Part 2 (1/2)
On this topic I am the better enabled to write satisfactorily, because of the repeated references to it which I have heard my Father make in after-life At all tiard for religion, with a clear apprehension of the great principles of our holy faith, and an ardent desire for the experience of its divine consolations But he used to refer back, with a kind of longing regret, to the days of his youth, when he had _felt_ the consolations of Godliness, and realized the happiness of heavenly meditations Often (as I have heard hiricultural labours, and not unfrequently, too, alking 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 s heavenward, which constitutes at once an experimental evidence and present reward of the reception of the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
For, however it may fall short in the ardency of its perceptions, or however it may be liable to be confounded with the hasty and transient i to its degree, the feeling thus realized belongs, I doubt not, to that truly enviable class of Christian experiences described by St Paul, as ”the peace of God, which passeth all understanding,” and as the rejoicing ”with joy unspeakable and full of glory”
FOOTNOTES:
[A] ”Memoir of William Scoresby, Esq” by the late Mr Saazine,” for 1822
[B] Life of Captain Ja, of Whitby
[C] The title ”specksioneer,” derived froe of the fishi+ng apparatus, and the conduct of the flensing operations in the fishery He is also a principal harpooner
CHAPTER II
HIS COMMENCEMENT AND PROGRESS IN WHALE-FIshi+NG ENTERPRISE, AS A COMMANDER
SECTION I-_Disappointment in his first Command_
In the history of men who, relatively to their prospects by birth, have attained to distinction in life, there will generally be found so in itself, or some particular circumstance, or chain of circumstances, in their professional career, on which, under Providence, their fortune manifestly turned
Both the _incident_ and the circuly marked in my Father's history The incident appears in what occasioned the disgust which he took in early life at far occupations, whereby he was sti life The _circumstance_, or chain of circumstances, we find in the important preferiven to him when, over the heads of many associates, he was appointed to his first command
Crispin Bean, the captain under who and experience in Arctic adventure, was, for _his time_, a successful whale-fisher For, in the course of from seventeen to twenty years in which he followed this commerce, he realized a _small_ fortune, sufficient, at least, with a little patrimony, to satisfy his very moderate desires and requireour, from his arduous profession He was a man of excellent character, and one for whoard, and towards whom he was ever ready to show kindly consideration, when his means for subsistence and comfort were less sufficient in after-life A vivid reard and preference for hi point of his temporal destiny, was observably retained, and was elicited, as I had , both in hisof his former commander, and in his readiness to minister to hie in the year 1790, that Mr Bean announced to his owner, Nicholas Piper, Esq, of Pickering, his intention of relinquishi+ng his co fro a successor, Mr Piper enquired whether there was any one, a the officers of the Henrietta, whom he (Mr Bean) could recommend for a Master? Mr Bean, well observant of eneral superiority, replied,-”There is Scoresby, the specksioneer, who, I think, is the man for the duty” And to hiation, the coreeable surprise of my Father, and the jealous vexation of some of his brother officers, was transferred
Mr Piper, however, whilst so proenerous confidence in his appoint with thehis limited er engagement in the fishery of the then chief officer, and so harponeers, he, unfortunately, took _upon hie,-a proceeding which, however prudential, h a measure which he was by no means in a position either to contravene or satisfactorily to resist Every ground of hope, however, which he ed in respect to any favourable views of such a principle, in its working, failed, whilst his very worst apprehensions were more than realized
This result, indeed, caular unfavourableness of the season, wherein he made his first trial, for the objects of the adventure The fishery, in general, proved unprecedentedly unsuccessful Of seven shi+ps which set out from Whitby, (the port froh, was lost; four returned ”clean,”-that is, without any cargo; and two had but one fish each-one of them very small Tradition has it-and the tradition I can well believe to be a historical fact-that the cargoes of the whole Whitby fleet of _Greenland_ whalers (except one) fro, a distance of 21 on!
It was in the worst class, that of ”clean shi+ps,” in which the Henrietta stood at the conclusion of this unpropitious season But she so stood, not by any arded either the talent and perseverance of her new Captain, or the opportunities which his enterprise had afforded to his officers and crew for a position of, at least, leading prosperity My Father, indeed, whilst often speaking in after-ti, and, as to his prospects in life, perilous failure, was known to remark, that such were the opportunities which his own people had, of doing as well as the most successful of his coht by the whole Greenland fleet, but whilst the Henrietta was in co the capture of which he was not within view!
