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-OR A SHORT ACCOUNT, OF —

THE LIFE, ADVENTURES AND VOYAGES

-OF-

CAPT. GURDON L. ALLYN,

Including Three Trips Around the World.

WRITTEN BY HIMSELF,
In the Seventy-ninth and Eightieth Years of his Age.

NORWICH, CONN.:
printed by GORDON WILCOX, I34 MAIN ST.
1879.

At 5r^

PREFACE

Many who know comparatively little of sailing a ship can
write a book, and many ivho are proficient in seamanship and
navigation are far from being proficient in a literary point of
vieiu. But every intelligent officer of a vessel which makes long
voyages has his journals and memoranda from which an ac
count of his meanderings can be compiled.
Every person^ •> life has its experiences which are of gen
eral interest, and this is especially true of those ivho have wan
dered much in different parts of the world.
This humble narrative is a statement of facts aud inci
dents unembellished by fiction and wide stretches of imagina
tion. If it has no particular moral, we believe that it contains
nothing immoral; and as people are differently constituted,
some being able to find ''sermons in stones" and others stones
in sermons, and hailstones at that, so let each one read for
pleasure, profit, amusement or insiruction, and deduce a moral
to suit himself if he can.
THE A UTHOR.

copyrighted by GURDON L. ALLYN, OF GALES FERRY, CONN , IN THE
YEAR OF OUR LORD 1879.

I was born in the village of Gales Ferry, which is pleas
antly located on the left bank of the Thames River, in the
County of New London and State of Connecticut, December
23d, A. D. 1799. My educational advantages were limited
and none too well improved. I thought more of boats than
of books, and preferred sailing, fishing and swimming to
reading, writing and arithmetic.
My father, a sea-captain, was, in consequence of the
Non-Intercourse Act, English Orders in Council, and Bona
parte's Milan Decrees, detained from his wonted avocation,
and turned his attention to fishing and oystering, in which
business my older brother and myself were early initiated
and soon became proficient.
My first trip of note was with my father to Newport, R.
I., in May, A. D. 1809, in an inferior two-masted, half-decked
sail-boat. A lad a little older than myself accompanied us.
He and I were cold and wet and sea-sick, and sick of the sea,
for we were out over night and had a very rough passage,
and the other chap said he would not be so sea-sick again for
five hundred thousand dollars. But boys, and sometimes
men, make extravagant remarks.
Daylight, smooth water and safe arrival at our destined

The Old Sailors Story.

port banished all thoughts of peril and sta-sickness, and my
mind was diverted by the sights and scenes which greeted
my vision. We were in Newport at the time of the annual election,
and the election day was " a high day;" fights were com
mon, and there seemed to be an antagonistic feeling between
the white and colored population.
I saw one of the sable sons of Ham, faultlessly arrayed,
standing on one of the wharves at low water. He had
white pants and a consequential air. A boatman approached
him and without leave, license, warning or ceremony, pitched
him of the white pants and consequential air into the soft,
slimy, oozy, vicious mud of Newport harbor.
'' O what a fall was that, my countrymen ! "
In the spring of A. D. i8i i my father purchased a sloop
of twenty tons burthen to ply between home and New York.
This suited me for I was anxious to see the great city of
which I had heard so much.
We started on the eleventh of April with a fresh gale
from E. N. E., intending to reach New Haven before night ;
but after we had passed Faulkner's Island the gale increased,
snow filled the air, and, when we hauled up for New Haven,
the sails being old and filled with snow burst and blew away,
leaving us in the trough of a heavy sea, at the mercy of the
winds and waves, in a truly perilous condition.
My father, apparently undaunted, headed her for Long
Island, and told my brother to build a fire and draw some
cider ; but the sloop gave a heavy roll and down came the

The Old Sailor's Story.

brick chimney with a crash, partly filling the little cabin with
bricks and mortar, at which my fortitude deserted me and I
bellowed well, but my father laughed at my fears, and in the
blackness of night, with the sea raging and .the wind howl
ing, we drifted helplessly.
At two olclock the next morning we were almost
ashore on Crane Neck, but father wore the sloop around,
and barely escaping Eaton's Neck at daylight, by means of
a new boat sail set in the pump, we arrived in Loyd's Har
bor, one of the snuggest harbors in the world, where we
found two large vessels had dragged their anchors and gone
ashore high and dry.'
The sloop Heroine, of Norwich, nearly new, was wrecked
on Eaton's Neck early in the night and broke to pieces,
the crew saving themselves, with one exception, by swinging
out the main boom and crawling from its end into the high
bank, where they dug a hole with their hands, into which
they huddled together for shelter from the severity of the
elements. The unfortunate exception was an Indian who stead
fastly refused to desert the three hogsheads of rum which
formed a part of the sloop's cargo. He was one of the mul
titudinous army which have lost their lives in consequence
of their devotion to rum.
My father bought the sails of the Heroine, which he
altered to suit our sloop, and we proceeded to New York,
and from thence to the vicinity of Staten Island, where he
procured a cargo of oysters, which he brought home and
planted in the Thames.

8 The Old Sailors Story. \
James Madison was then President of the United States.
There was a strong feeling of animosity between the Ameri
cans and English. Many of the Revolutionary patriots were
then living and England maintained the right of searching
American vessels and taking therefrom those who appeared
to be British subjects. By this means the mind of the pub
lic was constantly kept excited, and an incident occurred in
May of this year which increased this feeling.
Commodore Rogers, in the United States frigate Presi
dent, off the coast of Virginia, oh the evening of May i ith,
fell in with a vessel and hailed her with, " What ship is that ?
What ship is that ?" and a shot which struck the rriain-mast
of the President was the reply.
Commodore Rogers ordered a broadside, which silenced
her guns and killed and wounded many of her men.
Hailing, again, the commodore received a courteous an
swer, that the ship was the " Little Belt," 2: British man-of-
war brig. This was the first check the proud British Lion received
from the American Eagle on the high seas, but by no means
the last. Proudly declining proffered assistance, the Englishman
bore away for Bermuda, and Commodore Rogers and the
frigate President were the theme of every tongue and made
a strong impression on my boyi.sh imagination.
This also tended to fire the British heart and the proud
English boasted that they could sweep our feeble navy from
the ocean in a very .short time.
But the sequel proved to the contrary, as every boy

The Old Sailor's Story.

who has read the history of the second war of the Ameri
cans with England knows full well. No reading is more in
teresting to brave and manly boys than the captures of the
" Guerriere" by the " Constitution," of the " Frolic" by the
" Wasp," of the " Macedonian" by the " United States," of
the " Java" by the " Constitution," of the " Boxer" by the
" Enterprise," of the " Cyane " and the " Levant " by " Old
Ironsides," of the " Penguin " by the " Hornet," and the gal
lant victories of Perry on Lake Erie and McDonough on
Lake Champlain. The . news, incidents and comments of
these glorious victories are among the most vivid recollec
tions of my boyhood.
In December, A. D. 1811, occurred the " Great Christ
mas Snow Storm," the most severe I have ever known, the
snow drifts being ten and fifteen feet in height. Many ves
sels were wrecked and their crews perished.
In June, A. D. 18 12, war was declared against Great
Britain by the Congress of the United States, and from that
time until the cessation of hostihties in A. D. 181 5, I fol
lowed fishing and boating in summer and attended school in
winter. I accompanied my father and brother in the little sloop,
and after the war was over and the blockade was raised we
launched out as far as Chesapeake Bay, taking out produce
and returning with oysters for the New York market.
In the summer. of A. D. 1817 I staid at home and stud
ied arithmetic and navigation under the tuition of Norman
B. Brown, an excellent teacher, very proficient in penman
ship, who was ever pleased to instruct me.

IO The Old Sailors Story.
In A. D. 1819 I shipped mate of the sloop Thames, of for
ty-eight tons burthen, Captain Christopher Allyn, master,
bound to Charleston, S.. C.
We made two trips. On the second passage out we had
a very boisterous time, gale succeeding gale, but the sloop
was a good sea-boat and we arrived at Charleston after fif
teen days, where we loaded with cotton -and rice which we
safely conveyed to New York.
In January, A. D. 1820, we started from Gales Ferry for
New York with a load of cord-wood. The day was pleasant
but at about nine o'clock in the evening it hazed up and
commenced snowing, with the 'wind from the east, and we
hauled up for New Haven, but meeting with floating ice we
anchored at the mouth of the harbor.
The wind increased and we let go our secorid anchor,
but the wind veered to the south, and having the vdiole rake
of the sound we parted one cable and cut the other, and
went head first, at very full tide, away above common high
water mark on West Haven beach, where she bilged.
Being insured we abandoned her to the underwriters,
who got her off and repaired her.
In the first half of this year I made two trips in the
sloop " Romeo," Captain Alexander Allyn, one to Baltimore,
Md., and one to Richmond, Va., taking out an assorted
cargo, from New London, of cheese, potatoes, coffee-mills,
shoes, leather, gridirons, etc., and returning with flour.
On the 23d of June, A. D. 1820, I was master of the
sloop Thames, bound to the West Indies with an assorted
cargo of flour, bread, beef, pork, lard, butter, etc.

The Old Sailors Story. 1 1

I had a long passage of about a month, being becalmed
in the horse latitudes, but in course of time I disposed of
my cargo at the island of St. Eustatia, and loading, partly
there and partly at the island of St. Bartholomew, with sugar,
proceeded safely to the port of New London.
At the conclusion of this voyage the sloop was sold to
Mr. Amasa Hyde, of Norwich, who retained my services as
commander, and, with his brother Lewis as supercargo, we
sailed for Charleston, S. C, in the latter part of September,
with a cargo of produce.
. Arriving there safely, we continued in Carolina waters
through the winter, conveying cotton from the plantations to
the port of Charleston and carrying back loads of brick.
In May we loaded with tar at Georgetown, which we
carried to New York and discharged. I then made a trip
from Norwich to the West Indies, with Captain Jonathan
Lester as supercargo, and having disposed of the cargo to
good advantage, we took in a quantity of rum which we con
veyed to Boston.
Mr. Hyde, the owner, was well pleased with this year's
transactions, for the sloop had paid him, in one year's time,
more money than she cost him, the price he paid for her be
ing $1,275. In the winter of A. D. 1821 and A. D. 1822 I was en
gaged in the coasting trade in Carolina waters, and in the
spring I returned with a mixed cargo to New York.
On the 13th of October, A. D. 1822, I was married to
Miss Sally S. Bradford, of Gales Ferry. We celebrated the
fiftieth anniversary of our marriage in A. D. 1872, and at

12 The Old Sailor s Story.
the present writing we have lived together as man and wife
a little more than fifty-six years.
In the winter of A. D. 1822 and A. D. 1823 my father
was with me. We coasted in southern waters and bought a
schooner of seventy-five tons burthen. Father took charge
of her, and in the spring we loaded at Savannah for New
York, where we arrived the same day although I sailed sever
al days in advance.
I made a trip in the spring and early summer of A. D.
1823 to Norfolk and Baltimore, carrying out potatoes and
oats and returning with a full cargo of staves.
In the summer of this year my brother Nathan and my
self loaded the sloop with a cargo of wood for New York.
We took our wives along to see the wonders of the great
metropolis and we had a very enjoyable time.
Disposing of the wood we proceeded to South Amboy
where we loaded with potter's-clay for Norwich.
My brother sailed with an old friend of ours, in Sep
tember, for Savannah, but alas ! he never reached his pro
posed destination. He died of a fever on the passage and
was buried where so many rest until the time when the "sea
shall give up its dead."
My father having overhauled our schooner, the " Three
Sisters," and his health being poor, he wished me to sail
with him this fall which I accordingly did. We took a cargo
to Baltimore ; thence a cargo of flour and oats to Charleston.
Finding business dull in those parts we proceeded to Eliza
beth City where we loaded with staves, shingles and corn for
the West Indies. We stopped at Barbadoes and finding no

The Old Sailor's Story. i^

o

market for our cargo we proceeded to St. Vincent's where
we found a good market.
• Here my father's health failed, and in spite of medical
assistance he grew worse instead of better. I desired that
he should have rooms on shore. To this he objected, but
desired to be taken on deck for purer air. We had a thick
.sail-cloth awning overhead. Under this he laid and took
his medicine and drinks regularly.
On Friday he was able to go ashore and seemed quite
cheerful. Saturday he appeared more feeble ; and between
Sunday night and Monday morning he died without a strug
gle in the fifty-ninth year of his age.
This was in April, A. D. 1-824, and of our family of five,
death had taken two in less than eight months, leaving m)-
widowed mother, my only sister and myself
Mr. Newbold, our consignee, made proper and suitable
arrangements for my father's burial ; and having attended
to this solemn duty I, with a sad heart, turned my attention
to my vessel and cargo.
I took in about fifty puncheons of molasses and pro
ceeded to North Carolina where l discharged the same, and
finding freight dull for the north, I made a bargain with
Shaw & Co., of Elizabeth City, to take another cargo of
staves and shingles to the We-St Indies.
I intended to have gone to Antigua but easterly winds
prevailing I put into Port Antone, Jamaica, where 1 made a
rap for the whole cargo — shingles, invoiced at $2.25, bringing
$14 per M.; red oak staves, invoiced at $8, worth $65 per

14 The Old Sailor s Story.
M.; and white oak staves and heading, invoiced at $i8, worth
$75 per M.
But here I was stricken with the yellow bilious fevef ;
and although I was taken ashore and had good care, for ten
days or more my life was despaired of, and in the mean time
my mate died of the same dreadful scourge.
As soon as my fever left me and I had gained a little
strength I became very nervous and at times delirious. At
such times I had gloomy forebodings and imagined' all sorts
of evil. One morning I thought I heard my landlady cay : "That
fellow is alive yet. I will have a grave dug and bury him
alive." The window was open and the schooner was in
sight. Out of the window I went, fourteen feet from the
ground, into a pile of ballast-stones and broken bottles. Sus
taining no material injury (I believe I barked one of my
shins) I dove from the wharf and swam for the schooner.
The boat belonging to her being on its way ashore, the sail
ors took me in and conveyed me on board.
The captain of a Newfoundland brig, which lay near us,
came on board, and by his advice and assistance I had a
warm bath and was put to bed, where I had a short nap
which somewhat refreshed me. But the hypo taking pos
session of my brain, I dove from the cabin window with an
insane desire to end my existence. But the water had a
cooling, soothing effect on my nerves and brain, and being
taken on board and carefully watched I gradually recovered.
By the advice and assistance of a gentleman of the
place, R. .Sherwood, Esq., my vessel was loaded and I sailed

The Old Sailor's Story. 15
.for home by the windward passage. But after five or six
days of pleasant weather, owing to some miscalculation, in
stead of safely entering Crooked Island passage we struck,
in the night, on the Hogsties, a collection of reefs and islets
situated to the south and east of our proposed passage ; and
the wind increasing the vessel was wrecked, that is, she
pounded a hole in her bottom but did not break up.
We landed on a little island about two miles from the
wreck, where we continued in camp fqr sixteen days, making
occasional trips to the wreck for what we most needed. At
the expiration of that time a ship hove in sight and seeing
our signal came to our relief
The ship was bound from St. Domingo for New York
with a valuable cargo €>i coffee. The captain generously of
fered to take us and our dunnage, but refused to have any
thing to do with the wreck or cargo, thinking it would affect
his insurance, which was probably correct on his part. Hopipg
to realize something from the wreck and wrecked cargo, I re
fused to abandon the same, and requesting him to report
us and our condition at Crooked Island, after putting one
boy in his care, we saw him sail away and we felt more lone
some and melancholy than before.
Be it remembered we were far from home and in a deso
late, uninhabited region, with poor accommodations, in what
is known and feared as the hurricane season, on a little island
perhaps ten feet above the sea-level, which in case of a hur
ricane would probably be submerged.
But after weary, anxious days of waiting, a sloop from
Crooked Island came to our relief, and after securing all

1 6 The Old Sailors Story.

available cargo and stripping the wreck, she took us on
board and conveyed us to the port of Nassau.
About the time of my arrival there I was taken sick
with intermittent fever ; but I survived, and after settling
with the wreckers and paying my -crew I had less than forty
dollars. I took passage in a small schooner to Charleston, S. C,
where I arrived in low spirits on the first of September, A. 1 ).
1824, in the height of a yellow fever scourge, and found that
my friends of that place were absent in the country.
With only about five dollars that I could call my own,
utterly broken down in mind and body, I procured a permit
and went to the Marine Hospital, where for six weeks I was
very sick and very kindly cared for.
When I had somewhat recovered, the doctor, or chief
surgeon, Campbell, pointed me out to the visiting commit
tee as his " resurrection man."
One morning in November J read in the paper of the
arrival of the schooner Arkansas, Captain Wood, and sloop
Humbird, Captain Satterlee, both from the north and both
captains particular friends of mine.
This was cheering intelligence and I soon rallied. Cap
tain Wood offered me a free passage to New York, which 1
gladly accepted and arrived there safely.
Captain Charles Davidson, of the little steamer Fanny,
gave me a free passage through the sound and landed me
at Gales Ferry, where I found my friends in usual health
and my wife with a fine boy, four months of age, in her arms.
By hook or by crpok 1 weathered the winter, and in

