Dana, Richard Henry, 1815-1882; Sailors; Seafaring life; Voyages and travels
washing and changing clothes than many better-dressed people on shore.
It was probably from having none but salt provisions, and possibly from
our having run very rapidly into hot weather, after having been so long
in the extremest cold.
Depending upon the westerly winds, which prevail off the coast in the
autumn, the captain stood well to the westward, to run inside of the
Bermudas, and in the hope of falling in with some vessel bound to the
West Indies or the Southern States. The scurvy had spread no farther
among the crew, but there was danger that it might; and these cases
were bad ones.
Sunday, Sept. 11th. Lat. 30° 04' N., long. 63° 23' W.; the Bermudas
bearing north-north-west, distant one hundred and fifty miles. The next
morning, about ten o'clock, "Sail ho!" was cried on deck; and all hands
turned up to see the stranger. As she drew nearer, she proved to be an
ordinary-looking hermaphrodite brig, standing south-south-east; and
probably bound out, from the Northern States, to the West Indies; and
was just the thing we wished to see. She hove-to for us, seeing that we
wished to speak her; and we ran down to her; boom-ended our
studding-sails; backed our main topsail, and hailed her--"Brig,
ahoy!"--"Hallo!"--"Where are you from, pray?"--"From New York, bound to
Curaçoa."--"Have you any fresh provisions to spare?"--"Aye, aye! plenty
of them!" We lowered away the quarter-boat, instantly; and the captain
and four hands sprang in, and were soon dancing over the water, and
alongside the brig. In about half an hour, they returned with half a
boat-load of potatoes and onions, and each vessel filled away, and kept
on her course. She proved to be the brig Solon, of Plymouth, from the
Connecticut river, and last from New York, bound to the Spanish Main,
with a cargo of fresh provisions, mules, tin bake-pans, and other
notions. The onions were genuine and fresh; and the mate of the brig
told the men in the boat, as he passed the bunches over the side, that
the girls had strung them on purpose for us the day he sailed. We had
supposed, on board, that a new president had been chosen, the last
winter, and, just as we filled away, the captain hailed and asked who
was president of the United States. They answered, Andrew Jackson; but
thinking that the old General could not have been elected for a third
time, we hailed again, and they answered--Jack Downing; and left us to
correct the mistake at our leisure.
It was just dinner-time when we filled away; and the steward, taking a
few bunches of onions for the cabin, gave the rest to us, with a bottle
of vinegar. We carried them forward, stowed them away in the
forecastle, refusing to have them cooked, and ate them raw, with our
beef and bread. And a glorious treat they were. The freshness and
crispness of the raw onion, with the earthy taste, give it a great
relish to one who has been a long time on salt provisions.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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