We were embarked on board of our respective ships on the 13th April,
1807, and weighed anchor on the 18th. There seems much to make one
unhappy and melancholy, when taking probably the last view of the land
which gave him birth; but, notwithstanding, all seemed now festivity
and joy. Some of those who seemed so full of joy, I have good reason
to believe, might, with justice, be called Solomon's merry men--in
their laughter their hearts were sad. Still more, perhaps, have their
relations who loved them cause of sorrow. To them may the prophet's
language be truly directed, "Weep not for the dead, neither bemoan
him, but weep sore for him that goeth away, for he shall return no
more, nor see his native country; but he shall die in the place where
they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more."
_At sea, Ship Coutts, May 1st._ William Troop departed this life.
He was one of those unhappy creatures who left his wife behind, and
died of a broken heart. They had been lately married, and were like
the "loving hind and the pleasant roe," and his feelings being unable
to stand the separating stroke, he sunk under this insurmountable load
of sorrow.
_May 6_, Twelve o'clock noon. We had a tremendous storm of wind,
accompanied with incessant falls of rain and vivid flashes of
lightning. All hands during night were piped by the boatswain upon
deck, to reef, or rather to clue the sails, when a fine looking young
man, who had shipped himself at Portsmouth for ship's painter, being
ordered aloft by the boatswain, to bear a hand in reefing the mizzen
topsail, fell from the yard into the sea and was drowned. He pled hard
with the boatswain to allow him to remain and assist upon deck,
saying, that he never was aloft in his life, and that in such a
dreadful night he was sure he would not be able to keep his feet; but
all his entreaties were in vain.
_June 12._ This day we crossed the equinoctial line. The foolish
but amusing ceremony (to bystanders) of shaving took place on all
those who had not before crossed it; but, lest it might lead to any
disturbance, the soldiers were exempted. The form is as follows: A
person goes to the head of the ship, in the garb of Neptune, the god
of the sea, according to the heathens, and another person, generally
the most dexterous at the harpoon, kills a fish previously to this,
and gives it to the Captain to be in readiness. Neptune, from the bow
of the vessel, hails it in these words, "_What ship, a hoy?_" The
officer whose turn it is to be on watch, answers "Coutts," or whatever
is the name. "Where bound?" _Officer on watch._--"India." Neptune
then comes on board and enters his triumphal car, which stands in
waiting. He is drawn aft by the sailors, and the fish is presented to
him by the captain. Then commences the shaving operation. All the
sailors who have not formerly crossed the equinoctial are kept below
blindfolded until the large tub is ready. Each of them is in this
state led upon deck, and placed on a plank laid across the tub, filled
with salt water. The mock barber daubs his face all over with tar and
feathers.
For a razor he takes a piece of iron hoop and commences his shaving.
It requires no common degree of patience to endure this horrid
operation; but if the person gets refractory, he is instantly plunged
over head and ears in the watery element, by one of the sailors
pulling the plank from under him; and after he has scrambled out of
the tub, should he stand to expostulate with his comrades on this
treatment, two or three of the sailors, each provided with a bucket of
salt water, standing on the hammock railings, discharge the contents
upon him with such an overwhelming dash as makes him glad to choose
another time and place to avenge his wrongs.
_June 20._ I lost my watch overboard, which cost me upwards of
four pounds, and so much uneasiness and travel in England; but I would
not have mentioned the circumstance but for the loss of a seal
attached to it, which I had received from my affectionate comrade the
drum-major of the 2d battalion, who was sent to another battalion, and
we got in his place an old wicked creature, whom I may have occasion
to bring on the carpet again. We were much attached to each other, and
he offered to his Royal Highness to go with me to India in the
capacity of a private drummer, if he would not continue him in his
present situation; but his petition was not granted, so he gave me
this seal as a token of his remembrance.
