Self Help by Samuel Smiles (desktop ebook reader txt) 📖

means, after which he set up a little shipbuilding yard of

his own, built a ship, and, putting to sea in her, he engaged in

the lumber trade, which he carried on in a plodding and laborious

way for the space of about ten years.

 

It happened that one day, whilst passing through the crooked

streets of old Boston, he overheard some sailors talking to each

other of a wreck which had just taken place off the Bahamas; that

of a Spanish ship, supposed to have much money on board. His

adventurous spirit was at once kindled, and getting together a

likely crew without loss of time, he set sail for the Bahamas. The

wreck being well in-shore, he easily found it, and succeeded in

recovering a great deal of its cargo, but very little money; and

the result was, that he barely defrayed his expenses. His success

had been such, however, as to stimulate his enterprising spirit;

and when he was told of another and far more richly laden vessel

which had been wrecked near Port de la Plata more than half a

century before, he forthwith formed the resolution of raising the

wreck, or at all events of fishing up the treasure.

 

Being too poor, however, to undertake such an enterprise without

powerful help, he set sail for England in the hope that he might

there obtain it. The fame of his success in raising the wreck off

the Bahamas had already preceded him. He applied direct to the

Government. By his urgent enthusiasm, he succeeded in overcoming

the usual inertia of official minds; and Charles II. eventually

placed at his disposal the “Rose Algier,” a ship of eighteen guns

and ninety-five men, appointing him to the chief command.

 

Phipps then set sail to find the Spanish ship and fish up the

treasure. He reached the coast of Hispaniola in safety; but how to

find the sunken ship was the great difficulty. The fact of the

wreck was more than fifty years old; and Phipps had only the

traditionary rumours of the event to work upon. There was a wide

coast to explore, and an outspread ocean without any trace whatever

of the argosy which lay somewhere at its bottom. But the man was

stout in heart and full of hope. He set his seamen to work to drag

along the coast, and for weeks they went on fishing up seaweed,

shingle, and bits of rock. No occupation could be more trying to

seamen, and they began to grumble one to another, and to whisper

that the man in command had brought them on a fool’s errand.

 

At length the murmurers gained head, and the men broke into open

mutiny. A body of them rushed one day on to the quarter-deck, and

demanded that the voyage should be relinquished. Phipps, however,

was not a man to be intimidated; he seized the ringleaders, and

sent the others back to their duty. It became necessary to bring

the ship to anchor close to a small island for the purpose of

repairs; and, to lighten her, the chief part of the stores was

landed. Discontent still increasing amongst the crew, a new plot

was laid amongst the men on shore to seize the ship, throw Phipps

overboard, and start on a piratical cruize against the Spaniards in

the South Seas. But it was necessary to secure the services of the

chief ship carpenter, who was consequently made privy to the pilot.

This man proved faithful, and at once told the captain of his

danger. Summoning about him those whom he knew to be loyal, Phipps

had the ship’s guns loaded which commanded the shore, and ordered

the bridge communicating with the vessel to be drawn up. When the

mutineers made their appearance, the captain hailed them, and told

the men he would fire upon them if they approached the stores

(still on land),—when they drew back; on which Phipps had the

stores reshipped under cover of his guns. The mutineers, fearful

of being left upon the barren island, threw down their arms and

implored to be permitted to return to their duty. The request was

granted, and suitable precautions were taken against future

mischief. Phipps, however, took the first opportunity of landing

the mutinous part of the crew, and engaging other men in their

places; but, by the time that he could again proceed actively with

his explorations, he found it absolutely necessary to proceed to

England for the purpose of repairing the ship. He had now,

however, gained more precise information as to the spot where the

Spanish treasure ship had sunk; and, though as yet baffled, he was

more confident than ever of the eventual success of his enterprise.

 

Returned to London, Phipps reported the result of his voyage to the

Admiralty, who professed to be pleased with his exertions; but he

had been unsuccessful, and they would not entrust him with another

king’s ship. James II. was now on the throne, and the Government

was in trouble; so Phipps and his golden project appealed to them

in vain. He next tried to raise the requisite means by a public

subscription. At first he was laughed at; but his ceaseless

importunity at length prevailed, and after four years’ dinning of

his project into the ears of the great and influential—during

which time he lived in poverty—he at length succeeded. A company

was formed in twenty shares, the Duke of Albermarle, son of General

Monk, taking the chief interest in it, and subscribing the

principal part of the necessary fund for the prosecution of the

enterprise.

