THE LIFE AND LABOURS OF LIEUTENANT WAGHORN. [From Dickens' Household Words.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 751, 13 October 1852, Page 4

THE LIFE AND LABOURS OF LIEUTENANT WAGHORN. [From Dickens' Household Words.]

The great benefactors of our species may be divided into two grand cUsses — the men of thought, and the men of action ; the men whose genius was chiefly in the realm of mind, and those whose power lies in tangible things. Let no one set up the idle and invidious comparison as to which -of the two is the nobler, since both are equally needful to the world's progress ; all great thoughts and theories, dreams and visions (let us never fear the truth, but honour it even in using terms of vulgar and shortsighted opprobrium) of men of genius and knowledge, being the germ and origin of great actions, — and all great actions being the practical working out of the former, without which no good to mankind at large can be accomplished. To set thought and action, therefore, in opposition to each other, it like setting the arms and legs of Hercules to quarrel with his head while performing his labours. Nor can the distinction, thus broadly stated, be drawn at all times with any definite precision, since the man who conceives and developes a new principle, is sometimes Bole to carry it out himself. This combination of powers in the same individual is very rare, and is obviously one reason why, in most cases, the originator of a new thing is neglected as a visionary, and a mailman. But the energy of thought to conceive and design displayed by Lieutenant Waghorn, was more than equalled by the energy of character and action required to carry out his stupendous plans." Sometimes with the best assistance — sometimes with none—sometimes in

defiance of contest, opprobrium,, and opposition -—the Tigour of mind and body of this man caused him to undertake and to succeed in projects which are among the most prominent of those which especially characterise the genius of the present age. We have intimated that Mr. Waghorn was a man both of thought and action, but this must be understood with certain marked limitations. Mr. Waghorn's mind was of that peculiar construction, which appears never to think-earnestly except with a view to action. Even that quality, which in other men is of the most ideal kind, and commonly exerts itself in matters of little or no substantiality of fact and purpose, with him partook of the physicality of his strong nature as much as the admixture was possible,— so that he may be said to have had a practical imagination. His objects and designs were welded into all the materials of bis understanding and knowledge ; his ambitions and hopes were fused with the generation of the mighty steam forces that were to drive bis ships across the ocean and inland seas; the elasticity of his spirit was identified with the flying speed of Arab horses, and dromedaries carrying the ''mail" across the desert ; and when he projected a wonderful shortening of time and space, be at the same moment beheld the broad massive arm of England stretched across to govern and make use of her euormous Indian territories, comprising a hundred millions of souls. He never thought of himself; he was too much engaged with the vastness of his designs for his country. We shall see bow that country rewarded bis efforts. Thomas Waghorn was born at Chatham, in 1800. At twelve years of age he became a midshipman in her Majesty's Navy : and before he had reached seventeen, passed in "navigation" for Lieutenant, being the youngest midshipman that had ever done so — the examination requiring a great amount of both theoretical and practical knowledge, and being always conducted with severity. This made him eligible to the rank of lieutenant, iut did not include it. At the close of the year 1817, be was paid off, and went as third irate of a free-trader to Calcutta. He returned home, and in 1819, obtained an appointment in the Bengal Marine (Pilot Service) of India, where he served till 1824. At the request of the Bengal Government, he now volunteered for the Arracan War, and received the command of the Honourable East India Company's cutter Matchless, together with a division of gun-boats, and repaired to the scene of action in Arrncan, with the south-eastern division of that army and flotilla. He was five times in action, saw much rough work by land and by sea, and escaped with only one wound in the right thigh. He remained two years and-a-half in this serv'ce, and after having received the thanks of all the authorities in that province, he returned to Calcutta in 1827, with a constitution already undermined from the baneful fever of Arracan, where so many thousands had died. Weakened as he bad been, Mr. Waghorn nevertheless rallied to the great project be had secretly at heart, namely, " a steam communication between our Eastern possessions and their mother-country, England." Even before his departure from Calcutta on furlough, in 1827, ill in health, and only imperfectly recovered from the Arracan fever, still, between its attacks, his energies returned.