As we drew near the equinoctial line, I occasionally heard some talk
among the officers on the subject of a visit from Old Neptune; and as
there were three of the crew who had never crossed the line, it was
thought probable that the venerable sea god would visit the brig, and
shake hands with the strangers, welcoming them to his dominions.
A few days afterwards, when the latitude was determined by a meridian
altitude of the sun, Captain Page ordered Collins to go aloft and take
a good look around the horizon, as it was not unlikely something was in
sight. Collins grinned, and went aloft. He soon hailed the deck from the
fore-topsail yard, and said he saw a boat broad off on the weather bow,
with her sails spread "wing and wing," and steering directly for the
brig.
"That's Old Neptune himself!" shouted Captain Page, clapping his hands.
"He will soon be alongside. Mr. Abbot," continued he, speaking to the
chief mate, "let the men get their dinners at once. We must be prepared
to receive the old gentleman!"
After dinner, Mr. Fairfield ordered those of the crew including myself
who had never crossed the line, into the forecastle, to remove one
of the water casks. We had no sooner descended the ladder than the
fore-scuttle was closed and fastened, and we were caught like rats in
a trap. Preparations of a noisy character were now made on deck for the
reception of Old Neptune.
An hour a long and tedious one it appeared to those confined below
elapsed before the old gentleman got within hail. At length we heard a
great trampling on the forecastle, and anon a gruff voice, which seemed
to come from the end of the flying jib-boom, yelled out, "Brig, ahoy!"
"Hallo!" replied the captain.
"Have you any strangers on board?"
"Ay, ay!"
"Heave me a rope! I'll come alongside and shave them directly!"
A cordial greeting was soon interchanged between captain Page and Old
Neptune on deck, to which we prisoners listened with much interest.
The slide of the scuttle was removed, and orders given for one of
the "strangers" to come on deck and be shaved. Anxious to develop
the mystery and be qualified to bear a part in the frolic, I pressed
forward; but as soon as my head appeared above the rim of the scuttle I
was seized, blindfolded, and led to the main deck, where I was urged,
by a press of politeness I could not withstand, to be seated on a plank.
The process of shaving commenced, which, owing to the peculiar roughness
of the razor and the repulsive qualities of the lather, was more painful
and disagreeable than pleasant, but to which I submitted without a
murmur. When the scarifying process was finished, I was told to hold up
my head, raise my voice to its highest pitch, and say, "Yarns!" I obeyed
the mandate, as in duty bound; and to give full and distinct utterance
to the word, opened my mouth as if about to swallow a whale, when some
remorseless knave, amid shouts of laughter from the surrounding group,
popped into my open mouth the huge tar brush, well charged with the
unsavory ingredients for shaving.
I now thought my trials were over. Not so. I was interrogated through a
speaking trumpet on several miscellaneous subjects; but suspecting some
trick, my answers were brief and given through closed teeth. At length,
Captain Page exclaimed, "Old Neptune, this will never do. Give him a
speaking trumpet also, and let him answer according to rule, and in
shipshape fashion, so that we can all hear and understand him."
I put the trumpet to my mouth, and to the next question attempted to
reply in stunning tones, "None of your business!" for I was getting
impatient, and felt somewhat angry. The sentence was but half uttered
when a whole bucket of salt water was hurled into the broad end of the
speaking trumpet, which conducted it into my mouth and down my throat,
nearly producing strangulation; at the same time, the seat was pulled
from beneath me, and I was plunged over head and ears in the briny
element.
As soon as I recovered my breath, the bandage was removed from my eyes,
and I found myself floating in the long boat, which had been nearly
filled with water for the occasion, and surrounded by as jovial a set
of fellows as ever played off a practical joke. Old Neptune proved to be
Jim Sinclair, of Marblehead, but so disguised that his own mother
could not have known him. His ill-favored and weather-beaten visage was
covered with streaks of paint, like the face of a wild Indian on the
war-path. He had a thick beard made of oakum; and a wig of rope-yarns,
the curls hanging gracefully on his shoulders, was surmounted with a
paper cap, fashioned and painted so as to bear a greater resemblance to
the papal tiara than to the diadem of the ocean monarch. In one hand he
held a huge speaking trumpet, and in the other he brandished, instead of
a trident, the ship's granes with FIVE prongs!
The other strangers to Old Neptune were subsequently compelled to go
through the same ceremonies, in which I assisted with a hearty good
will; and those who did not patiently submit to the indignities,
received the roughest treatment. The shades of evening fell before the
frolic was over, and the wonted order and discipline restored.
