A voyage to South America, with an account of a shipwreck in the river La Plata, in the year 1817

WITH AN ACCOUNT OF A SHIPWRECK IN THE RIVER LA PLATA, IN THE YEAR 1817.
By the Sole Surviver.
BOSTON: PRINTED BY INGRAHAM AND HEWES 1826.


The haste in which the former edition of this little journal was written and sent to the press, produced several errors and omissions, which, in this, I have endeavored to correct and supply; adding, also, a short account of the situation, population and customs of those places mentioned in the narrative.
No spectacle on earth, perhaps, which the eye of man can witness, is fraught with so much interest, sublimity and terror, and no situation is so awful and appalling, as a midnight shipwreck at sea. In my youth, I read, with unsatiated avidity, the voyages and disasters of the adventurous seaman, and I believe the desire for such information is planted in every human heart.
The remarkable event of one only surviving, in a total shipwreck, naturally awakens a curiosity to learn the particulars, and by what extra chances he alone fortunately reached the shore. The following is a tale of this complexion,
‘Torn from the bosom of the raging sea.’
A few words in its defence are now necessary. Several persons have indirectly expressed their disbelief, totally or in part, of the events I have related, and have probably been so induced, from a few strained expressions which occur in the relation. These should have been overlooked in a tale which should have been penned with
‘Thoughts that breathe and words that burn.’