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In the year one thousand six hundred and thirty-two, I was born in York to an upper-class family. We were not natives. My father was
from Bremen, Germany. After emigrating to England, he first lived in Hull, then closed down his business when he made his fortune, and finally
moved to York, where he married my mother. My mother's maiden name was Robinson, and she was a member of a prominent local family
so she named me Robinson Croizne. As the English pronounce "Kreutzner", a
German surname, it was pronounced differently, and as a result, we were called "Kreutzau", so that even we ourselves were called and
written that way. That's why my friends call me Croso.
I have two older brothers. The elder brother was a Lieutenant Colonel in the British Infantry Regiment based in Flanders. The famous Colonel Lockhart had
lead this unit. The oldest brother was killed in action while fighting the Spanish near Dunkirk. As for the
whereabouts of my second brother, I know nothing to this day, just as my parents knew nothing of my subsequent circumstances.
I was the youngest son in the family, and my parents didn't let me learn to make a living, so I grew up just imagining
thinking about traveling abroad. My father was old at the time, but he gave me a pretty good education
. He had sent me to boarding school, and he had sent me to a free school for compulsory village education, with all his heart
wanting me to study law in the future. But I had no interest in anything but sailing.
I completely ignored my father's wishes and even disobeyed him, as well as my mother's pleas and the advice of my friends.
This nature of mine seemed to doom me to an unfortunate future.
My father was wise and prudent. Foreseeing that my intentions would inevitably bring me misfortune, he
often enlightened me gravely, and gave me a good deal of useful advice. One morning he called me into his bedroom;
for, at that time, he happened to be suffering from an attack of gout, which made it difficult for him to move. He advised me very earnestly. He asked
me what reason I had for leaving my parents and my home country, other than to satisfy my own wanderlust
. In my hometown, I can be introduced by others and establish myself in society. If I work hard on my own, I will be able to make a fortune in the future
and live a comfortable and happy life. He told me that people who go abroad for adventure are either poor
or they want to get rich; they are ambitious and want to make a name for themselves in the world with their extraordinary endeavors. But for me
it was neither worthwhile nor necessary. As far as my social position is concerned, it is exactly in between,
that is, what is generally called the middle position. Judging from his long experience, this is the best class in the world, and this middle
intermediate position also makes people the happiest. They do not have to do the hard physical labor of the lower classes and remain
unprovided for; nor do they have to be exhausted by the extravagance, ambition, and rivalry of those in the upper classes.
I myself, he said, can realize from the following fact that the life of the middle class is indeed blessed beyond measure; it is
that everyone envies it, and that many emperors have lamented the unfortunate consequences of their noble birth, and have wished they had been born in the intermediate class between the poor and the noble. Wise men have also proved that those in the middle class
are capable of true happiness. The wise man in the Bible also prayed, "Make me neither poor nor rich."
He reminded me that if I look hard enough, I will find that both the upper and lower classes are plagued with calamities, but only the middle
class has the fewest calamities. The life of the middle class does not change as rapidly as the upper and lower classes do
. Moreover, the middle position will not be like the rich man as a result of profligate spending, corruption and get physically
mentally ill; will not be like the poor people as a result of day-to-day labor, lack of food and clothing and get emaciated. Only those in the middle ground
can enjoy all the happiness and contentment of the world. The middle-ground people live a stable and affluent life all year round. Moderation,
moderation and self-control, health and tranquility, friendship and recreation, and all the pleasures of life are the blessings of the middle man.
This way of life enables one to live one's whole life in peace and contentment, free from the pains of labor. He
neither does he have to labor for his daily bread, or to be so embarrassed as to be hurt and disturbed; nor does he become envious,
or impatient with the desire for gain. The people of the middle class can pass their lives in peace, savoring the
sweetness of life without any hardship; they feel happy, and experience this happiness more and more profoundly as the days pass
.
