REUBEN DELANO,

Reuben6 Delano (7 Dec 1809-22 Aug 1878) was the son of Jeffrey/Geoffrey5, Reuben4, Jethro3, Jonathan2, Philippe1. He married Sarah Everson Keene (24 Sept. 1821-22 Sep 1882) on 27 Sep 1840 in Fairhaven, MA.

"Wanderings and Adventures of Rueben Delano Being a Narrative of Twelve Years Life in a Whale Ship" (Worcester: Published by Thomas Drew, Jr. Boston: Redding & Co. 1846.) Dedication reads: "To Doct. Samuel B. Woodward, Superintendent of the State Lunatic Hospital, at Worcester, Mass., this volume is respectfully inscribed by his friend, the author, as a slight testimonial of gratitude for his kindness and attention while under his care."

What follows are the actual headlines preceeding each chapter and a few passages that I found interesting enough to copy. I also quote in full the Chapter XXI Conclusion. All this may give you some indication what Cousin Reuben left us.

CHAPTER I: Birth and parentage -- Early habits -- Nantucket men and maidens -- The schoolmistress in love -- Return of a whale ship -- Story-telling -- Change of residence -- The old maid -- School frolics - - The lawyer turned school-master -- Removed to Fair Haven -- Evil Associations -- Parental kindness

(Reuben was born on Nantucket in 1809. At 7, he moved to West Island in Buzzards Bay five miles east of Fairhaven. His uncle's family was the only other family on the island. His uncle employed a "dry crusty old maid of about 45" as a school teacher. After her departure, the new teacher was a man in the "neighborhood of 68 years. He had in his younger days, like a great many short sighted people, been very fond of his cups, and had plunged so deep in to the abyss of drunkenness that spirits of common proof had no effect upon him, and he resorted to that accursed drug called opium, as a stimulus....From West Island my parents removed to Fair Haven. Here I formed numerous acquaintances among the boys of the town. Fun and frolic ruled...and among the ships and shipping of the port, we learned many a lesson of depravity.."

CHAPTER II: The George and Martha -- Death of my father -- And old acquaintance -- Almost a quaker -- A new home -- Strange house-keeping - - The college-bred farmer -- Refined notions -- A horse of a different color -- Change of pace -- New resolutions

(Rueben's father was killed in 1820 in a fall from the rigging of the "George and Martha." He then lived with several families not his own, including his "old maid" teacher and her Quaker husband. In July, 1824, the "Stanton" returned from a three-year voyage with Rueben's brother on board. "I was determined to sail in the same ship with him on her next voyage..")

CHAPTER III: Fitting out -- All hands on deck -- New sensations -- The ships crew -- The Gulf Stream -- Squally weather -- Black-fish -- Bounty money -- Pat's breakers -- A school of whales -- The Western Islands -- Crossing the line -- Falkland Islands -- Doubling Cape Horn - - Whale O -- The first capture -- Selfish officers -- Sandwich Islands - - The Daniel the 4th -- Novel cookery -- Manners and customs -- A Kanaka school --A row on shore -- Rum manouvers

(The "Statnton departed Fairghaven on Aug. 10, 1824. Her company consisted of "twenty one souls and a singular assemblage they were, these were of almost all nations and various opinions and manners..")

CHAPTER IV: A new cruising ground -- Hard luck -- Old times -- Fine sport -- Habits of the whale -- Manner of taking and cutting in -- Splicing the main brace -- Anecdote of a Quaker owner

CHAPTER V: Short Allowance -- Sailors' habits -- An ugly customer -- A stoven boat -- Owyhee [Hawaii] -- More trouble -- Pleasant company -- Change of scene -- Better diet

(By November, 1825),"... we were now 15 months out with 1050 barrels. Our small stores meantime had grown short. We had neither tea nor coffee on board and had but four ounces of meat per day per man....spars were poor and our rigging often falling down upon our heads, the crew in many respects debilitated by that formidable disease called the scurvy, the consequence of being too long at sea and the want of vegetables." (At Hawaii) "the smell of land had a wonderful effect upon those afflicted with the scurvy. The natives came on board in great numbers of both sexes, bring a variety of curiosities, such as shells of various descriptions. A boat was sent ashore for a load of sweet potatoes which this island yields in great abundance. These to us were a great luxury as we had not tasted a vegetable for seven months."