It was formerly the invariable practice with all American and British
vessels to observe ceremonies, when crossing the line, of a character
similar to those I have described, varying, of course, according to the
taste of the commander of the vessel and other circumstances. In a
large ship, with a numerous crew, when it was deemed expedient to be
particularly classical, Neptune appeared in full costume, accompanied
by the fair Amphitrite, decorated with a profusion of sea-weed or
gulf-weed, shells, coral, and other emblems of salt water sovereignty,
and followed by a group of Tritons and Nereids fantastically arrayed.
Sometimes, and especially when remonstrances were made to the mandates
of the sea god, and his authority was questioned in a style bordering on
rebellion, the proceedings were of a character which bore unjustifiably
severe on his recusant subjects. Instances have been known where
keel-hauling has been resorted to as an exemplary punishment for a
refractory individual.
This cruel and inhuman mode of punishment, in former ages, was not
uncommon in ships of war of all nations. It was performed by fastening a
rope around the body of an individual, beneath the armpits, as he stood
on the weather gunwale. One end of the rope was passed beneath the keel
and brought up to the deck on the opposite side, and placed in the hands
of half a dozen stout seamen. The man was then pushed overboard, and
the men stationed to leeward commenced hauling, while those to windward
gently "eased away" the other end of the rope. The victim was thus, by
main force, dragged beneath the keel, and hauled up to the deck on the
other side. The operation, when adroitly performed, occupied but a short
time in the estimation of the bystanders, although it must have seemed
ages to the poor fellow doomed to undergo the punishment. Sometimes
a leg or an arm would come in contact with the keel, and protract the
operation; therefore, a severe bruise, a broken limb, a dislocated
joint, or even death itself, was not an unfrequent attendant on this
kind of punishment!
Many years ago, on board an English East Indiaman, an officer, who had
figured conspicuously in perpetrating severe jokes on those who were,
for the first time, introduced to Old Neptune, was shot through the
head by an enraged passenger, who could not, or would not appreciate the
humor of the performances!
The ceremony of "shaving when crossing the line" is not so generally
observed as formerly in our American ships; and, as it is sometimes
carried to unjustifiable lengths, and can hardly be advocated on
any other ground than ancient custom, it is in a fair way to become
obsolete.
In those days there were no correct charts of the northern coast of
Brazil, and Captain Page, relying on such charts as he could obtain, was
one night in imminent danger of losing the brig, which was saved only by
the sensitiveness of the olfactory organs of the second mate!
It was about six bells in the middle watch, or three o'clock in the
morning; the heavens were clear and unclouded; the stars shone with
great brilliancy; there was a pleasant breeze from the south-east, and
the ship was gliding quietly along, with the wind abaft the beam, at the
rate of five or six knots. Suddenly Mr. Fairfield, whose nose was not
remarkable for size, but might with propriety be classed among the
SNUBS, ceased to play upon it its accustomed tune in the night watches,
sprang from the hen-coop, on which he had been reclining, and began
to snuff the air in an eager and agitated manner! He snuffed again; he
stretched his head over the weather quarter and continued to snuff!
I was at the helm, and was not a little startled at his strange and
unaccountable conduct. I had almost convinced myself that he was
laboring under a sudden attack of insanity, when, turning round, he
abruptly asked me IF I COULD NOT SMELL THE LAND?
I snuffed, but could smell nothing unusual, and frankly told him so;
upon which he went forward and asked Newhall and Collins if either
of them could smell the land. Newhall said "no;" but Collins, after
pointing his nose to windward, declared he "could smell it plainly, and
that the smell resembled beefsteak and onions!"
To this, after a long snuff, the mate assented adding that beef was
abundant in Brazil, and the people were notoriously fond of garlic!
Collins afterwards acknowledged that he could smell nothing, but was
bound to have as good a nose as the second mate!
Upon the strength of this additional testimony Mr. Fairfield called
the captain, who snuffed vigorously, but without effect. He could smell
neither land, nor "beefsteak and onions." He was also incredulous in
regard to our proximity to the shore, but very properly concluded, as
it was so near daylight, to heave the brig to, with her head off shore,
until we could test the correctness of the second mate's nose!
After waiting impatiently a couple of hours we could get glimpses along
the southern horizon, and, to the surprise of Captain Page, and the
triumph of the second mate, the land was visible in the shape of a long,
low, hummocky beach, and not more than three leagues distant. When Mr.
Fairfield first scented it we were probably not more than four or five
miles from the shore, towards which we were steering on a diagonal
course.
The land we fell in with was some three or four degrees to windward of
Maranham. On the following day we entered the mouth of the river, and
anchored opposite the city.
