Then, Too, This Ship, Which Had
Been To Us A Worse Phantom Than Any Flying Dutchman, Was No Phantom,
Or
Ideal thing, but had been reduced to a certainty; so much so that
a name was given her, and it
Was said that she was to be the Alert,
a well-known India-man, which was expected in Boston in a few months,
when we sailed. There could be no doubt, and all looked black enough.
Hints were thrown out about three years and four years; - the older
sailors said they never should see Boston again, but should lay their
bones in California; and a cloud seemed to hang over the whole voyage.
Besides, we were not provided for so long a voyage, and clothes, and
all sailors' necessaries, were excessively dear - three or four hundred
per cent. advance upon the Boston prices. This was bad enough
for them; but still worse was it for me, who did not mean to be a
sailor for life; having intended only to be gone eighteen months or
two years. Three or four years would make me a sailor in every
respect, mind and habits, as well as body - nolens volens; and would
put all my companions so far ahead of me that college and a profession
would be in vain to think of; and I made up my mind that, feel as I
might, a sailor I must be, and to be master of a vessel, must be the
height of my ambition.
Beside the length of the voyage, and the hard and exposed life,
we were at the ends of the earth; on a coast almost solitary; in a
country where there is neither law nor gospel, and where sailors are
at their captain's mercy, there being no American consul, or any
one to whom a complaint could be made. We lost all interest in
the voyage; cared nothing about the cargo, which we were only
collecting for others; began to patch our clothes; and felt as
though we were fixed beyond all hope of change.
In addition to, and perhaps partly as a consequence of, this state
of things, there was trouble brewing on board the vessel. Our mate
(as the first mate is always called, par excellence) was a worthy
man; - a more honest, upright, and kind-hearted man I never saw;
but he was too good for the mate of a merchantman. He was not the
man to call a sailor a "son of a b - -h," and knock him down with a
handspike. He wanted the energy and spirit for such a voyage as ours,
and for such a captain. Captain T - - - was a vigorous, energetic
fellow. As sailors say, "he hadn't a lazy bone in him." He was
made of steel and whalebone. He was a man to "toe the mark,"
and to make every one else step up to it. During all the time that
I was with him, I never saw him sit down on deck.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 73 of 324
Words from 37611 to 38112
of 170236
