Chapter Nineteen.

Chapter Nineteen.Miranda.How came we ashore!Prospero.By Providence divine....Sit still, and hear the last of our sea-sorrow.Here in this island we arrived.Shakespeare.A frigate called at the island for turtle; and, having represented my case to the captain, he offered to take me on board, telling me at the same time that he was going much further to the southward, to relieve another cruiser, who would then return to England, and the captain of her would, no doubt, give me a passage home. I accordingly made hasty preparations for my departure; took leave of all my kind friends at the barracks, for kind indeed they were tome, although thoughtless and foolish towards themselves. I bade adieu to the families on the island, in whose houses and at whose tables I had experienced the most liberal hospitality; and last, though not least, I took leave of poor Carlotta.This was a difficult task to perform, but it was imperative. I told her that I was ordered on board by my captain, who, being a very different person from the last, I dared not disobey. I promised to return to her soon. I offered her money and presents, but she would accept of nothing but a small locket, to wear for my sake. I purchased the freedom of poor Sophy, the black girl who had saved my life. The little creature wept bitterly at my coming away; but I could do no more for her. As for Carlotta, I learned afterwards that she went on board every ship that arrived to gain intelligence of me, who seldom or never gave her a thought.We sailed; and, steering away to the south-east with moderate winds and fine weather, captured, at the end of that time, a large American ship, which had made a devious course from the French coast, in hopes of avoiding our cruisers; she was about four hundred tons, deeply laden, and bound to Laguira, with a valuable cargo. The captain sent for me, and told me that if I chose to take charge of her, as prize-master, I might proceed to England direct. This plan exactly suited me, and I consented, only begging to have a boatswain’s mate, named Thompson, to go along with me; he was an old shipmate, and had been one of my gig’s crew when we had the affair in Basque Roads: he was a steady, resolute, quiet, sober, raw-boned Caledonian, from Aberdeen, and a man that I knew would stand by me in the hour of need. He was ordered to go with me, and the necessary supply of provisions and spirits were on board. I received my orders, and took my leave of my new captain, who was both a good seaman and an excellent officer.When I got on board the prize, I found all the prisoners busy packing up their things, and they became exceedingly alert in placing them in the boat which was to convey them on board the frigate. Indeed they all crowded into her with an unusual degree of activity; but this did not particularly strike my attention at the time. My directions were to retain the captain and one man with me, in order to condemn the vessel in the court of admiralty.Occupied with many objects at once, all important to me, as I was so soon to part company with the frigate, I did not recollect this part of my orders, and that I was detaining the boat, until the young midshipman who had charge of her asked me if he might return on board and take the prisoners. I then went on deck, and seeing the whole of them, with their chests and bags, seated very quietly in the boat, and ready to shove off, I desired the captain and one of the American seamen to come on board again, and to bring their clothes with them. I did not remark the unwillingness of the captain to obey this order, until told of it by the midshipman; his chest and goods were immediately handed in upon deck, and the signal from the frigate being repeated, with a light for the boat to return (for it was now dark), she shoved off hastily, and was soon out of sight.“Stop the boat!—for God’s sake stop the boat!” cried the captain.“Why should I stop the boat?” said I; “my orders are positive, and you must remain with me.”I then went below for a minute or two, and the captain followed me.“As you value your life, sir,” said he, “stop the boat.”“Why?” asked I, eagerly.“Because, sir,” said he, “the ship has been scuttled by the men, and will sink in a few hours: you cannot save her, for you cannot get at her leaks.”I now did indeed see the necessity of stopping the boat; but it was too late: she was out of sight. The lantern, the signal for her return, had been hauled down, a proof that she had got on board. I hoisted two lights at the mizen peak, and ordered a musket to be fired; but, unfortunately, the cartridges had either not been put in the boat which brought me, or they had been taken back in her. One of my lights went out; the other was not seen by the frigate. We hoisted another light, but it gained no notice: the ship had evidently made sail. I stood after her as fast as I could, in hopes of her seeing us that night, or taking us out the next morning, should we be afloat.But my vessel, deeply laden, was already getting waterlogged, and would not sail on a wind more than four miles an hour. All hope in that quarter vanished. I then endeavoured to discover from the captain where the leaks were, that we might stop them; but he had been drinking so freely, that I could get nothing from him but Dutch courage and braggadocio. The poor black man who had been left with the captain was next consulted. All he knew was, that, when at Bordeaux, the captain had caused holes to be bored in the ship’s bottom, that he might pull the plugs out whenever he liked, swearing, at the same time, that she never should enter a British port. He did not know where the leaks were situated, though it was evident to me that they were in the after and also in the fore parts of the ship, low down, and now deep under water, both inside as well as out. The black man added that the captain had let the water in, and that was all he knew.I again spoke to the captain, but he was too far gone to reason with: he had got drunk to die, because he was afraid to die sober—no unusual case with sailors.“Don’t tell me; damn me, who is afeard to die? I ain’t. I swore she should never enter a British port, and I have kept my word.”He then began to use curses and execrations; and at last fell on the deck in a fit of drunken frenzy.I now called my people all together, and having stated to them the peril of our situation, we agreed that a large boat which lay on the booms should be instantly hoisted out, and stowed with everything necessary for a voyage. Our clothes, bread, salt meat, and water, were put into her, with my sextant and spy-glass. The liquor which was in the cabin I gave in charge to the midshipman who was sent with me; and, having completely stowed our boat, and prepared her with a good lug-sail, we made her fast with a couple of stout tow-ropes, and veered her astern, with four men in her, keeping on our course in the supposed track of the frigate till daylight.That wished for hour arrived, but no frigate was to be seen, even from the mast-head. The ship was getting deeper and deeper, and we prepared to take to the boat. I calculated the nearest part of South America to be seven hundred miles from us, and that we were more than twice that distance from Rio Janeiro. I did not however despond, for, under all circumstances, we were extremely well off: and I inspired the men with so much confidence, that they obeyed in everything with the utmost alacrity and cheerfulness, except in one single point.Finding the ship could not in all, probability float more than an hour or two, I determined to quit her, and ordered the boat alongside. The men got into her, stepped the mast, hooked on the lug-sail, ready to hoist at my orders; and, without my bidding, had spread my boat cloak in the stern-sheets, and made a comfortable place for me to repose in. The master proceeded to get into the boat, but the men repulsed him with kicks, blows, and hisses, swearing most dreadfully that if he attempted to come in, they would throw him overboard. Although in some measure I participated in their angry feeling, yet I could not reconcile myself to leave a fellow-creature thus to perish, even in the pit which he had dug for others; and this too at a time when we needed every indulgence from the Almighty for ourselves, and every assistance from His hand to conduct us into a port.“He deserves to die; it is all his own doings,” said they; “come into the boat yourself, sir, or we must shove off without you.”The poor captain—who after sleeping four hours had recovered his senses and felt all the horror of his situation—wept, screamed, tore his hair, laid hold of my coat, from which only the strength of my men could disengage him. He clung to life with a passion of feeling which I never saw in a criminal condemned by the law; he fell on his knees before me, as he appealed to us all collectively and separately; he reminded us of his wife and starving children at Baltimore, and he implored us to think of them and of our own.I was melted to tears, I confess; but my men heard him with the most stoical unconcern. Two of them threw him over to the opposite side of the deck; and before he could recover from the violence of the fall, pushed me into the boat, and shoved off. The wretched man had by this time crawled over to the side we had just left; and throwing himself on his knees, again screamed out, “Oh, mercy, mercy, mercy!—For God’s sake, have mercy, if you expect any!—O God! my wife and babes!”His prayers, I lament to say, had no effect on the exasperated seamen. He then fell into a fit of cursing and blasphemy, evidently bereft of his senses; and in this state he continued for some minutes, while we lay alongside, the bowman holding on with the boat-hook only. I was secretly determined not to leave him, although I foresaw a mutiny in the boat in consequence. At length, I gave the order to shove off. The unhappy captain, who, till that moment; might have entertained some faint hope from the lurking compassion which he perceived I felt for him, now resigned himself to despair of a more sullen and horrible aspect. He sat himself down on one of the hen-coops, and gazed on us with a ghastly eye. I cannot remember ever seeing a more shocking picture of human misery.While I looked at him, the black man, Mungo, who belonged to the ship, sprang overboard from the boat and swam back to the wreck. Seizing a rope which hung from the gangway, he ascended the side, and joined his master. We called to him to come back, or we, should leave him behind.“No massa,” replied the faithful creature; “me no want to lib: no takee master Green no takee me! Mungo lib good many years wi massa cappen. Mungo die with massa, and go back to Guinea!”I now thought we had given the captain a sufficient lesson for his treachery and murderous intentions. Had I, indeed, ever seriously intended to leave him, the conduct of poor Mungo would have awakened me to a sense of my duty. I ordered Thompson, who was steering the boat, to put the helm a starboard, and lay her alongside again. No sooner was this command given, than three or four of the men jumped up in a menacing attitude, and swore that they would not go back for him; that he was the cause of all their sufferings; and that if I chose to share his fate, I might, but into the boat he should not come. One of them, more daring than the rest, attempted to take the tiller out of Thompson’s hand; but the trusty seaman seized him by the collar, and in an instant threw him overboard. The other men were coming aft to avenge this treatment of their leader; but I drew my sword, and pointing it at the breast of the nearest mutineer, desired him, on pain of instant death, to return to his seat. He had heard my character, and knew that I was not to be trifled with.A mutineer is easily subdued with common firmness. He obeyed, but was very sullen, and I heard many mutinous expressions among the men. One of them said that I was not their officer—that I did not belong to the frigate.“That,” I replied, “is a case of which I shall not allow you to be the judges. I hold in my pocket a commission from the king’s lord high admiral, or the commissioners for executing that duty. Your captain, and mine also, holds a similar commission. Under this authority I act. Let me see the man that dares dispute it—I will hang him at the yard-arm of the wreck before she goes down;” and, looking at the man whom Thompson had thrown overboard, and who still held by the gunwale of the boat, without daring to get in, I asked him if he would obey me or not? He replied that he would, and hoped I would forgive him. I said that my forgiveness would depend entirely on the conduct of himself and the others: that he must recollect that if our own ship or any other man-of-war picked us up, he was liable, with three or four more, to be hanged for mutiny; and that nothing but his and their future obedience could save them from that punishment whenever we reached a port.This harangue had a very tranquillising effect. The offenders all begged pardon, and assured me they would deserve my forgiveness by their future submission.All this passed at some little distance from the wreck, but within hearing; and while it was going on, the wind, which had been fair when we put off, gradually died away, and blew faintly from the south-west, directly towards the sinking wreck. I took advantage of this circumstance to read them a lecture. When I had subdued them and worked a little on their feelings, I said I never knew any good come of cruelty; whenever a ship or a boat had left a man behind who might have been saved, that disaster or destruction had invariably attended those who had so cruelly acted; that I was quite sure we never should escape from this danger if we did not show mercy to our fellow-creatures. “God,” said I, “has shown mercy to us in giving us this excellent boat to save us in our imminent danger; and He seems to say to us now, ‘Go back to the wreck, and rescue your fellow-sufferer.’ The wind blows directly towards her, and is foul for the point in which we intend to steer; hasten then,” pursued I, “obey the divine will; do your duty, and trust in God. I shall then be proud to command you, and have no doubt in bringing you safe into port.”This was the “pliant hour;” they sprang upon their oars, and pulled back to the wreck with alacrity. The poor captain, who had witnessed all that had passed, watched the progress of his cause with deep anxiety. No sooner did the boat touch the ship than he leaped into her, fell down on his knees, and thanked God aloud for his deliverance. He then fell on my neck, embraced me, kissed my cheek, and wept like a girl. The sailors, meanwhile, who never bear malice long, good-naturedly jumped up, and assisted him in getting his little articles into the boat; and as Mungo followed his master, shook hands with him all round, and swore he should be a black prince when he went back to Guinea. We also took in one or two more little articles of general use, which had been forgotten in our former hurry.We now shoved off for the last time; and had not proceeded more than two hundred yards from the ship, when she gave a heavy lurch on one side, recovered it, and rolled as deep on the other; then, as if endued with life and instinct, gave a pitch, and went down head foremost into the fathomless deep. We had scarcely time to behold this awful scene, when the wind again sprang up fair, from its old quarter, the east.“There,” said I, “heaven has declared itself in your favour already. You have got your fair wind again.”We thanked God for this; and having set our sail, I shaped my course for Cape St. Thomas, and we went to our frugal dinner with cheerful and grateful hearts.The weather was fine—the sea tolerably smooth—and as we had plenty of provisions and water, we did not suffer much, except from an apprehension of a change of wind, and the knowledge of our precarious situation. On the fifth day after leaving the wreck we discovered land at a great distance. I knew it to be the island of Trinidad and the rocks of Martin Vas. This island, which lies in latitude twenty degrees south, and longitude thirty degrees west, is not to be confounded with the island of the same name on the coast of Terra Firma in the West Indies, and now a British colony.On consulting Horsburgh, which I had in the boat, I found that the island which we were now approaching was formerly inhabited by the Portuguese, but long since abandoned. I continued steering towards it during the night, until we heard the breakers roaring against the rocks, when I hove-to to windward of the land, till daylight.The morning presented to our view a precipitous and rugged iron-bound coast, with high and pointed rocks, frowning defiance over the unappeasable and furious waves which broke incessantly at their feet, and recoiled to repeat the blow. Thus for ages had they been employed, and thus for ages will they continue, without making any impression visible to the eye of man. To land was impossible on the part of the coast now under our inspection, and we coasted along in hopes of finding some haven into which we might haul our boat, and secure her. The island appeared to be about nine miles long, evidently of volcanic formation, an assemblage of rocky mountains towering several hundred feet above the level of the sea. It was barren, except at the summit of the hills, where some trees formed a coronet at once beautiful and refreshing, but tantalising to look at, as they appeared utterly inaccessible; and even supposing I could have discovered a landing-place, I was in great doubt whether I should have availed myself of it, as the island appeared to produce nothing which could have added to our comfort, while delay would only have uselessly consumed our provisions. There did not appear to be a living creature on the island, and the danger of approaching to find a landing-place was most imminent.This unpromising appearance induced me to propose that we should continue our course to Rio Janeiro. The men were of another opinion. They said they had been too long afloat, cooped up, and that they should prefer remaining on the island to risking their lives any longer in so frail a boat on the wide ocean. We were still debating, when we came to a small spot of sand on which we discovered two wild hogs, which we conjectured had come down to feed on the shell fish; this decided them, and I consented to run to leeward of the island, and seek for a landing-place. We sounded the west end, following the remarks of Horsburgh, and ran for the cove of the Nine-Pin Rock. As we opened it, a scene of grandeur presented itself, which we had never met with before, and which in its kind is probably unrivalled in nature. An enormous rock rose, nearly perpendicularly, out of the sea, to the height of nine hundred or one thousand feet. It was as narrow at the base as it was at the top, and was formed exactly in the shape of a nine-pin, from which it derives its name. The sides appeared smooth and even to the top, which was covered with verdure, and was so far above us that the sea-birds, which in myriads screamed around it, were scarcely visible two-thirds of the way up. The sea beat violently against its base—the feathered tribe, in endless variety, had been for ages the undisturbed tenants of this natural monument; all its jutting points and little projections were covered with their white dung, and it seemed to me a wonderful effort of nature which had placed this mass in the position which it held in spite of the utmost efforts of the winds and waves of the wide ocean.Another curious phenomenon appeared at the other end of the cove. The lava had poured down into the sea, and formed a stratum; a second river of fused rock had poured again over the first, and had cooled so rapidly as to hang suspended, not having joined the former strata, but leaving a vacuum between for the water to fill up. The sea dashed violently between the two beds, and spouted magnificently through holes in the upper bed of lava to the height of sixty feet, resembling much the spouting of a whale, but with a noise and force infinitely greater. The sound, indeed, was tremendous, hollow, and awful. I could not help mentally adoring the works of the Creator, and my heart sunk within me at my own insignificance, folly, and wickedness.As we were now running along the shore, looking for our landing-place, and just going to take in the sail, the American captain, who sat close to the man at the helm, seemed attentively watching something on the larboard bow of the boat. In an instant he exclaimed, “Port your helm, my good fellow, port hard.” These words he accompanied with a push of the helm so violent as almost to throw overboard the man who sat on the larboard quarter. At the same moment, a heavy sea lifted the boat, and sent her many yards beyond and to the right of a pointed rock just flush or even with the water, which had escaped our notice, and which none suspected but the American captain (for these rocks do not show breakers every minute—if they did they would be easily avoided). On this we should most certainly have been dashed to pieces, had not the danger been seen, and avoided by the sudden and skilful motion of the helm; one moment more, and one foot nearer, and we were gone.