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THE LIBRARY
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SITY OF
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Wilson Library
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MINNESOTA

A STORM ON THE SEA BOARD.
}
VOYAGE AND VENTURE,
OR THE
PLEASURES AND PERILS
OF
A SAILOR'S LIFE.

PHILADELPHIA:
H. C. PECK & THEO. BLISS.
!
1858.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, by
H. C. PECK & THEO. BLISS,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the
Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
wils.cls
AUVSKY

PREFACE.
THE varied and adventurous life of the sailor
presents many facts which are of great interest and
full of instruction. We see in his courage and
steadiness, when surrounded by circumstances of
deadly peril, a striking example of the force of
self-discipline in preparing the mind for extraordi-
nary emergencies. In perils of storm and ship-
wreck-in the daring feats of the whaler, boldly
assailing his enormous prey, in the single combat
with the monster shark in his own element, and
even in the daily routine of duty which "sends the
་
(v)
vi
PREFACE.
R
mariner aloft on the giddy top-mast," we read les-
sons of intrepidity and coolness, which are worthy
the admiration and imitation of landsmen in the
dangers to which they may occasionally be exposed,
But the sailor's life is not all peril and labor. He
has his peculiar pleasures too. He sees "the wide,
wide world" in all its most beautiful aspects, afloat
and ashore. He has opportunities to examine and
collect for the "folks at home," many rare and curi-
ous objects; and he learns the manners and cus-
toms of all nations by actual observation. But the
crowning joy is the return home, when his warm
heart finds its welcome at his own fire-side; and the
recital of past dangers and fatigues heighten the
joys of the family circle.
In this little volume the reader will find the
sailor's life in all its joys and sorrows epitomized
and brought home to his own study and contem.
plation.

{

}
T
1
1
}
CONTENTS.
VOYAGE AND VENTURE. WRECK OF THE MARY,
WRECK OF THE DRAKE SCHOONER,
WRECK OF THE MEDUSA,
-
MARINERS OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS,
OLD IRONSIDES ON A LEE SHORE,
PURSUIT OF WATER-FOWL,
BURNING OF THE KENT,
LOFODEN ISLES. THE MAELSTROM,
PEARL DIVERS, -
PERILS OF THE WHALE FISHERY,
EXTRAORDINARY DELIVERANCE,
AN AWFUL MOMENT, -
A DREADFUL MUTINY,
J
I
[
BURNING OF THE STEAMBOAT LEXINGTON,
GALLANT CAPTURE OF A SLAVER,
LOSS OF THE ANN,
SHIPWRECK OF THE BLENDENHALL,
1
1
1
1
·
1
t
1
#
1
11
33
I
40
:
51
55
75
85
91
94
99
106
111
114
121
126
129
133
(vii)
viii
CONTENTS.
LOSS OF THE FRENCH STEAMER PAPIN,
-
149
A SHIP OVERWHELMED WITH ICEBERGS,
153
LOSS OF THE ESSEX AND OTHER VESSELS BY ATTACKS
OF WHALES,
157
DESTRUCTION OF BOATS BY WHALES,
163
A WHALE FISHING ADVENTURE,
1
171
PLEASURES OF A SAILOR'S LIFE,
179
ADVENTURE WITH CHINESE PIRATES,
203
DESTRUCTION OF THE CAROLINE. FALLS OF NIAGARA,
214
4
PERILS AMONG SHARKS,
226
SHARK-FISHING IN NEW SOUTH WALES,
233
ADVENTURE WITH PIRATES OFF HAVANA,
241
MONSTERS OF THE DEEP,
251
GRACE DARLING,
257
}
THE LAND'S END, AND THE CORNISH WRECKERS,
261
EXPEDITIONS TO THE ARCTIC REGIONS,
EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE,
WRECK OF THE PENNSYLVANIA,
WRECK OF THE ST. ANDREW,
273
-
287
291
A
·
•
299

1

(
SAILING OF THE MARY.

Voyage and Venture.
Ir is generally assumed that the captivating romance
of Robinson Crusoe has been the means of sending many
a youngster to sea, Defoe's fascinating style having trans-
muted the stern reality of poor Selkirk's four years' deso-
lation at Juan Fernandez into an entertaining kind of
hermit life, and offering suggestions for rendering even-
such a forlorn state one of usefulness.
However attractive some portions of a sailor's life may
be—such as visiting other climes, viewing nature in varied
garb, and finding in every port a home-the other part
exhibits vast dangers and horrors: among the foremost
are wreck, fire, famine, and piracy.
1
(11)
12
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.

STORM PETREL OR MOTHER CARY'S CHICKEN.
The narrative that follows describes by the captain and
owner, a shipwreck on the coast of Coromandel.
拳
​A rising breeze soon wafted us beyond Sumatra's
shores to a more northern latitude-it was the south-east
trade-wind carrying us nearly within the influence of the
south-west monsoon; but we were not favored with such
propitious gales as formerly. Still, our spirits being in
the true vein for enjoyment, we expressed a hope, which
Thomson heartily participated, that we might never be
less happy than we then were! This hope was scarcely
born when, the sun setting with more than usual bril-
liancy, and leaving its path marked with streaks of gold,
a bird hovered over our heads, and suddenly alighted on
our taffrail: it was a storm petrel, one of "Mother Cary's
chickens," which by mariners are considered as har-
bingers of ill, and generally of a furious storm. At a
warning of this kind I did not then feel disposed to take
alarm; but there were other warnings not to be slighted,
the horizon to the east presented the extraordinary
appearance of a black cloud in the shape of a bow, with
}
WRECK OF THE MARY.
13
май
пл
its convex towards the sea, and which kept its singular
shape and position unchanged until nightfall. For the
period, too, of twenty minutes after the setting of the
sun, the clouds to the north-
west continued of the color
of blood; but that which
most attracted our observa-
tion was to us a remarkable
phenomenon the sea imme-
diately around us, and as far
as the eye could discern by
the light of the moon, ap-
peared, for about forty min-
utes, of a perfectly milk-
white. We were visited by
two more petrels, both of
which sought refuge, with our
first visitor, on the mainmast.
We sounded, but found no
bottom at a hundred fath-

A SAILOR SOUNDING.
14
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
oms; a bucket of the water was then drawn up, the sur-
face of which was apparently covered with innumerable
sparks of fire, an effect said to be caused by the ani-
malculæ which abound in sea water; it is at all times
common; but the sparks are not in general so numerous,
nor of such magnitude as were those which now presented
themselves. The hand, too, being dipped in the water
and immediately withdrawn, thousands of them would
seem to adhere to it. A dismal hollow breeze, which, as
the night drew on, howled through our rigging, and
infused into us all a sombre melancholy feeling, increased
by gathering clouds and the altogether portentous state
of the atmosphere and elements, ushered in the first
watch, which was to be kept by Thomson, the first mate.
About eight o'clock, loud claps of thunder, each in kind
resembling a screech or the blast of a trumpet, rather
than the rumbling sound of thunder in Europe, burst
over our heads, and were succeeded by vivid flashes of
forked lightning. We now made every necessary prepa-
tion for a storm, by striking the topgallantmasts, with
their yards, close-reefing the topsails and foresail, bend-
ing the storm-staysail, and battening down the main-
hatch, over which two tarpaulins were nailed for the
better preservation of the cargo. We observed innume-
rable shoals of fishes, the motions of which appeared to
be more than usually vivid and redundant.
At twelve o'clock, on my taking charge of the deck,
the scene bore a character widely different from that
which it presented but three hours before. We now
sailed under close-reefed main-topsail and foresail. The
WRECK OF THE MARY.
15
1
66
sea ran high; our bark labored hard, and pitched despe-
rately, and the waves lashed her sides with fury, and
were evidently increasing in force and size. Overhead
nothing was to be seen but huge travelling clouds, called
by sailors the "scud," which hurried onwards with the
fleetness of the eagle in her flight. Now and then the
moon, then in her second quarter, would show her disk
for an instant, but be quickly obscured, or a star of
paly" light peep out and also disappear. The well was
sounded, but the vessel did not yet make more water than
what might be expected in such a sea; we however kept
the pumps going at intervals, in order to prevent the
cargo from sustaining damage. The wind now increased,
and the waves rose higher; about two o'clock A. M. the
weather maintopsail-sheet gave way, the sail then split to
ribbons, and, before we could clue it up, was completely
blown away from the bolt-rope. The foresail was then
furled, not without great difficulty and imminent hazard
to the seamen, the storm-staysail alone withstanding the
mighty wind, which seemed to gain strength every half-
hour, while the sea in frightful sublimity, towered to an
incredible height, frequently making a complete breach
over our deck.
At four A. M. I was relieved by Thomson, who at day-
light apprized me that the maintopmast was sprung, and
that the gale was increasing. Scarcely had I gone on
deck, when a tremendous sea struck a little "abaft the
beam," carrying every thing before it, and washing over-
board hencoops, cables, water-casks, and indeed every
moveable article on the deck. Thomson almost by miracle
16
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
1
}
*
escaped being lost; but having, in common with the las-
cars, taken the precaution to lash a rope round his waist,
we were able by its means to extricate him from danger;
at the same time the vessel made an appalling lurch,
lying down on her beam-ends, in which position she
remained for the space of two minutes, when the main-
topmast, followed by the foretopmast, went by the board
with a dreadful crash; she then righted, and we were all
immediately engaged in going aloft, and with hatchets
cutting away the wreck, each of us being lashed with a
rope round the waist; ropes were also fastened across
the deck, in parallel lines, to hold on by; for such was
the violence of the vessel's motion, that without such
assistance it would have been impossible to stand. As for
my wife, she was in her cot, hearing all that was going
forward on deck-sensible of her danger, and a prey to
the apprehension of meeting a death similar to that of
her prototype in St. Pierre's beautiful romance, and
equally dreadful.
A drizzling shower now came on, and having continued
for some time, was at length succeeded by heavy rain,
which, having been converted into sleet, was carried in
flakes swiftly along the tops of the towering mountains of
´sea; while the cold sensibly affected the already exhausted
lascars, at once disinclining them from exertion, and in-
capacitating them from making any; some of them even
sat down, with a fixed stare and a death-like hue upon
their countenances. The most afflicting circumstance was,
their being destitute of warm clothing, which they had
neglected to provide themselves with, as they ought to
WRECK OF THE MARY.
17
43
have done, out of the four months' advance they received
in Calcutta. All that I could spare was given to Thom-
son; but, unable to endure the sight of their misery, I
distributed among them many articles which I could ill
spare, sheets, shirts, and blankets, except one of the
latter, which I had reserved as a provision against any
further extreme of suffering which might yet await us.
There was one poor lascar, a simple, inoffensive youth,
about nineteen, who was an object of the liveliest commise-
ration; he was nearly naked, and in that state had been
continually drenched by the sea and rain during the whole
of the day and night; he was holding his hands up to
heaven in a supplicating attitude, and shaking in an an-
guish fit; the tears fell in torrents down his cheeks, while
he uttered his plaints in loud and piercing lamentations.
Unable at last to witness his misery any longer, I rushed
down to my wife in the cabin,-"Can you spare me this
blanket, without feeling the cold too much yourself-it is
to save the life of a fellow creature?" "Yes, take it; but
stay with me, or, under the horrors I feel, I shall die in
this cabin, and alone. I know we must perish, and why
not die together?" I entreated her to support herself
with all the fortitude she could collect, urged the impossi-
bility of my keeping her company, as every moment called
for my assistance, and assuring her there was no real
danger, I hurried on deck with the blanket, and wrapped
the poor wretch in its folds. I thought he would have
worshipped me! His joy and gratitude were unutterable,
but not greater than the overflowing gladness of my own
heart in having relieved him; and fully convinced I am
3
18
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
1
that no pleasure on earth is comparable to that of doing
good, nor any reward greater than a self-approving con-
science. Every moment I could seize I hurried into the
cabin; and indeed it required my utmost exertion to sup-
port Virginia under the surrounding terrors, she seemed
to be in a state of stupefaction, and was almost fainting
in despondency.
The wind now blew a complete hurricane; our vessel
strained and pitched dreadfully, so that, from the violence
of its motion, the oldest sailors on board were sea-sick,
and from incessant labor, and exposure to the weather, in
so weak a condition, that it was with the utmost difficulty
we could get them to do their duty; some prayed-others
stretched themselves resignedly along the deck, and there
fell asleep, or rather into a stupor, from which it was im-
possible to arouse them; they seemed to be indifferent to
every thing, even to their own preservation: and of all
the crew, there remained but the three secunnies, Thom-
son, and myself, with one or two stout lascars, to work
the vessel.
During the latter part of this trying period, we had
nothing to serve out to the crew but flour and water; the
rice, biscuit, and salt provisions, which we had reserved,
being consumed, and the rest being in the ship's hold,
whence it was impossible to get it, without opening the
main hatches, and that would have been certain destruction.
Even the flour and water, however, were useful. I kneaded
them into dough, which Thomson, who had struck a light,
not without great difficulty, in consequence of the tinder
having got wet, contrived to warm in a kedgeree, or earthen
{
WRECK OF THE MARY.
19
pot, sufficiently to make it palatable; this, with a little
rum, which fortunately remained in our cabin, was offered
to as many of the crew as were in a condition to partake
of it; and English, Mahommedans, Portuguese, and
Malays, all ate together, and swallowed the vivifying fluid
in perfect harmony. The followers of the Prophet were
afterwards reminded of their transgression; and their
answer was that Mahommed, when he framed his prohi-
bition against the use of ardent spirits, did not contem-
plate the possibility of his votaries being placed in such
a condition as that in which they had been.
The hurricane continued with unabated fury for the
space of three days and nights; on the evening of the
fourth day, it was apparently at its height; and, about
midnight, a sea striking our boat, dashed it to atoms,
blowing it away from its lashings, and leaving but a part
of its skeleton, which we instantly cut away. The las-
cars had now become still more drowsy and desponding;
fortunately, however, little remained for them to do, as
our storm staysail was the only sail we had bent ever
since the loss of our two topmasts, and that was blown
away during the night; our main and fore-yards were
lowered on deck, and there was nothing left standing
except the two masts, which trembled like reeds, and
every minute threatened to go by the board. The well
was sounded every ten minutes, and rejoiced were we to
find our bark did not make any water. Not having had a
sight of the sun since the commencement of the gale, it
was impossible for us to keep our reckoning; but as we
had been driving at the mercy of the wind, blowing from

།
VIRGINIA.
WRECK OF THE MARY.
21
the south-east, and of the sea running north-west, and
had, therefore, been scudding before both at the rapid
rate of seven or eight miles an hour, for the last four
days, we conjectured that we could not be far to the
eastward of the Coromandel coast; and, perhaps, to the
northward of Madras.
It was about four o'clock on the fifth morning of the
hurricane, that I ventured into my cabin, to repose
myself on my cot until daylight, more with the persua-
sion that my presence would inspire Virginia with fresh
hopes, and, in consequence, better spirits, than that the
storm had in the least abated, or that the peril had
become less iminent. At six, Thomson, whom I had left
in charge of the deck, aroused me by bawling, in a voice
necessarily raised to the highest pitch, to make itself
heard amidst the howling, or rather screaming, of the
elements" Captain!" I instantly jumped up, without
waiting any specific communication, and on reaching
the deck found the pumps at work, and was. informed
that we had five feet of water in the hold, and that the
water was gaining upon us fast, notwithstanding the
pumps had been kept constantly going. "Well," said
Thomson, in a low tone, not to be heard by the crew,
"we'll do our best, as long as she floats; but that can-
not now be much longer-it's all over with us, depend
npon it!" There was no time for argument; the pumps
were now the chief object of our attention; and Thom-
son and myself, with the secunnies, plied them incessantly,
until we were ready to drop down with fatigue. As for
the lascars, they still remained lying about the deck, in a
22
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
AND
state bordering on insensibility; when, at length, being
no longer able to pump without a relief, we were obliged,
as our only means of preservation, to have recourse to
coercive measures, however painful to our feelings, in
order to compel the lascars to assist at the pumps. After
beating many of them severely with a rope's end, and
thus restoring them, as it were to life, we mustered a
relief.
In a short time we found that the water brought up by
the pumps bore a brownish color, and, on tasting it, that
it was sweet; so that it was evident we were pumping up
the sugar, which being contained in baskets, was but ill
protected against water. Such is the fondness for life,
that on the appearance of any sudden or immediate cause
of dissolution, any consideration unconnected with the
paramount one of preservation is set at naught; thus,
although I was sensible that my valuable cargo was mo-
mentarily diminishing, and my property wasting away, I
then felt no disposition to regret my loss, the powers of
my mind and the affections of my heart being all engaged
on higher objects.
Those lascars who could at all be brought to the pumps
were in so wretched and debilitated a state, as to require
constant relief. For one day and two nights, except a
few short intervals, Thomson and myself, with the secun-
nies, were at the pumps; at the end of that time, our
hands were blistered to such a degree, that the skin
having peeled off, the raw flesh appeared; our arms,
thighs, and legs were so dreadfully swelled, and our loins
in such tormenting pain, as to make it impossible for us
!
!
1
WRECK OF THE MARY.
23
to continue the exertion, without suffering extreme agony,
and nothing but the melancholy conviction that we must
continue our labor or perish could possibly have sustained
us under such hardships-hardships, however, which, we
had the heartfelt satisfaction to find, were so far from
being useless, that on perusing the sounding rod, when
pulled up from the well (which we did under feelings of
extreme anxiety and uneasiness,) we were convinced that
the water did not gain upon us. Our spirits, however,
received no encouragement from the appearance of the
elements; the clouds were black and frowning, and all
around still bore a threatening appearance; the hurri-
cane indeed had rather increased than in the slightest
degree abated.
The circumstance of our having on board so perishable
and light a cargo as soft sugar, it is remarkable, was the
very means of our preservation. Had it consisted of
almost any other article, either of pepper or of dead
weight, we must inevitably have perished. To have
thrown overboard any heavy cargo, would, from the con-
stant and heavy breaches which the sea made over us,
have been impossible. Neither could the masts have been
cut away, for the purpose of lightening the vessel, in con-
sequence of the imbecile condition of the crew; a
recourse to so hazardous a measure would, under our
circumstances, most likely have proved the cause of our
destruction. As it was, from constant pumping for three
days, we found our vessel as light and buoyant as a cork,
and, with the exception of the baskets in which the
sugar had been stowed, nearly empty.
24
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.

ամ
به گریه
}
THE ALBATROSS.
Night approached, bringing with it additional horrors.
The secunnies, who had hitherto borne their hardships
with admirable fortitude, now began to droop, and to ex-
press a violent inclination for more rum, although as much
had been given them as they could possibly bear; indeed,
rum, with dough half-baked, had formed their only suste-
nance during the whole period of our sufferings. As for
the pumps, the vessel was now so lightened, that they did
not require to be worked at all; but the greatest dread
we labored under arose from the dangerous condition of
the main and fore-masts, which, tottering to and fro,
WRECK OF THE MARY.
25
threatened to go by the board every minute. Before sun-
set, a large bird, called the albatross, with wings of the
length of from four or five feet each, skimmed along the
surface of the waves, close to and around us. This in-
spired the crew with hopes, as they supposed it to be a
good omen. It remained hovering near our unfortunate
wreck for some minutes, until it alighted on the waves,
where it was seen riding perfectly at ease, and with the
majesty of a large swan, now on the summit of a tremen-
dous mountain of waters, and now in the ravines of a wide
and deep abyss. At length, darkness once more encom-
passed us around, and seemed to shut us out from even a
ray of hope; the desponding few, whose senses were still
left to them, apparently felt, with more acuteness than
before, the desperation and horrors of their condition.
At the hour of eight P.M., however, the wind suddenly
changed from south-east to south-west, and soon appeared
to be dying away. At this happy circumstance, by which
a prospect of deliverance from the very depths of despair
was opened to us, the feelings manifested by the crew were
as singular as they were various: some shouted for joy-
some cried-others muttered prayers-while a few were
still despondent, presenting wild and savage-looking fea-
tures, and seeming to regret that the billows had not
swallowed them up. Virginia had been in a state of com-
parative inanimation for the last two days and nights,
caused by her extreme terror, and the excessive motion
of the vessel; she was, notwithstanding, sufficiently sen-
sible to be attentive to, and conscious of, what was going
forward on deck; and from my earnest assurances that
4
26
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
the gale was abating, as well as from the conversation on
deck, carried on by the Mahommedans and Portuguese,
whose languages she understood, she soon found our pros
pects were changing for the better. She then, for the first
time since the commencement of the hurricane, partook
of a little of the baked dough, with a small quantity of
port wine, which fortunately remained in our cabin store-
room, and which soon brought on a sound sleep.
Every half-hour the gale became less violent, and the
sea more tranquil, until, at four in the morning, we were
all thoroughly satisfied of its termination. At daylight it
blew only what the sailors call a "stiff breeze," with a
sea, which at any other time, we should have thought a
tremendous one; but which, compared with what we had
recently experienced, appeared tranquil. The rain, which
had continued without intermission for three days and
nights, now ceased; the sun, on its rising, cheered us with
a sight of its rays, which we had not beheld for six days;
the sea no longer made breaches over our deck; in short,
the aspect of every thing around us appeared so completely
transformed, as to resemble another state of existence.
Nature resumed her beauty and her smiles-the heavens
their splendor-the sea its heavenly blue, and milder
character; so that now all around us again bore a cheering
aspect of tranquillity and beauty, excepting only our
shattered bark, and the countenances of the living objects
who were to be seen on its deck;—these indeed presented..
a scene which, to a person unused to a sea life and storms,
would be one of horror and confusion, almost appalling-
a scene of which his mind could scarcely form any idea.
1
WRECK OF THE MARY.
27
The features of all on board displayed a haggard and
savage ferocity;-long, unshaven beards, eyes sunk deep
in their sockets, and dim, through weakness and the effects
of a long-continued despair;-hollow cheeks, trembling
limbs, bodies bent almost double through fatigue, cold, and
hunger. This is a faithful picture of the miserable wretches
who crawled upon our deck to open the main hatches when
the storm had subsided, and who then fell upon the dried
salt fish and biscuits with the voracious appetites of can-
nibals, and in a manner disgusting to behold. Meanwhile,
scarcely a word was heard to interrupt the repast; the
big tear,—the convulsive gasp,-pleading momentarily in
dumb utterance, from heart to heart, the sympathy which
each had in those dreadful sufferings his fellows had under-
gone. Before Thomson and myself touched a particle of
the repast, then so great a treat to us, we repaired with
some, already cooked, to my wife; but finding her still
asleep, we thought it advisable not yet to disturb her.
By an observation made when the sun was at the meri-
dian, we found ourselves to be in latitude sixteen degrees
thirty-five minutes north, and our longitude, by chrono-
meter, gave us a few degrees to the eastward of the Coro-
mandel coast. We then stood on to the northward, under
a gentle south-west breeze, with nothing set but our courses,
my object being to fall in with the track of ships bound
to Calcutta, in order to obtain assistance. In the mean
time, we were actively engaged in clearing away the wreck
of our masts and rigging, which had been destroyed by the
storm, and in strengthening our main and fore-masts, by
taughtening the rigging and setting up preventer-stays.
28
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
On examining the ship's hold, we found that the cargo of
sugar which we had received at Tappanooly, and was
stowed so close, and so high as to touch our very beams,
had been dissolved by the water which had made its way
into the ship during the storm, and had sunk to within
three feet of the vessel's bottom! even that space appeared
to be occupied chiefly by empty baskets.
On the morning of the fourth day from the discon-
tinuance of the gale, a sail was discovered at the distance
of six or seven miles to windward, standing on the same
course as ourselves. We immediately hoisted the Eng-
lish ensign at the foremast head, with the union down-
wards, which is a signal of distress. The stranger no
sooner observed it, than she bore down towards us, and
the captain came on board. She proved to be the Mary,
Captain Freeman, last from Madras, bound to Calcutta ;
from whom we learnt that a large ship, called the Corn-
wallis, from Bengal, bound to China, had been dismasted
in the same gale, and was obliged to put back into Trin-
comalee to undergo repair; and that, fortunately, the
storm had not raged with equal violence in Madras Roads,
nor along any part of the Coromandel coast. Captain
Freeman immediately sent off his boat, with a note to
his chief officer, who speedily returned it with a supply
of lascars, rigging, masts, sails, and spars. With the
assistance of these, we were soon able to get up jury top-
masts and yards, and to set the sails. But what proved
particularly acceptable was a supply of fruit and pre-
serves. These were esteemed by Virginia, who, by this
time, had recovered her strength and spirits, as a
Y

THE MONSOON IN THE EAST INDIES.
30
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.

1
144 14
THE PILOT.
delicious treat; but she more than once assured me sho
never would venture to sea again. In five days a pilot
schooner hove in sight, and a clever, intelligent young
man, named Twisden, took charge of us.
We sailed up
the river Hoogly with a propitious breeze, and, without
further peril came to anchor in a few days off the town of
Calcutta, in so crippled and disabled a condition, as to
attract the observation of all the crews in the surround-
ing shipping.
At first, I conceived the possibility of repairing my
vessel; but from the wretched condition she was in, I
found the expense would be as great as the purchase
of a new one; I was therefore compelled to sell her.
From the 'underwriters I could not recover a single rupee;
and my favorite bark, which had borne me so many
months unhurt on the wide ocean-which had weathered
out as severe a hurricane as, perhaps, ever was felt at
WRECK OF THE MARY.
31
$
sea, and brought me back in safety, though not without
loss, to Calcutta, I was compelled to send, together with
my cargo, to the hammer. They both together did not
fetch me more than the sum of three thousand two hun-
dred rupees, or four hundred pounds. This wretched
pittance was barely sufficient to discharge the wages of
my crew; after doing which, I found myself possessed
of not more than nine hundred and sixty rupees, or a
hundred and twenty pounds, in the world; so severe a
reverse of fortune did I experience in so short a space
of time; yet that reverse-the loss of my cargo of
sugar-was the very means of preserving my existence,
and that of my crew! a remarkable feature of my
calamity, which is, perhaps, almost without a parallel in
the annals of adventure. In the midst of the hurricane,
raging about us in its greatest fury, and placing all our
lives in immediate jeopardy, I felt not the severity of my
loss; but on my return to Calcutta, I reflected on my
destitute condition with feelings of the liveliest regret,
and almost of despair. Such is the weakness of human
nature, that instead of my entertaining a feeling of
gratitude for my miraculous preservation, my heart
repined, and I even reproached that deliverance itself,
which had restored me to land, safe and in health, but
impoverished. So little true philosophy has man, and
so little sincere resignation to the Divine will in all
things! Of this philosophy there is, alas! much in the-
ory, but little in practice; it is a great deal talked of,
but rarely found.

THE WRECK OF THE DRAKE.