^ He communicated his plan to the officials, namely, the Marine board at Calcutta, who forthwith advanced it to the notice of the then Chief Secretary to the Bengal Government, the present Mr. Charles Lushington, M.P., for Westminster ; through whom he obtained letters of credence from Lord Combermere, then acting as Vice President in Council, (Earl Araherst, Governor-General, being on a tour in Upper India,) to the Honourable Court of Directors of the East India Company in London, recommending him, in consequence of his meritorious conduct in the Arracan War, "as a fit and proper person to open Steam Navigation with India, vid the Cape of Good Hope." On his homeward voyage, Mr. Waghorn advocated this great object publicly by every means in his power (the numerous attestations of which lie open before us) at Madras, the Mauritius, the Cape, and St. Helena. Directly he arrived in England, he set about the same thing, and advocated the project at all points, particularly in London, Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, Birmingham. But the Post Office, at that time, was opposed to ocean steam- navigation ; and so, unfortunately, were the East India Directors, — with the single exception of Mr. Loch. Two whole years were thus passed in fruitless efforts to make great men open their eyes. At length, in October, 1829, Mr. Wagborn was summoned by Lord Ellenborough, the then Chairman of the Court of Directors, to go to India, through Egypt, with despatches for Sir John Malcolm, Governor of Bombay, &c, and, more especially, to report upon the practicability of the lied Sea Navigation for the Overland Route. On the 28th of October, having had only four days' previous notice from the India House, | Waghorn started on the top of the Eagle stagecoach from the Spread Eagle, Grscechurch street. All his luggage weighed atout twenty pounds. The East India Company's steam vessel Enterprise was expected to be at Suez, in the lied Sea, from India, on or about the Bth of December. It was much desired that despatches from England should reach heT at this place, which Mr. Waghorn undertook they should do. He could not speak French nor Italian, both of which would have been very advantageous ; but he had some knowledge ot Hindostanee, and a little Arabic. On this " trip," as Waghorn calls it, so extraordinarily rapid was the first part of his journey, viz., to Trieste, (accomplished in nine days and a half, through five kingdoms) that an enquiry was instituted by the Foreign Office respecting it ; for at this time our Post Office letters occupied fourteen days in reaching that place. Yet Waghorn had been obliged to travel upwards of one hundred and thirty miles out of his direct way, in consequence of broken bridges^ falling avalanches, and the disabling of a' steamer. Instantly inquiring for the quickest means o~ getting on to Alexandria, he was informed that an Austrian , brig had sailed only the evening before, and having had calms and light airs all night, she was still in sight from the tops of the hills. Away^he dashed in a fresh, postipg carriage, because, if he could reach Pesano, through . Capo D' fstria, twenty miles down the eastern

side of the Gulf of Venice, before the Austrian vessel had passed, he might embark from this port as passenger for Alexandria. On reaching Pesano, he could still distinguish the vessel, and he accordingly strove to increase the rapidity of his chase to the utmost. He got within three miles of the vessel. At this juncture a strong .northerly wind sprang up, and carrying her forward on her course she was presently lost to sight. Exhausted in body, and " racked," as he says by disappointment after the previous excitement, he returned to Trieste. Ascertaining that the next opportunity of getting to Alexandria would be by a Spanish ship, which was now taking in her cargo in the quaran-tine-ground, he instantly hastened there. The captain informed him that he could not possibly sail iv leas than three days, and required one hundred dollars for the passage. Waghorn directly offered him one hundred and fifty dollars if he would sail in eight and forty hours. Whereupon the captain found that it was just possible to do so ; and he kept his word. 11 After a tedious passage of sixteen days," says Waghorn, "to whom every hour that did not fly was no doubt tedious," I arrived at Alexandria ; but bearing that Mr. Barker, who held the combined offices of Consul-General in Egypt, and agent to the Honourable East India Company, was at his country-house at Rosetta, I hired donkeys, and was on my way for it after five hours' stay at Alexandria." One ludicrous characteristic of the Alexandrian donkeys is worth recording. Never in future' can we regard the epithet of " an ass," as being properly synonymous with stupidity. The creatures ambled aud trotted along very well during the first day ; but on the subsequent morning, when they clearly perceived that a long journey was before them, they fell down intentionally four or five times, with all the appearance of fatigue and weakness. The drivers informed him that it was a common practice of the donkeys. Embarking on the Nile, our traveller made it his business to navigate the boat himself, in order to take soundings, and to obtain as much knowledge as would promote both the immediate and future objects of his journey. Mr. Waghorn rested at Rosetta, to recover from his fatigue, and then set out