第 六十三 章 · 第63章

The ship began now to fill; several passengers came on board, who were

embarked on no criminal account, and these had accommodations assigned

them in the great cabin, and other parts of the ship, whereas we, as

convicts, were thrust down below, I know not where. But when my husband

came on board, I spoke to the boatswain, who had so early given me

hints of his friendship in carrying my letter. I told him he had

befriended me in many things, and I had not made any suitable return to

him, and with that I put a guinea into his hand. I told him that my

husband was now come on board; that though we were both under the

present misfortune, yet we had been persons of a different character

from the wretched crew that we came with, and desired to know of him,

whether the captain might not be moved to admit us to some conveniences

in the ship, for which we would make him what satisfaction he pleased,

and that we would gratify him for his pains in procuring this for us.

He took the guinea, as I could see, with great satisfaction, and

assured me of his assistance.

Then he told us he did not doubt but that the captain, who was one of

the best-humoured gentlemen in the world, would be easily brought to

accommodate us as well as we could desire, and, to make me easy, told

me he would go up the next tide on purpose to speak to the captain

about it. The next morning, happening to sleep a little longer than

ordinary, when I got up, and began to look abroad, I saw the boatswain

among the men in his ordinary business. I was a little melancholy at

seeing him there, and going forward to speak to him, he saw me, and

came towards me, but not giving him time to speak first, I said,

smiling, “I doubt, sir, you have forgot us, for I see you are very

busy.” He returned presently, “Come along with me, and you shall see.”

So he took me into the great cabin, and there sat a good sort of a

gentlemanly man for a seaman, writing, and with a great many papers

before him.

“Here,” says the boatswain to him that was a-writing, “is the

gentlewoman that the captain spoke to you of”; and turning to me, he

said, “I have been so far from forgetting your business, that I have

been up at the captain’s house, and have represented faithfully to the

captain what you said, relating to you being furnished with better

conveniences for yourself and your husband; and the captain has sent

this gentleman, who is mate of the ship, down with me, on purpose to

show you everything, and to accommodate you fully to your content, and

bid me assure you that you shall not be treated like what you were at

first expected to be, but with the same respect as other passengers are

treated.”

The mate then spoke to me, and, not giving me time to thank the

boatswain for his kindness, confirmed what the boatswain had said, and

added that it was the captain’s delight to show himself kind and

charitable, especially to those that were under any misfortunes, and

with that he showed me several cabins built up, some in the great

cabin, and some partitioned off, out of the steerage, but opening into

the great cabin on purpose for the accommodation of passengers, and

gave me leave to choose where I would. However, I chose a cabin which

opened into the steerage, in which was very good conveniences to set

our chest and boxes, and a table to eat on.

The mate then told me that the boatswain had given so good a character

of me and my husband, as to our civil behaviour, that he had orders to

tell me we should eat with him, if we thought fit, during the whole

voyage, on the common terms of passengers; that we might lay in some

fresh provisions, if we pleased; or if not, he should lay in his usual

store, and we should have share with him. This was very reviving news

to me, after so many hardships and afflictions as I had gone through of

late. I thanked him, and told him the captain should make his own terms

with us, and asked him leave to go and tell my husband of it, who was

not very well, and was not yet out of his cabin. Accordingly I went,

and my husband, whose spirits were still so much sunk with the

indignity (as he understood it) offered him, that he was scarce yet

himself, was so revived with the account that I gave him of the

reception we were like to have in the ship, that he was quite another

man, and new vigour and courage appeared in his very countenance. So

true is it, that the greatest of spirits, when overwhelmed by their

afflictions, are subject to the greatest dejections, and are the most

apt to despair and give themselves up.

After some little pause to recover himself, my husband came up with me,

and gave the mate thanks for the kindness, which he had expressed to

us, and sent suitable acknowledgment by him to the captain, offering to

pay him by advance, whatever he demanded for our passage, and for the

conveniences he had helped us to. The mate told him that the captain

would be on board in the afternoon, and that he would leave all that

till he came. Accordingly, in the afternoon the captain came, and we

found him the same courteous, obliging man that the boatswain had

represented him to be; and he was so well pleased with my husband’s

conversation, that, in short, he would not let us keep the cabin we had

chosen, but gave us one that, as I said before, opened into the great

cabin.