Wreck of the Drake Schooner.
ONE of those instances of genuine self-devotion and
calm courage in the hour of extreme peril, which pecu-
liarly characterize the British sailor, is exhibited in the
account of the wreck of the Drake schooner, commanded
by Captain Charles Baker, which struck on a rock off the
coast of Newfoundland, in the midst of one of the dense
fogs peculiar to that latitude.
Soon as the vessel struck, the waves were making heavy
breaches over the ship; the crew clung by the ropes on
the forecastle; each succeeding wave threatened them all
with destruction, when a tremendous sea lifted her quarter
over the rock on which she had at first struck, and carried
her close to that on which the boatswain stood. The fore-
castle, which up to this time had been the only sheltered
5
(33)
34
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
part of the ship, was now abandoned for the poop; and
as Captain Baker saw no chance of saving the vessel, he
determined to remove the people from her if possible.
Calling around him his officers and men, he communicated
to them his intentions, and pointed out the best means of
securing their safety. He then ordered every man to
make the best of his way from the wreck to the rock.
Now, for the first time, his orders were not promptly
obeyed; all the crew to a man refused to leave the wreck
unless Captain Baker would precede them. There was a
simultaneous burst of feeling that did honor alike to the
commander and the men. To the former, in that he had
so gained the affection and respect of his people, and to
the latter, inasmuch as they knew how to appreciate such
an officer. Never was good discipline displayed in a more
conspicuous manner. No argument or entreaty could
prevail on Captain Baker to change his resolution. He
again directed the men to quit the vessel, calmly observing
that his life was the least and last consideration. The
men, upon hearing this reiterated command, stepped
severally from the poop to the rock with as much order as
if they had been leaving a ship under ordinary circum-
stances. Unhappily, a few of them perished in the
attempt; amongst these was Lieutenant Stanly, who,
being benumbed with cold, was unable to get a firm
footing, and was swept away by the current-his com-
panions, with every inclination, had not the power to save
him; he struggled for a few moments, was dashed with
irresistible force against the rocks, and the receding wave
engulfed its victim. When he had seen every man clear
WRECK OF THE DRAKE.
35
of the wreck, and not till then, did Captain Baker join
his crew.
As soon as they had time to look about them,
the ship's company perceived that they were on an insu-
lated rock, separated from the mainland by a few fathoms.
The rock rose some feet above the level of the sea, but
to their horror they perceived that it would be covered at
high water. It seemed as if they were rescued from one
fearful catastrophe, only to perish by a more cruel and
protracted fate. By degrees the fog had partially dis
persed, and as the dawn began to break, a dreary pros
pect was displayed. The haggard countenances and
lacerated limbs of the men told the sufferings they had
endured, whilst the breakers, which they had only heard
before, became distinctly visible. Still the devoted crew
following the example of their commander, uttered no
complaint. They were ready to meet death, yet they
felt it hard to die without a struggle. The tide was rising
rapidly, and if any thing was to be done, it must be done
instantly. The boatswain, who had never lost hold of the
rope, determined at all hazards to make another effort to
save his comrades, or perish in the attempt. Having
caused one end of the rope to be made fast round his
body, and committing himself to the protection of the
Almighty, he plunged into the sea, and struck out in the
direction of the opposite shore. It was an awful moment
to those who were left behind; and in breathless suspense
they waited the result of the daring atttempt. All
depended upon the strength of his arm. At one moment
he was seen rising on the crest of the wave, at the next
he disappeared in the trough of the sea; but in spite of
36
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
the raging surf, and of every other obstacle, he reached
the shore, and an inspiring cheer announced his safety to
his comrades. As soon as he had recovered his breath
and strength, he went to the nearest point opposite the
rock, and watching his opportunity, he cast one end of
the line across to his companions. Fortunately it reached
the rock, and was gladly seized, but it proved to be only
long enough to allow of one man holding it on the shore,
and another on the, rock, at arm's length. It may be
imagined with what joy this slender means of deliver-
ance was welcomed by all. The tide had made rapid
advance; the waves, as if impatient for their prey, threw
the white surf aloft, and dashed over the rock. Would
that we could do justice to the noble courage and con-
duct displayed by the crew of the Drake. Instead of
rushing to the rope, as many would have done under simi-
lar circumstances, not a man moved until he was com-
manded to do so by Captain Baker. Had the slightest
hesitation appeared on the part of the commander, or
any want of presence of mind in the men, a tumultuous
rush would have ensued, the rope held as it was with diffi-
culty by the outstretched hand would inevitably have
been lost in the struggle, and then all would have perished.
But good order, good discipline, and good feeling tri-
umphed over every selfish fear and natural instinct of self-
preservation; and to the honor of British sailors be it
recorded, that each individual man of the crew, before he
availed himself of the means of rescue, urged his captain
to provide for his own safety first, by leading the way..
But Captain Baker turned a deaf ear to every persuasion,
WRECK OF THE DRAKE.
37
and gave but one answer to all-“I will never leave the
rock until every soul is safe." In vain the men redoubled
their entreaties that he would go; they were of no avail;
the intrepid officer was steadfast in his purpose. There
was no time for further discussion and delay. One by
one the men slipped from the rock upon the rope, and by
this assistance forty-four out of fifty succeeded in gaining
the opposite shore. Unfortunately, amongst the six who
remained one was a woman. This poor creature, com-
pletely prostrate from the sufferings she had endured, lay
stretched upon the cold rock almost lifeless. To desert
her was impossible; to convey her to the shore seemed
equally impossible. Each moment of delay was fraught
with destruction. A brave fellow, in the generosity of
despair, when his turn came to quit the rock, took the
woman in his arms, grasped the rope, and began the
perilous transit. Alas! he was not permitted to gain the
desired shore. When he had made about half the dis-
tance, the rope parted-not being strong enough to sus-
tain the additional weight and strain, it broke; the sea-
man and his burden were seen but for an instant, and
then swallowed up in the foaming eddies. With them
perished the last means of preservation that remained for
Captain Baker and those who were with him on the rock.
Their communication with the mainland was cut off; the
water rose and the surf increased every moment; all
hope was gone, and for them a few minutes more must
end "life's long voyage.' The men on shore tried every
means in their power to save them. They tied every
handkerchief and available material together to replace
""
4
38
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
}
the lost rope; but their efforts were fruitless; they could
not get length enough to reach the rock. A party was
dispatched in search of help. They found a farm-house;
and while they were in search of a rope, those who stayed
to watch the fate of their loved and respected commander
and his three companions, saw wave after wave rise higher
and higher. At one moment the sufferers disappeared in
the foam and spray; the bravest shuddered, and closed
his eyes on the scene. Again, as spell-bound, he looked;
the wave had receded-they still lived, and rose above
the waters. Again and again it was thus; but hope
grew fainter and fainter. We can scarcely bring our
narrative to an end; tears moisten our page; but the
painful sequel must be told. The fatal billow came at
last, which bore them from time into eternity. All was
over. When the party returned from their inland search,
not a vestige of the rock, or of those devoted men, was
to be seen.
"And is he dead, whose glorious mind
Lifts thine on high?
To live in hearts we leave behind,
Is not to die."


The Wreck of the Medusa.
HAVING given an instance of the magnanimity and
courage, as well as genuine self-devotion, in the hour of
peril, exhibited by the British sailor, let us turn to the
appalling account of one of the survivors in the wreck of
the French frigate Medusa, on the coast of Africa. I
must be observed, that the greater part of the sufferings
of the wretched crew was attributed to the general want
of discipline.
The French possessions on the west coast of Africa
having been restored at the general peace, an expedition,
consisting of a frigate and three other vessels, was sent
in the month of June, 1816, to take possession of them.!
(39)

THE CREW OF THE MEDUSA ON THE RAFT.
THE WRECK OF THE MEDUSA.
41
Owing to a very relaxed state of discipline, and an ig-
norance of the common principles of navigation which
would have disgraced a private merchant-ship, this frigate,
the Medusa, was suffered to run aground on the bank of
Arguin. It was soon discovered that all hope of getting
her off must be abandoned, and that nothing remained but
to concert measures for the escape of the passengers and
crew. Some biscuit, wine, and fresh water, were accord-
ingly got up and prepared for putting into the boats, and
upon a raft which had been hastily constructed; but, in
the tumult of abandoning the wreck, it happened that the
raft, which was destined to carry the greatest number of
people, had the least share of the provisions: of wine,
indeed, it had more than enough, but not a single barrel
of biscuit.
There were five boats. The military had, in the first
instance, been placed on the raft. The number embarked
on this fatal machine was not less than one hundred and
fifty, making, with those in the boats, a total of three
hundred and ninety-seven.
The boats pushed off in a line, towing the raft, and as-
suring the people on board that they would conduct them
safely to land. They had not proceeded, however, above
two leagues from the wreck, when they, one by one, cast
off the tow-lines. It was afterwards pretended that they
broke. Had this even been true, the boats might at any
time have rejoined the raft, instead of which they all
abandoned it to its fate, every one striving to make off
with all possible speed.
At this time the raft had sunk below the surface to the
6
42
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
depth of three feet and a half, and the people were so
squeezed one against another that it was found impossible
to move; fore and aft they were up to the middle in water.
In such a deplorable situation, it was with difficulty they
could persuade themselves that they had been abandoned;
nor would they believe it until the whole of the boats had
disappeared from their sight. They now began to consider
themselves as deliberately sacrificed, and swore to be re-
venged of their unfeeling companions if ever they gained
the shore. The consternation soon became extreme.
Every thing that was horrible took possession of their
imaginations; all perceived their destruction to be at hand,
and announced by their wailings the dismal thoughts by
which they were distracted. The officers, with great dif-
ficulty, and by putting on a show of confidence, succeeded
at length in restoring to them a certain degree of tran-
quillity, but were themselves overcome with alarm on
finding that there was neither chart, nor compass, nor
anchor, on the raft. One of the men belonging to M.
Correard, geographical engineer, had fortunately preserved
a small pocket compass; and this little instrument inspired
them with so much confidence that they conceived their
safety to depend on it. But this treasure, above all price,
was speedily snatched from them for ever; it fell from the
man's hand, and disappeared between the openings of the
raft.
None of the party had taken any food before they left
the ship; and hunger beginning to oppress them, they
mixed the biscuit, of which they had about five and twenty
pounds on board, with wine, and distributed it in small
THE WRECK OF THE MEDUSA.
43
portions to each man. They succeeded in erecting a kind
of mast, and hoisting one of the royals that had belonged
to the frigate.
Night at length came on, the wind freshened, and the
sea began to swell. The only consolation now was the
belief that they should discover the boats the following
morning. About midnight the weather became very stormy,
and the waves broke over them in every direction. In the
morning the wind abated, and the sea subsided a little;
but a dreadful spectacle presented itself. Ten or twelve
of the unhappy men, having their lower extremities jammed
between the spars of the raft, unable to extricate them-
selves, had perished in that situation; several others had
been swept off by the violence of the waves. In calling
over the list, it was found that twenty had disappeared.
All this, however, was nothing to the dreadful scene
which took place the following night. The day had been
beautiful, and no one seemed to doubt that the boats
would appear in the course of it to relieve them from their
perilous state; but the evening approached, and none were
seen. From that moment a spirit of sedition spread from
man to man, and manifested itself by the most furious
shouts. Night came on; the heavens were obscured with
thick clouds; the wind rose, and with it the sea; the
waves broke over them every moment; numbers were
swept away, particularly near the extremities of the raft;
and the crowding towards the centre of it was so great
that several poor wretches were smothered by the pres-
sure of their comrades, who were unable to keep on their
legs.
44
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
Firmly persuaded that they were on the point of being
swallowed up, both soldiers and sailors resolved to soothe
their last moments by drinking till they lost their reason!
They bored a hole in the head of a large cask, from which
they continued to swill till the salt water, mixing with
the wine, rendered it no longer potable. Excited by the
fumes, acting on empty stomachs and heads already dis-
ordered by danger, they now became deaf to the voice of
reason, boldly declared their intention to murder their
officers, and then cut the ropes which bound the raft
together. One of them, seizing an axe, actually began
the dreadful work. This was the signal for revolt. The
officers rushed forward to quell the tumult, and the man
with the hatchet was the first that fell-the stroke of a
sabre terminated his existence.
The passengers joined the officers, but the mutineers
were still the greater number. Luckily they were but
badly armed, or the few bayonets and sabres of the oppo-
site party could not have kept them at bay. One fellow
was detected secretly cutting the ropes, and immediately
flung overboard; others destroyed the shrouds and hal-
yards; and the mast, deprived of support, fell on a cap-
tain of infantry and broke his thigh. He was instantly
seized by the soldiers and thrown into the sea, but was
saved by the opposite party. A furious charge was now
made upon the mutineers, many of whom were cut down.
At length this fit of desperation subsided into egregious
cowardice; they cried out for mercy, and asked for for-
giveness on their knees. It was now midnight, aud order
appeared to be restored; but after an hour of deceitful
WRECK OF THE MEDUSA.
45
+
tranquillity, the insurrection burst forth anew. The
mutineers ran upon the officers like desperate men, each
having a knife or sabre in his hand; and such was the
fury of the assailants that they tore their flesh, and even
their clothes, with their teeth. There was no time for
hesitation; a general slaughter took place, and the raft
was strewed with dead bodies..
On the return of the day it was found that, in the
course of the preceding night of horror, sixty-five of the
mutineers had perished, and two of the small party
attached to the officers. One cask of wine only remained.
Before the allowance was served out, they contrived to
get up their mast afresh; but having no compass, and not
knowing how to direct their course, they left the raft
drive before the wind, apparently indifferent whither they
went. Enfeebled with hunger, they now tried to catch
fish, but could not succeed, and abandoned the attempt.
At length, what is horrible to relate, the unhappy men,
whom death had spared in the course of the night, fell
upon the carcasses of the dead, and began to devour
them. Some tried to eat their sword-belts and cartridge-
boxes, others devoured their linen, and others the leather
of their hats; but all these expedients and others of a
still more loathsome nature, were of no avail.
A third night of horror now approached; but it proved
to be a night of tranquillity, disturbed only by the piercing
cries of those whom hunger and thirst devoured. In the
morning a shoal of flying fish, in passing the raft, left
nearly three hundred entangled between the spars. By
means of a little gunpowder and linen, and by erecting
46
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
an empty cask, they contrived to make a fire; and mixing
with the fish the flesh of a deceased comrade, they all
partook of a meal, which, by this means, was rendered
less revolting.
The fourth night was marked by another massacre.
Their numbers were at length reduced to twenty-eight,
fifteen of whom only appeared to be able to exist for a
few days; the other thirteen were so reduced that they
had nearly lost all sense of existence. As their case was
hopeless, and as, while they lived, they would consume a
part of the little that was left, a council was held, and,
after a deliberation at which the most horrible despair
is said to have presided, it was decided to throw them
overboard. "Three sailors and a soldier undertook the
execution of this cruel sentence. We turned away our
eyes, and shed tears of blood on the fate of these unfor-
tunate men; but this painful sacrifice saved the fifteen
who remained, and who, after this dreadful catastrophe,
had six days of suffering to undergo before they were
relieved from their dismal situation." At the end of this
period a small vessel was descried at a distance; she
proved to be the Argus brig, which had been dispatched
from Senegal to look out for them. All hearts on board
were melted with pity at their deplorable condition.
"Let any one," say our unfortunate narrators, "figure to
himself fifteen unhappy creatures almost naked, their
bodies shrivelled by the rays of the sun, ten of them
scarcely able to move; our limbs stripped of the skin;
a total change in all our features; our eyes hollow and
almost savage; our long beards, which gave us an air
1
1
WRECK OF THE MEDUSA.
47
}
almost hideous; we were in fact but the shadows of our-
selves."
Such is the history of these men! Of the one hundred and
fifty embarked on the raft, fifteen only were received on
board the brig; and of these six died shortly after their
arrival at St. Louis, and the remaining nine, covered with
cicatrices, and exhausted by the suffering to which they
were so long exposed, are stated to have been entirely
altered in appearance and constitution.
The preceding narrative is perfectly well authenticated,
being compiled from an account written by two of the
unhappy survivors.
As a contrast to this scene of horrors of a life on ship-
board, let us contemplate the quiet sublimity when the
breeze has died into a calm; the heavens no longer dark,
glowing with stars; and the sea, from the smoothness of
the surface, appears a second sky, as bright and starry
as the other; the slightly tremulous motion of the sur-
face elongates the reflected images, and makes all the
stars appear comets; a goodly vessel lies "peaceful
slumbering on the ocean.
""
In such a scene the mariner finds some compensation for
the hardships and sufferings to which he is exposed in
tempestuous weather. During such a calm, the sailors,
freed from toil and care, are accustomed to assemble in
the forecastle and tell stories of their old adventures,
sing those interminable sea-songs, some of which adapted
to the tune of Yankee Doodle, have innumerable verses,
narrative, sentimental, patriotic and heroic, so that when
one singer has exhausted all the verses which he can

SHIP IN A CALM BY MOONLIGHT.
THE WRECK OF THE MEDUSA.
49
recollect, another takes up the strain and adds some
thirty or forty more, and so on till the tune has gone
round the circle, and the setting moon warns the merry
group that it is time to "turn in.”

7

บ
GREENLANDER ATTACKING THE NARWHAL.

ICELANDERS.
The Mariners of the Arctic Regions.
THE people of the north, Icelanders, Laplanders, Green-
landers, and Esquimaux, encounter dangers on the ocean
to which the people of milder climates are strangers.
They are compelled for subsistence to fish and to hunt for
seals, and even with their frail canoes to attack the for-
midable Narwhal.
(51)
52
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.

1
THE NARWHAL.
The poor Greenlander ventures to attack this animal,
quite alone, though it is sometimes thirty feet long. It is
of the whale kind, and like that immense creature, pro-
duces a good deal of valuable oil. A very curious twisted
tooth, also, that projects out from the front of its head
like a long horn, is valuable, for it is composed of very fine
and white ivory. On account of this single horn, the
animal is sometimes called the sea-unicorn. Though so
large, it is timid and inoffensive, so that the Greenlander
is not afraid to harpoon it. He first prepares his canoe,
which is very curiously made, being tightly covered all
over with seal-skin, except a round hole in the middle, just
large enough to take his body. Then he provides him-
self a coat, made likewise of seal-skin, which fits him
very close; and when he is in his canoe, the bottom of his
coat spreads a little around the hole, and covers the edges,
so that no water can possibly come to his feet. The boat
is so formed, that it cannot help swimming, if the sea is
ever so rough; even if it gets overturned, the Greenlander
does not mind; he is not at all frightened; he just makes
a stroke with his paddle, or double oar, and his boat is

اہر
GREENLANDERS HUNTING SEALS.
54
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
upright again in a moment, while his seal-skin coat has
kept him quite dry. The seal is very abundant in those
cold countries; if it were not so, the poor people could
hardly get their living, for the skins of these animals
make their canoes, dresses, and tents; and the flesh and
fat compose the principal part of their food. The poor
but industrious Greenlander fixes himself in his curious.
boat, takes his spear, and a large ball of line, which is
tied to it, and rows out boldly among the stormy waves.
By and by he sees a narwhal swimming along; he dis-
covers it a long way off, because of its color, for it is white,
with pretty brown spots. He rows up to it very softly
and cautiously, for fear of alarming it; yet as quickly as
he can, for fear it should plunge down into the sea: when
he has got pretty near, he pushes his spear with all his
might into its body, and leaves it there. The Narwhal
dives immediately, and the line spins out, till he is tired,
and must come up to breathe. When it is killed, both
the flesh and oil are used for food. It seems strange that
people should drink train-oil; yet so fond are these poor
people of it, that if they cannot get it, they pine away,
and become very unhappy.
i
The perseverance with which the Greenlanders and Es-
quimaux hunt the seal, has been noticed by Captain Parry
and the other English officers sent on expeditions to the
Arctic Regions. They expose themselves for whole days.
in midwinter, to a degree of cold which would kill a Euro-
pean, and consider themselves richly rewarded by the
capture of a single seal.

ITT
COMMODORE HULL.
Old Ironsides on a Lee Shore.
THE frigate Constitution is one of the oldest and most
celebrated ships in the United States Navy. Her name
is associated with some of the most brilliant triumphs of
our flag; and her good fortune is so remarkable that the
sailors deem it hardly possible for her to meet with a
disaster.
(55)

CONSTITUTION AND GUERIELR
OLD IRONSIDES ON A LEE SHORE.
57
Before giving a history of one of her remarkable
escapes from danger we will mention some of her vic-
tories.
At the commencement of the war of 1812, the Consti-
tution, under command of Commodore Isaac Hull, was
the first American frigate to capture an English frigate
of equal force.
The following is Captain Hull's account of this affair,
addressed to the secretary of the navy, under date of
August 30, 1812.
SIR-I have the honor to inform you that on the 19th
instant, at two P. M., being in latitude 41° 41′, and lon-
gitude 55° 48′, with the Constitution under my com-
mand, a sail was discovered from the mast-head, bearing
E. by S. or E. S. E., but at such a distance we could not
tell what she was. All sail was instantly made in chase,
and soon found we came up with her. At three, P. M.,
could plainly see that she was a ship on the starboard
tack under easy sail, close on a wind-at half-past three,
P. M., made her out to be a frigate-continued the chase
until we were within about three miles, when I ordered
the light sails taken in, the courses hauled up, and the
ship cleared for action. At this time the chase had
backed her main-topsail, waiting for us to come down.
As soon as the Constitution was ready for action, I bore
down with an intention to bring him to close action im-
mediately; but, on our coming within gun-shot, she gave
us a broadside, and filled away and wore, giving us a
broadside on the other tack, but without effect, her shot.
8

SURRENDER OF THE GUERRIERE.
mw
OLD IRONSIDES ON A LEE SHORE.
59
1
falling short. She continued waring and manoeuvring for
about three-quarters of an hour, to get a raking position,
but finding she could not, she bore up and run under her
topsails and jib, with the wind on the quarter. I imme-
diately made sail to bring the ship up with her, and at
five minutes before six P. M., being alongside within half
pistol-shot, we commenced a heavy fire from all our
guns, double-shotted with round and grape, and so well-
directed were they, and so warmly kept up, that in six-
teen minutes his mizzenmast went by the board, and his
main-yard in the slings, and the hull, rigging, and sails,
very much torn to pieces. The fire was kept up with
equal warmth for fifteen minutes longer, when his main-
mast and fore-mast went, taking with them every spar,
excepting the bowsprit; on seeing this we ceased firing;
so that in thirty minutes after we got fairly alongside the
enemy, she surrendered, and had not a spar standing,
and her hull, below and above water, so shattered, that a
few more broadsides must have carried her down.
After informing you that so fine a ship as the Guerriere,
commanded by an able and experienced officer, had been
totally dismasted and otherwise cut to pieces, so as to
make her not worth towing into port, in the short space
of thirty minutes, you can have no doubt of the gallantry
and good conduct of the officers and ship's company I
have the honour to command. It only remains, there-
fore, for me to assure you, that they all fought with great
bravery; and it gives me great pleasure to say, that from
the smallest boy in the ship to the oldest seamen, not a
look of fear was seen. They all went into action giving
60
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
three cheers, and requesting to be laid close alongside
the enemy.
Inclosed I have the honor to send you a list of the
killed and wounded on board the Constitution, and a
report of the damages she sustained-also a list of
kilied and wounded on board the enemy, with his quarter-
bill, I have the honor to be, with very great respect, sir
your obedient servant,
The Hon. PAUL HAMILTON, &c.
ISAAC HULL.
It is remarkable that before the close of the year 1812.
viz. on the 30th of December, the Constitution, under
the command of Commander Bainbridge, captured and
blew up a second British frigate, the Java.
The following minutes were taken during the battle:
At ten minutes past two, P. M. commenced the action
within good grape or canister distance, the enemy to
windward, but much further than I wished. At thirty
minutes past two, our wheel was shot entirely away.
forty minutes past two, determined to close with the
enemy, notwithstanding his raking.
main-sail, and luffed up close to him.
At
Set the fore and
At fifty minutes
past two, the enemy's jib-boom got foul of our mizzen-
rigging. At three, the head of the enemy's bowsprit and
jib-boom were shot away by us. At five minutes past
three, shot away the enemy's fore-mast by the board. At
fifteen minutes past three, shot away the gaft and spanker-
boom. At fifty-five minutes past three, shot away his
mizzen-mast, nearly by the board. At five minutes past
OLD IRONSIDES ON A LEE SHORE.
61

COMMODORE BAINBRIDGE.
four, having silenced the fire of the enemy completely,
and his colors in the main-rigging being down, we supposed
he had struck; we then hauled down courses and shot
ahead, to repair our rigging, which was extremely cut,
leaving the enemy a complete wreck soon afterwards dis-
covered that the enemy's flag was still flying. Hove-to,
to repair some of our damage. At twenty minutes past
four, wore ship and stood for the enemy. At twenty-five
minutes past five, got very close to the enemy in a very
effectual raking position, athwart his bows, and when about
to fire, he most prudently struck his flag; for had he suf-
fered the broadside to have raked him, his loss must have
been extremely great, as he lay an unmanageable wreck
upon the water.
After the enemy had struck, wore ship and reefed the
topsails, then hoisted one of the only two remaining boats
we had left out of eight, and sent Lieutenant Parker
62
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
first of the Constitution, to take possession of the enemy,
which proved to be his Britannic Majesty's frigate Java,
rated thirty-eight, but carried forty-nine guns, and man-
ned with upwards of four hundred men, commanded by
Captain Lambert, a very distinguished officer, who was
mortally wounded.
The action continued, from the commencement to the
end of the fire, one hour and fifty-five minutes.
The force of the enemy, at the commencement of the
action, was, no doubt, considerably greater than we had
been able to ascertain. The officers were extremely
cautious in discovering the number. By her quarter-bill,
she had one man stationed at each gun more than we had.
The Constitution was very much cut in her sails and rig-
ging, and many of her spars injured.
At seven P. M., the boat returned with Lieutenant
Chads, the first lieutenant of the enemy's frigate, and
Lieutenant-General Hislop, governor of Bombay, Major
Walker, and Captain Wood of his staff. Captain Lam-
bert of the Java, was too dangerously wounded to be
removed immediately.
The cutter returned on board the prize for the priso-
ners, and brought Captain Marshall, master and com-
mander in the British navy, who was a passenger on
board, and several other naval officers destined for ships
in the East Indies.
The Java was an important ship, fitted out in the com
pletest manner, to convey Lieutenant-General Hislop and
staff to Bombay, several naval officers, and a number of
seamen for ships in the East Indies.

CONSTITUTION AND JAVA.
64
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
She had also despatches for St. Helena, Cape of Good
Hope, and every British establishment in the India and
China seas.
There was copper for a seventy-four, and two brigs,
building at Bombay, and a great many other valuables,
but every thing was blown up in her, except the officers'
baggage.
In the early part of the action, Commodore Bainbridge
was wounded by a musket-ball in the hip, and shortly
afterward by a piece of langrage in the thigh. Though
these wounds were severe and extremely painful, yet so
deeply interested was he in the important duties which
devolved upon him after the action, that he would not be
persuaded to leave the deck until eleven o'clock at night.
The langrage was not extracted for many days after
the wound had been inflicted. The constant irritation
produced by the lodgement of this foreign substance in
his muscles, gave rise to symptoms of tetanus, yet by the
skill and unremitting attentions of the surgeon of the
ship, Dr. Evans, he was happily restored to his country
and to the arms of his affectionate family.
On the 29th, after the action, Lieutenant Alwyn, a
young officer of great promise, died of his wounds. He
had been in the previous action between the Constitution
and the Guerriere, and for his gallantry and good con
duct on that occasion he was promoted to a lieutenancy.
During this action, there were many instances among
the seamen and marines of not only dashing bravery, but
of a patriotic enthusiasm which deserves particular admi
ration. A remarkable example was the case of John
OLD IRONSIDES ON A LEE SHORE.
65
Cheever, a seaman from Marblehead, who, while lying on
the deck in the agonies of death, by the side of a dead
brother, who had been killed in the early part of the
action, heard the word passed that the enemy has struck.
This animating intelligence gave a momentary reflux to
his fast ebbing spirit, he raised himself on his left hand,
pronounced three cheers with loud and joyous vehemence,
and then fell back and expired with a smile of content
and satisfaction playing upon his countenance.
Before the close of the war, the Constitution, under
the command of Commodore Stewart, captured two British
men of war, the Cyane and Levant, in one action, and
rendered other services of great importance to the
country.
We now proceed to copy, from an anonymous writer,
a passenger on board the frigate, the terrible adventure
of the Constitution on a lee shore.
It was at the close of a stormy day, in the year 1835,
when the gallant frigate Constitution, under the command
of Captain Elliott (having on board the late Edward
Livingston, minister from the United States at the court of
France, and his family, and manned by nearly five hun-
dred souls), drew near to "the chops" of the English
Channel. For four days, she had been beating down
from Plymouth, and on the fifth, at evening, she made
her last tack from the French coasts.
The watch was set at eight P. M. The captain came on
deck soon after, and having ascertained the bearing of
Scilly, gave orders to keep the ship "full and bye,"
remarking at the same time to the officer of the deck,
9
66
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
that he might make the light on the lee beam, but, he
stated, he thought it more than probable that he would
pass it without seeing it. He then "turned in," as did
most of the idlers and the starboard watch.
At a quarter past nine P.M., the ship headed west by
compass, when the call of "Light O!" was heard from the
fore-topsail-yard.
•1
"Where away?" asked the officer of the deck.
"Three points on the lee bow," replied the look-out
man; which the unprofessional reader will readily under-
stand to mean very nearly straight ahead. At this moment
the captain appeared, and took the trumpet.
"Call all hands," was his immediate order.
"All hands!" whistled the boatswain, with the long
shrill summons familiar to the ears of all who have ever
been on board of a man-of-war.
{
"All hands!" screamed the boatswain's mates; and ere
the last echo died away, all but the sick were upon deck.
The ship was staggering through a heavy swell from
the Bay of Biscay; the gale, which had been blowing
several days, had increased to a severity that was not to
be made light of. The breakers, where Sir Cloudesley
Shovel and his fleet were destroyed, in the days of Queen
Anne, sang their song of death before, and the Deadman's
Ledge replied in hoarser tones behind us. To go ahead
seemed to be death, and to attempt to go back was sure
destruction.
The first thing that caught the eye of the captain was
the furled mainsail, which he had ordered to be carried
throughout the evening, the hauling up of which, contrary
OLD IRONSIDES ON A LEE SHORE.
67
to the last order which he had given on leaving the deck,
had caused the ship to fall off to leeward two points, and
had thus led her into a position on a "lee shore," upon
which a strong gale was blowing her, in which the chance
of safety appeared to the stoutest nerves almost hopeless.
That sole chance consisted in standing on, to carry us
through the breakers of Scilly, or by a close graze along
their outer ledge. Was this destined to be the end of the
gallant old ship, consecrated by so many a prayer and
blessing from the heart of a nation!
"Why is the mainsail up, when I ordered it set?” cried
the captain, in a tremendous voice.
"Finding that she pitched her bows under, I took it in,
under your general order, sir, that the officer of the deck
should carry sail according to his discretion," replied the
lieutenant in command.
"Heave the log," was the prompt command to the
master's mate. The log was thrown.
"How fast does she go?"
"Five knots and a half, sir."
"Board the main tack, sir."
"She will not bear it," said the officer of the deck.
“Board the main tack," thundered the captain. "Keep
her full and bye, quartermaster."
66
Ay, ay, sir!" The tack was boarded.
"Haul aft the main sheet," shouted the captain, and
aft it went like the spreading of a seabird's wing, giving
the huge sail to the gale.
"Give her the lee helm when she goes into the sea,"
cried the captain.
68
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
66
Ay, ay, sir! she has it," growled out the old sea-dog
at the binnacle.
"Right your helm; keep her full and bye.”
66
Ay, ay, sir! full and bye she is," was the prompt
answer from the helm.
"How fast does she go?"
"Eight knots and a half, sir."
"How bears the light?”
"Nearly abeam, sir."
66
Keep her away half a point.'
"How fast does she go?"
"Nine knots, sir."
"Steady, so!" returned the captain.
"Steady," answered the helmsman, and all was the
silence of the grave upon that crowded deck-except the
howling of the storm-for a space of time that seemed to
my imagination almost an age.
It was a trying hour with us: unless we could carry sail
so as to go at the rate of nine knots an hour, we must of
necessity dash upon Scilly; and who ever touched those
rocks and lived, during a storm? The sea ran very high,
the rain fell in sheets, the sky was one black curtain, illu-
minated only by the faint light which was to mark our de-
liverance, or stand a monument of our destruction.
wind had got above whistling, it came in puffs, that flat-
tened the waves, and made our old frigate settle to her
bearings, while every thing on board seemed cracking into
pieces. At this moment, the carpenter reported that the
left bolt of the weather fore-shroud had drawn.
The
"Get on the luffs, and set them all on the weather

THE LIGHTHOUSE.
70
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
!
shrouds. Keep her at small helm, quartermaster, and
ease her in the sea," were the orders of the captain.
The luffs were soon put upon the weather shrouds, which
of course relieved the chains and channels; but many an
anxious eye was turned towards the remaining bolts, for
upon them depended the masts, and upon the masts
depended the safety of the ship-for with one foot of
canvass less she could not live fifteen minutes.
>
Onward plunged the overladed frigate, and at every
surge she seemed bent upon making the deep the sailor's
grave, and her live-oak sides his coffin of glory. She had
been fitted out at Boston when the thermometer was be-
low zero. Her shrouds, of course, therefore slackened
with every strain, and her unwieldly masts (for she had
those designed for the frigate Cumberland, a much larger
ship,) seemed ready to jump out of her. And now, while
all was apprehension, another bolt drew! and then
another! until, at last, our whole stay was placed upon a
single bolt, less than a man's wrist in circumference.
Still the good iron clung to the solid wood; and bore us
alongside the breakers, though in a most fearful prox-
imity to them. This thrilling incident has never, I be-
lieve, been noticed in public; but it is the literal fact,
which I make not the slightest attempt to embellish. As
we galloped on-for I can compare our vessel's leaping to
nothing else the rocks seemed very near us.
Dark as
was the night, the white foam scowled around their black
heads, while the spray fell over us, and the thunder of
the dashing surge sounded like the awful knell that the
ocean was singing for the victims it was eager to engulf.

