<\/p>\n
When we left William Heath last week, the ship Barnstable was out in the middle of the Indian Ocean, speeding along at the fast rate of 230 miles a day. On November 15 there was anxiety aboard the Barnstable. The ship had begun to leak badly. William tells us that their position was 30 degrees south latitude and 55 degrees east longitude. That would place them due south of the island of Mauritius. Some readers of the notorious murder of Sir Harry Oakes several years ago may recall that it was the island of Mauritius to which Nancy Oakes’ husband went after his acquittal by the Bahaman court. The island is situated directly on the 20th parallel of latitude south of the equator and is about 400 miles east of the big island of Madagascar.<\/p>\n
Despite the leak, necessitating constant pumping, the Captain of the Barnstable still expected to get around the Cape of Good Hope, but he admitted they might have to stop for repairs at St. Helena, the island where 35.years earlier Napoleon had been exiled after his defeat at Waterloo. St. Helena is on the other side of Africa from Madagascar and Mauritius, in the Atlantic Ocean, a thousand miles west of the Africa coast.<\/p>\n
Then on November 17 came new disaster. Let us hear about it in William Heath’s own words: “I thought we were bad enough off with the ship so leaky we could carry no sail than topsails. But I was mistaken. Misfortunes never come singly. Last night when I went to bed the weather was clear and barometer rising. About two o’clock I heard a tremendous clap of thunder, which sounded so near that I opened my porthole to look out. I had hardly got my head out when a squall struck and almost threw the ship on beam ends. The topsail halyards were broken like matches, and the crotchet yard was split, and the mizzen topsail was torn to shreds. The jib and outer jib were blown completely away. It rained as though the flood gates of Heaven had opened and the lightning seemed to give us momentary glimpses of Hell. It was dreadful. But now it is allover and there is just a gentle swell on the sea. The leak now needs pumping at 200 strokes an hour. Considering the strength of the squall, we got off very well.”<\/p>\n
The next day conditions were worse. and the pumps are working all the time.William wrote: “The leak is increasing But now the water is gaining on the pumps nearly a foot an hour. We cannot carry much sail and make little progress.”<\/p>\n
It was in that emergency that the Captain decided it was useless to continue round the Cape of Good Hope, and he turned the ship north for the nearest land, the island of Mauritius. It was on the morning of November 20 that they sighted the welcome island. As William tells it, “We made the Isle of France or Mauritius this morning about six o’clock. We are now about eight miles from its eastern coast. Fortunately our pumps kept pace with the rising water in the hold after the Captain got all pumps working at their fastest pace. From this distance, the land looks rough, mountainous and forbidding. We ought to see port soon, but it is rather hazy.”<\/p>\n
While waiting for the ship to reach Port Louis, the island’s principal harbor, William got into an argument with the mate on the subject of marriage. Let us see what the 16 year old boy had to say on that subject. This is the same boy who had bought the box of Manila cigars in Hong Kong and had vowed not to open them until his wedding day.<\/p>\n
“I got into quite an argument with Mr. Eyre concerning early marriage. I denounced it, for it makes me indignant to see two people get married with nothing to live on but hope and charity. Mr. Eyre said I would change in a few years. In all the arrogance of youth I said never. I don’t believe people are born for the purpose of falling in love, then falling out of it again soon afterward. It is always best, I think, to consider marriage as a necessary evil which only a happy few can avoid, but it is absurd to make marriage the sole end of life. Though love is fascinating, ambition has entwined me in a stronger web.”<\/p>\n
When William landed at Port Louis the next day he found the landscape not so forbidding as it had seemed when viewed from eight miles out to sea. “This looks like a delightful place. It is in the midst of the sugar season and all the plantations are boiling their sugar. This year, I am told, the island will produce about 65 thousand tons.”<\/p>\n
The Captain of the Barnstable put William in charge of checking the ship’s cargo, which the shipper had decided to sell at Port Louis. In those days, few Captains carried cargo to definite pre-arranged buyers in particular ports, but were authorized by the ship owners to sell wherever it was to the best advantage or wherever, as in this case, emergency demanded.<\/p>\n
Immediately William found himself invited to a prominent British home on this French island. “I was invited to dine at Mr. Alling’s. Several people were there. Captain Gibson of the Midlothian, Mr. Williams and Mr. Chood, with their wives and daughters, Miss Johnson, Miss Mitchell, and of course Mrs. Alling. I had a fine time. The champagne was good and so was the sherry, but the claret was too tart.”<\/p>\n
William says he found plenty of Red Coats or Lobster Backs — that is, British troops — on the island. Then William had trouble with the Captain of the Barnstable. Let us see how he tells the story: “The Captain mistook me for a fool and called me a blockhead, but he has since discovered his mistake.He has found that I cannot be frightened by high words and unsavory epithets. I little dreamed that trouble was afoot, for he had been pleasant all day and at dinner asked me if, together with the chief mate, I would compare all the receipts of the cargo. I assented, very foolishly as it turned out. About 7 o’clock last evening the steward came to me on the quarterdeck with the Captain’s message that I must find a boarding place ashore until the ship had been repaired.<\/p>\n