Then, in a sincere and loving manner, he advised me not to play the childish, and not to be anxious to make a nuisance of myself; for
there was no way, either in the common sense of the word, or in the sense of my family origin, that I should be made to suffer. He said,
I need not labor for my daily bread; he will make all arrangements for me, and will endeavor to make me live in the middle class, as has been said before
. If I am unable to live a comfortable and happy life on earth, it is entirely due to my fate
or my own fault, and he has done his part. For he saw that the action I was about to take would certainly
bring misery to myself, and therefore advised me. In short, he promised that if I would listen to him
and stay at home in peace, he would do his best to make arrangements for me. He never approved of my traveling far from home. If
something unfortunate happens to me in the future, then don't blame him. At the end of the conversation, he added that I should take my elder brother as a lesson from the past
. He had once advised his elder brother with equal earnestness not to go to Flanders to fight, but he had not heeded his
advice. He was young and bloodthirsty at the time, and determined to serve in the army, and as a result he lost his life on the battlefield. He
also told me that of course he would always pray for me, but if I insisted on taking such a foolish course of action, then,
he daresay, God would not bless me. I will regret that I did not heed his
advice when I have no way to call for help in the future.
In hindsight, these last words of my father's became a prophecy of what would happen to me later on; of course, I am sure that my
father himself may not have realized this foresight at the time. I noticed that my father was in tears as he spoke these words,
especially when he spoke of my elder brother's death on the battlefield, and of my regret at having no way to call for help in the future, and was so overcome with grief that he had to break off his conversation. Finally, he told me that he was so worried that he could not speak
any more.
I was y moved by this conversation. Truly, who would be indifferent after hearing such words? I resolved not to
think about going abroad anymore, but to obey my father's wishes and stay at home without fear. But, oh dear! After only a few days,
I threw my resolve out of the window. Simply put, in order to keep my father from pestering me any further, I avoided him at a distance for weeks after
that conversation. But instead of rushing into it, unlike
previously when I wanted to do something in the heat of the moment, I waited for my mother to be in a better mood and went to her. I told her
that I had my heart set on seeing the world, and that I wanted to do nothing else. Father had better promise me that
before he forces me to go away privately. I am eighteen years old, I said, and it is too late for me to go either as an apprentice or as a lawyer's assistant
. Moreover, I am absolutely sure that even if I had gone as an apprentice or assistant myself, I would have escaped from my master to go sailing without waiting for a full master
. If she can go to my father and intercede on my behalf, and get him to grant me one trip out to sea in a
ship, and if I come home feeling that I don't really like sailing, then I will work twice as hard to make up for the time I have
wasted.
My mother lost her temper when she heard me. She told me that she knew it was useless
to go and speak to my father about such things. My father knew very well what was at stake for me and would never agree to do anything to hurt himself.
She also said that she could not understand how my father could talk to me in such a long and earnest manner, and yet I should want to go away from home. In short, she said, if I insisted on seeking my own destruction, then no one would come to my aid
. She wanted me to believe that neither my mother nor my father would agree to a voyage to the sea, and that it was therefore none of her business if I should
destroy myself, lest I should say later that at the time my father had disapproved, but that my mother had
agreed.
Despite the fact that my mother refused my request to my face, stating that she was not willing to convey my words to my father, I
heard afterward that she told my father about our conversation as it was. My father heard it with deep concern. He sighed to his mother
that the boy might be happy if he could remain at home; but if he were to go abroad, he would
be the most unfortunate man in the world, and therefore he could not give his consent to my going out for any reason whatsoever.
