My first voyage. A book for youth. Illustrated by E. Roffe

Preface

. With pleasant recollections of the Author's fellowvoyagers : — Whether, as some, they have since manfully fought the battle of life, and having acquired power and repute, are now moulding the destinies of future empires; — Or, as some, are laboriously toiling among the heathen, teaching the pure truths of Christianity, and living its bright exemplars; — Or, as others, have passed away, leaving on the mind a tranquil image of their existence, as the memory of a happy dream : — In honor of the sea he loves ; — To present, as in a phantasmagory, to dwellers at home, by their own firesides, pictures of the world beneath their feet; — That youthful sea travellers may know the ways of Ocean ; — Is this small book written. The little bark being thus launched, may the favouring gale of public approval waft it gently onward down the stream of time.

CONTENTS. ClIAF. The Departure 1 The Voyage . 2 At Sea — The Captain's Story — Whaling .... 3 At Sea — The First Officer's Lesson— Signals .... 4 At Sea — Sunday — The Sermon ...... 5 America — Brazil — Rio de Janeiro ...... 6 At Sea — The Doctor's Lecture — The Philosophy of a Sea Voyage 7 Africa — The Cape of Good Hope 8 At Sea — The Second Officer's Sketches — Vessels of all Times 9 The Desolate Island — St. Paul 10 At Sea — The Artist's Ocean Thoughts 11 Van Dieman's Land — Tasmania 12 Australia — New South Wales— Port Phillip — Gold . . 13 New Zealand — The Inland Journey 14 New Zealand— The Treaty— The Feast . . . . 15 Old Times — Heathendom 16 New Times — The Missionary . . . . . . . THE TOWER OF LONDON.

Chapter I. The Departure

" Tower'd cities please us then, A.nd the busy hum of men." — Milton. In a small court, leading from the principal thoroughfare of the City of London, still stands one of those ancient mansions, so many of which have of late been ruthlessly pulled down for the opening out of new streets. The dining hall, reached by a broad oak staircase, with massive carved balustrades, and once the scene of many a gay festivity in the days of its former occupier, a princely merchant of the olden time, has been for many years converted into a shipbroker's office; and therein, early in the autumn of 18—, might have been seen numerous assistants, inscribing the many papers relating to argosies abroad. B MY FIRST VOTAGE. Sailors and officers engaging to serve on board various ships, captains of vessels waiting for orders, and merchants' clerks im patiently demanding their bills of lading, and inquiring when the letter-bag would close, thronged the room; while groups of pas sengers, mostly from the rural districts, unheeded by the busy officials, gazed listlessly around the spacious apartment, whose chief adornments consisted of plans of cabins and large staring placards, setting forth that on certain days the good ships White Squall, Ked Rover, and Washington, would sail for the ports of Bombay, Sydney, and New York respectively.

One relic only of the bygone splendour of the room remained, in the form of a noble marble chimney-piece, in the delicate chisellings of whose elaborate tracery the accumulated dust of long years slept in unmolested repose. At length the head clerk of the establishment announced, with great emphasis, that the Petrel would positively leave the docks on the next day, the 18th, and Gravesend on the 20th; the effect of which statement upon the strained patience of the passengers was as the release of a spring; and after a few hur ried sentences the crowd withdrew from the office, some to the ship, some to their comfortless temporary lodgings, others to make last purchases of sundry small articles for the voyage. That evening's post conveyed to all parts of the country fare well words from many a loving daughter and stalwart son, whose great brave heart thought it no weakness to blur a mother's letter with a tear.

A tinge of regret accompanied the last look at various objects which had now become familiar to the passengers in their weary wanderings between the bustling docks and the thronged city. The tower, with its old armories, stores of modern trophies, an tique warders, and grim shadowy recollections, the sluggish moat, the dim oil lamps glimmering in the quiet darkness, disturbed only by the measured tread of the watchful sentinels, and at that period its real living lions, boa constrictors, and agile monkeys ; THE DEPARTURE. the grave, self-sufficient Mint, retiring within its guarded gates and iron barriers to perform its mighty office of coiner to the realm ; — the gloomy India warehouses, through whose lofty por tals the passer-by observed the toiling workmen all adust with indigo; — the venerable old church of St. Helen's, with mottoed porch, " Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness," standing in an oasis of grass and trees; a kindly, fresh, though hoary relic of past ages, amidst a modern desert of bricks and mortar; — the India House itself, with its long, narrow, dark passages, and curious museum, suggestive of the mysterious secrecy of the gorgeous east.

