a service which particularly calls for manhood
and muscle. In what capacity, or in what sort of vessel he obtained a
berth, we are left wholly to conjecture. Choosing the sea as a vocation,
and laudably resolved on acquiring a proper knowledge of his business
(as from what we know of his character, we may suppose was the case),
he most probably went before the mast. His first and only voyage was
unfortunate. The ship in which he sailed was no doubt equally frail and
small. She foundered at sea, whether going or returning is not said;
in consequence, we are told, of injuries received from the stroke of
a whale, of the thornback species. So suddenly did she sink, that her
crew, only six in number, had barely time to save themselves. They
escaped to the jolly boat, saving nothing but their lives. They took
with them neither water nor provisions; and for six days, hopeless of
succor, they lay tossing to and fro, upon the bald and cheerless ocean.
A dog, which swam to them from the sinking vessel, was sacrificed to
their hunger. His raw flesh was their only food, his blood their only
drink, during this distressing period. Two of their number perished
miserably.* The survivors, on the seventh day, were found and taken up
by a passing vessel, nourished carefully and finally restored to their
homes.

* Weems represents the captain and mate, as throwing
themselves overboard in a state of phrenzy, and there is
nothing improbable or unnatural in the statement. Privation
of food, the use of salt water, and exposure in an open boat
to a burning sun, might very well produce such an effect.
The only difficulty, however, consists in the simple fact
that we have no other authority for the statement. James is
silent on the point, and contents himself with simply
stating the death of two of the crew. Weems, however, adds
that of two others, whose end receives, as usual, quite a
dramatic finish at his hands. He suffers none to live but
"little Marion", and, in the exuberance of his imagination,
actually goes so far as to describe the particular food,
"chocolate and turtle broth", by which the youthful hero is
recruited and recovered. By this he designs to show, more
emphatically, the immediate interposition, in his behalf, of
an especial providence. The truth is, that any attempt at
details where so little is known to have been preserved,