Thomas Musgrave

“ One night, when he was smoking his pipe with Musgrave, he said—
[Pg 147] "Christ died for all the lot of us, didn't He? That was a rare thing to do. Now, suppose He says, when I meet Him, 'What are you doing here? You have done nothing but go to chapel.' Now, Mr. Musgrave, will you tell me this: what should I say in a case of that sort?"
Old Musgrave wrinkled his wise brows and replied, "Thomas, my man, He knows your heart. I suppose you think you ought to save life, or something of that kind, don't you?" ”

“ He had no particular artistic sense, but the joy of colour, the blaze of the sky, the warm and exhilarating air, made him feel as though he must utter praises. After passing some miles of strange moorland, covered with the blaze of gorse, and the multitudinous flash of marshy pools, the two arrived at a curious square building, which stood a little outside the fishing village.
Musgrave said, "Now, Thomas, come in, and I'll find you a pew," and the two entered a low room. The congregation was already collected. There were fierce faces, bronzed by wind and sun. ”

“ What do you think of that, Thomas?" And thereupon the old man lighted his pipe, and sat smiling for a little and moving his long fingers daintily. "When the two queer companions had taken puff by puff together for some time, Musgrave said—
"Thomas, my lad, you are very unhappy. I am happy, and I think a man has no more right to keep happiness to himself than he has to keep money to himself. I am going to share with you. Now, I'm an old fellow that's got near done with the world, and you are a slashing young chap, and the girls look after you. ”

“ If nothing comes after us, we shall commence at the New Year to pull the 'Grafton' to pieces, and try what we can do with her bones. It is an undertaking the success of which I am exceedingly doubtful of. ”

“ The circumstances attending the wreck of the Invercauld are of a peculiarly painful nature, and such as are likely to excite in the minds of this community more than ordinary interest, while the details of the narrative furnished by Captain Musgrave, of the schooner Grafton, containing so harrowing an account of the miseries and privations endured by himself and his shipwrecked crew on that barren and desolate isle, are so fresh in the memories of the inhabitants of this colony. ”

“ The days are getting short, and a long, stormy, dreary winter is before us, without the slightest prospect of getting away; and how those dear ones whom I left manage to battle with the misery in which my ambition and folly has plunged them, I dare not think. ”

“ Now, as the water is warmer than the air, and they only come on shore in the night, after dark, to sleep, and go into the water before daylight, it would be madness for us to go through the bush to look for them in the dark. ”

“ I trust that my purgations are now being performed, and are almost completed, for things appear to be drawing rapidly towards a crisis. The proverb says, when things are at their worst they must mend; but how bad that worst may be is beyond the reach of human knowledge. ”

“ It will be a glorious change if ever we get back to the land where the sun shines every day; and it is to be hoped we shall, and that before very long now. I don't know how it is, but for the last few days I have felt unaccountably fidgety and uneasy, as if I were every moment expecting some extraordinary occurrence. ”

“ I have employed myself all the week in working at our new place, and I am going to much more trouble than is absolutely necessary, so as to divert my mind as much as possible from melancholy thoughts and forebodings. ”

“ Our stock of tools is, as I think I have said before, an American axe, an adze, a hammer, and a gimblet—a mighty assortment to take our ship to pieces, and build another one with, if even there was any carpenter or blacksmith among us, which there is not. ”

“ It is useless for me to describe it—it is a complete bundle of rags; and by adding to these troubles grim starvation, which all along has been gnawing at our bowels, we have a summary of our calamities, the details of which would be sickening. But, thank God! we are now in reality on the point of surmounting or ending our wretchedness and misery. ”

“ Everything that is really fit to eat keeps out of our reach. We have had one seal since I last wrote, and this one affords another and more striking instance of the savage manner in which these animals fight. ”

“ The view from the summit of the mountain on which we stood, at an elevation of about 800 or 1000 feet, is something grand and magnificent; a prospect so rude and craggy I have never met with. The summit of the mountains consists of nothing but rocks, that are totally barren and naked, and are thrown up in every possible variety of shape and ruggedness. ”

“ If the wind is moderate in the least degree—that is to say, if it is not blowing a whole gale, they are flying about in myriads, from daylight to dark (fortunately they modestly retire in the night) , and alight on you in clouds, literally covering every part of your skin that happens to be exposed, and not only that, but they get inside our clothes and bite there. ”

“ How it had managed to crawl out of the water I cannot imagine, and whether it had been set into by more than one seal I am unable to conjecture. It was a cow, and was with calf.
This great scarcity of meat has not been for want of searching after it. We have constantly had one, and sometimes two, men out on the forage. If the boat was afloat, I have no doubt but we should be able to find as much as we could eat. When we get her afloat, we shall at once lay in a sea stock, and be off with the first slant of wind. ”

“ This, however, is natural enough, I have no doubt; for men, after suffering such an imprisonment as we have done, are ready to regain their liberty at any price, especially when grim starvation is urging them on.
Since I last wrote, we have worked steadily and industriously at the boat, and have got along as fast as our skill and tools will permit; and I think we shall be able to launch her in about ten more days from this. We have worked from daylight in the morning until half-past nine at night, Raynal at his forge, and I, after dark, at the sails in the house. ”

“ It is a surprising fact that the nearer to the water a seal is killed, the more tenacious it is of life. I have actually seen one of these black bull seals, with two bullets in him, his head split open with an axe, and his brains hanging out, dragging the men along the beach, who were trying to keep him out of the water by hanging on to his hind flappers ”

“ On a closer inspection of the forest it is found to be composed of a dense thicket of stag-headed trees, so gnarled and stunted by the violence of the gales as to afford an excellent shelter for a luxuriant undergrowth of bright green feathery ferns, and several gay flowered herbs. ”

