Tales of the Sea

Benjamin was not to go to school again until he reached the Ohio Country. A few days after his father's departure he went to live with Christopher Burlingame and his wife. Mr. Burlingame had so little work for him to do that he probably was not worth his "keep," but the Burlingames let him stay with them out of kindness.

The little boy spent long hours sitting on an upside-down dye tub, watching the hatter at his work. Thick felt, made partly of sheep's wool and partly of rabbit or beaver fur was cut into pieces the right size for a hat. Then it had to be steamed and pressed into shape around one of the heavy wooden hat blocks with which the shelves of the shop were crowded.

Sometimes Mr. Burlingame would have the boy pile the hat blocks in even rows or stack them one on top of the other. Then he would tumble them down and have Benjamin pick them up again. It was not a useful task and it was not much fun, but Christopher Burlingame thought it was better to have the boy occupied with needless work than to have him sitting idle. Idleness was considered a dreadful sin in those days.

Christopher himself had been a cabin boy and then a sailor when he was young. Sometimes he told Benjamin stories about the hard life he had led and the distressing things that had happened to him. Strangely enough, the more distressing the story, the better Benjamin liked it.

At one time Christopher had seen service on a privateer. This was a small armed vessel belonging to private merchants. It was not a part of the Navy at all, but in time of war it was allowed to capture as prizes the vessels which belonged to the enemy.

Any vessels which were captured were taken into port, and there the cargo of molasses, sugar, or flour, or whatever it might be, was divided among the captain and the crew of the privateer. Sometimes a poor sailor would become very wealthy from the sale of the cargoes of the ships he had helped to capture.

The privateer on which Christopher sailed had had little luck. It had captured no prizes. The weather became hot and uncomfortable, and the supply of drinking water in the casks set apart for the crew ran low. The captain had extra water in a cask of his own, but he was not willing to share it with the crew.

At last the captain gave an order which was planned to keep the sailors from wasting or enjoying the water in their casks. He forbade them to fill their cups or to drink directly from the tap. All the water they drank had to be sucked through the barrel of a gun, and the gun had to be kept aloft at the masthead.

When a sailor was thirsty, he had to climb to the masthead, bring down the gun, suck the water that he wanted, and then carry the gun back up the mast. Every man had to do this for himself without assistance, no matter how weak or ill he might be. The water was stale at best, and it tasted even worse when was sucked through a gun. It hardly seemed worth the trouble, yet no one can do without water.

The sailors were used to harsh rules and did not mind an order which helped to conserve their water supply. But when the captain refused to share his private supply with sick men, the crew became angry. When they reached port and the ship was prepared for another voyage, they punished the captain for his harshness by shipping on another vessel.

The men were far out to sea before the captain knew that they were gone. He could not call them back, and he had such a bad name with the sailors in the harbor that it was a long time before he could get another crew to sail his ship for him.

Benjamin enjoyed that story, but he liked even better the tale of Christopher's experience on one of the British ships during the Revolutionary War. At that time, the British needed more seamen for their ships, and few of the colonists were willing to serve them in any way. For that reason, the British hired rough men to seize and force into their service any able-bodied men they could find.

One evening when Christopher was walking quietly along the streets of Newport, Rhode Island, a number of men suddenly appeared out of the shadows. They took him prisoner and forced him to go aboard a British warship which was lying at anchor two miles from shore. They told him he would have to stay on this ship, and if there was a battle he would have to fight with the British against his own people.

Christopher did not like that idea, so he decided to try to escape and, swim to the shore. One night, when no one was looking, he dropped over the side of the vessel and worked his way down among the great rusty chains which held the anchor.

The ship was a large one. When Christopher reached the end of the chains, he was still so far above the water that he did not dare to jump. He was afraid he might be hurt and he was sure that the splash he made would be heard by some of the men on the warship.

He climbed back to the deck of the ship and looked around. There was the watch, sound asleep! Christopher's courage returned, and he went over the side once more. This time he dropped into the water. The guard did not hear him, and Christopher was able to swim to the shore in safety. A few months later he joined General Washington's army.

There seemed to be no end to the marvelous stories which Christopher could tell. His people had all come from Rhode Island, and most of the menfolk had followed the sea at one time or another. What Christopher could not relate from his own experiences, he could tell from those of his friends and relatives.

Sometimes, as Benjamin sat there watching the hats take shape and listening to the stories, he wondered if it might not be more fun to go to sea than to travel overland to the Ohio. But when the first letter from Father arrived, he changed his mind. He knew that what he wanted most was to be a frontiersman on the new lands in the Ohio Country.

Chapter 6.. The Long Wait 06long_wait.html