The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 3

CHAPTER 1

MY name is Arthur Gordon Pym. My father was a respectable trader insea-stores at Nantucket, where I was born. My maternal grandfather wasan attorney in good practice. He was fortunate in every thing, and hadspeculated very successfully in stocks of the Edgarton New Bank, as itwas formerly called. By these and other means he had managed to lay by atolerable sum of money. He was more attached to myself, I believe, thanto any other person in the world, and I expected to inherit the mostof his property at his death. He sent me, at six years of age, tothe school of old Mr. Ricketts, a gentleman with only one arm and ofeccentric manners--he is well known to almost every person who hasvisited New Bedford. I stayed at his school until I was sixteen, when Ileft him for Mr. E. Ronald’s academy on the hill. Here I became intimatewith the son of Mr. Barnard, a sea-captain, who generally sailed in theemploy of Lloyd and Vredenburgh--Mr. Barnard is also very well known inNew Bedford, and has many relations, I am certain, in Edgarton. His sonwas named Augustus, and he was nearly two years older than myself. Hehad been on a whaling voyage with his father in the John Donaldson, andwas always talking to me of his adventures in the South Pacific Ocean.I used frequently to go home with him, and remain all day, and sometimesall night. We occupied the same bed, and he would be sure to keep meawake until almost light, telling me stories of the natives of theIsland of Tinian, and other places he had visited in his travels. Atlast I could not help being interested in what he said, and by degreesI felt the greatest desire to go to sea. I owned a sailboat called theAriel, and worth about seventy-five dollars. She had a half-deck orcuddy, and was rigged sloop-fashion--I forget her tonnage, but she wouldhold ten persons without much crowding. In this boat we were in thehabit of going on some of the maddest freaks in the world; and, when Inow think of them, it appears to me a thousand wonders that I am aliveto-day.

I will relate one of these adventures by way of introduction to alonger and more momentous narrative. One night there was a party at Mr.Barnard’s, and both Augustus and myself were not a little intoxicatedtoward the close of it. As usual, in such cases, I took part of hisbed in preference to going home. He went to sleep, as I thought, veryquietly (it being near one when the party broke up), and without sayinga word on his favorite topic. It might have been half an hour from thetime of our getting in bed, and I was just about falling into a doze,when he suddenly started up, and swore with a terrible oath that hewould not go to sleep for any Arthur Pym in Christendom, when there wasso glorious a breeze from the southwest. I never was so astonished inmy life, not knowing what he intended, and thinking that the wines andliquors he had drunk had set him entirely beside himself. He proceededto talk very coolly, however, saying he knew that I supposed himintoxicated, but that he was never more sober in his life. He was onlytired, he added, of lying in bed on such a fine night like a dog, andwas determined to get up and dress, and go out on a frolic with theboat. I can hardly tell what possessed me, but the words were no soonerout of his mouth than I felt a thrill of the greatest excitement andpleasure, and thought his mad idea one of the most delightful and mostreasonable things in the world. It was blowing almost a gale, and theweather was very cold--it being late in October. I sprang out of bed,nevertheless, in a kind of ecstasy, and told him I was quite as braveas himself, and quite as tired as he was of lying in bed like a dog,and quite as ready for any fun or frolic as any Augustus Barnard inNantucket.

We lost no time in getting on our clothes and hurrying down to the boat.She was lying at the old decayed wharf by the lumber-yard of Pankey &Co., and almost thumping her side out against the rough logs. Augustusgot into her and bailed her, for she was nearly half full of water. Thisbeing done, we hoisted jib and mainsail, kept full, and started boldlyout to sea.

