CHAPTER VII

ENGLAND, 1817-1853

As early as the preface to the second edition of The First Settlers of Virginia, 1806, Davis had declared his desire to cross the Atlantic but once more, on a final return voyage to England. That this voyage was made in 1817 seems to be proved from the title page of the second edition of the Travels, issued in London in that year, "For J. Davis, Military Chronicle Office, 14 Charlotte Street, Bloomsbury." This address at the Chronicle Office. was presumably a temporary one before settling down as he did. permanently in his native section. The return voyage to England was probably the source of much of the material for his last published book, a long poem in six cantos entitled The American Mariners, or The Atlantic l'oyage, published in Salisbury in 1822.

How much of this work is fictional and how much is based on fact, no one can tell. The following passage, however, seems to be of an autobiographical nature:

And I who sought and found a wild retreat
Where thy Ontario's sea-like billows beat,

In all the turbulence of ocean's roar,

Whelming the bark unconscious of a shore

Now leave my bower of peace-on wild waves tos't,

And spread the sail for Albion's distant coast

But not unblest-a bright'ning, sunny ray

Gilds the horizon of my wintry day

A consort's care, an infant daughter's smile
Sustain my spirit, and my griefs beguile.

The American Mariners, his last volume, is the best of all of Davis's poetical works. It was written for the definite purpose of presenting the American people in a more favorable light to the English public. The title page advertises the book as being "a moral poem." The book is dedicated to Robert Southey, who, Davis says, had mentioned him favorably "in a work composed in the maturity of your taste and judgment.”

'Morrison's edition of the Travels, Introduction, page x.

"This reference to Davis in Southey's work has not been discovered.

Although Davis remarks "I am not the panegyrist of the inhabitants of the new world, tho I feel a Catholic and conciliating spirit toward them," he begins the volume with a prose "vindication of the American character from the Aspersions of the Quarterly Reviewers." From passages which Davis quotes, the "Quarterly Reviewers" evidently regarded the American citizens as being in the main as barbarous and uncivilized as their Indian neighbors. They had cited, with every appearance of belief, such statements as that the American frontiersmen were accustomed to provide themselves with belts by cutting broad strips of skin from the backs of living Indian captives! Davis, as an English traveler familiar with all aspects of American life, endeavors to point out the absurdity and untruthfulness of such far-fetched and malicious stories. The crew of the vessel, then, are recruited. from the several chief states in the Union, and Davis endeavors, in the progess of the poem, to show that the Americans are motivated by the same spirit of humanity as their English cousins.

Canto I deals with the embarkation of the crew and the departure from port. The poem opens conventionally with an apostrophe to Ocean. Then the piety of the American sailor is shown by a passage telling of the prayers offered up by the crew before going on board. Next comes a general description of the crew, made up of New Englanders "accustomed to whaling;" Pennsylvanians, “eager to explore"; Virginians, "gay, wild sons of mirth"; Mississippians, "used to gallies' sails"; and Kentuckians, "new to naval fame." The purpose of the voyage is given in the following lines:

First to Britannia's coast the rapid breeze

Shall bear our war bark toiling o'er the seas,
Envoy of peace, to give the generous hand
And closer draw the ties of friendship's band.
Then bending on, our battle tier shall roar
With retribution o'er the Moorish shore.3

The departure of the ship occasions lamentations from many of the crew, most of whom are leaving their native shores for the first time. The canto closes with Lieutenant Hampden rebuking

The hint in the last two lines is not realized in the poem. If Davis intended a sequel dealing with the Barbary Pirates, it was probably never

written.

his sorrowing shipmates and bursting into an impassioned apostrophe to America.

Canto II is the description of a storm and the midnight encounter with a ship at sea. Talbot, a young and engaging member of the crew, dreams of disaster. The gale which has arisen at sunset increases in violence, and the passengers in despair mingle their cries of terror with prayers for their safety. Again we may read in the lines a personal note when Davis says,

During the night the ship narrowly escapes destruction when it is almost run down by a huge vessel.

Canto III. The morning dawns with the storm still raging. Talbot's premonitions of death come true when he is washed overboard by a mighty wave, and all attempts at rescue are in vain.

Canto IV. The violence of the storm is succeeded next morning by a calm. As the vessel is forced to lie-to in the absence of a wind to fill the sails, the crew go in swimming. The water sports are interrupted by a visit from Neptune. All hands. turn to with a will to entertain the strange apparition. One of them sings the "Song of the Scotch Emigrant." Then gifts, typical American gifts, are presented to the sea-king-a bow, arrows, a quiver, gaudy moccasins, a scarlet robe embroidered with gold, and last of all, an American flag. Neptune is charmed with these novel trophies. A new diversion occurs when a shark is caught and hauled up on the deck Volunteers are called for to dispatch the monster. Yarrow, the negro cook, steps forward, Here Davis in a characteristic fashion interrupts the progress of the narrative by interpolating the story of how Yarrow was captured by slavers, sold to a Virginia slave keeper, kept in a state of bondage for ten years, and finally made his escape.

