After leaving Fayal, we sailed for St. Paul’s Island, stopping a
short time at the Cape de Verdes, where right whales were said to be
numerous. We had pleasant weather for about three weeks.
One day, while standing upon the deck, looking upon the broad expanse
of waters spread out around me, and meditating upon the works of
the Omnipotent and Omniscient Deity, my soul was suddenly so filled
with the Holy Ghost, that I exclaimed aloud, “Glory to God and the
Lamb forever!” I continued in this strain until captain Luce, coming
unexpectedly behind me, asked what was the matter with me? I told him
my soul had caught new fire from the burning altar of God, until I
felt happy, soul and body.
Directly he commenced cracking jokes at me, but I soon left his
presence and returned to the cabin, where I could be, for a while,
alone, and where I could obtain spiritual strength to enable me to
stand before wicked men. There is no better time to pray, than when
God is ready to answer; when he stands knocking at the door of our
hearts, pleading for entrance. He works upon our right hand and our
left, and we perceive him not.
The captain, being in a very pleasant mood, one day, came into the
cabin, and asked me if I ever prayed for him? to which I replied I
did. “Do you think that your prayer is answered?” he asked, “for I
don’t. I don’t think they ascend higher than the foreyard.” I told
him that bread cast upon the waters, was sometimes found and gathered
after many days. He laughingly asked me if I prayed that the ship
might get a load of oil? I told him I always prayed for the blessing
of God on the ship in general. He said if he had to go home without
a load of oil, which he expected to do, that he should call me a
hypocrite.
While he was talking, the man on the lookout cried out, “There she
blows,” upon which he ran upon deck, and found there were four whales
in sight, not more than three-fourths of a mile distant. The mate,
who was below, springing from his bed, said, “Steward, will you go in
my boat?” I replied I would. “Then,” said he, “Stand by the boat.”
The boats being lowered, we started for the whales. The mate rushed
among them, and fastened one; the captain soon followed, and fastened
another; and at last, the second mate to another! They all furnished
239 bbls. of oil. This was a day of rejoicing for all hands, as we
had not seen a whale before for more than five weeks. The mate,
who had before been my enemy, now became my friend, and during the
remainder of the voyage treated me like a man.
On our way to the Dutch Banks, whither the captain concluded to
go, because of the abundance of whales there, we caught two, and
fastened upon a third, which, however, got loose. When we arrived at
the Banks, we found plenty of whales, and many vessels there for the
purpose of taking them; but which, in consequence of stormy weather,
had hitherto been unsuccessful, and for the same reason we only took
three.
For about three weeks the storm raged most furiously, the wind became
a hurricane, the waves rolled and dashed mountain high, sweeping our
boats from their hangings, and dashing them in pieces; while the sun
was hid by dark and portentous clouds.
All hands looked upon the captain as their deliverer, while he stood
looking at the clouds, seemingly with deprecating vengeance. But it
was the work of our God, whom the winds obey, and to whom the sea
does homage. Well might the Scripture say, “He has his ways in the
whirlwinds, and his paths are known to the mighty deep.” He looks,
and the fearfully threatening clouds hide their deformed faces; He
speaks, and the winds hushed in profound silence; He commands, and
the lofty billows lowly bow their heads.
The storm being over, we sailed for St. Paul’s, where we took
several whales; but had two of our boats stove to pieces, in
encounters with them. The Captain and first mate’s boats were
frequently injured in this way; but the second mate generally kept in
the background until the danger and bustle were passed. Here I again
had time to reflect upon past blessings; while calmness prevails,
the mariner should prepare for a storm; for the storm, which gathers
slowly, accumulates more fury than a sudden, transient blast.
“Whene’er becalmed I lie,
And storms forbear to toss;
Be thou, dear Lord, still nigh,
Lest I should suffer loss:
For more the treacherous calm I dread,
Than tempest, bursting overhead.”
Captain Luce was a good seaman and captain, and a man of reliable
judgment. He would allow no swearing on board his vessel; he looked
upon the sailors as his children, and they in turn regarded him with
affectionate esteem. The mate was a man of quick passions, easily
excited, but as easily calmed.
