stationed below,
+slept below. I think it probable that, as the night grew cool, as it
+always does on the fresh waters, some of the men stole below to get warmer
+berths. This was easily done in that craft, as we had but two regular
+officers on board, the acting boatswain and gunner being little more than
+two of ourselves.
+
+I was soon asleep, as sound as if lying in the bed of a king. How long my
+nap lasted, or what took place in the interval, I cannot say. I awoke,
+however, in consequence of large drops of rain falling on my face. Tom
+Goldsmith awoke at the same moment. When I opened my eyes, it was so dark
+I could not see the length of the deck. I arose and spoke to Tom, telling
+him it was about to rain, and that I meant to go down and get a nip, out
+of a little stuff we kept in our mess-chest, and that I would bring up the
+bottle if he wanted a taste. Tom answered, "this is nothing; we're neither
+pepper nor salt." One of the black men spoke, and asked me to bring up the
+bottle, and give him a nip, too. All this took half a minute, perhaps. I
+now remember to have heard a strange rushing noise to windward as I went
+towards the forward hatch, though it made no impression on me at the time.
+We had been lying between the starboard guns, which was the weather side
+of the vessel, if there were any weather side to it, there not being a
+breath of air, and no motion to the water, and I passed round to the
+larboard side, in order to find the ladder, which led up in that
+direction. The hatch was so small that two men could not pass at a time,
+and I felt my way to it, in no haste. One hand was on the bitts, and a
+foot was on the ladder, when a flash of lightning almost blinded me. The
+thunder came at the next instant, and with it a rushing of winds that
+fairly smothered the clap.
+
+The instant I was aware there was a squall, I sprang for the jib-sheet.
+Being captain of the forecastle, I knew where to find it, and throw it
+loose at a jerk. In doing this, I jumped on a man named Leonard Lewis, and
+called on him to lend me a hand. I next let fly the larboard, or lee
+top-sail-sheet, got hold of the clew-line, and, assisted by Lewis, got the
+clew half up. All this time I kept shouting to the man at the wheel to put
+his helm "hard down." The water was now up to my breast, and I knew the
+schooner must go over. Lewis had not said a word, but I called out to him
+to shift for himself, and belaying the clew-line, in hauling myself
+forward of the foremast, I received a blow from the jib-sheet that came
+near breaking my left arm. I did not feel the effect of this blow at the
+time, though the arm has since been operated on, to extract a tumour
+produced by this very injury.
+
+All this occupied less than a minute. The flashes of lightning were
+incessant, and nearly blinded me. Our decks seemed on fire, and yet I
+could see nothing. I heard no hail, no order, no call; but the schooner
+was filled with the shrieks and cries of the men to leeward, who were
+lying jammed under the guns, shot-boxes, shot, and other heavy things that
+had gone down as the vessel fell over. The starboard second gun, from
+forward, had capsized, and come down directly over the forward hatch, and
+I caught a glimpse of a man struggling to get past it. Apprehension of
+this gun had induced me to drag myself forward of the mast, where I
+received the blow mentioned.
+
+I succeeded in hauling myself up to windward, and in getting into the
+schooner's fore-channels. Here I met William Deer, the boatswain, and a
+black boy of the name of Philips, who was the powder-boy of our gun.
+"Deer, she's gone!" I said. The boatswain made no answer, but walked out
+on the fore-rigging, towards the mast-head. He probably had some vague
+notion that the schooner's masts would be out of water if she went down,
+and took this course as the safest. The boy was in the chains the last I
+saw of him.
+
+I now crawled aft, on the upper side of the bulwarks, amid a most awful
+and infernal din of thunder, and shrieks, and dazzling flashes of
+lightning; the wind blowing all the while like a tornado. When I reached
+the port of my own gun, I put a foot in, thinking to step on the muzzle of
+the piece; but it had gone to leeward with all the rest, and I fell
+through the port, until I brought up with my arms. I struggled up again,
+and continued working my way aft. As I got abreast of the main-mast, I saw
+some one had let run the halyards. I soon reached the beckets of the
+sweeps, and found four in them. I could not swim a stroke, and it crossed
+my mind to get one of the sweeps to keep me afloat. In striving to jerk
+the becket clear, it parted, and the forward ends of the four sweeps
+rolled down the schooner's side into the water. This caused the other ends
+to slide, and all the sweeps got away from me. I then crawled quite aft,
+as far as the fashion-piece. The water was pouring down the cabin
+companion-way like a sluice; and as I stood, for an instant, on the
+fashion-piece, I saw Mr. Osgood, with his head and part of his shoulders
+through one of the cabin windows, struggling to get out. He must have been
+within six feet of me. I saw him but a moment, by means of a flash of
+lightning, and I think he must have seen me. At the same time, there was a
+man visible on the end of the main-boom, holding on by the clew of the
+sail. I do not know who it was. This man probably saw me, and that I was
+about to spring; for he called out, "Don't jump overboard!--don't jump
+overboard! The schooner is righting."
+
+I was not in a state of mind to reflect much on anything. I do not think
+more than three or four minutes, if as many, had passed since the squall
+struck us, and there I was standing on the vessel's quarter, led by
+Providence more than by any discretion of my own. It now came across me
+that if the schooner should right she was filled, and must go down, and
+that she might carry me with her in the suction. I made a spring,
+therefore, and fell into the water several feet from the place where I had
+stood. It is my opinion the schooner sunk as I left her. I went down some
+distance myself, and when I came up to the surface, I began to swim
+vigorously for the first time in my life. I think I swam several yards,
+but of course will not pretend to be certain of such a thing, at such a
+moment, until I felt my hand hit something hard. I made another stroke,
+and felt my hand pass down the side of an object that I knew at once was a
+clincher-built boat. I belonged to this boat, and I now recollected that
+she had been towing astern. Until that instant I had not thought of her,
+but thus was I led in the dark to the best possible means of saving my
+life. I made a grab at the gunwale, and caught it in the stern-sheets. Had
+I swum another yard, I should have passed the boat, and missed her
+altogether! I got in without any difficulty, being all alive and
+much excited.
+
+My first look was for the schooner. She had disappeared, and I supposed
+she was just settling under water. It rained as if the flood-gates of
+heaven were opened, and it lightened awfully. It did not seem to me that
+there was a breath of air, and the water was unruffled, the effects of the
+rain excepted. All this I saw, as it might be, at a glance. But my chief
+concern was to preserve my own life. I was cockswain of this very boat,
+and had made it fast to this taffrail that same afternoon, with a round
+turn and two half-hitches, by its best painter. Of course I expected the
+vessel would drag the boat down with her, for I had no knife to cut the
+painter. There was a gang-board in the boat, however, which lay fore and
+aft, and I thought this might keep me afloat until some of the fleet
+should pick me up. To clear this gang-board, then, and get it into the
+water, was my first object. I ran forward to throw off the lazy-painter
+that was coiled on its end, and in doing this I caught the boat's painter
+in my hand, by accident. A pull satisfied me that it was all clear! Some
+one on board must have cast off this painter, and then lost his chance of
+getting into the boat by an accident. At all events, I was safe, and I now
+dared to look about me.
+
+My only chance of seeing, was during the flashes; and these left me almost
+blind. I had thrown the gang-board into the water, and I now called out to
+encourage the men, telling them I was in the boat. I could hear many
+around me, and, occasionally, I saw the heads of men, struggling in the
+lake. There being no proper place to scull in, I got an oar in the after
+rullock, and made out to scull a little, in that fashion. I now saw a man
+quite near the boat; and, hauling in the oar, made a spring amidships,
+catching this poor fellow by the collar. He was very near gone; and I had
+a great deal of difficulty in getting him in over the gunwale. Our joint
+weight brought the boat down, so low, that she shipped a good deal of
+water. This turned out to be Leonard Lewis, the young man who had helped
+me to clew up the fore-topsail. He could not stand, and spoke with
+difficulty. I asked him to crawl aft, out of the water; which he did,
+lying down in the stern-sheets.
+
+I now looked about me, and heard another; leaning over the gunwale, I got
+a glimpse of a man, struggling, quite near the boat. I caught him by the
+collar, too; and had to drag him in very much in the way I had done with
+Lewis. This proved to be Lemuel Bryant, the man who had been wounded by a
+hot shot, at York, as already mentioned while the commodore was on board
+us. His wound had not yet healed, but he was less exhausted than Lewis. He
+could not help me, however, lying down in the bottom of the boat, the
+instant he was able.
+
+For a few moments, I now heard no more in the water; and I began to scull
+again. By my calculation, I moved a few yards, and must have got over the
+spot where the schooner went down. Here, in the flashes, I saw many heads,
+the men swimming in confusion, and at random. By this time, little was
+said, the whole scene being one of fearful struggling and frightful
+silence. It still rained; but the flashes were less frequent, and less
+fierce. They told me, afterwards, in the squadron, that it thundered
+awfully; but I cannot say I heard a clap, after I struck the water. The
+next man caught the boat himself. It was a mulatto, from Martinique, who
+was Mr. Osgood's steward; and I helped him in. He was much exhausted,
+though an excellent swimmer; but alarm nearly deprived him of his
+strength. He kept saying, "Oh! Masser Ned--Oh! Masser Ned!" and lay down
+in the bottom of the boat, like the two others; I taking care to shove him
+over to the larboard side, so as to trim our small craft.
+
+I kept calling out, to encourage the swimmers, and presently I heard a
+voice, saying, "Ned, I'm here, close by you." This was Tom Goldsmith, a
+messmate, and the very man under whose rug I had been sleeping, at
+quarters. He did not want much help, getting in, pretty much, by himself.
+I asked him, if he were able to help me. "Yes, Ned," he answered, "I'll
+stand by you to the last; what shall I do?" I told him to take his
+tarpaulin, and to bail the boat, which, by this time, was a third full of
+water. This he did, while I sculled a little ahead. "Ned," says Tom,
+"she's gone down with her colours flying, for her pennant came near
+getting a round turn about my body, and carrying me down with her. Davy
+has made a good haul, and he gave us a close shave; but he didn't get you
+and me." In this manner did this thoughtless sailor express himself, as
+soon as rescued from the grasp of death! Seeing something on the water, I
+asked Tom to take my oar, while I sprang to the gunwale, and caught Mr.
+Bogardus, the master's mate, who was clinging to one of the sweeps. I
+hauled him in, and he told me, he thought, some one had hold of the other
+end of the sweep. It was so dark, however, we could not see even that
+distance. I hauled the sweep along, until I found Ebenezer Duffy, a
+mulatto, and the ship's cook. He could not swim a stroke; and was nearly
+gone. I got him in, alone, Tom bailing, lest the boat, which was quite
+small, should swamp with us.
+
+As the boat drifted along, she reached another man, whom I caught also by
+the collar. I was afraid to haul this person in amidships, the boat being
+now so deep, and so small, and so I dragged him ahead, and hauled him in
+over the bows. This was the pilot, whose name I never knew. He was a
+lake-man, and had been aboard us the whole summer. The poor fellow was
+almost gone, and like all the rest, with the exception of Tom, he lay down
+and said not a word.
+
+We had now as many in the boat as it would carry, and Tom and myself
+thought it would not do to take in any more. It is true, we saw no more,
+everything around us appearing still as death, the pattering of the rain
+excepted. Tom began to bail again, and I commenced hallooing. I sculled
+about several minutes, thinking of giving others a tow, or of even hauling
+in one or two more, after we got the water out of the boat; but we found
+no one else. I think it probable I sculled away from the spot, as there
+was nothing to guide me. I suppose, however, that by this time, all the
+Scourges had gone down, for no more were ever heard from.
+
+Tom Goldsmith and myself now put our heads together as to what was best to
+be done. We were both afraid of falling into the enemy's hands, for, they
+might have bore up in the squall, and run down near us. On the whole,
+however, we thought the distance between the two squadrons was too great
+for this; at all events, something must be done at once. So we began to
+row, in what direction even we did not know. It still rained as hard as it
+could pour, though there was not a breath of wind. The lightning came now
+at considerable intervals, and the gust was evidently passing away towards
+the broader parts of the lake. While we were rowing and talking about our
+chance of falling in with the enemy, Tom cried out to me to
+"avast-pulling." He had seen a vessel, by a flash, and he thought she was
+English, from her size. As he said she was a schooner, however, I thought
+it must be one of our own craft, and got her direction from him. At the
+next flash I saw her, and felt satisfied she belonged to us. Before we
+began to pull, however, we were hailed "boat ahoy!" I answered. "If you
+pull another stroke, I'll fire into you"--came back--"what boat's that?
+Lay on your oars, or I'll fire into you." It was clear we were mistaken
+ourselves for an enemy, and I called out to know what schooner it was. No
+answer was given, though the threat to fire was repeated, if we pulled
+another stroke. I now turned to Tom and said, "I know that voice--that is
+old Trant." Tom thought "we were in the wrong shop." I now sung out, "This
+is the Scourge's boat--our schooner has gone down, and we want to come
+alongside." A voice next called from the schooner--"Is that you, Ned?"
+This I knew was my old shipmate and school-fellow, Jack Mallet, who was
+acting as boatswain of the Julia, the schooner commanded by sailing-master
+James Trant, one of the oddities of the service, and a man with whom the
+blow often came as soon as the word. I had known Mr. Trant's voice, and
+felt more afraid he would fire into us, than I had done of anything which
+had occurred that fearful night. Mr. Trant, himself now called
+out--"Oh-ho; give way, boys, and come alongside." This we did, and a very
+few strokes took us up to the Julia, where we were received with the
+utmost kindness. The men were passed out of the boat, while I gave Mr.
+Trant an account of all that had happened. This took but a minute or two.
+
+Mr. Trant now inquired in what direction the Scourge had gone down, and,
+as soon as I had told him, in the best manner I could, he called out to
+Jack Mallet--"Oh-ho, Mallet--take four hands, and go in the boat and see
+what you can do--take a lantern, and I will show a light on the water's
+edge, so you may know me." Mallet did as ordered, and was off in less than
+three minutes after we got alongside. Mr. Trant, who was much humoured,
+had no officer in the Julia, unless Mallet could be called one. He was an
+Irishman by birth, but had been in the American navy ever since the
+revolution, dying a lieutenant, a few years after this war. Perhaps no man
+in the navy was more generally known, or excited more amusement by his
+oddities, or more respect for his courage. He had come on the lake with
+the commodore, with whom he was a great pet, and had been active in all
+the fights and affairs that had yet taken place. His religion was to hate
+an Englishman.
+
+Mr. Trant now called the Scourges aft, and asked more of the particulars.
+He then gave us a glass of grog all round, and made his own crew splice
+the main-brace. The Julias now offered us dry clothes. I got a change from
+Jack Reilly, who had been an old messmate, and with whom I had always been
+on good terms. It knocked off raining, but we shifted ourselves at the
+galley fire below. I then went on deck, and presently we heard the boat
+pulling back. It soon came alongside, bringing in it four more men that
+had been found floating about on sweeps and gratings. On inquiry, it
+turned out that these men belonged to the Hamilton, Lt. Winter--a schooner
+that had gone down in the same squall that carried us over. These men were
+very much exhausted, too, and we all went below, and were told to turn in.
+
+I had been so much excited during the scenes through which I had just
+passed, and had been so much stimulated by grog, that, as yet, I had not
+felt much of the depression natural to such events. I even slept soundly
+that night, nor did I turn out until six the next morning.
+
+When I got on deck, there was a fine breeze; it was a lovely day, and the
+lake was perfectly smooth. Our fleet was in a good line, in pretty close
+order, with the exception of the Governor Tompkins, Lieutenant Tom Brown,
+which was a little to leeward, but carrying a press of sail to close with
+the commodore. Mr. Trant perceiving that the Tompkins wished to speak us
+in passing, brailed his foresail and let her luff up close under our lee.
+"Two of the schooners, the Hamilton and the Scourge, have gone down in the
+night," called out Mr. Brown; "for I have picked up four of the
+Hamilton's." "Oh-ho!"--answered Mr. Trant--"That's no news at all! for I
+have picked up _twelve_; eight of the Scourge's, and four of the
+Hamilton's--aft fore-sheet."
+
+These were all that were ever saved from the two schooners, which must
+have had near a hundred souls on board them. The two commanders,
+Lieutenant Winter and Mr, Osgood were both lost, and with Mr. Winter went
+down I believe, one or two young gentlemen. The squadron could not have
+moved much between the time when the accidents happened and that when I
+came on deck, or we must have come round and gone over the same ground
+again, for we now passed many relics of the scene, floating about in the
+water. I saw spunges, gratings, sweeps, hats, &c., scattered about, and in
+passing ahead we saw one of the latter that we tried to catch; Mr. Trant
+ordering it done, as he said it must have been Lieutenant Winter's. We did
+not succeed, however; nor was any article taken on board. A good look-out
+was kept for men, from aloft, but none were seen from any of the vessels.
+The lake had swallowed up the rest of the two crews; and the Scourge, as
+had been often predicted, had literally become a coffin to a large portion
+of her people.
+
+There was a good deal of manoeuvring between the two fleets this day, and
+some efforts were made to engage; but, to own the truth, I felt so
+melancholy about the loss of so many shipmates, that I did not take much
+notice of what passed. All my Black Jokers were drowned, and nothing
+remained of the craft and people with which and whom I had been associated
+all summer. Bill Southard, too, was among the lost, as indeed were all my
+messmates but Tom Goldsmith and Lemuel Bryant. I had very serious and
+proper impressions for the moment; but my new shipmates, some of whom had
+been old shipmates in other crafts, managed to cheer me up with grog. The
+effect was not durable, and in a short time I ceased to think of what had
+happened. I have probably reflected more on the merciful manner in which
+my life was spared, amid a scene so terrific, within the last five years,
+than I did in the twenty-five that immediately followed the accidents.
+
+The fleet went in, off the Niagara, and anchored. Mr. Trant now mustered
+the remaining Scourges, and told us he wanted just our number of hands,
+and that he meant to get an order to keep us in the Julia. In the
+meantime, he should station and quarter us. I was stationed at the braces,
+and quartered at the long thirty-two as second loader. The Julia mounted a
+long thirty-two, and an eighteen on pivots, besides two sixes in the
+waist. The last were little used, as I have already mentioned. She was a
+small, but a fast schooner, and had about forty souls on board. She was
+altogether a better craft than the Scourge, though destitute of any
+quarters, but a low rail with wash-boards, and carrying fewer guns.
+
+
+
+Chapter VII.
+
+
+
+I never knew what became of the four Hamiltons that were picked up by the
+Julia's boat, though I suppose they were put in some other vessel along
+with their shipmates; nor did I ever learn the particulars of the loss of
+this schooner, beyond the fact that her topsail-sheets were stoppered, and
+her halyards racked. This much I learned from the men who were brought on
+board the Julia, who said that their craft was ready, in all respects, for
+action. Some seamen have thought this wrong, and some right; but, in my
+opinion, it made but little difference in such a gust as that which passed
+over us. What was remarkable, the Julia, which could not have been far
+from the Scourge when we went over, felt no great matter of wind, just
+luffing up, and shaking her sails, to be rid of it!
+
+We lay only one night off the mouth of the Niagara. The next morning the
+squadron weighed, and stood out in pursuit of the English. The weather was
+very variable, and we could not get within reach of Sir James all that
+day. This was the 9th of August. The Scourge had gone down on the night of
+the 7th, or the morning of the 8th, I never knew which. On the morning of
+the 10th, however, we were under the north shore, and to windward of John
+Bull. The Commodore now took the Asp, and the Madison the Fair American,
+in tow, and we all kept away, expecting certainly a general action. But
+the wind shifted, bringing the English to windward. The afternoon was
+calm; or had variable airs. Towards sunset, the enemy was becalmed under
+the American shore, and we got a breeze from the southward. We now closed,
+and at 6 formed our line for engaging. We continued to close until 7, when
+the wind came out fresh at S.W., putting John again to windward.
+
+I can hardly tell what followed, there was so much manoeuvring and
+shifting of berths. Both squadrons were standing across the lake, the
+enemy being to windward, and a little astern of us. We now passed within
+hail of the commodore, who gave us orders to form a new line of battle,
+which we did in the following manner. One line, composed of the smallest
+schooners, was formed to windward, while the ships, brig, and two heaviest
+schooners, formed another line to leeward. We had the weathermost line,
+having the Growler, Lieutenant Deacon, for the vessel next astern of us.
+This much I could see, though I did not understand the object. I now learn
+the plan was for the weather line to engage the enemy, and then, by edging
+away, draw them down upon the lee line, which line contained our principal
+force. According to the orders, we ought to have rather edged off, as soon
+as the English began to fire, in order to draw them down upon the
+commodore; but it will be seen that our schooner pursued a very
+different course.
+
+It must have been near midnight, when the enemy began to fire at the Fair
+American, the sternmost vessel of our weather line. We were a long bit
+ahead of her, and did not engage for some time. The firing became pretty
+smart astern, but we stood on, without engaging, the enemy not yet being
+far enough ahead for us. After a while, the four sternmost schooners of
+our line kept off, according to orders, but the Julia and Growler still
+stood on. I suppose the English kept off, too, at the same time, as the
+commodore had expected. At any rate, we found ourselves so well up with
+the enemy, that, instead of bearing up, Mr. Trant tacked in the Julia, and
+the Growler came round after us. We now began to fire on the headmost
+ships of the enemy, which were coming on towards us. We were able to lay
+past the enemy on this tack, and fairly got to windward of them. When we
+were a little on John Bull's weather bow, we brailed the foresail, and
+gave him several rounds, within a pretty fair distance. The enemy answered
+us, and, from that moment, he seemed to give up all thoughts of the
+vessels to leeward of him, turning his whole attention on the Julia
+and Growler.
+
+The English fleet stood on the same tack, until it had got between us and
+our own line, when it went about in chase of us. We now began to make
+short tacks to windward; the enemy separating so as to spread a wide clew,
+in order that they might prevent our getting past, by turning their line
+and running to leeward. As for keeping to windward, we had no
+difficulty--occasionally brailing our foresail, and even edging off, now
+and then, to be certain that our shot would tell. In moderate weather, the
+Julia was the fastest vessel in the American squadron, the Lady of the
+Lake excepted; and the Growler was far from being dull. Had there been
+room, I make no doubt we might have kept clear of John Bull, with the
+greatest ease; touching him up with our long, heavy guns, from time to
+time, as it suited us. I have often thought that Mr. Trant forgot we were
+between the enemy and the land, and that he fancied himself out at sea. It
+was a hazy, moonlight morning, and we did not see anything of the main,
+though it turned out to be nearer to us than we wished.
+
+All hands were now turning to windward; the two schooners still edging
+off, occasionally, and firing. The enemy's shot went far beyond us, and
+did us some mischief, though nothing that was not immediately repaired.
+The main throat-halyards, on board the Julia, were shot away, as was the
+clew of the mainsail. It is probable the enemy did not keep his luff,
+towards the last, on account of the land.
+
+Our two schooners kept quite near each other, sometimes one being to
+windward, sometimes the other. It happened that the Growler was a short
+distance to windward of us, when we first became aware of the nature of
+our critical situation. She up helm, and, running down within hail,
+Lieutenant Deacon informed Mr. Trant he had just sounded in two fathoms,
+and that he could see lights ashore. He thought there must be Indians, in
+great numbers, in this vicinity, and that we must, at all events, avoid
+the land. "What do you think we had best do?" asked Lieutenant Deacon.
+"Run the gauntlet," called out Mr. Trant. "Very well, sir: which shall
+lead?" "I'll lead the van," answered Mr. Trant, and then all was settled.
+
+We now up helm, and steered for a vacancy among the British vessels. The
+enemy seemed to expect us, for they formed in two lines, leaving us room
+to enter between them. When we bore up, even in these critical
+circumstances, it was under our mainsail, fore-top-sail, jib, flying-jib,
+and foresail. So insufficient were the equipments of these small craft,
+that we had neither square-sail nor studding-sails on board us. I never
+saw a studding-sail in any of the schooners, the Scourge excepted.
+
+The Julia and Growler now ran down, the former leading, half a
+cable's-length apart. When we entered between the two lines of the enemy,
+we were within short canister-range, and got it smartly on both tacks.
+The two English ships were to leeward, each leading a line; and we had a
+brig, and three large, regular man-of-war schooners, to get past, with the
+certainty of meeting the Wolfe and Royal George, should we succeed in
+clearing these four craft. Both of us kept up a heavy fire, swivelling our
+guns round, so as not to neglect any one. As we drew near the ships,
+however, we paid them the compliment of throwing all the heavy shot at
+them, as was due to their rank and size.
+
+For a few minutes we fared pretty well; but we were no sooner well entered
+between the lines, than we got it, hot and hard. Our rigging began to come
+down about our ears, and one shot passed a few feet above our heads,
+cutting both topsail-sheets, and scooping a bit of wood as big as a
+thirty-two pound shot, out of the foremast. I went up on one side, myself,
+to knot one of these sheets, and, while aloft, discovered the injury that
+had been done to the spar. Soon after, the tack of the mainsail caught
+fire, from a wad of one of the Englishmen; for, by this time, we were
+close at it. I think, indeed, that the nearness of the enemy alone
+prevented our decks from being entirely swept. The grape and canister were
+passing just above our heads like hail, and the foresail was literally in
+ribands. The halyards being gone, the mainsail came down by the run, and
+the jib settled as low as it could. The topsail-yard was on the cap, and
+the schooner now came up into the wind.
+
+All this time, we kept working the guns. The old man went from one gun to
+the other, pointing each himself, as it was ready. He was at the eighteen
+when things were getting near the worst, and, as he left her, he called
+out to her crew to "fill her--fill her to the muzzle!" He then came to our
+gun, which was already loaded with one round, a stand of grape, and a case
+of canister shot. This I know, for I put them all in with my own hands. At
+this time, the Melville, a brig of the enemy's, was close up with us,
+firing upon our decks from her fore-top. She was coming up on our larboard
+quarter, while a large schooner was nearing us fast on the starboard. Mr.
+Trant directed our gun to be elevated so as to sweep the brig's
+forecastle, and then he called out, "Now's the time, lads--fire at the
+b----s! fire away at 'em!" But no match was to be found! Some one had
+thrown both overboard. By this time the brig's jib-boom was over our
+quarter, and the English were actually coming on board of us. The enemy
+were now all round us. The Wolfe, herself, was within hail, and still
+firing. The last I saw of any of our people, was Mallet passing forward,
+and I sat down on the slide of the thirty-two, myself, sullen as a bear.
+Two or three of the English passed me, without saying anything. Even at
+this instant, a volley of bullets came out of the brig's fore-top, and
+struck all around me; some hitting the deck, and others the gun itself.
+Just then, an English officer came up, and said--"What are you doing here,
+you Yankee?" I felt exceedingly savage, and answered, "Looking at your
+fools firing upon their own men." "Take that for your sauce," he said,
+giving me a thrust with his sword, as he spoke. The point of the cutlass
+just passed my hip-bone, and gave me a smart flesh-wound. The hurt was not
+dangerous, though it bled freely, and was some weeks in healing. I now
+rose to go below, and heard a hail from one of the ships--the Wolfe, as I
+took her to be. "Have you struck?" demanded some one. The officer who had
+hurt me now called out, "Don't fire into us, sir, for I'm on board, and
+have got possession." The officer from the ship next asked, "Is there
+anybody alive on board her?" To which the prize-officer answered, "I don't
+know, sir, I've seen but one man, as yet."
+
+I now went down below. First, I got a bandage on my wound, to stop the
+bleeding, and then I had an opportunity to look about me. A party of
+English was below, and some of our men having joined them, the heads were
+knocked out of two barrels of whiskey. The kids and bread-bags were
+procured, and all hands, without distinction of country, sat down to enjoy
+themselves. Some even began to sing, and, as for good-fellowship, it was
+just as marked, as it would have been in a jollification ashore.
+
+In a few minutes the officer who had hurt me jumped down among us. The
+instant he saw what we were at, he sang out--"Halloo! here's high life
+below stairs!" Then he called to another officer to bear a hand down and
+see the fun. Some one sung out from among ourselves to "dowse the glim."
+The lights were put out, and then the two officers capsized the whiskey.
+While this was doing, most of the Englishmen ran up the forward hatch. We
+Julias all remained below.
+
+In less than an hour we were sent on board the enemy's vessels. I was
+carried to the Royal George, but Mr. Trant was taken on board the Wolfe.
+The Growler had lost her bowsprit, and was otherwise damaged, and had been
+forced to strike also. She had a man killed, and I believe one or two
+wounded.[8] On board of us, not a man, besides myself, had been touched!
+We seemed to have been preserved by a miracle, for every one of the enemy
+had a slap at us, and, for some time, we were within pistol-shot. Then we
+had no quarters at all, being perfectly exposed to grape and canister. The
+enemy must have fired too high, for nothing else could have saved us.
+
+In July, while I still belonged to the Scourge, I had been sent with a
+boat's crew, under Mr. Bogardus, on board an English flag of truce that
+had come into the Harbour. While in this vessel, our boat's crew were
+"hail-fellows-well-met" with the Englishmen, and we had agreed among us to
+take care of each other, should either side happen to be taken. I had been
+on board the Royal George but a short time, when two of these very men
+came up to me with some grog and some grub; and next morning they brought
+me my bitters. I saw no more of them, however, except when they came to
+shake hands with us at the gang-way, as we were leaving the ship.
+
+After breakfast, next morning, we were all called aft to the ward-room,
+one at a time. I was pumped as to the force of the Americans, the names of
+the vessels, the numbers of the crews, and the names of the commanders. I
+answered a little saucily, and was ordered out of the ward-room. As I was
+quitting the place, I was called back by one of the lieutenants, whose
+appearance I did not like from the first. Although it was now eight years
+since I left Halifax, and we had both so much altered, I took this
+gentleman for Mr. Bowen, the very midshipman of the Cleopatra, who had
+been my schoolmate, and whom I had known on board the prize-brig I have
+mentioned.
+
+This officer asked me where I was born. I told him New York. He said he
+knew better, and asked my name. I told him it was what he found it on the
+muster-roll, and that by which I had been called. He said I knew better,
+and that I should hear more of this, hereafter. If this were my old
+school-fellow, he knew that I was always called Edward Robert Meyers,
+whereas I had dropped the middle name, and now called myself Myers. He may
+not, however, have been the person I took him for, and might have mistaken
+me for some one else; for I never had an opportunity of ascertaining any
+more about him.
+
+We got into Little York, and were sent ashore that evening. I can say
+nothing of our squadron, having been kept below the whole time I was on
+board the Royal George. I could not find out whether we did the enemy any
+harm, or not, the night we were taken; though I remember that a
+sixty-eight pound carronade, that stood near the gang-way of the Royal
+George, was dismounted, the night I passed into her. It looked to me as if
+the trucks were gone. This I know, that the ship was more than usually
+screened off; though for what reason I will not pretend to say.
+
+At York, we were put in the gaol, where we were kept three weeks. Our
+treatment was every way bad, with the exception that we were not crowded.
+As to food, we were kept "six upon four" the whole time I was prisoner.[9]
+The bread was bad, and the pork little better. While in this gaol, a party
+of drunken Indians gave us a volley, in passing; but luckily it did us
+no harm.
+
+At the end of three weeks, we received a haversack apiece, and two days'
+allowance. Our clothes were taken from us, and the men were told they
+would get them below; a thing that happened to very few of us, I believe.
+As for myself, I was luckily without anything to lose; my effects having
+gone down in the Scourge. All I had on earth was a shirt and two
+handkerchiefs, and an old slouched hat, that I had got in exchange for a
+Scotch cap that had been given to me in the Julia. I was without shoes,
+and so continued until I reached Halifax. All this gave me little concern;
+my spirits being elastic, and my disposition gay. My great trouble was the
+apprehension of being known, through the recollections of the officer I
+have mentioned.
+
+We now commenced our march for Kingston, under the guard of a company of
+the Glengarians and a party of Indians. The last kept on our flanks, and
+it was understood they would shoot and scalp any man who left the ranks.
+We marched two and two, being something like eighty prisoners. It was hard
+work for the first day or two, the road being nothing but an Indian trail,
+and our lodging-places the open air. My feet became very sore, and, as for
+food, we had to eat our pork raw, there being nothing to cook in. The
+soldiers fared no better than ourselves, however, with the exception of
+being on full allowance. It seems that our provisions were sent by water,
+and left for us at particular places; for every eight-and-forty hours we
+touched the lake shore, and found them ready for us. They were left on the
+beach without any guard, or any one near them. In this way we picked up
+our supplies the whole distance.
+
+At the depot, Mr. Bogardus and the pilot found a boat, and managed to get
+into her, and put out into the lake. After being absent a day and night,
+they were driven in by rough weather, and fell into the hands of a party
+of dragoons who were escorting Sir George Prevost along the lake shore.
+We found them at a sort of tavern, where were the English Governor and his
+escort at the time. They were sent back among us, with two American army
+officers, who had fallen into the hands of the Indians, and had been most
+foully treated. One of these officers was wounded in the arm.
+
+The night of the day we fell in with Sir George Prevost, we passed through
+a hamlet, and slept just without it. As we entered the village the guard
+played Yankee Doodle, winding up with the Rogue's March. As we went
+through the place, I got leave to go to a house and ask for a drink of
+milk. The woman of this house said they had been expecting us for two
+days, and that they had been saving their milk expressly to give us. I got
+as much as I wanted, and a small loaf of bread in the bargain, as did
+several others with me. These people seemed to me to be all well affected
+to the Americans, and much disposed to treat us kindly. We slept on a barn
+floor that night.
+
+We were much provoked at the insult of playing the Rogue's March. Jack
+Reilly and I laid a plan to have our revenge, should it be repeated. Two
+or three days later we had the same tune, at another village, and I caught
+up a couple of large stones, ran ahead, and dashed them through both ends
+of the drum, before the boy, who was beating it, knew what I was about.
+Jack snatched the fife out of the other boy's hand, and it was passed from
+one to another among us, until it reached one who threw it over the
+railing of a bridge. After this, we had no more music, good or bad. Not a
+word was said to any of us about this affair, and I really think the
+officers were ashamed of themselves.
+
+After a march of several days we came to a hamlet, not a great distance
+from Kingston. I saw a good many geese about, and took a fancy to have one
+for supper. I told Mallet if he would cook a goose, I would tip one over.
+The matter was arranged between us, and picking up a club I made a dash at
+a flock, and knocked a bird over. I caught up the goose and ran, when my
+fellow-prisoners called out to me to dodge, which I did, behind a stump,
+not knowing from what quarter the danger might come. It was well I did,
+for two Indians fired at me, one hitting the stump, and the other ball
+passing just over my head. A militia officer now galloped up, and drove
+back the Indians who were running up to me, to look after the scalp, I
+suppose. This officer remonstrated with me, but spoke mildly and even
+kindly. I told him I was hungry, and that I wanted a warm mess. "But you
+are committing a robbery," he said. "If I am, I'm robbing an enemy." "You
+do not know but it may be a friend," was his significant answer. "Well, if
+I am, _he_'ll not grudge me the goose," says I. On hearing this, the
+officer laughed, and asked me how I meant to cook the goose. I told him
+that one of my messmates had promised to do this for me. He then bade me
+carry the goose into the ranks, and to come to him when we halted at
+night. I did this, and he gave us a pan, some potatoes, onions, &c., out
+of which we made the only good mess we got on our march. I may say this
+was the last hearty and really palatable meal I made until I reached
+Halifax, a period of several weeks.
+
+While Jack Mallet was cooking the goose, I went in behind a pile of
+boards, attended by a soldier to watch me, and, while there, I saw an
+ivory rule lying on the boards, with fifteen pence alongside of it. These
+I pinned, as a lawful prize, being in an enemy's country. The money served
+to buy us some bread. The rule was bartered for half a gallon of rum. This
+made us a merry night, taking all things together.
+
+We made no halt at Kingston, though the Indians left us. We now marched
+through a settled country, with some militia for our guards. Our treatment
+was much better than it had been, the people of the country treating us
+kindly. When we were abreast of the Thousand Islands, Mr. Bogardus and the
+pilot made another attempt to escape, and got fairly off. These were the
+only two who did succeed. How they effected it I cannot say, but I know
+they escaped. I never saw either afterwards.
+
+At the Long Sault, we were all put in boats, with a Canadian pilot in each
+end. The militia staid behind, and down we went; they say at the rate of
+nine miles in fifteen minutes. We found a new guard at the foot of the
+rapids. This was done, beyond a doubt, to save us and themselves, though
+we thought hard of it at the time, for it appeared to us, as if they
+thrust us into a danger they did not like to run themselves. I have since
+heard that even ladies travelling, used to go down these formidable rapids
+in the same way; and that, with skilful pilots, there is little or
+no danger.
+
+When we reached Montreal we were confined in a gaol where we remained
+three weeks. There was an American lady confined in this building, though
+she had more liberty than we, and from her we received much aid. She sent
+us soap, and she gave me bandages &c., for my hurt. Occasionally she gave
+us little things to eat. I never knew her name, but heard she had two sons
+in the American army, and that she had been detected in corresponding
+with them.
+
+We remained at Montreal two or three weeks, and then were sent down to
+Quebec, where we were put on board of prison-ships. I was sent to the Lord
+Cathcart, and most of the Julia's men with me. Our provisions were very
+bad, and the mortality among us was great. The bread was intolerably bad.
+Mr. Trant came to see us, privately, and he brought some salt with him,
+which was a great relief to us. Jack Mallet asked him whether some of us
+might not go to work on board a transport, that lay just astern of us, in
+order to get something; better to eat. Mr. Trant said yes, and eight of us
+went on board this craft, every day, getting provisions and grog for our
+pay. At sunset, we returned regularly to the Cathcart. I got a second
+shirt and a pair of trowsers in this way.
+
+About a fortnight after this arrangement, the Surprise, 32, and a
+sloop-of-war, came in, anchoring some distance below the town. These ships
+sent their boats up to the prison-ships to examine them for men. After
+going through those vessels, they came on board the transport, and finding
+us fresh, clean, fed and tolerably clad, they pronounced us all
+Englishmen, and carried us on board the frigate. We were not permitted
+even to go and take leave of our shipmates. Of the eight men thus taken,
+five were native Americans, one was from Mozambique, one I suppose to have
+been an English subject born, but long settled in America; and, as for me,
+the reader knows as much of my origin as I know myself.
+
+We were asked if we would go to duty on board the Surprise, and we all
+refused. We were then put in close con finement, on the berth-deck, under
+the charge of a sentry. In a day or two, the ship sailed; and off Cape
+Breton we met with a heavy gale, in which the people suffered severely
+with snow and cold. The ship was kept off the land, with great difficulty.
+After all, we prisoners saved the ship, though I think it likely the
+injury originally came from some of us. The breechings of two of the guns
+had been cut, and the guns broke adrift in the height of the gale. All the
+crew were on deck, and the sentinel permitting it, we went up and
+smothered the guns with hammocks. We were now allowed to go about deck,
+but this lasted a short time, the whole of us being sent below, again, as
+soon as the gale abated.
+
+On reaching Halifax, we were all put on board of the Regulus transport,
+bound to Bermuda. Here we eight were thrown into irons, under the
+accusation of being British subjects. At the end of twenty-four hours,
+however, the captain came to us, and offered to let us out of irons, and
+to give us ship's treatment, if we would help in working the vessel to
+Bermuda. I have since thought we were ironed merely to extort this
+arrangement from us. We consulted together; and, thinking a chance might
+offer to get possession of the Regulus, which had only a few Canadians in
+her, and was to be convoyed by the Pictou schooner, we consented. We were
+now turned up to duty, and I got the first pair of shoes that had been on
+my feet since the Scourge sunk from under me.
+
+The reader will imagine I had not been in the harbour of Halifax, without
+a strong desire to ascertain something about those I had left behind me,
+in that town. I was nervously afraid of being discovered, and yet had a
+feverish wish to go ashore. The manner in which I gratified this wish, and
+the consequences to which it led, will be seen in the sequel.
+
+
+
+Chapter VIII.
+
+
+
+Jack Mallet had long known my history. He was my confidant, and entered
+into all my feelings. The night we went to duty on board the transport, a
+boat was lying alongside of the ship, and the weather being thick, it
+afforded a good opportunity for gratifying my longing. Jack and myself got
+in, after putting our heads together, and stole off undetected. I pulled
+directly up to the wharf of Mr. Marchinton, and at once found myself at
+home. I will not pretend to describe my sensations, but they were a
+strange mixture of apprehension, disquiet, hope, and natural attachment. I
+wished much to see my sister, but was afraid to venture on that.
+
+There was a family, however, of the name of Fraser, that lived near the
+shore, with which I had been well acquainted, and in whose members I had
+great confidence. They were respectable in position, its head being called
+a judge, and they were all intimate with the Marchintons. To the Frasers,
+then, I went; Jack keeping me company. I was afraid, if I knocked, the
+servant would not let me in, appearing, as I did, in the dress of a common
+sailor; so I opened the street-door without any ceremony, and went
+directly to that of the parlour, which I entered before there was time to
+stop me. Jack brought up in the entry.
+
+Mrs. Fraser and her daughter were seated together, on a settee, and the
+judge was reading at a table. My sudden apparition astonished them, and
+all three gazed at me in silence. Mr. Fraser then said, "In the name of
+heaven, where did you come from, Edward!" I told him I had been in the
+American service, but that I now belonged to an English transport that was
+to sail in the morning, and that I had just come ashore to inquire how all
+hands did; particularly my sister. He told me that my sister was living, a
+married woman, in Halifax; that Mr. Marchinton was dead, and had grieved
+very much at my disappearance; that I was supposed to be dead. He then
+gave me much advice as to my future course, and reminded me how much I had
+lost by my early mistakes. He was particularly anxious I should quit my
+adopted country, and wished me to remain in Halifax. He offered to send a
+servant with me to find my sister, but I was afraid to let my presence be
+known to so many. I begged my visit might be kept a secret, as I felt
+ashamed of being seen in so humble circumstances. I was well treated, as
+was Jack Mallet, both of us receiving wine and cake, &c. Mr. Fraser also
+gave me a guinea, and as I went away, Mrs. Fraser slipped a pound note
+into my hand. The latter said to me, in a whisper--"I know what you are
+afraid of, but I shall tell Harriet of your visit; she will be secret."
+
+I staid about an hour, receiving every mark of kindness from these
+excellent and respectable people, leaving them to believe we were to sail
+in the morning. When we got back to the transport no one knew of our
+absence, and nothing was ever said of our taking the boat. The Regulus did
+not sail for twenty hours after this, but I had no more communication with
+the shore. We got to sea, at last, two transports, under the convoy of
+the Pictou.
+
+During the whole passage, we eight prisoners kept a sharp look-out for a
+chance to get possession of the ship. We were closely watched, there being
+a lieutenant and his boat's crew on board, besides the Canadians, the
+master, mate, &c. All the arms were secreted, and nothing was left at
+hand, that we could use in a rising.
+
+About mid passage, it blowing fresh, with the ship under double-reefed
+topsails, I was at the weather, with one of the Canadians at the lee,
+wheel. Mallet was at work in the larboard, or weather, mizen chains, ready
+to lend me a hand. At this moment the Pictou came up under our lee, to
+speak us in relation to carrying a light during the night. Her masts swung
+so she could not carry one herself, and her commander wished us to carry
+our top-light, he keeping near it, instead of our keeping near him. The
+schooner came very close to us, it blowing heavily, and Mallet called out,
+"Ned, now is your time. Up helm and into him. A couple of seas will send
+him down." This was said loud enough to be heard, though all on deck were
+attending to the schooner; and, as for the Canadian, he did not understand
+English. I managed to get the helm hard up, and Mallet jumped inboard. The
+ship fell off fast; but the lieutenant, who was on board as an agent, was
+standing in the companion-way with his wife, and, the instant he saw what
+I had done, he ran aft, struck me a sharp blow, and put the helm hard down
+with his own hands. This saved the Pictou, though there was a great outcry
+on board her. The lieutenant's wife screamed, and there was a pretty
+uproar for a minute, in every direction. As the Regulus luffed-to, her
+jib-boom-end just cleared the Pictou's forward rigging, and a man might
+almost have jumped from the ship to the schooner, as we got alongside of
+each other. Another minute, and we should have travelled over His
+Majesty's schooner, like a rail-road car going over a squash.
+
+The lieutenant now denounced us, and we prisoners were all put in irons. I
+am merely relating facts. How far we were right, I leave others to decide;
+but it must be remembered that Jack had, in that day, a mortal enmity to a
+British man-of-war, which was a little too apt to lay hands on all that
+she fell in with, on the high seas. Perhaps severe moralists might say
+that we had entered into a bargain with the captain of the Regulus, not to
+make war on him during the passage; in answer to which, we can reply that
+we were not attacking _him_, but the Pictou. Our intention, it must be
+confessed, however, was to seize the Regulus in the confusion. Had we been
+better treated as prisoners, our tempers might not have been so savage.
+But we got no good treatment, except for our own work; and, being hedged
+in in this manner, common sailors reason very much as they feel. We were
+not permitted to go at large again, in the Regulus, in which the English
+were very right, as Jack Mallet, in particular, was a man to put his
+shipmates up to almost any enterprise.
+
+The anchor was hardly down, at Bermuda, before a signal was made to the
+Goliah, razee, for a boat, and we were sent on board that ship. This was a
+cruising vessel, and she went to sea next morning. We were distributed
+about the ship, and ordered to go to work. The intention, evidently, was
+to swallow us all in the enormous maw of the British navy. We refused to
+do duty, however, to a man; most of our fellows being pretty bold, as
+native Americans. We were a fortnight in this situation, the greater part
+of the time playing green, with our tin pots slung round our necks. We
+did so much of this, that the people began to laugh at us, as real Johnny
+Raws, though the old salts knew better. The last even helped us along,
+some giving us clothes, extra grog, and otherwise being very kind to us.
+The officers treated us pretty well, too, all things considered. None of
+us got flogged, nor were we even threatened with the gang-way. At length
+the plan was changed. The boatswain was asked if he got anything out of
+us, and, making a bad report, we were sent down to the lower gun-deck,
+under a sentry's charge, and put at "six upon four," again. Here we
+remained until the ship went into Bermuda, after a six weeks' cruise. This
+vessel, an old seventy-four cut down, did not answer, for she was soon
+after sent to England. I overheard her officers, from our berth near the
+bulkhead, wishing to fall in with the President, Commodore Rodgers--a
+vessel they fancied they could easily handle. I cannot say they could not,
+but one day an elderly man among them spoke very rationally on the
+subject, saying, they _might_, or they might _not_ get the best of it in
+such a fight. For his part, he did not wish to see any such craft, with
+the miserable crew they had in the Goliah.
+
+We found the Ramilies, Sir Thomas Hardy, lying in Bermuda roads. This ship
+sent a boat, which took us on board the Ardent, 64, which was then used as
+a prison-ship. About a week before we reached this vessel an American
+midshipman got hold of a boat, and effected his escape, actually making
+the passage between Bermuda and Cape Henry all alone, by himself.[10] In
+consequence of this unusual occurrence, a bright look out was kept on all
+the boats, thus defeating one of our plans, which was to get off in the
+same way. When we reached the Ardent, we found but four Americans in her.
+After we had been on board her about a week, three men joined us, who had
+given themselves up on board English men-of-war, as native Americans. One
+of these men, whose name was Baily, had been fourteen years in the English
+service, into which he had been pressed, his protection having been torn
+up before his face. He was a Connecticut man, and had given himself up at
+the commencement of the war, getting three dozen for his pains. He was
+then sent on the Halifax station, where he gave himself up again. He
+received three dozen more, then had his shirt thrown over his back and was
+sent to us. I saw the back and the shirt, myself, and Baily said he would
+keep the last to be buried with him. Bradbury and Patrick were served very
+much in the same manner. I saw all their backs, and give the remainder of
+the story, as they gave it to me. Baily and Bradbury got off in season to
+join the Constitution, and to make the last cruise in her during this war.
+I afterwards fell in with Bradbury, who mentioned this circumstance to me.
+
+It is good to have these things known, for I do believe the English nation
+would be averse to men's receiving such treatment, could they fairly be
+made to understand it. It surely is bad enough to be compelled to fight
+the battles of a foreign country, without being flogged for not fighting
+them when they happen to be against one's own people. For myself, I was
+born, of German parents, in the English territory, it is true; but America
+was, and ever has been, the country of my choice, and, while yet a child,
+I may say, I decided for myself to sail under the American flag; and, if
+my father had a right to make an Englishman of me, by taking service under
+the English crown, I think I had a right to make myself what I pleased,
+when he had left me to get on as I could, without his counsel and advice.
+
+After being about three weeks in the Ardent, we eight prisoners were sent
+on board the Ramilies, to be tried as Englishmen who had been fighting
+against their king. The trial took place on board the Asia, 74, a
+flag-ship; but we lived in the Ramilies, during the time the investigation
+was going on. Sir Thomas Hardy held several conversations with me, on the
+quarter-deck, in which he manifested great kindness of feeling. He
+inquired whether I was really an American; but I evaded any direct answer.
+I told him, however, that I had been an apprentice, in New York, in the
+employment of Jacob Barker; which was true, in one sense, as Mr. Barker
+was the consignee of the Sterling, and knew of my indentures. I mentioned
+him, as a person more likely to be known than Captain Johnston. Sir Thomas
+said he had some knowledge of Mr. Barker; and, I think, I have heard that
+they were, in some way, connected. This was laying an anchor to-windward,
+as it turned out, in the end.
+
+We were all on board the Asia, for trial, or investigation, two days,
+before I was sent for into the cabin. I was very much frightened; and
+scarce knew what I said, or did. It is a cruel thing to leave sailors
+without counsel, on such occasions; though the officers behaved very
+kindly and considerately to me; and, I believe, to all of us. There were
+several officers seated round a table; and all were in swabs. They said,
+the gentleman who presided, was a Sir Borlase Warren, the admiral on the
+station.[11] This gentleman, whoever he was, probably saw that I was
+frightened. He slewed himself round, in his chair, and said to me; "My
+man, you need not be alarmed; we know _who_ you are, and _what_ you are;
+but your apprenticeship will be of great service to you." This was not
+said, however, until Sir Thomas Hardy had got out the story of my being an
+apprentice in Jacob Barker's employ, again, before them all, in the cabin.
+I was told to send for a copy of my indentures, by one of the white-washed
+Swedes, that sailed between Bermuda and New York. This I did, that very
+day. I was in the cabin of the Asia, half an hour, perhaps; and I felt
+greatly relieved, when I got out of it. It was decided, in my presence, to
+send me back among the prisoners, on board the Ardent. The same decision
+was made, as to the whole eight of us, that had come on in the Regulus.
+
+When we got back to the Ramilies, Sir Thomas Hardy had some more
+conversation with me. I have thought, ever since, that he knew something
+about my birth, and of my being the prince's godson. He wished me to join
+the British service, seemingly, very much, and encouraged me with the hope
+of being promoted. But, it is due to myself, to say, I held out against it
+all. I do not believe America had a truer heart, in her service, than
+mine; and I do not think an English commission would have bought me. I
+have nothing to hope, from saying this, for I am now old, and a cripple
+but, as I have sat down to relate the truth, let the truth be told,
+whether it tell for, or against me.
+
+We were now sent back to the Ardent; where we remained three weeks, or a
+month, longer. During this time we got our papers from New York; I
+receiving a copy of my indentures, together with the sum of ten dollars;
+which reached me through Sir Thomas Hardy, as I understood. Nothing more
+was ever said, to any of the eight, about their being Englishmen; the
+whole of us being treated as prisoners of war. Prisoners arrived fast,
+until we had four hundred in the Ardent. The old Ruby, a forty-four, on
+two decks, was obliged to receive some of them. Most of these prisoners
+were privateersmen; though there were a few soldiers, and some citizens
+that had been picked up in Chesapeake Bay. Before we left Bermuda, the
+crew of a French frigate was put into the Ardent, to the number of near
+four hundred men. In the whole, we must have had eight hundred souls, and
+all on one deck. This was close stowage, and I was heartily glad when I
+quitted the ship.
+
+Soon after the French arrived, four hundred of us Americans were put on
+board transports, and we sailed for Halifax, under the convoy of the
+Ramilies. A day or two after we got out, we fell in with an American
+privateer, which continued hovering around us for several days. As this
+was a bold fellow, frequently coming within gun-shot, and sporting his
+sticks and canvass in all sorts of ways, Sir Thomas Hardy felt afraid he
+would get one of the four transports, and he took all us prisoners into
+the Ramilies. We staid in the ship the rest of the passage, and when we
+went into Halifax it was all alone, the four transports having
+disappeared. Two of them subsequently got in; but I think the other two
+were actually taken by that saucy fellow.
+
+The prisoners, at first, had great liberty allowed them, on board the
+Ramilies. On all occasions, Sir Thomas Hardy treated the Americans well. A
+party of marines was stationed on the poop, and another on the forecastle,
+and the ship's people had arms; but this was all the precaution that was
+used. The opportunity tempted some of our men to plan a rising, with a
+view to seize the ship. Privateer officers were at the head of this
+scheme, which was communicated to me, among others, soon after the plot
+was laid. Most of the prisoners knew of the intention, and everybody
+seemed to enter into the affair with hearty good-will. Our design was to
+rise at the end of the second dog-watch, overcome the crew, and carry the
+ship upon our own coast. If unable to pass the blockading squadrons, we
+intended to run her ashore. The people of the Ramilies outnumbered us by
+near one-half, and they had arms, it is true; but we trusted to the effect
+of a surprise, and something to the disposition of most English sailors to
+get quit of their own service. Had the attempt been made, from what I saw
+of the crew, I think our main trouble would have been with the officers
+and the marines. We were prevented from trying the experiment, however, in
+consequence of having been betrayed by some one who was in the secret, the
+whole of us being suddenly sent into the cable tiers and amongst the water
+casks, under the vigilant care of sentinels posted in the wings. After
+that, we were allowed to come on deck singly, only, and then under a
+sentinel's charge. When Sir Thomas spoke to us concerning this change of
+treatment, he did not abuse us for our plan, but was mild and reasonable,
+while he reminded us of the necessity of what he was doing. I have no idea
+he would have been in the least injured, had we got possession of the
+ship; for, to the last, our people praised him, and the treatment they
+received, while under his orders.
+
+Before we were sent below, Sir Thomas spoke to me again, on the subject of
+my joining the English service. He was quite earnest about it, and
+reasoned with me like a father; but I was determined not to yield. I did
+not like England, and I did like America. My birth in Quebec was a thing I
+could not help; but having chosen to serve under the American flag, and
+having done so now for years, I did not choose to go over to the enemy.
+
+At Halifax, fifteen or twenty of us were sent on board the old Centurion,
+44, Lord Anson's ship, as retaliation-men. We eight were of the number. We
+found something like thirty more in the ship, all retaliation-men, like
+ourselves. Those we found in the Centurion did not appear to me to be
+foremast Jacks, but struck me as being citizens from ashore. We were well
+treated, however, suffering no other confinement than that of the ship. We
+were on "six upon four," it is true, like other prisoners, but our own
+country gave us small stores, and extra bread and beef. In the way of
+grub, we fared like sailor kings. At the end of three weeks, we eight
+lakesmen were sent to Melville Island, among the great herd of prisoners.
+I cannot explain the reason of all these changes; but I know that when the
+gate was shut on us, the turnkey said we had gone into a home that would
+last as long as the war lasted.
+
+Melville is an island of more than a mile in circumference, with low,
+rocky shores. It lies about three miles from the town of Halifax, but not
+in sight. It is connected with the main by a bridge that is thrown across
+a narrow passage of something like a quarter of a mile in width. In the
+centre of the island is an eminence, which was occupied by the garrison,
+and had some artillery. This eminence commanded the whole island. Another
+post on the main, also, commanded the prisoners' barracks. These barracks
+were ordinary wooden buildings, enclosed on the side of the island with a
+strong stone wall, and on the side of the post on the main, by high, open
+palisades. Of course, a sufficient guard was maintained.
+
+It was said there were about twelve hundred Americans on the island, when
+I passed the gate. Among them were a few French, some of whom were a part
+of the crew of the Ville de Milan, the ship that had been taken before I
+first left Halifax; or more than eight years previously to this time. This
+did, indeed, look like the place's being a home to a poor fellow, and I
+did not relish the circumstance at all. Among our people were soldiers,
+sailors, and 'long-shore-men'. There was no difference in the treatment,
+which, for a prison, was good. We got only "six upon four" from the
+English, of course; but our own country made up the difference here, as on
+board the Centurion. They had a prison dress, with one leg of the trowsers
+yellow and the other blue, &c.; but we would not stand that. Our agent
+managed the matter so that we got regular jackets and trowsers of the true
+old colour. The poor Frenchmen looked like peacocks in their dress, but we
+did not envy them their finery.
+
+I had been on the island about a fortnight, when I was told by Jack
+Mallet that a woman, whom he thought to be my sister, was at the gate.
+Jack knew my whole history, and came to his opinion from a resemblance
+that he saw between me and the person who had inquired for me. I refused
+to go to the gate, however, to see who it was, and Jack was sent back to
+tell the woman that I had been left behind at Bermuda. He was directed to
+throw in a few hints about the expediency of her not coming back to look
+for me, and that it would be better if she never named me. All this was
+done, I getting a berth from which I could see the female. I knew her in a
+moment, although she was married, and had a son with her, and my heart was
+very near giving way, especially when I saw her shedding tears. She went
+away from the gate, however, going up on the ramparts, from which she
+could look down into the prison-yard. There she remained an hour, as if
+she wished to satisfy her own eyes as to the truth of Jack's story; but I
+took good care to keep out of her sight.
+
+As I knew there was little hope of an exchange of prisoners, I now began
+to think of the means of making my escape. Jack Mallet dared not attempt
+to swim, on account of the rheumatism and cramps, having narrowly escaped
+drowning at Bermuda, and he could not join in our schemes. As for myself,
+I have been able to swim ever since danger taught me the important lesson,
+the night the Scourge went down. Money would be necessary to aid me in
+escaping, and Jack and I put our heads together, in order to raise some. I
+had still the ten dollars given me by Sir Thomas Hardy, and I commenced
+operations by purchasing shares in a dice-board, a _vingt et un_ table,
+and a quino table.[12] Jack Mallet and I, also, set up a shop, on a
+capital of three dollars. We sold smoked herring, pipes, tobacco, segars,
+spruce beer, and, as chances of smuggling it in offered, now and then a
+little Jamaica. All this time, the number of the prisoners increased,
+until, in the end, we got to have a full prison, when they began to send
+them to England. Only one of the Julias was sent away, however, all the
+rest remaining at Melville Island, from some cause I cannot explain.
+
+I cannot say we made money very fast. On every shilling won at dice, we
+received a penny; at _vingt et un_, the commission was the same; as it was
+also at the other games. New cards, however, brought a little higher rate.
+All this was wrong I _now_ know, but _then_ it gave me very little
+trouble. I hope I would not do the same thing over again, even to make my
+escape from Melville Island, but one never knows to what distress may
+drive him.
+
+Some person among the American prisoners--a soldier it was said--commenced
+counterfeiting Spanish dollars. I am afraid most of us helped to circulate
+them. We thought it no harm to cheat the people of the canteens, for we
+knew they were doing all they could to cheat us. This was prison morality,
+in war-time, and I say nothing in its favour; though, for myself, I will
+own I felt more of the consciousness of wrong-doing in holding the shares
+in the gambling establishments, than in giving bad dollars for poor rum.
+The counterfeiting business was destroyed by one of the dollars happening
+to break, as some of the officers were pitching them; when, on
+examination, it turned out that most of the money in the prison was bad.
+It was said the people of the canteens had about four hundred of the
+dollars, when they came to overhaul their lockers. A good many found their
+way into Halifax.
+
+My trade lasted all winter--(that of 1813--14,) and by March I had gained
+the sum of eighty French crowns. Dollars I was afraid to hold on account
+of the base money. The ice now began to give way, and a few of us, who had
+been discussing the matter all winter, set about forming serious plans to
+escape. My confederates were a man of the name of Johnson, who had been
+taken in the Snapdragon privateer, and an Irishman of the name of
+Littlefield. Barnet, the Mozambique man, joined us also, making four in
+all. It was quite early in the month, when we made the attempt. Our
+windows were long, and had perpendicular bars of wrought iron to secure
+them, but no cross-bars. There was no glass; but outside shutters, that we
+could open at our pleasure. Outside of the windows were sentinels, and
+there were two rows of pickets between us and the shore.
+
+I put my crowns in a belt around my waist. Another belt, or skin, was
+filled with rum, for the double purpose of buoying me in the water, and
+of comforting me when ashore. At that day, I found rum one of the great
+blessings of life; now I look upon it as one of the greatest evils. My
+companions made similar provisions of money and rum, though neither was as
+rich as myself. I left Mallet and Leonard Lewis my heirs at law if I
+escaped, and my trustees should I be caught. Lewis was a young man of
+better origin than most in the prison, and I have always thought some
+calamity drove him to the seas. He was in ill health, and did not appear
+to be destined to a long life. He would have joined us, heart and hand,
+but was not strong enough to endure the fatigue which we well knew we must
+undergo, before we could get clear.
+
+The night selected for the attempt was so cold, dark, and dismal, as to
+drive all the sentinels into their boxes. It rained hard, in the bargain.
+About eight, or as soon as the lights were out, we got the lanyards of our
+hammocks around two of the window bars, and using a bit of fire-wood for a
+heaver, we easily brought them together. This left room for our bodies to
+pass out, without any difficulty. Jack Mallet, and those we left behind,
+hove the bars straight again, so that the keepers were at a loss to know
+how we had got off. We met with no obstacle between the prison and the
+water. The pickets we removed, having cut them in the day-time. In a word,
+all four of us reached the shore of the Island in two or three minutes
+after we had taken leave of our messmates. The difficulty lay before us.
+We entered into the water, at once, and began to swim. When I was a few
+rods from the place of landing, which was quite near the guard-house, on
+the main, Johnson began to sing out that he was drowning. I told him to be
+quiet, but it was of no use. The guard on the main heard him, and
+commenced firing, and of course we swam all the harder. Three of us were
+soon ashore, and, knowing the roads well, I led them in a direction to
+avoid the soldiers. By running into the woods, we got clear, though poor
+Johnson fell again into the hands of the enemy. He deserved it for bawling
+as he did; it being the duty of a man in such circumstances to lie with a
+shut mouth.
+
+
+
+Chapter IX.
+
+
+
+The three who had escaped ran, for a quarter of a mile, in the woods, when
+we brought up, and took a drink. Hearing no more firing, or any further
+alarm, we now consulted as to our future course. There were some mills at
+the head of the bay, about four miles from the guard-house, and I led the
+party thither. We reached the place towards morning, and found a berth in
+them before any one was stirring. We hid ourselves in an old granary; but
+no person appeared near the place throughout the next day. We had put a
+little bread and a few herrings in our hats, and on these we subsisted.
+The rum cheered us up, and, if rum ever did good, I think it was to us on
+that occasion. We slept soundly, with one man on the look-out; a rule we
+observed the whole time we were out. It stopped raining in the course of
+the day, though the weather was bitter cold.
+
+Next night we got under way, and walked in a direction which led us within
+three miles of the town. In doing this, we passed the Prince's Lodge, a
+place where I had often been, and the sight of which reminded me of home,
+and of my childish days. There was no use in regrets, however, and we
+pushed ahead. The men saw my melancholy, and they questioned me; but I
+evaded the answer, pretending that nothing ailed me. There was a tavern
+about a league from the town, kept by a man of the name of Grant, and
+Littlefield ventured into it. He bought a small cheese and a loaf of
+bread; getting off clear, though not unsuspected. This helped us along
+famously, and we pushed on as fast as we could. Before morning we came
+near a bridge, on which there was a sentinel posted, with a guard-house
+near its end. To avoid this danger, we turned the guard-house, striking
+the river above the bridge. Here we met two Indians, and fell into
+discourse with them. Our rum now served us a better turn than ever, buying
+the Indians in a minute. We told these chaps we were deserters from the
+Bulwark, 74, and begged them to help us along. At first, they thought we
+were Yankees, whom they evidently disliked, and that right heartily; but
+the story of the desertion took, and made them disposed to serve us.
+
+These two Indians led us down to the bed of the river, and actually
+carried us beneath the bridge, on the side of the river next the guard,
+where we found a party of about thirty of these red-skins, men, women and
+children. Here we stayed no less than three days; faring extremely well,
+having fish, bread, butter, and other common food. The weather was very
+bad, and we did not like to turn out in it, besides, thinking the search
+for us might be less keen after a short delay. All this time, we were
+within a few rods of the guard, hearing the sentinels cry "all's well,"
+from half-hour to half-hour. We were free with our rum, and, as much as we
+dared to be, with our money. These people never betrayed us.
+
+The third night we left the bridge, guided by a young Indian. He led us
+about two miles up the river, passing through the Maroon town in the
+night, after which he left us. We wished him to keep on with us for some
+distance further, but he refused. He quitted us near morning, and we
+turned into a deserted log-house, on the banks of the river, where we
+passed the day. The country was thinly populated, and the houses we saw
+were poor and mean. We must now have been about five-and-twenty miles
+from Halifax.
+
+Our object was to cross the neck of land between the Atlantic and the Bay
+of Fundy, and to get to Annapolis Royal, where we expected to be able to
+procure a boat, by fair means if we could, by stealth if necessary, and
+cross over to the American shore. We had still a long road before us, and
+had some little difficulty to find the way. The Indians, however, gave us
+directions that greatly assisted us; and we travelled a long bit, and
+pretty fast all that night. In the morning, the country had more the
+appearance of being peopled and cultivated, and I suspected we were
+getting into the vicinity of Horton, a place through which it would be
+indispensable to pass. The weather became bad again, and it was necessary
+to make a halt. Coming near a log-house, we sent Littlefield ahead to make
+some inquiries of a woman who appeared to be in it alone. On his return,
+he reported well of the woman. He had told her we were deserters from the
+Bulwark, and had promised to pay her if she would let us stay about her
+premises that day, and get us something to eat. The woman had consented to
+our occupying an out-house, and had agreed to buy the provisions. We now
+took possession of the out-house, where the woman visited us, and getting
+some money, she left us in quest of food. We were uneasy during her
+absence, but she came back with some meat, eggs, bread, and butter, at the
+end of an hour, and all seemed right. We made two comfortable meals in
+this out-house, where we remained until near evening. I had the look-out
+about noon, and I saw a man hanging about the house, and took the alarm.
+The man did not stay long, however, and I got a nap as soon as he
+disappeared. About four we were all up, and one of us taking a look, saw
+this same man, and two others, go into the house. The woman had already
+told us that a party of soldiers had gone ahead, in pursuit of three
+Yankee runaways; that four had broken prison, but one had been retaken,
+and the rest were still out. This left little doubt that she knew who we
+were; and we thought it best to steal away, at once, lest the men in the
+house should be consulting with her, at that very moment, about selling us
+for the reward, which we know was always four pounds ahead. The out-house
+was near the river, and there was a good deal of brush growing along the
+banks, and we succeeded in getting away unseen.
+
+We went down to the margin, under the bank, and pursued our way along the
+stream. Before it was dark we came in sight of the bridge, for which we
+had been travelling ever since we left the other bridge, and were sorry to
+see a sentry-box on it. We now halted for a council, and came to a
+determination to wait until dark, and then advance. This we did, getting
+under this bridge, as we had done with the other. We had no Indians,
+however, to comfort and feed us.
+
+I had known a good deal of this part of the country when a boy, from the
+circumstance that Mr. Marchinton had a large farm, near a place called
+Cornwallis, on the Bay, where I had even spent whole summers with the
+family. This bridge I recollected well; and I remembered there was a ford
+a little on one side of it, when the tide was out. The tides are
+tremendous in this part of the world, and we did not dare to steal a boat
+here, lest we should be caught in one of the bores, as they are called,
+when the tide came in. It was now half ebb, and we resolved to wait, and
+try the? ford.
+
+It was quite dark when we left the bridge, and we had a delicate bit of
+work before us. The naked flats were very wide, and we sallied out, with
+the bridge as our guide. I was up to my middle in mud, at times, but the
+water was not very deep. We must have been near an hour in the mud, for we
+were not exactly on the proper ford, of course, and made bad navigation of
+it in the dark. But we were afraid to lose sight of the bridge, lest we
+should get all adrift.
+
+At length we reached the firm ground, covered with mud and chilled with
+cold. We found the road, and the village of Horton, and skirted the last,
+until all was clear. Then we took to the road, and carried sail hard all
+night. Whenever we saw any one, we hid ourselves, but we met few while
+travelling. Next morning we walked until we came to a deserted saw-mill,
+which I also remembered, and here we halted for the day. No one troubled
+us, nor did I see any one; but Littlefield said that a man drove a herd of
+cattle past, during his watch on deck.
+
+I told my companions that night, if they would be busy, we might reach
+Cornwallis, where I should be at home. We were pretty well fagged, and
+wanted rest, for Jack is no great traveller ashore; and I promised the
+lads a good snug berth at Mr. Marchinton's farm. We pushed ahead briskly,
+in consequence, and I led the party up to the farm, just as day was
+dawning. A Newfoundland dog, named Hunter, met us with some ferocity;
+but, on my calling him by name, he was pacified, and began to leap on me,
+and to caress me. I have always thought that dog knew me, after an absence
+of so many years. There was no time to waste with dogs, however, and we
+took the way to the barn. We had wit enough not to get on the hay, but to
+throw ourselves on a mow filled with straw, as the first was probably in
+use. Here we went to sleep, with one man on the look-out. This was the
+warmest and most comfortable rest we had got since quitting the island,
+from which we had now been absent or nine days.
+
+We remained one night and two days in the barn. The workmen entered it
+often, and even stayed some time on the barn-floor; but no one seemed to
+think of ascending our mow. The dog kept much about the place, and I was
+greatly afraid he would be the means of betraying us. Our provisions were
+getting low, and, the night we were at the farm I sallied out, accompanied
+by Barnet, and we made our way into the dairy. Here we found a pan of
+bread, milk, cheese, butter, eggs, and codfish. Of course, we took our
+fill of milk; but Barnet got hold of a vessel of sour cream, and came near
+hallooing out, when he had taken a good pull at it. As we returned to the
+barn, the geese set up an outcry, and glad enough was I to find myself
+safe on the mow again, without being discovered. Next day, however, we
+overheard the men in the barn speaking of the robbery, and complaining, in
+particular, of the uselessness of the dog. I did not know any of these
+persons, although a young man appeared among them, this day, who I fancied
+had been a playfellow of mine, when a boy. I could not trust him, or any
+one else there; and all the advantage we got from the farm, was through my
+knowledge of the localities, and of the habits of the place.
+
+I had never been further on the road between Halifax and Annapolis, than
+to Cornwallis. The rest of the distance was unknown to me, though I was
+familiar with the route which went out of Cornwallis, and which was called
+the Annapolis road. It was a fine star-light evening, and we made good
+headway. We all felt refreshed, and journeyed on full stomachs. We did not
+meet a soul, though we travelled through a well-settled country. The next
+morning we halted in a wood, the weather being warm and pleasant. Here we
+slept and rested as usual, and were off again at night. Littlefield
+pinned three fowls as we went along, declaring that he intended to have a
+warm mess next day, and he got off without discoverv. About four o'clock
+in the morning, we fell in with a river, and left the high-way, following
+the banks of the stream for a short distance. It now came on to blow and
+rain, with the wind on shore, and we saw it would not do to get a boat and
+go out in such a time. There was a rising ground, in a thick wood, near
+us, and we went up the hill to pass the day. We had seen two men pulling
+ashore in a good-looking boat, and it was our determination to get this
+boat, and shape our course down stream to the Bay, as soon as it
+moderated. From the hill, we could overlook the river, and the adjacent
+country. We saw the fishermen land, take their sail and oars out of the
+boat, haul the latter up, turn her over, and stow their sails and oars
+beneath her. They had a breaker of fresh water, too, and everything seemed
+fitted for our purposes. We liked the craft, and, what is more, we liked
+the cruise.
+
+We could not see the town of Annapolis, which turned out to be up-stream
+from us, though we afterwards ascertained that we were within a mile or
+two of it. The fishermen walked in the direction of the town, and
+disappeared. All we wanted now was tolerably good weather, with a fair
+wind, or, at least, with less wind. The blow had driven in the fishermen,
+and we thought it wise to be governed by their experience. Nothing
+occurred in the course of the day, the weather remaining the same, and we
+being exposed to the rain, with no other cover than trees without leaves.
+There were many pines, however, and they gave us a little shelter.
+
+At dusk, Littlefield lighted a fire, and began to cook his fowls. The
+supper was soon ready, and we eat it with a good relish. We then went to
+sleep, leaving Barnet on the look-out. I had just got into a good sleep,
+when I was awoke by the tramp of horses, and the shouting of men. On
+springing up, I found that a party of five horsemen were upon us. One
+called out--"Here they are--we've found them at last." This left no doubt
+of their errand, and we were all retaken. Our arms were tied, and we were
+made to mount behind the horsemen, when they rode off with us, taking the
+road by which we had come. We went but a few miles that night, when
+we halted.
+
+We were taken the whole distance to Halifax, in this manner, riding on
+great-coats, without stirrups, the horses on a smart walk. We did not go
+by Cornwallis, which, it seems, was not the nearest road; but we passed
+through Horton, and crossed the bridge, beneath which we had Waded through
+the mud. At Horton we passed a night. We were confined in a sort of a
+prison, that was covered with mud. We did not like our berths; and,
+finding that the logs, of which the building was made, were rotten, we
+actually worked our way through them, and got fairly out. Littlefield, who
+was as reckless an Irishman as ever lived, swore he would set fire to the
+place; which he did, by returning through the hole we had made, and
+getting up into a loft, that was dry and combustible. But for this silly
+act, we might have escaped; and, as it was, we did get off for the rest of
+the night, being caught, next morning, nearly down, again, by the bridge
+at Windsor.
+
+This time, our treatment was a good deal worse, than at first. A sharp
+look-out was kept, and they got us back to Halifax, without any more
+adventures. We were pretty well fagged; though we had to taper off with
+the black hole, and bread and water, for the next ten days; the regular
+punishment for such misdemeanors as ours. At the end of the ten days, we
+were let out, and came together again. Our return brought about a great
+deal of discussion; and, not a little criticism, as to the prudence of our
+course. To hear the chaps talk, one would think every man among them could
+have got off, had he been in our situation; though none of them did any
+better; several having got off the island, in our absence, and been
+retaken, within the first day or two. While I was in prison, however, I
+remember but one man who got entirely clear. This was a privateers-man,
+from Marblehead; who did get fairly off; though he was back again, in six
+weeks, having been taken once more, a few days out.
+
+We adventurers were pretty savage, about our failure; and, the moment we
+were out of the black hole, we began to lay our heads together for a new
+trial. My idea was, to steer a different course, in the new attempt;
+making the best of our way towards Liverpool, which lay to the southward,
+coastwise. This would leave us on the Atlantic, it was true; but our
+notion was, to ship in a small privateer, called the Liverpool, and then
+run our chance of getting off from her; as she was constantly crossing
+over to the American coast. As this craft was quite small, and often had
+but few hands in her, we did not know but we might get hold of the
+schooner itself. Then there was some probability of being put in a
+coaster; which we might run away with. At all events, any chance seemed
+better to us, than that of remaining in prison, until the end of war that
+might last years, or until we got to be grey-headed. I remembered, when
+the Ville de Milan was brought into Halifax; this was a year, or two,
+before I went to sea; and yet here were some of her people still, on
+Melville Island!
+
+I renewed my trade as soon as out of the Black Hole, but did not give up
+the idea of escaping. Leonard Lewis and Jack Mallet were the only men we
+let into the secret. They both declined joining us; Mallet on account of
+his dread of the water, and Lewis, because certain he could not outlive
+the fatigue; but they wished us good luck, and aided us all they could.
+With Johnson we would have no further concern.
+
+The keepers did not ascertain the means by which we had left the barracks,
+though they had seen the cut pickets of course. We did not attempt,
+therefore, to cut through again, but resolved to climb. The English had
+strengthened the pickets with cross-pieces, which were a great assistance
+to _us_, and I now desire to express my thanks for the same. We waited for
+a warm, but dark and rainy night in May, before we commenced our new
+movement. We had still plenty of money, I having brought back with me to
+prison forty crowns, and having driven a thriving trade in the interval.
+We got out through the bars, precisely as we had done before, and at the
+very same window. This was a small job. After climbing the pickets, either
+Littlefield or Barnet dropped on the outside, a little too carelessly, and
+was overheard. The sentinel immediately called for the corporal of the
+guard, but we were in the water, swimming quite near the bridge, and some
+little distance from the guard-house on the main. There was a stir on the
+island, while we were in the water, but we all got ashore, safe
+and unseen.
+
+We took to the same woods as before, but turned south instead of west. Our
+route brought us along by the waterside, and we travelled hard all that
+night. Littlefield pretended to be our guide, but we got lost, and
+remained two days and nights in the woods, without food, and completely at
+fault as to which way to steer. At length we ventured out into a high-way,
+by open day-light, and good luck threw an old Irish seaman, who then lived
+by fishing in [missing]. After a little conversation, we told this old
+man we were deserters from a vessel of war, and he seemed to like us all
+the better for it. He had served himself, and had a son impressed, and
+seemed to like the English navy little better than we did ourselves. He
+took us to a hut on the beach, and fed us with fish, potatoes, and bread,
+giving us a very comfortable and hearty meal. We remained in this hut
+until sunset, receiving a great deal of useful advice from the old man,
+and then we left him. We used some precaution in travelling, sleeping in
+the woods; but we kept moving by day as well as by night, and halting only
+when tired, and a good place offered. We were not very well off for food,
+though we brought a little from the fisherman's hut, and found quantities
+of winter-berries by the way-side.
+
+We entered Liverpool about eight at night, and went immediately to the
+rendezvous of the privateer, giving a little girl a shilling to be our
+guide. The keeper of the rendezvous received us gladly, and we shipped
+immediately. Of course we were lodged and fed, in waiting for the schooner
+to come in. Each of us got four pounds bounty, and both parties seemed
+delighted with the bargain. To own the truth, we now began to drink, and
+the next day was pretty much a blank with us all. The second day, after
+breakfast, the landlord rushed into our room with a newspaper in his hand,
+and broke out upon us, with a pretty string of names, denouncing us for
+having told him we were deserters, when we were only runaway Yankees! The
+twelve pounds troubled him, and he demanded it back. We laughed at him,
+and advised him to be quiet and put us aboard the privateer. He then told
+us the guard was after us, hot-foot, and that it was too late. This proved
+to be true enough, for, in less than an hour an officer and a platoon of
+men had us in custody. We had some fun in hearing the officer give it to
+the landlord, who still kept talking about his twelve pounds. The officer
+told him plainly that he was rightly served, for attempting to smuggle off
+deserters, and I suppose this was the reason no one endeavoured to get the
+money away from us, except by words. We kept the twelve pounds, right
+or wrong.
+
+We were now put in a coaster, and sent to Halifax by water. We were in
+irons, but otherwise were well enough treated. We were kept in the
+Navy-yard guard-house, at Halifax, several hours, and were visited by a
+great many officers. These gentlemen were curious to hear our story, and
+we let them have it, very frankly. They laughed, and said, generally, we
+were not to be blamed for trying to get off, if their own look-outs were
+so bad as to let us. We did not tell them, however, by what means we
+passed out of the prison-barracks. Among the officers who came and spoke
+to us, was an admiral, Sir Isaac Coffin. This gentleman was a native
+American, and was then in Halifax to assist the Nantucket men, whom he
+managed to get exchanged. His own nephew was said to be among them; but
+him he would not serve, as he had been captured in a privateer. Had he
+been captured in a man-of-war, or a merchantman, he would have done all
+he could for him; but, as it was, he let him go to Dartmoor--at least,
+this was the story in the prison. The old gentleman spoke very mildly to
+us, and said he could not blame us for attempting to escape. I do not
+think he had ever heard of the twelve pounds; though none of the navy
+officers were sorry that the privateer's-men should be punished. As for
+us, we considered them all enemies alike, on whom it was fair enough to
+live in a time of war.
+
+We were sent back to the island, and were quarantined again; though it was
+for twenty days, this time. When we got pratique, we learned that some one
+had told of the manner in which we got out of prison, and cross-bars had
+been placed in all the windows, making them so many "nine of diamonds."
+This was blocking the channel, and there was no more chance for getting
+off in that way.
+
+A grand conspiracy was now formed, which was worthy of the men in prison.
+The plan was to get possession of Halifax itself, and go off in triumph.
+We were eighteen hundred prisoners in all; though not very well off for
+officers. About fifty of us entered into the plan, at first; nor did we
+let in any recruits for something like six weeks. A Mr. Crowninshield, of
+Salem, was the head man among as, he having been an officer in a
+privateer. There were a good many privateer officers in the prison, but
+they were berthed over-head, and were intended to be separated from us at
+night. The floor was lifted between us, however, and we held our
+communications by these means. The officers came down at night, and lent
+us a hand with the work.
+
+The scheme was very simple, though I do not think it was at all difficult
+of execution. The black-hole cells were beneath the prison, and we broke
+through the floor, into one of them, from our bay. A large mess-chest
+concealed the process, in the day-time. We worked in gangs of six, digging
+and passing up the dirt into the night-tubs. These tubs we were
+permitted to empty, every morning, in a tide's way, and thus we got rid of
+the dirt. At the end of two months we had dug a passage, wide enough for
+two abreast, some twenty or thirty yards, and were nearly ready to come up
+to the surface. We now began to recruit, swearing in each man. On the
+whole, we had got about four hundred names, when the project was defeated,
+by that great enemy which destroys so many similar schemes, treachery. We
+were betrayed, as was supposed by one of our own number.
+
+Had we got out, the plan was to seize the heights of the island, and get
+possession of the guns. This effected, it would have been easy to subdue
+the guard. We then would have pushed for Citadel Hill, which commanded
+Halifax. Had we succeeded there, we should have given John Bull a great
+deal of trouble, though no one could say what would have been the result.
+Hundreds would probably have got off, in different craft, even had the
+great plan failed. We were not permitted to try the experiment, however,
+for one day we were all turned out, and a party of English officers, army
+and navy, entered the barracks, removed the mess-chest, and surveyed our
+mine at their leisure. A draft of six hundred was sent from the prison
+that day, and was shipped for Dartmoor; and, by the end of the week, our
+whole number was reduced to some three or four hundred souls. One of the
+Julias went in this draft, but all the rest of us were kept at Halifax.
+For some reason or other, the English seemed to keep their eyes on us.
+
+I never gave up the hope of escaping, and the excitement of the hope was
+beneficial to both body and mind. We were too well watched, however, and
+conversation at night was even forbidden. Most of the officers were gone
+and this threw me pretty much on my own resources. I have forgotten to say
+that Lemuel Bryant, the man who fell at the breech of my gun, at Little
+York, and whom I afterwards hauled into the Scourge's boat, got off, very
+early after our arrival at Halifax. He made two that got quite clear,
+instead of the one I have already mentioned. Bryant's escape was so
+clever, as to deserve notice.
+
+One day a party of some thirty soldiers was called out for exchange, under
+a capitulation. Among the names was that of Lemuel Bryant, but the man
+happened to be dead. Our Bryant had found this out, beforehand, and he
+rigged himself soldier-fashion, and answered to the name. It is probable
+he ascertained the fact, by means of some relationship, which brought him
+in contact with the soldier previously to his death. He met with no
+difficulty, and I have never seen him since. I have heard he is still
+living, and that he receives a pension for the hurt he received at York.
+Well does he deserve it, for no man ever had a narrower chance for
+his life.
+
+Nothing new, worthy of notice, occurred for several months, until one
+evening in March, 1815, we heard a great rejoicing in Halifax; and,
+presently, a turnkey appeared on the walls, and called out that England
+and America had made peace! We gave three cheers, and passed the night
+happy enough. We had a bit of a row with the turnkeys about locking us in
+again, for we were fierce for liberty; but we were forced to submit for
+another night.
+
+
+
+Chapter X.
+
+
+
+The following morning, eight of the names that stood first on the
+prison-roll were called off, to know if the men would consent to work a
+liberated Swedish brig to New York. I was one of the eight, as was Jack
+Mallet and Barnet. Wilcox, one of those who had gone with us to Bermuda,
+had died, and the rest were left on the island. I never fell in with
+Leonard Lewis, Littlefield, or any of the rest of those chaps, after I
+quitted the prison. Lewis, I think, could not have lived long; and as for
+Littlefield, I heard of him, afterwards, as belonging to the
+Washington 74.
+
+The Swede, whose name was the Venus, was lying at the end of Marchinton's
+wharf, a place that had been so familiar to me in boyhood. We all went on
+board, and I was not sorry to find that we were to haul into the stream
+immediately. I had an extraordinary aversion to Halifax, which my late
+confinement had not diminished, and had no wish to see a living soul in
+it. Jack Mallet, however, took on himself the office of paying my sister a
+visit, and of telling her where I was to be found. This he did contrary to
+my wishes, and without my knowledge; though I think he meant to do me a
+favour. The very day we hauled into the stream, a boat came alongside us,
+and I saw, at a glance, that Harriet was in it. I said a few words to her,
+requesting her not to come on board, but promising to visit her that
+evening, which I did.
+
+I stayed several hours with my sister, whom I found living with her
+husband. She did not mention my father's name to me, at all; and I learned
+nothing of my other friends, if I ever had any, or of my family. Her
+husband was a tailor, and they gave me a good outfit of clothes, and
+treated me with great kindness. It struck me that the unaccountable
+silence of my father about us children, had brought my sister down in the
+world a little, but it was no affair of mine; and, as for myself, I cared
+for no one. After passing the evening with the family, I went on board
+again, without turning to the right or left to see a single soul more.
+Even the Frasers were not visited, so strong was my dislike to have
+anything to do with Halifax.
+
+The Venus took on board several passengers, among whom were three or four
+officers of the navy. Lieutenant Rapp, and a midshipman Randolph were
+among them, and there were also several merchant-masters of the party. We
+sailed two days after I joined the brig, and had a ten or twelve days'
+passage. The moment the Venus was alongside the wharf, at New York, we all
+left, and found ourselves free men once more. I had been a prisoner
+nineteen months, and that was quite enough for me for the remainder of
+my life.
+
+We United States' men reported ourselves, the next day to Captain Evans,
+the commandment of the Brooklyn Yard, and, after giving in our names, we
+were advised to go on board the Epervier, which was then fitting out for
+the Mediterranean, under the command of Captain Downes. To this we
+objected, however, as we wanted a cruise ashore, before we took to the
+water again. This was a lucky decision of ours, though scarcely to be
+defended as to our views: the Epervier being lost, and all hands
+perishing, a few months later, on her return passage from the Straits.
+
+Captain Evans then directed us to report ourselves daily, which we did.
+But the press of business at Washington prevented our cases from being
+attended to; and being destitute of money, while wages were high, we
+determined, with Captain Evans' approbation, to make a voyage, each, in
+the merchant service, and to get our accounts settled on our return. Jack
+Mallet, Barnet and I, shipped, therefore, in another brig called the
+Venus, that was bound on a sealing voyage, as was thought, in some part of
+the world where seals were said to be plenty. We were ignorant of the
+work, or we might have discovered there was a deception intended, from the
+outfit of the vessel. She had no salt even, while she had plenty of
+cross-cut saws, iron dogs, chains, &c. The brig sailed, however, and stood
+across the Atlantic, as if in good earnest. When near the Cape de Verds,
+the captain called us aft, and told us he thought the season too far
+advanced for sealing, and that, if we would consent, he would run down to
+St. Domingo, and make an arrangement with some one there to cut mahogany
+on shares, with fustick and lignum-vitae. The secret was now out; but what
+could we poor salts do? The work we were asked to do turned out to be
+extremely laborious; and I suppose we had been deceived on account of the
+difficulty of getting men, just at that time, for such a voyage. There we
+were, in the midst of the ocean, and we agreed to the proposal, pretty
+much as a matter of course.
+
+The brig now bore up, and stood for St. Domingo. She first went in to the
+city of St. Domingo, where the arrangements were made, and Spaniards were
+got to help to cut the wood, when we sailed for a bay, of which I have
+forgotten the name, and anchored near the shore. The trees were sawed
+down, about ten miles up a river, and floated to its bar, across which
+they had to be hauled by studding-sail halyards, through the surf; one man
+hauling two logs at a time, made into a sort of raft. Sharks abounded, and
+we had to keep a bright look-out, lest they got a leg while we were busy
+with the logs. I had a narrow escape from two while we lay at St. Domingo.
+A man fell overboard, and I went after him, succeeding in catching the
+poor fellow. A boat was dropped astern to pick us up, and, as we hauled
+the man in, two large sharks came up close alongside. This affair had set
+us drinking, and I got a good deal of punch aboard. The idea of remaining
+in the brig was unpleasant to me, and I had thought of quitting her for
+some days. A small schooner bound to America, and short of hands, lay near
+us; and I had told the captain I would come and join him that night. Jack
+Mallet and the rest tried to persuade me not to go, but I had too much
+punch and grog in me to listen to reason. When all hands aft were asleep,
+therefore, I let myself down into the water, and swam quite a
+cable's-length to the schooner. One of the men was looking out for me. He
+heard me in the water, and stood ready to receive me. As I drew near the
+schooner, this man threw me a rope, and helped me up the side, but, as
+soon as I was on the deck, he told me to look behind me. I did so, and
+there I saw an enormous shark swimming about, a fellow that was sixteen or
+eighteen feet long. This shark, I was told, had kept company with me as
+long as I had been in sight from the schooner. I cannot well describe the
+effect that was produced on me by this discovery. When I entered the
+water, I was under the influence of liquor, but this escape sobered me in
+a minute; so much so, indeed, that I insisted on being put in a boat, and
+sent back to the brig, which was done. I was a little influenced in this,
+however, by some reluctance that was manifested to keep me on board the
+schooner. I got on board the Venus without being discovered, and came to a
+resolution to stick by the craft until the voyage was up.
+
+We filled up with mahogany, and took in a heavy deck-load, in the course
+of four months, which was a most laborious process. When ready, the brig
+sailed for New York, We encountered a heavy gale, about a week out, which
+swept away our deck-load, bulwarks, &c. At this time, the master,
+supercargo, mate, cook, and three of the crew, were down with the fever;
+leaving Mallet, Barnet and myself, to take care of the brig. We three
+brought the vessel up as far as Barnegat, where we procured assistance,
+and she arrived safe at the quarantine ground.
+
+As soon as we got pratique, Mallet, Barnet and myself, went up to town to
+look after our affairs, leaving the brig below. The owners gave us thirty
+dollars each, to begin upon. We ascertained that our landlord had received
+our wages from government, and held it ready for us, sailor fashion. I
+also sold my share in the Venus' voyage for one hundred and twenty
+dollars. This gave me, in all, about five hundred dollars, which money
+lasted me between five and six weeks! How true is it, that "sailors make
+their money like horses, and spend it like asses!" I cannot say this
+prodigal waste of my means afforded me any substantial gratification. I
+have experienced more real pleasure from one day passed in a way of which
+my conscience could approve, than from all the loose and thoughtless
+follies, in which I was then in the habit of indulging when ashore, of a
+whole life. The manner in which this hard-earned gold was thrown away, may
+serve to warn some brother tar of the dangers that beset me; and let the
+reader understand the real wants of so large a body of his
+fellow-creatures.
+
+On turning out in the morning, I felt an approach to that which seamen
+call the "horrors," and continued in this state, until I had swallowed
+several glasses of rum. I had no appetite for breakfast, and life was
+sustained principally by drink. Half of the time I ate no dinner, and when
+I did, it was almost drowned in grog. Occasionally I drove out in a coach,
+or a gig, and generally had something extra to pay for damages. One of
+these cruises cost me forty dollars, and I shall always think I was given
+a horse that sailed crab-fashion, on purpose to do me out of the money. At
+night, I generally went to the play, and felt bound to treat the landlord
+and his family to tickets and refreshments. We always had a coach to go
+in, and it was a reasonable night that cost me only ten dollars. At first
+I was a sort of "king among beggars;" but as the money went, Ned's
+importance went with it, until, one day, the virtuous landlord intimated
+to me that it would be well, as I happened to be sober, to overhaul our
+accounts. He then began to read from his books, ten dollars for this,
+twenty dollars for that, and thirty for the other, until I was soon tired,
+and wanted to know how much was left. I had still fifty dollars, even
+according to his account of the matter; and as that might last a week,
+with good management, I wanted to hear no more about the items.
+
+All this time, I was separated from my old shipmates, being left
+comparatively among strangers. Jack Mallet had gone to join his friends in
+Philadelphia, and Barnet went south, whither I cannot say. I never fell in
+with either of them again, it being the fate of seamen to encounter the
+greatest risks and hardships in company, and then to cut adrift from each
+other, with little ceremony, never to meet again. I was still young, being
+scarcely two-and-twenty, and might, even then, have hauled in my oars, and
+come to be an officer and a man.
+
+As I knew I must go to sea, as soon as the accounts were balanced, I began
+to think a little seriously of my prospects. Dissipation had wearied me,
+and I wanted to go a voyage of a length that would prevent my falling soon
+into the same course of folly and vice. I had often bitter thoughts as to
+my conduct, nor was I entirely free from reflection on the subject of my
+peculiar situation. I might be said to be without a friend, or relative,
+in the world. "When my hat was on, my house was thatched." Of my father, I
+knew nothing; I have since ascertained he must then have been dead. My
+sister was little to me, and I never expected to see her again. The
+separation from all my old lakers, too, gave me some trouble, for I never
+met with one of them after parting from Barnet and Mallet, with the
+exception of Tom Goldsmith and Jack Reilly. Tom and I fell in with each
+other, on my return from St. Domingo, in the streets of New York, and had
+a yarn of two hours, about old times. This was all I ever saw of Tom. He
+had suffered a good deal with the English, who kept him in Kingston, Upper
+Canada, until the peace, when they let him go with the rest. As for
+Reilly, we have been in harbour together, in our old age, and I may speak
+of him again.
+
+Under the feelings I have mentioned, as soon as the looks of my landlord
+let me know that there were no more shot in the locker, I shipped in a
+South Sea whaler, named the Edward, that was expected to be absent
+between two and three years. She was a small vessel, and carried only
+three boats. I got a pretty good outfit from my landlord, though most of
+the articles were second-hand. We parted good friends, however, and I came
+back to him, and played the same silly game more than once. He was not a
+bad _landlord_, as landlords then went, and I make no doubt he took better
+care of my money than I should have done myself. On the whole, this class
+of men are not as bad as they seem, though there are precious rascals
+among them. The respectable sailor landlord is quite as good, in his way,
+as one could expect, all things considered.
+
+The voyage I made in the Edward was one of very little interest, the ship
+being exceedingly successful. The usage and living were good, and the
+whaling must have been good too, or we never should have been back again,
+as soon as we were. We went round the Horn, and took our first whale
+between the coast of South America and that of New Holland. I must have
+been present at the striking of thirty fish, but never met with any
+accident. I pulled a mid-ship oar, being a new hand at the business, and
+had little else to do, but keep clear of the line, and look out for my
+paddle. The voyage is now so common, and the mode of taking whales is so
+well known, that I shall say little about either. We went off the coast of
+Japan, as it is called, though a long bit from the land, and we made New
+Holland, though without touching. The return passage was by the Cape of
+Good Hope and St. Helena. We let go our anchor but once the whole voyage,
+and that was at Puna, at the mouth of the Guayaquil river, on the coast of
+Chili. We lay there a week, but, with this exception, the Edward was
+actually under her canvass the whole voyage, or eighteen months. We did
+intend to anchor at St. Helena, but were forbidden on account of
+Bonaparte, who was then a prisoner on the Island. As we stood in, we were
+met by a man-of-war brig, that kept close to us until we had sunk the
+heights, on our passage off again. We were not permitted even to send a
+boat in, for fresh grub.
+
+I sold my voyage in the Edward for two hundred and fifty dollars, and went
+back to my landlord, in Water street. Of course, everybody was glad to see
+me, a sailor's importance in such places being estimated by the length of
+his voyage. In Wall street they used to call a man "a hundred thousand
+dollar man," and in Water, "an eighteen months, or a two years' voyage
+man." As none but whalers, Indiamen, and Statesmen could hold out so long,
+we were all A. No. 1, for a fortnight or three weeks. The man-of-war's-man
+is generally most esteemed, his cruise lasting three years; the _lucky_
+whaler comes next, and the Canton-man third. The Edward had been a lucky
+ship, and, insomuch, I had been a lucky fellow. I behaved far better this
+time, however, than I had done on my return from St. Domingo. I kept sober
+more, did not spend my money as foolishly or as fast, and did not wait to
+be kicked out of doors, before I thought of getting some more. When I
+shipped anew, I actually left a hundred dollars behind me in my landlord's
+hands; a very extraordinary thing for Jack, and what is equally worthy of
+notice, I got it all again, on my next return from sea.
+
+My steadiness was owing, in a great measure, to the following
+circumstances. I fell in with two old acquaintances, who had been in
+prison with me, of the names of Tibbets and Wilson. This Tibbets was not
+the man who had been sent to Bermuda with me, but another of the same
+name. These men had belonged to the Gov. Tompkins privateer, and had
+received a considerable sum in prize-money, on returning home. They had
+used their money discreetly, having purchased an English prize-brig, at a
+low price, and fitted her out. On board the Tompkins, both had been
+foremost hands, and in prison they had messed in our bay, so that we had
+been hail-fellows-well-met; on Melville Island. After getting this brig
+ready, they had been to the West Indies in her, and were now about to sail
+for Ireland. They wished me to go with them, and gave me so much good
+advice, on the subject of taking care of my money, that it produced the
+effect I have just mentioned.
+
+The name of the prize-brig was the Susan, though I forget from what small
+eastern port she hailed. She was of about two hundred tons burthen, but
+must have-been old and rotten. Tibbets was master, and Wilson was
+chief-mate. I shipped as a sort of second-mate, keeping a watch, though I
+lived forward at my own request. We must have sailed about January, 1818,
+bound to Belfast. There were fourteen of us, altogether, on board, most of
+us down-easters. Our run off the coast was with a strong north-west gale,
+which compelled us to heave-to, the sea being too high for scudding.
+Finding that the vessel laboured very much, however, and leaked badly, we
+kept off again, and scudded for the rest of the blow. On the whole, we got
+out of this difficulty pretty well. We got but two observations the whole
+passage, but in the afternoon of the twenty-third day out, we made the
+coast of Ireland, close aboard, in thick weather; the wind directly on
+shore, blowing a gale. The brig was under close-reefed topsails, running
+free, at the time, and we found it necessary to haul up. We now discovered
+the defects of old canvass and old rigging, splitting the fore-topsail,
+foresail, and fore-topmast-staysail, besides carrying away sheets, &c. We
+succeeded in hauling up the foresail, however, and I went upon the yard
+and mended it, after a fashion. It was now nearly night, and it blew in a
+way "to need two men to hold one man's hair on his head." I cannot say I
+thought much of our situation, my principal concern being to get below,
+with some warm, dry clothes on. We saw nothing of the land after the first
+half-hour, but at midnight we wore ship, and came up on the larboard tack.
+The brig had hardly got round before the fore-tack went, and the foresail
+split into ribands. We let the sail blow from the yard. By this time,
+things began to look very serious, though, for some reason, I felt no
+great alarm. The case was different with Tibbets and Wilson, who were
+uneasy about Cape Clear. I had had a bit of a spat with them about waring,
+believing, myself, that we should have gone clear of the Cape, on the
+starboard tack. This prevented them saying much to me, and we had little
+communication with each other that night. To own the truth, I was sorry I
+had shipped in such a craft. Her owners were too poor to give a sea-going
+vessel a proper outfit, and they were too near my own level to
+create respect.
+
+The fore-topsail had been mended as well as the foresail, and was set
+anew. The sheets went, however, about two in the morning, and the sail
+flew from the reef-band like a bit of muslin torn by a shop-boy. The brig
+now had nothing set but a close-reefed main-topsail, and this I expected,
+every minute, would follow the other canvass. It rained, blew
+tremendously, and the sea was making constant breaches over us. Most of
+the men were fagged out, some going below, while others, who remained on
+deck, did, or _could_ do, nothing. At the same time, it was so dark that
+we could not see the length of the vessel.
+
+I now went aft to speak to Tibbets, telling him I thought it was all over
+with us. He had still some hope, as the bay was deep, and he thought light
+might return before we got to the bottom of it. I was of a different
+opinion, believing the brig then to be within the influence of the
+ground-swell, though not absolutely within the breakers. All this time the
+people were quiet, and there was no drinking. Indeed, I hardly saw any one
+moving about. It was an hour after the conversation with Tibbets, that I
+was standing, holding on by the weather-main-clew-garnet, when I got a
+glimpse of breakers directly under our lee. I sung out, "there's breakers,
+and everybody must shift for himself." At the next instant, the brig rose
+on a sea, settled in the trough, and struck. The blow threw me off my
+feet, though I held on to the clew-garnet. Then I heard the crash of the
+foremast as it went down to leeward. The brig rolled over on her
+beam-ends, but righted at the next sea, drove in some distance, and down
+she came again, with a force that threatened to break her up. I bethought
+me of the main-mast, and managed to get forward as far as the bitts, in
+order to be out of its way. It was well I did, as I felt a movement as if
+her upper works were parting from the bottom. I was near no one, and the
+last person I saw, or spoke to on board, was Tibbets, who was then
+standing in the companion-way. This was an hour before the brig struck.
+
+There might have been an interval of half a minute between the time I
+reached the windlass, and that in which I saw a tremendous white foaming
+sea rolling down upon the vessel. At this ominous sight, I instinctively
+seized the bitts for protection. I can remember the rushing of the water
+down upon me, and have some faint impressions of passing through a mass of
+rigging, but this is all. When I came to my senses, it was in an Irish
+mud-cabin, with an old woman and her daughter taking care of me. My head
+was bandaged, and most of the hair had been cut off in front I was stiff
+and sore all over me. Fortunately, none of my bones were broken.
+
+The account given me of what had passed, was this. I was found by the old
+man, who lived in the hut, a fisherman and the husband of my nurse, with
+some other persons, lying on my face, between two shelves of rock. There
+was nothing very near me, not even a bit of wood, or a rope. Two lads that
+belonged to the brig were found not far from me, both alive, though both
+badly hurt, one of them having had his thigh broken. Of the rest of the
+fourteen souls on board the Susan, there were no traces. I never heard
+that even their bodies were found. Tibbets and Wilson had gone with their
+old prize, and anything but a prize did she prove to me. I lost a good
+outfit, and, after belonging to her about three weeks, here was I left
+naked on the shores of Ireland, I am sorry to say, my feelings were those
+of repining, rather than of gratitude. Of religion I had hardly a notion,
+and I am afraid that all which had been driven into me in childhood, was
+already lost. In this state of mind, I naturally felt more of the
+hardships I had endured, than of the mercy that had been shown me. I look
+back with shame at the hardness of heart which rendered me insensible to
+the many mercies I had received, in escaping so often from the perils of
+my calling.
+
+It was three days after the wreck, before I left my bed. Nothing could
+have been kinder than the treatment I received from those poor Irish
+people. Certainly no reward was before them, but that which Heaven gives
+the merciful; and yet I could not have been more cared for, had I been
+their own son. They fed me, nursed me, and warmed me, without receiving
+any other return from me than my thanks. I staid with them three weeks,
+doing nothing on account of the bruises I had received. The Susan's had
+been a thorough wreck. Not enough of her could be found, of which to build
+a launch. Her cargo was as effectually destroyed as her hull, and, to say
+the truth, it took but little to break her up. As for the two lads, I
+could not get as far as the cabin in which they had been put. It was two
+or three miles along the coast, and, having no shoes, I could not walk
+that distance over the sharp stones. Several messages passed between us,
+but I never saw a single soul that belonged to the brig, after the last
+look I had of Tibbets in the companion-way.
+
+A coaster passing near the cabin, and it falling calm, the fisherman went
+off to her, told my story, and got a passage for me to Liverpool. I now
+took my leave of these honest people, giving them all I had--my sincere
+thanks--and went on board the sloop. Here I was well treated, nor did any
+one expect me to work. We reached Liverpool the second day, and I went and
+hunted up Molly Hutson, the landlady with whom the crew of the Sterling
+had lodged, when Captain B---- had her. The old woman helped me to some
+clothes, received me well, and seemed sorry for my misfortunes. As it
+would not do to remain idle, however, I shipped on board the Robert Burns,
+and sailed for New York within the week. I got no wages, but met with
+excellent treatment, and had a very short winter passage. In less than
+three months after I left him, I was back again with my old landlord, who
+gave me my hundred dollars without any difficulty. I had sailed with him
+in the Sterling, and he always seemed to think of me a little differently
+from what landlords generally think of Jack.
+
+A good deal was said among my associates, now, about the advantages of
+making a voyage to the coast of Ireland for the purpose of smuggling
+tobacco, and I determined to try my hand at one. Of the morality of
+smuggling I have nothing to say. I would not make such a voyage now, if I
+know myself; but poor sailors are not taught to make just distinctions in
+such things, and the merchants must take their share of the shame. I fear
+there are few merchants, and fewer seamen, man-of-war officers excepted,
+who will not smuggle.[13]
+
+I laid out most of my hundred dollars, in getting a new outfit, and then
+shipped in a small pilot-boat-built schooner, called the M'Donough, bound
+to Ireland, to supply such honest fellows as my old fisherman with good
+tobacco, cheap. Our cargo was in small bales, being the raw material,
+intended to be passed by hand. We had seventeen hands before the mast, but
+carried no armament, pistols, &c., excepted. The schooner sailed like a
+witch, carrying only two gaff-topsails. We made the land in fourteen days
+after we left the Hook, our port being Tory Island, off the north-west
+coast of Ireland. We arrived in the day-time, and showed a signal, which
+was answered in the course of the day, by a smoke on some rocks. A large
+boat then came off to us, and we filled her with tobacco the same evening.
+In the course of the night, we had despatched four or five more boats,
+loaded with the same cargo; but, as day approached, we hauled our wind,
+and stood off the land. Next night we went in, again, and met more boats,
+and the succeeding morning we hauled off, as before. When we saw a boat,
+we hailed and asked "if they were outward bound." If the answer was
+satisfactory, we brailed the foresail and permitted the boat to come
+alongside. In this manner we continued shoving cargo ashore, for quite a
+week, sometimes falling in with only one boat of a night, and, at others,
+with three or four; just as it might happen. We had got about two-thirds
+of the tobacco out, and a boat had just left us, on the morning of the
+sixth or seventh day, when we saw a man-of-war brig coming round Tory
+Island, in chase. At this sight, we hauled up close on a wind, it blowing
+very fresh. As the English never employed any but the fastest cruisers for
+this station, we had a scratching time of it. The brig sailed very fast,
+and out-carried us; but our little schooner held on well. For two days and
+one night we had it, tack and tack, with her. The brig certainly gained on
+us, our craft carrying a balanced reefed-mainsail, bonnet off the foresail
+and one reef in, and bonnet off the jib. The flying-jib was inboard. At
+sunset, on the second night, the brig was so near us, we could see her
+people, and it was blowing fresher than ever. This was just her play,
+while ours was in more moderate weather. Our skipper got uneasy, now, and
+determined to try a trick. It set in dark and rainy; and, as soon as we
+lost sight of the brig, we tacked, stood on a short distance, lowered
+everything, and extinguished all our lights. We lay in this situation
+three hours, when we stuck the craft down again for Tory Island, as
+straight as we could go. I never knew what became of the brig, which may
+be chasing us yet, for aught I know for I saw no more of her. Next day we
+had the signal flying again, and the smoke came up from the same rock, as
+before. It took us three days longer to get all the tobacco ashore, in
+consequence of some trouble on the island; but it all went in the end, and
+went clear, as I was told, one or two boat-loads excepted. The cargo was
+no sooner out, than we made sail for New York, where we arrived in another
+short passage. We were absent but little more than two months, and my
+wages and presents came to near one hundred dollars. I never tried the
+tobacco trade again.
+
+
+
+Chapter XI.
+
+
+
+I now stayed ashore two months. I had determined to study navigation, and
+to try to get off the forecastle, in which wise course I was encouraged by
+several discreet friends. I had fallen in with a young woman of
+respectable character and agreeable person, and, to own the truth, was
+completely in irons with her. I believe a mother is a good deal more on
+the look-out than a father, in such matters; for I was overhauled by the
+old woman, and questioned as to my intentions about Sarah, whereas the old
+man was somewhat more moderate. I confessed my wish to marry her daughter;
+but the old woman thought I was too wild, which was not Sarah's opinion, I
+believe. Had we been left to ourselves, we should have got married; though
+I was really desirous of going out once as an officer, before I took so
+important a step. I have sometimes suspected that Sarah's parents had a
+hand in getting me shipped, again, as they were intimate with the captain
+who now proposed to take me with him as his second-mate. I consented to
+go, with some reluctance; but, on the whole, thought it was the best thing
+I could do. My reluctance proceeded from desire to remain with Sarah,
+when the time came; though the berth was exactly the thing I wanted,
+whenever I reasoned coolly on the subject.
+
+I shipped, accordingly, in a vessel of the Costers', called the William
+and Jane, bound to Holland and Canton, as her second-mate. My leave-taking
+with Sarah was very tender; and I believe we both felt much grieved at the
+necessity of parting. Nothing occurred on the passage out worth
+mentioning. I got along with my duty well enough, for I had been broken-in
+on, board the Sterling, and one or two other vessels. We went to the
+Texel, but found some difficulty in procuring dollars, which caused us to
+return to New York, after getting only twenty thousand. We had no other
+return cargo, with the exception of a little gin. We were absent five
+months; and I found Sarah as pretty, and as true, as ever. I did not quit
+the vessel, however; but, finding my knowledge of the lunars too limited,
+I was obliged to go backward a little--becoming third-mate. We were a
+month in New York, and it was pretty hard work to keep from eloping with
+Sarah; but I clawed off the breakers as well as I could. I gave her a
+silver thimble, and told her to take it to a smith, and get our joint
+names cut on it, which she did. The consequences of this act will be seen
+in the end.
+
+We had a little breeze on board the ship before we could get off; the
+people refusing to sail with a new first-mate that had joined her. It
+ended by getting another mate, when we went to sea. I believe that no
+other vessel ever went out with such articles as our crew insisted on. The
+men stipulated for three quarts of water a day, and the forenoon's watch
+below. All this was put in black and white, and it gave us some trouble
+before we got to our destination.
+
+Our passage out was a very long one, lasting two hundred and ten days.
+When we got into the trades, we stripped one mast after the other, to a
+girt-line, overhauling everything, and actually getting new gangs of
+rigging up over the lower-mast-heads. We were a long time about it, but
+lost little or nothing in distance, as the ship was going before the wind
+the whole time, with everything packed on the masts that were rigged.
+Before overhauling the rigging, we fell in with an English ship, called
+the General Blucher, and kept company with her for quite a fortnight.
+While the two ships were together, we were chased by a strange brig, that
+kept in sight three or four days, evidently watching us, and both vessels
+suspected him of being a pirate. As we had six guns, and thirty-one souls,
+and the Blucher was, at least, as strong, the two captains thought, by
+standing by each other, they might beat the fellow off, should he attack
+us. The brig frequently came near enough to get a good look at us, and
+then dropped astern. He continued this game several days, until he
+suddenly hauled his wind, and left us. Our ship would have been a famous
+prize; having, it was said, no less than two hundred and fifty thousand
+Spanish dollars on board.
+
+We parted company with the Blucher, in a heavy gale; our ship bearing up
+for Rio. After getting rid of some of our ballast, however, and changing
+the cargo of pig-lead, our vessel was easier, and did not go in. Nothing
+further occurred, worth mentioning, until we got off Van Diemen's Land.
+Two days after seeing the land, a boy fell from the fore-top-gallant yard,
+while reeving the studding-sail halyards. I had just turned in, after
+eating my dinner, having the watch below, when I heard the cry of "a man
+overboard!" Running on deck, as I was, I jumped into a quarter-boat,
+followed by four men, and we were immediately lowered down. The ship was
+rounded-to, and I heard the poor fellow calling out to me by name, to save
+him. I saw him, astern, very plainly, while on the ship's quarter; but
+lost sight of him, as soon as the boat was in the water. The sky-light-hood
+had been thrown overboard, and was floating in the ship's wake. We steered
+for that; but could neither see nor hear anything more of the poor fellow.
+We got his hat, and we picked up the hood of the sky-light, but could not
+find the boy. He had, unquestionably, gone down before we reached the spot
+where he had been floating, as his hat must have pointed out the place. We
+got the hat first; and then, seeing nothing of the lad, we pulled back to
+take in the hood; which was quite large. While employed in taking it in, a
+squall passed over the boat; which nearly blew it away from us. Being very
+busy in securing the hood, no one had leisure to look about; but the duty
+was no sooner done, than one of the men called out, that he could not see
+the ship! Sure enough, the William and Jane had disappeared! and there we
+were, left in the middle of the ocean, in a six-oared pinnace, without a
+morsel of food, and I myself, without hat, shoes, jacket or trowsers. In a
+word, I had nothing on me but my drawers and a flannel shirt. Fortunately,
+the captain kept a breaker of fresh water in each boat, and we had a small
+supply of this great requisite;--enough, perhaps, to last five men two or
+three days.
+
+All our boats had sails; but those of the pinnace had been spread on the
+quarter-deck, to dry; and we had nothing but the ash to depend on. At
+first, we pulled to leeward; but the weather was so thick, we could not
+see a cable's-length; and our search for the vessel, in that direction,
+proved useless. At the end of an hour or two, we ceased rowing, and held a
+consultation. I proposed to pull in the direction of the land; which was
+pulling to windward. If the ship should search for us, it would certainly
+be in that quarter; and if we should miss her, altogether, our only chance
+was in reaching the shore. There, we might find something to eat; of which
+there was little hope, out on the ocean. The men did not relish the idea
+of quitting the spot; but, after some talk, they came into my plan.
+
+It remained thick weather all that afternoon, night, and succeeding day,
+until about noon. We were without a compass, and steered by the direction
+of the wind and sea. Occasionally it lightened up a little, so as to show
+us a star or two, or during the day to permit us to see a few miles around
+the boat; but we got no glimpse of the ship. It blew so heavily that we
+made no great progress, in my judgment doing very little more than keeping
+the boat head to sea. Could we have pulled four oars, this might not have
+been the case, but we took it watch and watch, two men pulling, while two
+tried to get a little rest, under the shelter of the hood. I steered as
+long as I could, but was compelled to row part of the time to keep myself
+warm. In this manner were passed about six-and-twenty of the most
+unpleasant hours of my life, when some of us thought they heard the report
+of a distant gun. I did not believe it; but, after listening attentively
+some ten or fifteen minutes, another report was heard, beyond all dispute,
+dead to leeward of us!
+
+This signal produced a wonderful effect on us all. The four oars were
+manned, and away we went before the wind and sea, as fast as we could
+pull, I steering for the reports as they came heavily up to windward at
+intervals of about a quarter of an hour. Three or four of these guns were
+heard, each report sounding nearer than the other, to our great joy, until
+I got a glimpse of the ship, about two miles distant from us. She was on
+the starboard tack, close hauled, a proof she was in search of us, with
+top-gallant-sails set over single-reefed topsails. She was drawing ahead
+of us fast, however, and had we not seen her as we did, we should have
+crossed her wake, and been lost without a hope, by running to leeward. We
+altered our course the instant she was seen; but what could a boat do in
+such a sea, pulling after a fast ship under such canvass? Perhaps we felt
+more keen anxiety, after we saw the ship, than we did before, since we
+beheld all the risk we ran. Never shall I forget the sensations with which
+I saw her start her main-tack and haul up the sail! The foresail and
+top-gallant-sail followed, and then the main-yard came round, and laid the
+topsail aback! Everything seemed to fly on board her, and we knew we were
+safe. In a few minutes we were alongside. The boat was at the davits, the
+helm was up, and the old barky squared away for China.
+
+We in the boat were all pretty well fagged out with hunger, toil, and
+exposure. I was the worst off, having so little clothing in cool weather,
+and I think another day would have destroyed us all, unless we had taken
+refuge in the well-known dreadful alternative of seamen. The captain was
+delighted to see us, as indeed were all hands. They had determined to turn
+to windward, on short tacks, until they made the land, the best thing that
+could have been done, and the course that actually saved us.
+
+When we got into the latitude of Port Jackson, the crew was put on two
+quarts of water a man, three quarts having been stipulated for in the
+articles. This produced a mutiny, the men refusing duty. This was awkward
+enough, in that distant sea. The captain took advantage of the men's going
+below, however, to secure the scuttle and keep them there. He then
+mustered us, who lived aft, six men and three boys, and laid the question
+before us, _whether we would take the ship into Canton_, or go into Port
+Jackson, and get some water. He admitted we were about seventy-five days
+run from Cauton, but he himself leaned to the plan of continuing on our
+course. We saw all the difficulties before us, and told him of them.
+
+There were twenty men below, and to carry them eight or ten thousand miles
+in that situation, would have been troublesome, to say the least, and
+might have caused the death of some among them. We were armed, and had no
+apprehensions of the people, but we did not like to work a ship of five
+hundred tons with so few hands, one-third of whom were boys, so great a
+distance. The crew, moreover, had a good deal of right on their side, the
+articles stipulating that they should have the water, and this water was
+to be had a short distance to windward.
+
+The captain yielded to our reasoning, and we beat up to Port Jackson,
+where we arrived in three or four days. The people were then sent to
+prison, as mutineers, and we watered the ship. We were in port a
+fortnight, thus occupied. All this time the men were in gaol. No men were
+to be had, and then arose the question about trusting the old crew. There
+was no choice, and, the ship being ready to sail, we received the people
+on board again, and turned them all to duty. We had no further trouble
+with them, however, the fellows behaving perfectly well, as men commonly
+will, who have been once put down. No mutiny is dangerous when the
+officers are apprized of its existence, and are fairly ready to meet it.
+The king's name is a tower of strength.
+
+We arrived at Canton in due time, and found our cargo ready for us. We
+took it in, and sailed again, for the Texel, in three weeks. Our passage
+to Europe was two hundred and eleven days, but we met with no accident. At
+the Texel I found two letters from New York, one being from Sarah, and the
+other from a female friend. Sarah was married to the very silversmith who
+had engraven our names on the thimble! This man saw her for the first
+time, when she carried that miserable thimble to him, fell in love with
+her, and, being in good circumstances, her friends prevailed on her to
+have him. Her letter to me admitted her error, and confessed her
+unhappiness; but there was no remedy. I did not like the idea of returning
+to New York, under the circumstances, and resolved to quit the ship. I
+got my discharge, therefore, from the William and Jane, and left her,
+never seeing the vessel afterwards.
+
+There was a small Baltimore ship, called the Wabash, at the Texel, getting
+ready for Canton, and I entered on board her, as a foremast Jack, again.
+My plan was to quit her in China, and to remain beyond the Capes for ever.
+The disappointment in my matrimonial plans had soured me, and I wanted to
+get as far from America as I could. This was the turning point of my life,
+and was to settle my position in my calling. I was now twenty-seven, and
+when a man gets stern-way on him, at that age, he must sail a good craft
+ever to work his way into his proper berth again.
+
+The Wabash had a good passage out, without any unusual occurrence. On her
+arrival at Canton, I told the captain my views, and he allowed me to go. I
+was now adrift in the Imperial Empire, with a couple of hundred dollars in
+my pocket, and a chest full of good clothes. So far all was well, and I
+began to look about me for a berth. We had found an English country ship
+lying at Whampao, smuggling opium, and I got on board of her, as
+third-mate, a few days after I quitted the Wabash. This was the first and
+only time I ever sailed under the English flag, for I do not call my other
+passages in English vessels, sailing _under_ the flag, though it was
+waving over my head. My new ship was the Hope, of Calcutta, commanded by
+Captain Kid, or Kyd, I forget which. The vessel was built of teak, and had
+been a frigate in the Portuguese service. She was so old no one knew
+exactly when she was built, but sailed like a witch. Her crew consisted
+principally of Lascars, with a few Europeans and negroes, as is usual in
+those craft. My wages did not amount to much in dollars, but everything
+was so cheap, they counted up in the long run. I had perquisites, too,
+which amounted to something handsome. They kept a very good table.
+
+The Hope had a good deal of opium, when I joined her, and it was all to be
+smuggled before we sailed. As this trade has made a great deal of noise,
+latterly, I will relate the manner in which we disposed of the drug. Of
+the morality of this species of commerce, I have no more to say in its
+defence, than I had of the tobacco voyage, unless it be to aver that were
+I compelled, now, to embark in one of the two, it should be to give the
+countrymen of my honest fisherman cheap tobacco, in preference to making
+the Chinese drunk on opium.
+
+Our opium was packed in wooden boxes of forty cylinders, weighing about
+ten pounds each cylinder. Of course each box weighed about four hundred
+pounds. The main cargo was cotton, and salt-petre, and ebony; but there
+were four hundred boxes of this opium.
+
+The sales of the article were made by the captain, up at the factory. They
+seldom exceeded six or eight boxes at a time, and were oftener two or
+three. The purchaser then brought, or sent, an order on board the ship,
+for the delivery of the opium. He also provided bags. The custom-house
+officers did not remain in the ship, as in other countries, but were on
+board a large armed boat, hanging astern. These crafts are called Hoppoo
+boats. This arrangement left us tolerably free to do as we pleased, on
+board. If an officer happened to come on board, however, we had early
+notice of it, of course. As third-mate, it was my duty to see the boxes
+taken out of the hold, and the opium delivered. The box was opened, and
+the cylinders counted off, and stowed in the bags, which were of sizes
+convenient to handle. All this was done on the gun-deck, the purchaser
+receiving possession of his opium, on board us. It was his loss, if
+anything failed afterwards.
+
+As soon as the buyer had his opium in the bags, he placed the latter near
+two or three open ports, amidships, and hung out a signal to the shore.
+This signal was soon answered, and then it was look out for the smuggling
+boats! These smuggling boats are long, swift, craft, that have
+double-banked paddles, frequently to the number of sixty men. They are
+armed, and are swift as arrows. When all is ready, they appear suddenly on
+the water, and dash alongside of the vessel for which they are bound, and
+find the labourers of the purchaser standing at the ports, with the bags
+of cylinders ready. These bags are thrown into the boat, the purchaser and
+his men tumble after them, and away she paddles, like a racer. The whole
+operation occupies but a minute or two.
+
+As soon as the Hoppoo boat sees what is going on, it begins to blow
+conches. This gives the alarm, and then follows a chase from an armed
+custom-house boat, of which there are many constantly plying about. It
+always appeared to me that the custom-house people were either afraid of
+the smugglers, or that they were paid for not doing their duty. I never
+saw any fight, or seizure, though I am told such sometimes happen. I
+suppose it is in China, as it is in other parts of the world; that men
+occasionally do their whole duty, but that they oftener do not. If the
+connivance of custom-house officers will justify smuggling in China, it
+will justify smuggling in London, and possibly in New York.
+
+We not only smuggled cargo out, but we smuggled cargo in. The favourite
+prohibited article was a species of metal, that came in plates, like tin,
+or copper, of which we took in large quantities. It was brought to us by
+the smuggling-boats, and thrown on board, very much as the opium was taken
+out, and we stowed it away in the hold. All this was done in the day-time,
+but I never heard of any one's following the article into the ship. Once
+there, it appeared to be considered safe. Then we got sycee silver, which
+was prohibited for exportation. All came on board in the same manner. For
+every box of opium sold, the mate got a china dollar as a perquisite. Of
+course my share on four hundred boxes came to one hundred and thirty-three
+of these dollars, or about one hundred and sixteen of our own. I am
+ashamed to say there was a great deal of cheating all round, each party
+evidently regarding the other as rogues, and, instead of "doing as they
+_would_ be done by," doing as they _thought_ they _were_ done by.
+
+The Hope sailed as soon as the opium was sold, about a month, and had a
+quick passage to Calcutta. I now began to pick up a little Bengalee, and,
+before I left the trade, could work a ship very well in the language. The
+Lascars were more like monkeys than men aloft, though they wanted
+strength. A topsail, that six of our common men would furl, would employ
+twenty of them. This was partly from habit, perhaps, though they actually
+want physical force. They eat little besides rice, and are small in frame.
+We had a curious mode of punishing them, when slack, aloft. Our standing
+rigging was of grass, and wiry enough to cut even hands that were used to
+it. The ratlines were not seized to the forward and after shrouds, by
+means of eyes, as is done in our vessels, but were made fast by a round
+turn, and stopping back the ends. We used to take down all the ratlines,
+and make the darkies go up without them. In doing this, they took the
+rigging between the great and second toe, and walked up, instead of
+shinning it, like Christians. This soon gave them sore toes, and they
+would beg hard to have the ratlines replaced. On the whole, they were
+easily managed, and were respectful and obedient. We had near a hundred of
+these fellows in the Hope, and kept them at work by means of a boatswain
+and four mates, all countrymen of their own. In addition, we had about
+thirty more souls, including the Europeans--Christians, as we were called!
+
+At Calcutta we loaded with cotton, and returned to Canton, having another
+short passage. We had no opium in the ship, this time, it being out of
+season; but we smuggled cargo in, as before. We lay at Whampao a few
+weeks, and returned to Calcutta. By this time the Hope was dying of old
+age, and Captain Kyd began to think, if he did not bury her, she might
+bury him. Her beams actually dropped, as we removed the cotton at Canton,
+though she still remained tight. But it would have been dangerous to
+encounter heavy weather in her.
+
+A new ship, called the Hopping Castle, had been built by Captain Kyd's
+father-in-law, expressly for him. She was a stout large vessel, and
+promised to sail well. The officers wore all transferred to her; but most
+of the old Lascars refused to ship, on account of a quarrel with the
+boatswain. This compelled us to ship a new set of these men, most of whom
+were strangers to us.
+
+By a law of Calcutta, if anything happens to a vessel before she gets to
+sea, the people retain the two months' advance it is customary to give
+them. This rule brought us into difficulty. The Hopping Castle cleared for
+Bombay, with a light cargo. We had dropped down the river, discharged the
+pilot, and made sail on our course, when a fire suddenly broke up out of
+the fore-hatch. A quantity of grass junk, and two or three cables of the
+same material, were in that part of the ship, and they all burnt like
+tinder. I went with the other officers and threw overboard the powder,
+but it was useless to attempt extinguishing the flames. Luckily, there
+were two pilot brigs still near us, and they came alongside and received
+all hands. The Hopping Castle burnt to the water's edge, and we saw her
+wreck go down. This was a short career for so fine a ship, and it gave us
+all great pain; all but the rascals of Lascars. I lost everything I had in
+the world in her, but a few clothes I saved in a small trunk. I had little
+or no money, Calcutta being no place for economy. In a country in which it
+is a distinction to be a white man, and _called_ a Christian, one must
+maintain his dignity by a little extravagance.
+
+Captain Kyd felt satisfied that the Lascars had set his ship on fire, and
+he had us all landed on Tiger Island. Here the serang, or boatswain, took
+the matter in hand, and attempted to find out the facts. I was present at
+the proceeding, and witnessed it all. It was so remarkable as to deserve
+being mentioned. The men were drawn up in rings, of twenty or thirty each,
+and the boatswain stood in the centre. He then put a little white powder
+into each man's hand, and ordered him to spit in it. The idea was that the
+innocent men would spit without any difficulty, while the mouths of the
+guilty would become too dry and husky to allow them to comply. At any
+rate, the serang picked out ten men as guilty, and they were sent to
+Calcutta to be tried. I was told, afterwards, that all these ten men
+admitted their guilt, criminated two more, and that the whole twelve were
+subsequently hanged in chains, near Castle William. Of the legal trial and
+execution I know nothing, unless by report; but the trial by spittle, I
+saw with my own eyes; and it was evident the Lascars looked upon it as a
+very serious matter. I never saw criminals in court betray more
+uneasiness, than these fellows, while the serang was busy with them.
+
+I was now out of employment. Captain Kyd wished me to go on an indigo
+plantation, offering me high wages. I never drank at sea, and had behaved
+in a way to gain his confidence, I believe, so that he urged me a good
+deal to accept his offers. I would not consent, however, being afraid of
+death. There was a Philadelphia ship, called the Benjamin Rush, at
+Calcutta, and I determined to join her. By this time, I felt less on the
+subject of my disappointment, and had a desire to see home, again. I
+shipped, accordingly, in the vessel mentioned, as a foremast hand. We
+sailed soon after, and had a pleasant passage to the Capes of the
+Delaware, which I now entered, again, for the first time since I had done
+so on my return from my original voyage on the Sterling.
+
+As soon as paid off, I proceeded to New York. I was short of cash; and, my
+old landlord being dead, I had to look about me for a new ship. This time,
+I went in a brig, called the Boxer, a clipper, belonging to John Jacob
+Astor, bound to Canton. This proved to be a pleasant and successful
+voyage, so far as the vessel was concerned, at least; the brig being back
+at New York, again, eight months after we sailed. I went in her before
+the mast.
+
+My money was soon gone; and I was obliged to ship again. I now went as
+second-mate, in the Trio; an old English prize-ship, belonging to David
+Dunham. We were bound to Batavia, and sailed in January. After being a
+short time at sea, we found all our water gone, with the exception of one
+cask. The remainder had been lost by the bursting of the hoops, in
+consequence of the water's having frozen. We went on a short allowance;
+and suffered a good deal by the privation. Our supercargo, a young
+gentleman of the name of Croes, came near dying. We went on, however,
+intending to go into one of the Cape de Verdes. We got up our casks, and
+repaired them, in the meanwhile. Off the Island of Fuego, we hove to, and
+found we could get no water. We got a few goats, and a little fruit; but
+were compelled to proceed. Luckily, it came on to rain very hard, and we
+stopped all the scuppers, filling every cask we had, in this easy manner.
+We began about eight at night, and were through before morning. Capital
+water it proved; and it lasted us to Batavia. There, indeed, it would even
+have brought a premium; being so much better than anything to be had in
+that port. It changed; but sweetened itself very soon.
+
+We first went into Batavia, and entered the ship; after which, we sailed
+for a roadstead, called Terragall, to take in rice. The vessel was in
+ballast, and had brought money to make her purchases with. We got our
+cargo off in boats, and sailed for Batavia, to clear; all within a few
+weeks. The second night out, the ship struck, in fair weather, and a
+moderate sea, on a mud-bank; and brought up all standing. We first
+endeavoured to force the vessel over the bank; but this did not succeed;
+and, the tide leaving her, the ship fell over on her bilge; bringing her
+gunwales under water. Luckily, she lay quiet; though a good deal strained.
+The captain now took a boat, and four men, and pulled ashore, to get
+prows, to lighten the vessel. We had but eight men before the mast, and
+six aft. This, of course, left only nine souls on board. That night
+nothing occurred; but, in the morning early, two piratical prows
+approached, and showed a disposition to board us. Mr. Croes was the person
+who saved the ship. He stuck up handspikes, and other objects, about deck;
+putting hats and caps on them, so as to make us appear very strong-handed.
+At the same time, we got a couple of sixes to bear on the prows; and
+succeeded in keeping them at a safe distance. They hovered about until
+sunset, when they left us; pulling ashore. Just as they were quitting us,
+twenty-seven boats hove in sight; and we made a signal to them, which was
+not answered. We set them down as enemies, too; but, as they came nearer,
+we perceived our own boat among them, and felt certain it was the captain.
+
+We discharged everything betwixt decks into the boats, that night, and got
+the ship afloat before morning. We now hove clear of the bank, restowed
+the cargo, and made sail for Batavia. The ship leaked badly, and kept us
+hard at the pumps. As there were no means for repairing the vessel where
+we were, it was resolved to take in extra hands, ship two box-pumps, and
+carry the vessel to the Isle of France, in order to repair her. I did not
+like the prospect of such a passage, and confess I played "old soldier" to
+get rid of it. I contrived to get, on a sick ticket, into the hospital,
+and the ship sailed without me. At the Isle of France, the Trio was
+condemned; her hulk being, in truth, much worse than my own, docked
+though I was.
+
+
+
+Chapter XII.
+
+
+
+As soon as the Trio was off, I got well. Little did I then think of the
+great risk I ran in going ashore; for it was almost certain death for an
+European to land, for any length of time, at that season. Still less did
+I, or _could_ I, anticipate what was to happen to myself, in this very
+hospital, a few years later; or how long I was to be one of its truly
+suffering, and, I hope, repentant inmates. The consul was frank enough to
+tell me that I had been shamming Abraham; and I so far imitated his
+sincerity as distinctly to state, it was quite true. I thought the old
+Trio ought to have been left on the bank, where Providence had placed her;
+but, it being the pleasure of her captain and the supercargo to take her
+bones to the Isle of France for burial, I did not choose to go so far,
+weeping through the pumps, to attend her funeral.
+
+As the consul held my wages, and refused to give me any money, I was
+compelled to get on board some vessel as soon as I could. Batavia was not
+a place for an American constitution, and I was glad to be off. I shipped,
+before the mast, in the Clyde, of Salem, a good little ship, with good
+living and good treatment. We sailed immediately, but not soon enough to
+escape the Batavia fever. Two of the crew died, about a week out, and were
+buried in the Straits of Banca. The day we lost sight of Java Head, it
+came on to blow fresh, and we had to take in the jib, and double-reef the
+topsails. A man of the name of Day went down on the bowsprit shrouds to
+clear the jib-sheets, when the ship made a heavy pitch, and washed him
+away. The second mate and myself got into the boat, and were lowered as
+soon as the ship was rounded-to. There was a very heavy sea on, but we
+succeeded in finding the poor fellow, who was swimming with great apparent
+strength. His face was towards the boat, and, as we came near, I rose, and
+threw the blade of my oar towards him, calling out to him to be of good
+cheer. At this instant, Day seemed to spring nearly his length out of
+water, and immediately sunk. What caused this extraordinary effort, and
+sudden failure, was never known. I have sometimes thought a shark must
+have struck him, though I saw neither blood nor fish. The man was
+hopelessly lost, and we returned to the ship, feeling as seamen always
+feel on such occasions.
+
+A few days later, another man died of the fever. This left but five of us
+in the forecastle, with the ship a long way to the eastward of the Cape of
+Good Hope. Before we got up with the Cape, another foremast hand went
+crazy, and, instead of helping us, became a cause of much trouble for the
+rest of the passage. In the end, he died, mad. We had now only three men
+in a watch, the officers included; and of course, it was trick and trick
+at the helm. Notwithstanding all this, we did very well, having a good
+run, until we got on the coast, which we reached in the month of January.
+A north-wester drove us off, and we had a pretty tough week of it, but
+brought the ship up to the Hook, at the end of that time, and anchored her
+safely in the East River. The Clyde must have been a ship of about three
+hundred tons, and, including every one on board, nine of us sailed her
+from the eastward of the Cape to her port, without any serious difficulty.
+
+I did not stay long ashore, for the money went like smoke, but shipped in
+a brig called the Margaret, bound to Belfast. This vessel struck in the
+Irish channel, but she was backed off with little difficulty, and got safe
+into her port. The return passage was pleasant, and without any accident.
+
+Such a voyage left little to spend, and I was soon on the look-out for a
+fresh berth. I shipped this time as mate, in a brig called the William
+Henry, bound on a smuggling voyage to the coast of Spain. We took in
+tobacco, segars, &c. &c., and the brig dropped down to Staten Island. Here
+I quarrelled with the captain about some cotton wick, and I threw up my
+situation. I knew there were more ships than parish churches, and felt no
+concern about finding a place in one, up at town. The balance of my
+advance was paid back, and I left the smuggling trade, like an honest man.
+I only wish this change of purpose had proceeded from a better motive.
+
+My next windfall was Jack's berth on board a beautiful little schooner
+called the Ida, that was to sail for Curacoa, in the hope of being
+purchased by the governor of the island or a yacht. I expected to find my
+way to the Spanish main, after the craft was sold. We got out without any
+accident, going into port of a Sunday morning. The same morning, an
+English frigate and a sloop-of-war came in and anchored. That afternoon
+these vessels commenced giving liberty to their men. We were alongside of
+a wharf, and, in the afternoon, our crew took a drift in some public
+gardens in the suburbs of the town. Here an incident occurred that is
+sufficiently singular to be mentioned.
+
+I was by myself in the garden, ruminating on the past, and, I suppose,
+looking melancholy and in the market, when I perceived an English
+man-of-war's-man eyeing me pretty closely. After a while, he came up, and
+fell into discourse with me. Something that fell from him made me distrust
+him from the first, and I acted with great caution. After sounding me for
+some time, he inquired if I had any berth. I told him, no. He then went
+on, little by little, until he got such answers as gave him confidence,
+when he let me into the secret of his real object. He said he belonged to
+the frigate, and had liberty until next morning--that he and four of his
+shipmates who were ashore, had determined to get possession of the pretty
+little Yankee schooner that was lying alongside of the Telegraph, at the
+wharf, and carry her down to Laguayra. All this was to be done that night,
+and he wished me to join the party. By what fell from this man, I made no
+doubt his design was to turn pirate, after he had sold the flour then in
+the Ida. I encouraged him to so on, and we drank together, until he let me
+into his whole plan. The scheme was to come on board the schooner, after
+the crew had turned in, to fasten all hands below, set the foresail and
+jib, and run out with the land-breeze; a thing that was feasible enough,
+considering there is never any watch kept in merchant-vessels that lie
+at wharves.
+
+After a long talk, I consented to join the enterprise, and agreed to be,
+at nine o'clock, on board the Telegraph, a Philadelphia ship, outside of
+which our schooner lay. This vessel had a crew of blacks, and, as most of
+them were then ashore, it was supposed many would not return to her that
+night. My conspirator observed--"the Yankees that belong to the schooner
+are up yonder in the garden, and will be half drunk, so they will all be
+sound asleep, and can give us little trouble." I remember he professed to
+have no intention of hurting any of us, but merely to run away with us,
+and sell the craft from under us. We parted with a clear understanding of
+the manner in which everything was to be done.
+
+I know no other reason why this man chose to select me for his companion
+in such an adventure, than the circumstance that I happened to be alone,
+and perhaps I may have looked a little under the weather. He was no sooner
+gone, however, than I managed to get near my shipmates, and to call them
+out of the garden, one by one. As we went away, I told them all that had
+happened, and we laid our counter-plot. When we reached the Telegraph, it
+was near night, and finding only two of the blacks on board her, we let
+them into the secret, and they joined us, heart and hand. We got something
+to drink, as a matter of course, and tried to pass the time as well as we
+could, until the hour for springing the mine should arrive.
+
+Pretty punctually to the hour, we heard footsteps on the quay, and then a
+gang of men stopped alongside of the ship. We stowed ourselves under the
+bulwarks, and presently the gentlemen came on board, one by one. The
+negroes were too impatient, however, springing out upon their prey a
+little too soon. We secured three of the rascals, but two escaped us, by
+jumping down upon the quay and running. Considering we were all captains,
+this was doing pretty well.
+
+Our three chaps were Englishmen, and I make no doubt belonged to the
+frigate, as stated. As soon as they were fairly pinned, and they
+understood there was no officer among us, they began to beg. They said
+their lives would be forfeited if we gave them up, and they entreated us
+to let them go. We kept them about half an hour, and finally yielded to
+their solicitations, giving them their liberty again. They were very
+thankful for their escape, especially as I told them what had passed
+between myself and the man in the garden. This fellow was one of the two
+that escaped, and had the appearance of a man who might very well become a
+leader among pirates.
+
+The next day the two men-of-war went to sea, and I make no doubt carried
+off the intended pirates in them. As for us seamen, we never told our own
+officers anything about the affair, for I was not quite satisfied with
+myself, after letting the scoundrels go. One scarcely knows what to do in
+such a case, as one does not like to be the means of getting a
+fellow-creature hanged, or of letting a rogue escape. A pirate, of all
+scoundrels, deserves no mercy, and yet Jack does not relish the idea of
+being a sort of Jack Ketch, neither. If the thing were to be done over
+again, I think I should hold on to my prisoners.
+
+We discharged our cargo of flour, and failing in the attempt to sell the
+schooner, we took in dye-wood, and returned to New York. I now made a
+serious attempt to alter my mode of living, and to try to get up a few
+rounds of the great ladder of life. Hitherto, I had felt a singular
+indifference whether I went to sea as an officer, or as a foremast Jack,
+with the exception of the time I had a marriage with Sarah in view. But I
+was now drawing near to thirty, and if anything was to be done, it must be
+done at once. Looking about me, I found a brig called the Hippomenes,
+bound to Gibraltar, and back. I shipped before the mast, but kept a
+reckoning, and did all I could to qualify myself to become an officer. We
+had a winter passage out, but a pleasant one home. Nothing worthy of being
+recorded, however, occurred. I still continued to be tolerably correct,
+and after a short stay on shore, I shipped in the Belle Savage, commanded
+by one of the liberated Halifax prisoners, who had come home in the Swede,
+at the time of my own return. This person agreed to take me as chief mate,
+and I shipped accordingly. The Belle Savage was a regular Curacoa trader,
+and we sailed ten or twelve days after the Hippomenes got in. Our passages
+both ways were pleasant and safe, and I stuck by the craft, endeavouring
+to be less thoughtless and careless about myself. I cannot say, however, I
+had any very serious plans for making provision for old age, my maxim
+being to live as I went along.
+
+Our second passage out to Curacoa, in the Belle Savage, was pleasant, and
+brought about nothing worthy of being mentioned. At Curacoa we took in
+mahogany, and in so doing a particularly large log got away from us, and
+slid, end on, against the side of the vessel. We saw no consequences at
+the time, and went on to fill up, with different articles, principally
+dye-woods, coffee, cocoa, &c. We got some passengers, among whom was a Jew
+merchant, who had a considerable amount of money on board. When ready, we
+sailed, being thirty souls in all, crew and passengers included.
+
+The Belle Savage had cleared the islands, and was standing on her course,
+one day, with a fair wind and a five or six knot breeze, under a
+fore-top-mast studding-sail, everything looking bright and prosperous. The
+brig must have been about a day's run to the southward of Bermuda. It was
+my watch below, but having just breakfasted, I was on deck, and looking
+about me carelessly, I was struck with the appearance of the vessel's
+being deeper than common. I had a little conversation about it, with a man
+in the forechains, who thought the same thing. This man leaned over, in
+order to get a better look, when he called out that he could see that we
+had started a butt! I went over, immediately, and got a look at this
+serious injury. A butt had started, sure enough, just under the chains,
+but so low down as to be quite out of our reach. The plank had started
+quite an inch, and it was loosened as much as two feet, forward and aft.
+We sounded the pumps, as soon as possible, and found the brig was half
+full of water!
+
+All hands were now called to get both the boats afloat, and there was
+certainly no time to be lost. The water rose over the cabin-floor while we
+were doing it. We did not stand to get up tackles, but cut away the rail
+and launched the long-boat by hand. We got the passengers, men, women,
+children, and servants into her, as fast as possible, and followed
+ourselves. Fortunately, there had been a brig in company for some time,
+and she was now less than two leagues ahead of us, outsailing the Belle
+Savage a little. We had hoisted our ensign, union down, as a signal of
+distress, and well knew she must see that our craft had sunk, after it
+happened, if she did not observe our ensign. She perceived the signal,
+however, and could not fail to notice the manner in which the brig was all
+adrift, as soon as we deserted the helm. The strange brig had hauled up
+for us even before we got out the launch. This rendered any supply of food
+or water unnecessary, and we were soon ready to shove off. I was in the
+small boat, with three men. We pulled off a little distance, and lay
+looking at our sinking craft with saddened eyes. Even the gold, that
+precious dust which lures so many souls to eternal perdition, was
+abandoned in the hurry to save the remnants of lives to be passed on
+earth. The Belle Savage settled quite slowly into the ocean, one sail
+disappearing after another, her main-royal being the last thing that went
+out of sight, looking like the lug of a man-of-war's boat on the water. It
+is a solemn thing to see a craft thus swallowed up in the great vortex of
+the ocean.
+
+The brig in sight proved to be the Mary, of New York, from St. Thomas,
+bound home. She received us kindly, and six days later landed us all at no
+great distance from Fulton Market. When my foot touched the wharf, my
+whole estate was under my hat, and my pockets were as empty as a vessel
+with a swept hold. On the wharf, itself, I saw a man who had been
+second-mate of the Tontine, the little ship in which I had sailed when I
+first ran from the Sterling. He was now master of a brig called the
+Mechanic, that was loading near by, for Trinidad de Cuba. He heard my
+story, and shipped me on the spot, at nine dollars a month, as a forward
+hand. I began to think I was born to bad luck, and being almost naked, was
+in nowise particular what became of me. I had not the means of getting a
+mate's outfit, though I might possibly have got credit; but at no period
+of my life did I run in debt. Here, then, my craft got stern-way on her
+again, and I had a long bit of rough water to go over.
+
+The Mechanic sailed four or five days after the Mary arrived, and I
+travelled the old road over again. Nothing happened until we got to the
+southward of Cuba. But my bad luck had thrown me into the West India trade
+at the very moment when piracy was coming to its height in those seas,
+though I never thought on the subject at all. Off the Isle of Pines, one
+morning, we made a schooner and a sloop, in-shore of us, and both bore up
+in chase. We knew them to be pirates, and crowded sail dead before the
+wind to get clear. The captain determined, if necessary, to run down as
+far as Jamaica, where he expected to fall in with some of the English
+cruisers. The schooner sailed very fast, and was for coming up with us,
+but they made the mistake of setting a flying-topsail on board her, and
+from that moment we dropped her. It was thought in our brig, that the
+little craft buried too much, with such a pressure aloft. The chase lasted
+all day, a Sunday, and a part of the night; but the following morning
+nothing was to be seen of either of our pursuers. Our captain, whose name
+was Ray, thought he knew who commanded the schooner, a man who had been
+his enemy, and it was believed the pirates knew our brig, as she was a
+regular trader to Trinidad. This made our captain more ticklish, and was
+the reason he was off so soon.
+
+When we found the coast clear, we hauled up, again, and made our port
+without further molestation. The chase was so common a thing, that little
+was said about the affair. We discharged, took in a new cargo, and sailed
+for home in due time. Care was had in sailing at an early hour, and we
+sent a boat out to look if the coast were clear, before we put to sea. We
+met with no interruption, however, reaching New York in due time.
+
+Captain Ray was desirous I should stick by the brig; but, for some reason
+I cannot explain, I felt averse to returning to Trinidad. I liked the
+vessel well enough, was fond of the captain, and thought little of the
+pirates; and yet I felt an unaccountable reluctance to re-shipping in the
+craft. It was well I had this feeling, for, I have since heard, this very
+schooner got the brig the next passage out, murdered all hands, and burnt
+the vessel, in sight of the port! I set this escape down, as one of the
+many unmerited favours I have received from Providence.
+
+My next berth was that of second-mate on board a new ship, in the
+Charleston trade, called the Franklin. I made the voyage, and, for a
+novelty, did not run in the southern port, which was a rare circumstance
+in that place.
+
+I got but twelve dollars, as dickey, in the Franklin, and left her to get
+twenty, with the same berth, on board a ship called the Foster, commanded
+by the same master as had commanded the Jane, in my former voyage to
+Ireland. The Foster was bound to Belfast, which port we reached without
+any accident. We took in salt, and a few boxes of linens, for Norfolk;
+arrived safe, discharged, and went up the James river to City Point, after
+a cargo of tobacco. Thence we sailed for Rotterdam. The ship brought back
+a quantity of gin to New York, and this gin caused me some trouble. We had
+a tremendous passage home--one of the worst I ever experienced at sea. The
+ship's rudder got loose, and was secured with difficulty. We had to reef
+all three of our top-masts, also, to save the spars; after which we could
+only carry double-reefed topsails. It was in the dead of winter, and the
+winds hung to the westward for a long time. The cook, a surly negro, was
+slack in duty, and refused to make scous for us, though there were plenty
+of potatoes on board. All the people but five were off duty, and it came
+hard on those who kept watch. We determined, at length, to bring the black
+to his senses, and I had him seized to the windlass. Everybody but the
+captain took three clips at him; the fellow being regularly cobbed,
+according to sea usage. This was lawful punishment for a cook.
+
+We got our scous after this, but the negro logged the whole transaction,
+as one may suppose. He was particularly set against me, as I had been
+ringleader in the cobbing. The weather continued bad, the watches were
+much fagged, and the ship gave no grog. At length I could stand it no
+longer, or thought I could not; and I led down betwixt decks, tapped a
+cask of gin, introduced the stem of a clean pipe and took a nip at the
+bowl. All my watch smoked this pipe pretty regularly, first at one cask
+and then at another, until we got into port. The larboard watch did the
+same, and I do think the strong liquor helped us along that time. As bad
+luck would have it, the cook's wood was stowed among the casks, and, one
+morning, just as the last of us had knocked off smoking, we saw the wool
+of this gentleman heaving in sight, through the hatch by which we went
+down. Still, nothing was said until we came to be paid off, when the darky
+came out with his yarn. I owned it all, and insisted we never could have
+brought the ship in, unless we had got the gin. I do believe both captain
+and owner were sorry we had been complained of, but they could not
+overlook the matter. I was mulcted five-and-twenty dollars, and left the
+ship. I know I did wrong, and I know that the owners did what was right;
+but I cannot help thinking, bad as gin is on a long pull, that this did us
+good. I was not driven from the ship; on the contrary, both master and
+Owners wished me to remain; but I felt a little savage, and quitted their
+employment.
+
+That I did not carry a very bad character away with me, is to be proved by
+the fact that I shipped, the same day, on board the Washington, a vessel
+bound to London, and which lay directly alongside of the Foster. I had the
+same berth as that I had just left, with the advantage of getting better
+wages. This voyage carried me to London for the first time since I left it
+in the Sterling. Too many years had elapsed, in the interval, for me to
+find any old acquaintances; and I had grown from a boy to a man. Here I
+got a little insight into the business of carrying passengers, our ship
+bringing more or less, each passage. I stuck by the Washington a year,
+making no less than three voyages in her; the last, as her chief mate.
+Nothing occurred worth mentioning in the four first passages across the
+Atlantic; but the fifth produced a little more variety.
+
+The Washington had proved to be a leaky ship, every passage I made in her.
+We had docked her twice in London, and it had done her good. The first
+week out, on the fifth passage, the ship proved tight, but the weather was
+moderate. It came on to blow heavily, however, when we got to the eastward
+of the Banks; and the vessel, which was scudding under her close-reefed
+main-topsail and foresail, laboured so much, that I became uneasy. I knew
+she was overloaded, and was afraid of the effects of a gale. It was my
+practice to keep one pump ready for sounding the wells, and I never
+neglected this duty in my watch. When the gale was at the height, in my
+forenoon's watch below, I felt so uncomfortable, that I turned out and
+went on deck, in nothing but my trowsers, to sound, although I had sounded
+less than two hours before, and found the water at the sucking-height,
+only. To my surprise, it was now three feet!
+
+This change was so great and so sudden, all of us thought there must be
+some mistake. I carried the rod below, to dry it, and covered the lower
+part with ashes. I could not have been busy in drying the rod more than
+ten or fifteen minutes, when it was lowered again. The water had risen
+several inches in that short period!
+
+All this looked very serious; and I began to think a third raft was to
+founder under me. After a short consultation it was determined to lighten
+the ship. The foresail was hauled up, the men got into the rigging to keep
+clear of the seas, and the vessel was rounded-to. We then knocked away the
+wash-boards in the wake of the two hatches, and began to tumble the
+barrels of turpentine on deck. I never felt so strong in my life, nor did
+so much work in so short a time. During the labour I went below to splice
+the main-brace, and, after putting a second-mate's nip of brandy into my
+glass, filled it, as I supposed, with water, drinking it all down without
+stopping to breathe. It turned out that my water was high-proof gin; yet
+this draught had no more effect on me than if it had been so much cold
+water. In ordinary times, it would have made me roaring drunk.
+
+We tumbled up all the cargo from betwixt decks, landing it on deck, where
+it rolled into the sea of itself, and were about to begin upon the lower
+hold, when the captain called out avast, as the pumps gained fast. Half an
+hour later, they sucked. This was joyful news, indeed, for I had begun to
+think we should be driven to the boats. Among the cargo were some pickled
+calf-skins. In the height of the danger I caught the cook knocking the
+head out of a cask, and stowing some of the skins in a tub. Asking the
+reason why he did this, he told me he wanted to take some of those fine
+skins home with him! It was a pity they should be lost!
+
+As soon as the pumps sucked, the ship was kept away to her course, and she
+proved to be as tight as a bottle. Eight or ten days later, while running
+on our course under studding-sails, we made a large vessel ahead, going
+before the wind like ourselves, but carrying reefed topsails, with
+top-gallant-sails over them, and her ensign whipped. Of course we neared
+her fast, and as we came up with her, saw that she was full of men, and
+that her crew were pumping and bailing. We knew how to pity the poor
+fellows, and running alongside, demanded the news. We were answered first
+with three cheers, after which we heard their story.
+
+The vessel was an English bark, full of soldiers, bound to New Brunswick.
+She had sprung a leak, like ourselves, and was only kept afloat by
+constant pumping and bailing. She had put back for England on account of
+the wind and the distance. Our captain was asked to keep near the
+transport, and we shortened sail accordingly. For three days and nights
+the two vessels ran side by side, within hail; our passengers and officers
+drinking to theirs, and _vice versa_, at dinner. On the fourth day, the
+weather being fine, the wind fair, and our reckoning making us near the
+channel, we told the Englishman we would run ahead, make the land, and
+heave-to. We stood in so far that the poor fellows owned afterwards they
+thought we had left them. This was not our intention, however, for we no
+sooner made the land than we hauled up, and brought them the joyful news
+of its vicinity. They cheered us again, as we closed with them, and both
+ships jogged on in company.
+
+Next morning, being well in with the land, and many vessels in sight, the
+Englishmen desired us to make sail, as they could carry their bark into
+Falmouth. We did so, and reached London, in due time. On our return to New
+York, the Washington was sold, and I lost my preferment in that
+employment, though I went with a character to another vessel, and got the
+same berth.
+
+
+
+Chapter XIII.
+
+
+
+My next craft was the Camillus, a ship that was bound to Greenock, via
+Charleston. We got to the latter port without accident, and took in a
+cargo of cotton. The ship was all ready for sailing of a Saturday, and the
+captain had gone ashore, telling me he would be on board early in the
+morning, when we could haul out and go to sea, should the wind be
+favourable. I gave the people their Saturday's night, and went into the
+cabin to freshen the nip, myself. I took a glass or two, and certainly had
+more in me than is good for a man, though I was far from being downright
+drunk. In a word, I had too much, though I could have carried a good deal
+more, on a pinch. The steward had gone ashore, and there being no
+second-mate, I was all alone.
+
+In this state of things, I heard a noise, and went on deck to inquire
+what was the matter. My old ship, the Franklin, was shifting her berth,
+and her jib-boom had come foul of our taffrail. After some hailing, I got
+on the taffrail to shove our neighbour off, when, by some carelessness of
+my own, I fell head-foremost, hitting the gunwale of the boat, which was
+hanging, about half way up to the davits, into the water. The tide set me
+away, and carried me between the wharf and the ship astern of us, which
+happened to be the William Thompson, Captain Thompson, owner Thompson,
+mate Thompson, and all Thompson, as Mathews used to have it. Captain
+Thompson was reading near the cabin windows, and he luckily heard me
+groan. Giving the alarm, a boat was got round, and I taken in. As the
+night was dark, and I lost all consciousness after the fall, I consider
+this escape as standing second only to that from the shark in the West
+Indies, and old Trant's gun, the night the Scourge went down. I did not
+recover my recollection for several hours. This was not the effect of
+liquor, but of the fall, as I remember everything distinctly that occurred
+before I went from the taffrail. Still I confess that liquor did all the
+mischief, as I had drunk just enough to make me careless.
+
+In the morning, I found myself disabled in the left arm, and I went to a
+doctor. This gentleman said he never told a fellow what ailed him until he
+got his whack. I gave him a dollar, and he then let me into the secret. My
+collar-bone was broken. "And, now," says he, "for another dollar I'll
+patch you up." I turned out the other Spaniard, when he was as good as his
+word. Going in the ship, however, was out of the question, and I was
+obliged to get a young man to go on board the Camillus in my place; thus
+losing the voyage and my berth.
+
+I was now ashore, with two or three months of drift before me. Since the
+time I joined the Washington, I had been going regularly ahead, and I do
+think had I been able to stick by the Camillus, I might have brought up a
+master. I had laid up money, and being employed while in port, I was
+gradually losing my taste for sailor amusements, and getting more respect
+for myself. That fall from the Jaffrail was a sad drawback for me, and I
+never recovered the lee-way it brought about.
+
+I was more than two months ashore, behaving myself rationally on account
+of my arm. At the end of that time, I went on board the Sally, a ship also
+bound to Greenock, as her second-mate. This vessel belonged to Charleston,
+and it was intended she should return to her own port. The voyage turned
+out well, and my arm got as strong as ever. On reaching Charleston, I left
+the craft, which was laid up, and shipped in a schooner of the same name,
+bound to St. Domingo, as her chief mate. This was no great craft,
+certainly, though she proved a tight, wholesome sea-boat. We went out
+without any accident, arriving in safety at Cape Henry. After discharging
+cargo, and smuggling on board a quantity of doubloons--four hundred and
+eighty, it was said--we got under way for the island of Cuba. We intended
+to go into Matanzas, and kept along the coast. After crossing the Windward
+Passage, we reached Cuba; and were standing on, with a light wind, under
+our square-sail, the morning of the third day out, when we saw a large
+boat, carrying two sails, standing out from the shore, evidently in chase
+of the schooner. We had on board eight souls, viz. the owner, a Frenchman,
+who had been a dragoon in the service of his own country, but who was now
+between seventy and eighty; the captain, myself, a boy, the cook, and four
+men forward. We could see that there were nine men in the boat. We had no
+arms in the schooner, not even a pistol, and the men in the boat had
+muskets. We did not ascertain this last fact, however, for some time. I
+thought the strangers pirates the moment I saw them come out from under
+the land, but the captain maintained that they were turtle-men. The boat
+was rowing, and came up with us, hand over hand. When near, they commenced
+firing muskets at us, to drive us below. All the crew forward, with the
+cook, ran down into the forecastle, leaving no one on deck but the
+captain, the old Frenchman, and myself. The boy got into the
+companion-way.
+
+What the others did on deck, as these gentry came alongside, amusing
+themselves with keeping up a smart fire of musketry, I do not know; but my
+own occupation was to dodge behind the foremast. It was not long, however,
+before they came tumbling in, and immediately got possession of the
+schooner. One or two came forward and secured the forecastle hatch, to
+keep the people down. Then they probably felt that they were masters. One
+chap drew a fearful-looking knife, long, slender, sharp and glittering,
+and he cut the halyards of the square-sail. All the men I saw in the
+schooner struck me as Americans, or English, affecting to be Spaniards.
+There is such a difference in the height, complexion, and general
+appearance of the people of Spain, and those of the two other countries,
+without reference to the manner of speaking, that I do not think I could
+be mistaken. I saw but one man among these pirates, whom I took for a real
+Spaniard. It is true their faces were all blacked to disguise them, but
+one could get enough glimpses of the skin to judge of the true colour.
+There was no negro among them.
+
+The chap who cut away the square-sail halyards, I felt certain was no
+Spaniard. The sail was no sooner down, than he ran his knife along the
+head, below the bolt-rope, as if to cut away the cloth with the least
+trouble to himself. I was standing near, and asked him why he destroyed
+the sail; if he wanted it, why he did not take it whole? At this, he
+turned short round upon me, raised his arm, and struck a heavy blow at me
+with his fearful-looking knife. The point of the deadly weapon struck
+square on my breast-bone! I fell, partly through the force of the blow,
+and partly from policy; for I thought it safest to be lying on my back. I
+got several hearty kicks, in addition to this fierce attack, together with
+sundry curses in broken Spanish. I spoke in English, of course; and that
+the man understood me was clear enough by the expression of his
+countenance, and his act. The wound was slight, though it bled a good
+deal, covering my shirt and trowsers with blood, as much as if I had been
+run through the heart. An inch or two, either way, in the direction of the
+knife, would certainly have killed me.
+
+I do not know what might haye been the end of this affair, had not one of
+the pirates come forward, at this critical instant, and checked my
+assailant by shaking a finger at him. This man, I feel very certain, I
+knew. I will not mention his name, as there is a doubt; but I cannot think
+I was mistaken. If I am right, he was a young man from Connecticut, who
+sailed one voyage to Liverpool with me in The Sterling. With that young
+man I had been very intimate, and was oftener with him ashore than with
+any other of the crew. His face was blackened, like those of all his
+companions, but this did not conceal his air, manner, size, eyes and
+voice. When he spoke, it was in a jargon of broken English and broken
+Spanish, such as no man accustomed to either language from infancy would
+have used. The same was true as to all the rest I heard speak, with the
+exception of an old fellow in the boat, whom I shall presently have
+occasion to mention, again.
+
+The man I took to be my old shipmate, also seemed to know me. I was but a
+lad when I quitted the Sterling, it is true; but they tell me I have not
+altered a great deal in general appearance. My hair is still black; and
+then, when I was in the very prime of life, it must have been easy to
+recognize me. So strongly was I impressed, at the time, that I saw an old
+acquaintance, I was about to call him by name, when, luckily, it crossed
+my mind this might be dangerous. The pirates wished clearly to be unknown,
+and it was wisest to let them think they were so. My supposed shipmate,
+however, proved my friend, and I received no more personal ill treatment
+after he had spoken to his companion. I sometimes think he was the means,
+indeed, of saving all our lives. He asked me if there was any money, and,
+on my denying it, he told me they knew better: the schooner was in
+ballast, and must have got something for her outward cargo. I refused to
+tell, and he ordered me into their boat, whither the captain had been sent
+before me. In doing all this, his manner wore an appearance, to me, of
+assumed severity.
+
+The poor old Frenchman fared worse. They seemed to know he was owner, and
+probably thought he could give the best account of the money. At any rate,
+he was unmercifully flogged, though he held out to the last, refusing to
+betray his doubloons. The boy was next attacked-with threats of throwing
+him overboard. This extracted the secret, and the doubloons were soon
+discovered.
+
+The captain and myself had been stowed under a half-deck, in the boat, but
+as soon as the money was found, the old Spaniard, who stood sentinel over
+us, was told to let us out, that we might see the fun. There were the
+eight scoundrels, paraded around the trunk of the schooner, dividing the
+doubloons. As soon as this was done, we were told to come alongside with
+our boat, which had been used to carry us to the piratical craft. The
+captain got on board the Sally and I was ordered to scull the rogues, in
+one gang, back to their own craft. The scamps were in high spirits,
+seeming much pleased with their haul. They cracked a good many jokes at
+our expense, but were so well satisfied with their gold, that they left
+the square-sail behind them. They had robbed the cabin, however, carrying
+off, for me, a quadrant, a watch, and a large portion of my clothes. The
+forecastle had not been entered, though the men had four hundred dollars
+lying under a pile of dirt and old junk, to keep them out of sight.
+
+My supposed shipmate bore me in mind to the last. When we reached his
+craft, he poured out a glass of brandy and offered it to me. I was afraid
+to drink, thinking it might be poisoned. He seemed to understand me, and
+swallowed it himself, in a significant manner. This gave me courage, and I
+took the next nip without hesitation. He then told me to shove off, which
+I did without waiting for a second order. The pirates pulled away at the
+same time.
+
+We were a melancholy party, as soon as we found ourselves left to
+ourselves. The old Frenchman was sad enough, and all of us pitied him. He
+made no complaint of the boy, notwithstanding, and little was said among
+us about the robbery. My wound proved trifling, though the old man was so
+bruised and beaten that he could scarcely walk.
+
+As soon as a breeze came, we went into Charleston, having no means to buy
+the cargo we had intended to get at Matanzas. This was the first time I
+was ever actually boarded by a pirate, although I had had several narrow
+escapes before. The first was in the Sterling, off the coast of Portugal;
+the next was in the William and Jane, outward bound to Canton; the third
+was on the bank, in the Trio, off the coast of Java; and the fourth, in
+the Mechanic, on the other side of Cuba. It was not the last of my affairs
+with them, however, as will be seen in the sequel.
+
+I went out in the Sally again, making a voyage to Matanzas and back,
+without any accident, or incident, worth mentioning. I still intended to
+remain in this schooner, the captain and I agreeing perfectly well, had I
+not been driven out of her by one of those unlucky accidents, of which so
+many have laid me athwart-hawse.
+
+We were discharging sugar at Charleston, in very heavy casks. The tide
+being in, the vessel's rail was higher than the wharf, and we landed the
+casks on the rail, from which they were rolled down some planks to the
+shore. Two negroes were stationed on the wharf to receive the casks, and
+to ease them down. One of these fellows was in the practice of running up
+the planks, instead of standing at their side and holding on to the end of
+the hogsheads. I remonstrated with him several times about the danger he
+ran, but he paid no attention to what I said. At length my words came
+true; a cask got away from the men, and rolled directly over this negro,
+flattening him like a bit of dough.
+
+This was clearly an accident, and no one thought of accusing me of any
+connection with it. But the owner of the black looked upon him as one
+would look upon a hack-horse that had been lamed, or killed; and he came
+down to the schooner, on hearing that his man was done for, swearing I
+should pay for him! As for paying the price of an athletic "nigger," it
+was even more impossible for me, than it would seem it is for the great
+State of Pennsylvania to pay the interest on its debt; and, disliking a
+lawsuit, I carried my dunnage on board another vessel that same afternoon,
+and agreed to work my passage to New York, as her second-mate.
+
+The vessel I now went on board of was the Commodore Rodgers, a regular
+liner between the two ports. We sailed next morning, and I paid for the
+poor "nigger" with the fore-topsail. The ship's husband was on board as we
+hauled out, a man who was much in the habit of abusing the mates. On this
+occasion he was particularly abusive to our chief mate; so much so,
+indeed, that I remonstrated with the latter on his forbearance. Nothing
+came of it, however, though I could not forget the character of the man
+who had used such language. When we reached New York, our chief mate left
+us, and I was offered the berth. It was a little hazardous to go back to
+Charleston, but wages were low, and business dull, the yellow fever being
+in New York, and I thought, by a little management, I might give my
+"nigger owner" a sufficient berth. I accordingly agreed to go.
+
+When we got back to Charleston, our ship lay at her own wharf, and I saw
+nothing of my chap. He worked up town, and we lay low down, But another
+misfortune befel me, that led even to worse consequences. The ship's
+husband, who was so foul-mouthed, was as busy as ever, blackguarding right
+and left, and finding fault with everything. Our cargo was nearly out, and
+this man and I had a row about some kegs of white lead. In the course of
+the dialogue, he called me "a saucy son of a b--h." This was too much for
+my temper, and I seized him and sent him down the hatchway. The fall was
+not great, and some hemp lay in the wake of the hatch; but the chap's
+collar-bone went. He sung out like a singing-master, but I did not stop to
+chime in. Throwing my slate on deck in a high passion, I left the ship and
+went ashore. I fell in with the captain on the wharf, told him my story,
+got a promise from him to send me my clothes, and vanished. In an hour or
+two, half the constables in Charleston were in chase of me. I kept so
+close they could not find me, lying snug for a couple of days.
+
+This state of things could not last for ever. The constables were not half
+so ferocious as they seemed; for one of them managed to get me off, on
+board a coaster, called the Gov. Russel; where I engaged, I may say, as
+chief mate and all hands. The Gov. Russel was a Buford trader, making
+trips about fifteen or twenty leagues long. This was the smallest
+navigation, and the smallest craft, a gun-boat excepted, with which I ever
+had anything to do. The crew consisted of two negroes, both slaves to the
+owner, while the captain and myself were aft. Whether she would have held
+so many, or not, I never knew, as the captain did not join, while I
+belonged to her. The schooner lay three miles below the town; and, in so
+much, was a good craft for me; as no one would think of following an old
+Canton trader into such a 'long-shore-looking thing. We busied ourselves
+in painting her, and in overhauling her rigging, while the ship's husband,
+and his myrmidons, amused themselves in searching for me up in town.
+
+I had been on board the Gov. Russel three days, when it came on to blow
+from the southward and westward, in true southern style. The gale came on
+butt-end foremost; and was thought to be as severe, as anything seen in
+the port for many a year. Most of the shipping broke adrift from the
+wharves; and everything that was anchored, a man-of-war and a
+revenue-cutter excepted, struck adrift, or dragged. As for ourselves, we
+were lying at single anchor; and soon began to walk down towards the bar.
+I let go the spare anchor; but she snapped her cables, as if they had been
+pack-thread; and away she went to leeward. Making sail was out of the
+question, had any been bent, as ours were not; and I had to let her travel
+her own road.
+
+All this happened at night; when it was so dark, one could not see,
+between the spray, the storm and the hour, the length of the craft. I knew
+we were going towards the ocean; and my great cause of apprehension was
+the bar. Looking for the channel, was out of the question; I did not know
+it, in the first place; and, had I been a branch-pilot, I could not find
+it in the dark. I never was more completely adrift, in my life, ashore or
+afloat. We passed a most anxious hour, or two; the schooner driving,
+broadside-to, I knew not whither, or to what fate. The two blacks were
+frightened out of their wits; and were of no assistance to me.
+
+At length, I felt the keel come down upon the sands; and then I knew we
+were on the bar. This happened amid a whirlwind of spray; with nothing
+visible but the white foam of the waters, and the breakers around us. The
+first blow threw both masts out of the steps; ripping up the decks to a
+considerable extent. The next minute we were on our beam-ends; the sea
+making a clear breach over us. All we could do, was to hold on; and this
+we did with difficulty. I and the two blacks got on the weather-quarter of
+the schooner, where we lashed ourselves with the main-sheet. As this was a
+stout rope, something must part, before we could be washed away. The craft
+made but two raps on the bar, when she drifted clear.
+
+I now knew we were at sea, and were drifting directly off the coast. As we
+got into deep water, the sea did not make such terrible surges over us;
+though they continued to break over our quarter. The masts were thumping
+away; but for this I cared little, the hold being full of water already.
+Sink we could not, having a wept hold, and being built, in a great
+measure, of pine. The schooner floated with about five feet of her
+quarter-deck above water. Her bows had settled the most; and this gave us
+rather a better chance aft.
+
+Fortunately, we got the worst of this blow at the first go off. The wind
+began to lessen in strength soon after we passed the bar, and by day-light
+it only blew a stiff breeze. No land was in sight, though I knew, by the
+colour of the water, that we could not be a very great distance from the
+coast. We had come out on an ebb-tide, and this had set us off the land,
+but all that southern coast is so low, that it was not to be seen from the
+surface of the ocean at any great distance.
+
+The day that succeeded was sad and dreary enough. The weather was fine,
+the sun coming out even hot upon us, but the wind continued to blow fresh
+off the land, and we were drifting further out, every instant, upon the
+bosom of the ocean. Our only hope was in falling in with some coaster, and
+I began to dread drifting outside of their track. We were without food or
+water, and were partly seated on the rail, and partly supported by the
+main-sheet. Neither of us attempted to change his berth that day. Little
+was said between us, though I occasionally encouraged the negroes to hold
+on, as something would yet pick us up. I had a feeling of security on this
+head that was unreasonable, perhaps; but a sanguine temperament has ever
+made me a little too indifferent to consequences.
+
+Night brought no change, unless it was to diminish the force of the wind.
+A short time before the sun set, one of the negroes said to me, "Masser
+Ned, John gone." I was forward of the two blacks, and was not looking at
+them at the time; I suppose I may have been dozing; but, on looking up, I
+found that one of the negroes had, indeed, disappeared. How this happened
+I cannot say, as he appeared to be well lashed; but I suppose he worked
+himself free, and being exhausted, he fell into the water, and sunk before
+I could get a glimpse of him. There was nothing to be done, however, and
+the loss of this man had a tendency to make me think our situation worse
+than it had before seemed to be. Some persons, all good Christians I
+should suppose, will feel some curiosity to know whether a man in my
+situations had no disposition to take a religious view of his case, and
+whether his conscience did not apprise him of the chances of perdition
+that seemed to stare him in the face. In answer to this, I am compelled to
+say that no such thoughts came over me. In all my risks and emergencies, I
+am not sensible of having given a thought to my Maker. I had a sense of
+fear, an apprehension of death, and an instinctive desire to save my life,
+but no consciousness of the necessity of calling on any being to save my
+soul. Notwithstanding all the lessons I had received in childhood, I was
+pretty nearly in the situation of one who had never heard the name of the
+Saviour mentioned. The extent of my reflections on such subjects, was the
+self-delusion of believing that I was to save myself--I had done no great
+harm, according to the notions of sailors; had not robbed; had not
+murdered; and had observed the mariner's code of morals, so far as I
+understood them; and this gave me a sort of _claim_ on the mercy of God.
+In a word, the future condition of my soul gave me no trouble whatever.
+
+I dare say my two companions on this little wreck had the same
+indifference on this subject, as I felt myself. I heard no prayer, no
+appeal to God for mercy, nothing indeed from any of us, to show that we
+thought at all on the subject. Hunger gave me a little trouble, and during
+the second night I would fall into a doze, and wake myself up by dreaming
+of eating meals that were peculiarly grateful to me. I have had the same
+thing happen on other occasions, when on short allowance of food. Neither
+of the blacks said anything on the subject of animal suffering, and the
+one that was lost, went out, as it might be, like a candle.
+
+The sun rose on the morning of the second day bright and clear. The wind
+shifted about this time, to a gentle breeze from the southward and
+eastward. This was a little encouraging, as it was setting the schooner
+in-shore again, but I could discover nothing in sight. There was still a
+good deal of sea going, and we were so low in the water, that our range of
+sight was very limited.
+
+It was late in the forenoon, when the negro called out, suddenly, "Massa
+Ned, dere a vessel!" Almost at the same instant, I heard voices calling
+out; and, looking round I saw a small coasting schooner, almost upon us.
+She was coming down before the wind, had evidently seen us some time
+before we saw her, and now ranged up under our lee, and hove-to. The
+schooner down boat, and took us on board without any delay. We moved with
+difficulty, and I found my limbs so stiff as to be scarcely manageable.
+The black was in a much worse state than I was myself, and I think twelve
+hours longer would have destroyed both of us.
+
+The schooner that picked us up was manned entirely with blacks, and was
+bound into Charleston. At the time she fell in with us, we must have been
+twenty miles from the bar, it taking us all the afternoon, with a fair
+wind, to reach it. We went below, and as soon as I got in the cabin, I
+discovered a kettle of boiled rice, on which I pounced like a hawk. The
+negroes wished to get it away from me, thinking I should injure myself;
+but I would not part with it. The sweetest meal I ever had in my life, was
+this rice, a fair portion of which, however, I gave to my companion. We
+had not fasted long enough materially to weaken our stomachs, and no ill
+consequences followed from the indulgence. After eating heartily, we both
+lay down on the cabin floor, and went to sleep. We reached the wharf about
+eight in the evening. Just within the bar, the schooner was spoken by a
+craft that was going out in search of the Gov. Russel. The blacks told her
+people where the wreck was to be found, and the craft stood out to sea.
+
+I was strong enough to walk up to my boarding-house, where I went again
+into quarantine. The Gov. Russel was found, towed into port, was repaired,
+and went about her business, as usual, in the Buford trade. I never saw
+her or her captain again, however. I parted with the negro that was saved
+with me, on the wharf, and never heard anything about him afterwards,
+either. Such is the life of a sailor!
+
+I was still afraid of the constables. So much damage had been done to more
+important shipping, and so many lives lost, however, that little was said
+of the escape of the Gov. Russel. Then I was not known in this schooner by
+my surname. When I threw the ship's husband down the hold, I was Mr.
+Myers; when wrecked in the coaster, only Ned.
+
+
+
+Chapter XIV.
+
+
+
+Notwithstanding my comparative insignificance, there was no real security
+in remaining long in Charleston, and it was my strong desire to quit the
+place. As "beggars cannot be choosers," I was glad to get on board the
+schooner Carpenter, bound to St. Mary's and Philadelphia, for, and with,
+ship-timber, as a foremast hand. I got on board undetected, and we sailed
+the same day. Nothing occurred until after we left St. Mary's, when we met
+with a singular accident. A few days out, it blowing heavy at the time,
+our deck-load pressed so hard upon the beams as to loosen them, and the
+schooner filled as far as her cargo--yellow pine--would allow. This
+calamity proceeded from the fact, that the negroes who stowed the craft
+neglected to wedge up the beams; a precaution that should never be
+forgotten, with a heavy weight on deck. No very serious consequences
+followed, however, as we managed to drive the craft ahead, and finally got
+her into Philadelphia, with all her cargo on board. We did not lose a
+stick, which showed that our captain was game, and did not like to let go
+when he had once got hold. This person was a down-easter, and was well
+acquainted with the Johnstons and Wiscasset. He tried hard to persuade me
+to continue in the schooner as mate, with a view to carrying me back to my
+old friends; but I turned a deaf ear to his advice. To own the truth, I
+was afraid to go back to Wiscassett. My own desertion could not well be
+excused, and then I was apprehensive the family might attribute to me the
+desertion and death of young Swett. He had been my senior, it is true, and
+was as able to influence me as I was to influence him; but conscience is a
+thing so sensitive, that, when we do wrong, it is apt to throw the whole
+error into our faces.
+
+Quitting the Carpenter in Philadelphia, therefore, I went to live in a
+respectable boarding-house, and engaged to go out in a brig called the
+Margaret, working on board as a rigger and stevedore, until she should be
+ready to sail. My berth was to be that of mate. The owner of this brig was
+as notorious, in his way, as the ship's husband in Charleston I had heard
+his character, and was determined, if he attempted to ride me, as he was
+said to do many of his mates, and even captains, he should find himself
+mounted on a hard-going animal. One day, things came to a crisis. The
+owner was on the wharf, with me, and such a string of abuse as he launched
+out upon me, I never before listened to. A crowd collected, and my blood
+got up. I seized the man, and dropped him off the wharf into the water,
+alongside of some hoop-poles, that I knew must prevent any accident. In
+this last respect, I was sufficiently careful, though the ducking was very
+thorough. The crowd gave three cheers, which I considered as a proof I was
+not so very wrong. Nothing was said of any suit on this occasion; but I
+walked off, and went directly on board a ship called the Coromandel, on
+which I had had an eye, as a lee, for several days. In this vessel I
+shipped as second-mate; carrying with me all the better character for the
+ducking given to the notorious--------.
+
+The Coromandel was bound to Cadiz, and thence round the Horn. The outward
+bound cargo was flour, but to which ports we were going in South America,
+I was ignorant. Our crew were all blacks, the officers excepted. We had a
+good passage, until we got off Cape Trafalgar, when it came on to blow
+heavily, directly on end. We lay-to off the Cape two days, and then ran
+into Gibraltar, and anchored. Here we lay about a fortnight, when there
+came on a gale from the south-west, which sent a tremendous sea in from
+the Atlantic. This gale commenced in the afternoon, and blew very heavily
+all that night. The force of the wind increased, little by little, until
+it began to tell seriously among the shipping, of which a great number
+were lying in front of the Rock. The second day of the gale, our ship was
+pitching bows under, sending the water aft to the taffrail, while many
+other craft struck adrift, or foundered at their anchors. The Coromandel
+had one chain cable, and this was out. It was the only cable we used for
+the first twenty-four hours. As the gale increased, however, it was
+thought necessary to let go the sheet-anchor, which had a hempen cable
+bent to it. Our chain, indeed, was said to be the first that was ever used
+out of Philadelphia, though it had then been in the ship for some time,
+and had proved itself a faithful servant the voyage before. Unfortunately,
+most of the chain was out before we let go the sheet-anchor, and there was
+no possibility of getting out a scope of the hempen cable. Dragging on
+shore, where we lay, was pretty much out of the question, as the bottom
+shelved inward, and the anchor, to come home, must have gone up hill.[14]
+
+In this manner the Coromandel rode for two nights and two days, the sea
+getting worse and worse, and the wind, it anything, rather increasing. We
+took the weight of the last in squalls, some of which were terrific. By
+this time the bay was well cleared of craft, nearly everything having
+sunk, or gone ashore. An English packet lay directly ahead of us, rather
+more than a cable's length distant, and she held on like ourselves. The
+Governor Brooks, of Boston, lay over nearer to Algesiras, where the sea
+and wind were a little broken, and, of course, she made better weather
+than ourselves.
+
+About eight o'clock, the third night, I was in the cabin, when the men on
+deck sung out that the chain had gone. At this time the ship had been
+pitching her spritsail-yard under water, and it blew a little hurricane.
+We were on deck in a moment, all hands paying out sheet. We brought the
+ship up with this cable, but not until she got it nearly to the better
+end. Unfortunately, we had got into shoal water, or what became shoal
+water by the depth of the troughs. It was said, afterwards, we were in
+five fathoms water at this time, but for this I will not vouch. It seems
+too much water for what happened. Our anchor, however, did actually lie in
+sixteen fathoms.
+
+We had hardly paid out the cable, before the ship came down upon the
+bottom, on an even keel, apparently, with a force that almost threw those
+on deck off their feet. These blows were repeated, from time to time, at
+intervals of several minutes, some of the thumps being much heavier than
+others. The English packet must have struck adrift at the same time with
+ourselves, for she came down upon us, letting go an anchor in a way to
+overlay our cable. I suppose the rocks and this sawing together, parted
+our hempen cable, and away we went towards the shore, broadside-to. As the
+ship drifted in, she continued to thump; but, luckily for us, the sea made
+no breaches over her. The old Coromandel was a very strong ship, and she
+continued working her way in-shore, until she lay in a good substantial
+berth, without any motion. We manned the pumps, and kept the ship
+tolerably free of water, though she lay over considerably. The English
+packet followed us in, going ashore more towards the Spanish lines. This
+vessel bilged, and lost some of her crew. As for ourselves, we had a
+comfortable berth, considering the manner in which we had got into it. No
+apprehension was felt for our personal safety, and perfect order was
+observed on board. The men worked as usual, nor was there any extra
+liquor drunk.
+
+That night the gale broke, and before morning it had materially moderated.
+Lighters were brought alongside, and we began to discharge our flour into
+them. The cargo was all discharged, and all in good order, so far as the
+water was concerned; though several of the keelson bolts were driven into
+the ground tier of barrels. I am almost afraid to tell this story, but I
+know it to be true, as I released the barrels with my own hands. As soon
+as clear, the ship was hove off into deep water, on the top of a high
+tide, and was found to leak so much as to need a shore-gang at the pumps
+to keep her afloat. She was accordingly sold for the benefit of the
+underwriters. She was subsequently docked and sent to sea.
+
+Of course, this broke up our voyage. The captain advised me to take a
+second-mate's berth in the Governor Brooks, the only American that escaped
+the gale, and I did so. This vessel was a brig, bound round the Horn,
+also, and a large, new craft. I know of no other vessel, that lay in front
+of the Rock that rode out this gale; and she did it with two hempen cables
+out, partly protected, however, by a good berth. There was a Swede that
+came back next day to her anchorage, which was said to have got
+back-strapped, behind the Rock, by some legerdemain, and so escaped also.
+I do not know how many lives were lost on this occasion; but the
+destruction of property must have been very great.
+
+Three weeks after the gale, the Governor Brooks sailed. We had a hard time
+in doubling the Cape, being a fortnight knocking about between Falkland
+and the Main. We were one hundred and forty-four days out, touching
+nowhere, until we anchored at Callao. We found flour, of which our cargo
+was composed, at seven dollars a barrel, with seven dollars duty. The
+Franklin 74, was lying here, with the Aurora English frigate, the castle
+being at war with the people inland. Our flour was landed, and what became
+of it is more than I can tell.
+
+We now took in ballast, and ran down to Guayaquil. Here an affair occurred
+that might very well have given me the most serious cause of regret, all
+the days of my life. Our steward was a Portuguese negro, of the most
+vicious and surly temper. Most of the people and officers were really
+afraid of him. One evening, the captain and chief mate being both ashore,
+I was sitting on deck, idle, and I took a fancy to a glass of grog. I
+ordered the steward, accordingly, to pour me out one, and bring it up. The
+man pretended that the captain had carried off the keys, and no rum was to
+be had. I thought this a little extraordinary; and, as one would be very
+apt to be, felt much hurt at the circumstance. I had never been drunk in
+the craft, and was not a drunkard in one sense of the term, at all; seldom
+drinking so as to affect me, except when on a frolic, ashore.
+
+As I sat brooding over this fancied insult, however, I smelt rum; and
+looking down the sky-light, saw this same steward passing forward with a
+pot filled with the liquor. I was fairly blinded with passion. Running
+down, I met the fellow, just as he was coming out of the cabin, and
+brought him up all standing. The man carried a knife along his leg, a
+weapon that had caused a good deal of uneasiness in the brig, and he now
+reached down to get it. Seeing there was no time to parley, I raised him
+from the floor, and threw him down with great force, his head coming
+under. There he lay like a log, and all my efforts with vinegar and water
+had no visible effect.
+
+I now thought the man dead. He gave no sign of life that I could detect,
+and fear of the consequences came over me. The devil put it into my head
+to throw the body overboard, as the most effectual means of concealing
+what I had done. The steward had threatened to run, by swimming, more than
+once, and I believe had been detected in making such an attempt; and I
+fancied if I could get the body through one of the cabin-windows, it would
+seem as if he had been drowned in carrying his project into execution. I
+tried all I could first to restore the steward to life; but failing of
+this, I actually began to drag him aft, in order to force his body out of
+a cabin-window. The transom was high, and the man very heavy; so I was a
+good while in dragging the load up to the necessary height. Just as I got
+it there, the fellow gave a groan, and I felt a relief that I had never
+before experienced. It seemed to me like a reprieve from the gallows.
+
+I now took the steward down, upon one of the lower transoms, where he sat
+rubbing his head a few minutes, I watching him closely the whole time. At
+length he got up, and staggered out of the cabin. He went and turned in,
+and I saw no more of him until next day. As it turned out, good, instead
+of harm, resulted from this affair; the black being ever afterwards
+greatly afraid of me. If I did not break his neck, I broke his temper; and
+the captain used to threaten to set me at him, whenever he behaved amiss.
+I owned the whole affair to the captain and mate, both of whom laughed
+heartily at what had happened, though I rejoiced, in my inmost heart, that
+it was no worse.
+
+The brig loaded with cocao, in bulk, at Guayaquil, and sailed for Cadiz.
+The passage was a fine one, as we doubled the Horn at midsummer. On this
+occasion we beat round the cape, under top-gallant-sails. The weather was
+so fine, we stood close in to get the benefit of the currents, after
+tacking, as it seemed to me, within a league of the land. Our passage to
+Cadiz lasted one hundred and forty-one, or two, days, being nearly the
+same length as that out though much smoother.
+
+The French had just got possession of Cadiz, as we got in, and we found
+the white flag flying. We lay here a month, and then went round to the
+Rock. After passing a week at Gibraltar, to take in some dollars, we
+sailed for New Orleans, in ballast. As I had been on twenty-two dollars a
+month, there was a pretty good whack coming to me, as soon as we reached
+an American port, and I felt a desire to spend it, before I went to sea
+again. They wished me to stick by the brig, which was going the very same
+voyage over; but I could not make up my mind to travel so long a road,
+with a pocket full of money. I had passed so many years at sea, that a
+short land cruise was getting to be grateful, as a novelty.
+
+The only craft I could get on board of, to come round into my own
+latitude, in order to enjoy myself in the old way, was an eastern
+schooner, called the James. On board this vessel I shipped as mate, bound
+to Philadelphia. She was the most meagre craft, in the way of outfit, I
+ever put to sea in. Her boat would not swim, and she had not a spare spar
+on board her. In this style, we went jogging along north, until we were
+met by a north-west gale, between Bermuda and Cape Hatteras, which forced
+us to heave-to. During this gale, I had a proof of the truth that "where
+the treasure is, there will the heart be also."
+
+I was standing leaning on the rail, and looking over the schooner's
+quarter, when I saw what I supposed to be a plank come up alongside! The
+idea of sailing in a craft of which the bottom was literally dropping out,
+was not very pleasant, and I thought all was lost. I cannot explain the
+folly of my conduct, except by supposing that my many escapes at sea, had
+brought me to imagine I was to be saved, myself, let what would happen to
+all the rest on board. Without stopping to reflect, I ran below and
+secured my dollars. Tearing up a blanket, I made a belt, and lashed about
+twenty-five pounds weight of silver to my body, with the prospect before
+me of swimming two or three hundred miles with it, before I could get
+ashore. As for boat, or spars, the former would not float, and of the last
+there was not one. I now look back on my acts of this day with wonder, for
+I had forgotten all my habitual knowledge of vessels, in the desire to
+save the paltry dollars. For the first and only time in my life I felt
+avaricious, and lost sight of everything in money!
+
+It was my duty to sound the pumps, but this I did not deem necessary. No
+sooner were the dollars secure, or, rather, ready to anchor me in the
+bottom of the ocean, than I remembered the captain. He was asleep, and
+waking him up, I told him what had happened. The old man, a dry, drawling,
+cool, down-easter, laughed in my face for my pains, telling me I had seen
+one of the sheeting-boards, with which he had had the bottom of the
+schooner covered, to protect it from the worms, at Campeachy, and that I
+need be under no concern about the schooner's bottom. This was the simple
+truth, and I cast off the dollars, again, with a sneaking consciousness of
+not having done my duty. I suppose all men have moments when they are not
+exactly themselves, in which they act very differently from what it has
+been their practice to act. On this occasion, I was not alarmed for
+myself, but I thought the course I took was necessary to save that dross
+which lures so many to perdition. Avarice blinded me to the secrets of my
+own trade.
+
+I had come all the way from New Orleans to Philadelphia, to spend my four
+hundred dollars to my satisfaction. For two months I lived respectably,
+and actually began to go to church. I did not live in a boarding-house,
+but in a private family. My landlady was a pious woman, and a member of
+the Dutch Reformed Church, but her husband was a Universalist. I must say,
+I liked the doctrine of the last the best, as it made smooth water for the
+whole cruise. I usually went with the man to church of a morning, which
+was falling among shoals, as a poor fellow was striving to get into port.
+I received a great deal of good advice from my landlady, however, and it
+made so much impression on me as to influence my conduct; though I cannot
+say it really touched my heart. I became more considerate, and better
+mannered, if I were not truly repentant for my sins. These two months were
+passed more rationally than any time of mine on shore, since the hour when
+I ran from the Sterling.
+
+The James was still lying in Philadelphia, undergoing repairs, and waiting
+for freight; but being now ready for sea, I shipped in her again, on a
+voyage to St. Thomas, with a cargo of flour. When we sailed, I left near a
+hundred dollars behind me, besides carrying some money to sea; the good
+effects of good company. At St. Thomas we discharged, and took in ballast
+for Turk's Island, where we got a cargo of salt, returning with it to
+Philadelphia. My conduct had been such on board this schooner, that her
+commander, who was her owner, and very old, having determined to knock off
+going to sea, tried to persuade me to stick by the craft, promising to
+make me her captain as soon as he could carry her down east, where she
+belonged. I now think I made a great mistake in not accepting this offer,
+though I was honestly diffident about my knowledge of navigation. I never
+had a clear understanding of the lunars, though I worked hard to master
+them. It is true, chronometers were coming into general use, in large
+vessels, and I could work the time; but a chronometer was a thing never
+heard of on board the James. Attachment to the larger towns, and a dislike
+for little voyages, had as much influence on me as anything else. I
+declined the offer; the only direct one ever made me to command any sort
+of craft, and remained what I am. I had a little contempt, too, for
+vessels of such a rig and outfit, which probably had its influence. I
+liked rich owners.
+
+On my return to Philadelphia, I found the family in which I had last lived
+much deranged by illness. I got my money, but was obliged to look for new
+lodgings. The respectable people with whom I had been before, did not keep
+lodgers, I being their only boarder; but I now went to a regular sailor's
+boarding-house. There was a little aristocracy, it is true, in my new
+lodgings, to which none but mates, dickies, and thorough salts came; but
+this was getting into the hurricane latitudes as to morals. I returned to
+all my old habits, throwing the dollars right and left, and forgetting all
+about even a Universalist church.
+
+A month cleaned me out, in such company. I spent every cent I had, with
+the exception of about fifteen dollars, that I had laid by as nest-eggs. I
+then shipped as second-mate, in the Rebecca Simms, a ship bound to St.
+Jago de Cuba, with flour. The voyage lasted four months; producing nothing
+of moment, but a little affair that was personal to myself, and which cost
+me nearly all my wages. The steward was a saucy black; and, on one
+occasion, in bad weather, he neglected to give me anything warm for
+breakfast. I took an opportunity to give him a taste of the end of the
+main-clew-garnet, as an admonisher; and there the matter ended, so long
+as I remained in the ship. It seemed quite right, to all on board, but the
+steward. He bore the matter in mind, and set a whole pack of quakers on
+me, as soon as we got in. The suit was tried; and it cost me sixty
+dollars, in damages, beside legal charges. I dare say it was all right,
+according to law and evidence; but I feel certain, just such a rubbing
+down, once a week, would have been very useful to that same steward.
+Well-meaning men often do quite as much harm, in this world, as the
+evil-disposed. Philanthropists of this school should not forget, that, if
+colour is no sufficient reason why a man should be always wrong, it is no
+sufficient reason why he should be always right.
+
+The lawsuit drove me to sea, again, in a very short time. Finding no
+better berth, and feeling very savage at the blindness of justice, I
+shipped before the mast, in the Superior, an Indiaman, of quite eight
+hundred tons, bound to Canton. This was the pleasantest voyage I ever made
+to sea, in a merchantman, so far as the weather, and, I may say, usage,
+were concerned. We lost our top-gallant-masts, homeward bound; but this
+was the only accident that occurred. The ship was gone nine months; the
+passage from Whampao to the capes having been made in ninety-four days.
+When we got in, the owners had failed, and there was no money forthcoming,
+at the moment. To remain, and libel the ship, was dull business; so,
+leaving a power of attorney behind me, I went on board a schooner, called
+the Sophia, bound to Vera Cruz, as foremast Jack.
+
+The Sophia was a clipper; and made the run out in a few days. We went into
+Vera Cruz; but found it nearly deserted. Our cargo went ashore a little
+irregularly; sometimes by day, and sometimes by night; being assorted, and
+suited to all classes of customers. As soon as ready, we sailed for
+Philadelphia, again; where we arrived, after an absence of only
+two months.
+
+I now got my wages for the Canton voyage; but they lasted me only a
+fortnight! It was necessary to go to sea, again; and I went on board the
+Caledonia; once more bound to Canton. This voyage lasted eleven months;
+but, like most China voyages, produced no event of importance. We lost our
+top-gallant-masts, this time, too; but that is nothing unusual, off Good
+Hope. I can say but little, in favour of the ship, or the treatment.
+
+On getting back to Philadelphia, the money went in the old way. I
+occasionally walked round to see my good religious friends, with whom I
+had once lived, but they ceased to have any great influence over my
+conduct. As soon as necessary, I shipped in the Delaware, a vessel bound
+to Savannah and Liverpool. Southern fashion, I ran from this vessel in
+Savannah, owing her nothing, however, but was obliged to leave my
+protection behind, as it was in the captain's hands. I cannot give any
+reason but caprice for quitting this ship. The usage was excellent, and
+the wages high; yet run I did. As long as the Delaware remained in port, I
+kept stowed away; but, as soon as she sailed, I came out into the world,
+and walked about the wharves as big as an owner.
+
+I now went on board a ship called the Tobacco Plant, bound to Liverpool
+and Philadelphia, for two dollars a month less wages, worse treatment, and
+no grog. So much for following the fashion. The voyage produced nothing to
+be mentioned.
+
+On my return to Philadelphia, I resolved to shift my ground, and try a new
+tack. I was now thirty-four, and began to give up all thoughts of getting
+a lift in my profession. I had got so many stern-boards on me, every time
+I was going ahead, and was so completely alone in the world, that I had
+become indifferent, and had made up my mind to take things as they
+offered. As for money, my rule had come to be, to spend it as I got it,
+and go to sea for more. "If I tumbled overboard," I said to myself, "there
+is none to cry over me;" therefore let things jog on their own course. All
+the disposition to morality that had been aroused within me, at
+Philadelphia, was completely gone, and I thought as little of church and
+of religion, as ever. It is true I had bought a Bible on board the
+Superior, and I was in the practice of reading in it, from time to time,
+though it was only the narratives, such as those of Sampson and Goliah,
+that formed any interest for me. The history of Jonah and the whale, I
+read at least twenty times. I cannot remember that the morality, or
+thought, or devotion of a single passage ever struck me on these
+occasions. In word, I read this sacred book for amusement, and not
+for light.
+
+I now wanted change, and began to think of going back to the navy, by way
+of novelty. I had been round the world once, had been to Canton five
+times, doubling the Cape, round the Horn twice, to Batavia once, the
+West-Indies, on the Spanish main, and had crossed the Atlantic so often,
+that I thought I knew all the mile-stones. I had seen but little of the
+Mediterranean, and fancied a man-of-war's cruise would show me those seas.
+Most of the Tobacco Plants had shipped in Philadelphia, and I determined
+to go with them, to go in the navy. There is a fashion in all things, and
+just then it was the fashion to enter in the service.
+
+I was shipped by Lieutenant M'Kean, now Commander M'Kean, a grandson of
+the old Governor of Pennsylvania, as they tell me. All hands of us were
+sent on board the Cyane, an English prize twenty-gun ship, where we
+remained about six weeks. A draft was then made, and more than a hundred
+of us were sent round to Norfolk, in a sloop, to join the Delaware, 80,
+then fitting out for the Mediterranean. We found the ship lying alongside
+the Navy-yard wharf, and after passing one night in the receiving-ship,
+were sent on board the two-decker. The Delaware soon hauled out, and was
+turned over to Captain Downes, the very officer who had almost persuaded
+me to go in that ill-fated brig, the Epervier.
+
+I was stationed on the Delaware's forecastle, and was soon ordered to do
+second captain's duty. We had for lieutenants on board, Mr. Ramage, first,
+Messrs. Williamson, Ten Eick, Shubrick, Byrne, Chauncey, Harris, and
+several whose names I have forgotten. Mr. Ramage has since been cashiered,
+I understand; and Messrs. Ten Eick, Shubrick, Chauncey, Harris, and Byrne,
+are now all commanders.
+
+The ship sailed in the winter of 1828, in the month of January I think,
+having on board the Prince of Musignano, and his family, who were going to
+Italy. This gentleman was Charles Bonaparte, eldest son of Lucien, Prince
+of Canino, they tell me, and is now Prince of Canino himself. He had been
+living some time in America, and got a passage in our ship, on account of
+the difficulty of travelling in Europe, for one of his name and family.
+He was the first, and only Prince I ever had for a shipmate.
+
+
+
+Chapter XV.
+
+
+
+Our passage out in the Delaware was very rough, the ship rolling heavily.
+It was the first time she had been at sea, and it required some little
+time to get her trim and sailing. She turned out, however, to be a good
+vessel; sailing fairly, steering well, and proving an excellent sea-boat.
+We went into Algesiras, where we lay only twenty-four hours. We then
+sailed for Mahon, but were met by orders off the port, to proceed to
+Leghorn and land our passengers. I have been told this was done on account
+of the Princess of Musignano's being a daughter of the ex-King of Spain,
+and it was not thought delicate to bring her within the territory of the
+reigning king. I have even heard that the commodore was offered an order
+of knighthood for the delicacy he manifested on this occasion, which offer
+he declined accepting, as a matter of course.
+
+The ship had a good run from off Mahon to Leghorn where we anchored in the
+outer roads. We landed the passengers the afternoon of the day we arrived.
+That very night it came on to blow heavily from the northward and
+eastward, or a little off shore, according to the best of my recollection.
+This was the first time I ever saw preparations made to send down lower
+yards, and to house top-masts--merchantmen not being strong-handed enough
+to cut such capers with their sticks. We had three anchors ahead, if not
+four, the ship labouring a good deal. We lost one man from the starboard
+forechains, by his getting caught in the buoy-rope, as we let go a
+sheet-anchor. The poor fellow could not be picked up, on account of the
+sea and the darkness of the night, though an attempt was made to save him.
+
+The next day the weather moderated a little, and we got under way for
+Mahon. Our passage down was pleasant, and this time we went in. Captain
+Downes now left us, and Commodore Crane hoisted his broad-pennant on
+board us. The ship now lay a long time in port. The commodore went aloft
+in one of the sloops, and was absent several months. I was told he was
+employed in making a treaty with the Turks, but us poor Jacks knew little
+of such matters. On his return, there was a regular blow-up with the
+first-lieutenant, who left the ship, to nobody's regret, so far as I know.
+Mr. Mix, who had led our party to the lakes in 1812, and was with us in
+all my lake service, and who was Mr. Osgood's brother-in-law, now joined
+us as first-lieutenant. I had got to be first-captain of the forecastle, a
+berth I held to the end of the cruise.
+
+The treatment on board this ship was excellent. The happiest time I ever
+spent at sea, was in the Delaware. After Mr. Mix took Mr. Ramage's place,
+everybody seemed contented, and I never knew a better satisfied ship's
+company. The third year out, we had a long cruise off Cape de Gatte,
+keeping the ship under her canvass quite three months. We took in supplies
+at sea, the object being to keep us from getting rusty. On the fourth of
+July we had a regular holiday. At four in the morning, the ship was close
+in under the north shore, and we wore off the land. Sail was then
+shortened. After this, we had music, and more saluting and grog. The day
+was passed merrily, and I do not remember a fight, or a black eye, in
+the ship.
+
+I volunteered to go one cruise in the Warren, under Mr. Byrne. The present
+Commodore Kearny commanded this ship, and he took us down to the Rock. The
+reason of our volunteering was this. The men-of-war of the Dutch and the
+French, rendezvoused at Mahon, as well as ourselves. The French and our
+people had several rows ashore. Which was right and which wrong, I cannot
+say, as it was the Java's men, and not the Delaware's, that were engaged
+in them, on our side. One of the Javas was run through the body, and a
+French officer got killed. It was said the French suspected us of a design
+of sending away the man who killed their officer, and meant to stop the
+Warren, which was bound to the Rock on duty. All I know is, that two
+French brigs anchored at the mouth of the harbour, and some of us were
+called on to volunteer. Forty-five of us did so, and went on board
+the sloop.
+
+After the Warren got under way, we went to quarters, manning both
+batteries. In this manner we stood down between the two French brigs, with
+top-gallant-sails furled and the courses in the brails. We passed directly
+between the two brigs, keeping a broadside trained upon each; but nothing
+was said, or done, to us. We anchored first at the Rock, but next day
+crossed over to the Spanish coast. In a short time we returned to Mahon,
+and we volunteers went back to the Delaware. The two brigs had gone, but
+there was still a considerable French force in port. Nothing came of the
+difficulty, however, so far as I could see or hear.
+
+In the season of 1830, the Constellation, Commodore Biddle, came out, and
+our ship and Commodore were relieved. We had a run up as far as Sicily,
+however, before this took place, and went off Tripoli. There I saw a
+wreck, lying across the bay, that they told me was the bones of the
+Philadelphia frigate. We were also at Leghorn, several weeks, the
+commodore going to some baths in the neighbourhood, for his health.
