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BUILDING
ICOM MOXA INE) OLED
Business * Regulations * Patents * Law * Politics * Science
Yali Friedman
BUILDING
BIOTECHNOLOGY
Business * Regulations * Patents * Law ¢ Politics ¢ Science

Third Edition

Yali Friedman.
Ph.D.

LOGOS
PRESS
BUILDING BIOTECHNOLOGY
Third Edition
by Yali Friedman, Ph.D.

Published in The United States of America

by
aS «Biotech LLC, Washington, DC
WWW.BUILDINGBIOTECHNOLOGY.COM
[email protected]

Copyright © 2008, Yali Friedman, Ph.D.

Third edition

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording
or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from
the publisher, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

LEGO is a trademark of the LEGO Group, used here with special permission.

IVS 7 OAS?

ISBN-13
Hardcover: 978-0-9734676-5-9
Softcover: 978-0-9734676-6-6

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Friedman, Yali.
Building biotechnology : business, regulations, patents, law, politics, science /
Yali Friedman. -- 3rd ed.
p.cm.
ISBN 978-0-9734676-5-9 (hardcover) -- ISBN 978-0-9734676-6-6 (softcover)
1. Biotechnology industries. I. Title.
HD9999.B442F75 2008
660.6068--dce22
2008022042
To my family, who have inspired, motivated, and
supported me.
 one ;
tan © ore) 99 NS ae
a\t 2 ee =a
=, ee
= oS ee ae e- _-—
= ——_ ee
= @
 Contents
Figures and Tables
Boxes
Preface xiii
Acknowledgments

Introduction
Introduction
The Development of Biotechnology
KOWIECOG Sri SIS soos yao ee ve,cous Pinna cay.ooeukes coees Alot.
BOD UGCA OMG cere eck We Me kte ers eA Rs gc en eee

Science
Introduction to Molecular Biology
Information Flow in Molecular Biology. ..............
st etESECSCREO te BeBe a CEE ER 5:Bayi gh hace distin ASR eB de
Drug Development
Biotechnology vs. Pharmaceutical Drug Development. .......
The Five Basic Steps of Drug Development... ........2..
CinADes Or a GOOG DIC, Wem auv 7, won oe ee
Tools and Techniques
EO TPILORINNGAENGSin ceo: on css Pian re aet l M ag
COnmpmMacotial CHeMuStl Ves 1c kc & Sues cae Goss €-vel wo acer
EUG OMALGEMONMCS) <om.ks 2:4 of RNa s ce cmp aie ot pee
IAGO A AVS tabs Os Brewee tact ot. ws gctd,Sie eer eee ta Mitra thSie a
PO ROWING Sorta itsieCone, Mel oF ete Sects ct aaa kopal wy tr kes ees a me
Rian AG CUGILIG ee eerie eters nt ince ee hat ee een deve Gi eee
DFR EON strane en ecco x en Se ee tyewaet cote e, egies ies ainSe pee oe
Nai RCO). os. calc ie, ceevhee corr see, Gey ea gs Se «RAE. chuated
Applications
Green Biotechnology: AGrICUILUTe, . ea. aya 5 eo es & ote oes
White Biotechnology: Industrial Processes and Bio-based Products .
Red Biotechnology: Medical Applications. .............

Laws, Regulations, and Politics

Intellectual Property
gS Le ere Sn ie arate AP OaEs sae er a ert 4 Sienein Beira tea
MULE ACeINUS. EMC cee nent ce row eer age Cea gf eee ms
Patent Infringement, Challenge,andExemptions..........
I BuILDING BIOTECHNOLOGY

Patent LicensinGs ke... eae wena Rs eo acter ne et Oca 124

WAGE SECTEIS “Pee Gc Oe eee ee eS Oe BAe at ete 128
rademmlatiaens eee aie eee ee ae alarm a, Reese 130
CODVNONE 5. 0 Gus Sve W owe Gl oe ero) eee ee ae 131
The Role of Intellectual Property in Biotechnology ......... 132
Regulation 137
Food aha, Drug Administration... «4 ss. aos was anes 138
Demartivieny OF AOMCUNUNOL. 8. a) 2 izoe) aphns Geren ie amle eeeeernery )years 166
Environmental Protection Agency: ... n.ceef « - 2k ee hes 167
Securities and Exchange Commission. ..........-.-+58.+.5 169
Politics 171
Supporting Biotechnology Innovation 2. Si. om weet tls = 172
Balancing Innovation Incentives with Economic Constraints. . . . . 177

The Business of Biotechnology

Biotechnology Company Fundamentals 183
GOMPAanViFOMNGtiOnn 240 ot seca ga cee hast ees oe ee me ee 183
Business IWOGEINNs ws 05.4.5 oo) © ay eee eee a ae 187
GAIUS tarrs,«sot vat (Rta on eee, Ak SUR ee tate pe ok Reroueets are na gtical ae 192
GOMPAlly GMmaraclens testy. das i tMke eras 3, (ores ee pepe nn weoctoe 197
Finance 209
Development Stages and Funding ................. 210
PRVaCe CHUL Vier Foi! aA se ecto iene Pease meticue ec terrae fa 214
PUDICIVALKGRSee fee ee ee eau ie. 2 Loner ame erent Pale ee teres 221
Ores BUNGING: SOUNGeS ale ce Cals crete) 20 Deer yee a cen en rate 227
WAIUAUIONS com crise Shile euadan Fas. eh. ken ea eegee eae cee 235
Research and Development 241
ROLL Ota GESt abe ty See atc Ree ise ahente at ah este item ioe Ear 242
PIOIGCUSPICCHON.: tine. 2 0cn eet an a ere ee eee reuse cae ¢ 254
CEtSOUrcine IAMOVAuOMy ig oy aka Aicree a eee nen yeaa ae 258
Marketing 263
Marketing as aGuide tor ReDs =<: o woear ey ven ci we Ge 263
Market Structure and Marketing Environment. ........2... 27)
RETNTIDULSEDNEIC rete eee errs eke camuds eet ve beet eee Tee 280
Marketing Planning and Strategy... ............... 285
Licensing, Alliances, and Mergers 289
LIGETISHYC) AMGaCOUEG OUI ia vi ta ee eet es we ety eR 290
AllanceParuversnitsy c.co as 4:Sem otis woyek a,ge ee ae ae 299
Mergers: dnd AcguisinOtsss Aa sc ~~er in ante irae, bo ea 309
selecting Pabtnership Options ein 6 40s. « % ie sae eee oe S12
Managing Biotechnology 315
SU BUNG GR d eS. wi a8Paar caer eee hae tetas Nae ga 316
WaGagirra RSD se oi 2.5 O splas pedi Ras ata asSe ae eae ti Rau 318
 CONTENTS tl

Intellectual/Property Protection a0... B.S Ae Be. or we 324

Management Changes with Growth ................ 325
DE GUNG WHItIRroINNG cri. beater sen 5 tes Se, gh et nc eee eee 327
Communications and Public Relations ..........:.... 330
International Biotechnology 335
Benchmarking Against the United States. 2... .....2.20222. 337
intellectual Property Protectionia. 2 -. 5 <8) 2a se, 2 339
OOO ACG) ataree home eee sl kN i) ek tee RA yop 34]
ROT A HOKIS Sea ets ams eR Cink RG OS Dae Soy heraleGa NIA ek See Meee 343
UUAYS TANGY) 2 esice ae tas Re Pr acs Ac a te ne 348

Conclusion
Building Biotechnology 353
BiG DESSNIOCIC Sein ert te nee eae cn. eter ongs ah ses. Ua Me ss 355
FINS UOCDoe ee oe ee ea es ee te rec anes aie 356
Selecting Opportunities and Business Planning. .......... 358
Investing 367
avCat EAI CO ewe el atee ac, Mega Seren ark or ee cece ak Ye tak oe At eae 367
IMIVESTING BIOTECHNOLOGY.) «sl a.n og eee) A eee ee 368
SEANOV erence eee Grins “mnie Maer ee MeMr -85 as’ Sole a! a 369
Catata (VRS era ete ne a ee ae en, ee ee ee ee 380
Career Development 383
MOTMDECCHIOCION Sm me eee eee rey cae en Ber ee See 384
Bia MBAt OF BOth 51) ee 20h) Ok fer Te Oe Arla ky ae Gx 387
Final Words 389

