THE EMIGRANT'S SONG TO HIS WIFE. BY J. E. CARPENTER, ESQ. LET us go forth from our old home for ever! Let us go forth-from hence-far, far away. Let us go forth! I know no ties are stronger It pines on some untrodden path to stand: Let us go forth-a light is round me breaking, There is the land of promise-let us go! Let us go forth-behold our children's faces Let us the freedom they should know restore them, Let us go forth-a moment look around us, Labour has sweet reward, so let us go! Let us go forth! 'tis but the pang of leaving Think of our friendships, lost, with scarce a grieving, God made the earth for man, his wants to cherish, Nor man made He amid a crowd to perish,- (24 LEAVES FROM A LEVANTINE LOG. BY MAHMOUZ EFFENDI. I must rid all the sea of pirates. Antony and Cleopatra. August 26, 1846.-Hurrah for the East! Now take we our departure from Scilly. *Let me hurry over this part of my log; voyons-in nine days we made Cape Finisterre. Sept. 2.-Off Lisbon; next day doubled Cape St. Vincent; on the 5th made Cape Trafalgar, and ran through the Gut of Gibraltar same night. On the 7th, with a westerly breeze, passed Cape de Gat (Spain), and thence stood east by south, sighting several turtle and shoals of flying fish. *** Sept. 8.--This day the mountains of Africa have been visible from the deck, and to-morrow we expect to be abreast of the city of Algiers, where the aggressive French "have had enough of it" since June, 1830. Sept. 9.-Algiers distant seven leagues. Caught a hawk in the forerigging, which we christened "Binnacle Jack." ** ** Algerine piracy," said Millerby, one forenoon, "is now at an end, but in my opinion it will not be equally easy to put down piracy in the Levant. In that respect Otho's subjects are as bad as Malays." "True enough," added Knighton. When Karabusa was captured in '27 by the squadron under Sir Thomas Staines, some good was, we must admit, effected; but now, without half-a-dozen men-of-war-brigs, or sloops, constantly cruising between Candia and Mytelene, we shall never succeed in keeping these rascally Greeks in order. Every man-jack of them seems born a pirate. A frigate at Athens or Smyrna does but little good; it strikes no terror into their guilty souls." "Nearly twenty years have now elapsed since Karabusa was taken," said Mac Cuming, "and scarcely a single year has gone by without its authenticated tale of plunder and murder. The Grecian Archipelago has indeed many a nest of cut-throats." "Then," exclaimed Webster, we ourselves may yet fall in with an adventure before we conclude our passage into the Sea of Marmora." "Like enough," replied Millerby, "though I admit I have no stomach for such incidents. Pirates may be acceptable subjects to the novelist or the poet; they are, perhaps, well enough as food for the imagination, but in stern reality they are ugly customers to deal with. Some day I'll relate to you what befel me when a much younger man, and I had the misfortune to be carried into Napoli di Romania by a corsair. I must now go on deck to take the sun." And here Millerby, quadrant in hand, ascended the companion-ladder. "How long," asked Webster, "is it likely we shall be before sighting Candia or Cape Matapan?" "If this westerly breeze hold," replied Mac Cuming, "we may reach the Cape in about a week. Less than a week is a common passage from Malta to Cerigo." "The breeze is fresh enough at present," said Knighton, "the schooner must be going seven or eight knots. Few pirates could catch her now." "They seldom attack vessels under sail," said Mac Cuming; "formerly they had no objection to do so, but the present fashion of the Klephts appears to be to wait till a craft brings up, and then to board her at night. The Margaret was taken in this way in September, '36.” "Where?" asked Knighton. "Off Cape Janissary," replied Mac Cuming, "at the mouth of the Dardanelles, on the Asiatic or Trojan side, almost in face of Tenedos." "Did they plunder the vessel ?" asked Webster. "No; the Margaret was in ballast, but the rascals murdered the man who had the anchor-watch, and, unfortunately, and notwithstanding the unremitting exertions of the English consul, Mr. Lander, who is since dead, the pirates were never discovered. Three weeks afterwards another piracy was committed near the very same spot. I was in the Dardanelles at the time." "What was the name of the