1779* THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 45 



counter from disgust, and bound himself, for nine 

 years, to the master of a vessel in the coal trade. 

 At the breaking out of the war in 1755, he entered 

 into the king's service on board the Eagle, at that 

 time commanded by Captain Hamer, and afterward 

 by Sir Hugh Palliser, who soon discovered his merit, 

 and introduced him on the quarter-deck. 



In the year 1758, we find him master of the Nor- 

 thumberland, the flag-ship of Lord Colville, who 

 had then the command of the squadron stationed on 

 the coast of America. It was here, as I have often 

 heard him say, that, during a hard winter, he first 

 read Euclid, and applied himself to the study o] 

 mathematics and astronomy, without any other as- 

 sistance, than what a few books and his own in- 

 dustry afforded him. At the same time that he 

 thus found means to cultivate and improve his mind 

 and to supply the deficiencies of an early education, 

 he was engaged in most of the busy and active 

 scenes of the war in America. At the siege of 

 Quebec, Sir Charles Saunders committed to his 

 charge the execution of services of the first im- 

 portance in the naval department. He piloted the 

 boats to the attack of Montmorency ; conducted the 

 embarkation to the Heights of Abraham ; examined 

 the passage, and laid buoys for the security of the 

 large ships in proceeding up the river. The courage 

 and address with which he acquitted himself in 

 these services, gained him the warm friendship of 

 Sir Charles Saunders and Lord Colville, who con- 

 tinued to patronize him during the rest of their 

 lives with the greatest zeal and affection. At the 

 conclusion of the war, he was appointed, through 

 the recommendation of Lord Colville and Sir Hugh 

 Palliser, to survey the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and 

 the coasts of Newfoundland. In this employment 

 he continued till the year 17^7 » when he was fixed 

 on by Sir Edward Hawke, to command an expedi- 

 tion to the South Seas j for the purpose of observing 



