Roxbury, Jan. 31st, 1846.

My dear little Grandson,

In my last,I had brought the good ship Eliza safe into Nantasket Roads; I will now proceed with my story --  upon after our arrival, we received a visit, from the Doctor stationed at Rainsford Island; he advised our Captain to have the sick, immediately landed upon the Island, that they might have proper medical treatment; many of the poor fellows were thought to be beyond the hope of recovery, and yet they did recover, and that very soon after being landed upon the Island; most of them were obliged to be buried in the fresh earth, up to their chins; this was then, the method resorted to, for the purpose of curing the scurvey, and in the cases alluded to, produced the happiest effect -- After landing the sick, we proceeded to town with the ship, and laid her alongside of "Foster's Wharf", and got all things in readiness to discharge the cargo.

According to custom, the voyage being now at an end, the crew were dis- charged and paid off -- I had the happiness to hear that my friends were all well, I was, of course, extremely impatient to see them, but was unable to leave the ship, for some time after our arrival, in Boston; in the mean time, as I wanted to make as respectable an appearance as possible, on my return home, and my clothes being nearly worn out, I went to a tailor and procured a complete "fit out" of new clothes, consisting of a neat, handsome, superfine blue broad-cloth coat with bright gilt buttons, - blue broad-cloth pantaloons, a fine white vest, &c. &c. and being now well rigged off, honourably discharged, and paid off, the time has arrived for me to return home. Well, I am now going on board the "Eliza" once more, for that "little red chest", and other things, that I have on board, and if you please, you may go with me. Now we are on our way, with a man, and a hand cart, to take my effects to the Gloucester stage-office -- We have reached the ship;- take care, don't fall, going up the side, we are safe on board, step into the Cabin; there is no time to lose; handcart man, that is the chest, I will help you put it on the wharf, be careful how you handle that box of China -- All is now safe on the cart, perhaps you would like to go with me to the Gloucester Stage office, and see me safe off; well, come along, now we are there; don't you see the "little chest", strapped on behind the coach, well, all is now ready, and I am on my "winding way" for home -- after an interesting journey from Charlestown, Malden, Lynn, Danvers, Salem, Beverly and Manchester, old Cape Ann appeared in sight, and right glad was I, once more to behold those venerable, moss-covered rocks; and now old Eastern Point appeared in view, covered with its grove of stately oaks, and Ten Pound island, the school boy's “tiny world" dedicated to fun, and frolic, now attracts my eye, and awakens the remembrance of "joys departed never to return" -- It is now near sunset, all is calm and quiet, the distance between me and my dear sisters 1s rapidly diminishing, and now, the coach is at my Grandfather's door, the happy  faces of those dear objects of my love, are the first to greet me with their smiles; I will say no more; the joy of that meeting, can be better imagined than described; to sum all up, in a few words, never were three happier beings, than we three were, on that joyful evening -- My old Grandfather met me with silent, but powerful indications of joy, his heart seemed too full for utterance, and the tear of Joy rolled down his furrowed cheek -- I received a happy greeting, a cordial shake of the hand, and welcome home, from every one I met -- All this you can imagine was truly: delightful. I was now one of the happiest little fellows to be found anywhere along shore, and felt myself of considerable consequence; I had been to China, which in those days, was a great thing, but now, it is thought nothing of. You will now, I presume, like to know, how my adventure turned out. You doubtless recollect, I invested my money principally, in Ladies Parasols, (or what are now called sunshades), this proved a fortunate: invVestment, they were in the height of fashion, and sold at an immense profit, they cost half a dollar a piece, and sold for one dollar and three quarters; my silk handkerchiefs did not sell so well, but yet they paid a good profit so the result of the whole voyage, in a pecudiary point of view, was better than I had any right to expect, and in everything else, I had more than realized my expectations -~ The little presents for my sisters gave them much pleasure, not so much for their intrinsic value, as for the proof it gave them, of my kind remembrance -- My sister Amelia was highly delighted With the tea set of China, marked with her name, it was unexpected, and gave her more pleasure on that account -- My time was now occupied for several weeks, in visiting my friends, and in amusements, such as riding, fishing, &c. &c., all of which, to a certain extent, was necessary after returning from so long a voyage. The time however, soon arrived, when things more important must be thought of. I had now made up my mind to follow the sea for a livelihood, and felt that I had no time to waste in idleness, and now the question was, how my time could be profitably employed, while waiting for another good opportunity to go to sea, this question I soon answered for myself — Go to school, perfect yourself in the theory of navigation, was the answer "myself" gave to "myself". So I sought out good old Master Moore, and placed myself under his tuition, and pursued with avidity all the requisite studies -- I will now stop here, and look back upon my voyage to China; perhaps I can call to mind some more of the incidents of that voyage, that may amuse and interest you.

