"I dedicate the work to no patron, but offer it to the consideration and judgement of my countrymen at large; and shall be amply rewarded for the labour of its composition, if its wide diffusion shall bring it within reach of the classes most likely to need its teachings, and to profit by its example. May it help to rouse them from the apathy which is the accompaniment of hopeless toil, and inspire them with an ambition to elevate themselves by their own efforts, so as to end their lives with a pleasing retrospect of progress made, and a well founded belief that they will leave the world something better than they found it, by their labours to promote improvement in the health, wealth, knowledge, and virtue of their contemporaries, as the best legacy that can be left to those who are to come after him."

My father, whose name was Christopher, was a native of Barnstable in Devonshire, and both he and all his ancestors, as far as they could be traced back to the days of Elizabeth, were sailors or seafaring men; one having been an officer in the fleet that discomfited the great Spanish Armada, another having been drowned in the Thunderer, man-of-war, and others having been either in the naval or merchant service, from which my last my father retired with what he deemed a moderate sufficiency. He passed the remainder of his days in the enjoyment of his sailing, rowing, and fishing boats, in which he took great pride, as well as in his fields and orchards, of which he had several; and the improvement of his farm and live stock, with the pleasure of his dogs and guns, of which he was passionately fond, formed a union of summer and winter pastime which agreeably filled up the year.

My mother, whose name was Thomazine, was a native of Bodmin in Cornwall; and as Miss Hambly, of that ancient parliamentary borough, was regarded as a belle in her youth, which may well be credited, as she was, unquestionably, the handsomest old lady in Flushing in her declining years. [Penned note (1900) "See MYLOR marriages 1779, Phillimore, p.45 Vol. VII."]

Both of these were decidedly of the old school, in politics, sentiments, and manners. My father wore a cocked hat, then worn by persons in private life, though since confined to naval, military, or official ranks; a long square-tailed coat, with large buttons on the pocket and sleeves; square-toed shoes, with massive silver buckles, and a tall gold-headed cane: in short, such a costume as now one sees only on the stage, as characterising the reigns of Queen Anne and the first Georges. My mother, too, wore the large stiff quilted satin petticoat, with the dress open in front, to display, on a lighter ground, the rich pattern of a lace apron, with a shapely stomacher, and high cap, enclosing the oval face in a close frame, and strikingly becoming her fine features. [Keyword: Dress ]

My father died when I was between seven and eight years old ; my mother so grieved for his loss, that her health was never good afterwards, and in a few years she followed him to the grave , leaving a family of three sons and four daughters to mourn their loss . Of all of these I was the youngest, and as was generally believed, the favourite; and as my two elder brothers were grown up men, and each engaged in mercantile business on their own account, while my two elder sisters were comfortably married and settled, the property left by our deceased parents, consisting of mines, lands, houses, and some shares in the fisheries of the county, was divided equally among the three younger children.

All the recollections of my youth, up to the time of my first going to sea, are agreeable. The village of Flushing was then inhabited by a remarkable collection of persons and families. The port of Falmouth being the nearest to the entrance of the British Channel, there were permanently stationed here two squadrons of frigates, one under the command of Sir Edward Pellew (afterwards Lord Exmouth)

[see doc. PELLEW, Flushing, and Dover Packet Captain.], and the other under the command of Sir John Borlase Warren. The former, as commodore, hoisted his broad pennant in the Indefatigable, the latter in the Revolutionnaire. Each squadron consisted of five frigates, of 32 and 44 guns each; and, in addition to these, there were continually arriving and departing from Carrick roads, the outer anchorage of Falmouth, line-of-battle ships, and smaller vessels of war; while prizes taken from the French - some, after hard-fought battles, as it was during the most enthusiastic period of the first revolutionary war, - were constantly brought into the port for adjudication and sale. There were two large prisons, with open courts, for the reception of the French prisoners, thus taken; one at Tregellick, the other at Roscrow , [see Captain LOVELL ] both near the borough of Penryn, at the head of Falmouth harbour, and every month added many to their inmates.

Both the naval commodores, as well as such captains of the frigates belonging to the squadrons as were married, had their families living at Flushing, and the numerous officers of different grades, from the youngest midshipman to the first lieutenant, were continually coming and going to and fro; so that there would be sometimes a dozen men of war's boats at the quay at the same time, including the barges for the commanding officers, and the cutters, gigs, launches, and jolly boats on duty; the boats' crews mostly dressed in dashing marine trim, with blue jackets and trowsers (sic), and bright scarlet waistcoats, overlaid with gilt buttons, in winter; and striped Guernsey frocks and white flowing trowsers in summer; while the streets of the little village literally sparkled with gold epaulets, gold lace hats, and brilliant uniforms. [Keyword: Dress]

In addition to these squadrons of the navy, Falmouth was also then enriched and enlivened by the presence of a fleet of handsome mail packets, in the service of the Post Office, including from thirty to forty full rigged three-masted ships, small in size, but of the most elegant models - built, indeed, exclusively for speed and passage accommodation, carrying the royal pennant, as the ships of war; the officers all wearing handsome uniforms, and the crews being picked men, well-dressed and generally young and handsome, the service being so popular that it was a matter of great difficulty to get into it.

Both officers and men often made large fortunes by the private contraband trade which they carried on, under the protection of their being in Government ships, and therefore free from the search of the Customs & Excise, both in the export of British manufactures, which they smuggled into Spain and Portugal, America and the Spanish possessions of the West Indies, and in the imports into England of wine, spirits, and tobacco, in large quantities, every voyage, which they also smuggled ashore, and on which they made immense gains, from thus avoiding the payment of duty. [Keyword: Smuggling]

The greater number of the captains and officers of these packets, as well as most of their crews, lived also at Flushing; and so added to the wealth and elegance of the place, that, at the period adverted to, between 1790 and 1795, there was probably no spot in England, in which, on so limited a surface and among so small a number in the aggregate, were to be seen so much of the gaiety and elegance of life as in this little village.

Dinners, balls, and evening parties were held at some one or other of the captains' houses every evening; and not a night passed in which here was not three or four dances at least at the more humble places of resort for the sailors and their favourite lasses. The ample supplies of wages and prize money furnished all the naval officers and men with abundant means to meet every demand, and the profits of the officers and crews of the Government packets were not at all less abundant.

Marriages were events of a weekly occurrence, and scarcely a Sunday ever passed without more than one celebration of this always interesting and attractive rite at the parish church of Mylor, distant about a mile and a half from the village; and involving, therefore, either carriages or pedestrian processions, with white ribbons, and a joyous and happy crowd in their train. [Keyword: Dress]

Passing, therefore, my infancy and youth amidst such scenes as these, having been born in a house which was literally washed by the sea, and from the windows overhanging which I often leaped into it from a height of ten or twelve feet at high water, (p.9) with a rowing or sailing boat moored within a stone's throw of the steps leading from our dwelling to the sea, and scarcely a day passing without my being two or three hours rowing or sailing upon it, no one will wonder that I had a strong and unconquerable predilection for sea life, and that this passion grew with my growth and strengthened with my strength.

(p.15): In the consequence of the war with France, and other causes of scarcity, corn rose to a high price: and the miners of Cornwall, or 'tinners' as they were provincially called, a most numerous and determined body, roamed over the country, waging war against all forestallers, regraters, and hoarders of grain, demanding bread at the old peace prices, and demolishing baker'' shops, mills and grain stores, and being too formidable to be opposed by any civil or military force then at hand. These were the race of men who, according to the old song, when a Trelawne was consigned to the Tower, exclaimed - "And shall Trelawney die? Then twenty thousand Cornish men will know the reason why."

[Buckingham relates how three or four hundred tinners came to Flushing]….'The moment of their visit, too, was most inopportune; for on that very day a large party of the captains and officers of the packets, residing at Flushing, were occupied in storing a cargo of grain, that had just been discharged from a coasting vessel at the quay, and locking it up in warehouses to secure it from general plunder. Among these guardians of the public weal so occupied, I remember particularly Captains Schuyler, Braithwaite, Wauchop (sic), James, Ker (sic) [Kerr], Kempthorne, and others; the ships of war being absent on their cruising grounds, so that every one apprehended an attack, resistance, and bloodshed.

A trifling incident so turned the tide of feeling … a body of tinners remonstrating against the act… Captain Kempthorne, an old friend of my father's, and with whom I had always been a great favourite, seeing me in the group of boys, came to me, took me up in his arms, and planting me on one of the sacks of corn then leaning against the wall, bade me give out a hymn which he had often heard me do before - for I had all Dr. Watt's collection by heart - and having an excellent voice, with some ear and a great fondness for music… I asked him, "Which hymn?", He replied, "Any one will do; but be quick, and also pitch the tune." The captain then called out, "Silence, for a hymn!" and the tinners then struck with the appeal, hushed their murmurs, and took off their hats and caps, as if attending worship….. as almost the whole body of the miners were at this period followers of Wesley, and many extremely devout, they joined in the simple melody of the hymn… and at its close again covered their heads and retired in peace, crossing the ferry to Falmouth in the boats that brought them over, and relieving all the villagers from any further apprehension.

