1828.] 



Domestic and Foreign. 



413 



Connecticut, and, with the aid of his fellow- 

 students, he shaped it into a canoe, fifty 

 feet long and three wide, and launched it ; 

 and with some provisions, a Greek Testa- 

 ment, and an Ovid, actually, in spite of all 

 difficulties from falls and rapids, arrived in 

 safety at his uncle's at Hartford, a distance 

 of 140 miles. 



His next scheme was to set about the 

 study of theology, to qualify for a preacher 

 at home ; but, impatient of the drudgery, he 

 was quickly on the move to solicit imme- 

 diate ordination sometimes meeting with 

 encouragement, and sometimes discourage- 

 ment, till at last, in despair or disgust, he 

 gave up the attempt and the church, and 

 within a few weeks was found on board a 

 vessel bound for Gibraltar and the Barbary 

 coast. He had entered as a common sailor, 

 but the captain had been his father's friend, 

 and treated him rather as an associate than 

 one of the crew. At Gibraltar again wish- 

 ing for a change he enlisted in a British 

 regiment of infantry, and was found by his 

 comrades strutting in regimentals ; but being 

 released at the solicitation of the captain, he 

 returned to the ship, and to America. 



At a loss, again, for employment, he sud- 

 denly bethought himself of going to Eng- 

 land, to look up some wealthy relations, of 

 whom he had heard his father speak. No 

 steps of prudence were of course taken 

 no inquiries made where they were to be 

 found no documents prepared to identify 

 himself; but, on arriving in London, and 

 hearing accidentally of a gentleman of the 

 name, he presented himself to claim the 

 rights of relationship ; and, though not 

 treated precisely as an impostor, he was 

 required to furnish some written testimony. 

 This was, of course, too much to brook ; he 

 withdrew in a rage determined to prosecute 

 the inquiry no further, and renounce for ever 

 all who bore the name. 



His object was now to accompany Captain 

 Cook in his third voyage ; and, to accomplish 

 it, he enlisted in the Marines, and by his 

 address got into Cook's presence, made 

 himself acceptable, and was appointed a 

 corporal. In this capacity he accompanied 

 Captain Cook, and was on all occasions dis- 

 tinguished for his activity ready for every 

 thing, volunteering where others flinched, 

 and proving equal to whatever he under- 

 took. Through the whole voyage he kept a 

 journal ; but on his return, all papers of this 

 description were demanded by the Captain, 

 and Ledyard's among the rest to prevent 

 imperfect accounts of the voyage being 

 published before the Admiralty one. These 

 papers Ledyard never recovered ; but about 

 two years after, in America he had by that 

 time deserted from the British ship, which 

 brought him to the coast he was induced 

 by a bookseller to write an account neces- 

 sarily an incomplete one, for the want of 

 documents varying, in some particulars, 

 from the orthodox report, but the variations 



relate chiefly to occurrences, as^to which, 

 says the biographer, " he had probably a 

 better opportunity for personal knowledge, 

 or concerning which, for various reasons, it 

 was the policy of the leaders of the expedi- 

 tion to preserve silence. The train of events 

 at the Sandwich islands, which led to the 

 death of Captain Cook, is narrated by 

 Ledyard in a manner more consistent and 

 natural than appears in any other account 

 of it. The precipitancy of the officers, and 

 of Cook particularly, or at least their want 

 of caution, which was the primary cause of 

 the tragical issue, was kept out of sight by 

 the authorised narrators, and a mystery long 

 hung over that catastrophe, owing to the 

 absence of any obvious coherency between 

 causes and effects. On this point Ledyard's 

 narrative is full and satisfactory." 



Again at large, his thoughts speedily 

 turned to some new employment. Ever 

 since his voyage with Cook, he had been 

 filled with visions of extraordinary advan- 

 tages to result from trading in furs on the 

 NW. coast of America, and exchanging 

 them at Canton for the products of China. 

 The Russians at Onolaska, with whom he 

 had talked in his voyage, he knew had done 

 great things in this way. To accomplish 

 this scheme he was now perpetually plan- 

 ning, at home and abroad, in public and 

 private first in America, then going to 

 Cadiz, then to L' Orient, but constantly 

 baffled. Once in France with Paul Jones, 

 a spirit something like his own, all was 

 arranged steps actually taken, and the 

 measure in progress ; but, with Ledyard's 

 usual luck, the thing again fell to the 

 ground. While in France, he was fre- 

 quently witli Jefferson, then ambassador, 

 and La Fayette, apparently on terms of 

 great intimacy ; but neither of them seem, 

 whatever they may have thought of his 

 schemes, to have promoted them. Resolute, 

 however, not to abandon a visit to the 

 NW. coast, when he found he could not get 

 there by sea and in company, he propased 

 to tramp through Siberia, cross Behring's 

 Strait, examine the coast, and then cross 

 the American continent to the United 

 States trusting for the execution to his 

 luck. In this wild scheme he was so far 

 assisted by Jefferson, as to get him permis- 

 sion from the Empress to go into Siberia. 

 While waiting for this permission, and 

 when, through impatience of delay, on the 

 point of setting out without it, he received a 

 letter from Sir James Hall a man almost 

 as eccentric as himself, who had introduced 

 himself to Ledyard a short time before, and 

 proffered him twenty guineas summoning 

 him to London. On his arrival there, he 

 found a ship ready to sail for the Pacific. 

 Sir James introduced him to the owners, 

 who offered him a free passage, and pro- 

 mised to set him ashore at whatever point 

 he pleased. The vessel dropped down the 

 river, and in a few days put to sea. Ledyard 



