THE STORY 
 
 OF AN 
 
 ANCIENT MARINER 
 
 BEING 
 
 REMINISCENCES OF SEAFARING LIFE 
 
 HALF A CENTURY AGO. 
 
 BY 
 
 CAPTAIN^' FRETWELL 
 
 (AN OCTOGENARIAN). 
 
 S. W. Partridge & Co., 9, Paternoster Row, E.C, 
 1892. 
 
 riA-/w 
 
C. E. ROBERTS * CO., 
 85 4 86, CHISWELL 8TREET, E.C. 
 
Fid 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 1DO not know how many times I have been 
 requested to publish a narrative of twenty- 
 five years of my life as a seaman, an officer, 
 and commander of ships in the Merchant 
 Service of our country, and beloved Island 
 Home — that country which has produced some 
 of the boldest mariners and navigators the 
 world has ever seen. 
 
 It may seem strange to some readers that 
 an octogenarian should, after the lapse of more 
 than half a century, undertake to relate his 
 long past experiences. I am well aware that 
 the readers of the present day are more 
 inclined for stories of fiction than biographies, 
 though the latter are better calculated to 
 improve and leave a healthy impression on 
 the mind; nevertheless, I venture to launch 
 this little book, hoping it may prove an 
 encouragement to some young aspirant to an 
 adventurous life on the ocean, or a cautionary 
 voice to others who are about to set sail on 
 the voyage of life. If so, the writer will feel 
 
 well rewarded. 
 
 C. H. F. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 is my intention to pass over, as 
 briefly as possible, the first four years 
 of my seafaring life, only mention- 
 ing some of the most striking incidents 
 and accidents so rife in the experience 
 of those who " go down to the sea in 
 ships." 
 
 My first voyage dated from September, 1824, 
 when we sailed from the port of Hull to St. 
 John's, New Brunswick. We started in stormy 
 weather which obliged us to put into Lerwick, 
 one of the Shetland Islands, where we remained 
 three days ; afterwards the weather was very 
 fine, and we arrived all safe after a passage of 
 thirty days. 
 
 The numerous trials and severe hardships 
 which sailors had to endure at sea some seventy 
 years ago will scarcely be believed now-a-days; 
 I proceed, however, to relate some of those 
 which early befell me. 
 
 The ships were bad, the lodgings were bad, 
 
 B 
 
10 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 and the master and mates were hard task- 
 masters. In those days they were not called 
 captains and officers, for few of them were 
 educated men, being only a degree better than 
 common " Jack." The provisions, as a rule, 
 were of the worst and coarsest quality, the 
 salt beef was hard to digest, and, perhaps, the 
 hardest of all was the biscuit. Dogs of the 
 present day, brought up in the lap of luxury, 
 would shy at it. There were no missions to 
 seamen, there was no Miss Agnes Weston to 
 provide suitable homes for Jack ashore ; no 
 benevolent Plimsoll to survey the ships before 
 leaving port. Happily for the present genera- 
 tion of adventurous youths, all is changed for 
 the better. But having made my choice, I 
 was resolved to abide by it without murmur- 
 ing or discontent. 
 
 I have nothing of special interest to relate 
 on this first voyage with the exception of 
 two narrow escapes of my life. On one 
 occasion I was ordered where I ought not 
 to have been sent, because of my inexperience 
 in climbing so high on the rigging — the main 
 top gallant yard. My head began to swim, 
 my strength failed, and a fall of sixty feet into 
 the sea seemed imminent. Nevertheless, the 
 yard was lowered down, and after resting 
 
AN EARLY EXPERIENCE. 
 

THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 13 
 
 for a few moments on that giddy height, 
 which I can never forget, I recovered strength 
 and came down from aloft, safe and sound. 
 The other adventure was less dangerous on 
 account of my being a good swimmer. I fell 
 into the water from the quarter boat, a 
 distance of about sixteen feet. The ship was 
 lying at anchor in the harbour, with a strong 
 tide running; the weather being so cold that 
 the thermometer registered seven degrees below 
 zero. 
 
 The homeward voyage was accomplished 
 in safety, and our heavily laden ship, after a 
 stormy passage, arrived at Hull about Christ- 
 mas time, and thus terminated the voyage. 
 
 In the year 1825 we made two voyages to 
 the same place. Crossing the Atlantic in the 
 early spring there is considerable danger on 
 approaching the great Bank of Newfoundland, 
 extending as it does over four hundred miles 
 out to sea. Here the great cod fishery is 
 carried on, which supplies with salt fish the 
 Mediterranean and other ports. In addition to 
 stormy weather, frequent fogs occur, and ice- 
 bergs of enormous size, which are sometimes 
 very numerous, are met with. The greatest 
 vigilance is essential on the part of the com- 
 mander, officers, and crew, all eyes being 
 
14 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 brought into requisition for the general safety. 
 I have crossed the seas between England 
 and North America twenty-six times, and must 
 pause here to give my grateful testimony to the 
 goodness and mercy of God, Who, during all 
 these voyages, preserved me so signally from 
 " perils in the sea." How many ships have 
 gone down with all on board, not one being 
 left to tell the story! Until the sea gives up 
 the dead, will their sad secret remain undis- 
 closed ! 
 
 We left St. John's in January, 1826. The 
 cold was so intense that frequently the ther- 
 mometer registered thirteen degrees below zero. 
 Coming down the Bay of Fundy, we were 
 caught in a severe snowstorm, and in handling 
 the frozen sails I got frost-bitten in both 
 hands and feet. The ship was taking in over 
 her bows heavy seas of fresh water, which 
 froze and became a solid body of ice forward, 
 rendering the performance of our duties most 
 arduous, until we reached the open sea. It 
 is marvellous how the salt sea moderates 
 both heat and cold. A fierce wind and 
 cyclone continued, with but little intermission, 
 all the way across the Atlantic, a period of 
 twenty-one days. 
 
 Having arrived home, the ship was laid up 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 15 
 
 in the dock during the winter, the boys being 
 kept at work to refit her for the spring 
 voyage. 
 
 The next voyage commenced with brighter 
 hopes and prospects ; we were bound south- 
 ward into more genial climes, but alas I the 
 hardships of the young beginner did not 
 slacken. At the end of March we sailed for 
 Norfolk, in Virginia, which was the great 
 centre of the slavery then prevailing in 
 the Southern States. The entrance into 
 Chesapeake Bay is formed by two headlands, 
 Cape Henry and Cape Charles ; Baltimore 
 stands at the head of the Bay. The beautiful 
 rivers, Elizabeth, Potomac, and Susquehannah 
 — leading on to Washington, the capital — 
 discharge their bright waters into the Bay. 
 Everything here teemed with animal and 
 vegetable life ; snakes were very abundant, and 
 the brilliant fireflies at eventide had a pretty 
 effect ; but the croaking of frogs all night, in 
 concert with the negro melodists, " made night 
 hideous." 
 
 My hard fate — almost as bad as slavery — 
 was to work with the negroes in loading the 
 ship with heavy masts and bowsprits of pitch 
 pine, and with hiccory and locust treenails for 
 the British Navy. 
 
l6 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 Before completing our lading, the fiftieth 
 anniversary of the Independence of the United 
 States came round, and two such remarkable 
 coincidences never happened in the history of 
 the great Republic as occurred on the 4th 
 day of July. 1826. The deaths of two of the 
 ex-presidents, John Quincy Adams and General 
 Jefferson, took place on this day. Mr. Adams, 
 who, with General Washington, signed the 
 Declaration of Independence, had been for 
 several days in a state of coma. Awakened 
 by the noise of bells ringing, and music, he 
 asked the cause, and was told it was Indepen- 
 dence day. He then enquired about the 
 health of his friend Jefferson, and was informed 
 that he was dying, to which he rejoined, 
 " And I too shall die to-day." Yankees never 
 do things by halves, they go the whole hog, 
 vulgarly speaking. A mock funeral service was 
 performed in every large town in the Union 
 — a grave was dug in each cemetery, a hearse 
 containing a coffin was followed by a long 
 procession of carriages, in which mourners 
 were seated, thus completing an imposing 
 cortege. I am sorry to add that much 
 drunkenness and dissipation took place among 
 the lower orders in the evening, but on that 
 I need not dwell. 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 17 
 
 Virginia, as before observed, was then the 
 great centre of the slave trade, and we had 
 many negroes on board helping to load the 
 ship. Though only a boy at that time, I had 
 many conversations with them on the subject 
 of slavery, and its iniquitous practice of treat- 
 ing human beings like animals. I well remem- 
 ber three stout, strong fellows — workmen in 
 my gang. They were the property of a widow- 
 lady, who was kind, although she appropriated 
 all their earnings, one dollar each daily, giving 
 them food, clothing, and lodgings (if such 
 they could be called, in the compound). I 
 asked if they were happier here than in 
 Africa, at Anamaboa (I knew the place) ; they 
 all replied in the affirmative, and with strong 
 expressions. I inquired, " Suppose the good 
 lady were to die, what then ? " A pause 
 ensued, and the tears shone in their eyes, and 
 then the answer came, " We should be sold 
 and separated for ever ; now, sir, we be like 
 brothers." This fact convinced me, young as 
 I was, that slavery was an abomination in 
 the sight of God, Whose hands have made 
 and fashioned both black men and white, and 
 Who " is no respecter of persons." 
 
 Having completed our lading of the ship, we 
 set sail again for Plymouth. The passage 
 
l8 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 home proved long and tedious, lasting nearly 
 two months. On entering the English Channel, 
 we were 300 miles out of our reckoning — so 
 much for the navigation of that period ! After 
 discharging the cargo at Devonport dock we 
 were ordered home to Hull, our voyage to 
 America and back occupying almost an entire 
 year. What a change in our day ! 
 
 It must not be supposed, when the ship 
 was laid up in dock, that the apprentices were 
 allowed to rest. They had all the rigging to 
 overhaul, and tar down from the mast head 
 to " the dead eyes," and to paint and scrape 
 off the pitch from the sides and bottom after 
 the caulkers. On arriving home for breakfast 
 one morning, after being thus engaged, my 
 face and hands spotted, looking not unlike a 
 negro who had had small-pox, I sat down 
 to a hearty meal, and was in the act of 
 leaving when a servant called out, " Please, 
 sir, be good enough to leave that cushion 
 behind you ! " The cushion had adhered to 
 my tarry clothes ! 
 
 In the year 1827, about April, we set sail 
 for Archangel, in the White Sea, the " land 
 of the midnight sun." After leaving the lati- 
 tude of the Shetland Islands, we used no 
 artificial light all this voyage. At midnight 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 19 
 
 the sun was about ten degrees above the 
 horizon, and the heat at mid-day was very 
 great. The mosquitoes were ravenous, worse 
 than in India ; one boy was sent to the 
 hospital in consequence of being bitten all 
 over. The beef here was only twopence per 
 pound, and of the finest quality I ever tasted. 
 
 About three hundred ships came into port 
 in one week to load grain, and timber for 
 building purposes. The Russian officers in 
 the Custom House were terribly dishonest, 
 nothing being done without a bribe. Collector, 
 comptroller, and subordinates were all tarred 
 with the same brush. You ask to see one, 
 in order that you may enter the ship inwards, 
 but to no purpose ; he remains invisible 
 until you show the Sclavonic — a ten rouble 
 bill. 
 
 We were only three months making this 
 voyage, and then sailed again for Miramichi, 
 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. There I first 
 became acquainted with Mr. Cunard, who 
 established the famous line of sailing packets 
 between New York and Liverpool. In after 
 years we met again, and our acquaintance 
 ripened into friendship. It is well to recall 
 some bright experiences amid the dreary routine 
 of crossing and recrossing the ocean, often 
 
20 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 lashed into angry billows which seem ready 
 to swallow up the frail barque in their re- 
 lentless embrace. "Fire and hail, snow and 
 vapours, stormy wind fulfilling His Word." 
 
 I must not omit to mention here a re- 
 markable instance of the power of prayer in 
 connection with this line of sailing packets. 
 Mrs. Cunard was a very godly woman. It 
 is related of her that when any of the ships 
 sailed from New York or Liverpool, she was 
 accustomed to retire to her room the whole 
 day, and spend it in prayer. The sceptic may 
 scoff, if he please, nevertheless the fact remains 
 that this line never lost a ship, nor even a man, 
 during her life-time, a period extending over 
 ten years ! 
 
 The remainder of this voyage, followed by 
 two others from HulL to Miramichi and back, 
 closes this part of my story. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 jN those days of competition advance- 
 ment was most difficult, either with 
 regard to the command of a ship, 
 or to the obtaining of any situation on board. 
 Then, as now, a man had to labour for his 
 living. 
 
 Knowing this, I started for London to seek 
 my fortune, having only a few pounds in my 
 pocket, and there I encountered fresh trials, 
 and greater difficulties in the struggle to obtain 
 employment of any kind. Ships in commission 
 were scarce, and sailors plentiful. How well 
 do I remember walking up and down this 
 modern Babylon, with its crowded streets ; men 
 and women hurrying along in eager pursuit of 
 something, whilst I, though surrounded by this 
 great multitude, felt as much alone as if lost 
 in the depths of a vast forest, or wandering 
 on a barren heath, " weary and worn and 
 sad." I visited all the docks and shipping in 
 the great metropolis, but there seemed no 
 
22 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 chance for me, every berth was occupied. After a 
 month or two of fruitless efforts, I chanced one 
 day to dine at the " Bull and Mouth " Hotel, 
 in Aldersgate Street. It was about half-past 
 two in the afternoon, the large tables were 
 empty with the exception of one gentleman at 
 the further end of the room, who sat with his 
 face buried in the newspaper, until I had finished 
 my repast. On discovering who it was, I 
 exclaimed with delighted surprise, in the words 
 of Hamlet, '" Oh, my prophetic soul ! My 
 uncle ! " He was a merchant, and had a good 
 connection in London. Within a few days he 
 introduced me to Alderman Humphreys, who 
 afterwards became Lord Mayor. It so happened 
 that an old friend of Mr. Humphreys' had just 
 taken the command of an Indiaman, bound to 
 the Cape and Bombay. He gave me a letter 
 to the captain, which I delivered myself, upon 
 which he promised me a birtrj in the ship, 
 The Boyne. But it was only before the mast — 
 all the four officers being engaged. I well 
 remember telling my uncle that if only I could 
 obtain employment, my services would soon 
 procure me advancement. 
 
 I have always regarded this circumstance as 
 a special interposition of God on my behalf, 
 thus opening up a wide field for labour, 
 
.THE " BOYNE LEAVING ENGLAND. 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 25 
 
 enterprise, and promotion. Some may deem 
 it trivial, but " Trifles make the sum of human 
 things " ; and, as John Wesley was wont to 
 say, the world was his parish, so now I could 
 realize for the first time that the world was 
 before me. 
 
 When the time came for signing articles to 
 engage the crew, more than two hundred 
 seamen were there, and only fifty were re- 
 quired. But for the letter of introduction to 
 Captain Warren, I should have lost my chance. 
 
 The voyage to the Cape and Bombay 
 commenced in September, 1829. With a cargo 
 of merchandise, and the full complement of 
 first-class passengers, we proceeded down the 
 river to Gravesend. Here, though very un- 
 willingly, I must mention an experience which 
 I would fain omit altogether, but I am bound 
 to give my readers a true picture of the state 
 of things at that time. The ship was two or 
 three days going down to Gravesend, there 
 being no steamships then. The sailors had 
 received their month's advance of wages, and 
 were followed by a motley group of land 
 sharks, crimps, and women of the lowest 
 character from Ratcliffe Highway, Old Gravel 
 Lane, and Wapping. All the way the ship 
 was more like pandemonium than anything I 
 
26 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 ever witnessed before or since. Finally, the 
 pilot ordered all the women out of the vessel. 
 This order fell like a bomb shell; but though 
 the night was dark, there was no resisting it. 
 They did not clear out, however, without 
 uttering the vilest imprecations upon his head. 
 Of course such a disgraceful state of things is 
 not now permitted. 
 
 We called at Plymouth to take in the 
 captain and passengers ; decorum, strict disci- 
 pline, and order, taking the place of wild 
 disorder. 
 
 About the fourth day we sighted Madeira. 
 By and bye we came near the equator, and 
 the sailors busily employed their spare time 
 in preparing to perform the shaving trick on all 
 who had not previously crossed the equinoctial 
 line. This custom, now happily obsolete, was 
 allowed in those days, and a most barbarous 
 one it was. I forbear describing what took 
 place — having had to suffer the penalty myself 
 — and gladly bury it in oblivion. 
 
 On further proceeding towards the Cape of 
 Good Hope, we encountered a very suspicious 
 looking schooner sailing round about us for 
 two or three days, which the captain, officers, 
 and passengers, all took to be a pirate. The 
 movements of this rakish-looking craft were so 
 
PREPARING FOR THE PIRATE. 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 2Q, 
 
 strange and unusual, that we all set to work 
 to prepare for an attack, either by night or 
 day. We had already heard something of a 
 cruising pirate being dangerous hereabouts, and 
 prepared ourselves for a fight, having two 
 cannonades, muskets, cutlasses, and boarding 
 pikes. She came very close, however, one day, 
 and getting alarmed, as we supposed at our 
 strong force, gave up the attempt, and we lost 
 sight of her in the night to our great satisfaction. 
 This was really fortunate, for we found after- 
 wards none of our shot would go into the 
 cannonades, and as for our other great guns, 
 they were only shams, painted to look warlike. 
 Jack used to call them Quakers, because 
 Quakers do not fight, but their formidable 
 appearance just answered our purpose, and 
 probably saved our lives. 
 
 This story of the pirate is no myth, for I 
 saw the same schooner lying without her 
 masts in St. Helena Roads ; she had been 
 captured meanwhile by a cruiser in the British 
 Navy, and condemned. The captain and some 
 of the vile crew escaped, but three of them 
 were hanged on the Island of St. Helena. 
 They were supposed to be Portuguese from 
 their language and appearance. 
 
 There was a good band of musicians on 
 
30 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 board, which tended to relieve the tedium and 
 monotony of a long voyage. 
 
 The men in the forecastle were arranged 
 in messes of eight each, one being appointed 
 cook for the day. I had to take my turn 
 with the others and draw the provisions and 
 grog, wash up dishes and platters, and sweep 
 all clean below. 
 
 As a little time, say half -an - hour, was 
 allowed after performing these duties, I gen- 
 erally slipped away into some quiet corner 
 to read my Greek Testament. The captain 
 alone knew who I was, but he took no 
 special notice of me until I had made my 
 mark as a steady, trustworthy sailor. How- 
 ever, before very long, he ordered me to come 
 on the poop deck and take charge of the 
 boys and midshipmen, This was a rise to 
 be petty officer, though I still had to remain 
 in the forecastle. The middies were separated 
 from the crew. The sailors called them 
 " bread - room mice," because they had no 
 wages. Jack used to say the midshipman's 
 half-pay was three farthings a year, and he 
 drew it quarterly ! 
 
