The Autobiography of Ben Franklin - Benjamin Franklin (bookreader .txt) š
- Author: Benjamin Franklin
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A fortnight after I met him again in the same place. āSo, you are soon returnād, Innis?ā āReturned! no, I am not gone yet.ā
āHow so?ā āI have called here by order every morning these two weeks past for his lordshipās letter, and it is not yet ready.ā
āIs it possible, when he is so great a writer? for I see him constantly at his escritoire.ā āYes,ā says Innis, ābut he is like St. George on the signs, always on horseback, and never rides on!ā
This observation of the messenger was, it seems, well founded; for, when in England, I understood that Mr. Pitt gave it as one reason for removing this general, and sending Generals Amherst and Wolfe, that the minister never heard from him, and could not know what he was doing.
This daily expectation of sailing, and all the three paquets going down to Sandy Hook, to join the fleet there, the passengers thought it best to be on board, lest by a sudden order the ships should sail, and they be left behind. There, if I remember right, we were about six weeks, consuming our sea-stores, and obligād to procure more.
At length the fleet sailād, the General and all his army on board, bound to Louisburg, with intent to besiege and take that fortress; all the paquet-boats in company ordered to attend the Generalās ship, ready to receive his dispatches when they should be ready.
We were out five days before we got a letter with leave to part, and then our ship quitted the fleet and steered for England. The other two paquets he still detained, carried them with him to Halifax, where he stayed some time to exercise the men in sham attacks upon sham forts, then alterād his mind as to besieging Louisburg, and returnād to New York, with all his troops, together with the two paquets above mentioned, and all their passengers! During his absence the French and savages had taken Fort George, on the frontier of that province, and the savages had massacred many of the garrison after capitulation.
I saw afterwards in London Captain Bonnell, who commanded one of those paquets. He told me that, when he had been detainād a month, he acquainted his lordship that his ship was grown foul, to a degree that must necessarily hinder her fast sailing, a point of consequence for a paquet-boat, and requested an allowance of time to heave her down and clean her bottom. He was asked how long time that would require. He answerād, three days.
The general replied, āIf you can do it in one day, I give leave; otherwise not; for you must certainly sail the day after to-morrow.ā
So he never obtainād leave, though detained afterwards from day to day during full three months.
I saw also in London one of Bonnellās passengers, who was so enragād against his lordship for deceiving and detaining him so long at New York, and then carrying him to Halifax and back again, that he swore he would sue for damages. Whether he did or not, I never heard; but, as he represented the injury to his affairs, it was very considerable.
On the whole, I wonderād much how such a man came to be intrusted with so important a business as the conduct of a great army; but, having since seen more of the great world, and the means of obtaining, and motives for giving places, my wonder is diminished.
General Shirley, on whom the command of the army devolved upon the death of Braddock, would, in my opinion, if continued in place, have made a much better campaign than that of Loudoun in 1757, which was frivolous, expensive, and disgraceful to our nation beyond conception; for, thoā Shirley was not a bred soldier, he was sensible and sagacious in himself, and attentive to good advice from others, capable of forming judicious plans, and quick and active in carrying them into execution. Loudoun, instead of defending the colonies with his great army, left them totally exposād while he paraded idly at Halifax, by which means Fort George was lost, besides, he derangād all our mercantile operations, and distressād our trade, by a long embargo on the exportation of provisions, on pretence of keeping supplies from being obtainād by the enemy, but in reality for beating down their price in favor of the contractors, in whose profits, it was said, perhaps from suspicion only, he had a share. And, when at length the embargo was taken off, by neglecting to send notice of it to Charlestown, the Carolina fleet was detainād near three months longer, whereby their bottoms were so much damaged by the worm that a great part of them foundered in their passage home.
Shirley was, I believe, sincerely glad of being relieved from so burdensome a charge as the conduct of an army must be to a man unacquainted with military business. I was at the entertainment given by the city of New York to Lord Loudoun, on his taking upon him the command. Shirley, thoā thereby superseded, was present also.
There was a great company of officers, citizens, and strangers, and, some chairs having been borrowed in the neighborhood, there was one among them very low, which fell to the lot of Mr. Shirley. Perceiving it as I sat by him, I said, āThey have given you, sir, too low a seat.ā
āNo matter,ā says he, āMr. Franklin, I find a low seat the easiest.ā
While I was, as afore mentionād, detainād at New York, I receivād all the accounts of the provisions, etc., that I had furnishād to Braddock, some of which accounts could not sooner be obtainād from the different persons I had employād to assist in the business.
