Whereas in a
merchant ship I might see India, and even China, and my new friend
told me fine stories of the fortunes to be made in those distant
parts by the lucky ones, besides which I felt a longing to see
strange and far-off lands and peoples for the mere pleasure of it.
To take service with an East Indiaman most hit my fancy, and when
the sailor told me that London and Southampton were the ports for
the East India trade, I began to think of working my passage to one
or the other of them.
John Woodrow, as he was named, advised me not to be in a hurry, and
when I explained that my little stock of money would be exhausted
in a few days by the charges at the inn where I had put up, he
recommended me to a widow living towards Clifton, who would give me
board and lodging for a more modest sum. My anxieties on this score
being removed, I resolved to follow Woodrow's advice, and not be in
too great haste to take my first plunge. He promised to let me know
of any decent skipper who might be sailing to Southampton or London
if, when I had had a few days to think things over, my mind
remained the same.
Next day a great king's ship of three decks came into the river,
and I passed the whole morning in gazing at her, watching what went
on upon her deck, and the boatloads of mariners that came ashore
from her, envying the officers, and wavering in my design to join a
merchant vessel. The vessel was named, as I found, the Sans Pareil,
and though I had little French (the dead tongues being most thought
of at Shrewsbury), I knew the words meant "the matchless," and
certainly she outdid all the other ships around her.
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