“Merciful God!” said I, “to what fate am I reserved at last? How can I be sufficiently thankful for so much goodness!”I thanked the American for his attention—told my men how much we were indebted to him, and how amply he had repaid our kindness in taking him off the wreck.“Ah, lieutenant!” said the poor man, “it is a small turn I’ve done you for the kindness you have shown to me.”The water was very deep, the rocks being steep; so we lowered our sail, and getting our oars out, pulled in to look for a landing. At the further end of the cove, we discovered the wreck of a vessel lying on the beach. She was broken in two, and appeared to be copper-bottomed. This increased the eagerness of the men to land; we rowed close to the shore, but found that the boat would be dashed to pieces if we attempted it. The midshipman proposed that one of us should swim on shore, and, by ascending a bill, discover a place to lay the boat in. This I agreed to; and the quarter-master immediately threw off his clothes. I made a head-line fast to him under his arms, that we might pull him in if we found him exhausted. He went over the surf with great ease, until he came to the breakers on the beach, through which he could not force his way; for the moment he touched the ground with his foot, the recoil of the sea, and what is called by sailors the undertow, carried him back again, and left him in the rear of the last wave.Three times the brave fellow made the attempt, and with the same result. At last he sank, and we pulled him in very nearly dead. We, however, restored him by care and attention, and he went again to his usual duty. The midshipman now proposed that he should try to swim through the surf without the line, for that alone had impeded the progress of the quarter-master; this was true, but I would not allow him to run the risk, and we pulled along shore, until we came to a rock on which the surf beat very high, and which we avoided in consequence. This rock we discovered to be detached from the main; and within it, to our great joy, we saw smooth water; we pulled in, and succeeded in landing without much difficulty, and having secured our boat to a grapnel, and left two trusty men in charge of her, I proceeded with the rest to explore the cove; our attention was naturally first directed to the wreck which we had passed in the boat, and, after a quarter of an hour’s scrambling over huge fragments of broken rocks, which had been detached from the sides of the hill, and encumbered the beach, we arrived at the spot.The wreck proved to be a beautiful copper-bottomed schooner, of about a hundred and eighty tons burthen. She had been dashed on shore with great violence, and thrown many yards above the high-water mark. Her masts and spars were lying in all directions on the beach, which was strewed with her cargo. This consisted of a variety of toys and hardware, musical instruments, violins, flutes, fifes, and bird-organs. Some few remains of books, which I picked up, were French romances, with indelicate plates, and still worse text. These proved the vessel to be French. At a short distance from the wreck, on a rising knoll, we found three or four huts, rudely constructed out of the fragments; and, a little further off, a succession of graves, each surmounted with a cross I examined the huts, which contained some rude and simple relics of human tenancy: a few benches and tables, composed of boards roughly hewn out and nailed together; bones of goats and of the wild hog, with the remains of burnt wood. But we could not discover any traces of the name of the vessel or owner; nor were there any names marked or cut on the boards, as might have been expected, to show to whom the vessel belonged, and what had become of the survivors.This studied concealment of all information led us to the most accurate knowledge of her port of departure, her destination, and her object of trade. Being on the south-west side of the island, with her head lying to the north-east, she had, beyond all doubt, been running from Rio Janeiro towards the coast of Africa, and got on shore in the night. That she was going to fetch a cargo of slaves was equally clear, not only from the baubles with which she was freighted, but also from the interior fitting of the vessel, and from a number of hand and leg shackles which we found among the wreck, and which we knew were only used for the purposes of confining and securing the unhappy victims of this traffic.We took up our quarters in the huts for the night, and the next morning divided ourselves into three parties, to explore the island. I have before observed that we had muskets, but no powder, and therefore stood but little chance of killing any of the goats or wild hogs, with which we found the island abounded. One party sought the means of attaining the highest summit of the island; another went along the shore to the westward; while myself and two others went to the eastward. We crossed several ravines, with much difficulty, until we reached a long valley, which seemed to intersect the island.Here a wonderful and most melancholy phenomenon arrested our attention. Thousands and thousands of trees covered the valley, each of them about thirty feet high; but every tree was dead, and extended its leafless boughs to another—a forest of desolation, as if nature had at some particular moment ceased to vegetate! There was no under wood or grass. On the lowest of the dead boughs, the gannets, and other sea-birds, had built their nests in numbers uncountable. Their tameness, as Cowper says, “was shocking to me.” So unaccustomed did they seem to man, that the mothers, brooding over their young, only opened their beaks in a menacing attitude at us, as we passed by them.How to account satisfactorily for the simultaneous destruction of this vast forest of trees was very difficult: there was no want of rich earth for nourishment of the roots. The most probable cause appeared to me, a sudden and continued eruption of sulphuric effluvia from the volcano; or else, by some unusually heavy gale of wind or hurricane, the trees had been drenched with salt water to their roots. One or the other of these causes must have produced the effect. The philosopher, or the geologist must decide.We had the consolation to know that we should at least experience no want of food—the nests of the birds affording us a plentiful supply of eggs, and young ones of every age; with these we returned loaded to the cove. The party that had gone to the westward reported having seen some wild hogs, but were unable to secure any of them; and those who had attempted to ascend the mountain returned much fatigued, and one of their number missing. They reported that they had gained the summit of the mountain, where they had discovered a large plain, skirted by a species of fern tree, from twelve to eighteen feet high—that on this plain they had seen a herd of goats; and among them, could distinguish one of enormous size, which appeared to be their leader. He was as large as a pony; but all attempts to take one of them were utterly fruitless. The man who was missing had followed them further than they had. They waited some time for his return; but as he did not come to them, they concluded he had taken some other route to the cove. I did not quite like this story, fearing some dreadful accident had befallen the poor fellow, for whom we kept a watch, and had a fire burning the whole night, which, like the former one, we passed in the huts. We had an abundant supply of firewood from the wreck, and a stream of clear water ran close by our little village. The next morning, a party was sent in search of the man, and some were sent to fetch a supply of young gannets for our dinner. The latter brought back with them as many young birds as would suffice for two or three days; but of the three who went in quest of the missing man, only two returned. They reported that they could gain no tidings of him: that they had missed one of their own number, who had, no doubt, gone in pursuit of his shipmate.This intelligence occasioned a great deal of anxiety, and many surmises. The most prevalent opinion seemed to be that there were wild beasts on the island, and that our poor friends had become a prey to them. I determined, the next morning, to go in search of them myself, taking one or two chosen men with me. I should have mentioned, that when we left the sinking vessel, we had taken out a poodle dog, that was on board, first, because I would not allow the poor animal to perish; and secondly, because we might, if we had no better food, make a dinner of him. This was quite fair, as charity begins at home.This faithful animal became much attached to me, from whom he invariably received his portion of food. He never quitted me, nor followed anyone else; and he was my companion when I went on this excursion.We reached the summit of the first mountain, whence we saw the goats browsing on the second, and meant to go there in pursuit of the objects of our anxious search. I was some yards in advance of my companions, and the dog a little distance before me, near the shelving part of a rock, terminating in a precipice. The shelf I had to cross was about six or seven feet wide, and ten or twelve long, with a very little inclined plane towards the precipice, so that I thought it perfectly safe. A small rill of water trickled down from the rock above it, and, losing itself among the moss and grass, fell over the precipice below, which indeed was a frightful depth.This causeway was to all appearance safe, compared with many which we had passed, and I was just going to step upon it, when my dog ran before me, jumped on the fatal pass—his feet slipped from under him—he fell, and disappeared over the precipice! I started back—I heard a heavy squelch and a howl; another fainter succeeded, and all was still. I advanced with the utmost caution to the edge of the precipice, where I discovered that the rill of water had nourished a short moss, close and smooth as velvet, and so slippery as not to admit of the lightest footstep; this accounted for the sudden disappearance, and, as I concluded, the inevitable death of my dog.My first thoughts were those of gratitude for my miraculous escape; my second unwillingly glanced at the fate of my poor men, too probably lying lifeless at the foot of this mountain. I stated my fears to the two seamen who were with me, and who had just come up. The whole bore too much the appearance of truth to admit of a doubt. We descended the rocks by a circuitous and winding way; and, after an hour’s difficult and dangerous walk, we reached the spot, where all our fears were too fully confirmed. There lay the two dead bodies of our companions and that of my dog, all mangled in a shocking manner: both, it would appear, had attempted to cross the shelf in the same careless way which I was about to do, when Providence interposed the dog in my behalf.This singular dispensation was not lost upon me; indeed, latterly, I had been in such perils, and seen such hair-breadth escapes, that I became quite an altered and reflecting character. I returned to my men at the cove, thoughtful and melancholy; I told them of what had happened; and, having a prayer-book with me in my trunk, I proposed to them that I should read the evening prayers, and a thanksgiving for our deliverance.In this, the American captain, whose name was Green, most heartily concurred. Indeed, ever since this poor man had been received into the boat, he had been a very different character to what I had at first supposed him; he constantly refused his allowance of spirits, giving it among the sailors; he was silent and meditative; I often found him in prayer, and on these occasions I never interrupted him. At other times, he studied how he might make himself most useful. He would patch and mend the people’s clothes and shoes, or show them how to do it for themselves. Whenever any hard work was to be done, he was always the first to begin, and the last to leave off; and to such a degree did he carry his attention and kindness, that we all began to love him, and to treat him with great respect. He took charge of a watch when we were at sea, and never closed his eyes during his hour of duty.Nor was this the effect of fear, or the dread of ill-usage among so many Englishmen, whom his errors had led into so much misfortune. He very soon had an opportunity of proving that his altered conduct was the effect of sorrow and repentance. The next morning I sent a party round by the sea-shore, with directions to walk up the valley and bury the bodies of our unfortunate companions. The two men who had accompanied me were of the number sent on this service; when they returned, I pointed out to them how disastrous our residence had been on this fatal island, and how much better it had been for us if we had continued our course to Rio Janeiro, which being only two hundred and fifty or two hundred and sixty leagues distant, we should by that time nearly have reached: that we were now expending the most valuable part of our provisions, namely—our spirits and tobacco; while our boat, our only hope and resource, was not even in safety, since a gale of wind might destroy her. I therefore proposed to make immediate preparations for our departure, to which all unanimously agreed.We divided the various occupations; some went to fetch a sea-stock of young birds, which were killed and dressed to save our salt provisions; others filled all our water-casks. Captain Green superintended the rigging, sails, and oars of the boat, and saw that everything was complete in that department. The spirits remaining were getting low, and Captain Green, the midshipman, and myself, agreed to drink none, but reserve it for pressing emergencies. In three days after beginning our preparations, and the seventh after our landing, we embarked, and after being nearly swamped by the surf, once more hoisted our sail on the wide waters of the Atlantic Ocean.We were not destined, however, to encounter many dangers this time, or to reach the coast of South America: for we had not been many hours at sea, when a vessel hove in sight; she proved to be an American privateer brig, of fourteen guns and one hundred and thirty men, bound on a cruise off the Cape of Good Hope. As soon as she perceived us, she bore down, and in half an hour we were safe on board; when having bundled all our little stock of goods on her decks, the boat was cut adrift. My men were not well treated until they consented to enter for the privateer, which, after much persuasion and threats, they all did, except Thompson, contrary to my strongest remonstrances, and urging every argument in my power to dissuade them from such a fatal step.I remonstrated with the captain of the privateer, on what I deemed a violation of hospitality. “You found me,” I said, “on the wide ocean, in a frail boat, which some huge wave might have overwhelmed in a moment, or some fish, in sport, might have tossed in the air. You received me and my people with all the kindness and friendship which we could desire; but you mar it, by seducing the men from their allegiance to their lawful sovereign, inducing them to become rebels, and subjecting them to a capital punishment whenever they may (as they most probably will) fall into the hands of their own government.”The captain, who was an unpolished, but sensible, clear-headed Yankee, replied, that he was sorry I should take anything ill of him; that no affront was meant to me; that he had nothing whatever to do with my men, until they came voluntarily to him, and entered for his vessel; that he could not but admit, however, that they might have been persuaded to take this step by some of his own people. “And now, leftenant,” said he, “let me ask you a question. Suppose you commanded a British vessel, and ten or twelve of my men, if I was unlucky enough to be taken by you, should volunteer for your ship, and say they were natives of Newcastle, would you refuse them? Besides, before we went to war with you, you made no ceremony of taking men out of our merchant-ships, and even out of our ships of war, whenever you had an opportunity. Now, pray, where is the difference between your conduct and ours?”I replied, that it would not be very easy, nor, if it were, would it answer any good purpose, for us to discuss a question that had puzzled the wisest heads, both in his country and mine, for the last twenty years; that my present business was a case of its own, and must be considered abstractedly; that the fortune of war had thrown me in his power, and that he made a bad use of the temporary advantage of his situation, by allowing my men, who, after all, were poor, ignorant creatures, to be seduced from their duty, to desert their flag, and commit high treason, by which their lives were forfeited and their families rendered miserable; that whatever might have been the conduct of his government or mine, whatever line pursued by this or that captain, no precedent could make wrong right; and I left it to himself (seeing I had no other resource) to say, whether he was doing as he would be done by.“As for that matter,” said the captain, “we privateersmen don’t trouble our heads much about it; we always take care of number one; and if your men choose to say they are natives of Boston, and will enter for my ship, I must take them. Why,” continued he, “there is your best man, Thompson; I’d lay a demi-John of old Jamaica rum that he is a true-blooded Yankee, and if he was to speak his mind, would sooner fight under the stripes than the union.”“Damn the dog that says yon of Jock Thompson,” replied the Caledonian, who stood by. “I never deserted my colours yet, and I don’t think I ever shall. There is only one piece of advice I would wish to give to you and your officers, captain. I am a civil-spoken man, and never injured any soul breathing, except in the way of fair fighting; but if either of you, or any of your crew, offer to bribe me, or in any way to make me turn my back on my king and country, I’ll lay him on his back as flat as a flounder, if I am able; and if I am not able, I’ll try for it.”“That’s well spoken,” said the captain, “and I honour you for it. You may rely on it that I shall never tempt you, and if any of mine do it, they must take their chance.”Captain Green heard all this conversation; he took no part in it, but walked the deck in his usual pensive manner. When the captain of the privateer went below to work his reckoning, this unhappy man entered into conversation with me—he began by remarking—“What a noble specimen of a British sailor you have with you.”“Yes,” I replied, “he is one of the right sort—he comes from the land where the education of the poor contributes to the security of the rich; where a man is never thought the worse of for reading his Bible, and where the generality of the lower orders are brought up in the honest simplicity of primitive Christians.”“I guess,” said Green, “that you have not many such in your navy.”“More than you would suppose,” I replied; “and what will astonish you is, that though they are impressed, they seldom, if ever, desert; and yet they are retained on much lower wages than those they were taken from, or could obtain; but they have a high sense of moral and religious feeling, which keeps them to their duty.”“They must needs be discontented, for all that,” said Green, “Not necessarily so,” said I: “they derive many advantages from being in the navy, which they could not have in other employments. They have pensions for long services or wounds, are always taken care of in their old age, and their widows and children have much favour shown them, by the government, as well as by other public bodies and wealthy individuals. But we must finish this discussion another time,” continued I, “for I perceive the dinner is going into the cabin.”I received from the captain of the privateer every mark of respect and kindness that his means would allow. Much of this I owed to Green, and the black man Mungo, both of whom had represented my conduct in saving the life of him who had endangered mine and that of all my party. Green’s gratitude knew no bounds—he watched me night and day, as a mother would watch a darling child; he anticipated any want or wish I could have, and was never happy until it was gratified. The seamen on board the vessel were all equally kind and attentive to me, so highly did they appreciate the act of saving the life of their countryman, and exposing my own in quelling a mutiny.We cruised to the southward of the Cape, and made one or two captures; but they were of little consequence. One of them, being a trader from Mozambique, was destroyed; the other, a slaver from Madagascar, the captain knew not what to do with. He therefore took out eight or ten of the stoutest male negroes to assist in working his vessel, and then let the prize go.

