At last, on August 31, 1805, the Indiamen of the season and fifty
transports sailed out of the Cove of Cork under convoy of the Diadem,
64 guns, the Belliqueuse, 64 guns, the Leda and Narcissus frigates, on
a voyage which, after two months since lifting the anchor at
Portsmouth, lasted eight and a half months to Calcutta. The Union had
H.M. 59th Regiment on board. Of its officers and men, and of the East
India Company's cadets and the officers commanding them, he succeeded
in inducing only five to join him in daily worship. His own presence
and this little gathering caused the vessel to be known in the fleet
as 'the praying ship.' The captain died during the voyage to the Cape.
One of the ships was wrecked, the Union narrowly escaping the same
fate. Martyn's _Journal_ reveals an amount of hostility to himself and
of open scoffing at his message which would be impossible now. He fed
his spirit with the Word of God, which he loved to expound to others.
Leighton, especially the too little known _Rules for Holy Living_, was
ever in his hands. Augustine and Ambrose delighted him, also Hooker,
Baxter, Jonathan Edwards, and Flavel, which he read to any who would
listen, while he spoke much to the Mohammedan Lascars. He worked hard
at Hindustani, Bengali, and Portuguese. Not more faithfully reflected
in his _Journal_ than the tedium of the voyage and the often
blasphemous opposition of his fellows are, all unconsciously, his own
splendid courage, his untiring faithfulness even when down with
dysentery and cough, his watchful prayerfulness, his longing for the
spread of Christ's kingdom. As the solitary young saint paced the deck
his thoughts, too, were with the past--with Lydia, in a way which,
even he felt, did not leave him indisposed for communion with God.
From Funchal, Madeira, he wrote to Lydia's sister: 'God knows how
dearly I love you, and Lydia and Sally (his younger sister), and all
His saints in England, yet I bid you all an everlasting farewell
almost without a sigh.' His motto throughout the voyage was the
sentence in which Milner characterises the first Christians:
'TO BELIEVE, TO SUFFER, AND TO LOVE.'
Meanwhile Lydia Grenfell was thus committing to her _Diary_ these
melancholy longings:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account