When a resident of the forecastle, I have by my example,
and by urgent appeals to the pride, the ambition, and good sense of my
shipmates, induced them to cultivate a taste for reading, and awakened
in their minds a thirst for information. Some of these men, by dint of
hard study, and a determination, even at a late day, to shake off all
profligate habits, and be something more than a common sailor, qualified
themselves for a different station, and eventually became respectable
shipmasters and merchants.

We lost one of our crew overboard, on this passage, in a manner somewhat
singular. He was an Italian, called Antonio, and remarkable for a love
of cleanliness a priceless virtue, when not carried to excess. He was
continually washing his face and hands, as if to get rid of impurities
communicated by the atmosphere. One Sunday afternoon, with a strong
breeze on the quarter, the brig was reeling it off at the rate of eight
or nine knots, and a rough and turbulent sea was helping her along.
Notwithstanding the wind was three or four points abaft the beam,
Captain Mott insisted on carrying main-topmast and middle staysails,
and occasionally when the vessel was a little off of her course, the
main-topmast staysail sheet, which was fastened to a cleat in the main
deck, would give a "slat," with great violence. Antonio had just left
the helm, and, according to his usual custom, proceeded to draw a bucket
of water from alongside, in which to immerse his face and hands. But
while he was stooping, in the very act of performing his ablutions, the
brig, through the inattention of the helmsman, was run off her course
nearly before the wind, the staysails were becalmed and the main-topmast
staysail sheet, that is, the rope which kept the sail in its proper
position, give a terrible jerk, caught the unfortunate Italian behind,
lifted him from his feet, and actually tossed him over the gunwale. The
thing was so sudden, he had not time to struggle, or even to scream, as
he sank beneath the billows, while the brig swept onward, leaving him
far astern. The cry, "A man's overboard!" was instantly raised by
those who witnessed the sad event. One man sprang into the weather main
shrouds in order to keep an eye on the poor fellow who became a martyr
to cleanliness. The helm was put down, the brig rounded to, and sails
laid aback. But attempts to rescue him were fruitless. He was not seen
after he struck the water.

After having been about f