wAutobiography
of Joseph Bates, 1792-1872.
Foreword: (this Foreword written August, 2002 by Daniel Winters;
earlysda@hotmail.com)
" Joseph Bates was
probably the greatest worker after James and Ellen White in building up the
early Adventist church. In the area of reform he was without peer, being
perhaps the first among Adventists to quit using coffee, tea, and meat. He
also stood for the oppressed, being a strong supporter of abolition.
His autobiography is quite
exciting, as he goes back and forth between continents in harrowing sea
journeys, when sailors were at the mercy of wind and waves.
Personally, reading of his willpower in resolving to do away with bad habits,
has helped strengthen my resolve to put away things that separate me from God.
In the "Advent
Review" of Dec. 11, 1879, Ellen White promotes Joseph Bates autobiography
with these words: "For young people, the Life of Joseph Bates is a
treasure;...".
Of course the man was not
without faults. One obvious one is that he had a hard time accepting Ellen
White's visions as from God. This is apparent at the end of his
book in his reply to Ellen White attributing her counsel to people telling her
things. Also this spirit is apparent in The Testimonies
volume 13 where he signed his name with others from Battle Creek church
expressing their sorrow at not being one with James and Ellen; and also in
Present Truth p.86 where it describes some errors, apparently made by Joseph
(see Other Manuscripts v.12 p.248).
This particular book was taken
from a photo-copy of a photo-copy of a photo-copy.... and as such, the
original spellings were left as in the original. See the end for a
list of typesetting/spelling errors that were in the
original. If there are other errors in this book, please
email me. Two drawings at the beginning of the book have been
placed at the end. Scroll down for CONTENTS."
CONTENTS.
________
CHAPTER
I.Parentage - Birth - Residence - First Foreign Voyage - Hurl Gate -
London Water for Sailors - Mr. Lloyd's Story - Mr. Moore and his Book - Sea
Journal - Overboard - Shark.
CHAPTER
II.
Shipwrecked in the Ice - An attempt to throw the Captain Overboard - Deliverance
- Arrive in Ireland - Pursuing our Voyage - British Convoy - Part our Cable -
Taken by Privateers - Nature of an Oath, and the Box - Ship Condemned - Voyage
up the Baltic - Arrive in Ireland - Pressed into the British Service.
CHAPTER
III.
Attempt to Escape - Flogging - Ship St. Salvadore - Attempt to Swim Away -
Rodney 74 - Spanish War Ship - A Levanter - Image Worship - Another Attempt for
Freedom - Battle - Storm - Shipwreck - Blockading Squadron - Church Service on
Board a King's Ship - Port Mahon - Subterranean Passage - Holy-stone - Wash Days
- Threatened Punishment - Storm - New Station.
CHAPTER
IV.
Impressing American Seamen - Documents of Citizenship - War - Voluntary
Surrender as Prisoners of War - Preparation for a Battle - Unjust Treatment -
Close Confinement - Relieved - British Fleet Outgeneraled - Prisoners Sent to
England - London Newspaper - Successful Movement - Without Bread.
CHAPTER
V.
Cutting a Hole Through the Ship - Perilous Adventure of a Narragansett Indian -
Hole Finished - Eighteen Prisoners Escape - Singular Device to Keep the Number
Good - Drowning Man - Night Signals for Relief - Another Hole Cut - Letter from
the Escaped Prisoners - U. S. Government Clothe their Prisoners - Prisoners sent
to Dartmoor - Cheering News of Peace.
CHAPTER
VI.
Subterranean Passage - A Traitor - Ratification of Peace - American Consul Hung
in Effigy - Without Bread for Two Days - Prisoners Demand and Obtain their Bread
- Inhuman Massacre of Prisoners - English Soldier Liberated - Court of Inquiry -
Arrival of a Cartel - Liberated from Prison - Display of Flags Respecting the
Massacre.
CHAPTER
VII.