+
+Among other ports, the Delaware visited Carthagena, Malta, and Syracuse.
+At the latter place, the ship lay six weeks, I should think. This was the
+season of our arrival out. Here we underwent a course of severe exercise,
+that brought the crew up to a high state of discipline. At four in the
+morning, we would turn out, and commence our work. All the manoeuvres of
+unmooring, making sail, reefing, furling, and packing on her again, were
+gone through, until the people got so much accustomed to work together,
+the great secret of the efficiency of a man-of-war, that the officer of
+the deck was forced to sing out "belay!" before the yards were up by a
+foot, lest the men should spring the spars. When we got through this
+drill, the commodore told us we would do, and that he was not ashamed to
+show us alongside of anything that floated. I do not pretend to give our
+movements in the order in which they occurred, however, nor am I quite
+certain what year it was the commodore went up to Smyrna. On reflection,
+it may have been later than I have stated.
+
+Our cruise off Cape de Gatte was one of the last things we did; and when
+we came back to Mahon, we took in supplies for America. We made the
+southern passage home and anchored in Hampton Roads, in the winter of
+1831. I believe the whole crew of the Delaware was sorry when the cruise
+was up. There are always a certain number of long-shore chaps in a
+man-of-war, who are never satisfied with discipline, and the wholesome
+restraints of a ship; but as for us old salts, I never heard one give the
+Delaware a bad name. We had heard an awful report of the commodore, who
+was called a "burster," and expected sharp times under him; and his manner
+of taking possession was of a nature to alarm us. All hands had been
+called to receive him, and the first words he said were "Call all hands to
+witness punishment." A pin might have been heard falling among us, for
+this sounded ominous. It was to clear the brig, only, Captain Downes
+having left three men in it, whom he would not release on quitting the
+vessel. The offences were serious, and could not be overlooked. These
+three chaps got it; but there was only one other man brought regularly to
+the gang-way while I was in the ship, and he was under the sentence of a
+court, and belonged to the Warren. As soon as the brig was cleared, the
+commodore told us we should be treated as we treated others, and then
+turned away among the officers. The next day we found we were to live
+under a just rule, and that satisfied us. One of the great causes of the
+contentment that reigned in the ship, was the method, and the regularity
+of the hours observed. The men knew on what they could calculate, in
+ordinary times, and this left them their own masters within certain hours.
+I repeat, she was the happiest ship I ever served in, though I have always
+found good treatment in the navy.
+
+I can say conscientiously, that were my life to be passed over again,
+without the hope of commanding a vessel, it should be passed in the navy.
+The food is better, the service is lighter, the treatment is better, if a
+man behave himself at all well, he is better cared for, has a port under
+his lee in case of accidents, and gets good, steady, wages, with the
+certainty of being paid. If his ship is lost, his wages are safe; and if
+he gets hurt, he is pensioned. Then he is pretty certain of having
+gentlemen over him, and that is a great deal for any man. He has good
+quarters below; and if he serve in a ship as large as a frigate, he has a
+cover over his head, half the time, at least, in bad weather. This is the
+honest opinion of one who has served in all sorts of crafts, liners,
+Indiamen, coasters, smugglers, whalers, and transient ships. I have been
+in a ship of the line, two frigates, three sloops of war, and several
+smaller craft; and such is the result of all my experience in Uncle Sam's
+navy. No man can go to sea and always meet with fair-weather, but he will
+get as little of foul in one of our vessels of war, as in any craft that
+floats, if a man only behave himself. I think the American merchantmen
+give better wages than are to be found in other services; and I think the
+American men-of-war, as a rule, give better treatment than the American
+merchantman. God bless the flag, I say, and this, too, without the fear of
+being hanged!
+
+The Delaware lay two or three weeks in the Roads before she went up to the
+Yard. At the latter place we began to strip the ship. While thus employed,
+we were told that seventy-five of us, whose times were not quite out, were
+to be drafted for the Brandywine 44, then fitting out at New York, for a
+short cruise in the Gulf. This was bad news, for Jack likes a swing ashore
+after a long service abroad. Go we must, and did, however. We were sent
+round to New York in a schooner, and found the frigate still lying at the
+Yard. We were hulked on board the Hudson until she was ready to receive
+us, when we were sent to our new vessel. Captain Ballard commanded the
+Brandywine, and among her lieutenants, Mr. M'Kenny was the first. This is
+a fine ship, and she got her name from the battle in which La Fayette was
+wounded in this country, having been first fitted out to carry him to
+France, after his last visit to America. She is a first-class frigate,
+mounting thirty long thirty-two's on her gun-deck; and I conceive it to be
+some honour to a sailor to have it in his power to say he has been captain
+of the forecastle in such a ship, for I was rated in this frigate the same
+as I had been rated in the Delaware; with this difference, that, for my
+service in the Brandywine, I received my regular eighteen dollars a month
+as a petty officer; whereas, though actually captain of the Delaware's
+forecastle for quite two years, and second-captain nearly all the rest of
+the time I was in the ship, I never got more than seaman's wages, or
+twelve dollars a month. I do not know how this happened, though I supposed
+it to have arisen from some mistake connected with the circumstance that
+I was paid off for my services in the Delaware, by the purser of the
+frigate. This was in consequence of the transfer.
+
+The Brandywine sailed in March for the Gulf. Our cruise lasted about five
+months, during which time we went to Vera Cruz, Pensacola, and the Havana.
+We appeared to me to be a single ship, as we were never in squadron, and
+saw no broad-pennant. No accident happened, the cruise being altogether
+pleasant. The ship returned to Norfolk, and twenty-five of us, principally
+old Delawares, were discharged, our times being out. We all of us intended
+to return to the frigate, after a cruise ashore, and we chartered a
+schooner to carry us to Philadelphia in a body, determining not to
+part company.
+
+The morning the schooner sailed, I was leading the whole party along one
+of the streets of Norfolk, when I saw something white lying in the middle
+of the carriage-way. It turned out to be an old messmate, Jack Dove, who
+had been discharged three days before, and had left us to go to
+Philadelphia, but had been brought up by King Grog. While we were
+overhauling the poor fellow, who could not speak, his landlady came out to
+us, and told us that he had eat nothing for three days, and did nothing
+but drink. She begged us to take care of him, as he disregarded all she
+said. This honest woman gave us Jack's wages to a cent, for I knew what
+they had come to; and we made a collection of ten dollars for her,
+calculating that Jack must have swallowed that much in three days. Jack we
+took with us, bag and hammock; but he would eat nothing on the passage,
+calling out constantly for drink. We gave him liquor, thinking it would do
+him good; but he grew worse, and, when we reached Philadelphia, he was
+sent to the hospital. Here, in the course of a few days, he died.
+
+Never, in all my folly and excesses, did I give myself so much up to
+drink, as when I reached Philadelphia this time. I was not quite as bad as
+Jack Dove, but I soon lost my appetite, living principally on liquor. When
+we heard of Jack's death, we proposed among ourselves to give him a
+sailor's funeral. We turned out, accordingly, to the number if a hundred,
+or more, in blue jackets and white trowsers, and marched up to the
+hospital in a body. I was one of the leaders in this arrangement, and felt
+much interest in it, as Jack had been my messmate; but, the instant I saw
+his coffin, a fit of the "horrors" came over me, and I actually left the
+place, running down street towards the river, as if pursued by devils.
+Luckily, I stopped to rest on the stoop of a druggist. The worthy man took
+me in, gave me some soda water, and some good advice. When a little
+strengthened, I made my way home, but gave up at the door. Then followed a
+severe indisposition, which kept me in bed for a fortnight, during which I
+suffered the torments of the damned.
+
+I have had two or three visits from the "horrors," in the course of my
+life, but nothing to equal this attack. I came near following Jack Dove to
+the grave; but God, in His mercy, spared me from such an end. It is not
+possible for one who has never experienced the effects of his excesses, in
+this particular form, to get any correct notions of the sufferings I
+endured. Among other conceits, I thought the colour which the tar usually
+leaves on seamen's nails, was the sign that I had the yellow fever. This
+idea haunted me for days, and gave me great uneasiness. In short, I was
+like a man suspended over a yawning chasm, expecting, every instant, to
+fall and be dashed to pieces, and yet, who could not die.
+
+For some time after my recovery, I could not bear the smell of liquor; but
+evil companions lured me back to my old habits. I was soon in a bad way
+again, and it was only owing to the necessity of going to sea, that I had
+not a return of the dreadful malady. When I shipped in the Delaware, I had
+left my watch, quadrant, and good clothes, to the value of near two
+hundred dollars, with my present landlord, and he now restored them all to
+me, safe and sound. I made considerable additions to the stock of clothes,
+and when I again went to sea, left the whole, and more, with the
+same landlord.
+
+Our plan of going back to the Brandywine was altered by circumstances; and
+a party of us shipped in the Monongahela, a Liverpool liner, out of
+Philadelphia. The cabin of this vessel was taken by two gentlemen, going
+to visit Europe, viz.: Mr. Hare Powell and Mr. Edward Burd; and getting
+these passengers, with their families, on board, the ship sailed. By this
+time, I had pretty much given up the hope of preferment, and did not
+trouble myself whether I lived forward or aft. I joined the Monongahela as
+a forward hand, therefore, quite as well satisfied as if her chief mate.
+
+We left the Delaware in the month of August, and, a short time out,
+encountered one of the heaviest gales of wind I ever witnessed at sea. It
+came on from the eastward, and would have driven us ashore, had not the
+wind suddenly shifted to south-west. The ship was lying-to, under bare
+poles, pressed down upon the water in such a way that she lay almost as
+steady as if in a river; nor did the force of the wind allow the sea to
+get up. A part of the time, our lee lower yard-arms were nearly in the
+water. We had everything aloft, but sending them down was quite out of the
+question. It was not possible, at one time, for a man to go aloft at all.
+I tried it myself, and could with difficulty keep my feet on the ratlins.
+I make no doubt I should have been blown out of the top, could I have
+reached it, did I let go my hold to do any work.
+
+We had sailed in company with the Kensington, a corvette belonging to the
+Emperor of Russia, and saw a ship, during the gale, that was said to be
+she. The Kensington was dismasted, and had to return to refit, but we did
+not part a rope-yarn. When the wind shifted, we were on soundings; and, it
+still continuing to blow a gale, we set the main-topsail close-reefed, and
+the foresail, and shoved the vessel off the land at the rate of a
+steam-boat. After this, the wind favoured us, and our passage out was very
+short. We stayed but a few days in Liverpool; took in passengers, and got
+back to Philadelphia, after an absence of a little more than two months.
+The Kensington's report of the gale, and of our situation, had caused much
+uneasiness in Philadelphia, but our two passages were so short, that we
+brought the news of our safety.
+
+I now inquired for the Brandywine, but found she had sailed for the
+Mediterranean. It was my intention to have gone on board her, but missing
+this ship, and a set of officers that I knew, I looked out for a
+merchantman. I found a brig called the Amelia, bound to Bordeaux, and
+shipped in her before the mast.
+
+The Amelia had a bad passage out. It was in the autumn, and the brig
+leaked badly. This kept us a great deal at the pumps, an occupation that
+a sailor does anything but delight in. I am of opinion that pumping a
+leaky ship is the most detestable work in the world. Nothing but the dread
+of drowning ought to make a man do it, although some men will pump to save
+their property. As for myself, I am not certain I would take twenty-four
+hours of hard pumping to save any sum I shall probably ever own, or
+ever did own.
+
+After a long passage, we made the Cordovan, but, the wind blowing heavy
+off the land, we could not get in for near a fortnight. Not a pilot would
+come out, and if they had, it would have done us no good. After a while,
+the wind shifted, and we got into the river, and up to the town. We took
+in a return cargo of brandy, and sailed for Philadelphia. Our
+homeward-bound passage was long and stormy, but we made the capes, at
+last. Here we were boarded by a pilot, who told us we were too late; the
+Delaware had frozen up, and we had to keep away, with a South-east wind,
+for New York. We had a bad time of it, as soon as night came on. The gale
+increased, blowing directly into the bight, and we had to haul up under
+close-reefed topsails and reefed foresail, to claw off the land. The
+weather was very thick, and the night dark, and all we could do was to get
+round, when the land gave us a hint it was time. This we generally did in
+five fathoms water. We had to ware, for the brig would not tack under such
+short canvass, and, of course, lost much ground in so doing. About three
+in the morning we knew that it was nearly up with us. The soundings gave
+warning of this, and we got round, on what I supposed would be the
+Amelia's last leg. But Providence took care of us, when we could not help
+ourselves. The wind came out at north-west, as it might be by word of
+command; the mist cleared up, and we saw the lights, for the first time,
+close aboard us. The brig was taken aback, but we got her round, shortened
+sail, and hove her to, under a closed-reefed main-topsail. We now got it
+from the north-west, making very bad weather. The gale must have set us a
+long way to leeward, as we did not get in for a fortnight. We shipped a
+heavy sea, that stove our boat, and almost swept the decks. We were out of
+pork and beef, and our fire-wood was nearly gone. The binnacle was also
+gone. As good luck would have it, we killed a porpoise, soon after the
+wind shifted, and on this we lived, in a great measure, for more than a
+week, sometimes cooking it, but oftener eating it raw. At length the wind
+shifted, and we got in.
+
+I was no sooner out of this difficulty, than a hasty temper got me into
+another. While still in the stream, an Irish boatman called me a "Yankee
+son of a-----," and I lent him a clip. The fellow sued me, and, contriving
+to catch me before I left the vessel, I was sent to jail, for the first
+and only time in my life. This turned out to be a new and very revolting
+school for me. I was sent among as precious a set of rascals as New York
+could furnish. Their conversation was very edifying. One would tell how he
+cut the hoses of the engines at fires, with razor-blades fastened to his
+shoes; another, how many pocket-books he and his associates had taken at
+this or that fire; and a third, the mariner of breaking open stores, and
+the best mode of disposing of stolen goods. The cool, open, impudent
+manner in which these fellows spoke of such transactions, fairly astounded
+me. They must have thought I was in jail for some crime similar to their
+own, or they would not have talked so freely before a stranger. These
+chaps seemed to value a man by the enormity and number of his crimes.
+
+At length the captain and my landlord found out where I had been sent, and
+I was immediately bailed. Glad enough was I to get out of prison, and
+still more so to get out of the company I found in it. Such association is
+enough to undermine the morals of a saint, in a week or two. And yet these
+fellows were well dressed, and well enough looking, and might very well
+pass for a sort of gentlemen, with those who had seen but little of men of
+the true quality.
+
+I had got enough of law, and wished to push the matter no farther. The
+Irishman was sent for, and I compromised with him on the spot. The whole
+affair cost me my entire wages, and I was bound over to keep the peace,
+for, I do not know how long. This scrape compelled me to weigh my anchor
+at a short notice, as there is no living in New York without money. I went
+on board the Sully, therefore--a Havre liner--a day or two after getting
+out of the atmosphere of the City Hall. They may talk of Batavia, if they
+please; but in my judgement, it is the healthiest place of the two,
+
+Our passages, out and home, produced nothing worth mentioning, and I left
+the ship in New York. My wages went in the old way, and then I shipped in
+a schooner called the Susan and Mary, that was about to sail for Buenos
+Ayres, in the expectation that she would be sold there. The craft was a
+good one, though our passage out was very long. On reaching our port, I
+took my discharge, under the impression the vessel would be sold. A notion
+now came over me, that I would join the Buenos Ayrean navy, in order to
+see what sort of a service it was. I knew it was a mixed American and
+English affair, and, by this time, I had become very reckless as to my own
+fate. I wished to do nothing very wrong, but was incapable of doing
+anything that was very right.
+
+My windfall carried me on board a schooner, of eight or ten guns, called
+the Suradaha. I did not ship, making an arrangement by which I was to be
+left to decide for myself, whether I would remain in her, or not. Although
+a pretty good craft, I soon got enough of this service. In one week I was
+thoroughly disgusted, and left the schooner. It is well I did, as there
+was a "_revolution_" on board of her, a few days later, and she was
+carried up the river, and, as I was told, was there sunk. With her, sunk
+all my laurels in that service.
+
+The Susan and Mary was not sold, but took in hides for New York. I
+returned to her, therefore, and we sailed for home in due time. The
+passage proved long, but mild, and we were compelled to run in, off Point
+Petre, Gaudaloupe, where we took in some provisions. After this, nothing
+occurred until we reached New York.
+
+I now shifted the name of my craft, end for end, joining a half-rigged
+brig, called the Mary and Susan. I gained little by the change, this
+vessel being just the worst-looking hooker I did ever sail in. Still she
+was tight, strong enough, and not a very bad sailing vessel. But, for some
+reason or other, externals were not regarded, and we made anything but a
+holiday appearance on the water. I had seen the time when I would disdain
+to go chief-mate of such a looking craft; but I now shipped in her as a
+common hand.
+
+We sailed for Para, in Brazil, a port nearly under the line, having
+gunpowder, dry-goods, &c. Our passage, until we came near the coast of
+South America, was good, and nothing occurred to mention. When under the
+line, however, we made a rakish-looking schooner, carrying two topsails,
+one forenoon. We made no effort to escape, knowing it to be useless. The
+schooner set a Spanish ensign, and brought us to. We were ordered to lower
+our boat and to go on board the schooner, which were done. I happened to
+be at the helm, and remained in the Mary and Susan. The strangers ordered
+our people out of the boat, and sent an armed party in her, on board us.
+These men rummaged about for a short time, and then were hailed from their
+vessel to know if we promised well. Our looks deceived the head man of the
+boarders, who answered that we were _very_ poor. On receiving this
+information, the captain of the schooner ordered his boarding party to
+quit us. Our boat came back, but was ordered to return and bring another
+gang of the strangers. This time we were questioned about canvass, but got
+off by concealing the truth. We had thirty bolts on board, but produced
+only one. The bolt shown did not happen to suit, and the strangers again
+left us. We were told not to make sail until we received notice by signal,
+and the schooner hauled her wind. After standing on some time, however,
+these gentry seemed indisposed to quit us, for they came down again, and
+rounded to on our weather-beam. We were now questioned about our
+longitude, and whether we had a chronometer. We gave the former, but had
+nothing like the latter on board. Telling us once more not to make sail
+without the signal, the schooner left us, standing on until fairly out of
+sight. We waited until she sunk her topsails, and then went on our course.
+
+None of us doubted that this fellow was a pirate. The men on board us were
+an ill-looking set of rascals, of all countries. They spoke Spanish, but
+we gave them credit for being a mixture. Our escape was probably owing to
+our appearance, which promised anything but a rich booty. Our dry-goods
+and powder were concealed in casks under he ballast, and I suppose the
+papers were not particularly minute. At any rate, when we get into Para,
+most of the cargo went out of our schooner privately, being landed from
+lighters. We had a passenger, who passed for some revolutionary man, who
+also landed secretly. This gentleman was in a good deal of concern about
+the pirates, keeping himself hid while they were near us.
+
+
+
+Chapter XVI.
+
+
+
+Our passage from Para was good until the brig reached the latitude of
+Bermuda. Here, one morning, for the first time in this craft, Sundays
+excepted, we got a forenoon watch below. I was profiting by the
+opportunity to do a little work for myself, when the mate, an
+inexperienced young man, who was connected with the owners, came and
+ordered us up to help jibe ship. It was easy enough to do this in the
+watch, but he thought differently. As an old seaman, I do not hesitate to
+say that the order was both inconsiderate and unnecessary; though I do not
+wish to appear even to justify my own conduct, on the occasion. A hasty
+temper is one of my besetting weaknesses, and, at that time, I was in no
+degree influenced by any considerations of a moral nature, as connected
+with language. Exceedingly exasperated at this interference with our
+comfort, I did not hesitate to tell the mate my opinion of his order.
+Warming with my own complaints, I soon became fearfully profane and
+denunciatory. I called down curses on the brig, and all that belonged to
+her, not hesitating about wishing that she might founder at sea, and carry
+all hands of us to the bottom of the ocean. In a word, I indulged in all
+that looseness and profanity of the tongue, which is common enough with
+those who feel no restraints on the subject, and who are highly
+exasperated.
+
+I do think the extent to which I carried my curses and wishes, on this
+occasion, frightened the officers. They said nothing, but let me curse
+myself out, to my heart's content. A man soon wearies of so bootless a
+task, and the storm passed off, like one in the heavens, with a low
+rumbling. I gave myself no concern about the matter afterwards, but things
+took their course until noon. While the people were at dinner, the mate
+came forward again, however, and called all hands to shorten sail. Going
+on deck, I saw a very menacing black cloud astern, and went to work, with
+a will, to discharge a duty that everybody could see was necessary.
+
+We gathered in the canvass as fast as we could; but, before we could get
+through, and while I was lending a hand to furl the foresail, the squall
+struck the brig. I call it a squall, but it was more like the tail of a
+hurricane. Most of our canvass blew from the gaskets, the cloth going in
+ribands. The foresail and fore-topsail we managed to save, but all our
+light canvass went. I was still aloft when the brig broached-to. As she
+came up to the wind, the fore-topmast went over to leeward, being carried
+away at the cap. All the hamper came down, and began to thresh against the
+larboard side of the lower rigging. Just at this instant, a sea seemed to
+strike the brig under her bilge, and fairly throw her on her beam-ends.
+
+All this appeared to me to be the work of only a minute. I had scrambled
+to windward, to get out of the way of the wreck, and stood with one foot
+on the upper side of the bitts, holding on, to steady myself, by some of
+the running rigging. This was being in a very different attitude, but on
+the precise spot, where, two or three hours before, I had called on the
+Almighty to pour out his vials of wrath upon the vessel, myself, and all
+she contained! At that fearful instant, conscience pricked me, and I felt
+both shame and dread, at my recent language. It seemed to me as if I had
+been heard, and that my impious prayers were about to be granted. In the
+bitterness of my heart, I vowed, should my life be spared, never to be
+guilty of such gross profanity, again.
+
+These feelings, however, occupied me but a moment. I was too much of a
+real sea-dog to be standing idle at a time like that. There was but one
+man before the mast on whom I could call for anything in such a strait,
+and that was a New Yorker, of the name of Jack Neal. This man was near me,
+and I suggested to him the plan of getting the fore-topmast staysail
+loose, notwithstanding the mast was gone, in the hope it might blow open,
+and help the brig's bows round. Jack was a fellow to act, and he succeeded
+in loosening the sail, which did blow out in a way greatly to help us, as
+I think. I then proposed we should clamber aft, and try to get the helm
+up. This we did, also; though I question if the rudder could have had much
+power, in the position in which the brig lay.
+
+Either owing to the fore-top-mast staysail, or to some providential sea,
+the vessel did fall off, however, and presently she righted, coming up
+with great force, with a heavy roll to windward. The staysail helped us, I
+feel persuaded, as the stay had got taut in the wreck, and the wind had
+blown out the hanks. The brig's helm being hard up, as soon as she got
+way, the craft flew round like a top, coming up on the other tack, in
+spite of us, and throwing her nearly over again. She did not come fairly
+down, however, though I thought she was gone, for an instant.
+
+Finding it possible to move, I now ran forward, and succeeded in stopping
+the wreck into the rigging and bitts. At this time the brig minded her
+helm, and fell off, coming under command. To help us, the head of the
+spencer got loose, from the throat-brail up, and, blowing out against the
+wreck, the whole formed, together, a body of hamper, that acted as a sort
+of sail, which helped the brig to keep clear of the seas. By close
+attention to the helm, we were enabled to prevent the vessel from
+broaching-to again, and, of course, managed to sail her on her bottom.
+About sunset, it moderated, and, next morning, the weather was fine. We
+then went to work, and rigged jury-masts; reaching New York a few
+days later.
+
+Had this accident occurred to our vessel in the night, as did that to the
+Scourge, our fate would probably have been decided in a few minutes. As it
+was, half an hour, in the sort of sea that was going, would have finished
+her. As for my repentance, if I can use the term on such an occasion, and
+for such a feeling, it was more lasting than thorough. I have never been
+so fearfully profane since; and often, when I have felt the disposition to
+give way to passion in this revolting form, my feelings, as I stood by
+those bitts, have recurred to my mind--my vow has been remembered, and I
+hope, together, they did some good, until I was made to see the general
+errors of my life, and the necessity of throwing all my sins on the
+merciful interposition of my Saviour.
+
+I was not as reckless and extravagant, this time, in port, as I had
+usually been, of late years. I shipped, before my money was all gone, on
+board the Henry Kneeland, for Liverpool, via New Orleans. On reaching the
+latter port, all hands of us were beset by the land-sharks, in the shape
+of landlords, who told us how much better we should be off by running,
+than by sticking by the ship. We listened to these tales, and went in a
+body. What made the matter worse, and our conduct the less excusable, was
+the fact, that we got good wages and good treatment in the Henry Kneeland.
+The landlords came with two boats, in the night; we passed our dunnage
+down to them, and away we went, leaving only one man on board. The very
+next day we all shipped on board the Marian, United States' Revenue
+Cutter, where I was rated a quarter-mate, at fifteen dollars a month;
+leaving seventeen to obtain this preferment!
+
+We got a good craft for our money, however. She was a large comfortable
+schooner, that mounted a few light guns, and our duty was far from heavy.
+The treatment turned out to be good, also, as some relief to our folly.
+One of our Henry Kneelands died of the "horrors" before we got to sea, and
+we buried him at the watering-place, near the lower bar. I must have been
+about four months in the Marion, during which time we visited the
+different keys, and went into Key West. At this place, our crew became
+sickly, and I was landed among others, and sent to a boarding-house. It
+was near a month before we could get the crew together again, when we
+sailed for Norfolk. At Norfolk, six of us had relapses, and were sent to
+the hospital; the cutter sailing without us. I never saw the craft
+afterwards.
+
+I was but a fortnight in the hospital, the disease being only the fever
+and ague. Just as I came out, the Alert, the New York cutter, came in, and
+I was sent on board her. This separated me from all the Henry Kneelands
+but one old man. The Alert was bound south, on duty connected with the
+nullification troubles; and, soon after I joined her, she sailed for
+Charleston, South Carolina. Here a little fleet of cutters soon
+collected; no less than seven of us being at anchor in the waters of South
+Carolina, to prevent any breach of the tariff laws. When I had been on
+board the Alert about a month, a new cutter called the Jackson, came in
+from New York, and being the finest craft on the station, our officers and
+crew were transferred to her in a body; our captain being the senior of
+all the revenue captains present.
+
+I must have been at least six months in the waters of South Carolina, thus
+employed. We never went to sea, but occasionally dropped down as far as
+Rebellion Roads. We were not allowed to go ashore, except on rare
+occasions, and towards the last, matters got to be so serious, that we
+almost looked upon ourselves as in an enemy's country. Commodore Elliott
+joined the station in the Natchez sloop-of-war, and the Experiment,
+man-of-war schooner, also arrived and remained. After the arrival of the
+Natchez, the Commodore took command of all hands of us afloat, and we were
+kept in a state of high preparation for service. We were occasionally at
+quarters, nights, though I never exactly knew the reasons. It was said
+attacks on us were anticipated. General Scott was in the fort, and matters
+looked very warlike, for several weeks.
+
+At length we got the joyful news that nullification had been thrown
+overboard, and that no more was to be apprehended. It seems that the crews
+of the different cutters had been increased for this particular service;
+but, now it was over, there were more men employed than Government had
+needed. We were told, in consequence, that those among us who wished our
+discharges, might have them on application.
+
+I had been long enough in this 'long-shore service, and applied to be
+discharged, under this provision. My time was so near out, however, that I
+should have got away soon, in regular course.
+
+I now went ashore at Charleston, and had my swig, as long as the money
+lasted. I gave myself no trouble about the ship's husband, whose
+collar-bone I had broken; nor do I now know whether he was then living, or
+dead. In a word, I thought only of the present time; the past and the
+future being equally indifferent to me. My old landlord was dead; and I
+fell altogether into the hands of a new set. I never took the precaution
+to change my name, at any period of my life, with the exception, that I
+dropped the Robert, in signing shipping-articles. I also wrote my name
+Myers, instead of Meyers, as, I have been informed by my sister, was the
+true spelling. But this proceeded from ignorance, and not from intention.
+In all times, and seasons, and weathers, and services, I have sailed as
+Ned Myers; and as nothing else.
+
+It soon became necessary to ship again; and I went on board the Harriet
+and Jesse, which was bound to Havre de Grace. This proved to be a
+pleasant, easy voyage; the ship coming back to New York filled with
+passengers, who were called Swiss; but most of whom, as I understand, came
+from Wurtemberg, Alsace, and the countries on the Rhine. On reaching New
+York, I went on to Philadelphia, to obtain the effects I had left there,
+when I went out in the Amelia. But my landlord was dead; his family was
+scattered; and my property had disappeared. I never knew who got it; but a
+quadrant, watch, and some entirely new clothes, went in the wreck. I
+suppose I lost, at least, two hundred dollars, in this way. What odds did
+it make to me? it would have gone in grog, if it had not gone in
+this manner.
+
+I staid but a short time in Philadelphia, joining a brig, called the
+Topaz, bound to Havana. We arrived out, after a short passage; and here I
+was exposed to as strong a temptation to commit crime, as a poor fellow
+need encounter. A beautiful American-built brig, was lying in port, bound
+to Africa, for slaves. She was the loveliest craft I ever laid eyes on;
+and the very sight of her gave me a longing to go in her. She offered
+forty dollars a month, with the privilege of a slave and a half. I went so
+far as to try to get on board her; but met with some difficulty, in having
+my things seized. The captain found it out; and, by pointing out to me the
+danger I ran, succeeded in changing my mind.
+
+I will not deny, that I knew the trade was immoral; but so is smuggling;
+and I viewed them pretty much as the same thing, in this sense. I am now
+told, that the law of this country pronounces the American citizen, who
+goes in a slaver, a pirate; and treats him as such; which, to me, seems
+very extraordinary. I do not understand, how a Spaniard can do that, and
+be no pirate, which makes an American a pirate, if he be guilty of it. I
+feel certain, that very few sailors know in what light the law views
+slaving. Now, piracy is robbing, on the high seas, and has always been
+contrary to law; but slaving was encouraged by all nations, a short time
+since; and we poor tars look upon the change, as nothing but a change in
+policy. As for myself, I should have gone in that brig, in utter ignorance
+of the risks I ran, and believing myself to be about as guilty, in a moral
+sense, as I was when I smuggled tobacco, on the coast of Ireland, or opium
+in Canton. [15]
+
+As the Topaz was coming out of the port of Havana, homeward bound, and
+just as she was abreast of the Moro, the brig carried away her bobstay. I
+was busy in helping to unreeve the stay, when I was seized with sudden and
+violent cramps. This attack proved to be the cholera, which came near
+carrying me off. The captain had me taken aft, where I was attended with
+the greatest care. God be praised for his mercy! I got well, though
+scarcely able to do any more duty before we got in.
+
+A short voyage gives short commons; and I was soon obliged to look out for
+another craft. This time I shipped in the Erie, Captain Funk, a Havre
+liner, and sailed soon after. This was a noble ship, with the best of
+usage. Both our passages were pleasant, and give me nothing to relate.
+While I was at work in the hold, at Havre, a poor female passenger, who
+came to look at the ship, fell through the hatch, and was so much injured
+as to be left behind. I mention the circumstance merely to show how near I
+was to a meeting with my old shipmate, who is writing these pages, and yet
+missed him. On comparing notes, I find he was on deck when this accident
+happened, having come to see after some effects he was then shipping to
+New York. These very effects I handled, and supposed them to belong to a
+passenger who was to come home in the ship; but, as they were addressed to
+another name, I could not recognise them. Mr. Cooper did not come home in
+the Erie, but passed over to England, and embarked at London, and so I
+failed to see him.
+
+In these liners, the captains wish to keep the good men of their crews as
+long as they can. We liked the Erie and her captain so much, that eight or
+ten of us stuck by the ship, and went out in her again. This time our luck
+was not so good. The passage out was well enough, but homeward-bound we
+had a hard time of it. While in Havre, too, we had a narrow escape.
+Christmas night, a fire broke out in the cabin, and came near smothering
+us all, forward, before we knew anything about it. Our chief mate, whose
+name was Everdy,[16] saved the vessel by his caution and exertions; the
+captain not getting on board until the fire had come to a head. We kept
+everything closed until an engine was ready, then cut away the deck, and
+sent down the hose This expedient, with a free use of water, saved the
+ship. It is not known how the fire originated. A good deal of damage was
+done, and some property was lost.
+
+Notwithstanding this accident, we had the ship ready for sea early in
+January, 1834. For the first week out, we met with head winds and heavy
+weather; so heavy, indeed, as to render it difficult to get rid of the
+pilot. The ship beat down channel with him on board, as low as the
+Eddystone. Here we saw the Sully, outward bound, running up channel before
+the wind. Signals were exchanged, and our ship, which was then well off
+the land, ran in and spoke the Sully. We put our pilot on board this ship,
+which was doing a good turn all round. The afternoon proving fair, and the
+wind moderating, Captain Funk filled and stood in near to the coast, as
+his best tack. Towards night, however, the gale freshened, and blew into
+the bay, between the Start Point and the Lizard, in a heavy,
+steady manner.
+
+The first thing was to ware off shore; after which, we were compelled to
+take in nearly all our canvass. The gale continued to increase, and the
+night set in dark. There were plenty of ports to leeward, but it was
+ticklish work to lose a foot of ground, unless one knew exactly where he
+was going. We had no pilot, and the captain decided to hold on. I have
+seldom known it to blow harder than it did that night; and, for hours,
+everything depended on our main-top-sail's standing, which sail we had set,
+close-reefed. I did not see anything to guide us, but the compass, until
+about ten o'clock, when I caught a view of a light close on our lee bow.
+This was the Eddystone, which stands pretty nearly in a line between the
+Start and the Lizard, and rather more than three leagues from the land.
+As we headed, we might lay past, should everything stand; but, if our
+topsail went, we should have been pretty certain of fetching up on those
+famous rocks, where a three-decker would have gone to pieces in an hour's
+time in such a gale.
+
+I suppose we passed the Eddystone at a safe distance, or the captain would
+not have attempted going to windward of it; but, to me, it appeared that
+we were fearfully near. The sea was breaking over the light tremendously,
+and could be plainly seen, as it flashed up near the lantern. We went by,
+however, surging slowly ahead, though our drift must have been
+very material.
+
+The Start, and the point to the westward of it, were still to be cleared.
+They were a good way off, and but a little to leeward, as the ship headed.
+In smooth water, and with a whole-sail breeze, it would have been easy
+enough to lay past the Start, when at the Eddystone, with a south-west
+wind; but, in a gale, it is a serious matter, especially on a flood-tide.
+I know all hands of us, forward and aft, looked upon our situation as very
+grave. We passed several uneasy hours, after we lost sight of the
+Eddystone, before we got a view of the land near the Start. When I saw it,
+the heights appeared like a dark cloud hanging over us, and I certainly
+thought the ship was gone. At this time, the captain and mate consulted
+together, and the latter came to us, in a very calm, steady manner, and
+said--"Come, boys; we may as well go ashore without masts as with them,
+and our only hope is in getting more canvass to stand. We must turn-to,
+and make sail on the ship."
+
+Everybody was in motion on this hint, and the first thing we did was to
+board fore-tack. The clews of that sail came down as if so many giants had
+hold of the tack and sheet. We set it, double-reefed, which made it but a
+rag of a sail, and yet the ship felt it directly. We next tried the
+fore-topsail, close-reefed, and this stood. It was well we did, for I feel
+certain the ship was now in the ground-swell. That black hill seemed
+ready to fall on our heads. We tried the mizen-topsail, but we found it
+would not do, and we furled it again, not without great difficulty. Things
+still looked serious, the land drawing nearer and nearer; and we tried to
+get the mainsail, double-reefed, on the ship. Everybody mustered at the
+tack and sheet, and we dragged down that bit of cloth as if it had been
+muslin. The good ship now quivered like a horse that is over-ridden, but
+in those liners everything is strong, and everything stood. I never saw
+spray thrown from a ship's bows, as it was thrown from the Erie's that
+night. We had a breathless quarter of an hour after the mainsail was set,
+everybody looking to see what would go first. Every rope and bolt in the
+craft was tried to the utmost, but all stood! At the most critical moment,
+we caught a glimpse of a light in a house that was known to stand near the
+Start; and the mate came among us, pointed it out, and said, if we
+weathered _that_, we should go clear. After hearing this, my eyes were
+never off that light, and glad was I to see it slowly drawing more astern,
+and more under our lee. At last we got it on our quarter, and knew that we
+had gone clear! The gloomy-looking land disappeared to leeward, in a deep,
+broad bay, giving us plenty of sea-room.
+
+We now took in canvass, to ease the ship. The mainsail and fore-topsail
+were furled, leaving her to jog along under the main-topsail, foresail,
+and fore-topmast staysail. I look upon this as one of my narrowest escapes
+from shipwreck; and I consider the escape, under the mercy of God, to have
+been owing to the steadiness of our officers, and the goodness of the ship
+and her outfit. It was like pushing a horse to the trial of every nerve
+and sinew, and only winning the race under whip and spur. Wood, and iron,
+and cordage, and canvass, can do no more than they did that night.
+
+Next morning, at breakfast, the crew talked the matter over. We had a hard
+set in this ship, the men being prime seamen, but of reckless habits and
+characters. Some of the most thoughtless among them admitted that they had
+prayed secretly for succour, and, for myself, I am most thankful that _I_
+did. These confessions were made half-jestingly, but I believe them to
+have been true, judging from my own case. It may sound bravely in the ears
+of the thoughtless and foolish, to boast of indifference on such
+occasions; but, few men can face death under circumstances like those in
+which we were placed, without admitting to themselves, however
+reluctantly, that there is a Power above, on which they must lean for
+personal safety, as well as for spiritual support. More than usual care
+was had for the future welfare of sailors among the Havre liners, there
+being a mariners' church at Havre, at which our captain always attended,
+as well as his mates; and efforts were made to make us go also. The effect
+was good, the men being better behaved, and more sober, in consequence.
+
+The wind shifted a day or two after this escape, giving us a slant that
+carried us past Scilly, fairly out into the Atlantic. A fortnight or so
+after our interview with the Eddystone we carried away the pintals of the
+rudder, which was saved only by the modern invention that prevents the
+head from dropping, by means of the deck. To prevent the strain, and to
+get some service from the rudder, however, we found it necessary to sling
+the latter, and to breast it into the stern-post by means of purchases. A
+spar was laid athwart the coach-house, directly over the rudder, and we
+rove a chain through the tiller-hole, and passed it over this spar. For
+this purpose the smallest chain-cable was used, the rudder being raised
+from the deck by means of sheers. We then got a set of chain-topsail
+sheets, parcelled them well, and took a clove hitch with them around the
+rudder, about half-way up. One end was brought into each main-chain, and
+set up by tackles. In this manner the wheel did tolerably well, though we
+had to let the ship lie-to in heavy weather.
+
+The chain sheets held on near a month, and then gave way. On examination,
+it was found that the parcelling had gone under the ship's counter, and
+that the copper had nearly destroyed the iron. After this, we mustered all
+the chains of the ship, of proper size, parcelled them very thoroughly,
+got another clove hitch around the rudder as before, and brought the ends
+to the hawse-holes, letting the bights fall, one on each side of the
+ship's keel. The ends were next brought to the windlass and hove taut.
+This answered pretty well, and stood until we got the ship into New York.
+Our whole passage was stormy, and lasted seventy days, as near as I can
+recollect. The ship was almost given up when we got in, and great was the
+joy at our arrival.
+
+As the Erie lost her turn, in consequence of wanting repairs, most of us
+went on board the Henry IVth, in the same line. This voyage was
+comfortable, and successful, a fine ship and good usage. On our return to
+New York most of us went back to the Erie, liking both vessel and captain,
+as well as her other officers. I went twice more to Havre and back in this
+ship, making four voyages in her in all. At the end of the fourth voyage
+our old mate left us, to do business ashore, and we took a dislike to his
+successor, though it was without trying him. The mate we lost had been a
+great favourite, and we seemed to think if he went we must go too. At any
+rate, nearly all hands went to the Silvie de Grasse, where we got another
+good ship, good officers, and good treatment. In fact, all these Havre
+liners were very much alike in these respects, the Silvie de Grasse being
+the fourth in which I had then sailed, and to me they all seemed as if
+they belonged to the same family. I went twice to Havre in this ship also,
+when I left her for the Normandy, in the same line. I made this change in
+consequence of an affair about some segars in Havre, in which I had no
+other concern than to father another man's fault. The captain treated me
+very handsomely, but my temperament is such that I am apt to fly off in a
+tangent when anything goes up stream. It was caprice that took me from the
+Silvie de Grasse, and put me in her sister-liner.
+
+I liked the Normandy as well as the rest of these liners, except that the
+vessel steered badly. I made only one voyage in her, however, as will be
+seen in the next chapter.
+
+
+
+Chapter XVII.
+
+
+
+I had now been no less than eight voyages in the Havre trade, without
+intermission. So regular had my occupation become, that I began to think I
+was a part of a liner myself. I liked the treatment, the food, the ships,
+and the officers. Whenever we got home, I worked in the ship, at day's
+work, until paid off; after which, no more was seen of Ned until it was
+time to go on board to sail. When I got in, in the Normandy, it happened
+as usual, though I took a short swing only. Mr. Everdy, our old mate in
+the Erie, was working gangs of stevedores, riggers, &c., ashore; and when
+I went and reported myself to him, as ready for work in the Normandy
+again, he observed that her gang was full, but that, by going up-town next
+morning, to the screw-dock, I should find an excellent job on board a
+brig. The following day, accordingly, I took my dinner in a pail, and
+started off for the dock, as directed. On my way, I fell in with an old
+shipmate in the navy, a boatswain's-mate, of the name of Benson. This man
+asked me where I was bound with my pail, and I told him. "What's the use,"
+says he, "of dragging your soul out in these liners, when you have a
+man-of-war under your lee!" Then he told me he meant to ship, and advised
+me to do the same. I drank with him two or three times, and felt half
+persuaded to enter; but, recollecting the brig, I left him, and pushed on
+to the dock. When I got there, it was so late that the vessel had got off
+the dock, and was already under way in the stream.
+
+My day's work was now up, and I determined to make a full holiday of it.
+As I went back, I fell in with Captain Mix, the officer with whom I had
+first gone on the lakes, and my old first-lieutenant in the Delaware, and
+had a bit of navy talk with him; after which I drifted along as far as the
+rendezvous. The officer in charge was Mr. M'Kenny, my old first-lieutenant
+in the Brandywine, and, before I quitted the house, my name was down,
+again, for one of Uncle Sam's sailor-men. In this accidental manner have I
+floated about the world, most of my life--not dreaming in the morning,
+what would fetch me up before night.
+
+When it was time to go off, I was ready, and was sent on board the Hudson,
+which vessel Captain Mix then commanded. I have the consolation of knowing
+that I never ran, or thought of running, from either of the eleven
+men-of-war on board of which I have served, counting big and little,
+service of days and service of years. I had so long a pull in the
+receiving-ship, as to get heartily tired of her; and, when an opportunity
+offered, I put my name down for the Constellation 38, which was then
+fitting out for the West India station, in Norfolk. A draft of us was sent
+round to that ship accordingly, and we found she had hauled off from the
+yard, and was lying between the forts. When I got on board, I ascertained
+that something like fifty of my old liners were in this very ship, some
+common motive inducing them to take service in the navy, all at the same
+time. As for myself, it happened just as I have related, though I always
+liked the navy, and was ever ready to join a ship of war, for a
+pleasant cruise.
+
+Commodore Dallas's pennant was flying in the Constellation when I joined
+her. A short time afterwards, the ship sailed for the West Indies. As
+there was nothing material occurred in the cruise, it is unnecessary to
+relate things in the order in which they took place. The ship went to
+Havana, Trinidad, Curacoa, Laguayra, Santa Cruz, Vera Cruz, Campeachy,
+Tampico, Key West, &c. We lay more or less time at all these ports, and in
+Santa Cruz we had a great ball on board. After passing several months in
+this manner, we went to Pensacola. The St. Louis was with us most of this
+time, though she did not sail from America in company. The next season the
+whole squadron went to Vera Cruz in company, seven or eight sail of us in
+all, giving the Mexicans some alarm, I believe.
+
+But the Florida war gave us the most occupation. I was out in all sorts of
+ways, on expeditions, and can say I never saw an Indian, except those who
+came to give themselves up. I was in steamboats, cutters, launches, and on
+shore, marching like a soldier, with a gun on my shoulder, and precious
+duty it was for a sailor.
+
+The St. Louis being short of hands, I was also drafted for a cruise in
+her; going the rounds much as we had done in the frigate. This was a fine
+ship, and was then commanded by Captain Rousseau, an officer much
+respected and liked, by us all. Mr. Byrne, my old shipmate in the
+Delaware, went out with us as first-lieutenant of the Constellation, but
+he did not remain out the whole cruise.
+
+Altogether I was out on the West India station three years, but got into
+the hospital, for several months of the time, in consequence of a broken
+bone. While in the hospital, the frigate made a cruise, leaving me ashore.
+On her return, I was invalided home, in the Levant, Captain Paulding,
+another solid, excellent officer. In a word, I was lucky in my officers,
+generally; the treatment on board the frigate being just and good. The
+duty in the Constellation was very hard, being a sort of soldier duty,
+which may be very well for those that are trained to it, but makes bad
+weather for us blue-jackets. Captain Mix, the officer with whom I went to
+the lakes, was out on the station in command of the Concord, sloop of war,
+and, for some time, was in charge of our ship, during the absence of
+Commodore Dallas, in his own vessel. In this manner are old shipmates
+often thrown together, after years of separation.
+
+In the hospital I was rated as porter, Captain Bolton and Captain Latirner
+being my commanding officers; the first being in charge of the yard, and
+the second his next in rank. From these two gentlemen I received so many
+favours, that it would be ungrateful in me not to mention them. Dr.
+Terrill, the surgeon of the hospital, too, was also exceedingly kind to
+me, during the time I was under his care.
+
+As I had much leisure time in the hospital, I took charge of a garden, and
+got to be somewhat of a gardener. It was said I had the best garden about
+Pensacola, which is quite likely true, as I never saw but one other.
+
+The most important thing, however, that occurred to me while in the
+hospital, was a disposition that suddenly arose in my mind, to reflect on
+my future state, and to look at religious things with serious eyes. Dr.
+Terrill had some blacks in his service, who were in the habit of holding
+little Methodist meetings, where they sang hymns, and conversed together
+seriously. I never joined these people, being too white for that, down at
+Pensacola, but I could overhear them from my own little room. A Roman
+Catholic in the hospital had a prayer-book in English, which he lent to
+me, and I got into the habit of reading a prayer in it, daily, as a sort
+of worshipping of the Almighty. This was the first act of mine, that
+approached private worship, since the day I left Mr. Marchinton's; if I
+except the few hasty mental petitions put up in moments of danger.
+
+After a time, I began to think it would never do for me, a Protestant born
+and baptised, to be studying a Romish prayer-book; and I hunted up one
+that was Protestant, and which had been written expressly for seamen. This
+I took to my room, and used in place of the Romish book. Dr. Terrill had a
+number of bibles under his charge, and I obtained one of these, also, and
+I actually got into the practice of reading a chapter every night, as
+well as of reading a prayer, also knocked off from drink, and ceased to
+swear. My reading in the bible, now, was not for the stories, but
+seriously to improve my mind and morals.
+
+I must have been several months getting to be more and more in earnest on
+the subject of morality, if not of vital religion, when I formed an
+acquaintance with a new steward, who had just joined the hospital. This
+man was ready enough to converse with me about the bible, but he turned
+out to be a Deist, Notwithstanding my own disposition to think more
+seriously of my true situation, I had many misgivings on the subject of
+the Saviour's being the Son of God. It seemed improbable to me, and I was
+falling into the danger which is so apt to beset the new beginner--that of
+self-sufficiency, and the substituting of human wisdom for faith. The
+steward was not slow in discovering this; and he produced some of Tom
+Paine's works, by way of strengthening me in the unbelief. I now read Tom
+Paine, instead of the bible, and soon had practical evidence of the bad
+effects of his miserable system. I soon got stern-way on me in morals;
+began to drink, as before, though seldom intoxicated, and grew indifferent
+to my bible and prayer-book, as well as careless of the future. I began to
+think that the things of this world were to be enjoyed, and he was the
+wisest who made the most of his time.
+
+I must confess, also, that the bad examples which I saw set by men
+professing to be Christians, had a strong tendency to disgust me with
+religion. The great mistake I made was, in supposing I had undergone any
+real change of heart. Circumstances disposed me to reflect, and reflection
+brought me to be serious, on subjects that I had hitherto treated with
+levity; but the grace of God was still, in a great degree, withheld from
+me, leaving me a prey to such arguments as those of the steward, and his
+great prophet and master, Mr. Paine.
+
+In the hospital, and that, too, at a place like Pensacola there was little
+opportunity for me to break out into my old excesses; though I found
+liquor, on one or two occasions, even there, and got myself into some
+disgrace in consequence. On the whole, however, the discipline, my
+situation, and my own resolution, kept me tolerably correct. It is the
+restraint of a ship that alone prevents sailors from dying much sooner
+than they do; for it is certain no man could hold out long who passed
+three or four months every year in the sort of indulgencies into which I
+myself have often run, after returning from long voyages. This is one
+advantage of the navy; two or three days of riotous living being all a
+fellow _can_ very well get in a three years' cruise. Any man who has ever
+been in a vessel of war, particularly in old times, can see the effect
+produced by the system, and regular living of a ship. When the crew first
+came on board, the men were listless, almost lifeless, with recent
+dissipation; some suffering with the "horrors," perhaps; but a few weeks
+of regular living would bring them all round; and, by the end of the
+cruise, most of the people would come into port, and be paid off, with
+renovated constitutions. It is a little different, now, to be sure, as the
+men ship for general service, and commonly serve a short apprenticeship in
+a receiving vessel, before they are turned over to the sea-going craft.
+This brings them on board the last in a little better condition than used
+to be the case; but, even now, six months in a man-of-war is a new lease
+for a seaman's life.
+
+I say I got myself into disgrace in the hospital of Pensacola, in
+consequence of my habit of drinking. The facts were as follows, for I have
+no desire to conceal, or to parade before the world, my own delinquencies;
+but, I confess them with the hope that the pictures they present, may have
+some salutary influence on the conduct of others. The doctor, who was
+steadily my friend, and often gave me excellent advice, went north, in
+order to bring his wife to Pensacola. I was considered entitled to a
+pension for the hurt which had brought me into the hospital, and the
+doctor had promised to see something about it, while at Washington. This
+was not done, in consequence of his not passing through Washington, as had
+been expected. Now, nature has so formed me, that any disgust, or
+disappointment, makes me reckless, and awakens a desire to revenge myself,
+on myself, as I may say. It was this feeling which first carried me from
+Halifax; it was this feeling that made me run from the Sterling; and which
+has often changed and sometimes marred my prospects, as I have passed
+through life. As soon as I learned that nothing had been said about my
+pension, this same feeling came over me, and I became reckless. I had not
+drawn my grog for months, and, indeed, had left off drinking entirely; but
+I now determined to have my fill, at the first good opportunity. I meant
+to make the officers sorry, by doing something that was very wrong, and
+for which I should be sorry myself.
+
+I kept the keys of the liquor of the hospital. The first thing was to find
+a confederate, which I did in the person of a Baltimore chap, who entered
+into my plan from pure love of liquor. I then got a stock of the wine, and
+we went to work on it, in my room. The liquor was sherry, and it took nine
+bottles of it to lay us both up. Even this did not make me beastly drunk,
+but it made me desperate and impudent. I abused the doctor, and came very
+near putting my foot into it, with Captain Latimer, who is an officer that
+it will not do, always, to trifle with. Still, these gentlemen, with
+Captain Bolton, had more consideration for me, than I had for myself, and
+I escaped with only a good reprimand. It was owing to this frolic,
+however, that I was invalided home--as they call it out there, no one
+seeming to consider Pensacola as being in the United States.
+
+When landed from the Levant, I was sent to the Navy Yard Hospital,
+Brooklyn. After staying two or three days here, I determined to go to the
+seat of government, and take a look at the great guns stationed there,
+Uncle Sam and all. I was paid off from the Levant, accordingly, and
+leaving the balance with the purser of the yard, I set off on my journey,
+with fifty dollars in my pockets, which they tell me is about a member of
+Congress' mileage, for the distance I had to go. Of course this was
+enough, as a member of Congress would naturally take care and give himself
+as much as he wanted.
+
+When I got on board the South-Amboy boat, I found a party of Indians
+there, going to head-quarters, like myself. The sight of these chaps set
+up all my rigging, and I felt ripe for fun. I treated them to a breakfast
+each, and gave them as much to drink as they could swallow. We all got
+merry, and had our own coarse fun, in the usual thought less manner of
+seamen. This was a bad beginning, and by the time we reached a tavern, I
+was ready to anchor. Where this was, is more than I know; for I was not in
+a state to keep a ship's reckoning. Whether any of my money was stolen or
+not, I cannot say, but I know that some of my clothes were. Next day I got
+to Philadelphia, where I had another frolic. After this, I went on to
+Washington, keeping it up, the whole distance. I fell in with a soldier
+chap, who was out of cash, and who was going to Washington to get a
+pension, too; and so we lived in common. When we reached Washington, my
+cash was diminished to three dollars and a half, and all was the
+consequences of brandy and folly. I had actually spent forty-six dollars
+and a half, in a journey that might have been made with ten, respectably!
+
+I got my travelling companion to recommend a boarding-house, which he did.
+I felt miserable from my excesses, and went to bed. In the morning, the
+three dollars and a half were gone. I felt too ill to go to the Department
+that day, but kept on drinking--eating nothing. Next day, my landlord took
+the trouble to inquire into the state of my pocket, and I told him the
+truth. This brought about a pretty free explanation between us, in which I
+was given to understand that my time was up in that place. I afterwards
+found out I had got into a regular soldier-house, and it was no wonder
+they did not know how to treat an old salt.
+
+Captain Mix had given me a letter to Commodore Chauncey, who was then
+living, and one of the Commissioners. I felt pretty certain the old
+gentleman would not let one of the Scourges founder at head-quarters, and
+so I crawled up to the Department, and got admission to him. The commodore
+seemed glad to see me; questioned me a good deal about the loss of the
+schooner, and finally gave me directions how to proceed. I then discovered
+that my pension ticket had actually reached Washington, but had been sent
+back to Pensacola, to get some informality corrected. This would compel me
+to remain some time at Washington. I felt unwell, and got back to my
+boarding-house with these tidings. The gentleman who kept the house was
+far from being satisfied with this, and he gave me a hint that at once put
+the door between us. This was the first time I ever had a door shut upon
+me, and I am thankful it happened at a soldier rendezvous. I gave the man
+all my spare clothes in pawn, and walked away from his house.
+
+I had undoubtedly brought on myself a fit of the "horrors," by my recent
+excesses. As I went along the streets, I thought every one was sneering at
+me; and, though burning with thirst, I felt ashamed to enter any house to
+ask even for water. A black gave me the direction of the Navy Yard, and I
+shaped my course for it, feeling more like lying down to die, than
+anything else. When about half-way across the bit of vacant land between
+the Capitol and the Yard, I sat down under a high picket-fence, and the
+devil put it into my head, that it would be well to terminate sufferings
+that seemed too hard to be borne, by hanging myself on that very fence. I
+took the handkerchief from my neck, made a running bow-line, and got so
+far as to be at work at a standing bow-line, to hitch over the top of one
+of the poles of the fence.
+
+I now stood up, and began to look for a proper picket to make fast to,
+when, in gazing about, I caught sight of the mast-heads of the shipping at
+the yard, and of the ensign under which I had so long served! These came
+over me, as a light-house comes over a mariner in distress at sea, and I
+thought there must be friends for me in that quarter. The sight gave me
+courage and strength, and I determined no old shipmate should hear of a
+blue-jacket's hanging himself on a picket, in a fit of the horrors.
+Casting off the bowlines, I replaced the handkerchief on my neck, and made
+the best of my way towards those blessed mast-heads, which, under God's
+mercy, were the means of preventing me from committing suicide.
+
+As I came up to the gate of the yard, the marine on post sung out to me,
+"Halloo, Myers, where are you come from? You look as if you had been
+dragged through h--, and beaten with a soot-bag!" This man, the first I
+met at the Navy Yard, had been with me three years in the Delaware, and
+knew me in spite of my miserable appearance. He advised me to go on board
+the Fulton, then lying at the Yard, where he said I should find several
+more old Delawares, who would take good care of me. I did as he directed,
+and, on getting on board, I fell in with lots of acquaintances. Some
+brought me tea, and some brought me grog. I told my yarn, and the chaps
+around me laid a plan to get ashore on liberty that night, and razee the
+house from which I had been turned away. But I persuaded them out of the
+notion, and the landlord went clear.
+
+Alter a while, I got a direction to a boarding-house near the Yard, and
+went to it, with a message from my old shipmates that they would be
+responsible for the pay. But to this the man would not listen; he took me
+in on my own account, saying that no blue-jacket should be turned from
+_his_ door, in distress. Here I staid and got a comfortable night's rest.
+Next day I was a new man, holy-stoned the decks, and went a second time to
+the Department.
+
+All the gentlemen in the office showed a desire to serve and advise me.
+The Pension Clerk gave me a letter to Mr. Boyle, the Chief Clerk, who gave
+me another letter to Commodore Patterson, the commandant of the Navy-Yard.
+It seems that government provides a boarding-house for us pensioners to
+stay in, while at Washington, looking after our rights. This letter of Mr.
+Boyle's got me a berth in that house, where I was supplied with
+everything, even to washing and mending, for six weeks. Through the
+purser, I drew a stock of money from the purser at New York, and now
+began, again, to live soberly and respectably, considering all things.
+
+The house in which I lived was a sort of half-hospital, and may have had
+six or eight of us in it, altogether. Several of us were cripples from
+wounds and hurts, and, among others, was one Reuben James, a thorough old
+man-of-war's man, who had been in the service ever since he was a youth.
+This man had the credit of saving Decatur's life before Tripoli; but he
+owned to me that he was not the person who did it. He was in the fight,
+and boarded with Decatur, but did not save his commander's life. He had
+been often wounded, and had just had a leg amputated for an old wound,
+received in the war of 1812, I believe. Liquor brought him to that.
+
+The reader will remember that the night the Scourge went down I received a
+severe blow from her jib-sheet blocks. A lump soon formed on the spot
+where the injury had been inflicted, and it had continued to increase
+until it was now as large as my fist, or even larger. I showed this lump
+to James, one day, and he mentioned it to Dr. Foltz, the surgeon who
+attended the house. The doctor took a look at my arm, and recommended an
+operation, as the lump would continue to increase, and was already so
+large as to be inconvenient. I cannot say that it hurt me any, though it
+was an awkward sort of swab to be carrying on a fellow's shoulder. I had
+no great relish for being carved, and think I should have refused to
+submit to the operation, were it not for James, who told me he would not
+be carrying Bunker Hill about on _his_ arm, and would show me his own
+stump by way of encouragement. This man seemed to think an old sailor
+ought to have a wooden leg, or something of the sort, after he had reached
+a certain time of life. At all events, he persuaded me to let the doctor
+go to work, and I am now glad I did, as everything turned out well. Doctor
+Foltz operated, after I had been about a week under medicine, doing the
+job as neatly as man could wish. He told me the lump he removed weighed a
+pound and three quarters, and of course I was so much the lighter. I was
+about a month, after this, under his care, when he pronounced me to be
+sea-worthy again.
+
+I now got things straight as regards my pension, for the hurt received on
+board the Constellation. It was no great matter, only three dollars a
+month, being one of the small pensions; and the clerks, when they came to
+hear about the hurt, for which Dr. Foltz had operated, advised me to get
+evidence and procure a pension for _that_. I saw the Secretary, Mr.
+Paulding, on this subject, and the gentlemen were so kind as to overhaul
+their papers, in order to ascertain who could be found as a witness. They
+wrote to Captain Deacon, the officer who commanded the Growler; but he
+knew nothing of me, as I never was on board his schooner. This gentleman,
+however, wrote me a letter, himself, inviting me to come and see him,
+which I had it not in my power to do. I understand he is now dead. Mr.
+Trant had been dead many years, and, as for Mr. Bogardus, I never knew
+what became of him. He was not in the line of promotion, and probably left
+the navy at the peace. In overhauling the books, however, the
+pension-clerk came across the name of Lemuel Bryant. This man received a
+pension for the wound he got at Little York, and was one of those I had
+hauled into the boat when the Scourge went down. He was then living at
+Portland, in Maine, his native State. Mr. Paulding advised me to get his
+certificate, for all hands in the Department seemed anxious I should not
+go away without something better than the three dollars a month. I
+promised to go on, and see Lemuel Bryant, and obtain his testimony.
+
+Quitting Washington, I went to Alexandria and got on board a brig, called
+the Isabella, bound to New York, at which port we arrived in due time.
+Here I obtained the rest of my money, and kept myself pretty steady, more
+on account of my wounds, I fear, than anything else. Still I drank too
+much; and by way of putting a check on myself, I went to the Sailor's
+Retreat, Staten Island, and of course got out of the reach of liquor. Here
+I staid eight or ten days, until my wounds healed. While at the Retreat,
+the last day I remained there indeed, which was a Sunday, the physician
+came in, and told me that a clergyman of the Dutch Reformed Church, of the
+name of Miller, was about to have service down stairs, and that I had
+better go down and be present. To this request, not only civilly but
+kindly made, I answered that I had seen enough of the acts of religious
+men to satisfy me, and that I believed a story I was then reading in a
+Magazine, would do me as much good as a sermon. The physician said a
+little in the way of reproof and admonition, and left me. As soon as his
+back was turned, some of my companions began to applaud the spirit I had
+shown, and the answer I had given the doctor. But I was not satisfied with
+myself. I had more secret respect for such things than I was willing to
+own, and conscience upbraided me for the manner in which I had slighted so
+well-meaning a request. Suddenly telling those around me that my mind was
+changed, and that I _would_ go below and hear what was said, I put this
+new resolution in effect immediately.
+
+I had no recollection of the text from which Mr. Miller preached; it is
+possible I did not attend to it, at the moment it was given out; but,
+during the whole discourse, I fancied the clergyman was addressing himself
+particularly to me, and that his eyes were never off me. That he touched
+my conscience I know, for the effect produced by this sermon, though not
+uninterruptedly lasting, is remembered to the present hour. I made many
+excellent resolutions, and secretly resolved to reform, and to lead a
+better life. My thoughts were occupied the whole night with what I had
+heard, and my conscience was keenly active.
+
+The next morning I quitted the Retreat, and saw no more of Mr. Miller, at
+that time; but I carried away with me many resolutions that would have
+been very admirable, had they only been adhered to. How short-lived they
+were, and how completely I was the slave of a vicious habit, will be seen,
+when I confess that I landed in New York a good deal the worse for having
+treated some militia-men who were in the steamer, to nearly a dozen
+glasses of hot-stuff, in crossing the bay. I had plenty of money, and a
+sailor's disposition to get rid of it, carelessly, and what I thought
+generously. It was Evacuation-Day, and severely cold, and the hot-stuff
+pleased everybody, on such an occasion. Nor was this all. In passing
+Whitehall slip, I saw the Ohio's first-cutter lying there, and it happened
+that I not only knew the officer of the boat, who had been one of the
+midshipmen of the Constellation, but that I knew most of its crew. I was
+hailed, of course, and then I asked leave to treat the men. The permission
+was obtained, and this second act of liberality reduced me to the
+necessity of going into port, under a pilot's charge. Still I had not
+absolutely forgotten the sermon, nor all my good resolutions.
+
+At the boarding-house I found a Prussian, named Godfrey, a steady, sedate
+man, and I agreed with him to go to Savannah, to engage in the
+shad-fishery, for the winter, and to come north together in the spring. My
+landlord was not only ill and poor, but he had many children to support,
+and it is some proof that all my good resolutions were not forgotten, that
+I was ready to go south before my money was gone, and willing it should do
+some good, in the interval of my absence. A check for fifty dollars still
+remained untouched, and I gave it to this man, with the understanding he
+was to draw the money, use it for his own wants, and return it to me, if
+he could, when I got back. The money was drawn, but the man died, and I
+saw no more of it.
+
+Godfrey and I were shipped in a vessel called the William Taylor, a
+regular Savannah packet. It was our intention to quit her as soon as she
+got in--by running, if necessary. We had a bad passage, and barely missed
+shipwreck on Hatteras, saving the brig by getting a sudden view of the
+light, in heavy, thick weather. We got round, under close-reefed topsails,
+and that was all we did. After this, we had a quick run to Savannah.
+Godfrey had been taken with the small-pox before we arrived, and was sent
+to a hospital as soon as possible. In order to prevent running, I feigned
+illness, too, and went to another. Here the captain paid me several
+visits, but my conscience was too much hardened by the practices of
+seamen, to let me hesitate about continuing to be ill. The brig was
+obliged to sail without me, and the same day I got well, as suddenly as I
+had fallen ill.
+
+I was not long in making a bargain with a fisherman to aid in catching
+shad. All this time, I lived at a sailor boarding-house, and was
+surrounded by men who, like myself, had quitted the vessels in which they
+had arrived. One night the captain of a ship, called the Hope, came to the
+house to look for a crew. He was bound to Rotterdam, and his ship lay down
+at the second bar, all ready for sea. After some talk, one man signed the
+articles; then another, and another, and another, until his crew was
+complete to one man. I was now called on to ship, and was ridiculed for
+wishing to turn shad-man. My pride was touched, and I agreed to go,
+leaving my fisherman in the lurch.
+
+The Hope turned out to be a regular down-east craft, and I had been in so
+many flyers and crack ships as to be saucy enough to laugh at the
+economical outfit, and staid ways of the vessel. I went on board half
+drunk, and made myself conspicuous for such sort of strictures from the
+first hour. The captain treated me mildly, even kindly; but I stuck to my
+remarks during most of the passage. I was a seaman, and did my duty; but
+this satisfied me. I had taken a disgust to the ship; and though I had
+never blasphemed since the hour of the accident in the way I did the day
+the Susan and Mary was thrown on her beam-ends, I may be said to have
+crossed the Atlantic in the Hope, grumbling and swearing at the ship.
+Still, our living and our treatment were both good.
+
+At Rotterdam, we got a little money, with liberty. When he last was up, I
+asked for more, and the captain refused it. This brought on an explosion,
+and I swore I would quit the ship. After a time, the captain consented, as
+well as he could, leaving my wages on the cabin-table, where I found them,
+and telling me I should repent of what I was then doing. Little did I then
+think he would prove so true a prophet.
+
+
+
+Chapter XVIII.
+
+
+
+I had left the Hope in a fit of the sulks. The vessel never pleased me,
+and yet I can now look back, and acknowledge that both her master and her
+mate were respectable, considerate men, who had my own good in view more
+than I had myself. There was an American ship, called the Plato, in port,
+and I had half a mind to try my luck in her. The master of this vessel was
+said to be a tartar, however, and a set of us had doubts about the
+expediency of trusting ourselves with such a commander. When we came to
+sound around him, we discovered he would have nothing to do with us, as he
+intended to get a crew of regular Dutchmen. This ship had just arrived
+from Batavia, and was bound to New York. How he did this legally, or
+whether he did it at all, is more than I know, for I only tell what I was
+told myself, on this subject.
+
+There was a heavy Dutch Indiaman, then fitting out for Java, lying at
+Rotterdam. The name of this vessel was the Stadtdeel--so pronounced; how
+spelt, I have no idea--and I began to think I would try a voyage in her.
+As is common with those who have great reason to find fault with
+themselves, I was angry with the whole world. I began to think myself a
+sort of outcast, forgetting that I had deserted my natural relatives, run
+from my master, and thrown off many friends who were disposed to serve me
+in everything in which I could be served. I have a cheerful temperament by
+nature, and I make no doubt that the sombre view I now began to take of
+things, was the effects of drink. It was necessary for me to get to sea,
+for there I was shut out from all excesses, by discipline and necessity.
+
+After looking around us, and debating the matter among ourselves, a party
+of five of us shipped in the Stadtdeel. What the others contemplated I do
+not know, but it was my intention to double Good Hope, and never to
+return. Chances enough would offer on the other side, to make a man
+comfortable, and I was no stranger to the ways of that quarter of the
+world. I could find enough to do between Bombay and Canton; and, if I
+could not, there were the islands and all of the Pacific before me. I
+could do a seaman's whole duty, was now in tolerable health and strength,
+and knew that such men were always wanted. Wherever a ship goes, Jack must
+go with her, and ships, dollars and hogs, are now to be met with all over
+the globe.
+
+The Stadtdeel lay at Dort, and we went to that place to join her. She was
+not ready for sea, and as things moved Dutchman fashion, slow and sure, we
+were about six weeks at Dort before she sailed. This ship was a vessel of
+the size of a frigate, and carried twelve guns. She had a crew of about
+forty souls, which was being very short-handed. The ship's company was a
+strange mixture of seamen, though most of them came from the north of
+Europe. Among us were Russians, Danes, Swedes, Prussians, English,
+Americans, and but a very few Dutch. One of the mates, and two of the
+petty officers, could speak a little English. This made us eight who could
+converse in that language. We had to learn Dutch as well as we could, and
+made out tolerably well. Before the ship sailed, I could understand the
+common orders, without much difficulty. Indeed, the language is nothing
+but English a little flattened down.
+
+So long as we remained at Dort, the treatment on board this vessel was
+well enough. We were never well fed, though we got enough food, such as it
+was. The work was hard, and the weather cold; but these did not frighten
+me. The wages were eight dollars a month;--I had abandoned eighteen, and
+an American ship, for this preferment! A wayward temper had done me
+this service.
+
+The Stadtdeel no sooner got into the stream, than there was a great
+change in the treatment. We were put on an allowance of food and water,
+in sight of our place of departure; and the rope's-end began to fly round
+among the crew we five excepted. For some reason, that I cannot explain
+neither of us was ever struck. We got plenty of curses, in Low Dutch, as
+we supposed; and we gave them back, with interest, in high English. The
+expression of our faces let the parties into the secret of what was
+going on.
+
+It is scarcely necessary to add, that we English and Americans soon
+repented of the step we had taken. I heartily wished myself on board the
+Hope, again, and the master's prophecy became true, much sooner, perhaps,
+than he had himself anticipated. This time, I conceive that my disgust was
+fully justified; though I deserved the punishment I was receiving, for
+entering so blindly into a service every way so inferior to that to which
+I properly belonged. The bread in this ship was wholesome, I do suppose,
+but it was nearly black, and such as I was altogether unused to. Inferior
+as it was, we got but five pounds, each, per week. In our navy, a man
+gets, per week, seven pounds of such bread as might be put on a
+gentleman's table. The meat was little better than the bread in quality,
+and quite as scant in quantity. We got one good dish in the Stadtdeel, and
+that we got every morning. It was a dish of boiled barley, of which I
+became very fond, and which, indeed, supplied me with the strength
+necessary for my duty. It was one of the best dishes I ever fell in with
+at sea; and I think it might be introduced, to advantage, in our service.
+Good food produces good work.
+
+As all our movements were of the slow and easy order, the ship lay three
+weeks at the Helvoetsluys, waiting for passengers. During this time, our
+party, three English and two Americans, came to a determination to abandon
+the ship. Our plan was to seize a boat, as we passed down channel, and get
+ashore in England. We were willing to run all the risks of such a step, in
+preference of going so long a voyage under such treatment and food. By
+this time, our discontent amounted to disgust.
+
+At length we got all our passengers on board. These consisted of a family,
+of which the head was said to be, or to have been, an admiral in the Dutch
+navy. This gentleman was going to Java to remain; and he took with him
+his wife, several children, servants, and a lady, who seemed to be a
+companion to his wife. As soon as this party was on board, the wind coming
+fair, we sailed. The Plato went to sea in company with us, and little did
+I then think, while wishing myself on board her, how soon I should be
+thrown into this very ship--the last craft in which I ever was at sea. I
+was heaving the lead as we passed her; our ship, Dutchman or not, having a
+fleet pair of heels. The Stadtdeel, whatever might be her usage, or her
+food, sailed and worked well, and was capitally found in everything that
+related to the safety of the vessel. This was her first voyage, and she
+was said to be the largest ship out of Rotterdam.
+
+The Stadtdeel must have sailed from Helvoetsluys in May, 1839, or about
+thirty-three years after I sailed from New York, on my first voyage, in
+the Sterling. During all this time I had been toiling at sea, like a dog,
+risking my health and life, in a variety of ways; and this ship, with my
+station on board her, was nearly all I had to show for it! God be praised!
+This voyage, which promised so little, in its commencement, proved, in the
+end, the most fortunate of any in which I embarked.
+
+There was no opportunity for us to put our plans in execution, in going
+down channel. The wind was fair, and it blew so fresh, it would not have
+been easy to get a boat into the water; and we passed the Straits of
+Dover, by day-light, the very day we sailed. The wind held in the same
+quarter, until we reached the north-east trades, giving us a quick run as
+low down as the calm latitudes. All this time, the treatment was as bad as
+ever, or, if anything, worse; and our discontent increased daily. There
+were but one or two native Hollanders in the forecastle, boys excepted;
+but among them was a man who had shipped as an ordinary seaman. He had
+been a soldier, I believe; at all events, he had a medal, received in
+consequence of having been in one of the late affairs between his country
+and Belgium. It is probable this man may not have been very expert in a
+seaman's duty, and it is possible he may have been drinking, though to me
+he appeared sober, at the time the thing occurred which I am about to
+relate. One day the captain fell foul of him, and beat him with a rope
+severely. The ladies interfered, and got the poor fellow out of the
+scrape; the captain letting him go, and telling him to go forward. As the
+man complied, he fell in with the chief mate, who attacked him afresh, and
+beat him very severely. The man now went below, and was about to turn in,
+as the captain had ordered,--which renders it probable he had been
+drinking,--when the second mate, possibly ignorant of what had occurred,
+missing him from his duty, went below, and beat him up on deck again.
+These different assaults seem to have made the poor fellow desperate. He
+ran and jumped into the sea, just forward of the starboard
+lower-studdingsail-boom. The ship was then in the north-east trades, and
+had eight or nine knots way on her; notwithstanding, she was rounded to,
+and a boat was lowered--but the man was never found. There is something
+appalling in seeing a fellow-creature driven to such acts of madness; and
+the effect produced on all of us, by what we witnessed, was profound
+and sombre.
+
+I shall not pretend to say that this man did not deserve chastisement, or
+that the two mates were not ignorant of what had happened; but brutal
+treatment was so much in use on board this ship, that the occurrence made
+us five nearly desperate. I make no doubt a crew of Americans, who were
+thus treated, would have secured the officers, and brought the ship in. It
+is true, that flogging seems necessary to some natures, and I will not say
+that such a crew as ours could very well get along without it. But we
+might sometimes be treated as men, and no harm follow.
+
+As I have said, the loss of this man produced a great impression in the
+ship, generally. The passengers appeared much affected by it, and I
+thought the captain, in particular, regretted it greatly. He might not
+have been in the least to blame, for the chastisement he inflicted was
+such as masters of ships often bestow on their men, but the crew felt very
+indignant against the mates; one of whom was particularly obnoxious to us
+all. As for my party, we now began to plot, again, in order to get quit of
+the ship. After a great deal of discussion, we came to the following
+resolution:
+
+About a dozen of us entered into the conspiracy. We contemplated no
+piracy, no act of violence, that should not be rendered necessary in
+self-defence, nor any robbery beyond what we conceived indispensable to
+our object. As the ship passed the Straits of Sunda, we intended to lower
+as many boats as should be necessary, arm ourselves, place provisions and
+water in the boats, and abandon the ship. We felt confident that if most
+of the men did not go with us, they would not oppose us. I can now see
+that this was a desperate and unjustifiable scheme; but, for myself, I was
+getting desperate on board the ship, and preferred risking my life to
+remaining. I will not deny that I was a ringleader in this affair, though
+I know I had no other motive than escape. This was a clear case of mutiny,
+and the only one in which I was ever implicated. I have a thousand times
+seen reason to rejoice that the attempt was never made, since, so deep was
+the hostility of the crew to the officers,--the mates, in
+particular,--that I feel persuaded a horrible scene of bloodshed must have
+followed. I did not think of this at the time, making sure of getting off
+unresisted; but, if we had, what would have been the fate of a parcel of
+seamen who came into an English port in ship's boats? Tried for piracy,
+probably, and the execution of some, if not all of us.
+
+The ship had passed the island of St. Pauls, and we were impatiently
+waiting for her entrance into the Straits of Sunda, when an accident
+occurred that put a stop to the contemplated mutiny, and changed the whole
+current, as I devoutly hope, of all my subsequent life. At the calling of
+the middle watch, one stormy night, the ship being under close-reefed
+topsails at the time, with the mainsail furled, I went on deck as usual,
+to my duty. In stepping across the deck, between the launch and the
+galley, I had to cross some spars that were lashed there. While on the
+pile of spars, the ship lurched suddenly, and I lost my balance, falling
+my whole length on deck, upon my left side. Nothing broke the fall, my
+arms being raised to seize a hold above my head, and I came down upon deck
+with my entire weight, the hip taking the principal force of the fall. The
+anguish I suffered was acute, and it was some time before I would allow my
+shipmates even to touch me.
+
+After a time, I was carried down into the steerage, where it was found
+necessary to sling me on a grating, instead of a hammock. We had a doctor
+on board, but he could do nothing for me. My clothes could not be taken
+off, and there I lay wet, and suffering to a degree that I should find
+difficult to describe, hours and hours.
+
+I was now really on the stool of repentance. In body, I was perfectly
+helpless, though my mind seemed more active than it had ever been before.
+I overhauled my whole life, beginning with the hour when I first got
+drunk, as a boy, on board the Sterling, and underrunning every scrape I
+have mentioned in this sketch of my life, with many of which I have not
+spoken; and all with a fidelity and truth that satisfy me that man can
+keep no log-book that is as accurate as his own conscience. I saw that I
+had been my own worst enemy, and how many excellent opportunities of
+getting ahead in the world, I had wantonly disregarded. Liquor lay at the
+root of all my calamities and misconduct, enticing me into bad company,
+undermining my health and strength, and blasting my hopes. I tried to
+pray, but did not know how; and, it appeared to me, as if I were lost,
+body and soul, without a hope of mercy.
+
+My shipmates visited me by stealth, and I pointed out to them, as clearly
+as in my power, the folly, as well as the wickedness, of our contemplated
+mutiny. I told them we had come on board the ship voluntarily, and we had
+no right to be judges in our own case; that we should have done a cruel
+thing in deserting a ship at sea, with women and children on board; that
+the Malays would probably have cut our throats, and the vessel herself
+would have been very apt to be wrecked. Of all this mischief, we should
+have been the fathers, and we had every reason to be grateful that our
+project was defeated. The men listened attentively, and promised to
+abandon every thought of executing the revolt. They were as good as their
+words, and I heard no more of the matter.
+
+As for my hurt, it was not easy to say what it was. The doctor was kind to
+me, but he could do no more than give me food and little indulgencies. As
+for the captain, I think he was influenced by the mate, who appeared to
+believe I was feigning an injury much greater than I had actually
+received. On board the ship, there was a boy, of good parentage, who had
+been sent out to commence his career at sea. He lived aft, and was a sort
+of genteel cabin-boy He could not have been more than ten or eleven years
+old but he proved to be a ministering angel to me. He brought me
+delicacies, sympathised with me, and many a time did we shed tears in
+company. The ladies and the admiral's children sometimes came to see me,
+too, manifesting much sorrow for my situation; and then it was that my
+conscience pricked the deepest, for the injury, or risks, I had
+contemplated exposing them to. Altogether, the scenes I saw daily, and my
+own situation, softened my heart, and I began to get views of my moral
+deformity that were of a healthful and safe character.
+
+I lay on that grating two months, and bitter months they were to me. The
+ship had arrived at Batavia, and the captain and mate came to see what was
+to be done with me. I asked to be sent to the hospital, but the mate
+insisted nothing was the matter with me, and asked to have me kept in the
+ship. This was done, and I went round to Terragall in her, where we landed
+our passengers. These last all came and took leave of me, the admiral
+making me a present of a good jacket, that he had worn himself at sea,
+with a quantity of tobacco. I have got that jacket at this moment. The
+ladies spoke kindly to me, and all this gave my heart fresh pangs.
+
+From Terragall we went to Sourabaya, where I prevailed on the captain to
+send me to the hospital, the mate still insisting I was merely shamming
+inability to work. The surgeons at Sourabaya, one of whom was a Scotchman,
+thought with the mate; and at the end of twenty days, I was again taken on
+board the ship, which sailed for Samarang. While at Sourabaya there were
+five English sailors in the hospital. These men were as forlorn and
+miserable as my self, death grinning in our faces at every turn. The men
+who were brought into the hospital one day, were often dead the next, and
+none of us knew whose turn would come next. We often talked together, on
+religious subjects, after our own uninstructed manner, and greatly did we
+long to find an English bible, a thing not to be had there. Then it was I
+thought, again, of the sermon I had heard at the Sailors' Retreat, of the
+forfeited promises I had made to reform; and, more than once did it cross
+my mind, should God permit me to return home, that I would seek out that
+minister, and ask his prayers and spiritual advice.
+
+On our arrival at Samarang, the mate got a doctor from a Dutch frigate,
+to look at me, who declared nothing ailed me. By these means nearly all
+hands in the ship were set against me, but my four companions, and the
+little boy fancying that I was a skulk, and throwing labour on them. I was
+ordered on deck, and set to work graffing ring-bolts for the guns. Walk I
+could not, being obliged, literally, to crawl along the deck on my hands
+and knees. I suffered great pain, but got no credit for it. The work was
+easy enough for me, when once seated at it, but it caused me infinite
+suffering to move. I was not alone in being thought a skulk, however. The
+doctor himself was taken ill, and the mate accused him, too, very much as
+he did me, of shirking duty. Unfortunately, the poor man gave him the
+lie, by dying.
+
+I was kept at the sort of duty I have mentioned until the ship reached
+Batavia again. Here a doctor came on board from another ship, on a visit,
+and my case was mentioned. The mate ordered me aft, and I crawled upon the
+quarter-deck to be examined. They got me into the cabin, where the strange
+doctor looked at me. This man said I must be operated on by a burning
+process, all of which was said to frighten me to duty. After this I got
+down into the forecastle, and positively refused to do anything more.
+There I lay, abused and neglected by all but my four friends. I told the
+mate I suffered too much to work, and that I must be put ashore. Suffering
+had made me desperate, and I cared not for the consequences.
+
+Fortunately for me, there were two cases of fever and ague in the ship.
+Our own doctor being dead, that of the admiral's ship was sent for to
+visit the sick. The mate seemed anxious to set evidence against me, and he
+asked the admiral's surgeon to come down and see me. The moment this
+gentleman laid eyes on me, he raised both arms, and exclaimed that they
+were killing me. He saw, at once, that I was no impostor, and stated as
+much in pretty plain language, so far as I could understand what he said.
+The mate appeared to be struck with shame and contrition; and I do believe
+that every one on board was sorry for the treatment I had received. I took
+occasion to remonstrate with the mate, and to tell him of the necessity of
+my being sent immediately to the hospital. The man promised to represent
+my case to the captain, and the next day I was landed.
+
+My two great desires were to get to the hospital and to procure a bible. I
+did not expect to live; one of my legs being shrivelled to half its former
+size, and was apparently growing worse; and could I find repose for my
+body and relief for my soul, I felt that I could be happy. I had heard my
+American shipmate, who was a New Yorker, a Hudson river man, say he had a
+bible; but I had never seen it. It lay untouched in the bottom of his
+chest, sailor-fashion. I offered this man a shirt for his bible; but he
+declined taking any pay, cheerfully giving me the book. I forced the shirt
+on him, however, as a sort of memorial of me. Now I was provided with the
+book, I could not read for want of spectacles. I had reached a time of
+life when the sight begins to fail, and I think my eyes were injured in
+Florida. In Sourayaba hospital I had raised a few rupees by the sale of a
+black silk handkerchief, and wanted now to procure a pair of spectacles. I
+sold a pair of boots, and adding the little sum thus raised to that which
+I had already, I felt myself rich and happy, in the prospect of being able
+to study the word of God. On quitting the ship, everybody, forward and
+aft, shook hands with me, the opinion of the man-of-war surgeon suddenly
+changing all their opinions of me and my conduct.
+
+The captain appeared to regret the course things had taken, and was
+willing to do all he could to make me comfortable. My wages were left in a
+merchant's hands, and I was to receive them could I quit this island, or
+get out of the hospital. I was to be sent to Holland, in the latter case,
+and everything was to be done according to law and right. The reader is
+not to imagine I considered myself a suffering saint all this time. On the
+contrary, while I was thought an impostor, I remembered that I had shammed
+sickness in this very island, and, as I entered the hospital, I could not
+forget the circumstances under which I had been its tenant fifteen or
+twenty years before. Then I was in the pride of my youth and strength;
+and, now, as if in punishment for the deception, I was berthed, a
+miserable cripple, within half-a-dozen beds of that on which I was berthed
+when feigning an illness I did not really suffer. Under such
+circumstances, conscience is pretty certain to remind a sinner of
+his misdeeds.
+
+The physician of the hospital put me on very low diet and gave me an
+ointment to "smear" myself with, as he called it; and I was ordered to
+remain in my berth. By means of one of the coolies of the hospital, I got
+a pair of spectacles from the town, and such a pair, as to size and form,
+that people in America regard what is left of them as a curiosity. They
+served my purpose, however, and enabled me to read the precious book I had
+obtained from my north-river shipmate. This book was a copy from the
+American Bible Society's printing-office, and if no other of their works
+did good, this must be taken for an exception. It has since been placed in
+the Society's Library, in memory of the good it has done.
+
+My sole occupation was reading and reflecting. There I lay, in a distant
+island, surrounded by disease, death daily, nay hourly making his
+appearance, among men whose language was mostly unknown to me. It was
+several weeks before I was allowed even to quit my bunk. I had begun to
+pray before I left the ship, and this practice I continued, almost hourly,
+until I was permitted to rise. A converted Lascar was in the hospital, and
+seeing my occupation, he came and conversed with me, in his broken
+English. This man gave me a hymn-book, and one of the first hymns I read
+in it afforded me great consolation. It was written by a man who had been
+a sailor like myself, and one who had been almost as wicked as myself, but
+who has since done a vast deal of good, by means of precept and example.
+This hymn-book I now read in common with my bible. But I cannot express
+the delight I felt at a copy of Pilgrim's Progress which this same Lascar
+gave me. That book I consider as second only to the bible. It enabled me
+to understand and to apply a vast deal that I found in the word of God,
+and set before my eyes so many motives for hope, that I began to feel
+Christ had died for me, as well as for the rest of the species. I thought
+if the thief on the cross could be saved, even one as wicked as I had been
+had only to repent and believe, to share in the Redeemer's mercy. All this
+time I fairly pined for religious instruction, and my thoughts would
+constantly recur to the sermon I had heard at the Sailor's Retreat, and
+to the clergyman who had preached it.
+
+There was an American carpenter in the Fever Hospital, who, hearing of my
+state, gave me some tracts that he had brought from home with him. This
+man was not pious, but circumstances had made him serious; and, being
+about to quit the place, he was willing to administer to my wants He told
+me there were several Englishmen and one American in his hospital, who
+wanted religious consolation greatly, and he advised me to crawl over and
+see them; which I did, as soon as it was in my power.
+
+At first, I thought myself too wicked to offer to pray and converse with
+these men, but my conscience would not let me rest until I did so. It
+appeared to me as if the bible had been placed in my way, as much for
+their use as my own, and I could not rest until I had offered them all the
+consolation it was in my power to bestow. I read with these men for two or
+three weeks; Chapman, the American, being the man who considered his own
+moral condition the most hopeless. When unable to go myself, I would send
+my books, and we had the bible and Pilgrim's Progress, watch and watch,
+between us.
+
+All this time we were living, as it might be, on a bloody battle-field.
+Men died in scores around us, and at the shortest notice. Batavia, at that
+season, was the most sickly; and, although the town was by no means as
+dangerous then as it had been in my former visit, it was still a sort of
+Golgotha, or place of skulls. More than half who entered the Fever
+Hospital, left it only as corpses.
+
+Among my English associates, as I call them, was a young Scotchman, of
+about five-and-twenty. This man had been present at most of our readings
+and conversations, though he did not appear to me as much impressed with
+the importance of caring for his soul, as some of the others. One day he
+came to take leave of me. He was to quit the hospital the following
+morning. I spoke to him concerning his future life, and endeavoured to
+awaken in him some feelings that might be permanent, he listened with
+proper respect, but his answers were painfully inconsiderate, though I do
+believe he reasoned as nine in ten of mankind reason, when they think at
+all on such subjects. "What's the use of my giving up so soon," he said;
+"I am young, and strong, and in good health, and have plenty of sea-room
+to leeward of me, and can fetch up when there is occasion for it. If a
+fellow don't live while he can, he'll never live." I read to him the
+parable of the wise and foolish virgins, but he left me holding the same
+opinion, to the last.
+
+Directly in front of my ward was the dead-house. Thither all the bodies of
+those who died in the hospital were regularly carried for dissection.
+Scarcely one escaped being subjected to the knife. This dead-house stood
+some eighty, or a hundred, yards from the hospital, and between them was
+an area, containing a few large trees. I was in the habit, after I got
+well enough to go out, to hobble to one of these trees, where I would sit
+for hours, reading and meditating. It was a good place to make a man
+reflect on the insignificance of worldly things, disease and death being
+all around him. I frequently saw six or eight bodies carried across this
+area, while sitting in it, and many were taken to the dead-house, at
+night. Hundreds, if not thousands, were in the hospital, and a large
+proportion died.
+
+The morning of the day but one, after I had taken leave of the young
+Scotchman, I was sitting under a tree, as usual, when I saw some coolies
+carrying a dead body across the area. They passed quite near me, and one
+of the coolies gave me to understand it was that of this very youth! He
+had been seized with the fever, a short time after he left me, and here
+was a sudden termination to all his plans of enjoyment and his hopes of
+life; his schemes of future repentance.
+
+Such things are of frequent occurrence in that island, but this event made
+a very deep impression on me. It helped to strengthen me in my own
+resolutions, and I used it, I hope, with effect, with my companions whose
+lives were still spared.
+
+All the Englishmen got well, and were discharged. Chapman, the American,
+however, remained, being exceedingly feeble with the disease of the
+country. With this poor young man, I prayed, as well as I knew how, and
+read, daily, to his great comfort and consolation, I believe. The reader
+may imagine how one dying in a strange land, surrounded by idolaters,
+would lean on a single countryman who was disposed to aid him. In this
+manner did Chap man lean on me, and all my efforts were to induce him to
+lean on the Saviour. He thought he had been too great a sinner to be
+entitled to any hope, and my great task was to overcome in him some of
+those stings of conscience which it had taken the grace of God to allay in
+myself. One day, the last time I was with him, I read the narrative of the
+thief on the cross. He listened to it eagerly, and when I had ended, for
+the first time, he displayed some signs of hope and joy. As I left him, he
+took leave of me, saying we should never meet again. He asked my prayers,
+and I promised them. I went to my own ward, and, while actually engaged in
+redeeming my promise, one came to tell me he had gone. He sent me a
+message, to say he died a happy man. The poor fellow--happy fellow, would
+be a better term--sent back all the books he had borrowed; and it will
+serve to give some idea of the condition we were in, in a temporal sense,
+if I add, that he also sent me a few coppers, in order that they might
+contribute to the comfort of his countrymen.
+
+
+
+Chapter XIX.
+
+
+
+About three months after the death of Chapman, I was well enough to quit
+the hospital. I could walk, with the aid of crutches, but had no hope of
+ever being a sound man again. Of course, I had an anxious desire to get
+home; for all my resolutions, misanthropical feelings, and resentments,
+had vanished in the moral change I had undergone. My health, as a whole,
+was now good. Temperance, abstinence, and a happy frame of mind, had
+proved excellent doctors; and, although I had not, and never shall,
+altogether, recover from the effects of my fall, I had quite done with the
+"horrors." The last fit of them I suffered was in the deep conviction I
+felt concerning my sinful state. I knew nothing of Temperance
+Societies--had never heard that such things existed, or, if I had, forgot
+it as soon as heard; and yet, unknown to myself, had joined the most
+effective and most permanent of all these bodies. Since my fall, I have
+not tasted spirituous liquors, except as medicine, and in very small
+quantities, nor do I now feel the least desire to drink. By the grace of
+God, the great curse of my life has been removed, and I have lived a
+perfectly sober man for the last five years. I look upon liquor as one of
+the great agents of the devil in destroying souls, and turn from it,
+almost as sensitively as I could wish to turn from sin.
+
+I wrote to the merchant who held my wages, on the subject of quitting the
+hospital, but got no answer. I then resolved to go to Batavia myself, and
+took my discharge from the hospital, accordingly. I can truly say, I left
+that place, into which I had entered a miserable, heart-broken cripple, a
+happy man. Still, I had nothing; not even the means of seeking a
+livelihood. But I was lightened of the heaviest of all my burthens, and
+felt I could go through the world rejoicing, though, literally, moving
+on crutches.
+
+The hospital is seven miles from the town, and I went this distance in a
+canal-boat, Dutch fashion. Many of these canals exist in Java, and they
+have had the effect to make the island much more healthy, by draining the
+marshes. They told me, the canal I was on ran fifty miles into the
+interior. The work was done by the natives, but under the direction of
+their masters, the Dutch.
+
+On reaching the town, I hobbled up to the merchant, who gave me a very
+indifferent reception. He said I had cost too much already, but that I
+must return to the hospital, until an opportunity offered for sending me
+to Holland. This I declined doing. Return to the hospital I would not, as
+I knew it could do no good, and my wish was to get back to America. I then
+went to the American consul, who treated me kindly. I was told, however,
+he could do nothing for me, as I had come out in a Dutch ship, unless I
+relinquished all claims to my wages, and all claims on the Dutch laws. My
+wages were a trifle, and I had no difficulty in relinquishing them, and as
+for claims, I wished to present none on the laws of Holland.
+
+The consul then saw the Dutch merchant, and the matter was arranged
+between them. The Plato, the very ship that left Helvoetsluys in company
+with us, was then at Batavia, taking in cargo for Bremenhaven. She had a
+new cap tain, and he consented to receive me as a consul's man. This
+matter was all settled the day I reached the town, and I was to go on
+board the ship in the morning.
+
+I said nothing to the consul about money, but left his office with the
+expectation of getting some from the Dutch merchant. I had tasted no food
+that day, and, on reaching the merchant's, I found him on the point of
+going into the country; no one sleeping in the town at that season, who
+could help it. He took no notice of me, and I got no assistance; perhaps I
+was legally entitled to none. I now sat down on some boxes, and thought I
+would remain at that spot until morning. Sleeping in the open air, on an
+empty stomach, in that town, and at that season, would probably have
+proved my death, had I been so fortunate as to escape being murdered by
+the Malays for the clothes I had on. Providence took care of me. One of
+the clerks, a Portuguese, took pity on me, and led me to a house occupied
+by a negro, who had been converted to Christianity. We met with a good
+deal of difficulty in finding admission. The black said the English and
+Americans were so wicked he was afraid of them; but, finding by my
+discourse that I was not one of the Christian heathen, he altered his
+tone, and nothing was then too good for me. I was fed, and he sent for my
+chest, receiving with it a bed and three blankets, as a present from the
+charitable clerk. Thus were my prospects for that night suddenly changed
+for the better! I could only thank God, in my inmost heart, for all
+his mercies.
+
+The old black, who was a man of some means, was also about to quit the
+town; but, before he went, he inquired if I had a bible. I told him yes;
+still, he would not rest until he had pressed upon me a large bible, in
+English, which language he spoke very well. This book had prayers for
+seamen bound up with it. It was, in fact, a sort of English prayer-book,
+as well as bible. This I accepted, and have now with me. As soon as the
+old man went away, leaving his son behind him for the moment, I began to
+read in my Pilgrim's Progress. The young man expressed a desire to examine
+the book, understanding English perfectly. After reading in it for a short
+time, he earnestly begged the book, telling me he had two sisters, who
+would be infinitely pleased to possess it. I could not refuse him, and he
+promised to send another book in its place, which I should find equally
+good. He thus left me, taking the Pilgrim's Progress with him. Half an
+hour later a servant brought me the promised book, which proved to be
+Doddridge's Rise and Progress. On looking through the pages, I found a
+Mexican dollar wafered between two of the leaves. All this I regarded as
+providential, and as a proof that the Lord would not desert me. My
+gratitude, I hope, was in proportion. This whole household appeared to be
+religious, for I passed half the night in conversing with the Malay
+servants, on the subject of Christianity; concerning which they had
+already received many just ideas. I knew that my teaching was like the
+blind instructing the blind; but it had the merit of coming from God,
+though in a degree suited to my humble claims on his grace.
+
+In the morning, these Malays gave me breakfast, and then carried my chest
+and other articles to the Plato's boat. I was happy enough to find myself,
+once more, under the stars and stripes, where I was well received, and
+humanely treated. The ship sailed for Bremen about twenty days after I got
+on board her.
+
+Of course, I could do but little on the passage. Whenever I moved along
+the deck, it was by crawling, though I could work with the needle and
+palm. A fortnight out, the carpenter, a New York man, died. I tried to
+read and pray with him, but cannot say that he showed any consciousness of
+his true situation. We touched at St. Helena for water, and, Napoleon
+being then dead, had no difficulty in getting ashore. After watering we
+sailed again, and reached our port in due time.
+
+I was now in Europe, a part of the world that I had little hopes of seeing
+ten months before. Still it was my desire to get to America, and I was
+permitted to remain in the ship. I was treated in the kindest manner by
+captain Bunting, and Mr. Bowden, the mate, who gave me everything I
+needed. At the end of a few weeks we sailed again, for New York, where we
+arrived in the month of August, 1840,
+
+I left the Plato at the quarantine ground, going to the Sailor's Retreat.
+Here the physician told me I never could recover the use of my limb as I
+had possessed it before, but that the leg would gradually grow stronger,
+and that I might get along without crutches in the end. All this has
+turned out to be true. The pain had long before left me, weakness being
+now the great difficulty. The hip-joint is injured, and this in a way that
+still compels me to rely greatly on a stick in walking.
+
+At the Sailor's Retreat, I again met Mr. Miller. I now, for the first
+time, received regular spiritual advice, and it proved to be of great
+benefit to me. After remaining a month at the Retreat, I determined to
+make an application for admission to the Sailor's Snug Harbour, a richly
+endowed asylum for seamen, on the same island. In order to be admitted, it
+was necessary to have sailed under the flag five years, and to get a
+character. I had sailed, with two short exceptions, thirty-four years
+under the flag, and I do believe in all that time, the nineteen months of
+imprisonment excluded, I had not been two years unattached to a ship. I
+think I must have passed at least a quarter of a century out of sight of
+land.[17]
+
+I now went up to New York, and hunted up captain Pell, with whom I had
+sailed in the Sully and in the Normandy. This gentleman gave me a
+certificate, and, as I left him, handed me a dollar. This was every cent I
+had on earth. Next, I found captain Witheroudt, of the Silvie de Grasse
+who treated me in precisely the same way. I told him I had _one_ dollar
+already, but he insisted it should be _two_. With these two dollars in my
+pocket, I was passing up Wall street, when, in looking about me, I saw the
+pension office. The reader will remember that I left Washington with the
+intention of finding Lemuel Bryant, in order to obtain his certificate,
+that I might get a pension for the injury received on board the Scourge.
+With this project, I had connected a plan of returning to Boston, and of
+getting some employment in the Navy Yard. My pension-ticket had, in
+consequence, been made payable at Boston. My arrival at New York, and the
+shadding expedition, had upset all this plan; and before I went to
+Savannah, I had carried my pension-ticket to the agent in this Wall street
+office, and requested him to get another, made payable in New York. This
+was the last I had seen of my ticket, and almost the last I had thought of
+my pension. But, I now crossed the street, went into the office, and was
+recognised immediately. Everything was in rule, and I came out of the
+office with fifty-six dollars in my pockets! I had no thought of this
+pension, at all, in coming up to town. It was so much money showered down
+upon me, unexpectedly.
+
+For a man of my habits, who kept clear of drink, I was now rich. Instead
+of remaining in town, however, I went immediately down to the Harbour, and
+presented myself to its respectable superintendant, the venerable Captain
+Whetten.[18] I was received into the institution without any difficulty,
+and have belonged to it ever since. My entrance at Sailors' Snug Harbour
+took place Sept. 17, 1840; just one month after I landed at Sailors'
+Retreat. The last of these places is a seamen's hospital, where men are
+taken in only to be cured; while the first is an asylum for worn-out
+mariners, for life. The last is supported by a bequest made, many years
+ago, by an old ship-master, whose remains lie in front of the building.
+
+Knowing myself now to be berthed for the rest of my days, should I be so
+inclined, and should I remain worthy to receive the benefits of so
+excellent an institution, I began to look about me, like a man who had
+settled down in the world. One of my first cares, was to acquit myself of
+the duty of publicly joining some church of Christ, and thus acknowledge
+my dependence on his redemption and mercy. Mr. Miller, he whose sermons
+had made so deep an impression on my mind, was living within a mile and a
+half of the Harbour, and to him I turned in my need. I was an
+Episcopalian by infant baptism, and I am still as much attached to that
+form of worship, as to any other; but sects have little weight with me,
+the heart being the main-stay, under God's grace. Two of us, then, joined
+Mr. Miller's church; and I have ever since continued one of his
+communicants. I have not altogether deserted the communion in which I was
+baptized; occasionally communing in the church of Mr. Moore. To me, there
+is no difference; though I suppose more learned Christians may find
+materials for a quarrel, in the distinctions which exist between these two
+churches. I hope never to quarrel with either.
+
+To my surprise, sometime after I was received into the Harbour, I
+ascertained that my sister had removed to New York, and was then living in
+the place. I felt it, now, to be a duty to hunt her up, and see her. This
+I did; and we met, again, after a separation of five-and-twenty years. She
+could tell me very little of my family; but I now learned, for the first
+time, that my father had been killed in battle. Who, or what he was, I
+have not been able to ascertain, beyond the facts already stated in the
+opening of the memoir.
+
+I had ever retained a kind recollection of the treatment of Captain
+Johnston, and accident threw into my way some information concerning him.
+The superintendant had put me in charge of the library of the institution;
+and, one day, I overheard some visiters talking of Wiscasset. Upon this, I
+ventured to inquire after my old master, and was glad to learn that he was
+not only living, but in good health and circumstances. To my surprise I
+was told that a nephew of his was actually living within a mile of me. In
+September, 1842, I went to Wiscasset, to visit Captain Johnston, and found
+myself received like the repentant prodigal. The old gentleman, and his
+sisters, seemed glad to see me; and, I found that the former had left the
+seas, though he still remained a ship-owner; having a stout vessel of five
+hundred tons, which is, at this moment, named after our old craft,
+the Sterling.
+
+I remained at Wiscasset several weeks. During this time, Captain Johnston
+and myself talked over old times, as a matter of course, and I told him I
+thought one of our old shipmates was still living. On his asking whom, I
+inquired if he remembered the youngster, of the name of Cooper, who had
+been in the Sterling. He answered, perfectly well, and that he supposed
+him to be the Captain Cooper who was then in the navy. I had thought so,
+too, for a long time; but happened to be on board the Hudson, at New York,
+when a Captain Cooper visited her. Hearing his name, I went on deck
+expressly to see him, and was soon satisfied it was not my old shipmate.
+There are two Captains Cooper in the navy,--father and son,--but neither
+had been in the Sterling. Now, the author of many naval tales, and of the
+Naval History, was from Cooperstown, New York; and I had taken it into my
+head this was the very person who had been with us in the Sterling.
+Captain Johnston thought not; but I determined to ascertain the fact,
+immediately on my return to New York.
+
+Quitting Wiscasset, I came back to the Harbour, in the month of November,
+1842. I ought to say, that the men at this institution, who maintain good
+characters, can always get leave to go where they please, returning
+whenever they please. There is no more restraint than is necessary to
+comfort and good order; the object being to make old tars comfortable.
+Soon after my return to the Harbour, I wrote a letter to Mr. Fenimore
+Cooper, and sent it to his residence, at Cooperstown, making the inquiries
+necessary to know if he were the person of the same family who had been in
+the Sterling. I got an answer, beginning in these words--"I am your old
+shipmate, Ned." Mr. Cooper informed me when he would be in town, and
+where he lodged.
+
+In the spring, I got a message from Mr. Blancard, the keeper of the Globe
+Hotel, and the keeper, also, of Brighton, near the Harbour, to say that
+Mr. Cooper was in town, and wished to see me. Next day, I went up,
+accordingly; but did not find him in. After paying one or two visits, I
+was hobbling up Broadway, to go to the Globe again, when my old commander
+at Pensacola, Commodore Bolton, passed down street, arm-in-arm with a
+stranger. I saluted the commodore, who nodded his head to me, and this
+induced the stranger to look round. Presently I heard "Ned!" in a voice
+that I knew immediately, though I had not heard it in thirty-seven years.
+It was my old shipmate--the gentleman who has written out this account of
+my career, from my verbal narrative of the facts.
+
+Mr. Cooper asked me to go up to his place, in the country, and pass a few
+weeks there. I cheerfully consented, and we reached Cooperstown early in
+June. Here I found a neat village, a beautiful lake, nine miles long, and,
+altogether, a beautiful country. I had never been as far from the sea
+before, the time when I served on Lake Ontario excepted. Cooperstown lies
+in a valley, but Mr. Cooper tells me it is at an elevation of twelve
+hundred feet above tide-water. To me, the clouds appeared so low, I
+thought I could almost shake hands with them; and, altogether, the air and
+country were different from any I had ever seen, or breathed, before.
+
+My old shipmate took me often on the Lake, which I will say is a slippery
+place to navigate. I thought I had seen all sorts of winds before I saw
+the Otsego, but, on this lake it sometimes blew two or three different
+ways at the same time. While knocking about this piece of water, in a good
+stout boat, I related to my old shipmate many of the incidents of my
+wandering life, until, one day, he suggested it might prove interesting to
+publish them. I was willing, could the work be made useful to my brother
+sailors, and those who might be thrown into the way of temptations like
+those which came so near wrecking all my hopes, both for this world, and
+that which is to come. We accordingly went to work between us, and the
+result is now laid before the world. I wish it understood, that this is
+literally my own story, logged by my old shipmate.
+
+It is now time to clew up. When a man has told all he has to say, the
+sooner he is silent the better. Every word that has been related, I
+believe to be true; when I am wrong, it proceeds from ignorance, or want
+of memory. I may possibly have made some trifling mistakes about dates,
+and periods, but I think they would turn out to be few, on inquiry. In
+many instances I have given my impressions, which, like those of other
+men, may be right, or may be wrong. As for the main facts, however, I know
+them to be true, nor do I think myself much out of the way, in any of
+the details.
+
+This is the happiest period of my life, and has been so since I left the
+hospital at Batavia. I do not know that I have ever passed a happier
+summer than the present has been. I should be perfectly satisfied with
+everything, did not my time hang so idle on my hands at the Harbour. I
+want something to occupy my leisure moments, and do not despair of yet
+being able to find a mode of life more suitable to the activity of my
+early days. I have friends enough--more than I deserve--and, yet, a man
+needs occupation, who has the strength and disposition to be employed.
+That which is to happen is in the hands of Providence, and I humbly trust
+I shall be cared for, to the end, as I have been cared for, through so
+many scenes of danger and trial.
+
+My great wish is that this picture of a sailor's risks and hardships, may
+have some effect in causing this large and useful class of men to think on
+the subject of their habits. I entertain no doubt that the money I have
+disposed of far worse than if I had thrown it into the sea, which went to
+reduce me to that mental hell, the 'horrors,' and which, on one occasion,
+at least, drove me to the verge of suicide, would have formed a sum, had
+it been properly laid by, on which I might now have been enjoying an old
+age of comfort and respectability. It is seldom that a seaman cannot lay
+by a hundred dollars in a twelvemonth--oftentimes I have earned double
+that amount, beyond my useful outlays--and a hundred dollars a year, at
+the end of thirty years, would give such a man an independence for the
+rest of his days. This is far from all, however; the possession of means
+would awaken the desire of advancement in the calling, and thousands, who
+now remain before the mast, would long since have been officers, could
+they have commanded the self-respect that property is apt to create.
+
+On the subject of liquor, I can say nothing that has not often been said
+by others, in language far better than I can use. I do not think I was as
+bad, in this respect, as perhaps a majority of my associates; yet, this
+narrative will show how often the habit of drinking to excess impeded my
+advance. It was fast converting me into a being inferior to a man, and,
+but for God's mercy, might have rendered me the perpetrator of crimes that
+it would shock me to think of, in my sober and sane moments.
+
+The past, I have related as faithfully as I have been able so to do. The
+future is with God; to whom belongeth power, and glory, for ever and ever!
+
+
+
+The End.
+
+
+
+
+
+Footnotes
+
+
+
+[1]: The writer left a blank for this regiment, and now inserts it from
+memory. It is probable he is wrong.
+
+[2]: Edward, Duke of Kent, was born November 2, 1767, and made a peer April
+23, 1799; when he was a little turned of one-and-thirty. It is probable
+that this creation took place on his return to England; after passing some
+six or eight years in America and the West Indies. He served in the West
+Indies with great personal distinction, during his stay in this
+hemisphere.--Editor.
+
+[3]: This is Ned's pronunciation; though it is probable the name is not
+spelt correctly. The names of Ned are taken a good deal at random; and,
+doubtless, are often misspelled.--Editor.
+
+[4]: I well remember using these arguments to Ned; though less with any
+expectations of being admitted, than the boy seemed to believe. There was
+more roguery, than anything else, in my persuasion; though it was mixed
+with a latent wish to see the interior of the palace.--Editor.
+
+[5]: Second-mate.
+
+[6]: 22d--Editor.
+
+[7]: When Myers related this circumstance, I remembered that a
+Lieutenant-Colonel Meyers had been killed in the affair at Fort George,
+something in the way here mentioned. On consulting the American official
+account, I found that my recollection was just, so far as this--a
+Lieutenant-Colonel Meyers was reported as wounded and taken prisoner. I
+then recollected to have been present at a conversation between
+Major-General Lewis and Major Baker, his adjutant-general, shortly after
+the battle, in which the question arose whether the same shot had killed
+Colonel Meyers that killed his horse. General Lewis thought not; Major
+Baker thought it had. On my referring to the official account as reporting
+this gentleman to have been only _wounded_, I was told it was a
+mistake, he having been _killed_. Now for the probabilities. Both Ned
+and his sister understand that their father was slain in battle, about
+this time. Ned thought this occurred at Waterloo, but the sister thinks
+not. Neither knew anything of the object of my inquiry. The sister says
+letters were received from _Quebec_ in relation to the father's
+personal effects. It would be a strange thing, if Ned had actually found
+his own father's body on the field, in this extraordinary manner! I
+pretend not to say it is so; but it must be allowed it looks very much
+like it. The lady may have been a wife, married between the years 1796 and
+1813, when Mr. Meyers had got higher rank. This occurrence was related by
+Ned without the slightest notion of the inference that I have here
+drawn.--Editor.
+
+[8]: It is supposed that Capt. Deacon died, a few years since, in
+consequence of an injury he received on board the Growler, this night. A
+shot struck her main-boom, within a short distance of one of his ears, and
+he ever after complained of its effects. At his death this side of his
+head was much swollen and affected.--Editor.
+
+[9]: By this, Ned means six men had to subsist on the usual allowance of
+four men; a distinction that was made between men on duty and men off.
+Prisoners, too, are commonly allowed to help themselves in a variety of
+ways.--Editor.
+
+[10]: The name of this young officer was King. He is now dead, having been
+lost in the Lynx, Lt. Madison.--Editor.
+
+[11]: If this be true, this could hardly have been a court, but must have
+been a mere investigation; as Sir John Borlase Warren was
+commander-in-chief, and would scarcely sit in a court of his own
+ordering.--Editor.
+
+[12]: Ned means Loto, probably.--Editor.
+
+[13]: Ned might have added "few duchesses." The ambassadors' bags in
+Europe, might ten many a tale of _foulards_, &c., sent from one court
+to another. The writer believes that the higher class of American
+gentlemen and ladies smuggle less than those of any other country. It
+should be remembered, too, that no seaman goes in a smuggler, thut is not
+sent by traders ashore.--Editor.
+
+[14]: A friend, who was then American Consul at Gibraltar, and an old navy
+officer, tells me Ned is mistaken as to the nature of the anchorage. The
+ship was a little too far out for the best holding ground. The same friend
+adds that the character of this gale is not at all overcharged, the
+vessels actually lost, including small craft of every description,
+amounting to the every way extraordinary number of just three hundred and
+sixty-five.--Editor.
+
+[15]: This is the reasoning of Ned. I have always looked upon the American
+law as erroneous in principle, and too severe in its penalties. Erroneous
+in principle, as piracy is a crime against the law of nations, and it is
+not legal for any one community to widen, or narrow, the action of
+international law. It is peculiarly the policy of this country, rigidly to
+observe this principle, since she has so many interests dependent on its
+existence. The punishment of death is too severe, when we consider that
+nabobs are among us, who laid the foundations of their wealth, as slaving
+_merchants_, when slaving _was_ legal. Sudden mutations in morals,
+are not to be made by a dash of the pen; and even public sentiment can
+hardly be made to consider slaving much of a crime, in a slave-holding
+community. But, even the punishment of death might be inflicted, without
+arrogating to Congress a power to say what is, and what is not, piracy.
+
+It will probably be said, the error is merely one of language; the
+jurisdiction being clearly legal. Is this true? Can Congress, legally or
+constitutionally, legislate for American citizens, when undeniably within
+the jurisdiction of foreign states? Admit this as a principle, and what is
+to prevent Congress from punishing acts, that it may be the policy of
+foreign countries to exact from even casual residents. If Congress can
+punish me, as a pirate, for slaving under a foreign flag, and in foreign
+countries, it can punish me for carrying arms against all American allies;
+and yet military service may be exacted of even an American citizen,
+resident in a foreign state, under particular circumstances. The same
+difficulty, in principle, may be extended to the whole catalogue of legal
+crime.
+
+Congress exists only for specified purposes. It can _punish_ piracy,
+but it cannot declare what shall, or shall not, be piracy; as this would
+be invading the authority of international law. Under the general power to
+pass laws, that are necessary to carry out the system, it can derive no
+authority; since there can be no legal necessity for any such double
+legislation, under the comity of nations. Suppose, for instance, England
+should legalize slaving, again. Could the United States claim the American
+citizen, who had engaged in slaving, under the English flag, and from a
+British port, under the renowned Ashburton treaty? Would England give such
+a man up? No more than she will now give up the slaves that run from the
+American vessel, which is driven in by stress of weather. One of the vices
+of philanthropy is to overreach its own policy, by losing sight of all
+collateral principles and interests.--Editor.
+
+[16]: Ned's pronunciation.
+
+[17]: I find, in looking over his papers and accounts, that Ned,
+exclusively of all the prison-ships, transports, and vessels in which he
+made passages, has belonged regularly to seventy-two different crafts! In
+some of these vessels he made many voyages, In the Sterling, he made
+several passages with the writer; besides four European voyages, at a
+later day. He made four voyages to Havre in the Erie, which counts as only
+one vessel, in the above list. He was three voyages to London, in the
+Washington, &c. &c. &c.; and often made two voyages in the same ship. I am
+of opinion that Ned's calculation of his having been twenty-five years out
+of sight of land is very probably true. He must have _sailed, in all
+ways_, in near a hundred different craft.--Editor.
+
+[18]: Pronounced, Wheaton--Editor.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Ned Myers, by James Fenimore Cooper
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Ned Myers, by James Fenimore Cooper
+
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+Title: Ned Myers
+
+Author: James Fenimore Cooper
+
+Release Date: January, 2006  [EBook #9788]
+[This file was first posted on October 16, 2003]
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+Edition: 10
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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, NED MYERS ***
+
+
+
+
+E-text prepared by Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+NED MYERS
+
+or, A Life Before the Mast
+
+By James Fenimore Cooper.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+    Thou unrelenting Past!
+  Strong are the barriers round thy dark domain,
+    And fetters sure and fast
+  Hold all that enter thy unbreathing reign.
+                                    BRYANT
+
+
+Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1843, by
+
+J. Fenimore Cooper,
+
+in the clerk's office of the District Court of the United States for the
+Northern district of New York.
+
+
+
+Preface
+
+
+
+It is an old remark, that the life of any man, could the incidents be
+faithfully told, would possess interest and instruction for the general
+reader. The conviction of the perfect truth of this saying, has induced
+the writer to commit to paper, the vicissitudes, escapes, and opinions of
+one of his old shipmates, as a sure means of giving the public some just
+notions of the career of a common sailor. In connection with the amusement
+that many will find in following a foremast Jack in his perils and
+voyages, however, it is hoped that the experience and moral change of
+Myers may have a salutary influence on the minds of some of those whose
+fortunes have been, or are likely to be, cast in a mould similar to that
+of this old salt.
+
+As the reader will feel a natural desire to understand how far the editor
+can vouch for the truth of that which he has here written, and to be
+informed on the subject of the circumstances that have brought him
+acquainted with the individual whose adventures form the subject of this
+little work, as much shall be told as may be necessary to a proper
+understanding of these two points.
+
+First, then, as to the writer's own knowledge of the career of the
+subject of his present work. In the year 1806, the editor, then a lad,
+fresh from Yale, and destined for the navy, made his first voyage in a
+merchantman, with a view to get some practical knowledge of his
+profession. This was the fashion of the day, though its utility, on the
+whole, may very well be questioned. The voyage was a long one, including
+some six or eight passages, and extending to near the close of the year
+1807. On board the ship was Myers, an apprentice to the captain. Ned, as
+Myers was uniformly called, was a lad, as well as the writer; and, as a
+matter of course, the intimacy of a ship existed between them. Ned,
+however, was the junior, and was not then compelled to face all the
+hardships and servitude that fell to the lot of the writer.
+
+Once, only, after the crew was broken up, did the writer and Ned actually
+see each other, and that only for a short time. This was in 1809. In 1833,
+they were, for half an hour, on board the same ship, without knowing the
+fact at the time. A few months since, Ned, rightly imagining that the
+author of the Pilot must be his old shipmate, wrote the former a letter to
+ascertain the truth. The correspondence produced a meeting, and the
+meeting a visit from Ned to the editor. It was in consequence of the
+revelations made in this visit that the writer determined to produce the
+following work.
+
+The writer has the utmost confidence in all the statements of Ned, so far
+as intention is concerned. Should he not be mistaken on some points, he is
+an exception to the great rule which governs the opinions and
+recollections of the rest of the human family. Still, nothing is related
+that the writer has any reasons for distrusting. In a few instances he has
+interposed his own greater knowledge of the world between Ned's more
+limited experience and the narrative; but, this has been done cautiously,
+and only in cases in which there can be little doubt that the narrator has
+been deceived by appearances, or misled by ignorance. The reader, however,
+is not to infer that Ned has no greater information than usually falls to
+the share of a foremast hand. This is far from being the case. When first
+known to the writer, his knowledge was materially above that of the
+ordinary class of lads in his situation; giving ample proof that he had
+held intercourse with persons of a condition in life, if not positively of
+the rank of gentlemen, of one that was not much below it. In a word, his
+intelligence on general subjects was such as might justly render him the
+subject of remark on board a ship. Although much of his after-life was
+thrown away, portions of it passed in improvement; leaving Ned, at this
+moment, a man of quick apprehension, considerable knowledge, and of
+singularly shrewd comments. If to this be added the sound and accurate
+moral principles that now appear to govern both his acts and his opinions,
+we find a man every way entitled to speak for himself; the want of the
+habit of communicating his thoughts to the public, alone excepted.
+
+In this book, the writer has endeavoured to adhere as closely to the very
+language of his subject, as circumstances will at all allow; and in many
+places he feels confident that no art of his own could, in any respect,
+improve it.
+
+It is probable that a good deal of distrust will exist on the subject of
+the individual whom Ned supposes to have been one of his god-fathers. On
+this head the writer can only say, that the account which Myers has given
+in this work, is substantially the same as that which he gave the editor
+nearly forty years ago, at an age and under circumstances that forbid the
+idea of any intentional deception. The account is confirmed by his sister,
+who is the oldest of the two children, and who retains a distinct
+recollection of the prince, as indeed does Ned himself. The writer
+supposes these deserted orphans to have been born out of wedlock--though
+he has no direct proof to this effect--and there is nothing singular in
+the circumstance of a man of the highest rank, that of a sovereign
+excepted, appearing at the font in behalf of the child of a dependant. A
+member of the royal family, indeed, might be expected to do this, to
+favour one widely separated from him by birth and station, sooner than to
+oblige a noble, who might possibly presume on the condescension.
+
+It remains only to renew the declaration, that every part of this
+narrative is supposed to be true. The memory of Ned may occasionally fail
+him; and, as for his opinions, they doubtless are sometimes erroneous; but
+the writer has the fullest conviction that it is the intention of the Old
+Salt to relate nothing that he does hot believe to have occurred, or to
+express an unjust sentiment. On the subject of his reformation, so far as
+"the tree is to be known by its fruits" it is entirely sincere; the
+language, deportment, habits, and consistency of this well-meaning tar,
+being those of a cheerful and confiding Christian, without the smallest
+disposition to cant or exaggeration. In this particular, he is a living
+proof of the efficacy of faith, and of the power of the Holy Spirit to
+enlighten the darkest understanding, and to quicken the most apathetic
+conscience.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Chapter I.
+
+
+
+In consenting to lay before the world the experience of a common seaman,
+and, I may add, of one who has been such a sinner as the calling is only
+too apt to produce, I trust that no feeling of vanity has had an undue
+influence. I love the seas; and it is a pleasure to me to converse about
+them, and of the scenes I have witnessed, and of the hardships I have
+undergone on their bosom, in various parts of the world. Meeting with an
+old shipmate who is disposed to put into proper form the facts which I can
+give him, and believing that my narrative may be useful to some of those
+who follow the same pursuit as that in which I have been so long engaged,
+I see no evil in the course I am now taking, while I humbly trust it may
+be the means of effecting some little good. God grant that the pictures I
+shall feel bound to draw of my own past degradation and failings,
+contrasted as they must be with my present contentment and hopes, may
+induce some one, at least, of my readers to abandon the excesses so common
+among seamen, and to turn their eyes in the direction of those great
+truths which are so powerful to reform, and so convincing when regarded
+with humility, and with a just understanding of our own weaknesses.
+
+I know nothing of my family, except through my own youthful recollections,
+and the accounts I have received from my sister. My father I slightly
+remember; but of my mother I retain no distinct impressions. The latter
+must have died while I was very young. The former, I was in the habit of
+often seeing, until I reached my fifth or sixth year. He was a soldier,
+and belonged to the twenty-third regimen of foot, in the service of the
+King of Great Britain.[1] The fourth son of this monarch, Prince Edward as
+he was then called, or the Duke of Kent as he was afterwards styled,
+commanded the corps, and accompanied it to the British American colonies,
+where it was stationed for many years.
+
+
+I was born in Quebec, between the years 1792 and 1794; probably in 1793.
+Of the rank of my father in the regiment, I am unable to speak, though I
+feel pretty confident he was a commissioned officer. He was much with the
+prince; and I remember that, on parade, where I have often seen him, he
+was in the habit of passing frequently from the prince to the ranks--a
+circumstance that induces my old shipmate to think he may have been the
+adjutant. My father, I have always understood, was a native of Hanover,
+and the son of a clergyman in that country. My mother, also, was said to
+be a German, though very little is now known of her by any of the family.
+She is described to me as living much alone, as being occupied in pursuits
+very different from those of my father, and as being greatly averse to the
+life of a soldier.
+
+I was baptized in the Church of England, and, from earliest boyhood, have
+always been given to understand that His Royal Highness, Prince Edward,
+the father of Queen Victoria, stood for me at the font; Major Walker, of
+the same regiment, being the other god-father, and Mrs. Walker, his wife,
+my god-mother. My real names are Edward Robert Meyers; those received in
+baptism having been given me by my two sponsors, after themselves. This
+christening, like my birth, occurred in Quebec. I have, however, called
+myself Edward, or Ned, Myers, ever since I took to the sea.
+
+Before I was old enough to receive impressions to be retained, the
+regiment removed to Halifax. My father accompanied it; and, of course, his
+two children, my sister Harriet and myself, were taken to Nova Scotia. Of
+the period of my life that was passed in Halifax, I retain tolerably
+distinct recollections; more especially of the later years. The prince and
+my father both remained with the regiment for a considerable time; though
+all quitted Halifax several years before I left it myself. I remember
+Prince Edward perfectly well. He sometimes resided at a house called The
+Lodge, a little out of town; and I was often taken out to see him. He
+also had a residence in town. He took a good deal of notice of me;
+raising me in his arms, and kissing me. When he passed our house, I would
+run to him; and he would lead me through the streets himself. On more than
+one occasion, he led me off, and sent for the regimental tailor; directing
+suits of clothes to be made for me, after his own taste. He was a large
+man; of commanding presence, and frequently wore a star on the breast of
+his coat. He was not then called the Duke of Kent, but Prince Edward, or
+_The_ Prince. A lady lived with him at the Lodge; but who she was, I
+do not know.
+
+At this time, my mother must have been dead; for of _her_ I retain no
+recollection whatever. I think, my father left Halifax some time before
+the prince. Major Walker, too, went to England; leaving Mrs. Walker in
+Nova Scotia, for some time. Whether my father went away with a part of the
+regiment to which he belonged, or not, I cannot say but I well remember a
+conversation between the prince, the major and Mrs. Walker, in which they
+spoke of the loss of a transport, and of Meyers's saving several men. This
+must have been at the time when my father quitted Nova Scotia; to which
+province, I think, he never could have returned. Neither my sister, nor
+myself, ever saw him afterwards. We have understood that he was killed in
+battle; though when, or where, we do not know. My old shipmate, the
+editor, however, thinks it must have been in Canada; as letters were
+received from a friend in Quebec, after I had quitted Nova Scotia,
+inquiring after us children, and stating that the effects of my father
+were in that town, and ought to belong to us. This letter gave my sister
+the first account of his death; though it was not addressed to her, but to
+those in whose care she had been left. This property was never recovered;
+and my shipmate, who writes this account, thinks there may have been legal
+difficulties in the way.
+
+Previously to quitting the province of Nova Scotia, my father placed
+Harriet and myself in the house of a Mr. Marchinton, to live. This
+gentleman was a clergyman, who had no regular parish, but who preached in
+a chapel of his own. He sent us both to school, and otherwise took charge
+of us. I am not aware of the precise time when the prince left Halifax,
+but it must have been when I was five or six years old--probably about the
+year 1798 or 1799.[2]
+
+From that time I continued at Mr. Marchinton's, attending school, and
+busied, as is usual with boys of that age, until the year 1805. I fear I
+was naturally disposed to idleness and self-indulgence, for I became
+restive and impatient under the restraints of the schoolmaster, and of the
+gentleman in whose family I had been left. I do not know that I had any
+just grounds of complaint against Mr. Marchinton; but his rigorous
+discipline disgusted me; principally, I am now inclined to believe,
+because it was not agreeable to me to be kept under any rigid moral
+restraint. I do not think I was very vicious; and, I know, I was far from
+being of a captious temperament; but I loved to be my own master; and I
+particularly disliked everything like religious government. Mr.
+Marchinton, moreover, kept me out of the streets; and it was my
+disposition to be an idler, and at play. It is possible he may have been a
+little too severe for one of my temperament; though, I fear, nature gave
+me a roving and changeful mind.
+
+At that time the English cruisers sent in many American vessels as prizes.
+Our house was near the water; and I was greatly in the habit of strolling
+along the wharves, whenever an opportunity occurred; Mr. Marchinton owning
+a good deal of property in that part of the town. The Cambrian frigate had
+a midshipman, a little older than myself, who had been a schoolmate of
+mine. This lad, whose name was Bowen, was sent in as the nominal
+prize-master of a brig loaded with coffee; and I no sooner learned the
+fact, than I began to pay him visits. Young Bowen encouraged me greatly,
+in a wish that now arose within me, to become a sailor. I listened eagerly
+to the history of his adventures, and felt the usual boyish emulation. Mr.
+Marchinton seemed averse to my following the profession, and these visits
+became frequent and stealthy; my wishes, most probably, increasing, in
+proportion as they seemed difficult of accomplishment.
+
+I soon began to climb the rigging of the brig, ascending to the
+mast-heads. One day Mr. Marchinton saw me quite at the main-truck; and,
+calling me down, I got a severe flogging for my dexterity and enterprise.
+It sometimes happens that punishment produces a result exactly opposite to
+that which was intended; and so it turned out in the present instance. My
+desire to be a sailor increased in consequence of this very flogging; and
+I now began seriously to think of running away, in order to get to sea, as
+well as to escape a confinement on shore, that, to me, seemed
+unreasonable. Another prize, called the Amsterdam Packet, a Philadelphia
+ship, had been sent in by, I believe, the Cleopatra, Sir Robert Laurie. On
+board this ship were two American lads, apprentices. With these boys I
+soon formed an intimacy; and their stories of the sea, and their accounts
+of the States, coupled with the restraints I fancied I endured, gave rise
+to a strong desire to see their country, as well as to become a sailor.
+They had little to do, and enjoyed great liberty, going and coming much as
+they pleased. This idleness seemed, to me, to form the summit of human
+happiness. I did not often dare to play truant; and the school became
+odious to me. According to my recollections, this desire for a change must
+have existed near, or quite a twelvemonth; being constantly fed by the
+arrival and departure of vessels directly before my eyes, ere I set about
+the concocting of a serious plan to escape.
+
+My project was put in execution in the summer of 1805, when I could not
+have been more than eleven years old, if, indeed, quite as old. I was in
+the market one day, and overheard some American seamen, who had been
+brought in, conversing of a schooner that was on the point of leaving
+Halifax, for New York. This vessel belonged to North Carolina, and had
+been captured by the Driver, some time before, but had been liberated by a
+decision of the Admiralty Court. The men I overheard talking about her,
+intended taking their passages back to their own country in the craft.
+This seemed to me a good opportunity to effect my purpose, and I went from
+the market, itself, down to the schooner. The mate was on board alone, and
+I took courage, and asked him if he did not want to ship a boy. My
+dress and appearance were both against me, as I had never done any work,
+and was in the ordinary attire of a better class lad on shore. The mate
+began to laugh at me, and to joke me on my desire to go to sea,
+questioning me about my knowledge. I was willing to do anything; but,
+perceiving that I made little impression, I resorted to bribery. Prince
+Edward had made me a present, before he left Halifax, of a beautiful
+little fowling-piece, which was in my own possession; and I mentioned to
+the mate that I was the owner of such an article, and would give it to him
+if he would consent to secrete me in the schooner, and carry me to New
+York. This bait took, and I was told to bring the fowling, piece on board,
+and let the mate see it. That night I carried the bribe, as agreed on, to
+this man, who was perfectly satisfied with its appearance, and we struck a
+bargain on the spot. I then returned to the house, and collected a few of
+my clothes. I knew that my sister, Harriet, was making some shirts for me,
+and I stole into her room, and brought away two of them, which were all I
+could find. My wardrobe was not large when I left the house, and I had
+taken the precaution of carrying the articles out one at a time, and of
+secreting them in an empty cask in the yard. When I thought I had got
+clothes enough, I made them into a bundle, and carried them down to the
+schooner. The mate then cleared out a locker in the cabin, in which there
+were some potatoes, and told me I must make up my mind to pass a few hours
+in that narrow berth. Too thoughtless to raise any objections, I
+cheerfully consented, and took my leave of him with the understanding that
+I was to be on board, again, early in the morning.
+
+Before going to bed, I desired a black servant of Mr. Marchinton's to call
+me about day-break, as I desired to go out and pick berries. This was
+done, and I was up and dressed before any other member of the family was
+stirring. I lost no time, but quitted the house, and walked deliberately
+down to the schooner. No one was up on board of her, and I was obliged to
+give the mate a call, myself. This man now seemed disposed to draw back
+from his bargain, and I had to use a good deal of persuasion before I
+could prevail on him to be as good as his word. He did not like to part
+with the fowling-piece, but seemed to think it would be fairly purchased,
+could he persuade me to run away. At length he yielded, and I got into the
+locker, where I was covered with potatoes.
+
+I was a good while in this uncomfortable situation, before there were any
+signs of the vessel's quitting the wharf. I began to grow heartily tired
+of the confinement, and the love of change revived within me in a new
+form. The potatoes were heavy for me to bear, and the confined air
+rendered my prison almost insupportable. I was on the point of coming out
+of prison, when the noise on deck gave me the comfortable assurance that
+the people had come on board, and that the schooner was about to sail. I
+could hear men conversing, and, after a period of time that seemed an age,
+I felt satisfied the schooner was fairly under way. I heard a hail from
+one of the forts as we passed down the harbour, and, not long after, the
+Driver, the very sloop of war that had sent the vessel in, met her, and
+quite naturally hailed her old prize, also. All this I heard in my prison,
+and it served to reconcile me to the confinement. As everything was right,
+the ship did not detain us, and we were permitted to proceed.
+
+It was noon before I was released. Going on deck, I found that the
+schooner was at sea. Nothing of Halifax was visible but a tower or two,
+that were very familiar objects to me. I confess I now began to regret the
+step I had taken, and, could I have been landed, it is probable my roving
+disposition would have received a salutary check. It was too late,
+however, and I was compelled to continue in the thorny and difficult path
+on which I had so thoughtlessly entered. I often look back to this moment,
+and try to imagine what might have been my fortunes, had I never taken
+this unlucky step. What the prince might have done for me, it is
+impossible to say; though I think it probable that, after the death of my
+father, I should have been forgotten, as seems to have been the case with
+my sister, who gradually fell from being considered and treated as one of
+the family in which she lived, into a sort of upper servant.
+
+I have learned, latterly, that Mr. Marchinton had a great search made for
+me. It was his impression I was drowned, and several places were dragged
+for my body. This opinion lasted until news of my being in New York
+reached the family.
+
+My appearance on deck gave rise to a great many jokes between the captain
+of the schooner, and his mate. I was a good deal laughed at, but not badly
+treated, on the whole. My office was to be that of cook--by no means a
+very difficult task in that craft, the camboose consisting of two pots set
+in bricks, and the dishes being very simple. In the cabin, sassafras was
+used for tea, and boiled pork and beef composed the dinner. The first day,
+I was excused from entering on the duties of my office, on account of
+sea-sickness; but, the next morning, I set about the work in good earnest.
+We had a long passage, and my situation was not very pleasant. The
+schooner was wet, and the seas she shipped would put out my fire. There
+was a deck load of shingles, and I soon discovered that these made
+excellent kindling wood; but it was against the rules of the craft to burn
+cargo, and my friend the mate had bestowed a few kicks on me before I
+learned to make the distinction. In other respects, I did tolerably well;
+and, at the end of about ten days, we entered Sandy Hook.
+
+Such was my first passage at sea, or, at least, the first I can remember,
+though I understand we were taken from Quebec to Halifax by water. I was
+not cured of the wish to roam by this experiment, though, at that age,
+impressions are easily received, and as readily lost. Some idea may be
+formed of my recklessness, and ignorance of such matters, at this time,
+from the circumstance that I do not remember ever to have known the name
+of the vessel in which I left Nova Scotia. Change and adventure were my
+motives, and it never occurred to me to inquire into a fact that was so
+immaterial to one of my temperament. To this hour, I am ignorant on
+the subject.
+
+The schooner came up, and hauled in abreast of Fly Market. She did not
+come close to the wharf, but made fast, temporarily, at its end, outside
+of two or three other vessels. This took place not long after breakfast. I
+set about the preparations for dinner, which was ready, as usual, at
+twelve o'clock. While the crew were eating this meal, I had nothing to do,
+and, seeing a number of boys on the wharf, I went ashore, landing for the
+first time in this, my adopted country. I was without hat, coat, or
+shoes; my feet having become sore from marching about among the shingles.
+The boys were licking molasses from some hogsheads, and I joined in the
+occupation with great industry. I might have been occupied in this manner,
+and in talking with the boys, an hour or more, when I bethought me of my
+duty on board. On looking for the schooner, she was gone! Her people, no
+doubt, thought I was below, and did not miss me, and she had been carried
+to some other berth; where, I did not know. I could not find her, nor did
+I ever see her again.
+
+Such, then, was my entrance on a new scene. Had I known enough to follow
+the wharves, doubtless I should have found the vessel; but, after a short
+search, I returned to the boys and the molasses.
+
+That I was concerned at finding myself in a strange place, without a
+farthing in my pockets--without hat, shoes or coat, is certain--but it is
+wonderful how little apprehension I felt. I knew nothing, and feared
+nothing. While licking the molasses, I told the boys my situation; and I
+met with a great deal of sympathy among them. The word passed from one to
+the other, that a "poor English boy had lost his vessel, and did not know
+where to go to pass the night." One promised me a supper; and, as for
+lodgings, the general opinion seemed to be, that I might find a berth
+under one of the butchers' stalls, in the adjacent market. I had different
+projects for myself, however.
+
+There was a family of the name of Clark, then residing in New York, that I
+had known in Halifax. I remembered to have heard my sister, Harriet,
+speaking of them, not long before I quitted home, and that she said they
+lived in, or near, Fly Market. I knew we were at Fly Market; and the name
+recalled these people. I inquired, accordingly, if any one knew such a
+family; but met with no success in discovering them. They were strangers;
+and no one knew them. It was now near sunset; and I determined to look for
+these people myself. On this errand, then, I set off; walking up the
+market until I reached Maiden Lane. While strolling along the street, I
+heard a female voice suddenly exclaim: "Lord! here is Edward Myers,
+without anything on him!" At the next instant, Susan Clark, one of the
+daughters, came running into the street; and presently I was in the
+house, surrounded by the whole family.
+
+Of course, I was closely questioned; and I told the whole truth. The
+Clarks were extremely kind to me, offering me clothes, and desiring to
+keep me with them; but I did not like the family, owing to old quarrels
+with the boys, and a certain sternness in the father, who had made
+complaints of my stealing his fruit, while in Halifax. I was innocent; and
+the whole proceeding had made me regard Mr. Clark as a sort of enemy. My
+principal motive, in inquiring for the family, was to learn where a
+certain Dr. Heizer[3] lived. This gentleman was a German, who had formerly
+been in the army; and I knew he was then in New York. In him I had more
+confidence; and I determined to throw myself on his kindness.
+
+After declining a great many offers, I got the address of Dr. Heizer, and
+proceeded in quest of his residence, just as I was. It was moonlight, and
+I went through the streets with boyish confidence. My route lay up
+Broadway, and my destination was one of its corners and Hester Street. In
+1805, this was nearly out of town, being near Canal street. I had been
+told to look for a bridge, which then stood in Broadway, and which
+answered for a landmark, in my new navigation. The bridge I found easily;
+and, making inquiries at a house, I was told the family I sought lived
+next door.
+
+The Heizers were greatly surprised at my appearance. I was questioned, of
+course; and told them the naked truth. I knew concealment would be
+useless; was naturally frank, notwithstanding what I had just done; and I
+began to feel the want of friends. I was fed; and that same evening, Dr.
+and Mrs. Heizer led me down Broadway, and equipped me in a neat suit of
+clothes. Within a week, I was sent regularly to school.
+
+I never knew what Dr. Heizer did, in relation to my arrival. I cannot but
+think that he communicated the circumstances to Mr. Marchinton, who was
+well known to him; though, Harriet tell me, the first intelligence they
+got of me was of a much later date, and came from another source. Let this
+be as it might, I was kindly treated; living, in all respects, as if I
+were one of the family. There was no son; and they all seemed to consider
+me as one.
+
+I remained in this family the autumn of 1805, and the winter and spring of
+1806. I soon tired of school, and began to play truant; generally
+wandering along the wharves, gazing at the ships. Dr. Heizer soon learned
+this; and, watching me, discovered the propensity I still retained for the
+sea. He and Mrs. Heizer now took me aside, and endeavoured to persuade me
+to return to Halifax; but I had become more and more averse to taking this
+backward step. To own the truth, I had fearful misgivings on the subject
+of floggings; and I dreaded a long course of severity and discipline. It
+is certain, that, while rigid rules of conduct are very necessary to some
+dispositions, there are others with which they do not succeed. Mine was of
+the latter class; for, I think, I am more easily led, than driven. At all
+events, I had a horror of going back; and refused to listen to the
+proposal. After a good deal of conversation, and many efforts at
+persuasion, Dr. Heizer consented to let me go to sea, from New York; or
+affected to consent; I never knew which.
+
+The Leander, Miranda's flag-ship, in his abortive attempt to create a
+revolution in Spanish-America, was then lying in the Hudson; and Dr.
+Heizer, who was acquainted with some one connected with her, placed me in
+this ship, with the understanding I was to go in her to Holland. I passed
+the day on board; going up to my new employer's house, for my meals, and
+to sleep. This course of life may have lasted a fortnight; when I became
+heartily tired of it. I found I had a mistress, now, as well as a master.
+The former set me to cleaning knives, boots, candlesticks, and other
+similar employments; converting me into a sort of scullion. My pride
+revolted at this. I have since thought it possible, all this was done to
+create disgust, and to induce me to return to Mr. Marchinton; but it had a
+very contrary effect.
+
+My desire was to be a sailor. One Sunday I had been on board the ship,
+and, after assisting the mate to show the bunting fore and aft, I went
+back to the house. Here my mistress met me with a double allowance of
+knives to clean. We had a quarrel on the subject; I protesting against all
+such work. But to clean the knives I was compelled. About half were thrown
+over the fence, into the adjoining yard; and, cleaning what remained, I
+took my hat, went to the doctor's, and saw no more of my mistress, or of
+the Leander.
+
+
+
+Chapter II.
+
+
+
+An explanation took place. Dr. and Mrs. Heizer remonstrated about my
+conduct, and endeavoured, once more, to persuade me to return to Mr.
+Marchinton's. A great deal was told me of the kind intentions of that
+gentleman, and concerning what I might expect from the protection and
+patronage of my god-father, the Duke of Kent. I cannot help thinking, now,
+that much of the favour which was extended towards me at that early period
+of life, was owing to the circumstance that the prince had consented to
+stand for me at my baptism. He was a great disciplinarian--so great,
+indeed, I remember to have heard, as to cause more than one mutiny--and my
+father being a German, and coming from a people that carried military
+subordination to extremes, it is highly probable I was indebted, for this
+compliment, to a similarity of tastes between the two. I cared little for
+all this, however, in 1805, and thought far less of being protected by a
+prince of the blood royal, than of going to sea, and especially of
+escaping from the moral discipline of Mr. Marchinton. Finding his
+arguments vain, Dr. Heizer sent me to school again, where I continued a
+few months longer.
+
+All this time, my taste for ships rather increased than diminished. At
+every opportunity I was on the wharves, studying the different craft, and
+endeavouring to understand their rig. One day I saw a British ensign, and,
+while looking at it, with a feeling of strong disgust, I heard myself
+called by name. A glance told me that I was seen by a Halifax man, and I
+ran away, under the apprehension that he might, by some means, seize me
+and carry me back. My feelings on this head were all alive, and that very
+day one of the young ladies said, in a melancholy way, "_Edouard_,"
+"Halifax." These girls spoke scarcely any English, having been born in
+Martinique; and they talked much together in French, looking at me
+occasionally, as if I were the subject of their discourse. It is probable
+conscience was at the bottom of this conceit of mine; but the latter now
+became so strong, as to induce me to determine to look out for a vessel
+for myself, and be off again. With this view, I quitted a negro who had
+been sent with me to market, under the pretence of going to school, but
+went along the wharves until I found a ship that took my fancy. She was
+called the Sterling, and there was a singularly good-looking mate on her
+deck, of the name of Irish, who was a native of Nantucket. The ship was
+commanded by Capt. John Johnston, of Wiscasset, in Maine, and belonged to
+his father and himself.
+
+I went on board the Sterling, and, after looking about for some time, I
+ventured to offer myself to Mr. Irish, as a boy who wished to ship. I was
+questioned, of course, but evaded any very close answers. After some
+conversation, Capt. Johnston came on board, and Mr. Irish told him what I
+wanted. My examination now became much closer, and I found myself driven
+to sheer fabrication in order to effect my purposes. During my intercourse
+with different sea-going lads of Halifax, I had learned the particulars of
+the capture of the Cleopatra 32, by the French frigate Ville de Milan 38,
+and her recapture by the Leander 50, which ship captured the Ville de
+Milan at the same time. I said my father had been a serjeant of marines,
+and was killed in the action--that I had run away when the ships got in,
+and that I wished to be bound to some American ship-master, in order to
+become a regularly-trained seaman. This story so far imposed on Capt.
+Johnston as to induce him to listen to my proposals, and in part to accept
+them. We parted with an understanding that I was to get my clothes, and
+come on board the vessel.
+
+It was twelve at noon when I got back to Dr. Heizer's. My first business
+was to get my clothes into the yard, a few at a time; after which I ate my
+dinner with the family. As soon as we rose from table, I stole away with
+my bundle, leaving these kind people to believe I had returned to school.
+I never saw one of them afterwards! On my return to New York, several
+years later, I learned they had all gone to Martinique to live. I should
+not have quitted this excellent family in so clandestine a manner, had I
+not been haunted with the notion that I was about to be sent back to
+Halifax, a place I now actually hated.
+
+Capt. Johnston received me good-naturedly, and that night I slept and
+supped at the Old Coffee House, Old Slip--his own lodgings. He seemed
+pleased with me, and I was delighted with him. The next day he took me to
+a slop-shop, and I was rigged like a sailor, and was put in the cabin,
+where I was to begin my service in the regular way. A boy named Daniel
+McCoy was in the ship, and had been out to Russia in her, as cabin-boy,
+the last voyage. He was now to be sent into the forecastle, and was
+ordered to instruct me in my duty.
+
+I was now comparatively happy, though anxious to be bound to Capt.
+Johnston, and still more so to be fairly at sea. The Sterling had a good,
+old-fashioned cabin, as cabins went in 1806; and I ran about her
+state-room, rummaged her lockers, and scampered up and down her
+companion-way, with as much satisfaction as if they had all belonged to a
+palace. Dan McCoy was every day on board, and we had the accommodations of
+the ship very much to ourselves. Two or three days later, Capt. Johnston
+took me to the proper place, and I was put under regular indentures, to
+serve until I was twenty-one. I now felt more confidence in my situation,
+knowing that Dr. Heizer had no legal authority over me. The work I did, in
+no manner offended my dignity, for it was on ship-board, and belonged
+properly to my duty as a cabin-boy.
+
+The Sterling soon began to take in her cargo. She was to receive a freight
+of flour, for Cowes and a market. Not only was the hold filled, but the
+state-room and cabin, leaving barely room to climb over the barrels to
+reach the berths. A place was left, just inside of the cabin door, for the
+table. Passengers were not common in that day, while commerce was pushed
+to the utmost. Our sails were bending when the consignee, followed by
+another merchant, came down to the ship, accompanied by a youth, who, it
+was understood, wished also to be received in the vessel. This youth was
+named Cooper, and was never called by any other appellation in the ship.
+He was accepted by Capt. Johnston, signed the articles, and the next day
+he joined us, in sailor's rig. He never came to the cabin, but was
+immediately employed forward, in such service as he was able to perform.
+It was afterwards understood that he was destined for the navy.
+
+The very day that Cooper joined us, was one of deep disgrace to me. The
+small stores came on board for the cabin, and Dan McCoy persuaded me to
+try the flavour of a bottle of cherry-bounce. I did not drink much, but
+the little I swallowed made me completely drunk. This was the first time I
+ever was in that miserable and disgraceful plight; would to God I could
+also say it was the last! The last it was, however, for several years;
+that is some comfort. I thank my Divine Master that I have lived to see
+the hour when intoxicating liquors have ceased to have any command over
+me, and when, indeed, they never pass my lips. Capt. Johnston did not flog
+me for this act of folly, merely pulling my ears a little, and sharply
+reprimanding me; both he and Mr. Irish seeming to understand that my
+condition had proceeded from the weakness of my head. Dan was the
+principal sufferer, as, to say the truth, he ought to have been. He was
+rope's-ended for his pains.
+
+Next day the stevedores took the ship in to the stream, and the crew came
+on board. The assembling of the crew of a merchantman, in that day, was a
+melancholy sight. The men came off, bearing about them the signs of the
+excesses of which they had been guilty while on shore; some listless and
+stupid, others still labouring under the effects of liquor, and some in
+that fearful condition which seamen themselves term having the "horrors."
+Our crew was neither better nor worse than that of other ships. It was
+also a sample of the mixed character of the crews of American vessels
+during the height of her neutral trade. The captain, chief-mate, cook, and
+four of those forward, were American born; while the second-mate was a
+Portuguese. The boys were, one Scotch, and one a Canadian; and there were
+a Spaniard, a Prussian, a Dane, and an Englishman, in the forecastle.
+There was also an Englishman who worked his passage, having been the
+cooper of a whaler that was wrecked. As Dan McCoy was sent forward, too,
+this put ten in the forecastle, besides the cook, and left five aft,
+including the master of another wrecked English vessel, whom we took out
+as a passenger.
+
+That afternoon we lifted our anchor, and dropped down abreast of
+Governor's Island, where we brought up. Next day all hands were called to
+get under way, and, as soon as the anchor was short, the mate told Cooper
+and myself to go up and loose the fore-top-sail. I went on one yard-arm and
+Cooper went on the other. In a few minutes the second mate came up,
+hallooing to us to "avast," and laughing. Cooper was hard at work at the
+"robins," and would soon have had his half of the sail down in the top,
+had he been let alone; while I was taking the gaskets from the yard, with
+the intention of bringing them carefully down on deck, where it struck me
+they would be quite safe. Luckily for us, the men were too busy heaving,
+and too stupid, to be very critical, and we escaped much ridicule. In a
+week we both knew better.
+
+The ship only got to the quarantine ground that day, but in the morning we
+went to sea. Our passage was long and stormy. The ship was on a bow-line
+most of the time, and we were something like forty days from land to land.
+Nothing extraordinary occurred, however, and we finally made the Bill of
+Portland. The weather came on thick, but we found a pilot, and ran into
+St. Helen's Roads and anchored. The captain got into his boat, and taking
+four men pulled ashore, to look for his orders at Cowes.
+
+That afternoon it cleared off, and we found a pilot lying a little outside
+of us. About sunset a man-of-war's cutter came alongside, and Mr. Irish
+was ordered to muster the crew. The English lieutenant, who was tolerably
+bowsed up, took his seat behind the cabin table, while the men came down,
+and stood in the companion-way passage, to be overhauled. Most of the
+foreigners had gone in the boat, but two of the Americans that remained
+were uncommonly fine-looking men, and were both prime seamen. One, whose
+name was Thomas Cook, was a six-footer, and had the air of a thorough
+sea-dog. He filled the lieutenant's eye mightily, and Cook was very coolly
+told to gather his dunnage, as he was wanted. Cook pointed to his
+protection, but the lieutenant answered--"Oh! these things are
+nothing--anybody can have one for two dollars, in New York. You are an
+Englishman, and the King has need of your services." Cook now took out of
+his pocket a certificate, that was signed by Sir John Beresford, stating
+that Thomas Cook had been discharged from His Maj. Ship Cambrian, after a
+pretty long service in her, because he had satisfactorily proved that he
+was a native-born American. The lieutenant could not very well dishonour
+this document, and he reluctantly let Cook go, keeping his protection,
+however. He next selected Isaac Gaines, a native New Yorker, a man whose
+father and friends were known to the captain. But Gaines had no discharge
+like that of Cook's, and the poor fellow was obliged to rowse up his chest
+and get into the cutter. This he did with tears in his eyes, and to the
+regret of all on board, he being one of the best men in the ship. We asked
+the boat's crew to what vessel they belonged, and they gave us the name of
+a sixty-four in the offing, but we observed, as they pulled away from us,
+that they took the direction of another ship. This was the last I ever
+saw, or heard, of Isaac Gaines. Cook went on with us, and one day, while
+in London, he went with Cooper to Somerset House to get an order for some
+prize-money, to which he was entitled for his service in the Cambrian, as
+was shown by his discharge. The clerk asked him to leave the certificate,
+and call a day or two later, when he would have searched out the amount.
+This was done, and Cook, being now without certificate or protection, was
+pressed on his way back to the ship. We never heard of him, either. Such
+was often the fate of sailors, in that day, who were with you one day, and
+lost for ever the next.
+
+Captain Johnston did not get back to the ship for four-and-twenty hours.
+He brought orders for us to go up to London; and, the wind being fair, and
+almost a gale, we got under way, and were off as soon as possible. The
+next morning we were in the straits of Dover; the wind light, but fair.
+This was at a moment when all England was in arms, in anticipation of an
+invasion from France. Forty odd sail of vessels of war were counted from
+our ship, as the day dawned, that had been cruising in the narrow waters,
+during the night, to prevent a surprise.
+
+We worked our way up to London, with the tides, and were carried into
+London dock; where we discharged. This was my first visit to the modern
+Babylon, of course; but I had little opportunity of seeing much. I had one
+or two cruises, of a Sunday, in tow of Cooper, who soon became a branch
+pilot, in those waters, about the parks and west end but I was too young
+to learn much, or to observe much. Most of us went to see the monument,
+St. Paul's, and the lions; and Cooper put himself in charge of a
+beef-eater, and took a look at the arsenals, jewels and armoury. He had a
+rum time of it, in his sailor rig, but hoisted in a wonderful deal of
+gibberish, according to his own account of his cruise.
+
+Captain Johnston now got a freight for the ship, and we hauled into the
+stream, abreast of the dock-gates, and took in shingle ballast. The
+Prussian, Dane, second mate, and the English cooper, all left us, in
+London. We got a Philadelphian, a chap from Maine, who had just been
+discharged from an English man-of-war, and an Irish lad, in their places.
+In January we sailed, making the best of our way for the straits of
+Gibraltar. The passage was stormy--the Bay of Biscay, in particular,
+giving us a touch of its qualities. It was marked by only two incidents,
+however, out of the usual way. While running down the coast of Portugal,
+with the land in sight, we made an armed felucca astern, and to windward.
+This vessel gave chase; and, the captain disliking her appearance, we
+carried hard, in order to avoid her. The weather was thick, and it blew
+fresh, occasionally, in squalls. Whenever it lulled, the felucca gained on
+us, we having, a very little, the advantage in the puffs. At length the
+felucca began to fire; and, finding that his shot were coming pretty near,
+Captain Johnston, knowing that he was in ballast, thought it wisest to
+heave-to. Ten minutes after our main-top-sail was aback, the felucca ranged
+up close under our lee; hailed, and ordered us to send a boat, with our
+papers, on board her. A more rascally-looking craft never gave such an
+order to an unarmed merchantman. As our ship rose on a sea, and he fell
+into the trough, we could look directly down upon his decks, and thus form
+some notion of what we were to expect, when he got possession of us. His
+people were in red caps and shirts, and appeared to be composed of the
+rakings of such places as Gibraltar, Cadiz and Lisbon. He had ten long
+guns; and pikes, pistols and muskets, were plenty with him. On the end of
+each latine-yard was a chap on the look-out, who occasionally turned his
+eyes towards us, as if to anticipate the gleanings. That we should be
+plundered, every one expected; and it was quite likely we might be
+ill-treated. As soon as we hove-to, Captain Johnston gave me the best
+spy-glass, with orders to hand it to Cooper, to hide. The latter buried it
+in the shingle ballast. We, in the cabin, concealed a bag of guineas so
+effectually, that, after all was over, we could not find it ourselves.
+
+The jolly-boat had been stowed in the launch, on account of the rough
+weather we had expected to meet, and tackles had to be got aloft before we
+could hoist it out. This consumed some time, during which there was a
+lull. The felucca, seeing us busy at this work, waited patiently until we
+had got the boat over the side, and into the water. Cooper, Dan McCoy, Big
+Dan, and Spanish Joe, then got into her; and the captain had actually
+passed his writing-desk into the boat, and had his leg on the rail, to go
+over the side himself, when a squall struck the ship. The men were called
+out of the boat to clew down the topsails, and a quarter of an hour passed
+in taking care of the vessel. By this time the squall had passed, and it
+lightened up a little. There lay the felucca, waiting for the boat; and
+the men were reluctantly going into the latter again, when the commander
+of the felucca waved his hand to us, his craft fell off and filled,
+wing-and-wing, skimming away towards the coast, like a duck. We stood
+gaping and staring at her, not knowing what to make of this manoeuvre,
+when "bang!" went a heavy gun, a little on our weather quarter. The shot
+passed our wake, for we had filled our topsail, and it went skipping from
+sea to sea, after the felucca. Turning our eyes in the direction of the
+report, we saw a frigate running down upon the felucca, carrying
+studding-sails on both sides, with the water foaming up to her
+hawse-holes. As she passed our stern, she showed an English ensign, but
+took no other notice of us, continuing on after the felucca, and
+occasionally measuring her distance with a shot. Both vessels soon
+disappeared in the mist, though we heard guns for some time. As for
+ourselves, we jogged along on our course, wishing good luck to the
+Englishman. The felucca showed no ensign, the whole day. Our guineas were
+found, some weeks later, in a bread-locker, after we had fairly eaten our
+way down to them.
+
+The other adventure occurred very soon after this escape; for, though the
+felucca may have had a commission, she was a pirate in appearance, and
+most probably in her practices. The thick westerly weather continued until
+we had passed the Straits. The night we were abreast of Cape Trafalgar,
+the captain came on deck in the middle watch, and, hailing the forecastle,
+ordered a sharp look-out kept, as we must be running through Lord
+Collingwood's fleet. The words were hardly out of his mouth, when Spanish
+Joe sung out, "sail ho!" There she was, sure enough, travelling right down
+upon us, in a line that threatened to take us between the fore and main
+masts. The captain ordered our helm hard up, and yelled for Cooper to
+bring up the cabin lantern. The youngster made one leap down the ladder,
+just scraping the steps with his heels, and was in the mizzen rigging with
+the light, in half a minute. That saved us. So near was the stranger, that
+we plainly heard the officer of the deck call out to his own
+quarter-master to "port, hard a-port--_hard_ a-port, and be d----d to
+you!" Hard a-port it was, and a two-decker came brushing along on our
+weather beam--so near, that, when she lifted on the seas, it seemed as if
+the muzzles of her guns would smash our rails. The Sterling did not behave
+well on this occasion, for, getting a yaw to windward, she seemed disposed
+to go right into the Englishman, before she would mind her helm. After the
+man-of-war hailed, and got our answer, her officer quaintly remarked that
+we were "close on board him." It blew too fresh for boats, and we were
+suffered to pass without being boarded.
+
+The ship proceeded up to Carthagena, and went in. Here we were put in
+quarantine for several days. The port was full of heavy ships of war,
+several of which were three-deckers; and an arrival direct from London
+made quite a sensation among them. We had divers visits from the officers,
+though I do not know what it all amounted to. From Carthagena we were
+sent down the coast to a little place called Aguilas, where we began to
+take in a cargo of barilla. At night we would discharge our shingle
+ballast into the water, contrary to law; and, in the day, we took in
+cargo. So clear was the water, that our night's work might easily be seen
+next morning, lying beneath the ship. As we lay in a roadstead, it
+mattered little, few vessels touching at the port. While at this place,
+there was an alarm of an attack from an English man-of-war that was seen
+in the offing, and priests enough turned out to defend an ordinary town.
+
+We got about half our freight at this little village, and then came down
+as low as Almeria, an old Moorish town, just below Cape de Gatte, for the
+remainder. Here we lay several weeks, finishing stowing our cargo. I went
+ashore almost every day to market, and had an opportunity of seeing
+something of the Spaniards. Our ship lay a good distance off, and we
+landed at a quarantine station, half a mile, at least, from the
+water-gate, to which we were compelled to walk along the beach.
+
+One of my journeys to the town produced a little adventure. The captain
+had ordered Cooper to boil some pitch at the galley. By some accident, the
+pot was capsized, and the ship came near being burned. A fresh pot was now
+provided, and Cooper and Dan McCoy were sent ashore, at the station, with
+orders to boil down pitch on the land. There was no wharf, and it was
+always necessary to get ashore through a surf. The bay is merely an elbow,
+half the winds blowing in from the open sea. Sometimes, therefore, landing
+is ticklish work and requires much skill. I went ashore with the pitch,
+and proceeded into the town on my errands, whilst the two lads lighted
+their fire and began to boil down. When all was ready, it was seen there
+was a good deal of swell, and that the breakers looked squally. The
+orders, however, were to go off, on such occasions, and not to wait, as
+delay generally made matters worse. We got into the boat, accordingly, and
+shoved off. For a minute, or more, things went well enough, when a breaker
+took the bows of the jolly-boat, lifted her nearly on end, and turned her
+keel uppermost. One scarcely knows how he gets out of such a scrape. We
+all came ashore, however, heels over head, people, pot, boat, and oars.
+The experiment was renewed, less the pitch and a pair of new shoes of
+mine, and it met with exactly the same result. On a third effort, the boat
+got through the surf and we succeeded in reaching the ship. These are the
+sorts of scenes that harden lads, and make them fond of risks. I could not
+swim a stroke, and certainly would have been drowned had not the
+Mediterranean cast me ashore, as if disdaining to take a life of so little
+value to anybody but myself.
+
+After lying several weeks at Almeria, the ship got under way for England
+again. We had fresh westerly gales, and beat to and fro, between Europe
+and Africa, for some time, when we got a Levanter that shoved us out into
+the Atlantic at a furious rate. In the Straits we passed a squadron of
+Portuguese frigates, that was cruising against the Algerines. It was the
+practice of these ships to lie at the Rock until it blew strong enough
+from the eastward to carry vessels through the Gut, when they weighed and
+kept in the offing until the wind shifted. This was blockading the
+Atlantic against their enemies, and the Mediterranean against their
+own ships.
+
+We had a long passage and were short of salt provisions. Falling in with
+an American in the Bay of Biscay, we got a barrel of beef which lasted us
+in. When near the chops of the channel, with a light southerly wind, we
+made a sail in our wake, that came up with us hand over hand. She went
+nearly two feet to our one, the barilla pressing the Sterling down into
+the water, and making her very dull, more especially in light airs. When
+the stranger got near enough, we saw that he was pumping, the water
+running out of his scuppers in a constant stream. He was several hours in
+sight, the whole time pumping. This ship passed within a cable's-length of
+us, without taking any more notice of us than if we had been a mile-stone.
+She was an English two-decker, and we could distinguish the features of
+her men, as they stood in the waist, apparently taking breath after their
+trial at the pumps. She dropped a hawse-bucket, and we picked it up, when
+she was about half a mile ahead of us. It had the broad-arrow on it, and a
+custom-house officer seeing it, some time after, was disposed to seize it
+as a prize.
+
+We never knew the name of this ship, but there was something proud and
+stately in her manner of passing us, in her distress, without so much as a
+hail. It is true, we could have done her no good, and her object,
+doubtless, was to get into dock as soon as possible. Some thought she had
+been in action, and was going home to repair damages that could not be
+remedied at sea.
+
+Soon after this vessel was seen, we had proof how difficult it is to judge
+of a ship's size at sea. A vessel was made ahead, standing directly for
+us. Mr. Irish soon pronounced her a sloop of war. Half an hour later she
+grew into a frigate, but when she came abeam she showed three tiers of
+ports, being a ninety. This ship also passed without deigning to take any
+notice of us.
+
+
+
+Chapter III.
+
+
+
+We made the Land's End in fine weather, and with a fair wind. Instead of
+keeping up channel, however, our ship hauled in for the land. Cooper was
+at the helm, and the captain asked him if he knew of any one on board who
+had ever been into Falmouth. He was told that Philadelphia Bill had been
+pointing out the different head-lands on the forecastle, and that, by his
+own account, he had sailed a long time out of the port. This Bill was a
+man of fifty, steady, trust-worthy, quiet, and respected by every man in
+the ship. He had taken a great liking to Cooper, whom he used to teach how
+to knot and splice, and other niceties of the calling, and Cooper often
+took him ashore with him, and amused him with historical anecdotes of the
+different places we visited. In short, the intimacy between them was as
+great as well could be, seeing the difference in their educations and
+ages. But, even to Cooper, Bill always called himself a Philadelphian. In
+appearance, indeed, he resembled one of those whom we call Yankees, in
+America, more than anything else.
+
+Bill was now sent for and questioned. He seemed uneasy, but admitted he
+could take the ship into Falmouth. There was nothing in the way, but a
+rock abreast Pendennis Castle, but it was easy to give that a berth. We
+now learned that the captain had made up his mind to go into this port and
+ride out the quarantine to which all Mediterranean vessels were subject.
+Bill took us in very quietly, and the ship was ordered up a few miles
+above the town, to a bay where vessels rode out their quarantine. The next
+day a doctor's boat came alongside, and we were ordered to show ourselves,
+and flourish our limbs, in order to make it evident we were alive and
+kicking. There were four men in the boat, and, as it turned out, every one
+of them recognised Bill, who was born within a few miles of the very spot
+where the ship lay, and had a wife then living a great deal nearer to him
+than he desired. It was this wife--there happening to be too much of
+her--that had driven the poor fellow to America, twenty years before, and
+which rendered him unwilling to live in his native country. By private
+means, Bill managed to have some communication with the men in the boat,
+and got their promises not to betray him. This was done by signs
+altogether, speaking being quite out of the question.
+
+We were near, or quite, a fortnight in quarantine; after which the ship
+dropped down abreast of the town. This was of a Saturday, and Sunday, a
+portion of the crew were permitted to go ashore. Bill was of the number,
+and when he returned he admitted that he had been so much excited at
+finding himself in the place, that he had been a little indiscreet. That
+night he was very uncomfortable, but nothing occurred to molest any of us.
+The next morning all seemed right, and Bill began to be himself again;
+often wishing, however, that the anchor was aweigh, and the ship turning
+out of the harbour. We soon got at work, and began to work down to the
+mouth of the haven, with a light breeze. The moment we were clear of the
+points, or head-lands, we could make a fair wind of it up channel. The ship
+was in stays, pretty well down, tinder Pendennis, and the order had been
+given to swing the head yards. Bill and Cooper were pulling together at
+the fore-top-sail brace, when the report of a musket was heard quite near
+the ship. Bill let go the brace, turned as white as a sheet, and
+exclaimed, "I'm gone!" At first, the men near him thought he was shot, but
+a gesture towards the boat which had fired, explained his meaning. The
+order was given to belay the head braces, and we waited the result
+in silence.
+
+The press-gang was soon on board us, and its officer asked to have the
+crew mustered. This humiliating order was obeyed, and all hands of us were
+called aft. The officer seemed easily satisfied, until he came to Bill.
+"What countryman are _you_?" he asked. "An American--a Philadelphian,"
+answered Bill. "You are an Englishman." "No, sir; I was born--" "Over
+here, across the bay," interrupted the officer, with a cool smile, "where
+your dear wife is at this moment. Your name is ______ ______, and you are
+well known in Falmouth. Get your clothes, and be ready to go in the boat."
+
+This settled the matter. Captain Johnston paid Bill his wages, his chest
+was lowered into the boat, and the poor fellow took an affectionate leave
+of his shipmates. He told those around him that his fate was sealed. He
+was too old to outlive a war that appeared to have no end, and they would
+never trust _him_ on shore. "My foot will never touch the land again," he
+said to Cooper, as he squeezed his young friend's hand, "and I am to live
+and die, with a ship for my prison."
+
+The loss of poor Bill made us all sad; but there was no remedy. We got
+into the offing, and squared away for the river again. When we reached
+London, the ship discharged down at Limehouse, where she lay in a tier of
+Americans for some time. We then took in a little ballast, and went up
+opposite to the dock gates once more. We next docked and cleaned the ship,
+on the Deptford side, and then hauled into the wet-dock in which we had
+discharged our flour.
+
+Here the ship lay part of May, all of June, and most of July, taking in
+freight for Philadelphia, as it offered. This gave our people a good deal
+of spare time, and we were allowed to go ashore whenever we were not
+wanted. Cooper now took me in tow, and many a drift I had with him and Dan
+McCoy up to St. Paul's, the parks, palaces, and the Abbey. A little
+accident that happened about this time, attached me to Cooper more than
+common, and made me more desirous than ever to cruise in his company.
+
+I was alone, on deck, one Sunday, when I saw a little dog running about on
+board a vessel that lay outside of us. Around the neck of this animal,
+some one has fastened a sixpence, by a bit of riband rove through a hole.
+I thought this sixpence might be made better use of, in purchasing some
+cherries, for which I had a strong longing, and I gave chase. In
+attempting to return to our own ship, with the dog, I fell into the water,
+between the two vessels. I could not swim a stroke; and I sang out,
+lustily, for help. As good luck would have it, Cooper came on board at
+that precise instant; and, hearing my outcry, he sprang down between the
+ships, and rescued me from drowning. I thought I was gone; and my
+condition made an impression on me that never will be lost. Had not Cooper
+accidentally appeared, just as he did, Ned Myers's yarn would have ended
+with this paragraph. I ought to add, that the sixpence got clear, the dog
+swimming away with it.
+
+I had another escape from drowning, while we lay in the docks, having
+fallen overboard from the jolly-boat, while making an attempt at sculling.
+I forget, now, how I was saved; but then I had the boat and the oar to
+hold on to. In the end, it will be seen by what a terrific lesson I
+finally learned to swim.
+
+One Sunday we were drifting up around the palace; and then it was that I
+told Cooper that the Duke of Kent was my god-father. He tried to persuade
+me to make a call; saying I could do no less than pay this respect to the
+prince. I had half a mind to try my hand at a visit; but felt too shy, and
+too much afraid. Had I done as Cooper so strongly urged me to do, one
+cannot say what might have been the consequences, or what change might
+have been brought about in my fortunes.[4]
+
+One day Mr. Irish was in high glee, having received a message from Captain
+Johnston, to inform him that the latter was pressed! The captain used to
+dress in a blue long-tog, drab-breeches and top-boots, when he went
+ashore. "He thought he could pass for a gentleman from the country," said
+Mr. Irish, laughing, "but them press-gang chaps smelt the tar in his very
+boots!" Cooper was sent to the rendezvous, with the captain's desk and
+papers, and the latter was liberated. We all liked the captain, who was
+kind and considerate in his treatment of all hands; but it was fine fun
+for us to have "the old fellow" pressed--"_old fellow_" of six or
+eight-and-twenty, as he was then.
+
+About the last of July, we left London, bound home. Our crew had again
+undergone some changes. We shipped a second mate, a New-England man. Jim
+Russel left us. We had lost Bill; and, another Bill, a dull Irish lad, who
+had gone to Spain, quitted us also. Our crew consisted of only Spanish
+Joe; Big Dan; Little Dan; Stephen, the Kennebunk man; Cooper; a Swede,
+shipped in London; a man whose name I have forgotten; and a young man who
+passed by the name of Davis, but who was, in truth,--------, a son of the
+pilot who had brought us in, and taken us out, each time we passed up or
+down the river. This Davis had sailed in a coaster belonging to his
+father, and had got pressed in Sir Home Popham's South-American squadron.
+They made him a midshipman; but, disliking the sea, he was determined to
+go to America. We had to smuggle him out of the country, on account of the
+press-gang; he making his appearance on board us, suddenly, one night, in
+the river.
+
+The Sterling was short-handed this passage, mustering but four hands in a
+watch. Notwithstanding, we often reefed in the watch, though Cooper and
+Little Dan were both scarcely more than boys. Our mates used to go aloft,
+and both were active, powerful men. The cook, too, was a famous fellow at
+a drag. In these delicate times, when two or three days of watch and watch
+knock up a set of young men, one looks back with pride to a passage like
+this, when fourteen men and boys--four of the latter--brought a good sized
+ship across the ocean, reefing in the watch, weathering many a gale, and
+thinking nothing of it. I presume half our people, on a pinch, could have
+brought the Sterling in. One of the boys I have mentioned was named John
+Pugh, a little fellow the captain had taken as an apprentice in London,
+and who was now at sea for the first time in his life.
+
+We had a long passage. Every inch of the way to the Downs was tide-work.
+Here we lay several days, waiting far a wind. It blew fresh from the
+southwest-half of that summer, and the captain was not willing to go out
+with a foul wind. We were surrounded with vessels of war, most of the
+Channel Fleet being at anchor around us. This made a gay scene, and we had
+plenty of music, and plenty of saluting. One day all hands turned-to
+together, and fired starboard and larboard, until we could see nothing but
+a few mast-heads. What it all meant I never heard, but it made a famous
+smoke, and a tremendous noise.
+
+A frigate came in, and anchored just ahead of us. She lowered a boat, and
+sent a reefer alongside to inform us that she was His Majesty's ship----;
+that she had lost all her anchors but the stream, and she might strike
+adrift, and he advised us to get out of her way. The captain held on that
+day, however, but next morning she came into us, sure enough. The ships
+did not get clear without some trouble, and we thought it wisest to shift
+our berth. Once aweigh, the captain thought it best to turn out of the
+Downs, which we did, working through the Straits, and anchoring under
+Dungeness, as soon as the flood made. Here we lay until near sunset, when
+we got under way to try our hand upon the ebb. I believe the skipper had
+made up his mind to tide it down to the Land's End, rather than remain
+idle any longer. There was a sloop of war lying in-shore of us, a mile or
+so, and just as we stretched out from under the land, she began to
+telegraph with a signal station ashore. Soon after, she weighed, and came
+out, also. In the middle watch we passed this ship, on opposite tacks, and
+learned that an embargo had been laid, and that we had only saved our
+distance by some ten or fifteen minutes! This embargo was to prevent the
+intelligence of the Copenhagen expedition from reaching the Danes. That
+very day, we passed a convoy of transports, carrying a brigade from
+Pendennis Castle to Yarmouth, in order to join the main fleet. A gun-brig
+brought us to, and came near pressing the Swede, under the pretence that
+being allies of his king, England had a right to his services. Had not the
+man been as obstinate as a bull, and positively refused to go, I do
+believe we should have lost him. He was ordered into the boat at least
+half-a-dozen times, but swore he would not budge. Cooper had a little row
+with this boarding officer, but was silenced by the captain.
+
+After the news received from the sloop of war, it may be supposed we did
+not venture to anchor anywhere on English ground. Keeping the channel, we
+passed the Isle of Wight several times, losing on the flood, the distance
+made on the ebb. At length we got a slant and fetched out into the
+Atlantic, heading well to the southward, however. Our passage was long,
+even after we got clear, the winds carrying us down as low as Corvo, which
+island we made, and then taking us well north again. We had one very heavy
+blow that forced us to scud, the Sterling being one of the wettest ships
+that ever floated, when heading up to the sea.
+
+When near the American coast, we spoke an English brig that gave us an
+account of the affair between the Leopard and the Chesapeake, though he
+made his own countrymen come out second-best. Bitter were the revilings of
+Mr. Irish when the pilot told us the real state of the case. As was usual
+with this ship's luck, we tided it up the bay and river, and got safe
+alongside of the wharf at Philadelphia, at last. Here our crew was broken
+up, of course, and, with the exception of Jack Pugh, my brother
+apprentice, and Cooper, I never saw a single soul of them afterwards. Most
+of them went on to New York, and were swallowed up in the great vortex of
+seamen. Mr. Irish, I heard, died the next voyage he made, chief mate of an
+Indiaman. He was a prime fellow, and fit to command a ship.
+
+Such was my first voyage at sea, for I count the passage round from
+Halifax as nothing. I had been kept in the cabin, it is true, but our work
+had been of the most active kind. The Sterling must have brought up, and
+been got under way, between fifty and a hundred times; and as for tacking,
+waring, chappelling round, and box-hauling, we had so much of it by the
+channel pilots, that the old barky scarce knew which end was going
+foremost. In that day, a ship did not get from the Forelands up to London
+without some trouble, and great was our envy of the large blocks and light
+cordage of the colliers, which made such easy work for their men. We
+singled much of our rigging, the second voyage up the river, ourselves,
+and it was a great relief to the people. A set of grass foresheets, too,
+that we bought in Spain, got to be great favourites, though, in the end,
+they cost the ship the life of a very valuable man.
+
+Captain Johnston now determined to send me to Wiscasset, that I might go
+to school. A Wiscasset schooner, called the Clarissa, had come into
+Philadelphia, with freight from the West Indies, and she was about to sail
+for home in ballast. I was put on board as a passenger, and we sailed
+about a week after the ship got in from London. Jack Pugh staid behind,
+the Sterling being about to load for Ireland. On board the Clarissa I made
+the acquaintance of a Philadelphian born, who was an apprentice to the
+master of the schooner, of the name of Jack Mallet. He was a little older
+than myself, and we soon became intimate, and, in time, were fated to see
+many strange things in company.
+
+The Clarissa went, by the Vineyard Sound and the Shoals, into Boston. Here
+she landed a few crates, and then sailed for Wiscasset, where we arrived
+after a pretty long passage. I was kindly received by the mother and
+family of Captain Johnston, and immediately sent to school. Shortly after,
+we heard of the embargo, and, the Clarissa being laid up, Jack Mallet
+became one of my school-mates. We soon learned that the Sterling had not
+been able to get out, and, ere long, Jack Pugh joined our party. A little
+later, Captain Johnston arrived, to go into the commercial quarantine with
+the rest of us.
+
+This was the long embargo, as sailors called it, and it did not terminate
+until Erskine's arrangement was made, in 1809. All this time I remained in
+Wiscasset, at school, well treated, and, if anything, too much indulged.
+Captain Johnston remained at home all this time, also, and, having nothing
+else to do, he set about looking out for a wife. We had, at school, Jack
+Pugh, Jack Mallet, and Bill Swett, the latter being a lad a little older
+than myself, and a nephew of the captain's. I was now sixteen, and had
+nearly gotten my growth.
+
+As soon as the embargo was removed, Captain Johnston, accompanied by
+Swett, started for Philadelphia, to bring the ship round to New York. From
+that place he intended to sail for Liverpool, where Jack Pugh and myself
+were to join him, sailing in a ship called the Columbia. This plan was
+changed, however, and we were sent round by sea to join the Sterling
+again, in the port where I had first found her.
+
+As this was near three years after I had quitted the Hel zer's so
+unceremoniously, I went to look for them. Their old neighbours told me
+they had been gone to Martinique, about a twelvemonth. This was the last
+intelligence I ever heard of them. Bill Swett was now put into the cabin,
+and Jack Pugh and myself were sent regularly to duty before the mast. We
+lived in the steerage, and had cabin fare; but, otherwise, had the
+fortunes of foremast Jacks. Our freight was wheat in the lower hold, flour
+betwixt decks, and cotton on deck. The ship was very deep. Our crew was
+good, but both our mates were foreigners.
+
+Nothing occurred until we got near soundings, when it came on to blow very
+heavy from the southward and westward. The ship was running under a
+close-reefed main-topsail and foresail, with a tremendous sea on. Just as
+night set in, one Harry, a Prussian, came on deck from his supper to
+relieve the wheel, and, fetching a lurch as he went aft, he brought up
+against the launch, and thence down against our grass fore-sheet, which
+had been so great a favourite in the London passages. This rope had been
+stretched above the deck load for a ridge rope, but, being rotten, it gave
+way when the poor Prussian struck it, and he went into the sea. We could
+do no more than throw him the sky-light, which was large; but the ship
+went foaming ahead, leaving the poor fellow to his fate, in the midst of
+the hissing waters. Some of our people thought they saw poor Harry on the
+sky-light, but this could not have made much difference in such a raging
+sea. It was impossible to round-to, and as for a boat's living, it was out
+of the question. This was the first man I saw lost at sea, and,
+notwithstanding the severity of the gale, and the danger of the ship
+herself, the fate of this excellent man made us all melancholy. The
+captain felt it bitterly, as was evident from his manner. Still, the thing
+was unavoidable.
+
+We had begun to shorten sail early in the afternoon, and Harry was lost in
+the first dog-watch. A little later the larboard fore-sheet went, and the
+sail was split. All hands were called, and the rags were rolled up, and
+the gaskets passed. The ship now laboured so awfully that she began to
+leak. The swell was so high that we did not dare to come by the wind, and
+the seas would come in, just about the main chains, meet in board and
+travel out over her bows in a way to threaten everything that could be
+moved. We lads were lashed at the pumps, and ordered to keep at work; and
+to make matters worse, the wheat began to work its way into the pump-well.
+While things were in this state, the main-top-sail split, leaving the ship
+without a rag of sail on her.
+
+The Sterling loved to be under water, even in moderate weather. Many a
+time have I seen her send the water aft, into the quarter-deck scuppers,
+and, as for diving, no loon was quicker than she. Now, that she was deep
+and was rolling her deck-load to the water, it was time to think of
+lightening her. The cotton was thrown overboard as fast as we could, and
+what the men could not start the seas did. After a while we eased the ship
+sensibly, and it was well we did; the wheat choking the pumps so often,
+that we had little opportunity for getting out the water.
+
+I do not now recollect at what hour of this fearful night, Captain
+Johnston shouted out to us all to "look out"--and "hold on." The ship was
+broaching-to. Fortunately she did this at a lucky moment, and, always
+lying-to well, though wet, we made much better weather on deck. The
+mizzen-staysail was now set to keep her from falling off into the troughs
+of the sea. Still the wind blew as hard as ever. First one sail, then
+another, got loose, and a hard time we had to keep the canvass to the
+yards. Then the fore-top-mast went, with a heavy lurch, and soon after the
+main, carrying with it the mizzen-top-gallant-mast. We owed this to the
+embargo, in my judgment, the ship's rigging having got damaged lying dry
+so long. We were all night clearing the wreck, and the men who used the
+hatchets, told us that the wind would cant their tools so violently that
+they sometimes struck on the eyes, instead of the edge. The gale fairly
+seemed like a hard substance.
+
+We passed a fearful night, working at the pumps, and endeavouring to take
+care of the ship. Next morning it moderated a little, and the vessel was
+got before the wind, which was perfectly fair. She could carry but little
+sail; though we got up top-gallant-masts for top-masts, as soon as the sea
+would permit. About four, I saw the land myself and pointed it out to the
+mate. It was Cape Clear, and we were heading for it as straight as we
+could go. We hauled up to clear it, and ran into the Irish channel. A
+large fleet of vessels had gathered in and near the chops of the channel,
+in readiness to run into Liverpool by a particular day that had been named
+in the law opening the trade, and great had been the destruction among
+them. I do not remember the number of the ships we saw, but there must
+have been more than a hundred. It was afterwards reported, that near fifty
+vessels were wrecked on the Irish coast. Almost every craft we fell in
+with was more or less dismasted, and one vessel, a ship called the
+Liberty, was reported to have gone down, with every soul on board her.
+
+The weather becoming moderate, all hands of us went into Liverpool, the
+best way we could. The Sterling had good luck in getting up, though we lay
+some time in the river before we were able to get into dock. When we got
+out the cargo, we found it much damaged, particularly the wheat. The last
+was so hot that we could not bear our feet among it. We got it all out in
+a few days, when we went into a dry dock, and repaired.
+
+This visit to Liverpool scattered our crew as if it had been so much dust
+in a squall. Most of our men were pressed, and those that were not, ran.
+But one man, us boys excepted, stuck by the ship. The chief mate--a
+foreigner, though of what country I never could discover--lived at a house
+kept by a handsome landlady. To oblige this lady, he ordered William Swett
+and myself to carry a bucket-full of salt, each, up to her house. The salt
+came out of the harness-cask, and we took it ashore openly, but we were
+stopped on the quay by a custom-house officer, who threatened to seize the
+ship. Such was the penalty for landing two buckets of Liverpool salt at
+Liverpool!
+
+Captain Johnston had the matter explained, and he discharged the mate.
+Next day, the discharged man and the second mate were pressed. We got the
+last, who was a Swede, clear; and the chief mate, in the end, made his
+escape, and found his way back to New York. Among those impressed, was
+Jack Pugh, who having been bound in London, we did not dare show his
+papers. The captain tried hard to get the boy clear, but without success.
+I never saw poor Jack after this; though I learn he ran from the
+market-boat of the guard-ship, made his way back to Wiscasset, where he
+stayed some time, then shipped, and was lost at sea.
+
+
+
+Chapter IV.
+
+
+
+At length we got a new crew, and sailed for home. We had several
+passengers on board, masters of American ships who could go back
+themselves, but not carry their vessels with them, on account of certain
+liberties the last had taken with the laws. These persons were called
+"embargo captains." One of them, a Captain B----, kept Captain Johnston's
+watch, and got so much into his confidence and favour, that he gave him
+the vessel in the end. The passage home was stormy and long, but offered
+nothing remarkable. A non-importation law had been passed during our
+absence, and our ship was seized in New York in consequence of having a
+cargo of English salt. We had taken the precaution, however, to have the
+salt cleared in Liverpool, and put afloat before the day named in the law,
+and got clear after a detention of two months. Salt rose so much in the
+interval, that the seizure turned out to be a good thing for the owners.
+
+While the ship was lying off the Battery, on her return from this voyage,
+and before she had hauled in, a boat came alongside with a young man in
+her in naval uniform. This was Cooper, who, in pulling across to go aboard
+his own vessel, had recognised our mast-heads, and now came to look at us.
+This was the last time I met him, until the year 1843; or, for
+thirty-four years.
+
+We now loaded with naval stores, and cleared again for Liverpool. Bill
+Swett did not make this voyage with us, the cook acting as steward. We had
+good passages out and home, experiencing no detention or accidents. In the
+spring of 1810, Captain Johnston gave the ship to Captain B----, who
+carried us to Liverpool for the third time. Nothing took place this
+voyage either, worthy of being mentioned, the ship getting back in good
+season. We now took in a cargo of staves for Limerick. Off the Hook we
+were brought-to by the Indian sloop-of-war, one of the Halifax cruisers, a
+squadron in company. Several vessels were coming out at the same time, and
+among them were several of the clippers in the French trade. The Amiable
+Matilda and the Colt went to windward of the Englishmen as if the last had
+been at anchor; but the Tameahmeah, when nearest to the English, got her
+yards locked in stays, and was captured. We saw all this, and felt, as was
+natural to men who beheld such things enacted at the mouth of their own
+port. Our passages both ways were pleasant, and nothing occurred out of
+the usual course. I fell in with a press-gang, however, in Limerick, which
+would have nabbed me, but for a party of Irishmen, who showed fight and
+frightened the fellows so much that I got clear. Once before, I had been
+in the hands of these vermin in Liverpool, but Captain Johnston had got me
+clear by means of my indentures. I was acting as second-mate this voyage.
+
+On our return home, the ship was ordered to Charleston to get a cargo of
+yellow pine, under a contract. Captain B---- was still in command, my old
+master, Captain Johnston, being then at home, occupied in building a new
+ship. I never saw this kind-hearted and indulgent seaman until the year
+1842, when I made a journey to Wiscasset expressly to see him. Captain
+B---- and myself were never very good friends, and I was getting to be
+impatient of his authority; but I still stuck by the ship.
+
+We had an ordinary run to Charleston, and began to prepare for the
+reception of our cargo. At this time, there were two French privateers on
+the southern coast, that did a great deal of damage to our trade. One went
+into Savannah, and got burned, for her pains; and the other came into
+Charleston, and narrowly escaped the same fate. A mob collected--made a
+fire-raft, and came alongside of our ship, demanding some tar. To own the
+truth, though then clothed with all the dignity of a "Dicky," [5] I liked
+the fun, and offered no resistance. Bill Swett had come in, in a ship
+called the United States; and he was on board the Sterling, at the time,
+on a visit to me. We two, off hatches, and whipped a barrel of tar on
+deck; which we turned over to the raftsmen, with our hearty good wishes
+for their success. All this was, legally, very wrong; but, I still think,
+it was not so very far from being morally just; at least, as regards the
+privateersmen. The attempt failed, however, and those implicated were
+blamed a great deal more than they would have been, had they burned up the
+Frenchmen's eye-bolts. It is bad to fail, in a legal undertaking; but
+success is indispensable for forgiveness, to one that is illegal.
+
+That night, Captain B---- and the chief mate, came down upon me, like a
+gust, for having parted with the tar. They concluded their lecture, by
+threatening to work me up. Bill Swett was by, and he got his share of the
+dose. When we were left to ourselves, we held a council of war, about
+future proceedings. Our crew had run, to a man, the cook excepted, as
+usually happens, in Charleston; and we brought in the cook, as a
+counsellor. This man told me, that he had overheard the captain and mate
+laying a plan to give me a threshing, as soon as I had turned in. Bill,
+now, frankly proposed that I should run, as well as himself; for he had
+already left his ship; and our plan was soon laid. Bill went ashore, and
+brought a boat down under the bows of the ship, and I passed my dunnage
+into her, by going through the forecastle; I then left the Sterling, for
+ever, never putting my foot on board of her again. I saw her, once or
+twice, afterwards, at a distance, and she always looked like a sort of
+home to me. She was subsequently lost, on the eastern coast, Captain
+Johnston still owning her, and being actually on board her, though only as
+a passenger. I had been out in her twelve times, from country to country,
+besides several short runs, from port to port. She always seemed natural
+to me; and I had got to know every timber and stick about her. I felt
+more, in quitting this ship, than I did in quitting Halifax. This
+desertion was the third great error of my life. The first was, quitting
+those with whom I had been left by my father; the second, abandoning my
+good friends, the Heizers; and the third, leaving the Sterling. Had
+Captain Johnston been in the ship, I never should have dreamed of running.
+He was always kind to me, and if he failed in justice, it was on the side
+of indulgence. Had I continued with him, I make no doubt, my career would
+have been very different from what it has since turned out to be; and, I
+fear, I must refer one of the very bad habits, that afterwards marred my
+fortunes, that of drinking too much, to this act. Still, it will be
+remembered, I was only nineteen, loved adventure, and detested
+Captain B----.
+
+After this exploit, Swett and I kept housed for a week. He then got into a
+ship called the President, and I into another called the Tontine, and both
+sailed for New York, where we arrived within a few days of each other. We
+now shipped together in a vessel called the Jane, bound to Limerick. This
+was near the close of the year 1811. Our passage out was tremendously bad,
+and we met with some serious accidents to our people. We were not far from
+the mouth of the Irish channel when the ship broached-to, in scudding
+under the foresail and main-top-sail, Bill Swett being at the helm. The
+watch below ran on deck and hauled up the foresail, without orders, to
+prevent the ship from going down stern foremost, the yards being square.
+As the ship came-to, she took a sea in on her starboard side, which drove
+poor Bill to leeward, under some water-casks and boards, beating in two of
+his ribs. Both mates were injured also, and were off duty in consequence
+for several weeks. The plank sheer was ripped off the vessel from aft to
+amidships, as neatly as if it had been done by the carpenters. We could
+look down among the timbers the same as if the vessel were on the stocks.
+
+The men braced up the after-yards, and then the ship was lying-to under a
+close-reefed main-top-sail. After this, she did well enough. We now passed
+the hurt below, and got tarred canvass over the timber-heads, and managed
+to keep out the water. Next day we made sail for our port. It blowing too
+fresh to get a pilot, we ran into a roadstead at the mouth of the Shannon,
+and anchored with both bowers. We rode out the gale, and then went up to
+Limerick. Here all hands got well, and returned to duty. In due time, we
+sailed for home in ballast. As we came into the Hook, we were hailed by a
+gun-boat, and heard of the "Little Embargo."
+
+The question now came up seriously between Bill and myself, what was best
+to be done. I was for going to Wiscasset, like two prodigals, own our
+fault, and endeavour to amend. Bill thought otherwise. Now we were cast
+ashore, without employment, he thought it more manly to try and shift for
+ourselves. He had an uncle who was a captain of artillery, and who was
+then stationed on Governor's Island, and we took him into our councils.
+This gentleman treated us kindly, and kept us with him on the island for
+two days. Finding his nephew bent on doing something for himself, he gave
+us a letter to Lt. Trenchard, of the navy, by whom we were both shipped
+for the service. Swett got a master's-mate's berth, and I was offered the
+same, but felt too much afraid of myself to accept it. I entered the navy,
+then, for the first time, as a common Jack.
+
+This was a very short time before war was declared, and a large flotilla
+of gun-boats was getting ready for the New York station. Bill was put on
+board of No. 112, and I was ordered to No. 107, Sailing-Master Costigan.
+Soon after, we were all employed in fitting the Essex for sea; and while
+thus occupied the Declaration of War actually arrived. On this occasion I
+got drunk, for the second time in my life. A quantity of whiskey was
+started into a tub, and all hands drank to the success of the conflict. A
+little upset me, then, nor would I have drunk anything, but for the
+persuasions of some of my Wiscasset acquaintances, of whom there were
+several in the ship. I advise all young men, who feel no desire to drink,
+to follow their own propensities, and not to yield themselves up, body and
+soul, to the thoughtless persuasions of others. There is no real
+good-fellowship in swilling rum and whiskey; but the taste, once acquired,
+is hard to cure. I never drank much, as to quantity, but a little filled
+me with the love of mischief, and that little served to press me down for
+all the more valuable years of my life; valuable, as to the advancement of
+my worldly interests, though I can scarcely say I began really to live, as
+a creature of God's should live, to honour his name and serve his ends,
+until the year 1839.
+
+After the Essex was fitted out, the flotilla cruised in the Sound, and was
+kept generally on the look-out, about the waters of New York. Towards the
+end of the season, our boat, with several others, was lying abreast of
+the Yard, when orders came off to meet the Yard Commander, Captain
+Chauncey, on the wharf. Here, this officer addressed us, and said he was
+about to proceed to Lake Ontario, to take command, and asking who would
+volunteer to go with him. This was agreeable news to us, for we hated the
+gun-boats, and would go anywhere to be quit of them. Every man and boy
+volunteered. We got twenty-four hours' liberty, with a few dollars in
+money, and when this scrape was over every man returned, and we embarked
+in a sloop for Albany. Our draft contained near 140 men, and was commanded
+by Mr. Mix, then a sailing-master, but who died a commander a few years
+since. Messrs. Osgood and Mallaby were also with us, and two midshipmen,
+viz: Messrs. Sands and Livingston. The former of these young gentlemen is
+now a commander, but I do not know what became of Mr. Livingston. We had
+also two master's-mates, Messrs. Bogardus and Emory.
+
+On reaching Albany, we paid a visit to the Governor, gave him three
+cheers, got some good cheer in return, and were all stowed in wagons, a
+mess in each, before his door. We now took to our land tacks, and a merry
+time we had of it. Our first day's run was to a place called Schenectady,
+and here the officers found an empty house, and berthed us all together,
+fastening the doors. This did not suit our notions of a land cruise, and
+we began to grumble. There was a regular hard horse of a boatswain's-mate
+with us, of the name of McNally. This man had been in the service a long
+time, and was a thorough man-of-war's man. Fie had collected twenty-four
+of us, whom he called his 'disciples,' and shamed am I to say, I was one.
+McNally called all hands on the upper deck, as he called it, that is to
+say, in the garret, and made us a speech. He said this was no way to treat
+volunteers, and proposed that we should "unship the awning." We rigged
+pries, and, first singing out, "stand from under," hove one half of the
+roof into the street, and the other into the garden. We then gave three
+cheers at our success. The officers now came down, and gave us a lecture.
+But we made out so good a case, that they let us run till morning, when
+every soul was back and mustered in the wagons. In this way we went
+through the country, cracking our jokes, laughing, and noting all
+oddities that crossed our course. I believe we were ten or twelve days
+working our way through the state, to Oswego. At Onondago Lake we got into
+boats, and did better than in the wagons. At a village on the lake shore,
+the people were very bitter against us, and we had some difficulty. The
+word went among us they were Scotch, from the Canadas, but of this I know
+nothing. We heard in the morning, however, that most of our officers were
+in limbo, and we crossed and marched up a hill, intending to burn, sink,
+and destroy, if they were not liberated. Mischief was prevented by the
+appearance of Mr. Mix, with the other gentlemen, and we pushed off without
+coming to blows.
+
+It came on to rain very hard, and we fetched up at a solitary house in the
+woods, and tried to get quarters. These were denied us, and we were told
+to shift for ourselves. This we did in a large barn, where we made good
+stowage until morning. In the night, we caught the owner coming about with
+a lantern to set fire to the barn, and we carried him down to a boat, and
+lashed him there until morning, letting the rain wash all the combustible
+matter out of him. That day we reached Oswego Falls, where a party of us
+were stationed some time, running boats over, and carrying stores across
+the portage.
+
+When everything reached Oswego, all hands turned to, to equip some lake
+craft that had been bought for the service. These were schooners, salt
+droggers, of about sixty or eighty tons. All we did at Oswego, however,
+was to load these vessels, some six or eight in all, and put to sea. I
+went off in one of the first, a vessel called the Fair American. Having no
+armaments, we sailed in the night, to avoid John Bull's cruisers, of which
+there were several out at the time. As we got in with some islands, at no
+great distance from Sackett's Harbour, we fell in with the Oneida's
+launch, which was always kept in the offing at night, rowing, or sailing,
+guard. Bill Swett was in her, and we then met for the first time on fresh
+water. I now learned that Jack Mallet was on the station, too, whom I had
+not fallen in with since we parted at Wiscasset, more than three years
+before. A fortnight later I found him, acting as boatswain of the Julia,
+Sailing-Master Trant, a craft I have every reason to remember as long as I
+shall live.
+
+The day after I reached the harbour, I was ordered on board the Scourge.
+This vessel was English-built, and had been captured before the war, and
+condemned, for violating the revenue laws, under the name of the Lord
+Nelson, by the Oneida 16, Lt. Com. Woolsey--the only cruiser we then had
+on the lake. This craft was unfit for her duty, but time pressed, and no
+better offered. Bulwarks had been raised on her, and she mounted eight
+sixes, in regular broadside. Her accommodations were bad enough, and she
+was so tender, that we could do little or nothing with her in a blow. It
+was often prognosticated that she would prove our coffin. Besides Mr.
+Osgood, who was put in command of this vessel, we had Mr. Bogardus, and
+Mr. Livingston, as officers. We must have had about forty-five souls on
+board, all told. We did not get this schooner out that season, however.
+
+The commodore arriving, and an expedition against Kingston being in the
+wind, a party of us volunteered from the Scourge, to go on board the
+Oneida. This was in November, rather a latish month for active service on
+those waters. The brig went out in company with the Conquest, Hamilton,
+Governor Tompkins, Port, Julia, and Growler, schooners. These last craft
+were all merchantmen, mostly without quarters, and scarcely fit for the
+duty on which they were employed. The Oneida was a warm little brig, of
+sixteen 24 lb. carronades, but as dull as a transport. She had been built
+to cross the bars of the American harbours, and would not travel
+to windward.
+
+We went off the False Ducks, where we made the Royal George, a ship the
+English had built expressly to overlay the Oneida, two or three years
+before, and which was big enough to eat us. Her officers, however, did not
+belong to the Royal Navy; and we made such a show of schooners, that,
+though she had herself a vessel or two in company, she did not choose to
+wait for us. We chased her into the Bay of Quinte, and there we lost her
+in the darkness. Next morning, however, we saw her at anchor in the
+channel that leads to Kingston. A general chase now commenced, and we ran
+down into the bay, and engaged the ship and batteries, as close as we
+could well get. The firing was sharp on both sides, and it lasted a great
+while. I was stationed at a gun, as her second captain, and was too busy
+to see much; but I know we kept our piece speaking as fast as we could,
+for a good bit. We drove the Royal George from a second anchorage, quite
+up to a berth abreast of the town; and it was said that her people
+actually deserted her, at one time. We gave her nothing but round-shot
+from our gun, and these we gave her with all our hearts. Whenever we
+noticed the shore, a stand of grape was added.
+
+I know nothing of the damage done the enemy. We had the best of it, so far
+as I could see; and I think, if the weather had not compelled us to haul
+off, something serious might have been done. As it was, we beat out with
+flying colours, and anchored a few miles from the light.
+
+These were the first shot I ever saw fired in anger. Our brig had one man
+killed and three wounded, and she was somewhat injured aloft. One shot
+came in not far from my gun, and scattered lots of cat-tails, breaking in
+the hammock-cloths. This was the nearest chance I ran, that day; and, on
+the whole, I think we escaped pretty well. On our return to the harbour,
+the ten Scourges who had volunteered for the cruise, returned to their own
+schooner. None of us were hurt, though all of us were half frozen, the
+water freezing as fast as it fell.
+
+Shortly after both sides went into winter quarters, and both sides
+commenced building. We launched a ship called the Madison, about this
+time, and we laid the keel of another, that was named the Pike. What John
+Bull was about is more than I can say, though the next season showed he
+had not been idle. The navigation did not absolutely close,
+notwithstanding, until December.
+
+Our vessels were moored about the harbour, and we were all frozen in, as a
+matter of course. Around each craft, however, a space was kept cut, to
+form a sort of ditch, in order to prevent being boarded. Parties were
+regularly stationed to defend the Madison, and, in the days, we worked at
+her rigging, and at that of the Pike, in gangs. Our larboard guns were
+landed, and placed in a block-house, while the starboard were kept
+mounted. My station was that of captain of one of the guns that remained.
+
+The winter lasted more than four months, and we made good times of it. We
+often went after wood, and occasionally we knocked over a deer. We had a
+target out on the lake, and this we practised on, making ourselves rather
+expert cannoneers. Now and then they rowsed us out on a false alarm, but I
+know of no serious attempt's being made by the enemy, to molest us.
+
+The lake was fit to navigate about the middle of April. Somewhere about
+the 20th[6] the soldiers began to embark, to the number of 1700 men. A
+company came on board the Scourge, and they filled us chock-a-block. It
+came on to blow, and we were obliged to keep these poor fellows, cramped
+as we were, most of the time on deck, exposed to rain and storm. On the
+25th we got out, rather a showy force altogether, though there was not
+much service in our small craft. We had a ship, a brig, and twelve
+schooners, fourteen sail in all. The next morning we were off Little York,
+having sailed with a fair wind. All hands anchored about a mile from the
+beach. I volunteered to go in a boat, to carry soldiers ashore. Each of us
+brought across the lake two of these boats in tow, but we had lost one of
+ours, dragging her after us in a staggering breeze. I got into the one
+that was left, and we put half our soldiers in her, and shoved off. We had
+little or no order in landing, each boat pulling as hard as she could. The
+English blazed away at us, concealed in a wood, and our men fired back
+again from the boat. I never was more disappointed in men, than I was in
+the soldiers. They were mostly tall, pale-looking Yankees, half dead with
+sickness and the bad weather--so mealy, indeed, that half of them could
+not take their grog, which, by this time, I had got to think a bad sign.
+As soon as they got near the enemy, however, they became wide awake,
+pointed out to each other where to aim, and many of them actually jumped
+into the water, in order to get the sooner ashore. No men could have
+behaved better, for I confess frankly I did not like the work at all. It
+is no fun to pull in under a sharp fire, with one's back to his enemy, and
+nothing but an oar to amuse himself with. The shot flew pretty thick, and
+two of our oars were split. This was all done with musketry, no heavy guns
+being used at this place. I landed twice in this way, but the danger was
+principally in the first affair. There was fighting up on the bank, but it
+gave us no trouble. Mr. Livingston commanded the boat.