I was on board the ship in Boston about a week before we sailed for Canton, during that time several amusing scenes took place, between the old sailors, and what are termed the "green hands", this term means, those that have never been at sea -- One day, two tall chaps from the country, came on board, from their appearance it was evident they had never been on board a ship before, their queer remarks were quite a source of merriment to all on board; one of them happened to look down the main hatchway, when with great surprise, he called out to his friend, "I du declare! now, only look here, if she aint as holler as 4 pumpkin shell" -- About this time the Captain came on board, when one of them seeing him, and being told he was the Capt., without further ceremony, addressed him thus, "Captain, I make account, I want to speak to you" - "Well", says the Captain, "what have you got to say?" - "Why Captain? I have a notion of going to sea, and want to know if you will take me, and my brother, along with you". "I am in want of sailors," said the Capt., "have you been to sea?" - “Why I can't really say we have actually been to sea, we have been in a boat on our pond, and have been once to mill, and twice a blackberrying" - "If that is true’, said the Capt., "you must be pretty good sailors, and as you appear like good stout lads, and I am in want of some "green hands", you can come on board in the morning, and go to work". -- So when the morning came, these two green horns made their appearance on board, they were dressed in a manner to excite a great deal of laughter, and fun, among the old sailors — they had on light grey pantaloons, buttoned on the sides, from the ankle to the knee made of coarse "homespun cloth", as it was then called, their coats were of the same material; made very long, with large pewter buttons — their appearance as you may imagine, caused a great deal of mirth and ridicule. -- The Boatswain met them as they came over the side of the ship, and addressed them thus; "Well, my lads, you have come on board to work, have you?" -- "Yes we have" -- "And do you know the first thing you have to do? -- "No we don't." --  "Well, I will tell you, the first thing you have to do, is to take a good,  sharp knife, and cut off the tails of your coats-" This they did not seem much inclined to do, but after awhile, consented to have their tails cut off; so the Boatswain, with a good sharp knife trimmed them off, pretty close, and having finished docking them; told them, to prevent their tails growing out again, they must take off their coats, and dip the ends of them, in a bucket of tar, which they accordingly did, and they now made a most ludricrous appearance; it was not long, however, before they found it necessary, to put on the costume of sailors, this being the first step towards becoming sallors; this, you must know, at that time was a short blue broad cloth jacket, with small gilt buttons, very close together, wide white trowsers, a blue check shirt, black silk neck cloth, tied carelessly round the neck, a small black hat, long quartered shoes, and figured stockings; the hair cued down the back with a black ribbon, in a cue, sometimes a foot and a half long -- Now to be sure, it was not right, to turn these poor fellows into ridicule, but, as the song goes:

"Sailors, they must have their jokes

But they love and feel, like other folks."

And these same lads in their turn, had their jokes before the voyage ended; each of them became a first rate seaman, and many times afterwards, and the laugh upon those, that had at first acquaintance, turned them into ridicule -- Our crew was made up, of about one half the number, able seamen, and the other half "green hands", among which many amusing occurrences took place, but it was a great while ago, and they are obliterated from my memory -- One more amusing circumstance, I can remember --

We had been at sea about a week, during which time the weather had been very bad indeed, and our crew were nearly exhausted, especially the "green hands", when one evening, one of them came upon the quarter deck, where the Captain was walking, and addressed him thus; "Captain, this is a bad night, and not fit weather for a dog to be on deck, if you will give me a sea cake, I'll eat it raw, and go to bunk, for I'm as wet as a dam; you needn't pay me any wages for tonight;" this address set the Capt., mate and all the watch, into a roar of laughter -- The chap that put up this petition, in so piteous a manner, was more of a wag than a fool; he produced some moments of merriment, which was all he expected.