Embarkation for the United States - Injustice to Prisoners - Excitement
Respecting our Port of Destination - Banks of Newfoundland - Perils of the Ocean
- Threatened Mutiny - Islands of Ice - Mutiny on the High Seas - Speak an
American Ship - Joyful News - Land in Sight - A Prize Taken - Safe Arrival at
New London, Ct. - Sail Again for Boston.
CHAPTER
VIII.
Arrival Home - Voyage to Europe - Singular Rock in the Ocean - Sudden
Commencement of Winter - Voyage Ended - Another Voyage - Perilous Situation in
Chesapeake Bay - Criterion in Distress - Wrecked in a Snow-storm - Visit to
Baltimore - On Board the Criterion Again - Cargo Saved - Another Voyage -
Hurricane - Voyage Ended - Married - Another Voyage - Captain Reefing Top-sails
in his Sleep.
CHAPTER
IX.
Allowance of Water - Casting Cargo into the Sea - Allowance of Provisions -
Terrible Storm - Gulf Stream - Dead Calm and Rushing Hurricane - The Cook's
Prayer - Silent Agony - Wallowing between the Seas - More Respecting the Gale -
Leak Increasing - Supply of Provisions - Council - Bear up for the West Indies -
Reported - Safe Arrival in the West Indies.
CHAPTER
X.
A Spoiled Child - Passage Home from the West Indies - False Alarm - Arrival Home
- Voyage in the Ship New Jersey - Breakers off Bermuda - Dangerous Position in a
Violent Storm - Turk's Island - Cargo of Rock Salt - Return to Alexandria, D. C.
- Voyage to Liverpool - Storm in the Gulf Stream - Singular Phenomenon on the
Banks of Newfoundland - Arrival at Liverpool - A Great Change - An Old Shipmate.
CHAPTER
XI.
Who the Stranger Was - Black List - Salt Shoveling - Peak of Pico - Voyage Ended
- Visit my Family - Voyage to South America - Trade-winds - Sea-Fish - Rio
Janeiro - Desperate Situation - Montevideo - Returning North - Cutting in a
Whale - Resolved Never to Drink Ardent Spirits - Arrival in Alexandria -
Preparations for Another Voyage - Visit my Family - Escape from a Stage - Sail
for South America - Singular Fish - Arrival at Rio Janeiro - Sail for River La
Plata - Dispose of my Cargo at Buenos Ayres - Catholic Host.
CHAPTER
XII.
Crossing the Pampas of Buenos Ayres - Preparation for the Pacific Ocean -
Resolved Never to Drink Wine - Aspect of the Starry Heavens - Alarming Position
off Cape Horn - Double the Cape - Island of Juan Fernandez - Arrival at Callao -
A Whale Harpooned in the Harbor - Voyage to Pisco - The Patriot Soldiers -
Scenery and Climate of Lima - Earthquakes - Destruction of Callao - Cemetery -
Disposal of the Dead.
CHAPTER
XIII.
Mint - Stamping Coin - Catholic Churches and Feasts - The Sunset Bells - Spanish
Inquisition - Voyage to Truxillo - Sell the Chatsworth - Smuggling - Spanish
Boats - Silver Conveyed by Indians - Deliver up the Chatsworth - Passage to
Callao - Trouble with the Captain - Wine at a Dinner Party - Smoking.
CHAPTER
XIV.
Money Matters - Highway Robbers - Searching Ships for Specie - A Lieutenant Shot
- Sail for Home - Tobacco - Serious Reflections - Pass Cape Horn - Equator -
North Star - Violent Gale - A Sudden Change of Wind - Desperate Position -
Joyous Sight of Land - Vineyard Sound - Arrival in Boston - At Home - Another
Voyage - Off the Capes of Virginia - Outward Bound.
CHAPTER
XV.