(p.30): About this time,(1794), I was, for the first time, called away to attend the funeral of one of my godfathers Mr. Freeman, a wealthy and successful merchant and smuggler on a large scale; this latter occupation being thought quite as honourable as the former, throughout all the sea-coast of Cornwall, at that period. [Keyword: Smuggling]. Being a person in very great esteem, his funeral was attended by more than a hundred persons on horseback, who followed the corpse from Falmouth to the parish of Breague in the west, for twenty or thirty miles, all dressed in mourning . There were then no carriages in general use. I remember only one kept in Falmouth and one in Flushing, and their passage through the streets were followed by a crowd of children, as if it were something wonderful. It was long subsequent to this that the first mail coach reached Falmouth , and its arrival and departure for many months drew a large assembly to witness it. The corpse of M. Freeman was, therefore, borne by relays of men, as bearers - resting every two or three miles - and the female relatives and friends all rode pillions behind men, as Queen Elizabeth is said to have done behind the Lord High Chancellor, when she went to S. Paul's, to return thanks for the defeat of the Spanish Armada, for the same reason - because coaches were not then in use.

I may add, no one at this period though intoxication unbecoming, but rather the mark of a gentleman, as indicative of high breeding; the higher classes, clergy as well as laity, seemed more frequently inebriated than the lower, their means of indulgence being more ample, it being thought a very shabby sort of hospitality to allow any quest at a great house to leave the table perfectly sober; hence the common expressions of that day - "he was drunk as a lord;" or "drunk as a bishop."

.. It was at funerals especially that spirits were profusely drank, and chiefly among the poor…. Brandy was applied as a soother of sorrow…. Near every church there was sure to be a public-house .. a funeral was a great day for the landlord .. no wonder that smuggling in spirits was carried on so extensively as it was in Cornwall; … where large parties of fifty or sixty men, on horseback, with a keg of spirits on each side of the saddle, add armed with pistols and cutlasses, would bid defiance to the revenue officers, and always command the sympathy and aid of the community, all classes of which preferred smuggled spirits to duty paid, not only for their comparative cheapness, but their freedom from adulteration .

(p.35): In the three towns of Falmouth, Penryn and Flushing, the hotels, inns, an taverns were numerous; and so far from it being thought disreputable to attend them, they were the usual places of rendezvous in the evening for all classes; the gentry and professional persons assembling in the bar of the hotels, the more respectable tradesmen in the second class inns, and the mere labourers in the inferior taverns: and it may be said that every male above fifteen or sixteen, in each of these towns consumed and spent, on the average, in beer, spirits, wine and tobacco, not less than £20 a year for the labourers, £50 for the master tradesmen and respectable shopkeepers, and £70 or £80 a year up to £100 for the higher classes, - a drain upon the wealth of the community quite sufficient to account for the pauperism, crime, insanity, and other evils resulting directly from such expenditure. Of some fifty young men of my own age and time, whose history I remember, at least thirty became bankrupt in trade, or ruined in constitution and character, and died a premature death, by the intemperate habits in which they indulged.

From the friendly intimacy that existed between Sir Edward Pellew and my father, previous to his death, I was a frequent visitor, as a child, to the house of the commodore, and mingled in play with his children, - Fleetwood, Pownall and the rest - one late an admiral on the East India station, and another, I believe, Dean of Norwich; and Sir Edward himself, having observed my love of boats and boating, offered to place me on his ship's books as a midshipman, it being the custom to do this at even an earlier age than mine; some, indeed, I have heard, while quite infants, that their seven years of noviciate might pass over while they were at school - a practice long since become obsolete. My mother… was unwilling to consent to this, lest, being once on the books of the navy, it might be difficult to obtain my discharge.

Sir Edward, however, often took me on board with him on his barge, which was sent ashore from the Indefatigable every morning at ten; and having the run of the gun-room, the cock-pit and the 'tween decks, while on board, I soon became a favourite with officers and men. The first lieutenant - now Admiral Pellew - was the brother of my elder brother's wife. The master, Mr. William Pitt bearing a striking resemblance to the great minister, was an admirer and suitor of my elder sister….. the 'Naval Chronicle' then in high popularity, had more interest for me than any other kind of reading…..

One of my elder sisters was married to Mr. Samuel Steele, then master of one of the Government packets, the Lady Harriett (sic), commanded by Captain Dillon, and it was arranged that I should make my first voyage with him; it being expressly designed, as was afterwards admitted to me, but then, of course, concealed, that he should exercise towards me the highest degree of rigour that the discipline of the service would admit, by making me keep watch with some subordinate officer who should hold a tight hand over me, with as many "mast-headings" as reasonable excuses could be found for, and thus break my stubborn spirit into submission.

I was accordingly sent to the only academy then existing in Falmouth, kept by Mr. Duckham, a native of Taunton in Somersetshire, to learn navigation - at least so much of its preliminary theory as should make the practical part of acquisition afloat. I was overjoyed, and never entered on any task before or since with greater zest and alacrity. I looked upon "Hamilton Moore's Navigator" as the greatest treasure I had ever possessed, and encased its leather covers with an envelope of cartridge paper, that no blot or stain should defile it.

The inner harbour would be crowded with the handsome packets in their gayest trip, each distinguished by a special signal, and constantly exercising their crews in bending and unbending sails, reefing, sending up or down top-gallant yards, striking lower yards and topmasts, hoisting in boats, water or provisions, and on a calm day the shrill whistle of the boatswain was distinctly heard from the school, as well as the cheering cry of "All's well" to the relieving of the watch, and the morning and evening gun at sunrise and sunset. All this was delicious food for my sight and music for my ears, and made me relish my studies with intense delight, so that in a very short period of about three months, I was pronounced competent to pass my examination, and somewhat surprised the old officers by whom that ordeal was conducted. In the enthusiasm of success I had a ship's anchor imprinted on my left hand, by the puncture of needles, drawing blood at each stroke, and the infusion of gunpowder under the skin, producing a permanent blue colour, according to the practice of sailors at that time .

Methodist ministers who at this period - from 1792 - 1794 - frequently preached at a small chapel in our village (Flushing). He celebrated Dr. Cook, and other eminent ministers, who from time to time embarked from Falmouth for the United States of America in the packets sailing from hence, usually held prayer meetings, and preached a few sermons at Flushing during their stay….. (religion) the more I read on this subject the more it seemed to me difficult to reconcile the power and rank, and riches of the Church, and even its forms and ceremonies, with the humility, equality, poverty, and self-denial of the disciples and apostles of Christianity, as well as the character, conduct, and precepts of its Divine Founder himself. I could not, therefore, be prevailed upon to look to the Established Church as one of its ministers.

My passion for the sea continued to increase …. I no longer attended the academy; and scarcely a day passed that I was not on board one or other of the ships of war, or the packets in the harbour, and never so happy as when permitted to join in any of the labours going on, whether on deck or aloft, thus familiarising myself with all the harbour evolutions. I may add that, with that resistance to coercion, which seemed a part of the nature of my youth as it has ever been of my manhood, every attempt to force my tastes into another channel only made it run stronger in this.

Mr. Steele had himself been brought up in the packet-service from a boy, and was accounted one of the ablest of its officers as a seaman, as he was undoubtedly one of the most popular as man. His father, when acting commander of one of the packets many years before, had fought a most gallant action with two French privateers, each of greatly superior force to his own ship; but though beating them both off, and thus escaping victorious, he was himself severely wounded and given up for dead. Indeed his body was about to be thrown over board, with the rest of the killed in action, when his son, then a youth of twelve years old, and a universal favourite on board, interceded so warmly for the preservation of his father's body that it might be buried on shore, that his wishes were complied with. The body was therefore placed in his cot, covered up all but the face, and lay in this condition for three or four days, under the impression that life was entirely extinct. The son however watched it incessantly, and on the arrival of the ship in port, thought he saw indications of the vital spark not yet being entirely extinct. The surgeon of the packet was summoned to examine it; immediate measures were taken for its recovery, which by due time and care was happily effected. The wound was in the head; a piece of an iron crowbar several inches in length, and more then an inch in circumference, had entered one of the eyes and remained embedded in the skull. It was successfully extracted after being there several days, though the loss of both eyes was the consequence.

The piece of iron was so much larger than had ever been known to remain in the head of any individual without causing death, that it excited great curiosity; and a lady of distinction desiring to possess it, her wish was granted, in return for which she settled on the wounded and blind officer a small pension for life, which in addition to a pension granted from the Post-Office, rendered him independent of further aid. He then retired to Plymouth, where he lived with his brother, then one of the officers of that garrison, for a great number of years, one of the serenest and happiest of men. He cultivated music, which he enjoyed intensely.

(Mr. Steele) The son of this gentleman, who married my eldest sister, was a worthy and popular as his father; and, I have reason to believe, that the task he had to perform was in every way repugnant to his natural disposition; but his profound respect for the wishes of my parent, and that of his wife, as well as the rest of my family, who were all equally opposed to my going to sea, made him take it against his inclination, and I must admit that he performed it with great fidelity, though far from attaining the end desired, as the sequel will show.