Nor were his conditions exorbitant, or the man craving and eager to

make a prey of us, but for fifteen guineas we had our whole passage and

provisions and cabin, ate at the captain’s table, and were very

handsomely entertained.

The captain lay himself in the other part of the great cabin, having

let his round house, as they call it, to a rich planter who went over

with his wife and three children, who ate by themselves. He had some

other ordinary passengers, who quartered in the steerage, and as for

our old fraternity, they were kept under the hatches while the ship lay

there, and came very little on the deck.

I could not refrain acquainting my governess with what had happened; it

was but just that she, who was so really concerned for me, should have

part in my good fortune. Besides, I wanted her assistance to supply me

with several necessaries, which before I was shy of letting anybody see

me have, that it might not be public; but now I had a cabin and room to

set things in, I ordered abundance of good things for our comfort in

the voyage, as brandy, sugar, lemons, etc., to make punch, and treat

our benefactor, the captain; and abundance of things for eating and

drinking in the voyage; also a larger bed, and bedding proportioned to

it; so that, in a word, we resolved to want for nothing in the voyage.

All this while I had provided nothing for our assistance when we should

come to the place and begin to call ourselves planters; and I was far

from being ignorant of what was needful on that occasion; particularly

all sorts of tools for the planter’s work, and for building; and all

kinds of furniture for our dwelling, which, if to be bought in the

country, must necessarily cost double the price.

So I discoursed that point with my governess, and she went and waited

upon the captain, and told him that she hoped ways might be found out

for her two unfortunate cousins, as she called us, to obtain our

freedom when we came into the country, and so entered into a discourse

with him about the means and terms also, of which I shall say more in

its place; and after thus sounding the captain, she let him know,

though we were unhappy in the circumstances that occasioned our going,

yet that we were not unfurnished to set ourselves to work in the

country, and we resolved to settle and live there as planters, if we

might be put in a way how to do it. The captain readily offered his

assistance, told her the method of entering upon such business, and how

easy, nay, how certain it was for industrious people to recover their

fortunes in such a manner. “Madam,” says he, “’tis no reproach to any

many in that country to have been sent over in worse circumstances than

I perceive your cousins are in, provided they do but apply with

diligence and good judgment to the business of that place when they

come there.”

She then inquired of him what things it was necessary we should carry

over with us, and he, like a very honest as well as knowing man, told

her thus: “Madam, your cousins in the first place must procure somebody

to buy them as servants, in conformity to the conditions of their

transportation, and then, in the name of that person, they may go about

what they will; they may either purchase some plantations already

begun, or they may purchase land of the Government of the country, and

begin where they please, and both will be done reasonably.” She bespoke

his favour in the first article, which he promised to her to take upon

himself, and indeed faithfully performed it, and as to the rest, he

promised to recommend us to such as should give us the best advice, and

not to impose upon us, which was as much as could be desired.

She then asked him if it would not be necessary to furnish us with a

stock of tools and materials for the business of planting, and he said,

“Yes, by all means.” And then she begged his assistance in it. She told

him she would furnish us with everything that was convenient whatever

it cost her. He accordingly gave her a long particular of things

necessary for a planter, which, by his account, came to about fourscore

or a hundred pounds. And, in short, she went about as dexterously to

buy them, as if she had been an old Virginia merchant; only that she

bought, by my direction, above twice as much of everything as he had

given her a list of.

These she put on board in her own name, took his bills of loading for

them, and endorsed those bills of loading to my husband, insuring the

cargo afterwards in her own name, by our order; so that we were

provided for all events, and for all disasters.

I should have told you that my husband gave her all his whole stock of

£108, which, as I have said, he had about him in gold, to lay out thus,

and I gave her a good sum besides; so that I did not break into the

stock which I had left in her hands at all, but after we had sorted out

our whole cargo, we had yet near £200 in money, which was more than

enough for our purpose.