Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Paul Cuffe, a Pequot Indian, During Thirty Years Spent at Sea, and in Travelling in Foreign LandsCuffe, Paul
History
Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Paul Cuffe, a Pequot Indian, During Thirty Years Spent at Sea, and in Travelling in Foreign Lands
Cuffe, Paul
Cuffe, Paul, 1795 or 1796-
and of him it may be truly said, "he did unto others as he would have
them do unto him." How few of the pious of this covetous age can be
found to exhibit as much real disinterested benevolence as this man
did. After this we did not suffer for want of food.
We arrived at Philadelphia, and from thence we went either to sea or to
our several homes. After getting my pay, I went again to see my parents
at Westport. Here I stayed until spring, when I again shipped aboard
the ship Traveller, Jonathan Kendricks, master. The crew numbered
seventeen souls, principally Cape Cod men. We sailed for the Straits of
Belisle, where we went after codfish. We sailed as far north as
Esquimaux bay, where we took in one hundred and sixty thousand fish in
the short space of forty-five days. We then sailed for Boston. When off
Nantucket we experienced a severe gale, which continued all one night,
during which time the ship struck on the shoals; but after two hours we
got off and put into Chatham, on Cape Cod. We lost our main-mast during
this gale, and all the boats but one; besides this, we lost one man by
the name of Hagars, who fell from the fore-top and was drowned. We
dried our fish at Chatham and refitted before sailing for Boston, at
which place we arrived some time in December. Here we disposed of our
fish and returned to New Bedford and stayed until spring.
The next trip which I made to sea, was in the brig America, of 200
tons, William Dagget, master. We sailed from Boston with a crew of ten
men, and twenty-five passengers, on a cruise to New Orleans, which we
made in twenty days.
While Opposite Cape Florida, we fell in with a pirate schooner, which
gave chase to us by coming down upon our larboard quarter, and giving
us a gun which passed through our bulwark. Our Captain at this juncture
advised a surrender of our vessel, but the mate declared he would not
give up if the men would stand by him. The passengers told him they
would fight as long as there was a man left. They then stripped off
their coats, and we cleared for action. We then fired a broad side,
which cut away the pirate's main-mast and killed several of her crew.
We fired several broad-sides, and the passengers fired the small arms
to good effect, for the enemy soon wore away to windward and got off as
soon as possible by means of their oars. We saw several dead bodies
floating on the water belonging to the pirate crew. We had but one man
wounded and none killed.
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