I was now to receive my outfit as a sailor-boy, and never did field-marshal, king, or emperor don his robes of state with more pride or gratification than I, for the first time, wore my suit of blue jacket, striped Guernsey frock, loose black silk tie, and turned down collar, white duck trowsers, long-quartered shoes, and ribbed coloured stockings, with low-crowned hat, and flowing bands of ribbons. [Keyword: Dress]

Having had early practice in rowing, and being considered rather skilful and accomplished in handling the oars, I was first appointed to the jolly boat, and took the bow-oar, which it was then the custom, on leaving the landing place or arriving at it, to toss perpendicularly with a sudden twirling in the air, before laying it in-board; and in the adroitness with which this was done, and the boat-hook managed by the bow-oarsman, as he stood on the forecastle to fend off or hook on as required, consisted the pre-eminence of one youth over another.

I was, at this time, little more than nine years of age - in the early part of 1796 - [CHECK Buckingham wrote his biography 60 years after the event. Packet Archives SM list the last three voyages of Lady Harriet under captain Dillon as sailing on the 24th August, 9th October and 20th of November, the voyage on which the packet was taken on 26th, that being in 1799.] but was a tall, stout, and full grown as youths of the present day of 14 or 15; and stronger, from the athletic sports in which I delighted, than many young men of 16 or 18. I could swim nearly two miles on a stretch, without exhaustion, could ascend 'hand over hand' as it is termed, from the ship's deck to the main-top, by a single rope, lifting my own weight at every successive handling; and could reach the main truck, the flying-jib-boom end, or the royal yard-arm, in a shorter time than any of the youths on board; all which I owed, partly to the agility and flexibility acquired by constant exercise, and partly to the ambition which I felt to excel all competitors in every thing that could qualify me for an able seaman.

At length, the day of sailing arrived, and the signal gun in the morning, blue Peter the flag at the fore, and the fore-topsail loose, were the visible indications of our preparation for departure. My chest and hammock were on board some days before, my nautical instruments well packed and in beautiful order, and a small supply of books furnished me for the voyage, as well as a little trading stock of velveteens, muslins, and other articles sure to find a ready sale in Lisbon - the port to which the ship was bound. [Keyword: Smuggling]

In explanation of the latter provision it should be mentioned, that though it was the object of the packets to convey the mails with the utmost expedition, and of the officers to confine their attention exclusively to this duty, a system had been permitted to grow up which made the vessel in fact a merchant vessel, and all the officers and men traders. Mercantile houses were established at Falmouth in correspondence with others in London, by whom were furnished every description of goods suited to the markets of the several ports to which the packets sailed. As the officers and crews of these packets were permanently employed, and most of them married and settled or belonging to families residing in Falmouth, they were all safe to be entrusted with any reasonable amount of goods on credit : and custom having established the space or tonnage which each individual in the ship might occupy with his private freight, there being no cargo of merchandise on board, except the articles thus shipped by the crew, it would often happen that the Captain would take £5,000 worth of general goods, with watches and jewellery, the officers their £3,000 and £2,000 each, and the men frequently £1,000 and rarely less than £500 each on sale or return.

As there would have been a drawback payable by the Custom-house on most of these articles if shipped in the regular way in merchant vessels, and this payment was avoided by such irregular shipments, the Government winked at the practice, and all parties thus profited by its continuance. My own adventure on this first voyage was a very humble one, not exceeding in value £50 sterling; [!] for in this, as in everything else, it was desired that the experiment on my sea-going propensity should be made as disagreeable and as little profitable as possible.

[24 August, 1799]. Before sunset we were out of sight of land; and the solitude and grandeur of the ocean was witnessed by me for the fist time, with feelings of awe and solemnity difficult to be described. I was stationed in the middle watch, so that I had to leave my hammock at midnight and remain on deck till four o'clock in the morning. The night was lovely, beyond all that I had ever before witnessed. The water, from its increased depth was intensely blue, the firmament seemed more thickly paved with stars, of greater size and brightness than I had ever seen them on shore, and there was an exhilaration in the breeze, the bounding motion, the following of the white-crested waves, and the lustrous track left by the ship in her course through the phosphorescent sea, which filled me with admiration and delight.

As the wind was fresh and favourable, we made rapid progress, and the more I was sent aloft in setting and taking in studded sails, loosing and furling royals, and the other light work for which boys are sometimes better adapted than men, the more I felt proud of my achievements, and the very steps taken to disgust me with the service only increased my attachment to it.

Passing by Torres Vedras, Bucellas, and Cintra, all since memorable in the Peninsular campaigns, we at length beheld the Rock of Lisbon, as a lofty overhanging peak of the mountain chain within the line of coast is termed. Here we were soon surrounded by at least a dozen large fishing-boats, with their picturesque but ungainly hulls, immense lateen sails, with crews in every variety of dress and colour, in which brown and bright scarlet predominated, and such a Babel of tongues as had never saluted my ear. Every individual in every boat, to the number of twenty or thirty at least in each, seemed to be screaming at the top of the voice, and the object of all this clamorous vociferation was to prevail on the captain of the packet to take his pilot from the boat whose crew could clamour loudest.

The war of words was followed up by the running alongside of half-a-dozen boats at once, and at least twenty well qualified pilots each claimed precedence. After a hard struggle three were selected from the whole number to remain on board; and this being now settled, quiet was at length restored, when all the boats but the three to which these pilots belonged left us to pursue their fishing, till some other vessel should heave in sight, when the same scene would be repeated. [Keyword: Pilots ]

The passage over the bar of Lisbon was terrific. The accumulated and shifting sands at the mouth of the Tagus, present far greater difficulties to the navigator than the Goodwin and other sands at the mouth of the Thames. The breakers seemed at one time ready to engulph (sic) us on every side in channels of the narrowest dimensions; and it required all the skill of the three pilots - one at the prow, one at the gangway, and one on the taffrail - with the silence and attention of every man and boy at his post, to execute the orders given, and bring us through the peril, which at last was happily accomplished.

We then passed close under Fort St. Julian, sufficiently near to hear and answer, with speaking trumpets, the challenge of the officer of the guard; and from this point we were accompanied, in our entrance to the Tagus and passage by the old castle of Belem to our anchorage abreast the city, by two revenue vessels, or Guarda-costas - one on each side, and within pistol-shot of our ship.

In my inexperience of the world - never having before seen anything beyond my native country - I was quite overwhelmed with the majestic grandeur of Lisbon; and looking back upon it now, after an interval of sixty years, it seems to my mind's eye one of the noblest marine cities in the World. The ample breadth of the Tagus - at least three miles immediately in front of the city, - massive buildings, and numerous churches, which rise up in successive elevations from the water's edge to the heights that crown its crest, the undulated hills of the opposite shore, with long lines of factories and warehouses fringing the water's edge, the numerous fleet of Portuguese ships of war, large Indiamen as they were called from the Brazils, and vessels and flags of every nation crowding the stream, made up a picture of surprising beauty and magnificence; while the continual clangour of the bells on shore, which never seemed to cease night or day, from one church or monastery or the other, kept up a kind of excitement which put all my faculties on the stretch, and hardly permitted me to sleep in tranquillity.

We were scarcely anchored and our sails furled, before the commanding officers of the two revenue crafts that were stationed, one on each side, to prevent our smuggling, paid a formal visit to our commander and his officers. Each came in full uniform, with cocked hats, gold epaulets, and swords, and both were received with what appeared to me wonderful cordiality for spies upon our conduct, for such they were. In the dining saloon below, the table was laid out for their refreshment with all the choicest articles on board; and the hospitality offered and courtesies exchanged were such as would become the signing a treaty of amity between the ambassadors of two great nations. [Keyword: Dress, Smuggling ]

All this excited my wonder, which was increased rather than diminished when I was told by one of the crew that this was a friendly meeting between the Portuguese revenue officers and the English smugglers or contrabandistas, to settle the amount of the bribe which should be paid by the latter to secure the connivance of the former in their smuggling transactions!

About midnight, however, there dropped down with the current of the Tagus, which at the ebb-tide runs from five to six miles an hour, two low launches or galleys, each as long as the packet, and each rowed by sixteen oars. Immediately the crew were all out of their hammocks, each bringing the boxes and bales containing his mercantile adventure on deck, and those of the officers being hoisted out of the hold, when the whole was bundled over the ship's side into the smuggling galleys; and in less than half an hour both were filled.

At length the boats pushed off from the packet, and the stout-armed boatmen plying their oars vigorously, began to make progress against the stream, making obliquely for the shore to land their contraband cargo. They had nor proceeded far, however, before a signal gun from one of the guarda-costas indicated that they were discovered; and forthwith there opened a cannonade from each of them, supposed to be directed against the smugglers, but the cannon were not shotted, and therefore no harm was done.

Two boats were then sent from the revenue craft in chase; and these contrived not to overtake the pretended object of their pursuit, bur a tremendous shouting and execration was kept up against the vile and heretical smugglers, muskets and pistols were discharged without bullets, and swords were clashed against each other, striking fire at every stroke, and giving those in the ships near the idea a fierce combat hand to hand between the patriotic guardians of the revenue and the flying contrabandists!

