Anonymous

“ From the Time of her Husband’s Elopement till the Time she put on Man’s Cloaths, she continued with her Sister, who is married to one James Gray, a House Carpenter, in Ship-street, Wapping, and from whence she took her Departure unknown to any, and was never heard of until her Return; and with whom she now dwells.
As she was now free from all the Ties arising from Nature and Consanguinity; she thought herself privileged to roam in quest of the Man, who, without Reason, had injured her so much; for there are no Bounds to be set either to Love, Jealousy or Hatred, in the female Mind. ”

“ This proved only the Downfall to my future Calamities; for my Substance being now exhausted, thrust out of Doors by these Ladies of Pleasure, who proved to me Ladies of Pain, and being ashamed to look my much injured Wife in the Face any more, whom I had so basely betrayed, my Mind was rack’d with exquisite Torture, so that I would willingly have fled from myself if it had been possible. ”

“ Attacks upon fortified Towns, some of which were impregnable, where Bomb-Shells and Cannons were incessantly displaying Death wherever they fell; at other Times, moving, marching, and encamping; I say such Reflections and gloomy Prospects, prove the Cause of many such Hardships and Difficulties even in the most robust of the Masculine Gender, how much more in one of the tender Sex, who are afraid of Shaddows, and shudders at the Pressage of a Dream. ”

“ This, together with some former Passages, constrains me to observe how much the Publick, both at Home and Abroad, have been deceived in this Woman, she being so long in the Army and Navy, where there were many penetrating clear-sighted Gentlemen, and ashore in foreign Countries amongst Men, Women and Children; and notwithstanding all these publick Characters, her Sex not discovered. This must cause Admiration in every Reader; but she counterfeited the Man so dextrously, and does to this very Day, that the most excellent Judge of Features, Semetry or Gesture, cannot discover the Deceit. ”

“ However, tho’ Courage and warlike Expeditions, are not the Provinces by the World allotted to Women since the Days of the Amazons, yet the female Sex is far from being destitute of Heroinism. Cleopatra headed a noble Army against Mark Anthony, the greatest Warrior of his Time. ”

“ She remember’d in what Manner she had been reflected upon by them during the Voyage from St. David’s to Lisbon, therefore she pointed out this Method as the most [Pg 20] effectual, to prevent any further suspicious Reflections for the future. She very wisely judged, that by associating herself with them, by shewing a free and chearful Disposition, and by being ready to come into their Measures, she should banish from their Imaginations the least Suspicion of her being a Woman, and by that Means enjoy a free and uninterrupted Passage to her native Country, without discovering her Sex. ”

“ Upon her Desertion, she set out on Foot for Portsmouth, and about a Mile out of Carlisle, exchanges her regimental Clothes for worse, with some People employed in cutting down Pease. But Courage and Love, like impetuous Torrents, rage the more they are opposed; for Hannah whose Breast was actuated with both these Principles, had no sooner arrived at Portsmouth, than she found her Expectations disapointed: However, whether Despair or the Hopes of again meeting that unfaithful Man, who had made her the Mother of a helpless Infant, actuated her Breast and gave her Passions a preternatural Spring. ”

“ This Wound being so extreme painful, it almost drove her to the Precipice of Despair; she often thought of discovering herself, that by that Means she might be freed from the unspeakable Pain she endured, by having the Ball taken out by one of the Surgeons; but that Resolution was soon banished, and she resolved to run all Risques, even at the hazard of her Life, rather than that her Sex should be known. Confirmed in this Resolution, she communicated her Design to a black Woman, who attended upon her, and could get at the Surgeons Medicines, and desired her Assistance ”

“ Here is the real Pamella to be to found, who in the midst of thousands [Pg 41] of the Martial Gentry, preserved her Chastity by the most virtuous Stratagems that could be devised: Next behold her upon the Ocean, surrounded with Storms, Tempests and Hurricanes, every Moment expecting the watery Element should prove her Tomb; and as an Addition to her wretched Situation, she was intermixed with the hardy resolute Tars, who soon would have batter’d down the Fort of her Virtue, had they discovered that James Gray was Mrs. Hannah Snell. ”