A year passed before I finally left home, and during that year, although my family had repeatedly advised
me to go and do something right, I was obstinate and would not listen to any of it, but instead I was always pestering my parents to
not be so opposed to the wishes of their own children. One day, I happened to come to the city of Hull. At the time, I had no thoughts of running away privately
. But there I met a friend. He said he was going to London on his father's ship,
and urged me to go with them. He told me, in the usual sailor's way of enticing people to sail, that I would not have to pay for the ship
. At this time I neither consulted my parents nor sent them a message, thinking that sooner or later they would
hear of it when I was gone. In the meantime, without praying to God or asking my father to bless me, and without even considering
the circumstances and future consequences, I boarded a ship bound for London. The time was September
1, 1651
. Who knew it was an evil hour! I am sure that no young man who goes out on an adventure has ever had such
bad luck as I did as soon as I went out, and as soon as I had bad luck, it was so long to get rid of it. As soon as we sailed out of the Hengbir River, a gale blew up, and the wind helped to make the waves frightful. Since it was my first time at sea, I felt sad and
scared to death. At this point, I began to regret what I had done. I was an ungrateful son who had turned his back on his father
and mother and had not fulfilled his heavenly duty, and God had punished me so quickly, it was really heavenly.
At that moment, my parents' advice, my father's tears and my mother's prayers, all flooded into my mind. My good
heart was not yet lost after all, and I could not help but condemn myself: I should not have disobeyed the advice of others and turned my back on my vocation to God and
Father.
At this point the storm was blowing harder and harder, and the sea was raging with waves. I had never seen anything like it before.
But it was nothing compared to the roaring sea I have seen many times since; nor to what I would see in a few days
. But, at that time, to me, as a young man sailing for the first time,
it was enough to make me tremble, for I knew nothing of sailing. I felt that the River Hengbir, also known as the
Humber, rises in the middle of England and flows into the North Sea.
The waves could swallow us up at any moment. Every time our boat fell into the eddies of the waves, I thought we would capsize at any moment and sink to the bottom of the
sea, never to rise again. In this fearful mood, I swore over and over again, and resolved
numerous times that if God would spare my life on this voyage, as soon as I could set my feet on land, I
would return to my father, and would never again sail on a ship in this life. I will heed my father's advice and never again
will I trouble myself. At the same time, I have awakened to the fact that my father's views on the life of the middle class are indeed true in every
sentence. My father, for example, had lived a life of peace and comfort, and had encountered neither the storms of the sea,
nor the hardships of the land. I resolved that, like a prodigal son who had truly turned back, I would return home,
to my father.
These wise and sobering thoughts continued to
hover in my head during the storm's raging, and even for a short time after it ceased. By the next day, the storm had passed, the sea was much calmer, and I was
beginning to get a little used to life at sea. But I was still sad all day long; and with some seasickness, I was even less energized.
By evening the weather had cleared up completely, the wind had ceased altogether, and a beautiful, lovely golden sunset followed.
The weather was clear that night and early the next morning, and the sunset and sunrise seemed unusually clear. At this time, the sun was shining on the calm
quiet sea, and it was a delightful sight to behold. It was a view I had never seen before.
I slept well that night, so the next day I was no longer seasick, and my spirit was refreshed. It was amazing to see how calm and gentle the sea was, which had been roaring the day before. The friend who
induced me to get on board came to see me, lest I should really make up my mind to stop sailing." "Hey, Bob," he said, tapping
me on the shoulder, "how do you feel now? I say, it must have scared the
hell out of you the other night when it blew a little breeze, huh?"" You said it was a little breeze?" I said, "It was a terrible storm!"" A storm? You silly
melon," he replied, "You call that a storm? That's nothing! As long as the ship is secure and the sea is wide, we don't give a damn about a little wind like
that. Of course, it's hard to blame you for being on your first voyage, Bob. Come on,
let's make a bowl of sweet wine and forget all about it! Look what a beautiful day it is!" I don't want to recount
this sad story in detail.
In a word, we made sweet wine in the manner of the average sailor, and I got very drunk
. That night I drank and fooled around to my heart's content, leaving my repentance and introspection of my past behavior, as well as my resolve for the future
out of the window. In short, once the storm was over and the sea was calm as a mirror, my
mind was cleared of all thoughts, my fear of being swallowed by the sea disappeared, and my passion for sailing
the sea came back to me. I left behind all the resolutions and vows I had made in the midst of the crisis.