The wind, as I before said, blew freshly from the southwest. The nightwas very clear and cold. Augustus had taken the helm, and I stationedmyself by the mast, on the deck of the cuddy. We flew along at a greatrate--neither of us having said a word since casting loose from thewharf. I now asked my companion what course he intended to steer, andwhat time he thought it probable we should get back. He whistled for afew minutes, and then said crustily: “_I_ am going to sea--_you_ may gohome if you think proper.” Turning my eyes upon him, I perceived at oncethat, in spite of his assumed _nonchalance_, he was greatly agitated.I could see him distinctly by the light of the moon--his face waspaler than any marble, and his hand shook so excessively that he couldscarcely retain hold of the tiller. I found that something had gonewrong, and became seriously alarmed. At this period I knew littleabout the management of a boat, and was now depending entirely upon thenautical skill of my friend. The wind, too, had suddenly increased, aswe were fast getting out of the lee of the land--still I was ashamedto betray any trepidation, and for almost half an hour maintained aresolute silence. I could stand it no longer, however, and spoke toAugustus about the propriety of turning back. As before, it was nearlya minute before he made answer, or took any notice of my suggestion.“By-and-by,” said he at length--“time enough--home by-and-by.” I hadexpected a similar reply, but there was something in the tone of thesewords which filled me with an indescribable feeling of dread. I againlooked at the speaker attentively. His lips were perfectly livid, andhis knees shook so violently together that he seemed scarcely able tostand. “For God’s sake, Augustus,” I screamed, now heartily frightened,“what ails you?--what is the matter?--what _are_ you going to do?” “Matter!” he stammered, in the greatest apparent surprise, letting gothe tiller at the same moment, and falling forward into the bottom ofthe boat--“matter--why, nothing is the--matter--going home--d--d--don’tyou see?” The whole truth now flashed upon me. I flew to him and raisedhim up. He was drunk--beastly drunk--he could no longer either stand,speak, or see. His eyes were perfectly glazed; and as I let him goin the extremity of my despair, he rolled like a mere log into thebilge-water, from which I had lifted him. It was evident that, duringthe evening, he had drunk far more than I suspected, and that hisconduct in bed had been the result of a highly-concentrated state ofintoxication--a state which, like madness, frequently enables the victimto imitate the outward demeanour of one in perfect possession of hissenses. The coolness of the night air, however, had had its usualeffect--the mental energy began to yield before its influence--and theconfused perception which he no doubt then had of his perilous situationhad assisted in hastening the catastrophe. He was now thoroughlyinsensible, and there was no probability that he would be otherwise formany hours.

It is hardly possible to conceive the extremity of my terror. The fumesof the wine lately taken had evaporated, leaving me doubly timid andirresolute. I knew that I was altogether incapable of managing theboat, and that a fierce wind and strong ebb tide were hurrying us todestruction. A storm was evidently gathering behind us; we had neithercompass nor provisions; and it was clear that, if we held our presentcourse, we should be out of sight of land before daybreak. Thesethoughts, with a crowd of others equally fearful, flashed through mymind with a bewildering rapidity, and for some moments paralyzed mebeyond the possibility of making any exertion. The boat was goingthrough the water at a terrible rate--full before the wind--no reef ineither jib or mainsail--running her bows completely under the foam. Itwas a thousand wonders she did not broach to--Augustus having let gothe tiller, as I said before, and I being too much agitated to think oftaking it myself. By good luck, however, she kept steady, and graduallyI recovered some degree of presence of mind. Still the wind wasincreasing fearfully, and whenever we rose from a plunge forward, thesea behind fell combing over our counter, and deluged us with water. Iwas so utterly benumbed, too, in every limb, as to be nearly unconsciousof sensation. At length I summoned up the resolution of despair,and rushing to the mainsail let it go by the run. As might have beenexpected, it flew over the bows, and, getting drenched with water,carried away the mast short off by the board. This latter accident alonesaved me from instant destruction. Under the jib only, I now boomedalong before the wind, shipping heavy seas occasionally over thecounter, but relieved from the terror of immediate death. I took thehelm, and breathed with greater freedom as I found that there yetremained to us a chance of ultimate escape. Augustus still lay senselessin the bottom of the boat; and as there was imminent danger of hisdrowning (the water being nearly a foot deep just where he fell), Icontrived to raise him partially up, and keep him in a sitting position,by passing a rope round his waist, and lashing it to a ringbolt in thedeck of the cuddy. Having thus arranged every thing as well as I couldin my chilled and agitated condition, I recommended myself to God, andmade up my mind to bear whatever might happen with all the fortitude inmy power.

Hardly had I come to this resolution, when, suddenly, a loud and longscream or yell, as if from the throats of a thousand demons, seemed topervade the whole atmosphere around and above the boat. Never while Ilive shall I forget the intense agony of terror I experienced at thatmoment. My hair stood erect on my head--I felt the blood congealingin my veins--my heart ceased utterly to beat, and without having onceraised my eyes to learn the source of my alarm, I tumbled headlong andinsensible upon the body of my fallen companion.