Appendices
Internet Resources 393
News anCiiOrnnmatlOnsiet nil csc) suteaens coveine = ch. Cn ee A wos on 393
Investing and Competitive Intelligence... .....-.--+-5-- 395
CEN EUG Oe peken: firiay ergs hemaes sien iies oe He 396
PecleralW UNG peetaets ae Gee av meets 2 Pare. Ce gta 396
Incuistly OrdanizalOns, cli @ ee Ae es ot a ee Fe397
Annotated Bibliography 399
SCIOICE? Ree eee sors Pas ar ee oats Sica mR al Nels nesta © OER 399
Intellectual Property and Regulation... .....- + ee eee 401
Businesses be ke Pee a Ah ares pees le cle etree et > fot 402
Glossary 405
SEOE CE aa cUe seat see oe Finer oF Sues: Ween acon esheets 405
eC alee eek ike re er egy ey ee are Wee: cer Se 412
Re natOr rive ag tress Pycerenne? ieMarae wa 2 Sy i ea ete Moe ys 414
PEORANGRCIAl eae ea OR aries re on eek on GO otro ce417
Index 423
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2
 Figures and Tables
Table 1.1 What is biotechnology?
Figure 1.1 The four pillars of biotechnology
Figure 2.1 Knowledge and skills enabling biotechnology
Figure 3.1 Simplified model of information flow in molecular
biology
Figure 3.2 General scheme of gene expression
Figure 3.3 DNA: Chromosomes and genes
Figure 3.4 Protein translation
Table 3.1 Examples of protein and enzyme functions
Table 3.2 Selected RNA types
Figure 4.1 Small-molecule and biologic drugs
Figure 4.2 Biotechnology drug categories
Figure 4.3 Basic and applied research
Figure 4.4 The process of drug development
Figure 4.5 Biotechnology drug development time
Figure 4.6 Median approval times for biotechnology drugs 45
Figure 4.7 Declining time and cost of human genome sequencing 47
Table 4.1 Qualities of a “good” drug 49
Table 5.1 Selected nanotechnology applications in drug delivery 65
Table 6.1 Biotechnology application categories 70
Figure 6.1 Progress in agricultural yields ie
Figure 6.2 How cellulosic ethanol is made 8]
Table 6.2 Selected industrial enzymes 86
Figure 6.3 U.S. babies born in states mandating genetic disorder
testing os
Figure 6.4 Stem cell types SE)
Table 7.1 /ntellectual property rights 103
Table 7.2 Top biotechnology patent holders 105
vi BultDING BIOTECHNOLOGY

Table 8.1 Biotechnology regulating bodies 137

Table 8.2 Regulation of biotechnology products 138
Figure 8.1 Clinical trial phases 141
Figure 8.2 Protein-based therapeutic development times 147
Figure 8.3 /mpact of the Orphan Drug Act 156
Figure 8.4 /mpact of generic entry on drug price 159
Table 8.3 Drug names 165
Table 8.4 Selected generic drug naming conventions 165
Table 10.1 Biotechnology application categories 188
Figure 10.1 Biotechnology company activities 189
Table 10.2 Service payments 197
Table 10.3 Biotechnology facility operating costs 201
Table 10.4 Assessing biotechnology company maturity 206
Figure 11.1 Funding stages and sources 211
Table 11.1 Progressive equity dilution by funding stage 213
Figure 11.2 Biotechnology funding sources 223
Figure 12.1 Clinical trials provide valuation milestones 243
Figure 12.2 R&D Stages 244
Figure 12.3 Estimated cost and duration of biotechnology drug
development 247
Figure 13.1 Regulations affect sales: U.S. corn exports following
partial EU ban 270
Table 13.1 Horizontal and vertical products 27]
Figure 13.2 Measuring target market size 2/4
Figure 13.3 Porter’s Five Forces 279
Figure 13.4 Simplified drug market model 281
Figure 13.5 Factors influencing physician prescribing decisions 285
Figure 13.6 Biotechnology product lifecycle 288
Table 14.1 /nter-company transactions 290
Table 14.2 Typical NIH license obligations Zo5
 FiGures Vil

Table 14.3 Representative biotechnology alliances 300

Figure 14.1 The contribution of alliances to drug development from
2006-2007 302
Table 14.4 Alliance payment types 303
Figure 14.2 Percent of 2006 product sales attributable to
development paths 313
Figure 15.1 Pharmaceutical industry cost analysis 316
Figure 15.2 Producing and selling biotechnology products and
services 317
Figure 15.3 R&D decision-making tools used by small
biotechnology companies 323
Figure 15.4 Causes of drug development failure 327
Figure 16.1 Distribution of U.S. biotechnology companies 338
Figure 16.2 Global distribution of public biotechnology companies
and revenues 339
Figure 16.3 Globalization of clinical trials for FDA approval 345
Table 17.1 Biotechnology business models 356
Figure 17.1 Building a biotechnology company 557:
Table 17.2 Raising funds to reach developmental milestones 361
Figure 17.2 Value creation in biotechnology 363
vill BUILDING BIOTECHNOLOGY
 Boxes
Genentech: Commercializing a new technology
Amgen: Capitalizing on innovation
Human chromosomes and genetic trait inheritance
Poorly defined diseases discourage drug development
The Human Genome Project and drug development
Cytochrome p450 and pharmacogenomics
GMP: Building quality into products
Carnivorous fish as vegetarians
Blue jeans and biotechnology
Biofuel and bio-products: Back to the future
Using bacteria to make snow
Personalized medicine and drug sales
ESTs lack utility and enablement without proven use 110
Is it worth it for generics to challenge branded drugs? 118
Amgen v. Transkaryotic Therapies: Strategic patenting 120
Monsanto hit by $185 million torpedo 126
Johnson & Johnson sues Red Cross over trademark 131
The SNP Consortium 133
Erbitux: Poor study design 144
Vioxx: Anticipating and disclosing side effects 149
Fen-Phen: Risks of off-label use 150
AIDS and accelerated approval 152
Genzyme: Building an enterprise on orphans 157
The disproportionate returns of rare disease research 158
Biologic manufacturing: The significance of small changes 161
Starlink corn: Controlling biotechnology crops 168
State autonomy and federal laws 173
Directing innovation: The war on cancer 175
IX
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
these were a great solace, no doubt, to the good woman who waited
for infrequent tidings in a home of green England. Sir Hyde Parker
was swearing and spluttering at his men who were crying, “Lord
have mercy on us!”
“Keep to the quarter-deck, my boys, when she goes to pieces,”
he yelled. “’Tis your best chance.”
The shattered remnants of the frigate were being flailed upon
the Cuban reef, but the boatswain and the carpenter rallied
volunteers who cut away the foremast, which dragged five men to
their death when it fell. All this was in the black, bewildering
darkness just before the stormy day began to break; but the crew
held on until they were able to see the cruel ledges and the
mountainous coast which was only a few hundred feet away.
Lieutenant Archer was ready to undertake the perilous task of trying
to swim ashore with a line, but after he had kicked off his coat and
shoes he said to himself:

This won’t do, for me to be the first man out of the ship,
and the senior lieutenant at that. We may get to England again
and people may think I paid a great deal of attention to myself
and not much to anybody else. No, that won’t do; instead of
being the first, I’ll see every man, sick and well, out of her
before me.

Two sailors managed to fetch the shore, and a hawser was

rigged by means of which all of the survivors succeeded in reaching
the beach. True to his word, Archer was the last man to quit the
wreck. Sir Hyde Parker was a man of more emotion than one might
infer, and the scene is appealing as the lieutenant describes it.

