131 



Nathaniel Bowditch was master, from Sumatra and the 

 Isle of France, dated December 27, 1803. The ship was 

 of the burthen of two hundred and sixty-six and forty 

 ninety-fifths tons ; she was the only ship that Dr. Bow- 

 ditch ever commanded, and this was his last voyage at 

 sea. The Manifest is entirely in his own handwritin^ 

 and is made out with his characteristic neatness and accu- 

 racy. It also bears the autograph of Col. William E. 

 Lee, then the Collector. 



An interesting incident is related of this voyage, in the 

 Memoir of Dr. Bowditch, by his son, Nathaniel Ingersoll 

 Bowditch, viz. : % 



"In his last voyage, Dr. Bowditch arrived off the coast 

 in mid-winter, and in the height of a violent northeast 

 snow-storm. He had been unable to get an observation 

 for a day or two, and felt very anxious and uneasy at the 

 dangerous situation of the vessel. At the close of the 

 afternoon of December 25, he came on deck, and took the 

 whole management of the ship into his own hands. Feel- 

 ing very confident where the vessel was, he kept his eyes 

 directed towards the light on Baker's Island, at the en- 

 trance of Salem harbor. Fortunately, in the interval 

 between two gusts of wind, the fall of snow became less 

 dense than before, and he thus obtained~a glimpse of the 

 light of which he was in search. It was seen by but one 

 other person, and in the next instant all was again impen- 

 etrable darkness. Confirmed, however, in his previous 

 convictions, he now kept on his course, entered the har- 

 bor, and finally anchored in safety. [Upon this occasion 

 he had given his orders with the same decision and pre- 

 ciseness as if he saw all the objects around, and thus in- 

 spired the sailors with the confidence which he felt him- 

 self. One of them, who was twenty years older than his 

 captain, exclaimed, 'Our old man goes ahead as if it was 



