A Prize From The Sea.

From: The Memoir of Nathaniel Hawthorne (1872)
Author: Alexander Hay Japp
Published: Henry S. King & Co. 1872 London

PICTURE to yourselves a handsome old-fashioned room, with a large, open cupboard at one end, in which is displayed a magnificent gold cup, with some other splendid articles of gold and silver plate. In another part of the room, opposite to a tall looking-glass, sits a man of strong and sturdy frame, whose face has been roughened by northern tempests, and blackened by the burning sun of the West Indies. He wears an immense periwig, flowing down over his shoulders. His coat has a wide embroidery of golden foliage; and his waistcoast, likewise, is all flowered over and bedizened with gold. His red, rough hands, which have done many a good day’s work with hammer and adze, are half-covered by the delicate lace ruffles at his wrists. On a table lies his silver-hilted sword; and in a comer of the room stands his gold-headed cane, made of a beautifully polished West India wood.

  Somewhat such an aspect as this did Sir William Phipps present when he sat in his chair, after the King had appointed him Governor of Massachusetts. But Sir William Phipps had not always worn a gold embroidered coat, nor always sat so much at his ease. He was a poor man’s son, and was born in the province of Maine, where he used to tend sheep upon the hills in his boyhood and youth. Until he had grown to be a man he did not even know how to read and write. Tired of tending sheep, he next apprenticed himself to a ship carpenter, and spent about four years in hewing the crooked limbs of oak-trees into knees for vessels.

  In 1673, when he was twenty-two years old, he came to Boston, and soon afterwards was married to a widow-lady, who had property enough to set him up in business. It was not long, however, before he lost all the money that he had acquired by his marriage and became a poor man again. Still he was not discouraged. He often told his wife that, some time or other, he should be very rich, and would build a ‘fair brick house’ in the Green Lane of Boston.

  You must not suppose that he had been to a fortune-teller to enquire his destiny. It was his own energy and spirit of enterprise, and his resolution to lead an industrious life, that made him look forward with so much confidence to better days.

  Several years passed away, and William Phipps had not yet gained the riches which he promised to himself. During this time he had begun to follow the sea for a living. In the year 1684 he happened to hear of a Spanish ship which had been cast away near the Bahama Islands, and which was supposed to contain a great deal of gold and silver. Phipps went to the place in a small vessel, hoping that he should be able to recover some of the treasure from the wreck. He did not succeed, however, in fishing up gold and silver enough to pay the expenses of his voyage.

  But before he returned he was told of another Spanish ship, or galleon, which had been cast away near Porto de la Plata. She had now lain as much as fifty years beneath the waves. This old ship had been ladened with immense wealth; and hitherto nobody had thought of the possibility of recovering any part of it from the deep sea which was rolling and tossing it about. But though it was now an old story, and the most aged people had almost forgotten that such a vessel had been wrecked, William Phipps resolved that the sunken treasure should again be brought to light.

  He went to London and obtained admittance to King James, who had not yet been driven from his throne. He told the king of the vast wealth that was lying at the bottom of the sea. King James listened with attention, and thought this a fine opportunity to fill his treasury with Spanish gold. He appointed William Phipps to be captain of a vessel, called the ‘Rose Algier,’ carrying eighteen guns and ninety-five men. So now he was Captain Phipps of the English navy.

  Captain Phipps sailed from England in the ‘Rose Algier,’ and cruised for nearly two years in the West Indies, endeavouring to find the wreck of the Spanish ship. But the sea is so wide and deep, that it is no easy matter to discover the exact spot where a sunken vessel lies. The prospect of success seemed very small; and most people would have thought that Captain Phipps was as far from having money enough to build a ‘fair brick house,’ as he was while he tended sheep.

  The seamen of the ‘Rose Algier’ became discouraged, and gave up all hopes of making their fortunes by discovering the Spanish wreck. They wanted to compel Captain Phipps to tum pirate. There was a much better prospect, they thought, of growing rich by plundering vessels which still sailed in the sea, than by seeking for a ship which had lain beneath the waves for half a century. They broke out in open mutiny; but were finally mastered by Phipps, and compelled to obey his orders. It would have been dangerous, however, to continue much longer at sea with such a crew of mutinous sailors; and besides the ‘Rose Algier’ was leaky and unseaworthy. So Captain Phipps judged it best to return to England.

  Before leaving the West Indies he met with a Spaniard, an old man, who remembered the wreck of the Spanish ship, and gave him directions how to find the very spot It was on a reef of rocks, a few leagues from Porto de la Plata.

  On his arrival in England, therefore, Captain Phipps solicited the king to let him have another vessel and send him back again to the West Indies. But King James, who had probably expected that the ‘Rose Algier’ would return laden with gold, refused to have anything more to do with the affair. Phipps might never have been able to renew the search if the Duke of Albemarle and some other nobleman had not lent their assistance. They fitted out a ship, and gave the command to Captain Phipps. He sailed from England, and arrived safely at Porto de la Plata, where he took an adze, and assisted his men to build a large boat.