TUVIDYAT
OLD IRONSIDES ON A LEE SHORE.
72
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
}
At length the light bore upon our quarter, and the
broad Atlantic rolled its white caps before us. During
this time all were silent; each officer and man was at his
post, and the bearing and countenance of the captain
seemed to give encouragement to every person on board.
With but a bare possibility of saving the ship and those
on board, he placed his reliance upon his nautical skill
and courage, and by carrying the mainsail when in any
other situation it would have been considered a suicidal
act, he weathered the lee shore, and saved the Consti-
tution.
The mainsail was now hauled up, by light hearts and
strong hands, the jib and spanker taken in, and from the
light of Scilly the gallant vessel, under close-reefed top-
sails and main trysails, took her departure, and danced
merrily over the deep towards the United States.
"Pipe down," said the captain to the first lieutenant,
"and splice the main brace." "Pipe down," echoed the
first lieutenant to the boatswain. "Pipe down," whistled
the boatswain to the crew, and "pipe down,' it was.
Soon the "Jack of the Dust" held his levee on the
main gun-deck, and the weather-beaten tars, as they
gathered about the grog-tub, and luxuriated upon a full
allowance of Old Rye, forgot all their perils and fatigue.
"How near the rocks did we go?" said I to one of the
master's mates the next morning. He made no reply;
but, taking down his chart, showed me a pencil line
between the outside shoal and the lighthouse island,
which must have been a small strait for a fisherman to
run his smack through in good weather by daylight.
OLD IRONSIDES ON A LEE SHORE.
73

ពា
SAILORS LUXURIATING.
For what is the noble and dear old frigate reserved?
I went upon deck: the sea was calm, a gentle breeze
was swelling our canvass from mainsail to royal, the isles
of Scilly had sunk in the eastern waters, and the clouds.
of the dying storm were rolling off in broken masses to
the northward and westward, like the flying columns of a
beaten army.
I have been in many a gale of wind, and have passed
through scenes of great danger; but never, before nor
since, have I experienced an hour so terrific as that when
the Constitution was laboring, with the lives of five hun
dred men hanging on a single small iron bolt, to weather
Scilly, on the night of the 11th of May, 1835.
During the gale, Mrs. Livingston inquired of the cap-
10
74
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
tain, if we were not in great danger? to which he replied,
as soon as we had passed the Scilly, "You are as safe as
you would be in the aisle of a church." It is a singular
fact that the frigate Boston, Captain M'Neal, about the
close of the revolution, escaped a similar danger while
employed in carrying out to France, Chancellor Livings-
ton, a relative of Edward's, and also minister to the court.
of St. Cloud. He likewise had his wife on board, and
while the vessel was weathering a lee shore, Mrs. Livings-
ton asked the captain-a rough but gallant old fire-eater—
if they were not in great danger? to which he replied,
"You had better, madam, get down upon your knees,
and pray to your God to forgive you your numerous sins;
for if we don't carry by this point, we shall all be in per-
dition in five minutes.'
1.
03


(
!
Pursuit of Water Fowl.
ON the rocky and precipitous coasts of the north of
Europe, as well as on many a craggy islet in the Atlantic,
innumerable sea-fowl lay their eggs and breed their young.
In the Orkneys, the Hebrides, and along the ledges of
the steep rocks of the Isle of Wight, they abound in great
numbers, and form a considerable part of the revenue of
the poorer population. Some of these sea-fowl, as the
eider duck and razor bill auk, are chiefly valued for their
feathers; others, as the gull, for their eggs; while some
are esteemed as good for food, as the gannet.
Numerous
(75)
6

BIRD-NESTING.
!
PURSUIT OF WATER FOWL.
77

}
EIDER DUCK.
islands in the Southern Atlantic, at which ships have now
and then touched, have been found to be inhabited by
myriads of sea-birds, so unaccustomed to the sight of man,
that the sailors could walk into the midst of them and
knock them down with a stick, without their attempting
to fly or escape. But as their visits become more frequent
the birds grow much shyer, and it is with more difficulty
they are approached. On the British shores they are not
so regardless about the visit of a man to their nests; and
yet they are plentiful in the extreme, and the bold crags-
men of the coast find little difficulty in getting at them.
Of the gannet it is said that twenty-two thousand birds
and an immense number of eggs are annually disposed of
in St. Kilda alone.
Most of the birds build no nest, but lay their eggs on
78
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
the bare ground, in any shelving spot that will contain
them. At a certain period of the year, the surface of the
Bass Rock, at the entrance of the Frith of Forth, in Scot-
land, is so covered with the young and eggs of the gannet,
that a person can scarcely walk without treading on them.
This rock and other portions of the coast are let at a very
good rental, for the sake of the profits arising from these
birds. Their nests are found not only on the open surface
of a jutting rock, but also on all the projections and
crevices its precipitous sides may exhibit.
The people,
who make a traffic of them, pride themselves on the bold-
ness and daring by which they come at these seemingly
inaccessible nests. Some of them they reach by a careful
descent down part of the rock, clinging with their hands
and feet to its projections, where a false step, or the slip
of a single grasp, would send the adventurous bird-nester
headlong into the foaming surge below. Still more dan-
gerous positions are reached in the manner exhibited in
our engraving. A stake or iron bar is driven firmly into
the ground, round this is coiled a rope, having a stick
tied firmly across it at one end; taking in his hand a
short crooked stick, and with a basket by his side, the
egg-seeker then strides the cross-bar at the end of the
rope, and, grasping it firmly, is gradually lowered by his
friends as he gives the signal. It may easily be imagined,
that to perform this requires no ordinary courage; very
different is it from the bird-nésting exploits of some of
our young friends, whose greatest risk is a scratch or two
from some troublesome thorn, as in the hedge-row they
scramble for the nest of a poor harmless bird. Astride
PURSUIT OF WATER FOWL.
79

G
RAZOR BILL AUK.
this stick the man is gently let down, the boiling ocean
hundreds of feet below, and the screaming of the sea-fowl,
as they are startled from their nests, are enough to frighten
the most courageous person who is unaccustomed to the
work. If the least breeze should arise, the man swings.
to and fro as a cobweb waves in the air. The chafing of
the rope on the edges of the rock sometimes causes it to
snap, and the poor bird-nester is tumbled into the abyss
beneath. If his object is to secure eggs on, he shouts
to frighten away the birds, which fly up in countless num-
bers, making a deafening noise with their cries. He then
hooks their eggs with his stick into the basket he carries,
and every now and then gives the signal for it to be raised
by means of a rope which is attached to it. If the spot
be favorable, very many eggs are soon collected; and
80
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
when one man is tired of his position, he gives the signal
to his friends, and is gently raised, while another descends
to take his place, in this way they work until they have
either cleared the rock of all that are good, or have ob-
tained as many as they wish for.
Now and then a cavern is discovered in the side of the
precipice, opening seaward, which is sure to be a favorable
resort of these wild fowl. Into this the bird-nester con-
trives to enter, and generally finds eggs enough to repay
him for his trouble; but he is obliged to keep hold of his
rope very carefully, lest it should pass beyond his reach
and cut off his means of escape. A tale is told of one of
these men who had entered such a cavern, and in the ex-
citement produced by finding its floor all strewed over
with eggs, forgot the rope and loosened his hold: in a
moment it was gone, and as he turned he saw it swinging
at the mouth of the cavern. In vain he tried to reach it,
it was beyond his grasp; he tried again and again, but
all to no purpose, while, as if in mockery of his dismay,
it swung wildly in the air, just passing beyond his reach.,
What was he to do? A projection of rock concealed him
from the observation of those above, while the roar of the
sea prevented them from hearing his cries. If they drew
up the ree and found him not there, he knew they would
conclude he had lost his hold and dropped into the sea,
and he would then be left to starve in the cave. The rope
still kept passing backwards and forwards, as if tantalizing
him with the hope of escapes. Every minute now seemed
an age; at length, almost wild with despair, he formed
the desperate resolution to spring at the rope as it passed

1
BIRD CATCHING.
11
82
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
1

!
THE GANNET.
by him. He watched for a favorable opportunity and
leapt from the cave: fortunately he was successful in
catching it with a firm grasp, and was safely drawn again
to the top. Accidents occasionally occur: the rope has
been known to break and let the unfortunate man into the
eddying sea; sometimes the men have lost their hold, and
have been dashed to pieces on the rocks in their fall.
The same mode of obtaining eggs is common on the
coasts of Norway, Iceland, and in the Isle of Man; and
in these districts it is the ambition of the youths to become
bold and venturesome cragsmen.
Our second engraving represents them engaged in bird-
catching, in which the same mode is adopted as that we
PURSUIT OF WATER FOWL.
83
have before described. In this process silence is observed
by all, while the man who is let down either secures the
birds as they sit on their nests, or knocks them down with
his stick if they attempt to fly. If he is an expert work-
man, and the spot for his adventure well chosen, he
speedily acquires a large booty, which he disposes of to the
regular traders at the market. Sometimes two men will
venture to descend on one rope, and by this means manage
to slaughter more birds before they are generally disturbed.
An effecting incident happened some years ago to
two persons who were thus busily engaged. They were
father and son. Having been very successful in their at-
tacks upon the sea fowl, they had given the signal to be
drawn up. The father was a little distance lower on the
rope than the son, and hearing the rope creak and strain,
began to be fearful it would give way with their weight.
Looking up he saw that one strand of the rope had
already broken, and the other threatened to give way;
he warned his son of their danger, gave him an earnest
charge to be the support of his mother, and then told
him the rope would support his lesser weight and he him-
self would perish rather than both lives should be lost.
Spite of the son's entreaty, he cut the rope just above the
spot to which he was suspended, and in an instant was
lost in the abyss below. The son was safely drawn up
with the melancholy tidings of his father's death.
The birds which they kill are chiefly gannet: and in
some parts of Scotland they are esteemed as good food,
and may usually be bought in Edinburg market, from a
shilling to eighteen pence each. Many of them are con-
84
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
!
sumed by the people who catch them, and these, together
with their fisheries, constitute their chief means of ob-
taining a livelihood. It is from the eider-duck that the
down so celebrated for warmth and lightness is procured.
It is the down with which the female lines her nest that
is esteemed of most value, that taken from the dead birds
being of inferior quality. It prefers for its breeding-
haunts low flat islands along the coast, and abounds prin-
cipally in Norway; but is to be met with in the Hebrides,
where it builds in more rocky situations. Its beautiful
feathers are easily disposed of and soon added to the
comforts of the rich. So light and elegant are they, that
the poet's picture may often be realized where the eider-
duck is found:
"Often and often have I watched
The sea-bird's down blown o'er the wave,
Now touching it, now spirited aloft,
Now out of sight, now seen, till in some bright fringe
Of streamy foam, as in a cage, at last
A playful death it dies."
The eggs of the various kinds of gull that are taken
are sold in the market, and are esteemed good for food.
It seems as if man had laid nearly all creatures under
tribute to serve his convenience or promote his comfort,
thus exercising the authority the Great Maker of all-
bestowed on him, when he gave him "dominion over the
fish of the sea, and over the fowls of the air, and over the
cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping
thing that creepeth upon the earth.”
:

Burning of the Kent.
WHILST on her outward passage, the Kent East India-
man was burnt, on the 28th of February, 1825, in the
Bay of Biscay. She had on board in all six hundred
and forty-one persons. An officer on duty during a
storm, finding that a spirit-cask in the hold had broken
loose, was taking measures to secure it, when a lurch of
the ship caused him to drop his lantern, and in his eager-
ness to save it, he let go the cask, which suddenly stove
in, the spirits communicated with the flame, and the
whole place was instantly in a blaze. Hopes of subduing
C
(85)
!
86
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
the fire at first were strong, but soon heavy volumes of
smoke, and a pitchy smell, told that it had reached the
cable-room.
In these awful circumstances, the captain ordered the
lower decks to be scuttled, to admit water; this was
done: several poor seamen being suffocated by the smoke
in executing the order; but now a new danger threatened,
the sea rushed in so furiously, that the ship was becoming
water-logged, and all feared her going down. Betwixt
six and seven hundred human beings were by this time
crowded on the deck. Many on their knees earnestly
implored the mercy of an all-powerful God, while some
old stout-hearted sailors quietly seated themselves directly
over the powder-magazine-expecting an explosion every
moment, and thinking thus to put a speedier end to their
torture.
In this time of despair, it occurred to the fourth mate
to send a man to the foremast, hoping, but scarce daring
to think it probable, that some friendly sail might be
in sight. The man at the foretop looked around him;
it was a moment of intense anxiety; then waving his hat
he cried out, "A sail on the lee bow!"
Those on deck received the news with heart-felt grati-
tude, and answered with three cheers. Signals of distress
were instantly hoisted, and endeavors used to make
toward the stranger, while the minute-guns were fired.
continuously. She proved to be the brig Cambria, Cap-
tain Cook, master, bound to Vera Cruz, having twenty
Cornish miners, and some agents of the mining company
on board. For about a quarter of an hour, the crew of

3
BURNING OF THE KENT.
--
88
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
the Kent doubted whether the brig perceived their sig-
nals; but after a period of dreadful suspense, they saw
the British colors hoisted, and the brig making toward
them.
On this, the crew of the Kent got their boats in readi-
ness the first was filled with women, passengers, and offi-
cers' wives, and was lowered into a sea so tempestuous as
to leave small hope of their reaching the brig; they did,
however, after being nearly swamped through some
entanglement of the ropes, getting clear of the Kent, and
were safely taken on board the Cambria, which prudently
lay at some distance off.
After the first trip, it was found impossible for the
boats to come close alongside of the Kent, and the poor
women and children suffered dreadfully, in being lowered
over the stern into them by means of ropes. Amid this
gloomy scene, many beautiful examples occurred of filial
and parental affection, and of disinterested friendship;
and many sorrowful instances of individual loss and suf-
fering. At length, when all had been removed from the
burning vessel, but a few, who were so overcome by fear
as to refuse to make the attempt to reach the brig, the
captain quitted his ill-fated ship.
The flames, which had spread along her upper deck,
now, mounted rapidly to the mast and rigging, forming
one general conflagration, and lighting up the heavens to
an immense distance around. One by one her stately
masts fell over her sides. By half-past one in the morn-
ing the fire reached the powder magazine; the looked for
'explosion took place, and the burning fragments of the
!
:
BURNING OF THE KENT.
89
Vessel were blown high into the air, like so many
rockets.
The Cambria, with her crowd of sufferers, made all
speed to the nearest port, and reached Portsmouth in
safety, shortly after midnight, on the 3d of March.
Wonderful to tell, fourteen of the poor creatures left on
the Kent were rescued by another ship, the Caroline, on
her passage from Alexandria to Liverpool.

12

THE MAELSTROM.

:
Lofoden Isles. The Maelstrom.
THE most extensive group, as well as the most valuable,
for their commercial importance, are the Lofoden Isles,
renowned, from the earliest ages, as the great fishing sta-
tion of the north. Their appearance is rugged and
dismal, resembling piles of rocky mountains heaped upon
each other, covered with snow, and rising abruptly from
the bosom of the deep, to an elevation varying from one
hundred to four thousand feet. Hindoe, Langoe, Andoe,
and Senjen, are the largest; but East Vagoe is the cen-
tral point for the fisheries, and it has continued so since
the dawn of Norwegian history.
(91)
92
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
They are separated from the mainland by the tem-
pestuous channel of West Fiord, at the entrance to which,
between the lower point of the group and the small island
of Moscoe, is the celebrated Moskenstroem or Maelstrom,
so terrible in the annals of northern navigation. The
ancient belief of its being a subterraneous abyss, pene-
trating the globe, or communicating with the Gulf of
Bothnia, has, among other fables, been long discarded;
and the true cause of this dangerous whirlpool is, the
conflicting agitation of the waves, as the tide rises or
falls, against the rocks, which confine the sea to a nar-
row passage. These straits do not afford a sufficiently
quick outlet to the immense body of water, which presses,
like a wedge, between its shelving barriers; the ebb
returns with prodigious force; and, when their motion is
opposed by high winds, the struggling billows mount into
the air, and precipitate themselves in cataracts, or whirl
into eddies, whose powerful suction draws down fish,
boats, and every thing that approaches it to the bottom
of the vortex. Large pines, absorbed by the current,
have re-appeared, after being chafed in the rocky caverns,
until their trunks were bruised and torn, as if covered
with bristles.
In calm weather, the furious turmoil nearly ceases;
but in storms, the dashing and roaring of the waves are
heard at a great distance, and the wary mariner dreads
to approach within seven miles of this destructive col-
lision of the elements. Although exaggerated descrip-
tions have been given of the Maelstrom, its real dangers
are unquestionable. But it is not the only phenomenon
THE MAELSTROM.
93
of the kind in those seas.
Saltenstroem, near Badoe, is
equally perilous, and not less fatal to the natives.
In all the sounds between the islands of Lofoden, the
tide flows in with the impetuosity of the most rapid
rivers, and, on that account, the outermost bear the name
of streams, as Napstroem, Sandstroem, Gimsoestroem,
and Sundklastroem.

1
1

Pearl Divers.
PEARLS are produced by a testaceous fish of the oyster
kind, which lives in the waters of the East and West In
dies, and in other seas in warm latitudes. They are found
in some parts of the globe in clusters of a great number,
on rocks in the depths of the sea. Such places are called
pearl-banks, of which the most famous are near the coast
of Ceylon, and that of Japan, and in the Persian gulf,
near the island of Bahreim or Bahrem. Near the coasts
f
(94)

THE PEARL FISHERY.
{
96
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
of Java, Sumatra, &c., the pearl is also found. The finest
and most costly pearls are the Oriental. Some consider
pearls to be unfructified eggs, others a morbid concretion
of calculus, produced by the endeavor of the animal in
the shell to fill up holes in the shell: others consider pearls
as mere concretions of the juice of which the shell has
been formed, and with which the animal annually aug-
ments it. To collect these shells is the business of divers,
brought up to this most dangerous occupation from early
youth. They descend from their boat with a rope fast-
ened round their body, and a stone of twenty or thirty
pounds weight attached to the foot to sink them. Gene-
rally they have to descend from eight to twelve fathoms,
before they reach the shells. Their nostrils and ears are
stopped up with cotton; to the arm a sponge, dipped in
oil, is fastened, which the diver now and then brings to
his mouth, in order to draw breath without swallowing
water.
Every diver, has besides, a knife, to loosen the shells,
and a little net or basket to collect them. When he has
filled this, or is unable to stay any longer under water, he
unlooses the stone quickly, shakes the line, and is drawn
up by his companions. These divers are often destroyed
by sharks; their health always suffers by this occupation.
Other divers use the diving bell. The shells thus obtained
are put into vessels, where they remain till the body of
the animal petrifies, when they mostly open of themselves.
Those which contain any pearls, contain generally from
eight to twelve. After being dried, they are passed
through nine sieves of different sizes. The worth of a pearl

For
PEARL DIVERS.
13
98
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
i
is in proportion to its magnitude, round form, fine polish,
and clear lustre. The largest are of the size of a small
walnut; but these are very rare. Those of the size of a
cherry are found more frequently, yet still very rarely.
Pearls are round, pear-formed, onion-formed, and irregu-
larly shaped. The small ones, sold by weight, are called
ounce pearls, the smallest, seed pearls: these are converted
into powder.
a
In Europe, pearls of "white water" are the most sought
for; the Indians and Arabians prefer those of "yellow
water." Some have a lead color, some incline to black,
some are totally black. Pearls are found in the Elster,
river in the Voigtland, in the kingdom of Saxony, from
its origin down to the small town of Elsterberg, as well as
in the rivulets which fall into the Elster. Since 1621, a
pearl fishery has been established there, of course for the
benefit of the sovereign. Also in the river Watawa, in
Bohemia, and in the Moldau river, from Krumau to Frau-
enberg, pearls are found, sometimes of great beauty, and
difficult to be distinguished from the Oriental pearl. The
fishery there is the property of the owner of the land.
There are also pearl fisheries on the coasts of Scotland and
of California.
}

Perils of the Whale Fishery.
WHAT is the time requisite for capturing a whale? In
answer to this question, Mr. Scoresby states, that he has
seen a whale dispatched in fifteen minutes, and others
alive, after severe treatment, at the end of fifty hours.
Much depends on the conduct of the animal itself-much
on the activity of the whaler-and much, also, on the
nature of the situation and weather. He states, that the
average time does not succeed an hour. As bearing on
this point, and exhibiting the surprising vigor of the
mysticetus whale, we shall here introduce anecdotes
related by Mr. Scoresby.
1n 1817, the Royal Bounty, of Leith, fell in with
(99)

STRIKING A WHALE.
PERILS OF THE WHALE FISHERY.
101
whales at a distance from land and ice, there being at the
same time a brisk breeze and clear weather. The boats
were manned and sent in pursuit. After a chase of five
hours, one of the boats struck a whale about four A.M. The
captain followed in the ship, and though for a time he lost
sight of them, yet he again descried a boat at eight A.M.,
with a signal displayed of being fast.
Some time after he observed another boat approach the
fish, a second harpoon struck, and a new signal displayed.
As, however, the fish drew the two boats away with con-
siderable speed, it was midday before any assistance
could reach them.
Two more harpoons were then struck; but such was
the vigor of the whale, that, though it constantly drag-
ged through the water from four to six boats, together
with the length of nearly a thousand feet of line to each,
yet it pursued its course nearly as fast as a boat could
row; and such was the terror it manifested on the ap-
proach of its enemies, that whenever a boat passed
beyond its tail it invariably dived.
All endeavors, therefore, to lance it were in vain. The
crews of the loose boats, being unable to keep pace with
the fish, moored themselves to the fast boats, and for
some hours afterwards, all hands were constrained to sit
idle, waiting for some relaxation in the speed of the
whale. Its general course had been to windward, but its
changing enabled the ship, which had previously been at
a great distance, to join the boats at eight P. M.
The vessel took one of the fast lines on board, with
the view of retarding its progress. The sails were lowered
102
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
and furled, but after supporting the ship for a few
minutes, head to wind, the harpoon lost its hold. The
whale immediately set off to windward with increased
speed, and for three hours the ship could not again
approach it. Another line was then taken on board, but
immediately broke.
A fifth harpoon had been previously struck, but its
line was speedily cut. Various schemes for arresting the
speed of the fish were then resorted to, which occupied
close attention for nearly twelve hours; but its velocity
was still such that the master, who had himself proceeded
to the attack, was unable to approach sufficiently near to
strike a harpoon. After a long chase, however, he suc-
ceeded in getting hold of one of the fast lines, and
attached another line to it. The fish then fortunately
turned towards the ship.
At four P. M., thirty-six hours after it was struck, the
ship again joined the boats, when, by a successful
manœuvre, they secured two of the fast lines on board.
The wind was blowing a moderately brisk breeze, and the
sails were lowered; but notwithstanding the resistance a
ship thus situated must necessarily have offered, she was
towed by the fish directly to windward, with a velocity
of two knots during an hour, and then, though the whale
must have been greatly exhausted it beat the water
with its fins and tail in so tremendous a way, that the
sea around was in a continual foam, and the most hardy
of the sailors scarcely dared to approach it. At length,
about eight P. M., after forty hours of almost incessant
exertion, this formidable enemy was slain.
i

WHALE STAVING A BOAT.
104
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
1
!
A large whale became the subject of a general chase
on the 23d of June. Being myself in the first boat
which approached the fish, I struck my harpoon at arm's
length, by which we fortunately evaded a blow which
appeared to be aimed at the boat. Another boat then
advanced, and another harpoon was struck, but not with
the same result; for the stroke was immediately returned
by a tremendous blow from the fish's tail.
The boat was sunk by the shock, and at the same time
whirled round with such velocity, that the boat-steerer
was precipitated into the water on the side next to the
fish, and carried down to a considerable depth by its tail.
After a minute or so, he arose to the surface, and was
taken up along with his companions into another boat.
Some boats of the Aimwell, on the 26th of May, being
in pursuit of whales, harpooned one. When struck, this
individual only dived for a moment, and then rose again
beneath the boat, struck it in the most vicious manner
with its tail and fins, stove, upset it, and then disap-
peared.
The crew, seven in number, got on the bottom of the
boat; but the unequal action of the lines, which remained
entangled with the boat, rolled it over occasionally, and
thus plunged the crew repeatedly into the sea. Four of
them, after each immersion, recovered themselves clung
to it; but the other three were drowned before assistance
could arrive.
The four men being rescued, the attack on the whale
was continued, and two more harpoons were struck. But
the whale irritated instead of being enervated by its
!
PERILS OF THE WHALE FISHERY.
105
wounds, recommenced its furious attack. The sea was
in foams; its tail and fins were in awful play; and in a
short time, harpoon after harpoon drew out, and the fish
escaped.
Such incidents as these are by no means unusual in the
history of the whale fishery; and here, as in all mari-
time adventures, the sailors indulge their usual fancies
as to the omnipotence of good luck.

