University of Virginia Library

PREFACE.

It is an old remark, that the life of any man, could
the incidents be faithfully told, would possess interest
and instruction for the general reader. The conviction
of the perfect truth of this saying, has induced
the writer to commit to paper, the vicissitudes, escapes,
and opinions of one of his old shipmates, as a sure
means of giving the public some just notions of the
career of a common sailor. In connection with the
amusement that many will find in following a foremast
Jack in his perils and voyages, however, it is hoped
that the experience and moral change of Myers may
have a salutary influence on the minds of some of
those whose fortunes have been, or are likely to be,
cast in a mould similar to that of this old salt.

As the reader will feel a natural desire to understand
how far the editor can vouch for the truth of
that which he has here written, and to be informed on
the subject of the circumstances that have brought
him acquainted with the individual whose adventures
form the subject of this little work, as much shall be
told as may be necessary to a proper understanding
of these two points.

First, then, as to the writer's own knowledge of the
career of the subject of his present work. In the year
1806, the editor, then a lad, fresh from Yale, and destined
for the navy, made his first voyage in a merchantman,
with a view to get some practical knowledge
of his profession. This was the fashion of the day,
though its utility, on the whole, may very well be
questioned. The voyage was a long one, including
some six or eight passages, and extending to near the
close of the year 1807. On board the ship was Myers,
an apprentice to the captain. Ned, as Myers was
uniformly called, was a lad, as well as the writer;
and, as a matter of course, the intimacy of a ship
existed between them. Ned, however, was the junior,
and was not then compelled to face all the hardships
and servitude that fell to the lot of the writer.

Once, only, after the crew was broken up, did the
writer and Ned actually see each other, and that only
for a short time. This was in 1809. In 1833, they
were, for half an hour, on board the same ship, without
knowing the fact at the time. A few months
since, Ned, rightly imagining that the author of the
Pilot must be his old shipmate, wrote the former a
letter to ascertain the truth. The correspondence
produced a meeting, and the meeting a visit from Ned
to the editor. It was in consequence of the revelations
made in this visit that the writer determined to
produce the following work.

The writer has the utmost confidence in all the
statements of Ned, so far as intention is concerned.
Should he not be mistaken on some points, he is an
exception to the great rule which governs the opinions
and recollections of the rest of the human family.
Still, nothing is related that the writer has any reasons
for distrusting. In a few instances he has interposed
his own greater knowledge of the world,
between Ned's more limited experience and the narrative;
but, this has been done cautiously, and only in
cases in which there can be little doubt that the narrator
has been deceived by appearances, or misled by
ignorance. The reader, however, is not to infer that
Ned has no greater information than usually falls to
the share of a foremast hand. This is far from being the
case. When first known to the writer, his knowledge
was materially above that of the ordinary class of
lads in his situation; giving ample proof that he had
held intercourse with persons of a condition in life, if
not positively of the rank of gentlemen, of one that
was not much below it. In a word, his intelligence
on general subjects was such as might justly render
him the subject of remark on board a ship. Although
much of his after-life was thrown away, portions of it
passed in improvement; leaving Ned, at this moment,
a man of quick apprehension, considerable knowledge,
and of singularly shrewd comments. If to this be

added the sound and accurate moral principles that
now appear to govern both his acts and his opinions,
we find a man every way entitled to speak for himself;
the want of the habit of communicating his
thoughts to the public, alone excepted.

In this book, the writer has endeavoured to adhere
as closely to the very language of his subject, as circumstances
will at all allow; and in many places he
feels confident that no art of his own could, in any
respect, improve it.

It is probable that a good deal of distrust will exist
on the subject of the individual whom Ned supposes
to have been one of his godfathers. On this head the
writer can only say, that the account which Myers
has given in this work, is substantially the same as
that which he gave the editor nearly forty years ago,
at an age and under circumstances that forbid the
idea of any intentional deception. The account
is confirmed by his sister, who is the oldest of the
two children, and who retains a distinct recollection
of the prince, as indeed does Ned himself. The
writer supposes these deserted orphans to have
been born out of wedlock — though he has no direct
proof to this effect — and there is nothing singular
in the circumstance of a man of the highest rank,
that of a sovereign excepted, appearing at the font in
behalf of the child of a dependant. A member of the

royal family, indeed, might be expected to do this, to
favour one widely separated from him by birth and
station, sooner than to oblige a noble, who might possibly
presume on the condescension.

It remains only to renew the declaration, that every
part of this narrative is supposed to be true. The
memory of Ned may occasionally fail him; and, as
for his opinions, they doubtless are sometimes erroneous;
but the writer has the fullest conviction that it
is the intention of the Old Salt to relate nothing that
he does not believe to have occurred, or to express an
unjust sentiment. On the subject of his reformation,
so far as “the tree is to be known by its fruits” it is
entirely sincere; the language, deportment, habits,
and consistency of this well-meaning tar, being those
of a cheerful and confiding Christian, without the
smallest disposition to cant or exaggeration. In this
particular, he is a living proof of the efficacy of faith,
and of the power of the Holy Spirit to enlighten the
darkest understanding, and to quicken the most
apathetic conscience.