  The boat was intended for the purpose of going closer to the reef of rocks than a large vessel could safely venture. When it was finished, the captain sent several men in it to examine the spot where the Spanish ship was said to have been wrecked. They were accompanied by some Indians, who were skilful divers, and could go down a great way into the depths of the sea.

  The boat’s crew proceeded to the reef of rocks, and rowed round and round it a great many times. They gazed down into the water, which was so transparent that it seemed as if they could have seen the gold and silver at the bottom, had there been any of those precious metals there. Nothing, however, could they see; nothing more valuable than a curious sea-shrub, which was growing beneath the water, in a crevice of the reef of rocks. It flaunted to and fro with the swell and reflux of the waves, and looked as if its leaves were gold.

  ‘We won’t go back empty-handed,’ cried an English sailor; and then he spoke to one of the Indian divers. ‘Dive down and bring me that pretty sea-shrub there. That’s the only treasure we shall find.’

  Down plunged the diver, and soon rose dripping from the water, holding the sea-shrub in his hand. But he had learned some news at the bottom of the sea.

  ‘There are some ship’s guns,’ said he, the moment he had drawn breath, ‘some great cannon among the rocks, near where the shrub was growing.’

  No sooner had he spoken than the English sailors knew that they had found the very spot where the Spanish galleon had been wrecked so many years before. The other Indian divers immediately plunged over the boat’s side and swam headlong down, groping among the rocks and sunken cannon. In a few moments one of them rose above the water with a heavy lump of silver in his arms. The single lump was worth more than a thousand dollars. The sailors took it into the boat, and then rowed back as speedily as they could, being in haste to inform Captain Phipps of their good luck.

  But, confidently as the captain had hoped to find the Spanish wreck, yet, now that it was really found, the news seemed too good to be true. He could not believe it till the sailors showed him the lump of silver.

  ‘Thanks be to God!’ then cries Captain Phipps. ‘We shall every man of us make our fortunes.’

  Hereupon the captain and all the crew set to work with iron rakes, and great hooks and lines, fishing for gold and silver at the bottom of the sea. Up came the treasure in abundance. Now they beheld a table of solid silver, once the property of an old Spanish grandee. Now they found a sacramental vessel which had been destined as a gift to some Catholic church. Now they drew up a golden cup, fit for the King of Spain to drink his wine out of. Perhaps the bony hand of its former owner had been grasping the precious cup, and was drawn up along with it. Now their rakes or fishing-lines were loaded with masses of silver bullion. There were also precious stones among the treasure, glittering and sparkling, so that it is a wonder their radiance could have been concealed.

  There is something sad and terrible in the idea of snatching all this wealth from the devouring ocean, which had possessed it for such a length of years! It seems as if men had no right to make themselves rich with it. It ought to have been left with the skeletons of the ancient Spaniards, who had been drowned when the ship was wrecked, and those bones were scattered among the gold and silver.

  But Captain Phipps and his crew were troubled with no such thoughts as these. After a day or two they lighted on another part of the wreck, where they found a great many bags of silver dollars. But nobody could have guessed that these were moneybags. By remaining so long in the salt-water they had become covered over with a crust which had the appearance of stone, so that it was necessary to break them in pieces with hammers and axes. When this was done, a stream of silver dollars gushed out upon the deck of the vessel.

  The whole value of the recovered treasure, plate, bullion, precious stones, and all, was estimated at more than two millions of dollars. It was dangerous even to look at such a vast amount of wealth. A sea-captain, who had assisted Phipps in the enterprise, utterly lost his reason at the sight of it. He died two years afterwards, still raving about the treasures that lie at the bottom of the sea. It would have been better for this man if he had left the skeletons of the shipwrecked Spaniards in quiet possession of their wealth.

  Captain Phipps and his men continued to fish up plate, bullion, and dollars as plentifully as ever, till their provisions grew short. Then, as they could not feed upon gold and silver any more than old King Midas could, they found it necessary to go in quest of better sustenance. Phipps resolved to return to England. He arrived there in 1687, and was received with great joy by the Duke of Albemarle and other English lords who had fitted out the vessel. Well they might rejoice; for they took by far the greater part of the treasure to themselves.

  The captain’s share, however, was enough to make him comfortable for the rest of his days. It also enabled him to fulfil his promise to his wife by building a ‘fair brick house’ in the Green Lane of Boston. The Duke of Albemarle sent Mrs. Phipps a magnificent gold cup worth at least five thousand dollars. Before Captain Phipps left London, King James made him a knight; so that, instead, of the obscure ship-carpenter who had formerly dwelt among them, the inhabitants of Boston welcomed him on his return as the rich and famous Sir William Phipps.