This farce was kept up for at least an hour, to the great mirth and entertainment of our own officers and crew, who understood it perfectly; and on the following day, the Official Gazette - the only newspaper then published in Lisbon - gave a glowing account of the devotedness of the officers and crew of the guarda-costa in pursuing and capturing the audacious smuggler, after a hard contest, in which some were killed and others wounded, these casualties being wholly in the ranks of the enemy. The price paid for these mendacious bulletins, which nobody had an interest in correcting, was a fixed share in the profits made on each successful smuggling operation.

It was asserted and believed that the highest officers of the state, as well as the clergy, were participators in these frauds on the revenue, and that it was thought all fair game; and, as the duties on imported goods of the kind thus introduced were then one third of their estimated value, there was a sufficiently large margin for legitimate profit, and a bonus to set aside for the conspirators in this fraud besides.

The taste for smuggling seemed to be universal; and, even in the returns for these goods, though they were generally paid for in hard dollars, or doubloons, the contraband trade still prevailed, as the money was mostly laid out in Havannah segars (sic), port wine, and other articles paying a high duty in England, which were again smuggled on shore, on the ship's arriving in the Bristol Channel, either by the fishing and pilot boats from the Scilly Islands, Mount's Bay, and the west coast of Cornwall, or after the ship had anchored, in night visits to the shore.

The holiday dress of the sailors belonging to the ships of war and large-class merchant vessels, when on liberty ashore, was composed of a jacket and trowsers of olive-green velvet, with gay waistcoats embroidered with gold, white stockings, glossy black shoes with massive silver buckles, a long queue or tail of hair bound tight with ribbon, and hanging as low as the bottom of the jacket, like the English sailors of that day, and with immensely large cocked hats. Even the caulkers employed in repairing the ships along shore wore these huge and inconvenient head-coverings, and presented, on the whole, a most grotesque appearance.

On shore the gentry and professional classes all wore dress swords, tight small clothes and silk stockings, with long, sharp-pointed tailed coats, reaching almost to the ground, and cocked hats of rather smaller dimensions. The ladies wore hooped petticoats, damask gay-coloured silk gowns, open in front, with embroidered stomachers, long waists, high peaked head-dresses with abundance of powder, and enormous fans. Even the respectable shopkeepers dressed in a similar style; and it was not unusual to meet mere boys of eight or ten years old dressed exactly like the men, and little girls of six or eight years arrayed like matured matrons among the women. It seemed to me a new world, with an entirely different sort of inhabitants from those in England. [keyword : dress]

The public edifices of Lisbon being lofty and grand, and rather in the florid style of Roman architecture, and palatial residences of the nobles, the numerous and handsome churches, were very striking objects; but in contrast to these were many dark and narrow lanes of streets, and these, as well as the more public thoroughfares, were in a state of such extreme filth, and gave forth such offensive odours as to mark their great inferiority in this respect to England.

The delicious climate; the abundance of fruit; the gay coffee-houses; the cooling drinks, sold even in the streets by itinerant ice-vendors; and the sparkling and brilliant colours seen in the costumes of all classes, leave on my recollection an impression of the gayest and most agreeable kind, so unlike the excessive toil, dirty apparel, and careworn countenances of the labouring classes, especially, of our own overworked population, as to convince me that the masses of Portugal enjoyed more of the pleasures, and fewer of the cares, of life than similar classes in our own country, while their universal sobriety presented an agreeable contrast to the frequent drunkenness of the labouring classes in England.

Our stay in Lisbon was short, and our return voyage a favourable one; [Arrived Falmouth 20 September, 1799] and, though every means had been taken to disgust me with a sea life, my attachment to it was much stronger than when I first embarked, to the great sorrow and disappointment of my dear mother, and the other members of our family.

I returned all the books which I had taken with me on the voyage, having read them all, by diligently devoting the hours of the watch below during the daytime to study, instead of idling or sleeping - the more frequent course - so that on being examined as to their contents, I was able to give so satisfactory an analysis of them, that I had a new supply of entirely different books for the second voyage; the stipulation being, that as long as I could give good proof, on each return, of having mastered the subjects of the books sent with me, I should always have a new supply for the next outfit; and I attribute to this judicious arrangement, the intense love of reading on grave and instructive subjects, which afforded me so much gratification then, and has continued unabated from that early period of youth to this. Indeed, I rarely ever returned from a voyage without having read, considered, and fairly understood the contents of ten or twelve volumes at least, and, in the longer passages, perhaps twenty, which, considering that every one in a well-manned ship has four, six, or even eight hours of watch below (that is an entire relief from deck-duty, unless "all hands" should be called) in each day, and this time is free from the interruptions that break upon studies on shore, such as letters, by the post to answer, morning calls, the news of the day, public exhibitions and amusements etc. (none of which distract the attention at sea) may be easily accomplished, so as to enable a diligent reader, loving the occupation, to get through from fifty to sixty volumes in a year.

My second voyage to the same port, [sailed 9 October, 1799] in the same ship, and with the same officers and crew, was quite as agreeable as the first; and as I became more familiar with the ship's duties, and acquired greater skill and activity in the performance of them, I rose in my own estimation as well as in that of my shipmates; for sailors are never backward to award their admiration of courage, skill, and defiance of danger, the highest of all virtues in their estimation.

As a native of Cornwall, I had acquired an early taste for the athletic exercise of wrestling: and was known among my youthful contemporaries as a kind of champion ready and able to throw or master any boy of my own age and weight. My skill in this respect was often put to the test among the lads aboard, and with the invariable satisfaction of being declared the victor. The boatswain of the packet, named Waters, a thorough seaman, but a rough wag, delighting in the perpetration of personal or practical jokes, said to me, however, on one occasion of these triumphs, that he knew a Portuguese lad, one Antonio Calcavella, who would be more than a match for me, and would lay me prostrate without much trouble. As I had never yet been conquered in this exercise of wrestling, I felt a mixture of indignation and contempt at the idea of being vanquished by a Portuguese, as in that spirit of national prejudice with which all classes were then accustomed to regard foreigners of every description, I looked especially upon the Portuguese, as decidedly our inferiors in physical strength. I therefore accepted the boatswain's challenge to encounter this redoubtable youth on the banks of the Tagus, and longed for the day to come, on which I anticipated another victory to be added to the many I had already won.

On the first day after anchoring at Lisbon, I was among the party to whom leave was granted to go on shore, and the boatswain was among the same group. It was resolved that we should make a holiday excursion along the banks of the river opposite to Lisbon, where this celebrated Portuguese wrestler lived; and, if we met with him, the trial of strength and agility was to be put to the test, and our comparative athletic powers at once decided upon.

We went, therefore, to an extensive range of buildings, forming a depot for wines, where he was said to be employed, and on our passage through the long line of wine casks which occupied the ground floor, the boatswain, who had provided himself with a gimblet (sic) and reed for the purpose, bored a hole in one of the casks, inserted the reed, and drew from it draughts of the excellent wine it contained. He soon persuaded me to follow his example, and never having before tried the experiment, so as to be aware of its effects, I found the sweet wine so agreeable after a long and hot walk which excited unusual thirst, that before I was aware of it I became quite giddy, the fumes of the wine mounting to my head, and the next step of the process was to fall helpless on the ground.

In this state I was taken up by the sailors, carried into an adjoining shed, had draughts of lukewarm water freely administered, so as to act as an emetic and in the course of an hour or two I was sufficiently recovered to be able to walk with them to the boat, terribly exhausted, and thoroughly ashamed, at having, for the first time in my life, been 'overtaken in liquor,' as the phrase is.

On reaching the ship, I was asked , "who won the struggle, Antonio Calcavella or myself?" to which I replied, "we had never met with the youth at all, so there had been no trial of our strength." The boatswain, however, with the loud hoarse voice which his vocation so often requires when giving orders to the men aloft amid the howling storm, said, "Avast , there, my lad! You did meet with him, and were fairly thrown." I repelled the calumny , as I then deemed it, with the loudest protestations against its truth; when the seamen of the party, to my surprise and astonishment, chimed in with the boatswain, and, amid hearty shouts of laughter, declared they had seen me laid perfectly prostrate by my antagonist, and carried off the field in a state of complete insensibility, from which it took me two or three hours to recover. I felt as if it was all a dream; till the solution of the mystery came, in the explanation that the famous wrestler, Antonio Calcavella, was the cask of Calcavella wine, of which I had drank through the reed, and that by it I was completely thrown as described! It was a standing joke against me for the rest of the voyage; but, though I felt ashamed of having been thus betrayed, I had some consolation I the feeling that I had not been completely thrown, and that my championship as a wrestler was yet unshaken and unstained.

The other incident was this. Though the contrabandists of the Tagus were generally most punctual in their payments for the goods taken by them out of the packets to be smuggled on shore, yet there were now and then persons in arrear, and some who were suspected of being wilful or fraudulent defaulters, perfectly able but unwilling to pay.

