Equipment and departure of the ship Mentor from the port of New Bedford, Massachusetts.--The ship's company.--Arrival at Fayal.--Passage down the Cape de Verd islands, and round the cape of Good Hope, to the Indian ocean.--Cruising among the islands, and arrival at the port of Coupang, in Timor.--A violent storm.--The ship strikes on a coral reef off the Pelew islands.--Alarm and distressing situation of the ship's company, and sudden loss of eleven of their number.--The survivors preserved upon a dry part of the reef. I was born in the town of Hillsborough, in the state of New Hampshire, on the 21st of July, 1810. My father's name was Phineas Holden. My parents were in moderate circumstances, and derived their chief support from a small farm. From the time to which my earliest recollections extend, until I was about ten years of age, our little circle, consisting of our parents, their three sons and two daughters, enjoyed a large share of the pleasures of a New England home. We were all accustomed to labor, but our exertions to secure a respectable maintenance were richly rewarded by each other's approving smiles, and by that contentment, without which blessings, however great or numerous, are bestowed upon us in vain. But, in early life, and in the midst of our enjoyments, we were called upon to experience a loss which nothing on earth can supply. My father, after a painful sickness of long continuance, died, and left us with no other earthly protector than our affectionate mother; who, had her ability and means been adequate to our support, or equal to her maternal fondness and anxiety, would have saved us from every hardship, and supplied all our reasonable desires. But, having no means of support except our own industry, we were at that tender age thrown upon the world, and compelled to provide for ourselves as Providence might best enable us. I labored at different occupations until the age of twenty-one; when, finding myself unable, by reason of an impaired constitution, to do more than provide for myself, and feeling desirous to contribute my share towards the maintenance of our surviving parent, I resolved upon making the experiment of a voyage at sea. I accordingly left the place of my nativity, sundered the many ties that bound me to home and friends, and, in July, 1831, entered on board the ship Mentor, at the port of New Bedford, Massachusetts, for a whaling voyage to the Indian ocean. The ship was owned by William R. Rodman, Esquire, an eminent merchant of that place, to whose benevolence, since my return home, I acknowledge myself to be deeply indebted. We sailed on the day of my enlistment; and I soon found myself upon the bosom of the great deep, and at the mercy of an element to which I had been but little accustomed.