Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 18.djvu/123

 all, and, having adjusted my business as best I could, I secured a passage to Vera Cruz in the schooner Gen. Lafayette, Capt. Hoyt.

"The Capt. had suddenly changed the day for putting to sea, having determined to sail earlier than the time appointed for that purpose. Although my goods were brought to the levee, agreeable to a previous understanding, and the freight had already been paid, he refused to receive them. I was not to be foiled in that way. Being cramped for time, a few half dollars from my pocket, brought aid from the bystanders, and my effects were rushed on board, with the exception of about two hundred dollars' worth, including the body and hind wheels of a wagon, which were left and lost.

"As the vessel was leaving her moorings, seizing the last opportunity, I leaped on deck, there to endure still greater indignities and sufferings than had been experienced on shore.

"I will not stop to mention all that I suffered on that passage. During most of the voyage the sea was boisterous, and the heavens were darkened with clouds and storms. Although I had purchased as good accommodations as the schooner afforded, yet was I denied a retreat to any place not open to the angry heavens. No reasoning, no appeals to justice or mercy could abate the rigor of this brutal treatment. Fourteen days and nights I lay on the quarterdeck, terribly seasick, and exposed to the worst of weather, sometimes drenched in salt water, and again in fresh. A portion of my freight remained on deck by the side of the bulwarks, exposed to the breach-making sea. This much was greatly injured, so that a part having lost its value was thrown overboard, and a part less injured was given to the poor at Vera Cruz. The language of the Capt. was uniformly abusive, and his whole conduct unfeeling towards me.

"Something more should be said of the captain. He was illiterate, ill-bred, ill-tempered, and intemperate, also.

"An occurrence happening on the 2d of May nearly proved fatal to the vessel and the lives of all on board. At early dawn