Conviction of Sin - Funeral at Sea - Covenant with God - A Dream - Arrival at
Pernambuco - Landing a North American Lady - Wine at a Dinner Party - Sell my
Cargo - Another Voyage - Religious Views - Whaling - Brazilian Flour - Arrive at
St. Catherine's - Also Paraiba - Sell my Cargo - Third Voyage - Confidence
Rewarded.
CHAPTER
XVI.
Soul-refreshing Seasons in the Forest - Effigy of Judas Iscariot - Sail from St.
Catherine's - Arrival at Paraiba - Fourth Voyage - Arrival at the Bay of Spirits
- Dangerous Position - Rio St. Francisco - Rio Grande - Banks of Sand - A City
in Ruins - Jerked Beef - Rio Grande to Paraiba - Kattamaran - Catholic
Procession and Burial - Sail for New York - Arrival at Home - Family Prayer -
Experience.
CHAPTER
XVII.
Revival of Religion - Baptism - Join the Church - Temperance Society -
Cold-Water Army - Another Voyage - Rules for the Voyage - Temperance Voyage -
Altar of Prayer on Shipboard - Semi-Weekly Paper at Sea - Sunday Worship -
Arrival in South America - Paraiba - Bahia - Privateer - St. Catherine's.
CHAPTER
XVIII.
Overhauled by a Buenos Ayres Privateer, or Pirate - Plunder - Passengers Made
Prisoners - Search for Money - Crew and Passengers Released - Season of Prayer -
Arrival at Rio Janeiro - Bethel Meeting - Rio Grande - Dangers of the Coast -
Fresh Water - Religious Views - Letter - Vessel Lost - Sail - Arrive at St.
Catherine's - Sail for New York - Singular Phenomenon.
CHAPTER
XIX.
Revival at Sea - Arrive in New York - Bethel Ships and Meetings - Friendless
Young Men - Arrival in New Bedford - Temperance Reform - Sea-faring Life Ended.
CHAPTER
XX.
At Home - Farming - My Promise - Seaman's Friend Society - Missions - American
Tract Society - American Colonization Society - Meeting-House - Religious
Revival - Tea and Coffee - Change of Residence - Progress of the Temperance
Cause - Progress of the Antislavery Cause - My own Position - Mob in Boston,
Mass. - Falling Stars.
CHAPTER
XXI.
Moral Reform - Culture of Silk - Proposed Manual-Labor School - Second Advent of
Christ - William Miller's Theory - His Lectures in Boston - First Second-Advent
Paper - Eld. D. Millard's Letter - Eld. L. D. Fleming's Letters - H. Hawley's
Letter - Wm. Miller in Portland.
CHAPTER
XXII.
First Call for a Second-Advent Conference - Convened in Boston, Mass. -
Conference Address Sent Forth to the World - Diving-Bell - Clearing the Ship
Channel - Wm. Miller's Lectures in Fairhaven, Mass. - Also in New Bedford -
Address to Ministers - Ministers' Meeting - Antiochus Epiphanes - Thirty-two
Square Rods for Every Person - Second Second-Advent Conference.
CHAPTER
XXIII.
Fall of the Ottoman Empire - Passing of the Second Woe - Space of Time to
Proclaim the First Angel's Message, Rev. 14:6, 7 - Conferences - Trials on
Leaving the Church - Moral-Reform Societies - Boston Conference in 1842 -
Prophetic Charts - Campmeeting in Littleton, Mass., in August, 1842 - Taunton,
Mass., in September - Salem, Mass., in October - Power and Work of the First
Angel's Message.
CHAPTER
XXIV.
The Stated Year for the Coming of the Lord - Sell my Place of Residence - Go
with the Message to the Slave States - Meetings on Kent Island - Meetings in
Centerville, Eastern Shore of Maryland - Judge Hopper - Newspaper Report -
Meetings in Chester - Threatened Imprisonment - Among the Slaves - Power of the
Lord in the Meeting - Conviction of the People.
CHAPTER
XXV.
