The Adventures of Jack; or, A Life on the Wave

Title page has this epigraph:

”T is strange, but true; for truth is always strange,
Stranger than fiction. If it could be told,
How much would novels gain by exchange!
How differently world would men behold!"

Byron’s Don Juan.

p. 35, on the island of Owhyhee in the Sandwich Islands: The pilot was an Englishman, but had lived in tho Sandwich Islands so long, and got so accustomed to their language, that we could scarcely understand him However, he took us safe into Byron’s Bay which forms the harbor of Hilo.— This bay was named by Lord Byron.

p. 23, in Port au Prince, Haiti: One day I entered a office, and seeing a vacant composing-stick and some copy which one of the compositors had left a few moments, I went to work setting type in the French language, and I soon found that I could do it very well, and the proprietor of the establishment saw me, and offered me very good inducements to remain there and work for him; but I was so situated at that time that I could not stop there. He was a mulatto, but was an American by birth, and learned his trade in the United States.

p. 38, at a rural congregation of missionary converts: The services were opened by singing, by the whole congregation, among which I noticed some excellent voices, from hymn printed in their own language. After singing the "Mikanary" as the Kanakas called him, made what I presume was a very eloquent prayer, but could understand but little of it. Then another hymn was sung by the whole congregation; and then the sermon was preached. He spoke as I should judge very eloquently, although I could understand but little of it. The services occupied about two hours and a half, and was listened to with close attention by the whole audience. The very stillness of death reigned during the whole time, and I have never attended church where more attention was paid to the teachings of the pastor.

p. 76: We were soon on our way to sec the girls of Maui. There was a strong breeze right aft —

And then we saw the frothy billows fry

Under the ship, as though when she went,

That seem’d the waves were unto ivory,

Or ivory unto the waves were sent.

We passed close by Cape Lopatka, the southernmost part of Kamtschatka, being a different route from which we entered the Okhotsk Sea,—we entered through the Channel of Tartary.

p. 82, in Rio de Janeiro, March 1st, 1855: When we had been in there a week or more, I thought it was plenty long enough, and suggested we should write to the Consul. I was appointed secretary, for the purpose of the letter. I accepted the appointment, and wrote to the Consul, as follows:
Rio Janeiro, March 1st, 1855.
Mr. Scott. — Sir:
I would ask for information, in behalf of the crew from the ship Dover, how long you are intending to keep us in this palace of misery; and we desire to know what we are confined for.— What have we done? If we have committed a crime sufficiently outrageous for you to convict us, we wish to know it. When we first came here we suspected the captain to be the person that imprisoned us in this contemptible mansion; but since the ship sailed, leaving us here in this place where you ought to be, we are assured that you are the very identical individual who was the cause of all this disturbance. * * * *
Please let us hear from you soon; if not, we shall proceed to higher authority. Waiting an
answer, I remain your most humble servant,
C. L. NEWHALL,
Secretary for the Dover’s Crew.

The letter was presented to the Consul by one of his colored servants, and March 4th the Consul’s clerk came up to the calabozo, relieved us from that confounded old mansion of torment, and guided us away down to the Consul’s office, all except two whom the captain told him were the
leaders of the "mutinous gang," as he called us. Those two he kept there about a week longer; the remainder of us went to various boarding-
houses. Thus ended my career in whale ships. The Consul spake in a most calumniatory manner.
Previous to our departure from the calabozo, we formed a petition to Congress for our relief; but, before the departure of the mail steamer we
were set at liberty, and consequently it was not sent away.

p. 116, in hospital in Constantinople while assigned to a warship, the Orissa: The hospital belonged to the Prussians, and there was some good servants who took very good care of me. There were some others with
the same disease, one of whom was a negro that died while I was there. For ten days after I went in there I took no nourishment whatever, and they deemed me in a very low condition. I amused myself much of the time in reading, for they had some English and American .