The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh by Colley Linda

Author:Colley, Linda. [Colley, Linda]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-0-307-53944-1
Publisher: Random House Inc.
Published: 2013-01-30T16:00:00+00:00

‘A View of the Town of Rio Janeiro’. Pencil drawing by Alexander Buchan, 1768.

Because of the bad weather it had suffered, and of not being able to refit and reprovision at Rio de Janeiro, the Dolphin’s timbers and shipboard discipline both came under strain during the twenty-nine days it took Digby Dent to sail across the South Atlantic to the Cape of Good Hope. One sailor died, another fell overboard, and Elizabeth Marsh quarrelled with the ship’s surgeon, a Mr Davis, because he ‘behaved extremely disrespectful to the young lady and myself’. For whatever reason, she always bridled quickly if anyone treated her with condescension or discourtesy. By the time the Dolphin finally made landfall at the Cape on 18 November, the mixture of euphoria, inadequate diet and long-suppressed anger among the crew was so volatile that five seamen and two marines had been flogged, the latter for defying the ship’s officers. For Elizabeth, however, who was not afraid of rough weather at sea, and was used to scant rations and witnessing navy floggings, these last phases of the journey were refreshing, and even restful. The ship moored off the Cape for four weeks, and she was able to pay visits to the settlement and meet its Dutch Governor when he came aboard for a ceremonial visit. They set sail again on 18 December, and because the Dolphin was fast, saw the coastline of Ceylon on 17 February 1771, reaching Madras road three days later.71 Her real challenges and revelations began then, when she disembarked from familiar naval space, and left her chosen medium, the sea.

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