a small, low island, on which lay
five boats, each manned by five men, who had come down to our
assistance; but the surf was so high that they did not venture to
approach us; so we remained clinging with difficulty to the rigging till
about half-past one, when the schooner went to pieces. The mast to which
we were clinging fell, and we were precipitated into the raging surf,
which swept us onward towards the island already mentioned. The men
there, anticipating what had happened, had prepared for its occurrence;
and the best swimmers, with ropes tied round their waists, the other end
of which was held by those on shore, plunged in to our assistance. One
of our unfortunate company was drowned,--the rest of us came safely to
the shore; but we lost everything except the clothes we stood in. The
fragments saved from the wreck were sold at auction for two hundred
dollars. The people of that neighborhood treated us with great kindness,
and we presently took the packet for Elizabeth city, whence I proceeded
to Norfolk, Baltimore, and so home.

I had made up my mind to go to sea no more; but, after remaining on
shore for three weeks, and not finding anything else to do, as it was
necessary for me to have the means of supporting my increasing family, I
took the command of another vessel, belonging to the same owners, the
sloop Joseph B. While in this vessel, my voyages were to the eastward. I
was engaged in the flour-trade, in conjunction with the owners of the
vessel. We bought flour and grain on a sixty days' credit, which I
carried to the Kennebec, Portsmouth, Boston, New Bedford, and other
eastern ports, calculating upon the returns of the voyage to take up our
notes. I was so successful in this business as finally to become the
owner of the Joseph B., which vessel I exchanged away at Portsmouth for
the Sophronia, a top-sail schooner of one hundred and sixty tons, worth
about fourteen hundred dollars. In this vessel I made two trips to
Boston,--one with coal, and the other with timber. Having unloaded my
timber, I took in a hundred tons of plaster, purchased on my own
account, intending to dispose of it in the Susquehanna. But on the
passage I encountered a heavy storm, which blew the masts out of the
vessel, and drove her ashore on the south side of Long Island. We saved
our lives; but I lost everything except one hundred and sixty dollars,
for which I sold what was left of the vessel and cargo.

Having returned to my fami