Memorials of the Sea

My Father's

in this country, except in the case of the family, and on

upied respectable stations in the middle walks of life, supporting, in each case, unblemished character, an

ter de Scourby was "bayliffe of York," in the year 1312; and in the seventh and ninth years of Edward III., Nicholas de Scorēby, it appears, was Member for York. Subsequently, we find, under the date of 1463, Thomas Scawsby, holding

lass of yeomen,-a class once of much importance in this country, but now, unhappily, so diminished in numb

s parent, called Nutholm, in the township of Cropton, about twenty miles south-west of Whitb

collections, by which his life was greatly imperilled, marking 'the superinte

much interrupted, and, in winter, totally suspended. His progress, therefore, was far from being satisfactory. Nor was this disadvantage compensated by any long continuance of opportunities for obtaini

destiny, from a probable ordinary and unobserved occupation, to a stirring, adventurous and conspicuous life. The change was induced by some unpleasant treatment he received from the family with whom he was residing. He became disgusted with a position which, without satisfying the natural capa

-whose names are associated with much of interest in the history of Whitby, and who became, in their relative degrees, conspicuous as adventurous sea

ont to be engaged, he was removed from the work of the field to that of the counter, with the view of learning the business of a country shopkeeper. It was at the fishing town of Staiths, about ten miles north-west of Whitby, and at th

rpose; for the shilling had been observed by his master, its abstraction was detected, and Cook was suspected and charged with dishonesty,-a charge which the production of the shilling from his pocket seemed to confirm. His keen sense of right feeling, and of what was due to himself, rendered this incident so painful, that he determined, if he could get permission to do so, to leave his employment, as a shopkeeper, and, indulging a strongly imbibed prepossession, turn to the sea. The unmerited suffering was abu

e was what is called a South-sea shilling, of the coinage of George I., marked on the reverse S.S.C., for South-sea

d for good as to place him at the head of the adventurers engaged in the whale-fishery of the Greenland seas, and to render his example, per

gestions of a relative, to whom he had communicated his intentions, he was recommended to Mr. Chapman,-an opulent and respectable ship-owner, and a member o

tely home, informed his father of what he had done, and then, at his suggestion, went back to the farm he had somewhat abruptly left, and there remained until his place could be satisfactorily suppl

rvices would be required. His anxiety on this occasion, to proceed with his studies in the manner in which he found himself making gradual and encouraging progress, led him at onc

mined and gilded, he resolved on proceeding to Salter Gate, a position, in the midst of the Moors, eight miles further in advance, and attainable only by a not very well-defined line of road across a heath-clad and totally uninhabited country. It was a region, therefore, of complete desolateness, through which he prepared to pass, and, on occasions of snow-storms, one of great danger to any travellers who might be unfortunately overtaken by them whilst in the midst of the Moors;-for, at the period of which we now wri

ture; for having arrived near the sixth milestone on the high-moors over Whitby, he became unexpectedly encircled by a dense and gloomy cloud, attended with a sudden and furious sto

e to the direction of the line of road, which, fortunately for him, like the roads of ancient construction, generally, followed a steeple-chase directness, regardless of hill or dale, for the point aimed at; and by adjusting his progress on the same angle, in respect to the course of the wind, he hoped to be guided in his now perilous undertaking. "Taking his departure" from this incidental starting-point, he set forward with as much speed as the nature of the ground and the resistance of the storm could well admit, and, proceeding in a straight direction, over hill and dale, through moor and bog, he accomplished another mile, and that so successfully as to reach its ter

oved the value and accuracy of his geometry whilst traversing the high-moors

s first year's

d was duly set to work, with others of the destined crew, to rig and fit out the ship. Towards the end of the month the arrangements were so far advanced, that she was hauled down the harbour into a berth convenient for putting to sea. But whilst here a hard gale set in from the north, which brought so heavy a sea into the harbour that the Jane was in dang

veral quite inexperienced, eminently perilous,-for the ship being lightly ballasted, was quickly thrown upon her "beam-ends," the water rising over the lee gunwale till it reached the "combings of the hatches," whilst the requisite measures, demanding instantaneous promptness, were seriously delayed by the general inaptitude of the crew. They were enabled, however, in time to save them from the threatened foundering, to get the sai

Father, being below, near a "raft-port,"-an opening at the bow or stern by which a timber cargo is received into the hold,-heard the voice of the Captain calling for a boat's crew to put him on shore. There being no deck now laid upon the hold-beams, but only a series of "carlings" from beam to beam, the summons was attempted to be answered by running along these very narrow supports. Ill dire

e carpenter of the Jane was borne to the same place, having also fallen into the hold in a similar way, with an

eed, with his wound but imperfectly healed, and with a long and conspicuous scar which might have been admonitory for the rest of his days. The lesson to my Father had not been f

sailed from Memel, and joining convoy at Elsinore, saf

ls (apparently a serjeant), who, pretending that he was a Yorkshireman and knew them, contrived to insinuate himself into their confidence, and offered to guide them in their object of sight-seeing, remarking particularly that they had a fine opportunity of seeing the King, who was about to attend a general re

ed her gaze on his youthful and obviously too confiding associates. Repeating her scrutiny of their pretended friend till assured of his identity, she addressed him with an air of stern authority, and commanded him to leave the house. The man affecting surprise, and 'presuming that she must have mistaken h

ntry, and are strangers in London. I am from the country myself, but I know that man to be a villain. Not long since he stole some articles

rt for their ship; but on offering her compensation for her kindness, she refused to

n three accounts: first, for the honour of our common nature; secondly, to be contrasted with t

