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- 2026-01-30T20:48:15.149Z
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- All English whalemen are bound by-law to carry a physician, who, of
course, is rated a gentleman, and lives in the cabin, with nothing but
his professional duties to attend to; but incidentally he drinks “flip”
and plays cards with the captain. There was such a worthy aboard of the
Julia; but, curious to tell, he lived in the forecastle with the men.
And this was the way it happened.
In the early part of the voyage the doctor and the captain lived
together as pleasantly as could be. To say nothing of many a can they
drank over the cabin transom, both of them had read books, and one of
them had travelled; so their stories never flagged. But once on a time
they got into a dispute about politics, and the doctor, moreover,
getting into a rage, drove home an argument with his fist, and left the
captain on the floor literally silenced. This was carrying it with a
high hand; so he was shut up in his state-room for ten days, and left
to meditate on bread and water, and the impropriety of flying into a
passion. Smarting under his disgrace, he undertook, a short time after
his liberation, to leave the vessel clandestinely at one of the
islands, but was brought back ignominiously, and again shut up. Being
set at large for the second time, he vowed he would not live any longer
with the captain, and went forward with his chests among the sailors,
where he was received with open arms as a good fellow and an injured
man.
I must give some further account of him, for he figures largely in the
narrative. His early history, like that of many other heroes, was
enveloped in the profoundest obscurity; though he threw out hints of a
patrimonial estate, a nabob uncle, and an unfortunate affair which sent
him a-roving. All that was known, however, was this. He had gone out to
Sydney as assistant-surgeon of an emigrant ship. On his arrival there,
he went back into the country, and after a few months’ wanderings,
returned to Sydney penniless, and entered as doctor aboard of the
Julia.
His personal appearance was remarkable. He was over six feet high—a
tower of bones, with a complexion absolutely colourless, fair hair, and
a light unscrupulous gray eye, twinkling occasionally at the very devil
of mischief. Among the crew, he went by the name of the Long Doctor, or
more frequently still, Doctor Long Ghost. And from whatever high estate
Doctor Long Ghost might have fallen, he had certainly at some time or
other spent money, drunk Burgundy, and associated with gentlemen.
As for his learning, he quoted Virgil, and talked of Hobbs of
Malmsbury, beside repeating poetry by the canto, especially Hudibras.
He was, moreover, a man who had seen the world. In the easiest way
imaginable, he could refer to an amour he had in Palermo, his
lion-hunting before breakfast among the Caffres, and the quality of the
coffee to be drunk in Muscat; and about these places, and a hundred
others, he had more anecdotes than I can tell of. Then such mellow old
songs as he sang, in a voice so round and racy, the real juice of
sound. How such notes came forth from his lank body was a constant
marvel.
Upon the whole, Long Ghost was as entertaining a companion as one could
wish; and to me in the Julia, an absolute godsend.
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