I left Baltimore as supercargo of the brig
Perverance, Captain Ready. Proceeding to the Havannah, we discharged our
cargo, took in another, partly on our own account, partly on that of the
Spanish government, and sailed for Callao on the 1st December, exactly
eight days before the celebrated battle of Ayacucho dealt the finishing
blow to Spanish rule on the southern continent of America, and established
the independence of Peru. The Spaniards, however, still held the fortress
of Callao, which, after having been taken by Martin and Cochrane four
years previously, had again been treacherously delivered up, and was now
blockaded by sea and land by the patriots, under the command of General
Hualero, who had marched an army from Columbia to assist the cause of
liberty in Peru.

Of all these circumstances we were ignorant, until we arrived within a few
leagues of the port of Callao. Then we learned them from a vessel that
spoke us, but we still advanced, hoping to find an opportunity to slip in.
In attempting to do so, we were seized by one of the blockading vessels,
and the captain and myself taken out and sent to Lima. We were allowed to
take our personal property with us, but of brig or cargo we heard nothing
for some time. I was not a little uneasy; for the whole of my savings
during ten years' clerkship in the house of a Baltimore merchant were
embarked in the form of a venture on board the Perseverance.

The captain, who had a fifth of the cargo, and was half owner of the brig,
took things very philosophically, and passed his days with a penknife and
stick in his hand, whittling away, Yankee fashion; and when he had chapped
up his stick, he would set to work notching and hacking the first chair,
bench, or table that came under his hand. If any one spoke to him of the
brig, he would grind his teeth a little, but said nothing, and whittled
away harder than ever. This was his character, however. I had known him
for five years that he had been in the employ of the same house as myself,
and he had always passed for a singularly reserved and taciturn man.
During our voyage, whole weeks had sometimes elapsed without his uttering
a word except to give the necessary orders.

In spite of his peculiarities, Captain Ready was generally liked by his
brother captains, and by all who knew him. When he did speak, his words
(perhaps the more prized on account of their rarity) were always listened
to with attention. There was a benevol