Before we had been a week in port a large English ship, bound to
Maranham, went ashore in the night on the very beach which would have
wrecked the Clarissa, had it not been for the extraordinary acuteness
o Mr. Fairfield's nose, and became a total wreck. The officers and
crew remained near the spot for several days to save what property they
could, and gave a lamentable account of their sufferings. They were
sheltered from the heat of the sun by day, and the dews and rains by
night, by tents rudely constructed from the ship's sails. But these
tents could not protect the men from the sand-flies and mosquitoes, and
their annoyance from those insects must have been intolerable. The poor
fellows shed tears when they told the tale of their trials, and
pointed to the ulcers on their limbs as evidence of the ferocity of the
mosquitoes!
It appeared, also, that their provisions fell short, and they would have
suffered from hunger were it not that the coast, which was but sparsely
inhabited, abounded in wild turkeys, as they said, of which they shot
several, which furnished them with "delicious food." They must have
been excessively hungry, or blessed with powerful imaginations, for, on
cross-examination, these "wild turkeys" proved to be TURKEY BUZZARDS, or
carrion vultures, most filthy creatures, which, in many places where the
decay of animal matter is common, act faithfully the part of scavengers,
and their flesh is strongly tinctured with the quality of their food.
St. Louis de Maranham is a large and wealthy city, situated near the
mouth of the Maranham River, about two degrees and a half south of the
equator. The city is embellished with many fine buildings, among which
is the palace of the governor of the province, and many richly endowed
churches or cathedrals. These numerous churches were each furnished with
bells by the dozen, which were continually ringing, tolling, or playing
tunes from morning until night, as if vieing with each other, in a
paroxysm of desperation, which should make the most deafening clamor.
I have visited many Catholic cities, but never met with a people so
extravagantly fond of the music of bells as the inhabitants of Maranham.
This perpetual ringing and pealing of bells, of all sizes and tones, at
first astonishes and rather amuses a stranger, who regards it as a
part of the rejoicings at some great festival. But, when day after day
passes, and there is no cessation of these clanging sounds, he becomes
annoyed; at every fresh peal he cannot refrain from exclaiming "Silence
that dreadful bell!" and wishes from his heart they were all transformed
to dumb bells! Yet, after a time, when the ear becomes familiar with the
sounds, he regards the discordant music of the bells with indifference.
When the Clarissa left the port of Maranham, after having been exposed
for months to such an unceasing clang, something seemed wanting; the
crew found themselves involuntarily listening for the ringing of the
bells, and weeks elapsed before they became accustomed and reconciled to
the absence of the stunning tintinabulary clatter!
The city of Maranham was inhabited almost entirely by Portuguese, or
the descendants of Portuguese. We found no persons there of foreign
extraction, excepting a few British commission merchants. There was not
a French, a German, or an American commercial house in the place.
The Portuguese are a people by no means calculated to gain the kind
consideration and respect of foreigners. They may possess much intrinsic
worth, but it is so covered with, or concealed beneath a cloak of
arrogance and self-esteem, among the higher classes, and of ignorance,
superstition, incivility, and knavery among the lower, that it is
difficult to appreciate it. Of their courtesy to strangers, a little
incident, which occurred to Captain Page while in Maranham, will furnish
an illustration.
Passing, one day, by a large cathedral, he found many persons entering
the edifice or standing near the doorway, an indication that some holy
rites were about to be celebrated. Wishing to view the ceremony, he
joined the throng and entered the church, which was already crowded by
persons of all ranks. Pressing forward he found a vacant spot on the
floor of the cathedral, in full view of the altar. Here he took his
stand, and gazed with interest on the proceedings.
He soon perceived that he was the observed of all observers; that he was
stared at as an object of interest and no little amusement by persons
in his immediate vicinity, who, notwithstanding their saturnine
temperaments, could not suppress their smiles, and winked and nodded to
each other, at the same time pointing slyly towards him, as if there
was some capital joke on hand in which he bore a conspicuous part. His
indignation may be imagined when he discovered that he had been standing
directly beneath a huge chandelier, which was well supplied with lighted
wax candles, and the drops of melted wax were continually falling,
from a considerable height, upon his new dress coat, and the drops
congealing, his coat looked as if covered with spangles! Not one of the
spectators of this scene was courteous enough to give him a hint of his
misfortune, but all seemed to relish, with infinite gusto, the mishap of
the stranger.
Captain Page found in Maranham a dull market for his East India goods.
His provisions and his flour, however, bought a good price, but the
greatest per centum of profit was made on cigars. One of the owners of
the Clarissa stepped into an auction store in State Street one day, when
a lot of fifty thousand cigars, imported in an English vessel from St.