The captain came to me, and taking me by the hand was so

affected that he was scarcely able to speak. “Archer, I am happy
beyond expression, to see you on shore but look at our poor
Phoenix.” I turned about but could not say a single word; my
 mind had been too intensely occupied before; but everything
now rushed upon me at once, so that I could not contain myself,
and I indulged for a full quarter of an hour in tears.

The resourceful bluejackets first entrenched themselves and

saved what arms they could find in the ship, for this was no friendly
and hospitable coast. They were on Spanish soil, and it was not their
desire to be marched off to the dungeons of Havana as prisoners of
war. Tents and huts were speedily contrived, provisions rafted from
the wreck, fires built, fish caught, and the camp was a going
concern in two or three days. Archer proposed that the handy
carpenters mend one of the boats and that he pick a crew to sail to
Jamaica and find rescue. This was promptly done and he says:

In two days she was ready and I embarked with four

volunteers and a fortnight’s provisions, hoisted English colors as
we put off from the shore and received three cheers from the
lads left behind, having not the least doubt that, with God’s
assistance, we should come and bring them all off. Had a very
squally night and a very leaky boat so as to keep two buckets
constantly baling. Steered her myself the whole night by the
stars and in the morning saw the coast of Jamaica distant twelve
leagues. At eight in the evening arrived at Montego Bay.

This dashing lieutenant was not one to let the grass grow under
his feet, and he sent a messenger to the British admiral, another to
the man-of-war, Porcupine, and hustled off to find vessels on his
own account. All the frigates of the station were at sea, but Archer
commandeered three fishing craft and a little trading brig and put to
sea with his squadron. Four days after he had left his shipwrecked
comrades he was back again, and they hoisted him upon their
shoulders and so lugged him up to Sir Hyde Parker’s tent as the hero
of the occasion. The Porcupine arrived a little later, so there was
plenty of help for the marooned British tars. Two hundred and fifty
of them were carried to Jamaica. Of the others “some had died of
the wounds they received in getting on shore, some of drinking rum,
and a few had straggled off into the country.”
Lieutenant Archer was officially commended for the part he had
played, and was promoted to command the frigate Tobago after a
few months of duty on the admiral’s staff. You will like to hear, I am
sure, how he wound up the long letter home which contained the
story of the last cruise of the Phoenix.

I must now begin to leave off, else my letter will lose its
passage, which I should not like, after being ten days at
different times writing it, beating up with a convoy to the
northward, which is a reason that this epistle will never read
well, for I never sat down with a proper disposition to go on
with it. But as I knew something of the kind would please you, I
was resolved to finish it; yet it will not bear an overhaul, so don’t
expose your son’s nonsense. You must promise that should any
one see it beside yourself, they must put this construction on it
—that it was originally intended for the eyes of a mother only—
as upon that supposition my feelings may be tolerated. You will
also meet with a number of sea terms which if you do not
understand, why, I cannot help you, as I am unable to give a
sea description in any other words. I remain His Majesty’s most
true and faithful servant and my dear mother’s most dutiful son.
 CHAPTER X
THE ROARING DAYS OF PIRACY

In Bristowe I left Poll ashore,

Well stocked wi’ togs an’ gold,
And off I goes to sea for more,
A piratin’ so bold.
An’ wounded in the arm I got,
An’ then a pretty blow;
Come home to find Poll’s flowed away,
Yo, ho, with the rum below!

IT was in the early part of the eighteenth century, two hundred

years ago, when the merchant voyager ran as great a risk of being
taken by pirates as he did of suffering shipwreck. Within a brief
period flourished most of the picturesque scoundrels who have some
claim to distinction. Blackbeard terrified the Atlantic coast from
Boston to Charleston until a cutlass cut him down in 1717. He was a
most satisfactory figure of a theatrical pirate, always strutting in the
center of the stage, and many others who came later were mere
imitations. Robert Louis Stevenson was able to imagine nothing
better than Blackbeard’s true sea-journal, written with his own
wicked hand, which contained such fascinating entries as this:

Such a day, rum all out;—our company somewhat sober;—a

damned confusion amongst us! Rogues a-plotting—great talk of
separation—so I look sharp for a prize. Took one with a great
 deal of liquor on board;—so kept the company drunk, damned
drunk, then all things went well again.

Captain Avery was plundering the treasure-laden galleons of the

Great Mogul off the coast of Madagascar in 1718, and was reported
to have stolen a daughter of that magnificent potentate as his bride,
while “his adventures were the subject of general conversation in
Europe.” The flamboyant career of Captain Bartholomew Roberts
began in 1719, that “tall, dark man” whose favorite toast was
“Damnation to him who lives to wear a halter,” and who always wore
in action a rich crimson damask waistcoat and breeches, a red
feather in his hat, a gold chain and diamond cross around his neck,
a sword in his hand, and two pairs of pistols hanging at the ends of
a silk sling flung over his shoulder.
In this same year Captain Ned England was taking his pick of the
colonial merchantmen which were earning a respectable livelihood in
the slave-trade of the Guinea coast. He displayed his merry and
ingenious spirit by ordering his crew to pelt to death with broken
rum-bottles a captured shipmaster whose face and manners
displeased him. Mary Read, the successful woman pirate, was then
in the full tide of her exploits and notably demonstrated that a
woman had a right to lead her own life. When her crew presumed to
argue with her, she pistoled them with her own fair hand, and neatly
killed in a duel a rash gentleman pirate who had been foolish
enough to threaten her lover. When asked why she preferred a
vocation so hazardous, Mary Read replied that “as to hanging, she
thought it no great hardship, for were it not for that every cowardly
fellow would turn pirate and so infest the seas and men of courage
would starve.”
It was in the same period that the bold Captain John Quelch of
Marblehead stretched hemp, with five of his comrades, and a Salem
poet was inspired to write:
 Ye pirates who against God’s laws did fight,
Have all been taken which is very right.
Some of them were old and others young
And on the flats of Boston they were hung.

