New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1888-06-27
AMONG PIRATES.

OIlo Wl1o Ids paSSGu even a mOQGn
on shipboard must admit that. the
phrase, "a sailors yarn" may be
applied to the story of almost any
one else but sailor. There is less
Boosting, Dragging and lying among
sailors than among any other toiling
class yon can name. When you
come to live among them and work
with them you will find that most
people misjudge them. I have sailed
in twenty eight different vessels, COW
cred all oceans, and come in contact
with sailors of ali nationalities, and
have always found the men almost
the opposite OF the representative
sailors OF the story book. You will
find as much drunkenness among the
biacksmiths as among salt water
sailors. Forty-nine out of fifty may
take their grog, but they COMO further
chan a drink or two. Jack is no
more iovial nor rollicking than the
average carpenter. Indeed, [ believe
he is more serious-minded than most
other men. His yarns are all in the
books. have spent $50 days and
nights in the forecastle of a ship with
out hearing yarn from any OF the
men. Now and then there may be a
good talker in a crew who Will have
had adventures to relate, but the
story he tells can be substantiated.
Few sailors care to talk about any
thing except the ship, her officers, the
weather and the prospects of the voy-
age .lnever met one who boosted OF his
adventures, no matter how many he
had passed through. have met with
a hundred who had been wrecked and
cast away, but who almost refused to
give me the least information. From
the moment the ship leaves
her dock to the end OF her voy.
age a sailors life is in his hand. No
matter how stupid he is he must
realize this, and the burden on his
mind makes him anything but roll
licking. When on duty he has no
time for EARNING, and when off duty
he must catch up on his sleep. A
forecastle story teller once gave the
men of his watch the following adven.
ture, and although no one doubted
his veracity, | afterward looked up
the records and found him correct:
1T was in the year 1885, he said,
"that / was bound to the ivory coast
on the English brig Plowboy, Capt.
Scott commander. She was a drv
craft, well found, but very slow, and
although those were risky days along
the heather coasts, owners Of crafts
were sIingy about Srming them for
protection. We had two six FOUNDERS,
which had been purchased at a sale Of
condemned ordinance, and ten Or a
dozen muskets and cutlasses of but
little value. We called at the Canary
Islands on our way down the coast,
and there we got the cannon out of
the hold and mounted them on their
carriages. The Captain was informed
that French ship had been plumber
ed and sunk between there and the
troplc only two weeks before. and that
two or three supicious sail were cruis-
ing along the coast. We felt brave
enough as we sailed to the south with
those two old cannon on deck, and the
wish was expressed time and again,
that we might fall in with a pirate.
''We got light and battling winds
along Barbary Coast, but were near
ing the troplc, when, ore afternoon an
hour before sunset, a strange sail was
seen standing out from the coast to
cut us off. She was also q brig and
from the very first sight OF her there
was no doubt I'm our minds that she
was a pirate. We altered our course
a few points to the west, and then be-
gan to get ready for her. We had no
sooner set about loading the guns
than it was found that our cannon
balls were all too large for the bore.
Not one them could be made to lit.
This discovery took the courage out
OF us, and it was only in the hope that
we might kill a few of the pirates be-
fore we were all sacrificed that we
loaded with bolts, pieces of chain, and
such stuff IN place OF solid shot. The
charge would be effective at close
quarters.
''The stranger walked up. ON us at
a rapid rate, and when darkness came
on he was. not more than four miles
away. Our Captain went into the
rigging with his glass for a long squirt,
and when he came down he called us
aft and said there was no longerroom
to doubt. The stranger was a pirate,
and there was no hope Of escaping
him. At that very moment the wind,
which was off the land, began to fail,
and ten minutes later we hadn't
enough to blow a feather. We could
no longer see the stranger, owing to
the darkness. We knew that he must
have lost the wind first, and that he
was all OF three miles away. If the
calm held through the night he would
have to attack in boats, if at all, and
we then stood some show OF beating
him off. Believing that this would be
his plan, we made the best prepara
tions possible. It was a starlight
night, but with bit OF fog ris.
ing from the water, and all oul
lights were extinguished at dark, and
we moved about in our bare feet
The pirate had probably taken oul
bearings by compass before night shut
in, but with that fog coming a little