The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African
purpose. I told her I was no parson; and besides, that the service
over the dead did not affect the soul. This however did not satisfy
her; she still urged me very hard: I therefore complied with her
earnest entreaties, and at last consented to act the parson for the
first time in my life. As she was much respected, there was a great
company both of white and black people at the grave. I then
accordingly assumed my new vocation, and performed the funeral
ceremony to the satisfaction of all present; after which I bade adieu
to Georgia, and sailed for Martinico.
CHAP. IX
_The author arrives at Martinico--Meets with new
difficulties--Gets to Montserrat, where he takes leave of
his old master, and sails for England--Meets Capt.
Pascal--Learns the French horn--Hires himself with Doctor
Irving, where he learns to freshen sea water--Leaves the
doctor, and goes a voyage to Turkey and Portugal; and
afterwards goes a voyage to Grenada, and another to
Jamaica--Returns to the Doctor, and they embark together on
a voyage to the North Pole, with the Hon. Capt. Phipps--Some
account of that voyage, and the dangers the author was
in--He returns to England._
I thus took a final leave of Georgia; for the treatment I had received
in it disgusted me very much against the place; and when I left it and
sailed for Martinico I determined never more to revisit it. My new
captain conducted his vessel safer than my former one; and, after an
agreeable voyage, we got safe to our intended port. While I was on
this island I went about a good deal, and found it very pleasant: in
particular I admired the town of St. Pierre, which is the principal
one in the island, and built more like an European town than any I had
seen in the West Indies. In general also, slaves were better treated,
had more holidays, and looked better than those in the English
islands. After we had done our business here, I wanted my discharge,
which was necessary; for it was then the month of May, and I wished
much to be at Montserrat to bid farewell to Mr. King, and all my other
friends there, in time to sail for Old England in the July fleet. But,
alas! I had put a great stumbling block in my own way, by which I was
near losing my passage that season to England. I had lent my captain
some money, which I now wanted to enable me to prosecute my
intentions. This I told him; but when I applied for it, though I urged
the necessity of my occasion, I met with so much shuffling from him,
that I began at last to be afraid of losing my money, as I could not
recover it by law: for I have already mentioned, that throughout the
West Indies no black man's testimony is admitted, on any occasion,
against any white person whatever, and therefore my own oath would
have been of no use. I was obliged, therefore, to remain with him
till he might be disposed to return it to me. Thus we sailed from
Martinico for the Grenades. I frequently pressing the captain for my
money to no purpose; and, to render my condition worse, when we got
there, the captain and his owners quarrelled; so that my situation
became daily more irksome: for besides that we on board had little or
no victuals allowed us, and I could not get my money nor wages, I
could then have gotten my passage free to Montserrat had I been able
to accept it. The worst of all was, that it was growing late in July,
and the ships in the islands must sail by the 26th of that month. At
last, however, with a great many entreaties, I got my money from the
captain, and took the first vessel I could meet with for St. Eustatia.
From thence I went in another to Basseterre in St. Kitts, where I
arrived on the 19th of July. On the 22d, having met with a vessel
bound to Montserrat, I wanted to go in her; but the captain and others
would not take me on board until I should advertise myself, and give
notice of my going off the island. I told them of my haste to be in
Montserrat, and that the time then would not admit of advertising, it
being late in the evening, and the captain about to sail; but he
insisted it was necessary, and otherwise he said he would not take me.
This reduced me to great perplexity; for if I should be compelled to
submit to this degrading necessity, which every black freeman is
under, of advertising himself like a slave, when he leaves an island,
and which I thought a gross imposition upon any freeman, I feared I
should miss that opportunity of going to Montserrat, and then I could
not get to England that year. The vessel was just going off, and no
time could be lost; I immediately therefore set about, with a heavy
heart, to try who I could get to befriend me in complying with the
demands of the captain. Luckily I found, in a few minutes, some
gentlemen of Montserrat whom I knew; and, having told them my
situation, I requested their friendly assistance in helping me off the
island. Some of them, on this, went with me to the captain, and
satisfied him of my freedom; and, to my very great joy, he desired me
to go on board. We then set sail, and the next day, the 23d, I arrived
at the wished-for place, after an absence of six months, in which I
had more than once experienced the delivering hand of Providence,
when all human means of escaping destruction seemed hopeless. I saw my
friends with a gladness of heart which was increased by my absence and
the dangers I had escaped, and I was received with great friendship by
them all, but particularly by Mr. King, to whom I related the fate of
his sloop, the Nancy, and the causes of her being wrecked. I now
learned with extreme sorrow, that his house was washed away during my
absence, by the bursting of a pond at the top of a mountain that was
opposite the town of Plymouth. It swept great part of the town away,
and Mr. King lost a great deal of property from the inundation, and
nearly his life. When I told him I intended to go to London that
season, and that I had come to visit him before my departure, the good
man expressed a great deal of affection for me, and sorrow that I
should leave him, and warmly advised me to stay there; insisting, as I
was much respected by all the gentlemen in the place, that I might do
very well, and in a short time have land and slaves of my own. I
thanked him for this instance of his friendship; but, as I wished very
much to be in London, I declined remaining any longer there, and
begged he would excuse me. I then requested he would be kind enough to
give me a certificate of my behaviour while in his service, which he
very readily complied with, and gave me the following:
_Montserrat, January 26, 1767._
'The bearer hereof, Gustavus Vassa, was my slave for upwards
of three years, during which he has always behaved himself
well, and discharged his duty with honesty and assiduity.