second captured vessel ?" "The Hellespont, commanded by an old friend of mine, of the name of Longridge. The affair made some noise among the merchants, and on our reaching Constantinople led to many former cases being raked up, of which I had not previously heard. I took a few notes of them, as they were from time to time mentioned at Stampa's, or appeared in English papers, and I rather think I have the memoranda on board. After we've determined our latitude I'll overhaul my writing-desk and search, but I must now join Millerby on deck, the sun should be nearly up." "Who's Stampa ?" asked Webster of Knighton, as Mac Cuming left the cabin. "Stampa-the glorious Stampa-is as well known in the Turkish capital as the sultan himself," replied Knighton. "His rank, it is true, is but that of a ship-chandler, of which useful class there are but two or three notables in the place, Stampa and Proctor, and, I think, another, but I can't recollect his name. Of Greek and such-like ship-chandlers there may be shoals for aught I know to the contrary, but the English, as a body, patronise Stampa. He was the original in the trade, has lived safely through revolutions, plague, and fire; was on the spot when the Janissaries were suppressed, or rather smashed into smithereens' in '26, and at the present moment is said to be as rich as a Jew, though it is right to say the old boy is a Christian, and one not only in name but in character. His shop is situate in the suburb of Galata, and is the grand resort of English skippers and travellers, where they quaff grog and pale ale, smoke the best tobacco, pick up the news, arrange excursions into the country, and trips to the Mussulman side of the harbour, to the tcharshees, baths, bazaars, and so on. The shop itself is what is vulgarly called an omnium gatherum, containing every thing, from vinegar to attar of roses, trinkets, cheeses, and hams, walking-sticks, ladies' slippers, and God knows what; order what you will it is obtainable through Stampa, the honest Genoese, in the turn of a handspike, or before you could say Jack Robinson. I'll introduce you, my boy, as soon as we set foot on the shores of the Golden Horn." Three raps with a handspike were at this moment suddenly heard on deck, following the cry of Mac Cuming, "Twelve o'clock, there!" "call the watch!" "heave the log!" "sound the pump!" "strike the bell!" And as soon as the third rap was given, a seaman's rough voice exclaimed, "Starboard watch ahoy! below there! do you hear the news? Twelve o'clock, you old salts-tumble up!" Though this was simply addressed to the forecastle, Knighton and Webster, the two passengers in the cabin, also went on deck to look around them. "Eight bells, gentlemen," said Millerby. 66 Now, steward, bear a-hand with the dinner," added Mac Cuming. E.S.E.," said the man at the wheel, to him of the starboard watch, who came aft to relieve him. And on an E.S.E. course the schooner was accordingly kept. "Seven knots, sir," said the apprentice, as he hauled in the log-line, which was immediately rewound upon its reel. 66 Any thing in sight?" asked Webster. "A French steamer, probably bound for Algiers," added Millerby. "And a felucca standing in, close-hauled, for the Sicilian coast-nothing else." "What's our latitude ?" inquired Knighton of Mac Cuming, who was pencilling four or five lines of figures on the weather bulwark. "Exactly thirty-eight north," was the answer. The party now fell into a quarter-deck walk, and after a few turns, during which the cabin-boy had laid the cloth for dinner, the steward received-inter alia-our favourite dish, a baked sea-pie, from the cook, and then having deposited it in due form below, announced that dinner was ready, whereupon Mac Cuming, Knighton, and Webster dived into the cabin upon gastronomic thoughts intent, while Millerby remained on watch, the whole of the men, the helmsman excepted, being also sent below to their salt junk and potatoes. By-and-bye the whole party were again on deck, taking their wine and grog (Millerby having been relieved for half-an-hour by Mac Cuming during the hour's dinner-time) and the conversation shortly turned again upon piracy. Mac Cuming had fortunately found his notes, and by these it appeared that on the 5th of October, 1836, the brig Hellespont, already alluded to, when at anchor off Cape Greco, on the European