Boshmen, and Mosambiques. One day entering the shop of Lloyd's agent, I heard the Captain in high debate with the man he had employed to caulk the ship: "You will have a pretty sight of leakage on the way home, I know," said the shipwright. "We have got some pumps aboard," replied the Captain. "You will have need of them," rejoined the other. This was not encouraging. The Second Mate had been restored to his office on the Captain's death; but at the Cape he and the other quarrelled, and he took leave, as did also the invalid sailor. Glad to secure any aid, we shipped in their place a policeman, who said he was a sailor, and really proved to be the best hand on board. After a few days one of the other men was made First, and he Second, Mate. When the order to weigh anchor was given, the men refused, alleging that the crew was "short," the stores insufficient, and the caulking effected little worth. The Captain was by far the most powerful man on board, with a fierce look, a thundering voice, little delicacy, and abundant resolution. He soon terrified the men into "duty; but we had not been long under weigh before we found that the leak was nearly as bad as ever: long before the Pilot left, we had copious pumpings. The men looked disheartened: some said, "I tould you how it 'ud be, but ye would up anchor;" and the new man called himself" a fool" for having engaged without first coming on board; “for,” said he, (alluding to the brightness acquired by the irons of a hardworked pump,)" one wink at the pump-gear would have cured me." All this made me seriously doubt whether to put to sea in such a ship were not tempting Providence; and for some time I felt strongly disposed to return with the Pilot, but at last yielded to the fear of seeming afraid. For some days we loitered along with light winds, but in about a week were met by a strong breeze from the north the ship laboured hard, leaking in proportion, and we pumped every hour. I was exceedingly sea-sick, for that affliction followed me to the very last day of the voyage; and, lying on my berth, I heard the long and frequent pumpings. Some time after night, amidst the whistling of the wind, the dashing of the waves, and the creaking of the ship, the clink, clink, clink, of the pump sounded long and drearily. At length the Second Mate came down, and said to the Captain, who was in the cabin, " We ca'nt get her to suck, Sir." "Pump till you can. Up he went, but soon returned, "We ca'nt get her to suck, Sir." "How long have you been pumping?" "More than twenty minutes." "When did you pump last?" "At eight bells”* (an hour before). They went up together, and the pumping continued. I soon rose it was solemn to kneel down on that dark night amid the groaning of the unquiet ship, and the cheerless sound of the pump, which some despairing exclamations coming from the deck made to sound like a knell. To commit myself, for life or death, into my Redeemer's hand, was the work of a moment; then the souls of those who were with me in the ship called for anxious prayer; but one feeling, concern for the perishing Hindus, rose above every other, and expressed itself with a force, the effect of which, I pray, may never be lost, in a resolution, that, if my moments on earth should be but few, I would devote them to prayer, and, if lengthened, no matter in what land, to labour, for their regeneration. On deck the night was dark, the wind boisterous, and the sailors uttering broken murmurs of despondency. Presently they cried joyfully, "She sucks!"

* Eight o'clock. A bell is struck one stroke for every half hour: "eight bells" always announces the close of a watch, each of which is four hours long.

An inquiry ensued, on which it appeared that they had been thirty-six minutes pumping out the leakage of a single hour. The men demanded with one voice that we should put back; but the Captain informed them, in no meek terms, that he would do nothing of the kind. "But we cannot keep her afloat." "We have got some boats to take to." "Little chance here in such boats as them." "Well, we sha'nt put back, I can tell you my life is no more than another dog's." We could not account for it; but the next hour the leak fall back to six or seven inches; the wind became fair soon after, and for six weeks from that night we had not a foul breeze, nor a rough one.

The caulking effected at the Cape was in keeping with the provisioning: for the cabin-table, including five adults and three children, the whole store of bread, for a voyage of ten weeks, was a hundred pounds of biscuits: we consoled ourselves by the hope of a supply at St. Helena. One day, when all above and below was glowing with the utmost beauty, the Captain announced that about three o'clock we should sight the island. Three o'clock came, a man went to the mast-head, the Captain paced the deck and watched, we all did the same; but the sun set on a bright circle of unbroken water. We then made for Ascension: in a few days our observations indicated the Isle of Turtles as right a-head: we waited patiently for its appearance; but it came not. Those naughty currents, which had played us so many strange tricks in making land before, were at work again!

The men were now eating, for bread, the residue of what had been on board when the ship was stranded, which had been then damaged with the water, had afterwards been carried in bags about the tropics for several months, and was now nothing more than a mass of animated powder, with occasional bits of indurated biscuit too hard even for the vermin. How they managed to eat it, and how they lived after eating it, was a mystery. For our part, we had old ship-biscuit of the common kind, abounding in maggots, and in monstrous brown insects called "weavels,” a kind of younger black-beetle. On the line we were becalmed for several days within two or three miles of another vessel, and the poor men repeatedly craved permission to go and ask for bread. The Captain, without positively refusing, displayed much reluctance to beg, so soon after leaving port. One evening we saw a well-manned boat sweeping over the glassy sea towards our ship; and forthwith a tall, sinewy, middle-aged sailor, in his shirt-sleeves, announced himself, in an accent richly American, as Captain of the whaler "Sophie," of Bremen in Germany. He proved a shrewd, observant man, and was returning from a successful voyage to the South Seas. Our Captain could not avoid asking him if he had any bread to spare he said it was not good, but he had plenty of it, and would be happy to give us as much as we might want. Our Captain promised to send for it: no sooner were the strangers gone than the men, doubtless informed by the Steward of what had passed in the cabin, asked if they might lower the boat. "No." They remonstrated; but in vain.