Ramblers on the pier at Gravesend, on the bright clear still morning of the 20th, observed two distinct classes of passengers disembark from one of the smartly-painted steamers plying on Gravesend. the silent highway of Father Thames. The merry, lightly clad and lighter hearted visitors tripping on shore, intent upon the joyous pleasures of the day; others, with sober thought on their brows, and by the weight of unseasonable clothing they toiled under, evidencing that the limits of their travels had not been arrived at. These latter were instantly surrounded by bawling watermen officiously tendering their services to convey voyagers to their ships. Amphibious Gravesend, whose chief intercourse with the great metropolis in our earlier days was by sailing hoys of pleasant memory; afterwards, for twenty years, by numerous fleets of swift and crowded steam vessels, which in their turn have for the most part given place to those overwhelming competitors, the railways, of which two now link with bonds of iron the modern Babylon to its twenty miles distant outskirt ; — well known to all visitors for its narrow streets, emerging from the muddy bank of the dingy shore, and struggling upwards towards the far-famed Windmill-hill.

A much changed place, but in all change ever affluent in stores of fish, huge quarters of beef, and piles of vegetables, sea bedding and clothing, and marine appliances of all kinds ; with refreshment houses, redolent of savory smoking viands, tempting the sturdy seaman, and contesting his choice with the liquid good cheer of the " Admiral Benbow " and " Lord Nelson." Yearly did thousands of pallid children watch the gay steamers as they darted past the busy wharves of London, and panted with hope for the promised trip to pic-nic on the then verdant hill, where never failing gipsies allotted liberal fortunes to thousands, but never realized their own; and then to tea and shrimps in a quiet cottage parlour, at the solicitation of some clean-aproned damsel. Highly cultivated fields, interspersed with farm homesteads and picturesque hop grounds, where in full force, throngs of merry pickers, collecting the fragrant bitter, with nimble fingers stripped the teeming bines, poured their rich pictures upon the eye; while far to the east, south, and west ranged the beauteous hills of Kent, crowned with woods and copses, whence gush forth streams THE DEPARTURE. of rich melody from heaven's choristers, tuning their merry throats, — the evening song of the nightingale, and the morning call of the cuckoo, sinking deep into the soul of the deck-pacing mariner.

" O blithe new comer ! I have heard, I hear thee and rejoice ; O cuckoo ! shall I call thee bird, Or but a wandering voice." Northward, the broad peaceful meads of Essex, dotted with innumerable lowing cattle, stretched many a mile, the stubble fields telling of waving corn well housed; the Thames as a silver cord binding, yet ever separating, the two counties; while scattered over the river, moving and at rest, were emigrant ships and fishing boats, yachts, timber vessels and troop ships, Indiamen and colliers ; the flags of all nations fluttering in the breeze. On the opposite bank stands old Saxon Tilbury (Tilia, a hus- THE OLD GATE OF TILBURT FORT, bandman ; or Tigel, a tile ; and burgh a town ; being one of the earliest tiled cities in England. Tilbury was also the seat of Ceadda, a London bishop, who converted the East Saxons to Christianity, in the seventh century,) celebrated in history as being the spot where the maiden Queen Elizabeth, and the gay and renowned Earl of Leicester, reviewed the English troops assembled to repel the threatened invasion of the Spanish Armada.

Our noble ship lay at anchor in mid-channel, as a racehorse held by the bridle, her cumbered decks being rapidly cleared by the crew, who seemed to have a magic power of packing away an endless supply of baggage in what appeared an already full hold. Meantime inquisitive friends were reporting to passengers the result of their inspection of the vessel; commenting upon the abundance of the poultry, and the smallness of the pigs, hazard ing an opinion, unaware of seamen's resources, that no one could milk the cow in that mere box ; and declaring it impossible that so many sheep could,live in such a small boat; wondering where so much luggage would be deposited, how we should all be fed, and fearing lest water should fail. In one small cabin was an anxious mother, carefully arranging her only son's bed ; another resounded with the smart strokes of a hammer, as nails and hooks were being driven into the beams for the suspension of all sorts of articles of sea convenience; the occupants of others were adjusting, altering, and finally fixing the position of boxes and drawers, ingeniously contriving how least to trench upon the Cabin'd, cribbed, confined " space.