The Old Sailor's Slory. i 7

April, A. D. 1825, went mate of the sloop Favorite, at $14
per month, with Captain Sanford Stoddard, to Norfolk with
potatoes. Here I received a satisfactory letter from John
A. Shaw & Co., of North Carolina.
They owed me about $300 on my two West India car
goes. They paid me $100 and promised to pay the remain
der, but now, after the lapse of fifty-three years, the remain
der is still unpaid.
Arriving home, via Providence, about the first of May,
I made a short trip to New York, and on my return I was
recommended by an old friend, Captain John Wood, to Mr.
Joseph Lawrence, as sailing-master of a new schooner called
the Spark, Captain Lebbeus Gardner being captain and half
,owner. I continued with Captain Gardner until about Thanks
giving, in the New York and Baltimore trade, and my fami
ly being sick staid at home a few weeks and then made six
trips in the sloop Thames, carrying cord-wood to New York,
which brings me to March, A. D. 1826.
At this time Messrs. Bangs & Kilburn, of Hartford, of
fered me a mate's berth on the brig Merchant, Captain John
King, which I accepted.
Captain King was none too well versed in navigation, and
made stupid calculations, for after getting, according to my
calculations, at least six degrees to the eastward of the Hole-
in-the-Wall, he was afraid of the land and ran three days
and- hove to three nights before^ sighting the same ; and after
getting on to the Bahama banks, he ran ashore to find out
which side of the channel he vias en, and if we had not

1 8 The Old Sailors Stoiy.
kedged off as we did we should have been wrecked then and
there. As it was he broke one of the rudder gudgeons
which made steering hard work.
After a deal of miscalculation we ran by the port of
Matanzas, to which we were bound, so far that it took us
nearly all of one day to beat back.
But after a time we arrived and spent five weeks in
discharging and loading, all by means of our long boat, which
carried five hogsheads, conveying articles from and to the
vessel, a distance of two miles each way.
About the first of June, A. D. 1826; we sailed for New
London, where we arrived and discharged part of our cargo,
proceeding to Hartford with the remainder.
When we unloaded we smoked her out and killed up
wards of two hundred rats.
The remainder of the summer I spent in overhauling
vessels for Bangs & Kilburn. Most of the time I was at
tending to the brig Sea Island, unloading, overhauling and
reloading her, the brig Merchant in the meantime making a
voyage to Demerara with bricks, flour, leaf tobacco, segars
and horses.
The Merchant returned iri November and I had orders
to repair on board of her; and after discharging she was
loaded with provisions and produce, with ten horses and one
hundred and fifty swine on deck.
Captain Henry Barnard was to command, but the pa
pers were made out in my name as Captain Barnard was to
remain in Cuba to procure cargoes for other vessels, while I
was to bring the brig home. Our destination was Matan-

The Old Sailor s Story, 19
 —  ¦ — ^  __ 
zas, and after waiting for a favorable time we sailed from
New London December loth, A. D. 1826.
We sailed with the wind northwest, in hopes of having
a quick passage, but the next day the wind veered to south
west, with a heavy head beat sea, and the swine were not
only well washed, but, with the exception of seven, like the
swine into which the devils entered, they perished in the wa
ter ; and of the seven that escaped, five were afterwards con
fiscated by the Cubans, Captain Barnard neglecting to put
them on the manifest, intending them for slaughtering on
board. We had constant gales during the entire passage of
twenty-three days, the brig leaking badly, requiring con
stant pumping.
We arrived at Cuba in January, A. D. 1827, and sailed
for home in February.
Had pleasant weather for the first few days and made
good progress, but, in latitude thirty-four degrees north, took
a strong breeze from the south, and shortened down to close
reefed top-sails, and after judging myself past Cape Hatteras
hauled up north, having heavy squalls from the southwest
and the pumps constantly going.
We were in the Gulf Stream, bowling along at the rate
of eleven knots, when the wind suddenly shifted to the north
ward, and in two hours' time our climate seemed changed
from summer's heat to winter's cold, and our rigging was
covered with ice.
The wind veered to the northeast, and for three days
we were close hauled on both tacks, and on the fourth morn
ing one of the sheathing planks floated off, and the leak in-

20 Tlie Old Sailor's Story.
 * 
creased fearfully, so that both pumps constantly working
could not keep her free.
Being north of the Gulf Stream, off the coast of Delaware,
in twenty fathoms df water, I bore off for the capes of Vir
ginia, but the weather became as thick as burgoo, and after
standing in to five fathoms on the Virginia coast, hove to,
head off shore,with one top-sail aback, and all hands and the
cook pumped for their lives.
After pumping for a day and a night, without decreas
ing the depth of water in the hold, we stove the heads of
the twenty hogsheads of molasses which formed the deck-
load, which seemed to ease her a little.
About this time the wind changed to the west, and, af
ter making all sail and heading to the north, we made • a
search for the leak ; staving three hogsheads of molasses in
the port wing, and cutting away the ceiling plank, found a
fearful leak just below the loaded water-line, in the vicinity
of the port fore chains.
With much difficulty we succeeded in stopping it par
tially, so that after a hard day's work all round, the nien
gave the cheering intelligehce that the pumps' sucked.
But the danger was not over, for it required constant
pumping to keep her free.
But after a few more days of blowy, rough weather we
arrived safely in New London on about the eighth of Mareh;
A. D. 1827.
The work of pumping was confided to other hands, and
I started for Gales Ferry on foot, where I found my wife
with a fine, plump boy of five months in her arms.

The Old Sailors Story. 21
'^  • 
And so ended this wearisome and dangerous voyage.
After discharging sufficient cargo to bring the leak out of
water, proceeded to Hartford with the residue. The Con
necticut River being twenty-one feet higher than at common
low water, we discharged into the second story of Morgan's
warehouse, the lower story being submerged.
Here the old brig narrowly escaped taking fire from the
burning of a negro house in the immediate vicinity, but the
sails being wet, and we letting her swing off into the stream
with great haste, she escaped the conflagration.
After being overhauled and thoroughly calked and re-
fastened the " Merchant " was again loaded with a general
careo, and another deck-load of those animals w'.iich the
Jews abhor, and leaving Saybrook bar April 29th, after a
fine, quick passage, arrived at Matanzas May iith, A. D.
1827, and commenced discharging, with the hogs on deck, as
the man to whom they were consigned was absent in the
country. They were much in our way, as they remained
until our in-board cargo was unloaded and our ground tier
of molasses for return cargo was stowed. We loaded and
started for home June 23d, Captain Barnard, before men
tioned, taking passage with us.
The northeast trades being strong we had a pretty
rough passage between the Bahamas and the Florida coast,
but nothing worthy of note occurring until we arrived in the
latitude of Cape Fear. Captain Barnard, being an old West
India skipper, and part owner of the cargo, would often dic
tate to the mate concerning the course of the vessel. In the
mateis watch, on July 3d, he changed the course which I had

22 The Old Sailor s Story.
 %  .  .
ordered from northeast to north-northeast. When I found
this out I remonstrated with him, but he vowed that we
could steer north and then pass one hundred and fifty miles
to the east of Cape Hatteras.
Being self-willed he declared that he was right, and \
let him have his way, although I felt convinced that he was
wrong, which he was as the sequel proved, for at eleven
o'clock we made a light, and sounding found we had but
nine fathoms inside of the dangerous shoals of Cape Look
out, part of which are dry at low water. He gave orders to
stand to the southeast, which would most certainly have
brought us to grief, but I told him to keep quiet and I would
stand boss awhile, and by stretching to the west, then to the
southeast, and repeating this maneuver, we succeeded in
weathering the outer shoals, the most dangerous on the whole
coast. The next day being Independence Efey the old chap re
marked, while nipping his champagne, that we were more
independent than he expected to have been one spell last
night. Still he would continue to alter the course, and when
we made Cape Hatteras, which is no place fc^r fooling as
many well know, at certain seasons of the year, we were
heading inside of the light and had to braee up and haul off
for a long distance.
But after rounding the cape we proceeded safely past
Montauk, and again the old skipper was determined to have
his way, and instead of stopping at New London to lighten,

The Old Sailor's Story. 23
as was customary, he said steer for Saybrook and proceed
to Hartford. This was a good move for the river was high, and al
though drawing fourteen feet of water, we proceeded as far
as Log bar without lightening, thereby saving detention and
expense to the owners.
Another voyage was already planned by our enterpris
ing firm to Surinarn, Dutch Guiana, with assorted in-board
cargo and a deck-load of horses, and Captain Douglass was
to command and I was to be his mate.
We had a very good run until we had reached the lati
tude of twenty-seven degrees north, longitude fifty-five de
grees wiest, which was the meridian of the port to which we
were bound, when we were caught in one of those violent
hurricanes to which this part of the ocean is subject, com
mencing on the morning of the twenty-third of August. It
blew a strong breeze the previous night, but about three
o'clock A. M. the wind increased fearfully and the seas ran
terribly high.
Not being able to lay to we scud under a very little sail.
That blowing away we continued under bare poles, yawing
much, until a heavy sea striking her port quarter she broached
to and fell over on her beam ends with the horses flounder
ing in the water.
We cut the main rigging and the main-mast fell with a
crash, and she righted and fell off before the wind.
After this the captain took an extra nipper and stowed
himself away, while the wind roared like steam from an
escape valve, and I steered the entire night, my endeavor

24 The Old Sailors Story.
*  ^
being to keep her directly before the wind and sea. It was
no easy matter, for being deeply laden she labored fearfully
and the steering apparatus was only the old fashioned tiller
and tackles. Sometimes my fatigue was so great that I was
tempted to abandon my post, but knowing that certain de
struction would inevitably ensue I .determined to hold out as
long as I could. Daylight brought no relief to our shattered
bark. The gale raging no less fiercely great gloom was
upon us.
The next morning our supercargo decided to throw the
horses, fifty-six in number, into the raging deep, an opera
tion which was performed with great difficulty.
It was sad to see the poor brutes struggling in the sea
with their heads thrown frantically out of water, but our hay
was washed away and the salvation of our lives seemed to
demand the sacrifice of theirs.
Freed of their weight the brig labored less heavily, and
the wind subsiding a little I was relieved from the helm.
The captain then called on me to fix one of the cabin
windows, the dead-light being broken and a sea-bed jammed
into it. I had been at the helm over twenty-four hours and felt
exhausted, and thought the drunken captain might fix his
own window ; but as we had no second mate I crawled for
ward through the manger and obtained a piece of board, but
a gust struck me on my way back, and instead of blowing
away with the board I let the board blow away without my
company. I steered, after a few hours' relief, until about

The Old Sailor's Story. 25
midnight, the brig steering badly and shipping a great deal
of water. I then went «below for dry clothing and some refresh
ment. Captain Lester informed me that the wind had
blown from all points of the compass, it being a regular cy
clone and a tremendous one.
At nine o'clock the next morning the gale broke and the
sea smoothed down almost immediately, and we turned our
attention to clearing up the wreck.
The brig Betsey Dole, of Middletown, which we had
spoken three days before the gale, was one of many ves.sels
that were lost with all hands, and never heard of more.
We rigged a jury-mast and in a crippled condition made
our way back to the American coast.
One night we were run into by a ship which gave us a
glancing blow, breaking top timbers and cat-head and rob
bing us of one anchor ; but in just one month from- the time
we sailed we re-entered the harbor of New London Septem
ber 13th, A. D. 1827, having survived one of the most se
vere gales on record, and making while absent a circuit of
more than two thousand five hundred miles.
The enterprising owners wishing to prosecute this voy
age bought the brig Governor Griswold, to which our in
board cargo was transferred with additions, and taking sixty
horses on deck we had a fair passage to the mouth of the
Surinam River.
The captain and supercargo proceeded to the town,
about twenty miles, and made arrangements for the transfer

26 The Old Sailor's Story.

of our cargo to Demerara, which port at this time was closed
to American vessels.
A part of their arrangements was for us to proceed to
the little river which forms the boundary between the Eng
lish and Dutch colonies, forty miles nearer Demerara than
the mouth of the Surinam. To that place we proceeded
and our cargo was taken from us in small vessels. We con
tinued there about three weeks and suffered untold aggrava
tion and inconvenience on account of the mosquitoes which
were very large, very numerous and very blood-thirsty.
One night our cabin-boy went into the cabin to set the ta
ble for tea, but the stern windows being open the mosqui
toes had literally taken possession, and the poor lad, with
howls of rage, beat an inglorious retreat, leaving all the in
sects which could not possibly fasten to every exposed part
of his person.
That night we drank our tea on deck under the awn
ing. After unloading we proceeded to the Rio de la Hatche,
where flour at that time was -worth fifty dollars per barrel,
but unfortunately we had none to sell. We loaded there
with dye-woods, which were brought to us in the night, and
setting sail for home January loth, A. D. 1828, we proceeded
until detained by fog in the vicinity of somewhere.
When the fog lighted we sighted Gay Head, and hav
ing strong westerly winds we took a pilot and put into Tar
paulin cove.
After being detained three or four days we proceeded
to New London, arriving there about the twelfth of F"ebruary.

The Old Sailor's Story. 27
The operation of taking the pilot cost the owners about
sixty-five dollars.
We then loaded for Cuba with hogs on deck, sailing in
March, and after a common kind of passage we arrived at
Matanzas where we took in a full cargo of sugar and molas
ses, with which we returned after a remarkably quick passage.
Congress had recently enacted a new tariff law doubling
the duties on foreign imports, to take effect on the first of
the next July. So we took in a light cargo for Cuba, and it
being the middle of May we were in a hurry, but we had a
long passage. However, the agent loaded us, with instruc
tions to hasten to the nearest American port, and we had the
satisfaction of arriving at Charleston June 30th, A. D. 1828.
After unloading we proceeded to New London where we ar
rived about the twentieth of July.
The next voyage was to the windward West Indies
where we discharged cargo for trans-shipment to Demerara.
Sailing about the middle of August we arrived at St. Bar
tholomew's about the middle of September. Shipping the
bulk of our cargo and selling what suited the market in that
place, we proceeded with the balance to La Guayra in Vene
zuela, at the foot of the Caraccas mountains, the distance
from the seaport to the capital being twelve miles by a zig
zag road. All merchandise has to be conveyed on the backs of
sure-footed mules, and if the mule should lose his foothold,
he and his rider and his lading, which is sometimes a barrel
of beef, would be dashed on the rocks many hundred feet
below.

The Old Sailors Stoiy.

La Guayra has an open roadstead, being only a long
bend in the land and the swell from the north rolls in heavily.
We were there in September, with the sun at meridian, al
most directly overhead, and to say the least it was hot. The
reflection of the sun from the mountain side could be sensi
bly felt through two thicknesses of sail-cloth awning.
After disposing of all that we could sell to advantage
we proceeded to Porto Cabello where we found a good har
bor but no market for our dry goods. It took us seven hours
to weigh our anchor at this place, for an old rusty ship's an
chor, which would weigh three thousand pounds, was at
tached to ours, looking old enough to have been left there
by Columbus on his third voyage, when he discovered the
continent near this place.
We touched at Curacoa where we found no market for
our goods, and as a last resort we proceeded to Port Hatche,
where we sold what we could and loaded with dye-wood for
home, where we arrived in November, about the time of the
election of General Jackson as President of the United
States. Bangs &. Kilburn had failed and I was out of employ
ment, but I purchased a small interest in a sloop called the
Juno, and took a load of potatoes to Philadelphia in De
cember, Returning home in January, A. D. 1829, I laid by a
spell, but in the latter part of February took in a quantity
of ice, hacked out in all shapes, and started for Savannah,
Ga. The ice melted considerably and sold to poor advan
tage, there being no ice-house in the place to store it in ex-

The Old Sailo7'-'s Story. 29
"cepting one belonging to a Boston ice company who monopo
lized the trade. I made'a short river trip; thence a trip to
and from Norfolk with corn ; thence to Philadelphia with
cotton and rice in company with the schooner Spark, Cap
tain Charles Poole ; thence a cargo to New York ; thence a
car|;o to New London"; and from there I proceeded to Bos
ton with a load of oil.
Arriving home I overhauled the sloop, and times being
dull laid up for a while
I had an offer to take charge of a brig to Demerara, but
Mr. Lawrence and Major Williams, who owned part of the
sloop, made me out a freight for Philadelphia, and I re
turned with the second cargo of coal ever discharged at New
London, and this was in August, A. D. 1829.
On the twenty-fifth of October I was master of the schooner
Spark, of eighty tons burthen, bound on a sealing voyage
to the South Atlantic. My officers were Edward P. Dewy,
of Stonington, first mate ; George Brewster, second mate; Al
fred Allyn, of Ledyard, third mate. One Chase, cooper,
and Samuel Cooley, steward. Among the seamen were
Strong Holt, of New London, afterwards a successful whaling
captain, who was drowned from a pleasure boat in Fisher's
Island Sound ; Samuel Hart, William Hanks, George Kings
bury, and William Hall, who afterwards became a lawyer, all
of Hartford, and five others, making a total of sixteen to
man a little schooner which could be easily managed by two
men and a boy in ordinary weather.
After twenty-three days we arrived at one of the Cape
De Verde Islands where we found two sealing vessels, the

30 The Old Sailor's Story.
brig Seraph, of Stonington, and the schooner General Put
nam, of Newburyport.
Procuring three hundred bushels of salt we mated with
the Putnam and proceeded for sealing grounds. Crossing
the equator in the longitude of eighteen degrees west, we
proceeded with more or less celerity and arrived on the
barren coast of Africa, in the latitude of twenty-six degrees
south, on January 14th, A. D. 1830.
At that place is a small island, a mile or more from the
coast, on the inside of which there is a fair anchorage. This
island, called Ichabb, is the rendezvous of millions of sea-
birds, which there lay their eggs and hatch their young ; and
we obtained at this time and afterwards quantities of eggs,
many of which are excellent for food. The birds were so
thick as to prevent our traveling on shore without first beat
ing a pa::sage way with our seal-clubs, and yet we endeavored
not to hurt them, although ,they regarded us as intruders
and attacked us with ferocity, scratching and biting with
such effect as to draw blood through the legs of our panta
loons. We were plentifully supplied with eggs during the fif
teen months that we were on this coast, our men eating
gulls' and penguins' eggs without much distinction, although
the former are much superior.
We had arrived at this island too late for this season,
for an examination of the shore revealed about a thousand
carcasses of seal which had been deprived of their skins by
those who had arrived there on a similar errand to ours.

