A Voyage of William Belshaw ~ Paperback ~ William Belshaw

A Voyage of William Belshaw ~ Paperback ~ William Belshaw
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Excerpt from A Voyage of William Belshaw: A Native of Liverpool, Up the Mediterranean, Published in 1839 I was born in the year 1802, on the 27th day of May, of honest and industrious parents. About the age of eleven years, I engaged myself on board a vessel upon trial as an apprentice. We put to sea, but our ship springing a dangerous leak, we were obliged to put back to Liverpool, the port from which we started, where we got a thorough repair. My parents were soon aware of my disposition, and though my mother objected to my following such a dangerous life, yet my father seemed determined I should go; and though the brig was only destined for Dublin, he believed this short trip would give me enough of the disasters of a seafaring life. Indeed I was not anxious to venture again in this vessel, she was so old and creaky, and as a new ship was then about to sail to the West Indies, I was determined to run away from the former, and join the latter. I did so, but fearing to return for my parents, I absented myself from home for two days; at the end of which, hunger compelled me to return, and gladly my poor mother received me with open arms, as she had just beard that the ship was lost, and all hands on board had perished. Both my father and mother thought from the dangers I had encountered that I should think no more of going to sea - still I was determined. My mother, kind-hearted soul, persuaded me to go to some trade.1 was first put to a watchmaker, and successively to a shoemaker and a trunk maker. Her care of me was in vain, for to sea I would go; and as she found it would be in vain to stop me, interceded with a captain who was boarding at my aunts, and bound me to him for five years; thinking as he was paying his addresses to my aunt's daughter, be won't treat me more kindly. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.