[i]
A brief and remarkable
NARRATIVE
OF THE
LIFE
And extreme Sufferings of
BARNABAS DOWNS, Jun.
Who was among the Number of thoſe who eſcaped
Death on board the Privateer Brig Arnold, James
Magee, Commander, which was caſt away near
Plymouth-Harbour, in a moſt terrible Snow-Storm,
December 26, 1778, when more than Sixty
Perſons were frozen to Death.——Containing alſo
A particular Account of ſaid Shipwreck.
Printed by E. Russell, for the Author, 1786
[ii]
Printing-Office Liberty-square, Sept. 22, 1786.
In the Preſs, and in a few Days will be publiſhed and
ready for Sale, by E. Russell, at his Office, near Liberty
Pole, by the Thouſand, Hundred, Groce or leſſer Quantity,
at the moſt reaſonable Rate:—Alſo may be had of
Mr. Benjamin Guild, at the Boſton Book-Store, near
the State-Houſe in Cornhill; Col. Ebenezer Battelle,
Bookſeller, at the London Book-Store, in Marlboro’-Street;
Mr. William Green, Bookſeller, at
Shakeſpear’s-Head, in Newbury-Street; Capt. William
Green, at his Grocery and Weſt-India Store near the
Bridge, in Boſton; Mr. Lemuel Cox, and Mr. Trumbull,
Innholder, near the Bridge, and Mr. Edward
Hayes, in Charleſton; Mr. Edward Killins, at
his Store, near the Market, in Salem; Mr. Bulkly Emerson,
at the Poſt-Office, in Newbury-Port; Mr. Alford
Butler, Bookſeller, in Portſmouth, New-Hampſhire,
and by many other Printers, Bookſellers, Shopkeepers
and Travelling-Traders in Town and Country.
BICKERSTAFF’s
GENUINE AND CORRECT
BOSTON ALMANACK,
For the Year of our Redemption, 1787.
Which will contain a great Variety of uſeful and entertaining
Matter, in Prose and Verse.
This Work will be likewiſe ornamented with a
large Number of engraved Plates, ſome of which repreſent
the twelve Signs of the Zodiack in Miniature, and the
ſeveral Employments and Diverſions of the Gentlemen
Farmers, throughout the different Seaſons of the
Year:—Alſo a curious Repreſentation of a County
Convention, debating on State-Affairs; at the Head
of the Table is a Figure of HONESTUS, that renowned
Champion and bold Atteſtor of the Liberty
of the Subject, and ſworn Enemy to Lawyers, who is
converſing with one of the Order; over his Head is a
Label with theſe Words “No Courts, no LAWYERS:”
Another Plate repreſents a very curious
and droll Scene of a large Group of the Black
Order, or the Sons of Littleton and Coke,
mounted on Jack-Aſſes, Peacocks, &c. returning from
a rich Feaſt at Concord Court, &c.
To the READER, into whoſe
Hands this Narrative may
fall; eſpecially my Seafaring
Brethren.
FRIENDS,
When any remarkable
circumſtances take place
in a man’s life, he feels
commonly a diſpoſition to communicate
them to the world: If they
have been deliverances from great
and ſignal dangers, he will make
this communication from a principle
of gratitude to the Being
who hath protected and preſerved
him: He will wiſh to engage
[iv]
others to be thankful on his behalf;
and a knowledge of the
kindneſs of Heaven to him may
lead others to truſt in GOD, when
they are brought into like diſtreſs
and danger. By theſe motives
the Subject of the following pages
hopes he is influenced in publiſhing
them to the world; which is
all the apology that may be expected
from the Publick’s diſtreſſed
Friend,
BARN. DOWNES, Jun.
Barnstable, September 10,
1786.
☞ The Author gratefully acknowledges
himſelf indebted to
a Reverend Gentleman in
Boſton for his kindneſs in correcting
the following ſheets.
[5]
A
NARRATIVE, &c.
I was born in Barnſtable,
in New-England, October 2,
1757, of credible Parents,
whom I ſerved as an obedient
Son, I hope, until the commencement of
the late war called me from my home,
and led me to exchange the occupation
of a Huſbandman, to which I was bred
for the more dangerous employment of a
Soldier. In this capacity I served my
Country 3 campaigns, and know not that
my behaviour was censured by my officers.
After having returned for a time to
the Farming-Buſineſs, I concluded to
try my fortune at ſea: I entered accordingly
on board the ſchooner Bunker-Hill,
Captain Iſaac Cobb, Commander, on a
privateering voyage: But we had not
been out more than 6 days before we
were taken by the brig Hope, one Brown,
Commander, and carried into Halifax.
