Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1888-05-30

| supernatural. Our captain was no bet
| ter in this respect than his crew, for he
| was as illiterate as they, except In the
matter of navigation, and as rough and
| untutored. He evidently believed his
| ship was haunted and that spirit from
| the vast deep had mind to torment
him by its inter!erences. His fears
were increased not many days after
| On returning to rest at the end of his
| evenings watch his slumbers were els
| turbed by loud and fearful cry, which
| seemed to enter the cabin by the side
light, which was left open for ventila
| ton. The cry was heard by the second
| officer on the quarterback and by
| Martyr, who was at the wheel. Neither
of them could throw any light upon the
| incident to the captain, who had rushed
! on to the deck in a state OF terror, and
I demanded in vain for the production Of
| the offender
From that day it was clear to all hands
that Capt. James was tormented by APP
prehensions OF coming disaster. An
idea was fixed in his mind that his ship
was visited by spirit from the invisi-
| itself heard rather than seen. And
this idea was strengthened by the fact
| that when he was on deck and became
angry at the conduct of any of the men,
| especially when his anger was made
| manifest in oaths or blows, the unseen
| but ever vigilant visitor from the afar
world, perched apparently on the top
of the mainmast, utter the insolent
| laugh or solemn warning. On these
| occasions the poor man would
rush off to his cabin with blanched
| cheek and lettering limbs, and there
| abide until the gale in his moral sensi-
i L. i -.
angry with no one else but the captain
was clear, from the fact that it never
took notice of the conduct of any other
person. The mate or the boat
swain might actas they liked or the men
might give and call each other hard
names; no matter-the voice was not
heard-neither laugh nor moan fell up
on our ears.
But most of those who lived in the
forecastle were far from being happy;
| many of them shared the fear of our
skipper, and | saw that they would
rather have braved his wrath than to be
tormented as they were by the ''voices
of the night" or day. Martyr and N.Y.
was / could not say; he met all my ques-
tons by adroit evasions. AS for myself,
[ had no explanations to give. Thus
matters went on until we were within
two days sail of the islands. All the
while our captain had been kept from
tyranny by his tears of the voice; but
now, eXasperated by some fault in sea-
manship on the part of Martyr, and be-
ing the worse for liquor, he
hurled a delaying-pin at him which
struck him on the head. Clap
ping his hands to his head, he
rushed to the forecastle. 1t was evident
hot he IL - IL.
voice, for he looked nervously aloft, but
all was silent in that direction. His
courage returned and he desired the
second officer to call Martyr back to the
deck. Getting no answer to his call the
mate went below, where he found the
poor fellow delirious. Returning to the
deck he reported him to be in danger
Gus condition. This filled the captain
with fear. Ho ordered that every at
tention DE paid him, which was done.
That night it became necessary to have
all hands on deck to reef, and while
we were on the yards an awful cry.
like that of a maniac, arose from
the bow of the vessel and the next mo-
ment several of us saw a human form
on the rail near the forecastle and then
a loud splash was heard in the water
under our lee. The captain and chief
officers who were on deck rushed to the
side. A hat was seen for a moment
bobbing on the crest of wave, the
manlacal cry was repeated, when Capt.
James, himself uttering loud cry, fell
senseless on the deck. The mate then
hailed US who were on the topsail yard,
Come down from aioft Clear away
the small boat ~
We thought he was as near beside
himself as was the captain; and SO he
was for the moment, for when We gained
the deck he was ready to countermand
the order. Everything was awful be-
yond expression; the wind and water
was raging wild; it was impossible for
boat to live IN so rough sea, so, max
ing virtue of necessity, the search for
the poor, maddened fellow was aban-
doned amid VOWS of vengeance against
the captain and tears for our poor, lost
messmate. Forty-eight hours after this
we entered Hilo. A vast change had
come over the crew. The captain
knowing their peculiarities, had sup
piled them with money and copious
libations Of whisky; SO, instead of re-
porting him to the consul, as they de-
clared they would, they were ready to
shout his praise all day long. In this,
however, [ did not agree but unable to
bring the tyrant to justice singlehand
ed. | resolved to quit the Enrique. I
did So After hiding in the woods sew
eral days I was caught and brought
back to the ship. AS my adventures as
a fugi tive are not essential to the I'M
folding of my story, pass them by and
take up the thread of my narrative
We set sail on our return voyage
Capt. James was an altered man. He
abstained from liquor, he controlled his
temper, and this, with the addition of
fine steady breeze, made our lives on
board happy. But alas! we were
doomed to a sad ending of the voy-
age. Keeping near the land, and
squall laying hold Of the ship, we were
drawn on lee shore. 1t was just after
midnight when We struck, and the dark
ness was terrible, and leaping out of my
hammock [ ran on deck. I could
see nothing save the wild waters racing
over the deck. cried out to my ship
mate but got no answer. 1t was not
possible to reach the after part of the
vessel where the lifeboats were kept,
so, acting on the impulse of the mo-
ment / leaned into the sea Catching