All the men-of-war from home, however, having sailed, they joined a fleet of similarly unprotected ships, numbering altogether six-and-twenty sail, and together proceeded for England. About half-way across the German ocean, they proved the advantage of their mutual association for defence, a large cutter privateer having hove in sight, and attacked the rear of the fleet. For a considerable time the enemy's fire was directed from a respectful distance against the

about the middle of December, and delivered thei

his humble station, with a view to the fulfilment of the engagement he had entered into with the owner of the Jane. And, as estimated by the probability of his being involved in the disaster of that ill-fated ship, had he entered on board of her, the decision appeared to be Providentially guided; for at no long interval after this time it was that the Royal George came to her end so strangely, as to place the catastrophe alone and without parallel, amid the varied and marvellous records of our naval history. The story is well known. She was "careening," for the purpose of having some caulking of her seams effected, or damage of her copper sheathing repaired, whilst anchored at Spithead, with her lower-deck ports o

el passengers to Whitby. My Father repaired to his country home for the interval of service, until summoned again to London, in

ess as a Seaman, with

ed, he must be the fabricator of his own fortune. To learn his profession, from the very elements of a seaman's duty to its most manly and skilful perfection; to acquire a knowledge of navigatio

led him to form a habit-to spend his leisure time, when not on watch, aloof from the galley-congregation of idle, and often profane, companions. And instead of following the useless and time-wasting practices of those around him, his habit was, as opportunity offered, to endeavour, by the help of a few appropriate books, to carry out his former humble acquirements in figur

them illustrative of his difficult position in refusing familiar association with his fellow mariners; the other i

offensive actions. Naturally spirited and quick-tempered, as the subject of this ungenerous behaviour was constitutionally, it was hard to restrain the expression of indignation, or to resist the urgent impulse to a just retaliation. But, acting on the system of non-retaliation, so long as they kept "hands off," he bore this persecution with extraordinary forbearance. For consti

alone;" and other peace-desiring solicitations of like kind, were tried. But the attack and effort to throw him became more determined. At length, after a firm and decided utterance to the command "Hands off!" indicating that the spirit was up, the attacked party in his turn grappled the necks of his assailants, one with each hand, and, taking advantage of the muscular reaction, after they had made a simultaneous but ineffective thrust against him, he flung them, by a Samson-like impulse, right and left, and both of them fell, heavily, prostrate on the deck! So unawares was the throw, and so totally unsustained by cautionary preparation, that, as to

ensive remark; and that the respect which seamen are generally ready to yield to true bravery and superior skill was as generous

was of a totally

ctions proposed to be made on the "ship's log." On these things he made his own observations, and, in calculating the ship's position, which he was now tolerably well able to accomplish, he made his own corrections, instead of those marked on the "log-board"

ge in the Jane, when, having taken in their cargo of spars f

exercised, and various allowances and alterations made. Observing the nature of the difference, which amounted to several miles, the intelligent youth exclaimed, "Why, by your account, we are just running down Bornholm; but my journal is the same as the ship's, and we are going round to the northward of the island." The question being discussed with considerable animation betwixt them, it excited observation among the crew, and reached the ears of the Captain. A sha

, and sailing round the island to the southward, they reached Elsinore the next day. "It was to this private reckoning kept by Mr. Scoresby," observes the writer of

in merit. The preservation of the ship and cargo," by the superiority of a mere tyro in seamanship-a young apprentice, "drew upon him, especially, the envy of the mate, who, it will be remembered, had aforetime shown a painful measure of ill-will, and the disapprobation of som

ind was early directed to regard a Providential hand perpetually engaged in guiding, controlling, or, for merciful ends, rebuking the affairs of man, could har

the Enemy, and Escape

h all haste got to sea. But admirably as this fast-sailing cutter was adapted for a service requiring all po

by reason of calms and adverse winds, involved them. For, economical of room for the requisite stores whilst on the passage to the S

ssibly be derived through the medium of the pores of the skin by bathing-an idea which the calmness of the weather enabled him to put to the test and satisfactorily to verify. For on undressing and taking a rope for his security, and jumping overboard, he real

ar, they fell in with a force so overwhelmingly superior, as to render resistance useless. The cutter became a prize to the enemy, and my Father, with his associates, prisoners of war. They were taken

ed, after awhile became such, that the prisoners were entrusted to go unguarded, to some distance from their quarters, to fetch water. In this indulgence my Father saw a chance of escape, which, be

il they had obtained shelter, I believe, from a wood. Here they pushed rapidly on, dropping their water-vessels in a place of concealment, until having made what they deemed a sufficient progress to baffle an ordinary pursuit, they hid themselves for the remaind

