# The White Slave, or Memoirs of a Fugitive/Chapter 35

Contents
The favorable breezes, with which we had set out, did not last long. The weather soon became tempestuous, and we were involved in fogs, and driven about by contrary winds. Our labors and hardships were very great ; but still I found a sort of pleasure in them. It was for myself that I toiled and suffered; and that thought gave me strength and vigor.
I applied myself with the greatest zeal and good-will to learn the business of my profession. At first, my companions laughed at my ignorance and awkwardness, and were full of their jokes and tricks upon me. But though rude and thoughtless, they were generous and good-natured. In the very first week of our voyage, I had a fair fight with the bully of the ship. I whipped him soundly; and the crew all agreed, that there was something in me.
{ was strong and active; and as I made it a point to imitate whatever I saw done by any of the crew, I was surprised to find in how short a time I was able to run over the rigging, and venture upon the yards. ‘The maze of ropes and sea-terms that at first perplexed me, soon grew clear. Before we were across the ocean, I could hand, reef, and steer with any man on board; and the crew swore with one consent, that I was born to be a sailor.
But I was not, satisfied with setting sails and handling ropes. I wished to understand the art of navigation. One of our crew was a young man of good education, who served before the mast, as is common with New Englanders, in expectation of presently commanding a ship himself. He had his books and his instruments; and as he had already been one or two voyages, he understood pretty well, how to apply them, and used to keep a reckoning of the ship’s course. This same young sailor, Tom Turner by name, was a fine, free-hearted fellow as ever lived; but he was of a slight make, and his strength was not equal to his spirit. I had gained his good-will by standing by him in some of our forecastle frolics ; and seeing how anxious I was to learn, ​he undertook to be my instructor. He put his Navigator into my hand, and whenever it was my watch below, I was constantly poring over it. At first, the whole matter seemed mighty mysterious. It was some time before I could see into it. But Tom, who had a fluent tongue, lectured and explained; and I listened and studied; and presently I began to understand it.
All this time, we were beating about in the neighborhood of the banks of Newfoundland; and as we experienced a constant succession of storms and contrary winds, we made but little progress. We lost a couple of top-sails and several of our spars; and had been out some seventy days in very rough weather.
I took it all kindly though; I was in no hurry to get ashore. I had chosen the ocean for my country; and when the winds roared, the rigging rattled, and the timbers creaked, I only wrapped my monkey-jacket a little closer, braced myself against my sea-chest, and studied my Navigator; — that is, if it happened to be my watch below; for when upon deck, I was always ready at the first call, and was the first to spring into the rigging.
At last, the weather moderated, and we made sail for the coast of France. We had made the land, and were within a few leagues of our harbor, when. an armed brig, with the British colors flying, bore down upon us, fired a shot a-head, and sent a boat's crew on board.
In those days, American vessels were quite accustomed to such sort of visitations; and our captain did not seem to be much alarmed. But no sooner had the boat's officer reached our deck, than laying his hand upon his sword, he told the captain that he was a prisoner.
It seemed that while we were beating about on the Grand Bank, America, at last, had screwed up her courage, and had declared war against England. The armed brig was a British privateer, and we were her prize. At first we were all ordered below; but presently we were called up again, and offered the choice of enlisting on board the privateer, or being carried prisoners into England. Near half our crew were what the sailors call Dutchmen, that is, people from the North Sea, or the coasts of the Baltic. Those ​adventurers readily enlisted. Tom Turner was spokesman for the Americans; and When called upon to follow this example, he.answered the lieutenant, in a tone so gruff as to be little better than a growl, — "We'll see you hanged first!"
For myself, I felt no patriotic scruples. I had renounced my country; if indeed that place can be fitly called one's country, which while it gives him birth, cuts him off, by its wicked and unjust laws, from every thing that makes life worth having. Despite the murmurs and hisses of my companions, I stepped forward, and put my name to the shipping paper. Had they known my history, they would not have blamed me.
After cruising for some time, without success, we returned to Liverpool to refit. Our crew was recruited; and we soon put to sea again. Cruising off the coast of France, we took several prizes, but none of very great value. We now made sail for the West Indies; and, in the neighbor hood of the Bermudas, while close hauled to the wind and under easy sail, we discovered a vessel a-head, and gave chase.
The chase slackened sail and waited for us to come up. This made us suppose that it might be a man-of-war; and as we were more anxious for plunder than for fighting, we put up the helm, and bore away.
The chase now made sail in pursuit; and as she proved to be much the better sailer, she gained rapidly upon us.
When we saw that there was no chance of escaping, we took in our light canvass, brought the vessel to, ran up the British flag, and cleared for action.
The enemy was an armed and fast-sailing schooner — an American privateer, as it proved, about a fair match for the brig, in point of size and armament, but in much finer trim, and most beautifully worked. She ran down upon us; her crew gave three cheers; and shooting across our bows, she gave us a broad-side that did:much execution. She tacked and manœuvred till she gained a favorable position, and then poured in her fire with such steadiness, that she seemed all a-blaze. Her guns were well shotted, and well aimed, and did serious damage. Our captain and first ​lieutenant were soon wounded and disabled. We paid back the enemy as well as we could; but our men dropped fast; and our fire began to slacken. The schooner's bowsprit got fast in our main rigging, and directly we heard the cry for the boarders. We seized our pikes, and prepared to receive them; but a party of the enemy soon got a.footing on board the brig; wounded the only officer on deck; and drove our men frightened and confused towards the forecastle.
I saw our danger; and the idea of falling again into the hands of the tyrants from whom I had escaped, summoned back my ebbing courage. I seemed to feel a more than human energy spring up within me. I put myself at the head of our yielding and dispirited crew, and fought with all the frantic valor of a mad hero of romance. I struck _ down two or three of the foremost of the enemy; and as they quailed and shrunk before me, I cheered and encouraged my companions, and called on them to charge. My example seemed to inspire them. They rallied at once, and rushed forward with new courage. They drove the enemy before them; tumbled some into the sea; and pressed the others back into their own vessel.
Nor did our success stop here. We boarded in our turn; and the decks of the schooner saw as bloody a battle as had been fought on those of the brig. The fortune of the fight still ran in our favor, and we soon drove the enemy to take refuge on the quarter-deck. We called to them to surrender; — but their captain waving his bloody sword, sternly refused. He encouraged his men to charge once more, and rushed furiously upon us. His cutlass clashed against my pike, and flew from his hand. He slipped, and fell upon the deck; and in a moment, my weapon was at his breast.
He cried for quarter. I thought I knew his face.
"Your name?"
"Osborne!"
"Jonathan Osborne late commander of the Two Sallys?"
"The same!"
"Then die; — a wretch like you deserves no mercy!" and as I spoke I plunged the weapon to his heart, and felt thrilling to the very elbow-joint, the pleasurable sense of doing justice on a tyrant! ​But justice ought never to be sullied by passion, — and if possible, should be unstained with blood. If in my feelings at that moment, there was something noble, there was far too much of savage fury and passionate revenge. Yet from what I then felt, I can well understand the fierce spirit and ferocious energy of the slave, who vindicates his liberty at the sword's point, and who looks upon the slaughter of his oppressors almost as a debt due to humanity.
The crew no sooner saw their captain slain, than they threw down their arms and cried for quarter. The schoon-er was ours, and a finer vessel never sailed the seas.
Every officer on board the brig was wounded. All confessed that the capture of the prize was, in a great measure, due to me; and with the approbation of all the crew, I was put on board as prize-master.