 Although my rise did not place me among 
 the officers of the ship, yet very shortly 
 after it gave me an opportunity, if I may 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 31 
 
 so speak, of distinguishing myself. It happened 
 on this wise. One fine day when the ship 
 was sailing very fast, with a fair wind and 
 all sails set, suddenly a cry was heard, " a 
 man overboard!" At this alarming sound the 
 watch below and the passengers hastened on 
 deck to witness the terrible sight of a man 
 struggling for life. The helmsman rushed to 
 cut away the life-buoy, but had no knife. 
 Time was precious. At last the buoy was 
 dropped into the sea some distance from the 
 man, who could not swim. Quickly a boat 
 was lowered from the ship's side. I was the 
 first man who volunteered, with only two 
 others, to encounter the stormy waves. After 
 rowing a mile or more, guided by the life- 
 buoy, I stood on the stern-sheets of the boat 
 and espied on the top of a wave the man's head 
 and fiery red hair (which was of the greatest 
 service in effecting the rescue) at some dis- 
 tance from the life-buoy. Just as he was 
 sinking for the last time I caught hold of 
 him at arms' length below the surface of the 
 water, and we pulled him into the boat 
 exhausted and apparently lifeless. I laid him 
 on his stomach across the boats' thwarts, 
 when he vomited a large quantity of salt 
 water. On being taken on board, the doctor 
 
32 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 applied the usual remedies. He soon became 
 conscious, and ere long was restored to his 
 usual health. This boat was in my charge, 
 and the incident appeared to me a favour- 
 able augury for the future, gaining as I did 
 the applause of the captain, officers and 
 passengers. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 |URING the remainder of the passage 
 to the Cape we were favoured with 
 most beautiful weather, running the 
 South-East Trade winds down, as it is 
 generally termed, and at length arrived at 
 Cape Town, Cape of Good Hope. I re- 
 member being on shore on Christmas Day 
 — it was midsummer there. I was much 
 engaged in boating and conveying . the pas- 
 sengers on shore ; about half of them were 
 landed, one being Colonel Wade, who after- 
 wards was made Governor. 
 
 Having made an exchange of passengers, 
 and filled up all the vacancies, we proceeded 
 towards Bombay. I leave it to the reader's 
 imagination to suppose what a change this 
 was to me, so recently come from the cold 
 regions of the North Atlantic. We caught a 
 number of sharks, porpoises, dolphins, flying 
 fish, and albicore; also inferior fish, scarcely 
 eatable, except that sailors living entirely on 
 
34 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 salt provisions are glad of any change. I 
 remember we captured one very large shark. 
 We were particularly interested in ripping him 
 up, and carefully examining the contents of 
 his stomach, • expecting to find a watch or 
 jewellery undigested. A lady, looking on, said, 
 " What are you going to do with this 
 monster, Jack ? " To which the sailor replied, 
 "■ Why, eat him of course ! If I were in his 
 way would he not eat me ? " This was quite 
 in accordance with a sailor's argument, the 
 lex talionis. If Jack has been taken in by 
 crimps at Liverpool, he travels to London 
 and takes them in there, repaying them in 
 their own coin. 
 
 Sailing . along the coast of Malabar, we got 
 into the sea and land breezes alternately day 
 and night. I have known the sea-breeze about 
 noon so strong that it was blowing half a 
 gale, while the sun was shining brilliantly in 
 a cloudless sky. The difference between the 
 Atlantic and Pacific Oceans is expressed, in 
 the name of the latter, which signifies "peace- 
 ful," or free from storms. 
 
 My mess-mates, as well as myself, had now, 
 comparatively speaking, an easy time of it, and 
 some of the sailors related some remarkable 
 yarns. One was by an old man, a mess-mate 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 35 
 
 in this ship Boyne. He had been sixty years 
 on the water, having gone to sea when only 
 ten years of age, but, being no scholar, he 
 never rose beyond a foremast man. In the 
 year 1788 he went out to Botany Bay in the 
 first squadron of war and transport ships, 
 taking out the first convicts to that settle- 
 ment. There he saw a white man among 
 the savages, who had run away from the 
 Endeavour (Captain Cook's ship) in 1765. He 
 was offered a free passage home to England, 
 but declined. He had become so changed by 
 his nomadic life as scarcely to be distinguish- 
 able from the savages, and had almost 
 forgotten his own language. 
 
 The Boyne was now lying in the harbour 
 of Bombay, the passengers having all been 
 taken ashore. We commenced discharging her 
 cargo — about one thousand tons of merchan- 
 dise of every description suitable to the 
 Indian trade. Bombay is an island on the 
 Malabar coast, standing in a bay, which forms 
 one of the largest and finest in our Indian 
 possessions, capable of secure anchorage for a 
 thousand ships. 
 
 The cholera was raging there at the time 
 to a fearful extent, and from two to three 
 hundred of the natives were dying off every 
 
36 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 week. Some of our seamen on board had it y 
 causing the captain to be very much alarmed, 
 but he used every precaution for the preserva- 
 tion of the health of the crew, and we did 
 not lose a man. The heat was intense, at 
 times something like a hundred degrees in the 
 shade. 
 
 I visited the island of Elephanta and saw 
 the wonderful subterranean caves filled with 
 barbarous images for worship of the most 
 ghastly description, carved out of the solid rock. 
 I also saw a fakir at Mar-ma-dell Tank, who 
 had held a flower-pot in his hand for over 
 seven years ; his finger nails had grown six 
 inches long, having the appearance of twisted 
 horny substances. This was a penance im- 
 posed upon him by the Buddhist priests for 
 some crime he had committed. 
 
 The ship having taken in her cargo of 
 Indian goods, we set sail with a full comple- 
 ment of passengers for London, calling only 
 at St. Helena for water and a fresh supply 
 of stores and provisions, the deprivation of 
 which we had felt ever since a severe 
 hurricane had swept the deck, carrying away 
 all the live stock. 
 
 I satisfied myself as to the truth of the 
 particulars about the pirate before alluded to, 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 37 
 
 and found all to be correct, the same craft 
 was still lying there as a warning to all who 
 entered upon such diabolical practices on the 
 high seas. 
 
 We arrived at length at the East Indian 
 Docks in London. This voyage must have 
 been a profitable one for the owners, as the 
 ship was always full of passengers, and had a 
 full cargo of goods both out and home ; 
 notwithstanding this, the men were kept out 
 of their wages for fourteen days, at the 
 expiration of which Jack had either spent or 
 lost all his money, living on credit as he 
 must have done, after toiling hard, and 
 encountering the dangers of a long sea voyage. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 JITH all my economy and self-denial 
 I soon found myself with very 
 slender means, and only a doubtful 
 prospect of improving my circumstances. 
 So long a time elapsed before Captain 
 Warren obtained his next appointment 
 that I resolved to return to the North 
 American voyages, and had actually shipped 
 on board the barque Mary Anne, of St. John's, 
 New Brunswick, drawn a month's advance, 
 and purchased my sea-stock of warm clothing, 
 intending to join the following day, when on 
 arriving at my lodgings at Poplar, near the 
 West India Docks, I was most agreeably 
 surprised to find my brother Tom, a seafarer 
 like myself, sitting in the back parlour. 
 
 " What in the world are you doing here ? " 
 I exclaimed. 
 
 In the course of conversation it appeared 
 he had been in London more than a week 
 trying to find me out, until one day, after 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 39 
 
 dining at a restaurant, the room being cleared, 
 he told the proprietor of the fruitless search 
 he had had after his brother, without any 
 clue or address. The man's attention was 
 arrested, and looking at him, he said, " I 
 think I can find him for you. He comes 
 here frequently to dine, and judging by the 
 similarity of your appearance and voice, he 
 must be the very person you want, for you 
 are as much alike as two grey peas." He 
 directed my brother to my rooms, but I was 
 out when he came. Later on in the day, 
 however, we met. That same evening I re- 
 ceived a letter from Captain Warren, offering 
 me a berth as fourth officer in the Exmouth, 
 bound for New South Wales. 
 
 Notwithstanding my previous engagement, I 
 decided to accept Captain Warren's offer, 
 when it suddenly flashed into my mind to 
 give up my situation as second mate of the 
 Mary Anne to my brother Tom. Most 
 willingly did he agree to this proposition, 
 and as there was no time to be lost he 
 went on board the following morning and 
 began to work, without saying a word to 
 anyone. The impersonation was so complete 
 that the exchange was never discovered. I 
 am not now justifying my line of action in 
 
40 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 this emergency, but it suffices to say, for the 
 present, that he was a seaman, a scholar, a 
 good navigator, and that he became a com- 
 mander before he was twenty-three years of 
 age. However, I am not telling his story 
 but my own, and must therefore revert to 
 the Exmouth. 
 
 These events proved to be the turning- 
 point of both our chequered lives. " The 
 Lord reigneth " — the Highest of all beings 
 is best of all. Our lives are one unbroken 
 testimony to His watchful kindness. May we 
 hear His voice speaking to us in every 
 providence. From this period my brother and 
 I seemed to emerge from hard labour and 
 servitude into comparative ease and comfort, 
 and, although the result of our thus meeting 
 together was a separation for many years, 
 we could not feel otherwise than thankful for 
 the turn which events had taken. 
 
 Being engaged as the fourth officer of an 
 Indiaman, I was placed on an equal footing 
 with the other officers, and passengers. The 
 very next day I was commissioned to enter 
 on duty, and to be aide-de-camp to the 
 chief officer. 
 
 Mr. Grayson, my chief, was a first-class 
 seaman and officer: he conducted all the 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 41 
 
 affairs relative to the management of the 
 sailing, besides taking the supervision of the 
 officers and crew. The captain's attention 
 was chiefly directed to the passengers and to 
 securing their comfort. A strong intimacy 
 soon sprang up between Mr. Grayson and 
 myself. We were the only two officers en- 
 gaged for about two months in preparing the 
 Exmouth for a voyage to the Antipodes. My 
 pay was very good, which enabled me to 
 appear well dressed and in uniform, and I was 
 qualified by previous experience to give orders 
 to the men with fullest confidence. I may 
 say Jack has a special aptitude for finding 
 out where an officer has received his training 
 in early youth. 
 
 Outward freights direct to India were rather 
 scarce at that time. Our ship was ordered to 
 Woolwich to fit out at Her Majesty's dockyard, 
 preparatory to taking out convicts to Sydney, 
 New South Wales. Being thus equipped as a 
 prison-ship, we embarked two hundred and ninety 
 convicts, including sixty boys, for this penal 
 settlement. The crew consisted of fifty sailors, 
 with officers and servants, and a guard of fifty 
 soldiers, including a captain and four lieutenants, 
 also a doctor appointed by Government. 
 
 The Exmouth was a ship well appointed in 
 
42 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 every respect for the conveyance of such a 
 living freight of rascals, gamblers, and dan- 
 gerous characters not fit to be at large in 
 any civilised community. The change from the 
 hulks to the colony, or penal settlement, was 
 in favour with all. Those who behaved well 
 on the passage were recommended to settlers 
 as assigned servants to work out the term of 
 their imprisonment, receiving threepence a week 
 with food and clothing. This small sum was 
 given to prevent them from being regarded 
 as slaves on the estate. 
 
 The discipline on board was rigid in the 
 extreme, and punishment by flogging resorted 
 to for trifling offences, insubordination or dis- 
 obedience. I saw one case of this kind where 
 three convicts were flogged over the bare back 
 with three dozen stripes apiece. It was an 
 awful sight, but it kept them in subjection all 
 the voyage. We left Torbay on the 17th 
 March, 1830, and arrived at Sydney in ninety 
 days, this being considered an average passage, for 
 it is a distance. of about fifteen thousand miles. 
 
 On our journey we overtook another convict 
 ship near the Equator, with women on board. 
 This vessel proved to be in a leaky state. I 
 went on board and saw the women passengers 
 working at the pumps. . It was " pump or 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 45 
 
 sink " with them. Proceeding further, we 
 boarded a South Sea whaling vessel, alongside 
 of which, hanging on the tackles, was a monster 
 fish. The crew were flinching off the fat and 
 boiling it on board. It was a sperm whale, 
 the oil of which is very valuable. The brain 
 was pumped out of the head and looked like 
 spermaceti salve. From the same animal is 
 obtained, what is called, ambergris — a very 
 fine scent. This is secreted in some part of 
 the body, as musk is in the civet cat. There 
 was also a live whale in the sea, almost as 
 large as the ship itself, playing about the 
 vessel with the greatest ease imaginable. 
 Some of these sperm whales have yielded one 
 hundred barrels of oil, worth one thousand 
 pounds. This animal belongs to the mammalia, 
 has warm blood, brings forth its young and 
 suckles them, but it has now become almost 
 extinct. The supply of this oil having failed, 
 other kinds have been developed, such as 
 petroleum, or rock oil, from which paraffin is 
 extracted ; here we see the goodness of 
 Providence in providing us with an excellent 
 substitute when the old stock fails. 
 
 Finally we passed through the Straits, 
 arriving at Sydney — one of the largest and 
 safest harbours in the world ; sufficiently 
 
46 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 spacious to hold the fleets and merchant 
 ships of all nations. Without delay, we dis- 
 embarked our living freight and housed them 
 in barracks. 
 
 If the histories of the lives of some of 
 these unhappy men were narrated, they would 
 fill volumes. Some had been well educated 
 and had moved in the upper circles of 
 society, but drink and impurity had made 
 them lose all self-respect, and caused them to 
 become companions of men sunken in sin and 
 degradation. 
 
 The ship was lying at anchor off a rocky 
 islet in the stream called Pinchgut, not a 
 euphonious name, but one which was given to 
 it on account of a desperate character who 
 had been confined there in heavy irons, and 
 who had died of starvation. Here I had 
 frequent opportunities of visiting the creeks 
 and coves, botanizing, and decorating the ship 
 with azaleas, pelargoniums, geraniums, and 
 ericas — one of the latter, called the native 
 rose, is of surpassing beauty — growing wild. 
 This island of New Holland, as it was 
 formerly named by the Dutch, and by Captain 
 Cook, New South Wales, is that which is 
 now known by the name of Australia. The 
 Irishman calls it the fifth quarter of the 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 47 
 
 globe. The climate is extremely salubrious, 
 and the scenery all around magnificent. The 
 island is in circumference six thousand miles, 
 and • I travelled round it from Torres Straits, 
 Western Australia, called Perth, including 
 Swan River towards the great gulf of 
 Carpentaria. Its flora and fauna, and its 
 sylvan groves present many new features to 
 the observer. For instance, the birds, although 
 clothed in brilliant plumage, have no song, the 
 flowers no fragrance, the bees no sting. The 
 dogs are dumb, the cherries grow with the 
 stones outside, and the swans and cockatoos 
 are black. The pears are solid wood with the 
 thick end near the tree. The Australian crow 
 is a splendid bird, capable of being taught to 
 imitate any sound like the mocking bird ; his 
 feathers resemble the magpie's, and are black 
 and white. There is also the platypus, or 
 water-mole, with the bill of a duck and spurs 
 like a cock. Some of the convicts of whom I 
 have been speaking, who left their country for 
 their country's good, have turned out to be 
 industrious men, and even ornaments to 
 society. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 JHE vessel having been thoroughly 
 cleaned and painted^ we left Sydney 
 for Calcutta, in convoy of several 
 ships and a frigate, to go through Torres 
 Straits, which separate New Holland from 
 New Guinea. This attempt was a failure, 
 for the north-west monsoon set in, and 
 we were driven back and compelled to 
 go round by Tasmania. Having lost an 
 anchor and cable, it was not considered safe 
 to prosecute our voyage to India without 
 replacing them, so we put into Hobart Town, 
 the capital, situated on a very charming 
 estuary called the Derwentwater. This was 
 also a convict settlement, though, to my 
 mind, far too lovely and grand a spot to be 
 inhabited by such persons. Some of the red 
 gum trees here are of gigantic size, supposed 
 to be six thousand years old. All the trees 
 are evergreen, not deciduous, and some shed 
 their bark yearly. Here again I was per- 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 49 
 
 mitted to roam about enjoying the lovely 
 scenery. 
 
 How delightful it is to look upon Nature, 
 where we see God's work clothed in all 
 its beauty, cultivated and nurtured with 
 the utmost care by the hand of man. One 
 specimen, in particular, that I cannot fore- 
 bear mentioning is the Dollicas, a creeper 
 or clematis, which covered three sides and 
 the roof of an outbuilding with its thousands 
 of mauve petals, surpassing every sight in the 
 floral kingdom I have ever beheld; shall I say 
 with one exception ? for I once saw at Cadiz 
 the heliotrope cover the whole front of a 
 house, from the base to the eaves in full 
 blossom, with this addition that the perfume 
 pervaded the atmosphere for some distance. 
 
 Tasmania has no rival in climate, salubrity, 
 bright skies, and the fertility of its soil, unless 
 it be New Zealand. Snow falls sometimes 
 here, but seldom lingers more than a few 
 hours. 
 
 Having heard a curious story about an 
 animal found in these regions, the dacyurus 
 ursinus, apparently belonging to the genus 
 named sloth, but by colonists called "devil," 
 on account of its very ugly appearance and 
 obnoxious habits, I determined to try to see 
 
50 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 it. So I walked about two miles to a nursery 
 plantation, where one was confined in an iron 
 cage. I knocked at the door of the curator's 
 house but without gaining admission. At 
 length the proprietress came ; I told her my 
 errand, upon which, without any appearance 
 of surprise, she addressed a manservant 
 in these words, "John, show this gentleman 
 the devil." I saw him, and in all my travels 
 I never remember to have beheld such a 
 revolting object. 
 
 We had to beat round Cape Lewen, the 
 most westerly point of New Holland, against 
 stormy winds and heavy seas. We were con- 
 veying horses to India, which are most 
 troublesome in stormy weather as they never 
 lie down ; therefore we were obliged to sling 
 them up by the middle in order to keep the 
 weight off their feet. Finally we entered the 
 Bay of Bengal, and passing the Nicobar and 
 Andaman Islands, sailed up the river Hooghly, 
 a branch of the Ganges, and entering Garden 
 Reach — a little paradise of tropical beauty, 
 with a botanical garden on one side, and on 
 the other fine mansions of rich nabobs — we 
 came to an anchor off Calcutta, " the city of 
 palaces." 
 
 The Exmouth, being a ship well known in 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 53 
 
 India, soon obtained a full freight of goods 
 and passengers, including many distinguished 
 Europeans returning home on furlough, or 
 retiring from the service. 
 
