which we met about half-way from our ship
to the shore, and they very kindly offered us
any assistance in their power; but we thanked
them kindly, and pulled on shore in company,
where we arrived about eight o'clock in the
evening, and there was no one hurt. In two
days we were sent in a Danish vessel to
Copenhagen, where we arrived on the 11th
day of September; and when we got there
and our captain reported our accident to the
Consul, we were all obliged to go to the Consul
to state what we knew about the fire; when
one of the boys said, that the evening before
we left Riga, he and the mate had been down
in the after hold with a candle and lantern to
take the numbers of some of the bales of flax;
and that the mate, having taken the candle
out of the lantern to look for something, and, in
putting the candle back again, the candle had
fallen down, lighted as it was, between some
of the bales, and they could not reach the
candle; they had hove several pots of water
down upon it till they thought it was out.
Upon this account, the mate not denying it,
the mate and the boy were detained, and we
were sent about our business; and I staid in
Copenhagen till the 20th of September, when
I shipped in a brig, called the " Fame," and
arrived in London on the 24th day of November.
I found my boy and Mr. and Mrs. Bland
well and hearty; and my boy made very
good progress in his learning, and I put him
apprentice to a sail-maker.

Mr. Scovell, being connected with a great
many country bankers, and a great many of
them breaking, Mr. Scovell was obliged to
stop payment, and I got a shilling in the
pound for the little money that he had of
mine. But my son was bound apprentice to
Mr. Mellish for seven years, and Mr. Mellish
told me, when I told him of my misfortune,
to make myself quite easy about him; that he
had taken a great liking to the boy, and, if he
behaved himself, he would be as good as a
father to him; and, as Mr. Mellish had a
great many South-Sea-men, and I wanted to
make a long voyage, I had best join one of his
ships; and there being a ship of his, called
the "Policy," now fitted out, if I liked he
would speak to the captain of her for me; and
I, being tired of these short voyages, agreed
with the captain. When the captain was gone
he called me to him, and said to me, " Upon
account of your late misfortune, losing nearly
all, I make you a present of this for to fit you
out for the voyage; " and he gave me two
five-pound notes. I thanked him very kindly.

On the 20th of June, 1816, we sailed from
Gravesend, and we had a very good passage,
and we got round Cape Horn by the beginning
of October, and we soon had the pleasure of
getting into the Pacific Ocean.

On the 25th of October, whilst cruising
near the Island of Juan Fernandez, we saw a
large school of spermaceti whales, and we
lowered our boats down, and we got three fine
whales, which made us nearly one hundred
and fifty barrels of oil. This being the first
time that I was in a boat alongside of one of
these great sea-monsters, you may depend I
did not half like myself; but I soon got used
to it, and I was eager for the sport.

On the 20th of May, 1817, we saw the
spout of a fish about four o'clock in the afternoon,
and there being very little wind, we
lowered our boat, got up to her, and made
fast to her. She ran us about five or six miles,
when she hove to, and we soon killed her;
but, by the time that she was dead and we
got her in tow, it was past sunset, and we
could scarcely see our ship; but we pulled
towards her as fast as we could, and the ship,
the last time we saw her, was coming towards
us; and when it got dark, we hoisted our
lantern at our mast-head, so that the ship
might see us. We kept pulling away till about
twelve o'clock at night, when our candle went
out, and being all very tired, the mate ordered
us to lay our oars in and rest ourselves a bit,
and told all hands to look out sharp to see if
they could see anything of the ship; but we
could not see anything of her. So, after having
a small drop of rum-and-water and a bit of
biscuit, we got our oars out again, and pulled
in the direction where we had seen the ship last;
for we could still see a large rock, called
Rodondo, and we steered for it, and we kept pulling
till daylight; and then, to our great misfortune,
we could not see anything of the ship, and we
were a long way drifted from Rodondo. And
we, finding that our pulling was of little use,
laid our oars in, and we had a consultation
what was best for us to do; and after different
opinions, we agreed that, as there was a
little breeze of wind, we should set our sail,
and stand to the northward, in hopes to fall
in with some ship. For when we started from
our own ship there were six of us in the boat,
and all the provisions we had was a breaker
of water, which held about six gallons, and
about a dozen biscuits, and about a pint of
rum, and as we had not been very careful of
it, the first night we had very little of it left.
So we were not in a very fit state to pull, and
we thought by sailing we might have a chance
of falling in with some ship. And now we had
a hard chance before us, in an open boat, in
the great Pacific Ocean, and nearly under the
equator, with the sun hot enough to roast us,
and scarcely any water to drink, and very
little to eat; but it was of no use to fret
about it, and we were obliged to make
ourselves content, and pray to God to release us
out of our calamity.

We staid in this way in the boat for three
days, when we had the last cup of our water;
and you may depend that we were all hungry
enough, and some of our men hauled up to
the whale, and cut some of his tail off, and
broiled it in the sun, and eat it. And I and
the mate tried to persuade them from doing
it, but they took no notice of it; and the
consequence was, that it made them sick, and
caused them to heave up what little substance