The Three Corners - Crowded Meeting - Singing - Universalism - Place for
Meetings - Opposition - Dream - Slaves Ordered to go to the Advent Meeting -
Convicted of the Truth - Meetings in Elktown - Return Home from Maryland - Visit
to Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard - First Disappointment in the Second-Advent
Movement - Waiting for the the Vision - Tarrying Time.
CHAPTER
XXVI.
First Angel's Message - Midnight Cry - Parable of the Ten Virgins - Second
Disappointment - Three Angels' Messages - The Sabbath - Progress of the Work -
Conclusion - Remarks by the Editor.
INTRODUCTION.
________
LIFE sketches of great and good
men are given to the world for the benefit of generations that follow them.
Human life is more or less an experiment to all who enter upon it. Hence the
frequent remark that we need to live one life to learn how to live.
This maxim in all its
unqualified strength of expression may be a correct statement of the cases of
the self-confiding and incautious. But it need not be wholly true of those who
have good and wise parents to honor, and who have proper respect for all prudent
and good people who have made life a success.
To those who take along with
them the lamp for their feet, found in the experiences of those who have fought
the good fight, and have finished their course with joy, life is not altogether
an experiment. The general outlines of life, to say the least, are patterned by
these from those who have by the grace of God made themselves good, and noble,
and truly great in choosing and defending the right.
Reflecting young men and young
women may take on a stock of practical education before they leave parental care
and instruction which will be invaluable to them in future life. This they may
do to a considerable extent by careful observation. But in reading the lives of
worthy people, they may in their minds and hearts live good lives in advance,
and thus be fortified to reject the evil and to choose the good that lie all
along the path of human life.
Second to our Lord Jesus Christ,
Noah, Job, and Daniel are held up before us by the sacred writers as patterns
worthy of imitation. The brief sketches of the faith, patience, firmness, and
moral excellence of these and other holy men of God found in the pages of sacred
history have been and are still of immense value to all those who would walk
worthy of the Christian name. They were men subject to like passions as we are.
And were some of them at certain unfortunate periods of life overcome of evil?
Erring men of our time may bless that record also which states how they overcame
evil, and fully redeemed past errors, so that becoming doubly victorious they
shine brightest on the sacred page.
In his Epistle to the Hebrews,
Paul gives a list of heroes of faith. In his eleventh chapter he mentions Abel,
Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and the prophets, who through
faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, and stopped
the mouths of lions. The apostle calls up this cloud of witnesses to God's
faithfulness to his trusting servants as patterns for the Christian church, as
may be seen by the use he makes of them in the first verse of the chapter which
follows:--
"Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of
witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset
us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us." Heb.
12:1.
The life of Elder Joseph Bates
was crowded with unselfish motives and noble actions. That which makes his early
history intensely interesting to his personal friends is the fact that he became
a devoted follower of Christ, and a thorough practical reformer, and ripened
into glorious manhood a true Christian gentleman, while exposed to the evils of
sea-faring life, from the cabin-boy of 1807, to the wealthy retiring master of
1828, a period of twenty-one years.
Beauty and fragrance are
expected of the rose, planted in the dry and well-cultivated soil, and tenderly
reared under the watchful eye of the lover of the beautiful. But we pass over
the expected glory of the rose to admire the living green, the pure white, and
the delicate tint of the water-lily whose root reaches way down into the cold
filth of the bottom of the obscure lake. And we revere that Power which causes
this queen of flowers, uncultivated and obscure, to appropriate to itself all
valuable qualities from its chilling surroundings, and to reject the evil.
So, to apply the figure, we
reasonably expect excellence of character in those who are guarded against
corrupting influences, and whose surroundings are the most favorable to healthy
mental and moral development. In our hearts, pressing upon our lips, are
blessings for all such. But he who, in the absence of all apparent good, and in
the perpetual presence of all that is uncultivated and vile, with no visible
hand to guard and to guide, becomes pure and wise, and devotes his life to the
service of God and the good of humanity, a Christian philanthropist, is a
miracle of God's love and power, the wonder of the age.