In 1724 two notorious sea-rovers, Nutt and Phillip, were cruising

off Cape Ann within sight of Salem harbor’s mouth. They took a
sloop commanded by one Andrew Harraden, and thereby caught a
Tartar. Harraden and his sailors erupted from the hold into which
they had been flung, killed Nutt and Phillip and their officers, tossed
the rest of the rascals down below, and sailed into Boston Harbor,
where their cargo of pirates speedily furnished another
entertainment for the populace that trooped to the row of gibbets on
the flats of the town. The old sea-chronicles of New England are
filled with episodes of these misfortunes, encounters, and escapes
until the marvel grows that the seamen of those quaint brigs,
ketches, and scows could be persuaded to set out from port at all.
The appalling risk became a habit, no doubt, just as the people of
to-day dare to use the modern highway on which automobiles slay
many more victims than ever the pirates made to walk the plank.
The experience of an unlucky master mariner in that era of the
best-known and most successful pirates may serve to convey a
realization of the gamble with fortune which overshadowed every
trading voyage when the perils of the deep were so cruel and so
manifold. And it is easy to comprehend why the bills of lading
included this petition, “And so God send the good sloop to her
desired port in safety. Amen.”
In the year of 1718 the Bird galley sailed from England in
command of Captain Snelgrave to find a cargo of slaves on the coast
of Sierra Leone. The galley, as sailors then used the term, was a
small, square-rigged vessel not unlike a brig, although properly the
name belonged to craft propelled by oars as well as sails; but
seamen in all ages have had a confusing habit of mixing the various
classifications of vessels. It was nothing against the character of
Captain Snelgrave that he was bound out to the Gold Coast in the
rum and nigger trade. The ship-chandlers of Liverpool made special
displays in their windows of handcuffs, leg-shackles, iron collars,
short and long chains, and furnaces and copper kettles designed for
slave-ships. The English Missionary Society owned a plantation and
worked it with slaves. In America the New England colonies took the
lead in the slave-trade, and the enterprising lads of the coastwise
ports sought berths in the forecastles of the African traders because
of the chance of profit and promotion. It was not held to the
discredit of John Paul Jones that he learned seamanship before the
mast in the slaver King George before he hoisted the first naval
ensign of the United States above the quarter-deck of an American
man-of-war.
No sooner had the Bird galley dropped anchor in the river of
Sierra Leone than three pirate ships came bowling in with a fair
breeze. They had been operating together and had already captured
ten English vessels. Captain Snelgrave eyed these unpleasant visitors
with suspicion, but hoped they might be on the same errand as
himself. At eight o’clock in the evening, however, he heard the
measured thump of oars and descried the shadow of an approaching
boat. The first mate was ordered to muster and arm twenty men on
deck in readiness to repel boarders. The second mate hailed the
boat and was answered; “The ship Two Friends of Barbadoes,
Captain Elliott.” This failed to satisfy the master of the Bird galley,
and he shouted to the boat to sheer off and keep clear.
A volley of musket-balls was the reply from the boat, and the
first mate of the Bird was told to return the fire. His men stood idle,
however, and it transpired that he cherished secret ambitions of
being a pirate himself and had won over several of the crew. This
was extremely embarrassing for Captain Snelgrave, who was
compelled to witness the marauders scramble unresisted up the side
of his vessel. The leader of the pirates was in a particularly nasty
temper because the mate had been ordered to open fire, and he
poked a pistol into the captain’s face and pulled trigger. As quick as
he was courageous, the skipper knocked the weapon aside, and was
promptly felled with the butt of it. Dodging along the deck, the
pirate boatswain swung at him with a broadsword and missed his
mark, the blade biting deep into the oaken rail.
There was a grain of spunk left in the crew of the Bird, and they
rushed upon the evil boatswain before he could kill the captain. For
this behavior they were mercilessly slashed with cutlasses, kicked
and cursed, and then trussed in a row. With a touch of ferocious
whimsicality the pirate chief declared that he would let Captain
Snelgrave be tried by his own crew. If they had any complaints to
make of him as a shipmaster, he would be swung to a yard, and
they should haul the rope. He must have been a just and humane
man, for not a sailor voiced a grudge, and the ruffians appeared to
forget all about murder. After firing volleys to let their ships know
that a prize had been captured, they turned with tremendous
enthusiasm to the business of guzzling and feasting.
The captive sailors were released, and told to dress all the hens,
ducks, and geese that were in the coops on deck; but no sooner
were the heads chopped off than these childish blackguards refused
to have supper delayed. The Bird carried a huge furnace, or oven,
contrived for cooking the food of the five hundred slaves which were
expected aboard. Into a roaring fire the pirates flung the hens,
ducks, and geese, feathers and all, and hauled them out as soon as
they were singed and scorched. The same culinary method was
employed for half a dozen Westphalia hams and a sow with a dozen
little pigs. A few finicky pirates commanded the ship’s cook, under
pain of death, to boil the meat in the great copper caldrons designed
for the slaves’ porridge.
The prodigious banquet made these unmannerly guests feel in
better humor, and they even told their surgeon to dress the wounds
of the Bird’s sailors. They amused themselves by playing foot-ball
with Captain Snelgrave’s excellent gold watch, and drank themselves
into a state of boisterous joviality. The old record puts it mildly, to
say the least, in affirming that “the captain’s situation was by no
means an agreeable one, even under these circumstances, as
ferocious men are generally capricious. He now fared very hard,
enduring great fatigue with patience, and submitting resignedly to
the Almighty will.”
Before the wild night ended he was taken aboard the pirates’
flagship, where he was questioned by a sort of commodore or
commander-in-chief of the squadron. His name was Cocklyn, and he
had ambitions to conduct operations on a scale even larger. He
wanted to win over the Bird’s crew and to fly his black pennant from
her, as his talk disclosed, and this was why the lives of her company
had been spared. Now occurred one of those romantic incidents
which the novelist would hesitate to invent as stretching the
probabilities, but in these ancient narratives of the sea things were
set down as they actually happened. This is how the story was
written in 1724:

Soon after the captain was on board the pirate ship, a tall
man, well armed, came up to him and told him his name was
Jack Griffin, one of his old school-fellows. Upon Captain
Snelgrave appearing not to recollect him, he mentioned many
pranks of their youth together. He said he was forced into the
pirate service while chief mate of a British vessel and was later
compelled to act as master of one of the pirate ships. His crew
he described as most atrocious miscreants. This Jack Griffin, a
bold and ready man, promised to watch over the captain’s
safety, as the pirates would soon be worse intoxicated with the
liquors on board their prize.
Griffin now obtained a bowl of punch and led the way to the
cabin, where a carpet was spread to sit upon, as the pirate ship
was always kept clear for action. They sat down cross-legged,
and Cocklyn, the chief captain, drank Snelgrave’s health, saying
his crew had spoken well of him. A hammock was slung for
Captain Snelgrave at night, by the intercession of Griffin, but the
pirates lay rough, as they styled it, because their vessel, as
already observed, was always cleared for action.
 Griffin, true to his promise of guarding his old school-fellow
while asleep, kept near the captain’s hammock, sword in hand,
to protect him from insults. Towards morning, while the pirates
were carousing on deck, the boatswain came toward the
hammock in a state of intoxication, swearing that he would slice
the captain for ordering the crew to fire, dragged him from his
hammock, and would, no doubt, have executed his savage
threat if it had not been for Griffin who, as the boatswain
pressed forward to stab the sleeping Captain Snelgrave, cut at
the fellow with his sword and after a sharp struggle succeeded
in beating him off. At length the wretches fell asleep and the
captain was no longer molested. Griffin next day complained of
the boatswain’s conduct and he was threatened with a whipping.
However, Captain Snelgrave wisely pleaded for him, by saying he
was in liquor.

Shielded from harm by this lawless, but devoted, old school-

mate of his, the master of the Bird galley was in no great danger of
being sliced by some impulsive pirate who was careless with a
cutlass. His perfidious first mate and ten of the sailors now signed
on as pirates and assisted the others in ransacking Captain
Snelgrave’s unfortunate ship. Such merchandise as did not happen
to please their fancy was pitched overboard, and they saved little
more than the provisions, the clothing, and the gold coin. They were
like a gang of hoodlums on a lark, and wanton destruction was their
very stupid idea of a pastime. This wild carnival went on for several
days. Barrels of claret and brandy were hoisted on deck, the heads
knocked in, and the drink baled out with cans and buckets until the
roisterers could hold not another swallow. Then they doused one
another with buckets of claret and good French brandy as they ran
roaring around the deck.
Bottled liquors were opened by whacking off the necks with
cutlasses. They pelted one another with cheeses, and emptied the
tubs of butter to slide in. One of these sportive pirates dressed
himself in the captain’s shore-going black suit and his best hat and
wig, strutted among his comrades until they drenched him with
claret, and then chucked the wardrobe overboard. You will be
gratified to learn that “this man, named Kennedy, ended his career
in Execution Dock.”
Of the two other pirate ships then in the river of Sierra Leone
one was British and the other French. The English commander was
one of the brave and resourceful sea-rogues of his era, a fighting
seaman in whom survived the spirit of those desperate adventurers
of the seventeenth century who followed Morgan to Panama and
hunted the stately Spanish galleons with Hawkins and Dampier in
the waters of the Pacific. This was the famous Captain Davis, who
would sooner storm a fort or take a town at the head of a landing
party than to loot a helpless merchantman. He had attempted to
combine forces with these other pirates at Sierra Leone and had
been formally elected admiral in a council of war. But he found
reason to suspect the good faith of his associates, whereupon he
summoned them into his cabin and told them to their faces:

“Hear ye, you Cocklyn and La Boise” (the French captain), I

find that by strengthening you I have put a rod into your hands
to whip myself, but I am able to deal with you both. However,
since we met in love let us part in love, for I find that three of a
trade can never agree long together.

