_The Ship becomes as leaky as before.—All hands in turn
at the Pumps.—Means adopted to reduce the Leaks.—I offend
the late Governor, who orders me before the Mast.—Fall in
with the Thisbe a second time, in company with several
Transports.—Unhappy fate of one of them.—Arrive at Spithead._
Having resumed our voyage with a favouring breeze, and the ship being, to
all appearance, tight and sea-worthy, with a pretty ample supply of wet
and dry provisions, our prospects were now a little more cheering; and I
looked forward with innate satisfaction to the moment when I should set
my foot on English ground, free from the horrors attending a state of
bondage, and at liberty to realize the ideas I had formed of atoning to
society, and to my own conscience for the manifold errors of my past life.
We had, however, the mortification to find that the repairs the ship had
undergone at Rio de Janeiro, had only produced a temporary effect; for
shortly after leaving that port, the ship again began to leak, and in
a few days made as much water as before. The consequence was that all
hands, except officers, were obliged to take their turn at the pumps,
and it was only by pumping her out every watch that she could be kept
free. I, of course, took my spell at this necessary but fatiguing labour
during the day, without murmuring; but I was not disturbed in the night,
which, indeed, I considered would have been unfair, as I was on duty all
day. The carpenter found, on inspection, that the principal leak was
occasioned by some part of the stem being loose, where there was a large
aperture some feet under water. Every exertion was made, by lightening
her forwards, and applying what is termed a fothering mat to her bows,
to remedy this evil, but without effect; for the working of the ship
occasioned every particle of the stuffing used on such occasions to wash
out immediately. This expedient, indeed, at first, promised to succeed to
admiration, for it decreased the leak from sixteen to ten inches an hour;
but the experiment was made in a calm, and the first rough weather undid
all that had been done. It was now discovered that certain parts of the
stem, called the fore-hoods, were loose, which occasioned the principal
leak; and this was so far under water, that it was impossible to repair
the defect while the ship was afloat. In fact, she was altogether in a
very decayed state, being an old ship, and having endured much severe
service; so that having now a voyage of three months before us, and
reason to expect bad weather, as we should approach the English channel
in the winter season, those who were best able to form an opinion
entertained serious doubts of the ship’s capability to perform the
voyage; however, these doubts were not suffered to transpire publicly,
and every precaution, which the experience of Captain King and his
officers could dictate, was made use of. The stem, of the vessel, being
the most defective part, was first secured, by passing very strong ropes
over her bows, and under her keel, which were then boused taut athwart
the fore-castle, and there made fast, in order to lash her bows together;
for some fears existed that by the violent working of the ship in a head
sea, her bows would absolutely part asunder! That she might be strained
as little as possible, it was also determined not to carry a press of
sail on the boltsprit when sailing on a wind. In this manner we continued
our course for several weeks, without any incident worthy of notice; we
had upon the whole pretty favourable winds, but as we approached the
equator they were interrupted by occasional calms.
On the 17th of September, we crossed the equinoctial line, with the
usual ceremonies, in which every officer and passenger cordially joined,
and not a single person (the ladies and Captain King excepted,) escaped
a complete ducking. The weather being delightfully fine, with a light
and favourable breeze, every one was in high spirits, and the rites of
Neptune having been celebrated in due form, a plentiful allowance of
grog succeeded, which, by wetting the inside, made ample amends for the
salt-water baptism, which all hands had mutually and liberally bestowed
on each other without respect to rank or persons. This was a remarkable
day with me, for on this day my original term of transportation expired.
This event naturally produced a train of reflections in my mind. I took
a retrospect of the miseries and vicissitudes I had undergone within
the last seven years, and I returned fervent thanks to Heaven for my
deliverance from exile, and for the unlimited freedom which I expected
shortly to regain. But, alas! I was soon to experience another reverse,
which, as it was both unexpected and unmerited, fell with the greater
weight upon me: and thus it happened.
