New-York tribune., 1881-08-07


heart New-Eorl 1851
The lovers of stories of the sea will hail WIN
pleasure the appearance of new master IN lh's
peculiar department of English literature ana d
master in - certain we consider Mr hnsseh W
be- His predecessors in nautical tales have not
been many, either in England or America ana from
any contemporary in his own department ne GER
tainly has nothing to fear " Gullivers Travis
can hardly he regarded rs marine romance at all
Smollet il excellent in the deaeation OF the nau-
teal character of his time, but it is character
which has become obsolete. for there are no Com
modore Prunnions" now. TON Crngle Log Is
the book of which the tales of Mr.. Russell most
frequently remind us. Captain Marryats books
are very clever, elected high appreciation from
Coleridgc. and we suppose aIc still read. The sea
novels of James FenimOre Cooper once ex
eoedingly popular, and perhaps they are still
favorites with certain class of readers; but
Cooper is not considered nautcally accurate by
Sailors and most of his books are insuferably
tedious-the very ideal, If may say so. of long
winded yarns Lately, though the manufacture of
novels has immeasurably increased, few of the
manufacturers have tempted the waves, and those
few with hardly an exception, have cut no great
figure Mr. Russell found the field almost entirely
unoccupied, aad he has cultivated it, if we may
so speak of the barren sea. to good purpose. His
books have absolute merit. which makes them in
teressng, although there is likeness between them
which renders it necessary to wait awhile after
reading one, before going to another. In the pre-
face to Sailors Sweetheart" Mr.. Clark Russell
tells something of himself which is all we know
of him, except what we have gained from his
books. He informs that he passed eight years
at in the merchant service; and that much
of his leisure spent in the orecastle among the
nsn." that their arguments and stories were
impressed upon his memory" What his critics
have declared " impossible he vouches for
facts within the experience of twenty out of every
hundred seafarlng men," There is nothing inn
possible in this. The is the great nursery of
romance. Almost all that happens there is incredi
BILE to landsmen and in the very nature of things
much must happen quite out of the common
course, so far as the experience of landsmen goes
The critic who is quite competent to handle fash
onable novel, is literally" at sea in estimating the
merits or demerits of nautical yarn. Wemust
ourselves take Mr.. Russells word for the accuracy
OF his details, and are quite willing to do So He
deals, too, with merchant ships and not with
national vessels. as most writer's of his class have
done; and possibly this may make his books all the
more novel and interesting In his Ocean Free
Lapce" we have, however, touch of naval war
fare: while his peaceful traders have quite many
hairbreadth escapes, and are wrecked inst
ronanticaly and completely if they
frigates of the largest size.
The story of the " Free Lance" is that of q
privateersman in 1912 The ship is Tie Tigress
Captain Shelvocke, and we are tempted to quote
this picture of her, if only to show how well Mr..
Russell knows how to describe ship:
The Tigress was flush fore and aft, her main
hatchway small, and l never remember seeing such
q roomy deck as hers Her beam was twenty. seven
feet, and her length hundred and nine feet. She
mounted a twenty-fOur- -pounder on the fOrecastle,
where there was plenty of room to work it. All
her lining, indeed was under water. Both the
height and thickness of her bulwarks were unusual
for Shelg0cke six foot as he was, could only Just
see over the rail, and the gun-ports looked ike
brasures in the walls of "a castle. She carried six
eighteen -nDuudPrS. three "A foTfv
two pound carronades, as well as the two twenty
four-pOund ohasers making in all twelve guns Her
mainmast eighty-four feet high, and the
height from the deck to the topmasthead was very
alOft at her magnificent spars with the sanare-rig
forward tapering into little sky-sail- yard, and
studding-sail boom.irons as high as her top gallant
yaTd / had trouble 10 guess the spacious folds
bf canvas she would be able to throw open to the
wind when occasion required them. Her hull was
running along the sides just under the gun-ports
She sat low on the water, and would he lower yet
But for her beam, her low free board would have
threatened wet ship in ii Sea-way; but deep as
she lay, her copper sheathng came foot above the
point of immersion, and the metal sparkled like
0ew gold.
Such was the lovely" Tigress, the fastest
thing aioat." Within twenty-tour hours after
leaving the West india docks, she got herself into
business iightins~Snd capturing Frenchmen All
through the book her sailing qualities are greatly
and graphically glorihed. Here is q specimen:
The wind had freshened into strong breeze All
away down in the west the sky had cleared and
here and there a wateFy star was tremulonsIV
glowing among riffs in the heavy clouds which
soemnly journeyed across the dark heavens. The
sea under the increasing wind was breaking into
spaces Of foam, and the roaring noise at The bows
of the schooner, and the geam of the belt of froth
scurrying within the reach of a mans arm along
the lee side and the hooting up aloft the fierce
patter of spray, like the discharge of small tire
arms upon the forecastle, indicating the speed of
the I1gress, and the pressure of canvas that was
rushing her.
While the Tigress sails upon her way in search of
prizes we may introduce the following episode
which strikes novel and original while il gives
an excellent idea of the occasional brilliancy and
effect of the authors style:
have often wondered in reading that magnificent
description OF gddy height of cliff in King
Lear how the great master would have described
"a view from the masthead of a lofty vessel Saw
what you will of survey from "a mountain-top or
from the edge of towering cliffs; in my humble
Judgment the most thrilling impression that great
ELEVATIONS can produce is (leaving of course the
balloon car out OF the question: TO be obtained from
The slender yard OF tail ship in the middle of the
sea;
spite of the lonesomeness of craggy land is quail
ned. II not extingushed, when surveying a scene
from any sort OF height ashore not only by the sight
OF land all around you, but by land being under
your feet. But at the masthead of n shir Won
stand upon q slender rope or bestride n spar that
looks no stouter than knit -ng- needle from the
deck, and you gaze around upon mighty surface
OF water, Tor the narrow and familiar horizon be-
held from the deck ls magnifed into an immense
ocean, aud a whole hemisphere of heaven leans
away into the prodigious distance, while below is
the narrow shape OF the hull on whose surface the
seamen crawl in size no bigger than flies and Won
are amazed that SO slender and tapering a fabric
should support the skysearching height of mast and
canvas from the summit of which you look down
Here, say, q man gets that sense of isolation
winch no land enlnence can yield, and il is COM
plete enough even when the seas bask brightly and
calmly around when the sails are gently draw
Ing when the sweet winds blow softly