We depart for Europe—a misunderstanding arises between the Captain and
the Surgeon, through the scandalous aspersions of Crampley—the Captain
dies—Crampley tyrannises over the surgeon, who falls a Victim for his
Cruelty—I am also ill-used—the Ship strikes—the behaviour of Crampley
and the Seamen on that occasion—-I get on shore, challenge the Captain
to single combat—am treacherously knocked down, wounded, and robbed
Now that I could return to my native country in a creditable way, I
felt excessive pleasure in finding myself out of sight of that fatal
island, which has been the grave of so many Europeans: and, as I was
accommodated with everything to make the passage agreeable, I resolved
to enjoy myself as much as the insolence of Crampley would permit. This
insidious slanderer had found means already to cause a misunderstanding
between the surgeon and captain, who, by his age and infirmities, was
rendered intolerably peevish, his disposition having also been soured
by a long course of disappointments. He had a particular aversion to
all young men, especially to surgeons, whom he considered unnecessary
animals on board of a ship; and, in consequence of these sentiments,
never consulted the doctor, notwithstanding his being seized with a
violent fit of the gout and gravel, but applied to a cask of Holland
gin, which was his sovereign prescription against all distempers:
whether he was at this time too sparing, or took an overdose of his
cordial, certain it is, he departed in the night, without any ceremony,
which indeed was a thing he always despised, and was found stiff next
morning, to the no small satisfaction of Crampley, who succeeded to the
command of the vessel. For that very reason, Mr. Tomlins and I had no
cause to rejoice at this event, fearing that the tyranny of our new
commander would now be as unlimited as his power. The first day of his
command justified our apprehensions: for, on pretence that the decks
were too much crowded, he ordered the surgeon’s hencoops, with all his
fowls, to be thrown overboard; and at the same time prohibited him and
me from walking on the quarter-deck.
Mr. Tomlins could not help complaining of these injuries, and in the
course of his expostulation dropped some hasty words, of which Crampley
taking hold, confined him to his cabin, where, in a few days, for want
of air he was attacked by a fever, which soon put an end to his life,
after he had made his will, by which he bequeathed all his estate,
personal and real, to his sister, and left to me his watch and
instruments as memorials of his friendship. I was penetrated with grief
on this melancholy occasion; the more because there was nobody on board
to whom I could communicate my sorrows, or of whom I could receive the
least consolation or advice. Crampley was so far from discovering the
least remorse for his barbarity, at the news of the surgeon’s death,
that he insulted his memory in the most abusive manner, and affirmed he
had poisoned himself out of pure fear, dreading to be brought to a
court-martial for mutiny; for which reason he would not suffer the
service of the dead to be read over his body before it was thrown
overboard.
Nothing but a speedy deliverance could have supported me under the
brutal sway of this bashaw, who, to render my life more irksome,
signified to my messmates a desire that I should be expelled from their
society. This was no sooner hinted, than they granted his request; and
I was fain to eat in a solitary manner by myself during the rest of the
passage, which, however, soon drew to a period.
We had been seven weeks at sea, when the gunner told the captain that,
by his reckoning, we must be in soundings, and desired he would order
the lead to be heaved. Crampley swore he did not know how to keep the
ship’s way, for we were not within a hundred leagues of soundings, and
therefore he would not give himself the trouble to cast the lead.
Accordingly we continued our course all that afternoon and night,
without shortening sail, although the gunner pretended to discover
Scilly light; and next morning protested in form against the captain’s
conduct, for which he was put in confinement, We discovered no land all
that day, and Crampley was still so infatuated as to neglect sounding;
but at three o’clock in the morning the ship struck, and remained fast
on a sand-bank. This accident alarmed the whole crew; the boat was
immediately hoisted out, but as we could not discern which way the
shore lay, we were obliged to wait for daylight. In the meantime, the
wind increased, and the waves beat against the sloop with such
violence, that we expected she would have gone to pieces. The gunner
was released and consulted: he advised the captain to cut away the
mast, in order to lighten her; this expedient was performed without
success: the sailors, seeing things in a desperate situation, according
to custom, broke up the chests belonging to the officers, dressed
themselves in their clothes, drank their liquors without ceremony, and
drunkenness, tumult, and confusion ensued.
