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prostrate on the deck; but on inquiry as to the cause of this new mode of retreat, I learned that directly opposite to the gangway he saw half a dozen musketoons presented at his head, which brought on a relaxation of his muscular system, and down he fell like a brave fellow. The galley now pushed off; and as she passed under our stern, the crew gave us three cheers, and rowed off towards the island of Gonarve; and thus ended our acquaintance with these freebooters.

We were soon on deck, and the crew were released from their confinement; and as the breeze increased we shortly had full sail on the brig, steering for the frigate that was now within a few miles of us. But unfortunately, in lieu of coming down to us, she crossed our bow, apparently bound to Jamaica. After things were got into a little order the crew went into the steerage to shift their clothes, but they were soon up again looking like despair. "Well," I asked, "how do you find things below?" "Why," said Jack Stevens, "them damned pirates have robbed us of all our clothes, and I have nothing left but what I stand in; but my old check shirt and trousers must serve me till I get home. But there's some comfort left, for I am now ready for the newest fashions." This good-natured remark put us all in spirits, and we determined to go into St. Nicholas' mole to repair our losses and to give information of the pirate. I drew up a statement of facts which I presented to the captain of the "Penelope" frigate; the mole was at this time in possession of the British. The governor ordered a cutter immediately to proceed in pursuit of the pirates; but as the rascals had got a good haul, and a night had intervened, I presume they had gone off with their plunder, for I never heard anything more of them.

After replenishing our stores and clothing the sailors, we set sail for Boston; and after a long and tedious passage we arrived in the bay. But Dame Fortune had not done with me yet. It was now the middle of December; and the captain mistaking Boston Light for that of Cape Ann (for there was only one light at Cape Ann, and the Boston Light was a fixed one), we were running head on, with a strong easterly or northeast wind, directly on to the rocks of Cohasset. I was in bed, but not yet asleep, when I heard the man forward cry out, "Breakers ahead!" Every one on board sprang to the deck, and "Wear Ship!" was the order. We escaped; but we had nothing to spare, for the rocks were close under our stern when we had got the brig round. The whole night was boisterous, and the wind increasing, and we had got into a position that brought the wind directly against us in beating out of this cul-de-sac. The weather was very cold, and the sailors came frequently to ask for liquor, which the captain had not the fortitude to refuse them. I told him repeatedly that his men would all be frozen if he continued to give them spirits; but he said it was cold and hard work,

He was himself a very

and they wanted something to warm them.
temperate man in all things. I felt convinced that the men could not
hold out till morning if they continued to drink, and I went into the
cabin and threw all the gin or brandy in the case out of the cabin win-
dow. I went on deck and told the captain what I had done; he said
he was glad of it; but he had already given them too much. Before
the night was half out some of the men began to complain that they
could stand the deck no longer, and two of them actually had their feet
frozen. I supplied the place of one of them, and did duty as well as
the rest; for it was neck or nothing.

