Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1886-07-11
THE OLD MAID CAPTAIN.

u have been going to sea these twenty
Eve years, said tho stewardess Of an Ameri-
can coastwiss steamer, ono afternoon re-
Gently, as she sat sewing in the coy ladies'
cabin OF the vessel to which she belonged,
and yet was never wrecked nor has ship
l have been on lost so much as q spar while
l was aboard. Yes, my life has been a
very commonplace one There has been NO
romance in any way connected with it
stop though, l did play a very small part
In romance once That happened fully
twenty years ago, and now it seems Ike .
dream; sometimes wonder il it wasn't after
all dream 1t seems stranger to me now
than it did even then" Tho worthy stew
ardess paused and a far-away look in her
eyes showed that she was indulging In retro
spection.
When was young went ON sailing
vessels instead of steamers" continued the
stewardess About twenty years ago
that was when L was young-I visited some
friends in the country after g voyage, and
then l came to New York to find ship.
The agent went to told me that could go
as stewardess on a ship bound to Aus
tralia The skipper said he, lis good
A<oAi, Dub Ac . a uA6I Olo llalO- 6<1lU
that l didn't mind old maids, and so it was
settled that l was to 60 with
the old maid captain The next day
went aboard and reported to my new cap
tain, who was called Harris The captain
was short and rather slightly built, with
mild gray eyes, but with a full, heavy black
beard He seemed about IS years old His
hands were small and delicate and his voice
was high and Just a trife shrill, and he
walked up and down the deck with q mine
ing sort of gait Thinks l, Capt Harris,
II you wasn't skipper, you'd have made q
hrstrate single woman; i regularly de-
spised him until the first storm came on.
Then he went on deck and handled the ship
in such way that / could not but admit
that he was the very best navigator had
ever sailed under. Then began to think
better Of the old maid captain. l never saw
q captain so consederate Of his men II one
of them was the least bit sick, the captain
would go into the forecastle and tend to him
as tenderly as any nurse. And when the
weather was bad he would not allow tho
mates to make the men do any work that
wasn't really necessary. The mates used to
make fun of the captain behind his back for
being so considerate Of his men, but some
how L thought it was good trait in him 1
began to watch the captain closely and soon
made up my mind that there was some mys-
terry about that man Once on a pleasant
evening came on deck and saw the captain
looking at the red sunset with tears in his
eyes. st another time, when l thought he
was on deck, l went into the after cabin for
something 1 found him there. What do
you think he was doing. Why, he was sew
ing a. i crying into the bargain. They are
-s.xlt III 4
thinks l.
1.-THE mate, Mr.. Wood, was a tall fine
looking down-easter about 81 years old
The captain seemed to like him, but
thought how he must envy him his size and
strength. The captain, though, was much
the smarter man Of the two. The mate,
somehow, seemed TO take q fancy to me
for as l said was young in those days.
He was always running into the cabin on
some pretext to talk to me. But I never
en- outraged him You see / was engaged
to be the mate of another mate; and that
mate, poor fellow, was lost at sea few
years afterward Although this captain
didn't seem to care much about me, he
didn't fancy the mates taking a liking to
me. That used to puzzle me. One pleasant
evening when / went on deck saw the
captain, who stood aft, looking admiringly
at the mate who was sitting at the star |
board gangway When the captain saw |
me come on deck he gave me q sort Of sus- |
picious look, and when the mate came up to |
me and began to make himself agreeable, |
although as | said before l had not given |
him any encouragement, glanced again at |
the captain and there was an angry snap |
il his eyes. He did not like to see the mate |
and me together That was plain. But |
why should he object to it as long as he |
didn't seem to care for me himself l tried |
to hit on some reason for this, but l soon |
gave the whole thing up as q mystery too |
deep for me to attempt to solve.
"One morning when we were in the south |
Pacific, some one cried out that there was |
small boat with several people in it in sight |
on the lee bow. We bore away for the /
boat, which in a short time was alongside |
the ship. Five men and little boy climbed |
up from the boat to our deck and We gave |
them a warm welcome The little boy
couldn't have been q day over eight years
old He was a brightlooking little fellow,
with long curly hair. Capt Harris took
TO him at oace He carried the little fellow
into the after-cabin and put him in his
own berth, and took him something to eat,
while the rescued men were telling us how
longed to bark which was bound to New
York, but had sprung leak and had foun-
iered the day before The crew left the
vessel in two boats Just before the vessel
went down, but when she did under she
swamped one of the boats, and the captain
and seven men were thrown into the water
and drowned The other boat, with the
nate in charge, managed to keep efloat
until we came up with it
The mate of the wrecked vessel, Mr.
Bradley, was a gray-haired, rough-looking
nan, but he seemed to have a kind heart |
Early in the evening when he was sitting in
he forward cabin with the second mate
md myself, he told us that the little boy, |
who was still in tho after cabin with Capt |
Harris, had been shipwrecked twice before
The little fellow was the son OF q sea cap |
ain, and had been going to sea with his
ather and mother ever since he was born |
About four years before, when the ship on
which this sea going family were, was near
ng the English channel, heavy fog set in
The second mate was in charge of the deck, |
md the captain, with his wife and boy and
he mate, were al the dinner-table The
aptain wife happened to think OF some
hing in the gallery that she wanted and sha
vent forward for it Just then a big steamer
oomed up suddenly in the fog and, without
my warning, struck the ship aft and
mashed in the cabin. The poor captain was
rushed To death, but the mate and the little
10Y were only imprisoned by the broken tim
ers. The mate cried out a number OF times,
nut received no answer He could hear occa-
ional whistles from the steamer for about
af an hour Finally he made a struggle
nd succeeded in tearing away enough broken
imber to hberate himself lie took the lit
le boy with him, and going on deck found
hat the wreck was sinking. The vessel had
cen deserted by the others, who had prob
bly, climbed on board the steamer The
rreck was now yearly even with the water,
nd the mate made little raft and
aunched it lie took the boy and climbed
n 10 raft, where be lGshed himself and the
title fellow. Soon aftsrward the wreck
ank Next morning it was clear and the
nate and the boy were picked up by a small
ron BARK bound to JapaA Tbs bark, how
yer, got out of her coUo aI Was dFiven
shore on a small island not far frum the
Philippines The island was INHABITED by
riendly natives, who took care OF the
s an9sd crew. but nearly three years
lapsed before any vessel came 10 tie island.
hey wero finally taken OF b. man-of-