for Cairo on a cang6 t a sort of boat of fifteen tons burthen, with two large latteen sails. The rais, or captain, agreed to land him at Cairo in three days and four nights, or receive nothing. This he failed to do, in consequence of the boat grounding on the shoal of Shallakan. Waghorn's notions of a reason for fatigue may he curiously gathered from a remark he makes incidentally on this occasion. " The crew," says he, were almost fatigued : we have been continually tacking for five days and nights." Being out of all patience, he left the boat, and again mounting donkeys, proceeded with his servant fo Caho. He left his luggage behind him, merely taking his despatches. Having obtained camels, and a requisite passport from the Pasha, Mohammed Ali, to guarantee his safe passage across the desert of Suez ; Mr. Waghorn left Cairo on the sth of December for Sufz, and at sunset had pitched his tent on the Desert at six miles distance. At dawn of day he was on his journey, and managed to travel thirty-four miles beneath the burning sun before he halted. The next day he journeyed thirty miles, and in the evening pitched his tent only four miles short of Suez. The next day, he reached the appointed place, and there rested, the Enterprise not having yet arrived. While waiting with the greatest impatience the arrival of this steamer, Mr. Waghorn appears to have endeavoured to calm himself by jotting down a few observations on the Desert he had just crossed. These observations, slight and few as r they are, must be " made much of," as they are of all things the rarest with him. He always saw the end before him, and nearly all his observations were confined to the means of attaining it. " The Desert of Suez, commencing from Cairo, is a gentle ascent, about thirty-five miles on the way ; then the same gradual descent till you arrive at the plains of Suez. The soil of the first five miles from Cairo is fine sand ; then, coarse sand, inclinable to gravel. Within twelve miles of Suez ; (notice — he is tired already of description, and brings you within twelve miles of the place) " you meet many sand-hills between, till you arrive at the plains before mentioned, which form a perfect level for miles in extent, I leads y^ou to the gates of Suez. 1 " The antelopes I observed in parties of about a dozen each, and the camel-drivers informed me that they creep under the shrubs about eighteen inches high, to catch the drops of dew, which is the only means they have of relieving their thirst. I saw partridges in covies of from six to seven, but nowhere on the wing ; they were running about the desert, and I was informed they were not eaten even by the Arabs." Considering the food they pick up in the desert perhaps this is no wonder. Having informed us that camels are to be had very heaply at Suez — say a dollar each camel^ for fifty miles distance — and that the water is very* brackish, he suddenly adds, with characteristic brevity, " To save recapitulation in describing Cossier, it is the same as Suez, viz., camels are to be had in abundance at a trifling expense, and the water is as bad." He remained at Suez two days, waiting with feverish anxiety the expected arrival of the Enterprise. She still did not appear — a strong N.W. wind blowing directly down the sea. Being quite unable to endure the suspense any longer, he determined to embark on the Red Sea in an open boat, intending to sail down its centre, in hopes of meeting her between Suez and Cossier. All the seamen of the locality vigorously remonstrated with Mr. Waghorn against this attempt, and he well knew that the nautical authorities, both of the East India House and the British Government, were of opinion that the Red Sea was not uavigab'e. But he had important Government despatches to deliveT — had pledged himself to deliver them on board the Enterprise, and considering that his course of doty, as well as his reputation as a traveller, were at stake, he persisted in his determination. Accordingly, he embarked in an open boat, and without having any personal knowledge of the navigation of this se^a, without chart, without.. compass, or even the encouragement of a single precedent for such sn

enterprise — his only guide the sun by day, and ibe north star by night — he sailed 'down the centre of the Red Sea. Of this most interesting and unprecedented voyage, the narrative of which every one would have read with much avidity, Mr. Waghorn gives no detailed account. He disappoints you of all the circumstances. All intermediate things are abruptly cut off with these very characteristic word* :—": — " Suffice it to say, I arrived at Juddah, 620 miles, in six and a half days, in that boat!" You get nothing more than the sum total. He kept a sailor's log-journal ; but it is only meant for sailors to read, though now and then you obtain a glimpse of the sort of work he went through. Thus: — "Sunday, 13th, strong N.W. wind, half a gale, but' scudding under storm-sail. Sunset, anchored for the night. Jaffateen islands out of sight to the N. Lost two anchors during the night," &c. The ■ rest is equally nautical and technical. In one of the many scattered papers collected since the death of Mr. Waghorn, we fiad a very slight passing allusion to toils, peril, and