[Thomas Waters to his parents, Captain Thomas & Mrs Waters]
addressed to Mrs Capt Waters, King St., Woolwich, Kent, England
Barque Fawn
Cape De Verds il’s [Cape Verde]
[Undated.Received by British
Post Office as a Ship Letter
29 July 1840]
Dear Father and Mother
It is with a light heart and a feeling of pleasure that I write to you for the third time hoping you are all in good health and that Papa’s had better fortune in regard to recruits. Mr Street has been very kind, he’s sent a book for me and Wild to read and a note to Wild recommending me to his care, who is extremely kind to me. I like the sea, the Captain, Mates, and crew, very well. as to the ship, her decks are rather leaky so that when it is blowing strong we are wet on deck and wet when we turn in below, as it is a bad one for pitching, always diving her head under water. I have had no sea sickness whilst all the rest of the landsmen have. We have baked grey peas ground and seasoned with molasses instead of coffee which is very nice. Mary’s cake was very nice I cut into it off the Lizard, April 26th and I’ve got half of it to eat off Cape Horn if we should double it. I have plenty of work and hard work too; while I am writing this I hear the cry of (a spout 0) but its only a fin back whale; so we haven’t got to lower, besides its after sunset. We have some excellent messes made from the porpoise, one mess in particular called the main sheet block which is very nice. We have pea soup and a lb and a qrt.r of pork one day, and a pint of flour, made into pudding with treacle to eat with it, and a lb and qrt.r of beef another day. I have from 8 o’clock to 12 and from 4 to 6 to sleep one night, and from 12 to 4 another night and sometimes not that, but yet I like the life I now lead better than the one at home. We have not caught any whales yet though we’ve seen some. I am chosen into the captain’s boat’s crew as after oarsman which is a good place for me as I will have to row the captain ashore or to any place he wishes to go to. The Captain is very kind to me and so are all the mates. I have had a very bad foot from a scald which became an open wound and the salt water getting into it caused it to be so painful as to bring on a fever and I’ve been slightly delirious but I am all right now except my arms which are blistered by the sun and are painful especially when I take my two hours at the wheel. We have look outs from the mast head every day from sunrise to sunset and you can’t imagine the scene when they cry out (a spout 0) everyone running about, some to lower the boats and some to catch a sight of the spout; they discover whether it is a sperm whale by the manner and regularity of its spouting, a sperm whale spouts regular, and generally three times in about five minutes. My soap is very bad. I hope Horatio Bissett has got a ship and that Henry Mercer has passed his examination for his cadetship; you must excuse the writing and dirtiness of this letter as I am writing by a dim light on my chest sitting on a kettle with scouse in, and I have been tarring the rigging down, so that my hands are anything but clean, and I am sleepy and tired having had a hard day’s work besides the motion of the ship. The Talla ho schooner is going to carry this letter to England. I hope Mrs Nickles and all her family are quite well, Mrs Mercer and her family, remember me to Henry Watson and Mrs Watson, “I like the books he gave me very much, and thank him for them, I often think of the fun we have had together”; and to all my friends
I remain
Your thankful son
Thomas Waters