Schooner Combine.--Third Voyage.
We loaded the schooner's hold with an assorted cargo, and her deck with
twenty-eight horses, about fifty hogs, a number of coops of poultry; and
taking on board three passengers bound for the Island of Trinidad,
sailed from Catskill the tenth of November, 1822, and arrived in
New-York after a passage of two days, where I shipped a crew and
prepared for the voyage. About the seventeenth of November we sailed
from New-York, bound to the Island of Trinidad. After we got under
weigh I found the greater part of my crew so badly intoxicated that they
could not stand upon deck, but having fair wind and good weather I
proceeded to sea; the mate, cooper, and cook, being sober, I thought we
could manage the vessel until the crew could attend to their duty. We
passed the night without getting any assistance from them. The next
morning I ordered the mate to go into the fore-castle, where they slept,
and search for liquor, and if necessary, break open all the seamen's
chests, and if he found any he was to break the bottles or heave them
overboard. He returned to the cabin with one bottle containing about a
pint, being all he could find. We learned afterwards that they had some
more secreted, which he was not able to discover. Towards evening the
second day we were able to get them all at work but one. About eight
o'clock in the evening that one came on deck and appeared somewhat
bewildered with delirium tremens.
I was then called to my supper, being much fatigued, having stood at the
helm over twenty-four hours, while the mate, cooper, and cook took care
of the stock on deck. Within two minutes after I entered the cabin I
heard the cry, "He is overboard," when I jumped on deck and threw over
many articles of lumber, long lines, &c. but the night being dark, and a
heavy sea running, we soon lost sight of him. This seaman's name was
James Currie, who said he was born in Rhode Island, and I found by the
papers he left, that he had lately been discharged from the Frigate
Constellation. One of his shipmates informed me that he had just arrived
from a three years' cruise, and had received three hundred dollars when
he was paid off, but had spent the whole of it in three weeks, and was
indebted to his landlord about seventeen dollars more. My seamen were
all sober and at their duty in a couple of days, and we proceeded on the
voyage without any other occurrence worth recording, and arrived, after
a passage of thirty-five days, at Port Spain, in the Island of Trinidad,
where we landed our horses, which had stood on their feet the whole
passage. Many of them had the heaves badly when they were taken on
board, but were perfectly cured when they landed. This being the third
time of successful experiment with diseased horses as a veterinarian, I
pronounced a sea voyage a perfect cure for the heaves, whether in horses
or other animals.
The Island of Trinidad was ceded to the English by the Spanish
government, and by the law of Nations the Spanish laws were to remain in
force for twenty years after the transfer, which time had not expired. A
Spanish governor is clothed with almost as much power as an emperor. Sir
Ralph Woodford had been selected as governor, and was a tyrannical man,
and very unpopular among the inhabitants. The city of Port Spain is one
of the pleasantest places I have ever seen in the West Indies. The
streets are kept very clean and in good order. No man can leave the
Island without a permit from the governor. A merchant of Port Spain
visited the Island of Tobago, a distance of about sixty miles, where he
remained two or three days and then returned, when the governor had him
arrested and committed to jail, where he remained six days: his only
crime was leaving the Island without a passport signed by the governor.
A Mr. J. Robbins, an American, informed me that he owned a house in one
of the principal streets in the city, which street the governor ordered
to be paved, and a tax laid on the property in that street to defray the
expenses of flagging. The tax on his house and lot amounting to over six
hundred dollars, and not being able to pay it, the property was sold at
a great loss.
The license to retail liquors in the city is sold annually at auction,
to the highest bidder; one person purchasing the license for the whole
town, gives security, and then divides it as he pleases. The soil of
this Island is rich, producing sugar-cane and cocoa in abundance.
Coffee, and all kinds of tropical provisions and fruits are raised here
in large quantities. The Island abounds with snakes of an enormous size.
I visited an American gentleman, residing in the country about twelve
miles from Port Spain, who had a snake-skin stuffed which was
twenty-three feet long; it was shot by one of his negroes, and on
opening it they found a whole deer. A few hours before we left the port
news was received from the interior of the Island that a snake had been
shot containing the bodies of a black woman and child. The principal
currency of the country is Spanish dollars punched through the centre,
making a hole about the size of a five cent piece; the dollar still
passing for the same value in the way of trade, and the plug which is
taken out passes for one-eighth of a dollar. After passing through a few
hands they find their way to some Jew, who reams the hole so large that
you can pass a twenty-five cent piece through them, but they still pass
for a dollar by way of trade. To prevent deception and loss, most
bargains are stipulated to be paid in whole dollars.
The English government has made a strong effort to introduce the
cultivation of tea into this Island, by importing a number of Chinese
laborers; it has proved to be a thorough failure. After their arrival in
the country they became so indolent that it was found impossible to make
them cultivate the land. They intermarried with the negroes, and became
useless to society, laboring only to supply their daily wants.
Having sold all my cargo, and taken on board over a hundred hogsheads of
molasses, I sailed for New-York, where we arrived about the first of
April, 1823. On the passage home we experienced a heavy gale of wind,
which caused the loss of one thousand gallons of molasses.
On selling the cargo we found the West India trade unprofitable, in
consequence of the low prices of the produce of the Islands, which
caused heavy losses on return cargoes. I held a consultation with my
partners in the vessel, when it was agreed to sell the Combine at
auction and abandon the trade.