_From 1796 to 1797—age, 23-4._
Second voyage.—Visits Lisbon.—Island of Madeira; festival and
games there.—Anecdotes of his skill as an accountant.—Doubles
Cape of Good Hope.—Albatrosses.—Arrival at Manilla.—Extracts
from Journal.—Curious boat.—Earthquake.—Voyage home.
[Sidenote: AT SEA AGAIN.]
[Sidenote: SECOND VOYAGE.]
After remaining at home about two months, he again sailed in the same
ship, and with Captain Prince. On the 26th of the following March, they
prepared to sail from Salem harbor; but, being prevented by contrary
winds from getting out of the bay, the anchor was dropped during the
night, and on the following morning, under fair but strong breezes,
Mr. Bowditch was again on his way across the wide Atlantic. His course
was towards Lisbon, situated at the mouth of the River Tagus, in
Portugal. The first part of the voyage was unpleasant, because cloudy
and stormy weather prevailed most of the time; but during the latter
part, under pleasant and mild breezes from the south, the ship rode gayly
onwards, and, on the morning of April 24, the vessel was within sight
of Lisbon, with its beautiful and romantic country behind it. Lisbon is
the chief city of Portugal, and presents a very superb appearance when
viewed from a vessel which is entering the harbor. It is the principal
commercial place in the kingdom. Its inhabitants are among the richest.
In consequence of its being the place of residence of the kings of
Portugal, many magnificent country-seats, or villas, are seen on all the
vine-covered hills of the adjacent country.
The stay at this city was short, and the opportunities for visiting
the interesting places in it very limited. Mr. Bowditch seems not to
have been particularly pleased with its appearance. At the time he was
there, probably, much less attention was paid to the cleanliness of the
streets than there is now. But he spent the 28th and 29th of April in
walking about the city, and says in his Journal, that he “found nothing
remarkable.”
[Sidenote: LISBON, INCIDENT.]
It was at Lisbon that Mr. Bowditch discovered the advantage of having
learned to _speak_ French, to which I alluded at the close of the second
chapter. Though a Portuguese port, the custom-house officers understood
French; and no one on board but he could speak any other language
than the English. The consequence was, that he acted as interpreter,
which was, of course, a great help to the captain. This incident made
a deep impression upon his mind; and in after-life, when a person in
conversation expressed a doubt about the importance of any kind of
knowledge, because for the time it seemed useless, he would reply, “O,
study everything, and your learning will, some time or other, be of
service. I once said that I would not learn to _speak_ French, because I
thought that I should never leave my native town; yet, within a few years
afterwards, I was in a foreign port, and I became sole interpreter of
the ship’s crew, in consequence of my power to speak this language.”
[Sidenote: MADEIRA.]
[Sidenote: GAMES.]
On the 30th, having taken on board a quantity of wine, they again were
ready for sea; but, owing to bad weather, they did not sail until the 6th
of May, when the ship dropped down the river. On the 6th it was on its
way to the Island of Madeira, which is a small island, situated about
three hundred and sixty miles from the northern part of Africa. At eleven
o’clock, May 15, the island was discovered; and, under full sail, the
ship swept along the shore until nine in the evening, when they hailed
a pilot, who came on board, from the town of Funchal. Mr. Pintard, the
American consul of the place, greeted them very cordially. The ship spent
six days there, taking in more wine,—for which the country is famous,—and
sailed from it on Thursday morning, May 26, 1796. During this residence
at Mr. Pintard’s, Mr. Bowditch saw some feats of horsemanship, about
which you may like to hear. They are thus described in his Journal: “A
ring being suspended by a small wire, about ten feet from the ground, at
the entrance of the gate of the public garden, a horseman attempted to
strike it, and carry it off, while upon full gallop. If he gained the
prize, he was attended by the master of ceremonies, mounted on a small
colt fantastically adorned with ribbons, &c., with a most deformed mask,
who generally gave him a reward fully proportioned to the merit of the
action; perhaps a whistle, a small flower, or some little image. During
the next day, no business was done by the inhabitants; but the whole of
it was devoted to amusements similar to those of the preceding. Again
there were masquerades, and some of the richest men in the place joined
with the crowd, masked like the people. Others were very richly dressed,
like Turks, East Indians, &c. One of them wore a head-dress worth, it was
said, forty or fifty thousand dollars.” From this description, slight as
it is, we may see the difference in the customs between these inhabitants
of Madeira and the Americans.
[Sidenote: ANECDOTE.]
Captain Prince relates the following anecdotes, which occurred during
their residence at Madeira. I shall use Captain Prince’s words.
“I was one day walking with an American shipmaster at Madeira, who, in
the course of conversation, asked me who that young man (alluding to Mr.
