Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-08-17
he LOST HIS WHISKY.
the Mates story Of the Burning OF
the Whalcr !, atIiarinc.

when the good ship katharine OF Ne"
London set saul from san Francisco on
voyage to the whaling ground1ot the Arc
tic Ocean. Ii was my first voyage sine"
the beginning of the war. We had Sood
CREW and every one seemed glaa J." 3t
once more on the sea with no Tear Oh t"h-
sederate privateers. ] mftel was IN th'
best OF spirits, for / hSd had Tie good ipr-
tune to secure n lot ot lrinkels ana con-
siderable supply OF whisky ana brandy 10
trade with lhe natives tor iurs. 1t h6d
been some time since tuey mad been 2h'e
u trade any, and I anticipated large
profit on my outlay.
The Katharine made a fast trip, but
when we arrived on the grounds we
found many whalers already ahead OF us.
but we went 10 work with Will, ana
.oon had everything in good WORKING
order. had only one trouble, ana that
was the second mates tondneSs Tor my
whisky. ] kept il stored away enugly un-
Ser my bunk, and Tor n long lime he dld not
discover 1t, but when he did he never let
an opportunity pass TO gee tuil, ana my
supply was slowly but surely disappear
ing. Whenit wa- my watch ne would get
into the cabin, and, as the boys say now,
paint II a bright v'rmilion.
On June Is, 1860, we We're cruising | n
the Kamschatka sea. On that day we
u,
out Oil. My warch came between six and
ten bells, and about9 O'Clock the nan at
the masthead sang out: sail y, sail o."
When asked wAereaWay, he SAID he
thought ne saw steamer in the oilin2
and she was heading IN our direction.
told him he must be mistaken, very likely
IT was only whaier trying out oil as We
were. But he was confident that he was
right, ard went down in the cabin TO get
H.. Il, Ill - IN final
object that met my eyes was the second
mate as drunk as a lord, lying prone upon
the fl0Or. put the bottles in my locker,
and when | got on deck again ] could see
the steamer plainly, and also that she was
heading In our direction. My watch be-
ing over, | went to the Captains cabin
and told MIN that steamer was IN sight.
lie said he supposed II was some rascally
Russian sneaking around TO see that we
didn't get away with any OF hts precious
furs, and gave tue steward orders TO
awake him if she came within speaking
distance, as he might want TO go aboard
aud exchange papers and news. L did
NOT gave the matter a second thought, but
went to my cabin and turned in" for
was tired, having been hard at work all
day.
BUSINESS ON DECK.
1t seems TO me / had not been asleep
Zen minutes, Thoughts 1t had been three
hours, when l heard some one in my
room. My thought flew instantly to the
second mate and my tireWater. Before re-
firing, had again moved my valuables
.(f) under my bunk, and reached out anu
felt the various jugs aud bottles. They
were safe. 1t was the second mate,
though, after all. He did not know that
was awake. however, for be shook me
Justify, aud shouted at the top of his
voice:
Turn out her business on deckr
thought "A whale had been sighted.
but did not think of the steamer once. II
dId not take me long to throw OF my
clothes apd get on deck. AS | came up
the hGtchway | saw an officer, dressed In
u gray uniform, standing on deck, and as
soon as he saw me be asked:
"Are you mate OF this barkp'
answered that was.
''Get your boat and crew ard go to the
steamer
! looked in the direction in which he
pointed and saw, lying ABOUT quarter Of
mile from the Katharine, one of the pref.
test vessels mad ever seen.
Nv nat vessel is thatY' | asked.
"Ihe Confederate privateer Shenan-
d0ah," he answered, AS he turned on his
heel and walked 10 another part OF the
ship
l asked marine who was standing Dy
how much clothing had better take. He
looked at me with a peculiar smile and
said as lutte as possible. | went below
and got my shore suit and my money. |
also brought with me very valuable
waterproof coat which friend of mine
bad glved me in Japan. 1t was, believe,
the first one of the kind which mad ever
left that country, and putting it in the
form OF acape | started for the deck.
RUDE AWAKENING.
AS my head appeared above the hatch
way my coat disappeared from my head.
was indignant, and turned to see who
my obliging friend WAS. He was big
Herman.
'Pll thank you for my coat" said
Pass on, mine friendt; will needt dis
more as you; you viii not use it any
more"
told him in more forcible language
than L care to repeat that If we should
meet again under other circumstances
we should certainly have settlement.
''Oh, dot ish all right" he TRANQUILITY re-
marked, and passed on to my boat.
Up to this time had thought that there
was no danger TO the ship. NV Idea was
that we were only being sent on board the
privateer 10 sign parole, for the war had
ended In April. 1t was now June, and
surely, knowing this, they would not dare
burn us. But we soon found, to our cost,
that 1t had ended in name only for the
Shenandoah. We showed Lieut.. Clifford
the San Francisco papers with an account
of Gen. Lees surrender, but he said he
bad no orders from his government, and
that the papers told only our side OF the
question. Clifford is the same gentle
man who now commands one OF the
steamers plying between Richmond and
New York.
IN FLAMES.
/ manned my boat, as did the Captain
and the other male theirs, and we pulled
for the Confederate. But we were not al.
lowed to board Der. Capt. Wsrdel had a
hawser thrown us, and with this we were
ordered 10 tie our boats together, one be-
hind another. There were already two
boats IN tow. belonging 10 the Nimrod OF
New Bedford, and another whaler the
name OF which have forgotten. II was
now about 2 O'Clock in the morning OF
June y, but the sun was as low "a IL ever
got IL those Administrations an hour high
IL appeared 10 bv-and the weather was
extremely cold. Lieut.. Clifford and his
crew followed us from the katharIuc and
IN few minutes our good ship, with The
products OF tWo months toll, had ceased
10 fioat. For thirty-sIX hours we were
towed in the wake Of the Shenandoah,
and IN the course OF that time she boarded
and burned three more whalers, and the
ships boats were added to our little flo-
tilla. We suffered extremely, not alone