Miranda.How came we ashore!Prospero.By Providence divine....Sit still, and hear the last of our sea-sorrow.Here in this island we arrived.Shakespeare.

Miranda.How came we ashore!Prospero.By Providence divine....Sit still, and hear the last of our sea-sorrow.Here in this island we arrived.Shakespeare.

A frigate called at the island for turtle; and, having represented my case to the captain, he offered to take me on board, telling me at the same time that he was going much further to the southward, to relieve another cruiser, who would then return to England, and the captain of her would, no doubt, give me a passage home. I accordingly made hasty preparations for my departure; took leave of all my kind friends at the barracks, for kind indeed they were tome, although thoughtless and foolish towards themselves. I bade adieu to the families on the island, in whose houses and at whose tables I had experienced the most liberal hospitality; and last, though not least, I took leave of poor Carlotta.

This was a difficult task to perform, but it was imperative. I told her that I was ordered on board by my captain, who, being a very different person from the last, I dared not disobey. I promised to return to her soon. I offered her money and presents, but she would accept of nothing but a small locket, to wear for my sake. I purchased the freedom of poor Sophy, the black girl who had saved my life. The little creature wept bitterly at my coming away; but I could do no more for her. As for Carlotta, I learned afterwards that she went on board every ship that arrived to gain intelligence of me, who seldom or never gave her a thought.

We sailed; and, steering away to the south-east with moderate winds and fine weather, captured, at the end of that time, a large American ship, which had made a devious course from the French coast, in hopes of avoiding our cruisers; she was about four hundred tons, deeply laden, and bound to Laguira, with a valuable cargo. The captain sent for me, and told me that if I chose to take charge of her, as prize-master, I might proceed to England direct. This plan exactly suited me, and I consented, only begging to have a boatswain’s mate, named Thompson, to go along with me; he was an old shipmate, and had been one of my gig’s crew when we had the affair in Basque Roads: he was a steady, resolute, quiet, sober, raw-boned Caledonian, from Aberdeen, and a man that I knew would stand by me in the hour of need. He was ordered to go with me, and the necessary supply of provisions and spirits were on board. I received my orders, and took my leave of my new captain, who was both a good seaman and an excellent officer.

When I got on board the prize, I found all the prisoners busy packing up their things, and they became exceedingly alert in placing them in the boat which was to convey them on board the frigate. Indeed they all crowded into her with an unusual degree of activity; but this did not particularly strike my attention at the time. My directions were to retain the captain and one man with me, in order to condemn the vessel in the court of admiralty.

Occupied with many objects at once, all important to me, as I was so soon to part company with the frigate, I did not recollect this part of my orders, and that I was detaining the boat, until the young midshipman who had charge of her asked me if he might return on board and take the prisoners. I then went on deck, and seeing the whole of them, with their chests and bags, seated very quietly in the boat, and ready to shove off, I desired the captain and one of the American seamen to come on board again, and to bring their clothes with them. I did not remark the unwillingness of the captain to obey this order, until told of it by the midshipman; his chest and goods were immediately handed in upon deck, and the signal from the frigate being repeated, with a light for the boat to return (for it was now dark), she shoved off hastily, and was soon out of sight.

“Stop the boat!—for God’s sake stop the boat!” cried the captain.

“Why should I stop the boat?” said I; “my orders are positive, and you must remain with me.”

I then went below for a minute or two, and the captain followed me.

“As you value your life, sir,” said he, “stop the boat.”

“Why?” asked I, eagerly.

“Because, sir,” said he, “the ship has been scuttled by the men, and will sink in a few hours: you cannot save her, for you cannot get at her leaks.”

I now did indeed see the necessity of stopping the boat; but it was too late: she was out of sight. The lantern, the signal for her return, had been hauled down, a proof that she had got on board. I hoisted two lights at the mizen peak, and ordered a musket to be fired; but, unfortunately, the cartridges had either not been put in the boat which brought me, or they had been taken back in her. One of my lights went out; the other was not seen by the frigate. We hoisted another light, but it gained no notice: the ship had evidently made sail. I stood after her as fast as I could, in hopes of her seeing us that night, or taking us out the next morning, should we be afloat.

But my vessel, deeply laden, was already getting waterlogged, and would not sail on a wind more than four miles an hour. All hope in that quarter vanished. I then endeavoured to discover from the captain where the leaks were, that we might stop them; but he had been drinking so freely, that I could get nothing from him but Dutch courage and braggadocio. The poor black man who had been left with the captain was next consulted. All he knew was, that, when at Bordeaux, the captain had caused holes to be bored in the ship’s bottom, that he might pull the plugs out whenever he liked, swearing, at the same time, that she never should enter a British port. He did not know where the leaks were situated, though it was evident to me that they were in the after and also in the fore parts of the ship, low down, and now deep under water, both inside as well as out. The black man added that the captain had let the water in, and that was all he knew.

I again spoke to the captain, but he was too far gone to reason with: he had got drunk to die, because he was afraid to die sober—no unusual case with sailors.

“Don’t tell me; damn me, who is afeard to die? I ain’t. I swore she should never enter a British port, and I have kept my word.”

He then began to use curses and execrations; and at last fell on the deck in a fit of drunken frenzy.

I now called my people all together, and having stated to them the peril of our situation, we agreed that a large boat which lay on the booms should be instantly hoisted out, and stowed with everything necessary for a voyage. Our clothes, bread, salt meat, and water, were put into her, with my sextant and spy-glass. The liquor which was in the cabin I gave in charge to the midshipman who was sent with me; and, having completely stowed our boat, and prepared her with a good lug-sail, we made her fast with a couple of stout tow-ropes, and veered her astern, with four men in her, keeping on our course in the supposed track of the frigate till daylight.

That wished for hour arrived, but no frigate was to be seen, even from the mast-head. The ship was getting deeper and deeper, and we prepared to take to the boat. I calculated the nearest part of South America to be seven hundred miles from us, and that we were more than twice that distance from Rio Janeiro. I did not however despond, for, under all circumstances, we were extremely well off: and I inspired the men with so much confidence, that they obeyed in everything with the utmost alacrity and cheerfulness, except in one single point.

Finding the ship could not in all, probability float more than an hour or two, I determined to quit her, and ordered the boat alongside. The men got into her, stepped the mast, hooked on the lug-sail, ready to hoist at my orders; and, without my bidding, had spread my boat cloak in the stern-sheets, and made a comfortable place for me to repose in. The master proceeded to get into the boat, but the men repulsed him with kicks, blows, and hisses, swearing most dreadfully that if he attempted to come in, they would throw him overboard. Although in some measure I participated in their angry feeling, yet I could not reconcile myself to leave a fellow-creature thus to perish, even in the pit which he had dug for others; and this too at a time when we needed every indulgence from the Almighty for ourselves, and every assistance from His hand to conduct us into a port.

“He deserves to die; it is all his own doings,” said they; “come into the boat yourself, sir, or we must shove off without you.”

The poor captain—who after sleeping four hours had recovered his senses and felt all the horror of his situation—wept, screamed, tore his hair, laid hold of my coat, from which only the strength of my men could disengage him. He clung to life with a passion of feeling which I never saw in a criminal condemned by the law; he fell on his knees before me, as he appealed to us all collectively and separately; he reminded us of his wife and starving children at Baltimore, and he implored us to think of them and of our own.

I was melted to tears, I confess; but my men heard him with the most stoical unconcern. Two of them threw him over to the opposite side of the deck; and before he could recover from the violence of the fall, pushed me into the boat, and shoved off. The wretched man had by this time crawled over to the side we had just left; and throwing himself on his knees, again screamed out, “Oh, mercy, mercy, mercy!—For God’s sake, have mercy, if you expect any!—O God! my wife and babes!”

His prayers, I lament to say, had no effect on the exasperated seamen. He then fell into a fit of cursing and blasphemy, evidently bereft of his senses; and in this state he continued for some minutes, while we lay alongside, the bowman holding on with the boat-hook only. I was secretly determined not to leave him, although I foresaw a mutiny in the boat in consequence. At length, I gave the order to shove off. The unhappy captain, who, till that moment; might have entertained some faint hope from the lurking compassion which he perceived I felt for him, now resigned himself to despair of a more sullen and horrible aspect. He sat himself down on one of the hen-coops, and gazed on us with a ghastly eye. I cannot remember ever seeing a more shocking picture of human misery.

While I looked at him, the black man, Mungo, who belonged to the ship, sprang overboard from the boat and swam back to the wreck. Seizing a rope which hung from the gangway, he ascended the side, and joined his master. We called to him to come back, or we, should leave him behind.

“No massa,” replied the faithful creature; “me no want to lib: no takee master Green no takee me! Mungo lib good many years wi massa cappen. Mungo die with massa, and go back to Guinea!”

I now thought we had given the captain a sufficient lesson for his treachery and murderous intentions. Had I, indeed, ever seriously intended to leave him, the conduct of poor Mungo would have awakened me to a sense of my duty. I ordered Thompson, who was steering the boat, to put the helm a starboard, and lay her alongside again. No sooner was this command given, than three or four of the men jumped up in a menacing attitude, and swore that they would not go back for him; that he was the cause of all their sufferings; and that if I chose to share his fate, I might, but into the boat he should not come. One of them, more daring than the rest, attempted to take the tiller out of Thompson’s hand; but the trusty seaman seized him by the collar, and in an instant threw him overboard. The other men were coming aft to avenge this treatment of their leader; but I drew my sword, and pointing it at the breast of the nearest mutineer, desired him, on pain of instant death, to return to his seat. He had heard my character, and knew that I was not to be trifled with.

A mutineer is easily subdued with common firmness. He obeyed, but was very sullen, and I heard many mutinous expressions among the men. One of them said that I was not their officer—that I did not belong to the frigate.

“That,” I replied, “is a case of which I shall not allow you to be the judges. I hold in my pocket a commission from the king’s lord high admiral, or the commissioners for executing that duty. Your captain, and mine also, holds a similar commission. Under this authority I act. Let me see the man that dares dispute it—I will hang him at the yard-arm of the wreck before she goes down;” and, looking at the man whom Thompson had thrown overboard, and who still held by the gunwale of the boat, without daring to get in, I asked him if he would obey me or not? He replied that he would, and hoped I would forgive him. I said that my forgiveness would depend entirely on the conduct of himself and the others: that he must recollect that if our own ship or any other man-of-war picked us up, he was liable, with three or four more, to be hanged for mutiny; and that nothing but his and their future obedience could save them from that punishment whenever we reached a port.

This harangue had a very tranquillising effect. The offenders all begged pardon, and assured me they would deserve my forgiveness by their future submission.

All this passed at some little distance from the wreck, but within hearing; and while it was going on, the wind, which had been fair when we put off, gradually died away, and blew faintly from the south-west, directly towards the sinking wreck. I took advantage of this circumstance to read them a lecture. When I had subdued them and worked a little on their feelings, I said I never knew any good come of cruelty; whenever a ship or a boat had left a man behind who might have been saved, that disaster or destruction had invariably attended those who had so cruelly acted; that I was quite sure we never should escape from this danger if we did not show mercy to our fellow-creatures. “God,” said I, “has shown mercy to us in giving us this excellent boat to save us in our imminent danger; and He seems to say to us now, ‘Go back to the wreck, and rescue your fellow-sufferer.’ The wind blows directly towards her, and is foul for the point in which we intend to steer; hasten then,” pursued I, “obey the divine will; do your duty, and trust in God. I shall then be proud to command you, and have no doubt in bringing you safe into port.”

This was the “pliant hour;” they sprang upon their oars, and pulled back to the wreck with alacrity. The poor captain, who had witnessed all that had passed, watched the progress of his cause with deep anxiety. No sooner did the boat touch the ship than he leaped into her, fell down on his knees, and thanked God aloud for his deliverance. He then fell on my neck, embraced me, kissed my cheek, and wept like a girl. The sailors, meanwhile, who never bear malice long, good-naturedly jumped up, and assisted him in getting his little articles into the boat; and as Mungo followed his master, shook hands with him all round, and swore he should be a black prince when he went back to Guinea. We also took in one or two more little articles of general use, which had been forgotten in our former hurry.

We now shoved off for the last time; and had not proceeded more than two hundred yards from the ship, when she gave a heavy lurch on one side, recovered it, and rolled as deep on the other; then, as if endued with life and instinct, gave a pitch, and went down head foremost into the fathomless deep. We had scarcely time to behold this awful scene, when the wind again sprang up fair, from its old quarter, the east.

“There,” said I, “heaven has declared itself in your favour already. You have got your fair wind again.”

