Mr. Gray was the first lieutenant; and the tops were much more honorable stations than the waist; but we were determined not to serve his majesty in either station; we therefore left the quarter deck in haste, and went immediately into the cable tier, which is the prisoner's station: but we did not know, as yet, what fellows we had to deal with.

In a day or two, all hands were called; this is performed with a certain ceremony. The boatswain's mate stands at the fore hatchway; and with a call, or pipe, blows a loud and a long blast, and then halloos out "all hands, ahoy." He performs the same ceremony at the main hatchway, and at the after hatchway. It is only to blow his whistle and say "hands, ahoy." For myself, I did not see any occasion for all hands being called at that time. I have always thought that it was for no other purpose than to ferret out these two poor little yankee lads. After suitable time is given for the men to get on deck, the boatswain's mate goes down, and goes fore and aft between decks, to see if there are any skulkers. On this occasion; having performed on deck the proper ceremony; he came down below, blustering and swearing, (as is common on those occasions,) and finding none indifferent to the summons, except Willis and myself, who were snug in the cable tier; he began to rave at us like a bedlamite, and hastening towards us, commanded us on deck. We informed him that we were prisoners of war; that we were American prisoners: "Tell me nothing about prisoners," said he; "upon deck immediately." We still kept our stations, and remonstrated: he uttered a number of most horrid imprecations, and at the same time commenced a most furious attack upon us with his rattan. We for a while sternly adhered to our purpose, while he alternately threshed the one and the other; (we should have resisted, but were afraid of the consequences.) He became more and more enraged, and determined to conquer; and we not daring to resist, thought it best to clear out. We mounted the deck, but with no small degree of reluctance, with him at our heels repeating his strokes. Having got on deck, I saw but very little to do.

The carpenter and boatswain have each a birth, viz. a

70

ANDREW SHERBURNE.

kind of small room by themselves, forward of the fore hatchway. The carpenter whose name was Fox, was sitting in his birth and looking on, while the boatswain's mate was whipping us. The thought of serving his majesty on board a man of war, was so painful to my feelings, that I directly left the deck and again went below and set down, and with a very heavy heart was reflecting on my forlorn condition. I could not endure the thought of being deprived of liberty, and spending my days on board an enemy's ship of war.

Mr. Fox was still sitting in his cabin, and I believe there was no other person below at that time.

The carpenter called to me, and beckoned to me to come to his birth; I went in and he kindly asked me to sit down, which I did, and he addressed me as follows: "I see my lad, that you are obliged to do duty."

Yes Sir, said I, but very much against my inclination. Said he, "it is wrong, but it would not do for me to interfere; but I was thinking to do you a favor. His majesty allows me two boys but I have not any, if you will come into my birth and take a little care here, I will excuse you from keeping watch, and all other duty." I hesitated, fearing to perform any voluntary service, lest it should prove unfavorable to me. Mr. Fox, noticed that I was in suspense about the matter, said "you need not fear its being unfavorable to you, you will be much less exposed if you stay with me, than you will be if you have to do your duty before the mast, and it is in vain for you to think to escape that, for Capt. Yeo is a very arbitrary man, he is not liked by the crew, and his officers do not set much by him. I intend to leave the ship myself when we get home, ⚫ but I wish you not to mention these things, and you may be assured that I will be your friend." He seemed so affectionate and friendly that I put confidence in the man, nor was it misplaced; he proved a faithful friend. The boatswain and gunner, both messed with Mr. Fox; the boatswain had a boy, whose name was William Ming, and the gunner had a boy, whose name was Henry Hack, besides a son, seven or eight years old; so that our service was very light, for one smart boy would have been amply

sufficient to have done all the work there was to do in the

mess.

Within a day or two after this, the ship arrived at St. John's, where I soon ascertained that the cartel had sailed several weeks before, and that there were no prisoners on board the prison ship. This was appalling to my feelings: although I had little ground to expect that the sailing of the cartel would have been delayed until that time. We found, therefore, that we were destined to see old England, if we should live, and the ship should succeed in getting home. While lying in St. John's, we had an opportunity of seeing some of Capt. Yeo's character exhibited. It was contrary to orders to bring any spirituous liquors on board; it was the usage to hoist in the boat at night, lest any of the men should elude the guard, steal the boat and run away.

