The National tribune., 1883-02-22
THE y BRIG DOLPHIN.
A Sailors Yarn Spun for Our Young
Folks.
by Richard Doicling.l

L
William Grant, Of, the brig Dolphin, as he crossed
his legs, shpok the ashes out of his pipe, and
settled himself comfortably for telling yarn.
" 1t is many good long year ago, my lads. l
was then boy thirteen or fourteen years of
age, and what Pm going to tell you happened
! aboard this very brig Dolphin.
She was then not more than four years old,
! and not one of the liners could touch her run
ming free We loaded oats in Limerick for
London. and put to sea on heavy February
day. We were hardly clear of the land when
the glass began to fall, and all the heavens
thickened up with the clouds like dirt. l
| heard the captain saying to the mate, as they
stood at the skylight-this very skyiight over
our head now, boys-that he didn't like the
look of it at all Then he looked aloft and
into the wind, which was nearly due east, and
walked aft. As he came back he said, There
aren't three hours between us and bare poles
81 agree with you,' said the mate; 'and
we're too far off to beat back
In less than an hour we were close reefed.
In less than two the storm was upon us. The
wind was something terrible, lads. Before 1t
| struck us with its full force we had taken
everything off her except the fore double
| reefed topsail; End when the gale struck her
it took that topsail out of the bolt-ropes as
easily as l chuck that tobacco-pouch across the
table.
"What went after the topsail I can't tell.
| There was a terrible crash, and-remember,
| lads, l was younSer then-in a few minutes
it seemed as if everything aloft had come down
by the run. Some rope or spar, don't know
| what knocked me over, and all the men were
| busy with their knives cutting away the wreck
| before / came to. By that time both topmasts
| were gone, short of the trucks, and the great
| danger was that the wreck, which we were
! towing upon our port side, would stave in the
planks of the hull. Some of the stanchions
and bulwarks had been carried away by the
| olf Lol Il n
bucket of water had come aboard yet-the
Dolphin looked as though she had been hammer
and tongs at it for fortnight.
"For six-and- thirty hours that gale blew.
Then the wind died away, and it fell dead
| calm. This was even worse than the gale.
Every minute 1 expected the brig would
| founder. Now she was in the trough of the
sea, broadside, now stern foremost, now bow
foremast, now with her quarter to the sea. She
was utterly helpless, and during the gale we
had lost two men overheard
"All this time we had no exact notion of
where we were The captain had no knowl-
edge of navigation, and no man aboard was a
bit better off in this way. But even if the
captain had had all the science in the world
we had no chance of. taking the sun, no chro-
nometer aboard, and, to the horror of all, it
was found out that, in the excitement and the
danger, no one had thought of winding watch
| or clock, and We We're without the time. You
can see, my lads, we were in a nice fix. We
| were hundreds of miles out in the Western
Ocean; the boat and the galley had been swept
away; we could hardly show rag of canvas,
even if breeze sprang up; we were disman-
tied; we had no man aboard who knew any
thing of navigation; we hadn't the time, and
we had provisions for but one month.
Days and weeks went by and still we saw
no SAIL For the first fortnight we were al
| lowed the same grub as usual; but then we
were put on haf-allowance. We had, by some
fortunate good chance, an extra barrel of water
| aboard and whether it was owing to the
weight of the barrels or the secure way in
which they were iashed down, they had not
been washed away. If they had, we should.
of course, have died. The grub was safe
enough in the harness casks at the foot of the
companion and in the lockers.
| "At the end of six weeks we had one barrel
| of water, and two days half allowance of grub.
Still We saw no sail. We gave ourselves up for
| lost. In six weeks and two days the last bis
cult was gone, the last pound of beef eaten.
| We still had a cask of water untouched, and
| with that we could manage to live for few
days longer; but think by this time we gave
| ourselves up Still the sea was rolling and
| tumbling around us, every now and then
sweeping the decks. We were all as weak as
children by this time, aud if the pumps had
wanted tending for more than fifteen minutes
| out of the two hours, we could not have manned
them regularly. What made matters worse
was that, beyond tending the pumps, we had
nothing to do. We had plenty of Goals yet
but we had nothing to cook.
81 have been often out in bad gale since,
I but I'd rather ride out the biggest storm of
wind that ever came out of the heavens, than
lie another six weeks helpless like that in the
| Western Ocean, with the waves running noun
| tains high.
"There was one man among the crew, Jim
| Clarke by name, never liked. He was tall,
thin, dark-bearded sea-lawyer, with list to
| starboard. l will say he was a thorough sailor,
and knew his business as well as any man in
! the brig. But he was always grumbling and
| growing and ever since we came to be put on
short allowance his grumbling and growing
grew worse and worse.
"None of the men liked Clarke. He was
| always trying to stir up a mutiny about some
thing or other, and the first day we were put
| on short allowance, when it was his watch
! below, heard him say:
"'What / want to know, men, is this: Here
| we are, sticking by this brig out in the West
ern Ocean, and now we're cut down to half
victuals Are the owners going to make up to
us for half starving us while navigating this
| brig? When I'm aboard this brig my wages
| are running on, and why shouldn't my full
yictuals be running on als0?'
"'Pll tell you what it is, Clarke said one of
the men, with a grim laugh, if I were you,
and didn't like my berth, I'd pack up my bag
and chest. and step ashore
"At this the other men laughed, and Clarke
| knocked Off and said no more about the matter.
| "But now that we hadn't pound of beef or
biscuit, and were already weakened by ex-,
posure and short grub, Clarke spoke more
! openly. He said:
"'Here we are now without blessed mouth
| full of grub aboard and all this time since we
| were put on short victuals we've been saving
| the owner ninepence day each man. The
| cargo and the ship are insured, and if we don't
| live to get ashore the owner will have all the
value of the brig from the insurance people,
and all the wages too except those who drew
| on advance notes. Now Pm blowed if Pm go
| ing to let the owners have all my money, for
| got nothing on an advance note. I'm not one
| of the sort that want to die. want to live,
| and 1 mean to live; and want to get my
| money
"The other men said they all wanted to live,
| but how was it to be done?
"Clarke suddenly looked round. and there
was something in his evil eye which made my
| blood run cold. Never in all my life before
did l see so horrible an expression in any mans
face. There was something in it like you see
| in the eye of a rat when he turns on you in
corner. Then he said, in a low clear voice.
There are nine of us; We have nothing to do
but tend the pumps. Why shouldn't one of us
go for the good of the others?'
THE three men gave a groan of horror.
No. said one of them, Indignantly; we were
! messmates together and we can die together,
| like men-not like brute beasts