He was one of twenty-one sons, and was
born at Woolwich, Maine, in 1651. Of a bold, adventurous spirit, his
first and last passion was to follow the sea, although until he was
eighteen years of age he was forced to tend sheep. He then apprenticed
himself to a ship-carpenter for four years, taking a trip down the
coast now and then, and watching his chance for the next move. He is
said to have been inspired by an idea that celebrity and fortune were
to be his destiny; and when his apprenticeship was over, he went to
Boston and worked at ship-building for a year, until he had the good
luck to win the favor of a rich widow. Her he married, and, with the
increase of means thus obtained, Phips launched into various
enterprises, which did not always turn out well. But he never lost
faith in his guiding star, and often told his good wife that "he should
yet become commander of a king's ship, and owner of a fair brick house
in the Green Lane of Boston"--at that time the Beacon Street of the
plucky little town.
Ten years went by, and Phips seemed but little nearer the realization
of his dreams than while tending sheep on the hill-sides of Maine, when
the prospect suddenly brightened in an unexpected quarter.
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