Yarrow tries to kill the shark but is badly injured. He is carried to the ship's surgeon, Dr. Caustic. Another seaman suf

A name possibly suggested to Davis by "Christopher Caustic, M.D., F.R.S., A.S.S.," the pseudonym of Thomas Green Fessenden, author of The Terrible Tractoration, Democracy Unveiled, and other satiric works.

fers the same fate as Yarrow. Jonathan, a Yankee sailor, is more successful. He sticks a spear into the shark, but cannot pull it out. Lieutenant Hampden finally kills the monster with a hatchet.

Another diversion is now created when two of the young boys in the crew start to fight. After this excitement calms down, Neptune is entertained with more music. By this time, the liquor which has been brought out in Neptune's honor has circulated pretty freely among the crew. Bill Breeze, a typical old tar, relates his adventures. When he has finished, the sun is setting, and Neptune, with some apprehension, thinks of his wife, of whom he evidently stands in awe and whose anger at his prolonged absence he plainly dreads. Rather the worse for the "Yankee rum" which he has imbibed freely, he is assisted over the side and speeds home over the waves.

Canto V is entitled "The Mariner on the Ice Island." A breeze springs up and the vessel again gets under way. An iceberg appears in the distance, and as the vessel approaches it, a signal fire becomes visible. A boat is sent off and returns with a wretched castaway. Here another long tale is interpolated. This sailor had been a member of the crew of a vessel wrecked by an iceberg. He succeeded in climbing up on the ice island and was lucky enough to find there a chest containing a flint and steel, which had been washed up from the wreck. By burning the debris cast up on the berg and eating the fish washed up by the sea, he had kept alive until rescued.

Canto VI bears the heading, "Arrival in Port." Davis again emphasizes the piety of American sailors by a description of the Sabbath services conducted by the captain. The monotony of the cruise is broken by speaking a passing vessel and exchanging news. The superstitious nature attributed to sailors is manifested by the sight of an ocean spectre, the vision of the drowned Talbot rising from the waves.

The remainder of the poem is a rather vivid description of the approach to England. Davis's long absence from his native land undoubtedly makes his appreciation of these scenes much keener. An accurate account is given of the process of sounding in the channel. Next Scilly lighthouse is sighted. Then comes Land's End, which occasions a minute description of the promontory, and St. Michael's Mount.

All hands are on deck in the morning to view the sunrise in the English Channel. Dr. Caustic, armed with a telescope, describes the landscape. Other landmarks of interest are the Eddystone and Purbeck Cliffs. One of the officers tells the story of the shipwreck of the Halsewell. By this time the vessel is in the Solent Sea and meets the Royal Regatta. The excitement of the passengers and crew grows more intense, until finally Spithead is reached, and the vessel comes to anchor.

This story is far more interesting than any of Davis's previous original works, despite the fact that he is handicapped at times by the exigencies of his poetic medium, the heroic couplet. The plan of the poem, a narrative of the happenings of the voyage, was an elastic one, which gave Davis ample opportunity to work in various stories and episodes. As has been pointed out before, Davis's range of material was limited. This fact is again illustrated in The American Mariners by the use of the tale of negro slavery. The story of the shipwrecked sailor on the iceberg seems rather overdrawn, but it was possibly a sea yarn which Davis had heard during his varied naval career. The washing overboard of Talbot and the battle with the shark were scenes which he had probably witnessed himself. The visit from Neptune would appeal to all reader: who had been at sea, for one of the commonest ways of whiling away the monotony of a voyage was to have a sailor, dressed as the sea god, come over the side of the vessel for the edification of the passengers and crew. His arrival was always the signal for a relaxation of discipline and a period of extravagant merrymaking. *

As a picture of life on shipboard, The American Mariners is superior to The Post Captain, which, as will be remembered, purported to be a true portrayal of life on an English frigate. Bui as in the earlier volume Davis lost sight of his original purpose so far as the poem itself is concerned, so he apparently forgets in The American Mariners that his avowed intention was to delineate the character of the American seaman. The last half of the poem is simply a narrative of events on shipboard and the description of the arrival in port. Nevertheless, the work has merit, and to the writer's mind is far more worthy of reprinting than the popular Post Captain. Another point which should be mentioned in this connection is that in this later volume Davis avoids the coarse language and vulgarities which made the earlier sea novel so objectionable.