 On the passage home we had the misfortune 
 to lose Mr. Grayson, the chief officer, who, 
 without any sign of previous illness, was found 
 on the floor of his cabin, having died suddenly. 
 He was the most important man on board, 
 and all the passengers were grieved at his 
 unexpected death. Speaking for myself, I lost 
 one of my best friends. This event placed 
 me in charge of his watch, and gave me the 
 position of third officer. Fortunately I had 
 had much experience as a seaman, and having 
 profited by his training, . I was duly entrusted 
 with this responsible post. We called at St. 
 Helena for water and provisions, as usual on 
 these voyages, and arrived safely in London, 
 after landing the passengers at Southampton. 
 
 St. Helena once belonged to the East India 
 Company, but when their charter was abol- 
 ished it reverted to the Crown. I happened 
 to be there when the ceremony took place, 
 which was on the occasion of the appointment 
 of the new Governor. He was saluted by a 
 great firing of guns from the forts on the 
 island, which were responded to by all the 
 
54 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 ships in the harbour ; for about twenty minutes 
 the whole welkin resounded, the cannon echo- 
 ing and re-echoing through the hills and 
 valleys with deafening noise, like a war of the 
 elements. In my journeyings up and down 
 the South Pacific from Africa, India, and 
 China on the homeward voyage, I have called 
 there for water and refreshment eight times. 
 
 I once rode up to Diana Peak, two thousand 
 feet high. This is Longwood, where Napoleon 
 lived when in exile, and I saw the open grave 
 whence his remains had been disinterred, the 
 bricks and stones forming the vault were 
 loosely scattered about ; even the house he 
 had occupied was turned into a cattle shed. 
 
 I remember one day while taking the sun's 
 altitude to find the latitude, I observed an 
 eclipse of the sun. After a strict search in all 
 our nautical almanacs, we found it was not 
 recorded. This incident gave me somewhat 
 of a reputation as an astronomer. Leaving 
 this historical place we sailed up the English 
 Channel and arrived safely at our destina- 
 tion. 
 
 This voyage being completed, it was Sow 
 my turn to have a little recreation and rest. 
 I had been with Captain Warren about two 
 years and a half, and was permitted to leave 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 55 
 
 for a month, which I spent amongst friends 
 and relatives in Yorkshire. At the end of 
 this time, Captain Warren's brother, who was 
 the second officer, sent for me to join the 
 Exmouth again, bound for Madras and Calcutta, 
 which proposal I gladly accepted. But I was 
 doomed to disappointment. Mr. Warren told 
 me the ship had changed owners, and those 
 to whom it now belonged preferred putting 
 on board their own friends as junior officers, 
 and I was informed that there was no place 
 for me any longer unless I took an inferior 
 position. This I declined. " Disappointments 
 sink the heart of man, but the renewal of 
 hope brings consolation." I received a good 
 testimonial from Captain Warren, and he 
 promised to use his influence in getting me 
 another ship. This happened in a day or 
 two, for a friend of his had just purchased 
 a ship, and was wanting a second officer ; 
 I got the captain's name, and was informed 
 he could be found on " 'Change " any day. 
 The clerk at the " Jerusalem " Coffee House, 
 which he frequented, gave me the following 
 description of his person : "a tall, thin-faced 
 man, wearing a snuff-coloured coat down to 
 his ankles, his hat turned up a little behind." 
 I said to myself, " I see the man." From 
 
56 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 this graphic description, I found him next 
 day at the Royal Exchange. There was 
 no time to be lost, and so, although he 
 was in a great crowd, I introduced myself 
 to him as the officer who had sailed with 
 Captain Warren. He looked hard at me 
 for a moment, and then said, " I will 
 take you at the recommendation of your late 
 captain, as second officer ; you can join 
 the ship to-morrow, she lies in the London 
 Docks." 
 
 I remained in the ship Hope (Captain 
 MacCullum) nearly four years, sailing about to 
 the extremities of the commercial world from 
 China to Peru, east and west, wherever the 
 best freights were to be obtained. 
 
 I may remark, in passing, that this sudden 
 change of circumstances was calculated to 
 prove a greater benefit to me in after life than 
 if I had remained in an Indiaman. The latter 
 course might be attended with more honour, 
 but the pecuniary advantage would have been 
 less. I had long entertained the idea of 
 getting on, saving money, and buying part of 
 some trading craft with a roving commission 
 to go from port to port in search of some 
 El Dorado out of the common order. This 
 scheme, I imagined, might be realised in the 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 57 
 
 near future, and my youthful fancy pictured 
 it in glowing colours. But alas ! long years 
 of service intervened before I attained this 
 object. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 11^S FTER fitting out and taking 
 
 m 
 
 cargo for Singapore, a chief officer 
 
 being now engaged, we set sail. 
 The Hope was about 450 tons burden, 
 her accommodation in the cabin being of 
 the very best order and convenience. An 
 excellent table was provided, with fresh meat 
 and poultry every day, and never during any 
 part of the long voyages do I remember seeing 
 salt beef brought forward. The first officer 
 and I were always the best of friends ; he was 
 an excellent seaman and a steady man, though 
 he did not get on so well with the captain, 
 who was a regular martinet. When we fairly 
 got out of the English Channel into, what 
 sailors call, "blue water," he kept all hands 
 on deck the whole of the day, and made the 
 two officers keep a specially good look out at 
 night, he himself being called every four hours. 
 This kind of sailing so close to the wind the 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 59 
 
 chief officer had not been accustomed to, and 
 he purposed leaving the ship at Singapore, 
 when a singular circumstance, which will be 
 narrated hereafter, quite turned him from his 
 purpose. The close drill by night and by day 
 (for I can call it by no other term) seemed 
 to suit me better. I was young, strong, and 
 willing, and thought a few years of it would 
 equip me for any service afloat. Being second 
 officer, I of course kept the captain's watch, 
 and never during the whole time do I remem- 
 ber that he caught me napping. I used to 
 think that he slept with one eye open, for no 
 sooner did the footstep of the officer in charge 
 of the night watches cease to be heard, than 
 he was on deck in an instant. I can answer 
 for myself; he never found the sails out of 
 trim or the ship badly steered, which two 
 points are most important to a vessel propelled 
 entirely by the force of wind. 
 
 After crossing the Equator, the captain, who 
 was the owner, and could do as he liked, 
 declared his intention of calling at Cape Town. 
 So we came to an anchor in Table Bay, 
 under the mountain called by this name, which 
 is six thousand feet above the sea. It is as 
 flat as a table, and sometimes there rests on 
 its summit a thin white cloud called " the 
 
60 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 table cloth." Tourists occasionally are attracted 
 to the top of this mountain to obtain a view 
 of the grand scenery around. This is, how- 
 ever, a dangerous adventure, as fogs frequently 
 set in which last two or three days; there are 
 no guides, and locomotion is arrested for fear 
 of a fall over a steep precipice. 
 
 After coming to anchor, the captain went on 
 shore, shortly after which we received a letter 
 from him, ordering the ship to be prepared for 
 a large party of ladies and gentlemen. In 
 a few days they all came on board, accom- 
 panied by the captain's bride and her parents 
 — a motley group of Dutch Africaners. The 
 bride was a very elegant person. The 
 marriage had been celebrated during the short 
 stay on shore, and we sailed next morning for 
 Singapore. 
 
 We learnt afterwards that the engagement 
 had taken place about six months previously, 
 the manner of which I relate from the -lady's 
 own lips. She was walking in the town one 
 day with some friends, when being caught in 
 a shower of rain, they took shelter under a 
 veranda where the gallant captain was lodging. 
 To be brief — it was love at first sight on both 
 sides. For two years they lived happily 
 together, but alas ! trouble then came. The 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 6l 
 
 captain became a hard drinker, and this may 
 account for all the misery his poor wife 
 experienced ; he eventually abandoned wife and 
 child. 
 
 Let me here take the opportunity of warn- 
 ing my young readers against this baneful evil, 
 so terrible and soul-destroying in its effects. 
 We have this solemn injunction in God's 
 Word, " Look not thou upon the wine when it 
 is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, 
 when it moveth itself aright. At the last it 
 biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an 
 adder" (Prov. xxiii., 31-32). These words have 
 been verified in many cases that have come 
 under my notice ; clever, gifted men becoming 
 victims to intemperance, and in a few years 
 losing both fortune and character. It is my 
 firm belief that more accidents have happened 
 at sea through intemperance than from any 
 other cause. Here the old adage expresses 
 the mournful truth, " There are more drowned 
 in the wine cup than in the ocean." 
 
 We soon discharged our cargo at Singapore. 
 Resenting the captain's very strict discipline, 
 all the sailors ran away from the ship, which 
 was quite the custom, so we exchanged our 
 crew for lascars. Meanwhile we made a 
 voyage to Sumatra, and then back to Singa- 
 
62 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 pore. We had on board a super-cargo, and 
 goods to barter with among the Malays for 
 betel-nut, pepper, rattans (cane), and bamboos. 
 The betel - nut resembles a nutmeg in 
 appearance, and is used by the Chinese as a 
 dye. Bamboo is one of the cereal grasses, 
 or a gigantic corn with a ligneous stem, 
 attaining to the height of sixty feet. Once 
 in fifteen years it bears fruit most resembling 
 rice or oats, and then dies like the rest of 
 the cereals. The leaves are abundant, and 
 present to the eye a most elegant appearance; 
 both stems and leaves are of a bright green 
 colour. The . houses in this place are built 
 of it chiefly, and the Chinese use it for almost 
 every purpose of furniture. Their ships, as 
 well as masts, sails, and rigging are principally 
 bamboo. The roots of this plant possess a 
 medicinal virtue. The stem is deeply rooted 
 in the ground, and produces a great number 
 of offshoots. These young shoots are some- 
 times eaten when green, and sometimes made 
 into a preserve with sugar ; and last, though 
 not least, the canes from it are used to 
 castigate refractory individuals. 
 
 We visited several places for trading, and 
 sometimes the natives came on board in great 
 numbers. The ship was lying at anchor off 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 63 
 
 Sambelanga, where a small creek of fresh 
 water ran into the sea. One fine evening a 
 party of us went off to enjoy a bath of fresh 
 water, which is always considered a great treat 
 by sailors. It was not until after we had 
 performed our ablutions that we became 
 aware of the fearful risk we had incurred, for 
 we learnt that this part of the river was 
 infested with alligators, and the natives were 
 astonished to see us return in safety. I will 
 mention another narrow escape which we had 
 here. Proceeding further up the creek, we 
 found that it opened out into a lagoon, or lake, 
 on the opposite side of which was a stockade 
 belonging to the party hostile to our trade. 
 As the shades of evening were drawing on it 
 escaped our observation, although we did not pass 
 unnoticed by the Malays, who fired a volley of 
 musketry at us while in the act of landing from 
 our boat. The charge happily passed over our 
 heads, and no one was hurt ; but this warning 
 was sufficient to prove to us we were among 
 treacherous natives, and that we must exercise 
 great care if we would escape such ambuscades. 
 On our landing at another place on the coast 
 called Sewang, we met with better treatment 
 and hospitality. We were regaled with green 
 cocoanuts, drinking the milk out of the shell, 
 
64 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 a most refreshing beverage, and much like 
 cream, the nut being only imperfectly formed. 
 It was a rare sight to see a man, by means of 
 a simple stirrup or strap, worm himself up like 
 a snake to the top of a tree, fifty feet high, 
 without branches, and cut off some of the 
 nuts, and then return in the same way. Could 
 such a feat be performed in England, what 
 crowds would assemble to witness it ! 
 
 Sago and sugar are both plentiful here. 
 
 Once we entertained a native Rajah of some 
 consequence, who seemed quite a despot, his 
 subjects falling down at his feet and embracing 
 them, as their custom was. He was one day 
 persuaded to dine on board. His manners 
 were not very refined, and he did not quite 
 know how to handle a knife and fork, keeping 
 one of them in each hand, and taking his food 
 in the primitive style — with his fingers. During 
 the dinner hour one of his servants, an 
 Ethiopian, stood at his back with a drawn 
 sword in his hand, keeping guard over his 
 master for fear of treachery ; being a 
 treacherous race of men, they suspect all 
 others. In some parts of the Indian Archi- 
 pelago they are banded together, and prove 
 dangerous enemies to ships in distress as 
 dacoits, ladrones, and pirates. With all this 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 67 
 
 ruffianism about them, strange to say, the 
 Malayan language is the softest and sweetest 
 in the world, and is called the Italian of the 
 East. There is a singular mode of salutation 
 observed by all the Malays ; the betel-nut is 
 chewed by them when they meet ; a Malay 
 when speaking to any superior must chew his 
 betel, turning it over in his mouth before 
 speaking, as if to digest his suit or petition. 
 The women all chew the betel-nut to make 
 their teeth black, which is supposed to 
 beautify the mouth. I have heard that as the 
 ourang-outang (which some of these people 
 resemble) has very white teeth, they adopt 
 this means to make their teeth black. 
 
 We soon loaded the ship and duly arrived 
 at Singapore, where, to our great astonish- 
 ment, the super-cargo was arrested, taken out 
 of the ship and imprisoned. I may remark 
 here that he had promised the chief officer 
 the command of a ship, but this turned out 
 to be a myth. He must have been a wild 
 speculator, though not with his own money, 
 and belonged to that class who apparently 
 cannot discern between meum and tuutn. In 
 one of his enterprises he purchased the 
 Siamese Twins, when quite young, from their 
 mother — a Chinese who had settled in Siam. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ||P|||FTER settling the dispute with the 
 4$jy»; super - cargo, the chief officer re- 
 *W*^ turned on board, and we started 
 for Macao, a Portuguese settlement in China, 
 in the province of Canton. Having dis- 
 charged the betel-nut and other cargo, we 
 proceeded to Batavia in Java. On our journey 
 thither we had to pass through the Straits 
 of Malacca. These Straits are about six 
 hundred miles long, extending from Singapore 
 to Prince of Wales' Island. The navigation 
 here is safe and the scenery charming — full of 
 the most interesting objects imaginable, such as 
 any tourist would delight to visit and enjoy. 
 
 About the middle of this Malay Peninsula 
 stands the ancient city of Malacca, opposite to 
 which rises in bold relief the Golden Mountain, 
 and the far-famed Mount Ophir. Many stories 
 are related about this part of the world, which 
 by some has been supposed to be the Golden 
 Chersonese of the ancients. The Queen of 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 69 
 
 Sheba is said to have sent ships to load here 
 with the gold, precious stones, and spices she 
 gave to King Solomon. This may be partly 
 true and partly legendary, as there are no 
 fewer than five places which claim the honour 
 of being the Ophir of the Bible. 
 
 In the city and neighbourhood of Malacca 
 are found many ancient ruins, some having the 
 appearance of pyramids, and others of large 
 castles and fortifications. That the historic 
 account is the true one, I entertain but little 
 doubt, confirmed as it is by the fact that wild 
 peacocks, apes, and spices abound there to 
 a large extent. 
 
 I must not omit to mention the delicious 
 fruits so plentiful in these parts, the pineapple 
 is the finest and best in the world ; the 
 mangosteen, queen of fruits, very delicious, 
 having a flavour of mango, pomegranate and 
 orange ; cocoanuts in abundance, the shells of 
 which will contain an English quart ; the 
 durain, or bread-fruit, which, though it has not 
 a pleasant smell, has yet a delightful taste, and 
 contains about a dozen large seeds, the size of 
 a sweet chestnut, capable of being made into 
 bread ; besides all other tropical fruits, such as 
 mangoes, bananas, custard apples, alligator 
 pears, guavas, lemons, oranges, etc. 
 
70 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 Here I must briefly allude to a branch of 
 the human family, the most remarkable, in my 
 opinion, on the face of the earth. Entirely 
 separated from all others, they live in trees, 
 and unlike every other savage tribe, they never 
 change their habitation. They remind me of 
 the inhabitants of the lake-dwellings of pre- 
 historic times. They refuse all intercourse with 
 strangers, and are compelled to adopt this 
 mode of life on account of the numbers of 
 tigers infesting their woods. I was told by 
 some one who had visited them, that they tie 
 monkeys to their trees, fatten them, kill them, 
 and live upon them. They have no language, 
 but on the appearance of a stranger, they set 
 up, one and all, a hideous chattering, which 
 soon drives the intruder away. Miss Isabella 
 Bird (afterwards Mrs. Bishop), gives a full 
 account of these Melanesians, whose name I 
 have forgotten. 
 
 I have passed up and down these Straits five 
 times, their average width is twenty-five miles, 
 and they are seldom, if ever, visited by gales 
 of wind, but there are heavy squalls lasting 
 about three hours, of such a terrific character, 
 that it is impossible to carry a stitch of canvas, 
 all the sails have to be clued up and furled 
 very tightly. But the goodness of God has 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 71 
 
 provided an unerring warning of the approach- 
 ing storm ; a small dark cloud, not bigger than 
 a man's hand, appears in the horizon off 
 Sumatra ; by and bye it assumes the form of 
 a dark arch, then quickly bursts upon the ship 
 with a tremendous fall of rain, accompanied 
 by thunder and lightning, the forked lightning 
 playing all round the ship and lighting up the 
 prevailing darkness. At the expiration of about 
 three hours, the winds cease, and the air is 
 balmy and pleasant. These storms almost 
 always come on at midnight and leave a phos- 
 phorescent light at the three mast heads, and 
 every yard arm, the whole atmosphere being so 
 charged with electricity. These bright lights 
 resemble the " Ignis fatuus," sometimes called 
 " Will-o'-the-wisp," which is seen in marshy 
 grounds at home. While, on one occasion, we 
 were admiring this strange phenomenon, I 
 remember sending a boy up to fetch the lantern 
 down on deck, but recollecting it might give 
 him an electric shock, I called him down 
 before he reached the top. 
 
 Before leaving China we again changed our 
 crew, this time from lascars to English sailors. 
 While the Asiatics were on board, I had an 
 opportunity of learning to speak Hindustani, 
 which proved to me in after life a most 
 
72 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 valuable acquisition — being engaged in the 
 Indian trade for several years. After threading 
 our passage amongst the many islands of these 
 Straits into the Indian Ocean, we finally 
 arrived at Batavia, the capital of Java, and of 
 the Dutch East Indies. The air here is very 
 unwholesome, and is represented by James 
 Cook as the grave of European navigators. We 
 lost five or six of the sailors during our stay, 
 and the remainder went to the hospital. Those 
 who died on the ship were taken out to sea 
 and thrown overboard without any service 
 being read over them, like so many dead 
 dogs, for the authorities would not allow them 
 to be buried on shore. About three miles out 
 from the harbour was a bar which was very 
 much infested with crocodiles of enormous 
 size, some from ten to fifteen feet in length, 
 which doubtless fed upon the dead bodies of 
 our crew. 
 