On gaining the north-east trade-wind, we daily sighted ships; but the Captain would not hear of begging, and soon became wary even of speaking them; for one morning the Captain of a trim barque, bound from Liverpool to Valparaiso, on hearing the name of our ship, cried, “What, the old, formerly of Whitby!" "Yes," replied our Captain, little complimented. "O," rejoined the other, in a tone not to be mistaken, "I know her well!" We all (except, perhaps, the Captain) echoed the

words, "I know her well!" This daily refusal to obtain help when it was at hand made the men furious: they had no sugar, no pork, no grog, the little flour they got was damaged, and the stuff in the old bread-bags (for bread it was no longer) positively loathsome. Had "the owner heard their remarks on his conduct, he would have shivered in his bed. It is gross iniquity when men employing servants in duties sufficiently hazardous at the best, wantonly increase their danger by sending out wornout ships on voyages for which only the strongest are fit; and add to the injury by starving them, when their complaints can reach only the ear of some man who has but one consideration, and that to be in favour with "his owner;" for such owners can obtain only such Captains. Unquestionably among English ship-owners the cases are rare; but there are individuals who make a fortune by buying superannuated vessels, sending them on long voyages, employing Captains of little character, and making them save from the just provisions of men and passengers every farthing that brazen dishonesty can screw. Day after day, as the men looked on the ships passing, they would say, "They are not pumping and fasting there;" and add their opinion of their owner, suggesting a motto to be placed over his door.* The condition of the rigging was deplorable, and we had no sail-maker; neither had we any more canvass a bad sail was mended by cutting up a worse one; twine to sew them was obtained by ripping up the sleeping-cot of the late Captain's daughter; and in default of pitch to make the twine work, I melted my candles, which produced tolerable wax. The leeward pump became useless: we had no carpenter to repair it, and neither leather nor pump-nails, should the valves of the other fail. One day the Captain told me that he had found two feet of water in the fore-hold. Soon afterwards a brisk gale opened on us suddenly, one night after sunset: our masts were in little danger, for the sails split before the halyards could be let go. As the men had just doublereefed the topsail, it split again under the reef: they were few, the wind gusty, the rain violent, and the pitching heavy; consequently they were long in making "all snug." In the meantime it was necessary to look to the pump, a duty which was undertaken by the steerage passenger and myself, occasionally assisted by the cook and steward. We worked hard, in short, but frequent, "spells," the pump-water gushing on our feet, the rain pouring from above, and a wave every now and then enriching the application with a copious spray overhead the impatient shouts of the sailors struggling against the wind and rain sounded wildly in the storm. The next day the Captain looked very grave, and, observing that she was making more water, hinted that he thought of putting into the Western Isles. We proceeded for a day or two: the pumping became almost ceaseless, and at length the Captain said she was making twelve inches per hour, while the First Mate said twenty. The men clamoured to lighten the ship the Captain threw overboard two or three casks of water. I asked him if he still intended to put into the islands. "No, Sir." At length they discovered in the forecastle an aperture through which a large quantity of water was entering, and, by cutting away one of the timbers, succeeded in so caulking it, that the leekage was considerably reduced.

* Whether original or not, cannot say; but it was so often repeated that I

remember it well :

"Hard work and sore abuse,
Kept here for sailors' use.'

VOL. III.-FOURTH SERIES.

N

The next day the men learned that there was flour only for another day; and they firmly demanded that the ship should be carried into some port in the Isles, the Second Mate joining them. The Captain refused: they insisted that they were not able to work the pump. "I can't help it.” They urged him he became furious, raised his hand, and shouted, "You may let her go to the bottom if you like; but as to putting back, I won't put back; no, not if God Almighty were to come out of the grave and order me!" The men were cowed, they slunk back one by one scowling and muttering; and the Captain, intimidated in his turn by their appearance, softened his tone, and solemnly promised them that he would apply for provisions to the first ship he should fall in with. On the afternoon of the following day, two vessels came in sight at the same instant, the one ahead and the other astern. The one ahead was bearing down upon us, and we were soon very near; but just as we were getting the boat ready to lower, the stranger "hauled his wind," and took a course we could not follow. "Ah!" they cried, "he sees we're parish rigged, and he doesn't want to have anything to do with us: he's a Yankee;" adding, what I hope is not true, that American ships are in the habit of avoiding vessels in distress. There was so little wind, that they thought we could overtake the fugitive in the boat; but no sooner had we started than she proved more leaky than the ship: I was furnished with a large pot, and baled hard, but could not keep her from filling. The men insisted on proceeding, the Captain would not; and with sorrowful countenances we were received again on board. It was now too late to hope that the other ship would come up before night; and we knew that if there were any wind she would be far beyond our reach in the morning, for nothing sailed so slowly as our own craft; but it became a perfect calm, and the men said, exultingly, We can sail as fast in a calm as she can."