 

Like Foley, Phipps proved more fortunate in his second voyage than

in his first. The ship arrived without accident at Port de la

Plata, in the neighbourhood of the reef of rocks supposed to have

been the scene of the wreck. His first object was to build a stout

boat capable of carrying eight or ten oars, in constructing which

Phipps used the adze himself. It is also said that he constructed

a machine for the purpose of exploring the bottom of the sea

similar to what is now known as the Diving Bell. Such a machine

was found referred to in books, but Phipps knew little of books,

and may be said to have re-invented the apparatus for his own use.

He also engaged Indian divers, whose feats of diving for pearls,

and in submarine operations, were very remarkable. The tender and

boat having been taken to the reef, the men were set to work, the

diving bell was sunk, and the various modes of dragging the bottom

of the sea were employed continuously for many weeks, but without

any prospect of success. Phipps, however, held on valiantly,

hoping almost against hope. At length, one day, a sailor, looking

over the boat’s side down into the clear water, observed a curious

sea-plant growing in what appeared to be a crevice of the rock; and

he called upon an Indian diver to go down and fetch it for him. On

the red man coming up with the weed, he reported that a number of

ships guns were lying in the same place. The intelligence was at

first received with incredulity, but on further investigation it

proved to be correct. Search was made, and presently a diver came

up with a solid bar of silver in his arms. When Phipps was shown

it, he exclaimed, “Thanks be to God! we are all made men.” Diving

bell and divers now went to work with a will, and in a few days,

treasure was brought up to the value of about 300,000 pounds, with

which Phipps set sail for England. On his arrival, it was urged

upon the king that he should seize the ship and its cargo, under

the pretence that Phipps, when soliciting his Majesty’s permission,

had not given accurate information respecting the business. But

the king replied, that he knew Phipps to be an honest man, and that

he and his friends should divide the whole treasure amongst them,

even though he had returned with double the value. Phipps’s share

was about 20,000 pounds, and the king, to show his approval of his

energy and honesty in conducting the enterprise, conferred upon him

the honour of knighthood. He was also made High Sheriff of New

England; and during the time he held the office, he did valiant

service for the mother country and the colonists against the

French, by expeditions against Port Royal and Quebec. He also held

the post of Governor of Massachusetts, from which he returned to

England, and died in London in 1695.

 

Phipps throughout the latter part of his career, was not ashamed to

allude to the lowness of his origin, and it was matter of honest

pride to him that he had risen from the condition of common ship

carpenter to the honours of knighthood and the government of a

province. When perplexed with public business, he would often

declare that it would be easier for him to go back to his broad axe

again. He left behind him a character for probity, honesty,

patriotism, and courage, which is certainly not the least noble

inheritance of the house of Normanby.

 

William Petty, the founder of the house of Lansdowne, was a man of

like energy and public usefulness in his day. He was the son of a

clothier in humble circumstances, at Romsey, in Hampshire, where he

was born in 1623. In his boyhood he obtained a tolerable education

at the grammar school of his native town; after which he determined

to improve himself by study at the University of Caen, in Normandy.

Whilst there he contrived to support himself unassisted by his

father, carrying on a sort of small pedler’s trade with “a little

stock of merchandise.” Returning to England, he had himself bound

apprentice to a sea captain, who “drubbed him with a rope’s end”

for the badness of his sight. He left the navy in disgust, taking

to the study of medicine. When at Paris he engaged in dissection,

during which time he also drew diagrams for Hobbes, who was then

writing his treatise on Optics. He was reduced to such poverty

that he subsisted for two or three weeks entirely on walnuts. But

again he began to trade in a small way, turning an honest penny,

and he was enabled shortly to return to England with money in his

pocket. Being of an ingenious mechanical turn, we find him taking

out a patent for a letter-copying machine. He began to write upon

the arts and sciences, and practised chemistry and physic with such

success that his reputation shortly became considerable.

Associating with men of science, the project of forming a Society

for its prosecution was discussed, and the first meetings of the

infant Royal Society were held at his lodgings. At Oxford he acted

for a time as deputy to the anatomical professor there, who had a

great repugnance to dissection. In 1652 his industry was rewarded

by the appointment of physician to the army in Ireland, whither he

went; and whilst there he was the medical attendant of three

successive lords-lieutenant, Lambert, Fleetwood, and Henry

Cromwell. Large grants of forfeited land having been awarded to

the Puritan soldiery, Petty observed that the lands were very

inaccurately measured; and in the midst of his many avocations he

undertook to do the work himself. His appointments became so

numerous and lucrative that he was charged by the envious with

corruption, and removed from them all; but he was again taken into

favour at the Restoration.

 

Petty was a most indefatigable contriver, inventor, and organizer

of industry. One of his inventions was a double-bottomed ship, to

sail against wind and tide. He published treatises on dyeing, on

naval philosophy, on woollen cloth manufacture, on political

arithmetic, and many other subjects. He founded iron works, opened

lead mines, and