The National tribune., 1881-09-17
A SEA FIGHT IN THE FOG.

SEA FIGHT IN THE FOG.
I was first mate of the privateering schooner
TTqress She was 4 vessel fully equipped to
make general reprisals against the goods, ships
and subjects of the French nation as the COM
mission, granted by his Britannia Majesty, read
She was flush fore and aft, with small main
hatchway and very roomy deck Her beam was
twenty-seven feet, and her length was one hun
dred and nine feet She mounted twenty-four
FOUNDER on the torecastle where there was plenty
of room to work it. Her bulwarks were six feet
high and of extraordinary thickness. She car
ried six eighteen Founders, three on q side, and
four fOrty-two pound carronades, as well the
two twenty-four pound chasers, making in all
twelve guns. Her mainmast was eighty-tour
feet high and the height from the deck to the
tOpmaSt-head was very nearly a hundred and
fifty feet. She sat low in the water, and but
for her beam her low free-bOard would have
threatened wet ship in seaway; but deep as
she lay, her upper sheathing came a foot above
the point of immersion. and the metal Sparkled
like new gold. Captain Shelvocke, her COM
mander had found no difficulty in obtaining a
crew. The pick Of two hundred eager yOun-
teers had been chosen, and every man OF the
had been aroused at four o'clock one morn
ing, and, having gone on deck, had found the
dawn bright in the east, and the schooner, under
heavy canvas, hugging the wind and heading
west-southwest. Indeed, the wind had chopped
around and was blowing off the English coast the
nearest point of which was Dungeness: though
not only WAS there no land in view, but the
weather SO thick that the horizon lay at a
distance of not more than two miles around us.
] had hoped that when the morning broke the
haze would lift, but when the sun rose and hung
over the sea-line like the bottom Of newly
secured copper kettle, the fog came down as thick
as a feather-bed and blew in a stream across the
deck. 1t was all blank to within three ships
lengths ahead of us The green seas came curling
and foaming out of the fog to windward but you
could not see one inch beyond the point at which
their forms grew defined, and they went combing
in curves as polished as oil to leeward vanishing
instantly when they came in contact with the
fOg-curtan
The breeze was warm but the damp made il
uncomfortable. The decks were so slippery that
it was not easy to keep ones footing. The moist
ure fell in showers from the rigging and drops OF
water formed on the brim Of my hat as fast as
could shake them off.
At four bells the watch turned out to wash
down. There were so many men TO perform this
Job that it was soon over. and the decks being
cleared up and the rigging coIed down, the
schooner took a more comfortable air. but the
fog remained unpIeasantly dense, and sometimes
settled down so thick that the inner iib was not
TO be seen from the bnnacle Fortunately. we
had plenty Of sea-rOom.
But fogs Of this nature were t0erably fruitful
of disagreeable surprises. At any moment an
enemys hooker might Ooze out ef the thickness
and be aboard of Us. | therefore took care to see
everything clear and stationed some experienced
hands as lookout men, keeping my own weather
eye lifting" as we say at sea
We knew there was a large French corvette in
the neighborhood, mounting very heavy bate
ries and great deal too big for us to handle: and
it would be no great joke for the fog suddenly to
clear and expose the beauty lying close enough
TO deliver a brOadSide before could give the
schooner canvas enough 10 get away.
Shortly before eight bells Shev0cke came on
deck, and seeing how matters stood and that the
breeze was dropping, the order was passed along
for the to keep silence also for no bells TO be
struck, and for the leadsman to speak his report
in low tone to a hand stationed by his side for
the purpose Of bringing his messages aft to the
officer in charge. In addition to this the foresail
WAS securely brailed up, and the stay-sail and
inner-ib hauled down to silence the tapping:
and the schooner under her main-sail and stand
ing lib, glided slowly up and down over the
breathing swell, as silent dead-hOuse and
amid fog as impenetrable as a blanket.
At eight o'clock / went below to breakfast.
This fog is very bothersOme," said l. glancing
mp at the skylght that lay like squares of smoked
glass over the cabin.
The second mate left the cabin, and returned
after an absence of few minutes. 'Thick as
mud, sir, and there's very little wind, and there's
no appearance of it clearing" He went on deck
again. and after Shelyocke and had hung over
the chart few minutes we followed him.
1t was my watch below, but had no mind to
3urn in. The fog was irritating and burdens0me:
] considered it my duty to be on the alert Al