CHAPTER VI: Owyhee -- The surviving mutineers of the Bounty -- Mowee again -- Wahoo -- Troubles on shore -- A council -- Boka's idea of government -- The ship Thomas -- Another cruise -- New discovery -- A wreck -- King's Mill Island -- Great success -- Man overboard -- Loss of a boat's crew

(At Maui), "a large ship from England had arrived there the day before, and Jack (slang for British sailors), thinking to continue his old practises, and have a wife in every port, found himself defeated by a prohibition of the missionaries, which prevented girls from visiting the ship. At this the crew were highly incensed, and they turned too in their drunken rage, and tore down the house of the missionary. Another beautiful example of the refinements of Christian nations."

CHAPTER VII: Under the Equator -- Porpoises and dolphins -- Coast of Peru -- Landrone Islands -- Guam -- Wild cattle -- Spanish dexterity

CHAPTER VIII: The Spanish dwarf -- "Toddy" -- Cruising on shore -- The Governor's Lady -- The Japanese coast again -- Good company -- A Captain in limbo -- Desertion -- Savage morality -- A great chief -- California -- Spanish customs -- Wild cattle

CHAPTER IX: Description of California -- Wild beasts and venomous insects -- French politeness -- Horsemanship -- Dissatisfaction -- More desertions -- Spanish Creoles -- An ugly customer -- Curiosities - - Cape St. Lucas -- Spanish method of transporting burdens -- Spanish girls -- Nanners and customs -- A hard charge on shore -- Narrow escape

(These chapters on colonial California reminded me of Richard Henry Dana, Jr.'s "Two Years Before the Mast." Reuben's ship anchored in the port of St. Joseph (San Jose?) , "a miserable town in what is almost a sandy desert, the people subsist by hunting wild cattle which abound in the interior.."

CHAPTER X: Juvenile sports -- Again at sea -- Live stock -- Whales -- A narrow escape -- The Galipagos Islands -- The Midshipman's grave -- The island post office -- Terrapins -- A great haul -- A sealing expedition -- Habits of the seal -- A new shipmate -- A tremendous gale -- The ship in danger-- Valparaiso

"We let go our anchor here (in the Galipagos) at a place called the post office. These islands were uninhabited at this time. A post was set in the ground with a letter box attached, in which it was customary for every ship touching at the islands, to deposit a letter, containing the number of terrapins taken, and the success of the voyage in general." (They took 300 Galipagos tortoises.) On sealing : "The seal goes out from the shore in the morning in pursuit of fish, upon which it feeds, and at night returns again to sleep upon the land...They are easily killed, a light clip across the nose being sufficient to cause death."

CHAPTER XI: The (U.S.) Vincennes sloop of war -- Liberty day ashore -- Manners and customs -- Description of Valparaiso -- A new ship -- A strange bargain -- Women at sea -- Telcahuana -- Matrimonial speculations -- Sabbath on shore -- The fair Rosalia -- Courtship -- A party of pleasure -- Callao

"...our Sunday was spent in cockfighting, gambling, and horse racing. On landing at Valparaiso, the first object which struck me was a number of grog hops on wheels; they are built in this manner so as to be hauled up out of reach of the tide, and to have them convenient for picking the pockets of the sailor immediately upon landing.... We are now 33 months and 25 days from our native land with but 1400 barrels of sperm oil... The seaport town of Telcuhana (sic) stands on low ground, the buildings built of tile, and also very low, on account of the earthquakes, which are so common and terrible on this coast. Conception, the capital, and seat of government is situated nine miles in the interior, and is quite a flourishing place..."

CHAPTER XII: Description of Callao-Lima -- "British thunder" --Custom House regulations -- A trial of speed -- Donna Rosalia -- Valparaiso -- An unexpected meeting -- A great disappointment -- A lady passenger -- Hopes of promotion -- A boat adventure -- Narrow escape -- Pirates -- Smuggling -- The ill-fated ship Globe -- Ship for Home

CHAPTER XIII: A murder on shore -- Homeward bound -- Reflections -- Cape Horn -- Monkey shines -- Intemperate Company -- A gale and a leaky ship -- Master Joe -- Superstitions of sailors -- A good landfall -- Nantucket bar -- Safe arrival -- Home as found -- Hard fare and small profits

CHAPTER XIV: Roving habits -- A trip to the Southard -- A Mother's love -- Another voyage -- Right whaling -- Heavy weather -- A bad leak - - Passage home -- Portugese slavery -- Pernambuco --Home again -- Working for nothing -- Bad habits -- A land excursion -- Very like a whale -- Again at sea -- Tristan D'Achuna -- A temperance governor -- A sea Elephant

"I was already a slave to the intoxicating bowl...at twenty two years of age I had become so ingulphed (sic) in the abyss of intemperance and all its attendant evils, that I was a burden to society, and unfit for the society of the good and virtuous..."