“ Port Pegasus is one of the finest harbours I have ever been in, and there is abundance of heavy timber all over its shores. If the land be good, which the abundance and verdure of its vegetation seem to indicate, it must, in the course of a few years, become a port of considerable importance. After dinner we got the anchor up and pulled the cutter outside, in hope of finding a breeze, but we were disappointed; there was not a breath of air, so we pulled in again, and in the evening anchored about six miles to the southward of where we lay last night. ”

“ It was very showery in the forenoon, but at noon the showers took off, and at 3 p.m. the wind moderated a little, and we at once got under weigh, and under double-reefed canvas beat up to our old house; and as we did not come in sight of it until within about a mile from it, the boys did not see us until we were close upon them. Then the one who saw us ran into the house to tell the other, and before they reached the beach Captain Cross and myself had landed, leaving the cutter under weigh, as there was too much wind and sea to anchor her. ”

“ From the quantity of land which has been cleared, I judge that a good many people have lived here. At 9 o'clock in the morning we up anchor and pulled the cutter out of the bay with the last of the ebb tide, expecting to find some wind when we got outside, from some quarter or other, for we are all heartily sick of the protractions of this voyage. ”

“ We have got the keel, stem, and stern-post of the craft, and a number of timbers ready for bolting them together; but also here we are stuck fast, and find ourselves unable to go any farther. Mr. Raynal has made a saw, chisels, gouges, and sundry other tools. His ingenuity and dexterity at the forge have indeed surpassed my expectation, but making augers has proved a hopeless failure. ”

“ It is quite true that by energetic perseverance men may perform wonders, and our success would by no means constitute a miracle. The men are all very sanguine, and I have no doubt but we shall be able to make something that will carry us to Hew Zealand. We are not quite ready to commence yet. Raynal and I have not finished our new place, where we intend to live, and this house must be thatched, so as to preserve the sails, which, up to the present time, have covered it. ”

“ I manage to keep the men almost constantly employed at something which is at the same time useful and amusing. We shall shortly commence to pull the schooner to pieces, and I have no doubt but we shall feel truly interested in the work of trying to get away. ”

“ It is now noon, the weather is thick and foggy, the breeze is strong, and the sea is running high, and the little vessel is dancing about like a cork. I am obliged to get myself chocked up in a corner to write, as it is impossible to sit, or stand, or even lie, without holding on, or being well chocked off. 9 p.m.—In the afternoon the weather bore a very threatening aspect, and the wind increased and hauled to the southward. ”

“ We are all very miserable, everything wet, and we can get nothing cooked; for the man whom Captain Cross engaged, who was to have done the cooking, is a sea-sick, lazy, good-for-nothing fellow, and can't or won't do it ”

“ There is barely a passage for a boat, and very shallow water outside of the distance of a cable and a half, where the centre drops suddenly into eight fathoms, close to the edge, and deepens fast from that outwards. But I was not particular about sounding far from it, as it came on to rain, and we wanted seal, as our fresh provisions had been out for two or three days; so we landed on the island, and found three mobs of seals asleep. There were from 30 to 40 in each mob, and there were a great many very young calves amongst them. These we wanted to get without killing the old ones. ”

“ Tuesday, August 8.—As we proceeded to the northward again, the wind moderated and the weather cleared a little. It is now 3 a.m. We have just hove the cutter to, and will wait for daylight, as we have not yet made the land, although we have run 20 miles farther than where we should have found it. I feel very uneasy about it, as all on board do. We have only one compass on board, which I have every reason to believe is out of order and is leading us astray, and where we are, or which side of the channel we are on, it will be impossible to ascertain until I can get sights in the morning. ”

“ Water, as an article of consumption, is very abundant. The stream which falls into the head of Laurie Harbour had sufficient water to form a noble cataract after a month's dry weather, and, indeed, abundance of streams are to be met with in all parts. ”

“ When you surprise the calves when they are staying at the edge of the water, they will always run on shore and make for the bush. The last time that Raynal went without me the seals were very savage. In the water they attacked the boat; one left the marks of his teeth in an oar, and another one was going to jump into the boat, but Raynal shot him. When they are killed in the water they sink like a stone. ”

“ Their greatest speed in the water does not exceed twenty miles an hour; and when going through the water at the height of their speed they have the extraordinary power of stopping themselves instantaneously. ”

“ The truth is, starvation is staring us in the face, which, it will be admitted, is enough to drive men to desperation. And this fact has moved me to the resolution which I have taken, and I think I am acting prudently. I have given it my serious and deliberate consideration for the last three months, as I have all along had my doubts about being able to make augers, without which it is utterly impossible to build anything better than the boat ”

“ Musgrave, Thomas (d.1384) (DNB00) Musgrave, William (DNB00) Mush, John (DNB00) Mushet, David (DNB00) Mushet, Robert (1782-1828) (DNB00) Mushet, Robert (1811-1871) (DNB00) Mushet, Robert Forester (DNB00) Mushet, William (DNB00) Music Music (Coates) Music (Owen) Music (Shelley) Music in the Bush Music on Christmas Morning Music on the Thames Music, when soft voices die Musicians wrestle everywhere — Musick's Empire Musings of a Moron Musket, George (DNB00) Muskrat v. United States Muspratt, James (DNB00) Muspratt, James Sheridan (DNB00) Muss, Charles (DNB00) Musser v. ”

“ The wind is so that, should I slip the cable with a spring, she would not clear the point, or I would slip and run out to sea. At every heave of the swell she is dragging the anchor home, and getting nearer the shore. From 10 p.m. till midnight the gale blew with the most terrific violence, and precisely at midnight the ship struck, but we hung on to the cable, in hopes that the wind would moderate as the tide rose, as it was then low water. ”