He one night entered the cabin, where I was, while I was singing one
of the songs of Zion, and being in a melancholy mood, he asked me to
sing for him; with which request I gladly complied, by commencing a
new song, which I had recently learned in Philadelphia. He instantly
stopped me, saying he did not wish to hear any new hymn, but some old
and substantial one; upon which I sang the following:
“Before Jehovah’s awful throne,
Ye nations bow with sacred awe;
Know that the Lord is God alone:
He can create and he destroy.
His sovereign power, without our aid,
Made us of clay, and formed us men;
And when, like wandering sheep, we strayed,
He brought us to his fold again.
Wide as the world is his command,
Vast as eternity his love;
Firm as a rock his truth shall stand,
When rolling years shall cease to move.”
While I was singing, tears came into his eyes, and when I ceased, he
exclaimed, “Oh! steward, had I the religion which I think you have, I
would not part with it for all the world!” This was a very unexpected
compliment to me, from a man in so high a station, and encouraged me
to pray on and hope continually.
After the whaling season at St. Paul’s was ended, we went to the
Crowsett Island, where it was very cold, and where the fogs continued
a long time, without intermission. We had good success in whaling
there, but the weather was so unfavorable, that the hands soon became
disabled by scurvy, to that degree that we were obliged to put into
port sooner than the captain had intended. So we sailed towards
Madagascar, where one remarkable circumstance occurred.
We had a sailor on board named Smith, who told me the reason for his
coming on this voyage, was, that being in company with some firemen,
in Brooklyn, who had committed a crime in which he was implicated, he
had adopted this as the best means of eluding the vigilance of the
officers, who were in pursuit of him, and who had taken some of the
company.
I told him that he could not so easily escape from God, that the
remembrance of his crime would still pursue him, and that unless he
repented, he must expect severe punishment, both here and hereafter:
to all which he only replied by laughing in my face.
Soon after this conversation a whale was seen, and Smith belonged
to one of the boats sent in pursuit. The animal was harpooned, but
stove the boat, and broke loose. In the encounter, Smith came near
losing his life. When they returned, I thought it a good time to
again refresh his memory, in reference to his crime. While the fright
lasted, he seemed somewhat penitent, but the feeling soon passed
away, like the fleeting time.
Not long after, a similar circumstance happened to him, which was as
soon forgotten. But a repetition of them, made him afraid to go in
the boat, so he excused himself to the captain, upon the plea that he
had cut his finger and could not row; whereupon the mate, to whose
boat he belonged, gladly took me in his place; when we, in a short
time, captured four whales, with no accident.
Just before we left this Island, another whale was seen, when the
captain ordered Smith to go in his usual place, notwithstanding
he attempted, as usual, to excuse himself, upon the ground of his
inability to row: to all which the captain turned a deaf ear. They
soon came up with the whale and harpooned him, when he stove the
boat all in pieces, throwing the crew all into the sea, where they
were struggling for their lives, by clinging to pieces of wreck or
whatever else they could reach. The other boats at the time, were at
a great distance from this scene, one of them being already fastened
to another whale.
Smith strove manfully to keep himself above water, until finding his
strength failing, he made for a piece of the wreck, on which were
already three persons, but which could not sustain a fourth; so those
first in possession of the frail support, thinking three lives of
more consequence than one, as the only means of self-preservation,
pushed Smith off into the deep, and would not permit him to grasp
their piece of wreck.
The poor fellow was for a time quite at a loss what course to pursue,
but time pressed, his strength was fast failing, and he must make
some effort, even though he perish in the attempt, it could be no
worse, since he must surely perish if he remained where he was.
The whale was then lying quietly upon the water, near by. Quick as
thought Smith conceived the hazardous plan of saving himself, by
clinging to that enemy, which he had just been using all his power
and skill to destroy, and as quickly grasped the line attached to
the harpoon, which was still sticking in the whale, and by its help
climbed upon his back, where, holding by the handle of the harpoon,
he rested securely until a boat came and took him off! Then was the
moment when Smith, in the agony, and from the depths of his heart,
cried, “Lord save, or I perish!” and Heaven heard the rebel’s prayer,
and held that mighty leviathan, and made him the means of his
persecutor’s preservation! For as soon as Smith was taken off his
back, he went down and came up again a half mile distant.
