Roger Willoughby | Page 9

my father obtained a small office connected with the Ordnance in the Tower, which brought him in sufficient to feed and clothe his family in a simple fashion. I was young, and used to what might be called penury, and I well knew that I must seek my fortune in the world, and work hard. I had an early taste for the sea, for we lived near the Thames, and I often used to make trips with the watermen, among whom I was a favourite. When I was old enough to make myself useful they paid me for the assistance I gave them, looking after boats, sometimes bringing them a fare from the shore, and often taking an oar. I was just ten years old when the present King came to the throne, and I might perchance have joined one of his ships, but from the way I heard my friends the watermen say that men were treated on board them, I had no fancy for joining a man-of-war. Soon after the time I speak of, an old friend of my father's got him an appointment in the Tower, which brought him in indeed but 80 pounds a year; yet as that was more than our family had had to live on for many a long year, it was a cause of much rejoicing and thanksgiving. Still it was not enough to allow any of us who could work to live in idleness, and I determined to try what I could do. I was one day looking out for a fare for an old waterman, John Cox by name, who had engaged my services, I being an especial favourite of his, when a sailor-like man came down and said he wanted to be put on board the Rainbow frigate lying in the stream. `John Cox will put you on board,' says I; `there's his boat. I'll hail him, and he will be down in a moment.'
"`That will do,' said the stranger, and he stepped on board the boat.
"`Are you the old man's son?' he asked.
"`No, sir; I am the son of Colonel Benbow, who has got an office in the Tower.'
"`What! his son thus employed!' exclaimed the stranger. `Is he going to bring you up as a waterman?'
"`An please you, sir, I am bringing myself up to gain an honest livelihood as best I can,' I answered.
"`Would you like to go to sea and visit foreign countries?' asked the stranger.
"`That I would, sir, with all my heart,' I answered.
"`What will you say if I offer to take you?' he asked, looking at me.
"`That I will accept your offer, and serve you faithfully,' I said.
"`Then, lad, you shall come with me aboard the Rainbow. We will go back and see your father. I would not take you without his sanction; but if he approves, we shall have time to get such an outfit as you require, for I do not sail till to-morrow.'
"John Cox and I put Captain Downing, for such was his name, on board the Rainbow. He told us to wait alongside for him. After some time he again stepped into the boat, and ordered John Cox to pull for the Tower Stairs.
"On landing, he bade me conduct him to my father's lodgings, which I gladly did. My father, as it happened, had met Captain Downing, and knew him to be a man of probity. Thanking the Captain for his offer, he without hesitation gave me leave to accompany him as cabin-boy. It did not take long to get an outfit, and bidding my old father and my kind mother and brothers and sisters farewell, I went on board the Rainbow. We dropped down the Thames the next day, but it was nearly a week before we were fairly at sea. The moment I stepped on board, having determined to become a sailor, I set to work to learn everything I could. The Captain helped me in every way. I observed especially the manner he treated his men. He spoke kindly to them, took care that they had plenty of good provisions, and never demanded more work of them than he knew they could perform. Thus the same crew sailed with him voyage after voyage, and I said to myself, `Whenever I get command of a ship, I will treat my men in the same way.' We sailed for the Levant, and were more than a year away, and then made several voyages to Lisbon and Cadiz, and other places on the coast of Portugal and Spain, two out to the West Indies. When I got back I found my father holding his old post in the Tower, still cheerful and contented, though, as he said, he thought some of his old friends might have found him one with