The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1866-07-09
From the sixpenny Gondon) Magazine
The Stewards story.

About twelve years ago, | was stew
ard of the &" Dryad, Robert Harrison,
commander. She was fnefast little
ship of four hundred and fifty tons,
and bound from Shanghai to. London,
with a cargo of teas and silks. A
Clyde built ship, called the Planet"
a great favorite in the trade, completed
her loading at the same time that we
did, so we sailed together and passed
through the Straits of Sunda in com
pany.
Now, you must know, that to bring
the first Of the seasons teas into mar
ket, was then, and is now, very great
object; and of course there is CON
siderable rivalry among the first ships
loaded. Moreover. part of our cargo
was on account of the owner of the
ship, which made Captain Harrison
doUbly anxious to make rapid pas
sage. / do not know whether he I'M
derstood he was to receive a present
in case the Dryad . should be the
first into London, though that is like
ly enough: but | do know that he had
made bet of fve-and-twenty pounds
with the captain of the . Planet" for
| heard the bet made one day when
old Sandilands was taking tiffin on
board our ship. sfst. q .a1 o-
Well, we parted company off Java
Head, and you may depend that there
was not much rest for the officers and
crew of either ship from that time
forward lat least / know there was
none on board our ship. Our skipper
carried on her every hand, day aud
night the same; indeed. he would be
on deck at all hours of the night. not
that he need have been afraid of
either of the mates taking in canvas
before they were absolutely compelled;
for though they were perhaps not so
much concerned personally in the
matter of smart passage as he was,
yet they seemed to consider it for the
credit of the ship that she should
beat the " Planet" and carried sail as
hard as was safe, and occasionally
good deal harder than was pleasant.
A pretty general average they made
among my crockery, to be sure, when
we had some tolerably heavy weather
coming round the Cape. However,
we weathered it handsomely, for a
stun sail boom or two, and split top
gallant sail don't count for much
when a ship is bound to make fast
run, and in 27o South we were going
free at great rate with a fine fresh
breeze on the quarter, and the skipper
and mates were in high glee, for they
made certain we were beating the
" Planet" though, not having seen
that ship since leaving Java Head, it
was impossible for any one to know
anything for certain about the matter.
However, there was no mistake
about the fair wind, and the Dryad p"
walked along in fine style, bowling off
her ten and eleven knots an hour,
when one evening we were getting
somewhere about 26 degrees south
latitude, one of our youngsters, who
was up in the main top, slowing away
a stun sail, sung out, : sail hol"
.lfTWhere away?" called out Captain
Harrison and our chief mate, both to-
gether. i You see they fancied that it
might be the Planet, and were all |
alive. II
. Right abeam of us to leeward," "
answered the lad
8 What do you make her out to be?"
again sung out the Captain. Here,
Mr.. Monsell, " he continued, address
ms the second mate, take your glass
into the top, and see what she is
like"
Up ran Monsell, and in less than a !
minute hailed the deck with, "She is
large dismasted ship, sir, waterlogged. |
l think; but you may be able to see
her from the deck, right over our lee
quarter"