Accidents > Dangers of the deep, or, Narratives of shipwreck and adventure at sea

OP DR. JOHNSON1. 11
board a vessel belonging to merchants of Ips¬
wich, called the William and John, and com¬
manded by an experienced seaman, named
Daniel Morgan. The narrator does not fur¬
ther explain the purport of his voyage, nor
his exact destination, save that he says he
went on a good message,—the cause of re¬
ligion. From this we are led to infer that he
sailed for the icy regions around the pole,
bent on being the pioneer of Christianity to
the ignorant natives of that inhospitable clime.
The following is his narrative of the sufferings
he encountered, and of the total overthrow of
all his schemes :—
“We embarked at Harwich on Michael-
mas-day, the twenty-ninth of September, 1648.
A dull kind of sadness oppressed my spirits,
so that I could not look cheerfully on my
friends at parting, but I took leave of them as
if I had been going out of the world. This
seemed unaccountable to me, for I went on a
good message—the cause of religion. I had
embarked in a stout ship, with a fair wind
and a skilful pilot, so that I could not suspect
danger. Yet no sooner was I at sea, than I
suffered the extreme of shipwreck, the pain
of sickness was so great and grievous, com-