We thanked God for this; and having set our sail, I shaped my course for Cape St. Thomas, and we went to our frugal dinner with cheerful and grateful hearts.

The weather was fine—the sea tolerably smooth—and as we had plenty of provisions and water, we did not suffer much, except from an apprehension of a change of wind, and the knowledge of our precarious situation. On the fifth day after leaving the wreck we discovered land at a great distance. I knew it to be the island of Trinidad and the rocks of Martin Vas. This island, which lies in latitude twenty degrees south, and longitude thirty degrees west, is not to be confounded with the island of the same name on the coast of Terra Firma in the West Indies, and now a British colony.

On consulting Horsburgh, which I had in the boat, I found that the island which we were now approaching was formerly inhabited by the Portuguese, but long since abandoned. I continued steering towards it during the night, until we heard the breakers roaring against the rocks, when I hove-to to windward of the land, till daylight.

The morning presented to our view a precipitous and rugged iron-bound coast, with high and pointed rocks, frowning defiance over the unappeasable and furious waves which broke incessantly at their feet, and recoiled to repeat the blow. Thus for ages had they been employed, and thus for ages will they continue, without making any impression visible to the eye of man. To land was impossible on the part of the coast now under our inspection, and we coasted along in hopes of finding some haven into which we might haul our boat, and secure her. The island appeared to be about nine miles long, evidently of volcanic formation, an assemblage of rocky mountains towering several hundred feet above the level of the sea. It was barren, except at the summit of the hills, where some trees formed a coronet at once beautiful and refreshing, but tantalising to look at, as they appeared utterly inaccessible; and even supposing I could have discovered a landing-place, I was in great doubt whether I should have availed myself of it, as the island appeared to produce nothing which could have added to our comfort, while delay would only have uselessly consumed our provisions. There did not appear to be a living creature on the island, and the danger of approaching to find a landing-place was most imminent.

This unpromising appearance induced me to propose that we should continue our course to Rio Janeiro. The men were of another opinion. They said they had been too long afloat, cooped up, and that they should prefer remaining on the island to risking their lives any longer in so frail a boat on the wide ocean. We were still debating, when we came to a small spot of sand on which we discovered two wild hogs, which we conjectured had come down to feed on the shell fish; this decided them, and I consented to run to leeward of the island, and seek for a landing-place. We sounded the west end, following the remarks of Horsburgh, and ran for the cove of the Nine-Pin Rock. As we opened it, a scene of grandeur presented itself, which we had never met with before, and which in its kind is probably unrivalled in nature. An enormous rock rose, nearly perpendicularly, out of the sea, to the height of nine hundred or one thousand feet. It was as narrow at the base as it was at the top, and was formed exactly in the shape of a nine-pin, from which it derives its name. The sides appeared smooth and even to the top, which was covered with verdure, and was so far above us that the sea-birds, which in myriads screamed around it, were scarcely visible two-thirds of the way up. The sea beat violently against its base—the feathered tribe, in endless variety, had been for ages the undisturbed tenants of this natural monument; all its jutting points and little projections were covered with their white dung, and it seemed to me a wonderful effort of nature which had placed this mass in the position which it held in spite of the utmost efforts of the winds and waves of the wide ocean.

Another curious phenomenon appeared at the other end of the cove. The lava had poured down into the sea, and formed a stratum; a second river of fused rock had poured again over the first, and had cooled so rapidly as to hang suspended, not having joined the former strata, but leaving a vacuum between for the water to fill up. The sea dashed violently between the two beds, and spouted magnificently through holes in the upper bed of lava to the height of sixty feet, resembling much the spouting of a whale, but with a noise and force infinitely greater. The sound, indeed, was tremendous, hollow, and awful. I could not help mentally adoring the works of the Creator, and my heart sunk within me at my own insignificance, folly, and wickedness.

As we were now running along the shore, looking for our landing-place, and just going to take in the sail, the American captain, who sat close to the man at the helm, seemed attentively watching something on the larboard bow of the boat. In an instant he exclaimed, “Port your helm, my good fellow, port hard.” These words he accompanied with a push of the helm so violent as almost to throw overboard the man who sat on the larboard quarter. At the same moment, a heavy sea lifted the boat, and sent her many yards beyond and to the right of a pointed rock just flush or even with the water, which had escaped our notice, and which none suspected but the American captain (for these rocks do not show breakers every minute—if they did they would be easily avoided). On this we should most certainly have been dashed to pieces, had not the danger been seen, and avoided by the sudden and skilful motion of the helm; one moment more, and one foot nearer, and we were gone.

“Merciful God!” said I, “to what fate am I reserved at last? How can I be sufficiently thankful for so much goodness!”

I thanked the American for his attention—told my men how much we were indebted to him, and how amply he had repaid our kindness in taking him off the wreck.

“Ah, lieutenant!” said the poor man, “it is a small turn I’ve done you for the kindness you have shown to me.”

The water was very deep, the rocks being steep; so we lowered our sail, and getting our oars out, pulled in to look for a landing. At the further end of the cove, we discovered the wreck of a vessel lying on the beach. She was broken in two, and appeared to be copper-bottomed. This increased the eagerness of the men to land; we rowed close to the shore, but found that the boat would be dashed to pieces if we attempted it. The midshipman proposed that one of us should swim on shore, and, by ascending a bill, discover a place to lay the boat in. This I agreed to; and the quarter-master immediately threw off his clothes. I made a head-line fast to him under his arms, that we might pull him in if we found him exhausted. He went over the surf with great ease, until he came to the breakers on the beach, through which he could not force his way; for the moment he touched the ground with his foot, the recoil of the sea, and what is called by sailors the undertow, carried him back again, and left him in the rear of the last wave.

Three times the brave fellow made the attempt, and with the same result. At last he sank, and we pulled him in very nearly dead. We, however, restored him by care and attention, and he went again to his usual duty. The midshipman now proposed that he should try to swim through the surf without the line, for that alone had impeded the progress of the quarter-master; this was true, but I would not allow him to run the risk, and we pulled along shore, until we came to a rock on which the surf beat very high, and which we avoided in consequence. This rock we discovered to be detached from the main; and within it, to our great joy, we saw smooth water; we pulled in, and succeeded in landing without much difficulty, and having secured our boat to a grapnel, and left two trusty men in charge of her, I proceeded with the rest to explore the cove; our attention was naturally first directed to the wreck which we had passed in the boat, and, after a quarter of an hour’s scrambling over huge fragments of broken rocks, which had been detached from the sides of the hill, and encumbered the beach, we arrived at the spot.

The wreck proved to be a beautiful copper-bottomed schooner, of about a hundred and eighty tons burthen. She had been dashed on shore with great violence, and thrown many yards above the high-water mark. Her masts and spars were lying in all directions on the beach, which was strewed with her cargo. This consisted of a variety of toys and hardware, musical instruments, violins, flutes, fifes, and bird-organs. Some few remains of books, which I picked up, were French romances, with indelicate plates, and still worse text. These proved the vessel to be French. At a short distance from the wreck, on a rising knoll, we found three or four huts, rudely constructed out of the fragments; and, a little further off, a succession of graves, each surmounted with a cross I examined the huts, which contained some rude and simple relics of human tenancy: a few benches and tables, composed of boards roughly hewn out and nailed together; bones of goats and of the wild hog, with the remains of burnt wood. But we could not discover any traces of the name of the vessel or owner; nor were there any names marked or cut on the boards, as might have been expected, to show to whom the vessel belonged, and what had become of the survivors.

This studied concealment of all information led us to the most accurate knowledge of her port of departure, her destination, and her object of trade. Being on the south-west side of the island, with her head lying to the north-east, she had, beyond all doubt, been running from Rio Janeiro towards the coast of Africa, and got on shore in the night. That she was going to fetch a cargo of slaves was equally clear, not only from the baubles with which she was freighted, but also from the interior fitting of the vessel, and from a number of hand and leg shackles which we found among the wreck, and which we knew were only used for the purposes of confining and securing the unhappy victims of this traffic.

We took up our quarters in the huts for the night, and the next morning divided ourselves into three parties, to explore the island. I have before observed that we had muskets, but no powder, and therefore stood but little chance of killing any of the goats or wild hogs, with which we found the island abounded. One party sought the means of attaining the highest summit of the island; another went along the shore to the westward; while myself and two others went to the eastward. We crossed several ravines, with much difficulty, until we reached a long valley, which seemed to intersect the island.

Here a wonderful and most melancholy phenomenon arrested our attention. Thousands and thousands of trees covered the valley, each of them about thirty feet high; but every tree was dead, and extended its leafless boughs to another—a forest of desolation, as if nature had at some particular moment ceased to vegetate! There was no under wood or grass. On the lowest of the dead boughs, the gannets, and other sea-birds, had built their nests in numbers uncountable. Their tameness, as Cowper says, “was shocking to me.” So unaccustomed did they seem to man, that the mothers, brooding over their young, only opened their beaks in a menacing attitude at us, as we passed by them.

How to account satisfactorily for the simultaneous destruction of this vast forest of trees was very difficult: there was no want of rich earth for nourishment of the roots. The most probable cause appeared to me, a sudden and continued eruption of sulphuric effluvia from the volcano; or else, by some unusually heavy gale of wind or hurricane, the trees had been drenched with salt water to their roots. One or the other of these causes must have produced the effect. The philosopher, or the geologist must decide.

We had the consolation to know that we should at least experience no want of food—the nests of the birds affording us a plentiful supply of eggs, and young ones of every age; with these we returned loaded to the cove. The party that had gone to the westward reported having seen some wild hogs, but were unable to secure any of them; and those who had attempted to ascend the mountain returned much fatigued, and one of their number missing. They reported that they had gained the summit of the mountain, where they had discovered a large plain, skirted by a species of fern tree, from twelve to eighteen feet high—that on this plain they had seen a herd of goats; and among them, could distinguish one of enormous size, which appeared to be their leader. He was as large as a pony; but all attempts to take one of them were utterly fruitless. The man who was missing had followed them further than they had. They waited some time for his return; but as he did not come to them, they concluded he had taken some other route to the cove. I did not quite like this story, fearing some dreadful accident had befallen the poor fellow, for whom we kept a watch, and had a fire burning the whole night, which, like the former one, we passed in the huts. We had an abundant supply of firewood from the wreck, and a stream of clear water ran close by our little village. The next morning, a party was sent in search of the man, and some were sent to fetch a supply of young gannets for our dinner. The latter brought back with them as many young birds as would suffice for two or three days; but of the three who went in quest of the missing man, only two returned. They reported that they could gain no tidings of him: that they had missed one of their own number, who had, no doubt, gone in pursuit of his shipmate.

This intelligence occasioned a great deal of anxiety, and many surmises. The most prevalent opinion seemed to be that there were wild beasts on the island, and that our poor friends had become a prey to them. I determined, the next morning, to go in search of them myself, taking one or two chosen men with me. I should have mentioned, that when we left the sinking vessel, we had taken out a poodle dog, that was on board, first, because I would not allow the poor animal to perish; and secondly, because we might, if we had no better food, make a dinner of him. This was quite fair, as charity begins at home.

This faithful animal became much attached to me, from whom he invariably received his portion of food. He never quitted me, nor followed anyone else; and he was my companion when I went on this excursion.

We reached the summit of the first mountain, whence we saw the goats browsing on the second, and meant to go there in pursuit of the objects of our anxious search. I was some yards in advance of my companions, and the dog a little distance before me, near the shelving part of a rock, terminating in a precipice. The shelf I had to cross was about six or seven feet wide, and ten or twelve long, with a very little inclined plane towards the precipice, so that I thought it perfectly safe. A small rill of water trickled down from the rock above it, and, losing itself among the moss and grass, fell over the precipice below, which indeed was a frightful depth.

This causeway was to all appearance safe, compared with many which we had passed, and I was just going to step upon it, when my dog ran before me, jumped on the fatal pass—his feet slipped from under him—he fell, and disappeared over the precipice! I started back—I heard a heavy squelch and a howl; another fainter succeeded, and all was still. I advanced with the utmost caution to the edge of the precipice, where I discovered that the rill of water had nourished a short moss, close and smooth as velvet, and so slippery as not to admit of the lightest footstep; this accounted for the sudden disappearance, and, as I concluded, the inevitable death of my dog.

My first thoughts were those of gratitude for my miraculous escape; my second unwillingly glanced at the fate of my poor men, too probably lying lifeless at the foot of this mountain. I stated my fears to the two seamen who were with me, and who had just come up. The whole bore too much the appearance of truth to admit of a doubt. We descended the rocks by a circuitous and winding way; and, after an hour’s difficult and dangerous walk, we reached the spot, where all our fears were too fully confirmed. There lay the two dead bodies of our companions and that of my dog, all mangled in a shocking manner: both, it would appear, had attempted to cross the shelf in the same careless way which I was about to do, when Providence interposed the dog in my behalf.

This singular dispensation was not lost upon me; indeed, latterly, I had been in such perils, and seen such hair-breadth escapes, that I became quite an altered and reflecting character. I returned to my men at the cove, thoughtful and melancholy; I told them of what had happened; and, having a prayer-book with me in my trunk, I proposed to them that I should read the evening prayers, and a thanksgiving for our deliverance.

In this, the American captain, whose name was Green, most heartily concurred. Indeed, ever since this poor man had been received into the boat, he had been a very different character to what I had at first supposed him; he constantly refused his allowance of spirits, giving it among the sailors; he was silent and meditative; I often found him in prayer, and on these occasions I never interrupted him. At other times, he studied how he might make himself most useful. He would patch and mend the people’s clothes and shoes, or show them how to do it for themselves. Whenever any hard work was to be done, he was always the first to begin, and the last to leave off; and to such a degree did he carry his attention and kindness, that we all began to love him, and to treat him with great respect. He took charge of a watch when we were at sea, and never closed his eyes during his hour of duty.

Nor was this the effect of fear, or the dread of ill-usage among so many Englishmen, whom his errors had led into so much misfortune. He very soon had an opportunity of proving that his altered conduct was the effect of sorrow and repentance. The next morning I sent a party round by the sea-shore, with directions to walk up the valley and bury the bodies of our unfortunate companions. The two men who had accompanied me were of the number sent on this service; when they returned, I pointed out to them how disastrous our residence had been on this fatal island, and how much better it had been for us if we had continued our course to Rio Janeiro, which being only two hundred and fifty or two hundred and sixty leagues distant, we should by that time nearly have reached: that we were now expending the most valuable part of our provisions, namely—our spirits and tobacco; while our boat, our only hope and resource, was not even in safety, since a gale of wind might destroy her. I therefore proposed to make immediate preparations for our departure, to which all unanimously agreed.