Captain Davis was getting ready for a cruise on his own account,
with the design of attacking the garrison of one of the Portuguese
settlements on the African coast, but he found time to interest
himself in the affairs of poor Captain Snelgrave of the Bird galley. It
may have been a spark of genuine manliness and sportsmanship, or
dislike of the slippery Cocklyn, but at any rate Captain Davis
interceded in his own high-handed manner and told the rascals to
give the plundered Bird back to her master and to treat him
decently.
 This altered the situation. Captain Davis was the king wolf of the
pack, and his bite was much worse than his bark. Cocklyn and La
Boise were disposed to resent this interference and hung back a
little, at which the black flag was run up to the masthead of Captain
Davis’s formidable ship, and the gun-ports were dropped with a
clatter to show a crew, disciplined and sober, with matches lighted,
and handspikes and tackles ready.
Very promptly the Bird galley was restored to Captain Snelgrave,
but before going to sea Captain Davis was rowed ashore for a
farewell chat with a friend of his named Glynn. This man was living
at Sierra Leone for reasons unknown, probably in trade of some
kind, and the only information concerning him is that “although he
had suffered from pirates, he was on good terms with them and yet
kept his hands free from their guilt.” He must have been a two-fisted
person with a backbone of steel, for Captain Davis was satisfied to
intrust to his care the broken fortunes of the master of the Bird
galley.
Soon after the tall ship of Captain Davis was wafted seaward
with the breeze that drew off the land, the pirates twain, Cocklyn
and La Boise, were invited to dinner at the house of Captain Glynn.
The other guest was Captain Snelgrave, who discovered that the
wind had suddenly shifted in his favor and he was treated with the
most distinguished cordiality and respect. Fresh clothing was offered
him, and he enjoyed the luxury of one of Captain Glynn’s clean
shirts. It was explained that the Bird was uncommonly well adapted
for fitting out as a pirate ship because she had flush decks for
mounting guns and was sharply molded for fast sailing. Cocklyn and
La Boise politely suggested that they keep her for their own use and
give to Captain Snelgrave a merchant vessel of larger tonnage which
had been recently captured. By way of making amends for their
rudeness, they would be delighted to replace his ruined cargo with
merchandise taken from other prizes, and he could take his pick of
the stuff.
 This was a delicate problem for Captain Snelgrave to decide. The
ethical codes of the pirates were so much more unconventional than
his own that they failed to see why he should hesitate to sail home
to England in a stolen ship with a cargo of looted merchandise.
Tactfully, but firmly, he declined the offer, at which they hopefully
suggested that he might change his mind and, anyhow, they would
do their best to straighten things out for him. It was a pleasant little
dinner party, but it is plausible to infer that the thought of the
absent Captain Davis hung over it like a grim shadow.
Next day the abandoned merchantman which had been offered
to Captain Snelgrave was towed alongside the Bird galley, and all of
his cargo that had escaped destruction was transferred by his own
crew. There was a good deal of it, after all, for it had consisted
largely of salted provisions and bolts of cloth for the slave market,
and the wanton pirates had tired of the game before they got into
the lower holds. Captain Snelgrave moved ashore and found a
comfortable refuge in the house of Captain Glynn.
Retribution now overtook that truculent pirate, the boatswain,
who had first attempted to blow out the brains of Captain Snelgrave
and then to slice him in his hammock. He fell very ill of tropical fever
and rum, and realizing that he had come to the end of his cable, he
sent for the skipper and implored forgiveness. It is solemnly
recorded that “this man fell into a delirium the same night and died
before the morning, cursing God his maker in such a frightful
manner that it affected several of the pirates who were yet novices
in that mode of life, and they came privately, in consequence, to
obtain Captain Snelgrave’s advice how they should get out of their
evil course. A proclamation of pardon had been issued to all pirates
who surrendered before July 1, 1719, and the captain advised them
to embrace the pardon so tendered.”
Still refusing to accept the gift of a purloined ship, the captain
persuaded the pirates to remove all his cargo ashore, which they
cheerfully did and built a shelter to cover it. Then they busied
themselves at the task of arming the Bird for their own wicked use,
and were amazingly sober and industrious for as much as a
fortnight. When they were ready to put the ship into commission,
Captain Snelgrave was invited aboard to a jollification in his own
cabin. There was a certain etiquette to be followed, it seemed, and
the observance was punctilious. Toasts were drunk to a lucky cruise,
and every man smashed his glass upon the table or floor. The ship
was renamed the Windham Galley, and they all trooped out on deck
and waved their hats and huzzaed when the Jolly Roger broke out of
stops and showed aloft like a sinister blot against the clean sky from
the mast which had displayed the British ensign. The new batteries
were fired in salute, with a great noise and clouds of gunpowder
smoke, and then, of course, all hands proceeded to get most
earnestly drunk though they laid no violent hands upon Captain
Snelgrave.
The ships were still in the harbor when the redoubtable Captain
Davis came sailing in from his voyage. It had been shorter than
expected, for rich booty was overtaken at sea, and he delayed the
adventure with the Portuguese fort until he could dispose of his
profits and refit. First, he had laid alongside two English and one
Scotch ship and lifted out of them such goods as attracted his fancy,
permitting them to proceed. A few days later the lookout aloft
sighted a sail and, in the words of the record, “it may be proper to
inform our readers that, according to the laws of pirates, the man
who first discovers a sail is entitled to the best pair of pistols in the
ship and such is the honor attached to these that a pair of them has
been known to sell for thirty pounds.”
Captain Davis chased this tempting ship until she drove ashore
and the terrified crew took to the jungle. She proved to be a
gorgeous prize, a heavily armed packet, “having on board the
Governor of Acra, with all his substance, going to Holland. There
was in her money to the amount of fifteen thousand pounds, besides
a large quantity of merchant goods and other valuable articles.” This
ship had the men and guns to have stood up to it and given Captain
Davis a battle royal, but the sight of his evil flag, and perhaps his
own bloody repute, made cowards of them. It was quite otherwise
with another Dutchman overhauled soon after this. These stolid
seamen had the proverbial tenacity of their race, and they scorned
the notion of hauling down colors at the sight of a scurvy pirate. To
the insolent summons they replied with a broadside and killed nine
surprised pirates, who were smelling brimstone in another world
before they realized how it happened.
Excessively annoyed, Captain Davis closed in, and soon found
that he had a hard nut to crack. With thirty guns and ninety men the
Dutchman stood him off, and they fought a stubbornly heroic sea
action that lasted from one o’clock at noon until after daylight next
morning, occasionally hauling off for rest and repairs and tackling
each other again, hammer and tongs. Finally the Dutchman had to
strike, for he was outfought by men better drilled and practised.
Captain Davis respected their valor, and there was no mention of
making them walk the plank. The fifty survivors were taken aboard
his own ship to save their lives, for their own ship was so smashed
and splintered that she sank soon after.
Reaching Sierra Leone, Captain Davis invited Captain Snelgrave
aboard for supper in order to learn how affairs had been going with
him. At the end of a successful cruise, the cutthroats had to be
handled with a loose rein. They expected a grand carouse as a
matter of course, and such a leader as Captain Davis was wise
enough to close his eyes until he was ready to put the screws on
again and prepare for another adventure. Most of the ship’s
company were properly drunk when the alarm of fire was shouted. A
lighted lantern had been overturned among the rum-casks, and the
flames were running into the hold. Amid the shouting and confusion,
the sober men tumbled into boats and pulled for the shore. The fire
was eating straight toward the magazine, in which were stowed
thirty thousand pounds of gunpowder.
One pirate, who was both astonishingly brave and sober,
dropped through a hatchway, groped through the smoke, and yelled
that unless they fetched him blankets and buckets of water the ship
would blow up. Captain Snelgrave gathered all the rugs and blankets
he could find and rushed below to join the fellow. Other men rallied
when led by Captain Davis, and formed a bucket brigade to douse
the blankets and stuff them against the bulkhead of the magazine. It
was a ticklish situation, taking it by and large,

for the night was dark, the crew drunk, and no hope of
mastering the fire seemed to remain. To spring into the water
was certain death, from the sharks hovering around the vessel.
Having accomplished all that he was able, Captain Snelgrave
snatched up a quarter-boat grating and lowered it with a rope,
hoping to float away upon that, as several persons had gone off
with the boats. While the captain was thus meditating his
escape he heard a shout from the main-deck, “Now for a brave
blast to go to hell with.” On which some of the newly entered
pirates near him, believing the ship must blow up in a few
minutes, lamented their entering on that vile course of life, with
bitter exclamations against the hardened offenders on the main-
deck who dared to blaspheme in such an hour as this.