Among the intending voyagers was a minister, who had been accompanied thus far by his friends ; and, with emotion, many present joined in solemn prayer and the parting hymn. "How are thy servants blest, O Lord ! How sure is their defence ! Eternal wisdom is their guide. Their help Omnipotence. THE DEPARTURE. 7 When by the dreadful tempest borne High on the broken wave, They know thou art not slow to hear. Nor impotent to save. The storm is laid, the winds retire, Obedient to thy will ; The sea that roars at thy command, At thy command is still. In midst of dangers, fears, and deaths, Thy goodness we'll adore ; We'll praise thee for thy mercies past, And humbly hope for more." Rapidly followed the short click, click, click, of the windlass; the heavy clank of the cable as it slowly trailed inboard, bke a giant snake made prisoner ; the solid decisive orders of the pilot ; the song and chorus of the seamen as they hauled the sheets home to the yards ; the long strained look towards friends on shore and in boats, the last wave of hat and kerchief, and the Petrel "Walked the water as a thing of life." THE PETREL.

Chapter II. The Voyage

" Over the sea, over the sea. List, what a bonnie bird whisper'd to me." — Song. The breeze blew fresh and fair, and the bright sunlight danced upon the shimmering water; and as we sailed down the channel, the villages dotting the verdant hills and valleys of Old England receded from view, and in the crisp autumn air the coast line stood out clear and well defined, the chalk cliffs sparkling brightly as a jewelled coronet on ocean's brow. The bearings of Start Point were taken and duly registered in the log-book, and the men being divided into their respective watches the Petrel sped swiftly on her way, a tear rushing to many an eye as it glanced towards the dim fading island home of our childhood — " That precious gem set in the silver sea." The wind strengthened, and the hushing gurgle of the spray brushed up by the vessel gently turning aside the water under her bows, rose into a surging swell as the increasing impetus of the ship's way gave a larger and larger curve to the parted sea; and the wind grew stronger, and yet stronger, and one after another the sails were furled, and the entries on the logslate told of increasing wind, strong wind, blowing hard, and heavy gales.

The stormy wind and raging sea contended in grim battle for the possession of the good ship; the lightnings darted down in fierce forky tongues, and the turbulent thunder rolled in dis tracting roar, volley after volley crashing overhead ; the invisible spirits of the air whirred and whizzed and howled through the rigging, and the dense riven clouds charged furiously through the sky over the pale face of the moon, while at fearful speed the Petrel scudded before the driving blast. Now we rushed up the huge swell and anon drove down into the deep sea valley, the masts rocked and swayed, and the hull of the vessel rolled heavily from side to side ; few human sounds were heard, save that the vigilant officer of the watch, firmly, in short sentences, warned the steersmen to starboard, steady, port, or port-hard, as might be necessary to keep the ship straight before the wind, lest the heavy sea should strike her on the quarter, and cause the gallant bark to broach to ; and the helms men as with strained muscles they grasped and moved the wheel, echoed the directions, steady, hard-a-port, Sir. And with all care a foaming sea would occasionally roll over the stern, and rushing forward, flood the decks, pouring out in torrents through the scupper holes.

The wild waves were hushed into quietude, and there was a c dead calm, not a ripple disturbed the glassy pool ; the ship lifted and sank slowly on the heaving bosom of the sea, the sails fell flat, the little vane at the mast-head was motionless, the ensign at the peak hung in folds and could not be unfurled, and idly was the time spent in whistling and wishing for a breeze ; and the sailors were gloomy, for the. unheeding passengers had been decoying and making captives of some of those seamen's genii of good weather, Mother Carey's chickens, as they fluttered about the ship, passing and repassing under the stern, running along the waves, just touching the surface with their claws. " And I had done a hellish thing, And it would work 'em woe." " A storm after this," muttered the helmsman, as he watched the birds beiDg caught; " if they (the offending passengers) had to go out to the weather earing when we are reefing, or to stow top gallant sails when it is blowing hard, they would aloft remember all this.

