When she was going, as she
sometimes would, eight or nine knots on a wind, there would not be a
dry spot forward of the gangway. The men told great stories of her
sailing, and had great confidence in her as a "lucky ship." She was
seven years old, and had always been in the Canton trade, and never
had met with an accident of any consequence, and had never made a
passage that was not shorter than the average. The third mate, a young
man of about eighteen years of age, nephew of one of the owners, had
been in the ship from a small boy, and "believed in the ship;" and the
chief mate thought more of her than he would of a wife and family.
The ship lay about a week longer in port, when, having discharged
her cargo and taken in ballast, she prepared to get under weigh. I now
made my application to the captain to go on board. He told me that I
could go home in the ship when she sailed (which I knew before);
and, finding that I wished to be on board while she was on the
coast, said he had no objection, if I could find one of my own age
to exchange with me, for the time. This, I easily accomplished, for
they were glad to change the scene by a few months on shore, and,
moreover, escape the winter and the southeasters; and I went on
board the next day, with my chest and hammock, and found myself once
more afloat.
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