Hitherto, as I have before observed, I was not called upon in the night
to take my spell at the pumps, but a few days after our crossing the
line, by what accident I knew not, I was desired by the boatswain’s mate
of the watch, to turn out in the middle of a wet and windy night, and
pump ship. As remonstrance with such a fellow as this would have availed
nothing, I complied; but the next day took an opportunity of acquainting
Captain King, and requested he would give directions that I should not be
disturbed in future. To my great surprise, however, he informed me, that
I had been called upon by his express orders, and that he was ignorant
till that very night of my being excused from the duty of pumping, but
had taken for granted that I always took my spell. I replied to this
by submitting in the most respectful terms, that as I was employed in
writing, _&c._, from morning till night, and also assisted in pumping the
ship every watch, it was but fair that I should sleep every night, as
all persons under the denomination of “Idlers” invariably do in king’s
ships. Captain King rejoined that the emergency of the case required
every one to assist; that he had given orders to have no idler or other
person excused, and that he should therefore insist on my compliance. I
observed that he grew warm towards the end of this conference, though
I had preserved the respect due to him, in all I had said; however,
as I was conscious of being in the right, I ventured to hint that the
situation in which I stood, being only a passenger not belonging to the
ship, receiving neither pay nor even the allowance of spirits common to
the meanest cabin-boy in the service, and which was essentially necessary
to support the united hardships of labour and inclement weather; that all
these considerations might, I submitted, entitle me to some distinction
from the class of persons called idlers, who actually belonged to the
ship; and I concluded with an intimation that the emergency of the
case could not be so great as that my feeble assistance could not be
dispensed with, as the ship was always freed from water with ease in
half an hour, and not one of his (Captain King’s,) domestic servants,
who were stout able men, (five or six in number,) and all receiving pay
from the ship, were ever called upon at all in the night, and but rarely
in the day. The justice of my remonstrances appeared to have exasperated
Captain King, who was of a very irascible temper, and he at length
worked himself up into a violent rage, the consequence of which was (as
usual with him,) a torrent of abuse; and as I knew by experience that
it was in vain to attempt pacifying him, when in this mood, I quitted
the cabin, and retired to my birth between decks. About an hour after,
as I was sitting on my chest ruminating on the unpleasant situation in
which I was placed, and heartily wishing for the moment which was to
free me from a state of dependence, I was accosted by a master’s mate,
who informed me it was Captain King’s orders that I should do my duty
in the larboard watch of the after-guard, and that I was to be mustered
with the watch at eight o’clock the same night. I now clearly saw the
malevolence of Captain King’s designs, and the illiberal advantage he
was about to take of my helpless and dependent situation. I nevertheless
cheerfully obeyed his orders, and that night kept what is termed the
first watch, (from eight to twelve,) two hours of which I was stationed
at the lee-wheel. At twelve o’clock I retired to my hammock, and was
no more interrupted till eight the next morning, soon after which I was
summoned to the cabin of Captain Houston, the acting commander of the
Buffalo under Captain King, who, on my appearing before him, inquired
abruptly, “if I chose to enter?” I was not surprised at this question,
as I had foreseen in what manner Captain King intended to act, in order
to place me more immediately in his power, and to give him an authority
over me, which as I was before situated he did not possess. Being,
therefore, prepared for such a question, and knowing the nature of the
service, I answered Captain Houston in the affirmative. The latter then
ordered me to attend the captain’s clerk, and get myself duly entered on
the ship’s books. This I accordingly did, and now found myself suddenly
placed in the capacity of a common sailor on board a king’s ship; and
it being war time, I had before me the disheartening prospect of being
drafted, on our arrival in England, on board some other ship, (without a
probable chance of once setting my foot on shore,) and of being perhaps
immediately ordered abroad to some foreign station from which I might not
return for several years. My motive for voluntarily entering was this: I
was aware that had I refused to do so it was in the power of Captain King
to press me against my will, and I doubt not but such was his intention.
In the latter case I should have been entered as a pressed man, which
might have operated at a future day against my obtaining leave to go
ashore, and by that means effect my escape; whereas I was now entered as
a volunteer, and became entitled to a small bounty. I am persuaded the
reader will view this conduct of Captain King’s in a very unfavourable
light; as I had really been guilty of no crime, it was taking a most
cruel and illiberal advantage of the power he had over me. Having
released me from a state of banishment, and taken me into his service on
the terms he did, without any immediate compensation, he had of course
left me every reason to expect, not only my liberty at the end of the
voyage, but also his future countenance and protection. Besides, the
reader will remember that he had declined putting me on the ship’s books
when I first joined her at Port Jackson, in which case I should have had
nine months’ pay to receive on my subsequent arrival in England, and
should have also had a daily allowance of spirits during the passage, for
want of which I had suffered much in the cold climate and severe weather
we encountered; instead of which, and after I had actually become a
free-man by servitude, he had forced me into what may be termed a second
bondage, almost equally irksome with the first, and that too when within
six weeks of the end of our voyage. However, as I am of opinion with
Shakspeare, that
“Things without remedy should be without regard.”