When we entered the Straits of Malacca, on our passage to China, we came very near losing our ship, and probably our lives, on the island of Sumatra-- We had been a long time looking out for the land, our *reckoning” as it is termed being very imperfect, for at that time, you must know, we were obliged to find our longitude in quite a different manner, from that now in use -- The improvements in the art of Navigation, since that time, have been very great; we had no Chronometer, no suitable instruments for ascertaining the longitude, by lunar observations, no lunar tables, such as are now in use, in short we had nothing but the old-fashioned "dead reckoning", which often in long voyages, is many degrees out of the way -- in running for the land, there are many appearances a long distance from the land, that indicate the approach to it, such as logs of wood, whole trees, land birds, water snakes, &c. &c. - the evening previous to our "making the land", (this is a seaman's mode of expressing himself, which means seeing the land), we saw lights, appearing like fires on shore, in the direction where wevwere looking for the land, and we felt quite sure we should see the land in the morning - As soon as it was light, our expectations were realized, the land was in full view, and not a great distance off, which proved to be Achim Head, on the Island of Sumatra; at this time we were running in, with a moderate breeze, and fast coming up with the land -- All hands now went to breakfast, there being no appearance of an immediate change of weather, except what appeared like a light "squall", slowly rising; they had not been long at breakfast however, before we were struck by one of the most violent tornadoes, that I ever witnessed, pressing the ship directly on shore, carrying away the main top-mast by the board, splitting our sails, and rendering the ship a complete unmanageable wreck, in sails, and rigging; our distance from the shore was so short, that our situation was truly deplorable, there appeared to be no alternative but to go on shore, when as a kind providence would have it, the wind suddenly changed, and blew directly off the land, we were now safe, the wind moderated, the weather cleared up, and all hands went to work, repairing damages -- If the wind had not changed at the time it did, and had continued blowing hard, half an hour longer, we should have been stranded upon the inhospitable Island of Sumatra, where we should have perished, or fallen into the hands of the Malays; if we had been made captives by them, our sufferings would have been insupportable, and it is more than provable, not one of our number, would have survived, to tell the melancholy tale - this was one of the many hair-breadth escapes, so incident to a seafaring life --

The night I passed at the Factory in Canton, one of our sailors that was up at Canton on liberty, received a severe wound on the head, inflicted by a Chinaman, that came very near depriving him of life -- There was a place in Canton, at that time, called "hog lane", in which place, there were two drinking houses, one kept by a Chinaman, named by the sailors, "Jemmy Good Tom", the other was likewise kept by a Chinaman, and named by the same Godfathers, "Jemmy Jack Kane". -- These house were resorted to by the sailors, for the purpose of procuring, that miserable intoxicating liquor, said to be distilled from rice, and is, no doubt, without exception the worst kind of intoxicating drink -- Sailors, however at that time, could not be kept from drinking it, and often suffered sadly for their folly -- The sailor alluded to, had received that day, 17 spanish dollars from the Capt. it being one month's pay, (this, by the bye was paid to each of the sailors, in fulfilment of their agreement), with this money, in the pocket of his nankeen trowsers, he went to "Jemmy Good Tom's" to regale himself with a drink of "Sam shu punch", there he stayed until evening, drinking pretty freely, with his ship mates, at length the evening being far advanced he was about leaving, with the intention of returning to the Factory for the night, when on stepping out of the door, a rascally Chinaman, threw a handful of pepper into his eyes, took hold of the pocket of his trowsers, where his money was, gave him a severe blow upon the head with a club, tore away his pocket, and with it one leg of his trowsers, and all his money, laying him on the ground weltering in his blood; some of his shipmates helped him up, and brought him to the Factory, a sight horrible to benold, a large gash in his head, the blood running down his face, his clothes torn off, and quite senseless -- The necessary care and attention was bestowed upon him, and as soon as he was able, he returned on board the ship, but it was a long time before he entirely recovered, His name was William Cobb, an Englishman, I believe, by birth. By this time no doubt you have a curiosity to know how sailors live, what their fare is, where they sleep &c. &c.; Well, I will endeavor to tell you -- there are generally two apartments in Merchant Ships, one of which is called the Cabin, this is the Capt.'s and officers' apartment, the other is called the forecastie, this is the sailors' apartment; the first is in the after-part of the ship, the other in the forward part - in our own ship there was another apartment, called the steerage, this was forward of the Cabin, and adjoining it, and was occupied by the Boatswain, Gunner, Carpenter, and steward -- Places to sleep in called berths, were built up on the side of the ship, generally six feet, two inches long, and three and a half feet wide, In these berths two sailors could sleep, and did have to sleep in port, but at sea, as only half of the crew slept at a time, each sailor slept by himself - this arrangement applies to the forecastle; in the cabin and steerage, there were state rooms, very comfortably and conveniently arranged -- The crew soon after sailing were divided into watches, renamed the starboard and larboard watch; the starboard was, (and always is), the Captain's watch; the larboard the chief mate's watch -- The second mate has charge of the Captain's watch, when the Capt. is off deck -- The watches on board ship are as follows, viz: From 12 noon to 4 P.M., from 4 P.M. to 6 P.M., from 6 P.M. to 8 P.M., from 8 P.M. to 12 midnight, from 12 midnight to 4 A.M., from 4 A.M. to 8 A.M., from 8 A.M. to 12 Meridian -- The two watches from 4 P.M. to 6 P.M., and 6 P.M. to 8 P.M., are called the dog watches, by this arrangement a change is produced, that gives the watch, having four hours on deck to night, and eight hours below, tomorrow night, eight hours on deck and four hours, below -- On board some ships, the men are made to work very hard, all hands being kept on deck, at work through the day, from 8 o'clock in the morning, until 6 in the evening; on board some ships, they allow the watch below in the forenoon and all hands on deck in the afternoon -- On board our ship, the crew being large, and not having a great deal of work to do, the Captain allowed them, watch and watch, most of the time, this afforded them a great deal of leisure to mend and wash their clothes, keep the forecastle clean &c. &c.

