Old Mary Page 3
II
"I don't know where I was born--for, as I daresay Randle has told you,I was only five years of age when I was picked up at sea in a boat,the only other occupant of which was a Swedish seaman. The vessel whichrescued us was one of the transports used for conveying convicts to NewSouth Wales, and was named the _Britannia_, but when she sighted theboat she was on a voyage to Tahiti in the Society Islands. I imaginethis was sometime about 1805, so I must now be about seventy years ofage.
"The Swedish sailor told the captain of the _Britannia_ that he and Iwere the only survivors of a party of six--among whom were my father andmother--belonging to a small London barque named the _Winifred_, She wasemployed in the trade between China and Valparaiso, and my father wasowner as well as captain. On the voyage from Canton, and when withinfifty miles of Tahiti, and in sight of land, she took fire, and theChinese crew, when they saw that there was no hope of the ship beingsaved, seized the longboat, which had been prepared, and was wellprovisioned, and made off, although the cowardly creatures knew that thesecond boat was barely seaworthy. My father--whose name the Swede didnot know--implored them to return, and at least take my mother andmyself and an officer to navigate their boat to land. But they refusedto listen to his pleadings, and rowed off. The second boat was hurriedlyprovisioned by my father and his officers, and they, with my mother andmyself and the Swede--all the Europeans on board--left the burning shipat sundown. A course was steered for the eastern shore of Tahiti, which,although the wind was right ahead, we hoped to reach on the evening ofthe following day. But within a few hours after leaving the barque thetrade wind died away, and fierce, heavy squalls burst from the westwardupon the boat, which was only kept afloat by constant bailing. Aboutdawn the sea had become so dangerous, and the wind had so increased inviolence, that an attempt was made to put out a sea-anchor. Whilst thiswas being done a heavy sea struck the boat and capsized her. The nightwas pitchy dark, and when the Swede--who was a good swimmer--came tothe surface he could neither see nor hear any of the others, though heshouted loudly. But at the same moment, as his foot touched the lineto which the sea anchor was bent, he heard the mate's voice calling forassistance.
"'I have the child,' he cried. 'Be quick, for I'm done.'
"In another minute the brave fellow had taken me from him; then the poormate sank, never to rise again. Whether I was alive or dead my rescuercould not tell, but being a man of great physical strength, he not onlykept me above water with one hand, but succeeded in reaching first thesea-anchor-four oars lashed together--and then the boat, which had beenrighted by another sea.
"How this brave man kept me alive in such a terrible situation I do notknow. By sunrise the wind had died away, the sea had gone down, and hewas able to free the boat of water. In the stern-sheet locker he foundone single tin of preserved potatoes, which had been jammed into acorner when the boat capsized--all the rest of the provisions, with thewater-breakers as well, were lost. On this tin of potatoes we lived--sohe told the master of the _Britannia_--for five days, constantly insight of the land around which we were drifting, sometimes comingto within a distance of thirty miles of it. All this time, by God'sprovidence, we had frequent heavy rain squalls, and the potato tin,which was about eighteen inches square, and was perfectly water-tight,proved our salvation, for the potatoes were so very salt that we wouldhave perished of thirst had we been unable to save water. Ohlsen cutdown one of his high sea-boots, and into this he would put two handfulsof the dried potatoes, and then fill it up with water. It made a goodsustaining food after it had been softened by the water and kneaded intoa pulp.
"An hour before dawn, on the sixth day, Ohlsen, who was lying on thebottom boards of the boat, was awakened by hearing me crying for mymother. The poor fellow, who had stripped off his woollen shirt toprotect my little body from the cold, at once sat up and tried tocomfort me. The sea was as smooth as glass, and only a light air wasblowing. Drawing me to his bare chest--for I was chilled with the keenmorning air--he was about to lie down again, when he heard the creakingof blocks and then a voice say, 'Ay, ay, sir!' and there, quite near us,was a large ship! In a moment he sprang to his feet, and hailed with allhis strength; he was at once answered, the ship was brought to the wind,a boat lowered, and in less than a quarter of an hour we were on boardthe _Britannia_.