66

The state of Dr. Boeke's health was now much worse than on leaving India; and, between sea-sickness, our fare, and pumping, I was ill and weak. We both resolved, that if we could obtain places in the stranger, we would change ships. The Captain had all along treated me with much personal civility, and I thought it only right to inform him of my design, though the Doctor, who had been differently treated, feared to do so. My communication was received with manifest chagrin; but he acknowledged that he was not surprised, and promised to interpose no difficulty. The whole night and part of the morning being calm, our neighbour did not approach till after breakfast. The day before, the steward had announced, at the top of his voice, that he had found "another shot in the locker," in the form of a small bag of paddy which had been shipped to feed fowls; but which (failing fowls to be fed) had remained unused. This "paddy” was light, bad rice in the husks; not very dainty, it is true; but we were in no case to be dainty; and, therefore, I breakfasted on the paddy. The Captain soon displayed a disposition to evade his promise: after looking at the stranger through his glass, he said, "That's a Frenchman: there's no use in boarding him.' After a while he said, "He is outward bound: we could not reach him." I had heard expressions among the men that satisfied me they were prepared for some very resolute step, if they found themselves deceived; and, therefore, I reasoned with the Captain, urging him to board. He doggedly refused: the men were leaning on the bulwarks, casting alternate looks at the strange ship and at their Master; one of them came aft, and asked if he were going to board. He replied, "She is outward bound."

"We have been too long at sea for that, Sir," said the man,

with a look that reminded me that I had heard them say the day before, "So and so knows enough of navigation to find a port." I again urged upon the Captain to board; but he was inexorable. It was an anxious moment: before another hour we might have mutiny and bloodshed: I went into my cabin, and closed my door. On returning to the deck, the ship was still to windward of us, the men with the same looks, and the Captain pacing the decks ill at ease. I at once joined him, and besought him to board: he persisted in the absurd subterfuge that she was outwardbound. I had been careful not to let the men hear my conversation with the Captain; but seeing their eyes fixed on us, and fearing that they would take the matter into their own hands, I reiterated my request. The Doctor, who was within hearing, finding that I did not prevail, lost the patience he had kept so long, and, striking the poop-rail with his hand, said, in the hearing of all, "I declare, as a medical man, there is not food in this ship fit for a human being to eat; the stuff the men are using would not be wholesome for pigs; and I will not answer for our lives, if we do not get proper food." The Captain flew into a rage; further restraint was useless; and, adding my protest to the Doctor's, I said, that my health and life were in danger, and that, as a passenger, I demanded that food be obtained if it could. The Captain refused, stormed, paced the decks, went below, returned, and said to the man at the wheel, “Bear away," and to another, "Bring the ensign." These words changed the looks of all: in a moment the helm was hard-up, the sails trimmed close upon the wind, and we were bearing down to intercept the stranger. "Shall we hoist the ensign with the union down?" (the signal of distress,) asked some of the men; but this was not allowed. We had not been long on our altered course, when the boat, which had been well seasoned by the soaking of the preceding night, was ordered to be lowered. Before we started, the Doctor charged me to secure him a place at all risks, saying, "If she is going to Algiers, I'll go in her; and if they have no place but the deck, I'll take it." Just as I got into the boat, a sailor said, "This is a trick, Sir: that ship is three miles off, he thinks we can never make her; but we'll try." After a long pull, the Captain said, "Now you see that ship is gaining on us you can never make her." "Ay, ay, Sir," replied the men, we understand that; but anything for life, and anything for grub, Sir : we'll try." They stretched to the oar with desperate energy, the boat shot over the long round waves, and the Captain succumbed to the resolution of hungry men. The pull was long, and the success doubtful; for we could not but see that both ships were going ahead of us. The red English ensign was waving over the stranger: this gave the men new strength; they pulled, perspired, and panted. At length she hove too: we soon read on her stern," British Isles, London," and in another moment were on the deck, where we were received by the Captain and a group of passengers. "Well," said the Captain, with good-tempered displeasure, "you may thank my black boy that you were not left in the sea; for I never dreamed of people putting out a boat at that distance: the boy went aloft about something, and cried out that he saw a large black fish ; I went up with my glass, and was astounded to find it was a boat; you were out of sight of your own ship;" (this, we afterwards learned, was correct ;)" and had it not been for that boy, you would have been left behind." Our Commander evidently felt little flattered by this speech. "Well," continued the other, "I see you are in distress: do you want water?" "No." That was true. "Do you want pork?" "No." There had not been a morsel on board for