Sometimes, too, I found that those confessions and resolutions came back to mind from time to time. But I try my best to get rid of them
and cheer myself up, as if I were trying to snap out of some bad mood. So I
just drank and fooled around with the sailors as usual. Soon, I controlled my impulses and didn't let the decent
thoughts die hard. In less than five or six days, I was as completely at war with my conscience as any young man trying to rid himself of it
. For this reason, I was bound to suffer new calamities. Seeing that I did not repent, God decided to punish me without forgiveness
and, moreover, it was entirely of my own making, and there was no excuse for it. Since I myself did not regard the safe passage through the
first disaster as God's salvation for me, the next disaster will be worse; and then even the most vicious, sinister, and daring sailors on the
ship will be afraid and will ask for forgiveness.
On the sixth day of the voyage we reached the anchorage of Yarmouth1. After the great storm our ship had not gone much
way, for, though the weather was clear, there was a constant contrary wind, so that we were obliged to
anchor at this sea-anchor. The contrary wind blew for seven or eight days, the wind being from the south-west. During this time many ships from Newcastle
also came to this open anchorage, for it is a necessary harbor for the sea, and ships wait here
for a fair wind into the Yell.
We should not have anchored here for too long, but should have taken advantage of the tide to sail into the estuary. The wind was blowing too tightly,
and after four or five days of anchoring, it was even stronger. But as this anchorage was always considered a good harbor, and as our anchors
were very strong, and the ship's rigging of anchor ropes, windlasses, and canopies very strong, the sailors took no heed of the gale
and were not in the least afraid of it, but rested and rejoiced according to their manner of life. On the morning of the eighth day
the wind suddenly increased. So the whole crew mobilized, and together they dropped the mizzen sail, and settled everything on board, so that the ship was able to withstand the gale, and anchored safely. Toward noon the sea rolled in.
On several occasions our bow dug into the water, and struck in a great deal of water. Once or twice we thought we had dislodged the anchor, for
this the captain ordered the big spare anchor to be lowered. In this way we dropped two anchors in the bow and put the anchor rode to its longest
limit.
At this time the storm came on with terrible force, and I saw that even the faces of the sailors showed a look of terror. The captain of the ship, though he was careful to keep his ship safe, I heard him whisper several times to himself as he passed by my cabin on his way in and out, "God, have mercy on us! We won't survive! We
are all doomed!" He said quite a few things of this sort. In the initial flurry of strife, I didn't know what to do, and just
lay motionless in my cabin - my cabin was in the bow - and I can't describe what I was feeling. At first
instead of repenting as I had done the first time, I became numb. I had thought that the pain of death had
passed, and that this storm, like the last, would pass. But as I said earlier, when the captain passed by my cabin,
and said that we were all doomed, it scared the hell out of me. I went out of my cabin and looked out, and saw nothing but desolation;
a sight such as I had never seen before: the sea was heavy with huge waves, which came upon us at intervals of three or four minutes.
The situation was still more miserable when we looked around. We found that the two ships that had been anchored near us had cut down the masts on their sides because
of their heavy cargo. Suddenly, the men on our ship gasped in alarm. It turned out that one of the ships anchored
about a nautical mile ahead of us had sunk. The other two had been blown off their anchors by the gale, and had to risk
leaving the anchorage and heading out to sea, with none of their masts left. The small ships were in the best position, for
it is easier to travel on the sea in small ships. But there were two or three small boats that were blown by the wind and sped past us, with only the corner sails left on board
and drifted out to sea.
Toward evening, the first mate and the chief seaman begged the captain to cut down the foremast; a thing which, of course, he would never do.