It was not the wish of the leading officers of the Henrietta, however, that their position should be different A strong feeling of jealousy was injuriously cherished by certain officers over whom my Father had been preferred; and so far was this carried, and so variously indicated, that it becan_ was, _that their co position_ ast his fellow fisher wasthe early indications of a conspiracy which my Father clearly detected, was the positive and wilful inattention of some principal officers to the objects of their enterprise, when he was in bed, with the substitution of idle, if not venoence and watchfulness For on one occasion, when being on very proround, he had sent a boat ”on bran,”-the ter the condition of a whale-boat when stationed afloat, with the crew ready for instant action, watching for the incidental appearance of a whale,-he heard, whilst lying anxiously awake in his bed, the subdued creaking of the ”tackles,” as of a cautious and surreptitious hoisting up of the boat; and, on afterwards going unexpectedly on deck, he found the ”watch,” both officers and ed as we have just stated
Attempts on the part of the officers to direct or dictate, not unfrequently ht they should do, except in one instance (judging froret), where the yielding to a proposition against his better judgment met with its consistent rebuke A nureater part of the boats had been sent out in pursuit Reckless and ill-conditioned they pulled about hither and thither, frighteningnone, of the objects of chase For a considerable period the sa enacted, and yet ”fish” in encouraging numbers were still to be seen The chief mate, one Matthew S the boats so long abroad without so, that spirits, as he said was usual, should be sent to them, or it could not be expected that they could either succeed or persevere Thoughstireatest coolness and self-possession, my Father unfortunately yielded, and ordered the steward to supply a quantity of brandy for being carried out to the absent sailors
But the mate's boat, which was sent with this _refreshment_ (?) was seen, after it had proceeded a , and ”lie to on its oars;” and there, as my Father's sure telescope told him, they remained, till the crew had ”drank themselves drunk” Then, in theirenterprise, and effectually le honest harpooner were there, and gave a new and additional i recklessness and disaffection
But private resistance of orders, as well as apparent neglect of opportunities frequently afforded therew into the ravated form of insubordination-_mutiny_
On one occasion, when the Henrietta had been pushed into an unwonted position of i the ice by her coed their disaffection into open ether, and proceeded to the quarter-deck, to de released froard of their remonstrances, and expressed deterth met by brute force and open violence One of the men, excited by his coe, seized a hand-spike, and aiht have been fatal, on the head of his Captain But, now roused to the exertion of his heretofore uni the bloith his hand, disar hi hi his associates, like a quoit fro the whole party with ath and power, and for the , the unmanly pursuance of their ainst so many who had committed the likely to continue to avail him,than his power of action, ordered a boy to take the helht influence, ”squared the yards,” directed the shi+p's course (the wind being fair) _ho thus yielded, and, with circumstances so very different from what they had expected, reduced, for a while, both the ed quiescence But when the shi+p, having cleared the ice, was still kept on the saan to be left far astern, anxiety and alarm took place in the breasts of the authors of thethe issue of a proceeding which they had thus unexpectedly provoked Words of unwonted calmness were now dropped by one or other of the officers, in hopes of eliciting some indication that the homeward direction was but a threat Hints of the loss to the owners and himself were thrown out, if he followed out his apparent purpose; but all to no purpose-the Henrietta still wended her way before the horess At length, so great was the alar mutineers became subdued, and they came forward, backed by their subordinates in the crew, huain for Greenland, and pro that themselves, and every man aboard, would submit to orders, and do their utmost to further the object on which they had embarked
To have persisted in a purpose undertaken from necessity, the result of which could only be of unmixed injury to his employers as well as hi soht have been deemed an act of obstinacy, rather than wisdom Not, therefore, to lose any chance of success, which this deht seem to promise, the shi+p was forthwith hauled to the wind, and, as circumstances of wind and weather allowed, every effort of sea their return to the fishi+ng-ground northward The sunshi+ne, however, which had rendered the gathering in of a limited harvest possible, was now departed, and all subsequent endeavours to make up for lost time and opportunities proved fruitless, so that the talented and efficient co the result of his first and trial adventure as ”a clean shi+p!”