The Massachusetts spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1831-1858, 1832-12-26
From the .NeW York Traveller.
CAPTAIN MORRELL'S VOYAGES.

jr., is doubtless familiar to most of our read
ers: he being extensively known-as the en-
terprising commander of the celebrated
I armed schooner antarctic; and also as the
discoverer of several new clusters of ISL
I ands in the Pacific oeean-at one of which
| thirteen of his cyew uere mdSSdcred and eat
| en- By Cannikals From this disastrous and
! eventfnl voyage he arrived about fifteen
| months since, bringing with him two ma
{ tives--wth the intention of civilIZing them,
+ and then returning them to their native ISL
/ ands, for the purpose of rendering them in
strumental, as interpreters and agents, in
! opening a trade with their countrymen;
which, according to Capt. MS statement,
must be productive of immense wealth to
those who engage in it. These natives,
! whom he called Sunday and Monday, were
| publicly exhibited last winter and excited
much curiosity.
narrative of this voyage, including
three previous, to the South Seas-Paeific
Ocean and Coast of Africa--is about issu-
ing from the teeming press Of the indefati
gable Harpers, OF this city, comprised in
one large octave volume of nearly five hun
dreA pages We understand, from !itera-
~ gentleman of some celebrity, who has
perused the manuscript, that it is replete
with thrilling interest, and abounds. with
descriptions of Startling incidents and hair
breadth escapes. What is of still greater
inheritance, it comprises more nautical in
formation, sailing directions, and geograph.
ical facts, than has ever been condensed in
the same compass.
This work is dedicated, by permission, to
the Hon. Levi Woodbury., Secretary of the
Navy of the United States II commences
with an Introductory Sketch Of the Au-
thos's Early Life he having been a wan
derer from his childhood, literally 9" sea
boy on the high and giddy mast" During
the last war between the United States and
Great Britain, he was twice captured by
the enemy; being once confined on board
an English prison ship nj st. Johns, New
foundland, and afterwards in Dartmoor pris-
on, where he was a spectator of the butch
cry of number of his fellow captves hy
the command of tho infamous Shorthand,
After his release from captivity, he engage
ed in the sealing business, in which ardu-
Gus employment he visited and described
almost every island and coast in the South
ern hemisphere, together with many in the
North Pacific Ocean.
Since he first had the command of a ship,
he has critically surveyed the eastern coast
of Patagonia, from Cape Corrientes TO Cape
Horn; and all the western coast of Ameri-
ca, from the Strait of Magellan to the Co
lumbia river, with the exception of the
Isthmus of Darien. He has been six times
! through the Strait of Magellan, and is the
J first American who ever piloted ship
/ through the same. He is the first Ameri-
! can ship-master who has advanced towards
the South Pole beyond the antarctic circle
within which he has penetrated beyond the
! 10th degree of latitude for which achieve.
ment the lastvessel committed to his charge
named the Antarctic He has survey.
! Ell the south western coast of Africa, from
( the 10th degree of south latitude to the
Cape of Good Hope, and made several Jour-
ncys far into the interior. He has visited
most of all the ports of China and the Easl
! Indies, and touched at numerous islands in
| those seas. In short he has been almost
J every where.
In addition to all this, he nus, at different
times, and on different occasions, faced
death in almost every possible shape and
form: encountered the most appalling per-
lis without ever experiencing that disagree
! able sensation which is known by the name
of fear. His vessel has, more than once
been wedged between mountains of ice
which threatened 10 crush her to atoms
He has been becalmed under volcanic isl
and, the internal fires of which, after slum.
bering for years. suddenly burst forth, and
poured rivers of melted lava into the boil
ing waters of the bay, while the suffocat-
ing heat melted the pitch in the seams OF his
vessel. He has found himself in the mid.
die of the wide Atlantic, with pestilence
raging among his officers and crew, with SC
much violence that he was almost left alone
TO navigate his vessel single handed, while
the wife of his bosom, in the cabin, was ev.
cry moment expected to fall martyr to ;ts
malignancy, and while the groans of the
sick and dying, and the shrieks of the de.
lirious, resounded through the gloomy ST.
lence Of midnight He has encounter ed
face TO face, the gigantic natives of Pata.
| gonna, the blood-thlrsty savages of Califor-
mia, the treacherous demi- barbarans Of Su
maira and the ferocious Cannibats of the
! Massacre Islands. He has crossed every
meridian Of longitude, and one hundred ant
| twenty degrees of latitude. In short, hi
has achieved almost every conceivable ad
venture, except tina: of lighting will,
beasts at Ephesus," and discovering The
! concentrc spheres of the lamented Coloue
Symmes.
Ill MS last eNeHllul anu ulSdStTOuS voyage
Capt. M. was accompanied by his wife
whose Journal, we understand, is also to BIZ
| shortly published. This was the voyage O
sickness, and death, and massacre, and hoI
! rible cannibatism They sailed from New
! York, in September, 1929, on voyage Il
| the South Sea-for the purpose of collect
ing cargo of furs from the amphitia o
the South Sea Islands. After touching a
the Cape de Verbs, they shaped their colrs,
for the Cape of Good Hope; but had scarce
| ly crossed the equator when eight of tn,
crew were taken sick, and in few day
! after, most of the ships company, togethe
with Mrs. M. were lying apparently at thu
point of death.
Man after man was committed to thu
deep-and sixty lingering days elapsed be
| fore any OF the survivors were fit for duty
AT the lovely island which bears the nam,
Of Lord Auckland, dying south east of Val
Dieman's land, aud south of New Zealand,
Mrs. NJ was first able TO leave her couch
after confinement of nine weeks. Her,
| they obtained repose and refreshments
! They then coasted the eastern side of New
! Zealand; hut being disappointed in procur
| ing the cargo they sought in this route
Capt. M. determined on altering his voyage
and accordingly shaped his course for Ma
nila.
During her passage from New Zealan,
to the Philippine Islands, the Antarctic fel
in with several beautiful groups of islands
each cluster surrounded hy reef of corol
and neither of them laid down on any chart