We divided the various occupations; some went to fetch a sea-stock of young birds, which were killed and dressed to save our salt provisions; others filled all our water-casks. Captain Green superintended the rigging, sails, and oars of the boat, and saw that everything was complete in that department. The spirits remaining were getting low, and Captain Green, the midshipman, and myself, agreed to drink none, but reserve it for pressing emergencies. In three days after beginning our preparations, and the seventh after our landing, we embarked, and after being nearly swamped by the surf, once more hoisted our sail on the wide waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

We were not destined, however, to encounter many dangers this time, or to reach the coast of South America: for we had not been many hours at sea, when a vessel hove in sight; she proved to be an American privateer brig, of fourteen guns and one hundred and thirty men, bound on a cruise off the Cape of Good Hope. As soon as she perceived us, she bore down, and in half an hour we were safe on board; when having bundled all our little stock of goods on her decks, the boat was cut adrift. My men were not well treated until they consented to enter for the privateer, which, after much persuasion and threats, they all did, except Thompson, contrary to my strongest remonstrances, and urging every argument in my power to dissuade them from such a fatal step.

I remonstrated with the captain of the privateer, on what I deemed a violation of hospitality. “You found me,” I said, “on the wide ocean, in a frail boat, which some huge wave might have overwhelmed in a moment, or some fish, in sport, might have tossed in the air. You received me and my people with all the kindness and friendship which we could desire; but you mar it, by seducing the men from their allegiance to their lawful sovereign, inducing them to become rebels, and subjecting them to a capital punishment whenever they may (as they most probably will) fall into the hands of their own government.”

The captain, who was an unpolished, but sensible, clear-headed Yankee, replied, that he was sorry I should take anything ill of him; that no affront was meant to me; that he had nothing whatever to do with my men, until they came voluntarily to him, and entered for his vessel; that he could not but admit, however, that they might have been persuaded to take this step by some of his own people. “And now, leftenant,” said he, “let me ask you a question. Suppose you commanded a British vessel, and ten or twelve of my men, if I was unlucky enough to be taken by you, should volunteer for your ship, and say they were natives of Newcastle, would you refuse them? Besides, before we went to war with you, you made no ceremony of taking men out of our merchant-ships, and even out of our ships of war, whenever you had an opportunity. Now, pray, where is the difference between your conduct and ours?”

I replied, that it would not be very easy, nor, if it were, would it answer any good purpose, for us to discuss a question that had puzzled the wisest heads, both in his country and mine, for the last twenty years; that my present business was a case of its own, and must be considered abstractedly; that the fortune of war had thrown me in his power, and that he made a bad use of the temporary advantage of his situation, by allowing my men, who, after all, were poor, ignorant creatures, to be seduced from their duty, to desert their flag, and commit high treason, by which their lives were forfeited and their families rendered miserable; that whatever might have been the conduct of his government or mine, whatever line pursued by this or that captain, no precedent could make wrong right; and I left it to himself (seeing I had no other resource) to say, whether he was doing as he would be done by.

“As for that matter,” said the captain, “we privateersmen don’t trouble our heads much about it; we always take care of number one; and if your men choose to say they are natives of Boston, and will enter for my ship, I must take them. Why,” continued he, “there is your best man, Thompson; I’d lay a demi-John of old Jamaica rum that he is a true-blooded Yankee, and if he was to speak his mind, would sooner fight under the stripes than the union.”

“Damn the dog that says yon of Jock Thompson,” replied the Caledonian, who stood by. “I never deserted my colours yet, and I don’t think I ever shall. There is only one piece of advice I would wish to give to you and your officers, captain. I am a civil-spoken man, and never injured any soul breathing, except in the way of fair fighting; but if either of you, or any of your crew, offer to bribe me, or in any way to make me turn my back on my king and country, I’ll lay him on his back as flat as a flounder, if I am able; and if I am not able, I’ll try for it.”

“That’s well spoken,” said the captain, “and I honour you for it. You may rely on it that I shall never tempt you, and if any of mine do it, they must take their chance.”

Captain Green heard all this conversation; he took no part in it, but walked the deck in his usual pensive manner. When the captain of the privateer went below to work his reckoning, this unhappy man entered into conversation with me—he began by remarking—“What a noble specimen of a British sailor you have with you.”

“Yes,” I replied, “he is one of the right sort—he comes from the land where the education of the poor contributes to the security of the rich; where a man is never thought the worse of for reading his Bible, and where the generality of the lower orders are brought up in the honest simplicity of primitive Christians.”

“I guess,” said Green, “that you have not many such in your navy.”

“More than you would suppose,” I replied; “and what will astonish you is, that though they are impressed, they seldom, if ever, desert; and yet they are retained on much lower wages than those they were taken from, or could obtain; but they have a high sense of moral and religious feeling, which keeps them to their duty.”

“They must needs be discontented, for all that,” said Green, “Not necessarily so,” said I: “they derive many advantages from being in the navy, which they could not have in other employments. They have pensions for long services or wounds, are always taken care of in their old age, and their widows and children have much favour shown them, by the government, as well as by other public bodies and wealthy individuals. But we must finish this discussion another time,” continued I, “for I perceive the dinner is going into the cabin.”

I received from the captain of the privateer every mark of respect and kindness that his means would allow. Much of this I owed to Green, and the black man Mungo, both of whom had represented my conduct in saving the life of him who had endangered mine and that of all my party. Green’s gratitude knew no bounds—he watched me night and day, as a mother would watch a darling child; he anticipated any want or wish I could have, and was never happy until it was gratified. The seamen on board the vessel were all equally kind and attentive to me, so highly did they appreciate the act of saving the life of their countryman, and exposing my own in quelling a mutiny.

We cruised to the southward of the Cape, and made one or two captures; but they were of little consequence. One of them, being a trader from Mozambique, was destroyed; the other, a slaver from Madagascar, the captain knew not what to do with. He therefore took out eight or ten of the stoutest male negroes to assist in working his vessel, and then let the prize go.

