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TITLE: NED MYERS
AUTHOR: JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
EBOOK: E06014 (O'Briens Book Cellar)
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

NED MYERS

or, A Life Before the Mast

By James Fenimore Cooper.

    Thou unrelenting Past!
  Strong are the barriers round thy dark domain,
    And fetters sure and fast
  Hold all that enter thy unbreathing reign.
                                    BRYANT

Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1843, by

J. Fenimore Cooper,

in the clerk's office of the District Court of the United States for the
Northern district of New York.

Preface

It is an old remark, that the life of any man, could the incidents be
faithfully told, would possess interest and instruction for the general
reader. The conviction of the perfect truth of this saying, has induced
the writer to commit to paper, the vicissitudes, escapes, and opinions of
one of his old shipmates, as a sure means of giving the public some just
notions of the career of a common sailor. In connection with the amusement
that many will find in following a foremast Jack in his perils and
voyages, however, it is hoped that the experience and moral change of
Myers may have a salutary influence on the minds of some of those whose
fortunes have been, or are likely to be, cast in a mould similar to that
of this old salt.

As the reader will feel a natural desire to understand how far the editor
can vouch for the truth of that which he has here written, and to be
informed on the subject of the circumstances that have brought him
acquainted with the individual whose adventures form the subject of this
little work, as much shall be told as may be necessary to a proper
understanding of these two points.

First, then, as to the writer's own knowledge of the career of the
subject of his present work. In the year 1806, the editor, then a lad,
fresh from Yale, and destined for the navy, made his first voyage in a
merchantman, with a view to get some practical knowledge of his
profession. This was the fashion of the day, though its utility, on the
whole, may very well be questioned. The voyage was a long one, including
some six or eight passages, and extending to near the close of the year
1807. On board the ship was Myers, an apprentice to the captain. Ned, as
Myers was uniformly called, was a lad, as well as the writer; and, as a
matter of course, the intimacy of a ship existed between them. Ned,
however, was the junior, and was not then compelled to face all the
hardships and servitude that fell to the lot of the writer.

Once, only, after the crew was broken up, did the writer and Ned actually
see each other, and that only for a short time. This was in 1809. In 1833,
they were, for half an hour, on board the same ship, without knowing the
fact at the time. A few months since, Ned, rightly imagining that the
author of the Pilot must be his old shipmate, wrote the former a letter to
ascertain the truth. The correspondence produced a meeting, and the
meeting a visit from Ned to the editor. It was in consequence of the
revelations made in this visit that the writer determined to produce the
following work.

The writer has the utmost confidence in all the statements of Ned, so far
as intention is concerned. Should he not be mistaken on some points, he is
an exception to the great rule which governs the opinions and
recollections of the rest of the human family. Still, nothing is related
that the writer has any reasons for distrusting. In a few instances he has
interposed his own greater knowledge of the world between Ned's more
limited experience and the narrative; but, this has been done cautiously,
and only in cases in which there can be little doubt that the narrator has
been deceived by appearances, or misled by ignorance. The reader, however,
is not to infer that Ned has no greater information than usually falls to
the share of a foremast hand. This is far from being the case. When first
known to the writer, his knowledge was materially above that of the
ordinary class of lads in his situation; giving ample proof that he had
held intercourse with persons of a condition in life, if not positively of
the rank of gentlemen, of one that was not much below it. In a word, his
intelligence on general subjects was such as might justly render him the
subject of remark on board a ship. Although much of his after-life was
thrown away, portions of it passed in improvement; leaving Ned, at this
moment, a man of quick apprehension, considerable knowledge, and of
singularly shrewd comments. If to this be added the sound and accurate
moral principles that now appear to govern both his acts and his opinions,
we find a man every way entitled to speak for himself; the want of the
habit of communicating his thoughts to the public, alone excepted.

In this book, the writer has endeavoured to adhere as closely to the very
language of his subject, as circumstances will at all allow; and in many
places he feels confident that no art of his own could, in any respect,
improve it.

It is probable that a good deal of distrust will exist on the subject of
the individual whom Ned supposes to have been one of his god-fathers. On
this head the writer can only say, that the account which Myers has given
in this work, is substantially the same as that which he gave the editor
nearly forty years ago, at an age and under circumstances that forbid the
idea of any intentional deception. The account is confirmed by his sister,
who is the oldest of the two children, and who retains a distinct
recollection of the prince, as indeed does Ned himself. The writer
supposes these deserted orphans to have been born out of wedlock--though
he has no direct proof to this effect--and there is nothing singular in
the circumstance of a man of the highest rank, that of a sovereign
excepted, appearing at the font in behalf of the child of a dependant. A
member of the royal family, indeed, might be expected to do this, to
favour one widely separated from him by birth and station, sooner than to
oblige a noble, who might possibly presume on the condescension.