}
14
1
1
í

>
Extraordinary Deliberance.
On the morning of the 28th of December, 1802, there
was a heavy gale of wind from the N. E., which blew with
such violence, that vessels, unable to enter the port of
Trieste, were obliged, after the loss of anchors, to run for
shelter to the coast of Istria. An Ionian ship, the Eliza,
Captain G. Margari, let go two anchors in the roads, but
dragging there, she was driven five miles out to sea, when
a third anchor brought her up. On the following morning
(106)
EXTRAORDINARY DELIVERANCE.
107
!
she was seen totally dismasted, and in the greatest dis-
tress; they were perceived from the shore near the old
Lazaretto, with outstretched arms, supplicating for relief.
This the fury of the storm prevented being given. The
owner of the Eliza, who was on shore at the time, used
every effort to induce, by offers of high rewards, some of
the sea-faring people of the port to undertake to carry
out some assistance to the ship, or, at any rate, to save
the crew and` passengers; but no one dared to attempt it,
and it was momentarily expected she would go down.
During two whole days and nights she remained in this
agonizing state; it was lamentable to behold the ship ex-
posed to the pitiless storm, the crew in vain making signals
for aid, the waves breaking over them incessantly, and the
cold intense. On the morning of the 30th, application
was made to Mr. W. Morgan, jun., the proprietor of the
steam-vessel Empress Caroline, which runs between Trieste
and Venice, as the last hope, who instantly acceded to
the request; but it being then dark, and the violence of
the wind continuing, nothing could be attempted before
daylight. Every preparation having been made, four
English seamen volunteered to assist the small crew of the
steam-vessel; when, on the 31st, in the morning, she left
the harbor. Mr. Morgan having generously determined
to share with his people the dangers they had consented
to encounter, the quays and vessels, crowded with spec-
tators, cheered them as they passed, the wind blowing still
a furious gale. The Empress Caroline, was soon alongside
the Eliza, whose desolate situation was almost indescriba-
ble--a total wreck, and enveloped in ice, as the seas that
108
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
1
1

LOSS OF THE ELIZA.
1
had been constantly breaking over her for three days,
freezing as they fell, had formed her broken masts,
yards, &c.,; into one solid body; the crew, who had not
tasted food since the storm came on, with the exception
of two, benumbed and half dead. With the greatest dif-
ficulty the end of a hawser was got on board, which the
two poor seamen, with still greater difficulty, succeeded in
making fast. Signs were then made to them, as the vio-
lence of the winds rendered all attempts to hail them in-
audible, to cut their cables, which finally they effected.
The steam-vessel then made sail, and conducted the Eliza
to a sheltered place in safety. On the following morning,
the storm still continuing, Mr. Morgan returned to accom-
plish what he had so successfully began, and brought the
}
XTRAORDINARY DELIVERANCE.
109
1
vessel into port, amidst the acclamations of a large con-
course of people, who crowded the shores to witness their
return. Nothing can exceed the gratitude of the fifteen
persons who were thus snatched from destruction, and who
all declared they could not have survived another night.
The whole population of Trieste joined in commendation
of the humanity and intrepidity of the owner, engineer
and crew of the Empress Caroline steam-vessel, who, when
all others had refused to make the attempt, voluntarily
risked their lives, and, setting danger at defiance, suc-
ceeded in preserving the lives of fifteen of their fellow-
creatures.


Детётейи
NEW ORLEANS.

An Awful Moment.
I SAILED from New Orleans in the beginning of Febru-
ary, 1823, in a small schooner, bound for New York. We
descended the river without any accident, and went to sea
with a fine breeze; we had favorable winds and good
weather for the first five days.
On the morning of the sixth, it began to cloud up; as
the day wore away the gloom increased, and when the
night set in it was as intensely dark as I ever remember
to have seen it. The novelty and interest of my situation
prevented me from turning in; the scene was awfully
grand, the rolling of the thunder could just be distin-
guished above the roaring of the waves, and the vivid
flashes of lightning dispersed for a moment the gloom,
and showed the raging waters round us. I continued
(111)
112
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
1
walking the deck with the captain, who was relating to me
some of the many dangers and difficulties, that a life of
thirty years on the ocean had subjected him to. He had
been thrice shipwrecked, and twice captured by the enemy,
in the late war with England. He was a good seaman
and had all the virtues and vices of a sailor.
We continued on deck some time; the wind had now
increased to a gale. The waves ran mountain high, and
our little vessel danced over them in fine style, when ac-
cidentally casting my eye over her side, I thought I per-
ceived something dark moving in the water; I pointed it
out to the captain, who no sooner saw it than with an ex-
clamation of terror and despair he cried, "we are all lost,"
and sprung to the binnacle for his trumpet. I saw in an
instant our danger; it was a large ship with all her sails
set bearing full upon us.
I knew if she struck us our destruction was inevitable;
she would pass over us in a moment; the people on her
deck would be scarcely sensible of the event, and we should
be buried in the ocean without the least possibility of re-
lief. The captain twice raised the trumpet to hail her,
but fright and despair made him mute; I snatched it from
him, and in a voice rendered supernaturally loud by the
danger of my situation, and which was heard even above
the roaring of the waves, I hailed her with "starboard
your helm." In an instant after, I heard the officer on
deck, in a voice scarcely less loud than mine, pass the
word of "hard a starboard."
In another moment she passed us with the velocity of
lightning, her huge bulk and lofty sails casting a still
AN AWFUL MOMENT.
113
deeper gloom over the deck of our little vessel. She
rolled in the chasm, occasioned by the passing of the vast
body so nigh her, and nearly upset. I sank on deck,
overcome by the intensity of my feelings, and deprived
as it were, of the power of motion. I recovered myself,
and approached our captain; he was standing in the same
position, as before the vessel had passed us, and appeared
to be insensible to the objects around him.
I spoke to him, but he answered me not, I shook him,
and he roused as from a stupor or reverie. It was some
time before his mind resumed her empire, and he after-
wards told me, that in all his danger and perils, and when
death stared him in the face, and deliverance seemed im-
possible, he was never so impressed with the certainty of
his destruction as at that moment. As for me I shall
never forget my feelings on that eventful night, and can-
not even now look back without horror on the danger of
my situation.


A Dreadful Mutiny.
Ir takes a great deal to make a sailor mutiny; it is
not done by merited punishment. A sailor knows as
well as his officers do, when he deserves flogging; but if
he knows he does not deserve it, every lash cuts deeper
than the flesh, and leaves a scar which it takes a long
time to wear out, if it is ever effaced. Men in our ship
were expected to do what was impossible; a whole watch
(114)
A DREADFUL MUTINY.
115
of fore-top-men would sometimes be flogged for being a
few seconds after the main-top-men, and the last man on
the topsail-yard was sure of it.
John Simmons was second captain of the top, and as
smart a sailor as ever hauled out a reef-earing. One
evening, some time after my being disrated, I was aft at
the lee-helm, as there was a fresh breeze wind.
The captain came upon deck, and I could see by his
detested face, that the devil was in him: his nostrils were
compressed, and his upper lip curled up in a scroll. He
took two or three short and hurried turns-looked aloft,
and swore at the officer on the watch for having slacked
off the lee-fore-topsail brace, called the quartermaster
an old lubber, and gave symptoms of the return of his
madness.
He then roared out, "Turn the hands up, reef topsails,
and I'll flog the last half-dozen on the lower deck."
The men flew up the rigging like lightning, and the com-
mand, "Trice up, lay out, take in two reefs," was hardly
given, when it seemed the sail was reefed, the men off the
yard, and the sail at the mast-head again. It was done
within the time allotted, but on looking up a point was
discovered untied in both fore and main-topsails.
The captain very humanely gave them another trial,
and the reefs were shaken out and the sail reefed, as
quickly, and as well as before; but poor John, who was
at the lee-yard-arm, in his anxiety to avoid being the last
man on the yard, made a spring at the lee-rigging, he
missed his hold, and fell upon the deck! poor fellow:
every bone in his body was broken!
116
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
"What lubber is that?" demanded the captain, of the
forcastle officer.
"The second captain of the fore-top, sir," replied the
lieutenant.
"Pitch him overboard, and be
the captain.
then," returned
This horrid mandate was not obeyed; the doctor was
aft, and ran forward to see what could he done; but his
promptitude was useless; poor John was dying.
When he fell, I was close by him, and ran to him, and
raising his head gently from the deck, supported it on
my arm.
The doctor wished him to be removed to the
sick bay, but he said faintly, "Don't touch me-good
bye, shipmates,—God bless you all!" and as the glaze
was coming over his eyes, he recognised me, and his last
whisper was "Poor Jane-give-give"-his head fell
back powerless on my arm, and he yielded up his last
breath. "Shipmates," murmured a hollow sepulchral
voice close at hand, "remember!"
Had you witnessed the countenances of the men on
the lower deck at supper that night, you would never
have forgotten it; I never have: and although perfectly
ignorant of what was in contemplation, I saw they were
at the highest pitch of desperation.
That night poor John Simmons was sewed up in his
hammock, the officer of the watch read the funeral
service over him by the light of a lantern, and as the
awful words, "We therefore commit his body to the
deep," pealed upon my ears, and the sullen roar of the
waves, as they received the corpse, which followed, the
A DREADFUL MUTINY.
117
same voice before mentioned, in a still more awful man-
ner, called out "Remember!"
The officer of the watch looked round him before he
recommenced reading the latter part of the service, but
all the men near him appeared to be as ignorant as te
whom the sound
sound came from as himself. A solemn
"Amen!" was pronounced, and echoed by the same
voice, which concluded this melancholy ceremony.
I think this was the next day, (a man-of-war-brig, the
D— was in
company,) I observed several of the men
going from one mess to the other, whispering something.
One in particular, a man who had been a boatswain's
mate, but disrated and flogged, because the captain
thought he was not laying the lash as he ought to have
done, was very active. It was his voice, I am almost
certain, that I heard repeat the word "Remember;'
but every thing was so conducted that I knew nothing
of what was brewing.
It was the night for scrubbing and washing clothes,
always done in the middle watch. I was between two of
the guns abaft on the main-deck, scrubbing a pair of duck
trousers. I thought there was an unusual noise with the
wash-deck buckets, and looking up, I saw several of the
men apparently larking, throwing the buckets at one
another. The captain sent out of his cabin word for the
men to make less noise, but they took no notice of what
was said; on the contrary, they made more noise than
before, taking the shot out of the racks, and throwing
them about the deck.
At last the first lieutenant came up, to inquire into the
118
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
cause of the disturbance, when one of the men insulted
him. He returned to his cabin and brought up a sword,
with which he went forward amongst the men and en-
deavored to restore order. He was knocked down, run
through the body with his own sword, and thrown out of
a port. Seeing this horrid murder, I left my trousers
unfinished, ran on deck, and aloft to the main-top. From
this place I heard the shouts of the infuriated mutineers,
and the groans of the dying; and every now and then
the splash of some mangled victim, committed to the
waves.
The men had broken open the gunner's store-room, and
possessed themselves of arms and ammunition. The cap-
tain hearing the uproar increase, opened the cabin door
and came out. He was no sooner seen, than one of the
men gave him a blow with a handspike, and he retreated
to his cabin. Four or five of the men rushed in after
him, armed with cutlasses, boarding-pikes and muskets
with fixed bayonets.
The captain endeavored to defend himself with a short
sword, and for a time kept them at bay. So much did
they dread him, that they shrunk back, and were afraid.
to strike; when one of them-John Morris-called out,
"What do you fear, men? spike the
," and gave
them an example by running him through with a bayonet.
They all followed his example, each one seeming
anxious to satiate his bloody vengeance. He was covered
with a hundred wounds, and after cutting and hacking
the body, and treating it with every possible indignity,
they threw him out of the cabin-windows.

THE MUTINY.
120
|
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
My late antagonist-if it was done on my account, I
am very sorry-was another of their victims, and only
two or three of the officers were exempted from the car-
nage; among them was a midshipman, and at the time
sick in his cot; his life was saved by one of the mutineers,
who was his countryman. I was soon joined by two or
three others of the peaceably disposed, who, like me,
were horror-struck at the bloodshed going on below; and
we did not quit our station until after the day broke.
The main-deck was covered with blood; it was the
blood of our officers, many of whom were as good men
as ever lived. I have often since that time stood
upon a bloody deck and thought light of it, for it
was blood shed in our country's cause, and in fair fight.
As to the captain, if he had possessed a thousand lives,
he deserved to have lost them; but bloodthirsty cruelty
alone called for the murder of the rest.
A boatswain's mate now took the command, and called
a council of war. Some were for cruising about as a
pirate, some wished to leave the West Indies, and take
the ship into a French port; but the greatest number
voted to run her into the first port they came to on the
Spanish Main, and give her up to the Spaniards. The
latter plan was carried into effect, and the next day
found us at anchor under the guns of a heavy battery.

Burning of the Steamboat Lexington.
THE steamboat Lexington left New York for Stoning-
ton, January 13th 1840, at three o'clock, P. M.
She was
thronged with passengers, numbering between one hun-
dred and fifty to two hundred. A large quantity of
cotton in bales, was piled upon her decks. The Lexington
prosecuted her voyage until about half-past seven
o'clock in the evening, when, being between Eaton's
Neck and Crane's Neck, a fire was discovered to have
16
(121)
122
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
broken out near the smoke-pipe, among some bales of
cotton which were stowed, or communicated to them from
the wood-work.
Captain Chester Hillard one of the very few persons
who escaped, has given the following statement: About
half-past seven o'clock, hearing the cry of "fire," he ran
on deck and saw the flames bursting through the wood-
work round the chimney. The greatest confusion and
terror prevailed throughout the boat. Captain Childs, the
commander of the Lexington, being at the wheel, at-
tempted to head the vessel for the shore. An unsuccessful
effort was made to get a fire-engine, which was on board,
in order; the fright and confusion probably defeated this
object. Numbers of persons rushed towards the small
boats, which were three in number; about twenty men
succeeded in getting into each of them, when they were
lowered to the water, the steamboat at the time being
under full headway. As the least reflection would have
foreshown, the small boats were instantly swamped, and
every person in them were soon at the mercy of the
waters.
The lifeboat was thrown over but came in contact with
the water-wheel, and was lost. Soon after this the steam-
engine gave way, and the progress of the vessel towards
the shore was arrested by the current.
The Lexington
was now wholly unmanageable, and the passengers, per-
ceiving their destruction to be inevitable if they remained
on board, began to heave over the cotton bales, boxes, &c.,
and endeavoured to reach the land by clinging to such
frail means of conveyance. At this time the Lexington

BURNING OF THE LEXINGTON.
124
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
was about two miles from shore, the nearest point of which
was on Long Island. The extreme coldness of the air and
water paralysed every exertion of the unhappy persons who
were obliged to throw themselves in that situation.
Captain Hillard having assisted in throwing over ten
or a dozen bales of cotton, jumped on one of them, in com-
pany with another person, one of the firemen of the steam-
boat. By means of a piece of board, which they had
picked up, these two succeeded in keeping the bale head
on the sea, until about four o'clock on the following morn-
ing, when the bale capsized, but righted again, with both
of them on it. Until this time, they had kept the upper
part of their bodies comparatively dry, but were now com-
pletely wet to the skin. And now the fireman began to
despond; talked of his wife and children, told Captain
Hillard that his name was Cox, and that he resided in
Oak street, New York. Captain Hillard, endeavored to
cheer him up, and at last lashed him to the bale; but
about eight o'clock in the morning he expired. At eleven
o'clock, Captain Hillard was rescued by Captain Meeker,
in the sloop Merchant, of Southport.
The scene of distress exhibited soon after the passen-
gers abandoned the boat, and committed themselves to
the different articles of freight, exceeds any thing that
has been related in fable or history. The struggles and
cries for assistance, the exclamations of despair and the
screams of agony are described by Captain Hillard as in-
finitely surpassing in horror any thing that he could pre-
viously imagined. Among the passengers were Mrs.
Jarvis, wife of Russel Jarvis, Esq, late of Philadelphia, with
BURNING OF THE STEAMBOAT LEXINGTON.
125
her two children. Captain Hillard saw Mrs. Jarvis, with
one of her children in her arms, floating on a bale of cot-
ton; the other child had leaped overboard, as had also a
great many other passengers-some twenty of whom, had
life preservers on. When observed by Mr. Hillard, Mrs.
Jarvis was franticly calling to the persons in the water to
preserve her child and bring it to her on the bale. Mo-
ther, children, passengers and all, however, sank to a
common grave.
There were five or six ladies on board of the Lexington,
one of whom was afterwards seen with a dead infant to
her breast. Many passengers who did not leave the steam-
boat were last seen, as the flames, drove them from the
higher part of the vessel, clinging in clusters to the guard
braces, where they hung till all went down together. The
whole number of persons saved were Captains Hillard,
and Manchester, and Charles Smith a fireman.


Gallant Capture of a Slaber.
THE Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty have re-
ceived from Commodore Jones, the senior officer of Her
Majesty's squadron on the west coast of Africa, a letter,
inclosing one from Commander Scott, of the Hyacinth,
detailing the following account of the gallant and dashing
behavior of Mr. John Francis Tottenham, mate of the
Hyacinth. On the 12th of August, 1844, in or about
latitude 15° south, longitude 11° 30′ east, when off Fish-
bay, Commander Scott sent Mr. Tottenham, in a four-
(126)
GALLANT CAPTURE OF A SLAVER.
.27
oared gig, with one spare hand, to communicate with the
Portuguese Governor.
The weather became thick, and he missed his port, but
knowing that his ship was working along the coast, anchored
for the night, and pulled to the southward.
}
On the morning of the 13th, he discovered a brig at
anchor, without colors, and saw her slip and make sail, on
which he gave chase; being to windward, and the breeze
light, he was enabled to approach her weather beam, and
fire a musket a-head to induce her to heave to and show
her colors; this and a second were disregarded, but a port
was opened and a gun run out and brought to bear on the
boat, which caused the officer to pull into her wake, when
part of the crew of the brig commenced firing musketry,
while the others got the gun on the poop, and pointed it
at the boat. Mr. Tottenham now commenced firing, as
fast as the spare hand could load for him, being just able
to keep way with the brig; having hit four of the men on
board, they left the gun, and, after firing muskets for
twenty minutes, finding they were unable to weather the
land or tack without being boarded by the boat, they ran
the brig on shore, and abandoned her to the number of
eighteen, including three wounded men, bearing another
mortally wounded (since dead,) on board.
In the course of the afternoon the brig was discovered
on shore from the mast head of the Hyacinth, which stood
in and anchored, and hove her off, when she proved to be
of two hundred tons, without papers, a Brazilian ensign
in the cabin, fully equipped for conveying about one
thousand slaves, two guns of four pounds calibre, loaded,
128
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
a barrel of powder, a number of muskets, swords, and
bayonets on the deck. Almost every bullet expended in
the gig was traced to the gun-carriage, or its immediate
vicinity on the poop.
The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty have, we:
are happy to add, promoted Mr. John Francis Tottenham,
mate of the Hyacinth, to the rank of lieutenant.

Q

CK Frost.
Loss of the Ann.
THE brig Ann, of Newcastle, commanded by Robert
Potter, was chartered to proceed from Newry, in Ireland,
where she was delivering her cargo, to Archangel, in
Russia. The navigation in this place, which is situate in
the White Sea, is considered by skilful seamen, to be one
of the most difficult and dangerous in the world, and can
only be performed with safety in the mild months of
summer.
17
(129)
130
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
The Ann was a good brig, and had been at the above
place before, under the command of Captain Potter, who
had effected the voyage from London to Archangel, and
returned with a full cargo in three months, which was a
proof of his consummate skill and perseverance.
The Ann sailed from Ireland on July 17, 1807, but the
opening prospect was gloomy enough. The season was
far advanced, and in a very few days the wind blew vio-
lently from the S. E., accompanied with heavy rain, and
almost impenetrable fogs, which drove them with irre-
si tible force too far to the northward and westward.
After several days of awful uncertainty, they were at
length enabled to ascertain by observation that they were
in latitude 71°, and 10° west longitude; and when the
fog dispersed, to their great dismay, they found them-
selves surrounded by tremendous mountains of ice. In
this extremity they attempted to tack, and, if possible, to
avoid the impending danger; but the wind blowing with
increased violence, they were unable to effect this. At
this instant a large piece of ice struck the stern, and
carried a great part of it away; immediately after,
another piece struck the larboard bow, and went directly
through it; and a third struck the starboard bow, but
being larger than the former, the shock threw the brig
on her beam-ends, from which she never after rose. The
pumps were manned, in order, if possible, to keep her
above water till they could reach the island of John
Maynes, which lies nearly in this latitude: contrary to
their expectation, they were enabled to see this barren
part, which rises like a huge mountain out of the sea.
LOSS OF THE ANN.
131
1
At this time the water was above the beams, when the
boats were hoisted out; but the ship being entirely filled
with water, they were only able to procure a small quan-
tity of biscuit and a little water, which was already so
mixed with salt water that it was loathsome to them.
With this small supply, the captain entered the boats,
with the whole of his crew, which consisted of thirteen,
including boys; they were judiciously arranged, some in
the small boat, towing the other as long as the turbulent
waves permitted. Their first resolution was, to allow
themselves but one glass of water and half a biscuit per
day for each person, as their scanty stock would not
afford them a larger allowance.
On July 30, they quitted this unfortunate vessel, and
their only hope was to reach some part of the coast of
Norway. For twenty-two days they continued to row
and drive in the open boat for nearly nine hundred miles,
suffering severely from the intense cold and the raging of
the sea.
The frost had affected various parts of their
bodies, which at length began to mortify: and the situa-
tion of these poor men became truly deplorable.
While thus threatened by death in its most frightful
form, they were discovered by some fishermen belonging
to Norway, who, to their inexpressible joy, came to their
relief, and towed them into the harbor of Christ arend,
apparently in a state of dissolution; their onl support
having been the scanty allowance above-mentioned, of
one glass of water and half a biscuit per day. It wa
found necessary to amputate the legs of the two appren-
tices, as they were in a dreaful state of mortification.
132
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
ባዝ
111
THE CREW OF THE ANN RELIEVED BY THE NATIVES.
These shipwrecked men were treated by the natives of
Christiansand with the greatest humanity. As soon as
their strength was recruited, they were all made prisoners.
of war, with the exception of the two apprentices, and
marched off many miles to Drontheim.
While every commendation is due to the nation who
succoured them after their distress, it is but justice to add
that, immediately after the receipt of this intelligence,
the owners of the Ann used every exertion to remit
pecuniary aid to the unhappy sufferers.
1


Shipwreck of the Blendenhall.
IN the year 1821, the Blendenhall, free trader, bound
from England for Bombay, partly laden with broad-cloths,
was proceeding on her voyage with every prospect of a
successful issue. While thus pursuing her way through
the Atlantic, she was unfortunately driven from her course,
by adverse winds and currents, more to the southward
and westward than was required, and it became desirable
to reach the island of Tristan d'Acunha, in order to as
certain and rectify the reckoning.
(133)

D
SHIPRECK OF THE BLENDENHALL.
1
SHIPWRECK OF THE BLENDENHALL.
135
This island, which is called after the Portuguese admiral
who first discovered it, is one of a group of three, the
others being the Inaccessible and Nightingale Islands,
situated many hundreds of miles from any land, and in a
south-westerly direction from the Cape of Good Hope.
The shores are rugged and precipitous in the extreme, and
form, perhaps, the most dangerous coast upon which any
vessel could be driven.
It was while steering to reach this group of islands, that,
a passenger on board the Blendenhall, who chanced to be
upon deck earlier than usual, looking at a frigate bird
which was pursuing a gull, observed great quantities of sea-
weed occasionally floating alongside. This excited some
alarm, and a man was immediately sent aloft to keep a
good look-out.
The weather was then extremely hazy, though mode-
rate; the weeds continued; all were on the alert; they
shortened sail, and the boatswain piped for breakfast. In
less than ten minutes, "breakers ahead!" startled every
soul, and in a moment all were on deck. "Breakers
starboard! breakers larboard! breakers all around," was
the ominous cry a moment afterwards, and all was confu-
sion. The words were scarcely uttered, when, and before
the helm was up, the ill-fated ship struck, and after a few
tremendous shocks against the sunken reef, she parted
about mid-ship. Ropes and stays were cut away—all
rushed forward, as if instinctively, and had barely reached
the fore-castle, when the stern and quarter-deck broke
asunder with a violent crash, and sunk to rise no more.
Two of the seamen miserably perished-the rest, including

-
FRIGATE BIRD PURSUING A GULL.
SHIPWRECK OF THE BLENDENHALL.
137
officers, passengers and crew, held on about the head and
bows-the struggle was for life!
At this moment, the Inaccessible Island, which till then
had been veiled in thick clouds and mist, appeared frowning
above the haze. The wreck was more than two miles
from the frightful shore. The base of the island was still
buried in impenetrable gloom.
In this perilous extremity, one was for cutting away
the anchor, which had been got up to the cat-head in time
of need; another was for cutting down the foremast, (the
foretop-mast being already by the board). The fog to-
tally disappeared, and the black rocky island stood in all
its rugged deformity before their eyes. Suddenly the sun
broke out in full splendor, as if to expose more clearly to
the view of the sufferers their dreadful predicament. Des-
pair was in every bosom-death, arrayed in all its terrors,
seemed to hover over the wreck. But exertion was re-
quired, and every thing that human energy could devise
was effected.
i
The wreck, on which all eagerly clung, was fortunately
drifted by the tide and wind between ledges of sunken
rocks and thundering breakers, until, after the lapse of
several hours, it entered the only spot on the island where
a landing was possibly practicable, for all the other parts
of the coast consisted of perpendicular cliffs of granite,
rising from amidst the deafening surge to the height of
twenty, forty, and sixty feet. As the shore was neared
a raft was prepared, and on this a few paddled for the
cove.
At last the wreck drove right in: ropes were instantly
18
138
VOYAGE AND VENTURE. ··
thrown out, and the crew and passengers, (except two who
had been crushed in the wreck,) including three ladies
and a female attendant, were snatched from the watery
grave, which a few short hours before had appeared inevi-
table, and safely landed on the beach. Evening had now
set in, and every effort was made to secure whatever could
be saved from the wreck.
Bales of cloth, cases of wine, a few boxes of cheese,
some hams, the carcass of a milch cow that had been
washed on shore, buckets, tubs, butts, a seaman's chest,
(containing a tinder-box and needles and thread,) with a
number of elegant mahogany turned bed-posts, and part
of an investment for the India market, were got on
shore.
The rain poured down in torrents-all hands were
busily at work to procure shelter from the weather; and
with the bed-posts and broad-cloths, and part of the fore-
sail, as many tents were soon pitched as there were indi-
viduals on the island.
Drenched with the sea and with the rain, hungry, cold,
and comfortless, thousands of miles from their native
land, almost beyond expectation of human succor, hope
nearly annihilated-the shipwrecked voyagers retired to
their tents. In the morning the wreck had gone to
pieces; and planks, and spars, and whatever had floated
in, were eagerly dragged on shore.
No sooner was the unfortunate ship broken up, than
deeming themselves freed from the bonds of authority,
many began to secure whatever came to land: and the
captain, officers, passengers, and crew, were now reduced
SHIPWRECK OF THE BLENDENHALL.
139
to the same level, and obliged to take their turn to fetch
water, and explore the island for food. The work of
exploring was soon over-there was not a bird, nor a
All was barren
quadruped, nor a single tree to be seen.
and desolate. The low parts were scattered over with
stones and sand, and a few stunted weeds, rocks, ferns,
and other plants. The top of the mountain was found to
consist of a fragment of original table-land, very marshy,
and full of deep sloughs, intersected with small rills of
water, pure and pellucid as a crystal, and a profusion of
wild parsley and celery.
The prospect was one dreary scene of destitution,
without a single ray of hope to relieve the misery of the
desponding crew. After some days, the dead cow, hams,
and cheese, were consumed; and from one end of the
island to the other, not a morsel of food could be seen.
Even the celery began to fail.
A few bottles of wine, which for security had been
secreted under ground, only remained. Famine now
began to threaten. Every stone near the sea was ex-
amined for shell-fish, but in vain.
In this dreadful extremity, and while the half-famished
seamen were at night squatting in sullen dejection round
their fires, a large lot of sea-birds, allured by the flames,
rushed into the midst of them, and were greedily laid
hold of as fast as they could be seized. For several nights
and by multiplying
in succession, similar flocks came in;
their fires, a considerable supply was secured.
These
visits, however, ceased at length, and the wretched party
were exposed again to the most severe privation.
.*
140
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.

11%
is..
་
བ་
GREAT AUK OR PENGUIN.
When their stock of wild fowl had been exhausted for
more than two days, each began to fear they were now ap-
proaching that sad point of necessity, when, between death
and casting lots who should be sacrificed to serve for food
for the rest, no alternative remained. While horror at the
bare contemplation of an extremity so repulsive occupied
the thoughts of all, the horizon was observed to be sud-
denly obscured, and presently clouds of penguin alighted
on the island.
The low grounds were actually covered; and before the
SHIPWRECK OF THE BLENDENHALL.
141

LITTLE PENGUIN.
evening was dark, the sand could not be seen for the
number of eggs, which, like a sheet of snow, lay on the
surface of the earth. The penguins continued on the is-
land four or five days, when, as if by signal, the whole
took their flight, and were never seen again. A few were
killed, but the flesh was so extremely rank and nauseous
that it could not be eaten. The eggs were collected and
dressed in all manner of ways, and supplied abundance of
food for upwards of three weeks.
At the expiration of that period, famine once more
seemed inevitable; the third morning began to dawn upon
the unfortunate company after their stock of eggs were
exhausted; they had now been without food for more than
forty hours, and were fainting and dejected; when, as
1
142
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
though this desolate rock were really a land of miracles,
a man came running up to the encampment with the un-
expected and joyful tidings that "millions of sea-cows
had come on shore."
The crew climbed over the ledge of rocks that flanked
their tents, and the sight of a shoal of manatees imme-
diately beneath them gladdened their hearts. These
came in with the flood, and were left in the puddles
between the broken rocks of the cove.
This supply continued for two or three weeks. The
flesh was mere blubber, and quite unfit for food, for not a
man could retain it on his stomach; but the liver was
excellent, and on this they subsisted. In the meantime,
the carpenter with his gang had constructed a boat, and
four of the men had adventured in her for Tristan
d'Acunha, in hopes of ultimately extricating their fellow-
sufferers from their perilous situation.
Unfortunately the boat was lost--whether carried away
by the violence of the currents that set in between the
islands, or dashed to pieces against the breakers, was
never known, for no vestige of the boat or crew was ever
seen. Before the manatees, however, began to quit the
shore, a second boat was launched; and in this an officer
and some seamen made a second attempt, and happily
succeeded in effecting a landing, after much labor, on the
island, where they were received with much cordiality
and humanity by Governor Glass-a personage whom it
will be necessary to describe.
Tristan d'Acunha is believed to have been uninhabited
until 1811, when three Americans took up their residence

MORSES OR SEA-COWS.
144
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.

