Produced by Dave Morgan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
[Illustration: Daniel Drayton]
PERSONAL MEMOIR Of DANIEL DRAYTON,
For Four Years And Four Months
Including A Narrative Of The
We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
1855.
Entered according to Act of Congress, In the year 1853, by
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of
Massachusetts
Considering the large share of the public attention which the case ofthe schooner Pearl attracted at the time of its occurrence, perhaps thefollowing narrative of its origin, and of its consequences to himself,by the principal actor in it, may not be without interest. It is properto state that a large share of the profits of the sale are secured toCaptain Drayton, the state of whose health incapacitates him from anylaborious employment.
I was born in the year 1802, in Cumberland County, Downs Township, inthe State of New Jersey, on the shores of Nantuxet Creek, not far fromDelaware Bay, into which that creek flows. My father was a farmer,—nota very profitable occupation in that barren part of the country. Mymother was a widow at the time of her marriage with my father, havingthree children by a former husband. By my father she had six more, ofwhom I was the youngest but one. She was a woman of strong mind andmarked character, a zealous member of the Methodist church; and,although I had the misfortune to lose her at an early age, herinstructions—though the effect was not apparent at the moment—made adeep impression on my youthful mind, and no doubt had a very sensibleinfluence over my future life.
Just previous to, or during the war with Great Britain, my fatherremoved still nearer to the shore of the bay, and the sight of thevessels passing up and down inspired me with a desire to follow the lifeof a waterman; but it was some years before I was able to gratify thiswish. I well remember the alarm created in our neighborhood by theincursions of the British vessels up the bay during the war, and that,at these times, the women of the neighborhood used to collect at ourhouse, as if looking up to my mother for counsel and guidance.
I was only twelve years old when this good mother died; but, so strongwas the impression which she left upon my memory, that, amid thestruggles and dangers and cares of my subsequent life, I have seldomclosed my eyes to sleep without some thought or image of her.
As my father soon after married another widow, with four small children,it became necessary to make room in the house for their accommodation;and, with a younger brother of mine, I was bound out an apprentice in acotton and woollen factory at a place called Cedarville. Manufactureswere just then beginning to be introduced into the country, and greathopes were entertained of them as a profitable business. Myemployer,—or bos, as we called him,—had formerly b