 The captain never once visited the ship 
 during her loading, he and his wife were 
 living high up in the interior, where the hills 
 were considered as healthy as any part of 
 the globe. In fact the temple of Hygiene 
 might be erected there. I was, myself, all 
 but carried off by this malarious climate ; as 
 a proof, I remember the old cook saying to 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. J$ 
 
 me one day, referring to this time, " First 
 you turned white, then yellow, then a little 
 greenish, and I predicted you would never 
 come out of your cabin again alive." The 
 doctor, who was Dutch, was sent on board 
 to attend the chief officer ; he was lying quite 
 prostrate in his cabin, and remained in that 
 condition many weeks. I showed him the 
 sick patients, pretending to have nothing much 
 amiss with myself, and determined to brave it 
 out with exercise and work. I must add that 
 in addition to this malarious atmosphere, the 
 thermometer sometimes registered forty degrees 
 difference between noon and midnight. The 
 suddenness of death was so frightful that I 
 inquired of the doctor what was the cause. 
 He replied, " Epilepsy." I can only say that 
 my escape must have been .owing to the 
 great goodness of God ; besides this, my in- 
 variable moderation was doubtless in my 
 favour. 
 
 Finally, having completed the lading of the 
 ship with a cargo of sugar, we sailed away 
 from this noxious climate. But the attack of 
 illness left me with a fever and ague which 
 continued more or less troublesome and 
 weakening until we once more reached the 
 Cape of Good Hope, and the consummation 
 
74 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 of my hopes. We had no medicine on board ; 
 therefore, immediately on arriving, I sent a 
 man off for some quinine pills, which acted 
 like magic — quinine being a specific for ague. 
 
 Here I must relate another painful story. 
 The captain and his wife went on shore, leav- 
 ing to me the entire management of the ship, 
 with instructions to send the sick to the 
 hospital at Cape Town. Among them was the 
 chief officer, who had been confined to his 
 cabin during the five weeks' passage from Java, 
 and who, sad to relate, during our short stay 
 here breathed his last, his strength being com- 
 pletely exhausted. He was a superior seaman, 
 as before noted, and a man of robust 
 constitution. But alas ! how frequently it 
 happens that the strongest succumb to the 
 deadly influences of malaria and miasma, while 
 those apparently less healthy survive. 
 
 We remained a week, and then with fresh 
 hands on board proceeded homewards, the 
 captain, myself, and a youngster alone remain- 
 ing out of the crew who left England on the 
 outward voyage to Singapore. It appeared by 
 the charter we were to call at Falmouth for 
 orders where to discharge the cargo, but our 
 destination turned out to be Rotterdam, so we 
 sailed up the English Channel, through the 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 75 
 
 Straits of Dover into the North Sea, and 
 arrived at Helvoetsluys, and then came into 
 the Maese River, where the fine, rich, and 
 well-built town stands. This was the route 
 taken by George the Third, on his way to 
 Hanover. It is said when he breakfasted at 
 Helvoetsluys, the landlord charged his Majesty 
 sixpence each for eggs. The king thought it 
 an imposition, and complained, remarking that 
 eggs were not so scarce there ; to which the 
 man replied, " Your Majesty, eggs are not 
 scarce, but kings are." This incident shows 
 that George the Third was no stranger to 
 habits of frugality. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 >Xf FTER discharging the cargo of sugar 
 at Rotterdam, our next trip was 
 up the Baltic to St. Petersburg. 
 Compared with our former long voyages, 
 this short trip was more like a pleasant 
 cruise in a yacht : being summer time we 
 had perpetual daylight nearly all the voyage. 
 Passing through into the North Sea again, 
 we made for the Kattegat, a gulf which 
 divides Norway from Denmark, and by 
 which the Northern Ocean communicates with 
 the Baltic or East Sea. Passing along, we 
 came to Elsinore, where stands a castle that 
 is also a fortress, in which it is said 
 Shakespeare wrote his tragedy of Hamlet. 
 When Admiral Nelson sailed through this 
 Strait, called the Sound, on his way to 
 bombard Copenhagen, he fired several shots 
 into the fortification, some of which were 
 collected and kept to show visitors; these 
 they call an " English Welcome ! " We came 
 
A WESTERLY GALE IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC. 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 79 
 
 to anchor here to take a pilot on board, who, 
 with myself, navigated the ship to St. Peters- 
 burg, at the top of the great gulf of Finland. 
 
 The captain entrusted me with the entire 
 management of the ship as commanding 
 officer, which position I occupied throughout 
 the voyage, he himself remaining on shore 
 during the lading and unlading of the cargo. 
 
 We passed the city of Copenhagen, one of 
 the most uniform and best built cities in the 
 North. It owes its present noble appearance 
 to a great fire which broke out in 1728, de- 
 stroying five churches and sixty-seven streets, 
 many of them narrow and ill-shaped. It has 
 since been rebuilt in a better style, and a few 
 only of the wooden houses remain. Its appear- 
 ance from the sea is strikingly beautiful. Nearly 
 opposite stands a small islet with an observa- 
 tory, on which Tycho Brahe, the Danish 
 astronomer lived. On our homeward voyage, 
 passing out through the Sound towards Gothen- 
 burg, a famous town in Sweden, with a 
 splendid harbour, situated at the mouth of the 
 river Gotha, we leave the calm smooth Baltic, 
 with its still, tideless waters, and enter into 
 the North Atlantic Ocean, where the westerly 
 gales in the winter season are most terrific to 
 encounter, one of which I remember some 
 
80 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 forty-five years ago. In the autumn, when the 
 ships are leaving the Baltic ports, they are 
 sometimes caught by these heavy storms and 
 gales and obliged to bear up for a port in 
 Norway. The Norwegian pilots are always on 
 the look-out in stormy weather to pilot these 
 ships into some of the safe fiords so numerous 
 on this otherwise dangerous coast. Assistance 
 is usually rendered in the following fashion. A 
 man and woman come off through a stormy 
 sea in a small dingey, which is only capable 
 of carrying two persons. It is impossible to 
 come too near the ship, as the smallest collision 
 would prove fatal to the boat. How, then, do 
 they manage it ? Ah ! there's the rub ! From 
 the ship is thrown into the boat a rope with 
 a running bowline knot, the woman passes 
 it round her waist, throws herself overboard, 
 and is taken into the ship as pilot, for she 
 knows where to anchor in safety. The man 
 takes the dingey back, which the woman could 
 only manage alone with the utmost risk and 
 difficulty. All this is done to earn the paltry 
 sum of a few gilders ! An act of the most 
 daring .bravery on the part of what is usually 
 called, the " softer sex " ! Hear this, ye young 
 gentlemen of England who live at home at 
 ease | 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 8l 
 
 Being the summer season we did not require 
 any such pilot, but proceeded towards the 
 Pentland Firth, between the Orkney Islands 
 and Scotland, passing by John o' Groats' 
 House, the ultima thule of Great Britain. We 
 then sailed through the North Channel of the 
 Irish Sea, and arrived safely in Liverpool. 
 This concludes a voyage of two years, fraught 
 with many stirring incidents and narrow 
 escapes, the details of which I pass over. 
 How much this calls for thankfulness to the 
 Divine Providence ! " He maketh the storm 
 a calm so that the waves thereof are still. 
 Then are they glad because they be quiet ; so 
 He bringeth them unto their desired haven." 
 
 I do not remember being absent from duty 
 more than one day during this voyage, and 
 now thought it time to take a little relaxa- 
 tion. We delivered the cargo in the Princes' 
 Dock, Liverpool, and I then proceeded 
 homewards. After spending a month in 
 Yorkshire, I returned to the ship again ; she 
 was chartered to take out a cargo to Lima, 
 in South America, and she lay in the Liverpool 
 docks about four months. I remained on 
 board with only two or three men, as the 
 cargo came in very slowly ; this was a rest 
 from the toils of a sea voyage. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 FTER setting sail, I have to record 
 a most tedious passage of nearly 
 six months before finally arriving at 
 Lima. This, however, was in great measure 
 relieved by the society of four passengers, 
 a lady and her three daughters, the two 
 elder of whom were highly accomplished in 
 music and languages. 
 
 We had on board a Highland crew from 
 Oban, the captain's native place, with a piper 
 in full costume, but I am happy to say his 
 bagpipes produced no discord, although the 
 ladies and myself, being English, greatly 
 preferred the dulcet notes of the guitar and 
 the human voice to the melancholy droning of 
 his instrument. For the most part the 
 weather was exceedingly boisterous, with 
 excessive rain. The old lady and her three 
 daughters, unfortunately for them, were not on 
 good terms with the captain. I remember, 
 when off Cape Horn, a small island south of 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 83 
 
 Terra del Fuego, they said to me, " Will this 
 voyage ever terminate, do you think ? We 
 have passed twenty-four Sabbaths on board, 
 and it seems longer than the whole of our 
 lifetime." I endeavoured to cheer them up by 
 the assurance that when we were fairly round 
 the Cape on the west coast we should get 
 into the south-east trade winds, and soon for- 
 get all our troubles, doubts, and fears. 
 
 I may mention here that we passed near 
 Juan Fernandez, an island off the west coast 
 of Chili, rendered famous by Defoe having 
 founded his story of the life and adventures 
 of Robinson Crusoe on the solitary residence 
 there of Alexander Selkirk (formerly coxswain 
 to Dampier) for above four years. 
 
 I got the first glimpse of the Andes at a 
 distance of one hundred and twenty miles, 
 and called the ladies up to see the welcome 
 sight. Very soon we arrived at Callao, the 
 seaport for Lima, a consummation to be 
 devoutly thankful for after our long and 
 tedious voyage. The harbour is spacious ; the 
 best in the whole State of Peru. It is formed 
 by the island of San Lorenzo, the narrow 
 passage between it and the mainland being 
 called the Boqueron Channel. This is noted 
 for one of the most daring actions ever per- 
 
84 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 formed by any captain in the English Navy. 
 A Spanish corvette, a vessel smaller than a 
 frigate, was lying in the roads off Callao. 
 Lord Cochrane commanded an English sloop 
 of war, half the size of the corvette in tonnage, 
 men and guns. Cochrane's ship crept up the 
 Boqueron passage, and came to anchor. 
 Having manned his launch with a crew of 
 daring fellows like himself, shortly after 
 midnight, they rowed round the corvette, and 
 finding all the sentries asleep, climbed up 
 the chains of the fore-rigging, muzzled the 
 sleeping sentries, nailed fast the cabin doors, 
 battened down the hatches, slipped the cable, 
 and towed the Spaniard alongside of the 
 English ship as a prize, without spilling a 
 drop of blood ! 
 
 Our ship had been reported the evening 
 before our arrival. The following morning, 
 Mr. Goodfellow, the husband and father of 
 the lady passengers, came on board ; they 
 were all in high glee, and, as I had pre- 
 dicted, appeared to have forgotten all their 
 former troubles. While our cargo was being 
 discharged, which occupied about three weeks, 
 I visited the family at their residence in the 
 capital, Lima, situated nearly six miles from 
 Callao. I remember on one ; occasion, dining: 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 85 
 
 with them at the house of a friend, who 
 provided a sumptuous banquet, regaling us 
 abundantly with all the fruits of the country. 
 Some of the guests were Americans, and, 
 singularly enough, a Mr. Longfellow was 
 present, and four Goodfellows, father, mother, 
 and daughters. 
 
 This caused great amusement amongst the 
 young people, who told me the following 
 story of the American gentleman. When he 
 joined the United States frigate, Brautewein, 
 as purser, under the command of Commodore 
 Reid, an order was given to make two cots, 
 one for the commodore and the other for 
 the purser, with the remark that the com- 
 modore was a very tall man (he was six 
 feet two inches), nothing being said about 
 the stature of the purser, Mr. Longfellow. 
 The sailmaker made his cot one foot longer 
 than that for the commodore, but as Mr. 
 Longfellow was in reality a very little fellow, 
 the mistake was the cause of much merri- 
 ment. 
 
 In the course of the evening Mrs. Good- 
 fellow confided to me the great secret that 
 both her daughters were engaged to be 
 married to wealthy English merchants resid- 
 ing at Lima. The marriages took place, and 
 
86 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 I afterwards heard that both proved to be 
 happy and prosperous. This sudden change 
 of circumstances reinstated them in their 
 former position, which they had lost for a 
 time through their father's indiscretion. 
 
 We could understand how acceptable was 
 the English element in Lima, when we 
 learned that the ladies residing there (half- 
 bred Spaniards ) were much addicted to 
 pleasure and vanity. They were remarkable 
 for their beauty, and especially for the small- 
 ness of their feet, submitting readily to the 
 amputation of their small toes in order to 
 narrow their feet ; one doctor, it is said, 
 having made a small fortune by this practice. 
 The mothers, unwilling to be thought old, 
 are addressed by their daughters as " sister." 
 The priests here, I was told, were intriguing 
 to an extent scarcely credible, and there is 
 one to every fifty of the population. When 
 they can no longer squeeze more gifts out of 
 the old ladies, they tell them to post a letter 
 to the Virgin Mary with money in it — an 
 arrangement which the postman understands 
 very well ! 
 
 Some of my readers may remember the 
 terrible catastrophe which occured at San- 
 tiago more than twenty years ago. A service 
 
 *, 
 
„ * 
 
 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 87 
 
 of three days and three nights was being 
 held in one of the cathedrals, and the whole 
 building was lighted with candles and highly 
 ornamented. Suddenly a cry of " Fire ! " was 
 raised ; a fearful panic ensued, and the con- 
 gregation fled to the doors, all of which un- 
 ortunately opened inwards; consequently many 
 persons were crushed to death. The priests, 
 with characteristic selfishness, never offered 
 any assistance. They were in the sacristy 
 and escaped. About three hundred and fifty 
 charred bodies were found, many of them 
 standing in the attitude of prayer. 
 
 There are no buildings in Lima of more 
 than two stories high, owing to the dread of 
 earthquakes, with which the city has been so 
 often visited. Callao was once swallowed up 
 by a terrible earthquake, the sea afterwards 
 rushing into the town, and overwhelming all 
 the houses and inhabitants, one man only 
 being saved in a boat to tell the tale. 
 
 Peru is rich in minerals, especially silver. 
 Daring the time when it acknowledged the 
 sovereignty of Spain, a Viceroy, on one 
 occasion, was sent out, who was received 
 with great . honour and pomp ; one of the 
 streets leading to the palace being paved 
 with ingots of silver. But alas ! this apparent 
 
88 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 loyalty was of short duration ; the country 
 soon after proclaimed her independence of 
 Spain, and the same streets were changed into 
 scenes of strife and bloodshed. The Peruvians 
 remained in this state of rebellion and anarchy 
 for four years or more — continually changing 
 their President. It was said they all knew 
 how to conjugate the verb to shoot, I shoot, 
 thou shootest, we shoot, they shoot ; reckless- 
 ness of human life seeming to characterize 
 those men to whom dangers are most frequent 
 and imminent. 
 
 I remember experiencing the shock of an 
 earthquake at Santa. As for describing the 
 sensation produced by an event so unusual to 
 me, I will not make the attempt, but leave it 
 to the reader's imagination. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 |E completed our loading at Peyta, a 
 W$M0$ beautiful little bay, but destitute of 
 wWIMW fresh water. The Springs were at 
 a distance of three miles from the harbour ; 
 a supply of water was conveyed by donkeys 
 in calabashes, or dried gourds, consequently it 
 was very scarce, and dearer than spirits. 
 There are numbers of pariah dogs here in the 
 streets, which nobody owns, acting the part 
 of scavengers. About mid-day they usually 
 assembled and set up a frightful howling for 
 water ; failing to obtain which they rushed 
 off to the Springs. 
 
 Having taken our scanty supply of water 
 for the homeward passage, and before finally 
 leaving the coast, we came to an anchor one 
 night in a bay off Arequipa, to take in a 
 quantity of silver ore. In order to evade the 
 Custom House duties, a proceeding which I 
 cannot justify, a signal was given by showing 
 certain lights, after seeing which, from the 
 
 Q 
 
90 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 shore, there came off in a boat three Spaniards, 
 armed with pistols and daggers, swarthy, fierce- 
 looking fellows. It appeared they had conveyed 
 two tons of silver packed in ceroons, or skins of 
 bullocks, for convenience of carriage on mules, 
 over the mountain passes, travelling only by 
 night, to avoid the bandits. We were avoiding 
 the Custom duties, they, the robbers. I counted 
 forty packages containing a hundredweight each 
 of silver nuggets ; these were carefully stowed 
 under the main hatches, and those terrible look- 
 ing fellows went on shore. Our freight being 
 now complete, gladly enough we sailed away, to 
 run down the south-east trade winds and 
 get into the " Variables.'' It was the winter 
 season when we arrived off Cape Horn. The 
 storms and snow-squalls we met with were 
 most severe and dangerous ; we saw the wreck 
 of a ship, bottom upwards. The days were 
 very short, for the sun appeared at nine o'clock 
 and set at three, rising no higher at mid-day 
 than it looks at midnight in the Arctic circle 
 in summer. Eighteen hours of darkness made 
 the night watches very tedious. One night 
 I had the middle watch below, but could not 
 sleep. I was called at four a.m. to my duties, 
 and found to my dismay the snow had made 
 its way to my bed, and was partly frozen to 
 
ANSWERING THE SIGNAL FROM THE SHIP. 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 93 
 
 the mattress. We at last weathered this in- 
 hospitable region, where these heavy seas and 
 gales exceeded in severity all those I have 
 ever encountered in my other voyages. The 
 rest of our passage to Liverpool lasted about 
 ninety days, during the whole of which time 
 we were on short allowance of water. 
 
 Our next voyage was to Hobart Town, Tas- 
 mania, and then Sydney, New South Wales. 
 I will not dwell upon this part of my story, 
 but will take my readers to Calcutta, where 
 we safely arrived en route to the Antipodes. 
 Whilst at Calcutta I had the honour of 
 dining with one of the sons of Tippoo Saib, 
 the Sultan of Seringapatam, who, after the 
 siege of that place in 1799 had been given to 
 the English General as an hostage, with his 
 brother, when they were both quite young. 
 The Prince was very black, he wore the sable 
 livery of the burning sun, but in manner he 
 was as gentle as a lamb. From this port 
 we sailed to the Isle of France with a cargo 
 of rice, and returning again to Calcutta, I 
 left this ship on my own account. The 
 captain became such a hard drinker I was 
 afraid to stay any longer with him. On thus 
 summarily leaving the Hope and Captain 
 M , with whom I remained nearly four 
 
94 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 years, of course all my cherished hopes of 
 advancement suddenly collapsed. The last 
 account I heard of him and the ship, was 
 that the men and officers refused to proceed 
 with him any further than Kidderpore (which 
 is one mile from Calcutta) although she was 
 bound for Sydney, New South Wales, all of 
 them being in a mutinous state, I believe. 
 I heard also that the captain had deserted 
 his wife and child, sending her a broken ring 
 and a farewell for ever. I removed all my 
 traps to the next ship in the tier — the Pegasus, 
 and went to the Isle of France ; and then 
 again to the same place in the ship Cavendish 
 Bentinck, making three voyages to the same 
 port and back to Calcutta. 
 