“ But here the unpolished Tars had not Opportunities of extending their Wickedness to such a high Pitch as they would have done, had they had Objects to satiate their brutish Appetites; for there were but a few white Women in the Place; however she saw too much not to be afflicted, lest her Sex should by their impudent, and [Pg 18] unlimited Behaviour, be discovered, and her Virtue sacrificed to their rapacious, boundless and lustful Appetites; but Innocency and Virtue is the safest Protection in the worst of Times ”

“ This Opportunity improved their Conversation, and sometimes they conversed upon Love; and Hannah finding this young Woman had no dislike to her, she endeavoured to try if she could not act the Lover as well as the Soldier, which she so well effected, that it was agreed upon she should return from London, in order to be married as soon as she had got her Discharge and Pay; and tho’ but so short a Time there as two Days, had effected this her Amour so as to obtain the young Woman’s Consent to marry her. ”

“ The Reader will here observe, the invincible Courage and Resolution of this Woman, who in the midst of so many Inconveniences as she daily encounter’d, should still be able to guard herself from a discovery of her Sex ”

“ Hannah Snell, whose History is highly interesting, both on Account of the Variety of amazing Incidents, and the untainted Veracity with which it is attended. Some People guided rather by the Suggestions of Caprice, than the Dictates of Reason and a sound Understanding, have foolishly imagin’d, that Persons of low and undistinguished Births, hardly ever rais’d themselves to the Summit of Glory and Renown ”

“ Here is a Woman, and an English Woman, who, notwithstanding the many Dangers and Vicissitudes she underwent for near the Space of five Years, during her Travels, was never found out to be of the feminine Gender. ”

“ Here they found the Vigilant Man of War, which was likewise much damaged in the Storm in the Bay of Biscay, being one of the Fleet that sail’d from Portsmouth with them.
While she was ashore at Lisbon, with her Master, she was quartered at one Mrs. Poore’s a Punch-House and Tavern; but says nothing material happened there, during the three Weeks.
As it often happens for the wise and noble Purposes of Heaven, that one Misfortune succeeds another, as close as the Waves on the Sea-shore; so the Swallow set sail in Company with the Vigilant Man of War, in Order to join the Admiral’s Squadron ”

“ This Relation, and the Anxieties some of them shewed, gave her new Matter of Contemplation, and often, when retired in her Master’s Cabin, reflected on her own Fate, having herself been married to a most faithless Man, who had left her in the utmost Distress, at a Time she was not able to help herself, and that without any Reason, but what was occasioned by his own Extravagances. ”

“ That she might execute her Designs with the better Grace, and the more Success, she boldly commenced a Man, at least in her Dress, and no doubt she had a Right to do so, since she had the real Soul of a Man in her Breast. ”

“ I cannot help reflecting a little upon the Hardships, Fatigues and Dangers she incountered from the Time she left Lisbon in Europe, till her Arrival before Pondicherry in Asia, so many Vicissitudes, as were sufficient to damp the Spirits of an Alexander or a Cæsar, Storms, Hurricanes and [Pg 15] pinching Want, were her Concomitants, pumping an almost wrecked Vessel, was her most constant (tho’ laborious) Employment; seventeen Weeks short Allowance from the Maderas to the Cape of Good Hope, was all she had to subsist upon ”

“ Superiors and Inferiors; for can it be imagined, that in the midst of so many Dangers, where there was no Back-Door to creep out at, if her Sex had been discovered, but she must have fallen a Victim to the loose, disorderly, and vitious Appetites of many on board, especially those whom she was more immediately concerned with, to wit, her Officers. ”

“ As this Treatise was done in a Hurry from Hannah Snell’s own Mouth, and directly committed to the Press, occasioned by the Impatience of the Town to have it published, it is not doubted but that such Part of it as appears somewhat incorrect, will be candidly overlook’d, that, being made up in the Veracity and Fulness of her surprising Adventures; the like not to be met with in the Records of Time. ”