But the Bosun protested that the ship would sink if the captain did not agree to cut the foremast. So the captain had no choice but to
accommodate. But as soon as the ship's foremast was cut down, the mainmast swung out of control with the wind, and the ship rocked violently,
so they had to cut down the mainmast as well. This left only an empty deck.
Anyone can imagine how I felt. I was just a young man sailing for the first time, and not long ago I had been scared to death by a small storm, not to mention a really big one this time. At this moment, when I am writing
an account of my feelings at that time, I feel that, while I was afraid of death, I was even more afraid of the thought that I had violated the confession I had made a short time before, and had renewed all my resolutions as I had done in the previous crisis, and that this
fear was greater than my fear of death. Such being the mood of the time, and the terror of the storm, that state of mind
I could not even now describe in writing. But that was not the worst of it! What was worse
was that the storm got worse and worse, and even the sailors themselves admitted that they had never encountered such a great
storm in their lives. Our ship, though strong, was too heavily laden and had a deep draught, and kept rocking and lurching violently in the water
. I could only hear the sailors shouting from time to time that the ship was sinking. I didn't know what "sink" meant at the time, which
was a good thing for me. It was only when I asked others that I realized what it meant. The winds and waves were getting worse, and I saw something that I don't usually see: the captain, the boatswain's mate, and the other more intelligent men were praying constantly, feeling that the ship was in danger of sinking at any moment. In the middle of the night, the disaster was compounded. Among those who had gone down to the bilge of the ship to examine it, suddenly a man ran up and cried out that the bottom of the ship was leaking; and then another
sailor came up and said that the bilge was already four feet deep in water. Then the whole ship was called to pump out the water. I felt as if my heart had suddenly ceased to beat when I heard
that the water was leaking from the bottom of the ship; I was sitting on the side of my bed in my own cabin
, and all at once I felt that I could support myself no longer, and fell back into the cabin. At this moment I was awakened, and told that I
would not have done anything before, but that now I could at least go and help to pump the water. Hearing this I immediately picked myself up and came
to the pumping machine and worked very hard. Just as we were all pumping with all our might, the captain noticed that a couple of small coal-boats
were obliged to drift out to sea with the wind, as they could not stand it; and as they passed near us, the captain gave orders to
discharge a gun, as a signal for help. I did not know at the time why the shot was to be discharged, and was so startled at hearing it that I thought
that the ship had broken up, or that something terrible had happened. In a word, I was so frightened that I fainted by the pump.
At a time like this, when everyone is only concerned with their own lives, there would be no one there to care if I lived or died, and no one would
look to see what had happened to me. Another man came up at once to take over my pumping; and as he came up he kicked me
to one side, and left me lying there. He must have thought I was dead. It was some time before I revived.
We continued to pump more and more, but more and more water was coming into the bilge. It was clear that our ship would soon sink.
At this point, even though the wind had died down a little, it was definitely impossible for the ship to make it into the harbor. The captain had to keep firing his gun for help
. One of the lighter boats drifted ahead of us downwind and risked lowering a dinghy to rescue us.
The men in the dinghy took great risks to row close to our big boat, but we couldn't get down to their dinghy,
and they couldn't get close to our big boat. In the end, the men in the dinghy paddled desperately to save us; we threw a rope with a float from the
stern and made it as long as we could. The men in the dinghy finally
grabbed the rope after a few tries. We then slowly towed the dinghy closer to the stern before the entire crew could get out of the dinghy. At this point,
we couldn't go back to their boat, so we all agreed to let the dinghy drift with the waves and try to paddle towards
the shore. Our captain promised to pay their captain the usual compensation in case the dinghy grounded on the shore.
In this way the dinghy, half rowing, half following the waves, gradually drifted towards the shore to the north, and at last approached the headland of Winter
ton.
