CHAPTER I.
Boyhood and youth of the author. Sailor's life. The "Good Luck." South Pacific Island scheme. Loss of crew off Cape Horn.
I was born in the year 1833, in the State of Vermont, United States ofAmerica, and at an early age lost both parents by that fearful scourge,the small-pox. I was an only child, and upon the death of my parents,which happened when I was about six years of age, I was taken chargeof by a friendly farmer of a neighboring town, who put me to schoolfor several years in the winter, and at work upon the farm in thesummer. I had no known relatives in the wide world, and often felt thebitter pangs of orphanhood. My master was not, however, unkind, and Igrew up strong, robust, and with rather a retiring, quiet disposition,with a great love of mechanics and tools. Under all this quietness,however, lurked, I well knew myself, an unappeasable love of adventureand enterprise. I loved to lie in the open fields at night under thefull moon; to explore swamps and brooks; and I soon learned to swimin the pond near by. At the age of fourteen I left my master, withhis consent, and went to work in a neighboring machine-shop, wherecastings, etc., were made. I loved all manner of mechanical tools andinstruments, and evidently had a taste in that direction. At the ageof eighteen I became restless, and, having read during leisure hoursmany books of adventure and discovery, I took it into my silly head tobecome a sailor, and upon the inspiration of a moment I packed up mysmall bundle of clothes, and, bidding good-by to my workmates, startedout on foot for Portsmouth, N. H. I arrived there and shipped as greenhand in the schooner "Rosa Belle" for Boston, at which port we indue season arrived. From thence I shipped again before the mast in alarge, square-rigged vessel for a voyage round the world. It is not myintention here to give a detailed account of my adventurous life tillI joined the "Good Luck;" suffice it to say that during fourteen yearsat sea I passed through all the grades of boy, seaman, able seaman,boatswain, third mate, second mate, and first mate. It was after mydischarge from a large clipper ship in Liverpool, lately arrived fromChina, in the latter capacity, that, having some few hundred dollars byme, I began to look about to see if I could not gain a livelihood insome easier way than by going to sea, being by this time heartily tiredof the life, and for want of friends and relations with little chanceof rising higher in the profession; it was at this time, I say, thatthis cursed project of the "Good Luck" was brought to my attention. Asfate would have it, the schooner lay in the same dock with ourselves,and I became interested in her by hearing the talk upon the dock thatshe was bound to the South Pacific Islands to seek for pearls, sandalwood, tortoiseshell, etc., and to establish a colony of which thepersons who were going out on this trip were the advance guard andprojectors. I remember now, oh! how sadly, the Utopian ideas that wereadvanced, and although I, as a sailor in those seas, knew many of themto be false, yet imagination proclaimed them true. I could not resistthe impulse to join my fortune to theirs. Having made up my mind, Icalled upon the chief movers in the matter and offered my services. Itwas first a question with them whether I could subscribe any money tothe project, and secondly, what position I desired in the adventure?
I satisfied them upon the former, by stating that if I was pleasedwith their plans I could subscribe four hundred dollars in cash, andmy services as a seaman and navigator in those seas. This seemed verysatisfactory, and I was then asked, more pointedly, what position Idemanded. I said that I should be satisfied with the position of chiefofficer, and second in command on board of the schooner, and fourthin command on the island as concerned the colony,--that is to say, iftheir plans suited me, which I demanded to know fully before signingany papers and bound myself by oath not to disclose if, after hearingand seeing everything, I declined to join them.
This straightforward course seemed to please the managers, and I wasput in full possession of all their plans, and immediately after signedthe papers.
It is sufficient for me to give an outline of this plan simply, which,through the act of God, came to naught, and left me, a second RobinsonCrusoe, on my lonely island.
The company was formed of one hundred persons, who each put in onehundred pounds to make a general capital,--except a few like myself,who were allowed a full paid-up share for eighty pounds, on account ofbeing of the advance guard, and wages for our services according to ourstation, with our proportionate part of the dividends to be hereaftermade.
With this fund paid in, amounting to about nine thousand eight hundredpounds, the managing committee purchased the schooner "Good Luck."She was a fore-topsail schooner, of one hundred and fifty-four tonsmeasurement, built in Bath, Maine, and about seven years old,--strong,well built, sharp, and with a flush deck fore and aft. She cost twothousand four hundred pounds. The remainder of the money was used inpurchasing the following outfit for the scheme we were engaged in:--
Four breech-loading Armstrong cannon, nine pounders, fourold-fashioned nine-pounders, twenty-five Sharpe's breech-loadingrifles, and twenty-five navy Colt's revolvers, with plenty ofammunition for all. These, in conjunction with boarding-pikes,cutlasses, hand-grenades, and a howitzer for the launch, comprised ourarmament. The hold was stored with a little of everything generallytaken on such adventures,--knives, hatchets, and calico for thenatives, and seeds, canned meats, and appliances for pearl fishing,house-building, etc., for ourselves. To these were added a sawmill, anupright steam-engine, a turning-lathe, blacksmith tools, etc.
Our plan was to find an island uninhabited, that would form a goodcentre from which to prosecute our purpose of pearl gathering, and tothere establish a colony, sending home the "Good Luck" for the rest ofour companions and their families.
Ten of us were chosen as the advance guard (all but three beingsailors), to make the first venture, establish the colony, load theschooner, leave part of our force upon the island selected, and theremainder to bring back the schooner to Liverpool. "Man proposes, butGod disposes."
On July 31, 1865, we set sail upon this disastrous voyage, and fromthat day to this have I never seen the faces of civilized beings exceptthose on board of the schooner, and not those for many months. Ourcaptain was a fine, manly fellow, of about eight and thirty years ofage, and we all liked him. Duty on board was of course different thanit would have been in a common vessel; and although we had watches andregular discipline, each was familiar with the other, having, as wehad, an equal stake in the adventure.
We had a tough time off Cape Horn, and, although the "Good Luck"behaved well, it was here that we met with our first misfortune. Instowing the jib, in a gale of wind, preparatory to laying-to, three menwere swept overboard, and we never saw them more. This cast a damperupon the remaining seven, and was but a precursor of what was yet tohappen. We rounded Cape Horn the first part of October, and, steeringnorthwest, soon reached more pleasant weather. Our course was towardsthe group of islands, so well known in the South Pacific, called theSociety Islands.
Perseverance Island; Or, The Robinson Crusoe of the Nineteenth Century Page 4