 In thus leaving the Hope and joining the 
 Cavendish Bentinck, I had what sailors call 
 " an Irish rise," becoming second officer after 
 being for a time commanding officer. In the 
 Cavendish Bentinck, which was called a " country 
 walla " (or ship), we took about two hundred 
 coolies to work the sugar plantations, This was 
 after the manumission of slaves. Most of these 
 men were kidnapped by the Sircars and Ghaut 
 Serangs in India ; they were first drugged 
 and then put on board in that state. Some 
 of them on regaining consciousness, and 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 95 
 
 perceiving how they had been duped, were 
 with great difficulty restrained from jumping 
 overboard into the river Hooghly. 
 
 The climate of the Mauritius is very fine. 
 Here is shewn the tomb of the two eccentric 
 lovers, Paul and Virginia. Having visited 
 this island three times, I had ample oppor- 
 tunity of seeing its many beauties, amongst 
 them the remarkable Peter Botte, three thousand 
 feet high, capped by overhanging rocks. 
 
 Some very curious stories are told with 
 reference to the observatory here for signalling 
 ships in the offing about to arrive in Port 
 Lewis — which is the only harbour in this 
 island, — and a M. Pepigne, who had charge 
 of it. It has been confidently affirmed that 
 he has seen and reported vessels at sea 
 one hundred and fifty miles distant from 
 the island. On one occasion he warned 
 the French authorities of the approach of an 
 English squadron of war ships coming to take 
 the place by storm. This caution was totally 
 disregarded, but the English nevertheless did 
 come and take possession. Other cases of 
 the mirage — for that was the explanation of 
 this incident — occurred in which M. Pepigne 
 had seen vessels dismasted at sea, making 
 for this port, two or three days before 
 
g6 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 their arrival. Most sailors have heard the 
 story of " the Flying Dutchman," off the 
 Cape of Good Hope, carrying a press of 
 canvas lower and aloft, when other ships 
 almost in the immediate neighbourhood were 
 under close reefed top-sails. I entertain 
 no doubt as to the truth of these stories, 
 although one does not hear of such things in 
 our days. The Frenchman affirmed that he 
 only saw these objects during a particular 
 state of the atmosphere. He made a great 
 secret of it, and persistently refused to impart 
 it to any one. 
 
 I have witnessed many strange mirages on 
 the African Coast, such as are seen in the 
 desert, and have also read of the Spectre of 
 the Brocken, seen in some part of Germany, 
 where it appeared that a cavalry regiment 
 was going through all the evolutions and 
 movements of a body of troops on a morass 
 that would not bear the weight of one single 
 soldier. Although it does not belong to this 
 narrative, I cannot forbear, while on the sub- 
 ject of mirages or optical illusions, recording 
 what I once saw when staying in a romantic 
 part of North Wales. One midsummer evening 
 as I wandered out from the village, which is 
 situated in a glen between two mountain ridges, 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 97 
 
 I was suddenly surprised by a most beautiful 
 picture of a bay of the sea, much resembling 
 the bay of Naples. I at once concluded it 
 was a mirage. On the right was an abrupt 
 termination of the mountain opposite the one 
 on which I stood; on the left a dark serrated 
 cumulus, with a small detached cloud, having 
 the appearance of a rocky islet, such as is 
 often seen at the extremity of headlands. The 
 whole scene was marvellously beautiful, and 
 quite natural to the eye of a nautical man. 
 There it lay before me looking like a sea of 
 glass, which seemed to merge into the bright sky 
 of the north-west horizon, where daylight had 
 scarcely faded before the setting sun. While 
 thus musing, and as if to make the picture 
 complete, I heard the sound of running brooks 
 and murmuring streams. Below the mountain 
 gorge was a cataract which sounded like the 
 sea gently heaving up from its placid bosom 
 the smallest wavelets on a shingly beach. 
 
 But to return to Port Lewis. Whilst there, 
 I saw a remarkable specimen of the cocoanut 
 from the Seychelle Islands, found in no other 
 part of the world. It is much larger than 
 the common kind, its shell being a bi-valve, 
 and sometimes it is found with its roots in 
 the sea, but it flourishes even in that state. 
 
g8 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 The peculiarity of this cocoanut is that while 
 it bears flowers like all nut trees, the sap ' 
 seems to exude from the flower and to flow 
 into the bi-valve shell, and as it comes to 
 maturity the shell closes, and a large kernel 
 is formed. 
 
 The Seychelle Islands lie low, being formed 
 by the action of myriads of infusoria or 
 microscopic insects, elaborating the white 
 coral rock from ingredients in the sea-water 
 alone. They have been known in the short 
 space of a few months to build up a coral 
 reef of considerable height above the surface. 
 In tropical seas there is always a large 
 quantity of vegetable debris floating about, 
 and in this marvellous manner islands are 
 formed, and vegetation quickly springs up. 
 
 The Dutch, who professed to have at one 
 time the monopoly of the islands producing 
 spices, built a plantation here, and cultivated 
 them largely ; but at last, fearing they might 
 fall into the hands of the English, burned it 
 up. 
 
 On our arrival at Calcutta in the Cavendish 
 Bentinck, I went on shore to live, and took 
 such a liking to the place, and the mode of 
 life there, with its many comforts and 
 numerous servants, that I almost made up 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 99 
 
 my mind to settle in India, for a time at 
 least. I used to go with friends on excursions 
 up and down the river in rowing boats with 
 six men, towing another boat for cooking 
 purposes. Sometimes we went long distances, 
 to Barrackpoor and Chinsura, and even be- 
 yond, to Chandernagore, a French settlement. 
 At Chinsura I found that the chaplain, the 
 Rev. J. H. A. Rudd, was an old school- 
 fellow of mine ; he had settled out there, 
 and his wife and family were with him. 
 About two hundred and forty miles up the 
 river Ganges, the rainfall is sometimes 
 registered as much as fifteen feet per annum, 
 at Chera Poonje. My brother, who was for 
 seventeen years officer and commander in 
 the East India Company's steamers, told me 
 he had seen the rivers so swollen with the 
 rains as to rise to the height of fifteen feet 
 of water, when, in the dry season their 
 ordinary height was only three feet. On one 
 of our trips on the Hooghly to the Botanical 
 Gardens, we were shewn the great Banyan 
 Tree, the most remarkable feature of which is 
 the property it possesses of throwing out 
 supports from its horizontal branches, which 
 take root as soon as they reach the ground. 
 Here all the spice-bearing trees, gum trees, 
 
IOO THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 and others of medicinal virtue are found and 
 cultivated with the greatest care, amongst 
 others the Cinchona or Jesuit's bark, from 
 which quinine is extracted. It is a remark- 
 able fact in connection with the Cinchona (a 
 species of laurel) that the bark which contains 
 the drug may be stripped off without killing 
 the tree. The latter is plastered and bandaged 
 up very carefully after the operation ; a new 
 bark then forms, and in this manner the tree 
 is preserved from destruction. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 SOON grew weary of this idleness, however, 
 and determined to accept the first offer of 
 a situation for another voyage. I had not 
 long to wait, for Captain Bennett, who had only 
 a day or two before been appointed to the com- 
 mand of the Heroine, offered me the post of 
 second officer. The chief officer, with his wife 
 and child, lived on board as ship-keeper. They 
 were all hard drinkers ; I have even seen the 
 child, only ten years old, so intoxicated as to be 
 more dead than alive. I never saw the mother, 
 but from all accounts she was as intemperate as 
 her husband, and, as maybe imagined, everything 
 on board was in a wretched state of disorder. 
 I found Captain Bennett a kind-hearted man, and 
 soon gained his full confidence, being entrusted 
 in his absence with the duty of getting ready for 
 the voyage, and of taking in the bales of cotton 
 for China. We lived on board, as the custom 
 was, all the time of loading, the captain only 
 visiting the ship once a day. 
 
102 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 With a cargo of six thousand bales of cotton, 
 and six passengers, we sailed for Singapore and 
 China. I had been suffering somewhat from 
 over-work during the ship's outfit, but the balmy 
 breezes and a day's shooting on the Prince of 
 Wales' Island, restored me to perfect health. Our 
 course lay through the Straits of Malacca again. 
 Nothing of any particular note took place until 
 our arrival within the Straits. The captain, 
 being extremely delicate, left the entire manage- 
 ment of the ship to his officers. The chief officer 
 took advantage of this to indulge more freely 
 than ever in his brandy. As an instance of his 
 carelessness, he one fine day fell asleep, and 
 allowed the ship to get ashore. I awoke him, 
 then called the captain, and told him the state of 
 affairs. He was very unwell at the time, and the 
 passengers were much alarmed. My position as 
 second officer was on the top-gallant forecastle. 
 He called out and enquired what I was going to 
 do, seeming utterly dazed and bewildered as he 
 gave the command, " Let go the anchor." To 
 this I objected, saying, if the anchor was cast, it 
 might go through the ship's forefoot. He then 
 asked what I proposed to do, to which I replied, 
 " If you leave it to me I will soon get her afloat 
 again," which I did in the space of half-an-hour. 
 This happened near the dinner-hour, and when I 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. IO3 
 
 entered the cabin the passengers met me with a 
 courteous greeting, and warm thanks, declaring I 
 had saved their lives; at any rate their fears were 
 allayed, and the ship received no injury, but had 
 she struck on a coral reef instead of grounding on 
 mud, the consequences might have been fatal. 
 
 Two days after, the chief officer had charge of 
 the watch, from six to eight, which is called the 
 " dog watch." It was very dark when I heard 
 a man on the look-out exclaim, " A ship right 
 ahead close to !" Rushing forward with a night 
 telescope I found it was the Round Arrow, a small 
 rock in the centre of the Straits ; our course was 
 immediately altered, and we escaped the danger. 
 It proved that he had altered the ship's course two 
 points of the compass. When remonstrated with 
 for so doing, I well remember his reply : "If you 
 are anxious to avoid a rock or shoal, steer for it, 
 and you will be sure to miss it " — a species of 
 logic I have never yet comprehended. In two 
 days more we came to anchor off Singapore, 
 when Captain Bennett, with the passengers, left 
 the ship. About eventide a boat came off with 
 two letters from the captain, one to the chief 
 officer, and one to myself, the latter asking me to 
 take full charge as chief officer. The purport of 
 the other was to dismiss the man who had com- 
 mitted such egregious blunders through drink. 
 
104 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 His dismissal had the effect of sobering him down 
 at once, and he, with his daughter, cleared out 
 next morning as sober as a judge. The following 
 day the captain came on board, when I told him 
 everything was done according to his orders. 
 But we were minus a second officer to take my 
 place, and were unable to find one. Here I could 
 foresee a grave responsibility resting upon me, 
 but the ship being well manned in other respects, 
 I at once consented to go on as we were, with 
 the understanding that the second mate's pay 
 should be divided between the captain and 
 myself. 
 
 The south - west monsoon was blowing in 
 the China Sea, in consequence of which our 
 course lay through the Java Sea, with its ten 
 thousand islands and intricate navigation. We 
 sailed through the eastern passage, between 
 the Philippine Islands and Borneo, Celebes 
 and the Spice Islands, into the Pacific Ocean, 
 passing the Pelew islands. 
 
 I distinctly remember one morning when we 
 were drawing near to the Hen and Chickens, 
 a coral bank in the midst of these Straits, I came 
 on deck, and found the darkest fog prevailing 
 I ever saw. The captain was so extremely 
 unwell as to be unable to leave his state- 
 room. In this emergency — but for a moment 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 105 
 
 only — I began to tremble, feeling the serious 
 responsibility of the situation. Suddenly it 
 flashed into my mind to mount up to the top- 
 mast head, and there to my delight and sur- 
 prise the sun was shining in full splendour, 
 proving the truth of those cheering words, 
 " There is a silver lining to every dark cloud." 
 There I remained, but only for a few moments ; 
 compared with those on deck, I was in the 
 serene atmosphere of heaven, being for a 
 short time above the clouds. A tropical sun 
 was shining in all its brilliancy, every object 
 sparkling with beauty. I could see the cocoa- 
 nut and palm trees and lofty foliage appa- 
 rently half-a-mile distant, while the ship was 
 gliding slowly through the dense fog, stem-on 
 towards the rocks. There was no time, how- 
 ever, for reflection, still many serious thoughts 
 rushed into my mind ; above all, heartfelt 
 thanksgiving for our preservation from disaster. 
 I at once altered the course of the ship's head, 
 before coming down from aloft. The low fog 
 by which we were surrounded continued two 
 hours longer, and at mid-day it was perfectly 
 clear and bright. Sometimes the fog lifts 
 itself up and disappears in a mysterious way. 
 It is seen to be thin in some parts and thick 
 in others, rolling itself up into bales not unlike 
 
 H 
 
106 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 snowballs, then it suddenly vanishes and all is 
 clear. I have often seen this in Newfoundland 
 and Nova Scotia. The natives call the light 
 breezes which cause these movements of the 
 mist, " fog-eaters." 
 
 Immediately after this another sight pre- 
 sented itself, such as I had never before wit- 
 nessed. There was no wind on deck, but a 
 light air aloft kept the upper sails sleeping, 
 while not a ripple stirred the surface of the 
 water. We were sailing slowly over a sea as 
 clear as crystal, and we could distinctly mark out 
 every feature of the submerged coral bank. It 
 was like a city of palaces, with lofty pinnacles, 
 spacious chambers, and wide terraces, while 
 seaweed of various hues clothed all in lovely 
 colours. We sounded in nine fathoms, and at 
 the next cast found no bottom at sixty fathoms, 
 On reviewing our safe passage through the 
 Straits, I could only feel the deepest gratitude 
 for our preservation from harm, for the loss of 
 the ship here would probably have been fatal to 
 us all even in the finest weather. In the 
 first place, the coast is infested with Malay 
 pirates who would have attacked us the moment 
 they perceived the ship was disabled ; besides 
 which, to sleep on the shore one night in the 
 bush would most likely have caused our 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. IO7 
 
 deaths. What is termed the upas, or poison- 
 tree of Java, so notorious for its malarious 
 effect on all animal life, is common here. 
 
 THE BASHEES. 
 
 That it has poisonous secretions is a fact, but 
 that the atmosphere surrounding it is dele- 
 terious is entirely fabulous. I have no doubt 
 
108 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 that this notion has arisen from the fact that 
 under the branches of the tamarind tree which 
 abounds here, a quantity of carbonic acid gas 
 accumulates at night time, and causes death to 
 any one sleeping under its shade. 
 
 Pursuing our course into the Pacific, we 
 entered the China Sea by the Bashees, between 
 Luzon and Manilla ; the Bashees being a 
 cluster of rocky islands. One of these, islets 
 is a burning mountain, we saw it while active, 
 emitting volumes of smoke. We then came 
 to Macao, where Captain Bennett was obliged 
 to be left to consult a medical man. I then 
 had sole charge of the ship during the remainder 
 of the voyage till she cast anchor at Whampoo, 
 and was the only white man among this mis- 
 cellaneous crew. Whampoo being the part 
 of the river nearest to Canton was the most 
 convenient spot to discharge the cotton bales. 
 After passing the Bocca Tigris, the narrowest 
 part of the river, a boat came to meet us, 
 and to my surprise we found that the owner 
 of the Heroine was in the boat. He asked 
 me where Captain Bennett was. I said he 
 was left at Macao. He then enquired for the 
 chief officer. I replied he was left ashore at 
 Singapore. Then he asked who I was. I 
 told him I joined the ship at Calcutta as 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. log 
 
 second officer. He appeared much surprised 
 to see me, an entire stranger to himself, in 
 full command of one of his ships. After re- 
 maining some time on board, and satisfying 
 himself and his friend who accompanied him, 
 that the officer left in charge was worthy of 
 his entire confidence judging from the way in 
 which the ship and crew were commanded, he 
 left, and we sailed up to the anchorage. The 
 next morning the China " chops " or cargo 
 boats came alongside and we commenced dis- 
 charging. I had to take an account, single- 
 handed, of the weight of every bale of cotton, 
 there being no other European in the ship. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 FTER the cargo was discharged the 
 captain, who was slightly better, 
 rejoined his ship, when we left 
 Whampoo for the Typa, a safe anchorage 
 
 two miles from Macao ; the owner, Mr. R , 
 
 came to live on board. 
 
 At this time the Chinese Opium War broke 
 out, and all the trade between the English 
 shipowners and China merchants suddenly 
 collapsed. In consequence of this, our owner 
 fell into a very desponding state ; moreover, 
 the captain, for whom I felt the deepest 
 sympathy, was compelled to resign his post 
 on account of continued ill-health. 
 
 Just before this an event occurred which I 
 shall have cause, indeed, to remember with 
 thankfulness as long as I live. Once more, 
 through " the good hand of my God upon 
 me," I was saved from a violent death. The 
 details of this incident I now proceed to 
 relate. To my great surprise, I was awakened 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. Ill 
 
 one morning at daylight by the gunner, who 
 was much excited, informing me that the 
 crew were in a mutinous state, armed with 
 sticks and bamboos, and intending to make 
 an attack upon the ship and officers. I at 
 once called the captain, the owner, and an 
 American captain, who most fortunately was 
 sleeping on board that night. I had per- 
 suaded him to take a "shake-down" on board, 
 in preference to returning to his own ship, as 
 the night was so very dark, and his presence 
 amongst us proved of the utmost service in 
 this extremity. The mutineers were three to 
 one that we could muster on our side. 
 Having armed myself with a cutlass, the 
 first sight that met my eye was the captain 
 lying helpless on the main deck with one of 
 the strongest amongst the ringleaders kneeling 
 upon his chest. Seeing me armed with a 
 sword, the rascal bolted under the forecastle 
 and disappeared, having jumped into the sea, 
 as I supposed, out of the port-hole. I then 
 went round to the other side of the main- 
 deck with the American captain to charge the 
 rest of the men who had ranged themselves 
 five feet above our heads on the top-gallant 
 forecastle. One fellow, with well-directed aim, 
 hurled a missile at me (twenty pounds weight), 
 
112 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 knowing that could I be got rid of they 
 would have it all their own way. To avoid 
 this, I slipped aside, and received a sliding 
 blow on the head which made a scalp wound, 
 the scar of which remains to this day. When 
 the fellows saw their attempt had failed, and 
 while we were mounting up the ladder, three 
 or four of the leaders jumped overboard and 
 swam to the shore, the rest gave way, and 
 the mutiny was quelled. 
 