What harm have the pretty birds done to them?" Towards evening puffy breaths of air were felt, and they were adverse ; and the puffs gathered into heavy squalls, under which the ship staggered and lay over on her side ; and as the storm increased the Petrel laboured sore, and pitched heavily, buffet ing the stout waves with her strong bows, and from mainroyalmast head to keel every timber and rope trembled, creaked, and groaned; and the thoughtful captain fearing that by longer con tention with the violent gale, damage might be sustained by his good ship, hove to, and the vessel drifted before the wind, rising, diving, and receding in large curves upon the big waves ; and we sympathized with the Petrel in her ease. Small jokes were played; as that upon the old lady of seventy, who being told that we were approaching the line, was particularly anxious to see it ; and being informed that the Petrel would cross it in the night, inquired of the chief officer (because she knew he would not deceive her), whether the line was not a wood fence, with gates at intervals, to allow of ships passing; and he seriously answered yes, and if she would look through his teles cope she should see the line.

She could not see anything, she said, whereupon he proposed to assist her in holding the telescope. In doing so he stretched a twine across the glass, and she was quite satisfied she had seen the line, at the gates of which he said we should arrive about midnight. And pigs fell overboard and were recovered, and a robust good tempered apprentice had the same misfortune. The cry was instantly raised, " Overboard, overboard," but who was in that predicament did not immediately appear. One gentleman vociferated the names of his two pet dogs to see if they were safe; and the mother of a large family hurriedly totalled up her progeny, anxious to ascertain that it was not one of her children. " It's Charley," said the chief officer, and shouted at the top of his voice, " Swim away my boy," waving his cap to encourage the lad, while his young fellow apprentice ran sobbing and crying about the deck, fearing lest his companion would perish before the boat could reach him.

Meantime the captain had given orders to back the mainyard, that the ship's way might be stopped ; and " Man the quarter-boat," he cried, and speedily four stout men, with the second-officer, were on the sea, pulling vigorously towards the boy. The next few minutes were passed in intense anxiety, and every eye was di rected to the small receding speck on the water. They are near him ; if he only keep up a minute longer they will have him. God defend him from sharks ! They are waving to him, they have got him, they pull him in, they cheer, we respond, we breathe, he is safe ; and the boat rowed back to the ship. With an invigorating glass of brandy, and an emphatic caution from the sententious fatherly commander, the lad was dismissed to change his clothes. He remarked to an enquiring passenger, that when he saw the mainsail laid to the mast, he knew we were stopping for him and would send a boat; his only dread was that a shark might seize him before the boat came ; and in reply to an expressed fear that he must have imbibed a disagreeable quantity of salt water, he naively added, " I was taught to swim with my mouth shut."

The dripping lad sat down upon his sea-chest to mend his dry clothes; for, with the carelessness of a sailor, one of his fixed principles was, that it was soon enough to repair rents when the torn article was required for wear. Little accidents of births occurred, and discussions whether the newly born belonged to Stepney parish ; and ripening friendships promising to end in marriage, and arguments on the law of sea weddings; and brief quarrels threatening to result in duels on shore — all forgotten at the termination of the voyage, when we parted with endless recollections vowed, and stroDg good will. Scraps of poetry, short romances, latest intelligence, &c. were daily found in Neptune's post-box, and read at our dessert, amid laughter, merry criticisms, and wonder at the assumed unknown authors who thus helped us to pass away the monotonous days; and reading, music, song, and games aided to while away our evenings.