One of these, who owed sums of different amounts to several of the crew, came on board one morning to open a new account on credit before he had settled the old; and there being a general feeling that he was a dishonest trader, the sailors, after finding all remonstrance vain to get any payment out of him on the spot, had recourse to this violent remedy, by exercising a species of Lynch law on the culprit. They stretched him along at full length over that part of the cable which lies between the windlass and the hawseholes, on the ship's forecastle, entirely unknown to the officers, as they threatened instant punishment if the victim made the least noise. To this cable (then vibrating like a harp string, by the rapid motion of the current, which in the Tagus runs at the rate of five or six miles in the hour - it being the cable of the best bower anchor, by which the ship rode in the stream) the men lashed him fast, hand and foot, declaring they would keep him there until a messenger, authorised by him, should go on shore, call on any friend of his that he might name, and bring off the whole of the amount he owed the sailors, about two hundred and fifty dollars, in hard cash. With this only should he be released; but if the messenger returned without the money, the men threatened him with instant death, by veering out the cable through the hawsehole, by which he would either be crushed together I going through it, or, if he escaped that danger, he would be drowned in the Tagus, by being completely immersed beneath the surface, without the possibility of escape. The poor wretch was in a tremor of fear, and perspired as if he were being roasted.

The messenger was sent ashore, urged to use all despatch, to wait on a certain friend living near the landing-place, and to tell the tale. In less than an hour he returned, with a large bag of silver dollars to the full amount required, and something over, if the released debtor should be disposed to treat his creditors, for having spared his life for future operations. The result was a gay and happy evening on the forecastle; the debtor going on shore with a light purse, but a light heart to bear it, and the sailors enchanted with the success of their experiment.

The barge was of the most splendid description, of great length and size, and adorned with carvings and gold. It was covered with silk awnings, and rowed by twenty-four handsome and athletic rowers, evidently selected for their manly beauty, dressed in snow-white shirts and trowsers, with scarlet sashes round their waists; and raven curly hair - all harmonising well with their rich bronze complexions, brawny arms, naked and hairy breasts, and dark fiery eyes.

The Queen was constantly surrounded by a bevy of fair maids of honour, and some courtiers and favourites of the other sex; and judging from the peals of laughter which every now and then broke forth from the party, as well as the character of songs sang by the rowers in keeping time with their oars, feminine delicacy formed no part of the equipage.

It was aid, indeed, that the ladies and gentlemen bathed freely and nudely in the presence of each other, and that no scruples prevented even the rowers from exhibiting their fine proportions to the admiration of their superiors. Soft strains of music and delicious perfumes wafted in the air as the barge passed through the crowded ships at their anchorage; and the whole strikingly brought to mind the gorgeous description by Shakespeare, of Cleopatra in her barge sailing up the Cydnus to meet Mark Anthony at Tarsus:

Exclamations and expressions such as could not be named, and which in England would be confined to the most abandoned, saluted the ear at the landing-places and in the public markets, from women as well as men; and our sailors appeared to be familiar with all the haunts of vice, which were generally designated by the most sacred names; the street of the Holy Trinity, the lane of the Blessed Virgin, the alley of the Sacred Heart, the court of St. Peter and St. Paul, the piazza of the Holy Sacrament.

Most of the lowest wine shops, (in Lisbon) too, where aqua ardiente, or aniseed brandy was as abundantly supplied as wine, had for their signboards the portraits of some favourite saint, particularly Saint Antonio, Joseph and Mary, the Bleeding Lamb, the Holy Father, the Holy Ghost, and similar associations of the most awful and venerable names with the vilest of practices.

In the same manner, their largest ships of war, both with the Portuguese and Spaniards are called the Santissima Trinidada and the Salvador del Mundo, the most inappropriate that could well be conceived: and certainly less in harmony with the death-dealing and destroying powers they are intended to exercise than the English names of the TERRIBLE, the REVENGE, the SPITFIRE, the ARROGANT, the IMPLACABLE, the LION, the TIGER, the WOLF, and the BULL-DOG, the ETNA, the VESUVIUS, and the STROMBOLI, all of which sufficiently proclaim the nature of their mission.

In our perambulations on shore it was impossible not to be struck with the contrasts presented by different parts of Lisbon, in salubrity , beauty, cleanliness, and the character of their occupants. In the upper parts, at Buenos Ayres and its environs, space, air, and purity might be enjoyed in perfection, while the views over the distant hills and the broad bosom of the Tagus were magnificent.

In the steep acclivities of the intermediate region between the river and the upper ridge, the shops, stores, and private dwellings were often substantial and appropriate to the purposes they were intended to answer. But in the lower portions of the town, along the water's edge, dark, narrow, tortuous, and filthy lanes and alleys, leading off from the great thoroughfare, sent forth such bad odours, and exhibited such a squalid and miserable population, as to lessen one's wonder at the ravages which fever makes among them every year, notwithstanding the general healthfulness of this beautiful climate.

As usual, all the officers and crew had laid in a stock of wine and segars, from the proceeds of their outward adventure, to be smuggled on shore in Falmouth as opportunities might offer; and on our making the Lizard lights it was amusing to observe the bustle and ingenuity of every one on board to conceal, in the places least likely to be suspected, the various commodities belonging to them; for though the ship's pennant protected her against the visits and inspection of the revenue officers in Portugal, this privilege was not enjoyed at home, and boats from the Customs and Excise were alongside as soon as we were at anchor.

An instance occurred in which one of the seamen, who had had some of his tobacco seized on a previous voyage, was determined to be avenged on the unhappy searcher by whom he had been detected, and the stratagem to which he had recourse was the following: - While the same searcher was on deck, the seaman went up the main rigging, carrying with him four empty bottles, which the searcher however believed to be full ones, and going out on the main topgallant yard, he pretended to hide two of them in the folds of the top-gallant sail, which was furled, on the starboard side, and two others in the same sail on the larboard side, each nearly out to the yard-arm. He then descended on deck, and joined the rest of the crew.

The searcher then asked the sailing master of the ship to send a man aloft to take out from the main topgallant sail four bottles of wine, which he declared he had seen with his own eyes one of the seamen secrete there, for the purpose of smuggling. The officer refused to comply with such a request, adding that if they were worth seizing they were worth going after by himself. Not to be defeated in his purpose, the searcher mounted the rigging, reached the masthead, and lay out on the starboard yard-arm, to take the bottles there concealed; when the seaman who had hid them there, watching the searcher's movements, let go the starboard lift from deck, by which the yard was topped up in a perpendicular, instead of horizontal, position; in consequence of which the searcher fell from the yard; and but that his fall was broken by his body lighting on several of the ropes that intercepted his descent, and landed him at last on the stretched-out netting spread like an awning across the quarter deck, he would have, in all probability, broke his neck, and dislocated every bone in his body.

This indeed, constitutes one of the charms of a sailor's life, that every time he returns from a voyage it is like the beginning of a new existence; he becomes charged brimful of enthusiasm to enjoy the society of females especially, from which he has so long been cut off, and to enter with animation into every kind of entertainment; it is this also which makes the society of seamen so agreeable to all parties, and to young girls and women especially, with whom sailors are in general such favourites, from their frankness, ardour, and actual devotion to the sex.

We sailed [on 20th November, 1799] from Falmouth under the usual circumstances, and for the first few days had favourable weather, but on the third or fourth day we had a contrary wind and dense fog. O the clearing up of this, when we were not very distant from Cape Finisterre, we beheld a large French corvette, of the length and size of our first-class frigates, and filled with men, within gun-shot range on our weather beam. She fired a gun across our bow, the signal for heaving to, and hoisted the tricolour flag.

The corvette running close under our lee, the commander hailed us by the question "D'ou venez vous?" and our commander, Captain Dillon, not knowing a word of French - which was indeed rarely understood in those days of national isolation except by highly educated or travelled individuals - called out to our own ship's company, "Is there any man aboard that knows French?" to which the gunner, Peter Wakeham, who was stationed at the gangway, answered, "I do, Sir, having been in a French prison for three years."

This little incident raised me considerably in the estimation of our own ship's company, and exalted me not a little in my own. The truth is, my elder brother, who was educated and brought up in France, had very early instructed me I the elements of that language, so that I could read any book in it as easily as in English, and this greatly facilitated my subsequent acquisition of Spanish and Portuguese.

All hands had been piped to quarters, and it was the captain's first intention to offer resistance or give battle, so that the crew were stationed at their guns. But a short deliberation among the officers soon led to the decision that it would be madness to make the attempt against such superior odds. Our own force was only 6 guns, short 6 pounders, and a crew of about 30 men.

The enemy mounted 30 guns, long 18-pounders, with a crew of more than 300 men. The first broadside, from her favourable position, just under our lee, would probably have dismasted us, and killed half the crew, and with a second we should have been annihilated: so that reluctant as all appeared to be to submit without a struggle, the order was given to back the main topsail, and lower the mizen peak, at which our flag was displayed. It was a moment of almost breathless sadness along our decks, as nothing but a low and stifled murmur of mingled sorrow and discontent was heard. On the other hand, as the corvette neared us, her crew manned the rigging, and waving their red caps of liberty in the air, shouted, "Vive las Republique," in sounds that at once mortified and thrilled us, by their offensively triumphant tone.

Boats with the requisite number of officers and men were immediately despatched from the corvette to take possession of the prize; and though the officers behaved with all the courtesy and politeness of gentlemen to their captives, the men, among whom we were shocked to find several English, were under no such restraint, but manifested considerable rudeness and severity.