Jago de Cuba, were put up for sale. The duty on foreign cigars, at that
time, was three dollars and a half a thousand. These cigars had been
regularly entered at the custom house, and were entitled to debenture,
that is, to a return of the duties, on sufficient proof being furnished
that they had been exported and landed in a foreign port. As there were
few bidders, and the cigars were of inferior quality, the owner of the
Clarissa bought the lot at the rate of three dollars per thousand, and
put them on board the brig. They were sold in Maranham as "Cuban cigars"
for fifteen dollars a thousand, and on the return of the brig the custom
house handed over the debenture three dollars and a half a thousand!
This was what may be called a neat speculation, certainly a SAFE one, as
the return duty alone would have covered the cost and expenses!
In the river, opposite the city, the current was rapid, especially
during the ebb tide, and sharks were numerous. We caught three or four
heavy and voracious ones with a shark-hook while lying at anchor. Only a
few days before we arrived a negro child was carried off by one of these
monsters, while bathing near the steps of the public landing-place, and
devoured.
A few days before we left port I sculled ashore in the yawl, bearing a
message from the mate to the captain. It was nearly low water, the
flood tide having just commenced, and I hauled the boat on the flats,
calculating to be absent but a few minutes. Having been delayed by
business, when I approached the spot where I left the boat I found, to
my great mortification, that the boat had floated with the rise of the
tide, and was borne by a fresh breeze some twenty or thirty yards from
the shore. My chagrin may be imagined when I beheld the boat drifting
merrily up the river, at the rate of three or four knots an hour!
I stood on the shore and gazed wistfully on the departing yawl. There
was no boat in the vicinity, and only one mode of arresting the progress
of the fugitive. I almost wept through vexation. I hesitated one moment
on account of the sharks, then plunged into the river, and with rapid
and strong strokes swam towards the boat. I was soon alongside, seized
the gunwale, and, expecting every moment that a shark would seize me by
the leg, by a convulsive movement threw myself into the boat.
As I sculled back towards the place from which the boat had drifted,
Captain Page came down to the water side. He had witnessed the scene
from a balcony, and administered a severe rebuke for my foolhardiness in
swimming off into the river, particularly during the young flood, which
brought the voracious monsters in from the sea.
On our passage to Maranham, and during a portion of our stay in that
port, the utmost harmony prevailed on board. The men, although kept
constantly at work, were nevertheless satisfied with their treatment.
The officers and the crew were on pleasant terms with each other; and
grumbling without cause, which is often indulged in on shipboard,
was seldom known in the forecastle of the Clarissa. But it happened,
unfortunately for our peace and happiness, that Captain Page added two
men to his crew in Maranham. One of them was an Englishman, one of the
poor fellows, who, when shipwrecked on the coast, were nearly eaten up
by the mosquitoes, and who in turn banqueted on turkey buzzards, as the
greatest of luxuries! He was a stout, ablebodied sailor, but ignorant,
obstinate, insolent, and quarrelsome one of those men who, always
dissatisfied and uncomfortable, seem to take pains to make others
unhappy also.
The other was a native of New England. He had met with various strange
adventures and been impressed on board an English man-of-war, where he
had served a couple of years, and, according to his own statement, been
twice flogged at the gangway. He was a shrewd fellow, impatient under
the restraints of discipline; always complaining of "the usage" in the
Clarissa, and being something of a sea lawyer, and liberally endowed
with the gift of speech, exercised a controlling influence over the
crew, and in conjunction with the Englishman, kept the ship's company
in that unpleasant state of tumult and rebellion, known as "hot water,"
until the end of the voyage.
One or two men, of a character similar to those I have described, are
to be found in almost every vessel, and are always the cause of more or
less trouble; of discontent and insolence on the part of the crew, and
of corresponding harsh treatment on the part of the officers; and the
ship which is destined to be the home, for months, of men who, under
other circumstances, would be brave, manly, and obedient, and which
SHOULD be the abode of kindness, comfort, and harmony, becomes a
Pandemonium, where cruelty and oppression are practised a gladiatorial
arena, where quarrels, revolts, and perhaps murders, are enacted. When
such men, determined promoters of strife, are found among a ship's
company, they should be got rid of at any cost, with the earliest
opportunity.
When our cargo was disposed of at Maranham we proceeded down the
coast to the city of Para, on one of the mouths of the Amazon. Here
we received a cargo of cacao for the United States. There was, at that
time, a vast quantity of wild, uncultivated forest land in the interior
of the province, which may account for the many curious specimens of
wild living animals which we met with at that place. Indeed the city
seemed one vast menagerie, well stocked with birds, beasts, and creeping
things.