The Old Sailor's Story. 31
A few words descriptive of seal and sealing may not be
amiss in this conrjection.
The males, called wigs, are much larger than the females,
and weigh, when full grown, from fifty to eighty pounds.
The females, called clapmatches, weigh from four to ten
pounds, and commence breeding when they are three years
of age. The males come on shore about the first of November
and land short distances from each other all along the
coast of the uninhabited islands or regions which form their
breeding grounds. A few days after this the females emerge
from the water and are escorted, after a fierce battle among
the males who are stationed in the vicinity, by the victo
rious male who escorts the newly-arrived female to a secure
place. At this time the males are very savage and will bite
through each others napes which are of the thickness of a
man's hand. Some are killed in the conflicts, which seems
unwarrantable, for the females instead of being few are nu
merous in comparison with the males, and average about
twenty of the former to one of the latter.
The coast was well sealed and we could only glean a
few from the roughest rocks.
Six days passed and our consort, the Putnam, arrived;
and as we were likely to fall short of water, this being a bar
ren, sandy coast, without rain oftener than once a year, we
put our water-casks and our mate on board of her and des
patched her south to Saldana Bay, while her captain came

32

The Old Sailor^ s Story.

on board of our vessel and proceeded with us to seal al^ng
the coast. We found a few seal at each landing, but as our con
sort did not arrive in due time we beat towards Saldana
Bay, the wind constantly prevailing from the south, and on
our arrival there found the Putnam had left, and the wliale
ship Dauphin, Captain Huzzey, of Nantucket, lying in the
harbor with the captain on shore recruiting his health.
At night, in a sudden squall from the southwest, the old
Dauphin parted her cable and before the second anchor
could be cast out she was nearly in the breakers ; the second
cable parted and in less than an hour she was a complete
wreck, with her masts all gone and deck uptorn, for being
an old ship with a new top, the new part left the old and
parted company in a hurry.
The captain rode down the next day anS viewing the
wreck, quite coolly remark^ that if he pulled out his hair
and threw it into the fire that would not mend the matter.
So he returned to his quarters after giving some directions
to Mr. Russell his mate.
The next day I called on Mr. Marsh, the magistrate
and chief man of this English out-post, who entertained me
very civilly, and having procured some wood from the wreck,
and filled our spare casks with water of a poor quality, pro
ceeded to Angra Pequena harbor, where we found our con
sort and obtained from her our casks of water on March
1 8th, A. D. 1830.
It being between season, I concluded to return to Saldana
Bay, if possible, before the auction of the effects saved from

The Old Sailor's Story, 33
the Dauphin, being in want of an anchor; and the Putnam,
with my second mate and boat's crew, proceeded to seal
along the coa.st. We procured an anchor from the wreck of
the Dauphin, also a main-top-sail, which we altered into a
main-sail for ovir schooner.
But minute account of any voyage are too prolix and
tedious for general reading, so I will give a few extracts from
memoranda which possibly may be interesting to some and
of less interest to others.
On the fifth of April, A. D. 1830, natives or Hottentots
cattle twelve days' journey from the interior to the harbor of
Angra where we were, with cattle and sheep to barter for
powder and ball for hunting purposes.
We bought five neat cattle and two .sheep, paying two
junk bottles of powder each for the former and one bottle
apiece for the latter.
On the sixth of May the captain of the Putnam sent
word that he should dissolve partnership with us from that
date. He had discovered, as we afterwards learned, what he
supposed was a gold mine, but which proved to be a worth
less mineral substance, as he found after taking a quantity of
it to Cape Town to have it tested.
From this time until September 6th, when we again
joined in partnership, we took from five to six hundred seal
skins, no part of which belonged to the Putnam and her of
ficers and crew.
On the thirteenth we obtained one hundred and seventy-
five heavy fur seal-skins.

The Old Sailor's Story.

The whole coast of this region is a sandy desert, and
the natives who wander to and along shore, coming several
days' journey from the interior, are the most, miserable speci
mens of humanity I have ever seen. They like tobacco and
will barter anything they possess to procure it. They are"
nearly or quite naked, oil themselves from head to foot, and
eat birds' eggs, offal, or anything they can prbcure to sustain
their miserable existence.
They offer in trade ostrich egg-shells, from which they
have extracted the inside through a hole in one end, and
also feathers of the largest known bird ; but the feathers, like
themselves, are in a dirty, greasy and unpresentable condi
tion. On November 2 ist we took two hundred and thirty-four
prime seal-skins ; December 29th, two hundred and thirty
seal-skins ; December 31st, two hundred and fifty skins. So
ends the year of our Lord 1830.
January ist, A. D. 1 831, took five hundred skins ; March
2d we took seven hundred and forty skins, which was a good
days work and attended with great labor and excitement.
On March 21st, at four o'clock P. M., we bore away for
North America with all sail set and all hands in the best of
humor. We were glad to bid adieu to the wearisome em
ployments and enjoyments of African life, and with a fair
wind we were soon going at the rate of nine knots.
The sailing from the coast of Africa, in latitude twenty-
five degrees south, to the equator, in good weather and with
a fair wind for three thousand miles, is the most pleasant
sailing I have ever experienced.

TJie Old Sailor s Story. 35
On the twenty-ninth of March we stopped at Jamestown,
the only port of the island of St. Helena, where I was very
kindly received and entertained by the American vice-consul,
William Carroll, Esq. Here I sold three casks of bread
and obtained fresh vegetables for the crew, who had liberty
on shore and a dollar apiece for spending money. I made
a visit to Bonaparte's tomb ; and the next day, having got all
hands on board, who were inclined to be wild and mutinous
until they recovered from the effects of that for which they
had spent their dollars, at.tvi^elve o'clock noon St. Helena bore
southeast by south, five leagues distant, from which we took
a new departure.
From March 30th to April 12th we averaged upwards
of one hundred and fifty miles per day, then baffling, variable
winds until the nineteenth, when we took the northeast trade
winds in latitude six degrees fourteen minutes north, and pro
ceeded on our way rejoicing.
We navigated by dead reckoning and lunar observa
tions, and proceeded towards our destination at the rate of
nearly two hundred miles a day. On the twenty-fifth found
the head of the main-mast sprung and reefed the main-sail.
On the twenty-sixth found the skins heating in the af
ter hold and overhauled them.
On the third of May we passed the Bermudas about
forty miles to the west of us.
On the sixth spoke the schooner Amanda Malvina
from Charleston for Boston. His longitude differed mate
rially from mine. He was only five days out of port and
three degrees east of his reckoning, having been swept along

o

6 The Old Sailors Story.

by the Gulf Stream for which he had not made due allow
ance, while I, not having had no new departure since leaving
St. Helena, was not ten miles from my reckoning.
So much for lunar observations when correctly taken.
On May loth, at daylight, we had the joyful sight" and
sound of " Land Ho!" and Block Lsland bore north about
fifteen miles distant.
At three P. M. Samuel Hart was washed overboard
from the jib-boom, in the Race-rip, but with the assistance of
Strong Holt, who seized the end of a line and swam to him^
he was soon rescued.
We anchored in New London May loth, A. D. 183 1,
after an absence of more than a year and a half, having
made a satisfactory voyage to the owners and all concerned.
After recruiting awhile, my friend Captain John Poole,
of New London, who had built a schooner of about eighty
tons, called the Talma, induced me to go in her with his son,
Charles Poole, in the southern coasting trade. We started in
July, carried cheese to Norfolk and Baltimore, and returned
home with pine wood and watermelons.
Our next trip was to Philadelphia, whence we conveyed
coal to New York, and arrived at New London early in Sep
tember. We next took seven hundred bushels of potatoes and
twenty-six tons of cheese for the late Captain Acors Barnes,
of New London, from Norwich to Norfolk and Baltimore,
Captain Barnes taking passage with us.
Arriving at Norfolk we left a part of the cheese with
Anderson & Goodrich and proceeded to Baltimore.

The Old Sailors Stoiy. t,"/
After selling the remainder of our cargo there we loaded
with flour for New York. We next sailed on December
gth, with an assorted cargo and a few passengers, from New
York to Havana, and had a nine days passage. We were
detained in Havana some time, owing partly to the Cuban's
observance of the holiday season, and then went to New
Orleans with a load of coffee and sugar.: In February, 1832,
we made a short trip up the river for molasses for a New
Orleans distillery ; and business being dull we purchased, at
Bayou LaFouche, a full cargo of molasses on the vessel's ac
count, and after being detained a long time in loading, after
a long passage arrived at New London about June ist, A.
D. 1832. I had three applications to go. sealing, and Captain Poole,
handing he could dispose of the Talma to good advantage if
I would go in her, which I consented to do, sold her to Mr.
Joseph Lawrence with whom I made arrangements for a
pretty good lay and bonus.
We sailed in the latter part of July, at the height of the
first cholera in New York, and although most of my crew
were from that city we had no cases of it on board. My
mates were Stephen Perkins, of Gales Ferry ; John Hill, of
Stonington ; and Orlando Bolles, of New London, first, sec
ond and third respectively.
We arrived at the Cape De Verde Islands after quite a
lengthy passage, where we obtained salt. Leaving the
islands we had constant southerly winds and much unpleas
ant weather until near the equator, which I think we crossed
on fhe twentieth of September, with the sun vertical. We

38 The Old Sailor's Story.
had adverse winds and heavy weather much of the time un
til we had passed the mouth of the La Plata, when the
weather became more mild, it being then past the middle of
October. We sighted Cape Corrientes, and with a fresh north-
erJy wind ran down the coast of Patagonia to St. Joseph's
Peninsula and sent the boats in shore to explore.
The boats returned, having seen only a few hair lions on
the beaches. We proceeded south, anchored in St. Helena harbor,
with the wind northeast, where the bottom is- hard and flinty,
and went on shore but made no discovery of seals.
The next day we left this harbor and went south, ex
amining rocks and Islands, but found no seals.
We stood in for Oven Bay, a narrow creek, where we
found the schooner Union, Captain Clark, of Boston.
We anchored in this harbor, which is snug and has ex
cellent holding grounds.
Leaving here we continued south, across St. George's
Bay, with the wind from northwest, where the tides rise
from twenty to thirty feet, and the current sets north and
south at the rate of three or four miles an hour.
We rounded Cape Blanco and went to Staten Land,
where we arrived about November ist.
This island is a long ridge of mountain peaks, thirty
miles in length, with three good harbors, viz.: East harbor,
West harbor, and Port Hatche.
The practice of sealing this island is to leave the vessel
in one of the harbors and work the beaches with the boats.

The old Sailor's Story. 39
Our boats fitted out and fell in with a boat's crew left hefe
by schooner Telegraph, of Bristol, and they proceeded to
seal in conipan)-, but obtained but few .skins.
In January we crossed the Straits of LeMar, which
separate .Staten Land from Terra del Fuego, a dangerous
passage on account of its heavy tide-rip, where Commodore
Porter nearly foundered the frigate Essex.
Captain Cutler, in the sloop Only Son, of Stonington,
found him.self one day drifting into this dangerous rip in a
calm. He closed his hatches and all places where water
could find ingress, and leaving his dog on deck went below
with his crew. The little craft came out of the peril, but the
dog was missing and everything on deck that was not firmly
secured ; and if a dog could not survive the peril how could
a man ?
On the third day from Staten Land we anchored in
Wood harbor, a fine harbor in one of the numerous groups
of the Terra del Fuego archipelago. The islands are high,
rocky and well wooded, having a plentiful supply of the
most refreshing water I ever tasted. Where the fresh water
empties into the salt water a sort of oil rises to the surface.
The inhabitants of this region are a degraded race, des
titute of all civilization, easily intimidated, subsisting on fish
and mussels, and spending much of their time in canoes
made of bark, in which they carry a heap of sand, dirt and
stones, on which they keep a fire constantly burning.
This population inhabits a region of mountainous island-
land which extends some four hundred miles on the South
Atlantic and South Pacific coasts. They are as sadly in need

4o The Old Sailor's Story.

of missionaries as any people on the face of this terrestrial
ball, but the field would be neither lucrative nor self-sustaining.
They express no desire to leave their country ; and two
young fellows who aJDpeared to be eighteen or twenty years
of age, who came on board our schooner one day, and who
were baffled in their attiempts to find the monkeys which ap
peared to them to lurk in the mirror when they stood before
it, when made to think we sought their abduction, howled so
piteously that we were glad to free them from our company.
The number of these human beings, who fare worse
than the brutes of most parts of the world, is hundreds and
perhaps thousands. A mission was once started for their
benefit, under the auspices of the English EjDiscopalians,
but the missionaries, unable to procure supplies needful to
life and health, sickened and died, for aught I know of
starvation. On one of the Diego Islands I lost a valuable boy named
B. F. Hussey. He went with the mate and myself on tea
steep, rocky island to procure fowl, while the bodt's crew laid
off at a short distance waiting for us. The last I saw of him
he was on a pinnacle of rock waving a wounded bird. Proba
bly the rock on which he stood crumbled with his weight,
and he fell into the water and was killed or severely stunned
by the fall. He was a Sandwich Islander by birth and an
adept at diving and swimming, but he suddenly disappeared,
and although we searched diligently for his body we did not
succeed in finding it..
We examined the rocks and islands in this region,

The Old Sailors Story. \\

called by Captain Cook, Desolation coast, and occasionally
found a few seal.
We generally anchored at night, for the bays, coves,
and islands in this region form many excellent harbors, and
cruising in the night is perilous, on account of sudden squalls,
which are of frequent occurrence and by no means pleasant.
We procured some provisions in Gregory's Bay, Straits
of Magellan, of the Patagonian Indians, a gigantic race, far
superior in size and strength to the natives of Terra del
Fuego. These Indians have a very hardy breed of horses
that will stand much fatigue ; and after taking a party of
them on board, among whom was a native queen, and feast
ing them on rice and molasses, of which they were very fond,
they agreed to furnish ns with deer meat, and they kept
their word, bartering this luscious commodity for red woolen
shirts. After replenishing our stock of provisions, we prjoceeded
from the Straits of Magellan in May, A. D. 1833, for the
Falkland Islands. We found plenty of wild geese on these
islands and easily procured, by shooting, all the goose flesh
we wanted. We obtained but few seal-skins, and what we had we
shipped home in the schooner Sun, Captain Trott. Then
we went to work to get more ; and as time wore away and
the sealing season came on, we succeeded in getting a fair
cargo. We visited the South Shetlands, whose summits, tow
ering high, are always covered with snow. We had some op
position, for several vessels were sealing in the.se regions.
Sometimes we consorted with one or more vessels and

42 The Old Sailor's Story.

worked together for a time ; sometimes we left a boat's crew
with camping utensils and provisions to seal aome inhospit
able, barren or uninhabited island, while we continued
search elsewhere ; sometimes we remained in a harbor for
several days at a time ; again we were busy in procuring
fuel, water and game ; and so the^days, weeks and months
passed away, and on March 9th, A. D. 1834, we were home
ward bound.
We called at Pernambuco for fruits and vegetables. We
crossed the equator about the middle of April and arrived
home early in May, having a speedy, safe passage. I found
my family well, and the voyage was profitable, for seal-skins
brought a high price. Thus ends a tedious twenty-two
months' voyage.
On the twenty-eighth of July I sailed on another voy
age in the schooner Betsey, of New London, with a comple
ment of twenty-one men, bound on a sealing and whaling
voyage. We stopped at the Cape De Verde's for salt, and found
that the people had been preserved from famine by the provi
dential supply of large numbers of small fish.
Their crops failed, and had tt not been for this miracur
lous supply of food the common people would have been
without sustenance.
The same Divine Power that sent food by the ravens to
the prophet Elijah sent fish to these islanders, and have we
not witnessed the workings of the same power in this coun
try 1 For when wood was getting scarce very rapidly, be
hold the discovery ;*ed utilizing of our immense coal niines ;

The Old Sailor's Story. 43

and when whales were few and far between, then bubbles
and spouts from mother earth a seemingly inexhaustible sup
ply of petroleum.
These islands belong to Portugal and are inhabited by
a mixed race, of Portuguese and African descent or consent.
Governor Martinez and his family were the only full-blooded
Portuguese which I saw on these islands and some of his
sons had a decidedly Haniish appearance.
He was quite extensively engaged in the sajt trade»
owning several vessels ; one of them was the old brig Boxer,
taken by the Enterprise in the war of 181 2. And these ves
sels conveyed cargoes of salt to Portugal and Brazil.
While we were here the brig Tampico, Captain Holmes,
of Mystic, arrived, and after procuring a sufficient quantity
of salt, we sailed in company with her, she being bound on
the same errand as ourselves, for the southwest coast of
Africa. We crossed the equator about the middle of Sep
tember, and after sighting the island of Ascension, an unu
sual occurrence on this passage, we took the southeast trade
winds, which blew remarkably strong, causing us to make
rapid headway^ and we arrived on the coast in the vicinity
of Whale's Bay, after a passage of sixty-five days, on or
about October 5th, A. D. 1834. We stopped at Elizabeth
Bay, where we procured a supply of birds and eggs, and pro
ceeded to Angra Pequena Bay, the best harbor on the whole
coast, to which I have formerly alluded in this ^^ ork.
Here we landed surplus provisions, shooks, etc., and
sent down yards and prejaared for cruising generally.