Chapter Twenty.But who is this? What thing of seaComes this way sailing,Like a stately shipWith all her bravery on, and tackle trim?Milton.The privateer was called theTrue-blooded Yankee. She was first bound to the island of Tristan d’Acunha, where she expected to meet her consort, belonging to the same owners, and who had preceded her, when their directions were to cruise between the Cape and Madagascar, for certain homeward bound extra Indiamen, one or two of which she hoped would reward all the trouble and expense of the outfit.We reached the island without any material incident. I had observed, with concern, that the second mate, whose name was Peleg Oswald, was a sour, ferocious, quarrelsome man; and that although I was kindly treated by the captain, whose name was Peters, and by the chief mate, whose name was Methusalem Solomon, I never could conciliate the good-will of Peleg Oswald.Green, the captain, who came with me, was, from the time I saved his life, an altered man. He had been, as I was informed, a drunken profligate; but from the moment when I received him into my boat, his manners and habits seemed as completely changed as if he were a different being. He never drank more than was sufficient to quench his thirst—he never swore—he never used any offensive language. He read the Scriptures constantly, was regular in the morning and evening devotion, and on every occasion of quarrel or ill-will in the brig, which was perpetually occurring, Green was the umpire and the peacemaker. He saved the captain and chief mate a world of trouble; by this system, violent language became uncommon on board, punishment was very rare, and very mild. The men were happy, and did their duty with alacrity; and but for Peleg Oswald, all would have been harmony.We made the island about the 15th of December, when the weather was such as the season of the year might induce us to expect, it being then summer. We hove off to the north or windward side of the island, about two miles from the shore; we dared not go nearer on that side, for fear of what are called the “Rollers”—a phenomenon, it would appear, of terrific magnitude, on that sequestered little spot. On this extraordinary operation of nature, many conjectures should have been offered, but no good or satisfactory reason has ever been assigned to satisfy my mind; for the simple reason, that the same causes would produce the same effect on St. Helena, Ascension, or any other island or promontory exposed to a wide expanse of water. I shall attempt to describe the scene that a succession, of rollers would present, supposing, what has indeed happened, that a vessel is caught on the coast when coming in.The water will be perfectly smooth—not a breath of wind—when, suddenly, from the north, comes rolling a huge wave with a glassy surface, never breaking till it meets the resistance of the land, when it dashes down with a noise and a resistless violence that no art or effort of man could elude. It is succeeded by others. No anchorage would hold, if there were anchorage to be had; but this is not the case; the water is from ninety to one hundred fathoms deep, and, consequently, an anchor and cable could scarcely afford a momentary check to any ship when thus assailed; or, if it did, the sea would, by being resisted, divide, break on board, and swamp her. Such was the fate of the unfortunate —, a British sloop of war; which, after landing the captain and six men, was caught in the rollers, driven on shore, and every creature on board perished, only the captain and his boat’s crew escaping. This unfortunate little vessel was lost, not from want of skill or seamanship in the captain or crew, for a finer set of men never swam salt water; but from their ignorance of this peculiarity of the island, unknown in any other that I ever heard of, at least to such an alarming extent. Driven close into the land before she could find soundings, at last she let go three anchors; but nothing could withstand the force of the “rollers,” which drove her in upon the beach, where she broke in two as soon as she landed, and all hands perished in sight of the affected captain and his boat’s crew, who buried the bodies of their unfortunate shipmates as soon as the sea had delivered them up.There is another remarkable peculiarity in this island: its shores to a very considerable extent out to sea are surrounded with the plant calledFucus maximus, mentioned by Captain Cook; it grows to the depth of sixty fathoms, or one hundred and eighty feet, and reaches in one long stem to the surface, when it continues to run along to the enormous length of three or four hundred feet, with short alternate branches at every foot of its length. Thus, in the stormy ocean grows a plant higher and of greater length than any vegetable production of the surface of the earth, not excepting the banyan tree, which, as its branches touch the ground, takes fresh root, and may be said to form a separate tree. These marine plants resist the most powerful attacks of the mightiest elements combined; the winds and the waves in vain combine their forces against them; uniting their foliage on the bosom of the waters, they laugh at the hurricane and defy its power. The leaves are alternate; and when the wind ruffles the water, they flap over, one after the other, with a mournful sound, doubly mournful to us from the sad association of ideas and the loneliness of the island. The branches or tendrils of these plants are so strong and buoyant, when several of them happen to unite, that a boat cannot pass through them; I tried with my feet what pressure they would bear, and I was convinced that, with a pair of snow-shoes, a man might walk over them.Captain Peters kindly invited me to go on shore with him. We landed with much difficulty, and proceeded to the cottage of a man who had been left there from choice; he resided with his family, and, in imitation of another great personage on an island to the northward of him, styled himself “Emperor.” A detachment of British soldiers had been sent from the Cape of Good Hope to take possession of this spot, but after a time they were withdrawn.His present imperial majesty had, at the time of my visit, a black consort, and many snuff-coloured princes and princesses. He was in other respects a perfect Robinson Crusoe: he had a few head of cattle, and some pigs: these latter have greatly multiplied on the island. Domestic fowls were numerous, and he had a large piece of ground planted with potatoes, the only place south of the equator which produces them in their native perfection. The land is rich and susceptible of great improvement; and the soil is intersected with numerous running springs over its surface. But it was impossible to look on this lonely spot without recalling to mind the beautiful lines of Cowper—“O Solitude, where are the charmsThat sages have seen in thy face?”Yet in this wild place alarms and even rebellion had found their way; the emperor had but one subject, and this Caliban had ventured, in direct violation of an imperial mandate, to kill a fowl for his dinner.“Rebellion,” said the enraged emperor, “is the son of witchcraft, and I am determined to make an example of the offender.”I became the mediator between these two belligerents. I represented to his imperial majesty that, as far as the matter of example went, the severity would lose its effect; for his children were as yet too young to be corrupted; and, moreover, as his majesty was so well versed in Scripture, he must know that it was his duty to forgive. “Besides,” I said, “her majesty the queen has a strong arm, and can always assist in repelling or chastising any future act of aggression or disobedience.” I suspect that the moral code of his majesty was not unlike my own: it yielded to the necessities of the time. He must have found it particularly inconvenient not to be on speaking terms with his prime minister and arch-chancellor, whom he had banished to the opposite side of the island on pain of death. The sentence was originally for six months; but on my intercession the delinquent was pardoned and restored to favour. I felt much self-complacency when I reflected on this successful instance of my mediatorial power, which had perhaps smothered a civil war in its birth.The emperor informed me that an American whaler was lying at the east side of the island, filling with the oil of the walrus, or sea-horse; that she had been there at anchor six weeks, and was nearly full. I asked to be shown to the spot where the — was wrecked; he took me to her sad remains. She lay broken in pieces on the rocks; and not far from her was a mound of earth, on which was placed a painted piece of board by way of a tombstone. The fate of the vessel, together with the number of sufferers, were marked in rude but concise characters; I do not exactly remember the words, but in substance it stated, that underneath lay the remains of one hundred as fine fellows as ever walked a plank, and that they had died like British seamen, doing their duty to the last. This was a melancholy sight, especially to a sailor, who knew not how soon the same fate awaited him.We rafted off several casks of water during that day, and on the following we completed our water, and then ran to the east end of the island to anchor near and wait for our consort, the whaler, the captain of which had come in his boat to visit us: I conversed with him, and was struck with one remark which he made.“You Englishmen go to work in a queerish kind of way,” said he; “you send a parcel of soldiers to live on an island where none but sailors can be of use. You listen to all that those redcoats tell you; they never thrive when placed out of musket-shot from a gin-shop: and becausetheydon’t like it, you evacuate the island. A soldier likes his own comfort, although very apt to destroy that of other folks; and it a’n’t very likely he would go and make a good report of an island that had neither women nor rum, and where he was no better than a prisoner. Now, if Brother Jonathan had taken this island, I guess he would a made it pay for its keep; he would have had two or three crews of whalers, with their wives and families, and all their little comforts about them, with a party of good farmers to till the land, and an officer to command the whole. The island can provide itself, as you may perceive, and all would have gone on well. It is just as easy to ‘fish’ the island from the shore as it is in a vessel, and indeed much easier. Only land your boilers and casks, and a couple of dozen good whale-boots, and this island would produce a revenue that would repay with profit all the money laid out upon it, for the sea-horses have no other place to go to, either to shed their coats in the autumn, or bring forth their young in the spring. The fishing and other duties would be a source of amusement to the sailors, who, if they chose, might return home occasionally in the vessels that came to take away the full casks of oil, and land the empty ones.”The captain of the whaler returned to his ship, but, I suppose, forgot to give our captain very particular directions about the anchorage. We ran down to the east end of the island, and were just going to bring up, when, supposing himself too near the whaler, Peters chose to run a little further. I should have observed, that as we rounded the north-east point, the breeze freshened, and the squall came out of the gullies and deep ravines. We therefore shortened sail, and, passing very near the whaler, they hailed us; but it blew so fresh that we did not hear what they said; and, having increased our distance from the whaler to what was judged proper, let go the anchor.Ninety fathoms of cable ran out in a crack, before she turned head to wind; and to our mortification, we found we had passed the bank upon which the whaler had brought up, and must have dropped our anchor into a well, for we had nineteen fathoms water under the bows, and only seven fathoms under her stern. The moon showed her face just at this moment, and we had the further satisfaction of perceiving that we were within fifty yards of a reef of rocks which lay astern of us, with their dirty black heads above water.We were very much surprised to find, notwithstanding the depth of water, that, during the lulls, we rode with a slack cable; but about two o’clock in the morning the cable parted, being cut by the foul ground. All sail was made immediately, but the rocks astern were so close to us, that you might have thrown a biscuit on them, and we thought the cruise of theTrue-blooded Yankeewas at an end; but it proved otherwise, for the same cause which produced the slack cable preserved the vessel. TheFucus maximus, we found, had interposed between us and destruction; we had let go our anchor in this submarine forest, and had perched, as it were, on the tops of the trees; and so thick were the leaves and branches, that they held us from driving, and prevented our going on shore when the cable had parted. We dragged slowly through the plants, and were very glad to see ourselves once more clear of this miserable spot.“Better dwell in the midst of alarms,Than reign in this horrible place.”But I sincerely wish all manner of success to this little empire, though I hope my evil stars will never take me to it again. We shaped our course for the Cape of Good Hope, for Captain Peters would not run further risk in waiting for the consort privateer.Poor Thompson, notwithstanding all my exertions in his favour, was exposed to much ill-treatment on board the vessel, on account of his firm and unshaken loyalty. He seldom complained to me, but sometimes vindicated himself by a gentle hint from one of his ample fists on the nose or eye of the offender, and here the matter usually ended for his character was so simple and inoffensive, that all the best men in the vessel loved him. One night a man fell overboard—the weather was fine, and the brig had but little way; they were lowering down the jolly-boat from the stern, when one of the hooks by which she hung by the stern, broke, and four men were precipitated with violence into the water. Two of them could not swim, and all screamed loudly for help as soon as they came up from their dive. Thompson, seeing this, darted from the stern like a Newfoundland dog, swam to the weakest, supported him to the rudder chains, and, leaving him, went to another, bringing him to the stern of the vessel, and making a rope fast under his arms. In this way he succeeded in saving the whole of these poor fellows. Two of the five would certainly have sunk but for his timely assistance, for it was some time before another boat could be got ready; and the other three owned that they much doubted whether they could have reached the vessel without help.This conduct of Thompson was much applauded by all on board, and some asked him why he ventured his life for people who had used him so ill; he answered, that his “mither” and his Bible taught him to do all the good he could: and as God had given him a strong arm, he hoped he should always use it for the benefit of his brother in need.It might have been supposed that an act like this would have prevented the recurrence of any further insult; but the more the Americans perceived Thompson’s value, the more eager were they to have him as their own. The second mate, whom I have already described as a rough and brutal fellow, one day proposed to him to belong to their vessel, certain, he added, that he would make his fortune by the capture of two, if not three, extra Indiamen, which they had information of on their passage.Thompson looked the man fully in the face, and said, “Did ye no hear what I telled the captain the ither day?”“Yes,” said the man, “I knew that, but that’s what we call in our country ‘all my eye.’”“But they do not call it so in my country,” said the Caledonian, at the same time planting his fist so full and plump in the left eye of the mate, that he fell like the “humi bos,” covering a very large part of the deck with his huge carcass.The man got up, found his face bleeding plentifully, and his eye closed; but instead of resenting the insult himself, went off and complained to the captain. Many of the Americans, either from hatred or jealousy, went along with him, and clamorously demanded that the Englishman should be punished for striking an officer. When the story, however, came to be fairly explained, the captain said he was bound to confess that the second mate was the aggressor, inasmuch as he had acknowledged that he knew the penalty of the transgression before he committed the act; that he (the captain) had told Thompson, when he made the declaration, that he thought him perfectly right, and, consequently, he was bound to protect him by every law of hospitality as well as gratitude, after his services in saving the lives of their countrymen.This did not satisfy the crew; they were clamorous for punishment, and a mutiny was actually headed by the second mate. There was, however, a large party on board who were in no humour to see an Englishman treated with such indignity. Of what country they were may readily be conjectured. The dispute ran high; and I began to think that serious consequences might ensue, for it had continued from the serving of grog at twelve o’clock till near two; when casting my eyes over the larboard quarter, I perceived a sail, and told the captain of it; he instantly hailed the look-out-man at the mast-head; but the look-out-man had been so much interested with what was going on upon deck, that he had come down into the maintop to listen.“Don’t you see that sail on the larboard quarter?” said the captain.“Yes, sir,” said the man.“And why did you not report her?”The man could make no reply to this question, for a very obvious reason.“Come down here,” said the captain; “let him be released, Solomon; we will show you a little Yankee discipline.”But before we proceed to the investigation of the crime, or the infliction of punishment, we must turn our eyes to the great object which rose clearer and clearer every five minutes above the horizon. The privateer was at this time under topsails, and top-gallant-sails, jib, and foresail, running to the north-east, with a fine breeze and smooth water.“Leftenant,” said the captain, “what you think of her?”“I think,” said I, “that she is an extra Indiaman; and if you mean to speak her, you had better put your head towards her under an easy sail; by which means you will be so near by sunset, that if she runs from you, you will be able, with your superior sailing, to keep sight of her all night.”“I guess you are not far wrong in that,” said the captain.“I guess he is directly in the face of the truth,” said the chief mate, who had just returned from the maintop, where he had spent the last quarter of an hour in the most intense and absorbed attention to the cut of the stranger’s sails. “If e’er I saw wood and canvas put together before in the shape of a ship that there is one of John Bull’s bellowing calves of the ocean, and not less than a forty-four gunner.”“What say you to that, leftenant?” said the captain.“Oh, as to that,” said the mate, “it isn’t very likely that he’s going to tell us the truth.”“Because you would not have done it yourself in the same situation,” said I.“Just so,” said the mate.And, in fact, I must own that I had no particular wish to cruise for some months in this vessel, and go back for water at Tristan d’Acunha. I therefore did not use my very best optical skill when I gave my opinion; but as I saw the stranger was nearing us very fast, although we were steering the same way, I made my mind up that I should very soon be out of this vessel, and on my way to England, where all my happiness and prospects were centred.The chief mate took one more look—the captain followed his examples; they then looked at each other, and pronounced their cruise at an end.“We are done, sir,” said the mate; “and all owing to that damned English renegade that you would enter on the books as one of the ship’s company. But let’s have him aft, and give him his discharge regularly.”“First of all,” said the captain, “suppose we try what is to be done with our heels. They used to be good, and I never saw the brass-bottomed sarpent that could come a-near us yet. Send the royal yards up—clear away the studding-sails—keep her with the wind just two points abaft the beam, that’s her favourite position; and I think we may give the slip to that old-country devil in the course of the night.”I said nothing, but looked very attentively to all that was doing. The vessel was well manned, certainly, and all sail was set upon her in a very expeditious manner.“Heave the log,” said the captain.They did so; and she was going, by their measurement, nine and six.“What do you think your ship is doing?” said the captain to me.“I think,” said I, “she is going about eleven knots; and, as she is six miles astern of you, that she will be within gun-shot in less than four hours.”“Part of that time shall be spent in paying our debts for this favour,” said the captain. “Mr Solomon, let them seize thatno-nationrascal up to the main rigging, and hand up two of your most hungry cats. Where is Dick Twist, he that was boatswain’s mate of theStatira; and that red-haired fellow, you know, that swam away from theMaidstonein the Rappahanock?”“You mean carroty Sam, I guess—pass the word for Sam Gall.”The two operators soon appeared, each armed with the instruments of his office; and I must say that in malignity of construction they were equal to anything used on similar occasions, even by Captain G—. The culprit was now brought forward, and to my surprise, it was the very man whom Thompson, when in the boat had thrown overboard for mutiny. I cannot say that I felt sorry for the cause or the effect that was likely to be produced by the disputes of the day.“Seize him up,” said the captain; “you were sent to the mast-head in your regular turn of duty; and you have neglected that duty, by which means we are likely to be taken: so, before my authority ceases, I will show you a Yankee trick.”“I am an Englishman,” said the man; “and appeal to my officer for protection.”The captain looked at me.“If I am the officer you appeal to,” said I, “I do not acknowledge you. You threw off your allegiance when you thought it suited your purpose, and you now wish to resume it to screen yourself from a punishment which you richly deserve. I shall certainly not interfere in your favour.”“I was born,” roared the cockney, “in Earl Street, seven Dials—my mother keeps a tripe-shop—I am a true-born Briton, and you have no right to flog me.”“You was a Yankee sailor from New London, yesterday, and you are a tripe-seller from Old London to-day; I think I am right in calling you a no-nation rascal: but we will talk about the right another time,” said the captain; “meanwhile Dick Twist, do you begin.”Twist obeyed his orders with skill and accuracy; and having given the prisoner three-dozen that would not have disgraced the legerdemain of my friend the Farnese Hercules in the brig, Sam Gall was desired to take his turn. Sam acquitted himselfà merveillewith the like number; and the prisoner after a due proportion of bellowing was cast loose. I could not help reflecting how very justly this captain had got his vessel into jeopardy by first allowing a man to be seduced from his allegiance, and then placing confidence in him.“Let us now take a look at the chase,” said the captain. “Zounds, she draws up with us. I can see her bowsprit-cap hen she lifts; and half an hour ago I only saw her foreyard. Cut away the jolly-boat from the stern, Solomon.”The chief mate took a small axe, and, with a steady blow at the end of each davit, divided the falls, and the boat fell into the sea.“Throw these here two aftermost guns overboard,” said the captain; “I guess we are too deep abaft, and they would not be of much use to us in the way of defence, for this is a whopper that’s after us.”The guns in a few minutes were sent to their last rest; and for the next half hour the enemy gained less upon them. It was now about half-past three p.m.; the courage of the Yankees revived; and the second mate reminded the captain that his black eye had not been reckoned for at the main rigging.“Nor shall it be,” said the captain, “while I command theTrue-blooded Yankee; what is, is right; no man shall be punished for fair defence after warning. Thompson, come and stand aft.”The man was in the act of obeying this order, when he was seized on by some six or eight of the most turbulent, who began to tear off his jacket.“Avast there, shipmates!” said Twist and Gall, both in a breath. “We don’t mind touching up such a chap as this here tripeman; but not the scratch of a pin does Thompson get in this vessel. He is one of us; he is a seaman every inch of him, and you must flog us, and some fifty more, if once you begin; for damn my eyes if we don’t heave the log with the second mate, and then lay-to till the frigate comes alongside.”The mutineers stood aghast for a few seconds; but the second mate, jumping on a gun, called out, “Who’s of our side? Are we going to be bullied by these damned Britishers?”“You are,” said I, “if doing an act of justice is bullying. You are in great danger, and I warn you of it. I perceive the force of those whom you pretend to call Americans; and though I am the last man in the world to sanction an act of treachery by heaving the ship to, yet I caution you to beware how you provoke the bull-dog, who has only broke his master’s chain ‘for a lark,’ and is ready to return to him. I am your guest, and therefore your faithful friend; use your utmost endeavours to escape from your enemy. I know what she is, for I know her well; and, if I am not much mistaken, you have scarcely more time, with all your exertions, than to pack up your things; for, be assured, you will not pass twelve hours more under your own flag.”This address had a tranquillising effect. The captain, Captain Green, and Solomon, walked aft; and, to their great dismay, saw distinctly the water-line of the pursuing frigate.“What can be done?” said the captain: “she has gained on us in this manner, while the people were all aft settling that infernal dispute. Throw two more of the after guns overboard.”This order was obeyed with the same celerity as the former, but not with the same success. The captain now began to perceive, what was pretty obvious to me before, namely, that by dropping the boat from the extreme end of the vessel, where it hung like the pea on the steelyard, he did good; the lightening her also of the two aftermost guns, hanging over the dead wood of the vessel, was in like manner serviceable. But here he should have stopped; the effect of throwing the next two guns overboard was pernicious. The vessel fell by the head; her stern was out of the water; she steered wild, yawed, and decreased in her rate of sailing in a surprising manner.“Cut away the bower anchors,” said the captain.The stoppers were cut, and the anchors dropped; the brig immediately recovered herself from her oppression, as it were, and resumed her former velocity; but the enemy had by this time made fearful approaches. The only hope of the captain and his crew was in the darkness; and as this darkness came on, my spirits decreased, for I greatly feared that we should have escaped. The sun had sunk some time below the horizon: the cloud of sail coming up astern of us began to be indistinct, and at last disappeared altogether in a black squall: we saw no more of her for nearly two hours.I walked the deck with Green and the captain. The latter seemed in great perturbation: he had hoped to make his fortune,—and retire from the toils and cares of a sea-life in some snug corner of the Western settlements, where he might cultivate a little farm, and lead the life of an honest man; “forthislife,” said he, “I am free to confess, is, after all, little better than highway robbery.”Whether the moral essay of the captain was the effect of his present danger, I will not pretend to say. I only know, that if the reader will turn back to some parts of my history, he will find me very often in a similar mood on similar occasions.The two captains and the chief mate now retired, after leaving me meditating by myself over the larboard gunwale, just before the main rigging. The consultation seemed to be of great moment; and, as I afterwards learned, was to decide what course they should steer, seeing that they evidently lost sight of their pursuer. I felt all my hopes of release vanish as I looked at them, and had made up my mind to go to New York.At this moment, a man came behind me, as if to get a pull at the top-gallant sheets; and while he hung down upon it with a kind of “yeo-ho,” he whispered in my ear—“You may have the command of the brig if you like. We are fifty Englishmen—we will heave her to and hoist a light, if you will only say the word, and promise us our free pardon.”I pretended at first not to hear, but, turning round, I saw Mr Twist.“Hold, villain!” said I; “do you think to redeem one act of treachery by another? and do you dare to insult the honour of a naval officer with a proposal so infamous? Go to your station instantly, and think yourself fortunate that I do not denounce you to the captain, who has a perfect right to throw you overboard—a fate which your chain of crimes fully deserves.”The man skulked away, and I went off to the captain, to whom I related the circumstance, desiring him to be on his guard against treachery.“Your conduct, sir,” said the captain, “is what I should have expected from a British naval officer; and since you have behaved so honourably, I will freely tell you that my intention is to shorten sail to the topsails and foresail, and haul dead on a wind into that dark squall to the southward.”“As you please,” said I; “you cannot expect that I should advise, nor would you believe me if I said I wished you success; but rely on it I will resist, by every means in my power, any unfair means to dispossess you of your command.”“I thank you, sir,” said the captain, mournfully; and, without losing any more time in useless words, “Shorten sail there,” continued he, with a low but firm voice; “take in the lower and topmost studding-sail—hands aloft—in top-gallant studding-sails, and roll up the top-gallant sails.”All this appeared to be done with surprising speed, even to me, who had been accustomed to very well conducted ships of war. One mistake, however, was made; the lower studding-sail, instead of being hauled in on deck, was let to fall overboard, and towed some time under the larboard bow before it was reported to the officers.“Haul in the larboard braces—brace sharp up—port the helm and bring her to the wind, quarter-master.”“Port it is, sir,” said the man at the helm, and the vessel was close hauled upon the starboard tack; but she did not seem to move very fast, although she had a square mainsail, boom mainsail, and jib.“I think we have done them at last,” said the captain; “what do you think, leftenant?” giving me a hearty but very friendly slap on the back. “Come, what say; shall we take a cool bottle of London particular after the fatigues of the day?”“Wait a little,” said I, “wait a little.”“What are you looking at there to windward?” said the captain, who perceived that my eye was fixed on a particular point.Before I had time to answer, Thompson came up to me and said, “There is the ship, sir,” pointing to the very spot on which I was gazing. The captain heard this; and, as fear is ever quicksighted, he instantly caught the object.“Running is of no use now,” said he; “we have tried her off the wind, our best going; she beats us at that: and on a wind, I don’t think so much of her; but still, with this smooth water and fine breeze, she ought to move better. Solomon, there is something wrong, give a look all round.”Solomon went forward on the starboard side, but saw nothing. As he looked over the gangway and bow, coming round on the lee side of the forecastle, he saw some canvas hanging on one of the night-heads. “What have we here?” said he. No one answered. He looked over the fore-chains, and found the whole lower studding-sail towing in the water.“No wonder she don’t move,” said the mate; “here is enough to stop theConstitutionherself. Who took in this here lower studding-sail?—But, never mind, we’ll settle that to-morrow. Come over here, you forecastle men.”Some of the Americans came over to him, but not with very great alacrity. The sail could not be pulled in, as the vessel had too much way; and while they were ineffectually employed about it, the flash of a gun was seen to windward; and as the report reached our ears, the shot whistled over our heads, and, darted like lightning through the boom mainsail.“Hurrah for old England!” said Thompson; “the fellow that fired that shot shall drink my allowance of grog to-morrow.”“Hold your tongue, you damned English rascal,” said the second mate, “or I’ll stop your grog for ever.”“I don’t think you will,” said the North Briton, “and if you take a friend’s advice, you won’t try.” Thompson was standing on the little round-house or poop; the indignant mate jumped up and collared him. Thompson disengaged him in the twinkling of an eye, and with one blow of his right hand in the pit of the man’s stomach, sent him reeling over to leeward. He fell—caught at the boom-sheet—missed it, and tumbled into the sea, from whence he rose no more.All was now confusion. “A man overboard!”—another shot from the frigate—another and another in quick succession. The fate of the man was forgotten in the general panic. One shot cut the aftermost main-shroud; another went through the boat on the booms. The frigate was evidently very near us. The men all rushed down to seize their bags and chests; the captain took me by the hand, and said, “Sir, I surrender myself to you, and give you leave now to act as you think proper.”“Thompson,” said I, “let go the main-sheet and the main-brace.” Running forward myself, I let go the main-tack, and bowlines; the main yard came square of itself. Thompson got a lantern, which he held up on the starboard quarter.The frigate passed close under the stern, showing a beautiful pale side, with a fine tier of guns; and, hailing us, desired to know what vessel it was.I replied that it was theTrue-blooded Yankee, of Boston—that she had hove-to and surrendered.

