nk she is better armed than the
_Port-au-Prince_. But if you meet my other ship, the _Lucy_, and with
her can take away some rich prizes from the Spaniards--why, well and
good. I should be very pleased if you send me a prize home before you go
into the Pacific.'

"So away he went in the coach, and in half an hour more, with my heart
bounding with excitement, I set out with Captain Duck to join the
_Port-au-Prince_, lying at Gravesend."

II.

"For the first week or so I was very sea-sick and unable to leave my
hammock, but after that I began to recover. Captain Duck, who was a most
humane and considerate gentleman, sent frequent inquiries after me, and
told the officers that I was to be allowed plenty of time to gain my
strength. These inquiries were always made by a lad who was under the
captain's immediate protection. His name was William Mariner, and being
of an adventurous disposition he had gained his parents' consent to make
the voyage. Of all those that sailed with us he and I only survived to
reach England and tell the story of that fateful venture, and I have
heard that Mr. Mariner wrote a book giving an account of the awful
calamity that befel our ship, but that few people credited the strange
story of his adventures.{*}

* This was "Mariner's Tonga Islands," published by John
Murray, Albemarle Street, London, in 1818. Seventeen of the
privateer's crew escaped the massacre.

"Before going any further I will tell in a few words the nature of
our mission to such far-off seas. The _Port-au-Prince_ had a double
commission. She was what was termed a private ship-of-war, or privateer,
and England being then at war with Spain, she had been fitted out to
cruise within certain latitudes in the Atlantic for prizes. If not very
successful she was to double Cape Horn and proceed to the South Seas in
search of whales, unless she met the _Lucy_, when they were to try the
coast of South America for prizes. She was very well armed, and her crew
were all men who had seen much service in the king's ships; many of them
were old South-Seamen, expert in the whale-fishery. There was, besides
Captain Duck, a regular whaling-master, William Brown. This gentleman
was of a very quarrelsome temper, and long before we were out of the
Channel began to show it, greatly to our misery. Captain Duck, on the
other hand, was always very good to the men. He was a brave and gallant
seaman, very stern and exacting when du