44 The Old Sailor s Story.
On the third or fourth day we started northward, ex
amining rocks and islands on our v^?ay with little success.
We proceeded to Ichabo Island where we found plenty
of eggs, and crawfish, a sort of lobster with no large claws.
We went to Mercury Island, thence to Bird Island, seventy
miles further, the farthest off-shore island on this part of the
coast, where the anchorage is bad on account of rocky bot
tom, and the surf oftentimes renders landing difficult and
dangerous. Here we procured a few seal; thfen skirted the
coast back to Angra, where we set up cask and made gener
al preparations for both whaling and sealing.
The usual time of the seals coniing on shore is from
the tenth to the twenty-fifth of November, where they re
main, if undisturbed, several months, or until the young,
which are ushered into existence soon after the landing, are
able to take care of themselves.
They generally shed their coats of hair in February, and
the pups become silver-gray and pass as yearlings at about
eight months of age.
During the season which now followed we found the
seal scarce and shy, but by diligence we managed to secure
some eight hundred skins, which was a slim season's work, as
we had the whole coast to ourselves.
Some time in February the ship Bingham, of New Lon
don, Captain James Srnith, arrived in our vicinity seeking
for whales ; and the brig Tampico, previously mentioned,
also arrived, with whom we consorted for a time, as there
was but little chance of success with any fopposition.
As we were likely to become short of wafer I left two

The Old Sailor s Story. 45
boat's crews in charge of my second and third mates to seal
in company with the Tampico, while I prepared to beat to
Cape Town, a distance of six hundred miles, with the wind
dead ahead. What do you think, my city friend, with water
faucets at every crook and turn, of having to sail so far, with
a head wind, to get something to drink ?
Some of the men whom I was about to leave grumbled
and desired to go in the ship, their object being to desert ;
but I leit them, ordering the mates to stop their allowance
if they rebelled, and promising theni a jollification in case of
good behavior on my return. We made the trip to Cape
Town where we procured water, fruits and vegetables, and
on our return found affairs all straight.
We landed our water on Penguin Island where we
found the brig Roscoe, of New Bedford, waiting for whale
to only just make their appearance.
The Tampico, being a short distance to the northward,
arrived two days after ; and the ships Commodore Perry,
Captain Hobron ; yEronaut, Captain Mallory ; Atlas, Cap
tain Fuller ; and the Bingham, Captain Smith, soon after
came in.
It was now about June ist, A. D. 1835, and we con
sorted for a while with the Bingham, exchanging our first
mates with their boat's crews, and cruised up and down the
coast seeking whales and finding none. After a month and
a half, during which time the Bingham secured one whale
and we one less, we concluded whaling was rather slim ; so I
started on a crui.se to the southward, doubled the Cape of
Good Hope and landed on Dyer's Island, where we pro-

46 The Old Sailor's Story.
cured seven hundred prime seal-skins, which somewhat re
vived our drooping spirits.
We returned to Angra, having procured wood at Cape
Voltas on our way, and found the Tampico absent on a
cruise to the northward, and a Boston sealing schooner,
Captain Clark, in the harbor.
It was September, and as no seal were to be taken, we
overhauled and painted the brig, waiting for the seal to
come up, occasionally examining the rocks but with little suc
cess. The seal having been harxassed so much the prospect
was slim for the next season ; but by putting men on the
small rocks to shoot them, and by great diligence, we man
aged to secure about a thousand skins to both vessels, which
was a slim season's work.
After visiting St. Helena Bay, in Cape Colony, we
skirted along the coast to Walwich Bay, procured a bullock
of the natives, also a few ostrich feathers and empty egg
shells, and proceeded on to Tiger Peninsula, in latitude four
teen degrees south, but finding nothing we bore away for
St. Helena in January, A. D. 1836.
We arrived there in about eight days after leaving the
coast, where I found William Carroll, Esq., American consul,
in good health ; and after procuring water and disposing of
surplus provisions, took our departure from this noted island
for home about the twentieth of January, and arrived safely
at New London early in March.
The sealing business had ceased to be remunerative, on
account of a decline in the price of furs, so Mr. Lawrence

The Old Sailor's Story. 47

loaded the brig for the West Indies with horned cattle on
deck, and I sailed in her for Martinico on the eighth of
April. We sailed with the wind west-southwest, but it hauled
to the south and increased to a gale and we had a pretty
rough time for live stock. They kept sprawling and falling,
and required constant care and management.
After crossing the raging gulf we had a moderate pas
sage to St. Pierre, Martinico, where we found no market for
our cargo and were advised to go to Gaudaloupe, which we
accordingly did.
There we found a dull market, especially for cattle ; and
as several vessels were waiting to procure cargoes of mo
lasses, the article with which we wished to load, we had
wearisome detention, but finally obtained a lading, and after
a quick passage of eleven days arrived at New London on
June 30th, A. D. 1836.
Not wishing to go sealing again immediately, the owner,
with my consent and according to my advice, sent the vessel
to the coast of Chili, under command of Captain William
Noyes. I stopped ashore until the latter part of August ; then
made a trip to Norfolk after a cargo of corn, and in October
purcha.sed an interest in the schooner Callao, and procured
a freight in New York for Apalachicola, -where I arrived
and discharged after a lengthy passage.
I went from there to New Orleans in ballast ; and find
ing freighting good, formed a line of packets, with two other
vessels, between that port and Apalachicola. After making

48 The Old Sailor's Story.

three good trips, which took me until January, A. D. 1837,
the business became dull; and after lying idle and being
sick with a fever for some time, I helped wreck a schooner
near the mouth of the Mississippi, then procured a freight
for Apalachicola, and from thence proceeded to New York
and thence home.
In June we had the vessel newly coppered, intending to
have gone to the Azores for a cargo of potatoes and onions,
but failing in this, laid by until October, and then took a
freight from Hartford to Savannah. There we loaded, partly
on the vessel's account, for Mobile, and thence we proceeded
to New Orleans, where we loaded with bale-rope and bag
ging for Savannah, arriving at the latter port on January ist,
A. D. 1838.
Here we loaded with lumber for Havana, and leaving
Tybee February ist, in the evening, arrived at our destina
tion February 4th, in the morning ; and after unloading we
took a cargo of coffee, sugar and oranges to New Orleans.
Thence we went to Apalachicola and obtained a freight
of cotton for New Orleans, receiving one and one-quarter
and one and one-eighth cents per pound freight foi under-
deck and deck-load respectively.
Back to Apalachicola with a load of sugar and again to
New Orleans in ballast ; and from thence a freight for Bos
ton, leaving the Balize about the first of July and arriving in
Boston the 12th. Then we went home and laid by until
October. My next move was to Bath, Me., for a cargo of pota
toes, which, owing to a drouth, were scarce. After scouring

The Old Sailor's Story. 49

about that section for two or three weeks, I procured part of
a cargo and started for New London for orders. After pass
ing through the Vineyard Sound I put Into Newport on ac
count of a southeast gale and storm ; and as the wind shifted
suddenly to the westward and blew hard I was detained
there several days.
I arrived at New London November ist; sailed the
second for Charleston, where I found no market. Thence I
had a rough passage to Key West where the market was
equally dull.
I stopped at Tampa Bay and at Apalachicola, and at
both places found no sale ; and after taking them to New
Orleans I was obliged to peddle them out in small quan
tities. After getting through with the potatoes I went to the
Atchafalaya River, and with much exertion obtained a cargo
of sugar from different plantations for New Orleans.
The navigation of this part of the country is intricate
and difficult, the land being very low and marshy ; the shoals
or oyster banks extend off shore, out of sight of land, and
the river is very narrow and crooked.
Arriving at Franklin, La., I took horse and rode to dif
ferent plantations, being well received and hospitably enter
tained by the gentlemanly planters, many of whom, with
their slaves, had emigrated from Virginia and Kentucky,
preferring to raise sugar-cane in this fertile region to the
cultivation of corn on their soil-impoverished homesteads.
Late one stormy day in January I called at the sugar
plantation of a Mr. Wilkes, an old Virginia planter, who

50 The Old Sailor's Story.
gave me an epitome of his history ; and as he was a very in
telligent man his. conversation was highly entertaining. He
predicted, at that early day, that the largest city in the world
would eventually spring up on the Pacific side of this conti
nent ; that there would be a ship canal across the Isthmus ;
and that this future city would be a great commercial empo
rium, a sort of central depot for the world.'
Since the development of the resources of California
and the rapid rise and growth of San Francisco, I have often
thought of the old gentleman's prophecy on that stormy
January evening.
The next morning, after a sumptuous breakfast, my
new-found friend accompanied me on horseback to several
plantations ; and never In my life did I have more disinter
ested kindness shown me by a stranger. My recollections
of him are a bright spot In my memory.
I also made the acquaintance of a Dr. Field, In Frank
lin, who, with his wife, an accomplished New York lady, very
hospitably entertained my wife, who accompanied me this
winter, and rendered me kindly assistance in procuring cargo.
After taking in different lots of sugar, we dropped down
the river, near the mouth of which I purchased some corn
from the slaves of two different plantations, (with their o-wn-
er's consent, otherwise I should have been subject to impris
onment), and we made our way to New Orleans, where we
arrived about the twentieth of January.
I found freights very dull ; but after getting what I
could and purchasing considerable on the ve-ssel's acco-unt,
I dropped down the river on March ist, and was very un-

, The Old Sailors Story. 51
fortunate, for on the evening of that day our vessel was run
down and sunk by a tow-boat with a heavy tow, called the
Tiger. The pilot of the tug, mistaking our light for a shore
light, put his wheel the wrong way, and the result was a col
lision, which caused our vessel, with a cargo valued at Up
wards of twelve thousand dollars, to sink In less time than
It takes to write an account of the occurrence. The captain
of the tug was a northern man arid a gentleman, so casting
off his tow he hitched on to the sunken craft and succeeded
In getting her near the shore, where he left her lying on one
side. I took passage with him to New Orleans, where I pro
cured the assistance of the schooner Rob Roy, Captain John
W. Miner, of New London, with whom I proceeded to the
wreck ; and with his and other assistance we hauled out the
cargo, much of which was badly damaged.
The schooner was thtin floated, and both she and the
cargo were sold at auction In New Orleans, the former to
Bailey & Marcy, shipwrights, who afterwards repaired and
used her to good advantage.
Being now, as jack says, adrift, but having some funds,
I made an agreement with Captain Miner for a passage
north ; and a part freight offering for Savannah I made him
out the balance, and after discharging and loading at that
port we took a load of yellow pine to New London, where
we arrived In June, A. D. 1839.
Having been unfortunate I concluded to try my fortune
on the land, so I purchased a farm of sixty acres, with a

52 The Old Sailor's Story.

saw and grist-mill thereon, in the town of Salem, Ct., and
moved there from Gales Ferry in October.
I put the mills in repair and ground and sawed, working
nights some of the time as well as by day ; but farming and
milling interfered with each other, and the repairs on the
rhills were as destructive to the profits as Pharaoh's lean
kine were to the well-favored ones, and it was a hard matter
at the end of a year to make both ends meet, which was
quite discouraging.
Another drawback to my succe.ss was a depreciation in
the price of stock and produce. When I purchased my farm
grain was worth seven shillings per bushel, and in one year's
tirhe it could be bought for four shillings, and other pro
ducts fell off in value In proportion. This was another " up
and down " in my experience, by no means profitable to me.
After nearly three years' hard toiling, with aforemen
tioned results, I was offered a chance to go to sea on a
whaling and sea-elephanting voyage to the Crozette Islands,
Indian Ocean ; and accepting the offer I sailed for the firm
of Perkins & Smith, In the schooner Franklin, on August
1 2th, A. D. 1842.
We had a lengthy passage to the Cape De Verde's,
where we stopped for salt ; then made our way to the Tris-
tine Islands, and stood in under Nightingale Island October
26th, and giving the mate orders to keep as near shore as
was prudent, I took the second mate and boat's crew and
went In-shore to prospect.
Discovering some fur seal in a cave at the north end of
the island, I made preparations to land, but looking to the

The Old Sailor's Story. 53

¦westward I saw a tremendous squall coming up from that
quarter and we hastened for the schooner.
The squall struck her with great force, laying her near
ly on her beam-ends before the sails could be taken in ; but
fortunately for us the shifting of the wind brought her di
rectly to the leeward of us, otherwise we could not possibly
have boarded her.
With much difficulty we got alongside and hoisted in
our boat, and putting the vessel under very short sail we laid
to till night, heading to the southwest.
The weather moderating and clearing a little I con
cluded to abandon this land ; and we bore away with a stiff,
fair gale and a boisterous sea for the Prince Edward Is
lands, a distance of nearly three thousand miles, where we
arrived November i8th.
A brief description of this far off ocean land may not be
amiss. The south of Marion's Island lies In latitude forty-six
degrees fifty minutes south and longitude thirty-seven de
grees forty-six minutes east.
It is of a triangular, shape and has a coast line of about
fifty miles. Running through the centre, in a southeasterly
direction from the north part, is a ridge of high mountains
whose peaks are thousands of feet in height, covered with
perpetual snow.
The margins and sides of these mountains are com
posed of volcanic cinders called clampers, the walking upon
which will thoroughly demoralize a new pair of boots in one
day's time. In some places this island can be approached

54 The Old Sailor's Story.
within a short distance, in other places dangerous reefs ex
tend offshore.
In several places are strips of -beaches which are more
or less frequented by sea-elephant ; in other places large
masses of irregular shaped rocks renders walking along the
shore impossible. There is one poor harbor, called Uxor,
on account of a vessel by that name having been wrecked
there by dragging ashore.
The North Island is considerably smaller, and the best
anchorage is in a small bay or roadstead at the extreme
southeast point. Here we found the holding ground good
and rode out several severe gales in safety. The land of
both islands is similar. Probably both are of volcanic ori
gin, and they are a sterile, desolate region, unfitted for the
abode of humanity. Here we found the schooner Emme-
line, of Mystic, on the same errand as ourselves, and we
anchored near her.
It being, late in the season the elephants were poor, yield
ing only a few gallons apiece.
We consorted with the Emmeline and worked the
beaches together. We also found a gang of men here from
the Cape of Good Hope taking oil for a schooner which they
expected at a stated time. W^e worked the beaches of both
islands and obtained about one hundred and seventy-five
barrels of oil, and left on the seventh of January, A. D.
1S43, fo"" t^s Crozette Islands.
This group is about five hundred miles further east, and
it took us about a week to get there, find an anchorage and
get to work — both vessels still in company.

The Old Sailor s Story. 55

We anchored in American Bay, Possession Island, and
found the elephant plenty.
The men worked along the beaches killing and skin
ning the animals ; and we boated off the blubber as circum
stances permitted ; much of the time being so stormy as to
prevent communication between the vessel and the shore.
On heaving up our anchor on the third of February,
the chain choked in the hawse-pipe ; and on ascertaining the
cause found the key to the shackle-pin had worked out and
the pin had partly worked out of the link. In this condition
we had been riding, with a heavy sea rolling in and heavy
breakers but a few fathoms astern.
The Emmellne's chain was In a similar condition ; the
shackle came around the windlass and the pin dropped out
on deck. Had our chains completely unshackled we should have
lost not only our vessels but our lives. I would caution all
who use chain cables In dangerous places never to trust to
iron keys for shackle-pins. However rusty and hard to start,
they are liable to work loose ; while white oak keys will
swell and grow tighter instead of looser, and they are easily
bored out when it is necessary to unshackle the chain.
In the following year I knew of sixty vessels which un
shackled their chains by trusting to iron keys while riding at
the island of Ichabo, off the southwest coast of Africa.
The sea-elephant, like the seal, come on shore for breed
ing, and when they first land their blubber or fat, which lies
next to the skin, is thick and oily, but they grow poorer rap
idly. The females stay on shore with their young until the

56 The Old Sailor s Story.
latter are able to take to the water. They then go off shore
and feed until shedding time, or brown cow season, when
they are fat again.
Some of the males when they first land will yield from
three to five barrels of oil. On the seventeenth of February
we went over to East Island, and In one day got off blubber
enough for fifty barrels of oil, although the weather was
very blowy.
Leaving men on shore at different places to work the
beaches, we laid off and on or anchored at times, as circum
stances permitted, improving the time to such advantage as
wind and weather permitted.
One night my mate and I had a similar dream. We
dreamed of seeing a span of black horses rearing furiously
and standing on their hind feet. This was an evil omen, for
the next day the second mate's boat, in attempting to com
municate with the shore, was stoven by the combers and
three of my best men, vl^.: Joseph Durfey, Richard Cad-
well and Ernest Hanz, found a watery grave.
We had a continual succession of squalls and gales
from this time until the twenty-first of March, when, having
taken our men on bokrd, and having also procured a supply
of fresh water, we took our departure for some inhabitable
land. I will relate here one circumstance, to give an idea of
the pleasures of sea-elephanting at the Prince Edward
Islands. ,
Having been informed that there were some fur seal on
a certain beach on the side of the island opposite to where

The Old Sailor's Story. 57

we were ; and as there was no anchorage there for our ves
sels, and as going around and landing In boats was both dif
ficult and dangerous ; the captain and mate of the Emme
line, together with my mate, six men and myself, formed a
party to go across lots, which proved no easy task. We pro
vided ourselves with penguin-skin moccasins, as boots were
too cumbersome and would soon cut through, and started
early one morning.
First, we waded through the fussock-bogs, then clam
bered up the sides of the mountain, over the loose, rough
clampers, to an altitude of three or four thousand feet, where
the snow capped the summit, and down the other side,
which was much steeper and equally jagged and uneven.
The man who acted as guide made a mistake In his
reckoning, and no wonder, for It snowed and blowed like
fury let loo.se ; and behold, when we descended we were
about one-half of a mile from our beach, and no way had we
of getting to it but by ascending and descending in another
gulch, for the mountain-wall between us and our Intended
landing place was perpendicular and impassable. Up we
clambered to the very top, where the wind blew a tornado,
and down we scrambled nearly half way when the guide dis
covered he was again on the wrong track. Up we went
again, and being fatigued I asked the guide if bethought he
could find this spot again when he returned. He replied in
the affirmative, so I stuck the breech of my trusty fowling-
piece in the snow crust, and for aught I know It remains
there till this day, for when we did return we encountered

58 The Old Sailor's Story.
another tornado and were glad to get back in any way
we could. The third time we reached the desired beach, where we
camped for the night? in a dismal den or cave, through the
fissures of which water was constantly dripping. Three of
our men, disgusted with the guide, were separated from our
company and camped all night in the open air, and these
men had the bread which we needed for provision.
But although we were tired and foot-sore we secured a
cea-elephant; and making a fire of his blubber and some
sticks which we carried for staffs, we fried his liver in an old
broken- camp-kettle which we found in the cave; and after
boiling some sea-water for salt with which to season it, we
ate it with better relish than many have for better viands.
In two days' time we obtained sixteen seal-skins, and made
our way back to our vessels, which we were veiy glad to
reach. Another Incident on this voyage was our dragging" off
soundings in a heavy gale with a long scope of chain out.
With our ordinary windlass It was impossible to heave in a
single link ; and thus we drifted and pitched the whole night, ,
the chain surging heavily In the hawse-pipe and jarring
everything from truck to keelson. It took us the whole of
the next day, with falls and tackles, to heave up the anchor^
it being a very fatiguing and labo-rious job, especially in a
gale of wind with a heavy sea.
On March 21st, A. D. 1843, ^^ left the Crozettes; on
April 13th we doubled the Cape of Good Hope; on the

The Old Sailor's Story. 59

15th we andiored in Saldana Bay to obtain water, and here
three of our crew deserted.
Having obtained water, wood, fresh meat and vegeta
bles, we left the African coast and crossing the South At
lantic arrived in the safe and commodious harbor of Rio
Janerio on May 26th. Here I disposed of our four hundred
and fifty baiTels of oil at twenty-nine cents per gallon, and
invested the funds in three hundred and fifty bags of excel
lent coffee, which I shipped home, where it found a good
market and brought the oil up to fifty cents a gallon.
Having refitted with second-hand casks and stores for
another season's cruise, we left port on the ninth of June ;
and after wooding and watering at Isle Le Grande, we left
the South American coast on June i6th, A. D. 1843.
For a description of Brazil, its vast resources and valua
ble productions, animal, vegetable and mineral, I would re
fer the reader to more able writers, and will only speak of
the poor slaves, who toiled early and late, as being poorly
fed, hard-worked and scantily clad.
We made the land on the southwest coast of Africa, in
the vicinity of Whale's Bay, on the twenty-third of July,
halving seen three sperm whales on the passage which we
were unable to procure.
From this time until August 4th we cruised along the
coast searching for whales/ and seals ; finding none of the
former and but few of the latter.
On landing at the latter date on Ichabo or Round
Island, I was surprised at finding planks, wheel-barrows.