But who is this? What thing of seaComes this way sailing,Like a stately shipWith all her bravery on, and tackle trim?Milton.

But who is this? What thing of seaComes this way sailing,Like a stately shipWith all her bravery on, and tackle trim?Milton.

The privateer was called theTrue-blooded Yankee. She was first bound to the island of Tristan d’Acunha, where she expected to meet her consort, belonging to the same owners, and who had preceded her, when their directions were to cruise between the Cape and Madagascar, for certain homeward bound extra Indiamen, one or two of which she hoped would reward all the trouble and expense of the outfit.

We reached the island without any material incident. I had observed, with concern, that the second mate, whose name was Peleg Oswald, was a sour, ferocious, quarrelsome man; and that although I was kindly treated by the captain, whose name was Peters, and by the chief mate, whose name was Methusalem Solomon, I never could conciliate the good-will of Peleg Oswald.

Green, the captain, who came with me, was, from the time I saved his life, an altered man. He had been, as I was informed, a drunken profligate; but from the moment when I received him into my boat, his manners and habits seemed as completely changed as if he were a different being. He never drank more than was sufficient to quench his thirst—he never swore—he never used any offensive language. He read the Scriptures constantly, was regular in the morning and evening devotion, and on every occasion of quarrel or ill-will in the brig, which was perpetually occurring, Green was the umpire and the peacemaker. He saved the captain and chief mate a world of trouble; by this system, violent language became uncommon on board, punishment was very rare, and very mild. The men were happy, and did their duty with alacrity; and but for Peleg Oswald, all would have been harmony.

We made the island about the 15th of December, when the weather was such as the season of the year might induce us to expect, it being then summer. We hove off to the north or windward side of the island, about two miles from the shore; we dared not go nearer on that side, for fear of what are called the “Rollers”—a phenomenon, it would appear, of terrific magnitude, on that sequestered little spot. On this extraordinary operation of nature, many conjectures should have been offered, but no good or satisfactory reason has ever been assigned to satisfy my mind; for the simple reason, that the same causes would produce the same effect on St. Helena, Ascension, or any other island or promontory exposed to a wide expanse of water. I shall attempt to describe the scene that a succession, of rollers would present, supposing, what has indeed happened, that a vessel is caught on the coast when coming in.

The water will be perfectly smooth—not a breath of wind—when, suddenly, from the north, comes rolling a huge wave with a glassy surface, never breaking till it meets the resistance of the land, when it dashes down with a noise and a resistless violence that no art or effort of man could elude. It is succeeded by others. No anchorage would hold, if there were anchorage to be had; but this is not the case; the water is from ninety to one hundred fathoms deep, and, consequently, an anchor and cable could scarcely afford a momentary check to any ship when thus assailed; or, if it did, the sea would, by being resisted, divide, break on board, and swamp her. Such was the fate of the unfortunate —, a British sloop of war; which, after landing the captain and six men, was caught in the rollers, driven on shore, and every creature on board perished, only the captain and his boat’s crew escaping. This unfortunate little vessel was lost, not from want of skill or seamanship in the captain or crew, for a finer set of men never swam salt water; but from their ignorance of this peculiarity of the island, unknown in any other that I ever heard of, at least to such an alarming extent. Driven close into the land before she could find soundings, at last she let go three anchors; but nothing could withstand the force of the “rollers,” which drove her in upon the beach, where she broke in two as soon as she landed, and all hands perished in sight of the affected captain and his boat’s crew, who buried the bodies of their unfortunate shipmates as soon as the sea had delivered them up.

There is another remarkable peculiarity in this island: its shores to a very considerable extent out to sea are surrounded with the plant calledFucus maximus, mentioned by Captain Cook; it grows to the depth of sixty fathoms, or one hundred and eighty feet, and reaches in one long stem to the surface, when it continues to run along to the enormous length of three or four hundred feet, with short alternate branches at every foot of its length. Thus, in the stormy ocean grows a plant higher and of greater length than any vegetable production of the surface of the earth, not excepting the banyan tree, which, as its branches touch the ground, takes fresh root, and may be said to form a separate tree. These marine plants resist the most powerful attacks of the mightiest elements combined; the winds and the waves in vain combine their forces against them; uniting their foliage on the bosom of the waters, they laugh at the hurricane and defy its power. The leaves are alternate; and when the wind ruffles the water, they flap over, one after the other, with a mournful sound, doubly mournful to us from the sad association of ideas and the loneliness of the island. The branches or tendrils of these plants are so strong and buoyant, when several of them happen to unite, that a boat cannot pass through them; I tried with my feet what pressure they would bear, and I was convinced that, with a pair of snow-shoes, a man might walk over them.

Captain Peters kindly invited me to go on shore with him. We landed with much difficulty, and proceeded to the cottage of a man who had been left there from choice; he resided with his family, and, in imitation of another great personage on an island to the northward of him, styled himself “Emperor.” A detachment of British soldiers had been sent from the Cape of Good Hope to take possession of this spot, but after a time they were withdrawn.

His present imperial majesty had, at the time of my visit, a black consort, and many snuff-coloured princes and princesses. He was in other respects a perfect Robinson Crusoe: he had a few head of cattle, and some pigs: these latter have greatly multiplied on the island. Domestic fowls were numerous, and he had a large piece of ground planted with potatoes, the only place south of the equator which produces them in their native perfection. The land is rich and susceptible of great improvement; and the soil is intersected with numerous running springs over its surface. But it was impossible to look on this lonely spot without recalling to mind the beautiful lines of Cowper—

“O Solitude, where are the charmsThat sages have seen in thy face?”

“O Solitude, where are the charmsThat sages have seen in thy face?”

Yet in this wild place alarms and even rebellion had found their way; the emperor had but one subject, and this Caliban had ventured, in direct violation of an imperial mandate, to kill a fowl for his dinner.

“Rebellion,” said the enraged emperor, “is the son of witchcraft, and I am determined to make an example of the offender.”

I became the mediator between these two belligerents. I represented to his imperial majesty that, as far as the matter of example went, the severity would lose its effect; for his children were as yet too young to be corrupted; and, moreover, as his majesty was so well versed in Scripture, he must know that it was his duty to forgive. “Besides,” I said, “her majesty the queen has a strong arm, and can always assist in repelling or chastising any future act of aggression or disobedience.” I suspect that the moral code of his majesty was not unlike my own: it yielded to the necessities of the time. He must have found it particularly inconvenient not to be on speaking terms with his prime minister and arch-chancellor, whom he had banished to the opposite side of the island on pain of death. The sentence was originally for six months; but on my intercession the delinquent was pardoned and restored to favour. I felt much self-complacency when I reflected on this successful instance of my mediatorial power, which had perhaps smothered a civil war in its birth.

The emperor informed me that an American whaler was lying at the east side of the island, filling with the oil of the walrus, or sea-horse; that she had been there at anchor six weeks, and was nearly full. I asked to be shown to the spot where the — was wrecked; he took me to her sad remains. She lay broken in pieces on the rocks; and not far from her was a mound of earth, on which was placed a painted piece of board by way of a tombstone. The fate of the vessel, together with the number of sufferers, were marked in rude but concise characters; I do not exactly remember the words, but in substance it stated, that underneath lay the remains of one hundred as fine fellows as ever walked a plank, and that they had died like British seamen, doing their duty to the last. This was a melancholy sight, especially to a sailor, who knew not how soon the same fate awaited him.

We rafted off several casks of water during that day, and on the following we completed our water, and then ran to the east end of the island to anchor near and wait for our consort, the whaler, the captain of which had come in his boat to visit us: I conversed with him, and was struck with one remark which he made.

“You Englishmen go to work in a queerish kind of way,” said he; “you send a parcel of soldiers to live on an island where none but sailors can be of use. You listen to all that those redcoats tell you; they never thrive when placed out of musket-shot from a gin-shop: and becausetheydon’t like it, you evacuate the island. A soldier likes his own comfort, although very apt to destroy that of other folks; and it a’n’t very likely he would go and make a good report of an island that had neither women nor rum, and where he was no better than a prisoner. Now, if Brother Jonathan had taken this island, I guess he would a made it pay for its keep; he would have had two or three crews of whalers, with their wives and families, and all their little comforts about them, with a party of good farmers to till the land, and an officer to command the whole. The island can provide itself, as you may perceive, and all would have gone on well. It is just as easy to ‘fish’ the island from the shore as it is in a vessel, and indeed much easier. Only land your boilers and casks, and a couple of dozen good whale-boots, and this island would produce a revenue that would repay with profit all the money laid out upon it, for the sea-horses have no other place to go to, either to shed their coats in the autumn, or bring forth their young in the spring. The fishing and other duties would be a source of amusement to the sailors, who, if they chose, might return home occasionally in the vessels that came to take away the full casks of oil, and land the empty ones.”

The captain of the whaler returned to his ship, but, I suppose, forgot to give our captain very particular directions about the anchorage. We ran down to the east end of the island, and were just going to bring up, when, supposing himself too near the whaler, Peters chose to run a little further. I should have observed, that as we rounded the north-east point, the breeze freshened, and the squall came out of the gullies and deep ravines. We therefore shortened sail, and, passing very near the whaler, they hailed us; but it blew so fresh that we did not hear what they said; and, having increased our distance from the whaler to what was judged proper, let go the anchor.

Ninety fathoms of cable ran out in a crack, before she turned head to wind; and to our mortification, we found we had passed the bank upon which the whaler had brought up, and must have dropped our anchor into a well, for we had nineteen fathoms water under the bows, and only seven fathoms under her stern. The moon showed her face just at this moment, and we had the further satisfaction of perceiving that we were within fifty yards of a reef of rocks which lay astern of us, with their dirty black heads above water.

We were very much surprised to find, notwithstanding the depth of water, that, during the lulls, we rode with a slack cable; but about two o’clock in the morning the cable parted, being cut by the foul ground. All sail was made immediately, but the rocks astern were so close to us, that you might have thrown a biscuit on them, and we thought the cruise of theTrue-blooded Yankeewas at an end; but it proved otherwise, for the same cause which produced the slack cable preserved the vessel. TheFucus maximus, we found, had interposed between us and destruction; we had let go our anchor in this submarine forest, and had perched, as it were, on the tops of the trees; and so thick were the leaves and branches, that they held us from driving, and prevented our going on shore when the cable had parted. We dragged slowly through the plants, and were very glad to see ourselves once more clear of this miserable spot.

“Better dwell in the midst of alarms,Than reign in this horrible place.”

“Better dwell in the midst of alarms,Than reign in this horrible place.”

But I sincerely wish all manner of success to this little empire, though I hope my evil stars will never take me to it again. We shaped our course for the Cape of Good Hope, for Captain Peters would not run further risk in waiting for the consort privateer.

Poor Thompson, notwithstanding all my exertions in his favour, was exposed to much ill-treatment on board the vessel, on account of his firm and unshaken loyalty. He seldom complained to me, but sometimes vindicated himself by a gentle hint from one of his ample fists on the nose or eye of the offender, and here the matter usually ended for his character was so simple and inoffensive, that all the best men in the vessel loved him. One night a man fell overboard—the weather was fine, and the brig had but little way; they were lowering down the jolly-boat from the stern, when one of the hooks by which she hung by the stern, broke, and four men were precipitated with violence into the water. Two of them could not swim, and all screamed loudly for help as soon as they came up from their dive. Thompson, seeing this, darted from the stern like a Newfoundland dog, swam to the weakest, supported him to the rudder chains, and, leaving him, went to another, bringing him to the stern of the vessel, and making a rope fast under his arms. In this way he succeeded in saving the whole of these poor fellows. Two of the five would certainly have sunk but for his timely assistance, for it was some time before another boat could be got ready; and the other three owned that they much doubted whether they could have reached the vessel without help.

This conduct of Thompson was much applauded by all on board, and some asked him why he ventured his life for people who had used him so ill; he answered, that his “mither” and his Bible taught him to do all the good he could: and as God had given him a strong arm, he hoped he should always use it for the benefit of his brother in need.

It might have been supposed that an act like this would have prevented the recurrence of any further insult; but the more the Americans perceived Thompson’s value, the more eager were they to have him as their own. The second mate, whom I have already described as a rough and brutal fellow, one day proposed to him to belong to their vessel, certain, he added, that he would make his fortune by the capture of two, if not three, extra Indiamen, which they had information of on their passage.

Thompson looked the man fully in the face, and said, “Did ye no hear what I telled the captain the ither day?”

“Yes,” said the man, “I knew that, but that’s what we call in our country ‘all my eye.’”

“But they do not call it so in my country,” said the Caledonian, at the same time planting his fist so full and plump in the left eye of the mate, that he fell like the “humi bos,” covering a very large part of the deck with his huge carcass.