  But Sir William Phipps was too active and adventurous a man to sit still in the quiet enjoyment of his good fortune. In the year 1690 he went on a military expedition against the French colonies in America, conquered the whole province of Acadia, and returned to Boston with a great deal of plunder. In the same year he took command of an expedition against Quebec, but did not succeed in capturing that city. In 1692, being then in London, King William III. appointed him Governor of Massachusetts. Within the limits of this province were now included the old colony of Plymouth, and the territories of Maine and Nova Scotia. Sir William Phipps had likewise brought with him a new charter from the king, which served instead of a constitution, and set forth the method in which the province was to be governed. Under the first charter the people had been the source of all power. Winthrop, Endicott, Bradstreet, and the rest of them, had been governors by the choice of the people, without any interference of the king. But henceforth the governor was to hold his station solely by the king’s appointment and during his pleasure; and the same was the case with the lieutenant-governor, and some other high officers. The people, however, were still allowed to choose representatives, and the governor’s council was chosen by the general court.

  It is highly probable, however, that even had the election still remained with the people, Sir William Phipps would have been a successful candidate: for his adventures and military exploits had gained him a sort of renown, which always goes a great way with the people. And he had many popular characteristics, being a kind, warm-hearted man, not ashamed of his low origin, nor haughty in his present elevation. Soon after his arrival he proved that he did not blush to recognise his former associates.

  He made a grand festival at his new brick house, and invited all the ship-carpenters of Boston to be his guests. At the head of the table sat Sir William Phipps himself, treating these hard-handed men as his brethren, cracking jokes with them, and talking familiarly about old times.

  As a governor, however, there was great fault found with him by-and-bye. Very soon after he had assumed the government, he became engaged in a very frightful business which might have perplexed a wiser and better cultivated head than his. This was the witchcraft delusion—a frenzy which led to the death of many innocent persons, and had originated in the wicked arts of a few children. They belonged to the Rev. Mr. Parris, minister of Salem. These children complained of being pinched and pricked with pins, and otherwise tormented by the shapes of men and women, who were supposed to have power to haunt them invisibly, both in darkness and daylight. Often in the midst of their family and friends the children would pretend to be seized with strange convulsions, and would cry out that the witches were afflicting them.

  These stories spread abroad, and caused great tumult and alarm. From the foundation of New England it had been the custom of the inhabitants in all matters of doubt and difficulty, to look to their ministers for counsel. So they did now; but, unfortunately, the ministers and wise men were more deluded than the illiterate people. Cotton Mather, a very learned and eminent clergyman, believed that the whole country was full of witches and wizards who had given up hopes of heaven, arid signed a covenant with the evil one.

  Nobody could be certain that his nearest neighbour or most intimate friend was not guilty of this imaginary crime. The number of those who pretended to be affected by witchcraft grew daily more numerous; and they bore testimony against many of the best and worthiest people. A minister, named George Burroughs, was among the accused. In the months of August and September, 1692, he and nineteen other innocent men and women were put to death. The place of execution was a high hill on the outskirts of Salem; so that many of the sufferers, as they stood beneath the gallows, could discern their own habitations in the town.

  The martyrdom of these guiltless persons seemed only to increase the madness. The afflicted now grew bolder in their accusations. Many people of rank and wealth were either thrown into prison or compelled to flee for their lives. Among these were two sons of old Simon Bradstreet, the last of the Puritan governors. Mr. Willard, a pious minister of Boston, was cried out upon as a wizard in open court. Mrs. Hale, the wife of the minister of Beverly, was likewise accused. Philip English, a rich merchant of Salem, found it necessary to take flight, leaving his property and business in confusion. But a short time afterwards the Salem people were glad to invite him back.

  The boldest thing that the accusers did was to cry out against the governor’s own beloved wife. Even the lady of Sir William Phipps was accused of being a witch, and of flying through the air to attend witch meetings.

  Our forefathers, however, soon regained their senses, and became convinced that they had been led into a terrible delusion. All the prisoners on account of witchcraft were set free. But the innocent dead could not be restored to life; and the hill where they were executed will always remind people of the saddest and most humiliating passage in our history.

  The next remarkable event that took place while Sir William Phipps was Governor of Massachusetts was the arrival at Boston of an English fleet in 1693. It brought an army which was intended for the conquest of Canada. But a malignant disease, more fatal than the small-pox, broke out among the soldiers and sailors, and destroyed the greater part of them. The infection spread into the town of Boston and made much havoc there. This dreadful sickness caused the governor, and Sir Francis Wheeler, who was commander of the British forces, to give up all thoughts of attacking Canada.

  Not very long after this, Sir William Phipps quarrelled with the captain of an English frigate, and also with the collector of Boston. Being a man of violent temper he gave each of them a sound beating with his cane.

  But in this he was more bold than wise, for complaints were carried to the king, and Sir William Phipps was summoned to England to make the best answer he could. Accordingly he went to London, where, in 1695, he was seized with a malignant fever of which he died. Had he lived longer, he would probably have gone again in search of sunken treasure. He had heard of a Spanish ship which was castaway in 1502, during the lifetime of Columbus. Bovadilla, Boldan, and many other Spaniards, were lost in her, together with the immense wealth of which they had robbed the South American kings.

  Phipps was buried in one of the crowded cemeteries of London. As he left no children, his estate was inherited by his nephew, from whom is descended the present Marquis of Normandy. The noble Marquis is not aware, perhaps, that the prosperity of his family originated in the successful enterprise of a New England ship-carpenter, whose success began with his taking a prize from the sea.

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