6o '[he Old Sailor s Story.

pick-axes and bags of guano, apparently left without cer
emony. I afterwards learned that the brig Ann, of Bristol, ha,d
been here for the purpose of obtaining this fertilizer. She
had been sent here by a merchant of Bristol ; but being
unacquainted with this part of the coast, and poorly provided
with ground tackle, the captain, having parted his chains,
was obliged to put to sea, leaving his implements in the
manner in which I found them. He went to St. Helena for
the purpose of obtaining anchors, thinking he would return
and finish loading ; but changing his mind he proceeded to
England with part of a cargo, and there gave information
respecting the great amount of this valuable commodity.
When I touched here on my way home from the Cro
zettes, in the February following, I found eighty ships and
brigs loading at this island for the English market.
We proceeded to the Crozettes; had much squally and
blowy weather ; but we found the elephant plenty and suc
ceeded, in obtaining a full cargo of oil, filling up every cask ;
and after touching at Cape Colony for supplies, I proceeded
down the coast, where I found the guano fleet before men
tioned, from which I obtained information In relation to the
value of the article and mentally resolved to make a voyage
here after having finished the one in which I was engaged.
Leaving Africa I proceeded to St. Helena, where I
found the ship Columbia, Captain James Smith, and his
tender the sloop Shaw Perkins, Captain Stroud, both ves
sels loaded with sea-elephant oil frcm Desolation Island.
On the following day a party of us took horse and went

The Old Sailor's Story. 6i

up the mountain to Longwood, and visited the last earthly
dwelling place of the great Napoleon. Here he was incar
cerated as a prisoner of war ; here he lived for nearly six
years, and here he died and was buried. For nineteen years
his remains were entombed on this lonely island ; and on
this account St. Helena will occupy a prominent mention in
the world's history until the end of time.
We sailed for home in company with the vessels last
mentioned, and kept together for a great part of the pas

sage.

We arrived in New London early in April, A. D. 1844,
after a cruise of some twenty months, making a voyage
which was profitable to the owners, paying the best per
centage on her outfit of any voyage she had ever made.
Having a mind to make a guano voyage, Mr. Elias Per
kins, head of the firm, together with Captains James and
B. F. Smith, went with me to Boston, where we bought a
burthensome ship called the Brookline.
'~ ^After some delay, I sailed from New London June 20th,
j A. D. 1844, bound to the Island of Ichabo, on the southwest
coast of Africa. My wife and little daughter, five years of
age, accompanied me on this voyage. We had a quick pas
sage of twenty days to the Cape De Verdes, where we
touched for recruits ; then a continuation of head winds and
calms to the equator, which we crossed in about longitude
twenty-five degrees west. We arrived at our destination
September toth, where, to my great surprise, I found a fleet
of three hundred English ships, with a working force of two
thousand men.

62 The Old Sailor's Story.
The masters of these vessels had chosen a committee
of twelve of their number for the regulation of affairs ; and
at a meeting of this committee, with Sir John Marshall, of
Her Britannic Majesty's navy, as chairman, it was voted
that, as the island was occupied by British subjects, no for
eign vessels should be allowed to load guano until all of the
English vessels were loaded.
I received a letter and a copy of this resolution from
the committee, and immediately wrote to the American con
sul at Cape Town, informing him of the state of affairs, and
dispatched the same by a brig bound there for supplies.
The brig had a quick passage, and Mr. Chase, the con
sul, laid the matter before Lord Percy, high admiral on that
station, who sent Instructions to the committee, dispatching
a steamer called the Thunderbolt for that purpose, to let all
foreign vessels load on the same terms, with the same rights
and privileges as English vessels. Sir John Marshall was
also recalled.
This action was not only beneficial to me but also to
the ship Shakespeare, of New York, and two French ships
which the committee had refused to allow to load on any
terms. This roadstead was completely filled with vessels, vary
ing in capacity froni two hundred, to twelve hundred tons.
When the heavy rollers came in the situation can be
more easily imagined than described; bumping, thumping,
dragging, pounding, chafing and breaking were the Inevitable
results. ¦ Fourteen bowsprits were carried away at one time. One

The Old Sailor s Story. 63
ship was totally dismasted and one sunk. I assisted in load
ing one ship and obtained assistance in return. I succeeded
in getting my cargo of six hundred tons and started for Bos
ton in December. We ran down the coast some two hun
dred and fifty miles to WalwicJ-i Bay, where we stopped to
obtain fresh beef ; and after recruiting our larder we sailed
from this place on my forty-fifth birthday, December 23d,
A. D. 1844.
We called at St. Helena for water and vegetables;
crossed the equator in the'longitude of thirty degrees west,
passing near St. Paul's rock; and after the usual routine of
calms, tr^de-winds and variables, together with squalls, in
one of which we blew away our jib, we made the highlands
of Cape Cod on Washington's birthday, A. D. 1845; and
crowding sail we were enabled to secure a Boston pilot as
the shades of evening settled around us, and we anchored off
Long Wharf at midnight after an eight months' cruise.
After making arrangements for discharging the cargo; I
proceeded, with my family, on the cars homeward, and when
we passed through Worcester on March 4th, the Democrats
were firing a hundred guns in honor of James K. Polk's in
auguration. We stopped at Greeneville and Gales Fer
ry, visiting relatives, and arrived at our home in Salem
on March 12th.
This was Wednesday, and on the following Monday I
repaired to Boston with a crew to bring the ship around to
New London, which we accomplished in about thirty hours
after starting.
About the middle of July I sailed for Perkins & Smith

64 The Old Sailor's Story.
on a whaling voyage, in the ship Charles Henry, bound to
the North Pacific via the Indian Ocean. John Kimball,
Charles Smith, and Allyn Harris were my first, second and
third mates. My wife and daughter accompanied me on
this voyage for the benefit of their health, to which the own
ers made no objection.
We stopped at the Azores, where we obtained, potatoes;
touched at the Cape De Verdes, wJiere we procured a lot of
pigs, poultry and tropical fruits. It was customary for
whalers to stop at these islands to obtain the articles named,
and also to ship- young men on a lay represented by a frac
tion whose denominator was much larger than Its numerator.
We crossed the equator in the vicinity of the Brazilian
coast; crossed the South Atlantic; proceeded to Prince Ed
ward Islands, where we obtained some sea-elephant oil.
Here we had the luck to drag off the bank with ninety
fathoms of chain out, and every time the ship pitched it
seemed almost as though she would be rent In twain ; but
after great effort we succeeded in getting the anchor, having
broken the hawse-pipe and incurred other damage in the at
tempt. Think of a ship pitching and diving in a heavy sea, with
a large anchor and ninety fathoms of heavy chain dangling
from her bow. Description cannot make the situation intel
ligible to a landsman, and no one can fully appreciate It who
has not had similar experience.
We captured a lone whale; went to the Crozettes, where
by the terms of Insurance we were not permitted to anchor;
communicated with a shqre gang; obtained eggs and fish,

» »

The Old Sailor s Slory. 65

and bore away for Desolation Island or Kergulen's Land.
We arrived off the north end some time In January, A. D.
1846; and after getting moderate weather succeeded in get
ting two whales, one of which proved a dry skin, not yield
ing much oil.
Having tempestuous weather much of the time we were
unable to lower our boats with safety; and after killing two
more whales, both of which sunk, we proceeded, with con
stant gales from all quarters, to Van Dieman's Land or Tas
mania, and we arrived at Hobart Town early In March, 1846.
There we disposed of what oil we had taken at about thirty
qents per gallon.
As this place had been an English penal colony for
many years, there was no lack of dissolute characters of both
sexes; but English law Is rigid and offenders are often se
verely punished, especially old offenders. To take away a
convict was a heinous offence, punishable with fine, impris
onment and confiscation.
This land produces the finest grains, fruits and vege
tables, the people are friendly and hospitable, and there is
no finer country in the world for the abode of man. Many
who were sent here as convicts had reformed, and by indus
try had succeeded in obtaining good homes and becoming
more or less wealthy.
After disposing of our oil and recruiting on the produc
tions of this land, we took a good supply of potatoes; and
proceeding to New Zealand, about a thousand miles further,
we rounded the South Cape and had the whole Pacific
Ocean before us in which to cruise. We stopped at one of

66 The Ola Sailor's Story.
the Society Islands, where we procured oranges, bananas and
other tropical fruits.
Here we learned of the injustice of the French, who had
overawed this weak nation, compelling the queen ro cede
those islands to France; an injustice which should never
have been permitted by other nations. But they have b^en
taught humility by the Franco-Prussian war, and the Empe
ror William has been a school-master that France will long
remember. We took our departure; made a straight line for the
North Pacific; crossed the equator, and proceeded to the
forty-sixth degree of north latitude.
It was now the latter part of May, and we were on good
whaling ground.
Spoke ship Chandler Price, Captain Pease, who in
formed me of the loss of the ship Columbia, belonging to
our firm, on one of the King Mill group, with twenty-seven
hundred barrels of oil.
On the following day took a large whale which made
over two hundred barrels.
While cutting in, spoke the Isaac Hicks, Captain Rice,
who observed he had been on the ground many days and
had obtained less oil than our whale would make.
One evening, after six o'clock, we fastened to three
whales, two of which we saved but one sunk. Two days af
ter we fastened to three more, but the iron drawed out from
one— a common occurrence — the other two we secured.
Whales being scarce we cruised and made the land of

The Old Sailor's Story. 6 J
Kamtschatka, and secured a whale which yielded one hun
dred and sixty, barrels.
We stood along to the latitude of fifty-four degrees
north, where we found ships boiling out, and there we got
another large whale.
On the seventeenth of August we secured one more,
and then we cruised up and down the coast without success.
About the twentieth of September we put into St. Peter-
Paulaski to procure wood, water and vegetables. This is a
Russian outpost for the collection of valuable furs. The
distance from St. Ptitersburgh overland, at that time, was
a year's journey of some seven thousand miles; and the Rus
sian officers" who were stationed here were relieved once in
five years, others taking their places at the expiration of that
time. I found here two American residents, who had taken na
tive wives and reared large families. One of them named
Talman had come to Canton with a Captain Mather, of
New London, during the war of A. D. 1812, and taking
French leave had come here In an English trader, and hav
ing learned the native tongue he was useful as an -inter
preter. Through him I became acquainted with the lieutenant-
governor, who lived near, a very affable gentleman, whose
wife was a fair German lady. We were invited to their
residence and hospitably treated and entertained.
The people here follow fishing in summer and hunting
in winter. They belong to the Greek Church and are very zealous.

68 The Old Sailor s Story.

They travel In winter by means of dog teams, with which
the lieutenant-governor Infornied me he was obliged to make
long journeys on government business connected with the
fur trade. The dogs are chained up in summer along the
sides of the brooks and have the appearance of being scantily
fed. We procured wood and vegetables and proceeded south
to a more genial climate, as it was now October and winter
was fast approaching. We continued along Across l:he equa
tor without seeing any sperm whales, which we were anxious
to find. We finally captured three in the vicinity of the
Navigator Islands; and as the ship was .somewhat leaky I
concluded to put into some port and stop the leak.
So I put into a fine lagoon with a heathenish name,
where I found an English missionary station, under the
charge of a Mr. Murray. Although missionary work is by
many lightly spoken of a striking example of its good was
here plainly seen.
When the missionaries first came here theywere landed
under the protection of an English man-of-war. The natives
were of the wildest and most savage kind; now scores and
hundreds were engaged In learning and practicing the great
truths of the word of life.
While here I witnessed the dedication of a new house.
The friends and relatives of the family assembled, and after
prayer and singing a feast of good things followed.
Their method of cooking is somewhat peculiar. They
dig a hole some two or three feet deep in the ground, into
which they place a quantity of small sized stones. Having

The Old Sailor s Story. 69

heated these stones very hot by building a fire on them,
they wrap the pigs or fowls which they wish to cook in a
kind of large leaves called tarra-leaves, and place them on
the heated stones. Closing the mouth of the excavation
with earth to retain the heat; when a sufficient time has
elapsed they produce the most nicely roasted and finely fla
vored meat which I ever tasted. The flavor is owing part
ly to the stuffing, which consists largely of bread-fruit and'
cocoa-nut milk.
We were kindly treated, and having obtained food, fuel
and water, we proceeded to the Friendly Isles, so named by
Captain Cook, on our way to which we obtained a forty bar
rel sperm-whale. We went into an excellent harbor called
Vavou, where by careening the ship we succeeded In stop
ping the leak.
Here we also found a missionary station In a very flour
ishing condition, and an abundance of pigs, poultry, yams
and sweet potatoes, of which we obtained a good supply.
The missionaries, Messrs. Turner and West, invited us"
to their houses and treated us very hospitably and kindly.
Here was a church capable of holding five thousand peo
ple, in the building of which the sound of the hammer was
not heard. The roof was thatched; the rafters were of bam
boo; the sides and flooring were curiously constructed mats;
and the lashings or fastenings were made of grass. Every
particle of the wood-work was concealed by braided or
woven work of fibrous material, and the edifice was a
'monument of native industry and ingenuity.
1 We were here at the time o^ the annual examination pf

70 The Old Sailor's Story.

the different schools; and the exercises, which were of no
mean order, were conducted with the utmost propriety and
decorum. Some five hundred canoes, capable of holding
from seventy to eighty persons apiece, arrived while we were
here; in fact the whole population seemed desirous to wit
ness and participate in these anniversary exercises.
The native king or governor invited us to his house;
treated us to water-melons; and entertained us with an Intel
ligent ease and refinement which many of the prominent
men of the Caucasian race would do well to Imitate. I never
had a more pleasant stay at any port. The climate was
genial; the people friendly; the fare was excellent; and the
welkin rang with the melody of spiritual songs, and the
sounds of praise were, heard in every nook and corner of
this happy little town.
On leaving this place on the twenty-third of December,
A. D. 1846, my forty-seventh blrthda}', we proceeded to
wards Cape Horn, which we doubled in January, taking one
whale on the passage, which owing to boisterous weather we
were unable to finish cutting in, and lost him when he was
only partially stripped of his blubber.
Being short of wood I put into Wood harbor In the
night, which my previous knowledge of this part of the
world enabled me to do; and next morning my officers were
greatly surprised at finding themselves in a good harbor,
completely land-locked, where good wood and water were to
be had by the taking. *
This part of the coast should be better understood by
those. who double the cape, as it abounds in excellent har-

The Old Sailor s Story. 71
bors, where ships in stress of weather might have safe re
treat from the angry elements. From here we proceeded
to Falkland Islands for beef; and arrived there on .their Sat
urday and our Sunday, as we had gained a day by going
around the world.
And so we knocked about, in and out, off and on, until
June 20th, 1847, when, having filled up, we started for home.
But the old Charles Henry never reached New London.
On the tenth of August, after the usual pleasures and
vicissitudes of a long ocean passage, we sighted Long Island.
The weather became moderate and foggy, and guided by
soundings we proceeded to feel our way along the shore.
Leaving the ship to my mate, with directions not to get
in nearer than fifteen fathoms, I lopped down "all a stand
ing," and contrary to my expectations fell soundly asleep.
The mate, wishing to be extra smart and being In a hurry to
get home, disregarded my orders, and supposing himself
past Montauk undertook to haul up for the " Race," and the
consequence was the ship was cast away on the south side
of Long Island, a few miles to the west of its eastern ex
tremity. After sailing around the world, and cruising among coral
reefs and' rocky Islands, weathering gales and surviving the
perils of different oceans, lands and climes of both hemis
pheres, having obtained a full ship, and almost arrived at
• home, to be cast away in moderate weather by carelessness
on the part of one who should have been more cautious was,
to say the least, very annoying to my feelings. But the ship
was insured and the cargo was saved; and while It was being