THE CAFE OF GOOD HOPE.
CK FROST
upon it, for the purpose of cultivating vegetables, and
selling the produce, particularly potatoes, to vessels
which might touch there on their way to India, or other
parts in the southern ocean. These Americans remained
its only inhabitants till 1816, when, on Bonaparte being
sent to St. Helena, the British government deemed it
expedient to garrison the island, and sent the Falmouth
man-of-war with a colony of forty persons, which arrived
in the month of August.
At this time the chief of the American settlers was
dead, and two only survived; but what finally became of
these we are not informed. The British garrison was
soon given up, the colony abandoned, and all returned
to the Cape of Good Hope, except a person named Glass,
a Scotchman, who had been corporal of artillery, and his
SHIPWRECK OF THE BLENDENHALL.
145
wife, a Cape creole. One or two other families after-
wards joined them, and thus the foundation of a nation on
a small scale was formed; Mr. Glass with the title and
character of governor, like a second Robinson Crusoe,
being the undisputed chief and lawgiver of the whole. On
being visited in 1825, by Mr. Augustus Earle, the little
colony was found to be on the increase, a considerable
number of children having been born since the period of
settlement. The different families inhabited a small vil-
lage, consisting of cottages covered with thatch made of
the long grass of the island, and exhibiting an air of
comfort, cleanliness, and plenty, truly English.
It was to this island that the boat's crew of the Blen-
denhall had bent their course, and its principal inhabitant,
Governor Glass, showed them every mark of attention,
not only on the score of humanity, but because they were
fellow subjects of the same power-for, be it known, Glasr
did not lay claim to independent 'monarchy, but always
prayed publicly for King George as his lawful sovereign.
On learning the situation of the crew, on Inaccessible
Island, he instantly launched his boat, and unawed by
considerations of personal danger, hastened at the risk
of his life, to deliver his shipwrecked countrymen from
the calamities they had so long endured. He made re-
peated trips, surmounted all difficulties, and fortunately
succeeded in safely landing them on his own island, after
they had been exposed for nearly three months to the
horrors of a situation almost unparalleled in the recorded
sufferings of seafaring men.
After being hospitably treated by Glass and his company
19

GOVERNOR GLASS GOING WITH HIS BOAT TO RELIEVE THE SHIPWRECKED MEN.
SHIPWRECK OF THE BLENDENHALL.
147
for three months, the survivors obtained a passage to the
Cape, all except a young sailor named White, who had
formed an attachment to one of the servant girls on board,
and, who, in all the miseries which had been endured, had
been her constant protector and companion; whilst grati-
tude on her part prevented her wishing to leave him.
Both chose to remain, and were forthwith adopted as free
citizens of the little community.


洮
​THE STEAMER PAPIN.

Loss of the French Steamer Papin.
THE French government steamer Papin was lost on
the coast of Africa. The following are the details of
that melancholy event as published by the Moniteur:
The Papin left Cadiz at two o'clock P. M. on December
5, 1845, and was bound for Senegal. The weather was
fine during the whole afternoon of the 5th, and the morn-
ing of the following day, but towards night it began to
blow hard from the south-west.
At 11 o'clock at night, on the 6th, the vessel grounded
on a sand-bank, nine miles to the north of Mogadore, and
about three cables' length from the mainland. The order
(149)
150
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
to "back" could not be executed, as the paddles had
already become choked by the sand. For three hours
the vessel withstood the violent shocks of the waves, the
sea running high at the time, without any very visible
damage, but she then began to fill, and at four o'clock
on the morning of the 7th, she was quite full, and the sea
dashing over her deck. At five o'clock the chimney fell,
and killed several persons.
At half-past five A. M., M. Marcy Monge, the French
consul at Mogadore, was washed overboard by a wave,
and instantly disappeared. A few moments afterwards
M. Dieul, second lieutenant on board, met with the same
fate. Several persons then threw themselves into the
sea, to lay hold of the spars, &c., which were constantly
being washed from the wreck, or to try and gain the
shore by swimming. The greater part of them sank to
rise no more. Some few, after the most desperate efforts,
reached Azimour, a village three miles to the north of the
scene of the wreck.
They fell in with some Moors, who instantly came to
their relief; one of them gave his burnous (cloak) to M.
Du Bourdieu, commissary at Goree, and who had em-
barked as a passenger on board the Papin. Some camels,
laden with brambles, having arrived, the Arabs instantly
kindled a fire to warm the unfortunate shipwrecked pas-
sengers.
At 11 A. M., the persons who had succeeded in reaching
the shore amounted to thirty. The mainmast, which had
continued standing until that time, although the Papin
was divided in two, fell, and in its descent, either crushed
LOSS OF THE STEAMER PAPIN.
151
to death or carried overboard not less than thirty
persons.
About this time Messrs. Douesnard, Mirabeau, Des-
forges, Natalani, and Royot, who had succeeded in reach-
ing the beach, got into the life-boat, which had been
washed on shore, for the purpose of returning to the
vessel and saving such persons as might be still alive; but
they were unable to make head against the waves, and
were again cast upon the shore.
Mr. Redman, the English consul at Mogadore, together
with the French consul in that place, who had started
that same morning for Rabat, hearing that a vessel was
wrecked upon the coast, instantly repaired to the scene
of distress. Mr. Redman having attended to the imme-
diate necessities of the passengers on shore, exerted his
influence with the Arabs to induce them to go to the
vessel, and bring away the unfortunate persons who still
remained on board.
The Arabs displayed, upon this occasion, as much
courage as humanity. In less than two hours they suc-
ceeded in bringing off forty-four persons, carrying them
upon their shoulders, and swimming with them through
a very heavy sea. After being assured that no other
persons remained on board the vessel, and having interred
eight bodies which had been washed on shore, Mr. Red-
man conducted the sufferers to Mazagran, where every
attention was paid to their wants by him and his three
brothers.
Letters received from Mazagran speak in the highest
terms of the conduct of Mr. Redman. It is certain that
152
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
the forty-four persons who remained on board the vessel
are indebted to him for their safety. When intelligence
of the shipwreck reached Gibraltar, Sir Frederick Nichol-
son, who commands the naval forces there, instantly
wrote to our consul, offering to dispatch the English
steamer Flamer, to render the necessary succor.
The
Flamer accordingly sailed shortly afterwards. Mr. Red-
man placed a guard of thirty men to save as much of
the cargo of the unfortunate vessel as possible. Of one
hundred and fifty-one persons on board the Papin,
seventy-six only remain to tell the tale.
:
:


ןןןןתי
CAPTAIN BACK.
A Ship Overwhelmed with Icebergs.
THE following extract is from Captain Back's narrative
of his northern expedition: The next morning the ice
drew more to the northward, and, what was worse, blew
fresh, thereby setting the seaward ice down towards the
land with more force than had yet been experienced.
Shortly after nine A.M., a fine piece split in two, and the
20
(153)
!

WHIMPER
CAPTAIN BACK'S SHIP AMONG THE ICEBERGS.
A SHIP OVERWHELMED WITH ICEBERGS. 155
extreme violence of the pressure curled and crumbled the
windward ice up in an awful manner, forcing it against,
the beam fully eighteen feet high.
The ship creaked as it were in agony, and, strong as
she was, must have been stove and crushed, had not some
of the smaller masses been forced under her bottom, and
so diminished the strain by actually lifting her bow nearly
two feet out of the water. In this perilous crisis steps
were taken to have every thing in readiness for hoisting
out the barge; and without creating unnecessary alarm,
the officers and men were called to the quarter-deck, and
desired in case of emergency, to be active in the perform-
ance of their duties at the respective stations then notified
to them.
It was a serious moment for all, as the pressure still
continued, nor could we expect much, if any abatement
until the wind changed. At noon the weather and our
prospects remained the same. The barometer was falling,
and the temperature was 56° minus, with unceasing snow.
Much ice had been sunk under the bottom, and a doubt
existed whether it was not finding its way beneath the lee
floe also; for the uplifted ruins, within fifty paces of the
weather-beam were advancing slowly towards us like an
immense wave fraught with destruction. Resistance would
not, could not have been effectual beyond a few seconds;
for what of human construction could withstand the impact
of an icy continent, driven onward by a furious storm?
In the meantime, symptoms, too unequivocal to be mis-
understood, demonstrated the intensity of the pressure.
The butt-ends began to start, and the copper, in which
156
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
the galley apparatus was fixed, became creased, sliding
doors refused to shut, and leaks found access through the
bolt-heads and bull's eyes.
On sounding the well, too, an increase of water was re-
ported, not sufficient to excite apprehension in itself, but
such as to render hourly pumping necessary. Moved by
these indications, and to guard against the worst, I ordered
the provisions and preserved meats, with various other
necessaries, to be got up from below, and stowed on deck,
so as to be ready at a moment to be thrown upon the large
floe alongside.
To add to our anxiety, night closed prematurely, when
suddenly from some unknown cause, the floe which threat-
ened instant destruction, turned so as in a great degree
to protect us against an increase of pressure, though, for
several hours afterwards, the same creaking and grinding
sounds continued, to annoy our ears. The barometer and
other instruments, fell with a regularity unprecedented,
the gale was broken, and by night had abated considerably.


AL
Loss of the Essex and other bessels by
attacks of Whales.
THERE is an instance given by Captain Scoresby,
where a Greenland whale was at last killed who had drawn
out ten thousand four hundred and forty yards, or about
six miles of line, attached to fifteen harpoons, besides
taking one boat entirely under water, which disappeared
and was never seen, the harpoons by which it was held to
the whale probably drawing out under the immense pres-
sure, and leaving it to sink, or to rise under the ice.
But the most dreadful display of the whale's strength
and prowess yet authentically recorded, was that made
upon the American whale ship Essex, Captain Pollard,
(157)
158
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
which sailed from Nantucket for the Pacific Ocean, in
August, 1819. Late in the fall of the same year, when
in latitude forty of the South Pacific, a school of sperm
whales were discovered, and three boats were manned and
sent in pursuit. The mate's boat was struck by one of
them, and he was obliged to return to the ship, in order
to repair the damage.
While he was engaged in that work, a sperm whale,
judged to be eighty-five feet long, broke water about
twenty rods from the ship, on her weather-bow. He was
going at the rate of about three knots an hour, and the
ship at nearly the same rate, when he struck the bows of
the vessel, just forward of her chains.
At the shock produced by the collision of two such
mighty masses of matter in motion, the ship shook like a
leaf. The seemingly malicious whale dived and passed
under the ship, grazing her keel, and then appeared at
about the distance of a ship's length, lashing the sea with
its fins and tail, as if suffering the most horrible agony.
He was evidently hurt by the collision, and blindly frantic
with instinctive rage. -
In a few minutes he seemed to recover himself, and
started with great speed directly across the vessel's course
to the windward. Meantime the hands on board dis-
covered the ship to be gradually settling down at the
bows, and the pumps were to be rigged. While working
at them, one of the men cried out, "God have mercy! he
comes again!”
The whale had turned at about one hundred rods from
the ship, and was making for her with double his former
LOSS OF THE ESSEX.
159

PART OF THE CREW OF THE ESSEX ESCAPING IN A BOAT.
speed, his pathway white with foam. Rushing head on,
he struck her again at the bow, and the tremendous blow
stove her in. The whale dived under again and disap-
peared, and the ship foundered in 、ten minutes from the
first collision.
After incredible hardships and suffering in their open
boats, on the 20th of December the survivors of this
catastrophe reached the low island called Ducies, in lati-
tude 24° 40′ south, longitude 124° 40' west. It was a
mere sand-bank, nearly barren, which supplied them only
with water and sea-fowl. On this uninhabited island,
dreary as it was, three of the men chose to remain rather
160
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
than again commit themselves to the uncertainties of the
sea. They have never since been heard from, the island
being seldom visited.
On the 27th of December, the three boats, with the
remainder of the men, put away together for the island
of Juan Fernandez, at a distance of two thousand miles.
The mate's boat was taken up by the Indian, of London,
on the 19th of February, ninety-three days from the time
of the catastrophe, with only three survivors.
..
The captain's boat was fallen in with by the Dauphin,
of Nantucket, on the 23d of the same month, having only
two men living, whose lives had been eked out only
through that last resort of hunger to the wretched, which
words shudder to relate! Out of a crew of twenty, five
only survived to make the ear of the world tingle at their
strange, eventful story.
A
There is one other instance of the immediate ship-
wreck of a whaler by the shock of those mighty levia-
thans-that of the Union, of Nantucket, Captain Gard-
ner, which was totally lost, in the year 1807, between
Nantucket and the Azores, by a similar concussion,
merchant brig, plying between Panama and one of the
ports of Western Mexico, has lately met with the same
disaster, but without loss of life, the passengers and
crew being all rescued.
The most recent instance of a whale ship destroyed
by a whale, is that of the Ann Alexander, Captain John
Deblois, of New Bedford, on the 20th of August, 1851.
In this case the whale destroyed two boats, which were
successively sent to attack him. He was then pursued

ESCAPE OF THE CAPTAIN AND CREW OF THE ANN ALEXANDER.
21
162
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
$
by the ship; but the monster in his turn became the
assailant, beat a hole in the bottom of the ship; and
speedily caused her to sink. The captain and crew, taking
to the boats, had the good fortune to be picked up by the
ship Nantucket, on the 22d of August, and conveyed to
the port of Paita, on the coast of Peru, after only two
day's exposure on the ocean.
i


Destruction of Boats by Whales.
ANOTHER form, of the perils of whaling is illustrated
in the following incidents, taken from an authentic com-
munication.
A few years ago, the captain of a whale ship was on a
cruise in the Pacific Ocean. There were three boats
attached to the ship. Early one morning a whale appeared.
Two boats were sent to capture it. They fastened to the
whale, and were soon drawn by this monster of the deep
out of sight of the ship. An hour or two passed
along, when suddenly, another whale rose in the water,
but a few rods from the vessel. The temptation to
attempt its capture was too strong to be resisted. The cap-
tain ordered the remaining boat to be lowered, and, leaving
(163)
12

A WHALE PLUNGING.
WHIMPER
DESTRUCTION OF BOATS BY WHALES.
165
but one man and two boys to take care of the ship,
sprang into the boat with the rest of the crew.
It
Soon the harpoon was plunged into the whale, and
they were carried with almost the speed of the wind,
about fifteen miles from the ship. Then the whale plunged
perpendicularly down into the depths of the ocean.
was not long ere they saw him, fathoms deep in the
crystal waters, rushing up with open jaws, to destroy the
boat. By skilfully sheering the boat, the whale missed
his aim, and thrusting his mammoth head some fifteen or
twenty feet into the air, he fell over upon his side, and
again disappeared in the fathomless sea.
Soon he reap-
peared in the almost transparent abyss, again rushing
upward to attack the boat. Again he was foiled.
The third time he descended, and as he arose, with
invigorated fury, he struck the boat in the centre of the
keel, threw it some fifteen feet into the air, and scattering
the crew and fragments of the boat over the waves, again.
plunged into the deep and disappeared. The captain and
the crew were now in the water, clinging to the pieces of
the demolished boat. They were fifteen miles from the
ship, and could not be seen from its deck. The other
boats were gone, they knew not where. Apparently,
every chance of rescue was cut off, and nothing awaited
them but a watery grave. It was twelve o'clock at noon.
The hours of one, two, three, four, five and six, passed
slowly away, and still they were floating, almost exhausted,
upon the heaving billows of the Pacific. When the ship
rose on the swelling seas, they could just catch a glimpse
of her rolling spars.
166
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
}
"Oh! how fervently I prayed," said one of these
mariners, when afterward relating the scene, "that God
would in some way providentially interpose and save our
lives! I thought of my wife, of my little children, of
my prayerless life, of the awful account I had to render
at the bar of God for grieving the Spirit and neglecting
the Saviour. All the horrors of this dreadful death were
forgotten in the thought, that in one short hour I was to
render up an account to God for years of ingratitude and
disobedience. Oh! thought I, if I were only a Christian,
what a solace it would be to me as I sink into this watery
grave!"
The sun had now disappeared behind the distant waves,
and the darkening shades of a dreary night were settling
down over the ocean. Just then they descried, dim in
the dusky distance, one of the absent boats returning to
the ship. It was, however, far off, apparently beyond the
reach of their loudest outcries. Impelled by the ener-
gies of despair, they simultaneously raised a shout, which
blended with the washing of the waves and sighing of the
breeze, and the boat continued on its way. Again they
raised another shout, and it was also unavailing.
The shades of the night were deepening, the boat
rapidly passing by them. Almost frenzied at their ter-
rible condition, they raised another cry. The sound of
that distant shriek fell faintly upon the ears of the boat-
men, and they rested on their oars. Another shout,
which almost lacerated their throats, was raised, and the
boat turned in pursuit. They were taken from the water,
and carried almost lifeless to the ship.
}
DESTRUCTION OF BOATS BY WHALES.
167

ESCAPE OF THE WHALERS IN A BOAT.
In another authentic instance, when a boat was chasing
a whale, he suddenly turned to windward, and made
directly for his pursuers, who were so excited by the
chase as to be blind to danger. On, therefore, they
madly rushed, without trying to avoid the infuriated
monster, so eager were they to plunge into him their
irons, till the boat struck with such force upon the whale's
head as to throw the oarsmen from their thwarts. At the
same moment, the boat-steerer let fly his two harpoons
into the mammoth body, which rolled over on its back;,
and before the boat could get clear of danger, being to
the windward, a heavy sea struck it, and threw them
directly into the whale's mouth! All, of course, sprang
for their lives, and they had barely time to throw them-
selves clear of the boat, before it was crushed to pieces
168
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.

A BLUNT-HEADED WHALE.
by those ponderous jaws, and its ejected crew were pro-
videntially all picked up by another boat.
Such are the dangers which are continually incurred
in the whale fishery, equal almost to those of the field of
battle. We often wonder that so many escape with their
lives from a battle-field; and we equally wonder that,
comparatively, so few perish in this most hazardous pur-
suit. A boat, almost as frail as a bubble approaches the
side of a whale, slumbering upon the ocean, sixty or
eighty feet in length, and a harpoon is plunged into
his body. His efforts to destroy his tormentors or escape
from them, as we have again and again learned, are ter-
rific. The ocean is lashed into foam by blows from his
enormous flukes, which would almost dash in the ribs of
a man-of-war. Often he rushes at the boat with light-
ning speed and with open jaws, and it is crushed like an
egg-shell in his mouth.
Some idea of the enormous magnitude of the whale
may be gained by the accompanying´engraving, which
shows his size as compared with other animals whose size
and form are familiar to the reader.
In this frightful warfare many are maimed, and many

i have
SIZE OF THE WHALE COMPARED WITH OTHER ANIMALS.
170
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
lives are annually lost. But some whales are worth
between two and three thousand dollars; and this is ma-
jestic game to hunt. He, however, who earns his bread
through the perils and hardships of this pursuit, has
truly a hard lot in life. He is but a transient visitor at
his home. Amid the solitude of the ocean he passes the
greater portion of his days; and if he survives the perils
of his adventurous pursuit, the storms of the ocean, and
the pestilence of different climes, he usually finds that
the friends of his youth are all gone, and that he is almost
a stranger at his own fireside. And yet this mode of life
has its own joys and emoluments; for, if ordinarily suc-
cessful, in the course of fifteen or twenty years a whale-
man will lay up a moderate competence for the rest of
his days, and meanwhile, notwithstanding the unfavorable
influences which are often at work in the whale ship,
many are forming noble characters.


A Whale Fishing Adventure.
ON the 3rd of June, 1811, says Captain Scoresby, a
boat from the Resolution, commanded at that time by my-
self, put off in pursuit of a whale, and was rowed upon its
back. At the moment that it was harpooned, it struck
the side of the boat a violent blow with its tail, the shock
of which threw the boat steerer to some distance into the
water. A repetition of the blow projected the harpooner
and line manager in a similar way. One of the men re-
gained the boat, but as the fish immediately sunk, and
(171)

LANCING A WHALE.
A WHALE FISHING ADVENTURE.
173
drew the boat away from the place, his two companions in
misfortune were soon left far beyond the reach of assist-
ance. The harpooner, though a practised swimmer, felt
himself so bruised by a blow he had received on the chest,
that he was totally incapacitated from giving the least
support to his fellow sufferer. The ship being happily
near, a boat arrived to their succor, at the moment when
the line manager, who was unacquainted with the art of
swimming, was on the point of sinking to rise no more.
The fish, after a close pursuit, was subdued.
A large whale, harpooned from a boat belonging to the
same ship, became the subject of a general chase. Being
myself in the first boat which approached the fish, I struck
my harpoon at arm's length, by which we fortunately
evaded a blow which appeared to be aimed at the boat.
Another boat then advanced, and another harpoon was
struck, but not with the same result, for the stroke was
returned by a tremendous blow from the fish's tail. The
boat was sunk by the shock, and at the same time whirled
round with such velocity, that the boat steerer was pre-
cipitated into the water, on the side next the fish, and was
accidentally carried down to a considerable depth by its
tail. After a minute or two he arose, and was taken up
along with his companions into my boat. A similar attack
was made on the next boat which came up; but the har-
pooner, being warned of the prior conduct of the fish, used
such precaution, that the blow, though equal in strength,
took effect only in an inferior degree. The activity and
skill of the lancers soon overcame this designing whale,
and added its produce to the cargo of the ship. Such in-
1
PURSUIT OF A WHALE.
}

A WHALE FISHING ADVENTURE.
175
sie
tentional mischief on the part of the whale, it must be ob-
served, is a somewhat rare occurrence.
Before a whale can be flensed, as the operation of taking
off the fat and whalebone is called, some preliminary mea-
sures are requisite. These consist in securing the whale
to a boat, cutting away the attached whale-lines, lashing
the fins of the whale together, and towing it to the ship.
The first operation performed on a dead whale is to se-
cure it to a boat. This is easily effected by lashing it with
a rope, passed several times through two holes pierced in
the tail, to the boat's bow. The more difficult operation
of freeing the whale from the entanglement of the lines is
then attempted. As the whale, when dead, always lies
on its back, or on its side, the lines and harpoons are
generally far under water. When they are seen passing
obliquely downward, they are hooked with a grapnel,
pulled to the surface and cut. But when they hang per-
pendicularly, or when they cannot be seen, they are dis-
covered by a process called "sweeping a fish."
While this is in progress, the men of the other boats,
having first lashed the tail to a boats are employed in
lashing the fins together across the belly of the whale. I
have observed two or three curious circumstances con-
nected with these operations, which I shall venture to
mention.
On one occasion, I was myself engaged in the capture
of a fish, upon which, when to appearance dead, I leaped,
cut holes in the fins, and was in the act of reeving a rope
through them, when the fish sunk beneath my feet. As
soon as I observed that the water had risen above my
176
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
1
knees, I made a spring towards a boat at the distance of
three or four yards from me, and caught hold of the
gunwhale. Scarcely was I on board before the fish
began to move forward, turned from its back upon its
belly, reared its tail aloft and began to shake it with such
prodigious violence, that it resounded through the air to
the distance of two or three miles. After two or three
minutes of this violent exercise, it ceased, rolled over
upon its side, and died.
In the year 1816, a fish was to all appearance killed.
The fins were partly lashed, and the tail on the point of
being secured, and all the lines excepting one were cut
away, the fish meanwhile lying as if dead. To the aston-
ishment and alarm, however, of the sailors, it revived,
began to move, and pressed forward in a convulsive agita-
tion; soon after, it sunk in the water to some depth and
then died. One line remained attached to it, by which it
was drawn up and secured. A fish being properly secured,
is then "taken in tow," that is, all the boats join them-
selves in a line, by ropes always carried for the purpose,
and unite their efforts in rowing towards the ship. The
course of the ship, in the meantime, is directed towards
the boats, but in calms, or when the ship is moored to the
ice, at no great distance, or when the situation of the fish
is inconvenient or inaccessible, the ship awaits the
approach of the fish.
The fish having reached the ship is taken to the lar-
board side, arranged and secured for flensing. After the
flensing, the blubber or fat is stowed away in casks, to be
subsequently melted or "tried out" in boilers on deck.
}

A WHALER TRYING OUT THE BLUBBER ON DECK.
i
23
178
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
In most of the out-ports, the oil is generally deposited
in casks, in which it remains until it is disposed of by the
importers. In London, however, and in some concerns in
Hull and other ports, the speculators in the whale-fishery
are provided with cisterns or tanks, wherein they can
deposit their oil, and preserve it until a convenient time
for selling, without being subject to the waste which
usually takes place when it is put into çasks. From these
cisterns any quantity can be drawn off at pleasure.
{

PERROQUET AUK.

1
༢༨,
Pleasure's of a Sailor's Life.
LANDSMEN generally suppose that a sailor at sea is the
lively, merry, thoughtless fellow whom we see in a port,
just landed from his ship and intent upon making the
most of his time on shore, and seeing the end of his hard-
earned money. This is not quite true. So far as our own
observation goes, the sailor at sea is, for the most part,
grave, thoughtful, intent upon his duty, seldom even smiling
in the presence of his officers, although invariably cour-
teous, civil, and communicative to the passengers.
1
(179)

STEPHEN GIRARD, MARINER
PLEASURES OF A SAILOR'S LIFE.
181
He loves
•
And yet the sailor has his pleasures at sea.
the ocean. He takes delight in the sense of control which
nautical skill gives him over the boisterous waves. He
enjoys the motion of the vessel riding on the billows as the
hunter enjoys the gallop of his horse. He takes great
pride in his ship, and loves her with a peculiar affection,
such as that which Fennimore Cooper so beautifully illus-
trates in his favorite character of Long Tom Coffin.
One of the sailor's great sources of enjoyment is the
successful performance of his duty-the pleasure of
achievement. There is a great deal in this; more than
unreflecting people imagine. All the world has heard of
Stephen Girard, mariner, as he terms himself in his will.
A sailor in early life, he never lost his delight in ships,
his pride in their performances, and his enjoyment of his
own successful labor.
When, the celebrated French general, Bertrand, was in
this country, he paid a visit to Girard, who was his coun-
tryman. The great merchant took him in his gig, and drove
all over the city of Philadelphia, pointing out to him his
houses, stores, and lands. He showed him his farm on
the south side of the city, his great vacant lot between
Eleventh and Twelfth streets, then covered with noble trees,
now with noble buildings, and gave the general a pretty
imposing idea of his vast wealth, acquired by untiring
industry.
When the survey was completed, these two Frenchmen,
having dined together, were chatting over their claret,
Girard delivered himself to this effect:
"You imagine, perhaps, that I find my happiness in the

1
יץ
::
MR. GIRARD'S DWELLING, IN WATER STREET, PHILADELPHIA.
*******
PLEASURES OF A SAILOR'S LIFE.
183

STATUE OF GIRARD.
mere possession of wealth. It is not so.
Whatever de-
gree
of happiness I enjoy arises from successful labor. I
work as hard as any one of the hundreds who are engaged
in my service. I live, as you see, here in a plain dwel-
ling in Water street, overlooking the wharves with their
ships, which I love to see lading and unlading. I spend
little on food and clothing; I take no pleasure in costly
entertainments or fine equipages. But I do take plea-
sure in working hard, and seeing my labors and my cal-
culations result in success.'
Such were the pleasures of the sailor, Stephen Girard.
And the disposition which he made of his vast wealth, in
his last will, accorded with his own theory of happiness.
Instead of making individuals immensely rich, which he
knew would not make them happy, he left the bulk of his
184
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
1
1

VASCO DE GAMA.
wealth to public works and institutions; founding, among
other things, a college to prepare poor orphans for a life
of happy and successful labor. There the traveller, as
he contemplates the noble building which he founded, and
the marble statue of the man himself, may call to mind
the useful lesson which he has left on record, that suc-
cessful, useful labor is happiness.
But if the working sailor, "the man before the mast,”
has his peculiar pleasures, so has the scientific sailor.
Who can adequately conceive the joy of Columbus, when
the first sight of land confirmed the truth of his grand
PLEASURES OF A SAILOR'S LIFE.
185

DECATUR.
scientific problem, and "gave to Castile and Leon a new
world." Who can imagine the triumph of Vasco de
Gama, when he doubled the Cape of Good Hope, and
opened to Portugal, and to Europe, a new path to the
untold wealth of the Indies. Or who can estimate truly
the innumerable triumphs of the "Great Seaman,"
Sebastian Cabot, Vice-Admiral of Henry VIII., Grand
Pilot of England, under Edward VI., and Pilot-Major
of the Emperor Charles V. He was a sailor that took
delight in his profession, and loved the labors and
enjoyed the triumphs which arose from noble and success-
ful exertion.
The new world, as well as the old, has had and still
has its illustrious sailors and great commanders, who
gloried in the profession-the Stewarts, the Hulls, Bain-
bridges, Biddles, and Decaturs, noble seamen as ever
trod a quarter-deck, and as full of sailor spirit as of
patriotism and courage.
24
1

SEBASTIAN CABOT
MUMFORD,
:
PLEASURES OF A SAILOR'S LIFE.
187
But let us leave these illustrious lights of the profes-
sion and return to the common sailor and his own pecu-
liar pleasures. Those which we have already described
may be considered unconscious ones. Jack, although
something of a philosopher in his way, is not a man to
analyze his own emotions; and what he calls pleasure is
a very different thing from that which really produces his
chief enjoyment.
1
He has the pleasures of song and story in his own
quarters where he messes and sleeps. Here are told
those interminable "yarns," narratives of danger and
adventure, shipwreck-stories and ghost-stories; and here
are sung the immortal songs of Dibdin, the lyric poet of
sailors-songs whose effect in encouraging the patriotic
spirit of the British navy was recognized in the highest
circles of England.
We shall be excused by the reader for giving a speci-
men of these songs, especially as in the following one, as
if to contradict a paradox in the first line, the pleasures
of the sailor's life are graphically described.
}
A sailor's life's a life of woe,
He works now late now early;
Now up and down, now to and fro;
What then? he takes it cheerly.
Blest with a smiling can of grog,
If duty call,
Stand, rise, or fall,
To fate's last verge he'll jog:
?