It was during his sea-faring life, while separated
from the saving influences of the parental, Christian home, and exposed to the
temptations of sailor life, that the writer of the following pages became
thoroughly impressed with moral and religious principles, and gathered strength
to trample intemperance and all other forms of vice beneath his feet, and rise
in the strength of right and of God to the position of a thorough reformer, a
devoted Christian, and an efficient minister of the gospel. J. W.
LIFE OF BATES.
________
CHAPTER I.
Parentage - Birth - Residence - First
Foreign Voyage - Hurl Gate - London Water for Sailors - Mr. Lloyd's Story - Mr.
Moore and his Book - Sea Journal - Overboard - Shark.
MY honored father and his
forefathers were for many years residents in the town of Wareham, Plymouth
County, State of Massachusetts. My mother was the daughter of Mr. Barnabas Nye,
of the town of Sandwich, Barnstable County, both towns but a few hours' ride
from the noted landing-place of the Pilgrim Fathers.
My father was a volunteer in the
Revolutionary War, and continued in the service of his country during its seven
years' struggle. When Gen. Lafayette revisited the United States in 1825, among
the many who were pressing to shake hands with him at his reception rooms in the
city of Boston was my father. As he approached, the General recognized him, and
grasped his hand, saying, "How do you do, my old friend, Captain
Bates?" "Do you remember him?" was asked. His answer was
something like the following: "Certainly; he was under my immediate command
in the American army."
After the war, my father married
and settled in Rochester, an adjoining town, in Plymouth County, where I was
born, July 8, 1792. In the early part of 1793 we moved to New Bedford, some
seven miles distant, where my father entered into commercial business.
During the war with England, in
1812, the town of New Bedford was divided, and the eastern part was called
Fairhaven. This was ever afterward my place of residence until I moved my family
to Michigan, in May, 1858.
In my school-boy days my most
ardent desire was to become a sailor. I used to think how gratified I should be
if I could only get on board a ship that was going on a voyage of discovery
round the world. I wanted to see how it looked on the opposite side. Whenever I
thought of asking my father's consent to let me go to sea, my courage failed me
for fear he would say, No. When I would endeavor to unburden my mind to my
mother she would try to dissuade me, and recommend some other occupation, till
at last I was permitted to go a short trip with my uncle to Boston, etc., to
cure me; but this had the opposite effect. They then complied with my wishes.
A new ship called the Fanny, of
New Bedford, Elias Terry, commander, was about to sail for Europe, and he agreed
with my father to take me on the voyage as cabin boy.
In June, 1807, we sailed from
New Bedford to take our cargo on board at New York City, for London, England. On
our passage to New York City we sailed by the way of Long Island Sound. In this
route, several miles from the city, is a very narrow and dangerous passage,
bounded with rocks on the right, and a rock-bound shore on the left, called
"Hurl Gate." What makes it so dangerous is the great rush of water
that passes through this narrow channel. As the tide ebbs and flows each way, it
rushes with such impetuosity that few dare venture to sail through against it
without a strong, steady wind in their favor. For want of watchfulness and care,
many vessels have been whirled from their course by this rushing foam and hurled
against the rocks, wrecked and lost in a few moments of time. Sailors call it
"Hell Gate."
As our gallant ship was bringing
us in sight of this dreadful place, the pilot took the helm, and requested the
captain to call all hands on deck. He then stationed us in various parts of the
ship, for the purpose of managing the sails in case of an emergency, according
to his judgment. He then requested us to remain silent while passing this
dangerous gateway, that we might the better understand his orders. In this way,
every man and boy at his post, with eyes silently fixed on the pilot, waiting
his orders, our good ship winged her way through the hurling foam, and passed on
safely to her anchorage before the city.