72 The Old Sailor's Story.
discharged the price of oil advanced several cents on a gal
lon, so the owners lost nothing by the transaction; and the
voyage, barring the disgrace of losing the old box, was a suc
cessful one.
We were cast away in front of an ancient house; and
while we were getting the oil and appurtenances of the
wreck on shore I took board In the said hoiise, the landlady
of which appeared to be one of the most avaricious speci
mens of feminine humanity which I have ever met. Some
of the beach-combers had buried a tierce of sperm oil In the
sand, and when her little serving maid informed me of the
fact she scolded her severely and threatened her with severe
punishment if she committed a like offence.
The underwriters hired the farmers in the vicinity to
transport the oil and effects of the ship across the beach,
about a mile, to Napeag Bay, whence it was conveyed in
sloops to New London.
The man who had rented my place had died during my
absence, and the mills were somewhat out of tune; but I
fixed them up and, putting them in charge of my oldest son,
I started, In November of the same year, on a guano voyage
to the coa.st of Patagonia, in a ship called the Palladium.
X After stopping at the Cape De Verdes, I de-vIated from
the usual course and Instead of making a southeast track to
the fifteenth degree of west longrtude, I set all sail and
cteered south-southwest, crossed the equator near St. Paul's
rock, and by this means I shortened my passage several
days. I arrived on the coast of Patagonia in January; found a

The Old Sailor s Story. 73

guano Island near Watchman's Cape, in the latitude of forty-
eight degrees south, where was a man named Henry Powell,
who had been wrecked on this coast two years previous to
this time. Being a man of enterprise he had taken posses
sion of the island, obtained a working force from Monte
video, and was engaged In digging and curing the com
modity for the loading of vessels.
By making arrangements with him I was enabled to ob
tain a cargo of excellent quality. It had to be dug, spread,
dried, bagged and boated to the ship, which was anchored
at some distance from the shore. At one time my ship broke
adrift in a heavy gale while I was on shore at work, and
when It blows In this region there Is no half-way work about
it. I felt no little anxiety for her safety, but in course of
time she made her appearance; and after more or less mis
haps and vicissitudes, occasioned by the severity of the winds,
etc., we succeeded In getting loaded, and leaving in March,
arrived, after a quick passage of forty-six days, in New Lon
don, on or about the tenth of May, A. D. 1848.
The owners, finding a good market for the cargo, wished
me to make another voyage to the same place; and as the
inducements were tempting I consented to go, and sailed
with the same ship and nearly the same crew in July, A. D.
1848. We stopped at the Cape De Verdes for recruits, and
leaving the ship in charge of my mate I went on shore to
trade. The sea was heaving in and it was calm under the
lea of. the island. The mate became Intoxicated, and in
stead of keeping far enough to have a working breeze, he

74 The Old Sailor's Story.
neglected his duty, allowed her to drift into the calm space
under the high land, and the consequence was we had to an
chor to prevent drifting ashore, and had a full weeks' de
tention. After leaving these islands we had a succession of
southerly winds and a lengthy passage, but we arrived at
our destination in October; and being well provided with
chains, anchors and boats, I succeeded in getting loaded on
the twentieth of December; and after more boisterous
weather than was comfortable or desirable, we made the Vir
ginia coast in February, and after several more days of disa
greeable wintrj/^ weather and gales of wind, we arrived in
New London in March, A. D. 1849, after an eight months'
voyage. At this date the California gold fever was raging, and
the Palladium changed owners in part and was sent to San
Francisco in charge of Captain McLane, who took his family
with him and sought his fortune in that El Dorado; but
alas ! for his human hopes, he made bad investments and
had reverses, which so wrought on his physical organization
that he soon went the way of all the earth.
I purchased his interest in the bark Iris, and sailed in her
on a guano voyage on the twelfth of November.
I found the stock pretty well exhausted, but succeeded
in procuring an Inferior cargo and sailed for home in March,
A. D. 1850, and arrived at home about the middle of May.
This cargo meeting with ready sale the owners wished
me to try another voyage, and I again sailed for Patagonia
on September 23d, 1850. I found that my friend Powell had

The Old Sailor's Story. 75
changed his quarters to Sea Bear Bay, and thither I re
paired, where I had to boat my cargo a distance of four miles.
While loading, in company with other vessels, I made an
excursion, in a schooner belonging to Mr. Powell, to the
Falkland Islands for the purpose of obtaining fresh beef
At this time two large ships laden with coal, from Penn
sylvania bound to San Francisco, in this vicinity took fire
by the combustion of the coal, caused by the violent rolling
and shaking of the vessels, and one, the Nonantum, was
abandoned and never heard from. The other, called the
Waldram, was taken Into Port Stanley, where, after being
scuttled to extinguish the fire, she was sold on the under
writers' account at about one-tenth of her original value.
We got about fifteen beeves, which we carried to the
coast, which was a cause of rejoicing to the one hundred and
fifty men there employed.
After completing my cargo I proceeded homeward; and
after an ordinary, passage, so similar to others that I pass it
over without note, arrived in New London in May, A. D.
1857- Messrs. Perkins & Smith wished me to prosecute a
whaling and sealing voyage In their employment; and having
no suitable vessel they contracted for the building of a clip
per bark of three hundred tons, in which I took an interest,
and she was christened the N. S. Perkins, In honor of the
late Dr. Perkins, of New London.
I sailed In her September 23d, A. D. 1852, with a com
plement of officers and a crew of twenty-one men and boat-
steerers, for the Indian and North Pacific Oceans, and my

76 The Old Sailor s Story,

wife and Mrs. Pinkham, the wife of my mate, bore us com
pany. After getting fairly started we found that our new ves
sel was a' very fast sailer ; she could easily beat the pilot-
boat which accompanied us out to Montauk. She was not
only very fast but also the wettest craft of her size in which
I ever sailed; but in pleasant weather she would skim along
like a bird.
We made a quick passage of twenty-one days to the
Cape De Verdes, where we made a call to obtain such arti
cles as these poor Islanders have to dispose of, such as pigs,
goats and poultry, which they willingly barter for cheap
clothes and tobacco.
On the eighteenth of October we bore away for more
distant parts; on the twenty-third spoke the bark Dolphin,
from New York for Australia, with mining emigrants; on
the thirtieth we had crossed the equator; on the third of No
vember spoke an English bark, from Liverpool for. Calcutta;
on the fifteenth made the Tristine Islands; on the seven
teenth sent the boats in shore and caught some fish; on the
eighteenth, with a strong breeze, let her slide for the Indian
Ocean. On the twenty-first of November we had crossed the
meridian of Greenwich; on the third of December made the
Prince Edward group, where we tarried some days and suc
ceeded in obtaining a small quantity of sea-elephant oil. But
¦'' ' ^¦^>
the prospect was slim, the animals were scarce and poor, and -i
we bore away for other grounds.
On January loth, A. D. 1853, we spoke the ship Prince

The Old Sailor's Story. J 7
of Wales, from Aberdeen for Adelaide, from whom I ob
tained the correct longitude, my chronometer being faulty,
having stopped twice in winding.
On the eighteenth we made the extraordinary run of
three hundred and thirty-six miles; on the twentieth we had
thick fog, with the wind northwest; and this foggy spell con
tinued some four or five days, and as we were In the vicinity
of New Zealand, our situation was not the most pleasant, for
our precise location was not known, and we had a calm, foggy
time, with a heavy swell, which is much worse than a gale of
wind in clear weather and plenty of sea-room.
On the twenty-seventh we crossed the opposite me
ridian of Greenwich; on the twenty-eighth raised sperm-
whale and lowered for them, but they went so fast we could
not fasten to them.
So we continued on our course to the eastward. On the
twenty-ninth we raised spouts which proved to be killers.
After this, till February 20th, we experienced a succession of
baffling, variable winds, with occasional squalls and showers
of rain, and as we had a heavy, rolling sea, we nearly wore
out a suit of sails.
On the twenty-second we made Saunders Island, one of
the Society group, and spoke the ship Alexander, from Hono
lulu, of and for New London.
On the twenty-third we raised sperm whales and took
one, cut him in and proceeded.
On the twenty-fifth a boat with natives came off solicit
ing trade. On the fourth of March crossed the equator in longi-

78 The Old Sailor s Story.
tude one hundred and fifty-three degrees fifteen minutes -west.
On the fifteenth made Owyhee, one of the Sandwich
Islands. On the eighteenth, at seven bells in the morning, while
at breakfast, we wefe struck by a combing sea, which filled
the decks to the top of the rails, and rushed with great force
into the cabin, nearly drowning us out. ^
On the nineteenth by our own time and the eighteenth
by the shore time, we crossed the bar, with the assistance of
a pilot, and hauled alongside of the go-vernment wharf , at
Honolulu. Here we landed oil, shooks, and surplus provisions, and
taking in salt and fresh water we remained until April 4th.
Then we left, and after obtaining wood and vegetables at
Attowy we proceeded on our way to the Japan- Sea.
On the fifteenth we crossed the one hundred and
eightieth meridian in latitude eighteen degrees forty-five
minutes north.
On the twenty-fifth we made the Ladrone Islands. We
sent in our boats and obtained cocoa-nuts and bananas.
On the eighth of May we made Long Island of the Liu
Kiu group. We saw two Japanese junks and found an island in our
track not laid down on the chart. These islands are very
compact, with numerous small straits between them. On
the ninth we passed three rocks, called the ass' ears, which
resemble such ears in shape.
And so we proceeded northerly, seeing occasionally fish
ing boats, which appeared to be shy of us. On the four-

The Old Sailor s Story. 79
teenth saw hump-backed whales. Lowered and chased, but
could not fasten, and also made the island of Corea. On the
sixteenth we were through the straits of Corea and in the
sea of Japan.
And then we proceeded north, looking for whales in
the day and lying to at night. When this sea was first visited
by whalers. In A. D. 1845, it was literally alive with them;
but a large fleet pursuing soon broke up the shoals and
made the remnant difficult to approach. On the seventeenth
of June we entered the Ochotsk Sea by the straits of La
Perouse. We cruised to the north; encountered ice; laid off and
on; had much disagreeable weather, but we found a seal-
island and went to work with a will, and on the nineteenth
of July we had taken eight thousand skins and wet most of
our salt. These skins -v^e conveyed to Honolulu, where we
arrived on the sixteenth of October, A. D. 1853. We then
went to Owyhee, where we overhauled and painted the ship.
The next season we proceeded to the Japan and Ochotsk
Seas, stopping at different islands to trade with the natives,
who readily exchange fruits and vegetables for cloth and to
bacco. The islands of the Pacific are Innumerable; the climate
and productions of thousands of them are excellent; most of
them are inhabited; and the question, " Whence came these
motley tribes, these denizens of ocean land ?" is more easily
asked than answered. A description of their physiognomy,
traits, peculiarities, rites, ceremonies, habits, laws, customs,
employments, etc., is subject matter for unwritten volumes.

8o The Old Sailor s Story.
Our second season's cruise was successful, and we ob
tained about thirteen thousand fur seal-skins and six hundred
barrels of oil, which we landed at Honolulu for transhipment.
Then, after overhauling and refitting, we cruised to the
southward to while away the time and searched for whales;
and again, in the spring of A. D. 1855, we proceeded to the
Ochotsk, but this season we had less success and the result was
about seven thousand skins and thfee hundred barrels of oil.
On the first of July, A. D. 1855, I had a narrow escape.
We were on shore killing seal and I struck at a savage sea-
lion with a lance. He wrung the lance from my grasp and
broke the pole. Being without means of defense, I en
deavored to back out of the contest; but stumbling over a
dead seal I fell, and if the cooper, who was hear, had not
rapped him as he did some other person would have related
the consequences. I soon rallied and had the satisfaction
of putting a rifle ball through the monster's cranium. He
was thirteen feet In length and well proportioned, capable of
taking any man's head at a single mouthful.
We arrived, after our third season's cruise, at Hono
lulu In, October, A. D. 1855,' and among our letters was one
conveying the mournful intelligence of the decease of our
youngest son, aged twenty-five, on the Isthmus of Panama,
on his, way from Callao to San Francisco. '
Not wishing to go on another season's cruise, I made
arrangements with Mr. Ellas Perkins, the agent of our firm,
whereby the command of the N, S. Perkins was transferred
to Captain Asa Fish, a New London man, and I agreed to
take charge of and proceed to New London with the ship

The Old Sailor's Story.

Brookline; my remuneration for the same was to be one hun
dred dollars per month.
We sailed from the Sandwich Islands in November
with a. full cargo of oil and seal-skins; and as the Brookline
was a slow sailer, or what seamen call a good monthly packet,
I now come to a long passage of which I will give a few
brief details.
On December 9th we crossed the equator. On the
twenty-second we stopped at Oratonga, which lies near the
southern tropic. Here we were hospitably received and en
tertained by the missionary, the Rev. Mr. Bussecot. This is
a round, high Island, one of the Harvey group, surrounded
by a coral reef some thirty miles in circumference. The cli
mate is mild, the soil fertile, and the natives appeared to be
intelligent and honest.
Here we obtained fruits, vegetables, wood and water,
all at cheap rates, for which we paid in calico at twenty-five
cents a yard.
We then made good progress, considering the dullness
of our ship, and on the first of February, A. D. 1856, we
doubled the perilous locality of Cape Horn and had the At
lantic Ocean before us.
We had a long, tedious passage to the equator, which
we crossed on the first of April; but after that time we made
better progress -and we arrived at New London on April
30th, after one hundred and eighty days' passage from the
Sandwich Islands.
We had been absent from home forty-four months,
and had sailed during that time, according to a rough

82 The Old Sailor's Story.
calculation, a distance of some seventy-five thousand miles.
For the benefit of those boys who. learn from their ge
ographies that the distance around the world Is about twenty-
five thousand miles, we will say that sailing around the
world requires the accomplishing of a much greater distance,
as any intelligent lad can easily perceive by giving attention
to the form of the continents, as represented on an artificial
globe, or a map of the hemispheres.
The following is the table of straight line distances
which I sailed on this voyage in the circumnavigation of the
world, and dpes not Include my three cruises from the Sand
wich Islands to the Japan and Ochotsk Seas, nor my mean
derings between seasons In cruising for whales, nor devia
tions on account of adverse winds. MILES.
From New London to Teneriffe, - - 4,000
" Teneriffe to Cape De Verdes, 700
" Cape De Verdes to the equator, - 1,200
" equator to Tristine Islands, - 2,700
" Tristlnes to Prince Edwards, - " 2,800
Prince Edwards to Crozettes, ' - - 550
" Crozettes to Desolation, - 600
" Desolation to S. Cape, New Zealand, 4,500
" New Zealand to Society Islands, 2,000'
" Society Islands to Sandwich Islands, 2,640
" Sandwich Islands to Cape Horn, - 4,600
" Cape Horn to New London, - 10,256
Total, - - - 36,546

The Old Sailor's Story. 83

I will now commence a narrative of my last voyage
around the world.
I had been at home a whole year, and finding it dull on
the land after having spent so much of my life on the ocean,
I thought I would try my luck again.
A Quaker once told me th^t we must try to grow a lit
tle better and a little richer every year, especially the latter.
This seems to be a general propensity of the human race.
I fell In with a speculative acquaintance who, as I after
wards found out, was tinctured with aberration of mind, who
induced me to go in for the purchase of a vessel with him,
saying he possessed means enough to purchase a vessel, and
would do so If I would consent to take charge of the same.
So we bought a new bark In Boston, called the Tem
pest, for $11,500, supposed by competent judges to be a
good bargain. But my friend, through the influence of his
son, induced the firm of Frink & Prentis to take the bulk of
her off his hands and act as agents.
Soon after the arrival of the bark at New London my
friend became so furious that his friends were obliged to
send him to an insane asylum, and I was left the responsible
party in the transaction.
This was in the. autumn of A. D. 1856; and as freight
ing was generally dull we laid her up for a spell, coppering
and putting her in sea-trim in hopes that business would re
vive; but freighting prospects continuing the same, we con
cluded to fit her up for a whaling and sealing voyage.
By the advice and Influence of the late Hon. Thomas
W. Williams, who will be long remembered as a successful

84 The Old Sailor's Story.
whaling agent and man of business, we were persuaded to
dispatch the Tempest to the Spitzbergen regions, and I was
furnished with Scoresby's journals and information which
Major Williams obtained by correspondence with whaling
agents In Scotland, setting forth the frequent appearance of
whales in the region of ocean north of Russia.
I sailed In May 21st, A. D. 1857, and made a straight
course for the grand banks of Newfoundland.
The bark was a fast sailer, and on the thirteenth of
June we made some small islands at the south of Iceland.
On the nineteenth we were in latitude sixty-six degrees
north and had the sun above the horizon the whole twenty-
four hours.
We continued on our way to the north and east, and on
the twenty-second the sun was twelve degrees above the
horizon at midnight and the thermometer indicated zero.
On the twenty-third we crossed the meridian of Green
wich. On the twenty-sixth we made the snow-capped moun
tains of Bear Island and our latitude was seventy-four de
grees fourteen minutes north.
Walrus were taken in large numbers, in days of yore,
from this island by the Dutch and Russians.
On the fifth of July we were embayed In the Ice, and
our situation in case of a gale of wind would have been ex
tremely perilous, but the weather continued moderate.
On the sixth we succeeded in gaining open water by
keeping under slow headway and sheering clear of the la^ge
ice.

