A MASTER-MARINER.*
ADVENTURES are to the adventurous, and when a man of adventurous disposition goes to sea in war-time, it is in the nature of things that he should meet with many "disastrous chances and moving accidents." In this respect Captain Eastwick was singularly fortunate, and the story of his life, told by himself in simple, unpretending language, is a distinct addition to the literature of adventure. Better still, it makes us acquainted with a man of nature so noble, of courage so high, so ready in resource and prompt in action, that we count it a privilege to know him in spirit, albeit we may never have met him in the flesh.
Robert Eastwick began his adventures early. At the time of the No-Popery Riots (1780), he was a schoolboy, living with his widowed mother at Edmonton, and being" seized with a mighty longing to see what was going on," stole off one morning with a comrade, and made for the City. A terrible commotion was going on. All the shops were closed, several of the gaols had been broken open and their inmates set free, and the streets were in possession of a howling mob. Presently a cry of "Soldiers !" was heard, on which the mob made a mad stampede ; Eastwick was thrown down, trampled upon, and those who afterwards came to his help thought he was killed. But the worst injury he had sustained was a broken leg, and he soon recovered. The longing inborn in all lads of spirit for a "life on the ocean wave" was intensified in his case by the return of Captain Cook's ship from the great navigator's last voyage. The boy gave his mother no peace until she consented to his desire, and in 1784 he was apprenticed to the firm of Enderby and Sons, and made his first voyage on board the Friendship,' of 400 tons. He had a hard time, for the first mate, taking offence at the superiority of his outfit over that of the other apprentices, led him such a life that long before the end of the voyage he was radically cured • A Master-Mariner being the Life and Adventures of Captain lilbert William Eastwick. Edited by Herbert Compton. London : T. Fisher Unwin. of his sea-fever. The only person on board who treated the lad kindly was a veteran man-of-war's-man, and to him Eastwick one day complained of the mate's injustice. The old salt's answer is worth repeating, and should be graven in the memory of every youth whose desire is for the sea :— "There is no justice or injustice on board ship, my lad. There are only two things,—Duty and Mutiny : mind that. All that you are ordered to do is duty. All that you refuse to do is mutiny. And the punishment for mutiny on a King's ship is the yardarm. In the merchant service you only get rope's-ended. Lads have to learn ; discipline is good for them ; and you will come some day to feel quite grateful to Mr. Horton for his trouble in teaching you your profession." This was good advice and a true saying. By the end of the voyage, there was hardly any operation on board in which young Eastwick could not lend a hand, and he knew every rope on the ship and its use by heart. Before he was eighteen, he obtained a first officer's certificate, and became chief mate of a small trading brig. But going ashore before the brig sailed, he fell into the hands of a press-gang, and because be held an officer's certificate, the Captain of the 'Inconstant' refused to let him go, though he should find a substitute. On the other hand, he offered to make him a master's mate, an offer which Eastwick accepted ; but as the expected war with Spain did not come off, the 'Inconstant' was paid off, and after marrying a wife (before he was nine- teen), he shipped as first mate on board the 'Fortitude,' and sailed for the coast of Africa, in search of a gold-mine which a surgeon, who had been in those parts, protested that he had discovered. Bat the surgeon, who had undertaken to point oat the spot, went mad and disappeared, whereupon the 'Fortitude's' Captain betook himself to whale-fishing and trading. After divers adventures, Eastwick returned to London, and found himself a widower, his young wife having died during his absence. He next entered the service of the Honourable Company as fifth mate, for only by beginning at the bottom of the ladder could a man become a Commander ; and as touching emolument, the Captain of an East Indiaman in those days was better off than an Admiral in the Royal Navy. The post was also one of great dignity. The ships were always saluted on their arrival in an Indian port, their Captains ranked with Members of the Council, the guard turned out to them as to a General officer, and finally, their profits and pay averaged 25,000 a voyage. It is interesting to know that a hundred years ago the fare for a subaltern or assistant-surgeon from London to Bombay was £95; for a General officer, 2325. Yet, though the service was good, pro- motion was slow, and at Bombay Eastwick left it for the country merchant service, which he had been told was the best in the world. And seeing that in eleven years