The officers and crew of the packet were then ordered into the boats that brought our captors to us, and we were all transferred, excepting only the passengers, among whom were several ladies and children , to the corvette, where we were not uncourteously received; the officers having berths allotted to them in the lower deck of the vessel, and the crew being transferred to the hold.

(p.95): The first painful fact we learnt was, that a very large portion of the crew of this French corvette, which was names the MARS, and which we understood sailed from Nantes, was composed of English mutineers, who had belonged to the English frigate HERMOINE, stationed in the Gulf of Mexico or the West Indies, in which ship they mutinied a few years before, and after murdering the greater number of their officers, by whom there is reason to believe they had been very cruelly tyrannised over and often undeservedly flogged, they took the ship into Vera Cruz, then a Spanish Port, and gave her up as a prize. From hence they had become gradually dispersed; some going into the American, some into the Spanish, and some into the French service, and a few venturing back to England, hoping to escape detection, but several of whom were subsequently identified, and hung at the yard-arm - the mutineer's usual fate.

I remember well, how much we were all revolted at finding these English mutineers far less kind and civil to us than the French portion of the crew, who on the whole treated us with much kindness as was compatible with their own safety, and often endeavoured to lighten our burdens, by saying it was only "the fortune of was," and that it might be their turn next to become prisoners of the English.

(p.96): The second painful discovery was, that as the corvette had already made several captures of English vessels, chiefly merchant traders, before our own, there were already a considerable number of English prisoners on board: and there being no room for them among the crew they were of the necessity sent into the hold, where they were battened down under grating hatchways; Sentries were placed with drawn swords to prevent an escape, and only a few could be permitted to come on deck for half an hour at a time to breathe the free air, and then return to give place to a similar number of their fellow-captives, that all might enjoy this privilege in their turn.

In consequence of this confinement, several had died in the hold for want of air; and this would in all probability have been my own fate, had I remained long in this position; but being the youngest person on board, - not yet quite ten years old, it being in the summer of 1796, in the August of which my tenth year was completed - and being related to the sailing-master of the packet, who was my eldest sister's husband, I was exempted from this confinement, messed with the younger grade of officers, and had a free range on deck.

(p.97): There was yet another hardship, however, to which even the most favoured were subject, and this was a deficiency of water. Owing to the very large number of prisoners on board, and a very large crew, the consumption of water was enormous; and it had been progressively reduced, from a gallon per day, which is the usual full allowance for every purpose - cooking, drinking, washing and all - to half a pint per head only for officers and men; for there is this kind of equality on board all ships, that the highest admiral can draw no more biscuit, beef, or water than the humblest seaman, when the ship's company " goes on allowance," as it is termed; the similarity in the wants for all, for mere nutrient and sustenance, reducing all to a state of nature in this respect, and making any privilege of extra-quantity to any parties, on the score of more elevated rank, too odious to be permitted.

Ir would have been easy, no doubt, for the ship to run into port, land her prisoners, fill up her water, and return to her cruising ground again; but as this would have involved, perhaps, the loss of a week, and prevented their adding three or four more prizes to the list of their captures during these days, the passion of avarice, which almost invariably increases with the extension of possession, overcame all other considerations, and it was left till the last moment to quit the mine of wealth which these almost daily captures afforded.

(p.98): The ship was so fast a sailer, that when once she gave chase to any vessel within sight from the mast-head, nothing could escape her; and while everything within range of her vision was sure to fall a prey, if an English frigate hove in sight, her amazing speed enabled her as easily to bid her enemy defiance, and to "run her out of sight," as sailors say, between sunrise and sunset.

During the last week of our stay on board, therefore, this contrivance was had recourse to, to diminish the consumption of water:- The officers and crew of the ship had their allowance of half a pint each served regularly in the morning at eight o'clock, at the relief of the watch; but for the prisoners, a water-butt was placed before the mainmast, on it's bilge, or lying athwart the deck. Into the bung-hole of this cask was inserted a long musket-barrel, with its muzzle at the bottom resting in the muddy deposit, which is sure to accumulate in all ships' water-casks that are stationary or at rest. The touch-hole of the musket-barrel was about three inches above or outside the bung-hole; and over this was a metal cap, secured by a padlock. The key of the padlock was placed in a small but secure iron box at the maintop mast-head, attached to the cross-trees.

(p.99): Every prisoner, therefore, who wanted to drink, had first to go to the mast-head to get the key; then, after unlocking the cap over the gun-barrel, to suck as much moisture as he could, the first half-dozen mouthfuls being as much mud as water; and when he had slaked his thirst by the thin thread of water he could suck up through the touch-hole, he had to relock the cap, and take the key to the mast-head, there to be deposited for the next comer; and severe punishment was threatened to any one who passed the key on to another without taking it to the mast-head as ordered.

The result of this ingenious arrangement was, that no one ever went aloft for the key till he was so parched with thirst as to find it unendurable, while the muddiness of the deposit, and the extreme fatigue to the lungs and mouth in drawing water through such a tube as a gun-barrel, soon tired the drinker and obliged him to desist.

At length the welcome order was given to make all sail and shape our course for the port of Corunna in Spain, that being the nearest harbour to our actual position, and Spain being then in friendly alliance with the new Republic of France. The boatswain's shrill whistle, repeated at each hatchway by the boatswain's mates, soon brought all hands on deck, and -

(p.100): - the rigging literally swarmed with men; all reefs were shaken out, studding sails set below and aloft, and with the wind two points abaft the beam, and every stitch of canvass spread, the ship shot through the water like an arrow, giving fourteen knots by the log, then deemed, as it really was, an almost unattainable speed; so that on the second day we made the land, passed by the entrance to the great naval arsenal of Spain, Ferrol, and soon entered the harbour of Corunna, the French band on board playing "The Marseillaise," then the Republican air, and the batteries of Corunna saluting a ship that had sent in so many prizes for condemnation and sale at its port.

I remember well the mixed feeling of curiosity, sorrow, and shame, with which I was alternately possessed, while being transported with the rest of the crew to the shore in the ship's boats, for the purpose of being transferred to the building set apart for our confinement. To be a prisoner of war, and, perhaps, for many years before liberty would be regained, was a painful and mortifying event; but such is the elasticity of youthful spirits, that the novelty of all I saw about me soon absorbed my whole attention, and the sorrow and shame of my captivity was drowned in the exciting interest of all the scenes and people by whom I was surrounded.

(p.101): We landed at the fine quay in the harbour, and were marched through the lower town - there being an upper one on an elevated site, strongly fortified; and we observed Fort Anthony protecting the harbour, and the Iron Tower of Hercules, nearly 100 feet high, independently of the elevated site on which it stands, forming a lighthouse which is said to be visible at the great distance of twenty leagues at sea - our English lighthouses being rarely visible more than a third of that distance, or twenty miles.

The population of Corunna, exceeding 20,000, afforded an infinite variety of figures, complexions, and costumes - all characterised by greater variety and brighter colours than in England, - and interspersed with such a number of priests, monks, and nuns, in the varied dresses of their respective orders, as to mark, by this change more than any other, the difference between an English and a Spanish crowd.

(p.102): We arrived at length at the large building appropriated for our reception, apparently an old palace or mansion, then vacant; and as far as room or space was concerned, we had no reason to complain. Each man had slung his hammock from wall to wall when night came. In the morning they were taken down and lashed up as on board ship; while cleanliness was strictly enforced, by frequent washing of the floors, as the ship's decks are washed, and ventilation was amply secured by open windows day and night continuously.

The provender supplied us by the government authorities was, however, miserably stinted in quantity, and, to our well-fed stomachs and English taste, abominable in quality. Pulse , small beans, called 'calavances,' coarse vegetables, oil and garlic, formed the chief ingredients, bread so rough and sandy as to grit against the teeth, and a thin wine, more like vinegar, constituted our daily food.

(p.103): For myself I was fortunate to be amply provided, not merely with an abundance, but with even delicacies, from another source. The governor or superintendent of the prison had a handsome and dark-eyed young daughter about my own age - a little past ten years old - but in Spain girls at ten are as mature as English girls at sixteen.

She occasionally attended the prisoners with their food, and conceived, as she afterwards confessed, a violent passion for me, which she found it impossible to control. I may observe that even in England I was considered to be a very handsome boy, and the charm of a clear complexion, rosy cheeks, light blue eyes, and light brown curly hair, so unusual in Spain, made me appear, it would seem, a perfect Adonis in her love-seeing eyes. She therefore revealed to me her inmost thoughts in her own impassioned language, which I had learnt during my voyages to Lisbon in conjunction with the Portuguese, and which I now sufficiently understood to comprehend every one of her burning phrases, impressed as they often were by kisses of the most thrilling intensity.

(p.103): By her kind hand I was furnished at every meal with all the delicacies of her father's table, of which she contrived to abstract some portion daily; and with an ingenuity which left all my inventive powers far in the rear, she contrived twenty times a day to find some pretext for calling me out of the room for some pretended message or errand, to get a squeeze of the hand only if others were near, or if in any passage where we were not likely to be seen, a warm and fond embrace, by which she pressed me to her bosom as if never intending to relax her grasp, and kisses and tears rained in equal abundance.

