Ned Myers; Or, a Life Before the Mast (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1856 edition. Excerpt: ...but a prize did she prove to be. I lost a good outfit; and after belonging to her about three weeks, here was I left naked on the shores of Ireland. I am sorry to say, my feelings were those of repining rather than of gratitude. Of religion I had hardly a notion, and I am afraid that all which had been driven into me in childhood was already lost. In this state of mind, I naturally felt more of the hardships I had endured than of the mercy that had been shown me. I look back with shame at the hardness of heart which rendered me insensible to the many mercies I had received, in escaping so often from the perils of my calling. It was three days after the wreck before I left my bed. Nothing could have been kinder than the treatment I received from those poor Irish people. Certainly no reward was before them but that which Heaven gives the merciful; and yet I could not have been more cared for had I been their own son. They fed me, nursed me, and warmed me, without receiving any other return from me than my thanks. I stayed with them three weeks, doing nothing on account of the bruises I had received. The "Susan's" had been a thorough wreck. Not enough of her could be found of which to build a launch. Her cargo was as effectually destroyed as her hull, and, to say the truth, it took but little to break her up. As for the two lads I could not get as far as the cabin in which they had been put. It was two or three miles along the coast, and having no shoes, I could not walk that distance over the sharp stones. Several messages passed between us, but I never saw a single soul that belonged to the brig, after the last look I had of Tibbits in the companion-way. A coaster passing near the cabin, and it falling calm, the fisherman went off to her, told my...