The experienced and thorough
knowledge of our pilot, in guiding our gallant ship safely through that
dangerous gateway, with the stillness and breathless attention of her crew, were
stamped deeply in my mind. Promptness and exertion in perilous times on the
ocean, has, with the blessing of God, saved thousands of souls from a watery
grave.
Our good ship was deeply laden
with choice wheat, in bulk, even into her hatchways. It was feared that she
would sink under her heavy burden. On the eve of our departure, Mr. S. Eldridge,
then our chief mate, was coming on board the ship in the dark night with a
lighted lantern in his hand, when he fell from the plank into the river, between
the ship and the wharf, where the tide was running from three to five miles an
hour. Mr. Adams threw a coil of rope under the wharf at a venture; fortunately
he caught it, and after some struggle he was hauled up on the ship's deck. When
he began to breathe freely, he lamented the loss of the new lantern. Said Mr.
A., "Why, you have got it in your hand." If it had been a cannon ball
it would most likely have carried him to the bottom, for drowning persons hold
on with a deadly grasp to whatever is in their hands.
We had a pleasant run across the
Atlantic Ocean. In our passage up the British Channel, between France and
England, we discovered a number of kegs floating on the top of the sea. The
maintop-sail was laid to mast, and a boat lowered with a crew, which soon
returned to the ship deeply laden with gin and brandy. The duties on such
articles are so high, from France to England, that smugglers can afford to lose
a whole cargo sometimes, and yet make their business profitable. But if they are
caught by their revenue cutters, or war ships, while thus defrauding their
government in her revenue laws, the penalty about ruins them for life. They
sling and fasten them with ropes and buoys, so that by diligently hunting for
them, they find them again after their pursuers are out of sight.
On our safe arrival in the
London dock, the English officers who came to inspect our cargo, on opening the
hatches, expressed their surprise to see the clean and dry wheat, up into the
hatchway, as fresh as when we left New York. When we hauled out of the dock into
the river Thames, and commenced filling our water casks for our homeward voyage
with the river water that was passing us, finding its way to the great ocean, I
thought, how could a person drink such filthy water. Streaks of green, yellow,
and red muddy water, mixed up with the filth of thousands of shipping, and the
scum and filth of a great portion of the city of London. After a few days it
becomes settled and clear, unless it is stirred up from the bottom of the water
casks. Some four years after this, I being then an impressed seaman in the
British service attached to the Rodney, 74 gun ship, in the Mediterranean Sea,
as we were emptying out our old stock of fresh water, we found the ground tier
full of the same river water from the Thames, only a little further down from
London, which had been bunged up tight for about two years. On starting the bung
and applying our lighted candle, it would blaze up a foot high, like the burning
of strong brandy. Before stirring it up from the bottom, some of the clear water
was exhibited among the officers in glass tumblers, and pronounced to be the
purest and best of water, only about two years from London. I admit that it
looked clear and tasted good, but from my former knowledge of its origin, I
confess I would a little rather quench my thirst from some of the pure springs
from the Green Mountains of Vermont, or the granite hills in New Hampshire.
Among our passengers to New York
was a Mr. Lloyd, chief mate of a Philadelphia ship that was detained in London.
He, in a serious manner, related a very singular incident that occurred some few
years previous, while he was a sailor from Philadelphia. He said that he never
had dared to tell his mother or sisters of it. I will try to relate it in his
own words. Said he, "I was lodging away from home one night in another part
of the city, when the house was beset by the police. For fear of being
identified with those that were disturbing the peace, I fled from my bed into
the street with nothing but my night-dress on, and finally secreted myself in
the market-place, while a friend that was with me went back to obtain my
clothes. About midnight a gang of men, passing through the marketplace,
discovered me, and after a few inquiries as to who I was, they said, 'Drive this
fellow on before us.' My pleading was in vain; they continued to keep me before
them until we entered the cemetery, about two miles out of the city. We here
came to a large flat stone with an iron hook in it. They placed a stout rope in
the hook, which they brought with them, with which they swayed the stone up.