CHARLES DIBDIN.
f
PLEASURES OF A SAILOR'S LIFE.
189
-
+
The cadge to weigh,
The sheets belay,
He does it with a wish;
To heave the lead,
Or to cat-head
The pond'rous anchor fish;
1
For, whilst the grog goes round
All sense of danger's drown'd,
We despise it to a man:
We sing a little,
And laugh a little,
And work a little,
And swear a little,
And fiddle a little,
And foot it a little,
And swig the flowing can;
If howling winds and roaring seas
Give proof of coming danger,
We view the storm, our hearts at ease,
For Jack's to fear a stranger.
Blest with the smiling grog, we fly
Where now below
We headlong go,
Now rise on mountains high.
Spite of the gale,
We hand the sail,
Or take the needful reef;
Or man the deck,
To clear some wreck,
To give the ship relief.
190
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
Though perils threat around,
All sense of danger's drown'd,
We despise it to a man.
We sing a little, &c.
But yet think not our case is hard,
Though storms at sea thus treat us,
For, coming home,-a sweet reward,
With smiles our sweethearts greet us.
Now to the friendly grog we quaff,
Our am'rous toast,
Her we love most,
And gaily sing and laugh.
The sails we furl,
Then, for each girl
The petticoat display,
The deck we clear,
Then three times cheer,
As we their charms survey.
And then the grog goes round,
All sense of danger's drown'd.
We despise it to a man.
We sing a little, &c.
The last verse of the song brings us to another head of
our subject; Jack's pleasures ashore. When the ship is
safe moored, and Jack's wife or sweetheart hurries on
board to meet him on deck-then is the moment of rap-
ture; for Jack has a warm heart, and all the affectionate
memories pent up in his manly bosom during the length-
ened voyage now burst forth unrestrained. His happi-

JACK'S WELCOME TO PORT.
192
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
}
ness at the reunion is in full proportion to the self-denial
and sorrow which for months, perhaps for years, he has
been enduring at the separation from those he loves.
Often when he is in port, it must be admitted that Jack
makes a fool of himself with his singular modes of enjoy-
ment. He spends his money most lavishly and ridicu-
lously, a circumstance which has given currency to one
of his own proverbs, viz: "Sailors earn their money like
horses, and spend it like asses." The following anecdote
will serve as a specimen.
"I remember once on going up by the mail, in 1807,
from Deavonport to London, we stopped to take up a pas-
senger at a public house at Plymouth. He was a seaman
who had just been discharged, through the intercession
of his friends, from one of his majesty's ship's then lying
in the Sound, in consequence of his having tumbled un-
expectedly into a property of five hundred a year. Jack
made his appearance in his new character of a gentleman,
rigged out in his long togs, evidently, if one might judge,
from the broad yawing in his course, trimmed a little
too much by the head, surrounded by at least a dozen
of his shipmates, to whom he had been giving a farewell
treat; the plenitude of which might be plainly inferred
from the unsteady motions and loving kindness displayed
by them to their more fortunate messmate in taking leave
of him, a process which sadly put the patience of both
guard and coachman to the test. He had paid six guineas
for an inside place-the guard, tired with waiting, called
out:
"Now, sir, get in; we can't wait a moment longer.""
PLEASURES OF A SAILOR'S LIFE.
193
"Haven't I engaged my passage in this here craft?"'
"Yes; but we are past our time, and must be off.
Come, get in, my good fellow.""
"I'll be d-d if I do! I say, Mr. Quartermaster,
or whoever you are, do you fancy I am going to stow my
carcass away in such a cramped up hold as that? No, no,
I am for the upper deck;'" and up he started on the
roof of the coach. "Tip us your daddles, my hearties,'
and all stretched out their arms to take the proffered
hand. "God bless you, my boys! remember me to"
But before the sentence was concluded, the horses had
started, amidst a deafening round of cheers from his com-
panions, which were echoed by Jack, who was standing
without any support on the top of the coach, in imminent
danger of very speedily allowing his good fortune to
devolve to his next heir, by slipping his own cable before
he had taken possession of it.
"A turning of the street closed this dangerous dis-
play of friendly feeling, and he brought himself safe to
an anchor in the rear of coachee. It was noticed on
changing horses at Ivy Bridge (where he insisted upon
treating all the ostlers and bystanders,) that the poor
fellow had at least from sixty to seventy pounds about
him; the gentlemen in the inside recommended the guard
to take charge of his pocket-book for safety, which he
willingly gave into his custody, on condition that he
would give him a one pound note. As night drew on, the
sailor's generosity had no means of finding objects upon
which to vent itself; but after six o'clock in the morning,
the pound note rapidly dwindled away, so that by the
25
194
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
time we had passed Taunton, the last shilling had been
expended, and Jack's liberal feelings appeared to increase
as the fumes of the various draughts he had quaffed,
mounted, and took possession of his upper works.
Another pound note was demanded, which the gentlemen
strongly advised the guard not to supply; every method
was resorted to for the purpose of persuading him to
remain quiet, but all was to no effect.
"Give me my money, Mr. Guardo,'
Jack.
"" exclaimed
"But, my good fellow, we have had quite enough to
drink, we don't want any more.
"Who asked you for your opinion? give me the
money.'
"No, no, I'll take care of it for you till we get to
Bath, and then you shall have it.'"
"Here's a pretty humbug! Hand over, you sharking
land-lubber, or I'll be dd if I don't bung up those
top-lights of yours. Clap a stopper upon your jaw-
tackle, and give me my money."
"It was in vain the passengers endeavored to appease
the fears which had evidently taken possession of his
mind, that a conspiracy existed to deprive him of his
wealth; all they could say only strengthened the false
idea, and to prevent a disagreeable fracas by his com-
mencement of hostilities upon the guard, the pocket-book
was delivered over to his own keeping.
"He had no sooner got possession of it than he jumped
down from the coach, swearing he would not sail another
mile in company with such a set of privateer's-men. It
PLEASURES OF A SAILOR'S LIFE.
195
was folly to argue with him, and he was therefore left
behind. Before we had reached the next stage, Jack had
overtaken us in a chaise and four, waving his hat, with
his body more than half out at the window, singing out
at the full pitch of his voice-
"Go along, you beggars !-make more sail, you lub-
berly hounds, and catch me if you can.
"In this way did he continue till we reached London;
mail, and chaise-and-four occasionally passing and repass-
ing each other, where we lost sight of him, he having, to
his great delight, preceded us in his entree into the
metropolis."
So much for the story. Sometimes Jack displays his
generosity to his fair cousins, and taking one under each
arm goes off to a dry goods store and exhibits his own pe-
culiar taste in gowns and shawls, in which the figures are
as large and the colors as glaring as possible. In this
way he goes on, till the cash is all expended; and then,
and not till then, is he ready to ship for another voyage.
owner.
Of course these observations do not apply to the edu-
cated and ambitious young sailor, who looks forward to
promotion, expects to be captain in time, and even part
He is the sailor that takes care of his hard-earned
money, knows how to steer clear of land-sharks; and ap-
preciates those higher pleasures of the sailor's life which
arise from the observation of the natural phenomena of
the ocean, manners, customs, productions, curiosities and
wonders of foreign lands.
The American man-of-wars-man has peculiar pleasures.
of his own. Not the least of these is the indulgence of a
1

rest
JACK AND HIS COUSINS.
PLEASURES OF A SAILOR'S LIFE.
197
lofty national pride. He considers the American navy
the glory of the world, and his own ship the phoenix of
the navy. The precision of her movements, the perfection
of her trim, the beauty of her manoeuvres, the accuracy of
her discipline, the admiration which she excites in foreign
ports, when a prince or a king and his court or the Pope
himself is entertained on board by the commodore, all these
are the pride of Jack's heart and the delight of his eyes.
"It is our ship," he says, "my ship that bangs all the
world. Don't those Parley voos and dumb Dutchmen and
Russians and John Bull himself, wish they could come up
to that? Don't they wish they had a frigate that could
match old Ironsides? But they can't come it; and it's
no use trying. It takes Yankee boys to man the finest
navy in the world."
And this faith he maintains to the last. When old and
maimed he returns from his last battle and last cruise to take
his place in the snug harbor of the Marine Asylum, he still
thanks Heaven that he is no landsman, and still glories
in his connection with the wooden walls by which the com-
merce of the country is defended, and the honor of its
flag is maintained. When one of his brother pensioners
drops off, or to use his own phraseology, "loses the number
of his mess," Jack sings that other famous song of Charles
Dibdin, on the death of his brother Thomas, and drops a
tear to his memory.
A
Here, a sheer hulk, lies poor Tom Bowling,
The darling of our crew;
No more he'll hear the tempest howling,
For Death has broach'd him to.
་
1
!

JACK'S RETURN FROM HIS LAST VOYAGE.
1
PLEASURES OF A SAILOR'S LIFE.
199
His form was of the manliest beauty,
His heart was kind and soft;
Faithful below he did his duty,
And now he's gone aloft.
Tom never from his word departed,
His virtues were so rare;
His friends were many, and true-hearted,
His Poll was kind and fair:
And then he'd sing, so blithe and jolly,
Ah! many's the time and oft!
But mirth is turn'd to melancholy,
For Tom is gone aloft.
Yet shall Poor Tom find pleasant weather,
When He who all commands
Shall give, to call life's crew together,
The word to pipe all hands;
Thus Death, who kings and tars dispatches,
In vain, Tom's life has doff'd,
For, though his body's under hatches,
His soul is gone
aloft.
But even in his last retirement Jack has his jovial plea-
sures, and to the enlivening notes of the violin he chants
"Hull's Victory," "the Star Spangled Banner," "Hail
Columbia," and a hundred different ballads, which are all
sung to the tune of "Yankee Doodle.”
He has his soberer pleasures also at the Asylum. One
of these is making little model ships, true likenesses of
200
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.

JACK AT THE MARINE ASYLUM.
the great frigates in which he has sailed and fought and
conquered. He reads books of marine adventure and naval
history, smokes his pipe with a gusto all his own, and in-
terchanges with his comrades reminiscences of his voyages,
set forth in endless yarns. He enjoys his well-earned
repose to the full, and looks forward with confident hope
to the last safe harbor of true hearted men.
If ever the quiet monotony of his asylum life is broken
in upon it is when the newspaper brings report of some
great victory achieved under the auspices of the star-
spangled banner. Then, after hearing it read by a mess-
mate, Jack's form once more dilates with national pride.
Once more the tarpaulin is waved on high, and the loud
"hurrah" resounds to the honor of American arms.
¿
PLEASURES OF A SAILOR'S LIFE.
201

NEWS OF A VICTORY.
Jack's superstition, for he is very superstitious, has been
the cause of some inquietude at sea, but now in his retirement
it is a source of no small gratification to him, for he firmly
believes every ghost story which he hears from his mess-
mates in exchange for those which he is able to tell from
his own experience-how when the ship was coming home
in ballast, a handspike whirled and thrown by invisible
hands, used to go bounding along through the empty space
between decks in the dead of night, to the terror of all
hands; how the ghost of the captain that was murdered
in a mutiny on a former voyage of the ship, walked the
deck regularly at midnight, when there was no one on
deck but the man at the helm; how the shooting of an
albatross by a thoughtless passenger, caused the shipwreck
and total loss of ship and cargo, and how the passenger
26
202
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
himself was the only one drowned; how there were blue
lights seen burning at the mast heads before the loss of the
Sally Ann, and how the captain pooh poohed when he was
told of it, but was obliged to own up when the schooner
was wrecked-these, and a hundred other stories equally
mysterious and portentous form the evening recreations
of the retired sailor. They confirm his belief in the realities
of the spiritual world, and mingle with the simple dogmas
of the sailor's religion.
#

!

A CHINESE JUNK.
Adventure with Chinese Pirates.
AN American merchant relates the following:-Early
in the morning the whole fleet was in motion, starting all
together, for the sake of mutual protection. The wind
and tide were both fair, and we proceeded along the coast
with great rapidity, and were soon out of sight of the
Min and its beautiful and romantic scenery. The plan
of mutual protection soon seemed to be abandoned, and
the vessels soon separated into threes and fours, each
(203)

SAILING OF THE FLEET
--
ADVENTURE WITH CHINESE PIRATES.'
205
About four
getting on as well and as fast as it could.
o'clock in the afternoon, and when we were some fifty or
sixty miles from the Min, the captain and the pilot came
hurriedly down to my cabin, and informed me that they
saw a number of Jan-dous right ahead, lying in wait for
us. I ridiculed the idea, and told them that they im-
agined every junk they saw to be a pirate; but they still
maintained that they were so, and I therefore considered
it prudent to prepare for the worst. I got out of bed, ill
and feverish as I was, and carefully examined my fire-
arms, clearing the nipples of my gun and pistols, and
putting on fresh caps. I also rammed down a ball upon
the top of each charge of shot in my gun, put a pistol in
each side-pocket, and patiently awaited for the result.
By the aid of a small pocket-telescope I could see, as the
nearest junk approached, that her deck was crowded with
men; I then had no longer any doubts regarding her
intentions. The pilot, an intelligent old man, now came
up to me, and said that he thought resistance would be
vf no use; I might manage to beat off one junk, or even
two, but I had no chance with five of them. Being at
that time in no mood to take advice, or be dictated to by
any one, I ordered him off to look after his own duty. I
knew perfectly well, that if we were taken by the pirates,
I had not the slightest chance of escape, for the first
thing they would do would be to knock me on the head
and throw me overboard, as they would deem it danger
ous to themselves were I to get away. At the same time,
I must confess, I had little hopes of being able to beat
off such a number, and devoutly wished myself any where
1
206
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.

f
CHINESE PIRATES.
rather than where I was. The scene around me was a
strange one. The captain, pilot, and one or two native
passengers, were taking up the boards of the cabin floor,
and putting their money and other valuables out of sight
among the ballast. The common sailors, too, had their
copper cash, or "tsien," to hide; and the whole place
was in a state of bustle and confusion. When all their
more valuable property was hidden, they began to make
some preparations for defence. Baskets of small stones
were brought up from the hold, and emptied out on the
most convenient parts of the deck, and were intended to
be used instead of fire-arms when the pirates came to
close quarters. This is a common mode of defence in
various parts of China, and is effectual enough when the
enemy has only similar weapons to bring against them;

A FLEET OF CHINESE JUNKS.
KEVANLIN
208
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
¡
but on the coast of Fokien, where we were now, all the
pirate junks carried guns, and consequently a whole deck
load of stones could be of little use against them.
I was surrounded by several of the crew, who might
well be called "Job's comforters," some suggesting one
thing and some another, and many proposed that we
should bring the junk round and run back to the Min.
The nearest pirate was now within two or three hundred
yards of us, and putting her helm down, gave us a broad-
side from her guns. All was now dismay and consterna-
tion on board our junk, and every man ran below, except
two who were at the helm. I expected every moment
that these also would leave their post, and then we should
have been an easy prey to the pirates. "My gun is
nearer you than those of the Jan-dous," said I to the two
men, "and if you move from the helm, depend upon it I
will shoot you." The poor fellows looked very uncom-
fortable, but I suppose, thought they had better stand the
fire of the pirates than mine, and kept at their post.
Large boards, heaps of old clothes, mats and things of
that sort which were at hand, were thrown up to protect
us from the shot; and as we had every stitch of sail set,
and a fair wind, we were going through the water at the
rate of seven miles an hour..
99
The shot from the pirate fell considerably short of us;
I was therefore enabled to form an opinion of the range
and power of their guns, which was of some use to me.
Assistance from our cowardly crew was quite out of the
question, for there was not a man among them brave
enough to use the stones which he had brought on deck,
ADVENTURE WITH CHINESE PIRATES.
209
and which perhaps might have been of some little use
when the pirates came near. The fair wind and all the
press of sail which we had crowded on the junk proved
of no use to us. Again the nearest pirate fired on us.
The shot this time fell just under our stern. I still
remained quiet, as I had determined not to fire a single
shot until I was quite certain my gun would take effect.
The third broadside, which followed this, came whizzing
over our heads and through the sails, without however
wounding either the men at the helm or myself.
The pirates now seemed quite sure of their prize, and
came down upon us, hooting and yelling like demons, at
the same time loading their guns, and evidently deter-
mined not to spare their shot. This was a moment of
intense interest. The plan which I had formed from the
first was now about to be put to proof; and if the pirates
were not the cowards which I believed them to be, no-
thing could save us from falling into their hands. Their
fearful yells seem to be ringing in my ears even now,
after this lapse of time, and when I am on the other side
of the globe.
The nearest junk was now within thirty yards of ours;
their guns were loaded, and I knew that the next dis-
charge would completely rake our decks. "Now," said
I to our helmsman, "keep your eyes fixed on me, and the
moment you see me fall flat on the deck you must do the
same, or you will be shot." I knew that the pirate, who
was now on our stern, could not bring his guns to bear
upon us, without putting his helm down and bringing his
gangway at right angles with our stern, as his guns were
་
27

1
CHINESE MUSKETEER.
¿
ADVENTURE WITH CHINESE PIRATES.
211
fired from the gangway. I therefore kept a sharp eye
upon the helmsman, and the moment I saw him putting
the helm down, I ordered our steersmen to fall flat on
their faces behind some wood, and at the same moment
did so myself. We had scarcely done so when bang,
bang, went their guns, and the shot came whizzing close
over us, splintering the wood about us in all directions.
Fortunately none of us were struck. "Now, mandarin,
now! they are quite close enough," cried out my com
panions, who did not wish to have another broadside like
the last. I being of the same opinion, raised myself
above the high stern of our junk, and while the pirates
were not more than twenty yards from us, hooting and
yelling. I raked their decks fore and aft with shot and
ball from my double-barrelled gun.
Had a thunder-bolt fallen among them they could not
have been more surprised. Doubtless many were wounded,
and probably some killed; at all events, the whole of the
crew, not fewer than forty or fifty men, who a moment
before crowded the deck, disappeared in a marvellous
manner, sheltering themselves behind the bulwarks or
lying flat on their faces. They were so completely taken
by surprise, that their junk was left without a helmsman-
her sails flapped in the wind, and as we were carrying all
sail, and keeping on our right course, they were soon left
a considerable way astern.
Another was now bearing down upon us as boldly as
his companion had done, and commenced firing in the
same manner. Having been so successful with the first,
I determined to follow the same plan with this one, and
212
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
to pay no attention to his firing until he should come to
close quarters. The plot now began to thicken, for the
first junk had gathered way again, and was following in
our wake, although keeping at a respectful distance, and
three others, although still further distant, were making
for the scene of action as fast as they could. In the
meantime the second was almost alongside, and continued
giving us a broadside now and then with his guns.
Watching their helm as before, we sheltered ourselves as
well as we could: at the same time my poor fellows who
were steering kept begging and praying that I would fire
into our pursuers as soon as possible, or we should be all
killed. As soon as they came within twenty or thirty
yards of us, I gave them the contents of both barrels,
raking their decks as before.
fell, and doubtless several were wounded. In a minute
or two I could see nothing but boards and shields, which
were held up by the pirates to protect themselves from
my firing; their junk went up into the wind, for want of
a helmsman, and was soon left some distance behind us.
This time the helmsman
While I was watching this vessel, our men called out to
me that there was another close on our lee-bow, which I
had not observed on account of our mainsail. Luckily,
however, it proved to be a Ningpo wood-junk, like our-
selves, which the pirates had taken a short time before;
but which, although manned by these rascals, could do us
no harm, having no guns. The poor Ningpo crew, whom
I could plainly see on board, seemed to be very much
down-hearted and frightened. I was afterwards informed,
that when a junk is captured, all the principal people,
ADVENTURE WITH A CHINESE PIRATE.
213
such as the captain, pilot, and passengers, are taken out
of her, and a number of the pirates go on board and take
her into some of their dens among the islands, and keep
her there until a heavy ransom is paid, both for the junk
and the people. Sometimes, when a ransom cannot be
obtained, the masts and spars, and every thing else which
is of any value, are taken out of her, and she is set on
fire.
The two other piratical junks which had been following
in our wake for some time, when they saw what had hap-
pened, would not venture any nearer; and at last, the
whole set of them bore away.

A NINGPO WOOD-JUNK.
:
:
"
1
+
1

Destruction of the Caroline. The Falls
of Viagara.
To him who has seen the mighty waters of the Western
Hemisphere, the British lakes and streams, would, but for
the halo thrown around their names by the genii of his-
tory, poetry, and romance, shrink into insignificance.
In a map of the world, which, with nice distinctness,
and all the accuracy of "the latest discoveries," outlines
the coasts of the great Canadian lakes, and follows the
windings of the St. Lawrence, their mighty outlet to the
mightier ocean, we must look narrowly for some short
line meant to point out the course of the "royal-towered
(214)

•
THE FALLS OF NIAGARA WITH GOAT ISLAND.
216
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
1
Thames." There the "Severn swift" appears too small
to drown a fly; while Trent, has probably escaped the en-
graver's touch altogether. The beauties of Windermere
and Ullswater, and the sterner glories of Loch Lomond,
if they appear at all, appear but as microscopic spots, too
minute for any distinction of form or direction.
But let us direct our attention to a map of the north-
eastern portion of the great continent of America. See
how deeply is its coast indented with bays and inlets—how,
from Hudson's Bay and the shores of Labrador and New-
foundland in the east, to the foot of the Rocky Mountains
in the "far west," the surface of the country is studded
with lakes of every variety of form and size-and what a
net-work of streams connects these with each other, and
with the main ocean! Let us, in fancy, ascend the ridge
of the Rocky Mountains, the northern extremity of that
vast chain, which, under various names, runs southward
for nine thousand miles, throughout the length of the two
western continents, until it sinks into the ocean depths,
amid the frowning desolation of Terra del Fuego.
Clouds, from the waters of the Pacific, gather around
the summits where we stand; they roll down the eastern
side of the range, and, descending into the plains at our
feet, in snow, and mist, and rain, they form and feed the
countless waters which lie between us and the Atlantic.
Down many a cascade they leap-they flow through many
a winding river, and widen into many a lake, until they
are poured into that mighty mass of waters, broad and
deep, known pre-eminently as the "Great Lakes" of
Canada.
DESTRUCTION OF THE CAROLINE.
217
It has been calculated that these, with the St. Lawrence,
by their waters flow into the Atlantic, contain one-third
of all the fresh water on the globe-at any rate they form
by far the largest connected body of fresh water on its
surface. The large inland seas of the old world-the
Caspian, the Euxine, the Mediterranean, and the Baltic,
are all nearly as salt as the ocean itself. The cause of this
difference has been variously stated; but, however inte-
resting, it would lead us into too wide a range of subjects
for discussion here.
The three higher lakes, Superior, Michigan, and Huron,
together, cover an extent of fifty-eight thousand square
miles, and their average depth is about nine hundred feet.
Lake Erie, which forms the next outlet towards the sea,.
is much shallower; its mean depth being only one hun-
dred and twenty feet, and this depth has been gradually
decreasing; so that it is almost certain, that in the course
of years, what is now the basin of the lake will be filled
up, presenting, instead of its present broad sheet of water,
a fertile alluvial plain, watered by the St. Lawrence and
its tributary rivers, which would then connect the lakes
Huron and Ontario by a stream of between two and three
hundred miles in length.
At the northeastern end of Erie, its shores approach,
until they leave an outlet of only three quarters of a mile
in width. Through this narrow passage, then, are poured
the superabundant waters of the four great lakes, rapidly
at first; until the rocks again recede, and leave a wider
course for the river, which then flows swiftly, but smoothly
on for about twenty miles. At this part of its course the
28
218
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
stream again rushes tumultuously down a succession of
rapids, which are about a mile across, and twenty-five feet
deep; and then, divided by Goat Island, at the very verge
of the stupendous cataract, whose ceaseless roar is heard
afar off, the river, in two broad sheets, leaps down a pre-
cipice of one hundred and sixty feet, sheer into the gulf
below. A cloud of spray rises high above the woody
banks that overhang the gulf, in whose depths the waters,
as if maddened and giddy with their awful leap, whirl, and
eddy, and toss, and at length again pour onwards in milk-
white foam. It is seen to great advantage from Clifton
House.
scene.
But no words can describe the terrific beauty of the
The traveller, on first beholding it, is lost and be-
wildered he visits it again and again, in hopes to become
familiar with its glories; he looks at it from every ap-
proachable point of view. New beauties delight him-new
wonders appal him at every step. From the dizzy table-rock
that overhangs the fall, he gazes, clinging convulsively,
into the depths below; he descends the crags, slippery with
the ceaseless spray, creeps beneath the water-worn rocks,
behind the very cataract itself, and gazes upward into the
emerald twilight that struggles through the dread cavern
of rushing water. At length, awe-struck, and yet unsated
by the sight, he leaves the spot, and vainly strives, by all
the efforts of pen and pencil, to impart to others the glories
and the wonders with which his own soul is overpowered.
In descriptions of scenes like these, it depends upon the
mind of the reader whether facts of a statistical nature
repel or attract the imagination—whether they give force

CLIFTON HOUSE AT THE FALLS OF NIAGARA.
N. ORR N.Y.
?
1
220
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
and clearness to the ideas, or weary and distract the atten-
tion, I will, therefore, only mention, that in the Falls of
Niagara it is calculated that upwards of one million of tons
of water are every minute precipitated to a depth of one
hundred and seventy feet; and refer such of my readers.
as may wish for further particulars respecting this kind
of cataracts, to the works of some of the many travellers
who have, within the last few years, visited anddescribed it.
One of our engravings represents an incident which
took place in 1837, at which time Canada was in a very
unsettled state. The inhabitants of Lower Canada are
principally of French origin, and retain, to a considerable
extent, the manners, language, and customs of their
Norman ancestors, unchanged, since the day when Gene-
ral Wolfe conquered Montcalm on the heights above
Quebec, and the province was lost to France. Upper
Canada has been settled, at a more recent period, by
emigrants from Great Britain and Ireland. The two
provinces, though both subject to the British crown, were
governed by different laws. The two races of men were
at once jealous of each other, and dissatisfied with the
mode in which they were governed by the deputies of a
distant sovereign; and both colonies became a scene of
heart-burning, recrimination, and strife, until an open
rebellion against the British government broke out.
In Upper Canada, the insurgents, headed by Macken-
zie, obtained possession of Navy Island, which is situated
about five miles above the Falls of Niagara. They
fortified it, and obtained supplies of arms and provisions
from the United States territory, in which considerable
!

