I have no remembrance of my mother, for she died when I was an infant.

When I was fifteen years old I was sent to sea as a means of bettering my morals.

I served first on board an Indiaman, made two voyages to China, and was wrecked on the coast of Malabar; and when I got home my father or friends procured me the position of midshipman on board a man-of-war.

I served on board the frigate Winchester, and other of His Majesty's ships, I did, for fifteen years, and was only a midshipman at the end.

Heaven forgive me for my sins.