+
+When we got back to the schooner, we found her lifting her anchors.
+Several of the smaller craft were now ordered up the bay, to open on the
+batteries nearer to the town. We were the third from the van, and we all
+anchored within canister range. We heard a magazine blow up, as we stood
+in, and this brought three cheers from us. We now had some sharp work with
+the batteries, keeping up a steady fire. The schooner ahead of us had to
+cut, and she shifted her berth outside of us. The leading schooner,
+however, held on. In the midst of it all, we heard cheers down the line,
+and presently we saw the commodore pulling in among us, in his gig. He
+came on board us, and we greeted him with three cheers. While he was on
+the quarter-deck, a hot shot struck the upper part of the after-port, cut
+all the boarding-pikes adrift from the main-boom, and wounded a man named
+Lemuel Bryant, who leaped from his quarters and fell at my feet. His
+clothes were all on fire when he fell, and, after putting them out, the
+commodore himself ordered me to pass him below. The old man spoke
+encouragingly to us, and a little thing took place that drew his attention
+to my crew. Two of the trucks of the gun we were fighting had been carried
+away, and I determined to shift over its opposite. My crew were five
+negroes, strapping fellows, and as strong as jackasses. The gun was called
+the Black Joke. Shoving the disabled gun out of the way, these chaps
+crossed the deck, unhooked the breechings and gun-tackles, raised the
+piece from the deck, and placed it in the vacant port. The commodore
+commended us, and called out, "that is quick work, my lads!" In less than
+three minutes, I am certain, we were playing on the enemy with the
+fresh gun.
+
+As for the old man, he pulled through the fire as coolly as if it were
+only a snow-balling scrape, though many a poor fellow lost the number of
+his mess in the boats that day. When he left us, we cheered him again. He
+had not left us long, before we heard an awful explosion on shore. Stones
+as big as my two fists fell on board of us, though nobody was hurt by
+them. We cheered, thinking some dire calamity had befallen the enemy. The
+firing ceased soon after this explosion, though one English gun held on,
+under the bank, for some little time.
+
+
+
+Chapter V.
+
+
+
+We did not know the cause of the last explosion, until after the firing
+ceased. I had seen an awful black cloud, and objects in the air that I
+took for men; but little did we imagine the explosion had cost us so dear.
+Our schooner lay at no great distance from the common landing, and no
+sooner were we certain of the success of the day, than Mr. Osgood ordered
+his boat's crew called away, and he landed. As I belonged to the boat, I
+had an early opportunity of entering the town.
+
+We found the place deserted. With the exception of our own men, I found
+but one living being in it. This was an old woman whom I discovered stowed
+away in a potatoe locker, in the government house. I saw tables set, and
+eggs in the cups, but no inhabitant. Our orders were of the most severe
+kind, not to plunder, and we did not touch a morsel of food even. The
+liquor, however, was too much for our poor natures, and a parcel of us had
+broke bulk in a better sort of grocery, when some officers came in and
+stove the casks. I made sail, and got out of the company. The army had
+gone in pursuit of the enemy, with the exception of a few riflemen, who,
+being now at liberty, found their way into the place.
+
+I ought to feel ashamed, and do feel ashamed of what occurred that night;
+but I must relate it, lest I feel more ashamed for concealing the truth.
+We had spliced the main-brace pretty freely throughout the day, and the
+pull I got in the grocery just made me ripe for mischief. When we got
+aboard the schooner again, we found a canoe that had drifted athwart-hawse
+and had been secured. My gun's crew, the Black Jokers, wished to have some
+fun in the town, and they proposed to me to take a cruise ashore. We had
+few officers on board, and the boatswain, a boat swain's mate in fact,
+consented to let us leave. We all went ashore in this canoe, then, and
+were soon alongside of a wharf. On landing, we were near a large store,
+and looking in at a window, we saw a man sitting asleep, with a gun in the
+hollow of his arm. His head was on the counter, and there was a lamp
+burning. One of the blacks pitched through the window, and was on him in a
+moment. The rest followed, and we made him a prisoner. The poor fellow
+said he had come to look after his property, and he was told no one would
+hurt him. My blacks now began to look about them, and to help themselves
+to such articles as they thought they wanted. I confess I helped myself to
+some tea and sugar, nor will I deny that I was in such a state as to think
+the whole good fun. We carried off one canoe load, and even returned for a
+second. Of course such an exploit could not have been effected without
+letting all in the secret share; and one boat-load of plunder was not
+enough. The negroes began to drink, however, and I was sober enough to see
+the consequences, if they were left ashore any longer. Some riflemen came
+in, too, and I succeeded in getting my jokers away.
+
+The recklessness of sailors may be seen in our conduct. All we received
+for our plunder was some eight or ten gallons of whiskey, when we got back
+to the harbour, and this at the risk of being flogged through the fleet!
+It seemed to us to be a scrape, and that was a sufficient excuse for
+disobeying orders, and for committing a crime. For myself, I was
+influenced more by the love of mischief, and a weak desire to have it said
+I was foremost in such an exploit, than from any mercenary motive.
+Notwithstanding the severity of the orders, and one or two pretty sharp
+examples of punishment inflicted by the commodore, the Black Jokers were
+not the only plunderers ashore that night. One master's-mate had the
+buttons taken off his coat, for stealing a feather bed, besides being
+obliged to carry it back again. Of course he was a shipped master's-mate.
+
+I was ashore every day while the squadron remained in the port. Our
+schooner never shifted her berth from the last one she occupied in the
+battle, and that was pretty well up the bay. I paid a visit to the gun
+that had troubled us all so much, and which we could not silence, for it
+was under a bank, near the landing-place. It was a long French eighteen,
+and did better service, that day, than any other piece of John Bull's. I
+think it hulled us several times.
+
+I walked over the ground where the explosion took place. It was a dreadful
+sight; the dead being so mutilated that it was scarcely possible to tell
+their colour. I saw gun-barrels bent nearly double. I think we saw Sir
+Roger Sheafe, the British General, galloping across the field, by himself,
+a few minutes before the explosion. At all events, we saw a mounted
+officer, and fired at him. He galloped up to the government-house,
+dismounted, went in, remained a short time, and then galloped out of town.
+All this I saw; and the old woman in the potato-locker told me the general
+had been in the house a short time before we landed. Her account agreed
+with the appearance of the officer I saw; though I will not pretend to be
+certain it was General Sheafe.
+
+I ought to mention the kindness of the commodore to the poor of York. As
+most of the inhabitants came back to their habitations the next day, the
+poor were suffering for food. Our men were ordered to roll barrels of salt
+meat and barrels of bread to their doors, from the government stores that
+fell into our hands. We captured an immense amount of these stores, a
+portion of which we carried away. We sunk many guns in the lake; and as
+for the powder, _that_ had taken care of itself. Among other things we
+took, was the body of an English officer, preserved in rum, which, they
+said, was General Brock's. I saw it hoisted out of the Duke of Gloucester,
+the man-of-war brig we captured, at Sackett's Harbour, and saw the body
+put in a fresh cask. I am ashamed to say, that some of our men were
+inclined to drink the old rum.
+
+We burned a large corvette, that was nearly ready for launching, and
+otherwise did the enemy a good deal of harm. The inhabitants that returned
+were very submissive, and thankful for what they received. As for the man
+of the red store, I never saw him after the night he was plundered, nor
+was anything ever said of the scrape.
+
+Our troops had lost near three hundred men in the attack, the wounded
+included; and as a great many of these green soldiers were now sick from
+exposure, the army was much reduced in force. We took the troops on board
+on the 1st of May, but could not sail, on account of a gale, until the
+8th, which made the matter worse. Then we got under way, and crossed the
+lake, landing the soldiers a few miles to the eastward of Fort Niagara.
+Our schooner now went to the Harbour, along with the commodore, though
+some of the craft remained near the head of the lake. Here we took in
+another lot of soldiers, placed two more large batteaux in tow, and sailed
+for the army again. We had good passages both ways, and this duty was done
+within a few days. While at the Harbour, I got a message to go and visit
+Bill Swett, but the poor fellow died without my being able to see him. I
+heard he was hurt at York, but never could come at the truth.
+
+On the 27th May, the army got into the batteaux, formed in two divisions,
+and commenced pulling towards the mouth of the Niagara. The morning was
+foggy, with a light wind, and the vessels getting under way, kept company
+with the boats, a little outside of them. The schooners were closest in,
+and some of them opened on Fort George, while others kept along the coast,
+scouring the shore with grape and canister as they moved ahead. The
+Scourge came to an anchor a short distance above the place selected for
+the landing, and sprung her broadside to the shore. We now kept up a
+steady fire with grape and canister, until the boats had got in-shore and
+were engaged with the enemy, when we threw round-shot, over the heads of
+our own men, upon the English. As soon as Colonel Scott was ashore, we
+sprung our broadside upon a two-gun battery that had been pretty busy, and
+we silenced that among us. This affair, for our craft, was nothing like
+that of York, though I was told the vessels nearer the river had warmer
+berths of it. We had no one hurt, though we were hulled once or twice. A
+little rigging was cut; but we set this down as light work compared to
+what the old Black Joke had seen that day month. There was a little sharp
+fighting ashore, but our men were too strong for the enemy, when they
+could fairly get their feet on solid ground.
+
+Just after we had anchored, Mr. Bogardus was sent aloft to ascertain if
+any enemy were to be seen. At first he found nobody; but, after a little
+while, he called out to have my gun fired at a little thicket of
+brushwood that lay on an inclined plain, near the water. Mr. Osgood came
+and elevated the gun, and I touched it off. We had been looking out for
+the blink of muskets, which was one certain guide to find a soldier; and
+the moment we sent this grist of grape and canister into those bushes, the
+place lighted up as if a thousand muskets were there. We then gave the
+chaps the remainder of our broadside. We peppered that wood well, and did
+a good deal of harm to the troops stationed at the place.
+
+The wind blew on shore, and began to increase; and the commodore now threw
+out a signal for the boats to land, to take care of the batteaux that were
+thumping on the beach, and then for their crews to assist in taking care
+of the wounded. Of course I went in my own boat, Mr. Bogardus having
+charge of her. We left the schooner, just as we quitted our guns, black
+with powder, in our shirts and trowsers, though we took the precaution to
+carry our boarding-belts, with a brace of pistols each, and a cutlass. On
+landing, we first hauled up the boats, taking some dead and wounded men
+out of them, and laying them on the beach.
+
+We were now ordered to divide ourselves into groups of three, and go over
+the ground, pick up the wounded, and carry them to a large house that had
+been selected as a hospital. My party consisted of Bill Southard, Simeon
+Grant, and myself, we being messmates. The first man we fell in with, was
+a young English soldier, who was seated on the bank, quite near the lake.
+He was badly hurt, and sat leaning his head on his hands. He begged for
+water, and I took his cap down to the lake and filled it, giving him a
+drink; then washing his face. This revived him, and he offered us his
+canteen, in which was some excellent Jamaica. To us chaps, who got nothing
+better than whiskey, this was a rare treat, and we emptied the remainder
+of his half pint, at a pull apiece. After tapping this rum, we carried
+the poor lad up to the house, and turned him over to the doctors. We found
+the rooms filled with wounded already, and the American and English
+doctors hard at work on them.
+
+As we left the hospital, we agreed to get a canteen apiece, and go round
+among the dead, and fill them with Jamaica. When our canteens were about a
+third full, we came upon a young American rifleman, who was lying under
+an appletree. He was hit in the head, and was in a very bad way. We were
+all three much struck with the appearance of this young man, and I now
+remember him as one of the handsomest youths I had ever seen. His wound
+did not bleed, though I thought the brains were oozing out, and I felt so
+much sympathy for him, that I washed his hurt with the rum. I fear I did
+him harm, but my motive was good. Bill Southard ran to find a surgeon, of
+whom several were operating out on the field. The young man kept saying
+"no use," and he mentioned "father and mother," "Vermont." He even gave me
+the names of his parents, but I was too much in the wind, from the use of
+rum, to remember them. We might have been half an hour with this young
+rifleman, busy on him most of the time, when he murmured a few words, gave
+me one of the sweetest smiles I ever saw on a man's face, and made no more
+signs of life. I kept at work, notwithstanding, until Bill got back with
+the doctor. The latter cast an eye on the rifleman, pronounced him dead,
+and coolly walked away.
+
+There was a bridge, in a sort of a swamp, that we had fired on for some
+time, and we now moved down to it, just to see what we had done. We found
+a good many dead, and several horses in the mire, but no wounded. We kept
+emptying canteens, as we went along, until our own would hold no more. On
+our return from the bridge, we went to a brook in order to mix some grog,
+and then we got a full view of the offing. Not a craft was to be seen!
+Everything had weighed and disappeared. This discovery knocked us all
+aback, and we were quite at a loss how to proceed. We agreed, however, to
+pass through a bit of woods, and get into the town, it being now quite
+late in the day. There we knew we should find the army, and might get
+tidings of the fleet. The battle-ground was now nearly deserted, and to
+own the truth we were, all three, at least two sheets in the wind. Still I
+remember everything, for my stomach would never allow me to get beastly
+drunk; it rejecting any very great quantity of liquor. As we went through
+the wood, open pine trees, we came across an officer lying dead, with one
+leg over his horse, which was dead also. I went up to the body, turned it
+over, and examined it for a canteen, but found none. We made a few idle
+remarks, and proceeded.
+
+In quitting the place, I led the party; and, as we went through a little
+thicket, I heard female voices. This startled me a little; and, on looking
+round, I saw a white female dress, belonging to a person who was evidently
+endeavouring to conceal herself from us. I was now alone, and walked up to
+the women, when I found two; one, a lady, in dress and manner, and the
+other a person that I have always supposed was her servant. The first was
+in white; the last in a dark calico. They were both under thirty, judging
+from their looks; and the lady was exceedingly well-looking They were much
+alarmed; and, as I came up, the lady asked me if I would hurt her. I told
+her no; and that no person should harm her, while she remained with us.
+This relieved her, and she was able to give an account of her errand on
+the field of battle. Our looks, half intoxicated, and begrimed with the
+smoke of a battle, as we were, certainly were enough to alarm her; but I
+do not think one of the three would have hesitated about fighting for a
+female, that they thus found weeping, in this manner, in the open field.
+The maid was crying also. Simeon Grant, and Southard, did make use of some
+improper language, at first; but I brought them up, and they said they
+were sorry, and would go all lengths, with me, to protect the women. The
+fact was, these men supposed we had fallen in with common camp followers;
+but I had seen too much of officers' wives, in my boyhood, not to know
+that this was one.
+
+The lady then told her story. She had just come from Kingston, to join her
+husband; having arrived but a few hours before. She did not see her
+husband, but she had heard he was left wounded on the field; and she had
+come out in the hope of finding him. She then described him, as an officer
+mounted, with a particular dress, and inquired if we had met with any such
+person, on the field. We told her of the horseman we had just left; and
+led her back to the spot. The moment the lady saw the body, she threw
+herself on it, and began to weep and mourn over it, in a very touching
+manner. The maid, too, was almost as bad as the mistress. We were all so
+much affected, in spite of the rum, that, I believe, all three of us shed
+tears. We said all we could, to console her, and swore we would stand by
+her until she was safe back among her friends.
+
+It was a good bit before we could persuade the lady to quit her husband's
+body. She took a miniature from his neck, and I drew his purse and watch
+from him and handed them to her. She wanted me to keep the purse, but this
+we all three refused, up and down. We had hauled our manly tacks aboard,
+and had no thoughts of plunder. Even the maid urged us to keep the money,
+but we would have nothing to do with it. I shall freely own my faults; I
+hope I shall be believed when I relate facts that show I am not altogether
+without proper feelings.
+
+The officer had been hit somewhere about the hip, and the horse must have
+been killed by another grape-shot, fired from the same gun. We laid the
+body of the first over in such a manner as to get a good look at him, but
+we did not draw the leg from under the horse.[7]
+
+When we succeeded in persuading the lady to quit her husband's body, we
+shaped our course for the light-house. Glad were we three tars to see the
+mast-heads of the shipping in the river, as we came near the banks of the
+Niagara. The house at the light was empty; but, on my hailing, a woman's
+voice answered from the cellar. It was an old woman who had taken shelter
+from shot down in the hold, the rest of the family having slipped and run.
+We now got some milk for the lady, who continued in tears most of the
+time. Sometimes she would knock off crying for a bit, when she seemed to
+have some distrust of us; but, on the whole, we made very good weather in
+company. After staying about half an hour at the light-house, we left it
+for the town, my advice to the lady being to put herself under the
+protection of some of our officers. I told her if the news of what had
+happened reached the commodore, she might depend on her husband's being
+buried with the honours of war, and said such other things to comfort her
+as came to the mind of a man who had been sailing so near the wind.
+
+I forgot to relate one part of the adventure. Before we had got fairly
+clear of the woods, we fell in with four of Forsyth's men, notoriously the
+wickedest corps in the army. These fellows began to crack their jokes at
+the expense of the two females, and we came near having a brush with them.
+When we spoke of our pistols, and of our determination to use them, before
+we would let our convoy come to harm, these chaps laughed at our pop-guns,
+and told us they had such things as 'rifles.' This was true enough, and
+had we come to broadsides, I make no doubt they would have knocked us over
+like so many snipes. I began to reason with them, on the impropriety of
+offending respectable females; and one of the fellows, who was a kind of
+corporal, or something of that sort, shook my hand, said I was right, and
+offered to be friends. So we spliced the main-brace, and parted. Glad
+enough was the lady to be rid of them so easily. In these squalls she
+would bring up in her tears, and then when all went smooth again, she
+would break out afresh.
+
+After quitting the light, we made the best of our way for the town. Just
+as we reached it, we fell in with a party of soldier-officers, and we
+turned the lady and her woman over to their care. These gentlemen said a
+good word in our favour, and here we parted company with our convoy, never
+hearing, or seeing, anything of either afterwards.
+
+By this time it was near dark, and Bill Southard and I began to look out
+for the Scourge. She was anchored in the river, with the rest of the
+fleet, and we went down upon a wharf to make a signal for a boat. On the
+way we saw a woman crying before a watch-maker's shop, and a party of
+Forsyth's close by. On enquiry, we learned these fellows had threatened to
+rob her shop. We had been such defenders of the sex, that we could not
+think of deserting this woman, and we swore we would stand by her, too. We
+should have had a skirmish here, I do believe, had not one or two rifle
+officers hove in sight, when the whole party made sail from us. We turned
+the woman over to these gentlemen, who said, "ay, there are some of our
+vagabonds, again." One of them said it would be better to call in their
+parties, and before we reached the water we heard the bugle sounding
+the recall.
+
+They had given us up on board the schooner. A report of some Indians being
+out had reached her, and we three were set down as scalped. Thank God,
+I've got all the hair on my head yet, and battered as my old hulk has got
+to be, and shattered as are my timbers, it is as black as a raven's wing
+at this moment. This, my old shipmate, who is logging this yarn, says he
+thinks is a proof my mother was a French Canadian, though such is not the
+fact, as it has been told to me.
+
+Those riflemen were regular scamps. Just before we went down to the wharf,
+we saw one walking sentinel before the door of a sort of barracks. On
+drawing near and asking what was going on inside, we were told we had
+nothing to do with their fun ashore, that we might look in at a window,
+however, but should not go in. We took him at his word; a merry scene it
+was inside. The English officers' dunnage had been broken into, and there
+was a party of the corps strutting about in uniform coats and feathers. We
+thought it best to give these dare-devils a berth, and so we left them.
+One was never safe with them on the field of battle, friend or enemy.
+
+We met a large party of marines on the wharf, marching up under Major
+Smith. They were going to protect the people of the town from further
+mischief. Mr. Osgood was glad enough to see us, and we got plenty of
+praise for what we had done with the women. As for the canteens, we had to
+empty them, after treating the crew of the boat that was sent to take us
+off. I did not enter the town after that night.
+
+We lay some time in the Niagara, the commodore going to the harbour to get
+the Pike ready. Captain Crane took the rest of us off Kingston, where we
+were joined by the commodore, and made sail again for the Niagara. Here
+Colonel Scott embarked with a body of troops, and we went to Burlington
+Bay to carry the heights. They were found to be too strong; and the men,
+after landing, returned to the vessels. We then went to York, again, and
+took possession of the place a second time. Here we destroyed several
+boats, and stores, set fire to the barracks, and did the enemy a good deal
+of damage otherwise; after which we left the place. Two or three days
+later we crossed the lake and landed the soldiers, again, at Fort Niagara.
+
+Early in August, while we were still in the river, Sir James Yeo hove in
+sight with two ships, two brigs, and two schooners. We had thirteen sail
+in all, such as they were, and immediately got under way, and manoeuvred
+for the weather-gauge. All the enemy's vessels had regular quarters, and
+the ships were stout craft. Our squadron sailed very unequally, some being
+pretty fast, and others as dull as droggers. Nor were we more than half
+fitted out. On board the Scourge the only square-sail we had, was made out
+of an English marquee we had laid our hands on at York, the first time we
+were there. I ought to say, too, that we got two small brass guns at York,
+four-pounders, I believe, which Mr. Osgood clapped into our two spare
+ports forward. This gave us ten guns in all, sixes and fours. I remember
+that Jack Mallet laughed at us heartily for the fuss we made with our
+pop-guns, as he called them, while we were working upon the English
+batteries, saying we might just as well have spared our powder, as for any
+good we did. He belonged to the Julia, which had a long thirty-two,
+forward, which they called the "Old Sow," and one smart eighteen aft. She
+had two sixes in her waist, also; but _they_ disdained to use _them_.
+
+While we were up at the harbour, the last time, Mr. Mix who had married a
+sister of Mr. Osgood, took a party of us in a boat, and we went up Black
+River, shooting. The two gentlemen landed, and as we were coming down the
+river, we saw something swimming, which proved to be a bear. We had no
+arms, but we pulled over the beast, and had a regular squaw-fight with
+him. We were an hour at work with this animal, the fellow coming very near
+mastering us. I struck at his nose with an iron tiller fifty times, but he
+warded the blow like a boxer. He broke our boat-hook, and once or twice,
+he came near boarding us. At length a wood-boat gave us an axe, and with
+this we killed him. Mr. Osgood had this bear skinned, and said he should
+send the skin to his family, If he did, it must have been one of the last
+memorials it ever got from him.
+
+
+
+Chapter VI.
+
+
+
+I left the two fleets manoeuvring for the wind, in the last chapter. About
+nine o'clock, the Pike got abeam of the Wolfe, Sir James Yeo's own ship,
+hoisted her ensign, and fired a few guns to try the range of her shot. The
+distance was too great to engage. At this time our sternmost vessels were
+two leagues off, and the commodore wore round, and hauled up on the other
+tack. The enemy did the same but, perceiving that our leading ships were
+likely to weather on him, he tacked, and hauled off to the northward. We
+stood on in pursuit, tacking too; but the wind soon fell, and about sunset
+it was quite calm.
+
+Throughout the day, the Scourge had as much as she could do to keep
+anywhere near her station. As for the old Oneida, she could not be kept
+within a long distance of her proper berth. We were sweeping, at odd
+times, for hours that day. Towards evening, all the light craft were doing
+the same, to close with the commodore. Our object was to get together,
+lest the enemy should cut off some of our small vessels during the night.
+
+Before dark the whole line was formed again, with the exception of the
+Oneida, which was still astern, towing. She ought to have been near the
+commodore, but could not get there. A little before sunset, Mr. Osgood
+ordered us to pull in our sweeps, and to take a spell. It was a lovely
+evening, not a cloud visible, and the lake being as smooth as a
+looking-glass. The English fleet was but a short distance to the northward
+of us; so near, indeed, that we could almost count their ports. They were
+becalmed, like ourselves, and a little scattered.
+
+We took in our sweeps as ordered, laying them athwart the deck, in
+readiness to be used when wanted. The vessels ahead and astern of us were,
+generally, within speaking distance. Just as the sun went below the
+horizon, George Turnblatt, a Swede, who was our gunner, came to me, and
+said he thought we ought to secure our guns; for we had been cleared for
+action all day, and the crew at quarters. We were still at quarters, in
+name; but the petty officers were allowed to move about, and as much
+license was given to the people as was wanted. I answered that I would
+gladly secure mine if he would get an order for it; but as we were still
+at quarters, and there lay John Bull, we might get a slap at him in the
+night. On this the gunner said he would go aft, and speak to Mr. Osgood on
+the subject. He did so, but met the captain (as we always called Mr.
+Osgood) at the break of the quarter-deck. When George had told his errand,
+the captain looked at the heavens, and remarked that the night was so
+calm, there could be no great use in securing the guns, and the English
+were so near we should certainly engage, if there came a breeze; that the
+men would sleep at their quarters, of course, and would be ready to take
+care of their guns; but that he might catch a turn with the
+side-tackle-falls around the pommelions of the guns, which would be
+sufficient. He then ordered the boatswain to call all hands aft, to the
+break of the quarter-deck.
+
+As soon as the people had collected, Mr. Osgood said--"You must be pretty
+well fagged out, men; I think we may have a hard night's work, yet, and I
+wish you to get your suppers, and then catch as much sleep as you can, at
+your guns." He then ordered the purser's steward to splice the main-brace.
+These were the last words I ever heard from Mr. Osgood. As soon as he
+gave the order, he went below leaving the deck in charge of Mr. Bogardus.
+All our old crew were on board but Mr. Livingston, who had left us, and
+Simeon Grant, one of my companions in the cruise over the battle-ground at
+Fort George. Grant had cut his hand off, in a saw-mill, while we were last
+at the Harbour, and had been left behind in the hospital. There was a
+pilot on board, who used to keep a look-out occasionally, and sometimes
+the boatswain had the watch.
+
+The schooner, at this time, was under her mainsail, jib, and
+fore-top-sail. The foresail was brailed, and the foot stopped, and the
+flying-jib was stowed. None of the halyards were racked, nor sheets
+stoppered. This was a precaution we always took, on account of the craft's
+being so tender.
+
+We first spliced the main-brace and then got our suppers, eating between
+the guns, where we generally messed, indeed. One of my messmates, Tom
+Goldsmith, was captain of the gun next to me, and as we sat there
+finishing our suppers, I says to him, "Tom, bring up that rug that you
+pinned at Little York, and that will do for both of us to stow ourselves
+away under." Tom went down and got the rug, which was an article for the
+camp that he had laid hands on, and it made us a capital bed-quilt. As all
+hands were pretty well tired, we lay down, with our heads on shot-boxes,
+and soon went to sleep.
+
+In speaking of the canvass that was set, I ought to have said something of
+the state of our decks. The guns had the side-tackles fastened as I have
+mentioned. There was a box of canister, and another of grape, at each gun,
+besides extra stands of both, under the shot-racks. There was also one
+grummet of round-shot at every gun, besides the racks being filled. Each
+gun's crew slept at the gun and its opposite, thus dividing the people
+pretty equally on both sides of the deck. Those who were stationed below,
+slept below. I think it probable that, as the night grew cool, as it
+always does on the fresh waters, some of the men stole below to get warmer
+berths. This was easily done in that craft, as we had but two regular
+officers on board, the acting boatswain and gunner being little more than
+two of ourselves.
+
+I was soon asleep, as sound as if lying in the bed of a king. How long my
+nap lasted, or what took place in the interval, I cannot say. I awoke,
+however, in consequence of large drops of rain falling on my face. Tom
+Goldsmith awoke at the same moment. When I opened my eyes, it was so dark
+I could not see the length of the deck. I arose and spoke to Tom, telling
+him it was about to rain, and that I meant to go down and get a nip, out
+of a little stuff we kept in our mess-chest, and that I would bring up the
+bottle if he wanted a taste. Tom answered, "this is nothing; we're neither
+pepper nor salt." One of the black men spoke, and asked me to bring up the
+bottle, and give him a nip, too. All this took half a minute, perhaps. I
+now remember to have heard a strange rushing noise to windward as I went
+towards the forward hatch, though it made no impression on me at the time.
+We had been lying between the starboard guns, which was the weather side
+of the vessel, if there were any weather side to it, there not being a
+breath of air, and no motion to the water, and I passed round to the
+larboard side, in order to find the ladder, which led up in that
+direction. The hatch was so small that two men could not pass at a time,
+and I felt my way to it, in no haste. One hand was on the bitts, and a
+foot was on the ladder, when a flash of lightning almost blinded me. The
+thunder came at the next instant, and with it a rushing of winds that
+fairly smothered the clap.
+
+The instant I was aware there was a squall, I sprang for the jib-sheet.
+Being captain of the forecastle, I knew where to find it, and throw it
+loose at a jerk. In doing this, I jumped on a man named Leonard Lewis, and
+called on him to lend me a hand. I next let fly the larboard, or lee
+top-sail-sheet, got hold of the clew-line, and, assisted by Lewis, got the
+clew half up. All this time I kept shouting to the man at the wheel to put
+his helm "hard down." The water was now up to my breast, and I knew the
+schooner must go over. Lewis had not said a word, but I called out to him
+to shift for himself, and belaying the clew-line, in hauling myself
+forward of the foremast, I received a blow from the jib-sheet that came
+near breaking my left arm. I did not feel the effect of this blow at the
+time, though the arm has since been operated on, to extract a tumour
+produced by this very injury.
+
+All this occupied less than a minute. The flashes of lightning were
+incessant, and nearly blinded me. Our decks seemed on fire, and yet I
+could see nothing. I heard no hail, no order, no call; but the schooner
+was filled with the shrieks and cries of the men to leeward, who were
+lying jammed under the guns, shot-boxes, shot, and other heavy things that
+had gone down as the vessel fell over. The starboard second gun, from
+forward, had capsized, and come down directly over the forward hatch, and
+I caught a glimpse of a man struggling to get past it. Apprehension of
+this gun had induced me to drag myself forward of the mast, where I
+received the blow mentioned.
+
+I succeeded in hauling myself up to windward, and in getting into the
+schooner's fore-channels. Here I met William Deer, the boatswain, and a
+black boy of the name of Philips, who was the powder-boy of our gun.
+"Deer, she's gone!" I said. The boatswain made no answer, but walked out
+on the fore-rigging, towards the mast-head. He probably had some vague
+notion that the schooner's masts would be out of water if she went down,
+and took this course as the safest. The boy was in the chains the last I
+saw of him.
+
+I now crawled aft, on the upper side of the bulwarks, amid a most awful
+and infernal din of thunder, and shrieks, and dazzling flashes of
+lightning; the wind blowing all the while like a tornado. When I reached
+the port of my own gun, I put a foot in, thinking to step on the muzzle of
+the piece; but it had gone to leeward with all the rest, and I fell
+through the port, until I brought up with my arms. I struggled up again,
+and continued working my way aft. As I got abreast of the main-mast, I saw
+some one had let run the halyards. I soon reached the beckets of the
+sweeps, and found four in them. I could not swim a stroke, and it crossed
+my mind to get one of the sweeps to keep me afloat. In striving to jerk
+the becket clear, it parted, and the forward ends of the four sweeps
+rolled down the schooner's side into the water. This caused the other ends
+to slide, and all the sweeps got away from me. I then crawled quite aft,
+as far as the fashion-piece. The water was pouring down the cabin
+companion-way like a sluice; and as I stood, for an instant, on the
+fashion-piece, I saw Mr. Osgood, with his head and part of his shoulders
+through one of the cabin windows, struggling to get out. He must have been
+within six feet of me. I saw him but a moment, by means of a flash of
+lightning, and I think he must have seen me. At the same time, there was a
+man visible on the end of the main-boom, holding on by the clew of the
+sail. I do not know who it was. This man probably saw me, and that I was
+about to spring; for he called out, "Don't jump overboard!--don't jump
+overboard! The schooner is righting."
+
+I was not in a state of mind to reflect much on anything. I do not think
+more than three or four minutes, if as many, had passed since the squall
+struck us, and there I was standing on the vessel's quarter, led by
+Providence more than by any discretion of my own. It now came across me
+that if the schooner should right she was filled, and must go down, and
+that she might carry me with her in the suction. I made a spring,
+therefore, and fell into the water several feet from the place where I had
+stood. It is my opinion the schooner sunk as I left her. I went down some
+distance myself, and when I came up to the surface, I began to swim
+vigorously for the first time in my life. I think I swam several yards,
+but of course will not pretend to be certain of such a thing, at such a
+moment, until I felt my hand hit something hard. I made another stroke,
+and felt my hand pass down the side of an object that I knew at once was a
+clincher-built boat. I belonged to this boat, and I now recollected that
+she had been towing astern. Until that instant I had not thought of her,
+but thus was I led in the dark to the best possible means of saving my
+life. I made a grab at the gunwale, and caught it in the stern-sheets. Had
+I swum another yard, I should have passed the boat, and missed her
+altogether! I got in without any difficulty, being all alive and
+much excited.
+
+My first look was for the schooner. She had disappeared, and I supposed
+she was just settling under water. It rained as if the flood-gates of
+heaven were opened, and it lightened awfully. It did not seem to me that
+there was a breath of air, and the water was unruffled, the effects of the
+rain excepted. All this I saw, as it might be, at a glance. But my chief
+concern was to preserve my own life. I was cockswain of this very boat,
+and had made it fast to this taffrail that same afternoon, with a round
+turn and two half-hitches, by its best painter. Of course I expected the
+vessel would drag the boat down with her, for I had no knife to cut the
+painter. There was a gang-board in the boat, however, which lay fore and
+aft, and I thought this might keep me afloat until some of the fleet
+should pick me up. To clear this gang-board, then, and get it into the
+water, was my first object. I ran forward to throw off the lazy-painter
+that was coiled on its end, and in doing this I caught the boat's painter
+in my hand, by accident. A pull satisfied me that it was all clear! Some
+one on board must have cast off this painter, and then lost his chance of
+getting into the boat by an accident. At all events, I was safe, and I now
+dared to look about me.
+
+My only chance of seeing, was during the flashes; and these left me almost
+blind. I had thrown the gang-board into the water, and I now called out to
+encourage the men, telling them I was in the boat. I could hear many
+around me, and, occasionally, I saw the heads of men, struggling in the
+lake. There being no proper place to scull in, I got an oar in the after
+rullock, and made out to scull a little, in that fashion. I now saw a man
+quite near the boat; and, hauling in the oar, made a spring amidships,
+catching this poor fellow by the collar. He was very near gone; and I had
+a great deal of difficulty in getting him in over the gunwale. Our joint
+weight brought the boat down, so low, that she shipped a good deal of
+water. This turned out to be Leonard Lewis, the young man who had helped
+me to clew up the fore-topsail. He could not stand, and spoke with
+difficulty. I asked him to crawl aft, out of the water; which he did,
+lying down in the stern-sheets.
+
+I now looked about me, and heard another; leaning over the gunwale, I got
+a glimpse of a man, struggling, quite near the boat. I caught him by the
+collar, too; and had to drag him in very much in the way I had done with
+Lewis. This proved to be Lemuel Bryant, the man who had been wounded by a
+hot shot, at York, as already mentioned while the commodore was on board
+us. His wound had not yet healed, but he was less exhausted than Lewis. He
+could not help me, however, lying down in the bottom of the boat, the
+instant he was able.
+
+For a few moments, I now heard no more in the water; and I began to scull
+again. By my calculation, I moved a few yards, and must have got over the
+spot where the schooner went down. Here, in the flashes, I saw many heads,
+the men swimming in confusion, and at random. By this time, little was
+said, the whole scene being one of fearful struggling and frightful
+silence. It still rained; but the flashes were less frequent, and less
+fierce. They told me, afterwards, in the squadron, that it thundered
+awfully; but I cannot say I heard a clap, after I struck the water. The
+next man caught the boat himself. It was a mulatto, from Martinique, who
+was Mr. Osgood's steward; and I helped him in. He was much exhausted,
+though an excellent swimmer; but alarm nearly deprived him of his
+strength. He kept saying, "Oh! Masser Ned--Oh! Masser Ned!" and lay down
+in the bottom of the boat, like the two others; I taking care to shove him
+over to the larboard side, so as to trim our small craft.
+
+I kept calling out, to encourage the swimmers, and presently I heard a
+voice, saying, "Ned, I'm here, close by you." This was Tom Goldsmith, a
+messmate, and the very man under whose rug I had been sleeping, at
+quarters. He did not want much help, getting in, pretty much, by himself.
+I asked him, if he were able to help me. "Yes, Ned," he answered, "I'll
+stand by you to the last; what shall I do?" I told him to take his
+tarpaulin, and to bail the boat, which, by this time, was a third full of
+water. This he did, while I sculled a little ahead. "Ned," says Tom,
+"she's gone down with her colours flying, for her pennant came near
+getting a round turn about my body, and carrying me down with her. Davy
+has made a good haul, and he gave us a close shave; but he didn't get you
+and me." In this manner did this thoughtless sailor express himself, as
+soon as rescued from the grasp of death! Seeing something on the water, I
+asked Tom to take my oar, while I sprang to the gunwale, and caught Mr.
+Bogardus, the master's mate, who was clinging to one of the sweeps. I
+hauled him in, and he told me, he thought, some one had hold of the other
+end of the sweep. It was so dark, however, we could not see even that
+distance. I hauled the sweep along, until I found Ebenezer Duffy, a
+mulatto, and the ship's cook. He could not swim a stroke; and was nearly
+gone. I got him in, alone, Tom bailing, lest the boat, which was quite
+small, should swamp with us.
+
+As the boat drifted along, she reached another man, whom I caught also by
+the collar. I was afraid to haul this person in amidships, the boat being
+now so deep, and so small, and so I dragged him ahead, and hauled him in
+over the bows. This was the pilot, whose name I never knew. He was a
+lake-man, and had been aboard us the whole summer. The poor fellow was
+almost gone, and like all the rest, with the exception of Tom, he lay down
+and said not a word.
+
+We had now as many in the boat as it would carry, and Tom and myself
+thought it would not do to take in any more. It is true, we saw no more,
+everything around us appearing still as death, the pattering of the rain
+excepted. Tom began to bail again, and I commenced hallooing. I sculled
+about several minutes, thinking of giving others a tow, or of even hauling
+in one or two more, after we got the water out of the boat; but we found
+no one else. I think it probable I sculled away from the spot, as there
+was nothing to guide me. I suppose, however, that by this time, all the
+Scourges had gone down, for no more were ever heard from.
+
+Tom Goldsmith and myself now put our heads together as to what was best to
+be done. We were both afraid of falling into the enemy's hands, for, they
+might have bore up in the squall, and run down near us. On the whole,
+however, we thought the distance between the two squadrons was too great
+for this; at all events, something must be done at once. So we began to
+row, in what direction even we did not know. It still rained as hard as it
+could pour, though there was not a breath of wind. The lightning came now
+at considerable intervals, and the gust was evidently passing away towards
+the broader parts of the lake. While we were rowing and talking about our
+chance of falling in with the enemy, Tom cried out to me to
+"avast-pulling." He had seen a vessel, by a flash, and he thought she was
+English, from her size. As he said she was a schooner, however, I thought
+it must be one of our own craft, and got her direction from him. At the
+next flash I saw her, and felt satisfied she belonged to us. Before we
+began to pull, however, we were hailed "boat ahoy!" I answered. "If you
+pull another stroke, I'll fire into you"--came back--"what boat's that?
+Lay on your oars, or I'll fire into you." It was clear we were mistaken
+ourselves for an enemy, and I called out to know what schooner it was. No
+answer was given, though the threat to fire was repeated, if we pulled
+another stroke. I now turned to Tom and said, "I know that voice--that is
+old Trant." Tom thought "we were in the wrong shop." I now sung out, "This
+is the Scourge's boat--our schooner has gone down, and we want to come
+alongside." A voice next called from the schooner--"Is that you, Ned?"
+This I knew was my old shipmate and school-fellow, Jack Mallet, who was
+acting as boatswain of the Julia, the schooner commanded by sailing-master
+James Trant, one of the oddities of the service, and a man with whom the
+blow often came as soon as the word. I had known Mr. Trant's voice, and
+felt more afraid he would fire into us, than I had done of anything which
+had occurred that fearful night. Mr. Trant, himself now called
+out--"Oh-ho; give way, boys, and come alongside." This we did, and a very
+few strokes took us up to the Julia, where we were received with the
+utmost kindness. The men were passed out of the boat, while I gave Mr.
+Trant an account of all that had happened. This took but a minute or two.
+
+Mr. Trant now inquired in what direction the Scourge had gone down, and,
+as soon as I had told him, in the best manner I could, he called out to
+Jack Mallet--"Oh-ho, Mallet--take four hands, and go in the boat and see
+what you can do--take a lantern, and I will show a light on the water's
+edge, so you may know me." Mallet did as ordered, and was off in less than
+three minutes after we got alongside. Mr. Trant, who was much humoured,
+had no officer in the Julia, unless Mallet could be called one. He was an
+Irishman by birth, but had been in the American navy ever since the
+revolution, dying a lieutenant, a few years after this war. Perhaps no man
+in the navy was more generally known, or excited more amusement by his
+oddities, or more respect for his courage. He had come on the lake with
+the commodore, with whom he was a great pet, and had been active in all
+the fights and affairs that had yet taken place. His religion was to hate
+an Englishman.
+
+Mr. Trant now called the Scourges aft, and asked more of the particulars.
+He then gave us a glass of grog all round, and made his own crew splice
+the main-brace. The Julias now offered us dry clothes. I got a change from
+Jack Reilly, who had been an old messmate, and with whom I had always been
+on good terms. It knocked off raining, but we shifted ourselves at the
+galley fire below. I then went on deck, and presently we heard the boat
+pulling back. It soon came alongside, bringing in it four more men that
+had been found floating about on sweeps and gratings. On inquiry, it
+turned out that these men belonged to the Hamilton, Lt. Winter--a schooner
+that had gone down in the same squall that carried us over. These men were
+very much exhausted, too, and we all went below, and were told to turn in.
+
+I had been so much excited during the scenes through which I had just
+passed, and had been so much stimulated by grog, that, as yet, I had not
+felt much of the depression natural to such events. I even slept soundly
+that night, nor did I turn out until six the next morning.
+
+When I got on deck, there was a fine breeze; it was a lovely day, and the
+lake was perfectly smooth. Our fleet was in a good line, in pretty close
+order, with the exception of the Governor Tompkins, Lieutenant Tom Brown,
+which was a little to leeward, but carrying a press of sail to close with
+the commodore. Mr. Trant perceiving that the Tompkins wished to speak us
+in passing, brailed his foresail and let her luff up close under our lee.
+"Two of the schooners, the Hamilton and the Scourge, have gone down in the
+night," called out Mr. Brown; "for I have picked up four of the
+Hamilton's." "Oh-ho!"--answered Mr. Trant--"That's no news at all! for I
+have picked up _twelve_; eight of the Scourge's, and four of the
+Hamilton's--aft fore-sheet."
+
+These were all that were ever saved from the two schooners, which must
+have had near a hundred souls on board them. The two commanders,
+Lieutenant Winter and Mr, Osgood were both lost, and with Mr. Winter went
+down I believe, one or two young gentlemen. The squadron could not have
+moved much between the time when the accidents happened and that when I
+came on deck, or we must have come round and gone over the same ground
+again, for we now passed many relics of the scene, floating about in the
+water. I saw spunges, gratings, sweeps, hats, &c., scattered about, and in
+passing ahead we saw one of the latter that we tried to catch; Mr. Trant
+ordering it done, as he said it must have been Lieutenant Winter's. We did
+not succeed, however; nor was any article taken on board. A good look-out
+was kept for men, from aloft, but none were seen from any of the vessels.
+The lake had swallowed up the rest of the two crews; and the Scourge, as
+had been often predicted, had literally become a coffin to a large portion
+of her people.
+
+There was a good deal of manoeuvring between the two fleets this day, and
+some efforts were made to engage; but, to own the truth, I felt so
+melancholy about the loss of so many shipmates, that I did not take much
+notice of what passed. All my Black Jokers were drowned, and nothing
+remained of the craft and people with which and whom I had been associated
+all summer. Bill Southard, too, was among the lost, as indeed were all my
+messmates but Tom Goldsmith and Lemuel Bryant. I had very serious and
+proper impressions for the moment; but my new shipmates, some of whom had
+been old shipmates in other crafts, managed to cheer me up with grog. The
+effect was not durable, and in a short time I ceased to think of what had
+happened. I have probably reflected more on the merciful manner in which
+my life was spared, amid a scene so terrific, within the last five years,
+than I did in the twenty-five that immediately followed the accidents.
+
+The fleet went in, off the Niagara, and anchored. Mr. Trant now mustered
+the remaining Scourges, and told us he wanted just our number of hands,
+and that he meant to get an order to keep us in the Julia. In the
+meantime, he should station and quarter us. I was stationed at the braces,
+and quartered at the long thirty-two as second loader. The Julia mounted a
+long thirty-two, and an eighteen on pivots, besides two sixes in the
+waist. The last were little used, as I have already mentioned. She was a
+small, but a fast schooner, and had about forty souls on board. She was
+altogether a better craft than the Scourge, though destitute of any
+quarters, but a low rail with wash-boards, and carrying fewer guns.
+
+
+
+Chapter VII.
+
+
+
+I never knew what became of the four Hamiltons that were picked up by the
+Julia's boat, though I suppose they were put in some other vessel along
+with their shipmates; nor did I ever learn the particulars of the loss of
+this schooner, beyond the fact that her topsail-sheets were stoppered, and
+her halyards racked. This much I learned from the men who were brought on
+board the Julia, who said that their craft was ready, in all respects, for
+action. Some seamen have thought this wrong, and some right; but, in my
+opinion, it made but little difference in such a gust as that which passed
+over us. What was remarkable, the Julia, which could not have been far
+from the Scourge when we went over, felt no great matter of wind, just
+luffing up, and shaking her sails, to be rid of it!
+
+We lay only one night off the mouth of the Niagara. The next morning the
+squadron weighed, and stood out in pursuit of the English. The weather was
+very variable, and we could not get within reach of Sir James all that
+day. This was the 9th of August. The Scourge had gone down on the night of
+the 7th, or the morning of the 8th, I never knew which. On the morning of
+the 10th, however, we were under the north shore, and to windward of John
+Bull. The Commodore now took the Asp, and the Madison the Fair American,
+in tow, and we all kept away, expecting certainly a general action. But
+the wind shifted, bringing the English to windward. The afternoon was
+calm; or had variable airs. Towards sunset, the enemy was becalmed under
+the American shore, and we got a breeze from the southward. We now closed,
+and at 6 formed our line for engaging. We continued to close until 7, when
+the wind came out fresh at S.W., putting John again to windward.
+
+I can hardly tell what followed, there was so much manoeuvring and
+shifting of berths. Both squadrons were standing across the lake, the
+enemy being to windward, and a little astern of us. We now passed within
+hail of the commodore, who gave us orders to form a new line of battle,
+which we did in the following manner. One line, composed of the smallest
+schooners, was formed to windward, while the ships, brig, and two heaviest
+schooners, formed another line to leeward. We had the weathermost line,
+having the Growler, Lieutenant Deacon, for the vessel next astern of us.
+This much I could see, though I did not understand the object. I now learn
+the plan was for the weather line to engage the enemy, and then, by edging
+away, draw them down upon the lee line, which line contained our principal
+force. According to the orders, we ought to have rather edged off, as soon
+as the English began to fire, in order to draw them down upon the
+commodore; but it will be seen that our schooner pursued a very
+different course.
+
+It must have been near midnight, when the enemy began to fire at the Fair
+American, the sternmost vessel of our weather line. We were a long bit
+ahead of her, and did not engage for some time. The firing became pretty
+smart astern, but we stood on, without engaging, the enemy not yet being
+far enough ahead for us. After a while, the four sternmost schooners of
+our line kept off, according to orders, but the Julia and Growler still
+stood on. I suppose the English kept off, too, at the same time, as the
+commodore had expected. At any rate, we found ourselves so well up with
+the enemy, that, instead of bearing up, Mr. Trant tacked in the Julia, and
+the Growler came round after us. We now began to fire on the headmost
+ships of the enemy, which were coming on towards us. We were able to lay
+past the enemy on this tack, and fairly got to windward of them. When we
+were a little on John Bull's weather bow, we brailed the foresail, and
+gave him several rounds, within a pretty fair distance. The enemy answered
+us, and, from that moment, he seemed to give up all thoughts of the
+vessels to leeward of him, turning his whole attention on the Julia
+and Growler.
+
+The English fleet stood on the same tack, until it had got between us and
+our own line, when it went about in chase of us. We now began to make
+short tacks to windward; the enemy separating so as to spread a wide clew,
+in order that they might prevent our getting past, by turning their line
+and running to leeward. As for keeping to windward, we had no
+difficulty--occasionally brailing our foresail, and even edging off, now
+and then, to be certain that our shot would tell. In moderate weather, the
+Julia was the fastest vessel in the American squadron, the Lady of the
+Lake excepted; and the Growler was far from being dull. Had there been
+room, I make no doubt we might have kept clear of John Bull, with the
+greatest ease; touching him up with our long, heavy guns, from time to
+time, as it suited us. I have often thought that Mr. Trant forgot we were
+between the enemy and the land, and that he fancied himself out at sea. It
+was a hazy, moonlight morning, and we did not see anything of the main,
+though it turned out to be nearer to us than we wished.
+
+All hands were now turning to windward; the two schooners still edging
+off, occasionally, and firing. The enemy's shot went far beyond us, and
+did us some mischief, though nothing that was not immediately repaired.
+The main throat-halyards, on board the Julia, were shot away, as was the
+clew of the mainsail. It is probable the enemy did not keep his luff,
+towards the last, on account of the land.
+
+Our two schooners kept quite near each other, sometimes one being to
+windward, sometimes the other. It happened that the Growler was a short
+distance to windward of us, when we first became aware of the nature of
+our critical situation. She up helm, and, running down within hail,
+Lieutenant Deacon informed Mr. Trant he had just sounded in two fathoms,
+and that he could see lights ashore. He thought there must be Indians, in
+great numbers, in this vicinity, and that we must, at all events, avoid
+the land. "What do you think we had best do?" asked Lieutenant Deacon.
+"Run the gauntlet," called out Mr. Trant. "Very well, sir: which shall
+lead?" "I'll lead the van," answered Mr. Trant, and then all was settled.
+
+We now up helm, and steered for a vacancy among the British vessels. The
+enemy seemed to expect us, for they formed in two lines, leaving us room
+to enter between them. When we bore up, even in these critical
+circumstances, it was under our mainsail, fore-top-sail, jib, flying-jib,
+and foresail. So insufficient were the equipments of these small craft,
+that we had neither square-sail nor studding-sails on board us. I never
+saw a studding-sail in any of the schooners, the Scourge excepted.
+
+The Julia and Growler now ran down, the former leading, half a
+cable's-length apart. When we entered between the two lines of the enemy,
+we were within short canister-range, and got it smartly on both tacks.
+The two English ships were to leeward, each leading a line; and we had a
+brig, and three large, regular man-of-war schooners, to get past, with the
+certainty of meeting the Wolfe and Royal George, should we succeed in
+clearing these four craft. Both of us kept up a heavy fire, swivelling our
+guns round, so as not to neglect any one. As we drew near the ships,
+however, we paid them the compliment of throwing all the heavy shot at
+them, as was due to their rank and size.
+
+For a few minutes we fared pretty well; but we were no sooner well entered
+between the lines, than we got it, hot and hard. Our rigging began to come
+down about our ears, and one shot passed a few feet above our heads,
+cutting both topsail-sheets, and scooping a bit of wood as big as a
+thirty-two pound shot, out of the foremast. I went up on one side, myself,
+to knot one of these sheets, and, while aloft, discovered the injury that
+had been done to the spar. Soon after, the tack of the mainsail caught
+fire, from a wad of one of the Englishmen; for, by this time, we were
+close at it. I think, indeed, that the nearness of the enemy alone
+prevented our decks from being entirely swept. The grape and canister were
+passing just above our heads like hail, and the foresail was literally in
+ribands. The halyards being gone, the mainsail came down by the run, and
+the jib settled as low as it could. The topsail-yard was on the cap, and
+the schooner now came up into the wind.
+
+All this time, we kept working the guns. The old man went from one gun to
+the other, pointing each himself, as it was ready. He was at the eighteen
+when things were getting near the worst, and, as he left her, he called
+out to her crew to "fill her--fill her to the muzzle!" He then came to our
+gun, which was already loaded with one round, a stand of grape, and a case
+of canister shot. This I know, for I put them all in with my own hands. At
+this time, the Melville, a brig of the enemy's, was close up with us,
+firing upon our decks from her fore-top. She was coming up on our larboard
+quarter, while a large schooner was nearing us fast on the starboard. Mr.
+Trant directed our gun to be elevated so as to sweep the brig's
+forecastle, and then he called out, "Now's the time, lads--fire at the
+b----s! fire away at 'em!" But no match was to be found! Some one had
+thrown both overboard. By this time the brig's jib-boom was over our
+quarter, and the English were actually coming on board of us. The enemy
+were now all round us. The Wolfe, herself, was within hail, and still
+firing. The last I saw of any of our people, was Mallet passing forward,
+and I sat down on the slide of the thirty-two, myself, sullen as a bear.
+Two or three of the English passed me, without saying anything. Even at
+this instant, a volley of bullets came out of the brig's fore-top, and
+struck all around me; some hitting the deck, and others the gun itself.
+Just then, an English officer came up, and said--"What are you doing here,
+you Yankee?" I felt exceedingly savage, and answered, "Looking at your
+fools firing upon their own men." "Take that for your sauce," he said,
+giving me a thrust with his sword, as he spoke. The point of the cutlass
+just passed my hip-bone, and gave me a smart flesh-wound. The hurt was not
+dangerous, though it bled freely, and was some weeks in healing. I now
+rose to go below, and heard a hail from one of the ships--the Wolfe, as I
+took her to be. "Have you struck?" demanded some one. The officer who had
+hurt me now called out, "Don't fire into us, sir, for I'm on board, and
+have got possession." The officer from the ship next asked, "Is there
+anybody alive on board her?" To which the prize-officer answered, "I don't
+know, sir, I've seen but one man, as yet."
+
+I now went down below. First, I got a bandage on my wound, to stop the
+bleeding, and then I had an opportunity to look about me. A party of
+English was below, and some of our men having joined them, the heads were
+knocked out of two barrels of whiskey. The kids and bread-bags were
+procured, and all hands, without distinction of country, sat down to enjoy
+themselves. Some even began to sing, and, as for good-fellowship, it was
+just as marked, as it would have been in a jollification ashore.
+
+In a few minutes the officer who had hurt me jumped down among us. The
+instant he saw what we were at, he sang out--"Halloo! here's high life
+below stairs!" Then he called to another officer to bear a hand down and
+see the fun. Some one sung out from among ourselves to "dowse the glim."
+The lights were put out, and then the two officers capsized the whiskey.
+While this was doing, most of the Englishmen ran up the forward hatch. We
+Julias all remained below.
+
+In less than an hour we were sent on board the enemy's vessels. I was
+carried to the Royal George, but Mr. Trant was taken on board the Wolfe.
+The Growler had lost her bowsprit, and was otherwise damaged, and had been
+forced to strike also. She had a man killed, and I believe one or two
+wounded.[8] On board of us, not a man, besides myself, had been touched!
+We seemed to have been preserved by a miracle, for every one of the enemy
+had a slap at us, and, for some time, we were within pistol-shot. Then we
+had no quarters at all, being perfectly exposed to grape and canister. The
+enemy must have fired too high, for nothing else could have saved us.
+
+In July, while I still belonged to the Scourge, I had been sent with a
+boat's crew, under Mr. Bogardus, on board an English flag of truce that
+had come into the Harbour. While in this vessel, our boat's crew were
+"hail-fellows-well-met" with the Englishmen, and we had agreed among us to
+take care of each other, should either side happen to be taken. I had been
+on board the Royal George but a short time, when two of these very men
+came up to me with some grog and some grub; and next morning they brought
+me my bitters. I saw no more of them, however, except when they came to
+shake hands with us at the gang-way, as we were leaving the ship.
+
+After breakfast, next morning, we were all called aft to the ward-room,
+one at a time. I was pumped as to the force of the Americans, the names of
+the vessels, the numbers of the crews, and the names of the commanders. I
+answered a little saucily, and was ordered out of the ward-room. As I was
+quitting the place, I was called back by one of the lieutenants, whose
+appearance I did not like from the first. Although it was now eight years
+since I left Halifax, and we had both so much altered, I took this
+gentleman for Mr. Bowen, the very midshipman of the Cleopatra, who had
+been my schoolmate, and whom I had known on board the prize-brig I have
+mentioned.
+
+This officer asked me where I was born. I told him New York. He said he
+knew better, and asked my name. I told him it was what he found it on the
+muster-roll, and that by which I had been called. He said I knew better,
+and that I should hear more of this, hereafter. If this were my old
+school-fellow, he knew that I was always called Edward Robert Meyers,
+whereas I had dropped the middle name, and now called myself Myers. He may
+not, however, have been the person I took him for, and might have mistaken
+me for some one else; for I never had an opportunity of ascertaining any
+more about him.
+
+We got into Little York, and were sent ashore that evening. I can say
+nothing of our squadron, having been kept below the whole time I was on
+board the Royal George. I could not find out whether we did the enemy any
+harm, or not, the night we were taken; though I remember that a
+sixty-eight pound carronade, that stood near the gang-way of the Royal
+George, was dismounted, the night I passed into her. It looked to me as if
+the trucks were gone. This I know, that the ship was more than usually
+screened off; though for what reason I will not pretend to say.
+
+At York, we were put in the gaol, where we were kept three weeks. Our
+treatment was every way bad, with the exception that we were not crowded.
+As to food, we were kept "six upon four" the whole time I was prisoner.[9]
+The bread was bad, and the pork little better. While in this gaol, a party
+of drunken Indians gave us a volley, in passing; but luckily it did us
+no harm.
+
+At the end of three weeks, we received a haversack apiece, and two days'
+allowance. Our clothes were taken from us, and the men were told they
+would get them below; a thing that happened to very few of us, I believe.
+As for myself, I was luckily without anything to lose; my effects having
+gone down in the Scourge. All I had on earth was a shirt and two
+handkerchiefs, and an old slouched hat, that I had got in exchange for a
+Scotch cap that had been given to me in the Julia. I was without shoes,
+and so continued until I reached Halifax. All this gave me little concern;
+my spirits being elastic, and my disposition gay. My great trouble was the
+apprehension of being known, through the recollections of the officer I
+have mentioned.
+
+We now commenced our march for Kingston, under the guard of a company of
+the Glengarians and a party of Indians. The last kept on our flanks, and
+it was understood they would shoot and scalp any man who left the ranks.
+We marched two and two, being something like eighty prisoners. It was hard
+work for the first day or two, the road being nothing but an Indian trail,
+and our lodging-places the open air. My feet became very sore, and, as for
+food, we had to eat our pork raw, there being nothing to cook in. The
+soldiers fared no better than ourselves, however, with the exception of
+being on full allowance. It seems that our provisions were sent by water,
+and left for us at particular places; for every eight-and-forty hours we
+touched the lake shore, and found them ready for us. They were left on the
+beach without any guard, or any one near them. In this way we picked up
+our supplies the whole distance.
+
+At the depot, Mr. Bogardus and the pilot found a boat, and managed to get
+into her, and put out into the lake. After being absent a day and night,
+they were driven in by rough weather, and fell into the hands of a party
+of dragoons who were escorting Sir George Prevost along the lake shore.
+We found them at a sort of tavern, where were the English Governor and his
+escort at the time. They were sent back among us, with two American army
+officers, who had fallen into the hands of the Indians, and had been most
+foully treated. One of these officers was wounded in the arm.
+
+The night of the day we fell in with Sir George Prevost, we passed through
+a hamlet, and slept just without it. As we entered the village the guard
+played Yankee Doodle, winding up with the Rogue's March. As we went
+through the place, I got leave to go to a house and ask for a drink of
+milk. The woman of this house said they had been expecting us for two
+days, and that they had been saving their milk expressly to give us. I got
+as much as I wanted, and a small loaf of bread in the bargain, as did
+several others with me. These people seemed to me to be all well affected
+to the Americans, and much disposed to treat us kindly. We slept on a barn
+floor that night.
+
+We were much provoked at the insult of playing the Rogue's March. Jack
+Reilly and I laid a plan to have our revenge, should it be repeated. Two
+or three days later we had the same tune, at another village, and I caught
+up a couple of large stones, ran ahead, and dashed them through both ends
+of the drum, before the boy, who was beating it, knew what I was about.
+Jack snatched the fife out of the other boy's hand, and it was passed from
+one to another among us, until it reached one who threw it over the
+railing of a bridge. After this, we had no more music, good or bad. Not a
+word was said to any of us about this affair, and I really think the
+officers were ashamed of themselves.
+
+After a march of several days we came to a hamlet, not a great distance
+from Kingston. I saw a good many geese about, and took a fancy to have one
+for supper. I told Mallet if he would cook a goose, I would tip one over.
+The matter was arranged between us, and picking up a club I made a dash at
+a flock, and knocked a bird over. I caught up the goose and ran, when my
+fellow-prisoners called out to me to dodge, which I did, behind a stump,
+not knowing from what quarter the danger might come. It was well I did,
+for two Indians fired at me, one hitting the stump, and the other ball
+passing just over my head. A militia officer now galloped up, and drove
+back the Indians who were running up to me, to look after the scalp, I
+suppose. This officer remonstrated with me, but spoke mildly and even
+kindly. I told him I was hungry, and that I wanted a warm mess. "But you
+are committing a robbery," he said. "If I am, I'm robbing an enemy." "You
+do not know but it may be a friend," was his significant answer. "Well, if
+I am, _he_'ll not grudge me the goose," says I. On hearing this, the
+officer laughed, and asked me how I meant to cook the goose. I told him
+that one of my messmates had promised to do this for me. He then bade me
+carry the goose into the ranks, and to come to him when we halted at
+night. I did this, and he gave us a pan, some potatoes, onions, &c., out
+of which we made the only good mess we got on our march. I may say this
+was the last hearty and really palatable meal I made until I reached
+Halifax, a period of several weeks.
+
+While Jack Mallet was cooking the goose, I went in behind a pile of
+boards, attended by a soldier to watch me, and, while there, I saw an
+ivory rule lying on the boards, with fifteen pence alongside of it. These
+I pinned, as a lawful prize, being in an enemy's country. The money served
+to buy us some bread. The rule was bartered for half a gallon of rum. This
+made us a merry night, taking all things together.
+
+We made no halt at Kingston, though the Indians left us. We now marched
+through a settled country, with some militia for our guards. Our treatment
+was much better than it had been, the people of the country treating us
+kindly. When we were abreast of the Thousand Islands, Mr. Bogardus and the
+pilot made another attempt to escape, and got fairly off. These were the
+only two who did succeed. How they effected it I cannot say, but I know
+they escaped. I never saw either afterwards.
+
+At the Long Sault, we were all put in boats, with a Canadian pilot in each
+end. The militia staid behind, and down we went; they say at the rate of
+nine miles in fifteen minutes. We found a new guard at the foot of the
+rapids. This was done, beyond a doubt, to save us and themselves, though
+we thought hard of it at the time, for it appeared to us, as if they
+thrust us into a danger they did not like to run themselves. I have since
+heard that even ladies travelling, used to go down these formidable rapids
+in the same way; and that, with skilful pilots, there is little or
+no danger.
+
+When we reached Montreal we were confined in a gaol where we remained
+three weeks. There was an American lady confined in this building, though
+she had more liberty than we, and from her we received much aid. She sent
+us soap, and she gave me bandages &c., for my hurt. Occasionally she gave
+us little things to eat. I never knew her name, but heard she had two sons
+in the American army, and that she had been detected in corresponding
+with them.
+
+We remained at Montreal two or three weeks, and then were sent down to
+Quebec, where we were put on board of prison-ships. I was sent to the Lord
+Cathcart, and most of the Julia's men with me. Our provisions were very
+bad, and the mortality among us was great. The bread was intolerably bad.
+Mr. Trant came to see us, privately, and he brought some salt with him,
+which was a great relief to us. Jack Mallet asked him whether some of us
+might not go to work on board a transport, that lay just astern of us, in
+order to get something; better to eat. Mr. Trant said yes, and eight of us
+went on board this craft, every day, getting provisions and grog for our
+pay. At sunset, we returned regularly to the Cathcart. I got a second
+shirt and a pair of trowsers in this way.
+
+About a fortnight after this arrangement, the Surprise, 32, and a
+sloop-of-war, came in, anchoring some distance below the town. These ships
+sent their boats up to the prison-ships to examine them for men. After
+going through those vessels, they came on board the transport, and finding
+us fresh, clean, fed and tolerably clad, they pronounced us all
+Englishmen, and carried us on board the frigate. We were not permitted
+even to go and take leave of our shipmates. Of the eight men thus taken,
+five were native Americans, one was from Mozambique, one I suppose to have
+been an English subject born, but long settled in America; and, as for me,
+the reader knows as much of my origin as I know myself.
+
+We were asked if we would go to duty on board the Surprise, and we all
+refused. We were then put in close con finement, on the berth-deck, under
+the charge of a sentry. In a day or two, the ship sailed; and off Cape
+Breton we met with a heavy gale, in which the people suffered severely
+with snow and cold. The ship was kept off the land, with great difficulty.
+After all, we prisoners saved the ship, though I think it likely the
+injury originally came from some of us. The breechings of two of the guns
+had been cut, and the guns broke adrift in the height of the gale. All the
+crew were on deck, and the sentinel permitting it, we went up and
+smothered the guns with hammocks. We were now allowed to go about deck,
+but this lasted a short time, the whole of us being sent below, again, as
+soon as the gale abated.
+
+On reaching Halifax, we were all put on board of the Regulus transport,
+bound to Bermuda. Here we eight were thrown into irons, under the
+accusation of being British subjects. At the end of twenty-four hours,
+however, the captain came to us, and offered to let us out of irons, and
+to give us ship's treatment, if we would help in working the vessel to
+Bermuda. I have since thought we were ironed merely to extort this
+arrangement from us. We consulted together; and, thinking a chance might
+offer to get possession of the Regulus, which had only a few Canadians in
+her, and was to be convoyed by the Pictou schooner, we consented. We were
+now turned up to duty, and I got the first pair of shoes that had been on
+my feet since the Scourge sunk from under me.
+
+The reader will imagine I had not been in the harbour of Halifax, without
+a strong desire to ascertain something about those I had left behind me,
+in that town. I was nervously afraid of being discovered, and yet had a
+feverish wish to go ashore. The manner in which I gratified this wish, and
+the consequences to which it led, will be seen in the sequel.
+
+
+
+Chapter VIII.
+
+
+
+Jack Mallet had long known my history. He was my confidant, and entered
+into all my feelings. The night we went to duty on board the transport, a
+boat was lying alongside of the ship, and the weather being thick, it
+afforded a good opportunity for gratifying my longing. Jack and myself got
+in, after putting our heads together, and stole off undetected. I pulled
+directly up to the wharf of Mr. Marchinton, and at once found myself at
+home. I will not pretend to describe my sensations, but they were a
+strange mixture of apprehension, disquiet, hope, and natural attachment. I
+wished much to see my sister, but was afraid to venture on that.
+
+There was a family, however, of the name of Fraser, that lived near the
+shore, with which I had been well acquainted, and in whose members I had
+great confidence. They were respectable in position, its head being called
+a judge, and they were all intimate with the Marchintons. To the Frasers,
+then, I went; Jack keeping me company. I was afraid, if I knocked, the
+servant would not let me in, appearing, as I did, in the dress of a common
+sailor; so I opened the street-door without any ceremony, and went
+directly to that of the parlour, which I entered before there was time to
+stop me. Jack brought up in the entry.
+
+Mrs. Fraser and her daughter were seated together, on a settee, and the
+judge was reading at a table. My sudden apparition astonished them, and
+all three gazed at me in silence. Mr. Fraser then said, "In the name of
+heaven, where did you come from, Edward!" I told him I had been in the
+American service, but that I now belonged to an English transport that was
+to sail in the morning, and that I had just come ashore to inquire how all
+hands did; particularly my sister. He told me that my sister was living, a
+married woman, in Halifax; that Mr. Marchinton was dead, and had grieved
+very much at my disappearance; that I was supposed to be dead. He then
+gave me much advice as to my future course, and reminded me how much I had
+lost by my early mistakes. He was particularly anxious I should quit my
+adopted country, and wished me to remain in Halifax. He offered to send a
+servant with me to find my sister, but I was afraid to let my presence be
+known to so many. I begged my visit might be kept a secret, as I felt
+ashamed of being seen in so humble circumstances. I was well treated, as
+was Jack Mallet, both of us receiving wine and cake, &c. Mr. Fraser also
+gave me a guinea, and as I went away, Mrs. Fraser slipped a pound note
+into my hand. The latter said to me, in a whisper--"I know what you are
+afraid of, but I shall tell Harriet of your visit; she will be secret."
+
+I staid about an hour, receiving every mark of kindness from these
+excellent and respectable people, leaving them to believe we were to sail
+in the morning. When we got back to the transport no one knew of our
+absence, and nothing was ever said of our taking the boat. The Regulus did
+not sail for twenty hours after this, but I had no more communication with
+the shore. We got to sea, at last, two transports, under the convoy of
+the Pictou.
+
+During the whole passage, we eight prisoners kept a sharp look-out for a
+chance to get possession of the ship. We were closely watched, there being
+a lieutenant and his boat's crew on board, besides the Canadians, the
+master, mate, &c. All the arms were secreted, and nothing was left at
+hand, that we could use in a rising.
+
+About mid passage, it blowing fresh, with the ship under double-reefed
+topsails, I was at the weather, with one of the Canadians at the lee,
+wheel. Mallet was at work in the larboard, or weather, mizen chains, ready
+to lend me a hand. At this moment the Pictou came up under our lee, to
+speak us in relation to carrying a light during the night. Her masts swung
+so she could not carry one herself, and her commander wished us to carry
+our top-light, he keeping near it, instead of our keeping near him. The
+schooner came very close to us, it blowing heavily, and Mallet called out,
+"Ned, now is your time. Up helm and into him. A couple of seas will send
+him down." This was said loud enough to be heard, though all on deck were
+attending to the schooner; and, as for the Canadian, he did not understand
+English. I managed to get the helm hard up, and Mallet jumped inboard. The
+ship fell off fast; but the lieutenant, who was on board as an agent, was
+standing in the companion-way with his wife, and, the instant he saw what
+I had done, he ran aft, struck me a sharp blow, and put the helm hard down
+with his own hands. This saved the Pictou, though there was a great outcry
+on board her. The lieutenant's wife screamed, and there was a pretty
+uproar for a minute, in every direction. As the Regulus luffed-to, her
+jib-boom-end just cleared the Pictou's forward rigging, and a man might
+almost have jumped from the ship to the schooner, as we got alongside of
+each other. Another minute, and we should have travelled over His
+Majesty's schooner, like a rail-road car going over a squash.
+
+The lieutenant now denounced us, and we prisoners were all put in irons. I
+am merely relating facts. How far we were right, I leave others to decide;
+but it must be remembered that Jack had, in that day, a mortal enmity to a
+British man-of-war, which was a little too apt to lay hands on all that
+she fell in with, on the high seas. Perhaps severe moralists might say
+that we had entered into a bargain with the captain of the Regulus, not to
+make war on him during the passage; in answer to which, we can reply that
+we were not attacking _him_, but the Pictou. Our intention, it must be
+confessed, however, was to seize the Regulus in the confusion. Had we been
+better treated as prisoners, our tempers might not have been so savage.
+But we got no good treatment, except for our own work; and, being hedged
+in in this manner, common sailors reason very much as they feel. We were
+not permitted to go at large again, in the Regulus, in which the English
+were very right, as Jack Mallet, in particular, was a man to put his
+shipmates up to almost any enterprise.
+
+The anchor was hardly down, at Bermuda, before a signal was made to the
+Goliah, razee, for a boat, and we were sent on board that ship. This was a
+cruising vessel, and she went to sea next morning. We were distributed
+about the ship, and ordered to go to work. The intention, evidently, was
+to swallow us all in the enormous maw of the British navy. We refused to
+do duty, however, to a man; most of our fellows being pretty bold, as
+native Americans. We were a fortnight in this situation, the greater part
+of the time playing green, with our tin pots slung round our necks. We
+did so much of this, that the people began to laugh at us, as real Johnny
+Raws, though the old salts knew better. The last even helped us along,
+some giving us clothes, extra grog, and otherwise being very kind to us.
+The officers treated us pretty well, too, all things considered. None of
+us got flogged, nor were we even threatened with the gang-way. At length
+the plan was changed. The boatswain was asked if he got anything out of
+us, and, making a bad report, we were sent down to the lower gun-deck,
+under a sentry's charge, and put at "six upon four," again. Here we
+remained until the ship went into Bermuda, after a six weeks' cruise. This
+vessel, an old seventy-four cut down, did not answer, for she was soon
+after sent to England. I overheard her officers, from our berth near the
+bulkhead, wishing to fall in with the President, Commodore Rodgers--a
+vessel they fancied they could easily handle. I cannot say they could not,
+but one day an elderly man among them spoke very rationally on the
+subject, saying, they _might_, or they might _not_ get the best of it in
+such a fight. For his part, he did not wish to see any such craft, with
+the miserable crew they had in the Goliah.
+
+We found the Ramilies, Sir Thomas Hardy, lying in Bermuda roads. This ship
+sent a boat, which took us on board the Ardent, 64, which was then used as
+a prison-ship. About a week before we reached this vessel an American
+midshipman got hold of a boat, and effected his escape, actually making
+the passage between Bermuda and Cape Henry all alone, by himself.[10] In
+consequence of this unusual occurrence, a bright look out was kept on all
+the boats, thus defeating one of our plans, which was to get off in the
+same way. When we reached the Ardent, we found but four Americans in her.
+After we had been on board her about a week, three men joined us, who had
+given themselves up on board English men-of-war, as native Americans. One
+of these men, whose name was Baily, had been fourteen years in the English
+service, into which he had been pressed, his protection having been torn
+up before his face. He was a Connecticut man, and had given himself up at
+the commencement of the war, getting three dozen for his pains. He was
+then sent on the Halifax station, where he gave himself up again. He
+received three dozen more, then had his shirt thrown over his back and was
+sent to us. I saw the back and the shirt, myself, and Baily said he would
+keep the last to be buried with him. Bradbury and Patrick were served very
+much in the same manner. I saw all their backs, and give the remainder of
+the story, as they gave it to me. Baily and Bradbury got off in season to
+join the Constitution, and to make the last cruise in her during this war.
+I afterwards fell in with Bradbury, who mentioned this circumstance to me.
+
+It is good to have these things known, for I do believe the English nation
+would be averse to men's receiving such treatment, could they fairly be
+made to understand it. It surely is bad enough to be compelled to fight
+the battles of a foreign country, without being flogged for not fighting
+them when they happen to be against one's own people. For myself, I was
+born, of German parents, in the English territory, it is true; but America
+was, and ever has been, the country of my choice, and, while yet a child,
+I may say, I decided for myself to sail under the American flag; and, if
+my father had a right to make an Englishman of me, by taking service under
+the English crown, I think I had a right to make myself what I pleased,
+when he had left me to get on as I could, without his counsel and advice.
+
+After being about three weeks in the Ardent, we eight prisoners were sent
+on board the Ramilies, to be tried as Englishmen who had been fighting
+against their king. The trial took place on board the Asia, 74, a
+flag-ship; but we lived in the Ramilies, during the time the investigation
+was going on. Sir Thomas Hardy held several conversations with me, on the
+quarter-deck, in which he manifested great kindness of feeling. He
+inquired whether I was really an American; but I evaded any direct answer.
+I told him, however, that I had been an apprentice, in New York, in the
+employment of Jacob Barker; which was true, in one sense, as Mr. Barker
+was the consignee of the Sterling, and knew of my indentures. I mentioned
+him, as a person more likely to be known than Captain Johnston. Sir Thomas
+said he had some knowledge of Mr. Barker; and, I think, I have heard that
+they were, in some way, connected. This was laying an anchor to-windward,
+as it turned out, in the end.
+
+We were all on board the Asia, for trial, or investigation, two days,
+before I was sent for into the cabin. I was very much frightened; and
+scarce knew what I said, or did. It is a cruel thing to leave sailors
+without counsel, on such occasions; though the officers behaved very
+kindly and considerately to me; and, I believe, to all of us. There were
+several officers seated round a table; and all were in swabs. They said,
+the gentleman who presided, was a Sir Borlase Warren, the admiral on the
+station.[11] This gentleman, whoever he was, probably saw that I was
+frightened. He slewed himself round, in his chair, and said to me; "My
+man, you need not be alarmed; we know _who_ you are, and _what_ you are;
+but your apprenticeship will be of great service to you." This was not
+said, however, until Sir Thomas Hardy had got out the story of my being an
+apprentice in Jacob Barker's employ, again, before them all, in the cabin.
+I was told to send for a copy of my indentures, by one of the white-washed
+Swedes, that sailed between Bermuda and New York. This I did, that very
+day. I was in the cabin of the Asia, half an hour, perhaps; and I felt
+greatly relieved, when I got out of it. It was decided, in my presence, to
+send me back among the prisoners, on board the Ardent. The same decision
+was made, as to the whole eight of us, that had come on in the Regulus.
+
+When we got back to the Ramilies, Sir Thomas Hardy had some more
+conversation with me. I have thought, ever since, that he knew something
+about my birth, and of my being the prince's godson. He wished me to join
+the British service, seemingly, very much, and encouraged me with the hope
+of being promoted. But, it is due to myself, to say, I held out against it
+all. I do not believe America had a truer heart, in her service, than
+mine; and I do not think an English commission would have bought me. I
+have nothing to hope, from saying this, for I am now old, and a cripple
+but, as I have sat down to relate the truth, let the truth be told,
+whether it tell for, or against me.
+
+We were now sent back to the Ardent; where we remained three weeks, or a
+month, longer. During this time we got our papers from New York; I
+receiving a copy of my indentures, together with the sum of ten dollars;
+which reached me through Sir Thomas Hardy, as I understood. Nothing more
+was ever said, to any of the eight, about their being Englishmen; the
+whole of us being treated as prisoners of war. Prisoners arrived fast,
+until we had four hundred in the Ardent. The old Ruby, a forty-four, on
+two decks, was obliged to receive some of them. Most of these prisoners
+were privateersmen; though there were a few soldiers, and some citizens
+that had been picked up in Chesapeake Bay. Before we left Bermuda, the
+crew of a French frigate was put into the Ardent, to the number of near
+four hundred men. In the whole, we must have had eight hundred souls, and
+all on one deck. This was close stowage, and I was heartily glad when I
+quitted the ship.
+
+Soon after the French arrived, four hundred of us Americans were put on
+board transports, and we sailed for Halifax, under the convoy of the
+Ramilies. A day or two after we got out, we fell in with an American
+privateer, which continued hovering around us for several days. As this
+was a bold fellow, frequently coming within gun-shot, and sporting his
+sticks and canvass in all sorts of ways, Sir Thomas Hardy felt afraid he
+would get one of the four transports, and he took all us prisoners into
+the Ramilies. We staid in the ship the rest of the passage, and when we
+went into Halifax it was all alone, the four transports having
+disappeared. Two of them subsequently got in; but I think the other two
+were actually taken by that saucy fellow.
+
+The prisoners, at first, had great liberty allowed them, on board the
+Ramilies. On all occasions, Sir Thomas Hardy treated the Americans well. A
+party of marines was stationed on the poop, and another on the forecastle,
+and the ship's people had arms; but this was all the precaution that was
+used. The opportunity tempted some of our men to plan a rising, with a
+view to seize the ship. Privateer officers were at the head of this
+scheme, which was communicated to me, among others, soon after the plot
+was laid. Most of the prisoners knew of the intention, and everybody
+seemed to enter into the affair with hearty good-will. Our design was to
+rise at the end of the second dog-watch, overcome the crew, and carry the
+ship upon our own coast. If unable to pass the blockading squadrons, we
+intended to run her ashore. The people of the Ramilies outnumbered us by
+near one-half, and they had arms, it is true; but we trusted to the effect
+of a surprise, and something to the disposition of most English sailors to
+get quit of their own service. Had the attempt been made, from what I saw
+of the crew, I think our main trouble would have been with the officers
+and the marines. We were prevented from trying the experiment, however, in
+consequence of having been betrayed by some one who was in the secret, the
+whole of us being suddenly sent into the cable tiers and amongst the water
+casks, under the vigilant care of sentinels posted in the wings. After
+that, we were allowed to come on deck singly, only, and then under a
+sentinel's charge. When Sir Thomas spoke to us concerning this change of
+treatment, he did not abuse us for our plan, but was mild and reasonable,
+while he reminded us of the necessity of what he was doing. I have no idea
+he would have been in the least injured, had we got possession of the
+ship; for, to the last, our people praised him, and the treatment they
+received, while under his orders.
+
+Before we were sent below, Sir Thomas spoke to me again, on the subject of
+my joining the English service. He was quite earnest about it, and
+reasoned with me like a father; but I was determined not to yield. I did
+not like England, and I did like America. My birth in Quebec was a thing I
+could not help; but having chosen to serve under the American flag, and
+having done so now for years, I did not choose to go over to the enemy.
+
+At Halifax, fifteen or twenty of us were sent on board the old Centurion,
+44, Lord Anson's ship, as retaliation-men. We eight were of the number. We
+found something like thirty more in the ship, all retaliation-men, like
+ourselves. Those we found in the Centurion did not appear to me to be
+foremast Jacks, but struck me as being citizens from ashore. We were well
+treated, however, suffering no other confinement than that of the ship. We
+were on "six upon four," it is true, like other prisoners, but our own
+country gave us small stores, and extra bread and beef. In the way of
+grub, we fared like sailor kings. At the end of three weeks, we eight
+lakesmen were sent to Melville Island, among the great herd of prisoners.
+I cannot explain the reason of all these changes; but I know that when the
+gate was shut on us, the turnkey said we had gone into a home that would
+last as long as the war lasted.
+
+Melville is an island of more than a mile in circumference, with low,
+rocky shores. It lies about three miles from the town of Halifax, but not
+in sight. It is connected with the main by a bridge that is thrown across
+a narrow passage of something like a quarter of a mile in width. In the
+centre of the island is an eminence, which was occupied by the garrison,
+and had some artillery. This eminence commanded the whole island. Another
+post on the main, also, commanded the prisoners' barracks. These barracks
+were ordinary wooden buildings, enclosed on the side of the island with a
+strong stone wall, and on the side of the post on the main, by high, open
+palisades. Of course, a sufficient guard was maintained.
+
+It was said there were about twelve hundred Americans on the island, when
+I passed the gate. Among them were a few French, some of whom were a part
+of the crew of the Ville de Milan, the ship that had been taken before I
+first left Halifax; or more than eight years previously to this time. This
+did, indeed, look like the place's being a home to a poor fellow, and I
+did not relish the circumstance at all. Among our people were soldiers,
+sailors, and 'long-shore-men'. There was no difference in the treatment,
+which, for a prison, was good. We got only "six upon four" from the
+English, of course; but our own country made up the difference here, as on
+board the Centurion. They had a prison dress, with one leg of the trowsers
+yellow and the other blue, &c.; but we would not stand that. Our agent
+managed the matter so that we got regular jackets and trowsers of the true
+old colour. The poor Frenchmen looked like peacocks in their dress, but we
+did not envy them their finery.
+
+I had been on the island about a fortnight, when I was told by Jack
+Mallet that a woman, whom he thought to be my sister, was at the gate.
+Jack knew my whole history, and came to his opinion from a resemblance
+that he saw between me and the person who had inquired for me. I refused
+to go to the gate, however, to see who it was, and Jack was sent back to
+tell the woman that I had been left behind at Bermuda. He was directed to
+throw in a few hints about the expediency of her not coming back to look
+for me, and that it would be better if she never named me. All this was
+done, I getting a berth from which I could see the female. I knew her in a
+moment, although she was married, and had a son with her, and my heart was
+very near giving way, especially when I saw her shedding tears. She went
+away from the gate, however, going up on the ramparts, from which she
+could look down into the prison-yard. There she remained an hour, as if
+she wished to satisfy her own eyes as to the truth of Jack's story; but I
+took good care to keep out of her sight.
+
+As I knew there was little hope of an exchange of prisoners, I now began
+to think of the means of making my escape. Jack Mallet dared not attempt
+to swim, on account of the rheumatism and cramps, having narrowly escaped
+drowning at Bermuda, and he could not join in our schemes. As for myself,
+I have been able to swim ever since danger taught me the important lesson,
+the night the Scourge went down. Money would be necessary to aid me in
+escaping, and Jack and I put our heads together, in order to raise some. I
+had still the ten dollars given me by Sir Thomas Hardy, and I commenced
+operations by purchasing shares in a dice-board, a _vingt et un_ table,
+and a quino table.[12] Jack Mallet and I, also, set up a shop, on a
+capital of three dollars. We sold smoked herring, pipes, tobacco, segars,
+spruce beer, and, as chances of smuggling it in offered, now and then a
+little Jamaica. All this time, the number of the prisoners increased,
+until, in the end, we got to have a full prison, when they began to send
+them to England. Only one of the Julias was sent away, however, all the
+rest remaining at Melville Island, from some cause I cannot explain.
+
+I cannot say we made money very fast. On every shilling won at dice, we
+received a penny; at _vingt et un_, the commission was the same; as it was
+also at the other games. New cards, however, brought a little higher rate.
+All this was wrong I _now_ know, but _then_ it gave me very little
+trouble. I hope I would not do the same thing over again, even to make my
+escape from Melville Island, but one never knows to what distress may
+drive him.
+
+Some person among the American prisoners--a soldier it was said--commenced
+counterfeiting Spanish dollars. I am afraid most of us helped to circulate
+them. We thought it no harm to cheat the people of the canteens, for we
+knew they were doing all they could to cheat us. This was prison morality,
+in war-time, and I say nothing in its favour; though, for myself, I will
+own I felt more of the consciousness of wrong-doing in holding the shares
+in the gambling establishments, than in giving bad dollars for poor rum.
+The counterfeiting business was destroyed by one of the dollars happening
+to break, as some of the officers were pitching them; when, on
+examination, it turned out that most of the money in the prison was bad.
+It was said the people of the canteens had about four hundred of the
+dollars, when they came to overhaul their lockers. A good many found their
+way into Halifax.
+
+My trade lasted all winter--(that of 1813--14,) and by March I had gained
+the sum of eighty French crowns. Dollars I was afraid to hold on account
+of the base money. The ice now began to give way, and a few of us, who had
+been discussing the matter all winter, set about forming serious plans to
+escape. My confederates were a man of the name of Johnson, who had been
+taken in the Snapdragon privateer, and an Irishman of the name of
+Littlefield. Barnet, the Mozambique man, joined us also, making four in
+all. It was quite early in the month, when we made the attempt. Our
+windows were long, and had perpendicular bars of wrought iron to secure
+them, but no cross-bars. There was no glass; but outside shutters, that we
+could open at our pleasure. Outside of the windows were sentinels, and
+there were two rows of pickets between us and the shore.
+
+I put my crowns in a belt around my waist. Another belt, or skin, was
+filled with rum, for the double purpose of buoying me in the water, and
+of comforting me when ashore. At that day, I found rum one of the great
+blessings of life; now I look upon it as one of the greatest evils. My
+companions made similar provisions of money and rum, though neither was as
+rich as myself. I left Mallet and Leonard Lewis my heirs at law if I
+escaped, and my trustees should I be caught. Lewis was a young man of
+better origin than most in the prison, and I have always thought some
+calamity drove him to the seas. He was in ill health, and did not appear
+to be destined to a long life. He would have joined us, heart and hand,
+but was not strong enough to endure the fatigue which we well knew we must
+undergo, before we could get clear.
+
+The night selected for the attempt was so cold, dark, and dismal, as to
+drive all the sentinels into their boxes. It rained hard, in the bargain.
+About eight, or as soon as the lights were out, we got the lanyards of our
+hammocks around two of the window bars, and using a bit of fire-wood for a
+heaver, we easily brought them together. This left room for our bodies to
+pass out, without any difficulty. Jack Mallet, and those we left behind,
+hove the bars straight again, so that the keepers were at a loss to know
+how we had got off. We met with no obstacle between the prison and the
+water. The pickets we removed, having cut them in the day-time. In a word,
+all four of us reached the shore of the Island in two or three minutes
+after we had taken leave of our messmates. The difficulty lay before us.
+We entered into the water, at once, and began to swim. When I was a few
+rods from the place of landing, which was quite near the guard-house, on
+the main, Johnson began to sing out that he was drowning. I told him to be
+quiet, but it was of no use. The guard on the main heard him, and
+commenced firing, and of course we swam all the harder. Three of us were
+soon ashore, and, knowing the roads well, I led them in a direction to
+avoid the soldiers. By running into the woods, we got clear, though poor
+Johnson fell again into the hands of the enemy. He deserved it for bawling
+as he did; it being the duty of a man in such circumstances to lie with a
+shut mouth.
+
+
+
+Chapter IX.
+
+
+
+The three who had escaped ran, for a quarter of a mile, in the woods, when
+we brought up, and took a drink. Hearing no more firing, or any further
+alarm, we now consulted as to our future course. There were some mills at
+the head of the bay, about four miles from the guard-house, and I led the
+party thither. We reached the place towards morning, and found a berth in
+them before any one was stirring. We hid ourselves in an old granary; but
+no person appeared near the place throughout the next day. We had put a
+little bread and a few herrings in our hats, and on these we subsisted.
+The rum cheered us up, and, if rum ever did good, I think it was to us on
+that occasion. We slept soundly, with one man on the look-out; a rule we
+observed the whole time we were out. It stopped raining in the course of
+the day, though the weather was bitter cold.
+
+Next night we got under way, and walked in a direction which led us within
+three miles of the town. In doing this, we passed the Prince's Lodge, a
+place where I had often been, and the sight of which reminded me of home,
+and of my childish days. There was no use in regrets, however, and we
+pushed ahead. The men saw my melancholy, and they questioned me; but I
+evaded the answer, pretending that nothing ailed me. There was a tavern
+about a league from the town, kept by a man of the name of Grant, and
+Littlefield ventured into it. He bought a small cheese and a loaf of
+bread; getting off clear, though not unsuspected. This helped us along
+famously, and we pushed on as fast as we could. Before morning we came
+near a bridge, on which there was a sentinel posted, with a guard-house
+near its end. To avoid this danger, we turned the guard-house, striking
+the river above the bridge. Here we met two Indians, and fell into
+discourse with them. Our rum now served us a better turn than ever, buying
+the Indians in a minute. We told these chaps we were deserters from the
+Bulwark, 74, and begged them to help us along. At first, they thought we
+were Yankees, whom they evidently disliked, and that right heartily; but
+the story of the desertion took, and made them disposed to serve us.
+
+These two Indians led us down to the bed of the river, and actually
+carried us beneath the bridge, on the side of the river next the guard,
+where we found a party of about thirty of these red-skins, men, women and
+children. Here we stayed no less than three days; faring extremely well,
+having fish, bread, butter, and other common food. The weather was very
+bad, and we did not like to turn out in it, besides, thinking the search
+for us might be less keen after a short delay. All this time, we were
+within a few rods of the guard, hearing the sentinels cry "all's well,"
+from half-hour to half-hour. We were free with our rum, and, as much as we
+dared to be, with our money. These people never betrayed us.
+
+The third night we left the bridge, guided by a young Indian. He led us
+about two miles up the river, passing through the Maroon town in the
+night, after which he left us. We wished him to keep on with us for some
+distance further, but he refused. He quitted us near morning, and we
+turned into a deserted log-house, on the banks of the river, where we
+passed the day. The country was thinly populated, and the houses we saw
+were poor and mean. We must now have been about five-and-twenty miles
+from Halifax.
+
+Our object was to cross the neck of land between the Atlantic and the Bay
+of Fundy, and to get to Annapolis Royal, where we expected to be able to
+procure a boat, by fair means if we could, by stealth if necessary, and
+cross over to the American shore. We had still a long road before us, and
+had some little difficulty to find the way. The Indians, however, gave us
+directions that greatly assisted us; and we travelled a long bit, and
+pretty fast all that night. In the morning, the country had more the
+appearance of being peopled and cultivated, and I suspected we were
+getting into the vicinity of Horton, a place through which it would be
+indispensable to pass. The weather became bad again, and it was necessary
+to make a halt. Coming near a log-house, we sent Littlefield ahead to make
+some inquiries of a woman who appeared to be in it alone. On his return,
+he reported well of the woman. He had told her we were deserters from the
+Bulwark, and had promised to pay her if she would let us stay about her
+premises that day, and get us something to eat. The woman had consented to
+our occupying an out-house, and had agreed to buy the provisions. We now
+took possession of the out-house, where the woman visited us, and getting
+some money, she left us in quest of food. We were uneasy during her
+absence, but she came back with some meat, eggs, bread, and butter, at the
+end of an hour, and all seemed right. We made two comfortable meals in
+this out-house, where we remained until near evening. I had the look-out
+about noon, and I saw a man hanging about the house, and took the alarm.
+The man did not stay long, however, and I got a nap as soon as he
+disappeared. About four we were all up, and one of us taking a look, saw
+this same man, and two others, go into the house. The woman had already
+told us that a party of soldiers had gone ahead, in pursuit of three
+Yankee runaways; that four had broken prison, but one had been retaken,
+and the rest were still out. This left little doubt that she knew who we
+were; and we thought it best to steal away, at once, lest the men in the
+house should be consulting with her, at that very moment, about selling us
+for the reward, which we know was always four pounds ahead. The out-house
+was near the river, and there was a good deal of brush growing along the
+banks, and we succeeded in getting away unseen.
+
+We went down to the margin, under the bank, and pursued our way along the
+stream. Before it was dark we came in sight of the bridge, for which we
+had been travelling ever since we left the other bridge, and were sorry to
+see a sentry-box on it. We now halted for a council, and came to a
+determination to wait until dark, and then advance. This we did, getting
+under this bridge, as we had done with the other. We had no Indians,
+however, to comfort and feed us.
+
+I had known a good deal of this part of the country when a boy, from the
+circumstance that Mr. Marchinton had a large farm, near a place called
+Cornwallis, on the Bay, where I had even spent whole summers with the
+family. This bridge I recollected well; and I remembered there was a ford
+a little on one side of it, when the tide was out. The tides are
+tremendous in this part of the world, and we did not dare to steal a boat
+here, lest we should be caught in one of the bores, as they are called,
+when the tide came in. It was now half ebb, and we resolved to wait, and
+try the? ford.
+
+It was quite dark when we left the bridge, and we had a delicate bit of
+work before us. The naked flats were very wide, and we sallied out, with
+the bridge as our guide. I was up to my middle in mud, at times, but the
+water was not very deep. We must have been near an hour in the mud, for we
+were not exactly on the proper ford, of course, and made bad navigation of
+it in the dark. But we were afraid to lose sight of the bridge, lest we
+should get all adrift.
+
+At length we reached the firm ground, covered with mud and chilled with
+cold. We found the road, and the village of Horton, and skirted the last,
+until all was clear. Then we took to the road, and carried sail hard all
+night. Whenever we saw any one, we hid ourselves, but we met few while
+travelling. Next morning we walked until we came to a deserted saw-mill,
+which I also remembered, and here we halted for the day. No one troubled
+us, nor did I see any one; but Littlefield said that a man drove a herd of
+cattle past, during his watch on deck.
+
+I told my companions that night, if they would be busy, we might reach
+Cornwallis, where I should be at home. We were pretty well fagged, and
+wanted rest, for Jack is no great traveller ashore; and I promised the
+lads a good snug berth at Mr. Marchinton's farm. We pushed ahead briskly,
+in consequence, and I led the party up to the farm, just as day was
+dawning. A Newfoundland dog, named Hunter, met us with some ferocity;
+but, on my calling him by name, he was pacified, and began to leap on me,
+and to caress me. I have always thought that dog knew me, after an absence
+of so many years. There was no time to waste with dogs, however, and we
+took the way to the barn. We had wit enough not to get on the hay, but to
+throw ourselves on a mow filled with straw, as the first was probably in
+use. Here we went to sleep, with one man on the look-out. This was the
+warmest and most comfortable rest we had got since quitting the island,
+from which we had now been absent or nine days.
+
+We remained one night and two days in the barn. The workmen entered it
+often, and even stayed some time on the barn-floor; but no one seemed to
+think of ascending our mow. The dog kept much about the place, and I was
+greatly afraid he would be the means of betraying us. Our provisions were
+getting low, and, the night we were at the farm I sallied out, accompanied
+by Barnet, and we made our way into the dairy. Here we found a pan of
+bread, milk, cheese, butter, eggs, and codfish. Of course, we took our
+fill of milk; but Barnet got hold of a vessel of sour cream, and came near
+hallooing out, when he had taken a good pull at it. As we returned to the
+barn, the geese set up an outcry, and glad enough was I to find myself
+safe on the mow again, without being discovered. Next day, however, we
+overheard the men in the barn speaking of the robbery, and complaining, in
+particular, of the uselessness of the dog. I did not know any of these
+persons, although a young man appeared among them, this day, who I fancied
+had been a playfellow of mine, when a boy. I could not trust him, or any
+one else there; and all the advantage we got from the farm, was through my
+knowledge of the localities, and of the habits of the place.
+
+I had never been further on the road between Halifax and Annapolis, than
+to Cornwallis. The rest of the distance was unknown to me, though I was
+familiar with the route which went out of Cornwallis, and which was called
+the Annapolis road. It was a fine star-light evening, and we made good
+headway. We all felt refreshed, and journeyed on full stomachs. We did not
+meet a soul, though we travelled through a well-settled country. The next
+morning we halted in a wood, the weather being warm and pleasant. Here we
+slept and rested as usual, and were off again at night. Littlefield
+pinned three fowls as we went along, declaring that he intended to have a
+warm mess next day, and he got off without discoverv. About four o'clock
+in the morning, we fell in with a river, and left the high-way, following
+the banks of the stream for a short distance. It now came on to blow and
+rain, with the wind on shore, and we saw it would not do to get a boat and
+go out in such a time. There was a rising ground, in a thick wood, near
+us, and we went up the hill to pass the day. We had seen two men pulling
+ashore in a good-looking boat, and it was our determination to get this
+boat, and shape our course down stream to the Bay, as soon as it
+moderated. From the hill, we could overlook the river, and the adjacent
+country. We saw the fishermen land, take their sail and oars out of the
+boat, haul the latter up, turn her over, and stow their sails and oars
+beneath her. They had a breaker of fresh water, too, and everything seemed
+fitted for our purposes. We liked the craft, and, what is more, we liked
+the cruise.
+
+We could not see the town of Annapolis, which turned out to be up-stream
+from us, though we afterwards ascertained that we were within a mile or
+two of it. The fishermen walked in the direction of the town, and
+disappeared. All we wanted now was tolerably good weather, with a fair
+wind, or, at least, with less wind. The blow had driven in the fishermen,
+and we thought it wise to be governed by their experience. Nothing
+occurred in the course of the day, the weather remaining the same, and we
+being exposed to the rain, with no other cover than trees without leaves.
+There were many pines, however, and they gave us a little shelter.
+
+At dusk, Littlefield lighted a fire, and began to cook his fowls. The
+supper was soon ready, and we eat it with a good relish. We then went to
+sleep, leaving Barnet on the look-out. I had just got into a good sleep,
+when I was awoke by the tramp of horses, and the shouting of men. On
+springing up, I found that a party of five horsemen were upon us. One
+called out--"Here they are--we've found them at last." This left no doubt
+of their errand, and we were all retaken. Our arms were tied, and we were
+made to mount behind the horsemen, when they rode off with us, taking the
+road by which we had come. We went but a few miles that night, when
+we halted.
+
+We were taken the whole distance to Halifax, in this manner, riding on
+great-coats, without stirrups, the horses on a smart walk. We did not go
+by Cornwallis, which, it seems, was not the nearest road; but we passed
+through Horton, and crossed the bridge, beneath which we had Waded through
+the mud. At Horton we passed a night. We were confined in a sort of a
+prison, that was covered with mud. We did not like our berths; and,
+finding that the logs, of which the building was made, were rotten, we
+actually worked our way through them, and got fairly out. Littlefield, who
+was as reckless an Irishman as ever lived, swore he would set fire to the
+place; which he did, by returning through the hole we had made, and
+getting up into a loft, that was dry and combustible. But for this silly
+act, we might have escaped; and, as it was, we did get off for the rest of
+the night, being caught, next morning, nearly down, again, by the bridge
+at Windsor.
+
+This time, our treatment was a good deal worse, than at first. A sharp
+look-out was kept, and they got us back to Halifax, without any more
+adventures. We were pretty well fagged; though we had to taper off with
+the black hole, and bread and water, for the next ten days; the regular
+punishment for such misdemeanors as ours. At the end of the ten days, we
+were let out, and came together again. Our return brought about a great
+deal of discussion; and, not a little criticism, as to the prudence of our
+course. To hear the chaps talk, one would think every man among them could
+have got off, had he been in our situation; though none of them did any
+better; several having got off the island, in our absence, and been
+retaken, within the first day or two. While I was in prison, however, I
+remember but one man who got entirely clear. This was a privateers-man,
+from Marblehead; who did get fairly off; though he was back again, in six
+weeks, having been taken once more, a few days out.
+
+We adventurers were pretty savage, about our failure; and, the moment we
+were out of the black hole, we began to lay our heads together for a new
+trial. My idea was, to steer a different course, in the new attempt;
+making the best of our way towards Liverpool, which lay to the southward,
+coastwise. This would leave us on the Atlantic, it was true; but our
+notion was, to ship in a small privateer, called the Liverpool, and then
+run our chance of getting off from her; as she was constantly crossing
+over to the American coast. As this craft was quite small, and often had
+but few hands in her, we did not know but we might get hold of the
+schooner itself. Then there was some probability of being put in a
+coaster; which we might run away with. At all events, any chance seemed
+better to us, than that of remaining in prison, until the end of war that
+might last years, or until we got to be grey-headed. I remembered, when
+the Ville de Milan was brought into Halifax; this was a year, or two,
+before I went to sea; and yet here were some of her people still, on
+Melville Island!
+
+I renewed my trade as soon as out of the Black Hole, but did not give up
+the idea of escaping. Leonard Lewis and Jack Mallet were the only men we
+let into the secret. They both declined joining us; Mallet on account of
+his dread of the water, and Lewis, because certain he could not outlive
+the fatigue; but they wished us good luck, and aided us all they could.
+With Johnson we would have no further concern.
+
+The keepers did not ascertain the means by which we had left the barracks,
+though they had seen the cut pickets of course. We did not attempt,
+therefore, to cut through again, but resolved to climb. The English had
+strengthened the pickets with cross-pieces, which were a great assistance
+to _us_, and I now desire to express my thanks for the same. We waited for
+a warm, but dark and rainy night in May, before we commenced our new
+movement. We had still plenty of money, I having brought back with me to
+prison forty crowns, and having driven a thriving trade in the interval.
+We got out through the bars, precisely as we had done before, and at the
+very same window. This was a small job. After climbing the pickets, either
+Littlefield or Barnet dropped on the outside, a little too carelessly, and
+was overheard. The sentinel immediately called for the corporal of the
+guard, but we were in the water, swimming quite near the bridge, and some
+little distance from the guard-house on the main. There was a stir on the
+island, while we were in the water, but we all got ashore, safe
+and unseen.
+
+We took to the same woods as before, but turned south instead of west. Our
+route brought us along by the waterside, and we travelled hard all that
+night. Littlefield pretended to be our guide, but we got lost, and
+remained two days and nights in the woods, without food, and completely at
+fault as to which way to steer. At length we ventured out into a high-way,
+by open day-light, and good luck threw an old Irish seaman, who then lived
+by fishing in [missing]. After a little conversation, we told this old
+man we were deserters from a vessel of war, and he seemed to like us all
+the better for it. He had served himself, and had a son impressed, and
+seemed to like the English navy little better than we did ourselves. He
+took us to a hut on the beach, and fed us with fish, potatoes, and bread,
+giving us a very comfortable and hearty meal. We remained in this hut
+until sunset, receiving a great deal of useful advice from the old man,
+and then we left him. We used some precaution in travelling, sleeping in
+the woods; but we kept moving by day as well as by night, and halting only
+when tired, and a good place offered. We were not very well off for food,
+though we brought a little from the fisherman's hut, and found quantities
+of winter-berries by the way-side.
+
+We entered Liverpool about eight at night, and went immediately to the
+rendezvous of the privateer, giving a little girl a shilling to be our
+guide. The keeper of the rendezvous received us gladly, and we shipped
+immediately. Of course we were lodged and fed, in waiting for the schooner
+to come in. Each of us got four pounds bounty, and both parties seemed
+delighted with the bargain. To own the truth, we now began to drink, and
+the next day was pretty much a blank with us all. The second day, after
+breakfast, the landlord rushed into our room with a newspaper in his hand,
+and broke out upon us, with a pretty string of names, denouncing us for
+having told him we were deserters, when we were only runaway Yankees! The
+twelve pounds troubled him, and he demanded it back. We laughed at him,
+and advised him to be quiet and put us aboard the privateer. He then told
+us the guard was after us, hot-foot, and that it was too late. This proved
+to be true enough, for, in less than an hour an officer and a platoon of
+men had us in custody. We had some fun in hearing the officer give it to
+the landlord, who still kept talking about his twelve pounds. The officer
+told him plainly that he was rightly served, for attempting to smuggle off
+deserters, and I suppose this was the reason no one endeavoured to get the
+money away from us, except by words. We kept the twelve pounds, right
+or wrong.
+
+We were now put in a coaster, and sent to Halifax by water. We were in
+irons, but otherwise were well enough treated. We were kept in the
+Navy-yard guard-house, at Halifax, several hours, and were visited by a
+great many officers. These gentlemen were curious to hear our story, and
+we let them have it, very frankly. They laughed, and said, generally, we
+were not to be blamed for trying to get off, if their own look-outs were
+so bad as to let us. We did not tell them, however, by what means we
+passed out of the prison-barracks. Among the officers who came and spoke
+to us, was an admiral, Sir Isaac Coffin. This gentleman was a native
+American, and was then in Halifax to assist the Nantucket men, whom he
+managed to get exchanged. His own nephew was said to be among them; but
+him he would not serve, as he had been captured in a privateer. Had he
+been captured in a man-of-war, or a merchantman, he would have done all
+he could for him; but, as it was, he let him go to Dartmoor--at least,
+this was the story in the prison. The old gentleman spoke very mildly to
+us, and said he could not blame us for attempting to escape. I do not
+think he had ever heard of the twelve pounds; though none of the navy
+officers were sorry that the privateer's-men should be punished. As for
+us, we considered them all enemies alike, on whom it was fair enough to
+live in a time of war.
+
+We were sent back to the island, and were quarantined again; though it was
+for twenty days, this time. When we got pratique, we learned that some one
+had told of the manner in which we got out of prison, and cross-bars had
+been placed in all the windows, making them so many "nine of diamonds."
+This was blocking the channel, and there was no more chance for getting
+off in that way.
+
+A grand conspiracy was now formed, which was worthy of the men in prison.
+The plan was to get possession of Halifax itself, and go off in triumph.
+We were eighteen hundred prisoners in all; though not very well off for
+officers. About fifty of us entered into the plan, at first; nor did we
+let in any recruits for something like six weeks. A Mr. Crowninshield, of
+Salem, was the head man among as, he having been an officer in a
+privateer. There were a good many privateer officers in the prison, but
+they were berthed over-head, and were intended to be separated from us at
+night. The floor was lifted between us, however, and we held our
+communications by these means. The officers came down at night, and lent
+us a hand with the work.
+
+The scheme was very simple, though I do not think it was at all difficult
+of execution. The black-hole cells were beneath the prison, and we broke
+through the floor, into one of them, from our bay. A large mess-chest
+concealed the process, in the day-time. We worked in gangs of six, digging
+and passing up the dirt into the night-tubs. These tubs we were
+permitted to empty, every morning, in a tide's way, and thus we got rid of
+the dirt. At the end of two months we had dug a passage, wide enough for
+two abreast, some twenty or thirty yards, and were nearly ready to come up
+to the surface. We now began to recruit, swearing in each man. On the
+whole, we had got about four hundred names, when the project was defeated,
+by that great enemy which destroys so many similar schemes, treachery. We
+were betrayed, as was supposed by one of our own number.
+
+Had we got out, the plan was to seize the heights of the island, and get
+possession of the guns. This effected, it would have been easy to subdue
+the guard. We then would have pushed for Citadel Hill, which commanded
+Halifax. Had we succeeded there, we should have given John Bull a great
+deal of trouble, though no one could say what would have been the result.
+Hundreds would probably have got off, in different craft, even had the
+great plan failed. We were not permitted to try the experiment, however,
+for one day we were all turned out, and a party of English officers, army
+and navy, entered the barracks, removed the mess-chest, and surveyed our
+mine at their leisure. A draft of six hundred was sent from the prison
+that day, and was shipped for Dartmoor; and, by the end of the week, our
+whole number was reduced to some three or four hundred souls. One of the
+Julias went in this draft, but all the rest of us were kept at Halifax.
+For some reason or other, the English seemed to keep their eyes on us.
+
+I never gave up the hope of escaping, and the excitement of the hope was
+beneficial to both body and mind. We were too well watched, however, and
+conversation at night was even forbidden. Most of the officers were gone
+and this threw me pretty much on my own resources. I have forgotten to say
+that Lemuel Bryant, the man who fell at the breech of my gun, at Little
+York, and whom I afterwards hauled into the Scourge's boat, got off, very
+early after our arrival at Halifax. He made two that got quite clear,
+instead of the one I have already mentioned. Bryant's escape was so
+clever, as to deserve notice.
+
+One day a party of some thirty soldiers was called out for exchange, under
+a capitulation. Among the names was that of Lemuel Bryant, but the man
+happened to be dead. Our Bryant had found this out, beforehand, and he
+rigged himself soldier-fashion, and answered to the name. It is probable
+he ascertained the fact, by means of some relationship, which brought him
+in contact with the soldier previously to his death. He met with no
+difficulty, and I have never seen him since. I have heard he is still
+living, and that he receives a pension for the hurt he received at York.
+Well does he deserve it, for no man ever had a narrower chance for
+his life.
+
+Nothing new, worthy of notice, occurred for several months, until one
+evening in March, 1815, we heard a great rejoicing in Halifax; and,
+presently, a turnkey appeared on the walls, and called out that England
+and America had made peace! We gave three cheers, and passed the night
+happy enough. We had a bit of a row with the turnkeys about locking us in
+again, for we were fierce for liberty; but we were forced to submit for
+another night.
+
+
+
+Chapter X.
+
+
+
+The following morning, eight of the names that stood first on the
+prison-roll were called off, to know if the men would consent to work a
+liberated Swedish brig to New York. I was one of the eight, as was Jack
+Mallet and Barnet. Wilcox, one of those who had gone with us to Bermuda,
+had died, and the rest were left on the island. I never fell in with
+Leonard Lewis, Littlefield, or any of the rest of those chaps, after I
+quitted the prison. Lewis, I think, could not have lived long; and as for
+Littlefield, I heard of him, afterwards, as belonging to the
+Washington 74.
+
+The Swede, whose name was the Venus, was lying at the end of Marchinton's
+wharf, a place that had been so familiar to me in boyhood. We all went on
+board, and I was not sorry to find that we were to haul into the stream
+immediately. I had an extraordinary aversion to Halifax, which my late
+confinement had not diminished, and had no wish to see a living soul in
+it. Jack Mallet, however, took on himself the office of paying my sister a
+visit, and of telling her where I was to be found. This he did contrary to
+my wishes, and without my knowledge; though I think he meant to do me a
+favour. The very day we hauled into the stream, a boat came alongside us,
+and I saw, at a glance, that Harriet was in it. I said a few words to her,
+requesting her not to come on board, but promising to visit her that
+evening, which I did.
+
+I stayed several hours with my sister, whom I found living with her
+husband. She did not mention my father's name to me, at all; and I learned
+nothing of my other friends, if I ever had any, or of my family. Her
+husband was a tailor, and they gave me a good outfit of clothes, and
+treated me with great kindness. It struck me that the unaccountable
+silence of my father about us children, had brought my sister down in the
+world a little, but it was no affair of mine; and, as for myself, I cared
+for no one. After passing the evening with the family, I went on board
+again, without turning to the right or left to see a single soul more.
+Even the Frasers were not visited, so strong was my dislike to have
+anything to do with Halifax.
+
+The Venus took on board several passengers, among whom were three or four
+officers of the navy. Lieutenant Rapp, and a midshipman Randolph were
+among them, and there were also several merchant-masters of the party. We
+sailed two days after I joined the brig, and had a ten or twelve days'
+passage. The moment the Venus was alongside the wharf, at New York, we all
+left, and found ourselves free men once more. I had been a prisoner
+nineteen months, and that was quite enough for me for the remainder of
+my life.
+
+We United States' men reported ourselves, the next day to Captain Evans,
+the commandment of the Brooklyn Yard, and, after giving in our names, we
+were advised to go on board the Epervier, which was then fitting out for
+the Mediterranean, under the command of Captain Downes. To this we
+objected, however, as we wanted a cruise ashore, before we took to the
+water again. This was a lucky decision of ours, though scarcely to be
+defended as to our views: the Epervier being lost, and all hands
+perishing, a few months later, on her return passage from the Straits.
+
+Captain Evans then directed us to report ourselves daily, which we did.
+But the press of business at Washington prevented our cases from being
+attended to; and being destitute of money, while wages were high, we
+determined, with Captain Evans' approbation, to make a voyage, each, in
+the merchant service, and to get our accounts settled on our return. Jack
+Mallet, Barnet and I, shipped, therefore, in another brig called the
+Venus, that was bound on a sealing voyage, as was thought, in some part of
+the world where seals were said to be plenty. We were ignorant of the
+work, or we might have discovered there was a deception intended, from the
+outfit of the vessel. She had no salt even, while she had plenty of
+cross-cut saws, iron dogs, chains, &c. The brig sailed, however, and stood
+across the Atlantic, as if in good earnest. When near the Cape de Verds,
+the captain called us aft, and told us he thought the season too far
+advanced for sealing, and that, if we would consent, he would run down to
+St. Domingo, and make an arrangement with some one there to cut mahogany
+on shares, with fustick and lignum-vitae. The secret was now out; but what
+could we poor salts do? The work we were asked to do turned out to be
+extremely laborious; and I suppose we had been deceived on account of the
+difficulty of getting men, just at that time, for such a voyage. There we
+were, in the midst of the ocean, and we agreed to the proposal, pretty
+much as a matter of course.
+
+The brig now bore up, and stood for St. Domingo. She first went in to the
+city of St. Domingo, where the arrangements were made, and Spaniards were
+got to help to cut the wood, when we sailed for a bay, of which I have
+forgotten the name, and anchored near the shore. The trees were sawed
+down, about ten miles up a river, and floated to its bar, across which
+they had to be hauled by studding-sail halyards, through the surf; one man
+hauling two logs at a time, made into a sort of raft. Sharks abounded, and
+we had to keep a bright look-out, lest they got a leg while we were busy
+with the logs. I had a narrow escape from two while we lay at St. Domingo.
+A man fell overboard, and I went after him, succeeding in catching the
+poor fellow. A boat was dropped astern to pick us up, and, as we hauled
+the man in, two large sharks came up close alongside. This affair had set
+us drinking, and I got a good deal of punch aboard. The idea of remaining
+in the brig was unpleasant to me, and I had thought of quitting her for
+some days. A small schooner bound to America, and short of hands, lay near
+us; and I had told the captain I would come and join him that night. Jack
+Mallet and the rest tried to persuade me not to go, but I had too much
+punch and grog in me to listen to reason. When all hands aft were asleep,
+therefore, I let myself down into the water, and swam quite a
+cable's-length to the schooner. One of the men was looking out for me. He
+heard me in the water, and stood ready to receive me. As I drew near the
+schooner, this man threw me a rope, and helped me up the side, but, as
+soon as I was on the deck, he told me to look behind me. I did so, and
+there I saw an enormous shark swimming about, a fellow that was sixteen or
+eighteen feet long. This shark, I was told, had kept company with me as
+long as I had been in sight from the schooner. I cannot well describe the
+effect that was produced on me by this discovery. When I entered the
+water, I was under the influence of liquor, but this escape sobered me in
+a minute; so much so, indeed, that I insisted on being put in a boat, and
+sent back to the brig, which was done. I was a little influenced in this,
+however, by some reluctance that was manifested to keep me on board the
+schooner. I got on board the Venus without being discovered, and came to a
+resolution to stick by the craft until the voyage was up.
+
+We filled up with mahogany, and took in a heavy deck-load, in the course
+of four months, which was a most laborious process. When ready, the brig
+sailed for New York, We encountered a heavy gale, about a week out, which
+swept away our deck-load, bulwarks, &c. At this time, the master,
+supercargo, mate, cook, and three of the crew, were down with the fever;
+leaving Mallet, Barnet and myself, to take care of the brig. We three
+brought the vessel up as far as Barnegat, where we procured assistance,
+and she arrived safe at the quarantine ground.
+
+As soon as we got pratique, Mallet, Barnet and myself, went up to town to
+look after our affairs, leaving the brig below. The owners gave us thirty
+dollars each, to begin upon. We ascertained that our landlord had received
+our wages from government, and held it ready for us, sailor fashion. I
+also sold my share in the Venus' voyage for one hundred and twenty
+dollars. This gave me, in all, about five hundred dollars, which money
+lasted me between five and six weeks! How true is it, that "sailors make
+their money like horses, and spend it like asses!" I cannot say this
+prodigal waste of my means afforded me any substantial gratification. I
+have experienced more real pleasure from one day passed in a way of which
+my conscience could approve, than from all the loose and thoughtless
+follies, in which I was then in the habit of indulging when ashore, of a
+whole life. The manner in which this hard-earned gold was thrown away, may
+serve to warn some brother tar of the dangers that beset me; and let the
+reader understand the real wants of so large a body of his
+fellow-creatures.
+
+On turning out in the morning, I felt an approach to that which seamen
+call the "horrors," and continued in this state, until I had swallowed
+several glasses of rum. I had no appetite for breakfast, and life was
+sustained principally by drink. Half of the time I ate no dinner, and when
+I did, it was almost drowned in grog. Occasionally I drove out in a coach,
+or a gig, and generally had something extra to pay for damages. One of
+these cruises cost me forty dollars, and I shall always think I was given
+a horse that sailed crab-fashion, on purpose to do me out of the money. At
+night, I generally went to the play, and felt bound to treat the landlord
+and his family to tickets and refreshments. We always had a coach to go
+in, and it was a reasonable night that cost me only ten dollars. At first
+I was a sort of "king among beggars;" but as the money went, Ned's
+importance went with it, until, one day, the virtuous landlord intimated
+to me that it would be well, as I happened to be sober, to overhaul our
+accounts. He then began to read from his books, ten dollars for this,
+twenty dollars for that, and thirty for the other, until I was soon tired,
+and wanted to know how much was left. I had still fifty dollars, even
+according to his account of the matter; and as that might last a week,
+with good management, I wanted to hear no more about the items.
+
+All this time, I was separated from my old shipmates, being left
+comparatively among strangers. Jack Mallet had gone to join his friends in
+Philadelphia, and Barnet went south, whither I cannot say. I never fell in
+with either of them again, it being the fate of seamen to encounter the
+greatest risks and hardships in company, and then to cut adrift from each
+other, with little ceremony, never to meet again. I was still young, being
+scarcely two-and-twenty, and might, even then, have hauled in my oars, and
+come to be an officer and a man.
+
+As I knew I must go to sea, as soon as the accounts were balanced, I began
+to think a little seriously of my prospects. Dissipation had wearied me,
+and I wanted to go a voyage of a length that would prevent my falling soon
+into the same course of folly and vice. I had often bitter thoughts as to
+my conduct, nor was I entirely free from reflection on the subject of my
+peculiar situation. I might be said to be without a friend, or relative,
+in the world. "When my hat was on, my house was thatched." Of my father, I
+knew nothing; I have since ascertained he must then have been dead. My
+sister was little to me, and I never expected to see her again. The
+separation from all my old lakers, too, gave me some trouble, for I never
+met with one of them after parting from Barnet and Mallet, with the
+exception of Tom Goldsmith and Jack Reilly. Tom and I fell in with each
+other, on my return from St. Domingo, in the streets of New York, and had
+a yarn of two hours, about old times. This was all I ever saw of Tom. He
+had suffered a good deal with the English, who kept him in Kingston, Upper
+Canada, until the peace, when they let him go with the rest. As for
+Reilly, we have been in harbour together, in our old age, and I may speak
+of him again.
+
+Under the feelings I have mentioned, as soon as the looks of my landlord
+let me know that there were no more shot in the locker, I shipped in a
+South Sea whaler, named the Edward, that was expected to be absent
+between two and three years. She was a small vessel, and carried only
+three boats. I got a pretty good outfit from my landlord, though most of
+the articles were second-hand. We parted good friends, however, and I came
+back to him, and played the same silly game more than once. He was not a
+bad _landlord_, as landlords then went, and I make no doubt he took better
+care of my money than I should have done myself. On the whole, this class
+of men are not as bad as they seem, though there are precious rascals
+among them. The respectable sailor landlord is quite as good, in his way,
+as one could expect, all things considered.
+
+The voyage I made in the Edward was one of very little interest, the ship
+being exceedingly successful. The usage and living were good, and the
+whaling must have been good too, or we never should have been back again,
+as soon as we were. We went round the Horn, and took our first whale
+between the coast of South America and that of New Holland. I must have
+been present at the striking of thirty fish, but never met with any
+accident. I pulled a mid-ship oar, being a new hand at the business, and
+had little else to do, but keep clear of the line, and look out for my
+paddle. The voyage is now so common, and the mode of taking whales is so
+well known, that I shall say little about either. We went off the coast of
+Japan, as it is called, though a long bit from the land, and we made New
+Holland, though without touching. The return passage was by the Cape of
+Good Hope and St. Helena. We let go our anchor but once the whole voyage,
+and that was at Puna, at the mouth of the Guayaquil river, on the coast of
+Chili. We lay there a week, but, with this exception, the Edward was
+actually under her canvass the whole voyage, or eighteen months. We did
+intend to anchor at St. Helena, but were forbidden on account of
+Bonaparte, who was then a prisoner on the Island. As we stood in, we were
+met by a man-of-war brig, that kept close to us until we had sunk the
+heights, on our passage off again. We were not permitted even to send a
+boat in, for fresh grub.
+
+I sold my voyage in the Edward for two hundred and fifty dollars, and went
+back to my landlord, in Water street. Of course, everybody was glad to see
+me, a sailor's importance in such places being estimated by the length of
+his voyage. In Wall street they used to call a man "a hundred thousand
+dollar man," and in Water, "an eighteen months, or a two years' voyage
+man." As none but whalers, Indiamen, and Statesmen could hold out so long,
+we were all A. No. 1, for a fortnight or three weeks. The man-of-war's-man
+is generally most esteemed, his cruise lasting three years; the _lucky_
+whaler comes next, and the Canton-man third. The Edward had been a lucky
+ship, and, insomuch, I had been a lucky fellow. I behaved far better this
+time, however, than I had done on my return from St. Domingo. I kept sober
+more, did not spend my money as foolishly or as fast, and did not wait to
+be kicked out of doors, before I thought of getting some more. When I
+shipped anew, I actually left a hundred dollars behind me in my landlord's
+hands; a very extraordinary thing for Jack, and what is equally worthy of
+notice, I got it all again, on my next return from sea.
+
+My steadiness was owing, in a great measure, to the following
+circumstances. I fell in with two old acquaintances, who had been in
+prison with me, of the names of Tibbets and Wilson. This Tibbets was not
+the man who had been sent to Bermuda with me, but another of the same
+name. These men had belonged to the Gov. Tompkins privateer, and had
+received a considerable sum in prize-money, on returning home. They had
+used their money discreetly, having purchased an English prize-brig, at a
+low price, and fitted her out. On board the Tompkins, both had been
+foremost hands, and in prison they had messed in our bay, so that we had
+been hail-fellows-well-met; on Melville Island. After getting this brig
+ready, they had been to the West Indies in her, and were now about to sail
+for Ireland. They wished me to go with them, and gave me so much good
+advice, on the subject of taking care of my money, that it produced the
+effect I have just mentioned.
+
+The name of the prize-brig was the Susan, though I forget from what small
+eastern port she hailed. She was of about two hundred tons burthen, but
+must have-been old and rotten. Tibbets was master, and Wilson was
+chief-mate. I shipped as a sort of second-mate, keeping a watch, though I
+lived forward at my own request. We must have sailed about January, 1818,
+bound to Belfast. There were fourteen of us, altogether, on board, most of
+us down-easters. Our run off the coast was with a strong north-west gale,
+which compelled us to heave-to, the sea being too high for scudding.
+Finding that the vessel laboured very much, however, and leaked badly, we
+kept off again, and scudded for the rest of the blow. On the whole, we got
+out of this difficulty pretty well. We got but two observations the whole
+passage, but in the afternoon of the twenty-third day out, we made the
+coast of Ireland, close aboard, in thick weather; the wind directly on
+shore, blowing a gale. The brig was under close-reefed topsails, running
+free, at the time, and we found it necessary to haul up. We now discovered
+the defects of old canvass and old rigging, splitting the fore-topsail,
+foresail, and fore-topmast-staysail, besides carrying away sheets, &c. We
+succeeded in hauling up the foresail, however, and I went upon the yard
+and mended it, after a fashion. It was now nearly night, and it blew in a
+way "to need two men to hold one man's hair on his head." I cannot say I
+thought much of our situation, my principal concern being to get below,
+with some warm, dry clothes on. We saw nothing of the land after the first
+half-hour, but at midnight we wore ship, and came up on the larboard tack.
+The brig had hardly got round before the fore-tack went, and the foresail
+split into ribands. We let the sail blow from the yard. By this time,
+things began to look very serious, though, for some reason, I felt no
+great alarm. The case was different with Tibbets and Wilson, who were
+uneasy about Cape Clear. I had had a bit of a spat with them about waring,
+believing, myself, that we should have gone clear of the Cape, on the
+starboard tack. This prevented them saying much to me, and we had little
+communication with each other that night. To own the truth, I was sorry I
+had shipped in such a craft. Her owners were too poor to give a sea-going
+vessel a proper outfit, and they were too near my own level to
+create respect.
+
+The fore-topsail had been mended as well as the foresail, and was set
+anew. The sheets went, however, about two in the morning, and the sail
+flew from the reef-band like a bit of muslin torn by a shop-boy. The brig
+now had nothing set but a close-reefed main-topsail, and this I expected,
+every minute, would follow the other canvass. It rained, blew
+tremendously, and the sea was making constant breaches over us. Most of
+the men were fagged out, some going below, while others, who remained on
+deck, did, or _could_ do, nothing. At the same time, it was so dark that
+we could not see the length of the vessel.
+
+I now went aft to speak to Tibbets, telling him I thought it was all over
+with us. He had still some hope, as the bay was deep, and he thought light
+might return before we got to the bottom of it. I was of a different
+opinion, believing the brig then to be within the influence of the
+ground-swell, though not absolutely within the breakers. All this time the
+people were quiet, and there was no drinking. Indeed, I hardly saw any one
+moving about. It was an hour after the conversation with Tibbets, that I
+was standing, holding on by the weather-main-clew-garnet, when I got a
+glimpse of breakers directly under our lee. I sung out, "there's breakers,
+and everybody must shift for himself." At the next instant, the brig rose
+on a sea, settled in the trough, and struck. The blow threw me off my
+feet, though I held on to the clew-garnet. Then I heard the crash of the
+foremast as it went down to leeward. The brig rolled over on her
+beam-ends, but righted at the next sea, drove in some distance, and down
+she came again, with a force that threatened to break her up. I bethought
+me of the main-mast, and managed to get forward as far as the bitts, in
+order to be out of its way. It was well I did, as I felt a movement as if
+her upper works were parting from the bottom. I was near no one, and the
+last person I saw, or spoke to on board, was Tibbets, who was then
+standing in the companion-way. This was an hour before the brig struck.
+
+There might have been an interval of half a minute between the time I
+reached the windlass, and that in which I saw a tremendous white foaming
+sea rolling down upon the vessel. At this ominous sight, I instinctively
+seized the bitts for protection. I can remember the rushing of the water
+down upon me, and have some faint impressions of passing through a mass of
+rigging, but this is all. When I came to my senses, it was in an Irish
+mud-cabin, with an old woman and her daughter taking care of me. My head
+was bandaged, and most of the hair had been cut off in front I was stiff
+and sore all over me. Fortunately, none of my bones were broken.
+
+The account given me of what had passed, was this. I was found by the old
+man, who lived in the hut, a fisherman and the husband of my nurse, with
+some other persons, lying on my face, between two shelves of rock. There
+was nothing very near me, not even a bit of wood, or a rope. Two lads that
+belonged to the brig were found not far from me, both alive, though both
+badly hurt, one of them having had his thigh broken. Of the rest of the
+fourteen souls on board the Susan, there were no traces. I never heard
+that even their bodies were found. Tibbets and Wilson had gone with their
+old prize, and anything but a prize did she prove to me. I lost a good
+outfit, and, after belonging to her about three weeks, here was I left
+naked on the shores of Ireland, I am sorry to say, my feelings were those
+of repining, rather than of gratitude. Of religion I had hardly a notion,
+and I am afraid that all which had been driven into me in childhood, was
+already lost. In this state of mind, I naturally felt more of the
+hardships I had endured, than of the mercy that had been shown me. I look
+back with shame at the hardness of heart which rendered me insensible to
+the many mercies I had received, in escaping so often from the perils of
+my calling.
+
+It was three days after the wreck, before I left my bed. Nothing could
+have been kinder than the treatment I received from those poor Irish
+people. Certainly no reward was before them, but that which Heaven gives
+the merciful; and yet I could not have been more cared for, had I been
+their own son. They fed me, nursed me, and warmed me, without receiving
+any other return from me than my thanks. I staid with them three weeks,
+doing nothing on account of the bruises I had received. The Susan's had
+been a thorough wreck. Not enough of her could be found, of which to build
+a launch. Her cargo was as effectually destroyed as her hull, and, to say
+the truth, it took but little to break her up. As for the two lads, I
+could not get as far as the cabin in which they had been put. It was two
+or three miles along the coast, and, having no shoes, I could not walk
+that distance over the sharp stones. Several messages passed between us,
+but I never saw a single soul that belonged to the brig, after the last
+look I had of Tibbets in the companion-way.
+
+A coaster passing near the cabin, and it falling calm, the fisherman went
+off to her, told my story, and got a passage for me to Liverpool. I now
+took my leave of these honest people, giving them all I had--my sincere
+thanks--and went on board the sloop. Here I was well treated, nor did any
+one expect me to work. We reached Liverpool the second day, and I went and
+hunted up Molly Hutson, the landlady with whom the crew of the Sterling
+had lodged, when Captain B---- had her. The old woman helped me to some
+clothes, received me well, and seemed sorry for my misfortunes. As it
+would not do to remain idle, however, I shipped on board the Robert Burns,
+and sailed for New York within the week. I got no wages, but met with
+excellent treatment, and had a very short winter passage. In less than
+three months after I left him, I was back again with my old landlord, who
+gave me my hundred dollars without any difficulty. I had sailed with him
+in the Sterling, and he always seemed to think of me a little differently
+from what landlords generally think of Jack.
+
+A good deal was said among my associates, now, about the advantages of
+making a voyage to the coast of Ireland for the purpose of smuggling
+tobacco, and I determined to try my hand at one. Of the morality of
+smuggling I have nothing to say. I would not make such a voyage now, if I
+know myself; but poor sailors are not taught to make just distinctions in
+such things, and the merchants must take their share of the shame. I fear
+there are few merchants, and fewer seamen, man-of-war officers excepted,
+who will not smuggle.[13]
+
+I laid out most of my hundred dollars, in getting a new outfit, and then
+shipped in a small pilot-boat-built schooner, called the M'Donough, bound
+to Ireland, to supply such honest fellows as my old fisherman with good
+tobacco, cheap. Our cargo was in small bales, being the raw material,
+intended to be passed by hand. We had seventeen hands before the mast, but
+carried no armament, pistols, &c., excepted. The schooner sailed like a
+witch, carrying only two gaff-topsails. We made the land in fourteen days
+after we left the Hook, our port being Tory Island, off the north-west
+coast of Ireland. We arrived in the day-time, and showed a signal, which
+was answered in the course of the day, by a smoke on some rocks. A large
+boat then came off to us, and we filled her with tobacco the same evening.
+In the course of the night, we had despatched four or five more boats,
+loaded with the same cargo; but, as day approached, we hauled our wind,
+and stood off the land. Next night we went in, again, and met more boats,
+and the succeeding morning we hauled off, as before. When we saw a boat,
+we hailed and asked "if they were outward bound." If the answer was
+satisfactory, we brailed the foresail and permitted the boat to come
+alongside. In this manner we continued shoving cargo ashore, for quite a
+week, sometimes falling in with only one boat of a night, and, at others,
+with three or four; just as it might happen. We had got about two-thirds
+of the tobacco out, and a boat had just left us, on the morning of the
+sixth or seventh day, when we saw a man-of-war brig coming round Tory
+Island, in chase. At this sight, we hauled up close on a wind, it blowing
+very fresh. As the English never employed any but the fastest cruisers for
+this station, we had a scratching time of it. The brig sailed very fast,
+and out-carried us; but our little schooner held on well. For two days and
+one night we had it, tack and tack, with her. The brig certainly gained on
+us, our craft carrying a balanced reefed-mainsail, bonnet off the foresail
+and one reef in, and bonnet off the jib. The flying-jib was inboard. At
+sunset, on the second night, the brig was so near us, we could see her
+people, and it was blowing fresher than ever. This was just her play,
+while ours was in more moderate weather. Our skipper got uneasy, now, and
+determined to try a trick. It set in dark and rainy; and, as soon as we
+lost sight of the brig, we tacked, stood on a short distance, lowered
+everything, and extinguished all our lights. We lay in this situation
+three hours, when we stuck the craft down again for Tory Island, as
+straight as we could go. I never knew what became of the brig, which may
+be chasing us yet, for aught I know for I saw no more of her. Next day we
+had the signal flying again, and the smoke came up from the same rock, as
+before. It took us three days longer to get all the tobacco ashore, in
+consequence of some trouble on the island; but it all went in the end, and
+went clear, as I was told, one or two boat-loads excepted. The cargo was
+no sooner out, than we made sail for New York, where we arrived in another
+short passage. We were absent but little more than two months, and my
+wages and presents came to near one hundred dollars. I never tried the
+tobacco trade again.
+
+
+
+Chapter XI.
+
+
+
+I now stayed ashore two months. I had determined to study navigation, and
+to try to get off the forecastle, in which wise course I was encouraged by
+several discreet friends. I had fallen in with a young woman of
+respectable character and agreeable person, and, to own the truth, was
+completely in irons with her. I believe a mother is a good deal more on
+the look-out than a father, in such matters; for I was overhauled by the
+old woman, and questioned as to my intentions about Sarah, whereas the old
+man was somewhat more moderate. I confessed my wish to marry her daughter;
+but the old woman thought I was too wild, which was not Sarah's opinion, I
+believe. Had we been left to ourselves, we should have got married; though
+I was really desirous of going out once as an officer, before I took so
+important a step. I have sometimes suspected that Sarah's parents had a
+hand in getting me shipped, again, as they were intimate with the captain
+who now proposed to take me with him as his second-mate. I consented to
+go, with some reluctance; but, on the whole, thought it was the best thing
+I could do. My reluctance proceeded from desire to remain with Sarah,
+when the time came; though the berth was exactly the thing I wanted,
+whenever I reasoned coolly on the subject.
+
+I shipped, accordingly, in a vessel of the Costers', called the William
+and Jane, bound to Holland and Canton, as her second-mate. My leave-taking
+with Sarah was very tender; and I believe we both felt much grieved at the
+necessity of parting. Nothing occurred on the passage out worth
+mentioning. I got along with my duty well enough, for I had been broken-in
+on, board the Sterling, and one or two other vessels. We went to the
+Texel, but found some difficulty in procuring dollars, which caused us to
+return to New York, after getting only twenty thousand. We had no other
+return cargo, with the exception of a little gin. We were absent five
+months; and I found Sarah as pretty, and as true, as ever. I did not quit
+the vessel, however; but, finding my knowledge of the lunars too limited,
+I was obliged to go backward a little--becoming third-mate. We were a
+month in New York, and it was pretty hard work to keep from eloping with
+Sarah; but I clawed off the breakers as well as I could. I gave her a
+silver thimble, and told her to take it to a smith, and get our joint
+names cut on it, which she did. The consequences of this act will be seen
+in the end.
+
+We had a little breeze on board the ship before we could get off; the
+people refusing to sail with a new first-mate that had joined her. It
+ended by getting another mate, when we went to sea. I believe that no
+other vessel ever went out with such articles as our crew insisted on. The
+men stipulated for three quarts of water a day, and the forenoon's watch
+below. All this was put in black and white, and it gave us some trouble
+before we got to our destination.
+
+Our passage out was a very long one, lasting two hundred and ten days.
+When we got into the trades, we stripped one mast after the other, to a
+girt-line, overhauling everything, and actually getting new gangs of
+rigging up over the lower-mast-heads. We were a long time about it, but
+lost little or nothing in distance, as the ship was going before the wind
+the whole time, with everything packed on the masts that were rigged.
+Before overhauling the rigging, we fell in with an English ship, called
+the General Blucher, and kept company with her for quite a fortnight.
+While the two ships were together, we were chased by a strange brig, that
+kept in sight three or four days, evidently watching us, and both vessels
+suspected him of being a pirate. As we had six guns, and thirty-one souls,
+and the Blucher was, at least, as strong, the two captains thought, by
+standing by each other, they might beat the fellow off, should he attack
+us. The brig frequently came near enough to get a good look at us, and
+then dropped astern. He continued this game several days, until he
+suddenly hauled his wind, and left us. Our ship would have been a famous
+prize; having, it was said, no less than two hundred and fifty thousand
+Spanish dollars on board.
+
+We parted company with the Blucher, in a heavy gale; our ship bearing up
+for Rio. After getting rid of some of our ballast, however, and changing
+the cargo of pig-lead, our vessel was easier, and did not go in. Nothing
+further occurred, worth mentioning, until we got off Van Diemen's Land.
+Two days after seeing the land, a boy fell from the fore-top-gallant yard,
+while reeving the studding-sail halyards. I had just turned in, after
+eating my dinner, having the watch below, when I heard the cry of "a man
+overboard!" Running on deck, as I was, I jumped into a quarter-boat,
+followed by four men, and we were immediately lowered down. The ship was
+rounded-to, and I heard the poor fellow calling out to me by name, to save
+him. I saw him, astern, very plainly, while on the ship's quarter; but
+lost sight of him, as soon as the boat was in the water. The sky-light-hood
+had been thrown overboard, and was floating in the ship's wake. We steered
+for that; but could neither see nor hear anything more of the poor fellow.
+We got his hat, and we picked up the hood of the sky-light, but could not
+find the boy. He had, unquestionably, gone down before we reached the spot
+where he had been floating, as his hat must have pointed out the place. We
+got the hat first; and then, seeing nothing of the lad, we pulled back to
+take in the hood; which was quite large. While employed in taking it in, a
+squall passed over the boat; which nearly blew it away from us. Being very
+busy in securing the hood, no one had leisure to look about; but the duty
+was no sooner done, than one of the men called out, that he could not see
+the ship! Sure enough, the William and Jane had disappeared! and there we
+were, left in the middle of the ocean, in a six-oared pinnace, without a
+morsel of food, and I myself, without hat, shoes, jacket or trowsers. In a
+word, I had nothing on me but my drawers and a flannel shirt. Fortunately,
+the captain kept a breaker of fresh water in each boat, and we had a small
+supply of this great requisite;--enough, perhaps, to last five men two or
+three days.
+
+All our boats had sails; but those of the pinnace had been spread on the
+quarter-deck, to dry; and we had nothing but the ash to depend on. At
+first, we pulled to leeward; but the weather was so thick, we could not
+see a cable's-length; and our search for the vessel, in that direction,
+proved useless. At the end of an hour or two, we ceased rowing, and held a
+consultation. I proposed to pull in the direction of the land; which was
+pulling to windward. If the ship should search for us, it would certainly
+be in that quarter; and if we should miss her, altogether, our only chance
+was in reaching the shore. There, we might find something to eat; of which
+there was little hope, out on the ocean. The men did not relish the idea
+of quitting the spot; but, after some talk, they came into my plan.
+
+It remained thick weather all that afternoon, night, and succeeding day,
+until about noon. We were without a compass, and steered by the direction
+of the wind and sea. Occasionally it lightened up a little, so as to show
+us a star or two, or during the day to permit us to see a few miles around
+the boat; but we got no glimpse of the ship. It blew so heavily that we
+made no great progress, in my judgment doing very little more than keeping
+the boat head to sea. Could we have pulled four oars, this might not have
+been the case, but we took it watch and watch, two men pulling, while two
+tried to get a little rest, under the shelter of the hood. I steered as
+long as I could, but was compelled to row part of the time to keep myself
+warm. In this manner were passed about six-and-twenty of the most
+unpleasant hours of my life, when some of us thought they heard the report
+of a distant gun. I did not believe it; but, after listening attentively
+some ten or fifteen minutes, another report was heard, beyond all dispute,
+dead to leeward of us!
+
+This signal produced a wonderful effect on us all. The four oars were
+manned, and away we went before the wind and sea, as fast as we could
+pull, I steering for the reports as they came heavily up to windward at
+intervals of about a quarter of an hour. Three or four of these guns were
+heard, each report sounding nearer than the other, to our great joy, until
+I got a glimpse of the ship, about two miles distant from us. She was on
+the starboard tack, close hauled, a proof she was in search of us, with
+top-gallant-sails set over single-reefed topsails. She was drawing ahead
+of us fast, however, and had we not seen her as we did, we should have
+crossed her wake, and been lost without a hope, by running to leeward. We
+altered our course the instant she was seen; but what could a boat do in
+such a sea, pulling after a fast ship under such canvass? Perhaps we felt
+more keen anxiety, after we saw the ship, than we did before, since we
+beheld all the risk we ran. Never shall I forget the sensations with which
+I saw her start her main-tack and haul up the sail! The foresail and
+top-gallant-sail followed, and then the main-yard came round, and laid the
+topsail aback! Everything seemed to fly on board her, and we knew we were
+safe. In a few minutes we were alongside. The boat was at the davits, the
+helm was up, and the old barky squared away for China.
+
+We in the boat were all pretty well fagged out with hunger, toil, and
+exposure. I was the worst off, having so little clothing in cool weather,
+and I think another day would have destroyed us all, unless we had taken
+refuge in the well-known dreadful alternative of seamen. The captain was
+delighted to see us, as indeed were all hands. They had determined to turn
+to windward, on short tacks, until they made the land, the best thing that
+could have been done, and the course that actually saved us.
+
+When we got into the latitude of Port Jackson, the crew was put on two
+quarts of water a man, three quarts having been stipulated for in the
+articles. This produced a mutiny, the men refusing duty. This was awkward
+enough, in that distant sea. The captain took advantage of the men's going
+below, however, to secure the scuttle and keep them there. He then
+mustered us, who lived aft, six men and three boys, and laid the question
+before us, _whether we would take the ship into Canton_, or go into Port
+Jackson, and get some water. He admitted we were about seventy-five days
+run from Cauton, but he himself leaned to the plan of continuing on our
+course. We saw all the difficulties before us, and told him of them.
+
+There were twenty men below, and to carry them eight or ten thousand miles
+in that situation, would have been troublesome, to say the least, and
+might have caused the death of some among them. We were armed, and had no
+apprehensions of the people, but we did not like to work a ship of five
+hundred tons with so few hands, one-third of whom were boys, so great a
+distance. The crew, moreover, had a good deal of right on their side, the
+articles stipulating that they should have the water, and this water was
+to be had a short distance to windward.
+
+The captain yielded to our reasoning, and we beat up to Port Jackson,
+where we arrived in three or four days. The people were then sent to
+prison, as mutineers, and we watered the ship. We were in port a
+fortnight, thus occupied. All this time the men were in gaol. No men were
+to be had, and then arose the question about trusting the old crew. There
+was no choice, and, the ship being ready to sail, we received the people
+on board again, and turned them all to duty. We had no further trouble
+with them, however, the fellows behaving perfectly well, as men commonly
+will, who have been once put down. No mutiny is dangerous when the
+officers are apprized of its existence, and are fairly ready to meet it.
+The king's name is a tower of strength.
+
+We arrived at Canton in due time, and found our cargo ready for us. We
+took it in, and sailed again, for the Texel, in three weeks. Our passage
+to Europe was two hundred and eleven days, but we met with no accident. At
+the Texel I found two letters from New York, one being from Sarah, and the
+other from a female friend. Sarah was married to the very silversmith who
+had engraven our names on the thimble! This man saw her for the first
+time, when she carried that miserable thimble to him, fell in love with
+her, and, being in good circumstances, her friends prevailed on her to
+have him. Her letter to me admitted her error, and confessed her
+unhappiness; but there was no remedy. I did not like the idea of returning
+to New York, under the circumstances, and resolved to quit the ship. I
+got my discharge, therefore, from the William and Jane, and left her,
+never seeing the vessel afterwards.
+
+There was a small Baltimore ship, called the Wabash, at the Texel, getting
+ready for Canton, and I entered on board her, as a foremast Jack, again.
+My plan was to quit her in China, and to remain beyond the Capes for ever.
+The disappointment in my matrimonial plans had soured me, and I wanted to
+get as far from America as I could. This was the turning point of my life,
+and was to settle my position in my calling. I was now twenty-seven, and
+when a man gets stern-way on him, at that age, he must sail a good craft
+ever to work his way into his proper berth again.
+
+The Wabash had a good passage out, without any unusual occurrence. On her
+arrival at Canton, I told the captain my views, and he allowed me to go. I
+was now adrift in the Imperial Empire, with a couple of hundred dollars in
+my pocket, and a chest full of good clothes. So far all was well, and I
+began to look about me for a berth. We had found an English country ship
+lying at Whampao, smuggling opium, and I got on board of her, as
+third-mate, a few days after I quitted the Wabash. This was the first and
+only time I ever sailed under the English flag, for I do not call my other
+passages in English vessels, sailing _under_ the flag, though it was
+waving over my head. My new ship was the Hope, of Calcutta, commanded by
+Captain Kid, or Kyd, I forget which. The vessel was built of teak, and had
+been a frigate in the Portuguese service. She was so old no one knew
+exactly when she was built, but sailed like a witch. Her crew consisted
+principally of Lascars, with a few Europeans and negroes, as is usual in
+those craft. My wages did not amount to much in dollars, but everything
+was so cheap, they counted up in the long run. I had perquisites, too,
+which amounted to something handsome. They kept a very good table.
+
+The Hope had a good deal of opium, when I joined her, and it was all to be
+smuggled before we sailed. As this trade has made a great deal of noise,
+latterly, I will relate the manner in which we disposed of the drug. Of
+the morality of this species of commerce, I have no more to say in its
+defence, than I had of the tobacco voyage, unless it be to aver that were
+I compelled, now, to embark in one of the two, it should be to give the
+countrymen of my honest fisherman cheap tobacco, in preference to making
+the Chinese drunk on opium.
+
+Our opium was packed in wooden boxes of forty cylinders, weighing about
+ten pounds each cylinder. Of course each box weighed about four hundred
+pounds. The main cargo was cotton, and salt-petre, and ebony; but there
+were four hundred boxes of this opium.
+
+The sales of the article were made by the captain, up at the factory. They
+seldom exceeded six or eight boxes at a time, and were oftener two or
+three. The purchaser then brought, or sent, an order on board the ship,
+for the delivery of the opium. He also provided bags. The custom-house
+officers did not remain in the ship, as in other countries, but were on
+board a large armed boat, hanging astern. These crafts are called Hoppoo
+boats. This arrangement left us tolerably free to do as we pleased, on
+board. If an officer happened to come on board, however, we had early
+notice of it, of course. As third-mate, it was my duty to see the boxes
+taken out of the hold, and the opium delivered. The box was opened, and
+the cylinders counted off, and stowed in the bags, which were of sizes
+convenient to handle. All this was done on the gun-deck, the purchaser
+receiving possession of his opium, on board us. It was his loss, if
+anything failed afterwards.
+
+As soon as the buyer had his opium in the bags, he placed the latter near
+two or three open ports, amidships, and hung out a signal to the shore.
+This signal was soon answered, and then it was look out for the smuggling
+boats! These smuggling boats are long, swift, craft, that have
+double-banked paddles, frequently to the number of sixty men. They are
+armed, and are swift as arrows. When all is ready, they appear suddenly on
+the water, and dash alongside of the vessel for which they are bound, and
+find the labourers of the purchaser standing at the ports, with the bags
+of cylinders ready. These bags are thrown into the boat, the purchaser and
+his men tumble after them, and away she paddles, like a racer. The whole
+operation occupies but a minute or two.
+
+As soon as the Hoppoo boat sees what is going on, it begins to blow
+conches. This gives the alarm, and then follows a chase from an armed
+custom-house boat, of which there are many constantly plying about. It
+always appeared to me that the custom-house people were either afraid of
+the smugglers, or that they were paid for not doing their duty. I never
+saw any fight, or seizure, though I am told such sometimes happen. I
+suppose it is in China, as it is in other parts of the world; that men
+occasionally do their whole duty, but that they oftener do not. If the
+connivance of custom-house officers will justify smuggling in China, it
+will justify smuggling in London, and possibly in New York.
+
+We not only smuggled cargo out, but we smuggled cargo in. The favourite
+prohibited article was a species of metal, that came in plates, like tin,
+or copper, of which we took in large quantities. It was brought to us by
+the smuggling-boats, and thrown on board, very much as the opium was taken
+out, and we stowed it away in the hold. All this was done in the day-time,
+but I never heard of any one's following the article into the ship. Once
+there, it appeared to be considered safe. Then we got sycee silver, which
+was prohibited for exportation. All came on board in the same manner. For
+every box of opium sold, the mate got a china dollar as a perquisite. Of
+course my share on four hundred boxes came to one hundred and thirty-three
+of these dollars, or about one hundred and sixteen of our own. I am
+ashamed to say there was a great deal of cheating all round, each party
+evidently regarding the other as rogues, and, instead of "doing as they
+_would_ be done by," doing as they _thought_ they _were_ done by.
+
+The Hope sailed as soon as the opium was sold, about a month, and had a
+quick passage to Calcutta. I now began to pick up a little Bengalee, and,
+before I left the trade, could work a ship very well in the language. The
+Lascars were more like monkeys than men aloft, though they wanted
+strength. A topsail, that six of our common men would furl, would employ
+twenty of them. This was partly from habit, perhaps, though they actually
+want physical force. They eat little besides rice, and are small in frame.
+We had a curious mode of punishing them, when slack, aloft. Our standing
+rigging was of grass, and wiry enough to cut even hands that were used to
+it. The ratlines were not seized to the forward and after shrouds, by
+means of eyes, as is done in our vessels, but were made fast by a round
+turn, and stopping back the ends. We used to take down all the ratlines,
+and make the darkies go up without them. In doing this, they took the
+rigging between the great and second toe, and walked up, instead of
+shinning it, like Christians. This soon gave them sore toes, and they
+would beg hard to have the ratlines replaced. On the whole, they were
+easily managed, and were respectful and obedient. We had near a hundred of
+these fellows in the Hope, and kept them at work by means of a boatswain
+and four mates, all countrymen of their own. In addition, we had about
+thirty more souls, including the Europeans--Christians, as we were called!
+
+At Calcutta we loaded with cotton, and returned to Canton, having another
+short passage. We had no opium in the ship, this time, it being out of
+season; but we smuggled cargo in, as before. We lay at Whampao a few
+weeks, and returned to Calcutta. By this time the Hope was dying of old
+age, and Captain Kyd began to think, if he did not bury her, she might
+bury him. Her beams actually dropped, as we removed the cotton at Canton,
+though she still remained tight. But it would have been dangerous to
+encounter heavy weather in her.
+
+A new ship, called the Hopping Castle, had been built by Captain Kyd's
+father-in-law, expressly for him. She was a stout large vessel, and
+promised to sail well. The officers wore all transferred to her; but most
+of the old Lascars refused to ship, on account of a quarrel with the
+boatswain. This compelled us to ship a new set of these men, most of whom
+were strangers to us.
+
+By a law of Calcutta, if anything happens to a vessel before she gets to
+sea, the people retain the two months' advance it is customary to give
+them. This rule brought us into difficulty. The Hopping Castle cleared for
+Bombay, with a light cargo. We had dropped down the river, discharged the
+pilot, and made sail on our course, when a fire suddenly broke up out of
+the fore-hatch. A quantity of grass junk, and two or three cables of the
+same material, were in that part of the ship, and they all burnt like
+tinder. I went with the other officers and threw overboard the powder,
+but it was useless to attempt extinguishing the flames. Luckily, there
+were two pilot brigs still near us, and they came alongside and received
+all hands. The Hopping Castle burnt to the water's edge, and we saw her
+wreck go down. This was a short career for so fine a ship, and it gave us
+all great pain; all but the rascals of Lascars. I lost everything I had in
+the world in her, but a few clothes I saved in a small trunk. I had little
+or no money, Calcutta being no place for economy. In a country in which it
+is a distinction to be a white man, and _called_ a Christian, one must
+maintain his dignity by a little extravagance.
+
+Captain Kyd felt satisfied that the Lascars had set his ship on fire, and
+he had us all landed on Tiger Island. Here the serang, or boatswain, took
+the matter in hand, and attempted to find out the facts. I was present at
+the proceeding, and witnessed it all. It was so remarkable as to deserve
+being mentioned. The men were drawn up in rings, of twenty or thirty each,
+and the boatswain stood in the centre. He then put a little white powder
+into each man's hand, and ordered him to spit in it. The idea was that the
+innocent men would spit without any difficulty, while the mouths of the
+guilty would become too dry and husky to allow them to comply. At any
+rate, the serang picked out ten men as guilty, and they were sent to
+Calcutta to be tried. I was told, afterwards, that all these ten men
+admitted their guilt, criminated two more, and that the whole twelve were
+subsequently hanged in chains, near Castle William. Of the legal trial and
+execution I know nothing, unless by report; but the trial by spittle, I
+saw with my own eyes; and it was evident the Lascars looked upon it as a
+very serious matter. I never saw criminals in court betray more
+uneasiness, than these fellows, while the serang was busy with them.
+
+I was now out of employment. Captain Kyd wished me to go on an indigo
+plantation, offering me high wages. I never drank at sea, and had behaved
+in a way to gain his confidence, I believe, so that he urged me a good
+deal to accept his offers. I would not consent, however, being afraid of
+death. There was a Philadelphia ship, called the Benjamin Rush, at
+Calcutta, and I determined to join her. By this time, I felt less on the
+subject of my disappointment, and had a desire to see home, again. I
+shipped, accordingly, in the vessel mentioned, as a foremast hand. We
+sailed soon after, and had a pleasant passage to the Capes of the
+Delaware, which I now entered, again, for the first time since I had done
+so on my return from my original voyage on the Sterling.
+
+As soon as paid off, I proceeded to New York. I was short of cash; and, my
+old landlord being dead, I had to look about me for a new ship. This time,
+I went in a brig, called the Boxer, a clipper, belonging to John Jacob
+Astor, bound to Canton. This proved to be a pleasant and successful
+voyage, so far as the vessel was concerned, at least; the brig being back
+at New York, again, eight months after we sailed. I went in her before
+the mast.
+
+My money was soon gone; and I was obliged to ship again. I now went as
+second-mate, in the Trio; an old English prize-ship, belonging to David
+Dunham. We were bound to Batavia, and sailed in January. After being a
+short time at sea, we found all our water gone, with the exception of one
+cask. The remainder had been lost by the bursting of the hoops, in
+consequence of the water's having frozen. We went on a short allowance;
+and suffered a good deal by the privation. Our supercargo, a young
+gentleman of the name of Croes, came near dying. We went on, however,
+intending to go into one of the Cape de Verdes. We got up our casks, and
+repaired them, in the meanwhile. Off the Island of Fuego, we hove to, and
+found we could get no water. We got a few goats, and a little fruit; but
+were compelled to proceed. Luckily, it came on to rain very hard, and we
+stopped all the scuppers, filling every cask we had, in this easy manner.
+We began about eight at night, and were through before morning. Capital
+water it proved; and it lasted us to Batavia. There, indeed, it would even
+have brought a premium; being so much better than anything to be had in
+that port. It changed; but sweetened itself very soon.
+
+We first went into Batavia, and entered the ship; after which, we sailed
+for a roadstead, called Terragall, to take in rice. The vessel was in
+ballast, and had brought money to make her purchases with. We got our
+cargo off in boats, and sailed for Batavia, to clear; all within a few
+weeks. The second night out, the ship struck, in fair weather, and a
+moderate sea, on a mud-bank; and brought up all standing. We first
+endeavoured to force the vessel over the bank; but this did not succeed;
+and, the tide leaving her, the ship fell over on her bilge; bringing her
+gunwales under water. Luckily, she lay quiet; though a good deal strained.
+The captain now took a boat, and four men, and pulled ashore, to get
+prows, to lighten the vessel. We had but eight men before the mast, and
+six aft. This, of course, left only nine souls on board. That night
+nothing occurred; but, in the morning early, two piratical prows
+approached, and showed a disposition to board us. Mr. Croes was the person
+who saved the ship. He stuck up handspikes, and other objects, about deck;
+putting hats and caps on them, so as to make us appear very strong-handed.
+At the same time, we got a couple of sixes to bear on the prows; and
+succeeded in keeping them at a safe distance. They hovered about until
+sunset, when they left us; pulling ashore. Just as they were quitting us,
+twenty-seven boats hove in sight; and we made a signal to them, which was
+not answered. We set them down as enemies, too; but, as they came nearer,
+we perceived our own boat among them, and felt certain it was the captain.
+
+We discharged everything betwixt decks into the boats, that night, and got
+the ship afloat before morning. We now hove clear of the bank, restowed
+the cargo, and made sail for Batavia. The ship leaked badly, and kept us
+hard at the pumps. As there were no means for repairing the vessel where
+we were, it was resolved to take in extra hands, ship two box-pumps, and
+carry the vessel to the Isle of France, in order to repair her. I did not
+like the prospect of such a passage, and confess I played "old soldier" to
+get rid of it. I contrived to get, on a sick ticket, into the hospital,
+and the ship sailed without me. At the Isle of France, the Trio was
+condemned; her hulk being, in truth, much worse than my own, docked
+though I was.
+
+
+
+Chapter XII.
+
+
+
+As soon as the Trio was off, I got well. Little did I then think of the
+great risk I ran in going ashore; for it was almost certain death for an
+European to land, for any length of time, at that season. Still less did
+I, or _could_ I, anticipate what was to happen to myself, in this very
+hospital, a few years later; or how long I was to be one of its truly
+suffering, and, I hope, repentant inmates. The consul was frank enough to
+tell me that I had been shamming Abraham; and I so far imitated his
+sincerity as distinctly to state, it was quite true. I thought the old
+Trio ought to have been left on the bank, where Providence had placed her;
+but, it being the pleasure of her captain and the supercargo to take her
+bones to the Isle of France for burial, I did not choose to go so far,
+weeping through the pumps, to attend her funeral.
+
+As the consul held my wages, and refused to give me any money, I was
+compelled to get on board some vessel as soon as I could. Batavia was not
+a place for an American constitution, and I was glad to be off. I shipped,
+before the mast, in the Clyde, of Salem, a good little ship, with good
+living and good treatment. We sailed immediately, but not soon enough to
+escape the Batavia fever. Two of the crew died, about a week out, and were
+buried in the Straits of Banca. The day we lost sight of Java Head, it
+came on to blow fresh, and we had to take in the jib, and double-reef the
+topsails. A man of the name of Day went down on the bowsprit shrouds to
+clear the jib-sheets, when the ship made a heavy pitch, and washed him
+away. The second mate and myself got into the boat, and were lowered as
+soon as the ship was rounded-to. There was a very heavy sea on, but we
+succeeded in finding the poor fellow, who was swimming with great apparent
+strength. His face was towards the boat, and, as we came near, I rose, and
+threw the blade of my oar towards him, calling out to him to be of good
+cheer. At this instant, Day seemed to spring nearly his length out of
+water, and immediately sunk. What caused this extraordinary effort, and
+sudden failure, was never known. I have sometimes thought a shark must
+have struck him, though I saw neither blood nor fish. The man was
+hopelessly lost, and we returned to the ship, feeling as seamen always
+feel on such occasions.
+
+A few days later, another man died of the fever. This left but five of us
+in the forecastle, with the ship a long way to the eastward of the Cape of
+Good Hope. Before we got up with the Cape, another foremast hand went
+crazy, and, instead of helping us, became a cause of much trouble for the
+rest of the passage. In the end, he died, mad. We had now only three men
+in a watch, the officers included; and of course, it was trick and trick
+at the helm. Notwithstanding all this, we did very well, having a good
+run, until we got on the coast, which we reached in the month of January.
+A north-wester drove us off, and we had a pretty tough week of it, but
+brought the ship up to the Hook, at the end of that time, and anchored her
+safely in the East River. The Clyde must have been a ship of about three
+hundred tons, and, including every one on board, nine of us sailed her
+from the eastward of the Cape to her port, without any serious difficulty.
+
+I did not stay long ashore, for the money went like smoke, but shipped in
+a brig called the Margaret, bound to Belfast. This vessel struck in the
+Irish channel, but she was backed off with little difficulty, and got safe
+into her port. The return passage was pleasant, and without any accident.
+
+Such a voyage left little to spend, and I was soon on the look-out for a
+fresh berth. I shipped this time as mate, in a brig called the William
+Henry, bound on a smuggling voyage to the coast of Spain. We took in
+tobacco, segars, &c. &c., and the brig dropped down to Staten Island. Here
+I quarrelled with the captain about some cotton wick, and I threw up my
+situation. I knew there were more ships than parish churches, and felt no
+concern about finding a place in one, up at town. The balance of my
+advance was paid back, and I left the smuggling trade, like an honest man.
+I only wish this change of purpose had proceeded from a better motive.
+
+My next windfall was Jack's berth on board a beautiful little schooner
+called the Ida, that was to sail for Curacoa, in the hope of being
+purchased by the governor of the island or a yacht. I expected to find my
+way to the Spanish main, after the craft was sold. We got out without any
+accident, going into port of a Sunday morning. The same morning, an
+English frigate and a sloop-of-war came in and anchored. That afternoon
+these vessels commenced giving liberty to their men. We were alongside of
+a wharf, and, in the afternoon, our crew took a drift in some public
+gardens in the suburbs of the town. Here an incident occurred that is
+sufficiently singular to be mentioned.
+
+I was by myself in the garden, ruminating on the past, and, I suppose,
+looking melancholy and in the market, when I perceived an English
+man-of-war's-man eyeing me pretty closely. After a while, he came up, and
+fell into discourse with me. Something that fell from him made me distrust
+him from the first, and I acted with great caution. After sounding me for
+some time, he inquired if I had any berth. I told him, no. He then went
+on, little by little, until he got such answers as gave him confidence,
+when he let me into the secret of his real object. He said he belonged to
+the frigate, and had liberty until next morning--that he and four of his
+shipmates who were ashore, had determined to get possession of the pretty
+little Yankee schooner that was lying alongside of the Telegraph, at the
+wharf, and carry her down to Laguayra. All this was to be done that night,
+and he wished me to join the party. By what fell from this man, I made no
+doubt his design was to turn pirate, after he had sold the flour then in
+the Ida. I encouraged him to so on, and we drank together, until he let me
+into his whole plan. The scheme was to come on board the schooner, after
+the crew had turned in, to fasten all hands below, set the foresail and
+jib, and run out with the land-breeze; a thing that was feasible enough,
+considering there is never any watch kept in merchant-vessels that lie
+at wharves.
+
+After a long talk, I consented to join the enterprise, and agreed to be,
+at nine o'clock, on board the Telegraph, a Philadelphia ship, outside of
+which our schooner lay. This vessel had a crew of blacks, and, as most of
+them were then ashore, it was supposed many would not return to her that
+night. My conspirator observed--"the Yankees that belong to the schooner
+are up yonder in the garden, and will be half drunk, so they will all be
+sound asleep, and can give us little trouble." I remember he professed to
+have no intention of hurting any of us, but merely to run away with us,
+and sell the craft from under us. We parted with a clear understanding of
+the manner in which everything was to be done.
+
+I know no other reason why this man chose to select me for his companion
+in such an adventure, than the circumstance that I happened to be alone,
+and perhaps I may have looked a little under the weather. He was no sooner
+gone, however, than I managed to get near my shipmates, and to call them
+out of the garden, one by one. As we went away, I told them all that had
+happened, and we laid our counter-plot. When we reached the Telegraph, it
+was near night, and finding only two of the blacks on board her, we let
+them into the secret, and they joined us, heart and hand. We got something
+to drink, as a matter of course, and tried to pass the time as well as we
+could, until the hour for springing the mine should arrive.
+
+Pretty punctually to the hour, we heard footsteps on the quay, and then a
+gang of men stopped alongside of the ship. We stowed ourselves under the
+bulwarks, and presently the gentlemen came on board, one by one. The
+negroes were too impatient, however, springing out upon their prey a
+little too soon. We secured three of the rascals, but two escaped us, by
+jumping down upon the quay and running. Considering we were all captains,
+this was doing pretty well.
+
+Our three chaps were Englishmen, and I make no doubt belonged to the
+frigate, as stated. As soon as they were fairly pinned, and they
+understood there was no officer among us, they began to beg. They said
+their lives would be forfeited if we gave them up, and they entreated us
+to let them go. We kept them about half an hour, and finally yielded to
+their solicitations, giving them their liberty again. They were very
+thankful for their escape, especially as I told them what had passed
+between myself and the man in the garden. This fellow was one of the two
+that escaped, and had the appearance of a man who might very well become a
+leader among pirates.
+
+The next day the two men-of-war went to sea, and I make no doubt carried
+off the intended pirates in them. As for us seamen, we never told our own
+officers anything about the affair, for I was not quite satisfied with
+myself, after letting the scoundrels go. One scarcely knows what to do in
+such a case, as one does not like to be the means of getting a
+fellow-creature hanged, or of letting a rogue escape. A pirate, of all
+scoundrels, deserves no mercy, and yet Jack does not relish the idea of
+being a sort of Jack Ketch, neither. If the thing were to be done over
+again, I think I should hold on to my prisoners.
+
+We discharged our cargo of flour, and failing in the attempt to sell the
+schooner, we took in dye-wood, and returned to New York. I now made a
+serious attempt to alter my mode of living, and to try to get up a few
+rounds of the great ladder of life. Hitherto, I had felt a singular
+indifference whether I went to sea as an officer, or as a foremast Jack,
+with the exception of the time I had a marriage with Sarah in view. But I
+was now drawing near to thirty, and if anything was to be done, it must be
+done at once. Looking about me, I found a brig called the Hippomenes,
+bound to Gibraltar, and back. I shipped before the mast, but kept a
+reckoning, and did all I could to qualify myself to become an officer. We
+had a winter passage out, but a pleasant one home. Nothing worthy of being
+recorded, however, occurred. I still continued to be tolerably correct,
+and after a short stay on shore, I shipped in the Belle Savage, commanded
+by one of the liberated Halifax prisoners, who had come home in the Swede,
+at the time of my own return. This person agreed to take me as chief mate,
+and I shipped accordingly. The Belle Savage was a regular Curacoa trader,
+and we sailed ten or twelve days after the Hippomenes got in. Our passages
+both ways were pleasant and safe, and I stuck by the craft, endeavouring
+to be less thoughtless and careless about myself. I cannot say, however, I
+had any very serious plans for making provision for old age, my maxim
+being to live as I went along.
+
+Our second passage out to Curacoa, in the Belle Savage, was pleasant, and
+brought about nothing worthy of being mentioned. At Curacoa we took in
+mahogany, and in so doing a particularly large log got away from us, and
+slid, end on, against the side of the vessel. We saw no consequences at
+the time, and went on to fill up, with different articles, principally
+dye-woods, coffee, cocoa, &c. We got some passengers, among whom was a Jew
+merchant, who had a considerable amount of money on board. When ready, we
+sailed, being thirty souls in all, crew and passengers included.
+
+The Belle Savage had cleared the islands, and was standing on her course,
+one day, with a fair wind and a five or six knot breeze, under a
+fore-top-mast studding-sail, everything looking bright and prosperous. The
+brig must have been about a day's run to the southward of Bermuda. It was
+my watch below, but having just breakfasted, I was on deck, and looking
+about me carelessly, I was struck with the appearance of the vessel's
+being deeper than common. I had a little conversation about it, with a man
+in the forechains, who thought the same thing. This man leaned over, in
+order to get a better look, when he called out that he could see that we
+had started a butt! I went over, immediately, and got a look at this
+serious injury. A butt had started, sure enough, just under the chains,
+but so low down as to be quite out of our reach. The plank had started
+quite an inch, and it was loosened as much as two feet, forward and aft.
+We sounded the pumps, as soon as possible, and found the brig was half
+full of water!
+
+All hands were now called to get both the boats afloat, and there was
+certainly no time to be lost. The water rose over the cabin-floor while we
+were doing it. We did not stand to get up tackles, but cut away the rail
+and launched the long-boat by hand. We got the passengers, men, women,
+children, and servants into her, as fast as possible, and followed
+ourselves. Fortunately, there had been a brig in company for some time,
+and she was now less than two leagues ahead of us, outsailing the Belle
+Savage a little. We had hoisted our ensign, union down, as a signal of
+distress, and well knew she must see that our craft had sunk, after it
+happened, if she did not observe our ensign. She perceived the signal,
+however, and could not fail to notice the manner in which the brig was all
+adrift, as soon as we deserted the helm. The strange brig had hauled up
+for us even before we got out the launch. This rendered any supply of food
+or water unnecessary, and we were soon ready to shove off. I was in the
+small boat, with three men. We pulled off a little distance, and lay
+looking at our sinking craft with saddened eyes. Even the gold, that
+precious dust which lures so many souls to eternal perdition, was
+abandoned in the hurry to save the remnants of lives to be passed on
+earth. The Belle Savage settled quite slowly into the ocean, one sail
+disappearing after another, her main-royal being the last thing that went
+out of sight, looking like the lug of a man-of-war's boat on the water. It
+is a solemn thing to see a craft thus swallowed up in the great vortex of
+the ocean.
+
+The brig in sight proved to be the Mary, of New York, from St. Thomas,
+bound home. She received us kindly, and six days later landed us all at no
+great distance from Fulton Market. When my foot touched the wharf, my
+whole estate was under my hat, and my pockets were as empty as a vessel
+with a swept hold. On the wharf, itself, I saw a man who had been
+second-mate of the Tontine, the little ship in which I had sailed when I
+first ran from the Sterling. He was now master of a brig called the
+Mechanic, that was loading near by, for Trinidad de Cuba. He heard my
+story, and shipped me on the spot, at nine dollars a month, as a forward
+hand. I began to think I was born to bad luck, and being almost naked, was
+in nowise particular what became of me. I had not the means of getting a
+mate's outfit, though I might possibly have got credit; but at no period
+of my life did I run in debt. Here, then, my craft got stern-way on her
+again, and I had a long bit of rough water to go over.
+
+The Mechanic sailed four or five days after the Mary arrived, and I
+travelled the old road over again. Nothing happened until we got to the
+southward of Cuba. But my bad luck had thrown me into the West India trade
+at the very moment when piracy was coming to its height in those seas,
+though I never thought on the subject at all. Off the Isle of Pines, one
+morning, we made a schooner and a sloop, in-shore of us, and both bore up
+in chase. We knew them to be pirates, and crowded sail dead before the
+wind to get clear. The captain determined, if necessary, to run down as
+far as Jamaica, where he expected to fall in with some of the English
+cruisers. The schooner sailed very fast, and was for coming up with us,
+but they made the mistake of setting a flying-topsail on board her, and
+from that moment we dropped her. It was thought in our brig, that the
+little craft buried too much, with such a pressure aloft. The chase lasted
+all day, a Sunday, and a part of the night; but the following morning
+nothing was to be seen of either of our pursuers. Our captain, whose name
+was Ray, thought he knew who commanded the schooner, a man who had been
+his enemy, and it was believed the pirates knew our brig, as she was a
+regular trader to Trinidad. This made our captain more ticklish, and was
+the reason he was off so soon.
+
+When we found the coast clear, we hauled up, again, and made our port
+without further molestation. The chase was so common a thing, that little
+was said about the affair. We discharged, took in a new cargo, and sailed
+for home in due time. Care was had in sailing at an early hour, and we
+sent a boat out to look if the coast were clear, before we put to sea. We
+met with no interruption, however, reaching New York in due time.
+
+Captain Ray was desirous I should stick by the brig; but, for some reason
+I cannot explain, I felt averse to returning to Trinidad. I liked the
+vessel well enough, was fond of the captain, and thought little of the
+pirates; and yet I felt an unaccountable reluctance to re-shipping in the
+craft. It was well I had this feeling, for, I have since heard, this very
+schooner got the brig the next passage out, murdered all hands, and burnt
+the vessel, in sight of the port! I set this escape down, as one of the
+many unmerited favours I have received from Providence.
+
+My next berth was that of second-mate on board a new ship, in the
+Charleston trade, called the Franklin. I made the voyage, and, for a
+novelty, did not run in the southern port, which was a rare circumstance
+in that place.
+
+I got but twelve dollars, as dickey, in the Franklin, and left her to get
+twenty, with the same berth, on board a ship called the Foster, commanded
+by the same master as had commanded the Jane, in my former voyage to
+Ireland. The Foster was bound to Belfast, which port we reached without
+any accident. We took in salt, and a few boxes of linens, for Norfolk;
+arrived safe, discharged, and went up the James river to City Point, after
+a cargo of tobacco. Thence we sailed for Rotterdam. The ship brought back
+a quantity of gin to New York, and this gin caused me some trouble. We had
+a tremendous passage home--one of the worst I ever experienced at sea. The
+ship's rudder got loose, and was secured with difficulty. We had to reef
+all three of our top-masts, also, to save the spars; after which we could
+only carry double-reefed topsails. It was in the dead of winter, and the
+winds hung to the westward for a long time. The cook, a surly negro, was
+slack in duty, and refused to make scous for us, though there were plenty
+of potatoes on board. All the people but five were off duty, and it came
+hard on those who kept watch. We determined, at length, to bring the black
+to his senses, and I had him seized to the windlass. Everybody but the
+captain took three clips at him; the fellow being regularly cobbed,
+according to sea usage. This was lawful punishment for a cook.
+
+We got our scous after this, but the negro logged the whole transaction,
+as one may suppose. He was particularly set against me, as I had been
+ringleader in the cobbing. The weather continued bad, the watches were
+much fagged, and the ship gave no grog. At length I could stand it no
+longer, or thought I could not; and I led down betwixt decks, tapped a
+cask of gin, introduced the stem of a clean pipe and took a nip at the
+bowl. All my watch smoked this pipe pretty regularly, first at one cask
+and then at another, until we got into port. The larboard watch did the
+same, and I do think the strong liquor helped us along that time. As bad
+luck would have it, the cook's wood was stowed among the casks, and, one
+morning, just as the last of us had knocked off smoking, we saw the wool
+of this gentleman heaving in sight, through the hatch by which we went
+down. Still, nothing was said until we came to be paid off, when the darky
+came out with his yarn. I owned it all, and insisted we never could have
+brought the ship in, unless we had got the gin. I do believe both captain
+and owner were sorry we had been complained of, but they could not
+overlook the matter. I was mulcted five-and-twenty dollars, and left the
+ship. I know I did wrong, and I know that the owners did what was right;
+but I cannot help thinking, bad as gin is on a long pull, that this did us
+good. I was not driven from the ship; on the contrary, both master and
+Owners wished me to remain; but I felt a little savage, and quitted their
+employment.
+
+That I did not carry a very bad character away with me, is to be proved by
+the fact that I shipped, the same day, on board the Washington, a vessel
+bound to London, and which lay directly alongside of the Foster. I had the
+same berth as that I had just left, with the advantage of getting better
+wages. This voyage carried me to London for the first time since I left it
+in the Sterling. Too many years had elapsed, in the interval, for me to
+find any old acquaintances; and I had grown from a boy to a man. Here I
+got a little insight into the business of carrying passengers, our ship
+bringing more or less, each passage. I stuck by the Washington a year,
+making no less than three voyages in her; the last, as her chief mate.
+Nothing occurred worth mentioning in the four first passages across the
+Atlantic; but the fifth produced a little more variety.
+
+The Washington had proved to be a leaky ship, every passage I made in her.
+We had docked her twice in London, and it had done her good. The first
+week out, on the fifth passage, the ship proved tight, but the weather was
+moderate. It came on to blow heavily, however, when we got to the eastward
+of the Banks; and the vessel, which was scudding under her close-reefed
+main-topsail and foresail, laboured so much, that I became uneasy. I knew
+she was overloaded, and was afraid of the effects of a gale. It was my
+practice to keep one pump ready for sounding the wells, and I never
+neglected this duty in my watch. When the gale was at the height, in my
+forenoon's watch below, I felt so uncomfortable, that I turned out and
+went on deck, in nothing but my trowsers, to sound, although I had sounded
+less than two hours before, and found the water at the sucking-height,
+only. To my surprise, it was now three feet!
+
+This change was so great and so sudden, all of us thought there must be
+some mistake. I carried the rod below, to dry it, and covered the lower
+part with ashes. I could not have been busy in drying the rod more than
+ten or fifteen minutes, when it was lowered again. The water had risen
+several inches in that short period!
+
+All this looked very serious; and I began to think a third raft was to
+founder under me. After a short consultation it was determined to lighten
+the ship. The foresail was hauled up, the men got into the rigging to keep
+clear of the seas, and the vessel was rounded-to. We then knocked away the
+wash-boards in the wake of the two hatches, and began to tumble the
+barrels of turpentine on deck. I never felt so strong in my life, nor did
+so much work in so short a time. During the labour I went below to splice
+the main-brace, and, after putting a second-mate's nip of brandy into my
+glass, filled it, as I supposed, with water, drinking it all down without
+stopping to breathe. It turned out that my water was high-proof gin; yet
+this draught had no more effect on me than if it had been so much cold
+water. In ordinary times, it would have made me roaring drunk.
+
+We tumbled up all the cargo from betwixt decks, landing it on deck, where
+it rolled into the sea of itself, and were about to begin upon the lower
+hold, when the captain called out avast, as the pumps gained fast. Half an
+hour later, they sucked. This was joyful news, indeed, for I had begun to
+think we should be driven to the boats. Among the cargo were some pickled
+calf-skins. In the height of the danger I caught the cook knocking the
+head out of a cask, and stowing some of the skins in a tub. Asking the
+reason why he did this, he told me he wanted to take some of those fine
+skins home with him! It was a pity they should be lost!
+
+As soon as the pumps sucked, the ship was kept away to her course, and she
+proved to be as tight as a bottle. Eight or ten days later, while running
+on our course under studding-sails, we made a large vessel ahead, going
+before the wind like ourselves, but carrying reefed topsails, with
+top-gallant-sails over them, and her ensign whipped. Of course we neared
+her fast, and as we came up with her, saw that she was full of men, and
+that her crew were pumping and bailing. We knew how to pity the poor
+fellows, and running alongside, demanded the news. We were answered first
+with three cheers, after which we heard their story.
+
+The vessel was an English bark, full of soldiers, bound to New Brunswick.
+She had sprung a leak, like ourselves, and was only kept afloat by
+constant pumping and bailing. She had put back for England on account of
+the wind and the distance. Our captain was asked to keep near the
+transport, and we shortened sail accordingly. For three days and nights
+the two vessels ran side by side, within hail; our passengers and officers
+drinking to theirs, and _vice versa_, at dinner. On the fourth day, the
+weather being fine, the wind fair, and our reckoning making us near the
+channel, we told the Englishman we would run ahead, make the land, and
+heave-to. We stood in so far that the poor fellows owned afterwards they
+thought we had left them. This was not our intention, however, for we no
+sooner made the land than we hauled up, and brought them the joyful news
+of its vicinity. They cheered us again, as we closed with them, and both
+ships jogged on in company.
+
+Next morning, being well in with the land, and many vessels in sight, the
+Englishmen desired us to make sail, as they could carry their bark into
+Falmouth. We did so, and reached London, in due time. On our return to New
+York, the Washington was sold, and I lost my preferment in that
+employment, though I went with a character to another vessel, and got the
+same berth.
+
+
+
+Chapter XIII.
+
+
+
+My next craft was the Camillus, a ship that was bound to Greenock, via
+Charleston. We got to the latter port without accident, and took in a
+cargo of cotton. The ship was all ready for sailing of a Saturday, and the
+captain had gone ashore, telling me he would be on board early in the
+morning, when we could haul out and go to sea, should the wind be
+favourable. I gave the people their Saturday's night, and went into the
+cabin to freshen the nip, myself. I took a glass or two, and certainly had
+more in me than is good for a man, though I was far from being downright
+drunk. In a word, I had too much, though I could have carried a good deal
+more, on a pinch. The steward had gone ashore, and there being no
+second-mate, I was all alone.
+
+In this state of things, I heard a noise, and went on deck to inquire
+what was the matter. My old ship, the Franklin, was shifting her berth,
+and her jib-boom had come foul of our taffrail. After some hailing, I got
+on the taffrail to shove our neighbour off, when, by some carelessness of
+my own, I fell head-foremost, hitting the gunwale of the boat, which was
+hanging, about half way up to the davits, into the water. The tide set me
+away, and carried me between the wharf and the ship astern of us, which
+happened to be the William Thompson, Captain Thompson, owner Thompson,
+mate Thompson, and all Thompson, as Mathews used to have it. Captain
+Thompson was reading near the cabin windows, and he luckily heard me
+groan. Giving the alarm, a boat was got round, and I taken in. As the
+night was dark, and I lost all consciousness after the fall, I consider
+this escape as standing second only to that from the shark in the West
+Indies, and old Trant's gun, the night the Scourge went down. I did not
+recover my recollection for several hours. This was not the effect of
+liquor, but of the fall, as I remember everything distinctly that occurred
+before I went from the taffrail. Still I confess that liquor did all the
+mischief, as I had drunk just enough to make me careless.
+
+In the morning, I found myself disabled in the left arm, and I went to a
+doctor. This gentleman said he never told a fellow what ailed him until he
+got his whack. I gave him a dollar, and he then let me into the secret. My
+collar-bone was broken. "And, now," says he, "for another dollar I'll
+patch you up." I turned out the other Spaniard, when he was as good as his
+word. Going in the ship, however, was out of the question, and I was
+obliged to get a young man to go on board the Camillus in my place; thus
+losing the voyage and my berth.
+
+I was now ashore, with two or three months of drift before me. Since the
+time I joined the Washington, I had been going regularly ahead, and I do
+think had I been able to stick by the Camillus, I might have brought up a
+master. I had laid up money, and being employed while in port, I was
+gradually losing my taste for sailor amusements, and getting more respect
+for myself. That fall from the Jaffrail was a sad drawback for me, and I
+never recovered the lee-way it brought about.
+
+I was more than two months ashore, behaving myself rationally on account
+of my arm. At the end of that time, I went on board the Sally, a ship also
+bound to Greenock, as her second-mate. This vessel belonged to Charleston,
+and it was intended she should return to her own port. The voyage turned
+out well, and my arm got as strong as ever. On reaching Charleston, I left
+the craft, which was laid up, and shipped in a schooner of the same name,
+bound to St. Domingo, as her chief mate. This was no great craft,
+certainly, though she proved a tight, wholesome sea-boat. We went out
+without any accident, arriving in safety at Cape Henry. After discharging
+cargo, and smuggling on board a quantity of doubloons--four hundred and
+eighty, it was said--we got under way for the island of Cuba. We intended
+to go into Matanzas, and kept along the coast. After crossing the Windward
+Passage, we reached Cuba; and were standing on, with a light wind, under
+our square-sail, the morning of the third day out, when we saw a large
+boat, carrying two sails, standing out from the shore, evidently in chase
+of the schooner. We had on board eight souls, viz. the owner, a Frenchman,
+who had been a dragoon in the service of his own country, but who was now
+between seventy and eighty; the captain, myself, a boy, the cook, and four
+men forward. We could see that there were nine men in the boat. We had no
+arms in the schooner, not even a pistol, and the men in the boat had
+muskets. We did not ascertain this last fact, however, for some time. I
+thought the strangers pirates the moment I saw them come out from under
+the land, but the captain maintained that they were turtle-men. The boat
+was rowing, and came up with us, hand over hand. When near, they commenced
+firing muskets at us, to drive us below. All the crew forward, with the
+cook, ran down into the forecastle, leaving no one on deck but the
+captain, the old Frenchman, and myself. The boy got into the
+companion-way.
+
+What the others did on deck, as these gentry came alongside, amusing
+themselves with keeping up a smart fire of musketry, I do not know; but my
+own occupation was to dodge behind the foremast. It was not long, however,
+before they came tumbling in, and immediately got possession of the
+schooner. One or two came forward and secured the forecastle hatch, to
+keep the people down. Then they probably felt that they were masters. One
+chap drew a fearful-looking knife, long, slender, sharp and glittering,
+and he cut the halyards of the square-sail. All the men I saw in the
+schooner struck me as Americans, or English, affecting to be Spaniards.
+There is such a difference in the height, complexion, and general
+appearance of the people of Spain, and those of the two other countries,
+without reference to the manner of speaking, that I do not think I could
+be mistaken. I saw but one man among these pirates, whom I took for a real
+Spaniard. It is true their faces were all blacked to disguise them, but
+one could get enough glimpses of the skin to judge of the true colour.
+There was no negro among them.
+
+The chap who cut away the square-sail halyards, I felt certain was no
+Spaniard. The sail was no sooner down, than he ran his knife along the
+head, below the bolt-rope, as if to cut away the cloth with the least
+trouble to himself. I was standing near, and asked him why he destroyed
+the sail; if he wanted it, why he did not take it whole? At this, he
+turned short round upon me, raised his arm, and struck a heavy blow at me
+with his fearful-looking knife. The point of the deadly weapon struck
+square on my breast-bone! I fell, partly through the force of the blow,
+and partly from policy; for I thought it safest to be lying on my back. I
+got several hearty kicks, in addition to this fierce attack, together with
+sundry curses in broken Spanish. I spoke in English, of course; and that
+the man understood me was clear enough by the expression of his
+countenance, and his act. The wound was slight, though it bled a good
+deal, covering my shirt and trowsers with blood, as much as if I had been
+run through the heart. An inch or two, either way, in the direction of the
+knife, would certainly have killed me.
+
+I do not know what might haye been the end of this affair, had not one of
+the pirates come forward, at this critical instant, and checked my
+assailant by shaking a finger at him. This man, I feel very certain, I
+knew. I will not mention his name, as there is a doubt; but I cannot think
+I was mistaken. If I am right, he was a young man from Connecticut, who
+sailed one voyage to Liverpool with me in The Sterling. With that young
+man I had been very intimate, and was oftener with him ashore than with
+any other of the crew. His face was blackened, like those of all his
+companions, but this did not conceal his air, manner, size, eyes and
+voice. When he spoke, it was in a jargon of broken English and broken
+Spanish, such as no man accustomed to either language from infancy would
+have used. The same was true as to all the rest I heard speak, with the
+exception of an old fellow in the boat, whom I shall presently have
+occasion to mention, again.
+
+The man I took to be my old shipmate, also seemed to know me. I was but a
+lad when I quitted the Sterling, it is true; but they tell me I have not
+altered a great deal in general appearance. My hair is still black; and
+then, when I was in the very prime of life, it must have been easy to
+recognize me. So strongly was I impressed, at the time, that I saw an old
+acquaintance, I was about to call him by name, when, luckily, it crossed
+my mind this might be dangerous. The pirates wished clearly to be unknown,
+and it was wisest to let them think they were so. My supposed shipmate,
+however, proved my friend, and I received no more personal ill treatment
+after he had spoken to his companion. I sometimes think he was the means,
+indeed, of saving all our lives. He asked me if there was any money, and,
+on my denying it, he told me they knew better: the schooner was in
+ballast, and must have got something for her outward cargo. I refused to
+tell, and he ordered me into their boat, whither the captain had been sent
+before me. In doing all this, his manner wore an appearance, to me, of
+assumed severity.
+
+The poor old Frenchman fared worse. They seemed to know he was owner, and
+probably thought he could give the best account of the money. At any rate,
+he was unmercifully flogged, though he held out to the last, refusing to
+betray his doubloons. The boy was next attacked-with threats of throwing
+him overboard. This extracted the secret, and the doubloons were soon
+discovered.
+
+The captain and myself had been stowed under a half-deck, in the boat, but
+as soon as the money was found, the old Spaniard, who stood sentinel over
+us, was told to let us out, that we might see the fun. There were the
+eight scoundrels, paraded around the trunk of the schooner, dividing the
+doubloons. As soon as this was done, we were told to come alongside with
+our boat, which had been used to carry us to the piratical craft. The
+captain got on board the Sally and I was ordered to scull the rogues, in
+one gang, back to their own craft. The scamps were in high spirits,
+seeming much pleased with their haul. They cracked a good many jokes at
+our expense, but were so well satisfied with their gold, that they left
+the square-sail behind them. They had robbed the cabin, however, carrying
+off, for me, a quadrant, a watch, and a large portion of my clothes. The
+forecastle had not been entered, though the men had four hundred dollars
+lying under a pile of dirt and old junk, to keep them out of sight.
+
+My supposed shipmate bore me in mind to the last. When we reached his
+craft, he poured out a glass of brandy and offered it to me. I was afraid
+to drink, thinking it might be poisoned. He seemed to understand me, and
+swallowed it himself, in a significant manner. This gave me courage, and I
+took the next nip without hesitation. He then told me to shove off, which
+I did without waiting for a second order. The pirates pulled away at the
+same time.
+
+We were a melancholy party, as soon as we found ourselves left to
+ourselves. The old Frenchman was sad enough, and all of us pitied him. He
+made no complaint of the boy, notwithstanding, and little was said among
+us about the robbery. My wound proved trifling, though the old man was so
+bruised and beaten that he could scarcely walk.
+
+As soon as a breeze came, we went into Charleston, having no means to buy
+the cargo we had intended to get at Matanzas. This was the first time I
+was ever actually boarded by a pirate, although I had had several narrow
+escapes before. The first was in the Sterling, off the coast of Portugal;
+the next was in the William and Jane, outward bound to Canton; the third
+was on the bank, in the Trio, off the coast of Java; and the fourth, in
+the Mechanic, on the other side of Cuba. It was not the last of my affairs
+with them, however, as will be seen in the sequel.
+
+I went out in the Sally again, making a voyage to Matanzas and back,
+without any accident, or incident, worth mentioning. I still intended to
+remain in this schooner, the captain and I agreeing perfectly well, had I
+not been driven out of her by one of those unlucky accidents, of which so
+many have laid me athwart-hawse.
+
+We were discharging sugar at Charleston, in very heavy casks. The tide
+being in, the vessel's rail was higher than the wharf, and we landed the
+casks on the rail, from which they were rolled down some planks to the
+shore. Two negroes were stationed on the wharf to receive the casks, and
+to ease them down. One of these fellows was in the practice of running up
+the planks, instead of standing at their side and holding on to the end of
+the hogsheads. I remonstrated with him several times about the danger he
+ran, but he paid no attention to what I said. At length my words came
+true; a cask got away from the men, and rolled directly over this negro,
+flattening him like a bit of dough.
+
+This was clearly an accident, and no one thought of accusing me of any
+connection with it. But the owner of the black looked upon him as one
+would look upon a hack-horse that had been lamed, or killed; and he came
+down to the schooner, on hearing that his man was done for, swearing I
+should pay for him! As for paying the price of an athletic "nigger," it
+was even more impossible for me, than it would seem it is for the great
+State of Pennsylvania to pay the interest on its debt; and, disliking a
+lawsuit, I carried my dunnage on board another vessel that same afternoon,
+and agreed to work my passage to New York, as her second-mate.
+
+The vessel I now went on board of was the Commodore Rodgers, a regular
+liner between the two ports. We sailed next morning, and I paid for the
+poor "nigger" with the fore-topsail. The ship's husband was on board as we
+hauled out, a man who was much in the habit of abusing the mates. On this
+occasion he was particularly abusive to our chief mate; so much so,
+indeed, that I remonstrated with the latter on his forbearance. Nothing
+came of it, however, though I could not forget the character of the man
+who had used such language. When we reached New York, our chief mate left
+us, and I was offered the berth. It was a little hazardous to go back to
+Charleston, but wages were low, and business dull, the yellow fever being
+in New York, and I thought, by a little management, I might give my
+"nigger owner" a sufficient berth. I accordingly agreed to go.
+
+When we got back to Charleston, our ship lay at her own wharf, and I saw
+nothing of my chap. He worked up town, and we lay low down, But another
+misfortune befel me, that led even to worse consequences. The ship's
+husband, who was so foul-mouthed, was as busy as ever, blackguarding right
+and left, and finding fault with everything. Our cargo was nearly out, and
+this man and I had a row about some kegs of white lead. In the course of
+the dialogue, he called me "a saucy son of a b--h." This was too much for
+my temper, and I seized him and sent him down the hatchway. The fall was
+not great, and some hemp lay in the wake of the hatch; but the chap's
+collar-bone went. He sung out like a singing-master, but I did not stop to
+chime in. Throwing my slate on deck in a high passion, I left the ship and
+went ashore. I fell in with the captain on the wharf, told him my story,
+got a promise from him to send me my clothes, and vanished. In an hour or
+two, half the constables in Charleston were in chase of me. I kept so
+close they could not find me, lying snug for a couple of days.
+
+This state of things could not last for ever. The constables were not half
+so ferocious as they seemed; for one of them managed to get me off, on
+board a coaster, called the Gov. Russel; where I engaged, I may say, as
+chief mate and all hands. The Gov. Russel was a Buford trader, making
+trips about fifteen or twenty leagues long. This was the smallest
+navigation, and the smallest craft, a gun-boat excepted, with which I ever
+had anything to do. The crew consisted of two negroes, both slaves to the
+owner, while the captain and myself were aft. Whether she would have held
+so many, or not, I never knew, as the captain did not join, while I
+belonged to her. The schooner lay three miles below the town; and, in so
+much, was a good craft for me; as no one would think of following an old
+Canton trader into such a 'long-shore-looking thing. We busied ourselves
+in painting her, and in overhauling her rigging, while the ship's husband,
+and his myrmidons, amused themselves in searching for me up in town.
+
+I had been on board the Gov. Russel three days, when it came on to blow
+from the southward and westward, in true southern style. The gale came on
+butt-end foremost; and was thought to be as severe, as anything seen in
+the port for many a year. Most of the shipping broke adrift from the
+wharves; and everything that was anchored, a man-of-war and a
+revenue-cutter excepted, struck adrift, or dragged. As for ourselves, we
+were lying at single anchor; and soon began to walk down towards the bar.
+I let go the spare anchor; but she snapped her cables, as if they had been
+pack-thread; and away she went to leeward. Making sail was out of the
+question, had any been bent, as ours were not; and I had to let her travel
+her own road.
+
+All this happened at night; when it was so dark, one could not see,
+between the spray, the storm and the hour, the length of the craft. I knew
+we were going towards the ocean; and my great cause of apprehension was
+the bar. Looking for the channel, was out of the question; I did not know
+it, in the first place; and, had I been a branch-pilot, I could not find
+it in the dark. I never was more completely adrift, in my life, ashore or
+afloat. We passed a most anxious hour, or two; the schooner driving,
+broadside-to, I knew not whither, or to what fate. The two blacks were
+frightened out of their wits; and were of no assistance to me.
+
+At length, I felt the keel come down upon the sands; and then I knew we
+were on the bar. This happened amid a whirlwind of spray; with nothing
+visible but the white foam of the waters, and the breakers around us. The
+first blow threw both masts out of the steps; ripping up the decks to a
+considerable extent. The next minute we were on our beam-ends; the sea
+making a clear breach over us. All we could do, was to hold on; and this
+we did with difficulty. I and the two blacks got on the weather-quarter of
+the schooner, where we lashed ourselves with the main-sheet. As this was a
+stout rope, something must part, before we could be washed away. The craft
+made but two raps on the bar, when she drifted clear.
+
+I now knew we were at sea, and were drifting directly off the coast. As we
+got into deep water, the sea did not make such terrible surges over us;
+though they continued to break over our quarter. The masts were thumping
+away; but for this I cared little, the hold being full of water already.
+Sink we could not, having a wept hold, and being built, in a great
+measure, of pine. The schooner floated with about five feet of her
+quarter-deck above water. Her bows had settled the most; and this gave us
+rather a better chance aft.
+
+Fortunately, we got the worst of this blow at the first go off. The wind
+began to lessen in strength soon after we passed the bar, and by day-light
+it only blew a stiff breeze. No land was in sight, though I knew, by the
+colour of the water, that we could not be a very great distance from the
+coast. We had come out on an ebb-tide, and this had set us off the land,
+but all that southern coast is so low, that it was not to be seen from the
+surface of the ocean at any great distance.
+
+The day that succeeded was sad and dreary enough. The weather was fine,
+the sun coming out even hot upon us, but the wind continued to blow fresh
+off the land, and we were drifting further out, every instant, upon the
+bosom of the ocean. Our only hope was in falling in with some coaster, and
+I began to dread drifting outside of their track. We were without food or
+water, and were partly seated on the rail, and partly supported by the
+main-sheet. Neither of us attempted to change his berth that day. Little
+was said between us, though I occasionally encouraged the negroes to hold
+on, as something would yet pick us up. I had a feeling of security on this
+head that was unreasonable, perhaps; but a sanguine temperament has ever
+made me a little too indifferent to consequences.
+
+Night brought no change, unless it was to diminish the force of the wind.
+A short time before the sun set, one of the negroes said to me, "Masser
+Ned, John gone." I was forward of the two blacks, and was not looking at
+them at the time; I suppose I may have been dozing; but, on looking up, I
+found that one of the negroes had, indeed, disappeared. How this happened
+I cannot say, as he appeared to be well lashed; but I suppose he worked
+himself free, and being exhausted, he fell into the water, and sunk before
+I could get a glimpse of him. There was nothing to be done, however, and
+the loss of this man had a tendency to make me think our situation worse
+than it had before seemed to be. Some persons, all good Christians I
+should suppose, will feel some curiosity to know whether a man in my
+situations had no disposition to take a religious view of his case, and
+whether his conscience did not apprise him of the chances of perdition
+that seemed to stare him in the face. In answer to this, I am compelled to
+say that no such thoughts came over me. In all my risks and emergencies, I
+am not sensible of having given a thought to my Maker. I had a sense of
+fear, an apprehension of death, and an instinctive desire to save my life,
+but no consciousness of the necessity of calling on any being to save my
+soul. Notwithstanding all the lessons I had received in childhood, I was
+pretty nearly in the situation of one who had never heard the name of the
+Saviour mentioned. The extent of my reflections on such subjects, was the
+self-delusion of believing that I was to save myself--I had done no great
+harm, according to the notions of sailors; had not robbed; had not
+murdered; and had observed the mariner's code of morals, so far as I
+understood them; and this gave me a sort of _claim_ on the mercy of God.
+In a word, the future condition of my soul gave me no trouble whatever.
+
+I dare say my two companions on this little wreck had the same
+indifference on this subject, as I felt myself. I heard no prayer, no
+appeal to God for mercy, nothing indeed from any of us, to show that we
+thought at all on the subject. Hunger gave me a little trouble, and during
+the second night I would fall into a doze, and wake myself up by dreaming
+of eating meals that were peculiarly grateful to me. I have had the same
+thing happen on other occasions, when on short allowance of food. Neither
+of the blacks said anything on the subject of animal suffering, and the
+one that was lost, went out, as it might be, like a candle.
+
+The sun rose on the morning of the second day bright and clear. The wind
+shifted about this time, to a gentle breeze from the southward and
+eastward. This was a little encouraging, as it was setting the schooner
+in-shore again, but I could discover nothing in sight. There was still a
+good deal of sea going, and we were so low in the water, that our range of
+sight was very limited.
+
+It was late in the forenoon, when the negro called out, suddenly, "Massa
+Ned, dere a vessel!" Almost at the same instant, I heard voices calling
+out; and, looking round I saw a small coasting schooner, almost upon us.
+She was coming down before the wind, had evidently seen us some time
+before we saw her, and now ranged up under our lee, and hove-to. The
+schooner down boat, and took us on board without any delay. We moved with
+difficulty, and I found my limbs so stiff as to be scarcely manageable.
+The black was in a much worse state than I was myself, and I think twelve
+hours longer would have destroyed both of us.
+
+The schooner that picked us up was manned entirely with blacks, and was
+bound into Charleston. At the time she fell in with us, we must have been
+twenty miles from the bar, it taking us all the afternoon, with a fair
+wind, to reach it. We went below, and as soon as I got in the cabin, I
+discovered a kettle of boiled rice, on which I pounced like a hawk. The
+negroes wished to get it away from me, thinking I should injure myself;
+but I would not part with it. The sweetest meal I ever had in my life, was
+this rice, a fair portion of which, however, I gave to my companion. We
+had not fasted long enough materially to weaken our stomachs, and no ill
+consequences followed from the indulgence. After eating heartily, we both
+lay down on the cabin floor, and went to sleep. We reached the wharf about
+eight in the evening. Just within the bar, the schooner was spoken by a
+craft that was going out in search of the Gov. Russel. The blacks told her
+people where the wreck was to be found, and the craft stood out to sea.
+
+I was strong enough to walk up to my boarding-house, where I went again
+into quarantine. The Gov. Russel was found, towed into port, was repaired,
+and went about her business, as usual, in the Buford trade. I never saw
+her or her captain again, however. I parted with the negro that was saved
+with me, on the wharf, and never heard anything about him afterwards,
+either. Such is the life of a sailor!
+
+I was still afraid of the constables. So much damage had been done to more
+important shipping, and so many lives lost, however, that little was said
+of the escape of the Gov. Russel. Then I was not known in this schooner by
+my surname. When I threw the ship's husband down the hold, I was Mr.
+Myers; when wrecked in the coaster, only Ned.
+
+
+
+Chapter XIV.
+
+
+
+Notwithstanding my comparative insignificance, there was no real security
+in remaining long in Charleston, and it was my strong desire to quit the
+place. As "beggars cannot be choosers," I was glad to get on board the
+schooner Carpenter, bound to St. Mary's and Philadelphia, for, and with,
+ship-timber, as a foremast hand. I got on board undetected, and we sailed
+the same day. Nothing occurred until after we left St. Mary's, when we met
+with a singular accident. A few days out, it blowing heavy at the time,
+our deck-load pressed so hard upon the beams as to loosen them, and the
+schooner filled as far as her cargo--yellow pine--would allow. This
+calamity proceeded from the fact, that the negroes who stowed the craft
+neglected to wedge up the beams; a precaution that should never be
+forgotten, with a heavy weight on deck. No very serious consequences
+followed, however, as we managed to drive the craft ahead, and finally got
+her into Philadelphia, with all her cargo on board. We did not lose a
+stick, which showed that our captain was game, and did not like to let go
+when he had once got hold. This person was a down-easter, and was well
+acquainted with the Johnstons and Wiscasset. He tried hard to persuade me
+to continue in the schooner as mate, with a view to carrying me back to my
+old friends; but I turned a deaf ear to his advice. To own the truth, I
+was afraid to go back to Wiscassett. My own desertion could not well be
+excused, and then I was apprehensive the family might attribute to me the
+desertion and death of young Swett. He had been my senior, it is true, and
+was as able to influence me as I was to influence him; but conscience is a
+thing so sensitive, that, when we do wrong, it is apt to throw the whole
+error into our faces.