One evening as the boat was hoisted in, there was a bottle of rum discovered in the boat. No one of the boat's crew would own the bottle; and the next morning the whole crew, six in number, were seized up to the gangway, with their shirts stripped off, and each received a dozen lashes, with a cat-o'-nine-tails, on his naked back.-It was very common for this captain to have his men thus whipped for very trifling faults, and sometimes, when faultless. At a certain time the cook gives out word to the men, and officer's waiters, that they may have hot water to wash their dishes, &c. One day a midshipman's boy called on the cook for hot water. The cook had none; and reprimanded the lad for not coming in proper season. The boy complained to his master; whose rank on board is no higher than the cook's and who was himself but a boy: the midshipman came forward and began to reprimand the cook;" who told him that had the boy come at the proper time, he would have had hot water enough; but that he should not now furnish him, or any one else. This young blood made his complaint to the captain that he was insulted by the cook, who was a man in years, and who, for this affront, offered to a gentleman's son, must be brought to the gangway, and take his dozen. I believe that the laws of the navy do not admit of a warrant officer's being punished, without he is first tried and con

demned by a court martial. I understand that the captain had violated the laws of the navy, in a number of in

stances.

He had a number of men in irons, on the whole passage to England. He had a son who was a midshipman on board, and I think it very probable that he was the same who commanded on Lake Ontario, in the late war with England. We had a short, but rather a rough passage to England; and were several times called to quarters; but it so happened, in kind Providence, that neither Willis or myself were stationed at any quarters. Whether we were overlooked, or whether it was design in the officers, I am unable to say: at any rate, we thought it a very fortunate circumstance on our part. There was no fighting, however, on the passage.

We arrived at Plymouth, I should say about the last of November, 1781. It excited some peculiar sensations to lift up my eyes and behold the land of my forefathers. I must confess I felt a certain kind of reverence and solemnity, that I cannot well describe. Yet when reflecting on my situation, and bringing into view the haughtiness of her monarch and government; their injustice and cruelty to her children; I felt an indignant, if not a revengeful spirit towards them. Several days passed away, and I saw no prospect of my release from the ship. The ship had not been a week in port, before there came three fourths as many women, as men, on board; and the number every day increasing. This was the universal practice with the British navy: it was not common for the men to be allowed to go on shore, to stay over night. My worthy master proposed to me, that in case I could not get released from the ship, to adopt me as his son. He had a wife, I think, in Bristol, but had no child: he said he did not intend long to follow the sea; he could, if he pleased, quit the ship and work in his majesty's yard. I could not but express my grateful sense of his kindness; but informed him that it was my design to use every endeavor to get to America again. He said he did not blame me; and that if he could see any opportunity in my favor, he would apprise me of it. There was some prospect of Capt. Yeo's being removed from the command of the ship: she

was, however, preparing for sea again. The men, and especially the officers, lived high while the ship was in port. In our mess we had a plenty of fresh beef, mutton, fowls, and vegetables; which was very acceptable to me, after having been seven or eight months destitute of every kind of vegetables and fresh provisions except fish.

We had been several weeks in port; the ship had taken her beer on board, and was in a manner ready for sea again. Capt. Yeo took his leave of the ship, without any ceremony of respect being shown him from the crew. Shortly after, the new captain came on board, and was saluted with three cheers from the crew. There was now

a mere possibility that my friend Willis and myself, might find favor in the sight of our new captain. (I very much regret that I have forgotten his name.)

In a day or two after he had come on board, Mr. Fox came into his cabin, where I was, and said to me: "Sherburne, the captain is walking alone, on the quarter deck, I think it is a good time for you to go and speak to him; it may be, that he will consider you as a prisoner of war." I trembled for fear we should be unsuccessful, and this was our last chance, and if we should fail in this, our fate would be sealed, unless Mr. Fox could get discharged from the ship, and take me with him; and even in that case, I must be a British subject. This idea was by no means grateful to my feelings. There was no time, however, to loose, I went and informed Willis of my plan, and requested him to accompany me, he readily consented; (we had talked on the subject before;) and we walked aft, went up the lee gangway and crossed over to the weather side of the quarter deck, with our hats under our arms, and met the captain as he was walking forward. He appeared very willing to give us a hearing. "What is your wish my lads?" said he, I replied, "we are American prisoners sir, we were taken on the coast of Newfoundland, and imprisoned all the last summer in Placentia, and in September we were put on board his majesty's ship, the Dutchess of Cumberland, to go to St. John's, expecting to have been sent from thence to Boston, and have been exchanged; but the Dutchess of Cumberland

Ꮐ