This opened a family vault where a Jewish lady of distinction had been deposited
that day. The jewelry upon her person was what they were after. The exciting
question now was, who among them would go down into the vault and get the
jewels. Said one, 'Here is the fellow.' I begged and entreated them for
the Lord's sake not to require me to commit such a dreadful deed. My entreaties
were disregarded; they crowded me down into the vault, ordering me to go and
strip off her jewels. I tried, and then returned to the open place, and stated
that her fingers were so swollen that I could not get her rings off. 'Here is a
knife,' said one, 'take it and cut her fingers off.' I began to plead again, but
they gave me to understand that there was no alternative; I must either do it or
stay where I was. Almost dead with fear, I laid hold of her hands and cut her
fingers off, and when I came to the open place, they bade me hand them up. As
soon as they got hold of them, they dashed down the slab and immediately ran
away.
"I felt overwhelmed at my
hopeless condition, doomed to die a most horrible death, and fearing every
moment that the mangled corpse would lay hold of me. I listened to the rumbling
sound of these robbers, until all was silent as death. The stone over me, I
could not move. After a little I heard a distant rumbling of the ground, which
continued to increase until I heard strange voices over the vault. I soon
learned that this was another gang, most likely unknown to the first, and they
were placing their rope to swing up the same stone slab. I at once decided what
to do to save myself. As the slab came up, I leaped out of the vault in my white
night-dress, or shirt. Horror-stricken, they all fled back toward the city,
running with such speed that it was difficult for me to keep up behind them, and
yet I feared if they should stop, I should be discovered and taken. Before
reaching the city, I had drawn up some nearer to the two hinder ones, when one
of them cried out to his companion, 'Patrick! Patrick! the old woman is close
to our heels!' Onward they raced through the market and fled away from me,
for I stopped here to hide myself. After a while my friend, having obtained my
clothes, found me, and I returned home."
Before sailing on our voyage, a
good-looking man, about twenty years of age, came on board, stating that he had
come from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to get a passage to London. He stated that
he had no means nor way to pay his passage. He also stated that his only object
in going to L. was to obtain a certain book (the title I have forgotten), which
could not be obtained at any other place. He finally shipped for a green or new
hand before the mast.
This was rather new among
sailors, for a man, having no desire to be a sailor, to be willing to endure the
hardships of a seven months' voyage, with no other object but to get one book,
and no certainty about that.
But on our arrival in London the
captain advanced him some money, and before night he returned from the city
rejoicing that he had found the book. I have often regretted that our
acquaintance ended with that voyage; for I have often thought, if his life was
spared, he was destined to occupy some important position among men.
On recovering from my
sea-sickness, I commenced my sea journal, to keep the run of the ship and the
daily occurrences of the voyage. This and other journals which I afterward
endeavored to keep, would have been of much value to me when I commenced this
work, but they were all used up or destroyed, after my last voyage.
One circumstance occurred on our
homeward voyage, some eighteen days after departing from Land's End, England,
which I will here relate:
In the morning (Sunday) a large
shark was following us. A large piece of meat was fastened to a rope and thrown
over the stern to tempt him to come up a little nearer, that we might fasten to
him with a barbed iron made for such purposes; but no inducement of ours seemed
to affect him. He maintained his position, where he could grasp whatever fell
from either side of the ship.
On such occasions the old
stories about sharks are revived--how they swallow sailors alive, and at other
times bite them in two, and swallow them at two mouthfuls. They hear so much
about them that they attribute more to their sagacity than really belongs to
them. It is said that sharks have followed vessels on the ocean for many days
when there were any sick on board, that they might satiate their voracious
appetites on the dead bodies cast into the sea. Sailors are generally brave and
fearless men; they dare meet their fellows in almost any conflict, and brave the
raging storms of the sea; but the idea of being swallowed alive, or even when
dead, by these voracious creatures, often causes their stout hearts to tremble.