-
NOTLXY
THE HORSE SHOE FALLS AT NIAGARA.
222
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
numbers along the border co-operated with them, under
the name of Sympathizers; calculating that Canada was
about to throw off the dominion of the proud little island
beyond the Atlantic, and to form one of the states of the
Union. For this, however, the event proved that but a
small portion of the population of Canada was yet pre-
pared, and the insurgents received but little encourage-
ment from their fellow-colonists, who were still, for the
most part, disposed to retain their allegiance to the Brit-
ish crown, and raised volunteer regiments to co-operate
with the regular soldiers in opposing the progress of the
rebellion throughout the province.
In the meantime constant communications were kept
up between the possessors of Navy Island and their
friends on the American shore; and it was believed by
the British, that the Caroline steamboat was hired by
Mackenzie to carry arms and ammunition from Buffalo, a
distance of about twelve miles down the river, to Navy
Island. After having made one or two trips, the Caro-
line was
one evening moored alongside the wharf at
Schlosser, in readiness for service on the morrow. It was a
still, frosty night, and the ripple of the water against the
vessel's side mingled soothingly with the distant roar of
Niagara, and lulled to sleep the crew of the ill-fated
vessel. Suddenly, through the darkness, boats shot
alongside the Caroline, armed men climbed hastily and
tumultuously to her decks, and, after a brief struggle,
overpowered those on board, before their allies on shore
could interfere. The ropes that moored the vessel to the
wharf were cut, and she was quickly towed into the mid-
:

DESTRUCTION OF THE CAROLINE.
224
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
f
dle of the river; and, in less time than it takes to tell
the tale, the Caroline, borne along by the force of the
stream, was swiftly gliding onward towards the Falls.
On both sides of the river the sleeping population,
roused by the struggle, hastened to the shore to watch
the onward progress of the ill-fated vessel. Now, broad
side to the stream, she glided on, distinct in the still
moonlight-then, whirled round by some eddy, her course
was stayed, as if in a convulsive struggle to escape-then,
on again, faster and faster yet, past the silent woods-
under the dark shadow of the bold headland—and then,
emerging into the moonlight, she rushed madly into the
rapids that precede the fatal plunge. As she neared
Goat Island, midway in the stream, at the very verge of
the cataract, she glided into the fearful "torrent's
smoothness ere it leap below;" while the spectators for-
got their shouts, either of triumph or of rage, and held
their breath for very awe. One moment more, and the
fatal plunge is taken into the dark abyss; and then strug-
gling and whirling from out the chaos of waters-planks
and beams splintered, and torn, and broken, are all that
remain of the Caroline.
Where were the crew? Was any human being on
board, alive or dead? Were any slain in the struggle
that preceded the capture? Such were the questions
asked, and answered with all the exaggeration and rancor
of party and national excitement; and a war between
Great Britain and the United States of America appeared
for a time inevitable. Happily for both nations, this was
averted. There existed among both people sufficient men'
•
DESTRUCTION OF THE CAROLINE.
225
of good sense and good feeling to overpower the folly
and wickedness of those who would force, into all the
horrors of war and bloodshed, two nations of kindred
blood, speaking the same language and professing the
same faith; and, after anxious months of excitement, the
popular feeling gradually subsided, and peace was main-
tained.
McLeod, a British subject, who had been active in the
seizure and destruction of the Caroline, imprudently ven-
tured into the United States territory before the excite-
ment had abated. He was recognised, arrested, and im-
prisoned, on a charge of murder and robbery. The trial
excited great interest, but ended in his acquittal, greatly
to the credit of his judges, who would not suffer their
national feelings to overpower their sense of law and
right.

29

THE WHITE SHARK.
Perils among Sharks.
Of all the horrors to which seamen are subjected, none
shocks the feelings so much as when a messmate is seized,
•before their eyes, by a shark.
The
Of these voracious monsters of the deep there are many
varieties. The most common is the White Shark, which
sometimes attains the enormous length of thirty-five feet;
and the mouth of one of this sizè is a fearful chasm.
Blue Shark, though a formidable enemy is less so than
the White Shark. The Fox Shark is also called the
"Thresher," from the use which it makes of its tail, both
as a weapon of offence and defence. It is bold and vora-
cious but seldom exceeds thirteen feet in length.
· (226)
PERILS AMONG SHARKS.
227

THE FOX SHARK.
The Hammer-headed Shark grows to th d get of
twelve or thirteen feet. It is so called from it, head being
formed like a double-headed hammer with an eye in each
face of the hammer and consequently looking right and
left at the same time. The mouth is underneath. He weighs
four or five hundred pounds, and is regarded by Jack as
rather an ugly customer.
There are many other kinds of Sharks, which our limits
will not permit us to describe. We now proceed to relate
some stories of perils among sharks, commencing by
quoting from a voyager a remarkable escape from a shark.
"While she was lying in the harbor of Havana, it was
very hot on board the Royal Consort, about four o'clock
in the afternoon of the 14th of July. There was not
the slightest movement in the air; the rays of the sun
seemed to burn down into the water. Silence took hold
of the animated creation. It was too hot to talk, whistle,
Every thing crept
or sing; to bark to crow, or to bray.
under cover, but Sambo and Cuffee, two fine looking
blacks, who sat sunning themselves on the quay, and
thought him berry pleasant weather,' and glistened like
a new Bristol bottle.
228
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.

HAMMER HEADED SHARK.
"Sambo and Cuffee, as we have said, were sitting on
the quay, enjoying the pleasant sunshine, and making
their evening repast of banana, when they heard the
plunge into the water by the side of the Royal Consort,
and presently saw Brook Watson emerging from the deep,
his hands to his eyes to free them from the brine, ba-
lancing up and down, spattering the water from his
mouth, and then throwing himself forward, hand over
hand, as if at length he really felt himself in his
element.
"Oh, Massa Bacra!'"' roared out Sambo, as soon as
he could recover from his astonishment enough to speak,
'Oh, Senor de white man neber go to swlim! Oh, de
tiburon he berry bad bite, come de shark; he hab berry
big mouth; he eatee a Senor all up down!'
"Such was the exclamation of Sambo, in the best
PERILS AMONG SHARKS.
229
English he had been able to pick up in a few years' service
in unlading the American vessels that came to the
Havana. It was intended to apprize the bold but inex-
perienced stranger, that the waters were filled with
sharks, and that it was dangerous to swim in them. The
words were scarcely uttered, and, even if they were
heard, had not time to produce their effect, when Cuffee
responded to the exclamation of his sable colleague,
with-
666
'Oh, Madre de Dois ! see, see, de tiburon ! de shark!
ah, San Salvador! ah, probre joven! matar, todo comer,
he eat him all down, berry soon!'
"This second cry had been drawn from the kind-
hearted negro, by seeing, at a distance in the water, a
smooth shooting streak, which an inexperienced eye would
not have noticed, but which Sambo and Cuffee knew full
well. It was the wake of a shark. At a distance of a
mile or two, the shark had perceived his prey; and, with
the rapidity of sound, he had shot across the intervening
space, scarcely disturbing the surface with a ripple.
Cuffee's practised eye alone had seen a flash of his tail,
at the distance of a mile and a half; and, raising his
voice to the utmost of his strength, he had endeavored
to apprize the incautious swimmer of his danger.
heard the shout, and turned his eye in the direction in
which the negro pointed; and, well skilled in all the ap-
pearances of the water, under which he could see almost
as well as in the open air, he perceived the sharp forc
head of the fearful animal rushing towards him, head on,
with a rapidity which bade defiance to flight.
Brook

سے
ESCAPE FROM A SHARK.
PERILS AMONG SHARKS.
231
"In a moment, the dreadful monster had shot across
the entire space that separated him from Brook; and had ·
stopped, as if its vitality had been instantly arrested, at
the distance of about twelve feet from our swimmer.
“Brook had drawn himself up in the most pugnacious
attitude possible, and was treading water with great
activity. The shark, probably unused to any signs of
making battle, remained, for one moment, quiet; and
then, like a flash of lightning, shot sidelong off, and
came round in the rear. Brook, however, was as wide
awake as his enemy.
"The plashing of the oars of Sambo and Cuffee warned
the sagacious monster of gathering foes. Whirling him-
self over on his back, and turning up his long white belly,
and opening his terrific jaws, set round with a double row
of broad serrated teeth, the whole roof of his mouth
paved with horrent fangs, all standing erect, sharp, and
rigid, just permitting the blood-bright red to be seen
between their roots, he darted toward Brook. Brook's
self-possession stood by him in this trying moment. He
knew very well if the animal reached him in a vital part,
that instant death was his fate; and with a rapid move-
ment, either of instinct or calculation, he threw himself
backward, kicking at the same moment at the shark. In
consequence of this movement, his foot and leg passed
into the horrid maw of the dreadful monster, and were
severed in a moment-muscles, sinews, and bone. In the
next moment, Sambo and Cuffee were at his side, and
lifted him into the boat, convulsed with pain, and fainting
with loss of blood. Brook was taken on board, bandages
232
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
and styptics were applied, and in due season the youth
recovered.
"The place of his lost limb was supplied by a wooden
one; and industry, temperance, probity and zeal, sup-
plied the place of a regiment of legs, when employed to
prop up a lazy and dissipated frame.”
1

1

Shark-fishing in New South Wales.
JACK has a mortal enmity to the shark at all times,
and whenever one of these cannibal monsters of the deep
makes his appearance near a vessel, every effort is used
to capture him.
If there is one luxury greater than another in a hot
climate, one exercise more healthy than another, it is
bathing. Until late in the year 1849 it might be enjoyed
to perfection at Syney. There is a bathing cottage at
government house, there is a large hulk moored and
fitted as a public bathing-house in Wooloomooloo Bay,
and every villa near the harbor possesses a like conveni-
ence. A shady bank of the domain called the Fig-tree
30
(233)
234
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
f
is the favorite bathing-place of the populace. Although
large sharks had more than once been caught far up the
harbor, no accident was ever heard of, and bathers swam
about the coves without fear and with impunity. It was
in November of the year, I think, that a dead whale was
floated by some accident within Port Jackson, and was
picked up and "tried out," by some speculating fisher-
men. A troop of sharks must have followed the dead
fish, and, having disposed of his carcass, remained fora-
ging near the shores round Sydney. One day a large
Newfoundland dog, swimming for the amusement of his
master, near the battery, was seized by a shark, and only
regained the shore to die. The newspapers warned
bathers; but no caution was observed until, early in
December, a poor man swimming near the Fig-tree was
attacked by a huge shark so near the bathing-place that
another person repeatedly struck the fish with a boat-
hook, thereby forcing it to release his victim. The
unfortunate man was so dreadfully torn that he bled to
death in a few minutes afterwards. A very few days.
later I saw a foolhardy fellow swimming about in the very
same place with a straw hat on his head and a cigar in
his mouth! Soon after the destruction of the man in the
Wooloomooloo Bay, some fishermen reported that a part
of the dead whale having been carried by the tide into
Botany Bay, a detachment of sharks had followed it
there. An expedition against these tigers of the deep
was organized while the desire of vengeance was still
vivid, and I accepted an invitation to join it. Anchoring
the boats in about thirty feet water, the first operation

CCRARAM.
SHARK-FISHING.
ISILKET
236
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
was the baiting of the spot-locally termed "burley-ing"
-with burnt fish, and with the eggs of sharks, when any
have been caught. Lines were then thrown in as far as
possible from the boat, the hooks for sharks being baited
at first with pieces of star-fish, and afterwards, when some
of these had been caught, with huge junks of shark's
flesh.
The latter seemed peculiarly tempting to the sharks
themselves. The huge pot-hook to which it was at-
tached, together with a yard or two of dog-chain, were
swallowed as an accompaniment too trifling to mention—
much less to damp appetite. When one of the sportsmen.
feels a tug at his line, and judges by its energy that he
has a shark for his customer, all other lines are, if pos-
sible, hauled aboard, in order that there may be no con-
fusion and ravelling. If the fish be strong, heavy, and
active, no little care is requisite to save your tackle from
breakage and your quarry from escape. He who has
hooked the fish holds on-like grim Death on his victim-
and if you watch his face, you will see powerful indica-
tions of excitement, mental and muscular. His teeth are
set, his color is heightened, the perspiration starts on his
brow, something like an oath perhaps slips through his
lips, as the cord, strained to the utmost, cuts into the
skin of his empurpled fingers. He invokes aid, and with
his feet jammed against stretcher, thwart, or gunwale,
gradually shortens his hold. Meanwhile the others, seizing
lance and gaff-hook, "stand by" to assist the overtasked
line, as the monster, darting hither and thither in silvery
lightnings beneath the translucent wave, is drawn nearer
1
SHARK-FISHING IN NEW SOUTH WALES.
237
and nearer to the surface. "My eyes, he's a whopper?"
cries the excited young boatmen.
"He's off?" shouts another, as the shark makes a des-
perate plunge under the boat, and the line, dragged
through the hands of the holder, is again suddenly slack-
ened. "He's all right, never fear; belay your line a bit,
sir, and look here," remarks the old fisherman. And sure
enough there was a huge fish clearly visible, about ten feet
under the keel of the boat, and from the stem to stern
about the same length as herself. "Now let's have him up."
On the instant the line was taut, the shark shot upwards;
his broad snout showing above the surface close to the
boat.
Then comes a scene of activity and animation indeed.
The fish, executing a series of summersets and spinnings,
gets the line into a hundred twists and "snarls ;" and if
once he succeed in getting it across his jaws above the
chain links, adieu to both fish and tackle. But, in the
midst of a shower-bath splashed up by the broad tail of the
shark, both lance and gaff are hard at work. He is speared
through and through-his giant struggles throwing waves
of bloody water over the gunwhales of the little boat.
The gaffs are hooked through his tough skin or within his
jaws for he has no gills to lay hold on. A shower of
blows from axe, stretcher, or tiller, falls on his devoted
head, and if not considered too large, heavy, or dangerous,
he is lugged manfully into the centre of the boat, and
threshing right and left with his tail to the last, is soon
dispatched. A smart blow a few inches above the snout
is more instantly fatal than the deepest stab. Man has

A SAILOR KILLING A SHARK.
WHIMPER.
SHARK-FISHING IN NEW SOUTH WALES.
239
an innate horror of a shark, as he has of a snake; and he
who has frequented tropical climates, felt the absolute ne-
cessity of bathing, had his diurnal plunge embittered by
the haunting idea of the vicinity of one of these sea pests,
and occasionally been harrowed by accident arising from
their voracity-feels this antipathy with double force.
There is therefore, a species of delightful fury, a savage
excitement experienced by the shark hunter, that has no
affinity with the philosophy of Old Isaac's gentle art. He
revels in the animated indulgence of that cruelty which is
inherent in the "child of wrath;" and the sting of con-
science is blunted by the conviction that it is an act of
justice, of retribution, of duty, he is engaged in, not one
of wanton barbarity. Shark-fishing is nearly the best
sport to be had in New South Wales, and affords a whole-
some stimulation to the torpid action of life in Sydney.
The humane or utilitarian reader will be glad to hear that
the shark is not utterly useless after death. The profes-
sional fisherman extracts a considerable quantity of excel-
lent oil from the liver; and the fins, cut off, cured and
packed, become an article of trade with China-whose
people, for reasons best known to themselves, delight in
gelatinous food.
Sometimes it has happened that savages and even sailors
have boldly attacked the shark in his own element, and
killed him with no other weapon than a long sharp knife.
The engraving shows an instance of this, where a bold sailor
has already conquered a shark, and is still dealing mur-
derous stabs into his body with his knife. We might fill
a volume with well authenticated stories of perils among
240
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
sharks, as, although they chiefly abound in the tropical
regions, they are found far to the north, some varieties
being not uncommon off the coast of England and the
United States. Landsmen can form but a feeble concep-
tion of their terrors. The shark to them is a sort of raw
head and bloody bones myth, classed in their imagination
with the monsters described by Sinbad the Sailor; but to
the mariner on the ocean he is a terrible reality.
}


Adventure with Pirates off Habana.
THERE lived not many years ago, on the eastern shore
of Mount Desert-a large island off the coast of Maine,
United States-an old fisherman, by the name of Jede-
diah Spinnet, who owned a schooner of some hundred
tons' burden, in which he, together with his four stout
sons, was wont to go, about once a year, to the Grand
Banks, for the purpose of catching codfish. The old man
had five things, upon the peculiar merits of which he
loved to boast-his schooner Betsy Jenkins, and his four
The four sons were all their father represented
sons.
31
(241)

HAVANA.
ADVENTURE WITH PIRATES OFF HAVANA.
243
them to be, and no one ever doubted his word, when he
said that their like was not to be found for fifty miles
around. The oldest was thirty-two, while the youngest
had just completed his twenty-sixth year; and they an-
swered to the name of Seth, Andrew, John, and Samuel.
One morning a stranger called upon Jedediah to engage
him to take to Havana some iron machinery belonging
to steam-engines for sugar plantations. The terms were
soon agreed upon, and the old man and his sons immedi-
ately set about putting the machinery on board; that
accomplished, they set sail for Havana, with a fair wind,
and for several days proceeded on their course without
an adventure of any kind. One morning, however, a
vessel was descried off their starboard quarter, which,
after some hesitation, the old man pronounced a pirate.
There was not much time allowed them for doubting, for
the vessel soon saluted them with a very disagreeable whiz-
zing of an eighteen pound shot under the stern.
"That means for us to heave to," remarked the old
man.
"Then I guess we'd better do it hadn't we?" said
Seth.
"Of course.
""
Accordingly, the Betsy Jenkins was brought up into
the wind, and her main-boom hauled over to windward.
"Now, boys," said the old man, as soon as the schooner
came to a stand, "all we can do is to be as cool as pos-
sible, and to trust to fortune. There is no way to escape
that I can see now; but perhaps, if we are civil, they
will take such stuff as they want, then let us go. At any

CAPTAIN SPINNET.

THE BETSY JENKINS.
1
ADVENTURE WITH PIRATES OFF HAVANA.
245
rate there is no use crying about it, for it can't be helped.
Now get your pistols, and see that they are surely loaded,
and have your knives ready; but be sure and hide them,
so that the pirates shall see no show of resistance. In a
few moments all the arms which the schooner afforded,
with the exception of one or two old muskets, were secured
about the persons of the crew, and they quietly awaited
the coming of the schooner.
"One word more, boys," said the old man, just as the
pirate came round under the stern.
"Now watch every movement I make, and be ready to
jump the moment I speak."
As Captain Spinnet ceased speaking, the pirate luffed
under the fisherman's lee-quarter, and in a moment more
the latter's deck was graced with the presence of a dozen
as savage-looking mortals as eyes ever rested upon.
"Are you the captain of this vessel?" demanded the
leader of the boarders, as he approached the old man.
"Yes, sir."
"What is your cargo?"
"Machinery for engines.'
66
19
Nothing else?" asked the pirate, with a searching look.
At this moment, Captain Spinnet's eye caught what
looked like a sail off to the southward and eastward; but
no sign betrayed the discovery, and while a brilliant idea
shot through his mind, he hesitatingly replied-
"Well, there is a little something else."
"Ha! and what is it?"
"Why, sir, perhaps I hadn't ought to tell," said Cap-
tain Spinnet, counterfeiting the most extreme perturbation.

CAPTAIN SPINNET MAKING TERMS WITH THE PIRATE.
ADVENTURE WITH PIRATES OFF HAVANA.
247
}
"You see, 'twas given to me as a sort of trust, and it
wouldn't be right for me to give it up. You can take any
thing else you please, for I suppose I can't help myself."
66 "You are an honest codger, at any rate," said the
pirate; "but if you would live ten minutes longer, just
tell me what you've got on board and exactly where it
lies."
The sight of the cocked pistol brought the old man to
his senses, and, in a deprecating tone, he muttered-
"Don't kill me, sir, don't; I'll tell you all. We have
got forty thousand silver dollars nailed up in boxes and
stowed away under some of the boxes just forward of the
cabin bulkhead; but Mr. Defoe didn't suspect that any
body would have thought of looking for it there."
"Perhaps so," chuckled the pirate, while his eyes spark-
led with delight. And then, turning to his own vessel,
he ordered all but three of his men to jump on board the
Yankee.
In a few moments the pirates had taken off the hatches,
and, in their haste to get at the "silver dollars," they
forgot all else; but not so with Spinnet; he had his wits
at work, and no sooner had the last of the villains disap-
peared below the hatchway, than he turned to his boys.
"Now, boys, for our lives. Seth, you clap your knife
across the fore-throat and peak halyards; and you, John,
cut the main. Be quick now, and the moment you've done
it, jump aboard the pirate. Andrew and Sam, you cast
off the pirate's grapplings; and then you jump-then we'll
walk into them three chaps aboard the clipper. Now
for it."
248
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
No sooner were the last words out of the old man's mouth,
than his sons did exactly as they had been directed. The
fore and main halyards were cut, and the two grapplings
cast off at the same instant, and, as the heavy gaffs came
rattling down, our five heroes leaped on board the pirate.
The moment the clipper felt herself at liberty, her heads
swung off, and, before the astonished buccaneers could
gain the deck of the fisherman, their own vessel was a
cable's length to leeward, sweeping gracefully away before
the wind, while the three men left in charge were easily
secured.
66
Halloa, there!” shouted Captain Spinnet, as the luck-
less pirates crowded the lee gangway of their prize, “when
you find them silver dollars, just let us know, will you?"
Half a dozen pistol-shots were all the answer the old
man got, but they did him no harm; and, crowding up all
sail, he made for the vessel he had discovered, which lay
dead to the leeward of him, and which he made out to be a
large ship. The clipper cut through the water like a dol-
phin, and, in a remarkably short space of time, Spinnet
luffed up under the ship's stern, and explained all that had
happened. The ship proved to be an East-Indiaman, bound
for Charleston, having, all told, thirty men on board,
twenty of whom at once jumped into the clipper and offered
their services in helping to take the pirate.
:
Before dark, Captain Spinnet was once more within
hailing distance of his own vessel, and raising a trumpet
to his mouth, he shouted-
"Schooner ahoy! Will you quietly surrender yourselves
prisoners, if we come on board?"

ה
THE PIRATE CLIPPER.
250
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
"Come and try it!" returned the pirate captain, as he
brandished his cutlass above his head in a threatening
manner, which seemed to indicate that he would fight to
the last.
But this was his last moment, for Seth was crouched
below the bulwarks, taking deliberate aim along the barrel
of a heavy rifle, and as the villain was in the act of turn-
ing to his men, the sharp crack of Seth Spinnet's weapon
rang its fatal death-peal, and the next moment the captain
fell back into the arms of his men, with a brace of bullets
in his heart.
"Now," shouted the old man, as he levelled the long
pivot-gun, and seized a lighted match, "I'll give you just
five minutes to make your minds up in, and if you don't
surrender then, I'll blow every one of you into the other
world."
The death of their captain, and, withal, the sight of the
pivot-gun-its peculiar properties they knew full well—
brought the pirates to their senses, and they threw down
their weapons, and agreed to give themselves up.
In two days from that time, Captain Spinnet delivered
his cargo safely in Havana, gave the pirates into the hands
of the civil authorities, and delivered the clipper up to the
government, in return for which he received a sum of
money sufficient for an independence during the remainder
of his life, as well as a very handsome medal from the
government.

THE SEA DEVIL.
Monsters of the Deep.
THE strange-looking creature that is called Triodon is
a fish that is found in the Indian Ocean, and has an
enormous dewlap, almost as long as the body, and twice
as high, which is supported in front by a very large bone.
It belongs to an order of fishes that have the power of
inflating themselves like balloons, and floating themselves
on the surface of the water. The surface of their dew-
lap bristles with a great number of small, rough crests,
placed obliquely. Only one species of it is known, and
that was discovered by Mr. Reinwardt in the Indian
(251)

THE TRIODON.
MONSTERS OF THE DEEP.
253
seas.
The upper jaw is divided as in some other fishes
of this genus. It is altogether one of the most singular
looking creatures that can well be imagined, and learned
men are puzzled to ascertain the use of some of its mem-
bers. Every year the researches of naturalists are
bringing new wonders to light; and when we think that
the larger portion of the globe is covered by water, we
need not feel surprised if there are many more stange
fishes yet discovered. We cannot search it as we do the
shore, and only know of its inhabitants what the observa-
tions of the mariner and the net of the fisher may by
chance reveal. Down a thousand fathoms from the
day" may live creatures of whose form and habits we can
form no idea; and in the vast expanse of waters which
the Atlantic and Pacific oceans present, may sport mon-
sters unheard of in the marvellous story.
The cuttle-fish is a strange-looking creature, whose
body is enclosed in a covering shaped like a bag, with an
opening in front, from which its head projects. It has
two large eyes, and its mouth is somewhat like a parrot's
beak, while its lips are drawn out into eight long arms.
When it swims, it moves backwards through the water;
when on shore, it walks by means of these arms, having
the mouth turned downwards, and the opposite part of
the body in an erect position.
It has the power of ejecting water by means of one of
its tubes, and sometimes salutes those who approach too
near its hiding-place, by squirting a jet of water upon
them, and making a slight grating noise. On the inner
side of its long, slender arms is a number of suckers
254
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
which enable it to hold with the greatest tenacity what-
ever it embraces; its arms when clasping an object may
as easily be wrenched from its body, as be unfixed. It
has an organ that produces an abundance of black liquid,
called ink, and much like Indian ink. This liquid is em-
ployed by painters, and called sepia.
Some instances have been met with in which this ink
has been found uninjured in fossil specimens, and has
been taken from the petrified fish and prepared for use.
In our seas none of these fishes grow to a size to be for-
midable to man; but that in other latitudes they become
perfect monsters, the following extract from the "Mu-
seum of Animated Nature" will abundantly show:-
"According to Deny de Montfort, Dens, a navigator,
avowed that in the African seas, while three of his men
were employed during a calm in scraping the sides of his
vessel, they were attacked by a monster of this kind,
which suddenly appeared, seized them in its arms, and
drew two of them under water in spite of every affort to
save them; and that the thickness of one of the crea-
ture's arms, which was cut off in the contest, was at its
base equal to that of a foreyard, whilst the suckers were
of the size of ladles. The man, who was rescued, died
delirious during the night.'
We read of another crew who were similarly attacked
off the coast of Angola: a gigantic cuttle-fish threw its
arms across the vessel, and was on the point of dragging
it down, when the crew succeeded in cutting off its arms
with swords and hatchets. Pennant states that a friend
of his, long resident in the Indian seas, assured him that

THE ATTACK OF CUTTLE FISH.
WHIMPER
256
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
the Indians affirm that cuttle fish are often seen two
fathoms broad over their centre, with arms nine fathoms
long; and that when they go out in boats they are afraid
of them, and never sail without an axe for protection.
Even on the shores of Sicily, Mr. Swainson saw cuttle
fishes taken, two of which would be a good load, their
arms being as thick as those of a man.
The sea devil is a huge mis-shapen monster, weighing
many tons.
One of these was captured many years
since off the capes of the Delaware, and its stuffed skin
for a long time formed one of the attractions of Peale's
Museum in Philadelphia.
Some of the Chaetodon tribe are ugly looking mon-
sters, as, the wandering Chaetodon of Ceylon, seen below.


Grace Darling.
A SIGNAL instance of courage was that of Grace Dar-
ling, a young woman who with her aged father, the keeper
of the Longstone lighthouse, on the coast of Northumber-
land, saved the surviving crew and passengers of the
Forfar steamer, which had struck on the rocks. The sea.
was raging furiously, but this noble girl, forgetting all fear
in her desire to save the lives of her fellow creatures, braved
dangers from which hardy and skilful seamen shrunk, and
succeeded in reaching the wreck and rescuing nine of the
survivors.
Grace Darling's name immediately became the theme
of every tongue; the lone lighthouse, where the ship-
33
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LOSS OF THE FORFAR STEAMER.
་་་་
.

GRACE DARLING.
259
wrecked had been so hospitably received, became the re-
sort of the noble and fashionable, and praises, and gifts,
and honors, from every quarter, were showered upon the
heroine. Under these circumstances, Grace Darling showed
a strength of mind and a true greatness of soul, greater
even than that which had enabled her to meet the raging
of the sea at the call of humanity.
Undazzled by the glare of fame, untempted by the offers
of emolument, which flowed from every quarter, she lived
content in her humble home, fulfilling to the last her daily
duties, as cheerfully as if she had never been aught but
one of those
"Of whom fame speaks not with her clarion voice,”
and died in 1842, loved and regretted, as well as honored,
at the early age of twenty-seven, the very type of a true-
hearted English maiden, gentle and brave.


THE LAND'S END.

