The life and adventures of Peter Wilkins, a Cornish man; Taken from his own mouth in his passage to England from off Cape Horn in America, in the ship Hector. By a Passenger in the ship. Embellished with cuts.

The life and adventures of Peter Wilkins, a Cornish man; Taken from his own mouth in his passage to England from off Cape Horn in America, in the ship Hector. By a Passenger in the ship. Embellished with cuts.

Robert Paltock

1800

The narration tells a personal account of ship life on a transatlantic voyage from Cape Horn in America to England in the late 1700’s, early 1800’s. Based on first-person records of details of the experience, we have a window of knowledge to grasp how truly difficult it was to live aboard a ship during that time period. Violent and uncooperative weather, lack of provisions, unkempt and uncomfortable living quarters, as well as an unhealthy and negative frame of mind plagued the passengers on a lengthy and harrowing journey from one continent to another. Illness was a struggle to passengers as well, as noted in Charlotte Temple, Charlotte was burdened by seasickness, a common ailment of water-bound transportation, according to the Virtual Museum of Canada, which goes into great depths of daily expedition life on a ship in the 17-1800’s.

While this was written from one man’s non-fictional point of view, it gives readers of Charlotte Temple a better understanding of the characters’ transatlantic journey from England to what is now the New England area of the United States. Upon which, it also expresses the close-quarter conditions in which the passengers lived, and how difficult it was to escape the presence of any other member on the ship.

One of the last points to note is the drastic decision required to pick up life from one side of the ocean and dedicate the time and journey to the other during that time. Homesickness, as mentioned in the Virtual Museum of Canada, was one of the most common emotional and mental burdens, and Charlotte experienced this as she wrote her letter to her parents, as well as our author writes, “Thus furnished and equipped, I committed myself once more to Providence and the main ocean.”

Secondary source citation:
“Beyond the Map – Daily Ship Life.” 11 February 2015. < http://www.beyondthemap.ca/english/daily.html>.

Caitlin Wordham

Paltock, Robert. “The life and adventures of Peter Wilkins, a cornish man; Taken from his own mouth in his passage to England, from off Cape Horn in America, in the ship Hector. By a Passenger in the ship. Embellished with cuts.” London, 1800. Eighteenth Century Collections Online. Gale. George Mason University. 11 Feb. 2015

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