he succeeded in saving 220,000, the information was probably correct. In the meantime, he encountered as many moving accidents and disastrous chances as would provide a novelist with the stuff for a dozen romances of adventure. The Pesouton,' a ship of which he was chief mate, was cast away on the coast of Burmah, and of the sixty-five souls on board, only himself and six others were saved. The story of this shipwreck makes one of the most thrilling bits of narrative in the book, and is all the more effective that it is told straight- forwardly, without any attempt at word-painting or straining after effect. Another time, while in command of his own vessel, the Endeavour,' he was chased by two Dutch brigs-of- war, and owed his escape to the pluck and resolution of his wife (he married a second time at Bombay), who took the wheel and steered the ship while he helped the short handed crew to bend new sails. Shortly afterwards, while on a voyage from Bencoolen to Calcutta, he was chased by two French frigates, and when capture seemed inevitable, got away from them during a squall by sheer audacity and bold seamanship. Two years later, the frigates had their revenge. One of them, La Forte,' captured his ship and himself in the Bay -of Bengal. Fortunately, she did not keep him long. The very night after his capture, a large ship was sighted, of which the Frenchmen, taking her to be a merchantman, prepared to make prize. But when the two ships drew near, the stranger, a British frigate, uncovered her lights and poured a broadside into La Forte.' Then followed a fight which it is best to let Captain Eastwick describe in his own words "Her [' La Forte's'] decks had been raked with the small grape- shot that came like hail from the 24-pounders of her opponent, and in a moment all was shouting, and noise, and confusion.
Whistles were piped, orders were cried out, and the crew were hurried up to serve the guns, urged on by their officers. The Admiral was killed early in the action ; the Captain fell next, as gallant a man as could be wished. He was cut in half by a chain- shot whilst trying to rally his crew, who, having been caught napping, were fairly in alarm and confusion. The execution wrought among their ranks by the sudden broadside was dreadful, and the whole ship resounded with the shrieks and groans of the wounded, making a noise that was sickening to hear. Still, a gallant fight was kept up, despite the demoralising effects of that deadly fire. The musketry rattled, and between the thunder of the guns, as broadside after broadside was returned, there came the lesser but continual discharges of the brass swivels mounted on the quarter-deck."
After an action of fifty-five minutes, La Forte,' with her masts shot away, utterly crippled, and unable either to fight or run, was compelled to haul down her flag. Captain East- wick and the other prisoners had meanwhile taken refuge in a small cabin, but it was so far from being a secure refuge that thirty round-shot passed through it during the engage- ment, at the rate of one every other minute, which made it rather a warm place. There is probably no severer trial for the nerves than to remain passive under fire, and Captain Eastwick remarks that he would rather be in a dozen actions, "face to face with belching cannon, and exposed to full fire of the tops, than undergo a like experience."
Captain Cook, who commanded the English frigate, was badly wounded, and shortly afterwards died of his hurts at Cal- cutta. The Honourable Company erected a monument to his memory in Westminster Abbey, behind General Wolf's monument, and it bears a fine relief represent- ing the ' Sybille ' and La Forte' in close action. The captives were, of course, rescued ; but as the 'Endeavour,' which belonged to Captain Eastwick, and represented his entire fortune, was not recaptured, he returned to Cal- cutta a ruined man. Being, however, rich in hope and full of energy and resource, he was not discouraged. Friends lent him money ; he bought another ship, and before many
days were past, was once more sailing the seas and making money; for in those days of high freights shipowning was a
lucrative business.
Captain Eastwick made and lost several fortunes ; went with General Whiteloek's expedition to Buenos Ayres in
1807; was one of twenty survivors who escaped from the wreck of the 'Elizabeth' in 1810, when 360 persons
perished ; fell into the hands of the French, and was liberated by Napoleon's own order; was captured, after a severe action in which he was wounded, by an American privateer, and
suffered shipwreck a third time on the coast of Holland in 1825. He lived to see one of his sons Vice-Chairman of the
East India Company, and another Member of Parliament, and died in 1865 full of years and honour. In the words of his epitaph, Robert William Eastwick was a "skilful and fearless sailor ; an honest, energetic, self-denying man, and a sincere Christian."
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