Page:Twenty years before the mast - Charles Erskine, 1896.djvu/43

 laid in the same grave with her whom he had loved "not wisely, but too well," in a chapel which they had erected  to commemorate their deliverance from shipwreck. This story is said to be derived from the account given by  the other survivors of the wreck, who left the island and  after many adventures returned to their native land with  an account of the discovery of Madeira.

On the 25th we weighed anchor and bade adieu to the beautiful island. The weather was all that one could wish, with a sweet and balmy breeze. At two bells — nine o’clock — all hands were called to muster, and  many of the crew were rated: John Black, seaman, to  be a boatswain’s mate; Jack Bowlin, seaman, to be captain of the forecastle; Tom Coffin, seaman, to be captain of the maintop; Thomas Piner, signal quartermaster; Samuel Williams, gunner’s mate; Samuel Stretch,  seaman, quarter gunner; James H. Gibson, seaman, to  be coxswain; Daniel Banks ordinary seaman, to be seaman; and so on. Your humble servant, the writer, was raised from a first-class boy to an ordinary seaman, from  eight to ten dollars a month, and that, too from the day  that I shipped. I recollect once arriving at Long Wharf, Boston, in an old molasses drogher from Bermuda. The captain, who was very  tyrannical, abused us terribly, and provoked one of the crew so that the man swore he  would give him a good sound thrashing as soon as we  were made fast head and stern We had gone below to  pack our clothing, when the captain put his head over  the companion-way and sang out in a soft, feminine tone  of voice: "My men, I want you all to come down into  my cabin, I have something for you all." We all went