While they lay at Lisbon, she often went on Shore in Company with the Ships Crew, upon Parties of Pleasure, and was always their Companion in their Revellings; this Part she acted, not out of Choice, but for wise Ends. She remember’d in what Manner she had been reflected upon by them during the Voyage from St. David’s to Lisbon, therefore she pointed out this Method as the most effectual, to prevent any further suspicious Reflections for the future. She very wisely judged, that by associating herself with them, by shewing a free and chearful Disposition, and by being ready to come into their Measures, she should banish from their Imaginations the least Suspicion of her being a Woman, and by that Means enjoy a free and uninterrupted Passage to her native Country, without discovering her Sex. There was one of the Ship’s Crew, named Edward Jefferies, an intimate Acquaintance, a Marine, and Mess-mate of her’s; they two had contracted an Acquaintance and Familiarity with two young Women in Lisbon, the handsomest of which was the favourite of our Heroine; but Jefferies taking a greater liking to her Choice than his own, proposed to toss up who should have her, which she readily agreed to, not caring how soon she should be rid of such a Companion: This Jefferies on tossing up gained the Lady, upon which she readily resigned her into his Hands, and made that serve as a good Excuse for being rid of them both. This Intimacy subsisted between them and the Portugueze Women while they remained at Lisbon, and when they were about to set sail for England, their Sweethearts came to the Ship’s side in order to take Leave of them, but was prevented from coming on board, by the Command of the Captain.
We shall leave the candid Reader at liberty to judge the Disorders, Terrors and Distractions that so many various Scenes must have plunged her into; such a Disquiet, that she had not felt the like in all her past Enterprizes. A thousand Inquietudes rolled in upon her, like so many Billows, and almost sunk her down into the Abyss of Despair. She began to reflect upon the many Vicissitudes she had underwent, since her first launching out into the boisterous Sea of War, occasioned by the Cruelty of a perfidious Husband. What Dangers, what Hardships, and what Fatigues she had underwent! The many Inconveniences she had overcome, and the Difficulties she had surmounted, in preserving her Virtue untainted in the midst of so many vicious and prophane Actions, as had often been represented in their blackest Sable to her view, and that she had hitherto come off Conqueress, and when almost at the Door of her native Country, unsullied and undefiled by any of these Temptations wherewith she had been assaulted; then to be in the greatest Danger; then to have that Virtue, which had hitherto been her assistant and comfortable Companion in all her adverse Fortune, tore from her Breast, and nothing left behind but Shame, Guilt and Confusion. These Reflections had almost vanquished her great Spirit, had not her good Genius led her to put in Practice the Scheme she had formed at Lisbon, which answered the End she aimed at, and by which her Virtue, which was always dear to her, remains still untainted, to her immortal Praise.
On the Affair of the Supply of the Men they had from the Sheerness Privateer at Madeira, she gave the following Account; which was, that after they were come on board the Swallow Sloop, some of them seemed very pensive; so that her Curiosity led her to enquire into the Reason of their Grief, which she found was occasioned by their being brought on board a Man of War, which at first to her seemed strange, not being acquainted with the Manner of Men being impressed; and having often conversed with some of them, found they were sent on board by Force; and some of them having Wives and Children in England, and some in Ireland, the Thoughts of their long Separation from their Wives and Families, and the uncertainty of ever seeing them again, was the chief Cause of their Sorrows.
This Relation, and the Anxieties some of them shewed, gave her new Matter of Contemplation, and often, when retired in her Master’s Cabin, reflected on her own Fate, having herself been married to a most faithless Man, who had left her in the utmost Distress, at a Time she was not able to help herself, and that without any Reason, but what was occasioned by his own Extravagances. But here she found the Difference in that Sex, and that greater then she ever conceived before: Here she saw Men in the greatest Affliction, for being forced from them they loved; offering there all for Liberty to return to their native Land and Families, whilst her perfideous Husband’s chief Care was to avoid her. However, it was some Consolation to her, in these her distressed Circumstances, to find some on board, and who she concluded must be her Companions as Shipmates, inspired with Sentiments of Honour and Virtue; she also reflected on the unhappy Circumstances of those poor Women and Children these Men had left behind, and often wished she could have an Opportunity of relating to them what she now saw; imagining from her own Case, that it would be some Consolation to them to hear so great Proof of their Affections. She at first blamed them for going to Sea on board the Privateer, but when she was informed that it was only for a little Time, and they not bound to serve longer, than a certain Time specified in their Articles, and that their chief Motives was to serve their Families; in so doing she looked on them as real Objects of Compassion, which occasioned her to sympathize with them; and though Fortune had been so unkind to herself, she could not refrain thinking of theirs, and often endeavoured to asswage their Sorrows, by recommending to them Hopes of a happy Return to England; and also procured every Thing which she thought necessary for them on board, which was somewhat in her Power, having Recourse to all her Master’s Stores, especially his Liquors, which was pretty plentiful at that Time.
