The boy’s chance, however, came in another way. A few days later it chanced that Mr. James Younger, a big ship-owner, was on the landing-place of Arbigland when some of the villagers caught sight of a small fishing yawl beating up against a stiff northeast squall, trying to gain the shelter of the little tidal creek that formed the harbor of the town.
Mr. Younger looked long at the boat and then shook his head. “I don’t think she’ll do it,� he said dubiously.
Yet the boat came on, and he could soon see that the only crew were a man and a boy. The boy was steering, handling the sheets and giving orders, while the man simply sat on the gunwale to trim the boat.
“Who’s the boy?� asked the ship-owner.
“John Paul,� said a bystander. “That’s his father there.�
Mr. Younger looked at the man pointed out, who was standing near, and who did not seem to be in the least alarmed. “Are you the lad’s father?� he asked.
The man looked up and nodded. “Yes, that’s my boy John conning the boat,� said he. “He’ll fetch her in. This isn’t much of a squall for him!�
The father spoke with truth. The boy handled his small craft with such skill that he soon had her alongside the wharf. As soon as John Paul had landed Mr. Younger stepped up to the father and asked to be introduced to the son. Then the ship-owner told him how much he had admired his seamanship, and asked if he would care to sail as master’s apprentice in a new vessel he owned, which was fitting out for a voyage to Virginia and the West Indies. The boy’s eyes danced with delight; he begged his father to let him go, and finally Mr. Paul consented. The twelve-year-old boy had won his wish to go to sea.
A few days later the brig Friendship sailed from Whitehaven, with small John Paul on board, and after a slow voyage which lasted thirty-two days dropped anchor in the Rappahannock River of Virginia.
The life of a colonial trader was very pleasant in 1760. The sailing-vessels usually made a triangular voyage, taking some six months to go from England to the colonies, then to the West Indies, and so east again. About three of the six months were spent at the small settlements on shore, discharging goods from England, taking on board cotton and tobacco, and bartering with the merchants.