 The ship was lying in the Typa, about two 
 miles from Macao, and within half a mile from 
 the shore. While my wound was being dressed 
 the runaways were seen climbing up the beach. 
 They contrived to get to Macao, where they 
 had the audacity to consult the Portuguese 
 authorities, and summon the owner for their 
 wages and a passage back to Calcutta. I 
 went with the other witnesses to report their 
 mutinous conduct ; the plaintiffs were not only 
 non-suited but imprisoned, some for three, some 
 for six months, with hard labour. These men, 
 notwithstanding their shameful behaviour, were 
 entitled to some sympathy, for they had been 
 wronged. Had they, instead of resorting to these 
 violent measures, applied for redress to the au- 
 thorities on shore, they could have legally claimed 
 their wages and a passage back to Calcutta. 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. II3 
 
 I was now left on board alone, with only 
 the fragments of a crew, to ruminate on the 
 situation, which I did with some feelings of 
 dissatisfaction, as this serious scrimmage, 
 which might have cost me my life, had been 
 occasioned by the owner deliberately breaking 
 a legal contract made by Captain Bennett in 
 Calcutta, that the lascars should be taken back 
 to the port of their embarkation. I have 
 always considered a contract to be a solemn 
 engagement, binding on both parties, and woe 
 betide the man who breaks it ! 
 
 Meanwhile, a letter came from the owner 
 offering me the command of the Heroine. 
 For three days I hesitated before accepting 
 this post, but my old dread of being un- 
 employed haunting me again and again, I at 
 length agreed to take it. 
 
 About this time we were much harassed 
 by the Chinese Government, and were obliged 
 constantly to move about from port to port 
 at the entrance of the river, sometimes lying 
 at Tong Roo Cap Sing Moon, Cum Sing 
 Moon, till we settled down finally at Hong 
 Kong, one of the safest and most spacious 
 harbours in the world. The town, at that 
 time, consisted of only a few huts inhabited 
 by ^fishermen. Here we lay at anchor for 
 
114 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 nearly three years, engaged in transmitting 
 merchandise from ships to the shore. Several 
 English and American merchants being driven 
 out of Canton, came to live on board. 
 Commissioner Lin, who came from Pekin, 
 ordered all the opium in the ships trading in 
 that nefarious traffic to be given up and 
 burned. 
 
 At this critical juncture, who should turn up, 
 to my great surprise, but my brother Tom ! 
 Our meeting here was brought about in a 
 similar way to that in which we had met 
 years before in London. A man came up to 
 me and said, " Sir, I have seen your brother, 
 he is in the fleet." " Impossible ! " I replied, 
 " my brother is in America ! " " He must be 
 your brother, for you are as much alike as 
 two peas ! " I hastened to his ship, and true 
 enough, there was my brother Tom ! but 
 bronzed and altered during the five years we 
 had not seen each other. He was then com- 
 manding officer of the Bombay ship, Ruperelle, 
 belonging to a Parsee, whereas I had always 
 considered him captain of the Mary Anne, 
 sailing between St. John's, New Brunswick, and 
 Liverpool. As I was then in need of a 
 chief officer, he came to me in the Heroine ; 
 the elder brother serving the younger. Another 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 115 
 
 instance of an Irish rise, this time in his 
 case, not mine. 
 
 The typhoons or hurricanes in China are 
 very dangerous to navigation, and ships were 
 continually arriving at Hong Kong in a leaky 
 state. As there were no docks for repairs, we 
 received their cargo on board the Heroine 
 during repairs and reloading. My brother 
 complained of the owner of the ship interfering 
 with him in his duty, and soon left, taking a 
 passage for Calcutta, where he remained seven- 
 teen years in the East India Company's 
 service in command of a steamer. 
 
 Let me here mention a curious custom in 
 operation at this time. On the arrival of a 
 ship, the Chinese put on board the following 
 notice in English : — " Should any accident 
 happen and a Chinese coolie or labourer be 
 killed by the fall of any chest or bale while 
 discharging or taking in cargo, a European 
 or Fau Qui (white devil) must forfeit his life 
 in lieu thereof." Upon one occasion a China- 
 man was killed by a box, which, slipping out 
 of the slings, fell upon and crushed him. 
 This caused a great commotion, and the news 
 being told at once to the mandarins, they 
 ordered the trade with all the English ships 
 to be instantly suspended. The loss occa- 
 
Il6 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 sioned by this command, had it continued, 
 would have been enormous, as many ships, 
 some 1,400 tons burden, were loading there 
 until this sudden check threw all their crews 
 out of employment. Strange to say, the very 
 next day the crisis came to an end. I am 
 afraid my readers will be shocked when I 
 tell them the extraordinary manner in which 
 this was brought to pass ; nevertheless the 
 truth must be told, but I cannot justify the 
 course pursued. A butcher on board an India- 
 man, much addicted to drinking, had committed 
 suicide just at this time. As no way out of 
 the trade dilemma presented itself, the follow- 
 ing expedient was hit upon by the Europeans. 
 The dead body of the butcher was sent to the 
 Celestials, with a message to the effect that 
 he was so overcome with grief at having 
 caused the Chinaman's death, and so unable 
 to forgive himself, that he had put an end to 
 his life. The mandarins being perfectly satis- 
 fied with this explanation, trade was resumed 
 as usual. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 RETURN now to tell what was taking 
 place on my own ship. Very soon all 
 the spare cabins were taken up by 
 merchants, chiefly Americans, who, feeling 
 safer afloat than ashore, carried on their 
 business correspondence there for over two 
 years, whilst awaiting a settlement between 
 the Chinese government and the different 
 nationalities. This freedom from the toil of 
 a sea-going ship brought' me in daily contact 
 with a variety of characters. Amongst them 
 was a Mr. Stanhope, with his friend Captain 
 Hart, an adventurer whose exploits would fill 
 a volume ! He commanded a sloop, a one- 
 masted cutter, about sixty tons, called the 
 Lampton — a yacht formerly belonging to the 
 Earl of Durham. He was cruising about the 
 Navigator or Samoa Islands, the Fiji, the 
 New Hebrides, etc., chiefly in quest of pearls, 
 shells, beche-le-mer, trepang and birds' nests 
 for the China market. 
 
Il8 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 The whole of the Sandwich group of islands 
 has been formed by volcanic eruptions — by far 
 the largest and most extensive in the world. 
 Miss Isabella Bird gives an account of her 
 visit to a vast open crater where the flames 
 of fire were ascending to the height of from 
 four hundred to six hundred feet, and con- 
 tinuously sending out lava which flowed to a 
 distance of forty miles into the sea. It may 
 be added that this lady ascended to a height 
 of ten thousand feet. She found that water 
 boiled on the summit at a temperature of 
 I 93° F-> but tea could not be made, and it 
 took twelve hours to boil a piece of pork. 
 The climate on this group is said to be the 
 finest in the world. One terrible malady, 
 however, affects the inhabitants of all the 
 islands alike — the leprosy — for which no remedy 
 has ever been found. The persons suffering 
 with it are kept separate at Molokai, where 
 the number of lepers is said to be never less 
 than seven hundred. 
 
 Now to return to Captain Hart. A strange 
 adventure occurred while anchoring off . one 
 of these islands, which at that time was not 
 marked in any chart or map. One night 
 a canoe came alongside of the Lampton, its 
 sole occupant being a white man, who 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. Iig 
 
 related to the captain the following sad story. 
 He had belonged to a ship which was trading 
 in those parts for sperm oil, when she was 
 unfortunately wrecked on the shore of that 
 island. The natives, seeing their distress, 
 decoyed the crew on shore, and foully mur- 
 dered them all except himself, whom they 
 spared on condition that he would become 
 their Chief. When the captain heard of 
 this treacherous conduct, he vowed vengeance, 
 and landing next morning with some of his 
 men, he shot every man on the island, leaving 
 only the women and children alive. Mr. 
 Adams, the survivor just alluded to, was a 
 fine handsome man, with whom I became so 
 well acquainted in after years that I entrusted 
 him with the command of one of my ships. 
 He communicated to me the details of his 
 marvellous preservation, which fully confirmed 
 the account I had heard in Hong Kong from 
 Captain Hart. The lady who afterwards be- 
 came his wife was personally known to me. 
 They had become engaged before he left Eng- 
 land, and the tidings of the wreck of his 
 vessel, with the loss of all on board, plunged 
 her into the deepest grief. On his return 
 home two years later, he found her attired 
 in the habiliments of mourning, which, how- 
 
120 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 ever, were quickly exchanged for the ornaments 
 of a bride ! Verily truth is stranger than 
 fiction ! He was tattooed all over his neck 
 and chest, being compelled to submit to this 
 ungraceful decoration in order [to save his life, 
 the savages in this manner making him one 
 of themselves ; but he resolutely refused to 
 allow his face and hands to be tattooed. 
 Strange as this story is, I can vouch for the 
 truth of it. 
 
 While anchored at Hong Kong, I had a 
 Chinese cook, steward, and excellent servants 
 on board, recommended by the resident Euro- 
 peans who had left Canton and Macao for 
 the former port. One of these latter pre- 
 sented me with a beautiful China dinner 
 service. We always kept a good table ; our 
 visitors were most abstemious as regards wine 
 and spirits, paying me well for their quarters. 
 
 As the Chinese were continually threatening 
 to exterminate or drive away the foreigners, 
 a war ship, the Hyacinth, Captain Smith, was 
 sent out from England to protect the fleet 
 lying at Hong Kong. Whilst matters between 
 us were still awaiting a settlement, I remember 
 on one occasion that several war junks came 
 from the Yellow Sea to engage the Hyacinth. 
 This was only a ten-gun vessel, but she was 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 121 
 
 more than a match for all the naval force 
 the enemy could muster ; indeed, the disparity 
 was perfectly ridiculous. Three war junks, 
 mostly composed of bamboo, having mats for 
 sails, with a few cannonade guns on board 
 each fixed in the vessel sides, and thus rendered 
 partially useless, represented the Chinese fleet ; 
 added to which they were so crowded with 
 men that they trod one upon another, and 
 whether they were soldiers or sailors it was 
 impossible to distinguish. These junks were 
 set in a line of defence, upon which the 
 Hyacinth got under weigh, and commenced 
 the attack by firing two shots over their heads ! 
 Immediately on perceiving that a well-directed 
 broadside from the Hyacinth would send them to 
 the bottom, the crews, one and all, skedaddled, 
 jumping into the water and escaping to the 
 shore. The English were too magnanimous 
 to pursue them, deeming it both merciless 
 and cowardly to fight with so feeble a foe. 
 The Hyacinth returned to her anchorage and 
 the war junks to Pekin, the latter reporting 
 that the barbarians ran away, and that they 
 were the victors ! 
 
 The result of this encounter inspired us 
 with such confidence that we no longer 
 dreaded an attack. Although not in China 
 
122 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 when Canton was bombarded, I have been 
 informed that a small squadron of gun-boats 
 opened fire on the city, which would very 
 quickly have been in a blaze had not the 
 terrified inhabitants hoisted a flag of truce and 
 inquired on what terms peace could be pur- 
 chased. The payment of three million dollars 
 was the condition we offered. To this demand 
 they readily acceded, and — will it be credited ? 
 — within two days this enormous sum was 
 raised, and a treaty of peace signed, thus 
 making short work of the strife. The prompt 
 adoption of strong measures often prevents 
 much slaughter, either in the case of Celestials 
 or other peoples, since the display of superior 
 power has the salutary effect of changing lions 
 into lambs. 
 
 An understanding having been arrived at 
 between our own Government and the Chinese, 
 things became more settled, and we soon 
 obtained a cargo. After the Heroine was 
 loaded, it was my difficult task to engage 
 officers and a miscellaneous crew for the 
 voyage to London. I had commanded this 
 ship to the satisfaction of the owner, who 
 was on board the whole time we were lying 
 at Hong Kong. He and I were on the best 
 of terms, and I recollect his observing that 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 123 
 
 my whole heart and soul were in the work 
 of preparation to return home to England. 
 There was no Lloyd's agent to survey the 
 vessel ; this duty, therefore, devolved upon two 
 ships' captains, who knew no more about the 
 hull of a ship than I did. I was fully aware 
 that the Heroine had been laid up five years 
 altogether in India and China ; no one knew 
 her age, and sometimes I had my suspicions 
 about the soundness of her timbers. To add 
 to our difficulty, there were no dry docks here 
 for examining the state of boats and treenails, 
 but a coating of paint soon covered up all 
 defects. 
 
 The monsoon was not favourable for the 
 China Sea passage, we therefore came through 
 the Straits of Barselene into the Mindora 
 Sea, and thence into the South Pacific through 
 the Celebes Sea, Zuloo Sea, the Straits of 
 Salayer, and Macassar, a Dutch settlement 
 near Celebes. 
 
 We experienced calms, light winds, and a 
 long passage, obliging us to put into a port 
 on New Guinea for water, wood, and provi- 
 sions. Here we found plenty of sago, turtles 
 in abundance, the bird of paradise, and 
 pigeons four times the size of ours. We were 
 anchored on the Equinoctial line, and at the 
 
124 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 very time of the sun's passing the Equator, 
 consequently there was no shadow at noon-day. 
 The mop-headed Papuas were cannibals at that 
 time, though they were friendly to us and 
 especially towards the Malay sailors on board. 
 I am happy to say that missionaries have since 
 visited this place with the Gospel, and many 
 of the Papuas now sing praises to the God 
 of salvation. The harbour was very safe, the 
 surroundings magnificent, and nothing vile but 
 man. Indeed, the scenery here is far beyond 
 my power of description. The natives call the 
 place Waygion, and the bay, which is from 
 three to four miles in circumference, is in 
 the form of a horse-shoe, with a white sandy 
 beach, and a river of fresh water running 
 round it. The centre of the bay is studded 
 with numerous small islets ; these are decked 
 with the brightest foliage down to the very 
 edge of the sea, presenting the appearance of 
 beautiful bouquets in the water. The neigh- 
 bouring hills and forests are grand in the 
 extreme, and I can unhesitatingly assert that 
 this spot is the fairest I have ever looked 
 upon. 
 
 It was in this bay that the French vessels 
 anchored when in search of La Perouse, the 
 French navigator, who, in 1785, was appointed 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 125 
 
 to command a small squadron fitted out for 
 a voyage of discovery round the world. His 
 ships were never seen after leaving Botany 
 Bay, January, 1788, and he and his men, no 
 doubt, perished. 
 
 With the exception of firewood and water, 
 our stores, such as beef, pork, and biscuits, 
 for the remaining voyage, were exhausted ; 
 we therefore put into Batavia for supplies. 
 Here the owner left the ship, to the great 
 satisfaction of all on board. A very short 
 time sufficed to take in what was required, 
 and we proceeded through the Straits of 
 Sunda, which separate Sumatra from Java, 
 homeward bound. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 S E rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 
 fine weather, and at length arrived at 
 St. Helena for water, our stock being 
 reduced to the last cask. On stepping into the 
 boat to go off to Jamestown, the only landing 
 place in the island, I perceived that one of the 
 treenails in the top sides was rotten. This 
 confirmed my former suspicion that the ship 
 might prove very defective in meeting the 
 storms of the North Atlantic Ocean. Having 
 little opinion of their judgment, I did not 
 consult with the officers, but after carefully 
 weighing the matter over, I resolved to have the 
 ship surveyed and repaired before proceeding 
 further. This detained us some time, after 
 which, feeling better satisfied, we again set 
 sail. The ship was tight, and made little or no 
 water until we arrived in, what is called by 
 sailors, the " roaring forties " — that is, the lati- 
 tude of 40 North. Here we were overtaken by 
 a very heavy gale, or rather cyclone, which 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 127 
 
 lasted three days. The ship laboured very much 
 in the heavy seas which struck her continually. 
 At last, and in the night, during an eclipse of the 
 moon, a mountainous wave towering over all 
 the rest, struck her, and although she rose up 
 again above all, it must have loosened or 
 separated the top sides from the bends. This 
 is a weak part in old ships, being between light 
 and loaded water-marks. Under the impression 
 that she was likely to go down, the mizzen 
 mast was cut away with all the gear, spars 
 and rigging attached to it. The ship put before 
 the wind, and very fortunately the storm abated 
 considerably. After a careful examination, it 
 was deemed necessary to throw a great part of 
 the cargo overboard, and save our lives by 
 running before the wind for some safe port. 
 We had a long distance to go, but the weather 
 was very fine and favoured us until we came 
 near to the land, when another severe storm 
 overtook the Heroine in her disabled state and 
 with a worn-out crew. I was intending to run 
 into Gibraltar Bay, but not having been able to 
 take any observation to correct our reckoning, 
 we found the ship had been carried by an 
 undercurrent towards the African side of the 
 Straits. It was night, but I could see the sea 
 breaking heavily on Cape Spartel ; by and bye, 
 
128 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 some one forward called out " breakers ahead !" 
 I ordered the helm to be put hard to star- 
 board ; but whether the helmsman mistook the 
 order, or put the helm the wrong way, I cannot 
 say. It is more probable that, being partly 
 dismasted, the ship did not answer the helm, 
 and so struck on a sandbank. The gale 
 increased, and heavy seas soon dashed her to 
 pieces amidships, leaving the poop deck and 
 forecastle entire for the rest of the night. Five 
 of the Europeans, with myself and the chief 
 officer, Mr. McDougall, assembled on the poop- 
 deck, and held a prayer meeting in the midst of 
 the raging wind and furious waves, expecting 
 every moment to be dashed overboard. We 
 were not afraid to meet death, feeling sure that 
 as repentant sinners we should find acceptance 
 with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. I 
 afterwards lost sight of my companions in the 
 darkness of the night ; they were all sober men, 
 and I had full confidence in their readiness to 
 render the best help they could. All night long 
 I could hear the Asiatics in prayer ; their suffer- 
 ings must have been intense, on account of 
 their less robust physique. In the morning, 
 when daylight broke, many, alas ! had disap- 
 peared. After watching a slant between the 
 billows, I went forward and sat down in the 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 131 
 
 fore chains, clinging to the rigging. Towards 
 mid-day, the storm abated somewhat, when I 
 ordered all to try to save themselves, entreating 
 them not to trust to their swimming powers, but 
 to pieces of the broken wreck which would 
 support them through the surf; and I observed 
 that all who heeded this caution arrived safely on 
 shore. Towards evening the* sea was a little 
 smoother ; I was the last man to leave the ship, 
 which I did with a passenger, a young man who 
 had been valet to Lord John Churchill, captain 
 of H.M.S. Druid. We both stripped, and 
 launching one of the deck planks, jumped into 
 the sea on the lee side. A strong current was 
 running past the wreck, the first sea that struck 
 the plank carrying off the young man, who went 
 down out of sight, leaving me alone to struggle 
 with the waves. I picked up a sinking man 
 who was clinging to a small broken piece of 
 the wreck, and we both reached the shore in 
 safety ; but I was so exhausted that I fell 
 down in attempting to walk, and was carried 
 up into a tent ; the first mate and the Euro- 
 peans rejoicing to give me a greeting. It was 
 two or three days before I fairly recovered 
 this shock. The Consul-General, Mr. Drum- 
 mond Hay, hearing of the wreck, came with 
 provisions and help, bringing also a tent for 
 
132 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 us to sleep in. This is called the coast 
 of Barbary, and certainly " the Barbarians 
 showed us no little kindness, for they kindled a 
 fire and received us " with great hospitality. 
 