In the bustle and darkness of the night, and shifting the boom, I lost my hat overboard, and was obliged to tie a handkerchief about my head after I found I was getting chilled. At daylight we made Boston Light, and ran for it close into the rocks. The pilot came on board, and at the moment he put his foot on the deck our foretopsail blew into a thousand pieces. It was now a severe gale and thick snow-storm; but our pilot brought us up to anchoring-ground somewhere between the Castle and South Boston Point. Farther we could not proceed; and as soon as the crew had got the ship moored, and some food and hot coffee, all hands turned in, exhausted in body and mind. It seems ridiculous to relate what follows, but as you have led me on so far you must excuse the recital: About or a little before daylight, I awoke from a profound sleep, in a state of suffocation. I tried to speak and to call the captain to my aid, but I could not utter a sound; it was with the greatest difficulty I could breathe at all. The cabin was in utter darkness, and I felt as if I should not survive a minute. My throat was entirely closed up by what appeared to me a blister, that stopped the passage of the air. It was tight, but yielded to the touch when I introduced my finger, but filled the whole space of the gullet, so that nothing could pass into or out of it. I thought it was very hard that after escaping the blacks at St. Domingo, the pirates at sea, and the rocks at Cohasset, I should arrive as it were in safety within sight of my home and my friends and die like a dog at last. I had in my pocket a sharp-pointed penknife, that I had placed great confidence in the night I expected a visit from O'Brian; this I seized, and without delay turned it against myself. I thrust it into my throat, and at once found myself covered with blood. I attempted to rise. It was blowing a gale from the northwest, and so cold that I could not dress myself. At this moment the pilot turned out to see how the weather was, and soon struck a light; I had got some relief from the wound I had given myself, but I could not speak. I made signs to him to come to me, and when he saw me covered with blood, the fellow was as much frightened as I was at seeing O'Brian. He, however, called the captain, whom I begged, by writing on a slate, to put me on shore at Dorchester Point, but this he said was impossi

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ble as the wind blew a gale directly off shore; besides, what could I do when I got there? "True enough," thought I; and I threw myself down in despair. A fire was, however, soon made, and a flannel dipped in hot water was applied to my throat; but I thought of the brandy I had thrown overboard the night before, and wished for a portion of it back again, as I believed it would have answered better than the water. After breakfast we got the anchor up, and beat up to town, and I was landed on the end of Long Wharf about noon, and accommodated with a hat by one of the Custom House boatmen.

Thus closed my year's labors; beginning with earthquakes, followed up by revolutions, loss of property, capture by pirates, and hazard of shipwreck, and ending by being gagged (the palate or roof of my mouth, which had become inflamed and swollen to a great extent from having taken a severe cold during the preceding night, was the cause of my suffering). I have frequently thought that the easy life I have been allowed to live through the blessing and mercy of Providence since that period has been in some measure permitted to me as an offset for the sufferings that I had then to endure; and as my lot, taken altogether, has been not only a favorable, but a happy one through life, and a much better one than I deserved, I have never ceased, and I trust and hope I shall never fail, to acknowledge my gratitude and to offer up my thanks to the Author of all good.

Before closing this letter I must mention a circumstance that took place some fifteen or twenty years after the events I have recorded. I was sitting in my counting-room on India Wharf writing, when Mr. John Turner Sargent, whom you doubtless recollect, came in accompanied by another gentleman, to whom he introduced me in pretty much the following manner : —

"Permit me, Mr. Perkins, to introduce an old shipmate of yours, Captain Stevens, of Philadelphia." I looked at Captain Stevens, and called up my recollection as far as I could at the moment, but did not remember to have sailed with any Captain Stevens in the course of my various voyages; and I of course observed that it must have been my brother, as I did not recollect to have ever seen Captain Stevens before. The captain smiled, and with an arch look asked me if I had forgotten him as an old shipmate on board the "William." I replied that I had entirely (for the pirate business never occurred to me). “Well,” said he, "if you have forgotten me, I shall never forget you. Don't you remember the pirate, off Gonarve, and Jack Stevens who was before the mast on board the brig 'William,' Captain P-?" You may be assured that we were not long in renewing our acquaintance. Captain Stevens had come from Philadelphia with letters of introduc tion to Mr. Sargent, and, as the latter told me, one of his first inquiries was whether I was living and where he could find me.

When I began this relation I expected to make a shorter story of it; but when one is writing of events long since gone by, the concatenation of our ideas is maintained by association. Thus one event leads to the recollection of another; and if this chain is broken, it is difficult to reunite the facts in the due course of events.

Very truly yours, etc.,

SAMUEL G. PERKINS.

The business of the Annual Meeting was then taken up, and the following reports were presented :

Report of the Council.

