Little Falls transcript., 1886-07-09
AN OCEAN MYSTERY.
A TRUE STORY.

A TRUE STORY. 4. x 81
Though it is nearly twenty years
ago since the events related below oc-
CURED, yet the impression left upon
my mind has never faded or lost the
vividness of it's outlines; and though
there is nothing really inexplicable
about it, yet the dash OF mystery con-
nected with it has always marked it
in my memory as an incident OF an
unusual order. -. i
We were driving on our way north
wards from the gloomy and savage
neighborhood Of Cape Horn, home
ward bound in her Majesty's frigate,
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 q 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 ussince 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
*chunmy" 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 q week be-
fore, the old strain, so we'll known and
so lovingly cherished i'll her Maiesty's
service:
And when VIC arrive at Plymouth Docks,
The pretty little girls come rounds in flo cks,
And one to the other they do say:
"Oh, here comes Jack with his three years
For I see he's homeward. bou-ou- -ound,
For l see he's homeward bound.'
But still, as 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 after
night, q 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 unmanageabiea as u steel b. haw-
ser, blocks jammed with ice and snow:
canvas as unylelding as a board; men
up aloft for an hour or more try
ing to take q 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 jce-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
walowed i'll the angry element; no
fires allowed anywhere except at the
cooks gallery, which was always fully
occupied; and no warmth to be OBJ
tanned anywhere except in your ham,
mock, and even this, in most cases,
what with faulty stowage and leaky
decks wns wet through.
noy oftn. Io,- ofk>~
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
spirit OF uperstition-a sort of dim
suspicion that the ship was under O.
ban-hewitched, 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 an inch on
our way Strange as it may seem,
there were many, very many, among
our blue-j Jackets who held this belief
firmly and expressed it openly. We,
OF course, in the midshipman' berth,
careless and light-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 his 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 to certain de-
gree by the mysterious language and
ominous hints of these men, so much
our elders in years and superiors in
practical experience. ~
Matters had got to this pitch, and no
change appeared about to take place
IN the aspect of the weather or the di-
rectlon OF the wind, when one wild and
wretched forenoon at seven bells (elev-
en- thirty the men were piped to mus
ter on the main deck for that one drop
OF comfort which they could look for
ward to in the day-the serving out OF
each mans "tot" ofgrog. Faces which
at other times wore a. look of gloom
were Frightening under the influence
OF the spirit; the joke began to pass
around as the blood warmed and
flowed more rapidly through the veins,
when a whisper-a sort Of muttered
suggestion, made at first with g kind
OF apologetic reluctance, but with
growing confidence and insistance, as
lteained ground-passed through the
throng OF men that one Of their NUM-
Der was missing. Such whisper makes
iUs way through ships company
howeverlarge, like a current Of electric
I lty, and so it was in this case; but at
tirst the men keptit,to themselves. Tt