Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-04-20


on her starn mouIdin'," said Capt. Trumbull
Cram, "but had thet gouged out and planned
of. and Judas Iscariot In gilt sot thar instid"
That was an extraordinary name" said l.
"Strornary craft" replied the Captain, as he
absorbed another inch and half Of niggerhead
"rm neither pr6fane man or an irreverend;
but sink my,jig if don't believe the sperrit of
Judas possessed tibet schooner. Hey, Ammi p
The young man addressed as Ammi was seated
upon mackerel barrel. He deliberately re-
moved from his lips black brierwood and shook
his head with great gravity.
"The Cap'n," said Ammi, sis nether aprofane
or an rreverend. What he says he mostly
knows; but when he sinks his Jig he's alters to
be depended on"
Fortified with this neighborly estimate of
character. Capt. Cram proceeded: "You larf
at the idee OF a schOoner's soul? Perhaps you
hev sailed 'em forty odd year up and down this
here coast an 'quainted yourself with their dis
positions an habits of mind. Hey. Ammi ?"
"The Cap'n," explained the gentleman on the
mackerel keg, .'hez coasted an hez fshed for
forty-six year. He's numbered and he's iced.
When the Cap'n sees fit for to talk about schoon-
ers he understands the subjeck'
''My friend" said the Captain. "a schooner
has soul like human being. but considerably
broader of beam. whether for good or for evil.
amt a-goin' to deny tibet prayed for the Judas
In Tuesday n Thursday evenin' meetin', week
arter week an month arter MONTH I amt
ea-gOin' to deny tibet interested Deacon Plymp-
ton in the 'rastle for her redemption. 1t was no
use, my friend; even the Deacon's powerful
p'titions were clear waste"
/ ventured to inquire in what manner this
vessel had manifested its deprayity. The nara
tive which heard was the story Of q demon of
treachery with three masts and a jibboom.
The Flying Sprite was the first three-master
ever built at Newaggen and the last. People
shook their heads over the experiment. mo
good can come of such q crtter," they said.
Its contrary to natur. Two masts is masts
enough" The Flying Sprite began it's career Of
base improbity at the very moment of it's birth.
Instead of launching decently into the element
for which it was designed, the three-maSted
schooner siumped through the ways into the
mud and stuck there for three weeks causing
great expense to the owners, Of whom Capt.
Trumbull Cram was one to the extent of an UNI
divided third. The oracles of Newaggen were
confirmed in their forebodings. Two masts is
m 1n2s enough to sail the sea-, they said; 1.-The
On the first voyage of the Flying Sprite. Capt.
Cram started her for Philadelphia, loaded with
Ice belonging to himself and Lawyer SwantOn;
cargo uninsured Ice was worth six dollars q
ton in Philadelphia; this particular ice had
cost Capt. Cram and Lawyer Swanton eighty
five cents ton shipped. including sawdust
They were happy over the prospect. The Fly
Ing Sprite cleared the port in beautiful shape,
and then suddenly and silently went to the
bottom in Fiddler's Reach, in eleven feet of
salt water 1t required only six days to float
Sher and pump her out, but owing to certain
incompatibility between ice and salt water the
salvage consisted exclusively of sawdust
On her next trip the schooner carried deck
load OF lumber from the ST. Croix river. 1t
was i'm some sense a cOnsecrated cargo for the
lumber was intended for new Baptist meet
cing-house in southern New Jersey. If the
prayerful hopes of the navigators, combined
with the prayerful expectations of the con-
signees had availed. this voyage at least, would
have been successfully made But about sixty
miles southeast of Nantucket the Flying Sprte
encountered a mild September gale. She ought
to have weathered it with perfect ease. but she
behaved SO abOminably that the church timber
was scattered over the surface Of the Atlantic
ocean from about latitude 40 deg Is min. to
about latitude 43 deg so min. A month or two
later she cOntrived to go on her beam ends under
gentle land breeze. dumping lot of expen-
slVe.y carved granite from the Fox island quar-
rles into deep hole in Long Island sound. On
the very next trip she turned deliberately out of
her course in order to smash into the starboard
bow Of a Norwegian brig, and was consequently
hbeled tor heavy damages.
1t was after few experiences Of this sort that
Capt. Cram erased the old name from the
schOoner's stern and from her quarter, and SUBJ
stituted that of Judas Iscariot. He could dis
cover no designation that expressed SO well his
cOntemptuous opinion Of her moral qualities.
She seemed animate with the spirit Of purpose
less malice, of malignant perfdy. She was
floating tub of cussedness.
board of nautical experts sat upon the Judas
Iscariot, but could find nothing the matter
with her physically. The lines Of her hull were
all right, she was properly pianked and ceiled
and calked, her spars were of good Oregon PINE
she was rugged taut and trustworthy. and her
canvas had been cut and stitched by God-fear-
ing saimaker. According to all theory, she
ought to have been perfectly responsible as to
her keel. In practice, she was frightfully cranky.
Sailing the Judas Iscari0t was like driving q
horse with more vices than hairs in his tail She
always did the unexpected thing, except when
bad behavior was expected Of her on general
principles. II the idea was to huff, she would
invariably fall of; if to jibe, she would come
round dead in the wind and hang there like
Mohammed's coffin. Sending man to haul the
jlb sheet to windward was sending man on q
foriorn hope; the jib habitually picked up the
venturesome navigator. and. after shaking him
viciOusly in the air for second or two tossed
him overheard. A boom never crossed the deck
without breaking somebody's head Start on
whatever course she might, the schooner was
certain to run before long into one of three
things, namely, some other vessel. fog bank,
or the bottom. From the day on which she was
launched her scent for good, sticky mud bot
tom was unerring. In the dearest weather fog
followed and enyelOped her as misfortune fol-
lows wickedness. Her presence on the Banks
was enough to drive every Goldfish to the coast
of Ireland. The mackerel and porgies were
always where the Judas Iscarot was not. It
was impossible to circumvent the schoOner's
fixed purposes to ruin everybody who chartered
her. If chartered to carry deck load, she
spilled it; If loaded between decks she dived
and spoiled the cargo. She was like one of the
trick mules which, If they cannot otherwise dis
lodge the rider, get down and roll over and
over. In short, the Judas Iscariot was known
from Marblehead to the bay Of Chaleur as the
consummate schooneration Of malevolence,
turptude and treachery.
After commanding the Judas IscariOt for five
or six years, Capt. Cram looked fully twenty
years older. 1t was in vain that he had at
tempted to sell her at sacrifice No man on
the coast Of Maine, Massachusetts. or the British
provinces would have taken the schooner as a
gift The belief in her demOniac obsession was
as firm as 1t was universal.
Nearly at the end of q season. when the
wretched craft had been even more improbable
than usual. conference Of the owners was held
In the Congregational vestry one evening after
the monthly missionary meeting. No outsider
knows exactly what happened but it is rumored
that In the two hours during which these capt.
talists were clOseted certain arithmetical eompu-
tatiOns were effected which led to significant re-
suits and to singular decision.
I'm fho for ~ %hn H-:l