The man got up, found his face bleeding plentifully, and his eye closed; but instead of resenting the insult himself, went off and complained to the captain. Many of the Americans, either from hatred or jealousy, went along with him, and clamorously demanded that the Englishman should be punished for striking an officer. When the story, however, came to be fairly explained, the captain said he was bound to confess that the second mate was the aggressor, inasmuch as he had acknowledged that he knew the penalty of the transgression before he committed the act; that he (the captain) had told Thompson, when he made the declaration, that he thought him perfectly right, and, consequently, he was bound to protect him by every law of hospitality as well as gratitude, after his services in saving the lives of their countrymen.

This did not satisfy the crew; they were clamorous for punishment, and a mutiny was actually headed by the second mate. There was, however, a large party on board who were in no humour to see an Englishman treated with such indignity. Of what country they were may readily be conjectured. The dispute ran high; and I began to think that serious consequences might ensue, for it had continued from the serving of grog at twelve o’clock till near two; when casting my eyes over the larboard quarter, I perceived a sail, and told the captain of it; he instantly hailed the look-out-man at the mast-head; but the look-out-man had been so much interested with what was going on upon deck, that he had come down into the maintop to listen.

“Don’t you see that sail on the larboard quarter?” said the captain.

“Yes, sir,” said the man.

“And why did you not report her?”

The man could make no reply to this question, for a very obvious reason.

“Come down here,” said the captain; “let him be released, Solomon; we will show you a little Yankee discipline.”

But before we proceed to the investigation of the crime, or the infliction of punishment, we must turn our eyes to the great object which rose clearer and clearer every five minutes above the horizon. The privateer was at this time under topsails, and top-gallant-sails, jib, and foresail, running to the north-east, with a fine breeze and smooth water.

“Leftenant,” said the captain, “what you think of her?”

“I think,” said I, “that she is an extra Indiaman; and if you mean to speak her, you had better put your head towards her under an easy sail; by which means you will be so near by sunset, that if she runs from you, you will be able, with your superior sailing, to keep sight of her all night.”

“I guess you are not far wrong in that,” said the captain.

“I guess he is directly in the face of the truth,” said the chief mate, who had just returned from the maintop, where he had spent the last quarter of an hour in the most intense and absorbed attention to the cut of the stranger’s sails. “If e’er I saw wood and canvas put together before in the shape of a ship that there is one of John Bull’s bellowing calves of the ocean, and not less than a forty-four gunner.”

“What say you to that, leftenant?” said the captain.

“Oh, as to that,” said the mate, “it isn’t very likely that he’s going to tell us the truth.”

“Because you would not have done it yourself in the same situation,” said I.

“Just so,” said the mate.

And, in fact, I must own that I had no particular wish to cruise for some months in this vessel, and go back for water at Tristan d’Acunha. I therefore did not use my very best optical skill when I gave my opinion; but as I saw the stranger was nearing us very fast, although we were steering the same way, I made my mind up that I should very soon be out of this vessel, and on my way to England, where all my happiness and prospects were centred.

The chief mate took one more look—the captain followed his examples; they then looked at each other, and pronounced their cruise at an end.

“We are done, sir,” said the mate; “and all owing to that damned English renegade that you would enter on the books as one of the ship’s company. But let’s have him aft, and give him his discharge regularly.”

“First of all,” said the captain, “suppose we try what is to be done with our heels. They used to be good, and I never saw the brass-bottomed sarpent that could come a-near us yet. Send the royal yards up—clear away the studding-sails—keep her with the wind just two points abaft the beam, that’s her favourite position; and I think we may give the slip to that old-country devil in the course of the night.”

I said nothing, but looked very attentively to all that was doing. The vessel was well manned, certainly, and all sail was set upon her in a very expeditious manner.

“Heave the log,” said the captain.

They did so; and she was going, by their measurement, nine and six.

“What do you think your ship is doing?” said the captain to me.

“I think,” said I, “she is going about eleven knots; and, as she is six miles astern of you, that she will be within gun-shot in less than four hours.”

“Part of that time shall be spent in paying our debts for this favour,” said the captain. “Mr Solomon, let them seize thatno-nationrascal up to the main rigging, and hand up two of your most hungry cats. Where is Dick Twist, he that was boatswain’s mate of theStatira; and that red-haired fellow, you know, that swam away from theMaidstonein the Rappahanock?”

“You mean carroty Sam, I guess—pass the word for Sam Gall.”

The two operators soon appeared, each armed with the instruments of his office; and I must say that in malignity of construction they were equal to anything used on similar occasions, even by Captain G—. The culprit was now brought forward, and to my surprise, it was the very man whom Thompson, when in the boat had thrown overboard for mutiny. I cannot say that I felt sorry for the cause or the effect that was likely to be produced by the disputes of the day.

“Seize him up,” said the captain; “you were sent to the mast-head in your regular turn of duty; and you have neglected that duty, by which means we are likely to be taken: so, before my authority ceases, I will show you a Yankee trick.”

“I am an Englishman,” said the man; “and appeal to my officer for protection.”

The captain looked at me.

“If I am the officer you appeal to,” said I, “I do not acknowledge you. You threw off your allegiance when you thought it suited your purpose, and you now wish to resume it to screen yourself from a punishment which you richly deserve. I shall certainly not interfere in your favour.”

“I was born,” roared the cockney, “in Earl Street, seven Dials—my mother keeps a tripe-shop—I am a true-born Briton, and you have no right to flog me.”

“You was a Yankee sailor from New London, yesterday, and you are a tripe-seller from Old London to-day; I think I am right in calling you a no-nation rascal: but we will talk about the right another time,” said the captain; “meanwhile Dick Twist, do you begin.”

Twist obeyed his orders with skill and accuracy; and having given the prisoner three-dozen that would not have disgraced the legerdemain of my friend the Farnese Hercules in the brig, Sam Gall was desired to take his turn. Sam acquitted himselfà merveillewith the like number; and the prisoner after a due proportion of bellowing was cast loose. I could not help reflecting how very justly this captain had got his vessel into jeopardy by first allowing a man to be seduced from his allegiance, and then placing confidence in him.

“Let us now take a look at the chase,” said the captain. “Zounds, she draws up with us. I can see her bowsprit-cap hen she lifts; and half an hour ago I only saw her foreyard. Cut away the jolly-boat from the stern, Solomon.”

The chief mate took a small axe, and, with a steady blow at the end of each davit, divided the falls, and the boat fell into the sea.

“Throw these here two aftermost guns overboard,” said the captain; “I guess we are too deep abaft, and they would not be of much use to us in the way of defence, for this is a whopper that’s after us.”

The guns in a few minutes were sent to their last rest; and for the next half hour the enemy gained less upon them. It was now about half-past three p.m.; the courage of the Yankees revived; and the second mate reminded the captain that his black eye had not been reckoned for at the main rigging.

“Nor shall it be,” said the captain, “while I command theTrue-blooded Yankee; what is, is right; no man shall be punished for fair defence after warning. Thompson, come and stand aft.”

The man was in the act of obeying this order, when he was seized on by some six or eight of the most turbulent, who began to tear off his jacket.

“Avast there, shipmates!” said Twist and Gall, both in a breath. “We don’t mind touching up such a chap as this here tripeman; but not the scratch of a pin does Thompson get in this vessel. He is one of us; he is a seaman every inch of him, and you must flog us, and some fifty more, if once you begin; for damn my eyes if we don’t heave the log with the second mate, and then lay-to till the frigate comes alongside.”

The mutineers stood aghast for a few seconds; but the second mate, jumping on a gun, called out, “Who’s of our side? Are we going to be bullied by these damned Britishers?”

“You are,” said I, “if doing an act of justice is bullying. You are in great danger, and I warn you of it. I perceive the force of those whom you pretend to call Americans; and though I am the last man in the world to sanction an act of treachery by heaving the ship to, yet I caution you to beware how you provoke the bull-dog, who has only broke his master’s chain ‘for a lark,’ and is ready to return to him. I am your guest, and therefore your faithful friend; use your utmost endeavours to escape from your enemy. I know what she is, for I know her well; and, if I am not much mistaken, you have scarcely more time, with all your exertions, than to pack up your things; for, be assured, you will not pass twelve hours more under your own flag.”

This address had a tranquillising effect. The captain, Captain Green, and Solomon, walked aft; and, to their great dismay, saw distinctly the water-line of the pursuing frigate.

“What can be done?” said the captain: “she has gained on us in this manner, while the people were all aft settling that infernal dispute. Throw two more of the after guns overboard.”

This order was obeyed with the same celerity as the former, but not with the same success. The captain now began to perceive, what was pretty obvious to me before, namely, that by dropping the boat from the extreme end of the vessel, where it hung like the pea on the steelyard, he did good; the lightening her also of the two aftermost guns, hanging over the dead wood of the vessel, was in like manner serviceable. But here he should have stopped; the effect of throwing the next two guns overboard was pernicious. The vessel fell by the head; her stern was out of the water; she steered wild, yawed, and decreased in her rate of sailing in a surprising manner.

“Cut away the bower anchors,” said the captain.

The stoppers were cut, and the anchors dropped; the brig immediately recovered herself from her oppression, as it were, and resumed her former velocity; but the enemy had by this time made fearful approaches. The only hope of the captain and his crew was in the darkness; and as this darkness came on, my spirits decreased, for I greatly feared that we should have escaped. The sun had sunk some time below the horizon: the cloud of sail coming up astern of us began to be indistinct, and at last disappeared altogether in a black squall: we saw no more of her for nearly two hours.

I walked the deck with Green and the captain. The latter seemed in great perturbation: he had hoped to make his fortune,—and retire from the toils and cares of a sea-life in some snug corner of the Western settlements, where he might cultivate a little farm, and lead the life of an honest man; “forthislife,” said he, “I am free to confess, is, after all, little better than highway robbery.”

Whether the moral essay of the captain was the effect of his present danger, I will not pretend to say. I only know, that if the reader will turn back to some parts of my history, he will find me very often in a similar mood on similar occasions.

The two captains and the chief mate now retired, after leaving me meditating by myself over the larboard gunwale, just before the main rigging. The consultation seemed to be of great moment; and, as I afterwards learned, was to decide what course they should steer, seeing that they evidently lost sight of their pursuer. I felt all my hopes of release vanish as I looked at them, and had made up my mind to go to New York.

At this moment, a man came behind me, as if to get a pull at the top-gallant sheets; and while he hung down upon it with a kind of “yeo-ho,” he whispered in my ear—“You may have the command of the brig if you like. We are fifty Englishmen—we will heave her to and hoist a light, if you will only say the word, and promise us our free pardon.”

I pretended at first not to hear, but, turning round, I saw Mr Twist.

“Hold, villain!” said I; “do you think to redeem one act of treachery by another? and do you dare to insult the honour of a naval officer with a proposal so infamous? Go to your station instantly, and think yourself fortunate that I do not denounce you to the captain, who has a perfect right to throw you overboard—a fate which your chain of crimes fully deserves.”

The man skulked away, and I went off to the captain, to whom I related the circumstance, desiring him to be on his guard against treachery.

“Your conduct, sir,” said the captain, “is what I should have expected from a British naval officer; and since you have behaved so honourably, I will freely tell you that my intention is to shorten sail to the topsails and foresail, and haul dead on a wind into that dark squall to the southward.”

“As you please,” said I; “you cannot expect that I should advise, nor would you believe me if I said I wished you success; but rely on it I will resist, by every means in my power, any unfair means to dispossess you of your command.”

“I thank you, sir,” said the captain, mournfully; and, without losing any more time in useless words, “Shorten sail there,” continued he, with a low but firm voice; “take in the lower and topmost studding-sail—hands aloft—in top-gallant studding-sails, and roll up the top-gallant sails.”

All this appeared to be done with surprising speed, even to me, who had been accustomed to very well conducted ships of war. One mistake, however, was made; the lower studding-sail, instead of being hauled in on deck, was let to fall overboard, and towed some time under the larboard bow before it was reported to the officers.

“Haul in the larboard braces—brace sharp up—port the helm and bring her to the wind, quarter-master.”

“Port it is, sir,” said the man at the helm, and the vessel was close hauled upon the starboard tack; but she did not seem to move very fast, although she had a square mainsail, boom mainsail, and jib.

“I think we have done them at last,” said the captain; “what do you think, leftenant?” giving me a hearty but very friendly slap on the back. “Come, what say; shall we take a cool bottle of London particular after the fatigues of the day?”

“Wait a little,” said I, “wait a little.”

“What are you looking at there to windward?” said the captain, who perceived that my eye was fixed on a particular point.

Before I had time to answer, Thompson came up to me and said, “There is the ship, sir,” pointing to the very spot on which I was gazing. The captain heard this; and, as fear is ever quicksighted, he instantly caught the object.

“Running is of no use now,” said he; “we have tried her off the wind, our best going; she beats us at that: and on a wind, I don’t think so much of her; but still, with this smooth water and fine breeze, she ought to move better. Solomon, there is something wrong, give a look all round.”

Solomon went forward on the starboard side, but saw nothing. As he looked over the gangway and bow, coming round on the lee side of the forecastle, he saw some canvas hanging on one of the night-heads. “What have we here?” said he. No one answered. He looked over the fore-chains, and found the whole lower studding-sail towing in the water.

“No wonder she don’t move,” said the mate; “here is enough to stop theConstitutionherself. Who took in this here lower studding-sail?—But, never mind, we’ll settle that to-morrow. Come over here, you forecastle men.”

Some of the Americans came over to him, but not with very great alacrity. The sail could not be pulled in, as the vessel had too much way; and while they were ineffectually employed about it, the flash of a gun was seen to windward; and as the report reached our ears, the shot whistled over our heads, and, darted like lightning through the boom mainsail.

“Hurrah for old England!” said Thompson; “the fellow that fired that shot shall drink my allowance of grog to-morrow.”

“Hold your tongue, you damned English rascal,” said the second mate, “or I’ll stop your grog for ever.”

“I don’t think you will,” said the North Briton, “and if you take a friend’s advice, you won’t try.” Thompson was standing on the little round-house or poop; the indignant mate jumped up and collared him. Thompson disengaged him in the twinkling of an eye, and with one blow of his right hand in the pit of the man’s stomach, sent him reeling over to leeward. He fell—caught at the boom-sheet—missed it, and tumbled into the sea, from whence he rose no more.

All was now confusion. “A man overboard!”—another shot from the frigate—another and another in quick succession. The fate of the man was forgotten in the general panic. One shot cut the aftermost main-shroud; another went through the boat on the booms. The frigate was evidently very near us. The men all rushed down to seize their bags and chests; the captain took me by the hand, and said, “Sir, I surrender myself to you, and give you leave now to act as you think proper.”

“Thompson,” said I, “let go the main-sheet and the main-brace.” Running forward myself, I let go the main-tack, and bowlines; the main yard came square of itself. Thompson got a lantern, which he held up on the starboard quarter.

The frigate passed close under the stern, showing a beautiful pale side, with a fine tier of guns; and, hailing us, desired to know what vessel it was.

I replied that it was theTrue-blooded Yankee, of Boston—that she had hove-to and surrendered.

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