 I cannot conscientiously charge myself with 
 any want of seamanship as being the cause 
 of this terrible catastrophe. In justice to myself, 
 I must say I believe the cause can be stated in 
 one sentence — the Heroine was a rotten ship, not 
 seaworthy ; had she been otherwise, sound in 
 her timbers, and well fastened together with new 
 treenails, I should have delivered the cargo and 
 men all safe in London. I have commanded 
 ships successfully for fifteen years; the sad story 
 just narrated records the only mishap I have 
 met with of any great consequence during the 
 whole of my sea-going experiences. 
 
 In leaving this painful episode, I beg the 
 reader to remember that I had twice saved the 
 ship, once in the Straits of Malacca, when she 
 was ashore, and the other time on the Hen and 
 Chickens bank, as she was running into a bay 
 with the palm trees nearly under her forefoot. 
 
 When Sunday came, the Consul-General con- 
 ducted divine service under a tent. I cannot 
 recollect a single person who was present, my 
 mind being so absorbed in the solemn service. 
 Not one opportunity of attending public worship 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 133 
 
 had been afforded me during the many years 
 spent in India and China. Like a thirsty 
 soul at the Fountain of Living Water, I drank 
 in every word, unconscious of all around. The 
 conviction that I was a vile and guilty sinner 
 had never been forced upon my mind as it 
 was then. There and then I determined to 
 give up all my worldly companions, and thought 
 to go " mourning all my days," but the 
 " spirit of heaviness " was suddenly exchanged 
 for "the garment of praise" (Isaiah lxi., 3). It 
 was during the reading of the one hundredth 
 Psalm — 
 
 11 be joyful in the Lord all ye lands ; 
 Serve the Lord with gladness, 
 And come before His presence with a song" — 
 
 that the Spirit of God brought me the message 
 of salvation through faith in Christ Jesus, 
 causing my soul to rejoice in God my Saviour. 
 Life and light now entered my soul, dispelling 
 all its doubts and fears. I was no longer a 
 stranger to repentance and a godly sorrow for 
 sin, and truly did I thank God for sending His 
 Son to save sinners. This was the beginning 
 of a new life, and never since that moment 
 have I been oppressed with gloomy doubts or 
 mournful frames. " Rejoice evermore," and 
 " Pray without ceasing," are blessed injunc- 
 
134 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 tions, and should be counted as privileges by 
 the soul whose " life is hid with Christ in God," 
 and who is " kept by the power of God through 
 faith unto salvation." I have no doubt that 
 many men leave the hallowed influences of a 
 happy home with the best intentions. All too 
 quickly they meet with evil companions, who 
 not only mock at religion, and break the 
 Sabbath, but tempt them to do likewise ; thus 
 the " good seed " sown early in the home is 
 choked by " the lusts of other things entering 
 in," and becomes unfruitful. 
 
 But "the pleasures of sin" are only "for 
 a season " ; soon comes the bitterness, the 
 shame, and the sorrow, but the heart gets 
 hardened, and the Lord has often to deal 
 with the wanderer " by terrible things in 
 righteousness." But He wounds only to heal, 
 He smites to the ground only to raise up 
 again whenever the wounded and bruised soul 
 looks to Him in simple faith for pardon and 
 salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 And here let me pause for a moment to 
 speak of God's wonderful love, first in giving 
 His only begotten Son " that whosoever 
 believeth in Him should not perish, but have 
 everlasting life," and then in His patiently 
 waiting for and following after the wandering 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 135 
 
 sheep. Oh ! my reader, if you have not 
 already sought His grace, lose no time " lest 
 ye perish by the way." The best the world 
 can give will never satisfy an immortal soul. 
 I tried the broken cisterns, but they failed ; 
 now for many years I have tried Christ, and 
 I can testify He " never faileth." 
 
 But to return to my narrative. My duty now 
 was to save all the property connected with the 
 wreck of the ship and cargo, and I had to look 
 after a mixed gang of Jews, Christians, and 
 Mahometans, in my efforts to rescue what I 
 could from the devouring sea; and who can 
 wonder when I say that the sight of a wrecked 
 ship was continually before me for many a day ? 
 
 From this scene I was removed to Tangiers 
 in a small caravanserai or escort of mules and 
 camels, and dwelt in the house of the Consul- 
 General, Mrs. Drummond Hay showing me the 
 greatest sympathy and kindness. During the 
 three weeks I remained with them, I much 
 enjoyed the family worship which we had 
 night and morning, and believe it helped me 
 forward in the spiritual life ; God, by His 
 grace, having preserved and kept me until now. 
 
 Lloyd's agent at Gibraltar sent a small 
 vessel to take the tea saved from the wreck ; 
 this plan, however, proved a failure, as the 
 
I36 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 Governor, on hearing of it, issued an order 
 forbidding any dealer to purchase or offer for 
 sale damaged goods. When Mr. Drummond 
 Hay was satisfied that everything had been 
 done both properly and justly, he allowed me 
 to proceed to Gibraltar, where I arrived after 
 crossing the Straits in a leech boat. My first 
 visit was to a tailor, from whom I ordered a 
 suit of decent apparel, having since the wreck 
 worn a suit belonging to the Consul, which 
 gave me the appearance of a military man 
 rather than a seaman. The agent for Lloyd's, 
 Mr. Longlands Cowell, was a notary public, 
 and I had to make before him a statement 
 from memory of all the events of the voyage 
 from Hong Kong to the time of the loss of 
 the ship. The chief officer, with the petty 
 officers, on their arrival in London were also 
 called upon to make a similar statement before 
 a notary public, and I heard that both narratives 
 were in complete agreement with each other. 
 It was necessary for these depositions to be 
 taken before the owners could claim the 
 insurances on ship and freight. There was at 
 that time a barbarous provision existing in 
 the Maritime Law of England, by which, in 
 case of shipwreck, sailors were entitled to 
 their wages up to the time of the disaster 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 137 
 
 only, and precluded from claiming any after- 
 wards. This was the rule — freight is the 
 mother of wages — the safe arrival of the ship 
 is the mother of freight, — so that poor Jack 
 was often robbed of part of his earnings. I 
 rejoice to say this custom was soon after 
 abolished. 
 
 In my own case, after the owners of the 
 Heroine had received payment in full of all 
 their claims they snapped their fingers at mine, 
 knowing that my documents and agreements 
 were all lost, but this meanness and roguery 
 was quite customary with that firm. After 
 long and fruitless efforts to bring these tricky 
 shipowners to a fair settlement, I relinquished 
 the attempt in despair. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 'FTER an absence of ten years I 
 §j||§» thought it was time to go home 
 and see my father, who lived in 
 the West Riding of Yorkshire, near Don- 
 caster. He was then in his eightieth year, 
 having practised as a solicitor nearly sixty 
 years ! I related to him the history of my 
 travels, showing that, from a financial point 
 of view, I was no better off thali when I 
 left home, though I had gained invaluable 
 experience. I had lost all my savings, but I 
 had never lost that which I valued far more 
 — my character and reputation. To his ques- 
 tion as to what I was going to do in the 
 future, I replied that I came home to see 
 him, which was my duty, and to " raise the 
 wind" in order to enable me to carry out a 
 scheme which I had long cherished. This 
 scheme he fully approved of when fairly laid 
 before him. I had the reversionary interest 
 on a legacy left me by an uncle, who had 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. I39 
 
 celebrated his golden wedding, and I found 
 plenty of friends willing to advance what 
 money I required. I gave strong and un- 
 answerable reasons in favour of my new 
 enterprise, which was to purchase part of a 
 ship and take the command .myself. My plea 
 was this, I had worked many years for the 
 benefit of others, and thought now the time 
 was come when I might, with advantage, 
 consider my own interest, instead of sailing 
 in ships owned by other men, who realized 
 all the profits of the voyages. My native air, 
 combined with the renewal of early friend- 
 ships and associations, and aided by my 
 invariably temperate habits, soon restored me 
 from the effects of the shock I had ex- 
 perienced. 
 
 Very soon all that I wanted in the way of 
 money was forthcoming, and even much more 
 if I had needed it ; being thus well supplied 
 I was ready to start. A kindly feeling was 
 the result of this renewal of old friendships, 
 and once more I left home for London, 
 accompanied by hearty congratulations, and 
 indulging many bright anticipations for the 
 time to come. Again I found myself in that 
 great vortex of human life — the vast metropolis 
 — where, fortunately, I was now not unknown. 
 
140 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 With the experience of over ten years, I 
 patiently waited — not for something to turn 
 up, as formerly, but now upon the Lord, for 
 " The Lord reigneth " was sufficient for me. 
 Should not this truth be our confidence in 
 every emergency? 
 
 I called on several shipowners, whom I 
 knew to be most respectable men, stating my 
 circumstances and proposal. They all expressed 
 themselves as favourable to my undertaking, 
 but informed me there was no employment 
 in any trade for ships, commercial enterprise 
 being very dull, and consequently the vessels 
 were laid up, waiting a turn in the tide of 
 events. I deposited my money, at call, in the 
 London Joint Stock Bank, and shortly after- 
 wards was offered the command of an emigrant 
 ship, bound to Prince Edward Island in the 
 Gulf of St. Lawrence. No partnership pre- 
 sented itself, and rather than be idle I 
 accepted this offer. A considerable time was 
 spent in the outfit, but at length we sailed 
 from the London Docks. Although it was 
 very late in the year for such a voyage with 
 emigrants, I raised no objection, being pretty 
 well acquainted with the North Atlantic, and 
 also with the Gulf of St. Lawrence in the 
 winter season. Before sailing, I had made 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 141 
 
 up my mind, should the weather on the 
 American side prove inauspicious, to land the 
 passengers at Halifax, Nova Scotia, but I 
 kept my own counsel. We had a very fine 
 run across, indeed. Meeting with a homeward 
 bound ship in a distressed state, I supplied 
 her with stores, and ultimately we arrived on 
 the Grand Bank of Newfoundland, when the 
 winter season set in with unusual rigour. We 
 beat about day after day with gales alternating 
 from north - west to south - west, until our 
 masts, rigging and sails, were all more or 
 less damaged ; the ship's hull, however, was 
 still staunch and strong. The passengers, 
 especially the poor women and children, suffered 
 extremely. At last I called the officers to- 
 gether for consultation, and it was deemed 
 expedient to bear up and run back for a 
 port in the United Kingdom. When we had 
 put the ship's stern to the gale, the passen- 
 gers began to leap for joy, well knowing the 
 difference between meeting the storm in the 
 teeth, and running before the wind. In about 
 twelve days we sighted the Fastnet Rock, off 
 Cape Clear, on the south coast of Ireland, 
 next day coming to an anchor in the Cove 
 of Cork, now called Queenstown. 
 
 We had been out at sea fifty-seven days 
 
I42 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 without once seeing land. It was Christmas Eve, 
 and I went on shore and remained there all the 
 next day. Several ships were lying in the port 
 which had been obliged to do as we had done, the 
 Cunard liners alone having been able to make 
 their passage to New York, which was a little fur- 
 ther south than our destination. The passengers 
 were all in good health I am glad to say. 
 
 I must here relate what I saw on passing 
 through a vigia, or shoal, in the midst of the 
 ocean, as we were making for Cork. It was 
 blowing furiously, the sea being contrary to 
 the wind, causing the waves to leap up in 
 wild agitation, sparkling with phosphoric light 
 not unlike a gigantic caldron of boiling liquid 
 fire. I knew we were all safe, the chart 
 marking this spot as a very small one indeed. 
 I mounted the rigging and looked all around. 
 The brightness of the sea seemed to illumine 
 the atmosphere as far as the eye could reach ; 
 but it only lasted half-an-hour, after which we 
 came into smoother water. 
 
 To resume my story. On arriving at Cork, 
 the agent of the ship, with whom I resided 
 for a day or two, came on board with Lloyd's 
 agent, and a survey was held. The jury masts 
 were condemned, much of the bulwarks found 
 damaged, and stanchions stove in by the force 
 
RUNNING BEFORE THE WIND. 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. I45 
 
 of the sea, but the hull was sound and did 
 not require to be docked. I had to make 
 a protest before a notary, who copied from 
 the log-book all the casualities entered there, 
 which I had carefully noted on account of 
 the insurance. Then followed the old story, 
 familiar to most captains — one by one all the 
 sailors left the ship. However, the carpenters 
 and riggers set to work, and soon we were 
 all prepared for sea again ; but it was decided 
 that the emigrants should remain on board 
 until April, when the ice in the St. Lawrence 
 would be broken up. One of the passengers acted 
 as steward. I spent most of the time either at 
 an hotel — the " Navy Arms " — or with friends, only 
 taking luncheon on board, and thoroughly enjoy- 
 ing this break, which was a real rest to me. 
 Just as we were on the point of sailing, the 
 ship was seized for debt by the mortgagee, 
 and ordered back again to London, emigrants 
 and all. I was asked to take the command 
 again, although I had left the ship, and was 
 living at the hotel. The agent was unable 
 to meet with another commander to take 
 charge of the vessel, engage a new crew, and 
 return to the London Docks, which we had 
 left the previous November ; so I consented 
 to do so, stipulating payment before sailing. 
 
I46 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 In one week the voyage was accomplished, 
 and then the mortgagee put his own ship- 
 keeper on board. The emigrants applied to 
 the Lord Mayor, Alderman Humphreys. I was 
 summoned to show cause why I had not 
 fulfilled my agreement, made before sailing, to 
 land the passengers at Prince Edward Island. 
 I attended at the Mansion House, where most 
 of the emigrants were assembled. His lordship 
 in opening the case, reminded me that I had 
 incurred a penalty of one thousand pounds 
 for not landing the emigrants at the port 
 in America, for which the ship had cleared 
 out at the Custom House in London. My 
 reply was, " My lord, I am quite aware of it, 
 and am ready to carry out my part whenever 
 the Company is prepared to find a ship for 
 the purpose." The emigrants said they did 
 not wish to press their charge against the 
 captain, who had always treated them with 
 much kindness and consideration. Then the 
 bubble burst — one of the emigrants remarking 
 that the company, who had promised them 
 grants of land, had not so much as would 
 bury them if they had arrived there. I 
 discovered afterwards that the whole scheme 
 was hatched in White Cross Street Prison by 
 designing men of no character, who had got 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. I47 
 
 the names of well-known and highly respectable 
 men on a flaming prospectus, and launched it 
 before the needy ones, who were willing to 
 emigrate under favourable auspices. 
 
 A long article appeared next day in the 
 Morning Chronicle, complimentary to myself, 
 as showing a laudable disposition not to 
 conceal any facts touching the misadventure. 
 A cheque for fifty pounds was sent anony- 
 mously for the benefit of those who had been 
 so shamefully deceived, and an offer of assist- 
 ance to any who wished still to emigrate, which 
 offer not one would accept, the Atlantic waves 
 proving a sufficient barrier to keep them on 
 this side of the ocean. How these schemers 
 had contrived to keep up the delusion so 
 long was always a great puzzle to me, and 
 when their fraudulent dealings were exposed 
 to the public, I could not but congratulate 
 myself that I had not been one of their dupes. 
 
 Amid the varied circumstances of our chequered 
 life let us trace God's faithfulness in smoothing 
 our path, and learn to trust Him in the future. 
 
 The deadlock in the shipping continued some 
 time longer, but I comforted myself, remem- 
 bering the Persian proverb, " Everything comes 
 to the man who knows how to wait." As it 
 was my intention to purchase a ship, or part 
 
148 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 of one, it was necessary to keep on the look- 
 out ; and having consulted a friend, a retired 
 shipbuilder, who was well known to be a 
 good judge of all kinds of craft, he recom- 
 mended a vessel which he knew to be faithfully 
 built and a good carrier, advising me on no 
 account to be in a hurry, and adding that soon 
 I should be able to get her at my own price. 
 
 Meanwhile, two gentlemen who had been 
 shipowners sent for me, asking if I knew any- 
 thing about guano. I replied in the affirma- 
 tive, having seen ships discharging it in the 
 London docks ; it was said to be worth twenty 
 shillings per cwt., and was then used only 
 for horticultural purposes. One of them said 
 he had seen his broker, who offered a charter 
 to some port south of the Equator, with 
 sealed orders to be opened on arrival there. 
 He offered me the command of the vessel, 
 Frances Lawson, which I accepted, thinking I 
 could perceive a rift in the dark cloud so long 
 hanging over the shipping interest. 
 
 This merchant came from Liverpool to 
 London — a fact which raised my suspicion that 
 there was something in the wind, though the 
 secret was unknown, and I began to fit out 
 the Frances Lawson for the projected passage 
 to the Equator with sealed orders. 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 149 
 
 By this time I had completed the purchase 
 of La bonne mere, a plantation-built ship of 
 black birch and juniper wood, just what I 
 desired, with the ownership and command. 
 But I could not break an agreement, so I 
 sailed in the former, a captain being appointed 
 to the latter, who was directed to sail for the 
 same parts as we were bound for. Before 
 leaving, I called one day to purchase an 
 Admiralty chart of a section of the coast of 
 South Africa, which, though strictly belonging 
 to the Admiralty, they do not refuse to sell 
 to the captain of a merchant ship making an 
 application. I found that others had been 
 inquiring for the same charts, thus confirming 
 my previous impression that there was some 
 enterprise going forward in that part of the world. 
 
