Description
Book SynopsisThis volume contains two works by 'an old quarter master', John Bechervaise, born in St Aubin, Jersey in 1791. The first is a narrative of 'thirty-six years of a seafaring life', published in 1839, describing maritime experiences such as spending a winter in Newfoundland among Native Americans, being captured by privateers, being committed to a debtor's prison, and deciding to join the Royal Navy. His detailed account of the day-to-day routines of life aboard ship are an important resource for naval historians, and the success of the book prompted a second memoir, published in 1847 by the same Portsmouth printer, which contains anecdotes and cautionary tales from the lives of ordinary sailors whom Bechervaise had known. There is an account of the comforts of the Royal Naval Hospital at Greenwich, a number of stories about the perils of drunkenness, and some acts of extraordinary heroism both at sea and on shore.
Table of ContentsList of subscribers; 1. My early days; 2. A winter among the Indians at the back of Newfoundland, in the Baye du Desespoir; 3. Indian villages, manners, and customs; 4. Captured by a French privateer; 5. Loss of a ship in the western ocean; 6. Recaptured by the active revenue cruizer; 7. Voyage to the Brazils; 8. Voyage to Prince Edward's Island, Newfoundland, etc.; 9. Burin, Cadiz, and Falmouth; 10. Ten weeks in Winchester prison; 11. Three months' sojourn in France; 12. Home, sweet home; 13. One week in a smart ship described; 14. Sicily; 15. A current's thwarting force; 16. Pitcairn Island; 17. Sandwich Islands, Kamtschatka manners and improvements; 18. Kotzebue Sound, California, China, etc.; 19. The Arctic; 20. Kotzebue Sound, second visit, etc.; 21. Mexico; 22. Return to England; 23. Portugal; 24. Our home is on the deep; 25. Lisbon; 26. Friends; 27. West Indies; Farewell.