It remains only to renew the declaration, that every part of this
narrative is supposed to be true. The memory of Ned may occasionally fail
him; and, as for his opinions, they doubtless are sometimes erroneous; but
the writer has the fullest conviction that it is the intention of the Old
Salt to relate nothing that he does hot believe to have occurred, or to
express an unjust sentiment. On the subject of his reformation, so far as
"the tree is to be known by its fruits" it is entirely sincere; the
language, deportment, habits, and consistency of this well-meaning tar,
being those of a cheerful and confiding Christian, without the smallest
disposition to cant or exaggeration. In this particular, he is a living
proof of the efficacy of faith, and of the power of the Holy Spirit to
enlighten the darkest understanding, and to quicken the most apathetic
conscience.

Chapter I.

In consenting to lay before the world the experience of a common seaman,
and, I may add, of one who has been such a sinner as the calling is only
too apt to produce, I trust that no feeling of vanity has had an undue
influence. I love the seas; and it is a pleasure to me to converse about
them, and of the scenes I have witnessed, and of the hardships I have
undergone on their bosom, in various parts of the world. Meeting with an
old shipmate who is disposed to put into proper form the facts which I can
give him, and believing that my narrative may be useful to some of those
who follow the same pursuit as that in which I have been so long engaged,
I see no evil in the course I am now taking, while I humbly trust it may
be the means of effecting some little good. God grant that the pictures I
shall feel bound to draw of my own past degradation and failings,
contrasted as they must be with my present contentment and hopes, may
induce some one, at least, of my readers to abandon the excesses so common
among seamen, and to turn their eyes in the direction of those great
truths which are so powerful to reform, and so convincing when regarded
with humility, and with a just understanding of our own weaknesses.

I know nothing of my family, except through my own youthful recollections,
and the accounts I have received from my sister. My father I slightly
remember; but of my mother I retain no distinct impressions. The latter
must have died while I was very young. The former, I was in the habit of
often seeing, until I reached my fifth or sixth year. He was a soldier,
and belonged to the twenty-third regimen of foot, in the service of the
King of Great Britain.[1] The fourth son of this monarch, Prince Edward as
he was then called, or the Duke of Kent as he was afterwards styled,
commanded the corps, and accompanied it to the British American colonies,
where it was stationed for many years.

I was born in Quebec, between the years 1792 and 1794; probably in 1793.
Of the rank of my father in the regiment, I am unable to speak, though I
feel pretty confident he was a commissioned officer. He was much with the
prince; and I remember that, on parade, where I have often seen him, he
was in the habit of passing frequently from the prince to the ranks--a
circumstance that induces my old shipmate to think he may have been the
adjutant. My father, I have always understood, was a native of Hanover,
and the son of a clergyman in that country. My mother, also, was said to
be a German, though very little is now known of her by any of the family.
She is described to me as living much alone, as being occupied in pursuits
very different from those of my father, and as being greatly averse to the
life of a soldier.

I was baptized in the Church of England, and, from earliest boyhood, have
always been given to understand that His Royal Highness, Prince Edward,
the father of Queen Victoria, stood for me at the font; Major Walker, of
the same regiment, being the other god-father, and Mrs. Walker, his wife,
my god-mother. My real names are Edward Robert Meyers; those received in
baptism having been given me by my two sponsors, after themselves. This
christening, like my birth, occurred in Quebec. I have, however, called
myself Edward, or Ned, Myers, ever since I took to the sea.

Before I was old enough to receive impressions to be retained, the
regiment removed to Halifax. My father accompanied it; and, of course, his
two children, my sister Harriet and myself, were taken to Nova Scotia. Of
the period of my life that was passed in Halifax, I retain tolerably
distinct recollections; more especially of the later years. The prince and
my father both remained with the regiment for a considerable time; though
all quitted Halifax several years before I left it myself. I remember
Prince Edward perfectly well. He sometimes resided at a house called The
Lodge, a little out of town; and I was often taken out to see him. He
also had a residence in town. He took a good deal of notice of me;
raising me in his arms, and kissing me. When he passed our house, I would
run to him; and he would lead me through the streets himself. On more than
one occasion, he led me off, and sent for the regimental tailor; directing
suits of clothes to be made for me, after his own taste. He was a large
man; of commanding presence, and frequently wore a star on the breast of
his coat. He was not then called the Duke of Kent, but Prince Edward, or
_The_ Prince. A lady lived with him at the Lodge; but who she was, I
do not know.

At this time, my mother must have been dead; for of _her_ I retain no
recollection whatever. I think, my father left Halifax some time before

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