ABSTRACT
CAPTAIN NORTHWOOD bought the Don Pedro as a mere speculation. To all appearance a finer ship never floated; but the barque had a bad character. Nothing could make her sail; her passages were the longest on record, and in the hands of successive masters she had proved to be a regular “pig” of a ship, capable of doing anything but making a fast run from port to port. Now, in the Borneo trade a fast sailer was essential. The Don Pedro was going absurdly cheap, it was true, but then the handsome barque, more than twice the size of the Lizzie Webber, would be dear at a gift, if she sailed like a haystack.