The Annual Report of the Council of the Society, embracing a statement of its changes and progress during the past year of its history, must necessarily, in the present instance, be brief. The condition of the Society is for the most part satisfactory and encouraging. The record of the literary and historical activity of our members during the year will be stated in detail below. Under the efficient management of our Treasurer, the mortgage on our estate has been still further reduced by the payment of six thousand dollars, leaving only four thousand dollars of the principal to be paid during the present year, — and thereby extinguishing the debt, and leaving the property of the Society free from all incumbrance. We have lost from our membership, by death, five of our members, — the Hon. James M. Robbins, of Milton; the Rev. John Langdon Sibley, of Cambridge; the Hon. Francis E. Parker, of Boston; the Rev. Nicholas Hoppin, of Cambridge; and the Hon. John J. Babson, of Gloucester. Three new members have been enrolled during the year, the Hon. Lincoln F. Brigham, of Salem; Edward Bangs, Esq., of Boston; and Samuel F. McCleary, Esq., of Boston. Only one Corresponding Member has been elected in the past year, Horatio Hale, Esq., of Clinton, Ontario, Canada. The deceased Honorary and Corresponding Members, not before reported, were Frederic Griffin, Esq., of Montreal, Canada, who died April 3, 1878; the Hon. Horatio Seymour, of Utica, New York, died Feb. 12, 1886; John Winthrop,1 Esq., of Newport, Rhode Island, died March 1 The following notice of Mr. Winthrop has been prepared by Mr. R. C. Winthrop, Jr.:

:

"John Winthrop, Esq., better known as Colonel John Winthrop, long the senior Corresponding Member of this Society, to which he was elected so far

12, 1886; and Henry Stevens, of London, England, died Feb. 28, 1886.

Of the Society work, we may report that the volume of the Sewall Letters will be ready for distribution in May. The collection of the Washington letters in the Trumbull Papers will be issued at an early date. The Index of the first twenty volumes of the Proceedings of the Society is now passing through the press.

It

The literary and historical work printed by individual members indicates a large variety of activity and of value. comprises:

Oration delivered at the Celebration of the 250th Anniversary of the Founding of the Boston Latin School, April 23, 1885. By the Rev. Phillips Brooks.

The Narragansett Planters. 1886. (See Johns Hopkins University Studies.) By Edward Channing.

The History of a Title. 1885. By Uriel F. Crocker.

Address at the Memorial Services of the Rev. Rufus Ellis. Oct.

11, 1885. By William Everett.

The Isthmus Ship Railway. By Robert Bennett Forbes.

Notes on Ships of the Past.

The New England Royalls.

By Robert Bennett Forbes. 1885. By Edward D. Harris. Groton Historical Series, Nos. 8, 9, 10. By Samuel A. Green. The Boundary Lines of Old Groton. 1885. By Samuel A. Green. A Larger History of the United States. 1886. By Thomas W. Higginson.

The First Napoleon. 1885. By John C. Ropes.

A Memorial of Stephen Salisbury. 1885. By Stephen Salisbury. Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University. Vol. III. 1885. By John Langdon Sibley.

back as Oct. 25, 1838, died at Newport, Rhode Island, March 12, 1886, aged seventy-seven. A great-grandson of the distinguished Professor John Winthrop, of Harvard College, he was a native of Boston and a graduate of Brown University; but his early life was passed in New Orleans, where he was a member of the bar and a colonel of Louisiana militia, serving in the latter capacity on the staff of General Taylor during a portion of the Mexican War. He subsequently resided many years in Europe, in Cuba, and in Rhode Island.

“A man of convivial habits and great personal popularity, he was warmly interested in this Society, of which his great-uncle Judge James Winthrop had been one of the founders. Besides occasional gifts to the Library, he communicated, at different periods, some interesting correspondence between Dr. Franklin, John Adams, and his ancestor Professor Winthrop, which is to be found in our printed volumes. He has left a widow, but no children; and the male line of this branch of the Winthrop family is now extinct." — Eds.

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