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ANARRATIVEOF JOSHUA DAVIS,
AN
 AMERICAN CITIZEN,
WHO WASPRESSED AND SERVED ON BOARD SIXSHIPSOF THE
BRITISH NAVY,
HE WAS IN SEVEN ENGAGEMENTS, ONCEWOUNDED,FIVE TIMES CONFINED IN IRONS, AND OBTAINEDHIS LIBERTY BY DESERTION. THE WHOLE BEING AN INTERESTING ANDFAITHFUL NARRATIVEOF THE DISCIPLINE, VARIOUS PRACTICES AND TREATMENTOF PRESSED SEAMEN IN THE BRITISH NAVY. ANDCONTAINING INFORMATION THAT NEVER WASBEFOREPRESENTED TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.
BOSTON,PRINTED BY B TRUE No. 78 STATE STREET. 1811.
DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, TO WIT:
DISTRICT CLERK'S OFFICE.
BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the seventh day of March, A.D. 1811, andin the thirty fifth year of the Independence of the United States of America, Joshua Davis, of the said District, has deposited in this Officethe Title of a Book, the Right whereof he claims as author, in the Wordsfollowing, to wit:--"A Narrative of Joshua Davis an American Citizen,who was pressed and served on board six ships of the British Navy. Hewas in seven engagements, once wounded, five times confined inirons, and obtained his liberty by desertion. The whole being aninteresting and faithful narrative of the discipline, various practices andtreatment of pressed seamen in the British navy, and containinginformation that was never before presented to the American people."
 
In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled"An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies,during the Times therein mentioned;" and also to the Act, entitled "Anact supplementary to an Act, entitled An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by securing the Copies of Maps, Charts and Books, to theAuthors and Proprietors of such Copies during the times thereinmentioned; and extending the Benefits thereof to the Arts of Designing, Engraving and Etching Historical, and other Prints."Wm S.SHAW,{Clerk of theDistrictof Massachusetts--2--
NARRATIVE, &c.
, JOSHUA DAVIS, was born in Boston, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, on the 30th of June 1760. On the 14th of June, 1779,I entered on board of the privateer Jason, of 20 guns, commandedby Commodore John Manly, bound on a cruise. About the 25th of thesame month, we sailed from Boston to Portsmouth, NH in order to takeon board Lieut. Frost, and a number of men. We arrived there the nextday, and after taking the men on board, put to sea again. The morningfollowing, the man at the masthead discovered two sail a head of us.Our Captain went up in the fore-top with a spy glass to see what theywere. On his coming down, he told Lieut. Thayer he supposed the twovessels to be one of our privateers with a prize. Lieut. Thayer wentforward with the glass, and after looking sometime, said one of themappeared to be a frigate and the other a brig. On running nearer them,we supposed them to be enemies, and Lieut. Thayer advised theCaptain to heave the ship in stays, to see if they would follow us; towhich the Captain consented, and we hove the ship about. When theysaw this, they hove in stays, and gave us chase. We ran back forPortsmouth, and by the time we had got within half a league of the Isleof Shoals, the vessel got within two gun-shot of us. We perceived asquall coming on to the westward, very fast, and the Captain orderedevery man to stand by, to take in sail. When the squall struck us, ithove us all aback--when we clued down. In ten seconds the windshifted to our starboard beam, and shivered our sails. In a few secondsmore the wind shifted on the starboard quarter, and struck us withsuch force that hove us on our beam ends, and carried away our threemasts and bowsprit. She immediately righted and the squall went over. The vessels that were in chase of us saw our trouble--hove about--andwent off with the squall; and we saw no more of them.
I
 
We went to work, to strip our masts, and to get the sails and rigging onboard; when we found one of our men drowned under the fore-top-sail.We got up jury-masts, and run in between the Isle of Shoals andPortsmouth, where our Captain was determined to take our masts in. Ina few days Capt. MANLY went on shore to see to getting the masts onboard. While he was gone, Patrick Cruckschanks, our boatswain, and John Graves, captain of the forecastle, went forward and set down onthe stump of the bowsprit, and said they would not step the masts insuch a wild rodestead, to endanger their lives; but if the ship was takeninto the harbour, they would do it with pleasure. When the Captaincame on board, he asked Mr. Thayer why the people were not at work;and was told they wished to get into the harbour first. The Captainanswered. "I'll harbor them," and stepped up to the sentry at the cabindoor, took his cutlass out of his hand, and ran forward, and said,"boatswain, why do you not go to work?" He began to tell him theimpropriety of getting the masts in where the ship was; when Capt.MANLY struck him with the cutlass on the cheek, with such force thathis teeth were to be seen from the upper part of his jaw to the lowerpart of his chin. He next spoke to John Graves, and interrogated, andwas answered in a similar manner, when the Captain struck him withthe cutlass on the head, which cut him so bad that he was obliged tobe sent to the hospital, with the boatswain. The Captain then called theother to come down, and go to work. Michael Wall came down to him;the Captain made a stroke at him, which missed, and while the Captainwas lifting up the cutlass to strike him again, Wall gave him a pushagainst the stump of the foremast, and ran aft; the Captain made afterhim--Wall ran to the main hatchway and jumped down between thedecks, and hurt himself very much. The Captain then, with severethreats, ordered the people to go to work; they went to work, andstepped the masts, got the topmasts on end, lower yards athwart, topsail yards on the cap, top gallant masts on end, sails bent, runningrigging rove, boats on the booms, &c. and all done in the space of 36hours.Next day a privateer brig, called the Hazard, from Boston, came downunder our stern, and hailed us; we informed them it was the Jason, JohnManly, commander. The Captain then said, "My orders from theGeneral Court is, that all vessels of war that I meet with on my way toPenobscot, must repair there without fail." To which the Captainconsented.As soon as the Hazard was out of sight, we tripped our anchor andstood to sea. In a few days we were off Sandy Hook; we hove too, anddrifted off and on with the tide for a few days. One day our sailingmaster went to the fore-top-mast-head, to look out for a sail; about 3
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