Fifty of the crew crawled out upon the bowsprit and sprit-sail
yard, where they clung and hoped to be blown clear of the general
upheaval. They handsomely deserved extermination, but a dozen
gallant volunteers still toiled and suffered in the hold, and at length
they smothered the fire before it ate into the magazine. All of them
were terribly burned, and it is fair to assume that Captain Davis
awarded them an extra share of the plunder when it was distributed.
One of the heroes of the crisis was Captain Snelgrave, or so the
pirates admiringly agreed, and they were more than ever anxious to
befriend him. They would have been glad to serve under him, but he
had no taste for piracy and declined the honor when a vote was
passed around the tubs of grog that he go as a sailing master until
he had gained experience and was ready to command a crew of
gentlemen of fortune.
Disappointed in this, they used their gold to buy back for him a
considerable amount of his cargo, which had been divided or sold
ashore, and presented him with some of the merchandise allotted to
them from the ships lately captured by Captain Davis. There were
worse pirates on the high seas than this collection of gallows-birds in
the harbor of Sierra Leone, and merchant mariners much less
admirable than this London slave-trader, Captain Snelgrave. Thanks
to the exertions of the solicitous pirates, he gathered together
sufficient possessions to retrieve the voyage from complete disaster,
and the stuff was saved from harm in the rough warehouse ashore,
where the kindly Captain Glynn was a vigilant guardian.
The pirates were now ready to depart on their disreputable
business, Cocklyn and La Boise sailing in company, while Captain
Davis ranged off alone. This time he carried out his purpose of
raiding the Portuguese colony, the military governor of which
received warning from a coasting vessel and accordingly
strengthened his defenses and armed every able-bodied man.
Captain Davis led his pirates from their boats and stormed the fort
under a heavy fire.
The Portuguese governor was a fighting man himself and he
gave as good as he took. The pirates gained the parapet and set the
wooden buildings afire with hand grenades, but while the issue
wavered, Captain Davis fell, a pistol-ball in his stomach. In a hand-
to-hand conflict his pirates were driven back to the beach, carrying
their dying captain with them. Defeated, they left their dead and
wounded and fled in the boats, while in the last gasp Captain Davis
discharged both his pistols at the enemy. “And those on board the
ship, who expected to hoist in treasure, had to receive naught but
their wounded comrades and dead commander.”
Captain Snelgrave, left free to work out his own plans, loaded
his cargo into one of the vessels which the pirates had abandoned in
the river. He was shrewd enough to know that he could not be
accused of receiving a stolen ship, for maritime usage now protected
him. He was taking possession of a derelict and sailing her home,
where he could make terms of sale or salvage with her rightful
owners. And so he mustered as many of his crew as had not been
lured away by the pirates, and said good-by to his loyal friend
Captain Glynn, and took on board six other masters of ships who
were stranded at Sierra Leone because they had been unlucky
enough to fall in with Cocklyn and La Boise and Captain Davis. On
August 1, in the year 1719, Captain Snelgrave dropped anchor in the
port of Bristol and trudged ashore to find a pleasant haven in a
tavern and tell his troubles to other sun-browned skippers who knew
the Guinea coast and the hazards of the slave-trade.
A different kind of fortune was that of Captain George Roberts,
who sailed from Virginia for the Guinea coast in the year of 1721.
Pirates overtook his sloop off the Cape Verd Islands, and at first
treated him rather good-humoredly, as he was a man of spirit and
could hold his own when the bottle was passed. The pirate captain
took a fancy to him and had a mind to let him resume his voyage,
but unluckily the health of the “Old Pretender,” James III, was
proposed at table, and Captain Roberts, who was no Jacobite,
roundly refused to drink such a damnable toast. He did not purpose
to bend his sentiments to suit the fancy of any pirates that ever
sailed unhung. One of them was for shooting him through the head,
but to the others it seemed more entertaining to put him aboard his
own vessel without provisions, water, or sails, and to kidnap his crew
as well, and let him drift out to sea. Captain Roberts listened to the
discussion and had nothing more to say. He would drink the health
of a king of his own choosing if it cost him his skin, and that was the
end of it.
The old chronicler who preserved the tale of this stubborn sea-
dog took occasion to moralize in this fashion:

That men of the most abandoned characters should so far

forget what humanity is due their fellow men, as to expose any
one to almost certain destruction, merely on account of a foolish
toast, may excite the astonishment of the reflecting; nor
perhaps shall we wonder much less at the romantic resolution of
 Captain Roberts who braved death rather than submit to an
insignificant form.

In the dead of night the sloop was cast off, and the pirates even
pilfered all the candles to make matters as uncomfortable as
possible. Two boys of the sloop’s crew had been left on board, one
of them an infant of eight years, and it may have accorded with the
piratical style of humor to call this a complement. The eight-year-old
urchin was perhaps a cabin-boy; no other information is vouchsafed
concerning him. At any rate, he must have turned to like a little
man, for he took the wheel while the captain and the elder boy
pumped to clear the leaky vessel of water. Fairly confident that she
would stay afloat, they took stock at daylight, and found that the
pirates had overlooked a few crumbs of bread, ten gallons of rum, a
little rice, and some flour, with a two-gallon jug of water. They were
unable to kindle a fire because the jocular pirates had carried off the
flint and steel, and so they lived on raw flour and rice and drank rum
after the water gave out.
Three days’ hard labor sufficed to patch up a sail that pulled the
sloop along when the wind blew hard enough. Rain fell and gave
them a little more water before they died of thirst. A shark was
caught when the food had all been eaten and they lived for three
weeks before sighting land again. This was the Isle of St. Anthony, in
the Cape Verd group, and the elder boy begged to be allowed to go
ashore in the boat and look for water.
He pulled away after sunset and, with the anchor down, Captain
Roberts dragged himself into the cabin and was instantly asleep.
Rousing out at midnight, there was no sign of the boat and, to his
dismay, he discovered that the sloop had drifted almost out of sight
of land with a strong night wind. His crew now consisted of the
eight-year-old mite of a sailor lad, but they swung on the pump
together and tugged at the windlass until the anchor was hove
short. They tended the rag of sail, and a kindly breeze slowly wafted
them back toward the island until they were able to drop the mud-
hook in a sandy bay with a good holding-ground. Captain Roberts
was a stalwart man, and hats off to his eight-year-old crew!
The other boy who had rowed ashore was anxiously looking for
the vessel, and he appeared aboard with a gang of negroes whom
he had hired to work her into the nearest port. They brought food
and water with them, and affairs seemed to have taken an
auspicious turn, but during the first night out the sail split from top
to bottom. There was no other canvas to set, and the negroes
promptly tumbled into the boat and made for the island. The voyage
appealed to their simple intellects as very much of a failure. Captain
Roberts sighed, and resumed the interminable task of finding a
haven for his helpless sloop. His two boys did what they could, but
they were completely worn out and unable to help rig up another
sail of bits of awning, tarpaulins, and so on, and bend it to the spars.
Captain Roberts was inclined to believe that he had played his
last card, but one is quite unable to fancy him as regretting his
quixotic refusal to join a party of Jacobite pirates in toasting the
Pretender. When another day came, he was grimly hanging to the
tiller and trying to keep the sloop’s head in the direction of land
when he heard a commotion in the hold. One of the lads plucked up
courage to peer over the hatch-coaming, and in the gloom he
descried three negroes in a very bad temper who were holding their
heads in their hands. Ordered on deck, they anxiously rolled their
eyes, and explained that they had found the puncheon of rum soon
after coming on board and had guzzled it so earnestly that they
sneaked below to sleep it off. Their comrades had deserted the ship
in the darkness, and Captain Roberts, assuming that all hands were
quitting him, had not counted them.
Here was a crew provided by a sort of unholy miracle, and they
were ready to help take the ship to port to save their own perfectly
worthless lives. They managed to carry her close to a harbor called
St. John’s, and one of the black rascals declared that he was an able
pilot; but when the vessel drew close to the rocks he lost his
courage and dived overboard, whereupon his comrades followed
him, and all swam ashore like fishes. The afflicted Captain Roberts
let go his anchor and waited through the night, after which other
natives came off to the sloop and brought fresh provisions and
water. It seemed as if their troubles might be nearing an end, but a
storm blew next day, and the sloop went upon the rocks. Captain
Roberts and the two lads were rescued by the kindly natives, who
swam out through the raging surf, but the sloop was soon dashed to
pieces. She deserved to win a happier fortune.
The voyage to the Guinea coast was ruined, and Captain Roberts
had no money to back another venture; but he set about building a
boat from the wreck of his sloop, and made such a success of it that
with the two lads and three negro sailors he was soon doing a brisk
trade from island to island. Having accumulated some cash, he
decided to return to London, where he arrived after an absence of
four years.
 CHAPTER XI
THE LOSS OF THE WAGER MAN-OF-WAR