+
+Quitting the Carpenter in Philadelphia, therefore, I went to live in a
+respectable boarding-house, and engaged to go out in a brig called the
+Margaret, working on board as a rigger and stevedore, until she should be
+ready to sail. My berth was to be that of mate. The owner of this brig was
+as notorious, in his way, as the ship's husband in Charleston I had heard
+his character, and was determined, if he attempted to ride me, as he was
+said to do many of his mates, and even captains, he should find himself
+mounted on a hard-going animal. One day, things came to a crisis. The
+owner was on the wharf, with me, and such a string of abuse as he launched
+out upon me, I never before listened to. A crowd collected, and my blood
+got up. I seized the man, and dropped him off the wharf into the water,
+alongside of some hoop-poles, that I knew must prevent any accident. In
+this last respect, I was sufficiently careful, though the ducking was very
+thorough. The crowd gave three cheers, which I considered as a proof I was
+not so very wrong. Nothing was said of any suit on this occasion; but I
+walked off, and went directly on board a ship called the Coromandel, on
+which I had had an eye, as a lee, for several days. In this vessel I
+shipped as second-mate; carrying with me all the better character for the
+ducking given to the notorious--------.
+
+The Coromandel was bound to Cadiz, and thence round the Horn. The outward
+bound cargo was flour, but to which ports we were going in South America,
+I was ignorant. Our crew were all blacks, the officers excepted. We had a
+good passage, until we got off Cape Trafalgar, when it came on to blow
+heavily, directly on end. We lay-to off the Cape two days, and then ran
+into Gibraltar, and anchored. Here we lay about a fortnight, when there
+came on a gale from the south-west, which sent a tremendous sea in from
+the Atlantic. This gale commenced in the afternoon, and blew very heavily
+all that night. The force of the wind increased, little by little, until
+it began to tell seriously among the shipping, of which a great number
+were lying in front of the Rock. The second day of the gale, our ship was
+pitching bows under, sending the water aft to the taffrail, while many
+other craft struck adrift, or foundered at their anchors. The Coromandel
+had one chain cable, and this was out. It was the only cable we used for
+the first twenty-four hours. As the gale increased, however, it was
+thought necessary to let go the sheet-anchor, which had a hempen cable
+bent to it. Our chain, indeed, was said to be the first that was ever used
+out of Philadelphia, though it had then been in the ship for some time,
+and had proved itself a faithful servant the voyage before. Unfortunately,
+most of the chain was out before we let go the sheet-anchor, and there was
+no possibility of getting out a scope of the hempen cable. Dragging on
+shore, where we lay, was pretty much out of the question, as the bottom
+shelved inward, and the anchor, to come home, must have gone up hill.[14]
+
+In this manner the Coromandel rode for two nights and two days, the sea
+getting worse and worse, and the wind, it anything, rather increasing. We
+took the weight of the last in squalls, some of which were terrific. By
+this time the bay was well cleared of craft, nearly everything having
+sunk, or gone ashore. An English packet lay directly ahead of us, rather
+more than a cable's length distant, and she held on like ourselves. The
+Governor Brooks, of Boston, lay over nearer to Algesiras, where the sea
+and wind were a little broken, and, of course, she made better weather
+than ourselves.
+
+About eight o'clock, the third night, I was in the cabin, when the men on
+deck sung out that the chain had gone. At this time the ship had been
+pitching her spritsail-yard under water, and it blew a little hurricane.
+We were on deck in a moment, all hands paying out sheet. We brought the
+ship up with this cable, but not until she got it nearly to the better
+end. Unfortunately, we had got into shoal water, or what became shoal
+water by the depth of the troughs. It was said, afterwards, we were in
+five fathoms water at this time, but for this I will not vouch. It seems
+too much water for what happened. Our anchor, however, did actually lie in
+sixteen fathoms.
+
+We had hardly paid out the cable, before the ship came down upon the
+bottom, on an even keel, apparently, with a force that almost threw those
+on deck off their feet. These blows were repeated, from time to time, at
+intervals of several minutes, some of the thumps being much heavier than
+others. The English packet must have struck adrift at the same time with
+ourselves, for she came down upon us, letting go an anchor in a way to
+overlay our cable. I suppose the rocks and this sawing together, parted
+our hempen cable, and away we went towards the shore, broadside-to. As the
+ship drifted in, she continued to thump; but, luckily for us, the sea made
+no breaches over her. The old Coromandel was a very strong ship, and she
+continued working her way in-shore, until she lay in a good substantial
+berth, without any motion. We manned the pumps, and kept the ship
+tolerably free of water, though she lay over considerably. The English
+packet followed us in, going ashore more towards the Spanish lines. This
+vessel bilged, and lost some of her crew. As for ourselves, we had a
+comfortable berth, considering the manner in which we had got into it. No
+apprehension was felt for our personal safety, and perfect order was
+observed on board. The men worked as usual, nor was there any extra
+liquor drunk.
+
+That night the gale broke, and before morning it had materially moderated.
+Lighters were brought alongside, and we began to discharge our flour into
+them. The cargo was all discharged, and all in good order, so far as the
+water was concerned; though several of the keelson bolts were driven into
+the ground tier of barrels. I am almost afraid to tell this story, but I
+know it to be true, as I released the barrels with my own hands. As soon
+as clear, the ship was hove off into deep water, on the top of a high
+tide, and was found to leak so much as to need a shore-gang at the pumps
+to keep her afloat. She was accordingly sold for the benefit of the
+underwriters. She was subsequently docked and sent to sea.
+
+Of course, this broke up our voyage. The captain advised me to take a
+second-mate's berth in the Governor Brooks, the only American that escaped
+the gale, and I did so. This vessel was a brig, bound round the Horn,
+also, and a large, new craft. I know of no other vessel, that lay in front
+of the Rock that rode out this gale; and she did it with two hempen cables
+out, partly protected, however, by a good berth. There was a Swede that
+came back next day to her anchorage, which was said to have got
+back-strapped, behind the Rock, by some legerdemain, and so escaped also.
+I do not know how many lives were lost on this occasion; but the
+destruction of property must have been very great.
+
+Three weeks after the gale, the Governor Brooks sailed. We had a hard time
+in doubling the Cape, being a fortnight knocking about between Falkland
+and the Main. We were one hundred and forty-four days out, touching
+nowhere, until we anchored at Callao. We found flour, of which our cargo
+was composed, at seven dollars a barrel, with seven dollars duty. The
+Franklin 74, was lying here, with the Aurora English frigate, the castle
+being at war with the people inland. Our flour was landed, and what became
+of it is more than I can tell.
+
+We now took in ballast, and ran down to Guayaquil. Here an affair occurred
+that might very well have given me the most serious cause of regret, all
+the days of my life. Our steward was a Portuguese negro, of the most
+vicious and surly temper. Most of the people and officers were really
+afraid of him. One evening, the captain and chief mate being both ashore,
+I was sitting on deck, idle, and I took a fancy to a glass of grog. I
+ordered the steward, accordingly, to pour me out one, and bring it up. The
+man pretended that the captain had carried off the keys, and no rum was to
+be had. I thought this a little extraordinary; and, as one would be very
+apt to be, felt much hurt at the circumstance. I had never been drunk in
+the craft, and was not a drunkard in one sense of the term, at all; seldom
+drinking so as to affect me, except when on a frolic, ashore.
+
+As I sat brooding over this fancied insult, however, I smelt rum; and
+looking down the sky-light, saw this same steward passing forward with a
+pot filled with the liquor. I was fairly blinded with passion. Running
+down, I met the fellow, just as he was coming out of the cabin, and
+brought him up all standing. The man carried a knife along his leg, a
+weapon that had caused a good deal of uneasiness in the brig, and he now
+reached down to get it. Seeing there was no time to parley, I raised him
+from the floor, and threw him down with great force, his head coming
+under. There he lay like a log, and all my efforts with vinegar and water
+had no visible effect.
+
+I now thought the man dead. He gave no sign of life that I could detect,
+and fear of the consequences came over me. The devil put it into my head
+to throw the body overboard, as the most effectual means of concealing
+what I had done. The steward had threatened to run, by swimming, more than
+once, and I believe had been detected in making such an attempt; and I
+fancied if I could get the body through one of the cabin-windows, it would
+seem as if he had been drowned in carrying his project into execution. I
+tried all I could first to restore the steward to life; but failing of
+this, I actually began to drag him aft, in order to force his body out of
+a cabin-window. The transom was high, and the man very heavy; so I was a
+good while in dragging the load up to the necessary height. Just as I got
+it there, the fellow gave a groan, and I felt a relief that I had never
+before experienced. It seemed to me like a reprieve from the gallows.
+
+I now took the steward down, upon one of the lower transoms, where he sat
+rubbing his head a few minutes, I watching him closely the whole time. At
+length he got up, and staggered out of the cabin. He went and turned in,
+and I saw no more of him until next day. As it turned out, good, instead
+of harm, resulted from this affair; the black being ever afterwards
+greatly afraid of me. If I did not break his neck, I broke his temper; and
+the captain used to threaten to set me at him, whenever he behaved amiss.
+I owned the whole affair to the captain and mate, both of whom laughed
+heartily at what had happened, though I rejoiced, in my inmost heart, that
+it was no worse.
+
+The brig loaded with cocao, in bulk, at Guayaquil, and sailed for Cadiz.
+The passage was a fine one, as we doubled the Horn at midsummer. On this
+occasion we beat round the cape, under top-gallant-sails. The weather was
+so fine, we stood close in to get the benefit of the currents, after
+tacking, as it seemed to me, within a league of the land. Our passage to
+Cadiz lasted one hundred and forty-one, or two, days, being nearly the
+same length as that out though much smoother.
+
+The French had just got possession of Cadiz, as we got in, and we found
+the white flag flying. We lay here a month, and then went round to the
+Rock. After passing a week at Gibraltar, to take in some dollars, we
+sailed for New Orleans, in ballast. As I had been on twenty-two dollars a
+month, there was a pretty good whack coming to me, as soon as we reached
+an American port, and I felt a desire to spend it, before I went to sea
+again. They wished me to stick by the brig, which was going the very same
+voyage over; but I could not make up my mind to travel so long a road,
+with a pocket full of money. I had passed so many years at sea, that a
+short land cruise was getting to be grateful, as a novelty.
+
+The only craft I could get on board of, to come round into my own
+latitude, in order to enjoy myself in the old way, was an eastern
+schooner, called the James. On board this vessel I shipped as mate, bound
+to Philadelphia. She was the most meagre craft, in the way of outfit, I
+ever put to sea in. Her boat would not swim, and she had not a spare spar
+on board her. In this style, we went jogging along north, until we were
+met by a north-west gale, between Bermuda and Cape Hatteras, which forced
+us to heave-to. During this gale, I had a proof of the truth that "where
+the treasure is, there will the heart be also."
+
+I was standing leaning on the rail, and looking over the schooner's
+quarter, when I saw what I supposed to be a plank come up alongside! The
+idea of sailing in a craft of which the bottom was literally dropping out,
+was not very pleasant, and I thought all was lost. I cannot explain the
+folly of my conduct, except by supposing that my many escapes at sea, had
+brought me to imagine I was to be saved, myself, let what would happen to
+all the rest on board. Without stopping to reflect, I ran below and
+secured my dollars. Tearing up a blanket, I made a belt, and lashed about
+twenty-five pounds weight of silver to my body, with the prospect before
+me of swimming two or three hundred miles with it, before I could get
+ashore. As for boat, or spars, the former would not float, and of the last
+there was not one. I now look back on my acts of this day with wonder, for
+I had forgotten all my habitual knowledge of vessels, in the desire to
+save the paltry dollars. For the first and only time in my life I felt
+avaricious, and lost sight of everything in money!
+
+It was my duty to sound the pumps, but this I did not deem necessary. No
+sooner were the dollars secure, or, rather, ready to anchor me in the
+bottom of the ocean, than I remembered the captain. He was asleep, and
+waking him up, I told him what had happened. The old man, a dry, drawling,
+cool, down-easter, laughed in my face for my pains, telling me I had seen
+one of the sheeting-boards, with which he had had the bottom of the
+schooner covered, to protect it from the worms, at Campeachy, and that I
+need be under no concern about the schooner's bottom. This was the simple
+truth, and I cast off the dollars, again, with a sneaking consciousness of
+not having done my duty. I suppose all men have moments when they are not
+exactly themselves, in which they act very differently from what it has
+been their practice to act. On this occasion, I was not alarmed for
+myself, but I thought the course I took was necessary to save that dross
+which lures so many to perdition. Avarice blinded me to the secrets of my
+own trade.
+
+I had come all the way from New Orleans to Philadelphia, to spend my four
+hundred dollars to my satisfaction. For two months I lived respectably,
+and actually began to go to church. I did not live in a boarding-house,
+but in a private family. My landlady was a pious woman, and a member of
+the Dutch Reformed Church, but her husband was a Universalist. I must say,
+I liked the doctrine of the last the best, as it made smooth water for the
+whole cruise. I usually went with the man to church of a morning, which
+was falling among shoals, as a poor fellow was striving to get into port.
+I received a great deal of good advice from my landlady, however, and it
+made so much impression on me as to influence my conduct; though I cannot
+say it really touched my heart. I became more considerate, and better
+mannered, if I were not truly repentant for my sins. These two months were
+passed more rationally than any time of mine on shore, since the hour when
+I ran from the Sterling.
+
+The James was still lying in Philadelphia, undergoing repairs, and waiting
+for freight; but being now ready for sea, I shipped in her again, on a
+voyage to St. Thomas, with a cargo of flour. When we sailed, I left near a
+hundred dollars behind me, besides carrying some money to sea; the good
+effects of good company. At St. Thomas we discharged, and took in ballast
+for Turk's Island, where we got a cargo of salt, returning with it to
+Philadelphia. My conduct had been such on board this schooner, that her
+commander, who was her owner, and very old, having determined to knock off
+going to sea, tried to persuade me to stick by the craft, promising to
+make me her captain as soon as he could carry her down east, where she
+belonged. I now think I made a great mistake in not accepting this offer,
+though I was honestly diffident about my knowledge of navigation. I never
+had a clear understanding of the lunars, though I worked hard to master
+them. It is true, chronometers were coming into general use, in large
+vessels, and I could work the time; but a chronometer was a thing never
+heard of on board the James. Attachment to the larger towns, and a dislike
+for little voyages, had as much influence on me as anything else. I
+declined the offer; the only direct one ever made me to command any sort
+of craft, and remained what I am. I had a little contempt, too, for
+vessels of such a rig and outfit, which probably had its influence. I
+liked rich owners.
+
+On my return to Philadelphia, I found the family in which I had last lived
+much deranged by illness. I got my money, but was obliged to look for new
+lodgings. The respectable people with whom I had been before, did not keep
+lodgers, I being their only boarder; but I now went to a regular sailor's
+boarding-house. There was a little aristocracy, it is true, in my new
+lodgings, to which none but mates, dickies, and thorough salts came; but
+this was getting into the hurricane latitudes as to morals. I returned to
+all my old habits, throwing the dollars right and left, and forgetting all
+about even a Universalist church.
+
+A month cleaned me out, in such company. I spent every cent I had, with
+the exception of about fifteen dollars, that I had laid by as nest-eggs. I
+then shipped as second-mate, in the Rebecca Simms, a ship bound to St.
+Jago de Cuba, with flour. The voyage lasted four months; producing nothing
+of moment, but a little affair that was personal to myself, and which cost
+me nearly all my wages. The steward was a saucy black; and, on one
+occasion, in bad weather, he neglected to give me anything warm for
+breakfast. I took an opportunity to give him a taste of the end of the
+main-clew-garnet, as an admonisher; and there the matter ended, so long
+as I remained in the ship. It seemed quite right, to all on board, but the
+steward. He bore the matter in mind, and set a whole pack of quakers on
+me, as soon as we got in. The suit was tried; and it cost me sixty
+dollars, in damages, beside legal charges. I dare say it was all right,
+according to law and evidence; but I feel certain, just such a rubbing
+down, once a week, would have been very useful to that same steward.
+Well-meaning men often do quite as much harm, in this world, as the
+evil-disposed. Philanthropists of this school should not forget, that, if
+colour is no sufficient reason why a man should be always wrong, it is no
+sufficient reason why he should be always right.
+
+The lawsuit drove me to sea, again, in a very short time. Finding no
+better berth, and feeling very savage at the blindness of justice, I
+shipped before the mast, in the Superior, an Indiaman, of quite eight
+hundred tons, bound to Canton. This was the pleasantest voyage I ever made
+to sea, in a merchantman, so far as the weather, and, I may say, usage,
+were concerned. We lost our top-gallant-masts, homeward bound; but this
+was the only accident that occurred. The ship was gone nine months; the
+passage from Whampao to the capes having been made in ninety-four days.
+When we got in, the owners had failed, and there was no money forthcoming,
+at the moment. To remain, and libel the ship, was dull business; so,
+leaving a power of attorney behind me, I went on board a schooner, called
+the Sophia, bound to Vera Cruz, as foremast Jack.
+
+The Sophia was a clipper; and made the run out in a few days. We went into
+Vera Cruz; but found it nearly deserted. Our cargo went ashore a little
+irregularly; sometimes by day, and sometimes by night; being assorted, and
+suited to all classes of customers. As soon as ready, we sailed for
+Philadelphia, again; where we arrived, after an absence of only
+two months.
+
+I now got my wages for the Canton voyage; but they lasted me only a
+fortnight! It was necessary to go to sea, again; and I went on board the
+Caledonia; once more bound to Canton. This voyage lasted eleven months;
+but, like most China voyages, produced no event of importance. We lost our
+top-gallant-masts, this time, too; but that is nothing unusual, off Good
+Hope. I can say but little, in favour of the ship, or the treatment.
+
+On getting back to Philadelphia, the money went in the old way. I
+occasionally walked round to see my good religious friends, with whom I
+had once lived, but they ceased to have any great influence over my
+conduct. As soon as necessary, I shipped in the Delaware, a vessel bound
+to Savannah and Liverpool. Southern fashion, I ran from this vessel in
+Savannah, owing her nothing, however, but was obliged to leave my
+protection behind, as it was in the captain's hands. I cannot give any
+reason but caprice for quitting this ship. The usage was excellent, and
+the wages high; yet run I did. As long as the Delaware remained in port, I
+kept stowed away; but, as soon as she sailed, I came out into the world,
+and walked about the wharves as big as an owner.
+
+I now went on board a ship called the Tobacco Plant, bound to Liverpool
+and Philadelphia, for two dollars a month less wages, worse treatment, and
+no grog. So much for following the fashion. The voyage produced nothing to
+be mentioned.
+
+On my return to Philadelphia, I resolved to shift my ground, and try a new
+tack. I was now thirty-four, and began to give up all thoughts of getting
+a lift in my profession. I had got so many stern-boards on me, every time
+I was going ahead, and was so completely alone in the world, that I had
+become indifferent, and had made up my mind to take things as they
+offered. As for money, my rule had come to be, to spend it as I got it,
+and go to sea for more. "If I tumbled overboard," I said to myself, "there
+is none to cry over me;" therefore let things jog on their own course. All
+the disposition to morality that had been aroused within me, at
+Philadelphia, was completely gone, and I thought as little of church and
+of religion, as ever. It is true I had bought a Bible on board the
+Superior, and I was in the practice of reading in it, from time to time,
+though it was only the narratives, such as those of Sampson and Goliah,
+that formed any interest for me. The history of Jonah and the whale, I
+read at least twenty times. I cannot remember that the morality, or
+thought, or devotion of a single passage ever struck me on these
+occasions. In word, I read this sacred book for amusement, and not
+for light.
+
+I now wanted change, and began to think of going back to the navy, by way
+of novelty. I had been round the world once, had been to Canton five
+times, doubling the Cape, round the Horn twice, to Batavia once, the
+West-Indies, on the Spanish main, and had crossed the Atlantic so often,
+that I thought I knew all the mile-stones. I had seen but little of the
+Mediterranean, and fancied a man-of-war's cruise would show me those seas.
+Most of the Tobacco Plants had shipped in Philadelphia, and I determined
+to go with them, to go in the navy. There is a fashion in all things, and
+just then it was the fashion to enter in the service.
+
+I was shipped by Lieutenant M'Kean, now Commander M'Kean, a grandson of
+the old Governor of Pennsylvania, as they tell me. All hands of us were
+sent on board the Cyane, an English prize twenty-gun ship, where we
+remained about six weeks. A draft was then made, and more than a hundred
+of us were sent round to Norfolk, in a sloop, to join the Delaware, 80,
+then fitting out for the Mediterranean. We found the ship lying alongside
+the Navy-yard wharf, and after passing one night in the receiving-ship,
+were sent on board the two-decker. The Delaware soon hauled out, and was
+turned over to Captain Downes, the very officer who had almost persuaded
+me to go in that ill-fated brig, the Epervier.
+
+I was stationed on the Delaware's forecastle, and was soon ordered to do
+second captain's duty. We had for lieutenants on board, Mr. Ramage, first,
+Messrs. Williamson, Ten Eick, Shubrick, Byrne, Chauncey, Harris, and
+several whose names I have forgotten. Mr. Ramage has since been cashiered,
+I understand; and Messrs. Ten Eick, Shubrick, Chauncey, Harris, and Byrne,
+are now all commanders.
+
+The ship sailed in the winter of 1828, in the month of January I think,
+having on board the Prince of Musignano, and his family, who were going to
+Italy. This gentleman was Charles Bonaparte, eldest son of Lucien, Prince
+of Canino, they tell me, and is now Prince of Canino himself. He had been
+living some time in America, and got a passage in our ship, on account of
+the difficulty of travelling in Europe, for one of his name and family.
+He was the first, and only Prince I ever had for a shipmate.
+
+
+
+Chapter XV.
+
+
+
+Our passage out in the Delaware was very rough, the ship rolling heavily.
+It was the first time she had been at sea, and it required some little
+time to get her trim and sailing. She turned out, however, to be a good
+vessel; sailing fairly, steering well, and proving an excellent sea-boat.
+We went into Algesiras, where we lay only twenty-four hours. We then
+sailed for Mahon, but were met by orders off the port, to proceed to
+Leghorn and land our passengers. I have been told this was done on account
+of the Princess of Musignano's being a daughter of the ex-King of Spain,
+and it was not thought delicate to bring her within the territory of the
+reigning king. I have even heard that the commodore was offered an order
+of knighthood for the delicacy he manifested on this occasion, which offer
+he declined accepting, as a matter of course.
+
+The ship had a good run from off Mahon to Leghorn where we anchored in the
+outer roads. We landed the passengers the afternoon of the day we arrived.
+That very night it came on to blow heavily from the northward and
+eastward, or a little off shore, according to the best of my recollection.
+This was the first time I ever saw preparations made to send down lower
+yards, and to house top-masts--merchantmen not being strong-handed enough
+to cut such capers with their sticks. We had three anchors ahead, if not
+four, the ship labouring a good deal. We lost one man from the starboard
+forechains, by his getting caught in the buoy-rope, as we let go a
+sheet-anchor. The poor fellow could not be picked up, on account of the
+sea and the darkness of the night, though an attempt was made to save him.
+
+The next day the weather moderated a little, and we got under way for
+Mahon. Our passage down was pleasant, and this time we went in. Captain
+Downes now left us, and Commodore Crane hoisted his broad-pennant on
+board us. The ship now lay a long time in port. The commodore went aloft
+in one of the sloops, and was absent several months. I was told he was
+employed in making a treaty with the Turks, but us poor Jacks knew little
+of such matters. On his return, there was a regular blow-up with the
+first-lieutenant, who left the ship, to nobody's regret, so far as I know.
+Mr. Mix, who had led our party to the lakes in 1812, and was with us in
+all my lake service, and who was Mr. Osgood's brother-in-law, now joined
+us as first-lieutenant. I had got to be first-captain of the forecastle, a
+berth I held to the end of the cruise.
+
+The treatment on board this ship was excellent. The happiest time I ever
+spent at sea, was in the Delaware. After Mr. Mix took Mr. Ramage's place,
+everybody seemed contented, and I never knew a better satisfied ship's
+company. The third year out, we had a long cruise off Cape de Gatte,
+keeping the ship under her canvass quite three months. We took in supplies
+at sea, the object being to keep us from getting rusty. On the fourth of
+July we had a regular holiday. At four in the morning, the ship was close
+in under the north shore, and we wore off the land. Sail was then
+shortened. After this, we had music, and more saluting and grog. The day
+was passed merrily, and I do not remember a fight, or a black eye, in
+the ship.
+
+I volunteered to go one cruise in the Warren, under Mr. Byrne. The present
+Commodore Kearny commanded this ship, and he took us down to the Rock. The
+reason of our volunteering was this. The men-of-war of the Dutch and the
+French, rendezvoused at Mahon, as well as ourselves. The French and our
+people had several rows ashore. Which was right and which wrong, I cannot
+say, as it was the Java's men, and not the Delaware's, that were engaged
+in them, on our side. One of the Javas was run through the body, and a
+French officer got killed. It was said the French suspected us of a design
+of sending away the man who killed their officer, and meant to stop the
+Warren, which was bound to the Rock on duty. All I know is, that two
+French brigs anchored at the mouth of the harbour, and some of us were
+called on to volunteer. Forty-five of us did so, and went on board
+the sloop.
+
+After the Warren got under way, we went to quarters, manning both
+batteries. In this manner we stood down between the two French brigs, with
+top-gallant-sails furled and the courses in the brails. We passed directly
+between the two brigs, keeping a broadside trained upon each; but nothing
+was said, or done, to us. We anchored first at the Rock, but next day
+crossed over to the Spanish coast. In a short time we returned to Mahon,
+and we volunteers went back to the Delaware. The two brigs had gone, but
+there was still a considerable French force in port. Nothing came of the
+difficulty, however, so far as I could see or hear.
+
+In the season of 1830, the Constellation, Commodore Biddle, came out, and
+our ship and Commodore were relieved. We had a run up as far as Sicily,
+however, before this took place, and went off Tripoli. There I saw a
+wreck, lying across the bay, that they told me was the bones of the
+Philadelphia frigate. We were also at Leghorn, several weeks, the
+commodore going to some baths in the neighbourhood, for his health.
+
+Among other ports, the Delaware visited Carthagena, Malta, and Syracuse.
+At the latter place, the ship lay six weeks, I should think. This was the
+season of our arrival out. Here we underwent a course of severe exercise,
+that brought the crew up to a high state of discipline. At four in the
+morning, we would turn out, and commence our work. All the manoeuvres of
+unmooring, making sail, reefing, furling, and packing on her again, were
+gone through, until the people got so much accustomed to work together,
+the great secret of the efficiency of a man-of-war, that the officer of
+the deck was forced to sing out "belay!" before the yards were up by a
+foot, lest the men should spring the spars. When we got through this
+drill, the commodore told us we would do, and that he was not ashamed to
+show us alongside of anything that floated. I do not pretend to give our
+movements in the order in which they occurred, however, nor am I quite
+certain what year it was the commodore went up to Smyrna. On reflection,
+it may have been later than I have stated.
+
+Our cruise off Cape de Gatte was one of the last things we did; and when
+we came back to Mahon, we took in supplies for America. We made the
+southern passage home and anchored in Hampton Roads, in the winter of
+1831. I believe the whole crew of the Delaware was sorry when the cruise
+was up. There are always a certain number of long-shore chaps in a
+man-of-war, who are never satisfied with discipline, and the wholesome
+restraints of a ship; but as for us old salts, I never heard one give the
+Delaware a bad name. We had heard an awful report of the commodore, who
+was called a "burster," and expected sharp times under him; and his manner
+of taking possession was of a nature to alarm us. All hands had been
+called to receive him, and the first words he said were "Call all hands to
+witness punishment." A pin might have been heard falling among us, for
+this sounded ominous. It was to clear the brig, only, Captain Downes
+having left three men in it, whom he would not release on quitting the
+vessel. The offences were serious, and could not be overlooked. These
+three chaps got it; but there was only one other man brought regularly to
+the gang-way while I was in the ship, and he was under the sentence of a
+court, and belonged to the Warren. As soon as the brig was cleared, the
+commodore told us we should be treated as we treated others, and then
+turned away among the officers. The next day we found we were to live
+under a just rule, and that satisfied us. One of the great causes of the
+contentment that reigned in the ship, was the method, and the regularity
+of the hours observed. The men knew on what they could calculate, in
+ordinary times, and this left them their own masters within certain hours.
+I repeat, she was the happiest ship I ever served in, though I have always
+found good treatment in the navy.
+
+I can say conscientiously, that were my life to be passed over again,
+without the hope of commanding a vessel, it should be passed in the navy.
+The food is better, the service is lighter, the treatment is better, if a
+man behave himself at all well, he is better cared for, has a port under
+his lee in case of accidents, and gets good, steady, wages, with the
+certainty of being paid. If his ship is lost, his wages are safe; and if
+he gets hurt, he is pensioned. Then he is pretty certain of having
+gentlemen over him, and that is a great deal for any man. He has good
+quarters below; and if he serve in a ship as large as a frigate, he has a
+cover over his head, half the time, at least, in bad weather. This is the
+honest opinion of one who has served in all sorts of crafts, liners,
+Indiamen, coasters, smugglers, whalers, and transient ships. I have been
+in a ship of the line, two frigates, three sloops of war, and several
+smaller craft; and such is the result of all my experience in Uncle Sam's
+navy. No man can go to sea and always meet with fair-weather, but he will
+get as little of foul in one of our vessels of war, as in any craft that
+floats, if a man only behave himself. I think the American merchantmen
+give better wages than are to be found in other services; and I think the
+American men-of-war, as a rule, give better treatment than the American
+merchantman. God bless the flag, I say, and this, too, without the fear of
+being hanged!
+
+The Delaware lay two or three weeks in the Roads before she went up to the
+Yard. At the latter place we began to strip the ship. While thus employed,
+we were told that seventy-five of us, whose times were not quite out, were
+to be drafted for the Brandywine 44, then fitting out at New York, for a
+short cruise in the Gulf. This was bad news, for Jack likes a swing ashore
+after a long service abroad. Go we must, and did, however. We were sent
+round to New York in a schooner, and found the frigate still lying at the
+Yard. We were hulked on board the Hudson until she was ready to receive
+us, when we were sent to our new vessel. Captain Ballard commanded the
+Brandywine, and among her lieutenants, Mr. M'Kenny was the first. This is
+a fine ship, and she got her name from the battle in which La Fayette was
+wounded in this country, having been first fitted out to carry him to
+France, after his last visit to America. She is a first-class frigate,
+mounting thirty long thirty-two's on her gun-deck; and I conceive it to be
+some honour to a sailor to have it in his power to say he has been captain
+of the forecastle in such a ship, for I was rated in this frigate the same
+as I had been rated in the Delaware; with this difference, that, for my
+service in the Brandywine, I received my regular eighteen dollars a month
+as a petty officer; whereas, though actually captain of the Delaware's
+forecastle for quite two years, and second-captain nearly all the rest of
+the time I was in the ship, I never got more than seaman's wages, or
+twelve dollars a month. I do not know how this happened, though I supposed
+it to have arisen from some mistake connected with the circumstance that
+I was paid off for my services in the Delaware, by the purser of the
+frigate. This was in consequence of the transfer.
+
+The Brandywine sailed in March for the Gulf. Our cruise lasted about five
+months, during which time we went to Vera Cruz, Pensacola, and the Havana.
+We appeared to me to be a single ship, as we were never in squadron, and
+saw no broad-pennant. No accident happened, the cruise being altogether
+pleasant. The ship returned to Norfolk, and twenty-five of us, principally
+old Delawares, were discharged, our times being out. We all of us intended
+to return to the frigate, after a cruise ashore, and we chartered a
+schooner to carry us to Philadelphia in a body, determining not to
+part company.
+
+The morning the schooner sailed, I was leading the whole party along one
+of the streets of Norfolk, when I saw something white lying in the middle
+of the carriage-way. It turned out to be an old messmate, Jack Dove, who
+had been discharged three days before, and had left us to go to
+Philadelphia, but had been brought up by King Grog. While we were
+overhauling the poor fellow, who could not speak, his landlady came out to
+us, and told us that he had eat nothing for three days, and did nothing
+but drink. She begged us to take care of him, as he disregarded all she
+said. This honest woman gave us Jack's wages to a cent, for I knew what
+they had come to; and we made a collection of ten dollars for her,
+calculating that Jack must have swallowed that much in three days. Jack we
+took with us, bag and hammock; but he would eat nothing on the passage,
+calling out constantly for drink. We gave him liquor, thinking it would do
+him good; but he grew worse, and, when we reached Philadelphia, he was
+sent to the hospital. Here, in the course of a few days, he died.
+
+Never, in all my folly and excesses, did I give myself so much up to
+drink, as when I reached Philadelphia this time. I was not quite as bad as
+Jack Dove, but I soon lost my appetite, living principally on liquor. When
+we heard of Jack's death, we proposed among ourselves to give him a
+sailor's funeral. We turned out, accordingly, to the number if a hundred,
+or more, in blue jackets and white trowsers, and marched up to the
+hospital in a body. I was one of the leaders in this arrangement, and felt
+much interest in it, as Jack had been my messmate; but, the instant I saw
+his coffin, a fit of the "horrors" came over me, and I actually left the
+place, running down street towards the river, as if pursued by devils.
+Luckily, I stopped to rest on the stoop of a druggist. The worthy man took
+me in, gave me some soda water, and some good advice. When a little
+strengthened, I made my way home, but gave up at the door. Then followed a
+severe indisposition, which kept me in bed for a fortnight, during which I
+suffered the torments of the damned.
+
+I have had two or three visits from the "horrors," in the course of my
+life, but nothing to equal this attack. I came near following Jack Dove to
+the grave; but God, in His mercy, spared me from such an end. It is not
+possible for one who has never experienced the effects of his excesses, in
+this particular form, to get any correct notions of the sufferings I
+endured. Among other conceits, I thought the colour which the tar usually
+leaves on seamen's nails, was the sign that I had the yellow fever. This
+idea haunted me for days, and gave me great uneasiness. In short, I was
+like a man suspended over a yawning chasm, expecting, every instant, to
+fall and be dashed to pieces, and yet, who could not die.
+
+For some time after my recovery, I could not bear the smell of liquor; but
+evil companions lured me back to my old habits. I was soon in a bad way
+again, and it was only owing to the necessity of going to sea, that I had
+not a return of the dreadful malady. When I shipped in the Delaware, I had
+left my watch, quadrant, and good clothes, to the value of near two
+hundred dollars, with my present landlord, and he now restored them all to
+me, safe and sound. I made considerable additions to the stock of clothes,
+and when I again went to sea, left the whole, and more, with the
+same landlord.
+
+Our plan of going back to the Brandywine was altered by circumstances; and
+a party of us shipped in the Monongahela, a Liverpool liner, out of
+Philadelphia. The cabin of this vessel was taken by two gentlemen, going
+to visit Europe, viz.: Mr. Hare Powell and Mr. Edward Burd; and getting
+these passengers, with their families, on board, the ship sailed. By this
+time, I had pretty much given up the hope of preferment, and did not
+trouble myself whether I lived forward or aft. I joined the Monongahela as
+a forward hand, therefore, quite as well satisfied as if her chief mate.
+
+We left the Delaware in the month of August, and, a short time out,
+encountered one of the heaviest gales of wind I ever witnessed at sea. It
+came on from the eastward, and would have driven us ashore, had not the
+wind suddenly shifted to south-west. The ship was lying-to, under bare
+poles, pressed down upon the water in such a way that she lay almost as
+steady as if in a river; nor did the force of the wind allow the sea to
+get up. A part of the time, our lee lower yard-arms were nearly in the
+water. We had everything aloft, but sending them down was quite out of the
+question. It was not possible, at one time, for a man to go aloft at all.
+I tried it myself, and could with difficulty keep my feet on the ratlins.
+I make no doubt I should have been blown out of the top, could I have
+reached it, did I let go my hold to do any work.
+
+We had sailed in company with the Kensington, a corvette belonging to the
+Emperor of Russia, and saw a ship, during the gale, that was said to be
+she. The Kensington was dismasted, and had to return to refit, but we did
+not part a rope-yarn. When the wind shifted, we were on soundings; and, it
+still continuing to blow a gale, we set the main-topsail close-reefed, and
+the foresail, and shoved the vessel off the land at the rate of a
+steam-boat. After this, the wind favoured us, and our passage out was very
+short. We stayed but a few days in Liverpool; took in passengers, and got
+back to Philadelphia, after an absence of a little more than two months.
+The Kensington's report of the gale, and of our situation, had caused much
+uneasiness in Philadelphia, but our two passages were so short, that we
+brought the news of our safety.
+
+I now inquired for the Brandywine, but found she had sailed for the
+Mediterranean. It was my intention to have gone on board her, but missing
+this ship, and a set of officers that I knew, I looked out for a
+merchantman. I found a brig called the Amelia, bound to Bordeaux, and
+shipped in her before the mast.
+
+The Amelia had a bad passage out. It was in the autumn, and the brig
+leaked badly. This kept us a great deal at the pumps, an occupation that
+a sailor does anything but delight in. I am of opinion that pumping a
+leaky ship is the most detestable work in the world. Nothing but the dread
+of drowning ought to make a man do it, although some men will pump to save
+their property. As for myself, I am not certain I would take twenty-four
+hours of hard pumping to save any sum I shall probably ever own, or
+ever did own.
+
+After a long passage, we made the Cordovan, but, the wind blowing heavy
+off the land, we could not get in for near a fortnight. Not a pilot would
+come out, and if they had, it would have done us no good. After a while,
+the wind shifted, and we got into the river, and up to the town. We took
+in a return cargo of brandy, and sailed for Philadelphia. Our
+homeward-bound passage was long and stormy, but we made the capes, at
+last. Here we were boarded by a pilot, who told us we were too late; the
+Delaware had frozen up, and we had to keep away, with a South-east wind,
+for New York. We had a bad time of it, as soon as night came on. The gale
+increased, blowing directly into the bight, and we had to haul up under
+close-reefed topsails and reefed foresail, to claw off the land. The
+weather was very thick, and the night dark, and all we could do was to get
+round, when the land gave us a hint it was time. This we generally did in
+five fathoms water. We had to ware, for the brig would not tack under such
+short canvass, and, of course, lost much ground in so doing. About three
+in the morning we knew that it was nearly up with us. The soundings gave
+warning of this, and we got round, on what I supposed would be the
+Amelia's last leg. But Providence took care of us, when we could not help
+ourselves. The wind came out at north-west, as it might be by word of
+command; the mist cleared up, and we saw the lights, for the first time,
+close aboard us. The brig was taken aback, but we got her round, shortened
+sail, and hove her to, under a closed-reefed main-topsail. We now got it
+from the north-west, making very bad weather. The gale must have set us a
+long way to leeward, as we did not get in for a fortnight. We shipped a
+heavy sea, that stove our boat, and almost swept the decks. We were out of
+pork and beef, and our fire-wood was nearly gone. The binnacle was also
+gone. As good luck would have it, we killed a porpoise, soon after the
+wind shifted, and on this we lived, in a great measure, for more than a
+week, sometimes cooking it, but oftener eating it raw. At length the wind
+shifted, and we got in.
+
+I was no sooner out of this difficulty, than a hasty temper got me into
+another. While still in the stream, an Irish boatman called me a "Yankee
+son of a-----," and I lent him a clip. The fellow sued me, and, contriving
+to catch me before I left the vessel, I was sent to jail, for the first
+and only time in my life. This turned out to be a new and very revolting
+school for me. I was sent among as precious a set of rascals as New York
+could furnish. Their conversation was very edifying. One would tell how he
+cut the hoses of the engines at fires, with razor-blades fastened to his
+shoes; another, how many pocket-books he and his associates had taken at
+this or that fire; and a third, the mariner of breaking open stores, and
+the best mode of disposing of stolen goods. The cool, open, impudent
+manner in which these fellows spoke of such transactions, fairly astounded
+me. They must have thought I was in jail for some crime similar to their
+own, or they would not have talked so freely before a stranger. These
+chaps seemed to value a man by the enormity and number of his crimes.
+
+At length the captain and my landlord found out where I had been sent, and
+I was immediately bailed. Glad enough was I to get out of prison, and
+still more so to get out of the company I found in it. Such association is
+enough to undermine the morals of a saint, in a week or two. And yet these
+fellows were well dressed, and well enough looking, and might very well
+pass for a sort of gentlemen, with those who had seen but little of men of
+the true quality.
+
+I had got enough of law, and wished to push the matter no farther. The
+Irishman was sent for, and I compromised with him on the spot. The whole
+affair cost me my entire wages, and I was bound over to keep the peace,
+for, I do not know how long. This scrape compelled me to weigh my anchor
+at a short notice, as there is no living in New York without money. I went
+on board the Sully, therefore--a Havre liner--a day or two after getting
+out of the atmosphere of the City Hall. They may talk of Batavia, if they
+please; but in my judgement, it is the healthiest place of the two,
+
+Our passages, out and home, produced nothing worth mentioning, and I left
+the ship in New York. My wages went in the old way, and then I shipped in
+a schooner called the Susan and Mary, that was about to sail for Buenos
+Ayres, in the expectation that she would be sold there. The craft was a
+good one, though our passage out was very long. On reaching our port, I
+took my discharge, under the impression the vessel would be sold. A notion
+now came over me, that I would join the Buenos Ayrean navy, in order to
+see what sort of a service it was. I knew it was a mixed American and
+English affair, and, by this time, I had become very reckless as to my own
+fate. I wished to do nothing very wrong, but was incapable of doing
+anything that was very right.
+
+My windfall carried me on board a schooner, of eight or ten guns, called
+the Suradaha. I did not ship, making an arrangement by which I was to be
+left to decide for myself, whether I would remain in her, or not. Although
+a pretty good craft, I soon got enough of this service. In one week I was
+thoroughly disgusted, and left the schooner. It is well I did, as there
+was a "_revolution_" on board of her, a few days later, and she was
+carried up the river, and, as I was told, was there sunk. With her, sunk
+all my laurels in that service.
+
+The Susan and Mary was not sold, but took in hides for New York. I
+returned to her, therefore, and we sailed for home in due time. The
+passage proved long, but mild, and we were compelled to run in, off Point
+Petre, Gaudaloupe, where we took in some provisions. After this, nothing
+occurred until we reached New York.
+
+I now shifted the name of my craft, end for end, joining a half-rigged
+brig, called the Mary and Susan. I gained little by the change, this
+vessel being just the worst-looking hooker I did ever sail in. Still she
+was tight, strong enough, and not a very bad sailing vessel. But, for some
+reason or other, externals were not regarded, and we made anything but a
+holiday appearance on the water. I had seen the time when I would disdain
+to go chief-mate of such a looking craft; but I now shipped in her as a
+common hand.
+
+We sailed for Para, in Brazil, a port nearly under the line, having
+gunpowder, dry-goods, &c. Our passage, until we came near the coast of
+South America, was good, and nothing occurred to mention. When under the
+line, however, we made a rakish-looking schooner, carrying two topsails,
+one forenoon. We made no effort to escape, knowing it to be useless. The
+schooner set a Spanish ensign, and brought us to. We were ordered to lower
+our boat and to go on board the schooner, which were done. I happened to
+be at the helm, and remained in the Mary and Susan. The strangers ordered
+our people out of the boat, and sent an armed party in her, on board us.
+These men rummaged about for a short time, and then were hailed from their
+vessel to know if we promised well. Our looks deceived the head man of the
+boarders, who answered that we were _very_ poor. On receiving this
+information, the captain of the schooner ordered his boarding party to
+quit us. Our boat came back, but was ordered to return and bring another
+gang of the strangers. This time we were questioned about canvass, but got
+off by concealing the truth. We had thirty bolts on board, but produced
+only one. The bolt shown did not happen to suit, and the strangers again
+left us. We were told not to make sail until we received notice by signal,
+and the schooner hauled her wind. After standing on some time, however,
+these gentry seemed indisposed to quit us, for they came down again, and
+rounded to on our weather-beam. We were now questioned about our
+longitude, and whether we had a chronometer. We gave the former, but had
+nothing like the latter on board. Telling us once more not to make sail
+without the signal, the schooner left us, standing on until fairly out of
+sight. We waited until she sunk her topsails, and then went on our course.
+
+None of us doubted that this fellow was a pirate. The men on board us were
+an ill-looking set of rascals, of all countries. They spoke Spanish, but
+we gave them credit for being a mixture. Our escape was probably owing to
+our appearance, which promised anything but a rich booty. Our dry-goods
+and powder were concealed in casks under he ballast, and I suppose the
+papers were not particularly minute. At any rate, when we get into Para,
+most of the cargo went out of our schooner privately, being landed from
+lighters. We had a passenger, who passed for some revolutionary man, who
+also landed secretly. This gentleman was in a good deal of concern about
+the pirates, keeping himself hid while they were near us.
+
+
+
+Chapter XVI.
+
+
+
+Our passage from Para was good until the brig reached the latitude of
+Bermuda. Here, one morning, for the first time in this craft, Sundays
+excepted, we got a forenoon watch below. I was profiting by the
+opportunity to do a little work for myself, when the mate, an
+inexperienced young man, who was connected with the owners, came and
+ordered us up to help jibe ship. It was easy enough to do this in the
+watch, but he thought differently. As an old seaman, I do not hesitate to
+say that the order was both inconsiderate and unnecessary; though I do not
+wish to appear even to justify my own conduct, on the occasion. A hasty
+temper is one of my besetting weaknesses, and, at that time, I was in no
+degree influenced by any considerations of a moral nature, as connected
+with language. Exceedingly exasperated at this interference with our
+comfort, I did not hesitate to tell the mate my opinion of his order.
+Warming with my own complaints, I soon became fearfully profane and
+denunciatory. I called down curses on the brig, and all that belonged to
+her, not hesitating about wishing that she might founder at sea, and carry
+all hands of us to the bottom of the ocean. In a word, I indulged in all
+that looseness and profanity of the tongue, which is common enough with
+those who feel no restraints on the subject, and who are highly
+exasperated.
+
+I do think the extent to which I carried my curses and wishes, on this
+occasion, frightened the officers. They said nothing, but let me curse
+myself out, to my heart's content. A man soon wearies of so bootless a
+task, and the storm passed off, like one in the heavens, with a low
+rumbling. I gave myself no concern about the matter afterwards, but things
+took their course until noon. While the people were at dinner, the mate
+came forward again, however, and called all hands to shorten sail. Going
+on deck, I saw a very menacing black cloud astern, and went to work, with
+a will, to discharge a duty that everybody could see was necessary.
+
+We gathered in the canvass as fast as we could; but, before we could get
+through, and while I was lending a hand to furl the foresail, the squall
+struck the brig. I call it a squall, but it was more like the tail of a
+hurricane. Most of our canvass blew from the gaskets, the cloth going in
+ribands. The foresail and fore-topsail we managed to save, but all our
+light canvass went. I was still aloft when the brig broached-to. As she
+came up to the wind, the fore-topmast went over to leeward, being carried
+away at the cap. All the hamper came down, and began to thresh against the
+larboard side of the lower rigging. Just at this instant, a sea seemed to
+strike the brig under her bilge, and fairly throw her on her beam-ends.
+
+All this appeared to me to be the work of only a minute. I had scrambled
+to windward, to get out of the way of the wreck, and stood with one foot
+on the upper side of the bitts, holding on, to steady myself, by some of
+the running rigging. This was being in a very different attitude, but on
+the precise spot, where, two or three hours before, I had called on the
+Almighty to pour out his vials of wrath upon the vessel, myself, and all
+she contained! At that fearful instant, conscience pricked me, and I felt
+both shame and dread, at my recent language. It seemed to me as if I had
+been heard, and that my impious prayers were about to be granted. In the
+bitterness of my heart, I vowed, should my life be spared, never to be
+guilty of such gross profanity, again.
+
+These feelings, however, occupied me but a moment. I was too much of a
+real sea-dog to be standing idle at a time like that. There was but one
+man before the mast on whom I could call for anything in such a strait,
+and that was a New Yorker, of the name of Jack Neal. This man was near me,
+and I suggested to him the plan of getting the fore-topmast staysail
+loose, notwithstanding the mast was gone, in the hope it might blow open,
+and help the brig's bows round. Jack was a fellow to act, and he succeeded
+in loosening the sail, which did blow out in a way greatly to help us, as
+I think. I then proposed we should clamber aft, and try to get the helm
+up. This we did, also; though I question if the rudder could have had much
+power, in the position in which the brig lay.
+
+Either owing to the fore-top-mast staysail, or to some providential sea,
+the vessel did fall off, however, and presently she righted, coming up
+with great force, with a heavy roll to windward. The staysail helped us, I
+feel persuaded, as the stay had got taut in the wreck, and the wind had
+blown out the hanks. The brig's helm being hard up, as soon as she got
+way, the craft flew round like a top, coming up on the other tack, in
+spite of us, and throwing her nearly over again. She did not come fairly
+down, however, though I thought she was gone, for an instant.
+
+Finding it possible to move, I now ran forward, and succeeded in stopping
+the wreck into the rigging and bitts. At this time the brig minded her
+helm, and fell off, coming under command. To help us, the head of the
+spencer got loose, from the throat-brail up, and, blowing out against the
+wreck, the whole formed, together, a body of hamper, that acted as a sort
+of sail, which helped the brig to keep clear of the seas. By close
+attention to the helm, we were enabled to prevent the vessel from
+broaching-to again, and, of course, managed to sail her on her bottom.
+About sunset, it moderated, and, next morning, the weather was fine. We
+then went to work, and rigged jury-masts; reaching New York a few
+days later.
+
+Had this accident occurred to our vessel in the night, as did that to the
+Scourge, our fate would probably have been decided in a few minutes. As it
+was, half an hour, in the sort of sea that was going, would have finished
+her. As for my repentance, if I can use the term on such an occasion, and
+for such a feeling, it was more lasting than thorough. I have never been
+so fearfully profane since; and often, when I have felt the disposition to
+give way to passion in this revolting form, my feelings, as I stood by
+those bitts, have recurred to my mind--my vow has been remembered, and I
+hope, together, they did some good, until I was made to see the general
+errors of my life, and the necessity of throwing all my sins on the
+merciful interposition of my Saviour.
+
+I was not as reckless and extravagant, this time, in port, as I had
+usually been, of late years. I shipped, before my money was all gone, on
+board the Henry Kneeland, for Liverpool, via New Orleans. On reaching the
+latter port, all hands of us were beset by the land-sharks, in the shape
+of landlords, who told us how much better we should be off by running,
+than by sticking by the ship. We listened to these tales, and went in a
+body. What made the matter worse, and our conduct the less excusable, was
+the fact, that we got good wages and good treatment in the Henry Kneeland.
+The landlords came with two boats, in the night; we passed our dunnage
+down to them, and away we went, leaving only one man on board. The very
+next day we all shipped on board the Marian, United States' Revenue
+Cutter, where I was rated a quarter-mate, at fifteen dollars a month;
+leaving seventeen to obtain this preferment!
+
+We got a good craft for our money, however. She was a large comfortable
+schooner, that mounted a few light guns, and our duty was far from heavy.
+The treatment turned out to be good, also, as some relief to our folly.
+One of our Henry Kneelands died of the "horrors" before we got to sea, and
+we buried him at the watering-place, near the lower bar. I must have been
+about four months in the Marion, during which time we visited the
+different keys, and went into Key West. At this place, our crew became
+sickly, and I was landed among others, and sent to a boarding-house. It
+was near a month before we could get the crew together again, when we
+sailed for Norfolk. At Norfolk, six of us had relapses, and were sent to
+the hospital; the cutter sailing without us. I never saw the craft
+afterwards.
+
+I was but a fortnight in the hospital, the disease being only the fever
+and ague. Just as I came out, the Alert, the New York cutter, came in, and
+I was sent on board her. This separated me from all the Henry Kneelands
+but one old man. The Alert was bound south, on duty connected with the
+nullification troubles; and, soon after I joined her, she sailed for
+Charleston, South Carolina. Here a little fleet of cutters soon
+collected; no less than seven of us being at anchor in the waters of South
+Carolina, to prevent any breach of the tariff laws. When I had been on
+board the Alert about a month, a new cutter called the Jackson, came in
+from New York, and being the finest craft on the station, our officers and
+crew were transferred to her in a body; our captain being the senior of
+all the revenue captains present.
+
+I must have been at least six months in the waters of South Carolina, thus
+employed. We never went to sea, but occasionally dropped down as far as
+Rebellion Roads. We were not allowed to go ashore, except on rare
+occasions, and towards the last, matters got to be so serious, that we
+almost looked upon ourselves as in an enemy's country. Commodore Elliott
+joined the station in the Natchez sloop-of-war, and the Experiment,
+man-of-war schooner, also arrived and remained. After the arrival of the
+Natchez, the Commodore took command of all hands of us afloat, and we were
+kept in a state of high preparation for service. We were occasionally at
+quarters, nights, though I never exactly knew the reasons. It was said
+attacks on us were anticipated. General Scott was in the fort, and matters
+looked very warlike, for several weeks.
+
+At length we got the joyful news that nullification had been thrown
+overboard, and that no more was to be apprehended. It seems that the crews
+of the different cutters had been increased for this particular service;
+but, now it was over, there were more men employed than Government had
+needed. We were told, in consequence, that those among us who wished our
+discharges, might have them on application.
+
+I had been long enough in this 'long-shore service, and applied to be
+discharged, under this provision. My time was so near out, however, that I
+should have got away soon, in regular course.
+
+I now went ashore at Charleston, and had my swig, as long as the money
+lasted. I gave myself no trouble about the ship's husband, whose
+collar-bone I had broken; nor do I now know whether he was then living, or
+dead. In a word, I thought only of the present time; the past and the
+future being equally indifferent to me. My old landlord was dead; and I
+fell altogether into the hands of a new set. I never took the precaution
+to change my name, at any period of my life, with the exception, that I
+dropped the Robert, in signing shipping-articles. I also wrote my name
+Myers, instead of Meyers, as, I have been informed by my sister, was the
+true spelling. But this proceeded from ignorance, and not from intention.
+In all times, and seasons, and weathers, and services, I have sailed as
+Ned Myers; and as nothing else.
+
+It soon became necessary to ship again; and I went on board the Harriet
+and Jesse, which was bound to Havre de Grace. This proved to be a
+pleasant, easy voyage; the ship coming back to New York filled with
+passengers, who were called Swiss; but most of whom, as I understand, came
+from Wurtemberg, Alsace, and the countries on the Rhine. On reaching New
+York, I went on to Philadelphia, to obtain the effects I had left there,
+when I went out in the Amelia. But my landlord was dead; his family was
+scattered; and my property had disappeared. I never knew who got it; but a
+quadrant, watch, and some entirely new clothes, went in the wreck. I
+suppose I lost, at least, two hundred dollars, in this way. What odds did
+it make to me? it would have gone in grog, if it had not gone in
+this manner.
+
+I staid but a short time in Philadelphia, joining a brig, called the
+Topaz, bound to Havana. We arrived out, after a short passage; and here I
+was exposed to as strong a temptation to commit crime, as a poor fellow
+need encounter. A beautiful American-built brig, was lying in port, bound
+to Africa, for slaves. She was the loveliest craft I ever laid eyes on;
+and the very sight of her gave me a longing to go in her. She offered
+forty dollars a month, with the privilege of a slave and a half. I went so
+far as to try to get on board her; but met with some difficulty, in having
+my things seized. The captain found it out; and, by pointing out to me the
+danger I ran, succeeded in changing my mind.
+
+I will not deny, that I knew the trade was immoral; but so is smuggling;
+and I viewed them pretty much as the same thing, in this sense. I am now
+told, that the law of this country pronounces the American citizen, who
+goes in a slaver, a pirate; and treats him as such; which, to me, seems
+very extraordinary. I do not understand, how a Spaniard can do that, and
+be no pirate, which makes an American a pirate, if he be guilty of it. I
+feel certain, that very few sailors know in what light the law views
+slaving. Now, piracy is robbing, on the high seas, and has always been
+contrary to law; but slaving was encouraged by all nations, a short time
+since; and we poor tars look upon the change, as nothing but a change in
+policy. As for myself, I should have gone in that brig, in utter ignorance
+of the risks I ran, and believing myself to be about as guilty, in a moral
+sense, as I was when I smuggled tobacco, on the coast of Ireland, or opium
+in Canton. [15]
+
+As the Topaz was coming out of the port of Havana, homeward bound, and
+just as she was abreast of the Moro, the brig carried away her bobstay. I
+was busy in helping to unreeve the stay, when I was seized with sudden and
+violent cramps. This attack proved to be the cholera, which came near
+carrying me off. The captain had me taken aft, where I was attended with
+the greatest care. God be praised for his mercy! I got well, though
+scarcely able to do any more duty before we got in.
+
+A short voyage gives short commons; and I was soon obliged to look out for
+another craft. This time I shipped in the Erie, Captain Funk, a Havre
+liner, and sailed soon after. This was a noble ship, with the best of
+usage. Both our passages were pleasant, and give me nothing to relate.
+While I was at work in the hold, at Havre, a poor female passenger, who
+came to look at the ship, fell through the hatch, and was so much injured
+as to be left behind. I mention the circumstance merely to show how near I
+was to a meeting with my old shipmate, who is writing these pages, and yet
+missed him. On comparing notes, I find he was on deck when this accident
+happened, having come to see after some effects he was then shipping to
+New York. These very effects I handled, and supposed them to belong to a
+passenger who was to come home in the ship; but, as they were addressed to
+another name, I could not recognise them. Mr. Cooper did not come home in
+the Erie, but passed over to England, and embarked at London, and so I
+failed to see him.
+
+In these liners, the captains wish to keep the good men of their crews as
+long as they can. We liked the Erie and her captain so much, that eight or
+ten of us stuck by the ship, and went out in her again. This time our luck
+was not so good. The passage out was well enough, but homeward-bound we
+had a hard time of it. While in Havre, too, we had a narrow escape.
+Christmas night, a fire broke out in the cabin, and came near smothering
+us all, forward, before we knew anything about it. Our chief mate, whose
+name was Everdy,[16] saved the vessel by his caution and exertions; the
+captain not getting on board until the fire had come to a head. We kept
+everything closed until an engine was ready, then cut away the deck, and
+sent down the hose This expedient, with a free use of water, saved the
+ship. It is not known how the fire originated. A good deal of damage was
+done, and some property was lost.
+
+Notwithstanding this accident, we had the ship ready for sea early in
+January, 1834. For the first week out, we met with head winds and heavy
+weather; so heavy, indeed, as to render it difficult to get rid of the
+pilot. The ship beat down channel with him on board, as low as the
+Eddystone. Here we saw the Sully, outward bound, running up channel before
+the wind. Signals were exchanged, and our ship, which was then well off
+the land, ran in and spoke the Sully. We put our pilot on board this ship,
+which was doing a good turn all round. The afternoon proving fair, and the
+wind moderating, Captain Funk filled and stood in near to the coast, as
+his best tack. Towards night, however, the gale freshened, and blew into
+the bay, between the Start Point and the Lizard, in a heavy,
+steady manner.
+
+The first thing was to ware off shore; after which, we were compelled to
+take in nearly all our canvass. The gale continued to increase, and the
+night set in dark. There were plenty of ports to leeward, but it was
+ticklish work to lose a foot of ground, unless one knew exactly where he
+was going. We had no pilot, and the captain decided to hold on. I have
+seldom known it to blow harder than it did that night; and, for hours,
+everything depended on our main-top-sail's standing, which sail we had set,
+close-reefed. I did not see anything to guide us, but the compass, until
+about ten o'clock, when I caught a view of a light close on our lee bow.
+This was the Eddystone, which stands pretty nearly in a line between the
+Start and the Lizard, and rather more than three leagues from the land.
+As we headed, we might lay past, should everything stand; but, if our
+topsail went, we should have been pretty certain of fetching up on those
+famous rocks, where a three-decker would have gone to pieces in an hour's
+time in such a gale.
+
+I suppose we passed the Eddystone at a safe distance, or the captain would
+not have attempted going to windward of it; but, to me, it appeared that
+we were fearfully near. The sea was breaking over the light tremendously,
+and could be plainly seen, as it flashed up near the lantern. We went by,
+however, surging slowly ahead, though our drift must have been
+very material.
+
+The Start, and the point to the westward of it, were still to be cleared.
+They were a good way off, and but a little to leeward, as the ship headed.
+In smooth water, and with a whole-sail breeze, it would have been easy
+enough to lay past the Start, when at the Eddystone, with a south-west
+wind; but, in a gale, it is a serious matter, especially on a flood-tide.
+I know all hands of us, forward and aft, looked upon our situation as very
+grave. We passed several uneasy hours, after we lost sight of the
+Eddystone, before we got a view of the land near the Start. When I saw it,
+the heights appeared like a dark cloud hanging over us, and I certainly
+thought the ship was gone. At this time, the captain and mate consulted
+together, and the latter came to us, in a very calm, steady manner, and
+said--"Come, boys; we may as well go ashore without masts as with them,
+and our only hope is in getting more canvass to stand. We must turn-to,
+and make sail on the ship."
+
+Everybody was in motion on this hint, and the first thing we did was to
+board fore-tack. The clews of that sail came down as if so many giants had
+hold of the tack and sheet. We set it, double-reefed, which made it but a
+rag of a sail, and yet the ship felt it directly. We next tried the
+fore-topsail, close-reefed, and this stood. It was well we did, for I feel
+certain the ship was now in the ground-swell. That black hill seemed
+ready to fall on our heads. We tried the mizen-topsail, but we found it
+would not do, and we furled it again, not without great difficulty. Things
+still looked serious, the land drawing nearer and nearer; and we tried to
+get the mainsail, double-reefed, on the ship. Everybody mustered at the
+tack and sheet, and we dragged down that bit of cloth as if it had been
+muslin. The good ship now quivered like a horse that is over-ridden, but
+in those liners everything is strong, and everything stood. I never saw
+spray thrown from a ship's bows, as it was thrown from the Erie's that
+night. We had a breathless quarter of an hour after the mainsail was set,
+everybody looking to see what would go first. Every rope and bolt in the
+craft was tried to the utmost, but all stood! At the most critical moment,
+we caught a glimpse of a light in a house that was known to stand near the
+Start; and the mate came among us, pointed it out, and said, if we
+weathered _that_, we should go clear. After hearing this, my eyes were
+never off that light, and glad was I to see it slowly drawing more astern,
+and more under our lee. At last we got it on our quarter, and knew that we
+had gone clear! The gloomy-looking land disappeared to leeward, in a deep,
+broad bay, giving us plenty of sea-room.
+
+We now took in canvass, to ease the ship. The mainsail and fore-topsail
+were furled, leaving her to jog along under the main-topsail, foresail,
+and fore-topmast staysail. I look upon this as one of my narrowest escapes
+from shipwreck; and I consider the escape, under the mercy of God, to have
+been owing to the steadiness of our officers, and the goodness of the ship
+and her outfit. It was like pushing a horse to the trial of every nerve
+and sinew, and only winning the race under whip and spur. Wood, and iron,
+and cordage, and canvass, can do no more than they did that night.
+
+Next morning, at breakfast, the crew talked the matter over. We had a hard
+set in this ship, the men being prime seamen, but of reckless habits and
+characters. Some of the most thoughtless among them admitted that they had
+prayed secretly for succour, and, for myself, I am most thankful that _I_
+did. These confessions were made half-jestingly, but I believe them to
+have been true, judging from my own case. It may sound bravely in the ears
+of the thoughtless and foolish, to boast of indifference on such
+occasions; but, few men can face death under circumstances like those in
+which we were placed, without admitting to themselves, however
+reluctantly, that there is a Power above, on which they must lean for
+personal safety, as well as for spiritual support. More than usual care
+was had for the future welfare of sailors among the Havre liners, there
+being a mariners' church at Havre, at which our captain always attended,
+as well as his mates; and efforts were made to make us go also. The effect
+was good, the men being better behaved, and more sober, in consequence.
+
+The wind shifted a day or two after this escape, giving us a slant that
+carried us past Scilly, fairly out into the Atlantic. A fortnight or so
+after our interview with the Eddystone we carried away the pintals of the
+rudder, which was saved only by the modern invention that prevents the
+head from dropping, by means of the deck. To prevent the strain, and to
+get some service from the rudder, however, we found it necessary to sling
+the latter, and to breast it into the stern-post by means of purchases. A
+spar was laid athwart the coach-house, directly over the rudder, and we
+rove a chain through the tiller-hole, and passed it over this spar. For
+this purpose the smallest chain-cable was used, the rudder being raised
+from the deck by means of sheers. We then got a set of chain-topsail
+sheets, parcelled them well, and took a clove hitch with them around the
+rudder, about half-way up. One end was brought into each main-chain, and
+set up by tackles. In this manner the wheel did tolerably well, though we
+had to let the ship lie-to in heavy weather.
+
+The chain sheets held on near a month, and then gave way. On examination,
+it was found that the parcelling had gone under the ship's counter, and
+that the copper had nearly destroyed the iron. After this, we mustered all
+the chains of the ship, of proper size, parcelled them very thoroughly,
+got another clove hitch around the rudder as before, and brought the ends
+to the hawse-holes, letting the bights fall, one on each side of the
+ship's keel. The ends were next brought to the windlass and hove taut.
+This answered pretty well, and stood until we got the ship into New York.
+Our whole passage was stormy, and lasted seventy days, as near as I can
+recollect. The ship was almost given up when we got in, and great was the
+joy at our arrival.
+
+As the Erie lost her turn, in consequence of wanting repairs, most of us
+went on board the Henry IVth, in the same line. This voyage was
+comfortable, and successful, a fine ship and good usage. On our return to
+New York most of us went back to the Erie, liking both vessel and captain,
+as well as her other officers. I went twice more to Havre and back in this
+ship, making four voyages in her in all. At the end of the fourth voyage
+our old mate left us, to do business ashore, and we took a dislike to his
+successor, though it was without trying him. The mate we lost had been a
+great favourite, and we seemed to think if he went we must go too. At any
+rate, nearly all hands went to the Silvie de Grasse, where we got another
+good ship, good officers, and good treatment. In fact, all these Havre
+liners were very much alike in these respects, the Silvie de Grasse being
+the fourth in which I had then sailed, and to me they all seemed as if
+they belonged to the same family. I went twice to Havre in this ship also,
+when I left her for the Normandy, in the same line. I made this change in
+consequence of an affair about some segars in Havre, in which I had no
+other concern than to father another man's fault. The captain treated me
+very handsomely, but my temperament is such that I am apt to fly off in a
+tangent when anything goes up stream. It was caprice that took me from the
+Silvie de Grasse, and put me in her sister-liner.
+
+I liked the Normandy as well as the rest of these liners, except that the
+vessel steered badly. I made only one voyage in her, however, as will be
+seen in the next chapter.
+
+
+
+Chapter XVII.
+
+
+
+I had now been no less than eight voyages in the Havre trade, without
+intermission. So regular had my occupation become, that I began to think I
+was a part of a liner myself. I liked the treatment, the food, the ships,
+and the officers. Whenever we got home, I worked in the ship, at day's
+work, until paid off; after which, no more was seen of Ned until it was
+time to go on board to sail. When I got in, in the Normandy, it happened
+as usual, though I took a short swing only. Mr. Everdy, our old mate in
+the Erie, was working gangs of stevedores, riggers, &c., ashore; and when
+I went and reported myself to him, as ready for work in the Normandy
+again, he observed that her gang was full, but that, by going up-town next
+morning, to the screw-dock, I should find an excellent job on board a
+brig. The following day, accordingly, I took my dinner in a pail, and
+started off for the dock, as directed. On my way, I fell in with an old
+shipmate in the navy, a boatswain's-mate, of the name of Benson. This man
+asked me where I was bound with my pail, and I told him. "What's the use,"
+says he, "of dragging your soul out in these liners, when you have a
+man-of-war under your lee!" Then he told me he meant to ship, and advised
+me to do the same. I drank with him two or three times, and felt half
+persuaded to enter; but, recollecting the brig, I left him, and pushed on
+to the dock. When I got there, it was so late that the vessel had got off
+the dock, and was already under way in the stream.
+
+My day's work was now up, and I determined to make a full holiday of it.
+As I went back, I fell in with Captain Mix, the officer with whom I had
+first gone on the lakes, and my old first-lieutenant in the Delaware, and
+had a bit of navy talk with him; after which I drifted along as far as the
+rendezvous. The officer in charge was Mr. M'Kenny, my old first-lieutenant
+in the Brandywine, and, before I quitted the house, my name was down,
+again, for one of Uncle Sam's sailor-men. In this accidental manner have I
+floated about the world, most of my life--not dreaming in the morning,
+what would fetch me up before night.
+
+When it was time to go off, I was ready, and was sent on board the Hudson,
+which vessel Captain Mix then commanded. I have the consolation of knowing
+that I never ran, or thought of running, from either of the eleven
+men-of-war on board of which I have served, counting big and little,
+service of days and service of years. I had so long a pull in the
+receiving-ship, as to get heartily tired of her; and, when an opportunity
+offered, I put my name down for the Constellation 38, which was then
+fitting out for the West India station, in Norfolk. A draft of us was sent
+round to that ship accordingly, and we found she had hauled off from the
+yard, and was lying between the forts. When I got on board, I ascertained
+that something like fifty of my old liners were in this very ship, some
+common motive inducing them to take service in the navy, all at the same
+time. As for myself, it happened just as I have related, though I always
+liked the navy, and was ever ready to join a ship of war, for a
+pleasant cruise.
+
+Commodore Dallas's pennant was flying in the Constellation when I joined
+her. A short time afterwards, the ship sailed for the West Indies. As
+there was nothing material occurred in the cruise, it is unnecessary to
+relate things in the order in which they took place. The ship went to
+Havana, Trinidad, Curacoa, Laguayra, Santa Cruz, Vera Cruz, Campeachy,
+Tampico, Key West, &c. We lay more or less time at all these ports, and in
+Santa Cruz we had a great ball on board. After passing several months in
+this manner, we went to Pensacola. The St. Louis was with us most of this
+time, though she did not sail from America in company. The next season the
+whole squadron went to Vera Cruz in company, seven or eight sail of us in
+all, giving the Mexicans some alarm, I believe.
+
+But the Florida war gave us the most occupation. I was out in all sorts of
+ways, on expeditions, and can say I never saw an Indian, except those who
+came to give themselves up. I was in steamboats, cutters, launches, and on
+shore, marching like a soldier, with a gun on my shoulder, and precious
+duty it was for a sailor.
+
+The St. Louis being short of hands, I was also drafted for a cruise in
+her; going the rounds much as we had done in the frigate. This was a fine
+ship, and was then commanded by Captain Rousseau, an officer much
+respected and liked, by us all. Mr. Byrne, my old shipmate in the
+Delaware, went out with us as first-lieutenant of the Constellation, but
+he did not remain out the whole cruise.
+
+Altogether I was out on the West India station three years, but got into
+the hospital, for several months of the time, in consequence of a broken
+bone. While in the hospital, the frigate made a cruise, leaving me ashore.
+On her return, I was invalided home, in the Levant, Captain Paulding,
+another solid, excellent officer. In a word, I was lucky in my officers,
+generally; the treatment on board the frigate being just and good. The
+duty in the Constellation was very hard, being a sort of soldier duty,
+which may be very well for those that are trained to it, but makes bad
+weather for us blue-jackets. Captain Mix, the officer with whom I went to
+the lakes, was out on the station in command of the Concord, sloop of war,
+and, for some time, was in charge of our ship, during the absence of
+Commodore Dallas, in his own vessel. In this manner are old shipmates
+often thrown together, after years of separation.
+
+In the hospital I was rated as porter, Captain Bolton and Captain Latirner
+being my commanding officers; the first being in charge of the yard, and
+the second his next in rank. From these two gentlemen I received so many
+favours, that it would be ungrateful in me not to mention them. Dr.
+Terrill, the surgeon of the hospital, too, was also exceedingly kind to
+me, during the time I was under his care.
+
+As I had much leisure time in the hospital, I took charge of a garden, and
+got to be somewhat of a gardener. It was said I had the best garden about
+Pensacola, which is quite likely true, as I never saw but one other.
+
+The most important thing, however, that occurred to me while in the
+hospital, was a disposition that suddenly arose in my mind, to reflect on
+my future state, and to look at religious things with serious eyes. Dr.
+Terrill had some blacks in his service, who were in the habit of holding
+little Methodist meetings, where they sang hymns, and conversed together
+seriously. I never joined these people, being too white for that, down at
+Pensacola, but I could overhear them from my own little room. A Roman
+Catholic in the hospital had a prayer-book in English, which he lent to
+me, and I got into the habit of reading a prayer in it, daily, as a sort
+of worshipping of the Almighty. This was the first act of mine, that
+approached private worship, since the day I left Mr. Marchinton's; if I
+except the few hasty mental petitions put up in moments of danger.
+
+After a time, I began to think it would never do for me, a Protestant born
+and baptised, to be studying a Romish prayer-book; and I hunted up one
+that was Protestant, and which had been written expressly for seamen. This
+I took to my room, and used in place of the Romish book. Dr. Terrill had a
+number of bibles under his charge, and I obtained one of these, also, and
+I actually got into the practice of reading a chapter every night, as
+well as of reading a prayer, also knocked off from drink, and ceased to
+swear. My reading in the bible, now, was not for the stories, but
+seriously to improve my mind and morals.
+
+I must have been several months getting to be more and more in earnest on
+the subject of morality, if not of vital religion, when I formed an
+acquaintance with a new steward, who had just joined the hospital. This
+man was ready enough to converse with me about the bible, but he turned
+out to be a Deist, Notwithstanding my own disposition to think more
+seriously of my true situation, I had many misgivings on the subject of
+the Saviour's being the Son of God. It seemed improbable to me, and I was
+falling into the danger which is so apt to beset the new beginner--that of
+self-sufficiency, and the substituting of human wisdom for faith. The
+steward was not slow in discovering this; and he produced some of Tom
+Paine's works, by way of strengthening me in the unbelief. I now read Tom
+Paine, instead of the bible, and soon had practical evidence of the bad
+effects of his miserable system. I soon got stern-way on me in morals;
+began to drink, as before, though seldom intoxicated, and grew indifferent
+to my bible and prayer-book, as well as careless of the future. I began to
+think that the things of this world were to be enjoyed, and he was the
+wisest who made the most of his time.
+
+I must confess, also, that the bad examples which I saw set by men
+professing to be Christians, had a strong tendency to disgust me with
+religion. The great mistake I made was, in supposing I had undergone any
+real change of heart. Circumstances disposed me to reflect, and reflection
+brought me to be serious, on subjects that I had hitherto treated with
+levity; but the grace of God was still, in a great degree, withheld from
+me, leaving me a prey to such arguments as those of the steward, and his
+great prophet and master, Mr. Paine.
+
+In the hospital, and that, too, at a place like Pensacola there was little
+opportunity for me to break out into my old excesses; though I found
+liquor, on one or two occasions, even there, and got myself into some
+disgrace in consequence. On the whole, however, the discipline, my
+situation, and my own resolution, kept me tolerably correct. It is the
+restraint of a ship that alone prevents sailors from dying much sooner
+than they do; for it is certain no man could hold out long who passed
+three or four months every year in the sort of indulgencies into which I
+myself have often run, after returning from long voyages. This is one
+advantage of the navy; two or three days of riotous living being all a
+fellow _can_ very well get in a three years' cruise. Any man who has ever
+been in a vessel of war, particularly in old times, can see the effect
+produced by the system, and regular living of a ship. When the crew first
+came on board, the men were listless, almost lifeless, with recent
+dissipation; some suffering with the "horrors," perhaps; but a few weeks
+of regular living would bring them all round; and, by the end of the
+cruise, most of the people would come into port, and be paid off, with
+renovated constitutions. It is a little different, now, to be sure, as the
+men ship for general service, and commonly serve a short apprenticeship in
+a receiving vessel, before they are turned over to the sea-going craft.
+This brings them on board the last in a little better condition than used
+to be the case; but, even now, six months in a man-of-war is a new lease
+for a seaman's life.
+
+I say I got myself into disgrace in the hospital of Pensacola, in
+consequence of my habit of drinking. The facts were as follows, for I have
+no desire to conceal, or to parade before the world, my own delinquencies;
+but, I confess them with the hope that the pictures they present, may have
+some salutary influence on the conduct of others. The doctor, who was
+steadily my friend, and often gave me excellent advice, went north, in
+order to bring his wife to Pensacola. I was considered entitled to a
+pension for the hurt which had brought me into the hospital, and the
+doctor had promised to see something about it, while at Washington. This
+was not done, in consequence of his not passing through Washington, as had
+been expected. Now, nature has so formed me, that any disgust, or
+disappointment, makes me reckless, and awakens a desire to revenge myself,
+on myself, as I may say. It was this feeling which first carried me from
+Halifax; it was this feeling that made me run from the Sterling; and which
+has often changed and sometimes marred my prospects, as I have passed
+through life. As soon as I learned that nothing had been said about my
+pension, this same feeling came over me, and I became reckless. I had not
+drawn my grog for months, and, indeed, had left off drinking entirely; but
+I now determined to have my fill, at the first good opportunity. I meant
+to make the officers sorry, by doing something that was very wrong, and
+for which I should be sorry myself.
+
+I kept the keys of the liquor of the hospital. The first thing was to find
+a confederate, which I did in the person of a Baltimore chap, who entered
+into my plan from pure love of liquor. I then got a stock of the wine, and
+we went to work on it, in my room. The liquor was sherry, and it took nine
+bottles of it to lay us both up. Even this did not make me beastly drunk,
+but it made me desperate and impudent. I abused the doctor, and came very
+near putting my foot into it, with Captain Latimer, who is an officer that
+it will not do, always, to trifle with. Still, these gentlemen, with
+Captain Bolton, had more consideration for me, than I had for myself, and
+I escaped with only a good reprimand. It was owing to this frolic,
+however, that I was invalided home--as they call it out there, no one
+seeming to consider Pensacola as being in the United States.
+
+When landed from the Levant, I was sent to the Navy Yard Hospital,
+Brooklyn. After staying two or three days here, I determined to go to the
+seat of government, and take a look at the great guns stationed there,
+Uncle Sam and all. I was paid off from the Levant, accordingly, and
+leaving the balance with the purser of the yard, I set off on my journey,
+with fifty dollars in my pockets, which they tell me is about a member of
+Congress' mileage, for the distance I had to go. Of course this was
+enough, as a member of Congress would naturally take care and give himself
+as much as he wanted.
+
+When I got on board the South-Amboy boat, I found a party of Indians
+there, going to head-quarters, like myself. The sight of these chaps set
+up all my rigging, and I felt ripe for fun. I treated them to a breakfast
+each, and gave them as much to drink as they could swallow. We all got
+merry, and had our own coarse fun, in the usual thought less manner of
+seamen. This was a bad beginning, and by the time we reached a tavern, I
+was ready to anchor. Where this was, is more than I know; for I was not in
+a state to keep a ship's reckoning. Whether any of my money was stolen or
+not, I cannot say, but I know that some of my clothes were. Next day I got
+to Philadelphia, where I had another frolic. After this, I went on to
+Washington, keeping it up, the whole distance. I fell in with a soldier
+chap, who was out of cash, and who was going to Washington to get a
+pension, too; and so we lived in common. When we reached Washington, my
+cash was diminished to three dollars and a half, and all was the
+consequences of brandy and folly. I had actually spent forty-six dollars
+and a half, in a journey that might have been made with ten, respectably!
+
+I got my travelling companion to recommend a boarding-house, which he did.
+I felt miserable from my excesses, and went to bed. In the morning, the
+three dollars and a half were gone. I felt too ill to go to the Department
+that day, but kept on drinking--eating nothing. Next day, my landlord took
+the trouble to inquire into the state of my pocket, and I told him the
+truth. This brought about a pretty free explanation between us, in which I
+was given to understand that my time was up in that place. I afterwards
+found out I had got into a regular soldier-house, and it was no wonder
+they did not know how to treat an old salt.
+
+Captain Mix had given me a letter to Commodore Chauncey, who was then
+living, and one of the Commissioners. I felt pretty certain the old
+gentleman would not let one of the Scourges founder at head-quarters, and
+so I crawled up to the Department, and got admission to him. The commodore
+seemed glad to see me; questioned me a good deal about the loss of the
+schooner, and finally gave me directions how to proceed. I then discovered
+that my pension ticket had actually reached Washington, but had been sent
+back to Pensacola, to get some informality corrected. This would compel me
+to remain some time at Washington. I felt unwell, and got back to my
+boarding-house with these tidings. The gentleman who kept the house was
+far from being satisfied with this, and he gave me a hint that at once put
+the door between us. This was the first time I ever had a door shut upon
+me, and I am thankful it happened at a soldier rendezvous. I gave the man
+all my spare clothes in pawn, and walked away from his house.
+
+I had undoubtedly brought on myself a fit of the "horrors," by my recent
+excesses. As I went along the streets, I thought every one was sneering at
+me; and, though burning with thirst, I felt ashamed to enter any house to
+ask even for water. A black gave me the direction of the Navy Yard, and I
+shaped my course for it, feeling more like lying down to die, than
+anything else. When about half-way across the bit of vacant land between
+the Capitol and the Yard, I sat down under a high picket-fence, and the
+devil put it into my head, that it would be well to terminate sufferings
+that seemed too hard to be borne, by hanging myself on that very fence. I
+took the handkerchief from my neck, made a running bow-line, and got so
+far as to be at work at a standing bow-line, to hitch over the top of one
+of the poles of the fence.
+
+I now stood up, and began to look for a proper picket to make fast to,
+when, in gazing about, I caught sight of the mast-heads of the shipping at
+the yard, and of the ensign under which I had so long served! These came
+over me, as a light-house comes over a mariner in distress at sea, and I
+thought there must be friends for me in that quarter. The sight gave me
+courage and strength, and I determined no old shipmate should hear of a
+blue-jacket's hanging himself on a picket, in a fit of the horrors.
+Casting off the bowlines, I replaced the handkerchief on my neck, and made
+the best of my way towards those blessed mast-heads, which, under God's
+mercy, were the means of preventing me from committing suicide.
+
+As I came up to the gate of the yard, the marine on post sung out to me,
+"Halloo, Myers, where are you come from? You look as if you had been
+dragged through h--, and beaten with a soot-bag!" This man, the first I
+met at the Navy Yard, had been with me three years in the Delaware, and
+knew me in spite of my miserable appearance. He advised me to go on board
+the Fulton, then lying at the Yard, where he said I should find several
+more old Delawares, who would take good care of me. I did as he directed,
+and, on getting on board, I fell in with lots of acquaintances. Some
+brought me tea, and some brought me grog. I told my yarn, and the chaps
+around me laid a plan to get ashore on liberty that night, and razee the
+house from which I had been turned away. But I persuaded them out of the
+notion, and the landlord went clear.
+
+Alter a while, I got a direction to a boarding-house near the Yard, and
+went to it, with a message from my old shipmates that they would be
+responsible for the pay. But to this the man would not listen; he took me
+in on my own account, saying that no blue-jacket should be turned from
+_his_ door, in distress. Here I staid and got a comfortable night's rest.
+Next day I was a new man, holy-stoned the decks, and went a second time to
+the Department.
+
+All the gentlemen in the office showed a desire to serve and advise me.
+The Pension Clerk gave me a letter to Mr. Boyle, the Chief Clerk, who gave
+me another letter to Commodore Patterson, the commandant of the Navy-Yard.
+It seems that government provides a boarding-house for us pensioners to
+stay in, while at Washington, looking after our rights. This letter of Mr.
+Boyle's got me a berth in that house, where I was supplied with
+everything, even to washing and mending, for six weeks. Through the
+purser, I drew a stock of money from the purser at New York, and now
+began, again, to live soberly and respectably, considering all things.
+
+The house in which I lived was a sort of half-hospital, and may have had
+six or eight of us in it, altogether. Several of us were cripples from
+wounds and hurts, and, among others, was one Reuben James, a thorough old
+man-of-war's man, who had been in the service ever since he was a youth.
+This man had the credit of saving Decatur's life before Tripoli; but he
+owned to me that he was not the person who did it. He was in the fight,
+and boarded with Decatur, but did not save his commander's life. He had
+been often wounded, and had just had a leg amputated for an old wound,
+received in the war of 1812, I believe. Liquor brought him to that.
+
+The reader will remember that the night the Scourge went down I received a
+severe blow from her jib-sheet blocks. A lump soon formed on the spot
+where the injury had been inflicted, and it had continued to increase
+until it was now as large as my fist, or even larger. I showed this lump
+to James, one day, and he mentioned it to Dr. Foltz, the surgeon who
+attended the house. The doctor took a look at my arm, and recommended an
+operation, as the lump would continue to increase, and was already so
+large as to be inconvenient. I cannot say that it hurt me any, though it
+was an awkward sort of swab to be carrying on a fellow's shoulder. I had
+no great relish for being carved, and think I should have refused to
+submit to the operation, were it not for James, who told me he would not
+be carrying Bunker Hill about on _his_ arm, and would show me his own
+stump by way of encouragement. This man seemed to think an old sailor
+ought to have a wooden leg, or something of the sort, after he had reached
+a certain time of life. At all events, he persuaded me to let the doctor
+go to work, and I am now glad I did, as everything turned out well. Doctor
+Foltz operated, after I had been about a week under medicine, doing the
+job as neatly as man could wish. He told me the lump he removed weighed a
+pound and three quarters, and of course I was so much the lighter. I was
+about a month, after this, under his care, when he pronounced me to be
+sea-worthy again.
+
+I now got things straight as regards my pension, for the hurt received on
+board the Constellation. It was no great matter, only three dollars a
+month, being one of the small pensions; and the clerks, when they came to
+hear about the hurt, for which Dr. Foltz had operated, advised me to get
+evidence and procure a pension for _that_. I saw the Secretary, Mr.
+Paulding, on this subject, and the gentlemen were so kind as to overhaul
+their papers, in order to ascertain who could be found as a witness. They
+wrote to Captain Deacon, the officer who commanded the Growler; but he
+knew nothing of me, as I never was on board his schooner. This gentleman,
+however, wrote me a letter, himself, inviting me to come and see him,
+which I had it not in my power to do. I understand he is now dead. Mr.
+Trant had been dead many years, and, as for Mr. Bogardus, I never knew
+what became of him. He was not in the line of promotion, and probably left
+the navy at the peace. In overhauling the books, however, the
+pension-clerk came across the name of Lemuel Bryant. This man received a
+pension for the wound he got at Little York, and was one of those I had
+hauled into the boat when the Scourge went down. He was then living at
+Portland, in Maine, his native State. Mr. Paulding advised me to get his
+certificate, for all hands in the Department seemed anxious I should not
+go away without something better than the three dollars a month. I
+promised to go on, and see Lemuel Bryant, and obtain his testimony.
+
+Quitting Washington, I went to Alexandria and got on board a brig, called
+the Isabella, bound to New York, at which port we arrived in due time.
+Here I obtained the rest of my money, and kept myself pretty steady, more
+on account of my wounds, I fear, than anything else. Still I drank too
+much; and by way of putting a check on myself, I went to the Sailor's
+Retreat, Staten Island, and of course got out of the reach of liquor. Here
+I staid eight or ten days, until my wounds healed. While at the Retreat,
+the last day I remained there indeed, which was a Sunday, the physician
+came in, and told me that a clergyman of the Dutch Reformed Church, of the
+name of Miller, was about to have service down stairs, and that I had
+better go down and be present. To this request, not only civilly but
+kindly made, I answered that I had seen enough of the acts of religious
+men to satisfy me, and that I believed a story I was then reading in a
+Magazine, would do me as much good as a sermon. The physician said a
+little in the way of reproof and admonition, and left me. As soon as his
+back was turned, some of my companions began to applaud the spirit I had
+shown, and the answer I had given the doctor. But I was not satisfied with
+myself. I had more secret respect for such things than I was willing to
+own, and conscience upbraided me for the manner in which I had slighted so
+well-meaning a request. Suddenly telling those around me that my mind was
+changed, and that I _would_ go below and hear what was said, I put this
+new resolution in effect immediately.
+
+I had no recollection of the text from which Mr. Miller preached; it is
+possible I did not attend to it, at the moment it was given out; but,
+during the whole discourse, I fancied the clergyman was addressing himself
+particularly to me, and that his eyes were never off me. That he touched
+my conscience I know, for the effect produced by this sermon, though not
+uninterruptedly lasting, is remembered to the present hour. I made many
+excellent resolutions, and secretly resolved to reform, and to lead a
+better life. My thoughts were occupied the whole night with what I had
+heard, and my conscience was keenly active.
+
+The next morning I quitted the Retreat, and saw no more of Mr. Miller, at
+that time; but I carried away with me many resolutions that would have
+been very admirable, had they only been adhered to. How short-lived they
+were, and how completely I was the slave of a vicious habit, will be seen,
+when I confess that I landed in New York a good deal the worse for having
+treated some militia-men who were in the steamer, to nearly a dozen
+glasses of hot-stuff, in crossing the bay. I had plenty of money, and a
+sailor's disposition to get rid of it, carelessly, and what I thought
+generously. It was Evacuation-Day, and severely cold, and the hot-stuff
+pleased everybody, on such an occasion. Nor was this all. In passing
+Whitehall slip, I saw the Ohio's first-cutter lying there, and it happened
+that I not only knew the officer of the boat, who had been one of the
+midshipmen of the Constellation, but that I knew most of its crew. I was
+hailed, of course, and then I asked leave to treat the men. The permission
+was obtained, and this second act of liberality reduced me to the
+necessity of going into port, under a pilot's charge. Still I had not
+absolutely forgotten the sermon, nor all my good resolutions.
+
+At the boarding-house I found a Prussian, named Godfrey, a steady, sedate
+man, and I agreed with him to go to Savannah, to engage in the
+shad-fishery, for the winter, and to come north together in the spring. My
+landlord was not only ill and poor, but he had many children to support,
+and it is some proof that all my good resolutions were not forgotten, that
+I was ready to go south before my money was gone, and willing it should do
+some good, in the interval of my absence. A check for fifty dollars still
+remained untouched, and I gave it to this man, with the understanding he
+was to draw the money, use it for his own wants, and return it to me, if
+he could, when I got back. The money was drawn, but the man died, and I
+saw no more of it.
+
+Godfrey and I were shipped in a vessel called the William Taylor, a
+regular Savannah packet. It was our intention to quit her as soon as she
+got in--by running, if necessary. We had a bad passage, and barely missed
+shipwreck on Hatteras, saving the brig by getting a sudden view of the
+light, in heavy, thick weather. We got round, under close-reefed topsails,
+and that was all we did. After this, we had a quick run to Savannah.
+Godfrey had been taken with the small-pox before we arrived, and was sent
+to a hospital as soon as possible. In order to prevent running, I feigned
+illness, too, and went to another. Here the captain paid me several
+visits, but my conscience was too much hardened by the practices of
+seamen, to let me hesitate about continuing to be ill. The brig was
+obliged to sail without me, and the same day I got well, as suddenly as I
+had fallen ill.
+
+I was not long in making a bargain with a fisherman to aid in catching
+shad. All this time, I lived at a sailor boarding-house, and was
+surrounded by men who, like myself, had quitted the vessels in which they
+had arrived. One night the captain of a ship, called the Hope, came to the
+house to look for a crew. He was bound to Rotterdam, and his ship lay down
+at the second bar, all ready for sea. After some talk, one man signed the
+articles; then another, and another, and another, until his crew was
+complete to one man. I was now called on to ship, and was ridiculed for
+wishing to turn shad-man. My pride was touched, and I agreed to go,
+leaving my fisherman in the lurch.
+
+The Hope turned out to be a regular down-east craft, and I had been in so
+many flyers and crack ships as to be saucy enough to laugh at the
+economical outfit, and staid ways of the vessel. I went on board half
+drunk, and made myself conspicuous for such sort of strictures from the
+first hour. The captain treated me mildly, even kindly; but I stuck to my
+remarks during most of the passage. I was a seaman, and did my duty; but
+this satisfied me. I had taken a disgust to the ship; and though I had
+never blasphemed since the hour of the accident in the way I did the day
+the Susan and Mary was thrown on her beam-ends, I may be said to have
+crossed the Atlantic in the Hope, grumbling and swearing at the ship.
+Still, our living and our treatment were both good.
+
+At Rotterdam, we got a little money, with liberty. When he last was up, I
+asked for more, and the captain refused it. This brought on an explosion,
+and I swore I would quit the ship. After a time, the captain consented, as
+well as he could, leaving my wages on the cabin-table, where I found them,
+and telling me I should repent of what I was then doing. Little did I then
+think he would prove so true a prophet.
+
+
+
+Chapter XVIII.
+
+
+
+I had left the Hope in a fit of the sulks. The vessel never pleased me,
+and yet I can now look back, and acknowledge that both her master and her
+mate were respectable, considerate men, who had my own good in view more
+than I had myself. There was an American ship, called the Plato, in port,
+and I had half a mind to try my luck in her. The master of this vessel was
+said to be a tartar, however, and a set of us had doubts about the
+expediency of trusting ourselves with such a commander. When we came to
+sound around him, we discovered he would have nothing to do with us, as he
+intended to get a crew of regular Dutchmen. This ship had just arrived
+from Batavia, and was bound to New York. How he did this legally, or
+whether he did it at all, is more than I know, for I only tell what I was
+told myself, on this subject.
+
+There was a heavy Dutch Indiaman, then fitting out for Java, lying at
+Rotterdam. The name of this vessel was the Stadtdeel--so pronounced; how
+spelt, I have no idea--and I began to think I would try a voyage in her.
+As is common with those who have great reason to find fault with
+themselves, I was angry with the whole world. I began to think myself a
+sort of outcast, forgetting that I had deserted my natural relatives, run
+from my master, and thrown off many friends who were disposed to serve me
+in everything in which I could be served. I have a cheerful temperament by
+nature, and I make no doubt that the sombre view I now began to take of
+things, was the effects of drink. It was necessary for me to get to sea,
+for there I was shut out from all excesses, by discipline and necessity.
+
+After looking around us, and debating the matter among ourselves, a party
+of five of us shipped in the Stadtdeel. What the others contemplated I do
+not know, but it was my intention to double Good Hope, and never to
+return. Chances enough would offer on the other side, to make a man
+comfortable, and I was no stranger to the ways of that quarter of the
+world. I could find enough to do between Bombay and Canton; and, if I
+could not, there were the islands and all of the Pacific before me. I
+could do a seaman's whole duty, was now in tolerable health and strength,
+and knew that such men were always wanted. Wherever a ship goes, Jack must
+go with her, and ships, dollars and hogs, are now to be met with all over
+the globe.
+
+The Stadtdeel lay at Dort, and we went to that place to join her. She was
+not ready for sea, and as things moved Dutchman fashion, slow and sure, we
+were about six weeks at Dort before she sailed. This ship was a vessel of
+the size of a frigate, and carried twelve guns. She had a crew of about
+forty souls, which was being very short-handed. The ship's company was a
+strange mixture of seamen, though most of them came from the north of
+Europe. Among us were Russians, Danes, Swedes, Prussians, English,
+Americans, and but a very few Dutch. One of the mates, and two of the
+petty officers, could speak a little English. This made us eight who could
+converse in that language. We had to learn Dutch as well as we could, and
+made out tolerably well. Before the ship sailed, I could understand the
+common orders, without much difficulty. Indeed, the language is nothing
+but English a little flattened down.
+
+So long as we remained at Dort, the treatment on board this vessel was
+well enough. We were never well fed, though we got enough food, such as it
+was. The work was hard, and the weather cold; but these did not frighten
+me. The wages were eight dollars a month;--I had abandoned eighteen, and
+an American ship, for this preferment! A wayward temper had done me
+this service.
+
+The Stadtdeel no sooner got into the stream, than there was a great
+change in the treatment. We were put on an allowance of food and water,
+in sight of our place of departure; and the rope's-end began to fly round
+among the crew we five excepted. For some reason, that I cannot explain
+neither of us was ever struck. We got plenty of curses, in Low Dutch, as
+we supposed; and we gave them back, with interest, in high English. The
+expression of our faces let the parties into the secret of what was
+going on.
+
+It is scarcely necessary to add, that we English and Americans soon
+repented of the step we had taken. I heartily wished myself on board the
+Hope, again, and the master's prophecy became true, much sooner, perhaps,
+than he had himself anticipated. This time, I conceive that my disgust was
+fully justified; though I deserved the punishment I was receiving, for
+entering so blindly into a service every way so inferior to that to which
+I properly belonged. The bread in this ship was wholesome, I do suppose,
+but it was nearly black, and such as I was altogether unused to. Inferior
+as it was, we got but five pounds, each, per week. In our navy, a man
+gets, per week, seven pounds of such bread as might be put on a
+gentleman's table. The meat was little better than the bread in quality,
+and quite as scant in quantity. We got one good dish in the Stadtdeel, and
+that we got every morning. It was a dish of boiled barley, of which I
+became very fond, and which, indeed, supplied me with the strength
+necessary for my duty. It was one of the best dishes I ever fell in with
+at sea; and I think it might be introduced, to advantage, in our service.
+Good food produces good work.
+
+As all our movements were of the slow and easy order, the ship lay three
+weeks at the Helvoetsluys, waiting for passengers. During this time, our
+party, three English and two Americans, came to a determination to abandon
+the ship. Our plan was to seize a boat, as we passed down channel, and get
+ashore in England. We were willing to run all the risks of such a step, in
+preference of going so long a voyage under such treatment and food. By
+this time, our discontent amounted to disgust.
+
+At length we got all our passengers on board. These consisted of a family,
+of which the head was said to be, or to have been, an admiral in the Dutch
+navy. This gentleman was going to Java to remain; and he took with him
+his wife, several children, servants, and a lady, who seemed to be a
+companion to his wife. As soon as this party was on board, the wind coming
+fair, we sailed. The Plato went to sea in company with us, and little did
+I then think, while wishing myself on board her, how soon I should be
+thrown into this very ship--the last craft in which I ever was at sea. I
+was heaving the lead as we passed her; our ship, Dutchman or not, having a
+fleet pair of heels. The Stadtdeel, whatever might be her usage, or her
+food, sailed and worked well, and was capitally found in everything that
+related to the safety of the vessel. This was her first voyage, and she
+was said to be the largest ship out of Rotterdam.
+
+The Stadtdeel must have sailed from Helvoetsluys in May, 1839, or about
+thirty-three years after I sailed from New York, on my first voyage, in
+the Sterling. During all this time I had been toiling at sea, like a dog,
+risking my health and life, in a variety of ways; and this ship, with my
+station on board her, was nearly all I had to show for it! God be praised!
+This voyage, which promised so little, in its commencement, proved, in the
+end, the most fortunate of any in which I embarked.
+
+There was no opportunity for us to put our plans in execution, in going
+down channel. The wind was fair, and it blew so fresh, it would not have
+been easy to get a boat into the water; and we passed the Straits of
+Dover, by day-light, the very day we sailed. The wind held in the same
+quarter, until we reached the north-east trades, giving us a quick run as
+low down as the calm latitudes. All this time, the treatment was as bad as
+ever, or, if anything, worse; and our discontent increased daily. There
+were but one or two native Hollanders in the forecastle, boys excepted;
+but among them was a man who had shipped as an ordinary seaman. He had
+been a soldier, I believe; at all events, he had a medal, received in
+consequence of having been in one of the late affairs between his country
+and Belgium. It is probable this man may not have been very expert in a
+seaman's duty, and it is possible he may have been drinking, though to me
+he appeared sober, at the time the thing occurred which I am about to
+relate. One day the captain fell foul of him, and beat him with a rope
+severely. The ladies interfered, and got the poor fellow out of the
+scrape; the captain letting him go, and telling him to go forward. As the
+man complied, he fell in with the chief mate, who attacked him afresh, and
+beat him very severely. The man now went below, and was about to turn in,
+as the captain had ordered,--which renders it probable he had been
+drinking,--when the second mate, possibly ignorant of what had occurred,
+missing him from his duty, went below, and beat him up on deck again.
+These different assaults seem to have made the poor fellow desperate. He
+ran and jumped into the sea, just forward of the starboard
+lower-studdingsail-boom. The ship was then in the north-east trades, and
+had eight or nine knots way on her; notwithstanding, she was rounded to,
+and a boat was lowered--but the man was never found. There is something
+appalling in seeing a fellow-creature driven to such acts of madness; and
+the effect produced on all of us, by what we witnessed, was profound
+and sombre.
+
+I shall not pretend to say that this man did not deserve chastisement, or
+that the two mates were not ignorant of what had happened; but brutal
+treatment was so much in use on board this ship, that the occurrence made
+us five nearly desperate. I make no doubt a crew of Americans, who were
+thus treated, would have secured the officers, and brought the ship in. It
+is true, that flogging seems necessary to some natures, and I will not say
+that such a crew as ours could very well get along without it. But we
+might sometimes be treated as men, and no harm follow.
+
+As I have said, the loss of this man produced a great impression in the
+ship, generally. The passengers appeared much affected by it, and I
+thought the captain, in particular, regretted it greatly. He might not
+have been in the least to blame, for the chastisement he inflicted was
+such as masters of ships often bestow on their men, but the crew felt very
+indignant against the mates; one of whom was particularly obnoxious to us
+all. As for my party, we now began to plot, again, in order to get quit of
+the ship. After a great deal of discussion, we came to the following
+resolution:
+
+About a dozen of us entered into the conspiracy. We contemplated no
+piracy, no act of violence, that should not be rendered necessary in
+self-defence, nor any robbery beyond what we conceived indispensable to
+our object. As the ship passed the Straits of Sunda, we intended to lower
+as many boats as should be necessary, arm ourselves, place provisions and
+water in the boats, and abandon the ship. We felt confident that if most
+of the men did not go with us, they would not oppose us. I can now see
+that this was a desperate and unjustifiable scheme; but, for myself, I was
+getting desperate on board the ship, and preferred risking my life to
+remaining. I will not deny that I was a ringleader in this affair, though
+I know I had no other motive than escape. This was a clear case of mutiny,
+and the only one in which I was ever implicated. I have a thousand times
+seen reason to rejoice that the attempt was never made, since, so deep was
+the hostility of the crew to the officers,--the mates, in
+particular,--that I feel persuaded a horrible scene of bloodshed must have
+followed. I did not think of this at the time, making sure of getting off
+unresisted; but, if we had, what would have been the fate of a parcel of
+seamen who came into an English port in ship's boats? Tried for piracy,
+probably, and the execution of some, if not all of us.
+
+The ship had passed the island of St. Pauls, and we were impatiently
+waiting for her entrance into the Straits of Sunda, when an accident
+occurred that put a stop to the contemplated mutiny, and changed the whole
+current, as I devoutly hope, of all my subsequent life. At the calling of
+the middle watch, one stormy night, the ship being under close-reefed
+topsails at the time, with the mainsail furled, I went on deck as usual,
+to my duty. In stepping across the deck, between the launch and the
+galley, I had to cross some spars that were lashed there. While on the
+pile of spars, the ship lurched suddenly, and I lost my balance, falling
+my whole length on deck, upon my left side. Nothing broke the fall, my
+arms being raised to seize a hold above my head, and I came down upon deck
+with my entire weight, the hip taking the principal force of the fall. The
+anguish I suffered was acute, and it was some time before I would allow my
+shipmates even to touch me.
+
+After a time, I was carried down into the steerage, where it was found
+necessary to sling me on a grating, instead of a hammock. We had a doctor
+on board, but he could do nothing for me. My clothes could not be taken
+off, and there I lay wet, and suffering to a degree that I should find
+difficult to describe, hours and hours.
+
+I was now really on the stool of repentance. In body, I was perfectly
+helpless, though my mind seemed more active than it had ever been before.
+I overhauled my whole life, beginning with the hour when I first got
+drunk, as a boy, on board the Sterling, and underrunning every scrape I
+have mentioned in this sketch of my life, with many of which I have not
+spoken; and all with a fidelity and truth that satisfy me that man can
+keep no log-book that is as accurate as his own conscience. I saw that I
+had been my own worst enemy, and how many excellent opportunities of
+getting ahead in the world, I had wantonly disregarded. Liquor lay at the
+root of all my calamities and misconduct, enticing me into bad company,
+undermining my health and strength, and blasting my hopes. I tried to
+pray, but did not know how; and, it appeared to me, as if I were lost,
+body and soul, without a hope of mercy.
+
+My shipmates visited me by stealth, and I pointed out to them, as clearly
+as in my power, the folly, as well as the wickedness, of our contemplated
+mutiny. I told them we had come on board the ship voluntarily, and we had
+no right to be judges in our own case; that we should have done a cruel
+thing in deserting a ship at sea, with women and children on board; that
+the Malays would probably have cut our throats, and the vessel herself
+would have been very apt to be wrecked. Of all this mischief, we should
+have been the fathers, and we had every reason to be grateful that our
+project was defeated. The men listened attentively, and promised to
+abandon every thought of executing the revolt. They were as good as their
+words, and I heard no more of the matter.
+
+As for my hurt, it was not easy to say what it was. The doctor was kind to
+me, but he could do no more than give me food and little indulgencies. As
+for the captain, I think he was influenced by the mate, who appeared to
+believe I was feigning an injury much greater than I had actually
+received. On board the ship, there was a boy, of good parentage, who had
+been sent out to commence his career at sea. He lived aft, and was a sort
+of genteel cabin-boy He could not have been more than ten or eleven years
+old but he proved to be a ministering angel to me. He brought me
+delicacies, sympathised with me, and many a time did we shed tears in
+company. The ladies and the admiral's children sometimes came to see me,
+too, manifesting much sorrow for my situation; and then it was that my
+conscience pricked the deepest, for the injury, or risks, I had
+contemplated exposing them to. Altogether, the scenes I saw daily, and my
+own situation, softened my heart, and I began to get views of my moral
+deformity that were of a healthful and safe character.
+
+I lay on that grating two months, and bitter months they were to me. The
+ship had arrived at Batavia, and the captain and mate came to see what was
+to be done with me. I asked to be sent to the hospital, but the mate
+insisted nothing was the matter with me, and asked to have me kept in the
+ship. This was done, and I went round to Terragall in her, where we landed
+our passengers. These last all came and took leave of me, the admiral
+making me a present of a good jacket, that he had worn himself at sea,
+with a quantity of tobacco. I have got that jacket at this moment. The
+ladies spoke kindly to me, and all this gave my heart fresh pangs.
+
+From Terragall we went to Sourabaya, where I prevailed on the captain to
+send me to the hospital, the mate still insisting I was merely shamming
+inability to work. The surgeons at Sourabaya, one of whom was a Scotchman,
+thought with the mate; and at the end of twenty days, I was again taken on
+board the ship, which sailed for Samarang. While at Sourabaya there were
+five English sailors in the hospital. These men were as forlorn and
+miserable as my self, death grinning in our faces at every turn. The men
+who were brought into the hospital one day, were often dead the next, and
+none of us knew whose turn would come next. We often talked together, on
+religious subjects, after our own uninstructed manner, and greatly did we
+long to find an English bible, a thing not to be had there. Then it was I
+thought, again, of the sermon I had heard at the Sailors' Retreat, of the
+forfeited promises I had made to reform; and, more than once did it cross
+my mind, should God permit me to return home, that I would seek out that
+minister, and ask his prayers and spiritual advice.
+
+On our arrival at Samarang, the mate got a doctor from a Dutch frigate,
+to look at me, who declared nothing ailed me. By these means nearly all
+hands in the ship were set against me, but my four companions, and the
+little boy fancying that I was a skulk, and throwing labour on them. I was
+ordered on deck, and set to work graffing ring-bolts for the guns. Walk I
+could not, being obliged, literally, to crawl along the deck on my hands
+and knees. I suffered great pain, but got no credit for it. The work was
+easy enough for me, when once seated at it, but it caused me infinite
+suffering to move. I was not alone in being thought a skulk, however. The
+doctor himself was taken ill, and the mate accused him, too, very much as
+he did me, of shirking duty. Unfortunately, the poor man gave him the
+lie, by dying.
+
+I was kept at the sort of duty I have mentioned until the ship reached
+Batavia again. Here a doctor came on board from another ship, on a visit,
+and my case was mentioned. The mate ordered me aft, and I crawled upon the
+quarter-deck to be examined. They got me into the cabin, where the strange
+doctor looked at me. This man said I must be operated on by a burning
+process, all of which was said to frighten me to duty. After this I got
+down into the forecastle, and positively refused to do anything more.
+There I lay, abused and neglected by all but my four friends. I told the
+mate I suffered too much to work, and that I must be put ashore. Suffering
+had made me desperate, and I cared not for the consequences.
+
+Fortunately for me, there were two cases of fever and ague in the ship.
+Our own doctor being dead, that of the admiral's ship was sent for to
+visit the sick. The mate seemed anxious to set evidence against me, and he
+asked the admiral's surgeon to come down and see me. The moment this
+gentleman laid eyes on me, he raised both arms, and exclaimed that they
+were killing me. He saw, at once, that I was no impostor, and stated as
+much in pretty plain language, so far as I could understand what he said.
+The mate appeared to be struck with shame and contrition; and I do believe
+that every one on board was sorry for the treatment I had received. I took
+occasion to remonstrate with the mate, and to tell him of the necessity of
+my being sent immediately to the hospital. The man promised to represent
+my case to the captain, and the next day I was landed.
+
+My two great desires were to get to the hospital and to procure a bible. I
+did not expect to live; one of my legs being shrivelled to half its former
+size, and was apparently growing worse; and could I find repose for my
+body and relief for my soul, I felt that I could be happy. I had heard my
+American shipmate, who was a New Yorker, a Hudson river man, say he had a
+bible; but I had never seen it. It lay untouched in the bottom of his
+chest, sailor-fashion. I offered this man a shirt for his bible; but he
+declined taking any pay, cheerfully giving me the book. I forced the shirt
+on him, however, as a sort of memorial of me. Now I was provided with the
+book, I could not read for want of spectacles. I had reached a time of
+life when the sight begins to fail, and I think my eyes were injured in
+Florida. In Sourayaba hospital I had raised a few rupees by the sale of a
+black silk handkerchief, and wanted now to procure a pair of spectacles. I
+sold a pair of boots, and adding the little sum thus raised to that which
+I had already, I felt myself rich and happy, in the prospect of being able
+to study the word of God. On quitting the ship, everybody, forward and
+aft, shook hands with me, the opinion of the man-of-war surgeon suddenly
+changing all their opinions of me and my conduct.
+
+The captain appeared to regret the course things had taken, and was
+willing to do all he could to make me comfortable. My wages were left in a
+merchant's hands, and I was to receive them could I quit this island, or
+get out of the hospital. I was to be sent to Holland, in the latter case,
+and everything was to be done according to law and right. The reader is
+not to imagine I considered myself a suffering saint all this time. On the
+contrary, while I was thought an impostor, I remembered that I had shammed
+sickness in this very island, and, as I entered the hospital, I could not
+forget the circumstances under which I had been its tenant fifteen or
+twenty years before. Then I was in the pride of my youth and strength;
+and, now, as if in punishment for the deception, I was berthed, a
+miserable cripple, within half-a-dozen beds of that on which I was berthed
+when feigning an illness I did not really suffer. Under such
+circumstances, conscience is pretty certain to remind a sinner of
+his misdeeds.
+
+The physician of the hospital put me on very low diet and gave me an
+ointment to "smear" myself with, as he called it; and I was ordered to
+remain in my berth. By means of one of the coolies of the hospital, I got
+a pair of spectacles from the town, and such a pair, as to size and form,
+that people in America regard what is left of them as a curiosity. They
+served my purpose, however, and enabled me to read the precious book I had
+obtained from my north-river shipmate. This book was a copy from the
+American Bible Society's printing-office, and if no other of their works
+did good, this must be taken for an exception. It has since been placed in
+the Society's Library, in memory of the good it has done.
+
+My sole occupation was reading and reflecting. There I lay, in a distant
+island, surrounded by disease, death daily, nay hourly making his
+appearance, among men whose language was mostly unknown to me. It was
+several weeks before I was allowed even to quit my bunk. I had begun to
+pray before I left the ship, and this practice I continued, almost hourly,
+until I was permitted to rise. A converted Lascar was in the hospital, and
+seeing my occupation, he came and conversed with me, in his broken
+English. This man gave me a hymn-book, and one of the first hymns I read
+in it afforded me great consolation. It was written by a man who had been
+a sailor like myself, and one who had been almost as wicked as myself, but
+who has since done a vast deal of good, by means of precept and example.
+This hymn-book I now read in common with my bible. But I cannot express
+the delight I felt at a copy of Pilgrim's Progress which this same Lascar
+gave me. That book I consider as second only to the bible. It enabled me
+to understand and to apply a vast deal that I found in the word of God,
+and set before my eyes so many motives for hope, that I began to feel
+Christ had died for me, as well as for the rest of the species. I thought
+if the thief on the cross could be saved, even one as wicked as I had been
+had only to repent and believe, to share in the Redeemer's mercy. All this
+time I fairly pined for religious instruction, and my thoughts would
+constantly recur to the sermon I had heard at the Sailor's Retreat, and
+to the clergyman who had preached it.
+
+There was an American carpenter in the Fever Hospital, who, hearing of my
+state, gave me some tracts that he had brought from home with him. This
+man was not pious, but circumstances had made him serious; and, being
+about to quit the place, he was willing to administer to my wants He told
+me there were several Englishmen and one American in his hospital, who
+wanted religious consolation greatly, and he advised me to crawl over and
+see them; which I did, as soon as it was in my power.
+
+At first, I thought myself too wicked to offer to pray and converse with
+these men, but my conscience would not let me rest until I did so. It
+appeared to me as if the bible had been placed in my way, as much for
+their use as my own, and I could not rest until I had offered them all the
+consolation it was in my power to bestow. I read with these men for two or
+three weeks; Chapman, the American, being the man who considered his own
+moral condition the most hopeless. When unable to go myself, I would send
+my books, and we had the bible and Pilgrim's Progress, watch and watch,
+between us.
+
+All this time we were living, as it might be, on a bloody battle-field.
+Men died in scores around us, and at the shortest notice. Batavia, at that
+season, was the most sickly; and, although the town was by no means as
+dangerous then as it had been in my former visit, it was still a sort of
+Golgotha, or place of skulls. More than half who entered the Fever
+Hospital, left it only as corpses.
+
+Among my English associates, as I call them, was a young Scotchman, of
+about five-and-twenty. This man had been present at most of our readings
+and conversations, though he did not appear to me as much impressed with
+the importance of caring for his soul, as some of the others. One day he
+came to take leave of me. He was to quit the hospital the following
+morning. I spoke to him concerning his future life, and endeavoured to
+awaken in him some feelings that might be permanent, he listened with
+proper respect, but his answers were painfully inconsiderate, though I do
+believe he reasoned as nine in ten of mankind reason, when they think at
+all on such subjects. "What's the use of my giving up so soon," he said;
+"I am young, and strong, and in good health, and have plenty of sea-room
+to leeward of me, and can fetch up when there is occasion for it. If a
+fellow don't live while he can, he'll never live." I read to him the
+parable of the wise and foolish virgins, but he left me holding the same
+opinion, to the last.
+
+Directly in front of my ward was the dead-house. Thither all the bodies of
+those who died in the hospital were regularly carried for dissection.
+Scarcely one escaped being subjected to the knife. This dead-house stood
+some eighty, or a hundred, yards from the hospital, and between them was
+an area, containing a few large trees. I was in the habit, after I got
+well enough to go out, to hobble to one of these trees, where I would sit
+for hours, reading and meditating. It was a good place to make a man
+reflect on the insignificance of worldly things, disease and death being
+all around him. I frequently saw six or eight bodies carried across this
+area, while sitting in it, and many were taken to the dead-house, at
+night. Hundreds, if not thousands, were in the hospital, and a large
+proportion died.
+
+The morning of the day but one, after I had taken leave of the young
+Scotchman, I was sitting under a tree, as usual, when I saw some coolies
+carrying a dead body across the area. They passed quite near me, and one
+of the coolies gave me to understand it was that of this very youth! He
+had been seized with the fever, a short time after he left me, and here
+was a sudden termination to all his plans of enjoyment and his hopes of
+life; his schemes of future repentance.
+
+Such things are of frequent occurrence in that island, but this event made
+a very deep impression on me. It helped to strengthen me in my own
+resolutions, and I used it, I hope, with effect, with my companions whose
+lives were still spared.
+
+All the Englishmen got well, and were discharged. Chapman, the American,
+however, remained, being exceedingly feeble with the disease of the
+country. With this poor young man, I prayed, as well as I knew how, and
+read, daily, to his great comfort and consolation, I believe. The reader
+may imagine how one dying in a strange land, surrounded by idolaters,
+would lean on a single countryman who was disposed to aid him. In this
+manner did Chap man lean on me, and all my efforts were to induce him to
+lean on the Saviour. He thought he had been too great a sinner to be
+entitled to any hope, and my great task was to overcome in him some of
+those stings of conscience which it had taken the grace of God to allay in
+myself. One day, the last time I was with him, I read the narrative of the
+thief on the cross. He listened to it eagerly, and when I had ended, for
+the first time, he displayed some signs of hope and joy. As I left him, he
+took leave of me, saying we should never meet again. He asked my prayers,
+and I promised them. I went to my own ward, and, while actually engaged in
+redeeming my promise, one came to tell me he had gone. He sent me a
+message, to say he died a happy man. The poor fellow--happy fellow, would
+be a better term--sent back all the books he had borrowed; and it will
+serve to give some idea of the condition we were in, in a temporal sense,
+if I add, that he also sent me a few coppers, in order that they might
+contribute to the comfort of his countrymen.
+
+
+
+Chapter XIX.
+
+
+
+About three months after the death of Chapman, I was well enough to quit
+the hospital. I could walk, with the aid of crutches, but had no hope of
+ever being a sound man again. Of course, I had an anxious desire to get
+home; for all my resolutions, misanthropical feelings, and resentments,
+had vanished in the moral change I had undergone. My health, as a whole,
+was now good. Temperance, abstinence, and a happy frame of mind, had
+proved excellent doctors; and, although I had not, and never shall,
+altogether, recover from the effects of my fall, I had quite done with the
+"horrors." The last fit of them I suffered was in the deep conviction I
+felt concerning my sinful state. I knew nothing of Temperance
+Societies--had never heard that such things existed, or, if I had, forgot
+it as soon as heard; and yet, unknown to myself, had joined the most
+effective and most permanent of all these bodies. Since my fall, I have
+not tasted spirituous liquors, except as medicine, and in very small
+quantities, nor do I now feel the least desire to drink. By the grace of
+God, the great curse of my life has been removed, and I have lived a
+perfectly sober man for the last five years. I look upon liquor as one of
+the great agents of the devil in destroying souls, and turn from it,
+almost as sensitively as I could wish to turn from sin.
+
+I wrote to the merchant who held my wages, on the subject of quitting the
+hospital, but got no answer. I then resolved to go to Batavia myself, and
+took my discharge from the hospital, accordingly. I can truly say, I left
+that place, into which I had entered a miserable, heart-broken cripple, a
+happy man. Still, I had nothing; not even the means of seeking a
+livelihood. But I was lightened of the heaviest of all my burthens, and
+felt I could go through the world rejoicing, though, literally, moving
+on crutches.
+
+The hospital is seven miles from the town, and I went this distance in a
+canal-boat, Dutch fashion. Many of these canals exist in Java, and they
+have had the effect to make the island much more healthy, by draining the
+marshes. They told me, the canal I was on ran fifty miles into the
+interior. The work was done by the natives, but under the direction of
+their masters, the Dutch.
+
+On reaching the town, I hobbled up to the merchant, who gave me a very
+indifferent reception. He said I had cost too much already, but that I
+must return to the hospital, until an opportunity offered for sending me
+to Holland. This I declined doing. Return to the hospital I would not, as
+I knew it could do no good, and my wish was to get back to America. I then
+went to the American consul, who treated me kindly. I was told, however,
+he could do nothing for me, as I had come out in a Dutch ship, unless I
+relinquished all claims to my wages, and all claims on the Dutch laws. My
+wages were a trifle, and I had no difficulty in relinquishing them, and as
+for claims, I wished to present none on the laws of Holland.
+
+The consul then saw the Dutch merchant, and the matter was arranged
+between them. The Plato, the very ship that left Helvoetsluys in company
+with us, was then at Batavia, taking in cargo for Bremenhaven. She had a
+new cap tain, and he consented to receive me as a consul's man. This
+matter was all settled the day I reached the town, and I was to go on
+board the ship in the morning.
+
+I said nothing to the consul about money, but left his office with the
+expectation of getting some from the Dutch merchant. I had tasted no food
+that day, and, on reaching the merchant's, I found him on the point of
+going into the country; no one sleeping in the town at that season, who
+could help it. He took no notice of me, and I got no assistance; perhaps I
+was legally entitled to none. I now sat down on some boxes, and thought I
+would remain at that spot until morning. Sleeping in the open air, on an
+empty stomach, in that town, and at that season, would probably have
+proved my death, had I been so fortunate as to escape being murdered by
+the Malays for the clothes I had on. Providence took care of me. One of
+the clerks, a Portuguese, took pity on me, and led me to a house occupied
+by a negro, who had been converted to Christianity. We met with a good
+deal of difficulty in finding admission. The black said the English and
+Americans were so wicked he was afraid of them; but, finding by my
+discourse that I was not one of the Christian heathen, he altered his
+tone, and nothing was then too good for me. I was fed, and he sent for my
+chest, receiving with it a bed and three blankets, as a present from the
+charitable clerk. Thus were my prospects for that night suddenly changed
+for the better! I could only thank God, in my inmost heart, for all
+his mercies.
+
+The old black, who was a man of some means, was also about to quit the
+town; but, before he went, he inquired if I had a bible. I told him yes;
+still, he would not rest until he had pressed upon me a large bible, in
+English, which language he spoke very well. This book had prayers for
+seamen bound up with it. It was, in fact, a sort of English prayer-book,
+as well as bible. This I accepted, and have now with me. As soon as the
+old man went away, leaving his son behind him for the moment, I began to
+read in my Pilgrim's Progress. The young man expressed a desire to examine
+the book, understanding English perfectly. After reading in it for a short
+time, he earnestly begged the book, telling me he had two sisters, who
+would be infinitely pleased to possess it. I could not refuse him, and he
+promised to send another book in its place, which I should find equally
+good. He thus left me, taking the Pilgrim's Progress with him. Half an
+hour later a servant brought me the promised book, which proved to be
+Doddridge's Rise and Progress. On looking through the pages, I found a
+Mexican dollar wafered between two of the leaves. All this I regarded as
+providential, and as a proof that the Lord would not desert me. My
+gratitude, I hope, was in proportion. This whole household appeared to be
+religious, for I passed half the night in conversing with the Malay
+servants, on the subject of Christianity; concerning which they had
+already received many just ideas. I knew that my teaching was like the
+blind instructing the blind; but it had the merit of coming from God,
+though in a degree suited to my humble claims on his grace.
+
+In the morning, these Malays gave me breakfast, and then carried my chest
+and other articles to the Plato's boat. I was happy enough to find myself,
+once more, under the stars and stripes, where I was well received, and
+humanely treated. The ship sailed for Bremen about twenty days after I got
+on board her.
+
+Of course, I could do but little on the passage. Whenever I moved along
+the deck, it was by crawling, though I could work with the needle and
+palm. A fortnight out, the carpenter, a New York man, died. I tried to
+read and pray with him, but cannot say that he showed any consciousness of
+his true situation. We touched at St. Helena for water, and, Napoleon
+being then dead, had no difficulty in getting ashore. After watering we
+sailed again, and reached our port in due time.
+
+I was now in Europe, a part of the world that I had little hopes of seeing
+ten months before. Still it was my desire to get to America, and I was
+permitted to remain in the ship. I was treated in the kindest manner by
+captain Bunting, and Mr. Bowden, the mate, who gave me everything I
+needed. At the end of a few weeks we sailed again, for New York, where we
+arrived in the month of August, 1840,
+
+I left the Plato at the quarantine ground, going to the Sailor's Retreat.
+Here the physician told me I never could recover the use of my limb as I
+had possessed it before, but that the leg would gradually grow stronger,
+and that I might get along without crutches in the end. All this has
+turned out to be true. The pain had long before left me, weakness being
+now the great difficulty. The hip-joint is injured, and this in a way that
+still compels me to rely greatly on a stick in walking.
+
+At the Sailor's Retreat, I again met Mr. Miller. I now, for the first
+time, received regular spiritual advice, and it proved to be of great
+benefit to me. After remaining a month at the Retreat, I determined to
+make an application for admission to the Sailor's Snug Harbour, a richly
+endowed asylum for seamen, on the same island. In order to be admitted, it
+was necessary to have sailed under the flag five years, and to get a
+character. I had sailed, with two short exceptions, thirty-four years
+under the flag, and I do believe in all that time, the nineteen months of
+imprisonment excluded, I had not been two years unattached to a ship. I
+think I must have passed at least a quarter of a century out of sight of
+land.[17]
+
+I now went up to New York, and hunted up captain Pell, with whom I had
+sailed in the Sully and in the Normandy. This gentleman gave me a
+certificate, and, as I left him, handed me a dollar. This was every cent I
+had on earth. Next, I found captain Witheroudt, of the Silvie de Grasse
+who treated me in precisely the same way. I told him I had _one_ dollar
+already, but he insisted it should be _two_. With these two dollars in my
+pocket, I was passing up Wall street, when, in looking about me, I saw the
+pension office. The reader will remember that I left Washington with the
+intention of finding Lemuel Bryant, in order to obtain his certificate,
+that I might get a pension for the injury received on board the Scourge.
+With this project, I had connected a plan of returning to Boston, and of
+getting some employment in the Navy Yard. My pension-ticket had, in
+consequence, been made payable at Boston. My arrival at New York, and the
+shadding expedition, had upset all this plan; and before I went to
+Savannah, I had carried my pension-ticket to the agent in this Wall street
+office, and requested him to get another, made payable in New York. This
+was the last I had seen of my ticket, and almost the last I had thought of
+my pension. But, I now crossed the street, went into the office, and was
+recognised immediately. Everything was in rule, and I came out of the
+office with fifty-six dollars in my pockets! I had no thought of this
+pension, at all, in coming up to town. It was so much money showered down
+upon me, unexpectedly.
+
+For a man of my habits, who kept clear of drink, I was now rich. Instead
+of remaining in town, however, I went immediately down to the Harbour, and
+presented myself to its respectable superintendant, the venerable Captain
+Whetten.[18] I was received into the institution without any difficulty,
+and have belonged to it ever since. My entrance at Sailors' Snug Harbour
+took place Sept. 17, 1840; just one month after I landed at Sailors'
+Retreat. The last of these places is a seamen's hospital, where men are
+taken in only to be cured; while the first is an asylum for worn-out
+mariners, for life. The last is supported by a bequest made, many years
+ago, by an old ship-master, whose remains lie in front of the building.
+
+Knowing myself now to be berthed for the rest of my days, should I be so
+inclined, and should I remain worthy to receive the benefits of so
+excellent an institution, I began to look about me, like a man who had
+settled down in the world. One of my first cares, was to acquit myself of
+the duty of publicly joining some church of Christ, and thus acknowledge
+my dependence on his redemption and mercy. Mr. Miller, he whose sermons
+had made so deep an impression on my mind, was living within a mile and a
+half of the Harbour, and to him I turned in my need. I was an
+Episcopalian by infant baptism, and I am still as much attached to that
+form of worship, as to any other; but sects have little weight with me,
+the heart being the main-stay, under God's grace. Two of us, then, joined
+Mr. Miller's church; and I have ever since continued one of his
+communicants. I have not altogether deserted the communion in which I was
+baptized; occasionally communing in the church of Mr. Moore. To me, there
+is no difference; though I suppose more learned Christians may find
+materials for a quarrel, in the distinctions which exist between these two
+churches. I hope never to quarrel with either.
+
+To my surprise, sometime after I was received into the Harbour, I
+ascertained that my sister had removed to New York, and was then living in
+the place. I felt it, now, to be a duty to hunt her up, and see her. This
+I did; and we met, again, after a separation of five-and-twenty years. She
+could tell me very little of my family; but I now learned, for the first
+time, that my father had been killed in battle. Who, or what he was, I
+have not been able to ascertain, beyond the facts already stated in the
+opening of the memoir.
+
+I had ever retained a kind recollection of the treatment of Captain
+Johnston, and accident threw into my way some information concerning him.
+The superintendant had put me in charge of the library of the institution;
+and, one day, I overheard some visiters talking of Wiscasset. Upon this, I
+ventured to inquire after my old master, and was glad to learn that he was
+not only living, but in good health and circumstances. To my surprise I
+was told that a nephew of his was actually living within a mile of me. In
+September, 1842, I went to Wiscasset, to visit Captain Johnston, and found
+myself received like the repentant prodigal. The old gentleman, and his
+sisters, seemed glad to see me; and, I found that the former had left the
+seas, though he still remained a ship-owner; having a stout vessel of five
+hundred tons, which is, at this moment, named after our old craft,
+the Sterling.
+
+I remained at Wiscasset several weeks. During this time, Captain Johnston
+and myself talked over old times, as a matter of course, and I told him I
+thought one of our old shipmates was still living. On his asking whom, I
+inquired if he remembered the youngster, of the name of Cooper, who had
+been in the Sterling. He answered, perfectly well, and that he supposed
+him to be the Captain Cooper who was then in the navy. I had thought so,
+too, for a long time; but happened to be on board the Hudson, at New York,
+when a Captain Cooper visited her. Hearing his name, I went on deck
+expressly to see him, and was soon satisfied it was not my old shipmate.
+There are two Captains Cooper in the navy,--father and son,--but neither
+had been in the Sterling. Now, the author of many naval tales, and of the
+Naval History, was from Cooperstown, New York; and I had taken it into my
+head this was the very person who had been with us in the Sterling.
+Captain Johnston thought not; but I determined to ascertain the fact,
+immediately on my return to New York.
+
+Quitting Wiscasset, I came back to the Harbour, in the month of November,
+1842. I ought to say, that the men at this institution, who maintain good
+characters, can always get leave to go where they please, returning
+whenever they please. There is no more restraint than is necessary to
+comfort and good order; the object being to make old tars comfortable.
+Soon after my return to the Harbour, I wrote a letter to Mr. Fenimore
+Cooper, and sent it to his residence, at Cooperstown, making the inquiries
+necessary to know if he were the person of the same family who had been in
+the Sterling. I got an answer, beginning in these words--"I am your old
+shipmate, Ned." Mr. Cooper informed me when he would be in town, and
+where he lodged.
+
+In the spring, I got a message from Mr. Blancard, the keeper of the Globe
+Hotel, and the keeper, also, of Brighton, near the Harbour, to say that
+Mr. Cooper was in town, and wished to see me. Next day, I went up,
+accordingly; but did not find him in. After paying one or two visits, I
+was hobbling up Broadway, to go to the Globe again, when my old commander
+at Pensacola, Commodore Bolton, passed down street, arm-in-arm with a
+stranger. I saluted the commodore, who nodded his head to me, and this
+induced the stranger to look round. Presently I heard "Ned!" in a voice
+that I knew immediately, though I had not heard it in thirty-seven years.
+It was my old shipmate--the gentleman who has written out this account of
+my career, from my verbal narrative of the facts.
+
+Mr. Cooper asked me to go up to his place, in the country, and pass a few
+weeks there. I cheerfully consented, and we reached Cooperstown early in
+June. Here I found a neat village, a beautiful lake, nine miles long, and,
+altogether, a beautiful country. I had never been as far from the sea
+before, the time when I served on Lake Ontario excepted. Cooperstown lies
+in a valley, but Mr. Cooper tells me it is at an elevation of twelve
+hundred feet above tide-water. To me, the clouds appeared so low, I
+thought I could almost shake hands with them; and, altogether, the air and
+country were different from any I had ever seen, or breathed, before.
+
+My old shipmate took me often on the Lake, which I will say is a slippery
+place to navigate. I thought I had seen all sorts of winds before I saw
+the Otsego, but, on this lake it sometimes blew two or three different
+ways at the same time. While knocking about this piece of water, in a good
+stout boat, I related to my old shipmate many of the incidents of my
+wandering life, until, one day, he suggested it might prove interesting to
+publish them. I was willing, could the work be made useful to my brother
+sailors, and those who might be thrown into the way of temptations like
+those which came so near wrecking all my hopes, both for this world, and
+that which is to come. We accordingly went to work between us, and the
+result is now laid before the world. I wish it understood, that this is
+literally my own story, logged by my old shipmate.
+
+It is now time to clew up. When a man has told all he has to say, the
+sooner he is silent the better. Every word that has been related, I
+believe to be true; when I am wrong, it proceeds from ignorance, or want
+of memory. I may possibly have made some trifling mistakes about dates,
+and periods, but I think they would turn out to be few, on inquiry. In
+many instances I have given my impressions, which, like those of other
+men, may be right, or may be wrong. As for the main facts, however, I know
+them to be true, nor do I think myself much out of the way, in any of
+the details.
+
+This is the happiest period of my life, and has been so since I left the
+hospital at Batavia. I do not know that I have ever passed a happier
+summer than the present has been. I should be perfectly satisfied with
+everything, did not my time hang so idle on my hands at the Harbour. I
+want something to occupy my leisure moments, and do not despair of yet
+being able to find a mode of life more suitable to the activity of my
+early days. I have friends enough--more than I deserve--and, yet, a man
+needs occupation, who has the strength and disposition to be employed.
+That which is to happen is in the hands of Providence, and I humbly trust
+I shall be cared for, to the end, as I have been cared for, through so
+many scenes of danger and trial.
+
+My great wish is that this picture of a sailor's risks and hardships, may
+have some effect in causing this large and useful class of men to think on
+the subject of their habits. I entertain no doubt that the money I have
+disposed of far worse than if I had thrown it into the sea, which went to
+reduce me to that mental hell, the 'horrors,' and which, on one occasion,
+at least, drove me to the verge of suicide, would have formed a sum, had
+it been properly laid by, on which I might now have been enjoying an old
+age of comfort and respectability. It is seldom that a seaman cannot lay
+by a hundred dollars in a twelvemonth--oftentimes I have earned double
+that amount, beyond my useful outlays--and a hundred dollars a year, at
+the end of thirty years, would give such a man an independence for the
+rest of his days. This is far from all, however; the possession of means
+would awaken the desire of advancement in the calling, and thousands, who
+now remain before the mast, would long since have been officers, could
+they have commanded the self-respect that property is apt to create.
+
+On the subject of liquor, I can say nothing that has not often been said
+by others, in language far better than I can use. I do not think I was as
+bad, in this respect, as perhaps a majority of my associates; yet, this
+narrative will show how often the habit of drinking to excess impeded my
+advance. It was fast converting me into a being inferior to a man, and,
+but for God's mercy, might have rendered me the perpetrator of crimes that
+it would shock me to think of, in my sober and sane moments.
+
+The past, I have related as faithfully as I have been able so to do. The
+future is with God; to whom belongeth power, and glory, for ever and ever!
+
+
+
+The End.
+
+
+
+
+
+Footnotes
+
+
+
+[1]: The writer left a blank for this regiment, and now inserts it from
+memory. It is probable he is wrong.
+
+[2]: Edward, Duke of Kent, was born November 2, 1767, and made a peer April
+23, 1799; when he was a little turned of one-and-thirty. It is probable
+that this creation took place on his return to England; after passing some
+six or eight years in America and the West Indies. He served in the West
+Indies with great personal distinction, during his stay in this
+hemisphere.--Editor.
+
+[3]: This is Ned's pronunciation; though it is probable the name is not
+spelt correctly. The names of Ned are taken a good deal at random; and,
+doubtless, are often misspelled.--Editor.
+
+[4]: I well remember using these arguments to Ned; though less with any
+expectations of being admitted, than the boy seemed to believe. There was
+more roguery, than anything else, in my persuasion; though it was mixed
+with a latent wish to see the interior of the palace.--Editor.
+
+[5]: Second-mate.
+
+[6]: 22d--Editor.
+
+[7]: When Myers related this circumstance, I remembered that a
+Lieutenant-Colonel Meyers had been killed in the affair at Fort George,
+something in the way here mentioned. On consulting the American official
+account, I found that my recollection was just, so far as this--a
+Lieutenant-Colonel Meyers was reported as wounded and taken prisoner. I
+then recollected to have been present at a conversation between
+Major-General Lewis and Major Baker, his adjutant-general, shortly after
+the battle, in which the question arose whether the same shot had killed
+Colonel Meyers that killed his horse. General Lewis thought not; Major
+Baker thought it had. On my referring to the official account as reporting
+this gentleman to have been only _wounded_, I was told it was a
+mistake, he having been _killed_. Now for the probabilities. Both Ned
+and his sister understand that their father was slain in battle, about
+this time. Ned thought this occurred at Waterloo, but the sister thinks
+not. Neither knew anything of the object of my inquiry. The sister says
+letters were received from _Quebec_ in relation to the father's
+personal effects. It would be a strange thing, if Ned had actually found
+his own father's body on the field, in this extraordinary manner! I
+pretend not to say it is so; but it must be allowed it looks very much
+like it. The lady may have been a wife, married between the years 1796 and
+1813, when Mr. Meyers had got higher rank. This occurrence was related by
+Ned without the slightest notion of the inference that I have here
+drawn.--Editor.
+
+[8]: It is supposed that Capt. Deacon died, a few years since, in
+consequence of an injury he received on board the Growler, this night. A
+shot struck her main-boom, within a short distance of one of his ears, and
+he ever after complained of its effects. At his death this side of his
+head was much swollen and affected.--Editor.
+
+[9]: By this, Ned means six men had to subsist on the usual allowance of
+four men; a distinction that was made between men on duty and men off.
+Prisoners, too, are commonly allowed to help themselves in a variety of
+ways.--Editor.
+
+[10]: The name of this young officer was King. He is now dead, having been
+lost in the Lynx, Lt. Madison.--Editor.
+
+[11]: If this be true, this could hardly have been a court, but must have
+been a mere investigation; as Sir John Borlase Warren was
+commander-in-chief, and would scarcely sit in a court of his own
+ordering.--Editor.
+
+[12]: Ned means Loto, probably.--Editor.
+
+[13]: Ned might have added "few duchesses." The ambassadors' bags in
+Europe, might ten many a tale of _foulards_, &c., sent from one court
+to another. The writer believes that the higher class of American
+gentlemen and ladies smuggle less than those of any other country. It
+should be remembered, too, that no seaman goes in a smuggler, thut is not
+sent by traders ashore.--Editor.
+
+[14]: A friend, who was then American Consul at Gibraltar, and an old navy
+officer, tells me Ned is mistaken as to the nature of the anchorage. The
+ship was a little too far out for the best holding ground. The same friend
+adds that the character of this gale is not at all overcharged, the
+vessels actually lost, including small craft of every description,
+amounting to the every way extraordinary number of just three hundred and
+sixty-five.--Editor.
+
+[15]: This is the reasoning of Ned. I have always looked upon the American
+law as erroneous in principle, and too severe in its penalties. Erroneous
+in principle, as piracy is a crime against the law of nations, and it is
+not legal for any one community to widen, or narrow, the action of
+international law. It is peculiarly the policy of this country, rigidly to
+observe this principle, since she has so many interests dependent on its
+existence. The punishment of death is too severe, when we consider that
+nabobs are among us, who laid the foundations of their wealth, as slaving
+_merchants_, when slaving _was_ legal. Sudden mutations in morals,
+are not to be made by a dash of the pen; and even public sentiment can
+hardly be made to consider slaving much of a crime, in a slave-holding
+community. But, even the punishment of death might be inflicted, without
+arrogating to Congress a power to say what is, and what is not, piracy.
+
+It will probably be said, the error is merely one of language; the
+jurisdiction being clearly legal. Is this true? Can Congress, legally or
+constitutionally, legislate for American citizens, when undeniably within
+the jurisdiction of foreign states? Admit this as a principle, and what is
+to prevent Congress from punishing acts, that it may be the policy of
+foreign countries to exact from even casual residents. If Congress can
+punish me, as a pirate, for slaving under a foreign flag, and in foreign
+countries, it can punish me for carrying arms against all American allies;
+and yet military service may be exacted of even an American citizen,
+resident in a foreign state, under particular circumstances. The same
+difficulty, in principle, may be extended to the whole catalogue of legal
+crime.
+
+Congress exists only for specified purposes. It can _punish_ piracy,
+but it cannot declare what shall, or shall not, be piracy; as this would
+be invading the authority of international law. Under the general power to
+pass laws, that are necessary to carry out the system, it can derive no
+authority; since there can be no legal necessity for any such double
+legislation, under the comity of nations. Suppose, for instance, England
+should legalize slaving, again. Could the United States claim the American
+citizen, who had engaged in slaving, under the English flag, and from a
+British port, under the renowned Ashburton treaty? Would England give such
+a man up? No more than she will now give up the slaves that run from the
+American vessel, which is driven in by stress of weather. One of the vices
+of philanthropy is to overreach its own policy, by losing sight of all
+collateral principles and interests.--Editor.
+
+[16]: Ned's pronunciation.
+
+[17]: I find, in looking over his papers and accounts, that Ned,
+exclusively of all the prison-ships, transports, and vessels in which he
+made passages, has belonged regularly to seventy-two different crafts! In
+some of these vessels he made many voyages, In the Sterling, he made
+several passages with the writer; besides four European voyages, at a
+later day. He made four voyages to Havre in the Erie, which counts as only
+one vessel, in the above list. He was three voyages to London, in the
+Washington, &c. &c. &c.; and often made two voyages in the same ship. I am
+of opinion that Ned's calculation of his having been twenty-five years out
+of sight of land is very probably true. He must have _sailed, in all
+ways_, in near a hundred different craft.--Editor.
+
+[18]: Pronounced, Wheaton--Editor.
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, NED MYERS ***
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Ned Myers, by James Fenimore Cooper
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+Title: Ned Myers
+
+Author: James Fenimore Cooper
+
+Release Date: January, 2006  [EBook #9788]
+[This file was first posted on October 16, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: iso-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, NED MYERS ***
+
+
+
+
+E-text prepared by Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+NED MYERS
+
+or, A Life Before the Mast
+
+By James Fenimore Cooper.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+    Thou unrelenting Past!
+  Strong are the barriers round thy dark domain,
+    And fetters sure and fast
+  Hold all that enter thy unbreathing reign.
+                                    BRYANT
+
+
+Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1843, by
+
+J. Fenimore Cooper,
+
+in the clerk's office of the District Court of the United States for the
+Northern district of New York.
+
+
+
+Preface
+
+
+
+It is an old remark, that the life of any man, could the incidents be
+faithfully told, would possess interest and instruction for the general
+reader. The conviction of the perfect truth of this saying, has induced
+the writer to commit to paper, the vicissitudes, escapes, and opinions of
+one of his old shipmates, as a sure means of giving the public some just
+notions of the career of a common sailor. In connection with the amusement
+that many will find in following a foremast Jack in his perils and
+voyages, however, it is hoped that the experience and moral change of
+Myers may have a salutary influence on the minds of some of those whose
+fortunes have been, or are likely to be, cast in a mould similar to that
+of this old salt.
+
+As the reader will feel a natural desire to understand how far the editor
+can vouch for the truth of that which he has here written, and to be
+informed on the subject of the circumstances that have brought him
+acquainted with the individual whose adventures form the subject of this
+little work, as much shall be told as may be necessary to a proper
+understanding of these two points.
+
+First, then, as to the writer's own knowledge of the career of the
+subject of his present work. In the year 1806, the editor, then a lad,
+fresh from Yale, and destined for the navy, made his first voyage in a
+merchantman, with a view to get some practical knowledge of his
+profession. This was the fashion of the day, though its utility, on the
+whole, may very well be questioned. The voyage was a long one, including
+some six or eight passages, and extending to near the close of the year
+1807. On board the ship was Myers, an apprentice to the captain. Ned, as
+Myers was uniformly called, was a lad, as well as the writer; and, as a
+matter of course, the intimacy of a ship existed between them. Ned,
+however, was the junior, and was not then compelled to face all the
+hardships and servitude that fell to the lot of the writer.
+
+Once, only, after the crew was broken up, did the writer and Ned actually
+see each other, and that only for a short time. This was in 1809. In 1833,
+they were, for half an hour, on board the same ship, without knowing the
+fact at the time. A few months since, Ned, rightly imagining that the
+author of the Pilot must be his old shipmate, wrote the former a letter to
+ascertain the truth. The correspondence produced a meeting, and the
+meeting a visit from Ned to the editor. It was in consequence of the
+revelations made in this visit that the writer determined to produce the
+following work.
+
+The writer has the utmost confidence in all the statements of Ned, so far
+as intention is concerned. Should he not be mistaken on some points, he is
+an exception to the great rule which governs the opinions and
+recollections of the rest of the human family. Still, nothing is related
+that the writer has any reasons for distrusting. In a few instances he has
+interposed his own greater knowledge of the world between Ned's more
+limited experience and the narrative; but, this has been done cautiously,
+and only in cases in which there can be little doubt that the narrator has
+been deceived by appearances, or misled by ignorance. The reader, however,
+is not to infer that Ned has no greater information than usually falls to
+the share of a foremast hand. This is far from being the case. When first
+known to the writer, his knowledge was materially above that of the
+ordinary class of lads in his situation; giving ample proof that he had
+held intercourse with persons of a condition in life, if not positively of
+the rank of gentlemen, of one that was not much below it. In a word, his
+intelligence on general subjects was such as might justly render him the
+subject of remark on board a ship. Although much of his after-life was
+thrown away, portions of it passed in improvement; leaving Ned, at this
+moment, a man of quick apprehension, considerable knowledge, and of
+singularly shrewd comments. If to this be added the sound and accurate
+moral principles that now appear to govern both his acts and his opinions,
+we find a man every way entitled to speak for himself; the want of the
+habit of communicating his thoughts to the public, alone excepted.
+
+In this book, the writer has endeavoured to adhere as closely to the very
+language of his subject, as circumstances will at all allow; and in many
+places he feels confident that no art of his own could, in any respect,
+improve it.
+
+It is probable that a good deal of distrust will exist on the subject of
+the individual whom Ned supposes to have been one of his god-fathers. On
+this head the writer can only say, that the account which Myers has given
+in this work, is substantially the same as that which he gave the editor
+nearly forty years ago, at an age and under circumstances that forbid the
+idea of any intentional deception. The account is confirmed by his sister,
+who is the oldest of the two children, and who retains a distinct
+recollection of the prince, as indeed does Ned himself. The writer
+supposes these deserted orphans to have been born out of wedlock--though
+he has no direct proof to this effect--and there is nothing singular in
+the circumstance of a man of the highest rank, that of a sovereign
+excepted, appearing at the font in behalf of the child of a dependant. A
+member of the royal family, indeed, might be expected to do this, to
+favour one widely separated from him by birth and station, sooner than to
+oblige a noble, who might possibly presume on the condescension.
+
+It remains only to renew the declaration, that every part of this
+narrative is supposed to be true. The memory of Ned may occasionally fail
+him; and, as for his opinions, they doubtless are sometimes erroneous; but
+the writer has the fullest conviction that it is the intention of the Old
+Salt to relate nothing that he does hot believe to have occurred, or to
+express an unjust sentiment. On the subject of his reformation, so far as
+"the tree is to be known by its fruits" it is entirely sincere; the
+language, deportment, habits, and consistency of this well-meaning tar,
+being those of a cheerful and confiding Christian, without the smallest
+disposition to cant or exaggeration. In this particular, he is a living
+proof of the efficacy of faith, and of the power of the Holy Spirit to
+enlighten the darkest understanding, and to quicken the most apathetic
+conscience.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Chapter I.
+
+
+
+In consenting to lay before the world the experience of a common seaman,
+and, I may add, of one who has been such a sinner as the calling is only
+too apt to produce, I trust that no feeling of vanity has had an undue
+influence. I love the seas; and it is a pleasure to me to converse about
+them, and of the scenes I have witnessed, and of the hardships I have
+undergone on their bosom, in various parts of the world. Meeting with an
+old shipmate who is disposed to put into proper form the facts which I can
+give him, and believing that my narrative may be useful to some of those
+who follow the same pursuit as that in which I have been so long engaged,
+I see no evil in the course I am now taking, while I humbly trust it may
+be the means of effecting some little good. God grant that the pictures I
+shall feel bound to draw of my own past degradation and failings,
+contrasted as they must be with my present contentment and hopes, may
+induce some one, at least, of my readers to abandon the excesses so common
+among seamen, and to turn their eyes in the direction of those great
+truths which are so powerful to reform, and so convincing when regarded
+with humility, and with a just understanding of our own weaknesses.
+
+I know nothing of my family, except through my own youthful recollections,
+and the accounts I have received from my sister. My father I slightly
+remember; but of my mother I retain no distinct impressions. The latter
+must have died while I was very young. The former, I was in the habit of
+often seeing, until I reached my fifth or sixth year. He was a soldier,
+and belonged to the twenty-third regimen of foot, in the service of the
+King of Great Britain.[1] The fourth son of this monarch, Prince Edward as
+he was then called, or the Duke of Kent as he was afterwards styled,
+commanded the corps, and accompanied it to the British American colonies,
+where it was stationed for many years.
+
+
+I was born in Quebec, between the years 1792 and 1794; probably in 1793.
+Of the rank of my father in the regiment, I am unable to speak, though I
+feel pretty confident he was a commissioned officer. He was much with the
+prince; and I remember that, on parade, where I have often seen him, he
+was in the habit of passing frequently from the prince to the ranks--a
+circumstance that induces my old shipmate to think he may have been the
+adjutant. My father, I have always understood, was a native of Hanover,
+and the son of a clergyman in that country. My mother, also, was said to
+be a German, though very little is now known of her by any of the family.
+She is described to me as living much alone, as being occupied in pursuits
+very different from those of my father, and as being greatly averse to the
+life of a soldier.
+
+I was baptized in the Church of England, and, from earliest boyhood, have
+always been given to understand that His Royal Highness, Prince Edward,
+the father of Queen Victoria, stood for me at the font; Major Walker, of
+the same regiment, being the other god-father, and Mrs. Walker, his wife,
+my god-mother. My real names are Edward Robert Meyers; those received in
+baptism having been given me by my two sponsors, after themselves. This
+christening, like my birth, occurred in Quebec. I have, however, called
+myself Edward, or Ned, Myers, ever since I took to the sea.
+
+Before I was old enough to receive impressions to be retained, the
+regiment removed to Halifax. My father accompanied it; and, of course, his
+two children, my sister Harriet and myself, were taken to Nova Scotia. Of
+the period of my life that was passed in Halifax, I retain tolerably
+distinct recollections; more especially of the later years. The prince and
+my father both remained with the regiment for a considerable time; though
+all quitted Halifax several years before I left it myself. I remember
+Prince Edward perfectly well. He sometimes resided at a house called The
+Lodge, a little out of town; and I was often taken out to see him. He
+also had a residence in town. He took a good deal of notice of me;
+raising me in his arms, and kissing me. When he passed our house, I would
+run to him; and he would lead me through the streets himself. On more than
+one occasion, he led me off, and sent for the regimental tailor; directing
+suits of clothes to be made for me, after his own taste. He was a large
+man; of commanding presence, and frequently wore a star on the breast of
+his coat. He was not then called the Duke of Kent, but Prince Edward, or
+_The_ Prince. A lady lived with him at the Lodge; but who she was, I
+do not know.
+
+At this time, my mother must have been dead; for of _her_ I retain no
+recollection whatever. I think, my father left Halifax some time before
+the prince. Major Walker, too, went to England; leaving Mrs. Walker in
+Nova Scotia, for some time. Whether my father went away with a part of the
+regiment to which he belonged, or not, I cannot say but I well remember a
+conversation between the prince, the major and Mrs. Walker, in which they
+spoke of the loss of a transport, and of Meyers's saving several men. This
+must have been at the time when my father quitted Nova Scotia; to which
+province, I think, he never could have returned. Neither my sister, nor
+myself, ever saw him afterwards. We have understood that he was killed in
+battle; though when, or where, we do not know. My old shipmate, the
+editor, however, thinks it must have been in Canada; as letters were
+received from a friend in Quebec, after I had quitted Nova Scotia,
+inquiring after us children, and stating that the effects of my father
+were in that town, and ought to belong to us. This letter gave my sister
+the first account of his death; though it was not addressed to her, but to
+those in whose care she had been left. This property was never recovered;
+and my shipmate, who writes this account, thinks there may have been legal
+difficulties in the way.
+
+Previously to quitting the province of Nova Scotia, my father placed
+Harriet and myself in the house of a Mr. Marchinton, to live. This
+gentleman was a clergyman, who had no regular parish, but who preached in
+a chapel of his own. He sent us both to school, and otherwise took charge
+of us. I am not aware of the precise time when the prince left Halifax,
+but it must have been when I was five or six years old--probably about the
+year 1798 or 1799.[2]
+
+From that time I continued at Mr. Marchinton's, attending school, and
+busied, as is usual with boys of that age, until the year 1805. I fear I
+was naturally disposed to idleness and self-indulgence, for I became
+restive and impatient under the restraints of the schoolmaster, and of the
+gentleman in whose family I had been left. I do not know that I had any
+just grounds of complaint against Mr. Marchinton; but his rigorous
+discipline disgusted me; principally, I am now inclined to believe,
+because it was not agreeable to me to be kept under any rigid moral
+restraint. I do not think I was very vicious; and, I know, I was far from
+being of a captious temperament; but I loved to be my own master; and I
+particularly disliked everything like religious government. Mr.
+Marchinton, moreover, kept me out of the streets; and it was my
+disposition to be an idler, and at play. It is possible he may have been a
+little too severe for one of my temperament; though, I fear, nature gave
+me a roving and changeful mind.
+
+At that time the English cruisers sent in many American vessels as prizes.
+Our house was near the water; and I was greatly in the habit of strolling
+along the wharves, whenever an opportunity occurred; Mr. Marchinton owning
+a good deal of property in that part of the town. The Cambrian frigate had
+a midshipman, a little older than myself, who had been a schoolmate of
+mine. This lad, whose name was Bowen, was sent in as the nominal
+prize-master of a brig loaded with coffee; and I no sooner learned the
+fact, than I began to pay him visits. Young Bowen encouraged me greatly,
+in a wish that now arose within me, to become a sailor. I listened eagerly
+to the history of his adventures, and felt the usual boyish emulation. Mr.
+Marchinton seemed averse to my following the profession, and these visits
+became frequent and stealthy; my wishes, most probably, increasing, in
+proportion as they seemed difficult of accomplishment.
+
+I soon began to climb the rigging of the brig, ascending to the
+mast-heads. One day Mr. Marchinton saw me quite at the main-truck; and,
+calling me down, I got a severe flogging for my dexterity and enterprise.
+It sometimes happens that punishment produces a result exactly opposite to
+that which was intended; and so it turned out in the present instance. My
+desire to be a sailor increased in consequence of this very flogging; and
+I now began seriously to think of running away, in order to get to sea, as
+well as to escape a confinement on shore, that, to me, seemed
+unreasonable. Another prize, called the Amsterdam Packet, a Philadelphia
+ship, had been sent in by, I believe, the Cleopatra, Sir Robert Laurie. On
+board this ship were two American lads, apprentices. With these boys I
+soon formed an intimacy; and their stories of the sea, and their accounts
+of the States, coupled with the restraints I fancied I endured, gave rise
+to a strong desire to see their country, as well as to become a sailor.
+They had little to do, and enjoyed great liberty, going and coming much as
+they pleased. This idleness seemed, to me, to form the summit of human
+happiness. I did not often dare to play truant; and the school became
+odious to me. According to my recollections, this desire for a change must
+have existed near, or quite a twelvemonth; being constantly fed by the
+arrival and departure of vessels directly before my eyes, ere I set about
+the concocting of a serious plan to escape.
+
+My project was put in execution in the summer of 1805, when I could not
+have been more than eleven years old, if, indeed, quite as old. I was in
+the market one day, and overheard some American seamen, who had been
+brought in, conversing of a schooner that was on the point of leaving
+Halifax, for New York. This vessel belonged to North Carolina, and had
+been captured by the Driver, some time before, but had been liberated by a
+decision of the Admiralty Court. The men I overheard talking about her,
+intended taking their passages back to their own country in the craft.
+This seemed to me a good opportunity to effect my purpose, and I went from
+the market, itself, down to the schooner. The mate was on board alone, and
+I took courage, and asked him if he did not want to ship a boy. My
+dress and appearance were both against me, as I had never done any work,
+and was in the ordinary attire of a better class lad on shore. The mate
+began to laugh at me, and to joke me on my desire to go to sea,
+questioning me about my knowledge. I was willing to do anything; but,
+perceiving that I made little impression, I resorted to bribery. Prince
+Edward had made me a present, before he left Halifax, of a beautiful
+little fowling-piece, which was in my own possession; and I mentioned to
+the mate that I was the owner of such an article, and would give it to him
+if he would consent to secrete me in the schooner, and carry me to New
+York. This bait took, and I was told to bring the fowling, piece on board,
+and let the mate see it. That night I carried the bribe, as agreed on, to
+this man, who was perfectly satisfied with its appearance, and we struck a
+bargain on the spot. I then returned to the house, and collected a few of
+my clothes. I knew that my sister, Harriet, was making some shirts for me,
+and I stole into her room, and brought away two of them, which were all I
+could find. My wardrobe was not large when I left the house, and I had
+taken the precaution of carrying the articles out one at a time, and of
+secreting them in an empty cask in the yard. When I thought I had got
+clothes enough, I made them into a bundle, and carried them down to the
+schooner. The mate then cleared out a locker in the cabin, in which there
+were some potatoes, and told me I must make up my mind to pass a few hours
+in that narrow berth. Too thoughtless to raise any objections, I
+cheerfully consented, and took my leave of him with the understanding that
+I was to be on board, again, early in the morning.
+
+Before going to bed, I desired a black servant of Mr. Marchinton's to call
+me about day-break, as I desired to go out and pick berries. This was
+done, and I was up and dressed before any other member of the family was
+stirring. I lost no time, but quitted the house, and walked deliberately
+down to the schooner. No one was up on board of her, and I was obliged to
+give the mate a call, myself. This man now seemed disposed to draw back
+from his bargain, and I had to use a good deal of persuasion before I
+could prevail on him to be as good as his word. He did not like to part
+with the fowling-piece, but seemed to think it would be fairly purchased,
+could he persuade me to run away. At length he yielded, and I got into the
+locker, where I was covered with potatoes.
+
+I was a good while in this uncomfortable situation, before there were any
+signs of the vessel's quitting the wharf. I began to grow heartily tired
+of the confinement, and the love of change revived within me in a new
+form. The potatoes were heavy for me to bear, and the confined air
+rendered my prison almost insupportable. I was on the point of coming out
+of prison, when the noise on deck gave me the comfortable assurance that
+the people had come on board, and that the schooner was about to sail. I
+could hear men conversing, and, after a period of time that seemed an age,
+I felt satisfied the schooner was fairly under way. I heard a hail from
+one of the forts as we passed down the harbour, and, not long after, the
+Driver, the very sloop of war that had sent the vessel in, met her, and
+quite naturally hailed her old prize, also. All this I heard in my prison,
+and it served to reconcile me to the confinement. As everything was right,
+the ship did not detain us, and we were permitted to proceed.
+
+It was noon before I was released. Going on deck, I found that the
+schooner was at sea. Nothing of Halifax was visible but a tower or two,
+that were very familiar objects to me. I confess I now began to regret the
+step I had taken, and, could I have been landed, it is probable my roving
+disposition would have received a salutary check. It was too late,
+however, and I was compelled to continue in the thorny and difficult path
+on which I had so thoughtlessly entered. I often look back to this moment,
+and try to imagine what might have been my fortunes, had I never taken
+this unlucky step. What the prince might have done for me, it is
+impossible to say; though I think it probable that, after the death of my
+father, I should have been forgotten, as seems to have been the case with
+my sister, who gradually fell from being considered and treated as one of
+the family in which she lived, into a sort of upper servant.
+
+I have learned, latterly, that Mr. Marchinton had a great search made for
+me. It was his impression I was drowned, and several places were dragged
+for my body. This opinion lasted until news of my being in New York
+reached the family.
+
+My appearance on deck gave rise to a great many jokes between the captain
+of the schooner, and his mate. I was a good deal laughed at, but not badly
+treated, on the whole. My office was to be that of cook--by no means a
+very difficult task in that craft, the camboose consisting of two pots set
+in bricks, and the dishes being very simple. In the cabin, sassafras was
+used for tea, and boiled pork and beef composed the dinner. The first day,
+I was excused from entering on the duties of my office, on account of
+sea-sickness; but, the next morning, I set about the work in good earnest.
+We had a long passage, and my situation was not very pleasant. The
+schooner was wet, and the seas she shipped would put out my fire. There
+was a deck load of shingles, and I soon discovered that these made
+excellent kindling wood; but it was against the rules of the craft to burn
+cargo, and my friend the mate had bestowed a few kicks on me before I
+learned to make the distinction. In other respects, I did tolerably well;
+and, at the end of about ten days, we entered Sandy Hook.
+
+Such was my first passage at sea, or, at least, the first I can remember,
+though I understand we were taken from Quebec to Halifax by water. I was
+not cured of the wish to roam by this experiment, though, at that age,
+impressions are easily received, and as readily lost. Some idea may be
+formed of my recklessness, and ignorance of such matters, at this time,
+from the circumstance that I do not remember ever to have known the name
+of the vessel in which I left Nova Scotia. Change and adventure were my
+motives, and it never occurred to me to inquire into a fact that was so
+immaterial to one of my temperament. To this hour, I am ignorant on
+the subject.
+
+The schooner came up, and hauled in abreast of Fly Market. She did not
+come close to the wharf, but made fast, temporarily, at its end, outside
+of two or three other vessels. This took place not long after breakfast. I
+set about the preparations for dinner, which was ready, as usual, at
+twelve o'clock. While the crew were eating this meal, I had nothing to do,
+and, seeing a number of boys on the wharf, I went ashore, landing for the
+first time in this, my adopted country. I was without hat, coat, or
+shoes; my feet having become sore from marching about among the shingles.
+The boys were licking molasses from some hogsheads, and I joined in the
+occupation with great industry. I might have been occupied in this manner,
+and in talking with the boys, an hour or more, when I bethought me of my
+duty on board. On looking for the schooner, she was gone! Her people, no
+doubt, thought I was below, and did not miss me, and she had been carried
+to some other berth; where, I did not know. I could not find her, nor did
+I ever see her again.
+
+Such, then, was my entrance on a new scene. Had I known enough to follow
+the wharves, doubtless I should have found the vessel; but, after a short
+search, I returned to the boys and the molasses.
+
+That I was concerned at finding myself in a strange place, without a
+farthing in my pockets--without hat, shoes or coat, is certain--but it is
+wonderful how little apprehension I felt. I knew nothing, and feared
+nothing. While licking the molasses, I told the boys my situation; and I
+met with a great deal of sympathy among them. The word passed from one to
+the other, that a "poor English boy had lost his vessel, and did not know
+where to go to pass the night." One promised me a supper; and, as for
+lodgings, the general opinion seemed to be, that I might find a berth
+under one of the butchers' stalls, in the adjacent market. I had different
+projects for myself, however.
+
+There was a family of the name of Clark, then residing in New York, that I
+had known in Halifax. I remembered to have heard my sister, Harriet,
+speaking of them, not long before I quitted home, and that she said they
+lived in, or near, Fly Market. I knew we were at Fly Market; and the name
+recalled these people. I inquired, accordingly, if any one knew such a
+family; but met with no success in discovering them. They were strangers;
+and no one knew them. It was now near sunset; and I determined to look for
+these people myself. On this errand, then, I set off; walking up the
+market until I reached Maiden Lane. While strolling along the street, I
+heard a female voice suddenly exclaim: "Lord! here is Edward Myers,
+without anything on him!" At the next instant, Susan Clark, one of the
+daughters, came running into the street; and presently I was in the
+house, surrounded by the whole family.
+
+Of course, I was closely questioned; and I told the whole truth. The
+Clarks were extremely kind to me, offering me clothes, and desiring to
+keep me with them; but I did not like the family, owing to old quarrels
+with the boys, and a certain sternness in the father, who had made
+complaints of my stealing his fruit, while in Halifax. I was innocent; and
+the whole proceeding had made me regard Mr. Clark as a sort of enemy. My
+principal motive, in inquiring for the family, was to learn where a
+certain Dr. Heizer[3] lived. This gentleman was a German, who had formerly
+been in the army; and I knew he was then in New York. In him I had more
+confidence; and I determined to throw myself on his kindness.
+
+After declining a great many offers, I got the address of Dr. Heizer, and
+proceeded in quest of his residence, just as I was. It was moonlight, and
+I went through the streets with boyish confidence. My route lay up
+Broadway, and my destination was one of its corners and Hester Street. In
+1805, this was nearly out of town, being near Canal street. I had been
+told to look for a bridge, which then stood in Broadway, and which
+answered for a landmark, in my new navigation. The bridge I found easily;
+and, making inquiries at a house, I was told the family I sought lived
+next door.
+
+The Heizers were greatly surprised at my appearance. I was questioned, of
+course; and told them the naked truth. I knew concealment would be
+useless; was naturally frank, notwithstanding what I had just done; and I
+began to feel the want of friends. I was fed; and that same evening, Dr.
+and Mrs. Heizer led me down Broadway, and equipped me in a neat suit of
+clothes. Within a week, I was sent regularly to school.
+
+I never knew what Dr. Heizer did, in relation to my arrival. I cannot but
+think that he communicated the circumstances to Mr. Marchinton, who was
+well known to him; though, Harriet tell me, the first intelligence they
+got of me was of a much later date, and came from another source. Let this
+be as it might, I was kindly treated; living, in all respects, as if I
+were one of the family. There was no son; and they all seemed to consider
+me as one.
+
+I remained in this family the autumn of 1805, and the winter and spring of
+1806. I soon tired of school, and began to play truant; generally
+wandering along the wharves, gazing at the ships. Dr. Heizer soon learned
+this; and, watching me, discovered the propensity I still retained for the
+sea. He and Mrs. Heizer now took me aside, and endeavoured to persuade me
+to return to Halifax; but I had become more and more averse to taking this
+backward step. To own the truth, I had fearful misgivings on the subject
+of floggings; and I dreaded a long course of severity and discipline. It
+is certain, that, while rigid rules of conduct are very necessary to some
+dispositions, there are others with which they do not succeed. Mine was of
+the latter class; for, I think, I am more easily led, than driven. At all
+events, I had a horror of going back; and refused to listen to the
+proposal. After a good deal of conversation, and many efforts at
+persuasion, Dr. Heizer consented to let me go to sea, from New York; or
+affected to consent; I never knew which.
+
+The Leander, Miranda's flag-ship, in his abortive attempt to create a
+revolution in Spanish-America, was then lying in the Hudson; and Dr.
+Heizer, who was acquainted with some one connected with her, placed me in
+this ship, with the understanding I was to go in her to Holland. I passed
+the day on board; going up to my new employer's house, for my meals, and
+to sleep. This course of life may have lasted a fortnight; when I became
+heartily tired of it. I found I had a mistress, now, as well as a master.
+The former set me to cleaning knives, boots, candlesticks, and other
+similar employments; converting me into a sort of scullion. My pride
+revolted at this. I have since thought it possible, all this was done to
+create disgust, and to induce me to return to Mr. Marchinton; but it had a
+very contrary effect.
+
+My desire was to be a sailor. One Sunday I had been on board the ship,
+and, after assisting the mate to show the bunting fore and aft, I went
+back to the house. Here my mistress met me with a double allowance of
+knives to clean. We had a quarrel on the subject; I protesting against all
+such work. But to clean the knives I was compelled. About half were thrown
+over the fence, into the adjoining yard; and, cleaning what remained, I
+took my hat, went to the doctor's, and saw no more of my mistress, or of
+the Leander.
+
+
+
+Chapter II.
+
+
+
+An explanation took place. Dr. and Mrs. Heizer remonstrated about my
+conduct, and endeavoured, once more, to persuade me to return to Mr.
+Marchinton's. A great deal was told me of the kind intentions of that
+gentleman, and concerning what I might expect from the protection and
+patronage of my god-father, the Duke of Kent. I cannot help thinking, now,
+that much of the favour which was extended towards me at that early period
+of life, was owing to the circumstance that the prince had consented to
+stand for me at my baptism. He was a great disciplinarian--so great,
+indeed, I remember to have heard, as to cause more than one mutiny--and my
+father being a German, and coming from a people that carried military
+subordination to extremes, it is highly probable I was indebted, for this
+compliment, to a similarity of tastes between the two. I cared little for
+all this, however, in 1805, and thought far less of being protected by a
+prince of the blood royal, than of going to sea, and especially of
+escaping from the moral discipline of Mr. Marchinton. Finding his
+arguments vain, Dr. Heizer sent me to school again, where I continued a
+few months longer.
+
+All this time, my taste for ships rather increased than diminished. At
+every opportunity I was on the wharves, studying the different craft, and
+endeavouring to understand their rig. One day I saw a British ensign, and,
+while looking at it, with a feeling of strong disgust, I heard myself
+called by name. A glance told me that I was seen by a Halifax man, and I
+ran away, under the apprehension that he might, by some means, seize me
+and carry me back. My feelings on this head were all alive, and that very
+day one of the young ladies said, in a melancholy way, "_Edouard_,"
+"Halifax." These girls spoke scarcely any English, having been born in
+Martinique; and they talked much together in French, looking at me
+occasionally, as if I were the subject of their discourse. It is probable
+conscience was at the bottom of this conceit of mine; but the latter now
+became so strong, as to induce me to determine to look out for a vessel
+for myself, and be off again. With this view, I quitted a negro who had
+been sent with me to market, under the pretence of going to school, but
+went along the wharves until I found a ship that took my fancy. She was
+called the Sterling, and there was a singularly good-looking mate on her
+deck, of the name of Irish, who was a native of Nantucket. The ship was
+commanded by Capt. John Johnston, of Wiscasset, in Maine, and belonged to
+his father and himself.
+
+I went on board the Sterling, and, after looking about for some time, I
+ventured to offer myself to Mr. Irish, as a boy who wished to ship. I was
+questioned, of course, but evaded any very close answers. After some
+conversation, Capt. Johnston came on board, and Mr. Irish told him what I
+wanted. My examination now became much closer, and I found myself driven
+to sheer fabrication in order to effect my purposes. During my intercourse
+with different sea-going lads of Halifax, I had learned the particulars of
+the capture of the Cleopatra 32, by the French frigate Ville de Milan 38,
+and her recapture by the Leander 50, which ship captured the Ville de
+Milan at the same time. I said my father had been a serjeant of marines,
+and was killed in the action--that I had run away when the ships got in,
+and that I wished to be bound to some American ship-master, in order to
+become a regularly-trained seaman. This story so far imposed on Capt.
+Johnston as to induce him to listen to my proposals, and in part to accept
+them. We parted with an understanding that I was to get my clothes, and
+come on board the vessel.
+
+It was twelve at noon when I got back to Dr. Heizer's. My first business
+was to get my clothes into the yard, a few at a time; after which I ate my
+dinner with the family. As soon as we rose from table, I stole away with
+my bundle, leaving these kind people to believe I had returned to school.
+I never saw one of them afterwards! On my return to New York, several
+years later, I learned they had all gone to Martinique to live. I should
+not have quitted this excellent family in so clandestine a manner, had I
+not been haunted with the notion that I was about to be sent back to
+Halifax, a place I now actually hated.
+
+Capt. Johnston received me good-naturedly, and that night I slept and
+supped at the Old Coffee House, Old Slip--his own lodgings. He seemed
+pleased with me, and I was delighted with him. The next day he took me to
+a slop-shop, and I was rigged like a sailor, and was put in the cabin,
+where I was to begin my service in the regular way. A boy named Daniel
+McCoy was in the ship, and had been out to Russia in her, as cabin-boy,
+the last voyage. He was now to be sent into the forecastle, and was
+ordered to instruct me in my duty.
+
+I was now comparatively happy, though anxious to be bound to Capt.
+Johnston, and still more so to be fairly at sea. The Sterling had a good,
+old-fashioned cabin, as cabins went in 1806; and I ran about her
+state-room, rummaged her lockers, and scampered up and down her
+companion-way, with as much satisfaction as if they had all belonged to a
+palace. Dan McCoy was every day on board, and we had the accommodations of
+the ship very much to ourselves. Two or three days later, Capt. Johnston
+took me to the proper place, and I was put under regular indentures, to
+serve until I was twenty-one. I now felt more confidence in my situation,
+knowing that Dr. Heizer had no legal authority over me. The work I did, in
+no manner offended my dignity, for it was on ship-board, and belonged
+properly to my duty as a cabin-boy.
+
+The Sterling soon began to take in her cargo. She was to receive a freight
+of flour, for Cowes and a market. Not only was the hold filled, but the
+state-room and cabin, leaving barely room to climb over the barrels to
+reach the berths. A place was left, just inside of the cabin door, for the
+table. Passengers were not common in that day, while commerce was pushed
+to the utmost. Our sails were bending when the consignee, followed by
+another merchant, came down to the ship, accompanied by a youth, who, it
+was understood, wished also to be received in the vessel. This youth was
+named Cooper, and was never called by any other appellation in the ship.
+He was accepted by Capt. Johnston, signed the articles, and the next day
+he joined us, in sailor's rig. He never came to the cabin, but was
+immediately employed forward, in such service as he was able to perform.
+It was afterwards understood that he was destined for the navy.
+
+The very day that Cooper joined us, was one of deep disgrace to me. The
+small stores came on board for the cabin, and Dan McCoy persuaded me to
+try the flavour of a bottle of cherry-bounce. I did not drink much, but
+the little I swallowed made me completely drunk. This was the first time I
+ever was in that miserable and disgraceful plight; would to God I could
+also say it was the last! The last it was, however, for several years;
+that is some comfort. I thank my Divine Master that I have lived to see
+the hour when intoxicating liquors have ceased to have any command over
+me, and when, indeed, they never pass my lips. Capt. Johnston did not flog
+me for this act of folly, merely pulling my ears a little, and sharply
+reprimanding me; both he and Mr. Irish seeming to understand that my
+condition had proceeded from the weakness of my head. Dan was the
+principal sufferer, as, to say the truth, he ought to have been. He was
+rope's-ended for his pains.
+
+Next day the stevedores took the ship in to the stream, and the crew came
+on board. The assembling of the crew of a merchantman, in that day, was a
+melancholy sight. The men came off, bearing about them the signs of the
+excesses of which they had been guilty while on shore; some listless and
+stupid, others still labouring under the effects of liquor, and some in
+that fearful condition which seamen themselves term having the "horrors."
+Our crew was neither better nor worse than that of other ships. It was
+also a sample of the mixed character of the crews of American vessels
+during the height of her neutral trade. The captain, chief-mate, cook, and
+four of those forward, were American born; while the second-mate was a
+Portuguese. The boys were, one Scotch, and one a Canadian; and there were
+a Spaniard, a Prussian, a Dane, and an Englishman, in the forecastle.
+There was also an Englishman who worked his passage, having been the
+cooper of a whaler that was wrecked. As Dan McCoy was sent forward, too,
+this put ten in the forecastle, besides the cook, and left five aft,
+including the master of another wrecked English vessel, whom we took out
+as a passenger.
+
+That afternoon we lifted our anchor, and dropped down abreast of
+Governor's Island, where we brought up. Next day all hands were called to
+get under way, and, as soon as the anchor was short, the mate told Cooper
+and myself to go up and loose the fore-top-sail. I went on one yard-arm and
+Cooper went on the other. In a few minutes the second mate came up,
+hallooing to us to "avast," and laughing. Cooper was hard at work at the
+"robins," and would soon have had his half of the sail down in the top,
+had he been let alone; while I was taking the gaskets from the yard, with
+the intention of bringing them carefully down on deck, where it struck me
+they would be quite safe. Luckily for us, the men were too busy heaving,
+and too stupid, to be very critical, and we escaped much ridicule. In a
+week we both knew better.
+
+The ship only got to the quarantine ground that day, but in the morning we
+went to sea. Our passage was long and stormy. The ship was on a bow-line
+most of the time, and we were something like forty days from land to land.
+Nothing extraordinary occurred, however, and we finally made the Bill of
+Portland. The weather came on thick, but we found a pilot, and ran into
+St. Helen's Roads and anchored. The captain got into his boat, and taking
+four men pulled ashore, to look for his orders at Cowes.
+
+That afternoon it cleared off, and we found a pilot lying a little outside
+of us. About sunset a man-of-war's cutter came alongside, and Mr. Irish
+was ordered to muster the crew. The English lieutenant, who was tolerably
+bowsed up, took his seat behind the cabin table, while the men came down,
+and stood in the companion-way passage, to be overhauled. Most of the
+foreigners had gone in the boat, but two of the Americans that remained
+were uncommonly fine-looking men, and were both prime seamen. One, whose
+name was Thomas Cook, was a six-footer, and had the air of a thorough
+sea-dog. He filled the lieutenant's eye mightily, and Cook was very coolly
+told to gather his dunnage, as he was wanted. Cook pointed to his
+protection, but the lieutenant answered--"Oh! these things are
+nothing--anybody can have one for two dollars, in New York. You are an
+Englishman, and the King has need of your services." Cook now took out of
+his pocket a certificate, that was signed by Sir John Beresford, stating
+that Thomas Cook had been discharged from His Maj. Ship Cambrian, after a
+pretty long service in her, because he had satisfactorily proved that he
+was a native-born American. The lieutenant could not very well dishonour
+this document, and he reluctantly let Cook go, keeping his protection,
+however. He next selected Isaac Gaines, a native New Yorker, a man whose
+father and friends were known to the captain. But Gaines had no discharge
+like that of Cook's, and the poor fellow was obliged to rowse up his chest
+and get into the cutter. This he did with tears in his eyes, and to the
+regret of all on board, he being one of the best men in the ship. We asked
+the boat's crew to what vessel they belonged, and they gave us the name of
+a sixty-four in the offing, but we observed, as they pulled away from us,
+that they took the direction of another ship. This was the last I ever
+saw, or heard, of Isaac Gaines. Cook went on with us, and one day, while
+in London, he went with Cooper to Somerset House to get an order for some
+prize-money, to which he was entitled for his service in the Cambrian, as
+was shown by his discharge. The clerk asked him to leave the certificate,
+and call a day or two later, when he would have searched out the amount.
+This was done, and Cook, being now without certificate or protection, was
+pressed on his way back to the ship. We never heard of him, either. Such
+was often the fate of sailors, in that day, who were with you one day, and
+lost for ever the next.
+
+Captain Johnston did not get back to the ship for four-and-twenty hours.
+He brought orders for us to go up to London; and, the wind being fair, and
+almost a gale, we got under way, and were off as soon as possible. The
+next morning we were in the straits of Dover; the wind light, but fair.
+This was at a moment when all England was in arms, in anticipation of an
+invasion from France. Forty odd sail of vessels of war were counted from
+our ship, as the day dawned, that had been cruising in the narrow waters,
+during the night, to prevent a surprise.
+
+We worked our way up to London, with the tides, and were carried into
+London dock; where we discharged. This was my first visit to the modern
+Babylon, of course; but I had little opportunity of seeing much. I had one
+or two cruises, of a Sunday, in tow of Cooper, who soon became a branch
+pilot, in those waters, about the parks and west end but I was too young
+to learn much, or to observe much. Most of us went to see the monument,
+St. Paul's, and the lions; and Cooper put himself in charge of a
+beef-eater, and took a look at the arsenals, jewels and armoury. He had a
+rum time of it, in his sailor rig, but hoisted in a wonderful deal of
+gibberish, according to his own account of his cruise.
+
+Captain Johnston now got a freight for the ship, and we hauled into the
+stream, abreast of the dock-gates, and took in shingle ballast. The
+Prussian, Dane, second mate, and the English cooper, all left us, in
+London. We got a Philadelphian, a chap from Maine, who had just been
+discharged from an English man-of-war, and an Irish lad, in their places.
+In January we sailed, making the best of our way for the straits of
+Gibraltar. The passage was stormy--the Bay of Biscay, in particular,
+giving us a touch of its qualities. It was marked by only two incidents,
+however, out of the usual way. While running down the coast of Portugal,
+with the land in sight, we made an armed felucca astern, and to windward.
+This vessel gave chase; and, the captain disliking her appearance, we
+carried hard, in order to avoid her. The weather was thick, and it blew
+fresh, occasionally, in squalls. Whenever it lulled, the felucca gained on
+us, we having, a very little, the advantage in the puffs. At length the
+felucca began to fire; and, finding that his shot were coming pretty near,
+Captain Johnston, knowing that he was in ballast, thought it wisest to
+heave-to. Ten minutes after our main-top-sail was aback, the felucca ranged
+up close under our lee; hailed, and ordered us to send a boat, with our
+papers, on board her. A more rascally-looking craft never gave such an
+order to an unarmed merchantman. As our ship rose on a sea, and he fell
+into the trough, we could look directly down upon his decks, and thus form
+some notion of what we were to expect, when he got possession of us. His
+people were in red caps and shirts, and appeared to be composed of the
+rakings of such places as Gibraltar, Cadiz and Lisbon. He had ten long
+guns; and pikes, pistols and muskets, were plenty with him. On the end of
+each latine-yard was a chap on the look-out, who occasionally turned his
+eyes towards us, as if to anticipate the gleanings. That we should be
+plundered, every one expected; and it was quite likely we might be
+ill-treated. As soon as we hove-to, Captain Johnston gave me the best
+spy-glass, with orders to hand it to Cooper, to hide. The latter buried it
+in the shingle ballast. We, in the cabin, concealed a bag of guineas so
+effectually, that, after all was over, we could not find it ourselves.
+
+The jolly-boat had been stowed in the launch, on account of the rough
+weather we had expected to meet, and tackles had to be got aloft before we
+could hoist it out. This consumed some time, during which there was a
+lull. The felucca, seeing us busy at this work, waited patiently until we
+had got the boat over the side, and into the water. Cooper, Dan McCoy, Big
+Dan, and Spanish Joe, then got into her; and the captain had actually
+passed his writing-desk into the boat, and had his leg on the rail, to go
+over the side himself, when a squall struck the ship. The men were called
+out of the boat to clew down the topsails, and a quarter of an hour passed
+in taking care of the vessel. By this time the squall had passed, and it
+lightened up a little. There lay the felucca, waiting for the boat; and
+the men were reluctantly going into the latter again, when the commander
+of the felucca waved his hand to us, his craft fell off and filled,
+wing-and-wing, skimming away towards the coast, like a duck. We stood
+gaping and staring at her, not knowing what to make of this manoeuvre,
+when "bang!" went a heavy gun, a little on our weather quarter. The shot
+passed our wake, for we had filled our topsail, and it went skipping from
+sea to sea, after the felucca. Turning our eyes in the direction of the
+report, we saw a frigate running down upon the felucca, carrying
+studding-sails on both sides, with the water foaming up to her
+hawse-holes. As she passed our stern, she showed an English ensign, but
+took no other notice of us, continuing on after the felucca, and
+occasionally measuring her distance with a shot. Both vessels soon
+disappeared in the mist, though we heard guns for some time. As for
+ourselves, we jogged along on our course, wishing good luck to the
+Englishman. The felucca showed no ensign, the whole day. Our guineas were
+found, some weeks later, in a bread-locker, after we had fairly eaten our
+way down to them.
+
+The other adventure occurred very soon after this escape; for, though the
+felucca may have had a commission, she was a pirate in appearance, and
+most probably in her practices. The thick westerly weather continued until
+we had passed the Straits. The night we were abreast of Cape Trafalgar,
+the captain came on deck in the middle watch, and, hailing the forecastle,
+ordered a sharp look-out kept, as we must be running through Lord
+Collingwood's fleet. The words were hardly out of his mouth, when Spanish
+Joe sung out, "sail ho!" There she was, sure enough, travelling right down
+upon us, in a line that threatened to take us between the fore and main
+masts. The captain ordered our helm hard up, and yelled for Cooper to
+bring up the cabin lantern. The youngster made one leap down the ladder,
+just scraping the steps with his heels, and was in the mizzen rigging with
+the light, in half a minute. That saved us. So near was the stranger, that
+we plainly heard the officer of the deck call out to his own
+quarter-master to "port, hard a-port--_hard_ a-port, and be d----d to
+you!" Hard a-port it was, and a two-decker came brushing along on our
+weather beam--so near, that, when she lifted on the seas, it seemed as if
+the muzzles of her guns would smash our rails. The Sterling did not behave
+well on this occasion, for, getting a yaw to windward, she seemed disposed
+to go right into the Englishman, before she would mind her helm. After the
+man-of-war hailed, and got our answer, her officer quaintly remarked that
+we were "close on board him." It blew too fresh for boats, and we were
+suffered to pass without being boarded.
+
+The ship proceeded up to Carthagena, and went in. Here we were put in
+quarantine for several days. The port was full of heavy ships of war,
+several of which were three-deckers; and an arrival direct from London
+made quite a sensation among them. We had divers visits from the officers,
+though I do not know what it all amounted to. From Carthagena we were
+sent down the coast to a little place called Aguilas, where we began to
+take in a cargo of barilla. At night we would discharge our shingle
+ballast into the water, contrary to law; and, in the day, we took in
+cargo. So clear was the water, that our night's work might easily be seen
+next morning, lying beneath the ship. As we lay in a roadstead, it
+mattered little, few vessels touching at the port. While at this place,
+there was an alarm of an attack from an English man-of-war that was seen
+in the offing, and priests enough turned out to defend an ordinary town.
+
+We got about half our freight at this little village, and then came down
+as low as Almeria, an old Moorish town, just below Cape de Gatte, for the
+remainder. Here we lay several weeks, finishing stowing our cargo. I went
+ashore almost every day to market, and had an opportunity of seeing
+something of the Spaniards. Our ship lay a good distance off, and we
+landed at a quarantine station, half a mile, at least, from the
+water-gate, to which we were compelled to walk along the beach.
+
+One of my journeys to the town produced a little adventure. The captain
+had ordered Cooper to boil some pitch at the galley. By some accident, the
+pot was capsized, and the ship came near being burned. A fresh pot was now
+provided, and Cooper and Dan McCoy were sent ashore, at the station, with
+orders to boil down pitch on the land. There was no wharf, and it was
+always necessary to get ashore through a surf. The bay is merely an elbow,
+half the winds blowing in from the open sea. Sometimes, therefore, landing
+is ticklish work and requires much skill. I went ashore with the pitch,
+and proceeded into the town on my errands, whilst the two lads lighted
+their fire and began to boil down. When all was ready, it was seen there
+was a good deal of swell, and that the breakers looked squally. The
+orders, however, were to go off, on such occasions, and not to wait, as
+delay generally made matters worse. We got into the boat, accordingly, and
+shoved off. For a minute, or more, things went well enough, when a breaker
+took the bows of the jolly-boat, lifted her nearly on end, and turned her
+keel uppermost. One scarcely knows how he gets out of such a scrape. We
+all came ashore, however, heels over head, people, pot, boat, and oars.
+The experiment was renewed, less the pitch and a pair of new shoes of
+mine, and it met with exactly the same result. On a third effort, the boat
+got through the surf and we succeeded in reaching the ship. These are the
+sorts of scenes that harden lads, and make them fond of risks. I could not
+swim a stroke, and certainly would have been drowned had not the
+Mediterranean cast me ashore, as if disdaining to take a life of so little
+value to anybody but myself.
+
+After lying several weeks at Almeria, the ship got under way for England
+again. We had fresh westerly gales, and beat to and fro, between Europe
+and Africa, for some time, when we got a Levanter that shoved us out into
+the Atlantic at a furious rate. In the Straits we passed a squadron of
+Portuguese frigates, that was cruising against the Algerines. It was the
+practice of these ships to lie at the Rock until it blew strong enough
+from the eastward to carry vessels through the Gut, when they weighed and
+kept in the offing until the wind shifted. This was blockading the
+Atlantic against their enemies, and the Mediterranean against their
+own ships.
+
+We had a long passage and were short of salt provisions. Falling in with
+an American in the Bay of Biscay, we got a barrel of beef which lasted us
+in. When near the chops of the channel, with a light southerly wind, we
+made a sail in our wake, that came up with us hand over hand. She went
+nearly two feet to our one, the barilla pressing the Sterling down into
+the water, and making her very dull, more especially in light airs. When
+the stranger got near enough, we saw that he was pumping, the water
+running out of his scuppers in a constant stream. He was several hours in
+sight, the whole time pumping. This ship passed within a cable's-length of
+us, without taking any more notice of us than if we had been a mile-stone.
+She was an English two-decker, and we could distinguish the features of
+her men, as they stood in the waist, apparently taking breath after their
+trial at the pumps. She dropped a hawse-bucket, and we picked it up, when
+she was about half a mile ahead of us. It had the broad-arrow on it, and a
+custom-house officer seeing it, some time after, was disposed to seize it
+as a prize.
+
+We never knew the name of this ship, but there was something proud and
+stately in her manner of passing us, in her distress, without so much as a
+hail. It is true, we could have done her no good, and her object,
+doubtless, was to get into dock as soon as possible. Some thought she had
+been in action, and was going home to repair damages that could not be
+remedied at sea.
+
+Soon after this vessel was seen, we had proof how difficult it is to judge
+of a ship's size at sea. A vessel was made ahead, standing directly for
+us. Mr. Irish soon pronounced her a sloop of war. Half an hour later she
+grew into a frigate, but when she came abeam she showed three tiers of
+ports, being a ninety. This ship also passed without deigning to take any
+notice of us.
+
+
+
+Chapter III.
+
+
+
+We made the Land's End in fine weather, and with a fair wind. Instead of
+keeping up channel, however, our ship hauled in for the land. Cooper was
+at the helm, and the captain asked him if he knew of any one on board who
+had ever been into Falmouth. He was told that Philadelphia Bill had been
+pointing out the different head-lands on the forecastle, and that, by his
+own account, he had sailed a long time out of the port. This Bill was a
+man of fifty, steady, trust-worthy, quiet, and respected by every man in
+the ship. He had taken a great liking to Cooper, whom he used to teach how
+to knot and splice, and other niceties of the calling, and Cooper often
+took him ashore with him, and amused him with historical anecdotes of the
+different places we visited. In short, the intimacy between them was as
+great as well could be, seeing the difference in their educations and
+ages. But, even to Cooper, Bill always called himself a Philadelphian. In
+appearance, indeed, he resembled one of those whom we call Yankees, in
+America, more than anything else.
+
+Bill was now sent for and questioned. He seemed uneasy, but admitted he
+could take the ship into Falmouth. There was nothing in the way, but a
+rock abreast Pendennis Castle, but it was easy to give that a berth. We
+now learned that the captain had made up his mind to go into this port and
+ride out the quarantine to which all Mediterranean vessels were subject.
+Bill took us in very quietly, and the ship was ordered up a few miles
+above the town, to a bay where vessels rode out their quarantine. The next
+day a doctor's boat came alongside, and we were ordered to show ourselves,
+and flourish our limbs, in order to make it evident we were alive and
+kicking. There were four men in the boat, and, as it turned out, every one
+of them recognised Bill, who was born within a few miles of the very spot
+where the ship lay, and had a wife then living a great deal nearer to him
+than he desired. It was this wife--there happening to be too much of
+her--that had driven the poor fellow to America, twenty years before, and
+which rendered him unwilling to live in his native country. By private
+means, Bill managed to have some communication with the men in the boat,
+and got their promises not to betray him. This was done by signs
+altogether, speaking being quite out of the question.
+
+We were near, or quite, a fortnight in quarantine; after which the ship
+dropped down abreast of the town. This was of a Saturday, and Sunday, a
+portion of the crew were permitted to go ashore. Bill was of the number,
+and when he returned he admitted that he had been so much excited at
+finding himself in the place, that he had been a little indiscreet. That
+night he was very uncomfortable, but nothing occurred to molest any of us.
+The next morning all seemed right, and Bill began to be himself again;
+often wishing, however, that the anchor was aweigh, and the ship turning
+out of the harbour. We soon got at work, and began to work down to the
+mouth of the haven, with a light breeze. The moment we were clear of the
+points, or head-lands, we could make a fair wind of it up channel. The ship
+was in stays, pretty well down, tinder Pendennis, and the order had been
+given to swing the head yards. Bill and Cooper were pulling together at
+the fore-top-sail brace, when the report of a musket was heard quite near
+the ship. Bill let go the brace, turned as white as a sheet, and
+exclaimed, "I'm gone!" At first, the men near him thought he was shot, but
+a gesture towards the boat which had fired, explained his meaning. The
+order was given to belay the head braces, and we waited the result
+in silence.
+
+The press-gang was soon on board us, and its officer asked to have the
+crew mustered. This humiliating order was obeyed, and all hands of us were
+called aft. The officer seemed easily satisfied, until he came to Bill.
+"What countryman are _you_?" he asked. "An American--a Philadelphian,"
+answered Bill. "You are an Englishman." "No, sir; I was born--" "Over
+here, across the bay," interrupted the officer, with a cool smile, "where
+your dear wife is at this moment. Your name is ______ ______, and you are
+well known in Falmouth. Get your clothes, and be ready to go in the boat."
+
+This settled the matter. Captain Johnston paid Bill his wages, his chest
+was lowered into the boat, and the poor fellow took an affectionate leave
+of his shipmates. He told those around him that his fate was sealed. He
+was too old to outlive a war that appeared to have no end, and they would
+never trust _him_ on shore. "My foot will never touch the land again," he
+said to Cooper, as he squeezed his young friend's hand, "and I am to live
+and die, with a ship for my prison."
+
+The loss of poor Bill made us all sad; but there was no remedy. We got
+into the offing, and squared away for the river again. When we reached
+London, the ship discharged down at Limehouse, where she lay in a tier of
+Americans for some time. We then took in a little ballast, and went up
+opposite to the dock gates once more. We next docked and cleaned the ship,
+on the Deptford side, and then hauled into the wet-dock in which we had
+discharged our flour.
+
+Here the ship lay part of May, all of June, and most of July, taking in
+freight for Philadelphia, as it offered. This gave our people a good deal
+of spare time, and we were allowed to go ashore whenever we were not
+wanted. Cooper now took me in tow, and many a drift I had with him and Dan
+McCoy up to St. Paul's, the parks, palaces, and the Abbey. A little
+accident that happened about this time, attached me to Cooper more than
+common, and made me more desirous than ever to cruise in his company.
+
+I was alone, on deck, one Sunday, when I saw a little dog running about on
+board a vessel that lay outside of us. Around the neck of this animal,
+some one has fastened a sixpence, by a bit of riband rove through a hole.
+I thought this sixpence might be made better use of, in purchasing some
+cherries, for which I had a strong longing, and I gave chase. In
+attempting to return to our own ship, with the dog, I fell into the water,
+between the two vessels. I could not swim a stroke; and I sang out,
+lustily, for help. As good luck would have it, Cooper came on board at
+that precise instant; and, hearing my outcry, he sprang down between the
+ships, and rescued me from drowning. I thought I was gone; and my
+condition made an impression on me that never will be lost. Had not Cooper
+accidentally appeared, just as he did, Ned Myers's yarn would have ended
+with this paragraph. I ought to add, that the sixpence got clear, the dog
+swimming away with it.
+
+I had another escape from drowning, while we lay in the docks, having
+fallen overboard from the jolly-boat, while making an attempt at sculling.
+I forget, now, how I was saved; but then I had the boat and the oar to
+hold on to. In the end, it will be seen by what a terrific lesson I
+finally learned to swim.
+
+One Sunday we were drifting up around the palace; and then it was that I
+told Cooper that the Duke of Kent was my god-father. He tried to persuade
+me to make a call; saying I could do no less than pay this respect to the
+prince. I had half a mind to try my hand at a visit; but felt too shy, and
+too much afraid. Had I done as Cooper so strongly urged me to do, one
+cannot say what might have been the consequences, or what change might
+have been brought about in my fortunes.[4]
+
+One day Mr. Irish was in high glee, having received a message from Captain
+Johnston, to inform him that the latter was pressed! The captain used to
+dress in a blue long-tog, drab-breeches and top-boots, when he went
+ashore. "He thought he could pass for a gentleman from the country," said
+Mr. Irish, laughing, "but them press-gang chaps smelt the tar in his very
+boots!" Cooper was sent to the rendezvous, with the captain's desk and
+papers, and the latter was liberated. We all liked the captain, who was
+kind and considerate in his treatment of all hands; but it was fine fun
+for us to have "the old fellow" pressed--"_old fellow_" of six or
+eight-and-twenty, as he was then.
+
+About the last of July, we left London, bound home. Our crew had again
+undergone some changes. We shipped a second mate, a New-England man. Jim
+Russel left us. We had lost Bill; and, another Bill, a dull Irish lad, who
+had gone to Spain, quitted us also. Our crew consisted of only Spanish
+Joe; Big Dan; Little Dan; Stephen, the Kennebunk man; Cooper; a Swede,
+shipped in London; a man whose name I have forgotten; and a young man who
+passed by the name of Davis, but who was, in truth,--------, a son of the
+pilot who had brought us in, and taken us out, each time we passed up or
+down the river. This Davis had sailed in a coaster belonging to his
+father, and had got pressed in Sir Home Popham's South-American squadron.
+They made him a midshipman; but, disliking the sea, he was determined to
+go to America. We had to smuggle him out of the country, on account of the
+press-gang; he making his appearance on board us, suddenly, one night, in
+the river.
+
+The Sterling was short-handed this passage, mustering but four hands in a
+watch. Notwithstanding, we often reefed in the watch, though Cooper and
+Little Dan were both scarcely more than boys. Our mates used to go aloft,
+and both were active, powerful men. The cook, too, was a famous fellow at
+a drag. In these delicate times, when two or three days of watch and watch
+knock up a set of young men, one looks back with pride to a passage like
+this, when fourteen men and boys--four of the latter--brought a good sized
+ship across the ocean, reefing in the watch, weathering many a gale, and
+thinking nothing of it. I presume half our people, on a pinch, could have
+brought the Sterling in. One of the boys I have mentioned was named John
+Pugh, a little fellow the captain had taken as an apprentice in London,
+and who was now at sea for the first time in his life.
+
+We had a long passage. Every inch of the way to the Downs was tide-work.
+Here we lay several days, waiting far a wind. It blew fresh from the
+southwest-half of that summer, and the captain was not willing to go out
+with a foul wind. We were surrounded with vessels of war, most of the
+Channel Fleet being at anchor around us. This made a gay scene, and we had
+plenty of music, and plenty of saluting. One day all hands turned-to
+together, and fired starboard and larboard, until we could see nothing but
+a few mast-heads. What it all meant I never heard, but it made a famous
+smoke, and a tremendous noise.
+
+A frigate came in, and anchored just ahead of us. She lowered a boat, and
+sent a reefer alongside to inform us that she was His Majesty's ship----;
+that she had lost all her anchors but the stream, and she might strike
+adrift, and he advised us to get out of her way. The captain held on that
+day, however, but next morning she came into us, sure enough. The ships
+did not get clear without some trouble, and we thought it wisest to shift
+our berth. Once aweigh, the captain thought it best to turn out of the
+Downs, which we did, working through the Straits, and anchoring under
+Dungeness, as soon as the flood made. Here we lay until near sunset, when
+we got under way to try our hand upon the ebb. I believe the skipper had
+made up his mind to tide it down to the Land's End, rather than remain
+idle any longer. There was a sloop of war lying in-shore of us, a mile or
+so, and just as we stretched out from under the land, she began to
+telegraph with a signal station ashore. Soon after, she weighed, and came
+out, also. In the middle watch we passed this ship, on opposite tacks, and
+learned that an embargo had been laid, and that we had only saved our
+distance by some ten or fifteen minutes! This embargo was to prevent the
+intelligence of the Copenhagen expedition from reaching the Danes. That
+very day, we passed a convoy of transports, carrying a brigade from
+Pendennis Castle to Yarmouth, in order to join the main fleet. A gun-brig
+brought us to, and came near pressing the Swede, under the pretence that
+being allies of his king, England had a right to his services. Had not the
+man been as obstinate as a bull, and positively refused to go, I do
+believe we should have lost him. He was ordered into the boat at least
+half-a-dozen times, but swore he would not budge. Cooper had a little row
+with this boarding officer, but was silenced by the captain.
+
+After the news received from the sloop of war, it may be supposed we did
+not venture to anchor anywhere on English ground. Keeping the channel, we
+passed the Isle of Wight several times, losing on the flood, the distance
+made on the ebb. At length we got a slant and fetched out into the
+Atlantic, heading well to the southward, however. Our passage was long,
+even after we got clear, the winds carrying us down as low as Corvo, which
+island we made, and then taking us well north again. We had one very heavy
+blow that forced us to scud, the Sterling being one of the wettest ships
+that ever floated, when heading up to the sea.
+
+When near the American coast, we spoke an English brig that gave us an
+account of the affair between the Leopard and the Chesapeake, though he
+made his own countrymen come out second-best. Bitter were the revilings of
+Mr. Irish when the pilot told us the real state of the case. As was usual
+with this ship's luck, we tided it up the bay and river, and got safe
+alongside of the wharf at Philadelphia, at last. Here our crew was broken
+up, of course, and, with the exception of Jack Pugh, my brother
+apprentice, and Cooper, I never saw a single soul of them afterwards. Most
+of them went on to New York, and were swallowed up in the great vortex of
+seamen. Mr. Irish, I heard, died the next voyage he made, chief mate of an
+Indiaman. He was a prime fellow, and fit to command a ship.
+
+Such was my first voyage at sea, for I count the passage round from
+Halifax as nothing. I had been kept in the cabin, it is true, but our work
+had been of the most active kind. The Sterling must have brought up, and
+been got under way, between fifty and a hundred times; and as for tacking,
+waring, chappelling round, and box-hauling, we had so much of it by the
+channel pilots, that the old barky scarce knew which end was going
+foremost. In that day, a ship did not get from the Forelands up to London
+without some trouble, and great was our envy of the large blocks and light
+cordage of the colliers, which made such easy work for their men. We
+singled much of our rigging, the second voyage up the river, ourselves,
+and it was a great relief to the people. A set of grass foresheets, too,
+that we bought in Spain, got to be great favourites, though, in the end,
+they cost the ship the life of a very valuable man.
+
+Captain Johnston now determined to send me to Wiscasset, that I might go
+to school. A Wiscasset schooner, called the Clarissa, had come into
+Philadelphia, with freight from the West Indies, and she was about to sail
+for home in ballast. I was put on board as a passenger, and we sailed
+about a week after the ship got in from London. Jack Pugh staid behind,
+the Sterling being about to load for Ireland. On board the Clarissa I made
+the acquaintance of a Philadelphian born, who was an apprentice to the
+master of the schooner, of the name of Jack Mallet. He was a little older
+than myself, and we soon became intimate, and, in time, were fated to see
+many strange things in company.
