Nat the Navigator. A Life of Nathaniel Bowditch. For Young Persons

by Henry I. Bowditch

Some of his comrades were very fond of music. He had originally a great taste for it. Music, at that time, was less cultivated than it is now; and generally, those who practised it were fond of drinking liquor, and often became drunkards. Nat’s love of the flute led him, at times, to meet with several young men of this class. In fact, he was so much delighted with their company, that he began to forget his studies. Day after day he spent his leisure hours in their society; and, for a time, all else was neglected. At length he began to think somewhat in this way: “What am I doing? forgetting my studies in order to be with those whose only recommendation is, that they love music? I shall be very likely to fall into their habits if I continue longer with them. I will not do so.” He soon afterwards left their society.

The simple, old-fashioned flute on which he played at these meetings is still preserved. It is a silent monitor to his descendants, urging them to performance of duty, in spite of the allurements of pleasure.

May every boy who reads this remember it, and try, if ever led into temptation as the apprentice was, to say, “I will not,” with the same determined spirit that he did.

The time was fast approaching when he was about to leave the business of shopkeeping, and enter upon the more active duties of life. It is true that, to a certain extent, he had been engaged in active life ever since entering his apprenticeship. At the age of ten he had left the home of his mother, and had been obliged to depend much upon himself. His father’s habits had finally prevented him from being of service to the family. The mother had died; the family had been broken up; and Nat had thus, at an early age, been thrown upon the world. After having remained with Ropes & Hodges until they gave up business, he entered the shop of Samuel C. Ward, which was a similar establishment; and there he remained until he was twenty-one years old. He then quitted, forever, this employment.

SURVEY OF SALEM.

In 1794, by a law of the state, every town was obliged to have an accurate survey and measurement made of its limits. Captain Gibaut and Dr. Bentley were appointed by the Selectmen in Salem to superintend this business. Believing that the calculating powers of the apprentice would be useful to them, he was made assistant; and during the summer of 1794 he was occupied with this business. Thus we see how his studies already began to be useful to him. For his pay, he received one hundred and thirty-five dollars. Towards the end of the summer, Mr. Derby, a rich ship-owner in Salem, wished Captain Gibaut to take command of a vessel to Cadiz, and thence round the Cape of Good Hope to the East Indies. Captain Gibaut consented, and he asked Nat to go with him as clerk. Nat agreed to the terms; but, owing to some difficulty with Mr. Derby, Captain Gibaut resigned to Captain H. Prince. Young Bowditch was unknown to the latter; but at the suggestion of Mr. Derby, who had heard of the talents and industry of the clerk, the same arrangements were continued by Captain Prince.

A new era in his life was now beginning; and let us look a moment at him. He is now twenty-one years of age. He is already more learned than many much older than himself, in consequence of his untiring industry and his devotion to study and to duty. Yet he is modest and retiring. He is still full of fun and frolic at times, and always ready for acts of kindness. Above all, he is a good youth; no immorality has stained him. His love of truth had been given him by his mother; and since her death he has loved it still more. It is to him a bright light, as it were, to guide him. Cannot we foresee his career?

FIRST VOYAGE TO INDIA.

On January 11, 1795,—that is, when he was a few months more than twenty-one years of age,—he sailed from Salem in the ship Henry. Though he went as clerk, he was prepared to undertake the more active duties of sailor and mate of the vessel. Thinking that he should be too much occupied to be able to read, he took very few books; and therefore he devoted much more time to observations of the heavenly bodies, the state of the weather, &c., while at sea, and upon the manners and habits of the nations he visited. Though he had not been educated as a sailor-boy, his studies had led him to understand the most important part of a seaman’s life, the art of guiding the vessel from one shore to another, across the ocean. In other words, he had studied much on navigation, and copied books upon that subject.

JOURNAL—MOTTO.