Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-12-30
Fron ths Nelo YORK. Times.

Mates Berth.
From tbs Neio York Times.
One foggy afternoon few weeks ago
the Captain of trim clipper ship of about
1000 tons, which lay at an East River
pier, was pacing up and down on the after
house, and occasionally glancing out upon
the mist-covered river. The ship was to
have set sail for Australia that morning,
but owing to the fog the Captain had pre-
ferred TO remain at the dock.
''No, won't take any chances" said
the Captain to friend who had come
aboard a few moments before, and stood
leaning against the taffrail. although
Pm young man, stop and think before
] run any risk; that is, when there's any
time for me to stop aud think. And yet
when was boy was the most heed
less yOungster gong. | did Whatever
came into my head, and never thought of
the consequences. But once, lust in the
nick of time, it flashed through my mind
that l ought to stop and think. l did stop
and think, and if hadn't l wouldn't be
alive now, nor would the ship under me
be af1Oat. / was brought up on farm in
the interior of this State" continued
the Captain, "but when / was about l6
years old l grew tired of farm life and
ran away and came to New York |
found a place in grocery store, but /
soon got tired of that sort of work. Then
it struck me that ! would like to go to
sea, so off hurried TO a sailors boarding
house, the keeper of which, got berth
for me on this very ship. She was then
only about couple of years old, although
/ don't know that she looked any newer
than she does now. l signed articles for
a voyage from this port to China, by way
OF Valparaiso and back to America We
hadn't been out many days, before found
that the life of boy on board ship wasn't
a very pleasant one. The second mate, in
whose watch l was, often kicked and
cuffed me, and the mate struck me when
ever he had a chance, while the Old Cap
tain, who always hated boys, would look
at me as if he wanted to throw me over
board. The sailors used to swear at me,
and some of them thought nothing of hit
ting me when none OF the officers were
looking. All this made me wish that |
had never even heard of the sea. After
we had passed the equator we were car
ried along by the southeast trade winds
until we got about off Rio Janeiro. The
hrst evening after we lost the trades,
when the watch went to the pumps they
would not work. There was some OBJ
struction in them, but the carpenter could
not find out what it was. AS the ship
was leaking little the Captain decided
that it would never do TO go around Cape
Horn with the pumps In that condition,
so he said he would put into Rio JaneIro
and have them overhauled.
II was, of course, delighted at the pros
peet Of seeing foreign port. The night
after we had headed toward Rio l heard
the sailors in my watch talking about the
Captain. One of them said that the cook
had told him that the Captain was going
TO do some trading on his own account
when he got out to China, and that he had
considerable money with him. l paid no
attention to this statement at the time
All thought of was about getting into
Rio Janelro. We got within about days
sail of Rio, when the carpenter. who was
tinkering about the pumps, discovered
the obstruction and succeeded in remov-
ing it. Then there was no need for put
ting into port, and the Captain gave or
heTs to head towards Cape
Horn again. l did not like
this at all. 1t was late in the afternoon
when we put about. l noticed during the
dog watch that the men were talking very
earnestly among themselves in the fore
castle. Eight bells struck, and the watch
TO which | belonged went Ondeck. kept
the lookout for two hours, and at four
bells, when ] went down on the main
a
as big Pete came up to me and began
TO talk very pleasantly, This surprised
me, because generally he had seemed to
dislike me. Big Pete was a tall, brawny
fellow, and was the Notwithstanding
man in the crew, and that was saying a
good deal, for they were hard-loOlIing
lot of sailors. After talking about things
generally for few minutes, Pete said:
"'Now, young fellow, l know that you
kn &c oh ord oh No ra
do we. You're Away getting Knocked
about by the mates, and don't see how
you stand it. Now, il you had chance
TO get ashore at Rio JaneirO, you wouldn't
throw it away? Wages is good IN the
high country. Asmart young fellow like
you could get job on some ranch, and
make fortune in few years.
'''I wouldn't like anything BETTER, said
], but can't get ashore. The Captain
amt going to put into Rio, after all.'
"'But we'll fix that, my lad, il you'll
80 in with u.s. said Pete.
"'You don't mean to mutiny? l asked,
starting back in alarm.
"'No, not mutiny,' replied Pete, that
is, not the bad kind OF mutiny. But we
can't stand il on this boat any longer.
and what we want to do is to get into
Rio. and we can 90 in without hurting
anybody or robbing anybody. A few
minutes dlOTe blkub Detlb Tue S6cuiu IDdbe
will 20 into his stRteroom for to write it
in his log book. You know be always
does that before eight bells instead Of
waiting until after the watches are
changed, as he ought to do. Then all
we've got TO do is to iasten the forward
cabin doors on him. At the same time
the man at the wheel will just fasten the
door of the atter-companiOnWay Then
Well nail up the window shutters all
around the cabin on the outside, and we'll
have all the cabin people tight without
having so much rs struck one of them.'
"'And what then 2 / asked.
"sWhy, them said he, Il know enough
about navigation 20 take the ship into the
harbor of Rio. There are II of us besides
you, and the cook will work with u.s. We
can get along without the Captain, the
two mates, the carpenter, and the steward.
Ihey'flb be locked up in the cabin, where
they'll lind plenty to eat and drink. Wen
manage TO strike the harb0r along ina the
evening, Then we let go the anchor and
take few Of our clothes and row ashore.
We leave the boat at the landing and go
10 a boarding house keeper that | know
Won keep us till we get a chance TO run
up into the high country, where we can
getjObs on ranches
sBut how about the shipY ] asked
eagerly. / was trying to persuade myself
that there was nothing wrong about
Pete's plan.
"sW NV the ahiD il eeen next morning.