At length the fascinated Senorita actually devised a mode of escape for me, and offered to accompany me in my flight. But though I was scarcely less enamoured than herself, I had yet sufficient prudence left to think where we should go to escape detection and capture - how we should subsist, even if we were fortunate enough to elude discovery - and how I could answer to her parents under such hopeless circumstances, I was obliged therefore to temporise with my tender-hearted Donna Isabella Dolores (for such was her name), and, under pretence of waiting for some safer opportunity, to procrastinate and defer what I had not the courage or the cruelty to oppose.

(p.105): Several months passed away in this agreeable manner - for surely never did a captive's fetters sit more lightly on a prisoner of war than mine did on me - when the authorities of Corunna, finding our maintenance, scanty as it was, too burthensome to be continued, proposed to give us our liberty, on condition of our leaving their city and going by land to Oporto or Lisbon, where we might find the means of returning to our native country, they paying the expenses of our journey and giving us an escort to the Portuguese frontier, and leaving to the government of Portugal, or to the British consuls in that country, to provide for us when we had passed the Spanish borders; for at that period (1797), though Spain was allied to France, Portugal still maintained her friendly relations with England.

The proposition was received with the greatest joy by all the prisoners and not with entire indifference by myself; for, attached as I now began to feel to the young heroine who had done so much to lighten the evils of my captivity, still the love of home and the desire to return to it was not wholly extinguished within me. To her, however, the tidings came like a death-warrant, and its first announcement, which was made by myself, was met with a shriek and a swoon, which called the members of the family to her relief. An explanation was demanded, and it could not be refused. There was a little manifestation of anger on the part of the father, but much more of sympathy and pity on the part of the mother; and in the end all was forgiven, as our separation was so near, and as no evil consequences were likely to ensue.

A sort of public sale, therefore, took place at the door of the prison, of the surplus shirts, jackets, trowsers, hammocks, bedding, and other articles impossible to be taken on the journey; but as the sale was known to be one of necessity, in which there could be no reservation, the prices produced were ridiculously small; and the whole united mass of things sold produced only a few 'pistareens.'

(p.108): In my own case, I was here again favoured by my enthusiastic young admirer. My stock of wearing apparel, books, nautical instruments, etc., with which I had been liberally supplied by my dear mother and sisters, could not have cost less than £100 sterling. For the whole, except the change of linen and a few small articles retained for my knapsack, a dealer offered five Spanish dollars!

The mother of Dona Isabella vented on him such a volley of invectives for his cruelty, in thus seeking to take advantage of a poor little stranger, whom everybody ought to help, instead of to wrong, that he slunk away in shame, amid the hisses and reproaches of the bystanders; and the Spanish is richer in opprobrious epithets than most other languages of Europe. Not content with this, she consented to take the whole of my stock herself, and risk the chance of selling it after we were gone, putting into my hands about a dozen gold coins, in pistoles (sic) and half-pistoles, with strict injunctions to take care not to lose them on the journey, but reserve them to buy food whenever the rations allowed to the prisoners should be insufficient. The daughter, who witnessed this, fell on her mother's neck and wept bitterly, gratitude for her bounty and pain at our parting mingling together in her sobs. I too was permitted, even in the presence of her mother (an unusual privilege in Spain), to kiss the sorrowing Senorita's hand - though we had secretly embraced and sighed out our adieus before.

Our route was directed southward to Santiago di Compostella, in the province of Galicia. The scenery of the country appeared to me most romantically varied with mountain, valley, and plain, but destitute of the softer beauties of English landscape. The cattle and peasants, mules and muleteers, that we met on the way were all more picturesque than at home; and contrabandists or smugglers, who were numerous, were all well mounted, well armed, and seemed a splendid race of men. .. the muleteers wore a singular kind of cloak, formed of woven straw in a mat-like form for the groundwork or interior, but with a succession of projecting capes formed of loose straw for the exterior, each cape being about a foot deep, and proceeding in regular graduation from the neck to the lower edge near the ankle, presenting a series of ledges like the over-lapping planks of a clinker-built boat, or of a wooden dwelling, so that the rain falling from one ledge to another never touched the groundwork of the cloak, and thus kept the wearer dry in the heaviest torrents of rain.

The cloak had a hood like that worn by monks, which equally protected the head from cold or wet; and the sight of a man so apparelled pacing up and down the stable with a lantern, when the mules were to be caparisoned for the march at daybreak, looked like a moving pyramid of straw - for the cloaks expanded widely at the bottom - and, seen for the first time, had something supernatural in its aspect.

(p.114): Another striking proof of their generosity and gallantry was manifested during this journey in their treatment of one of the passengers, a lady of distinction and her children, who, being taken captive with us in the packet, in which she was going to Lisbon to join her husband, was subject to the same conditions of the march as ourselves.

(p.115): For this lady and her children, the seamen voluntarily made a capacious sedan-chair out of the branches of trees by the way-side, assisted by the carpenter and his mates. To this was attached two long poles, one on each side, by which the chair containing the party could be lifted from the ground; and eight men, two at each pole before and two behind, carried this litter on their shoulders the whole of the way, to the intense delight of the children and to the great relief of their mother, who could never have performed the journey without such aid.

At length, after many days' marching and many nights' bivouacking, we reached the city of Santiago di Compostella, the capital of Galicia, and were deeply impressed with the beauty of its public squares, its numerous churches, and conventional edifices, this being a city of great renown as a place of religious pilgrimage, from its being supposed to contain the body of St. James the apostle; and its ecclesiastical revenues are said to be the largest in all Spain.

Here we were permitted to halt for a few days to recruit our strength, and we were as well lodged as at Corunna - in a barrack of the town then happening to be empty. We had full liberty, also, in company with one of the guards to each party, to roam about the city between our meals, and to visit all the churches … which seemed to us of overwhelming splendour …

(p.116-17): - he recounts a Spanish serenade "one of the last relics of the old romantic days of Spanish gallantry and intrigue." - About midnight, the sound of a fine voice accompanied by a guitar awoke me from my slumbers… a party of minstrels and choristers, about a dozen in number, all in the ancient Spanish costume, the principal one being dressed in white satin with slashed hose and a jacket in scarlet relief, a broad-brimmed slouch hat, turned up in front by a diamond loop, and a graceful plume of white feathers, having round his neck, suspended by a light blue ribbon, a guitar, and over his shoulder and waist a blue scarf, with a steel-hilted dress sword. It was this hero of the party we heard singing in a fine voice, and ever and anon the choristers joined in to repeat the refrain.

(p.117): Presently there appeared at one of the upper windows an elderly looking dame, such as we should picture as a duenna; and after certain apparent scoldings and threatenings, to some one within as well as to the serenaders without, she vanished. In a few moments afterwards a young lady with a black veil thrown over her head, but without cap or bonnet, opened the casement, and kissing her hand to the innamorato below, let fall a rope-ladder, three or feet of which rested on the ground, so that the musicians speedily pulled it out a little distance from the front wall of the house, fastened its ends into the ground, by some means with which they were already provided; and in a minute or two, the lover, unslinging his guitar, and handing it to one of his companions, mounted by the ladder with wonderful agility, gave the young lady in the window several hearty kisses, and descended still more rapidly than he had gone up; when the whole party suddenly disappeared, as if apprehensive that some pursuit would be made, or some vengeance inflicted.

With the exception of considerable scolding and vituperation within the house, and a number of persons moving about with lights in their hands, all went off quietly. The whole scene was perfectly dramatic, but since then - now "sixty years since" - the costumes and manners of the Spaniards have greatly changed, and in Spain, as in most other countries of Europe, the most striking characteristics have generally disappeared.

(p.119): After a few days halt at Santiago di Compostella, in which we enjoyed the pleasure o gratified curiosity from the novelties with which we were every hour surrounded, as well as most welcome repose, we resumed our march, and went by El Padron and Pontevedra to Vigo. The first two were small towns on the banks of rivers, and the last, a sea port, on a good bay, but with very few vessels in it at the time of our visit. In this place, however, an occurrence took place, which is too characteristic of the fraternity of seamen to be omitted.

About this period, several richly laden Spanish galleons conveying treasure from Acapulco in Mexico to Old Spain, had been captured by British ships of war, and the Spanish crews were accordingly made prisoners. After a short stay in England, they had been exchanged for a corresponding number of British prisoners in Spain, and had been landed at Vigo, from whence to reach their own homes as they best could. They might therefore be fairly supposed to be in no very favourable mood of mind to fraternise with the seamen of England, by whom they had been captured, as many of them had lost all their earnings of their long and perilous voyage , in the gold and silver they were bringing from Mexico, all of which became prize to their captors.

(p.120):Nevertheless, as soon as they heard of our arrival at Vigo, and consignment to a large empty building there as prisoners of war, on our march to Lisbon, a large part of them called upon us, and, after a conversation in broken English and broken Spanish by such among us who could thus imperfectly understand each other, they actually proposed to give us a banquet! Alleging that "seamen were brothers all the world over."