CHAPTER XV: Hunting and fishing -- A capture -- Description of the Right Whale -- An encounter and accident -- A spotted whale -- Good luck -- Another gale -- Great danger -- A lee shore -- Trying situations -- Narrow escape -- The Indian ocean -- A sudden fright -- An ugly customer

CHAPTER XVI: A typhoon -- Tristan d'Acuna again -- Singular habit of the sperm whale -- The enemies of the whale -- Passage home -- West Indies -- An English whaler -- A squall -- Sublime spectacle --The sailor's characetr -- Fatal carelessness -- Pilot on board -- A sight of home -- Effects of intemperance --Home Again

CHAPTER XVII: Reflections -- Settlement of the voyage -- Work on shore - - Severe sickness -- A warning unheeded -- Wreck and ruin -- Kindness

CHAPTER XVIII: A year on shore -- News from abroad -- Dissipation -- A family meeting -- The Almshouse -- Rumsellers -- A new proposal -- Advance pay -- Ship for Europe -- Antwerp -- Robbery --Description of the City -- Dutch fashions -- Depravity -- The Hospital -- Sisters of Charity -- Superstition -- Music -- Wealth and poverty

CHAPTER XIX: Restored health -- Disobedience of orders -- A flare up -- Dutch prisons -- More depravity -- Schools and schoolmasters -- A severe winter -- Shipwrecks -- An accident -- A heavy gale -- The Isle of Wight -- Dry dock -- Description of the island -- Wages of labor -- A comparison

CHAPTER XX: A nobleman's castle -- Habits of the English laborer -- West Cowes -- A water party -- Gipsies -- A parting scene -- Passage home -- New York -- Sober reflections

CHAPTER XXI CONCLUSION:

"Thus I have gone on and given a history of my life, from the age of five years to twenty-five. Not with the hope or design to boast of aught I have done, whether good or bad; but because I have reason to believe that the narrative would be interesting to a large portion of the community, and might prove a beacon light, to enable some young man to steer clear of the shoals and quick-sands that came so near my total destruction. And further, to show to those heartless ones, who neglect and despise the sailor on account of his vices and follies, how strong are the temptations which constantly beset him in every port, and how hard it is to resist the influences that are put forth, to plunder Jack of his money, and ruin his soul and body for paltry gain. "Ten years have elapsed since the events occurred, which brought me to the close of the last chapter. And during that time, I made a voyage round the world; and several minor voyages. During all this time, my progress was downward. And now, at the age of thirty-five years, I find myself in the Massachusetts Asylum for the Insane at Worcester. In consequence of these habits of intemperance, which seemed so strongly rooted that nothing but death could expel, I was brought here, a broken down inebriate and a maniac, unable to help myself, or a wife and children, who were dependant upon me. I had laid some time in this condition when the good people of Fair Haven found me out, and immediate measures for my relief were taken. I shall never forget the kindness which they manifested towards me and mine, and shall hold their services in grateful remembrance as long as I live. They are sober, charitable, order loving people; and like the good Samaritan they came to him who had fallen by the way-side, aided him to rise, and comforted him with the hope of restoration to virtue and respectability. "Under the skillful treatment and paternal care of the philanthropic gentleman who has the charge of this institution, I have so far recovered that I have hopes of being restored shortly to the bosom of my family and friends. It is surprising to witness the skill which he manages and subdues the most raving maniacs that come under his care, and all in such a kind and affectionate manner, that their hearts are turned kindly to him at once. I have seen persons brought here raving to such a degree that their clothes would be torn from them in a moment if their hands were loose; and yet, in one week's time, these same people would be seated in the chapel, giving the closest attention to the discourse of the preacher, or perhaps, joining in singing the praises of Him who rules the universe, and who heeds the humblest, as well as the mightiest of his creatures. "It is now eight months since I have broken the bondage of the evil habit that chained me, and, by the blessing of God, I have become proof against temptation; and when I shall receive my discharge from this, my last cruise, I have confidence to believe that it will be the most profitable that I have ever made; not in dollars and cents, but in the effects which a serious and thoughtful examination of my former wild career has produced upon me. "None but those who have actually gone through such a season of mental sufferings as I have endured within the walls of this institution, can realize the feelings which fill my soul, as I contemplate the change that has been wrought in my habits, since I entered here. "A brand plucked from the burning, I have reason to rejoice that things have gone as they have, and that God visited me in much mercy, rather than in judgement. " But this narrative has already exceeded the limits which I had proposed, and here I will cut short my yarn, and with my best wishes bid you good bye for the present."