TO the modern generation, one of the great adventures of seafaring

history is familiar only in an eloquent reference of Robert Louis
Stevenson, and few readers, I venture to say, have taken the trouble
to delve for the facts which inspired the following tribute in the
essay called “The English Admirals”:

It was by a hazard that we learned the conduct of the four

marines of the Wager. There was no room for these brave
fellows in the boat, and they were left behind upon the island to
a certain death. They were soldiers, they said, and knew well
enough it was their business to die; and as their comrades
pulled away, they stood upon the beach, gave three cheers, and
cried, “God bless the king!” Now one or two of those who were
in the boat escaped, against all likelihood, to tell the story. That
was a great thing for us; but surely it cannot, by any possible
twisting of human speech, be construed into anything great for
the marines.
You may suppose, if you like, that they died hoping their
behavior would not be forgotten; or you may suppose they
thought nothing of the subject, which is much more likely. What
can be the signification of the word “fame” to a private of
marines, who cannot read and knows nothing of past history
beyond the reminiscences of his grandmother? But whatever
supposition you make, the fact is unchanged; and I suppose
their bones were already white, before the winds and the waves
and the humor of Indian chiefs and governers had decided
 whether they were to be unknown and useless martyrs or
honored heroes. Indeed, I believe this is the lesson: if it is for
fame that men do brave actions, they are only silly fellows after
all.... If the marines of the Wager gave three cheers and cried
“God bless the king,” it was because they liked to do things
nobly for their own satisfaction. They were giving their lives,
there was no help for that, and they made it a point of self-
respect to give them handsomely.

In 1739 the bitter rivalry between England and Spain for the
trade and treasure of the New World flamed afresh in war. A
squadron of six British men-of-war under Commodore George Anson
was sent out to double Cape Horn and vex the dons in their South
American ports and on the routes of the Pacific where the lumbering
galleons steered for Panama or Manila. With these fighting-vessels
went a supply-ship called the Wager, an old East Indiaman which
had been armed and filled with stores of every description. Clumsy,
rotten, and overladen, the Wager was no better off for a crew, which
consisted of sailors long exiled on other voyages and pining for
home. The military guard was made up of worn-out old pensioners
from Chelsea Hospital, who were very low in their minds at the
prospect of so long and hazardous a cruise. They could not be called
a dashing lot aboard the Wager, and as for the captain of her his
name was Cheap, and he was not much better than that. You shall
have the pleasure of damning him as heartily for yourselves as did
his forlorn ship’s company.
The crazy old hooker of a store-ship began to go to pieces as
soon as she encountered the wild gales and swollen seas off the
Horn. Decks were swept, boats smashed, and the mizzenmast
carried clean out of her. Disabled and leaking, the Wager was
somehow worked into the Pacific; but the captain had no charts of
the coast, and he blundered along in the hope of finding the rest of
the squadron at the rendezvous, which was the island of Juan
Fernandez. He was warned by the first lieutenant, the gunner, and
other officers that the floating weed, the flocks of land birds, and the
longitude, as they had figured it out, indicated a lee shore not many
miles distant. The gunner was a man of sorts and he was bold
enough to protest:
“Sir, the ship is a perfect wreck; our mizzenmast gone, and all
our people ill or exhausted; there are only twelve fit for duty,—
therefore it may be dangerous to fall in with the land.”
Captain Cheap stubbornly held on until he was disabled by a fall
on deck which dislocated his shoulder, and confined him to his cabin.
The officers were better off without him. On the morning of May 13,
1740, the carpenter’s keen eyesight discerned the lift of land
through a rift in the cloudy weather, but the others disagreed with
him until they saw a gloomy peak of the Cordilleras. The ship was
driving bodily toward the land, and the utmost exertions were made
to crowd her offshore; but the sails split in the heavy gale, and so
few men were fit for duty that there were no more than three or
four active seamen to a watch.
In darkness next morning the Wager struck a sunken rock, and
her ancient timbers collapsed. She split open like a pumpkin, rolled
on her beam-ends, and lodged against other projections of the reef,
with the seas boiling clean over her. Then a mountainous billow or
two lifted her clear, and she went reeling inshore, sinking as she ran.
Several of the sick men were drowned in their hammocks, and
others scrambled on deck to display miraculous recoveries. Because
the commander of the ship was worthless and disabled besides, the
discipline of the ship in this crisis was abominable. The brave men
rallied together as by instinct, and tried to hammer courage and
obedience into the frenzied mob. The mate, Mr. Jones, was a man
with his two feet under him, and he shouted to the cowards:
“Here, lads, let us not be discouraged. Did you never see a ship
amongst breakers before? Come, lend a hand; here is a sheet and
there is a brace; lay hold. I doubt not that we can bring her near
enough to land to save our lives.”
 Mr. Jones thought they were all dead men without a ghost of a
show of salvation, as he later confessed, but his exhortations put
heart into them, and he was not one to die without a gallant
struggle. Soon the wreck of the Wager piled up in the breakers
between two huge rocks, where she stayed fast. Dry land was no
more than a musket-shot away, and as soon as daylight came the
three boats that were left—the barge, the cutter, and the yawl—were
launched and instantly filled with men, who tumbled in helter-skelter.
The rest of the sailors proceeded to break open casks of wine and
brandy and to get so drunk that several were drowned in the ship.
The suffering Captain Cheap permitted himself to be lifted out of bed
and borne into a boat with most of the commissioned officers, while
the master, gunner, and carpenter, who were not gentlemen at all,
but very ordinary persons, in fact, remained in the wreck to save
what they could of her and to round up the riotous bluejackets and
bear a hand with the surviving invalids.
A hundred and forty people of the Wager found themselves
alive, and nothing more, on the savage and desolate coast of
Patagonia. The boatswain, who was a hard case, had stuck by the
ship, but there was nothing noble in his motive. He led a crowd of
kindred spirits, who vowed they would stay there as long as the
liquor held out. When ordered to abandon the hulk, they threatened
mutiny and broached another cask. During the following night,
however, another gale drove the sea over the wreck, and the rogues
had quite enough of it.
They signaled for the boats to take them off, but this was
impossible because of the raging surf; wherefore the gay mutineers
lost their tempers and let a cannon-ball whizz from a quarter-deck
gun at the refugees on shore. While waiting for rescue, they rifled
the cabins for tempting plunder, and swaggered in the officers’ laced
coats and cocked hats. The boatswain, who egged them on, saw to
it that they were well armed, for he proclaimed defiance of all
authority, and there was to be no more of the iron-handed code of
sea law. These were pressed men, poor devils, who broke all
restraint because they had not been wisely and humanely handled.
 When at length they were taken ashore, Captain Cheap showed
one of his fitful flashes of resolution by sallying from his tent and
knocking the insolent boatswain down with a loaded cane and
putting a cocked pistol to his ear. This took the wind out of the sails
of the other mutineers, and they tamely submitted to being stripped
of their arms, which made them harmless for the moment. So bleak
was the coast that the only food obtainable was shell-fish, while
from the wreck almost no stores were saved. The most urgent
business was to knock huts together of the drift-wood and canvas,
and effect some sort of organization. A fortnight passed before
Captain Cheap had the provisions properly guarded and the rations
dealt out in a systematic manner, while in the meantime the sailors
were stealing the stuff right and left, and the battle was to the
strongest.
It was ascertained that they were marooned on what appeared
to be an island near the coast and about three hundred miles to the
northward of the Strait of Magellan. Three canoes of Patagonian
Indians happened to discover the camp, and they were friendly
enough to barter for two dogs and three sheep, which were no more
than a meal for the hungry crew of the Wager. The Indians
vanished, and the agony of famine took hold of these miserable
people. Instead of pluckily working together to master the situation
like true British seamen, they split into hostile factions, and
insubordination was rampant. There were rough and desperate men
among them, it is true, but a leader of courage and resource whom
they respected would have stamped out much of this disorder.
They wandered off in sullen groups, ten of them straying away
into the woods until starvation drove them back, another party
building a punt and sailing away in it, never to be heard of again.
These latter fellows were not regretted, according to the narrative of
one of the survivors, who declares that