I found myself, upon reviving, in the cabin of a large whaling-ship (thePenguin) bound to Nantucket. Several persons were standing over me, andAugustus, paler than death, was busily occupied in chafing my hands.Upon seeing me open my eyes, his exclamations of gratitude and joyexcited alternate laughter and tears from the rough-looking personageswho were present. The mystery of our being in existence was nowsoon explained. We had been run down by the whaling-ship, which wasclose-hauled, beating up to Nantucket with every sail she could ventureto set, and consequently running almost at right angles to our owncourse. Several men were on the look-out forward, but did not perceiveour boat until it was an impossibility to avoid coming in contact--theirshouts of warning upon seeing us were what so terribly alarmed me. Thehuge ship, I was told, rode immediately over us with as much ease asour own little vessel would have passed over a feather, and without theleast perceptible impediment to her progress. Not a scream arose fromthe deck of the victim--there was a slight grating sound to be heardmingling with the roar of wind and water, as the frail bark which wasswallowed up rubbed for a moment along the keel of her destroyer--butthis was all. Thinking our boat (which it will be remembered wasdismasted) some mere shell cut adrift as useless, the captain (CaptainE. T. V. Block, of New London) was for proceeding on his course withouttroubling himself further about the matter. Luckily, there were twoof the look-out who swore positively to having seen some person at ourhelm, and represented the possibility of yet saving him. A discussionensued, when Block grew angry, and, after a while, said that “it was nobusiness of his to be eternally watching for egg-shells; that the shipshould not put about for any such nonsense; and if there was a man rundown, it was nobody’s fault but his own, he might drown and be dammed” or some language to that effect. Henderson, the first mate, now took thematter up, being justly indignant, as well as the whole ship’s crew,at a speech evincing so base a degree of heartless atrocity. Hespoke plainly, seeing himself upheld by the men, told the captain heconsidered him a fit subject for the gallows, and that he would disobeyhis orders if he were hanged for it the moment he set his foot on shore.He strode aft, jostling Block (who turned pale and made no answer)on one side, and seizing the helm, gave the word, in a firm voice,Hard-a-lee! The men flew to their posts, and the ship went cleverlyabout. All this had occupied nearly five minutes, and it was supposed tobe hardly within the bounds of possibility that any individual could besaved--allowing any to have been on board the boat. Yet, as the readerhas seen, both Augustus and myself were rescued; and our deliveranceseemed to have been brought about by two of those almost inconceivablepieces of good fortune which are attributed by the wise and pious to thespecial interference of Providence.

While the ship was yet in stays, the mate lowered the jolly-boat andjumped into her with the very two men, I believe, who spoke up as havingseen me at the helm. They had just left the lee of the vessel (the moonstill shining brightly) when she made a long and heavy roll to windward,and Henderson, at the same moment, starting up in his seat bawled outto his crew to back water. He would say nothing else--repeating his cryimpatiently, back water! back water! The men put back as speedily aspossible, but by this time the ship had gone round, and gotten fullyunder headway, although all hands on board were making great exertionsto take in sail. In despite of the danger of the attempt, the mate clungto the main-chains as soon as they came within his reach. Another hugelurch now brought the starboard side of the vessel out of water nearlyas far as her keel, when the cause of his anxiety was rendered obviousenough. The body of a man was seen to be affixed in the most singularmanner to the smooth and shining bottom (the Penguin was coppered andcopper-fastened), and beating violently against it with every movementof the hull. After several ineffectual efforts, made during the lurchesof the ship, and at the imminent risk of swamping the boat I was finallydisengaged from my perilous situation and taken on board--for the bodyproved to be my own. It appeared that one of the timber-bolts havingstarted and broken a passage through the copper, it had arrested myprogress as I passed under the ship, and fastened me in so extraordinarya manner to her bottom. The head of the bolt had made its way throughthe collar of the green baize jacket I had on, and through the back partof my neck, forcing itself out between two sinews and just below theright ear. I was immediately put to bed--although life seemed to betotally extinct. There was no surgeon on board. The captain, however,treated me with every attention--to make amends, I presume, in the eyesof his crew, for his atrocious behaviour in the previous portion of theadventure.