Of the birds, the parrot tribe held the most conspicuous place. They
were of all colors and sizes, from the large, awkward-looking mackaw,
with his hoarse, discordant note, to the little, delicate-looking
paroquet, dumb as a barnacle, and not bigger than a wren. The monkeys,
of all sizes, forms, and colors, continually chattering and grimacing,
as fully represented the four-footed animals as the parrots did the
bipeds. We found there the mongoose, but little larger than a squirrel;
an animal almost as intelligent as the monkey, but far more interesting
and attractive. The hideous-looking sloth, with his coarse hair,
resembling Carolina moss, his repulsive physiognomy, his strong, crooked
claws, his long and sharp teeth, darkly dyed with the coloring matter of
the trees and shrubs which constituted his diet, was thrust in our
faces in every street; and the variegated venomous serpent, with his
prehensile fangs, and the huge boa constrictor, writhing in captivity,
were encountered as desirable articles of merchandise at every corner.
But the MOSQUITOES at the mouth of the Amazon were perhaps the most
remarkable, as well as the most bloodthirsty animals which abounded in
that region. They were remarkable not only for size, but for voracity
and numbers. This insect is a pest in every climate. I have found them
troublesome on the bar of the Mississippi in the heat of summer; and at
the same season exceedingly annoying while navigating the Dwina on the
way to Archangel. In the low lands of Java they are seen, heard, and
felt to a degree destructive to comfort; and in certain localities in
the West Indies are the direct cause of intense nervous excitement, loud
and bitter denunciations, and fierce anathemas. But the mosquitoes that
inhabit the country bordering on the mouths of the Amazon must bear away
the palm from every other portion of the globe.
Every part of our brig was seized upon by these marauding insects; no
nook or corner was too secluded for their presence, and no covering
seemed impervious to their bills. Their numbers were at all times
incredible; but at the commencement of twilight they seemed to increase,
and actually formed clouds above the deck, or to speak more correctly,
one continuous living cloud hovered above the deck, and excluded to a
certain extent the rays of light.
There being no mosquito bars attached to the berths in the forecastle,
the foretop was the only place in which I could procure a few hours
repose. There I took up my lodgings, and my rest was seldom disturbed
excepting occasionally by the visits of a few of the most venturous and
aspiring of the mosquito tribe, or a copious shower of rain.
An incident, IT WAS SAID, occurred on board a ship in the harbor, which,
if correctly stated, furnishes a striking proof of the countless myriads
of mosquitoes which abound in Para. One of the sailors, who occupied a
portion of the foretop as a sleeping room, unfortunately rolled over the
rim of the top one night while locked in the embraces of Somnus. He fell
to the deck, where he would inevitably have broken his neck were it not
for the dense body of mosquitoes, closely packed, which hovered over the
deck, awaiting their turn for a delicious banquet. This elastic body of
living insects broke Jack's fall, and let him down gently to the deck
without doing him harm.
Fortunately it was not necessary to tarry a long time in Para. We took
on board a cargo of cacao in bulk, and sailed on our return to Salem. As
we approached the coast of the United States we experienced much cloudy
weather, and for several days no opportunity offered for observing any
unusual phenomena in the heavens. But one pleasant evening, as we were
entering the South Channel, being on soundings south-east of Nantucket,
one of the crew, who was leaning over the lee gunwale, was struck with
the strange appearance of a star, which shone with unusual brilliancy,
and left a long, broad, and crooked wake behind.
His exclamation of surprise caused every eye to be directed to the spot,
about fifty-five degrees above the eastern horizon, pointed out by our
observing shipmate and there in full view, to the admiration of some and
the terror of others, the comet of 1811 stood confessed!
The men indulged in wild speculations respecting the character of this
mysterious visitor, but all concurred in the belief that it was the
messenger of a superior power, announcing the coming of some fearful
national evil, such as a terrible earthquake, a devastating pestilence,
or a fierce and bloody war. Our country was engaged in a war with a
powerful nation within the following year; but to those who watched the
signs of the times, and remembered the capture of the Chesapeake,
and were aware of the impressment of our seamen, the confiscation of
property belonging to our citizens captured on the high seas without
even a decent pretence, and the many indignities heaped on our
government and people by Great Britain, it needed no gifted seer or
celestial visitant to foretell that an obstinate war with that haughty
power was inevitable.
A few days after the discovery of the comet furnished such a liberal
scope for conjecture and comment in the forecastle and the cabin, about
the middle of October, 1811, we arrived in Salem, having been absent
between eight and nine months.