The Republican journal., 1881-08-04

CHIEF OFFICERS ACCOUNT
The ears OF the public were shocked a
few months ago by the details of an al
legged desertion at sea, by the ship Charles
Dennis, OF five men, who had gone out in
a small boat to rescue a fellow sailor who
had been washed overheard. AS first re-
lated it was a story of incredible heart
lessness on the part of the captain, James
Carney, and was accompanied by asser-
tlOns OF his cruelty to others of his crew
in Yokohama. The master of the bark
| Opheia, one of whose men deserted from
the Charles Dennis at Yokohama, and
was responsible for the whole account, in
part corroborated the version. Two other
masters emphatcally denied it. The
Dennis arrived in this port late on Sat
urday night, and a reporter of the Herald
was able yesterday to get the story from
the accused captain himself and tocorrob-
crate what he said by the lips Of the two
mates who sailed with him. The ship is
owned by Mr.. L. J. Southland, of Bowdoin-
ham, Me-, and consigned to AIessrs. j. W.
| ElWell & Co., Of No. 81 South street, in
this city She registers l,71O tons, and
has been regarded as a staunch craft and
good sailer. Mr. Southland said to the re-
porter that he had thoroughly sifted the
story Of desertlon, and thought it cruel
| invention Of the stowaWay, John Lawson,
who first told it. lie said that Captain
Carney was born in Bowdoinham, and
that he knew all about him and could
vouch for his good character. "The read
lest arguments in his favor" Mr. South
ard continued, ''is that he needed every
! sailor he had on board"
TIE CHIEF OFFICERS ACCOUNT.
When the reporter boarded the ship at
| Brooklyn, Captain Carney chose to let
the chief officer, Cyrus Il. Edgerly of
| Bangor, give the first narrative of what
had happened. The chief officer said:
''We left here on the 10th of November,
1879, with general cargo for Yokohama.
There were sixteen sailors, besides the
captain, two mates, the carpenter, stew
ard and cook. We had rough weather
from here to the Equator, but came off
without any loss, and turned Cape Horn
to meet head winds and more bad wealth
er. On the 10Th of February (the captain
can tell you what latitude and longitudc)
we were in at about seven o'clock in the
morning We lost Il sailor named Thomas
| Brand. We were running free at the
| time, about nine knots an hour. and had
just set the main topgallant sail when we
shipped a sea that washed him over
board. | threw the life buoy to within
ten feet of Brand, should think, and
gave the alarm promptly. The captain
came up on deck with all hands and or
dered the wheel hard up. We let go the
halyards and the ship wore round on her
| hpp1 Itnti in tba,, arrl,t
utes after Brand went over we were
| been on the starboard side of the half
deck, and heard him give one cry after
falling. The captain ordered the boat
| lowered Immediately, and more than half
the men pulled Oft their boots and coats,
ready to go to the rescue. Not q man
was ordered into the boat. As she put
off with five on board. the captain told
them to pull in the direction where the
man was last seen. The boat had been
off for about twenty or twenty-five min
utes, when a squall suddenly approached
from the northwest, and the captain or
dered us to signal the boat, which was
then to the leeWard Of us, to return. 1t
was perhaps half mile away then, and
soon the snow squall covered them and
we could hardly see a ships length"
BEYOND ALL SIGNALS.
"When it cleared up" the first officer
continued, ''we could see nothing Of the
boat. The squall might have lasted
twenty-five minutes. All day we looked
for the boat, during frequent squalls
which endangered the safety Of the ship.
At half-past six that night the captain
called all hands aft and asked them
whether all had been done that could be
done. Each and every man Of them said
yes. The sea was growing worse and
worse every minute, and it was the unan-
imous opinion that we ought to square
away for our own safety. We did so, and
neither on the rest of the voyage nor
while we were in Yokohama was one
word whispered against the captains
conduct. We arrived there on the 23d
of April, 1880, and sailed in ballast for
Manila on the 5th Of June. Some of the
men wanted to leave the ship at loko-
hama, but were not allowed to do SO un-
til they had appeared before the Consul
General. AS that official was i'll the Vice
Consul sent us instructions to keep the
men on board and if they attempted to
escape to put them in irons. We were
obliged to put three men in irons for
four days, when they returned to work.
They went before the Consul General
when he was recovered and, as they, had
no complaint to make against the Ship,
they were ordered back. On the night
before we sailed some of the men deter
mined to 60 ashore. They frightened a
watchman who had been sent aboard so
that he went ashore and a policeman
came Oh instead They told him he had
no business there and that they would
knife him, so that he, too, thought it
prudent to leave. When he called for a
boat from the shore two came out and
into the second boat before could see
them went three Of the sailors. These
were John Boyce, John Lawson and the
carpenter. The carpenter was arrested
and brought on board next morning, and
it was John Lawson who shipped on the
Ophelia and came to New York and told
the story of desertion We had Il rough
voyage back, and after getting within
four days sail of New York we had to 90
back to Fayal, discharge our cargo of
sugar and calk the ship
THE CAPTAINS ACCOUNT.
Captain Carney said upon hearing the
above narrative read that it was correct.
He added that he had not only not order
ed any of the men to get into the small
| boat, but that he had ordered some Of
them to come out of her, as she was over
| loaded. John Lawson himself was going
into the boat, when the mate pulled him
back. Captain Carney said he signalled
| the men to come back because he was
apprehensive Of their safety in the squall,
and he thought there was no chance Of
finding the lost sailor. He had been
twenty three years ut sea and had been
mate of the ships China, Of Bath; Re
union, of Bath, and Eureka, of Bowdoin-
ham; but this was his first voyage as
master. The following is a statement
made officially in Yokohama by the cap