e we encountered a storm. I was on deck
with the sailors and the captain stood on the quarter-deck. We were
coursing against the wind and were just going to turn when the captain
called on me to untie some ropes. Understanding very little English, and
being no sailor, I naturally knew nothing about the names of the
different ropes, and I grabbed one after another, but invariably missed
the right one. The captain was swearing with might and main in English.
Seeing that I did not understand him he suddenly roared out angrily the
name of the rope in good Swedish and added: "Do you understand me now,
you confounded blockhead!" Turning to him, cap in hand, I answered: "No,
captain, I do not know the name of a single rope." "And still," he
continued "you have followed the sea three years, what a dunce you are."
I answered: "Indeed Mr. Captain, I have never been a sailor, and will
never be worth anything at sea. But I am willing and anxious to do all
you ask if within my power." The captain, whose name was Wilson, was a
Swedish American and, although somewhat gruff, he was in fact one of the
noblest men who ever commanded a ship. He immediately saw how the matter
stood; the boarding house man had cheated both him and me and from that
hour Captain Wilson became my friend and benefactor.

Afterwards I found out of the whole crew, which numbered twenty-six men,
nine-tenths were Scandinavians, but they always used the English
language while on board the ship. Captain Wilson told me to see him in
his cabin as soon as the work was performed. Here he asked me about my
circumstances, and I told him the short story of my life, which elicited
his sympathy to such an extent that he even asked me to pardon his rude
behavior toward me. He assigned me to a place to sleep in the cabin;
told the officers not to give me any orders as he was going to do that
himself, and treated me with the utmost kindness and consideration in
every respect.

After this I was excused from all work properly belonging to a sailor,
but kept the cabin in order, and helped the steward in waiting at the
table, and the officers with their calculations. During my spare hours I
read and conversed with the captain and his two mates, one of whom was a
Dane and the other an Irishman, both splendid fellows. The first mate
was preparing the second mate for a captain's examination, and I, having
recently taken a course in mathematics, at a military school, was able
to assist