We were committed to jail and kept
[6]
very ſhort: Then I was taken with the
ſmall-pox, thro’ which GOD ſafely carried
me when deſtitute of the neceſſaries
of life, and under great preſſure of mind.
But after my being recovered ſo far as to
be returned to the jail from the hoſpital,
in conſequence of my having nothing but
a ſmall allowance of ſalt proviſions, which
were next to poiſon for a ſick perſon, I
was taken with a violent fever, which
returned me again to the hoſpital, and
brought me to the gates of the grave. No
perſon who hath not experienced it can
imagine how gloomy and diſtreſſing it is
to be under ſuch circumſtances: To be
far diſtant from our deareſt Friends; to be
among perſons who are not only without
any concern for us, or intereſt in our fate,
but who are our profeſſed enemies, and
not governed even by the common principles
of humanity, is a caſe truly melancholy.
In this ſituation I was attacked
with a bleeding of the noſe, (to which I
had before been ſubject) which brought
me to the very borders of eternity!
After this I was, by the ſmiles of heaven
recovered and reſtored, by a cartel,
[7]
with 400 of my Countrymen to our own
homes. How welcome they were to us,
and how pleaſant it was to me to ſee the
faces of my Friends again, any one may
imagine more eaſily than I can deſcribe!
But tho’ I had been ſo unſucceſſful in
my firſt attempt at ſea, I could not reſiſt
the inclination I had to try once more
what Providence would do for me: I left
my native place, went to Boſton, and entered
on board the brig Arnold, James Magee,
Commander. I well remember I
felt an unusual dejection when I entered
on this undertaking; and tho’ I pretend
not to ſay that this foreboded the miſfortunes
I was to meet with in this fatal
veſſel, yet I have often reflected upon
it ſince with a degree of admiration.
While the brig lay in the harbour, I
attempted with ſome other hands to go on
board another veſſel in a ſmall boat, but
the wind ſuddenly riſing we were in danger
of being drowned; the boat run on
Governor’s-Iſland, and we were obliged to
ſtay there 24 hours before we could get
off. Providence preſerved my life in this
danger, in order that I might live thro’
greater, and teſtify to his loving kindneſs
and mercy.
[8]
On December 24, 1778, Capt. Magee
ſailed from Boſton: We had been at ſea
but a few hours, when a moſt terrible
gale of wind aroſe, ſo that the water was
almoſt knee deep on the leeward ſide
of the quarter-deck. We continued
in the Bay that day and the night following,
but on the next day we got into
Plymouth. The wind was abated,
but the cold was ſevere and intenſe
beyond deſcription. We came to anchor
a little below Beach-Point, in the
Harbour of Plymouth.
On Saturday, December 26, about
6 o’clock in the morning, from the violent
motion of the ſea, the brig ſtruck the
bottom as tho’ it would drive her keel
in. As there was not depth of water
enough to work the veſſel in the place
where we lay, and we ſaw a heavy ſtorm
coming on, our Commander thought it
beſt to cut our cables and let her drive,
which was immediately done. The
ſtorm increaſed very faſt, ſo that we
were obliged to cut away the main-maſt,
and we drifted upon an hard flat
a little to the weſtward of Beach-Point.
[9]
This was early on Saturday morning, and
we now laboured hard in throwing over our
wood and getting our guns off the decks into
the hold, but the veſſel began to leak very
faſt, and with every motion of the ſea ſhe
ſtruck the bottom as tho’ ſhe would ſplit in
pieces. We kept 2 pumps going, but could
not gain upon the water. The ſtorm now
increaſed to a moſt prodigious degree: It
ſnowed ſo thick that we could ſee but a very
little way from the brig, and the cold was
extreme; we continued hard at work all day
without eating or drinking any thing ſcarcely,
having but little appetite with the proſpect
of death continually before our eyes.
Until now we had hopes of eſcape, but
juſt before night we looked into the hold
and ſaw the caſks floating about; this drove
us to deſpair, and we forſook the pumps
without a ray of hope but from the immediate
interpoſition of divine Providence.
Many of the people now began to pray, and
I went into the cabbin and ſat upon one of
the gun-carriages. I had not been there
long before I ſaw cheſts floating about, and
perceived that the tide was flowing on us very
faſt; by direction of the Capt. all left the
cabbin and came upon the quarter-deck.
It is not poſſible to deſcribe my ſenſations
at this period; death appeared inevitable,
and we waited every moment for its
[10]
approach! Even now, when I recollect my
feelings it is difficult to ſteady my pen!
