Copy 1

The autobiography of Benjamin Franklin / published verbatim from the original manuscript by his grandson William Temple Franklin ; edited by Jared Sparks.

  • Benjamin Franklin
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The autobiography of Benjamin Franklin / published verbatim from the original manuscript by his grandson William Temple Franklin ; edited by Jared Sparks. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    swered “ Ay, ay;’’ but perhaps had his eyes shut, and was half asleep at the time; they sometimes answering, as is said, mechanically: for he did not see a light just before us, which had been hid by the studding-sails from the man at the helm, and from the rest of the watch, but by an accidental yaw of the ship was discovered, and occasioned a great alarm, we being very near it; the light appearing to me as large as a cart-wheel. It was midnight, and our captain fast asleep ; but Captain Kennedy, jumping upon deck, and seeing the danger, ordered the ship to wear round, all sails standing; an operation dangerous to the masts, but it carried us clear, and we avoided shipwreck, for we were running fast on the rocks, on which the light was erected. This deliverance impressed me strongly with the utility of lighthouses, and made me resolve to encourage the building some of them in America, if I should live to return thither. In the morning it was found by the soundings that we were near our port, but a thick fog hid the land from our sight. About nine o’clock the fog began to rise, and seemed to be lifted up from the water like the curtain of a theatre, disco- vering underneath the town of Falmouth, the vessels in the harbour, and the fields that surround it. This was a pleasing spectacle to those, who had been long without any other pros- pect than the uniform view of a vacant ocean, and it gave us the more pleasure, as we were now free from the anxieties which had arisen.* I set out immediately, with my son, for London, cz we only stopped a little by the way to view Stonehenge on Salis- bury Plain, and Lord Pembroke’s house and gardens, with the very curious antiquities, at Wilton. We-arrived in London, the 27th of July, 1757.4 * In a letter from Dr. Franklin to his wife, dated at Falmouth, the 17th of July, 1757, after giving her a similar account of his voyage, escape, and landing, he adds; “The bell ringing for church, we went thither immediately, and, with hearts full of gratitude, returned sincere thanks to God for the mercies we had received. Were I a Roman Catholic, perhaps I should on this occasion vow to build a chapel to some saint ; but as I am not, if I were to vow at all, it should be to build a light- house.” —W.T. F. + Here close Dr. Franklin’s Memoirs, as written by himself. From several passages in his letters it would seem, that it was his intention to continue them further, and perhaps to the end of his life ; but public business for some time, and afterwards his declining health, prevented him from executing his purpose.—Eb.
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