Daily the golden sun rose out of the burnished fiery sea, and every evening, as it descended in the western sky, the heavens were lighted up with gorgeous hues of purple, green, and gold, blue and orange, mingling and contrasting with wondrous effects; and the fleecy clouds took strange fantastic forms,- and fancy revelled in the figures of dragons and horsemen, turretted castles quaint old gables, lawns, parks, antlered deer, and feeding flocks. We watched the vivid flashings of the harmless sheet lightnings darting, playing, and chasing one another, then hiding dashing, and gambolling between cloud and cloud, backwards and forwards, as heaven's children at play. On the still evenings we gazed upwards, admiring the stars as they rained their myriad lights upon us, Arcturus, Orion, the Southern Cross, and the Magellan clouds, and involuntarily our choicest voices burst out in the noble strains of Haydn's fine chorus, " The heavens are telling the glory of God." and we looked downwards upon the phosphorescence of the water at the side, stern, or bows of the ship, as we coursed through the waves, for we seemed voyaging between two glorious heavens ; and brilliant and lovely as were the stars above, " With scarce inferior lustre gleamed the sea, Whose waves were spangled with phosphoric fire ; As though the lightnings there had spent their shafts, And left the fragments glittering on the field."

We told one another of our past histories, and discoursed of future projects as we paced the deck in the intense starlight of the tropics. Porpoises were grained, and albatrosses caught, and the ele gant nautilus and buoyant Portuguese men-of-war were seen ; and now and then we passed a sleepy whale, or were passed by a school of snorting grampuses. Occasionally shoals of flying fish would start from the water like sparrows from a hedge, not in fear, as some suppose, for chasing enemies were not observable; rather it seemed an act of joy, as the frisking of a lamb or the gallop of a horse let loose in a field, or the grotesque rollicking gambols of an ass on a common, from mere exuberance of life ; and some leaped on board and were cooked and pronounced capital eating. There were red letter days in the ship's calendar, days of note; Christmas Day, our captain's birthday, crossing the line day, St. Andrew's day, and the day of sighting the land, when with loud hurrahs, and three times three, we hailed "land ho!" and our Sundays; all joyous days, distinguished by their champagne, bubbling and sparkling, and plum-puddings of large dimensions, in addition to our usual good and ample provisions ; and every Saturday evening, with hearty, true, sailor custom, we drank the toast, " Sweethearts and Wives."

We had our time of dread, during which, at arm's-length for hours, we confronted black death; for on that day we had mys teriously partaken of a subtle poison with our morning meal, and before its invisible malignant power, old and young, hale and weakly, one by one, succumbed. The chief officer, in his strong manhood, rolled on his bed in agony ; others sat upon deck, gazing in silence upon the blanched features and liquid fishy eyes of their companions. The black steward exclaimed that he felt " berry funny ; " and the cabin-boy, through his convulsive hiccups, gasped out that he thought he was dying. The helmsman could not take his trick at the wheel, for in anguish he was writhing in his bunk in the forecastle. Some reclined upon the poop in quiet resignation, awaiting the issue of that dreamy listlessness and indifference to life which crept over us; while others were conducted to their cabins, where, in speechless idiotic stupor, they passed the weary hours.

At the saloon dinner-table sixteen vacant seats told their own sad tale on that memorable day of despair, whose mystery has never been unravelled. And we realized the truth of Lamartine's thought, that travel lers live many lives. A new port being approached with all the hopes, fears, and uncertainties of youth; during our stay we make acquaintances and form attachments, some place or person be comes part of our being, rooting with minute fibrillœ into the affections, as a ship nestles into its quicksand bed, and dwells unseen deep down therein for evermore; we leave, and in de parting, gaze with strained eye towards lessening spire and tower with the last silent look of a friend; and what more is death than this? To beguile the time and increase our mutual pleasure we had weekly assemblies, at which each contributed to the information and amusement of the whole company; with what result some of the succeeding chapters may partially disclose.

SCARBOROUGH. CHAPTER HI. AT SEA THE CAPTAIN'S STORY" WHALING. And God created great whales." Bible, English version. " It was in my native town of Scarborough," said the captain, " that I imbibed the elements of learning, at the knee of an ancient matron ; who, in consideration of a small weekly stipend, introduced eighteen alumni through the mysterious portals of the temple of knowledge; six received their lessons simultaneously, the other twelve, divided into two brigades, being employed in the meantime in the intellectual operation of mangling, half tugging at the rope fastened to one end of the loaded box which constituted the pressing machine, and six thrusting at the oppo site end; and this system of industrial education she justified on the principle that — "Satan finds some mischief still For idle hands to do."

