"Yes," was his good-natured reply. After this affair, (the French privateer having hauled off without molesting them) the supercargo requested to be stationed at one of the guns, and his request was granted. Captain Prince testifies, that in all cases of danger, he manifested great firmness and presence of mind.

The fourth and last voyage which they made together, was in the same ship, from Boston to Batavia and Manilla. They sailed in August, 1799, and arrived there in September, 1800.

On their arrival at Manilla, a Scotchman, by the name of Murray, asked Captain Prince how he contrived to find the way there, through such a long, perplexing, and dangerous navigation, and in the face of the north-east monsoon, by mere dead reckoning, without the use of lunars,―it being a common notion at that time, that the Americans knew nothing about working lunar observations. Captain Prince told him that he had a crew of twelve men, every one of whom could take and work a lunar observation as well, for all practical purposes, as Sir Isaac Newton himself, were he alive. Murray was perfectly astounded at this, and actually went down to the landing-place one Sunday morning to see this knowing crew come ashore.*

One of the most characteristic and amusing nautical anecdotes that it has ever been my good fortune to meet with, is contained in the fourth volume of Baron Zach's "Correspondance Astronomique," page 62.

Mr. Bowditch was present at this conversation, and as Captain Prince says, sat "as modest as a maid," said not a word, but held his slate-pencil in his mouth. Another person on the island, a broker, by the name of

It is so good that I thought it worth translating, and now venture to append it in a note, notwithstanding its length. The Baron is relating the sensation caused at Genoa, by the arrival there, in 1817, of that splendid packet, the "Cleopatra's Barge," owned by George Crowninshield, Esq. of Salem. He says that he went on board, with all the world," and it happened," to use his own words, "that in inquiring after my friends and correspondents at Philadelphia and Boston, I mentioned, among others, the name of Mr. Bowditch. 'He is a friend of our family and our neighbor at Salem,' replied the captain, a smart, little old man, ' and that young man whom you see there, my son, was his pupil; in fact, it is he, and not myself, who navigates the ship. Question him a little, and see if he has learnt any thing.' Our dialogue was as follows:-' You have had an excellent teacher of navigation, young man; and you could not well help being a good scholar. In making the Straits of Gibraltar, what was the error in your reckoning?' The young man replied,' Six miles.' 'You must then have got your longitude very accurately; how did you get it?' 'First by our chronometers, and afterwards by lunar distances.' 'What! do you know how to take and calculate the longitude by lunar distances?' The young captain seemed somewhat nettled at my question, and answered me with a scornful smile-'I know how to calculate the longitude! Why, our cook can do that!' 'Your cook!' Here the owner of the ship and the old captain assured me that the cook on board could calculate the longitude very well, that he had a taste and passion for it, and did it every day. There he is,' said the young man, pointing with his finger to a negro at the stern of the ship, with a white apron before him, and holding a chicken in one hand and a butcher's knife in the other. 'Come forward, Jack,' said the captain to him; 'the gentleman is surprised that you can calculate the longitude; answer his questions.' I asked him, 'What method do you use to calculate the longitude by lunar distances?' His answer was, 'It's all one to me: I use the methods of Maskelyne, Lyons, Witchel, and Bowditch; but, upon the

Kean, who was present, said to Murray, "If

you knew as much as I do about that ship Astræa, you would'nt talk quite so glib." "Why not? what do you know about her?" "Why, sir, I know that there is more knowledge of navigation on board that ship, than there ever was in all the vessels that ever floated in Manilla Bay."

The knowledge which these common sailors had acquired of navigation, had been imparted to them by the kindness of Mr. Bowditch. Captain Prince says that one day the supercargo said to him, "Come, Captain, let us go forward and see what the sailors are talking about, under the lea of the long-boat. They went forward accordingly, and the Captain was surprised to find the sailors, instead of spinning their long yarns,

whole, I prefer Dunthorne's; I am more used to it, and can work with it quicker.' I could not express my surprise at hearing this black face talk in this way, with his bloody chicken and knife in his hand. 'Go,' said Mr. Crowninshield to him, 'lay down your chicken, bring your books and your journal, and show the gentleman your calculations. The cook soon returned with his books under his arm. He had Bowditch's Practical Navigator, The Requisite Tables, Hutton's Tables of Logarithms, and the Nautical Almanac. I saw all this negro's calculations of the latitude, the longitude, and the true time, which he had worked out on the passage. He answered all my questions with wonderful accuracy, not in the Latin of the caboose, but in the good set terms of navigation. This cook had been round the world, as cabinboy, with Captain Cook in his last voyage, and was well acquainted with the particulars of his assassination at Owhyhee, on the 14th of February, 1779.'

earnestly engaged with book, slate and pencil, and discussing the high matters of tangents and secants, altitudes, dip, and refraction. Two of them, in particular, were very zealously disputing, one of them calling out to the other, "Well, Jack, what have you got?" "I've got the sine," was the answer. "But that an't right," said the other, "I say it is the cosine.” *

I am happy to be able to corroborate the statements of Captain Prince, by the testimony of a gallant officert in our navy, who sailed in the Astræa the two last voyages to Alicant and Batavia. In a letter recently written, with the sight of which I have been favored, after speaking in terms of the warmest gratitude of the kindness and attention with which Mr. Bowditch treated him, when a poor sea-sick cabin-boy, and ac

Besides these four voyages with Captain Prince, Dr. Bowditch made two others, as I have before remarked, the last in the combined capacities of supercargo and master. Captain Prince says, that although he had such a thorough knowledge of navigation, he knew but little about what is technically called seamanship. He also mentions the fact which he had often heard him repeat, that although, in his youth, he had long lived in the vicinity of the ship-yards, he had never seen a launch; and rather scouted the idea that such a sight, or any thing like it, should be able to draw him away from his books. Captain Prince likewise testifies that during the whole course of these four voyages, he does not récollect the slightest interruption of harmony and good feeling between them.

+ Charles F. Waldo, Esq. sailing-master in the United States' Navy, now stationed at the Navy Yard in Charlestown. He was wounded in the engagement between the Constitution and the Java.

knowledging his great obligations to him for instructing him in navigation, he goes on to say that it was Mr. Bowditch's practice to interest himself in all the sailors on board, and to take pains to instruct all who could read and write, in the principles of navigation. The consequence of this was, that every one of those twelve sailors, who could read and write, subsequently rose to the rank of captain or chief mate of a ship. Indeed, at Salem, it was considered the highest recommendation of a seaman, that he had sailed in the same ship with Mr. Bowditch, and this fact alone was often sufficient to procure for him an officer's berth. In illustration of this statement, he mentions the fact that on his second voyage the first and second mates had been sailors in the same ship on the previous voyage. He also speaks of Mr. Bowditch's urbane and gentlemanly deportment to every one on board, and says that he never appeared so happy as when he could inspire the sailor with a proper sense of his individual importance, and of the talents he possessed, and might call into action.

Capt. Prince relates a little incident that occurred under his observation, that is worth preserving. In the year 1796, there was an Englishman in Boston, who called himself a professor of mathematics. He boasted a great deal about his mathematical knowledge, and said that he had not found any body in this country who knew any thing about the science. "I have a question," said he, "which I have proposed to several persons here who are reputed the most knowing, and