privations, which, however, he calmly says, were " inseparable from such a voyage under such circumstances," — but not one touch of description from first to last. A more extraordinary instance of great practical experience and knowledge, resolutely and fully carrying out a project which must of necessity have appeared little short of madness to almost everybody else, was never recorded. He was perfjctly successful, so far as the navigation was concerned, and in the course he adopted, notwithstanding that his crew of six Arabs mutinied. It appears (for he tells us only the bare fact) they were only subdued on the principle known to philosophers in theory, and to high-couraged men, accustomed to command by experience, viz., that the one man who is braver, stronger, and firmer than any individual of 10 or 20 men, is more than a match for the 10 or 20 men put together. He touched at Crossier on the 14th, not having fallen with the Enterprise. There he was told by the Governor that the steamer was expected every hour. Mr. Waghorn was in no state of mind to wait very loug : so finding she did not arrive, be again put to sea in his open boat, resolved, if he did not fall in with her, to [ proceed the entire distance to Juddab, a distance jof 400 miles further. Of this further voyage he does not leave any record, even in his log, beyond the simple declaration that he " embarked for Juddah — ran the distance in 3 days, 21 hours, and a quarter — on the 23rd anchored his boat close to one of the E. I. Company's cruisers, the Benares." But, now comes the most trying part of his whole undertaking — the part which a man of his vigorously constituted impulses was least able to bear as the climax of his prolonged and arduous efforts, privations, anxieties, and fatigue. Repairing on board the Benares, to learn the news, the captain informed him, that in consequence of being found in a defective state on her arrival at Bombay, "the Enterprise was not coming at all." This intelligence seems to have felled bim like a blow, and he was immediately seized with a delirious fever. The captain and officers of the Benares felt great" sympathy and interest in this sad result of so many extraordinary efforts, and detaining him on board, bestowed every attention on bis malady. " Thus baffled," writes Mr. Wagliorn, " I was six weeks before I could proceed onward to Bombay by sailing vessels." On arriving at Bombay with his despatches, the thanks of the Government in Council, &c, were voted to him <f for having, when disappointed of a steamer, proceeded with these despatches in an open boat, down the Red Sea, &c." There was evidently much more said of a complimentary kind, but Wagborn cuts all short with the &c. He reached Bombay on the 21st of March, having thus accomplished his journey from London in four months and twenty-one days — an extraordinary rapidity at this date, 1830. Of course, the time he was detained in Cairo, Suez, Cossier, and Juddab (where he lay ill with the fever six weeks), ought to be deducted, because, he would have saved all this time, fever inclusive, if he had not expected the Enterprise from India. He now turned his attention to a series of fresh exhortations to large public meetings which he convened at different places — Calcutta, Madras, the Isle of France, the Cape of Good Hope, St. Helena, &c, on the subject of shortening the route from England to India, and lessening the time. He described the various points of the new route he proposed, and also the new kind of steam-vessel which it was advisable to have built and fitted up for the sole purpose of a rapid transmission of the mail. In an "address to his Majesty's Ministers and the Honourable East India Company," which we find among his papers, there occurs the following passage — simple in expression, noble in its quiet modesty, but pregnant with enormous results to his country, all of which have already, in a great degree, been accomplished. " Of myself I trust I may be excused when I say that the highest object of my ambition has ever been an extensive usefulness ; and my line of life, my turn of mind, my disposition long ago impelled me to give all my leisure, and all my opportunhies of observation, to the introduction of steam vessels, aud permanently establishing them as the means of communication between India and England, including all the colonies on the route. The vast importance of three months earlier information to bis Majesty's Government and to the Honorable Company, whether relative to a war or a peace ; to abundant or to short crops ; to the sickness or convalescence of a colony or district, and oftentimes even of an individual ; the advantages to the merchant, by enabling him to regulate his supplies and orders according to circumstances and demands ; the anxieties of the thousands of my countrymen in India for accounts, and further accounts, of their parents, children, and friends at homes ; the corresponding anxieties of those relatives aod friends in this country ; in a word, the speediest, possible transit of letters to the tens of thousands who at all times in solicitude await them, was leztict tt ray mind of" (of thegreatestgeoeral importance)' " and it sball not be my fault if Ido ; not, and for ever, esiablish it." (To be continued.)