Mr. Trunnell, Mate of the Ship "Pirate"

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Mr. Trunnell
Mate of the Ship Pirate
By T. Jenkins Hains
Author of The Wind-jammers, The Wreck of the Conemaugh, etc.
1900
To All Hands under the lee of the weather cloth this is inscribed
By some means, needless to record here, I found myself, not so many years ago, on the beach at Melbourne, in Australia.
To be on the beach is not an uncommon occurrence for a sailor in any part of the world; but, since the question is suggested, I will say that I was not a very dissipated young fellow of twenty-five, for up to that time I had never even tasted rum in any form, although I had followed the sea for seven years.
I had held a mate's berth, and as I did not care to ship before the mast on the first vessel bound out, I had remained ashore until a threatening landlord made it necessary for me to become less particular as to occupation.
It was a time when mates were plenty and men were few, so I made the rounds of the shipping houses with little hope of getting a chance to show my papers. These, together with an old quadrant, a nautical almanac, a thick pea coat, and a pipe, were all I possessed of this world's goods, and I carried the quadrant with me in case I should not succeed in signing on. I could spout it, if need be, at some broker's, and thus raise a few dollars.