 Many of them employed their time, in reading such books, as they could borrow from the officers, and I had some myself, that I used to lend them - several of them I taught to write, and read, and some of them made good proficiency in Arithmetic - as you see I was quite a little schoolmaster among them, they all respected me, and treated me more like man than a boy, I always found a friend in every one on board -- I was well paid, for my endeavors to be useful -- The sailors' fare at sea, was as follows - viz:

Monday - beef and potatoes, or rice -

Tuesday - pork and beans -

Wednesday - Beef and rice -

Thursday - Beef and pudding -

Friday - Pork and beans -

Saturday - Salt fish and potatoes -

Sunday - Beef and pudding -

Mornings for breakfast, Coffee, sweetened with Molasses, or Chocolate

Evenings - Tea, sweetened with molasses, sometimes in room of tea, rice and molasses, or mush and molasses -- The Capt. and officers fared the same, excepting that what they had, was better cooked, and in their tea and coffee they had sugar; besides which, they usually had many comfortable things, that sailors never have -- We had pigs and poultry on board; the poultry, was altogether for the Captain's table; when.a pig Was killed, the sailors had a share of it, which was made into a sea pie. In port,fresh provisions and vegetables were provided for all on board -- As potatoes and other vegetables last but a short time, at sea; on long voyages, in warm climates, rice is generally used as a substitute -- Our bread was what is called pilot bread made of good flour, and during the first part the voyage was very good, but towards the end of the voyage, owing to dampness, it was infected with weavels and long white worms, which were - very disgusting to look upon, and the bread was quite unpalatable -- Our beef and pork the first part of the voyage was hardly passable, the latter part of the voyage it was very bad indeed, and we suffered much on account of it -- our Captain was. not very liberal in regard to providing fresh stock, such as pigs, fowls, &c. - consequently our fare taken altogether during the time we were at sea, was hard and unwholesome --

I have now anticipated and answered many of your questions, there are many more, but I shall not have time to answer them; my story must necessarily be a long one, and I find it impossible, to enter minutely into particulars --

Notwithstanding the hard fare, and various hardships, incident to a sea life, my health Was good, during the voyage, and I became quite a strong, stout lad, and felt able to do the duty of a seaman, on board any ship -- I am now at the end of my third letter - do you feel interested in these prosey relations? I fear you do not.

Your affectionate Grandfather

E. S.