Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-12-10


satisfactory to himself. Then he spun
his yarn:
1t was about four years ago last Sep
temDer,' he began, '1that / shipped on a
three-masted schooner at Baltimore. She
was bound for New Orleans. We wealth.
cred hurricane about off Charleston and
got down into the straits of Florida all
right. l heard the Captain say lust as
I've were getting into the Gulf that we
were too far south to meet vessels bound
around Key West and the Tortugas and
too FAR north to run across the steamers
bound from Vera Cruz to Havana. At
O'Clock one morning-it was Friday-my
watch was called on deck. 1t was one OF
tue darkest mornings | ever remember.
L was always sleepy in the gravy eve
that's what we call the watch from to s
IN the morning. We were sailing
close to the wind, which came
from about northwest. l sat down
on the port rail, which was then
the weather side, and tried my best to
Keep awake, but every now and then |
nodded. All of a sudden heard the mate
cry out: D that fellow, he's no side
lights out; put her up in the wind or We'll
strike himo | was just in the midst of a
nod, but that cry opened my eyes. |
started up, but just as did it heard the
fOrebOom going over to port. Somehow or
other | stepped the wrong way and stum-
pleu st-etliiSb the IdlllU8. winch was very
low. Then i lost my balance and went
overheard. When | came to the surface
my mouth and throat were full of water
but | gave what l meant for a veil. |
grasped at the quarter of the schooner
but there was nothing for me to hold to.
In five seconds / could see her
full stern ahead of me. / gave an
other yell, but no one seemed to notice it.
1t seemed to me as if they were leaving
u1n IN nd L Al.
best L knew how, while 1 struggled to
keep from drowning. Then l happened
to think of what the mate said about our
danger OF running into something. |
looked around, and, sure enough, there
was another vessel, and she was close on
to me. l managed to keep my head above
water, and | noticed that she was coming
toward me very slowly. In a moment l
put my hands against her sides. l tried
to reach the fore and then the main
channels, but they were too high
Tor me. She was, as
said, moving very slowly, and when
her stern was just going past me l put IN
few of the best STROKES l eyer made. and
got within reach of her rudder. | seized
hold Of that, and after got back a little
Ofmy wind | yelled as loud as l could,
/ but there was no answer. Then | remem-
bered that she had no side lights out and
| that she was moving very slow, consider
ing the wind that was blowing. That sat
istied me that | was clinging to the rud-
der of a deserted vessel.
Il thought of sharks, and that made me
feel fit to let 90 my hold. The rudder
bulged i'm considerably above the waters
edge and l managed to get up on it a little
way and rest. But how to climb up on to
the deck was question that puzzled me.
l was wet through and very weak after
struggling in the water. Every now and
I
and it was all could do to hold on. At
last | made up my mind to make an effort
l reached up very slowly until l could
place my hand on piece of holding.
| Then | stood up on the top Of the rudder
and reached up as high as / could and
CROPPED around. At last found hole for
mOOring lines, and putting my hands in
this l drew myself up until | could get
my feet on the mOldinG. Then | could
reach the rail, and in a very few seconds
l found myself on the deck, where | lay
down and rested. She was a brig, and
appeared to be in ballast. While l was
resting myself l noticed for the first time
a terrible smell. 1t seemed to grow worse
steadily as l felt my strength coming
back to me. The brig seemed to be Span
lsh. 1t was now getting light fast and l
looked about me. The cabin was below
the deck and the cOmpaniOnway leading
down to 1t was open. l went uD to the
open hatch and started down the steps.
The strange smell was now even worse,
but L jumped down into the cabin. There
on the deck, head down, lay ahalf-dressed
| corpse. | knew then what the awful smell
came from. L looked around the cabin and
saw the doors of three state-rOOms open. l
| peeped into the largest one of these and
/ in berth / saw a corpse with a blacked
/ face, as if the man had died of yellow
fever. I'm another state-rOOm were two
| berths, in each of which was corpse, and
i'm the third room ] saw still another
body. The sight and smell was too much
/ for me. | rushed on deck, feeling ready
/ to faint. The sickening feeling that was
/ on me was something awful. l closed up
/ the hatch of the cOmpaniOnway as tightly
I as | knew how and moved away from il.
/ l still noticed the terrible smell. The
| forecastle hatch was open. l peeped
/ down into that place and saw a corpse on
| the floor. There were four berths, and
I two of them held decaying bodies of dead
/ sailors. This sight was more sickening
4 than the one in the cabin. l closed up the
/ fOrecastle hatch and went amdships
| where a large boat had been dashed. |
| leaned against that and thought.
"There | was on floating graveyard,
| where the cOrpses wouldn't keep below
/ the earth. L have always had two great
| weaknesses. One of them is what you
/ call superstition. Those men had prOba-
/ bly, died of yellow fever, and the air of the
| cabin and fOrecastle was tainted with it.
I Then there was the feeling that those
! c0rpses wouldn't lie quiet, but would come
| deck to weary me. Iplaced some heavy
/ chains and bolts on both the matches and
/ fastened the staples with stout cords. The
| Captain had said that we were out of the
I way of vessels. and our schooner had long
/ been out of sight. Look at it in whatever
| way l could, il seemed to me that | was
I doomed. / was weak and faint, but | did
not feel very hungry or thirsty. l leaned
/ against the large boat until past noon
and thought Of those cOrpses below. There
was another boat dashed on deck, but |
/ did not feel myself strong enough to
/ launch it, or | would have left that pest
/ ship. The fact that | was doomed was
! always before me.
''Suddenly something flashed oyer my
/ mind. / told YOU that had another great
weakness. Well, that was whisky.
/ wondered that had not thought Of it be-
/ fore. Somehow it made me bold. | took
/ away the chains and untaStened the cabin
/ hatch-way. Then l stole down the steps
| as if / were afraid that 1 would awake
/ the cOrpSeS. l did not look at the body
| on the floor, but | kept my eyes on the
/ wall until l saw a locker. 1t was not
/ locked and in it found a number of bot
ties. seized several of these, and, rush
] lllZ UP Oh Nttks L l0eltllGu lLG MATCH us
before. and, going up to the boat, eX-
amined the bottles. They contained
! French brandy, and l started on one of
them. The smell seemed to 90 away,
and l felt much better by the time
| l had tackled the second bottle. l
usually get crazy when / have plenty of
liquor. l could not keep off the thoughts
of those cOrpses and that l was doomed to
lie with them before long. But l ran up
and down the deck shouting and yelling.
/ danced like a tiend until l could hardly
/ stand, and poured down the brandy like
/ water. Ashore or under most any other
| circumstances l couldn't have drank any
where near as much. / thought that l
noticed the sun go down. At any rate l
! was reeling around the deck trying to
| reach the boat where l had left the brandy.
had not been quite able to drown those
cOrpses, but now l was bound to finish
| them. remember feeling my head strike
/ against something and seeing whole
/ sky full of stars.
"The next thing l remember was start
! ing up with throat like a furnace. Then
/ the hOrrid thought of those awful cOrpses
came over me. Why hadn't the courage
/ TO throw them overheard when | first
came on board, thought, and l made up
/ my mind TO do it when it came light and
| l had steadied my nerves with some more