As the guests of these warm-hearted Spaniards, we, of course, readily accepted their proffered hospitality; but there was one obstacle which at first appeared insuperable. Neither the entertainers nor the guests could muster more than a few dollars between them. Perseverance, however, conquers most difficulties; and the Spanish seamen, forming themselves into groups of three or four, actually went round from house to house among the inhabitants of Vigo, to solicit aid for the purpose of fulfilling their design, and they succeeded. Accordingly, on the evening following our arrival, a goodly store of provisions was brought to our quarters, consisting of fish, flesh, and fowl, with vegetables, fruit, and wine in abundance.

(p.121): The cookery was Spanish; and therefore oil and garlic predominated in almost every dish; but we were not in a condition to be fastidious, and all appeared to eat heartily - the givers of the feast as well as the receivers. But in the matter of drinking, there was a marked and disadvantageous contrast. The Spaniards drank the wine mixed with water, though it was thin, and what would be called the weak, wine of the country, and when they had satisfied their thirst they drank no more.

The English sailors, on the contrary, added brandy, or 'aqua ardiente' to their wine to make it stronger, and then drank to such excess that there were not half a dozen of the whole number who were not helplessly drunk by midnight, and in that state of unreason or temporary madness would actually have fought with each other but for the intervention of the soldiers, by whom we were still guarded. I remember distinctly the keen disgust I felt at this exhibition of my shipmate's indiscretion, and my countryman's weakness, if not vice; and I have reason to believe that this scene had a large share in giving me the early dislike I have ever since felt to the companionship of men of intemperate habits.

(p.122):From Vigo our march was towards Oporto, and after two days we reached the banks of the Minho river, which rises in the North of Spain, runs through all Galicia, the province we had been traversing, and as it approaches the sea, forms the southern boundary line separating Spain from Portugal. At each side of the river, at the place where we crossed it in a ferry-boat, here were forts within less than half a mile from each other; and it was curious to us, who had never crossed a land frontier between two countries before, to see the Spanish flag waving from one and the Portuguese flag from the other, with the sentries of each in different uniforms; a little thread of water, so to speak, thus dividing the two nations who have frequently been engaged in war.

(p.123): The frontier town and fortress on the Spanish side is named Tuy: it appeared about as large as Falmouth, but more regularly built, with many open squares and large public building s and churches. T occupied a commanding height, and was deemed a place of considerable strength in a military point of view. The Portuguese town, whose name I have forgotten, seemed greatly inferior, and its population of a less favourable aspect.

From hence our journey lay through the rich province of Entre Minho e Douro, accounted one of the most fertile in Portugal; and nothing could exceed the luxuriance of vegetable production in every variety of form, or the beauty of the landscapes. The peasantry appeared to us more indolent and more dirty than the Spaniards; and though we were no longer in an enemy's country, or guarded by sentinels, but in a neutral and even friendly territory, our fare and accommodation were much worse, and our admiration of the country hardly sufficient to reconcile us to the change.

(p.124): Here, as in Spain, smuggling seemed to be all but universal; and wherever we arrived, either n the smallest villages or larger towns, inquiries were constantly made to us as whether we did not do a little business on a small scale as contrabandistas; and great disappointment generally ensued at the negative given to the question. With a view to interrupt the carrying trade of the smugglers as much as possible, the government had made an absurd regulation that the axles of the wheels of carts and waggons should neither be greased or oiled to lessen their fiction, and thus prevent their being heard when on the road; so that the creaking noise made by these vehicles could be heard more than a mile off; and when near, was quite intolerable. The bells on the mules and oxen used for drawing them seemed to have a similar origin, though this was far from being offensive. The peasants, however, seemed reconciled to both, and frequently declared that the harsh discord, as we deemed it, was so agreeable to the cattle that they would not work half so well without it; so readily do bad habits become rooted among brute creatures as among mankind.

(p.125): The only town of note that we passed through in our way was Barcelos, on the Cavado river, which was walled round, with towers at the angles, and had broad and regular streets, and several fine buildings with a bridge across the stream. Here the English seemed to be better known and in higher esteem, and we had several marks of kindness shown to us, by presents of fruit and provisions, especially from females, chiefly of the lower classes, but also from two or three of higher position.

Two days march from hence - about thirty miles - brought us at length to Oporto, where it was arranged that we should halt for a week. As there was a British consul, and many English merchants engaged in the wine trade with England, and as it was a place of considerable opulence as well as population, our condition was much sympathised with, and materially relieved by better quarters and provisions than we had enjoyed since our captivity; and as we had free liberty to roam about during the day wherever we pleased, on condition only of being at home by sunset, we had ample opportunity for enjoyment; and some pocket-money given me by an English lady who had a son about my own age. (She) put me quite at my ease, and made the week passed at Oporto one of extreme pleasure.

(p.126): Next to Lisbon it was the most beautiful city I had ever seen. (- describes Oporto, "standing on the north bank of the river Douro, rapid stream before it reaching the sea 20 miles below the town, containing a great number of vessels of different nations, waiting for their cargos of wine and other products." - and the opposite suburbs of Villanova and Gaya "united by a bridge of boats")

(p.127): The number of Priests and monks seemed to us almost as great as at Lisbon; and the nuns were said to be even more numerous still. The shaven crowns, long beards, loose coarse brown and black robes, fastened round the body with white cords, the enormous hats, some with the broad rims expanded like umbrellas, others with the sides rolled up like tubes or scrolls, making the hats three or four feet long and not a foot broad; the numerous water carriers in the streets, crying and vending their cooling drinks, and the sparkling jets of the fountain in the public places of the city, - were all objects of novelty and interest.

With considerable difficulty, we (that is, my young shipmate Tilly of my own age and myself only, for the men could not be permitted) obtained the privilege of visiting two of the nunneries; but instead of seeing the lovely young creatures that our inexperienced and fertile imaginations had pictured as the inmates of these establishments, we saw chiefly aged women, very old and shrivelled, and not one that could be called handsome or good-looking, so that we felt no disposition to visit more.

(p.127): As there were many English vessels at Oporto about to sail soon for England, we had hoped to have obtained a passage in some of them. But it appeared difficult, for reasons which I never knew, to accomplish this; so that we were obliged to continue our march towards Lisbon, and having all the comforts by which we were surrounded in the city of our week's sojourn, we had to resume our weary and foot-sore journey.

(p.128): We were a full week in passing from Oporto to Coimbra, feeding scantily and coarsely all the way, and rarely even getting a temporary lift in a cart or on a mule, sleeping sometimes in stables or other out-houses, sometimes in the open air, accounting ourselves most lucky if we could get a little clean straw for our litter.

We remained at Coimbra for two or three days, and enjoyed the rest it afforded us exceedingly. It presented us with fresh novelties, which made our stay agreeable. Being the seat of the chief, f not the only University of Portugal, it was crowded with students, between the ages of 16 and 21; and, as these included, like our Oxford and Cambridge, the sons of the chief nobility and gentry of the country, they presented the best specimens of Portuguese stature, physiognomy and manners; and had a evidently superior air to the inhabitants generally. The city abounded also with churches, monasteries, and ecclesiastics; the females appeared to us handsomer than elsewhere in Portugal; and both the town and surrounding country were full of objects of interest.

(p.129): We were now, however, anxious to push on, being thoroughly weary of this tiresome journey. All our English shoes had long since been worn out, and the cheap Portuguese ones, with which we could alone afford to replace them, were so flimsy in material and workmanship, that three or four days' travel on rough and stony roads was enough to tear them to pieces, so that we were all now bare-footed, and our only wardrobe was the garments we had on our backs, and these mostly in rags and tatters.

We hastened on by daily marches of ten or twelve miles towards Abrantes, on the Tagus, where we found boats descending that stream to Lisbon, giving us the luxury of water conveyance, for which we now longed. In this journey we had to cross a loft range of mountains, running through Estramadura, and the toilsome ascent, rocky passes, and sudden declivities of this great barrier made its traverse infinitely tedious and painful. We felt, therefore, as if we had reached a paradise, when we came to Abrantes.

Here we embarked our whole party in two laden barges, keeping company all the way, and floated down the stream in a dreamy and languid repose, which was like a new existence to us. The whole distance was about a hundred miles from Abrantes to Lisbon; but the slow and indolent habits of the Portuguese, the frequent stoppages at he smallest villages, and a stay of a day and night at Santarem - an ancient and decayed city, which, we were tld, was once the residence of the Court, before the royal family moved to Lisbon, - made our journey as tardy as our feet journey.

We were in no impatience, however, to hurry it over, as it was really delicious to sit or lie along on the cargo, to gaze around upon the many beautiful scenes which the Tagus presents on either side, and feel that the hours of breakfast, dinner, and supper, and afterwards those of sleep, would come, without requiring a single effort on our parts to provide or prepare for either. I never felt the luxury of perfect idleness so much before. (or since).

Our arrival at Lisbon was at a moment of great interest and excitement. On the very day when we were descending the last reach of the Tagus to effect our landing at the wharf of the busy city, the victorious English admiral, Sir John Jervis, was sailing up from the mouth of this majestic river, with the French and Spanish prizes he had captured, after a hard-fought struggle off Cape St. Vincent, the promontory between Lisbon and Cadiz. Several line-of-battle ships, all more or less bearing in their shattered hulls, broken masts, and fluttering rags of sails, external evidences of the ravages of war, came foaming up against the downward stream, with the English ensign over the French and Spanish flags.