OF

ANDREW SHERBURNE:

A PENSIONER

OF THE

NAVY OF THE REVOLUTION.

WRITTEN BY HIMSELF.

"They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in
great waters; they see the works of the LORD, and his wonders
in the deep."-Psalmist.

us 4559.6.7

COLLEGE LIBRARY

1876. mar. 24

Gucker Enne

,40

Northern District of New-York, to wit:

'BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the twenty-sixth day of Au gust, in the fifty-third year of the Independence of the United States of America, A. D. 1828, Andrew Sherburne, of the sai district, hath deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as author, in the words following, to wit;

Memoirs of Andrew Sherburne, a pensioner of the navy of the revolution. Written by himself. "They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; they see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep." PSALMIST.

In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, "An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books to the authors and proprie tors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned ;" and also, to the act entitled, "An act supplementary to an act entitled 'An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned,' and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of Designing, Engraving and Etching historical and other prints."

RICHARD R. LANSING, Clerk of the District Court of the United States, for the Northern District of New-York.

THERE are yet surviving a few, and but a few, who lived, acted and suffered in the Revolution which gave freedom, independence and prosperity to the United States of America. And a very large majority of that few have gone by three score years and ten. They are bending beneath the weight of years and early sufferings.

Their thin locks are whitened by the frosts of seventy, and some by more than eighty winters, and are "dragging the poor remains of life along the tiresome road." A few of them are in affluent circumstances-others are sustained by their children and friendssome are partially provided for by government, and some are in indigent circumstan

ces.

But the number is very fast diminishing; a little while and the American people will look round in vain to find an individual who personally acted in the Revolution. The author of this narrative is in the junior class of the survivors of the Revolution, as he was only ten years of age when the conflict began, and entered the naval service, at the age of thirteen. The complicated character of his trials, and sufferings in the United States navy-his capture-and forcible detention in the British navy-shipwreck and

sufferings in a wilderness in Newfoundland, in prison ships and hospital ships, were almost unparalleled.

Many years since he was solicited by gentlemen of literature and taste, to give his narrative to the public; but his limited education, diffidence of his own abilities to write, and in a word his poverty and shattered constitution, rendered the thought so appalling, that he shrank from the task. It was nevertheless his intention (if he could find time before death should call for him) to leave in manuscript some detail of his extraordinary conflicts, and especially of the marvelous interpositions of the Lord of Sabbaoth in preserving his life amidst distresses, dangers, and death, and giving him a hope of eternal life and immortal glory through the merits of Jesus Christ.

It is aptly expressed that "Procrastination is the thief of time." More than three score years passed away before he commenced the task; nor then, until the thought occurred that he might realize some emoluments by its publication, the prominent object, doubtless, of most authors.

He was at the same time aware of the apparent indelicacy of a person's publishing his auto-biography. Such a thought probably would be revolting to some persons of virtue and refined taste, while possessing competence, who, if reduced to poverty,

with a dependant and helpless family, would dispense with their (possibly) false delicacy, for necessity has no law.

Anterior to publishing his first edition, he was confident that there were thousands of citizens who would most cheerfully patronize his work. It had been his hard fortune, in the war of the Revolution, to become a captive three times, and each time to travel home an absolute beggar.

In his anticipations he has not been disappointed. Numerous gentlemen and ladies have bought and read his book, and have paid him so much of a compliment as to say, that they considered it an interesting narrative, and well deserving patronage. It has introduced him to many families of distinçtion, and procured for him many affectionate and warm-hearted friends among strangers.

Those gratuitous tokens and expressions of friendship, together with the sympathies exhibited, have gone far to revive his drooping spirits, while buffeting, in advanced life, the inclemencies of three tedious winters, far distant from his family.

He is at a loss for language to express his grateful sense of obligations to those ladies and gentlemen who have patronized his first edition. He can only say, that it has been, is now, and shall be his prayer to God, that they and theirs may never want any good thing. And most fervently does he pray