This terrible fright lasted Smith nearly two weeks, during which I
again reminded him of his crime, and of his wanderings from the path
of rectitude. I strove to make him realize how wonderfully the Lord
had preserved his life, and how mercifully He had dealt with him; to
all which Smith replied, by promising that henceforth he would serve
the Lord better.
We reached Madagascar, which is an African island, and of immense
dimensions I am told, about the first of May; but I cannot give my
readers a geographical description of it, as I only went about five
miles inland; nor need I, for it might weary their patience, while
to speak of some of the manners and customs of the inhabitants,
might mantle with blushes the cheek of morality. The soil is rich,
producing in abundance rice, cotton, corn, sugar cane, &c.
The natives are black, with long straight hair, slender forms, and
remarkable for their longevity. They are cunning and much disposed
to plunder. Their religion is Mahomedan, though they practice many
Jewish rites, such as sacrifice and burnt offerings, for which
purpose they raise many cattle. They consider the white man a
superhuman being, who can hold converse with the Almighty, who will
speak to him as He will not to them. One day they stood looking with
amazement at the mate, as he was taking the sun’s altitude with a
quadrant. When he had finished his observations, he offered the
instrument to several of them, all of whom refused it, saying, God
would not talk to them as he did to white men!
I was much gratified, upon conversing with them, to learn that they
had some faint knowledge of the true and living God, and believed
Mahomet was only a mediator between God and man. A woman, who I least
expected would possess any such knowledge, gave me to understand that
she believed God dwelt above in the heavens, and that at some future
time he would come to judge the world.
Wednesday was my day to go on shore, and Thursday the cook’s day.
But being one day on shore, I learned that the following day was one
devoted by the natives to sacrificial offerings, which I would not
tell the cook, lest curiosity should prompt him to go to see them,
and thus deprive me of a chance. So I paid him to stay and do my
cabin work, and let me go on shore again that day.
This offering was to secure the blessing of their Hoker-barro, or
God, on the king and his family. The sacrifice was performed in this
manner: three poles, 15 or 20 feet in length, with shorter ones
lying across them, were placed three feet above the ground. When
this was done, the sacrificial bullock was brought to look upon
it, after which he was killed, his blood caught in a calabash, or
gourd, for a separate offering, and his flesh cut in pieces and laid
upon the poles, under which a fire was kindled, around which the
natives danced, clapping their hands while it was burning, the whole
performance being accompanied by numerous ceremonies. The sacrifice
ends with the sunset, but as my duty required my attendance on
shipboard before that time, I did not witness its conclusion.
We remained in Madagascar three weeks to repair the ship, which was
damaged at sea. While lying in port four of the crew escaped, and
were concealed on shore by the natives; who afterwards came and
betrayed them to the captain for a price. The mate, with a boat’s
crew of Portuguese, was sent for them, with whom they not only
refused to return, but severely cut and bruised them. Afterwards the
captain, with the captains of five other vessels, then lying in port,
went for them, conducted by the natives, who knew their place of
concealment, in a native hut.
When he discovered them, the captain calmly told them he wished them
to return with him to their duty on board the vessel, to which they
readily gave their assent, saying they would have gone before had he
sent Americans for them, but that they would not willingly submit to
be fettered by Portuguese.
When they reached the ship, they were placed in irons, and put upon
criminal’s allowance until the next morning, when it was expected
they would receive their deserved punishment. Our captain did
not wish to flog them, as he thought he could inflict some other
punishment which would prove more salutary and efficacious; but,
being pressingly urged by captain Burton, of the ship Sally Ann, and
others, to do so, he finally flogged three of them, among whom was
Smith; while one, who was not concerned in resisting the Portuguese,
was suffered to go without his flogging. But before we were ready
to leave Madagascar, this very man again escaped from the vessel,
by lying upon a plank and paddling himself along with his hands, he
having previously arranged with the crew of the ship to which he was
going, to receive him on board and conceal him, which they did, until
she was ready to sail for New London, whither she was bound, loaded
with oil.