The Old Sailor's Story. 85
On the eighth we saw three small vessels standing to
the northeast; probably fishing vessels from the White Sea
bound, to Nova Zenibla.
July 9th. Saw plenty of Ice and no whales. Disap
pointment is the common lot of mortals.
July I Ith. We were now about fifty miles from Nova
Zembla and came to compact ice with no channel-ways, so I
concluded to back out.
July 13th. Thick and hazy; making progress to the
westward. July 14th. Cold, freezing weather; saw heavy icebergs.
July 28th. Saw Spitzbergen Mountains; and so wore
away the summer days. We made slow progress on account
of ice and fog; we recrossed the first meridian; sighted the
east coast of Greenland; but although we sought diligently
for whales our search was totally unsuccessful, and on the
ninth of August we concluded to proceed to a more genial
climate. So we made the best progress we could to the
Azores, where we arrived on the eighth of September, where
we procured fruits and fresh meat, potatoes, etc., and learned
that the sperm-whale fleet had been successful, while we had
endured the hardships of the frigid zone and all for naught.
We cruised for several days in the vicinity of these
islands In hopes of obtaining one or more sperm whales, but
we found none; and so we proceeded for other parts, and af
ter touching at the Cape De Verdes to land letters, we con
tinued to the southwest and crossed the equator on the
twenty-fifth of October, In the longitude of seventeen de
grees ten minutes west.

86 The Old Sailor's Story.

On the twenty-sixth we took the southeast trades strong
and braced up sharp on the wind to the south-southwest,
and our position on the thirty-first of October was latitude
sixteen degrees fifty-eight minutes south, longitude twenty-
six degrees sixteen minutes west.
On the seventh of November we were in latitude twenty-
se-(;en degrees thirty-five minutes south, and longitude twenty-
three degrees thirty-four minutes west; and here we took the
wind from the southwest and sailed southeast to the best of
our ability. On the fourteenth we sighted Inaccessible Island, of the
Tristine De Acuna group; and taking In the main-sail and
reefing the top-sails we wore round to the northwest, cruising
for whales. November 1 7th. Strong breezes from north-northwest.
Bore away to the eastward. Saw fin-backs. Lay to at night.
November 18th. Raised a right whale, the first seen,
but he was bound to the windward and we lost sight of him.
Saw a ship running before the wind.
November 25th. Continuing on an easterly course,
keeping a vigorous look-out for whales, crossed the meridian
of Greenwich in latitude thirty-seven degrees nineteen min
utes south.
December 5th. Longitude nineteen degrees forty-five
minutes east. Had a strong gale from west-northwest, with
a very ugly cross sea and rips. Stove the starboard quarter
boat; and as the sea boarded us badly fore and aft, we
thought it advisable to heave to In order to save the boats.

The Old Sailor s Story.

We supposed ourselves on the edge of the Agulhas bank,
which Is a horrid place with a heavy westerly gale.
December 6th. Commences with heavy gale from west-
northwest, with a heavy combing sea. Lay up northwest by
north. At two o'clock P. M. bore off to running, but soon
came Into^ a very ugly cross sea, and hove to to save our
boats. ^ heavy comber struck the jib-boom, a thlrteen-
Inch spar, and broke it in the cap; but on the recoil, the stays
being taught brought it back to Its place, and nothing more
troubled it during the night, which was a very fortunate oc
currence, for had It gone under the bows we should have
lost two jibs, for the sea was heaving in all directions.
But we survived this peril; and when the wind becanie
more moderate repaired damages and proceeded towards the
east in company with the hark Union, of Sag Harbor.
December 20th. We were on the eastern ground,
where whole cargoes of oil have been easily procured; but
now, with the finest weather, not a spout was to be seen.
December 25th. Made Pig Island, of the Crozette
group, bearing southeast by east; distant by estimation about
twenty-five miles.
December 31st. The last day of another year. Saw
four sail, all whalers, but no whales. Clear, pleasant weather.
January 6th. Killed one whale near Possession Island;
lashed him and towed him off shore. This whale yielded
only thirty-five barrels of oil.
January 9th. Bore away for Desolation.
January i6th. Stiff breezes from the northwest; at five
A. M. shipped a heavy sea, nearly burying us.

88 The Old Sailor s Story.

At ten A. M. spoke the ship Abram Parker, of New
Bedford, clean. - Saw a ship to leeward; bore off and spoke
the Abigail, of New Bedford, with no oil.
January 17th. Not finding whales, concluded -to pro
ceed eastward towards New Zealand.
February 9th. Doubled the southeast cape of New
Zealand; and being on old whaling grounds slackened our
progress by laying to at night.
February 14th. Crossed the one hundredth and
eightieth meridian; and being in the vicinity of Lord Chat
ham's Island lay to for daylight.
February 15th. At seven A. M. made Chatham Island
ahead; stood down its south side, between it and Pitts'
Island. At two P. M. anchored In Hanson's Bay; in four
fathoms, to procure vegetables. The natives came off and
said they had plenty, which they would exchange for tobacco
and clothing. We obtained three boat-loads of potatoes of an excel
lent quality. One plug of tobacco paid for one hamper of
potatoes. We obtained about two hundred bushels of po
tatoes, a raft of water, a lot of wood and five hogs.
This island I should judge to be about one hundred
miles In length, and from fifteen to twenty-five miles in
breadth. The chief town, which has a good harbor and a number
of foreign residents, is near the north end.
The soil, especially In the southern part, is excellent,
producing grains, grass and vegetables of a superior quality.

The Old Sailor s Story. 89
The natives are a sort of mixed race, and many of them
speak the English language fluently.
At one time the peaceful Inhabitants of this loyely
land were attacked by the fierce and warlike tribes of New
Zealand, savages and cannibals, who came in their war ca
noes over a boisterous region of ocean, a distance of twelve
degrees; and making war upon this innocent and unsus
pecting population, they massacred large numbers of the
males and reduced the remnant of the people to a condition
of servitude. Four of my crew deserted here, being induced by the
natives, who stowed them away for the purpose of receiving
a reward for their apprehension. Such Is the duplicity of
these semi-barbarians that they will fleece the men of all
they have to spare to pay them for concealing the poor sail
ors; and th«n they endeavor to make the captains pay them
lots of tobacco for delivering up the runaways. But accord
ing to my experience Chatham's Island is not the only place
ih this wilderness world where fraud and double-dealing are
sometimes practiced. We obtained our men by pa)ang
money, tobacco and clothing, and proceeded on our cruise.
February 28th. Clear, pleasant weather. We are a
little to the north of the tropic of Capricorn, floating lazily
along on the vast Pacific. Who can describe the grandeur
and sublimity of a night In this locality, when the moon Is
full, the air invigorating, the sea tranquil, and the mind of
man is in harmony with the whole .? So glide along, little
bark, towards those northern regions, where the leviathans of
the deep are sporting among the floating, icy mountains.

go The Old Sailor s Story.
little thinking that we are coming with barbed and mur
derous implements for their destruction.
From this date, for many days, we had moderate breezes
and sultry weather. On the seventeenth of March we raised
a large sperm-whale; but he went too fact for our benefit,
and after chasing him a good twelve miles we were obliged
to give up the chase, which was quite discouraging.
March 19th. At ten A. M. made a small, low island
surrounded by a reef and covered with cocoa-nut trees. This
island, called the Duke of York, we supposed to be unin
habited, but on our approach we were surprised to see six ca
noes come booming out over the reef with cocoa-nuts to sell.
One of these canoe-fellows, a fine looking lad, stowed
himself away in the hold of our vessel unbeknown to his
chief; and his absence was not discovered by the chief until
the canoes left the ship and were some distance off. We
filled away; and as the fellow made signs to me that they
would, kill him if I suffered them to retake hini, I stood away
from the can oesr;. the men in which, after discovering the de
sertion of this lad, bad headed for us again and were exerf;
ing their arms and voices to the utmost. But the race was
of short duration for we soon left them far in the rear, and
the young fellow, who was. sprightly and intelligent, became
a general favorite; and months, fafter, when he sickened and
died with consumption in a high northern latitude, we sin^
cergly mourned his decea<se.. : .,, « .s
March 2 2d. At two A. M, discovered a reef half^a miljf
in length, spoken of. on the chart as having, an A'-existeriee
doubtful."i ,But It would;; be a hard customer to- strikespnj^in

The old Sailors Story. 9 1

the night. Position of this reef, latitude five degrees twenty
minutes south, longitude one hundred and seventy-four de
grees twenty-seven minutes west.
March 24th. Heading to northwest passed the King
Mill group; the wind was light and we made slow progress.
After the first of April we had more wind and proceeded
with more celerity towards our destination, viz.: the Japan
and Ochotsk Seas.
April I Ith. Filled three hundred barrels of water at
Guam, one of the Ladrone Islands. We also obtained wood
and fresh provisions; painted ship and gave the crew liberty
to go on shore, one watch at a time. We remained until
April 23d at this place.
On the twenty-sixth landed on a small volcanic Island
and obtained a few fish. From the crater of this island
smoke was constantly Issuing and the air was very hot and
stifling. The rocks were too hot to be endurable to naked
feet. This is the island of Paxaros and Its latitude is twenty
degrees thirty minutes north,.
May 2d. At five A. M, made an island on the weather
bow and passed it. At ten A. M. made a cluster of rocks
and a high island ahead. We passed close under its lee and
saw that It was well wooded and inhabited. Its sides were
nearly peijpendlcular and rose apparently a thousand feet In
height. These Islands belong to the Japanese dominions.
May ,4th. Calpi, and a rolling sea. Took in sails tp
save them from, flopping to pieces. Latitude thirty-four de
grees nprth, longitude one hundred and forty degrees east.,
May 13th. .Entered the Ochotsk Sea, between the Ja-

92 The Old Sailor's Story.

pan and the Kurile Islands, and proceeded north until we
came to Ice.
May 26th. Having worked to the northwest, raised a
fleet of fourteen ships searching for whales and observed
that three were boiling out.
May 28th. Thirty ships In sight; eight boiling out.
May 29th. Found a dead whale; hauled him along
side and commenced cutting in; found him rather tender.
June 1st. Finished boiling. The whale yielded seventy-
five barrels. June Sth. Saw whales in the ice but could not get to
them. June I Ith. Struck a whale; ran him Into the ice and
had to cut loose.
June 19th. Weighed anchor, which we had previously
let go to keep from drifting ashore, and found the stock
gone and the anchor scoured brightly by dragging four miles
on rocky bottom. Captain Norton, of the ship South Sea
man, came on board and informed me that he had found a
whale with my line and irons, the one my third mate lost on
the eleventh. Went on board with him and got the line.
And so we cruised and searched and drifted; and as the
weather was Cool and foggy much of the time, inasmuch
that ice would make on the rigging at times two inches in
thickness, our cruising does not altogether partake of the
nature of a pleasure excursion; and as whales were few and
shy, and ships were plenty, our cruising was not only un-
pleasurable but also unprofitable. It is true we had com
pany, and " misery loves company" is an old saw, but be the

The Old Sailor's Story. 93

ponipany more or less, I always liked when I went fishing
to get some fish.
July 14th. Commenced with breezes from the north
west. At three A. M. the ice came up and took the schooners
E. L. Frost and Alice PVazIer adrift. I .sent my second mate
in search of the third mate. At the turn of the tide the ice
came afoul of us, taking us adrift down the bay and grinding
us terribly, cutting the stem nearly to the wood-ends. The
bottom was rocky and the anchor dragging over the rocks
made a big, rumbling noise; and. how our little bark endured
the strain the- Lord knoweth, for she jarred all through as
though she would start every joint. We were close in shore
and expected momentarily to strike rocks, and the fog was
very thick at the time. At eleven A. M. we emerged frpm
the fog; and at twelve M., when the tide turned, we weighed
anchor and retraced our lost ground.
We stood up the bay and at five P. M. raLsed our boats
lying fast to a whale. We took him alongside and towed
him In shore for fear of the ice. To give the uninitiated
some idea of whaling in the bays of the Ochotsk Sea, I will
state that two of our boats, with six men In each, had been
fastened to this whale for three days, in a dense fog, with no
fire and no protection from the weather except thejr cloth
ing. The bay was partially filled with junks of floating ice,
four, six, and eight feet above the surface of the water, va
rying in size from half an acre to the size of a ship; and these
pieces were constantly floating and grinding together. It is
not necessarv for me to state that we cut in this whale and

94 The Old Sailor's Story.

sent the boats to search for another, and thus the time
wore away.
July 20th. More, than a hundred vessels were search
ing for oil Iri this region, lying around and in the ice; and
when the fog was thick, sound supplied the place of sight,
and the tooting of fog-horns was simply tremendous. And
then we began to be ill in consequence of dampness and ex
posure. August 12th. The mate took a whale near the ship,
killing him instantly with a bomb-lance. Spoke the Corea,
of New London.
August 13th. Fog, fog, plenty of fog. The mate and
fourth mate returned and reported the second mate off In
the bay fast to a whale. Went in search of him, but it was
like looking for a needle In a haystack. On the seventeenth
the second mate returned, having fastened his whale to the
ship Navy, of New Bedford. On the eighteenth we got the
whale but he was badly blasted.
August 19th. The mate, Mr. Gibson, killed a whale in
stantly with a bomb-lance.
August 24th. Spanker caught fire from the stove-pipe
and was nearly consumed with the rigging attached. The
weather cleared up for the first time in many weeks.
August 25th. Dropped down the bay and came to an
chor near the ship Rapid, of New Bedford, Captain D. P.
West, an old friend of mine. From him I obtained a storm-
spanker and a bolt of duck, with which to head it up and re
place the sail we had lost by fire.
August 27th. Anchored, with twenty other ships, in El-

The Old Sailor s Story. 95
bow Island roads. Boats away. I will mention that when
the boat's crews are whaling near the shore it Is their cus^-
tom to camp out over night on the shore, the upturned boats
forming a shelter; and with a camp fire, cooking utensils and
provisions, they make themselves as comfortable^ as their
miserable circumstances will admit. Boats have been sepa
rated from their ships for a month at a time, the ship search
ing In one direction and the boats in another. Two boat's
crews from the ship General Williams once boarded us for
provisions, having been absent from their vessel more than
fifteen days; and such cases were of frequent occurrence.
But to be more brief We took one whale In Shanter bay,
one in Mercury bay; and after taking one more we gathered
together as a fleet, under Mercury Head, and held a council
of war, the question being, " Where next-r""
Captain West had wintered In HakodadI and intended
to winter there again. So we and the Chandler Price con
cluded to keep him company; and we bore away for that port
early in October, and after a rough passage through the La
Perou.se Straits we reached HakodadI In safety about the
middle of October.
The Japanese are a peculiar people. They are Indus
trious, but the women do the hardest and most disagreeable
work. Their land is divided into small farms or plantations,
is well cultivated and yields abundanth'. Potatoes, beans,
buckwheat and rice are the staple products. Tea is grown
south of the parallel of thirty-five degrees north. Our black
smith pronounced their iron the best he ever worked. They
seemed to prefer Mexican dollars to any other money. Their

96 The Old Sailor s Story.
silk goods and lackered wares are too extensively known to
need any description.
The American consul wishing to go to Slmoda, I
agreed to carry him; and leaving HakodadI a little before
the middle of November we had a very pleasant passage to
Sinioda, a distance of six hundred miles.
I found the harbor not very commodious and the an
chorage bad; but we laid the bark ashore in a small creek,
where we patched the copper and repaired the stem, and
getting a good supply of tea, sugar, rice and sweet potatoes,
we left" on the fourth of December for Nangaski, to meet our
consorts, the Rapid and Chandler Price, with whom we in
tended to whale In the southern bays of Niphon.
We started with the wind from the northwest and lead
ing; but on getting to sea found the wind broad from the
west and dead ahead, and a strong current setting to the
northeast. After making several tacks and losing ground,
we stood into the mouth of Jedo Gulf and lay off and on.
December 5 th. Stood to southward. Came on squally
from west-southwest and increased to a gale. Put her down
to close reefed main-top-sail and fore-stay-sail, with winged
fore-sail. The sea rose fearfully and at two P. M. we lost
our waist-boat. Soon after our fore-top-mast-stay-sail, which
was our main dependence, blew away, leaving us In great
peril. We were on a lee-shore. In a heavy gale, and at five
P. M. we saw an island on our lee-beam, not over three miles
distant, and the sea was making a clean breach over It, and
we had no head-sail to depend upon.
I went to the wheel, and by raising It a few spokes got

The Old Sailor's Story. 97

her under a little headway; and by the help of Him who rules
the wind and the waves we were preserved from a horrid
shipwreck on an iron-bound coast, where escape from death
would have been miraculous. The wind veered two points
to the northward, and instead of being broken to pieces on
unknown rocks, the next morning we were fifteen miles to
the windward of the land and we felt like thanking God for
our deliverance. The wind continuing strong from tbe west, we concluded
to give up whaling on the coast of Japan, and we bore away
to the east-southeast, with a strong, fair wind, to look for
sperm whales In the vicinity of the Mulgraves. By keeping-
well tp the .south we ran out of the gale and took the wind
from the northeast. Then by keeping close-hauled we made
Boston Islands, belonging to the Ralick group, situated In
latitude five degrees fifteen minutes south.
The natives came aboard; and learning that the Rev.
Mr. Doane, with whom I was acquainted, was stationed
there as a missionary, I .sent him a note requesting him to
come off, which he did the next day in a -native boat. He
invited me ashore and I accepted his invitation, and was
well entertained by him and his" estimable lady, a daughter
of Robert Wilbur, of Mystic Conn.
He had a comfortable dwelling, picketed enclosure, and
he and his family were seemingly contented. Under his
charge were some two hundred and fifty stalwart, fierce look
ing, savage men, besides women and children, all of whom
lived on two sandy cocoa-nut islands, neither of which would
make a good sized farm.