"On that dear old ship I remained for five years or more, for thecaptain had his wife on board, and although she had two young childrenof her own, she cared for and loved me as if I had been her owndaughter. Most of this time was spent among the Pacific Islands, andthen there came to me another tragedy, of one of which I have a mostvivid remembrance, for I was quite eleven years old at the time.
"The _Britannia_, like many South Seamen of those times, was a letter ofmarque, and carried nine guns, for although we were, I think, at peacewith Spain, we were at war with France, and there were plenty of Frenchprivateers cruising on the South American coast, with whom our shipswere frequently engaged. But none had ever been seen so far eastwardas the Galapagos Islands, and so we one day sailed without fear into asmall bay on the north-west side of Charles Island to wood and water.
"On the following morning the captain, whose name was Rossiter, orderedmy old friend Ohlsen, who was now gunner on the _Britannia_, to takefour hands and endeavour to capture some of the huge land tortoiseswhich abound on the islands of the group. I was allowed to go with them.Little did I think I should never again see his kindly face when I tookmy seat in the boat and was rowed ashore. Besides Ohlsen and myself,there were two English seamen, a negro named King and a Tahitian native.The youngest of the English sailors was named Robert Eury; he was abouttwenty-two years of age, and a great favourite of the captain who knewhis family in Dorset, England.
"We hauled the boat up on a small sandy beach, and then started off intothe country, and by noon we had caught three large tortoises which wefound feeding on cactus plants. Then, as we were resting and eating, wesuddenly heard the report of a heavy gun, and then another and another.We clambered up the side of a rugged hill, from the summit of which wecould see the harbour, a mile distant, and there was the _Britannia_lying at anchor, and being attacked by two vessels! As we watched thefight we saw one of the strange ships, which were both under sail, firea broadside at our vessel, and the second, putting about, did the same.These two broadsides, we afterwards heard, were terribly disastrous,for the captain and three men were killed, and nine wounded. The crew,however, under the mate, still continued to work her guns with theutmost bravery and refused to surrender. Then a lucky shot from oneof her 9-pounders disabled the rudder of the largest Frenchmen, which,fearing to anchor so near to such a determined enemy, at once loweredher boats and began to tow out, followed by her consort. At the entranceto the bay, however, the smaller of the two again brought-to and beganfiring at our poor ship with a 24-pounder, or other long-range gun, andevery shot struck. It was then that the mate and his crew, enraged atthe death of the captain, and finding that the ship was likely to bepounded to pieces, determined to get under weigh and come to closequarters with the enemy, for the _Britannia_ was a wonderfully fastship, and carried a crew of fifty-seven men. But first of all he sentashore Mrs. Rossiter, her two children, a coloured steward, and all themoney and other valuables in case he should be worsted. His name wasSkinner, and he was a man of the most undaunted resolution, and had atone time commanded a London privateer called the _Lucy_, which hadmade so many captures that Skinner was quite a famous man. But hisintemperate habits caused him to lose his command, and he had hadto ship on the _Britannia_ as chief mate. He was, however, a greatfavourite with the men, who now urged him to lead them on and avenge theloss of the captain; so the moment the boat returned from landing Mrs.Rossiter he slipped his cable, and stood out to meet the enemy.
"We, from the hill, watched all this with the greatest interest andexcitement, and then Ohlsen turned to the others and said, 'Let us getback to the boat at once. The captain has got under weigh to chase thosefellows, and we should be with
him.'
"So we descended to the beach, where we met the poor lady and herchildren, and heard that her husband was dead. She begged Ohlsen notto leave her, but he said his duty lay with his shipmates; thenshe besought him to at least leave Robert Eury with her, as she wasterrified at the idea of having to spend the night on such a wild islandwith no one but the coloured steward to protect her and her children.At this time--although we could not see them--we knew the ships wereheavily engaged, for the roar of the cannon was continuous. So, much tohis anger, young Eury was bidden to remain with the captain's wife,her son aged twelve, her daughter Ann, who was three years younger, thecoloured steward, and myself. Then, bidding us goodbye, Ohlsen and histhree men went off in the boat, and were soon out of sight.
"Young as he was, Robert Eury had good sense and judgment. He was angryat Mr. Skinner venturing out to attack