Less than a quarter of an hour after leaving the big ship, we saw it sink. That's when, for the first time in my life, I understood
what it is to sink a ship at sea. To tell the truth, when the sailors told me that the great ship was sinking, I hardly dared
look up. At the time, rather than climbing out of the dinghy on my own, the sailors threw me into the
dinghy. From the moment I stepped out of the dinghy, I was as good as dead; partly from the fright of the storm, and partly
from the fear of the uncertainty of the journey.
Despite our precarious situation, the sailors rowed hard to the shore. When the boat was washed up on the crest of the wave, we
could see the shore, and saw many people running around on the shore, trying to help us
when our boat came to shore. But the dinghy was moving very slowly, and we couldn't get to shore. At last we rowed past the Winterton Light
tower. The coast was thus indented to the west and extended towards Cromer. Thus the land blocked the wind a little, and we at last
did get ashore with a great deal of difficulty. As soon as all were safely ashore, we walked to Yarmouth. Those of us who suffered
were warmly received by the local officials, wealthy merchants and shipowners; they accommodated us well and raised enough money for
our passage. We could go to London or back to Hull as we wished.
At that time I should have gone back to Hull and to my home, if I had any sense at all.
I would have been very happy. And my father would have killed
the fatted calf to greet me, the prodigal son who had turned back, like the father in the parable spoken of in Jesus' sermon. For, the family heard that the ship in which I was traveling was shipwrecked
sunk in the Yarmouth anchorage, and it was a long time afterward before they learned that I was not buried in the belly of a fish.
But my bad luck was not yet over, and it compelled me by an irresistible force to be unrepentant. On several occasions, when my
mind was calm, reason had cried out to me to go home, but I had not the courage to heed the call of reason
. I don't know, and I don't want to know, what to call this force that drives one's intransigence, but it is a
mysterious and inescapable certainty; it tends to drive us to seek our own doom, to throw ourselves
into the net, knowing that a great evil is at hand. Obviously, it is this fate that I am not destined to escape from. And it is this same destiny
that drives me to defy the call of reason, even to learn from the two disasters that befell me on my first voyage.
My friend, the captain's son, who was the one who steeled me to go aboard his father's ship, is now rather less bold
than I was. At that time we were lodged in several separate places in the city of Yarmouth, so that it was two or
three days before he met me. As I said earlier, this was the first time we had met since we were separated ashore. As soon as we spoke, I noticed a change in his tone. He looked depressed and shook his head from time to time. He asked me how I was doing and introduced me to his father. He told his father that it was my first time sailing, that I was just trying it out, and that
I would like to sail in the future.
Hearing this, his father said to me in a very serious and concerned tone, "Young man, you should not sail
the sea anymore. This disaster is an evil omen that you cannot be a sailor."" What's the matter, sir," I asked, "
don't you sail no more either?" "That is a different matter," said he; "sailing is my profession, and therefore my
duty.
You have made this voyage, though it is only an attempt, and God has given you a taste of it; and you will do no good if you go
alone again. It may be, perhaps, that it is for the very reason that you have gone on board our ship, as Jonah went on board the ship bound for Tarsus, that we are in this great trouble. 'May I ask,' continued the captain, 'what kind of man are you? Why
did you sail on our ship?" So I spoke to him briefly about my life. And when he had heard me,
suddenly he became angry in a way that was inexplicable. He said, "What have I done to deserve such a calamity as you?
I'll never ride in the same boat with you again, not even for a thousand pounds!" I felt that it was because the
loss of the wreck had upset him and he wanted to vent his anger on me. In fact, he had no right to be angry with me at all. But
yes, later he had a solemn talk with me, urging me to return to my father and not to destroy myself by angering God
again. He said that I should see that God would not leave me alone." 'Young man,' he said, 'believe me
that if you do not return home, wherever you go, you will only suffer and be disappointed. And then your father's
word will be fulfilled in you." I took his words at face value and soon parted from him. Never saw him again
and knew nothing of his whereabouts. As for myself, having some money in my pocket, I went to London by land
. On the way to London, and after arriving there, I was in a violent struggle of mind, not
knowing what path to choose in life: should I go home, or should I go sailing?