+
+The Clarissa went, by the Vineyard Sound and the Shoals, into Boston. Here
+she landed a few crates, and then sailed for Wiscasset, where we arrived
+after a pretty long passage. I was kindly received by the mother and
+family of Captain Johnston, and immediately sent to school. Shortly after,
+we heard of the embargo, and, the Clarissa being laid up, Jack Mallet
+became one of my school-mates. We soon learned that the Sterling had not
+been able to get out, and, ere long, Jack Pugh joined our party. A little
+later, Captain Johnston arrived, to go into the commercial quarantine with
+the rest of us.
+
+This was the long embargo, as sailors called it, and it did not terminate
+until Erskine's arrangement was made, in 1809. All this time I remained in
+Wiscasset, at school, well treated, and, if anything, too much indulged.
+Captain Johnston remained at home all this time, also, and, having nothing
+else to do, he set about looking out for a wife. We had, at school, Jack
+Pugh, Jack Mallet, and Bill Swett, the latter being a lad a little older
+than myself, and a nephew of the captain's. I was now sixteen, and had
+nearly gotten my growth.
+
+As soon as the embargo was removed, Captain Johnston, accompanied by
+Swett, started for Philadelphia, to bring the ship round to New York. From
+that place he intended to sail for Liverpool, where Jack Pugh and myself
+were to join him, sailing in a ship called the Columbia. This plan was
+changed, however, and we were sent round by sea to join the Sterling
+again, in the port where I had first found her.
+
+As this was near three years after I had quitted the Hel zer's so
+unceremoniously, I went to look for them. Their old neighbours told me
+they had been gone to Martinique, about a twelvemonth. This was the last
+intelligence I ever heard of them. Bill Swett was now put into the cabin,
+and Jack Pugh and myself were sent regularly to duty before the mast. We
+lived in the steerage, and had cabin fare; but, otherwise, had the
+fortunes of foremast Jacks. Our freight was wheat in the lower hold, flour
+betwixt decks, and cotton on deck. The ship was very deep. Our crew was
+good, but both our mates were foreigners.
+
+Nothing occurred until we got near soundings, when it came on to blow very
+heavy from the southward and westward. The ship was running under a
+close-reefed main-topsail and foresail, with a tremendous sea on. Just as
+night set in, one Harry, a Prussian, came on deck from his supper to
+relieve the wheel, and, fetching a lurch as he went aft, he brought up
+against the launch, and thence down against our grass fore-sheet, which
+had been so great a favourite in the London passages. This rope had been
+stretched above the deck load for a ridge rope, but, being rotten, it gave
+way when the poor Prussian struck it, and he went into the sea. We could
+do no more than throw him the sky-light, which was large; but the ship
+went foaming ahead, leaving the poor fellow to his fate, in the midst of
+the hissing waters. Some of our people thought they saw poor Harry on the
+sky-light, but this could not have made much difference in such a raging
+sea. It was impossible to round-to, and as for a boat's living, it was out
+of the question. This was the first man I saw lost at sea, and,
+notwithstanding the severity of the gale, and the danger of the ship
+herself, the fate of this excellent man made us all melancholy. The
+captain felt it bitterly, as was evident from his manner. Still, the thing
+was unavoidable.
+
+We had begun to shorten sail early in the afternoon, and Harry was lost in
+the first dog-watch. A little later the larboard fore-sheet went, and the
+sail was split. All hands were called, and the rags were rolled up, and
+the gaskets passed. The ship now laboured so awfully that she began to
+leak. The swell was so high that we did not dare to come by the wind, and
+the seas would come in, just about the main chains, meet in board and
+travel out over her bows in a way to threaten everything that could be
+moved. We lads were lashed at the pumps, and ordered to keep at work; and
+to make matters worse, the wheat began to work its way into the pump-well.
+While things were in this state, the main-top-sail split, leaving the ship
+without a rag of sail on her.
+
+The Sterling loved to be under water, even in moderate weather. Many a
+time have I seen her send the water aft, into the quarter-deck scuppers,
+and, as for diving, no loon was quicker than she. Now, that she was deep
+and was rolling her deck-load to the water, it was time to think of
+lightening her. The cotton was thrown overboard as fast as we could, and
+what the men could not start the seas did. After a while we eased the ship
+sensibly, and it was well we did; the wheat choking the pumps so often,
+that we had little opportunity for getting out the water.
+
+I do not now recollect at what hour of this fearful night, Captain
+Johnston shouted out to us all to "look out"--and "hold on." The ship was
+broaching-to. Fortunately she did this at a lucky moment, and, always
+lying-to well, though wet, we made much better weather on deck. The
+mizzen-staysail was now set to keep her from falling off into the troughs
+of the sea. Still the wind blew as hard as ever. First one sail, then
+another, got loose, and a hard time we had to keep the canvass to the
+yards. Then the fore-top-mast went, with a heavy lurch, and soon after the
+main, carrying with it the mizzen-top-gallant-mast. We owed this to the
+embargo, in my judgment, the ship's rigging having got damaged lying dry
+so long. We were all night clearing the wreck, and the men who used the
+hatchets, told us that the wind would cant their tools so violently that
+they sometimes struck on the eyes, instead of the edge. The gale fairly
+seemed like a hard substance.
+
+We passed a fearful night, working at the pumps, and endeavouring to take
+care of the ship. Next morning it moderated a little, and the vessel was
+got before the wind, which was perfectly fair. She could carry but little
+sail; though we got up top-gallant-masts for top-masts, as soon as the sea
+would permit. About four, I saw the land myself and pointed it out to the
+mate. It was Cape Clear, and we were heading for it as straight as we
+could go. We hauled up to clear it, and ran into the Irish channel. A
+large fleet of vessels had gathered in and near the chops of the channel,
+in readiness to run into Liverpool by a particular day that had been named
+in the law opening the trade, and great had been the destruction among
+them. I do not remember the number of the ships we saw, but there must
+have been more than a hundred. It was afterwards reported, that near fifty
+vessels were wrecked on the Irish coast. Almost every craft we fell in
+with was more or less dismasted, and one vessel, a ship called the
+Liberty, was reported to have gone down, with every soul on board her.
+
+The weather becoming moderate, all hands of us went into Liverpool, the
+best way we could. The Sterling had good luck in getting up, though we lay
+some time in the river before we were able to get into dock. When we got
+out the cargo, we found it much damaged, particularly the wheat. The last
+was so hot that we could not bear our feet among it. We got it all out in
+a few days, when we went into a dry dock, and repaired.
+
+This visit to Liverpool scattered our crew as if it had been so much dust
+in a squall. Most of our men were pressed, and those that were not, ran.
+But one man, us boys excepted, stuck by the ship. The chief mate--a
+foreigner, though of what country I never could discover--lived at a house
+kept by a handsome landlady. To oblige this lady, he ordered William Swett
+and myself to carry a bucket-full of salt, each, up to her house. The salt
+came out of the harness-cask, and we took it ashore openly, but we were
+stopped on the quay by a custom-house officer, who threatened to seize the
+ship. Such was the penalty for landing two buckets of Liverpool salt at
+Liverpool!
+
+Captain Johnston had the matter explained, and he discharged the mate.
+Next day, the discharged man and the second mate were pressed. We got the
+last, who was a Swede, clear; and the chief mate, in the end, made his
+escape, and found his way back to New York. Among those impressed, was
+Jack Pugh, who having been bound in London, we did not dare show his
+papers. The captain tried hard to get the boy clear, but without success.
+I never saw poor Jack after this; though I learn he ran from the
+market-boat of the guard-ship, made his way back to Wiscasset, where he
+stayed some time, then shipped, and was lost at sea.
+
+
+
+Chapter IV.
+
+
+
+At length we got a new crew, and sailed for home. We had several
+passengers on board, masters of American ships who could go back
+themselves, but not carry their vessels with them, on account of certain
+liberties the last had taken with the laws. These persons were called
+"embargo captains." One of them, a Captain B----, kept Captain Johnston's
+watch, and got so much into his confidence and favour, that he gave him
+the vessel in the end. The passage home was stormy and long, but offered
+nothing remarkable. A non-importation law had been passed during our
+absence, and our ship was seized in New York in consequence of having a
+cargo of English salt. We had taken the precaution, however, to have the
+salt cleared in Liverpool, and put afloat before the day named in the law,
+and got clear after a detention of two months. Salt rose so much in the
+interval, that the seizure turned out to be a good thing for the owners.
+
+While the ship was lying off the Battery, on her return from this voyage,
+and before she had hauled in, a boat came alongside with a young man in
+her in naval uniform. This was Cooper, who, in pulling across to go aboard
+his own vessel, had recognised our mast-heads, and now came to look at us.
+This was the last time I met him, until the year 1843; or, for
+thirty-four years.
+
+We now loaded with naval stores, and cleared again for Liverpool. Bill
+Swett did not make this voyage with us, the cook acting as steward. We had
+good passages out and home, experiencing no detention or accidents. In the
+spring of 1810, Captain Johnston gave the ship to Captain B----, who
+carried us to Liverpool for the third time. Nothing took place this
+voyage either, worthy of being mentioned, the ship getting back in good
+season. We now took in a cargo of staves for Limerick. Off the Hook we
+were brought-to by the Indian sloop-of-war, one of the Halifax cruisers, a
+squadron in company. Several vessels were coming out at the same time, and
+among them were several of the clippers in the French trade. The Amiable
+Matilda and the Colt went to windward of the Englishmen as if the last had
+been at anchor; but the Tameahmeah, when nearest to the English, got her
+yards locked in stays, and was captured. We saw all this, and felt, as was
+natural to men who beheld such things enacted at the mouth of their own
+port. Our passages both ways were pleasant, and nothing occurred out of
+the usual course. I fell in with a press-gang, however, in Limerick, which
+would have nabbed me, but for a party of Irishmen, who showed fight and
+frightened the fellows so much that I got clear. Once before, I had been
+in the hands of these vermin in Liverpool, but Captain Johnston had got me
+clear by means of my indentures. I was acting as second-mate this voyage.
+
+On our return home, the ship was ordered to Charleston to get a cargo of
+yellow pine, under a contract. Captain B---- was still in command, my old
+master, Captain Johnston, being then at home, occupied in building a new
+ship. I never saw this kind-hearted and indulgent seaman until the year
+1842, when I made a journey to Wiscasset expressly to see him. Captain
+B---- and myself were never very good friends, and I was getting to be
+impatient of his authority; but I still stuck by the ship.
+
+We had an ordinary run to Charleston, and began to prepare for the
+reception of our cargo. At this time, there were two French privateers on
+the southern coast, that did a great deal of damage to our trade. One went
+into Savannah, and got burned, for her pains; and the other came into
+Charleston, and narrowly escaped the same fate. A mob collected--made a
+fire-raft, and came alongside of our ship, demanding some tar. To own the
+truth, though then clothed with all the dignity of a "Dicky," [5] I liked
+the fun, and offered no resistance. Bill Swett had come in, in a ship
+called the United States; and he was on board the Sterling, at the time,
+on a visit to me. We two, off hatches, and whipped a barrel of tar on
+deck; which we turned over to the raftsmen, with our hearty good wishes
+for their success. All this was, legally, very wrong; but, I still think,
+it was not so very far from being morally just; at least, as regards the
+privateersmen. The attempt failed, however, and those implicated were
+blamed a great deal more than they would have been, had they burned up the
+Frenchmen's eye-bolts. It is bad to fail, in a legal undertaking; but
+success is indispensable for forgiveness, to one that is illegal.
+
+That night, Captain B---- and the chief mate, came down upon me, like a
+gust, for having parted with the tar. They concluded their lecture, by
+threatening to work me up. Bill Swett was by, and he got his share of the
+dose. When we were left to ourselves, we held a council of war, about
+future proceedings. Our crew had run, to a man, the cook excepted, as
+usually happens, in Charleston; and we brought in the cook, as a
+counsellor. This man told me, that he had overheard the captain and mate
+laying a plan to give me a threshing, as soon as I had turned in. Bill,
+now, frankly proposed that I should run, as well as himself; for he had
+already left his ship; and our plan was soon laid. Bill went ashore, and
+brought a boat down under the bows of the ship, and I passed my dunnage
+into her, by going through the forecastle; I then left the Sterling, for
+ever, never putting my foot on board of her again. I saw her, once or
+twice, afterwards, at a distance, and she always looked like a sort of
+home to me. She was subsequently lost, on the eastern coast, Captain
+Johnston still owning her, and being actually on board her, though only as
+a passenger. I had been out in her twelve times, from country to country,
+besides several short runs, from port to port. She always seemed natural
+to me; and I had got to know every timber and stick about her. I felt
+more, in quitting this ship, than I did in quitting Halifax. This
+desertion was the third great error of my life. The first was, quitting
+those with whom I had been left by my father; the second, abandoning my
+good friends, the Heizers; and the third, leaving the Sterling. Had
+Captain Johnston been in the ship, I never should have dreamed of running.
+He was always kind to me, and if he failed in justice, it was on the side
+of indulgence. Had I continued with him, I make no doubt, my career would
+have been very different from what it has since turned out to be; and, I
+fear, I must refer one of the very bad habits, that afterwards marred my
+fortunes, that of drinking too much, to this act. Still, it will be
+remembered, I was only nineteen, loved adventure, and detested
+Captain B----.
+
+After this exploit, Swett and I kept housed for a week. He then got into a
+ship called the President, and I into another called the Tontine, and both
+sailed for New York, where we arrived within a few days of each other. We
+now shipped together in a vessel called the Jane, bound to Limerick. This
+was near the close of the year 1811. Our passage out was tremendously bad,
+and we met with some serious accidents to our people. We were not far from
+the mouth of the Irish channel when the ship broached-to, in scudding
+under the foresail and main-top-sail, Bill Swett being at the helm. The
+watch below ran on deck and hauled up the foresail, without orders, to
+prevent the ship from going down stern foremost, the yards being square.
+As the ship came-to, she took a sea in on her starboard side, which drove
+poor Bill to leeward, under some water-casks and boards, beating in two of
+his ribs. Both mates were injured also, and were off duty in consequence
+for several weeks. The plank sheer was ripped off the vessel from aft to
+amidships, as neatly as if it had been done by the carpenters. We could
+look down among the timbers the same as if the vessel were on the stocks.
+
+The men braced up the after-yards, and then the ship was lying-to under a
+close-reefed main-top-sail. After this, she did well enough. We now passed
+the hurt below, and got tarred canvass over the timber-heads, and managed
+to keep out the water. Next day we made sail for our port. It blowing too
+fresh to get a pilot, we ran into a roadstead at the mouth of the Shannon,
+and anchored with both bowers. We rode out the gale, and then went up to
+Limerick. Here all hands got well, and returned to duty. In due time, we
+sailed for home in ballast. As we came into the Hook, we were hailed by a
+gun-boat, and heard of the "Little Embargo."
+
+The question now came up seriously between Bill and myself, what was best
+to be done. I was for going to Wiscasset, like two prodigals, own our
+fault, and endeavour to amend. Bill thought otherwise. Now we were cast
+ashore, without employment, he thought it more manly to try and shift for
+ourselves. He had an uncle who was a captain of artillery, and who was
+then stationed on Governor's Island, and we took him into our councils.
+This gentleman treated us kindly, and kept us with him on the island for
+two days. Finding his nephew bent on doing something for himself, he gave
+us a letter to Lt. Trenchard, of the navy, by whom we were both shipped
+for the service. Swett got a master's-mate's berth, and I was offered the
+same, but felt too much afraid of myself to accept it. I entered the navy,
+then, for the first time, as a common Jack.
+
+This was a very short time before war was declared, and a large flotilla
+of gun-boats was getting ready for the New York station. Bill was put on
+board of No. 112, and I was ordered to No. 107, Sailing-Master Costigan.
+Soon after, we were all employed in fitting the Essex for sea; and while
+thus occupied the Declaration of War actually arrived. On this occasion I
+got drunk, for the second time in my life. A quantity of whiskey was
+started into a tub, and all hands drank to the success of the conflict. A
+little upset me, then, nor would I have drunk anything, but for the
+persuasions of some of my Wiscasset acquaintances, of whom there were
+several in the ship. I advise all young men, who feel no desire to drink,
+to follow their own propensities, and not to yield themselves up, body and
+soul, to the thoughtless persuasions of others. There is no real
+good-fellowship in swilling rum and whiskey; but the taste, once acquired,
+is hard to cure. I never drank much, as to quantity, but a little filled
+me with the love of mischief, and that little served to press me down for
+all the more valuable years of my life; valuable, as to the advancement of
+my worldly interests, though I can scarcely say I began really to live, as
+a creature of God's should live, to honour his name and serve his ends,
+until the year 1839.
+
+After the Essex was fitted out, the flotilla cruised in the Sound, and was
+kept generally on the look-out, about the waters of New York. Towards the
+end of the season, our boat, with several others, was lying abreast of
+the Yard, when orders came off to meet the Yard Commander, Captain
+Chauncey, on the wharf. Here, this officer addressed us, and said he was
+about to proceed to Lake Ontario, to take command, and asking who would
+volunteer to go with him. This was agreeable news to us, for we hated the
+gun-boats, and would go anywhere to be quit of them. Every man and boy
+volunteered. We got twenty-four hours' liberty, with a few dollars in
+money, and when this scrape was over every man returned, and we embarked
+in a sloop for Albany. Our draft contained near 140 men, and was commanded
+by Mr. Mix, then a sailing-master, but who died a commander a few years
+since. Messrs. Osgood and Mallaby were also with us, and two midshipmen,
+viz: Messrs. Sands and Livingston. The former of these young gentlemen is
+now a commander, but I do not know what became of Mr. Livingston. We had
+also two master's-mates, Messrs. Bogardus and Emory.
+
+On reaching Albany, we paid a visit to the Governor, gave him three
+cheers, got some good cheer in return, and were all stowed in wagons, a
+mess in each, before his door. We now took to our land tacks, and a merry
+time we had of it. Our first day's run was to a place called Schenectady,
+and here the officers found an empty house, and berthed us all together,
+fastening the doors. This did not suit our notions of a land cruise, and
+we began to grumble. There was a regular hard horse of a boatswain's-mate
+with us, of the name of McNally. This man had been in the service a long
+time, and was a thorough man-of-war's man. Fie had collected twenty-four
+of us, whom he called his 'disciples,' and shamed am I to say, I was one.
+McNally called all hands on the upper deck, as he called it, that is to
+say, in the garret, and made us a speech. He said this was no way to treat
+volunteers, and proposed that we should "unship the awning." We rigged
+pries, and, first singing out, "stand from under," hove one half of the
+roof into the street, and the other into the garden. We then gave three
+cheers at our success. The officers now came down, and gave us a lecture.
+But we made out so good a case, that they let us run till morning, when
+every soul was back and mustered in the wagons. In this way we went
+through the country, cracking our jokes, laughing, and noting all
+oddities that crossed our course. I believe we were ten or twelve days
+working our way through the state, to Oswego. At Onondago Lake we got into
+boats, and did better than in the wagons. At a village on the lake shore,
+the people were very bitter against us, and we had some difficulty. The
+word went among us they were Scotch, from the Canadas, but of this I know
+nothing. We heard in the morning, however, that most of our officers were
+in limbo, and we crossed and marched up a hill, intending to burn, sink,
+and destroy, if they were not liberated. Mischief was prevented by the
+appearance of Mr. Mix, with the other gentlemen, and we pushed off without
+coming to blows.
+
+It came on to rain very hard, and we fetched up at a solitary house in the
+woods, and tried to get quarters. These were denied us, and we were told
+to shift for ourselves. This we did in a large barn, where we made good
+stowage until morning. In the night, we caught the owner coming about with
+a lantern to set fire to the barn, and we carried him down to a boat, and
+lashed him there until morning, letting the rain wash all the combustible
+matter out of him. That day we reached Oswego Falls, where a party of us
+were stationed some time, running boats over, and carrying stores across
+the portage.
+
+When everything reached Oswego, all hands turned to, to equip some lake
+craft that had been bought for the service. These were schooners, salt
+droggers, of about sixty or eighty tons. All we did at Oswego, however,
+was to load these vessels, some six or eight in all, and put to sea. I
+went off in one of the first, a vessel called the Fair American. Having no
+armaments, we sailed in the night, to avoid John Bull's cruisers, of which
+there were several out at the time. As we got in with some islands, at no
+great distance from Sackett's Harbour, we fell in with the Oneida's
+launch, which was always kept in the offing at night, rowing, or sailing,
+guard. Bill Swett was in her, and we then met for the first time on fresh
+water. I now learned that Jack Mallet was on the station, too, whom I had
+not fallen in with since we parted at Wiscasset, more than three years
+before. A fortnight later I found him, acting as boatswain of the Julia,
+Sailing-Master Trant, a craft I have every reason to remember as long as I
+shall live.
+
+The day after I reached the harbour, I was ordered on board the Scourge.
+This vessel was English-built, and had been captured before the war, and
+condemned, for violating the revenue laws, under the name of the Lord
+Nelson, by the Oneida 16, Lt. Com. Woolsey--the only cruiser we then had
+on the lake. This craft was unfit for her duty, but time pressed, and no
+better offered. Bulwarks had been raised on her, and she mounted eight
+sixes, in regular broadside. Her accommodations were bad enough, and she
+was so tender, that we could do little or nothing with her in a blow. It
+was often prognosticated that she would prove our coffin. Besides Mr.
+Osgood, who was put in command of this vessel, we had Mr. Bogardus, and
+Mr. Livingston, as officers. We must have had about forty-five souls on
+board, all told. We did not get this schooner out that season, however.
+
+The commodore arriving, and an expedition against Kingston being in the
+wind, a party of us volunteered from the Scourge, to go on board the
+Oneida. This was in November, rather a latish month for active service on
+those waters. The brig went out in company with the Conquest, Hamilton,
+Governor Tompkins, Port, Julia, and Growler, schooners. These last craft
+were all merchantmen, mostly without quarters, and scarcely fit for the
+duty on which they were employed. The Oneida was a warm little brig, of
+sixteen 24 lb. carronades, but as dull as a transport. She had been built
+to cross the bars of the American harbours, and would not travel
+to windward.
+
+We went off the False Ducks, where we made the Royal George, a ship the
+English had built expressly to overlay the Oneida, two or three years
+before, and which was big enough to eat us. Her officers, however, did not
+belong to the Royal Navy; and we made such a show of schooners, that,
+though she had herself a vessel or two in company, she did not choose to
+wait for us. We chased her into the Bay of Quinté, and there we lost her
+in the darkness. Next morning, however, we saw her at anchor in the
+channel that leads to Kingston. A general chase now commenced, and we ran
+down into the bay, and engaged the ship and batteries, as close as we
+could well get. The firing was sharp on both sides, and it lasted a great
+while. I was stationed at a gun, as her second captain, and was too busy
+to see much; but I know we kept our piece speaking as fast as we could,
+for a good bit. We drove the Royal George from a second anchorage, quite
+up to a berth abreast of the town; and it was said that her people
+actually deserted her, at one time. We gave her nothing but round-shot
+from our gun, and these we gave her with all our hearts. Whenever we
+noticed the shore, a stand of grape was added.
+
+I know nothing of the damage done the enemy. We had the best of it, so far
+as I could see; and I think, if the weather had not compelled us to haul
+off, something serious might have been done. As it was, we beat out with
+flying colours, and anchored a few miles from the light.
+
+These were the first shot I ever saw fired in anger. Our brig had one man
+killed and three wounded, and she was somewhat injured aloft. One shot
+came in not far from my gun, and scattered lots of cat-tails, breaking in
+the hammock-cloths. This was the nearest chance I ran, that day; and, on
+the whole, I think we escaped pretty well. On our return to the harbour,
+the ten Scourges who had volunteered for the cruise, returned to their own
+schooner. None of us were hurt, though all of us were half frozen, the
+water freezing as fast as it fell.
+
+Shortly after both sides went into winter quarters, and both sides
+commenced building. We launched a ship called the Madison, about this
+time, and we laid the keel of another, that was named the Pike. What John
+Bull was about is more than I can say, though the next season showed he
+had not been idle. The navigation did not absolutely close,
+notwithstanding, until December.
+
+Our vessels were moored about the harbour, and we were all frozen in, as a
+matter of course. Around each craft, however, a space was kept cut, to
+form a sort of ditch, in order to prevent being boarded. Parties were
+regularly stationed to defend the Madison, and, in the days, we worked at
+her rigging, and at that of the Pike, in gangs. Our larboard guns were
+landed, and placed in a block-house, while the starboard were kept
+mounted. My station was that of captain of one of the guns that remained.
+
+The winter lasted more than four months, and we made good times of it. We
+often went after wood, and occasionally we knocked over a deer. We had a
+target out on the lake, and this we practised on, making ourselves rather
+expert cannoneers. Now and then they rowsed us out on a false alarm, but I
+know of no serious attempt's being made by the enemy, to molest us.
+
+The lake was fit to navigate about the middle of April. Somewhere about
+the 20th[6] the soldiers began to embark, to the number of 1700 men. A
+company came on board the Scourge, and they filled us chock-a-block. It
+came on to blow, and we were obliged to keep these poor fellows, cramped
+as we were, most of the time on deck, exposed to rain and storm. On the
+25th we got out, rather a showy force altogether, though there was not
+much service in our small craft. We had a ship, a brig, and twelve
+schooners, fourteen sail in all. The next morning we were off Little York,
+having sailed with a fair wind. All hands anchored about a mile from the
+beach. I volunteered to go in a boat, to carry soldiers ashore. Each of us
+brought across the lake two of these boats in tow, but we had lost one of
+ours, dragging her after us in a staggering breeze. I got into the one
+that was left, and we put half our soldiers in her, and shoved off. We had
+little or no order in landing, each boat pulling as hard as she could. The
+English blazed away at us, concealed in a wood, and our men fired back
+again from the boat. I never was more disappointed in men, than I was in
+the soldiers. They were mostly tall, pale-looking Yankees, half dead with
+sickness and the bad weather--so mealy, indeed, that half of them could
+not take their grog, which, by this time, I had got to think a bad sign.
+As soon as they got near the enemy, however, they became wide awake,
+pointed out to each other where to aim, and many of them actually jumped
+into the water, in order to get the sooner ashore. No men could have
+behaved better, for I confess frankly I did not like the work at all. It
+is no fun to pull in under a sharp fire, with one's back to his enemy, and
+nothing but an oar to amuse himself with. The shot flew pretty thick, and
+two of our oars were split. This was all done with musketry, no heavy guns
+being used at this place. I landed twice in this way, but the danger was
+principally in the first affair. There was fighting up on the bank, but it
+gave us no trouble. Mr. Livingston commanded the boat.
+
+When we got back to the schooner, we found her lifting her anchors.
+Several of the smaller craft were now ordered up the bay, to open on the
+batteries nearer to the town. We were the third from the van, and we all
+anchored within canister range. We heard a magazine blow up, as we stood
+in, and this brought three cheers from us. We now had some sharp work with
+the batteries, keeping up a steady fire. The schooner ahead of us had to
+cut, and she shifted her berth outside of us. The leading schooner,
+however, held on. In the midst of it all, we heard cheers down the line,
+and presently we saw the commodore pulling in among us, in his gig. He
+came on board us, and we greeted him with three cheers. While he was on
+the quarter-deck, a hot shot struck the upper part of the after-port, cut
+all the boarding-pikes adrift from the main-boom, and wounded a man named
+Lemuel Bryant, who leaped from his quarters and fell at my feet. His
+clothes were all on fire when he fell, and, after putting them out, the
+commodore himself ordered me to pass him below. The old man spoke
+encouragingly to us, and a little thing took place that drew his attention
+to my crew. Two of the trucks of the gun we were fighting had been carried
+away, and I determined to shift over its opposite. My crew were five
+negroes, strapping fellows, and as strong as jackasses. The gun was called
+the Black Joke. Shoving the disabled gun out of the way, these chaps
+crossed the deck, unhooked the breechings and gun-tackles, raised the
+piece from the deck, and placed it in the vacant port. The commodore
+commended us, and called out, "that is quick work, my lads!" In less than
+three minutes, I am certain, we were playing on the enemy with the
+fresh gun.
+
+As for the old man, he pulled through the fire as coolly as if it were
+only a snow-balling scrape, though many a poor fellow lost the number of
+his mess in the boats that day. When he left us, we cheered him again. He
+had not left us long, before we heard an awful explosion on shore. Stones
+as big as my two fists fell on board of us, though nobody was hurt by
+them. We cheered, thinking some dire calamity had befallen the enemy. The
+firing ceased soon after this explosion, though one English gun held on,
+under the bank, for some little time.
+
+
+
+Chapter V.
+
+
+
+We did not know the cause of the last explosion, until after the firing
+ceased. I had seen an awful black cloud, and objects in the air that I
+took for men; but little did we imagine the explosion had cost us so dear.
+Our schooner lay at no great distance from the common landing, and no
+sooner were we certain of the success of the day, than Mr. Osgood ordered
+his boat's crew called away, and he landed. As I belonged to the boat, I
+had an early opportunity of entering the town.
+
+We found the place deserted. With the exception of our own men, I found
+but one living being in it. This was an old woman whom I discovered stowed
+away in a potatoe locker, in the government house. I saw tables set, and
+eggs in the cups, but no inhabitant. Our orders were of the most severe
+kind, not to plunder, and we did not touch a morsel of food even. The
+liquor, however, was too much for our poor natures, and a parcel of us had
+broke bulk in a better sort of grocery, when some officers came in and
+stove the casks. I made sail, and got out of the company. The army had
+gone in pursuit of the enemy, with the exception of a few riflemen, who,
+being now at liberty, found their way into the place.
+
+I ought to feel ashamed, and do feel ashamed of what occurred that night;
+but I must relate it, lest I feel more ashamed for concealing the truth.
+We had spliced the main-brace pretty freely throughout the day, and the
+pull I got in the grocery just made me ripe for mischief. When we got
+aboard the schooner again, we found a canoe that had drifted athwart-hawse
+and had been secured. My gun's crew, the Black Jokers, wished to have some
+fun in the town, and they proposed to me to take a cruise ashore. We had
+few officers on board, and the boatswain, a boat swain's mate in fact,
+consented to let us leave. We all went ashore in this canoe, then, and
+were soon alongside of a wharf. On landing, we were near a large store,
+and looking in at a window, we saw a man sitting asleep, with a gun in the
+hollow of his arm. His head was on the counter, and there was a lamp
+burning. One of the blacks pitched through the window, and was on him in a
+moment. The rest followed, and we made him a prisoner. The poor fellow
+said he had come to look after his property, and he was told no one would
+hurt him. My blacks now began to look about them, and to help themselves
+to such articles as they thought they wanted. I confess I helped myself to
+some tea and sugar, nor will I deny that I was in such a state as to think
+the whole good fun. We carried off one canoe load, and even returned for a
+second. Of course such an exploit could not have been effected without
+letting all in the secret share; and one boat-load of plunder was not
+enough. The negroes began to drink, however, and I was sober enough to see
+the consequences, if they were left ashore any longer. Some riflemen came
+in, too, and I succeeded in getting my jokers away.
+
+The recklessness of sailors may be seen in our conduct. All we received
+for our plunder was some eight or ten gallons of whiskey, when we got back
+to the harbour, and this at the risk of being flogged through the fleet!
+It seemed to us to be a scrape, and that was a sufficient excuse for
+disobeying orders, and for committing a crime. For myself, I was
+influenced more by the love of mischief, and a weak desire to have it said
+I was foremost in such an exploit, than from any mercenary motive.
+Notwithstanding the severity of the orders, and one or two pretty sharp
+examples of punishment inflicted by the commodore, the Black Jokers were
+not the only plunderers ashore that night. One master's-mate had the
+buttons taken off his coat, for stealing a feather bed, besides being
+obliged to carry it back again. Of course he was a shipped master's-mate.
+
+I was ashore every day while the squadron remained in the port. Our
+schooner never shifted her berth from the last one she occupied in the
+battle, and that was pretty well up the bay. I paid a visit to the gun
+that had troubled us all so much, and which we could not silence, for it
+was under a bank, near the landing-place. It was a long French eighteen,
+and did better service, that day, than any other piece of John Bull's. I
+think it hulled us several times.
+
+I walked over the ground where the explosion took place. It was a dreadful
+sight; the dead being so mutilated that it was scarcely possible to tell
+their colour. I saw gun-barrels bent nearly double. I think we saw Sir
+Roger Sheafe, the British General, galloping across the field, by himself,
+a few minutes before the explosion. At all events, we saw a mounted
+officer, and fired at him. He galloped up to the government-house,
+dismounted, went in, remained a short time, and then galloped out of town.
+All this I saw; and the old woman in the potato-locker told me the general
+had been in the house a short time before we landed. Her account agreed
+with the appearance of the officer I saw; though I will not pretend to be
+certain it was General Sheafe.
+
+I ought to mention the kindness of the commodore to the poor of York. As
+most of the inhabitants came back to their habitations the next day, the
+poor were suffering for food. Our men were ordered to roll barrels of salt
+meat and barrels of bread to their doors, from the government stores that
+fell into our hands. We captured an immense amount of these stores, a
+portion of which we carried away. We sunk many guns in the lake; and as
+for the powder, _that_ had taken care of itself. Among other things we
+took, was the body of an English officer, preserved in rum, which, they
+said, was General Brock's. I saw it hoisted out of the Duke of Gloucester,
+the man-of-war brig we captured, at Sackett's Harbour, and saw the body
+put in a fresh cask. I am ashamed to say, that some of our men were
+inclined to drink the old rum.
+
+We burned a large corvette, that was nearly ready for launching, and
+otherwise did the enemy a good deal of harm. The inhabitants that returned
+were very submissive, and thankful for what they received. As for the man
+of the red store, I never saw him after the night he was plundered, nor
+was anything ever said of the scrape.
+
+Our troops had lost near three hundred men in the attack, the wounded
+included; and as a great many of these green soldiers were now sick from
+exposure, the army was much reduced in force. We took the troops on board
+on the 1st of May, but could not sail, on account of a gale, until the
+8th, which made the matter worse. Then we got under way, and crossed the
+lake, landing the soldiers a few miles to the eastward of Fort Niagara.
+Our schooner now went to the Harbour, along with the commodore, though
+some of the craft remained near the head of the lake. Here we took in
+another lot of soldiers, placed two more large batteaux in tow, and sailed
+for the army again. We had good passages both ways, and this duty was done
+within a few days. While at the Harbour, I got a message to go and visit
+Bill Swett, but the poor fellow died without my being able to see him. I
+heard he was hurt at York, but never could come at the truth.
+
+On the 27th May, the army got into the batteaux, formed in two divisions,
+and commenced pulling towards the mouth of the Niagara. The morning was
+foggy, with a light wind, and the vessels getting under way, kept company
+with the boats, a little outside of them. The schooners were closest in,
+and some of them opened on Fort George, while others kept along the coast,
+scouring the shore with grape and canister as they moved ahead. The
+Scourge came to an anchor a short distance above the place selected for
+the landing, and sprung her broadside to the shore. We now kept up a
+steady fire with grape and canister, until the boats had got in-shore and
+were engaged with the enemy, when we threw round-shot, over the heads of
+our own men, upon the English. As soon as Colonel Scott was ashore, we
+sprung our broadside upon a two-gun battery that had been pretty busy, and
+we silenced that among us. This affair, for our craft, was nothing like
+that of York, though I was told the vessels nearer the river had warmer
+berths of it. We had no one hurt, though we were hulled once or twice. A
+little rigging was cut; but we set this down as light work compared to
+what the old Black Joke had seen that day month. There was a little sharp
+fighting ashore, but our men were too strong for the enemy, when they
+could fairly get their feet on solid ground.
+
+Just after we had anchored, Mr. Bogardus was sent aloft to ascertain if
+any enemy were to be seen. At first he found nobody; but, after a little
+while, he called out to have my gun fired at a little thicket of
+brushwood that lay on an inclined plain, near the water. Mr. Osgood came
+and elevated the gun, and I touched it off. We had been looking out for
+the blink of muskets, which was one certain guide to find a soldier; and
+the moment we sent this grist of grape and canister into those bushes, the
+place lighted up as if a thousand muskets were there. We then gave the
+chaps the remainder of our broadside. We peppered that wood well, and did
+a good deal of harm to the troops stationed at the place.
+
+The wind blew on shore, and began to increase; and the commodore now threw
+out a signal for the boats to land, to take care of the batteaux that were
+thumping on the beach, and then for their crews to assist in taking care
+of the wounded. Of course I went in my own boat, Mr. Bogardus having
+charge of her. We left the schooner, just as we quitted our guns, black
+with powder, in our shirts and trowsers, though we took the precaution to
+carry our boarding-belts, with a brace of pistols each, and a cutlass. On
+landing, we first hauled up the boats, taking some dead and wounded men
+out of them, and laying them on the beach.
+
+We were now ordered to divide ourselves into groups of three, and go over
+the ground, pick up the wounded, and carry them to a large house that had
+been selected as a hospital. My party consisted of Bill Southard, Simeon
+Grant, and myself, we being messmates. The first man we fell in with, was
+a young English soldier, who was seated on the bank, quite near the lake.
+He was badly hurt, and sat leaning his head on his hands. He begged for
+water, and I took his cap down to the lake and filled it, giving him a
+drink; then washing his face. This revived him, and he offered us his
+canteen, in which was some excellent Jamaica. To us chaps, who got nothing
+better than whiskey, this was a rare treat, and we emptied the remainder
+of his half pint, at a pull apiece. After tapping this rum, we carried
+the poor lad up to the house, and turned him over to the doctors. We found
+the rooms filled with wounded already, and the American and English
+doctors hard at work on them.
+
+As we left the hospital, we agreed to get a canteen apiece, and go round
+among the dead, and fill them with Jamaica. When our canteens were about a
+third full, we came upon a young American rifleman, who was lying under
+an appletree. He was hit in the head, and was in a very bad way. We were
+all three much struck with the appearance of this young man, and I now
+remember him as one of the handsomest youths I had ever seen. His wound
+did not bleed, though I thought the brains were oozing out, and I felt so
+much sympathy for him, that I washed his hurt with the rum. I fear I did
+him harm, but my motive was good. Bill Southard ran to find a surgeon, of
+whom several were operating out on the field. The young man kept saying
+"no use," and he mentioned "father and mother," "Vermont." He even gave me
+the names of his parents, but I was too much in the wind, from the use of
+rum, to remember them. We might have been half an hour with this young
+rifleman, busy on him most of the time, when he murmured a few words, gave
+me one of the sweetest smiles I ever saw on a man's face, and made no more
+signs of life. I kept at work, notwithstanding, until Bill got back with
+the doctor. The latter cast an eye on the rifleman, pronounced him dead,
+and coolly walked away.
+
+There was a bridge, in a sort of a swamp, that we had fired on for some
+time, and we now moved down to it, just to see what we had done. We found
+a good many dead, and several horses in the mire, but no wounded. We kept
+emptying canteens, as we went along, until our own would hold no more. On
+our return from the bridge, we went to a brook in order to mix some grog,
+and then we got a full view of the offing. Not a craft was to be seen!
+Everything had weighed and disappeared. This discovery knocked us all
+aback, and we were quite at a loss how to proceed. We agreed, however, to
+pass through a bit of woods, and get into the town, it being now quite
+late in the day. There we knew we should find the army, and might get
+tidings of the fleet. The battle-ground was now nearly deserted, and to
+own the truth we were, all three, at least two sheets in the wind. Still I
+remember everything, for my stomach would never allow me to get beastly
+drunk; it rejecting any very great quantity of liquor. As we went through
+the wood, open pine trees, we came across an officer lying dead, with one
+leg over his horse, which was dead also. I went up to the body, turned it
+over, and examined it for a canteen, but found none. We made a few idle
+remarks, and proceeded.
+
+In quitting the place, I led the party; and, as we went through a little
+thicket, I heard female voices. This startled me a little; and, on looking
+round, I saw a white female dress, belonging to a person who was evidently
+endeavouring to conceal herself from us. I was now alone, and walked up to
+the women, when I found two; one, a lady, in dress and manner, and the
+other a person that I have always supposed was her servant. The first was
+in white; the last in a dark calico. They were both under thirty, judging
+from their looks; and the lady was exceedingly well-looking They were much
+alarmed; and, as I came up, the lady asked me if I would hurt her. I told
+her no; and that no person should harm her, while she remained with us.
+This relieved her, and she was able to give an account of her errand on
+the field of battle. Our looks, half intoxicated, and begrimed with the
+smoke of a battle, as we were, certainly were enough to alarm her; but I
+do not think one of the three would have hesitated about fighting for a
+female, that they thus found weeping, in this manner, in the open field.
+The maid was crying also. Simeon Grant, and Southard, did make use of some
+improper language, at first; but I brought them up, and they said they
+were sorry, and would go all lengths, with me, to protect the women. The
+fact was, these men supposed we had fallen in with common camp followers;
+but I had seen too much of officers' wives, in my boyhood, not to know
+that this was one.
+
+The lady then told her story. She had just come from Kingston, to join her
+husband; having arrived but a few hours before. She did not see her
+husband, but she had heard he was left wounded on the field; and she had
+come out in the hope of finding him. She then described him, as an officer
+mounted, with a particular dress, and inquired if we had met with any such
+person, on the field. We told her of the horseman we had just left; and
+led her back to the spot. The moment the lady saw the body, she threw
+herself on it, and began to weep and mourn over it, in a very touching
+manner. The maid, too, was almost as bad as the mistress. We were all so
+much affected, in spite of the rum, that, I believe, all three of us shed
+tears. We said all we could, to console her, and swore we would stand by
+her until she was safe back among her friends.
+
+It was a good bit before we could persuade the lady to quit her husband's
+body. She took a miniature from his neck, and I drew his purse and watch
+from him and handed them to her. She wanted me to keep the purse, but this
+we all three refused, up and down. We had hauled our manly tacks aboard,
+and had no thoughts of plunder. Even the maid urged us to keep the money,
+but we would have nothing to do with it. I shall freely own my faults; I
+hope I shall be believed when I relate facts that show I am not altogether
+without proper feelings.
+
+The officer had been hit somewhere about the hip, and the horse must have
+been killed by another grape-shot, fired from the same gun. We laid the
+body of the first over in such a manner as to get a good look at him, but
+we did not draw the leg from under the horse.[7]
+
+When we succeeded in persuading the lady to quit her husband's body, we
+shaped our course for the light-house. Glad were we three tars to see the
+mast-heads of the shipping in the river, as we came near the banks of the
+Niagara. The house at the light was empty; but, on my hailing, a woman's
+voice answered from the cellar. It was an old woman who had taken shelter
+from shot down in the hold, the rest of the family having slipped and run.
+We now got some milk for the lady, who continued in tears most of the
+time. Sometimes she would knock off crying for a bit, when she seemed to
+have some distrust of us; but, on the whole, we made very good weather in
+company. After staying about half an hour at the light-house, we left it
+for the town, my advice to the lady being to put herself under the
+protection of some of our officers. I told her if the news of what had
+happened reached the commodore, she might depend on her husband's being
+buried with the honours of war, and said such other things to comfort her
+as came to the mind of a man who had been sailing so near the wind.
+
+I forgot to relate one part of the adventure. Before we had got fairly
+clear of the woods, we fell in with four of Forsyth's men, notoriously the
+wickedest corps in the army. These fellows began to crack their jokes at
+the expense of the two females, and we came near having a brush with them.
+When we spoke of our pistols, and of our determination to use them, before
+we would let our convoy come to harm, these chaps laughed at our pop-guns,
+and told us they had such things as 'rifles.' This was true enough, and
+had we come to broadsides, I make no doubt they would have knocked us over
+like so many snipes. I began to reason with them, on the impropriety of
+offending respectable females; and one of the fellows, who was a kind of
+corporal, or something of that sort, shook my hand, said I was right, and
+offered to be friends. So we spliced the main-brace, and parted. Glad
+enough was the lady to be rid of them so easily. In these squalls she
+would bring up in her tears, and then when all went smooth again, she
+would break out afresh.
+
+After quitting the light, we made the best of our way for the town. Just
+as we reached it, we fell in with a party of soldier-officers, and we
+turned the lady and her woman over to their care. These gentlemen said a
+good word in our favour, and here we parted company with our convoy, never
+hearing, or seeing, anything of either afterwards.
+
+By this time it was near dark, and Bill Southard and I began to look out
+for the Scourge. She was anchored in the river, with the rest of the
+fleet, and we went down upon a wharf to make a signal for a boat. On the
+way we saw a woman crying before a watch-maker's shop, and a party of
+Forsyth's close by. On enquiry, we learned these fellows had threatened to
+rob her shop. We had been such defenders of the sex, that we could not
+think of deserting this woman, and we swore we would stand by her, too. We
+should have had a skirmish here, I do believe, had not one or two rifle
+officers hove in sight, when the whole party made sail from us. We turned
+the woman over to these gentlemen, who said, "ay, there are some of our
+vagabonds, again." One of them said it would be better to call in their
+parties, and before we reached the water we heard the bugle sounding
+the recall.
+
+They had given us up on board the schooner. A report of some Indians being
+out had reached her, and we three were set down as scalped. Thank God,
+I've got all the hair on my head yet, and battered as my old hulk has got
+to be, and shattered as are my timbers, it is as black as a raven's wing
+at this moment. This, my old shipmate, who is logging this yarn, says he
+thinks is a proof my mother was a French Canadian, though such is not the
+fact, as it has been told to me.
+
+Those riflemen were regular scamps. Just before we went down to the wharf,
+we saw one walking sentinel before the door of a sort of barracks. On
+drawing near and asking what was going on inside, we were told we had
+nothing to do with their fun ashore, that we might look in at a window,
+however, but should not go in. We took him at his word; a merry scene it
+was inside. The English officers' dunnage had been broken into, and there
+was a party of the corps strutting about in uniform coats and feathers. We
+thought it best to give these dare-devils a berth, and so we left them.
+One was never safe with them on the field of battle, friend or enemy.
+
+We met a large party of marines on the wharf, marching up under Major
+Smith. They were going to protect the people of the town from further
+mischief. Mr. Osgood was glad enough to see us, and we got plenty of
+praise for what we had done with the women. As for the canteens, we had to
+empty them, after treating the crew of the boat that was sent to take us
+off. I did not enter the town after that night.
+
+We lay some time in the Niagara, the commodore going to the harbour to get
+the Pike ready. Captain Crane took the rest of us off Kingston, where we
+were joined by the commodore, and made sail again for the Niagara. Here
+Colonel Scott embarked with a body of troops, and we went to Burlington
+Bay to carry the heights. They were found to be too strong; and the men,
+after landing, returned to the vessels. We then went to York, again, and
+took possession of the place a second time. Here we destroyed several
+boats, and stores, set fire to the barracks, and did the enemy a good deal
+of damage otherwise; after which we left the place. Two or three days
+later we crossed the lake and landed the soldiers, again, at Fort Niagara.
+
+Early in August, while we were still in the river, Sir James Yeo hove in
+sight with two ships, two brigs, and two schooners. We had thirteen sail
+in all, such as they were, and immediately got under way, and manoeuvred
+for the weather-gauge. All the enemy's vessels had regular quarters, and
+the ships were stout craft. Our squadron sailed very unequally, some being
+pretty fast, and others as dull as droggers. Nor were we more than half
+fitted out. On board the Scourge the only square-sail we had, was made out
+of an English marquée we had laid our hands on at York, the first time we
+were there. I ought to say, too, that we got two small brass guns at York,
+four-pounders, I believe, which Mr. Osgood clapped into our two spare
+ports forward. This gave us ten guns in all, sixes and fours. I remember
+that Jack Mallet laughed at us heartily for the fuss we made with our
+pop-guns, as he called them, while we were working upon the English
+batteries, saying we might just as well have spared our powder, as for any
+good we did. He belonged to the Julia, which had a long thirty-two,
+forward, which they called the "Old Sow," and one smart eighteen aft. She
+had two sixes in her waist, also; but _they_ disdained to use _them_.
+
+While we were up at the harbour, the last time, Mr. Mix who had married a
+sister of Mr. Osgood, took a party of us in a boat, and we went up Black
+River, shooting. The two gentlemen landed, and as we were coming down the
+river, we saw something swimming, which proved to be a bear. We had no
+arms, but we pulled over the beast, and had a regular squaw-fight with
+him. We were an hour at work with this animal, the fellow coming very near
+mastering us. I struck at his nose with an iron tiller fifty times, but he
+warded the blow like a boxer. He broke our boat-hook, and once or twice,
+he came near boarding us. At length a wood-boat gave us an axe, and with
+this we killed him. Mr. Osgood had this bear skinned, and said he should
+send the skin to his family, If he did, it must have been one of the last
+memorials it ever got from him.
+
+
+
+Chapter VI.
+
+
+
+I left the two fleets manoeuvring for the wind, in the last chapter. About
+nine o'clock, the Pike got abeam of the Wolfe, Sir James Yeo's own ship,
+hoisted her ensign, and fired a few guns to try the range of her shot. The
+distance was too great to engage. At this time our sternmost vessels were
+two leagues off, and the commodore wore round, and hauled up on the other
+tack. The enemy did the same but, perceiving that our leading ships were
+likely to weather on him, he tacked, and hauled off to the northward. We
+stood on in pursuit, tacking too; but the wind soon fell, and about sunset
+it was quite calm.
+
+Throughout the day, the Scourge had as much as she could do to keep
+anywhere near her station. As for the old Oneida, she could not be kept
+within a long distance of her proper berth. We were sweeping, at odd
+times, for hours that day. Towards evening, all the light craft were doing
+the same, to close with the commodore. Our object was to get together,
+lest the enemy should cut off some of our small vessels during the night.
+
+Before dark the whole line was formed again, with the exception of the
+Oneida, which was still astern, towing. She ought to have been near the
+commodore, but could not get there. A little before sunset, Mr. Osgood
+ordered us to pull in our sweeps, and to take a spell. It was a lovely
+evening, not a cloud visible, and the lake being as smooth as a
+looking-glass. The English fleet was but a short distance to the northward
+of us; so near, indeed, that we could almost count their ports. They were
+becalmed, like ourselves, and a little scattered.
+
+We took in our sweeps as ordered, laying them athwart the deck, in
+readiness to be used when wanted. The vessels ahead and astern of us were,
+generally, within speaking distance. Just as the sun went below the
+horizon, George Turnblatt, a Swede, who was our gunner, came to me, and
+said he thought we ought to secure our guns; for we had been cleared for
+action all day, and the crew at quarters. We were still at quarters, in
+name; but the petty officers were allowed to move about, and as much
+license was given to the people as was wanted. I answered that I would
+gladly secure mine if he would get an order for it; but as we were still
+at quarters, and there lay John Bull, we might get a slap at him in the
+night. On this the gunner said he would go aft, and speak to Mr. Osgood on
+the subject. He did so, but met the captain (as we always called Mr.
+Osgood) at the break of the quarter-deck. When George had told his errand,
+the captain looked at the heavens, and remarked that the night was so
+calm, there could be no great use in securing the guns, and the English
+were so near we should certainly engage, if there came a breeze; that the
+men would sleep at their quarters, of course, and would be ready to take
+care of their guns; but that he might catch a turn with the
+side-tackle-falls around the pommelions of the guns, which would be
+sufficient. He then ordered the boatswain to call all hands aft, to the
+break of the quarter-deck.
+
+As soon as the people had collected, Mr. Osgood said--"You must be pretty
+well fagged out, men; I think we may have a hard night's work, yet, and I
+wish you to get your suppers, and then catch as much sleep as you can, at
+your guns." He then ordered the purser's steward to splice the main-brace.
+These were the last words I ever heard from Mr. Osgood. As soon as he
+gave the order, he went below leaving the deck in charge of Mr. Bogardus.
+All our old crew were on board but Mr. Livingston, who had left us, and
+Simeon Grant, one of my companions in the cruise over the battle-ground at
+Fort George. Grant had cut his hand off, in a saw-mill, while we were last
+at the Harbour, and had been left behind in the hospital. There was a
+pilot on board, who used to keep a look-out occasionally, and sometimes
+the boatswain had the watch.
+
+The schooner, at this time, was under her mainsail, jib, and
+fore-top-sail. The foresail was brailed, and the foot stopped, and the
+flying-jib was stowed. None of the halyards were racked, nor sheets
+stoppered. This was a precaution we always took, on account of the craft's
+being so tender.
+
+We first spliced the main-brace and then got our suppers, eating between
+the guns, where we generally messed, indeed. One of my messmates, Tom
+Goldsmith, was captain of the gun next to me, and as we sat there
+finishing our suppers, I says to him, "Tom, bring up that rug that you
+pinned at Little York, and that will do for both of us to stow ourselves
+away under." Tom went down and got the rug, which was an article for the
+camp that he had laid hands on, and it made us a capital bed-quilt. As all
+hands were pretty well tired, we lay down, with our heads on shot-boxes,
+and soon went to sleep.
+
+In speaking of the canvass that was set, I ought to have said something of
+the state of our decks. The guns had the side-tackles fastened as I have
+mentioned. There was a box of canister, and another of grape, at each gun,
+besides extra stands of both, under the shot-racks. There was also one
+grummet of round-shot at every gun, besides the racks being filled. Each
+gun's crew slept at the gun and its opposite, thus dividing the people
+pretty equally on both sides of the deck. Those who were stationed below,
+slept below. I think it probable that, as the night grew cool, as it
+always does on the fresh waters, some of the men stole below to get warmer
+berths. This was easily done in that craft, as we had but two regular
+officers on board, the acting boatswain and gunner being little more than
+two of ourselves.
+
+I was soon asleep, as sound as if lying in the bed of a king. How long my
+nap lasted, or what took place in the interval, I cannot say. I awoke,
+however, in consequence of large drops of rain falling on my face. Tom
+Goldsmith awoke at the same moment. When I opened my eyes, it was so dark
+I could not see the length of the deck. I arose and spoke to Tom, telling
+him it was about to rain, and that I meant to go down and get a nip, out
+of a little stuff we kept in our mess-chest, and that I would bring up the
+bottle if he wanted a taste. Tom answered, "this is nothing; we're neither
+pepper nor salt." One of the black men spoke, and asked me to bring up the
+bottle, and give him a nip, too. All this took half a minute, perhaps. I
+now remember to have heard a strange rushing noise to windward as I went
+towards the forward hatch, though it made no impression on me at the time.
+We had been lying between the starboard guns, which was the weather side
+of the vessel, if there were any weather side to it, there not being a
+breath of air, and no motion to the water, and I passed round to the
+larboard side, in order to find the ladder, which led up in that
+direction. The hatch was so small that two men could not pass at a time,
+and I felt my way to it, in no haste. One hand was on the bitts, and a
+foot was on the ladder, when a flash of lightning almost blinded me. The
+thunder came at the next instant, and with it a rushing of winds that
+fairly smothered the clap.
+
+The instant I was aware there was a squall, I sprang for the jib-sheet.
+Being captain of the forecastle, I knew where to find it, and throw it
+loose at a jerk. In doing this, I jumped on a man named Leonard Lewis, and
+called on him to lend me a hand. I next let fly the larboard, or lee
+top-sail-sheet, got hold of the clew-line, and, assisted by Lewis, got the
+clew half up. All this time I kept shouting to the man at the wheel to put
+his helm "hard down." The water was now up to my breast, and I knew the
+schooner must go over. Lewis had not said a word, but I called out to him
+to shift for himself, and belaying the clew-line, in hauling myself
+forward of the foremast, I received a blow from the jib-sheet that came
+near breaking my left arm. I did not feel the effect of this blow at the
+time, though the arm has since been operated on, to extract a tumour
+produced by this very injury.
+
+All this occupied less than a minute. The flashes of lightning were
+incessant, and nearly blinded me. Our decks seemed on fire, and yet I
+could see nothing. I heard no hail, no order, no call; but the schooner
+was filled with the shrieks and cries of the men to leeward, who were
+lying jammed under the guns, shot-boxes, shot, and other heavy things that
+had gone down as the vessel fell over. The starboard second gun, from
+forward, had capsized, and come down directly over the forward hatch, and
+I caught a glimpse of a man struggling to get past it. Apprehension of
+this gun had induced me to drag myself forward of the mast, where I
+received the blow mentioned.
+
+I succeeded in hauling myself up to windward, and in getting into the
+schooner's fore-channels. Here I met William Deer, the boatswain, and a
+black boy of the name of Philips, who was the powder-boy of our gun.
+"Deer, she's gone!" I said. The boatswain made no answer, but walked out
+on the fore-rigging, towards the mast-head. He probably had some vague
+notion that the schooner's masts would be out of water if she went down,
+and took this course as the safest. The boy was in the chains the last I
+saw of him.
+
+I now crawled aft, on the upper side of the bulwarks, amid a most awful
+and infernal din of thunder, and shrieks, and dazzling flashes of
+lightning; the wind blowing all the while like a tornado. When I reached
+the port of my own gun, I put a foot in, thinking to step on the muzzle of
+the piece; but it had gone to leeward with all the rest, and I fell
+through the port, until I brought up with my arms. I struggled up again,
+and continued working my way aft. As I got abreast of the main-mast, I saw
+some one had let run the halyards. I soon reached the beckets of the
+sweeps, and found four in them. I could not swim a stroke, and it crossed
+my mind to get one of the sweeps to keep me afloat. In striving to jerk
+the becket clear, it parted, and the forward ends of the four sweeps
+rolled down the schooner's side into the water. This caused the other ends
+to slide, and all the sweeps got away from me. I then crawled quite aft,
+as far as the fashion-piece. The water was pouring down the cabin
+companion-way like a sluice; and as I stood, for an instant, on the
+fashion-piece, I saw Mr. Osgood, with his head and part of his shoulders
+through one of the cabin windows, struggling to get out. He must have been
+within six feet of me. I saw him but a moment, by means of a flash of
+lightning, and I think he must have seen me. At the same time, there was a
+man visible on the end of the main-boom, holding on by the clew of the
+sail. I do not know who it was. This man probably saw me, and that I was
+about to spring; for he called out, "Don't jump overboard!--don't jump
+overboard! The schooner is righting."
+
+I was not in a state of mind to reflect much on anything. I do not think
+more than three or four minutes, if as many, had passed since the squall
+struck us, and there I was standing on the vessel's quarter, led by
+Providence more than by any discretion of my own. It now came across me
+that if the schooner should right she was filled, and must go down, and
+that she might carry me with her in the suction. I made a spring,
+therefore, and fell into the water several feet from the place where I had
+stood. It is my opinion the schooner sunk as I left her. I went down some
+distance myself, and when I came up to the surface, I began to swim
+vigorously for the first time in my life. I think I swam several yards,
+but of course will not pretend to be certain of such a thing, at such a
+moment, until I felt my hand hit something hard. I made another stroke,
+and felt my hand pass down the side of an object that I knew at once was a
+clincher-built boat. I belonged to this boat, and I now recollected that
+she had been towing astern. Until that instant I had not thought of her,
+but thus was I led in the dark to the best possible means of saving my
+life. I made a grab at the gunwale, and caught it in the stern-sheets. Had
+I swum another yard, I should have passed the boat, and missed her
+altogether! I got in without any difficulty, being all alive and
+much excited.
+
+My first look was for the schooner. She had disappeared, and I supposed
+she was just settling under water. It rained as if the flood-gates of
+heaven were opened, and it lightened awfully. It did not seem to me that
+there was a breath of air, and the water was unruffled, the effects of the
+rain excepted. All this I saw, as it might be, at a glance. But my chief
+concern was to preserve my own life. I was cockswain of this very boat,
+and had made it fast to this taffrail that same afternoon, with a round
+turn and two half-hitches, by its best painter. Of course I expected the
+vessel would drag the boat down with her, for I had no knife to cut the
+painter. There was a gang-board in the boat, however, which lay fore and
+aft, and I thought this might keep me afloat until some of the fleet
+should pick me up. To clear this gang-board, then, and get it into the
+water, was my first object. I ran forward to throw off the lazy-painter
+that was coiled on its end, and in doing this I caught the boat's painter
+in my hand, by accident. A pull satisfied me that it was all clear! Some
+one on board must have cast off this painter, and then lost his chance of
+getting into the boat by an accident. At all events, I was safe, and I now
+dared to look about me.
+
+My only chance of seeing, was during the flashes; and these left me almost
+blind. I had thrown the gang-board into the water, and I now called out to
+encourage the men, telling them I was in the boat. I could hear many
+around me, and, occasionally, I saw the heads of men, struggling in the
+lake. There being no proper place to scull in, I got an oar in the after
+rullock, and made out to scull a little, in that fashion. I now saw a man
+quite near the boat; and, hauling in the oar, made a spring amidships,
+catching this poor fellow by the collar. He was very near gone; and I had
+a great deal of difficulty in getting him in over the gunwale. Our joint
+weight brought the boat down, so low, that she shipped a good deal of
+water. This turned out to be Leonard Lewis, the young man who had helped
+me to clew up the fore-topsail. He could not stand, and spoke with
+difficulty. I asked him to crawl aft, out of the water; which he did,
+lying down in the stern-sheets.
+
+I now looked about me, and heard another; leaning over the gunwale, I got
+a glimpse of a man, struggling, quite near the boat. I caught him by the
+collar, too; and had to drag him in very much in the way I had done with
+Lewis. This proved to be Lemuel Bryant, the man who had been wounded by a
+hot shot, at York, as already mentioned while the commodore was on board
+us. His wound had not yet healed, but he was less exhausted than Lewis. He
+could not help me, however, lying down in the bottom of the boat, the
+instant he was able.
+
+For a few moments, I now heard no more in the water; and I began to scull
+again. By my calculation, I moved a few yards, and must have got over the
+spot where the schooner went down. Here, in the flashes, I saw many heads,
+the men swimming in confusion, and at random. By this time, little was
+said, the whole scene being one of fearful struggling and frightful
+silence. It still rained; but the flashes were less frequent, and less
+fierce. They told me, afterwards, in the squadron, that it thundered
+awfully; but I cannot say I heard a clap, after I struck the water. The
+next man caught the boat himself. It was a mulatto, from Martinique, who
+was Mr. Osgood's steward; and I helped him in. He was much exhausted,
+though an excellent swimmer; but alarm nearly deprived him of his
+strength. He kept saying, "Oh! Masser Ned--Oh! Masser Ned!" and lay down
+in the bottom of the boat, like the two others; I taking care to shove him
+over to the larboard side, so as to trim our small craft.
+
+I kept calling out, to encourage the swimmers, and presently I heard a
+voice, saying, "Ned, I'm here, close by you." This was Tom Goldsmith, a
+messmate, and the very man under whose rug I had been sleeping, at
+quarters. He did not want much help, getting in, pretty much, by himself.
+I asked him, if he were able to help me. "Yes, Ned," he answered, "I'll
+stand by you to the last; what shall I do?" I told him to take his
+tarpaulin, and to bail the boat, which, by this time, was a third full of
+water. This he did, while I sculled a little ahead. "Ned," says Tom,
+"she's gone down with her colours flying, for her pennant came near
+getting a round turn about my body, and carrying me down with her. Davy
+has made a good haul, and he gave us a close shave; but he didn't get you
+and me." In this manner did this thoughtless sailor express himself, as
+soon as rescued from the grasp of death! Seeing something on the water, I
+asked Tom to take my oar, while I sprang to the gunwale, and caught Mr.
+Bogardus, the master's mate, who was clinging to one of the sweeps. I
+hauled him in, and he told me, he thought, some one had hold of the other
+end of the sweep. It was so dark, however, we could not see even that
+distance. I hauled the sweep along, until I found Ebenezer Duffy, a
+mulatto, and the ship's cook. He could not swim a stroke; and was nearly
+gone. I got him in, alone, Tom bailing, lest the boat, which was quite
+small, should swamp with us.
+
+As the boat drifted along, she reached another man, whom I caught also by
+the collar. I was afraid to haul this person in amidships, the boat being
+now so deep, and so small, and so I dragged him ahead, and hauled him in
+over the bows. This was the pilot, whose name I never knew. He was a
+lake-man, and had been aboard us the whole summer. The poor fellow was
+almost gone, and like all the rest, with the exception of Tom, he lay down
+and said not a word.
+
+We had now as many in the boat as it would carry, and Tom and myself
+thought it would not do to take in any more. It is true, we saw no more,
+everything around us appearing still as death, the pattering of the rain
+excepted. Tom began to bail again, and I commenced hallooing. I sculled
+about several minutes, thinking of giving others a tow, or of even hauling
+in one or two more, after we got the water out of the boat; but we found
+no one else. I think it probable I sculled away from the spot, as there
+was nothing to guide me. I suppose, however, that by this time, all the
+Scourges had gone down, for no more were ever heard from.
+
+Tom Goldsmith and myself now put our heads together as to what was best to
+be done. We were both afraid of falling into the enemy's hands, for, they
+might have bore up in the squall, and run down near us. On the whole,
+however, we thought the distance between the two squadrons was too great
+for this; at all events, something must be done at once. So we began to
+row, in what direction even we did not know. It still rained as hard as it
+could pour, though there was not a breath of wind. The lightning came now
+at considerable intervals, and the gust was evidently passing away towards
+the broader parts of the lake. While we were rowing and talking about our
+chance of falling in with the enemy, Tom cried out to me to
+"avast-pulling." He had seen a vessel, by a flash, and he thought she was
+English, from her size. As he said she was a schooner, however, I thought
+it must be one of our own craft, and got her direction from him. At the
+next flash I saw her, and felt satisfied she belonged to us. Before we
+began to pull, however, we were hailed "boat ahoy!" I answered. "If you
+pull another stroke, I'll fire into you"--came back--"what boat's that?
+Lay on your oars, or I'll fire into you." It was clear we were mistaken
+ourselves for an enemy, and I called out to know what schooner it was. No
+answer was given, though the threat to fire was repeated, if we pulled
+another stroke. I now turned to Tom and said, "I know that voice--that is
+old Trant." Tom thought "we were in the wrong shop." I now sung out, "This
+is the Scourge's boat--our schooner has gone down, and we want to come
+alongside." A voice next called from the schooner--"Is that you, Ned?"
+This I knew was my old shipmate and school-fellow, Jack Mallet, who was
+acting as boatswain of the Julia, the schooner commanded by sailing-master
+James Trant, one of the oddities of the service, and a man with whom the
+blow often came as soon as the word. I had known Mr. Trant's voice, and
+felt more afraid he would fire into us, than I had done of anything which
+had occurred that fearful night. Mr. Trant, himself now called
+out--"Oh-ho; give way, boys, and come alongside." This we did, and a very
+few strokes took us up to the Julia, where we were received with the
+utmost kindness. The men were passed out of the boat, while I gave Mr.
+Trant an account of all that had happened. This took but a minute or two.
+
+Mr. Trant now inquired in what direction the Scourge had gone down, and,
+as soon as I had told him, in the best manner I could, he called out to
+Jack Mallet--"Oh-ho, Mallet--take four hands, and go in the boat and see
+what you can do--take a lantern, and I will show a light on the water's
+edge, so you may know me." Mallet did as ordered, and was off in less than
+three minutes after we got alongside. Mr. Trant, who was much humoured,
+had no officer in the Julia, unless Mallet could be called one. He was an
+Irishman by birth, but had been in the American navy ever since the
+revolution, dying a lieutenant, a few years after this war. Perhaps no man
+in the navy was more generally known, or excited more amusement by his
+oddities, or more respect for his courage. He had come on the lake with
+the commodore, with whom he was a great pet, and had been active in all
+the fights and affairs that had yet taken place. His religion was to hate
+an Englishman.
+
+Mr. Trant now called the Scourges aft, and asked more of the particulars.
+He then gave us a glass of grog all round, and made his own crew splice
+the main-brace. The Julias now offered us dry clothes. I got a change from
+Jack Reilly, who had been an old messmate, and with whom I had always been
+on good terms. It knocked off raining, but we shifted ourselves at the
+galley fire below. I then went on deck, and presently we heard the boat
+pulling back. It soon came alongside, bringing in it four more men that
+had been found floating about on sweeps and gratings. On inquiry, it
+turned out that these men belonged to the Hamilton, Lt. Winter--a schooner
+that had gone down in the same squall that carried us over. These men were
+very much exhausted, too, and we all went below, and were told to turn in.
+
+I had been so much excited during the scenes through which I had just
+passed, and had been so much stimulated by grog, that, as yet, I had not
+felt much of the depression natural to such events. I even slept soundly
+that night, nor did I turn out until six the next morning.
+
+When I got on deck, there was a fine breeze; it was a lovely day, and the
+lake was perfectly smooth. Our fleet was in a good line, in pretty close
+order, with the exception of the Governor Tompkins, Lieutenant Tom Brown,
+which was a little to leeward, but carrying a press of sail to close with
+the commodore. Mr. Trant perceiving that the Tompkins wished to speak us
+in passing, brailed his foresail and let her luff up close under our lee.
+"Two of the schooners, the Hamilton and the Scourge, have gone down in the
+night," called out Mr. Brown; "for I have picked up four of the
+Hamilton's." "Oh-ho!"--answered Mr. Trant--"That's no news at all! for I
+have picked up _twelve_; eight of the Scourge's, and four of the
+Hamilton's--aft fore-sheet."
+
+These were all that were ever saved from the two schooners, which must
+have had near a hundred souls on board them. The two commanders,
+Lieutenant Winter and Mr, Osgood were both lost, and with Mr. Winter went
+down I believe, one or two young gentlemen. The squadron could not have
+moved much between the time when the accidents happened and that when I
+came on deck, or we must have come round and gone over the same ground
+again, for we now passed many relics of the scene, floating about in the
+water. I saw spunges, gratings, sweeps, hats, &c., scattered about, and in
+passing ahead we saw one of the latter that we tried to catch; Mr. Trant
+ordering it done, as he said it must have been Lieutenant Winter's. We did
+not succeed, however; nor was any article taken on board. A good look-out
+was kept for men, from aloft, but none were seen from any of the vessels.
+The lake had swallowed up the rest of the two crews; and the Scourge, as
+had been often predicted, had literally become a coffin to a large portion
+of her people.
+
+There was a good deal of manoeuvring between the two fleets this day, and
+some efforts were made to engage; but, to own the truth, I felt so
+melancholy about the loss of so many shipmates, that I did not take much
+notice of what passed. All my Black Jokers were drowned, and nothing
+remained of the craft and people with which and whom I had been associated
+all summer. Bill Southard, too, was among the lost, as indeed were all my
+messmates but Tom Goldsmith and Lemuel Bryant. I had very serious and
+proper impressions for the moment; but my new shipmates, some of whom had
+been old shipmates in other crafts, managed to cheer me up with grog. The
+effect was not durable, and in a short time I ceased to think of what had
+happened. I have probably reflected more on the merciful manner in which
+my life was spared, amid a scene so terrific, within the last five years,
+than I did in the twenty-five that immediately followed the accidents.
+
+The fleet went in, off the Niagara, and anchored. Mr. Trant now mustered
+the remaining Scourges, and told us he wanted just our number of hands,
+and that he meant to get an order to keep us in the Julia. In the
+meantime, he should station and quarter us. I was stationed at the braces,
+and quartered at the long thirty-two as second loader. The Julia mounted a
+long thirty-two, and an eighteen on pivots, besides two sixes in the
+waist. The last were little used, as I have already mentioned. She was a
+small, but a fast schooner, and had about forty souls on board. She was
+altogether a better craft than the Scourge, though destitute of any
+quarters, but a low rail with wash-boards, and carrying fewer guns.
+
+
+
+Chapter VII.
+
+
+
+I never knew what became of the four Hamiltons that were picked up by the
+Julia's boat, though I suppose they were put in some other vessel along
+with their shipmates; nor did I ever learn the particulars of the loss of
+this schooner, beyond the fact that her topsail-sheets were stoppered, and
+her halyards racked. This much I learned from the men who were brought on
+board the Julia, who said that their craft was ready, in all respects, for
+action. Some seamen have thought this wrong, and some right; but, in my
+opinion, it made but little difference in such a gust as that which passed
+over us. What was remarkable, the Julia, which could not have been far
+from the Scourge when we went over, felt no great matter of wind, just
+luffing up, and shaking her sails, to be rid of it!
+
+We lay only one night off the mouth of the Niagara. The next morning the
+squadron weighed, and stood out in pursuit of the English. The weather was
+very variable, and we could not get within reach of Sir James all that
+day. This was the 9th of August. The Scourge had gone down on the night of
+the 7th, or the morning of the 8th, I never knew which. On the morning of
+the 10th, however, we were under the north shore, and to windward of John
+Bull. The Commodore now took the Asp, and the Madison the Fair American,
+in tow, and we all kept away, expecting certainly a general action. But
+the wind shifted, bringing the English to windward. The afternoon was
+calm; or had variable airs. Towards sunset, the enemy was becalmed under
+the American shore, and we got a breeze from the southward. We now closed,
+and at 6 formed our line for engaging. We continued to close until 7, when
+the wind came out fresh at S.W., putting John again to windward.
+
+I can hardly tell what followed, there was so much manoeuvring and
+shifting of berths. Both squadrons were standing across the lake, the
+enemy being to windward, and a little astern of us. We now passed within
+hail of the commodore, who gave us orders to form a new line of battle,
+which we did in the following manner. One line, composed of the smallest
+schooners, was formed to windward, while the ships, brig, and two heaviest
+schooners, formed another line to leeward. We had the weathermost line,
+having the Growler, Lieutenant Deacon, for the vessel next astern of us.
+This much I could see, though I did not understand the object. I now learn
+the plan was for the weather line to engage the enemy, and then, by edging
+away, draw them down upon the lee line, which line contained our principal
+force. According to the orders, we ought to have rather edged off, as soon
+as the English began to fire, in order to draw them down upon the
+commodore; but it will be seen that our schooner pursued a very
+different course.
+
+It must have been near midnight, when the enemy began to fire at the Fair
+American, the sternmost vessel of our weather line. We were a long bit
+ahead of her, and did not engage for some time. The firing became pretty
+smart astern, but we stood on, without engaging, the enemy not yet being
+far enough ahead for us. After a while, the four sternmost schooners of
+our line kept off, according to orders, but the Julia and Growler still
+stood on. I suppose the English kept off, too, at the same time, as the
+commodore had expected. At any rate, we found ourselves so well up with
+the enemy, that, instead of bearing up, Mr. Trant tacked in the Julia, and
+the Growler came round after us. We now began to fire on the headmost
+ships of the enemy, which were coming on towards us. We were able to lay
+past the enemy on this tack, and fairly got to windward of them. When we
+were a little on John Bull's weather bow, we brailed the foresail, and
+gave him several rounds, within a pretty fair distance. The enemy answered
+us, and, from that moment, he seemed to give up all thoughts of the
+vessels to leeward of him, turning his whole attention on the Julia
+and Growler.
+
+The English fleet stood on the same tack, until it had got between us and
+our own line, when it went about in chase of us. We now began to make
+short tacks to windward; the enemy separating so as to spread a wide clew,
+in order that they might prevent our getting past, by turning their line
+and running to leeward. As for keeping to windward, we had no
+difficulty--occasionally brailing our foresail, and even edging off, now
+and then, to be certain that our shot would tell. In moderate weather, the
+Julia was the fastest vessel in the American squadron, the Lady of the
+Lake excepted; and the Growler was far from being dull. Had there been
+room, I make no doubt we might have kept clear of John Bull, with the
+greatest ease; touching him up with our long, heavy guns, from time to
+time, as it suited us. I have often thought that Mr. Trant forgot we were
+between the enemy and the land, and that he fancied himself out at sea. It
+was a hazy, moonlight morning, and we did not see anything of the main,
+though it turned out to be nearer to us than we wished.
+
+All hands were now turning to windward; the two schooners still edging
+off, occasionally, and firing. The enemy's shot went far beyond us, and
+did us some mischief, though nothing that was not immediately repaired.
+The main throat-halyards, on board the Julia, were shot away, as was the
+clew of the mainsail. It is probable the enemy did not keep his luff,
+towards the last, on account of the land.
+
+Our two schooners kept quite near each other, sometimes one being to
+windward, sometimes the other. It happened that the Growler was a short
+distance to windward of us, when we first became aware of the nature of
+our critical situation. She up helm, and, running down within hail,
+Lieutenant Deacon informed Mr. Trant he had just sounded in two fathoms,
+and that he could see lights ashore. He thought there must be Indians, in
+great numbers, in this vicinity, and that we must, at all events, avoid
+the land. "What do you think we had best do?" asked Lieutenant Deacon.
+"Run the gauntlet," called out Mr. Trant. "Very well, sir: which shall
+lead?" "I'll lead the van," answered Mr. Trant, and then all was settled.
+
+We now up helm, and steered for a vacancy among the British vessels. The
+enemy seemed to expect us, for they formed in two lines, leaving us room
+to enter between them. When we bore up, even in these critical
+circumstances, it was under our mainsail, fore-top-sail, jib, flying-jib,
+and foresail. So insufficient were the equipments of these small craft,
+that we had neither square-sail nor studding-sails on board us. I never
+saw a studding-sail in any of the schooners, the Scourge excepted.
+
+The Julia and Growler now ran down, the former leading, half a
+cable's-length apart. When we entered between the two lines of the enemy,
+we were within short canister-range, and got it smartly on both tacks.
+The two English ships were to leeward, each leading a line; and we had a
+brig, and three large, regular man-of-war schooners, to get past, with the
+certainty of meeting the Wolfe and Royal George, should we succeed in
+clearing these four craft. Both of us kept up a heavy fire, swivelling our
+guns round, so as not to neglect any one. As we drew near the ships,
+however, we paid them the compliment of throwing all the heavy shot at
+them, as was due to their rank and size.
+
+For a few minutes we fared pretty well; but we were no sooner well entered
+between the lines, than we got it, hot and hard. Our rigging began to come
+down about our ears, and one shot passed a few feet above our heads,
+cutting both topsail-sheets, and scooping a bit of wood as big as a
+thirty-two pound shot, out of the foremast. I went up on one side, myself,
+to knot one of these sheets, and, while aloft, discovered the injury that
+had been done to the spar. Soon after, the tack of the mainsail caught
+fire, from a wad of one of the Englishmen; for, by this time, we were
+close at it. I think, indeed, that the nearness of the enemy alone
+prevented our decks from being entirely swept. The grape and canister were
+passing just above our heads like hail, and the foresail was literally in
+ribands. The halyards being gone, the mainsail came down by the run, and
+the jib settled as low as it could. The topsail-yard was on the cap, and
+the schooner now came up into the wind.
+
+All this time, we kept working the guns. The old man went from one gun to
+the other, pointing each himself, as it was ready. He was at the eighteen
+when things were getting near the worst, and, as he left her, he called
+out to her crew to "fill her--fill her to the muzzle!" He then came to our
+gun, which was already loaded with one round, a stand of grape, and a case
+of canister shot. This I know, for I put them all in with my own hands. At
+this time, the Melville, a brig of the enemy's, was close up with us,
+firing upon our decks from her fore-top. She was coming up on our larboard
+quarter, while a large schooner was nearing us fast on the starboard. Mr.
+Trant directed our gun to be elevated so as to sweep the brig's
+forecastle, and then he called out, "Now's the time, lads--fire at the
+b----s! fire away at 'em!" But no match was to be found! Some one had
+thrown both overboard. By this time the brig's jib-boom was over our
+quarter, and the English were actually coming on board of us. The enemy
+were now all round us. The Wolfe, herself, was within hail, and still
+firing. The last I saw of any of our people, was Mallet passing forward,
+and I sat down on the slide of the thirty-two, myself, sullen as a bear.
+Two or three of the English passed me, without saying anything. Even at
+this instant, a volley of bullets came out of the brig's fore-top, and
+struck all around me; some hitting the deck, and others the gun itself.
+Just then, an English officer came up, and said--"What are you doing here,
+you Yankee?" I felt exceedingly savage, and answered, "Looking at your
+fools firing upon their own men." "Take that for your sauce," he said,
+giving me a thrust with his sword, as he spoke. The point of the cutlass
+just passed my hip-bone, and gave me a smart flesh-wound. The hurt was not
+dangerous, though it bled freely, and was some weeks in healing. I now
+rose to go below, and heard a hail from one of the ships--the Wolfe, as I
+took her to be. "Have you struck?" demanded some one. The officer who had
+hurt me now called out, "Don't fire into us, sir, for I'm on board, and
+have got possession." The officer from the ship next asked, "Is there
+anybody alive on board her?" To which the prize-officer answered, "I don't
+know, sir, I've seen but one man, as yet."
+
+I now went down below. First, I got a bandage on my wound, to stop the
+bleeding, and then I had an opportunity to look about me. A party of
+English was below, and some of our men having joined them, the heads were
+knocked out of two barrels of whiskey. The kids and bread-bags were
+procured, and all hands, without distinction of country, sat down to enjoy
+themselves. Some even began to sing, and, as for good-fellowship, it was
+just as marked, as it would have been in a jollification ashore.
+
+In a few minutes the officer who had hurt me jumped down among us. The
+instant he saw what we were at, he sang out--"Halloo! here's high life
+below stairs!" Then he called to another officer to bear a hand down and
+see the fun. Some one sung out from among ourselves to "dowse the glim."
+The lights were put out, and then the two officers capsized the whiskey.
+While this was doing, most of the Englishmen ran up the forward hatch. We
+Julias all remained below.
+
+In less than an hour we were sent on board the enemy's vessels. I was
+carried to the Royal George, but Mr. Trant was taken on board the Wolfe.
+The Growler had lost her bowsprit, and was otherwise damaged, and had been
+forced to strike also. She had a man killed, and I believe one or two
+wounded.[8] On board of us, not a man, besides myself, had been touched!
+We seemed to have been preserved by a miracle, for every one of the enemy
+had a slap at us, and, for some time, we were within pistol-shot. Then we
+had no quarters at all, being perfectly exposed to grape and canister. The
+enemy must have fired too high, for nothing else could have saved us.
+
+In July, while I still belonged to the Scourge, I had been sent with a
+boat's crew, under Mr. Bogardus, on board an English flag of truce that
+had come into the Harbour. While in this vessel, our boat's crew were
+"hail-fellows-well-met" with the Englishmen, and we had agreed among us to
+take care of each other, should either side happen to be taken. I had been
+on board the Royal George but a short time, when two of these very men
+came up to me with some grog and some grub; and next morning they brought
+me my bitters. I saw no more of them, however, except when they came to
+shake hands with us at the gang-way, as we were leaving the ship.
+
+After breakfast, next morning, we were all called aft to the ward-room,
+one at a time. I was pumped as to the force of the Americans, the names of
+the vessels, the numbers of the crews, and the names of the commanders. I
+answered a little saucily, and was ordered out of the ward-room. As I was
+quitting the place, I was called back by one of the lieutenants, whose
+appearance I did not like from the first. Although it was now eight years
+since I left Halifax, and we had both so much altered, I took this
+gentleman for Mr. Bowen, the very midshipman of the Cleopatra, who had
+been my schoolmate, and whom I had known on board the prize-brig I have
+mentioned.
+
+This officer asked me where I was born. I told him New York. He said he
+knew better, and asked my name. I told him it was what he found it on the
+muster-roll, and that by which I had been called. He said I knew better,
+and that I should hear more of this, hereafter. If this were my old
+school-fellow, he knew that I was always called Edward Robert Meyers,
+whereas I had dropped the middle name, and now called myself Myers. He may
+not, however, have been the person I took him for, and might have mistaken
+me for some one else; for I never had an opportunity of ascertaining any
+more about him.
+
+We got into Little York, and were sent ashore that evening. I can say
+nothing of our squadron, having been kept below the whole time I was on
+board the Royal George. I could not find out whether we did the enemy any
+harm, or not, the night we were taken; though I remember that a
+sixty-eight pound carronade, that stood near the gang-way of the Royal
+George, was dismounted, the night I passed into her. It looked to me as if
+the trucks were gone. This I know, that the ship was more than usually
+screened off; though for what reason I will not pretend to say.
+
+At York, we were put in the gaol, where we were kept three weeks. Our
+treatment was every way bad, with the exception that we were not crowded.
+As to food, we were kept "six upon four" the whole time I was prisoner.[9]
+The bread was bad, and the pork little better. While in this gaol, a party
+of drunken Indians gave us a volley, in passing; but luckily it did us
+no harm.
+
+At the end of three weeks, we received a haversack apiece, and two days'
+allowance. Our clothes were taken from us, and the men were told they
+would get them below; a thing that happened to very few of us, I believe.
+As for myself, I was luckily without anything to lose; my effects having
+gone down in the Scourge. All I had on earth was a shirt and two
+handkerchiefs, and an old slouched hat, that I had got in exchange for a
+Scotch cap that had been given to me in the Julia. I was without shoes,
+and so continued until I reached Halifax. All this gave me little concern;
+my spirits being elastic, and my disposition gay. My great trouble was the
+apprehension of being known, through the recollections of the officer I
+have mentioned.
+
+We now commenced our march for Kingston, under the guard of a company of
+the Glengarians and a party of Indians. The last kept on our flanks, and
+it was understood they would shoot and scalp any man who left the ranks.
+We marched two and two, being something like eighty prisoners. It was hard
+work for the first day or two, the road being nothing but an Indian trail,
+and our lodging-places the open air. My feet became very sore, and, as for
+food, we had to eat our pork raw, there being nothing to cook in. The
+soldiers fared no better than ourselves, however, with the exception of
+being on full allowance. It seems that our provisions were sent by water,
+and left for us at particular places; for every eight-and-forty hours we
+touched the lake shore, and found them ready for us. They were left on the
+beach without any guard, or any one near them. In this way we picked up
+our supplies the whole distance.
+
+At the dépôt, Mr. Bogardus and the pilot found a boat, and managed to get
+into her, and put out into the lake. After being absent a day and night,
+they were driven in by rough weather, and fell into the hands of a party
+of dragoons who were escorting Sir George Prevost along the lake shore.
+We found them at a sort of tavern, where were the English Governor and his
+escort at the time. They were sent back among us, with two American army
+officers, who had fallen into the hands of the Indians, and had been most
+foully treated. One of these officers was wounded in the arm.
+
+The night of the day we fell in with Sir George Prevost, we passed through
+a hamlet, and slept just without it. As we entered the village the guard
+played Yankee Doodle, winding up with the Rogue's March. As we went
+through the place, I got leave to go to a house and ask for a drink of
+milk. The woman of this house said they had been expecting us for two
+days, and that they had been saving their milk expressly to give us. I got
+as much as I wanted, and a small loaf of bread in the bargain, as did
+several others with me. These people seemed to me to be all well affected
+to the Americans, and much disposed to treat us kindly. We slept on a barn
+floor that night.
+
+We were much provoked at the insult of playing the Rogue's March. Jack
+Reilly and I laid a plan to have our revenge, should it be repeated. Two
+or three days later we had the same tune, at another village, and I caught
+up a couple of large stones, ran ahead, and dashed them through both ends
+of the drum, before the boy, who was beating it, knew what I was about.
+Jack snatched the fife out of the other boy's hand, and it was passed from
+one to another among us, until it reached one who threw it over the
+railing of a bridge. After this, we had no more music, good or bad. Not a
+word was said to any of us about this affair, and I really think the
+officers were ashamed of themselves.
+
+After a march of several days we came to a hamlet, not a great distance
+from Kingston. I saw a good many geese about, and took a fancy to have one
+for supper. I told Mallet if he would cook a goose, I would tip one over.
+The matter was arranged between us, and picking up a club I made a dash at
+a flock, and knocked a bird over. I caught up the goose and ran, when my
+fellow-prisoners called out to me to dodge, which I did, behind a stump,
+not knowing from what quarter the danger might come. It was well I did,
+for two Indians fired at me, one hitting the stump, and the other ball
+passing just over my head. A militia officer now galloped up, and drove
+back the Indians who were running up to me, to look after the scalp, I
+suppose. This officer remonstrated with me, but spoke mildly and even
+kindly. I told him I was hungry, and that I wanted a warm mess. "But you
+are committing a robbery," he said. "If I am, I'm robbing an enemy." "You
+do not know but it may be a friend," was his significant answer. "Well, if
+I am, _he_'ll not grudge me the goose," says I. On hearing this, the
+officer laughed, and asked me how I meant to cook the goose. I told him
+that one of my messmates had promised to do this for me. He then bade me
+carry the goose into the ranks, and to come to him when we halted at
+night. I did this, and he gave us a pan, some potatoes, onions, &c., out
+of which we made the only good mess we got on our march. I may say this
+was the last hearty and really palatable meal I made until I reached
+Halifax, a period of several weeks.
+
+While Jack Mallet was cooking the goose, I went in behind a pile of
+boards, attended by a soldier to watch me, and, while there, I saw an
+ivory rule lying on the boards, with fifteen pence alongside of it. These
+I pinned, as a lawful prize, being in an enemy's country. The money served
+to buy us some bread. The rule was bartered for half a gallon of rum. This
+made us a merry night, taking all things together.
+
+We made no halt at Kingston, though the Indians left us. We now marched
+through a settled country, with some militia for our guards. Our treatment
+was much better than it had been, the people of the country treating us
+kindly. When we were abreast of the Thousand Islands, Mr. Bogardus and the
+pilot made another attempt to escape, and got fairly off. These were the
+only two who did succeed. How they effected it I cannot say, but I know
+they escaped. I never saw either afterwards.
+
+At the Long Sault, we were all put in boats, with a Canadian pilot in each
+end. The militia staid behind, and down we went; they say at the rate of
+nine miles in fifteen minutes. We found a new guard at the foot of the
+rapids. This was done, beyond a doubt, to save us and themselves, though
+we thought hard of it at the time, for it appeared to us, as if they
+thrust us into a danger they did not like to run themselves. I have since
+heard that even ladies travelling, used to go down these formidable rapids
+in the same way; and that, with skilful pilots, there is little or
+no danger.
+
+When we reached Montreal we were confined in a gaol where we remained
+three weeks. There was an American lady confined in this building, though
+she had more liberty than we, and from her we received much aid. She sent
+us soap, and she gave me bandages &c., for my hurt. Occasionally she gave
+us little things to eat. I never knew her name, but heard she had two sons
+in the American army, and that she had been detected in corresponding
+with them.
+
+We remained at Montreal two or three weeks, and then were sent down to
+Quebec, where we were put on board of prison-ships. I was sent to the Lord
+Cathcart, and most of the Julia's men with me. Our provisions were very
+bad, and the mortality among us was great. The bread was intolerably bad.
+Mr. Trant came to see us, privately, and he brought some salt with him,
+which was a great relief to us. Jack Mallet asked him whether some of us
+might not go to work on board a transport, that lay just astern of us, in
+order to get something; better to eat. Mr. Trant said yes, and eight of us
+went on board this craft, every day, getting provisions and grog for our
+pay. At sunset, we returned regularly to the Cathcart. I got a second
+shirt and a pair of trowsers in this way.
+
+About a fortnight after this arrangement, the Surprise, 32, and a
+sloop-of-war, came in, anchoring some distance below the town. These ships
+sent their boats up to the prison-ships to examine them for men. After
+going through those vessels, they came on board the transport, and finding
+us fresh, clean, fed and tolerably clad, they pronounced us all
+Englishmen, and carried us on board the frigate. We were not permitted
+even to go and take leave of our shipmates. Of the eight men thus taken,
+five were native Americans, one was from Mozambique, one I suppose to have
+been an English subject born, but long settled in America; and, as for me,
+the reader knows as much of my origin as I know myself.
+
+We were asked if we would go to duty on board the Surprise, and we all
+refused. We were then put in close con finement, on the berth-deck, under
+the charge of a sentry. In a day or two, the ship sailed; and off Cape
+Breton we met with a heavy gale, in which the people suffered severely
+with snow and cold. The ship was kept off the land, with great difficulty.
+After all, we prisoners saved the ship, though I think it likely the
+injury originally came from some of us. The breechings of two of the guns
+had been cut, and the guns broke adrift in the height of the gale. All the
+crew were on deck, and the sentinel permitting it, we went up and
+smothered the guns with hammocks. We were now allowed to go about deck,
+but this lasted a short time, the whole of us being sent below, again, as
+soon as the gale abated.
+
+On reaching Halifax, we were all put on board of the Regulus transport,
+bound to Bermuda. Here we eight were thrown into irons, under the
+accusation of being British subjects. At the end of twenty-four hours,
+however, the captain came to us, and offered to let us out of irons, and
+to give us ship's treatment, if we would help in working the vessel to
+Bermuda. I have since thought we were ironed merely to extort this
+arrangement from us. We consulted together; and, thinking a chance might
+offer to get possession of the Regulus, which had only a few Canadians in
+her, and was to be convoyed by the Pictou schooner, we consented. We were
+now turned up to duty, and I got the first pair of shoes that had been on
+my feet since the Scourge sunk from under me.
+
+The reader will imagine I had not been in the harbour of Halifax, without
+a strong desire to ascertain something about those I had left behind me,
+in that town. I was nervously afraid of being discovered, and yet had a
+feverish wish to go ashore. The manner in which I gratified this wish, and
+the consequences to which it led, will be seen in the sequel.
+
+
+
+Chapter VIII.
+
+
+
+Jack Mallet had long known my history. He was my confidant, and entered
+into all my feelings. The night we went to duty on board the transport, a
+boat was lying alongside of the ship, and the weather being thick, it
+afforded a good opportunity for gratifying my longing. Jack and myself got
+in, after putting our heads together, and stole off undetected. I pulled
+directly up to the wharf of Mr. Marchinton, and at once found myself at
+home. I will not pretend to describe my sensations, but they were a
+strange mixture of apprehension, disquiet, hope, and natural attachment. I
+wished much to see my sister, but was afraid to venture on that.
+
+There was a family, however, of the name of Fraser, that lived near the
+shore, with which I had been well acquainted, and in whose members I had
+great confidence. They were respectable in position, its head being called
+a judge, and they were all intimate with the Marchintons. To the Frasers,
+then, I went; Jack keeping me company. I was afraid, if I knocked, the
+servant would not let me in, appearing, as I did, in the dress of a common
+sailor; so I opened the street-door without any ceremony, and went
+directly to that of the parlour, which I entered before there was time to
+stop me. Jack brought up in the entry.
+
+Mrs. Fraser and her daughter were seated together, on a settee, and the
+judge was reading at a table. My sudden apparition astonished them, and
+all three gazed at me in silence. Mr. Fraser then said, "In the name of
+heaven, where did you come from, Edward!" I told him I had been in the
+American service, but that I now belonged to an English transport that was
+to sail in the morning, and that I had just come ashore to inquire how all
+hands did; particularly my sister. He told me that my sister was living, a
+married woman, in Halifax; that Mr. Marchinton was dead, and had grieved
+very much at my disappearance; that I was supposed to be dead. He then
+gave me much advice as to my future course, and reminded me how much I had
+lost by my early mistakes. He was particularly anxious I should quit my
+adopted country, and wished me to remain in Halifax. He offered to send a
+servant with me to find my sister, but I was afraid to let my presence be
+known to so many. I begged my visit might be kept a secret, as I felt
+ashamed of being seen in so humble circumstances. I was well treated, as
+was Jack Mallet, both of us receiving wine and cake, &c. Mr. Fraser also
+gave me a guinea, and as I went away, Mrs. Fraser slipped a pound note
+into my hand. The latter said to me, in a whisper--"I know what you are
+afraid of, but I shall tell Harriet of your visit; she will be secret."
+
+I staid about an hour, receiving every mark of kindness from these
+excellent and respectable people, leaving them to believe we were to sail
+in the morning. When we got back to the transport no one knew of our
+absence, and nothing was ever said of our taking the boat. The Regulus did
+not sail for twenty hours after this, but I had no more communication with
+the shore. We got to sea, at last, two transports, under the convoy of
+the Pictou.
+
+During the whole passage, we eight prisoners kept a sharp look-out for a
+chance to get possession of the ship. We were closely watched, there being
+a lieutenant and his boat's crew on board, besides the Canadians, the
+master, mate, &c. All the arms were secreted, and nothing was left at
+hand, that we could use in a rising.
+
+About mid passage, it blowing fresh, with the ship under double-reefed
+topsails, I was at the weather, with one of the Canadians at the lee,
+wheel. Mallet was at work in the larboard, or weather, mizen chains, ready
+to lend me a hand. At this moment the Pictou came up under our lee, to
+speak us in relation to carrying a light during the night. Her masts swung
+so she could not carry one herself, and her commander wished us to carry
+our top-light, he keeping near it, instead of our keeping near him. The
+schooner came very close to us, it blowing heavily, and Mallet called out,
+"Ned, now is your time. Up helm and into him. A couple of seas will send
+him down." This was said loud enough to be heard, though all on deck were
+attending to the schooner; and, as for the Canadian, he did not understand
+English. I managed to get the helm hard up, and Mallet jumped inboard. The
+ship fell off fast; but the lieutenant, who was on board as an agent, was
+standing in the companion-way with his wife, and, the instant he saw what
+I had done, he ran aft, struck me a sharp blow, and put the helm hard down
+with his own hands. This saved the Pictou, though there was a great outcry
+on board her. The lieutenant's wife screamed, and there was a pretty
+uproar for a minute, in every direction. As the Regulus luffed-to, her
+jib-boom-end just cleared the Pictou's forward rigging, and a man might
+almost have jumped from the ship to the schooner, as we got alongside of
+each other. Another minute, and we should have travelled over His
+Majesty's schooner, like a rail-road car going over a squash.
+
+The lieutenant now denounced us, and we prisoners were all put in irons. I
+am merely relating facts. How far we were right, I leave others to decide;
+but it must be remembered that Jack had, in that day, a mortal enmity to a
+British man-of-war, which was a little too apt to lay hands on all that
+she fell in with, on the high seas. Perhaps severe moralists might say
+that we had entered into a bargain with the captain of the Regulus, not to
+make war on him during the passage; in answer to which, we can reply that
+we were not attacking _him_, but the Pictou. Our intention, it must be
+confessed, however, was to seize the Regulus in the confusion. Had we been
+better treated as prisoners, our tempers might not have been so savage.
+But we got no good treatment, except for our own work; and, being hedged
+in in this manner, common sailors reason very much as they feel. We were
+not permitted to go at large again, in the Regulus, in which the English
+were very right, as Jack Mallet, in particular, was a man to put his
+shipmates up to almost any enterprise.
+
+The anchor was hardly down, at Bermuda, before a signal was made to the
+Goliah, razée, for a boat, and we were sent on board that ship. This was a
+cruising vessel, and she went to sea next morning. We were distributed
+about the ship, and ordered to go to work. The intention, evidently, was
+to swallow us all in the enormous maw of the British navy. We refused to
+do duty, however, to a man; most of our fellows being pretty bold, as
+native Americans. We were a fortnight in this situation, the greater part
+of the time playing green, with our tin pots slung round our necks. We
+did so much of this, that the people began to laugh at us, as real Johnny
+Raws, though the old salts knew better. The last even helped us along,
+some giving us clothes, extra grog, and otherwise being very kind to us.
+The officers treated us pretty well, too, all things considered. None of
+us got flogged, nor were we even threatened with the gang-way. At length
+the plan was changed. The boatswain was asked if he got anything out of
+us, and, making a bad report, we were sent down to the lower gun-deck,
+under a sentry's charge, and put at "six upon four," again. Here we
+remained until the ship went into Bermuda, after a six weeks' cruise. This
+vessel, an old seventy-four cut down, did not answer, for she was soon
+after sent to England. I overheard her officers, from our berth near the
+bulkhead, wishing to fall in with the President, Commodore Rodgers--a
+vessel they fancied they could easily handle. I cannot say they could not,
+but one day an elderly man among them spoke very rationally on the
+subject, saying, they _might_, or they might _not_ get the best of it in
+such a fight. For his part, he did not wish to see any such craft, with
+the miserable crew they had in the Goliah.
+
+We found the Ramilies, Sir Thomas Hardy, lying in Bermuda roads. This ship
+sent a boat, which took us on board the Ardent, 64, which was then used as
+a prison-ship. About a week before we reached this vessel an American
+midshipman got hold of a boat, and effected his escape, actually making
+the passage between Bermuda and Cape Henry all alone, by himself.[10] In
+consequence of this unusual occurrence, a bright look out was kept on all
+the boats, thus defeating one of our plans, which was to get off in the
+same way. When we reached the Ardent, we found but four Americans in her.
+After we had been on board her about a week, three men joined us, who had
+given themselves up on board English men-of-war, as native Americans. One
+of these men, whose name was Baily, had been fourteen years in the English
+service, into which he had been pressed, his protection having been torn
+up before his face. He was a Connecticut man, and had given himself up at
+the commencement of the war, getting three dozen for his pains. He was
+then sent on the Halifax station, where he gave himself up again. He
+received three dozen more, then had his shirt thrown over his back and was
+sent to us. I saw the back and the shirt, myself, and Baily said he would
+keep the last to be buried with him. Bradbury and Patrick were served very
+much in the same manner. I saw all their backs, and give the remainder of
+the story, as they gave it to me. Baily and Bradbury got off in season to
+join the Constitution, and to make the last cruise in her during this war.
+I afterwards fell in with Bradbury, who mentioned this circumstance to me.
+
+It is good to have these things known, for I do believe the English nation
+would be averse to men's receiving such treatment, could they fairly be
+made to understand it. It surely is bad enough to be compelled to fight
+the battles of a foreign country, without being flogged for not fighting
+them when they happen to be against one's own people. For myself, I was
+born, of German parents, in the English territory, it is true; but America
+was, and ever has been, the country of my choice, and, while yet a child,
+I may say, I decided for myself to sail under the American flag; and, if
+my father had a right to make an Englishman of me, by taking service under
+the English crown, I think I had a right to make myself what I pleased,
+when he had left me to get on as I could, without his counsel and advice.
+
+After being about three weeks in the Ardent, we eight prisoners were sent
+on board the Ramilies, to be tried as Englishmen who had been fighting
+against their king. The trial took place on board the Asia, 74, a
+flag-ship; but we lived in the Ramilies, during the time the investigation
+was going on. Sir Thomas Hardy held several conversations with me, on the
+quarter-deck, in which he manifested great kindness of feeling. He
+inquired whether I was really an American; but I evaded any direct answer.
+I told him, however, that I had been an apprentice, in New York, in the
+employment of Jacob Barker; which was true, in one sense, as Mr. Barker
+was the consignee of the Sterling, and knew of my indentures. I mentioned
+him, as a person more likely to be known than Captain Johnston. Sir Thomas
+said he had some knowledge of Mr. Barker; and, I think, I have heard that
+they were, in some way, connected. This was laying an anchor to-windward,
+as it turned out, in the end.
+
+We were all on board the Asia, for trial, or investigation, two days,
+before I was sent for into the cabin. I was very much frightened; and
+scarce knew what I said, or did. It is a cruel thing to leave sailors
+without counsel, on such occasions; though the officers behaved very
+kindly and considerately to me; and, I believe, to all of us. There were
+several officers seated round a table; and all were in swabs. They said,
+the gentleman who presided, was a Sir Borlase Warren, the admiral on the
+station.[11] This gentleman, whoever he was, probably saw that I was
+frightened. He slewed himself round, in his chair, and said to me; "My
+man, you need not be alarmed; we know _who_ you are, and _what_ you are;
+but your apprenticeship will be of great service to you." This was not
+said, however, until Sir Thomas Hardy had got out the story of my being an
+apprentice in Jacob Barker's employ, again, before them all, in the cabin.
+I was told to send for a copy of my indentures, by one of the white-washed
+Swedes, that sailed between Bermuda and New York. This I did, that very
+day. I was in the cabin of the Asia, half an hour, perhaps; and I felt
+greatly relieved, when I got out of it. It was decided, in my presence, to
+send me back among the prisoners, on board the Ardent. The same decision
+was made, as to the whole eight of us, that had come on in the Regulus.
+
+When we got back to the Ramilies, Sir Thomas Hardy had some more
+conversation with me. I have thought, ever since, that he knew something
+about my birth, and of my being the prince's godson. He wished me to join
+the British service, seemingly, very much, and encouraged me with the hope
+of being promoted. But, it is due to myself, to say, I held out against it
+all. I do not believe America had a truer heart, in her service, than
+mine; and I do not think an English commission would have bought me. I
+have nothing to hope, from saying this, for I am now old, and a cripple
+but, as I have sat down to relate the truth, let the truth be told,
+whether it tell for, or against me.
+
+We were now sent back to the Ardent; where we remained three weeks, or a
+month, longer. During this time we got our papers from New York; I
+receiving a copy of my indentures, together with the sum of ten dollars;
+which reached me through Sir Thomas Hardy, as I understood. Nothing more
+was ever said, to any of the eight, about their being Englishmen; the
+whole of us being treated as prisoners of war. Prisoners arrived fast,
+until we had four hundred in the Ardent. The old Ruby, a forty-four, on
+two decks, was obliged to receive some of them. Most of these prisoners
+were privateersmen; though there were a few soldiers, and some citizens
+that had been picked up in Chesapeake Bay. Before we left Bermuda, the
+crew of a French frigate was put into the Ardent, to the number of near
+four hundred men. In the whole, we must have had eight hundred souls, and
+all on one deck. This was close stowage, and I was heartily glad when I
+quitted the ship.
+
+Soon after the French arrived, four hundred of us Americans were put on
+board transports, and we sailed for Halifax, under the convoy of the
+Ramilies. A day or two after we got out, we fell in with an American
+privateer, which continued hovering around us for several days. As this
+was a bold fellow, frequently coming within gun-shot, and sporting his
+sticks and canvass in all sorts of ways, Sir Thomas Hardy felt afraid he
+would get one of the four transports, and he took all us prisoners into
+the Ramilies. We staid in the ship the rest of the passage, and when we
+went into Halifax it was all alone, the four transports having
+disappeared. Two of them subsequently got in; but I think the other two
+were actually taken by that saucy fellow.
+
+The prisoners, at first, had great liberty allowed them, on board the
+Ramilies. On all occasions, Sir Thomas Hardy treated the Americans well. A
+party of marines was stationed on the poop, and another on the forecastle,
+and the ship's people had arms; but this was all the precaution that was
+used. The opportunity tempted some of our men to plan a rising, with a
+view to seize the ship. Privateer officers were at the head of this
+scheme, which was communicated to me, among others, soon after the plot
+was laid. Most of the prisoners knew of the intention, and everybody
+seemed to enter into the affair with hearty good-will. Our design was to
+rise at the end of the second dog-watch, overcome the crew, and carry the
+ship upon our own coast. If unable to pass the blockading squadrons, we
+intended to run her ashore. The people of the Ramilies outnumbered us by
+near one-half, and they had arms, it is true; but we trusted to the effect
+of a surprise, and something to the disposition of most English sailors to
+get quit of their own service. Had the attempt been made, from what I saw
+of the crew, I think our main trouble would have been with the officers
+and the marines. We were prevented from trying the experiment, however, in
+consequence of having been betrayed by some one who was in the secret, the
+whole of us being suddenly sent into the cable tiers and amongst the water
+casks, under the vigilant care of sentinels posted in the wings. After
+that, we were allowed to come on deck singly, only, and then under a
+sentinel's charge. When Sir Thomas spoke to us concerning this change of
+treatment, he did not abuse us for our plan, but was mild and reasonable,
+while he reminded us of the necessity of what he was doing. I have no idea
+he would have been in the least injured, had we got possession of the
+ship; for, to the last, our people praised him, and the treatment they
+received, while under his orders.
+
+Before we were sent below, Sir Thomas spoke to me again, on the subject of
+my joining the English service. He was quite earnest about it, and
+reasoned with me like a father; but I was determined not to yield. I did
+not like England, and I did like America. My birth in Quebec was a thing I
+could not help; but having chosen to serve under the American flag, and
+having done so now for years, I did not choose to go over to the enemy.
+
+At Halifax, fifteen or twenty of us were sent on board the old Centurion,
+44, Lord Anson's ship, as retaliation-men. We eight were of the number. We
+found something like thirty more in the ship, all retaliation-men, like
+ourselves. Those we found in the Centurion did not appear to me to be
+foremast Jacks, but struck me as being citizens from ashore. We were well
+treated, however, suffering no other confinement than that of the ship. We
+were on "six upon four," it is true, like other prisoners, but our own
+country gave us small stores, and extra bread and beef. In the way of
+grub, we fared like sailor kings. At the end of three weeks, we eight
+lakesmen were sent to Melville Island, among the great herd of prisoners.
+I cannot explain the reason of all these changes; but I know that when the
+gate was shut on us, the turnkey said we had gone into a home that would
+last as long as the war lasted.
+
+Melville is an island of more than a mile in circumference, with low,
+rocky shores. It lies about three miles from the town of Halifax, but not
+in sight. It is connected with the main by a bridge that is thrown across
+a narrow passage of something like a quarter of a mile in width. In the
+centre of the island is an eminence, which was occupied by the garrison,
+and had some artillery. This eminence commanded the whole island. Another
+post on the main, also, commanded the prisoners' barracks. These barracks
+were ordinary wooden buildings, enclosed on the side of the island with a
+strong stone wall, and on the side of the post on the main, by high, open
+palisades. Of course, a sufficient guard was maintained.
+
+It was said there were about twelve hundred Americans on the island, when
+I passed the gate. Among them were a few French, some of whom were a part
+of the crew of the Ville de Milan, the ship that had been taken before I
+first left Halifax; or more than eight years previously to this time. This
+did, indeed, look like the place's being a home to a poor fellow, and I
+did not relish the circumstance at all. Among our people were soldiers,
+sailors, and 'long-shore-men'. There was no difference in the treatment,
+which, for a prison, was good. We got only "six upon four" from the
+English, of course; but our own country made up the difference here, as on
+board the Centurion. They had a prison dress, with one leg of the trowsers
+yellow and the other blue, &c.; but we would not stand that. Our agent
+managed the matter so that we got regular jackets and trowsers of the true
+old colour. The poor Frenchmen looked like peacocks in their dress, but we
+did not envy them their finery.
+
+I had been on the island about a fortnight, when I was told by Jack
+Mallet that a woman, whom he thought to be my sister, was at the gate.
+Jack knew my whole history, and came to his opinion from a resemblance
+that he saw between me and the person who had inquired for me. I refused
+to go to the gate, however, to see who it was, and Jack was sent back to
+tell the woman that I had been left behind at Bermuda. He was directed to
+throw in a few hints about the expediency of her not coming back to look
+for me, and that it would be better if she never named me. All this was
+done, I getting a berth from which I could see the female. I knew her in a
+moment, although she was married, and had a son with her, and my heart was
+very near giving way, especially when I saw her shedding tears. She went
+away from the gate, however, going up on the ramparts, from which she
+could look down into the prison-yard. There she remained an hour, as if
+she wished to satisfy her own eyes as to the truth of Jack's story; but I
+took good care to keep out of her sight.
+
+As I knew there was little hope of an exchange of prisoners, I now began
+to think of the means of making my escape. Jack Mallet dared not attempt
+to swim, on account of the rheumatism and cramps, having narrowly escaped
+drowning at Bermuda, and he could not join in our schemes. As for myself,
+I have been able to swim ever since danger taught me the important lesson,
+the night the Scourge went down. Money would be necessary to aid me in
+escaping, and Jack and I put our heads together, in order to raise some. I
+had still the ten dollars given me by Sir Thomas Hardy, and I commenced
+operations by purchasing shares in a dice-board, a _vingt et un_ table,
+and a quino table.[12] Jack Mallet and I, also, set up a shop, on a
+capital of three dollars. We sold smoked herring, pipes, tobacco, segars,
+spruce beer, and, as chances of smuggling it in offered, now and then a
+little Jamaica. All this time, the number of the prisoners increased,
+until, in the end, we got to have a full prison, when they began to send
+them to England. Only one of the Julias was sent away, however, all the
+rest remaining at Melville Island, from some cause I cannot explain.
+
+I cannot say we made money very fast. On every shilling won at dice, we
+received a penny; at _vingt et un_, the commission was the same; as it was
+also at the other games. New cards, however, brought a little higher rate.
+All this was wrong I _now_ know, but _then_ it gave me very little
+trouble. I hope I would not do the same thing over again, even to make my
+escape from Melville Island, but one never knows to what distress may
+drive him.
+
+Some person among the American prisoners--a soldier it was said--commenced
+counterfeiting Spanish dollars. I am afraid most of us helped to circulate
+them. We thought it no harm to cheat the people of the canteens, for we
+knew they were doing all they could to cheat us. This was prison morality,
+in war-time, and I say nothing in its favour; though, for myself, I will
+own I felt more of the consciousness of wrong-doing in holding the shares
+in the gambling establishments, than in giving bad dollars for poor rum.
+The counterfeiting business was destroyed by one of the dollars happening
+to break, as some of the officers were pitching them; when, on
+examination, it turned out that most of the money in the prison was bad.
+It was said the people of the canteens had about four hundred of the
+dollars, when they came to overhaul their lockers. A good many found their
+way into Halifax.
+
+My trade lasted all winter--(that of 1813--14,) and by March I had gained
+the sum of eighty French crowns. Dollars I was afraid to hold on account
+of the base money. The ice now began to give way, and a few of us, who had
+been discussing the matter all winter, set about forming serious plans to
+escape. My confederates were a man of the name of Johnson, who had been
+taken in the Snapdragon privateer, and an Irishman of the name of
+Littlefield. Barnet, the Mozambique man, joined us also, making four in
+all. It was quite early in the month, when we made the attempt. Our
+windows were long, and had perpendicular bars of wrought iron to secure
+them, but no cross-bars. There was no glass; but outside shutters, that we
+could open at our pleasure. Outside of the windows were sentinels, and
+there were two rows of pickets between us and the shore.
+
+I put my crowns in a belt around my waist. Another belt, or skin, was
+filled with rum, for the double purpose of buoying me in the water, and
+of comforting me when ashore. At that day, I found rum one of the great
+blessings of life; now I look upon it as one of the greatest evils. My
+companions made similar provisions of money and rum, though neither was as
+rich as myself. I left Mallet and Leonard Lewis my heirs at law if I
+escaped, and my trustees should I be caught. Lewis was a young man of
+better origin than most in the prison, and I have always thought some
+calamity drove him to the seas. He was in ill health, and did not appear
+to be destined to a long life. He would have joined us, heart and hand,
+but was not strong enough to endure the fatigue which we well knew we must
+undergo, before we could get clear.
+
+The night selected for the attempt was so cold, dark, and dismal, as to
+drive all the sentinels into their boxes. It rained hard, in the bargain.
+About eight, or as soon as the lights were out, we got the lanyards of our
+hammocks around two of the window bars, and using a bit of fire-wood for a
+heaver, we easily brought them together. This left room for our bodies to
+pass out, without any difficulty. Jack Mallet, and those we left behind,
+hove the bars straight again, so that the keepers were at a loss to know
+how we had got off. We met with no obstacle between the prison and the
+water. The pickets we removed, having cut them in the day-time. In a word,
+all four of us reached the shore of the Island in two or three minutes
+after we had taken leave of our messmates. The difficulty lay before us.
+We entered into the water, at once, and began to swim. When I was a few
+rods from the place of landing, which was quite near the guard-house, on
+the main, Johnson began to sing out that he was drowning. I told him to be
+quiet, but it was of no use. The guard on the main heard him, and
+commenced firing, and of course we swam all the harder. Three of us were
+soon ashore, and, knowing the roads well, I led them in a direction to
+avoid the soldiers. By running into the woods, we got clear, though poor
+Johnson fell again into the hands of the enemy. He deserved it for bawling
+as he did; it being the duty of a man in such circumstances to lie with a
+shut mouth.
+
+
+
+Chapter IX.
+
+
+
+The three who had escaped ran, for a quarter of a mile, in the woods, when
+we brought up, and took a drink. Hearing no more firing, or any further
+alarm, we now consulted as to our future course. There were some mills at
+the head of the bay, about four miles from the guard-house, and I led the
+party thither. We reached the place towards morning, and found a berth in
+them before any one was stirring. We hid ourselves in an old granary; but
+no person appeared near the place throughout the next day. We had put a
+little bread and a few herrings in our hats, and on these we subsisted.
+The rum cheered us up, and, if rum ever did good, I think it was to us on
+that occasion. We slept soundly, with one man on the look-out; a rule we
+observed the whole time we were out. It stopped raining in the course of
+the day, though the weather was bitter cold.
+
+Next night we got under way, and walked in a direction which led us within
+three miles of the town. In doing this, we passed the Prince's Lodge, a
+place where I had often been, and the sight of which reminded me of home,
+and of my childish days. There was no use in regrets, however, and we
+pushed ahead. The men saw my melancholy, and they questioned me; but I
+evaded the answer, pretending that nothing ailed me. There was a tavern
+about a league from the town, kept by a man of the name of Grant, and
+Littlefield ventured into it. He bought a small cheese and a loaf of
+bread; getting off clear, though not unsuspected. This helped us along
+famously, and we pushed on as fast as we could. Before morning we came
+near a bridge, on which there was a sentinel posted, with a guard-house
+near its end. To avoid this danger, we turned the guard-house, striking
+the river above the bridge. Here we met two Indians, and fell into
+discourse with them. Our rum now served us a better turn than ever, buying
+the Indians in a minute. We told these chaps we were deserters from the
+Bulwark, 74, and begged them to help us along. At first, they thought we
+were Yankees, whom they evidently disliked, and that right heartily; but
+the story of the desertion took, and made them disposed to serve us.
+
+These two Indians led us down to the bed of the river, and actually
+carried us beneath the bridge, on the side of the river next the guard,
+where we found a party of about thirty of these red-skins, men, women and
+children. Here we stayed no less than three days; faring extremely well,
+having fish, bread, butter, and other common food. The weather was very
+bad, and we did not like to turn out in it, besides, thinking the search
+for us might be less keen after a short delay. All this time, we were
+within a few rods of the guard, hearing the sentinels cry "all's well,"
+from half-hour to half-hour. We were free with our rum, and, as much as we
+dared to be, with our money. These people never betrayed us.
+
+The third night we left the bridge, guided by a young Indian. He led us
+about two miles up the river, passing through the Maroon town in the
+night, after which he left us. We wished him to keep on with us for some
+distance further, but he refused. He quitted us near morning, and we
+turned into a deserted log-house, on the banks of the river, where we
+passed the day. The country was thinly populated, and the houses we saw
+were poor and mean. We must now have been about five-and-twenty miles
+from Halifax.
+
+Our object was to cross the neck of land between the Atlantic and the Bay
+of Fundy, and to get to Annapolis Royal, where we expected to be able to
+procure a boat, by fair means if we could, by stealth if necessary, and
+cross over to the American shore. We had still a long road before us, and
+had some little difficulty to find the way. The Indians, however, gave us
+directions that greatly assisted us; and we travelled a long bit, and
+pretty fast all that night. In the morning, the country had more the
+appearance of being peopled and cultivated, and I suspected we were
+getting into the vicinity of Horton, a place through which it would be
+indispensable to pass. The weather became bad again, and it was necessary
+to make a halt. Coming near a log-house, we sent Littlefield ahead to make
+some inquiries of a woman who appeared to be in it alone. On his return,
+he reported well of the woman. He had told her we were deserters from the
+Bulwark, and had promised to pay her if she would let us stay about her
+premises that day, and get us something to eat. The woman had consented to
+our occupying an out-house, and had agreed to buy the provisions. We now
+took possession of the out-house, where the woman visited us, and getting
+some money, she left us in quest of food. We were uneasy during her
+absence, but she came back with some meat, eggs, bread, and butter, at the
+end of an hour, and all seemed right. We made two comfortable meals in
+this out-house, where we remained until near evening. I had the look-out
+about noon, and I saw a man hanging about the house, and took the alarm.
+The man did not stay long, however, and I got a nap as soon as he
+disappeared. About four we were all up, and one of us taking a look, saw
+this same man, and two others, go into the house. The woman had already
+told us that a party of soldiers had gone ahead, in pursuit of three
+Yankee runaways; that four had broken prison, but one had been retaken,
+and the rest were still out. This left little doubt that she knew who we
+were; and we thought it best to steal away, at once, lest the men in the
+house should be consulting with her, at that very moment, about selling us
+for the reward, which we know was always four pounds ahead. The out-house
+was near the river, and there was a good deal of brush growing along the
+banks, and we succeeded in getting away unseen.
+
+We went down to the margin, under the bank, and pursued our way along the
+stream. Before it was dark we came in sight of the bridge, for which we
+had been travelling ever since we left the other bridge, and were sorry to
+see a sentry-box on it. We now halted for a council, and came to a
+determination to wait until dark, and then advance. This we did, getting
+under this bridge, as we had done with the other. We had no Indians,
+however, to comfort and feed us.
+
+I had known a good deal of this part of the country when a boy, from the
+circumstance that Mr. Marchinton had a large farm, near a place called
+Cornwallis, on the Bay, where I had even spent whole summers with the
+family. This bridge I recollected well; and I remembered there was a ford
+a little on one side of it, when the tide was out. The tides are
+tremendous in this part of the world, and we did not dare to steal a boat
+here, lest we should be caught in one of the bores, as they are called,
+when the tide came in. It was now half ebb, and we resolved to wait, and
+try the? ford.
+
+It was quite dark when we left the bridge, and we had a delicate bit of
+work before us. The naked flats were very wide, and we sallied out, with
+the bridge as our guide. I was up to my middle in mud, at times, but the
+water was not very deep. We must have been near an hour in the mud, for we
+were not exactly on the proper ford, of course, and made bad navigation of
+it in the dark. But we were afraid to lose sight of the bridge, lest we
+should get all adrift.
+
+At length we reached the firm ground, covered with mud and chilled with
+cold. We found the road, and the village of Horton, and skirted the last,
+until all was clear. Then we took to the road, and carried sail hard all
+night. Whenever we saw any one, we hid ourselves, but we met few while
+travelling. Next morning we walked until we came to a deserted saw-mill,
+which I also remembered, and here we halted for the day. No one troubled
+us, nor did I see any one; but Littlefield said that a man drove a herd of
+cattle past, during his watch on deck.
+
+I told my companions that night, if they would be busy, we might reach
+Cornwallis, where I should be at home. We were pretty well fagged, and
+wanted rest, for Jack is no great traveller ashore; and I promised the
+lads a good snug berth at Mr. Marchinton's farm. We pushed ahead briskly,
+in consequence, and I led the party up to the farm, just as day was
+dawning. A Newfoundland dog, named Hunter, met us with some ferocity;
+but, on my calling him by name, he was pacified, and began to leap on me,
+and to caress me. I have always thought that dog knew me, after an absence
+of so many years. There was no time to waste with dogs, however, and we
+took the way to the barn. We had wit enough not to get on the hay, but to
+throw ourselves on a mow filled with straw, as the first was probably in
+use. Here we went to sleep, with one man on the look-out. This was the
+warmest and most comfortable rest we had got since quitting the island,
+from which we had now been absent or nine days.
+
+We remained one night and two days in the barn. The workmen entered it
+often, and even stayed some time on the barn-floor; but no one seemed to
+think of ascending our mow. The dog kept much about the place, and I was
+greatly afraid he would be the means of betraying us. Our provisions were
+getting low, and, the night we were at the farm I sallied out, accompanied
+by Barnet, and we made our way into the dairy. Here we found a pan of
+bread, milk, cheese, butter, eggs, and codfish. Of course, we took our
+fill of milk; but Barnet got hold of a vessel of sour cream, and came near
+hallooing out, when he had taken a good pull at it. As we returned to the
+barn, the geese set up an outcry, and glad enough was I to find myself
+safe on the mow again, without being discovered. Next day, however, we
+overheard the men in the barn speaking of the robbery, and complaining, in
+particular, of the uselessness of the dog. I did not know any of these
+persons, although a young man appeared among them, this day, who I fancied
+had been a playfellow of mine, when a boy. I could not trust him, or any
+one else there; and all the advantage we got from the farm, was through my
+knowledge of the localities, and of the habits of the place.
+
+I had never been further on the road between Halifax and Annapolis, than
+to Cornwallis. The rest of the distance was unknown to me, though I was
+familiar with the route which went out of Cornwallis, and which was called
+the Annapolis road. It was a fine star-light evening, and we made good
+headway. We all felt refreshed, and journeyed on full stomachs. We did not
+meet a soul, though we travelled through a well-settled country. The next
+morning we halted in a wood, the weather being warm and pleasant. Here we
+slept and rested as usual, and were off again at night. Littlefield
+pinned three fowls as we went along, declaring that he intended to have a
+warm mess next day, and he got off without discoverv. About four o'clock
+in the morning, we fell in with a river, and left the high-way, following
+the banks of the stream for a short distance. It now came on to blow and
+rain, with the wind on shore, and we saw it would not do to get a boat and
+go out in such a time. There was a rising ground, in a thick wood, near
+us, and we went up the hill to pass the day. We had seen two men pulling
+ashore in a good-looking boat, and it was our determination to get this
+boat, and shape our course down stream to the Bay, as soon as it
+moderated. From the hill, we could overlook the river, and the adjacent
+country. We saw the fishermen land, take their sail and oars out of the
+boat, haul the latter up, turn her over, and stow their sails and oars
+beneath her. They had a breaker of fresh water, too, and everything seemed
+fitted for our purposes. We liked the craft, and, what is more, we liked
+the cruise.
+
+We could not see the town of Annapolis, which turned out to be up-stream
+from us, though we afterwards ascertained that we were within a mile or
+two of it. The fishermen walked in the direction of the town, and
+disappeared. All we wanted now was tolerably good weather, with a fair
+wind, or, at least, with less wind. The blow had driven in the fishermen,
+and we thought it wise to be governed by their experience. Nothing
+occurred in the course of the day, the weather remaining the same, and we
+being exposed to the rain, with no other cover than trees without leaves.
+There were many pines, however, and they gave us a little shelter.
+
+At dusk, Littlefield lighted a fire, and began to cook his fowls. The
+supper was soon ready, and we eat it with a good relish. We then went to
+sleep, leaving Barnet on the look-out. I had just got into a good sleep,
+when I was awoke by the tramp of horses, and the shouting of men. On
+springing up, I found that a party of five horsemen were upon us. One
+called out--"Here they are--we've found them at last." This left no doubt
+of their errand, and we were all retaken. Our arms were tied, and we were
+made to mount behind the horsemen, when they rode off with us, taking the
+road by which we had come. We went but a few miles that night, when
+we halted.
+
+We were taken the whole distance to Halifax, in this manner, riding on
+great-coats, without stirrups, the horses on a smart walk. We did not go
+by Cornwallis, which, it seems, was not the nearest road; but we passed
+through Horton, and crossed the bridge, beneath which we had Waded through
+the mud. At Horton we passed a night. We were confined in a sort of a
+prison, that was covered with mud. We did not like our berths; and,
+finding that the logs, of which the building was made, were rotten, we
+actually worked our way through them, and got fairly out. Littlefield, who
+was as reckless an Irishman as ever lived, swore he would set fire to the
+place; which he did, by returning through the hole we had made, and
+getting up into a loft, that was dry and combustible. But for this silly
+act, we might have escaped; and, as it was, we did get off for the rest of
+the night, being caught, next morning, nearly down, again, by the bridge
+at Windsor.
+
+This time, our treatment was a good deal worse, than at first. A sharp
+look-out was kept, and they got us back to Halifax, without any more
+adventures. We were pretty well fagged; though we had to taper off with
+the black hole, and bread and water, for the next ten days; the regular
+punishment for such misdemeanors as ours. At the end of the ten days, we
+were let out, and came together again. Our return brought about a great
+deal of discussion; and, not a little criticism, as to the prudence of our
+course. To hear the chaps talk, one would think every man among them could
+have got off, had he been in our situation; though none of them did any
+better; several having got off the island, in our absence, and been
+retaken, within the first day or two. While I was in prison, however, I
+remember but one man who got entirely clear. This was a privateers-man,
+from Marblehead; who did get fairly off; though he was back again, in six
+weeks, having been taken once more, a few days out.
+
+We adventurers were pretty savage, about our failure; and, the moment we
+were out of the black hole, we began to lay our heads together for a new
+trial. My idea was, to steer a different course, in the new attempt;
+making the best of our way towards Liverpool, which lay to the southward,
+coastwise. This would leave us on the Atlantic, it was true; but our
+notion was, to ship in a small privateer, called the Liverpool, and then
+run our chance of getting off from her; as she was constantly crossing
+over to the American coast. As this craft was quite small, and often had
+but few hands in her, we did not know but we might get hold of the
+schooner itself. Then there was some probability of being put in a
+coaster; which we might run away with. At all events, any chance seemed
+better to us, than that of remaining in prison, until the end of war that
+might last years, or until we got to be grey-headed. I remembered, when
+the Ville de Milan was brought into Halifax; this was a year, or two,
+before I went to sea; and yet here were some of her people still, on
+Melville Island!
+
+I renewed my trade as soon as out of the Black Hole, but did not give up
+the idea of escaping. Leonard Lewis and Jack Mallet were the only men we
+let into the secret. They both declined joining us; Mallet on account of
+his dread of the water, and Lewis, because certain he could not outlive
+the fatigue; but they wished us good luck, and aided us all they could.
+With Johnson we would have no further concern.
+
+The keepers did not ascertain the means by which we had left the barracks,
+though they had seen the cut pickets of course. We did not attempt,
+therefore, to cut through again, but resolved to climb. The English had
+strengthened the pickets with cross-pieces, which were a great assistance
+to _us_, and I now desire to express my thanks for the same. We waited for
+a warm, but dark and rainy night in May, before we commenced our new
+movement. We had still plenty of money, I having brought back with me to
+prison forty crowns, and having driven a thriving trade in the interval.
+We got out through the bars, precisely as we had done before, and at the
+very same window. This was a small job. After climbing the pickets, either
+Littlefield or Barnet dropped on the outside, a little too carelessly, and
+was overheard. The sentinel immediately called for the corporal of the
+guard, but we were in the water, swimming quite near the bridge, and some
+little distance from the guard-house on the main. There was a stir on the
+island, while we were in the water, but we all got ashore, safe
+and unseen.
+
+We took to the same woods as before, but turned south instead of west. Our
+route brought us along by the waterside, and we travelled hard all that
+night. Littlefield pretended to be our guide, but we got lost, and
+remained two days and nights in the woods, without food, and completely at
+fault as to which way to steer. At length we ventured out into a high-way,
+by open day-light, and good luck threw an old Irish seaman, who then lived
+by fishing in [missing]. After a little conversation, we told this old
+man we were deserters from a vessel of war, and he seemed to like us all
+the better for it. He had served himself, and had a son impressed, and
+seemed to like the English navy little better than we did ourselves. He
+took us to a hut on the beach, and fed us with fish, potatoes, and bread,
+giving us a very comfortable and hearty meal. We remained in this hut
+until sunset, receiving a great deal of useful advice from the old man,
+and then we left him. We used some precaution in travelling, sleeping in
+the woods; but we kept moving by day as well as by night, and halting only
+when tired, and a good place offered. We were not very well off for food,
+though we brought a little from the fisherman's hut, and found quantities
+of winter-berries by the way-side.
+
+We entered Liverpool about eight at night, and went immediately to the
+rendezvous of the privateer, giving a little girl a shilling to be our
+guide. The keeper of the rendezvous received us gladly, and we shipped
+immediately. Of course we were lodged and fed, in waiting for the schooner
+to come in. Each of us got four pounds bounty, and both parties seemed
+delighted with the bargain. To own the truth, we now began to drink, and
+the next day was pretty much a blank with us all. The second day, after
+breakfast, the landlord rushed into our room with a newspaper in his hand,
+and broke out upon us, with a pretty string of names, denouncing us for
+having told him we were deserters, when we were only runaway Yankees! The
+twelve pounds troubled him, and he demanded it back. We laughed at him,
+and advised him to be quiet and put us aboard the privateer. He then told
+us the guard was after us, hot-foot, and that it was too late. This proved
+to be true enough, for, in less than an hour an officer and a platoon of
+men had us in custody. We had some fun in hearing the officer give it to
+the landlord, who still kept talking about his twelve pounds. The officer
+told him plainly that he was rightly served, for attempting to smuggle off
+deserters, and I suppose this was the reason no one endeavoured to get the
+money away from us, except by words. We kept the twelve pounds, right
+or wrong.
+
+We were now put in a coaster, and sent to Halifax by water. We were in
+irons, but otherwise were well enough treated. We were kept in the
+Navy-yard guard-house, at Halifax, several hours, and were visited by a
+great many officers. These gentlemen were curious to hear our story, and
+we let them have it, very frankly. They laughed, and said, generally, we
+were not to be blamed for trying to get off, if their own look-outs were
+so bad as to let us. We did not tell them, however, by what means we
+passed out of the prison-barracks. Among the officers who came and spoke
+to us, was an admiral, Sir Isaac Coffin. This gentleman was a native
+American, and was then in Halifax to assist the Nantucket men, whom he
+managed to get exchanged. His own nephew was said to be among them; but
+him he would not serve, as he had been captured in a privateer. Had he
+been captured in a man-of-war, or a merchantman, he would have done all
+he could for him; but, as it was, he let him go to Dartmoor--at least,
+this was the story in the prison. The old gentleman spoke very mildly to
+us, and said he could not blame us for attempting to escape. I do not
+think he had ever heard of the twelve pounds; though none of the navy
+officers were sorry that the privateer's-men should be punished. As for
+us, we considered them all enemies alike, on whom it was fair enough to
+live in a time of war.
+
+We were sent back to the island, and were quarantined again; though it was
+for twenty days, this time. When we got pratique, we learned that some one
+had told of the manner in which we got out of prison, and cross-bars had
+been placed in all the windows, making them so many "nine of diamonds."
+This was blocking the channel, and there was no more chance for getting
+off in that way.
+
+A grand conspiracy was now formed, which was worthy of the men in prison.
+The plan was to get possession of Halifax itself, and go off in triumph.
+We were eighteen hundred prisoners in all; though not very well off for
+officers. About fifty of us entered into the plan, at first; nor did we
+let in any recruits for something like six weeks. A Mr. Crowninshield, of
+Salem, was the head man among as, he having been an officer in a
+privateer. There were a good many privateer officers in the prison, but
+they were berthed over-head, and were intended to be separated from us at
+night. The floor was lifted between us, however, and we held our
+communications by these means. The officers came down at night, and lent
+us a hand with the work.
+
+The scheme was very simple, though I do not think it was at all difficult
+of execution. The black-hole cells were beneath the prison, and we broke
+through the floor, into one of them, from our bay. A large mess-chest
+concealed the process, in the day-time. We worked in gangs of six, digging
+and passing up the dirt into the night-tubs. These tubs we were
+permitted to empty, every morning, in a tide's way, and thus we got rid of
+the dirt. At the end of two months we had dug a passage, wide enough for
+two abreast, some twenty or thirty yards, and were nearly ready to come up
+to the surface. We now began to recruit, swearing in each man. On the
+whole, we had got about four hundred names, when the project was defeated,
+by that great enemy which destroys so many similar schemes, treachery. We
+were betrayed, as was supposed by one of our own number.
+
+Had we got out, the plan was to seize the heights of the island, and get
+possession of the guns. This effected, it would have been easy to subdue
+the guard. We then would have pushed for Citadel Hill, which commanded
+Halifax. Had we succeeded there, we should have given John Bull a great
+deal of trouble, though no one could say what would have been the result.
+Hundreds would probably have got off, in different craft, even had the
+great plan failed. We were not permitted to try the experiment, however,
+for one day we were all turned out, and a party of English officers, army
+and navy, entered the barracks, removed the mess-chest, and surveyed our
+mine at their leisure. A draft of six hundred was sent from the prison
+that day, and was shipped for Dartmoor; and, by the end of the week, our
+whole number was reduced to some three or four hundred souls. One of the
+Julias went in this draft, but all the rest of us were kept at Halifax.
+For some reason or other, the English seemed to keep their eyes on us.
+
+I never gave up the hope of escaping, and the excitement of the hope was
+beneficial to both body and mind. We were too well watched, however, and
+conversation at night was even forbidden. Most of the officers were gone
+and this threw me pretty much on my own resources. I have forgotten to say
+that Lemuel Bryant, the man who fell at the breech of my gun, at Little
+York, and whom I afterwards hauled into the Scourge's boat, got off, very
+early after our arrival at Halifax. He made two that got quite clear,
+instead of the one I have already mentioned. Bryant's escape was so
+clever, as to deserve notice.
+
+One day a party of some thirty soldiers was called out for exchange, under
+a capitulation. Among the names was that of Lemuel Bryant, but the man
+happened to be dead. Our Bryant had found this out, beforehand, and he
+rigged himself soldier-fashion, and answered to the name. It is probable
+he ascertained the fact, by means of some relationship, which brought him
+in contact with the soldier previously to his death. He met with no
+difficulty, and I have never seen him since. I have heard he is still
+living, and that he receives a pension for the hurt he received at York.
+Well does he deserve it, for no man ever had a narrower chance for
+his life.
+
+Nothing new, worthy of notice, occurred for several months, until one
+evening in March, 1815, we heard a great rejoicing in Halifax; and,
+presently, a turnkey appeared on the walls, and called out that England
+and America had made peace! We gave three cheers, and passed the night
+happy enough. We had a bit of a row with the turnkeys about locking us in
+again, for we were fierce for liberty; but we were forced to submit for
+another night.
+
+
+
+Chapter X.
+
+
+
+The following morning, eight of the names that stood first on the
+prison-roll were called off, to know if the men would consent to work a
+liberated Swedish brig to New York. I was one of the eight, as was Jack
+Mallet and Barnet. Wilcox, one of those who had gone with us to Bermuda,
+had died, and the rest were left on the island. I never fell in with
+Leonard Lewis, Littlefield, or any of the rest of those chaps, after I
+quitted the prison. Lewis, I think, could not have lived long; and as for
+Littlefield, I heard of him, afterwards, as belonging to the
+Washington 74.
+
+The Swede, whose name was the Venus, was lying at the end of Marchinton's
+wharf, a place that had been so familiar to me in boyhood. We all went on
+board, and I was not sorry to find that we were to haul into the stream
+immediately. I had an extraordinary aversion to Halifax, which my late
+confinement had not diminished, and had no wish to see a living soul in
+it. Jack Mallet, however, took on himself the office of paying my sister a
+visit, and of telling her where I was to be found. This he did contrary to
+my wishes, and without my knowledge; though I think he meant to do me a
+favour. The very day we hauled into the stream, a boat came alongside us,
+and I saw, at a glance, that Harriet was in it. I said a few words to her,
+requesting her not to come on board, but promising to visit her that
+evening, which I did.
+
+I stayed several hours with my sister, whom I found living with her
+husband. She did not mention my father's name to me, at all; and I learned
+nothing of my other friends, if I ever had any, or of my family. Her
+husband was a tailor, and they gave me a good outfit of clothes, and
+treated me with great kindness. It struck me that the unaccountable
+silence of my father about us children, had brought my sister down in the
+world a little, but it was no affair of mine; and, as for myself, I cared
+for no one. After passing the evening with the family, I went on board
+again, without turning to the right or left to see a single soul more.
+Even the Frasers were not visited, so strong was my dislike to have
+anything to do with Halifax.
+
+The Venus took on board several passengers, among whom were three or four
+officers of the navy. Lieutenant Rapp, and a midshipman Randolph were
+among them, and there were also several merchant-masters of the party. We
+sailed two days after I joined the brig, and had a ten or twelve days'
+passage. The moment the Venus was alongside the wharf, at New York, we all
+left, and found ourselves free men once more. I had been a prisoner
+nineteen months, and that was quite enough for me for the remainder of
+my life.
+
+We United States' men reported ourselves, the next day to Captain Evans,
+the commandment of the Brooklyn Yard, and, after giving in our names, we
+were advised to go on board the Epervier, which was then fitting out for
+the Mediterranean, under the command of Captain Downes. To this we
+objected, however, as we wanted a cruise ashore, before we took to the
+water again. This was a lucky decision of ours, though scarcely to be
+defended as to our views: the Epervier being lost, and all hands
+perishing, a few months later, on her return passage from the Straits.
+
+Captain Evans then directed us to report ourselves daily, which we did.
+But the press of business at Washington prevented our cases from being
+attended to; and being destitute of money, while wages were high, we
+determined, with Captain Evans' approbation, to make a voyage, each, in
+the merchant service, and to get our accounts settled on our return. Jack
+Mallet, Barnet and I, shipped, therefore, in another brig called the
+Venus, that was bound on a sealing voyage, as was thought, in some part of
+the world where seals were said to be plenty. We were ignorant of the
+work, or we might have discovered there was a deception intended, from the
+outfit of the vessel. She had no salt even, while she had plenty of
+cross-cut saws, iron dogs, chains, &c. The brig sailed, however, and stood
+across the Atlantic, as if in good earnest. When near the Cape de Verds,
+the captain called us aft, and told us he thought the season too far
+advanced for sealing, and that, if we would consent, he would run down to
+St. Domingo, and make an arrangement with some one there to cut mahogany
+on shares, with fustick and lignum-vitæ. The secret was now out; but what
+could we poor salts do? The work we were asked to do turned out to be
+extremely laborious; and I suppose we had been deceived on account of the
+difficulty of getting men, just at that time, for such a voyage. There we
+were, in the midst of the ocean, and we agreed to the proposal, pretty
+much as a matter of course.
+
+The brig now bore up, and stood for St. Domingo. She first went in to the
+city of St. Domingo, where the arrangements were made, and Spaniards were
+got to help to cut the wood, when we sailed for a bay, of which I have
+forgotten the name, and anchored near the shore. The trees were sawed
+down, about ten miles up a river, and floated to its bar, across which
+they had to be hauled by studding-sail halyards, through the surf; one man
+hauling two logs at a time, made into a sort of raft. Sharks abounded, and
+we had to keep a bright look-out, lest they got a leg while we were busy
+with the logs. I had a narrow escape from two while we lay at St. Domingo.
+A man fell overboard, and I went after him, succeeding in catching the
+poor fellow. A boat was dropped astern to pick us up, and, as we hauled
+the man in, two large sharks came up close alongside. This affair had set
+us drinking, and I got a good deal of punch aboard. The idea of remaining
+in the brig was unpleasant to me, and I had thought of quitting her for
+some days. A small schooner bound to America, and short of hands, lay near
+us; and I had told the captain I would come and join him that night. Jack
+Mallet and the rest tried to persuade me not to go, but I had too much
+punch and grog in me to listen to reason. When all hands aft were asleep,
+therefore, I let myself down into the water, and swam quite a
+cable's-length to the schooner. One of the men was looking out for me. He
+heard me in the water, and stood ready to receive me. As I drew near the
+schooner, this man threw me a rope, and helped me up the side, but, as
+soon as I was on the deck, he told me to look behind me. I did so, and
+there I saw an enormous shark swimming about, a fellow that was sixteen or
+eighteen feet long. This shark, I was told, had kept company with me as
+long as I had been in sight from the schooner. I cannot well describe the
+effect that was produced on me by this discovery. When I entered the
+water, I was under the influence of liquor, but this escape sobered me in
+a minute; so much so, indeed, that I insisted on being put in a boat, and
+sent back to the brig, which was done. I was a little influenced in this,
+however, by some reluctance that was manifested to keep me on board the
+schooner. I got on board the Venus without being discovered, and came to a
+resolution to stick by the craft until the voyage was up.
+
+We filled up with mahogany, and took in a heavy deck-load, in the course
+of four months, which was a most laborious process. When ready, the brig
+sailed for New York, We encountered a heavy gale, about a week out, which
+swept away our deck-load, bulwarks, &c. At this time, the master,
+supercargo, mate, cook, and three of the crew, were down with the fever;
+leaving Mallet, Barnet and myself, to take care of the brig. We three
+brought the vessel up as far as Barnegat, where we procured assistance,
+and she arrived safe at the quarantine ground.
+
+As soon as we got pratique, Mallet, Barnet and myself, went up to town to
+look after our affairs, leaving the brig below. The owners gave us thirty
+dollars each, to begin upon. We ascertained that our landlord had received
+our wages from government, and held it ready for us, sailor fashion. I
+also sold my share in the Venus' voyage for one hundred and twenty
+dollars. This gave me, in all, about five hundred dollars, which money
+lasted me between five and six weeks! How true is it, that "sailors make
+their money like horses, and spend it like asses!" I cannot say this
+prodigal waste of my means afforded me any substantial gratification. I
+have experienced more real pleasure from one day passed in a way of which
+my conscience could approve, than from all the loose and thoughtless
+follies, in which I was then in the habit of indulging when ashore, of a
+whole life. The manner in which this hard-earned gold was thrown away, may
+serve to warn some brother tar of the dangers that beset me; and let the
+reader understand the real wants of so large a body of his
+fellow-creatures.
+
+On turning out in the morning, I felt an approach to that which seamen
+call the "horrors," and continued in this state, until I had swallowed
+several glasses of rum. I had no appetite for breakfast, and life was
+sustained principally by drink. Half of the time I ate no dinner, and when
+I did, it was almost drowned in grog. Occasionally I drove out in a coach,
+or a gig, and generally had something extra to pay for damages. One of
+these cruises cost me forty dollars, and I shall always think I was given
+a horse that sailed crab-fashion, on purpose to do me out of the money. At
+night, I generally went to the play, and felt bound to treat the landlord
+and his family to tickets and refreshments. We always had a coach to go
+in, and it was a reasonable night that cost me only ten dollars. At first
+I was a sort of "king among beggars;" but as the money went, Ned's
+importance went with it, until, one day, the virtuous landlord intimated
+to me that it would be well, as I happened to be sober, to overhaul our
+accounts. He then began to read from his books, ten dollars for this,
+twenty dollars for that, and thirty for the other, until I was soon tired,
+and wanted to know how much was left. I had still fifty dollars, even
+according to his account of the matter; and as that might last a week,
+with good management, I wanted to hear no more about the items.
+
+All this time, I was separated from my old shipmates, being left
+comparatively among strangers. Jack Mallet had gone to join his friends in
+Philadelphia, and Barnet went south, whither I cannot say. I never fell in
+with either of them again, it being the fate of seamen to encounter the
+greatest risks and hardships in company, and then to cut adrift from each
+other, with little ceremony, never to meet again. I was still young, being
+scarcely two-and-twenty, and might, even then, have hauled in my oars, and
+come to be an officer and a man.
+
+As I knew I must go to sea, as soon as the accounts were balanced, I began
+to think a little seriously of my prospects. Dissipation had wearied me,
+and I wanted to go a voyage of a length that would prevent my falling soon
+into the same course of folly and vice. I had often bitter thoughts as to
+my conduct, nor was I entirely free from reflection on the subject of my
+peculiar situation. I might be said to be without a friend, or relative,
+in the world. "When my hat was on, my house was thatched." Of my father, I
+knew nothing; I have since ascertained he must then have been dead. My
+sister was little to me, and I never expected to see her again. The
+separation from all my old lakers, too, gave me some trouble, for I never
+met with one of them after parting from Barnet and Mallet, with the
+exception of Tom Goldsmith and Jack Reilly. Tom and I fell in with each
+other, on my return from St. Domingo, in the streets of New York, and had
+a yarn of two hours, about old times. This was all I ever saw of Tom. He
+had suffered a good deal with the English, who kept him in Kingston, Upper
+Canada, until the peace, when they let him go with the rest. As for
+Reilly, we have been in harbour together, in our old age, and I may speak
+of him again.
+
+Under the feelings I have mentioned, as soon as the looks of my landlord
+let me know that there were no more shot in the locker, I shipped in a
+South Sea whaler, named the Edward, that was expected to be absent
+between two and three years. She was a small vessel, and carried only
+three boats. I got a pretty good outfit from my landlord, though most of
+the articles were second-hand. We parted good friends, however, and I came
+back to him, and played the same silly game more than once. He was not a
+bad _landlord_, as landlords then went, and I make no doubt he took better
+care of my money than I should have done myself. On the whole, this class
+of men are not as bad as they seem, though there are precious rascals
+among them. The respectable sailor landlord is quite as good, in his way,
+as one could expect, all things considered.
+
+The voyage I made in the Edward was one of very little interest, the ship
+being exceedingly successful. The usage and living were good, and the
+whaling must have been good too, or we never should have been back again,
+as soon as we were. We went round the Horn, and took our first whale
+between the coast of South America and that of New Holland. I must have
+been present at the striking of thirty fish, but never met with any
+accident. I pulled a mid-ship oar, being a new hand at the business, and
+had little else to do, but keep clear of the line, and look out for my
+paddle. The voyage is now so common, and the mode of taking whales is so
+well known, that I shall say little about either. We went off the coast of
+Japan, as it is called, though a long bit from the land, and we made New
+Holland, though without touching. The return passage was by the Cape of
+Good Hope and St. Helena. We let go our anchor but once the whole voyage,
+and that was at Puna, at the mouth of the Guayaquil river, on the coast of
+Chili. We lay there a week, but, with this exception, the Edward was
+actually under her canvass the whole voyage, or eighteen months. We did
+intend to anchor at St. Helena, but were forbidden on account of
+Bonaparte, who was then a prisoner on the Island. As we stood in, we were
+met by a man-of-war brig, that kept close to us until we had sunk the
+heights, on our passage off again. We were not permitted even to send a
+boat in, for fresh grub.
+
+I sold my voyage in the Edward for two hundred and fifty dollars, and went
+back to my landlord, in Water street. Of course, everybody was glad to see
+me, a sailor's importance in such places being estimated by the length of
+his voyage. In Wall street they used to call a man "a hundred thousand
+dollar man," and in Water, "an eighteen months, or a two years' voyage
+man." As none but whalers, Indiamen, and Statesmen could hold out so long,
+we were all A. No. 1, for a fortnight or three weeks. The man-of-war's-man
+is generally most esteemed, his cruise lasting three years; the _lucky_
+whaler comes next, and the Canton-man third. The Edward had been a lucky
+ship, and, insomuch, I had been a lucky fellow. I behaved far better this
+time, however, than I had done on my return from St. Domingo. I kept sober
+more, did not spend my money as foolishly or as fast, and did not wait to
+be kicked out of doors, before I thought of getting some more. When I
+shipped anew, I actually left a hundred dollars behind me in my landlord's
+hands; a very extraordinary thing for Jack, and what is equally worthy of
+notice, I got it all again, on my next return from sea.
+
+My steadiness was owing, in a great measure, to the following
+circumstances. I fell in with two old acquaintances, who had been in
+prison with me, of the names of Tibbets and Wilson. This Tibbets was not
+the man who had been sent to Bermuda with me, but another of the same
+name. These men had belonged to the Gov. Tompkins privateer, and had
+received a considerable sum in prize-money, on returning home. They had
+used their money discreetly, having purchased an English prize-brig, at a
+low price, and fitted her out. On board the Tompkins, both had been
+foremost hands, and in prison they had messed in our bay, so that we had
+been hail-fellows-well-met; on Melville Island. After getting this brig
+ready, they had been to the West Indies in her, and were now about to sail
+for Ireland. They wished me to go with them, and gave me so much good
+advice, on the subject of taking care of my money, that it produced the
+effect I have just mentioned.
+
+The name of the prize-brig was the Susan, though I forget from what small
+eastern port she hailed. She was of about two hundred tons burthen, but
+must have-been old and rotten. Tibbets was master, and Wilson was
+chief-mate. I shipped as a sort of second-mate, keeping a watch, though I
+lived forward at my own request. We must have sailed about January, 1818,
+bound to Belfast. There were fourteen of us, altogether, on board, most of
+us down-easters. Our run off the coast was with a strong north-west gale,
+which compelled us to heave-to, the sea being too high for scudding.
+Finding that the vessel laboured very much, however, and leaked badly, we
+kept off again, and scudded for the rest of the blow. On the whole, we got
+out of this difficulty pretty well. We got but two observations the whole
+passage, but in the afternoon of the twenty-third day out, we made the
+coast of Ireland, close aboard, in thick weather; the wind directly on
+shore, blowing a gale. The brig was under close-reefed topsails, running
+free, at the time, and we found it necessary to haul up. We now discovered
+the defects of old canvass and old rigging, splitting the fore-topsail,
+foresail, and fore-topmast-staysail, besides carrying away sheets, &c. We
+succeeded in hauling up the foresail, however, and I went upon the yard
+and mended it, after a fashion. It was now nearly night, and it blew in a
+way "to need two men to hold one man's hair on his head." I cannot say I
+thought much of our situation, my principal concern being to get below,
+with some warm, dry clothes on. We saw nothing of the land after the first
+half-hour, but at midnight we wore ship, and came up on the larboard tack.
+The brig had hardly got round before the fore-tack went, and the foresail
+split into ribands. We let the sail blow from the yard. By this time,
+things began to look very serious, though, for some reason, I felt no
+great alarm. The case was different with Tibbets and Wilson, who were
+uneasy about Cape Clear. I had had a bit of a spat with them about waring,
+believing, myself, that we should have gone clear of the Cape, on the
+starboard tack. This prevented them saying much to me, and we had little
+communication with each other that night. To own the truth, I was sorry I
+had shipped in such a craft. Her owners were too poor to give a sea-going
+vessel a proper outfit, and they were too near my own level to
+create respect.
+
+The fore-topsail had been mended as well as the foresail, and was set
+anew. The sheets went, however, about two in the morning, and the sail
+flew from the reef-band like a bit of muslin torn by a shop-boy. The brig
+now had nothing set but a close-reefed main-topsail, and this I expected,
+every minute, would follow the other canvass. It rained, blew
+tremendously, and the sea was making constant breaches over us. Most of
+the men were fagged out, some going below, while others, who remained on
+deck, did, or _could_ do, nothing. At the same time, it was so dark that
+we could not see the length of the vessel.
+
+I now went aft to speak to Tibbets, telling him I thought it was all over
+with us. He had still some hope, as the bay was deep, and he thought light
+might return before we got to the bottom of it. I was of a different
+opinion, believing the brig then to be within the influence of the
+ground-swell, though not absolutely within the breakers. All this time the
+people were quiet, and there was no drinking. Indeed, I hardly saw any one
+moving about. It was an hour after the conversation with Tibbets, that I
+was standing, holding on by the weather-main-clew-garnet, when I got a
+glimpse of breakers directly under our lee. I sung out, "there's breakers,
+and everybody must shift for himself." At the next instant, the brig rose
+on a sea, settled in the trough, and struck. The blow threw me off my
+feet, though I held on to the clew-garnet. Then I heard the crash of the
+foremast as it went down to leeward. The brig rolled over on her
+beam-ends, but righted at the next sea, drove in some distance, and down
+she came again, with a force that threatened to break her up. I bethought
+me of the main-mast, and managed to get forward as far as the bitts, in
+order to be out of its way. It was well I did, as I felt a movement as if
+her upper works were parting from the bottom. I was near no one, and the
+last person I saw, or spoke to on board, was Tibbets, who was then
+standing in the companion-way. This was an hour before the brig struck.
+
+There might have been an interval of half a minute between the time I
+reached the windlass, and that in which I saw a tremendous white foaming
+sea rolling down upon the vessel. At this ominous sight, I instinctively
+seized the bitts for protection. I can remember the rushing of the water
+down upon me, and have some faint impressions of passing through a mass of
+rigging, but this is all. When I came to my senses, it was in an Irish
+mud-cabin, with an old woman and her daughter taking care of me. My head
+was bandaged, and most of the hair had been cut off in front I was stiff
+and sore all over me. Fortunately, none of my bones were broken.
+
+The account given me of what had passed, was this. I was found by the old
+man, who lived in the hut, a fisherman and the husband of my nurse, with
+some other persons, lying on my face, between two shelves of rock. There
+was nothing very near me, not even a bit of wood, or a rope. Two lads that
+belonged to the brig were found not far from me, both alive, though both
+badly hurt, one of them having had his thigh broken. Of the rest of the
+fourteen souls on board the Susan, there were no traces. I never heard
+that even their bodies were found. Tibbets and Wilson had gone with their
+old prize, and anything but a prize did she prove to me. I lost a good
+outfit, and, after belonging to her about three weeks, here was I left
+naked on the shores of Ireland, I am sorry to say, my feelings were those
+of repining, rather than of gratitude. Of religion I had hardly a notion,
+and I am afraid that all which had been driven into me in childhood, was
+already lost. In this state of mind, I naturally felt more of the
+hardships I had endured, than of the mercy that had been shown me. I look
+back with shame at the hardness of heart which rendered me insensible to
+the many mercies I had received, in escaping so often from the perils of
+my calling.
+
+It was three days after the wreck, before I left my bed. Nothing could
+have been kinder than the treatment I received from those poor Irish
+people. Certainly no reward was before them, but that which Heaven gives
+the merciful; and yet I could not have been more cared for, had I been
+their own son. They fed me, nursed me, and warmed me, without receiving
+any other return from me than my thanks. I staid with them three weeks,
+doing nothing on account of the bruises I had received. The Susan's had
+been a thorough wreck. Not enough of her could be found, of which to build
+a launch. Her cargo was as effectually destroyed as her hull, and, to say
+the truth, it took but little to break her up. As for the two lads, I
+could not get as far as the cabin in which they had been put. It was two
+or three miles along the coast, and, having no shoes, I could not walk
+that distance over the sharp stones. Several messages passed between us,
+but I never saw a single soul that belonged to the brig, after the last
+look I had of Tibbets in the companion-way.
+
+A coaster passing near the cabin, and it falling calm, the fisherman went
+off to her, told my story, and got a passage for me to Liverpool. I now
+took my leave of these honest people, giving them all I had--my sincere
+thanks--and went on board the sloop. Here I was well treated, nor did any
+one expect me to work. We reached Liverpool the second day, and I went and
+hunted up Molly Hutson, the landlady with whom the crew of the Sterling
+had lodged, when Captain B---- had her. The old woman helped me to some
+clothes, received me well, and seemed sorry for my misfortunes. As it
+would not do to remain idle, however, I shipped on board the Robert Burns,
+and sailed for New York within the week. I got no wages, but met with
+excellent treatment, and had a very short winter passage. In less than
+three months after I left him, I was back again with my old landlord, who
+gave me my hundred dollars without any difficulty. I had sailed with him
+in the Sterling, and he always seemed to think of me a little differently
+from what landlords generally think of Jack.
+
+A good deal was said among my associates, now, about the advantages of
+making a voyage to the coast of Ireland for the purpose of smuggling
+tobacco, and I determined to try my hand at one. Of the morality of
+smuggling I have nothing to say. I would not make such a voyage now, if I
+know myself; but poor sailors are not taught to make just distinctions in
+such things, and the merchants must take their share of the shame. I fear
+there are few merchants, and fewer seamen, man-of-war officers excepted,
+who will not smuggle.[13]
+
+I laid out most of my hundred dollars, in getting a new outfit, and then
+shipped in a small pilot-boat-built schooner, called the M'Donough, bound
+to Ireland, to supply such honest fellows as my old fisherman with good
+tobacco, cheap. Our cargo was in small bales, being the raw material,
+intended to be passed by hand. We had seventeen hands before the mast, but
+carried no armament, pistols, &c., excepted. The schooner sailed like a
+witch, carrying only two gaff-topsails. We made the land in fourteen days
+after we left the Hook, our port being Tory Island, off the north-west
+coast of Ireland. We arrived in the day-time, and showed a signal, which
+was answered in the course of the day, by a smoke on some rocks. A large
+boat then came off to us, and we filled her with tobacco the same evening.
+In the course of the night, we had despatched four or five more boats,
+loaded with the same cargo; but, as day approached, we hauled our wind,
+and stood off the land. Next night we went in, again, and met more boats,
+and the succeeding morning we hauled off, as before. When we saw a boat,
+we hailed and asked "if they were outward bound." If the answer was
+satisfactory, we brailed the foresail and permitted the boat to come
+alongside. In this manner we continued shoving cargo ashore, for quite a
+week, sometimes falling in with only one boat of a night, and, at others,
+with three or four; just as it might happen. We had got about two-thirds
+of the tobacco out, and a boat had just left us, on the morning of the
+sixth or seventh day, when we saw a man-of-war brig coming round Tory
+Island, in chase. At this sight, we hauled up close on a wind, it blowing
+very fresh. As the English never employed any but the fastest cruisers for
+this station, we had a scratching time of it. The brig sailed very fast,
+and out-carried us; but our little schooner held on well. For two days and
+one night we had it, tack and tack, with her. The brig certainly gained on
+us, our craft carrying a balanced reefed-mainsail, bonnet off the foresail
+and one reef in, and bonnet off the jib. The flying-jib was inboard. At
+sunset, on the second night, the brig was so near us, we could see her
+people, and it was blowing fresher than ever. This was just her play,
+while ours was in more moderate weather. Our skipper got uneasy, now, and
+determined to try a trick. It set in dark and rainy; and, as soon as we
+lost sight of the brig, we tacked, stood on a short distance, lowered
+everything, and extinguished all our lights. We lay in this situation
+three hours, when we stuck the craft down again for Tory Island, as
+straight as we could go. I never knew what became of the brig, which may
+be chasing us yet, for aught I know for I saw no more of her. Next day we
+had the signal flying again, and the smoke came up from the same rock, as
+before. It took us three days longer to get all the tobacco ashore, in
+consequence of some trouble on the island; but it all went in the end, and
+went clear, as I was told, one or two boat-loads excepted. The cargo was
+no sooner out, than we made sail for New York, where we arrived in another
+short passage. We were absent but little more than two months, and my
+wages and presents came to near one hundred dollars. I never tried the
+tobacco trade again.
+
+
+
+Chapter XI.
+
+
+
+I now stayed ashore two months. I had determined to study navigation, and
+to try to get off the forecastle, in which wise course I was encouraged by
+several discreet friends. I had fallen in with a young woman of
+respectable character and agreeable person, and, to own the truth, was
+completely in irons with her. I believe a mother is a good deal more on
+the look-out than a father, in such matters; for I was overhauled by the
+old woman, and questioned as to my intentions about Sarah, whereas the old
+man was somewhat more moderate. I confessed my wish to marry her daughter;
+but the old woman thought I was too wild, which was not Sarah's opinion, I
+believe. Had we been left to ourselves, we should have got married; though
+I was really desirous of going out once as an officer, before I took so
+important a step. I have sometimes suspected that Sarah's parents had a
+hand in getting me shipped, again, as they were intimate with the captain
+who now proposed to take me with him as his second-mate. I consented to
+go, with some reluctance; but, on the whole, thought it was the best thing
+I could do. My reluctance proceeded from desire to remain with Sarah,
+when the time came; though the berth was exactly the thing I wanted,
+whenever I reasoned coolly on the subject.
+
+I shipped, accordingly, in a vessel of the Costers', called the William
+and Jane, bound to Holland and Canton, as her second-mate. My leave-taking
+with Sarah was very tender; and I believe we both felt much grieved at the
+necessity of parting. Nothing occurred on the passage out worth
+mentioning. I got along with my duty well enough, for I had been broken-in
+on, board the Sterling, and one or two other vessels. We went to the
+Texel, but found some difficulty in procuring dollars, which caused us to
+return to New York, after getting only twenty thousand. We had no other
+return cargo, with the exception of a little gin. We were absent five
+months; and I found Sarah as pretty, and as true, as ever. I did not quit
+the vessel, however; but, finding my knowledge of the lunars too limited,
+I was obliged to go backward a little--becoming third-mate. We were a
+month in New York, and it was pretty hard work to keep from eloping with
+Sarah; but I clawed off the breakers as well as I could. I gave her a
+silver thimble, and told her to take it to a smith, and get our joint
+names cut on it, which she did. The consequences of this act will be seen
+in the end.
+
+We had a little breeze on board the ship before we could get off; the
+people refusing to sail with a new first-mate that had joined her. It
+ended by getting another mate, when we went to sea. I believe that no
+other vessel ever went out with such articles as our crew insisted on. The
+men stipulated for three quarts of water a day, and the forenoon's watch
+below. All this was put in black and white, and it gave us some trouble
+before we got to our destination.
+
+Our passage out was a very long one, lasting two hundred and ten days.
+When we got into the trades, we stripped one mast after the other, to a
+girt-line, overhauling everything, and actually getting new gangs of
+rigging up over the lower-mast-heads. We were a long time about it, but
+lost little or nothing in distance, as the ship was going before the wind
+the whole time, with everything packed on the masts that were rigged.
+Before overhauling the rigging, we fell in with an English ship, called
+the General Blucher, and kept company with her for quite a fortnight.
+While the two ships were together, we were chased by a strange brig, that
+kept in sight three or four days, evidently watching us, and both vessels
+suspected him of being a pirate. As we had six guns, and thirty-one souls,
+and the Blucher was, at least, as strong, the two captains thought, by
+standing by each other, they might beat the fellow off, should he attack
+us. The brig frequently came near enough to get a good look at us, and
+then dropped astern. He continued this game several days, until he
+suddenly hauled his wind, and left us. Our ship would have been a famous
+prize; having, it was said, no less than two hundred and fifty thousand
+Spanish dollars on board.
+
+We parted company with the Blucher, in a heavy gale; our ship bearing up
+for Rio. After getting rid of some of our ballast, however, and changing
+the cargo of pig-lead, our vessel was easier, and did not go in. Nothing
+further occurred, worth mentioning, until we got off Van Diemen's Land.
+Two days after seeing the land, a boy fell from the fore-top-gallant yard,
+while reeving the studding-sail halyards. I had just turned in, after
+eating my dinner, having the watch below, when I heard the cry of "a man
+overboard!" Running on deck, as I was, I jumped into a quarter-boat,
+followed by four men, and we were immediately lowered down. The ship was
+rounded-to, and I heard the poor fellow calling out to me by name, to save
+him. I saw him, astern, very plainly, while on the ship's quarter; but
+lost sight of him, as soon as the boat was in the water. The sky-light-hood
+had been thrown overboard, and was floating in the ship's wake. We steered
+for that; but could neither see nor hear anything more of the poor fellow.
+We got his hat, and we picked up the hood of the sky-light, but could not
+find the boy. He had, unquestionably, gone down before we reached the spot
+where he had been floating, as his hat must have pointed out the place. We
+got the hat first; and then, seeing nothing of the lad, we pulled back to
+take in the hood; which was quite large. While employed in taking it in, a
+squall passed over the boat; which nearly blew it away from us. Being very
+busy in securing the hood, no one had leisure to look about; but the duty
+was no sooner done, than one of the men called out, that he could not see
+the ship! Sure enough, the William and Jane had disappeared! and there we
+were, left in the middle of the ocean, in a six-oared pinnace, without a
+morsel of food, and I myself, without hat, shoes, jacket or trowsers. In a
+word, I had nothing on me but my drawers and a flannel shirt. Fortunately,
+the captain kept a breaker of fresh water in each boat, and we had a small
+supply of this great requisite;--enough, perhaps, to last five men two or
+three days.
+
+All our boats had sails; but those of the pinnace had been spread on the
+quarter-deck, to dry; and we had nothing but the ash to depend on. At
+first, we pulled to leeward; but the weather was so thick, we could not
+see a cable's-length; and our search for the vessel, in that direction,
+proved useless. At the end of an hour or two, we ceased rowing, and held a
+consultation. I proposed to pull in the direction of the land; which was
+pulling to windward. If the ship should search for us, it would certainly
+be in that quarter; and if we should miss her, altogether, our only chance
+was in reaching the shore. There, we might find something to eat; of which
+there was little hope, out on the ocean. The men did not relish the idea
+of quitting the spot; but, after some talk, they came into my plan.
+
+It remained thick weather all that afternoon, night, and succeeding day,
+until about noon. We were without a compass, and steered by the direction
+of the wind and sea. Occasionally it lightened up a little, so as to show
+us a star or two, or during the day to permit us to see a few miles around
+the boat; but we got no glimpse of the ship. It blew so heavily that we
+made no great progress, in my judgment doing very little more than keeping
+the boat head to sea. Could we have pulled four oars, this might not have
+been the case, but we took it watch and watch, two men pulling, while two
+tried to get a little rest, under the shelter of the hood. I steered as
+long as I could, but was compelled to row part of the time to keep myself
+warm. In this manner were passed about six-and-twenty of the most
+unpleasant hours of my life, when some of us thought they heard the report
+of a distant gun. I did not believe it; but, after listening attentively
+some ten or fifteen minutes, another report was heard, beyond all dispute,
+dead to leeward of us!
+
+This signal produced a wonderful effect on us all. The four oars were
+manned, and away we went before the wind and sea, as fast as we could
+pull, I steering for the reports as they came heavily up to windward at
+intervals of about a quarter of an hour. Three or four of these guns were
+heard, each report sounding nearer than the other, to our great joy, until
+I got a glimpse of the ship, about two miles distant from us. She was on
+the starboard tack, close hauled, a proof she was in search of us, with
+top-gallant-sails set over single-reefed topsails. She was drawing ahead
+of us fast, however, and had we not seen her as we did, we should have
+crossed her wake, and been lost without a hope, by running to leeward. We
+altered our course the instant she was seen; but what could a boat do in
+such a sea, pulling after a fast ship under such canvass? Perhaps we felt
+more keen anxiety, after we saw the ship, than we did before, since we
+beheld all the risk we ran. Never shall I forget the sensations with which
+I saw her start her main-tack and haul up the sail! The foresail and
+top-gallant-sail followed, and then the main-yard came round, and laid the
+topsail aback! Everything seemed to fly on board her, and we knew we were
+safe. In a few minutes we were alongside. The boat was at the davits, the
+helm was up, and the old barky squared away for China.
+
+We in the boat were all pretty well fagged out with hunger, toil, and
+exposure. I was the worst off, having so little clothing in cool weather,
+and I think another day would have destroyed us all, unless we had taken
+refuge in the well-known dreadful alternative of seamen. The captain was
+delighted to see us, as indeed were all hands. They had determined to turn
+to windward, on short tacks, until they made the land, the best thing that
+could have been done, and the course that actually saved us.
+
+When we got into the latitude of Port Jackson, the crew was put on two
+quarts of water a man, three quarts having been stipulated for in the
+articles. This produced a mutiny, the men refusing duty. This was awkward
+enough, in that distant sea. The captain took advantage of the men's going
+below, however, to secure the scuttle and keep them there. He then
+mustered us, who lived aft, six men and three boys, and laid the question
+before us, _whether we would take the ship into Canton_, or go into Port
+Jackson, and get some water. He admitted we were about seventy-five days
+run from Cauton, but he himself leaned to the plan of continuing on our
+course. We saw all the difficulties before us, and told him of them.
+
+There were twenty men below, and to carry them eight or ten thousand miles
+in that situation, would have been troublesome, to say the least, and
+might have caused the death of some among them. We were armed, and had no
+apprehensions of the people, but we did not like to work a ship of five
+hundred tons with so few hands, one-third of whom were boys, so great a
+distance. The crew, moreover, had a good deal of right on their side, the
+articles stipulating that they should have the water, and this water was
+to be had a short distance to windward.
+
+The captain yielded to our reasoning, and we beat up to Port Jackson,
+where we arrived in three or four days. The people were then sent to
+prison, as mutineers, and we watered the ship. We were in port a
+fortnight, thus occupied. All this time the men were in gaol. No men were
+to be had, and then arose the question about trusting the old crew. There
+was no choice, and, the ship being ready to sail, we received the people
+on board again, and turned them all to duty. We had no further trouble
+with them, however, the fellows behaving perfectly well, as men commonly
+will, who have been once put down. No mutiny is dangerous when the
+officers are apprized of its existence, and are fairly ready to meet it.
+The king's name is a tower of strength.
+
+We arrived at Canton in due time, and found our cargo ready for us. We
+took it in, and sailed again, for the Texel, in three weeks. Our passage
+to Europe was two hundred and eleven days, but we met with no accident. At
+the Texel I found two letters from New York, one being from Sarah, and the
+other from a female friend. Sarah was married to the very silversmith who
+had engraven our names on the thimble! This man saw her for the first
+time, when she carried that miserable thimble to him, fell in love with
+her, and, being in good circumstances, her friends prevailed on her to
+have him. Her letter to me admitted her error, and confessed her
+unhappiness; but there was no remedy. I did not like the idea of returning
+to New York, under the circumstances, and resolved to quit the ship. I
+got my discharge, therefore, from the William and Jane, and left her,
+never seeing the vessel afterwards.
+
+There was a small Baltimore ship, called the Wabash, at the Texel, getting
+ready for Canton, and I entered on board her, as a foremast Jack, again.
+My plan was to quit her in China, and to remain beyond the Capes for ever.
+The disappointment in my matrimonial plans had soured me, and I wanted to
+get as far from America as I could. This was the turning point of my life,
+and was to settle my position in my calling. I was now twenty-seven, and
+when a man gets stern-way on him, at that age, he must sail a good craft
+ever to work his way into his proper berth again.
+
+The Wabash had a good passage out, without any unusual occurrence. On her
+arrival at Canton, I told the captain my views, and he allowed me to go. I
+was now adrift in the Imperial Empire, with a couple of hundred dollars in
+my pocket, and a chest full of good clothes. So far all was well, and I
+began to look about me for a berth. We had found an English country ship
+lying at Whampao, smuggling opium, and I got on board of her, as
+third-mate, a few days after I quitted the Wabash. This was the first and
+only time I ever sailed under the English flag, for I do not call my other
+passages in English vessels, sailing _under_ the flag, though it was
+waving over my head. My new ship was the Hope, of Calcutta, commanded by
+Captain Kid, or Kyd, I forget which. The vessel was built of teak, and had
+been a frigate in the Portuguese service. She was so old no one knew
+exactly when she was built, but sailed like a witch. Her crew consisted
+principally of Lascars, with a few Europeans and negroes, as is usual in
+those craft. My wages did not amount to much in dollars, but everything
+was so cheap, they counted up in the long run. I had perquisites, too,
+which amounted to something handsome. They kept a very good table.
+
+The Hope had a good deal of opium, when I joined her, and it was all to be
+smuggled before we sailed. As this trade has made a great deal of noise,
+latterly, I will relate the manner in which we disposed of the drug. Of
+the morality of this species of commerce, I have no more to say in its
+defence, than I had of the tobacco voyage, unless it be to aver that were
+I compelled, now, to embark in one of the two, it should be to give the
+countrymen of my honest fisherman cheap tobacco, in preference to making
+the Chinese drunk on opium.
+
+Our opium was packed in wooden boxes of forty cylinders, weighing about
+ten pounds each cylinder. Of course each box weighed about four hundred
+pounds. The main cargo was cotton, and salt-petre, and ebony; but there
+were four hundred boxes of this opium.
+
+The sales of the article were made by the captain, up at the factory. They
+seldom exceeded six or eight boxes at a time, and were oftener two or
+three. The purchaser then brought, or sent, an order on board the ship,
+for the delivery of the opium. He also provided bags. The custom-house
+officers did not remain in the ship, as in other countries, but were on
+board a large armed boat, hanging astern. These crafts are called Hoppoo
+boats. This arrangement left us tolerably free to do as we pleased, on
+board. If an officer happened to come on board, however, we had early
+notice of it, of course. As third-mate, it was my duty to see the boxes
+taken out of the hold, and the opium delivered. The box was opened, and
+the cylinders counted off, and stowed in the bags, which were of sizes
+convenient to handle. All this was done on the gun-deck, the purchaser
+receiving possession of his opium, on board us. It was his loss, if
+anything failed afterwards.
+
+As soon as the buyer had his opium in the bags, he placed the latter near
+two or three open ports, amidships, and hung out a signal to the shore.
+This signal was soon answered, and then it was look out for the smuggling
+boats! These smuggling boats are long, swift, craft, that have
+double-banked paddles, frequently to the number of sixty men. They are
+armed, and are swift as arrows. When all is ready, they appear suddenly on
+the water, and dash alongside of the vessel for which they are bound, and
+find the labourers of the purchaser standing at the ports, with the bags
+of cylinders ready. These bags are thrown into the boat, the purchaser and
+his men tumble after them, and away she paddles, like a racer. The whole
+operation occupies but a minute or two.
+
+As soon as the Hoppoo boat sees what is going on, it begins to blow
+conches. This gives the alarm, and then follows a chase from an armed
+custom-house boat, of which there are many constantly plying about. It
+always appeared to me that the custom-house people were either afraid of
+the smugglers, or that they were paid for not doing their duty. I never
+saw any fight, or seizure, though I am told such sometimes happen. I
+suppose it is in China, as it is in other parts of the world; that men
+occasionally do their whole duty, but that they oftener do not. If the
+connivance of custom-house officers will justify smuggling in China, it
+will justify smuggling in London, and possibly in New York.
+
+We not only smuggled cargo out, but we smuggled cargo in. The favourite
+prohibited article was a species of metal, that came in plates, like tin,
+or copper, of which we took in large quantities. It was brought to us by
+the smuggling-boats, and thrown on board, very much as the opium was taken
+out, and we stowed it away in the hold. All this was done in the day-time,
+but I never heard of any one's following the article into the ship. Once
+there, it appeared to be considered safe. Then we got sycee silver, which
+was prohibited for exportation. All came on board in the same manner. For
+every box of opium sold, the mate got a china dollar as a perquisite. Of
+course my share on four hundred boxes came to one hundred and thirty-three
+of these dollars, or about one hundred and sixteen of our own. I am
+ashamed to say there was a great deal of cheating all round, each party
+evidently regarding the other as rogues, and, instead of "doing as they
+_would_ be done by," doing as they _thought_ they _were_ done by.
+
+The Hope sailed as soon as the opium was sold, about a month, and had a
+quick passage to Calcutta. I now began to pick up a little Bengalee, and,
+before I left the trade, could work a ship very well in the language. The
+Lascars were more like monkeys than men aloft, though they wanted
+strength. A topsail, that six of our common men would furl, would employ
+twenty of them. This was partly from habit, perhaps, though they actually
+want physical force. They eat little besides rice, and are small in frame.
+We had a curious mode of punishing them, when slack, aloft. Our standing
+rigging was of grass, and wiry enough to cut even hands that were used to
+it. The ratlines were not seized to the forward and after shrouds, by
+means of eyes, as is done in our vessels, but were made fast by a round
+turn, and stopping back the ends. We used to take down all the ratlines,
+and make the darkies go up without them. In doing this, they took the
+rigging between the great and second toe, and walked up, instead of
+shinning it, like Christians. This soon gave them sore toes, and they
+would beg hard to have the ratlines replaced. On the whole, they were
+easily managed, and were respectful and obedient. We had near a hundred of
+these fellows in the Hope, and kept them at work by means of a boatswain
+and four mates, all countrymen of their own. In addition, we had about
+thirty more souls, including the Europeans--Christians, as we were called!
+
+At Calcutta we loaded with cotton, and returned to Canton, having another
+short passage. We had no opium in the ship, this time, it being out of
+season; but we smuggled cargo in, as before. We lay at Whampao a few
+weeks, and returned to Calcutta. By this time the Hope was dying of old
+age, and Captain Kyd began to think, if he did not bury her, she might
+bury him. Her beams actually dropped, as we removed the cotton at Canton,
+though she still remained tight. But it would have been dangerous to
+encounter heavy weather in her.
+
+A new ship, called the Hopping Castle, had been built by Captain Kyd's
+father-in-law, expressly for him. She was a stout large vessel, and
+promised to sail well. The officers wore all transferred to her; but most
+of the old Lascars refused to ship, on account of a quarrel with the
+boatswain. This compelled us to ship a new set of these men, most of whom
+were strangers to us.
+
+By a law of Calcutta, if anything happens to a vessel before she gets to
+sea, the people retain the two months' advance it is customary to give
+them. This rule brought us into difficulty. The Hopping Castle cleared for
+Bombay, with a light cargo. We had dropped down the river, discharged the
+pilot, and made sail on our course, when a fire suddenly broke up out of
+the fore-hatch. A quantity of grass junk, and two or three cables of the
+same material, were in that part of the ship, and they all burnt like
+tinder. I went with the other officers and threw overboard the powder,
+but it was useless to attempt extinguishing the flames. Luckily, there
+were two pilot brigs still near us, and they came alongside and received
+all hands. The Hopping Castle burnt to the water's edge, and we saw her
+wreck go down. This was a short career for so fine a ship, and it gave us
+all great pain; all but the rascals of Lascars. I lost everything I had in
+the world in her, but a few clothes I saved in a small trunk. I had little
+or no money, Calcutta being no place for economy. In a country in which it
+is a distinction to be a white man, and _called_ a Christian, one must
+maintain his dignity by a little extravagance.
+
+Captain Kyd felt satisfied that the Lascars had set his ship on fire, and
+he had us all landed on Tiger Island. Here the serang, or boatswain, took
+the matter in hand, and attempted to find out the facts. I was present at
+the proceeding, and witnessed it all. It was so remarkable as to deserve
+being mentioned. The men were drawn up in rings, of twenty or thirty each,
+and the boatswain stood in the centre. He then put a little white powder
+into each man's hand, and ordered him to spit in it. The idea was that the
+innocent men would spit without any difficulty, while the mouths of the
+guilty would become too dry and husky to allow them to comply. At any
+rate, the serang picked out ten men as guilty, and they were sent to
+Calcutta to be tried. I was told, afterwards, that all these ten men
+admitted their guilt, criminated two more, and that the whole twelve were
+subsequently hanged in chains, near Castle William. Of the legal trial and
+execution I know nothing, unless by report; but the trial by spittle, I
+saw with my own eyes; and it was evident the Lascars looked upon it as a
+very serious matter. I never saw criminals in court betray more
+uneasiness, than these fellows, while the serang was busy with them.
+
+I was now out of employment. Captain Kyd wished me to go on an indigo
+plantation, offering me high wages. I never drank at sea, and had behaved
+in a way to gain his confidence, I believe, so that he urged me a good
+deal to accept his offers. I would not consent, however, being afraid of
+death. There was a Philadelphia ship, called the Benjamin Rush, at
+Calcutta, and I determined to join her. By this time, I felt less on the
+subject of my disappointment, and had a desire to see home, again. I
+shipped, accordingly, in the vessel mentioned, as a foremast hand. We
+sailed soon after, and had a pleasant passage to the Capes of the
+Delaware, which I now entered, again, for the first time since I had done
+so on my return from my original voyage on the Sterling.
+
+As soon as paid off, I proceeded to New York. I was short of cash; and, my
+old landlord being dead, I had to look about me for a new ship. This time,
+I went in a brig, called the Boxer, a clipper, belonging to John Jacob
+Astor, bound to Canton. This proved to be a pleasant and successful
+voyage, so far as the vessel was concerned, at least; the brig being back
+at New York, again, eight months after we sailed. I went in her before
+the mast.
+
+My money was soon gone; and I was obliged to ship again. I now went as
+second-mate, in the Trio; an old English prize-ship, belonging to David
+Dunham. We were bound to Batavia, and sailed in January. After being a
+short time at sea, we found all our water gone, with the exception of one
+cask. The remainder had been lost by the bursting of the hoops, in
+consequence of the water's having frozen. We went on a short allowance;
+and suffered a good deal by the privation. Our supercargo, a young
+gentleman of the name of Croes, came near dying. We went on, however,
+intending to go into one of the Cape de Verdes. We got up our casks, and
+repaired them, in the meanwhile. Off the Island of Fuego, we hove to, and
+found we could get no water. We got a few goats, and a little fruit; but
+were compelled to proceed. Luckily, it came on to rain very hard, and we
+stopped all the scuppers, filling every cask we had, in this easy manner.
+We began about eight at night, and were through before morning. Capital
+water it proved; and it lasted us to Batavia. There, indeed, it would even
+have brought a premium; being so much better than anything to be had in
+that port. It changed; but sweetened itself very soon.
+
+We first went into Batavia, and entered the ship; after which, we sailed
+for a roadstead, called Terragall, to take in rice. The vessel was in
+ballast, and had brought money to make her purchases with. We got our
+cargo off in boats, and sailed for Batavia, to clear; all within a few
+weeks. The second night out, the ship struck, in fair weather, and a
+moderate sea, on a mud-bank; and brought up all standing. We first
+endeavoured to force the vessel over the bank; but this did not succeed;
+and, the tide leaving her, the ship fell over on her bilge; bringing her
+gunwales under water. Luckily, she lay quiet; though a good deal strained.
+The captain now took a boat, and four men, and pulled ashore, to get
+prows, to lighten the vessel. We had but eight men before the mast, and
+six aft. This, of course, left only nine souls on board. That night
+nothing occurred; but, in the morning early, two piratical prows
+approached, and showed a disposition to board us. Mr. Croes was the person
+who saved the ship. He stuck up handspikes, and other objects, about deck;
+putting hats and caps on them, so as to make us appear very strong-handed.
+At the same time, we got a couple of sixes to bear on the prows; and
+succeeded in keeping them at a safe distance. They hovered about until
+sunset, when they left us; pulling ashore. Just as they were quitting us,
+twenty-seven boats hove in sight; and we made a signal to them, which was
+not answered. We set them down as enemies, too; but, as they came nearer,
+we perceived our own boat among them, and felt certain it was the captain.
+
+We discharged everything betwixt decks into the boats, that night, and got
+the ship afloat before morning. We now hove clear of the bank, restowed
+the cargo, and made sail for Batavia. The ship leaked badly, and kept us
+hard at the pumps. As there were no means for repairing the vessel where
+we were, it was resolved to take in extra hands, ship two box-pumps, and
+carry the vessel to the Isle of France, in order to repair her. I did not
+like the prospect of such a passage, and confess I played "old soldier" to
+get rid of it. I contrived to get, on a sick ticket, into the hospital,
+and the ship sailed without me. At the Isle of France, the Trio was
+condemned; her hulk being, in truth, much worse than my own, docked
+though I was.
+
+
+
+Chapter XII.
+
+
+
+As soon as the Trio was off, I got well. Little did I then think of the
+great risk I ran in going ashore; for it was almost certain death for an
+European to land, for any length of time, at that season. Still less did
+I, or _could_ I, anticipate what was to happen to myself, in this very
+hospital, a few years later; or how long I was to be one of its truly
+suffering, and, I hope, repentant inmates. The consul was frank enough to
+tell me that I had been shamming Abraham; and I so far imitated his
+sincerity as distinctly to state, it was quite true. I thought the old
+Trio ought to have been left on the bank, where Providence had placed her;
+but, it being the pleasure of her captain and the supercargo to take her
+bones to the Isle of France for burial, I did not choose to go so far,
+weeping through the pumps, to attend her funeral.
+
+As the consul held my wages, and refused to give me any money, I was
+compelled to get on board some vessel as soon as I could. Batavia was not
+a place for an American constitution, and I was glad to be off. I shipped,
+before the mast, in the Clyde, of Salem, a good little ship, with good
+living and good treatment. We sailed immediately, but not soon enough to
+escape the Batavia fever. Two of the crew died, about a week out, and were
+buried in the Straits of Banca. The day we lost sight of Java Head, it
+came on to blow fresh, and we had to take in the jib, and double-reef the
+topsails. A man of the name of Day went down on the bowsprit shrouds to
+clear the jib-sheets, when the ship made a heavy pitch, and washed him
+away. The second mate and myself got into the boat, and were lowered as
+soon as the ship was rounded-to. There was a very heavy sea on, but we
+succeeded in finding the poor fellow, who was swimming with great apparent
+strength. His face was towards the boat, and, as we came near, I rose, and
+threw the blade of my oar towards him, calling out to him to be of good
+cheer. At this instant, Day seemed to spring nearly his length out of
+water, and immediately sunk. What caused this extraordinary effort, and
+sudden failure, was never known. I have sometimes thought a shark must
+have struck him, though I saw neither blood nor fish. The man was
+hopelessly lost, and we returned to the ship, feeling as seamen always
+feel on such occasions.
+
+A few days later, another man died of the fever. This left but five of us
+in the forecastle, with the ship a long way to the eastward of the Cape of
+Good Hope. Before we got up with the Cape, another foremast hand went
+crazy, and, instead of helping us, became a cause of much trouble for the
+rest of the passage. In the end, he died, mad. We had now only three men
+in a watch, the officers included; and of course, it was trick and trick
+at the helm. Notwithstanding all this, we did very well, having a good
+run, until we got on the coast, which we reached in the month of January.
+A north-wester drove us off, and we had a pretty tough week of it, but
+brought the ship up to the Hook, at the end of that time, and anchored her
+safely in the East River. The Clyde must have been a ship of about three
+hundred tons, and, including every one on board, nine of us sailed her
+from the eastward of the Cape to her port, without any serious difficulty.
+
+I did not stay long ashore, for the money went like smoke, but shipped in
+a brig called the Margaret, bound to Belfast. This vessel struck in the
+Irish channel, but she was backed off with little difficulty, and got safe
+into her port. The return passage was pleasant, and without any accident.
+
+Such a voyage left little to spend, and I was soon on the look-out for a
+fresh berth. I shipped this time as mate, in a brig called the William
+Henry, bound on a smuggling voyage to the coast of Spain. We took in
+tobacco, segars, &c. &c., and the brig dropped down to Staten Island. Here
+I quarrelled with the captain about some cotton wick, and I threw up my
+situation. I knew there were more ships than parish churches, and felt no
+concern about finding a place in one, up at town. The balance of my
+advance was paid back, and I left the smuggling trade, like an honest man.
+I only wish this change of purpose had proceeded from a better motive.
+
+My next windfall was Jack's berth on board a beautiful little schooner
+called the Ida, that was to sail for Curaçoa, in the hope of being
+purchased by the governor of the island or a yacht. I expected to find my
+way to the Spanish main, after the craft was sold. We got out without any
+accident, going into port of a Sunday morning. The same morning, an
+English frigate and a sloop-of-war came in and anchored. That afternoon
+these vessels commenced giving liberty to their men. We were alongside of
+a wharf, and, in the afternoon, our crew took a drift in some public
+gardens in the suburbs of the town. Here an incident occurred that is
+sufficiently singular to be mentioned.
+
+I was by myself in the garden, ruminating on the past, and, I suppose,
+looking melancholy and in the market, when I perceived an English
+man-of-war's-man eyeing me pretty closely. After a while, he came up, and
+fell into discourse with me. Something that fell from him made me distrust
+him from the first, and I acted with great caution. After sounding me for
+some time, he inquired if I had any berth. I told him, no. He then went
+on, little by little, until he got such answers as gave him confidence,
+when he let me into the secret of his real object. He said he belonged to
+the frigate, and had liberty until next morning--that he and four of his
+shipmates who were ashore, had determined to get possession of the pretty
+little Yankee schooner that was lying alongside of the Telegraph, at the
+wharf, and carry her down to Laguayra. All this was to be done that night,
+and he wished me to join the party. By what fell from this man, I made no
+doubt his design was to turn pirate, after he had sold the flour then in
+the Ida. I encouraged him to so on, and we drank together, until he let me
+into his whole plan. The scheme was to come on board the schooner, after
+the crew had turned in, to fasten all hands below, set the foresail and
+jib, and run out with the land-breeze; a thing that was feasible enough,
+considering there is never any watch kept in merchant-vessels that lie
+at wharves.
+
+After a long talk, I consented to join the enterprise, and agreed to be,
+at nine o'clock, on board the Telegraph, a Philadelphia ship, outside of
+which our schooner lay. This vessel had a crew of blacks, and, as most of
+them were then ashore, it was supposed many would not return to her that
+night. My conspirator observed--"the Yankees that belong to the schooner
+are up yonder in the garden, and will be half drunk, so they will all be
+sound asleep, and can give us little trouble." I remember he professed to
+have no intention of hurting any of us, but merely to run away with us,
+and sell the craft from under us. We parted with a clear understanding of
+the manner in which everything was to be done.
+
+I know no other reason why this man chose to select me for his companion
+in such an adventure, than the circumstance that I happened to be alone,
+and perhaps I may have looked a little under the weather. He was no sooner
+gone, however, than I managed to get near my shipmates, and to call them
+out of the garden, one by one. As we went away, I told them all that had
+happened, and we laid our counter-plot. When we reached the Telegraph, it
+was near night, and finding only two of the blacks on board her, we let
+them into the secret, and they joined us, heart and hand. We got something
+to drink, as a matter of course, and tried to pass the time as well as we
+could, until the hour for springing the mine should arrive.
+
+Pretty punctually to the hour, we heard footsteps on the quay, and then a
+gang of men stopped alongside of the ship. We stowed ourselves under the
+bulwarks, and presently the gentlemen came on board, one by one. The
+negroes were too impatient, however, springing out upon their prey a
+little too soon. We secured three of the rascals, but two escaped us, by
+jumping down upon the quay and running. Considering we were all captains,
+this was doing pretty well.
+
+Our three chaps were Englishmen, and I make no doubt belonged to the
+frigate, as stated. As soon as they were fairly pinned, and they
+understood there was no officer among us, they began to beg. They said
+their lives would be forfeited if we gave them up, and they entreated us
+to let them go. We kept them about half an hour, and finally yielded to
+their solicitations, giving them their liberty again. They were very
+thankful for their escape, especially as I told them what had passed
+between myself and the man in the garden. This fellow was one of the two
+that escaped, and had the appearance of a man who might very well become a
+leader among pirates.
+
+The next day the two men-of-war went to sea, and I make no doubt carried
+off the intended pirates in them. As for us seamen, we never told our own
+officers anything about the affair, for I was not quite satisfied with
+myself, after letting the scoundrels go. One scarcely knows what to do in
+such a case, as one does not like to be the means of getting a
+fellow-creature hanged, or of letting a rogue escape. A pirate, of all
+scoundrels, deserves no mercy, and yet Jack does not relish the idea of
+being a sort of Jack Ketch, neither. If the thing were to be done over
+again, I think I should hold on to my prisoners.
+
+We discharged our cargo of flour, and failing in the attempt to sell the
+schooner, we took in dye-wood, and returned to New York. I now made a
+serious attempt to alter my mode of living, and to try to get up a few
+rounds of the great ladder of life. Hitherto, I had felt a singular
+indifference whether I went to sea as an officer, or as a foremast Jack,
+with the exception of the time I had a marriage with Sarah in view. But I
+was now drawing near to thirty, and if anything was to be done, it must be
+done at once. Looking about me, I found a brig called the Hippomenes,
+bound to Gibraltar, and back. I shipped before the mast, but kept a
+reckoning, and did all I could to qualify myself to become an officer. We
+had a winter passage out, but a pleasant one home. Nothing worthy of being
+recorded, however, occurred. I still continued to be tolerably correct,
+and after a short stay on shore, I shipped in the Belle Savage, commanded
+by one of the liberated Halifax prisoners, who had come home in the Swede,
+at the time of my own return. This person agreed to take me as chief mate,
+and I shipped accordingly. The Belle Savage was a regular Curacoa trader,
+and we sailed ten or twelve days after the Hippomenes got in. Our passages
+both ways were pleasant and safe, and I stuck by the craft, endeavouring
+to be less thoughtless and careless about myself. I cannot say, however, I
+had any very serious plans for making provision for old age, my maxim
+being to live as I went along.
+
+Our second passage out to Curacoa, in the Belle Savage, was pleasant, and
+brought about nothing worthy of being mentioned. At Curacoa we took in
+mahogany, and in so doing a particularly large log got away from us, and
+slid, end on, against the side of the vessel. We saw no consequences at
+the time, and went on to fill up, with different articles, principally
+dye-woods, coffee, cocoa, &c. We got some passengers, among whom was a Jew
+merchant, who had a considerable amount of money on board. When ready, we
+sailed, being thirty souls in all, crew and passengers included.
+
+The Belle Savage had cleared the islands, and was standing on her course,
+one day, with a fair wind and a five or six knot breeze, under a
+fore-top-mast studding-sail, everything looking bright and prosperous. The
+brig must have been about a day's run to the southward of Bermuda. It was
+my watch below, but having just breakfasted, I was on deck, and looking
+about me carelessly, I was struck with the appearance of the vessel's
+being deeper than common. I had a little conversation about it, with a man
+in the forechains, who thought the same thing. This man leaned over, in
+order to get a better look, when he called out that he could see that we
+had started a butt! I went over, immediately, and got a look at this
+serious injury. A butt had started, sure enough, just under the chains,
+but so low down as to be quite out of our reach. The plank had started
+quite an inch, and it was loosened as much as two feet, forward and aft.
+We sounded the pumps, as soon as possible, and found the brig was half
+full of water!
+
+All hands were now called to get both the boats afloat, and there was
+certainly no time to be lost. The water rose over the cabin-floor while we
+were doing it. We did not stand to get up tackles, but cut away the rail
+and launched the long-boat by hand. We got the passengers, men, women,
+children, and servants into her, as fast as possible, and followed
+ourselves. Fortunately, there had been a brig in company for some time,
+and she was now less than two leagues ahead of us, outsailing the Belle
+Savage a little. We had hoisted our ensign, union down, as a signal of
+distress, and well knew she must see that our craft had sunk, after it
+happened, if she did not observe our ensign. She perceived the signal,
+however, and could not fail to notice the manner in which the brig was all
+adrift, as soon as we deserted the helm. The strange brig had hauled up
+for us even before we got out the launch. This rendered any supply of food
+or water unnecessary, and we were soon ready to shove off. I was in the
+small boat, with three men. We pulled off a little distance, and lay
+looking at our sinking craft with saddened eyes. Even the gold, that
+precious dust which lures so many souls to eternal perdition, was
+abandoned in the hurry to save the remnants of lives to be passed on
+earth. The Belle Savage settled quite slowly into the ocean, one sail
+disappearing after another, her main-royal being the last thing that went
+out of sight, looking like the lug of a man-of-war's boat on the water. It
+is a solemn thing to see a craft thus swallowed up in the great vortex of
+the ocean.
+
+The brig in sight proved to be the Mary, of New York, from St. Thomas,
+bound home. She received us kindly, and six days later landed us all at no
+great distance from Fulton Market. When my foot touched the wharf, my
+whole estate was under my hat, and my pockets were as empty as a vessel
+with a swept hold. On the wharf, itself, I saw a man who had been
+second-mate of the Tontine, the little ship in which I had sailed when I
+first ran from the Sterling. He was now master of a brig called the
+Mechanic, that was loading near by, for Trinidad de Cuba. He heard my
+story, and shipped me on the spot, at nine dollars a month, as a forward
+hand. I began to think I was born to bad luck, and being almost naked, was
+in nowise particular what became of me. I had not the means of getting a
+mate's outfit, though I might possibly have got credit; but at no period
+of my life did I run in debt. Here, then, my craft got stern-way on her
+again, and I had a long bit of rough water to go over.
+
+The Mechanic sailed four or five days after the Mary arrived, and I
+travelled the old road over again. Nothing happened until we got to the
+southward of Cuba. But my bad luck had thrown me into the West India trade
+at the very moment when piracy was coming to its height in those seas,
+though I never thought on the subject at all. Off the Isle of Pines, one
+morning, we made a schooner and a sloop, in-shore of us, and both bore up
+in chase. We knew them to be pirates, and crowded sail dead before the
+wind to get clear. The captain determined, if necessary, to run down as
+far as Jamaica, where he expected to fall in with some of the English
+cruisers. The schooner sailed very fast, and was for coming up with us,
+but they made the mistake of setting a flying-topsail on board her, and
+from that moment we dropped her. It was thought in our brig, that the
+little craft buried too much, with such a pressure aloft. The chase lasted
+all day, a Sunday, and a part of the night; but the following morning
+nothing was to be seen of either of our pursuers. Our captain, whose name
+was Ray, thought he knew who commanded the schooner, a man who had been
+his enemy, and it was believed the pirates knew our brig, as she was a
+regular trader to Trinidad. This made our captain more ticklish, and was
+the reason he was off so soon.
+
+When we found the coast clear, we hauled up, again, and made our port
+without further molestation. The chase was so common a thing, that little
+was said about the affair. We discharged, took in a new cargo, and sailed
+for home in due time. Care was had in sailing at an early hour, and we
+sent a boat out to look if the coast were clear, before we put to sea. We
+met with no interruption, however, reaching New York in due time.
+
+Captain Ray was desirous I should stick by the brig; but, for some reason
+I cannot explain, I felt averse to returning to Trinidad. I liked the
+vessel well enough, was fond of the captain, and thought little of the
+pirates; and yet I felt an unaccountable reluctance to re-shipping in the
+craft. It was well I had this feeling, for, I have since heard, this very
+schooner got the brig the next passage out, murdered all hands, and burnt
+the vessel, in sight of the port! I set this escape down, as one of the
+many unmerited favours I have received from Providence.
+
+My next berth was that of second-mate on board a new ship, in the
+Charleston trade, called the Franklin. I made the voyage, and, for a
+novelty, did not run in the southern port, which was a rare circumstance
+in that place.
+
+I got but twelve dollars, as dickey, in the Franklin, and left her to get
+twenty, with the same berth, on board a ship called the Foster, commanded
+by the same master as had commanded the Jane, in my former voyage to
+Ireland. The Foster was bound to Belfast, which port we reached without
+any accident. We took in salt, and a few boxes of linens, for Norfolk;
+arrived safe, discharged, and went up the James river to City Point, after
+a cargo of tobacco. Thence we sailed for Rotterdam. The ship brought back
+a quantity of gin to New York, and this gin caused me some trouble. We had
+a tremendous passage home--one of the worst I ever experienced at sea. The
+ship's rudder got loose, and was secured with difficulty. We had to reef
+all three of our top-masts, also, to save the spars; after which we could
+only carry double-reefed topsails. It was in the dead of winter, and the
+winds hung to the westward for a long time. The cook, a surly negro, was
+slack in duty, and refused to make scous for us, though there were plenty
+of potatoes on board. All the people but five were off duty, and it came
+hard on those who kept watch. We determined, at length, to bring the black
+to his senses, and I had him seized to the windlass. Everybody but the
+captain took three clips at him; the fellow being regularly cobbed,
+according to sea usage. This was lawful punishment for a cook.
+
+We got our scous after this, but the negro logged the whole transaction,
+as one may suppose. He was particularly set against me, as I had been
+ringleader in the cobbing. The weather continued bad, the watches were
+much fagged, and the ship gave no grog. At length I could stand it no
+longer, or thought I could not; and I led down betwixt decks, tapped a
+cask of gin, introduced the stem of a clean pipe and took a nip at the
+bowl. All my watch smoked this pipe pretty regularly, first at one cask
+and then at another, until we got into port. The larboard watch did the
+same, and I do think the strong liquor helped us along that time. As bad
+luck would have it, the cook's wood was stowed among the casks, and, one
+morning, just as the last of us had knocked off smoking, we saw the wool
+of this gentleman heaving in sight, through the hatch by which we went
+down. Still, nothing was said until we came to be paid off, when the darky
+came out with his yarn. I owned it all, and insisted we never could have
+brought the ship in, unless we had got the gin. I do believe both captain
+and owner were sorry we had been complained of, but they could not
+overlook the matter. I was mulcted five-and-twenty dollars, and left the
+ship. I know I did wrong, and I know that the owners did what was right;
+but I cannot help thinking, bad as gin is on a long pull, that this did us
+good. I was not driven from the ship; on the contrary, both master and
+Owners wished me to remain; but I felt a little savage, and quitted their
+employment.
+
+That I did not carry a very bad character away with me, is to be proved by
+the fact that I shipped, the same day, on board the Washington, a vessel
+bound to London, and which lay directly alongside of the Foster. I had the
+same berth as that I had just left, with the advantage of getting better
+wages. This voyage carried me to London for the first time since I left it
+in the Sterling. Too many years had elapsed, in the interval, for me to
+find any old acquaintances; and I had grown from a boy to a man. Here I
+got a little insight into the business of carrying passengers, our ship
+bringing more or less, each passage. I stuck by the Washington a year,
+making no less than three voyages in her; the last, as her chief mate.