the dress, and with the language of foreigners, inducing attempts to give them up to the public authorities; with the aid and consolations, on the other hand, which they occasionally met with from the sympathies of the gentler sex, even whilst others were seeking their recapture,-yielded altogether a series of exciting and anxious incidents, which, if the particulars could be thoroughly recalled, might afford materials for a history of really romantic interest. The fact of kind and generous sympathy, and effective aid from women, I well remember as constituting a touching element in the relation of their perilous undertaking. As Mungo Park, in his varied and perilous travels, ever found kindness, in the

s relates to their escape from the S

t. For it so happened (and happened it not by the providential ordering of times and circumstances to fit each other for an issue accordant with confiding trust and fervent prayers?) that when they reac

they were on the one part, and intruders on the other, they might elude the observation both of the Spanish officers and the captain of the cartel. But the same gracious furtherance, as heretofore they had experienced, continued to prosper their way, a

ards of Master

cident particularly characteristic of my Fathe

s pitiless inconsideration with heartless threatenings. He threatened, with much apparent determination, either to land them again amongst their enemies, or give them up as a boon, though of most unwilling hands, to some English ship-of-war. Their appeals to his sympathy and benevolence were unavailing. Their offer "to work their passage," which they thought might be a compensation for their provision, was slighted, on the ground that "the crew was sufficient." But at length the Captain suggested the alter

ng by the "weather-rail," with quiet composure, as if ignorant of, or indifferent to, the increasing peril of the position of the ship. At last, an exclamation of astonishment burst from the Captain, that, regardless of the general safety, they should not offer a helping hand. They replied most coolly, "that the crew, they understood, was ample, and needed no help of theirs, and they were but passengers!" The perplexed commander turned away in ill-concealed vexation. Still the gale increased in severity, till the ship was thrown almost on her "beam-ends," and their situation became

scarcely touch the "ratlines," as, aided by the elasticity of tension in the shrouds, they ascend up the mast. Way is instinctively made by the previously dispirited hands for my Father to the "weather-earing" of the topsail, and for his friend to leeward. Here, as in most other operations, his singular energy, strength and skill, render him wonderfully efficient. Seated across the yard-arm, with shoulder steadied and supported by the "lift,"-the "earing" passed round and reeved in the "reef-cringle" of the sail,-he is enabled, with little aid from the hands on the yard, to haul out the sail by vast muscular strength, skilfully applied, to the fitting position, when the cry "Haul out to leeward," is replied to by his associate there with similar

e reefed and set compactly to the wind; courses and other sails are reefed or made snug by handing; top-gallant-yards, with spars and flying gear aloft, are sent down upon deck; and

at which he soared beyond the others was too great and obvious for the intrusion even of that bane of social concord-jealousy; and the effect seems to have been the infusion of

d Progress in training in,

e remained about two or three years. During this interval he married; the object of his choice being Lady Mary, (viz. Mary, with the prefix of Lady, taken, not ostentatiously, but in rural simplicity, from the characteristic designation o

ergies to such a contracted scope of employment, he turned his attention again to the sea. And in this object he at length found a congenial opening, in a region and employment admirably adapted to his physi

rofession, we have, unfortunately, no special records. To the requirements, however, in every species of knowledge and duty connected with the Arctic navigation and the capture of the huge cetacea of the north, he gave

in connection with this period of my Father's life, which I am induced to

ommendable course. On one occasion it so happened that he was employed in a vessel whose chief officer, the mate, was a young man possessing a full share of self-conceit, evinced by a not unfrequent exhibition of supercilious assumption of superiority-characteristics excessively obnoxious to my Father's manly disposition. But, notwithstanding the occasional exhibition of an offensive manner

is a liability to scatter a good deal of the shingle or other material, so as to fall overboard to the encumbrance of the harbour. To prevent this damage to the navigation, it is in many places a harbour reg

king him, as if doubting his capacity, whether he could make such a thing? and then requesting him to set immediately to work to supply the lack of port-sails. Assuming a look of meekest simplicity, which for such a just retribution my Father cou

l-needle was being actively carried on, when, to his astonishment and vexation, he found the deck covered with the breadths of canvas cut out for the half-dozen port-sails, and some two or three of

the altercation which ensued was being carried on, and when it had been broadly intimated to him, I believe, that his further services could be well dispensed with, that a letter, just then brought by some one coming on board, was put into my Father's hand, offering him the unex

ng of the state of my Father's mind and feelings with respect to the grand object of

ons of godliness, and realized the happiness of heavenly meditations. Often (as I have heard him intimate) whilst pursuing his agricultural labours, and not unfrequently, too, when walking to and fro in his night-watch at sea,-he had been privileged to realize that enviable feeling of peaceful happiness, in the lifting up of the heart in pious meditations and communings heavenward, which constitutes at once an experimental evidence and present reward of the reception of the Gospel of our

TNO

q." by the late Mr. Samuel Drew, in

ames Cook, by the Rev

fficer who has special charge of the fishing apparatus, and the conduct o