And indeed I had ground enough for my
apprehenſions, for we had not been long
upon the quarter-deck before the water upon
the main-deck was even with it. Our
fore-maſt was ſtill ſtanding, which cauſed
the veſſel to roll very much, but when we
had cut that away ſhe lay ſtiller. The brig
now lay ſunk; the tide was flowing faſt
and the ſea broke very heavily over us.
We were all upon the quarter-deck, and
the water came in upon us ancle deep.
There was a ſail in the netting upon the
windward-quarter, which we contrived to
laſh over us, but there were ſo many under
it that we ſhould have been ſtifled for want
of breath, if we had not cut places to let in
the air. The tide was then about at its
height but the ſtorm did not abate. There
was nothing to be heard around but ſcreeches,
groans and deep lamentations for
themſelves and their families, and earneſt
cries to GOD for mercy and relief!
There was ſuch a croud upon the quarter
deck we could not ſtand up without treading
upon one another. Being in a ſtruggle
I was thrown down and trampled upon as if
the breath would be crouded out of my body:
However I ſoon recovered my feet
and trampled upon others in my turn; for
[11]
the immediate regard which every man had
to his own life prevented him from attending
to the diſtreſſes of his neighbours!
Struggling in this manner and trying
to clear ourſelves from thoſe who fell
down had pulled off moſt of our ſhoes, and
the wet and cold ſoon froze our feet. Nature
could ſuſtain it no longer and the people
began to die all around me. Capt. John
Ruſſell of Barnſtable was the firſt of thoſe
with whom I was acquainted that died, but
many others ſoon followed him. Fatigue
and diſtreſs, added to the extreme cold and
deſpair of relief, put a period to the lives of
great numbers. Thoſe who were able to
ſtand were obliged to huddle up cloſe together,
and breathe in each other’s faces to
preſerve them from freezing to death, while
their comrades were dying around them all
night. In the morning a moſt awful ſight
preſented itſelf to us; 60 of our Comrades
lay dead acroſs each other, and but 2 of
my Townſmen were among the living!
On Lord’s-Day, Dec. 27, the ſtorm
abated and the ſun appeared clear, but the
ſevere cold ſtill continued. We ſaw Plymouth
and a number of people coming along
the ſhore for our relief: We could diſcern
them puſh off two boats and make an hard
trial to come to us, but the harbour was ſo
full of ice they could not reach us: We ſaw
[12]
them return and it gave us an inexpreſſible
ſhock. The elevation which their appearance
gave us tended to ſink us the lower.
Our ſituation was very gloomy; we had
little to ſupport nature except rum; no
ſhoes on our feet, and very much frozen;
the Heavens was our only covering!
I retained my ſenſes until about 2 o’clock
on Lord’s-Day, but was then deprived of
them and lay on the quarter-deck until the
next day, when a boat got to us in order to
carry the living aſhore, which amounted
only to 32. When they were looking
around to collect the ſurvivors, they at
firſt ſuppoſed me to be dead, but ſeeing one
of my eye-lids move they took me up and
laying me in the boat carried me aſhore.
I was carried to Mr. Bartlet’s tavern,
whoſe kindneſs to me I would thus publickly
acknowledge, and hope I ſhall always remember
with gratitude. My cloaths were
firſt cut from off me and I was put into cold
water in order to take out the froſt: I was
then placed in bed and having my teeth
forced open had ſome cordials poured down
my throat, but I have no remembrance of
any of theſe tranſactions, for I lay perfectly
ſenſeleſs until 2 o’clock on Monday,
when my ſenſes came to me at once. My
eyes were not open, but I heard the voices
of perſons talking around me, and the
[13]
firſt idea which ſtruck me was, that I was
ſtill on board the brig, but that a boat
come to our relief. I ſoon however opened
my eyes and was informed of what
had happened and where I then was.
I recovered gradually, but was obliged
to paſs thro’ the painful operation of having
ſome of my limbs ſeperated from my
body: But after all theſe diſtreſſes I am
ſtill among the living to praiſe GOD! Let
my ſpared life be devoted to his ſervice,
and may I ever be mindful of his benefits!
Names of the Deceas’d belonging to Barnſtable.
Capt. John Ruſſell, Barn. Lothrop, Daniel
Hall, Tho. Caſley, Eben. Bacon, Jaſey Garritt,
John Berry, Barnabas Howes, Stephen
Bacon, Jon. Lothrop, Boſton, a Negro Man.