+Nothing occurred worth mentioning in the four first passages across the
+Atlantic; but the fifth produced a little more variety.
+
+The Washington had proved to be a leaky ship, every passage I made in her.
+We had docked her twice in London, and it had done her good. The first
+week out, on the fifth passage, the ship proved tight, but the weather was
+moderate. It came on to blow heavily, however, when we got to the eastward
+of the Banks; and the vessel, which was scudding under her close-reefed
+main-topsail and foresail, laboured so much, that I became uneasy. I knew
+she was overloaded, and was afraid of the effects of a gale. It was my
+practice to keep one pump ready for sounding the wells, and I never
+neglected this duty in my watch. When the gale was at the height, in my
+forenoon's watch below, I felt so uncomfortable, that I turned out and
+went on deck, in nothing but my trowsers, to sound, although I had sounded
+less than two hours before, and found the water at the sucking-height,
+only. To my surprise, it was now three feet!
+
+This change was so great and so sudden, all of us thought there must be
+some mistake. I carried the rod below, to dry it, and covered the lower
+part with ashes. I could not have been busy in drying the rod more than
+ten or fifteen minutes, when it was lowered again. The water had risen
+several inches in that short period!
+
+All this looked very serious; and I began to think a third raft was to
+founder under me. After a short consultation it was determined to lighten
+the ship. The foresail was hauled up, the men got into the rigging to keep
+clear of the seas, and the vessel was rounded-to. We then knocked away the
+wash-boards in the wake of the two hatches, and began to tumble the
+barrels of turpentine on deck. I never felt so strong in my life, nor did
+so much work in so short a time. During the labour I went below to splice
+the main-brace, and, after putting a second-mate's nip of brandy into my
+glass, filled it, as I supposed, with water, drinking it all down without
+stopping to breathe. It turned out that my water was high-proof gin; yet
+this draught had no more effect on me than if it had been so much cold
+water. In ordinary times, it would have made me roaring drunk.
+
+We tumbled up all the cargo from betwixt decks, landing it on deck, where
+it rolled into the sea of itself, and were about to begin upon the lower
+hold, when the captain called out avast, as the pumps gained fast. Half an
+hour later, they sucked. This was joyful news, indeed, for I had begun to
+think we should be driven to the boats. Among the cargo were some pickled
+calf-skins. In the height of the danger I caught the cook knocking the
+head out of a cask, and stowing some of the skins in a tub. Asking the
+reason why he did this, he told me he wanted to take some of those fine
+skins home with him! It was a pity they should be lost!
+
+As soon as the pumps sucked, the ship was kept away to her course, and she
+proved to be as tight as a bottle. Eight or ten days later, while running
+on our course under studding-sails, we made a large vessel ahead, going
+before the wind like ourselves, but carrying reefed topsails, with
+top-gallant-sails over them, and her ensign whipped. Of course we neared
+her fast, and as we came up with her, saw that she was full of men, and
+that her crew were pumping and bailing. We knew how to pity the poor
+fellows, and running alongside, demanded the news. We were answered first
+with three cheers, after which we heard their story.
+
+The vessel was an English bark, full of soldiers, bound to New Brunswick.
+She had sprung a leak, like ourselves, and was only kept afloat by
+constant pumping and bailing. She had put back for England on account of
+the wind and the distance. Our captain was asked to keep near the
+transport, and we shortened sail accordingly. For three days and nights
+the two vessels ran side by side, within hail; our passengers and officers
+drinking to theirs, and _vice versâ_, at dinner. On the fourth day, the
+weather being fine, the wind fair, and our reckoning making us near the
+channel, we told the Englishman we would run ahead, make the land, and
+heave-to. We stood in so far that the poor fellows owned afterwards they
+thought we had left them. This was not our intention, however, for we no
+sooner made the land than we hauled up, and brought them the joyful news
+of its vicinity. They cheered us again, as we closed with them, and both
+ships jogged on in company.
+
+Next morning, being well in with the land, and many vessels in sight, the
+Englishmen desired us to make sail, as they could carry their bark into
+Falmouth. We did so, and reached London, in due time. On our return to New
+York, the Washington was sold, and I lost my preferment in that
+employment, though I went with a character to another vessel, and got the
+same berth.
+
+
+
+Chapter XIII.
+
+
+
+My next craft was the Camillus, a ship that was bound to Greenock, via
+Charleston. We got to the latter port without accident, and took in a
+cargo of cotton. The ship was all ready for sailing of a Saturday, and the
+captain had gone ashore, telling me he would be on board early in the
+morning, when we could haul out and go to sea, should the wind be
+favourable. I gave the people their Saturday's night, and went into the
+cabin to freshen the nip, myself. I took a glass or two, and certainly had
+more in me than is good for a man, though I was far from being downright
+drunk. In a word, I had too much, though I could have carried a good deal
+more, on a pinch. The steward had gone ashore, and there being no
+second-mate, I was all alone.
+
+In this state of things, I heard a noise, and went on deck to inquire
+what was the matter. My old ship, the Franklin, was shifting her berth,
+and her jib-boom had come foul of our taffrail. After some hailing, I got
+on the taffrail to shove our neighbour off, when, by some carelessness of
+my own, I fell head-foremost, hitting the gunwale of the boat, which was
+hanging, about half way up to the davits, into the water. The tide set me
+away, and carried me between the wharf and the ship astern of us, which
+happened to be the William Thompson, Captain Thompson, owner Thompson,
+mate Thompson, and all Thompson, as Mathews used to have it. Captain
+Thompson was reading near the cabin windows, and he luckily heard me
+groan. Giving the alarm, a boat was got round, and I taken in. As the
+night was dark, and I lost all consciousness after the fall, I consider
+this escape as standing second only to that from the shark in the West
+Indies, and old Trant's gun, the night the Scourge went down. I did not
+recover my recollection for several hours. This was not the effect of
+liquor, but of the fall, as I remember everything distinctly that occurred
+before I went from the taffrail. Still I confess that liquor did all the
+mischief, as I had drunk just enough to make me careless.
+
+In the morning, I found myself disabled in the left arm, and I went to a
+doctor. This gentleman said he never told a fellow what ailed him until he
+got his whack. I gave him a dollar, and he then let me into the secret. My
+collar-bone was broken. "And, now," says he, "for another dollar I'll
+patch you up." I turned out the other Spaniard, when he was as good as his
+word. Going in the ship, however, was out of the question, and I was
+obliged to get a young man to go on board the Camillus in my place; thus
+losing the voyage and my berth.
+
+I was now ashore, with two or three months of drift before me. Since the
+time I joined the Washington, I had been going regularly ahead, and I do
+think had I been able to stick by the Camillus, I might have brought up a
+master. I had laid up money, and being employed while in port, I was
+gradually losing my taste for sailor amusements, and getting more respect
+for myself. That fall from the Jaffrail was a sad drawback for me, and I
+never recovered the lee-way it brought about.
+
+I was more than two months ashore, behaving myself rationally on account
+of my arm. At the end of that time, I went on board the Sally, a ship also
+bound to Greenock, as her second-mate. This vessel belonged to Charleston,
+and it was intended she should return to her own port. The voyage turned
+out well, and my arm got as strong as ever. On reaching Charleston, I left
+the craft, which was laid up, and shipped in a schooner of the same name,
+bound to St. Domingo, as her chief mate. This was no great craft,
+certainly, though she proved a tight, wholesome sea-boat. We went out
+without any accident, arriving in safety at Cape Henry. After discharging
+cargo, and smuggling on board a quantity of doubloons--four hundred and
+eighty, it was said--we got under way for the island of Cuba. We intended
+to go into Matanzas, and kept along the coast. After crossing the Windward
+Passage, we reached Cuba; and were standing on, with a light wind, under
+our square-sail, the morning of the third day out, when we saw a large
+boat, carrying two sails, standing out from the shore, evidently in chase
+of the schooner. We had on board eight souls, viz. the owner, a Frenchman,
+who had been a dragoon in the service of his own country, but who was now
+between seventy and eighty; the captain, myself, a boy, the cook, and four
+men forward. We could see that there were nine men in the boat. We had no
+arms in the schooner, not even a pistol, and the men in the boat had
+muskets. We did not ascertain this last fact, however, for some time. I
+thought the strangers pirates the moment I saw them come out from under
+the land, but the captain maintained that they were turtle-men. The boat
+was rowing, and came up with us, hand over hand. When near, they commenced
+firing muskets at us, to drive us below. All the crew forward, with the
+cook, ran down into the forecastle, leaving no one on deck but the
+captain, the old Frenchman, and myself. The boy got into the
+companion-way.
+
+What the others did on deck, as these gentry came alongside, amusing
+themselves with keeping up a smart fire of musketry, I do not know; but my
+own occupation was to dodge behind the foremast. It was not long, however,
+before they came tumbling in, and immediately got possession of the
+schooner. One or two came forward and secured the forecastle hatch, to
+keep the people down. Then they probably felt that they were masters. One
+chap drew a fearful-looking knife, long, slender, sharp and glittering,
+and he cut the halyards of the square-sail. All the men I saw in the
+schooner struck me as Americans, or English, affecting to be Spaniards.
+There is such a difference in the height, complexion, and general
+appearance of the people of Spain, and those of the two other countries,
+without reference to the manner of speaking, that I do not think I could
+be mistaken. I saw but one man among these pirates, whom I took for a real
+Spaniard. It is true their faces were all blacked to disguise them, but
+one could get enough glimpses of the skin to judge of the true colour.
+There was no negro among them.
+
+The chap who cut away the square-sail halyards, I felt certain was no
+Spaniard. The sail was no sooner down, than he ran his knife along the
+head, below the bolt-rope, as if to cut away the cloth with the least
+trouble to himself. I was standing near, and asked him why he destroyed
+the sail; if he wanted it, why he did not take it whole? At this, he
+turned short round upon me, raised his arm, and struck a heavy blow at me
+with his fearful-looking knife. The point of the deadly weapon struck
+square on my breast-bone! I fell, partly through the force of the blow,
+and partly from policy; for I thought it safest to be lying on my back. I
+got several hearty kicks, in addition to this fierce attack, together with
+sundry curses in broken Spanish. I spoke in English, of course; and that
+the man understood me was clear enough by the expression of his
+countenance, and his act. The wound was slight, though it bled a good
+deal, covering my shirt and trowsers with blood, as much as if I had been
+run through the heart. An inch or two, either way, in the direction of the
+knife, would certainly have killed me.
+
+I do not know what might haye been the end of this affair, had not one of
+the pirates come forward, at this critical instant, and checked my
+assailant by shaking a finger at him. This man, I feel very certain, I
+knew. I will not mention his name, as there is a doubt; but I cannot think
+I was mistaken. If I am right, he was a young man from Connecticut, who
+sailed one voyage to Liverpool with me in The Sterling. With that young
+man I had been very intimate, and was oftener with him ashore than with
+any other of the crew. His face was blackened, like those of all his
+companions, but this did not conceal his air, manner, size, eyes and
+voice. When he spoke, it was in a jargon of broken English and broken
+Spanish, such as no man accustomed to either language from infancy would
+have used. The same was true as to all the rest I heard speak, with the
+exception of an old fellow in the boat, whom I shall presently have
+occasion to mention, again.
+
+The man I took to be my old shipmate, also seemed to know me. I was but a
+lad when I quitted the Sterling, it is true; but they tell me I have not
+altered a great deal in general appearance. My hair is still black; and
+then, when I was in the very prime of life, it must have been easy to
+recognize me. So strongly was I impressed, at the time, that I saw an old
+acquaintance, I was about to call him by name, when, luckily, it crossed
+my mind this might be dangerous. The pirates wished clearly to be unknown,
+and it was wisest to let them think they were so. My supposed shipmate,
+however, proved my friend, and I received no more personal ill treatment
+after he had spoken to his companion. I sometimes think he was the means,
+indeed, of saving all our lives. He asked me if there was any money, and,
+on my denying it, he told me they knew better: the schooner was in
+ballast, and must have got something for her outward cargo. I refused to
+tell, and he ordered me into their boat, whither the captain had been sent
+before me. In doing all this, his manner wore an appearance, to me, of
+assumed severity.
+
+The poor old Frenchman fared worse. They seemed to know he was owner, and
+probably thought he could give the best account of the money. At any rate,
+he was unmercifully flogged, though he held out to the last, refusing to
+betray his doubloons. The boy was next attacked-with threats of throwing
+him overboard. This extracted the secret, and the doubloons were soon
+discovered.
+
+The captain and myself had been stowed under a half-deck, in the boat, but
+as soon as the money was found, the old Spaniard, who stood sentinel over
+us, was told to let us out, that we might see the fun. There were the
+eight scoundrels, paraded around the trunk of the schooner, dividing the
+doubloons. As soon as this was done, we were told to come alongside with
+our boat, which had been used to carry us to the piratical craft. The
+captain got on board the Sally and I was ordered to scull the rogues, in
+one gang, back to their own craft. The scamps were in high spirits,
+seeming much pleased with their haul. They cracked a good many jokes at
+our expense, but were so well satisfied with their gold, that they left
+the square-sail behind them. They had robbed the cabin, however, carrying
+off, for me, a quadrant, a watch, and a large portion of my clothes. The
+forecastle had not been entered, though the men had four hundred dollars
+lying under a pile of dirt and old junk, to keep them out of sight.
+
+My supposed shipmate bore me in mind to the last. When we reached his
+craft, he poured out a glass of brandy and offered it to me. I was afraid
+to drink, thinking it might be poisoned. He seemed to understand me, and
+swallowed it himself, in a significant manner. This gave me courage, and I
+took the next nip without hesitation. He then told me to shove off, which
+I did without waiting for a second order. The pirates pulled away at the
+same time.
+
+We were a melancholy party, as soon as we found ourselves left to
+ourselves. The old Frenchman was sad enough, and all of us pitied him. He
+made no complaint of the boy, notwithstanding, and little was said among
+us about the robbery. My wound proved trifling, though the old man was so
+bruised and beaten that he could scarcely walk.
+
+As soon as a breeze came, we went into Charleston, having no means to buy
+the cargo we had intended to get at Matanzas. This was the first time I
+was ever actually boarded by a pirate, although I had had several narrow
+escapes before. The first was in the Sterling, off the coast of Portugal;
+the next was in the William and Jane, outward bound to Canton; the third
+was on the bank, in the Trio, off the coast of Java; and the fourth, in
+the Mechanic, on the other side of Cuba. It was not the last of my affairs
+with them, however, as will be seen in the sequel.
+
+I went out in the Sally again, making a voyage to Matanzas and back,
+without any accident, or incident, worth mentioning. I still intended to
+remain in this schooner, the captain and I agreeing perfectly well, had I
+not been driven out of her by one of those unlucky accidents, of which so
+many have laid me athwart-hawse.
+
+We were discharging sugar at Charleston, in very heavy casks. The tide
+being in, the vessel's rail was higher than the wharf, and we landed the
+casks on the rail, from which they were rolled down some planks to the
+shore. Two negroes were stationed on the wharf to receive the casks, and
+to ease them down. One of these fellows was in the practice of running up
+the planks, instead of standing at their side and holding on to the end of
+the hogsheads. I remonstrated with him several times about the danger he
+ran, but he paid no attention to what I said. At length my words came
+true; a cask got away from the men, and rolled directly over this negro,
+flattening him like a bit of dough.
+
+This was clearly an accident, and no one thought of accusing me of any
+connection with it. But the owner of the black looked upon him as one
+would look upon a hack-horse that had been lamed, or killed; and he came
+down to the schooner, on hearing that his man was done for, swearing I
+should pay for him! As for paying the price of an athletic "nigger," it
+was even more impossible for me, than it would seem it is for the great
+State of Pennsylvania to pay the interest on its debt; and, disliking a
+lawsuit, I carried my dunnage on board another vessel that same afternoon,
+and agreed to work my passage to New York, as her second-mate.
+
+The vessel I now went on board of was the Commodore Rodgers, a regular
+liner between the two ports. We sailed next morning, and I paid for the
+poor "nigger" with the fore-topsail. The ship's husband was on board as we
+hauled out, a man who was much in the habit of abusing the mates. On this
+occasion he was particularly abusive to our chief mate; so much so,
+indeed, that I remonstrated with the latter on his forbearance. Nothing
+came of it, however, though I could not forget the character of the man
+who had used such language. When we reached New York, our chief mate left
+us, and I was offered the berth. It was a little hazardous to go back to
+Charleston, but wages were low, and business dull, the yellow fever being
+in New York, and I thought, by a little management, I might give my
+"nigger owner" a sufficient berth. I accordingly agreed to go.
+
+When we got back to Charleston, our ship lay at her own wharf, and I saw
+nothing of my chap. He worked up town, and we lay low down, But another
+misfortune befel me, that led even to worse consequences. The ship's
+husband, who was so foul-mouthed, was as busy as ever, blackguarding right
+and left, and finding fault with everything. Our cargo was nearly out, and
+this man and I had a row about some kegs of white lead. In the course of
+the dialogue, he called me "a saucy son of a b--h." This was too much for
+my temper, and I seized him and sent him down the hatchway. The fall was
+not great, and some hemp lay in the wake of the hatch; but the chap's
+collar-bone went. He sung out like a singing-master, but I did not stop to
+chime in. Throwing my slate on deck in a high passion, I left the ship and
+went ashore. I fell in with the captain on the wharf, told him my story,
+got a promise from him to send me my clothes, and vanished. In an hour or
+two, half the constables in Charleston were in chase of me. I kept so
+close they could not find me, lying snug for a couple of days.
+
+This state of things could not last for ever. The constables were not half
+so ferocious as they seemed; for one of them managed to get me off, on
+board a coaster, called the Gov. Russel; where I engaged, I may say, as
+chief mate and all hands. The Gov. Russel was a Buford trader, making
+trips about fifteen or twenty leagues long. This was the smallest
+navigation, and the smallest craft, a gun-boat excepted, with which I ever
+had anything to do. The crew consisted of two negroes, both slaves to the
+owner, while the captain and myself were aft. Whether she would have held
+so many, or not, I never knew, as the captain did not join, while I
+belonged to her. The schooner lay three miles below the town; and, in so
+much, was a good craft for me; as no one would think of following an old
+Canton trader into such a 'long-shore-looking thing. We busied ourselves
+in painting her, and in overhauling her rigging, while the ship's husband,
+and his myrmidons, amused themselves in searching for me up in town.
+
+I had been on board the Gov. Russel three days, when it came on to blow
+from the southward and westward, in true southern style. The gale came on
+butt-end foremost; and was thought to be as severe, as anything seen in
+the port for many a year. Most of the shipping broke adrift from the
+wharves; and everything that was anchored, a man-of-war and a
+revenue-cutter excepted, struck adrift, or dragged. As for ourselves, we
+were lying at single anchor; and soon began to walk down towards the bar.
+I let go the spare anchor; but she snapped her cables, as if they had been
+pack-thread; and away she went to leeward. Making sail was out of the
+question, had any been bent, as ours were not; and I had to let her travel
+her own road.
+
+All this happened at night; when it was so dark, one could not see,
+between the spray, the storm and the hour, the length of the craft. I knew
+we were going towards the ocean; and my great cause of apprehension was
+the bar. Looking for the channel, was out of the question; I did not know
+it, in the first place; and, had I been a branch-pilot, I could not find
+it in the dark. I never was more completely adrift, in my life, ashore or
+afloat. We passed a most anxious hour, or two; the schooner driving,
+broadside-to, I knew not whither, or to what fate. The two blacks were
+frightened out of their wits; and were of no assistance to me.
+
+At length, I felt the keel come down upon the sands; and then I knew we
+were on the bar. This happened amid a whirlwind of spray; with nothing
+visible but the white foam of the waters, and the breakers around us. The
+first blow threw both masts out of the steps; ripping up the decks to a
+considerable extent. The next minute we were on our beam-ends; the sea
+making a clear breach over us. All we could do, was to hold on; and this
+we did with difficulty. I and the two blacks got on the weather-quarter of
+the schooner, where we lashed ourselves with the main-sheet. As this was a
+stout rope, something must part, before we could be washed away. The craft
+made but two raps on the bar, when she drifted clear.
+
+I now knew we were at sea, and were drifting directly off the coast. As we
+got into deep water, the sea did not make such terrible surges over us;
+though they continued to break over our quarter. The masts were thumping
+away; but for this I cared little, the hold being full of water already.
+Sink we could not, having a wept hold, and being built, in a great
+measure, of pine. The schooner floated with about five feet of her
+quarter-deck above water. Her bows had settled the most; and this gave us
+rather a better chance aft.
+
+Fortunately, we got the worst of this blow at the first go off. The wind
+began to lessen in strength soon after we passed the bar, and by day-light
+it only blew a stiff breeze. No land was in sight, though I knew, by the
+colour of the water, that we could not be a very great distance from the
+coast. We had come out on an ebb-tide, and this had set us off the land,
+but all that southern coast is so low, that it was not to be seen from the
+surface of the ocean at any great distance.
+
+The day that succeeded was sad and dreary enough. The weather was fine,
+the sun coming out even hot upon us, but the wind continued to blow fresh
+off the land, and we were drifting further out, every instant, upon the
+bosom of the ocean. Our only hope was in falling in with some coaster, and
+I began to dread drifting outside of their track. We were without food or
+water, and were partly seated on the rail, and partly supported by the
+main-sheet. Neither of us attempted to change his berth that day. Little
+was said between us, though I occasionally encouraged the negroes to hold
+on, as something would yet pick us up. I had a feeling of security on this
+head that was unreasonable, perhaps; but a sanguine temperament has ever
+made me a little too indifferent to consequences.
+
+Night brought no change, unless it was to diminish the force of the wind.
+A short time before the sun set, one of the negroes said to me, "Masser
+Ned, John gone." I was forward of the two blacks, and was not looking at
+them at the time; I suppose I may have been dozing; but, on looking up, I
+found that one of the negroes had, indeed, disappeared. How this happened
+I cannot say, as he appeared to be well lashed; but I suppose he worked
+himself free, and being exhausted, he fell into the water, and sunk before
+I could get a glimpse of him. There was nothing to be done, however, and
+the loss of this man had a tendency to make me think our situation worse
+than it had before seemed to be. Some persons, all good Christians I
+should suppose, will feel some curiosity to know whether a man in my
+situations had no disposition to take a religious view of his case, and
+whether his conscience did not apprise him of the chances of perdition
+that seemed to stare him in the face. In answer to this, I am compelled to
+say that no such thoughts came over me. In all my risks and emergencies, I
+am not sensible of having given a thought to my Maker. I had a sense of
+fear, an apprehension of death, and an instinctive desire to save my life,
+but no consciousness of the necessity of calling on any being to save my
+soul. Notwithstanding all the lessons I had received in childhood, I was
+pretty nearly in the situation of one who had never heard the name of the
+Saviour mentioned. The extent of my reflections on such subjects, was the
+self-delusion of believing that I was to save myself--I had done no great
+harm, according to the notions of sailors; had not robbed; had not
+murdered; and had observed the mariner's code of morals, so far as I
+understood them; and this gave me a sort of _claim_ on the mercy of God.
+In a word, the future condition of my soul gave me no trouble whatever.
+
+I dare say my two companions on this little wreck had the same
+indifference on this subject, as I felt myself. I heard no prayer, no
+appeal to God for mercy, nothing indeed from any of us, to show that we
+thought at all on the subject. Hunger gave me a little trouble, and during
+the second night I would fall into a doze, and wake myself up by dreaming
+of eating meals that were peculiarly grateful to me. I have had the same
+thing happen on other occasions, when on short allowance of food. Neither
+of the blacks said anything on the subject of animal suffering, and the
+one that was lost, went out, as it might be, like a candle.
+
+The sun rose on the morning of the second day bright and clear. The wind
+shifted about this time, to a gentle breeze from the southward and
+eastward. This was a little encouraging, as it was setting the schooner
+in-shore again, but I could discover nothing in sight. There was still a
+good deal of sea going, and we were so low in the water, that our range of
+sight was very limited.
+
+It was late in the forenoon, when the negro called out, suddenly, "Massa
+Ned, dere a vessel!" Almost at the same instant, I heard voices calling
+out; and, looking round I saw a small coasting schooner, almost upon us.
+She was coming down before the wind, had evidently seen us some time
+before we saw her, and now ranged up under our lee, and hove-to. The
+schooner down boat, and took us on board without any delay. We moved with
+difficulty, and I found my limbs so stiff as to be scarcely manageable.
+The black was in a much worse state than I was myself, and I think twelve
+hours longer would have destroyed both of us.
+
+The schooner that picked us up was manned entirely with blacks, and was
+bound into Charleston. At the time she fell in with us, we must have been
+twenty miles from the bar, it taking us all the afternoon, with a fair
+wind, to reach it. We went below, and as soon as I got in the cabin, I
+discovered a kettle of boiled rice, on which I pounced like a hawk. The
+negroes wished to get it away from me, thinking I should injure myself;
+but I would not part with it. The sweetest meal I ever had in my life, was
+this rice, a fair portion of which, however, I gave to my companion. We
+had not fasted long enough materially to weaken our stomachs, and no ill
+consequences followed from the indulgence. After eating heartily, we both
+lay down on the cabin floor, and went to sleep. We reached the wharf about
+eight in the evening. Just within the bar, the schooner was spoken by a
+craft that was going out in search of the Gov. Russel. The blacks told her
+people where the wreck was to be found, and the craft stood out to sea.
+
+I was strong enough to walk up to my boarding-house, where I went again
+into quarantine. The Gov. Russel was found, towed into port, was repaired,
+and went about her business, as usual, in the Buford trade. I never saw
+her or her captain again, however. I parted with the negro that was saved
+with me, on the wharf, and never heard anything about him afterwards,
+either. Such is the life of a sailor!
+
+I was still afraid of the constables. So much damage had been done to more
+important shipping, and so many lives lost, however, that little was said
+of the escape of the Gov. Russel. Then I was not known in this schooner by
+my surname. When I threw the ship's husband down the hold, I was Mr.
+Myers; when wrecked in the coaster, only Ned.
+
+
+
+Chapter XIV.
+
+
+
+Notwithstanding my comparative insignificance, there was no real security
+in remaining long in Charleston, and it was my strong desire to quit the
+place. As "beggars cannot be choosers," I was glad to get on board the
+schooner Carpenter, bound to St. Mary's and Philadelphia, for, and with,
+ship-timber, as a foremast hand. I got on board undetected, and we sailed
+the same day. Nothing occurred until after we left St. Mary's, when we met
+with a singular accident. A few days out, it blowing heavy at the time,
+our deck-load pressed so hard upon the beams as to loosen them, and the
+schooner filled as far as her cargo--yellow pine--would allow. This
+calamity proceeded from the fact, that the negroes who stowed the craft
+neglected to wedge up the beams; a precaution that should never be
+forgotten, with a heavy weight on deck. No very serious consequences
+followed, however, as we managed to drive the craft ahead, and finally got
+her into Philadelphia, with all her cargo on board. We did not lose a
+stick, which showed that our captain was game, and did not like to let go
+when he had once got hold. This person was a down-easter, and was well
+acquainted with the Johnstons and Wiscasset. He tried hard to persuade me
+to continue in the schooner as mate, with a view to carrying me back to my
+old friends; but I turned a deaf ear to his advice. To own the truth, I
+was afraid to go back to Wiscassett. My own desertion could not well be
+excused, and then I was apprehensive the family might attribute to me the
+desertion and death of young Swett. He had been my senior, it is true, and
+was as able to influence me as I was to influence him; but conscience is a
+thing so sensitive, that, when we do wrong, it is apt to throw the whole
+error into our faces.
+
+Quitting the Carpenter in Philadelphia, therefore, I went to live in a
+respectable boarding-house, and engaged to go out in a brig called the
+Margaret, working on board as a rigger and stevedore, until she should be
+ready to sail. My berth was to be that of mate. The owner of this brig was
+as notorious, in his way, as the ship's husband in Charleston I had heard
+his character, and was determined, if he attempted to ride me, as he was
+said to do many of his mates, and even captains, he should find himself
+mounted on a hard-going animal. One day, things came to a crisis. The
+owner was on the wharf, with me, and such a string of abuse as he launched
+out upon me, I never before listened to. A crowd collected, and my blood
+got up. I seized the man, and dropped him off the wharf into the water,
+alongside of some hoop-poles, that I knew must prevent any accident. In
+this last respect, I was sufficiently careful, though the ducking was very
+thorough. The crowd gave three cheers, which I considered as a proof I was
+not so very wrong. Nothing was said of any suit on this occasion; but I
+walked off, and went directly on board a ship called the Coromandel, on
+which I had had an eye, as a lee, for several days. In this vessel I
+shipped as second-mate; carrying with me all the better character for the
+ducking given to the notorious--------.
+
+The Coromandel was bound to Cadiz, and thence round the Horn. The outward
+bound cargo was flour, but to which ports we were going in South America,
+I was ignorant. Our crew were all blacks, the officers excepted. We had a
+good passage, until we got off Cape Trafalgar, when it came on to blow
+heavily, directly on end. We lay-to off the Cape two days, and then ran
+into Gibraltar, and anchored. Here we lay about a fortnight, when there
+came on a gale from the south-west, which sent a tremendous sea in from
+the Atlantic. This gale commenced in the afternoon, and blew very heavily
+all that night. The force of the wind increased, little by little, until
+it began to tell seriously among the shipping, of which a great number
+were lying in front of the Rock. The second day of the gale, our ship was
+pitching bows under, sending the water aft to the taffrail, while many
+other craft struck adrift, or foundered at their anchors. The Coromandel
+had one chain cable, and this was out. It was the only cable we used for
+the first twenty-four hours. As the gale increased, however, it was
+thought necessary to let go the sheet-anchor, which had a hempen cable
+bent to it. Our chain, indeed, was said to be the first that was ever used
+out of Philadelphia, though it had then been in the ship for some time,
+and had proved itself a faithful servant the voyage before. Unfortunately,
+most of the chain was out before we let go the sheet-anchor, and there was
+no possibility of getting out a scope of the hempen cable. Dragging on
+shore, where we lay, was pretty much out of the question, as the bottom
+shelved inward, and the anchor, to come home, must have gone up hill.[14]
+
+In this manner the Coromandel rode for two nights and two days, the sea
+getting worse and worse, and the wind, it anything, rather increasing. We
+took the weight of the last in squalls, some of which were terrific. By
+this time the bay was well cleared of craft, nearly everything having
+sunk, or gone ashore. An English packet lay directly ahead of us, rather
+more than a cable's length distant, and she held on like ourselves. The
+Governor Brooks, of Boston, lay over nearer to Algesiras, where the sea
+and wind were a little broken, and, of course, she made better weather
+than ourselves.
+
+About eight o'clock, the third night, I was in the cabin, when the men on
+deck sung out that the chain had gone. At this time the ship had been
+pitching her spritsail-yard under water, and it blew a little hurricane.
+We were on deck in a moment, all hands paying out sheet. We brought the
+ship up with this cable, but not until she got it nearly to the better
+end. Unfortunately, we had got into shoal water, or what became shoal
+water by the depth of the troughs. It was said, afterwards, we were in
+five fathoms water at this time, but for this I will not vouch. It seems
+too much water for what happened. Our anchor, however, did actually lie in
+sixteen fathoms.
+
+We had hardly paid out the cable, before the ship came down upon the
+bottom, on an even keel, apparently, with a force that almost threw those
+on deck off their feet. These blows were repeated, from time to time, at
+intervals of several minutes, some of the thumps being much heavier than
+others. The English packet must have struck adrift at the same time with
+ourselves, for she came down upon us, letting go an anchor in a way to
+overlay our cable. I suppose the rocks and this sawing together, parted
+our hempen cable, and away we went towards the shore, broadside-to. As the
+ship drifted in, she continued to thump; but, luckily for us, the sea made
+no breaches over her. The old Coromandel was a very strong ship, and she
+continued working her way in-shore, until she lay in a good substantial
+berth, without any motion. We manned the pumps, and kept the ship
+tolerably free of water, though she lay over considerably. The English
+packet followed us in, going ashore more towards the Spanish lines. This
+vessel bilged, and lost some of her crew. As for ourselves, we had a
+comfortable berth, considering the manner in which we had got into it. No
+apprehension was felt for our personal safety, and perfect order was
+observed on board. The men worked as usual, nor was there any extra
+liquor drunk.
+
+That night the gale broke, and before morning it had materially moderated.
+Lighters were brought alongside, and we began to discharge our flour into
+them. The cargo was all discharged, and all in good order, so far as the
+water was concerned; though several of the keelson bolts were driven into
+the ground tier of barrels. I am almost afraid to tell this story, but I
+know it to be true, as I released the barrels with my own hands. As soon
+as clear, the ship was hove off into deep water, on the top of a high
+tide, and was found to leak so much as to need a shore-gang at the pumps
+to keep her afloat. She was accordingly sold for the benefit of the
+underwriters. She was subsequently docked and sent to sea.
+
+Of course, this broke up our voyage. The captain advised me to take a
+second-mate's berth in the Governor Brooks, the only American that escaped
+the gale, and I did so. This vessel was a brig, bound round the Horn,
+also, and a large, new craft. I know of no other vessel, that lay in front
+of the Rock that rode out this gale; and she did it with two hempen cables
+out, partly protected, however, by a good berth. There was a Swede that
+came back next day to her anchorage, which was said to have got
+back-strapped, behind the Rock, by some legerdemain, and so escaped also.
+I do not know how many lives were lost on this occasion; but the
+destruction of property must have been very great.
+
+Three weeks after the gale, the Governor Brooks sailed. We had a hard time
+in doubling the Cape, being a fortnight knocking about between Falkland
+and the Main. We were one hundred and forty-four days out, touching
+nowhere, until we anchored at Callao. We found flour, of which our cargo
+was composed, at seven dollars a barrel, with seven dollars duty. The
+Franklin 74, was lying here, with the Aurora English frigate, the castle
+being at war with the people inland. Our flour was landed, and what became
+of it is more than I can tell.
+
+We now took in ballast, and ran down to Guayaquil. Here an affair occurred
+that might very well have given me the most serious cause of regret, all
+the days of my life. Our steward was a Portuguese negro, of the most
+vicious and surly temper. Most of the people and officers were really
+afraid of him. One evening, the captain and chief mate being both ashore,
+I was sitting on deck, idle, and I took a fancy to a glass of grog. I
+ordered the steward, accordingly, to pour me out one, and bring it up. The
+man pretended that the captain had carried off the keys, and no rum was to
+be had. I thought this a little extraordinary; and, as one would be very
+apt to be, felt much hurt at the circumstance. I had never been drunk in
+the craft, and was not a drunkard in one sense of the term, at all; seldom
+drinking so as to affect me, except when on a frolic, ashore.
+
+As I sat brooding over this fancied insult, however, I smelt rum; and
+looking down the sky-light, saw this same steward passing forward with a
+pot filled with the liquor. I was fairly blinded with passion. Running
+down, I met the fellow, just as he was coming out of the cabin, and
+brought him up all standing. The man carried a knife along his leg, a
+weapon that had caused a good deal of uneasiness in the brig, and he now
+reached down to get it. Seeing there was no time to parley, I raised him
+from the floor, and threw him down with great force, his head coming
+under. There he lay like a log, and all my efforts with vinegar and water
+had no visible effect.
+
+I now thought the man dead. He gave no sign of life that I could detect,
+and fear of the consequences came over me. The devil put it into my head
+to throw the body overboard, as the most effectual means of concealing
+what I had done. The steward had threatened to run, by swimming, more than
+once, and I believe had been detected in making such an attempt; and I
+fancied if I could get the body through one of the cabin-windows, it would
+seem as if he had been drowned in carrying his project into execution. I
+tried all I could first to restore the steward to life; but failing of
+this, I actually began to drag him aft, in order to force his body out of
+a cabin-window. The transom was high, and the man very heavy; so I was a
+good while in dragging the load up to the necessary height. Just as I got
+it there, the fellow gave a groan, and I felt a relief that I had never
+before experienced. It seemed to me like a reprieve from the gallows.
+
+I now took the steward down, upon one of the lower transoms, where he sat
+rubbing his head a few minutes, I watching him closely the whole time. At
+length he got up, and staggered out of the cabin. He went and turned in,
+and I saw no more of him until next day. As it turned out, good, instead
+of harm, resulted from this affair; the black being ever afterwards
+greatly afraid of me. If I did not break his neck, I broke his temper; and
+the captain used to threaten to set me at him, whenever he behaved amiss.
+I owned the whole affair to the captain and mate, both of whom laughed
+heartily at what had happened, though I rejoiced, in my inmost heart, that
+it was no worse.
+
+The brig loaded with cocao, in bulk, at Guayaquil, and sailed for Cadiz.
+The passage was a fine one, as we doubled the Horn at midsummer. On this
+occasion we beat round the cape, under top-gallant-sails. The weather was
+so fine, we stood close in to get the benefit of the currents, after
+tacking, as it seemed to me, within a league of the land. Our passage to
+Cadiz lasted one hundred and forty-one, or two, days, being nearly the
+same length as that out though much smoother.
+
+The French had just got possession of Cadiz, as we got in, and we found
+the white flag flying. We lay here a month, and then went round to the
+Rock. After passing a week at Gibraltar, to take in some dollars, we
+sailed for New Orleans, in ballast. As I had been on twenty-two dollars a
+month, there was a pretty good whack coming to me, as soon as we reached
+an American port, and I felt a desire to spend it, before I went to sea
+again. They wished me to stick by the brig, which was going the very same
+voyage over; but I could not make up my mind to travel so long a road,
+with a pocket full of money. I had passed so many years at sea, that a
+short land cruise was getting to be grateful, as a novelty.
+
+The only craft I could get on board of, to come round into my own
+latitude, in order to enjoy myself in the old way, was an eastern
+schooner, called the James. On board this vessel I shipped as mate, bound
+to Philadelphia. She was the most meagre craft, in the way of outfit, I
+ever put to sea in. Her boat would not swim, and she had not a spare spar
+on board her. In this style, we went jogging along north, until we were
+met by a north-west gale, between Bermuda and Cape Hatteras, which forced
+us to heave-to. During this gale, I had a proof of the truth that "where
+the treasure is, there will the heart be also."
+
+I was standing leaning on the rail, and looking over the schooner's
+quarter, when I saw what I supposed to be a plank come up alongside! The
+idea of sailing in a craft of which the bottom was literally dropping out,
+was not very pleasant, and I thought all was lost. I cannot explain the
+folly of my conduct, except by supposing that my many escapes at sea, had
+brought me to imagine I was to be saved, myself, let what would happen to
+all the rest on board. Without stopping to reflect, I ran below and
+secured my dollars. Tearing up a blanket, I made a belt, and lashed about
+twenty-five pounds weight of silver to my body, with the prospect before
+me of swimming two or three hundred miles with it, before I could get
+ashore. As for boat, or spars, the former would not float, and of the last
+there was not one. I now look back on my acts of this day with wonder, for
+I had forgotten all my habitual knowledge of vessels, in the desire to
+save the paltry dollars. For the first and only time in my life I felt
+avaricious, and lost sight of everything in money!
+
+It was my duty to sound the pumps, but this I did not deem necessary. No
+sooner were the dollars secure, or, rather, ready to anchor me in the
+bottom of the ocean, than I remembered the captain. He was asleep, and
+waking him up, I told him what had happened. The old man, a dry, drawling,
+cool, down-easter, laughed in my face for my pains, telling me I had seen
+one of the sheeting-boards, with which he had had the bottom of the
+schooner covered, to protect it from the worms, at Campeachy, and that I
+need be under no concern about the schooner's bottom. This was the simple
+truth, and I cast off the dollars, again, with a sneaking consciousness of
+not having done my duty. I suppose all men have moments when they are not
+exactly themselves, in which they act very differently from what it has
+been their practice to act. On this occasion, I was not alarmed for
+myself, but I thought the course I took was necessary to save that dross
+which lures so many to perdition. Avarice blinded me to the secrets of my
+own trade.
+
+I had come all the way from New Orleans to Philadelphia, to spend my four
+hundred dollars to my satisfaction. For two months I lived respectably,
+and actually began to go to church. I did not live in a boarding-house,
+but in a private family. My landlady was a pious woman, and a member of
+the Dutch Reformed Church, but her husband was a Universalist. I must say,
+I liked the doctrine of the last the best, as it made smooth water for the
+whole cruise. I usually went with the man to church of a morning, which
+was falling among shoals, as a poor fellow was striving to get into port.
+I received a great deal of good advice from my landlady, however, and it
+made so much impression on me as to influence my conduct; though I cannot
+say it really touched my heart. I became more considerate, and better
+mannered, if I were not truly repentant for my sins. These two months were
+passed more rationally than any time of mine on shore, since the hour when
+I ran from the Sterling.
+
+The James was still lying in Philadelphia, undergoing repairs, and waiting
+for freight; but being now ready for sea, I shipped in her again, on a
+voyage to St. Thomas, with a cargo of flour. When we sailed, I left near a
+hundred dollars behind me, besides carrying some money to sea; the good
+effects of good company. At St. Thomas we discharged, and took in ballast
+for Turk's Island, where we got a cargo of salt, returning with it to
+Philadelphia. My conduct had been such on board this schooner, that her
+commander, who was her owner, and very old, having determined to knock off
+going to sea, tried to persuade me to stick by the craft, promising to
+make me her captain as soon as he could carry her down east, where she
+belonged. I now think I made a great mistake in not accepting this offer,
+though I was honestly diffident about my knowledge of navigation. I never
+had a clear understanding of the lunars, though I worked hard to master
+them. It is true, chronometers were coming into general use, in large
+vessels, and I could work the time; but a chronometer was a thing never
+heard of on board the James. Attachment to the larger towns, and a dislike
+for little voyages, had as much influence on me as anything else. I
+declined the offer; the only direct one ever made me to command any sort
+of craft, and remained what I am. I had a little contempt, too, for
+vessels of such a rig and outfit, which probably had its influence. I
+liked rich owners.
+
+On my return to Philadelphia, I found the family in which I had last lived
+much deranged by illness. I got my money, but was obliged to look for new
+lodgings. The respectable people with whom I had been before, did not keep
+lodgers, I being their only boarder; but I now went to a regular sailor's
+boarding-house. There was a little aristocracy, it is true, in my new
+lodgings, to which none but mates, dickies, and thorough salts came; but
+this was getting into the hurricane latitudes as to morals. I returned to
+all my old habits, throwing the dollars right and left, and forgetting all
+about even a Universalist church.
+
+A month cleaned me out, in such company. I spent every cent I had, with
+the exception of about fifteen dollars, that I had laid by as nest-eggs. I
+then shipped as second-mate, in the Rebecca Simms, a ship bound to St.
+Jago de Cuba, with flour. The voyage lasted four months; producing nothing
+of moment, but a little affair that was personal to myself, and which cost
+me nearly all my wages. The steward was a saucy black; and, on one
+occasion, in bad weather, he neglected to give me anything warm for
+breakfast. I took an opportunity to give him a taste of the end of the
+main-clew-garnet, as an admonisher; and there the matter ended, so long
+as I remained in the ship. It seemed quite right, to all on board, but the
+steward. He bore the matter in mind, and set a whole pack of quakers on
+me, as soon as we got in. The suit was tried; and it cost me sixty
+dollars, in damages, beside legal charges. I dare say it was all right,
+according to law and evidence; but I feel certain, just such a rubbing
+down, once a week, would have been very useful to that same steward.
+Well-meaning men often do quite as much harm, in this world, as the
+evil-disposed. Philanthropists of this school should not forget, that, if
+colour is no sufficient reason why a man should be always wrong, it is no
+sufficient reason why he should be always right.
+
+The lawsuit drove me to sea, again, in a very short time. Finding no
+better berth, and feeling very savage at the blindness of justice, I
+shipped before the mast, in the Superior, an Indiaman, of quite eight
+hundred tons, bound to Canton. This was the pleasantest voyage I ever made
+to sea, in a merchantman, so far as the weather, and, I may say, usage,
+were concerned. We lost our top-gallant-masts, homeward bound; but this
+was the only accident that occurred. The ship was gone nine months; the
+passage from Whampao to the capes having been made in ninety-four days.
+When we got in, the owners had failed, and there was no money forthcoming,
+at the moment. To remain, and libel the ship, was dull business; so,
+leaving a power of attorney behind me, I went on board a schooner, called
+the Sophia, bound to Vera Cruz, as foremast Jack.
+
+The Sophia was a clipper; and made the run out in a few days. We went into
+Vera Cruz; but found it nearly deserted. Our cargo went ashore a little
+irregularly; sometimes by day, and sometimes by night; being assorted, and
+suited to all classes of customers. As soon as ready, we sailed for
+Philadelphia, again; where we arrived, after an absence of only
+two months.
+
+I now got my wages for the Canton voyage; but they lasted me only a
+fortnight! It was necessary to go to sea, again; and I went on board the
+Caledonia; once more bound to Canton. This voyage lasted eleven months;
+but, like most China voyages, produced no event of importance. We lost our
+top-gallant-masts, this time, too; but that is nothing unusual, off Good
+Hope. I can say but little, in favour of the ship, or the treatment.
+
+On getting back to Philadelphia, the money went in the old way. I
+occasionally walked round to see my good religious friends, with whom I
+had once lived, but they ceased to have any great influence over my
+conduct. As soon as necessary, I shipped in the Delaware, a vessel bound
+to Savannah and Liverpool. Southern fashion, I ran from this vessel in
+Savannah, owing her nothing, however, but was obliged to leave my
+protection behind, as it was in the captain's hands. I cannot give any
+reason but caprice for quitting this ship. The usage was excellent, and
+the wages high; yet run I did. As long as the Delaware remained in port, I
+kept stowed away; but, as soon as she sailed, I came out into the world,
+and walked about the wharves as big as an owner.
+
+I now went on board a ship called the Tobacco Plant, bound to Liverpool
+and Philadelphia, for two dollars a month less wages, worse treatment, and
+no grog. So much for following the fashion. The voyage produced nothing to
+be mentioned.
+
+On my return to Philadelphia, I resolved to shift my ground, and try a new
+tack. I was now thirty-four, and began to give up all thoughts of getting
+a lift in my profession. I had got so many stern-boards on me, every time
+I was going ahead, and was so completely alone in the world, that I had
+become indifferent, and had made up my mind to take things as they
+offered. As for money, my rule had come to be, to spend it as I got it,
+and go to sea for more. "If I tumbled overboard," I said to myself, "there
+is none to cry over me;" therefore let things jog on their own course. All
+the disposition to morality that had been aroused within me, at
+Philadelphia, was completely gone, and I thought as little of church and
+of religion, as ever. It is true I had bought a Bible on board the
+Superior, and I was in the practice of reading in it, from time to time,
+though it was only the narratives, such as those of Sampson and Goliah,
+that formed any interest for me. The history of Jonah and the whale, I
+read at least twenty times. I cannot remember that the morality, or
+thought, or devotion of a single passage ever struck me on these
+occasions. In word, I read this sacred book for amusement, and not
+for light.
+
+I now wanted change, and began to think of going back to the navy, by way
+of novelty. I had been round the world once, had been to Canton five
+times, doubling the Cape, round the Horn twice, to Batavia once, the
+West-Indies, on the Spanish main, and had crossed the Atlantic so often,
+that I thought I knew all the mile-stones. I had seen but little of the
+Mediterranean, and fancied a man-of-war's cruise would show me those seas.
+Most of the Tobacco Plants had shipped in Philadelphia, and I determined
+to go with them, to go in the navy. There is a fashion in all things, and
+just then it was the fashion to enter in the service.
+
+I was shipped by Lieutenant M'Kean, now Commander M'Kean, a grandson of
+the old Governor of Pennsylvania, as they tell me. All hands of us were
+sent on board the Cyane, an English prize twenty-gun ship, where we
+remained about six weeks. A draft was then made, and more than a hundred
+of us were sent round to Norfolk, in a sloop, to join the Delaware, 80,
+then fitting out for the Mediterranean. We found the ship lying alongside
+the Navy-yard wharf, and after passing one night in the receiving-ship,
+were sent on board the two-decker. The Delaware soon hauled out, and was
+turned over to Captain Downes, the very officer who had almost persuaded
+me to go in that ill-fated brig, the Epervier.
+
+I was stationed on the Delaware's forecastle, and was soon ordered to do
+second captain's duty. We had for lieutenants on board, Mr. Ramage, first,
+Messrs. Williamson, Ten Eick, Shubrick, Byrne, Chauncey, Harris, and
+several whose names I have forgotten. Mr. Ramage has since been cashiered,
+I understand; and Messrs. Ten Eick, Shubrick, Chauncey, Harris, and Byrne,
+are now all commanders.
+
+The ship sailed in the winter of 1828, in the month of January I think,
+having on board the Prince of Musignano, and his family, who were going to
+Italy. This gentleman was Charles Bonaparte, eldest son of Lucien, Prince
+of Canino, they tell me, and is now Prince of Canino himself. He had been
+living some time in America, and got a passage in our ship, on account of
+the difficulty of travelling in Europe, for one of his name and family.
+He was the first, and only Prince I ever had for a shipmate.
+
+
+
+Chapter XV.
+
+
+
+Our passage out in the Delaware was very rough, the ship rolling heavily.
+It was the first time she had been at sea, and it required some little
+time to get her trim and sailing. She turned out, however, to be a good
+vessel; sailing fairly, steering well, and proving an excellent sea-boat.
+We went into Algesiras, where we lay only twenty-four hours. We then
+sailed for Mahon, but were met by orders off the port, to proceed to
+Leghorn and land our passengers. I have been told this was done on account
+of the Princess of Musignano's being a daughter of the ex-King of Spain,
+and it was not thought delicate to bring her within the territory of the
+reigning king. I have even heard that the commodore was offered an order
+of knighthood for the delicacy he manifested on this occasion, which offer
+he declined accepting, as a matter of course.
+
+The ship had a good run from off Mahon to Leghorn where we anchored in the
+outer roads. We landed the passengers the afternoon of the day we arrived.
+That very night it came on to blow heavily from the northward and
+eastward, or a little off shore, according to the best of my recollection.
+This was the first time I ever saw preparations made to send down lower
+yards, and to house top-masts--merchantmen not being strong-handed enough
+to cut such capers with their sticks. We had three anchors ahead, if not
+four, the ship labouring a good deal. We lost one man from the starboard
+forechains, by his getting caught in the buoy-rope, as we let go a
+sheet-anchor. The poor fellow could not be picked up, on account of the
+sea and the darkness of the night, though an attempt was made to save him.
+
+The next day the weather moderated a little, and we got under way for
+Mahon. Our passage down was pleasant, and this time we went in. Captain
+Downes now left us, and Commodore Crane hoisted his broad-pennant on
+board us. The ship now lay a long time in port. The commodore went aloft
+in one of the sloops, and was absent several months. I was told he was
+employed in making a treaty with the Turks, but us poor Jacks knew little
+of such matters. On his return, there was a regular blow-up with the
+first-lieutenant, who left the ship, to nobody's regret, so far as I know.
+Mr. Mix, who had led our party to the lakes in 1812, and was with us in
+all my lake service, and who was Mr. Osgood's brother-in-law, now joined
+us as first-lieutenant. I had got to be first-captain of the forecastle, a
+berth I held to the end of the cruise.
+
+The treatment on board this ship was excellent. The happiest time I ever
+spent at sea, was in the Delaware. After Mr. Mix took Mr. Ramage's place,
+everybody seemed contented, and I never knew a better satisfied ship's
+company. The third year out, we had a long cruise off Cape de Gatte,
+keeping the ship under her canvass quite three months. We took in supplies
+at sea, the object being to keep us from getting rusty. On the fourth of
+July we had a regular holiday. At four in the morning, the ship was close
+in under the north shore, and we wore off the land. Sail was then
+shortened. After this, we had music, and more saluting and grog. The day
+was passed merrily, and I do not remember a fight, or a black eye, in
+the ship.
+
+I volunteered to go one cruise in the Warren, under Mr. Byrne. The present
+Commodore Kearny commanded this ship, and he took us down to the Rock. The
+reason of our volunteering was this. The men-of-war of the Dutch and the
+French, rendezvoused at Mahon, as well as ourselves. The French and our
+people had several rows ashore. Which was right and which wrong, I cannot
+say, as it was the Java's men, and not the Delaware's, that were engaged
+in them, on our side. One of the Javas was run through the body, and a
+French officer got killed. It was said the French suspected us of a design
+of sending away the man who killed their officer, and meant to stop the
+Warren, which was bound to the Rock on duty. All I know is, that two
+French brigs anchored at the mouth of the harbour, and some of us were
+called on to volunteer. Forty-five of us did so, and went on board
+the sloop.
+
+After the Warren got under way, we went to quarters, manning both
+batteries. In this manner we stood down between the two French brigs, with
+top-gallant-sails furled and the courses in the brails. We passed directly
+between the two brigs, keeping a broadside trained upon each; but nothing
+was said, or done, to us. We anchored first at the Rock, but next day
+crossed over to the Spanish coast. In a short time we returned to Mahon,
+and we volunteers went back to the Delaware. The two brigs had gone, but
+there was still a considerable French force in port. Nothing came of the
+difficulty, however, so far as I could see or hear.
+
+In the season of 1830, the Constellation, Commodore Biddle, came out, and
+our ship and Commodore were relieved. We had a run up as far as Sicily,
+however, before this took place, and went off Tripoli. There I saw a
+wreck, lying across the bay, that they told me was the bones of the
+Philadelphia frigate. We were also at Leghorn, several weeks, the
+commodore going to some baths in the neighbourhood, for his health.
+
+Among other ports, the Delaware visited Carthagena, Malta, and Syracuse.
+At the latter place, the ship lay six weeks, I should think. This was the
+season of our arrival out. Here we underwent a course of severe exercise,
+that brought the crew up to a high state of discipline. At four in the
+morning, we would turn out, and commence our work. All the manoeuvres of
+unmooring, making sail, reefing, furling, and packing on her again, were
+gone through, until the people got so much accustomed to work together,
+the great secret of the efficiency of a man-of-war, that the officer of
+the deck was forced to sing out "belay!" before the yards were up by a
+foot, lest the men should spring the spars. When we got through this
+drill, the commodore told us we would do, and that he was not ashamed to
+show us alongside of anything that floated. I do not pretend to give our
+movements in the order in which they occurred, however, nor am I quite
+certain what year it was the commodore went up to Smyrna. On reflection,
+it may have been later than I have stated.
+
+Our cruise off Cape de Gatte was one of the last things we did; and when
+we came back to Mahon, we took in supplies for America. We made the
+southern passage home and anchored in Hampton Roads, in the winter of
+1831. I believe the whole crew of the Delaware was sorry when the cruise
+was up. There are always a certain number of long-shore chaps in a
+man-of-war, who are never satisfied with discipline, and the wholesome
+restraints of a ship; but as for us old salts, I never heard one give the
+Delaware a bad name. We had heard an awful report of the commodore, who
+was called a "burster," and expected sharp times under him; and his manner
+of taking possession was of a nature to alarm us. All hands had been
+called to receive him, and the first words he said were "Call all hands to
+witness punishment." A pin might have been heard falling among us, for
+this sounded ominous. It was to clear the brig, only, Captain Downes
+having left three men in it, whom he would not release on quitting the
+vessel. The offences were serious, and could not be overlooked. These
+three chaps got it; but there was only one other man brought regularly to
+the gang-way while I was in the ship, and he was under the sentence of a
+court, and belonged to the Warren. As soon as the brig was cleared, the
+commodore told us we should be treated as we treated others, and then
+turned away among the officers. The next day we found we were to live
+under a just rule, and that satisfied us. One of the great causes of the
+contentment that reigned in the ship, was the method, and the regularity
+of the hours observed. The men knew on what they could calculate, in
+ordinary times, and this left them their own masters within certain hours.
+I repeat, she was the happiest ship I ever served in, though I have always
+found good treatment in the navy.
+
+I can say conscientiously, that were my life to be passed over again,
+without the hope of commanding a vessel, it should be passed in the navy.
+The food is better, the service is lighter, the treatment is better, if a
+man behave himself at all well, he is better cared for, has a port under
+his lee in case of accidents, and gets good, steady, wages, with the
+certainty of being paid. If his ship is lost, his wages are safe; and if
+he gets hurt, he is pensioned. Then he is pretty certain of having
+gentlemen over him, and that is a great deal for any man. He has good
+quarters below; and if he serve in a ship as large as a frigate, he has a
+cover over his head, half the time, at least, in bad weather. This is the
+honest opinion of one who has served in all sorts of crafts, liners,
+Indiamen, coasters, smugglers, whalers, and transient ships. I have been
+in a ship of the line, two frigates, three sloops of war, and several
+smaller craft; and such is the result of all my experience in Uncle Sam's
+navy. No man can go to sea and always meet with fair-weather, but he will
+get as little of foul in one of our vessels of war, as in any craft that
+floats, if a man only behave himself. I think the American merchantmen
+give better wages than are to be found in other services; and I think the
+American men-of-war, as a rule, give better treatment than the American
+merchantman. God bless the flag, I say, and this, too, without the fear of
+being hanged!
+
+The Delaware lay two or three weeks in the Roads before she went up to the
+Yard. At the latter place we began to strip the ship. While thus employed,
+we were told that seventy-five of us, whose times were not quite out, were
+to be drafted for the Brandywine 44, then fitting out at New York, for a
+short cruise in the Gulf. This was bad news, for Jack likes a swing ashore
+after a long service abroad. Go we must, and did, however. We were sent
+round to New York in a schooner, and found the frigate still lying at the
+Yard. We were hulked on board the Hudson until she was ready to receive
+us, when we were sent to our new vessel. Captain Ballard commanded the
+Brandywine, and among her lieutenants, Mr. M'Kenny was the first. This is
+a fine ship, and she got her name from the battle in which La Fayette was
+wounded in this country, having been first fitted out to carry him to
+France, after his last visit to America. She is a first-class frigate,
+mounting thirty long thirty-two's on her gun-deck; and I conceive it to be
+some honour to a sailor to have it in his power to say he has been captain
+of the forecastle in such a ship, for I was rated in this frigate the same
+as I had been rated in the Delaware; with this difference, that, for my
+service in the Brandywine, I received my regular eighteen dollars a month
+as a petty officer; whereas, though actually captain of the Delaware's
+forecastle for quite two years, and second-captain nearly all the rest of
+the time I was in the ship, I never got more than seaman's wages, or
+twelve dollars a month. I do not know how this happened, though I supposed
+it to have arisen from some mistake connected with the circumstance that
+I was paid off for my services in the Delaware, by the purser of the
+frigate. This was in consequence of the transfer.
+
+The Brandywine sailed in March for the Gulf. Our cruise lasted about five
+months, during which time we went to Vera Cruz, Pensacola, and the Havana.
+We appeared to me to be a single ship, as we were never in squadron, and
+saw no broad-pennant. No accident happened, the cruise being altogether
+pleasant. The ship returned to Norfolk, and twenty-five of us, principally
+old Delawares, were discharged, our times being out. We all of us intended
+to return to the frigate, after a cruise ashore, and we chartered a
+schooner to carry us to Philadelphia in a body, determining not to
+part company.
+
+The morning the schooner sailed, I was leading the whole party along one
+of the streets of Norfolk, when I saw something white lying in the middle
+of the carriage-way. It turned out to be an old messmate, Jack Dove, who
+had been discharged three days before, and had left us to go to
+Philadelphia, but had been brought up by King Grog. While we were
+overhauling the poor fellow, who could not speak, his landlady came out to
+us, and told us that he had eat nothing for three days, and did nothing
+but drink. She begged us to take care of him, as he disregarded all she
+said. This honest woman gave us Jack's wages to a cent, for I knew what
+they had come to; and we made a collection of ten dollars for her,
+calculating that Jack must have swallowed that much in three days. Jack we
+took with us, bag and hammock; but he would eat nothing on the passage,
+calling out constantly for drink. We gave him liquor, thinking it would do
+him good; but he grew worse, and, when we reached Philadelphia, he was
+sent to the hospital. Here, in the course of a few days, he died.
+
+Never, in all my folly and excesses, did I give myself so much up to
+drink, as when I reached Philadelphia this time. I was not quite as bad as
+Jack Dove, but I soon lost my appetite, living principally on liquor. When
+we heard of Jack's death, we proposed among ourselves to give him a
+sailor's funeral. We turned out, accordingly, to the number if a hundred,
+or more, in blue jackets and white trowsers, and marched up to the
+hospital in a body. I was one of the leaders in this arrangement, and felt
+much interest in it, as Jack had been my messmate; but, the instant I saw
+his coffin, a fit of the "horrors" came over me, and I actually left the
+place, running down street towards the river, as if pursued by devils.
+Luckily, I stopped to rest on the stoop of a druggist. The worthy man took
+me in, gave me some soda water, and some good advice. When a little
+strengthened, I made my way home, but gave up at the door. Then followed a
+severe indisposition, which kept me in bed for a fortnight, during which I
+suffered the torments of the damned.
+
+I have had two or three visits from the "horrors," in the course of my
+life, but nothing to equal this attack. I came near following Jack Dove to
+the grave; but God, in His mercy, spared me from such an end. It is not
+possible for one who has never experienced the effects of his excesses, in
+this particular form, to get any correct notions of the sufferings I
+endured. Among other conceits, I thought the colour which the tar usually
+leaves on seamen's nails, was the sign that I had the yellow fever. This
+idea haunted me for days, and gave me great uneasiness. In short, I was
+like a man suspended over a yawning chasm, expecting, every instant, to
+fall and be dashed to pieces, and yet, who could not die.
+
+For some time after my recovery, I could not bear the smell of liquor; but
+evil companions lured me back to my old habits. I was soon in a bad way
+again, and it was only owing to the necessity of going to sea, that I had
+not a return of the dreadful malady. When I shipped in the Delaware, I had
+left my watch, quadrant, and good clothes, to the value of near two
+hundred dollars, with my present landlord, and he now restored them all to
+me, safe and sound. I made considerable additions to the stock of clothes,
+and when I again went to sea, left the whole, and more, with the
+same landlord.
+
+Our plan of going back to the Brandywine was altered by circumstances; and
+a party of us shipped in the Monongahela, a Liverpool liner, out of
+Philadelphia. The cabin of this vessel was taken by two gentlemen, going
+to visit Europe, viz.: Mr. Hare Powell and Mr. Edward Burd; and getting
+these passengers, with their families, on board, the ship sailed. By this
+time, I had pretty much given up the hope of preferment, and did not
+trouble myself whether I lived forward or aft. I joined the Monongahela as
+a forward hand, therefore, quite as well satisfied as if her chief mate.
+
+We left the Delaware in the month of August, and, a short time out,
+encountered one of the heaviest gales of wind I ever witnessed at sea. It
+came on from the eastward, and would have driven us ashore, had not the
+wind suddenly shifted to south-west. The ship was lying-to, under bare
+poles, pressed down upon the water in such a way that she lay almost as
+steady as if in a river; nor did the force of the wind allow the sea to
+get up. A part of the time, our lee lower yard-arms were nearly in the
+water. We had everything aloft, but sending them down was quite out of the
+question. It was not possible, at one time, for a man to go aloft at all.
+I tried it myself, and could with difficulty keep my feet on the ratlins.
+I make no doubt I should have been blown out of the top, could I have
+reached it, did I let go my hold to do any work.
+
+We had sailed in company with the Kensington, a corvette belonging to the
+Emperor of Russia, and saw a ship, during the gale, that was said to be
+she. The Kensington was dismasted, and had to return to refit, but we did
+not part a rope-yarn. When the wind shifted, we were on soundings; and, it
+still continuing to blow a gale, we set the main-topsail close-reefed, and
+the foresail, and shoved the vessel off the land at the rate of a
+steam-boat. After this, the wind favoured us, and our passage out was very
+short. We stayed but a few days in Liverpool; took in passengers, and got
+back to Philadelphia, after an absence of a little more than two months.
+The Kensington's report of the gale, and of our situation, had caused much
+uneasiness in Philadelphia, but our two passages were so short, that we
+brought the news of our safety.
+
+I now inquired for the Brandywine, but found she had sailed for the
+Mediterranean. It was my intention to have gone on board her, but missing
+this ship, and a set of officers that I knew, I looked out for a
+merchantman. I found a brig called the Amelia, bound to Bordeaux, and
+shipped in her before the mast.
+
+The Amelia had a bad passage out. It was in the autumn, and the brig
+leaked badly. This kept us a great deal at the pumps, an occupation that
+a sailor does anything but delight in. I am of opinion that pumping a
+leaky ship is the most detestable work in the world. Nothing but the dread
+of drowning ought to make a man do it, although some men will pump to save
+their property. As for myself, I am not certain I would take twenty-four
+hours of hard pumping to save any sum I shall probably ever own, or
+ever did own.
+
+After a long passage, we made the Cordovan, but, the wind blowing heavy
+off the land, we could not get in for near a fortnight. Not a pilot would
+come out, and if they had, it would have done us no good. After a while,
+the wind shifted, and we got into the river, and up to the town. We took
+in a return cargo of brandy, and sailed for Philadelphia. Our
+homeward-bound passage was long and stormy, but we made the capes, at
+last. Here we were boarded by a pilot, who told us we were too late; the
+Delaware had frozen up, and we had to keep away, with a South-east wind,
+for New York. We had a bad time of it, as soon as night came on. The gale
+increased, blowing directly into the bight, and we had to haul up under
+close-reefed topsails and reefed foresail, to claw off the land. The
+weather was very thick, and the night dark, and all we could do was to get
+round, when the land gave us a hint it was time. This we generally did in
+five fathoms water. We had to ware, for the brig would not tack under such
+short canvass, and, of course, lost much ground in so doing. About three
+in the morning we knew that it was nearly up with us. The soundings gave
+warning of this, and we got round, on what I supposed would be the
+Amelia's last leg. But Providence took care of us, when we could not help
+ourselves. The wind came out at north-west, as it might be by word of
+command; the mist cleared up, and we saw the lights, for the first time,
+close aboard us. The brig was taken aback, but we got her round, shortened
+sail, and hove her to, under a closed-reefed main-topsail. We now got it
+from the north-west, making very bad weather. The gale must have set us a
+long way to leeward, as we did not get in for a fortnight. We shipped a
+heavy sea, that stove our boat, and almost swept the decks. We were out of
+pork and beef, and our fire-wood was nearly gone. The binnacle was also
+gone. As good luck would have it, we killed a porpoise, soon after the
+wind shifted, and on this we lived, in a great measure, for more than a
+week, sometimes cooking it, but oftener eating it raw. At length the wind
+shifted, and we got in.
+
+I was no sooner out of this difficulty, than a hasty temper got me into
+another. While still in the stream, an Irish boatman called me a "Yankee
+son of a-----," and I lent him a clip. The fellow sued me, and, contriving
+to catch me before I left the vessel, I was sent to jail, for the first
+and only time in my life. This turned out to be a new and very revolting
+school for me. I was sent among as precious a set of rascals as New York
+could furnish. Their conversation was very edifying. One would tell how he
+cut the hoses of the engines at fires, with razor-blades fastened to his
+shoes; another, how many pocket-books he and his associates had taken at
+this or that fire; and a third, the mariner of breaking open stores, and
+the best mode of disposing of stolen goods. The cool, open, impudent
+manner in which these fellows spoke of such transactions, fairly astounded
+me. They must have thought I was in jail for some crime similar to their
+own, or they would not have talked so freely before a stranger. These
+chaps seemed to value a man by the enormity and number of his crimes.
+
+At length the captain and my landlord found out where I had been sent, and
+I was immediately bailed. Glad enough was I to get out of prison, and
+still more so to get out of the company I found in it. Such association is
+enough to undermine the morals of a saint, in a week or two. And yet these
+fellows were well dressed, and well enough looking, and might very well
+pass for a sort of gentlemen, with those who had seen but little of men of
+the true quality.
+
+I had got enough of law, and wished to push the matter no farther. The
+Irishman was sent for, and I compromised with him on the spot. The whole
+affair cost me my entire wages, and I was bound over to keep the peace,
+for, I do not know how long. This scrape compelled me to weigh my anchor
+at a short notice, as there is no living in New York without money. I went
+on board the Sully, therefore--a Havre liner--a day or two after getting
+out of the atmosphere of the City Hall. They may talk of Batavia, if they
+please; but in my judgement, it is the healthiest place of the two,
+
+Our passages, out and home, produced nothing worth mentioning, and I left
+the ship in New York. My wages went in the old way, and then I shipped in
+a schooner called the Susan and Mary, that was about to sail for Buenos
+Ayres, in the expectation that she would be sold there. The craft was a
+good one, though our passage out was very long. On reaching our port, I
+took my discharge, under the impression the vessel would be sold. A notion
+now came over me, that I would join the Buenos Ayrean navy, in order to
+see what sort of a service it was. I knew it was a mixed American and
+English affair, and, by this time, I had become very reckless as to my own
+fate. I wished to do nothing very wrong, but was incapable of doing
+anything that was very right.
+
+My windfall carried me on board a schooner, of eight or ten guns, called
+the Suradaha. I did not ship, making an arrangement by which I was to be
+left to decide for myself, whether I would remain in her, or not. Although
+a pretty good craft, I soon got enough of this service. In one week I was
+thoroughly disgusted, and left the schooner. It is well I did, as there
+was a "_revolution_" on board of her, a few days later, and she was
+carried up the river, and, as I was told, was there sunk. With her, sunk
+all my laurels in that service.
+
+The Susan and Mary was not sold, but took in hides for New York. I
+returned to her, therefore, and we sailed for home in due time. The
+passage proved long, but mild, and we were compelled to run in, off Point
+Petre, Gaudaloupe, where we took in some provisions. After this, nothing
+occurred until we reached New York.
+
+I now shifted the name of my craft, end for end, joining a half-rigged
+brig, called the Mary and Susan. I gained little by the change, this
+vessel being just the worst-looking hooker I did ever sail in. Still she
+was tight, strong enough, and not a very bad sailing vessel. But, for some
+reason or other, externals were not regarded, and we made anything but a
+holiday appearance on the water. I had seen the time when I would disdain
+to go chief-mate of such a looking craft; but I now shipped in her as a
+common hand.
+
+We sailed for Para, in Brazil, a port nearly under the line, having
+gunpowder, dry-goods, &c. Our passage, until we came near the coast of
+South America, was good, and nothing occurred to mention. When under the
+line, however, we made a rakish-looking schooner, carrying two topsails,
+one forenoon. We made no effort to escape, knowing it to be useless. The
+schooner set a Spanish ensign, and brought us to. We were ordered to lower
+our boat and to go on board the schooner, which were done. I happened to
+be at the helm, and remained in the Mary and Susan. The strangers ordered
+our people out of the boat, and sent an armed party in her, on board us.
+These men rummaged about for a short time, and then were hailed from their
+vessel to know if we promised well. Our looks deceived the head man of the
+boarders, who answered that we were _very_ poor. On receiving this
+information, the captain of the schooner ordered his boarding party to
+quit us. Our boat came back, but was ordered to return and bring another
+gang of the strangers. This time we were questioned about canvass, but got
+off by concealing the truth. We had thirty bolts on board, but produced
+only one. The bolt shown did not happen to suit, and the strangers again
+left us. We were told not to make sail until we received notice by signal,
+and the schooner hauled her wind. After standing on some time, however,
+these gentry seemed indisposed to quit us, for they came down again, and
+rounded to on our weather-beam. We were now questioned about our
+longitude, and whether we had a chronometer. We gave the former, but had
+nothing like the latter on board. Telling us once more not to make sail
+without the signal, the schooner left us, standing on until fairly out of
+sight. We waited until she sunk her topsails, and then went on our course.
+
+None of us doubted that this fellow was a pirate. The men on board us were
+an ill-looking set of rascals, of all countries. They spoke Spanish, but
+we gave them credit for being a mixture. Our escape was probably owing to
+our appearance, which promised anything but a rich booty. Our dry-goods
+and powder were concealed in casks under he ballast, and I suppose the
+papers were not particularly minute. At any rate, when we get into Para,
+most of the cargo went out of our schooner privately, being landed from
+lighters. We had a passenger, who passed for some revolutionary man, who
+also landed secretly. This gentleman was in a good deal of concern about
+the pirates, keeping himself hid while they were near us.
+
+
+
+Chapter XVI.
+
+
+
+Our passage from Para was good until the brig reached the latitude of
+Bermuda. Here, one morning, for the first time in this craft, Sundays
+excepted, we got a forenoon watch below. I was profiting by the
+opportunity to do a little work for myself, when the mate, an
+inexperienced young man, who was connected with the owners, came and
+ordered us up to help jibe ship. It was easy enough to do this in the
+watch, but he thought differently. As an old seaman, I do not hesitate to
+say that the order was both inconsiderate and unnecessary; though I do not
+wish to appear even to justify my own conduct, on the occasion. A hasty
+temper is one of my besetting weaknesses, and, at that time, I was in no
+degree influenced by any considerations of a moral nature, as connected
+with language. Exceedingly exasperated at this interference with our
+comfort, I did not hesitate to tell the mate my opinion of his order.
+Warming with my own complaints, I soon became fearfully profane and
+denunciatory. I called down curses on the brig, and all that belonged to
+her, not hesitating about wishing that she might founder at sea, and carry
+all hands of us to the bottom of the ocean. In a word, I indulged in all
+that looseness and profanity of the tongue, which is common enough with
+those who feel no restraints on the subject, and who are highly
+exasperated.
+
+I do think the extent to which I carried my curses and wishes, on this
+occasion, frightened the officers. They said nothing, but let me curse
+myself out, to my heart's content. A man soon wearies of so bootless a
+task, and the storm passed off, like one in the heavens, with a low
+rumbling. I gave myself no concern about the matter afterwards, but things
+took their course until noon. While the people were at dinner, the mate
+came forward again, however, and called all hands to shorten sail. Going
+on deck, I saw a very menacing black cloud astern, and went to work, with
+a will, to discharge a duty that everybody could see was necessary.
+
+We gathered in the canvass as fast as we could; but, before we could get
+through, and while I was lending a hand to furl the foresail, the squall
+struck the brig. I call it a squall, but it was more like the tail of a
+hurricane. Most of our canvass blew from the gaskets, the cloth going in
+ribands. The foresail and fore-topsail we managed to save, but all our
+light canvass went. I was still aloft when the brig broached-to. As she
+came up to the wind, the fore-topmast went over to leeward, being carried
+away at the cap. All the hamper came down, and began to thresh against the
+larboard side of the lower rigging. Just at this instant, a sea seemed to
+strike the brig under her bilge, and fairly throw her on her beam-ends.
+
+All this appeared to me to be the work of only a minute. I had scrambled
+to windward, to get out of the way of the wreck, and stood with one foot
+on the upper side of the bitts, holding on, to steady myself, by some of
+the running rigging. This was being in a very different attitude, but on
+the precise spot, where, two or three hours before, I had called on the
+Almighty to pour out his vials of wrath upon the vessel, myself, and all
+she contained! At that fearful instant, conscience pricked me, and I felt
+both shame and dread, at my recent language. It seemed to me as if I had
+been heard, and that my impious prayers were about to be granted. In the
+bitterness of my heart, I vowed, should my life be spared, never to be
+guilty of such gross profanity, again.
+
+These feelings, however, occupied me but a moment. I was too much of a
+real sea-dog to be standing idle at a time like that. There was but one
+man before the mast on whom I could call for anything in such a strait,
+and that was a New Yorker, of the name of Jack Neal. This man was near me,
+and I suggested to him the plan of getting the fore-topmast staysail
+loose, notwithstanding the mast was gone, in the hope it might blow open,
+and help the brig's bows round. Jack was a fellow to act, and he succeeded
+in loosening the sail, which did blow out in a way greatly to help us, as
+I think. I then proposed we should clamber aft, and try to get the helm
+up. This we did, also; though I question if the rudder could have had much
+power, in the position in which the brig lay.
+
+Either owing to the fore-top-mast staysail, or to some providential sea,
+the vessel did fall off, however, and presently she righted, coming up
+with great force, with a heavy roll to windward. The staysail helped us, I
+feel persuaded, as the stay had got taut in the wreck, and the wind had
+blown out the hanks. The brig's helm being hard up, as soon as she got
+way, the craft flew round like a top, coming up on the other tack, in
+spite of us, and throwing her nearly over again. She did not come fairly
+down, however, though I thought she was gone, for an instant.
+
+Finding it possible to move, I now ran forward, and succeeded in stopping
+the wreck into the rigging and bitts. At this time the brig minded her
+helm, and fell off, coming under command. To help us, the head of the
+spencer got loose, from the throat-brail up, and, blowing out against the
+wreck, the whole formed, together, a body of hamper, that acted as a sort
+of sail, which helped the brig to keep clear of the seas. By close
+attention to the helm, we were enabled to prevent the vessel from
+broaching-to again, and, of course, managed to sail her on her bottom.
+About sunset, it moderated, and, next morning, the weather was fine. We
+then went to work, and rigged jury-masts; reaching New York a few
+days later.
+
+Had this accident occurred to our vessel in the night, as did that to the
+Scourge, our fate would probably have been decided in a few minutes. As it
+was, half an hour, in the sort of sea that was going, would have finished
+her. As for my repentance, if I can use the term on such an occasion, and
+for such a feeling, it was more lasting than thorough. I have never been
+so fearfully profane since; and often, when I have felt the disposition to
+give way to passion in this revolting form, my feelings, as I stood by
+those bitts, have recurred to my mind--my vow has been remembered, and I
+hope, together, they did some good, until I was made to see the general
+errors of my life, and the necessity of throwing all my sins on the
+merciful interposition of my Saviour.
+
+I was not as reckless and extravagant, this time, in port, as I had
+usually been, of late years. I shipped, before my money was all gone, on
+board the Henry Kneeland, for Liverpool, viâ New Orleans. On reaching the
+latter port, all hands of us were beset by the land-sharks, in the shape
+of landlords, who told us how much better we should be off by running,
+than by sticking by the ship. We listened to these tales, and went in a
+body. What made the matter worse, and our conduct the less excusable, was
+the fact, that we got good wages and good treatment in the Henry Kneeland.
+The landlords came with two boats, in the night; we passed our dunnage
+down to them, and away we went, leaving only one man on board. The very
+next day we all shipped on board the Marian, United States' Revenue
+Cutter, where I was rated a quarter-mate, at fifteen dollars a month;
+leaving seventeen to obtain this preferment!
+
+We got a good craft for our money, however. She was a large comfortable
+schooner, that mounted a few light guns, and our duty was far from heavy.
+The treatment turned out to be good, also, as some relief to our folly.
+One of our Henry Kneelands died of the "horrors" before we got to sea, and
+we buried him at the watering-place, near the lower bar. I must have been
+about four months in the Marion, during which time we visited the
+different keys, and went into Key West. At this place, our crew became
+sickly, and I was landed among others, and sent to a boarding-house. It
+was near a month before we could get the crew together again, when we
+sailed for Norfolk. At Norfolk, six of us had relapses, and were sent to
+the hospital; the cutter sailing without us. I never saw the craft
+afterwards.
+
+I was but a fortnight in the hospital, the disease being only the fever
+and ague. Just as I came out, the Alert, the New York cutter, came in, and
+I was sent on board her. This separated me from all the Henry Kneelands
+but one old man. The Alert was bound south, on duty connected with the
+nullification troubles; and, soon after I joined her, she sailed for
+Charleston, South Carolina. Here a little fleet of cutters soon
+collected; no less than seven of us being at anchor in the waters of South
+Carolina, to prevent any breach of the tariff laws. When I had been on
+board the Alert about a month, a new cutter called the Jackson, came in
+from New York, and being the finest craft on the station, our officers and
+crew were transferred to her in a body; our captain being the senior of
+all the revenue captains present.
+
+I must have been at least six months in the waters of South Carolina, thus
+employed. We never went to sea, but occasionally dropped down as far as
+Rebellion Roads. We were not allowed to go ashore, except on rare
+occasions, and towards the last, matters got to be so serious, that we
+almost looked upon ourselves as in an enemy's country. Commodore Elliott
+joined the station in the Natchez sloop-of-war, and the Experiment,
+man-of-war schooner, also arrived and remained. After the arrival of the
+Natchez, the Commodore took command of all hands of us afloat, and we were
+kept in a state of high preparation for service. We were occasionally at
+quarters, nights, though I never exactly knew the reasons. It was said
+attacks on us were anticipated. General Scott was in the fort, and matters
+looked very warlike, for several weeks.
+
+At length we got the joyful news that nullification had been thrown
+overboard, and that no more was to be apprehended. It seems that the crews
+of the different cutters had been increased for this particular service;
+but, now it was over, there were more men employed than Government had
+needed. We were told, in consequence, that those among us who wished our
+discharges, might have them on application.
+
+I had been long enough in this 'long-shore service, and applied to be
+discharged, under this provision. My time was so near out, however, that I
+should have got away soon, in regular course.
+
+I now went ashore at Charleston, and had my swig, as long as the money
+lasted. I gave myself no trouble about the ship's husband, whose
+collar-bone I had broken; nor do I now know whether he was then living, or
+dead. In a word, I thought only of the present time; the past and the
+future being equally indifferent to me. My old landlord was dead; and I
+fell altogether into the hands of a new set. I never took the precaution
+to change my name, at any period of my life, with the exception, that I
+dropped the Robert, in signing shipping-articles. I also wrote my name
+Myers, instead of Meyers, as, I have been informed by my sister, was the
+true spelling. But this proceeded from ignorance, and not from intention.
+In all times, and seasons, and weathers, and services, I have sailed as
+Ned Myers; and as nothing else.
+
+It soon became necessary to ship again; and I went on board the Harriet
+and Jesse, which was bound to Havre de Grace. This proved to be a
+pleasant, easy voyage; the ship coming back to New York filled with
+passengers, who were called Swiss; but most of whom, as I understand, came
+from Wurtemberg, Alsace, and the countries on the Rhine. On reaching New
+York, I went on to Philadelphia, to obtain the effects I had left there,
+when I went out in the Amelia. But my landlord was dead; his family was
+scattered; and my property had disappeared. I never knew who got it; but a
+quadrant, watch, and some entirely new clothes, went in the wreck. I
+suppose I lost, at least, two hundred dollars, in this way. What odds did
+it make to me? it would have gone in grog, if it had not gone in
+this manner.
+
+I staid but a short time in Philadelphia, joining a brig, called the
+Topaz, bound to Havana. We arrived out, after a short passage; and here I
+was exposed to as strong a temptation to commit crime, as a poor fellow
+need encounter. A beautiful American-built brig, was lying in port, bound
+to Africa, for slaves. She was the loveliest craft I ever laid eyes on;
+and the very sight of her gave me a longing to go in her. She offered
+forty dollars a month, with the privilege of a slave and a half. I went so
+far as to try to get on board her; but met with some difficulty, in having
+my things seized. The captain found it out; and, by pointing out to me the
+danger I ran, succeeded in changing my mind.
+
+I will not deny, that I knew the trade was immoral; but so is smuggling;
+and I viewed them pretty much as the same thing, in this sense. I am now
+told, that the law of this country pronounces the American citizen, who
+goes in a slaver, a pirate; and treats him as such; which, to me, seems
+very extraordinary. I do not understand, how a Spaniard can do that, and
+be no pirate, which makes an American a pirate, if he be guilty of it. I
+feel certain, that very few sailors know in what light the law views
+slaving. Now, piracy is robbing, on the high seas, and has always been
+contrary to law; but slaving was encouraged by all nations, a short time
+since; and we poor tars look upon the change, as nothing but a change in
+policy. As for myself, I should have gone in that brig, in utter ignorance
+of the risks I ran, and believing myself to be about as guilty, in a moral
+sense, as I was when I smuggled tobacco, on the coast of Ireland, or opium
+in Canton. [15]
+
+As the Topaz was coming out of the port of Havana, homeward bound, and
+just as she was abreast of the Moro, the brig carried away her bobstay. I
+was busy in helping to unreeve the stay, when I was seized with sudden and
+violent cramps. This attack proved to be the cholera, which came near
+carrying me off. The captain had me taken aft, where I was attended with
+the greatest care. God be praised for his mercy! I got well, though
+scarcely able to do any more duty before we got in.
+
+A short voyage gives short commons; and I was soon obliged to look out for
+another craft. This time I shipped in the Erie, Captain Funk, a Havre
+liner, and sailed soon after. This was a noble ship, with the best of
+usage. Both our passages were pleasant, and give me nothing to relate.
+While I was at work in the hold, at Havre, a poor female passenger, who
+came to look at the ship, fell through the hatch, and was so much injured
+as to be left behind. I mention the circumstance merely to show how near I
+was to a meeting with my old shipmate, who is writing these pages, and yet
+missed him. On comparing notes, I find he was on deck when this accident
+happened, having come to see after some effects he was then shipping to
+New York. These very effects I handled, and supposed them to belong to a
+passenger who was to come home in the ship; but, as they were addressed to
+another name, I could not recognise them. Mr. Cooper did not come home in
+the Erie, but passed over to England, and embarked at London, and so I
+failed to see him.
+
+In these liners, the captains wish to keep the good men of their crews as
+long as they can. We liked the Erie and her captain so much, that eight or
+ten of us stuck by the ship, and went out in her again. This time our luck
+was not so good. The passage out was well enough, but homeward-bound we
+had a hard time of it. While in Havre, too, we had a narrow escape.
+Christmas night, a fire broke out in the cabin, and came near smothering
+us all, forward, before we knew anything about it. Our chief mate, whose
+name was Everdy,[16] saved the vessel by his caution and exertions; the
+captain not getting on board until the fire had come to a head. We kept
+everything closed until an engine was ready, then cut away the deck, and
+sent down the hose This expedient, with a free use of water, saved the
+ship. It is not known how the fire originated. A good deal of damage was
+done, and some property was lost.
+
+Notwithstanding this accident, we had the ship ready for sea early in
+January, 1834. For the first week out, we met with head winds and heavy
+weather; so heavy, indeed, as to render it difficult to get rid of the
+pilot. The ship beat down channel with him on board, as low as the
+Eddystone. Here we saw the Sully, outward bound, running up channel before
+the wind. Signals were exchanged, and our ship, which was then well off
+the land, ran in and spoke the Sully. We put our pilot on board this ship,
+which was doing a good turn all round. The afternoon proving fair, and the
+wind moderating, Captain Funk filled and stood in near to the coast, as
+his best tack. Towards night, however, the gale freshened, and blew into
+the bay, between the Start Point and the Lizard, in a heavy,
+steady manner.
+
+The first thing was to ware off shore; after which, we were compelled to
+take in nearly all our canvass. The gale continued to increase, and the
+night set in dark. There were plenty of ports to leeward, but it was
+ticklish work to lose a foot of ground, unless one knew exactly where he
+was going. We had no pilot, and the captain decided to hold on. I have
+seldom known it to blow harder than it did that night; and, for hours,
+everything depended on our main-top-sail's standing, which sail we had set,
+close-reefed. I did not see anything to guide us, but the compass, until
+about ten o'clock, when I caught a view of a light close on our lee bow.
+This was the Eddystone, which stands pretty nearly in a line between the
+Start and the Lizard, and rather more than three leagues from the land.
+As we headed, we might lay past, should everything stand; but, if our
+topsail went, we should have been pretty certain of fetching up on those
+famous rocks, where a three-decker would have gone to pieces in an hour's
+time in such a gale.
+
+I suppose we passed the Eddystone at a safe distance, or the captain would
+not have attempted going to windward of it; but, to me, it appeared that
+we were fearfully near. The sea was breaking over the light tremendously,
+and could be plainly seen, as it flashed up near the lantern. We went by,
+however, surging slowly ahead, though our drift must have been
+very material.
+
+The Start, and the point to the westward of it, were still to be cleared.
+They were a good way off, and but a little to leeward, as the ship headed.
+In smooth water, and with a whole-sail breeze, it would have been easy
+enough to lay past the Start, when at the Eddystone, with a south-west
+wind; but, in a gale, it is a serious matter, especially on a flood-tide.
+I know all hands of us, forward and aft, looked upon our situation as very
+grave. We passed several uneasy hours, after we lost sight of the
+Eddystone, before we got a view of the land near the Start. When I saw it,
+the heights appeared like a dark cloud hanging over us, and I certainly
+thought the ship was gone. At this time, the captain and mate consulted
+together, and the latter came to us, in a very calm, steady manner, and
+said--"Come, boys; we may as well go ashore without masts as with them,
+and our only hope is in getting more canvass to stand. We must turn-to,
+and make sail on the ship."
+
+Everybody was in motion on this hint, and the first thing we did was to
+board fore-tack. The clews of that sail came down as if so many giants had
+hold of the tack and sheet. We set it, double-reefed, which made it but a
+rag of a sail, and yet the ship felt it directly. We next tried the
+fore-topsail, close-reefed, and this stood. It was well we did, for I feel
+certain the ship was now in the ground-swell. That black hill seemed
+ready to fall on our heads. We tried the mizen-topsail, but we found it
+would not do, and we furled it again, not without great difficulty. Things
+still looked serious, the land drawing nearer and nearer; and we tried to
+get the mainsail, double-reefed, on the ship. Everybody mustered at the
+tack and sheet, and we dragged down that bit of cloth as if it had been
+muslin. The good ship now quivered like a horse that is over-ridden, but
+in those liners everything is strong, and everything stood. I never saw
+spray thrown from a ship's bows, as it was thrown from the Erie's that
+night. We had a breathless quarter of an hour after the mainsail was set,
+everybody looking to see what would go first. Every rope and bolt in the
+craft was tried to the utmost, but all stood! At the most critical moment,
+we caught a glimpse of a light in a house that was known to stand near the
+Start; and the mate came among us, pointed it out, and said, if we
+weathered _that_, we should go clear. After hearing this, my eyes were
+never off that light, and glad was I to see it slowly drawing more astern,
+and more under our lee. At last we got it on our quarter, and knew that we
+had gone clear! The gloomy-looking land disappeared to leeward, in a deep,
+broad bay, giving us plenty of sea-room.
+
+We now took in canvass, to ease the ship. The mainsail and fore-topsail
+were furled, leaving her to jog along under the main-topsail, foresail,
+and fore-topmast staysail. I look upon this as one of my narrowest escapes
+from shipwreck; and I consider the escape, under the mercy of God, to have
+been owing to the steadiness of our officers, and the goodness of the ship
+and her outfit. It was like pushing a horse to the trial of every nerve
+and sinew, and only winning the race under whip and spur. Wood, and iron,
+and cordage, and canvass, can do no more than they did that night.
+
+Next morning, at breakfast, the crew talked the matter over. We had a hard
+set in this ship, the men being prime seamen, but of reckless habits and
+characters. Some of the most thoughtless among them admitted that they had
+prayed secretly for succour, and, for myself, I am most thankful that _I_
+did. These confessions were made half-jestingly, but I believe them to
+have been true, judging from my own case. It may sound bravely in the ears
+of the thoughtless and foolish, to boast of indifference on such
+occasions; but, few men can face death under circumstances like those in
+which we were placed, without admitting to themselves, however
+reluctantly, that there is a Power above, on which they must lean for
+personal safety, as well as for spiritual support. More than usual care
+was had for the future welfare of sailors among the Havre liners, there
+being a mariners' church at Havre, at which our captain always attended,
+as well as his mates; and efforts were made to make us go also. The effect
+was good, the men being better behaved, and more sober, in consequence.
+
+The wind shifted a day or two after this escape, giving us a slant that
+carried us past Scilly, fairly out into the Atlantic. A fortnight or so
+after our interview with the Eddystone we carried away the pintals of the
+rudder, which was saved only by the modern invention that prevents the
+head from dropping, by means of the deck. To prevent the strain, and to
+get some service from the rudder, however, we found it necessary to sling
+the latter, and to breast it into the stern-post by means of purchases. A
+spar was laid athwart the coach-house, directly over the rudder, and we
+rove a chain through the tiller-hole, and passed it over this spar. For
+this purpose the smallest chain-cable was used, the rudder being raised
+from the deck by means of sheers. We then got a set of chain-topsail
+sheets, parcelled them well, and took a clove hitch with them around the
+rudder, about half-way up. One end was brought into each main-chain, and
+set up by tackles. In this manner the wheel did tolerably well, though we
+had to let the ship lie-to in heavy weather.
+
+The chain sheets held on near a month, and then gave way. On examination,
+it was found that the parcelling had gone under the ship's counter, and
+that the copper had nearly destroyed the iron. After this, we mustered all
+the chains of the ship, of proper size, parcelled them very thoroughly,
+got another clove hitch around the rudder as before, and brought the ends
+to the hawse-holes, letting the bights fall, one on each side of the
+ship's keel. The ends were next brought to the windlass and hove taut.
+This answered pretty well, and stood until we got the ship into New York.
+Our whole passage was stormy, and lasted seventy days, as near as I can
+recollect. The ship was almost given up when we got in, and great was the
+joy at our arrival.
+
+As the Erie lost her turn, in consequence of wanting repairs, most of us
+went on board the Henry IVth, in the same line. This voyage was
+comfortable, and successful, a fine ship and good usage. On our return to
+New York most of us went back to the Erie, liking both vessel and captain,
+as well as her other officers. I went twice more to Havre and back in this
+ship, making four voyages in her in all. At the end of the fourth voyage
+our old mate left us, to do business ashore, and we took a dislike to his
+successor, though it was without trying him. The mate we lost had been a
+great favourite, and we seemed to think if he went we must go too. At any
+rate, nearly all hands went to the Silvie de Grasse, where we got another
+good ship, good officers, and good treatment. In fact, all these Havre
+liners were very much alike in these respects, the Silvie de Grasse being
+the fourth in which I had then sailed, and to me they all seemed as if
+they belonged to the same family. I went twice to Havre in this ship also,
+when I left her for the Normandy, in the same line. I made this change in
+consequence of an affair about some segars in Havre, in which I had no
+other concern than to father another man's fault. The captain treated me
+very handsomely, but my temperament is such that I am apt to fly off in a
+tangent when anything goes up stream. It was caprice that took me from the
+Silvie de Grasse, and put me in her sister-liner.
+
+I liked the Normandy as well as the rest of these liners, except that the
+vessel steered badly. I made only one voyage in her, however, as will be
+seen in the next chapter.
+
+
+
+Chapter XVII.
+
+
+
+I had now been no less than eight voyages in the Havre trade, without
+intermission. So regular had my occupation become, that I began to think I
+was a part of a liner myself. I liked the treatment, the food, the ships,
+and the officers. Whenever we got home, I worked in the ship, at day's
+work, until paid off; after which, no more was seen of Ned until it was
+time to go on board to sail. When I got in, in the Normandy, it happened
+as usual, though I took a short swing only. Mr. Everdy, our old mate in
+the Erie, was working gangs of stevedores, riggers, &c., ashore; and when
+I went and reported myself to him, as ready for work in the Normandy
+again, he observed that her gang was full, but that, by going up-town next
+morning, to the screw-dock, I should find an excellent job on board a
+brig. The following day, accordingly, I took my dinner in a pail, and
+started off for the dock, as directed. On my way, I fell in with an old
+shipmate in the navy, a boatswain's-mate, of the name of Benson. This man
+asked me where I was bound with my pail, and I told him. "What's the use,"
+says he, "of dragging your soul out in these liners, when you have a
+man-of-war under your lee!" Then he told me he meant to ship, and advised
+me to do the same. I drank with him two or three times, and felt half
+persuaded to enter; but, recollecting the brig, I left him, and pushed on
+to the dock. When I got there, it was so late that the vessel had got off
+the dock, and was already under way in the stream.
+
+My day's work was now up, and I determined to make a full holiday of it.
+As I went back, I fell in with Captain Mix, the officer with whom I had
+first gone on the lakes, and my old first-lieutenant in the Delaware, and
+had a bit of navy talk with him; after which I drifted along as far as the
+rendezvous. The officer in charge was Mr. M'Kenny, my old first-lieutenant
+in the Brandywine, and, before I quitted the house, my name was down,
+again, for one of Uncle Sam's sailor-men. In this accidental manner have I
+floated about the world, most of my life--not dreaming in the morning,
+what would fetch me up before night.
+
+When it was time to go off, I was ready, and was sent on board the Hudson,
+which vessel Captain Mix then commanded. I have the consolation of knowing
+that I never ran, or thought of running, from either of the eleven
+men-of-war on board of which I have served, counting big and little,
+service of days and service of years. I had so long a pull in the
+receiving-ship, as to get heartily tired of her; and, when an opportunity
+offered, I put my name down for the Constellation 38, which was then
+fitting out for the West India station, in Norfolk. A draft of us was sent
+round to that ship accordingly, and we found she had hauled off from the
+yard, and was lying between the forts. When I got on board, I ascertained
+that something like fifty of my old liners were in this very ship, some
+common motive inducing them to take service in the navy, all at the same
+time. As for myself, it happened just as I have related, though I always
+liked the navy, and was ever ready to join a ship of war, for a
+pleasant cruise.
+
+Commodore Dallas's pennant was flying in the Constellation when I joined
+her. A short time afterwards, the ship sailed for the West Indies. As
+there was nothing material occurred in the cruise, it is unnecessary to
+relate things in the order in which they took place. The ship went to
+Havana, Trinidad, Curaçoa, Laguayra, Santa Cruz, Vera Cruz, Campeachy,
+Tampico, Key West, &c. We lay more or less time at all these ports, and in
+Santa Cruz we had a great ball on board. After passing several months in
+this manner, we went to Pensacola. The St. Louis was with us most of this
+time, though she did not sail from America in company. The next season the
+whole squadron went to Vera Cruz in company, seven or eight sail of us in
+all, giving the Mexicans some alarm, I believe.
+
+But the Florida war gave us the most occupation. I was out in all sorts of
+ways, on expeditions, and can say I never saw an Indian, except those who
+came to give themselves up. I was in steamboats, cutters, launches, and on
+shore, marching like a soldier, with a gun on my shoulder, and precious
+duty it was for a sailor.
+
+The St. Louis being short of hands, I was also drafted for a cruise in
+her; going the rounds much as we had done in the frigate. This was a fine
+ship, and was then commanded by Captain Rousseau, an officer much
+respected and liked, by us all. Mr. Byrne, my old shipmate in the
+Delaware, went out with us as first-lieutenant of the Constellation, but
+he did not remain out the whole cruise.
+
+Altogether I was out on the West India station three years, but got into
+the hospital, for several months of the time, in consequence of a broken
+bone. While in the hospital, the frigate made a cruise, leaving me ashore.
+On her return, I was invalided home, in the Levant, Captain Paulding,
+another solid, excellent officer. In a word, I was lucky in my officers,
+generally; the treatment on board the frigate being just and good. The
+duty in the Constellation was very hard, being a sort of soldier duty,
+which may be very well for those that are trained to it, but makes bad
+weather for us blue-jackets. Captain Mix, the officer with whom I went to
+the lakes, was out on the station in command of the Concord, sloop of war,
+and, for some time, was in charge of our ship, during the absence of
+Commodore Dallas, in his own vessel. In this manner are old shipmates
+often thrown together, after years of separation.
+
+In the hospital I was rated as porter, Captain Bolton and Captain Latirner
+being my commanding officers; the first being in charge of the yard, and
+the second his next in rank. From these two gentlemen I received so many
+favours, that it would be ungrateful in me not to mention them. Dr.
+Terrill, the surgeon of the hospital, too, was also exceedingly kind to
+me, during the time I was under his care.
+
+As I had much leisure time in the hospital, I took charge of a garden, and
+got to be somewhat of a gardener. It was said I had the best garden about
+Pensacola, which is quite likely true, as I never saw but one other.
+
+The most important thing, however, that occurred to me while in the
+hospital, was a disposition that suddenly arose in my mind, to reflect on
+my future state, and to look at religious things with serious eyes. Dr.
+Terrill had some blacks in his service, who were in the habit of holding
+little Methodist meetings, where they sang hymns, and conversed together
+seriously. I never joined these people, being too white for that, down at
+Pensacola, but I could overhear them from my own little room. A Roman
+Catholic in the hospital had a prayer-book in English, which he lent to
+me, and I got into the habit of reading a prayer in it, daily, as a sort
+of worshipping of the Almighty. This was the first act of mine, that
+approached private worship, since the day I left Mr. Marchinton's; if I
+except the few hasty mental petitions put up in moments of danger.
+
+After a time, I began to think it would never do for me, a Protestant born
+and baptised, to be studying a Romish prayer-book; and I hunted up one
+that was Protestant, and which had been written expressly for seamen. This
+I took to my room, and used in place of the Romish book. Dr. Terrill had a
+number of bibles under his charge, and I obtained one of these, also, and
+I actually got into the practice of reading a chapter every night, as
+well as of reading a prayer, also knocked off from drink, and ceased to
+swear. My reading in the bible, now, was not for the stories, but
+seriously to improve my mind and morals.
+
+I must have been several months getting to be more and more in earnest on
+the subject of morality, if not of vital religion, when I formed an
+acquaintance with a new steward, who had just joined the hospital. This
+man was ready enough to converse with me about the bible, but he turned
+out to be a Deist, Notwithstanding my own disposition to think more
+seriously of my true situation, I had many misgivings on the subject of
+the Saviour's being the Son of God. It seemed improbable to me, and I was
+falling into the danger which is so apt to beset the new beginner--that of
+self-sufficiency, and the substituting of human wisdom for faith. The
+steward was not slow in discovering this; and he produced some of Tom
+Paine's works, by way of strengthening me in the unbelief. I now read Tom
+Paine, instead of the bible, and soon had practical evidence of the bad
+effects of his miserable system. I soon got stern-way on me in morals;
+began to drink, as before, though seldom intoxicated, and grew indifferent
+to my bible and prayer-book, as well as careless of the future. I began to
+think that the things of this world were to be enjoyed, and he was the
+wisest who made the most of his time.
+
+I must confess, also, that the bad examples which I saw set by men
+professing to be Christians, had a strong tendency to disgust me with
+religion. The great mistake I made was, in supposing I had undergone any
+real change of heart. Circumstances disposed me to reflect, and reflection
+brought me to be serious, on subjects that I had hitherto treated with
+levity; but the grace of God was still, in a great degree, withheld from
+me, leaving me a prey to such arguments as those of the steward, and his
+great prophet and master, Mr. Paine.
+
+In the hospital, and that, too, at a place like Pensacola there was little
+opportunity for me to break out into my old excesses; though I found
+liquor, on one or two occasions, even there, and got myself into some
+disgrace in consequence. On the whole, however, the discipline, my
+situation, and my own resolution, kept me tolerably correct. It is the
+restraint of a ship that alone prevents sailors from dying much sooner
+than they do; for it is certain no man could hold out long who passed
+three or four months every year in the sort of indulgencies into which I
+myself have often run, after returning from long voyages. This is one
+advantage of the navy; two or three days of riotous living being all a
+fellow _can_ very well get in a three years' cruise. Any man who has ever
+been in a vessel of war, particularly in old times, can see the effect
+produced by the system, and regular living of a ship. When the crew first
+came on board, the men were listless, almost lifeless, with recent
+dissipation; some suffering with the "horrors," perhaps; but a few weeks
+of regular living would bring them all round; and, by the end of the
+cruise, most of the people would come into port, and be paid off, with
+renovated constitutions. It is a little different, now, to be sure, as the
+men ship for general service, and commonly serve a short apprenticeship in
+a receiving vessel, before they are turned over to the sea-going craft.
+This brings them on board the last in a little better condition than used
+to be the case; but, even now, six months in a man-of-war is a new lease
+for a seaman's life.
+
+I say I got myself into disgrace in the hospital of Pensacola, in
+consequence of my habit of drinking. The facts were as follows, for I have
+no desire to conceal, or to parade before the world, my own delinquencies;
+but, I confess them with the hope that the pictures they present, may have
+some salutary influence on the conduct of others. The doctor, who was
+steadily my friend, and often gave me excellent advice, went north, in
+order to bring his wife to Pensacola. I was considered entitled to a
+pension for the hurt which had brought me into the hospital, and the
+doctor had promised to see something about it, while at Washington. This
+was not done, in consequence of his not passing through Washington, as had
+been expected. Now, nature has so formed me, that any disgust, or
+disappointment, makes me reckless, and awakens a desire to revenge myself,
+on myself, as I may say. It was this feeling which first carried me from
+Halifax; it was this feeling that made me run from the Sterling; and which
+has often changed and sometimes marred my prospects, as I have passed
+through life. As soon as I learned that nothing had been said about my
+pension, this same feeling came over me, and I became reckless. I had not
+drawn my grog for months, and, indeed, had left off drinking entirely; but
+I now determined to have my fill, at the first good opportunity. I meant
+to make the officers sorry, by doing something that was very wrong, and
+for which I should be sorry myself.
+
+I kept the keys of the liquor of the hospital. The first thing was to find
+a confederate, which I did in the person of a Baltimore chap, who entered
+into my plan from pure love of liquor. I then got a stock of the wine, and
+we went to work on it, in my room. The liquor was sherry, and it took nine
+bottles of it to lay us both up. Even this did not make me beastly drunk,
+but it made me desperate and impudent. I abused the doctor, and came very
+near putting my foot into it, with Captain Latimer, who is an officer that
+it will not do, always, to trifle with. Still, these gentlemen, with
+Captain Bolton, had more consideration for me, than I had for myself, and
+I escaped with only a good reprimand. It was owing to this frolic,
+however, that I was invalided home--as they call it out there, no one
+seeming to consider Pensacola as being in the United States.
+
+When landed from the Levant, I was sent to the Navy Yard Hospital,
+Brooklyn. After staying two or three days here, I determined to go to the
+seat of government, and take a look at the great guns stationed there,
+Uncle Sam and all. I was paid off from the Levant, accordingly, and
+leaving the balance with the purser of the yard, I set off on my journey,
+with fifty dollars in my pockets, which they tell me is about a member of
+Congress' mileage, for the distance I had to go. Of course this was
+enough, as a member of Congress would naturally take care and give himself
+as much as he wanted.
+
+When I got on board the South-Amboy boat, I found a party of Indians
+there, going to head-quarters, like myself. The sight of these chaps set
+up all my rigging, and I felt ripe for fun. I treated them to a breakfast
+each, and gave them as much to drink as they could swallow. We all got
+merry, and had our own coarse fun, in the usual thought less manner of
+seamen. This was a bad beginning, and by the time we reached a tavern, I
+was ready to anchor. Where this was, is more than I know; for I was not in
+a state to keep a ship's reckoning. Whether any of my money was stolen or
+not, I cannot say, but I know that some of my clothes were. Next day I got
+to Philadelphia, where I had another frolic. After this, I went on to
+Washington, keeping it up, the whole distance. I fell in with a soldier
+chap, who was out of cash, and who was going to Washington to get a
+pension, too; and so we lived in common. When we reached Washington, my
+cash was diminished to three dollars and a half, and all was the
+consequences of brandy and folly. I had actually spent forty-six dollars
+and a half, in a journey that might have been made with ten, respectably!
+
+I got my travelling companion to recommend a boarding-house, which he did.
+I felt miserable from my excesses, and went to bed. In the morning, the
+three dollars and a half were gone. I felt too ill to go to the Department
+that day, but kept on drinking--eating nothing. Next day, my landlord took
+the trouble to inquire into the state of my pocket, and I told him the
+truth. This brought about a pretty free explanation between us, in which I
+was given to understand that my time was up in that place. I afterwards
+found out I had got into a regular soldier-house, and it was no wonder
+they did not know how to treat an old salt.
+
+Captain Mix had given me a letter to Commodore Chauncey, who was then
+living, and one of the Commissioners. I felt pretty certain the old
+gentleman would not let one of the Scourges founder at head-quarters, and
+so I crawled up to the Department, and got admission to him. The commodore
+seemed glad to see me; questioned me a good deal about the loss of the
+schooner, and finally gave me directions how to proceed. I then discovered
+that my pension ticket had actually reached Washington, but had been sent
+back to Pensacola, to get some informality corrected. This would compel me
+to remain some time at Washington. I felt unwell, and got back to my
+boarding-house with these tidings. The gentleman who kept the house was
+far from being satisfied with this, and he gave me a hint that at once put
+the door between us. This was the first time I ever had a door shut upon
+me, and I am thankful it happened at a soldier rendezvous. I gave the man
+all my spare clothes in pawn, and walked away from his house.
+
+I had undoubtedly brought on myself a fit of the "horrors," by my recent
+excesses. As I went along the streets, I thought every one was sneering at
+me; and, though burning with thirst, I felt ashamed to enter any house to
+ask even for water. A black gave me the direction of the Navy Yard, and I
+shaped my course for it, feeling more like lying down to die, than
+anything else. When about half-way across the bit of vacant land between
+the Capitol and the Yard, I sat down under a high picket-fence, and the
+devil put it into my head, that it would be well to terminate sufferings
+that seemed too hard to be borne, by hanging myself on that very fence. I
+took the handkerchief from my neck, made a running bow-line, and got so
+far as to be at work at a standing bow-line, to hitch over the top of one
+of the poles of the fence.
+
+I now stood up, and began to look for a proper picket to make fast to,
+when, in gazing about, I caught sight of the mast-heads of the shipping at
+the yard, and of the ensign under which I had so long served! These came
+over me, as a light-house comes over a mariner in distress at sea, and I
+thought there must be friends for me in that quarter. The sight gave me
+courage and strength, and I determined no old shipmate should hear of a
+blue-jacket's hanging himself on a picket, in a fit of the horrors.
+Casting off the bowlines, I replaced the handkerchief on my neck, and made
+the best of my way towards those blessed mast-heads, which, under God's
+mercy, were the means of preventing me from committing suicide.
+
+As I came up to the gate of the yard, the marine on post sung out to me,
+"Halloo, Myers, where are you come from? You look as if you had been
+dragged through h--, and beaten with a soot-bag!" This man, the first I
+met at the Navy Yard, had been with me three years in the Delaware, and
+knew me in spite of my miserable appearance. He advised me to go on board
+the Fulton, then lying at the Yard, where he said I should find several
+more old Delawares, who would take good care of me. I did as he directed,
+and, on getting on board, I fell in with lots of acquaintances. Some
+brought me tea, and some brought me grog. I told my yarn, and the chaps
+around me laid a plan to get ashore on liberty that night, and razée the
+house from which I had been turned away. But I persuaded them out of the
+notion, and the landlord went clear.
+
+Alter a while, I got a direction to a boarding-house near the Yard, and
+went to it, with a message from my old shipmates that they would be
+responsible for the pay. But to this the man would not listen; he took me
+in on my own account, saying that no blue-jacket should be turned from
+_his_ door, in distress. Here I staid and got a comfortable night's rest.
+Next day I was a new man, holy-stoned the decks, and went a second time to
+the Department.
+
+All the gentlemen in the office showed a desire to serve and advise me.
+The Pension Clerk gave me a letter to Mr. Boyle, the Chief Clerk, who gave
+me another letter to Commodore Patterson, the commandant of the Navy-Yard.
+It seems that government provides a boarding-house for us pensioners to
+stay in, while at Washington, looking after our rights. This letter of Mr.
+Boyle's got me a berth in that house, where I was supplied with
+everything, even to washing and mending, for six weeks. Through the
+purser, I drew a stock of money from the purser at New York, and now
+began, again, to live soberly and respectably, considering all things.
+
+The house in which I lived was a sort of half-hospital, and may have had
+six or eight of us in it, altogether. Several of us were cripples from
+wounds and hurts, and, among others, was one Reuben James, a thorough old
+man-of-war's man, who had been in the service ever since he was a youth.
+This man had the credit of saving Decatur's life before Tripoli; but he
+owned to me that he was not the person who did it. He was in the fight,
+and boarded with Decatur, but did not save his commander's life. He had
+been often wounded, and had just had a leg amputated for an old wound,
+received in the war of 1812, I believe. Liquor brought him to that.
+
+The reader will remember that the night the Scourge went down I received a
+severe blow from her jib-sheet blocks. A lump soon formed on the spot
+where the injury had been inflicted, and it had continued to increase
+until it was now as large as my fist, or even larger. I showed this lump
+to James, one day, and he mentioned it to Dr. Foltz, the surgeon who
+attended the house. The doctor took a look at my arm, and recommended an
+operation, as the lump would continue to increase, and was already so
+large as to be inconvenient. I cannot say that it hurt me any, though it
+was an awkward sort of swab to be carrying on a fellow's shoulder. I had
+no great relish for being carved, and think I should have refused to
+submit to the operation, were it not for James, who told me he would not
+be carrying Bunker Hill about on _his_ arm, and would show me his own
+stump by way of encouragement. This man seemed to think an old sailor
+ought to have a wooden leg, or something of the sort, after he had reached
+a certain time of life. At all events, he persuaded me to let the doctor
+go to work, and I am now glad I did, as everything turned out well. Doctor
+Foltz operated, after I had been about a week under medicine, doing the
+job as neatly as man could wish. He told me the lump he removed weighed a
+pound and three quarters, and of course I was so much the lighter. I was
+about a month, after this, under his care, when he pronounced me to be
+sea-worthy again.
+
+I now got things straight as regards my pension, for the hurt received on
+board the Constellation. It was no great matter, only three dollars a
+month, being one of the small pensions; and the clerks, when they came to
+hear about the hurt, for which Dr. Foltz had operated, advised me to get
+evidence and procure a pension for _that_. I saw the Secretary, Mr.
+Paulding, on this subject, and the gentlemen were so kind as to overhaul
+their papers, in order to ascertain who could be found as a witness. They
+wrote to Captain Deacon, the officer who commanded the Growler; but he
+knew nothing of me, as I never was on board his schooner. This gentleman,
+however, wrote me a letter, himself, inviting me to come and see him,
+which I had it not in my power to do. I understand he is now dead. Mr.
+Trant had been dead many years, and, as for Mr. Bogardus, I never knew
+what became of him. He was not in the line of promotion, and probably left
+the navy at the peace. In overhauling the books, however, the
+pension-clerk came across the name of Lemuel Bryant. This man received a
+pension for the wound he got at Little York, and was one of those I had
+hauled into the boat when the Scourge went down. He was then living at
+Portland, in Maine, his native State. Mr. Paulding advised me to get his
+certificate, for all hands in the Department seemed anxious I should not
+go away without something better than the three dollars a month. I
+promised to go on, and see Lemuel Bryant, and obtain his testimony.
+
+Quitting Washington, I went to Alexandria and got on board a brig, called
+the Isabella, bound to New York, at which port we arrived in due time.
+Here I obtained the rest of my money, and kept myself pretty steady, more
+on account of my wounds, I fear, than anything else. Still I drank too
+much; and by way of putting a check on myself, I went to the Sailor's
+Retreat, Staten Island, and of course got out of the reach of liquor. Here
+I staid eight or ten days, until my wounds healed. While at the Retreat,
+the last day I remained there indeed, which was a Sunday, the physician
+came in, and told me that a clergyman of the Dutch Reformed Church, of the
+name of Miller, was about to have service down stairs, and that I had
+better go down and be present. To this request, not only civilly but
+kindly made, I answered that I had seen enough of the acts of religious
+men to satisfy me, and that I believed a story I was then reading in a
+Magazine, would do me as much good as a sermon. The physician said a
+little in the way of reproof and admonition, and left me. As soon as his
+back was turned, some of my companions began to applaud the spirit I had
+shown, and the answer I had given the doctor. But I was not satisfied with
+myself. I had more secret respect for such things than I was willing to
+own, and conscience upbraided me for the manner in which I had slighted so
+well-meaning a request. Suddenly telling those around me that my mind was
+changed, and that I _would_ go below and hear what was said, I put this
+new resolution in effect immediately.
+
+I had no recollection of the text from which Mr. Miller preached; it is
+possible I did not attend to it, at the moment it was given out; but,
+during the whole discourse, I fancied the clergyman was addressing himself
+particularly to me, and that his eyes were never off me. That he touched
+my conscience I know, for the effect produced by this sermon, though not
+uninterruptedly lasting, is remembered to the present hour. I made many
+excellent resolutions, and secretly resolved to reform, and to lead a
+better life. My thoughts were occupied the whole night with what I had
+heard, and my conscience was keenly active.
+
+The next morning I quitted the Retreat, and saw no more of Mr. Miller, at
+that time; but I carried away with me many resolutions that would have
+been very admirable, had they only been adhered to. How short-lived they
+were, and how completely I was the slave of a vicious habit, will be seen,
+when I confess that I landed in New York a good deal the worse for having
+treated some militia-men who were in the steamer, to nearly a dozen
+glasses of hot-stuff, in crossing the bay. I had plenty of money, and a
+sailor's disposition to get rid of it, carelessly, and what I thought
+generously. It was Evacuation-Day, and severely cold, and the hot-stuff
+pleased everybody, on such an occasion. Nor was this all. In passing
+Whitehall slip, I saw the Ohio's first-cutter lying there, and it happened
+that I not only knew the officer of the boat, who had been one of the
+midshipmen of the Constellation, but that I knew most of its crew. I was
+hailed, of course, and then I asked leave to treat the men. The permission
+was obtained, and this second act of liberality reduced me to the
+necessity of going into port, under a pilot's charge. Still I had not
+absolutely forgotten the sermon, nor all my good resolutions.
+
+At the boarding-house I found a Prussian, named Godfrey, a steady, sedate
+man, and I agreed with him to go to Savannah, to engage in the
+shad-fishery, for the winter, and to come north together in the spring. My
+landlord was not only ill and poor, but he had many children to support,
+and it is some proof that all my good resolutions were not forgotten, that
+I was ready to go south before my money was gone, and willing it should do
+some good, in the interval of my absence. A check for fifty dollars still
+remained untouched, and I gave it to this man, with the understanding he
+was to draw the money, use it for his own wants, and return it to me, if
+he could, when I got back. The money was drawn, but the man died, and I
+saw no more of it.
+
+Godfrey and I were shipped in a vessel called the William Taylor, a
+regular Savannah packet. It was our intention to quit her as soon as she
+got in--by running, if necessary. We had a bad passage, and barely missed
+shipwreck on Hatteras, saving the brig by getting a sudden view of the
+light, in heavy, thick weather. We got round, under close-reefed topsails,
+and that was all we did. After this, we had a quick run to Savannah.
+Godfrey had been taken with the small-pox before we arrived, and was sent
+to a hospital as soon as possible. In order to prevent running, I feigned
+illness, too, and went to another. Here the captain paid me several
+visits, but my conscience was too much hardened by the practices of
+seamen, to let me hesitate about continuing to be ill. The brig was
+obliged to sail without me, and the same day I got well, as suddenly as I
+had fallen ill.
+
+I was not long in making a bargain with a fisherman to aid in catching
+shad. All this time, I lived at a sailor boarding-house, and was
+surrounded by men who, like myself, had quitted the vessels in which they
+had arrived. One night the captain of a ship, called the Hope, came to the
+house to look for a crew. He was bound to Rotterdam, and his ship lay down
+at the second bar, all ready for sea. After some talk, one man signed the
+articles; then another, and another, and another, until his crew was
+complete to one man. I was now called on to ship, and was ridiculed for
+wishing to turn shad-man. My pride was touched, and I agreed to go,
+leaving my fisherman in the lurch.
+
+The Hope turned out to be a regular down-east craft, and I had been in so
+many flyers and crack ships as to be saucy enough to laugh at the
+economical outfit, and staid ways of the vessel. I went on board half
+drunk, and made myself conspicuous for such sort of strictures from the
+first hour. The captain treated me mildly, even kindly; but I stuck to my
+remarks during most of the passage. I was a seaman, and did my duty; but
+this satisfied me. I had taken a disgust to the ship; and though I had
+never blasphemed since the hour of the accident in the way I did the day
+the Susan and Mary was thrown on her beam-ends, I may be said to have
+crossed the Atlantic in the Hope, grumbling and swearing at the ship.
+Still, our living and our treatment were both good.
+
+At Rotterdam, we got a little money, with liberty. When he last was up, I
+asked for more, and the captain refused it. This brought on an explosion,
+and I swore I would quit the ship. After a time, the captain consented, as
+well as he could, leaving my wages on the cabin-table, where I found them,
+and telling me I should repent of what I was then doing. Little did I then
+think he would prove so true a prophet.
+
+
+
+Chapter XVIII.
+
+
+
+I had left the Hope in a fit of the sulks. The vessel never pleased me,
+and yet I can now look back, and acknowledge that both her master and her
+mate were respectable, considerate men, who had my own good in view more
+than I had myself. There was an American ship, called the Plato, in port,
+and I had half a mind to try my luck in her. The master of this vessel was
+said to be a tartar, however, and a set of us had doubts about the
+expediency of trusting ourselves with such a commander. When we came to
+sound around him, we discovered he would have nothing to do with us, as he
+intended to get a crew of regular Dutchmen. This ship had just arrived
+from Batavia, and was bound to New York. How he did this legally, or
+whether he did it at all, is more than I know, for I only tell what I was
+told myself, on this subject.
+
+There was a heavy Dutch Indiaman, then fitting out for Java, lying at
+Rotterdam. The name of this vessel was the Stadtdeel--so pronounced; how
+spelt, I have no idea--and I began to think I would try a voyage in her.
+As is common with those who have great reason to find fault with
+themselves, I was angry with the whole world. I began to think myself a
+sort of outcast, forgetting that I had deserted my natural relatives, run
+from my master, and thrown off many friends who were disposed to serve me
+in everything in which I could be served. I have a cheerful temperament by
+nature, and I make no doubt that the sombre view I now began to take of
+things, was the effects of drink. It was necessary for me to get to sea,
+for there I was shut out from all excesses, by discipline and necessity.
+
+After looking around us, and debating the matter among ourselves, a party
+of five of us shipped in the Stadtdeel. What the others contemplated I do
+not know, but it was my intention to double Good Hope, and never to
+return. Chances enough would offer on the other side, to make a man
+comfortable, and I was no stranger to the ways of that quarter of the
+world. I could find enough to do between Bombay and Canton; and, if I
+could not, there were the islands and all of the Pacific before me. I
+could do a seaman's whole duty, was now in tolerable health and strength,
+and knew that such men were always wanted. Wherever a ship goes, Jack must
+go with her, and ships, dollars and hogs, are now to be met with all over
+the globe.
+
+The Stadtdeel lay at Dort, and we went to that place to join her. She was
+not ready for sea, and as things moved Dutchman fashion, slow and sure, we
+were about six weeks at Dort before she sailed. This ship was a vessel of
+the size of a frigate, and carried twelve guns. She had a crew of about
+forty souls, which was being very short-handed. The ship's company was a
+strange mixture of seamen, though most of them came from the north of
+Europe. Among us were Russians, Danes, Swedes, Prussians, English,
+Americans, and but a very few Dutch. One of the mates, and two of the
+petty officers, could speak a little English. This made us eight who could
+converse in that language. We had to learn Dutch as well as we could, and
+made out tolerably well. Before the ship sailed, I could understand the
+common orders, without much difficulty. Indeed, the language is nothing
+but English a little flattened down.
+
+So long as we remained at Dort, the treatment on board this vessel was
+well enough. We were never well fed, though we got enough food, such as it
+was. The work was hard, and the weather cold; but these did not frighten
+me. The wages were eight dollars a month;--I had abandoned eighteen, and
+an American ship, for this preferment! A wayward temper had done me
+this service.
+
+The Stadtdeel no sooner got into the stream, than there was a great
+change in the treatment. We were put on an allowance of food and water,
+in sight of our place of departure; and the rope's-end began to fly round
+among the crew we five excepted. For some reason, that I cannot explain
+neither of us was ever struck. We got plenty of curses, in Low Dutch, as
+we supposed; and we gave them back, with interest, in high English. The
+expression of our faces let the parties into the secret of what was
+going on.
+
+It is scarcely necessary to add, that we English and Americans soon
+repented of the step we had taken. I heartily wished myself on board the
+Hope, again, and the master's prophecy became true, much sooner, perhaps,
+than he had himself anticipated. This time, I conceive that my disgust was
+fully justified; though I deserved the punishment I was receiving, for
+entering so blindly into a service every way so inferior to that to which
+I properly belonged. The bread in this ship was wholesome, I do suppose,
+but it was nearly black, and such as I was altogether unused to. Inferior
+as it was, we got but five pounds, each, per week. In our navy, a man
+gets, per week, seven pounds of such bread as might be put on a
+gentleman's table. The meat was little better than the bread in quality,
+and quite as scant in quantity. We got one good dish in the Stadtdeel, and
+that we got every morning. It was a dish of boiled barley, of which I
+became very fond, and which, indeed, supplied me with the strength
+necessary for my duty. It was one of the best dishes I ever fell in with
+at sea; and I think it might be introduced, to advantage, in our service.
+Good food produces good work.
+
+As all our movements were of the slow and easy order, the ship lay three
+weeks at the Helvoetsluys, waiting for passengers. During this time, our
+party, three English and two Americans, came to a determination to abandon
+the ship. Our plan was to seize a boat, as we passed down channel, and get
+ashore in England. We were willing to run all the risks of such a step, in
+preference of going so long a voyage under such treatment and food. By
+this time, our discontent amounted to disgust.
+
+At length we got all our passengers on board. These consisted of a family,
+of which the head was said to be, or to have been, an admiral in the Dutch
+navy. This gentleman was going to Java to remain; and he took with him
+his wife, several children, servants, and a lady, who seemed to be a
+companion to his wife. As soon as this party was on board, the wind coming
+fair, we sailed. The Plato went to sea in company with us, and little did
+I then think, while wishing myself on board her, how soon I should be
+thrown into this very ship--the last craft in which I ever was at sea. I
+was heaving the lead as we passed her; our ship, Dutchman or not, having a
+fleet pair of heels. The Stadtdeel, whatever might be her usage, or her
+food, sailed and worked well, and was capitally found in everything that
+related to the safety of the vessel. This was her first voyage, and she
+was said to be the largest ship out of Rotterdam.
+
+The Stadtdeel must have sailed from Helvoetsluys in May, 1839, or about
+thirty-three years after I sailed from New York, on my first voyage, in
+the Sterling. During all this time I had been toiling at sea, like a dog,
+risking my health and life, in a variety of ways; and this ship, with my
+station on board her, was nearly all I had to show for it! God be praised!
+This voyage, which promised so little, in its commencement, proved, in the
+end, the most fortunate of any in which I embarked.
+
+There was no opportunity for us to put our plans in execution, in going
+down channel. The wind was fair, and it blew so fresh, it would not have
+been easy to get a boat into the water; and we passed the Straits of
+Dover, by day-light, the very day we sailed. The wind held in the same
+quarter, until we reached the north-east trades, giving us a quick run as
+low down as the calm latitudes. All this time, the treatment was as bad as
+ever, or, if anything, worse; and our discontent increased daily. There
+were but one or two native Hollanders in the forecastle, boys excepted;
+but among them was a man who had shipped as an ordinary seaman. He had
+been a soldier, I believe; at all events, he had a medal, received in
+consequence of having been in one of the late affairs between his country
+and Belgium. It is probable this man may not have been very expert in a
+seaman's duty, and it is possible he may have been drinking, though to me
+he appeared sober, at the time the thing occurred which I am about to
+relate. One day the captain fell foul of him, and beat him with a rope
+severely. The ladies interfered, and got the poor fellow out of the
+scrape; the captain letting him go, and telling him to go forward. As the
+man complied, he fell in with the chief mate, who attacked him afresh, and
+beat him very severely. The man now went below, and was about to turn in,
+as the captain had ordered,--which renders it probable he had been
+drinking,--when the second mate, possibly ignorant of what had occurred,
+missing him from his duty, went below, and beat him up on deck again.
+These different assaults seem to have made the poor fellow desperate. He
+ran and jumped into the sea, just forward of the starboard
+lower-studdingsail-boom. The ship was then in the north-east trades, and
+had eight or nine knots way on her; notwithstanding, she was rounded to,
+and a boat was lowered--but the man was never found. There is something
+appalling in seeing a fellow-creature driven to such acts of madness; and
+the effect produced on all of us, by what we witnessed, was profound
+and sombre.
+
+I shall not pretend to say that this man did not deserve chastisement, or
+that the two mates were not ignorant of what had happened; but brutal
+treatment was so much in use on board this ship, that the occurrence made
+us five nearly desperate. I make no doubt a crew of Americans, who were
+thus treated, would have secured the officers, and brought the ship in. It
+is true, that flogging seems necessary to some natures, and I will not say
+that such a crew as ours could very well get along without it. But we
+might sometimes be treated as men, and no harm follow.
+
+As I have said, the loss of this man produced a great impression in the
+ship, generally. The passengers appeared much affected by it, and I
+thought the captain, in particular, regretted it greatly. He might not
+have been in the least to blame, for the chastisement he inflicted was
+such as masters of ships often bestow on their men, but the crew felt very
+indignant against the mates; one of whom was particularly obnoxious to us
+all. As for my party, we now began to plot, again, in order to get quit of
+the ship. After a great deal of discussion, we came to the following
+resolution:
+
+About a dozen of us entered into the conspiracy. We contemplated no
+piracy, no act of violence, that should not be rendered necessary in
+self-defence, nor any robbery beyond what we conceived indispensable to
+our object. As the ship passed the Straits of Sunda, we intended to lower
+as many boats as should be necessary, arm ourselves, place provisions and
+water in the boats, and abandon the ship. We felt confident that if most
+of the men did not go with us, they would not oppose us. I can now see
+that this was a desperate and unjustifiable scheme; but, for myself, I was
+getting desperate on board the ship, and preferred risking my life to
+remaining. I will not deny that I was a ringleader in this affair, though
+I know I had no other motive than escape. This was a clear case of mutiny,
+and the only one in which I was ever implicated. I have a thousand times
+seen reason to rejoice that the attempt was never made, since, so deep was
+the hostility of the crew to the officers,--the mates, in
+particular,--that I feel persuaded a horrible scene of bloodshed must have
+followed. I did not think of this at the time, making sure of getting off
+unresisted; but, if we had, what would have been the fate of a parcel of
+seamen who came into an English port in ship's boats? Tried for piracy,
+probably, and the execution of some, if not all of us.
+
+The ship had passed the island of St. Pauls, and we were impatiently
+waiting for her entrance into the Straits of Sunda, when an accident
+occurred that put a stop to the contemplated mutiny, and changed the whole
+current, as I devoutly hope, of all my subsequent life. At the calling of
+the middle watch, one stormy night, the ship being under close-reefed
+topsails at the time, with the mainsail furled, I went on deck as usual,
+to my duty. In stepping across the deck, between the launch and the
+galley, I had to cross some spars that were lashed there. While on the
+pile of spars, the ship lurched suddenly, and I lost my balance, falling
+my whole length on deck, upon my left side. Nothing broke the fall, my
+arms being raised to seize a hold above my head, and I came down upon deck
+with my entire weight, the hip taking the principal force of the fall. The
+anguish I suffered was acute, and it was some time before I would allow my
+shipmates even to touch me.
+
+After a time, I was carried down into the steerage, where it was found
+necessary to sling me on a grating, instead of a hammock. We had a doctor
+on board, but he could do nothing for me. My clothes could not be taken
+off, and there I lay wet, and suffering to a degree that I should find
+difficult to describe, hours and hours.
+
+I was now really on the stool of repentance. In body, I was perfectly
+helpless, though my mind seemed more active than it had ever been before.
+I overhauled my whole life, beginning with the hour when I first got
+drunk, as a boy, on board the Sterling, and underrunning every scrape I
+have mentioned in this sketch of my life, with many of which I have not
+spoken; and all with a fidelity and truth that satisfy me that man can
+keep no log-book that is as accurate as his own conscience. I saw that I
+had been my own worst enemy, and how many excellent opportunities of
+getting ahead in the world, I had wantonly disregarded. Liquor lay at the
+root of all my calamities and misconduct, enticing me into bad company,
+undermining my health and strength, and blasting my hopes. I tried to
+pray, but did not know how; and, it appeared to me, as if I were lost,
+body and soul, without a hope of mercy.
+
+My shipmates visited me by stealth, and I pointed out to them, as clearly
+as in my power, the folly, as well as the wickedness, of our contemplated
+mutiny. I told them we had come on board the ship voluntarily, and we had
+no right to be judges in our own case; that we should have done a cruel
+thing in deserting a ship at sea, with women and children on board; that
+the Malays would probably have cut our throats, and the vessel herself
+would have been very apt to be wrecked. Of all this mischief, we should
+have been the fathers, and we had every reason to be grateful that our
+project was defeated. The men listened attentively, and promised to
+abandon every thought of executing the revolt. They were as good as their
+words, and I heard no more of the matter.
+
+As for my hurt, it was not easy to say what it was. The doctor was kind to
+me, but he could do no more than give me food and little indulgencies. As
+for the captain, I think he was influenced by the mate, who appeared to
+believe I was feigning an injury much greater than I had actually
+received. On board the ship, there was a boy, of good parentage, who had
+been sent out to commence his career at sea. He lived aft, and was a sort
+of genteel cabin-boy He could not have been more than ten or eleven years
+old but he proved to be a ministering angel to me. He brought me
+delicacies, sympathised with me, and many a time did we shed tears in
+company. The ladies and the admiral's children sometimes came to see me,
+too, manifesting much sorrow for my situation; and then it was that my
+conscience pricked the deepest, for the injury, or risks, I had
+contemplated exposing them to. Altogether, the scenes I saw daily, and my
+own situation, softened my heart, and I began to get views of my moral
+deformity that were of a healthful and safe character.
+
+I lay on that grating two months, and bitter months they were to me. The
+ship had arrived at Batavia, and the captain and mate came to see what was
+to be done with me. I asked to be sent to the hospital, but the mate
+insisted nothing was the matter with me, and asked to have me kept in the
+ship. This was done, and I went round to Terragall in her, where we landed
+our passengers. These last all came and took leave of me, the admiral
+making me a present of a good jacket, that he had worn himself at sea,
+with a quantity of tobacco. I have got that jacket at this moment. The
+ladies spoke kindly to me, and all this gave my heart fresh pangs.
+
+From Terragall we went to Sourabaya, where I prevailed on the captain to
+send me to the hospital, the mate still insisting I was merely shamming
+inability to work. The surgeons at Sourabaya, one of whom was a Scotchman,
+thought with the mate; and at the end of twenty days, I was again taken on
+board the ship, which sailed for Samarang. While at Sourabaya there were
+five English sailors in the hospital. These men were as forlorn and
+miserable as my self, death grinning in our faces at every turn. The men
+who were brought into the hospital one day, were often dead the next, and
+none of us knew whose turn would come next. We often talked together, on
+religious subjects, after our own uninstructed manner, and greatly did we
+long to find an English bible, a thing not to be had there. Then it was I
+thought, again, of the sermon I had heard at the Sailors' Retreat, of the
+forfeited promises I had made to reform; and, more than once did it cross
+my mind, should God permit me to return home, that I would seek out that
+minister, and ask his prayers and spiritual advice.
+
+On our arrival at Samarang, the mate got a doctor from a Dutch frigate,
+to look at me, who declared nothing ailed me. By these means nearly all
+hands in the ship were set against me, but my four companions, and the
+little boy fancying that I was a skulk, and throwing labour on them. I was
+ordered on deck, and set to work graffing ring-bolts for the guns. Walk I
+could not, being obliged, literally, to crawl along the deck on my hands
+and knees. I suffered great pain, but got no credit for it. The work was
+easy enough for me, when once seated at it, but it caused me infinite
+suffering to move. I was not alone in being thought a skulk, however. The
+doctor himself was taken ill, and the mate accused him, too, very much as
+he did me, of shirking duty. Unfortunately, the poor man gave him the
+lie, by dying.
+
+I was kept at the sort of duty I have mentioned until the ship reached
+Batavia again. Here a doctor came on board from another ship, on a visit,
+and my case was mentioned. The mate ordered me aft, and I crawled upon the
+quarter-deck to be examined. They got me into the cabin, where the strange
+doctor looked at me. This man said I must be operated on by a burning
+process, all of which was said to frighten me to duty. After this I got
+down into the forecastle, and positively refused to do anything more.
+There I lay, abused and neglected by all but my four friends. I told the
+mate I suffered too much to work, and that I must be put ashore. Suffering
+had made me desperate, and I cared not for the consequences.
+
+Fortunately for me, there were two cases of fever and ague in the ship.
+Our own doctor being dead, that of the admiral's ship was sent for to
+visit the sick. The mate seemed anxious to set evidence against me, and he
+asked the admiral's surgeon to come down and see me. The moment this
+gentleman laid eyes on me, he raised both arms, and exclaimed that they
+were killing me. He saw, at once, that I was no impostor, and stated as
+much in pretty plain language, so far as I could understand what he said.
+The mate appeared to be struck with shame and contrition; and I do believe
+that every one on board was sorry for the treatment I had received. I took
+occasion to remonstrate with the mate, and to tell him of the necessity of
+my being sent immediately to the hospital. The man promised to represent
+my case to the captain, and the next day I was landed.
+
+My two great desires were to get to the hospital and to procure a bible. I
+did not expect to live; one of my legs being shrivelled to half its former
+size, and was apparently growing worse; and could I find repose for my
+body and relief for my soul, I felt that I could be happy. I had heard my
+American shipmate, who was a New Yorker, a Hudson river man, say he had a
+bible; but I had never seen it. It lay untouched in the bottom of his
+chest, sailor-fashion. I offered this man a shirt for his bible; but he
+declined taking any pay, cheerfully giving me the book. I forced the shirt
+on him, however, as a sort of memorial of me. Now I was provided with the
+book, I could not read for want of spectacles. I had reached a time of
+life when the sight begins to fail, and I think my eyes were injured in
+Florida. In Sourayaba hospital I had raised a few rupees by the sale of a
+black silk handkerchief, and wanted now to procure a pair of spectacles. I
+sold a pair of boots, and adding the little sum thus raised to that which
+I had already, I felt myself rich and happy, in the prospect of being able
+to study the word of God. On quitting the ship, everybody, forward and
+aft, shook hands with me, the opinion of the man-of-war surgeon suddenly
+changing all their opinions of me and my conduct.
+
+The captain appeared to regret the course things had taken, and was
+willing to do all he could to make me comfortable. My wages were left in a
+merchant's hands, and I was to receive them could I quit this island, or
+get out of the hospital. I was to be sent to Holland, in the latter case,
+and everything was to be done according to law and right. The reader is
+not to imagine I considered myself a suffering saint all this time. On the
+contrary, while I was thought an impostor, I remembered that I had shammed
+sickness in this very island, and, as I entered the hospital, I could not
+forget the circumstances under which I had been its tenant fifteen or
+twenty years before. Then I was in the pride of my youth and strength;
+and, now, as if in punishment for the deception, I was berthed, a
+miserable cripple, within half-a-dozen beds of that on which I was berthed
+when feigning an illness I did not really suffer. Under such
+circumstances, conscience is pretty certain to remind a sinner of
+his misdeeds.
+
+The physician of the hospital put me on very low diet and gave me an
+ointment to "smear" myself with, as he called it; and I was ordered to
+remain in my berth. By means of one of the coolies of the hospital, I got
+a pair of spectacles from the town, and such a pair, as to size and form,
+that people in America regard what is left of them as a curiosity. They
+served my purpose, however, and enabled me to read the precious book I had
+obtained from my north-river shipmate. This book was a copy from the
+American Bible Society's printing-office, and if no other of their works
+did good, this must be taken for an exception. It has since been placed in
+the Society's Library, in memory of the good it has done.
+
+My sole occupation was reading and reflecting. There I lay, in a distant
+island, surrounded by disease, death daily, nay hourly making his
+appearance, among men whose language was mostly unknown to me. It was
+several weeks before I was allowed even to quit my bunk. I had begun to
+pray before I left the ship, and this practice I continued, almost hourly,
+until I was permitted to rise. A converted Lascar was in the hospital, and
+seeing my occupation, he came and conversed with me, in his broken
+English. This man gave me a hymn-book, and one of the first hymns I read
+in it afforded me great consolation. It was written by a man who had been
+a sailor like myself, and one who had been almost as wicked as myself, but
+who has since done a vast deal of good, by means of precept and example.
+This hymn-book I now read in common with my bible. But I cannot express
+the delight I felt at a copy of Pilgrim's Progress which this same Lascar
+gave me. That book I consider as second only to the bible. It enabled me
+to understand and to apply a vast deal that I found in the word of God,
+and set before my eyes so many motives for hope, that I began to feel
+Christ had died for me, as well as for the rest of the species. I thought
+if the thief on the cross could be saved, even one as wicked as I had been
+had only to repent and believe, to share in the Redeemer's mercy. All this
+time I fairly pined for religious instruction, and my thoughts would
+constantly recur to the sermon I had heard at the Sailor's Retreat, and
+to the clergyman who had preached it.
+
+There was an American carpenter in the Fever Hospital, who, hearing of my
+state, gave me some tracts that he had brought from home with him. This
+man was not pious, but circumstances had made him serious; and, being
+about to quit the place, he was willing to administer to my wants He told
+me there were several Englishmen and one American in his hospital, who
+wanted religious consolation greatly, and he advised me to crawl over and
+see them; which I did, as soon as it was in my power.
+
+At first, I thought myself too wicked to offer to pray and converse with
+these men, but my conscience would not let me rest until I did so. It
+appeared to me as if the bible had been placed in my way, as much for
+their use as my own, and I could not rest until I had offered them all the
+consolation it was in my power to bestow. I read with these men for two or
+three weeks; Chapman, the American, being the man who considered his own
+moral condition the most hopeless. When unable to go myself, I would send
+my books, and we had the bible and Pilgrim's Progress, watch and watch,
+between us.
+
+All this time we were living, as it might be, on a bloody battle-field.
+Men died in scores around us, and at the shortest notice. Batavia, at that
+season, was the most sickly; and, although the town was by no means as
+dangerous then as it had been in my former visit, it was still a sort of
+Golgotha, or place of skulls. More than half who entered the Fever
+Hospital, left it only as corpses.
+
+Among my English associates, as I call them, was a young Scotchman, of
+about five-and-twenty. This man had been present at most of our readings
+and conversations, though he did not appear to me as much impressed with
+the importance of caring for his soul, as some of the others. One day he
+came to take leave of me. He was to quit the hospital the following
+morning. I spoke to him concerning his future life, and endeavoured to
+awaken in him some feelings that might be permanent, he listened with
+proper respect, but his answers were painfully inconsiderate, though I do
+believe he reasoned as nine in ten of mankind reason, when they think at
+all on such subjects. "What's the use of my giving up so soon," he said;
+"I am young, and strong, and in good health, and have plenty of sea-room
+to leeward of me, and can fetch up when there is occasion for it. If a
+fellow don't live while he can, he'll never live." I read to him the
+parable of the wise and foolish virgins, but he left me holding the same
+opinion, to the last.
+
+Directly in front of my ward was the dead-house. Thither all the bodies of
+those who died in the hospital were regularly carried for dissection.
+Scarcely one escaped being subjected to the knife. This dead-house stood
+some eighty, or a hundred, yards from the hospital, and between them was
+an area, containing a few large trees. I was in the habit, after I got
+well enough to go out, to hobble to one of these trees, where I would sit
+for hours, reading and meditating. It was a good place to make a man
+reflect on the insignificance of worldly things, disease and death being
+all around him. I frequently saw six or eight bodies carried across this
+area, while sitting in it, and many were taken to the dead-house, at
+night. Hundreds, if not thousands, were in the hospital, and a large
+proportion died.
+
+The morning of the day but one, after I had taken leave of the young
+Scotchman, I was sitting under a tree, as usual, when I saw some coolies
+carrying a dead body across the area. They passed quite near me, and one
+of the coolies gave me to understand it was that of this very youth! He
+had been seized with the fever, a short time after he left me, and here
+was a sudden termination to all his plans of enjoyment and his hopes of
+life; his schemes of future repentance.
+
+Such things are of frequent occurrence in that island, but this event made
+a very deep impression on me. It helped to strengthen me in my own
+resolutions, and I used it, I hope, with effect, with my companions whose
+lives were still spared.
+
+All the Englishmen got well, and were discharged. Chapman, the American,
+however, remained, being exceedingly feeble with the disease of the
+country. With this poor young man, I prayed, as well as I knew how, and
+read, daily, to his great comfort and consolation, I believe. The reader
+may imagine how one dying in a strange land, surrounded by idolaters,
+would lean on a single countryman who was disposed to aid him. In this
+manner did Chap man lean on me, and all my efforts were to induce him to
+lean on the Saviour. He thought he had been too great a sinner to be
+entitled to any hope, and my great task was to overcome in him some of
+those stings of conscience which it had taken the grace of God to allay in
+myself. One day, the last time I was with him, I read the narrative of the
+thief on the cross. He listened to it eagerly, and when I had ended, for
+the first time, he displayed some signs of hope and joy. As I left him, he
+took leave of me, saying we should never meet again. He asked my prayers,
+and I promised them. I went to my own ward, and, while actually engaged in
+redeeming my promise, one came to tell me he had gone. He sent me a
+message, to say he died a happy man. The poor fellow--happy fellow, would
+be a better term--sent back all the books he had borrowed; and it will
+serve to give some idea of the condition we were in, in a temporal sense,
+if I add, that he also sent me a few coppers, in order that they might
+contribute to the comfort of his countrymen.
+
+
+
+Chapter XIX.
+
+
+
+About three months after the death of Chapman, I was well enough to quit
+the hospital. I could walk, with the aid of crutches, but had no hope of
+ever being a sound man again. Of course, I had an anxious desire to get
+home; for all my resolutions, misanthropical feelings, and resentments,
+had vanished in the moral change I had undergone. My health, as a whole,
+was now good. Temperance, abstinence, and a happy frame of mind, had
+proved excellent doctors; and, although I had not, and never shall,
+altogether, recover from the effects of my fall, I had quite done with the
+"horrors." The last fit of them I suffered was in the deep conviction I
+felt concerning my sinful state. I knew nothing of Temperance
+Societies--had never heard that such things existed, or, if I had, forgot
+it as soon as heard; and yet, unknown to myself, had joined the most
+effective and most permanent of all these bodies. Since my fall, I have
+not tasted spirituous liquors, except as medicine, and in very small
+quantities, nor do I now feel the least desire to drink. By the grace of
+God, the great curse of my life has been removed, and I have lived a
+perfectly sober man for the last five years. I look upon liquor as one of
+the great agents of the devil in destroying souls, and turn from it,
+almost as sensitively as I could wish to turn from sin.
+
+I wrote to the merchant who held my wages, on the subject of quitting the
+hospital, but got no answer. I then resolved to go to Batavia myself, and
+took my discharge from the hospital, accordingly. I can truly say, I left
+that place, into which I had entered a miserable, heart-broken cripple, a
+happy man. Still, I had nothing; not even the means of seeking a
+livelihood. But I was lightened of the heaviest of all my burthens, and
+felt I could go through the world rejoicing, though, literally, moving
+on crutches.
+
+The hospital is seven miles from the town, and I went this distance in a
+canal-boat, Dutch fashion. Many of these canals exist in Java, and they
+have had the effect to make the island much more healthy, by draining the
+marshes. They told me, the canal I was on ran fifty miles into the
+interior. The work was done by the natives, but under the direction of
+their masters, the Dutch.
+
+On reaching the town, I hobbled up to the merchant, who gave me a very
+indifferent reception. He said I had cost too much already, but that I
+must return to the hospital, until an opportunity offered for sending me
+to Holland. This I declined doing. Return to the hospital I would not, as
+I knew it could do no good, and my wish was to get back to America. I then
+went to the American consul, who treated me kindly. I was told, however,
+he could do nothing for me, as I had come out in a Dutch ship, unless I
+relinquished all claims to my wages, and all claims on the Dutch laws. My
+wages were a trifle, and I had no difficulty in relinquishing them, and as
+for claims, I wished to present none on the laws of Holland.
+
+The consul then saw the Dutch merchant, and the matter was arranged
+between them. The Plato, the very ship that left Helvoetsluys in company
+with us, was then at Batavia, taking in cargo for Bremenhaven. She had a
+new cap tain, and he consented to receive me as a consul's man. This
+matter was all settled the day I reached the town, and I was to go on
+board the ship in the morning.
+
+I said nothing to the consul about money, but left his office with the
+expectation of getting some from the Dutch merchant. I had tasted no food
+that day, and, on reaching the merchant's, I found him on the point of
+going into the country; no one sleeping in the town at that season, who
+could help it. He took no notice of me, and I got no assistance; perhaps I
+was legally entitled to none. I now sat down on some boxes, and thought I
+would remain at that spot until morning. Sleeping in the open air, on an
+empty stomach, in that town, and at that season, would probably have
+proved my death, had I been so fortunate as to escape being murdered by
+the Malays for the clothes I had on. Providence took care of me. One of
+the clerks, a Portuguese, took pity on me, and led me to a house occupied
+by a negro, who had been converted to Christianity. We met with a good
+deal of difficulty in finding admission. The black said the English and
+Americans were so wicked he was afraid of them; but, finding by my
+discourse that I was not one of the Christian heathen, he altered his
+tone, and nothing was then too good for me. I was fed, and he sent for my
+chest, receiving with it a bed and three blankets, as a present from the
+charitable clerk. Thus were my prospects for that night suddenly changed
+for the better! I could only thank God, in my inmost heart, for all
+his mercies.
+
+The old black, who was a man of some means, was also about to quit the
+town; but, before he went, he inquired if I had a bible. I told him yes;
+still, he would not rest until he had pressed upon me a large bible, in
+English, which language he spoke very well. This book had prayers for
+seamen bound up with it. It was, in fact, a sort of English prayer-book,
+as well as bible. This I accepted, and have now with me. As soon as the
+old man went away, leaving his son behind him for the moment, I began to
+read in my Pilgrim's Progress. The young man expressed a desire to examine
+the book, understanding English perfectly. After reading in it for a short
+time, he earnestly begged the book, telling me he had two sisters, who
+would be infinitely pleased to possess it. I could not refuse him, and he
+promised to send another book in its place, which I should find equally
+good. He thus left me, taking the Pilgrim's Progress with him. Half an
+hour later a servant brought me the promised book, which proved to be
+Doddridge's Rise and Progress. On looking through the pages, I found a
+Mexican dollar wafered between two of the leaves. All this I regarded as
+providential, and as a proof that the Lord would not desert me. My
+gratitude, I hope, was in proportion. This whole household appeared to be
+religious, for I passed half the night in conversing with the Malay
+servants, on the subject of Christianity; concerning which they had
+already received many just ideas. I knew that my teaching was like the
+blind instructing the blind; but it had the merit of coming from God,
+though in a degree suited to my humble claims on his grace.
+
+In the morning, these Malays gave me breakfast, and then carried my chest
+and other articles to the Plato's boat. I was happy enough to find myself,
+once more, under the stars and stripes, where I was well received, and
+humanely treated. The ship sailed for Bremen about twenty days after I got
+on board her.
+
+Of course, I could do but little on the passage. Whenever I moved along
+the deck, it was by crawling, though I could work with the needle and
+palm. A fortnight out, the carpenter, a New York man, died. I tried to
+read and pray with him, but cannot say that he showed any consciousness of
+his true situation. We touched at St. Helena for water, and, Napoleon
+being then dead, had no difficulty in getting ashore. After watering we
+sailed again, and reached our port in due time.
+
+I was now in Europe, a part of the world that I had little hopes of seeing
+ten months before. Still it was my desire to get to America, and I was
+permitted to remain in the ship. I was treated in the kindest manner by
+captain Bunting, and Mr. Bowden, the mate, who gave me everything I
+needed. At the end of a few weeks we sailed again, for New York, where we
+arrived in the month of August, 1840,
+
+I left the Plato at the quarantine ground, going to the Sailor's Retreat.
+Here the physician told me I never could recover the use of my limb as I
+had possessed it before, but that the leg would gradually grow stronger,
+and that I might get along without crutches in the end. All this has
+turned out to be true. The pain had long before left me, weakness being
+now the great difficulty. The hip-joint is injured, and this in a way that
+still compels me to rely greatly on a stick in walking.
+
+At the Sailor's Retreat, I again met Mr. Miller. I now, for the first
+time, received regular spiritual advice, and it proved to be of great
+benefit to me. After remaining a month at the Retreat, I determined to
+make an application for admission to the Sailor's Snug Harbour, a richly
+endowed asylum for seamen, on the same island. In order to be admitted, it
+was necessary to have sailed under the flag five years, and to get a
+character. I had sailed, with two short exceptions, thirty-four years
+under the flag, and I do believe in all that time, the nineteen months of
+imprisonment excluded, I had not been two years unattached to a ship. I
+think I must have passed at least a quarter of a century out of sight of
+land.[17]
+
+I now went up to New York, and hunted up captain Pell, with whom I had
+sailed in the Sully and in the Normandy. This gentleman gave me a
+certificate, and, as I left him, handed me a dollar. This was every cent I
+had on earth. Next, I found captain Witheroudt, of the Silvie de Grasse
+who treated me in precisely the same way. I told him I had _one_ dollar
+already, but he insisted it should be _two_. With these two dollars in my
+pocket, I was passing up Wall street, when, in looking about me, I saw the
+pension office. The reader will remember that I left Washington with the
+intention of finding Lemuel Bryant, in order to obtain his certificate,
+that I might get a pension for the injury received on board the Scourge.
+With this project, I had connected a plan of returning to Boston, and of
+getting some employment in the Navy Yard. My pension-ticket had, in
+consequence, been made payable at Boston. My arrival at New York, and the
+shadding expedition, had upset all this plan; and before I went to
+Savannah, I had carried my pension-ticket to the agent in this Wall street
+office, and requested him to get another, made payable in New York. This
+was the last I had seen of my ticket, and almost the last I had thought of
+my pension. But, I now crossed the street, went into the office, and was
+recognised immediately. Everything was in rule, and I came out of the
+office with fifty-six dollars in my pockets! I had no thought of this
+pension, at all, in coming up to town. It was so much money showered down
+upon me, unexpectedly.
+
+For a man of my habits, who kept clear of drink, I was now rich. Instead
+of remaining in town, however, I went immediately down to the Harbour, and
+presented myself to its respectable superintendant, the venerable Captain
+Whetten.[18] I was received into the institution without any difficulty,
+and have belonged to it ever since. My entrance at Sailors' Snug Harbour
+took place Sept. 17, 1840; just one month after I landed at Sailors'
+Retreat. The last of these places is a seamen's hospital, where men are
+taken in only to be cured; while the first is an asylum for worn-out
+mariners, for life. The last is supported by a bequest made, many years
+ago, by an old ship-master, whose remains lie in front of the building.
+
+Knowing myself now to be berthed for the rest of my days, should I be so
+inclined, and should I remain worthy to receive the benefits of so
+excellent an institution, I began to look about me, like a man who had
+settled down in the world. One of my first cares, was to acquit myself of
+the duty of publicly joining some church of Christ, and thus acknowledge
+my dependence on his redemption and mercy. Mr. Miller, he whose sermons
+had made so deep an impression on my mind, was living within a mile and a
+half of the Harbour, and to him I turned in my need. I was an
+Episcopalian by infant baptism, and I am still as much attached to that
+form of worship, as to any other; but sects have little weight with me,
+the heart being the main-stay, under God's grace. Two of us, then, joined
+Mr. Miller's church; and I have ever since continued one of his
+communicants. I have not altogether deserted the communion in which I was
+baptized; occasionally communing in the church of Mr. Moore. To me, there
+is no difference; though I suppose more learned Christians may find
+materials for a quarrel, in the distinctions which exist between these two
+churches. I hope never to quarrel with either.
+
+To my surprise, sometime after I was received into the Harbour, I
+ascertained that my sister had removed to New York, and was then living in
+the place. I felt it, now, to be a duty to hunt her up, and see her. This
+I did; and we met, again, after a separation of five-and-twenty years. She
+could tell me very little of my family; but I now learned, for the first
+time, that my father had been killed in battle. Who, or what he was, I
+have not been able to ascertain, beyond the facts already stated in the
+opening of the memoir.
+
+I had ever retained a kind recollection of the treatment of Captain
+Johnston, and accident threw into my way some information concerning him.
+The superintendant had put me in charge of the library of the institution;
+and, one day, I overheard some visiters talking of Wiscasset. Upon this, I
+ventured to inquire after my old master, and was glad to learn that he was
+not only living, but in good health and circumstances. To my surprise I
+was told that a nephew of his was actually living within a mile of me. In
+September, 1842, I went to Wiscasset, to visit Captain Johnston, and found
+myself received like the repentant prodigal. The old gentleman, and his
+sisters, seemed glad to see me; and, I found that the former had left the
+seas, though he still remained a ship-owner; having a stout vessel of five
+hundred tons, which is, at this moment, named after our old craft,
+the Sterling.
+
+I remained at Wiscasset several weeks. During this time, Captain Johnston
+and myself talked over old times, as a matter of course, and I told him I
+thought one of our old shipmates was still living. On his asking whom, I
+inquired if he remembered the youngster, of the name of Cooper, who had
+been in the Sterling. He answered, perfectly well, and that he supposed
+him to be the Captain Cooper who was then in the navy. I had thought so,
+too, for a long time; but happened to be on board the Hudson, at New York,
+when a Captain Cooper visited her. Hearing his name, I went on deck
+expressly to see him, and was soon satisfied it was not my old shipmate.
+There are two Captains Cooper in the navy,--father and son,--but neither
+had been in the Sterling. Now, the author of many naval tales, and of the
+Naval History, was from Cooperstown, New York; and I had taken it into my
+head this was the very person who had been with us in the Sterling.
+Captain Johnston thought not; but I determined to ascertain the fact,
+immediately on my return to New York.
+
+Quitting Wiscasset, I came back to the Harbour, in the month of November,
+1842. I ought to say, that the men at this institution, who maintain good
+characters, can always get leave to go where they please, returning
+whenever they please. There is no more restraint than is necessary to
+comfort and good order; the object being to make old tars comfortable.
+Soon after my return to the Harbour, I wrote a letter to Mr. Fenimore
+Cooper, and sent it to his residence, at Cooperstown, making the inquiries
+necessary to know if he were the person of the same family who had been in
+the Sterling. I got an answer, beginning in these words--"I am your old
+shipmate, Ned." Mr. Cooper informed me when he would be in town, and
+where he lodged.
+
+In the spring, I got a message from Mr. Blancard, the keeper of the Globe
+Hotel, and the keeper, also, of Brighton, near the Harbour, to say that
+Mr. Cooper was in town, and wished to see me. Next day, I went up,
+accordingly; but did not find him in. After paying one or two visits, I
+was hobbling up Broadway, to go to the Globe again, when my old commander
+at Pensacola, Commodore Bolton, passed down street, arm-in-arm with a
+stranger. I saluted the commodore, who nodded his head to me, and this
+induced the stranger to look round. Presently I heard "Ned!" in a voice
+that I knew immediately, though I had not heard it in thirty-seven years.
+It was my old shipmate--the gentleman who has written out this account of
+my career, from my verbal narrative of the facts.
+
+Mr. Cooper asked me to go up to his place, in the country, and pass a few
+weeks there. I cheerfully consented, and we reached Cooperstown early in
+June. Here I found a neat village, a beautiful lake, nine miles long, and,
+altogether, a beautiful country. I had never been as far from the sea
+before, the time when I served on Lake Ontario excepted. Cooperstown lies
+in a valley, but Mr. Cooper tells me it is at an elevation of twelve
+hundred feet above tide-water. To me, the clouds appeared so low, I
+thought I could almost shake hands with them; and, altogether, the air and
+country were different from any I had ever seen, or breathed, before.
+
+My old shipmate took me often on the Lake, which I will say is a slippery
+place to navigate. I thought I had seen all sorts of winds before I saw
+the Otsego, but, on this lake it sometimes blew two or three different
+ways at the same time. While knocking about this piece of water, in a good
+stout boat, I related to my old shipmate many of the incidents of my
+wandering life, until, one day, he suggested it might prove interesting to
+publish them. I was willing, could the work be made useful to my brother
+sailors, and those who might be thrown into the way of temptations like
+those which came so near wrecking all my hopes, both for this world, and
+that which is to come. We accordingly went to work between us, and the
+result is now laid before the world. I wish it understood, that this is
+literally my own story, logged by my old shipmate.
+
+It is now time to clew up. When a man has told all he has to say, the
+sooner he is silent the better. Every word that has been related, I
+believe to be true; when I am wrong, it proceeds from ignorance, or want
+of memory. I may possibly have made some trifling mistakes about dates,
+and periods, but I think they would turn out to be few, on inquiry. In
+many instances I have given my impressions, which, like those of other
+men, may be right, or may be wrong. As for the main facts, however, I know
+them to be true, nor do I think myself much out of the way, in any of
+the details.
+
+This is the happiest period of my life, and has been so since I left the
+hospital at Batavia. I do not know that I have ever passed a happier
+summer than the present has been. I should be perfectly satisfied with
+everything, did not my time hang so idle on my hands at the Harbour. I
+want something to occupy my leisure moments, and do not despair of yet
+being able to find a mode of life more suitable to the activity of my
+early days. I have friends enough--more than I deserve--and, yet, a man
+needs occupation, who has the strength and disposition to be employed.
+That which is to happen is in the hands of Providence, and I humbly trust
+I shall be cared for, to the end, as I have been cared for, through so
+many scenes of danger and trial.
+
+My great wish is that this picture of a sailor's risks and hardships, may
+have some effect in causing this large and useful class of men to think on
+the subject of their habits. I entertain no doubt that the money I have
+disposed of far worse than if I had thrown it into the sea, which went to
+reduce me to that mental hell, the 'horrors,' and which, on one occasion,
+at least, drove me to the verge of suicide, would have formed a sum, had
+it been properly laid by, on which I might now have been enjoying an old
+age of comfort and respectability. It is seldom that a seaman cannot lay
+by a hundred dollars in a twelvemonth--oftentimes I have earned double
+that amount, beyond my useful outlays--and a hundred dollars a year, at
+the end of thirty years, would give such a man an independence for the
+rest of his days. This is far from all, however; the possession of means
+would awaken the desire of advancement in the calling, and thousands, who
+now remain before the mast, would long since have been officers, could
+they have commanded the self-respect that property is apt to create.
+
+On the subject of liquor, I can say nothing that has not often been said
+by others, in language far better than I can use. I do not think I was as
+bad, in this respect, as perhaps a majority of my associates; yet, this
+narrative will show how often the habit of drinking to excess impeded my
+advance. It was fast converting me into a being inferior to a man, and,
+but for God's mercy, might have rendered me the perpetrator of crimes that
+it would shock me to think of, in my sober and sane moments.
+
+The past, I have related as faithfully as I have been able so to do. The
+future is with God; to whom belongeth power, and glory, for ever and ever!
+
+
+
+The End.
+
+
+
+
+
+Footnotes
+
+
+
+[1]: The writer left a blank for this regiment, and now inserts it from
+memory. It is probable he is wrong.
+
+[2]: Edward, Duke of Kent, was born November 2, 1767, and made a peer April
+23, 1799; when he was a little turned of one-and-thirty. It is probable
+that this creation took place on his return to England; after passing some
+six or eight years in America and the West Indies. He served in the West
+Indies with great personal distinction, during his stay in this
+hemisphere.--Editor.
+
+[3]: This is Ned's pronunciation; though it is probable the name is not
+spelt correctly. The names of Ned are taken a good deal at random; and,
+doubtless, are often misspelled.--Editor.
+
+[4]: I well remember using these arguments to Ned; though less with any
+expectations of being admitted, than the boy seemed to believe. There was
+more roguery, than anything else, in my persuasion; though it was mixed
+with a latent wish to see the interior of the palace.--Editor.
+
+[5]: Second-mate.
+
+[6]: 22d--Editor.
+
+[7]: When Myers related this circumstance, I remembered that a
+Lieutenant-Colonel Meyers had been killed in the affair at Fort George,
+something in the way here mentioned. On consulting the American official
+account, I found that my recollection was just, so far as this--a
+Lieutenant-Colonel Meyers was reported as wounded and taken prisoner. I
+then recollected to have been present at a conversation between
+Major-General Lewis and Major Baker, his adjutant-general, shortly after
+the battle, in which the question arose whether the same shot had killed
+Colonel Meyers that killed his horse. General Lewis thought not; Major
+Baker thought it had. On my referring to the official account as reporting
+this gentleman to have been only _wounded_, I was told it was a
+mistake, he having been _killed_. Now for the probabilities. Both Ned
+and his sister understand that their father was slain in battle, about
+this time. Ned thought this occurred at Waterloo, but the sister thinks
+not. Neither knew anything of the object of my inquiry. The sister says
+letters were received from _Quebec_ in relation to the father's
+personal effects. It would be a strange thing, if Ned had actually found
+his own father's body on the field, in this extraordinary manner! I
+pretend not to say it is so; but it must be allowed it looks very much
+like it. The lady may have been a wife, married between the years 1796 and
+1813, when Mr. Meyers had got higher rank. This occurrence was related by
+Ned without the slightest notion of the inference that I have here
+drawn.--Editor.
+
+[8]: It is supposed that Capt. Deacon died, a few years since, in
+consequence of an injury he received on board the Growler, this night. A
+shot struck her main-boom, within a short distance of one of his ears, and
+he ever after complained of its effects. At his death this side of his
+head was much swollen and affected.--Editor.
+
+[9]: By this, Ned means six men had to subsist on the usual allowance of
+four men; a distinction that was made between men on duty and men off.
+Prisoners, too, are commonly allowed to help themselves in a variety of
+ways.--Editor.
+
+[10]: The name of this young officer was King. He is now dead, having been
+lost in the Lynx, Lt. Madison.--Editor.
+
+[11]: If this be true, this could hardly have been a court, but must have
+been a mere investigation; as Sir John Borlase Warren was
+commander-in-chief, and would scarcely sit in a court of his own
+ordering.--Editor.
+
+[12]: Ned means Loto, probably.--Editor.
+
+[13]: Ned might have added "few duchesses." The ambassadors' bags in
+Europe, might ten many a tale of _foulards_, &c., sent from one court
+to another. The writer believes that the higher class of American
+gentlemen and ladies smuggle less than those of any other country. It
+should be remembered, too, that no seaman goes in a smuggler, thut is not
+sent by traders ashore.--Editor.
+
+[14]: A friend, who was then American Consul at Gibraltar, and an old navy
+officer, tells me Ned is mistaken as to the nature of the anchorage. The
+ship was a little too far out for the best holding ground. The same friend
+adds that the character of this gale is not at all overcharged, the
+vessels actually lost, including small craft of every description,
+amounting to the every way extraordinary number of just three hundred and
+sixty-five.--Editor.
+
+[15]: This is the reasoning of Ned. I have always looked upon the American
+law as erroneous in principle, and too severe in its penalties. Erroneous
+in principle, as piracy is a crime against the law of nations, and it is
+not legal for any one community to widen, or narrow, the action of
+international law. It is peculiarly the policy of this country, rigidly to
+observe this principle, since she has so many interests dependent on its
+existence. The punishment of death is too severe, when we consider that
+nabobs are among us, who laid the foundations of their wealth, as slaving
+_merchants_, when slaving _was_ legal. Sudden mutations in morals,
+are not to be made by a dash of the pen; and even public sentiment can
+hardly be made to consider slaving much of a crime, in a slave-holding
+community. But, even the punishment of death might be inflicted, without
+arrogating to Congress a power to say what is, and what is not, piracy.
+
+It will probably be said, the error is merely one of language; the
+jurisdiction being clearly legal. Is this true? Can Congress, legally or
+constitutionally, legislate for American citizens, when undeniably within
+the jurisdiction of foreign states? Admit this as a principle, and what is
+to prevent Congress from punishing acts, that it may be the policy of
+foreign countries to exact from even casual residents. If Congress can
+punish me, as a pirate, for slaving under a foreign flag, and in foreign
+countries, it can punish me for carrying arms against all American allies;
+and yet military service may be exacted of even an American citizen,
+resident in a foreign state, under particular circumstances. The same
+difficulty, in principle, may be extended to the whole catalogue of legal
+crime.
+
+Congress exists only for specified purposes. It can _punish_ piracy,
+but it cannot declare what shall, or shall not, be piracy; as this would
+be invading the authority of international law. Under the general power to
+pass laws, that are necessary to carry out the system, it can derive no
+authority; since there can be no legal necessity for any such double
+legislation, under the comity of nations. Suppose, for instance, England
+should legalize slaving, again. Could the United States claim the American
+citizen, who had engaged in slaving, under the English flag, and from a
+British port, under the renowned Ashburton treaty? Would England give such
+a man up? No more than she will now give up the slaves that run from the
+American vessel, which is driven in by stress of weather. One of the vices
+of philanthropy is to overreach its own policy, by losing sight of all
+collateral principles and interests.--Editor.
+
+[16]: Ned's pronunciation.
+
+[17]: I find, in looking over his papers and accounts, that Ned,
+exclusively of all the prison-ships, transports, and vessels in which he
+made passages, has belonged regularly to seventy-two different crafts! In
+some of these vessels he made many voyages, In the Sterling, he made
+several passages with the writer; besides four European voyages, at a
+later day. He made four voyages to Havre in the Erie, which counts as only
+one vessel, in the above list. He was three voyages to London, in the
+Washington, &c. &c. &c.; and often made two voyages in the same ship. I am
+of opinion that Ned's calculation of his having been twenty-five years out
+of sight of land is very probably true. He must have _sailed, in all
+ways_, in near a hundred different craft.--Editor.
+
+[18]: Pronounced, Wheaton--Editor.
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, NED MYERS ***
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+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Ned Myers,<br />by James Fenimore Cooper</h1>
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+Title: Ned Myers
+
+Author: James Fenimore Cooper
+
+Release Date: January, 2006  [EBook #9788]
+[This file was first posted on October 16, 2003]
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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, NED MYERS ***
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+E-text prepared by<br />
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+<br />
+<br />
+<hr />
+<h1>Ned Myers;</h1>
+<h2 style="margin-top: 0em">or, A Life Before the Mast</h2>
+
+<h3>By James Fenimore Cooper.</h3>
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<p style="margin-left: 25%">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Thou unrelenting Past!<br />
+  Strong are the barriers round thy dark domain,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;    And fetters sure and fast<br />
+  Hold all that enter thy unbreathing reign.<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;                <i>BRYANT</i>.</p>
+
+
+<p align="center" style="margin-top: 3em">Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1843, by</p>
+
+<p align="center" class="smallcaps">J. Fenimore Cooper,</p>
+
+<p align="center">in the clerk's office of the District Court of the United States for the
+Northern district of New York.</p>
+<br />
+<br />
+
+
+<h2>Preface</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>It is an old remark, that the life of any man, could the incidents be
+faithfully told, would possess interest and instruction for the general
+reader. The conviction of the perfect truth of this saying, has induced
+the writer to commit to paper, the vicissitudes, escapes, and opinions of
+one of his old shipmates, as a sure means of giving the public some just
+notions of the career of a common sailor. In connection with the amusement
+that many will find in following a foremast Jack in his perils and
+voyages, however, it is hoped that the experience and moral change of
+Myers may have a salutary influence on the minds of some of those whose
+fortunes have been, or are likely to be, cast in a mould similar to that
+of this old salt.</p>
+
+<p>As the reader will feel a natural desire to understand how far the editor
+can vouch for the truth of that which he has here written, and to be
+informed on the subject of the circumstances that have brought him
+acquainted with the individual whose adventures form the subject of this
+little work, as much shall be told as may be necessary to a proper
+understanding of these two points.</p>
+
+<p>First, then, as to the writer's own knowledge of the career of the
+subject of his present work. In the year 1806, the editor, then a lad,
+fresh from Yale, and destined for the navy, made his first voyage in a
+merchantman, with a view to get some practical knowledge of his
+profession. This was the fashion of the day, though its utility, on the
+whole, may very well be questioned. The voyage was a long one, including
+some six or eight passages, and extending to near the close of the year
+1807. On board the ship was Myers, an apprentice to the captain. Ned, as
+Myers was uniformly called, was a lad, as well as the writer; and, as a
+matter of course, the intimacy of a ship existed between them. Ned,
+however, was the junior, and was not then compelled to face all the
+hardships and servitude that fell to the lot of the writer.</p>
+
+<p>Once, only, after the crew was broken up, did the writer and Ned actually
+see each other, and that only for a short time. This was in 1809. In 1833,
+they were, for half an hour, on board the same ship, without knowing the
+fact at the time. A few months since, Ned, rightly imagining that the
+author of the Pilot must be his old shipmate, wrote the former a letter to
+ascertain the truth. The correspondence produced a meeting, and the
+meeting a visit from Ned to the editor. It was in consequence of the
+revelations made in this visit that the writer determined to produce the
+following work.</p>
+
+<p>The writer has the utmost confidence in all the statements of Ned, so far
+as intention is concerned. Should he not be mistaken on some points, he is
+an exception to the great rule which governs the opinions and
+recollections of the rest of the human family. Still, nothing is related
+that the writer has any reasons for distrusting. In a few instances he has
+interposed his own greater knowledge of the world between Ned's more
+limited experience and the narrative; but, this has been done cautiously,
+and only in cases in which there can be little doubt that the narrator has
+been deceived by appearances, or misled by ignorance. The reader, however,
+is not to infer that Ned has no greater information than usually falls to
+the share of a foremast hand. This is far from being the case. When first
+known to the writer, his knowledge was materially above that of the
+ordinary class of lads in his situation; giving ample proof that he had
+held intercourse with persons of a condition in life, if not positively of
+the rank of gentlemen, of one that was not much below it. In a word, his
+intelligence on general subjects was such as might justly render him the
+subject of remark on board a ship. Although much of his after-life was
+thrown away, portions of it passed in improvement; leaving Ned, at this
+moment, a man of quick apprehension, considerable knowledge, and of
+singularly shrewd comments. If to this be added the sound and accurate
+moral principles that now appear to govern both his acts and his opinions,
+we find a man every way entitled to speak for himself; the want of the
+habit of communicating his thoughts to the public, alone excepted.</p>
+
+<p>In this book, the writer has endeavoured to adhere as closely to the very
+language of his subject, as circumstances will at all allow; and in many
+places he feels confident that no art of his own could, in any respect,
+improve it.</p>
+
+<p>It is probable that a good deal of distrust will exist on the subject of
+the individual whom Ned supposes to have been one of his god-fathers. On
+this head the writer can only say, that the account which Myers has given
+in this work, is substantially the same as that which he gave the editor
+nearly forty years ago, at an age and under circumstances that forbid the
+idea of any intentional deception. The account is confirmed by his sister,
+who is the oldest of the two children, and who retains a distinct
+recollection of the prince, as indeed does Ned himself. The writer
+supposes these deserted orphans to have been born out of wedlock--though
+he has no direct proof to this effect--and there is nothing singular in
+the circumstance of a man of the highest rank, that of a sovereign
+excepted, appearing at the font in behalf of the child of a dependant. A
+member of the royal family, indeed, might be expected to do this, to
+favour one widely separated from him by birth and station, sooner than to
+oblige a noble, who might possibly presume on the condescension.</p>
+
+<p>It remains only to renew the declaration, that every part of this
+narrative is supposed to be true. The memory of Ned may occasionally fail
+him; and, as for his opinions, they doubtless are sometimes erroneous; but
+the writer has the fullest conviction that it is the intention of the Old
+Salt to relate nothing that he does hot believe to have occurred, or to
+express an unjust sentiment. On the subject of his reformation, so far as
+"the tree is to be known by its fruits" it is entirely sincere; the
+language, deportment, habits, and consistency of this well-meaning tar,
+being those of a cheerful and confiding Christian, without the smallest
+disposition to cant or exaggeration. In this particular, he is a living
+proof of the efficacy of faith, and of the power of the Holy Spirit to
+enlighten the darkest understanding, and to quicken the most apathetic
+conscience.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h1>Ned Myers.</h1>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter I.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>In consenting to lay before the world the experience of a common seaman,
+and, I may add, of one who has been such a sinner as the calling is only
+too apt to produce, I trust that no feeling of vanity has had an undue
+influence. I love the seas; and it is a pleasure to me to converse about
+them, and of the scenes I have witnessed, and of the hardships I have
+undergone on their bosom, in various parts of the world. Meeting with an
+old shipmate who is disposed to put into proper form the facts which I can
+give him, and believing that my narrative may be useful to some of those
+who follow the same pursuit as that in which I have been so long engaged,
+I see no evil in the course I am now taking, while I humbly trust it may
+be the means of effecting some little good. God grant that the pictures I
+shall feel bound to draw of my own past degradation and failings,
+contrasted as they must be with my present contentment and hopes, may
+induce some one, at least, of my readers to abandon the excesses so common
+among seamen, and to turn their eyes in the direction of those great
+truths which are so powerful to reform, and so convincing when regarded
+with humility, and with a just understanding of our own weaknesses.</p>
+
+<p>I know nothing of my family, except through my own youthful recollections,
+and the accounts I have received from my sister. My father I slightly
+remember; but of my mother I retain no distinct impressions. The latter
+must have died while I was very young. The former, I was in the habit of
+often seeing, until I reached my fifth or sixth year. He was a soldier,
+and belonged to the twenty-third regimen of foot, in the service of the
+King of Great Britain.[1] The fourth son of this monarch, Prince Edward as
+he was then called, or the Duke of Kent as he was afterwards styled,
+commanded the corps, and accompanied it to the British American colonies,
+where it was stationed for many years.</p>
+
+<p>
+I was born in Quebec, between the years 1792 and 1794; probably in 1793.
+Of the rank of my father in the regiment, I am unable to speak, though I
+feel pretty confident he was a commissioned officer. He was much with the
+prince; and I remember that, on parade, where I have often seen him, he
+was in the habit of passing frequently from the prince to the ranks--a
+circumstance that induces my old shipmate to think he may have been the
+adjutant. My father, I have always understood, was a native of Hanover,
+and the son of a clergyman in that country. My mother, also, was said to
+be a German, though very little is now known of her by any of the family.
+She is described to me as living much alone, as being occupied in pursuits
+very different from those of my father, and as being greatly averse to the
+life of a soldier.</p>
+
+<p>I was baptized in the Church of England, and, from earliest boyhood, have
+always been given to understand that His Royal Highness, Prince Edward,
+the father of Queen Victoria, stood for me at the font; Major Walker, of
+the same regiment, being the other god-father, and Mrs. Walker, his wife,
+my god-mother. My real names are Edward Robert Meyers; those received in
+baptism having been given me by my two sponsors, after themselves. This
+christening, like my birth, occurred in Quebec. I have, however, called
+myself Edward, or Ned, Myers, ever since I took to the sea.</p>
+
+<p>Before I was old enough to receive impressions to be retained, the
+regiment removed to Halifax. My father accompanied it; and, of course, his
+two children, my sister Harriet and myself, were taken to Nova Scotia. Of
+the period of my life that was passed in Halifax, I retain tolerably
+distinct recollections; more especially of the later years. The prince and
+my father both remained with the regiment for a considerable time; though
+all quitted Halifax several years before I left it myself. I remember
+Prince Edward perfectly well. He sometimes resided at a house called The
+Lodge, a little out of town; and I was often taken out to see him. He
+also had a residence in town. He took a good deal of notice of me;
+raising me in his arms, and kissing me. When he passed our house, I would
+run to him; and he would lead me through the streets himself. On more than
+one occasion, he led me off, and sent for the regimental tailor; directing
+suits of clothes to be made for me, after his own taste. He was a large
+man; of commanding presence, and frequently wore a star on the breast of
+his coat. He was not then called the Duke of Kent, but Prince Edward, or
+<i>The </i> Prince. A lady lived with him at the Lodge; but who she was, I
+do not know.</p>
+
+<p>At this time, my mother must have been dead; for of <i>her</i> I retain no
+recollection whatever. I think, my father left Halifax some time before
+the prince. Major Walker, too, went to England; leaving Mrs. Walker in
+Nova Scotia, for some time. Whether my father went away with a part of the
+regiment to which he belonged, or not, I cannot say but I well remember a
+conversation between the prince, the major and Mrs. Walker, in which they
+spoke of the loss of a transport, and of Meyers's saving several men. This
+must have been at the time when my father quitted Nova Scotia; to which
+province, I think, he never could have returned. Neither my sister, nor
+myself, ever saw him afterwards. We have understood that he was killed in
+battle; though when, or where, we do not know. My old shipmate, the
+editor, however, thinks it must have been in Canada; as letters were
+received from a friend in Quebec, after I had quitted Nova Scotia,
+inquiring after us children, and stating that the effects of my father
+were in that town, and ought to belong to us. This letter gave my sister
+the first account of his death; though it was not addressed to her, but to
+those in whose care she had been left. This property was never recovered;
+and my shipmate, who writes this account, thinks there may have been legal
+difficulties in the way.</p>
+
+<p>Previously to quitting the province of Nova Scotia, my father placed
+Harriet and myself in the house of a Mr. Marchinton, to live. This
+gentleman was a clergyman, who had no regular parish, but who preached in
+a chapel of his own. He sent us both to school, and otherwise took charge
+of us. I am not aware of the precise time when the prince left Halifax,
+but it must have been when I was five or six years old--probably about the
+year 1798 or 1799.[2]</p>
+
+<p>From that time I continued at Mr. Marchinton's, attending school, and
+busied, as is usual with boys of that age, until the year 1805. I fear I
+was naturally disposed to idleness and self-indulgence, for I became
+restive and impatient under the restraints of the schoolmaster, and of the
+gentleman in whose family I had been left. I do not know that I had any
+just grounds of complaint against Mr. Marchinton; but his rigorous
+discipline disgusted me; principally, I am now inclined to believe,
+because it was not agreeable to me to be kept under any rigid moral
+restraint. I do not think I was very vicious; and, I know, I was far from
+being of a captious temperament; but I loved to be my own master; and I
+particularly disliked everything like religious government. Mr.
+Marchinton, moreover, kept me out of the streets; and it was my
+disposition to be an idler, and at play. It is possible he may have been a
+little too severe for one of my temperament; though, I fear, nature gave
+me a roving and changeful mind.</p>
+
+<p>At that time the English cruisers sent in many American vessels as prizes.
+Our house was near the water; and I was greatly in the habit of strolling
+along the wharves, whenever an opportunity occurred; Mr. Marchinton owning
+a good deal of property in that part of the town. The Cambrian frigate had
+a midshipman, a little older than myself, who had been a schoolmate of
+mine. This lad, whose name was Bowen, was sent in as the nominal
+prize-master of a brig loaded with coffee; and I no sooner learned the
+fact, than I began to pay him visits. Young Bowen encouraged me greatly,
+in a wish that now arose within me, to become a sailor. I listened eagerly
+to the history of his adventures, and felt the usual boyish emulation. Mr.
+Marchinton seemed averse to my following the profession, and these visits
+became frequent and stealthy; my wishes, most probably, increasing, in
+proportion as they seemed difficult of accomplishment.</p>
+
+<p>I soon began to climb the rigging of the brig, ascending to the
+mast-heads. One day Mr. Marchinton saw me quite at the main-truck; and,
+calling me down, I got a severe flogging for my dexterity and enterprise.
+It sometimes happens that punishment produces a result exactly opposite to
+that which was intended; and so it turned out in the present instance. My
+desire to be a sailor increased in consequence of this very flogging; and
+I now began seriously to think of running away, in order to get to sea, as
+well as to escape a confinement on shore, that, to me, seemed
+unreasonable. Another prize, called the Amsterdam Packet, a Philadelphia
+ship, had been sent in by, I believe, the Cleopatra, Sir Robert Laurie. On
+board this ship were two American lads, apprentices. With these boys I
+soon formed an intimacy; and their stories of the sea, and their accounts
+of the States, coupled with the restraints I fancied I endured, gave rise
+to a strong desire to see their country, as well as to become a sailor.
+They had little to do, and enjoyed great liberty, going and coming much as
+they pleased. This idleness seemed, to me, to form the summit of human
+happiness. I did not often dare to play truant; and the school became
+odious to me. According to my recollections, this desire for a change must
+have existed near, or quite a twelvemonth; being constantly fed by the
+arrival and departure of vessels directly before my eyes, ere I set about
+the concocting of a serious plan to escape.</p>
+
+<p>My project was put in execution in the summer of 1805, when I could not
+have been more than eleven years old, if, indeed, quite as old. I was in
+the market one day, and overheard some American seamen, who had been
+brought in, conversing of a schooner that was on the point of leaving
+Halifax, for New York. This vessel belonged to North Carolina, and had
+been captured by the Driver, some time before, but had been liberated by a
+decision of the Admiralty Court. The men I overheard talking about her,
+intended taking their passages back to their own country in the craft.
+This seemed to me a good opportunity to effect my purpose, and I went from
+the market, itself, down to the schooner. The mate was on board alone, and
+I took courage, and asked him if he did not want to ship a boy. My
+dress and appearance were both against me, as I had never done any work,
+and was in the ordinary attire of a better class lad on shore. The mate
+began to laugh at me, and to joke me on my desire to go to sea,
+questioning me about my knowledge. I was willing to do anything; but,
+perceiving that I made little impression, I resorted to bribery. Prince
+Edward had made me a present, before he left Halifax, of a beautiful
+little fowling-piece, which was in my own possession; and I mentioned to
+the mate that I was the owner of such an article, and would give it to him
+if he would consent to secrete me in the schooner, and carry me to New
+York. This bait took, and I was told to bring the fowling, piece on board,
+and let the mate see it. That night I carried the bribe, as agreed on, to
+this man, who was perfectly satisfied with its appearance, and we struck a
+bargain on the spot. I then returned to the house, and collected a few of
+my clothes. I knew that my sister, Harriet, was making some shirts for me,
+and I stole into her room, and brought away two of them, which were all I
+could find. My wardrobe was not large when I left the house, and I had
+taken the precaution of carrying the articles out one at a time, and of
+secreting them in an empty cask in the yard. When I thought I had got
+clothes enough, I made them into a bundle, and carried them down to the
+schooner. The mate then cleared out a locker in the cabin, in which there
+were some potatoes, and told me I must make up my mind to pass a few hours
+in that narrow berth. Too thoughtless to raise any objections, I
+cheerfully consented, and took my leave of him with the understanding that
+I was to be on board, again, early in the morning.</p>
+
+<p>Before going to bed, I desired a black servant of Mr. Marchinton's to call
+me about day-break, as I desired to go out and pick berries. This was
+done, and I was up and dressed before any other member of the family was
+stirring. I lost no time, but quitted the house, and walked deliberately
+down to the schooner. No one was up on board of her, and I was obliged to
+give the mate a call, myself. This man now seemed disposed to draw back
+from his bargain, and I had to use a good deal of persuasion before I
+could prevail on him to be as good as his word. He did not like to part
+with the fowling-piece, but seemed to think it would be fairly purchased,
+could he persuade me to run away. At length he yielded, and I got into the
+locker, where I was covered with potatoes.</p>
+
+<p>I was a good while in this uncomfortable situation, before there were any
+signs of the vessel's quitting the wharf. I began to grow heartily tired
+of the confinement, and the love of change revived within me in a new
+form. The potatoes were heavy for me to bear, and the confined air
+rendered my prison almost insupportable. I was on the point of coming out
+of prison, when the noise on deck gave me the comfortable assurance that
+the people had come on board, and that the schooner was about to sail. I
+could hear men conversing, and, after a period of time that seemed an age,
+I felt satisfied the schooner was fairly under way. I heard a hail from
+one of the forts as we passed down the harbour, and, not long after, the
+Driver, the very sloop of war that had sent the vessel in, met her, and
+quite naturally hailed her old prize, also. All this I heard in my prison,
+and it served to reconcile me to the confinement. As everything was right,
+the ship did not detain us, and we were permitted to proceed.</p>
+
+<p>It was noon before I was released. Going on deck, I found that the
+schooner was at sea. Nothing of Halifax was visible but a tower or two,
+that were very familiar objects to me. I confess I now began to regret the
+step I had taken, and, could I have been landed, it is probable my roving
+disposition would have received a salutary check. It was too late,
+however, and I was compelled to continue in the thorny and difficult path
+on which I had so thoughtlessly entered. I often look back to this moment,
+and try to imagine what might have been my fortunes, had I never taken
+this unlucky step. What the prince might have done for me, it is
+impossible to say; though I think it probable that, after the death of my
+father, I should have been forgotten, as seems to have been the case with
+my sister, who gradually fell from being considered and treated as one of
+the family in which she lived, into a sort of upper servant.</p>
+
+<p>I have learned, latterly, that Mr. Marchinton had a great search made for
+me. It was his impression I was drowned, and several places were dragged
+for my body. This opinion lasted until news of my being in New York
+reached the family.</p>
+
+<p>My appearance on deck gave rise to a great many jokes between the captain
+of the schooner, and his mate. I was a good deal laughed at, but not badly
+treated, on the whole. My office was to be that of cook--by no means a
+very difficult task in that craft, the camboose consisting of two pots set
+in bricks, and the dishes being very simple. In the cabin, sassafras was
+used for tea, and boiled pork and beef composed the dinner. The first day,
+I was excused from entering on the duties of my office, on account of
+sea-sickness; but, the next morning, I set about the work in good earnest.
+We had a long passage, and my situation was not very pleasant. The
+schooner was wet, and the seas she shipped would put out my fire. There
+was a deck load of shingles, and I soon discovered that these made
+excellent kindling wood; but it was against the rules of the craft to burn
+cargo, and my friend the mate had bestowed a few kicks on me before I
+learned to make the distinction. In other respects, I did tolerably well;
+and, at the end of about ten days, we entered Sandy Hook.</p>
+
+<p>Such was my first passage at sea, or, at least, the first I can remember,
+though I understand we were taken from Quebec to Halifax by water. I was
+not cured of the wish to roam by this experiment, though, at that age,
+impressions are easily received, and as readily lost. Some idea may be
+formed of my recklessness, and ignorance of such matters, at this time,
+from the circumstance that I do not remember ever to have known the name
+of the vessel in which I left Nova Scotia. Change and adventure were my
+motives, and it never occurred to me to inquire into a fact that was so
+immaterial to one of my temperament. To this hour, I am ignorant on
+the subject.</p>
+
+<p>The schooner came up, and hauled in abreast of Fly Market. She did not
+come close to the wharf, but made fast, temporarily, at its end, outside
+of two or three other vessels. This took place not long after breakfast. I
+set about the preparations for dinner, which was ready, as usual, at
+twelve o'clock. While the crew were eating this meal, I had nothing to do,
+and, seeing a number of boys on the wharf, I went ashore, landing for the
+first time in this, my adopted country. I was without hat, coat, or
+shoes; my feet having become sore from marching about among the shingles.
+The boys were licking molasses from some hogsheads, and I joined in the
+occupation with great industry. I might have been occupied in this manner,
+and in talking with the boys, an hour or more, when I bethought me of my
+duty on board. On looking for the schooner, she was gone! Her people, no
+doubt, thought I was below, and did not miss me, and she had been carried
+to some other berth; where, I did not know. I could not find her, nor did
+I ever see her again.</p>
+
+<p>Such, then, was my entrance on a new scene. Had I known enough to follow
+the wharves, doubtless I should have found the vessel; but, after a short
+search, I returned to the boys and the molasses.</p>
+
+<p>That I was concerned at finding myself in a strange place, without a
+farthing in my pockets--without hat, shoes or coat, is certain--but it is
+wonderful how little apprehension I felt. I knew nothing, and feared
+nothing. While licking the molasses, I told the boys my situation; and I
+met with a great deal of sympathy among them. The word passed from one to
+the other, that a "poor English boy had lost his vessel, and did not know
+where to go to pass the night." One promised me a supper; and, as for
+lodgings, the general opinion seemed to be, that I might find a berth
+under one of the butchers' stalls, in the adjacent market. I had different
+projects for myself, however.</p>
+
+<p>There was a family of the name of Clark, then residing in New York, that I
+had known in Halifax. I remembered to have heard my sister, Harriet,
+speaking of them, not long before I quitted home, and that she said they
+lived in, or near, Fly Market. I knew we were at Fly Market; and the name
+recalled these people. I inquired, accordingly, if any one knew such a
+family; but met with no success in discovering them. They were strangers;
+and no one knew them. It was now near sunset; and I determined to look for
+these people myself. On this errand, then, I set off; walking up the
+market until I reached Maiden Lane. While strolling along the street, I
+heard a female voice suddenly exclaim: "Lord! here is Edward Myers,
+without anything on him!" At the next instant, Susan Clark, one of the
+daughters, came running into the street; and presently I was in the
+house, surrounded by the whole family.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, I was closely questioned; and I told the whole truth. The
+Clarks were extremely kind to me, offering me clothes, and desiring to
+keep me with them; but I did not like the family, owing to old quarrels
+with the boys, and a certain sternness in the father, who had made
+complaints of my stealing his fruit, while in Halifax. I was innocent; and
+the whole proceeding had made me regard Mr. Clark as a sort of enemy. My
+principal motive, in inquiring for the family, was to learn where a
+certain Dr. Heizer[3] lived. This gentleman was a German, who had formerly
+been in the army; and I knew he was then in New York. In him I had more
+confidence; and I determined to throw myself on his kindness.</p>
+
+<p>After declining a great many offers, I got the address of Dr. Heizer, and
+proceeded in quest of his residence, just as I was. It was moonlight, and
+I went through the streets with boyish confidence. My route lay up
+Broadway, and my destination was one of its corners and Hester Street. In
+1805, this was nearly out of town, being near Canal street. I had been
+told to look for a bridge, which then stood in Broadway, and which
+answered for a landmark, in my new navigation. The bridge I found easily;
+and, making inquiries at a house, I was told the family I sought lived
+next door.</p>
+
+<p>The Heizers were greatly surprised at my appearance. I was questioned, of
+course; and told them the naked truth. I knew concealment would be
+useless; was naturally frank, notwithstanding what I had just done; and I
+began to feel the want of friends. I was fed; and that same evening, Dr.
+and Mrs. Heizer led me down Broadway, and equipped me in a neat suit of
+clothes. Within a week, I was sent regularly to school.</p>
+
+<p>I never knew what Dr. Heizer did, in relation to my arrival. I cannot but
+think that he communicated the circumstances to Mr. Marchinton, who was
+well known to him; though, Harriet tell me, the first intelligence they
+got of me was of a much later date, and came from another source. Let this
+be as it might, I was kindly treated; living, in all respects, as if I
+were one of the family. There was no son; and they all seemed to consider
+me as one.</p>
+
+<p>I remained in this family the autumn of 1805, and the winter and spring of
+1806. I soon tired of school, and began to play truant; generally
+wandering along the wharves, gazing at the ships. Dr. Heizer soon learned
+this; and, watching me, discovered the propensity I still retained for the
+sea. He and Mrs. Heizer now took me aside, and endeavoured to persuade me
+to return to Halifax; but I had become more and more averse to taking this
+backward step. To own the truth, I had fearful misgivings on the subject
+of floggings; and I dreaded a long course of severity and discipline. It
+is certain, that, while rigid rules of conduct are very necessary to some
+dispositions, there are others with which they do not succeed. Mine was of
+the latter class; for, I think, I am more easily led, than driven. At all
+events, I had a horror of going back; and refused to listen to the
+proposal. After a good deal of conversation, and many efforts at
+persuasion, Dr. Heizer consented to let me go to sea, from New York; or
+affected to consent; I never knew which.</p>
+
+<p>The Leander, Miranda's flag-ship, in his abortive attempt to create a
+revolution in Spanish-America, was then lying in the Hudson; and Dr.
+Heizer, who was acquainted with some one connected with her, placed me in
+this ship, with the understanding I was to go in her to Holland. I passed
+the day on board; going up to my new employer's house, for my meals, and
+to sleep. This course of life may have lasted a fortnight; when I became
+heartily tired of it. I found I had a mistress, now, as well as a master.
+The former set me to cleaning knives, boots, candlesticks, and other
+similar employments; converting me into a sort of scullion. My pride
+revolted at this. I have since thought it possible, all this was done to
+create disgust, and to induce me to return to Mr. Marchinton; but it had a
+very contrary effect.</p>
+
+<p>My desire was to be a sailor. One Sunday I had been on board the ship,
+and, after assisting the mate to show the bunting fore and aft, I went
+back to the house. Here my mistress met me with a double allowance of
+knives to clean. We had a quarrel on the subject; I protesting against all
+such work. But to clean the knives I was compelled. About half were thrown
+over the fence, into the adjoining yard; and, cleaning what remained, I
+took my hat, went to the doctor's, and saw no more of my mistress, or of
+the Leander.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter II.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>An explanation took place. Dr. and Mrs. Heizer remonstrated about my
+conduct, and endeavoured, once more, to persuade me to return to Mr.
+Marchinton's. A great deal was told me of the kind intentions of that
+gentleman, and concerning what I might expect from the protection and
+patronage of my god-father, the Duke of Kent. I cannot help thinking, now,
+that much of the favour which was extended towards me at that early period
+of life, was owing to the circumstance that the prince had consented to
+stand for me at my baptism. He was a great disciplinarian--so great,
+indeed, I remember to have heard, as to cause more than one mutiny--and my
+father being a German, and coming from a people that carried military
+subordination to extremes, it is highly probable I was indebted, for this
+compliment, to a similarity of tastes between the two. I cared little for
+all this, however, in 1805, and thought far less of being protected by a
+prince of the blood royal, than of going to sea, and especially of
+escaping from the moral discipline of Mr. Marchinton. Finding his
+arguments vain, Dr. Heizer sent me to school again, where I continued a
+few months longer.</p>
+
+<p>All this time, my taste for ships rather increased than diminished. At
+every opportunity I was on the wharves, studying the different craft, and
+endeavouring to understand their rig. One day I saw a British ensign, and,
+while looking at it, with a feeling of strong disgust, I heard myself
+called by name. A glance told me that I was seen by a Halifax man, and I
+ran away, under the apprehension that he might, by some means, seize me
+and carry me back. My feelings on this head were all alive, and that very
+day one of the young ladies said, in a melancholy way, "<i>Edouard,</i>"
+"Halifax." These girls spoke scarcely any English, having been born in
+Martinique; and they talked much together in French, looking at me
+occasionally, as if I were the subject of their discourse. It is probable
+conscience was at the bottom of this conceit of mine; but the latter now
+became so strong, as to induce me to determine to look out for a vessel
+for myself, and be off again. With this view, I quitted a negro who had
+been sent with me to market, under the pretence of going to school, but
+went along the wharves until I found a ship that took my fancy. She was
+called the Sterling, and there was a singularly good-looking mate on her
+deck, of the name of Irish, who was a native of Nantucket. The ship was
+commanded by Capt. John Johnston, of Wiscasset, in Maine, and belonged to
+his father and himself.</p>
+
+<p>I went on board the Sterling, and, after looking about for some time, I
+ventured to offer myself to Mr. Irish, as a boy who wished to ship. I was
+questioned, of course, but evaded any very close answers. After some
+conversation, Capt. Johnston came on board, and Mr. Irish told him what I
+wanted. My examination now became much closer, and I found myself driven
+to sheer fabrication in order to effect my purposes. During my intercourse
+with different sea-going lads of Halifax, I had learned the particulars of
+the capture of the Cleopatra 32, by the French frigate Ville de Milan 38,
+and her recapture by the Leander 50, which ship captured the Ville de
+Milan at the same time. I said my father had been a serjeant of marines,
+and was killed in the action--that I had run away when the ships got in,
+and that I wished to be bound to some American ship-master, in order to
+become a regularly-trained seaman. This story so far imposed on Capt.
+Johnston as to induce him to listen to my proposals, and in part to accept
+them. We parted with an understanding that I was to get my clothes, and
+come on board the vessel.</p>
+
+<p>It was twelve at noon when I got back to Dr. Heizer's. My first business
+was to get my clothes into the yard, a few at a time; after which I ate my
+dinner with the family. As soon as we rose from table, I stole away with
+my bundle, leaving these kind people to believe I had returned to school.
+I never saw one of them afterwards! On my return to New York, several
+years later, I learned they had all gone to Martinique to live. I should
+not have quitted this excellent family in so clandestine a manner, had I
+not been haunted with the notion that I was about to be sent back to
+Halifax, a place I now actually hated.</p>
+
+<p>Capt. Johnston received me good-naturedly, and that night I slept and
+supped at the Old Coffee House, Old Slip--his own lodgings. He seemed
+pleased with me, and I was delighted with him. The next day he took me to
+a slop-shop, and I was rigged like a sailor, and was put in the cabin,
+where I was to begin my service in the regular way. A boy named Daniel
+McCoy was in the ship, and had been out to Russia in her, as cabin-boy,
+the last voyage. He was now to be sent into the forecastle, and was
+ordered to instruct me in my duty.</p>
+
+<p>I was now comparatively happy, though anxious to be bound to Capt.
+Johnston, and still more so to be fairly at sea. The Sterling had a good,
+old-fashioned cabin, as cabins went in 1806; and I ran about her
+state-room, rummaged her lockers, and scampered up and down her
+companion-way, with as much satisfaction as if they had all belonged to a
+palace. Dan McCoy was every day on board, and we had the accommodations of
+the ship very much to ourselves. Two or three days later, Capt. Johnston
+took me to the proper place, and I was put under regular indentures, to
+serve until I was twenty-one. I now felt more confidence in my situation,
+knowing that Dr. Heizer had no legal authority over me. The work I did, in
+no manner offended my dignity, for it was on ship-board, and belonged
+properly to my duty as a cabin-boy.</p>
+
+<p>The Sterling soon began to take in her cargo. She was to receive a freight
+of flour, for Cowes and a market. Not only was the hold filled, but the
+state-room and cabin, leaving barely room to climb over the barrels to
+reach the berths. A place was left, just inside of the cabin door, for the
+table. Passengers were not common in that day, while commerce was pushed
+to the utmost. Our sails were bending when the consignee, followed by
+another merchant, came down to the ship, accompanied by a youth, who, it
+was understood, wished also to be received in the vessel. This youth was
+named Cooper, and was never called by any other appellation in the ship.
+He was accepted by Capt. Johnston, signed the articles, and the next day
+he joined us, in sailor's rig. He never came to the cabin, but was
+immediately employed forward, in such service as he was able to perform.
+It was afterwards understood that he was destined for the navy.</p>
+
+<p>The very day that Cooper joined us, was one of deep disgrace to me. The
+small stores came on board for the cabin, and Dan McCoy persuaded me to
+try the flavour of a bottle of cherry-bounce. I did not drink much, but
+the little I swallowed made me completely drunk. This was the first time I
+ever was in that miserable and disgraceful plight; would to God I could
+also say it was the last! The last it was, however, for several years;
+that is some comfort. I thank my Divine Master that I have lived to see
+the hour when intoxicating liquors have ceased to have any command over
+me, and when, indeed, they never pass my lips. Capt. Johnston did not flog
+me for this act of folly, merely pulling my ears a little, and sharply
+reprimanding me; both he and Mr. Irish seeming to understand that my
+condition had proceeded from the weakness of my head. Dan was the
+principal sufferer, as, to say the truth, he ought to have been. He was
+rope's-ended for his pains.</p>
+
+<p>Next day the stevedores took the ship in to the stream, and the crew came
+on board. The assembling of the crew of a merchantman, in that day, was a
+melancholy sight. The men came off, bearing about them the signs of the
+excesses of which they had been guilty while on shore; some listless and
+stupid, others still labouring under the effects of liquor, and some in
+that fearful condition which seamen themselves term having the "horrors."
+Our crew was neither better nor worse than that of other ships. It was
+also a sample of the mixed character of the crews of American vessels
+during the height of her neutral trade. The captain, chief-mate, cook, and
+four of those forward, were American born; while the second-mate was a
+Portuguese. The boys were, one Scotch, and one a Canadian; and there were
+a Spaniard, a Prussian, a Dane, and an Englishman, in the forecastle.