_June 22._--We have seen a great many flying fish lately. This is
truly a wonderful curiosity in nature, and is well calculated to
excite our admiration and sympathy. These poor persecuted creatures
are about the size of a herring, with finny wings, (as they may be
called,) resembling in size and shape the blade of a table knife. When
pursued by the dolphin, they rise out of the water by the assistance
of these wings, and are able to fly as long as they keep moist; they
then dip and rise again, until they are quite exhausted, and if they
do not gain upon the dolphin, which is not easy, on account of his
amazing swiftness in swimming, they become his prey. When out of the
water, they seem to be deprived of the use of their eyes, which I
suppose was the cause of some of them flying on board of our ship. I
one day picked up one, and roasted it upon the gelly fire, and found
it to have very much the flavour of a good herring. They always go in
shoals; and it is really very novel and beautiful, to see scores, or I
may say hundreds of these winged tenants of the great deep, skimming
the water like so many swallows.
_June 30._ James Moor fell overboard when in the act of shaking a
rug for one of the officers. He kept himself above water a
considerable time, but before the boat which was lowered for his
assistance could reach him, he sunk like lead in the mighty waters.
The sea was running so high that it was with no small difficulty the
boat and crew could reach the ship again.
_July 17._ We saw the Cape of Good Hope on our larboard bow, but
we were at too great a distance to distinguish any objects on land.
Signals were hoisted by the ----, 50 gun ship, for the captains, or
rather pursers, to give an account of the state of their respective
ships with regard to water. Being in general pretty well supplied,
except the Coutts, which was head quarter ship, and had upwards of
five hundred men on board, the commander of the man-of-war would not
put into the Cape for her sake alone. Our expectations of seeing this
country were therefore disappointed; but that was nothing: dearly did
we pay for the want of this great blessing, with which we could here
have been supplied. In about a month after we were put on short
allowance, which in these latitudes is an English quart a-day; this we
thought very hard, and it was so in some respects; but it would have
been well if this allowance had been continued, but from a quart we
were speedily reduced to a pint; and in this parched condition were we
kept till we reached the land, which was three weeks.
The reader may be inclined to think that this was no great hardship;
but I hope you will not take it amiss, if I say that this shows your
entire ignorance of the matter. Only consider for a moment, and you
will, I am persuaded, come to a very different conclusion. Take for
your dinner a salt herring, or a piece of beef that has been perhaps a
twelvemonth in the brine, in a very hot summer day, having ate no
breakfast beforehand, and try if you would find an English pint of
water sufficient even for the afternoon; but what is a single day when
the body is full of moisture? Continue this experiment for three weeks
or a month, and I am fully satisfied you will change your tone.--Let
me tell you, my dear reader, that I never knew the meaning of that
passage of the Psalmist, "Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my
mouth," before that time; but after lying in my hammock, in the hallop
deck, a few hours, (sleeping it could never be called,) amongst two
hundred men and upwards, without, I may say, one breath of air, and
when the heat was such as to melt the sealing wax I had in my chest--I
say, after a person had remained in that state, and in such a place
for a few hours, it was hardly possible to articulate a word. You will
allow we must have been ill indeed before we could have chosen to be
without any victuals cooked for us an entire fortnight. But this was
literally the case in the mess to which I belonged. Some of these
miserable creatures were so carried away by their intolerable thirst,
as to draw up the salt water, in a tin pot, each anxiously waiting his
turn to swallow the nauseous draught. This to be sure was making
things worse. The consequence of all this was, we had at one time one
hundred and thirty-two men on the doctor's list, with sea-scurvy and
sores. You will think it strange that we could live at all after so
long wanting victuals. I answer, we had a certain quantity of biscuit
served out to us, all the colours of the rainbow; and I am sure the
pint of water, which we had every day at twelve o'clock, would, from
taste and smell, have turned the stomach of any person who had never
known any thing of this extremity. A person possessed of the best eyes
in the ship could not see to the bottom of a tea-cup full of it, had
he got it to himself for his trouble, which would have been the
greatest reward that could have been offered to him. You may think I
am going to say too much, but I say it with a clear conscience, that
in this state of torment I would have cheerfully suffered the
_pain_ of drowning, (but not to be drowned outright, mind ye,)
for a bellyful of water; and often, in my troubled slumbers, did I
imagine myself plunging and struggling in the waters of the Tweed, and
I "dreamed, that behold I was drinking, but when I awoke, behold I was
faint, and my soul had appetite." My dear reader, I pray to God that
you may never experience this extremity, for the pain of hunger, which
I have often felt, was pleasure itself compared with these sufferings.