I wanted to go abroad and see the world. I wanted to go to the Indies. I wanted to be shipwrecked on some island among the savages and nobody saved but myself so that I could convert the natives to my religion. I ran away from home, was miserable and returned home again. Still not satisfied, I went aboard the School Ship at Deptsford to learn to be a sailor. There I got some little learning in the various duties of a sailor's life, but the greatest principle I learned was to obey orders even if it broke the owners. I have always been willing to obey counsel since. There was no getting away from it— do as you were told or be flogged by the boatswain. At the expiration of nine months on the Deptsford I was drafted on board of the Duke of Sussex, a thirty-two gun ship bound for china...
China! I wondered if this was just a vivid imagination at work. Did my 19th century silk weaver really get to China?
In checking the source notes in the text, it looks as if a researcher was hired to confirm the information. The Duke of Sussex was actually in the fleet of the East India Company, not in military service, and according to the researcher there was a Henry Savage aboard. The ship left London on April 26, 1827, traveled to Malacca, Singapore, Canton, St. Helena and returned to London July 8, 1828.
Now I'm working on hiring a researcher to look at the records in London to get a copy of for myself. Note to self: Need to find a money tree....
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