It was a sad, sad day for poor mother and all of us, when father was
brought home on a hurdle, the life crushed out of him by a tree which
fell right down where he stood.
He never spoke again. We lived in Dorsetshire, not far from the town of
Poole. Father was a day labourer; he had never saved a sixpence. His
club buried him, and we were left to live as we could, or to go to the
workhouse. Mother said that she would never do that, and with God's
help she'd try to feed and clothe us. She found it very hard work
though.
There were ten of us. Jane, who was sixteen, and just going into
service, was the eldest, and little Bill, who was in arms, was the
youngest. I was the fourth child.
Farmer Denn took Sam, who was a strong lad, and Jack went to Mr Sweet,
the grocer in the village, who wanted an errand boy. Jane got a place
as maid-of-all-work--and very hard work it was.
He was the only one besides who had the chance of gaining a penny,
except little Ben, and as he was a sharp chap, he used to be set to
scare away the birds, with a clapper in his hands, and such-like work;
but to be sure he did not make much.
So mother had six children to feed and clothe, we may say, and all of us
more or less to clothe, for even sister Jane could not do without help.
When father was alive we elder ones went to school; so I knew about the
sea, and a few things in foreign parts, which I had read of in books.
One evening when Sam and Jack came home, I said to them, "This will
never do; mother mustn't work as she does, it will kill her. I've made
up my mind to go to sea. May be I shall be able to make money, and send
her home some. I've read of lands where people, just with a spade and
pick, dig up gold as we should potatoes. I'll see what I can do."
Sam, who was just a quiet, steady lad, and did his tasks as well as any
boy at school, laughed, and said that I might dig a long time before I
should get gold enough to fill my pocket.
Still I thought and thought over the matter, till at last I told mother
that I had made up my mind to go to sea, and hoped soon she would have
one mouth less to feed.
She looked very sad when she heard me say this, but I told her not to
grieve, and that I would soon be back, and that it would be all for the
best.
That's what father used to say, "It's all for the best,--God knows
what's best for us." I've stuck to the same ever since. Blow high or
blow low, when the ship has been driven by the wind towards the rocks,
and all on board have thought we were going to be lost, I've said the
same, "Trust in God, He knows what is best for us." What's more, I've
always found it come true.
Mother saw things in the same way at last, and gave me her blessing, and
told me to go into Poole and see what I could do for myself.
I found a number of vessels alongside the quays on the banks of the
river. I went on board one and then another and another, but the men I
saw laughed at me. Some said that boys were more trouble than use, that
they were always in the way when they were not wanted, and out of it
when they were wanted, and that I had not a chance of being taken. At
last I thought I must go back to mother and see if Farmer Denn can give
me work. I had got to the very end of the quay, and was turning back
when I met a gentleman, whom I had seen several times as I was coming on
shore from the vessels. He asked me in a kind voice what I was looking
for. I told him.
"Come in here, and we will see what can be done for you, my lad," he
said.
He took me into an office or sort of shop, full of all sorts of ship's
stores. In it were seated three or four men, who were, I found,
captains of vessels. My new friend having talked to them about me, one
of them asked, "Would you like to go to sea with me, boy?"
"Yes, sir," said I, for I liked the look of his face.
"You don't ask who I am, nor where I am going," he said.
"For that I don't care, sir; but I think you are a good man, and will be
a kind master," I answered boldly.
"Ah, well; you must not be too sure of that," said the captain. "I do
not sail from here, but from a place on the other side of England,
called Liverpool, and I am going a long, long voyage, to last two or
three years, may be."
I said that I should like that, because I should then be a good sailor
before I came back again. He then told me that Liverpool, next to
London, is the largest place for trade in England, and that thousands
and thousands of vessels sail from it every year to all parts of the
world. He was going back there in a few days, where his ship was
getting ready for a voyage to the Pacific Ocean, and very likely round
the world.
The Pacific, he told me, is a very large spread of water on the other
side of America, many thousands of miles long and wide. First we should
have to cross the Atlantic ocean, off there where the sun sets. That is
also many thousands of miles long and wide. On the farther side is
America. We should have to go round the south point of America, called
Cape Horn, to get into the Pacific. The Pacific is full of islands,
generally a number of small ones together, then a wide open space, and
then more islands. A ship may sail on, though, for days together and
not see land. Some of these islands are very low, only just above the
water, and are made of coral, and others have high mountains in them.
Some of these throw up fire and ashes, and are called volcanoes.
I was much taken with all Captain Bolton told me (for that was the
gentleman's name), and as he was not to leave Poole for two days, there
was time for me to go back and see mother and brothers and sisters.
Mother and the rest cried very much when they found I was really going,
but when she heard what a nice man Captain Bolton was, she cheered up a
bit. One lady sent her three shirts for me, and another a pair of
shoes, and Farmer Denn, who had a son who was lost overboard at sea,
sent me a whole suit of the lad's clothes. People were very kind.
To my mind there are a good many kind people in the world, if we did but
know where to find them.