The steward quoted the Captain as saying, ‘I will not let Bill stay on the ship. What little he can do, he is not willing to do. I I saw in an instant what the Captain was driving at. He was trying to frighten me into looking after the cargo. I went straight to him and told him I would not leave the ship unless I was thrown off; that as a passenger I did not feel obliged to look after any of the ship’s business, of which I had already done too much without compensation; that if this was all the thanks I got I had a right to protest his demand that I seek a boarding place ashore. The Captain replied that I was not a passenger till I paid for my passage. I told him I knew exactly what the law was on that point, for I had been studying it aboard the ship and could show it to him in two minutes. Said he: ‘<\/em>Do you think I need you to tell me my business?’ I replied that I certainly knew my rights and should stoutly fight for them. ‘How do I know you will pay for your passage?’ he asked. I reminded him that he had seen the ship owner’s guarantee of that in Canton. Then he asked where I intended to go when the ship sailed. I told him I would go where the ship went. Then he got raving mad, called me a blockhead and said not only that I must get a boarding place ashore, but also that he had no obligation to support me in port. I then told him, if he put me off the ship, I would seek legal redress and he must suffer the consequences. I told him I would not willingly leave the ship until we touched at some port in the U.S. I said, ‘If you attempt any violence, I have friends to whom you will be accountable.’ I came off with flying colors. The Captain was dreadfully mad but said no more. I know he dares not do what he threatens. I am not very old, but I have already lived long enough to understand the bluff game. To think of his threatening to leave a boy in a foreign country! If he should really do it, I might have a lot of trouble, because I have no official papers — only a few letters — to prove I am an American citizen.”<\/p>\n As previous broadcasts have shown us, William Heath committed to his diary comments on all sorts of subjects that had nothing to do with the incidents of his voyage — on religion, politics, economics and marriage. It was while waiting on Mauritius that he made a prophecy so uncannily correct that it would astound us if it came from a much older and wiser man than was that 16 year old. This is what he wrote: “In a hundred years Europe will be trampled under by Cossacks. Much of Europe will receive its orders from a Russian. England will sink to a second rate power. Cuba will be independent. but much that belongs now to Mexico will be in the United States.” Now listen to this sentence and remember it was written 110 years ago in 1850: “Russia and the United States will become the two most powerful nations on the face of the globe.”<\/p>\n The delay on Mauritius, as it extended into mid-December, got on William’s nerves. “Oh. how tedious it is to sit here and feel the sickening pang of hope deferred. The thoughts of home are maddening. This ship is enough to drive anyone mad. I am losing something each day that money cannot purchase nor wit obtain again my time. I am nearly 17 years, almost old enough to take my part in the human drama. The hours I ought to spend in preparation rather than idleness are my misfortune. not my fault. I wonder what the folks are doing right now back in Maine. Would that I were with them now.”<\/p>\n On the day before Christmas William visited one of the island’s largest sugar estates, a place that cost $460,000 and produced a million and a half pounds of sugar a year.<\/p>\n William spent Christmas with the Alling family, who had been the first islanders to invite him to dinner. William boasts that he showed his will power by refusing to play cards for money.<\/p>\n Even 110 years ago some people celebrated jovially on New Years Eve. Listen to William Heath’s account of that night on Mauritius when 1850 turned into 1851: “Last night I came very near putting my foot in it. I met the mate of the Annie. Mr. McDonald, and went on board his ship with him. Several other captains and mates from ships in the harbor were there, and I soon found they intended to make a night of it. It was useless to attempt to leave, for the Captain sat down by the door where nobody could pass. I took nothing but port wine. After many songs had been sung and many toasts had been drunk, and half the company had been put under the table, Auld Lang Syne was sung about 3 AM. The Annie sailed at five. I was glad to get away sober. I feel quite sleepy yet, but I really had a good time.”<\/p>\n Next week we shall finish the account of William Heath’s diary and tell you how, at last, after a long, long absence, he got back home to Maine.<\/p>\n Year: 1960<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Read the script for “Little Talks” program #449, Broadcast on February 28, 1960<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":405,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[766,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8060"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/405"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8060\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}