“ One Day at Lisbon, on her Return to England, falling in Company with many of her Ship-mates, they all went into an Irish House, by the Romanado’s, to drink some Wine, where was sitting at the same Time an Englishman, a Sailor, who had lately come from Genoa on board a Dutch Vessel; there were some of his Brother Tars in Company who knew him; upon which they became very merry, and began, over their Glass and their Pipe, to talk over some of their Adventures, and what they met with in their Travels worthy taking Notice of ”

“ It is a common Thing to observe a Family dispersed, when the Heads of that Family are either laid in their Graves, or by accidental Calamities rendered incapable of supporting it longer. Accordingly, when the Father and Mother of [Pg 6] Hannah died, Hannah came up to London, and arrived in Town on Christmas-Day, 1740, and resided for some Time, with her Sister in Wapping.
Some Time after she came to London, she contracted an Acquaintance with one James Summs, a Sailor, who was a Dutchman ”

“ On the 19th of November last, the Eltham sailed with the rest of the Fleet from Fort St. David’s, and kept Company till they came to the Cape of Good Hope; when the Eltham had Orders to make the best of her Way to Lisbon, to take in Money for the Use of the Merchants of London. ”

“ Recourse to all her Master’s Stores, especially his Liquors, which was pretty plentiful at that Time.
I shall depart a little from the Subject, and give the Reader an Account of that basest of Men, our Heroine’s Husband, who upon deserting his lawful Wife, entered himself as a Foremast Man on board one of his Countrymen, then lying in the River Thames. But where can the guilty Criminal fly for Sanctuary? His own Conscience must prove his Executioner, and a thousand Monitors within, who Vulture like, always gnaw the Liver, not suffering the Mind to enjoy the shortest Interval of Quiet ”

“ During this Space of Time, she behaved with the greatest Bravery and Intrepidity, such as was consistent with the Character of an English Soldier, and though so deep in Water, fired 37 Rounds of Shot, and received a Shot in the Groin, six Shots in one Leg, and five in the other.
The Siege being now broke up, by reason of the heavy Rains, and violent Claps of Thunder, it being the Time of the Year when the Monzoons (for so they are called in that Country) happens, [Pg 16] she was sent to an Hospital at Cuddylorom, under the Care of two able Physicians, viz. Mr. ”

“ Irons, which accordingly was done, and continued for the Space of five Days, and then ordered her to have a dozen Lashes, which she had at the Gang-Way of the Ship, and after that sent to the Foretop-mast-head, for four Hours; such is the Cruelty of those that are invested with Power, and do not know how to use it. However, this Man’s Cruelty did not go unpunished; for after there Arival in England, as they were unriging the Ship, one of the Sailors let a Block fall on his Head, which hurt him greatly. ”

“ David’s, where they arrived in a little Time, and the Marines being put on Shore joined the English Army, and encamped, and in about three Weeks marched and encamped before Elacapong, and laid Siege to it, with an Intent to storm the Place. This fresh Adventure inspired her with fresh Hopes of shewing her undaunted Courage, which she did to the Admiration of her Officers ”

“ They set sail from Lisbon the 3d of May, and arrived at Spithead the 1st of June, without any Thing material during the Voyage (which was lengthened by Calms and contrary Winds) ; that very Day she arrived at Spithead she came on Shore, and took a Lodging along with several of her Shipmates and Marines, at one James Cunningham’s, at the Sign of the Jolly Marine and Sailor; where the House being thronged with Lodgers, she was obliged to be Bedfellow to one John Huchins, a Brother Marine, the first Night ”

“ How she received five hundred Lashes at Carlisle, as a Punishment for her virtuous Conduct, her Resolution to desert, and her puting this Determination into Execution; her changing her military Cloathing about a Mile from Town, for the rustick Garb of a Shepherd; her Arrival at Portsmouth, her entering into General Fraser’s Regiment of Marines, her being draughted out for the East Indies ”

“ Fraser’s Regiment, and went on board the Swallow, his Majesty’s Sloop of War, to the East-Indies, belonging to Admiral Boscawen’s Squadron, where this Deponent was present at the Siege of Pondicherry, and all the other Sieges during that Expedition, in which she received Twelve Wounds, some of which were dangerous, and was put into the Hospital for Cure of the same, and returned into England in the Eltham Man of War, Capt. ”