I won't tell about the leave-taking. I don't like, even now, to think
about it.
Captain Bolton took me with him round in a brig to Liverpool. The
little vessel was tossed and tumbled about, and as I had nothing to do
except to think of myself, I was very sick. If I could have left the
ship and gone back home when I once got on shore, I would have done so.
Captain Bolton told me that I was only getting my inside to rights, and
that I should think nothing of such work when I had been a few weeks at
sea.
Ships are named after people aid all sort of things. Captain Bolton's
ship was called the _Rose_. She had three masts, and a crew of thirty
men, with six big guns, for we were going to some curious,
out-of-the-way places, and might have to fight the savages, I was told.
She had three mates besides the captain, and another officer called a
boatswain, who had a good deal to do with managing the men. As soon as
I got on board, the captain told me to go to him, and that he would look
after me. His name was Alder.
The ship was nearly ready for sea, with most of her cargo on board, so
that we had not long to wait till we bid good-bye to Old England.
I wish that I could make those who have never seen a ship understand
what one is like. Sailors call a ship she, and often speak of her as
the old girl. Our ship was built of wood, longer than most houses, and
covered in by what we call a deck. At the fore end there was a place
for the crew to live in, called the fore-peak, and at the after-end
rooms or cabins for the captain and officers. All the rest of the ship
was filled with cargo and stores. To the masts were hung across spars,
or poles, as big as large larches, and on these were stretched the
sails, made of stout canvas. It required the strength of all the crew
to hoist one of these yards, and that of eight or ten men to roll up, or
furl, one of the larger sails. Then there were so many ropes to keep up
the masts, and so many more to haul the sails here and there, that I
thought I should never learn their names or their uses.
From the day the captain put me under charge of Mr Alder, he seemed
never so much as even to look at me, but I know that he really did not
forget me.
I had learned something about sea-life, going round from Poole to
Liverpool, so that I was not quite raw when I went on board the _Rose_.
There were two other boys who had never before been on board ship, and
as I had been a week at sea they looked on me as an old sailor. The
rest of the crew did not though, and I was told to run here and there
and everywhere by any man who wanted a job done for him. Still I had no
cause to complain. The captain was strict but just, made each man do
his duty, and the ship was thus kept in good order. I set to work from
the first to learn my duty, and found both Mr Alder and many of the men
ready to teach me. In a short time I went aloft, that is climbed up the
masts, and lay out on the yards to reef sails as well as many older
seamen. At first it seemed a fearful thing to be high up on the yards
with only a rope to hold on by, or may be only my elbows, when my hands
were wanted and to look down and see only the hard deck and the foaming
water, and to know that if I fell on the deck I should have my brains
knocked out, or into the water that I should be drowned, for at that
time I could not swim. Climbing the highest tree you ever saw is
nothing to it, for a tree is steady, and there are branches above and
below, and if you fall you may drop on the soft ground. Still I did not
think very much about it, and soon it was just the same to me, whether I
was on deck or aloft.
No man can be idle on board ship, and if a man thinks that he can sit on
a cask all day at sea, kicking his heels against it, he will soon find
out his mistake. There is always work to be done about the masts or
spars or rigging, while there is no end of ropeyarn to be spun at all
odd hours.
The two boys I have spoken of were Toby Potts and Bill Sniggs. Toby was
a sharp little chap, Bill a big, stupid fellow, the butt of the crew,
Toby made them laugh by his fun, while they laughed at Bill for his
stupid mistakes. Bill was stronger than either Toby or me, and could
thrash us both together, so that we did not often play him tricks. When
we did, the men used to stand our friends against Bill.
Sometimes all three of us used to be sent aloft to furl the royals,
which are the highest sails on the masts.
One evening there was the cry of "All hands shorten sail," which means
all the sailors are to help take in the sails. Each man has his proper
post, so that all know where to go. We three boys ran up the rigging,
up we went in the gloom of coming night, the wind whistling, the sea
roaring, the ship pitching. We had rope ladders, shrouds they are
called, to help us for most of the way. We could just make out the men
hanging on the yards below as we lay out on our yard. As Bill was a
strong chap we soon had the sail rolled up and ready to send on deck.
Toby and I had done our work, when Bill, who was clinging round the
mast, caught hold of us both.
"Now, lads, I'm going to have my revenge. You promise never to chaff me
again, or I'll let you both drop down on deck, or into the sea, may be.
In either case you'll be killed, and no one will know it."
His voice did not sound as if he was in joke.
"Which is to go first," I asked.
"You'll let us say our prayers, Bill," said Toby, who always had a word
to say.
"Will you chaff me?" cried Bill, in a fierce voice.
"Of course we will--only let us go," said Toby.
Bill thought that Toby meant that he would not chaff him, for he let us
both go, and we lost no time in slipping down the rigging.
This was the beginning of a storm, the first I had been in.
I did not think that any thing made by man's hands could have stuck
together as the big ship did, tossed and tumbled about as she was.
We told no one of what Bill had said, but we did not play him any more
tricks for some time to come.