Bowditch) was. I replied, that he was clerk of the ship under my command,
and remarked that he was a great calculator. ‘Well,’ said the gentleman,
‘I can set him a sum that he can’t do.’ I answered that I did not believe
it. The gentleman then proposed a wager of a dinner to all the American
masters in port, that he could set him such a sum. The wager was accepted
by me, and we repaired to the hotel, where we found Mr. B. alone. The
gentleman was introduced, and the question stated to Mr. Bowditch, with
the interrogatory, Can you do it? The reply was, Yes. The great sum which
had puzzled the brains of the gentleman and all his friends at home, for
a whole winter, was done in a few minutes. I remember the question. It
was this: To dig a ditch around an acre of land, how deep and how wide
must that ditch be, to raise the acre of land one foot?
[Sidenote: KNOWLEDGE OF NAVIGATION.]
“One day, Mr. Bowditch and myself received a visit from a Mr. Murray,
a Scotchman, who was at that port, having under his charge a valuable
cargo of English goods, and who made many inquiries concerning the
Americans. He asked particularly what passage we had made against the
north-east monsoon, and remarked that it was very surprising that the
Americans should come so far, and undertake such difficult voyages, with
so little knowledge as they possessed of the science of navigation. In
reply to his remark, I told him that I had on board twelve men, all of
whom were as well acquainted with working lunar observations for all the
practical purposes of navigation, as Sir Isaac Newton would be, should
he come on earth. Mr. M. asked how my crew came by that knowledge. I
told him, in the same manner that other men came by theirs. He thought
it so wonderful, that (as he afterwards told me) he went down to the
landing-place, on Sunday, to see my _knowing_ crew come on shore. During
all this conversation, Mr. Bowditch remained silent, sitting with his
slate pencil in his mouth, and as modest as a maid. Mr. Kean, a broker,
who was also present, observed to Murray, ‘Sir, if you knew what I know
concerning that ship, you would not talk quite so fast.’ ‘And what do
you know?’ asked Murray. ‘I know,’ replied Kean, ‘that there is more
knowledge of navigation on board that American ship (the Astræa) than
there has been in all the ships that ever came into Manilla Bay.’”
[Sidenote: TEACHES THE SAILORS.]
Mr. Bowditch, during this and the previous voyage, had been in the habit
of teaching navigation to the sailors; so that it is probable that,
considering the number of persons then on board who really understood
practical navigation, Mr. Kean was not so extravagant in his remark as at
first sight he seems to be.
[Sidenote: LUNAR RAINBOW.]
May 26, as we have already said, he sailed for India. On July 1, the
Island of Trinidad was within sight. They did not stop there, but
keeping on their course steadily, two days afterwards crossed the
Tropic of Capricorn, in the Southern Hemisphere. On the 17th, during
the night, it having rained during the day, the young sailor observed,
what we rarely see in this part of the world and on land, but which is
not uncommon at sea, a beautiful lunar rainbow. It is caused in the same
manner as those rainbows which are seen after a summer shower in the
daytime, when the sun is just coming out brightly, and the clouds, which
cause the bow to be formed, are passing away afar off in the opposite
part of the heavens. But the difference between the solar and lunar
rainbows is very great. The solar is grander and has more brilliant
coloring, while the lunar bow has a more delicate outline and lighter
tints.
August 1, the Journal says, “All the latter part of these twenty-four
hours, fine breezes and pleasant, smooth sea. Ever since crossing the
Cape [of Good Hope], we have seen a great number of albatrosses, but no
fish.” These birds are the largest of marine birds. They at times fly
and swim (for they are web-footed) to a great distance from land, living
upon the fish and other things which may fall in their way. It is said
that, as they come gently rising over the waves of the sea, they present
a very pleasing sight to the sailor who has been for many months upon the
ocean, separated from living things.
[Sidenote: PHOSPHORESCENT LIGHT.]
For some weeks afterwards, the ship met with severe weather, until
September 7, when, according to previous expectation, they saw the land
of the Island of Java. The day before their arrival at that place, a
curious phenomenon was observed, the account of which I will copy from
the Journal. “At seven P. M., the water, as for the two nights past,
became of a perfect milk color, through the whole extent of the horizon.
We drew a bucket of it in order to determine whether there was anything
in it to account for the curious phenomenon. When seen by candlelight,
nothing could be observed; but, when carried into a dark place, it
appeared full of small, bright, cylindric substances, of the nature of a
jelly, about the size of a small wire, and a quarter of an inch long.
Some large jellies floated on the water at the same time, and looked
like long pieces of wood. The sky all this time was perfectly clear; not
a cloud to be seen. About three A. M. the water began to take its usual
color. Next morning we examined the water which had appeared so shining
in the night; but nothing could be discovered in it, although it was
viewed in a very dark place. In the forenoon the sea appeared somewhat
colored, of a greenish hue; but some of it, being taken up and carried
from the light, appeared colorless.”
[Sidenote: ISLAND OF JAVA.]