+There was also an Englishman who worked his passage, having been the
+cooper of a whaler that was wrecked. As Dan McCoy was sent forward, too,
+this put ten in the forecastle, besides the cook, and left five aft,
+including the master of another wrecked English vessel, whom we took out
+as a passenger.</p>
+
+<p>That afternoon we lifted our anchor, and dropped down abreast of
+Governor's Island, where we brought up. Next day all hands were called to
+get under way, and, as soon as the anchor was short, the mate told Cooper
+and myself to go up and loose the fore-top-sail. I went on one yard-arm and
+Cooper went on the other. In a few minutes the second mate came up,
+hallooing to us to "avast," and laughing. Cooper was hard at work at the
+"robins," and would soon have had his half of the sail down in the top,
+had he been let alone; while I was taking the gaskets from the yard, with
+the intention of bringing them carefully down on deck, where it struck me
+they would be quite safe. Luckily for us, the men were too busy heaving,
+and too stupid, to be very critical, and we escaped much ridicule. In a
+week we both knew better.</p>
+
+<p>The ship only got to the quarantine ground that day, but in the morning we
+went to sea. Our passage was long and stormy. The ship was on a bow-line
+most of the time, and we were something like forty days from land to land.
+Nothing extraordinary occurred, however, and we finally made the Bill of
+Portland. The weather came on thick, but we found a pilot, and ran into
+St. Helen's Roads and anchored. The captain got into his boat, and taking
+four men pulled ashore, to look for his orders at Cowes.</p>
+
+<p>That afternoon it cleared off, and we found a pilot lying a little outside
+of us. About sunset a man-of-war's cutter came alongside, and Mr. Irish
+was ordered to muster the crew. The English lieutenant, who was tolerably
+bowsed up, took his seat behind the cabin table, while the men came down,
+and stood in the companion-way passage, to be overhauled. Most of the
+foreigners had gone in the boat, but two of the Americans that remained
+were uncommonly fine-looking men, and were both prime seamen. One, whose
+name was Thomas Cook, was a six-footer, and had the air of a thorough
+sea-dog. He filled the lieutenant's eye mightily, and Cook was very coolly
+told to gather his dunnage, as he was wanted. Cook pointed to his
+protection, but the lieutenant answered--"Oh! these things are
+nothing--anybody can have one for two dollars, in New York. You are an
+Englishman, and the King has need of your services." Cook now took out of
+his pocket a certificate, that was signed by Sir John Beresford, stating
+that Thomas Cook had been discharged from His Maj. Ship Cambrian, after a
+pretty long service in her, because he had satisfactorily proved that he
+was a native-born American. The lieutenant could not very well dishonour
+this document, and he reluctantly let Cook go, keeping his protection,
+however. He next selected Isaac Gaines, a native New Yorker, a man whose
+father and friends were known to the captain. But Gaines had no discharge
+like that of Cook's, and the poor fellow was obliged to rowse up his chest
+and get into the cutter. This he did with tears in his eyes, and to the
+regret of all on board, he being one of the best men in the ship. We asked
+the boat's crew to what vessel they belonged, and they gave us the name of
+a sixty-four in the offing, but we observed, as they pulled away from us,
+that they took the direction of another ship. This was the last I ever
+saw, or heard, of Isaac Gaines. Cook went on with us, and one day, while
+in London, he went with Cooper to Somerset House to get an order for some
+prize-money, to which he was entitled for his service in the Cambrian, as
+was shown by his discharge. The clerk asked him to leave the certificate,
+and call a day or two later, when he would have searched out the amount.
+This was done, and Cook, being now without certificate or protection, was
+pressed on his way back to the ship. We never heard of him, either. Such
+was often the fate of sailors, in that day, who were with you one day, and
+lost for ever the next.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Johnston did not get back to the ship for four-and-twenty hours.
+He brought orders for us to go up to London; and, the wind being fair, and
+almost a gale, we got under way, and were off as soon as possible. The
+next morning we were in the straits of Dover; the wind light, but fair.
+This was at a moment when all England was in arms, in anticipation of an
+invasion from France. Forty odd sail of vessels of war were counted from
+our ship, as the day dawned, that had been cruising in the narrow waters,
+during the night, to prevent a surprise.</p>
+
+<p>We worked our way up to London, with the tides, and were carried into
+London dock; where we discharged. This was my first visit to the modern
+Babylon, of course; but I had little opportunity of seeing much. I had one
+or two cruises, of a Sunday, in tow of Cooper, who soon became a branch
+pilot, in those waters, about the parks and west end but I was too young
+to learn much, or to observe much. Most of us went to see the monument,
+St. Paul's, and the lions; and Cooper put himself in charge of a
+beef-eater, and took a look at the arsenals, jewels and armoury. He had a
+rum time of it, in his sailor rig, but hoisted in a wonderful deal of
+gibberish, according to his own account of his cruise.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Johnston now got a freight for the ship, and we hauled into the
+stream, abreast of the dock-gates, and took in shingle ballast. The
+Prussian, Dane, second mate, and the English cooper, all left us, in
+London. We got a Philadelphian, a chap from Maine, who had just been
+discharged from an English man-of-war, and an Irish lad, in their places.
+In January we sailed, making the best of our way for the straits of
+Gibraltar. The passage was stormy--the Bay of Biscay, in particular,
+giving us a touch of its qualities. It was marked by only two incidents,
+however, out of the usual way. While running down the coast of Portugal,
+with the land in sight, we made an armed felucca astern, and to windward.
+This vessel gave chase; and, the captain disliking her appearance, we
+carried hard, in order to avoid her. The weather was thick, and it blew
+fresh, occasionally, in squalls. Whenever it lulled, the felucca gained on
+us, we having, a very little, the advantage in the puffs. At length the
+felucca began to fire; and, finding that his shot were coming pretty near,
+Captain Johnston, knowing that he was in ballast, thought it wisest to
+heave-to. Ten minutes after our main-top-sail was aback, the felucca ranged
+up close under our lee; hailed, and ordered us to send a boat, with our
+papers, on board her. A more rascally-looking craft never gave such an
+order to an unarmed merchantman. As our ship rose on a sea, and he fell
+into the trough, we could look directly down upon his decks, and thus form
+some notion of what we were to expect, when he got possession of us. His
+people were in red caps and shirts, and appeared to be composed of the
+rakings of such places as Gibraltar, Cadiz and Lisbon. He had ten long
+guns; and pikes, pistols and muskets, were plenty with him. On the end of
+each latine-yard was a chap on the look-out, who occasionally turned his
+eyes towards us, as if to anticipate the gleanings. That we should be
+plundered, every one expected; and it was quite likely we might be
+ill-treated. As soon as we hove-to, Captain Johnston gave me the best
+spy-glass, with orders to hand it to Cooper, to hide. The latter buried it
+in the shingle ballast. We, in the cabin, concealed a bag of guineas so
+effectually, that, after all was over, we could not find it ourselves.</p>
+
+<p>The jolly-boat had been stowed in the launch, on account of the rough
+weather we had expected to meet, and tackles had to be got aloft before we
+could hoist it out. This consumed some time, during which there was a
+lull. The felucca, seeing us busy at this work, waited patiently until we
+had got the boat over the side, and into the water. Cooper, Dan McCoy, Big
+Dan, and Spanish Joe, then got into her; and the captain had actually
+passed his writing-desk into the boat, and had his leg on the rail, to go
+over the side himself, when a squall struck the ship. The men were called
+out of the boat to clew down the topsails, and a quarter of an hour passed
+in taking care of the vessel. By this time the squall had passed, and it
+lightened up a little. There lay the felucca, waiting for the boat; and
+the men were reluctantly going into the latter again, when the commander
+of the felucca waved his hand to us, his craft fell off and filled,
+wing-and-wing, skimming away towards the coast, like a duck. We stood
+gaping and staring at her, not knowing what to make of this manoeuvre,
+when "bang!" went a heavy gun, a little on our weather quarter. The shot
+passed our wake, for we had filled our topsail, and it went skipping from
+sea to sea, after the felucca. Turning our eyes in the direction of the
+report, we saw a frigate running down upon the felucca, carrying
+studding-sails on both sides, with the water foaming up to her
+hawse-holes. As she passed our stern, she showed an English ensign, but
+took no other notice of us, continuing on after the felucca, and
+occasionally measuring her distance with a shot. Both vessels soon
+disappeared in the mist, though we heard guns for some time. As for
+ourselves, we jogged along on our course, wishing good luck to the
+Englishman. The felucca showed no ensign, the whole day. Our guineas were
+found, some weeks later, in a bread-locker, after we had fairly eaten our
+way down to them.</p>
+
+<p>The other adventure occurred very soon after this escape; for, though the
+felucca may have had a commission, she was a pirate in appearance, and
+most probably in her practices. The thick westerly weather continued until
+we had passed the Straits. The night we were abreast of Cape Trafalgar,
+the captain came on deck in the middle watch, and, hailing the forecastle,
+ordered a sharp look-out kept, as we must be running through Lord
+Collingwood's fleet. The words were hardly out of his mouth, when Spanish
+Joe sung out, "sail ho!" There she was, sure enough, travelling right down
+upon us, in a line that threatened to take us between the fore and main
+masts. The captain ordered our helm hard up, and yelled for Cooper to
+bring up the cabin lantern. The youngster made one leap down the ladder,
+just scraping the steps with his heels, and was in the mizzen rigging with
+the light, in half a minute. That saved us. So near was the stranger, that
+we plainly heard the officer of the deck call out to his own
+quarter-master to "port, hard a-port--<i>hard</i> a-port, and be d----d to
+you!" Hard a-port it was, and a two-decker came brushing along on our
+weather beam--so near, that, when she lifted on the seas, it seemed as if
+the muzzles of her guns would smash our rails. The Sterling did not behave
+well on this occasion, for, getting a yaw to windward, she seemed disposed
+to go right into the Englishman, before she would mind her helm. After the
+man-of-war hailed, and got our answer, her officer quaintly remarked that
+we were "close on board him." It blew too fresh for boats, and we were
+suffered to pass without being boarded.</p>
+
+<p>The ship proceeded up to Carthagena, and went in. Here we were put in
+quarantine for several days. The port was full of heavy ships of war,
+several of which were three-deckers; and an arrival direct from London
+made quite a sensation among them. We had divers visits from the officers,
+though I do not know what it all amounted to. From Carthagena we were
+sent down the coast to a little place called Aguilas, where we began to
+take in a cargo of barilla. At night we would discharge our shingle
+ballast into the water, contrary to law; and, in the day, we took in
+cargo. So clear was the water, that our night's work might easily be seen
+next morning, lying beneath the ship. As we lay in a roadstead, it
+mattered little, few vessels touching at the port. While at this place,
+there was an alarm of an attack from an English man-of-war that was seen
+in the offing, and priests enough turned out to defend an ordinary town.</p>
+
+<p>We got about half our freight at this little village, and then came down
+as low as Almeria, an old Moorish town, just below Cape de Gatte, for the
+remainder. Here we lay several weeks, finishing stowing our cargo. I went
+ashore almost every day to market, and had an opportunity of seeing
+something of the Spaniards. Our ship lay a good distance off, and we
+landed at a quarantine station, half a mile, at least, from the
+water-gate, to which we were compelled to walk along the beach.</p>
+
+<p>One of my journeys to the town produced a little adventure. The captain
+had ordered Cooper to boil some pitch at the galley. By some accident, the
+pot was capsized, and the ship came near being burned. A fresh pot was now
+provided, and Cooper and Dan McCoy were sent ashore, at the station, with
+orders to boil down pitch on the land. There was no wharf, and it was
+always necessary to get ashore through a surf. The bay is merely an elbow,
+half the winds blowing in from the open sea. Sometimes, therefore, landing
+is ticklish work and requires much skill. I went ashore with the pitch,
+and proceeded into the town on my errands, whilst the two lads lighted
+their fire and began to boil down. When all was ready, it was seen there
+was a good deal of swell, and that the breakers looked squally. The
+orders, however, were to go off, on such occasions, and not to wait, as
+delay generally made matters worse. We got into the boat, accordingly, and
+shoved off. For a minute, or more, things went well enough, when a breaker
+took the bows of the jolly-boat, lifted her nearly on end, and turned her
+keel uppermost. One scarcely knows how he gets out of such a scrape. We
+all came ashore, however, heels over head, people, pot, boat, and oars.
+The experiment was renewed, less the pitch and a pair of new shoes of
+mine, and it met with exactly the same result. On a third effort, the boat
+got through the surf and we succeeded in reaching the ship. These are the
+sorts of scenes that harden lads, and make them fond of risks. I could not
+swim a stroke, and certainly would have been drowned had not the
+Mediterranean cast me ashore, as if disdaining to take a life of so little
+value to anybody but myself.</p>
+
+<p>After lying several weeks at Almeria, the ship got under way for England
+again. We had fresh westerly gales, and beat to and fro, between Europe
+and Africa, for some time, when we got a Levanter that shoved us out into
+the Atlantic at a furious rate. In the Straits we passed a squadron of
+Portuguese frigates, that was cruising against the Algerines. It was the
+practice of these ships to lie at the Rock until it blew strong enough
+from the eastward to carry vessels through the Gut, when they weighed and
+kept in the offing until the wind shifted. This was blockading the
+Atlantic against their enemies, and the Mediterranean against their
+own ships.</p>
+
+<p>We had a long passage and were short of salt provisions. Falling in with
+an American in the Bay of Biscay, we got a barrel of beef which lasted us
+in. When near the chops of the channel, with a light southerly wind, we
+made a sail in our wake, that came up with us hand over hand. She went
+nearly two feet to our one, the barilla pressing the Sterling down into
+the water, and making her very dull, more especially in light airs. When
+the stranger got near enough, we saw that he was pumping, the water
+running out of his scuppers in a constant stream. He was several hours in
+sight, the whole time pumping. This ship passed within a cable's-length of
+us, without taking any more notice of us than if we had been a mile-stone.
+She was an English two-decker, and we could distinguish the features of
+her men, as they stood in the waist, apparently taking breath after their
+trial at the pumps. She dropped a hawse-bucket, and we picked it up, when
+she was about half a mile ahead of us. It had the broad-arrow on it, and a
+custom-house officer seeing it, some time after, was disposed to seize it
+as a prize.</p>
+
+<p>We never knew the name of this ship, but there was something proud and
+stately in her manner of passing us, in her distress, without so much as a
+hail. It is true, we could have done her no good, and her object,
+doubtless, was to get into dock as soon as possible. Some thought she had
+been in action, and was going home to repair damages that could not be
+remedied at sea.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after this vessel was seen, we had proof how difficult it is to judge
+of a ship's size at sea. A vessel was made ahead, standing directly for
+us. Mr. Irish soon pronounced her a sloop of war. Half an hour later she
+grew into a frigate, but when she came abeam she showed three tiers of
+ports, being a ninety. This ship also passed without deigning to take any
+notice of us.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter III.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>We made the Land's End in fine weather, and with a fair wind. Instead of
+keeping up channel, however, our ship hauled in for the land. Cooper was
+at the helm, and the captain asked him if he knew of any one on board who
+had ever been into Falmouth. He was told that Philadelphia Bill had been
+pointing out the different head-lands on the forecastle, and that, by his
+own account, he had sailed a long time out of the port. This Bill was a
+man of fifty, steady, trust-worthy, quiet, and respected by every man in
+the ship. He had taken a great liking to Cooper, whom he used to teach how
+to knot and splice, and other niceties of the calling, and Cooper often
+took him ashore with him, and amused him with historical anecdotes of the
+different places we visited. In short, the intimacy between them was as
+great as well could be, seeing the difference in their educations and
+ages. But, even to Cooper, Bill always called himself a Philadelphian. In
+appearance, indeed, he resembled one of those whom we call Yankees, in
+America, more than anything else.</p>
+
+<p>Bill was now sent for and questioned. He seemed uneasy, but admitted he
+could take the ship into Falmouth. There was nothing in the way, but a
+rock abreast Pendennis Castle, but it was easy to give that a berth. We
+now learned that the captain had made up his mind to go into this port and
+ride out the quarantine to which all Mediterranean vessels were subject.
+Bill took us in very quietly, and the ship was ordered up a few miles
+above the town, to a bay where vessels rode out their quarantine. The next
+day a doctor's boat came alongside, and we were ordered to show ourselves,
+and flourish our limbs, in order to make it evident we were alive and
+kicking. There were four men in the boat, and, as it turned out, every one
+of them recognised Bill, who was born within a few miles of the very spot
+where the ship lay, and had a wife then living a great deal nearer to him
+than he desired. It was this wife--there happening to be too much of
+her--that had driven the poor fellow to America, twenty years before, and
+which rendered him unwilling to live in his native country. By private
+means, Bill managed to have some communication with the men in the boat,
+and got their promises not to betray him. This was done by signs
+altogether, speaking being quite out of the question.</p>
+
+<p>We were near, or quite, a fortnight in quarantine; after which the ship
+dropped down abreast of the town. This was of a Saturday, and Sunday, a
+portion of the crew were permitted to go ashore. Bill was of the number,
+and when he returned he admitted that he had been so much excited at
+finding himself in the place, that he had been a little indiscreet. That
+night he was very uncomfortable, but nothing occurred to molest any of us.
+The next morning all seemed right, and Bill began to be himself again;
+often wishing, however, that the anchor was aweigh, and the ship turning
+out of the harbour. We soon got at work, and began to work down to the
+mouth of the haven, with a light breeze. The moment we were clear of the
+points, or head-lands, we could make a fair wind of it up channel. The ship
+was in stays, pretty well down, tinder Pendennis, and the order had been
+given to swing the head yards. Bill and Cooper were pulling together at
+the fore-top-sail brace, when the report of a musket was heard quite near
+the ship. Bill let go the brace, turned as white as a sheet, and
+exclaimed, "I'm gone!" At first, the men near him thought he was shot, but
+a gesture towards the boat which had fired, explained his meaning. The
+order was given to belay the head braces, and we waited the result
+in silence.</p>
+
+<p>The press-gang was soon on board us, and its officer asked to have the
+crew mustered. This humiliating order was obeyed, and all hands of us were
+called aft. The officer seemed easily satisfied, until he came to Bill.
+"What countryman are <i>you?</i>" he asked. "An American--a Philadelphian,"
+answered Bill. "You are an Englishman." "No, sir; I was born--" "Over
+here, across the bay," interrupted the officer, with a cool smile, "where
+your dear wife is at this moment. Your name is ______ ______, and you are
+well known in Falmouth. Get your clothes, and be ready to go in the boat."</p>
+
+<p>This settled the matter. Captain Johnston paid Bill his wages, his chest
+was lowered into the boat, and the poor fellow took an affectionate leave
+of his shipmates. He told those around him that his fate was sealed. He
+was too old to outlive a war that appeared to have no end, and they would
+never trust <i>him</i> on shore. "My foot will never touch the land again," he
+said to Cooper, as he squeezed his young friend's hand, "and I am to live
+and die, with a ship for my prison."</p>
+
+<p>The loss of poor Bill made us all sad; but there was no remedy. We got
+into the offing, and squared away for the river again. When we reached
+London, the ship discharged down at Limehouse, where she lay in a tier of
+Americans for some time. We then took in a little ballast, and went up
+opposite to the dock gates once more. We next docked and cleaned the ship,
+on the Deptford side, and then hauled into the wet-dock in which we had
+discharged our flour.</p>
+
+<p>Here the ship lay part of May, all of June, and most of July, taking in
+freight for Philadelphia, as it offered. This gave our people a good deal
+of spare time, and we were allowed to go ashore whenever we were not
+wanted. Cooper now took me in tow, and many a drift I had with him and Dan
+McCoy up to St. Paul's, the parks, palaces, and the Abbey. A little
+accident that happened about this time, attached me to Cooper more than
+common, and made me more desirous than ever to cruise in his company.</p>
+
+<p>I was alone, on deck, one Sunday, when I saw a little dog running about on
+board a vessel that lay outside of us. Around the neck of this animal,
+some one has fastened a sixpence, by a bit of riband rove through a hole.
+I thought this sixpence might be made better use of, in purchasing some
+cherries, for which I had a strong longing, and I gave chase. In
+attempting to return to our own ship, with the dog, I fell into the water,
+between the two vessels. I could not swim a stroke; and I sang out,
+lustily, for help. As good luck would have it, Cooper came on board at
+that precise instant; and, hearing my outcry, he sprang down between the
+ships, and rescued me from drowning. I thought I was gone; and my
+condition made an impression on me that never will be lost. Had not Cooper
+accidentally appeared, just as he did, Ned Myers's yarn would have ended
+with this paragraph. I ought to add, that the sixpence got clear, the dog
+swimming away with it.</p>
+
+<p>I had another escape from drowning, while we lay in the docks, having
+fallen overboard from the jolly-boat, while making an attempt at sculling.
+I forget, now, how I was saved; but then I had the boat and the oar to
+hold on to. In the end, it will be seen by what a terrific lesson I
+finally learned to swim.</p>
+
+<p>One Sunday we were drifting up around the palace; and then it was that I
+told Cooper that the Duke of Kent was my god-father. He tried to persuade
+me to make a call; saying I could do no less than pay this respect to the
+prince. I had half a mind to try my hand at a visit; but felt too shy, and
+too much afraid. Had I done as Cooper so strongly urged me to do, one
+cannot say what might have been the consequences, or what change might
+have been brought about in my fortunes.[4]</p>
+
+<p>One day Mr. Irish was in high glee, having received a message from Captain
+Johnston, to inform him that the latter was pressed! The captain used to
+dress in a blue long-tog, drab-breeches and top-boots, when he went
+ashore. "He thought he could pass for a gentleman from the country," said
+Mr. Irish, laughing, "but them press-gang chaps smelt the tar in his very
+boots!" Cooper was sent to the rendezvous, with the captain's desk and
+papers, and the latter was liberated. We all liked the captain, who was
+kind and considerate in his treatment of all hands; but it was fine fun
+for us to have "the old fellow" pressed--"<i>old fellow"</i> of six or
+eight-and-twenty, as he was then.</p>
+
+<p>About the last of July, we left London, bound home. Our crew had again
+undergone some changes. We shipped a second mate, a New-England man. Jim
+Russel left us. We had lost Bill; and, another Bill, a dull Irish lad, who
+had gone to Spain, quitted us also. Our crew consisted of only Spanish
+Joe; Big Dan; Little Dan; Stephen, the Kennebunk man; Cooper; a Swede,
+shipped in London; a man whose name I have forgotten; and a young man who
+passed by the name of Davis, but who was, in truth,--------, a son of the
+pilot who had brought us in, and taken us out, each time we passed up or
+down the river. This Davis had sailed in a coaster belonging to his
+father, and had got pressed in Sir Home Popham's South-American squadron.
+They made him a midshipman; but, disliking the sea, he was determined to
+go to America. We had to smuggle him out of the country, on account of the
+press-gang; he making his appearance on board us, suddenly, one night, in
+the river.</p>
+
+<p>The Sterling was short-handed this passage, mustering but four hands in a
+watch. Notwithstanding, we often reefed in the watch, though Cooper and
+Little Dan were both scarcely more than boys. Our mates used to go aloft,
+and both were active, powerful men. The cook, too, was a famous fellow at
+a drag. In these delicate times, when two or three days of watch and watch
+knock up a set of young men, one looks back with pride to a passage like
+this, when fourteen men and boys--four of the latter--brought a good sized
+ship across the ocean, reefing in the watch, weathering many a gale, and
+thinking nothing of it. I presume half our people, on a pinch, could have
+brought the Sterling in. One of the boys I have mentioned was named John
+Pugh, a little fellow the captain had taken as an apprentice in London,
+and who was now at sea for the first time in his life.</p>
+
+<p>We had a long passage. Every inch of the way to the Downs was tide-work.
+Here we lay several days, waiting far a wind. It blew fresh from the
+southwest-half of that summer, and the captain was not willing to go out
+with a foul wind. We were surrounded with vessels of war, most of the
+Channel Fleet being at anchor around us. This made a gay scene, and we had
+plenty of music, and plenty of saluting. One day all hands turned-to
+together, and fired starboard and larboard, until we could see nothing but
+a few mast-heads. What it all meant I never heard, but it made a famous
+smoke, and a tremendous noise.</p>
+
+<p>A frigate came in, and anchored just ahead of us. She lowered a boat, and
+sent a reefer alongside to inform us that she was His Majesty's ship----;
+that she had lost all her anchors but the stream, and she might strike
+adrift, and he advised us to get out of her way. The captain held on that
+day, however, but next morning she came into us, sure enough. The ships
+did not get clear without some trouble, and we thought it wisest to shift
+our berth. Once aweigh, the captain thought it best to turn out of the
+Downs, which we did, working through the Straits, and anchoring under
+Dungeness, as soon as the flood made. Here we lay until near sunset, when
+we got under way to try our hand upon the ebb. I believe the skipper had
+made up his mind to tide it down to the Land's End, rather than remain
+idle any longer. There was a sloop of war lying in-shore of us, a mile or
+so, and just as we stretched out from under the land, she began to
+telegraph with a signal station ashore. Soon after, she weighed, and came
+out, also. In the middle watch we passed this ship, on opposite tacks, and
+learned that an embargo had been laid, and that we had only saved our
+distance by some ten or fifteen minutes! This embargo was to prevent the
+intelligence of the Copenhagen expedition from reaching the Danes. That
+very day, we passed a convoy of transports, carrying a brigade from
+Pendennis Castle to Yarmouth, in order to join the main fleet. A gun-brig
+brought us to, and came near pressing the Swede, under the pretence that
+being allies of his king, England had a right to his services. Had not the
+man been as obstinate as a bull, and positively refused to go, I do
+believe we should have lost him. He was ordered into the boat at least
+half-a-dozen times, but swore he would not budge. Cooper had a little row
+with this boarding officer, but was silenced by the captain.</p>
+
+<p>After the news received from the sloop of war, it may be supposed we did
+not venture to anchor anywhere on English ground. Keeping the channel, we
+passed the Isle of Wight several times, losing on the flood, the distance
+made on the ebb. At length we got a slant and fetched out into the
+Atlantic, heading well to the southward, however. Our passage was long,
+even after we got clear, the winds carrying us down as low as Corvo, which
+island we made, and then taking us well north again. We had one very heavy
+blow that forced us to scud, the Sterling being one of the wettest ships
+that ever floated, when heading up to the sea.</p>
+
+<p>When near the American coast, we spoke an English brig that gave us an
+account of the affair between the Leopard and the Chesapeake, though he
+made his own countrymen come out second-best. Bitter were the revilings of
+Mr. Irish when the pilot told us the real state of the case. As was usual
+with this ship's luck, we tided it up the bay and river, and got safe
+alongside of the wharf at Philadelphia, at last. Here our crew was broken
+up, of course, and, with the exception of Jack Pugh, my brother
+apprentice, and Cooper, I never saw a single soul of them afterwards. Most
+of them went on to New York, and were swallowed up in the great vortex of
+seamen. Mr. Irish, I heard, died the next voyage he made, chief mate of an
+Indiaman. He was a prime fellow, and fit to command a ship.</p>
+
+<p>Such was my first voyage at sea, for I count the passage round from
+Halifax as nothing. I had been kept in the cabin, it is true, but our work
+had been of the most active kind. The Sterling must have brought up, and
+been got under way, between fifty and a hundred times; and as for tacking,
+waring, chappelling round, and box-hauling, we had so much of it by the
+channel pilots, that the old barky scarce knew which end was going
+foremost. In that day, a ship did not get from the Forelands up to London
+without some trouble, and great was our envy of the large blocks and light
+cordage of the colliers, which made such easy work for their men. We
+singled much of our rigging, the second voyage up the river, ourselves,
+and it was a great relief to the people. A set of grass foresheets, too,
+that we bought in Spain, got to be great favourites, though, in the end,
+they cost the ship the life of a very valuable man.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Johnston now determined to send me to Wiscasset, that I might go
+to school. A Wiscasset schooner, called the Clarissa, had come into
+Philadelphia, with freight from the West Indies, and she was about to sail
+for home in ballast. I was put on board as a passenger, and we sailed
+about a week after the ship got in from London. Jack Pugh staid behind,
+the Sterling being about to load for Ireland. On board the Clarissa I made
+the acquaintance of a Philadelphian born, who was an apprentice to the
+master of the schooner, of the name of Jack Mallet. He was a little older
+than myself, and we soon became intimate, and, in time, were fated to see
+many strange things in company.</p>
+
+<p>The Clarissa went, by the Vineyard Sound and the Shoals, into Boston. Here
+she landed a few crates, and then sailed for Wiscasset, where we arrived
+after a pretty long passage. I was kindly received by the mother and
+family of Captain Johnston, and immediately sent to school. Shortly after,
+we heard of the embargo, and, the Clarissa being laid up, Jack Mallet
+became one of my school-mates. We soon learned that the Sterling had not
+been able to get out, and, ere long, Jack Pugh joined our party. A little
+later, Captain Johnston arrived, to go into the commercial quarantine with
+the rest of us.</p>
+
+<p>This was the long embargo, as sailors called it, and it did not terminate
+until Erskine's arrangement was made, in 1809. All this time I remained in
+Wiscasset, at school, well treated, and, if anything, too much indulged.
+Captain Johnston remained at home all this time, also, and, having nothing
+else to do, he set about looking out for a wife. We had, at school, Jack
+Pugh, Jack Mallet, and Bill Swett, the latter being a lad a little older
+than myself, and a nephew of the captain's. I was now sixteen, and had
+nearly gotten my growth.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the embargo was removed, Captain Johnston, accompanied by
+Swett, started for Philadelphia, to bring the ship round to New York. From
+that place he intended to sail for Liverpool, where Jack Pugh and myself
+were to join him, sailing in a ship called the Columbia. This plan was
+changed, however, and we were sent round by sea to join the Sterling
+again, in the port where I had first found her.</p>
+
+<p>As this was near three years after I had quitted the Hel zer's so
+unceremoniously, I went to look for them. Their old neighbours told me
+they had been gone to Martinique, about a twelvemonth. This was the last
+intelligence I ever heard of them. Bill Swett was now put into the cabin,
+and Jack Pugh and myself were sent regularly to duty before the mast. We
+lived in the steerage, and had cabin fare; but, otherwise, had the
+fortunes of foremast Jacks. Our freight was wheat in the lower hold, flour
+betwixt decks, and cotton on deck. The ship was very deep. Our crew was
+good, but both our mates were foreigners.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing occurred until we got near soundings, when it came on to blow very
+heavy from the southward and westward. The ship was running under a
+close-reefed main-topsail and foresail, with a tremendous sea on. Just as
+night set in, one Harry, a Prussian, came on deck from his supper to
+relieve the wheel, and, fetching a lurch as he went aft, he brought up
+against the launch, and thence down against our grass fore-sheet, which
+had been so great a favourite in the London passages. This rope had been
+stretched above the deck load for a ridge rope, but, being rotten, it gave
+way when the poor Prussian struck it, and he went into the sea. We could
+do no more than throw him the sky-light, which was large; but the ship
+went foaming ahead, leaving the poor fellow to his fate, in the midst of
+the hissing waters. Some of our people thought they saw poor Harry on the
+sky-light, but this could not have made much difference in such a raging
+sea. It was impossible to round-to, and as for a boat's living, it was out
+of the question. This was the first man I saw lost at sea, and,
+notwithstanding the severity of the gale, and the danger of the ship
+herself, the fate of this excellent man made us all melancholy. The
+captain felt it bitterly, as was evident from his manner. Still, the thing
+was unavoidable.</p>
+
+<p>We had begun to shorten sail early in the afternoon, and Harry was lost in
+the first dog-watch. A little later the larboard fore-sheet went, and the
+sail was split. All hands were called, and the rags were rolled up, and
+the gaskets passed. The ship now laboured so awfully that she began to
+leak. The swell was so high that we did not dare to come by the wind, and
+the seas would come in, just about the main chains, meet in board and
+travel out over her bows in a way to threaten everything that could be
+moved. We lads were lashed at the pumps, and ordered to keep at work; and
+to make matters worse, the wheat began to work its way into the pump-well.
+While things were in this state, the main-top-sail split, leaving the ship
+without a rag of sail on her.</p>
+
+<p>The Sterling loved to be under water, even in moderate weather. Many a
+time have I seen her send the water aft, into the quarter-deck scuppers,
+and, as for diving, no loon was quicker than she. Now, that she was deep
+and was rolling her deck-load to the water, it was time to think of
+lightening her. The cotton was thrown overboard as fast as we could, and
+what the men could not start the seas did. After a while we eased the ship
+sensibly, and it was well we did; the wheat choking the pumps so often,
+that we had little opportunity for getting out the water.</p>
+
+<p>I do not now recollect at what hour of this fearful night, Captain
+Johnston shouted out to us all to "look out"--and "hold on." The ship was
+broaching-to. Fortunately she did this at a lucky moment, and, always
+lying-to well, though wet, we made much better weather on deck. The
+mizzen-staysail was now set to keep her from falling off into the troughs
+of the sea. Still the wind blew as hard as ever. First one sail, then
+another, got loose, and a hard time we had to keep the canvass to the
+yards. Then the fore-top-mast went, with a heavy lurch, and soon after the
+main, carrying with it the mizzen-top-gallant-mast. We owed this to the
+embargo, in my judgment, the ship's rigging having got damaged lying dry
+so long. We were all night clearing the wreck, and the men who used the
+hatchets, told us that the wind would cant their tools so violently that
+they sometimes struck on the eyes, instead of the edge. The gale fairly
+seemed like a hard substance.</p>
+
+<p>We passed a fearful night, working at the pumps, and endeavouring to take
+care of the ship. Next morning it moderated a little, and the vessel was
+got before the wind, which was perfectly fair. She could carry but little
+sail; though we got up top-gallant-masts for top-masts, as soon as the sea
+would permit. About four, I saw the land myself and pointed it out to the
+mate. It was Cape Clear, and we were heading for it as straight as we
+could go. We hauled up to clear it, and ran into the Irish channel. A
+large fleet of vessels had gathered in and near the chops of the channel,
+in readiness to run into Liverpool by a particular day that had been named
+in the law opening the trade, and great had been the destruction among
+them. I do not remember the number of the ships we saw, but there must
+have been more than a hundred. It was afterwards reported, that near fifty
+vessels were wrecked on the Irish coast. Almost every craft we fell in
+with was more or less dismasted, and one vessel, a ship called the
+Liberty, was reported to have gone down, with every soul on board her.</p>
+
+<p>The weather becoming moderate, all hands of us went into Liverpool, the
+best way we could. The Sterling had good luck in getting up, though we lay
+some time in the river before we were able to get into dock. When we got
+out the cargo, we found it much damaged, particularly the wheat. The last
+was so hot that we could not bear our feet among it. We got it all out in
+a few days, when we went into a dry dock, and repaired.</p>
+
+<p>This visit to Liverpool scattered our crew as if it had been so much dust
+in a squall. Most of our men were pressed, and those that were not, ran.
+But one man, us boys excepted, stuck by the ship. The chief mate--a
+foreigner, though of what country I never could discover--lived at a house
+kept by a handsome landlady. To oblige this lady, he ordered William Swett
+and myself to carry a bucket-full of salt, each, up to her house. The salt
+came out of the harness-cask, and we took it ashore openly, but we were
+stopped on the quay by a custom-house officer, who threatened to seize the
+ship. Such was the penalty for landing two buckets of Liverpool salt at
+Liverpool!</p>
+
+<p>Captain Johnston had the matter explained, and he discharged the mate.
+Next day, the discharged man and the second mate were pressed. We got the
+last, who was a Swede, clear; and the chief mate, in the end, made his
+escape, and found his way back to New York. Among those impressed, was
+Jack Pugh, who having been bound in London, we did not dare show his
+papers. The captain tried hard to get the boy clear, but without success.
+I never saw poor Jack after this; though I learn he ran from the
+market-boat of the guard-ship, made his way back to Wiscasset, where he
+stayed some time, then shipped, and was lost at sea.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter IV.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>At length we got a new crew, and sailed for home. We had several
+passengers on board, masters of American ships who could go back
+themselves, but not carry their vessels with them, on account of certain
+liberties the last had taken with the laws. These persons were called
+"embargo captains." One of them, a Captain B----, kept Captain Johnston's
+watch, and got so much into his confidence and favour, that he gave him
+the vessel in the end. The passage home was stormy and long, but offered
+nothing remarkable. A non-importation law had been passed during our
+absence, and our ship was seized in New York in consequence of having a
+cargo of English salt. We had taken the precaution, however, to have the
+salt cleared in Liverpool, and put afloat before the day named in the law,
+and got clear after a detention of two months. Salt rose so much in the
+interval, that the seizure turned out to be a good thing for the owners.</p>
+
+<p>While the ship was lying off the Battery, on her return from this voyage,
+and before she had hauled in, a boat came alongside with a young man in
+her in naval uniform. This was Cooper, who, in pulling across to go aboard
+his own vessel, had recognised our mast-heads, and now came to look at us.
+This was the last time I met him, until the year 1843; or, for
+thirty-four years.</p>
+
+<p>We now loaded with naval stores, and cleared again for Liverpool. Bill
+Swett did not make this voyage with us, the cook acting as steward. We had
+good passages out and home, experiencing no detention or accidents. In the
+spring of 1810, Captain Johnston gave the ship to Captain B----, who
+carried us to Liverpool for the third time. Nothing took place this
+voyage either, worthy of being mentioned, the ship getting back in good
+season. We now took in a cargo of staves for Limerick. Off the Hook we
+were brought-to by the Indian sloop-of-war, one of the Halifax cruisers, a
+squadron in company. Several vessels were coming out at the same time, and
+among them were several of the clippers in the French trade. The Amiable
+Matilda and the Colt went to windward of the Englishmen as if the last had
+been at anchor; but the Tameahmeah, when nearest to the English, got her
+yards locked in stays, and was captured. We saw all this, and felt, as was
+natural to men who beheld such things enacted at the mouth of their own
+port. Our passages both ways were pleasant, and nothing occurred out of
+the usual course. I fell in with a press-gang, however, in Limerick, which
+would have nabbed me, but for a party of Irishmen, who showed fight and
+frightened the fellows so much that I got clear. Once before, I had been
+in the hands of these vermin in Liverpool, but Captain Johnston had got me
+clear by means of my indentures. I was acting as second-mate this voyage.</p>
+
+<p>On our return home, the ship was ordered to Charleston to get a cargo of
+yellow pine, under a contract. Captain B---- was still in command, my old
+master, Captain Johnston, being then at home, occupied in building a new
+ship. I never saw this kind-hearted and indulgent seaman until the year
+1842, when I made a journey to Wiscasset expressly to see him. Captain
+B---- and myself were never very good friends, and I was getting to be
+impatient of his authority; but I still stuck by the ship.</p>
+
+<p>We had an ordinary run to Charleston, and began to prepare for the
+reception of our cargo. At this time, there were two French privateers on
+the southern coast, that did a great deal of damage to our trade. One went
+into Savannah, and got burned, for her pains; and the other came into
+Charleston, and narrowly escaped the same fate. A mob collected--made a
+fire-raft, and came alongside of our ship, demanding some tar. To own the
+truth, though then clothed with all the dignity of a "Dicky," [5] I liked
+the fun, and offered no resistance. Bill Swett had come in, in a ship
+called the United States; and he was on board the Sterling, at the time,
+on a visit to me. We two, off hatches, and whipped a barrel of tar on
+deck; which we turned over to the raftsmen, with our hearty good wishes
+for their success. All this was, legally, very wrong; but, I still think,
+it was not so very far from being morally just; at least, as regards the
+privateersmen. The attempt failed, however, and those implicated were
+blamed a great deal more than they would have been, had they burned up the
+Frenchmen's eye-bolts. It is bad to fail, in a legal undertaking; but
+success is indispensable for forgiveness, to one that is illegal.</p>
+
+<p>That night, Captain B---- and the chief mate, came down upon me, like a
+gust, for having parted with the tar. They concluded their lecture, by
+threatening to work me up. Bill Swett was by, and he got his share of the
+dose. When we were left to ourselves, we held a council of war, about
+future proceedings. Our crew had run, to a man, the cook excepted, as
+usually happens, in Charleston; and we brought in the cook, as a
+counsellor. This man told me, that he had overheard the captain and mate
+laying a plan to give me a threshing, as soon as I had turned in. Bill,
+now, frankly proposed that I should run, as well as himself; for he had
+already left his ship; and our plan was soon laid. Bill went ashore, and
+brought a boat down under the bows of the ship, and I passed my dunnage
+into her, by going through the forecastle; I then left the Sterling, for
+ever, never putting my foot on board of her again. I saw her, once or
+twice, afterwards, at a distance, and she always looked like a sort of
+home to me. She was subsequently lost, on the eastern coast, Captain
+Johnston still owning her, and being actually on board her, though only as
+a passenger. I had been out in her twelve times, from country to country,
+besides several short runs, from port to port. She always seemed natural
+to me; and I had got to know every timber and stick about her. I felt
+more, in quitting this ship, than I did in quitting Halifax. This
+desertion was the third great error of my life. The first was, quitting
+those with whom I had been left by my father; the second, abandoning my
+good friends, the Heizers; and the third, leaving the Sterling. Had
+Captain Johnston been in the ship, I never should have dreamed of running.
+He was always kind to me, and if he failed in justice, it was on the side
+of indulgence. Had I continued with him, I make no doubt, my career would
+have been very different from what it has since turned out to be; and, I
+fear, I must refer one of the very bad habits, that afterwards marred my
+fortunes, that of drinking too much, to this act. Still, it will be
+remembered, I was only nineteen, loved adventure, and detested
+Captain B----.</p>
+
+<p>After this exploit, Swett and I kept housed for a week. He then got into a
+ship called the President, and I into another called the Tontine, and both
+sailed for New York, where we arrived within a few days of each other. We
+now shipped together in a vessel called the Jane, bound to Limerick. This
+was near the close of the year 1811. Our passage out was tremendously bad,
+and we met with some serious accidents to our people. We were not far from
+the mouth of the Irish channel when the ship broached-to, in scudding
+under the foresail and main-top-sail, Bill Swett being at the helm. The
+watch below ran on deck and hauled up the foresail, without orders, to
+prevent the ship from going down stern foremost, the yards being square.
+As the ship came-to, she took a sea in on her starboard side, which drove
+poor Bill to leeward, under some water-casks and boards, beating in two of
+his ribs. Both mates were injured also, and were off duty in consequence
+for several weeks. The plank sheer was ripped off the vessel from aft to
+amidships, as neatly as if it had been done by the carpenters. We could
+look down among the timbers the same as if the vessel were on the stocks.</p>
+
+<p>The men braced up the after-yards, and then the ship was lying-to under a
+close-reefed main-top-sail. After this, she did well enough. We now passed
+the hurt below, and got tarred canvass over the timber-heads, and managed
+to keep out the water. Next day we made sail for our port. It blowing too
+fresh to get a pilot, we ran into a roadstead at the mouth of the Shannon,
+and anchored with both bowers. We rode out the gale, and then went up to
+Limerick. Here all hands got well, and returned to duty. In due time, we
+sailed for home in ballast. As we came into the Hook, we were hailed by a
+gun-boat, and heard of the "Little Embargo."</p>
+
+<p>The question now came up seriously between Bill and myself, what was best
+to be done. I was for going to Wiscasset, like two prodigals, own our
+fault, and endeavour to amend. Bill thought otherwise. Now we were cast
+ashore, without employment, he thought it more manly to try and shift for
+ourselves. He had an uncle who was a captain of artillery, and who was
+then stationed on Governor's Island, and we took him into our councils.
+This gentleman treated us kindly, and kept us with him on the island for
+two days. Finding his nephew bent on doing something for himself, he gave
+us a letter to Lt. Trenchard, of the navy, by whom we were both shipped
+for the service. Swett got a master's-mate's berth, and I was offered the
+same, but felt too much afraid of myself to accept it. I entered the navy,
+then, for the first time, as a common Jack.</p>
+
+<p>This was a very short time before war was declared, and a large flotilla
+of gun-boats was getting ready for the New York station. Bill was put on
+board of No. 112, and I was ordered to No. 107, Sailing-Master Costigan.
+Soon after, we were all employed in fitting the Essex for sea; and while
+thus occupied the Declaration of War actually arrived. On this occasion I
+got drunk, for the second time in my life. A quantity of whiskey was
+started into a tub, and all hands drank to the success of the conflict. A
+little upset me, then, nor would I have drunk anything, but for the
+persuasions of some of my Wiscasset acquaintances, of whom there were
+several in the ship. I advise all young men, who feel no desire to drink,
+to follow their own propensities, and not to yield themselves up, body and
+soul, to the thoughtless persuasions of others. There is no real
+good-fellowship in swilling rum and whiskey; but the taste, once acquired,
+is hard to cure. I never drank much, as to quantity, but a little filled
+me with the love of mischief, and that little served to press me down for
+all the more valuable years of my life; valuable, as to the advancement of
+my worldly interests, though I can scarcely say I began really to live, as
+a creature of God's should live, to honour his name and serve his ends,
+until the year 1839.</p>
+
+<p>After the Essex was fitted out, the flotilla cruised in the Sound, and was
+kept generally on the look-out, about the waters of New York. Towards the
+end of the season, our boat, with several others, was lying abreast of
+the Yard, when orders came off to meet the Yard Commander, Captain
+Chauncey, on the wharf. Here, this officer addressed us, and said he was
+about to proceed to Lake Ontario, to take command, and asking who would
+volunteer to go with him. This was agreeable news to us, for we hated the
+gun-boats, and would go anywhere to be quit of them. Every man and boy
+volunteered. We got twenty-four hours' liberty, with a few dollars in
+money, and when this scrape was over every man returned, and we embarked
+in a sloop for Albany. Our draft contained near 140 men, and was commanded
+by Mr. Mix, then a sailing-master, but who died a commander a few years
+since. Messrs. Osgood and Mallaby were also with us, and two midshipmen,
+viz: Messrs. Sands and Livingston. The former of these young gentlemen is
+now a commander, but I do not know what became of Mr. Livingston. We had
+also two master's-mates, Messrs. Bogardus and Emory.</p>
+
+<p>On reaching Albany, we paid a visit to the Governor, gave him three
+cheers, got some good cheer in return, and were all stowed in wagons, a
+mess in each, before his door. We now took to our land tacks, and a merry
+time we had of it. Our first day's run was to a place called Schenectady,
+and here the officers found an empty house, and berthed us all together,
+fastening the doors. This did not suit our notions of a land cruise, and
+we began to grumble. There was a regular hard horse of a boatswain's-mate
+with us, of the name of McNally. This man had been in the service a long
+time, and was a thorough man-of-war's man. Fie had collected twenty-four
+of us, whom he called his 'disciples,' and shamed am I to say, I was one.
+McNally called all hands on the upper deck, as he called it, that is to
+say, in the garret, and made us a speech. He said this was no way to treat
+volunteers, and proposed that we should "unship the awning." We rigged
+pries, and, first singing out, "stand from under," hove one half of the
+roof into the street, and the other into the garden. We then gave three
+cheers at our success. The officers now came down, and gave us a lecture.
+But we made out so good a case, that they let us run till morning, when
+every soul was back and mustered in the wagons. In this way we went
+through the country, cracking our jokes, laughing, and noting all
+oddities that crossed our course. I believe we were ten or twelve days
+working our way through the state, to Oswego. At Onondago Lake we got into
+boats, and did better than in the wagons. At a village on the lake shore,
+the people were very bitter against us, and we had some difficulty. The
+word went among us they were Scotch, from the Canadas, but of this I know
+nothing. We heard in the morning, however, that most of our officers were
+in limbo, and we crossed and marched up a hill, intending to burn, sink,
+and destroy, if they were not liberated. Mischief was prevented by the
+appearance of Mr. Mix, with the other gentlemen, and we pushed off without
+coming to blows.</p>
+
+<p>It came on to rain very hard, and we fetched up at a solitary house in the
+woods, and tried to get quarters. These were denied us, and we were told
+to shift for ourselves. This we did in a large barn, where we made good
+stowage until morning. In the night, we caught the owner coming about with
+a lantern to set fire to the barn, and we carried him down to a boat, and
+lashed him there until morning, letting the rain wash all the combustible
+matter out of him. That day we reached Oswego Falls, where a party of us
+were stationed some time, running boats over, and carrying stores across
+the portage.</p>
+
+<p>When everything reached Oswego, all hands turned to, to equip some lake
+craft that had been bought for the service. These were schooners, salt
+droggers, of about sixty or eighty tons. All we did at Oswego, however,
+was to load these vessels, some six or eight in all, and put to sea. I
+went off in one of the first, a vessel called the Fair American. Having no
+armaments, we sailed in the night, to avoid John Bull's cruisers, of which
+there were several out at the time. As we got in with some islands, at no
+great distance from Sackett's Harbour, we fell in with the Oneida's
+launch, which was always kept in the offing at night, rowing, or sailing,
+guard. Bill Swett was in her, and we then met for the first time on fresh
+water. I now learned that Jack Mallet was on the station, too, whom I had
+not fallen in with since we parted at Wiscasset, more than three years
+before. A fortnight later I found him, acting as boatswain of the Julia,
+Sailing-Master Trant, a craft I have every reason to remember as long as I
+shall live.</p>
+
+<p>The day after I reached the harbour, I was ordered on board the Scourge.
+This vessel was English-built, and had been captured before the war, and
+condemned, for violating the revenue laws, under the name of the Lord
+Nelson, by the Oneida 16, Lt. Com. Woolsey--the only cruiser we then had
+on the lake. This craft was unfit for her duty, but time pressed, and no
+better offered. Bulwarks had been raised on her, and she mounted eight
+sixes, in regular broadside. Her accommodations were bad enough, and she
+was so tender, that we could do little or nothing with her in a blow. It
+was often prognosticated that she would prove our coffin. Besides Mr.
+Osgood, who was put in command of this vessel, we had Mr. Bogardus, and
+Mr. Livingston, as officers. We must have had about forty-five souls on
+board, all told. We did not get this schooner out that season, however.</p>
+
+<p>The commodore arriving, and an expedition against Kingston being in the
+wind, a party of us volunteered from the Scourge, to go on board the
+Oneida. This was in November, rather a latish month for active service on
+those waters. The brig went out in company with the Conquest, Hamilton,
+Governor Tompkins, Port, Julia, and Growler, schooners. These last craft
+were all merchantmen, mostly without quarters, and scarcely fit for the
+duty on which they were employed. The Oneida was a warm little brig, of
+sixteen 24 lb. carronades, but as dull as a transport. She had been built
+to cross the bars of the American harbours, and would not travel
+to windward.</p>
+
+<p>We went off the False Ducks, where we made the Royal George, a ship the
+English had built expressly to overlay the Oneida, two or three years
+before, and which was big enough to eat us. Her officers, however, did not
+belong to the Royal Navy; and we made such a show of schooners, that,
+though she had herself a vessel or two in company, she did not choose to
+wait for us. We chased her into the Bay of Quint&eacute;, and there we lost her
+in the darkness. Next morning, however, we saw her at anchor in the
+channel that leads to Kingston. A general chase now commenced, and we ran
+down into the bay, and engaged the ship and batteries, as close as we
+could well get. The firing was sharp on both sides, and it lasted a great
+while. I was stationed at a gun, as her second captain, and was too busy
+to see much; but I know we kept our piece speaking as fast as we could,
+for a good bit. We drove the Royal George from a second anchorage, quite
+up to a berth abreast of the town; and it was said that her people
+actually deserted her, at one time. We gave her nothing but round-shot
+from our gun, and these we gave her with all our hearts. Whenever we
+noticed the shore, a stand of grape was added.</p>
+
+<p>I know nothing of the damage done the enemy. We had the best of it, so far
+as I could see; and I think, if the weather had not compelled us to haul
+off, something serious might have been done. As it was, we beat out with
+flying colours, and anchored a few miles from the light.</p>
+
+<p>These were the first shot I ever saw fired in anger. Our brig had one man
+killed and three wounded, and she was somewhat injured aloft. One shot
+came in not far from my gun, and scattered lots of cat-tails, breaking in
+the hammock-cloths. This was the nearest chance I ran, that day; and, on
+the whole, I think we escaped pretty well. On our return to the harbour,
+the ten Scourges who had volunteered for the cruise, returned to their own
+schooner. None of us were hurt, though all of us were half frozen, the
+water freezing as fast as it fell.</p>
+
+<p>Shortly after both sides went into winter quarters, and both sides
+commenced building. We launched a ship called the Madison, about this
+time, and we laid the keel of another, that was named the Pike. What John
+Bull was about is more than I can say, though the next season showed he
+had not been idle. The navigation did not absolutely close,
+notwithstanding, until December.</p>
+
+<p>Our vessels were moored about the harbour, and we were all frozen in, as a
+matter of course. Around each craft, however, a space was kept cut, to
+form a sort of ditch, in order to prevent being boarded. Parties were
+regularly stationed to defend the Madison, and, in the days, we worked at
+her rigging, and at that of the Pike, in gangs. Our larboard guns were
+landed, and placed in a block-house, while the starboard were kept
+mounted. My station was that of captain of one of the guns that remained.</p>
+
+<p>The winter lasted more than four months, and we made good times of it. We
+often went after wood, and occasionally we knocked over a deer. We had a
+target out on the lake, and this we practised on, making ourselves rather
+expert cannoneers. Now and then they rowsed us out on a false alarm, but I
+know of no serious attempt's being made by the enemy, to molest us.</p>
+
+<p>The lake was fit to navigate about the middle of April. Somewhere about
+the 20th[6] the soldiers began to embark, to the number of 1700 men. A
+company came on board the Scourge, and they filled us chock-a-block. It
+came on to blow, and we were obliged to keep these poor fellows, cramped
+as we were, most of the time on deck, exposed to rain and storm. On the
+25th we got out, rather a showy force altogether, though there was not
+much service in our small craft. We had a ship, a brig, and twelve
+schooners, fourteen sail in all. The next morning we were off Little York,
+having sailed with a fair wind. All hands anchored about a mile from the
+beach. I volunteered to go in a boat, to carry soldiers ashore. Each of us
+brought across the lake two of these boats in tow, but we had lost one of
+ours, dragging her after us in a staggering breeze. I got into the one
+that was left, and we put half our soldiers in her, and shoved off. We had
+little or no order in landing, each boat pulling as hard as she could. The
+English blazed away at us, concealed in a wood, and our men fired back
+again from the boat. I never was more disappointed in men, than I was in
+the soldiers. They were mostly tall, pale-looking Yankees, half dead with
+sickness and the bad weather--so mealy, indeed, that half of them could
+not take their grog, which, by this time, I had got to think a bad sign.
+As soon as they got near the enemy, however, they became wide awake,
+pointed out to each other where to aim, and many of them actually jumped
+into the water, in order to get the sooner ashore. No men could have
+behaved better, for I confess frankly I did not like the work at all. It
+is no fun to pull in under a sharp fire, with one's back to his enemy, and
+nothing but an oar to amuse himself with. The shot flew pretty thick, and
+two of our oars were split. This was all done with musketry, no heavy guns
+being used at this place. I landed twice in this way, but the danger was
+principally in the first affair. There was fighting up on the bank, but it
+gave us no trouble. Mr. Livingston commanded the boat.</p>
+
+<p>When we got back to the schooner, we found her lifting her anchors.
+Several of the smaller craft were now ordered up the bay, to open on the
+batteries nearer to the town. We were the third from the van, and we all
+anchored within canister range. We heard a magazine blow up, as we stood
+in, and this brought three cheers from us. We now had some sharp work with
+the batteries, keeping up a steady fire. The schooner ahead of us had to
+cut, and she shifted her berth outside of us. The leading schooner,
+however, held on. In the midst of it all, we heard cheers down the line,
+and presently we saw the commodore pulling in among us, in his gig. He
+came on board us, and we greeted him with three cheers. While he was on
+the quarter-deck, a hot shot struck the upper part of the after-port, cut
+all the boarding-pikes adrift from the main-boom, and wounded a man named
+Lemuel Bryant, who leaped from his quarters and fell at my feet. His
+clothes were all on fire when he fell, and, after putting them out, the
+commodore himself ordered me to pass him below. The old man spoke
+encouragingly to us, and a little thing took place that drew his attention
+to my crew. Two of the trucks of the gun we were fighting had been carried
+away, and I determined to shift over its opposite. My crew were five
+negroes, strapping fellows, and as strong as jackasses. The gun was called
+the Black Joke. Shoving the disabled gun out of the way, these chaps
+crossed the deck, unhooked the breechings and gun-tackles, raised the
+piece from the deck, and placed it in the vacant port. The commodore
+commended us, and called out, "that is quick work, my lads!" In less than
+three minutes, I am certain, we were playing on the enemy with the
+fresh gun.</p>
+
+<p>As for the old man, he pulled through the fire as coolly as if it were
+only a snow-balling scrape, though many a poor fellow lost the number of
+his mess in the boats that day. When he left us, we cheered him again. He
+had not left us long, before we heard an awful explosion on shore. Stones
+as big as my two fists fell on board of us, though nobody was hurt by
+them. We cheered, thinking some dire calamity had befallen the enemy. The
+firing ceased soon after this explosion, though one English gun held on,
+under the bank, for some little time.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter V.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>We did not know the cause of the last explosion, until after the firing
+ceased. I had seen an awful black cloud, and objects in the air that I
+took for men; but little did we imagine the explosion had cost us so dear.
+Our schooner lay at no great distance from the common landing, and no
+sooner were we certain of the success of the day, than Mr. Osgood ordered
+his boat's crew called away, and he landed. As I belonged to the boat, I
+had an early opportunity of entering the town.</p>
+
+<p>We found the place deserted. With the exception of our own men, I found
+but one living being in it. This was an old woman whom I discovered stowed
+away in a potatoe locker, in the government house. I saw tables set, and
+eggs in the cups, but no inhabitant. Our orders were of the most severe
+kind, not to plunder, and we did not touch a morsel of food even. The
+liquor, however, was too much for our poor natures, and a parcel of us had
+broke bulk in a better sort of grocery, when some officers came in and
+stove the casks. I made sail, and got out of the company. The army had
+gone in pursuit of the enemy, with the exception of a few riflemen, who,
+being now at liberty, found their way into the place.</p>
+
+<p>I ought to feel ashamed, and do feel ashamed of what occurred that night;
+but I must relate it, lest I feel more ashamed for concealing the truth.
+We had spliced the main-brace pretty freely throughout the day, and the
+pull I got in the grocery just made me ripe for mischief. When we got
+aboard the schooner again, we found a canoe that had drifted athwart-hawse
+and had been secured. My gun's crew, the Black Jokers, wished to have some
+fun in the town, and they proposed to me to take a cruise ashore. We had
+few officers on board, and the boatswain, a boat swain's mate in fact,
+consented to let us leave. We all went ashore in this canoe, then, and
+were soon alongside of a wharf. On landing, we were near a large store,
+and looking in at a window, we saw a man sitting asleep, with a gun in the
+hollow of his arm. His head was on the counter, and there was a lamp
+burning. One of the blacks pitched through the window, and was on him in a
+moment. The rest followed, and we made him a prisoner. The poor fellow
+said he had come to look after his property, and he was told no one would
+hurt him. My blacks now began to look about them, and to help themselves
+to such articles as they thought they wanted. I confess I helped myself to
+some tea and sugar, nor will I deny that I was in such a state as to think
+the whole good fun. We carried off one canoe load, and even returned for a
+second. Of course such an exploit could not have been effected without
+letting all in the secret share; and one boat-load of plunder was not
+enough. The negroes began to drink, however, and I was sober enough to see
+the consequences, if they were left ashore any longer. Some riflemen came
+in, too, and I succeeded in getting my jokers away.</p>
+
+<p>The recklessness of sailors may be seen in our conduct. All we received
+for our plunder was some eight or ten gallons of whiskey, when we got back
+to the harbour, and this at the risk of being flogged through the fleet!
+It seemed to us to be a scrape, and that was a sufficient excuse for
+disobeying orders, and for committing a crime. For myself, I was
+influenced more by the love of mischief, and a weak desire to have it said
+I was foremost in such an exploit, than from any mercenary motive.
+Notwithstanding the severity of the orders, and one or two pretty sharp
+examples of punishment inflicted by the commodore, the Black Jokers were
+not the only plunderers ashore that night. One master's-mate had the
+buttons taken off his coat, for stealing a feather bed, besides being
+obliged to carry it back again. Of course he was a shipped master's-mate.</p>
+
+<p>I was ashore every day while the squadron remained in the port. Our
+schooner never shifted her berth from the last one she occupied in the
+battle, and that was pretty well up the bay. I paid a visit to the gun
+that had troubled us all so much, and which we could not silence, for it
+was under a bank, near the landing-place. It was a long French eighteen,
+and did better service, that day, than any other piece of John Bull's. I
+think it hulled us several times.</p>
+
+<p>I walked over the ground where the explosion took place. It was a dreadful
+sight; the dead being so mutilated that it was scarcely possible to tell
+their colour. I saw gun-barrels bent nearly double. I think we saw Sir
+Roger Sheafe, the British General, galloping across the field, by himself,
+a few minutes before the explosion. At all events, we saw a mounted
+officer, and fired at him. He galloped up to the government-house,
+dismounted, went in, remained a short time, and then galloped out of town.
+All this I saw; and the old woman in the potato-locker told me the general
+had been in the house a short time before we landed. Her account agreed
+with the appearance of the officer I saw; though I will not pretend to be
+certain it was General Sheafe.</p>
+
+<p>I ought to mention the kindness of the commodore to the poor of York. As
+most of the inhabitants came back to their habitations the next day, the
+poor were suffering for food. Our men were ordered to roll barrels of salt
+meat and barrels of bread to their doors, from the government stores that
+fell into our hands. We captured an immense amount of these stores, a
+portion of which we carried away. We sunk many guns in the lake; and as
+for the powder, <i>that</i> had taken care of itself. Among other things we
+took, was the body of an English officer, preserved in rum, which, they
+said, was General Brock's. I saw it hoisted out of the Duke of Gloucester,
+the man-of-war brig we captured, at Sackett's Harbour, and saw the body
+put in a fresh cask. I am ashamed to say, that some of our men were
+inclined to drink the old rum.</p>
+
+<p>We burned a large corvette, that was nearly ready for launching, and
+otherwise did the enemy a good deal of harm. The inhabitants that returned
+were very submissive, and thankful for what they received. As for the man
+of the red store, I never saw him after the night he was plundered, nor
+was anything ever said of the scrape.</p>
+
+<p>Our troops had lost near three hundred men in the attack, the wounded
+included; and as a great many of these green soldiers were now sick from
+exposure, the army was much reduced in force. We took the troops on board
+on the 1st of May, but could not sail, on account of a gale, until the
+8th, which made the matter worse. Then we got under way, and crossed the
+lake, landing the soldiers a few miles to the eastward of Fort Niagara.
+Our schooner now went to the Harbour, along with the commodore, though
+some of the craft remained near the head of the lake. Here we took in
+another lot of soldiers, placed two more large batteaux in tow, and sailed
+for the army again. We had good passages both ways, and this duty was done
+within a few days. While at the Harbour, I got a message to go and visit
+Bill Swett, but the poor fellow died without my being able to see him. I
+heard he was hurt at York, but never could come at the truth.</p>
+
+<p>On the 27th May, the army got into the batteaux, formed in two divisions,
+and commenced pulling towards the mouth of the Niagara. The morning was
+foggy, with a light wind, and the vessels getting under way, kept company
+with the boats, a little outside of them. The schooners were closest in,
+and some of them opened on Fort George, while others kept along the coast,
+scouring the shore with grape and canister as they moved ahead. The
+Scourge came to an anchor a short distance above the place selected for
+the landing, and sprung her broadside to the shore. We now kept up a
+steady fire with grape and canister, until the boats had got in-shore and
+were engaged with the enemy, when we threw round-shot, over the heads of
+our own men, upon the English. As soon as Colonel Scott was ashore, we
+sprung our broadside upon a two-gun battery that had been pretty busy, and
+we silenced that among us. This affair, for our craft, was nothing like
+that of York, though I was told the vessels nearer the river had warmer
+berths of it. We had no one hurt, though we were hulled once or twice. A
+little rigging was cut; but we set this down as light work compared to
+what the old Black Joke had seen that day month. There was a little sharp
+fighting ashore, but our men were too strong for the enemy, when they
+could fairly get their feet on solid ground.</p>
+
+<p>Just after we had anchored, Mr. Bogardus was sent aloft to ascertain if
+any enemy were to be seen. At first he found nobody; but, after a little
+while, he called out to have my gun fired at a little thicket of
+brushwood that lay on an inclined plain, near the water. Mr. Osgood came
+and elevated the gun, and I touched it off. We had been looking out for
+the blink of muskets, which was one certain guide to find a soldier; and
+the moment we sent this grist of grape and canister into those bushes, the
+place lighted up as if a thousand muskets were there. We then gave the
+chaps the remainder of our broadside. We peppered that wood well, and did
+a good deal of harm to the troops stationed at the place.</p>
+
+<p>The wind blew on shore, and began to increase; and the commodore now threw
+out a signal for the boats to land, to take care of the batteaux that were
+thumping on the beach, and then for their crews to assist in taking care
+of the wounded. Of course I went in my own boat, Mr. Bogardus having
+charge of her. We left the schooner, just as we quitted our guns, black
+with powder, in our shirts and trowsers, though we took the precaution to
+carry our boarding-belts, with a brace of pistols each, and a cutlass. On
+landing, we first hauled up the boats, taking some dead and wounded men
+out of them, and laying them on the beach.</p>
+
+<p>We were now ordered to divide ourselves into groups of three, and go over
+the ground, pick up the wounded, and carry them to a large house that had
+been selected as a hospital. My party consisted of Bill Southard, Simeon
+Grant, and myself, we being messmates. The first man we fell in with, was
+a young English soldier, who was seated on the bank, quite near the lake.
+He was badly hurt, and sat leaning his head on his hands. He begged for
+water, and I took his cap down to the lake and filled it, giving him a
+drink; then washing his face. This revived him, and he offered us his
+canteen, in which was some excellent Jamaica. To us chaps, who got nothing
+better than whiskey, this was a rare treat, and we emptied the remainder
+of his half pint, at a pull apiece. After tapping this rum, we carried
+the poor lad up to the house, and turned him over to the doctors. We found
+the rooms filled with wounded already, and the American and English
+doctors hard at work on them.</p>
+
+<p>As we left the hospital, we agreed to get a canteen apiece, and go round
+among the dead, and fill them with Jamaica. When our canteens were about a
+third full, we came upon a young American rifleman, who was lying under
+an appletree. He was hit in the head, and was in a very bad way. We were
+all three much struck with the appearance of this young man, and I now
+remember him as one of the handsomest youths I had ever seen. His wound
+did not bleed, though I thought the brains were oozing out, and I felt so
+much sympathy for him, that I washed his hurt with the rum. I fear I did
+him harm, but my motive was good. Bill Southard ran to find a surgeon, of
+whom several were operating out on the field. The young man kept saying
+"no use," and he mentioned "father and mother," "Vermont." He even gave me
+the names of his parents, but I was too much in the wind, from the use of
+rum, to remember them. We might have been half an hour with this young
+rifleman, busy on him most of the time, when he murmured a few words, gave
+me one of the sweetest smiles I ever saw on a man's face, and made no more
+signs of life. I kept at work, notwithstanding, until Bill got back with
+the doctor. The latter cast an eye on the rifleman, pronounced him dead,
+and coolly walked away.</p>
+
+<p>There was a bridge, in a sort of a swamp, that we had fired on for some
+time, and we now moved down to it, just to see what we had done. We found
+a good many dead, and several horses in the mire, but no wounded. We kept
+emptying canteens, as we went along, until our own would hold no more. On
+our return from the bridge, we went to a brook in order to mix some grog,
+and then we got a full view of the offing. Not a craft was to be seen!
+Everything had weighed and disappeared. This discovery knocked us all
+aback, and we were quite at a loss how to proceed. We agreed, however, to
+pass through a bit of woods, and get into the town, it being now quite
+late in the day. There we knew we should find the army, and might get
+tidings of the fleet. The battle-ground was now nearly deserted, and to
+own the truth we were, all three, at least two sheets in the wind. Still I
+remember everything, for my stomach would never allow me to get beastly
+drunk; it rejecting any very great quantity of liquor. As we went through
+the wood, open pine trees, we came across an officer lying dead, with one
+leg over his horse, which was dead also. I went up to the body, turned it
+over, and examined it for a canteen, but found none. We made a few idle
+remarks, and proceeded.</p>
+
+<p>In quitting the place, I led the party; and, as we went through a little
+thicket, I heard female voices. This startled me a little; and, on looking
+round, I saw a white female dress, belonging to a person who was evidently
+endeavouring to conceal herself from us. I was now alone, and walked up to
+the women, when I found two; one, a lady, in dress and manner, and the
+other a person that I have always supposed was her servant. The first was
+in white; the last in a dark calico. They were both under thirty, judging
+from their looks; and the lady was exceedingly well-looking They were much
+alarmed; and, as I came up, the lady asked me if I would hurt her. I told
+her no; and that no person should harm her, while she remained with us.
+This relieved her, and she was able to give an account of her errand on
+the field of battle. Our looks, half intoxicated, and begrimed with the
+smoke of a battle, as we were, certainly were enough to alarm her; but I
+do not think one of the three would have hesitated about fighting for a
+female, that they thus found weeping, in this manner, in the open field.
+The maid was crying also. Simeon Grant, and Southard, did make use of some
+improper language, at first; but I brought them up, and they said they
+were sorry, and would go all lengths, with me, to protect the women. The
+fact was, these men supposed we had fallen in with common camp followers;
+but I had seen too much of officers' wives, in my boyhood, not to know
+that this was one.</p>
+
+<p>The lady then told her story. She had just come from Kingston, to join her
+husband; having arrived but a few hours before. She did not see her
+husband, but she had heard he was left wounded on the field; and she had
+come out in the hope of finding him. She then described him, as an officer
+mounted, with a particular dress, and inquired if we had met with any such
+person, on the field. We told her of the horseman we had just left; and
+led her back to the spot. The moment the lady saw the body, she threw
+herself on it, and began to weep and mourn over it, in a very touching
+manner. The maid, too, was almost as bad as the mistress. We were all so
+much affected, in spite of the rum, that, I believe, all three of us shed
+tears. We said all we could, to console her, and swore we would stand by
+her until she was safe back among her friends.</p>
+
+<p>It was a good bit before we could persuade the lady to quit her husband's
+body. She took a miniature from his neck, and I drew his purse and watch
+from him and handed them to her. She wanted me to keep the purse, but this
+we all three refused, up and down. We had hauled our manly tacks aboard,
+and had no thoughts of plunder. Even the maid urged us to keep the money,
+but we would have nothing to do with it. I shall freely own my faults; I
+hope I shall be believed when I relate facts that show I am not altogether
+without proper feelings.</p>
+
+<p>The officer had been hit somewhere about the hip, and the horse must have
+been killed by another grape-shot, fired from the same gun. We laid the
+body of the first over in such a manner as to get a good look at him, but
+we did not draw the leg from under the horse.[7]</p>
+
+<p>When we succeeded in persuading the lady to quit her husband's body, we
+shaped our course for the light-house. Glad were we three tars to see the
+mast-heads of the shipping in the river, as we came near the banks of the
+Niagara. The house at the light was empty; but, on my hailing, a woman's
+voice answered from the cellar. It was an old woman who had taken shelter
+from shot down in the hold, the rest of the family having slipped and run.
+We now got some milk for the lady, who continued in tears most of the
+time. Sometimes she would knock off crying for a bit, when she seemed to
+have some distrust of us; but, on the whole, we made very good weather in
+company. After staying about half an hour at the light-house, we left it
+for the town, my advice to the lady being to put herself under the
+protection of some of our officers. I told her if the news of what had
+happened reached the commodore, she might depend on her husband's being
+buried with the honours of war, and said such other things to comfort her
+as came to the mind of a man who had been sailing so near the wind.</p>
+
+<p>I forgot to relate one part of the adventure. Before we had got fairly
+clear of the woods, we fell in with four of Forsyth's men, notoriously the
+wickedest corps in the army. These fellows began to crack their jokes at
+the expense of the two females, and we came near having a brush with them.
+When we spoke of our pistols, and of our determination to use them, before
+we would let our convoy come to harm, these chaps laughed at our pop-guns,
+and told us they had such things as 'rifles.' This was true enough, and
+had we come to broadsides, I make no doubt they would have knocked us over
+like so many snipes. I began to reason with them, on the impropriety of
+offending respectable females; and one of the fellows, who was a kind of
+corporal, or something of that sort, shook my hand, said I was right, and
+offered to be friends. So we spliced the main-brace, and parted. Glad
+enough was the lady to be rid of them so easily. In these squalls she
+would bring up in her tears, and then when all went smooth again, she
+would break out afresh.</p>
+
+<p>After quitting the light, we made the best of our way for the town. Just
+as we reached it, we fell in with a party of soldier-officers, and we
+turned the lady and her woman over to their care. These gentlemen said a
+good word in our favour, and here we parted company with our convoy, never
+hearing, or seeing, anything of either afterwards.</p>
+
+<p>By this time it was near dark, and Bill Southard and I began to look out
+for the Scourge. She was anchored in the river, with the rest of the
+fleet, and we went down upon a wharf to make a signal for a boat. On the
+way we saw a woman crying before a watch-maker's shop, and a party of
+Forsyth's close by. On enquiry, we learned these fellows had threatened to
+rob her shop. We had been such defenders of the sex, that we could not
+think of deserting this woman, and we swore we would stand by her, too. We
+should have had a skirmish here, I do believe, had not one or two rifle
+officers hove in sight, when the whole party made sail from us. We turned
+the woman over to these gentlemen, who said, "ay, there are some of our
+vagabonds, again." One of them said it would be better to call in their
+parties, and before we reached the water we heard the bugle sounding
+the recall.</p>
+
+<p>They had given us up on board the schooner. A report of some Indians being
+out had reached her, and we three were set down as scalped. Thank God,
+I've got all the hair on my head yet, and battered as my old hulk has got
+to be, and shattered as are my timbers, it is as black as a raven's wing
+at this moment. This, my old shipmate, who is logging this yarn, says he
+thinks is a proof my mother was a French Canadian, though such is not the
+fact, as it has been told to me.</p>
+
+<p>Those riflemen were regular scamps. Just before we went down to the wharf,
+we saw one walking sentinel before the door of a sort of barracks. On
+drawing near and asking what was going on inside, we were told we had
+nothing to do with their fun ashore, that we might look in at a window,
+however, but should not go in. We took him at his word; a merry scene it
+was inside. The English officers' dunnage had been broken into, and there
+was a party of the corps strutting about in uniform coats and feathers. We
+thought it best to give these dare-devils a berth, and so we left them.
+One was never safe with them on the field of battle, friend or enemy.</p>
+
+<p>We met a large party of marines on the wharf, marching up under Major
+Smith. They were going to protect the people of the town from further
+mischief. Mr. Osgood was glad enough to see us, and we got plenty of
+praise for what we had done with the women. As for the canteens, we had to
+empty them, after treating the crew of the boat that was sent to take us
+off. I did not enter the town after that night.</p>
+
+<p>We lay some time in the Niagara, the commodore going to the harbour to get
+the Pike ready. Captain Crane took the rest of us off Kingston, where we
+were joined by the commodore, and made sail again for the Niagara. Here
+Colonel Scott embarked with a body of troops, and we went to Burlington
+Bay to carry the heights. They were found to be too strong; and the men,
+after landing, returned to the vessels. We then went to York, again, and
+took possession of the place a second time. Here we destroyed several
+boats, and stores, set fire to the barracks, and did the enemy a good deal
+of damage otherwise; after which we left the place. Two or three days
+later we crossed the lake and landed the soldiers, again, at Fort Niagara.</p>
+
+<p>Early in August, while we were still in the river, Sir James Yeo hove in
+sight with two ships, two brigs, and two schooners. We had thirteen sail
+in all, such as they were, and immediately got under way, and manoeuvred
+for the weather-gauge. All the enemy's vessels had regular quarters, and
+the ships were stout craft. Our squadron sailed very unequally, some being
+pretty fast, and others as dull as droggers. Nor were we more than half
+fitted out. On board the Scourge the only square-sail we had, was made out
+of an English marqu&eacute;e we had laid our hands on at York, the first time we
+were there. I ought to say, too, that we got two small brass guns at York,
+four-pounders, I believe, which Mr. Osgood clapped into our two spare
+ports forward. This gave us ten guns in all, sixes and fours. I remember
+that Jack Mallet laughed at us heartily for the fuss we made with our
+pop-guns, as he called them, while we were working upon the English
+batteries, saying we might just as well have spared our powder, as for any
+good we did. He belonged to the Julia, which had a long thirty-two,
+forward, which they called the "Old Sow," and one smart eighteen aft. She
+had two sixes in her waist, also; but <i>they</i> disdained to use <i>them.</i></p>
+
+<p>While we were up at the harbour, the last time, Mr. Mix who had married a
+sister of Mr. Osgood, took a party of us in a boat, and we went up Black
+River, shooting. The two gentlemen landed, and as we were coming down the
+river, we saw something swimming, which proved to be a bear. We had no
+arms, but we pulled over the beast, and had a regular squaw-fight with
+him. We were an hour at work with this animal, the fellow coming very near
+mastering us. I struck at his nose with an iron tiller fifty times, but he
+warded the blow like a boxer. He broke our boat-hook, and once or twice,
+he came near boarding us. At length a wood-boat gave us an axe, and with
+this we killed him. Mr. Osgood had this bear skinned, and said he should
+send the skin to his family, If he did, it must have been one of the last
+memorials it ever got from him.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter VI.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>I left the two fleets manoeuvring for the wind, in the last chapter. About
+nine o'clock, the Pike got abeam of the Wolfe, Sir James Yeo's own ship,
+hoisted her ensign, and fired a few guns to try the range of her shot. The
+distance was too great to engage. At this time our sternmost vessels were
+two leagues off, and the commodore wore round, and hauled up on the other
+tack. The enemy did the same but, perceiving that our leading ships were
+likely to weather on him, he tacked, and hauled off to the northward. We
+stood on in pursuit, tacking too; but the wind soon fell, and about sunset
+it was quite calm.</p>
+
+<p>Throughout the day, the Scourge had as much as she could do to keep
+anywhere near her station. As for the old Oneida, she could not be kept
+within a long distance of her proper berth. We were sweeping, at odd
+times, for hours that day. Towards evening, all the light craft were doing
+the same, to close with the commodore. Our object was to get together,
+lest the enemy should cut off some of our small vessels during the night.</p>
+
+<p>Before dark the whole line was formed again, with the exception of the
+Oneida, which was still astern, towing. She ought to have been near the
+commodore, but could not get there. A little before sunset, Mr. Osgood
+ordered us to pull in our sweeps, and to take a spell. It was a lovely
+evening, not a cloud visible, and the lake being as smooth as a
+looking-glass. The English fleet was but a short distance to the northward
+of us; so near, indeed, that we could almost count their ports. They were
+becalmed, like ourselves, and a little scattered.</p>
+
+<p>We took in our sweeps as ordered, laying them athwart the deck, in
+readiness to be used when wanted. The vessels ahead and astern of us were,
+generally, within speaking distance. Just as the sun went below the
+horizon, George Turnblatt, a Swede, who was our gunner, came to me, and
+said he thought we ought to secure our guns; for we had been cleared for
+action all day, and the crew at quarters. We were still at quarters, in
+name; but the petty officers were allowed to move about, and as much
+license was given to the people as was wanted. I answered that I would
+gladly secure mine if he would get an order for it; but as we were still
+at quarters, and there lay John Bull, we might get a slap at him in the
+night. On this the gunner said he would go aft, and speak to Mr. Osgood on
+the subject. He did so, but met the captain (as we always called Mr.
+Osgood) at the break of the quarter-deck. When George had told his errand,
+the captain looked at the heavens, and remarked that the night was so
+calm, there could be no great use in securing the guns, and the English
+were so near we should certainly engage, if there came a breeze; that the
+men would sleep at their quarters, of course, and would be ready to take
+care of their guns; but that he might catch a turn with the
+side-tackle-falls around the pommelions of the guns, which would be
+sufficient. He then ordered the boatswain to call all hands aft, to the
+break of the quarter-deck.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the people had collected, Mr. Osgood said--"You must be pretty
+well fagged out, men; I think we may have a hard night's work, yet, and I
+wish you to get your suppers, and then catch as much sleep as you can, at
+your guns." He then ordered the purser's steward to splice the main-brace.
+These were the last words I ever heard from Mr. Osgood. As soon as he
+gave the order, he went below leaving the deck in charge of Mr. Bogardus.
+All our old crew were on board but Mr. Livingston, who had left us, and
+Simeon Grant, one of my companions in the cruise over the battle-ground at
+Fort George. Grant had cut his hand off, in a saw-mill, while we were last
+at the Harbour, and had been left behind in the hospital. There was a
+pilot on board, who used to keep a look-out occasionally, and sometimes
+the boatswain had the watch.</p>
+
+<p>The schooner, at this time, was under her mainsail, jib, and
+fore-top-sail. The foresail was brailed, and the foot stopped, and the
+flying-jib was stowed. None of the halyards were racked, nor sheets
+stoppered. This was a precaution we always took, on account of the craft's
+being so tender.</p>
+
+<p>We first spliced the main-brace and then got our suppers, eating between
+the guns, where we generally messed, indeed. One of my messmates, Tom
+Goldsmith, was captain of the gun next to me, and as we sat there
+finishing our suppers, I says to him, "Tom, bring up that rug that you
+pinned at Little York, and that will do for both of us to stow ourselves
+away under." Tom went down and got the rug, which was an article for the
+camp that he had laid hands on, and it made us a capital bed-quilt. As all
+hands were pretty well tired, we lay down, with our heads on shot-boxes,
+and soon went to sleep.</p>
+
+<p>In speaking of the canvass that was set, I ought to have said something of
+the state of our decks. The guns had the side-tackles fastened as I have
+mentioned. There was a box of canister, and another of grape, at each gun,
+besides extra stands of both, under the shot-racks. There was also one
+grummet of round-shot at every gun, besides the racks being filled. Each
+gun's crew slept at the gun and its opposite, thus dividing the people
+pretty equally on both sides of the deck. Those who were stationed below,
+slept below. I think it probable that, as the night grew cool, as it
+always does on the fresh waters, some of the men stole below to get warmer
+berths. This was easily done in that craft, as we had but two regular
+officers on board, the acting boatswain and gunner being little more than
+two of ourselves.</p>
+
+<p>I was soon asleep, as sound as if lying in the bed of a king. How long my
+nap lasted, or what took place in the interval, I cannot say. I awoke,
+however, in consequence of large drops of rain falling on my face. Tom
+Goldsmith awoke at the same moment. When I opened my eyes, it was so dark
+I could not see the length of the deck. I arose and spoke to Tom, telling
+him it was about to rain, and that I meant to go down and get a nip, out
+of a little stuff we kept in our mess-chest, and that I would bring up the
+bottle if he wanted a taste. Tom answered, "this is nothing; we're neither
+pepper nor salt." One of the black men spoke, and asked me to bring up the
+bottle, and give him a nip, too. All this took half a minute, perhaps. I
+now remember to have heard a strange rushing noise to windward as I went
+towards the forward hatch, though it made no impression on me at the time.
+We had been lying between the starboard guns, which was the weather side
+of the vessel, if there were any weather side to it, there not being a
+breath of air, and no motion to the water, and I passed round to the
+larboard side, in order to find the ladder, which led up in that
+direction. The hatch was so small that two men could not pass at a time,
+and I felt my way to it, in no haste. One hand was on the bitts, and a
+foot was on the ladder, when a flash of lightning almost blinded me. The
+thunder came at the next instant, and with it a rushing of winds that
+fairly smothered the clap.</p>
+
+<p>The instant I was aware there was a squall, I sprang for the jib-sheet.
+Being captain of the forecastle, I knew where to find it, and throw it
+loose at a jerk. In doing this, I jumped on a man named Leonard Lewis, and
+called on him to lend me a hand. I next let fly the larboard, or lee
+top-sail-sheet, got hold of the clew-line, and, assisted by Lewis, got the
+clew half up. All this time I kept shouting to the man at the wheel to put
+his helm "hard down." The water was now up to my breast, and I knew the
+schooner must go over. Lewis had not said a word, but I called out to him
+to shift for himself, and belaying the clew-line, in hauling myself
+forward of the foremast, I received a blow from the jib-sheet that came
+near breaking my left arm. I did not feel the effect of this blow at the
+time, though the arm has since been operated on, to extract a tumour
+produced by this very injury.</p>
+
+<p>All this occupied less than a minute. The flashes of lightning were
+incessant, and nearly blinded me. Our decks seemed on fire, and yet I
+could see nothing. I heard no hail, no order, no call; but the schooner
+was filled with the shrieks and cries of the men to leeward, who were
+lying jammed under the guns, shot-boxes, shot, and other heavy things that
+had gone down as the vessel fell over. The starboard second gun, from
+forward, had capsized, and come down directly over the forward hatch, and
+I caught a glimpse of a man struggling to get past it. Apprehension of
+this gun had induced me to drag myself forward of the mast, where I
+received the blow mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>I succeeded in hauling myself up to windward, and in getting into the
+schooner's fore-channels. Here I met William Deer, the boatswain, and a
+black boy of the name of Philips, who was the powder-boy of our gun.
+"Deer, she's gone!" I said. The boatswain made no answer, but walked out
+on the fore-rigging, towards the mast-head. He probably had some vague
+notion that the schooner's masts would be out of water if she went down,
+and took this course as the safest. The boy was in the chains the last I
+saw of him.</p>
+
+<p>I now crawled aft, on the upper side of the bulwarks, amid a most awful
+and infernal din of thunder, and shrieks, and dazzling flashes of
+lightning; the wind blowing all the while like a tornado. When I reached
+the port of my own gun, I put a foot in, thinking to step on the muzzle of
+the piece; but it had gone to leeward with all the rest, and I fell
+through the port, until I brought up with my arms. I struggled up again,
+and continued working my way aft. As I got abreast of the main-mast, I saw
+some one had let run the halyards. I soon reached the beckets of the
+sweeps, and found four in them. I could not swim a stroke, and it crossed
+my mind to get one of the sweeps to keep me afloat. In striving to jerk
+the becket clear, it parted, and the forward ends of the four sweeps
+rolled down the schooner's side into the water. This caused the other ends
+to slide, and all the sweeps got away from me. I then crawled quite aft,
+as far as the fashion-piece. The water was pouring down the cabin
+companion-way like a sluice; and as I stood, for an instant, on the
+fashion-piece, I saw Mr. Osgood, with his head and part of his shoulders
+through one of the cabin windows, struggling to get out. He must have been
+within six feet of me. I saw him but a moment, by means of a flash of
+lightning, and I think he must have seen me. At the same time, there was a
+man visible on the end of the main-boom, holding on by the clew of the
+sail. I do not know who it was. This man probably saw me, and that I was
+about to spring; for he called out, "Don't jump overboard!--don't jump
+overboard! The schooner is righting."</p>
+
+<p>I was not in a state of mind to reflect much on anything. I do not think
+more than three or four minutes, if as many, had passed since the squall
+struck us, and there I was standing on the vessel's quarter, led by
+Providence more than by any discretion of my own. It now came across me
+that if the schooner should right she was filled, and must go down, and
+that she might carry me with her in the suction. I made a spring,
+therefore, and fell into the water several feet from the place where I had
+stood. It is my opinion the schooner sunk as I left her. I went down some
+distance myself, and when I came up to the surface, I began to swim
+vigorously for the first time in my life. I think I swam several yards,
+but of course will not pretend to be certain of such a thing, at such a
+moment, until I felt my hand hit something hard. I made another stroke,
+and felt my hand pass down the side of an object that I knew at once was a
+clincher-built boat. I belonged to this boat, and I now recollected that
+she had been towing astern. Until that instant I had not thought of her,
+but thus was I led in the dark to the best possible means of saving my
+life. I made a grab at the gunwale, and caught it in the stern-sheets. Had
+I swum another yard, I should have passed the boat, and missed her
+altogether! I got in without any difficulty, being all alive and
+much excited.</p>
+
+<p>My first look was for the schooner. She had disappeared, and I supposed
+she was just settling under water. It rained as if the flood-gates of
+heaven were opened, and it lightened awfully. It did not seem to me that
+there was a breath of air, and the water was unruffled, the effects of the
+rain excepted. All this I saw, as it might be, at a glance. But my chief
+concern was to preserve my own life. I was cockswain of this very boat,
+and had made it fast to this taffrail that same afternoon, with a round
+turn and two half-hitches, by its best painter. Of course I expected the
+vessel would drag the boat down with her, for I had no knife to cut the
+painter. There was a gang-board in the boat, however, which lay fore and
+aft, and I thought this might keep me afloat until some of the fleet
+should pick me up. To clear this gang-board, then, and get it into the
+water, was my first object. I ran forward to throw off the lazy-painter
+that was coiled on its end, and in doing this I caught the boat's painter
+in my hand, by accident. A pull satisfied me that it was all clear! Some
+one on board must have cast off this painter, and then lost his chance of
+getting into the boat by an accident. At all events, I was safe, and I now
+dared to look about me.</p>
+
+<p>My only chance of seeing, was during the flashes; and these left me almost
+blind. I had thrown the gang-board into the water, and I now called out to
+encourage the men, telling them I was in the boat. I could hear many
+around me, and, occasionally, I saw the heads of men, struggling in the
+lake. There being no proper place to scull in, I got an oar in the after
+rullock, and made out to scull a little, in that fashion. I now saw a man
+quite near the boat; and, hauling in the oar, made a spring amidships,
+catching this poor fellow by the collar. He was very near gone; and I had
+a great deal of difficulty in getting him in over the gunwale. Our joint
+weight brought the boat down, so low, that she shipped a good deal of
+water. This turned out to be Leonard Lewis, the young man who had helped
+me to clew up the fore-topsail. He could not stand, and spoke with
+difficulty. I asked him to crawl aft, out of the water; which he did,
+lying down in the stern-sheets.</p>
+
+<p>I now looked about me, and heard another; leaning over the gunwale, I got
+a glimpse of a man, struggling, quite near the boat. I caught him by the
+collar, too; and had to drag him in very much in the way I had done with
+Lewis. This proved to be Lemuel Bryant, the man who had been wounded by a
+hot shot, at York, as already mentioned while the commodore was on board
+us. His wound had not yet healed, but he was less exhausted than Lewis. He
+could not help me, however, lying down in the bottom of the boat, the
+instant he was able.</p>
+
+<p>For a few moments, I now heard no more in the water; and I began to scull
+again. By my calculation, I moved a few yards, and must have got over the
+spot where the schooner went down. Here, in the flashes, I saw many heads,
+the men swimming in confusion, and at random. By this time, little was
+said, the whole scene being one of fearful struggling and frightful
+silence. It still rained; but the flashes were less frequent, and less
+fierce. They told me, afterwards, in the squadron, that it thundered
+awfully; but I cannot say I heard a clap, after I struck the water. The
+next man caught the boat himself. It was a mulatto, from Martinique, who
+was Mr. Osgood's steward; and I helped him in. He was much exhausted,
+though an excellent swimmer; but alarm nearly deprived him of his
+strength. He kept saying, "Oh! Masser Ned--Oh! Masser Ned!" and lay down
+in the bottom of the boat, like the two others; I taking care to shove him
+over to the larboard side, so as to trim our small craft.</p>
+
+<p>I kept calling out, to encourage the swimmers, and presently I heard a
+voice, saying, "Ned, I'm here, close by you." This was Tom Goldsmith, a
+messmate, and the very man under whose rug I had been sleeping, at
+quarters. He did not want much help, getting in, pretty much, by himself.
+I asked him, if he were able to help me. "Yes, Ned," he answered, "I'll
+stand by you to the last; what shall I do?" I told him to take his
+tarpaulin, and to bail the boat, which, by this time, was a third full of
+water. This he did, while I sculled a little ahead. "Ned," says Tom,
+"she's gone down with her colours flying, for her pennant came near
+getting a round turn about my body, and carrying me down with her. Davy
+has made a good haul, and he gave us a close shave; but he didn't get you
+and me." In this manner did this thoughtless sailor express himself, as
+soon as rescued from the grasp of death! Seeing something on the water, I
+asked Tom to take my oar, while I sprang to the gunwale, and caught Mr.
+Bogardus, the master's mate, who was clinging to one of the sweeps. I
+hauled him in, and he told me, he thought, some one had hold of the other
+end of the sweep. It was so dark, however, we could not see even that
+distance. I hauled the sweep along, until I found Ebenezer Duffy, a
+mulatto, and the ship's cook. He could not swim a stroke; and was nearly
+gone. I got him in, alone, Tom bailing, lest the boat, which was quite
+small, should swamp with us.</p>
+
+<p>As the boat drifted along, she reached another man, whom I caught also by
+the collar. I was afraid to haul this person in amidships, the boat being
+now so deep, and so small, and so I dragged him ahead, and hauled him in
+over the bows. This was the pilot, whose name I never knew. He was a
+lake-man, and had been aboard us the whole summer. The poor fellow was
+almost gone, and like all the rest, with the exception of Tom, he lay down
+and said not a word.</p>
+
+<p>We had now as many in the boat as it would carry, and Tom and myself
+thought it would not do to take in any more. It is true, we saw no more,
+everything around us appearing still as death, the pattering of the rain
+excepted. Tom began to bail again, and I commenced hallooing. I sculled
+about several minutes, thinking of giving others a tow, or of even hauling
+in one or two more, after we got the water out of the boat; but we found
+no one else. I think it probable I sculled away from the spot, as there
+was nothing to guide me. I suppose, however, that by this time, all the
+Scourges had gone down, for no more were ever heard from.</p>
+
+<p>Tom Goldsmith and myself now put our heads together as to what was best to
+be done. We were both afraid of falling into the enemy's hands, for, they
+might have bore up in the squall, and run down near us. On the whole,
+however, we thought the distance between the two squadrons was too great
+for this; at all events, something must be done at once. So we began to
+row, in what direction even we did not know. It still rained as hard as it
+could pour, though there was not a breath of wind. The lightning came now
+at considerable intervals, and the gust was evidently passing away towards
+the broader parts of the lake. While we were rowing and talking about our
+chance of falling in with the enemy, Tom cried out to me to
+"avast-pulling." He had seen a vessel, by a flash, and he thought she was
+English, from her size. As he said she was a schooner, however, I thought
+it must be one of our own craft, and got her direction from him. At the
+next flash I saw her, and felt satisfied she belonged to us. Before we
+began to pull, however, we were hailed "boat ahoy!" I answered. "If you
+pull another stroke, I'll fire into you"--came back--"what boat's that?
+Lay on your oars, or I'll fire into you." It was clear we were mistaken
+ourselves for an enemy, and I called out to know what schooner it was. No
+answer was given, though the threat to fire was repeated, if we pulled
+another stroke. I now turned to Tom and said, "I know that voice--that is
+old Trant." Tom thought "we were in the wrong shop." I now sung out, "This
+is the Scourge's boat--our schooner has gone down, and we want to come
+alongside." A voice next called from the schooner--"Is that you, Ned?"
+This I knew was my old shipmate and school-fellow, Jack Mallet, who was
+acting as boatswain of the Julia, the schooner commanded by sailing-master
+James Trant, one of the oddities of the service, and a man with whom the
+blow often came as soon as the word. I had known Mr. Trant's voice, and
+felt more afraid he would fire into us, than I had done of anything which
+had occurred that fearful night. Mr. Trant, himself now called
+out--"Oh-ho; give way, boys, and come alongside." This we did, and a very
+few strokes took us up to the Julia, where we were received with the
+utmost kindness. The men were passed out of the boat, while I gave Mr.
+Trant an account of all that had happened. This took but a minute or two.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Trant now inquired in what direction the Scourge had gone down, and,
+as soon as I had told him, in the best manner I could, he called out to
+Jack Mallet--"Oh-ho, Mallet--take four hands, and go in the boat and see
+what you can do--take a lantern, and I will show a light on the water's
+edge, so you may know me." Mallet did as ordered, and was off in less than
+three minutes after we got alongside. Mr. Trant, who was much humoured,
+had no officer in the Julia, unless Mallet could be called one. He was an
+Irishman by birth, but had been in the American navy ever since the
+revolution, dying a lieutenant, a few years after this war. Perhaps no man
+in the navy was more generally known, or excited more amusement by his
+oddities, or more respect for his courage. He had come on the lake with
+the commodore, with whom he was a great pet, and had been active in all
+the fights and affairs that had yet taken place. His religion was to hate
+an Englishman.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Trant now called the Scourges aft, and asked more of the particulars.
+He then gave us a glass of grog all round, and made his own crew splice
+the main-brace. The Julias now offered us dry clothes. I got a change from
+Jack Reilly, who had been an old messmate, and with whom I had always been
+on good terms. It knocked off raining, but we shifted ourselves at the
+galley fire below. I then went on deck, and presently we heard the boat
+pulling back. It soon came alongside, bringing in it four more men that
+had been found floating about on sweeps and gratings. On inquiry, it
+turned out that these men belonged to the Hamilton, Lt. Winter--a schooner
+that had gone down in the same squall that carried us over. These men were
+very much exhausted, too, and we all went below, and were told to turn in.</p>
+
+<p>I had been so much excited during the scenes through which I had just
+passed, and had been so much stimulated by grog, that, as yet, I had not
+felt much of the depression natural to such events. I even slept soundly
+that night, nor did I turn out until six the next morning.</p>
+
+<p>When I got on deck, there was a fine breeze; it was a lovely day, and the
+lake was perfectly smooth. Our fleet was in a good line, in pretty close
+order, with the exception of the Governor Tompkins, Lieutenant Tom Brown,
+which was a little to leeward, but carrying a press of sail to close with
+the commodore. Mr. Trant perceiving that the Tompkins wished to speak us
+in passing, brailed his foresail and let her luff up close under our lee.
+"Two of the schooners, the Hamilton and the Scourge, have gone down in the
+night," called out Mr. Brown; "for I have picked up four of the
+Hamilton's." "Oh-ho!"--answered Mr. Trant--"That's no news at all! for I
+have picked up <i>twelve</i>; eight of the Scourge's, and four of the
+Hamilton's--aft fore-sheet."</p>
+
+<p>These were all that were ever saved from the two schooners, which must
+have had near a hundred souls on board them. The two commanders,
+Lieutenant Winter and Mr, Osgood were both lost, and with Mr. Winter went
+down I believe, one or two young gentlemen. The squadron could not have
+moved much between the time when the accidents happened and that when I
+came on deck, or we must have come round and gone over the same ground
+again, for we now passed many relics of the scene, floating about in the
+water. I saw spunges, gratings, sweeps, hats, &amp;c., scattered about, and in
+passing ahead we saw one of the latter that we tried to catch; Mr. Trant
+ordering it done, as he said it must have been Lieutenant Winter's. We did
+not succeed, however; nor was any article taken on board. A good look-out
+was kept for men, from aloft, but none were seen from any of the vessels.
+The lake had swallowed up the rest of the two crews; and the Scourge, as
+had been often predicted, had literally become a coffin to a large portion
+of her people.</p>
+
+<p>There was a good deal of manoeuvring between the two fleets this day, and
+some efforts were made to engage; but, to own the truth, I felt so
+melancholy about the loss of so many shipmates, that I did not take much
+notice of what passed. All my Black Jokers were drowned, and nothing
+remained of the craft and people with which and whom I had been associated
+all summer. Bill Southard, too, was among the lost, as indeed were all my
+messmates but Tom Goldsmith and Lemuel Bryant. I had very serious and
+proper impressions for the moment; but my new shipmates, some of whom had
+been old shipmates in other crafts, managed to cheer me up with grog. The
+effect was not durable, and in a short time I ceased to think of what had
+happened. I have probably reflected more on the merciful manner in which
+my life was spared, amid a scene so terrific, within the last five years,
+than I did in the twenty-five that immediately followed the accidents.</p>
+
+<p>The fleet went in, off the Niagara, and anchored. Mr. Trant now mustered
+the remaining Scourges, and told us he wanted just our number of hands,
+and that he meant to get an order to keep us in the Julia. In the
+meantime, he should station and quarter us. I was stationed at the braces,
+and quartered at the long thirty-two as second loader. The Julia mounted a
+long thirty-two, and an eighteen on pivots, besides two sixes in the
+waist. The last were little used, as I have already mentioned. She was a
+small, but a fast schooner, and had about forty souls on board. She was
+altogether a better craft than the Scourge, though destitute of any
+quarters, but a low rail with wash-boards, and carrying fewer guns.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter VII.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>I never knew what became of the four Hamiltons that were picked up by the
+Julia's boat, though I suppose they were put in some other vessel along
+with their shipmates; nor did I ever learn the particulars of the loss of
+this schooner, beyond the fact that her topsail-sheets were stoppered, and
+her halyards racked. This much I learned from the men who were brought on
+board the Julia, who said that their craft was ready, in all respects, for
+action. Some seamen have thought this wrong, and some right; but, in my
+opinion, it made but little difference in such a gust as that which passed
+over us. What was remarkable, the Julia, which could not have been far
+from the Scourge when we went over, felt no great matter of wind, just
+luffing up, and shaking her sails, to be rid of it!</p>
+
+<p>We lay only one night off the mouth of the Niagara. The next morning the
+squadron weighed, and stood out in pursuit of the English. The weather was
+very variable, and we could not get within reach of Sir James all that
+day. This was the 9th of August. The Scourge had gone down on the night of
+the 7th, or the morning of the 8th, I never knew which. On the morning of
+the 10th, however, we were under the north shore, and to windward of John
+Bull. The Commodore now took the Asp, and the Madison the Fair American,
+in tow, and we all kept away, expecting certainly a general action. But
+the wind shifted, bringing the English to windward. The afternoon was
+calm; or had variable airs. Towards sunset, the enemy was becalmed under
+the American shore, and we got a breeze from the southward. We now closed,
+and at 6 formed our line for engaging. We continued to close until 7, when
+the wind came out fresh at S.W., putting John again to windward.</p>
+
+<p>I can hardly tell what followed, there was so much manoeuvring and
+shifting of berths. Both squadrons were standing across the lake, the
+enemy being to windward, and a little astern of us. We now passed within
+hail of the commodore, who gave us orders to form a new line of battle,
+which we did in the following manner. One line, composed of the smallest
+schooners, was formed to windward, while the ships, brig, and two heaviest
+schooners, formed another line to leeward. We had the weathermost line,
+having the Growler, Lieutenant Deacon, for the vessel next astern of us.
+This much I could see, though I did not understand the object. I now learn
+the plan was for the weather line to engage the enemy, and then, by edging
+away, draw them down upon the lee line, which line contained our principal
+force. According to the orders, we ought to have rather edged off, as soon
+as the English began to fire, in order to draw them down upon the
+commodore; but it will be seen that our schooner pursued a very
+different course.</p>
+
+<p>It must have been near midnight, when the enemy began to fire at the Fair
+American, the sternmost vessel of our weather line. We were a long bit
+ahead of her, and did not engage for some time. The firing became pretty
+smart astern, but we stood on, without engaging, the enemy not yet being
+far enough ahead for us. After a while, the four sternmost schooners of
+our line kept off, according to orders, but the Julia and Growler still
+stood on. I suppose the English kept off, too, at the same time, as the
+commodore had expected. At any rate, we found ourselves so well up with
+the enemy, that, instead of bearing up, Mr. Trant tacked in the Julia, and
+the Growler came round after us. We now began to fire on the headmost
+ships of the enemy, which were coming on towards us. We were able to lay
+past the enemy on this tack, and fairly got to windward of them. When we
+were a little on John Bull's weather bow, we brailed the foresail, and
+gave him several rounds, within a pretty fair distance. The enemy answered
+us, and, from that moment, he seemed to give up all thoughts of the
+vessels to leeward of him, turning his whole attention on the Julia
+and Growler.</p>
+
+<p>The English fleet stood on the same tack, until it had got between us and
+our own line, when it went about in chase of us. We now began to make
+short tacks to windward; the enemy separating so as to spread a wide clew,
+in order that they might prevent our getting past, by turning their line
+and running to leeward. As for keeping to windward, we had no
+difficulty--occasionally brailing our foresail, and even edging off, now
+and then, to be certain that our shot would tell. In moderate weather, the
+Julia was the fastest vessel in the American squadron, the Lady of the
+Lake excepted; and the Growler was far from being dull. Had there been
+room, I make no doubt we might have kept clear of John Bull, with the
+greatest ease; touching him up with our long, heavy guns, from time to
+time, as it suited us. I have often thought that Mr. Trant forgot we were
+between the enemy and the land, and that he fancied himself out at sea. It
+was a hazy, moonlight morning, and we did not see anything of the main,
+though it turned out to be nearer to us than we wished.</p>
+
+<p>All hands were now turning to windward; the two schooners still edging
+off, occasionally, and firing. The enemy's shot went far beyond us, and
+did us some mischief, though nothing that was not immediately repaired.
+The main throat-halyards, on board the Julia, were shot away, as was the
+clew of the mainsail. It is probable the enemy did not keep his luff,
+towards the last, on account of the land.</p>
+
+<p>Our two schooners kept quite near each other, sometimes one being to
+windward, sometimes the other. It happened that the Growler was a short
+distance to windward of us, when we first became aware of the nature of
+our critical situation. She up helm, and, running down within hail,
+Lieutenant Deacon informed Mr. Trant he had just sounded in two fathoms,
+and that he could see lights ashore. He thought there must be Indians, in
+great numbers, in this vicinity, and that we must, at all events, avoid
+the land. "What do you think we had best do?" asked Lieutenant Deacon.
+"Run the gauntlet," called out Mr. Trant. "Very well, sir: which shall
+lead?" "I'll lead the van," answered Mr. Trant, and then all was settled.</p>
+
+<p>We now up helm, and steered for a vacancy among the British vessels. The
+enemy seemed to expect us, for they formed in two lines, leaving us room
+to enter between them. When we bore up, even in these critical
+circumstances, it was under our mainsail, fore-top-sail, jib, flying-jib,
+and foresail. So insufficient were the equipments of these small craft,
+that we had neither square-sail nor studding-sails on board us. I never
+saw a studding-sail in any of the schooners, the Scourge excepted.</p>
+
+<p>The Julia and Growler now ran down, the former leading, half a
+cable's-length apart. When we entered between the two lines of the enemy,
+we were within short canister-range, and got it smartly on both tacks.
+The two English ships were to leeward, each leading a line; and we had a
+brig, and three large, regular man-of-war schooners, to get past, with the
+certainty of meeting the Wolfe and Royal George, should we succeed in
+clearing these four craft. Both of us kept up a heavy fire, swivelling our
+guns round, so as not to neglect any one. As we drew near the ships,
+however, we paid them the compliment of throwing all the heavy shot at
+them, as was due to their rank and size.</p>
+
+<p>For a few minutes we fared pretty well; but we were no sooner well entered
+between the lines, than we got it, hot and hard. Our rigging began to come
+down about our ears, and one shot passed a few feet above our heads,
+cutting both topsail-sheets, and scooping a bit of wood as big as a
+thirty-two pound shot, out of the foremast. I went up on one side, myself,
+to knot one of these sheets, and, while aloft, discovered the injury that
+had been done to the spar. Soon after, the tack of the mainsail caught
+fire, from a wad of one of the Englishmen; for, by this time, we were
+close at it. I think, indeed, that the nearness of the enemy alone
+prevented our decks from being entirely swept. The grape and canister were
+passing just above our heads like hail, and the foresail was literally in
+ribands. The halyards being gone, the mainsail came down by the run, and
+the jib settled as low as it could. The topsail-yard was on the cap, and
+the schooner now came up into the wind.</p>
+
+<p>All this time, we kept working the guns. The old man went from one gun to
+the other, pointing each himself, as it was ready. He was at the eighteen
+when things were getting near the worst, and, as he left her, he called
+out to her crew to "fill her--fill her to the muzzle!" He then came to our
+gun, which was already loaded with one round, a stand of grape, and a case
+of canister shot. This I know, for I put them all in with my own hands. At
+this time, the Melville, a brig of the enemy's, was close up with us,
+firing upon our decks from her fore-top. She was coming up on our larboard
+quarter, while a large schooner was nearing us fast on the starboard. Mr.
+Trant directed our gun to be elevated so as to sweep the brig's
+forecastle, and then he called out, "Now's the time, lads--fire at the
+b----s! fire away at 'em!" But no match was to be found! Some one had
+thrown both overboard. By this time the brig's jib-boom was over our
+quarter, and the English were actually coming on board of us. The enemy
+were now all round us. The Wolfe, herself, was within hail, and still
+firing. The last I saw of any of our people, was Mallet passing forward,
+and I sat down on the slide of the thirty-two, myself, sullen as a bear.
+Two or three of the English passed me, without saying anything. Even at
+this instant, a volley of bullets came out of the brig's fore-top, and
+struck all around me; some hitting the deck, and others the gun itself.
+Just then, an English officer came up, and said--"What are you doing here,
+you Yankee?" I felt exceedingly savage, and answered, "Looking at your
+fools firing upon their own men." "Take that for your sauce," he said,
+giving me a thrust with his sword, as he spoke. The point of the cutlass
+just passed my hip-bone, and gave me a smart flesh-wound. The hurt was not
+dangerous, though it bled freely, and was some weeks in healing. I now
+rose to go below, and heard a hail from one of the ships--the Wolfe, as I
+took her to be. "Have you struck?" demanded some one. The officer who had
+hurt me now called out, "Don't fire into us, sir, for I'm on board, and
+have got possession." The officer from the ship next asked, "Is there
+anybody alive on board her?" To which the prize-officer answered, "I don't
+know, sir, I've seen but one man, as yet."</p>
+
+<p>I now went down below. First, I got a bandage on my wound, to stop the
+bleeding, and then I had an opportunity to look about me. A party of
+English was below, and some of our men having joined them, the heads were
+knocked out of two barrels of whiskey. The kids and bread-bags were
+procured, and all hands, without distinction of country, sat down to enjoy
+themselves. Some even began to sing, and, as for good-fellowship, it was
+just as marked, as it would have been in a jollification ashore.</p>
+
+<p>In a few minutes the officer who had hurt me jumped down among us. The
+instant he saw what we were at, he sang out--"Halloo! here's high life
+below stairs!" Then he called to another officer to bear a hand down and
+see the fun. Some one sung out from among ourselves to "dowse the glim."
+The lights were put out, and then the two officers capsized the whiskey.
+While this was doing, most of the Englishmen ran up the forward hatch. We
+Julias all remained below.</p>
+
+<p>In less than an hour we were sent on board the enemy's vessels. I was
+carried to the Royal George, but Mr. Trant was taken on board the Wolfe.
+The Growler had lost her bowsprit, and was otherwise damaged, and had been
+forced to strike also. She had a man killed, and I believe one or two
+wounded.[8] On board of us, not a man, besides myself, had been touched!
+We seemed to have been preserved by a miracle, for every one of the enemy
+had a slap at us, and, for some time, we were within pistol-shot. Then we
+had no quarters at all, being perfectly exposed to grape and canister. The
+enemy must have fired too high, for nothing else could have saved us.</p>
+
+<p>In July, while I still belonged to the Scourge, I had been sent with a
+boat's crew, under Mr. Bogardus, on board an English flag of truce that
+had come into the Harbour. While in this vessel, our boat's crew were
+"hail-fellows-well-met" with the Englishmen, and we had agreed among us to
+take care of each other, should either side happen to be taken. I had been
+on board the Royal George but a short time, when two of these very men
+came up to me with some grog and some grub; and next morning they brought
+me my bitters. I saw no more of them, however, except when they came to
+shake hands with us at the gang-way, as we were leaving the ship.</p>
+
+<p>After breakfast, next morning, we were all called aft to the ward-room,
+one at a time. I was pumped as to the force of the Americans, the names of
+the vessels, the numbers of the crews, and the names of the commanders. I
+answered a little saucily, and was ordered out of the ward-room. As I was
+quitting the place, I was called back by one of the lieutenants, whose
+appearance I did not like from the first. Although it was now eight years
+since I left Halifax, and we had both so much altered, I took this
+gentleman for Mr. Bowen, the very midshipman of the Cleopatra, who had
+been my schoolmate, and whom I had known on board the prize-brig I have
+mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>This officer asked me where I was born. I told him New York. He said he
+knew better, and asked my name. I told him it was what he found it on the
+muster-roll, and that by which I had been called. He said I knew better,
+and that I should hear more of this, hereafter. If this were my old
+school-fellow, he knew that I was always called Edward Robert Meyers,
+whereas I had dropped the middle name, and now called myself Myers. He may
+not, however, have been the person I took him for, and might have mistaken
+me for some one else; for I never had an opportunity of ascertaining any
+more about him.</p>
+
+<p>We got into Little York, and were sent ashore that evening. I can say
+nothing of our squadron, having been kept below the whole time I was on
+board the Royal George. I could not find out whether we did the enemy any
+harm, or not, the night we were taken; though I remember that a
+sixty-eight pound carronade, that stood near the gang-way of the Royal
+George, was dismounted, the night I passed into her. It looked to me as if
+the trucks were gone. This I know, that the ship was more than usually
+screened off; though for what reason I will not pretend to say.</p>
+
+<p>At York, we were put in the gaol, where we were kept three weeks. Our
+treatment was every way bad, with the exception that we were not crowded.
+As to food, we were kept "six upon four" the whole time I was prisoner.[9]
+The bread was bad, and the pork little better. While in this gaol, a party
+of drunken Indians gave us a volley, in passing; but luckily it did us
+no harm.</p>
+
+<p>At the end of three weeks, we received a haversack apiece, and two days'
+allowance. Our clothes were taken from us, and the men were told they
+would get them below; a thing that happened to very few of us, I believe.
+As for myself, I was luckily without anything to lose; my effects having
+gone down in the Scourge. All I had on earth was a shirt and two
+handkerchiefs, and an old slouched hat, that I had got in exchange for a
+Scotch cap that had been given to me in the Julia. I was without shoes,
+and so continued until I reached Halifax. All this gave me little concern;
+my spirits being elastic, and my disposition gay. My great trouble was the
+apprehension of being known, through the recollections of the officer I
+have mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>We now commenced our march for Kingston, under the guard of a company of
+the Glengarians and a party of Indians. The last kept on our flanks, and
+it was understood they would shoot and scalp any man who left the ranks.
+We marched two and two, being something like eighty prisoners. It was hard
+work for the first day or two, the road being nothing but an Indian trail,
+and our lodging-places the open air. My feet became very sore, and, as for
+food, we had to eat our pork raw, there being nothing to cook in. The
+soldiers fared no better than ourselves, however, with the exception of
+being on full allowance. It seems that our provisions were sent by water,
+and left for us at particular places; for every eight-and-forty hours we
+touched the lake shore, and found them ready for us. They were left on the
+beach without any guard, or any one near them. In this way we picked up
+our supplies the whole distance.</p>
+
+<p>At the d&eacute;p&ocirc;t, Mr. Bogardus and the pilot found a boat, and managed to get
+into her, and put out into the lake. After being absent a day and night,
+they were driven in by rough weather, and fell into the hands of a party
+of dragoons who were escorting Sir George Prevost along the lake shore.
+We found them at a sort of tavern, where were the English Governor and his
+escort at the time. They were sent back among us, with two American army
+officers, who had fallen into the hands of the Indians, and had been most
+foully treated. One of these officers was wounded in the arm.</p>
+
+<p>The night of the day we fell in with Sir George Prevost, we passed through
+a hamlet, and slept just without it. As we entered the village the guard
+played Yankee Doodle, winding up with the Rogue's March. As we went
+through the place, I got leave to go to a house and ask for a drink of
+milk. The woman of this house said they had been expecting us for two
+days, and that they had been saving their milk expressly to give us. I got
+as much as I wanted, and a small loaf of bread in the bargain, as did
+several others with me. These people seemed to me to be all well affected
+to the Americans, and much disposed to treat us kindly. We slept on a barn
+floor that night.</p>
+
+<p>We were much provoked at the insult of playing the Rogue's March. Jack
+Reilly and I laid a plan to have our revenge, should it be repeated. Two
+or three days later we had the same tune, at another village, and I caught
+up a couple of large stones, ran ahead, and dashed them through both ends
+of the drum, before the boy, who was beating it, knew what I was about.
+Jack snatched the fife out of the other boy's hand, and it was passed from
+one to another among us, until it reached one who threw it over the
+railing of a bridge. After this, we had no more music, good or bad. Not a
+word was said to any of us about this affair, and I really think the
+officers were ashamed of themselves.</p>
+
+<p>After a march of several days we came to a hamlet, not a great distance
+from Kingston. I saw a good many geese about, and took a fancy to have one
+for supper. I told Mallet if he would cook a goose, I would tip one over.
+The matter was arranged between us, and picking up a club I made a dash at
+a flock, and knocked a bird over. I caught up the goose and ran, when my
+fellow-prisoners called out to me to dodge, which I did, behind a stump,
+not knowing from what quarter the danger might come. It was well I did,
+for two Indians fired at me, one hitting the stump, and the other ball
+passing just over my head. A militia officer now galloped up, and drove
+back the Indians who were running up to me, to look after the scalp, I
+suppose. This officer remonstrated with me, but spoke mildly and even
+kindly. I told him I was hungry, and that I wanted a warm mess. "But you
+are committing a robbery," he said. "If I am, I'm robbing an enemy." "You
+do not know but it may be a friend," was his significant answer. "Well, if
+I am, <i>he</i>'ll not grudge me the goose," says I. On hearing this, the
+officer laughed, and asked me how I meant to cook the goose. I told him
+that one of my messmates had promised to do this for me. He then bade me
+carry the goose into the ranks, and to come to him when we halted at
+night. I did this, and he gave us a pan, some potatoes, onions, &amp;c., out
+of which we made the only good mess we got on our march. I may say this
+was the last hearty and really palatable meal I made until I reached
+Halifax, a period of several weeks.</p>
+
+<p>While Jack Mallet was cooking the goose, I went in behind a pile of
+boards, attended by a soldier to watch me, and, while there, I saw an
+ivory rule lying on the boards, with fifteen pence alongside of it. These
+I pinned, as a lawful prize, being in an enemy's country. The money served
+to buy us some bread. The rule was bartered for half a gallon of rum. This
+made us a merry night, taking all things together.</p>
+
+<p>We made no halt at Kingston, though the Indians left us. We now marched
+through a settled country, with some militia for our guards. Our treatment
+was much better than it had been, the people of the country treating us
+kindly. When we were abreast of the Thousand Islands, Mr. Bogardus and the
+pilot made another attempt to escape, and got fairly off. These were the
+only two who did succeed. How they effected it I cannot say, but I know
+they escaped. I never saw either afterwards.</p>
+
+<p>At the Long Sault, we were all put in boats, with a Canadian pilot in each
+end. The militia staid behind, and down we went; they say at the rate of
+nine miles in fifteen minutes. We found a new guard at the foot of the
+rapids. This was done, beyond a doubt, to save us and themselves, though
+we thought hard of it at the time, for it appeared to us, as if they
+thrust us into a danger they did not like to run themselves. I have since
+heard that even ladies travelling, used to go down these formidable rapids
+in the same way; and that, with skilful pilots, there is little or
+no danger.</p>
+
+<p>When we reached Montreal we were confined in a gaol where we remained
+three weeks. There was an American lady confined in this building, though
+she had more liberty than we, and from her we received much aid. She sent
+us soap, and she gave me bandages &amp;c., for my hurt. Occasionally she gave
+us little things to eat. I never knew her name, but heard she had two sons
+in the American army, and that she had been detected in corresponding
+with them.</p>
+
+<p>We remained at Montreal two or three weeks, and then were sent down to
+Quebec, where we were put on board of prison-ships. I was sent to the Lord
+Cathcart, and most of the Julia's men with me. Our provisions were very
+bad, and the mortality among us was great. The bread was intolerably bad.
+Mr. Trant came to see us, privately, and he brought some salt with him,
+which was a great relief to us. Jack Mallet asked him whether some of us
+might not go to work on board a transport, that lay just astern of us, in
+order to get something; better to eat. Mr. Trant said yes, and eight of us
+went on board this craft, every day, getting provisions and grog for our
+pay. At sunset, we returned regularly to the Cathcart. I got a second
+shirt and a pair of trowsers in this way.</p>
+
+<p>About a fortnight after this arrangement, the Surprise, 32, and a
+sloop-of-war, came in, anchoring some distance below the town. These ships
+sent their boats up to the prison-ships to examine them for men. After
+going through those vessels, they came on board the transport, and finding
+us fresh, clean, fed and tolerably clad, they pronounced us all
+Englishmen, and carried us on board the frigate. We were not permitted
+even to go and take leave of our shipmates. Of the eight men thus taken,
+five were native Americans, one was from Mozambique, one I suppose to have
+been an English subject born, but long settled in America; and, as for me,
+the reader knows as much of my origin as I know myself.</p>
+
+<p>We were asked if we would go to duty on board the Surprise, and we all
+refused. We were then put in close con finement, on the berth-deck, under
+the charge of a sentry. In a day or two, the ship sailed; and off Cape
+Breton we met with a heavy gale, in which the people suffered severely
+with snow and cold. The ship was kept off the land, with great difficulty.
+After all, we prisoners saved the ship, though I think it likely the
+injury originally came from some of us. The breechings of two of the guns
+had been cut, and the guns broke adrift in the height of the gale. All the
+crew were on deck, and the sentinel permitting it, we went up and
+smothered the guns with hammocks. We were now allowed to go about deck,
+but this lasted a short time, the whole of us being sent below, again, as
+soon as the gale abated.</p>
+
+<p>On reaching Halifax, we were all put on board of the Regulus transport,
+bound to Bermuda. Here we eight were thrown into irons, under the
+accusation of being British subjects. At the end of twenty-four hours,
+however, the captain came to us, and offered to let us out of irons, and
+to give us ship's treatment, if we would help in working the vessel to
+Bermuda. I have since thought we were ironed merely to extort this
+arrangement from us. We consulted together; and, thinking a chance might
+offer to get possession of the Regulus, which had only a few Canadians in
+her, and was to be convoyed by the Pictou schooner, we consented. We were
+now turned up to duty, and I got the first pair of shoes that had been on
+my feet since the Scourge sunk from under me.</p>
+
+<p>The reader will imagine I had not been in the harbour of Halifax, without
+a strong desire to ascertain something about those I had left behind me,
+in that town. I was nervously afraid of being discovered, and yet had a
+feverish wish to go ashore. The manner in which I gratified this wish, and
+the consequences to which it led, will be seen in the sequel.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter VIII.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>Jack Mallet had long known my history. He was my confidant, and entered
+into all my feelings. The night we went to duty on board the transport, a
+boat was lying alongside of the ship, and the weather being thick, it
+afforded a good opportunity for gratifying my longing. Jack and myself got
+in, after putting our heads together, and stole off undetected. I pulled
+directly up to the wharf of Mr. Marchinton, and at once found myself at
+home. I will not pretend to describe my sensations, but they were a
+strange mixture of apprehension, disquiet, hope, and natural attachment. I
+wished much to see my sister, but was afraid to venture on that.</p>
+
+<p>There was a family, however, of the name of Fraser, that lived near the
+shore, with which I had been well acquainted, and in whose members I had
+great confidence. They were respectable in position, its head being called
+a judge, and they were all intimate with the Marchintons. To the Frasers,
+then, I went; Jack keeping me company. I was afraid, if I knocked, the
+servant would not let me in, appearing, as I did, in the dress of a common
+sailor; so I opened the street-door without any ceremony, and went
+directly to that of the parlour, which I entered before there was time to
+stop me. Jack brought up in the entry.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Fraser and her daughter were seated together, on a settee, and the
+judge was reading at a table. My sudden apparition astonished them, and
+all three gazed at me in silence. Mr. Fraser then said, "In the name of
+heaven, where did you come from, Edward!" I told him I had been in the
+American service, but that I now belonged to an English transport that was
+to sail in the morning, and that I had just come ashore to inquire how all
+hands did; particularly my sister. He told me that my sister was living, a
+married woman, in Halifax; that Mr. Marchinton was dead, and had grieved
+very much at my disappearance; that I was supposed to be dead. He then
+gave me much advice as to my future course, and reminded me how much I had
+lost by my early mistakes. He was particularly anxious I should quit my
+adopted country, and wished me to remain in Halifax. He offered to send a
+servant with me to find my sister, but I was afraid to let my presence be
+known to so many. I begged my visit might be kept a secret, as I felt
+ashamed of being seen in so humble circumstances. I was well treated, as
+was Jack Mallet, both of us receiving wine and cake, &amp;c. Mr. Fraser also
+gave me a guinea, and as I went away, Mrs. Fraser slipped a pound note
+into my hand. The latter said to me, in a whisper--"I know what you are
+afraid of, but I shall tell Harriet of your visit; she will be secret."</p>
+
+<p>I staid about an hour, receiving every mark of kindness from these
+excellent and respectable people, leaving them to believe we were to sail
+in the morning. When we got back to the transport no one knew of our
+absence, and nothing was ever said of our taking the boat. The Regulus did
+not sail for twenty hours after this, but I had no more communication with
+the shore. We got to sea, at last, two transports, under the convoy of
+the Pictou.</p>
+
+<p>During the whole passage, we eight prisoners kept a sharp look-out for a
+chance to get possession of the ship. We were closely watched, there being
+a lieutenant and his boat's crew on board, besides the Canadians, the
+master, mate, &amp;c. All the arms were secreted, and nothing was left at
+hand, that we could use in a rising.</p>
+
+<p>About mid passage, it blowing fresh, with the ship under double-reefed
+topsails, I was at the weather, with one of the Canadians at the lee,
+wheel. Mallet was at work in the larboard, or weather, mizen chains, ready
+to lend me a hand. At this moment the Pictou came up under our lee, to
+speak us in relation to carrying a light during the night. Her masts swung
+so she could not carry one herself, and her commander wished us to carry
+our top-light, he keeping near it, instead of our keeping near him. The
+schooner came very close to us, it blowing heavily, and Mallet called out,
+"Ned, now is your time. Up helm and into him. A couple of seas will send
+him down." This was said loud enough to be heard, though all on deck were
+attending to the schooner; and, as for the Canadian, he did not understand
+English. I managed to get the helm hard up, and Mallet jumped inboard. The
+ship fell off fast; but the lieutenant, who was on board as an agent, was
+standing in the companion-way with his wife, and, the instant he saw what
+I had done, he ran aft, struck me a sharp blow, and put the helm hard down
+with his own hands. This saved the Pictou, though there was a great outcry
+on board her. The lieutenant's wife screamed, and there was a pretty
+uproar for a minute, in every direction. As the Regulus luffed-to, her
+jib-boom-end just cleared the Pictou's forward rigging, and a man might
+almost have jumped from the ship to the schooner, as we got alongside of
+each other. Another minute, and we should have travelled over His
+Majesty's schooner, like a rail-road car going over a squash.</p>
+
+<p>The lieutenant now denounced us, and we prisoners were all put in irons. I
+am merely relating facts. How far we were right, I leave others to decide;
+but it must be remembered that Jack had, in that day, a mortal enmity to a
+British man-of-war, which was a little too apt to lay hands on all that
+she fell in with, on the high seas. Perhaps severe moralists might say
+that we had entered into a bargain with the captain of the Regulus, not to
+make war on him during the passage; in answer to which, we can reply that
+we were not attacking <i>him</i>, but the Pictou. Our intention, it must be
+confessed, however, was to seize the Regulus in the confusion. Had we been
+better treated as prisoners, our tempers might not have been so savage.
+But we got no good treatment, except for our own work; and, being hedged
+in in this manner, common sailors reason very much as they feel. We were
+not permitted to go at large again, in the Regulus, in which the English
+were very right, as Jack Mallet, in particular, was a man to put his
+shipmates up to almost any enterprise.</p>
+
+<p>The anchor was hardly down, at Bermuda, before a signal was made to the
+Goliah, raz&eacute;e, for a boat, and we were sent on board that ship. This was a
+cruising vessel, and she went to sea next morning. We were distributed
+about the ship, and ordered to go to work. The intention, evidently, was
+to swallow us all in the enormous maw of the British navy. We refused to
+do duty, however, to a man; most of our fellows being pretty bold, as
+native Americans. We were a fortnight in this situation, the greater part
+of the time playing green, with our tin pots slung round our necks. We
+did so much of this, that the people began to laugh at us, as real Johnny
+Raws, though the old salts knew better. The last even helped us along,
+some giving us clothes, extra grog, and otherwise being very kind to us.
+The officers treated us pretty well, too, all things considered. None of
+us got flogged, nor were we even threatened with the gang-way. At length
+the plan was changed. The boatswain was asked if he got anything out of
+us, and, making a bad report, we were sent down to the lower gun-deck,
+under a sentry's charge, and put at "six upon four," again. Here we
+remained until the ship went into Bermuda, after a six weeks' cruise. This
+vessel, an old seventy-four cut down, did not answer, for she was soon
+after sent to England. I overheard her officers, from our berth near the
+bulkhead, wishing to fall in with the President, Commodore Rodgers--a
+vessel they fancied they could easily handle. I cannot say they could not,
+but one day an elderly man among them spoke very rationally on the
+subject, saying, they <i>might</i>, or they might <i>not</i> get the best of it in
+such a fight. For his part, he did not wish to see any such craft, with
+the miserable crew they had in the Goliah.</p>
+
+<p>We found the Ramilies, Sir Thomas Hardy, lying in Bermuda roads. This ship
+sent a boat, which took us on board the Ardent, 64, which was then used as
+a prison-ship. About a week before we reached this vessel an American
+midshipman got hold of a boat, and effected his escape, actually making
+the passage between Bermuda and Cape Henry all alone, by himself.[10] In
+consequence of this unusual occurrence, a bright look out was kept on all
+the boats, thus defeating one of our plans, which was to get off in the
+same way. When we reached the Ardent, we found but four Americans in her.
+After we had been on board her about a week, three men joined us, who had
+given themselves up on board English men-of-war, as native Americans. One
+of these men, whose name was Baily, had been fourteen years in the English
+service, into which he had been pressed, his protection having been torn
+up before his face. He was a Connecticut man, and had given himself up at
+the commencement of the war, getting three dozen for his pains. He was
+then sent on the Halifax station, where he gave himself up again. He
+received three dozen more, then had his shirt thrown over his back and was
+sent to us. I saw the back and the shirt, myself, and Baily said he would
+keep the last to be buried with him. Bradbury and Patrick were served very
+much in the same manner. I saw all their backs, and give the remainder of
+the story, as they gave it to me. Baily and Bradbury got off in season to
+join the Constitution, and to make the last cruise in her during this war.
+I afterwards fell in with Bradbury, who mentioned this circumstance to me.</p>
+
+<p>It is good to have these things known, for I do believe the English nation
+would be averse to men's receiving such treatment, could they fairly be
+made to understand it. It surely is bad enough to be compelled to fight
+the battles of a foreign country, without being flogged for not fighting
+them when they happen to be against one's own people. For myself, I was
+born, of German parents, in the English territory, it is true; but America
+was, and ever has been, the country of my choice, and, while yet a child,
+I may say, I decided for myself to sail under the American flag; and, if
+my father had a right to make an Englishman of me, by taking service under
+the English crown, I think I had a right to make myself what I pleased,
+when he had left me to get on as I could, without his counsel and advice.</p>
+
+<p>After being about three weeks in the Ardent, we eight prisoners were sent
+on board the Ramilies, to be tried as Englishmen who had been fighting
+against their king. The trial took place on board the Asia, 74, a
+flag-ship; but we lived in the Ramilies, during the time the investigation
+was going on. Sir Thomas Hardy held several conversations with me, on the
+quarter-deck, in which he manifested great kindness of feeling. He
+inquired whether I was really an American; but I evaded any direct answer.
+I told him, however, that I had been an apprentice, in New York, in the
+employment of Jacob Barker; which was true, in one sense, as Mr. Barker
+was the consignee of the Sterling, and knew of my indentures. I mentioned
+him, as a person more likely to be known than Captain Johnston. Sir Thomas
+said he had some knowledge of Mr. Barker; and, I think, I have heard that
+they were, in some way, connected. This was laying an anchor to-windward,
+as it turned out, in the end.</p>
+
+<p>We were all on board the Asia, for trial, or investigation, two days,
+before I was sent for into the cabin. I was very much frightened; and
+scarce knew what I said, or did. It is a cruel thing to leave sailors
+without counsel, on such occasions; though the officers behaved very
+kindly and considerately to me; and, I believe, to all of us. There were
+several officers seated round a table; and all were in swabs. They said,
+the gentleman who presided, was a Sir Borlase Warren, the admiral on the
+station.[11] This gentleman, whoever he was, probably saw that I was
+frightened. He slewed himself round, in his chair, and said to me; "My
+man, you need not be alarmed; we know <i>who</i> you are, and <i>what</i> you are;
+but your apprenticeship will be of great service to you." This was not
+said, however, until Sir Thomas Hardy had got out the story of my being an
+apprentice in Jacob Barker's employ, again, before them all, in the cabin.
+I was told to send for a copy of my indentures, by one of the white-washed
+Swedes, that sailed between Bermuda and New York. This I did, that very
+day. I was in the cabin of the Asia, half an hour, perhaps; and I felt
+greatly relieved, when I got out of it. It was decided, in my presence, to
+send me back among the prisoners, on board the Ardent. The same decision
+was made, as to the whole eight of us, that had come on in the Regulus.</p>
+
+<p>When we got back to the Ramilies, Sir Thomas Hardy had some more
+conversation with me. I have thought, ever since, that he knew something
+about my birth, and of my being the prince's godson. He wished me to join
+the British service, seemingly, very much, and encouraged me with the hope
+of being promoted. But, it is due to myself, to say, I held out against it
+all. I do not believe America had a truer heart, in her service, than
+mine; and I do not think an English commission would have bought me. I
+have nothing to hope, from saying this, for I am now old, and a cripple
+but, as I have sat down to relate the truth, let the truth be told,
+whether it tell for, or against me.</p>
+
+<p>We were now sent back to the Ardent; where we remained three weeks, or a
+month, longer. During this time we got our papers from New York; I
+receiving a copy of my indentures, together with the sum of ten dollars;
+which reached me through Sir Thomas Hardy, as I understood. Nothing more
+was ever said, to any of the eight, about their being Englishmen; the
+whole of us being treated as prisoners of war. Prisoners arrived fast,
+until we had four hundred in the Ardent. The old Ruby, a forty-four, on
+two decks, was obliged to receive some of them. Most of these prisoners
+were privateersmen; though there were a few soldiers, and some citizens
+that had been picked up in Chesapeake Bay. Before we left Bermuda, the
+crew of a French frigate was put into the Ardent, to the number of near
+four hundred men. In the whole, we must have had eight hundred souls, and
+all on one deck. This was close stowage, and I was heartily glad when I
+quitted the ship.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after the French arrived, four hundred of us Americans were put on
+board transports, and we sailed for Halifax, under the convoy of the
+Ramilies. A day or two after we got out, we fell in with an American
+privateer, which continued hovering around us for several days. As this
+was a bold fellow, frequently coming within gun-shot, and sporting his
+sticks and canvass in all sorts of ways, Sir Thomas Hardy felt afraid he
+would get one of the four transports, and he took all us prisoners into
+the Ramilies. We staid in the ship the rest of the passage, and when we
+went into Halifax it was all alone, the four transports having
+disappeared. Two of them subsequently got in; but I think the other two
+were actually taken by that saucy fellow.</p>
+
+<p>The prisoners, at first, had great liberty allowed them, on board the
+Ramilies. On all occasions, Sir Thomas Hardy treated the Americans well. A
+party of marines was stationed on the poop, and another on the forecastle,
+and the ship's people had arms; but this was all the precaution that was
+used. The opportunity tempted some of our men to plan a rising, with a
+view to seize the ship. Privateer officers were at the head of this
+scheme, which was communicated to me, among others, soon after the plot
+was laid. Most of the prisoners knew of the intention, and everybody
+seemed to enter into the affair with hearty good-will. Our design was to
+rise at the end of the second dog-watch, overcome the crew, and carry the
+ship upon our own coast. If unable to pass the blockading squadrons, we
+intended to run her ashore. The people of the Ramilies outnumbered us by
+near one-half, and they had arms, it is true; but we trusted to the effect
+of a surprise, and something to the disposition of most English sailors to
+get quit of their own service. Had the attempt been made, from what I saw
+of the crew, I think our main trouble would have been with the officers
+and the marines. We were prevented from trying the experiment, however, in
+consequence of having been betrayed by some one who was in the secret, the
+whole of us being suddenly sent into the cable tiers and amongst the water
+casks, under the vigilant care of sentinels posted in the wings. After
+that, we were allowed to come on deck singly, only, and then under a
+sentinel's charge. When Sir Thomas spoke to us concerning this change of
+treatment, he did not abuse us for our plan, but was mild and reasonable,
+while he reminded us of the necessity of what he was doing. I have no idea
+he would have been in the least injured, had we got possession of the
+ship; for, to the last, our people praised him, and the treatment they
+received, while under his orders.</p>
+
+<p>Before we were sent below, Sir Thomas spoke to me again, on the subject of
+my joining the English service. He was quite earnest about it, and
+reasoned with me like a father; but I was determined not to yield. I did
+not like England, and I did like America. My birth in Quebec was a thing I
+could not help; but having chosen to serve under the American flag, and
+having done so now for years, I did not choose to go over to the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>At Halifax, fifteen or twenty of us were sent on board the old Centurion,
+44, Lord Anson's ship, as retaliation-men. We eight were of the number. We
+found something like thirty more in the ship, all retaliation-men, like
+ourselves. Those we found in the Centurion did not appear to me to be
+foremast Jacks, but struck me as being citizens from ashore. We were well
+treated, however, suffering no other confinement than that of the ship. We
+were on "six upon four," it is true, like other prisoners, but our own
+country gave us small stores, and extra bread and beef. In the way of
+grub, we fared like sailor kings. At the end of three weeks, we eight
+lakesmen were sent to Melville Island, among the great herd of prisoners.
+I cannot explain the reason of all these changes; but I know that when the
+gate was shut on us, the turnkey said we had gone into a home that would
+last as long as the war lasted.</p>
+
+<p>Melville is an island of more than a mile in circumference, with low,
+rocky shores. It lies about three miles from the town of Halifax, but not
+in sight. It is connected with the main by a bridge that is thrown across
+a narrow passage of something like a quarter of a mile in width. In the
+centre of the island is an eminence, which was occupied by the garrison,
+and had some artillery. This eminence commanded the whole island. Another
+post on the main, also, commanded the prisoners' barracks. These barracks
+were ordinary wooden buildings, enclosed on the side of the island with a
+strong stone wall, and on the side of the post on the main, by high, open
+palisades. Of course, a sufficient guard was maintained.</p>
+
+<p>It was said there were about twelve hundred Americans on the island, when
+I passed the gate. Among them were a few French, some of whom were a part
+of the crew of the Ville de Milan, the ship that had been taken before I
+first left Halifax; or more than eight years previously to this time. This
+did, indeed, look like the place's being a home to a poor fellow, and I
+did not relish the circumstance at all. Among our people were soldiers,
+sailors, and 'long-shore-men'. There was no difference in the treatment,
+which, for a prison, was good. We got only "six upon four" from the
+English, of course; but our own country made up the difference here, as on
+board the Centurion. They had a prison dress, with one leg of the trowsers
+yellow and the other blue, &amp;c.; but we would not stand that. Our agent
+managed the matter so that we got regular jackets and trowsers of the true
+old colour. The poor Frenchmen looked like peacocks in their dress, but we
+did not envy them their finery.</p>
+
+<p>I had been on the island about a fortnight, when I was told by Jack
+Mallet that a woman, whom he thought to be my sister, was at the gate.
+Jack knew my whole history, and came to his opinion from a resemblance
+that he saw between me and the person who had inquired for me. I refused
+to go to the gate, however, to see who it was, and Jack was sent back to
+tell the woman that I had been left behind at Bermuda. He was directed to
+throw in a few hints about the expediency of her not coming back to look
+for me, and that it would be better if she never named me. All this was
+done, I getting a berth from which I could see the female. I knew her in a
+moment, although she was married, and had a son with her, and my heart was
+very near giving way, especially when I saw her shedding tears. She went
+away from the gate, however, going up on the ramparts, from which she
+could look down into the prison-yard. There she remained an hour, as if
+she wished to satisfy her own eyes as to the truth of Jack's story; but I
+took good care to keep out of her sight.</p>
+
+<p>As I knew there was little hope of an exchange of prisoners, I now began
+to think of the means of making my escape. Jack Mallet dared not attempt
+to swim, on account of the rheumatism and cramps, having narrowly escaped
+drowning at Bermuda, and he could not join in our schemes. As for myself,
+I have been able to swim ever since danger taught me the important lesson,
+the night the Scourge went down. Money would be necessary to aid me in
+escaping, and Jack and I put our heads together, in order to raise some. I
+had still the ten dollars given me by Sir Thomas Hardy, and I commenced
+operations by purchasing shares in a dice-board, a <i>vingt et un</i> table,
+and a quino table.[12] Jack Mallet and I, also, set up a shop, on a
+capital of three dollars. We sold smoked herring, pipes, tobacco, segars,
+spruce beer, and, as chances of smuggling it in offered, now and then a
+little Jamaica. All this time, the number of the prisoners increased,
+until, in the end, we got to have a full prison, when they began to send
+them to England. Only one of the Julias was sent away, however, all the
+rest remaining at Melville Island, from some cause I cannot explain.</p>
+
+<p>I cannot say we made money very fast. On every shilling won at dice, we
+received a penny; at <i>vingt et un</i>, the commission was the same; as it was
+also at the other games. New cards, however, brought a little higher rate.
+All this was wrong I <i>now</i> know, but <i>then</i> it gave me very little
+trouble. I hope I would not do the same thing over again, even to make my
+escape from Melville Island, but one never knows to what distress may
+drive him.</p>
+
+<p>Some person among the American prisoners--a soldier it was said--commenced
+counterfeiting Spanish dollars. I am afraid most of us helped to circulate
+them. We thought it no harm to cheat the people of the canteens, for we
+knew they were doing all they could to cheat us. This was prison morality,
+in war-time, and I say nothing in its favour; though, for myself, I will
+own I felt more of the consciousness of wrong-doing in holding the shares
+in the gambling establishments, than in giving bad dollars for poor rum.
+The counterfeiting business was destroyed by one of the dollars happening
+to break, as some of the officers were pitching them; when, on
+examination, it turned out that most of the money in the prison was bad.
+It was said the people of the canteens had about four hundred of the
+dollars, when they came to overhaul their lockers. A good many found their
+way into Halifax.</p>
+
+<p>My trade lasted all winter--(that of 1813--14,) and by March I had gained
+the sum of eighty French crowns. Dollars I was afraid to hold on account
+of the base money. The ice now began to give way, and a few of us, who had
+been discussing the matter all winter, set about forming serious plans to
+escape. My confederates were a man of the name of Johnson, who had been
+taken in the Snapdragon privateer, and an Irishman of the name of
+Littlefield. Barnet, the Mozambique man, joined us also, making four in
+all. It was quite early in the month, when we made the attempt. Our
+windows were long, and had perpendicular bars of wrought iron to secure
+them, but no cross-bars. There was no glass; but outside shutters, that we
+could open at our pleasure. Outside of the windows were sentinels, and
+there were two rows of pickets between us and the shore.</p>
+
+<p>I put my crowns in a belt around my waist. Another belt, or skin, was
+filled with rum, for the double purpose of buoying me in the water, and
+of comforting me when ashore. At that day, I found rum one of the great
+blessings of life; now I look upon it as one of the greatest evils. My
+companions made similar provisions of money and rum, though neither was as
+rich as myself. I left Mallet and Leonard Lewis my heirs at law if I
+escaped, and my trustees should I be caught. Lewis was a young man of
+better origin than most in the prison, and I have always thought some
+calamity drove him to the seas. He was in ill health, and did not appear
+to be destined to a long life. He would have joined us, heart and hand,
+but was not strong enough to endure the fatigue which we well knew we must
+undergo, before we could get clear.</p>
+
+<p>The night selected for the attempt was so cold, dark, and dismal, as to
+drive all the sentinels into their boxes. It rained hard, in the bargain.
+About eight, or as soon as the lights were out, we got the lanyards of our
+hammocks around two of the window bars, and using a bit of fire-wood for a
+heaver, we easily brought them together. This left room for our bodies to
+pass out, without any difficulty. Jack Mallet, and those we left behind,
+hove the bars straight again, so that the keepers were at a loss to know
+how we had got off. We met with no obstacle between the prison and the
+water. The pickets we removed, having cut them in the day-time. In a word,
+all four of us reached the shore of the Island in two or three minutes
+after we had taken leave of our messmates. The difficulty lay before us.
+We entered into the water, at once, and began to swim. When I was a few
+rods from the place of landing, which was quite near the guard-house, on
+the main, Johnson began to sing out that he was drowning. I told him to be
+quiet, but it was of no use. The guard on the main heard him, and
+commenced firing, and of course we swam all the harder. Three of us were
+soon ashore, and, knowing the roads well, I led them in a direction to
+avoid the soldiers. By running into the woods, we got clear, though poor
+Johnson fell again into the hands of the enemy. He deserved it for bawling
+as he did; it being the duty of a man in such circumstances to lie with a
+shut mouth.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter IX.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>The three who had escaped ran, for a quarter of a mile, in the woods, when
+we brought up, and took a drink. Hearing no more firing, or any further
+alarm, we now consulted as to our future course. There were some mills at
+the head of the bay, about four miles from the guard-house, and I led the
+party thither. We reached the place towards morning, and found a berth in
+them before any one was stirring. We hid ourselves in an old granary; but
+no person appeared near the place throughout the next day. We had put a
+little bread and a few herrings in our hats, and on these we subsisted.
+The rum cheered us up, and, if rum ever did good, I think it was to us on
+that occasion. We slept soundly, with one man on the look-out; a rule we
+observed the whole time we were out. It stopped raining in the course of
+the day, though the weather was bitter cold.</p>
+
+<p>Next night we got under way, and walked in a direction which led us within
+three miles of the town. In doing this, we passed the Prince's Lodge, a
+place where I had often been, and the sight of which reminded me of home,
+and of my childish days. There was no use in regrets, however, and we
+pushed ahead. The men saw my melancholy, and they questioned me; but I
+evaded the answer, pretending that nothing ailed me. There was a tavern
+about a league from the town, kept by a man of the name of Grant, and
+Littlefield ventured into it. He bought a small cheese and a loaf of
+bread; getting off clear, though not unsuspected. This helped us along
+famously, and we pushed on as fast as we could. Before morning we came
+near a bridge, on which there was a sentinel posted, with a guard-house
+near its end. To avoid this danger, we turned the guard-house, striking
+the river above the bridge. Here we met two Indians, and fell into
+discourse with them. Our rum now served us a better turn than ever, buying
+the Indians in a minute. We told these chaps we were deserters from the
+Bulwark, 74, and begged them to help us along. At first, they thought we
+were Yankees, whom they evidently disliked, and that right heartily; but
+the story of the desertion took, and made them disposed to serve us.</p>
+
+<p>These two Indians led us down to the bed of the river, and actually
+carried us beneath the bridge, on the side of the river next the guard,
+where we found a party of about thirty of these red-skins, men, women and
+children. Here we stayed no less than three days; faring extremely well,
+having fish, bread, butter, and other common food. The weather was very
+bad, and we did not like to turn out in it, besides, thinking the search
+for us might be less keen after a short delay. All this time, we were
+within a few rods of the guard, hearing the sentinels cry "all's well,"
+from half-hour to half-hour. We were free with our rum, and, as much as we
+dared to be, with our money. These people never betrayed us.</p>
+
+<p>The third night we left the bridge, guided by a young Indian. He led us
+about two miles up the river, passing through the Maroon town in the
+night, after which he left us. We wished him to keep on with us for some
+distance further, but he refused. He quitted us near morning, and we
+turned into a deserted log-house, on the banks of the river, where we
+passed the day. The country was thinly populated, and the houses we saw
+were poor and mean. We must now have been about five-and-twenty miles
+from Halifax.</p>
+
+<p>Our object was to cross the neck of land between the Atlantic and the Bay
+of Fundy, and to get to Annapolis Royal, where we expected to be able to
+procure a boat, by fair means if we could, by stealth if necessary, and
+cross over to the American shore. We had still a long road before us, and
+had some little difficulty to find the way. The Indians, however, gave us
+directions that greatly assisted us; and we travelled a long bit, and
+pretty fast all that night. In the morning, the country had more the
+appearance of being peopled and cultivated, and I suspected we were
+getting into the vicinity of Horton, a place through which it would be
+indispensable to pass. The weather became bad again, and it was necessary
+to make a halt. Coming near a log-house, we sent Littlefield ahead to make
+some inquiries of a woman who appeared to be in it alone. On his return,
+he reported well of the woman. He had told her we were deserters from the
+Bulwark, and had promised to pay her if she would let us stay about her
+premises that day, and get us something to eat. The woman had consented to
+our occupying an out-house, and had agreed to buy the provisions. We now
+took possession of the out-house, where the woman visited us, and getting
+some money, she left us in quest of food. We were uneasy during her
+absence, but she came back with some meat, eggs, bread, and butter, at the
+end of an hour, and all seemed right. We made two comfortable meals in
+this out-house, where we remained until near evening. I had the look-out
+about noon, and I saw a man hanging about the house, and took the alarm.
+The man did not stay long, however, and I got a nap as soon as he
+disappeared. About four we were all up, and one of us taking a look, saw
+this same man, and two others, go into the house. The woman had already
+told us that a party of soldiers had gone ahead, in pursuit of three
+Yankee runaways; that four had broken prison, but one had been retaken,
+and the rest were still out. This left little doubt that she knew who we
+were; and we thought it best to steal away, at once, lest the men in the
+house should be consulting with her, at that very moment, about selling us
+for the reward, which we know was always four pounds ahead. The out-house
+was near the river, and there was a good deal of brush growing along the
+banks, and we succeeded in getting away unseen.</p>
+
+<p>We went down to the margin, under the bank, and pursued our way along the
+stream. Before it was dark we came in sight of the bridge, for which we
+had been travelling ever since we left the other bridge, and were sorry to
+see a sentry-box on it. We now halted for a council, and came to a
+determination to wait until dark, and then advance. This we did, getting
+under this bridge, as we had done with the other. We had no Indians,
+however, to comfort and feed us.</p>
+
+<p>I had known a good deal of this part of the country when a boy, from the
+circumstance that Mr. Marchinton had a large farm, near a place called
+Cornwallis, on the Bay, where I had even spent whole summers with the
+family. This bridge I recollected well; and I remembered there was a ford
+a little on one side of it, when the tide was out. The tides are
+tremendous in this part of the world, and we did not dare to steal a boat
+here, lest we should be caught in one of the bores, as they are called,
+when the tide came in. It was now half ebb, and we resolved to wait, and
+try the? ford.</p>
+
+<p>It was quite dark when we left the bridge, and we had a delicate bit of
+work before us. The naked flats were very wide, and we sallied out, with
+the bridge as our guide. I was up to my middle in mud, at times, but the
+water was not very deep. We must have been near an hour in the mud, for we
+were not exactly on the proper ford, of course, and made bad navigation of
+it in the dark. But we were afraid to lose sight of the bridge, lest we
+should get all adrift.</p>
+
+<p>At length we reached the firm ground, covered with mud and chilled with
+cold. We found the road, and the village of Horton, and skirted the last,
+until all was clear. Then we took to the road, and carried sail hard all
+night. Whenever we saw any one, we hid ourselves, but we met few while
+travelling. Next morning we walked until we came to a deserted saw-mill,
+which I also remembered, and here we halted for the day. No one troubled
+us, nor did I see any one; but Littlefield said that a man drove a herd of
+cattle past, during his watch on deck.</p>
+
+<p>I told my companions that night, if they would be busy, we might reach
+Cornwallis, where I should be at home. We were pretty well fagged, and
+wanted rest, for Jack is no great traveller ashore; and I promised the
+lads a good snug berth at Mr. Marchinton's farm. We pushed ahead briskly,
+in consequence, and I led the party up to the farm, just as day was
+dawning. A Newfoundland dog, named Hunter, met us with some ferocity;
+but, on my calling him by name, he was pacified, and began to leap on me,
+and to caress me. I have always thought that dog knew me, after an absence
+of so many years. There was no time to waste with dogs, however, and we
+took the way to the barn. We had wit enough not to get on the hay, but to
+throw ourselves on a mow filled with straw, as the first was probably in
+use. Here we went to sleep, with one man on the look-out. This was the
+warmest and most comfortable rest we had got since quitting the island,
+from which we had now been absent or nine days.</p>
+
+<p>We remained one night and two days in the barn. The workmen entered it
+often, and even stayed some time on the barn-floor; but no one seemed to
+think of ascending our mow. The dog kept much about the place, and I was
+greatly afraid he would be the means of betraying us. Our provisions were
+getting low, and, the night we were at the farm I sallied out, accompanied
+by Barnet, and we made our way into the dairy. Here we found a pan of
+bread, milk, cheese, butter, eggs, and codfish. Of course, we took our
+fill of milk; but Barnet got hold of a vessel of sour cream, and came near
+hallooing out, when he had taken a good pull at it. As we returned to the
+barn, the geese set up an outcry, and glad enough was I to find myself
+safe on the mow again, without being discovered. Next day, however, we
+overheard the men in the barn speaking of the robbery, and complaining, in
+particular, of the uselessness of the dog. I did not know any of these
+persons, although a young man appeared among them, this day, who I fancied
+had been a playfellow of mine, when a boy. I could not trust him, or any
+one else there; and all the advantage we got from the farm, was through my
+knowledge of the localities, and of the habits of the place.</p>
+
+<p>I had never been further on the road between Halifax and Annapolis, than
+to Cornwallis. The rest of the distance was unknown to me, though I was
+familiar with the route which went out of Cornwallis, and which was called
+the Annapolis road. It was a fine star-light evening, and we made good
+headway. We all felt refreshed, and journeyed on full stomachs. We did not
+meet a soul, though we travelled through a well-settled country. The next
+morning we halted in a wood, the weather being warm and pleasant. Here we
+slept and rested as usual, and were off again at night. Littlefield
+pinned three fowls as we went along, declaring that he intended to have a
+warm mess next day, and he got off without discoverv. About four o'clock
+in the morning, we fell in with a river, and left the high-way, following
+the banks of the stream for a short distance. It now came on to blow and
+rain, with the wind on shore, and we saw it would not do to get a boat and
+go out in such a time. There was a rising ground, in a thick wood, near
+us, and we went up the hill to pass the day. We had seen two men pulling
+ashore in a good-looking boat, and it was our determination to get this
+boat, and shape our course down stream to the Bay, as soon as it
+moderated. From the hill, we could overlook the river, and the adjacent
+country. We saw the fishermen land, take their sail and oars out of the
+boat, haul the latter up, turn her over, and stow their sails and oars
+beneath her. They had a breaker of fresh water, too, and everything seemed
+fitted for our purposes. We liked the craft, and, what is more, we liked
+the cruise.</p>
+
+<p>We could not see the town of Annapolis, which turned out to be up-stream
+from us, though we afterwards ascertained that we were within a mile or
+two of it. The fishermen walked in the direction of the town, and
+disappeared. All we wanted now was tolerably good weather, with a fair
+wind, or, at least, with less wind. The blow had driven in the fishermen,
+and we thought it wise to be governed by their experience. Nothing
+occurred in the course of the day, the weather remaining the same, and we
+being exposed to the rain, with no other cover than trees without leaves.
+There were many pines, however, and they gave us a little shelter.</p>
+
+<p>At dusk, Littlefield lighted a fire, and began to cook his fowls. The
+supper was soon ready, and we eat it with a good relish. We then went to
+sleep, leaving Barnet on the look-out. I had just got into a good sleep,
+when I was awoke by the tramp of horses, and the shouting of men. On
+springing up, I found that a party of five horsemen were upon us. One
+called out--"Here they are--we've found them at last." This left no doubt
+of their errand, and we were all retaken. Our arms were tied, and we were
+made to mount behind the horsemen, when they rode off with us, taking the
+road by which we had come. We went but a few miles that night, when
+we halted.</p>
+
+<p>We were taken the whole distance to Halifax, in this manner, riding on
+great-coats, without stirrups, the horses on a smart walk. We did not go
+by Cornwallis, which, it seems, was not the nearest road; but we passed
+through Horton, and crossed the bridge, beneath which we had Waded through
+the mud. At Horton we passed a night. We were confined in a sort of a
+prison, that was covered with mud. We did not like our berths; and,
+finding that the logs, of which the building was made, were rotten, we
+actually worked our way through them, and got fairly out. Littlefield, who
+was as reckless an Irishman as ever lived, swore he would set fire to the
+place; which he did, by returning through the hole we had made, and
+getting up into a loft, that was dry and combustible. But for this silly
+act, we might have escaped; and, as it was, we did get off for the rest of
+the night, being caught, next morning, nearly down, again, by the bridge
+at Windsor.</p>
+
+<p>This time, our treatment was a good deal worse, than at first. A sharp
+look-out was kept, and they got us back to Halifax, without any more
+adventures. We were pretty well fagged; though we had to taper off with
+the black hole, and bread and water, for the next ten days; the regular
+punishment for such misdemeanors as ours. At the end of the ten days, we
+were let out, and came together again. Our return brought about a great
+deal of discussion; and, not a little criticism, as to the prudence of our
+course. To hear the chaps talk, one would think every man among them could
+have got off, had he been in our situation; though none of them did any
+better; several having got off the island, in our absence, and been
+retaken, within the first day or two. While I was in prison, however, I
+remember but one man who got entirely clear. This was a privateers-man,
+from Marblehead; who did get fairly off; though he was back again, in six
+weeks, having been taken once more, a few days out.</p>
+
+<p>We adventurers were pretty savage, about our failure; and, the moment we
+were out of the black hole, we began to lay our heads together for a new
+trial. My idea was, to steer a different course, in the new attempt;
+making the best of our way towards Liverpool, which lay to the southward,
+coastwise. This would leave us on the Atlantic, it was true; but our
+notion was, to ship in a small privateer, called the Liverpool, and then
+run our chance of getting off from her; as she was constantly crossing
+over to the American coast. As this craft was quite small, and often had
+but few hands in her, we did not know but we might get hold of the
+schooner itself. Then there was some probability of being put in a
+coaster; which we might run away with. At all events, any chance seemed
+better to us, than that of remaining in prison, until the end of war that
+might last years, or until we got to be grey-headed. I remembered, when
+the Ville de Milan was brought into Halifax; this was a year, or two,
+before I went to sea; and yet here were some of her people still, on
+Melville Island!</p>
+
+<p>I renewed my trade as soon as out of the Black Hole, but did not give up
+the idea of escaping. Leonard Lewis and Jack Mallet were the only men we
+let into the secret. They both declined joining us; Mallet on account of
+his dread of the water, and Lewis, because certain he could not outlive
+the fatigue; but they wished us good luck, and aided us all they could.
+With Johnson we would have no further concern.</p>
+
+<p>The keepers did not ascertain the means by which we had left the barracks,
+though they had seen the cut pickets of course. We did not attempt,
+therefore, to cut through again, but resolved to climb. The English had
+strengthened the pickets with cross-pieces, which were a great assistance
+to <i>us</i>, and I now desire to express my thanks for the same. We waited for
+a warm, but dark and rainy night in May, before we commenced our new
+movement. We had still plenty of money, I having brought back with me to
+prison forty crowns, and having driven a thriving trade in the interval.
+We got out through the bars, precisely as we had done before, and at the
+very same window. This was a small job. After climbing the pickets, either
+Littlefield or Barnet dropped on the outside, a little too carelessly, and
+was overheard. The sentinel immediately called for the corporal of the
+guard, but we were in the water, swimming quite near the bridge, and some
+little distance from the guard-house on the main. There was a stir on the
+island, while we were in the water, but we all got ashore, safe
+and unseen.</p>
+
+<p>We took to the same woods as before, but turned south instead of west. Our
+route brought us along by the waterside, and we travelled hard all that
+night. Littlefield pretended to be our guide, but we got lost, and
+remained two days and nights in the woods, without food, and completely at
+fault as to which way to steer. At length we ventured out into a high-way,
+by open day-light, and good luck threw an old Irish seaman, who then lived
+by fishing in [missing]. After a little conversation, we told this old
+man we were deserters from a vessel of war, and he seemed to like us all
+the better for it. He had served himself, and had a son impressed, and
+seemed to like the English navy little better than we did ourselves. He
+took us to a hut on the beach, and fed us with fish, potatoes, and bread,
+giving us a very comfortable and hearty meal. We remained in this hut
+until sunset, receiving a great deal of useful advice from the old man,
+and then we left him. We used some precaution in travelling, sleeping in
+the woods; but we kept moving by day as well as by night, and halting only
+when tired, and a good place offered. We were not very well off for food,
+though we brought a little from the fisherman's hut, and found quantities
+of winter-berries by the way-side.</p>
+
+<p>We entered Liverpool about eight at night, and went immediately to the
+rendezvous of the privateer, giving a little girl a shilling to be our
+guide. The keeper of the rendezvous received us gladly, and we shipped
+immediately. Of course we were lodged and fed, in waiting for the schooner
+to come in. Each of us got four pounds bounty, and both parties seemed
+delighted with the bargain. To own the truth, we now began to drink, and
+the next day was pretty much a blank with us all. The second day, after
+breakfast, the landlord rushed into our room with a newspaper in his hand,
+and broke out upon us, with a pretty string of names, denouncing us for
+having told him we were deserters, when we were only runaway Yankees! The
+twelve pounds troubled him, and he demanded it back. We laughed at him,
+and advised him to be quiet and put us aboard the privateer. He then told
+us the guard was after us, hot-foot, and that it was too late. This proved
+to be true enough, for, in less than an hour an officer and a platoon of
+men had us in custody. We had some fun in hearing the officer give it to
+the landlord, who still kept talking about his twelve pounds. The officer
+told him plainly that he was rightly served, for attempting to smuggle off
+deserters, and I suppose this was the reason no one endeavoured to get the
+money away from us, except by words. We kept the twelve pounds, right
+or wrong.</p>
+
+<p>We were now put in a coaster, and sent to Halifax by water. We were in
+irons, but otherwise were well enough treated. We were kept in the
+Navy-yard guard-house, at Halifax, several hours, and were visited by a
+great many officers. These gentlemen were curious to hear our story, and
+we let them have it, very frankly. They laughed, and said, generally, we
+were not to be blamed for trying to get off, if their own look-outs were
+so bad as to let us. We did not tell them, however, by what means we
+passed out of the prison-barracks. Among the officers who came and spoke
+to us, was an admiral, Sir Isaac Coffin. This gentleman was a native
+American, and was then in Halifax to assist the Nantucket men, whom he
+managed to get exchanged. His own nephew was said to be among them; but
+him he would not serve, as he had been captured in a privateer. Had he
+been captured in a man-of-war, or a merchantman, he would have done all
+he could for him; but, as it was, he let him go to Dartmoor--at least,
+this was the story in the prison. The old gentleman spoke very mildly to
+us, and said he could not blame us for attempting to escape. I do not
+think he had ever heard of the twelve pounds; though none of the navy
+officers were sorry that the privateer's-men should be punished. As for
+us, we considered them all enemies alike, on whom it was fair enough to
+live in a time of war.</p>
+
+<p>We were sent back to the island, and were quarantined again; though it was
+for twenty days, this time. When we got pratique, we learned that some one
+had told of the manner in which we got out of prison, and cross-bars had
+been placed in all the windows, making them so many "nine of diamonds."
+This was blocking the channel, and there was no more chance for getting
+off in that way.</p>
+
+<p>A grand conspiracy was now formed, which was worthy of the men in prison.
+The plan was to get possession of Halifax itself, and go off in triumph.
+We were eighteen hundred prisoners in all; though not very well off for
+officers. About fifty of us entered into the plan, at first; nor did we
+let in any recruits for something like six weeks. A Mr. Crowninshield, of
+Salem, was the head man among as, he having been an officer in a
+privateer. There were a good many privateer officers in the prison, but
+they were berthed over-head, and were intended to be separated from us at
+night. The floor was lifted between us, however, and we held our
+communications by these means. The officers came down at night, and lent
+us a hand with the work.</p>
+
+<p>The scheme was very simple, though I do not think it was at all difficult
+of execution. The black-hole cells were beneath the prison, and we broke
+through the floor, into one of them, from our bay. A large mess-chest
+concealed the process, in the day-time. We worked in gangs of six, digging
+and passing up the dirt into the night-tubs. These tubs we were
+permitted to empty, every morning, in a tide's way, and thus we got rid of
+the dirt. At the end of two months we had dug a passage, wide enough for
+two abreast, some twenty or thirty yards, and were nearly ready to come up
+to the surface. We now began to recruit, swearing in each man. On the
+whole, we had got about four hundred names, when the project was defeated,
+by that great enemy which destroys so many similar schemes, treachery. We
+were betrayed, as was supposed by one of our own number.</p>
+
+<p>Had we got out, the plan was to seize the heights of the island, and get
+possession of the guns. This effected, it would have been easy to subdue
+the guard. We then would have pushed for Citadel Hill, which commanded
+Halifax. Had we succeeded there, we should have given John Bull a great
+deal of trouble, though no one could say what would have been the result.
+Hundreds would probably have got off, in different craft, even had the
+great plan failed. We were not permitted to try the experiment, however,
+for one day we were all turned out, and a party of English officers, army
+and navy, entered the barracks, removed the mess-chest, and surveyed our
+mine at their leisure. A draft of six hundred was sent from the prison
+that day, and was shipped for Dartmoor; and, by the end of the week, our
+whole number was reduced to some three or four hundred souls. One of the
+Julias went in this draft, but all the rest of us were kept at Halifax.
+For some reason or other, the English seemed to keep their eyes on us.</p>
+
+<p>I never gave up the hope of escaping, and the excitement of the hope was
+beneficial to both body and mind. We were too well watched, however, and
+conversation at night was even forbidden. Most of the officers were gone
+and this threw me pretty much on my own resources. I have forgotten to say
+that Lemuel Bryant, the man who fell at the breech of my gun, at Little
+York, and whom I afterwards hauled into the Scourge's boat, got off, very
+early after our arrival at Halifax. He made two that got quite clear,
+instead of the one I have already mentioned. Bryant's escape was so
+clever, as to deserve notice.</p>
+
+<p>One day a party of some thirty soldiers was called out for exchange, under
+a capitulation. Among the names was that of Lemuel Bryant, but the man
+happened to be dead. Our Bryant had found this out, beforehand, and he
+rigged himself soldier-fashion, and answered to the name. It is probable
+he ascertained the fact, by means of some relationship, which brought him
+in contact with the soldier previously to his death. He met with no
+difficulty, and I have never seen him since. I have heard he is still
+living, and that he receives a pension for the hurt he received at York.
+Well does he deserve it, for no man ever had a narrower chance for
+his life.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing new, worthy of notice, occurred for several months, until one
+evening in March, 1815, we heard a great rejoicing in Halifax; and,
+presently, a turnkey appeared on the walls, and called out that England
+and America had made peace! We gave three cheers, and passed the night
+happy enough. We had a bit of a row with the turnkeys about locking us in
+again, for we were fierce for liberty; but we were forced to submit for
+another night.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter X.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>The following morning, eight of the names that stood first on the
+prison-roll were called off, to know if the men would consent to work a
+liberated Swedish brig to New York. I was one of the eight, as was Jack
+Mallet and Barnet. Wilcox, one of those who had gone with us to Bermuda,
+had died, and the rest were left on the island. I never fell in with
+Leonard Lewis, Littlefield, or any of the rest of those chaps, after I
+quitted the prison. Lewis, I think, could not have lived long; and as for
+Littlefield, I heard of him, afterwards, as belonging to the
+Washington 74.</p>
+
+<p>The Swede, whose name was the Venus, was lying at the end of Marchinton's
+wharf, a place that had been so familiar to me in boyhood. We all went on
+board, and I was not sorry to find that we were to haul into the stream
+immediately. I had an extraordinary aversion to Halifax, which my late
+confinement had not diminished, and had no wish to see a living soul in
+it. Jack Mallet, however, took on himself the office of paying my sister a
+visit, and of telling her where I was to be found. This he did contrary to
+my wishes, and without my knowledge; though I think he meant to do me a
+favour. The very day we hauled into the stream, a boat came alongside us,
+and I saw, at a glance, that Harriet was in it. I said a few words to her,
+requesting her not to come on board, but promising to visit her that
+evening, which I did.</p>
+
+<p>I stayed several hours with my sister, whom I found living with her
+husband. She did not mention my father's name to me, at all; and I learned
+nothing of my other friends, if I ever had any, or of my family. Her
+husband was a tailor, and they gave me a good outfit of clothes, and
+treated me with great kindness. It struck me that the unaccountable
+silence of my father about us children, had brought my sister down in the
+world a little, but it was no affair of mine; and, as for myself, I cared
+for no one. After passing the evening with the family, I went on board
+again, without turning to the right or left to see a single soul more.
+Even the Frasers were not visited, so strong was my dislike to have
+anything to do with Halifax.</p>
+
+<p>The Venus took on board several passengers, among whom were three or four
+officers of the navy. Lieutenant Rapp, and a midshipman Randolph were
+among them, and there were also several merchant-masters of the party. We
+sailed two days after I joined the brig, and had a ten or twelve days'
+passage. The moment the Venus was alongside the wharf, at New York, we all
+left, and found ourselves free men once more. I had been a prisoner
+nineteen months, and that was quite enough for me for the remainder of
+my life.</p>
+
+<p>We United States' men reported ourselves, the next day to Captain Evans,
+the commandment of the Brooklyn Yard, and, after giving in our names, we
+were advised to go on board the Epervier, which was then fitting out for
+the Mediterranean, under the command of Captain Downes. To this we
+objected, however, as we wanted a cruise ashore, before we took to the
+water again. This was a lucky decision of ours, though scarcely to be
+defended as to our views: the Epervier being lost, and all hands
+perishing, a few months later, on her return passage from the Straits.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Evans then directed us to report ourselves daily, which we did.
+But the press of business at Washington prevented our cases from being
+attended to; and being destitute of money, while wages were high, we
+determined, with Captain Evans' approbation, to make a voyage, each, in
+the merchant service, and to get our accounts settled on our return. Jack
+Mallet, Barnet and I, shipped, therefore, in another brig called the
+Venus, that was bound on a sealing voyage, as was thought, in some part of
+the world where seals were said to be plenty. We were ignorant of the
+work, or we might have discovered there was a deception intended, from the
+outfit of the vessel. She had no salt even, while she had plenty of
+cross-cut saws, iron dogs, chains, &amp;c. The brig sailed, however, and stood
+across the Atlantic, as if in good earnest. When near the Cape de Verds,
+the captain called us aft, and told us he thought the season too far
+advanced for sealing, and that, if we would consent, he would run down to
+St. Domingo, and make an arrangement with some one there to cut mahogany
+on shares, with fustick and lignum-vit&aelig;. The secret was now out; but what
+could we poor salts do? The work we were asked to do turned out to be
+extremely laborious; and I suppose we had been deceived on account of the
+difficulty of getting men, just at that time, for such a voyage. There we
+were, in the midst of the ocean, and we agreed to the proposal, pretty
+much as a matter of course.</p>
+
+<p>The brig now bore up, and stood for St. Domingo. She first went in to the
+city of St. Domingo, where the arrangements were made, and Spaniards were
+got to help to cut the wood, when we sailed for a bay, of which I have
+forgotten the name, and anchored near the shore. The trees were sawed
+down, about ten miles up a river, and floated to its bar, across which
+they had to be hauled by studding-sail halyards, through the surf; one man
+hauling two logs at a time, made into a sort of raft. Sharks abounded, and
+we had to keep a bright look-out, lest they got a leg while we were busy
+with the logs. I had a narrow escape from two while we lay at St. Domingo.
+A man fell overboard, and I went after him, succeeding in catching the
+poor fellow. A boat was dropped astern to pick us up, and, as we hauled
+the man in, two large sharks came up close alongside. This affair had set
+us drinking, and I got a good deal of punch aboard. The idea of remaining
+in the brig was unpleasant to me, and I had thought of quitting her for
+some days. A small schooner bound to America, and short of hands, lay near
+us; and I had told the captain I would come and join him that night. Jack
+Mallet and the rest tried to persuade me not to go, but I had too much
+punch and grog in me to listen to reason. When all hands aft were asleep,
+therefore, I let myself down into the water, and swam quite a
+cable's-length to the schooner. One of the men was looking out for me. He
+heard me in the water, and stood ready to receive me. As I drew near the
+schooner, this man threw me a rope, and helped me up the side, but, as
+soon as I was on the deck, he told me to look behind me. I did so, and
+there I saw an enormous shark swimming about, a fellow that was sixteen or
+eighteen feet long. This shark, I was told, had kept company with me as
+long as I had been in sight from the schooner. I cannot well describe the
+effect that was produced on me by this discovery. When I entered the
+water, I was under the influence of liquor, but this escape sobered me in
+a minute; so much so, indeed, that I insisted on being put in a boat, and
+sent back to the brig, which was done. I was a little influenced in this,
+however, by some reluctance that was manifested to keep me on board the
+schooner. I got on board the Venus without being discovered, and came to a
+resolution to stick by the craft until the voyage was up.</p>
+
+<p>We filled up with mahogany, and took in a heavy deck-load, in the course
+of four months, which was a most laborious process. When ready, the brig
+sailed for New York, We encountered a heavy gale, about a week out, which
+swept away our deck-load, bulwarks, &amp;c. At this time, the master,
+supercargo, mate, cook, and three of the crew, were down with the fever;
+leaving Mallet, Barnet and myself, to take care of the brig. We three
+brought the vessel up as far as Barnegat, where we procured assistance,
+and she arrived safe at the quarantine ground.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as we got pratique, Mallet, Barnet and myself, went up to town to
+look after our affairs, leaving the brig below. The owners gave us thirty
+dollars each, to begin upon. We ascertained that our landlord had received
+our wages from government, and held it ready for us, sailor fashion. I
+also sold my share in the Venus' voyage for one hundred and twenty
+dollars. This gave me, in all, about five hundred dollars, which money
+lasted me between five and six weeks! How true is it, that "sailors make
+their money like horses, and spend it like asses!" I cannot say this
+prodigal waste of my means afforded me any substantial gratification. I
+have experienced more real pleasure from one day passed in a way of which
+my conscience could approve, than from all the loose and thoughtless
+follies, in which I was then in the habit of indulging when ashore, of a
+whole life. The manner in which this hard-earned gold was thrown away, may
+serve to warn some brother tar of the dangers that beset me; and let the
+reader understand the real wants of so large a body of his
+fellow-creatures.</p>
+
+<p>On turning out in the morning, I felt an approach to that which seamen
+call the "horrors," and continued in this state, until I had swallowed
+several glasses of rum. I had no appetite for breakfast, and life was
+sustained principally by drink. Half of the time I ate no dinner, and when
+I did, it was almost drowned in grog. Occasionally I drove out in a coach,
+or a gig, and generally had something extra to pay for damages. One of
+these cruises cost me forty dollars, and I shall always think I was given
+a horse that sailed crab-fashion, on purpose to do me out of the money. At
+night, I generally went to the play, and felt bound to treat the landlord
+and his family to tickets and refreshments. We always had a coach to go
+in, and it was a reasonable night that cost me only ten dollars. At first
+I was a sort of "king among beggars;" but as the money went, Ned's
+importance went with it, until, one day, the virtuous landlord intimated
+to me that it would be well, as I happened to be sober, to overhaul our
+accounts. He then began to read from his books, ten dollars for this,
+twenty dollars for that, and thirty for the other, until I was soon tired,
+and wanted to know how much was left. I had still fifty dollars, even
+according to his account of the matter; and as that might last a week,
+with good management, I wanted to hear no more about the items.</p>
+
+<p>All this time, I was separated from my old shipmates, being left
+comparatively among strangers. Jack Mallet had gone to join his friends in
+Philadelphia, and Barnet went south, whither I cannot say. I never fell in
+with either of them again, it being the fate of seamen to encounter the
+greatest risks and hardships in company, and then to cut adrift from each
+other, with little ceremony, never to meet again. I was still young, being
+scarcely two-and-twenty, and might, even then, have hauled in my oars, and
+come to be an officer and a man.</p>
+
+<p>As I knew I must go to sea, as soon as the accounts were balanced, I began
+to think a little seriously of my prospects. Dissipation had wearied me,
+and I wanted to go a voyage of a length that would prevent my falling soon
+into the same course of folly and vice. I had often bitter thoughts as to
+my conduct, nor was I entirely free from reflection on the subject of my
+peculiar situation. I might be said to be without a friend, or relative,
+in the world. "When my hat was on, my house was thatched." Of my father, I
+knew nothing; I have since ascertained he must then have been dead. My
+sister was little to me, and I never expected to see her again. The
+separation from all my old lakers, too, gave me some trouble, for I never
+met with one of them after parting from Barnet and Mallet, with the
+exception of Tom Goldsmith and Jack Reilly. Tom and I fell in with each
+other, on my return from St. Domingo, in the streets of New York, and had
+a yarn of two hours, about old times. This was all I ever saw of Tom. He
+had suffered a good deal with the English, who kept him in Kingston, Upper
+Canada, until the peace, when they let him go with the rest. As for
+Reilly, we have been in harbour together, in our old age, and I may speak
+of him again.</p>
+
+<p>Under the feelings I have mentioned, as soon as the looks of my landlord
+let me know that there were no more shot in the locker, I shipped in a
+South Sea whaler, named the Edward, that was expected to be absent
+between two and three years. She was a small vessel, and carried only
+three boats. I got a pretty good outfit from my landlord, though most of
+the articles were second-hand. We parted good friends, however, and I came
+back to him, and played the same silly game more than once. He was not a
+bad <i>landlord</i>, as landlords then went, and I make no doubt he took better
+care of my money than I should have done myself. On the whole, this class
+of men are not as bad as they seem, though there are precious rascals
+among them. The respectable sailor landlord is quite as good, in his way,
+as one could expect, all things considered.</p>
+
+<p>The voyage I made in the Edward was one of very little interest, the ship
+being exceedingly successful. The usage and living were good, and the
+whaling must have been good too, or we never should have been back again,
+as soon as we were. We went round the Horn, and took our first whale
+between the coast of South America and that of New Holland. I must have
+been present at the striking of thirty fish, but never met with any
+accident. I pulled a mid-ship oar, being a new hand at the business, and
+had little else to do, but keep clear of the line, and look out for my
+paddle. The voyage is now so common, and the mode of taking whales is so
+well known, that I shall say little about either. We went off the coast of
+Japan, as it is called, though a long bit from the land, and we made New
+Holland, though without touching. The return passage was by the Cape of
+Good Hope and St. Helena. We let go our anchor but once the whole voyage,
+and that was at Puna, at the mouth of the Guayaquil river, on the coast of
+Chili. We lay there a week, but, with this exception, the Edward was
+actually under her canvass the whole voyage, or eighteen months. We did
+intend to anchor at St. Helena, but were forbidden on account of
+Bonaparte, who was then a prisoner on the Island. As we stood in, we were
+met by a man-of-war brig, that kept close to us until we had sunk the
+heights, on our passage off again. We were not permitted even to send a
+boat in, for fresh grub.</p>
+
+<p>I sold my voyage in the Edward for two hundred and fifty dollars, and went
+back to my landlord, in Water street. Of course, everybody was glad to see
+me, a sailor's importance in such places being estimated by the length of
+his voyage. In Wall street they used to call a man "a hundred thousand
+dollar man," and in Water, "an eighteen months, or a two years' voyage
+man." As none but whalers, Indiamen, and Statesmen could hold out so long,
+we were all A. No. 1, for a fortnight or three weeks. The man-of-war's-man
+is generally most esteemed, his cruise lasting three years; the <i>lucky</i>
+whaler comes next, and the Canton-man third. The Edward had been a lucky
+ship, and, insomuch, I had been a lucky fellow. I behaved far better this
+time, however, than I had done on my return from St. Domingo. I kept sober
+more, did not spend my money as foolishly or as fast, and did not wait to
+be kicked out of doors, before I thought of getting some more. When I
+shipped anew, I actually left a hundred dollars behind me in my landlord's
+hands; a very extraordinary thing for Jack, and what is equally worthy of
+notice, I got it all again, on my next return from sea.</p>
+
+<p>My steadiness was owing, in a great measure, to the following
+circumstances. I fell in with two old acquaintances, who had been in
+prison with me, of the names of Tibbets and Wilson. This Tibbets was not
+the man who had been sent to Bermuda with me, but another of the same
+name. These men had belonged to the Gov. Tompkins privateer, and had
+received a considerable sum in prize-money, on returning home. They had
+used their money discreetly, having purchased an English prize-brig, at a
+low price, and fitted her out. On board the Tompkins, both had been
+foremost hands, and in prison they had messed in our bay, so that we had
+been hail-fellows-well-met; on Melville Island. After getting this brig
+ready, they had been to the West Indies in her, and were now about to sail
+for Ireland. They wished me to go with them, and gave me so much good
+advice, on the subject of taking care of my money, that it produced the
+effect I have just mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>The name of the prize-brig was the Susan, though I forget from what small
+eastern port she hailed. She was of about two hundred tons burthen, but
+must have-been old and rotten. Tibbets was master, and Wilson was
+chief-mate. I shipped as a sort of second-mate, keeping a watch, though I
+lived forward at my own request. We must have sailed about January, 1818,
+bound to Belfast. There were fourteen of us, altogether, on board, most of
+us down-easters. Our run off the coast was with a strong north-west gale,
+which compelled us to heave-to, the sea being too high for scudding.
+Finding that the vessel laboured very much, however, and leaked badly, we
+kept off again, and scudded for the rest of the blow. On the whole, we got
+out of this difficulty pretty well. We got but two observations the whole
+passage, but in the afternoon of the twenty-third day out, we made the
+coast of Ireland, close aboard, in thick weather; the wind directly on
+shore, blowing a gale. The brig was under close-reefed topsails, running
+free, at the time, and we found it necessary to haul up. We now discovered
+the defects of old canvass and old rigging, splitting the fore-topsail,
+foresail, and fore-topmast-staysail, besides carrying away sheets, &amp;c. We
+succeeded in hauling up the foresail, however, and I went upon the yard
+and mended it, after a fashion. It was now nearly night, and it blew in a
+way "to need two men to hold one man's hair on his head." I cannot say I
+thought much of our situation, my principal concern being to get below,
+with some warm, dry clothes on. We saw nothing of the land after the first
+half-hour, but at midnight we wore ship, and came up on the larboard tack.
+The brig had hardly got round before the fore-tack went, and the foresail
+split into ribands. We let the sail blow from the yard. By this time,
+things began to look very serious, though, for some reason, I felt no
+great alarm. The case was different with Tibbets and Wilson, who were
+uneasy about Cape Clear. I had had a bit of a spat with them about waring,
+believing, myself, that we should have gone clear of the Cape, on the
+starboard tack. This prevented them saying much to me, and we had little
+communication with each other that night. To own the truth, I was sorry I
+had shipped in such a craft. Her owners were too poor to give a sea-going
+vessel a proper outfit, and they were too near my own level to
+create respect.</p>
+
+<p>The fore-topsail had been mended as well as the foresail, and was set
+anew. The sheets went, however, about two in the morning, and the sail
+flew from the reef-band like a bit of muslin torn by a shop-boy. The brig
+now had nothing set but a close-reefed main-topsail, and this I expected,
+every minute, would follow the other canvass. It rained, blew
+tremendously, and the sea was making constant breaches over us. Most of
+the men were fagged out, some going below, while others, who remained on
+deck, did, or <i>could</i> do, nothing. At the same time, it was so dark that
+we could not see the length of the vessel.</p>
+
+<p>I now went aft to speak to Tibbets, telling him I thought it was all over
+with us. He had still some hope, as the bay was deep, and he thought light
+might return before we got to the bottom of it. I was of a different
+opinion, believing the brig then to be within the influence of the
+ground-swell, though not absolutely within the breakers. All this time the
+people were quiet, and there was no drinking. Indeed, I hardly saw any one
+moving about. It was an hour after the conversation with Tibbets, that I
+was standing, holding on by the weather-main-clew-garnet, when I got a
+glimpse of breakers directly under our lee. I sung out, "there's breakers,
+and everybody must shift for himself." At the next instant, the brig rose
+on a sea, settled in the trough, and struck. The blow threw me off my
+feet, though I held on to the clew-garnet. Then I heard the crash of the
+foremast as it went down to leeward. The brig rolled over on her
+beam-ends, but righted at the next sea, drove in some distance, and down
+she came again, with a force that threatened to break her up. I bethought
+me of the main-mast, and managed to get forward as far as the bitts, in
+order to be out of its way. It was well I did, as I felt a movement as if
+her upper works were parting from the bottom. I was near no one, and the
+last person I saw, or spoke to on board, was Tibbets, who was then
+standing in the companion-way. This was an hour before the brig struck.</p>
+
+<p>There might have been an interval of half a minute between the time I
+reached the windlass, and that in which I saw a tremendous white foaming
+sea rolling down upon the vessel. At this ominous sight, I instinctively
+seized the bitts for protection. I can remember the rushing of the water
+down upon me, and have some faint impressions of passing through a mass of
+rigging, but this is all. When I came to my senses, it was in an Irish
+mud-cabin, with an old woman and her daughter taking care of me. My head
+was bandaged, and most of the hair had been cut off in front I was stiff
+and sore all over me. Fortunately, none of my bones were broken.</p>
+
+<p>The account given me of what had passed, was this. I was found by the old
+man, who lived in the hut, a fisherman and the husband of my nurse, with
+some other persons, lying on my face, between two shelves of rock. There
+was nothing very near me, not even a bit of wood, or a rope. Two lads that
+belonged to the brig were found not far from me, both alive, though both
+badly hurt, one of them having had his thigh broken. Of the rest of the
+fourteen souls on board the Susan, there were no traces. I never heard
+that even their bodies were found. Tibbets and Wilson had gone with their
+old prize, and anything but a prize did she prove to me. I lost a good
+outfit, and, after belonging to her about three weeks, here was I left
+naked on the shores of Ireland, I am sorry to say, my feelings were those
+of repining, rather than of gratitude. Of religion I had hardly a notion,
+and I am afraid that all which had been driven into me in childhood, was
+already lost. In this state of mind, I naturally felt more of the
+hardships I had endured, than of the mercy that had been shown me. I look
+back with shame at the hardness of heart which rendered me insensible to
+the many mercies I had received, in escaping so often from the perils of
+my calling.</p>
+
+<p>It was three days after the wreck, before I left my bed. Nothing could
+have been kinder than the treatment I received from those poor Irish
+people. Certainly no reward was before them, but that which Heaven gives
+the merciful; and yet I could not have been more cared for, had I been
+their own son. They fed me, nursed me, and warmed me, without receiving
+any other return from me than my thanks. I staid with them three weeks,
+doing nothing on account of the bruises I had received. The Susan's had
+been a thorough wreck. Not enough of her could be found, of which to build
+a launch. Her cargo was as effectually destroyed as her hull, and, to say
+the truth, it took but little to break her up. As for the two lads, I
+could not get as far as the cabin in which they had been put. It was two
+or three miles along the coast, and, having no shoes, I could not walk
+that distance over the sharp stones. Several messages passed between us,
+but I never saw a single soul that belonged to the brig, after the last
+look I had of Tibbets in the companion-way.</p>
+
+<p>A coaster passing near the cabin, and it falling calm, the fisherman went
+off to her, told my story, and got a passage for me to Liverpool. I now
+took my leave of these honest people, giving them all I had--my sincere
+thanks--and went on board the sloop. Here I was well treated, nor did any
+one expect me to work. We reached Liverpool the second day, and I went and
+hunted up Molly Hutson, the landlady with whom the crew of the Sterling
+had lodged, when Captain B---- had her. The old woman helped me to some
+clothes, received me well, and seemed sorry for my misfortunes. As it
+would not do to remain idle, however, I shipped on board the Robert Burns,
+and sailed for New York within the week. I got no wages, but met with
+excellent treatment, and had a very short winter passage. In less than
+three months after I left him, I was back again with my old landlord, who
+gave me my hundred dollars without any difficulty. I had sailed with him
+in the Sterling, and he always seemed to think of me a little differently
+from what landlords generally think of Jack.</p>
+
+<p>A good deal was said among my associates, now, about the advantages of
+making a voyage to the coast of Ireland for the purpose of smuggling
+tobacco, and I determined to try my hand at one. Of the morality of
+smuggling I have nothing to say. I would not make such a voyage now, if I
+know myself; but poor sailors are not taught to make just distinctions in
+such things, and the merchants must take their share of the shame. I fear
+there are few merchants, and fewer seamen, man-of-war officers excepted,
+who will not smuggle.[13]</p>
+
+<p>I laid out most of my hundred dollars, in getting a new outfit, and then
+shipped in a small pilot-boat-built schooner, called the M'Donough, bound
+to Ireland, to supply such honest fellows as my old fisherman with good
+tobacco, cheap. Our cargo was in small bales, being the raw material,
+intended to be passed by hand. We had seventeen hands before the mast, but
+carried no armament, pistols, &amp;c., excepted. The schooner sailed like a
+witch, carrying only two gaff-topsails. We made the land in fourteen days
+after we left the Hook, our port being Tory Island, off the north-west
+coast of Ireland. We arrived in the day-time, and showed a signal, which
+was answered in the course of the day, by a smoke on some rocks. A large
+boat then came off to us, and we filled her with tobacco the same evening.
+In the course of the night, we had despatched four or five more boats,
+loaded with the same cargo; but, as day approached, we hauled our wind,
+and stood off the land. Next night we went in, again, and met more boats,
+and the succeeding morning we hauled off, as before. When we saw a boat,
+we hailed and asked "if they were outward bound." If the answer was
+satisfactory, we brailed the foresail and permitted the boat to come
+alongside. In this manner we continued shoving cargo ashore, for quite a
+week, sometimes falling in with only one boat of a night, and, at others,
+with three or four; just as it might happen. We had got about two-thirds
+of the tobacco out, and a boat had just left us, on the morning of the
+sixth or seventh day, when we saw a man-of-war brig coming round Tory
+Island, in chase. At this sight, we hauled up close on a wind, it blowing
+very fresh. As the English never employed any but the fastest cruisers for
+this station, we had a scratching time of it. The brig sailed very fast,
+and out-carried us; but our little schooner held on well. For two days and
+one night we had it, tack and tack, with her. The brig certainly gained on
+us, our craft carrying a balanced reefed-mainsail, bonnet off the foresail
+and one reef in, and bonnet off the jib. The flying-jib was inboard. At
+sunset, on the second night, the brig was so near us, we could see her
+people, and it was blowing fresher than ever. This was just her play,
+while ours was in more moderate weather. Our skipper got uneasy, now, and
+determined to try a trick. It set in dark and rainy; and, as soon as we
+lost sight of the brig, we tacked, stood on a short distance, lowered
+everything, and extinguished all our lights. We lay in this situation
+three hours, when we stuck the craft down again for Tory Island, as
+straight as we could go. I never knew what became of the brig, which may
+be chasing us yet, for aught I know for I saw no more of her. Next day we
+had the signal flying again, and the smoke came up from the same rock, as
+before. It took us three days longer to get all the tobacco ashore, in
+consequence of some trouble on the island; but it all went in the end, and
+went clear, as I was told, one or two boat-loads excepted. The cargo was
+no sooner out, than we made sail for New York, where we arrived in another
+short passage. We were absent but little more than two months, and my
+wages and presents came to near one hundred dollars. I never tried the
+tobacco trade again.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter XI.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>I now stayed ashore two months. I had determined to study navigation, and
+to try to get off the forecastle, in which wise course I was encouraged by
+several discreet friends. I had fallen in with a young woman of
+respectable character and agreeable person, and, to own the truth, was
+completely in irons with her. I believe a mother is a good deal more on
+the look-out than a father, in such matters; for I was overhauled by the
+old woman, and questioned as to my intentions about Sarah, whereas the old
+man was somewhat more moderate. I confessed my wish to marry her daughter;
+but the old woman thought I was too wild, which was not Sarah's opinion, I
+believe. Had we been left to ourselves, we should have got married; though
+I was really desirous of going out once as an officer, before I took so
+important a step. I have sometimes suspected that Sarah's parents had a
+hand in getting me shipped, again, as they were intimate with the captain
+who now proposed to take me with him as his second-mate. I consented to
+go, with some reluctance; but, on the whole, thought it was the best thing
+I could do. My reluctance proceeded from desire to remain with Sarah,
+when the time came; though the berth was exactly the thing I wanted,
+whenever I reasoned coolly on the subject.</p>
+
+<p>I shipped, accordingly, in a vessel of the Costers', called the William
+and Jane, bound to Holland and Canton, as her second-mate. My leave-taking
+with Sarah was very tender; and I believe we both felt much grieved at the
+necessity of parting. Nothing occurred on the passage out worth
+mentioning. I got along with my duty well enough, for I had been broken-in
+on, board the Sterling, and one or two other vessels. We went to the
+Texel, but found some difficulty in procuring dollars, which caused us to
+return to New York, after getting only twenty thousand. We had no other
+return cargo, with the exception of a little gin. We were absent five
+months; and I found Sarah as pretty, and as true, as ever. I did not quit
+the vessel, however; but, finding my knowledge of the lunars too limited,
+I was obliged to go backward a little--becoming third-mate. We were a
+month in New York, and it was pretty hard work to keep from eloping with
+Sarah; but I clawed off the breakers as well as I could. I gave her a
+silver thimble, and told her to take it to a smith, and get our joint
+names cut on it, which she did. The consequences of this act will be seen
+in the end.</p>
+
+<p>We had a little breeze on board the ship before we could get off; the
+people refusing to sail with a new first-mate that had joined her. It
+ended by getting another mate, when we went to sea. I believe that no
+other vessel ever went out with such articles as our crew insisted on. The
+men stipulated for three quarts of water a day, and the forenoon's watch
+below. All this was put in black and white, and it gave us some trouble
+before we got to our destination.</p>
+
+<p>Our passage out was a very long one, lasting two hundred and ten days.
+When we got into the trades, we stripped one mast after the other, to a
+girt-line, overhauling everything, and actually getting new gangs of
+rigging up over the lower-mast-heads. We were a long time about it, but
+lost little or nothing in distance, as the ship was going before the wind
+the whole time, with everything packed on the masts that were rigged.
+Before overhauling the rigging, we fell in with an English ship, called
+the General Blucher, and kept company with her for quite a fortnight.
+While the two ships were together, we were chased by a strange brig, that
+kept in sight three or four days, evidently watching us, and both vessels
+suspected him of being a pirate. As we had six guns, and thirty-one souls,
+and the Blucher was, at least, as strong, the two captains thought, by
+standing by each other, they might beat the fellow off, should he attack
+us. The brig frequently came near enough to get a good look at us, and
+then dropped astern. He continued this game several days, until he
+suddenly hauled his wind, and left us. Our ship would have been a famous
+prize; having, it was said, no less than two hundred and fifty thousand
+Spanish dollars on board.</p>
+
+<p>We parted company with the Blucher, in a heavy gale; our ship bearing up
+for Rio. After getting rid of some of our ballast, however, and changing
+the cargo of pig-lead, our vessel was easier, and did not go in. Nothing
+further occurred, worth mentioning, until we got off Van Diemen's Land.
+Two days after seeing the land, a boy fell from the fore-top-gallant yard,
+while reeving the studding-sail halyards. I had just turned in, after
+eating my dinner, having the watch below, when I heard the cry of "a man
+overboard!" Running on deck, as I was, I jumped into a quarter-boat,
+followed by four men, and we were immediately lowered down. The ship was
+rounded-to, and I heard the poor fellow calling out to me by name, to save
+him. I saw him, astern, very plainly, while on the ship's quarter; but
+lost sight of him, as soon as the boat was in the water. The sky-light-hood
+had been thrown overboard, and was floating in the ship's wake. We steered
+for that; but could neither see nor hear anything more of the poor fellow.
+We got his hat, and we picked up the hood of the sky-light, but could not
+find the boy. He had, unquestionably, gone down before we reached the spot
+where he had been floating, as his hat must have pointed out the place. We
+got the hat first; and then, seeing nothing of the lad, we pulled back to
+take in the hood; which was quite large. While employed in taking it in, a
+squall passed over the boat; which nearly blew it away from us. Being very
+busy in securing the hood, no one had leisure to look about; but the duty
+was no sooner done, than one of the men called out, that he could not see
+the ship! Sure enough, the William and Jane had disappeared! and there we
+were, left in the middle of the ocean, in a six-oared pinnace, without a
+morsel of food, and I myself, without hat, shoes, jacket or trowsers. In a
+word, I had nothing on me but my drawers and a flannel shirt. Fortunately,
+the captain kept a breaker of fresh water in each boat, and we had a small
+supply of this great requisite;--enough, perhaps, to last five men two or
+three days.</p>
+
+<p>All our boats had sails; but those of the pinnace had been spread on the
+quarter-deck, to dry; and we had nothing but the ash to depend on. At
+first, we pulled to leeward; but the weather was so thick, we could not
+see a cable's-length; and our search for the vessel, in that direction,
+proved useless. At the end of an hour or two, we ceased rowing, and held a
+consultation. I proposed to pull in the direction of the land; which was
+pulling to windward. If the ship should search for us, it would certainly
+be in that quarter; and if we should miss her, altogether, our only chance
+was in reaching the shore. There, we might find something to eat; of which
+there was little hope, out on the ocean. The men did not relish the idea
+of quitting the spot; but, after some talk, they came into my plan.</p>
+
+<p>It remained thick weather all that afternoon, night, and succeeding day,
+until about noon. We were without a compass, and steered by the direction
+of the wind and sea. Occasionally it lightened up a little, so as to show
+us a star or two, or during the day to permit us to see a few miles around
+the boat; but we got no glimpse of the ship. It blew so heavily that we
+made no great progress, in my judgment doing very little more than keeping
+the boat head to sea. Could we have pulled four oars, this might not have
+been the case, but we took it watch and watch, two men pulling, while two
+tried to get a little rest, under the shelter of the hood. I steered as
+long as I could, but was compelled to row part of the time to keep myself
+warm. In this manner were passed about six-and-twenty of the most
+unpleasant hours of my life, when some of us thought they heard the report
+of a distant gun. I did not believe it; but, after listening attentively
+some ten or fifteen minutes, another report was heard, beyond all dispute,
+dead to leeward of us!</p>
+
+<p>This signal produced a wonderful effect on us all. The four oars were
+manned, and away we went before the wind and sea, as fast as we could
+pull, I steering for the reports as they came heavily up to windward at
+intervals of about a quarter of an hour. Three or four of these guns were
+heard, each report sounding nearer than the other, to our great joy, until
+I got a glimpse of the ship, about two miles distant from us. She was on
+the starboard tack, close hauled, a proof she was in search of us, with
+top-gallant-sails set over single-reefed topsails. She was drawing ahead
+of us fast, however, and had we not seen her as we did, we should have
+crossed her wake, and been lost without a hope, by running to leeward. We
+altered our course the instant she was seen; but what could a boat do in
+such a sea, pulling after a fast ship under such canvass? Perhaps we felt
+more keen anxiety, after we saw the ship, than we did before, since we
+beheld all the risk we ran. Never shall I forget the sensations with which
+I saw her start her main-tack and haul up the sail! The foresail and
+top-gallant-sail followed, and then the main-yard came round, and laid the
+topsail aback! Everything seemed to fly on board her, and we knew we were
+safe. In a few minutes we were alongside. The boat was at the davits, the
+helm was up, and the old barky squared away for China.</p>
+
+<p>We in the boat were all pretty well fagged out with hunger, toil, and
+exposure. I was the worst off, having so little clothing in cool weather,
+and I think another day would have destroyed us all, unless we had taken
+refuge in the well-known dreadful alternative of seamen. The captain was
+delighted to see us, as indeed were all hands. They had determined to turn
+to windward, on short tacks, until they made the land, the best thing that
+could have been done, and the course that actually saved us.</p>
+
+<p>When we got into the latitude of Port Jackson, the crew was put on two
+quarts of water a man, three quarts having been stipulated for in the
+articles. This produced a mutiny, the men refusing duty. This was awkward
+enough, in that distant sea. The captain took advantage of the men's going
+below, however, to secure the scuttle and keep them there. He then
+mustered us, who lived aft, six men and three boys, and laid the question
+before us, <i>whether we would take the ship into Canton</i>, or go into Port
+Jackson, and get some water. He admitted we were about seventy-five days
+run from Cauton, but he himself leaned to the plan of continuing on our
+course. We saw all the difficulties before us, and told him of them.</p>
+
+<p>There were twenty men below, and to carry them eight or ten thousand miles
+in that situation, would have been troublesome, to say the least, and
+might have caused the death of some among them. We were armed, and had no
+apprehensions of the people, but we did not like to work a ship of five
+hundred tons with so few hands, one-third of whom were boys, so great a
+distance. The crew, moreover, had a good deal of right on their side, the
+articles stipulating that they should have the water, and this water was
+to be had a short distance to windward.</p>
+
+<p>The captain yielded to our reasoning, and we beat up to Port Jackson,
+where we arrived in three or four days. The people were then sent to
+prison, as mutineers, and we watered the ship. We were in port a
+fortnight, thus occupied. All this time the men were in gaol. No men were
+to be had, and then arose the question about trusting the old crew. There
+was no choice, and, the ship being ready to sail, we received the people
+on board again, and turned them all to duty. We had no further trouble
+with them, however, the fellows behaving perfectly well, as men commonly
+will, who have been once put down. No mutiny is dangerous when the
+officers are apprized of its existence, and are fairly ready to meet it.
+The king's name is a tower of strength.</p>
+
+<p>We arrived at Canton in due time, and found our cargo ready for us. We
+took it in, and sailed again, for the Texel, in three weeks. Our passage
+to Europe was two hundred and eleven days, but we met with no accident. At
+the Texel I found two letters from New York, one being from Sarah, and the
+other from a female friend. Sarah was married to the very silversmith who
+had engraven our names on the thimble! This man saw her for the first
+time, when she carried that miserable thimble to him, fell in love with
+her, and, being in good circumstances, her friends prevailed on her to
+have him. Her letter to me admitted her error, and confessed her
+unhappiness; but there was no remedy. I did not like the idea of returning
+to New York, under the circumstances, and resolved to quit the ship. I
+got my discharge, therefore, from the William and Jane, and left her,
+never seeing the vessel afterwards.</p>
+
+<p>There was a small Baltimore ship, called the Wabash, at the Texel, getting
+ready for Canton, and I entered on board her, as a foremast Jack, again.
+My plan was to quit her in China, and to remain beyond the Capes for ever.
