Jack in the Forecastle; or, Incidents in the Early Life of Hawser MartingaleSleeper, John Sherburne
General
Jack in the Forecastle; or, Incidents in the Early Life of Hawser Martingale
Sleeper, John Sherburne
Seafaring life
Parker was desirous that I would embark with him in this enterprise,
and act as the nominal American commander. But I had an instinctive
repugnance to proceedings of such an underhand, unlawful character. This
of itself would have been enough to lead me to reject his proposition;
and furthermore I had no confidence in the man, or his ability to carry
his project into operation. I thanked Parker for his friendly offer, and
the COMPLIMENT it conveyed, but declined to enter into any engagement
of the kind. Whether he succeeded in carrying his project into effect I
never learned; but the same plan was successfully put into execution by
an enterprising rogue about the same time, who undertook to run a vessel
between Baltimore and Barbadoes, carrying out flour and bringing back
coffee and sugar. He performed two trips successfully, but on the third
got into trouble. One of the crew, who had been unadvisedly punished for
insubordination, gave information to the authorities in Barbadoes, which
put a period, for a time at least, to his enterprising pursuits.
A few days before I landed in St. Pierre, the brig Betsey, Captain
Blackler, arrived in the harbor from Marseilles. A large portion of her
cargo was discharged, and Captain Blackler concluded to send the brig
with the remaining portion, consisting of wine im casks, to New Orleans,
while he remained behind to transact important business for the owner
of the brig, William Gray, of Salem. Accordingly the mate, Mr. Adams, an
intelligent and highly deserving young man, belonging to Marblehead,
was placed in charge, and the mate of the unfortunate ship Cato, which
forsook her proper element to explore the streets of St. Pierre, and
could not get back, was engaged as mate of the Betsey.
I applied to Captain Blackler for a passage to New Orleans. The
brig was fully manned, with six stout, able-bodied seamen before
the mast, and cook, mate, and captain, nine in all. Captain Blackler
demanded forty dollars for a passage in the cabin; by no means an
exorbitant charge. Nevertheless this was a poser, as after paying for
my board, I had only twenty dollars remaining. This matter, however, was
satisfactorily settled by a COMPROMISE, a happy way of getting rid of a
difficulty. I proposed to advance twenty dollars before quitting
Martinico, and give an obligation for twenty more when the brig should
arrive at New Orleans; and he agreed to the proposition. But HOW I
should raise twenty dollars on reaching New Orleans, was a question I
could not answer, and did not like to consider. I strove hard to
convince myself I should never be called upon for payment, or if called
upon, that fortune would favor me by furnishing, in some way, the means.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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