there was great reason to believe that James Mitchell, one of

them, had perpetrated no less than two murders, the first on a
 sailor found strangled on board and the second on the body of a
man who was discovered among some bushes, stabbed in a
shocking manner. On the day of their desertion, they plotted
blowing up the captain in his hut, along with the surgeon and
Lieutenant Hamilton of the marines; they were with difficulty
dissuaded from it by one less wicked than the rest; and half a
barrel of powder, together with the train, were found actually
laid.

Among the officers was a boyish midshipman named Cozens

who was of a flighty, impulsive disposition and who had no head for
strong liquors. Too much grog made him boisterous, and by way of a
lesson he was shut up in a hut under guard. He cherished a hearty
dislike for Captain Cheap and was extremely impertinent to that
chicken-hearted bully of a commander, who thereupon lashed him
with his cane. The doughty sentry of marines interfered, swearing
that not even the captain of the ship should strike a prisoner placed
in his charge. The midshipman took the disgrace to heart, and what
with anger, drink, and privation he seems to have become a bit
unbalanced. There had been no more popular young officer in the
Wager, easy, genial, affectionate; but now he quarreled with the
surgeon and had a more serious row with the purser, taking a shot
at him and vowing that he was ready to mutiny to get rid of the
blockheads and villains who had brought ruin to the expedition.
Captain Cheap heard a report of the uprising of Midshipman
Cozens and delayed not to investigate, but rushed out and shot the
rash youngster through the head. There was nothing novel in talking
mutiny. The whole camp was infected with lawlessness. If it was a
crime to ignore authority, all hands were guilty. Flouted and held in
contempt, Captain Cheap killed the midshipman as an example to
the others, and, of course, they hated and despised him more than
before. Poor young Cozens lived long enough to take the hand of his
chum, Midshipman Byron, and to smile a farewell to the sailors who
had been fond of him. They begged to be allowed to carry him to
one of their own tents while he was still breathing, but the captain
refused, and flourished his pistol at them; so he died where he fell.

Captain Cheap, after the deed was done, addressed the

people, assembled together by his command, and told them he
was resolved to retain his authority over them as usual, and that
it remained as much in force as ever. He then ordered them all
to return to their respective tents, with which they complied.
This event, however, contributed to lessen him in the regard of
the people.

Three boats had been saved from the wreck of the Wager, and
the largest of them was the long-boat, a word that awakens
memories of many an old-time romance of the sea and seems
particularly to belong to “Robinson Crusoe.” It was what might be
called a ship’s launch, and was often so heavy and capacious that
vessels towed it astern on long voyages. Two months after the
disaster, the Wager’s people despairing of rescue, began to patch up
the boats with the idea of making their way to the Spanish
settlements of the mainland. The long-boat was hauled up on the
beach, and the carpenter undertook the difficult task of sawing it in
two and building in a section in order to make it twelve feet longer.
While this enterprise was under way, a party of fifty Indians,
men, women, and children, found the camp and built wigwams,
evidently intending to settle for a while and do some trading. Their
canoes were filled with seal, shell-fish, and live sheep, and the
visitation was immensely valuable to the castaways; but some of the
ruffianly sailors insulted the women, and the indignant Patagonians
soon packed up and departed, bag and baggage. As a result, the
ravages of famine became so severe that the muster-roll was
reduced to a hundred men. This meant that a third of the survivors
of the wreck were already dead.
Throughout the whole story of suffering, mutiny, and
demoralization the deeds of those who bravely and unflinchingly
endured seemed to gleam like stars against a somber background.
You will find frequent mention of Midshipman Byron, a lad in his
teens, who was the real hero of the Wager, although he never
realized it. He achieved nothing spectacular in a way, but he always
tried to do his duty and something more. The British midshipman of
that era was often a mere rosy-cheeked infant who pranced into the
thick of a boarding-party with his cutlass and dirk or bullied a boat’s
crew of old salts in some desperate adventure on an enemy’s coast.
The precocious breed survives in the Royal Navy of to-day, and in
the great battleships of the Grand Fleet, at Rosyth or Scapa Flow,
you might have seen these bantam midshipmen standing a deck
watch with all the dignity of a four-starred admiral.
Midshipman Byron of the Wager built himself a tiny hut in which
he lived alone after the captain killed his messmate Cozens, and his
companion was a strayed Indian cur, which adored him. The dog
faithfully guarded the hut when Byron was absent from it, and they
shared together such food as could be found, mostly mussels and
limpets. At length a deputation of seamen called to announce that
they must eat the dog or starve. Byron made a gallant fight to save
his four-legged friend, but was subdued by force, and for once
during the long and terrible experience he wept and was in a
hopeless state of mind.
Among the minor characters who commend themselves to our
approval was a reckless devil of a boatswain’s mate, who noticed
that the seabirds roosted and nested on reefs and islets out to
seaward. In the words of one of his shipmates:

Having got a water puncheon, he scuttled it, then lashing

two logs, one on each side of it, he went to sea in this
extraordinary and original piece of embarkation. Thus he would
frequently provide himself with wild-fowl when all the rest were
starving; and the weather was bad indeed when it deterred him
from adventuring. Sometimes he would be absent a whole day.
At last he was unfortunately overset by a heavy sea when at a
 great distance from shore; but being near a rock, though no
swimmer, he contrived to scramble to it. There he remained two
days with little prospect of relief, as he was too far off the land
to be visible. Luckily, however, one of the boats happened to go
that way in quest of wild-fowl, discovered his signals, and
rescued him from his forlorn condition. Yet he was so little
discouraged by this accident that, soon after, he procured an
ox’s hide from the Indians and, by the assistance of hoops,
fashioned something like a canoe in which he made several
successful voyages.

In August the three boats had been made seaworthy enough to

undertake an escape from the miseries of this hopeless island. Then,
as usual, there arose confusion of purpose and violent disagreement.
This ship’s company could be trusted to start a row at the drop of
the hat. As long as there was breath in them, they were sure to turn
against one another. The majority proposed that they try for a
passage homeward by way of the Strait of Magellan. Captain Cheap
and his partizans were for steering northward, capturing a Spanish
vessel of some sort, and endeavoring to find the British squadron
from which the Wager had become separated. He blustered about
his authority, insisted that his word was law, and so on, until the
high-handed majority grew tired of his noise and decided to take
him along as a prisoner and hand him over to justice for killing
Midshipman Cozens.
They hauled their commander out of bed and lugged him by the
head and the heels to the purser’s tent, where he was guarded by a
sentry of marines and very coarsely derided by these unmannerly
rebels. The gunner informed Captain Cheap that he was to be
carried to England as a prisoner; at which he retorted, with proper
spirit, that he would sooner be shot than undergo such humiliation
and, given his choice, he preferred to be left behind on the island.
This was agreeable to the mob, who gave three cheers and thought
no more about him. His two loyal companions, the surgeon and
Lieutenant Hamilton, elected of their own free will to remain with the