The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1886-07-09
AN OCEAN MYSTERY.
A TRUE STORY.

vividness Of its outlines; and though
there is nothing really inexplicable
about it, yet the dash of mystery con-
nected with it has always marked 1t
in my memory as an incident OF an
unusual order.
We were driving on our way north
wards from the gloomy and savage
neighborhood OF Cape Horn, home
ward bound in her Majesty's trigate,
the dear old Bruiswater, now, alas.
long since consigned to the shipbreak
er. The fact Of our being hOmeward
bound should have made all hearts
light and all faces bright among
our 500 souls, but for all that
there was a general air OF
gloom in the ship, which was not to be
accounted for save by one theory only
that of superstition. For things
had not gone we'll with us since we had
hoisted our homeward- bound pen
dant. True, we had sailed out of Val
paraiso Bay with the said pendant
streaming away, and with all our
''chummy" ships playing "ShOuld
Auld Acquaintance be Forgot?' as We
passed by them; and we had received
and returned cheer upon cheer as We
made our way to the open sea, while
from the midshipman's berth had
rolled up in a rich volume of sound,
every night for more than week be-
fore, the old strain, so well known and
so lovingly cherished in her Malesty's
service:
And when we arrive. at Plymouth Docks
The pretty little girls come rounds in tiOcEs,
And one to the other they do say:
"0h, here com Jack with his three years
pay;
For | see he's homeward- bou-ou-ound,
For see he's homeward bound"
But still, as l say, things had not
gone we'll with us. We had speedily
left the warmth of tropical weather
and had gradually found it colder and
colder each morning as we made our
way down south towards the dreaded
Cape of Storms. That was natural and
we were prepared for it; but no sooner
had we got to the latitude of the Cape
itself than the wind had shifted, and
we had it day after day, night otter
night, hard gale right in our teeth.
Bitter cold it was, too, with tearing
storms of snow and hail-heavy thun-
dering seas sweeping us fore and aft,
bursting in upon our weather bow, ,and
covering us with spray that froze ere
it fell upon our decks. Up aloft, every
thing frozen hard-running rigging as
stiff and unmanageable as asteel haw-
ser; blocks iammed with ice and snow;
canvas as unyielding as board; men
up aloft for an hour or more try
ing to take reef in the fore. topsail,
and then so stiffened with cold them
selves as to be unable to come down
without assistance; while below, the
close, musty, damp, dark ship was the
! picture of discomfort; her decks, main
and lower, always wet, often with an
inch or two of ice-cold water washing
about on them; soaking clothes hung
up all over the place, in the wild hope
that they might eventually get dry;
ports and scuttles tight shut, to keep
out the seas that thundered ceaseless-
ly at them as the ship plunged and
#aiiowed iii the angry element; no
fires allowed anywhere except at the
cook gallery, which was always fully
occupied; and no warmth to be OBJ
taiied anywhere except in your ham
mock, and even this, in most cases,
what with faulty stowage and leaky
decks was wet through
Day after day, night after night,
this state OF things kept on, until there
gradually crept in among the men
started, no doubt, by the older hands,
always and deeply imbued with the
@..e& x.e ~f
suspicion that the ship was under a
ban-bewitched, in fact; that, as they
said, there was a Jonah aboard, and
until he went overheard we should
never weather the dreaded Cape, but
were doomed to thrash continually
to windward, never gaining aninch on
our way. Strange as it may seem,
there were many, very many, among
our blue-jackets who held this belief
firmly and expressed it openly. We,
Of course, in the midshipman' berth.
careless and ht-hearted from our ex-
treme youth, laughed at the solemn
tones of the old quartermasters, who
employed their hours OF midnight
watch on deck IN narrating to US sim
liar instances Of vessels which had
thus been doomed to struggle with the
storm until some unknown criminal
had either confessed bis crime, or had
voluntarily paid the penalty OF it.
But, as the bad weather continued
and the ship seemed quite unable TO
advance upon her homeward track,
some of us too began to allow our
minds to be influenced toa certainde-
gree by the mysterious language and
ominous hints of these men, SO much
our elders in years and superiors in
practical experiences
Matters had got to this pitch and ne
change appeared about TO take place
IN the aspect OF the weather or the di
rccflon of the wind when one wild an(