[Sidenote: ARRIVAL AT MANILLA.]
The next morning the high lands of the Island of Java came in sight on
the horizon, at the distance of about twenty miles towards the east.
The Journal kept during his passage through the Straits of Sunda is
interesting, because the greatest care was necessary to keep the ship
off from the shoals which abound there. The current runs at times very
swiftly, the strait being between the large islands of Sumatra and
Java, and on the 9th, the force of this current, and strong headwinds,
compelled the captain to cast anchor two or three times. Finally, on the
17th, the ship was fairly out of the Straits of Sunda and Straits of
Banca, having been ten days, during sultry weather, toiling, with much
danger, amid coral reefs and shoals. The remainder of the voyage along by
the coast of Borneo to the city of Manilla, the capital of the chief of
the Philippine Islands, was more speedy. At six in the morning of Sunday,
October 2, 1796, the Island of Luzon was in sight towards the east, about
eighteen miles off. That same evening they cast anchor in Manilla Bay, it
being a little more than six months since the sailor had left his home in
Salem.
[Sidenote: COSTUMES OF THE PEOPLE.]
The following are some extracts from his Journal while in the city.
Under date of October 4, he says, “No coffee can be procured here; the
Spaniards, not being very fond of it, cultivate the cocoa instead. The
common drink of the natives is sweetmeats and water, which beverage, they
say, is wholesome and agreeable. Large quantities of wax are produced
here; but it is very dear, owing to the great consumption of it in the
churches, of which there are a great number in Manilla and its environs.
There are a few bishops in the island, and one archbishop, whose power is
very great. The priests are very powerful, every native wearing the image
of the Virgin Mary, a cross, or some such thing. No books are allowed
to be imported contrary to their religion. The commandant who makes the
visit examines every vessel.... The inhabitants of the city and suburbs
are very numerous, amounting to nearly three hundred thousand. In the
Philippines there are about two or three millions. A great number are
Chinese; and in general they are a well-made people. Their common dress
is a shirt, and trousers, or jackets and trousers. The women have great
numbers of handkerchiefs about them, so as to be entirely covered. The
natives are well used by the Spaniards, the King of Spain, in all his
public papers, calling them his children.” From these extracts you may
judge of Mr. Bowditch’s mode of studying a people when residing with
strangers. He afterwards speaks of their games, &c.
[Sidenote: SINGULAR BOAT.]
The following description of a boat appears on record of October 5: “At
twelve, set sail for Cavite in one of the passage-boats, which is very
inconvenient for passengers; being nearly three hours before arriving
at Cavite, during which time I was basking in the sun. Their boats and
manner of sailing are very curious. Having generally light winds, they
make their mat sails very large, and the boats, made of the bodies of
trees, are very long and narrow; so that there would be great danger of
upsetting, if it were not for “out-riggers,” which they have on each
side, consisting of two bamboos about eight or ten feet long, whose
ends are joined to another long bamboo, running lengthwise of the boat.
The lee one, on a flaw of wind, sinks a little in the water, and, being
buoyant, keeps the boats from upsetting; and on the weather [that is,
towards the wind] ones the persons in the boat are continually going out
and in, according to the force of the breeze. In a fresh breeze there
will be six or eight men at the end of the bamboo, there being ropes
leading from the top of the mast to different parts of the bamboo, to
support them as they go. By this means they keep the boat always upright,
and make it sail very fast, in a good breeze going five or six knots.”
After this, a good account is given of the mode of counting used by the
Malays.
[Sidenote: EARTHQUAKE.]
“November 5. About two P. M. there came on, without any preceding noise,
a very violent shock of an earthquake. It commenced towards the north,
and ran very nearly in a southerly direction. It continued nearly two
minutes; everything appeared in motion. When it happened, the captain and
myself were sitting reading, and we immediately ran out of the house.
All the natives were down on their knees, in the middle of the streets,
praying and crossing themselves. It was the most violent earthquake known
for a number of years. It threw down a large house about half a league
from the city, untiled one of their churches, and did considerable
damage to the houses about the city and its suburbs. Nothing of it was
felt on board the shipping.”
[Sidenote: HOME AGAIN.]
On Monday, December 12, having sold their wines and laden their vessel
with sugar, indigo, pepper, and hides, the party set sail from Manilla,
heartily tired with the vices and superstitions of the place. Retracing
their course through the Straits of Sunda, with much difficulty they
regained the Indian Ocean, and then, setting full sail, they once more
looked towards home.
In coming round the Cape of Good Hope, the wind was very favorable.
During their passage, several ships were met with, all of whom told them
of home, and of the beginning of troubles between America and France, and
England. Finally, at six A. M., they saw Cape Ann towards the north-west,
and at two P. M., May 22, 1797, the vessel was riding at anchor in Salem
harbor, having been about half round the world, and nearly fourteen
months from Salem.