{"product_id":"2940014069335","title":"Voyage of Will Rogers to the South Pole","description":"It seems strange that I should only now publish an account of my\u003cbr\u003eextraordinary voyage and experience near the South Pole, but when I\u003cbr\u003earrived in England my story seemed to be so out of the way that I was\u003cbr\u003elaughed and jeered at, and not having written anything in my life in the\u003cbr\u003eshape of a journal, I gave up talking about it. Now, however, sooner than\u003cbr\u003ethe world should lose what ought to be of great interest to it, I will\u003cbr\u003eattempt, in my plain way, to give an account of what occurred to me, and\u003cbr\u003eof the strange people I fell in with, in my last voyage, especially as my\u003cbr\u003espan of life is drawing to a close.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI was born in the village of Tamarton, near Plymouth, Devonshire, in the\u003cbr\u003eyear 1812, and went to school at Stone-house, in the same county, until I\u003cbr\u003ewas eleven years of age, when I was obliged to leave school, owing to the\u003cbr\u003edeath of my father, who was a small trader in that town. My mother and\u003cbr\u003etwo sisters were left very poor, and feeling myself a burden to her, I\u003cbr\u003eresolved to shift for myself, and also hoped to be able, after a time, to\u003cbr\u003ebe of some help to her. I engaged myself on board of a collier, and had\u003cbr\u003ea very rough life of it for two or three voyages, being kicked and cuffed\u003cbr\u003eby the captain and all hands, because, I suppose, I was a helpless lad;\u003cbr\u003eand in the last voyage I was so cruelly ill-treated that I ran away the\u003cbr\u003efirst chance I had. I next shipped on board an East Indiaman, where my\u003cbr\u003elife was more bearable, and made several voyages in her from London. The\u003cbr\u003etreatment of boys on board ship in those days was very different to what\u003cbr\u003eit is in the present day. Talk of cruelty to animals! The cruelty to\u003cbr\u003elads on board ship was worse than any animal ever went through! After a\u003cbr\u003etime, I became an expert seaman, but of course could not get to be more\u003cbr\u003ethan a foremast hand, owing to my want of education. However, as soon as\u003cbr\u003eI got good wages I took as much as I could from time to time to my dear\u003cbr\u003emother, who was one of the best women, I do believe, that ever was, and\u003cbr\u003ewho almost broke her heart when I first left her. The wages were not so\u003cbr\u003egood in those days, so that I had not much to take her, but such as it\u003cbr\u003ewas, it was gratifying to her, as it was also to me, for they were so\u003cbr\u003eglad to see me after a long spell. After a time they got to be a little\u003cbr\u003ebetter off, for some kind friends, seeing that my mother was a good and\u003cbr\u003estriving woman, set her up in a small shop, which in a short time\u003cbr\u003esucceeded so as to keep the wolf from the door.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn one of my voyages I happened to be at Boston, in America, and out of a\u003cbr\u003eship, as the one I was in was paid off and sold there. A vessel was being\u003cbr\u003efitted out for whaling in the South Seas, and I engaged to ship in her\u003cbr\u003ewhen ready, which would be in about three months. In the meantime I\u003cbr\u003eknocked about at odd jobs, and, being strong and able, I was never idle.\u003cbr\u003eI found the Yankees a nice lot, and although they are cute, they never\u003cbr\u003etried to take advantage of my being a Britisher, and supposed to be\u003cbr\u003egreen. I will make one exception. A respectable looking chap wanted to\u003cbr\u003eengage me as an agent for selling what he called his patent lubricator.\u003cbr\u003eHe was to fix a price, and what I got over was to be my commission. The\u003cbr\u003estuff was contained in pots, and called \"Tedkin's Patent,\" and was to be\u003cbr\u003eused for greasing cart wheels and such like. He said it was not yet\u003cbr\u003epatented, and he was waiting to sell some and get some money to get a\u003cbr\u003epatent, and to advertise, which, he said, was the secret nowadays to be\u003cbr\u003esuccessful: I said I thought that it was not necessary, as there was\u003cbr\u003eplenty of grease knocking about which would' answer all purposes, and it\u003cbr\u003ewould not be right to sell a thing as patented which was not so in fact.\u003cbr\u003eHe said that would not matter if the thing succeeded, and that he would\u003cbr\u003emake up my loss of time afterwards if it did not succeed at first. I was\u003cbr\u003every near going in with him, but being only a plain sailor man, not used\u003cbr\u003eto any kind of business, on consideration I thought, if it was such a\u003cbr\u003egood thing as he wanted to make out, why did he not sell his own stuff,\u003cbr\u003eand save my commission; also, I should lose my ship and lose my time.\u003cbr\u003eAlthough I was nothing of a scholar, I had at an early age got a habit of\u003cbr\u003e\"putting two and two together,\" as I used to call it, and was called by\u003cbr\u003ethe hands in a vessel which I once shipped in \"Philosopher Bill,\" so I\u003cbr\u003edetermined to have nothing more to do with him. I was very glad of this,\u003cbr\u003efor I afterwards heard that he was a hum-. bug and a schemer, and had got\u003cbr\u003eothers on that lay before, and left them in the lurch with nothing in\u003cbr\u003etheir pockets.","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47175725809904,"sku":"2940014069335","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940014069335","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}