98 The Old Sailor's Story.
Mr. Doane informed me that these natives were quite
adventurous; would fit out and voyage In open boats a dis
tance of hundreds of miles, and after an absence of months
would return safely. Their canoes are large and they are
very expert In their management.
We found a canoe and crew of these natives, who had '
been blown away from home, at Wellington Island, which is
over four hundred miles west of the Boston Islands.
We supplied this missionary with tea and sugar, and re
ceived in return all the cocoa-nuts we wanted, for he had
thousands stacked in his yard.
Leaving our mission friends to their lonesome fate, we
stood to the south to cruise for whales; but as the custom of
northern whalers for years had been to proceed to the Sand
wich Islands to recruit, my crew, instigated in part by my
third mate, whom I had taken from the ship Chandler Price,
began to show tokens of dissatisfaction, and finally sent me
a note, saying that they should consider themselves pressed
men if I took them to the Ochotsk another .season without
visiting the Sandwich Islands. But as I had already been
in two ports of Japan, I did not feel like going so great a
distance thuc late in the season to gratify them.
This brings me to January, A. D. 1859, and as our
cruising was unsuccessful, I was. not in the most happy frame
of mind, with the prospect of making a broken voyage and
having a dissatisfied crew.
We touched at Ascension Island for wood and water;
had a splendid chance for killing a large sperm whale,
which would probably have made us a hundred barrels. But

The Old Sailor's Stoiy. 99
the big lubber of a boat-steerer was galliard, and although
the whale was in an iron pole's length of the boat, the boat-
steerer missed his mark; and this was very unfortunate, for
such chances seldom occur. If we had killed one we should
probably have found another, for whales seldom roam singly.
The capturing of this whale would probably have been as
good as two thousand dollars to me, for 1 was the owner of
one-quarter of the bark and was sailing her on a twelfth lay
We entered the Japan Sea about the first of April; fell
in with the Rapid, Captain West, who had wintered in Ja
pan and like ourselves had taken nothing. Cruised for days;
saw few whales and they were unapproachable. So we pro
ceeded north into the Ochotsk again, and endured a.repeti-
tion of last year's experience; saw many whalers . and few
whales, and after much exertion succeeded in obtaining only
five. The whales were very shy; the fleet numerous; and
although we tried hard we succeeded poorly. It is needless
for me to speak of Ice, fog, gales of wind, peril and expo
sure, for I have dwelt on those sufficiently in relation to last
year's cruise.
To shorten the narrative, I proceeded in the fall to
Honolulu; shipped my oil to New London by the bark Siam,
Captain Rice, and having refitted the bark, made arrange
ments to deliver her into the charge of Captain Asa Fitch,
of New London, who had been a successful whaling captain,
in hopes that he would do better with her than I had done.
But the whole affair was ruinous to me in a financial point
of view, for I ultimately realized a loss of seven thousand
dollars cash, and three years' valuable time, by my dealings

lOO The Old Sailor's Story.
and doings in the bark Tempest, which I delivered to Cap
tain Fish in the harbor of San Francisco, he having agreed
to take a vessel to that place from the Sandwich Islands.
I took passage in the Golden Age Pacific mail steamer
to Panama, and crossing the isthmus to Aspinwall, was trans
ferred to the steamer Baltic, which conveyed me safely to
New York, and I arrived home in January, after an absence
of two years and eight months.
Some may ask : " How could you lose so much by such
a transaction ?"
I will, by way of reply, mention a few items and the
reader may draw his own inferences. Cost of vessel; In-,
terest on the same; outfits; interest on outfits; provisions for
a large crew; advance to crew; desertion of men; shipping
new hands; advances to new hands; repairs on ves.sel; wear
and tear; staving boats; clothing for men; new sails; few
whales; insurance; commission; leakage; gauging; commis
sion; wharfage; port charges; taxes; more leakage; outgoes;
freight; fog; thunder.
Add these Items carefully, and make due allowance for
lee-way, and remember one minute makes fifteen miles In
longitude, and see where you will fetch up, especially if you
do not start right and have no true departure.
After stopping at home sixteen months I obtained a
commission as Acting Master and Coast Pilot in the United
States Navy, with orders to report for duty immediately at
the navy yard in Philadelphia. Bear in mind that this was
in May, A. D. 1861, in the beginning of that war between

The Old Sailor's Story. loi
the northern and southern states, known In history as " The
Great Rebelh-on."
My appointment bore the date of May 25th, and I ar
rived in Philadelphia about the first of June; and after wait
ing somewhat Impatiently for several days, I received an or
der from Commodore (afterwards Admiral) Samuel F. Du
pont to report for duty on board the United States frigate
St. Lawrence. The southern ports were ordered to be blockaded, and
this vessel was to be one of the blockading fleet.
We left the navy yard June 29th and towed down the
river and came to anchor off the powder-house.
July 1st. Took In thirteen hundred shell and two boat
loads of powder.
July 2d. Finished taking in powder.
Jul)'- 4th. Fired a national salute of twenty-one guns
and the men had an extra allowance of grog.
July 6th. Towed down to Chester and anchored.
July 7th. Steamer towed us down. Came to anchor off
" Joe Flogger."
July Sth. Towed out pa.st Cape Henlopen; made sail
and stood out to sea.
July loth. At sea. Loaded all the guns.
July nth. Came to anchor off Fortress Monroe.
July 14th. Put out to sea.
July 1 6th. Captured the brig Herod, from Windsor,
North Carolina, for Liverpool, with resin. Put prize crew
on board and ordered her to Fortress Monroe.

102 The Old Sailor's Stoiy.
July 26th. Off Charleston harbor. Spoke the United
States frigate Wabash. Stood off to southeast.
July 28th. At six A. M. made a sail standing towards
us which put around to avoid us. We put chase to her and
found her to be a fore and aft schooner. We gained on her
fast and at nine A. M. were in point-blank range. Fired an
unshotted gun as a signal for her to heave to, which he did
not heed. We then fired a shot which fell short of her. He
boldly hoisted the Secession flag and sent us a shot from his
long-torn, which struck our main yard slings harmlessly. We
gavd him a taste of our calibre, and down she went head
first to the bottoni, carrying six of her crew as we supposed
by her musfer roll.
Lowered our boats and picked up thirty-seven men, in
cluding the Captain, and then we stood for the flag-ship
Wa^bash. The vessel so unceremoniously sent to " Davy
Jones' locker" was the pilot boat Petrel, of and from Charles
ton. July 29th. Stood in and reported to the flag-ship. Re
ceived orders to keep the prisoners on board.
August 2d. Anchored off Tybee light. Transferred
prisoners to steamer Flag, bound to Hampton roads.
August 5th. Received fresh beef, vegetables, ice, let
ters and papers from United States supply steamer Rhode
Island, from New York. Weighed anchor. One of the fore
castle men had his arm so badly jammed by the anchor that
amputation was necessary.
From this date till September loth, we were blockading

The Old Sailor's Story. 103
off Tybee, when- the sloop of war Vandalia came to our sta
tion and we left for Chesapeake Bay.
September 15th. Anchored in Hampton roads in com
pany with United States frigates Minnesota and Cum
berland. September 19th. Took in a lot of stores out of a
steamer from New York.
September 23d. Took in five thousand gallons of fresh
water from water-boat.
September 24th. Took in two hundred barrels of wa
ter from a water-boat. United States frigate Sabine arrived
from Portsmouth to join the blockade squadron.
September 25th. Took in eighteen thousand gallons
of fresh water.
September 28th. Took in eight thousand gallons of
water and a quantity of provisions. Vessels constantly ar
riving and departing.
October 5th. Put out to sea. From this date till No
vember 6th, we were engaged in overhauling vessels, exam
ining their papers and letting them proceed; but on this day
we took a prize, viz.: the schooner Fanny Lee, from Darien
for Nassau, and put a prize crew on board of her.
November 7th. Sent pff the prize with Acting Master
Bogart in charge.
November 9th. Received news of the capture of Port
Royal, South Carolina, by United States gunboats.
November 20th. Commenced with a light air from the
north. At six thirty A. M. raised a sail to the windward.
Made her out to be a bark standing to the northwest. We

I04 The Old, Sailors Story.
hove short but the wind fell off, so we manned two boats
and sent them to her, a distance of ten miles. At four P. M.
one boat returned and reported her to be the Neptune, from
Glasgow, Scotland, for Quebec, with a load of coal. On ac
count of her being so far out of her track it seemed evident
that she intended to run the blockade. At six P. M. the boat
in charge of our second lieutenant returned with the Nep
tune's captain, who gave a somewhat confused account of his
proceedings. So we put a guard on board of her to take her
in charge, and they brought her to anchor astern of us, and
her officers were lodged on our ship for the night.
November 21st. Boarded and searched the bark, and
finding nothing contraband of war, endorsed her papers and
ordered her off the coast. She stood off to the northeast
and was soon out of sight.
Probably as soon as she was clear of us she retarded
her progress and, waited for a chance to get into some south
ern port; for our search was not sufficiently thorough, arid
we heard of her subsequent capture by officers who gave her
a closer scrutiny. They obtained prize-money which might
have fallen to us.
December ist. Received orders to proceed to Port
Royal, which we willingly obeyed, and we arrived and an
chored in that harbor December 5th, where we found an
English frigate and a lai^ge fleet of United States gunboats,
supply vessels, etc.
About this time the stone-fleet arrived from the north.
This fleet consisted mainly of old whaling ships which were
purchased of their owners by the United States Government,

The Old Sailor's Story. 105
loaded with stones, and sent south for the purpose of being
sunk in the entrance of Charleston, Savannah, and perhaps
other southern harbors; for the rebels, notwithstanding the
blockade, were constantly receiving aid and encouragement
in the shape of hospital stores, munitions of war and what
they needed; and cotton was scarce and high, consequently
the temptation to run the blockade was great.
We remained at Port Royal from the fifth till the
twenty-sixth; painted ship, obtained wood, water and mails;
and a large number of vessels with troops, supplies and
mails were constantly arriving and departing. At the last
mentioned date we put out to sea and stood off to the south
east. December 29th. Came to anchor In fifteen fathoms,
with Cumberland Island In sight from aloft.
The next day we weighed anchor and cruised off and
on for several dayc.
January Sth, 1862. A seaman fell from his hammock
and fractured his skull, from which injury he soon died and
we buried him in the deep the following day.
January 12th. Spoke the packet steamer Columbia,
from New York for Havana. Boarded her and obtained pa
pers of the ninth instant.
January i6th. Anchored in latitude thirty-one degrees
forty-nine minutes north, longitude eighty degrees thirty-six
minutes west.
January 19th. Got underway and stood Into Port
Royal, where we anchored In nine fathoms, outside of the
bar, with the light-ship bearing north by west.

io6 The Old Sailor's Story.
January 25th, Sailed Into the harbor, crossing the bar
in four and one-half fathoms.
We remained in port till January 31st, and then towed
out over the bar and stood off to the southeast.
We then proceeded to New York, took a pilot off Bar-
nagat, and arrived at Brooklyn Navy Yard February Sth, at
eight o'clock P. M. Cold and stormy.
We obtained stores, ammunition and water, and the men
had liberty on shore. We towed round Into the North River
on the twenty-second and fired a salute of twenty-one guns
in honor of Washington's birthday.
February 28th. Received a draft of sixty-five men, six
mates and some ordnance from the navy yard.
March 2d. Towed down the bay and over the bar. A
seaman fell overboard and came near being drowned. A boat
put off from the ship Ocean Monarch and rescued him be
fore our boat could be lowered.
March 6th. Made Cape Henry and stood directly in.
Took a pilot aboard and stood up the bay. Came to an
chor off Lynn Haven Bay in six and one-half fathoms. This
day ends with a strong breeze and snow from the northeast.
March Sth. Commences with strong breeze from the
northwest; clear and cold. In the morning a large fleet
came down the bay. At two P. M. the steamer Cambridge
came alongside to tow us in and informed us that the rebel
iron-clad infernal machine Merrimac was coming down from
Norfolk to attack the United States frigates Cumberland
and Congress, which were lying at Newport News. We

The Old Sailor's Story. 107
soon heard the report of canon and weighed anchor and
towed up for the roads.
At four P. M. we were up abreast of Fortress Monroe,
and we proceeded directly for Newport News, where the
Minnesota, Roanoke and Congress were engaged with the
Merrimac. When off Sewall's Point the rebel battery
opened fire on us, throwing both shot and shell- completely
over us. We returned the fire as we passed; and only two
of the rebel shot took effect on us, one cut away Pne pf
the bowsprit shrouds, and the other struck the quarter-block
under the fore-yard and cut off the fore-top-sail sheet
We spoke the Roanoke retiring from action, and found
on opening the point that the Cumberland had been sunk
by the Merrimac and that the Congress had surrendered to
her. She was then engaged with the Minnesota, the latter
vessel being aground. We towed close up to the Minnesota
and the Merrimac gave us a volley of projectiles from her
thirteen-inch gun, one of which took effect on our star
board quarter, above water, making a large hole. It passed
through the pantry with a demorahzing effect on the dishes,
entered the cabin, cut off two legs from a table, struck a
timber on the opposite side of the ship, and rolled down
within a few feet of the magazine scuttle, where It lay harm
lessly. The missile was a shell but It did not explode. Had
it exploded in the vicinity of our magazine the consequences
would have been otherwise from what they were. We pep
pered the machine until she ceased firing and withdrew. We
then dropped down and came to anchor off Fortress Mon
roe. The Errlcson water battery Monitor arrived from

loS The Old Sailor's Story.
New York and proceeded up the roads to Newport News,
the seat of action*
March 9th, 1862. This day, world renowned in the his
tory of naval warfare, commenced clear and calm. All hands ,
called to quarters and guns made ready for immediate ac
tion. We discovered the Merrimac and three rebel gun
boats getting up steam off Sewall's Point, and moving slowlj'
towards the Minnesota which was still aground. The Moni
tor boldly advanced and attacked the Merrimac, which en
deavored to run over the comparatively small and insignifi
cant looking invention of the now famous Errlcson. In this
she was foiled by the dexterous maneuverings of the Moni
tor, and soon withdrew In an apparently crippled condition,
keeled over and seemingly sinking. After a while she
righted up and moved off up the Elizabeth River, where her
consorts had previously fled.
Thus ended one of the most important engagements re
corded In the annals of naval warfare;' for the success of the
Monitor was not only rhe salvation of the American Navy,
but demonstrated the practical utility of another great
American Invention.
After this memorable action we proceeded to Philadel
phia Navy Yard where our damages were repaired. We
then returned to Fortress Monroe, where our commander.
Captain Purviance, was relieved from active service and
Captain J. F. Schencks succeeded him as commander of the
St. Lawrence. We proceeded to blockade duty on the North Atlantic
coast; went as far south as Key West, where, in course of

The Old Sailor's Story. 109

time our frigate was made the flag-ship of Commodore
Lardner's squadron; he having dispatched his frigate, the
San Jacinto, north on account of the yellow fever which ex
tensively prevailed amongst his crew. Our men were soon
attacked with the scourge; the weather was very hot and
many died with the disease. Some died on board, others
were sent to the hospital; some recovered and returned to
the ship, and others died In the hospital.
Thus the months wore away and on the tenth of Octo
ber I received orders to report on board the United States
gun-boat Young Rover, for a passage north. Congress had
passed a law that naval men over sixty years of age should
be dismissed from active service; and as I was but a volun
teer this act was equivalent to my discharge.
We arrived at Philadelphia October 26th, and on No
vember 4th I took passage on the cars to New York. From
thence I went to Saybrook on the steamer Granite State;
visited an old acquaintance, Captain Dolbeare, who made
me welcome, and the following Monday he conveyed me In
his -sail-boat to Old Hamburgh, from which place I traveled
to my home in Salem, Ct, where I found my wife and family
in comfortable health.
This Is a very brief sketch of my sixteen months in the
United States Navy. The remainder of my narrative is
quickly told.
In A. D. 1S63 I removed from Salem to Gales F'erry,
my birth-place, where I still reside.
In A. D. 1864 I made a trading voyage to Key West,

1*1 o The Old Sailor's Story.
Pensacola, and the Bahamas, which proved not only unre
munerative but a losing affair. Being short of funds at the
Bahamas, having remitted proceeds of sales from Key West,
I borrowed $500 to pay for pine-apples, agreeing to trans
mit the same amount In gold from New York. I arrived
safely with a well preserved cargo of pine-apples; but Im
agine my feelings when I found on my arrival gold stood at
$2.80 in greenbacks. This trip was In the schooner Actor,
then belonging to Captain Chapman, of Groton.
In A. D. 1865 I went with Captain Pettigrew, in the
schooner Sun, to the Gulf of St Lawrence mackerel fishing;
but that season's work was not very lucrative.
From that time until A. D. 1877 I did a small coasting
business, being employed a considerable portion of the time
by Johnson & Co., dye-wood and dye-wood extracts manu
facturers and dealers, of Montville, Ct. And now in A. D.
1879, i" the eightieth year of my life, I have compiled from
memory and journals this abbreviated sketch of my past life,
in accordance with the wishes of my friends; and being as
sured by the Infirmities of my bpdy that my time on earth is
short, I launch my narrative on the tide of public opinion,
craving that charity from an Intelligent public which suffereth
long and is kind, and which moreover covereth a multitude
of sins. Sensible am I that this little work has Its deficiencies
and blunders, also that it partakes of the nature of the
"short and simple annals of the poor;" but time changes
men and things, and perhaps when you write an account of

The Old Sailor's Slory, in
your adventures at my time of age, considerate reader, it
may be more interesting and perhaps not.
Every person's history has its lessons for others, for
" Lives of great men all remind us
AVe can make our lives sublime;"
And on the other tack,
"By others' faults wise men correct their own."

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