Still they are often credulous and superstitious.
Toward the evening of the day
referred to, when we had ceased our fruitless labors to draw the shark away from
his determined position astern of the ship, I ascended to the main-topgallant
mast-head, to ascertain if there was any vessel in sight, or anything to be seen
but sky and water. On my way down, having reached about fifty feet from the
deck, and sixty from the water, I missed reaching the place which I designed
grasping with my hand, and fell backward, striking a rope in my fall, which
prevented my being dashed upon the deck, but whirled me into the sea. As I came
up on the top of the waves, struggling and panting for breath, I saw at a glance
that the ship, my only hope, was passing onward beyond my reach. With the
incumbrance of my thick, heavy clothing, I exerted all my strength to follow. I
saw that the captain, officers, and crew had rushed toward the ship's stern. The
first officer hurled a coil of rope with all his strength, the end of which I
caught with my hand. He cried out, "Hold on!" I did so until they
hauled me through the sea to the ship, and set my feet upon the deck.
To the question if I was hurt, I
answered, "No." Said another, "Where is the shark?" I began
to tremble even as they had done, while they were in anxious suspense, fearing
he would grasp me every moment. The thought of the shark had never entered my
mind while I was in the water. I then crossed over to the other side of the
ship, and, behold, he was quietly gliding along his way with us, not far from
the side of the vessel, seemingly unconscious of our gaze. And we did not
disturb him in any way; for the sailors and passengers were all so glad that the
cabin-boy was rescued, not only from a watery grave, but from his ferocious
jaws, that they had no disposition to trouble him. He was soon missing, and we
saw him no more. But the wonder to all was, how he came to change his position
to a place where he could neither see nor hear what was transpiring on the other
side or at the stern of the ship.
The following item from a public newspaper illustrates the voracity of these
creatures:--
"DESPERATE ENCOUNTER WITH A SHARK.
"SOUTHOLD, L. I., September 9, 1865.
"To the Editor of the Herald: A few days since, the schooner
Catharine Wilcox, of Lubec, Maine, George McFadden, master, being bound from New
York to Eastport and Lubec, fell in, when opposite this place, with what is
termed a 'dead calm.' The opportunity seeming propitious, the captain and a
young man named Peter Johnson, who was formerly a member of the First Maine
Heavy Artillery, and who was wounded in the neck at Spottsylvania, Virginia,
determined to enjoy a salt-water bath.
"Jumping into the water, it
was not many minutes when, as young Johnson says, he saw something 'all white,'
and in an instant he was carried under the surface to a depth of twenty feet. He
now discovered that he was in the jaws of one of those voracious man-eater
sharks. Struggling with all his strength, Johnson managed to break away and
reach the surface again; but the shark was soon after him, and continued to bite
him in various parts of the body, when the young man bethought him of the sailor
trick of putting his fingers in the shark's eyes, which he did, and, to his no
small gratification, soon saw the frenzied monster fleeing from him. Johnson now
swam to the vessel, and, being taken on board, was found to have been fearfully
torn about the abdomen--its lower section entirely off--both thighs and shoulder
being terribly lacerated. There being no wind to get anywhere, the crew took him
in the yawl and rowed him eight miles to the village of Greenport, where his
wounds were sewed up and dressed by Drs. Kendall, Bryant, and Skinner, and the
young man made as comfortable under the circumstances as possible. He is growing
worse hourly, and there is not much chance for his recovery.
"The Sound is now full of
these rapacious monsters, and if some of our New York sportsmen are fond of game
worthy of their steel, this is the month to attack them. They are caught and
landed with perfect safety by our villagers almost every day."
Joseph Bates
"Joseph Bates died on March 19, 1872 in Battle
Creek, Michigan,
and is buried in Poplar Hill Cemetery in Monterey, Michigan."
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