When the day had passed satisfactorily, a handful of sweet meats would emerge from the capacious pocket of the venerable dame for distribution amongst the laughing youngsters; and often on the bright long summer days our studies and mangling gave place to a walk around the Castle Hill, or on the fine open sandy beach, or to Oliver's Mount, where our ancient friend, gathering us about her, would pour into our wondering minds strange tales of the old castle, built many hundreds of years ago; of Gaveston, King Edward's favourite, who was starved out of the strong place and obliged to surrender; of the curious Pil grimage of Grace, in the reign of great King Henry, on which occasion a large army of enthusiasts, preceded by priests, carrying crosses, and banners bearing devices of crucifixes, and the name of Jesus on them, had in vain striven to drive out the governor and his troops ; of the siege of the grey old towers by Cromwell, to whose all-conquering sturdy troopers the partisans of King Charles opened the gates; and in these latest wars she told us her ancestors had borne their part.

Outgrowing the limits of her sphere, the next educational functionary whose care I underwent was so much more interested in the discussion of politics at the " Bear and Ragged Staff" than in the performance of his scholastic duties, that my progress would have been small, even had death not clipped the thread of my father's life ; whence forward a rough-hewn, but good-natured uncle undertook to induct me into the duties of a sea-life, and began his instruc tions by boxiDg my ears whenever I manifested symptoms of sickness, to divert attention from the stomach, or, as he nautically termed it, give me another " point of departure." My sea career was soon temporarily suspended ; for, as on one occasion we were beating down the English channel, our ship deeply laden with coals, we incautiously stood over too near to the French coast, were chased by a fast-sailing privateer, the ship taken, and the crew made prisoners.

At first my boyish alarm was great, but the many kindnesses b received from the ladies connected with the prison officials speedily re-assured me. During our captivity the senior officers instructed the younger of the crew, and thus my general and professional education were greatly advantaged by this compulsory residence on shore. Two long years were spent in exile, during wdiich, although scantily clothed, almost shoeless and indifferently fed, we per formed many a weary march from prison to prison, the place of our confinement being continually changed. The dark-eyed daughters of France, compassionating our forlorn condition, oft refreshed us with bowls of milk and rosy apples, accompanied with sympathetic utterings: " Pauvres matelots Anglais, pauvres garcons Anglais." At the expiration of this period, on the occasion of a cartel or exchange of prisoners we were liberated, and in the course of my after wanderings I visited most of the bustling crowded ports of England, the burning West India islands, with their swarthy negro labourers ; the magnificent islet sprinkled harbour of Rio de Janeiro, the hot City of Palaces, Calcutta, the low sandy shores of Africa, the timber ports of Canada, and experienced the stormy seas and rough weather of an Archangel voyage late in the season ; at length I began my whale fishing life, and made the beautiful port of Sydney my resting place when not cruising in my vessel, watching the monsters of the deep.

Respecting these gigantic beings of whom so little is known I will now give you such information as many whaling voyages have enabled me to accumulate. The great whale fishery may be divided into two sections — the object of chace being in one case the sperm whale, and in the other the black, common, or Arctic whale, and in explaining the difference I will commence with the sperm whale. The sperm whale (physeter macrocephalus) inhabits the open ocean of both eastern and western hemispheres, but abounds only in the warm seas of the globe. These swimming beasts some times attain to the length of eighty feet ; the head, which is nearly one-third of the whole length of the body, being from eight to nine feet in depth, and from five to six feet broad, and the circumference of the body about thirty-six feet.

The sperm whale has a roundish tubercle in front over the eyes, called the bunch, and a rounded lump of fat behind, called the hump, continuing THE SPERM WHALE. in a ridge to the tail. The males are larger than the females. Naturalists class whales with mammalia; all the order of ce tacea, or whales, breathing in the same manner as do land mammalia, by means of lungs, and not by gills as fishes. The ordinary passage of the air is through the nose (the human species alone breathe through the mouth), and the membranous portion of this organ forms one canal, but in the bony part in most animals it is divided into two ; in the sperm whale, however, there is only one orifice, and what is termed the spout is formed by the expired air being forcibly ejected through this blowhole. A large whale will make sixty of seventy respirations during the time it remains above the surface of the water, a period of about ten minutes, and the aeration of the blood thus effected is suf ficient to allow of its existing under water nearly an hour.