 Shakespeare says, " There is a tide in the 
 affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads 
 on to fortune." I began to think after my 
 two late misadventures that the current of 
 events was about to change in my favour, 
 which ultimately proved to be the case. I once 
 more set sail ; full of hope, and impressed with 
 the idea that should the undertaking prove 
 successful, I might look forward to an early 
 retirement. We got nicely down the Thames, 
 and came to anchor in the Downs. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 SkSkARLY the next morning, it being very 
 jSffijSS bright, with a fair wind, we were pro- 
 *™^« ceeding down the English Channel, 
 when a collision (one of the most stupid I 
 ever knew) took place, at eight o'clock, in the 
 following manner : the steersman on a brig 
 called the Halifax, put his helm the wrong way, 
 and dashed into my ship. I was below at the 
 time, winding up the chronometer. The brig 
 sheered off with very considerable damage. 
 The Frances Lawson looked like a wreck ; the 
 quarter-boat was smashed, the steering appa- 
 ratus carried away, mizzen gaff, main-top 
 gallant-yard, taff-rail and quarter-piece stove 
 in — exposing the timbers ; but all the injury 
 was, fortunately, above the water mark. On 
 recovering from the fright, I saw the other 
 ship's name, and bore up for the Downs. In 
 a few moments I regained my self-possession, 
 and giving the word, " Bear up again and run 
 down the Channel," we all set to work with 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 151 
 
 a good will to repair the ship, and by eight 
 o'clock in the evening she was seaworthy. In 
 this short interval we had made a new wheel, 
 scarped the broken spars, covered the taff-rail 
 in, and placed the jolly-boat in board, smashed 
 as it was. 
 
 A second misfortune followed close upon 
 this. In crossing the Bay of Biscay, I was 
 aroused early one morning by these words, 
 " Please, sir, the bowsprit is in two halves." 
 This is one of the most serious accidents that 
 can happen to a ship at sea. The weather 
 continuing fine, favoured our position, though 
 the carpenters and men seemed paralyzed. I 
 thought we must shorten all sail on the fore- 
 mast, and run for Bilboa. Never before had 
 I experienced two such disasters — a collision, 
 and the loss of the principal spar in the ship, 
 which secures the mast and rigging. Having 
 a long day before us, I directed the carpenters 
 to cut away a part of the " knight-heads," 
 slip two broad planks on their edges inboard 
 and outboard, frap stout chains round the 
 fishes, binding all tightly together, drive in 
 some oak wedges, and set up the rigging and 
 bobstays. All this was well accomplished before 
 nightfall, and though unsightly enough, it lasted 
 the whole voyage, and was stronger than the 
 
152 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 original bowsprit. I am pleased to say that 
 this casualty proved to be the last ; and though 
 I continued for five subsequent years to sail to 
 different parts of the world, I met with no 
 such mishaps again. On our return home the 
 owner brought an action against the ship 
 Halifax, and recovered eighty pounds damages. 
 
 The provisions supplied in the Frances Lawson 
 were of very inferior quality. I remonstrated 
 with the owner before we started, and used all 
 my persuasive powers, remarking that not only 
 would the men have to provide a cargo, which 
 was unusual, but the mistaken economy might 
 thwart the enterprise. He was, however, a 
 pig-headed man, and refused to listen to my 
 advice. I invariably stood out for the rights 
 of poor Jack, being able to sympathize with 
 him from having personally experienced his 
 lot, indeed, a mutual understanding existed 
 between us, and I was always on the best of 
 terms with my crew. The salt beef was unfit 
 for consumption, therefore I ordered it to be 
 thrown overboard, and purchased the best I 
 could meet with, paying double price. 
 
 On cur safe arrival at the Equator I opened 
 the despatches in presence of both officers and 
 found our conjectures, as to destination, were 
 correct, Angra Pequina, at that time a terra 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 153 
 
 incognita, being the port. A small sketch I 
 had with me of the appearance of the land 
 was most useful to us, and we anchored in 
 a safe bay. 
 
 The discovery of guano on the south-west 
 coast of Africa — a discovery inferior to none 
 in this century, not excepting even that of 
 gold in California and South Australia, has 
 proved to be one of the greatest benefits to 
 agriculture. There is an old Latin proverb, 
 which says, " Effadinntur opes, irritamenta 
 ntalorum." (Riches, the incentives to vice, are 
 dug out of the earth.) But guano has proved 
 an excellent incentive to the productiveness 
 of the soil exhausted by constant cropping. 
 Chemical analysis showed, it to be worth ten 
 pounds per ton, and the entire deposit five 
 millions sterling. Guano has proved the source 
 of wealth to this country to the amount of 
 millions of money. 
 
 Now I must boast myself a little. I was at 
 Angra Pequina in the first ship when there 
 was only one other there besides mine, and 
 I took the first cargo up the English Channel 
 to Hull that was ever imported from Africa. 
 On my second voyage, I found five hundred 
 ships were loading on the coast. When I 
 was half loaded La bonne mere came in, and, 
 
154 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 knowing there was an abundant supply of the 
 deposit at Ichaboe, I despatched the captain 
 there. Both ships were soon fully loaded, and 
 arrived safely in Hull. 
 
 The two cargoes were very readily disposed 
 of, enabling myself and partner to purchase a 
 new ship, which we named Young England. 
 I could now call myself a shipowner, and I 
 sailed again in command of the new vessel, 
 while Captain Adams, before alluded to, went 
 in La bonne mere, both of us bound for Ichaboe, 
 and both returning home safe to Liverpool 
 with full cargoes ; the cargo of Young England 
 being valued at five thousand pounds. Immed- 
 iately I set sail again for the same object, 
 exchanging the Young England for La bonne 
 mere, but in the interval the islands had all 
 been completely cleared. I imagine that one 
 thousand ships had loaded there, carrying on 
 an average five hundred tons each, so that 
 half a million tons of the deposit must have 
 been removed. 
 
 Having forseen what would happen when 
 this El Dorado was exhausted, I had taken 
 a supply of goods to barter with the Africans 
 for a cargo of dye-woods, and other productions. 
 After sailing the whole length of the south- 
 west coast of Africa, from Ichaboe to the 
 
" LA BONNE MERE " IN SEARCH OF AN " EL DORADO. 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 157 
 
 Cammeroons, in a fruitless search after nitrate 
 of soda, visiting Port Alexander, Walweck Bay, 
 Great Fish Bay, Hollam's Bird Island, Mercury 
 Island, and other places, I finally opened trade 
 with the natives in the river Gaboon. 
 
 While searching along the coast at Port 
 Alexander, I found, six inches below the surface 
 of the sand, a layer of some substance re- 
 sembling nitrate of soda. It was as white as 
 loaf sugar, melted in water, leaving little or no 
 residuum, was without taste, and fire had no 
 effect upon it. A sample brought home was 
 pronounced to be " salt that had lost its 
 savour." 
 
 Near the Equator the rains continue ten 
 months in the year, during which season it is 
 very unhealthy, the rainfall measuring fourteen 
 feet per annum ; happily we were there the 
 two months of fine weather. 
 
 Before proceeding to narrate my trading 
 experiences in the Gaboon, let me mention an 
 incident which occurred at this time. Whilst 
 coasting along the sandy desert, we met with 
 the Bosjesmans, two of whom remained in the 
 ship for several days. A French vessel, then 
 in the river, had a fine gorilla on board, and 
 I had thus an opportunity of observing the 
 apparent similarity between these degraded 
 
I58 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 specimens of the human family and the gorilla. 
 Both my officers and the super-cargo persistently 
 affirmed the latter to be the better looking, and 
 declared that we all sprang from the apes ! 
 While expatiating on the folly of such reasoning, 
 I pointed out to them one of these men, and 
 showed them he evidently had some idea of 
 a Supreme Being — his body was mutilated, one 
 eye had been put out, two joints of one of 
 his fingers were cut off, and a front tooth 
 knocked out, and concluded by adding that 
 " Man is a cooking animal, a decorative 
 animal, and above all, a worshipping animal." 
 Upon this, the poor savage, perceiving he was 
 the subject of our discussion, pointed his hand 
 upwards towards the sky. This significant 
 gesture proved I had the best of the argument, 
 showing as it did, that he had mutilated his 
 body for the sake of his soul. 
 
 Now to resume my story. The goods which 
 I had to barter with were cotton piece goods, 
 rumauls or handkerchiefs, hatchets, matchets, 
 tobacco in leaf, beads, looking-glasses, all of 
 the commonest description, but suitable for 
 the trade in Central Africa. This was quite 
 a new feature in my experience as commander 
 of a merchant ship. I resolved, however, to 
 make the best of it, having failed to find any 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 159 
 
 fresh nitrate beds. The first question the wily 
 natives put to me, was, " Have you ever been 
 in this trade before ? " to which I replied 
 that I knew the African coast well, but had 
 never before anchored in that port. Some 
 time elapsed ere we came to an understanding, 
 as I found King Jackeromandy and his tribe 
 hostile ; therefore, I removed to the river 
 Danger. Here, a man (who spoke good 
 English), calling himself Peter, son of King 
 George, came on board and warned me of the 
 hostile tribes. We soon entered into negocia- 
 tions with several kings or chiefs of villages, 
 King Quaqus, King Kella, King Jim, and others. 
 Some of those chiefs assumed a dignity be- 
 fitting their lofty titles, when paying a visit 
 with their trains of wives, and expected to be 
 received by a royal salute of cannonades or 
 small guns. I submitted to this custom, and 
 presented their Majesties, as they expected me 
 to do, with a " dash " or present, consisting 
 of samples of the articles I had for traffic. 
 I found in this trade of barter, I was to give 
 the goods before receiving their equivalent, 
 and they made several attempts to cheat, but 
 as I never retaliated, a good understanding 
 was soon established between us. One day 
 we missed several articles of value from the 
 
l6o THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 vessel, so the next morning I caught the first 
 three men I could lay hands on, and hand- 
 cuffed them together. A great palaver ensued, 
 and very soon the missing articles were restored. 
 In matters of business there were some shrewd 
 men amongst these natives, but after a few 
 days experience I was a match for them all. 
 The cleverest among them was King Richard, 
 who had a withered hand, and a hump on his 
 back ; he always kept his fetish in his left 
 hand, and to my enquiry why he did so, he 
 replied, " No tiger, or lion, or gun, can injure 
 me with this charm." 
 
 This conversation took place on shore where 
 I seldom went ; I had in my hand a double 
 barrelled gun loaded, also some bullets in my 
 pocket, and I said to King Richard : " You 
 stand one hundred yards from me, and I will 
 drill a hole through you." His answer was, 
 " My fetish is not for white man's gun." 
 
 When he first came on board he brought a 
 cocked hat and a naval uniform under his arm, 
 apologizing for not wearing them on account 
 of the great heat, his only covering being a 
 loin garment. All the wives and daughters of 
 the other kings appeared in the same cos- 
 tume. 
 
 I was most careful to keep my sailors 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. l6l 
 
 entirely separate from the traders, employing 
 natives to bring the cargo on board, whilst I 
 occupied my men in duties on the ship. We 
 lived well, enjoying the poultry, young goats, 
 plantain fritters, and occasionally cabbage from 
 the tree of that name ; the latter is the 
 sweetest vegetable I ever tasted, something 
 like kale, but with an almond flavour. The 
 working hours were from ten to four, then I 
 drove my visitors all ashore, and was glad to 
 rest from this fatiguing employment of barter- 
 ing. With them, time was no object, for they 
 were ready to palaver half-a-day over every 
 bargain, but I assured them my time was 
 worth a guinea a minute, and I used all the 
 dispatch I could. In about one month a full 
 and complete cargo was obtained, when we 
 returned to Liverpool without any casualty, 
 or. incident worth recording. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 JRRIVING at Liverpool, I found to my 
 dvalS surprise that my partner was living 
 incognito, having been speculating with 
 a Liverpool man of no reputation — a dangerous 
 and desperate adventurer, as I had always 
 heard him to be. Between them, they pur- 
 chased a large ship called the Providence, and 
 urged me to join with them, which I persistently 
 refused to do. I had made three successive 
 voyages to Africa, and brought home three 
 full cargoes in a little over eighteen months. 
 The Liverpool merchants did their utmost to 
 persuade me to remain in the African trade, 
 as being the most profitable, but I refused 
 every overture. One idea now took possession 
 of my mind — how to free myself from this 
 undesirable partnership. I was then suffering 
 from overwork, as well as from the effects of 
 the deleterious African climate on the last 
 trip, so I sold my share in the Young Englind, 
 and acting on medical advice, I retired to a 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 163 
 
 farm-house in the country for nine months. 
 My ship, La bonne mere, was on her voyage 
 to the west coast of South America. As to 
 the two speculators, I will make a short 
 story of their career. Their ship, Providence, 
 met with repeated accidents, one close upon 
 another, which ultimately ruined them. It 
 would take several pages to relate the tissue 
 of misadventures unparalled in my experience 
 which led to this. Yet after all the ship came 
 home with bottomry and respondentia bonds, 
 claimed by shipwrights for repairs done in 
 Quebec. To make it clearer, the ship and 
 cargo were pledged for repairs, giving the ship- 
 wrights a claim on both until their bills were 
 paid. The two speculators went through the 
 Bankruptcy Court, assets nil. This unhappy 
 termination of their enterprise only served to 
 strengthen my resolve to avoid a partnership 
 for the future, as I found it often meant 
 nothing more than a staff for an imprudent 
 or a dishonest man to lean upon ; and remem- 
 bering, also, how nearly I had been drawn 
 into this vortex, I felt thankful indeed for 
 my present unfettered position. 
 
 Time, with ceaseless but inaudible flight, 
 passed swiftly on, and once more I found 
 myself in London, in 1847, the year of the 
 
164 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 Irish famine. There was " corn in Egypt," how- 
 ever. La bonne mere had arrived with a cargo 
 of goods from the Chincha Islands, and again 
 I took the command, though the ownership 
 meanwhile had changed hands. While walk- 
 ing one day in Commercial Road, I met an 
 old shipmate, with whom I had sailed round 
 Cape Horn. He was just the individual I 
 wanted, and was the only godly man I had 
 sailed with in twenty years ! He was at that 
 time out of employment, so I engaged him 
 at once as carpenter. 
 
 The freights were very go d in the corn 
 trade, so chartering La bonne mere, or the 
 Bonnie Mary, as the sailors used to call 
 her, for Alexandria, we sailed immediately as 
 there was no time to be lost, the high freight 
 being a very tempting inducement. Sailing 
 in the Mediterranean was like a pleasure trip 
 to me ; we made a quick passage out with 
 favourable weather, and I took the ship into 
 the harbour when we came to anchor. While 
 sitting at breakfast that morning, I felt a 
 peculiar vibration run through the vessel, and 
 exclaimed, " We are aground ! " I flew on 
 deck to ascertain the cause, when a man 
 who was coming from shore to us in a boat 
 called out, " Did you feel the shock of an 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 165 
 
 earthquake ? " Several houses were thrown 
 down in the town, and at Cairo much mis- 
 chief was done to buildings. 
 
 I may relate, en passant, that my butcher 
 at Alexandria who supplied me with a fat sheep 
 every other day, was called Mahomet. He 
 told me his father, piloted Nelson's fleet into 
 Aboukir Bay before the battle of the Nile, 
 and that the Admiral threatened him with 
 the loss of his head if any of the ships touched 
 the rock. 
 
 After finding the consignee we commenced 
 loading, and in order to preserve every grain 
 of the precious cargo from damage, I myself 
 laid all the dunnage and matting, making also 
 a wall amidship to prevent the grain from 
 shifting during the voyage homewards. When 
 we had completed loading and were ready 
 for sea, I found myself in a dilemma from 
 which nothing but tact, courage, and prompti- 
 tude could extricate me. The ship had sprung 
 a leak! How to proceed on the voyage was 
 a problem difficult to solve. To discharge 
 the cargo and repair would involve an immense 
 loss. I heard one man say with an oath the 
 Bonnie Mary would never reach London ! but 
 I turned on my heel and took no notice of 
 his remark. It was, however, a warning to 
 
l66 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 use every precaution possible, and not to 
 underrate the risks of the position. 
 
 Having no opinion of my officers' judgment, 
 I consulted in private with my old, staunch 
 friend the carpenter, pointing out to him that 
 I entertained no doubt about the soundness 
 of the ship, and felt assured that when we 
 got out into the Mediterranean she would take 
 up, i.e. f her outside planks would swell and 
 she would become tighter. To this he agreed, 
 adding that if I felt disposed to risk it, he 
 was quite willing to help. How to deal with 
 the sailors was our next difficulty.^ I pro- 
 posed giving them an advance of money and 
 liberty to go on shore to make their purchases 
 for the voyage, with this strict injunction, that 
 every man was to be on board by six o'clock 
 the next morning, adding that then I should 
 set sail and go to sea. I made no allusion to 
 the leaky state of the vessel. 
 
 All this was carried out successfully ; on the 
 following morning I called out, " Are you all 
 on board ? Where is the carpenter ? " The 
 answer came, " Below in the forepeak, stopping 
 the leak." Not a word more was said ; with- 
 out a pilot we made sail and proceeded home- 
 wards, the weather being invitingly fine and 
 favourable. 
 
THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 167 
 
 " With the blue above, and the blue below, 
 We speeded on merrily." 
 
 The ship took up a little, but the leak was 
 only partially stopped, it being a difficult matter 
 to stop a leak from the inside. Still, in order 
 to keep all dry, I had the pumps attended to 
 carefully every four hours, day and night, all 
 the way home. 
 
 We called at Cork for orders, and found our 
 destination was Gloucester, where I delivered 
 the cargo without a handful of damage. When 
 paying the men their well-earned wages, I 
 made a mistake, giving to one of them two 
 five-pound notes instead of one, not having 
 the usual clerk with me on this occasion. He 
 returned and showed me his money, it was 
 quite true. I mention this because it was 
 the same man whom I had heard say with 
 a dreadful oath in Alexandria that the ship 
 would never reach London. I never allowed 
 swearing on board, and do not remember hear- 
 ing it except then. 
 
 On my return home I was asked by a friend, 
 " Did you find your money in the sack's 
 mouth ? " I answered, " No, I did not, but 
 I made a sackful of money." All I wanted 
 now was a fair field and no favour. The 
 Bonnie Mary was sold, and I bought her in, 
 
l68 THE STORY OF AN ANCIENT MARINER. 
 
 laying her up for the winter in Gloucester 
 docks. 
 
 In the spring of the following year, I made 
 a voyage to St. John's, New Brunswick, and 
 later on another to Quebec ; both voyages were 
 profitable I am thankful to say. After this I 
 retired from going to sea, employing other 
 captains to take charge of my vessels. 
 
 Thus from cabin-boy I rose to be captain, 
 climbing slowly step by step up the ladder to 
 independence. I became a member of Lloyd's, 
 in the Royal Exchange, for the insurance of 
 ships and merchandize, a member of the Royal 
 Agricultural Society, a member of the Ac- 
 climatization Society, shipowner, supercargo, and 
 ship's husband. 
 
 I cannot conclude my story of twenty-five 
 years of sea-faring life without again testifying 
 to the faithfulness of Him whose preserving 
 care I have so abundantly experienced. And 
 now, with the sincere desire that my readers 
 may derive both interest and profit from this 
 narrative, I send it forth ; praying also that 
 they may taste for themselves the blessedness 
 of those "who know the joyful sound" of "the 
 Gospel of the grace of God." 
 
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