In the midst of this uproar, I went below to secure my own effects, and
found the carpenter’s mate hewing down the purser’s cabin with his
hatchet, whistling all the while with great composure. When I asked his
intention in so doing, he replied, very calmly, “I only want to taste
the purser’s rum, that’s all, master.” At that instant the purser
coming down, and seeing his effects going to wreck, complained bitterly
of the injustice done to him, and asked the fellow what occasion he had
for liquor when, in all likelihood, he would be in eternity in a few
minutes. “All’s one for that,” said plunderer, “let us live while we
can.” “Miserable wretch that thou art!” cried the purser, “what must be
thy lot in another world, if thou diest in the commission of robbery?”
“Why, hell, I suppose,” replied the other, with great deliberation,
while the purser fell on his knees, and begged of Heaven that we might
not all perish for the sake of Jonas.
During this dialogue I clothed myself in my bed apparel, girded on my
hanger, stuck my pistols, loaded, in my belt, disposed of all my
valuable moveables about my person, and came upon deck with a
resolution of taking the first opportunity to get on shore, which, when
the day broke, appeared at the distance of three miles ahead. Crampley,
finding his efforts to get the ship off ineffectual, determined to
consult his own safety, by going into the boat, which he had no sooner
done, than the ship’s company followed so fast, that she would have
sunk alongside, had not some one wiser than the rest cut the rope and
put off. But before this happened, I had made several attempts to get
in, and was always balked by the captain, who was so eager in excluding
me, that he did not mind the endeavours of any other body. Enraged at
this inhuman partiality, and seeing the rope cut, I pulled one of my
pistols from my belt, and cocking it, swore I would shoot any man who
would presume to obstruct my entrance. So saying, I leaped with my full
exertion, and got on board of the boat with the loss of the skin of my
shins. I chanced in my descent to overturn Crampley, who no sooner got
up than he struck at me several times with a cutlass, and ordered the
men to throw me overboard; but they were too anxious about their own
safety to mind what he said. Though the boat was very deeply loaded,
and the sea terribly high, we made shift to get upon dry land in less
than an hour after we parted from the sloop. As soon as I set my foot
on terra firma, my indignation, which had boiled so long within me,
broke out against Crampley, whom I immediately challenged to single
combat, presenting my pistols, that he might take his choice: he took
one without hesitation, and, before I could cock the other, fired in my
face, throwing the pistol after the shot. I felt myself stunned, and
imagining the bullet had entered my brain, discharged mine as quick as
possible, that I might not die unrevenged: then flying upon my
antagonist, knocked out several of his fore-teeth with the butt-end of
the piece, and would certainly have made an end of him with that
instrument, had he not disengaged himself, and seized his cutlass,
which he had given to his servant when he received the pistol. Seeing
him armed in this manner, I drew my hanger, and, having flung my pistol
at his head, closed with him in a transport of fury, and thrust my
weapon into his mouth, which it enlarged on one side to his ear.
Whether the smart of this wound disconcerted him, or the unevenness of
the ground made him reel, I know not, but he staggered some paces back:
I followed close, and with one stroke cut the tendons of the back of
his hand, Upon which his cutlass dropped, and he remained defenceless.
I know not with what cruelty my rage might have inspired me, if I had
not at that instant been felled to the ground by a blow on the back
part of my head, which deprived me of all sensation. In this deplorable
situation, exposed to the rage of an incensed barbarian, and the rapine
of an inhuman crew, I remained for some time; and whether any disputes
arose among them during the state of my annihilation, I cannot pretend
to determine; but in one particular they seemed to have been unanimous,
and acted with equal dexterity and dispatch; for when I recovered the
use of my understanding, I found myself alone in a desolate place,
stripped of my clothes, money, watch, buckles, and everything but my
shoes, stockings, breeches and shirt. What a discovery must this have
been to me, who, but an hour before, was worth sixty guineas in cash! I
cursed the hour of my birth, the parents that gave me being, the sea
that did not swallow me up, the poniard of the enemy, which could not
find the way to my heart, the villainy of those who had left me in that
miserable condition; and in the ecstacy of despair resolved to be still
where I was, and perish.