The thought of going home made me ashamed to return. I immediately thought of how my neighbors would laugh at me;
I was ashamed to see not only my parents, but others as well. This incident reminded me of how ridiculous and inexplicable are the feelings of men in general,
and of young men in particular, who, as a rule, should be guided by reason at such times.
And yet they are not ashamed of sinning, nor are they ashamed of the fact that they have committed it. Yet, instead of being ashamed of sin, they are ashamed of repentance; instead of being ashamed of foolishness,
they are ashamed of reformation. And indeed if they were to come to their senses, others would only see them as wise.
I went on like this for days, very conflicted within myself, not knowing where to go or what to do. But at the thought of
going home, a feeling of disgust rose up and was hard to suppress. After some days of this, the memory of the disaster gradually
faded away, and the original wavering thoughts of returning home became thinner and thinner, and finally even thrown into the air.
In this way, I was able to rekindle my desire for the seafaring life.
Not so long ago, that evil force drove me away from home. I was young and ignorant, and I had delusions of
getting rich. These thoughts, so deep-rooted, caused me to turn a deaf ear to all advice, and to ignore my father's pleas and strict orders
. I mean, now, again, it was this same evil force-whatever force it was-that
led me to embark on a most unfortunate career of adventure. I embarked on a ship bound for the coast of Africa; to Guinea, in the common parlance of sailors
!
In all my previous adventures, I had never been a sailor on a ship. This was my misfortune. I could have
had a tougher time than usual and learned to do some of the jobs that regular sailors do. At some point, even if I couldn't be a captain, I could have been a first mate or captain's assistant or something. But, as fate would have it, I made the
worst choice every time, and this time was no exception. With a few dollars in my pocket and decent clothes on, I went
on board the ship as a gentleman, as I always did. I never took part in all the affairs of the ship, and I never learned
to do so.
In London, I made good friends. Again, this was what I was destined for. Such good things don't usually happen to a debauched and misguided young man like
me. The devil always sets them up early.
But not for me. At the outset, I knew a sea captain. He had been to the coast of Guinea; and while there,
he had made a good trade, and so decided to make another trip. He was interested in my conversation, for at that time
my talk was perhaps not very disagreeable. When he heard me say that I wanted to go out and see the world, he told me that if I would
want to go with him, I could ride on his boat for free and could be his companion and dine with him. If I wanted to
bring some goods along with me, he would tell me what would be most profitable to bring, so that perhaps I could make some money.
I couldn't have asked for more of the captain's hospitality, and he and I became close friends.
The captain was sincere and honest, so I boarded his ship and brought some cargo with me.
Because of the integrity of my friend the captain, I earned a lot of money. For, taking him at his word,
I brought a cargo of toys and other trinkets worth about forty pounds. This money I got
by the help of some relatives. I wrote to them; and, I believe, they told my father, or at least my mother, and the money was paid by
my father or mother, and sent to me by the relatives, as the capital of my first business.
It is fair to say that this was the only successful voyage of my life's adventures. This is entirely due to the integrity of my
captain friend. Under his tutelage, I also learned some of the math and methods of navigation,
learned to keep a logbook and observe astronomy. In a word, learned some basic common sense about being a sailor. He was happy to
teach me, and I was happy to learn from him. In short, this voyage made me both a sailor and a merchant. On this voyage
I brought back five pounds and nine ounces of sands; and on my return to London I exchanged them for about three hundred pounds, and made a good deal of
money. This made me more complacent, and thus cut short my life.
However, the voyage had its share of my misfortunes. Particularly because we were doing business on the west coast of Africa
from 15 degrees north latitude all the way south to near the equator, the weather was unusually hot, so I got the fever that sailors sailing in tropical
waters often get, and I had a high fever for three days and talked nonsense.
Now, I