Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1909-12-16
James Wakefeld's Interesting
Experiences Of Sixty Years Ago.
Roru in England. He RENE mbcrs the
Growing Of Queen Victoria and
Made Ills First Voyage A. a
sailor when 13.

the Baltimore Clipper OliNia so years ago,
told a Free Press man some stories Of
life in those times, which are very
interesting in these days Of hotel-like
ships and easier modes OF living. The old
gentleman has a history which few know,
as he Is loath to tell of his adventures.
being first Of all a modest man.
His memory Is as keen as that Of
man in the forties and the stories were
made more interesting by the charac-
tcrist,c manner in which they were told
and by the mannerisms Of the sea which
have chung to the old sailor during the
| many years of life on the land.
His first interesting recollection is Of
the GROWING OF Queen Victoria, 10 years
ago. and the stories which follow are
full o, the life G. the forties and the
! nfties. The story of his coming to this
country in search of brother. who had
been given mp az dead for 90 years, is
| dramatic in the extreme ard the others
are scarcely less 50.
| Mr. wakefield was bora in tho little
seacoast town of Wisbcch in Cambridge
/ shire. England. in the year 1890. He
came from n scafaring race, four Of his
| brothers being sailors. and many rela-
tives, including one of his brothers. paid
the toll OF the sea with their lives
| At the age of ten he made his first
| voyage as passenger In a coaster. The
| taste fingered, however. and three years
later he shipped for four years on a mer"
! c Lntman. The life at sea was hard IN
the carly fortles. but they passed with
no serious mishaps and were mostly oc-
cupied by trips made 10 norway. Sweden
| and Denmark. While Mr.. Wakefield was
on this ship the man at the wheel went
suddenly insane and gave up the wheel
| so that the GOAT was barely saved from
laundering by the captain, who stood
| near by. one Of the seamen was an
| escaped murderer and the crowd. which
| contained another insane man. was a
motley arr;".
After the expiration OF his years OF
apprenticeship, Mr. Wakefield went on the
! Sir Francis Bondhead, a bark running
through the Mediterranean. After un-
| loading Il cargo OF coke on the Spanish
coast. the boat went into Mes ina for n
cargo OF sulphur. While there revolu-
ton broke out and Mr.. Wakefield who.
with some other sailors. had gone inland
| for dey's pleasure trip, had n narrow
escape from getting Into trouble. They
had gone about five mile rom the coast.
when they were warned of trouble and
| hurried back On to their ship. reaching
there about dusk. That night the
revolutionists offered to release all of the
prisoners, held in the government prison,
II the prisoners would enlist in the army
which was trying to overthrow the
| government The plot was discovered,
however, by some loyal soldiers and Tiny
barricadcd castle a, the mouth of tho
harbor. The ships all put 70 sea for
protection and as Wakefelds ship was
leaving the harbor, the castle was blown
up by bomb, killing the Inmates, num-
bering about go.
ABANDONED j SINKING SHIP.
| This adventure was followed soon by
another OF more serious nature. When
| 800 miles out severe gale was en-
countered During the struggle with the
storm. the vessel sprung "A bad leak and
the pumps were worked night and day for
two days The wind had hardly subsidized,
when it became apparent that the ship
was sinking. At one O'Clock in the night
the ship was abandoned. The captain or
dered the men to man the + ra's but told
the seamen they could take what thcs
wanted and it would be sold at the nearest
port and the spells divided among the
crew In the search for valua oles, the crew
found some casks of wine and got drunk,
in spite of the entrea ties Of Mr.. Wake
field ard the captain. They finally got
away barely in time to avoid being taken
down in the suction following tho sink
ing of the ship. The only food saved was
a raw ham, with no water.
They drifted around the remainder OF
the night and a part of the next day be-
fore any rail was sighted, The ship was
hailed but did not heed the shouts OF tho
sailors. thinking that they were prira ;es
with which the coast of Sicily was in
tested. About night French ship was
hailed hut she also paid no attention to
Tie shipWrcckod crew. Tho wind had by
this tine died TO nothing. however. go
that they overhaued the boat. They were
refused permission to board uati after
much parleying. as the French captain
also took them for pirates. They were
finally allowed to come on board and
were landed at Malta. like Paul Of old
The remainder of the crew shipped back
TO England but NJ. Wakefield shipped or
boat. the Leander FOR the Black sea.
This ship was run aground in the Oar
danclcs and the crew expected to be muir
derel by pirates, They We're not how
ever troubled and finally completed the
voyage and made their way to Hull In
England. where M Wakefield shipped
aboard n boat for Russia. This voyage
was uneventful and n few months late,
another trip to the Black sea followed.
on this voyage n shipwreck was mar
rowly averted The captain OF tho ship
got drunk in the Bay " Biscay while a
storm was raging. The cargo was fax
seed and It had been Improperly loaded
so that It shifted when the boat lis ted
and made the ordeal doubly dangerous
II was while experiencing this storm that
MI Wakefield prayed for living on dry
land and he thinks that this was the be-
ginning Of his becoming a landsman. The
CAPTAIN refused to allow the ship to lie
nut about. as is usual in severe storms
and insisted that his boat could ride out
tho storm by running ahead of the wind
This was supposed to have been the
height of folly but the ship weathered tho
blow and the old sailor thinks now tina,
had IT been managed otherwise they
would all have been sunk.
ON A MANOR WAR
After the return to England. Mr., Wake,
field was seized with an ambition to be-
come a sailor on board OF a man of-war
and he enlisted In the'Englsh navy. His
first assignment was on the shin Victory
the boat upon which the great Nelson
was killed during the battle of Trafalgar
Three months later he was transferred tC
the ship Superb. man-of-war Of 81 guns
At this time England and France were
Mt swords points and the ship was sem
with a fleet to protect the Turks. who