San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1888-03-29

blunderbusseS and fusils, all of an antique
kind, while the sides of the vessel were hung
with pistols great and little, boarding pixies,
cutlasses, hangers and other sorts of sword
This armory was a sight to set me walking
very cautiously, for it was not likely that
powder should be wanting in a ship thus
equipped; and where was it slowed.
There was another sliding door in the for
ward partition; it stood open, and l passed
through it into what Immediately saw was
the cook house. / turned the lantern about
and discovered every convenience for dress
ing food. The furnaces were of brick and
the oven was great one-great, | mean, for
the size of the vessel. There were pots, pans
and kettles in plenty, dresser with drawers,
dishes of tin and earthenware, a Dutch clock
in short, such an equipment of kitchen fur
niture as you would not expect to find in the
galley of all Indiaman built to carry two or
three hundred passengers. About half a
chaldron of small coal lay heaped in a wooden
angular fence fitted to the ships side, for the
sight of which l thanked God. held the
lantern to the furnace, and observed a
crooked chimney rising to the deck and pass
ing through it. The mouth or head of it was
no doubt covered by the snow, for | had not
noticed any such object in the survey had
taken of the vessel above. Strange, thought,
that those men should have frozen to death
with the material in the ship for keeping a
fire going. But then my whole discovery |
regarded as one of those secrets of the deep,
which defy the utmost imagination and ex.
perience Of man to explain them. Enough
that here was schooner which had been in
tered in a sepulcher of ice, as might ra
-. Ill l..lE
that there were dead men in her, who looked
to have been frozen to death; that she was
apparently stored with miscellaneous booty;
that she was powerfully armed for a craft of
her size, and had manifestly gone crowded
with men. All this was plain. and say it
was enough for me-
Before | could make a fire the chimney
must be cleared. Among the furniture in the
arms room were number Of spade headed
spears-the spade as wide as the length of a
mans thumb and about IA foot long, mounted
on light, thin wood Armed with one Of
these weapons, passed into the cabin to pro
coed on deck
speedily spied the chimney, which showed
q head of two feet above the deck, and made
short work of the snow that was frozen in it,
AS nothing could have been filter to cut ice
with than the spade shaped weapon I carried.
This done, | returned to the cook roOm and
with butchers ak that hung against the
bulkhoad knocked away one of the boards
that confined the coal. split it into small
pieces and in a short time had kindled good
fire. When | was thoroughly warm and COM
forted | took the lantern and went aft to the
stewards room and brought thence a cheese,
ham, some biscuit and one of the jars of
spirits, all of which | carried to the cook
room and placed the whole of them in the
oven. [ was extremely hungry and thirsty,
and the warmth and cheerfulneSs of the fire
set me yearning for hot meal. But how was
1 to make me bowl without fresh wateri /
went on deck and scratched up some snow,
but the salt in it gave it sckly taste, and /
was not only certain it would spoil and make
disgusting whatever l mixed it with or
cooked in it, but it stood as drink to dis
order my stomach and bring on an illness.
SO, thought l to myself there must be
fresh water about-caSks enough in the
hold l dare say; but the hold was not to
be entered and explored without labor and
difficulty, and | was weary and famished,
and in no temper for hard work.
In all ships it is the custom to carry one or
more casks called scuttlebutts on deck, into
which fresh water is pumped for the use of
the crew. | stepped along, looking earnestly
at the several shapes of guns, coils of rigging,
hatchways, and the like, upon which the
snow lay thick and solid, but perceived moth
ing that answered to the shape of a caSk At
last came to the well in the head, passed the
forecastle deck, and, on looking down, spied,
among other shapes, three bulged and bulky
forms. l seemed by instinct to know that
these were the scuttlebutts, and went for the
chopper, with which | returned and got into
this hollow, that was four or five feet deep.
The snow had the hardness OF iron; it took
ME a quarter of an hour of severe labor to
make sure of the character of the bulky thing
wrought at, and then it proved to be a
cask. Whatever might be its contents it was
not empty, but | was pretty nigh spent by
the time had knocked off the iron bands
and beaten out slaves enough to enable Inc to
get at the frozen body within. There were
three-quarters of cask full. 1t was spark
ling clear ice, and, chipping off a piece and
sucking it, found it to be very sweet fresh
water. Thus was my labor rewarded.
cut off as much as, when dissolved would
make couple of gallons, and returned to the
cook room.
The fire burned brightly, and its rudy
glow was sweet as human companionship ]
put the ice into a saucepan and set it upoL
the fire, and then pulling the cheese and ham
out of the oven found them warm and
thawed. On smelling at the mouth of the
jar, discovered it's contents to be brandy
Only about an inch deep of it was melted
/ poured this into pannikin and took sup
and finer drop of spirits never swallowed
in all my life; its elegant perfume proved it
amazingly choice and old. l fetched a lemon