Robert King.
'To all whom this may concern.'
Having obtained this, I parted from my kind master, after many sincere
professions of gratitude and regard, and prepared for my departure for
London. I immediately agreed to go with one Capt. John Hamer, for
seven guineas, the passage to London, on board a ship called the
Andromache; and on the 24th and 25th I had free dances, as they are
called, with some of my countrymen, previous to my setting off; after
which I took leave of all my friends, and on the 26th I embarked for
London, exceedingly glad to see myself once more on board of a ship;
and still more so, in steering the course I had long wished for. With
a light heart I bade Montserrat farewell, and never had my feet on it
since; and with it I bade adieu to the sound of the cruel whip, and
all other dreadful instruments of torture; adieu to the offensive
sight of the violated chastity of the sable females, which has too
often accosted my eyes; adieu to oppressions (although to me less
severe than most of my countrymen); and adieu to the angry howling,
dashing surfs. I wished for a grateful and thankful heart to praise
the Lord God on high for all his mercies!
We had a most prosperous voyage, and, at the end of seven weeks,
arrived at Cherry-Garden stairs. Thus were my longing eyes once more
gratified with a sight of London, after having been absent from it
above four years. I immediately received my wages, and I never had
earned seven guineas so quick in my life before; I had thirty-seven
guineas in all, when I got cleared of the ship. I now entered upon a
scene, quite new to me, but full of hope. In this situation my first
thoughts were to look out for some of my former friends, and amongst
the first of those were the Miss Guerins. As soon, therefore, as I had
regaled myself I went in quest of those kind ladies, whom I was very
impatient to see; and with some difficulty and perseverance, I found
them at May's-hill, Greenwich. They were most agreeably surprised to
see me, and I quite overjoyed at meeting with them. I told them my
history, at which they expressed great wonder, and freely acknowledged
it did their cousin, Capt. Pascal, no honour. He then visited there
frequently; and I met him four or five days after in Greenwich park.
When he saw me he appeared a good deal surprised, and asked me how I
came back? I answered, 'In a ship.' To which he replied dryly, 'I
suppose you did not walk back to London on the water.' As I saw, by
his manner, that he did not seem to be sorry for his behaviour to me,
and that I had not much reason to expect any favour from him, I told
him that he had used me very ill, after I had been such a faithful
servant to him for so many years; on which, without saying any more,
he turned about and went away. A few days after this I met Capt.
Pascal at Miss Guerin's house, and asked him for my prize-money. He
said there was none due to me; for, if my prize money had been
10,000 £. he had a right to it all. I told him I was informed
otherwise; on which he bade me defiance; and, in a bantering tone,
desired me to commence a lawsuit against him for it: 'There are
lawyers enough,' said he, 'that will take the cause in hand, and you
had better try it.' I told him then that I would try it, which enraged
him very much; however, out of regard to the ladies, I remained still,
and never made any farther demand of my right. Some time afterwards
these friendly ladies asked me what I meant to do with myself, and how
they could assist me. I thanked them, and said, if they pleased, I
would be their servant; but if not, as I had thirty-seven guineas,
which would support me for some time, I would be much obliged to them
to recommend me to some person who would teach me a business whereby I
might earn my living. They answered me very politely, that they were
sorry it did not suit them to take me as their servant, and asked me
what business I should like to learn? I said, hair-dressing. They then
promised to assist me in this; and soon after they recommended me to a
gentleman whom I had known before, one Capt. O'Hara, who treated me
with much kindness, and procured me a master, a hair-dresser, in
Coventry-court, Haymarket, with whom he placed me. I was with this man
from September till the February following. In that time we had a
neighbour in the same court who taught the French horn. He used to
blow it so well that I was charmed with it, and agreed with him to
teach me to blow it. Accordingly he took me in hand, and began to
instruct me, and I soon learned all the three parts. I took great
delight in blowing on this instrument, the evenings being long; and
besides that I was fond of it, I did not like to be idle, and it
filled up my vacant hours innocently. At this time also I agreed with
the Rev. Mr. Gregory, who lived in the same court, where he kept an