News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1886-08-19
A TALE OF THE OCEAN.
THE AWFUL MIDNIGHT ToLLING OF THE
BELL ON BOARD THE OSPREY.

SA- N-t LoOEAID The OSPREY,
while | am ready to acknowledge
that seafaring men are more or less su-
Perstltlous as class" said Capt. Day,
OF the bark Hever, Il must at the same
time insist that some things have hap
Peheu IN my own experience that were
nara 20 explain away by any line of
na<nral reasoning. Along in the sixties
was in command of a brig called the
Osprey, flying the British flag, and l
made charter from Jamaica to the
port of Georgetown, in British Guiana.
We loaded in fair time and got away
with fair breeze, and we had run the
island out of sight behind us when the
first of several strange things happened.
AT midnight, with everything going
well aboard, the briggs bell began to
toll. have seen and heard a ships
bell strike now and then in a heavy sea :;
but in this case, mind you, there was no
sea to speak of. and the brig wasn't
lifting d foot as she climbed the waves.
Without the slightest warming, and in
the dead of night, the bell began toll
ing, and it did not cease until it had
struck thirty one times. The sound
rang through the brig loud and clear,
rousng everybody up, and | had given
orders to have the bell muffied when it
ceased tolling. The mate and myself
stood right beside it when it struck the
last half dozen strokes. There was no
oscillation of the tongue, as would have
been the case if the brig had been pitch
ing in a heavy sea, but every time a
Strnka StrnpL tba rN,1Ilal
quick and heavy to one side, as if hu-
man hand had hold of the rope.
"'Captain Day. whispered the mate,
as we fell back, that's meant for me-
"'HowP
81 am thirty-one years old this very
day. It's tolling my birthday and fun
eral in one'
That's all nonsense. Mr. Brown. I
can't say why the bell should ring as it
did, but as for it being warning, that's
all bosh. Send the men about their
business, sir, and don't try to make a
haunted house of my brigr
''Half an hour later the wind shifted
from the northwest to the north, and
then to northeast, and We could no
longer lay our course. 1t came up strong,
too, and in little time the brig was
lifting and pitching in nasty sea. We
were reefng and furling to meet the
change, and great patches of foam were
being driven inboard as the gusts
caught them up, when, of a sudden,
heard q cry from the sea to leeward,
and, in the one brief look | got, l saw
the face and form of the mate as he was
driving away in the darkness of the
night. l couldn't credit my senses,
however, until had ran forward and
discovered that he was not to be found
on board, though nobody had seen him
go overheard. We hadn't been boarded
by sea, and just how it came about
that he left us is something have never
been able to understand. We were so
hard put to it just then that it was folly
to think of lowering u boat, and the
best could do was to throw overheard
whatever might answer to buoy him up
In case he was lucky enough to seize it.
In half an hour the squall had blown
itself out, and the wind quietly settled
itself back until, by bracing up, we
could again lie our course. / looked
upon the mates loss as an accident Ii
able to happen aboard of any craft, but
not so with the sailors. caught enough
of their mutterings to understand that
they firmly believed the tolling of the
bell had all to do with it, and that this
belief was taking the courage out of
them. However, when daylight came
they seemed to think better of it, and
the sight of two or three vessels keep
ing us company brought their hearts
back.
'Tf had not been full handed and
under stipulations to reach Georgetown
at the earliest possible hour, | should
have hauled up for Hayti or Porto Rico
to secure q new mate. Under the cir.
cumstances | concluded to make Trini.
dad, if possible, but when this decision
was conveyed to the men | could see
that they were not over well pleased
During the day we had north and north
west winds, with no sea to speak of,
and we ratified along through the Carib.
bean sea in way to make good the de
lays of the previous night. The second
mate was fair officer and a willing
one, and during the afternoon / got
very satisfactory nap while he was il
charge At ten o'clock that night VIZ
had five knot breeze, a starlight sky
and plain sailing. and the mate turned
in until l should call him. At clever
o'clock the yards were braced a bit as
the wind hauled trife, but from thai
to twelve not rope was touched. Al
five minutes to midnight | passed tht
bell and noticed that most of the watcl
on deck were cat mapping wherever the,
could find place to lop down
'One-tGo-three- FOUR
"At exactly midnight that bell bega1
tolling again, and it rang off twenty
seven strokes and stopped. When i
had struck about dozen times | wen
forward and stood beside it. Once
preached out my hand to restrain tn
fto1ling, but the thought came that i
the signals meant disaster to us, j
would do no good to cut them short
Was fri9htened2 Honestly, was not
/ never did go cent on ghosts and COB
Inns, and felt that there was some nat
ural cause for the ringing. Every sou
aboard was on deck before the bell ha,
sounded its twentieth stroke, and whei
! the last echoes were carried off on tn
wings of the wind the sailors moved af
in a body, and an old salt spoke up:
Captain, bein' as this ere brig j
doomed, and bein' as we don't want t
go to the bottom with her, it's our opin
ion that we can't get out the boats to
soon.'