I served on board the
frigate Winchester, and other of His Majesty's ships, I did, for fifteen
years, and was only a midshipman at the end. Heaven forgive me for my
sins. It seemed there was no promotion for me. I was then transferred to
His Majesty's packet service, and assigned to the brig Storm, carrying
six guns, and the mails between Plymouth and the North American
provinces. She was a beauty of a craft, that Storm was. She used to
carry a crowd of canvas, and jump the seas like a sea-bird. I was four
years first officer of that craft, was proud of what she could do, and
the devil took advantage of my ambition, and created within me a longing
to be in command of her, and make myself heroic by roaming unrestrained
on the free sea. That feeling kept increasing until it become a passion
with me. Then it was my misfortune to fall in love. Yes, love was a
misfortune to me. I had courted and was engaged to the daughter of a
rich old man who had made all his money in the West Indies, and still
had plantations there.
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