The Land's End, and the Cornish
Wreckers.
CORNWALL is the most western county of England, and
at the extreme point of Cornwall, "stretched," as the
poet says, "towards the setting sun," is the long, rocky
promontory, known as the Land's End. Here the billows
of the Atlantic, rolling over an abyss, unchecked by rock
or shoal, for three thousand miles, first meet a barrier,
against which they dash tumultuously; whilst their spray,
borne on the wings of the swift western gale, flies far inland,
covering all things with its salt rime.
(261)
262
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
The cliffs at the Land's End, like those at Staffa and
the Giant's Causeway, abound, though not to the same
extent or perfection, with basaltic columns, which are about
sixty feet in height. On the Long Ship's Rocks, about a
mile from the main-land, is erected a lighthouse, with a
fixed light, which is elevated about ninety feet above high-
water mark, and gives friendly warning to vessels sailing
along these dangerous coasts.
The people of Cornwall had once a most unenviable
reputation for their barbarous inhospitality towards those
who were so unfortunate as to be wrecked on their shores.
Strange as it may seem, the cry of "A wreck! a wreck !"
was hailed with joy by all, from the highest to the lowest,
who flocked to the beach at the welcome news, and plun-
dered, without the least regard to the rights of the ship-
wrecked, all that was thrown on shore by the waves. This
inhospitable robbery was too often accompanied by murder,
provoked, perhaps, in some instances, by expostulations or
struggles of the survivors of the ship, to retain what they
most reasonably looked upon as their own property.
Meanwhile, the Cornish men, calling the wreck "a God-
send," looked upon all goods stranded upon their coast as
their especial property, bestowed upon them by the direct
interposition of Providence, and were ready to resent as
an insult any opposition to their claim. Many are the
tales told-frequently mingling the horrible and the ludi-
crous-of scenes at a shipwreck on the coast of Cornwall.
Of these, some may have been exaggerated, but they
had doubtless some foundation in the general state of
public opinion in the country upon this subject. Witness

THE GIANT'S CAUSEWAY.
264
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
Peter Pindar's story of the minister, who was preaching
on the Sabbath, when the cry of "A wreck! a wreck!"
was heard without the church. The congregation, as by
an uncontrollable impulse, rose hastily, and rushed towards
the door, to share in the expected spoil. The minister in
vain endeavored to restrain them, till, finding all efforts
vain, he too yielded to the all-besetting sin, and, in the
words of the witty, but irreverend poet,
"Stop, stop!" cried he, "at least one prayer-
Let me get down, and all start fair!"
And yet, on other occasions, the Cornish people were
by no means wanting in hospitality to strangers,, and the
exercise of all the kindly, social virtues. The same men
who would appropriate, without regard to the rights or ex-
postulations of the owners, all property strewn upon the
beach, would welcome the bewildered traveller to his home
at night, bring out his best glass of "yell," give up his own
bed to the stranger, and guide him on his way over the
moor, with kindly warning of the numerous shafts and
pitfalls that beset this land of mines.
It is to be hoped, however, that the "wreckers of Corn-
wall" are a by-gone race-that the opprobrium no longer
clings to their name. The exertions of the Wesleyan
ministers, and the diffusion of education and habits of
reading, have done much to humanize the Cornish charac-
ter; the peculiar feature of which might, perhaps, be ex-
plained, and in part excused, by reference to history.
In the dark night of ignorance, cruelty, and wrong,
which settled over Europe upon the downfall of the Ro-
T

THE ISLAND OF STAFFA.
1.
34
266
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
1
man empire, trade and commerce were almost annihilated.
No longer did the peaceful mariner from Spain or the
Mediterranean visit the bays of Cornwall to exchange the
food and clothing of the south for the treasures of the
earth-tin, and copper, and silver ore. The dreaded sea-
kings rode triumphant on every sea, and scourged with
rapine and plunder, all the coasts of Europe.
At this period Cornwall was crowded with descendants
of the ancient Britons, who, after long and obstinate con-
tests, were driven, by the successive hordes of the con-
quering Saxons, from the eastern and central portions of
the island, and found refuge in the fastnesses of Wales,
Cumberland, and Cornwall. The Saxons, and their
kindred successors, the Danes, were accustomed, in their
slight galleys, to sail up the creeks and rivers; and when
the force opposed to their inroad, or the uninviting aspect
of the country, forbade a permanent settlement, they
ravaged the district with fire and sword, and regained
their ships, laden with all the spoil they could carry
away.
The Celts of Cornwall, cooped up in their narrow
boundaries, which, at the same time, concentrated their
forces, and enabled them, like their Welch brethren, to
retain their distinct national existence as Britons through-
out the time of Saxon- rule, soon had too good cause to
look upon every sea-borne vessel as a cruel enemy, whose
approach was to be opposed, and whose destruction was
to be sought by all good patriots; and if, by any chance,
one of the Saxon, or Danish galleys was wrecked on their
coast, it was naturally looked upon as but a righteous
LAND S END, AND THE CORNISH WRECKERS.
267
retribution for the oppressions they and their brethren
had endured, and its plunder as but a slight return for
treasures they themselves had been despoiled of. And
for ages after circumstances had changed, and when a
happier era began to dawn, a blind and cruel selfishness,
choking all the kinder, gentler feelings, kept alive in this
remote corner of England a practice which originated in
national hostility; and that which began in the resistance
of a people to oppression and a reprisal for outrage,
degenerated into private and indiscriminate plunder, too
often aggravated by cold-blooded treachery and murder;
making the western shores a by-word and an opprobrium
to all the world.
And, as if it were not enough to rob the poor mariner,
whom the winds and waves have thrown upon their shores,
there were to be found in Cornwall wretches base enough
to mislead, by false signal-lights, vessels that approached
the coast by night, and lure them, and all their crew,
upon the rocks.
Long ago I heard a Cornish tale, which, once heard, is
not easily forgotten. After a sultry autumn day, the
blood-red sun sunk beneath a sea of crimson, which
gradually deepened into molten lead; and, as the day-
light faded, a dark bank of clouds rose in the west, and
blotted out star after star, almost ere it had twinkled
through the twilight. An old man, whose dwelling was
on the sea-shore, beneath the cliffs, looked out upon the
darkening face of the sea, with an eager, anxious glance,
that swept the horizon.
There had not been a breath of air stirring all day;
268
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
but now, low moanings foretold a rising gale, and the
lightning, distant as yet, and voiceless, glimmered through
the dark caverns of thick cloud, which overspread the
sky, and deepened, by momentary contrast, the solemn
blackness of the night. Far seaward, a faint strip of
dull red sky in the horizon revealed the tall masts of a
gallant ship, which had been all day slowly working her
tedious way up the channel on her homeward course.
The old man had watched her for many hours before sun-
set, and he chuckled as he saw, ere the last dim line of
western light had faded, that she was gradually nearing
the coast; and he noticed, with horrid glee, the threat-
enings of the coming storm. He called to his old wife
for his lantern, went to a crazy and ruinous shed, and led
out a half-starved horse, which he led by the halter along
the beach.
At a ravine in the cliffs he turned with his horse, and
began to ascend a winding and dangerous path to the top
of the precipice. There he lighted his lantern and fas-
tened it to the horse's head, and then, for three or four
hours of the night, he led the unconscious animal back-
ward and forward along the edge of the cliffs. By this
time the lightning flashed frequent and fierce; the thun-
der rolled and rattled directly overhead; the rain poured
down like a flood; and the sea, which all day had heaved
sluggishly, and heavily broke upon the rocks, was now
roused into fury by the rising gale which swept along its
bosom.
Still the old man pursued his walk along the cliffs, and
ever and anon looked keenly and anxiously through the
!

THE WRECK.
269
270
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
darkness upon the now raging sea beneath. Hark!
surely that thunder came not from the clouds-that flash
was no lightning's stroke. It is-yes-it is the cannon
of the fated ship, the well-known signal of distress; and
the old man's fiendish nature rejoiced at the thought that
his decoy-light had answered its object. Again and
again that sound boomed along the waters; for all too
late the mariners discover that they are embayed; that
rocks and breakers are round them, and the gale is
driving them quickly to the shore; that the false light,
which had appeared to them as that of a tall ship tossing
on the sea, was displayed to lure them to destruction.
Again and again the gun is fired, and still the old man
rejoices in the success of his horrid stratagem, and calcu-
lates, with fatal accuracy, the spot and the moment for
the fated vessel striking on the rocks.
As the time approaches, he descends the cliffs, and
takes his station on the beach to watch for whatever the
raging waves may cast on shore. And soon there is heard
a crash, louder than the strife of elements-a shriek, far
above the roar of waters-but still the wrecker shrinks
not from the horrors of his own dark deed, yet shrouded
by the tempest and the night. Day dawns at length, and
shows to his greedy eyes the beach strewn with frag-
ments of the wreck, which the yet heaving billows are
still bearing shoreward and dashing on the rocks.
Presently the old man is bending over the body of a
drowned man; for his avaricious glance has detected on
the finger of the dead a gold ring, with a bright gem
glittering in the early dawn. Hastily and eagerly the
1
LAND'S END, AND THE CORNISH WRECKERS.
271
hardened plunderer drags away the ring from the unre-
sisting hand, and, by the act, the face of the dead man
is turned upward and meets the eye of his murderer. In
that moment's glance, horror and despair have taken the
place of greedy joy-the color forsakes his quivering
lip-the dearly-purchased gem drops from his uncon-
scious grasp, and, as he sinks to the earth beside the
corpse, he gasps out-"My son!
My son my son !"
It was too true. The old man's only son had left his
home in early youth, disgusted with the vices that dis-
graced his home; and with hardly-earned riches and
honors, which he fondly anticipated might be the means
of rescuing his parent from the course of guilt and de-
pravity in which he had grown gray, he was returning to
his native land-to perish thus! Ill-fated son of a yet
more wretched sire-the murderer and the plunderer of
his only child!
Seek not to lift the veil that covers the horrors of his
late remorse, but rejoice in the belief that the Cornish
wrecker is the creature of a by-gone age.


A SHIP LAID UP IN THE ICE OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS FOR THE WINTER.
!

THE WHITE BEAR.
Expeditions to the Arctic Regions.
Most of our readers are, without doubt, aware, that as
we recede from the tropical lines, and journey either north-
ward or southward, the temperature of the atmosphere
gradually becomes colder, until at length, either in the
Antarctic Ocean to the south, or in the Arctic to the
north, we enter the region of perpetual ice. During the
long and severe winters which are common to these dis-
tricts, the vessels that may have penetrated there during
35
(273)
274
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
:

CAPTAIN SIR JOHN FRANKLIN.
the summer, are fast locked up till the summer comes round
again.
Continual storms of snow and sleet, biting frost, and
long dark nights, are the lot of the traveller who ventures
into this bleak desolate region. Of the frozen ocean of
the south, we know but little; few voyages having been
made, and those not successfuliy, for the purpose of ex-
ploring it.
To the north, several expeditions have sailed with more
success under Captains Ross, Parry, Franklin, and Beechy;
as well as the voyages that have been made there for the
purpose of whale fishing. The expeditions under the above
mentioned captains had, as a main object, the discovery of
275
EXPEDITIONS TO THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
a north-west passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and
to ascertain the northern boundary of the American con-
tinent. One of them undertaken by Captain Sir John
Franklin has never returned, and several expeditions have
been sent in search of him both from England and the
United States.
Setting sail from England or the United States in the
spring, these expeditions contrive to reach the ice as it is
breaking under the summer thaw. Then their difficulties
begin, navigation among ice-bergs, floes, and ice-fields,
being beset with many dangers. The former of these, ice-
bergs, are huge mountainous masses of ice, found drifting
about in the sea. Some of them have been met with more
than four thousand yards long, and three thousand broad,
and calculated to weigh more than a thousand million
tons.
towers.
Sometimes as many as sixty are seen at once, having a
wonderful variety in form and appearance, resembling pa-
laces, castles, churches, arches, obelisks, ships, trees, and
The sun's rays reflected from them now and then
give a glistening appearance to their surface, so that they
appear to be made of silver. In the night they are readily
distinguished, even at a distance, by their natural bright-
ness; and in foggy weather by a peculiar blackness of the
atmosphere. Thus the danger which they threaten is
much decreased.
Great hazard is run in sailing among ice-fields, whose
extent cannot be perceived. " "They have frequently & ro-
tary motion, and their outer borders acquire a velocity of
several miles an hour. When a field thus in motion comes
276
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
in contact either with one that is motionless, or moving in
an opposite direction, the crash is tremendous.
"It is easy to understand that a body of more than ten
thousand millions of tons in weight, meeting resistance when
in motion, produces fearful effects. With a stunning and
awful noise, the weaker is crushed; while pieces of huge
dimensions and great weight are piled on the top. For a
ship between two meeting fields of ice there is no chance
of escape. Many have perished in this way: some have
been thrown upon the ice; some have had their hulls com-
pletely torn open, or divided into two; and others have
been overrun by the ice and buried beneath its heaped
fragments." Shunning all these dangers, voyagers reach
about the sixty-seventh degree of north latitude, by which
time the winter is coming on again, the sea begins to be
coated with new ice, and all further sailing is impeded.
The vessel is got into the nearest creek or bay, where it
can be sheltered during the winter, and it lies firmly frozen
in the ice until the summer comes to free it by its thaw.
As soon as the ship is perceived, the Esquimaux flock
around it, to barter their oil and skins for knives, hooks,
and other articles which the captain may be willing to give
them in exchange.
Captain Parry thus describes a party who paid him a
visit on his second voyage. "These people possessed in
an eminent degree the disposition to steal all they could
luy their hands on, which has almost universally been im-
puted to every tribe of Esquimaux hitherto visited by Eu-
ropeans. They tried more than once the art of picking
our pockets, and were as bold and unembarrassed as ever,

ESQUIMAUX.
278
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
immediately after detection. It is impossible to describe
the horribly disgusting manner in which they sat down, as
soon as they felt hungry, to eat their raw blubber, and to
suck the oil remaining on the skins we had just emptied,
the very smell of which, as well as the appearance, was to
us almost insufferable. The disgust which our seamen
could not help expressing at this sight seemed to create in
the Esquimaux the most malicious amusement; and when
our people turned away, literally unable to bear the sight
without being sick, they would, as a good joke among them-
selves, run after them, holding out a piece of blubber or
raw seal's flesh, dripping with oil and filth, as if inviting
them to partake of it.
Sir John Ross was one day surprised by a party of
them coming to make restoration of all the articles they
had stolen. The cause of their repentance was found to
be the guns, which had been fired for the purpose of
making experiments on sound. One of them having
attended the commander to the observatory, and having
asked what "the guns said?" was informed they were
naming the thieves who had taken property of any kind
from the ship; on which there was a general convocation
held at the village, and it was agreed to return every
thing. These poor creatures often suffer severely, during
their long winter, from the failure of the seal fishery.
Travellers have found them in their snow huts, without
light, without food, actually gnawing a piece of hard skin
with the hair on it, and glad to eat a wolf's carcass, raw
and frozen.
At such times of difficulty they lack the means of

ESQUIMAUX BUILDING SNOW HOUSES.
280
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.

1
A.
THE REIN DEER.
melting snow for water, and can only ineffectually quench
their thirst by eating snow. In consequence of this,
when they visit a vessel, the sailors are often surprised to
see the quantity of water they will drink: a single indi-
vidual has been known to drink a gallon during the short
time he was on board.
Bears, wolves, reindeer, seals, and the musk-ox, are
the chief animals which are found here; and the hunting
of them forms the amusement and support of the people.
Their houses are mere huts of snow, erected with as much
rapidity as we could put up a tent; a block of ice serves
them for a window; skins are spread over the snow for
couches, and the crevices are stuffed up with snow.
While the house is building, the boys busy themselves in
erecting similar kennels for the dogs. When a ship visit-
EXPEDITIONS TO THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
281

A SEAL.
ing these regions is safely secured for the winter, it is
necessary that the seamen should be kept in active exer-
tion for the sake of their health.
Sometimes they are engaged in exploring expeditions,
to learn the character of the strange country and people
around them; at others they all turn out to play a game
of cricket upon the ice; or else sally forth to hunt some
of the few animals that dwell in that inhospitable clime.
Sir J. Ross, gives an animated sketch of one of these
latter excursions, in which he was engaged. Attended
by one of the natives armed with a bow and arrows,
and
a couple of dogs, he started to hunt the musk-ox. They
soon came upon the footsteps of the game, and the dogs
being let slip speedily left them behind.
After two hours' laborious travelling, over a very rug-
ged country and through deep snow, they found, on turn-
ing the angle of a hill, that the dogs had brought a mush-
36

A MUSK OX.
ww
EXPEDITIONS TO THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
283
ox to bay; and they started off at full speed to the res-
cue. The Esquimaux took the lead, and was in the act
of discharging his second arrow, when Sir J. Ross came
up. It struck on a rib without even diverting the atten-
tion of the animal from the dogs, which continued bark-
ing and dodging round it, seizing it by the heels when-
ever they had an opportunity, or when it turned to
escape, and then retreating as it faced them.
In the meantime it was trembling with rage, and labor-
ing in vain to reach its active assailants. The weapons
of the native seemed of little value in this warfare: he
continued to shoot without apparent effect, finding oppor-
tunities for an aim with difficulty, and losing much time
afterwards in recovering his arrows; Captain Ross there-
fore fired at the animal with two balls, at the distance of
fifteen yards. They took effect, and it fell; but rising
again, made a sudden dart at them, standing close to-
gether as they were.
They avoided the attack by dodging behind a large
stone that was fortunately near them. It rushed upon it
with all its force, and struck its head so violently, that it
fell to the ground with such a crash, that the hard ground
fairly echoed to the sound. In a moment the guide was
upon it, attempting to stab it with his knife; but failing
in his design, was obliged to take refuge behind the dogs,
which now came forward again to the attack.
At this time it was bleeding profusely, and the long
hair on its sides was matted with blood; yet its rage and
strength seemed undiminished. Meanwhile, the gun was
reloaded, and Sir J. Ross advanced for another shot.
1
VESSEL MOORED TO FLOES OF ICE.
J

EXPEDITIONS TO THE ARCTIC REGIONS.
285
when the brute rushed at him, to the great alarm of his
guide, who called out for him to return to his shelter.
But time was afforded for a cool aim, both barrels were
discharged, and at five yards' distance it fell, and was
dead before the native came up. He was, as may be sup-
posed, lost in astonishment at the effect of fire-arms;
and with every expression of wonder examined the bullet
holes.
They had been eighteen hours without refreshment,
accordingly the native proceeded to mix some warm blood
with snow, to quench his thirst; and at once began to
skin the animal, which in consequence of the severe cold,
´it would soon have become impossible to do.
In this manner, the long Arctic winter is whiled away;
and with the return of summer all are active and bustling,
either to penetrate northward, or to return home; which-
ever course they take, floes, icefields, and icebergs are
found floating around them, and make their course one of
great peril. Some idea of the danger to be met with in
navigating these seas may be formed from the fact, that
the Dutch in one year have lost as many as seventy-three
sail of ships among the ice. In the year 1684, fourteen
of their ships were wrecked, and eleven more frozen fast.
during the winter. In 1835, several British vessels were
lost, and eleven were beset there during the following
winter. Sometimes vessels are moored to an iceberg, for
the sake of obtaining supplies of water from the pools
that are found on its surface in the summer season; and
sometimes to gain shelter under an adverse wind. But
at all times it is a perilous situation; a little thing over-
286
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
}
turns the whole mass, and the ship is in danger of being
buried by its fearful sommerset.
Our plate, page 284, represents two vessels moored to
what is termed a floe, (that is, an extent of ice whose size
can be perceived,) and with it drifting out to sea. All
the expeditions that have been undertaken to discover the
north-west passage have been failures; and though high
degrees of north latitude have been reached, yet they
hold out no hopes of finding a nearer course to India and
China by sea, than the old route by the Cape of Good
Hope. The following description of a Thracian winter
pictures many hardships; but the reality in the Arctic
regions is far worse:
"The brazen caldrons with the frost are flaw'd;
The garment, stiff with ice, at hearths is thaw'd;
With axes first they cleave the wine, and thence
By weight, the solid portions they dispense.
From locks uncomb'd, and from the frozen beard,
Long icicles depend, and crackling sounds are heard.
Meantime perpetual sleet and driving snow
Obscure the skies, and hang on herds below;
The starving cattle perish in their stalls,
Huge oxen stand enclosed in wintry walls
Of snow congeal'd; whole herds are buried there,
Of mighty stags and scarce their horns appear."
How striking the wisdom of that Being who has fitted
creatures for every diversity of clime, so that while some
can only live in the torrid zone, others find the frost of
the polės most congenial to their nature and habits!
"Oh Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast
thou made them all."
:
1

Eddystone Lighthouse.
THE celebrated Eddystone lighthouse is on a rock near
Plymouth. It is built in the form of the trunk of a tree,
being broad at the bottom and tapering upwards. It is
made exceedingly strong, a great part of it being of solid
stone; the chamber at the top is called the lantern; a very
bright light is kept within it all night, increased by being
1
(287)

THIE EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE.
EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE.
289
reflected from hollow silvered plates. It has been built
nearly a hundred years, and is the third lighthouse that
has been erected on the same rock.
The first was built about a hundred and fifty years ago,
by a gentleman who was so confident of its strength, that
he said, very foolishly, "I should like to be in this light-
house in the most violent storm that ever blew." Soon
afterwards he happened to be in it, making some repairs,
when a dreadful storm came on, and raged all night, and
in the morning the rock was seen to be quite bare, every
trace of the lighthouse being washed away, and himself
and his workmen all drowned. A small piece of a chain
was the only thing left to tell that there had ever been a
building there; and this was so firmly wedged into a crevice
of the rock that it could not be moved, but was cut out
about fifty years afterwards, when the foundation of the
present lighthouse was being prepared.
Very soon after this unfortunate event, a large East-
Indiaman was wrecked on this rock in a dark night, and
her crew drowned. Another lighthouse was in consequence
erected immediately, which stood, in spite of wind and
wave, for about fifty years, and might have remained until
now, had it not been destroyed by fire.
Both of these lighthouses were made principally of wood;
but Mr. Smeaton, a very skilful engineer, thought it prac-
ticable to build one of stone, which he accordingly did im-
mediately after the burning of the former one. All the
lower part was made quite solid; and the lowest tier of
stones were let into the rock itself. Every stone, also,
was strongly jointed to the stones near it, and all were
37
290
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
}
firmly united by thick clamps of iron. Thus it was made
amazingly strong; and it has stood without injury ever
since, and has braved some very severe storms. One tem-
pest, in particular, raged with uncommon fury soon after
it was completed; and many were predicting its downfall;
while others said, that if it stood through that storm, it
would stand forever. In the morning a good many tele-
scopes were pointed to the rock; and there, to the great joy
of all the architect's friends, the lighthouse was dimly
seen through the mist and storm. It had escaped with-
out the slightest damage; not even a pane of glass was
broken.


岳
​Wreck of the Pennsylbania.
THIS fine ship had been on the station about four years.
She was a remarkably powerful well-built vessel, and her
commander, Captain Smith, was universally esteemed, and
his melancholy fate has been as universally lamented.
The Pennsylvania's day of sailing was the 25th of
December, 1838, Christmas day, on the morning of which
she left Liverpool, and proceeded, in tow of a steamer, to
(291)

i
زیرمم
५.
THE PENNSYLVANIA AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE GALE.
:
WRECK OF THE PENNSYLVANIA.
293
the mouth of the river. She was tugged along through
the bright waters, her tall taper masts and slender spars
shown in beautiful relief against the Cheshire promono-
tory, as they were partially illumed by the almost level
beams of the winter sun, which was just rising above a
few dark clouds in the south-eastern horizon.
A sudden shift of the wind, which veered round, and
began to blow in heavy gusts from the north-west, seemed
to determine the commander not to proceed to sea on
that day.
The steamer was dismissed, the anchor was
dropped, and the Pennsylvania rode in the stream. Here
she remained in order to take advantage of the first
favorable wind.
On that fatal morning she put to sea shortly before
twelve o'clock. After discharging the pilot, she made
an extremely expeditious run down the channel, and was
off the Skerries about ten o'clock at night. At midnight
the wind began to rise from S. S. E., and orders were
given to take in the main-topgallantsail. The wind con-
tinuing to increase its violence, they close reefed topsails,
furled the fore and mainsail-jib, and, in this state, con-
tinued making considerable progress until four o'clock
in the morning, when a perfect hurricane prevailed, the
wind blowing south-west.
During its continuance the fore-topsail, as also the
mizzen-topsail, gave way; and the foresail, mainsail, and
jib were blown into ribbands. Soon after the main-
topsail shared the same fate. The vessel was then at the
mercy
of the elements, the sea making tremendous heavy
breaks over her.
294
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
When daylight appeared on Monday morning, the
fore-staysail was bent. She was kept with her head to
the southward. In this state she lay-to during the whe
of the day, and the greater part of the night. On i
morning of Tuesday she bent her foresail, and Capta...
Smith made the requisite preparations for putting back.
She ran before the wind in excellent style, until they made
the Great Ormshead, when the captain shaped his course
for the light-ship, and not finding it, hove-to.
About ten o'clock, in the anticipation of meeting with a
pilot, he proceeded onward, when the St. Andrew and
Lockwoods appeared in sight. At this time the lead was
put in requisition, and, finding plenty of water, she con-
tinued her course. About noon they got into ten or twelve
fathoms water.
At half past one, they made Hoylake, when the lar-
board anchor was thrown with a sixty-fathom cable, and
before the other anchor could be got over, she'swung with
her head to the wind, and struck on Hoyle-bank. Strange
to say, the St Andrew and the Lockwooods struck on the
same bank, not more than half a mile from each other, the
Pennsylvania being in the centre. After striking, and
owing to the violence of the gale, which brought her into
collision with the bank, against which she struck with
great force several times, she filled rapidly with water.
At this eventful crisis, she being then about three miles
from the shore, a brief consultation was held with the
passengers; the result was, that Captain Smith ordered
the jolly-boat to be launched, into which Mr. Parsons, of
Manchester, Mr. Barrow, of New York, Mr. Douglass, of

ས
STRUGGLING FOR LIFE.
-
296
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
New York, and Mr. Suiter, of South America, and
another gentleman entered, accompanied by the chief-
mate, Mr. Blightenburgh, and a young Scotchman named
Downy, together with five of the crew.
The ill-fated boat did not long live in the tempest.
About midway between the vessel and the shore she
swamped, and all were thrown into the foaming element.
Two of the passengers, Messrs. Thompson and Douglas,
had taken the precaution to provide themselves with
swimming-belts, and they sustained themselves; but the
rest of the poor fellows, after struggling in vain for some
time, sank to rise no more.
Mr. Thompson, finding it hopeless to contend with the
waves, threw himself on his back, and, supported by his
belt, trusted to the waves to carry him onward. As the
tide was coming in, he was propelled with considerable
speed, and eventually, much exhausted reached the shore.
His fellow countryman, Mr. Douglas, was less fortunate:
he early exhausted his strength in a useless conflict with
the waves. He succeeded in reaching the shore, but so
completely exhausted, that nature sank under the trial.
He was immediately conveyed to Leasowe Castle, where
every attention was paid to him, but he only survived his
escape a short time. He was a native of Dumferline, in
Scotland, and was afterwards interred in Wallasey church-
yard, together with Mr. Suiter, his unfortunate fellow-
passenger, whose body was cast ashore on the beach oppo-
site Leasowe. The funeral was attended by a number of
the friends of the deceased from Liverpool.
After dispatching the jolly boat, Captain Smith
WRECK OF THE PENNSYLVANIA.
297
ordered the long-boat to be got ready, when, to their
indescribable agony, they could not find their line for
lowering her into the sea. After some delay, however,
she was got ready, provided with a rudder, oars, and other
requisites; but in the act of lowering her, the ship heaved
a dreadful sea, which stove in the boat, and thus cut off
their only prospect of escape.
The same vibration of the vessel threw Captain Smith
with great force on deck: he lost his footing, but, on re-
gaining it, another sea swept over the devoted ship, threw
him with great violence between two water-casks which
were rolling on deck, and, immediately after, he was swept
into the foaming abyss beneath. The crew then got into the
rigging about three o'clock in the afternoon, where they
remained from that hour until the following morning,
about ten o'clock. Their sufferings during this period,
without food or nourishment of any kind, exposed to all
the horrors of a night unexampled for severity, have
hardly ever been surpassed.
Among those on the rigging during the night, was the
stewardess, a native of Shropshire, who survived its
severity. Three poor fellows, however, John Lenya, the
second cook; Dewit Reitner, the second steward; and a
seaman, sank under the accumulated sufferings produced
by the storm and intense cold. They were literally
starved to death.
About ten o'clock on Wednesday morning, the Victoria
steam-tug boat, which lay at anchor all night in the
vicinity of the wreck, with great difficulty succeeded in
reaching the Pennsylvania.
38
298
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
!
The Victoria rescued twenty-five of the survivors,
including the third mate, Mr. Richards, a highly intelli-
gent young seamen; Mr. Essex, the
stewardess, and twenty-two seamen.
chief steward; the
The total number
of persons on board the Pennsylvania was forty, fifteen
of whom perished. The merit of rescuing the remainder,
(with the exception of Mr. Thompson,) belongs to those
who manned the tug-boat.


Wreck of the St. Andrew.
THE St. Andrew, a fine New York packet ship, sailed
from Liverpool in January, 1839, about two o'clock in the
afternoon. At five a smart breeze sprung up; at twelve
a severe gale, which increased to a perfect hurricane by
two o'clock. At that time the sails were literally torn
into ribbands: these sails were quite new, and never
before bent.
One of the hands was dashed from the yard-arm on
the deck; he was severely injured, but soon recovered. At
that moment Captain Thompson ordered the men aloft,
but they, seeing death staring them in the face, refused.
(299)
300
VOYAGE AND VENTURE.
After the loss of her sails, the ship became unmanage
able, and in this condition she remained till the forenoon
of Monday, when an attempt was made to relieve her, by
cutting away the upper part of her masts.
She was then rigged with a mizzensail and foresail;
early on Tuesday morning, in this crippled state, she was
steering for Liverpool. About half-past ten A. M. she
struck on the Burbo Sands, with both anchors down, the
sea beating heavily. The life boats were sent off to ex-
tricate the passengers, who were conveyed on board the
Victoria steam-vessel, and thus providentially saved.
The steady and honorable conduct and presence of
mind of Captain Thompson during the whole of this
trying occasion is beyond all praise. As soon as the ship
had struck, almost the first thing he did was to stave in
all the spirit-casks; indeed, every bottle containing wine
or spirits was emptied or destroyed, he being apprehen-
sive of the consequences to the crew.



UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
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