Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1854-01-18
! SEI, ,EG1- MISCELLANY.
: S'ts x Written for the New York Sunday Times.
BOARDING A BUCCANEER.
A .Yal,Isee Trick at Sea.


.s 1t was in the year I84-that found myself on
board the good brig Mdry AMMO Portland, bound
for Kingston, Jamaica. There were some twelve
or fifteen passengers, mostly young men, several
Of them. Creoles returning home. two English Of
6cers who had been on a visit to relations in Can
ada, and were about to rejoin their regiment, and
the rest made of personages into whose business
Il was none of mine to inquire, so long as they
made themselves agreeable compog gnons du Uo5age,
which they ALI happily were. Ou'.ea?tain was a
.shrcwd, knowing Yankee, principal owner of the
brig, having, ON board an assorted cargo which he
was taking down to the Spanish Main for specu-
lations The passengers, he had picked up at Bo: :
ton were godsend, and had induced him far to
alter his original intentions to steer for Kings
ton wither the larger portion of them were bound.
LeaYe a live Yankee alone to find out who he is
dealing with, and to provide means Of pro6tng by
his customers! Our skipper had not left Boston
before he knew full we'll that ON extra supply of
ANAL stores-srch as ales, wines, &c.-would be
q good investment, and had prepared himself ac7
cofdingiy. Nor was he mistaken--the demand
was brisk, and Capt. Jonathan was correspond
pgly polite and affable.
Our. voyage was not EXACTLY tedious, bat it was
lung, the winds wore light and variable. and the
skipper did not appear 10 make as mueh headway
ip his saiIing as he might. Indeed, the English
majef-a jolly, whoie,s6nlcd fellow, With deal
Of humot in his composition-slyly limited that
we shouldn't see Kingston until the skpper's
small stores were exllausted;i and thereupon he
incoatinently called for 'shaf dozen of porter"
Certainly, if we were compelled to drink our way
into port, the major was the man 10 lead the en-
terprise-as, S 4.a..t.,s ~. .i.ses..x :. -
We wefc sitting around the cabin-tqble, enjoy
ing the Englishman's porter ndinvestigating the
merits of some excellent .cheroots--t was our
tenth day out--when the captain put his head
down the h4tch-way, and called out to me
!. 81 say, Ms. Brace--you're man-o war s-man
will you jist step on deck, and see. what you
make oat of this strangerp' s ss5. 5.#a z.s..
Capt. Jonathan had soon found out my profess
ion, ,and WIKI that easy aon:halance peculiar to
the genius Yankee, put me to various uses during
the voyage. ~ 9 shaa5ssl So
sl.sHers, skipper. sang out The major "never
mind The stranger-come down and helpus finish
this porter We are drinking for a fair wind" :.
ci1dIllo! whats that!--a pirate, eh! By Joye,
there's some sport at last!'-and we severuliy
lkzstlsl dssdeck. =,
1T was not exactly calm, but the winds were
light, and came in those ftful puffs denominated
seats, paws. which especially favor the7tropica
seas. The strange sail, which had been made
fron the masthead two or three, hours previous
and to which little attention had been paid, taking
advantage of these, had come up with US hant
4 L i
oor weather quarter. A more beautiful specimen
OF naval architecture never foated on the ocean
She was a schooner of somewhere about one hun
dred and Gfty. tons, with masts ta1Ht and ranking
and long, low hull, that yielded, "like a thing
ef life," in graceful undulations to the waves
Above these rose, perfect cloud of canvass, tha
caught the slightest of air, apd winged her witt
hoiseless and almost mysterious speed over tn
water, while our own clumsy craft was fappin.
her idle sails and crawling at a scarcely pecepti
bic snail's pace. q.s5.s44l, s4.e-..gg.NL .s.,
g. "By Joye! how she comes up!'' exclaimed tn
major. aetzsl1szfG aa5 Iass s8a =
saf.Waal, you see, she fetches the breeze wit
her. said Jonathan, with that excusable prid
which even the master of scow may feel in tn
craft he commands, ''or | rayther guess sh
wouldn't overhaul the Mary Ann quite so slick n
how!''tz3 3s s4ttzatza igl.e ssfs..sa e1 e rs,
ss"Whata perfect beauty" said I. 80
eyes" replied the major, ever ready. Englist
.aan-like, to appropriate all excellence for HI
own patch of an island, "she certainly is a tri
little craft--belongs to the Royal Yatch- Club,
aus sure. i heard one of their finest vessels W,
expected out this falL','r 5zs ifs4 -ae isBb s.
nChose timbers were never laid in EnglaR