older than his ship; a worthy man, but too old for the duty required of him. He was an Irishman, dressed with all the neatness and precision of a Quaker, and he uniformly wore a coat of a bright green color. The mate (Mattson) was a Swede, a clever fellow, and every inch a sailor, and was, I believe, the only one of the ship's company who was adequate to his station. My little captain, in his capacity as agent, had charge of all the stores and provisions that were on board for the subsistence of the Americans, and the quantity to be distributed to each was prescribed by regulation, and was the same as allowed on board of our national vessels. It was my duty, each day, to see to the distribution of the provisions, and to keep an account of them. In cutting up and serving out I had two men to assist me. With the exception of the eleven in the cabin, all the Americans lodged in the main hold; the crew of the ship in the forecastle.

We put to sea on the 3d, and had a tolerable fair time of it for three or four days, when we encountered a storm, which severely tried the mettle of our crazy old ship, and carried away her topmasts. With the assistance of the Americans, when the gale abated, she was soon put to rights. The gale, however, increased our leak, and it was lucky for us that after this we had fair weather.

After awhile the agent began to be unpopular. He had been "hail fellow, well met" with every one in Dartmoor, but he began to put on "quarter-deck airs," and these, his old associates could not away with. It was, besides, suspected that he was partial to the cabin mess, and it was rumored that sundry bottles of good wine, and some porter, which had been laid in as hospitalstores, had been made free with in the cabin.

There was too much truth in this, notwithstanding the remonstrances of the surgeon, a worthy young Englishman, an assistant-surgeon in the royal navy, and yclept Lichmore Hathaway. I foresaw the brewing storm, and warned him of it; but the captain was a child of destiny, and did not heed the warning. At last, one day, it was discovered that part of the contents of a cask of oatmeal had been abstracted, and no "burgoo" had been served to

the messes.

The match was now put

to the train, and the explosion followed. A meeting was called, forward of the mainmast; the case was stated to them; speeches were made; and finally, a resolution was unanimously passed, requiring the captain to abdicate. This he refused to do, stating, that the provisions were put under his charge by Mr. Ingraham, and that he was accountable to our government for their proper disposal. Things seemed now to be taking an angry turn, when the matter was compromised by an agreement, that the captain should remain nominally as agent, but that the distribution of the provisions should be under my charge, and that the men in the hold should choose a committee of three of their number to see fair play. Tranquillity was restored, and the committee was chosen.

I got along now very well in distributing the provisions; there was no complaining, except from an old Connecticut captain of three score years, who had become querulous from age and infirmities. He fancied that his own and some other messes were not dealt justly with, in the distribution of the fat pieces of beef, and he endeavored to stir them up to a "sudden flood of mutiny." I do not know but that he would have succeeded, had not the triumvirs stood by me, and one of them was, next to "big Dick," the primest boxer of Dartmoor.

We had the small-pox on board, having brought the infection from the depot; three or four were sick, but recovered; but the last one who took it, notwithstanding the most assiduous attentions of our surgeon, died. I know not his name nor his history; for he was delirious when I first visited him in company with the surgeon, and he seemed to be a lonely and neglected one. None came near him, either from dread of the infection, or from some circumstances in his character and life, but us two, and an old weather-beaten and one-eyed sailor of three-score years of age; he waited upon him with the affection of a father, and handled him as tenderly as he would a child. I was with him when he died, a mild afternoon, in the early days of June; the sun, which was fast sinking into its bed in the far-off ocean horizon, threw a

t

few faint, slanting beams down the
small aperture of the sick-bag." His
last words were a few snatches of
simple hymns, which he had probably
learned in his childhood; and with his
last expiring breath, the murmur was,
scarcely audible, "my mother"--so
indelible are the impressions of our
childhood. This man was far from the
scenes of his infant days; his life had
been one of wandering and suffering,
probably of guilt; he had not for many
years been within his native land, (for
I understood that he was an impressed
man,) and yet, when the sands of life
were almost run out, and reason had
deserted him, his last words were the
songs of his childhood; his last thoughts
were on the home of his infancy; the
last image present to his mind, was
the guardian of his hours of thought-
lessness and innocence-his mother.
We sewed him up in a tarred sheet,
and at night, by the brilliant light of the
full moon, which was careering high
above us, but two or three to witness it,
without a prayer, and without a tear
shed to his memory, we launched his
body over the side of the ship; and the
parting waters received it, and he was
borne down to his long resting-place,
in the deep bottom of the ocean caverns.
We made but slow progress. Our ship
was a dull sailer; her sails were old,
and would not hold the wind, and our
rigging was rotten. The captain, timid-
ly cautious by age, was part owner of
the ship, and he would not crack on
her, so we went plodding along with
the speed of a sand barge.

We were bound to Norfolk, in Vir-
ginia, where the captain expected to
get a freight for Europe, but on exa-
mination it was found that all but twenty
of the Americans belonged north of
New-York. Most of them were nearly
destitute of clothing-all of money, and
they did not relish the idea of being
landed so far from home. After con-
sultation, it was determined that we
should enter New-York; and a deputa-
tion waited on the captain, and requested
him to lay the ship's head that way.
He refused, pleading his orders, the
risk of losing his insurance, &c. The
men kept quiet for a little time, as they
did not wish to annoy the good old
gentleman unnecessarily; but some of
them had watched the ship's run from
the beginning of the voyage, and they

knew where we were, and when was
the proper time to act.

We were drawing near the coast,
and this day, the 1st of June, the depu-
tation again went aft, and requested
the captain to haul up north by west,
and proceed to New-York. On his
refusing, one of the deputies seized
the wheel, and brought the ship up to
the point. The others went into the
cabin, and requested an American there
(a New-York ship master) to take
charge of the ship, and navigate her to
New-York. This matter had been all
arranged some time before, and was
well understood by us in the cabin; but
the captain, for form's sake, refused;
they urged and he refused; they urged
and urged again; finally they threatened
to throw him out of the cabin windows
unless he complied, when he proceeded
on deck, took the speaking trumpet,
and assumed command.

"You all do know, that in the Lupercal
We thrice presented him the kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse."

In the meanwhile the old captain
was haranguing the men on what he
termed their criminal and mutinous
conduct; told them they were guilty of
piracy, for which he should feel obliged
to bring them to condign punishment in
the United States. At this time they
were all assembled on the quarter-deck,
and they treated the old gentleman as
tenderly as possible. They told him
that he did but his duty, and they com-
mended him for it, but that they all
belonged to the middle and northern
states, and had no means of getting
home from Norfolk; that they had
made up their minds and were willing
to take the responsibility of their ac-
tions; that they knew that he could not
deviate from his orders, and this act
of theirs freed him from all responsi-
bility; they further told him that they
respected his advanced age, and were
grateful to him for his uniform courtesy
to them, and advised him to go into his
cabin, make the best of what he could not
help, and amuse himself the best way he
could. This advice the old gentleman
complied with, and in a few hours was
as tranquil as ever. They now went to
work in good earnest, unbent the old sails
and bent a new suit, which was below
in the sail-room, overhauled the rigging,
splicing and strengthening old ropes