In the meantime, Henderson had again put off from the ship, althoughthe wind was now blowing almost a hurricane. He had not been gone manyminutes when he fell in with some fragments of our boat, and shortlyafterward one of the men with him asserted that he could distinguish acry for help at intervals amid the roaring of the tempest. This inducedthe hardy seamen to persevere in their search for more than half anhour, although repeated signals to return were made them by CaptainBlock, and although every moment on the water in so frail a boat wasfraught to them with the most imminent and deadly peril. Indeed, it isnearly impossible to conceive how the small jolly they were in couldhave escaped destruction for a single instant. She was built, however,for the whaling service, and was fitted, as I have since had reason tobelieve, with air-boxes, in the manner of some life-boats used on thecoast of Wales.

After searching in vain for about the period of time just mentioned,it was determined to get back to the ship. They had scarcely made thisresolve when a feeble cry arose from a dark object that floated rapidlyby. They pursued and soon overtook it. It proved to be the entire deckof the Ariel’s cuddy. Augustus was struggling near it, apparently in thelast agonies. Upon getting hold of him it was found that he was attachedby a rope to the floating timber. This rope, it will be remembered, Ihad myself tied around his waist, and made fast to a ringbolt, forthe purpose of keeping him in an upright position, and my so doing,it appeared, had been ultimately the means of preserving his life. TheAriel was slightly put together, and in going down her frame naturallywent to pieces; the deck of the cuddy, as might have been expected, waslifted, by the force of the water rushing in, entirely from themain timbers, and floated (with other fragments, no doubt) to thesurface--Augustus was buoyed up with it, and thus escaped a terribledeath.

It was more than an hour after being taken on board the Penguin beforehe could give any account of himself, or be made to comprehend thenature of the accident which had befallen our boat. At length he becamethoroughly aroused, and spoke much of his sensations while in the water.Upon his first attaining any degree of consciousness, he found himselfbeneath the surface, whirling round and round with inconceivablerapidity, and with a rope wrapped in three or four folds tightly abouthis neck. In an instant afterward he felt himself going rapidly upward,when, his head striking violently against a hard substance, he againrelapsed into insensibility. Upon once more reviving he was in fullerpossession of his reason--this was still, however, in the greatestdegree clouded and confused. He now knew that some accident hadoccurred, and that he was in the water, although his mouth was abovethe surface, and he could breathe with some freedom. Possibly, at thisperiod the deck was drifting rapidly before the wind, and drawing himafter it, as he floated upon his back. Of course, as long as he couldhave retained this position, it would have been nearly impossible thathe should be drowned. Presently a surge threw him directly athwart thedeck, and this post he endeavored to maintain, screaming at intervalsfor help. Just before he was discovered by Mr. Henderson, he had beenobliged to relax his hold through exhaustion, and, falling into the sea,had given himself up for lost. During the whole period of his struggleshe had not the faintest recollection of the Ariel, nor of the matters inconnexion with the source of his disaster. A vague feeling of terrorand despair had taken entire possession of his faculties. When he wasfinally picked up, every power of his mind had failed him; and, asbefore said, it was nearly an hour after getting on board the Penguinbefore he became fully aware of his condition. In regard to myself--Iwas resuscitated from a state bordering very nearly upon death (andafter every other means had been tried in vain for three hours and ahalf) by vigorous friction with flannels bathed in hot oil--a proceedingsuggested by Augustus. The wound in my neck, although of an uglyappearance, proved of little real consequence, and I soon recovered fromits effects.

The Penguin got into port about nine o’clock in the morning, afterencountering one of the severest gales ever experienced off Nantucket.Both Augustus and myself managed to appear at Mr. Barnard’s in time forbreakfast--which, luckily, was somewhat late, owing to the party overnight. I suppose all at the table were too much fatigued themselves tonotice our jaded appearance--of course, it would not have borne a veryrigid scrutiny. Schoolboys, however, can accomplish wonders in the wayof deception, and I verily believe not one of our friends in Nantuckethad the slightest suspicion that the terrible story told by some sailorsin town of their having run down a vessel at sea and drowned some thirtyor forty poor devils, had reference either to the Ariel, my companion,or myself. We two have since very frequently talked the matter over--butnever without a shudder. In one of our conversations Augustus franklyconfessed to me, that in his whole life he had at no time experiencedso excruciating a sense of dismay, as when on board our little boathe first discovered the extent of his intoxication, and felt himselfsinking beneath its influence.