I bore up with fortitude against this unexpected reverse of fortune; and,
conscious of its being unmerited, made no attempt to avert the blow by
mean submission, to which I could not stoop. I therefore cheerfully took
my watch on deck, and, when not so engaged, amused myself below with a
book, or in ruminating (as usual with me,) on the instability of human
affairs, and the vicissitudes of my own life in particular. It was not
the least of my consolations in this distress, that I received every day
at noon half a pint of excellent rum, with a dram of which I fortified
myself occasionally during the night watches, for as we approached the
channel of Old England, we once more experienced a sudden change of
climate, and the weather became intensely cold.
About a fortnight after the event I have just related, Captain King,
finding I was perfectly reconciled to my new duty, and that I offered
no apology, as he perhaps expected I would, sent for me one morning,
and ordered me to attend in the cabin every day at nine o’clock, for
the purpose of writing as usual. As I did not conceive myself justified
in refusing, I complied, and paid every attention to his commands. The
boatswain’s mates, understanding how I was again employed, desisted from
calling me up to pump ship for several nights; when by some means Captain
King hearing of this fact, actually gave orders that I should regularly
turn out as well as the other idlers. This I considered such a proof of
his determined wish to oppress and harass me, that I ventured a second
remonstrance on the subject; when he again fell into a violent rage, and
cautioned me not to offend him by a repetition of (what he termed,) my
insolence, reminding me that it was now in his power to flog me, though
it was not before!
He concluded with saying, that he left it to my choice either to write
for him during the day, and take my turn at pumping in the night, or to
do my duty before the mast entirely, and keep my watch in common with
the rest of the crew. I made no hesitation in replying, that, with his
permission, I should prefer doing my duty on deck. To this he assenting,
I made my bow and withdrew. Here ended my functions in the clerical
capacity with Captain King. From this day I never wrote a line for him;
and thus was I rewarded for my past services. To shew the inconsistency
of this treatment, I will just quote a line from the pardon granted
me by himself, when Governor of New South Wales. In documents of this
description, it is indispensably required to state the grounds, or
motives, which induce the Governor to exercise the power vested in him
by His Majesty’s instructions. The blank left for that purpose, was thus
filled up, “I, Philip Gidley King, Esquire, Captain general, _&c._ _&c._,
taking into consideration the good conduct of James Vaux, and to enable
him to serve as my clerk on board His Majesty’s ship Buffalo, Do hereby
absolutely remit, _&c._”
Just before we entered the channel, we had the singular fortune to fall
in a second time with the Thisbe frigate, in company with three sail of
transports. On speaking, we ascertained that the latter vessels had on
board a part of the army, lately under the command of General Whitelocke
in the Rio de la Plata, and who had survived the ill-managed and fatal
attack upon Buenos Ayres. We also learnt that the general himself had
been put under arrest for his deficiency and misconduct on that occasion,
and was now on his voyage home to answer for the same. Captain King now
represented to the agent on board one of these transports, the distressed
state of the Buffalo, and requested the aid of some soldiers to assist in
pumping her, as the leaks daily grew more alarming. Forty privates were
accordingly put on board us, and we continued our voyage in company with
the transports, the Thisbe having outsailed us. About the 5th of November
we made the land, which proved the coast of Cornwall, near Falmouth. We
proceeded along shore to the eastward, and on the 8th came to an anchor
at Spithead, (after a passage of nine months from port Jackson,) in
company with two of the transports, but the third was missing. We had
afterwards the melancholy information that this vessel (the John and
Elizabeth,) had been wrecked during the preceding night, having struck
upon some rocks in consequence of her keeping too near the shore; and it
blowing a fresh gale, she went to pieces, when upwards of three hundred
persons unhappily perished.