I shall depart a little from the Subject, and give the Reader an Account of that basest of Men, our Heroine’s Husband, who upon deserting his lawful Wife, entered himself as a Foremast Man on board one of his Countrymen, then lying in the River Thames. But where can the guilty Criminal fly for Sanctuary? His own Conscience must prove his Executioner, and a thousand Monitors within, who Vulture like, always gnaw the Liver, not suffering the Mind to enjoy the shortest Interval of Quiet; this admirable Truth has been fully verified in him, according to the most substantial Circumstances, as shall hereafter be made appear.
One Day at Lisbon, on her Return to England, falling in Company with many of her Ship-mates, they all went into an Irish House, by the Romanado’s, to drink some Wine, where was sitting at the same Time an Englishman, a Sailor, who had lately come from Genoa on board a Dutch Vessel; there were some of his Brother Tars in Company who knew him; upon which they became very merry, and began, over their Glass and their Pipe, to talk over some of their Adventures, and what they met with in their Travels worthy taking Notice of; and she, acoording to her constant Practice, was enquiring amongst the Mariners if any of them knew one James Summs, who, she said, had formerly been an intimate Acquaintance of her’s; upon which this Stranger broke Speech, and told ’em of an Affair that happened at Genoa while he was there. There was, says he, a Dutchman of that Name, a Sailor, imprisoned there, for stabbing a Native of the Place, a Person of some Distinction, with a Knife, of which Wound he soon expired; I, with two or three more of our Countrymen appointed to go and visit him under this his Misfortune, which we accordingly did: When we came to the Place, we were introduced by a Kind of Officer, where he lay in a melancholy Situation; but upon our entering the Room, he raised himself up from the Place where he had reclined his Head, and saluted us in English; then we began to condole his Misfortune: Upon which, finding us affected with his melancholy Situation, and the cruel Punishment he was about to suffer, he spoke to us in the following Manner. Gentlemen, The Crime I am to die for I committed, therefore my Punishment will be just whenever it falls: But this is not the only Crime I stand indicted for at the Bar of that All-seeing Judge, who searches into the innermost Recesses of our most concealed Actions, and who pursues the Guilty where-ever they go; I, who am here condemned for Murder, a few Years ago lived in Wapping, London, my Name is James Summs, a Dutchman by Birth; I married a young Woman there, named Hannah Snell, born in Worcester, but who then lodged with a Brother-in-Law, a Carpenter in Ship-street: We had not been long joined in Matrimony before she proved with Child; and I, forgetting my Duty as a Husband, and an approaching Father, gave a loose to my vicious Inclinations, eloped from the Partner of my Bed, and the one half of myself, went and took up my Residence amongst a Parcel of lewd, base Women, who withdrew my Affections entirely from her, who had the only just Title to it; and to satisfy their insatiable and extravagant Demands, I drained her of her all. This proved only the Downfall to my future Calamities; for my Substance being now exhausted, thrust out of Doors by these Ladies of Pleasure, who proved to me Ladies of Pain, and being ashamed to look my much injured Wife in the Face any more, whom I had so basely betrayed, my Mind was rack’d with exquisite Torture, so that I would willingly have fled from myself if it had been possible. A thousand Inventions came into my Head how I should dispose of myself at this critical Juncture. I employed all the Skill I was master of to be assisting in extricating me out of this Dilemma; at last I resolved to go on board one Ship or other, in order to make a Voyage.
The first Ship I boarded was a Rotterdam Trader, who accepted me in the Capacity of a Sailor, having but few Hands, the Steersman agreed to give me 40 Guilders per Month. A few Days afterwards we made down with the Tide, and sailed over to Rotterdam, where we unloaded: We had not been many Days here, before an unforeseen Accident happened, which was like to have produced fatal Consequences: One of the Boys going one Day into the Steerage with a lighted Candle, where was some Powder loose; a Spark from the Candle dropt into the Powder, which in an Instant blew up, and did great Damage to the Vessel. This Accident was charged upon me by two of the Men who bore me a Grudge; upon which I was Keel-haul’d, and received many Lashes besides. This ill Usage provoked me much, so that I determined to quit my Master’s Service, and let him know that I intended to leave him; upon which he paid me my Wages, and we parted. I then entered myself on board an Irish Merchant, bound to Lisbon, which Voyage I performed, and returned to Cork, the Place where the Cargo was to be disposed of.