I presented them to Lord Loudoun, desiring to be paid the ballance.
He causād them to be regularly examined by the proper officer, who, after comparing every article with its voucher, certified them to be right; and the balance due for which his lordship promisād to give me an order on the paymaster. This was, however, put off from time to time; and, thoā I callād often for it by appointment, I did not get it. At length, just before my departure, he told me he had, on better consideration, concluded not to mix his accounts with those of his predecessors. āAnd you,ā says he, āwhen in England, have only to exhibit your accounts at the treasury, and you will be paid immediately.ā
I mentionād, but without effect, the great and unexpected expense I had been put to by being detainād so long at New York, as a reason for my desiring to be presently paid; and on my observing that it was not right I should be put to any further trouble or delay in obtaining the money I had advancād, as I charged no commission for my service, āO, sir,ā says he, āyou must not think of persuading us that you are no gainer; we understand better those affairs, and know that every one concerned in supplying the army finds means, in the doing it, to fill his own pockets.ā I assurād him that was not my case, and that I had not pocketed a farthing; but he appearād clearly not to believe me; and, indeed, I have since learnt that immense fortunes are often made in such employments. As to my ballance, I am not paid it to this day, of which more hereafter.
Our captain of the paquet had boasted much, before we sailed, of the swiftness of his ship; unfortunately, when we came to sea, she proved the dullest of ninety-six sail, to his no small mortification.
After many conjectures respecting the cause, when we were near another ship almost as dull as ours, which, however, gainād upon us, the captain ordered all hands to come aft, and stand as near the ensign staff as possible. We were, passengers included, about forty persons.
While we stood there, the ship mended her pace, and soon left her neighbour far behind, which provād clearly what our captain suspected, that she was loaded too much by the head. The casks of water, it seems, had been all placād forward; these he therefore orderād to be movād further aft, on which the ship recoverād her character, and proved the sailer in the fleet.
The captain said she had once gone at the rate of thirteen knots, which is accounted thirteen miles per hour. We had on board, as a passenger, Captain Kennedy, of the Navy, who contended that it was impossible, and that no ship ever sailed so fast, and that there must have been some error in the division of the log-line, or some mistake in heaving the log. A wager ensuād between the two captains, to be decided when there should be sufficient wind.
Kennedy thereupon examinād rigorously the log-line, and, being satisfiād with that, he determinād to throw the log himself.
Accordingly some days after, when the wind blew very fair and fresh, and the captain of the paquet, Lutwidge, said he believād she then went at the rate of thirteen knots, Kennedy made the experiment, and ownād his wager lost.
The above fact I give for the sake of the following observation.
It has been remarkād, as an imperfection in the art of ship-building, that it can never be known, till she is tried, whether a new ship will or will not be a good sailer; for that the model of a good-sailing ship has been exactly followād in a new one, which has provād, on the contrary, remarkably dull. I apprehend that this may partly be occasionād by the different opinions of seamen respecting the modes of lading, rigging, and sailing of a ship; each has his system; and the same vessel, laden by the judgment and orders of one captain, shall sail better or worse than when by the orders of another.
Besides, it scarce ever happens that a ship is formād, fitted for the sea, and sailād by the same person. One man builds the hull, another rigs her, a third lades and sails her. No one of these has the advantage of knowing all the ideas and experience of the others, and, therefore, can not draw just conclusions from a combination of the whole.
Even in the simple operation of sailing when at sea, I have often observād different judgments in the officers who commanded the successive watches, the wind being the same. One would have the sails trimmād sharper or flatter than another, so that they seemād to have no certain rule to govern by. Yet I think a set of experiments might be instituted, first, to determine the most proper form of the hull for swift sailing; next, the best dimensions and properest place for the masts: then the form and quantity of sails, and their position, as the wind may be; and, lastly, the disposition of the lading. This is an age of experiments, and I think a set accurately made and combinād would be of great use.
I am persuaded, therefore, that ere long some ingenious philosopher will undertake it, to whom I wish success.
We were several times chasād in our passage, but outsailād every thing, and in thirty days had soundings. We had a good observation, and the captain judgād himself so near our port, Falmouth, that, if we made a good run in the night, we might be off the mouth of that harbor in the morning, and by running in the night might escape the notice of the enemyās privateers, who often crusād near
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