WILLIAM WILSON

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 May 1941, Page 6

WILLIAM WILSON

ADVENTURES IN AMERICA. , A summary of the life of William . Wilson, a Tynesider, is interesting. He • began the voyage of life in 1760. At 15 he entered the army, and had many adventures in America. He fought at Bunkers Hill —and talked of it ever after. Ho took part in the fighting at the I battle of- Lexington. I After the American war he joined the navy—a change, no doubt, from | marching on land. He had command of four ships which narrowly escaped the French and succeeded in relieving Sir Eyre Coote near Madras. He was captured by Hyder All and was one of only .32 prisoners out of 15.3 who escaped alive. One day he sold his house at Portsea, bought a ship for £5OOO, and sailed off to Southern Seas. Ho had 30 missionaries on board. That was in 1796. His passengers were the first Protestant missionaries to go to the is- | lands of the Pacific. He crossed the Atlantic in 50 days. He then made a voyage of nearly 14,000 miles without once seeing land. On the way they only once sighted another ship. He left his passengers at Tahiti, or thereabouts, and then sailed on to China, discovering the Fiji Islands on the way, and barely escaping being eaten by cannibals. At Canton he loaded his ship with i tea worth £4OOO, and returned to Lon- ] don where he sold it. 1

That is all, except to add that he died in 1814.