Here, after I had received my Wages, I was discharged, and falling into bad Company, my Wages was soon spent, and being without Money, Cloaths or Friends, in a strange Country, made my Case very deplorable, which brought into my Mind, my wicked Proceedings to my dear Wife, and I lookt upon those Afflictions I underwent, as a just Punishment from Heaven, for my wicked Actions; however, these Reflections soon gave Way to Self-preservation; I was in great Distress, and how to work my Deliverance, was the main Subject of my Thoughts; at the very same Time, there was a Portuguese Vessel lying in the Harbour, bound to Genoa; they wanted a few Hands, some of their own Men having died in the Voyage; I proffered my Service; they accepted of me, staid in Cork, a few Days afterwards, then weighed Anchor, and set sail for Genoa, where we arrived in Safety in about three Weeks; here we had not continued long, before I perpetrated the Murther, for which I am about to suffer: Now Gentlemen, I have given you a full Account of the most material Incidents that has happened to me since I left England, I therefore earnestly intreat the Favour of you, when once you return to England, to enquire after my Wife, and if you find her, be pleased in my Name, to present her the Love of a dying Husband, who conscious of his Guilt, humbly begs her Pardon and Forgiveness, for all the Injuries he hath done her, since first he knew her; this his Request we promised to fulfill, if once we returned to England; so we took our last Farewel. None of us, ever saw him afterwards, but were informed, that he was sewed up in a Sack, with heavy Stones, and thrown into the Sea; the other two Englishmen sailed for Leghorn, and I for this Place, and when I go Home, I intend to make an Enquiry concerning the said Woman: She listened attentively all the While he was relating this Story, and weighing all the particular Circumstances of this Relation, she perceived so many concurring Circumstances blended together, as put it beyond all Doubt he was her Husband; this Account however, notwithstanding his vile Proceedings, grieved her much, and no doubt would have broke forth into briny Tears, had she been in a Place of Retirement: She sometimes grieved at his cruel and untimely Fate, but suddenly, the ill Treatment she met with from him, returned triumphant in her Mind, and extinguished her kindled Tenderness: However, she told the Sailor who related this Story, that from the Account he gave of this Man, he must have been the same identical Person, with whom she had formerly been acquainted, and if once she came to England, she would endeavour to find out the Wife of this unfortunate Man, whom she knew very well, and would acquaint her with this Catastrophe, and by so saying, concealed herself entirely from the least Suspicion.
Having now finished the Account of her Husbands untimely End, as related to her at Lisbon; the Detail of which, appeared to her, as if sent from above, to free her from those anxious Cares, which, in the midst of the greatest Dangers, always set triumphant in her Breast, I shall now proceed to her Voyage from thence to England.
They set sail from Lisbon the 3d of May, and arrived at Spithead the 1st of June, without any Thing material during the Voyage (which was lengthened by Calms and contrary Winds); that very Day she arrived at Spithead she came on Shore, and took a Lodging along with several of her Shipmates and Marines, at one James Cunningham’s, at the Sign of the Jolly Marine and Sailor; where the House being thronged with Lodgers, she was obliged to be Bedfellow to one John Huchins, a Brother Marine, the first Night; but during her short Stay in Portsmouth, in her often Rovings in and about the Town, (which was only two Days and three Nights) she happen’d to meet with the Sister of Mr. Cunningham, the Drum-Major’s Wife, one Catherine ——, with whom she had cultivated a slender Acquaintance at the Time she first enlisted there. This young Woman knew Hannah to be the young Soldier that had enlisted and been sent abroad with Admiral Boscawen, and expressed some Joy at her safe Return: Then entering into this Conversation, introduced a farther Intimacy; and Hannah, rather than sit to drink with her Shipmates, spent most of her Time with this young Woman. This Opportunity improved their Conversation, and sometimes they conversed upon Love; and Hannah finding this young Woman had no dislike to her, she endeavoured to try if she could not act the Lover as well as the Soldier, which she so well effected, that it was agreed upon she should return from London, in order to be married as soon as she had got her Discharge and Pay; and tho’ but so short a Time there as two Days, had effected this her Amour so as to obtain the young Woman’s Consent to marry her.