Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1866-12-27


them to come on this station, in that law
/ less time Of gold-seeking. Our chief en-
! gineer, too, was good sort of man, and
one who knew his work well the second
WASH q bad fellow either, though too fond
| Of his glass ). but The rest Of the of ;ers
and crew were not pleasant shipmates,
The ship was not comfortable.one TO me
in any respect, and soon determined that
ny first voyage in her should be my last,
though we had frst-vate wages, to induce
us to stick by the ship at San Francisco.
and net run away to the gold diggiogs.
owe arrived out safely, without any ad-
venture, but we had 10 wait a long time
there before we could sail on-our homo
ward voyage. Notwithstandinga precau-
tons, great many o. our crew ran away,
and IL was Impossible to replace them in-
deed, the harbor was fall of ships lying use-
I,less there for want of crews to take them
away. But we had also another ioss-and
great one--in our chief engineer. He
had been ailing on the voyage out, and he
died, POOR fellow! whilst we were lying in
the harbor. Our second was not exactly
the person to take charge of the engines,
being, as I have seid, rather too fond Of
4hs
/ all he could do to get some one IN our chiefs
place. Macpherson, the second, was, Of
course, very indignant at this-but so it
was. -"
81 should think we must have been quite
two months at San Francisco before we
were ready to sail again-for you must I'M
derstand that we were not a regular packet
on the station, but had been specially char
tered for the voyage out--and weothougnt
that we were going, after all, without any
new chief engineer. We, in the engine
room, were pleased at this, for Macpherson
was good sort of fellow enough, EXCEPT
for that fault which have mentioned, alrd'
frst-rate workman but, on the very last
day before sailing; the captain, Of whom
we had seen but little for some time past,
came on board with person whom he in
PRODUCED to the engine-room hands as their
new chief
"He was not the only new arrival on
board There were few--yery few-pas-
sengers, ana lady, who L heard, to my
astonishment, was the eaptain'swife whom
he had married since we had been at San
Francisco. Now, as / have already told
you, Ihad seen his wife and little daughter
but short time before, so you may think
how much / was surprised at seeing this
other woman brought, on board as his wife
now. was very much surprised at our
captain, whom had taken for a different
sort of man but it was all no business Of
mine, SO | held my tongue about it. This
new woman that he had row was very
handsome. certainly, though CT bold, mas
euline style Of beauty, and with such an
eye l thought l shouldn't exactly like
her for wife myself, though she was
really handsome, and it was no wonder that
any man should be taken up with her. = : =
fright or wrong, form my opinions Of
people very quickly, aud + didn't like our
new chief. He was quiet and mild in his
manners, certainly-wonderfully so for
that time, in that part Of the world-but
there was wild, dissipated, wicked look,
if you understand me, in his eye, which
seemed to me to tell that he could be very
different if he chose. I could not help re-
marking to Macpherson that thought we
had rum one to deal with now, and he re-
piled tdet lie should like TO know his histo-
ry, for he guessed it was q strange one. =
"One thing was evidentto me from the
first time he came into the engine-room he
was not practical working engineer.
That he knew something about engines was
plain, and he gave his orders with decision,
and without any apparentdoubt of himself;
but there was theoretical rather than
practical twang about them, as if his
knowledge Of marine engines had been
gained rather by study than experience
His hands, were too white and delicate for
q man who had used the hammer and chisel
and fle much; and, coming into the engine
room suddenly. on the evening before we
sailed, found him doing some job at the
vice which was liked there-something for
himself, fancy, and not for the engines
and, from the manner in which he handled
his tools, it was plain that he was no work
man. set him down in my own mind for
civil engineer who had come out TO the
diggings, had got a bad run Of luck, and
was glad to work his way home as best he
could. ..,..,....,g........ ..,... -. ..-I. ,f,. ,,
- " At length we were ready for sea, hay-
ing taken ON board small cargo, and also
some gold on its way to the States. We had
beautiful weather down the coast, and for
some time nothing unusual occurred. Mac
pherson and kept watch and watch alter
nately, our new chief, of course, taking
none; indeed, he came very seldom into the
engine-room at ll-and, when he did, he
interfered with nobody. He would just
glance at the gauges, open a fre-door and
look in, and feel the heat of The condensers;
but he would make no remark, unless there
was little escape of steam, or anything of
that sort which child might notice, He
seldom found fault with anybody, and very
often-indeed, almost every night--he used
to send down grog to the stokers and trim
mers on watch, SO that they began to con-
slider him sort of sea-angel, and to wish
that they could always have him for chief.
Our captain, too, appeared to think more of
his wife than of tine ship, and also seemed
to me to be drinking pretty much and
Macpherson soon fonnd that he might take
his little drop. when he liked, having nobody
to find forthwith him, except myself, who
was his subordinate. { So, altogether dis
cipline became very lax, and, except for
the natas, we were quite happy family at.
sea. could not help fancying, however,
that, it was all too good to last-7and 80 it
turned out. 81 <T9i3an
''We had got well down the coast, and
know re were not far off the land, when
one nights fine night it was but very
dark. il was my watch below from mid
night to four in the morning. When | say
my watch below you know, sir, do not
mean my watch below in the engine-room,
but my turn to be off duty. Macpherson
and occupied as q sleeping cabin one of
the Lighthouses abaft the paddle wheel. in
which were two hunks, one over the other,
one his and the other mine. At eight bells
twelve o'clock, you know--I called him,
and he turned out as usual and went to take
charge of the engine-room, whilst turned
into my bunk and tried to go to sleep
I. ! j -