side, at the entrance of the Dardanelles, was at 9h. 30m. P. M. boarded by pirates from a boat that dropped stealthily alongside. The only person on deck was a boy, the crew having all turned in. A crowd of Greeks at once took possession of the brig, the boy, after receiving a blow from a musket, escaping below. The carpenter then tried to gain the deck, but was beaten back into the forecastle. The pirates remained on board an hour or two, loaded their boat with all the stores and provisions, and sails, and rope, on deck, did as much damage to the vessel as they could with their swords, and ultimately left her, having taken the precaution of battening down the hatches to keep the crew below as long as possible after their departure. "This piracy of the brig Hellespont," continued Mac Cuming, "occurred in October, '36, and passing on to '37, I find by my notes that in that year three piracies were committed; one in June, '37, one in August, '37, and one about Christmas, '37. The first case was that of the Thomas Crisp, an English merchantman, boarded and plundered when at anchor between Tenedos and the main; the third case in order of date was that of the Hope, of Glasgow, boarded at the same anchorage, the mate of the Hope being wounded; and the second case happened more to the southward, namely near Candia. This second case appeared in most of the English newspapers. It occurred on the 31st of August, '37. The unfortunate vessel was a Greek saccoleva, commanded by one Stamati Cocchina, bound from Canea, in Candia, to Spezzia, between Napoli di Romania and Athens. The pirates surprised the saccoleva off Candia, under the pretence of being custom-house officers. The crew, four in number, the captain, and five passengers, were all murdered except two! The vessel was scuttled and went down, but the two survivors managed to swim ashore, and five of the pirates who had gained no less. than 20,000 dollars by this capture, were ultimately taken, and after a delay of twelvemonths, executed at Zante on the 27th of November, '38. Notwithstanding this example, the years '38 and '39 were not without their piracies. In the former year, on the 1st of September, the Hendrika Elizabeth, a Dutch merchant-brig, was taken near Scio; and in '39 an Austrian brig, the Bocchese, was attacked under sail near Tenedos. In the year '40 there appears to have been a lull; I have no notes of piracy in that year," continued Mac Cuming, "though probably our consuls at Smyrna or Salonica, Syra, Athens, or Napoli di Romania, could tell a very different tale. Speaking of Napoli, I may remind you that this was the place where the guillotine was first used in Greece (soon after Otho's accession). The culprit who suffered was a pirate who had assassinated, first the captain of a caïque, then the servant of a passenger, next the passenger himself, and then to crown all he had seized the passenger's wife, carried her to an unfrequented islet, whence after some little time she was miraculously rescued by some passing ship, and the assassin brought to justice." "Had he been taken down to Malta for trial," said Knighton, "the chances are he would have been acquitted. There seems to be a most unaccountable mania at Malta for acquitting pirates. A mixed court might be established at Tenedos to try such criminals." Or "The Yankee fashion is the best," said Millerby. "A drum-head court-martial and a swing at the yard-arm, an hour after capture. 'give 'em the stem' if they attack you under way." "There "Our humanity-mongers won't allow that," said Webster. would be a fine outcry in Exeter Hall. They'll never consent to that." "Not till some pious nobleman's yacht is taken, and his family experience the tender mercies that animate the classic bosom of the regenerated Greek! D-n the Greeks, say I; they're the greatest rascals under the sun, and those only who have lived among them a year or two, can understand the extent of their rascality. Sorry enough we ought all to be that England ever helped them against the Turks. Navarino was indeed an 'untoward event."" "But how about this piracy near Scio ?" inquired Webster of Mac Cuming, thus bringing back the conversation to the point whence it had for a moment diverged. "The case near Scio," said Mac Cuming, "was that of the Hendrika Elizabeth. The Bocchese, as I said just now, was attacked under sail |