+The disappointment in my matrimonial plans had soured me, and I wanted to
+get as far from America as I could. This was the turning point of my life,
+and was to settle my position in my calling. I was now twenty-seven, and
+when a man gets stern-way on him, at that age, he must sail a good craft
+ever to work his way into his proper berth again.</p>
+
+<p>The Wabash had a good passage out, without any unusual occurrence. On her
+arrival at Canton, I told the captain my views, and he allowed me to go. I
+was now adrift in the Imperial Empire, with a couple of hundred dollars in
+my pocket, and a chest full of good clothes. So far all was well, and I
+began to look about me for a berth. We had found an English country ship
+lying at Whampao, smuggling opium, and I got on board of her, as
+third-mate, a few days after I quitted the Wabash. This was the first and
+only time I ever sailed under the English flag, for I do not call my other
+passages in English vessels, sailing <i>under</i> the flag, though it was
+waving over my head. My new ship was the Hope, of Calcutta, commanded by
+Captain Kid, or Kyd, I forget which. The vessel was built of teak, and had
+been a frigate in the Portuguese service. She was so old no one knew
+exactly when she was built, but sailed like a witch. Her crew consisted
+principally of Lascars, with a few Europeans and negroes, as is usual in
+those craft. My wages did not amount to much in dollars, but everything
+was so cheap, they counted up in the long run. I had perquisites, too,
+which amounted to something handsome. They kept a very good table.</p>
+
+<p>The Hope had a good deal of opium, when I joined her, and it was all to be
+smuggled before we sailed. As this trade has made a great deal of noise,
+latterly, I will relate the manner in which we disposed of the drug. Of
+the morality of this species of commerce, I have no more to say in its
+defence, than I had of the tobacco voyage, unless it be to aver that were
+I compelled, now, to embark in one of the two, it should be to give the
+countrymen of my honest fisherman cheap tobacco, in preference to making
+the Chinese drunk on opium.</p>
+
+<p>Our opium was packed in wooden boxes of forty cylinders, weighing about
+ten pounds each cylinder. Of course each box weighed about four hundred
+pounds. The main cargo was cotton, and salt-petre, and ebony; but there
+were four hundred boxes of this opium.</p>
+
+<p>The sales of the article were made by the captain, up at the factory. They
+seldom exceeded six or eight boxes at a time, and were oftener two or
+three. The purchaser then brought, or sent, an order on board the ship,
+for the delivery of the opium. He also provided bags. The custom-house
+officers did not remain in the ship, as in other countries, but were on
+board a large armed boat, hanging astern. These crafts are called Hoppoo
+boats. This arrangement left us tolerably free to do as we pleased, on
+board. If an officer happened to come on board, however, we had early
+notice of it, of course. As third-mate, it was my duty to see the boxes
+taken out of the hold, and the opium delivered. The box was opened, and
+the cylinders counted off, and stowed in the bags, which were of sizes
+convenient to handle. All this was done on the gun-deck, the purchaser
+receiving possession of his opium, on board us. It was his loss, if
+anything failed afterwards.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the buyer had his opium in the bags, he placed the latter near
+two or three open ports, amidships, and hung out a signal to the shore.
+This signal was soon answered, and then it was look out for the smuggling
+boats! These smuggling boats are long, swift, craft, that have
+double-banked paddles, frequently to the number of sixty men. They are
+armed, and are swift as arrows. When all is ready, they appear suddenly on
+the water, and dash alongside of the vessel for which they are bound, and
+find the labourers of the purchaser standing at the ports, with the bags
+of cylinders ready. These bags are thrown into the boat, the purchaser and
+his men tumble after them, and away she paddles, like a racer. The whole
+operation occupies but a minute or two.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the Hoppoo boat sees what is going on, it begins to blow
+conches. This gives the alarm, and then follows a chase from an armed
+custom-house boat, of which there are many constantly plying about. It
+always appeared to me that the custom-house people were either afraid of
+the smugglers, or that they were paid for not doing their duty. I never
+saw any fight, or seizure, though I am told such sometimes happen. I
+suppose it is in China, as it is in other parts of the world; that men
+occasionally do their whole duty, but that they oftener do not. If the
+connivance of custom-house officers will justify smuggling in China, it
+will justify smuggling in London, and possibly in New York.</p>
+
+<p>We not only smuggled cargo out, but we smuggled cargo in. The favourite
+prohibited article was a species of metal, that came in plates, like tin,
+or copper, of which we took in large quantities. It was brought to us by
+the smuggling-boats, and thrown on board, very much as the opium was taken
+out, and we stowed it away in the hold. All this was done in the day-time,
+but I never heard of any one's following the article into the ship. Once
+there, it appeared to be considered safe. Then we got sycee silver, which
+was prohibited for exportation. All came on board in the same manner. For
+every box of opium sold, the mate got a china dollar as a perquisite. Of
+course my share on four hundred boxes came to one hundred and thirty-three
+of these dollars, or about one hundred and sixteen of our own. I am
+ashamed to say there was a great deal of cheating all round, each party
+evidently regarding the other as rogues, and, instead of "doing as they
+<i>would</i> be done by," doing as they <i>thought</i> they <i>were</i> done by.</p>
+
+<p>The Hope sailed as soon as the opium was sold, about a month, and had a
+quick passage to Calcutta. I now began to pick up a little Bengalee, and,
+before I left the trade, could work a ship very well in the language. The
+Lascars were more like monkeys than men aloft, though they wanted
+strength. A topsail, that six of our common men would furl, would employ
+twenty of them. This was partly from habit, perhaps, though they actually
+want physical force. They eat little besides rice, and are small in frame.
+We had a curious mode of punishing them, when slack, aloft. Our standing
+rigging was of grass, and wiry enough to cut even hands that were used to
+it. The ratlines were not seized to the forward and after shrouds, by
+means of eyes, as is done in our vessels, but were made fast by a round
+turn, and stopping back the ends. We used to take down all the ratlines,
+and make the darkies go up without them. In doing this, they took the
+rigging between the great and second toe, and walked up, instead of
+shinning it, like Christians. This soon gave them sore toes, and they
+would beg hard to have the ratlines replaced. On the whole, they were
+easily managed, and were respectful and obedient. We had near a hundred of
+these fellows in the Hope, and kept them at work by means of a boatswain
+and four mates, all countrymen of their own. In addition, we had about
+thirty more souls, including the Europeans--Christians, as we were called!</p>
+
+<p>At Calcutta we loaded with cotton, and returned to Canton, having another
+short passage. We had no opium in the ship, this time, it being out of
+season; but we smuggled cargo in, as before. We lay at Whampao a few
+weeks, and returned to Calcutta. By this time the Hope was dying of old
+age, and Captain Kyd began to think, if he did not bury her, she might
+bury him. Her beams actually dropped, as we removed the cotton at Canton,
+though she still remained tight. But it would have been dangerous to
+encounter heavy weather in her.</p>
+
+<p>A new ship, called the Hopping Castle, had been built by Captain Kyd's
+father-in-law, expressly for him. She was a stout large vessel, and
+promised to sail well. The officers wore all transferred to her; but most
+of the old Lascars refused to ship, on account of a quarrel with the
+boatswain. This compelled us to ship a new set of these men, most of whom
+were strangers to us.</p>
+
+<p>By a law of Calcutta, if anything happens to a vessel before she gets to
+sea, the people retain the two months' advance it is customary to give
+them. This rule brought us into difficulty. The Hopping Castle cleared for
+Bombay, with a light cargo. We had dropped down the river, discharged the
+pilot, and made sail on our course, when a fire suddenly broke up out of
+the fore-hatch. A quantity of grass junk, and two or three cables of the
+same material, were in that part of the ship, and they all burnt like
+tinder. I went with the other officers and threw overboard the powder,
+but it was useless to attempt extinguishing the flames. Luckily, there
+were two pilot brigs still near us, and they came alongside and received
+all hands. The Hopping Castle burnt to the water's edge, and we saw her
+wreck go down. This was a short career for so fine a ship, and it gave us
+all great pain; all but the rascals of Lascars. I lost everything I had in
+the world in her, but a few clothes I saved in a small trunk. I had little
+or no money, Calcutta being no place for economy. In a country in which it
+is a distinction to be a white man, and <i>called</i> a Christian, one must
+maintain his dignity by a little extravagance.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Kyd felt satisfied that the Lascars had set his ship on fire, and
+he had us all landed on Tiger Island. Here the serang, or boatswain, took
+the matter in hand, and attempted to find out the facts. I was present at
+the proceeding, and witnessed it all. It was so remarkable as to deserve
+being mentioned. The men were drawn up in rings, of twenty or thirty each,
+and the boatswain stood in the centre. He then put a little white powder
+into each man's hand, and ordered him to spit in it. The idea was that the
+innocent men would spit without any difficulty, while the mouths of the
+guilty would become too dry and husky to allow them to comply. At any
+rate, the serang picked out ten men as guilty, and they were sent to
+Calcutta to be tried. I was told, afterwards, that all these ten men
+admitted their guilt, criminated two more, and that the whole twelve were
+subsequently hanged in chains, near Castle William. Of the legal trial and
+execution I know nothing, unless by report; but the trial by spittle, I
+saw with my own eyes; and it was evident the Lascars looked upon it as a
+very serious matter. I never saw criminals in court betray more
+uneasiness, than these fellows, while the serang was busy with them.</p>
+
+<p>I was now out of employment. Captain Kyd wished me to go on an indigo
+plantation, offering me high wages. I never drank at sea, and had behaved
+in a way to gain his confidence, I believe, so that he urged me a good
+deal to accept his offers. I would not consent, however, being afraid of
+death. There was a Philadelphia ship, called the Benjamin Rush, at
+Calcutta, and I determined to join her. By this time, I felt less on the
+subject of my disappointment, and had a desire to see home, again. I
+shipped, accordingly, in the vessel mentioned, as a foremast hand. We
+sailed soon after, and had a pleasant passage to the Capes of the
+Delaware, which I now entered, again, for the first time since I had done
+so on my return from my original voyage on the Sterling.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as paid off, I proceeded to New York. I was short of cash; and, my
+old landlord being dead, I had to look about me for a new ship. This time,
+I went in a brig, called the Boxer, a clipper, belonging to John Jacob
+Astor, bound to Canton. This proved to be a pleasant and successful
+voyage, so far as the vessel was concerned, at least; the brig being back
+at New York, again, eight months after we sailed. I went in her before
+the mast.</p>
+
+<p>My money was soon gone; and I was obliged to ship again. I now went as
+second-mate, in the Trio; an old English prize-ship, belonging to David
+Dunham. We were bound to Batavia, and sailed in January. After being a
+short time at sea, we found all our water gone, with the exception of one
+cask. The remainder had been lost by the bursting of the hoops, in
+consequence of the water's having frozen. We went on a short allowance;
+and suffered a good deal by the privation. Our supercargo, a young
+gentleman of the name of Croes, came near dying. We went on, however,
+intending to go into one of the Cape de Verdes. We got up our casks, and
+repaired them, in the meanwhile. Off the Island of Fuego, we hove to, and
+found we could get no water. We got a few goats, and a little fruit; but
+were compelled to proceed. Luckily, it came on to rain very hard, and we
+stopped all the scuppers, filling every cask we had, in this easy manner.
+We began about eight at night, and were through before morning. Capital
+water it proved; and it lasted us to Batavia. There, indeed, it would even
+have brought a premium; being so much better than anything to be had in
+that port. It changed; but sweetened itself very soon.</p>
+
+<p>We first went into Batavia, and entered the ship; after which, we sailed
+for a roadstead, called Terragall, to take in rice. The vessel was in
+ballast, and had brought money to make her purchases with. We got our
+cargo off in boats, and sailed for Batavia, to clear; all within a few
+weeks. The second night out, the ship struck, in fair weather, and a
+moderate sea, on a mud-bank; and brought up all standing. We first
+endeavoured to force the vessel over the bank; but this did not succeed;
+and, the tide leaving her, the ship fell over on her bilge; bringing her
+gunwales under water. Luckily, she lay quiet; though a good deal strained.
+The captain now took a boat, and four men, and pulled ashore, to get
+prows, to lighten the vessel. We had but eight men before the mast, and
+six aft. This, of course, left only nine souls on board. That night
+nothing occurred; but, in the morning early, two piratical prows
+approached, and showed a disposition to board us. Mr. Croes was the person
+who saved the ship. He stuck up handspikes, and other objects, about deck;
+putting hats and caps on them, so as to make us appear very strong-handed.
+At the same time, we got a couple of sixes to bear on the prows; and
+succeeded in keeping them at a safe distance. They hovered about until
+sunset, when they left us; pulling ashore. Just as they were quitting us,
+twenty-seven boats hove in sight; and we made a signal to them, which was
+not answered. We set them down as enemies, too; but, as they came nearer,
+we perceived our own boat among them, and felt certain it was the captain.</p>
+
+<p>We discharged everything betwixt decks into the boats, that night, and got
+the ship afloat before morning. We now hove clear of the bank, restowed
+the cargo, and made sail for Batavia. The ship leaked badly, and kept us
+hard at the pumps. As there were no means for repairing the vessel where
+we were, it was resolved to take in extra hands, ship two box-pumps, and
+carry the vessel to the Isle of France, in order to repair her. I did not
+like the prospect of such a passage, and confess I played "old soldier" to
+get rid of it. I contrived to get, on a sick ticket, into the hospital,
+and the ship sailed without me. At the Isle of France, the Trio was
+condemned; her hulk being, in truth, much worse than my own, docked
+though I was.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter XII.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>As soon as the Trio was off, I got well. Little did I then think of the
+great risk I ran in going ashore; for it was almost certain death for an
+European to land, for any length of time, at that season. Still less did
+I, or <i>could</i> I, anticipate what was to happen to myself, in this very
+hospital, a few years later; or how long I was to be one of its truly
+suffering, and, I hope, repentant inmates. The consul was frank enough to
+tell me that I had been shamming Abraham; and I so far imitated his
+sincerity as distinctly to state, it was quite true. I thought the old
+Trio ought to have been left on the bank, where Providence had placed her;
+but, it being the pleasure of her captain and the supercargo to take her
+bones to the Isle of France for burial, I did not choose to go so far,
+weeping through the pumps, to attend her funeral.</p>
+
+<p>As the consul held my wages, and refused to give me any money, I was
+compelled to get on board some vessel as soon as I could. Batavia was not
+a place for an American constitution, and I was glad to be off. I shipped,
+before the mast, in the Clyde, of Salem, a good little ship, with good
+living and good treatment. We sailed immediately, but not soon enough to
+escape the Batavia fever. Two of the crew died, about a week out, and were
+buried in the Straits of Banca. The day we lost sight of Java Head, it
+came on to blow fresh, and we had to take in the jib, and double-reef the
+topsails. A man of the name of Day went down on the bowsprit shrouds to
+clear the jib-sheets, when the ship made a heavy pitch, and washed him
+away. The second mate and myself got into the boat, and were lowered as
+soon as the ship was rounded-to. There was a very heavy sea on, but we
+succeeded in finding the poor fellow, who was swimming with great apparent
+strength. His face was towards the boat, and, as we came near, I rose, and
+threw the blade of my oar towards him, calling out to him to be of good
+cheer. At this instant, Day seemed to spring nearly his length out of
+water, and immediately sunk. What caused this extraordinary effort, and
+sudden failure, was never known. I have sometimes thought a shark must
+have struck him, though I saw neither blood nor fish. The man was
+hopelessly lost, and we returned to the ship, feeling as seamen always
+feel on such occasions.</p>
+
+<p>A few days later, another man died of the fever. This left but five of us
+in the forecastle, with the ship a long way to the eastward of the Cape of
+Good Hope. Before we got up with the Cape, another foremast hand went
+crazy, and, instead of helping us, became a cause of much trouble for the
+rest of the passage. In the end, he died, mad. We had now only three men
+in a watch, the officers included; and of course, it was trick and trick
+at the helm. Notwithstanding all this, we did very well, having a good
+run, until we got on the coast, which we reached in the month of January.
+A north-wester drove us off, and we had a pretty tough week of it, but
+brought the ship up to the Hook, at the end of that time, and anchored her
+safely in the East River. The Clyde must have been a ship of about three
+hundred tons, and, including every one on board, nine of us sailed her
+from the eastward of the Cape to her port, without any serious difficulty.</p>
+
+<p>I did not stay long ashore, for the money went like smoke, but shipped in
+a brig called the Margaret, bound to Belfast. This vessel struck in the
+Irish channel, but she was backed off with little difficulty, and got safe
+into her port. The return passage was pleasant, and without any accident.</p>
+
+<p>Such a voyage left little to spend, and I was soon on the look-out for a
+fresh berth. I shipped this time as mate, in a brig called the William
+Henry, bound on a smuggling voyage to the coast of Spain. We took in
+tobacco, segars, &amp;c. &amp;c., and the brig dropped down to Staten Island. Here
+I quarrelled with the captain about some cotton wick, and I threw up my
+situation. I knew there were more ships than parish churches, and felt no
+concern about finding a place in one, up at town. The balance of my
+advance was paid back, and I left the smuggling trade, like an honest man.
+I only wish this change of purpose had proceeded from a better motive.</p>
+
+<p>My next windfall was Jack's berth on board a beautiful little schooner
+called the Ida, that was to sail for Cura&ccedil;oa, in the hope of being
+purchased by the governor of the island or a yacht. I expected to find my
+way to the Spanish main, after the craft was sold. We got out without any
+accident, going into port of a Sunday morning. The same morning, an
+English frigate and a sloop-of-war came in and anchored. That afternoon
+these vessels commenced giving liberty to their men. We were alongside of
+a wharf, and, in the afternoon, our crew took a drift in some public
+gardens in the suburbs of the town. Here an incident occurred that is
+sufficiently singular to be mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>I was by myself in the garden, ruminating on the past, and, I suppose,
+looking melancholy and in the market, when I perceived an English
+man-of-war's-man eyeing me pretty closely. After a while, he came up, and
+fell into discourse with me. Something that fell from him made me distrust
+him from the first, and I acted with great caution. After sounding me for
+some time, he inquired if I had any berth. I told him, no. He then went
+on, little by little, until he got such answers as gave him confidence,
+when he let me into the secret of his real object. He said he belonged to
+the frigate, and had liberty until next morning--that he and four of his
+shipmates who were ashore, had determined to get possession of the pretty
+little Yankee schooner that was lying alongside of the Telegraph, at the
+wharf, and carry her down to Laguayra. All this was to be done that night,
+and he wished me to join the party. By what fell from this man, I made no
+doubt his design was to turn pirate, after he had sold the flour then in
+the Ida. I encouraged him to so on, and we drank together, until he let me
+into his whole plan. The scheme was to come on board the schooner, after
+the crew had turned in, to fasten all hands below, set the foresail and
+jib, and run out with the land-breeze; a thing that was feasible enough,
+considering there is never any watch kept in merchant-vessels that lie
+at wharves.</p>
+
+<p>After a long talk, I consented to join the enterprise, and agreed to be,
+at nine o'clock, on board the Telegraph, a Philadelphia ship, outside of
+which our schooner lay. This vessel had a crew of blacks, and, as most of
+them were then ashore, it was supposed many would not return to her that
+night. My conspirator observed--"the Yankees that belong to the schooner
+are up yonder in the garden, and will be half drunk, so they will all be
+sound asleep, and can give us little trouble." I remember he professed to
+have no intention of hurting any of us, but merely to run away with us,
+and sell the craft from under us. We parted with a clear understanding of
+the manner in which everything was to be done.</p>
+
+<p>I know no other reason why this man chose to select me for his companion
+in such an adventure, than the circumstance that I happened to be alone,
+and perhaps I may have looked a little under the weather. He was no sooner
+gone, however, than I managed to get near my shipmates, and to call them
+out of the garden, one by one. As we went away, I told them all that had
+happened, and we laid our counter-plot. When we reached the Telegraph, it
+was near night, and finding only two of the blacks on board her, we let
+them into the secret, and they joined us, heart and hand. We got something
+to drink, as a matter of course, and tried to pass the time as well as we
+could, until the hour for springing the mine should arrive.</p>
+
+<p>Pretty punctually to the hour, we heard footsteps on the quay, and then a
+gang of men stopped alongside of the ship. We stowed ourselves under the
+bulwarks, and presently the gentlemen came on board, one by one. The
+negroes were too impatient, however, springing out upon their prey a
+little too soon. We secured three of the rascals, but two escaped us, by
+jumping down upon the quay and running. Considering we were all captains,
+this was doing pretty well.</p>
+
+<p>Our three chaps were Englishmen, and I make no doubt belonged to the
+frigate, as stated. As soon as they were fairly pinned, and they
+understood there was no officer among us, they began to beg. They said
+their lives would be forfeited if we gave them up, and they entreated us
+to let them go. We kept them about half an hour, and finally yielded to
+their solicitations, giving them their liberty again. They were very
+thankful for their escape, especially as I told them what had passed
+between myself and the man in the garden. This fellow was one of the two
+that escaped, and had the appearance of a man who might very well become a
+leader among pirates.</p>
+
+<p>The next day the two men-of-war went to sea, and I make no doubt carried
+off the intended pirates in them. As for us seamen, we never told our own
+officers anything about the affair, for I was not quite satisfied with
+myself, after letting the scoundrels go. One scarcely knows what to do in
+such a case, as one does not like to be the means of getting a
+fellow-creature hanged, or of letting a rogue escape. A pirate, of all
+scoundrels, deserves no mercy, and yet Jack does not relish the idea of
+being a sort of Jack Ketch, neither. If the thing were to be done over
+again, I think I should hold on to my prisoners.</p>
+
+<p>We discharged our cargo of flour, and failing in the attempt to sell the
+schooner, we took in dye-wood, and returned to New York. I now made a
+serious attempt to alter my mode of living, and to try to get up a few
+rounds of the great ladder of life. Hitherto, I had felt a singular
+indifference whether I went to sea as an officer, or as a foremast Jack,
+with the exception of the time I had a marriage with Sarah in view. But I
+was now drawing near to thirty, and if anything was to be done, it must be
+done at once. Looking about me, I found a brig called the Hippomenes,
+bound to Gibraltar, and back. I shipped before the mast, but kept a
+reckoning, and did all I could to qualify myself to become an officer. We
+had a winter passage out, but a pleasant one home. Nothing worthy of being
+recorded, however, occurred. I still continued to be tolerably correct,
+and after a short stay on shore, I shipped in the Belle Savage, commanded
+by one of the liberated Halifax prisoners, who had come home in the Swede,
+at the time of my own return. This person agreed to take me as chief mate,
+and I shipped accordingly. The Belle Savage was a regular Curacoa trader,
+and we sailed ten or twelve days after the Hippomenes got in. Our passages
+both ways were pleasant and safe, and I stuck by the craft, endeavouring
+to be less thoughtless and careless about myself. I cannot say, however, I
+had any very serious plans for making provision for old age, my maxim
+being to live as I went along.</p>
+
+<p>Our second passage out to Curacoa, in the Belle Savage, was pleasant, and
+brought about nothing worthy of being mentioned. At Curacoa we took in
+mahogany, and in so doing a particularly large log got away from us, and
+slid, end on, against the side of the vessel. We saw no consequences at
+the time, and went on to fill up, with different articles, principally
+dye-woods, coffee, cocoa, &amp;c. We got some passengers, among whom was a Jew
+merchant, who had a considerable amount of money on board. When ready, we
+sailed, being thirty souls in all, crew and passengers included.</p>
+
+<p>The Belle Savage had cleared the islands, and was standing on her course,
+one day, with a fair wind and a five or six knot breeze, under a
+fore-top-mast studding-sail, everything looking bright and prosperous. The
+brig must have been about a day's run to the southward of Bermuda. It was
+my watch below, but having just breakfasted, I was on deck, and looking
+about me carelessly, I was struck with the appearance of the vessel's
+being deeper than common. I had a little conversation about it, with a man
+in the forechains, who thought the same thing. This man leaned over, in
+order to get a better look, when he called out that he could see that we
+had started a butt! I went over, immediately, and got a look at this
+serious injury. A butt had started, sure enough, just under the chains,
+but so low down as to be quite out of our reach. The plank had started
+quite an inch, and it was loosened as much as two feet, forward and aft.
+We sounded the pumps, as soon as possible, and found the brig was half
+full of water!</p>
+
+<p>All hands were now called to get both the boats afloat, and there was
+certainly no time to be lost. The water rose over the cabin-floor while we
+were doing it. We did not stand to get up tackles, but cut away the rail
+and launched the long-boat by hand. We got the passengers, men, women,
+children, and servants into her, as fast as possible, and followed
+ourselves. Fortunately, there had been a brig in company for some time,
+and she was now less than two leagues ahead of us, outsailing the Belle
+Savage a little. We had hoisted our ensign, union down, as a signal of
+distress, and well knew she must see that our craft had sunk, after it
+happened, if she did not observe our ensign. She perceived the signal,
+however, and could not fail to notice the manner in which the brig was all
+adrift, as soon as we deserted the helm. The strange brig had hauled up
+for us even before we got out the launch. This rendered any supply of food
+or water unnecessary, and we were soon ready to shove off. I was in the
+small boat, with three men. We pulled off a little distance, and lay
+looking at our sinking craft with saddened eyes. Even the gold, that
+precious dust which lures so many souls to eternal perdition, was
+abandoned in the hurry to save the remnants of lives to be passed on
+earth. The Belle Savage settled quite slowly into the ocean, one sail
+disappearing after another, her main-royal being the last thing that went
+out of sight, looking like the lug of a man-of-war's boat on the water. It
+is a solemn thing to see a craft thus swallowed up in the great vortex of
+the ocean.</p>
+
+<p>The brig in sight proved to be the Mary, of New York, from St. Thomas,
+bound home. She received us kindly, and six days later landed us all at no
+great distance from Fulton Market. When my foot touched the wharf, my
+whole estate was under my hat, and my pockets were as empty as a vessel
+with a swept hold. On the wharf, itself, I saw a man who had been
+second-mate of the Tontine, the little ship in which I had sailed when I
+first ran from the Sterling. He was now master of a brig called the
+Mechanic, that was loading near by, for Trinidad de Cuba. He heard my
+story, and shipped me on the spot, at nine dollars a month, as a forward
+hand. I began to think I was born to bad luck, and being almost naked, was
+in nowise particular what became of me. I had not the means of getting a
+mate's outfit, though I might possibly have got credit; but at no period
+of my life did I run in debt. Here, then, my craft got stern-way on her
+again, and I had a long bit of rough water to go over.</p>
+
+<p>The Mechanic sailed four or five days after the Mary arrived, and I
+travelled the old road over again. Nothing happened until we got to the
+southward of Cuba. But my bad luck had thrown me into the West India trade
+at the very moment when piracy was coming to its height in those seas,
+though I never thought on the subject at all. Off the Isle of Pines, one
+morning, we made a schooner and a sloop, in-shore of us, and both bore up
+in chase. We knew them to be pirates, and crowded sail dead before the
+wind to get clear. The captain determined, if necessary, to run down as
+far as Jamaica, where he expected to fall in with some of the English
+cruisers. The schooner sailed very fast, and was for coming up with us,
+but they made the mistake of setting a flying-topsail on board her, and
+from that moment we dropped her. It was thought in our brig, that the
+little craft buried too much, with such a pressure aloft. The chase lasted
+all day, a Sunday, and a part of the night; but the following morning
+nothing was to be seen of either of our pursuers. Our captain, whose name
+was Ray, thought he knew who commanded the schooner, a man who had been
+his enemy, and it was believed the pirates knew our brig, as she was a
+regular trader to Trinidad. This made our captain more ticklish, and was
+the reason he was off so soon.</p>
+
+<p>When we found the coast clear, we hauled up, again, and made our port
+without further molestation. The chase was so common a thing, that little
+was said about the affair. We discharged, took in a new cargo, and sailed
+for home in due time. Care was had in sailing at an early hour, and we
+sent a boat out to look if the coast were clear, before we put to sea. We
+met with no interruption, however, reaching New York in due time.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Ray was desirous I should stick by the brig; but, for some reason
+I cannot explain, I felt averse to returning to Trinidad. I liked the
+vessel well enough, was fond of the captain, and thought little of the
+pirates; and yet I felt an unaccountable reluctance to re-shipping in the
+craft. It was well I had this feeling, for, I have since heard, this very
+schooner got the brig the next passage out, murdered all hands, and burnt
+the vessel, in sight of the port! I set this escape down, as one of the
+many unmerited favours I have received from Providence.</p>
+
+<p>My next berth was that of second-mate on board a new ship, in the
+Charleston trade, called the Franklin. I made the voyage, and, for a
+novelty, did not run in the southern port, which was a rare circumstance
+in that place.</p>
+
+<p>I got but twelve dollars, as dickey, in the Franklin, and left her to get
+twenty, with the same berth, on board a ship called the Foster, commanded
+by the same master as had commanded the Jane, in my former voyage to
+Ireland. The Foster was bound to Belfast, which port we reached without
+any accident. We took in salt, and a few boxes of linens, for Norfolk;
+arrived safe, discharged, and went up the James river to City Point, after
+a cargo of tobacco. Thence we sailed for Rotterdam. The ship brought back
+a quantity of gin to New York, and this gin caused me some trouble. We had
+a tremendous passage home--one of the worst I ever experienced at sea. The
+ship's rudder got loose, and was secured with difficulty. We had to reef
+all three of our top-masts, also, to save the spars; after which we could
+only carry double-reefed topsails. It was in the dead of winter, and the
+winds hung to the westward for a long time. The cook, a surly negro, was
+slack in duty, and refused to make scous for us, though there were plenty
+of potatoes on board. All the people but five were off duty, and it came
+hard on those who kept watch. We determined, at length, to bring the black
+to his senses, and I had him seized to the windlass. Everybody but the
+captain took three clips at him; the fellow being regularly cobbed,
+according to sea usage. This was lawful punishment for a cook.</p>
+
+<p>We got our scous after this, but the negro logged the whole transaction,
+as one may suppose. He was particularly set against me, as I had been
+ringleader in the cobbing. The weather continued bad, the watches were
+much fagged, and the ship gave no grog. At length I could stand it no
+longer, or thought I could not; and I led down betwixt decks, tapped a
+cask of gin, introduced the stem of a clean pipe and took a nip at the
+bowl. All my watch smoked this pipe pretty regularly, first at one cask
+and then at another, until we got into port. The larboard watch did the
+same, and I do think the strong liquor helped us along that time. As bad
+luck would have it, the cook's wood was stowed among the casks, and, one
+morning, just as the last of us had knocked off smoking, we saw the wool
+of this gentleman heaving in sight, through the hatch by which we went
+down. Still, nothing was said until we came to be paid off, when the darky
+came out with his yarn. I owned it all, and insisted we never could have
+brought the ship in, unless we had got the gin. I do believe both captain
+and owner were sorry we had been complained of, but they could not
+overlook the matter. I was mulcted five-and-twenty dollars, and left the
+ship. I know I did wrong, and I know that the owners did what was right;
+but I cannot help thinking, bad as gin is on a long pull, that this did us
+good. I was not driven from the ship; on the contrary, both master and
+Owners wished me to remain; but I felt a little savage, and quitted their
+employment.</p>
+
+<p>That I did not carry a very bad character away with me, is to be proved by
+the fact that I shipped, the same day, on board the Washington, a vessel
+bound to London, and which lay directly alongside of the Foster. I had the
+same berth as that I had just left, with the advantage of getting better
+wages. This voyage carried me to London for the first time since I left it
+in the Sterling. Too many years had elapsed, in the interval, for me to
+find any old acquaintances; and I had grown from a boy to a man. Here I
+got a little insight into the business of carrying passengers, our ship
+bringing more or less, each passage. I stuck by the Washington a year,
+making no less than three voyages in her; the last, as her chief mate.
+Nothing occurred worth mentioning in the four first passages across the
+Atlantic; but the fifth produced a little more variety.</p>
+
+<p>The Washington had proved to be a leaky ship, every passage I made in her.
+We had docked her twice in London, and it had done her good. The first
+week out, on the fifth passage, the ship proved tight, but the weather was
+moderate. It came on to blow heavily, however, when we got to the eastward
+of the Banks; and the vessel, which was scudding under her close-reefed
+main-topsail and foresail, laboured so much, that I became uneasy. I knew
+she was overloaded, and was afraid of the effects of a gale. It was my
+practice to keep one pump ready for sounding the wells, and I never
+neglected this duty in my watch. When the gale was at the height, in my
+forenoon's watch below, I felt so uncomfortable, that I turned out and
+went on deck, in nothing but my trowsers, to sound, although I had sounded
+less than two hours before, and found the water at the sucking-height,
+only. To my surprise, it was now three feet!</p>
+
+<p>This change was so great and so sudden, all of us thought there must be
+some mistake. I carried the rod below, to dry it, and covered the lower
+part with ashes. I could not have been busy in drying the rod more than
+ten or fifteen minutes, when it was lowered again. The water had risen
+several inches in that short period!</p>
+
+<p>All this looked very serious; and I began to think a third raft was to
+founder under me. After a short consultation it was determined to lighten
+the ship. The foresail was hauled up, the men got into the rigging to keep
+clear of the seas, and the vessel was rounded-to. We then knocked away the
+wash-boards in the wake of the two hatches, and began to tumble the
+barrels of turpentine on deck. I never felt so strong in my life, nor did
+so much work in so short a time. During the labour I went below to splice
+the main-brace, and, after putting a second-mate's nip of brandy into my
+glass, filled it, as I supposed, with water, drinking it all down without
+stopping to breathe. It turned out that my water was high-proof gin; yet
+this draught had no more effect on me than if it had been so much cold
+water. In ordinary times, it would have made me roaring drunk.</p>
+
+<p>We tumbled up all the cargo from betwixt decks, landing it on deck, where
+it rolled into the sea of itself, and were about to begin upon the lower
+hold, when the captain called out avast, as the pumps gained fast. Half an
+hour later, they sucked. This was joyful news, indeed, for I had begun to
+think we should be driven to the boats. Among the cargo were some pickled
+calf-skins. In the height of the danger I caught the cook knocking the
+head out of a cask, and stowing some of the skins in a tub. Asking the
+reason why he did this, he told me he wanted to take some of those fine
+skins home with him! It was a pity they should be lost!</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the pumps sucked, the ship was kept away to her course, and she
+proved to be as tight as a bottle. Eight or ten days later, while running
+on our course under studding-sails, we made a large vessel ahead, going
+before the wind like ourselves, but carrying reefed topsails, with
+top-gallant-sails over them, and her ensign whipped. Of course we neared
+her fast, and as we came up with her, saw that she was full of men, and
+that her crew were pumping and bailing. We knew how to pity the poor
+fellows, and running alongside, demanded the news. We were answered first
+with three cheers, after which we heard their story.</p>
+
+<p>The vessel was an English bark, full of soldiers, bound to New Brunswick.
+She had sprung a leak, like ourselves, and was only kept afloat by
+constant pumping and bailing. She had put back for England on account of
+the wind and the distance. Our captain was asked to keep near the
+transport, and we shortened sail accordingly. For three days and nights
+the two vessels ran side by side, within hail; our passengers and officers
+drinking to theirs, and <i>vice vers&acirc;,</i> at dinner. On the fourth day, the
+weather being fine, the wind fair, and our reckoning making us near the
+channel, we told the Englishman we would run ahead, make the land, and
+heave-to. We stood in so far that the poor fellows owned afterwards they
+thought we had left them. This was not our intention, however, for we no
+sooner made the land than we hauled up, and brought them the joyful news
+of its vicinity. They cheered us again, as we closed with them, and both
+ships jogged on in company.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning, being well in with the land, and many vessels in sight, the
+Englishmen desired us to make sail, as they could carry their bark into
+Falmouth. We did so, and reached London, in due time. On our return to New
+York, the Washington was sold, and I lost my preferment in that
+employment, though I went with a character to another vessel, and got the
+same berth.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter XIII.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>My next craft was the Camillus, a ship that was bound to Greenock, via
+Charleston. We got to the latter port without accident, and took in a
+cargo of cotton. The ship was all ready for sailing of a Saturday, and the
+captain had gone ashore, telling me he would be on board early in the
+morning, when we could haul out and go to sea, should the wind be
+favourable. I gave the people their Saturday's night, and went into the
+cabin to freshen the nip, myself. I took a glass or two, and certainly had
+more in me than is good for a man, though I was far from being downright
+drunk. In a word, I had too much, though I could have carried a good deal
+more, on a pinch. The steward had gone ashore, and there being no
+second-mate, I was all alone.</p>
+
+<p>In this state of things, I heard a noise, and went on deck to inquire
+what was the matter. My old ship, the Franklin, was shifting her berth,
+and her jib-boom had come foul of our taffrail. After some hailing, I got
+on the taffrail to shove our neighbour off, when, by some carelessness of
+my own, I fell head-foremost, hitting the gunwale of the boat, which was
+hanging, about half way up to the davits, into the water. The tide set me
+away, and carried me between the wharf and the ship astern of us, which
+happened to be the William Thompson, Captain Thompson, owner Thompson,
+mate Thompson, and all Thompson, as Mathews used to have it. Captain
+Thompson was reading near the cabin windows, and he luckily heard me
+groan. Giving the alarm, a boat was got round, and I taken in. As the
+night was dark, and I lost all consciousness after the fall, I consider
+this escape as standing second only to that from the shark in the West
+Indies, and old Trant's gun, the night the Scourge went down. I did not
+recover my recollection for several hours. This was not the effect of
+liquor, but of the fall, as I remember everything distinctly that occurred
+before I went from the taffrail. Still I confess that liquor did all the
+mischief, as I had drunk just enough to make me careless.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning, I found myself disabled in the left arm, and I went to a
+doctor. This gentleman said he never told a fellow what ailed him until he
+got his whack. I gave him a dollar, and he then let me into the secret. My
+collar-bone was broken. "And, now," says he, "for another dollar I'll
+patch you up." I turned out the other Spaniard, when he was as good as his
+word. Going in the ship, however, was out of the question, and I was
+obliged to get a young man to go on board the Camillus in my place; thus
+losing the voyage and my berth.</p>
+
+<p>I was now ashore, with two or three months of drift before me. Since the
+time I joined the Washington, I had been going regularly ahead, and I do
+think had I been able to stick by the Camillus, I might have brought up a
+master. I had laid up money, and being employed while in port, I was
+gradually losing my taste for sailor amusements, and getting more respect
+for myself. That fall from the Jaffrail was a sad drawback for me, and I
+never recovered the lee-way it brought about.</p>
+
+<p>I was more than two months ashore, behaving myself rationally on account
+of my arm. At the end of that time, I went on board the Sally, a ship also
+bound to Greenock, as her second-mate. This vessel belonged to Charleston,
+and it was intended she should return to her own port. The voyage turned
+out well, and my arm got as strong as ever. On reaching Charleston, I left
+the craft, which was laid up, and shipped in a schooner of the same name,
+bound to St. Domingo, as her chief mate. This was no great craft,
+certainly, though she proved a tight, wholesome sea-boat. We went out
+without any accident, arriving in safety at Cape Henry. After discharging
+cargo, and smuggling on board a quantity of doubloons--four hundred and
+eighty, it was said--we got under way for the island of Cuba. We intended
+to go into Matanzas, and kept along the coast. After crossing the Windward
+Passage, we reached Cuba; and were standing on, with a light wind, under
+our square-sail, the morning of the third day out, when we saw a large
+boat, carrying two sails, standing out from the shore, evidently in chase
+of the schooner. We had on board eight souls, viz. the owner, a Frenchman,
+who had been a dragoon in the service of his own country, but who was now
+between seventy and eighty; the captain, myself, a boy, the cook, and four
+men forward. We could see that there were nine men in the boat. We had no
+arms in the schooner, not even a pistol, and the men in the boat had
+muskets. We did not ascertain this last fact, however, for some time. I
+thought the strangers pirates the moment I saw them come out from under
+the land, but the captain maintained that they were turtle-men. The boat
+was rowing, and came up with us, hand over hand. When near, they commenced
+firing muskets at us, to drive us below. All the crew forward, with the
+cook, ran down into the forecastle, leaving no one on deck but the
+captain, the old Frenchman, and myself. The boy got into the
+companion-way.</p>
+
+<p>What the others did on deck, as these gentry came alongside, amusing
+themselves with keeping up a smart fire of musketry, I do not know; but my
+own occupation was to dodge behind the foremast. It was not long, however,
+before they came tumbling in, and immediately got possession of the
+schooner. One or two came forward and secured the forecastle hatch, to
+keep the people down. Then they probably felt that they were masters. One
+chap drew a fearful-looking knife, long, slender, sharp and glittering,
+and he cut the halyards of the square-sail. All the men I saw in the
+schooner struck me as Americans, or English, affecting to be Spaniards.
+There is such a difference in the height, complexion, and general
+appearance of the people of Spain, and those of the two other countries,
+without reference to the manner of speaking, that I do not think I could
+be mistaken. I saw but one man among these pirates, whom I took for a real
+Spaniard. It is true their faces were all blacked to disguise them, but
+one could get enough glimpses of the skin to judge of the true colour.
+There was no negro among them.</p>
+
+<p>The chap who cut away the square-sail halyards, I felt certain was no
+Spaniard. The sail was no sooner down, than he ran his knife along the
+head, below the bolt-rope, as if to cut away the cloth with the least
+trouble to himself. I was standing near, and asked him why he destroyed
+the sail; if he wanted it, why he did not take it whole? At this, he
+turned short round upon me, raised his arm, and struck a heavy blow at me
+with his fearful-looking knife. The point of the deadly weapon struck
+square on my breast-bone! I fell, partly through the force of the blow,
+and partly from policy; for I thought it safest to be lying on my back. I
+got several hearty kicks, in addition to this fierce attack, together with
+sundry curses in broken Spanish. I spoke in English, of course; and that
+the man understood me was clear enough by the expression of his
+countenance, and his act. The wound was slight, though it bled a good
+deal, covering my shirt and trowsers with blood, as much as if I had been
+run through the heart. An inch or two, either way, in the direction of the
+knife, would certainly have killed me.</p>
+
+<p>I do not know what might haye been the end of this affair, had not one of
+the pirates come forward, at this critical instant, and checked my
+assailant by shaking a finger at him. This man, I feel very certain, I
+knew. I will not mention his name, as there is a doubt; but I cannot think
+I was mistaken. If I am right, he was a young man from Connecticut, who
+sailed one voyage to Liverpool with me in The Sterling. With that young
+man I had been very intimate, and was oftener with him ashore than with
+any other of the crew. His face was blackened, like those of all his
+companions, but this did not conceal his air, manner, size, eyes and
+voice. When he spoke, it was in a jargon of broken English and broken
+Spanish, such as no man accustomed to either language from infancy would
+have used. The same was true as to all the rest I heard speak, with the
+exception of an old fellow in the boat, whom I shall presently have
+occasion to mention, again.</p>
+
+<p>The man I took to be my old shipmate, also seemed to know me. I was but a
+lad when I quitted the Sterling, it is true; but they tell me I have not
+altered a great deal in general appearance. My hair is still black; and
+then, when I was in the very prime of life, it must have been easy to
+recognize me. So strongly was I impressed, at the time, that I saw an old
+acquaintance, I was about to call him by name, when, luckily, it crossed
+my mind this might be dangerous. The pirates wished clearly to be unknown,
+and it was wisest to let them think they were so. My supposed shipmate,
+however, proved my friend, and I received no more personal ill treatment
+after he had spoken to his companion. I sometimes think he was the means,
+indeed, of saving all our lives. He asked me if there was any money, and,
+on my denying it, he told me they knew better: the schooner was in
+ballast, and must have got something for her outward cargo. I refused to
+tell, and he ordered me into their boat, whither the captain had been sent
+before me. In doing all this, his manner wore an appearance, to me, of
+assumed severity.</p>
+
+<p>The poor old Frenchman fared worse. They seemed to know he was owner, and
+probably thought he could give the best account of the money. At any rate,
+he was unmercifully flogged, though he held out to the last, refusing to
+betray his doubloons. The boy was next attacked-with threats of throwing
+him overboard. This extracted the secret, and the doubloons were soon
+discovered.</p>
+
+<p>The captain and myself had been stowed under a half-deck, in the boat, but
+as soon as the money was found, the old Spaniard, who stood sentinel over
+us, was told to let us out, that we might see the fun. There were the
+eight scoundrels, paraded around the trunk of the schooner, dividing the
+doubloons. As soon as this was done, we were told to come alongside with
+our boat, which had been used to carry us to the piratical craft. The
+captain got on board the Sally and I was ordered to scull the rogues, in
+one gang, back to their own craft. The scamps were in high spirits,
+seeming much pleased with their haul. They cracked a good many jokes at
+our expense, but were so well satisfied with their gold, that they left
+the square-sail behind them. They had robbed the cabin, however, carrying
+off, for me, a quadrant, a watch, and a large portion of my clothes. The
+forecastle had not been entered, though the men had four hundred dollars
+lying under a pile of dirt and old junk, to keep them out of sight.</p>
+
+<p>My supposed shipmate bore me in mind to the last. When we reached his
+craft, he poured out a glass of brandy and offered it to me. I was afraid
+to drink, thinking it might be poisoned. He seemed to understand me, and
+swallowed it himself, in a significant manner. This gave me courage, and I
+took the next nip without hesitation. He then told me to shove off, which
+I did without waiting for a second order. The pirates pulled away at the
+same time.</p>
+
+<p>We were a melancholy party, as soon as we found ourselves left to
+ourselves. The old Frenchman was sad enough, and all of us pitied him. He
+made no complaint of the boy, notwithstanding, and little was said among
+us about the robbery. My wound proved trifling, though the old man was so
+bruised and beaten that he could scarcely walk.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as a breeze came, we went into Charleston, having no means to buy
+the cargo we had intended to get at Matanzas. This was the first time I
+was ever actually boarded by a pirate, although I had had several narrow
+escapes before. The first was in the Sterling, off the coast of Portugal;
+the next was in the William and Jane, outward bound to Canton; the third
+was on the bank, in the Trio, off the coast of Java; and the fourth, in
+the Mechanic, on the other side of Cuba. It was not the last of my affairs
+with them, however, as will be seen in the sequel.</p>
+
+<p>I went out in the Sally again, making a voyage to Matanzas and back,
+without any accident, or incident, worth mentioning. I still intended to
+remain in this schooner, the captain and I agreeing perfectly well, had I
+not been driven out of her by one of those unlucky accidents, of which so
+many have laid me athwart-hawse.</p>
+
+<p>We were discharging sugar at Charleston, in very heavy casks. The tide
+being in, the vessel's rail was higher than the wharf, and we landed the
+casks on the rail, from which they were rolled down some planks to the
+shore. Two negroes were stationed on the wharf to receive the casks, and
+to ease them down. One of these fellows was in the practice of running up
+the planks, instead of standing at their side and holding on to the end of
+the hogsheads. I remonstrated with him several times about the danger he
+ran, but he paid no attention to what I said. At length my words came
+true; a cask got away from the men, and rolled directly over this negro,
+flattening him like a bit of dough.</p>
+
+<p>This was clearly an accident, and no one thought of accusing me of any
+connection with it. But the owner of the black looked upon him as one
+would look upon a hack-horse that had been lamed, or killed; and he came
+down to the schooner, on hearing that his man was done for, swearing I
+should pay for him! As for paying the price of an athletic "nigger," it
+was even more impossible for me, than it would seem it is for the great
+State of Pennsylvania to pay the interest on its debt; and, disliking a
+lawsuit, I carried my dunnage on board another vessel that same afternoon,
+and agreed to work my passage to New York, as her second-mate.</p>
+
+<p>The vessel I now went on board of was the Commodore Rodgers, a regular
+liner between the two ports. We sailed next morning, and I paid for the
+poor "nigger" with the fore-topsail. The ship's husband was on board as we
+hauled out, a man who was much in the habit of abusing the mates. On this
+occasion he was particularly abusive to our chief mate; so much so,
+indeed, that I remonstrated with the latter on his forbearance. Nothing
+came of it, however, though I could not forget the character of the man
+who had used such language. When we reached New York, our chief mate left
+us, and I was offered the berth. It was a little hazardous to go back to
+Charleston, but wages were low, and business dull, the yellow fever being
+in New York, and I thought, by a little management, I might give my
+"nigger owner" a sufficient berth. I accordingly agreed to go.</p>
+
+<p>When we got back to Charleston, our ship lay at her own wharf, and I saw
+nothing of my chap. He worked up town, and we lay low down, But another
+misfortune befel me, that led even to worse consequences. The ship's
+husband, who was so foul-mouthed, was as busy as ever, blackguarding right
+and left, and finding fault with everything. Our cargo was nearly out, and
+this man and I had a row about some kegs of white lead. In the course of
+the dialogue, he called me "a saucy son of a b--h." This was too much for
+my temper, and I seized him and sent him down the hatchway. The fall was
+not great, and some hemp lay in the wake of the hatch; but the chap's
+collar-bone went. He sung out like a singing-master, but I did not stop to
+chime in. Throwing my slate on deck in a high passion, I left the ship and
+went ashore. I fell in with the captain on the wharf, told him my story,
+got a promise from him to send me my clothes, and vanished. In an hour or
+two, half the constables in Charleston were in chase of me. I kept so
+close they could not find me, lying snug for a couple of days.</p>
+
+<p>This state of things could not last for ever. The constables were not half
+so ferocious as they seemed; for one of them managed to get me off, on
+board a coaster, called the Gov. Russel; where I engaged, I may say, as
+chief mate and all hands. The Gov. Russel was a Buford trader, making
+trips about fifteen or twenty leagues long. This was the smallest
+navigation, and the smallest craft, a gun-boat excepted, with which I ever
+had anything to do. The crew consisted of two negroes, both slaves to the
+owner, while the captain and myself were aft. Whether she would have held
+so many, or not, I never knew, as the captain did not join, while I
+belonged to her. The schooner lay three miles below the town; and, in so
+much, was a good craft for me; as no one would think of following an old
+Canton trader into such a 'long-shore-looking thing. We busied ourselves
+in painting her, and in overhauling her rigging, while the ship's husband,
+and his myrmidons, amused themselves in searching for me up in town.</p>
+
+<p>I had been on board the Gov. Russel three days, when it came on to blow
+from the southward and westward, in true southern style. The gale came on
+butt-end foremost; and was thought to be as severe, as anything seen in
+the port for many a year. Most of the shipping broke adrift from the
+wharves; and everything that was anchored, a man-of-war and a
+revenue-cutter excepted, struck adrift, or dragged. As for ourselves, we
+were lying at single anchor; and soon began to walk down towards the bar.
+I let go the spare anchor; but she snapped her cables, as if they had been
+pack-thread; and away she went to leeward. Making sail was out of the
+question, had any been bent, as ours were not; and I had to let her travel
+her own road.</p>
+
+<p>All this happened at night; when it was so dark, one could not see,
+between the spray, the storm and the hour, the length of the craft. I knew
+we were going towards the ocean; and my great cause of apprehension was
+the bar. Looking for the channel, was out of the question; I did not know
+it, in the first place; and, had I been a branch-pilot, I could not find
+it in the dark. I never was more completely adrift, in my life, ashore or
+afloat. We passed a most anxious hour, or two; the schooner driving,
+broadside-to, I knew not whither, or to what fate. The two blacks were
+frightened out of their wits; and were of no assistance to me.</p>
+
+<p>At length, I felt the keel come down upon the sands; and then I knew we
+were on the bar. This happened amid a whirlwind of spray; with nothing
+visible but the white foam of the waters, and the breakers around us. The
+first blow threw both masts out of the steps; ripping up the decks to a
+considerable extent. The next minute we were on our beam-ends; the sea
+making a clear breach over us. All we could do, was to hold on; and this
+we did with difficulty. I and the two blacks got on the weather-quarter of
+the schooner, where we lashed ourselves with the main-sheet. As this was a
+stout rope, something must part, before we could be washed away. The craft
+made but two raps on the bar, when she drifted clear.</p>
+
+<p>I now knew we were at sea, and were drifting directly off the coast. As we
+got into deep water, the sea did not make such terrible surges over us;
+though they continued to break over our quarter. The masts were thumping
+away; but for this I cared little, the hold being full of water already.
+Sink we could not, having a wept hold, and being built, in a great
+measure, of pine. The schooner floated with about five feet of her
+quarter-deck above water. Her bows had settled the most; and this gave us
+rather a better chance aft.</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately, we got the worst of this blow at the first go off. The wind
+began to lessen in strength soon after we passed the bar, and by day-light
+it only blew a stiff breeze. No land was in sight, though I knew, by the
+colour of the water, that we could not be a very great distance from the
+coast. We had come out on an ebb-tide, and this had set us off the land,
+but all that southern coast is so low, that it was not to be seen from the
+surface of the ocean at any great distance.</p>
+
+<p>The day that succeeded was sad and dreary enough. The weather was fine,
+the sun coming out even hot upon us, but the wind continued to blow fresh
+off the land, and we were drifting further out, every instant, upon the
+bosom of the ocean. Our only hope was in falling in with some coaster, and
+I began to dread drifting outside of their track. We were without food or
+water, and were partly seated on the rail, and partly supported by the
+main-sheet. Neither of us attempted to change his berth that day. Little
+was said between us, though I occasionally encouraged the negroes to hold
+on, as something would yet pick us up. I had a feeling of security on this
+head that was unreasonable, perhaps; but a sanguine temperament has ever
+made me a little too indifferent to consequences.</p>
+
+<p>Night brought no change, unless it was to diminish the force of the wind.
+A short time before the sun set, one of the negroes said to me, "Masser
+Ned, John gone." I was forward of the two blacks, and was not looking at
+them at the time; I suppose I may have been dozing; but, on looking up, I
+found that one of the negroes had, indeed, disappeared. How this happened
+I cannot say, as he appeared to be well lashed; but I suppose he worked
+himself free, and being exhausted, he fell into the water, and sunk before
+I could get a glimpse of him. There was nothing to be done, however, and
+the loss of this man had a tendency to make me think our situation worse
+than it had before seemed to be. Some persons, all good Christians I
+should suppose, will feel some curiosity to know whether a man in my
+situations had no disposition to take a religious view of his case, and
+whether his conscience did not apprise him of the chances of perdition
+that seemed to stare him in the face. In answer to this, I am compelled to
+say that no such thoughts came over me. In all my risks and emergencies, I
+am not sensible of having given a thought to my Maker. I had a sense of
+fear, an apprehension of death, and an instinctive desire to save my life,
+but no consciousness of the necessity of calling on any being to save my
+soul. Notwithstanding all the lessons I had received in childhood, I was
+pretty nearly in the situation of one who had never heard the name of the
+Saviour mentioned. The extent of my reflections on such subjects, was the
+self-delusion of believing that I was to save myself--I had done no great
+harm, according to the notions of sailors; had not robbed; had not
+murdered; and had observed the mariner's code of morals, so far as I
+understood them; and this gave me a sort of <i>claim</i> on the mercy of God.
+In a word, the future condition of my soul gave me no trouble whatever.</p>
+
+<p>I dare say my two companions on this little wreck had the same
+indifference on this subject, as I felt myself. I heard no prayer, no
+appeal to God for mercy, nothing indeed from any of us, to show that we
+thought at all on the subject. Hunger gave me a little trouble, and during
+the second night I would fall into a doze, and wake myself up by dreaming
+of eating meals that were peculiarly grateful to me. I have had the same
+thing happen on other occasions, when on short allowance of food. Neither
+of the blacks said anything on the subject of animal suffering, and the
+one that was lost, went out, as it might be, like a candle.</p>
+
+<p>The sun rose on the morning of the second day bright and clear. The wind
+shifted about this time, to a gentle breeze from the southward and
+eastward. This was a little encouraging, as it was setting the schooner
+in-shore again, but I could discover nothing in sight. There was still a
+good deal of sea going, and we were so low in the water, that our range of
+sight was very limited.</p>
+
+<p>It was late in the forenoon, when the negro called out, suddenly, "Massa
+Ned, dere a vessel!" Almost at the same instant, I heard voices calling
+out; and, looking round I saw a small coasting schooner, almost upon us.
+She was coming down before the wind, had evidently seen us some time
+before we saw her, and now ranged up under our lee, and hove-to. The
+schooner down boat, and took us on board without any delay. We moved with
+difficulty, and I found my limbs so stiff as to be scarcely manageable.
+The black was in a much worse state than I was myself, and I think twelve
+hours longer would have destroyed both of us.</p>
+
+<p>The schooner that picked us up was manned entirely with blacks, and was
+bound into Charleston. At the time she fell in with us, we must have been
+twenty miles from the bar, it taking us all the afternoon, with a fair
+wind, to reach it. We went below, and as soon as I got in the cabin, I
+discovered a kettle of boiled rice, on which I pounced like a hawk. The
+negroes wished to get it away from me, thinking I should injure myself;
+but I would not part with it. The sweetest meal I ever had in my life, was
+this rice, a fair portion of which, however, I gave to my companion. We
+had not fasted long enough materially to weaken our stomachs, and no ill
+consequences followed from the indulgence. After eating heartily, we both
+lay down on the cabin floor, and went to sleep. We reached the wharf about
+eight in the evening. Just within the bar, the schooner was spoken by a
+craft that was going out in search of the Gov. Russel. The blacks told her
+people where the wreck was to be found, and the craft stood out to sea.</p>
+
+<p>I was strong enough to walk up to my boarding-house, where I went again
+into quarantine. The Gov. Russel was found, towed into port, was repaired,
+and went about her business, as usual, in the Buford trade. I never saw
+her or her captain again, however. I parted with the negro that was saved
+with me, on the wharf, and never heard anything about him afterwards,
+either. Such is the life of a sailor!</p>
+
+<p>I was still afraid of the constables. So much damage had been done to more
+important shipping, and so many lives lost, however, that little was said
+of the escape of the Gov. Russel. Then I was not known in this schooner by
+my surname. When I threw the ship's husband down the hold, I was Mr.
+Myers; when wrecked in the coaster, only Ned.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter XIV.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>Notwithstanding my comparative insignificance, there was no real security
+in remaining long in Charleston, and it was my strong desire to quit the
+place. As "beggars cannot be choosers," I was glad to get on board the
+schooner Carpenter, bound to St. Mary's and Philadelphia, for, and with,
+ship-timber, as a foremast hand. I got on board undetected, and we sailed
+the same day. Nothing occurred until after we left St. Mary's, when we met
+with a singular accident. A few days out, it blowing heavy at the time,
+our deck-load pressed so hard upon the beams as to loosen them, and the
+schooner filled as far as her cargo--yellow pine--would allow. This
+calamity proceeded from the fact, that the negroes who stowed the craft
+neglected to wedge up the beams; a precaution that should never be
+forgotten, with a heavy weight on deck. No very serious consequences
+followed, however, as we managed to drive the craft ahead, and finally got
+her into Philadelphia, with all her cargo on board. We did not lose a
+stick, which showed that our captain was game, and did not like to let go
+when he had once got hold. This person was a down-easter, and was well
+acquainted with the Johnstons and Wiscasset. He tried hard to persuade me
+to continue in the schooner as mate, with a view to carrying me back to my
+old friends; but I turned a deaf ear to his advice. To own the truth, I
+was afraid to go back to Wiscassett. My own desertion could not well be
+excused, and then I was apprehensive the family might attribute to me the
+desertion and death of young Swett. He had been my senior, it is true, and
+was as able to influence me as I was to influence him; but conscience is a
+thing so sensitive, that, when we do wrong, it is apt to throw the whole
+error into our faces.</p>
+
+<p>Quitting the Carpenter in Philadelphia, therefore, I went to live in a
+respectable boarding-house, and engaged to go out in a brig called the
+Margaret, working on board as a rigger and stevedore, until she should be
+ready to sail. My berth was to be that of mate. The owner of this brig was
+as notorious, in his way, as the ship's husband in Charleston I had heard
+his character, and was determined, if he attempted to ride me, as he was
+said to do many of his mates, and even captains, he should find himself
+mounted on a hard-going animal. One day, things came to a crisis. The
+owner was on the wharf, with me, and such a string of abuse as he launched
+out upon me, I never before listened to. A crowd collected, and my blood
+got up. I seized the man, and dropped him off the wharf into the water,
+alongside of some hoop-poles, that I knew must prevent any accident. In
+this last respect, I was sufficiently careful, though the ducking was very
+thorough. The crowd gave three cheers, which I considered as a proof I was
+not so very wrong. Nothing was said of any suit on this occasion; but I
+walked off, and went directly on board a ship called the Coromandel, on
+which I had had an eye, as a lee, for several days. In this vessel I
+shipped as second-mate; carrying with me all the better character for the
+ducking given to the notorious--------.</p>
+
+<p>The Coromandel was bound to Cadiz, and thence round the Horn. The outward
+bound cargo was flour, but to which ports we were going in South America,
+I was ignorant. Our crew were all blacks, the officers excepted. We had a
+good passage, until we got off Cape Trafalgar, when it came on to blow
+heavily, directly on end. We lay-to off the Cape two days, and then ran
+into Gibraltar, and anchored. Here we lay about a fortnight, when there
+came on a gale from the south-west, which sent a tremendous sea in from
+the Atlantic. This gale commenced in the afternoon, and blew very heavily
+all that night. The force of the wind increased, little by little, until
+it began to tell seriously among the shipping, of which a great number
+were lying in front of the Rock. The second day of the gale, our ship was
+pitching bows under, sending the water aft to the taffrail, while many
+other craft struck adrift, or foundered at their anchors. The Coromandel
+had one chain cable, and this was out. It was the only cable we used for
+the first twenty-four hours. As the gale increased, however, it was
+thought necessary to let go the sheet-anchor, which had a hempen cable
+bent to it. Our chain, indeed, was said to be the first that was ever used
+out of Philadelphia, though it had then been in the ship for some time,
+and had proved itself a faithful servant the voyage before. Unfortunately,
+most of the chain was out before we let go the sheet-anchor, and there was
+no possibility of getting out a scope of the hempen cable. Dragging on
+shore, where we lay, was pretty much out of the question, as the bottom
+shelved inward, and the anchor, to come home, must have gone up hill.[14]</p>
+
+<p>In this manner the Coromandel rode for two nights and two days, the sea
+getting worse and worse, and the wind, it anything, rather increasing. We
+took the weight of the last in squalls, some of which were terrific. By
+this time the bay was well cleared of craft, nearly everything having
+sunk, or gone ashore. An English packet lay directly ahead of us, rather
+more than a cable's length distant, and she held on like ourselves. The
+Governor Brooks, of Boston, lay over nearer to Algesiras, where the sea
+and wind were a little broken, and, of course, she made better weather
+than ourselves.</p>
+
+<p>About eight o'clock, the third night, I was in the cabin, when the men on
+deck sung out that the chain had gone. At this time the ship had been
+pitching her spritsail-yard under water, and it blew a little hurricane.
+We were on deck in a moment, all hands paying out sheet. We brought the
+ship up with this cable, but not until she got it nearly to the better
+end. Unfortunately, we had got into shoal water, or what became shoal
+water by the depth of the troughs. It was said, afterwards, we were in
+five fathoms water at this time, but for this I will not vouch. It seems
+too much water for what happened. Our anchor, however, did actually lie in
+sixteen fathoms.</p>
+
+<p>We had hardly paid out the cable, before the ship came down upon the
+bottom, on an even keel, apparently, with a force that almost threw those
+on deck off their feet. These blows were repeated, from time to time, at
+intervals of several minutes, some of the thumps being much heavier than
+others. The English packet must have struck adrift at the same time with
+ourselves, for she came down upon us, letting go an anchor in a way to
+overlay our cable. I suppose the rocks and this sawing together, parted
+our hempen cable, and away we went towards the shore, broadside-to. As the
+ship drifted in, she continued to thump; but, luckily for us, the sea made
+no breaches over her. The old Coromandel was a very strong ship, and she
+continued working her way in-shore, until she lay in a good substantial
+berth, without any motion. We manned the pumps, and kept the ship
+tolerably free of water, though she lay over considerably. The English
+packet followed us in, going ashore more towards the Spanish lines. This
+vessel bilged, and lost some of her crew. As for ourselves, we had a
+comfortable berth, considering the manner in which we had got into it. No
+apprehension was felt for our personal safety, and perfect order was
+observed on board. The men worked as usual, nor was there any extra
+liquor drunk.</p>
+
+<p>That night the gale broke, and before morning it had materially moderated.
+Lighters were brought alongside, and we began to discharge our flour into
+them. The cargo was all discharged, and all in good order, so far as the
+water was concerned; though several of the keelson bolts were driven into
+the ground tier of barrels. I am almost afraid to tell this story, but I
+know it to be true, as I released the barrels with my own hands. As soon
+as clear, the ship was hove off into deep water, on the top of a high
+tide, and was found to leak so much as to need a shore-gang at the pumps
+to keep her afloat. She was accordingly sold for the benefit of the
+underwriters. She was subsequently docked and sent to sea.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, this broke up our voyage. The captain advised me to take a
+second-mate's berth in the Governor Brooks, the only American that escaped
+the gale, and I did so. This vessel was a brig, bound round the Horn,
+also, and a large, new craft. I know of no other vessel, that lay in front
+of the Rock that rode out this gale; and she did it with two hempen cables
+out, partly protected, however, by a good berth. There was a Swede that
+came back next day to her anchorage, which was said to have got
+back-strapped, behind the Rock, by some legerdemain, and so escaped also.
+I do not know how many lives were lost on this occasion; but the
+destruction of property must have been very great.</p>
+
+<p>Three weeks after the gale, the Governor Brooks sailed. We had a hard time
+in doubling the Cape, being a fortnight knocking about between Falkland
+and the Main. We were one hundred and forty-four days out, touching
+nowhere, until we anchored at Callao. We found flour, of which our cargo
+was composed, at seven dollars a barrel, with seven dollars duty. The
+Franklin 74, was lying here, with the Aurora English frigate, the castle
+being at war with the people inland. Our flour was landed, and what became
+of it is more than I can tell.</p>
+
+<p>We now took in ballast, and ran down to Guayaquil. Here an affair occurred
+that might very well have given me the most serious cause of regret, all
+the days of my life. Our steward was a Portuguese negro, of the most
+vicious and surly temper. Most of the people and officers were really
+afraid of him. One evening, the captain and chief mate being both ashore,
+I was sitting on deck, idle, and I took a fancy to a glass of grog. I
+ordered the steward, accordingly, to pour me out one, and bring it up. The
+man pretended that the captain had carried off the keys, and no rum was to
+be had. I thought this a little extraordinary; and, as one would be very
+apt to be, felt much hurt at the circumstance. I had never been drunk in
+the craft, and was not a drunkard in one sense of the term, at all; seldom
+drinking so as to affect me, except when on a frolic, ashore.</p>
+
+<p>As I sat brooding over this fancied insult, however, I smelt rum; and
+looking down the sky-light, saw this same steward passing forward with a
+pot filled with the liquor. I was fairly blinded with passion. Running
+down, I met the fellow, just as he was coming out of the cabin, and
+brought him up all standing. The man carried a knife along his leg, a
+weapon that had caused a good deal of uneasiness in the brig, and he now
+reached down to get it. Seeing there was no time to parley, I raised him
+from the floor, and threw him down with great force, his head coming
+under. There he lay like a log, and all my efforts with vinegar and water
+had no visible effect.</p>
+
+<p>I now thought the man dead. He gave no sign of life that I could detect,
+and fear of the consequences came over me. The devil put it into my head
+to throw the body overboard, as the most effectual means of concealing
+what I had done. The steward had threatened to run, by swimming, more than
+once, and I believe had been detected in making such an attempt; and I
+fancied if I could get the body through one of the cabin-windows, it would
+seem as if he had been drowned in carrying his project into execution. I
+tried all I could first to restore the steward to life; but failing of
+this, I actually began to drag him aft, in order to force his body out of
+a cabin-window. The transom was high, and the man very heavy; so I was a
+good while in dragging the load up to the necessary height. Just as I got
+it there, the fellow gave a groan, and I felt a relief that I had never
+before experienced. It seemed to me like a reprieve from the gallows.</p>
+
+<p>I now took the steward down, upon one of the lower transoms, where he sat
+rubbing his head a few minutes, I watching him closely the whole time. At
+length he got up, and staggered out of the cabin. He went and turned in,
+and I saw no more of him until next day. As it turned out, good, instead
+of harm, resulted from this affair; the black being ever afterwards
+greatly afraid of me. If I did not break his neck, I broke his temper; and
+the captain used to threaten to set me at him, whenever he behaved amiss.
+I owned the whole affair to the captain and mate, both of whom laughed
+heartily at what had happened, though I rejoiced, in my inmost heart, that
+it was no worse.</p>
+
+<p>The brig loaded with cocao, in bulk, at Guayaquil, and sailed for Cadiz.
+The passage was a fine one, as we doubled the Horn at midsummer. On this
+occasion we beat round the cape, under top-gallant-sails. The weather was
+so fine, we stood close in to get the benefit of the currents, after
+tacking, as it seemed to me, within a league of the land. Our passage to
+Cadiz lasted one hundred and forty-one, or two, days, being nearly the
+same length as that out though much smoother.</p>
+
+<p>The French had just got possession of Cadiz, as we got in, and we found
+the white flag flying. We lay here a month, and then went round to the
+Rock. After passing a week at Gibraltar, to take in some dollars, we
+sailed for New Orleans, in ballast. As I had been on twenty-two dollars a
+month, there was a pretty good whack coming to me, as soon as we reached
+an American port, and I felt a desire to spend it, before I went to sea
+again. They wished me to stick by the brig, which was going the very same
+voyage over; but I could not make up my mind to travel so long a road,
+with a pocket full of money. I had passed so many years at sea, that a
+short land cruise was getting to be grateful, as a novelty.</p>
+
+<p>The only craft I could get on board of, to come round into my own
+latitude, in order to enjoy myself in the old way, was an eastern
+schooner, called the James. On board this vessel I shipped as mate, bound
+to Philadelphia. She was the most meagre craft, in the way of outfit, I
+ever put to sea in. Her boat would not swim, and she had not a spare spar
+on board her. In this style, we went jogging along north, until we were
+met by a north-west gale, between Bermuda and Cape Hatteras, which forced
+us to heave-to. During this gale, I had a proof of the truth that "where
+the treasure is, there will the heart be also."</p>
+
+<p>I was standing leaning on the rail, and looking over the schooner's
+quarter, when I saw what I supposed to be a plank come up alongside! The
+idea of sailing in a craft of which the bottom was literally dropping out,
+was not very pleasant, and I thought all was lost. I cannot explain the
+folly of my conduct, except by supposing that my many escapes at sea, had
+brought me to imagine I was to be saved, myself, let what would happen to
+all the rest on board. Without stopping to reflect, I ran below and
+secured my dollars. Tearing up a blanket, I made a belt, and lashed about
+twenty-five pounds weight of silver to my body, with the prospect before
+me of swimming two or three hundred miles with it, before I could get
+ashore. As for boat, or spars, the former would not float, and of the last
+there was not one. I now look back on my acts of this day with wonder, for
+I had forgotten all my habitual knowledge of vessels, in the desire to
+save the paltry dollars. For the first and only time in my life I felt
+avaricious, and lost sight of everything in money!</p>
+
+<p>It was my duty to sound the pumps, but this I did not deem necessary. No
+sooner were the dollars secure, or, rather, ready to anchor me in the
+bottom of the ocean, than I remembered the captain. He was asleep, and
+waking him up, I told him what had happened. The old man, a dry, drawling,
+cool, down-easter, laughed in my face for my pains, telling me I had seen
+one of the sheeting-boards, with which he had had the bottom of the
+schooner covered, to protect it from the worms, at Campeachy, and that I
+need be under no concern about the schooner's bottom. This was the simple
+truth, and I cast off the dollars, again, with a sneaking consciousness of
+not having done my duty. I suppose all men have moments when they are not
+exactly themselves, in which they act very differently from what it has
+been their practice to act. On this occasion, I was not alarmed for
+myself, but I thought the course I took was necessary to save that dross
+which lures so many to perdition. Avarice blinded me to the secrets of my
+own trade.</p>
+
+<p>I had come all the way from New Orleans to Philadelphia, to spend my four
+hundred dollars to my satisfaction. For two months I lived respectably,
+and actually began to go to church. I did not live in a boarding-house,
+but in a private family. My landlady was a pious woman, and a member of
+the Dutch Reformed Church, but her husband was a Universalist. I must say,
+I liked the doctrine of the last the best, as it made smooth water for the
+whole cruise. I usually went with the man to church of a morning, which
+was falling among shoals, as a poor fellow was striving to get into port.
+I received a great deal of good advice from my landlady, however, and it
+made so much impression on me as to influence my conduct; though I cannot
+say it really touched my heart. I became more considerate, and better
+mannered, if I were not truly repentant for my sins. These two months were
+passed more rationally than any time of mine on shore, since the hour when
+I ran from the Sterling.</p>
+
+<p>The James was still lying in Philadelphia, undergoing repairs, and waiting
+for freight; but being now ready for sea, I shipped in her again, on a
+voyage to St. Thomas, with a cargo of flour. When we sailed, I left near a
+hundred dollars behind me, besides carrying some money to sea; the good
+effects of good company. At St. Thomas we discharged, and took in ballast
+for Turk's Island, where we got a cargo of salt, returning with it to
+Philadelphia. My conduct had been such on board this schooner, that her
+commander, who was her owner, and very old, having determined to knock off
+going to sea, tried to persuade me to stick by the craft, promising to
+make me her captain as soon as he could carry her down east, where she
+belonged. I now think I made a great mistake in not accepting this offer,
+though I was honestly diffident about my knowledge of navigation. I never
+had a clear understanding of the lunars, though I worked hard to master
+them. It is true, chronometers were coming into general use, in large
+vessels, and I could work the time; but a chronometer was a thing never
+heard of on board the James. Attachment to the larger towns, and a dislike
+for little voyages, had as much influence on me as anything else. I
+declined the offer; the only direct one ever made me to command any sort
+of craft, and remained what I am. I had a little contempt, too, for
+vessels of such a rig and outfit, which probably had its influence. I
+liked rich owners.</p>
+
+<p>On my return to Philadelphia, I found the family in which I had last lived
+much deranged by illness. I got my money, but was obliged to look for new
+lodgings. The respectable people with whom I had been before, did not keep
+lodgers, I being their only boarder; but I now went to a regular sailor's
+boarding-house. There was a little aristocracy, it is true, in my new
+lodgings, to which none but mates, dickies, and thorough salts came; but
+this was getting into the hurricane latitudes as to morals. I returned to
+all my old habits, throwing the dollars right and left, and forgetting all
+about even a Universalist church.</p>
+
+<p>A month cleaned me out, in such company. I spent every cent I had, with
+the exception of about fifteen dollars, that I had laid by as nest-eggs. I
+then shipped as second-mate, in the Rebecca Simms, a ship bound to St.
+Jago de Cuba, with flour. The voyage lasted four months; producing nothing
+of moment, but a little affair that was personal to myself, and which cost
+me nearly all my wages. The steward was a saucy black; and, on one
+occasion, in bad weather, he neglected to give me anything warm for
+breakfast. I took an opportunity to give him a taste of the end of the
+main-clew-garnet, as an admonisher; and there the matter ended, so long
+as I remained in the ship. It seemed quite right, to all on board, but the
+steward. He bore the matter in mind, and set a whole pack of quakers on
+me, as soon as we got in. The suit was tried; and it cost me sixty
+dollars, in damages, beside legal charges. I dare say it was all right,
+according to law and evidence; but I feel certain, just such a rubbing
+down, once a week, would have been very useful to that same steward.
+Well-meaning men often do quite as much harm, in this world, as the
+evil-disposed. Philanthropists of this school should not forget, that, if
+colour is no sufficient reason why a man should be always wrong, it is no
+sufficient reason why he should be always right.</p>
+
+<p>The lawsuit drove me to sea, again, in a very short time. Finding no
+better berth, and feeling very savage at the blindness of justice, I
+shipped before the mast, in the Superior, an Indiaman, of quite eight
+hundred tons, bound to Canton. This was the pleasantest voyage I ever made
+to sea, in a merchantman, so far as the weather, and, I may say, usage,
+were concerned. We lost our top-gallant-masts, homeward bound; but this
+was the only accident that occurred. The ship was gone nine months; the
+passage from Whampao to the capes having been made in ninety-four days.
+When we got in, the owners had failed, and there was no money forthcoming,
+at the moment. To remain, and libel the ship, was dull business; so,
+leaving a power of attorney behind me, I went on board a schooner, called
+the Sophia, bound to Vera Cruz, as foremast Jack.</p>
+
+<p>The Sophia was a clipper; and made the run out in a few days. We went into
+Vera Cruz; but found it nearly deserted. Our cargo went ashore a little
+irregularly; sometimes by day, and sometimes by night; being assorted, and
+suited to all classes of customers. As soon as ready, we sailed for
+Philadelphia, again; where we arrived, after an absence of only
+two months.</p>
+
+<p>I now got my wages for the Canton voyage; but they lasted me only a
+fortnight! It was necessary to go to sea, again; and I went on board the
+Caledonia; once more bound to Canton. This voyage lasted eleven months;
+but, like most China voyages, produced no event of importance. We lost our
+top-gallant-masts, this time, too; but that is nothing unusual, off Good
+Hope. I can say but little, in favour of the ship, or the treatment.</p>
+
+<p>On getting back to Philadelphia, the money went in the old way. I
+occasionally walked round to see my good religious friends, with whom I
+had once lived, but they ceased to have any great influence over my
+conduct. As soon as necessary, I shipped in the Delaware, a vessel bound
+to Savannah and Liverpool. Southern fashion, I ran from this vessel in
+Savannah, owing her nothing, however, but was obliged to leave my
+protection behind, as it was in the captain's hands. I cannot give any
+reason but caprice for quitting this ship. The usage was excellent, and
+the wages high; yet run I did. As long as the Delaware remained in port, I
+kept stowed away; but, as soon as she sailed, I came out into the world,
+and walked about the wharves as big as an owner.</p>
+
+<p>I now went on board a ship called the Tobacco Plant, bound to Liverpool
+and Philadelphia, for two dollars a month less wages, worse treatment, and
+no grog. So much for following the fashion. The voyage produced nothing to
+be mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>On my return to Philadelphia, I resolved to shift my ground, and try a new
+tack. I was now thirty-four, and began to give up all thoughts of getting
+a lift in my profession. I had got so many stern-boards on me, every time
+I was going ahead, and was so completely alone in the world, that I had
+become indifferent, and had made up my mind to take things as they
+offered. As for money, my rule had come to be, to spend it as I got it,
+and go to sea for more. "If I tumbled overboard," I said to myself, "there
+is none to cry over me;" therefore let things jog on their own course. All
+the disposition to morality that had been aroused within me, at
+Philadelphia, was completely gone, and I thought as little of church and
+of religion, as ever. It is true I had bought a Bible on board the
+Superior, and I was in the practice of reading in it, from time to time,
+though it was only the narratives, such as those of Sampson and Goliah,
+that formed any interest for me. The history of Jonah and the whale, I
+read at least twenty times. I cannot remember that the morality, or
+thought, or devotion of a single passage ever struck me on these
+occasions. In word, I read this sacred book for amusement, and not
+for light.</p>
+
+<p>I now wanted change, and began to think of going back to the navy, by way
+of novelty. I had been round the world once, had been to Canton five
+times, doubling the Cape, round the Horn twice, to Batavia once, the
+West-Indies, on the Spanish main, and had crossed the Atlantic so often,
+that I thought I knew all the mile-stones. I had seen but little of the
+Mediterranean, and fancied a man-of-war's cruise would show me those seas.
+Most of the Tobacco Plants had shipped in Philadelphia, and I determined
+to go with them, to go in the navy. There is a fashion in all things, and
+just then it was the fashion to enter in the service.</p>
+
+<p>I was shipped by Lieutenant M'Kean, now Commander M'Kean, a grandson of
+the old Governor of Pennsylvania, as they tell me. All hands of us were
+sent on board the Cyane, an English prize twenty-gun ship, where we
+remained about six weeks. A draft was then made, and more than a hundred
+of us were sent round to Norfolk, in a sloop, to join the Delaware, 80,
+then fitting out for the Mediterranean. We found the ship lying alongside
+the Navy-yard wharf, and after passing one night in the receiving-ship,
+were sent on board the two-decker. The Delaware soon hauled out, and was
+turned over to Captain Downes, the very officer who had almost persuaded
+me to go in that ill-fated brig, the Epervier.</p>
+
+<p>I was stationed on the Delaware's forecastle, and was soon ordered to do
+second captain's duty. We had for lieutenants on board, Mr. Ramage, first,
+Messrs. Williamson, Ten Eick, Shubrick, Byrne, Chauncey, Harris, and
+several whose names I have forgotten. Mr. Ramage has since been cashiered,
+I understand; and Messrs. Ten Eick, Shubrick, Chauncey, Harris, and Byrne,
+are now all commanders.</p>
+
+<p>The ship sailed in the winter of 1828, in the month of January I think,
+having on board the Prince of Musignano, and his family, who were going to
+Italy. This gentleman was Charles Bonaparte, eldest son of Lucien, Prince
+of Canino, they tell me, and is now Prince of Canino himself. He had been
+living some time in America, and got a passage in our ship, on account of
+the difficulty of travelling in Europe, for one of his name and family.
+He was the first, and only Prince I ever had for a shipmate.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter XV.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>Our passage out in the Delaware was very rough, the ship rolling heavily.
+It was the first time she had been at sea, and it required some little
+time to get her trim and sailing. She turned out, however, to be a good
+vessel; sailing fairly, steering well, and proving an excellent sea-boat.
+We went into Algesiras, where we lay only twenty-four hours. We then
+sailed for Mahon, but were met by orders off the port, to proceed to
+Leghorn and land our passengers. I have been told this was done on account
+of the Princess of Musignano's being a daughter of the ex-King of Spain,
+and it was not thought delicate to bring her within the territory of the
+reigning king. I have even heard that the commodore was offered an order
+of knighthood for the delicacy he manifested on this occasion, which offer
+he declined accepting, as a matter of course.</p>
+
+<p>The ship had a good run from off Mahon to Leghorn where we anchored in the
+outer roads. We landed the passengers the afternoon of the day we arrived.
+That very night it came on to blow heavily from the northward and
+eastward, or a little off shore, according to the best of my recollection.
+This was the first time I ever saw preparations made to send down lower
+yards, and to house top-masts--merchantmen not being strong-handed enough
+to cut such capers with their sticks. We had three anchors ahead, if not
+four, the ship labouring a good deal. We lost one man from the starboard
+forechains, by his getting caught in the buoy-rope, as we let go a
+sheet-anchor. The poor fellow could not be picked up, on account of the
+sea and the darkness of the night, though an attempt was made to save him.</p>
+
+<p>The next day the weather moderated a little, and we got under way for
+Mahon. Our passage down was pleasant, and this time we went in. Captain
+Downes now left us, and Commodore Crane hoisted his broad-pennant on
+board us. The ship now lay a long time in port. The commodore went aloft
+in one of the sloops, and was absent several months. I was told he was
+employed in making a treaty with the Turks, but us poor Jacks knew little
+of such matters. On his return, there was a regular blow-up with the
+first-lieutenant, who left the ship, to nobody's regret, so far as I know.
+Mr. Mix, who had led our party to the lakes in 1812, and was with us in
+all my lake service, and who was Mr. Osgood's brother-in-law, now joined
+us as first-lieutenant. I had got to be first-captain of the forecastle, a
+berth I held to the end of the cruise.</p>
+
+<p>The treatment on board this ship was excellent. The happiest time I ever
+spent at sea, was in the Delaware. After Mr. Mix took Mr. Ramage's place,
+everybody seemed contented, and I never knew a better satisfied ship's
+company. The third year out, we had a long cruise off Cape de Gatte,
+keeping the ship under her canvass quite three months. We took in supplies
+at sea, the object being to keep us from getting rusty. On the fourth of
+July we had a regular holiday. At four in the morning, the ship was close
+in under the north shore, and we wore off the land. Sail was then
+shortened. After this, we had music, and more saluting and grog. The day
+was passed merrily, and I do not remember a fight, or a black eye, in
+the ship.</p>
+
+<p>I volunteered to go one cruise in the Warren, under Mr. Byrne. The present
+Commodore Kearny commanded this ship, and he took us down to the Rock. The
+reason of our volunteering was this. The men-of-war of the Dutch and the
+French, rendezvoused at Mahon, as well as ourselves. The French and our
+people had several rows ashore. Which was right and which wrong, I cannot
+say, as it was the Java's men, and not the Delaware's, that were engaged
+in them, on our side. One of the Javas was run through the body, and a
+French officer got killed. It was said the French suspected us of a design
+of sending away the man who killed their officer, and meant to stop the
+Warren, which was bound to the Rock on duty. All I know is, that two
+French brigs anchored at the mouth of the harbour, and some of us were
+called on to volunteer. Forty-five of us did so, and went on board
+the sloop.</p>
+
+<p>After the Warren got under way, we went to quarters, manning both
+batteries. In this manner we stood down between the two French brigs, with
+top-gallant-sails furled and the courses in the brails. We passed directly
+between the two brigs, keeping a broadside trained upon each; but nothing
+was said, or done, to us. We anchored first at the Rock, but next day
+crossed over to the Spanish coast. In a short time we returned to Mahon,
+and we volunteers went back to the Delaware. The two brigs had gone, but
+there was still a considerable French force in port. Nothing came of the
+difficulty, however, so far as I could see or hear.</p>
+
+<p>In the season of 1830, the Constellation, Commodore Biddle, came out, and
+our ship and Commodore were relieved. We had a run up as far as Sicily,
+however, before this took place, and went off Tripoli. There I saw a
+wreck, lying across the bay, that they told me was the bones of the
+Philadelphia frigate. We were also at Leghorn, several weeks, the
+commodore going to some baths in the neighbourhood, for his health.</p>
+
+<p>Among other ports, the Delaware visited Carthagena, Malta, and Syracuse.
+At the latter place, the ship lay six weeks, I should think. This was the
+season of our arrival out. Here we underwent a course of severe exercise,
+that brought the crew up to a high state of discipline. At four in the
+morning, we would turn out, and commence our work. All the manoeuvres of
+unmooring, making sail, reefing, furling, and packing on her again, were
+gone through, until the people got so much accustomed to work together,
+the great secret of the efficiency of a man-of-war, that the officer of
+the deck was forced to sing out "belay!" before the yards were up by a
+foot, lest the men should spring the spars. When we got through this
+drill, the commodore told us we would do, and that he was not ashamed to
+show us alongside of anything that floated. I do not pretend to give our
+movements in the order in which they occurred, however, nor am I quite
+certain what year it was the commodore went up to Smyrna. On reflection,
+it may have been later than I have stated.</p>
+
+<p>Our cruise off Cape de Gatte was one of the last things we did; and when
+we came back to Mahon, we took in supplies for America. We made the
+southern passage home and anchored in Hampton Roads, in the winter of
+1831. I believe the whole crew of the Delaware was sorry when the cruise
+was up. There are always a certain number of long-shore chaps in a
+man-of-war, who are never satisfied with discipline, and the wholesome
+restraints of a ship; but as for us old salts, I never heard one give the
+Delaware a bad name. We had heard an awful report of the commodore, who
+was called a "burster," and expected sharp times under him; and his manner
+of taking possession was of a nature to alarm us. All hands had been
+called to receive him, and the first words he said were "Call all hands to
+witness punishment." A pin might have been heard falling among us, for
+this sounded ominous. It was to clear the brig, only, Captain Downes
+having left three men in it, whom he would not release on quitting the
+vessel. The offences were serious, and could not be overlooked. These
+three chaps got it; but there was only one other man brought regularly to
+the gang-way while I was in the ship, and he was under the sentence of a
+court, and belonged to the Warren. As soon as the brig was cleared, the
+commodore told us we should be treated as we treated others, and then
+turned away among the officers. The next day we found we were to live
+under a just rule, and that satisfied us. One of the great causes of the
+contentment that reigned in the ship, was the method, and the regularity
+of the hours observed. The men knew on what they could calculate, in
+ordinary times, and this left them their own masters within certain hours.
+I repeat, she was the happiest ship I ever served in, though I have always
+found good treatment in the navy.</p>
+
+<p>I can say conscientiously, that were my life to be passed over again,
+without the hope of commanding a vessel, it should be passed in the navy.
+The food is better, the service is lighter, the treatment is better, if a
+man behave himself at all well, he is better cared for, has a port under
+his lee in case of accidents, and gets good, steady, wages, with the
+certainty of being paid. If his ship is lost, his wages are safe; and if
+he gets hurt, he is pensioned. Then he is pretty certain of having
+gentlemen over him, and that is a great deal for any man. He has good
+quarters below; and if he serve in a ship as large as a frigate, he has a
+cover over his head, half the time, at least, in bad weather. This is the
+honest opinion of one who has served in all sorts of crafts, liners,
+Indiamen, coasters, smugglers, whalers, and transient ships. I have been
+in a ship of the line, two frigates, three sloops of war, and several
+smaller craft; and such is the result of all my experience in Uncle Sam's
+navy. No man can go to sea and always meet with fair-weather, but he will
+get as little of foul in one of our vessels of war, as in any craft that
+floats, if a man only behave himself. I think the American merchantmen
+give better wages than are to be found in other services; and I think the
+American men-of-war, as a rule, give better treatment than the American
+merchantman. God bless the flag, I say, and this, too, without the fear of
+being hanged!</p>
+
+<p>The Delaware lay two or three weeks in the Roads before she went up to the
+Yard. At the latter place we began to strip the ship. While thus employed,
+we were told that seventy-five of us, whose times were not quite out, were
+to be drafted for the Brandywine 44, then fitting out at New York, for a
+short cruise in the Gulf. This was bad news, for Jack likes a swing ashore
+after a long service abroad. Go we must, and did, however. We were sent
+round to New York in a schooner, and found the frigate still lying at the
+Yard. We were hulked on board the Hudson until she was ready to receive
+us, when we were sent to our new vessel. Captain Ballard commanded the
+Brandywine, and among her lieutenants, Mr. M'Kenny was the first. This is
+a fine ship, and she got her name from the battle in which La Fayette was
+wounded in this country, having been first fitted out to carry him to
+France, after his last visit to America. She is a first-class frigate,
+mounting thirty long thirty-two's on her gun-deck; and I conceive it to be
+some honour to a sailor to have it in his power to say he has been captain
+of the forecastle in such a ship, for I was rated in this frigate the same
+as I had been rated in the Delaware; with this difference, that, for my
+service in the Brandywine, I received my regular eighteen dollars a month
+as a petty officer; whereas, though actually captain of the Delaware's
+forecastle for quite two years, and second-captain nearly all the rest of
+the time I was in the ship, I never got more than seaman's wages, or
+twelve dollars a month. I do not know how this happened, though I supposed
+it to have arisen from some mistake connected with the circumstance that
+I was paid off for my services in the Delaware, by the purser of the
+frigate. This was in consequence of the transfer.</p>
+
+<p>The Brandywine sailed in March for the Gulf. Our cruise lasted about five
+months, during which time we went to Vera Cruz, Pensacola, and the Havana.
+We appeared to me to be a single ship, as we were never in squadron, and
+saw no broad-pennant. No accident happened, the cruise being altogether
+pleasant. The ship returned to Norfolk, and twenty-five of us, principally
+old Delawares, were discharged, our times being out. We all of us intended
+to return to the frigate, after a cruise ashore, and we chartered a
+schooner to carry us to Philadelphia in a body, determining not to
+part company.</p>
+
+<p>The morning the schooner sailed, I was leading the whole party along one
+of the streets of Norfolk, when I saw something white lying in the middle
+of the carriage-way. It turned out to be an old messmate, Jack Dove, who
+had been discharged three days before, and had left us to go to
+Philadelphia, but had been brought up by King Grog. While we were
+overhauling the poor fellow, who could not speak, his landlady came out to
+us, and told us that he had eat nothing for three days, and did nothing
+but drink. She begged us to take care of him, as he disregarded all she
+said. This honest woman gave us Jack's wages to a cent, for I knew what
+they had come to; and we made a collection of ten dollars for her,
+calculating that Jack must have swallowed that much in three days. Jack we
+took with us, bag and hammock; but he would eat nothing on the passage,
+calling out constantly for drink. We gave him liquor, thinking it would do
+him good; but he grew worse, and, when we reached Philadelphia, he was
+sent to the hospital. Here, in the course of a few days, he died.</p>
+
+<p>Never, in all my folly and excesses, did I give myself so much up to
+drink, as when I reached Philadelphia this time. I was not quite as bad as
+Jack Dove, but I soon lost my appetite, living principally on liquor. When
+we heard of Jack's death, we proposed among ourselves to give him a
+sailor's funeral. We turned out, accordingly, to the number if a hundred,
+or more, in blue jackets and white trowsers, and marched up to the
+hospital in a body. I was one of the leaders in this arrangement, and felt
+much interest in it, as Jack had been my messmate; but, the instant I saw
+his coffin, a fit of the "horrors" came over me, and I actually left the
+place, running down street towards the river, as if pursued by devils.
+Luckily, I stopped to rest on the stoop of a druggist. The worthy man took
+me in, gave me some soda water, and some good advice. When a little
+strengthened, I made my way home, but gave up at the door. Then followed a
+severe indisposition, which kept me in bed for a fortnight, during which I
+suffered the torments of the damned.</p>
+
+<p>I have had two or three visits from the "horrors," in the course of my
+life, but nothing to equal this attack. I came near following Jack Dove to
+the grave; but God, in His mercy, spared me from such an end. It is not
+possible for one who has never experienced the effects of his excesses, in
+this particular form, to get any correct notions of the sufferings I
+endured. Among other conceits, I thought the colour which the tar usually
+leaves on seamen's nails, was the sign that I had the yellow fever. This
+idea haunted me for days, and gave me great uneasiness. In short, I was
+like a man suspended over a yawning chasm, expecting, every instant, to
+fall and be dashed to pieces, and yet, who could not die.</p>
+
+<p>For some time after my recovery, I could not bear the smell of liquor; but
+evil companions lured me back to my old habits. I was soon in a bad way
+again, and it was only owing to the necessity of going to sea, that I had
+not a return of the dreadful malady. When I shipped in the Delaware, I had
+left my watch, quadrant, and good clothes, to the value of near two
+hundred dollars, with my present landlord, and he now restored them all to
+me, safe and sound. I made considerable additions to the stock of clothes,
+and when I again went to sea, left the whole, and more, with the
+same landlord.</p>
+
+<p>Our plan of going back to the Brandywine was altered by circumstances; and
+a party of us shipped in the Monongahela, a Liverpool liner, out of
+Philadelphia. The cabin of this vessel was taken by two gentlemen, going
+to visit Europe, viz.: Mr. Hare Powell and Mr. Edward Burd; and getting
+these passengers, with their families, on board, the ship sailed. By this
+time, I had pretty much given up the hope of preferment, and did not
+trouble myself whether I lived forward or aft. I joined the Monongahela as
+a forward hand, therefore, quite as well satisfied as if her chief mate.</p>
+
+<p>We left the Delaware in the month of August, and, a short time out,
+encountered one of the heaviest gales of wind I ever witnessed at sea. It
+came on from the eastward, and would have driven us ashore, had not the
+wind suddenly shifted to south-west. The ship was lying-to, under bare
+poles, pressed down upon the water in such a way that she lay almost as
+steady as if in a river; nor did the force of the wind allow the sea to
+get up. A part of the time, our lee lower yard-arms were nearly in the
+water. We had everything aloft, but sending them down was quite out of the
+question. It was not possible, at one time, for a man to go aloft at all.
+I tried it myself, and could with difficulty keep my feet on the ratlins.
+I make no doubt I should have been blown out of the top, could I have
+reached it, did I let go my hold to do any work.</p>
+
+<p>We had sailed in company with the Kensington, a corvette belonging to the
+Emperor of Russia, and saw a ship, during the gale, that was said to be
+she. The Kensington was dismasted, and had to return to refit, but we did
+not part a rope-yarn. When the wind shifted, we were on soundings; and, it
+still continuing to blow a gale, we set the main-topsail close-reefed, and
+the foresail, and shoved the vessel off the land at the rate of a
+steam-boat. After this, the wind favoured us, and our passage out was very
+short. We stayed but a few days in Liverpool; took in passengers, and got
+back to Philadelphia, after an absence of a little more than two months.
+The Kensington's report of the gale, and of our situation, had caused much
+uneasiness in Philadelphia, but our two passages were so short, that we
+brought the news of our safety.</p>
+
+<p>I now inquired for the Brandywine, but found she had sailed for the
+Mediterranean. It was my intention to have gone on board her, but missing
+this ship, and a set of officers that I knew, I looked out for a
+merchantman. I found a brig called the Amelia, bound to Bordeaux, and
+shipped in her before the mast.</p>
+
+<p>The Amelia had a bad passage out. It was in the autumn, and the brig
+leaked badly. This kept us a great deal at the pumps, an occupation that
+a sailor does anything but delight in. I am of opinion that pumping a
+leaky ship is the most detestable work in the world. Nothing but the dread
+of drowning ought to make a man do it, although some men will pump to save
+their property. As for myself, I am not certain I would take twenty-four
+hours of hard pumping to save any sum I shall probably ever own, or
+ever did own.</p>
+
+<p>After a long passage, we made the Cordovan, but, the wind blowing heavy
+off the land, we could not get in for near a fortnight. Not a pilot would
+come out, and if they had, it would have done us no good. After a while,
+the wind shifted, and we got into the river, and up to the town. We took
+in a return cargo of brandy, and sailed for Philadelphia. Our
+homeward-bound passage was long and stormy, but we made the capes, at
+last. Here we were boarded by a pilot, who told us we were too late; the
+Delaware had frozen up, and we had to keep away, with a South-east wind,
+for New York. We had a bad time of it, as soon as night came on. The gale
+increased, blowing directly into the bight, and we had to haul up under
+close-reefed topsails and reefed foresail, to claw off the land. The
+weather was very thick, and the night dark, and all we could do was to get
+round, when the land gave us a hint it was time. This we generally did in
+five fathoms water. We had to ware, for the brig would not tack under such
+short canvass, and, of course, lost much ground in so doing. About three
+in the morning we knew that it was nearly up with us. The soundings gave
+warning of this, and we got round, on what I supposed would be the
+Amelia's last leg. But Providence took care of us, when we could not help
+ourselves. The wind came out at north-west, as it might be by word of
+command; the mist cleared up, and we saw the lights, for the first time,
+close aboard us. The brig was taken aback, but we got her round, shortened
+sail, and hove her to, under a closed-reefed main-topsail. We now got it
+from the north-west, making very bad weather. The gale must have set us a
+long way to leeward, as we did not get in for a fortnight. We shipped a
+heavy sea, that stove our boat, and almost swept the decks. We were out of
+pork and beef, and our fire-wood was nearly gone. The binnacle was also
+gone. As good luck would have it, we killed a porpoise, soon after the
+wind shifted, and on this we lived, in a great measure, for more than a
+week, sometimes cooking it, but oftener eating it raw. At length the wind
+shifted, and we got in.</p>
+
+<p>I was no sooner out of this difficulty, than a hasty temper got me into
+another. While still in the stream, an Irish boatman called me a "Yankee
+son of a-----," and I lent him a clip. The fellow sued me, and, contriving
+to catch me before I left the vessel, I was sent to jail, for the first
+and only time in my life. This turned out to be a new and very revolting
+school for me. I was sent among as precious a set of rascals as New York
+could furnish. Their conversation was very edifying. One would tell how he
+cut the hoses of the engines at fires, with razor-blades fastened to his
+shoes; another, how many pocket-books he and his associates had taken at
+this or that fire; and a third, the mariner of breaking open stores, and
+the best mode of disposing of stolen goods. The cool, open, impudent
+manner in which these fellows spoke of such transactions, fairly astounded
+me. They must have thought I was in jail for some crime similar to their
+own, or they would not have talked so freely before a stranger. These
+chaps seemed to value a man by the enormity and number of his crimes.</p>
+
+<p>At length the captain and my landlord found out where I had been sent, and
+I was immediately bailed. Glad enough was I to get out of prison, and
+still more so to get out of the company I found in it. Such association is
+enough to undermine the morals of a saint, in a week or two. And yet these
+fellows were well dressed, and well enough looking, and might very well
+pass for a sort of gentlemen, with those who had seen but little of men of
+the true quality.</p>
+
+<p>I had got enough of law, and wished to push the matter no farther. The
+Irishman was sent for, and I compromised with him on the spot. The whole
+affair cost me my entire wages, and I was bound over to keep the peace,
+for, I do not know how long. This scrape compelled me to weigh my anchor
+at a short notice, as there is no living in New York without money. I went
+on board the Sully, therefore--a Havre liner--a day or two after getting
+out of the atmosphere of the City Hall. They may talk of Batavia, if they
+please; but in my judgement, it is the healthiest place of the two,</p>
+
+<p>Our passages, out and home, produced nothing worth mentioning, and I left
+the ship in New York. My wages went in the old way, and then I shipped in
+a schooner called the Susan and Mary, that was about to sail for Buenos
+Ayres, in the expectation that she would be sold there. The craft was a
+good one, though our passage out was very long. On reaching our port, I
+took my discharge, under the impression the vessel would be sold. A notion
+now came over me, that I would join the Buenos Ayrean navy, in order to
+see what sort of a service it was. I knew it was a mixed American and
+English affair, and, by this time, I had become very reckless as to my own
+fate. I wished to do nothing very wrong, but was incapable of doing
+anything that was very right.</p>
+
+<p>My windfall carried me on board a schooner, of eight or ten guns, called
+the Suradaha. I did not ship, making an arrangement by which I was to be
+left to decide for myself, whether I would remain in her, or not. Although
+a pretty good craft, I soon got enough of this service. In one week I was
+thoroughly disgusted, and left the schooner. It is well I did, as there
+was a "<i>revolution</i>" on board of her, a few days later, and she was
+carried up the river, and, as I was told, was there sunk. With her, sunk
+all my laurels in that service.</p>
+
+<p>The Susan and Mary was not sold, but took in hides for New York. I
+returned to her, therefore, and we sailed for home in due time. The
+passage proved long, but mild, and we were compelled to run in, off Point
+Petre, Gaudaloupe, where we took in some provisions. After this, nothing
+occurred until we reached New York.</p>
+
+<p>I now shifted the name of my craft, end for end, joining a half-rigged
+brig, called the Mary and Susan. I gained little by the change, this
+vessel being just the worst-looking hooker I did ever sail in. Still she
+was tight, strong enough, and not a very bad sailing vessel. But, for some
+reason or other, externals were not regarded, and we made anything but a
+holiday appearance on the water. I had seen the time when I would disdain
+to go chief-mate of such a looking craft; but I now shipped in her as a
+common hand.</p>
+
+<p>We sailed for Para, in Brazil, a port nearly under the line, having
+gunpowder, dry-goods, &amp;c. Our passage, until we came near the coast of
+South America, was good, and nothing occurred to mention. When under the
+line, however, we made a rakish-looking schooner, carrying two topsails,
+one forenoon. We made no effort to escape, knowing it to be useless. The
+schooner set a Spanish ensign, and brought us to. We were ordered to lower
+our boat and to go on board the schooner, which were done. I happened to
+be at the helm, and remained in the Mary and Susan. The strangers ordered
+our people out of the boat, and sent an armed party in her, on board us.
+These men rummaged about for a short time, and then were hailed from their
+vessel to know if we promised well. Our looks deceived the head man of the
+boarders, who answered that we were <i>very</i> poor. On receiving this
+information, the captain of the schooner ordered his boarding party to
+quit us. Our boat came back, but was ordered to return and bring another
+gang of the strangers. This time we were questioned about canvass, but got
+off by concealing the truth. We had thirty bolts on board, but produced
+only one. The bolt shown did not happen to suit, and the strangers again
+left us. We were told not to make sail until we received notice by signal,
+and the schooner hauled her wind. After standing on some time, however,
+these gentry seemed indisposed to quit us, for they came down again, and
+rounded to on our weather-beam. We were now questioned about our
+longitude, and whether we had a chronometer. We gave the former, but had
+nothing like the latter on board. Telling us once more not to make sail
+without the signal, the schooner left us, standing on until fairly out of
+sight. We waited until she sunk her topsails, and then went on our course.</p>
+
+<p>None of us doubted that this fellow was a pirate. The men on board us were
+an ill-looking set of rascals, of all countries. They spoke Spanish, but
+we gave them credit for being a mixture. Our escape was probably owing to
+our appearance, which promised anything but a rich booty. Our dry-goods
+and powder were concealed in casks under he ballast, and I suppose the
+papers were not particularly minute. At any rate, when we get into Para,
+most of the cargo went out of our schooner privately, being landed from
+lighters. We had a passenger, who passed for some revolutionary man, who
+also landed secretly. This gentleman was in a good deal of concern about
+the pirates, keeping himself hid while they were near us.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter XVI.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>Our passage from Para was good until the brig reached the latitude of
+Bermuda. Here, one morning, for the first time in this craft, Sundays
+excepted, we got a forenoon watch below. I was profiting by the
+opportunity to do a little work for myself, when the mate, an
+inexperienced young man, who was connected with the owners, came and
+ordered us up to help jibe ship. It was easy enough to do this in the
+watch, but he thought differently. As an old seaman, I do not hesitate to
+say that the order was both inconsiderate and unnecessary; though I do not
+wish to appear even to justify my own conduct, on the occasion. A hasty
+temper is one of my besetting weaknesses, and, at that time, I was in no
+degree influenced by any considerations of a moral nature, as connected
+with language. Exceedingly exasperated at this interference with our
+comfort, I did not hesitate to tell the mate my opinion of his order.
+Warming with my own complaints, I soon became fearfully profane and
+denunciatory. I called down curses on the brig, and all that belonged to
+her, not hesitating about wishing that she might founder at sea, and carry
+all hands of us to the bottom of the ocean. In a word, I indulged in all
+that looseness and profanity of the tongue, which is common enough with
+those who feel no restraints on the subject, and who are highly
+exasperated.</p>
+
+<p>I do think the extent to which I carried my curses and wishes, on this
+occasion, frightened the officers. They said nothing, but let me curse
+myself out, to my heart's content. A man soon wearies of so bootless a
+task, and the storm passed off, like one in the heavens, with a low
+rumbling. I gave myself no concern about the matter afterwards, but things
+took their course until noon. While the people were at dinner, the mate
+came forward again, however, and called all hands to shorten sail. Going
+on deck, I saw a very menacing black cloud astern, and went to work, with
+a will, to discharge a duty that everybody could see was necessary.</p>
+
+<p>We gathered in the canvass as fast as we could; but, before we could get
+through, and while I was lending a hand to furl the foresail, the squall
+struck the brig. I call it a squall, but it was more like the tail of a
+hurricane. Most of our canvass blew from the gaskets, the cloth going in
+ribands. The foresail and fore-topsail we managed to save, but all our
+light canvass went. I was still aloft when the brig broached-to. As she
+came up to the wind, the fore-topmast went over to leeward, being carried
+away at the cap. All the hamper came down, and began to thresh against the
+larboard side of the lower rigging. Just at this instant, a sea seemed to
+strike the brig under her bilge, and fairly throw her on her beam-ends.</p>
+
+<p>All this appeared to me to be the work of only a minute. I had scrambled
+to windward, to get out of the way of the wreck, and stood with one foot
+on the upper side of the bitts, holding on, to steady myself, by some of
+the running rigging. This was being in a very different attitude, but on
+the precise spot, where, two or three hours before, I had called on the
+Almighty to pour out his vials of wrath upon the vessel, myself, and all
+she contained! At that fearful instant, conscience pricked me, and I felt
+both shame and dread, at my recent language. It seemed to me as if I had
+been heard, and that my impious prayers were about to be granted. In the
+bitterness of my heart, I vowed, should my life be spared, never to be
+guilty of such gross profanity, again.</p>
+
+<p>These feelings, however, occupied me but a moment. I was too much of a
+real sea-dog to be standing idle at a time like that. There was but one
+man before the mast on whom I could call for anything in such a strait,
+and that was a New Yorker, of the name of Jack Neal. This man was near me,
+and I suggested to him the plan of getting the fore-topmast staysail
+loose, notwithstanding the mast was gone, in the hope it might blow open,
+and help the brig's bows round. Jack was a fellow to act, and he succeeded
+in loosening the sail, which did blow out in a way greatly to help us, as
+I think. I then proposed we should clamber aft, and try to get the helm
+up. This we did, also; though I question if the rudder could have had much
+power, in the position in which the brig lay.</p>
+
+<p>Either owing to the fore-top-mast staysail, or to some providential sea,
+the vessel did fall off, however, and presently she righted, coming up
+with great force, with a heavy roll to windward. The staysail helped us, I
+feel persuaded, as the stay had got taut in the wreck, and the wind had
+blown out the hanks. The brig's helm being hard up, as soon as she got
+way, the craft flew round like a top, coming up on the other tack, in
+spite of us, and throwing her nearly over again. She did not come fairly
+down, however, though I thought she was gone, for an instant.</p>
+
+<p>Finding it possible to move, I now ran forward, and succeeded in stopping
+the wreck into the rigging and bitts. At this time the brig minded her
+helm, and fell off, coming under command. To help us, the head of the
+spencer got loose, from the throat-brail up, and, blowing out against the
+wreck, the whole formed, together, a body of hamper, that acted as a sort
+of sail, which helped the brig to keep clear of the seas. By close
+attention to the helm, we were enabled to prevent the vessel from
+broaching-to again, and, of course, managed to sail her on her bottom.
+About sunset, it moderated, and, next morning, the weather was fine. We
+then went to work, and rigged jury-masts; reaching New York a few
+days later.</p>
+
+<p>Had this accident occurred to our vessel in the night, as did that to the
+Scourge, our fate would probably have been decided in a few minutes. As it
+was, half an hour, in the sort of sea that was going, would have finished
+her. As for my repentance, if I can use the term on such an occasion, and
+for such a feeling, it was more lasting than thorough. I have never been
+so fearfully profane since; and often, when I have felt the disposition to
+give way to passion in this revolting form, my feelings, as I stood by
+those bitts, have recurred to my mind--my vow has been remembered, and I
+hope, together, they did some good, until I was made to see the general
+errors of my life, and the necessity of throwing all my sins on the
+merciful interposition of my Saviour.</p>
+
+<p>I was not as reckless and extravagant, this time, in port, as I had
+usually been, of late years. I shipped, before my money was all gone, on
+board the Henry Kneeland, for Liverpool, vi&acirc; New Orleans. On reaching the
+latter port, all hands of us were beset by the land-sharks, in the shape
+of landlords, who told us how much better we should be off by running,
+than by sticking by the ship. We listened to these tales, and went in a
+body. What made the matter worse, and our conduct the less excusable, was
+the fact, that we got good wages and good treatment in the Henry Kneeland.
+The landlords came with two boats, in the night; we passed our dunnage
+down to them, and away we went, leaving only one man on board. The very
+next day we all shipped on board the Marian, United States' Revenue
+Cutter, where I was rated a quarter-mate, at fifteen dollars a month;
+leaving seventeen to obtain this preferment!</p>
+
+<p>We got a good craft for our money, however. She was a large comfortable
+schooner, that mounted a few light guns, and our duty was far from heavy.
+The treatment turned out to be good, also, as some relief to our folly.
+One of our Henry Kneelands died of the "horrors" before we got to sea, and
+we buried him at the watering-place, near the lower bar. I must have been
+about four months in the Marion, during which time we visited the
+different keys, and went into Key West. At this place, our crew became
+sickly, and I was landed among others, and sent to a boarding-house. It
+was near a month before we could get the crew together again, when we
+sailed for Norfolk. At Norfolk, six of us had relapses, and were sent to
+the hospital; the cutter sailing without us. I never saw the craft
+afterwards.</p>
+
+<p>I was but a fortnight in the hospital, the disease being only the fever
+and ague. Just as I came out, the Alert, the New York cutter, came in, and
+I was sent on board her. This separated me from all the Henry Kneelands
+but one old man. The Alert was bound south, on duty connected with the
+nullification troubles; and, soon after I joined her, she sailed for
+Charleston, South Carolina. Here a little fleet of cutters soon
+collected; no less than seven of us being at anchor in the waters of South
+Carolina, to prevent any breach of the tariff laws. When I had been on
+board the Alert about a month, a new cutter called the Jackson, came in
+from New York, and being the finest craft on the station, our officers and
+crew were transferred to her in a body; our captain being the senior of
+all the revenue captains present.</p>
+
+<p>I must have been at least six months in the waters of South Carolina, thus
+employed. We never went to sea, but occasionally dropped down as far as
+Rebellion Roads. We were not allowed to go ashore, except on rare
+occasions, and towards the last, matters got to be so serious, that we
+almost looked upon ourselves as in an enemy's country. Commodore Elliott
+joined the station in the Natchez sloop-of-war, and the Experiment,
+man-of-war schooner, also arrived and remained. After the arrival of the
+Natchez, the Commodore took command of all hands of us afloat, and we were
+kept in a state of high preparation for service. We were occasionally at
+quarters, nights, though I never exactly knew the reasons. It was said
+attacks on us were anticipated. General Scott was in the fort, and matters
+looked very warlike, for several weeks.</p>
+
+<p>At length we got the joyful news that nullification had been thrown
+overboard, and that no more was to be apprehended. It seems that the crews
+of the different cutters had been increased for this particular service;
+but, now it was over, there were more men employed than Government had
+needed. We were told, in consequence, that those among us who wished our
+discharges, might have them on application.</p>
+
+<p>I had been long enough in this 'long-shore service, and applied to be
+discharged, under this provision. My time was so near out, however, that I
+should have got away soon, in regular course.</p>
+
+<p>I now went ashore at Charleston, and had my swig, as long as the money
+lasted. I gave myself no trouble about the ship's husband, whose
+collar-bone I had broken; nor do I now know whether he was then living, or
+dead. In a word, I thought only of the present time; the past and the
+future being equally indifferent to me. My old landlord was dead; and I
+fell altogether into the hands of a new set. I never took the precaution
+to change my name, at any period of my life, with the exception, that I
+dropped the Robert, in signing shipping-articles. I also wrote my name
+Myers, instead of Meyers, as, I have been informed by my sister, was the
+true spelling. But this proceeded from ignorance, and not from intention.
+In all times, and seasons, and weathers, and services, I have sailed as
+Ned Myers; and as nothing else.</p>
+
+<p>It soon became necessary to ship again; and I went on board the Harriet
+and Jesse, which was bound to Havre de Grace. This proved to be a
+pleasant, easy voyage; the ship coming back to New York filled with
+passengers, who were called Swiss; but most of whom, as I understand, came
+from Wurtemberg, Alsace, and the countries on the Rhine. On reaching New
+York, I went on to Philadelphia, to obtain the effects I had left there,
+when I went out in the Amelia. But my landlord was dead; his family was
+scattered; and my property had disappeared. I never knew who got it; but a
+quadrant, watch, and some entirely new clothes, went in the wreck. I
+suppose I lost, at least, two hundred dollars, in this way. What odds did
+it make to me? it would have gone in grog, if it had not gone in
+this manner.</p>
+
+<p>I staid but a short time in Philadelphia, joining a brig, called the
+Topaz, bound to Havana. We arrived out, after a short passage; and here I
+was exposed to as strong a temptation to commit crime, as a poor fellow
+need encounter. A beautiful American-built brig, was lying in port, bound
+to Africa, for slaves. She was the loveliest craft I ever laid eyes on;
+and the very sight of her gave me a longing to go in her. She offered
+forty dollars a month, with the privilege of a slave and a half. I went so
+far as to try to get on board her; but met with some difficulty, in having
+my things seized. The captain found it out; and, by pointing out to me the
+danger I ran, succeeded in changing my mind.</p>
+
+<p>I will not deny, that I knew the trade was immoral; but so is smuggling;
+and I viewed them pretty much as the same thing, in this sense. I am now
+told, that the law of this country pronounces the American citizen, who
+goes in a slaver, a pirate; and treats him as such; which, to me, seems
+very extraordinary. I do not understand, how a Spaniard can do that, and
+be no pirate, which makes an American a pirate, if he be guilty of it. I
+feel certain, that very few sailors know in what light the law views
+slaving. Now, piracy is robbing, on the high seas, and has always been
+contrary to law; but slaving was encouraged by all nations, a short time
+since; and we poor tars look upon the change, as nothing but a change in
+policy. As for myself, I should have gone in that brig, in utter ignorance
+of the risks I ran, and believing myself to be about as guilty, in a moral
+sense, as I was when I smuggled tobacco, on the coast of Ireland, or opium
+in Canton. [15]</p>
+
+<p>As the Topaz was coming out of the port of Havana, homeward bound, and
+just as she was abreast of the Moro, the brig carried away her bobstay. I
+was busy in helping to unreeve the stay, when I was seized with sudden and
+violent cramps. This attack proved to be the cholera, which came near
+carrying me off. The captain had me taken aft, where I was attended with
+the greatest care. God be praised for his mercy! I got well, though
+scarcely able to do any more duty before we got in.</p>
+
+<p>A short voyage gives short commons; and I was soon obliged to look out for
+another craft. This time I shipped in the Erie, Captain Funk, a Havre
+liner, and sailed soon after. This was a noble ship, with the best of
+usage. Both our passages were pleasant, and give me nothing to relate.
+While I was at work in the hold, at Havre, a poor female passenger, who
+came to look at the ship, fell through the hatch, and was so much injured
+as to be left behind. I mention the circumstance merely to show how near I
+was to a meeting with my old shipmate, who is writing these pages, and yet
+missed him. On comparing notes, I find he was on deck when this accident
+happened, having come to see after some effects he was then shipping to
+New York. These very effects I handled, and supposed them to belong to a
+passenger who was to come home in the ship; but, as they were addressed to
+another name, I could not recognise them. Mr. Cooper did not come home in
+the Erie, but passed over to England, and embarked at London, and so I
+failed to see him.</p>
+
+<p>In these liners, the captains wish to keep the good men of their crews as
+long as they can. We liked the Erie and her captain so much, that eight or
+ten of us stuck by the ship, and went out in her again. This time our luck
+was not so good. The passage out was well enough, but homeward-bound we
+had a hard time of it. While in Havre, too, we had a narrow escape.
+Christmas night, a fire broke out in the cabin, and came near smothering
+us all, forward, before we knew anything about it. Our chief mate, whose
+name was Everdy,[16] saved the vessel by his caution and exertions; the
+captain not getting on board until the fire had come to a head. We kept
+everything closed until an engine was ready, then cut away the deck, and
+sent down the hose This expedient, with a free use of water, saved the
+ship. It is not known how the fire originated. A good deal of damage was
+done, and some property was lost.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding this accident, we had the ship ready for sea early in
+January, 1834. For the first week out, we met with head winds and heavy
+weather; so heavy, indeed, as to render it difficult to get rid of the
+pilot. The ship beat down channel with him on board, as low as the
+Eddystone. Here we saw the Sully, outward bound, running up channel before
+the wind. Signals were exchanged, and our ship, which was then well off
+the land, ran in and spoke the Sully. We put our pilot on board this ship,
+which was doing a good turn all round. The afternoon proving fair, and the
+wind moderating, Captain Funk filled and stood in near to the coast, as
+his best tack. Towards night, however, the gale freshened, and blew into
+the bay, between the Start Point and the Lizard, in a heavy,
+steady manner.</p>
+
+<p>The first thing was to ware off shore; after which, we were compelled to
+take in nearly all our canvass. The gale continued to increase, and the
+night set in dark. There were plenty of ports to leeward, but it was
+ticklish work to lose a foot of ground, unless one knew exactly where he
+was going. We had no pilot, and the captain decided to hold on. I have
+seldom known it to blow harder than it did that night; and, for hours,
+everything depended on our main-top-sail's standing, which sail we had set,
+close-reefed. I did not see anything to guide us, but the compass, until
+about ten o'clock, when I caught a view of a light close on our lee bow.
+This was the Eddystone, which stands pretty nearly in a line between the
+Start and the Lizard, and rather more than three leagues from the land.
+As we headed, we might lay past, should everything stand; but, if our
+topsail went, we should have been pretty certain of fetching up on those
+famous rocks, where a three-decker would have gone to pieces in an hour's
+time in such a gale.</p>
+
+<p>I suppose we passed the Eddystone at a safe distance, or the captain would
+not have attempted going to windward of it; but, to me, it appeared that
+we were fearfully near. The sea was breaking over the light tremendously,
+and could be plainly seen, as it flashed up near the lantern. We went by,
+however, surging slowly ahead, though our drift must have been
+very material.</p>
+
+<p>The Start, and the point to the westward of it, were still to be cleared.
+They were a good way off, and but a little to leeward, as the ship headed.
+In smooth water, and with a whole-sail breeze, it would have been easy
+enough to lay past the Start, when at the Eddystone, with a south-west
+wind; but, in a gale, it is a serious matter, especially on a flood-tide.
+I know all hands of us, forward and aft, looked upon our situation as very
+grave. We passed several uneasy hours, after we lost sight of the
+Eddystone, before we got a view of the land near the Start. When I saw it,
+the heights appeared like a dark cloud hanging over us, and I certainly
+thought the ship was gone. At this time, the captain and mate consulted
+together, and the latter came to us, in a very calm, steady manner, and
+said--"Come, boys; we may as well go ashore without masts as with them,
+and our only hope is in getting more canvass to stand. We must turn-to,
+and make sail on the ship."</p>
+
+<p>Everybody was in motion on this hint, and the first thing we did was to
+board fore-tack. The clews of that sail came down as if so many giants had
+hold of the tack and sheet. We set it, double-reefed, which made it but a
+rag of a sail, and yet the ship felt it directly. We next tried the
+fore-topsail, close-reefed, and this stood. It was well we did, for I feel
+certain the ship was now in the ground-swell. That black hill seemed
+ready to fall on our heads. We tried the mizen-topsail, but we found it
+would not do, and we furled it again, not without great difficulty. Things
+still looked serious, the land drawing nearer and nearer; and we tried to
+get the mainsail, double-reefed, on the ship. Everybody mustered at the
+tack and sheet, and we dragged down that bit of cloth as if it had been
+muslin. The good ship now quivered like a horse that is over-ridden, but
+in those liners everything is strong, and everything stood. I never saw
+spray thrown from a ship's bows, as it was thrown from the Erie's that
+night. We had a breathless quarter of an hour after the mainsail was set,
+everybody looking to see what would go first. Every rope and bolt in the
+craft was tried to the utmost, but all stood! At the most critical moment,
+we caught a glimpse of a light in a house that was known to stand near the
+Start; and the mate came among us, pointed it out, and said, if we
+weathered <i>that</i>, we should go clear. After hearing this, my eyes were
+never off that light, and glad was I to see it slowly drawing more astern,
+and more under our lee. At last we got it on our quarter, and knew that we
+had gone clear! The gloomy-looking land disappeared to leeward, in a deep,
+broad bay, giving us plenty of sea-room.</p>
+
+<p>We now took in canvass, to ease the ship. The mainsail and fore-topsail
+were furled, leaving her to jog along under the main-topsail, foresail,
+and fore-topmast staysail. I look upon this as one of my narrowest escapes
+from shipwreck; and I consider the escape, under the mercy of God, to have
+been owing to the steadiness of our officers, and the goodness of the ship
+and her outfit. It was like pushing a horse to the trial of every nerve
+and sinew, and only winning the race under whip and spur. Wood, and iron,
+and cordage, and canvass, can do no more than they did that night.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning, at breakfast, the crew talked the matter over. We had a hard
+set in this ship, the men being prime seamen, but of reckless habits and
+characters. Some of the most thoughtless among them admitted that they had
+prayed secretly for succour, and, for myself, I am most thankful that <i>I</i>
+did. These confessions were made half-jestingly, but I believe them to
+have been true, judging from my own case. It may sound bravely in the ears
+of the thoughtless and foolish, to boast of indifference on such
+occasions; but, few men can face death under circumstances like those in
+which we were placed, without admitting to themselves, however
+reluctantly, that there is a Power above, on which they must lean for
+personal safety, as well as for spiritual support. More than usual care
+was had for the future welfare of sailors among the Havre liners, there
+being a mariners' church at Havre, at which our captain always attended,
+as well as his mates; and efforts were made to make us go also. The effect
+was good, the men being better behaved, and more sober, in consequence.</p>
+
+<p>The wind shifted a day or two after this escape, giving us a slant that
+carried us past Scilly, fairly out into the Atlantic. A fortnight or so
+after our interview with the Eddystone we carried away the pintals of the
+rudder, which was saved only by the modern invention that prevents the
+head from dropping, by means of the deck. To prevent the strain, and to
+get some service from the rudder, however, we found it necessary to sling
+the latter, and to breast it into the stern-post by means of purchases. A
+spar was laid athwart the coach-house, directly over the rudder, and we
+rove a chain through the tiller-hole, and passed it over this spar. For
+this purpose the smallest chain-cable was used, the rudder being raised
+from the deck by means of sheers. We then got a set of chain-topsail
+sheets, parcelled them well, and took a clove hitch with them around the
+rudder, about half-way up. One end was brought into each main-chain, and
+set up by tackles. In this manner the wheel did tolerably well, though we
+had to let the ship lie-to in heavy weather.</p>
+
+<p>The chain sheets held on near a month, and then gave way. On examination,
+it was found that the parcelling had gone under the ship's counter, and
+that the copper had nearly destroyed the iron. After this, we mustered all
+the chains of the ship, of proper size, parcelled them very thoroughly,
+got another clove hitch around the rudder as before, and brought the ends
+to the hawse-holes, letting the bights fall, one on each side of the
+ship's keel. The ends were next brought to the windlass and hove taut.
+This answered pretty well, and stood until we got the ship into New York.
+Our whole passage was stormy, and lasted seventy days, as near as I can
+recollect. The ship was almost given up when we got in, and great was the
+joy at our arrival.</p>
+
+<p>As the Erie lost her turn, in consequence of wanting repairs, most of us
+went on board the Henry IVth, in the same line. This voyage was
+comfortable, and successful, a fine ship and good usage. On our return to
+New York most of us went back to the Erie, liking both vessel and captain,
+as well as her other officers. I went twice more to Havre and back in this
+ship, making four voyages in her in all. At the end of the fourth voyage
+our old mate left us, to do business ashore, and we took a dislike to his
+successor, though it was without trying him. The mate we lost had been a
+great favourite, and we seemed to think if he went we must go too. At any
+rate, nearly all hands went to the Silvie de Grasse, where we got another
+good ship, good officers, and good treatment. In fact, all these Havre
+liners were very much alike in these respects, the Silvie de Grasse being
+the fourth in which I had then sailed, and to me they all seemed as if
+they belonged to the same family. I went twice to Havre in this ship also,
+when I left her for the Normandy, in the same line. I made this change in
+consequence of an affair about some segars in Havre, in which I had no
+other concern than to father another man's fault. The captain treated me
+very handsomely, but my temperament is such that I am apt to fly off in a
+tangent when anything goes up stream. It was caprice that took me from the
+Silvie de Grasse, and put me in her sister-liner.</p>
+
+<p>I liked the Normandy as well as the rest of these liners, except that the
+vessel steered badly. I made only one voyage in her, however, as will be
+seen in the next chapter.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter XVII.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>I had now been no less than eight voyages in the Havre trade, without
+intermission. So regular had my occupation become, that I began to think I
+was a part of a liner myself. I liked the treatment, the food, the ships,
+and the officers. Whenever we got home, I worked in the ship, at day's
+work, until paid off; after which, no more was seen of Ned until it was
+time to go on board to sail. When I got in, in the Normandy, it happened
+as usual, though I took a short swing only. Mr. Everdy, our old mate in
+the Erie, was working gangs of stevedores, riggers, &amp;c., ashore; and when
+I went and reported myself to him, as ready for work in the Normandy
+again, he observed that her gang was full, but that, by going up-town next
+morning, to the screw-dock, I should find an excellent job on board a
+brig. The following day, accordingly, I took my dinner in a pail, and
+started off for the dock, as directed. On my way, I fell in with an old
+shipmate in the navy, a boatswain's-mate, of the name of Benson. This man
+asked me where I was bound with my pail, and I told him. "What's the use,"
+says he, "of dragging your soul out in these liners, when you have a
+man-of-war under your lee!" Then he told me he meant to ship, and advised
+me to do the same. I drank with him two or three times, and felt half
+persuaded to enter; but, recollecting the brig, I left him, and pushed on
+to the dock. When I got there, it was so late that the vessel had got off
+the dock, and was already under way in the stream.</p>
+
+<p>My day's work was now up, and I determined to make a full holiday of it.
+As I went back, I fell in with Captain Mix, the officer with whom I had
+first gone on the lakes, and my old first-lieutenant in the Delaware, and
+had a bit of navy talk with him; after which I drifted along as far as the
+rendezvous. The officer in charge was Mr. M'Kenny, my old first-lieutenant
+in the Brandywine, and, before I quitted the house, my name was down,
+again, for one of Uncle Sam's sailor-men. In this accidental manner have I
+floated about the world, most of my life--not dreaming in the morning,
+what would fetch me up before night.</p>
+
+<p>When it was time to go off, I was ready, and was sent on board the Hudson,
+which vessel Captain Mix then commanded. I have the consolation of knowing
+that I never ran, or thought of running, from either of the eleven
+men-of-war on board of which I have served, counting big and little,
+service of days and service of years. I had so long a pull in the
+receiving-ship, as to get heartily tired of her; and, when an opportunity
+offered, I put my name down for the Constellation 38, which was then
+fitting out for the West India station, in Norfolk. A draft of us was sent
+round to that ship accordingly, and we found she had hauled off from the
+yard, and was lying between the forts. When I got on board, I ascertained
+that something like fifty of my old liners were in this very ship, some
+common motive inducing them to take service in the navy, all at the same
+time. As for myself, it happened just as I have related, though I always
+liked the navy, and was ever ready to join a ship of war, for a
+pleasant cruise.</p>
+
+<p>Commodore Dallas's pennant was flying in the Constellation when I joined
+her. A short time afterwards, the ship sailed for the West Indies. As
+there was nothing material occurred in the cruise, it is unnecessary to
+relate things in the order in which they took place. The ship went to
+Havana, Trinidad, Cura&ccedil;oa, Laguayra, Santa Cruz, Vera Cruz, Campeachy,
+Tampico, Key West, &amp;c. We lay more or less time at all these ports, and in
+Santa Cruz we had a great ball on board. After passing several months in
+this manner, we went to Pensacola. The St. Louis was with us most of this
+time, though she did not sail from America in company. The next season the
+whole squadron went to Vera Cruz in company, seven or eight sail of us in
+all, giving the Mexicans some alarm, I believe.</p>
+
+<p>But the Florida war gave us the most occupation. I was out in all sorts of
+ways, on expeditions, and can say I never saw an Indian, except those who
+came to give themselves up. I was in steamboats, cutters, launches, and on
+shore, marching like a soldier, with a gun on my shoulder, and precious
+duty it was for a sailor.</p>
+
+<p>The St. Louis being short of hands, I was also drafted for a cruise in
+her; going the rounds much as we had done in the frigate. This was a fine
+ship, and was then commanded by Captain Rousseau, an officer much
+respected and liked, by us all. Mr. Byrne, my old shipmate in the
+Delaware, went out with us as first-lieutenant of the Constellation, but
+he did not remain out the whole cruise.</p>
+
+<p>Altogether I was out on the West India station three years, but got into
+the hospital, for several months of the time, in consequence of a broken
+bone. While in the hospital, the frigate made a cruise, leaving me ashore.
+On her return, I was invalided home, in the Levant, Captain Paulding,
+another solid, excellent officer. In a word, I was lucky in my officers,
+generally; the treatment on board the frigate being just and good. The
+duty in the Constellation was very hard, being a sort of soldier duty,
+which may be very well for those that are trained to it, but makes bad
+weather for us blue-jackets. Captain Mix, the officer with whom I went to
+the lakes, was out on the station in command of the Concord, sloop of war,
+and, for some time, was in charge of our ship, during the absence of
+Commodore Dallas, in his own vessel. In this manner are old shipmates
+often thrown together, after years of separation.</p>
+
+<p>In the hospital I was rated as porter, Captain Bolton and Captain Latirner
+being my commanding officers; the first being in charge of the yard, and
+the second his next in rank. From these two gentlemen I received so many
+favours, that it would be ungrateful in me not to mention them. Dr.
+Terrill, the surgeon of the hospital, too, was also exceedingly kind to
+me, during the time I was under his care.</p>
+
+<p>As I had much leisure time in the hospital, I took charge of a garden, and
+got to be somewhat of a gardener. It was said I had the best garden about
+Pensacola, which is quite likely true, as I never saw but one other.</p>
+
+<p>The most important thing, however, that occurred to me while in the
+hospital, was a disposition that suddenly arose in my mind, to reflect on
+my future state, and to look at religious things with serious eyes. Dr.
+Terrill had some blacks in his service, who were in the habit of holding
+little Methodist meetings, where they sang hymns, and conversed together
+seriously. I never joined these people, being too white for that, down at
+Pensacola, but I could overhear them from my own little room. A Roman
+Catholic in the hospital had a prayer-book in English, which he lent to
+me, and I got into the habit of reading a prayer in it, daily, as a sort
+of worshipping of the Almighty. This was the first act of mine, that
+approached private worship, since the day I left Mr. Marchinton's; if I
+except the few hasty mental petitions put up in moments of danger.</p>
+
+<p>After a time, I began to think it would never do for me, a Protestant born
+and baptised, to be studying a Romish prayer-book; and I hunted up one
+that was Protestant, and which had been written expressly for seamen. This
+I took to my room, and used in place of the Romish book. Dr. Terrill had a
+number of bibles under his charge, and I obtained one of these, also, and
+I actually got into the practice of reading a chapter every night, as
+well as of reading a prayer, also knocked off from drink, and ceased to
+swear. My reading in the bible, now, was not for the stories, but
+seriously to improve my mind and morals.</p>
+
+<p>I must have been several months getting to be more and more in earnest on
+the subject of morality, if not of vital religion, when I formed an
+acquaintance with a new steward, who had just joined the hospital. This
+man was ready enough to converse with me about the bible, but he turned
+out to be a Deist, Notwithstanding my own disposition to think more
+seriously of my true situation, I had many misgivings on the subject of
+the Saviour's being the Son of God. It seemed improbable to me, and I was
+falling into the danger which is so apt to beset the new beginner--that of
+self-sufficiency, and the substituting of human wisdom for faith. The
+steward was not slow in discovering this; and he produced some of Tom
+Paine's works, by way of strengthening me in the unbelief. I now read Tom
+Paine, instead of the bible, and soon had practical evidence of the bad
+effects of his miserable system. I soon got stern-way on me in morals;
+began to drink, as before, though seldom intoxicated, and grew indifferent
+to my bible and prayer-book, as well as careless of the future. I began to
+think that the things of this world were to be enjoyed, and he was the
+wisest who made the most of his time.</p>
+
+<p>I must confess, also, that the bad examples which I saw set by men
+professing to be Christians, had a strong tendency to disgust me with
+religion. The great mistake I made was, in supposing I had undergone any
+real change of heart. Circumstances disposed me to reflect, and reflection
+brought me to be serious, on subjects that I had hitherto treated with
+levity; but the grace of God was still, in a great degree, withheld from
+me, leaving me a prey to such arguments as those of the steward, and his
+great prophet and master, Mr. Paine.</p>
+
+<p>In the hospital, and that, too, at a place like Pensacola there was little
+opportunity for me to break out into my old excesses; though I found
+liquor, on one or two occasions, even there, and got myself into some
+disgrace in consequence. On the whole, however, the discipline, my
+situation, and my own resolution, kept me tolerably correct. It is the
+restraint of a ship that alone prevents sailors from dying much sooner
+than they do; for it is certain no man could hold out long who passed
+three or four months every year in the sort of indulgencies into which I
+myself have often run, after returning from long voyages. This is one
+advantage of the navy; two or three days of riotous living being all a
+fellow <i>can</i> very well get in a three years' cruise. Any man who has ever
+been in a vessel of war, particularly in old times, can see the effect
+produced by the system, and regular living of a ship. When the crew first
+came on board, the men were listless, almost lifeless, with recent
+dissipation; some suffering with the "horrors," perhaps; but a few weeks
+of regular living would bring them all round; and, by the end of the
+cruise, most of the people would come into port, and be paid off, with
+renovated constitutions. It is a little different, now, to be sure, as the
+men ship for general service, and commonly serve a short apprenticeship in
+a receiving vessel, before they are turned over to the sea-going craft.
+This brings them on board the last in a little better condition than used
+to be the case; but, even now, six months in a man-of-war is a new lease
+for a seaman's life.</p>
+
+<p>I say I got myself into disgrace in the hospital of Pensacola, in
+consequence of my habit of drinking. The facts were as follows, for I have
+no desire to conceal, or to parade before the world, my own delinquencies;
+but, I confess them with the hope that the pictures they present, may have
+some salutary influence on the conduct of others. The doctor, who was
+steadily my friend, and often gave me excellent advice, went north, in
+order to bring his wife to Pensacola. I was considered entitled to a
+pension for the hurt which had brought me into the hospital, and the
+doctor had promised to see something about it, while at Washington. This
+was not done, in consequence of his not passing through Washington, as had
+been expected. Now, nature has so formed me, that any disgust, or
+disappointment, makes me reckless, and awakens a desire to revenge myself,
+on myself, as I may say. It was this feeling which first carried me from
+Halifax; it was this feeling that made me run from the Sterling; and which
+has often changed and sometimes marred my prospects, as I have passed
+through life. As soon as I learned that nothing had been said about my
+pension, this same feeling came over me, and I became reckless. I had not
+drawn my grog for months, and, indeed, had left off drinking entirely; but
+I now determined to have my fill, at the first good opportunity. I meant
+to make the officers sorry, by doing something that was very wrong, and
+for which I should be sorry myself.</p>
+
+<p>I kept the keys of the liquor of the hospital. The first thing was to find
+a confederate, which I did in the person of a Baltimore chap, who entered
+into my plan from pure love of liquor. I then got a stock of the wine, and
+we went to work on it, in my room. The liquor was sherry, and it took nine
+bottles of it to lay us both up. Even this did not make me beastly drunk,
+but it made me desperate and impudent. I abused the doctor, and came very
+near putting my foot into it, with Captain Latimer, who is an officer that
+it will not do, always, to trifle with. Still, these gentlemen, with
+Captain Bolton, had more consideration for me, than I had for myself, and
+I escaped with only a good reprimand. It was owing to this frolic,
+however, that I was invalided home--as they call it out there, no one
+seeming to consider Pensacola as being in the United States.</p>
+
+<p>When landed from the Levant, I was sent to the Navy Yard Hospital,
+Brooklyn. After staying two or three days here, I determined to go to the
+seat of government, and take a look at the great guns stationed there,
+Uncle Sam and all. I was paid off from the Levant, accordingly, and
+leaving the balance with the purser of the yard, I set off on my journey,
+with fifty dollars in my pockets, which they tell me is about a member of
+Congress' mileage, for the distance I had to go. Of course this was
+enough, as a member of Congress would naturally take care and give himself
+as much as he wanted.</p>
+
+<p>When I got on board the South-Amboy boat, I found a party of Indians
+there, going to head-quarters, like myself. The sight of these chaps set
+up all my rigging, and I felt ripe for fun. I treated them to a breakfast
+each, and gave them as much to drink as they could swallow. We all got
+merry, and had our own coarse fun, in the usual thought less manner of
+seamen. This was a bad beginning, and by the time we reached a tavern, I
+was ready to anchor. Where this was, is more than I know; for I was not in
+a state to keep a ship's reckoning. Whether any of my money was stolen or
+not, I cannot say, but I know that some of my clothes were. Next day I got
+to Philadelphia, where I had another frolic. After this, I went on to
+Washington, keeping it up, the whole distance. I fell in with a soldier
+chap, who was out of cash, and who was going to Washington to get a
+pension, too; and so we lived in common. When we reached Washington, my
+cash was diminished to three dollars and a half, and all was the
+consequences of brandy and folly. I had actually spent forty-six dollars
+and a half, in a journey that might have been made with ten, respectably!</p>
+
+<p>I got my travelling companion to recommend a boarding-house, which he did.
+I felt miserable from my excesses, and went to bed. In the morning, the
+three dollars and a half were gone. I felt too ill to go to the Department
+that day, but kept on drinking--eating nothing. Next day, my landlord took
+the trouble to inquire into the state of my pocket, and I told him the
+truth. This brought about a pretty free explanation between us, in which I
+was given to understand that my time was up in that place. I afterwards
+found out I had got into a regular soldier-house, and it was no wonder
+they did not know how to treat an old salt.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Mix had given me a letter to Commodore Chauncey, who was then
+living, and one of the Commissioners. I felt pretty certain the old
+gentleman would not let one of the Scourges founder at head-quarters, and
+so I crawled up to the Department, and got admission to him. The commodore
+seemed glad to see me; questioned me a good deal about the loss of the
+schooner, and finally gave me directions how to proceed. I then discovered
+that my pension ticket had actually reached Washington, but had been sent
+back to Pensacola, to get some informality corrected. This would compel me
+to remain some time at Washington. I felt unwell, and got back to my
+boarding-house with these tidings. The gentleman who kept the house was
+far from being satisfied with this, and he gave me a hint that at once put
+the door between us. This was the first time I ever had a door shut upon
+me, and I am thankful it happened at a soldier rendezvous. I gave the man
+all my spare clothes in pawn, and walked away from his house.</p>
+
+<p>I had undoubtedly brought on myself a fit of the "horrors," by my recent
+excesses. As I went along the streets, I thought every one was sneering at
+me; and, though burning with thirst, I felt ashamed to enter any house to
+ask even for water. A black gave me the direction of the Navy Yard, and I
+shaped my course for it, feeling more like lying down to die, than
+anything else. When about half-way across the bit of vacant land between
+the Capitol and the Yard, I sat down under a high picket-fence, and the
+devil put it into my head, that it would be well to terminate sufferings
+that seemed too hard to be borne, by hanging myself on that very fence. I
+took the handkerchief from my neck, made a running bow-line, and got so
+far as to be at work at a standing bow-line, to hitch over the top of one
+of the poles of the fence.</p>
+
+<p>I now stood up, and began to look for a proper picket to make fast to,
+when, in gazing about, I caught sight of the mast-heads of the shipping at
+the yard, and of the ensign under which I had so long served! These came
+over me, as a light-house comes over a mariner in distress at sea, and I
+thought there must be friends for me in that quarter. The sight gave me
+courage and strength, and I determined no old shipmate should hear of a
+blue-jacket's hanging himself on a picket, in a fit of the horrors.
+Casting off the bowlines, I replaced the handkerchief on my neck, and made
+the best of my way towards those blessed mast-heads, which, under God's
+mercy, were the means of preventing me from committing suicide.</p>
+
+<p>As I came up to the gate of the yard, the marine on post sung out to me,
+"Halloo, Myers, where are you come from? You look as if you had been
+dragged through h--, and beaten with a soot-bag!" This man, the first I
+met at the Navy Yard, had been with me three years in the Delaware, and
+knew me in spite of my miserable appearance. He advised me to go on board
+the Fulton, then lying at the Yard, where he said I should find several
+more old Delawares, who would take good care of me. I did as he directed,
+and, on getting on board, I fell in with lots of acquaintances. Some
+brought me tea, and some brought me grog. I told my yarn, and the chaps
+around me laid a plan to get ashore on liberty that night, and raz&eacute;e the
+house from which I had been turned away. But I persuaded them out of the
+notion, and the landlord went clear.</p>
+
+<p>Alter a while, I got a direction to a boarding-house near the Yard, and
+went to it, with a message from my old shipmates that they would be
+responsible for the pay. But to this the man would not listen; he took me
+in on my own account, saying that no blue-jacket should be turned from
+<i>his</i> door, in distress. Here I staid and got a comfortable night's rest.
+Next day I was a new man, holy-stoned the decks, and went a second time to
+the Department.</p>
+
+<p>All the gentlemen in the office showed a desire to serve and advise me.
+The Pension Clerk gave me a letter to Mr. Boyle, the Chief Clerk, who gave
+me another letter to Commodore Patterson, the commandant of the Navy-Yard.
+It seems that government provides a boarding-house for us pensioners to
+stay in, while at Washington, looking after our rights. This letter of Mr.
+Boyle's got me a berth in that house, where I was supplied with
+everything, even to washing and mending, for six weeks. Through the
+purser, I drew a stock of money from the purser at New York, and now
+began, again, to live soberly and respectably, considering all things.</p>
+
+<p>The house in which I lived was a sort of half-hospital, and may have had
+six or eight of us in it, altogether. Several of us were cripples from
+wounds and hurts, and, among others, was one Reuben James, a thorough old
+man-of-war's man, who had been in the service ever since he was a youth.
+This man had the credit of saving Decatur's life before Tripoli; but he
+owned to me that he was not the person who did it. He was in the fight,
+and boarded with Decatur, but did not save his commander's life. He had
+been often wounded, and had just had a leg amputated for an old wound,
+received in the war of 1812, I believe. Liquor brought him to that.</p>
+
+<p>The reader will remember that the night the Scourge went down I received a
+severe blow from her jib-sheet blocks. A lump soon formed on the spot
+where the injury had been inflicted, and it had continued to increase
+until it was now as large as my fist, or even larger. I showed this lump
+to James, one day, and he mentioned it to Dr. Foltz, the surgeon who
+attended the house. The doctor took a look at my arm, and recommended an
+operation, as the lump would continue to increase, and was already so
+large as to be inconvenient. I cannot say that it hurt me any, though it
+was an awkward sort of swab to be carrying on a fellow's shoulder. I had
+no great relish for being carved, and think I should have refused to
+submit to the operation, were it not for James, who told me he would not
+be carrying Bunker Hill about on <i>his</i> arm, and would show me his own
+stump by way of encouragement. This man seemed to think an old sailor
+ought to have a wooden leg, or something of the sort, after he had reached
+a certain time of life. At all events, he persuaded me to let the doctor
+go to work, and I am now glad I did, as everything turned out well. Doctor
+Foltz operated, after I had been about a week under medicine, doing the
+job as neatly as man could wish. He told me the lump he removed weighed a
+pound and three quarters, and of course I was so much the lighter. I was
+about a month, after this, under his care, when he pronounced me to be
+sea-worthy again.</p>
+
+<p>I now got things straight as regards my pension, for the hurt received on
+board the Constellation. It was no great matter, only three dollars a
+month, being one of the small pensions; and the clerks, when they came to
+hear about the hurt, for which Dr. Foltz had operated, advised me to get
+evidence and procure a pension for <i>that</i>. I saw the Secretary, Mr.
+Paulding, on this subject, and the gentlemen were so kind as to overhaul
+their papers, in order to ascertain who could be found as a witness. They
+wrote to Captain Deacon, the officer who commanded the Growler; but he
+knew nothing of me, as I never was on board his schooner. This gentleman,
+however, wrote me a letter, himself, inviting me to come and see him,
+which I had it not in my power to do. I understand he is now dead. Mr.
+Trant had been dead many years, and, as for Mr. Bogardus, I never knew
+what became of him. He was not in the line of promotion, and probably left
+the navy at the peace. In overhauling the books, however, the
+pension-clerk came across the name of Lemuel Bryant. This man received a
+pension for the wound he got at Little York, and was one of those I had
+hauled into the boat when the Scourge went down. He was then living at
+Portland, in Maine, his native State. Mr. Paulding advised me to get his
+certificate, for all hands in the Department seemed anxious I should not
+go away without something better than the three dollars a month. I
+promised to go on, and see Lemuel Bryant, and obtain his testimony.</p>
+
+<p>Quitting Washington, I went to Alexandria and got on board a brig, called
+the Isabella, bound to New York, at which port we arrived in due time.
+Here I obtained the rest of my money, and kept myself pretty steady, more
+on account of my wounds, I fear, than anything else. Still I drank too
+much; and by way of putting a check on myself, I went to the Sailor's
+Retreat, Staten Island, and of course got out of the reach of liquor. Here
+I staid eight or ten days, until my wounds healed. While at the Retreat,
+the last day I remained there indeed, which was a Sunday, the physician
+came in, and told me that a clergyman of the Dutch Reformed Church, of the
+name of Miller, was about to have service down stairs, and that I had
+better go down and be present. To this request, not only civilly but
+kindly made, I answered that I had seen enough of the acts of religious
+men to satisfy me, and that I believed a story I was then reading in a
+Magazine, would do me as much good as a sermon. The physician said a
+little in the way of reproof and admonition, and left me. As soon as his
+back was turned, some of my companions began to applaud the spirit I had
+shown, and the answer I had given the doctor. But I was not satisfied with
+myself. I had more secret respect for such things than I was willing to
+own, and conscience upbraided me for the manner in which I had slighted so
+well-meaning a request. Suddenly telling those around me that my mind was
+changed, and that I <i>would</i> go below and hear what was said, I put this
+new resolution in effect immediately.</p>
+
+<p>I had no recollection of the text from which Mr. Miller preached; it is
+possible I did not attend to it, at the moment it was given out; but,
+during the whole discourse, I fancied the clergyman was addressing himself
+particularly to me, and that his eyes were never off me. That he touched
+my conscience I know, for the effect produced by this sermon, though not
+uninterruptedly lasting, is remembered to the present hour. I made many
+excellent resolutions, and secretly resolved to reform, and to lead a
+better life. My thoughts were occupied the whole night with what I had
+heard, and my conscience was keenly active.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning I quitted the Retreat, and saw no more of Mr. Miller, at
+that time; but I carried away with me many resolutions that would have
+been very admirable, had they only been adhered to. How short-lived they
+were, and how completely I was the slave of a vicious habit, will be seen,
+when I confess that I landed in New York a good deal the worse for having
+treated some militia-men who were in the steamer, to nearly a dozen
+glasses of hot-stuff, in crossing the bay. I had plenty of money, and a
+sailor's disposition to get rid of it, carelessly, and what I thought
+generously. It was Evacuation-Day, and severely cold, and the hot-stuff
+pleased everybody, on such an occasion. Nor was this all. In passing
+Whitehall slip, I saw the Ohio's first-cutter lying there, and it happened
+that I not only knew the officer of the boat, who had been one of the
+midshipmen of the Constellation, but that I knew most of its crew. I was
+hailed, of course, and then I asked leave to treat the men. The permission
+was obtained, and this second act of liberality reduced me to the
+necessity of going into port, under a pilot's charge. Still I had not
+absolutely forgotten the sermon, nor all my good resolutions.</p>
+
+<p>At the boarding-house I found a Prussian, named Godfrey, a steady, sedate
+man, and I agreed with him to go to Savannah, to engage in the
+shad-fishery, for the winter, and to come north together in the spring. My
+landlord was not only ill and poor, but he had many children to support,
+and it is some proof that all my good resolutions were not forgotten, that
+I was ready to go south before my money was gone, and willing it should do
+some good, in the interval of my absence. A check for fifty dollars still
+remained untouched, and I gave it to this man, with the understanding he
+was to draw the money, use it for his own wants, and return it to me, if
+he could, when I got back. The money was drawn, but the man died, and I
+saw no more of it.</p>
+
+<p>Godfrey and I were shipped in a vessel called the William Taylor, a
+regular Savannah packet. It was our intention to quit her as soon as she
+got in--by running, if necessary. We had a bad passage, and barely missed
+shipwreck on Hatteras, saving the brig by getting a sudden view of the
+light, in heavy, thick weather. We got round, under close-reefed topsails,
+and that was all we did. After this, we had a quick run to Savannah.
+Godfrey had been taken with the small-pox before we arrived, and was sent
+to a hospital as soon as possible. In order to prevent running, I feigned
+illness, too, and went to another. Here the captain paid me several
+visits, but my conscience was too much hardened by the practices of
+seamen, to let me hesitate about continuing to be ill. The brig was
+obliged to sail without me, and the same day I got well, as suddenly as I
+had fallen ill.</p>
+
+<p>I was not long in making a bargain with a fisherman to aid in catching
+shad. All this time, I lived at a sailor boarding-house, and was
+surrounded by men who, like myself, had quitted the vessels in which they
+had arrived. One night the captain of a ship, called the Hope, came to the
+house to look for a crew. He was bound to Rotterdam, and his ship lay down
+at the second bar, all ready for sea. After some talk, one man signed the
+articles; then another, and another, and another, until his crew was
+complete to one man. I was now called on to ship, and was ridiculed for
+wishing to turn shad-man. My pride was touched, and I agreed to go,
+leaving my fisherman in the lurch.</p>
+
+<p>The Hope turned out to be a regular down-east craft, and I had been in so
+many flyers and crack ships as to be saucy enough to laugh at the
+economical outfit, and staid ways of the vessel. I went on board half
+drunk, and made myself conspicuous for such sort of strictures from the
+first hour. The captain treated me mildly, even kindly; but I stuck to my
+remarks during most of the passage. I was a seaman, and did my duty; but
+this satisfied me. I had taken a disgust to the ship; and though I had
+never blasphemed since the hour of the accident in the way I did the day
+the Susan and Mary was thrown on her beam-ends, I may be said to have
+crossed the Atlantic in the Hope, grumbling and swearing at the ship.
+Still, our living and our treatment were both good.</p>
+
+<p>At Rotterdam, we got a little money, with liberty. When he last was up, I
+asked for more, and the captain refused it. This brought on an explosion,
+and I swore I would quit the ship. After a time, the captain consented, as
+well as he could, leaving my wages on the cabin-table, where I found them,
+and telling me I should repent of what I was then doing. Little did I then
+think he would prove so true a prophet.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter XVIII.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>I had left the Hope in a fit of the sulks. The vessel never pleased me,
+and yet I can now look back, and acknowledge that both her master and her
+mate were respectable, considerate men, who had my own good in view more
+than I had myself. There was an American ship, called the Plato, in port,
+and I had half a mind to try my luck in her. The master of this vessel was
+said to be a tartar, however, and a set of us had doubts about the
+expediency of trusting ourselves with such a commander. When we came to
+sound around him, we discovered he would have nothing to do with us, as he
+intended to get a crew of regular Dutchmen. This ship had just arrived
+from Batavia, and was bound to New York. How he did this legally, or
+whether he did it at all, is more than I know, for I only tell what I was
+told myself, on this subject.</p>
+
+<p>There was a heavy Dutch Indiaman, then fitting out for Java, lying at
+Rotterdam. The name of this vessel was the Stadtdeel--so pronounced; how
+spelt, I have no idea--and I began to think I would try a voyage in her.
+As is common with those who have great reason to find fault with
+themselves, I was angry with the whole world. I began to think myself a
+sort of outcast, forgetting that I had deserted my natural relatives, run
+from my master, and thrown off many friends who were disposed to serve me
+in everything in which I could be served. I have a cheerful temperament by
+nature, and I make no doubt that the sombre view I now began to take of
+things, was the effects of drink. It was necessary for me to get to sea,
+for there I was shut out from all excesses, by discipline and necessity.</p>
+
+<p>After looking around us, and debating the matter among ourselves, a party
+of five of us shipped in the Stadtdeel. What the others contemplated I do
+not know, but it was my intention to double Good Hope, and never to
+return. Chances enough would offer on the other side, to make a man
+comfortable, and I was no stranger to the ways of that quarter of the
+world. I could find enough to do between Bombay and Canton; and, if I
+could not, there were the islands and all of the Pacific before me. I
+could do a seaman's whole duty, was now in tolerable health and strength,
+and knew that such men were always wanted. Wherever a ship goes, Jack must
+go with her, and ships, dollars and hogs, are now to be met with all over
+the globe.</p>
+
+<p>The Stadtdeel lay at Dort, and we went to that place to join her. She was
+not ready for sea, and as things moved Dutchman fashion, slow and sure, we
+were about six weeks at Dort before she sailed. This ship was a vessel of
+the size of a frigate, and carried twelve guns. She had a crew of about
+forty souls, which was being very short-handed. The ship's company was a
+strange mixture of seamen, though most of them came from the north of
+Europe. Among us were Russians, Danes, Swedes, Prussians, English,
+Americans, and but a very few Dutch. One of the mates, and two of the
+petty officers, could speak a little English. This made us eight who could
+converse in that language. We had to learn Dutch as well as we could, and
+made out tolerably well. Before the ship sailed, I could understand the
+common orders, without much difficulty. Indeed, the language is nothing
+but English a little flattened down.</p>
+
+<p>So long as we remained at Dort, the treatment on board this vessel was
+well enough. We were never well fed, though we got enough food, such as it
+was. The work was hard, and the weather cold; but these did not frighten
+me. The wages were eight dollars a month;--I had abandoned eighteen, and
+an American ship, for this preferment! A wayward temper had done me
+this service.</p>
+
+<p>The Stadtdeel no sooner got into the stream, than there was a great
+change in the treatment. We were put on an allowance of food and water,
+in sight of our place of departure; and the rope's-end began to fly round
+among the crew we five excepted. For some reason, that I cannot explain
+neither of us was ever struck. We got plenty of curses, in Low Dutch, as
+we supposed; and we gave them back, with interest, in high English. The
+expression of our faces let the parties into the secret of what was
+going on.</p>
+
+<p>It is scarcely necessary to add, that we English and Americans soon
+repented of the step we had taken. I heartily wished myself on board the
+Hope, again, and the master's prophecy became true, much sooner, perhaps,
+than he had himself anticipated. This time, I conceive that my disgust was
+fully justified; though I deserved the punishment I was receiving, for
+entering so blindly into a service every way so inferior to that to which
+I properly belonged. The bread in this ship was wholesome, I do suppose,
+but it was nearly black, and such as I was altogether unused to. Inferior
+as it was, we got but five pounds, each, per week. In our navy, a man
+gets, per week, seven pounds of such bread as might be put on a
+gentleman's table. The meat was little better than the bread in quality,
+and quite as scant in quantity. We got one good dish in the Stadtdeel, and
+that we got every morning. It was a dish of boiled barley, of which I
+became very fond, and which, indeed, supplied me with the strength
+necessary for my duty. It was one of the best dishes I ever fell in with
+at sea; and I think it might be introduced, to advantage, in our service.
+Good food produces good work.</p>
+
+<p>As all our movements were of the slow and easy order, the ship lay three
+weeks at the Helvoetsluys, waiting for passengers. During this time, our
+party, three English and two Americans, came to a determination to abandon
+the ship. Our plan was to seize a boat, as we passed down channel, and get
+ashore in England. We were willing to run all the risks of such a step, in
+preference of going so long a voyage under such treatment and food. By
+this time, our discontent amounted to disgust.</p>
+
+<p>At length we got all our passengers on board. These consisted of a family,
+of which the head was said to be, or to have been, an admiral in the Dutch
+navy. This gentleman was going to Java to remain; and he took with him
+his wife, several children, servants, and a lady, who seemed to be a
+companion to his wife. As soon as this party was on board, the wind coming
+fair, we sailed. The Plato went to sea in company with us, and little did
+I then think, while wishing myself on board her, how soon I should be
+thrown into this very ship--the last craft in which I ever was at sea. I
+was heaving the lead as we passed her; our ship, Dutchman or not, having a
+fleet pair of heels. The Stadtdeel, whatever might be her usage, or her
+food, sailed and worked well, and was capitally found in everything that
+related to the safety of the vessel. This was her first voyage, and she
+was said to be the largest ship out of Rotterdam.</p>
+
+<p>The Stadtdeel must have sailed from Helvoetsluys in May, 1839, or about
+thirty-three years after I sailed from New York, on my first voyage, in
+the Sterling. During all this time I had been toiling at sea, like a dog,
+risking my health and life, in a variety of ways; and this ship, with my
+station on board her, was nearly all I had to show for it! God be praised!
+This voyage, which promised so little, in its commencement, proved, in the
+end, the most fortunate of any in which I embarked.</p>
+
+<p>There was no opportunity for us to put our plans in execution, in going
+down channel. The wind was fair, and it blew so fresh, it would not have
+been easy to get a boat into the water; and we passed the Straits of
+Dover, by day-light, the very day we sailed. The wind held in the same
+quarter, until we reached the north-east trades, giving us a quick run as
+low down as the calm latitudes. All this time, the treatment was as bad as
+ever, or, if anything, worse; and our discontent increased daily. There
+were but one or two native Hollanders in the forecastle, boys excepted;
+but among them was a man who had shipped as an ordinary seaman. He had
+been a soldier, I believe; at all events, he had a medal, received in
+consequence of having been in one of the late affairs between his country
+and Belgium. It is probable this man may not have been very expert in a
+seaman's duty, and it is possible he may have been drinking, though to me
+he appeared sober, at the time the thing occurred which I am about to
+relate. One day the captain fell foul of him, and beat him with a rope
+severely. The ladies interfered, and got the poor fellow out of the
+scrape; the captain letting him go, and telling him to go forward. As the
+man complied, he fell in with the chief mate, who attacked him afresh, and
+beat him very severely. The man now went below, and was about to turn in,
+as the captain had ordered,--which renders it probable he had been
+drinking,--when the second mate, possibly ignorant of what had occurred,
+missing him from his duty, went below, and beat him up on deck again.
+These different assaults seem to have made the poor fellow desperate. He
+ran and jumped into the sea, just forward of the starboard
+lower-studdingsail-boom. The ship was then in the north-east trades, and
+had eight or nine knots way on her; notwithstanding, she was rounded to,
+and a boat was lowered--but the man was never found. There is something
+appalling in seeing a fellow-creature driven to such acts of madness; and
+the effect produced on all of us, by what we witnessed, was profound
+and sombre.</p>
+
+<p>I shall not pretend to say that this man did not deserve chastisement, or
+that the two mates were not ignorant of what had happened; but brutal
+treatment was so much in use on board this ship, that the occurrence made
+us five nearly desperate. I make no doubt a crew of Americans, who were
+thus treated, would have secured the officers, and brought the ship in. It
+is true, that flogging seems necessary to some natures, and I will not say
+that such a crew as ours could very well get along without it. But we
+might sometimes be treated as men, and no harm follow.</p>
+
+<p>As I have said, the loss of this man produced a great impression in the
+ship, generally. The passengers appeared much affected by it, and I
+thought the captain, in particular, regretted it greatly. He might not
+have been in the least to blame, for the chastisement he inflicted was
+such as masters of ships often bestow on their men, but the crew felt very
+indignant against the mates; one of whom was particularly obnoxious to us
+all. As for my party, we now began to plot, again, in order to get quit of
+the ship. After a great deal of discussion, we came to the following
+resolution:</p>
+
+<p>About a dozen of us entered into the conspiracy. We contemplated no
+piracy, no act of violence, that should not be rendered necessary in
+self-defence, nor any robbery beyond what we conceived indispensable to
+our object. As the ship passed the Straits of Sunda, we intended to lower
+as many boats as should be necessary, arm ourselves, place provisions and
+water in the boats, and abandon the ship. We felt confident that if most
+of the men did not go with us, they would not oppose us. I can now see
+that this was a desperate and unjustifiable scheme; but, for myself, I was
+getting desperate on board the ship, and preferred risking my life to
+remaining. I will not deny that I was a ringleader in this affair, though
+I know I had no other motive than escape. This was a clear case of mutiny,
+and the only one in which I was ever implicated. I have a thousand times
+seen reason to rejoice that the attempt was never made, since, so deep was
+the hostility of the crew to the officers,--the mates, in
+particular,--that I feel persuaded a horrible scene of bloodshed must have
+followed. I did not think of this at the time, making sure of getting off
+unresisted; but, if we had, what would have been the fate of a parcel of
+seamen who came into an English port in ship's boats? Tried for piracy,
+probably, and the execution of some, if not all of us.</p>
+
+<p>The ship had passed the island of St. Pauls, and we were impatiently
+waiting for her entrance into the Straits of Sunda, when an accident
+occurred that put a stop to the contemplated mutiny, and changed the whole
+current, as I devoutly hope, of all my subsequent life. At the calling of
+the middle watch, one stormy night, the ship being under close-reefed
+topsails at the time, with the mainsail furled, I went on deck as usual,
+to my duty. In stepping across the deck, between the launch and the
+galley, I had to cross some spars that were lashed there. While on the
+pile of spars, the ship lurched suddenly, and I lost my balance, falling
+my whole length on deck, upon my left side. Nothing broke the fall, my
+arms being raised to seize a hold above my head, and I came down upon deck
+with my entire weight, the hip taking the principal force of the fall. The
+anguish I suffered was acute, and it was some time before I would allow my
+shipmates even to touch me.</p>
+
+<p>After a time, I was carried down into the steerage, where it was found
+necessary to sling me on a grating, instead of a hammock. We had a doctor
+on board, but he could do nothing for me. My clothes could not be taken
+off, and there I lay wet, and suffering to a degree that I should find
+difficult to describe, hours and hours.</p>
+
+<p>I was now really on the stool of repentance. In body, I was perfectly
+helpless, though my mind seemed more active than it had ever been before.
+I overhauled my whole life, beginning with the hour when I first got
+drunk, as a boy, on board the Sterling, and underrunning every scrape I
+have mentioned in this sketch of my life, with many of which I have not
+spoken; and all with a fidelity and truth that satisfy me that man can
+keep no log-book that is as accurate as his own conscience. I saw that I
+had been my own worst enemy, and how many excellent opportunities of
+getting ahead in the world, I had wantonly disregarded. Liquor lay at the
+root of all my calamities and misconduct, enticing me into bad company,
+undermining my health and strength, and blasting my hopes. I tried to
+pray, but did not know how; and, it appeared to me, as if I were lost,
+body and soul, without a hope of mercy.</p>
+
+<p>My shipmates visited me by stealth, and I pointed out to them, as clearly
+as in my power, the folly, as well as the wickedness, of our contemplated
+mutiny. I told them we had come on board the ship voluntarily, and we had
+no right to be judges in our own case; that we should have done a cruel
+thing in deserting a ship at sea, with women and children on board; that
+the Malays would probably have cut our throats, and the vessel herself
+would have been very apt to be wrecked. Of all this mischief, we should
+have been the fathers, and we had every reason to be grateful that our
+project was defeated. The men listened attentively, and promised to
+abandon every thought of executing the revolt. They were as good as their
+words, and I heard no more of the matter.</p>
+
+<p>As for my hurt, it was not easy to say what it was. The doctor was kind to
+me, but he could do no more than give me food and little indulgencies. As
+for the captain, I think he was influenced by the mate, who appeared to
+believe I was feigning an injury much greater than I had actually
+received. On board the ship, there was a boy, of good parentage, who had
+been sent out to commence his career at sea. He lived aft, and was a sort
+of genteel cabin-boy He could not have been more than ten or eleven years
+old but he proved to be a ministering angel to me. He brought me
+delicacies, sympathised with me, and many a time did we shed tears in
+company. The ladies and the admiral's children sometimes came to see me,
+too, manifesting much sorrow for my situation; and then it was that my
+conscience pricked the deepest, for the injury, or risks, I had
+contemplated exposing them to. Altogether, the scenes I saw daily, and my
+own situation, softened my heart, and I began to get views of my moral
+deformity that were of a healthful and safe character.</p>
+
+<p>I lay on that grating two months, and bitter months they were to me. The
+ship had arrived at Batavia, and the captain and mate came to see what was
+to be done with me. I asked to be sent to the hospital, but the mate
+insisted nothing was the matter with me, and asked to have me kept in the
+ship. This was done, and I went round to Terragall in her, where we landed
+our passengers. These last all came and took leave of me, the admiral
+making me a present of a good jacket, that he had worn himself at sea,
+with a quantity of tobacco. I have got that jacket at this moment. The
+ladies spoke kindly to me, and all this gave my heart fresh pangs.</p>
+
+<p>From Terragall we went to Sourabaya, where I prevailed on the captain to
+send me to the hospital, the mate still insisting I was merely shamming
+inability to work. The surgeons at Sourabaya, one of whom was a Scotchman,
+thought with the mate; and at the end of twenty days, I was again taken on
+board the ship, which sailed for Samarang. While at Sourabaya there were
+five English sailors in the hospital. These men were as forlorn and
+miserable as my self, death grinning in our faces at every turn. The men
+who were brought into the hospital one day, were often dead the next, and
+none of us knew whose turn would come next. We often talked together, on
+religious subjects, after our own uninstructed manner, and greatly did we
+long to find an English bible, a thing not to be had there. Then it was I
+thought, again, of the sermon I had heard at the Sailors' Retreat, of the
+forfeited promises I had made to reform; and, more than once did it cross
+my mind, should God permit me to return home, that I would seek out that
+minister, and ask his prayers and spiritual advice.</p>
+
+<p>On our arrival at Samarang, the mate got a doctor from a Dutch frigate,
+to look at me, who declared nothing ailed me. By these means nearly all
+hands in the ship were set against me, but my four companions, and the
+little boy fancying that I was a skulk, and throwing labour on them. I was
+ordered on deck, and set to work graffing ring-bolts for the guns. Walk I
+could not, being obliged, literally, to crawl along the deck on my hands
+and knees. I suffered great pain, but got no credit for it. The work was
+easy enough for me, when once seated at it, but it caused me infinite
+suffering to move. I was not alone in being thought a skulk, however. The
+doctor himself was taken ill, and the mate accused him, too, very much as
+he did me, of shirking duty. Unfortunately, the poor man gave him the
+lie, by dying.</p>
+
+<p>I was kept at the sort of duty I have mentioned until the ship reached
+Batavia again. Here a doctor came on board from another ship, on a visit,
+and my case was mentioned. The mate ordered me aft, and I crawled upon the
+quarter-deck to be examined. They got me into the cabin, where the strange
+doctor looked at me. This man said I must be operated on by a burning
+process, all of which was said to frighten me to duty. After this I got
+down into the forecastle, and positively refused to do anything more.
+There I lay, abused and neglected by all but my four friends. I told the
+mate I suffered too much to work, and that I must be put ashore. Suffering
+had made me desperate, and I cared not for the consequences.</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately for me, there were two cases of fever and ague in the ship.
+Our own doctor being dead, that of the admiral's ship was sent for to
+visit the sick. The mate seemed anxious to set evidence against me, and he
+asked the admiral's surgeon to come down and see me. The moment this
+gentleman laid eyes on me, he raised both arms, and exclaimed that they
+were killing me. He saw, at once, that I was no impostor, and stated as
+much in pretty plain language, so far as I could understand what he said.
+The mate appeared to be struck with shame and contrition; and I do believe
+that every one on board was sorry for the treatment I had received. I took
+occasion to remonstrate with the mate, and to tell him of the necessity of
+my being sent immediately to the hospital. The man promised to represent
+my case to the captain, and the next day I was landed.</p>
+
+<p>My two great desires were to get to the hospital and to procure a bible. I
+did not expect to live; one of my legs being shrivelled to half its former
+size, and was apparently growing worse; and could I find repose for my
+body and relief for my soul, I felt that I could be happy. I had heard my
+American shipmate, who was a New Yorker, a Hudson river man, say he had a
+bible; but I had never seen it. It lay untouched in the bottom of his
+chest, sailor-fashion. I offered this man a shirt for his bible; but he
+declined taking any pay, cheerfully giving me the book. I forced the shirt
+on him, however, as a sort of memorial of me. Now I was provided with the
+book, I could not read for want of spectacles. I had reached a time of
+life when the sight begins to fail, and I think my eyes were injured in
+Florida. In Sourayaba hospital I had raised a few rupees by the sale of a
+black silk handkerchief, and wanted now to procure a pair of spectacles. I
+sold a pair of boots, and adding the little sum thus raised to that which
+I had already, I felt myself rich and happy, in the prospect of being able
+to study the word of God. On quitting the ship, everybody, forward and
+aft, shook hands with me, the opinion of the man-of-war surgeon suddenly
+changing all their opinions of me and my conduct.</p>
+
+<p>The captain appeared to regret the course things had taken, and was
+willing to do all he could to make me comfortable. My wages were left in a
+merchant's hands, and I was to receive them could I quit this island, or
+get out of the hospital. I was to be sent to Holland, in the latter case,
+and everything was to be done according to law and right. The reader is
+not to imagine I considered myself a suffering saint all this time. On the
+contrary, while I was thought an impostor, I remembered that I had shammed
+sickness in this very island, and, as I entered the hospital, I could not
+forget the circumstances under which I had been its tenant fifteen or
+twenty years before. Then I was in the pride of my youth and strength;
+and, now, as if in punishment for the deception, I was berthed, a
+miserable cripple, within half-a-dozen beds of that on which I was berthed
+when feigning an illness I did not really suffer. Under such
+circumstances, conscience is pretty certain to remind a sinner of
+his misdeeds.</p>
+
+<p>The physician of the hospital put me on very low diet and gave me an
+ointment to "smear" myself with, as he called it; and I was ordered to
+remain in my berth. By means of one of the coolies of the hospital, I got
+a pair of spectacles from the town, and such a pair, as to size and form,
+that people in America regard what is left of them as a curiosity. They
+served my purpose, however, and enabled me to read the precious book I had
+obtained from my north-river shipmate. This book was a copy from the
+American Bible Society's printing-office, and if no other of their works
+did good, this must be taken for an exception. It has since been placed in
+the Society's Library, in memory of the good it has done.</p>
+
+<p>My sole occupation was reading and reflecting. There I lay, in a distant
+island, surrounded by disease, death daily, nay hourly making his
+appearance, among men whose language was mostly unknown to me. It was
+several weeks before I was allowed even to quit my bunk. I had begun to
+pray before I left the ship, and this practice I continued, almost hourly,
+until I was permitted to rise. A converted Lascar was in the hospital, and
+seeing my occupation, he came and conversed with me, in his broken
+English. This man gave me a hymn-book, and one of the first hymns I read
+in it afforded me great consolation. It was written by a man who had been
+a sailor like myself, and one who had been almost as wicked as myself, but
+who has since done a vast deal of good, by means of precept and example.
+This hymn-book I now read in common with my bible. But I cannot express
+the delight I felt at a copy of Pilgrim's Progress which this same Lascar
+gave me. That book I consider as second only to the bible. It enabled me
+to understand and to apply a vast deal that I found in the word of God,
+and set before my eyes so many motives for hope, that I began to feel
+Christ had died for me, as well as for the rest of the species. I thought
+if the thief on the cross could be saved, even one as wicked as I had been
+had only to repent and believe, to share in the Redeemer's mercy. All this
+time I fairly pined for religious instruction, and my thoughts would
+constantly recur to the sermon I had heard at the Sailor's Retreat, and
+to the clergyman who had preached it.</p>
+
+<p>There was an American carpenter in the Fever Hospital, who, hearing of my
+state, gave me some tracts that he had brought from home with him. This
+man was not pious, but circumstances had made him serious; and, being
+about to quit the place, he was willing to administer to my wants He told
+me there were several Englishmen and one American in his hospital, who
+wanted religious consolation greatly, and he advised me to crawl over and
+see them; which I did, as soon as it was in my power.</p>
+
+<p>At first, I thought myself too wicked to offer to pray and converse with
+these men, but my conscience would not let me rest until I did so. It
+appeared to me as if the bible had been placed in my way, as much for
+their use as my own, and I could not rest until I had offered them all the
+consolation it was in my power to bestow. I read with these men for two or
+three weeks; Chapman, the American, being the man who considered his own
+moral condition the most hopeless. When unable to go myself, I would send
+my books, and we had the bible and Pilgrim's Progress, watch and watch,
+between us.</p>
+
+<p>All this time we were living, as it might be, on a bloody battle-field.
+Men died in scores around us, and at the shortest notice. Batavia, at that
+season, was the most sickly; and, although the town was by no means as
+dangerous then as it had been in my former visit, it was still a sort of
+Golgotha, or place of skulls. More than half who entered the Fever
+Hospital, left it only as corpses.</p>
+
+<p>Among my English associates, as I call them, was a young Scotchman, of
+about five-and-twenty. This man had been present at most of our readings
+and conversations, though he did not appear to me as much impressed with
+the importance of caring for his soul, as some of the others. One day he
+came to take leave of me. He was to quit the hospital the following
+morning. I spoke to him concerning his future life, and endeavoured to
+awaken in him some feelings that might be permanent, he listened with
+proper respect, but his answers were painfully inconsiderate, though I do
+believe he reasoned as nine in ten of mankind reason, when they think at
+all on such subjects. "What's the use of my giving up so soon," he said;
+"I am young, and strong, and in good health, and have plenty of sea-room
+to leeward of me, and can fetch up when there is occasion for it. If a
+fellow don't live while he can, he'll never live." I read to him the
+parable of the wise and foolish virgins, but he left me holding the same
+opinion, to the last.</p>
+
+<p>Directly in front of my ward was the dead-house. Thither all the bodies of
+those who died in the hospital were regularly carried for dissection.
+Scarcely one escaped being subjected to the knife. This dead-house stood
+some eighty, or a hundred, yards from the hospital, and between them was
+an area, containing a few large trees. I was in the habit, after I got
+well enough to go out, to hobble to one of these trees, where I would sit
+for hours, reading and meditating. It was a good place to make a man
+reflect on the insignificance of worldly things, disease and death being
+all around him. I frequently saw six or eight bodies carried across this
+area, while sitting in it, and many were taken to the dead-house, at
+night. Hundreds, if not thousands, were in the hospital, and a large
+proportion died.</p>
+
+<p>The morning of the day but one, after I had taken leave of the young
+Scotchman, I was sitting under a tree, as usual, when I saw some coolies
+carrying a dead body across the area. They passed quite near me, and one
+of the coolies gave me to understand it was that of this very youth! He
+had been seized with the fever, a short time after he left me, and here
+was a sudden termination to all his plans of enjoyment and his hopes of
+life; his schemes of future repentance.</p>
+
+<p>Such things are of frequent occurrence in that island, but this event made
+a very deep impression on me. It helped to strengthen me in my own
+resolutions, and I used it, I hope, with effect, with my companions whose
+lives were still spared.</p>
+
+<p>All the Englishmen got well, and were discharged. Chapman, the American,
+however, remained, being exceedingly feeble with the disease of the
+country. With this poor young man, I prayed, as well as I knew how, and
+read, daily, to his great comfort and consolation, I believe. The reader
+may imagine how one dying in a strange land, surrounded by idolaters,
+would lean on a single countryman who was disposed to aid him. In this
+manner did Chap man lean on me, and all my efforts were to induce him to
+lean on the Saviour. He thought he had been too great a sinner to be
+entitled to any hope, and my great task was to overcome in him some of
+those stings of conscience which it had taken the grace of God to allay in
+myself. One day, the last time I was with him, I read the narrative of the
+thief on the cross. He listened to it eagerly, and when I had ended, for
+the first time, he displayed some signs of hope and joy. As I left him, he
+took leave of me, saying we should never meet again. He asked my prayers,
+and I promised them. I went to my own ward, and, while actually engaged in
+redeeming my promise, one came to tell me he had gone. He sent me a
+message, to say he died a happy man. The poor fellow--happy fellow, would
+be a better term--sent back all the books he had borrowed; and it will
+serve to give some idea of the condition we were in, in a temporal sense,
+if I add, that he also sent me a few coppers, in order that they might
+contribute to the comfort of his countrymen.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Chapter XIX.</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>About three months after the death of Chapman, I was well enough to quit
+the hospital. I could walk, with the aid of crutches, but had no hope of
+ever being a sound man again. Of course, I had an anxious desire to get
+home; for all my resolutions, misanthropical feelings, and resentments,
+had vanished in the moral change I had undergone. My health, as a whole,
+was now good. Temperance, abstinence, and a happy frame of mind, had
+proved excellent doctors; and, although I had not, and never shall,
+altogether, recover from the effects of my fall, I had quite done with the
+"horrors." The last fit of them I suffered was in the deep conviction I
+felt concerning my sinful state. I knew nothing of Temperance
+Societies--had never heard that such things existed, or, if I had, forgot
+it as soon as heard; and yet, unknown to myself, had joined the most
+effective and most permanent of all these bodies. Since my fall, I have
+not tasted spirituous liquors, except as medicine, and in very small
+quantities, nor do I now feel the least desire to drink. By the grace of
+God, the great curse of my life has been removed, and I have lived a
+perfectly sober man for the last five years. I look upon liquor as one of
+the great agents of the devil in destroying souls, and turn from it,
+almost as sensitively as I could wish to turn from sin.</p>
+
+<p>I wrote to the merchant who held my wages, on the subject of quitting the
+hospital, but got no answer. I then resolved to go to Batavia myself, and
+took my discharge from the hospital, accordingly. I can truly say, I left
+that place, into which I had entered a miserable, heart-broken cripple, a
+happy man. Still, I had nothing; not even the means of seeking a
+livelihood. But I was lightened of the heaviest of all my burthens, and
+felt I could go through the world rejoicing, though, literally, moving
+on crutches.</p>
+
+<p>The hospital is seven miles from the town, and I went this distance in a
+canal-boat, Dutch fashion. Many of these canals exist in Java, and they
+have had the effect to make the island much more healthy, by draining the
+marshes. They told me, the canal I was on ran fifty miles into the
+interior. The work was done by the natives, but under the direction of
+their masters, the Dutch.</p>
+
+<p>On reaching the town, I hobbled up to the merchant, who gave me a very
+indifferent reception. He said I had cost too much already, but that I
+must return to the hospital, until an opportunity offered for sending me
+to Holland. This I declined doing. Return to the hospital I would not, as
+I knew it could do no good, and my wish was to get back to America. I then
+went to the American consul, who treated me kindly. I was told, however,
+he could do nothing for me, as I had come out in a Dutch ship, unless I
+relinquished all claims to my wages, and all claims on the Dutch laws. My
+wages were a trifle, and I had no difficulty in relinquishing them, and as
+for claims, I wished to present none on the laws of Holland.</p>
+
+<p>The consul then saw the Dutch merchant, and the matter was arranged
+between them. The Plato, the very ship that left Helvoetsluys in company
+with us, was then at Batavia, taking in cargo for Bremenhaven. She had a
+new cap tain, and he consented to receive me as a consul's man. This
+matter was all settled the day I reached the town, and I was to go on
+board the ship in the morning.</p>
+
+<p>I said nothing to the consul about money, but left his office with the
+expectation of getting some from the Dutch merchant. I had tasted no food
+that day, and, on reaching the merchant's, I found him on the point of
+going into the country; no one sleeping in the town at that season, who
+could help it. He took no notice of me, and I got no assistance; perhaps I
+was legally entitled to none. I now sat down on some boxes, and thought I
+would remain at that spot until morning. Sleeping in the open air, on an
+empty stomach, in that town, and at that season, would probably have
+proved my death, had I been so fortunate as to escape being murdered by
+the Malays for the clothes I had on. Providence took care of me. One of
+the clerks, a Portuguese, took pity on me, and led me to a house occupied
+by a negro, who had been converted to Christianity. We met with a good
+deal of difficulty in finding admission. The black said the English and
+Americans were so wicked he was afraid of them; but, finding by my
+discourse that I was not one of the Christian heathen, he altered his
+tone, and nothing was then too good for me. I was fed, and he sent for my
+chest, receiving with it a bed and three blankets, as a present from the
+charitable clerk. Thus were my prospects for that night suddenly changed
+for the better! I could only thank God, in my inmost heart, for all
+his mercies.</p>
+
+<p>The old black, who was a man of some means, was also about to quit the
+town; but, before he went, he inquired if I had a bible. I told him yes;
+still, he would not rest until he had pressed upon me a large bible, in
+English, which language he spoke very well. This book had prayers for
+seamen bound up with it. It was, in fact, a sort of English prayer-book,
+as well as bible. This I accepted, and have now with me. As soon as the
+old man went away, leaving his son behind him for the moment, I began to
+read in my Pilgrim's Progress. The young man expressed a desire to examine
+the book, understanding English perfectly. After reading in it for a short
+time, he earnestly begged the book, telling me he had two sisters, who
+would be infinitely pleased to possess it. I could not refuse him, and he
+promised to send another book in its place, which I should find equally
+good. He thus left me, taking the Pilgrim's Progress with him. Half an
+hour later a servant brought me the promised book, which proved to be
+Doddridge's Rise and Progress. On looking through the pages, I found a
+Mexican dollar wafered between two of the leaves. All this I regarded as
+providential, and as a proof that the Lord would not desert me. My
+gratitude, I hope, was in proportion. This whole household appeared to be
+religious, for I passed half the night in conversing with the Malay
+servants, on the subject of Christianity; concerning which they had
+already received many just ideas. I knew that my teaching was like the
+blind instructing the blind; but it had the merit of coming from God,
+though in a degree suited to my humble claims on his grace.</p>
+
+<p>In the morning, these Malays gave me breakfast, and then carried my chest
+and other articles to the Plato's boat. I was happy enough to find myself,
+once more, under the stars and stripes, where I was well received, and
+humanely treated. The ship sailed for Bremen about twenty days after I got
+on board her.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, I could do but little on the passage. Whenever I moved along
+the deck, it was by crawling, though I could work with the needle and
+palm. A fortnight out, the carpenter, a New York man, died. I tried to
+read and pray with him, but cannot say that he showed any consciousness of
+his true situation. We touched at St. Helena for water, and, Napoleon
+being then dead, had no difficulty in getting ashore. After watering we
+sailed again, and reached our port in due time.</p>
+
+<p>I was now in Europe, a part of the world that I had little hopes of seeing
+ten months before. Still it was my desire to get to America, and I was
+permitted to remain in the ship. I was treated in the kindest manner by
+captain Bunting, and Mr. Bowden, the mate, who gave me everything I
+needed. At the end of a few weeks we sailed again, for New York, where we
+arrived in the month of August, 1840,</p>
+
+<p>I left the Plato at the quarantine ground, going to the Sailor's Retreat.
+Here the physician told me I never could recover the use of my limb as I
+had possessed it before, but that the leg would gradually grow stronger,
+and that I might get along without crutches in the end. All this has
+turned out to be true. The pain had long before left me, weakness being
+now the great difficulty. The hip-joint is injured, and this in a way that
+still compels me to rely greatly on a stick in walking.</p>
+
+<p>At the Sailor's Retreat, I again met Mr. Miller. I now, for the first
+time, received regular spiritual advice, and it proved to be of great
+benefit to me. After remaining a month at the Retreat, I determined to
+make an application for admission to the Sailor's Snug Harbour, a richly
+endowed asylum for seamen, on the same island. In order to be admitted, it
+was necessary to have sailed under the flag five years, and to get a
+character. I had sailed, with two short exceptions, thirty-four years
+under the flag, and I do believe in all that time, the nineteen months of
+imprisonment excluded, I had not been two years unattached to a ship. I
+think I must have passed at least a quarter of a century out of sight of
+land.[17]</p>
+
+<p>I now went up to New York, and hunted up captain Pell, with whom I had
+sailed in the Sully and in the Normandy. This gentleman gave me a
+certificate, and, as I left him, handed me a dollar. This was every cent I
+had on earth. Next, I found captain Witheroudt, of the Silvie de Grasse
+who treated me in precisely the same way. I told him I had <i>one</i> dollar
+already, but he insisted it should be <i>two.</i> With these two dollars in my
+pocket, I was passing up Wall street, when, in looking about me, I saw the
+pension office. The reader will remember that I left Washington with the
+intention of finding Lemuel Bryant, in order to obtain his certificate,
+that I might get a pension for the injury received on board the Scourge.
+With this project, I had connected a plan of returning to Boston, and of
+getting some employment in the Navy Yard. My pension-ticket had, in
+consequence, been made payable at Boston. My arrival at New York, and the
+shadding expedition, had upset all this plan; and before I went to
+Savannah, I had carried my pension-ticket to the agent in this Wall street
+office, and requested him to get another, made payable in New York. This
+was the last I had seen of my ticket, and almost the last I had thought of
+my pension. But, I now crossed the street, went into the office, and was
+recognised immediately. Everything was in rule, and I came out of the
+office with fifty-six dollars in my pockets! I had no thought of this
+pension, at all, in coming up to town. It was so much money showered down
+upon me, unexpectedly.</p>
+
+<p>For a man of my habits, who kept clear of drink, I was now rich. Instead
+of remaining in town, however, I went immediately down to the Harbour, and
+presented myself to its respectable superintendant, the venerable Captain
+Whetten.[18] I was received into the institution without any difficulty,
+and have belonged to it ever since. My entrance at Sailors' Snug Harbour
+took place Sept. 17, 1840; just one month after I landed at Sailors'
+Retreat. The last of these places is a seamen's hospital, where men are
+taken in only to be cured; while the first is an asylum for worn-out
+mariners, for life. The last is supported by a bequest made, many years
+ago, by an old ship-master, whose remains lie in front of the building.</p>
+
+<p>Knowing myself now to be berthed for the rest of my days, should I be so
+inclined, and should I remain worthy to receive the benefits of so
+excellent an institution, I began to look about me, like a man who had
+settled down in the world. One of my first cares, was to acquit myself of
+the duty of publicly joining some church of Christ, and thus acknowledge
+my dependence on his redemption and mercy. Mr. Miller, he whose sermons
+had made so deep an impression on my mind, was living within a mile and a
+half of the Harbour, and to him I turned in my need. I was an
+Episcopalian by infant baptism, and I am still as much attached to that
+form of worship, as to any other; but sects have little weight with me,
+the heart being the main-stay, under God's grace. Two of us, then, joined
+Mr. Miller's church; and I have ever since continued one of his
+communicants. I have not altogether deserted the communion in which I was
+baptized; occasionally communing in the church of Mr. Moore. To me, there
+is no difference; though I suppose more learned Christians may find
+materials for a quarrel, in the distinctions which exist between these two
+churches. I hope never to quarrel with either.</p>
+
+<p>To my surprise, sometime after I was received into the Harbour, I
+ascertained that my sister had removed to New York, and was then living in
+the place. I felt it, now, to be a duty to hunt her up, and see her. This
+I did; and we met, again, after a separation of five-and-twenty years. She
+could tell me very little of my family; but I now learned, for the first
+time, that my father had been killed in battle. Who, or what he was, I
+have not been able to ascertain, beyond the facts already stated in the
+opening of the memoir.</p>
+
+<p>I had ever retained a kind recollection of the treatment of Captain
+Johnston, and accident threw into my way some information concerning him.
+The superintendant had put me in charge of the library of the institution;
+and, one day, I overheard some visiters talking of Wiscasset. Upon this, I
+ventured to inquire after my old master, and was glad to learn that he was
+not only living, but in good health and circumstances. To my surprise I
+was told that a nephew of his was actually living within a mile of me. In
+September, 1842, I went to Wiscasset, to visit Captain Johnston, and found
+myself received like the repentant prodigal. The old gentleman, and his
+sisters, seemed glad to see me; and, I found that the former had left the
+seas, though he still remained a ship-owner; having a stout vessel of five
+hundred tons, which is, at this moment, named after our old craft,
+the Sterling.</p>
+
+<p>I remained at Wiscasset several weeks. During this time, Captain Johnston
+and myself talked over old times, as a matter of course, and I told him I
+thought one of our old shipmates was still living. On his asking whom, I
+inquired if he remembered the youngster, of the name of Cooper, who had
+been in the Sterling. He answered, perfectly well, and that he supposed
+him to be the Captain Cooper who was then in the navy. I had thought so,
+too, for a long time; but happened to be on board the Hudson, at New York,
+when a Captain Cooper visited her. Hearing his name, I went on deck
+expressly to see him, and was soon satisfied it was not my old shipmate.
+There are two Captains Cooper in the navy,--father and son,--but neither
+had been in the Sterling. Now, the author of many naval tales, and of the
+Naval History, was from Cooperstown, New York; and I had taken it into my
+head this was the very person who had been with us in the Sterling.
+Captain Johnston thought not; but I determined to ascertain the fact,
+immediately on my return to New York.</p>
+
+<p>Quitting Wiscasset, I came back to the Harbour, in the month of November,
+1842. I ought to say, that the men at this institution, who maintain good
+characters, can always get leave to go where they please, returning
+whenever they please. There is no more restraint than is necessary to
+comfort and good order; the object being to make old tars comfortable.
+Soon after my return to the Harbour, I wrote a letter to Mr. Fenimore
+Cooper, and sent it to his residence, at Cooperstown, making the inquiries
+necessary to know if he were the person of the same family who had been in
+the Sterling. I got an answer, beginning in these words--"I am your old
+shipmate, Ned." Mr. Cooper informed me when he would be in town, and
+where he lodged.</p>
+
+<p>In the spring, I got a message from Mr. Blancard, the keeper of the Globe
+Hotel, and the keeper, also, of Brighton, near the Harbour, to say that
+Mr. Cooper was in town, and wished to see me. Next day, I went up,
+accordingly; but did not find him in. After paying one or two visits, I
+was hobbling up Broadway, to go to the Globe again, when my old commander
+at Pensacola, Commodore Bolton, passed down street, arm-in-arm with a
+stranger. I saluted the commodore, who nodded his head to me, and this
+induced the stranger to look round. Presently I heard "Ned!" in a voice
+that I knew immediately, though I had not heard it in thirty-seven years.
+It was my old shipmate--the gentleman who has written out this account of
+my career, from my verbal narrative of the facts.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Cooper asked me to go up to his place, in the country, and pass a few
+weeks there. I cheerfully consented, and we reached Cooperstown early in
+June. Here I found a neat village, a beautiful lake, nine miles long, and,
+altogether, a beautiful country. I had never been as far from the sea
+before, the time when I served on Lake Ontario excepted. Cooperstown lies
+in a valley, but Mr. Cooper tells me it is at an elevation of twelve
+hundred feet above tide-water. To me, the clouds appeared so low, I
+thought I could almost shake hands with them; and, altogether, the air and
+country were different from any I had ever seen, or breathed, before.</p>
+
+<p>My old shipmate took me often on the Lake, which I will say is a slippery
+place to navigate. I thought I had seen all sorts of winds before I saw
+the Otsego, but, on this lake it sometimes blew two or three different
+ways at the same time. While knocking about this piece of water, in a good
+stout boat, I related to my old shipmate many of the incidents of my
+wandering life, until, one day, he suggested it might prove interesting to
+publish them. I was willing, could the work be made useful to my brother
+sailors, and those who might be thrown into the way of temptations like
+those which came so near wrecking all my hopes, both for this world, and
+that which is to come. We accordingly went to work between us, and the
+result is now laid before the world. I wish it understood, that this is
+literally my own story, logged by my old shipmate.</p>
+
+<p>It is now time to clew up. When a man has told all he has to say, the
+sooner he is silent the better. Every word that has been related, I
+believe to be true; when I am wrong, it proceeds from ignorance, or want
+of memory. I may possibly have made some trifling mistakes about dates,
+and periods, but I think they would turn out to be few, on inquiry. In
+many instances I have given my impressions, which, like those of other
+men, may be right, or may be wrong. As for the main facts, however, I know
+them to be true, nor do I think myself much out of the way, in any of
+the details.</p>
+
+<p>This is the happiest period of my life, and has been so since I left the
+hospital at Batavia. I do not know that I have ever passed a happier
+summer than the present has been. I should be perfectly satisfied with
+everything, did not my time hang so idle on my hands at the Harbour. I
+want something to occupy my leisure moments, and do not despair of yet
+being able to find a mode of life more suitable to the activity of my
+early days. I have friends enough--more than I deserve--and, yet, a man
+needs occupation, who has the strength and disposition to be employed.
+That which is to happen is in the hands of Providence, and I humbly trust
+I shall be cared for, to the end, as I have been cared for, through so
+many scenes of danger and trial.</p>
+
+<p>My great wish is that this picture of a sailor's risks and hardships, may
+have some effect in causing this large and useful class of men to think on
+the subject of their habits. I entertain no doubt that the money I have
+disposed of far worse than if I had thrown it into the sea, which went to
+reduce me to that mental hell, the 'horrors,' and which, on one occasion,
+at least, drove me to the verge of suicide, would have formed a sum, had
+it been properly laid by, on which I might now have been enjoying an old
+age of comfort and respectability. It is seldom that a seaman cannot lay
+by a hundred dollars in a twelvemonth--oftentimes I have earned double
+that amount, beyond my useful outlays--and a hundred dollars a year, at
+the end of thirty years, would give such a man an independence for the
+rest of his days. This is far from all, however; the possession of means
+would awaken the desire of advancement in the calling, and thousands, who
+now remain before the mast, would long since have been officers, could
+they have commanded the self-respect that property is apt to create.</p>
+
+<p>On the subject of liquor, I can say nothing that has not often been said
+by others, in language far better than I can use. I do not think I was as
+bad, in this respect, as perhaps a majority of my associates; yet, this
+narrative will show how often the habit of drinking to excess impeded my
+advance. It was fast converting me into a being inferior to a man, and,
+but for God's mercy, might have rendered me the perpetrator of crimes that
+it would shock me to think of, in my sober and sane moments.</p>
+
+<p>The past, I have related as faithfully as I have been able so to do. The
+future is with God; to whom belongeth power, and glory, for ever and ever!</p>
+
+
+
+<p align="center" class="smallcaps">The End.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<h2>Footnotes</h2>
+
+
+
+<p>[1]: The writer left a blank for this regiment, and now inserts it from
+memory. It is probable he is wrong.</p>
+
+<p>[2]: Edward, Duke of Kent, was born November 2, 1767, and made a peer April
+23, 1799; when he was a little turned of one-and-thirty. It is probable
+that this creation took place on his return to England; after passing some
+six or eight years in America and the West Indies. He served in the West
+Indies with great personal distinction, during his stay in this
+hemisphere.--Editor.</p>
+
+<p>[3]: This is Ned's pronunciation; though it is probable the name is not
+spelt correctly. The names of Ned are taken a good deal at random; and,
+doubtless, are often misspelled.--Editor.</p>
+
+<p>[4]: I well remember using these arguments to Ned; though less with any
+expectations of being admitted, than the boy seemed to believe. There was
+more roguery, than anything else, in my persuasion; though it was mixed
+with a latent wish to see the interior of the palace.--Editor.</p>
+
+<p>[5]: Second-mate.</p>
+
+<p>[6]: 22d--Editor.</p>
+
+<p>[7]: When Myers related this circumstance, I remembered that a
+Lieutenant-Colonel Meyers had been killed in the affair at Fort George,
+something in the way here mentioned. On consulting the American official
+account, I found that my recollection was just, so far as this--a
+Lieutenant-Colonel Meyers was reported as wounded and taken prisoner. I
+then recollected to have been present at a conversation between
+Major-General Lewis and Major Baker, his adjutant-general, shortly after
+the battle, in which the question arose whether the same shot had killed
+Colonel Meyers that killed his horse. General Lewis thought not; Major
+Baker thought it had. On my referring to the official account as reporting
+this gentleman to have been only <i>wounded</i>, I was told it was a
+mistake, he having been <i>killed</i>. Now for the probabilities. Both Ned
+and his sister understand that their father was slain in battle, about
+this time. Ned thought this occurred at Waterloo, but the sister thinks
+not. Neither knew anything of the object of my inquiry. The sister says
+letters were received from <i>Quebec</i> in relation to the father's
+personal effects. It would be a strange thing, if Ned had actually found
+his own father's body on the field, in this extraordinary manner! I
+pretend not to say it is so; but it must be allowed it looks very much
+like it. The lady may have been a wife, married between the years 1796 and
+1813, when Mr. Meyers had got higher rank. This occurrence was related by
+Ned without the slightest notion of the inference that I have here
+drawn.--Editor.</p>
+
+<p>[8]: It is supposed that Capt. Deacon died, a few years since, in
+consequence of an injury he received on board the Growler, this night. A
+shot struck her main-boom, within a short distance of one of his ears, and
+he ever after complained of its effects. At his death this side of his
+head was much swollen and affected.--Editor.</p>
+
+<p>[9]: By this, Ned means six men had to subsist on the usual allowance of
+four men; a distinction that was made between men on duty and men off.
+Prisoners, too, are commonly allowed to help themselves in a variety of
+ways.--Editor.</p>
+
+<p>[10]: The name of this young officer was King. He is now dead, having been
+lost in the Lynx, Lt. Madison.--Editor.
+
+[11]: If this be true, this could hardly have been a court, but must have
+been a mere investigation; as Sir John Borlase Warren was
+commander-in-chief, and would scarcely sit in a court of his own
+ordering.--Editor.</p>
+
+<p>[12]: Ned means Loto, probably.--Editor.</p>
+
+<p>[13]: Ned might have added "few duchesses." The ambassadors' bags in
+Europe, might ten many a tale of <i>foulards</i>, &amp;c., sent from one court
+to another. The writer believes that the higher class of American
+gentlemen and ladies smuggle less than those of any other country. It
+should be remembered, too, that no seaman goes in a smuggler, thut is not
+sent by traders ashore.--Editor.</p>
+
+<p>[14]: A friend, who was then American Consul at Gibraltar, and an old navy
+officer, tells me Ned is mistaken as to the nature of the anchorage. The
+ship was a little too far out for the best holding ground. The same friend
+adds that the character of this gale is not at all overcharged, the
+vessels actually lost, including small craft of every description,
+amounting to the every way extraordinary number of just three hundred and
+sixty-five.--Editor.</p>
+
+<p>[15]: This is the reasoning of Ned. I have always looked upon the American
+law as erroneous in principle, and too severe in its penalties. Erroneous
+in principle, as piracy is a crime against the law of nations, and it is
+not legal for any one community to widen, or narrow, the action of
+international law. It is peculiarly the policy of this country, rigidly to
+observe this principle, since she has so many interests dependent on its
+existence. The punishment of death is too severe, when we consider that
+nabobs are among us, who laid the foundations of their wealth, as slaving
+<i>merchants</i>, when slaving <i>was</i> legal. Sudden mutations in morals,
+are not to be made by a dash of the pen; and even public sentiment can
+hardly be made to consider slaving much of a crime, in a slave-holding
+community. But, even the punishment of death might be inflicted, without
+arrogating to Congress a power to say what is, and what is not, piracy.</p>
+
+<p>It will probably be said, the error is merely one of language; the
+jurisdiction being clearly legal. Is this true? Can Congress, legally or
+constitutionally, legislate for American citizens, when undeniably within
+the jurisdiction of foreign states? Admit this as a principle, and what is
+to prevent Congress from punishing acts, that it may be the policy of
+foreign countries to exact from even casual residents. If Congress can
+punish me, as a pirate, for slaving under a foreign flag, and in foreign
+countries, it can punish me for carrying arms against all American allies;
+and yet military service may be exacted of even an American citizen,
+resident in a foreign state, under particular circumstances. The same
+difficulty, in principle, may be extended to the whole catalogue of legal
+crime.</p>
+
+<p>Congress exists only for specified purposes. It can <i>punish</i> piracy,
+but it cannot declare what shall, or shall not, be piracy; as this would
+be invading the authority of international law. Under the general power to
+pass laws, that are necessary to carry out the system, it can derive no
+authority; since there can be no legal necessity for any such double
+legislation, under the comity of nations. Suppose, for instance, England
+should legalize slaving, again. Could the United States claim the American
+citizen, who had engaged in slaving, under the English flag, and from a
+British port, under the renowned Ashburton treaty? Would England give such
+a man up? No more than she will now give up the slaves that run from the
+American vessel, which is driven in by stress of weather. One of the vices
+of philanthropy is to overreach its own policy, by losing sight of all
+collateral principles and interests.--Editor.</p>
+
+<p>[16]: Ned's pronunciation.</p>
+
+<p>[17]: I find, in looking over his papers and accounts, that Ned,
+exclusively of all the prison-ships, transports, and vessels in which he
+made passages, has belonged regularly to seventy-two different crafts! In
+some of these vessels he made many voyages, In the Sterling, he made
+several passages with the writer; besides four European voyages, at a
+later day. He made four voyages to Havre in the Erie, which counts as only
+one vessel, in the above list. He was three voyages to London, in the
+Washington, &amp;c. &amp;c. &amp;c.; and often made two voyages in the same ship. I am
+of opinion that Ned's calculation of his having been twenty-five years out
+of sight of land is very probably true. He must have <i>sailed, in all
+ways</i>, in near a hundred different craft.--Editor.</p>
+
+<p>[18]: Pronounced, Wheaton--Editor.</p>
+
+<br />
+<hr />
+<pre>
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, NED MYERS ***
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