Memoir of the Late Thomas Scatcherd Author:William Horton Subtitle: Barrister-At-Law, Queen's Counsel and Member of Parliament for the North Riding of Middlesex, Canada. a Family Record General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1878 Original Publisher: s.n. Subjects: Ontario Canada History / Canada / General Travel / Canada / General Travel / Canada / Ontario Note... more »s: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER II. Mr. John Scatcherd, of Wyton, Canada. JOHN SCATCHERD, popularly Squire Scatcherd of Wyton, father of the subject of this Memoir, was born at Beverley, in Yorkshire, on twenty-first of January, 1800. When nine years of age he was left an orphan. At the age of sixteen he left school and quickly decided on a future'career. Familiarity with ships in the Humber, and inspired with songs of the sea, then common to every patriotic boy in England, led this lively lad to engage as a sailor in the Baltic trade. The prospect was a ship of his own to command soon as competent; with several ships and much merchandise to accumulate in the ports of Hull or London when older. The voyages to St. Petersburg in summer were pleasant ; in the latter end of the year, disagreeably otherwise. The ship was driven by storms through blinding snow; the deck and rigging coated with ice, and the salt junk not good. Prolonged passages out and home, with midnight duties often calling him aloft, took all the poetry out of him for " a life on the ocean wave." When Thomas, his brother, filled with a lively desire to wear a 44 APPRENTICED TO A FARMER. suit of blue and visit foreign countries, ran to meet him on the wharf, and said: " How do you like being a sailor?" he was answered, "Tom, I am going to swallow the mast." That was the figurative expression of sailors...« less